Sunday, April 26, 2020

In The Future, Concerts Will Be Digital


I’m going to pause the 7Adepts for a moment – don’t worry, they’ll be back – and talk about live music, pre- and post-Covid.

First and foremost, live music is my religion and my therapy, and I have been known to do things like jump on a plane to attend a concert, by myself. Or spend four hours heading back and forth to San Jose to check out a show full of people less than half my age.

SuperM is part of my recently developed obsession with K-Pop. It’s a supergroup that includes pretty much all my favorite K-Pop singers, rappers and dancers. In January I got one of those Facebook notifications that they were playing at the SAP Center, and I impulsively went online and bought a resale ticket near the stage. Which cost me a chunk of change. 

Then I endured two hours of CalTrain, each way, and icy winter winds, heading to a show where I was among the oldest, and the whitest. But I was wearing pink, the official color of SuperM, so they accepted me.

And the show itself changed my life. I’ve still got a screenshot from it as my Facebook background, with Taemin and Kai dancing joyfully amidst a sea of glittering lightsticks. 


It moved my musical taste even farther away from cultural-capital and deeper into a more global vision. Outside my demographic and my comfort zone, with songs mostly in languages I don’t understand. Sung to prerecorded tracks, with the singers often just singing on top of their singles while they go through intense dance moves.

And they do it really, really well. Don’t ask me to articulate why I can listen to Taemin’s music over and over while Taylor Swift’s music makes me want to staple my ears shut, figuratively. Musical taste is intensely personal.

So when SuperM announced they were going to try a newfangled style of live music that was technological and futuristic, I was all about it. They were basically charging for a livestream, from Seoul, where fans in other countries could tune in at weird hours. It was less than TicketBastard used to charge me, including the approximately $700 of nonrefundables I am holding at the moment (grrr). I bought a stream for myself, and also one for my friend that I was going to see Monsta X with (see nonrefundables, above). Thirty bucks each. No service fees. A bargain. 

At eleven at night, I settled myself on the couch and tuned in. and remained there, glued to my screen, for the entire concert, plus the impromptu Q&A following it.

Lots of it worked even better than live. The camera was up close and personal, letting you examine the precision of that choreography. The sound was beautiful, giving you a clear unimpeded listen. No screaming girls, no greasy food odors, no parking lots and traffic.

The boys gave us tantalizing bits from their new project, including a song with holographic 3D tigers wandering through their choreography. They deviated sharply from their live setlist, keeping core favorites while swapping others in. Taemin did Move and Want, rather than Danger and Goodbye. It was like having them throw a show in my living room.

Other bits … it didn’t come through in HD for me, and I would have paid more to make that happen.

There was a wall of fancams, like a gigantic Zoom meeting with hundreds of participants. They tried to do a Q&A but it seemed like everyone picked had a microphone failure. There was also an awful lot of chatting, which I found endearing but others may not. I think the wall-of-fancams fans had to spend the whole show on alert, shaking their lightsticks and cheering in order to give our boys that live-concert-energy sensation. I thought about auditioning for this, but I also have a stupid tendency to freeze up in front of some celebrities. Not all of them, just the ones I really like, and Taemin could probably reduce me to a babbling idiot in a second or two, so I'm not giving him that chance.

There was a gimmicky digital lightstick effect we could access via apps on our phones; I used mine for about two minutes before deciding it was boring. But cute.

There was lots and lots of talking. I'm not sure if this is a K-Pop thing or a Super M thing, because they did it when I saw them in San Jose, and I liked seeing them talk about their work. 

Occasionally I found myself wishing they'd just pick up some instruments and jam. I know Taemin plays piano beautifully, and there are some guitar players among them. Dancing requires rest breaks and clothes changes, but music is a little more forgiving. Their rivals Monsta X just did a couple of lovely singer-and-acoustic-guitarist videos which are causing internet consternation because the guitarists are getting a lot of their own attention. Sit those boys down two or three at a time with an acoustic guitar or a piano and let them belt out covers. 

Everyone involved in putting on the show was super responsible regarding Covid-19, with temperature checks and heavy monitoring. Occasionally the dancers got a little close to each other for social distancing comfort. The boys have been quarantined together, leading to lots of fan fantasies about being in lockdown with them. I’d love to be in lockdown with them, although I’d probably spend more time playing bass for them and reading aloud from science fiction novels than flirting.

Now it’s the morning after, and I have a lovely post-live-music buzz. I went to a concert while quarantined alone in my apartment. No traffic, no service fees, nobody screaming in my ears.

On the last song, Jopping, there was a special effect that simulated a sea of lightstick-wielding audience members, and it actually brought a tear to my eye. Yes, I saw that happen once. I wonder if it will ever happen again in my lifetime.

I used to love live concerts for entirely different reasons than loving music. The chance to physically connect with the band and the other fans, and that happy interplay that goes back and forth. The spectacle of all those humans being harmonious and coordinated together in a confined space. That’s not going to happen again until there’s a vaccine.

But the idea of giving musicians positive feedback while they reinterpret their songs for you, perform them a little bit differently, engage in a dialogue … I think we can do that just fine over the interwebs. Maybe even better.

My science fiction often mentions concerts. In One Sunny Night I had a band located on different continents, giving multinational concerts by the equivalent of Zoom. In the current work, Rhonda Wray: Raptor Wrangler, the entire premise has to do with Rhonda trying to hear an exclusive (but expensive) livestream concert set on a dinosaur planet. In my short story Zagbert Welmax Didn't Kill Himself, pop bands steer the zeitgeist and chill with aliens. Last night I got a chance to see the real world catching up with my futuristic visions, and it gave me chills.

EDIT: Here's part two about the next livestream, from WayV, in which I discover (a) I was being a technoderp and the failure to see SuperM in HD was all mine; and (b) Ten is really, really good and I think he's going to be a worldwide sensation.



Friday, April 3, 2020

The Strange Tale of Ernest Legouvé

Ernest “Ernie” LeGouve is another one of the characters in my story. He’s had some heinous injuries; some low spine problems and both legs were amputated, but that doesn’t slow him much; he’s got various exoskeletons depending on which legs he wants at the moment, and he’s still a far better fighter than most.

His name is a tribute to a real person, via a reef and a ship. And a phantom island.

A phantom island appears on at least one map … but it’s not really there. Maybe it vanished. Maybe the cartographer was mistaken. I was idly reading about these while thinking about writing a portal fantasy involving an island that vanishes and reappears.

As I continued down the list, I noticed Ernest Legouve Reef.

“A reef supposedly found by the captain of the French ship, Ernest Legouvé, which is near the exact location of the fictional Lincoln Island, the main setting for Jules Verne's book The Mysterious Island …”

Mysterious Island is a classic foundational work in my genre, so my interest was piqued. The reef, which is over near New Zealand, was first reported in 1902 “by the captain of the French ship the Ernest‑Legouvé … It was searched for in 1982 and 1983 but not found, leading to it being considered a phantom island. Nevertheless, it is marked in the 2015 edition of the National Geographic Atlas of the World.  … In its location and description, the Ernest Legouve Reef could be considered the real-life approximation of the remains of the fictional "Lincoln Island" of Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island … In Verne's, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, the main characters spend a couple of days on a so-called "Gueboroar Island" (possibly Gabba Island, or Golboa), which contains many similarities with the fictional Mysterious Island. … ”

Moreover, the ship Ernest‑Legouvé, which discovered the reef, was named after a man named Ernest Legouvé. A progressive fellow who supported women’s rights, a champion fencer and an esteemed playright. Also a friend and contemporary of Jules Verne.


So … 1874. Jules Verne publishes Mysterious Island, giving the location.
1902, a ship named after Verne’s buddy Ernest discovers a reef in that location; names it after the ship.

And at least one person thinks possibly this involved a conspiracy by LeGouve to get Verne into the Académie Française.

“…Vernian scholar, William Butcher … explains that the real-life man, Ernest Legouvé (1807-1903), ‘was a friend of Verne's who promised to help putting his friend ‘on the map,’ by using the reef's coordinates and description in the novel, in exchange for access to the Académie.

“It would be a strange coincidence indeed for a reef to be discovered by a ship named after Verne's friend at coordinates that Verne wrote into a novel 30 years before the discovery, and there not be some connection. As Butcher concludes: "Just as the missing day in Around the World emerges in the most surprising places, so the Mystery of the Island is a wide-ranging one."

Therefore, I felt strongly compelled to name a character after Ernest LeGouve, just so I could write a convoluted blog post explaining why.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

I Went Outside!!!

Today I left the house.

I wore sneakers and socks, jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie. And I had a scarf to wrap around my face when humans approached too closely.

First I dropped off my laundry, using proper social distancing. The hours have been reduced to nine-to-five, and everyone in there seemed healthy. I wished them well and continued on.

To the ATM. I had a chunk of paper towel in my pocket, and I used a twist of it to wrap around my finger so I could hit buttons without contaminating myself. I got some cash for food deliveries, although most of them go by a middleman company that charges their own delivery fee.

To the drugstore! Where I was lucky enough to score a 12-pack of toilet paper. I also got some alcohol moistened glasses-cleaning cloths that come in little foil envelopes. I love these things for cleaning glasses, but I've also been using them to disinfect phones and money.

Diet Pepsi was on sale, plus I got some low-sodium taterchips because my blood pressure has been a little high lately. My doctor wanted me to get a blood pressure gauge to confirm that, so I did, but I haven't unpacked it yet. Also some Snickers bars, which I am hoarding, because if I do get sick, they're a nice digestible way to get calories down my throat. And ... some butter! It was sitting inexplicably in the dairy case so I snagged it.

I have a good supply of butter, because butter makes everything edible. Pasta, bread, frozen waffles, potatoes. I have a ton of pasta and lots of cheese and alfredo sauce. Lots of soup and Dinty Moore and Beefaroni. And Chunky Jazzy Jambalaya, which I practically lived on at my previous job, because I could nuke it in 3 minutes and have 27 minutes of lunch break left. I have lots of frozen piroshkis, and some BBQ ribs and pulled pork, and plain beef and chicken. A dozen frozen entrees and some chicken pot pies. Bread and bacon and cheese, and lots of juice concentrate. Massive amounts of La Croix and diet soda. Lots of Pop Tarts, another good energy source for the sick and feeble.

Once I pick up my laundry tomorrow I'm not coming out for a while.

After Walgreens I passed by World Wrapps. Back in the '90s World Wrapps on Chestnut Street was one of my favorite places. Originator of the Thai Chicken Wrapp, which became ubiquitous. Chicken, cucumbers, carrots, jasmine rice, peanut sauce and a spinach green tortilla, all rolled up burrito style. It faded away like many other good restaurants. Don't even get me started.

During the beginning of 2020, when everything was magical and I had a shiny new job and marvelous restaurants were opening all around me and I thought life was going to be just peachy for a while, I was walking down Chestnut Street and -- OMG! -- the place that used to be all rustic in decor where they sold tiny cheeseburgers and elaborate salads was being replaced by a new incarnation of World Wrapps!! With a new and improved menu! As in, I can get Indian, Korean, Thai and Japanese style wrapps in there now. Which I did, with very little encouragement. Plus they have Mexican style. And even Hawaiian style, although I can't handle the onions and garlic in that one.

I still remember the night I was walking down Chestnut where I happened to walk in when they were having a dry run, and serving everything on the menu -- free. And I had my first Thai Chicken Wrapp in 20 years. And then suddenly ... bang, pandemic. What a great time to open a new restaurant. They are still serving takeout, and I ordered some from them last week.

I'm trying to get delivery from the restaurants while they're offering it, because they're hurting a lot. My job's okay, but a lot of people are on shaky ground and I feel terrible about it. Planning to spend my stimulus check on art from my artist friends.

So anyway, I walked past World Wrapps ... and past all the retail shops that were shuttered. Some boarded up. I decided to get a burger at the new place up the street, and everyone was socially distancing, with tape Xs on the ground for us to stand on as we waited. It was weird seeing other human beings.

San Francisco is doing very well in the "staying at home" competition, or so I've heard. It felt like a ghost town out there, with nobody loitering or lingering.

Once I got home I took off my clothes and put them in Contamination Corner. I unbagged the groceries and put the bags, and the new toiletpaper, in another Contamination area. I put the butter in its own isolated region in the fridge; won't be touching it for a while. The new alcohol wipes and blood pressure thingy and candybars went into a pile where they will sit for a few days. I took a shower, washing my hands and face with lots of soap. I could improve this routine by removing my shoes at the door, wearing a mask and so on, and I expect I will be doing all of that in the future.





Monday, March 30, 2020

Two Weeks of Isolation

It's probably a safe guess I don't have coronavirus. I've been in the house two full weeks, having minimal human contact with food delivery people while interacting with the world over the internet.

I'm getting lots of productive work done in my home office, but I had to swap out chairs. I was getting a horrible backache from the chair that was in there, and it occurred to me that it'll be May before I can get a massage. Because the City of SF has locked us down until May, at this point.

Tomorrow I'm going to venture out to the Chinese laundry on the other side of my block. It'll be weird being outside. I also think I'm going to get a cheeseburger at Steak and Shake -- to go, of course. With social distancing. And I don't have a mask but I have a bandanna to remind me to keep my paws off my own face until I've showered.

I hope the laundry lady hasn't been having any problems with prejudiced idiots.

I'm still symptom-free. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a dreaded asymptomatic carrier. Often I wonder whether I already had it, since I had a dry cough earlier this year that lingered for a few weeks and cleared up before I started my new job.

Some of my Facebook friends have it, or are in the process of getting over it. They give me hope.


Sunday, March 29, 2020

New To Staying Inside? Let Me Offer Some Suggestions

I’m a hermit from way back. I went through a period of immune issues which convinced me that nirvana had more to do with staying inside getting groceries delivered than interacting with other people. I’m still convinced. I did lots of traveling last year, and while I really enjoy room service breakfast, I’m far happier in my grungy apartment, where all my favorite stuff is within easy reach.

I also live in a place that is very expensive. I used to joke with an ex-roommate that just going outside in my neighborhood costs you at least $100 … grab some food or a beer or a movie, stop by the convenience store, oh hey cupcakes, and there you are, $100 poorer. Sometimes you can safely go outside and walk around in the atmospheric fog around here without spending big bucks, and sometimes I give myself allowance for a $30 pub burger. But unless I’m focused on the aesthetic it’s usually easier to go home and make my own damn burger.

Also, the harsh reality is that I don’t get along with most people. There are certain specific places where I get along with most people (Ween concerts, science fiction conventions, law offices) but there are other places where people who don’t like books/music occasionally get in, and I’m usually at a total loss with those types. That’s why I moved to San Francisco, which is a haven for people who don’t get along with most people due to their different sexual orientation or gender inclination or political affiliation or visual aesthetic. Or it used to be, until the internet happened, and weirdness became generally scattered all over the planet, which is probably a good thing.

So I’m pretty good at avoiding the masses, even though I live in a tourist trap where I (used to) hear tourguides lecturing busloads of visitors cruising past my house regularly. Here’s what works for me.

Grocery Delivery

This is important. I started doing grocery delivery when I had a bad autoimmune attack and couldn’t eat most things without getting a flare up of belly pain and bloating and other unpleasant symptoms. At the time my dietary triggers included wheat, sugar and dairy. Go ahead, walk into any American grocery store and tell me where they keep the wheat-sugar-dairy products, I’ll wait. It was easier to just pay someone else to go shopping for me, from a list, to make sure no impulse buying of wheat-sugar-dairy occurred.

I started going to grocery stores again last year, when I was unemployed, and spending half a day puttering around with my personal cart was a soothing distraction. I’m over that. Instacart is back in my life.

Some tricks with grocery delivery: order a little more than you need, in case something’s out. Do minor stockpiling of things like toothpaste … yes, and TP, I’ve got enough to last me through April. Give your shopper some idea of what to substitute if everything’s out.

Read E-Books

They don’t harm trees. You can shop for them without going outside. You can read them on your Kindle, your tablet, your regular computer, your phone. I’ve written several just for you, and more will be flowing. You can even get e-comics now. Indulge yourself.

Other E-Media

You probably already know about Netflix and Amazon Prime, but consider things like podcasts and Twitch streams and other platforms you’re not that familiar with. I don’t actually do this myself, because I’m good with e-books/writing/socialmedia/occasional video games, but other people have different media needs.

Online Games

I haven’t touched WoW lately. Once I got unemployed I had to start spending my time leveling my “Charon” character so I could get her into a good guild and resume the flow of gold. I still have a full stable of leveled-up characters that I should work on someday, and an impressive array of battle pets too. Online games are great for getting you through periods of your life where you have no idea what to do. Not a problem – go be somebody else until you figure it out.

Offline Games

Some games are more about getting lost in your own marvelous creations, like The Sims. While occasional online games like Minecraft allow you to do this collaboratively, sometimes it’s fun to just fill a blank sheet of paper full of scribbles, or nurture your fake athletes-warriors-adventurers to the height of success.

Play Music

Now is the time to learn musical instruments. I’ve been picking up my guitars again, after spending a decade ignoring them.

Online College

I just signed up to do a business degree! Let’s see if I finish it (unlike my degrees in music, psych, literature, audio engineering, paralegal, et al.) – I’m actually more interested because it could help me do my current job better.

Write Stories

This is the main thing I do. It might be unfamiliar to you, but you can still try your hand at something new. Maybe some fanfic about your favorite characters from some other property – with names changed to protect the innocent.

Arts and Crafts

Needlework does it for me. Maybe you're more into crochet or leatherwork or beads or any of a number of artsy things that can be done. Go ahead, decorate your world.