Fright Town

Met Franco, Lindsay, and Tawny at the Rose Quarter last night to go to Fright Town, where a coworker of mine was working makeup and acting in one of the haunted houses. It's been a long time since I've been to a haunted house, but I remembered that my last visit involved walking through, stony-faced, for some reason trying to prove that I wasn't scared. Fuck that shit - if I'm going to a haunted house, I want to jump and shout and have a good time. And I wasn't disappointed. My idea of terror is generally more H.P. Lovecraft than Friday the 13th, but when someone lunged out of a hidden door with a chainsaw, I jumped. Not to mention that there were a couple of unexpected, unsettling moments when the actors would start calling out "Where's Harry...?" or "Come back, Harry..."

Neal Stephenson: September 16th, 2008

Neal Stephenson was at the Bagdad a couple of weeks ago to promote Anathem, and I met Michael and a friend of his there. It was a good time, though perhaps a little shorter than I'd anticipated. Stephenson read a few short passages from the book, answered questions for about half an hour, and then it was time to queue up for autographs. Having someone's signature on something they've made is a phenomenon I've never really understood, so I'm glad that a little entertainment was offered to those who weren't standing in line: a brief performance by a few gentlemen who helped record the music inspired by Anathem.

Anyway, the Q&A was the meat of the appearance for me, and I wasn't disappointed. Some of the questions left a little to be desired, but Stephenson himself was friendly and interesting. I tried to convince Cara to read The Diamond Age recently, but she didn't care much for its frequently digressive tone. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed that Stephenson's work has always been free to pursue whatever tangents seemed appropriate, and that same breadth of interest was apparent in person.

Incidentally, while answering one question, Stephenson briefly mentioned a lengthier lecture he'd given on the future of SF, which is readily available here.