in the shadow of chernobyl

Make Room

2006-05-27T17:20:00.000Z

All sessions with H.H. were very popular (probably, but I am not sure, as a result of the adaptation of his book "make room! make room!" to cinema).

So I never managed to get close enough for a good shot.

But M. Y. (Russia) was there!

I give the magazine

2006-05-27T17:06:00.000Z

I Meet A. M. in Lisbon to give him this magazine

Orlando Furioso

2006-05-27T16:57:00.000Z

E.S. and T.M. spoke about "orlando furioso"

Photo by M. Y. (Russia)

A familiar face

2006-05-27T16:30:00.000Z

Although I have return from Kiev for more then a month now, I still have a few pictures to post.

This one has been kindly sent to me by M. Y. (Russia)

Synchrony

2006-04-27T07:19:00.000Z

Last year I could not attend a science fiction convention in Vigo (Spain) because it coincides to the day with the 250 years of the big Lisbon earthquake and I had to give some presentations in that subject.

This time the EuroCon2006 coincided with the 100 years of the big earthquake that stroke San Francisco - where I was living when the Chernobyl reactor exploded.

Do all this seems strange? No, I am just joking. (any convention for the 23th April 2009???)

Photo 1: A testimony

Photo 2: A Professor speaks about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In the background you can see the Berkeley campanile.

The return of Kondratieff

2006-04-27T07:17:00.000Z

One thing I do not feel comfortable with. Science-fiction conventions attract always a few nuts.

This conventions was probably not different from other I have attended in the past. However, since most of then were speaking in Ukrainian and have the material in Ukrainian I could not detected them easily.

This one, as far as I understand had re-rediscovered the long time series in history. Probably the "Kondratieff waves". Since history is so subjective is not difficult.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondratieff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondratiev_wave

FC on TV

2006-04-26T15:49:00.000Z

As I told before the convention managed to get some prime time in TV. Here are some snapshots I managed to get (by chance) during my usual zapping.

I just shot at every scene and here are the best pictures I got.

Photo 1: H. H. (USA/Ireland)

Photo 2: J. P. L. (France)

Photo 3: A planetary explosion (?)

Gift

2006-04-23T13:14:00.000Z

One of 2 magazines M. A. (Romania) gave me

2006-04-23T11:12:00.000Z

Quit dinner, at the hotel, after Cherenobyl

D.L. (Ireland), E.D. (USA),E.G. (USA)

About Chernobyl

2006-04-23T11:04:00.000Z

We had a session about Chernobyl (with survivers and the Chernobyl Mayor)

Photo 1: B. Y. (Russia) speaking (and our young guide-translator in the middle)

Photo 2: Film

Nominations

2006-04-23T10:20:00.000Z

The nominations, off course, where an important point in the Convention.

Some like it. Some don't

2006-04-23T10:11:00.000Z

No comments

SF from the cold

2006-04-23T10:03:00.000Z

The Russians managed to get the 1988 EuroCon.

(in 1987, Copenhagen, http://www.eurocon2007.dk/)

In the photo: M. Y. (from Russia)

The best and the worst

2006-04-23T09:51:00.000Z

I will start with the BEST and the WORSE of the 28th EuroCon.

The best was raw number of people show at the convention and the enthusiasm it was possible to "inject" in all the participants.

Several ministers spoke at the opening session, and popular figures from showbiz were present. News on local TVs spend some time speaking about the convention (Yes - I have pictures, I will show them later).

A lot of editors had they booth in the parallel book fair.

They had a very good bi-lingual daily newspaper (very professionaly printed)

Also a good point: The Chernobyl visit. Which SF fan do not want to go there?

The worst was the lack of translation. Around 90% of the presentations were given by Ukrainians, which is understandable because it was in Ukraine. Not so understandable, all of them spoke in Ukrainian [i.e. in language I have assumed is Ukrainian]. Without any available translation, I understood only 10% of the sessions.

In a session with dialog with Harry "make room, make room" Harrison all the questions were made in Ukrainian. The translations were spoken to Harry WITH THE MICROPHONE TURNED OFF.

Only after I protested aloud (translation, translation, translation,.. !!!) they change the process and turned the mike on.

Picture1: Opening ceremony.

Picture2: Daily News.

In my way to the hotel

2006-04-23T09:27:00.000Z

In the the bus, from the airport to Kiev, I found a bunch of colleagues.

Since some of them were "convention guests" they had the right to the assistance of a guide, which make the trip much more easy to us all.

Photo 1: The airport

Photo 2: Colleagues and the guide

Photo 3: Our young guide

How you can see a picture, in this blog, with a greater resolution or quality

2006-04-22T09:22:00.000Z

How can you see a picture, in this blog, with a greater resolution or quality?

Most of the cases (but not always) you can see a picture with higher resolution following the (simple) steps.

(a) Click on the picture, of the blog, with the left button of the mouse. Wait a littler while the image opens in a different environment.

(b) Now, near the upper left corner of the image click on "all sizes" (I marked with a red circle in the picture above) again with the left button.

(c) After a few seconds you will see a picture, I hope, with better quality.

For the experts:

In the top of that image you can see a few legends and links allowing you to see the images in all stored resolutions. Choose any one you like, cliking with the mouse.

Most of the cases I have, in my backups, the original files for the pictures. Those file are quit large (most of them around 2 Gigabytes) so it is out of the question to put them in the blog.

However I can send you those files in a CD or DVD or, if your mail account allows such big files, I can send it to you as an attachment. Also I can put then in an area you can access (by ftp or http), if you have a fast Internet connection (or if you have a lot of patience). Just drop me a (email) line.

Why I am writing this blog in ENGLISH

2006-04-22T09:18:00.000Z

Why am I writing this blog in ENGLISH?

My native language is Portuguese and my English is quite poor. I know that. In high school my poorest grades where always in English :-) .

However some of my friends, and most of the people I work with, can not read Portuguese. Since I can not afford the time to write a bilingual blog I am writing the blog in English. All my friends and all members of my family under 75 can read English quite well, and my blog is mainly pictures so I believe it is quit easy to read and understand.

As always I am quite happy if someone corrects my wording (or any other thing). Just contact me using the email address that can be found in the top of this page or in the blog main page.

Thanks.