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Welcome to The Genre Traveler! Please sign up using the form to the right so that you'll get all the latest updates to the site. You also might want to sign up for the RSS feed, which you can do via email or your favorite RSS Reader. My computer crashed on Friday, taking half my email and a chunk of treasured photos of my dog with it. My husband worked diligently for 5 days trying to get it to run again. Finally, yesterday I was able to access my email and files. However, now my browser, Safari, will not allow me to access secure URLs, such as my blogger account.

So, my husband spent all night re-installing the OS and, still, Safari will not let me get to secure websites. However, IE will. One thing, though. I can't see any of my queued posts. I think I had a few posts lined up to publish this week, but I can't see them. So I can't poste them.

Arg! I'm so frustrated. This ruins my whole blogging ability and experience.

I really need a new computer. This one was purchased in 1998 and is being pushed to run a modern OS.

The darn thing is, I'm between jobs and my side businesses are not taking off like they should.

I'm really bummed. I'm totally passionate about the potential of The Genre Traveler. I truly believe it can offer a valuable -- and much needed -- service, but I need funds in order to grow it. That is, in part, why I launched the Photo Contest. That, and I really wanted to give back to the community. Readers chose Clarion West as the charity, but only two people have entered the contest.

So, have two options:

1) Extend the deadline and hope that will get people to enter.

2) Cancel the contest and refund the entrants' money.

I'll probably end up doing both. But then, again, people could just be procrastinating to the last minute ...

Thanks for letting me share. I'll probably be back to my chipper self in no time.

ASIFA-Hollywood is hosting the Stop-Mo Expo at Woodbury University in Burbank, Calif., this Saturday, April 21, 2007. This event celebrates the art of stop motion, the technique of animating the inanimate.

Although, with the advent of CGI effects, stop-motion seems like a dying art, it does have its charm. I'll always love the movies I grew up with such as the Sinbad movies that Ray Harryhausen did the stop-motion effects for. Today, the technique is mostly used to create a certain look, as in The Nightmare Before Christmas or Wallace & Gromit.

Anyway, if you're in the area you might want to check out this daylong event featuring screenings, special guests, guest speakers, panels and vendors. According to its website, www.asifa-hollywood.org, a "stop motion animation jam" will take place all day long.

Note: most of the links on their website download PDFs.

DETAILS

What: Stop-Mo Expo

Where:
Woodbury University
7500 Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91510

When: Saturday, April 21, 2007

If you're a fan of the original Star Trek, and will be in New Mexico on April 27, you're invited to attend a public memorial for James Doohan, the man who played Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott.

Doohan died two years ago at the age of 85 and on April 28 his cremated remains will be launched into space, in some way joining Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, whose remains were put into orbit in 1997 by the same private space service, Space Services Inc.

"It would be great to see all of Jimmy's fans out at the memorial and launch," said Wende C. Doohan, the widow of James Doohan, according to the official Star Trek Web site. "Jimmy would be very pleased for his fans to be around him at his send-off."

For specific details, visit StarTrek.com. If you plan to go, be sure to RSVP online by April 21. Event organizers, who are arranging public viewing areas for the launch at Spaceport America, will need to know how many people to accommodate.

Ah! The perfect accompaniment to cocktails -- poop, slime and other gross things. If you're a science fan, here's an event you might want to attend, if you happen to be in the Orlando, Fla., neighborhood this Friday.

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Remember the Coffin Lady? She was featured in the October 2006 issue of The Genre Traveler. Well she sent me an email last night to tell me about a friend of hers who will be on (has already been on?) Good Morning America today.

The friend's name is Jill Testa and she has a unique product line: coffins for wedding rings from dead marriages. Check out the About page -- its an interesting story.

For more information: www.weddingringcoffin.com.