| My ability to procrastinate is fucking EPIC. However, in my defense, I did put off the actual writing part of the task with things that are necessary to the writing: a bit of transcription and a tear through a good chunk of David Woodrich's fascinating Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar, which gave me a good handful of pieces of information to slip into my story (and is also the book from which the spectacular coffee cocktail I had early in the week — who knew I'd like a drink with an egg in it? — came). Now, I'm allowed one more off-topic task, then ... I write. I have to. There is no more time. | |
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| today i met dave!
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| http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/05/not-really-about-anything.html Let's see -- spoke at Maddy's school yesterday, to about a hundred 13 and 14 year olds. Survived. The pear tree and the cherry trees are coming into blossom too. Tomorrow, without the glorious leadership of Bee Boss Sharon Stiteler, I get to inspect the Kitty hive and go and see how the queen is doing... I'm currently spending most of the time in the gazebo at the bottom of the garden, alternately writing a sort of outline for something and proofreading The Graveyard Book. This is the US edition of The Graveyard Book, and now I'm taking all the corrections and fixes I did to the UK manuscript when I was in Australia and transferring 90% of them over to the US version (only 90% because I'm letting a few Americanisms that my UK editor had problems with stand -- particularly the ones my otherwise wonderful UK copy editor and I butted heads over. )(There's me at two in the morning on Skype muttering, "Look freak out can't just be a newfangled Americanism -- it's in Fanny Hill, for heaven's sake...") [For the curious, http://fiction.eserver.org/novels/fanny_hill/09.html five lines from the bottom.] .... If you're on the upper East Coast and sad that you won't get to see me at MIT as all the tickets have sold out, you could -- and should -- down your sorrows in Cory Doctorow. As you will learn over at http://www.cbldf.org/pr/archives/000357.shtml you can learn all about it.... What: Cory Doctorow Benefit Reading For CBLDF
When: Sunday, May 25 at 5 PM; VIP After Party at 7 PM
Where: Comix, 353 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014
How Much:
General Admission: $20/advance $25/day of show;
VIP Admission: $100/advance only, includes preferred seating, copy of the book, & After Party with open beer/wine/soda bar
Tickets:
General Admission tickets available at
http://comixny.com/event.aspx?eid=416&sid=1302;
VIP Admission available at
http://store.fastcommerce.com/prod_cbldf-ff80818119f1676e0119f2fbcdc91642.htmlYou should go. ... I know that David Tennant's Hamlet isn't till July. And lots of people are going to be doing Dr Who in Hamlet jokes, so this is just me getting it out of the way early, to avoid the rush... To be, or not to be, that is the question. Weeelll.... More of A question really. Not THE question. Because, well, I mean, there are billions and billions of questions out there, and well, when I say billions, I mean, when you add in the answers, not just the questions, weeelll, you're looking at numbers that are positively astronomical and... for that matter the other question is what you lot are doing on this planet in the first place, and er, did anyone try just pushing this little red button?" There. Thanks. Sorry about that. ... This came in from Laurel Krahn -- I've already mentioned Fourth Street Fantasy on this blog, one of my very very first American conventions, the one at which I first discovered the joy of talking to Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden (amongst others) and failing to argue with Steve Brust: Any chance you could mention the return of Fourth Street Fantasy Convention in your journal/blog thing? We've extended the pre-registration date from May 15th to May 31st to give us all more time to plug the convention, it also gives those who haven’t registered yet a bit more time to gather the funds together to do so.
June 20 - 22, 2008 in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Guest of Honor Elizabeth Bear.
More details at http://www.4thstreetfantasy.com/My friend Lillian Edwards pointed me at the TechnoLlama blog, where over This, this and finally this post the entire matter of Dr Who knitting patterns is discussed to within an inch of its life. I crochet, and I'm a Doctor Who fan, so I've been following the thing with the knitted pattern a little. I've always had a set of Lil' Endless on my mental list of things to eventually crochet, but now that you've mentioned that DC is a bit strict about things I think I might just keep them to myself instead of writing up a (free, not to be sold) pattern. What would your feelings be about crochet/knitting patterns of your characters? It's not just The Endless I have in mind, I've done a seven legged spider before, and there are several other characters or concepts that I think would make neat projects.As long as things aren't being sold in quantity, DC Comics is incredibly unlikely to grumble about it. I don't mind at all, as long as it's not commercial. I don't mind anything that's creative, and I especially don't mind if people ask nicely first. (I mind, very much, things like people selling on ebay CDs with PDFs of the complete Sandman books on them.) (Nobody is going to complain if a fan turns a Barbie into a Death -- although I heard that DC said no to one of those appearing in a book of photos of interesting Barbie dolls. Nobody is going to grumble if a fan puts up a "how to make Barbie into Death" guide online. If someone put up a how to guide, and then one day hundreds of Death Barbies turned up on eBay, I can see Warners lawyers trying to close it down...) ... Had a conversation with Paul Levitz the other day about Gaiman's Law of Superhero Movies, which is: the closer the film is to the look and feel of what people like about the comic, the more successful it is (which is something that Warners tends singularly to miss, and Marvel tends singularly to get right) and the conversation went over to Watchmen, which had Paul explaining to me that the film is obsessive about how close it is to the comic, and me going " But they've changed the costumes. What about Nite Owl?" It'll be interesting to see whether it works or not... | |
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| Yes, it is worthy of THAT many exclamation points. You may recall that back in December, I posted about a song that I saw on a VH1 countdown of teen stars. Apparently, this is what Meredith Salenger's soundtrack sounds like? Anyway, despite numerous re-playings of said clip to many people who have a deep musical background, alas, I came back empty handed.
No lyrics played in the background during the clip, making the effort to find the song all the more futile. You know, you can't hum on LJ. (Okay, maybe I could've done a voice post and held the phone to the TV, but I don't have a paid acct.) Yeah, that does mean that I have been searching for this song for about 5 months.
ANYWAY I was watching Scrubs last night (season 5) and it was the one where JD turns 30 and is competing in the triathlon cause it's something on his list of things he wanted to do by the time he turned 30. (He had not yet completed anything and it was the only option he could feasibly do.)
BUT THERE IT WAS - MY SONG! As Elliott was talking to him in the final leg of the race, it started playing. I practically jumped out of bed screaming I was so excited. But you know that they don't show the songs in the credits?
However, there were lyrics.....lots and lots of lyrics. I wrote them down as fast as I could and I googled them tonight.
My song?
Keane, "Everybody's Changing"
ahhhhhhhhhhhh......that's better. - Mood:ecstatic
 - Music:whaddya think?
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| I can go with the flow of this. I did not take the first pic (from the Library of Congress website), but the rest are mine:  | |
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| Mmmrf. My parents didn't drop me off until almost 5:00 p.m., so I missed all the matinees of Prince Caspian. Guess I'll go tomorrow. But I did get many things today that please me. I bought a few shirts, a couple of sweaters, a nice throw that will go over the little brown chair in the living room (and keep the cat fur out of said little brown chair). I bought a few CDs, a copy of Ella Enchanted on DVD, a goldtone necklace with a crystal drop...though I think I'm going to take the crystal off and put it on something else. I got a 1928 necklace and earrings -- goldtone and rhinestones and molded roses. I'm not really keen on their rose jewelry, so I may try listing the set on eBay, along with the Hallmark carousel horses from 1989 (have to check the price guide on those; if the price guide says it's not worth it, then I'll ask my parents to take those to the shop for me). I bought a pretty little lamp for $1, a couple of bits of artwork that will probably end up brightening up my cube, and a pile of books. We also, late in the day, went to a sale where everything was free, so I got a pile of a dozen CDs that will probably go straight to SwapACD.com and a pale blue, um, thingummy that you cover a couch with...the only thing I'm coming up with is dustjacket. Dammit, I knew that word half a minute ago... Anyway, there are matching pillows, too. Turns out, when I finally found the price tag that she only wanted $1.50 for the whole set, anyway, but still...I've wanted a dustjacket for my ugly couch for a very long time.
And the books:
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (Dover Thrift)
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (trade paperback)
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (a very nice Penguin trade paperback)
Six Great Sherlock Holmes Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Dover Thrift -- contains "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Red-headed League," "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," "The Final Problem," and "The Adventure of the Empty House."
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiel Hammett (another nice trade paperback)
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage (for a dime!)
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman (hardcover)
My Point...And I Do Have One by Ellen Degeneres (hardcover)
There were a few others, but they're destined to go straight to PaperbackSwap (for a dime each, there's no reason not to pick them up specifically to swap).
Oh, and movies: a Titanic starring Barbara Stanwyck (yes, I've been fascinated by that disaster since the Kate/Leo movie -- but mostly 'cause of Gaelic Storm's appearance) and a Really Bad Disaster movie called Asteroid: The Sky Is Falling (the title alone is worth it!) starring Michael Biehn and Annabella Sciorra, which looks like a made-for-TV (given the NBC logo on it) movie.
This is the first time I've gone garage saleing this year and that's a pretty good haul, though I used up all my saved quarters.
And now, since I missed Prince Caspian, I rented The Golden Compass and it's definitely time to take up residence on the couch.... | |
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| http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/014704.html [guy takes a flyer]
Flyer guy: Hey, do you want to know about...
Guy interrupting: No.
[guy goes into revolving door and flyer guy follows him into the same section of the door and stops it]
Flyer guy: Don't be such a jerkwad, I want my flyer back.
--68th St Lowes
Overheard by: LSB
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| seven years ago today the papers were signed on guy. seven years ago tomorrow i brought him home. this weekend i'm probably signing paperwork on a new car. that i'm not totally thrilled with. because there isn't a car on the market right now that really makes me go wow, i want it. that's exciting. they all have asterisks. and ifs. and i hate working on other people's timetables to begin with. argh. i hate life. and i know that i'm pretty fortunate overall. but not having a vehicle to my name any longer is no fun. and i'm spoiled. and i wasn't planning on doing this for at least another year. bah. that being said and ranted enough i think i have it narrowed down to the fit and the yaris hathcback not s. and i can't see myself driving either. third comes the yaris sedan.
i feel like one of those annoying car obsessed people right now. the kind withdrawing and rambling about the bugs level. i can tell you lengths, ground clearances, mpg, cubic storage, headroom, and packages. though i think the person who decided to make an awareness package was a moron. i'm an over caffeinated bog at the moment. and i apparently lack continuity. that may be my new motto. | |
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| thursday i left work early to head over to union station. this would be the first time (not counting boston to salem in '04, or paris to versailles '06) i've ever really traveled via train. amtrak cascades is amazing, though: pretty much nice airplane quality trains (soft reclining seats, legroom, TV screens in each car for film viewing, clean and obviously new). sara and i of course got stuck in a train car with two families of very wild (and uncontrolled) loud children, making our 3.5 hour ride just a little bit less fun. that said, the ride itself was beautiful and very scenic, wrapping around several bodies of water with great views of washington state. at departure, a guy behind us (who was making phone calls and obviously a recording artist/in a band; we paid him little mind until he disclosed on a voicemail that he was in modest mouse-- grey suit, next to johnny marr) said something to the mother of the wildest children (yes, the one who b(r)ought headphones so she could watch north by northwest, while her 3 children terrorized the rest of the car) when he left: that little action kind of made me want to like modest mouse. the lovely ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fraxl was waiting outside of the seattle train station with wheels ("i has car to pick you up with!"), and we drove towards capitol hill, where she, teh r00t, and gehn reside. we did a little bit of exploring, had dinner at some vegan noodle place (in the bowl) and walked around until around midnight. friday sara and i woke up and headed down to the obligatory and amazing pike place market. we explored pike and pine a little, then headed back up to cap hill to look for food. i made some poor eating decisions (namely, skipping breakfast and waiting too long to ultimately eat all carbs at 4pm) so, between the heat, aimlessness, and low blood sugar/hunger, i was kind of a mess by afternoon. sara and i ended up at a very mediocre pizza place (that offered vegan toppings, with no love), but this foodie was redeemed by dinner at an amazing and perfect indian place. so delicious. friday night we went out to two clubs-- electric avenue and the mercury, both atmospherically good, but the latter had much more energy and involved dancing for our little group. namely gehn, which was adorable. and now today: onto brunch and who knows what kind of activities! | |
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| http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/014701.html Customer: Can I get an eggplant and mozzarella sandwich?
Employee: We outta eggs.
Customer: No, not eggs... Eggplant.
Employee: We outta eggs.
Customer: But eggplant and eggs are two entirely different things...
Employee, winking: The customer is always right.
--Au Bon Pain, Greenwich Village
Overheard by: Caelster
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| http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/014700.html Four-year-old boy, pointing at giant inflatable rat: Look dad, a big rat!
Dad: Yeah, that symbolizes anti-union labor where the union employees aren't being hired and companies are hiring non-union employees to work with them.
Four-year-old boy: What?
--28th & Broadway
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| I'm waiting for my parents to pick me up to go garage saleing. It's the City Garage Sale Day today, which probably means I'll be out with them for the whole morning and a good chunk of the afternoon. Then I'm planning to catch a matinee of Prince Caspian, but we'll see whether I feel like it or not by the time I get home.
Probably because of my movie-going aspirations, I dreamed about the theatre and my first husband. In the dream, I had tickets to take my sister to Prince Caspian, but when we got there, all that was playing was anime-style cartoons. And my sister was dressed in uniform and behind the concessions counter along with all the other staff (my sister did work for First Husband as a concession attendant for a while -- for that matter, so did half my friends), including First Husband, who looked about as I imagine he does now (I haven't seen him in more than ten years).
That was it for the dream, but I really do expect to see First Husband every time I go to the theater. He To Whom I Am Currently Married doesn't understand this. "You never worked there," he said. No, I didn't¹. But the building was built while I was married to First Husband; he was the first person to be manager there and I know (or used to know) the building inside and out. To me First Husband is that building. So I always expect to see him, and never do, and that's for the best.
Things have changed so much since I first worked in a theater. For one thing, we never had cash registers, so it took a certain nimbleness of brain (and a pocket calculator) to get through a shift. Tickets were sold and dispensed via Automaticket machines. I'd been married to First Husband for a while before they brought in the computers and registers. And, I found out recently, that the projectors are all gone. Movies no longer arrive in cans on Friday morning to be put together into one long piece on Friday afternoon. Now the projection equipment consists of a Linux box and a DVD, and the whole thing is set so that you can only show the movie at preset times. No more midnight showings for the staff. Not that there could be midnight showings, anyway, since some of the films don't even start until then.
I suppose it's romantic of me, but it seems that some of the magic is lost when you know that you're just watching a DVD. (Not that the general public does; they're still convinced that there's a projectionist in the booth.)
---
¹ That's how I met First Husband: he came in as manager when I'd been working at the old theater (before it moved from the mall) for two years. | |
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| http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/014699.html Male Columbia student: So did she give you the recommendation, or what?
Female Columbia student: Yeah, I wasn't sure that she liked me that much... But then apparently she told them I walk on water in six-inch heels!
--1 Train
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| http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/014698.html Woman #1: I noticed last night you had your nails done.
Woman #2: I hope I didn't hurt you.
Woman #1: We just have to be careful not to stretch anything.
Woman #2: Let's call Jimmy next time, he's great from a directive point of view.
Woman #1: I wonder if anyone's listening to this conversation...
--A Train
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| http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/014697.html Ghetto store employee #1: Yo, they got people in Egypt?
Ghetto store employee #2: Yeah, they got Pizza Hut an everything. Right across the street from the pyramids an shit.
Ghetto store employee #1: Why they be eatin pizza? It's hot in the desert they ain't got to be eatin no hot pizza!
--Mass Produced Clothing Store, SoHo
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