I feel like I've talked about this a lot but maybe some of you don't know that I'm riding a bike 140 miles over the course of 2 days in May to raise money for Moveable Feast of Maryland . I've been involved as a volunteer for the past several years but this is the first year I'll be riding. 140 Miles! Craziness! I've just started training in earnest for the Ride. I will be riding with the most awesome team ever, Team Atomic. (Also, my bike name for the Ride is The Spoke Wench!)

Moveable Feast is an incredible organization based in Baltimore. They provide hot meals, groceries, and nutritional counseling to homebound HIV/AIDS and breast cancer patients and their families. Moveable Feast also helps provide shuttle service to the homeless population of Baltimore, as well as providing job training and marketable skills to people who need it.

If you would like to you can make a make a secure, tax-deductible donation on my personal (and, so far, generic) page here or to Team Atomic as a whole here. Either way, the money goes to the same place, and you're supporting a great cause. And, if you’re in the area and are interested in doing the Ride, or volunteering for it, or coming to any of our many Team fundraising events in the next couple of months, email me at my profile address.

Don't know if it's been talked about anywhere, but the grapevine has it that E. Gary Gygax, father of Dungeons and Dragons and one time guest on Futurama, failed his save v. death today (or possibly yesterday). Thought the gamers on this site would want to know so they could tip one in his memory tonight.

The great Zagig is no more.

In case any Buffistas in the Eugene area are interested, I'll be presenting as part of the panel on Carbon Trading at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) [link] on Saturday, the 8th. The Carbon Trading Panel is from 10:30 -11:45 A.M.

I've put my presentation on-line in case anyone is interested. I don't think of it as a presentation on Carbon Trading. I think of it as a presentation about "How to fight global warming without screwing the poor and the middle class".

[link]

The readability of some of the tables is browser dependent. For best results run your browser full screen, then hit F11 to run the presentation full screen.

I'm sure most everyone already knows this, but (for most of us, anyway) clocks "spring forward" an hour at 2am this Sunday.

Despite technical difficulties, David Lehman, editor of "The Best American Erotic Poetry" and the "Best American Poetry" series, was an amazing guest on my Internet radio show, "The Eclectic Word." Listen to the show here.

Drollerie Press is celebrating Read an E-Book week and the release of two new stories, a full length novella and a novel from Joely Sue Burkhart in our chat room from 4pm EDT to about 5pm EDT. We're giving away books and a gift certificate to the bookshop.

[link]

x-posted with Music:

CFP: Music in the Whedonverse (collection)

From bands at The Bronze in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Angel singing karaoke at Caritas to the traditional-style fiddling and guitar playing in Firefly, music is an integral part of Joss Whedon's universes. This collection seeks essays from both established and emerging scholars on the uses of and contributions made by music in the Whedonverse. Discipline-specific and interdisciplinary views are encouraged to address issues of power, relationships, identity, gender, communication, religion, multiculturalism, sanity and madness, and other topics present in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Serenity. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

• Music and performance
• Gender/identity/race and music (including traditional identity topics as well as those of non-human characters)
• Genre representations
• Scoring for action sequences
• Music and communication
• Musical characterization
• Music and camp
• Music and transformation
• Character vocality
• The use of silence and music in unique ways
• Levels and mixing of diegesis and non-diegesis

The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2008. The collection will be published by Scarecrow Press with an anticipated publication date in 2009.

Essays should be between 7,000 and 9,000 words and follow Chicago Manual of Style format. Only electronic submissions sent in a .doc (Word) formats will be accepted. Authors are encouraged to include photographs, but will be responsible for acquiring all materials and permission for use. Please send a cover letter including the title of the essay, an abstract of not more than 200 words, an author c.v, and author biography of not more than 100 words along with the complete blind essay (author's name should not appear) to Kendra Preston Leonard at caennen_at_gmail.com.

[link]

My write-up of the Buffy Reunion at Paleyfest last night.

Hey, all! I need a basic head count of those folks who plan on attending this year's F2F in Madison. I'll be talking to the hotel today to start hammering out the details and one of those will be how large a block of rooms we can guarantee. Could those of you planning to attend pop into the F2F thread and give me a holler? Thanks much!