The 2008 Pegasus Award Nominations are up!

With thanks to peteralway for the heads-up: This year's nominees have been chosen, and the Ohio Valley Filk Fest's 25th annual Pegasus Awards will go to six of them at the annual fannish hootenanny this October 24-26. (Yep, it's their silver anniversary!) I didn't make the cut this time, despite having been in the Brainstorming Poll list in two or three spots; but I can't quarrel with any of the ones who did being utterly deserving. And they even have links to audio samples of each nominee, so you can listen to any you haven't heard. Kewl beenz. I offer my heartiest congratulations to all the nominees.

Vote here—and while you're at it, if you haven't already made plans to go to OVFF, you can find out more and register on the very same site. My own attendance is unlikely at this point, given that I'll have busted my bank account going to Kenya for that Songbird visit just two weeks prior, and still have the usual monthly bills to pay.

And now the whole state is in danger

After a frantic call from the Songbird about Hurricane Gustav's increasing ferocity, I made my way to the nearest flatscreen showing CNN updates. All 67 parishes in the state of my birth have now declared storm emergencies, and mandatory evacuations are in force for most of the southern coastal third of the state. Authorities are saying Gustav could be, horror of horrors, even worse than Katrina in its destructive power (Mayor Ray Nagin called it "the real deal, the storm of the century"). Currently a Cat 3, it has potential to reach 5 by the time it makes landfall around 2 AM Monday. The state's freshman Governor, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, has wisely abandoned his plans to speak at this week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN to remain on the job and in state. He is on TV now holding a press conference, and so far seems to be handling himself somewhat better than his predecessor (and you know I hate like the mischief to be forced to admit this of a GOP leader).

In the 45 years of my life, the town of my birth, Lafayette, has never had more than moderately high winds and torrential rains to deal with from even the worst hurricanes that have hit Louisiana dead-on, simply by virtue of being so far inland. But now the weather forecasters are projecting Gustav's possible path as including a huge swath of Louisiana and Texas, including the cities of Houston and Galveston and as far north as Shreveport. A hurricane warning has been instituted by the National Weather Service for the entire Gulf Coast, from Galveston all the way east to the border of Alabama and Florida. And SB's sister, who had a house in Hattiesburg, MS that was supposedly just as "safe," was destroyed three years ago when Katrina's high winds knocked a large tree over onto it.

And to make matters yet worse still, a second storm, Tropical Storm Hanna, has formed out in the Caribbean and is bearing down on the Bahamas and Florida. Odds are it will gain strength and follow Gustav into the Gulf, just as Rita did Katrina.

I am calling my family in Carencro and Lafayette to make sure they are either safely out of town or battened down. If you have any reason to believe you are in the path or have loved ones who are, take steps now.

Dragon*Con '08 Report, Day 3: The gathering storm kinda spoils the fun

In answer to a request from sffilk : Open filking is being held each evening from Friday to Monday. Child care having been relocated to the new hotel (the Sheraton), the filk track now has its usual Hyatt-basement room entirely to itself. The bad news is, no program events have been scheduled for the daytime and early evening there. Filkers can still use it, however; I talked to the guy who finally ended up being in charge of the track and he seems to be sincere, nice and going out of his way, but commented to me on the last-minute, slapdash aspect of the whole thing. (This is not his fault; for that, upper echelons are entirely to blame, as Michael has outlined on his own page in detail.) Friday's session was sparsely attended, with only one instrumentalist present and half of those who were there too shy to sing. I did my bit to keep things going, and the honcho was kind enough to tell me next evening how much he enjoyed my singing.

I missed open filk last night, due to the Paul & Storm concert running late and having stayed afterward for the first hour or so of the film festival which followed, at which much free swag was distributed and funny short films were shown courtesy of NeedCoffee.com and Quick Stop Entertainment. The concert, by the way, was even better than their usual non-convention shows (two of which I've attended here already), with prizes provided by the film festival sponsors and given out by one of the Venture Bros. voice artists, who even sang a number; and Paul being impressed out of his planned snarky detachment by the audience response (this was their first D*C appearance). A new CD is forthcoming, Storm says, sometime next year; they are already planning it and recording the first tracks.

Today, I got in a bit after noon and enjoyed the Sheraton's late brunch (more expensive than the offerings at the nearby diner, but far quicker; I spent the better part of an hour at the diner Saturday just getting seated and served). Then I attended a panel of Stargate TV series stars paying tribute to their co-star Don S. Davis, who died of a massive cardiac infarction only months before he was scheduled to have appeared here as a guest. Among those on the dais were Torri Higgenson, Rainbow Sun Francks (suffering from laryngitis, poor fella, and barely able to talk), Beau Bridges, Robert Picardo, Cliff Simon (Ba'al) and Julie Caitlin Brown, who sang a lovely song in tribute to Don and his widow Ruby. (She also passed along thanks from Mrs. Davis for all the fans' messages of sympathy and support.) It was a very emotional 90 minutes, as stars and audience members all shared their memories of Mr. Davis. I never met him myself, sad to say, and boy, did I ever miss out. He was a gifted painter as well as actor, and was to have had some of his art exhibited here, and a truly kind and humorous person. The whole thing was truly moving and beautiful.

Afterward, I headed over to the Hilton to take a look around the relocated Walk of Fame and see which stars were present. Ran into an old friend from my Baton Rouge college-era fandom days, and we chatted for a bit; then I watched celebrities I knew and ones I didn't greet fans and sign autographs for a while. George Takei is looking in fine health and spirits, as is Walter Koenig, despite their advancing ages; I have met both and was pleased to see them there and having fun. (George appeared on a local radio station's midday show Friday while I was at work, and I got to listen; it was a hoot and a half. I'm always amazed at someone who's been through all that he has in his life being able to retain good humor and attitude; I must ask him what his secret is.)

Costume count: So far today...
- Another Sylvester McCoy Doctor and another Tom Baker Doctor, as well as a David Tennant Doctor and even a Lalla Ward Romana (sailor suit). (Memo to incoming Doctor Who honcho Stephen Moffat: Bring back Lalla for a guest shot pronto, once the series gets going full steam again.)
- An Incredible Hulk (his con badge even said "Bruce Banner"), carrying a styrofoam miniature tank over his shoulder
- Two more Supergirls, one in a costume of shiny lamé (bringing the total to six)
- At least three Jedi Knights
- A female Dr. Horrible
- Several Stargate SG squads in both standard and desert fatigues
- At least one young lady in camo pants with a gray/purple color scheme (which would seem to defeat the entire purpose on any planet not possessing purple flora in abundance)

Tonight: the Masquerade, parties and (one hopes) more robust open filk. Stay tuned...