But if his head don't turn up soon, then all his hats are mine

[sovay]

Man. I really haven't been doing anything lately. Looking back over the last week, I seem to have seen the same movie twice* and posted a lot of quotation. Well, and a recipe for corn chowder. So what are people owed? What have I promised and not delivered? Within certain limits of reason, please: anyone who asks me to get with child a mandrake root is out on their ear.

If all goes well, my brother and I will spend this weekend watching vintage Ferraris race. If the weather fails us, we'll rent Le Mans (1971) and sigh wistfully. There are supposed to be storms. We're hoping not.

The widening of the world in Throne of Jade really impressed me: particularly in that the treatment of dragons in China is not as simple as steadfast England meets luxurious Orient, or Laurence's perception that Temeraire is being tempted away from him, but that the Aerial Corps—the entire British attitude toward dragons—may in reality need serious social reform. I assume this will be further developed in Black Powder War? And the line-crossing ceremony made me smile.

Photographs from Readercon are now available, courtesy of godlyperspectiv. I have been captured on film. Cut for a sad lack of photogenesis.



No, I don't mean that I fail at bioluminescence—and I'm not wearing a small coronet; that's a light fixture on the wall behind me, amusingly coincident—I mean that for God's sake I could at least stand up straight. I need to treat formal readings more like singing or storytelling. I'm being unncessarily hampered by the printed word on the page; my brain doesn't automatically code it as performance. Damn. time_shark, on the other hand, looks great.

Lastly, if you haven't already subscribed to greygirlbeast's Sirenia Digest, well, what are you waiting for? This month's issue will contain not only "The Depth Oracle," for all of you who need more drowned men in your lives, but "The Cryomancer's Daughter (Murder Ballad No. 3)," which is simply one of her best stories, recent or otherwise. That is not hyperbole. Don't miss it.

Now back to the wide world of Theokritos . . .

*In all fairness, I had a fantastic time. gaudior and rushthatspeaks are now not only the Best Cousins Ever, but at the top of my list of People With Whom I'd Most Like To Be Trapped In A Subway Station; and I'd probably go for a third viewing, if I had any pocket money at all. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie twice in theaters. Attack of the Clones does not count.

Comments

[sovay]

More than once? Oh dear.

I went initially with shirei_shibolim and terriqat, because none of us knew any better. About five seconds into the title crawl, when the name "Count Dooku" appeared on the screen, we discovered our mistake. The experience was survivable only through dint of much sarcastic commentary. But my family would not believe my protestations; I couldn't get out of the second viewing. The romantic line about sand . . . I carry mental scars to this day. As does, I expect, the rest of my family.

[spectre-general.livejournal.com]

"I killed women and children!"
"Really? That's kinda hot..."