Back in January, when I was in London with Lin, we were lucky enough to attend an after-show party of Mother Goose, the Panto with Ian McKellan. It was a ton of fun and on the way home, Lin asked me if I didn’t miss it. I replied that I did, but I really didn’t want to go back to it full-time. It was fine to enjoy it piecemeal, every now and again.
Continue reading “Comic Con Baltics – 2023 Edition”
We needed a vacation, this much was certain. So far, we’d been having a summer of uncertainties. We had been looking for a place to buy, but prices were soaring, way above what they should have been, so we were stuck in a holding pattern there. Rasa was working on finishing the details for her defense of her dissertation and Monki had graduated from first grade, but now we were looking at different summer camps and things for her to keep her occupied for the summer.
Continue reading “Šventoji – Summer 2023 – Part 1”
Day 7 – June 30
Thursday was the last day we had anything planned or pre-booked. Today’s adventures were a boat ride to explore the “Jurassic Coast” and then meeting up with Rasa’s colleague Dai and his wife. The boat was leaving from Poole, a little bit further along the coast than Bournemouth (where we had been a few days earlier and where we would be meeting up with Dai) and since it had a precise departure time, so did we.
Day 5 – June 28
Tuesday, after Legoland, was supposed to be a rest day. In our planning, we knew we’d have been going strong for several days, sleeping in four different places in 5 nights, and so we figured that we’d take it easy before heading off to Peppa Pig world on Wednesday.
Except…
Prologue
Back in February or March, Rasa was informed of a conference in her field coming up in Manchester, England at the end of June. We talked it over and decided it would be a good idea to go. It would be her first in-person conference as a PhD student (due to the pandemic) and was scheduled to include a number of big names in her field as participants, including her unofficial supervisor (whom she would be able to meet in person for the first time).
My time working on Comic-Con Baltics 2022 started with working on Comic-Con Baltics 2020, when I interviewed RJ Mitte to announce his attendance. Of course, then COVID hit and everything was postponed.
Then postponed again. And again.
Continue reading “Comic Con Baltics 2022”
I decided to take it easy on myself this week and chose what I think is going to be a simple question to answer. Now the question is how well did I do?
Day OneThis year, our joint birthdays started on Saturday the 10th of July. Since we had booked a trip away to start on the 12th, and since Monki wanted a party of some sort, we decided to do it on the Saturday before. Rasa got a Barbie cake and we invited most everyone Monki knew to come and help her celebrate. Continue reading “Birthdays: 2021 Edition”
“What is art?”
“I can’t explain it, but I know it when I see it.”
It’s an old joke, to be sure, but it’s kinda true, especially for me. I know very little about art, especially intrinsically. What I mean is that everything I do know, I’ve had to seek out and learn on my own. I have no built-in sense of the technicalities of art beyond the most basics. I think this is partially true because I have no artistic abilities, pretty much at all. When I was directing my short film some 25 years ago, I tried my hand at doing storyboards and they ended up looking like anemic stick figures. Even longer ago than that, I tried to teach myself special effects make-up* (thanks to Tom Savini’s seminal books) and was so excited when the sculpture that took me days to finish looked vaguely like a cat person (which, to be clear, was actually my goal). Continue reading “Who are your favorite artists?”
Jan 28 – Home I’m Darling
Tuesday morning I was up bright and early. Lin once again made fried egg and bacon sandwiches and we joked about the reviews I would leave regarding her hospitality. Truth be told, she was an amazing host. She took absolutely great care of me and Cecil, her wonderful cat, even slept with me a couple of the nights (and the less said about the hardness of the fold out bed, the better). Continue reading “Home, I’m Darling – Day 7 London 2020”
Jan 27 – The History Boys
Monday was my last full day of this trip and there was still some shopping I wanted to do. To that end, I arranged to meet my friend Tim at Forbidden Planet, just in case there was something I wanted to get. Turns out there was. I ended up picking up a really cool Spider-Man journal for notes and writing and then, when Tim showed up, had a fun time showing him around the place. Continue reading “The History Boys – Day 6 London 2020”
Jan 26 – Vagina Monologues
Sunday was the one day I didn’t have any shows planned. We’d thought about trying to get tickets for something else, but the only things available for Sunday were outrageously (for us at least) expensive. This left us open for other endeavors and without any time constraints.
First up was meeting with friends from Lithuania. Continue reading “The Vagina Monologues – Day 5 London 2020”
Jan 25 – A Delicate Balance
One of the nice things about visiting London is seeing friends. There are a number of folks I know on the Island and whenever I can, it’s always nice to see them. So once I knew the dates and schedules, I began making plans. Continue reading “A Delicate Balance – Day 4 London 2020”
Jan 24 – Death and the Maiden
I get up early. Can’t help it. No matter when I go to bed, I still wake up early. Even if I go back to sleep, waking up early is a bane of my existence. In this case, it was fine, in that I was able to chat with Rasa and Monki before Lin woke up. But when that was over, it also meant I was up for a while until Lin woke up. So I watched some TV and read a bit. It wasn’t an issue, since we had planned for this, having booked the afternoon tour at the Highgate Cemetery. Continue reading “Death and the Maiden – Day 3 London 2020”
Jan 23 – Night of the (Los) Iguana
Of all the days I was going to be in London, this was the only one Lin was actually working. In a practical sense, what this meant was that she was up and out of the house early, leaving me to fend for myself. So since I was on vacation, I lounged around for a bit, made myself some breakfast, and called Rasa and Monki. All of which took me to about 9:30am. When I relax I really relax, huh? Continue reading “Night of the Iguana – Day 2 London 2020”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 