At 09:52 PM 2/2/01 -0600, Julia wrote:
>I've noticed that when he's into "book-signing mode", he can be oblivious
>as to who he's talking to. He didn't remember my having come through his
>line at Worldcon when Dan talked to him later. (He also gets *extremely*
>focused on his children when they're around, not seeming to notice most
>other people; that's fine. The kids are getting the attention they
>deserve from their daddy, and the youngest looks to be something of a
>handful.)
No kids around - it was late, but this makes sense. I was really shocked
at the way some people acted around him. Several people brought stacks of
five or more books for him to sign. (Presumably, their entire
collections.) At least two people had to leave during the question and
answer/book signing period, and walked right up to him and had their
picture taken. I'm sure the whole experience must be very disconcerting -
I know that it would be for me, if I was him. I was a little
disappointed, because we had emailed a couple weeks ago, and he had implied
that we would be able to "meet" afterwards - but it was impressive how many
people acted like they "knew him" (authors must get all the friends), even
though myself and a lurker were the only Brinellers there. Like I said,
though, had things ended at a reasonable hour, I am sure that things would
have been much different.
Today, Brin gave a proposal to something called "the futurist society"
about creating a "gift-catallogue" of high-profile charity items. You can
read about it at www.futurist.org .
>The voice struck me when I first saw him in 1998. I don't know how much I
>noticed the height; but I noticed that you were closer to my idea of
>"tall" when I met you, but hadn't thought to compare your height to
>Brin's. (Certainly not to *say* anything about it....) After the initial
>meeting with Brin, his height was "Brin-height" to me. You are
>"John-height" to me (for a particular value of "John").
I recognize that at 6'0, I am slightly taller to average..... thus when you
assume people like famous author to be taller than you, and end up being
shorter, it is mildly surprising. You, on the other hand, are probably
rarely surprised by people being shorter than you. :)
>I find his voice to be soothing when he's doing a reading, sometimes to
>the point of the words not all getting through, but his voice just kind of
>washing over me. (It can be very relaxing to just let someone's voice
>wash over you that way....) When he's speaking ON a topic, he's got a
>certain charisma. I find him to be fairly entertaining.
That was very true. His voice quavered a bit in the middle of a reading
as he turned pages, and it was almost like snapping out of a trance.
>> Brin was certainly a captivating speaker, and definitely left little
>> room for boredom the whole time. Most of his talk was centered around
>> "The Transparent Society," but he manged to hit upon pretty much all
>> of the themes that we have seen from him on this list: why Star Wars
>> is evil, why Star Trek is great, why impeachment was wrong, why elites
>> cannot be trusted, why Harry Potter is evil, and, of course, why the
>> Republican Party is the root of all Evil. :)
>
>Just why *is* Harry Potter evil, anyway? :)
Well, having not actually read the books, it has something to do with the
"incredible passivity." Apparently Harry Potter just takes unspeakable
torture right up the guy for 2/3rds of (an admittedly long) book, and never
utters a peep. Brin had a real problem with that. :)
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today:
to make our country more just and generous; to affirm the dignity of
our lives and every life." - George W. Bush Inaugural Address 1/20/01
