Friday, May 30, 2003

Mr. Gaiman's rather scruffy, but he has good taste in computers. Fishnets and rats aren't really my dish, but perhaps I'll look into it.

Someday in the far future, when I have the time and the mental energy to do great things, I will create a real blog with all the amenities instead of using this awkward template that drives me nuts. Our archives don't work. I still can't figure out how to add more weblinks to the permanent page, and I haven't had the time to figure out how to stretch the dialogue box wide enough so you don't have to scroll down forever. I'd also lighten the background color, add some silk flowers here and there...

But this will not happen any time soon. For now I will continue attempting to memorize HTML, and finding good websites with cheatsheets.

Thursday, May 29, 2003

I was wasting time at work, and found this wonderful nugget on Lileks, here. I wish I had written this.. especially the last part about midwesterners:

Right before I woke up I dreamed I had an assignment: write a bad feature story in the style of the New York Times. When I woke I had the last sentence still in my head; I stumbled next door to the studio, woke up the Mac, and typed this sentence:

Over in the field, a hound was hunched over excreting a “striver,” the local’s term for the hard, elegantly tapered stools for which the wild dogs are renowned.


It has it all! It has a field, which is always a sign that the urban reporter is braving the flat & empty lands of America. It has a word known only to the locals, and the locals are always the real subject of the piece. Every East Coast story on Midwestern people feels like they’re writing about pygmies. Doesn’t matter if the story’s about clothing, or music, or nose-bones; beneath it all is the writer’s underlying inability to forget that these are pygmies, for God’s sake. And they’re so cute!

Yeah. And you should read Mr. Lileks' review of the Matrix Reloaded the previous day. Its funny.

Very good poem on poetry daily today:The Dream of the Rotten Daughter
Wicked stuff.

I have to go to work soon, but i can't tear my eyes away from the Oriole feeder. This year is the first time we've had a chance to use the feeder, which is four years old or so. We see the orioles come through in early spring, and by the time we have the feeder out, they go elsewhere. This year we got it out just in time, and they are staying, three or four of them, I can't tell. I have to put a new halved orange out every other day, and they feast until there's nothing but rind left.

The Masqueraders, by the way, is a very very good GH novel. I will have to fly out east so Sister Andrea and I can read it together.

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Thankyou so much Andrea.. here I was brooding about the tax cut and raising the debt ceiling, and you remind what life is worth living for: mediocre novels. Andrea has better taste then I.. I go for straight camp classics like Shannara, The Death Gate Cycle, and anything by McCaffrey.. well I haven't read any of those in six years, but they are what I remember most vividly from my teens.

While we are on the subject of Literature for a long afternoon in the shade, I suggest Georgette Heyer's classic, The Quiet Gentleman. The alternative title for this novel is Speak Softly, and Carry a Small Pearl-Handled Pistol. The mystery is gently worded yet cunning, and the dialogue is sprinkled with deliciously dry humor. Niki and Andrea of course know this, but for anyone else who ventures into our page, I highly recommend it.

Currently I am reading The Masqueraders, which could be called Hansel and Gretel go on a Gender Bender. Babes in the woods come to London disguised and admirably so. Robin is an excquisite blond beauty full of charm and delight, and his sister Prudence is a even headed boy of twenty.. Lets just say the two of them are nameless adventurers avoiding their murky past as Jacobites in a failed rebellion.. remember Bonny Prince Charlie holed up in the oak tree? Prudence of course, falls in love with quiet, tall, deeply intelligent *sigh* fellow who Robin call's the Mountain.. Here's a taste:

[Prudence] came back to Arlington Street to find Robin posturing above a bouquet of red roses. Robin achieved a simper. "Behold me, my Peter, in a maidenly flutter!"

Prudence put down her whip and gloves. "What's this?"

"My elderly admirer!" said Robin in an ecstasy, and gave up a note. "Read, my little one!"

Prudence gave a chuckle over the amorous note. "Robin, you rogue!"

"I was made to be a breaker of hearts," sighed Robin.

"Oh, this one was cracked many times before!"

Robin tilted his head a little; the merry devil looked out of his limpid blue eyes. "I've a mind to enthrall the mountain," he said softly.

"You won't do it. He's more like to unmask you than to worship at your shameless feet," Prudence answered.


Incidentally, Robin is a lot like Miles Vorkosigan (see Andrea's reading list): Short and very very intelligent. Of course Robin's also a master swordsman, and looks damn good in a hoops and petticoats. Sorry Miles, one can't have everything. ;)

Whatever you saw here last night has been removed for editing.. basically I posted because I had to go to bed..

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

My goodness, I guess I have even less Anglo-Norman in me than previously suspected.

Sunday, May 25, 2003

Happy Memorial Day!
I have my little red poppy, do you have yours?


Dead Bird Alert
My family just found a dead crow in the dog yard. Here in Michigan, we're having a bit of a problem with West Nile Virus, so we put the bird in a plastic bag in the freezer, and my little brother filed a dead bird report with the county on the other Mac. Finding the bird in the yard means that unfortunately for us, we have to wear bug spray whenever we go outside or risk getting a pretty nasty flu, that perhaps could be fatal to immune suppressed people and old people. My parents are old people, but I'm not sure if they're That old. Still, its not a nice thing to think about being in one's back yard.

Mother Superior's Choice: Movies Not To Be Missed

Saturday night I bought the family tickets for X 2, X-Men United. We were in a hurry, Dad ran over a potted plant, and we ate at a Uptown Coney Island . Needless to say, I was not in the best mood when we finally got to the film, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find the show made up for the rest of the evening. Hugh Jackman was lovely as rugged and manly Wolverine. Knowing that he is a happily married nappy-changing kinda guy makes the portrayal somehow sweeter. Unlike Russel Crowe, who's such a jerk, or Colin Farrell, the Hollywood slut of the moment, you can feel comfortable knowing that in between takes Mr. Jackman was playing with his son instead of cursing at the hired help or banging the co-stars. He even does broadway musicals. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that.

I won't spoil the plot for you, but I wanted to note that I was surprised by the number of people who had no clue what the final view are foreshadowing. For fans of the comic there were wonderful little visual allusions to the original characters here and there. For the rest of us, there was plenty of gripping action, with very little stomach churning suspence. This was a good thing, I had enough stomach churning at dinner.

On Friday, I saw Down With Love. Its a romantic comedy, emphasis on the comedy. Even my little brother enjoyed it. That's says something about the quality of the comedy. Reneé Zellweger's outfits are akin to Jackie O's.. on LSD. Fabulous. Ewan McGregor is as shiny as a newly minted penny, which is preferable to his usual unkempt state off screen. I can't tell you much more, the jokes are sweet one-liners that might not be as tasty if twice-told.