Fall Semester Slog

Actually, this semester is going quite well, but "slog" conveys how I'm feeling about all the things that I'm trying to keep track of... and thus the reason that I'm hitting my usual long-semester slow-down of personal blog posts.

Alex is on his way to Kharkiv, Ukraine at the moment--he should be on the plane from Kiev to Kharkiv now, his last leg of the journey (he had stopovers in New York and London). He'll be back Friday (after an overnight stay in London on his way back, lucky duck!). I'm in my usual state of Alex-ness. That is, I have a list of tasks to accomplish, since I don't have my BFF to interact with, I therefore should have no excuse for being excruciatingly productive... but his absence makes me feel off-kilter, and thus I'm dragging a bit on the productivity front. Meh.

Yesterday's absence of useful activity, however, was partially due to several scheduled activities (such as dropping Alex off at DFW Airport). The other portion was feeling rotten, both emotionally (attending a memorial service with other members of my department), and physically (almost not being able to drive back from Denton with an immense migraine, then throwing up promptly upon arriving home). In fact, I got home at 6:30 and immediately went to sleep at 7pm... and didn't wake up until midnight. Which actually worked out kind of well, considering Alex called 45 minutes later from London to say he was safely there. Then I read for a couple of hours and went back to sleep.

The only good part of the day was that, feeling rotten, I treated myself to Recycled Books trip before I left Denton. I managed to find a great reference work on Egyptian mythology for $4 that Alex will love perhaps even more than me, a London guidebook for half-price that also included a laminated street map someone had tucked inside (score!), and a couple of comics (Batgirl and Thessaly). (This, the day after I scored three cheap books at the campus bookstore, one of them a Catwoman compilation for $6.)

This morning, I've still felt a bit physically under-the-weather, so I started slow with a chapter of the book "Drawing Words, Writing Pictures," a textbook on how to create comics. First Second Books graciously gave me a free copy of this and the comic Prince of Persia (yep, based on that awesome old video game) to review on my professional blog, and so far I am thoroughly enjoying both. First Second always publishes interesting, artistically distinctive stuff, but in addition I am continually impressed by the quality of their printing. Their books are ridiculously inexpensive for the high quality of paper, color, binding, and printing. Open any of their books and compare it to a regular DC or Marvel hardback--it's a huge difference.

I keep meaning to post brief takes on movies we've been watching, and have neglected to do so all summer. Instead, I find myself reading a friend's blog, and commenting when he review movies that I watched recently (like The Fall, which was awesome!). Although now that it's fall, my movie-watching is pretty limited anyway.

Okay, enough stalling--time for homework. Well, actually it's nearly lunchtime... so on to stalling by way of food!

Just To Say...

I have seen
the Indiana Jones movie
that was in
the box office

and which
you were probably
intending
as a 1950's B-movie spoof.

Forgive me
the effects were so shiny
too CGI
and too much.

-- Starr Hoffman (with apologies to William Carlos Williams)

(Although I have to add an amended last stanza,
addressed to my fellow Indy fans...)
Forgive me
it was delicious
so appropriately corny
and so fun.The original poem is here:
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/274.html

The idea for this spoof came from This American Life: 
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1239

And to my cousin Victoria:
hope you enjoyed my crack at poetry spoofing.

The 30-Second Update

So, here's what I've been up to:

• blogging at the TLA Conference
• meeting Gene Luen Yang
• reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother
• finishing homework (everything's due by May 2nd)
• dreaming of May 2nd
• planning to go see Iron Man on May 3rd
• packing our house; we close on Thursday!! This week! Aack!
• very successfully not reading Eclipse (until May 3rd)
• getting some photos uploaded
  
• Robin and Barney made out?! ZOMG!!!
  
• dreaming of all the things I can finally get to this summer... like having a life.
  

So This is What a Weekend Feels Like

...So, after a lot of cumulative work on the house and my academics, Friday resulted in a contract on our house and a 98 on my third statistics test (a class in which previous ridiculous amounts of studying had only resulted in a 78 and a 84 on earlier tests). W00t!!

Yesterday was refreshingly weekend-ish, as Alex and I unwound for the first time since January:

• watched 3 episodes of "Lost," which we've been DVR-ing and not watching all season
• decided that we actually care about "Lost" again, and are intrigued by time-travel-ish storylines (don't reveal anything--we're not very far into the season yet)
• had yummy leftovers from the previous night's Chinese-delivery celebration meal (we'll miss Chopsticks on 380 when we move)... btw spicy orange beef is awesome.
• shocked ourselves by laughing out loud together... and didn't recognize the sound of it
• ignored the lawn in need of mowing (ha! take that, adult responsiblity!!)
• ran errands at Wally-World... and bought Star Wars toys
• visited our gorgeous 1.25 acres in Cross Roads (near Denton)
• measured the spot for the new house... and perhaps a work building?
• looked at theater-room seating
• had yummy drinks at Sonic
• Alex got to hear his happy Feist song, aka "the Macbook Air song"
• perused Best Buy--but refrained from buying either Wii Star Wars Lego Complete Saga, Wii Smash Bros. Brawl, or even a blu-ray movie
• got oil-based trim paint at Home Depot (meh)
• did not spend over $100 at Half-Price Books... must be your imagination
• (dude, I finally have Watchmen!! and Birds of Prey! and Penny Arcade!)
• rented Stargate SG-1: The Ark of Truth
• decided that it worked really well as an extended episode of the show... but I'm still waiting for Carter and O'Neil to hook up. (Come on, already, it's been a decade and the show's over--give me what I've been waiting for!)

Today, I'm involved in more responsible pursuits--writing/editing a collaborative book chapter and working on some of that ever-present homework. Ah, the joys of academic pursuits... but y'know, when I'm not also running about working on house stuff and what have you, I do love this. It's actually refreshing to have the time on a weekend to do homework... (shakes head).

My Big Score

So, I went to Half-Price Books last night to pick up the last Christmas present. That was all--I was going to look through their comics, but knew I wouldn't purchase anything. But then... I saw the magical "clearance" sign over the audiobook section...

So, the final score was pretty impressive:

• Ya-Yas in Bloom (3 CDs), Rebecca Wells - $3
• The Adventures of Guy Noir (1 CD), Garrison Keillor - $3
• Wobegon Boy (5 CDs), Garrison Keillor - $13
• Pontoon (8 CDs), Garrison Keillor - $14

I also scored my favorite volume of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, #3 Dream Country, which has a fantastic retelling of the Midsummer Night's Dream as illustrated by Charles Vess of Stardust fame. For $8. Gah!!!

And then, the big score.

The complete 9-CD dramatized Lord of the Rings set, complete in wooden case... for $15.

I almost fainted right there in Half-Price Books. I walked around the store for another fifteen minutes with that set in my clutches, pondering my fortune, wondering if this was a stressed-out hallucination.

So for all your media needs, I highly recommend the McKinney branch of HPB. And if you're a big audiobook fan, or you commute at all, get yourself over there while they still have a bunch of CD titles for $3. Dude, that's less than the late fees are when I check them out from the public library (I hate to confess it as a librarian myself, but I'm terrible at being late with those things).

Today I have a few work things to wrap up from my remote spot (at Alex's place of work), then in the afternoon it's off to DFW airport and San Antonio! We'll be back Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas evening we're off to Vegas for four days. Woohoo!!!

Oh, and a quick plug here--as of Black Friday, I've replaced my former 17" monster laptop with a 14.1" one and I haven't missed the screen real estate yet--it's 3.5 pounds lighter, and I've already taken it on two work trips. Thus far I've been impressed with the performance--I have 2GB memory in this Gateway; it's not their top of the line, but it's running nice and speedy, even running Vista (not my idea--I'm thinking about dual-booting OS's). Yay for portable technology!!!

Published

Well, I'm going to be, anyway: check it out!

DC Day Three

ALA is intense. Or perhaps it's just all that walking, combined with the 15 lbs of laptop/backpack I'm lugging around that makes it seem that way. Every time I get back to the Tabard Inn, I just crash with exhaustion.

I'm not going to be at the Facebook party that starts in fifteen minutes--even if I wasn't dead-tired, I have a GODORT thing to interview for at 8:15am tomorrow. Isn't that a spectacularly cruel time to schedule an interview?

So, this morning, I awoke with great hopes of trying a different breakfast at the Tabard--maybe bagels this time, or granola with homemade yogurt. Only--they serve breakfast at 7am on weekdays... and 8am on weekends. I only had time to frown with sadness, then rushed off to my first session, ERT's Digital Natives. The presentation wasn't really anything I hadn't heard already, but there was an interesting, lively discussion afterward, and the room was jam-packed with people. (The link above also provides some notes taken on the discussion, if you're interested.)

Dreanna Belden from UNT went with me to that, so we then got some much-needed coffee and a delish cranberry-orange muffin from the obligatory 'Bucks kiosk, and sat down for some good chat about life, the universe, and everything.

Then I had to run off to the GODORT Update at the Renaissance Washington, where I pulled up a chair and my laptop to Julie Linden's corner (near an outlet, thank goodness). I briefly got to chat with Kris Kasianovitz, who I met in Oakland through NDIIPP, and then met Amy Stewart-Mailhiot F2F for the first time--she's been generously donating some govdocs for some digitization projects of ours.

I met Dreanna in the hotel lobby, and we wandered off to Chinatown, eventually settling on the "Wok and Roll" where Dreanna had some gorgeous-looking sushi, and I settled for an uncharacteristically less-adventurous beef lo mein. I took some fun, colorful photos as we left Chinatown, and we got the giggles as we passed a tableaux at Hooter's. Four orange-clad buxom gals were outside, taunting a slightly-inebriated male librarian with, "Well, we never went to library school." He was amazed that they knew he was a librarian--until they pointed out that he was still wearing his enormous ALA badge. Sigh.

I went back to the Renaissance for GODORT Leg. II. It's not that I'm a glutton for attending meetings for committees I'm not on, but they were discussing a response to the recent CRS report legislation being considered, and of course that's particularly relevant to my work archiving those reports. It was an interesting meeting, and I learned that editing resolutions isn't nearly as boring as it sounds--or else that's the old English major in me, but I found it fascinating.

And afterward, I wandered in the general direction of the LITA Meet n' Greet, but along the way... I met Meredith Farkas in-person! (And sorry, but you'll have to read that link for the story.)

The LITA Meet n' Greet was... well, not as lively as I was hoping. I was mildly interested in the interest groups on Digital Library Technologies and Distance Learning... but if I become more involved in GODORT like I hope to and only increase my courseload in the future... I don't need one more committment. Unless I find a compelling reason, I probably won't renew my LITA membership next year--I can read their articles, blog, and attend their sessions without being a member, after all.

Coming out of the hotel, I ran into Valerie, Kevin, and Brooke--whom I met for the first time, having of course heard glowing things from Val. Which all turned out to be completely true, as Val went back to her hotel to write a CRS letter for Leg., and Brooke and I whisked through the Exhibits Hall for an hour. During which, I witnessed an amazing performance of female flirting that on her the coveted, swag-filled and quality-stitched Oxford UP tote bag. Clever girl, that.

We parted at 7th and L, and I headed once again toward the Metro and the Tabard. I lugged my technological burden upstairs, changed out of professional and sweaty clothing, and briefly hopped out again to traipse up and down the block with the Digi-Lab camera, capturing the gorgeous architecture.

I came back to have some more of the Tabard's lite fare--this time a mozarella-and-roast-pepper salad that really was lite, but had enough protein to keep me going. I dragged myself back upstairs at the ridiculous-for-one-under-30 hour of 6:45, and promptly spent a few hours in blissfully decadent, useless novel-reading and a half hour nap (finished Deboarh Crombie's Dreaming of the Bones). Suzanne Sears called and we arranged to share a cab tomorrow to Cathy's party, and then we sent awhile chatting and giggling.

I called Alex, but he and Jared were watching "Invincible," so I started being productive, and then chatted with him when he called back awhile later. He and Jared watched the last SG-1 today--completely with my full knowledge and permission before-hand--and said there's a possible second spin-off series in the works, as well as some TV movies. Well, there's hope, then! And, of course, I only let Alex watch the episodes without me under the strict understanding that he has to watch them with me Tuesday night, as well.

And now I'm here, having fully intended to go to bed an hour ago, but being sucked into that novel and my blog/wiki/flickr/Facebook ate up several hours of my life. Ah, well. Thus is the life of a digital semi-native.

Now, I think I'll spend a little more time ignoring my headache, uploading some photos, and looking at the GODORT website in preparation for tomorrow morning. And then to bed, to bed.

A Quiet Pursuit

With TV done for the summer--the sole exception being Eureka, which starts again soon--my media diet will likely be turning back toward movies and printed matter. Here's what I read recently:

• Little Women (audiobook; re-read for the umpteenth time)
• Kate Reading is a fantastic reader, whether she's reading this classic or one of Robert Jordan's gigantic fantasy epics. And if her name isn't a stage name for her audiobooks... that's just some ridiculous Fate, there.
  


• New Spring by Robert Jordan (audiobook; re-listened for the second time)
• See above for the excellent reader; one of RJ's best novels.


• I, Coriander
• Read by Juliet Stevenson (aka the annoying Mrs. Eliot in 1996's Emma, and Kiera Knightley's mom in Bend it Like Beckham), who does so fantastically. A great fairy tale set in Olivery Cromwell's England.


• American Born Chinese by Gene Yang (graphic novel)
• I read this because I'd heard it was simply fantastic, and I saw some of Gene Yang's original art while in San Francisco. But nothing prepared me for the complete amazing-ness of this book or its gorgeously simple art. It ties together three seemingly disparate stories into a genius whole in a way that reminds me (in its genius execution, not in content) of the final sequences of Moore's Watchmen, where the art and the words tie together into this exquisitely-planned whole. Definitely on my need-to-own list now.


• Kristy's Great Idea (graphic novel)
• Yes, I read a Babysitter's Club graphic novel. Sorry, I'm not ashamed--I loved this series in middle school, and though I roll me eyes at them now, the graphic novel version is simply charming. The script has been slightly updated--but not annoyingly so--and the art is, like Gene Yang's, very clean and simple, and immensely appealing. I wouldn't mind owning it, and I plan on reading the next one when it comes out (even though I learned The Truth About Stacey fifteen years ago).


• To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel
• Yes, it's been a month for girl-y comics--well, I am a girl, after all. This one's gorgeous and poetic, and brought back the decade I spent in ballet classes. It also gave me a strong desire to re-watch The Company, a similarly poetic movie about a ballet company.

Butterfly in the Sky...

Yesterday was Julia "Butterfly" Hill's author visit and the conclusion to the 2007 Denton Reads program. Whew.

Now I have almost 4GB of photos to crunch, backup, sort, edit, and post online.

Julia dedicated a tree at the Emily Fowler Library, then her entourage and the executive committee of Denton Reads plus some special guests had a fantastic dinner at Gayla's house (UNT's English librarian). It was great to have some casual conversation with Julia & Co. Things we discussed included vegan cupcakes, a dog named Joe, and what it's like to be a couple named Kerol & Carolyn.

Alex and I popped back to my office to offload the nearly 1GB of photos from the morning, then walked to UNT's Auditorium Building to join about 240 other people listening to Julia speak. She's quite interesting, and completely unafraid to make fun of herself. We both enjoying listening to her, whether we agreed with what she said or not. There was a massive line of fans waiting for autographs afterward, and then Julia graciously stayed on to speak with about 15-20 steadfast fans. After 10pm, I was too exhausted to stay any longer, and we sadly left.

Observations from Julia:

• God had the right idea--in the beginning, he created an organic garden and two naked vegans.
• Don't give in to anger when you're pushing for a cause. MLK's speech was "I have a dream," not "I'm pi$$ed off at the government."
• I'm not "granolier than thou."

During her talk and all day yesterday, I had a lot of interesting ponderings that would have made a great post. But then I was exhausted and slept, and this is the post you're left with.

Julia also mentioned a book and movement that talk about an unconventional Christian walk. She's the daughter of a traveling preacher; while I can't say that her beliefs completely agree with mine, I found some of her ideas interesting to ponder.

• The Irresistible Revolution
• Red-Letter Christians

This also comes at a time when a friend of mine has been blogging about some interesting takes on political/social issues that I wouldn't have expected from someone who attended the same Baptist college that I did. But then, I'm no Baptist, myself.

comix update (courtesy of e. e. cummings)

• i just ordered runaways vol. 1 off of bookmooch, woohoo--and i already have vol. 2, so soon i can partake of its graphic goodness.
• i read sandman vol. 2 last week (as well as sandman: dream hunters), and vols. 3 and 4 are on-schedule to be back at the library by sunday--i think i may go ahead and preemptively check out vols. 5 and 6 just so i'm ready when it comes in.
• recently obtained and read: castle waiting, death: at death's door, kingdom hearts vol. 1, batgirl: silent running, batgirl: a knight alone, and the astonishing adventures of fanboy and goth girl
• recently obtained (unread): man of steel vol. 1, big clay pot, and cowboy bebop vol. 3
• dying to own: jack of fables
• one reason to long for summer: fables: sons of empire
  

"Pop" Goes the Culture

I've been unable to focus at work today--primarily thanks to the fact that we've had recurring power outages (30-60 mph winds will do that!). I keep having to reboot my computer and start the frustrating 3-minute-long process of logging back into everything.

So, I thought I'd give a brief summary of my current media consumption. (Sorry about the distinct lack of links here--I lost my previously-linked post and don't have the time to replicate it again.)

• Lost (TV): I'm glad to return to the beach characters--I was getting a little sick of too much of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle. And like many viewers, I'm caring less and less about the show, although the on-going questions pique my interest enough to keep my plugged in. But also having no one else to discuss the show with at work makes it feel less compelling. (Auntie K, are you still watching?)
• Heroes (TV): Here's my "Lost replacement." Started out fairly cheesy, but it's turning out to be a lot more compelling and intricate than it seemed at first. Also, it's got a great weekly graphic-novel download online that's higher quality than mere gimmick, IMHO. I [heart] Hiro!!!
• Battlestar Galactica (TV): Actually, we've DVR-ed but not watched the last 8 or so episodes, since we missed one (totally my fault), and I am feeling its absence keenly. This show's too great to comprehend, sometimes. Wow.
• Smallville (TV): I am really, really excited/intrigued by Chloe being meteor-infected! What a promising way to enliven a series that I thought was floundering aside from its spectacular JLA storyline. Chloe and Green Arrow have been brilliant this season, but Clark, Lana, and Lex have just gotten more and more annoyingly angsty. So this is a welcome twist--and I am just waiting with baited breath for the Oreo-loving Martian Manhunter to show up again!
• Marie Antoinette (movie): I loved Sophia Coppola's juxtaposition of the moden soundtrack in this movie--it just felt right, and punk-y. I really empathized with Marie in the storyline; I think Dunst did a pretty great job in it. But I'm tired of seeing Schwartzman as an unlikeable character; I want more of his Rushmore goodness back. Maybe this was just too soon after seeing him all creepy in "Slackers" (shudder).
• Man of the Year (movie): Alex has become DC-obessessed in movie themes, lately, primarily thanks to our trip to DC last fall, my current position in GovDocs, and our increasing interest in politics, world news, and NPR. This movie was paced a lot differently than we had expected, and it focused more on the romantic interest than the actual plot of a comedian becoming president, but it was still entertaining.
• A Prairie Home Companion (movie): Wow. Wow, wow, wow. My Dad heard from someone that this adaptation of our beloved radio show (we used to watch the live broadcast on Disney in the 1980's) was terrible, so I was worried. And I wondered if, having never seen/heard the show, the movie's unique brand of humor/story would be comprehensible/accessible to Alex. But it blew us both away, it was so funny, and interesting, and just plain fun. I thought Kevin Kline as a "real-life" Guy Noir might be a bit of an annoying stretch, but he just played so sincerely that it was hilarious; Alex loved his hyperbolic noirish dialogue, and now I know I've got to introduce him to the actual show. A big kudos to the late Altman for casting GK as himself. No one else could have done it.
• The Legacy of Luna (book): I started it today, and I'm 2/3 through it already. I'm reading it because it's the focus of the Denton Reads project, but it's a quite interesting story of an activitist in her early 20's who climbed a redwood for a tree-sit, and didn't come down for 738 days. (Yes, it does address the issue of how she went to the bathroom during that time.) A thought-provoking read.
• Fables (comic series): I finally finished the most recent volume of Fables, and I scream for more! This series started out as a fun and interesting concept (fairy tale characters living in modern-day New York), but the storyline just gets more serious and compelling. It's unbelievable how good it is. If you're over the age of 18 and are remotely interested in comics, just buy the whole darn series now. You'll have to own it; it's that good.
• Castle Waiting (comic series): I started reading this last week, and while it's also a new take on fairy tales (still set in a medieval setting, however), it's so far a bit, um, gentler than Fables. But while it had a slower start, it's proving just as enjoyable; makes me think of books like "The Ordinary Princess" or Jane Yolen's "Briar Rose." And I like the purely black and white artwork.
  
• Rampage (Wii game): Yes, the controls are clunky and the graphics unimpressive. But it's a rehash of a great classic, you get to physically smash stuff, and the best part: it's got 2-player co-op story mode. Which makes it one of the only games Alex and I get to enjoy together on a regular basis. C'mon, Nintendo, pick up the hint that this makes a great party console, and give us more of this play-style!!!

Movies we've seen in the past 6 months that make me want to recant my "no buying DVDs until a new format is established" rule: Accepted (unexpectedly, unbelieveably, hilarious), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (stellar, just spot-on perfect flim comparable to Ocean's Eleven), Lucky # Slevin, A Prairie Home Companion, Last Unicorn (well, haven't seen it lately, but it's FINALLY been released in a widescreen DVD version).

I've Been Flickr-ed

It's weird to search Flickr and find myself in someone else's photo set. Both in and out of costume, I might add! (Yes, still more from the Timothy Zahn signing a few weeks ago.) I'm also pretty sure I found my pal Bryce's pal Ara on Flickr at a similar signing (far left, kneeling).

As Promised, Geekery

And here's the link to the photos I took at Timothy Zahn's Borders book-signing on 02.07.2007.

So, I never actually wrote about the experience, being as I was busy with a sick Alex, and then busy being sick myself. So here goes.

I walk into Borders a little after 6pm, and immediately upon entering, spot him. Yes, that's Timothy Zahn himself, working at his laptop in the Borders cafe, nobody around to bother him yet. I pause for about thirty seconds, during which he briefly glances up, and no doubt absorbs the goofy "I see a Celebrity of Ultimate Geek" expression on my face. He looks down and wisely pretends not to have seen me. I pull myself together firmly, remind myself that I have been in the same room with this man before, and by golly, I'm not here to make his life a more frustrating experience, and walk off to find a manager or fellow DFWfanforce member.

I find Denise, who's organizing the event, and she shows me where to put my things in the back room--upon which I geek-out again, abeit slightly less so than over Zahn. It's a back room... in a bookstore. Oh, heaven! Then I run out to the bathroom to change into my Pink 7 gear, and come back to find the 501st changing into their armor. Along the way, I run into Helen, one of my fanforce pals from The Line (aka the Bellydancer). Denise gets us to slap stickers on people's books that they brought from home (like my copy of Heir to the Empire). We feel geeky and important.

Jeff, Brandon, and Jonathan from DFWfanforce show up a bit later, and we briefly catch up before I run off to the back room again. Zahn's lining up all the costumed of us to escort him in--I'm placed behind the stormtroopers and in front of Anakin and Vader, who flank Zahn. We all march out to the podium and table that's been set up for him, and all we costumed geeklings form in a V-pattern behind him, like a very, very confused flock of migratory birds.

Zahn talks awhile about what it's been like to write Star Wars EU, then gives a long Q/A session. The length is pretty awesome to listen to, as a fan--but as a gal in a hot costume in a really well-heated Borders, I nearly pass out. Literally--vision starts going and everything. I have to back out of line and sit with my head down while Helen gets me some water--darn that heavy, hot helmet!

I had to leave not to long after that, when the real signing began, and left my books under Helen's protection. I ran by Walmart to get some supplies for the flu-beleagured Alex, and then spent the rest of the evening watching movies with him.

One-Day Weekend

Well, it was short, but we packed a lot in. We went to Cabela's with Alex's parents (now we've got to take mine, when they're here again) and "wow"-ed at the taxidermy, the gun library, and the aquarium. We even ate wild game in the restaurant--Alex had an elk sandwich, and I munched on venison bratwurst.

Once home, Alex and I hunkered down on the Fat Couch to watch the Superbowl. And I must say--this is the first Superbowl that I've been entirely captured by the game itself the entire time. There were some amusing commercials, and there's nothing like seeing sing Prince"Purple Rain" in the rain, but considering the amazing antics of Rhodes and Adaii, the Colts running backs, I was glued to the action. See, when Alex and I play Madden (the football video game, not the man himself), I'm always the running back. It's the only position I can get the hang of, and it's how I learned football (not so long ago, in 2001). And now that they broadcast football games with graphics, like the first down and all, and it looks more like a video game, I can actually follow it. So I was thrilled to watch the Colts win last night.

Me, the humanities student who always hated sports, except for the World Series. Shocker.

Anyway, this weekend we also managed to watch Flyboys (quite enjoyable), and Thank You For Smoking, which was sheer genius!! I need to own that movie. It's got the snappy dialog, the dark humor, and the gleeful joy of watching a fictional Congressional hearing. What more could I ask for? Okay, besides a song and dance number.

Then on NPR this morning, there was a story about ray guns in the military. I love living in the future.

If you're going to be in Dallas this weekend, please please please do myself a huge favor and go see Scott McCloud when he stops at Zeus Comics. I need to live viariously through you, as I'll be working again this Saturday and cannot have my three books by him signed. Sigh.

I guess it would be too much to be able to see Timothy Zahn and Scott McCloud in one week, right?

Nerd Alert!

Timothy Zahn will be at the Plano Borders location on February 7th, 7pm.


And Borders is requesting costumed geeks in attendance, so... you know who you are.

1/30 Update: Btw, for those of you who hadn't already heard about Stacey's cameo in the book, Mr. Trey was kind enough to include a funfun link discussing it.

Snow Day!

Actually, this is the second bad-weather, stay-home-from-work day we’ve had this week! (Hence, yet again, my blogging has suffered.) Today we actually had quasi-snow on the ground and a whole lot of ice. Alex had to work from home today, unfortunately, just like he did Monday—but while I spent Monday classifying our DVD collection on DVD Profiler (which, although I’m nerdy enough to enjoy that task, still felt more like work than like goofing off), today I finished “Daisy Kutter: The Last Train” while cooking lunch, which was fabulous both art and story-wise. Yowza.

I also got all four volumes of the Star Wars: A New Hope manga in the mail from BookMooch (which I think brings my total books mooched up to 19!), and Alex and I had a mini-date night consisting of dinner at Chili’s (love that quesadilla explosion salad!) and watching The Illusionist at home (is Paul Giamatti the best or what?). With a break of an hour between those activities during which we picked up Alex’s dad (he had two flat tires) and picked up Alex’s sister from work (she’d taken DART-rail to avoid the ice).

It’s nice to have two days off in one week, but it’s nicer when they’re consecutive days. And for some reason, it makes the next two days at work seem longer than usual. Ah, well!

A Sad Day for Entertainment News

No Peter Jackson's Hobbit--no, no, no!!!!
I read this on Slashdot on Monday and hoped it was a wild rumor. Sigh... Can't New Line and Jackson put aside their squabbles over pay just long enough to make the movie their public is longing for? I'm afraid to watch a Hobbit by another director, I really am.

Robert Altman died Monday night at age 81. This makes me sad; we own The Company and Gosford Park, and I've been looking forward to seeing A Prairie Home Companion for quite awhile now.

Today's Good News

• My utterly-bizarre lemonade-craving this morning was perfectly timed, as a coworker unexpectedly brought some to our office party.
• I just finished Samurai Shortstop, and can now review it for Jessica, the Cool Librarian.
• I had a “Eureka!” moment with my book this morning--I won't be making the 50K mark next week, but at least the problemmatic opening is solved! Woohoo!
• I now have 4 graphic novels on their way to me via BookMooch... Now if I could only learn more patience for media mail.
• My geeky-artist-librarian expertise was put to good use today while looking for novels/comics for an art student who wanted something to read while he waited in line for a Wii. Does that sound totally up my alley, or what?
  

I also finished the Abilene backlog post (only LA left to cover!)

Not Creative Enough To Title This Post

Heard on NPR's Morning Edition:

• The Book on Bond... but no gadgets in the books?!
• Murtha was interviewed about running for majority leader of the House--and Pelosi says she's all about reforming politics. Way to support a scandal-involved politician, that's all I have to say. Oh, and also: Murtha's one of the most frustrating people I've heard on NPR in the past year. (Okay, that's really all.) Update: Ha ha, Hoyer won!!!
  
• "Popcorn" (the song) with Latin flavor.
• Teaching kids the science of calories--with pyrotechnics!!

Your Book & Movie News:

• The Fanboys trailer is finally, finally out! Um... and so far, the funniest scenes are the two involving Star Trek. What's up with that, huh?
• There's a second "Librarian" adventure/B-movie coming up in December. Yes, I'm a sucker for cheap Indiana Jones imitations--it's as good as I'm getting unless Lucas and Spielberg ever actually start Indy 4. (I'm not holding my breath, or I'd have turned blue about six years ago.)
• It didn't win, but American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel nominated for a National Book Award! Woohoo! Of course, one step forward, one step back... there have been several recent challenges to graphic novels in libraries.
• Added to wishlist: "Ology" books, The Stolen Child

While in line at the post office today, not only did two guys stand extremely close to me--so close that if my best friend stood that close, I'd wonder if she was making a move on me--but they then proceeded to converse animatedly. With their hands. To the point that one of them brushed my hair. My short, short hair that sits close to my head. Um, hellooooo, personal space. Don't you love cultural differences in the concept of personal space?

While I was leaving the post office, I ran into my friend Beau, whom I worked with at UNT's Technical Writing Computer Lab seven ages years ago! We had lunch together and caught up; it was so great to see someone who I'd been wondering about off and on. And now he's back in the Art History dept. at UNT--Hooray for reconnections!

Smallville--it's okay and all, the angst is getting lesser... but huzzah for the Green Arrow! Not only does he have a pretty spiffy costume, but he's a fun character with great lines and--gasp--some character depth that is not all about teen angst. Ah, Lex, how you have fallen. (This dys-Lex-ia quiz sounds too funny, btw.)

Unrelated Banter:

• Temporary Tattoos--for librarians! Put a little sass on your shushin' arm.
• Homestar Runner has a wiki. That is all.

Media Consumption

Currently Reading:

• Lone Wolf and Cub: Gateless Barrier (vol. 2)
• Samurai Shortstop
• Trail of Time (DC Universe) (did I mention this is an advance release? for March '07?)
• Thieves and Kings

Currently Watching

• BSG (if you're not watching it, shame on you!)
• Smallville
• Heroes
• Lost (ah well, on hiatus 'til January)
• Gilmore Girls, Season 3
• Lois & Clark, Season 3 (stopped halfway thru, for fear of the amnesia episodes)
  

Currently Hopelessly Caught in an Obsessive Listening Loop:

• Sexyback, Justin Timberlake (oh, the shame, it burns!)
• Call Me When You're Sober, Evanescence
• Ain't No Other Man, Christina Aguilera

It's Election Day...

Did you vote?
I did, and I have the sticker on my cheek to say so. I'll not delve into the wild world of politics here, but let me say: I proudly voted for some R's and some D's, and I fervently hope that Texans never again have to choose between the lesser of six evils.

I hope it doesn't make me a bad documents librarian (or a bad person) that today as I was cataloging CRS Reports, I came across "food as a weapon" -- and my first thought was cafeteria food fights.

Awesome news: I'm going to be writing reviews for FantasyBookSpot! And "They" said that blogging and reading boingboing would get me nowhere... whoever "They" is... Anyway, there are two advance copy (say it with me: ADVAAAANCE COPY) graphic novels and a fantasy novel winging their way to me right now, courtesy of the USPS and FantasyBookSpot. (Thanks, Damon! And yes, Tihleigh, you hate me more than monkeys, I know.)

NPR reported last week that UK citizens are caught on closed-circuit camera on average 300 times a day--and the plan is to extend the cameras to be all-pervasive. I had no idea it was getting that way in England--reeeeeally makes V for Vendetta look timely (again), doesn't it?

I really need to download Firefox 2, and so should you. Speaking of which... Firefox for scholars in the humanities: Zotero.

We leave for Los Angeles in two days!!! Eeek!

Linky-Loos For Your Reading Pleasure:

• In case I haven't mentioned it before, Dooce is a comic genius. That, and a big fan of Star Wars costumes.
• PacMan pie chart. Genius.
• Painting of kid riding an AT-AT.
• Motion-capture sketches used to instantly create furniture in liquid plastic. I quote Gareth, "It's something like this which reminds me I'm actually living in the 21st century."
• BSG-themed Halloween comic. Oh, gosh.
• These are the cutest--er, SCARIEST--cupcakes. Ever. (Tihleigh, I want a report back that you already made these.)
• Great costume: going as the Patriot Act.
• Blockbuster's online rental system is now fully integrated with in-store rentals. That way, if you want a new movie that night, just return a movie (either rented online or in-store) to the store, and immediately exchange it for another in-store movie!
• I [heart] the DCAU.