If you’ve been following the h+ summit, or even if you haven’t been, perhaps you have questions regarding transhumansim, human augmentation, radical life extension, germ line genetic engineering, etc, etc.  I know I do.

So, I’ll be headed down to Sprout for the h+ beer meetup sponsored by DIYBio.

When?  6pm until 8ish.

Where? 339 Summer St, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

So, this past Thursday, I had my final session with Troy Talmadge an incredible tattoo artist in Lynn, Ma. Troy is fantastically easy to work with.  He’s an artist with a unique, lyrical vision.  I highly recommend him, but I will warn you, because his work is high quality, you may have to wait a bit for an appointment.  It’s well worth the wait.  I already have another one in mind.  I don’t think I’ll work on this design for 20 years though.

I’ve had this design, in various incarnations, in my head for over twenty years, since, while in the deepest, darkest part of my life, I stumbled upon the works of Robert Anton Wilson.

As I wrote here, I truly believe Wilson’s works saved my life, or, more accurately, enabled me to save my own life.

Why the tattoo? It’s partly commemoration, partly a reminder of truths easily forgotten, partly a wake up call. Perhaps it’s a sigil. Perhaps it’s a link to archetypal power. Perhaps it’s there just to confuse the enemy.

23 skidoo, baby, 23 skidoo.

Oh, and so far I have 40 pages of my script done for ScriptFrenzy. I’ll update my page count Sunday evening, after I put the next block of dialog in.

Happy New Year!

I’ve always been one to avoid New Year’s resolutions. They always struck me as being somewhat unhelpful, more an exercise in frustration than anything else.

I’d much rather focus on continuous improvement, than a yearly revised set of goals.

That being said, there are some things I should attend to sooner rather than later…

• The living room and parlor must be finished.
• My membership in the World Transhumanist Association – http://www.transhumanism.org/ – needs renewing, plus, they’re in the midst of a fundraising campaign.
• The time has come to look seriously at cryonics. It won’t be as inexpensive as it would have been had I signed up at 30, but I should be able to do so now.
• Fantastic Dimensions – http://www.fantasticdimensions.com/ -  goes onto a regular publishing schedule. Next one due on or before Jan 31, 2008. Let’s see if I can keep up a monthly schedule.
• This coming April is Script Frenzy – http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/. Will that mess up the April edition of Fantastic Dimensions?

Hi 2008. Glad to be here.

So, I’ve lost my mind again, but this time something might actually come of it.

I’ve gone ahead and signed up for Script Frenzy, which is to stage screen plays what NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is to novels.

You can keep track of my madness here.

June will be very busy with preparations for NEARFest, Readercon and Big Brothers.

This past September, 09/23/2006 to be exact, the New England Art Rock Society (NewEARS) hosted an evening with echolyn, one of the premier progressive rock groups in existence today.

The band was in fine form, as evidenced by the above clip, “The Cheese Stands Alone”.

echolyn (always lowercase) is (are?)

• Christopher Buzby – keyboards, backing vocals
• Thomas Hyatt – bass, backing vocals
• Brett Kull – guitars, lead and backing vocals
• Paul Ramsey – drums and percussion, backing vocals
• Raymond Weston – bass, lead and backing vocals

The boys blew the audience away that evening. Virtuosity, energy and playfulness flowed from the band like a sheared off fire hydrant. Ray Weston’s vocals reigned o’er us all, sometimes sweet, sometimes an angry growl, sometimes soft, sometimes ringing like a firehouse bell.

Chris Busby’s fingers flew over the keyboards like things possessed, as he rocked and swayed to the music, while Paul flawlessly pounded out incredibly complex beats. Move him to the center of the stage, don’t hide him in the corner.

And then there are Brett Kull and Tom Hyatt. Is it really fair that they can play (guitar and bass respectively) so damned well and sing equally as well. Talent like this is the stuff dreams of guitar (and bass) heroes are made of. It was hard to hold the camera steady, harder still to keep from whistling / cheering after the completion of a particularly jaw-droppingly good musical passage.

I was lucky enough to get permission to videotape the entire performance. I’m in the middle of editing them all and will post high quality versions on Google video (with their permission, of course (the permission I received for the video above).

The set list for that evening:
1. georgia pine
2. the cheese stands alone
3. arc of descent
4. the end is beautiful
5. mei excerpt
6. one voice
7. those that want to buy
8. in every garden
9. so ready
10. brittany
11. never the same
12. as the world
13. this is my halo
14. human lottery

If you have a chance to see them in concert, do so. Buy their albums. You won’t be disappointed.