Magic Times Three

March 23, 2017 at 7:35 pm

If you’re a fan of magic, we have some great shows in store for you these next few months, right here in ~~River City~~ Santa Fe.

First up, at the Jean Cocteau, the amazing FRANCIS MENOTTI will be returning for three more shows. Francis is the guy who stumped Penn & Teller, and he’ll be performing the “stumper” for us as well, along with a host of other tricks, on Friday April 21 and Saturday, April 22.

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Next up, all the way from Down Under, will be a pair of young Aussie lads who call themselves… yes… THE NAKED MAGICIANS! The Jean Cocteau is co-sponsoring this one with the Lensic, since our stage is way too small (and way too close) to hold an act as… revealing… as the Naked Magicians. The Lensic, with its big auditorium and huge stage, will do just fine.

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The boys from down under will be in town for ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY on Tuesday, May 30. For tickets, you will need to go to the Lensic website at http://tickets.ticketssantafe.org/single/EventDetail.aspx?p=3965

Last, but far from least, one of our favorites returns to the Jean Cocteau for her third time: MISTY LEE, straight from LA’s famous Magic Castle. Catch her at the JCC June 9-10, for three shows.

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For this visit, Misty has promised to STAB an audience member!

Tickets for Misty Lee and Francis Menotti can be purchased from the Jean Cocteau Cinema website, at http://jeancocteaucinema.com/

Don’t miss you, or we’ll turn you into a toad!

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, magic

Lovecraft in the Land of Enchantment

March 21, 2017 at 12:47 am

We had a great time last week when H.P. Lovecraft returned from the grave to visit us here in the Land of ~~Yig~~ Enchantment.

If you missed it — shame on you — well, it turns out that HPL recorded a couple of segments of his “Ask Lovecraft” YouTube series while he was here in town.

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Seeing HPL at Meow Wolf was especially fun, since there are a couple of… ahem… decidedly Lovecraftian touches to be found in the House of Eternal Return.

If you ever get a chance to see Leeman Kessler perform as HPL, do catch him. It’s the next best thing to a shuggoth on your doorstep.

Tags: comedy, horror, meow wolf, santa fe

Wild Cards Gets Wilder

March 20, 2017 at 6:25 pm

A couple of cool new additions to our Wild Cards website went up today.

On the blog, John Jos. Miller talks about gaming in the Wild Cards universe… and his own life story. Check it out at: http://www.wildcardsworld.com/the-secret-origins-of-the-wild-card-universe/

And over in our video section, our own March Madness… in August. Which is to say, the highlights from the Wild Cards Cage Matches from MidAmericon II:

http://www.wildcardsworld.com/wild-cards-media/

((The Amazing Bubbles still insists that she was robbed)).

Tags: comedy, wild cards, worldcon

Bad Journalism

March 19, 2017 at 1:03 pm

I am no fan of what passes for journalism on the internet, but I’ve got to admit, I have been taken aback by the sheer amount of bullshit that’s been proliferating all over the web about our Stagecoach Foundation initiative… some of it posted on what I would have previously regarded as reputable news outlets with familiar names, but almost all of it off-base and, well… wrong.

There seems to be some sort of grotesque echo chamber effect going on here. These stories are not only full of errors, but they are the same errors. Rather than checking facts with the primary sources, the writers here (I will not call them ‘reporters’) are just copying from one another.

When I was in journalism school at Northwestern, we were drilled in the head every day with Joseph Pulitzer’s famous maxim, “Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.” That seems to have gone out of favor, at least on the internet.

Instead I am put in mind of Jonathan Swift, who said, “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.”

So please allow me to come limping up long enough to say:
— the Stagecoach building is not 30,000 square feet. Someone pulled that number out of their ass, and dozens of other reports have repeated it. That’s a rough approximate figure for MEOW WOLF, an entirely different place on the other side of Santa Fe. The Stagecoach building is perhaps a third that size,
— I did not “build” Stagecoach. David Weininger did that in 1999, as the headquarters for his compnay, Daylight Chemical Information Systems,
— I am not “opening a film studio.” Stagecoach is a non-profit foundation dedicated to bringing more film and television production to Santa Fe, it is not a film studio,
— there are no sound stages at Stagecoach (though there are several here in town, at the Santa Fe Studios and the Greer Garson Studios). It’s an office building, and will be used primarily for pre- and post-production purposes,
— I am not going to be “running” a foundation, much less a studio. That task I’ve given to a dynamic young lady named Marisa X. Jimenez, who helped open Santa Fe Studios here in town, and who will have total charge of the day-to-day operations of Stagecoach, under a board of directors.

If there are any real journalists out there who would like to do an accurate story about the Stagecoach Foundation and our plans for it, Marisa is the person to contact, at Marisa@stagecoachfdn.org. She’ll be glad to send you our press release and answer your questions. In the meantime, hey, can people please stop making shit up?

Tags: internet, journalism, stagecoach foundation

Meow Wolf at One

March 18, 2017 at 4:54 pm

Meow Wolf celebrates its first anniversary today.

What an amazing year it’s been.

When we opened on March 18, 2016, the hope was that we would draw 100,000 visitors to the attraction annually. Instead Meow Wolf drew more than 400,000 visitors during its first year, and became one of Santa Fe’s leading attractions, revitalizing an entire neighborhood.

https://meowwolf.com/2017/03/first-year-numbers-post/

If you haven’t been yet, you really don’t know what you’re missing.

And rest assured… the best is yet to come.

Tags: meow wolf, santa fe

March Madness

March 18, 2017 at 3:57 pm

No, I’m not talking about basketball. I’m a football guy, mostly. A little baseball on the side. But I don’t follow basketball, or hockey, or soccer, or tennis, or golf.

My own March has been pretty damned mad, however. Hard to believe half the month is gone already.

We had two great nights at the JCC with Leeman Kessler and ASK LOVECRAFT. His YouTube videos are a lot of fun, but he’s even better in person. If you have a chance to see him at a con, don’t miss it. Some of his bits are funny, but he also has moments (as HPL) that are moving and profound.

The HAP & LEONARD premiere was also terrific. It’s always great to see Joe Lansdale, and the second season of the show looks to be even better than the first.

And of course on Tuesday we brought together the Santa Fe film community up on the hill, and rolled out the Stagecoach Foundation. That was exciting as well.

(Though I have to confess, reading some of the various reports about Stagecoach on line makes me want to bang my head against the desk and bewail what passes for journalism in this age of the internet. Back when I was a journalism student at Northwestern, some of these clowns would have gotten themselves a “Medill F.” They don’t even get basic facts right. mutter mutter mutter)

Besides all that, there’s been the huge new Wild Cards deal, the Wild Cards reread, lots of stuff with HBO that I cannot talk about yet, and of course — always, always — WINDS OF WINTER.

So much to do. And the days go by so quickly. I love my work, all my work, all my projects, all my children, but sometimes it seems as if the harder I work, the further behind I get.

Maybe things will calm down soon. But I am not holding my breath.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, the writing life

Stagecoach Rolls Out

March 16, 2017 at 3:31 pm

Now it can be told.

On Tuesday everybody who is anybody in the Santa Fe film community gathered up the hill at the former headquarters of the Daylight Chemical Information Systems for the official rollout of the Stagecoach Foundation, dedicated to bring more film and television production to the City Different and the Land of Enchantment. We’re very excited.

Stagecoach will be a non-profit foundation. Our dream is to bring more jobs to the people of Santa Fe, and to help train the young people of the city for careers in the entertainment industry, through internships, mentoring, and education.

Once upon a time, before airplanes, before railroads, it was the stagecoachs that brought people to Santa Fe. Our hope is that Stagecoach will do the same.

And none of this would be possible without the generosity and visions of the late David Weininger, who passed away in November… but whose legacy will live on.

Tags: charity, santa fe, television and film

The Clock Is Ticking

March 15, 2017 at 3:39 pm

Hugo nominations need to be in before March 18.

Only a few days left to let your voice be heard.

This is fandom’s own award, the oldest and most prestigious of my myriad awards for science fiction and fantasy… but it is only as important as we make it.

You don’t have to nominate in every category, or fill every slot… but if you’re read any books or stories that you liked last year, or watched any television and film, you should be part of this.

Go ye forth and NOMINATE.

Tags: hugo awards, worldcon, writing

HPL at the JCC

March 12, 2017 at 4:14 pm

Yes, it is true.

That which is dead does not eternal lie, and with strange decades even HOWARD PHILLIPS LOVECRAFT may rise!

And we’ll have him Thursday and Friday at the Jean Cocteau Cinema

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Learn the secrets the Mad Arab knew, and gaze into the face of Azathoth, the blind idiot god at the center of our universe.

And have some popcorn too! It comes to us strait from Leng!

Tags: jean cocteau cinema

How Many Seasons?

March 12, 2017 at 1:11 am

Here we go again.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY is doing a big double-issue about GAME OF THRONES. Four gorgeous variant covers (collect them all, kids!), and pages and pages of material… including a sidebar feature about how long the series will run.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/11/game-thrones-end

This discussion is nothing new, of course. I get asked similar questions every time I make a public appearance, do an interview, or walk a red carpet. My usual answer is a variant on, "I don't know how many seasons the show will run."

I don't know. No one knows.

This is Hollywood, friends. As William Goldman wrote in ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, in Hollywood "nobody knows anything."

I do know that David & Dan have stated in interviews that they see the show winding up in seven seasons. People send me emails about that every time I say "I don't know" in response to the question, as if I were somehow unaware of what D&D have said. I'm not.

I also know that HBO wants the series to run longer than that. I have known that since the very beginning… well, actually, since the day after the second episode of season one aired, when I had lunch with one of HBO's top execs, who told me, "We want this to run ten years." I allowed that ten years sounded fine to me. I continue to hear similar sentiments from HBO every time I have meeting with them, be it in LA or New York.

And it should be pointed out that neither ten seasons or even seven is locked in. Right now, GAME OF THRONES is guaranteed only six seasons. That's all HBO has officially committed to, by contract. We can speculate about additional seasons beyond that, but that's all it is, speculation. A lot of things can happen between now and season seven, or eight, or nine, things that cannot be anticipated. Believe me, I've been there. I was on staff on an hour-long TV series that was pulled off the air and retooled as a half-hour show. I was on staff on another show that could easily have run five, six seasons… until our lead actress left, and took most of our audience with her. I had a pilot that was so hot that the network ordered six back-up scripts and all but guaranteed us a midseason slot… but without an actual production order, that meant nothing when the network underwent some big personnel changes, and new people came in.

I am not saying that any of these things will happen with GAME OF THRONES. But they could. Weird stuff happens in television, and there are sooooo many factors involved. Budgets. Actors' contracts. New shows in development. Ratings (though HBO does not weigh ratings as heavily as the broadcast networks, that does not mean they are unaware of them). Awards.

HBO usually renews their shows for one season at a time. It was very unusual, last year, when they stepped up soon after the season four debut to order both season five and season six. Bloggers and journalists can speculate as they please, but none of it will mean anything until next year, when season six begins to air. Around the time that the second episode of season six is showing, HBO will order season seven, we hope… or maybe, just maybe, they will order seasons seven AND eight. But even if they just order season seven, that doesn't mean that the show will end in seven; it could just represent a return to the original policy of committing to only one season at a time.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying what I said to begin with: no one knows.

I see that this new crop of stories also raises, once again, the notion of concluding the series with one or more feature films. And in some of these stories, once again, this idea is wrongly attributed to me. Let me state, yet again, that while I love this idea, it did NOT originate with me. It was a notion suggested to me, which I have enthusiastically endorsed… but since I was the first person to raise the possibility in public, somehow I am being seen as its father.

Sure, I love the idea. Why not? What fantasist would not love the idea of going out with an epic hundred million feature film? And the recent success of the IMAX experience shows that the audience is there for such a movie. If we build it, they will come. But will we build it? I have no bloody idea.

As we go forward, I expect I will have a voice in all these decisions. But mine will only be one voice among many, and there are all sorts of other factors that can come into play. I will say, I am incredibly fortunate in having partners like HBO, and David Benioff and Dan Weiss. Seven seasons, ten seasons, with or without one or two feature films… in the end, all that matters is that we tell a great story, with a great end.

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Tags: game of thrones, hbo

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