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Earlier Entries: 2012, 2011, 2005-2010. See also Fred's APA-L Zines for older info.
April 2013
On April 4, Sherry took Fred to Dr. Yvonne Arafiles, dentist in Panorama City, to get his teeth cleaned. She found a missing filling, so they made an appointment to have it replaced. They went to Big Jim's Restaurant & Bar in Sun Valley for lunch, where Fred had a burrito especial. On April 6, Sherry took Fred to the Burbank Center AMC 16 to see Oz the Great And Powerful. The VFX were impressive, but James Franco played Oz as such a negative character that it was impossible to really like the movie. Afterward they went to the Burbank Home Town Buffet for lunch. On April 24, Sherry took Fred to Best Buy in Sherman Oaks to get a new computer since his existing one was six years old. The Best Buy was in the same shopping mall as Solley's Deli, so they went to lunch there afterwards. On April 25, Sherry took Fred to Dr. Arafiles to get his filling replaced, then to Big Jim's Restaurant & Bar in Sun Valley for lunch. Fred found that not all his files had been transferred from his old computer to his new, so on April 27 Sherry took him back to Best Buy to have his new computer updated. Afterwards they went to lunch at Solley's Deli again.
March 2013
During March, the RainFurrest 2013 convention began to publicize that Fred would be its Fandom Guest of Honor (in absentia). On March 9, Sherry took Fred to see the "Illustrating Modern Life" exhibition at Pepperdine University in Malibu. This was Fred's first visit to the University. Fred had previously reviewed the catalogue of the exhibition and wanted to see the original paintings. The Pepperdine campus was very beautiful. The exhibit was on two floors in the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art. The paintings, mostly 1890 to 1940 cover paintings for such popular magazines as Collier's Weekly, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post by such artists as N. C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, and J. C. Leydendecker, were extremely impressive. The catalogue reproductions were mostly the same size, while the original paintings were all sizes from about postcard size to gigantic As they left, Fred & Sherry discovered another gallery while looking for the Cultural Arts Center restroom; the Mallmann collection of decorated hand fans, mostly of ivory painted in Oriental motifs. On March 11, Sherry took Fred to the Burbank Center AMC 16 to see Jack the Giant Slayer, but the theater had changed its schedule without warning, so they went back to Sherry's apartment where Fred watched a DVD of the Indian animated feature Roadside Romeo, in Hindi with English subtitles.
On March 14, Fred agreed to write a new weekly column on animation, Funny Animals and More, for Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research website. On March 18, Sherry and Fred returned to the Burbank Center AMC 16 and enjoyed Jack the Giant Slayer successfully (its main problem is that it's Too Long), followed by going to lunch at the Home Town Buffet in Burbank, which has a larger menu than the HTB in Van Nuys. On March 20, Fred and Sherry went to the UCRiverside Library, where Fred did research into the history of s-f fanzines. On March 28, Sherry took Fred to the Burbank Center AMC 16 theater to see The Croods, which he had gotten the art book to review the day before, Afterwards they went to lunch at the Burbank Home Town Buffet. On March 30, Sherry took Fred for a day at Wondercon at the Anaheim Convention Center. First they had a very good lunch at the Marriott's Cafe del Sol restaurant. They had barely gotten their registration badges when Fred met a couple of old friends; Larry Lau from ASIFA-Hollywood, and Rod O'Riley from lots of Furry places. Fred did not get anything this year, but he talked with two publishers that had been ignoring his requests for review books, and hopefully he will be added to their review lists. Sherry got some bracelets. Wondercon was much more pleasant this year without any rain. They were ready for dinner before the Marriott restaurant opened for it, so they ate in the hotel's Degrees patio bar instead. Greg Koudoulian came by while they were eating and gave Fred a book.
February 2013
On February 2, Fred's sister Sherry got a telephone call from Saddleback Hospital about their mother, who was 100 years old last September. She had fallen at home, could not get up, and called the paramedics on her cell phone. She was all right, but the hospital did not want to release her to return to living alone. Both Fred and his sister, and now lots of medical personnel have been arguing that she is too old to live alone, so she finally agreed to sell her house and move into assisted living. On February 7, Sherry again brought Fred to her apartment for a takeout Cajun dinner, and then to the monthly CAPS meeting, where they listened to a discussion on freelance comic book publishing practices and toured a gallery exhibit of art owned by member Bob Foster (mostly non-comics landscape paintings, though with one late 1970s watercolor by Carl Barks of funny-animal non-Disney ducks).
Fred did not leave the hospital on any other outings during February (another trip to the UCR Library was cancelled), due to Sherry's need to spend time getting their mother moved into assisted living in Laguna Hills.
January 2013
On January 2, Sherry took Fred to the IKEA restaurant at Burbank Center for an early lunch, followed by seeing Jack Reacher at the AMC 16 theater. Good, but the novel One Shot is better. On January 5, Fred and Sherry spent all day at the Animé L.A. 9 convention at the LAX Marriott Hotel. The convention was fun, but it was incredibly crowded and they had trouble pushing Fred's wheelchair through the crowds. Committee chairman Chaz Baden later said that 5,001 attendance badges were issued this year, compared with 1,100 at the average Loscon at the same hotel. On January 10, Sherry brought Fred to her apartment for a takeout Cajun dinner, followed by attending the monthly CAPS meeting in Burbank to see a presentation by "Paul Roman Martinez, author-artist of a web comic turned graphic novel, The Adventures of the 19XX, an Art Deco-influenced "Dieselpunk" comic with a healthy merchandising program. We'll learn about how he builds his worlds, and how he builds his income." Too much emphasis on how he gets funded through Kickstarter. On January 17, Sherry took Fred to Valley Presbyterian Hospital for a 11:00 a.m. heart stress test, but the hospital had finished giving stress tests for the day. The test was rescheduled for the following week. Fred & Sherry went to lunch at the HomeTown Buffet in Van Nuys.
On January 20, Sherry and Fred went to the Laemmle Playhouse in Encino to see The Rabbi's Cat, in French with English subtitles (very witty and original), followed by lunch at Solley's Deli. On January 22, they returned earlier to Valley Presbyterian Hospital for the heart stress test, which took all morning, followed by a bacon cheeseburger at McDonald's.
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