Finis.

Can I get a Woo to the Hoo?

For the second time in 5 years of trying, I actually manged to write 50,000 whole words (plus a few more) in 30 days. I actually had to add an epilogue to stretch my word count to 50,000, so clearly, when I revisit this story in a few months I'm going to have to do a better job of fleshing it out. Either that or admit that it would make a better short story and cut a lot out instead.

The important thing is, I accomplished my primary goal, which was to remember how to enjoy writing again. This is most important because I was seriously at a place where I was so completely discouraged that I was considering giving up on my writing aspirations for good. They just didn't seem worth the effort any more. But that's enough of THAT noise. This month has reminded me that I'm a writer at my core, and whether or not I'm actually working on anything at the moment, or whether or not I ever publish a piece of fiction, that fundamental part of me will never change. I will always be a writer.

So now what? Well, for starters, I'm going to accept Inkygirl's Word Count Challenge and commit to writing at least 250 words a day to keep from losing my momentum. And then I'm going to finish the non-fiction e-book on how to start an online business for no overhead that I started back in August. Once that's done, I'm going to take another stab at fixing The Hero Factor before pulling Dominion of the Damned off of the back burner and finishing that rough draft. And then if there's still time before next November, I'm going to take another look at what I just finished and see if any of it is salvageable.

I'm also going to make time to read other people's books again, something I avoided all month long. I've had Marjorie M. Liu's A Wild Light and Cherie Priest's Boneshaker sitting on my coffee table waiting to be read all month, and I just added Jim Butcher's Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files to the stack. I'm sure to be getting more books for Christmas, too, so that ought to keep my inner bookworm happy for a while. Those are all affiliate links, by the way.

But for now I'm going to rest my noggin and start knitting these adorable Christmas ornaments, the kit for which just arrived today. Congrats to any and all of my fellow Nano'ers who've entered the winner's circle, and to anyone still struggling to get those words down before midnight: You can do it! Go Team You!

Review: Ghost Story

I've always felt like a bad horror fan because I'd never read this modern horror classic. So when I found Ghost Story on the "Free Books" shelves at my accountant's (who also owns Oklahoma's biggest used book store) on the day we got our taxes done, I new I'd run out of excuses. Even so, after bringing it home it sat on my bookshelf collecting dust while I read other things. Until early last week, when I finally picked it up and started reading. And I'm glad I did.

After the sudden death of one of their members, the monthly meetings of The Chowder Society took a morbid turn as each member took turns answering the question, "What's the worst thing that ever happened to me?" At first, the four elderly survivors blame their spooky stories for their nightmares, but when the line between dreams and real life seem to be getting blurred, they call in the nephew of their deceased member, horror novelist Don Wanderley, whose brother also died under mysterious circumstances, hoping he can help them get to the bottom of what's happening. And that's about all I can say about the plot without getting into spoilers.

My first impression of this book is that it's extremely well-written, but not very scary to desensitized contemporary readers. But then about half-way through, the story started to work its way into my nightmares, and I found I was as reluctant to read it before bedtime as I was to put it down. Part of the plot is a little predictable, but that's more the fault of the fact that it was written in 1979 and that particular formula has been done to death since then. Even so, it was an engaging and sufficiently creepy read, and did I mention extremely well-written? Because today's would-be authors would do well to take notes on Peter Straub's use of language and imagery, and his masterful way with voice and dialogue. I know I did.

Book Review: Going In Circles

I knew that I'd previously reviewed Pamie's first novel, Why Girls Are Weird, at this blog, and after about half an hour digging through posts from 2006, I found it, buried in this post about jogging (you guys, remember when I took up jogging? And how short-lived that was? I know you do because I can hear you laughing your hinder off from clear over here). Although it's not so much a book review as it is pseudo-stalkerish gushing. Anyway...

Speaking of Going in Circles, I had kind of a weird circular moment while reading this, the third novel by renowned blogger, TV writer and former Young Americans recapper Pamela Ribon. As I sat reading this while camped out in my patio chair, where I usually sit and pine for a beach somewhere in Mexico, I came to a scene that was set on a beach somewhere in Mexico, and remembered how I read Pamie's first novel while camped out in a deck chair on a cruise ship bound for Mexico, and, you guys, I just really want to go back to Mexico.

But that's not really the point of this post, which is actually this: I really enjoyed this book, the tears of frustration it induced over the fact that I was NOT on a beach in Mexico notwithstanding.

Going In Circles appears at first glance to be a book about roller derby, but that really just serves as the back-drop for a story about human relationships and learning to cope when life lobs hardballs at you. It captures the complexity of those relationships really well -- not just romantic relationships, but adult child/parent, friendships, pseudo-friendships and co-worker relationships, too. Pamie has an easy-going writing style that makes humor look effortless, but she also captures well some really poignant moments and difficult emotions.

I read this book in a weekend, which for me is pretty fast, and I ended up neglecting a day of scheduled housecleaning in favor of hanging out with this book. Part of the reason I couldn't put it down was that she crafted well-rounded characters who are mostly the kind of people I would enjoy hanging out with in real life, and that was a real pleasure to read. I've read all three novels by Pamela Ribon, and enjoyed them all, but I think this is her best work to date.

If you'd like to order it, I'd appreciate it if you helped out this blog by using the affiliate link up there in the post; but for the Amazon- & affiliate-link-phobes among you, and so you don't think I'm just talking up this book to get my tiny commission, here are some non-Amazon, non-affiliate links to purchase Going In Circles:

• Barnes & Noble
  
• IndieBound
  
• Powell's Books
  

Put down the book and pick up a sandwich

The blogosphere is abuzz today with news of what Random House has done with the bastardized "updated" re-release of Sweet Valley High, and I'll feel lonely and left out if I don't chime in with my $20 (inflation, donchaknow) on what it all means to me.

I have fond memories of trips to the library in my pre-teen years (my dad didn't believe in buying books when we could borrow them, which is why I also have sad memories of being the odd girl out at the school book fair every year, and probably also why my home is now overcrowded with books that I own and refuse to part with), hunkering down between the aisles with a SVH, the next two in the series lying in my lap waiting to be checked out, and getting lost in the Valley of Sweetness while my mom took her time trying to hunt down some books my dad hadn't already read. I also remember trying to hide them from my mom so she wouldn't open one up and accidentally land on a page where Jessica came onto Bruce until he felt her up, or Todd mistook Jessica for Elizabeth and like, totally made out with her, because, scandalous!

These books were my 90210, my OC, my Gossip Girl, way before any of those shows were twinkles in their makers' eyes. Did they make me feel inferior as I compared myself to the "perfect size 6" twins and their sunny, drama-filled lives? Sure they did, but I had enough of being made to feel inferior by just about everybody around me at the time, anyway, so I didn't much let that part get me down. For me, it was pure escapism. I lived vicariously through those twins. I identified more with Elizabeth, naturally, because I was just that much of a goody-goody, but I wished so hard that I could be more like Jessica, until she inevitably almost got date-raped, and I'd be thankful I was more like Elizabeth again. Sweet Valley High = good times.

I don't think I'm outraged by the changes--Elizabeth's blog instead of newspaper column, a Jeep Wrangler replacing the prized Fiat Spider their daddy gave them for their Sweet 16, and, most notable/controversial, their downsizing to a "perfect size 4"--the way some fans are, but it does make me sad. I agree that it's kind of insulting, both to my generation and the younger generation these changes are aimed at, the idea that the '80s era references are so far beyond today's young readers that they won't be able to relate unless they see their own world, their own hobbies and pastimes and slang, because, ew, who wants to read something set in their parents' era? All I can say is that I'm glad they didn't pull this crap with Judy Blume--or, even worse, Anne of Green Gables--when I was a kid, and that I actually got to learn a thing or two about the people who existed before me and that the universe existed before I came to be in it.

As for the downsizing, whatever. I'm more inclined to think it's keeping up with size-inflation than making the twins' so-called perfection even skinnier. If anything, comparing today's size 4 to 1983's size six, that would mean the girls actually put on a few pounds. Which would not be a bad thing. Teen and pre-teen girls today need to have this pointed out to them, I believe, because the LAST thing that they need is more encouragement to starve themselves. Dear young girls of today: it's OK to eat a sandwich. The Wakefield twins eat, too. Or at least they would if they were, y'know, real.

Quickly, before I have to race the sleet and snow home

Links of interest on this dreary Monday morning:

This is quite possibly the neatest web design in the history of web designs.

This free online Tales of the Slayer comic by Drew Goddard is pretty funny. Lo, the spider-eating man-bitch returneth.

Elsewhere in the galaxy of Buffy alumni, Amber Benson directed a Common Rotation video.

Giving away books online seems to be all the rage these days: Go and read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for free.



In Which I Rant About This Year's "Best Picture"

We used my Friday off to finally see No Country for Old Men. The consensus between me, Husband, and Husband's friend: Eh? It felt like two different movies mashed together. One was a quiet little introspective film about growing old while the world changes around you and you feel helpless to stop it, and in the middle of this somebody plopped the first two-thirds of a really kick-ass action/thriller. We loved the action/thriller part--and Javier Bardem definitely earned that Oscar. That guy was CREE. PEE.--that got us all worked up and invested in Josh Brolin's character and his plight, only to have it end abruptly, any resolution having happened off-screen and returning to the introspective old man movie, which also ended abruptly, and pretty much left the three of us sitting there going, "What the eff was that?" That said, the acting, cinematography, dialogue, etc. were all excellent. But I have many, many issues with the story structure and pacing, and I feel like the intent was to play around with story structure in unexpected ways for the sake of ART, at the audience's expense, and really, I can't stand that crap. I want a resolution to my story. What's more, I want a resolution to the story I spent almost two hours getting really invested in. I want characters that exist for more than the sake of getting killed in shocking and violent ways. I don't want to be jerked around and left feeling like I just had my lunch money stolen. Boo, Cohen brothers. Boo.

Previously on Planet Earth...

I'm slowly -- oh so very slowly, because I'm doing it all from scratch, and it's a learning process -- building a new template for this blog. It's mostly for fun, and to teach myself what I need to know about building blogger templates that I didn't know five years ago, and so it's being done in my spare time, which doesn't happen very often. Maybe I'll finish it next month. Maybe I'll finish it next year. But I'm working on it, and when it's done, I'll be proud. For about two weeks until I get bored with it and decide to redo it all over again. Because that's how I roll.

Fizzgigg has a hole in his leg again. I don't know if I ever mentioned the first hole here, but last fall a sore on his front right elbow turned into a gaping, open hole through which you could actually see bone. It looks even grosser than it sounds, believe me. We bandaged it, we kept various ointments on it, we spent a large sum to have the vet sew it up only to have it open up again after the stitches came out, and finally, it closed up on its own and completely healed. And now, almost overnight, it's back. I got another tube from the vet of the post-op ointment that we were putting on it when it healed the last time, and we're keeping it clean and covered and hoping for the best. And Fizzgigg acts like it's the most traumatic thing ever when we change his bandage. This from a dog who was apparently kicked around before we got him, and who has fallen down stairs and chewed his own leg almost to the bone and broken limbs and once had a cat very nearly claw his eyeball out. He's a tough little guy, but man, he hates having to lie still and have his bandage changed.

He hasn't been in the greatest health lately, either. His thyroid is whacked out, and he's lost so much hair and weight that if you saw him and didn't know any better, you'd think we were like those scumbags on Animal Precinct who never feed or take care of their animals. Of course, once you saw his cushy digs, his food bowl that's constantly filled with expensive organic gluten-free dog food, his tiny sweater wardrobe and all of his various vitamins and meds, I'm pretty confident you'd know better. That dog lives better than we do. But he deserves it, because, see above. He's had a rough little life. I just wish we could get him healthy and keep him there.

Speaking of tiny sweaters, I finally sold one. Now I just have to make it. So that's what I'll be doing with my weekend. I need to find better beads than the one I used on Fizz's sweater, though, preferably ones that the silver doesn't rub off of when they come in contact with the yarn.

And that's what's happening in my world. Here's some of what happened elsewhere while I was resting my brain and morphing into a YouTube blog:

Remember when I mentioned that Tor was giving away free e-books in exchange for signing up to their newsletter? Apparently, this is just phase one in their re-branding project. The next phase will reportedly launch them into the social networking stratosphere and also offer original short fiction and non-fiction on the web site. The Nielsen Hayden's tend to be pretty awesome, so I expect good things from just about anything they put their collective hand to.

Did you know that George Romero made a new zombie movie? I sure didn't, and I'm not sure how I missed it. Speaking of zombie movies, did I ever mention Fido? It's no Sean of the Dead, as zombie comedies go, but it has its moments, some of which are surprisingly poignant.

The Indiana Jones trailer has already been all over the internet, but it's squee-worthy enough to post again.

Ditto the fact that CBS is offering free streaming videos of the entire run of Star Trek: TOS.

And that's all I've got. Hasta, pasta.

Fill out some forms.

These are worth your five minutes:

Firefly Season 2 - this one is gathering fan demographics and testing the feasibility of a possible "on demand" independent production of everybody's favorite unjustly canceled space cowboy show. Shiny!

Get free e-books from Tor--including Scalzi's Old Man's War--just by signing up to their newsletter.

In completely unrelated news, todays woot! offering is a pretty decent 1GB mp3 player for under $10. I just ordered two of them. Woot!

Wordful Wednesday

The plan is to post book reviews on Wednesdays, but today got away from me, so I'll keep it simple:

What I'm currently reading:

Watchmen (Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons) - finally. Yes, finally, meaning I've never read it before, and I'm aware of how much that tarnishes my geek cred. This was my final Christmas gift from Husband, who also never read it, but plans to after I'm done with it.

Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) - Husband has a bit of an obsession with Mt. Everest, and he really wanted me to read this. I'm glad I complied. It's terribly good. Terribly sad, but good all the same.

A Cook's Tour (Anthony Bourdain) - Husband also urged me to read this one. Non-fiction isn't generally my cup o' tea, but I enjoy Bourdain, for the most part, so I gave in. It's a good read--he's really as talented a writer as he is a snarky chef--but I just wasn't in the mood for non-fiction, so after a few chapters I put it down in favor of Jane Austen's Persuasion, which is awesome, and the recent Masterpiece Theater version (with Giles!) is on my DVR, and I'm dying to find time to watch it. I still plan to get back to the Bourdain, though, and I tend to keep any book I started and plan to finish on my "currently reading" list.

Heaven (Mur Lafferty) - I'm not "reading" this one so much as "listening to" it, since it's only available in podcast form. I've been meaning to get to it for weeks, and I finally started it today. It's pretty entertaining so far, and it made some of the more tedious parts of my job a breeze.

And those are the words I'm ingesting as of this Wednesday. What are you reading?

A little bit of awesome: "I, Malcom"

Here's another in an ever-growing list of reasons to adore Nathan Fillion.

For your reading/viewing pleasure...

I've been procrastinating on today's NaNo session by reading Lipstick On My Scholar, a thoughtful and occasionally witty essay in defense of C.S. Lewis (responding to Pullman, et al) and the controversial ending he devised for poor, worldly Susan.

No time to hunt down and post any eye candy today, but that's okay, 'cause Fenwic's got me covered. Mmm, Jensen.

This post contains no zombies.

Book meme! Gacked from bojojoti.

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users as of 9/30/07. As usual, bold what you have read, italicize what you started but couldn't finish, and strike through what you couldn't stand.

I'm also adding a "*" to indicate books I'm currently reading.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The name of the rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and prejudice
Jane Eyre
A tale of two cities
The brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and peace
Vanity fair
The time traveler's wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The kite runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury tales
The historian : a novel
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi Boys
The once and future king
The grapes of wrath
The poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels and demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and sensibility
The Portrait of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
To the lighthouse
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Dune
The Prince
The sound and the fury
Angela's ashes : a memoir
The god of small things
A people's history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A short history of nearly everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion*
Northanger abbey
The catcher in the rye
On the road
The hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity's rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences** [Husband's reading this right now]
White teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The three musketeers


Clearly, Misters Rochester and Darcy are more my literary boyfriend type than Heathcliff. Also, I've seen "Man of La Mancha" and read a graphic novel version of The Hobbit--do those count?

"Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything."

Oh, wow. Madeleine L’Engle has died. Man.

I didn't read A Wrinkle In Time until a couple of years ago, so I don't have any fond childhood memories of curling up with her books; but man, that book made me wish I'd known it as a child. The rest of the series is still on my To Read list.

At 89, she lived a long life. I hope all of the joy and wonder she inspired throughout her career is coming back on her in abundance.

Review of White Night (about time, right?!)

*Sponsored via PayPerPost Direct*

With all of the attention on Harry Potter, I keep neglecting my other favorite wizard named Harry and forgetting to review his latest attempts to keep Chicago safe from the creatures of the night in White Night. As it's spoilery, I'll put my detailed comments in the comment thread, as usual. It's been long enough since I read it that I'm a little fuzzy on the details, anyway; but I do remember that it wasn't my favorite book in the series. It's a good story and has plenty to love--it just didn't wow me on the same level as Blood Rites or Dead Beat. Even so, it has some great character development and manages to water seeds planted in previous books for an über-arch involving an über big bad, the identity (or identities) of which have yet to be revealed. It also has great continuity, as usual, an some excellent character moments. Butcher doesn't disappoint. Neither does Harry Dresden, for that matter, who can give that other Harry kid lessons on how to be a total woobie.

By the way, Buzzy Multimedia has an interview clip with Jim Butcher on their main page. Quote: "At my age I learned you really should stretch out before you do the Snoopy Dance." Hee!

But seriously, he offers some fantastic insights into his writing process, and that alone makes it worth checking out. (And he's funny, too!)

***

While we're on the subject, I think the majority of my regular readers already know about James Marsters narrating the Dresden Files audio books (Yay James!), and that preview chapters are available online for free. But you may not have known--at least, I didn't--that my beloved Ben "Crazy Crichton" Browder is the narrator for Alan Dean Foster's Interloper? Free preview downloads are available for that, too, and he's doing a fantastic job. Man, I loves me some Browder. I really hope he and Claudia will be in the Farscape webisodes that SciFi is planning to do, otherwise, what's the point?

Know anyone who's getting married?

If you've followed this blog for more than a year, then you'll recall how frantic I was about this time last year while I took care of last-minute wedding preparations. I would have been a lot more freaked out if not for the book that served as my wedding industry bible, Bridal Bargains. Over at Growing Up... I'm giving away my copy to one lucky winner. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment in that post. If you're getting married and have a wedding to plan, you'll love this book. If you just know someone who's getting married, they'll be forever grateful if you give them this book. So go enter, and spread the word! Linking to the contest from your own blog will earn you two more chances to win, so be sure to let me know if you've posted a link.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: A Fangasm Review

So, yes, about two chapters into Chamber of Secrets I became overwhelmed with temptation and a desire to know how it all ends. So I abandoned my re-read and cracked open my newly acquired copy of The Deathly Hallows, and it was good. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I sighed, I cried some more (a lot more), and I set it down at the end feeling completely satisfied.

I'll post my spoilery thoughts in the comments, but I will say this much here: I think Rowling has improved significantly as a writer over the course of seven books, and it really shows in this book. I also believe that that Harry Potter kid has earned his rightful place in the pantheon of classic literary heroes. Taken all together, his story is a damn good one.

Fannish tidbits

@ Buffy Singalong this weekend! Yippee! I am, however, kicking myself, because I knew about it months ago, but didn't order tickets right away because A) I was hoping I could convince some friends to come with us and B) I was afraid my husband would change his mind about going. And then I forgot about the whole "needing to buy tickets" part. When I finally remembered and went to buy the online the other day, the 10:00 PM showings on both nights were sold out. So we're going to a midnight showing. Husband is most displeased. He still says he's going, though, 'cause he's all wonderful like that.

@ I ordered my copy of Deathly Hallows, and thanks to a free trial of Amazon Prime, it should arrive tomorrow. I'm still going to try to hold out until I'm done re-reading the other books, though. I'm enjoying reading about Harry's early, more innocent days with the bittersweet knowledge of what's in store for him, but without the ultimate knowledge of how it will all end for him. So long as I manage to stay unspoilt. *knocks MDF*

@ I think I saw somewhere that Buffy: S8 #5 actually ships this week, which would mean it's out today and waiting for me at my comic shop as I type this. I should probably look into that.

@ I haven't had time for a review, but I did watch Dr. Who this weekend. Can I just say that I love Ten? Because I do. He's made of awesome.

@ I caught a new TV spot for Moonlight the other day that showed a little more promise than what I'd seen previously. Greenwalt's influence was coming through loud and clear. That can only be a good thing.

@ My mom just agreed to switch back to Dish Network in exchange for two free DVRs, one of which she'll let us have in our apartment. No more having to share the downstairs TiVo and camp out down there to catch up on my shows on Saturday mornings. This makes it very tempting to scrap that whole "moving to Tulsa" plan and just stay put. Yes, we're cramped and we have no kitchen and the commute is hellish and expensive. But my very own free TiFaux! Priorities, people!

Public Service Message for Harry Potter Fans

I do not have The Deathly Hallows. I might try to pick it up after work tonight, but I don't plan to read it until I've finished re-reading the other six (I'm currently two chapters from the end of Sorcer's Stone).

Consider this a friendly reminder that if you spoil me I will come over there and beat you with a shovel.

Have a nice day, and happy reading!

Pop Culture Roundup

First, breaking news: I have barbecue. Now don't you wish you were me?

Yeah, I thought not.

***

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I've been saving so much up, I might as well cover them all at once.

Dr. Who (vague spoilers follow) - I'm two episodes into the third season (not counting the Christmas special) and -- say it with me, now -- I miss Rose. But so does the Doctor, and that does my heart good. In my vague recollections of the old series, the Doctor never spent too much thought on ex-companions, so that proves that Rose is speshul and he loves her! Sigh. Maybe Ten and I can both move on together.

I enjoyed Donna, brash, plus-size, inelegant redhead that she was (not like she reminds me of anybody), and was all set to accept her as the new companion, when she went and proved to have too much sense to go gallivanting off to who knows where with a mysterious alien with genocidal tendencies. Actually, I think it might have just been that last bit that put her off.

Martha has yet to witness the Doctor's dark and deadly side, so for now she can get away with being all wide-eyed wonder and glee. The flirty-jealous angle is cute, too, although I'm much too hung up on Rose to ever hope that that blossoms into anything real. So far, I'm liking Martha. I like her family, too, and hope we see more of them. Rose's domestics were one of my favorite parts of the new series, one that I thought anchored it and gave it a lot of heart. I miss Jackie and Mickey almost as much as I miss Rose.

Mostly, I just love that the Doctor loves strong, intelligent women. It makes him quite the sexy.

Can't wait to see where this season is going.

***

Spamalot - Tess and I took in some culture this weekend (what? Okay, yes, it's Monty Python. But it's also musical theater, so that makes it culture, so there!). I can tell you this: the show is not the movie, although it does share several classic scenes. It makes a lot of changes, too, though, and not just the increase in song and dance numbers. Most of the changes, I approved of. There were times, though, when I thought they got a little too wink-wink-nudge-nudge, we know we're on a stage, who needs a fourth wall? At times it crossed over from irony into preciousness territory. I also thought some of the lines were over-delivered, and it seemed like the lead actor was playing Tim Curry playing King Arthur instead of simply playing King Arthur. Those are all minor nitpicks, though, and overall, it was hilarious, and I loved it, and I feel I ought to point out that the Lady of the Lake was nothing less than fabulous. And I wish I'd bought myself a pair of killer bunny slippers.

***

Cosmo - What? Coffee shops are too pop culture. This one is on Memorial, just north of 71st, across from Woodland Hills Mall, and from the outside looks more like a bar than a coffee shop. As I learned when Husband and I met our potential new BFFs there Saturday night, it's actually both, and also has a menu combining the best of both worlds of deli and bar food. All ages are welcome, although you have to be 21, natch, to approach the bar or get a shot of Bailey's in your cappuccino. They have a comfortable combination of restaurant-style table and chairs and coffee shop couture sofas and comfy chairs, with the requisite free wifi and a diverse selection of board games.

We killed a few hours there playing Apples to Apples and Trivial Pursuit, and killed a few more just hanging out and conversating. It was a pretty comfy and relaxed atmosphere, without a lot of the pretension you tend to find in a lot of Tulsa establishments. They also let us hang out there for a ridiculous length of time without giving us the stink eye, so that was nice. I liked it, and can see it becoming a regular hangout. My only quibble was some of the menu prices, which led me to expect bigger portions than what I got; but for the most part it was all pretty reasonable, and very much made of yum.

***

Books - Last week I finished off The Android's Dream by Scalzi. That, I must say, was an enjoyable read. I've never been into hard-core SF, and this isn't really that, so that worked out pretty well. I'm trying to think of something to liken it to, and I'm having trouble coming up with anything. It's not quite wacky enough to compare to Hitchhiker's Guide, although there are moments where it comes close. At any rate, I found it to be a pretty good blend of action, adventure and satire, and there wasn't a single paragraph wherein I felt anything less than entertained. Good job, Scalzi.

Now I'm re-reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I waited a bit long to decide I want to re-read them all before I read The Deadly Hallows, but it shouldn't take me too long to breeze through them, even at my slow reading pace. Especially since I can skip the parts I find a bit tedious (I can understand wanting to keep newcomers in the loop, but really, one description of how Quidditch works is quite enough for me, thanks). And in other HP news, I still haven't seen the movie.

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And now I have cobbler. Go ahead and hate me now. I'll understand.

In which sympatico theories are hatched, glee is expressed, and spoilers (for A Feast for Crows) are contained.

Last year (or possibly the year before) I managed to get my husband interested in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. He devoured it, up to and including the first few chapters of A Feast for Crows, but then he got distracted and put it down. He finally picked it up again this week and has been reading steadily.

Last night, he got to the chapter where (SPOILERS! Highlight to read (skip this part if you're reading this on a non-white background and don't want to be spoiled))Brienne visits the monastery and is told that the Hound is dead. After reading it, he came to find me. (More spoilers:) "That guy is Sandor Clegane, isn't he?" he asked. "What guy?" I asked back. "That big monk guy who stopped digging to pet the dog. That's gotta be him."[/spoilers] He then went on to tell me all of his reasoning for thinking so, which matched all of my reasoning for also thinking so (spoilers in link).

This pleases me to no end. Husband is generally very perceptive about these things (his complete failure to pick up on any of the clues regarding [sorta-spoiler]Jon Snow's true parentage[/spoiler] notwithstanding), so if he's come up with the same theory on his own, then I'm taking that as validation that my theory's correct. And that makes me ridiculously happy. Not happy to be right (most likely), but happy for the sake of my favorite character. Because I'm goofy that way.

Bracing for the Potter-mania backlash

I have a few Christians in my readership, and I have more than a few Harry Potter fans, and I know a few of you who, like me, happen to be both. You guys might be interested in this intelligent refutation of the anti-HP hysteria, and the ensuing discussion. There's some pretty good material in there to arm yourselves with for the next time your fellow church-goers give you the stink-eye for being excited about the impending Summer of HP.