Starship Fonzie #40 - Transcript

Greetings, all my fellow Milwookies, homo-sapiens, and all other sentient lifeforms of the Planet Earth. This is Starship Fonzie, the official podcast of the Milwaukee Science Fiction and Fantasy League. I’m your host, Eric J. Hildeman, and we’re going to let you know what’s going on in the world of sci fi in Milwaukee, and in the SFF world generally.

This podcast is being pre-recorded live from the deck of the Starship Discovery, where Michael Burnham has just entered a dimensional portal in an attempt at gaining the progenitors’ technology.

Actually, it's coming to you from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or as Donald Trump calls it, “That awful city.”

Really? I mean, fuck you too, fake-tanned asshole.

Meanwhile it’s also come out in the news that Trump isn’t even bothering to get a hotel in Milwaukee. He’s going to be staying in Chicago and commuting up to Milwaukee for convention events.

And everyone in Chicagoland is saying, “Hey, that guy can’t diss our neighbor Milwaukee like that! That’s OUR job!”

Welcome to the 40th episode of Starship Fonzie. Episode #7 in our fourth year of existence. We’ve got a lot to talk about, so let’s get started.

Let’s start with some news!

The first EVER Hugo Award ever issued was up for auction recently. The auction took place June 7th. It’s the initial award given to Forrest J Ackerman by Isaac Asimov at the 1953 Worldcon. Also on the block was the honorary Hugo Award given to Hugo Gernsback in 1960 as “The Father of Science Fiction.” That second award was given to Ackerman by Gernsback’s widow after his death. These two pieces of Hugo Awards history were part of Hindman Auctions’ “Fine Books and Manuscripts, including Worlds of Tomorrow, and Americana”. 

Who won the auction? The Worldcon Heritage Organization came away with the winning bid for the first Hugo Award. That means it will be on display at every Worldcon event going forward. The winning bid was $9,500, with a final price of $12,065 after the Buyer’s Premium was added in.

And the other award that was given to Hugo Gernsbeck? Well, there weren’t enough funds for the Worldcon Heritage Organization to win. A private collector got it for a total of $6,985. We don’t know the identity of this person yet.

What's new in the world of sci fi? Well, we've got a new season of Doctor Who. Ncuti Gatwa now has six episodes released, and with those six, I'm liking it so far. Now, regarding the first episode, The Church on Ruby Road, do you remember when preliminary ratings came out regarding that episode's release, and conservatives were all poo-pooing it because it got some of the lowest ratings of any Doctor Who incarnation? Well, the actual ratings have been released since then, and wouldn't you know it, The Church on Ruby Road is now one of the highest rated episodes in the Whoniverse. 4.73 million viewers, making it the third most watched program on Christmas Day, behind King Charles' Christmas Day Speech, and something called Strictly Come Dancing, whatever that is.

100% Fresh Tomato rating on RottenTomatoes.com, too. Go figure.

My own take on this new Who? Basically, I like it, but I retain a few reservations. A black Doctor Who doesn't bother me. Doctor Who with a moustache? Yeah, that's pushing it a bit. Also, the first two episodes: gremlins? Who eat babies? And then followed by yet another baby episode? And episode 3 is basically an extension of the Toymaker? Essentially a primal god with powers beyond belief? I'm getting the impression that this new incarnation of Doctor Who is a little less science fiction and more fantasy. Although, it was always science fantasy to a greater or lesser extent. Then you have two episodes in a row where the Doctor gets into trouble by stepping where he shouldn’t. I mean, déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say.

So, I’m liking it, but I’m noticing the shift.

Oddball news from L.A.:

The Los Angeles area was about to get a science fiction museum over the Memorial Day Weekend, but instead they got a scandal.

There's already a sci fi museum, it's located in Seattle, Washington, but Huston Huddleston, an L.A. area native, decided to open up another one. Unfortunately, it's not going as planned. SciFi World was set to open in Santa Monica, but it's been bogged down by permitting issues with the city, and by a felony conviction of Huddleston himself.

Here's what the L.A. Times had to say about it:

"Sci-Fi World, a new “museum” that promises fans real and replica props, costumes and sets from popular films and TV shows, hosted its opening “gala” on Memorial Day in the historic former Sears building just a couple of blocks from the Santa Monica Pier.

"More than a decade in the making, the museum has drawn the interest of “Star Trek” fans worldwide thanks to its genesis story: Superfan Huston Huddleston said he salvaged a replica of the bridge from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” from a discard pile outside of a Long Beach warehouse in 2011. Huddleston, known for his fanatical devotion to science fiction and horror, launched Kickstarter campaigns to restore the prop and open a museum to house it, raising nearly $163,000 in less than two years.

"But now Huddleston, 54, has emerged as the nexus of questions swirling around the museum, which, despite the recent gala, did not actually open as scheduled. Some of those same sci-fi fans who were enthralled by the museum’s origin story have since learned that in 2018, Huddleston was convicted of misdemeanor possession of child pornography. He was required to serve 126 days in jail and three years of summary probation, complete 52 weeks of sex offender counseling and pay fines.

"In an interview with The Times, Huddleston said he knew that any association with the museum after his conviction would be toxic for an organization that hopes to attract young fans, so he gave up control of the nonprofit and its collection of film and TV ephemera to the museum’s chief executive.

"But several Sci-Fi World volunteers past and present told The Times that Huddleston remains active — if not central — in museum operations and preparations for opening. Lee Grimwade, one of the museum’s lead volunteers who quit a day before the gala, said Huddleston is "definitely 100% involved."

Just to be clear, this is the last thing we need. I mean, Huddleston has got to let this one go. He needs to watch from the sidelines. The project will probably survive and thrive without him. You know? Grab a bench.

I contacted Sci-Fi world yesterday to see if it was actually open yet, and they informed me that it still isn’t. They still need to get permits from the city. I have no idea if those permits have anything to do with Huddleston’s criminal record. But I guess we’ll find out. Maybe.

Let’s check out the interesting stuff happening in Milwaukee:

So I went down to Chicago a few weeks ago to attend the Chicago Horror Film Festival. What has that got to do with Milwaukee? Well, one of the films to be featured at that event was The Fort, which is the short film based on the short story by Alan Lastufka, the progenitor of ShortWave publishing, and former Milwaukee native. Also someone I've known for many years. I took my folding bike, hopped a train, got on the Metra and got off at Clyburn station, and biked a few blocks north-northeast, and there was the Facets Theater, one of those swanky, indie film places in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. I didn't want to stay for the whole thing, I just wanted to see The Fort and get home, and so I looked at the schedule, which was inexact, by the way. You didn't have exact film times. All you could do was look at the order of the films, divide that by the length of each film in minutes, and from there estimate the likely time the film will be shown. Well, wouldn't you know it, I timed it wrong. The Fort was actually shown just before I got there. I arrived, watched most of a short film called Collect Call, and then looked at the schedule to see when Collect Call was showing. Well, it was like the second short film after The Fort.

So I missed it. I left the theater, had lunch at a local sub shop, hopped the Metra to Ogilvie Station, and from there took the Hiawatha back to Milwaukee.

So I missed out, big doofus me, right? WRONG! My ticket got me an encore access pass which allowed me to stream most of the films that were shown. And sure enough, The Fort was one of them! (I'm sure they offer this for the sake of those attendees who wanted to see two different films that were being shown at the same time.) So I got to see it after all! It's rather good, I must say. I mean, for a 20-minute short film, it was engrossing. And I don't even like horror!

The film won two awards at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, one for best director, and one for best actor. If you get a chance later on to see The Fort, be sure to do so!

So congrats to Milwaukee native Alan Lastufka!

Well, I hate to report on this, but it is something happening in Milwaukee. The ongoing assault of Milwaukee author, Patrick Tomlinson by an assorted gang of Internet scountrolls continues. Back in January the story broke that Torswats, the fool that offers swattings for hire, had been caught. After that the number of fake calls to Milwaukee Police seemed to simmer down, so they might well have actually caught the guy. Immediately afterward, some other guy claiming to be Torswats showed up and bragged he'd never be caught. Well... who knows?

But some fake calls to the Milwaukee Police have continued. The count is somewhere in the 50's, now. And whether they count as "swattings" depends on your definition of "swatting." If you define swatting as a fake call to police and the police responding in some way, then yes, Patrick's been swatted more than 50 times. But if you define "swatting" as a fake call to police and they show up in force, that hasn't happened as much. I can only hazard a guess, but I'd say it's in the mid-30's somewhere.

However many it actually is, Patrick has had enough and has filed a lawsuit against the Milwaukee Police Department, saying that he's repeatedly been ignored when he points out how these calls are clearly fake. And yes, based on what I've seen the Milwaukee Police have been very shoddy about this. They know the calls are probably fake, but they're trying to balance responding to a call to protect the general public, and falling for yet another swatting event. But on the whole, they've responded in force far too often and far too much. So Patrick is suing, and my guess is that he'll win, because he has what looks to me like a legitimate gripe.

Meanwhile, Patrick also got booted from Penguicon. (For those who are unaware, Penguicon is a sci fi and coding hybrid convention that takes place near Detroit, Michigan. It wrapped up recently.) In a lengthy Patreon blast he outlined exactly what happened. Apparently, one of the scountrolls messaged Penguicon using Patrick's email address, which they can do because Penguicon uses an unsecured email form system. (And by the way, if you have one of those, just don't. Or at least, have one where a confirming email gets sent to the email address automatically because that allows the user to respond and say, "Hey, I didn't send this email to you. Someone's masquerading as me." But apparently Penguicon, which ostensibly is comprised of Linux users, hence the name (you know the logo of Linux is a Penguin, right?), and you'd think a bunch of Linux geeks would know better than to use an unsecured email form, I mean come on! But Penguicon got contacted by one of these scountrolls who requested to do a fake panel on some ridiculous-sounding sexual topic. You know, as ridiculous as you could get. I think it was, “Alien Crabs and Dragonpox: How STDs are depicted in SFF and why we need more sex-positive representation.” Just to gain the maximum amount of embarrassment. And Penguicon fell for it. They contacted Patrick to tell him that his panel was approved, and he responded that he didn't request a panel this year. Well, there was some back and forth, and Patrick eventually decided to come back to Penguicon, which he's often frequented, in spite of the fake panel request. But at some point after that, Penguicon decided it didn't want the heat associated with Patrick's scountrolls, and disinvited him. Apparently, there was online harassment going on with other guests and attendees, and one Guest of Honor had to withdraw due to safety concerns. So, to protect those other attendees, they went to Patrick and said, "Look, we just don't want the heat. Sorry." (Only, I get the impression that they were a little less gracious than that.)

Now, being a conrunner myself, I get it. You don't want anything that might be a disruption. But also, when you have an innocent party, you side with that person. That’s like, a cardinal rule. If harassment is taking place at a con, you side with the victim, not the perpetrator. I know I'll have to deal with the scountrolls when the Milwaukee Falcon rolls around, and I've got some safeguards in place, like everyone needs verified ID, stuff like that. But Penguicon was clearly in the wrong, here. They should never have capitulated to this. This is exactly what the scountrolls wanted. And the next convention that comes along is going to be worse off. Because these assholes now know that their tactics worked, at least once.

And apparently Penguicon was fooled by some other comments made on their entirely unsecured email form, attributing certain things to Patrick which he never wrote. And they fell for that, too! And what can I say to that except to repeat: Come on! You're computer geeks. You know better than to trust an unsecured email form.

And even that isn't the whole story. Apparently, someone put out a fake Craigslist ad telling people that a set of Adirondack chairs were available for free. So somebody responded and took the chairs, which were sitting outside unsecured, but not at the curb where one would expect such items to be picked up.

Now, you should know, this is Milwaukee's semi-upper East Side, and the young people who typically live there will collect furniture of all sorts from curbsides whether people have placed a Craigslist ad or not. If Patrick wanted to get rid of the chairs, he only needed to place them by the bins and someone would collect them in a matter of hours In fact, typically, if you put a chair or a desk out on the curb, it will be gone within 15 minutes. I used to live on Oakland Avenue just north of Brady Street, so believe me, I know! Despite all this someone just assumed the ad was legit, even though the chairs weren’t anywhere near where they were supposed to be, and made off with them.

And, this was a low-down dirty trick. Seriously. Those chairs were made from the leftover pallets Patrick had when he did a brick-paving of his back porch. And honestly, it wasn't a bad bit of carpentry considering that he used leftover materials. Hand-made, by himself, and then somebody made off with them. Because some huckster wanted a laugh. That's not much of a payoff for the crime, if you ask me.

Patrick put out his own ad notifying people of the situation and asking for the chairs back, no harm no foul. As it turns out, luck was on his side and he got the chairs back. But then fake ads went out trying to give away the bricks on his fire pit. And other items in his back yard got targeted, too. Patrick had to put out counter-ads to thwart the fake Craigslist ads. And then, on top of all that, a fake call was made to Habitat for Humanity, who collected the chairs, again even though they were NOT where they were supposed to be for a free pick-up, and again, Patrick had to get the chairs back, which thankfully, he did.

And, here again, I have to point out that this sort of thing could be solved if a confirming email were automatically sent out. Or if Habitat for Humanity verified the phone number, or something else similar. I've placed a few ads on Craigslist over the years, and the first ad gets a verification email, but after that, no other confirming emails get sent out. So some yuckster can come along, masquerade as you using your email address, and place a fake ad in your name. And again, the solution for this sort of thing is so simple!

I don't know who does cybersecurity for these things, but whoever it is, they aren't doing their job! I'm a squib when it comes to cybersecurity and hacking, and even I know not to use an unsecured contact form.

Although, in this case, it's just possible that a different email address was used. You know, one that looks kind of like the actual email, and lists the actual address, but the email is slightly different. That might have happened in this case.

In another theft-related news item, one of our friends from the Milwaukee Steampunk Society, Karl Klinger, had his penny farthing stolen. What’s a penny farthing? It’s that old-timey sort of bicycle with the enormously huge wheel in front and a much smaller wheel in back. You know, the sort that Passpartout rode in the opening scenes of the 1956 film “Around the World in 80 Days,” starring David Niven. There’s also one on display in the Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit in the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Well, who knows why it was stolen, but it was, and police were notified. Usually when a bike is stolen it’s never recovered, but this is a very unusual bicycle. Very tricky to ride, very obvious to spot. So the guy who’d stolen it noticed the news story regarding the theft, saw his own image caught on security camera, and apparently panicked. I guess he had a rap sheet as long as his arm regarding other charges the law wanted to nab him on. So he was living in hiding, the thief I mean. Why someone like that would steal an item so obvious to spot is beyond me. But when he saw the news story regarding the theft, he got afraid that his cover might be blown and, not wanting the law to come after him, he smashed the bicycle, dumped it somewhere where it would be found, and then fled out of state. Fortunately the law caught up to him and he was arrested in Arizona, I think.

So Karl was out a very unique, very expensive steampunk-themed bicycle. And we were all bummed about this. Well, Karl put out a fundraiser to get him a new penny farthing, and the fundraiser, I’m pleased to say, was successful. He needed about $2000 for a new one, his fundraiser garnered $3,000. Karl will have a new bike, and he’ll likely ride it around at the Steampunk Picnic this year.

So, a happy ending to that particular thievery story. We love our friends at the Milwaukee Steampunk Society.

Oh, and here's an interesting bit of news – I, your humble host, have self-published a book! It's currently available on both Ingram Spark and on Amazon. It's called The Scotty! And it's a string of interconnected short stories, all dealing with a particular device that turns matter into energy, and energy back into matter again, just like on Star Trek. I think you'll like it, especially if you happen to be a Trekkie.

As such, I’m going to do something a little different. I’m pouring MYSELF a Cold One!

And what can I say about myself after including myself in this segment? Well, I think it would be kind of cool for me to read a short excerpt from one of the chapters, that is short stories. This one is a story I’m especially proud of and I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

It’s called, Space Camp Europa

[Excerpt not included in transcript. Sorry, but I draw the line at AI chatbots being able to use my free sample.]

That’s all for my excerpt. If this sounds like an interesting story, you can find my book at Ingram Spark.com or on Amazon.com. 

What's next for me? Well, I'm going to focus on getting that book into as many reviewers' hands as possible and enter the book into as many contests as I can. By the way, if you’re a self-published author, especially if you live in or near the Milwaukee/Chicago corridor, I’ll do a review swap with you! Write up a review for me on Amazon, Goodreads, or both, and I’ll return the favor in kind.

It’s going to take quite a while for the book to gain word of mouth. For now, it’s just out there. Reviews won’t trickle in for a while. People could buy it if they learn about it, but chances are, they won’t even know it exists just yet, until and if I start winning a few awards here and there. And reviews start coming in which rave about the book.

It was always meant to be a slow road. And it’s an exercise in how to do marketing on your own without a major publishing company or agent. It will be an interesting learning experience for me. So, we’ll see how it goes.

But I gotta say, for a first novel, I’m really proud of how it turned out!

I do review swaps! So if you’re an indie author of sci fi or fantasy and want me to review your work in exchange for a review of mine, let me know!

It's time for the Grammar Nazi!

Hello, Mani Wotregeln here, and I'm here today to talk about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. Where on Earth did this odd phrase come from?

Well, the use of this phrase is actually backwards. In the late 1800's, the actual phrase was, "That's as impossible as pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps." And that makes sense. But after it gained popularity, people by the 1900's began using it differently. "Pulling oneself up by the bootstraps" came to mean helping yourself out in a seemingly impossible way. So, the meaning of the idiom flipped.

Isn't that interesting? So, just remember, when someone tells you to "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps," that's backwards. Tell that person it's impossible, and that he's using the phrase wrong.

Now, on to other grammar issues. Let's start with tense consistency. What this means is, if you are writing a sentence that begins in the past tense, it must remain past tense throughout. What's more, everything in your paragraph should also remain in the past tense. If you shift back and forth between past and present tense in the same paragraph or the same sentence, it looks and sounds really bad. As in, "The witch brewed the potion in her pot, then will go get more ingredients." This sounds strange because in the same sentence, it shifts from past to future tense.

Now, it's not wrong to want to change tense now and then, but if you do, make sure you start a new paragraph, and then keep the tense the same throughout.

Let's do one more: Passive voice vs. active voice. Passive voice is often considered poor writing, because it's not direct. Example, "The dog chased the cat," is direct and straightforward. It makes sense and is easy to read. On the other hand, "The cat was chased by the dog," makes it look like the cat, which is the main subject of the sentence, isn't doing anything but rather has something done to it. Sometimes that's acceptable, but in most situations, using passive voice sounds bad.

Stephen King, in his book 'On Writing,' states that a "passive voice equals timid voice—and timidity never makes for good writing."

So remember, it's always, "The man threw the rope." Never "The rope was thrown by the man."

Until next time, this is Mani Wotregeln saying "Tchuss!"

It's time for an episode of The Stupid Files!

[Dum Dum Intro]

This week Detective Monday delves into the always interesting world of science fiction reporting, something which usually has little to no reporting bias, but in this case, a clearly biased opinion has attempted to spin what would be considered by most to be good news, into negative fear-mongering. We speak of the news outlet Big, Giant Robot, whose coverage of the recent extension of the Netflix series Three Body Problem is nothing short of shameful.

[Dum Dum]

The news item is that Three Body Problem has been renewed for not only a second season, but a third season as well. And that's glorious news for science fiction fans everywhere. Unfortunately, Big Giant Robot decided to cover this joyous news item this way:

"Netflix has long had a reputation for canceling great shows right as they become mainstream hits, and it looks like that won’t be changing anytime soon. The streamer recently revealed that 3 Body Problem will be canceled after season 3."

[Dum Dum]

The article goes on to attempt at backpedaling, only to dig themselves in even deeper.

"That means that fans still have two more seasons to look forward to, but it’s not entirely clear how much of the original novels will ultimately be adapted by the show.

"At first glance, the news that Netflix has canceled 3 Body Problem after season 3 comes as something of a shock.

"After all, the first season was a genuine hit: it currently has a 79 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78 percent audience score."

[Dum Dum]

It's hard to imagine how reporting could be done so irresponsibly. Then again, we live in a truth-optional era, where so-called news outlets like Fox News and OAN continually blast untruths to a cult-infected following, completely addicted to their outrage porn. Perhaps therefore it's not surprising that such blatantly false reporting techniques would eventually bleed out into genre reporting as well.

And that concludes this episode of The Stupid Files

[Dum Dum Outro]

That’s our show, thanks for listening!