Day: April 13, 2005

Posted on

It’s the little things

One of the best things about the internet +
Nice touch, Smallville=
2 lil joys
 
On the phone last night, my daughter mentioned one of the five books she’s currently reading for pleasure. A juvie written in 1908.  Sooooo… since it was likely PD, I searched and found scads of places I could get ebook/etext versions.  Fun book:  Five Children and It  by Edith Nesbit. A tad didactic, but pleasantly told.  Much better, IMO, than the Series of Unfortunate Events tales, which palled after only a few pages.  And now I see that it’s a film (upcoming release) featuring Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Freddie Highmore, and Zoe Wannamaker.
 
One to watch for.
 
[UPDATE: I’ve seen a trailer for the flick.  It departs from the book on several rather major points, introduces characters and situations not in the book, etc. Nevertheless, it may still be worth a viewing. I’ll probably finish the book this evening, between other more pressing tasks.]
 
The other lil joy: Orson Scott Card, a writer who knows how to craft good stories—sound plotting, credible characters, pace, etc.—wrote a paean extolling Smallville, so I dutifully began watching it when I had a chance.  Saw the latest tonight and it was… passable.  More teenaged sturm und drang filtered through a touchy-feely soap opera-ish hammishness than I like, but not all that bad.  The lil joy was after the show was over, the very last of the credits.  An ink bottle, apparently filled with red ink, labeled Miller Cough Ink is smashed and… a brief lil motif from Mahler’s Symphony #1 tinkled past my ears!  Brought the whole darned first movement singing through my head! What a nice touch, Smallville!  Thanks!
Posted on

Why I like living in America’s Third World Countyâ„¢ Part III

Secession is still an option

Well-established rumor has it that America's Third World Countyâ„¢ came within an ace of seceding all on its lonesome back in the middle years of the 20th Century (not during the Great Unitarian-Baptist Shootout of the 19th Century).  The feeling is still rather strong in these parts that, though sparsely-populated, America's Third World Countyâ„¢ is still heavily-armed enough to guard its own borders, should it ever come to such a pass…

Which is reason number 3 for appreciating this part of the world. See a prediction of where the rest of the country is going here.  Have your speakers on and remove breakables from easy reach. It's a brave new world (and no, I'll not say that with apologies to Aldous Huxley).  Coming to a pizza joint near you Real Soon Now if the socialists (of both major political parties) have their way.

They wish

h/t "Guitar Man" at Jerry Pournelle's Current Mail page.

Posted on

Does Blogger work, now?

No

Minimally glad that Blogwriter does, though. Except, of course, that I have other stuff to do, and also have lots to bloviate about… decisions, decisions… how to prioritize? That which I ought to do, shall I do it not?

Not.

So, refining the nomenclature re: subclasses of dumbasses will just have to wait for later…

Posted on

True Serenity

The Serenity Prayer—real world version
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill, because they REALLY chapped my gizzard!