Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Families Real and Imagined

A great story from Mindy Kaling about holidays with the family.
Hat Tip to ALOTT5MA for the link.

Monday, December 21, 2009

What Did I Read?

With the help of some record setting snow, I did spend a large portion of my day on the couch reading on Sunday.
I started and finished Tithe by Holly Black and made a good dent in the anthology The Lost finishing off the J.D. Robb story and the Patricia Gaffney story.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The first Annual Do Nothing But Read Day

...is Sunday!
You have to promise to read more than one book (but you can read short books or anthologies and count those).
You can eat too. And drink.
But basically, you promise to dedicate Sunday to reading. Oh, and staying in the jammies. Awesome.

Hat tip to Library Thing for the link.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Fictional Kids

And to counter yesterday's rant, let me chat about something I've sen done really well. I am super picky about kids in books. Perhaps I like kids too much to see them used as plot pawns or just got sick of the precious little children who appeared long enough to ask, "Will you marry my daddy?" or some such ridiculousness.
This is by no means a comprehensive list but tome people I have seen do kids really well include:
Nora Roberts*
Lani Diane Rich
Sandra Kitt (who has more than one teenager in For All We Know

Now you might notice I have not included young adult or children's authors, and it's not that I think they are unworthy, it's that I think that's a whole different skill, creating a believable protagonist who is also a kid or young adult.
(Also, that list is really, really long for me. This one probably would be too if I really sat and thought about it.)

*Nora Roberts even has kids who start big life conversations with their parent's love interest, but they do it in a way that sounds like a real kid, rather than a scripted kid.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Book Rant #20: MD area

I recognize the suburban Maryland area is large and complex. But, two things you should know about our suburbs here. First, Prince George's County is not a suburb, it's a county. People who live here rarely say they live in PG, they would be much more likely to reference the actual town or city they live in. Partly because that's what people do, and partly because it's a huge county and there's a difference between living in University Park or Landover or Forestville or Oxon Hill (to name a few places).
Second, it is Silver Spring. Not Springs. It's not named after the song it's named after an actual spring that had mica in it making it look silver.
(Heh. This kind of proves Lani's point about using fake towns to avoid all the angry mail from locals.)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

A Different Kind of Moebius

A Bagel. Yep, a bagel.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

A Moment in Time

After spitting twice, knocking on wood and offering up a sacrifice to the hockey gods, I have captured this little moment. The season has a game or fifty to go, so this could all look very different in a month or so, but for now, we have this.

A Little Something Special

I want to say I have no words. But really, it's just so - well - so that I don't want to spoil it except to say that this is a very interesting approach to holiday celebration and really, if you've been searching for what to get that special lady in your life, please do not use this as your guide.

(Yes, I realize the advice is good. But really, no one said, hey, maybe there's a better way to present this message. No one?)
Hat Tip to the Monkey See blog.
ETA - Apparently last year they did one aimed at 'shopping' for men.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Compare and Contrast

In case you missed the various bloggers blogging and (so I hear) the twitterers twitting, the Muppets perform "Bohemian Rhapsody"*


And then we have a rap about Alexander Hamilton. Yep. That's right.

Hat Tip to ALOTT5MA for the Muppets and Mental Floss for the Hamilton.

Friday, December 04, 2009

My Underwear Broke Me

A commenter over at Smart Bitches linked to this amazing story. The folks at Above the Law do a great job of covering it, but I wanted to say, I have bought some disappointing underwear. Underwear that turned out to give me a wedgie, or squeeze me funny causing dress bumps, or underwear where I couldn't tell the front from the back. But I feel I can say with certainty, that I never purchased underwear that caused severe abrasions. I also can say, that while I hope I never encounter such, my response to a concern about severe abrasions in my underwear region, would be to get it checked out. And addressed. And possibly, buy more underwear. But apparently, this guy, has a different approach. One can only imagine what would happen if he knew about the adhesive stuff.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Apparently I am Poor(ish)

Or I have rich tastes. First there was a news that I make less that the median incomes of both metro and bus riders. (I appear to be bringing that median down. Interesting. And yes, I know, that median is not mean.)
Now apparently, I have much better paid company in my gLeekhood. Oh, and "Community" too.

(Don't worry, I'm not job hunting just so I can fit in better on the metro. I just found it fascinating.)
Hat tip to the Monkey See blog for the "Glee" link.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Self Pub vs. Vanity

I've been staying to the sidelines (blog-wise) with the whole Harlequin Horizons issue, mostly because I think it's been extensively and fairly covered elsewhere.
But, I did follow a link to Stacia Kane's post which clearly defines self publishing vs. the vanity publishing, which I think a lot of people confuse. So, go read that.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Book Rant #19: Fictionally Pregnant

If you are a book character*, especially in a paranormal and you - say, decide to have sex in front of a centuries old fertility statue, assume that your previous issues with conception will no longer apply.
Also, if you have sex with an alien, please assume that your Earth birth control will not be effective, because, you know, it's for Earthlings. It has not been tested on aliens.

*These rules may very well apply to non-fictional people to, I am simply less certain of that.