Taking on the Romance World

Just what the world needs: another blog! This one is (almost) purely just for fun and amusement. Allow me to introduce my "Romance Novel Roundup". I've been having a go at reading Romance "novels" lately, in an attempt to figure out what makes the genre tick. They are mostly awful but don't take long to read, which is a blessing. The spouse unit was growing weary of my sharing every little nitpick with him, so he suggested I blog them instead. Good idea...I think. Join in the fun!

Remembering the Alamo

Finally acquired a copy of the new Alamo movie, starring Dennis Quaid and BBob Thornton. Didn't think all that much of Mr. Thornton until this one, but he really won me over as Crocket. Very nicely done. (more...)

Word Association

A string of words out of context can mean many things to many people. Newspaper headlines have a funny way of condensing information that sometimes goes awry ("X-Ray of Dean's Head Shows Nothing" comes to mind*). The following headline was brought to my hubby's attention by way of illustrating this point. To this fellow, and to us and most of the people we associate with the words "Vikings reportedly trade Moss to Raiders" looks like the lead in to an exciting article on newly discovered trans-Atlantic trade practices of the early Middle Ages. That was his first impression, mine as well. Obviously it has something to do with adults playing games for money, which is far less interesting in my book. Feh.

*Refers to an incident in the 30s(?) involving baseball player Dizzy Dean, who was struck rather severely in the head by a ball and subsequently rushed to the hospital.

Still Hunting...

The house we were all excited about doesn't look like it will "happen". It's way overpriced (like $100,000 overpriced!) and any offers lower have been summarily refused. I guess they want to keep it! It was kind of a bummer, but I knew other things would turn up and they have. Just got an email today from our new, much sharper agent up in WA and she's found a couple of promising things to show my folks on Friday (hopefully). Small house, big barn, 5 acres: sounds & looks good to me! We'll see what the report from "agent Mom" is like...

The Cat Came Back...

Little cousin Stella (yes, the cat) is visiting for a couple of days, which will be a treat for Gimli: they can chase each other around until they turn into little tiger milk puddles. And they probably will. G's daughter and her husband are taking a little ski trip and we're on the way up the hill, so it was an easy stop to drop the little monkey off here. I'm waiting for her to discover Bertie Rooster: I don't think he'll run away like Iris does...

Geeking at Wondercon

Gordon and I spent a fun day today at "Wondercon" in San Francisco. It's an annual convention devoted to comics, graphic novels, animation in general, scifi/fantasy movies, etc. We went because we wanted to support the movie "Serenity" which is opening in September (see banner ad at the bottom of my blog main page)...but mostly we went so Gordon could say "hi" to Adam Baldwin, a very cool actor he worked with on The Patriot! Adam was duly surprised and jumped up and gave Gordon a big hug. Suave individual that I am, I dispelled the rumour that Wah Maker trousers made Nathan Fillion look "fat" by assuring him they made him look great (really great, in fact). He just laughed and said he actually agreed, but it was just a joke around the set to complain about them.

Being the total nerd that I am, I dressed as a denizen of the Firefly universe, and visited briefly with some other nice fans who are doing their best to get the word out on this movie. You can see by the pic above left that the Browncoat table was a very popular place. Every time I went by it was totally swamped. The pic on the right is from the Browncoat room, where they were showing episodes from Firefly (the TV show the movie is spun off from, you can own it on DVD). In the pic below I'm the nerd in the "Jayne hat" and glasses. And rabbit ears (thanks Cpt. Mal impersonator, I think you're becoming one with that persona...).

Another highlight was meeting Sala Baker (a cool stunt guy who played the armored Sauron and at least one featured Orc in the recent Lord of the Rings movies). Movie/TV folks don't get applause at the end of a performance like stage actors do, so it's nice to meet these people and be able to complement them on their work. We also met Jon Provost, who played "Timmy" on the TV show "Lassie" from '54 to '74. He was a cute little boy, and now he's a nice-looking, friendly man who continues to work as an actor. Oh, we also saw a short "behind the scenes" clip on the new Speilberg "War of the Worlds" movie opening this year: it looks like quite a ride! It was fun to meet people while waiting in various lines for things and talk about movies, comics, TV shows, and other geeky things that I normally don't get to discuss because I don't really know anybody as "into" those things as I am. I really enjoyed our day out, and I appreciated that my hubby was able to share it with me!

Updates: For another report on the festivities and some really good photos, visit SafeDistance's blog here. Courtesy of Earth2Kim (whom we met and is sweet AND gorgeous) here's a nice AVI clip of Nathan Fillion taking Alan Tudyk's phoned-in (literally) "appearance".

Fighting Chicken

OK, now I know why the pic of Bertie was requested. He needed accessories...

Hangin' at the Hafla

I hosted my second "hafla" Saturday night, and a good time seemed to be had by all. Mo came over from Reno and requested lamb...and since he paid for most of it I was happy to give it a try. It was roasted, plopped on a bed of rice, carried to the tent by dancing girls and served on a tray as per his oft voiced wish (well, the actual fantasy is to be served a sheep boiled in goat's milk...but the rest is about right). The above pic is of Gordon and Mo lounging in the tent. We just inherited it and felt it needed to be field tested. For more, equally murky photos from the hafla, go here...
Mozell and Sarah chatting at the hafla

Stock Report

At the request of some inpertinent French Canadian person who has an inexplicable interest in the denizens of my kitchen yard, I hereby post this picture of Bertie Rooster (aka "Bertiebird"). He has assimilated quite nicely, roosting on the top perch with Henrietta every evening, and keeping Iris (aka "Crabby Chicken") in line despite his small size. He doesn't crow until a reasonable hour each morning (after 0730 or 0800), and even then it's pretty melodious.
Unlike the chickens, who actually contribute constructively to the running of the household, Ted (L) and Gimli (R) content themselves with running around causing mayhem and then sleeping it off.