Recent Entries

Current Mood: promotional

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Be a patron of the arts!! Win valuable prizes!!!

Some of you may have heard me talk about the books Those Across the River and Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, either here or on GoodReads. They're excellent books, and if you haven't read them I highly recommend them.

Well, the author is releasing his third novel in October; here's an excerpt:

"Andrew Ranulf Blankenship is a handsome, stylish nonconformist with wry wit, a classic Mustang, and a massive library. He is also a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock, able to speak with the dead through film. His house is a maze of sorcerous booby traps and escape tunnels, as yours might be if you were sitting on a treasury of Russian magic stolen from the Soviet Union thirty years ago...")

A classic mustang. And a massive library. And stolen Russian magic. How can you not love this dude??

Anyway, the first two books got excellent reviews but little publicity. Buehlman wants to finance a bigger publicity campaign for this third book, so he's launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund it. The backer rewards are really cool -- including a letter to you from the main character, advance reading copies, lunch with the author in NYC, the chance to appear as a victim in his next book, even a personal visit from him to do a reading. So here's your chance to be a patron of the arts, for as little as $5!

Oh, and the video he did to accompany it is hilarious; even if you aren't interested in contributing, watch it just for the giggles :)

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politicking

With page numbers and publication date, please

What happens when a Wikipedian attends a political rally
(I do love xkcd).

wikiprot

Current Mood: ecstatic

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Just as I suspected

Smart people drink more.

That is all.

Current Mood: chipper

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Hi, NSA!! ::waves::

So I'm sure everyone is aware of the kerfuffle over the NSA logging phone numbers, call durations, email, chat, etc., yes? Today I went to view a document I needed to review that was posted on Google Docs, and I see this:

Has anyone else ever seen this message? I've been looking at/working with files on Google Docs for the last 18 months or so due to a couple of international committees I'm on, and I don't recall ever seeing this before. Coincidence? I THINK NOT... (cue ominous music)

In other news, our kitchen remodel is done -- new countertops! new cabinets!! freshly polished/finished floors!!! -- so I can start cooking again, and we can have proper popcorn instead of Boom Chicka Pop out of a bag (it's very tasty, but it doesn't beat the hot fresh popped item). So yay for all that. Also we get to go behind-the-scenes with wolves on Thursday at the zoo (v. cool). Ooh, and the first trailer for the next installation of The Hobbit is out, complete with Mirkwood, a red-haired elf, and SMAUG'S HEAD! Yesssss... I'm selfishly pleased that it's coming out in December, as that will distract me from my annual Christmas "Why are there no more Harry Potter movies?" mopage/whinage. We likes it, precious, yes we do :)

Current Mood: amused

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Promptly, now!

"Yes, Minerva, I remember our wager," Snape said through clenched teeth. "If every one of my House does not leave a prompt for your fest, I will allow you to Transfigure me into --" his voice grew, if it were possible, even more icy, "-- a fluffy bunny." Minerva suppressed a smile. "But I hope," he added pointedly, "you recall what my prize is to be if I win..."

ssmm

Current Mood: anticipatory
Current Music: Drive the Cold Winter Away

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fandom,
writing

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink

"What do you mean you haven't left a prompt yet? I expected better from a Gryffindor!"

Current Mood: content
Current Location: home at last
Current Music: silence

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Home at last, and a poem

Mr Psmith and I are finally back home after a week-long combination business/pleasure trip to the (very soggy) midwest.

The pleasure goal was to see a bunch of family, including my brother J (recovering from a seven-year case of severe Ph.D. which resulted in the biggest diploma I've ever seen) and 8-year-old nephew P (a bundle of energy if there ever was one and a devoted fan of I Love Lucy, M*A*S*H and Star Wars, I have high hopes for him); my grandmother (95, still going to French club and playing bridge every week); and my Dad, who turned 71 on Thursday. Since J and P live only about 40 minutes from Dad he was kind enough to come pick us up, and en route to his house we stopped to see my aunt and uncle and cousin B, with whom we had a rousing political discussion about how horrible the governor of this particular state is, so much so that even his own party hates him. Then a couple of days with Dad during which we ate sushi and got to visit the aquarium in town (VERY nice!). Saturday night most of the extended family -- step-siblings, half-siblings, spouses and offspring ranging in age from babes-in-arms to last week's high school graduates -- gathered at a restaurant for dinner, after which everyone came back to the house for homemade strawberry shortcake courtesy of my sister A. Scrumptiousness and boisterousness abounded.

The business goal was some consulting for an organization near my hometown that has a museum, library and archive and wanted a professional evaluation of what was needed to house and maintain it properly. Quite interesting stuff; took tons of photos and will be writing up a report for them over the next couple of weeks,

Both goals achieved, we got home early this afternoon to find all of our menagerie well, though the rats had emptied their water bottles and one of the cats had eaten some lily petals and barfed on the arm of the couch. Ah well, could be worse.

Since we were traveling on Sunday I indulged in a Sunday New York Times (bliss!) and found this jewel of a poem on p. 50 of the Magazine. Spending time with family made me think of summer evenings of my childhood, the warm darkness, voices calling, the streetlights coming on, and this seemed to say something about that, about how a moment can be both old and new, eternal and yet fresh: "nothing is over, only beginning somewhere else"

One of the Evenings
by James Richardson

After so many years, we know them.
This is one of the older Evenings -- its patience,
settling in, its warmth that wants nothing in return.
Once on a balcony among trees, once by a slipping river,
so many Augusts sitting out through sunset --
first a dimness in the undergrowth like smoke,
and then like someone you hadn't noticed
has been in the room a long time...

It has seen everything that can be done in the dark.
It has seen two rifles swing around
to train on each other, it has seen lovers meet and revolve,
it has seen wounds grayscale in low light.
It has come equally for those who prayed for it
and those who turned on lamp after lamp
until they could not see. It deals evenhandedly
with the one skimming downstairs as rapidly as typing,
the one washing plates too loudly,
the one who thinks there's something more important,
since it does not believe in protagonists,
since it knows anyone could be anyone else.

It has heard what they said aloud to the moon to the stars
and what they could not say,
walking alone and together. It has gotten over
I cannot live through this, it has gotten over This did not have to happen
and This is experience one day I will be glad for.
It has gotten over How even for a moment
could I have forgotten? though it never forgets,
leaves nothing behind, does not believe in stories,
since nothing is over, only beginning somewhere else.

It could be anywhere but it is here
woth the kids who play softball endlessly not keeping score,
though it's getting late, way too late,
holding their drives in the air like invisible moons a little longer,
giving way before them so they feel like they're running faster,
It likes trees, I think, it likes summer. It seems comfortable with us,
though it is here to help us be less ourselves.
It thinks of its darkening as listening harder and harder.

Current Mood: satisfied

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Buffy + book reviews

Mr Psmith and started a revisit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer about a month ago; we began with Episode 1, Season 1 and have been working our way through it, relishing every minute of it, and finally finished last night. I'd forgotten what emotional powerhouses the last few episodes are, just one thing after another: Xander's speech to the Potentials about Buffy, Faith's return and what it triggers, Willow's activation of all the Potentials, and -- of course -- Spike. I cried like a baby for half of the last episode and was totally wrung out by the time we got to the end.

We talked for a while afterwards about what exactly it is that makes Buffy so great: the writing with its clever use of language, the great storytelling, the three-dimensional characters? We determined it's all of the above, but two things in particular stand out. First, there's the constant reassuring sense that Joss knows where he's going with it, where he's taking you. He's never just killing time or floundering about. Almost every episode adds something to the overall structure of the tale: expanded understanding of a character, character growth, fleshing out the Slayer mythos/backstory, propelling the story arc forward (even the musical episode wasn't just a gimmick, it actually advance the plot in important ways), etc. Second, there's the way that so much of the time he's exploring aspects of what it means to be human: guilt, free will, family, love, faith, what it means to be/feel different, what it means to have/not have a soul, can evil be redeemed. Not every episode is all deep and philosophical, but even the funny ones often deal with larger questions. That gives the show overall a substance and a depth that others like Charmed and Supernatural can't quite match.

In other news, I'd gotten sadly behind on my book reviews on goodreads, so I took advantage of having today off (Memorial Day for us Yanks) to get caught up. Rather than posting all of them here, I'll just give a snippet and link through for anyone who's interested. It's quite an assortment: one non-fiction, two Stephen Kings, a psychological thriller, and a kids' fantasy. My reading tastes are a bit eclectic, as you can see :)

For me, Hogwarts will always hold the crown for Best Sentient Castle, but I did enjoy my visit to Castle Glower. The title is a bit misleading, since the castle doesn't in fact only change on Tuesdays but rather whenever it feels like it, or whenever it's necessary, but that's a minor point... more

The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius

It's tough to decide which story here is the more engrossing in The Spark: Jake the math and physics savant whose mind was nearly lost to autism, or Kristine Barnett the mother and teacher who argues (convincingly) for connecting with children through their passions... more

I picked up Alys, Always off the "New Fiction" shelf at the library; I had never heard of it, it had no jacket so no summary or blurb, but I read the first paragraph and was hooked. I recommend this as the best way to approach this book: knowing absolutely nothing about it... more

Under the Dome is the sort of book that makes you suspect Stephen King has a very low opinion of homo sapiens: a small town is abruptly and inexplicably cut off from the outside world, which causes mundanely bad people to become Very Bad People Indeed... more

11/22/63 is King's take on the classic change-the-past-to-improve-the-future trope (I think Hitler and JFK are probably tied for favorite characters to kill/not kill in this scenario). To power the tension, King employs a variation of the Novikov self-consistency principle in which history actively resists being altered... more

Current Mood: irate

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Winner of "Most inappropriate response to behavior issues in small children EVER"

A preschool in Philadelphia has prohibited its kids from acting like superheroes during recess. For realz. Because apparently the correct response to excessively rough play in five-year-olds is to BAN SUPERMAN.

The letter begins thusly:

PARENTS WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Recently it has been brought to our attention that the imaginations of our preschool children are becoming dangerously overactive...

Because yeah, IMAGINATION BAD. When I was in preschool I dressed as Batgirl for Halloween (and yes, I was adorable). Guess that won't be an option for anyone at this ~~re-education camp~~ school.

More here: Preschool Bans Kids From “Super Hero Play,” Doesn’t Even Have the Decency To Do It With Proper Grammar

And here: Preschool Bans Kids From Pretending to Be Superheroes, Misses Point of Childhood Completely .

Current Mood: giggly
Current Location: sofa o'squishiness

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Enterprise vs the Death Star

For all of you who wondered, "If the Enterprise fought the Death Star, who would win?" I have no idea how they did such awesome special effects, but this is BRILLIANT. Of course I totally disagree with the outome -- I mean, any Captain of the Enterprise would have been able to come up with something clever, we all know they don't believe in no-win scenarios ;)

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Current Mood: giggly

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Oh, Sir Patrick...

...how the mighty have fallen. But it's nice to know you have a sense of humor :)

Current Mood: tentatively hopeful
Current Music: Buffy theme

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happy happy joy joy

I haz comment notification!

Or at least I think I do. Turns out that one of the IP addresses from which LJ sends its notifications somehow ended up on my ISP's black list as being spam. I have requested it be unblocked, and so far have seen one notification, yay! So hopefully all is now well in comment-land.

Current Mood: Sunday
Current Location: sofa o'squishiness
Current Music: Empty Hats

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Catching up on book reviews, also still not getting LJ comment notifications >:|

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine, #1)

I so much wanted to love Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, with its odd photographs and mysterious grandfather and menacing hollow creatures and, well, peculiar children, but I couldn't, not quite. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. The use of photographs was clever, the idea of living inside a time loop intriguing if a bit fuzzy in its logic, but I had two biggish problems with the book as a whole.

The first is a lack of good pacing/tightness. Ideally a book hooks you immediately, the tension gradually ratchets up as you go on, until you have a nice big finale. In this case, most of the gripping stuff came at the beginning; although the rest has some good bits it struck me as somewhat meandering and unfocused. The second was that the main character, rather than maturing through the course of the book, seems instead to become more childish (perhaps it's a side effect of hanging out with beings that have been children for 80+ years?). I can't recall when/if his age is given, but based on how he's presented at the beginning I would have guessed him to be 17 or 18; by the end he comes across more like a 13 or 14-year-old.

Then there's the fact that it's obviously a setup for a sequel, which I didn't know ahead of time and which was therefore irritating. (Does no one write good standalone novels any more??) So all in all, I give it a resounding "Meh."

Lives up to the title, "Year's Best." The best collection of short-form SF I've read in quite a while. All the stories are top-notch, with a wide mix of voices, settings, topics, length, styles and approaches. There are tales of post-apocalypse, space adventure and genetic modification; there are children and old men and guitar-playing dinosaurs and even a sort of steam-punk female Napoleon.

The only disappointment was the last one, a modern riff on the Benandanti -- I'm a fan of updated/retold folklore and fairy tales and I don't mind unreliable narrators or meta-fiction so I was intrigued at first, but in the end this comes across as too self-conscious an exercise in cleverness by both the narrator and the author.

Now, what to read next?? I can't decide if I want to re-read The Stand (about which Mr Psmith and I had a rousing debate last night, regarding the absence of a religious element among the bad guys) or tackle 11/22/63. I also have to finish Swansea Girl. Lots to do!

(N.B. The fact that I am STILL getting ZERO notifications from LJ, and my ISP apparently can't be bothered to look into it or even respond, is SERIOUSLY vexing me...)

Current Mood: annoyed

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Is it just me?

Are other people getting comment notifications from LJ? I am getting zilch, and have been for about five days now. So apologies if you've said something to me and I didn't say anything back :(

Current Mood: peaceful

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When shall we three meet again...

People seem to be rather polarized over this book; either they love it or they hate it. Well, I loved every bit of it and yup, I cried at the end -- partly due to the lovely unspooling of the story itself, but partly because I didn't want to let these characters go. I wanted to stick around and see Cordy's baby and what happened with Dan, Rose in England and how she blossomed, how Bean learned to be Bean and not some imaginary Sex in the City chick. The writing is clear, vivid, lively; the characters are three-dimensional, believable, so very human; and the situations and interactions are so real -- the warmth, humor and love as well as the anger, fear and irritation. If you have a sibling, you will identify with these people. If you don't, read this and you'll know what it's like.

Each of the sisters -- Cordy, Bean and Rose -- has a distinct, unique personality, but in some ways they are strangers to themselves as well; they've each reached point where the old ways aren't enough. One of the joys of the story is watching each sister unfold new parts of herself, recognize that what she had thought was a strength might instead be not just a weakness but an actual burden, realize that she is free to say, "What if...?", that she has the courage to make new choices, let the old ways go and welcome the new.

My mother is one of three sisters. I plan to buy three copies and send it to all of them...

Current Mood: bouncy

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I am SO counting down the days...

Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing has a release date: June 7, 2013. Exactly 38 days from today. Tick, tick, tick...

And there's a new trailer. yay!!

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Weekend of Goodness

Much goodness this weekend!

Goodness the first: Friday night Mr Psmith and I saw The Marriage of Figaro -- a great performance, not just well sung but well acted with lots of physical comedy. I kept thinking how much it reminded me of the old screwball comedies from the 1940s and 1950s. Figaro was a riot in his facial expressions and movements and had a fabulous bass-baritone voice, and I even liked the sopranos, which usually I don't, finding them too screechy. Countess Almaviva in particular was lovely, very smooth and lyrical. I was a little thrown by the fact that Cherubino was played by a female; I know that minor "page-boy" parts were often played by women but it was a little odd to hear her singing about her infatuation with the Countess. And everyone else. Bonus: The venue has changed its policy and now allows you to take drinks into the performance hall, meaning you don't have to slam your intermission merlot. Sweet!

Goodness the second: Saturday was a stunningly gorgeous day so Mr Psmith and I decided to venture downtown for dinner. We chose a brew-pub we hadn't eaten at in a long time; it was the first day that their outdoor seating area was open, and lo, we got a table! Mr Psmith had an elk-burger with Black Magic Stout and I had a catfish burrito with a nice peppery merlot, all eaten outdoors in the sun and the breeze while people-watching (some very funny) and car-watching (some very posh!). And the waitress had some amazing ink, an octopus that twined two-thirds of the way down her arm. I do love seeing good ink, although I have none of my own.

Goodness the third: Today was also a stunningly gorgeous day so we opened all the windows and doors, chasing out the winter staleness and making me feel as though I were outside even though I had to work (after helping Mr Psmith put up the trellises -- trelli, trellorum? -- for the clematis, of course). I completed an editing project for client and then rewarded myself by (finally!) taking the time to write up a long-overdue response to a friend's excellent novel manuscript. It's a classic space mystery/adventure with wonderful characters and many twisty plot strands, all cleverly integrated in a highly satisfying ending, so I really enjoyed writing a nice long meaty feedback/critique. I hope she sends it off to a publisher, because it's as good as anything I've read and better than many.

Now, off to grade some student projects and then (since the kitchen is still a war zone) wash dishes in the bathtub and order pizza for dinner. Nomz.

Current Mood: irritated

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Technology fail

Apparently LJ isn't sending comment notifications. And hasn't been. For, like, three days. Argh...

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Location: sofa o'squishiness
Current Music: Buffy theme

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Best flashmob EVER

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam takes advantage of the flash mob craze to promote the re-opening of the museum. This is SO COOL. I mean, it has HORSES!! (There's more on the video here, if you're interested.)

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Current Mood: melancholy

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She's filed under "A" for "Awesome"

I just learned that E. L. Konigsburg died last Friday. She's the author of one of the books that got me started on my long and winding trek towards being an archivist: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, in which two children hiding out at the Metropolitan Museum sort out a donor's idiosyncratic filing system for her archives and thereby verify the creator of a mysterious statue. Made me fall in love with archives, primary source research, and the enchanting quirkiness of people's personal papers, an appreciation I have not lost to this day :) She also wrote what might have been my first introduction to witches*: Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth** I highly recommend it.

So goodbye, E. L. You will be missed.

* though not magic -- I believe that honor goes to The Book of Three, age about, I dunno, seven?
** and I believe those two titles probably make her number one in average number of words per title.