Epic Bloggery

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2011-05-27T14:20:00.001-07:00

Last night E and I went to see Cave of Forgotten Dreams at a new theatre in Austin.

If you haven't heard about the film yet, here's the rundown: Werner Herzog was given permission to film in the Chauvet Cave, which was (re)discovered in 1994 and contains cave paintings which are mind-boggilingly old. (You can explore the cave online here.) Herzog combined this footage with interviews and some truly stunning aerial footage of the area to create the movie. The Cave of Forgotten Dreams trailer gives you a bit of a feel for what to expect.

Inevitably while watching the movie, I found myself making a pros/cons list. I think one of my first reactions after leaving the theatre was, "that film didn't need Herzog as director." But, on reflection, maybe it did - France is very selective about who gets to enter the cave, so it is possible that a director with a less impressive resume would have been rejected. On the other hand, Cave of Forgotten Dreams sees Herzog being especially... Herzog-y.

Elements I Liked

The cave paintings. This is the oldest recording of human art modern humans have been able to find, and they've been preserved so well precisely because they're in a particularly inaccessible location. Most of us will probably never be able to visit, so I was pleased with how much screen time is given to the paintings.
The interviews. There are a lot of absolute characters associated with the cave, from a circus performer-turned-archaeologist and an "experimental archaeologist" who is a riot, to a master perfumer. Someone needs to make a film about these people, honestly.*

Elements I Disliked

Herzog being self-indulgent. The crowd in the theatre had paid $11 apiece to see a movie about cave paintings; I'm assuming that all of us were genuinely interested in the material. That still wasn't enough for there not to be giggles here and there when Herzog waxed poetic about the doppelgangers of albino alligators or tried to lead the interviews down his own paths.
The score. Oh, God, the score. For the most part it was just annoying, but in one or two places the reverb was physically painful. I will only every watch this film again if the soundtrack is redone.

All in all, worth the ticket price, absolutely. And, I have no idea why only one theatre in the city is playing this in 3D; this movie is exactly what 3D was invented for.

*yes, my movie critic friend and I talked this weekend about how Herzog invents characters sometimes... and at the moment apparently it's unclear which of the interviewees are "real". Personally, the master perfumer is really the only one that strikes me as probably not an actual person.

(image credit)

Centrum: Get Fit for Summer!

2011-05-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

The above photo (which always makes me smile) is from this Spring Break, when my brother and I took a bunch of his friends out for a nice day on the lake. It was sunny, but the weather was lovely and there was a perfect breeze. Going out to play outside for the day wasn't an issue at all!

Now that we're getting into summer, however, it's not so easy to just spend hours outside. Particularly if you might not be in the best shape - I, for example, spent most of the fall chained to a desk while I worked on my graduate classes.

Yesterday, I heard about a great giveaway to go along with the start of summer vacation:

Centrum (yes, the vitamin company) has a GET FIT contest going on now, and the grand prize is a trip to LA and a one-on-one training session with Harley Pasternak.

If, like me, you haven't heard of Pasternak, I've saved you the trouble of going over to Google - Harley Pasternak is a celebrity trainer (think Jennifer Hudson and Lada Gaga) and creator of the 5 Factor Diet.

To get in on this contest, all you have to do it text the word "CENTRUM" with an image of a Centrum multivitamin bottle to the number 89800. That's it! We already take Centrum in our house, so I didn't even have to go shopping in order to enter for the LA trip and training session.

(As ever, thank you to the ladies at the One2One network for this posting opportunity)

2011-05-22T11:22:00.001-07:00

Today's challenge over at https://challenge.meyouhealth.com/ is to list three things that made you happy as a child. I chose the first three that came to mind:

1. Family game night, particularly when everyone would agree to play Huggermugger - which they dislike and I enjoy.
2. Weekend television, like Wishbone, M*A*S*H, and Hogan's Heroes.
3. Those make-a-wax-animal-model machines they used to have at zoos.

Testing

2011-05-22T10:51:00.001-07:00

Just testing out an app to let me blog from my iPod.

And getting ready to go see the new Pirates movie, of course.

What I'll Tell Future Children

2011-05-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

I got a text today:

Was it you or me that used to freelance writing horoscopes?

Which brought back so many memories. You see, for a while as an undergrad I was reduced to taking freelance writing assignments off a vaguely-disreputable website. I'm talking, like, people bidding to accept the least amount of money for the most amount of work - it was not a pretty part of the internet.

One of the bids I actually got from this site was:

To write horoscopes.

To write six months' worth of horoscopes for all the Zodiac signs.

To write six months' worth of horoscopes for all the Zodiac signs, in five days.

To write six months' worth of horoscopes for all the Zodiac signs, in five days, for something like 40 measly dollars.

I started on day two of five by carefully researching the strengths, weaknesses, and personality types of each sign and crafting horoscopes that spoke to these characteristics. It was all very slowly and painstakingly done. By the home stretch, it was 5am and I was alternating a few hours' sleep with a few hours' writing as my then-boyfriend helped during my breaks.

It was nerve-wracking doing so much work on such a tight deadline. 30 days x 6 months x 12 signs = 2160 unique horoscopes x a minute or two to write each = 36 hours or so. I just did the math now because at the time I couldn't bear to. And I would like to never do it again.

On the up side, in the short term I learned a lot about freelancing; in the long term, it makes a really funny story to tell at parties.

"In my day we wrote horoscopes SIXITY months ahead of time, we had to say SIXITY cause George Bush had taken away all our civil liberties and the number six"

The Adventure of the Silent Partner, Chapter 2

2011-05-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1 and an explanation.

Basically this is what geeks do in their free time - write terrible self-instert fan fiction as though it were created by another fictional character.

Tonight's selection is the brainchild four authors, and two of them were tipsy for some of it. Enjoy!

Chapter Two: Crimson and Change Over

The smell of dust and honey filled his nose as something large stood on his chest. Weary from the fall, Coren slowly opened his eyes. He was in a musty study under a large antique desk. An English bulldog stood on his chest. He could tell by the name on its collar that its owners had named it "Gladstone."

It sniffed at his shirt collar and then sounded a loud, gruff bark, then lapped gently at his face and wuffled his hair. He could feel warm, sticky slobber in his hairline, but that wasn't all. A syrupy liquid had become entangled in his coffee-colored locks--it was a bright green and dripping from the edge of the desk. It appeared this his impact had shattered a small chemistry set balanced precariously on a stack of worn medical journals.

Coren shot up with a start, dislodging the bulldog, and had to brace himself against the table, for his knees were uncharacteristically weak. Gladstone began to make a snorting-barking noise as it snuffled around his feet; the door swung wide - a statuesque gentleman in a houndstooth dressing gown stood in the doorway. "Gladstone!" the man boomed in a deep British baritone, "I see you have found a guest! Mrs. Hudson, please put the kettle on, this promises to be a long evening."

Disoriented from his collision course with the mysterious Brit's study, Coren could barely make sense of his surroundings. He ran a hand through his tawny strands and pulled it back to examine the nearly fluorescent substance now dripping down his temple. "Don't concern yourself with that too much, it probably won't even take affect for another couple days," the handsome stranger said nonchalantly, "I would offer you a seat, but I'm waiting for my companion to bring me a rag."

The stranger gave the vulnerable detective a knowing smile that brightened his eyes. Even in the dim candlelight, Coren could tell he was devilishly attractive. The houndstooth robe hid what was no doubt a trim and alluring figure. Before Coren could return the expression, a rotund mustachioed man in a scarlet damask patterned dressing gown barreled in. He flailed about like a befuddled, injured animal and glared angrily at Coren. "What is all this then? An intruder! I shall grab my pistol," the other man, obviously a former English military man from his demeanor and accent, exclaimed.

The lithe Adonis snatched the sleeping cap off his chubby associate's head and stood with the most excellent posture Coren had ever seen, "No need to fret, my dear friend. This gentleman means us no harm." The rouge-clad man fumed and puffed out his cheeks, which made him look like a giant tomato, "Don't be ridiculous! Why, he's gotten your experiment all over his tennis whites and--what the devil are you doing with my cap?!"

The florid man's companion sauntered over towards Coren in a memorizing gait and never broke eye contact as he spoke, "Don't get so upset, old fellow. This was a gift from Sarah back when you were engaged? You always hated this particular one and I assume Mrs. Hudson is behind in the laundering, so you were forced to put this one on before you left the bedroom. You won't mind if I allow our new friend to use it to clean himself up a bit."

Despite his earlier promise to let Coren clean himself, the unidentified man immediately set about running the cloth through the detective's hair himself. "It would be a shame," the man murmured as his larger companion uncomfortably took a seat near the fireplace, "were I to allow this muck to obscure your natural hair color any longer." Coren felt his iron control slip a notch or two, and - not ungently - plucked the soiled cloth from his host's hands. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary," Coren admitted gruffly, "if you'll just point me in the direction of your nearest - ah - water closet."

The man nearest the fireplace started briefly at Coren's accent, but the handsome stranger (who had yet to move back from Coren's personal space) merely allowed himself a small smile. "I see our guest is an American, and from the northeastern corner of the country as well. I had gathered as much from your attire, but it is nice to have complete confirmation from your accent."

While the florid-faced man by the hearth merely made a noise that sounded uncannily like "pwah" in reply, Coren's attractive host finally bestirred himself to move further away. Coren found that he missed the proximity, but was relieved when he realized he was being shown the way to the bathroom. It was there, with the door closed firmly behind him, that Coren's sharp mind finally reasserted itself, took in the details of his surroundings, and realized that he might be in quite a situation, indeed. It was no task for him to piece together the puzzle of his current whereabouts. Due to the lack of electrical lighting, the attire, and the atrocious patterned wallpaper he was in the Victorian era, probably late eighties or nineties. He must have been in London specifically owing to the regional inflections in the accents of his two hosts. Doctor Death's infernal contraption must have been a portal to a different time. Coren could only wonder if the mad doctor had been flung back as well.

Coren sighed heavily and looked at himself in the mirror. Most of the strange substance was gone and his tresses had almost returned to their full body. Rubbing his cheek, he despairingly noticed that he had a bit of stubble. Being so dedicated to his job, Coren often neglected the more time consuming hygiene habits. Luckily, the stubble gave his usually taut, boyish features a rugged edge. The thick, dark bristles highlighted his strong jawline and chin. He chewed nervously on his pouty bottom lip; the unshaven look was popular in modern day NYC, but it would not do him any favors in this era. That man must think he was a scoundrel or worse, a sailor!

Coren always had terrible luck in his romantic life. Sure, there were plenty who expressed interest in him and his charm was more than sufficient to attract whomever he chose. Yet, no one really understood him. Sometimes he wondered what was the point of all the rare vinyl recordings and vintage spirits if there was no one to share and appreciate them with.

Shoving these thoughts firmly into a small lockbox labeled "Later" deep in the recesses of his mind, Coren examined his surroundings for any useful tools. The cramped room was a mess, for all that the two men claimed to have a housekeeper in their employ, and Coren did not allow himself to dwell on how the realization there was no overtly feminine hand at work in this household spread through his stomach like warm mead. Two confirmed bachelors, perhaps? The rents in London, even in this time, would indeed make it economical for two men to share the rent on an apartment. No, on a "flat", Coren corrected himself; best to start blending in with his surroundings.

A few moments of shuffling through the rickety cabinet unearthed several flannel cloths, the most useful half of a hairbrush, three-quarters of a men's shaving kit, and a series of alarming chemical stains - really, what HAD these men been doing with lead tetroxide in the bathroom? Coren puzzled over this quandary as he set about performing his toilet with the materials at hand: damp cloths took care of the last of the gunk adorning his dark tresses, but did nothing for the shudder Coren felt when he remembered the phrase "probably won't take effect for another couple days" and the detective mentally noted to keep an eye on his physical health for any signs of poisoning.

With his hair situation sorted - a new part and a few passes with the brush rendered it very nearly respectable - Coren perused his facial hair with a critical eye. His original assessment had been correct, and severe changes would need to be made, here, for him to pass as a member of the non-criminal classes. Facial hair was considered fashionable in this time period, Coren mused, but stubble was simply outré - no, best to embrace the clean-shaven look, at least for the time being. With a sigh, Coren began the work of removing his three-day-old stubble. As an afterthought, he left the sides alone; if he remained in this time period long he might yet need to grow a set of dundrearies or Piccadilly weepers to fit in more fully.

Coren almost made it through the entire shaving process unscathed, but his brilliant mind was reasserting itself yet again, and it demanded to go over the information available. Just as Coren brought his hand down for the final stroke of gleaming razor against soft flesh, he was struck with the realization of just whose flat he had been transported into by Doctor Death's experiment.

"My God," his mind and body jerked with the force of his epiphany. Unluckily, his hand had twitched as well and embedded the razor into his crisply shaven jaw. He instantly pulled back the blade and examined the reddening nick. A small stream of blood dribbled down his neck looking like the Nile after Moses had his way with it. The bloody river traced his pronounced Adam's apple, a pyramid on the Egypt of his throat. Coren sighed in irritation at his momentary miscalculation of his muscle spasms.

The water-closet door burst open and the flustered man adorned in crimson shouted, "Are you quite alright, Sir? By Jove you've been injured, I shall fetch my instruments!" Before Coren could protest and point out to the hyperbolic medical professional that a little pressure would alleviate the flow of his wound, the man returned with a black doctor's case. He wrenched it open and several instruments flew out and fell to the floor with a clatter. As he fumbled around his bag, the tall gentleman stepped into the WC beside him.

"It is only a minor cut, my friend," he spoke steadily in contrast the theatrical series of seizures his companion was experiencing. "Shut up," he barked, "I am a doctor you know! Where did I put that confounded thing?" If eye-rolling had been customary in Victorian England, Coren was certain that was what the taller man would be doing.

With a long, thin hand that appeared suited to playing a stringed instrument like a piano or a viola, he grabbed something in the doctor's case. "Nevertheless, he is our guest and it should be our responsibility to see he doesn't acquire an infection while visiting our residence."

Finally jolted from his stunned observation of the scene before him, Coren saw an opening to confirm his hypothesis, "Yes, it's not everyday one gets the chance to be mended by London's greatest consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his 'special assistant' Dr. Watson."

Dear Vincent D'Onofrio: I am so, so sorry.

2011-05-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

So, backstory: Criminal Intent is a great show. The lead Detective (Vincent D'Onofrio) is basically a modern Sherlock Holmes. Also he's totally cute. Anyway, Detective Goren is always writing in this notebook, and today E and I came to the following logical conclusion:

Detective Goren is working on his self-insert Sherlock Holmes Gary Stu fanfiction.

And then, because we do this sort of thing, we started round-robin writing the story that Detective Goren would write, if he had a fanfiction.net account. Enjoy:

The Adventure of the Silent Partner

Chapter One: Death Takes a Holiday

Super-sleuth Detective Inspector Coren walked into his elegant New York apartment after a long day at work. He and his parter (Detective "Skull" Feames) had been working doggedly to bring down the self-styled criminal mastermind Doctor Death. In reality, the criminal's name was Gary Studdard, and Detective Coren was working hard to understand Studdard's psychology as he undressed after work and put on his favorite vinyl recording - a Tuvan throat-singing group covering ABBA's greatest hits.

Coren had just begun to hum along to "Dancing Queen" when his phone rang. Detective Feames, ever at a loss without Coren's expert opinions and brilliant feats of inductive logic, exclaimed breathlessly down the line, "We need you at 152nd street, now!" Coren dashed from the apartment, leaving the vintage bottle of wine he'd selected for the evening untouched on the kitchen counter.

The ever-dedicated detective hopped into his Ferrari 308 GTB, a generous gift from an anonymous benefactor of Coren's astounding skills. Naturally, he knew it was from the heiress of a particular diamond company who he had exonerated of murdering her ex-boyfriend. Coren smiled fondly as he recalled how grateful the curvaceous blonde had been. Her not-so-subtle flirtations had been flattering, but Coren had politely informed the much sought after scion that he was dedicated to his work. Truthfully, Coren had to turn away many prospective partners over the years since he was yet to find the perfect mate. He needed an intellectual equal, someone who could really understand his eccentric demeanor. Someone who could understand the pain in his heart.

Detective Feames was relieved to see her partner. She ran over to the Italian sportscar parked haphazardly on the curb. Without hesitation, she opened the driver door for Coren and complimented him on his stylish sunglasses. He stepped out and thanked her, modestly.

Detective Coren then strode toward the obvious center of activity up the block, with the ever-impressed Feames trailing in his wake. She updated Coren on the nature of the late call even though they both knew Coren could tell (from the stances of the other officers as well as the locations of the four unmarked vans) that the lair of Doctor Death - née Gary Studdard - had been discovered. Coren removed his embossed leather notebook from his stylish trench coat, eager to note down the particulars of the case before the final confrontation with this latest menace to the peace of his home city.

After interminable minutes of briefing and debriefing with his superiors and other officers, Coren and Feames quickly got into their personas for the final sting operation. Coren had already discovered the floor on which Doctor Death operated (the fourth, judging by the state of the windowsill), the nature of Doctor Death's lair (pseudo scientific research, according to the papers and boxes Feames had fetched from the dumpster), and the people Doctor Death was most likely to trust (anyone delivering Chinese food, if the call Doctor Death had just made to the restaurant up the street were any indication). It was the work of mere moments for Coren and Feames to waylay the hapless deliveryman, and Coren and Feames slipped into their personas - she, a hardened veteran of the delivery service; he, an eager student learning the ropes as he attempts to pay his way through college.

All too soon and not soon enough, our intrepid Detectives were standing at Death's Door.

Feames knocked harshly on the old door, several red paint chips crumpled under her pounding fist. She cast a glance at her disguised cohort and tensely gripped the plastic delivery bag. Calm as a majestic stag sleeping in a fragrant meadow, Coren gave her a reassuring pat on the back. She managed to stretch the already ratchet-tight skin across her face into a nervous smile.

On the other side of the door there were loud clicking noises and Coren noted that the so-called Doctor had at least six additional locks on the entrance to his lair. The villain's excessive precaution had to be due to the perceived importance of his research and acknowledgment of his illegal practices.

A middle-aged man wearing goggles over his eye-patch and single piercing ice-blue iris swung the door open. His gaze immediately focused on Coren whose figure was surprisingly flattered by the unisex polo shirt-khaki pants combination of the Tao Wei Chinese Palace uniform. The cut of the polo sleeves accentuated Coren's carefully sculpted biceps and his rebellious chocolate locks peeked out from under the white baseball cap. The man was finally able to pry his eye away from Coren to scowl at Feames who tragically looked as though someone had stuffed potatoes into her outfit and knocked her hat askew.

Before the evil twin brother of Bill Nye could notice that Feames was holding the pencil completely wrong for a veteran of the food- delivery industry, Coren stepped in to salvage the situation with his usual perfect blend of boyish charm, impish humor, and faux confusion. Tilting his head at an angle painstakingly calculated (during a lazy summer many years ago) to be coquettishly disarming, Coren mildly inquired, "Is the the correct address? Only, we have an order of North Prince Chicken for two, and this apartment clearly belongs to one, very lonely, man." Before Studdard could reply, his one eye widening and fixing on Coren's two piercing mahogany orbs, Coren continued, "No, not a man at all, are you? You see yourself as something more. A scientist? A seeker of all the knowledge of this world and the next?"

As Coren continued in this vein, using the low, hypnotic baritone that worked so well on skittish suspects and injured animals alike, he and his partner wafted into the Doctor's apartment as though propelled by the softest of breezes. The entire situation was moving exactly according to Coren's master stratagem - distract and disarm - but Coren had, as ever, missed one simple detail in his otherwise brilliant examination of the Doctor and his living quarters. If queried much later (although he never was), Coren would have been hard-pressed to answer whether he was unhappy with the way the situation rapidly spun out of control. The order of North Prince Chicken was indeed intended for two diners: Doctor Death and his Chinese Crested canine companion. Coren could read the tag as the furred avenger lunged at Feames - it appeared that "Nom Chompsky" was about to take Coren's partner out of the running, and rip the spell he had so cunningly woven around the Doctor.

The hideously deformed rodent passing as man's best friend latched onto the cuff of Feames's left pant leg. It tugged and growled. Feames tilted her head down to regard the assault with the same expression one might use when noticing one has stuck a foot in a bucket.

"You have a dog," she observed with no inflection.

Coren mentally slapped his forehead in exasperation. He had always been quite fond of the woman despite her frightening visage, but she had never been able to grasp the subtle art of detective work that he had mastered years ago. Sometimes he wondered how she had even passed the exam to enter the Major Case Squad. Nevertheless, her loyalty and continued reverence of Coren's talent made her an invaluable companion and it was his responsibility to protect his partner.

"Ah, yes," Doctor Death finally spoke, his accent clearly originating from the Skåne region of Sweden probably near the city of Malmö, "I'm afraid Mr. Chompsky has an intense disliking for authority."

Feames paled, "Why is he attacking me? It's not like I'm a cop or anything."

Thinking even more quickly than usual, Coren decided that a smart (not as smart as himself, but very nearly beginning to approach it) man would have trained his dog to respond to a command that caused it to cease its attack. After all, only an idiot would fail to implement a failsafe for every eventuality. Mustering a not inconsiderable amount of command into his voice, Coren started with a simple "Nom Chompsky, ligg!"

Doctor Death merely wheezed out a sinister laugh, as "Fot!" and "Kom!" similarly failed to arrest the miniature death-hound's attack - Feamon was beginning to look decidedly ashen by the time Coren realized, based on the bad Doctor's heritage and speech patterns, that the stop command must be something slightly more esoteric. In a blinding flash of insight, and just before Feames could gather herself enough to turn her service weapon on the minuscule hound, Coren began again. "Burlov! Eslov! Trelleborg!" Doctor Death's once-triumphant laugh became a shaky shadow of its former self, and he backed ever-so-slightly toward the control panel of his infernal device. "Lund! Skurup!" bellowed Coren, before finally, in a tone of triumph, "STAFFANSTORP!"

In a thrice, Nom Chompsky had released the (now ragged) edge of Feames' nice yet serviceable slacks and sat down, eyeing Coren and its former master expectantly.

Unfortunately, Feames' obvious distress at the unexpected assault had bought precious moments for Doctor Death to plan the fall of this, his greatest, handsomest, and most intelligent enemy. Before Coren could begin to expound upon how he had known that one of the "heel!" commands must have been the name of a municipality within Skane County, Doctor Death had pounced on the controls of his dread machine - and Coren had not yet finished discovering its intended purpose.

With the light-footedness of a jackrabbit, Coren rushed toward Doctor Death, poised to tackle him as Coren had done so many years ago when he was the MVP of his basketball team in high school. Even as he rushed forward, his ears picked up the minute sounds of the machine whirring to life, although Feames was clearly unable to distinguish such minuscule sounds. He stopped dead just in time to miss a Tesla coil as it shot through the floor of the apartment, already giving off huge bursts of electricity.

Doctor Death bellowed, "MY MACHINE, SHE AWAKENS! TASTE YOUR FINAL DEATH, DETECTIVE COREN!!!!!!!!!!" Wishing to savor the horror on Coren's handsome visage, Doctor Death first turned his laser sights onto the immobile form of Detective Feames. Feames, ever certain that Coren possessed the capability to save them both from any harrowing situation, said merely, "He has a laser."

"No!" shouted Coren, "Your quarrel is not with my feeble-minded partner! It is with me - let us engage in a true battle of the minds." Doctor Death concurred, "Let's get dangerous." Unheard in the heat of the forming battle, Detective Feames commented, "Au contraire."

Doctor Death swung the laser sights around to the gallant Coren, but Coren had just spotted a toolbox in the corner. Harnessing all of his lightning speed (matched only by his love for puns), Coren sprinted to the toolbox and, with a single swift motion, completely appropriately threw a monkey wrench into Doctor Death's devious plans - literally!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--" exclaimed Doctor Death as the machine sparked and rumbled, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO---" until the lighting arced from the Tesla coil and formed a perfect sphere, "OOOOOOOOOOO--" and finally sucked Doctor Death into the ball of light "OOooooooooo." Meanwhile, Feames was staring vacantly into the pulsating orb of unknown origin, "It is bright." Unbeknownst to Feames, she was within the radius of the orb's pull. "Feames! Back away! It is clearly an extension of the gravitational lensing effect!" but Coren's desperate yet mellifluous cries fell on deaf ears.

With no other solution, as Feames was pulled closer to possible demise, Coren threw himself bodily at Feames. She was pushed to safety, but Coren was not so lucky. He could feel the inexorable tug of the light source throbbing through his veins like some irresistible but yet-undiscovered drug. With a sigh, he was pulled through.

No Wonder I Was So Tired This Morning

2011-04-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Apparently I spent the night in a friend's dream:

----------

I had a crazy ass Sherlock

dream last night. It was

awesome and you were in it

----------

Well, there was a mystery

obviously and it took place

on a train for most of it. I

was Watson some of the

time. At one point you were

a person of interest

and Sherlock had to

disguise himself to get info

from you.

----------

You were dressed all fancy

and sipping a martini and

Sherlock was awkward since

I told him to flirt with you,

but you figured him out and

dropped hints about

who the murderer was.

There was a lot of chasing

and arguing

----------

At one point Sherlock saved

a child and he kept scaring

her by being weird and I

would scold him. I was a very

nagging Watson

----------

Krull

2011-04-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

A prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet.

I finally watched Krull last night (in my defense... I have no defense). It was surprising in many ways - the opening scene and special effects clearly think they're actually in the original Star Wars trilogy, but most of rest of it is standard fantasy fare. Also, for every groan-worthy scene, there's a plot point that I actually found intriguing:

A race of cyclops created when they gave up one eye in exchange for foresight. They were tricked; the only future event they can actually see is their own death. (I would seriously like to read a short story based on this.)
Fire mares are the fastest creatures ever and leave trails of smoke in their fiery wake. (haha, what.)
The science teacher from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory makes an appearance as the short sidekick who can turn himself into various animals for laughs and eventual saving-of-the-random-child-character. (Fun character).
The Power of Love at the end. (One of many, many tropes in the movie.)

In a general sense it was a watchable enough movie, and had some fun elements; I'm glad to have seen it, but I doubt I'll watch it again.

American Gods - Twitter Q&A

2011-04-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

One of the (many) things I enjoy about Twitter is the way in which it occasionally removes the barriers between the author and the audience. Case in point, Neil Gaiman spent an hour today answering questions about his novel American Gods on the @SFXmagazine Twitter account.

I missed most of the fun while out getting new glasses, so here is my attempt to read just the questions that got answered. And rebut (or support?) all my family members who think Twitter is a silly waste of time.

In reverse chronological order, and I paired questions + answers:

@neilhimself Thanks, Neil! A truly valiant effort. Much bravery under tweet-fire!

Damn it, Gaiman managed to wriggle out of the leg manacles. I knew we should have fixed them tighter.

And this is @neilhimself signing out. Thank you @sfxmagazine for the platform. Thank you Headline Books for setting it up. Hail & Farewell.

That's all I have time for. What a fine deluge of questions. Sorry if yours wasn't answered. It was like grabbing snowflakes in a blizzard.

@SFXmagazine @neilhimself #americangods What is going to happen to all of the questions you did not get to?
@sprunka I think they will float around the universe, and be answered by time, or never. #americangods

@sfxmagazine Does the Morrigan roam the America of #AmericanGods? Can a god hitch-hike on superstition or is active belief required? Thanks!
@cathyby If someone once believed, that's enough. One person's superstition is another person's worship, after all. #AmericanGods

@SFXMagazine Would Shadow and Fat Charlie get along? #americangods
@antonomasia09 I think Fat Charlie would be scared of Shadow. What Shadow would think of Fat Charlie only Shadow knows. #americangods

Outline? or just pull from the aether once you have gathered the experiences and info that open you to the story? #americangods
@PolytropicProds Every now and again I'd write an outline for what I had to do next, but it was like walking through fog #americangods

@SFXmagazine being an indian I can say that #americangods is v well researched. But were youu nervous about gettin things wrong?
@Hardigirl The things I'd get most wrong were things that people would tell me about places that they had misremembered #americangods
@Hardigirl I was terrified about getting things wrong, yes. And I did get a few things very wrong, when research failed. #americangods

@SFXmagazine So how's the latest incarnation of the Technological Kid holding up? I imagine he's matured a bit. #americangods
@justplainrii I think he has. But he's still looking over his shoulder. #americangods

@SFXmagazine Of course, I mean nicely organized questions and answers. would like to be able to reread and ponder at leisure. #americangods
@whooshing I hope someone can organise all the questions and answers -- it's a bit of a flurry... #americangods

@SFXmagazine How much of Shadow is you and how much of you is Shadow? #americangods
@halcyonhalcyoff "He's me, but I am not him." But then, that's true of everyone in the book, good & bad, male & female. #americangods

#americangods what was working with terry pratchett like when writing good omens?
@admiralross2400 That is absolutely not an #americangods question. #deceptivehashtagfail

@SFXmagazine #AmericanGods I'd love to see Shadow meet The Endless. Any possibility, or have you left them in the past?
@pdav21 For copyright reasons, I do not believe that could ever happen. But I suppose it's possible (Superman met Spider-Man) #AmericanGods

@sfxmagazine #americangods how much did Julian of Norwich's visions influence your writing?
@dpknowles I don't know. But she was definitely in the mix. #americangods

Eight Minutes to go! MUST TYPE FASTER

#americangods Are you ever embarrassed about what you did to(for) The House on the Rock? :)
@Aluhdeen It makes the House on the Rock people happy, and it brings people who love the place there, so no. Not even a bit. #americangods

@SFXmagazine Did you actually visit the attractions you talk about in the book, or did you learn about them through research? #americangods
@czeagler I visited them. Some I knew before I wrote the book, some I bumped into while writing it. #americangods

@SFXmagazine If you were choosing a band or musician to create a soundtrack for the book, who would you choose? #americangods
@wonderwoman1100 I wrote it to a soundtrack of Greg Brown, & The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs #americangods

Hi, Neil, dear. @SFXmagazine Curious what's your favorite Art inspired by #AmericanGods (song, statue, painting)?
@GodTheMother Dear Godthemother, the HOUSE ON THE ROCK costume contest put a smile on my face that still hasn't faded yet. #AmericanGods

Where do you the see the deities of the major, modern faiths fitting into the world of #americangods? @neilhimself
@AdamLanceGarcia In much the same way that important politicians & movie stars fit into a story about poor grifters #americangods

@SFXmagazine Dear Mr Gaiman, when you wrote #americangods WHAT WERE YOU DRINKING?! Fantastic book, but I felt a little dazed upon finishing.
@TheIdleLaureate For the first third of #americangods, I was drinking Tori Amos's fine red wine. After that I had to drive home from writing

@SFXmagazine Why do you think people either really hate or really love #americangods with few ho-hummers in-between?
@TehGoob And I am fascinated that people who hate #americangods are often very clear on how they would want that story told differently.
@TehGoob I don't know. It took me by surprise. I do not know why #americangods is so divisive, although it may be a good thing.

@SFXmagazine did you ever have plans to flesh out Shadow's character further before writing Anansi Boys? #americangods
@StrangeBum My vague plan was to write another 2 or 3 Shadow stories like MONARCH OF THE GLEN & then the next #americangods novel. We'll see

@SFXmagazine Who was your favourite person/god/other to write in the book? #americangods
@ClaireyMil my LEAST favourite person to write was Shadow, as he doesn't let you inside his head, which is hard for an author. #americangods

@SFXmagazine Who was your favourite person/god/other to write in the book? #americangods
@ClaireyMil I loved writing Sam. Loved all the Zorya - they felt like relatives. Mr Ibis, Bast, Easter, Whisky Jack. #americangods

Why can't we find #americangods in brazil anymore? :(
@MariaLuiza_M I think #americangods has been out of print in Brazil for a while now, but that should change very soon.

@sfxmagazine did you travel the us while writing #americangods? including chattanooga (i'm from there)
@madasahattress I did. I bought a 2nd hand Camry and I drove, and what I saw went into the book. #americangods

@SFXmagazine why did you decide to make it a novel rather than a comic book? #americangods
@idesignwhatails I think an #americangods comic would be thousands of pages long. Writing a book it took 2 years of my life, not 10.

@SFXmagazine just read Anansi Boys in about three days and loved it, but which story was the first you thought of, it or #Americangods ?
@CircesIsland Anansi Boys came first, although it was written later. I borrowed Mr Nancy from it for #Americangods

@SFXmagazine If the present Neil Gaiman had to write the novel, do you think he could do it? #americangods
@Hardigirl The present Neil Gaiman would write a different novel, about a different time. But that's always true. #americangods

@SFXmagazine #americangods was the book difficult to sell to editors/agents?
@mshamah No. The only trouble was it was too long originally, so I cut it a bit. Now the cut stuff has been restored. #americangods

@SFXmagazine #americangods Were Norse gods always central, or did you contemplate centering it on other characters/mythoses (sp?)?
@dxferris Norse Gods seemed central as there's something so dark & fatalistic about them. Other pantheons get happy endings. #americangods

@SFXmagazine who would win in a bar fight, Mad Sweeney or Czernobog? #americangods
@DanSoloLives If Shadow could beat Mad Sweeney in a bar brawl then Czernobog could take him with ease. #americangods

@SFXmagazine What genre would you say the book belongs to? #americangods
@Hardigirl What genre is #americangods? Hmm. Is "Big Strange Book About America With Cons, Magic Tricks, Sex & Gods in" actually a genre?

@SFXmagazine How much time did you put into researching the different gods/mythologies? And who is your favorite/why? #americangods
@ekuntzsch I put about 40 years into researching #americangods, although I could only read for about 35 of them.

@SFXmagazine So can look forward to a new American Gods Book? & Will there be a follow up of Graveyard book linking in to it? #AmericanGods
@Booky_Lillz I don't think so. The Graveyard Book Universe has its own agenda. #AmericanGods

@SFXmagazine What was the most surprising thing, that you discovered writing Shadow's journey #americangods
@Enting That I needed to trust the book and not try and impose my own ideas of what ought to happen in it #americangods

@SFXmagazine is there any character from any of your other works that you feel would feel right at home in the world of #americangods?
@Snarglepip I think all of my books join up around the back. Perhaps they share a communal parking space. #americangods

@SFXmagazine Do you pick up hitchhikers? If so, have you met any interesting characters? #americangods
@MaryGaughan I always used to. I've not seen a hitchhiker in the US for about 10 years now. Still in the UK sometimes #americangods

#americangods did you intend the book to read like a road trip?
@gramophone23 Yes, very much so. #americangods is a Road Novel. partly because the endless road is something we don't have in the UK.

@SFXmagazine what part of you is contained in the character Shadow? #americangods"""
@Sevywevy I'm in everybody there. But probably my distinct lack of amazement at strange things. #americangods

I wish the #americangods hashtag had been shorter. I miss the extra characters. Oh well. Too late now. (Keeps typing like a mad thing.)

@SFXmagazine As an Englishman writing about America, did you ever feel like #americangods was something you weren't permitted to write?
@gathcreator Very much so, yes. But nobody else was going to write it, if I didn't, so I buckled down and wrote. #americangods

@SFXmagazine Why in the United States rather than England? #AmericanGods
@merlintriss Because UK Gods is a very different book. MONARCH OF THE GLEN in Fragile Things gives a flavour of it. #AmericanGods

@SFXmagazine #americangods As a 1-time instructor of World Myth, I'd like to know if you'll ever publish a studyguide/key to the book's gods
@DJStinky Possibly. I've been asked to write a Big Book Of Myth, and it may well happen. #americangods

@neilhimself @SFXmagazine Are there any new #americangods since you wrote the book?
@ianholmes I think Smartphones are rising through the ranks rapidly, as the god of telephone fades #americangods

@SFXmagazine would you ever be tempted to write another Wednesday book? #americangods
@idesignwhatails Yes #americangods

@SFXmagazine Why is the choice in songs played in the diner where Shadow and Wednesday eat dinner together? Iko Iko etc. #americangods
@justplainrii Pretty important, actually. All the song lyrics reflect on what's happening, especially if you spell sun SON #americangods

#americangods at what point in the creation & dissemination process did you realize American Gods was going to be as widely lauded as it is?
@_PBJ_ Don't know.I wasn't surprised when it was nominated for awards, was amazed it won them, am still amazed it's in print #americangods

@SFXmagazine in your books, gods are real bc ppl believe in them. If that was true, you'd still be making up stories abt them? #americangods
@AtmaSinnan No, I don't understand this one. #americangods

what scenes from the book do you think would completely ruin a film adaption of #americangods if they were removed?
@Maximumguido I think the most important thing is to try & keep the races of all the characters correct. #americangods

@SFXmagazine #americangods was the working title. Why did you decide to keep it as the final book title?
@gathcreator Everybody liked it and I never came up with anything better. It's what normally happens with my book titles. #americangods

@neilhimself Jesus doesn't appear in #americangods (he's considered aloof by other gods) but if he did, would there be multiple versions?
@ianholmes Maybe, or maybe a consensus version with satellite versions... #americangods

Did #AmericanGods narrative structure used sleight of hand because of Shadow's hobby or because it's effective to keep readers guessing?
@thefoodgeek Both of those, and because it was what the book was all about. Now you see it, oops, look over there... #AmericanGods

@SFXmagazine When can we expect the #americangods author's preferred text to come out?
@MaggieMimsy June 21 in the US and around there for the UK anniversary ed. - although the UK has had the text for 5 years... #americangods

@SFXmagazine #americangods What were Greek and Roman gods doing during the events of American Gods?
@Amarien I couldn't justify putting them in. But since then I learned about this stash of Roman coins http://bit.ly/ddAcnv #americangods

@SFXmagazine Was Mr.World really fully aware of Wednsday's plan or just another sacrificial god? Was the trickster tricked? #americangods
@StrawberreField It was a two man con, and Mr World was half of it #americangods

@SFXmagazine Were there any gods you wanted to use but couldn't find the space for in the novel? #americangods
@kevinchiat Yes, many. I had a whole section in a Japanese Internment Camp in Kansas that never made it in. #americangods

#americangods questions are flooding in (this is @Neilhimself) & I'm answering them as @replies so as not to clog everyone's twitter feed.

The one we won't get an answer to: Who is the Forgotten God? #Americangods
@Aulayan: I think I'll answer it in another American Gods book. But no, not here. Also, I think I've forgotten your question. #AmericanGods

Would you consider making American gods into a movie or TV serial? #americangods
@Jear1106 It's in the works right now. I should say no more at this time, but I do not think anyone will be disappointed. #americangods

@SFXmagazine Were there any gods you wanted to use but couldn't find the space for in the novel? #americangods
@kevinchiat Yes, many. I had a whole section in a Japanese Internment Camp in Kansas that never made it in. #americangods

*whew*

Toy Ads and Gender Stereotypes

2011-04-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today's post is really just a link over to another post on How Toy Ad Vocabulary Reinforces Gender Stereotypes. The original post is worth reading, but the shortest version is this:

If you take the words from television advertising for toys marketed specifically to boys and girls (the boys’ list included 658 words from 27 commercials; the girls’ list had 432 words from 32 commercials) and throw them into Wordle, you get:

and

Those are some pretty clear divisions - and, while I'm not surprised, I am a bit disappointed.

You can also read the follow-up to the original post here.

2011-04-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

My throat is still raw and my ears are still ringing.

First Scissor Sisters concert (at Stubb's) was definitely a success - they absolutely know how to put on a high-energy show.

Texts From Last Night

2011-04-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

"I know you destroyed a J Beiber pinata, hid in my closet, and turned into a pineapple. Anything else I should know?"

Rabbit-Proof Fence

2011-03-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Rabbit-Proof Fence is the true story of Molly Craig, who, in 1931, at 14, was taken from her mother in Jigalong, a depot on one of the fences that were being constructed across the continent in an attempt to keep marauding rabbits from destroying the western farmlands. Along with her half-sister Daisy, 8, and cousin Gracie Fields, she was taken to the Moore River Native Settlement in Western Australia.

[. . .] The film would show the terrified children sprinting across stony wasteland in a futile attempt to escape the police, distraught mothers wailing in the dust, and an aged granny battering her head with a stone in impotent frustration. It would show the girls in a cage as they are transported by train to their new home and a culture of flogging and solitary confinement for those who failed to appreciate what the white man was doing for them. (Source)

I just finished watching Rabbit-Proof Fence, which was recommended by my Linguistics/Second Language Acquisition professor. She wanted us to look at a) the many ways in which a second language is definitely not taught properly, and b) the ways in which language can be legislated. While I was taking notes on these things, I also spent a large portion of the movie wrestling with whether to feel horrified or uplifted.

On the one hand, it's beyond disturbing that the officials tearing families apart apparently thought they were doing "the right thing". Kenneth Branagh in particular does a brilliant job making me want to shake some sense into him as he questions, "should the coloreds be encouraged to go back to the black, or should they be advanced to white status?" The voiceover at the end is also enough to make one weep.

On the other hand, I believe that the underlying message in the film is also one of endurance and family. The three girls (Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, and Laura Monaghan) beautifully portray the trio who undertake an incredible trek, in an attempt to reunite with their mother. And, as we find out later, one of them actually makes the journey twice in her life.

I highly recommend this movie if you haven't seen it; I'm also adding both of the related books by Doris Pilkington (Molly's daughter) to my reading list.

Birthday Gift!

2011-03-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

So, I don't hit my quarter-century until this summer. However, some industrious friends have already purchased my gifts (take notes, people)!

M & S returned from an antiquing trip with copies of The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Gerard for me.

I'm jazzed because:

a) I've been meaning to branch out into more non-Holmes ACD works, because he's a good writer all around (I loved his Tales of Unease).

b) One can never own too many copies of Hound of the Baskervilles.

c) Both books are old enough to list the author as a mere "Arthur Conan Doyle" because the printing predates ACD's knighthood.

d) Old books smell wonderful.

e) The books are in rough condition, so said friends are going to have the binding redone for me.

http://www.savetxschools.org/

2011-03-12T17:13:00.001-08:00

This morning was the pro-education rally at the Capitol, organized by savetxschools.org. It was a great experience - not as big as the March for Women's Rights I attended in DC, but definitely the largest rally I've been a part of since. With all the bad (and worse) news lately about budget and staff cuts in Austin and the rest of the state, I felt truly gratified to see how many people bussed in from around Texas to gather. Even better, the folks over at SXSW publicized the event, and I know at least a few people in town for live music also came out to the rally.

Also, the Austin-American Statesman has a lovely photo gallery up; here are a few of my own additions:

Austin's The Best

2011-03-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

I've seen more plays in the last year and a half than in the last decade - and Austin theatre is still surprising me.

Here are the three most recent, since they're on my mind. These are all still running, by the way, so if you live in Austin go see them already:

Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, from the Palindrome Theatre Company. As a future English teacher I'm always interested in the not-often-done performances, and I'd never seen any Ibsen performances that weren't A Doll's House. (not that I have anything against A Doll's House, but a woman longs for a little variety). It was fairly impressively done, and I thought most of the actors put on a great performance. Kate Eminger also kindly answered a few of my questions afterward. I got into a debate about the scenery, which I found appropriately evocative of The Addams Family, and Ryan found somewhat distracting - if any of you see it, I'd love your opinion.

Alvida & The Airship Pirates: A Steampunk Adventure! from Weird City Theatre. Ok, so I love steampunk, and the music was from one of my favorite groups - Abney Park. My friend Ryan had me sold at steampunk, but he completely sealed the deal with "and John Carroll wrote and directed." We went last night, and I had a lot of fun. The set is nicely done, (most) of the costumes were quite good, and nearly all the writing was very funny. The fight scenes were a bit clunky, but overall it was enjoyable and the actors (who did a great job) seemed to be having as much fun as the audience.

This afternoon Ryan and I are off to see You Wouldn't Know Him, He Lives in Texas / You Wouldn't Know Her, She Lives in London from The Hidden Room. I'm excited about this one, since the format is quite a change:

From London's Look Left Look Right and Austin, Texas' The Hidden Room: You Wouldn't Know Him, He Lives in Texas / You Wouldn't Know Her, She Lives in London links US and UK actors and audiences live via Skype. Become the friends and family of the show's London/Texas lovers, and help decide if distance really does matter in this interactive, site-specific, partially improvised, original collaboration. (source)

Destroy! Destroy!

2011-03-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

It's officially March - which means the weather has finally stopped randomly reverting to "dead of winter", like it does once a week in February around here.

I'm no longer in the hibernation mindset, and I'm very slowly dragging myself into Spring Cleaning mode. I started with the paper clutter this year; cleaning would be progressing much more smoothly if I hadn't ...well... skipped it entirely for the last five years. The stack of random paper junk I pulled off my bookshelf, out of my desk, and from my scattered files is just plain scary, especially considering how much of it should probably be shredded.

Shredding papers by hand is just no fun, and there's not a whole lot to do with the paper when you're done, except recycling. Paper that's been shredded with a machine, on the other hand, actually makes great packing material when shipping out anything that needs to be padded.

I've been hearing good buzz about the Fellowes P-12C Cross-Cut Shredder, and I'm thinking of investing in one. Even though I try to do much of my banking and bill-paying electronically, there are always documents that need to be destroyed when I'm through with them. The back student loan statements for the last couple years, for example, or the statements my credit card company keeps spending, despite the fact that I track my account online.

The Fellowes P-12C shredder has good reviews online, which is part of the reason I'm considering it. I've dealt with a couple of cheapo shredders at various jobs before, so I like to know that I'm purchasing a paper shredder that won't burn out on me after the first dozen sheets of paper:

(All opinions mine, and thanks to the ladies at the One2One network for this blogging opportunity!)

A Photo A Day, Day 3

2011-02-19T22:52:00.000-08:00

...and by "a day" I mean "whenever the heck I feel like it". Obviously.

Tonight's photo is brought to you by my friend who does face painting and balloon art as her job. Tonight she made this on my face:

1) I am the steampunkiest of lions.

2) you can't quite tell in the photo, but there is also glitter on my face.

3) did you see the monocle? It's glorious.

A photo a day... day 2

2011-01-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

My coworker/friend and I got incredibly lucky, and rode in the wheelhouse on the Mark Twain steamboat in Disneyland. The view is just astounding and - as an added bonus - we got to pull the cords for the bell and whistle. Ah, bliss.

A photo a day... day 1

2011-01-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here's me in the bathroom at Club 33 in Disneyland, which encompassed the lunch part of our business trip. The dining area is gorgeous, the food is fantastic, and the bathroom (to quote a friend) looks like 17th-century France.

Only, you know, with much better plumbing.

I and two of my coworkers were also seated with a huge Disney fan, who had a lot of interesting stories to tell over lunch. I had a great time, and I think everyone else did too.

A photo a day...

2011-01-13T11:37:00.001-08:00

2011 has been off to a fantastic start - I flew out to California for a work meeting at the beginning of January, and stayed a few extra days to see the Southern part of the state with friends. I'll be posting a photo or two a day until I a) run out of photos or b) forget.

Also, there are plays! coming up soon. This Friday is The Importance of Being Earnest and next week is The Tempest. I never get tired of Wilde, so that's exciting, and the play next week gives me an impetus to read Shakespeare's play before the performance...

Happy Almost Christmas!

2010-12-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

Monday marked the end of my hardest semester of graduate school to date. On the bright side, next semester is going to be even more difficult.

But for the next two weeks, at least, I'll have more blogging time. And photos!

For example:

The best shot of the last lunar eclipse of 2010 (and also the first lunar eclipse to happen on the solstice in hundreds of years):

Also, banana bread:

This is beyond cool

2010-10-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

I got this email today:

I hope you don't mind me contacting you, but I noticed on your blogger.com profile that The Odyssey was one of your favourite books.

One of our Contributors, Victoria Hooper has created a wonderful multimedia profile of the book here:

http://www.bookdrum.com/books/the-odyssey/9780140449112/index.html

If you enjoy this profile, please let your friends know about www.bookdrum.com.

Well I don't, and it is, and I did, so I am.

I've only had time to take a brief peek at the bookmarks for The Odyssey, but the resources included look quite amazing. This site is definitely getting saved for future review, particularly since I suspect it will make a wonderful teaching tool in the future.

This is what it's actually like inside my brain

2010-10-23T00:39:00.000-07:00

I can't finish movies on the first try lately. Case in point:

I started watching Different for Girls tonight - because it looks interesting and has Rupert Graves, who does a wonderful job as DI Lestrade in the new Sherlock.

First, I had to pause the movie 3 minutes in (when the cab driver starts talking) and make a mad dash for IMDB. Turns out the cab drivers in Sherlock and Different for Girls are played by the same actor.

Then, at 14:40, Graves' character puts on a record of a rather catchy tune... which I realize is Whole Wide World! Which I know! Except, I own and love the Proclaimers' version, which is apparently a cover of the Wreckless Eric version. So, I hop over to YouTube, give it a listen, and realize I didn't even notice the song when it was in Stranger Than Fiction (so I watch the relevant movie clip).

Eventually, I look the song up on Wikipedia. Where I am informed that Elvis Costello did a live cover of Whole Wide Worl d and how could I not try to find it?

Finally, I decide to blog about my finds, because clearly everyone wants to hear three versions of the same song.

And so it's now taken me an hour to watch 15 minutes of this film, and I decide I'm going to give it another go tomorrow night.

The CA-Team

2010-10-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

I don't remember why I sat still long enough to let M doodle the A-Team (as cats, of course) on me... but I can't say I'm displeased with the results.

I don't even

2010-10-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

I finished the last three episodes of League of Gentlemen this evening. I have two thoughts about it:

1. What the whatting whats.

2. I have never laughed so hard while also saying "stop stop oh god ew ew stop no stop why".

(ok, three thoughts: 3. I'm glad I saw Sherlock first, because if I'd seen Mark Gatiss in drag before seeing him all seriously-attired and umbrella'd I would have lost it while watching A Study in Pink).

Make It Better

2010-10-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

Great post for National Coming Out Day, courtesy a librarian I am very fortunate to have as a pen-pal/internet friend: Make It Better

He really should be wearing glasses.

2010-10-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Only in Austin, and (hopefully) only at the Corner Shoppe.

Last Trip Post, 2 of 4

2010-09-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

More photos than words, this time.

Day two of the busing part of the trip included an early-morning stop in a tiny little town:
and across a weak bridge
into Wales to visit Tintern Abbey.

Which was gorgeous enough that I'm not surprised there's even a poem.

I'm still half-convinced that Welsh is a trick played on tourists
but I've found a few sites and plan to learn to at least read it before I go back.

The last stop of the day was Bath:

where we had a nice lunch (shepherd's pie) and a nice walk and saw the Roman Baths.

We also saw a frankly hilarious street performer with a great routine worked out (chains, whips, broken glass, and breadsticks? Marvelous). I think he may be my soul-mate, which perhaps explains a lot about my life.

Next time: post 3 of 4, in which we see Very Old Rocks and get lost in a bookshop.

Interesting Post

2010-09-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

Over at Big Fat Deal: Women Can Only Eat in Movies if They Look Like They Don't.

Which, despite the number of movies I watch, is not something I'd noticed about the average Hollywood movie.

Granted, I rarely see people truly eat in movies and television as a general rule, which I imagine is because it's hard to take someone seriously while they're scarfing down pasta. But on the other hand, the blogger raises a good point:

When did you last see a fat woman eating in a movie when it wasn’t a fat joke? Even in Shallow Hal (which I watched recently… so close and yet, so fucking far) when they show the fat character eating, it’s Gwyneth Paltrow not Gwyneth-In-A-Fat-Suit-Paltrow. How are we ever supposed to get over the idea of body shame when the very idea of us nourishing our bodies is clearly revolting to the rest of the world?

Interlude

2010-09-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

I completely forgot about doing a post today.

In my defense, I was distracted by this glow-in-the-dark Iron Man cross-stitch.

Last Trip Post, 1 of 4

2010-09-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, so.

Day 3 of the trip took us from London to Stratford-upon-Avon. Like so:

We had lunch in Oxford, after visiting Christ Church, which inspired much of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies.

The tour guide, who was just phenomenal, walked us across town and gave us a mini-tour of part of the campus. This included him pointing out (we didn't have time to enter) the Bodleian Library. I had a moment of silent cheering in my head, because a) I love old libraries and b) I can now put a "face" to the place when it's mentioned in a series I quite enjoy.

Despite getting lost (as usual) near Christ Church and almost leaving my hat in Pret A Manger (of course I went back; it's not like I was just going to be passing through Oxford again anytime soon), we made it to the bus on time and continued on to. . .

. . . Bladon, where we saw Sir Winston Churchill's grave.
We also made friends with a black cat; it seemed like the Done Thing when hanging out in a graveyard.
From there, it was a short jump to Anne Hathaway's cottage - which still looks lovely.
And from there to Stratford-upon-Avon where we got an interesting tour of Shakespeare's birthplace.

I have no photos because of laptop doom (working on that), but I can tell you that the house is staffed by knowledgeable people with tons of interesting facts. We heard about the color choices in the parents' bedroom where the babies slept - red and green, if I remember correctly, to help keep the kids healthy and safe.

I also loved the room that preserved some of the original glass window panes. It apparently used to the the Cool Thing to leave one's mark when visiting tourist spots. For example, the parents' room has been repainted, because it was once covered in scrawls and scribbles. People wealthy enough to own a diamond would etch their name into the glass instead, and several of the more memorable names were pointed out.

According to my notes, we were so tired when we got back to the hotel that (after dinner and a walk) Alek fell asleep in his clothes. I wish I'd taken a photo, but the last entry in my book is "Hotel has me down as 'Ms. M [fulllastname]'. Have decided to change my name to 'Mycroft'." That's presumably when I fell asleep as well.

Next Time! Last Trip Post 2 of 4, wherein I muse on the Great Welsh Conspiracy and meet my soul-mate.

England Trip

2010-09-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

Most (okay, all) of my good trip photos were on the laptop-what-crashed. So, I have the hard drive out to someone who's going to see about getting them off. Tomorrow I will publish a map and the highlights, at least.

League of Gentlemen

2010-09-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

I finished the (BBC) Office Christmas Special last night and found myself at loose ends as far as British comedies.

Fortunately, Netflix has all of League of Gentlemen available for live streaming. The first season got me through cleaning and organizing my entire room without noticing I was actually doing work, which was fantastic. Basically, it's very funny. And weird. And wildly inappropriate for children.

The internet wants you to watch it.

FOUND!

2010-09-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

The answer to my previous post is "bundling bag", for which I owe many thanks to the friend (let's call her Captain McAwesomeface) who just texted me.

Apparently it was controversial and not mentioned a whole lot, which explains why my previous search terms were useless.

Here's the most reputable link I could find in under five minutes on bundling bags.

I Love Having Artsy Friends

2010-09-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

One of the most adorable sketches of me ever created (click for a better view):

My sleepy-mumble text comes from an early-morning conversation with this group of friends. We were discussing the possibly-apocryphal stories of families sewing their daughters into bed while entertaining male guests. (Because virginity is all-important and the responsibility of the female because men can't control themselves. Clearly.) Someone mentioned that a man who knew how to sew would have been incredibly popular; we then made the logical connection to tailors being the best possible boyfriends.

Of course, when I went online I couldn't find a single link referencing this practice/myth, so if anyone wants to point me towards a site or book, that would be brilliant.

Side note: the drool wasn't there in the original picture. E added it because I've slept over at her place and apparently that makes it more "accurate". Hmph

Open Mic Night

2010-09-16T21:17:00.001-07:00

Tonight's post is an open discussion topic - feel free to add your thoughts at any time.

Prompt: Can you explain The Mentalist in a way that doesn't make it out to be simply a knockoff of Lie to Me + Derren Brown?

I ask mostly because I've seen about three episodes so far and I just don't get it. Most shows that are similar to other shows try to have something remarkably different to set them apart; hence all the detective shows where the detective has a different glaring quirk. With The Mentalist, I honestly cannot tell what the something special is supposed to be.

Got to go: I have more work to do and two more episodes of Lie to Me to catch up on.

I Am Lost Without It

2010-09-15T23:44:00.000-07:00

Short post again tonight.

Mainly because the moment I made an actual budget and realized I had spare cash, my previously-faithful PC gave up the ghost for the second and possibly final time.

Really, considering I'd dropped it on a tile floor four times, it was about time. When I tried that with my mac, the hard drive exploded immediately.

So, the laptop is dead - RIP Killer Tomato (and most of my files) - long live the laptop!

My new one's a Gateway as well, because they're clearly incredibly tough. And his name is Boswell.

I've done all the important laptop-breaking-in things this evening:

Erased the unwanted junk that came standard
Set a new desktop background to replace the delicious "charity car wash" one I used to have. This one's tasteful instead, *sigh*
Set bookmark tabs for Netflix, Google Reader, my bank, Wish Upon a Hero, Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger
Watched an episode of Lie to Me. I'm trying to catch up before Hulu takes anything down. I'm a bit iffy on some of the plots this season, but will probably never get tired of watching Tim Roth strut around and piss people off.

Snaaaaaaaillllllllll

2010-09-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

This is the most fascinatingly adorable thing I've seen in a while:

Giant African Land Snail Eating

Found via Daily Squee.

No, I Didn't Post Yesterday

2010-09-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

It seemed like an inappropriate time to post ridiculous photos.

Here, have a photo of my Saturday night/Sunday morning:

Charades!

2010-09-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

I'm spending the night at a friend's house, celebrating her 25th. As she's in theatre and taking an improv class, we decided to play charades.

Even better than the ones we get right (whoo, 1776!) or wrong (CASABLANCA, really?) are the guesses that happen before getting it:

The Gentleman Cat = The Aristocats

Rain Makes Grass Grow / Wings Back Wings = Fern Gully

Car Heaven = Van Helsing

Five Men Go To Washington = Mr. Smith, etc etc.

Something Here and Gone = Gone With the Wind

Cow Dick = Cowboy Bebop

Ratatouille = Hamlet (don't even ask)

Are You A Mouse? = Labyrinth

Die Punch Ow = Die Hard

Queen of Australia = The African Queen

Penguin Penguin Penguin = Duck Soup

Oh, You Are A Mouse This Time = Flowers for Algernon

Paradox?

2010-09-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

Is it a paradox to use this post to announce that I'm not posting tonight so I can prepare a few more trip photo posts?

Probably.

So in the interest of avoiding a time-space meltdown on blogger, I will ALSO share that my Turkish bath towel came in today. From Turkey.

It's soft and huge and very very thin, and I quite like it. You can get one on Etsy if you are so inclined.

Black Tie Beach

2010-09-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

I go back and forth on how much I enjoy Improv Everywhere's newest escapades; some of them fall flat for me. However, the Black Tie Beach was just a cool idea:

For our latest mission we had several hundred agents spend a day at Coney Island / Brighton Beach wearing black tie attire. We covered a mile-long stretch of beach with a diverse group of people of all ages (from babies to sixty-somethings) laying out, playing games, and swimming in the ocean, all in formal wear.

The photos are just neat, really, so you hop on over for those at least...

It's Been Pouring All Day

2010-09-07T23:06:00.001-07:00

I love the rain, but driving home from class is *not* supposed to be a near-death experience.

Thankfully I'm all home and warm now, and only have to go as far as the Italian restaurant up the street tomorrow afternoon.

I also restarted The Science of Sherlock Holmes this evening. It's a fascinating book, but so long since I opened it that I don't remember the first five chapters.

Now: laundry and then bed. When even the cat is asleep before me I'm definitely overdue for some z's.

Trip Photos Mark Two

2010-09-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Currently playing: Electric Six's "Down at McDonnelzzz" (on repeat, of course)

You know the drill. I will now present you with images and the occasional series of words.

Day two of the trip involved a tour to Buckingham Palace and the Royal Mews:
The Mews - surprisingly not where the royal cats are kept.

This trip was followed by a walk over to the London Eye. I'd heard the ride wasn't worth it - this is a total lie. The view is nearly literally breathtaking.

We also saw our hotel:
And a giant Dalek:
Finally, a story that might help explain my family to the uninitiated. Alek and I both spotted a great shot at the same time; this of course turned into a competition over who could get the "best" shot of the exact same thing. As Alek doesn't have a blog and I do, I'm publicly declaring that I Win at Pictures:

More to come! We did, in fact, eventually leave London.

What I Have to Show For My Weekend

2010-09-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

This is Bernard, and he is my new best friend:

Trips to Terra Toys are always a lovely way to spend an hour or so on a Sunday, but this time around I got horribly distracted by the plastic action figures. The kickass Maid Marian caught my eye, and then - the anthropomorphic pirates!

This guy was the winner, because there's nothing about him that fails to be ridiculous, amazing, or ridiculously amazing. He's a left-handed walrus, right? Who is also a pirate. Who has a peg leg and a hook hand but both tusks intact.

I also got some owl stickers at Terra Toys, because let's face it: it'd just be weird to check out with nothing but a plastic toy.

Things That Were Designed to Kill Me

2010-09-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

#211: Chocovine

Text Message of the Month

2010-09-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

-------

From: Dr. J. Watson

I am going to drink this bottle of absinthe

and then set it on fire

-------

Tonight's post brought to you by the letters "it's Friday" and "slumber party."

What Are You Doing Here? Shoo!

2010-09-02T23:04:00.000-07:00

No photos tonight because I've been staring at the computer all day for work and I'm just squeaking in under the deadline as it is.

Instead, have some links of other places you should be on the internet instead right now:

Fake AP Stylebook's Twitter account - I don't even care if you use Twitter. It doesn't matter, because this is funny stuff.

The SuperFogeys - One of the few webcomics I actually follow regularly anymore. I've kindly linked you to the beginning so you can read the entire thing before moving on. I'll wait.

An interview with Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss about the new BBC show Sherlock - Posted because I enjoy seeing people excited about things I love (also because Freeman is adorable and I require Cumberbatch's coat to stalk around in). I'm starting to sulk because my DVD hasn't arrived yet and it seems like everyone else on the internet has theirs already. *curses international shipping times*

Aaand it's bedtime. 'Night!

Let the new month start!

2010-09-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Someone asked if I'd be participating in National Novel Writing Month this year.

And... I'm not. However, I've decided to update this blog every day this month (unless something way more exciting comes up and I've forgotten to cheat and have something set to auto-post). You lucky, lucky readers. Be sure to tune in around week 3, when I'll be completely out of ideas and probably just start linking to Sherlock Holmes fan fiction.

But at the moment, I have plenty of material. Namely, photos from the weeklong trip I took with my brother to Southern England. I've wanted to visit England - and London specifically - for a very very long time; probably since I first started reading Sherlock Holmes stories in middle school.

My face when I arrived looked something like :D and it stayed like :D for most of the week.

Photos this evening are from the first day, which was spent getting lost in London. On foot, because I had this insane fear of getting lost on the Tube and never getting to see Stonehenge. Also, Wikipedia and the third Mummy movie tell me those double-decker buses just can't be safe.

The hotel was lovely. We didn't have much of a view, but then we didn't spend much time there.

View on the way to the British Museum, where we had all sorts of fun. You could honestly spend days in there:

Alek seemed to enjoy taking photos of me in front of very large things.

And the Rosetta Stone! It's a freakin' rock star - there was a crowd around it every time we passed by.

At the touristy store across the street. He looks quite dashing, and thankfully did not decide to purchase/wear it for the entire trip.

Did I mention the London Eye was exactly a five-minute walk from the hotel? More on that later.

The first night we opted for dinner at The Prospect of Whitby, followed by a boat tour down the Thames, where I got props for knowing who Maurice Micklewhite is. Apparently he worked in a building overlooking the river before deciding to go star in a bunch of movies I love and just generally be awesome.

Filler!

2010-08-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Photos from my Awesome Trip of Awesome will be up soon; I hope to be finished resizing things by tomorrow.

For now, have a text messages filler:

So, I have a friend who, while very drunk one night, changed the names of all her friends in her cell phone. A mutual friend became Pikachu, for example. Drunk geeks are the best drunk friends.

Anyway, she's changed almost all the names back, but she forgot mine. So yesterday when I was sitting around with her roomate, said friend got a message from "Sherlock Holmes" (Yes, that was her idea for me. Either because I'm brilliant and - according to the BBC - dashingly handsome, or because I'm a sociopath. Take your pick) reading I'M IN YOUR HOUSE.

Upon realizing what she was seeing, I promptly made a change in my phone, leading to the following exchange:

--------

From: Dr. J. Watson

OMG SHERLOCK HOLMES IS IN MY HOUSE TOUCHING MY THINGS

--------

To: Dr. J. Watson

I'M DEDUCING THINGS ABOUT YOU. DIRTY SINFUL THINGS.

--------

From: Dr. J. Watson

OH GOD DON'T TELL LESTRADE

--------

To: Dr. J. Watson

I AM SHERLOCK BLOODY HOLMES I DON'T NEED TO TELL LESTRADE ANYTHING...EVEN IF HE IS KINDA CUTE

--------

To: Dr. J. Watson

ALSO I AM IN YOUR UNDERWEAR DRAWER.

--------

From: Dr. J. Watson

YOU RAKE.

--------

From: Dr. J. Watson

AND STAY AWAY FROM MY DELICATES

--------

And she's promised not to fix my name in her address book. Excellent.

Scarborough Faire

2010-08-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's been long enough that I don't actually remember when I went to the Scarborough Renaissance Festival this year. The point is that I had a great time, and I'm already looking forward to next year. (I really need to get a costume at some point). A few photos:

It seemed like a good chance to show off my new hat:

As a complete first, I also rode an elephant! Three of us went together (with someone's poor daughter squished between us) and I think we all had a blast:

Elephants, by the way? They're pretty amazing.

Want! - Candyland Garden

2010-07-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

(from craziestgadgets.com)

I realize that there is probably a staggering percentage of the world's population that never played Candyland. That, in fact, has never heard of Candyland.

I feel bad for them.

Candyland is one of the first games I ever remember playing. It was brightly colored, the illustrations on the board were fun, and even better the rules were simple enough that even with the five-year age difference my brother and I could play together.

So I thought it was completely cool today when I came across an article today about someone building their own Candyland-themed garden. Follow the link to great photos!

Free Cookies!

2010-07-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Photos and all sorts of fun things to come.

But first, cookies!

"Thank You, Mom!"

2010-05-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

It's a bit past Mother's Day for this year - but then again, I don't think being nice to your mom should be confined to just one day a year... there's Christmas and her birthday, too...

Seriously, though, I'd like to share with everyone some information about Proctor & Gamble's new campaign, which aims to bring families together. The "Thank You Mom Reunions" contest is designed to reunite Moms and their children for special family moments -- which they might have missed otherwise.

Personally, I think my mom's shown up for every important event in my life, from soccer games and band competitions to graduations and the (rare) trip to the principal's office. Everyone isn't always so lucky, though, which makes this such a wonderful idea!

The overall goal is for these “Thank You Mom Reunions” to help 105 moms and their children, which works out to 15 families per month for 10 months. And if you're fortunate enough to be living close to your mom - like I am - you can still enter. The details are outlined on the www.thankyoumom.com website:

Tell us how much you appreciate your mom. You could win $1,000 for a special visit with her! [. . .] And if she lives nearby, that's OK, too. Tell us why she deserves a special day for just the two of you.

If you (or someone you know) has a great story to share, head on over! On the site you can enter to win one of the travel vouchers to help cover the cost of a special reunion with your mom or the maternal figure in your life.

The process is simple: you submit a 100 word description of why you’d like to be (re)united with your mom, visitors to the site vote on their favorite stories, and every month through November a new 15 winners are chosen!

If you win, you also receive a portable digital video camera, so you can record your reunion and, if you like, share the video on www.ThankYouMom.com. I'm thinking of entering for my mom, and I'm sure she will enter for her mom. Let me know if you decide to enter!

The "Thank You Mom" opportunity was kindly brought to my attention by the ladies over at the One2One Network

Green Steam Circus

2010-05-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

Alek and I spent most of the day at the Green Steam Circus, over at The Backyard's new location.

This was the first year, and there wasn't as large a turnout as I'd expected, but I had a good time nonetheless. All in all, I feel that I definitely got my ticket price's worth of fun ($35 in advance, $40 at the gate).

There plenty of arts and crafts booths, including one run by my friends Mallory and Sadie. If you're ever in the market for steampunk hats or handmade soap with tiny Cthulhu figurines inside, they're your women.

We saw a bunch of performances, including the Minor Mishap Marching Band:

Lions:

Mr. Cirque, who put on an entertaining performance:

Schave & Reilly - Ivy states that there's no such thing as good vaudeville, but I completely disagree. This was a fun show:

and my second-favorite band of the day, White Ghost Shivers:

The best performance of the Circus was definitely Abney Park.
I don't have any good photos of them on stage, mostly because I was too busy having my socks rocked off. You should go see them if you ever get the chance.

I also got to see people from the Austin Bike Zoo for the first time today! Their website has some amazing photos - the bikes I saw today were the monarch butterfly and the praying mantis.

Changes

2010-04-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Difference #227 between my first year as a graduate student and my first year as an undergraduate: no one invited me to join any honors societies as an undergrad. I'm still shocked that my GPA is much better now that the work is three times as hard. KDP initiation photos:

Charmingly intellectual.

Um, whatever the opposite of "charmingly intellectual" is. This is still my favorite photo from the evening, though.

Considering my next move. World domination is Step 9 in my 10-year plan.

Oh yeah, and these two people just showed up and started talking to me. No idea who they were, but they wanted to pose for all these photos, and then take me out to dinner and drive me home. It was crazy. Here's one of them:

Anyone recognize him?

New Who - The Eleventh Hour

2010-04-04T01:56:00.000-07:00

Some lovely person uploaded the new episode of Doctor Who to YouTube (here it is, although no guess on when the BBC will make them take it down) for those of us who don't want to wait two weeks to get it.

I always hate new Doctors at first, in part because I've yet to see a regeneration sequence that provides a good picture of what the new guy's going to be like. The other part is that, once you've become attached to seeing one actor play a character, it's difficult to switch gears and accept an interloper.

To be fair, I gave this Doctor the same amount of time to wow me that I gave every other Doctor: one episode. Peter Davidson won me over with The Caves of Androzani, Christopher Eccleston got me with Rose, and David Tennant - with the help of an errant satsuma - helped me get past the fact that he didn't look like Eccleston.

Matt Smith earned my grudging respect with "Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans" and "I'm the Doctor; I'm worse than everybody's aunt... and that's not how I'm introducing myself." Then, somewhere between fish custard and "Yes, I kept the clothes" he became the new Doctor for me.

So, great job Matt Smith - and all the actors, writers, and other people involved in The Eleventh Hour.

. . . But I'm still dressing up as the fifth Doctor for Halloween. Sorry!

Spring Break Shenanigans, Part the Last

2010-03-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

And so we end the Photo Saga. Look for a new post... whenever I feel like it, really. That's the whole point of having a blog :-)

We took Al to see Crazy Heart his last night in town - the four of us were pretty fairly split between "loved it" and "well, that was boring." Personally, I gave it 5 stars as an interesting character study. One thing we could all agree on, though, is that the movie theatre is a fun place to be late at night:
But what has become of the Nautilus? Did it resist the pressure of the maelstrom? Does Captain Nemo still live? And does he still follow under the ocean those frightful retaliations?

I promise you... that if I wanted to kill you, I would resort to more direct means.

Why don't you quit cryin' and get me some bourbon?

Hey they forgot to wind the sundial.

Spring Break Shenanigans, Part the Third

2010-03-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

...cont. from previous post.

That evening was a Bob Schneider concert at Threadgills.

Charlie Mars opened and, while I enjoyed his show, it just wasn't on the same level as Bob Schneider and the Texas Bluegrass Massacre.

I'll be honest: I've never really listened to Bob Schneider's music. In fact, at several points a guy walked by wearing this shirt and my only thought was, "wow, that's an awesome top."

It wasn't until Alek went up to get a photo with the "random dude" that I realized who he was.
Heh, oops.

It was an absolute blast, though - the crowd's energy was amazing, and there was some serious talent up on the stage. As an unexpected bonus, they recorded the whole performance. If you ever listen to the CDs, at the beginning of Track 10 he says something like, "extra credit to the people in the back!" Yeah, that would be those of us on the top level of the risers, by the back fence. Whoo!

We even made friends with the complete strangers in front of us, which reminds me that I owe them some video...

Exhausted, but happy.

(It also has to count as a miracle that we did not fall off the risers while dancing, especially when we competed to see who could dance while standing on the highest step.)

Tomorrow: the last Spring Break post!

Spring Break Shenanigans, Part the Second

2010-03-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

There was a delicious afternoon spent out on a sailboat. The weather cooperated to give us a gorgeous day. We spent the first hour learning nautical terms, tacking like pros, and taking turns at the helm. The rest of the time was spent doing nothing, really - we ate lunch out on the deck and then admired the view.

...to be continued (*cue dramatic music*)

Spring Break Shenanigans, Part the First

2010-03-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Spring Break was great: low-key enough that we didn't get (too) exhausted, but not enough to be boring. Alek flew in for the week, and it was great to see him - although I think he was more excited about getting out of the cold weather than anything else.

There was plenty of eating out to be done, mostly places we hadn't been before or haven't visited in a while. We hadn't been to The Oasis, for example, since before it burned down. The tradition of announcing and then applauding the sunset is wonderful. Also wonderful? Unattended signs in the parking lot.

Other fabulous dinner spots included Alborz Fonda San Miguel
and a Greek place I've forgotten the name of that had the friendliest wait staff ever.

...more to come!

2010-03-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

New post to come.

For now, discuss:

Three semesters of Latin, for this

2010-01-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.: Arthur C. Clarke

My brother and I got new phones for Christmas, and I upgraded our shared cell phone plan at the same time. More minutes, free texts, blah blah blah, plus free photo messaging. Which I completely did not see the need for at the time. Until:

Last night, we were celebrating my grandmother's 72nd birthday when someone mentioned how sad it was that Alek couldn't be there.

Time spent snapping a quick shot of Gigi before she could blow out the candles on her cake and texting it to my brother: 10 seconds

Time spent geeking out over how I just sent a photograph halfway across the country using the magic of technology: 5 minutes

Time spent getting ribbed about it by the rest of the family: the entire evening

I'm also loving the free texts. My brother and I had a rather hilarious pun fight going yesterday. I won, as I often do, by breaking out the faux Latin. I think the setup was something about Merlin's cell phone plan - text quandam textque futurus: the once and future text

TKO

2010-01-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

I almost didn't read this book.

Tom Schreck talked about his stories in a Bouchercon panel on characters and their relationships with alcohol. His detective, Duffy Dombrowski, is a beer-drinking (ok, guzzling) social worker-cum-boxer who listens to nothing but Elvis. That's new, I thought at the time, but boxing's not my thing. The only sports I enjoy watching are hockey and soccer (and don't even get me started on people who think golf is a great spectator sport).

However, Schreck's discussion of the worlds of social work and writing caught my interest. I must have walked past and picked up the copy of TKO for sale in the book room about ten times. Boxing aside, the story looked good: the back cover promised both humor and a serial killer.

Sunday, at the free-for-all book bazaar, I discovered that Schreck had a table set up. Well, when you can get a book you've been considering for free, signed and handed to you by the author, you go for it!

I feel terrible posting this in January, because I received my copy of TKO last October. And I can't even use the classic "oh, I just finished the book" excuse, because I devoured the entire novel on the flight home. It was an incredibly fast read, without having a plot that's too dumbed down.

The main story follows a case assigned to Duffy Dombrowski, of a man (Howard) recently released from prison, who was convicted twenty-five years ago of killing a number of his high school classmates. The man disappears just at around the same time students from the local high school start turning up dead, leaving the police convinced that Howard's guilty and Dombrowski convinced he's innocent. Further complicating matters are a number of subplots, including girlfriends, boxing, booze, and a self-appointed "apprentice". I was pleased to discover that the sport didn't overtake the main mystery, and I found the descriptions of boxing - from training to actual matches - surprisingly interesting.

I loved how quickly the book zipped by, and did find it funny as promised. The writing in places could have used some more work, and there were points where the plot seemed to flag, but overall I was drawn in to the story. If you're interested, you can see excerpts on Schreck's website.

Also, I feel compelled to point out that TKO is actually second in what is currently a trilogy. The first novel in the series is On the Ropes, and the most recent is Out Cold. Sadly, I haven't had a chance to read either yet.

[On a completely unrelated note, my birthday is in July. . .]

I'm a Bachelor!

2010-01-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Took me long enough, didn't it?

But the important part is that I did it!

And just for the record (from UT's website):

major RHETORIC AND WRITING
SECOND MAJOR SPANISH

Yet More From the Files

2010-01-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going to make this a recurring thing until I a) run out of scans to post or b) have other things to blog about.

Today's gem - an excuse note for class. My dad's notes became legendary among the office ladies in high school; I imagine they were a nice treat after 400 "Please excuse X so they can Y" letters a day.

I wish I'd remembered to get photocopies of more of them:

Text:

3/23/04

Dear Warden:

Please allow Nicole [REDACTED] to leave school at 10:50A today, not because she really needs to or anything, she just wants to frolic on the front lawn.
Nicole will be back by noon-thirty . . . that is, unless THEY get her.

Thankew -
[REDACTED]

More From the Files

2010-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'd probably get more done if I didn't stop to scan things in.

On the other hand, I'm more likely to throw away old papers if I have a digital copy of them somewhere. That's how I trick my inner pack rat.

Today's offering:

On the back -

NIKI
No. 5
Age: 09
Weight: 80
Height: 50 IN.
Position(s): FULLBACK
Team: Jets
Fav. Pro: LARS SJOENFJORD

Yes, that last bit is printed on there. Apparently my father was the one to fill out the questionnaire for the cards.

Stars and Stripes

2010-01-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

Most of what I own is still packed up - my current project involves taking my things out of the cardboard liquor boxes, donating anything I no longer want to Goodwill, and repacking everything in sturdy plastic containers. (Which, by the way, are a complete steal at HEB right now: $4 each).

It's been a trip, as I keep coming across old school documents that have somehow followed me around all this time. Case in point, this extra credit assignment from 1996 (click to read the large version):

My handwriting over the last 14 years: largely unchanged.
My writing style over the last 14 years: thankfully changed quite a bit.
My signature over the last 14 years: evolved to no longer include little hearts over my i's. I use stars now.

(Actually, I take that back. My handwriting now is actually worse. Amazing.)

Ikkicon of the FUTURE

2010-01-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

2010 hit the ground running - for the second year in a row, my best friend convinced me to attend the local anime convention. Although I am not particularly a fan of "Japanese animation and pop-culture", there are always new things to be learned, and Ikkicon [4] did not disappoint.

I skipped the Friday activities, since at our house New Year's Day is a strictly-pajamas, sleep-until-noon sort of event.

Saturday and Sunday were quite busy:

We sat in on Mock Combat for Cosplay, a two-hour panel run by Chris Ayres. If this panel shows up again I'm definitely jumping in, because it was incredibly fun. Ayres demonstrated how to make it look like you're throttling (or groin-kicking, or slapping, or punching, or arm-twisting) someone without hurting your partner. Even better, he's a fountain of funny and interesting stories of stage trickery, which I find fascinating.

This apparently doesn't hurt at all.

But it looks painful, doesn't it?

This is one of my favorite shots, although I wish I'd gotten video of the kidney-kick.

Another memorable panel was Cosplay Chess, which is just about the geekiest thing in the universe. The floor is blocked out into squares, characters are placed, and two people play a game of chess, moving the characters around the room. Points are, of course, awarded for ingenuity and cleverness in "finishing moves." I don't know who was dressed as Doctor #10 and Rose, but The Doctor produced an award-winning display of sorrow when Rose was bumped off (and just two moves from checkmate - isn't that always the way?). Our team (white) won, and poor Darth Vader was destroyed by a seething mass of characters.

So, apparently it's difficult to take an interesting chess photo. Look, if you want great board game imagery, go here. I'm just a nerd with a camera.

Nice to see the boys getting along.

We later wandered into the artists' and dealer's areas, where I was coerced into parting with my cash. I had decided ahead of time that I was only going to shell out for "experiences" or "charity" so I got two Sereniteas from the Austin Browncoats table. 1) How could I turn down a Nathan Fillion-inspired tea blend and 2) proceeds go toward encouraging more kids to read.

There were about twenty different blends. The woman had me at "you can smell as many of them as you like!"

Right around 5pm the first afternoon, things went blurry. As it turned out, I was simply vibrating at a faster speed than the rest of the world. Possibly due to the event laughingly called "lunch", where I had enjoyed melon bread, chocolate koala bear cookies, Calpico with aloe, and what I think was mochi.

We also stopped in at the charity auction, which unfortunately did not have many convention goers in attendance. Of course, that didn't stop the signed Serenity comics from rapidly soaring above my price range. I did, however, shell out for a dvd of Trinity Blood signed by about 14 different people - which definitely fell within my charity/experience plan. The money goes to Kids Need to Read, and I've never won a live auction before. It was thrilling!

As much as I enjoyed Mock Combat, if there was one panel that was worth the entrance fee all by itself, that panel was A Very Merry ninjaHELL! Last year's left me a little cold, but I laughed my ass off this time - particularly during the traditional "we need to stall because the equipment hasn't shown up yet WHERE THE HELL IS THE RIGHT CABLE" segment.

What else? Lets see. . . we took a little time for photos, because Ivy had a great costume and the Hilton has crazy decorations.

You think this is nuts? One of the rooms had a lighting arrangement on the ceiling that looked like a Viking ship made of diamonds.

We also exchanged gifts! Ivy got me a Doctor Who pop-up book, which is exactly the sort of thing everyone wants and is too embarrassed to buy for themselves. I got her a mug designed by Wil Wheaton and a box of Earl Grey.

Look, ma! Nerds!

(Alternate caption: when you've known someone for over a decade, your brains eventually synch up. Half the fun this weekend was laughing at each other's jokes, taking pictures of toilets, and bringing up embarrassing things we both did in middle school.)

2010 in Media

2010-01-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

Movies

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
The Good Earth
Armageddon (not the one you're thinking of)
Brooklyn's Finest
Chocolate
Dead Bodies
Little While Lie
Care Bears
Bad Lieutenant (ok, a third of it)
Noises Off!
The Sixth Sense
New Moon (for the lulz, honest)
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Inception

Books

Mr. Campion, Criminologist
We
Gimme More
Powers
The Satanic Nurses
The Eyre Affair
Alanna Series
Pledged
The Practice Effect
Mort
The Saint's Getaway
Moving Pictures
Tales of Unease
The Science of Sherlock Holmes

TV Shows

The IT Crowd
Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani
Campion: Look to the Lady
Campion: Police at the Funeral
Campion: The Case of the Late Pig
NCIS
Leverage
Sapphire and Steel, Adventure 2
Black Books
Never Mind the Buzzcocks (random episodes from various years)
MacGyver
Being Human, Season 1
Armstrong & Miller Show, series 1
Primeval (all)
Life on Mars
Sherlock
To the Ends of the Earth
Assorted episodes of QI
The League of Gentlemen
The Office (BBC)

Plays/Shows

Deathtrap
Misalliance
Taming of the Shrew

2009 in Words and Pictures

2009-12-31T14:03:00.000-08:00

As I sit here thinking over the last 12 months
I realize that 2009 was good to me. If you've been following this blog, you know that I graduated from the University of Texas, had fun with my family, started a new (and better) job, was accepted into the graduate Teaching program at St. Edward's University, enjoyed a lot of performances by local theatre troupes, attended my first Bouchercon, met one of my favorite authors, took a vacation where I got to spend an entire day on the beach, read an insane number of books, and discovered "new" musicians and BBC shows.

However, I wanted to share a little something more this New Year's Eve.

Fortunately, I had my camera with me for most of the year
so I can share the highlights with you.

2009 was the year I finally won our annual Christmas Slap-Game contest
and also the year I finally realized I'm in love with The Proclaimers.
2009 was a year for spending time with family:
Alek finally caught that pesky Christmas fairy.

We tried something new - fish 'n' chips, shepherd's pie, and Woodchuck cider - at a pub.

We fought over who had the best holiday photos.

We .... stood in front of trees together.

2009 was a time to go back to the classics
And to try new things.
We had bad pet news
(Omar was diagnosed with cancer)

And good pet news.
(The lasers are now 100% operational!)

We celebrated birthdays
and enjoyed life's little luxuries.
2009 gave us surprises,
narrow escapes,
and plenty of time to reflect.

And, of course, 2009 will live in our memories as the year Dad and Alek invented Overhanded Bowling.

Here's saying "so long" to 2009, and a hearty "hello" to 2010. I hope everyone enjoys the hell out of the new year - I sure plan to!

Halloween 2009

2009-12-04T16:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, so let's pretend that Halloween was actually, say, six or seven days ago. And that these photos are on time.

I pulled the awesome straw and got to be event-planner for the evening. As much as I complain about living back in the suburbs in terms of there being nothing to do here, things turned out well:

Our intrepid trio started the afternoon at Main Event. Jyan came as Steve Jobs-dressed-as-Arthur-Dent (there's a bathrobe and towel in the back of the car),

Sarah went with the theme "mod", and I went with the theme "pirate costume I can still play laser tag in".

You see, I was worried that if I went the full striped skirt and boots route they wouldn't let me play. And let's be fair - laser tag trumps Halloween costume, always. (As it turns out, I would have been fine. They let a rather tall man in a gorilla costume in with no problem... which was totally terrifying in the strobe lights)

We warmed up with a few quiet games

and then one of us went, "wait, they have mini golf here?" After seeing the word "Glo" before "Mini Golf", it was a done deal. We were not disappointed, because the first thing we saw after walking in? This:

Yep, that's clearly a neon stargate knockoff. I absolutely love it. The rest of the mini golf area was similarly psychedelically amazing:

After a full round of golf and another $20 in shooting/killing/stabbing/horse racing games, we were starting to check the clock

and sure enough, it was time to head over to the local Alamo Drafthouse for the Texas premier of Dead Snow. The showing of Dead Snow was just amazing - there's nothing quite like the energy of sitting in a room full of semi-drunk Halloween revelers while watching a Norwegian Nazi zombie movie. Or, if there is, it's probably illegal.

After the movie we made a beeline straight back to Main Event, where we finally got to play some laser tag, with the aforementioned guy in a gorilla suit, a ton of tiny kids, and thankfully a handful of other grown-ups.

When we tired of running around in the dark and getting our pride bruised by middle schoolers, we moved on to the more adult sport of bowling. Which we're also pretty terrible at, it seems:

Sarah was Tsu, and Jyan and I chose our names from How I Met Your Mother, in honor of the fact that Jyan's got me hooked on the show. SWA in this case is short for Swarley ... and don't think I didn't get a huge kick out of my score in frame 9.

Coming "soon": Thanksgiving photos! With any luck, before 2010.

Oh, and because it seemed vaguely appropriate, here's a photo of my cat terrorizing my fish:

A Little Slice

2009-11-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

Although I write my reviews in exchange for a chance to check out new music and books, I have a friend who reviews plays and music in exchange for pay. As a result, we each tend to get very different albums. We were discussing our current projects the other night, when I mentioned that I was about to review the new Five For Fighting album Slice.

His response? "I'm so sorry."

We have disparate tastes in music, but I will admit that his comment slightly colored my expectations for the album. I'd never heard anything by Five For Fighting before: would I hate their music?

As it turns out, I needn't have worried. Right from the first track (Slice) I was drawn in by the music. In fact, the eponymous track is my favorite song on the album. Slice blends allusions to some of my favorite older songs with references to current culture, and the music perfectly matches this melding.

There was a time a long, long time ago
Chevys and levees played on the radio
No cell phones, just 20,000 lights
Swaying on a saturday night alright

Can you imagine that slice of time
Rock and roll was young
People stood in line
To hear music that played into their lives
That you could carry till the day you die

Hey man sing me a song
When we were everyone
We were more than just a slice of American Pie

Have you read my blog today
300 million little USA's
Your doorstep is just a click away
We'll get together one of these days

One line I read on the Five For Fighting website kept coming to mind as I enjoyed Slice, and I think it sums up the feeling you get from listening to the album:

If every album provides snapshots of where an artist's mind and heart is at the moment, Slice, the latest offering from John Ondrasik (aka Five for Fighting), is a collection of digital jpegs and faded Polaroids.

This description works so well because, throughout Slice, I appreciated the balance between "new" and "old" sounds - many of the tracks evoke older music that I love, but without sounding like a copy. For example, the track Love Can't Change the Weather pays homage to classic R&B music.

If you're interested in the album, there is a moving video of Five For Fighting's Changes on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. John Ondrasik can also be found on Twitter.

Thanks, One2One Network, for sending me this album to review!

Brandi Carlile

2009-11-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

I popped in the new Brandi Carlile album, "Give Up The Ghost", on the way home after our Halloween festivities. Two thoughts sprang immediately to mind:

Thought #1: "Give Up The Ghost" is amazing driving music. This is especially true for tracks such as Looking Out, Dying Day, Dreams, and Caroline. These songs are upbeat and catchy; I wished I'd already known the lyrics, because they really make you want to sing along. Preferably with the windows down and a long stretch of highway ahead. I almost wanted the drive home to be longer, as I would gladly have listened to the album a second and third time right in a row.

Thought #2: Brandi Carlile has a beautiful voice. While I wouldn't use words like "refined" and "polished" to describe her voice, I also don't think that sort of sound would have worked on this album. Instead, Carlile's voice makes me feel that she's a very down-to-earth woman -- and that's she's having a great time singing her songs. It felt like she put part of herself into every track, from the opening Looking Out to the moving Before It Breaks, and through the final song, Oh Dear.

If I may give a piece of advice: you really need to check out Brandi Carlile's music! Amazon has some brief clips from "Give Up The Ghost" that I believe will give you a pretty good feel for her album.

If you'd like to find out more, Brandi Carlile can be found at BrandiCarlile.com and on Facebook.

Thank you, One2One Network! This is my favorite album I've received to review this year.

Nosferatu

2009-10-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic Saturday evening, all around.

One thing about not owning a car is that ... I drive an awful lot of cars. My parents' blue car, my parents' green car (the difference between the two being that the green one has, shall we say, limited mobility), my grandmother's car, my friend's father's shiny gold Mercedes - none of the friends I see on a regular basis drive, so I play chauffeur if they supply the vehicle. Or money for lunch; I'm not picky.

Tonight, a friend invited me to see the Weird City Theatre production of Nosferatu ... and I got to drive another car. This time, it was The Purple Subaru.

Another thing about driving many different cars is that you become adept at quickly locating the important levers and buttons. This may not sound like a big deal, but when you're talking about cars spanning different makes, models, and decades, things can get hairy. I thought I finally had my car-checking down to a science, since last time we went to a play I learned that some cars have a cleverly hidden switch that opens the gas tank cover.

So I felt pretty good when I adjusted the seat, adjusted the mirrors, turned on the lights (but NOT the brights), and got the passenger's side door open in under ten minutes. Until we got to the gas station and realized the parking brake was still on.

Things got even better 30 minutes and many miles later. I'd just spent several days in Indianapolis, so it took me a little while to realize that the white plumes coming from under the hood were not steam from hot air hitting cold, but rather smoke. From the air compressor, as we found out a few minutes later. If we ever make it all the way to and from a play without having to consult someone by phone about the car, I'm going to bake myself a cake.

We fortunately got things sorted out, much to the dismay of the eager cab driver who parked across the street to watch us check under the hood.

We were also, for the first time in three or four plays, early rather than late for the showing.

Speaking of which...

Nosferatu is based on both Bram Stoker's Dracula and the 1922 film. It was shorter than most plays I've seen - it started at 8 and we were back in the car by 9:40 - and the sets were sparce. However, I think this minimalism was a good thing. There's no extraneous anything, just the meat of the story, which as a bonus has a neat little twist ending. Also, kudos to whomever was controlling the lighting: it looked great.

Basically, if you get a chance to see Nosferatu, you should; it's showing at the Dougherty Arts Center from now until November first. Tickets aren't expensive, and it's a good way to get into the Halloween spirit.

Joshua Bell - at home with friends

2009-10-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, the temperature had dropped overnight - from an unpleasantly humid 82 to a delicious 64 - and I could just hear the sounds of the brass section of the marching band warming up at the high school. It seemed like the perfect time to pop in Joshua Bell's new album and enjoy the weather.

At Home With Friends is, as explained in a personal message included in the liner notes, an extension of a tradition from Bell's childhood. The album pairs Bell, on violin, with a number of other talents like Chris Botti, Sting, Josh Groban, Frankie Moreno, and Regina Spektor. The full track listing is impressive:

I Loves You Porgy featuring Chris Botti, trumpet
Come Again featuring Sting, vocals
Oblivion featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Cinema Paradiso featuring Josh Groban, vocals
Para Tí featuring Tiempo Libre, various
My Funny Valentine featuring Kristin Chenoweth, vocals
Maybe So featuring Edgar Meyer Sam Bush and Mike Marshall, strings
Grieg: Sonata No. 3 featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff (Zenph re-performance)
Eleanor Rigby featuring Frankie Moreno, piano & vocals
O, Cease Thy Maiden Fair featuring Nathan Gunn, baritone
Il Postino featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Left Hand Song featuring Regina Spektor, piano & vocals
Chovendo Na Roseira featuring Dave Grusin, piano
Look Away featuring Edgar Meyer, bass and Chris Thile, mandolin
Variant Moods: Duet for Sitar & Violin featuring Anoushka Shankar, sitar
I'll Take Manhattan featuring Marvin Hamlisch, piano
Left Hand featuring Regina Spektor, vocals

At Home With Friends made for great mood music to leave on today. I may have been influenced by the weather, but I felt that several of the songs invoked the spirit of Fall, particularly Chovendo Na Roseira and Left Hand Song.

Surprisingly, and in contrast with other albums I've reviewed, At Home With Friends doesn't have a single track I actively dislike. That being said, I do feel that the true strength of the album rests with the musical rather than the vocal arrangements. Left Hand Song and Come Again are both good songs, but the tracks that I enjoyed - and that grabbed my attention - most were those which focused on the instruments.

Joshua Bell plays extremely well, and his versatility comes through over the course of the album. Duet for Sitar & Violin, for example, is an intriguing piece (and my personal favorite on the album), as are Look Away and Oblivion. Even better, over the course of the album I was introduced to a number of songs and instruments I'd never heard before.

Overall, I think At Home With Friends was a great idea on Joshua Bell's part.

A very hearty thank you to the One2One Network for giving me the chance to review At Home With Friends!