"Smile. It makes everyone wonder what you're up to." - original author unknown

( Remembrance )

Goodbye, Grandma B. We love you & we miss you.

[Posted for LJ Idol Season 6 Week 3 - "Smile"]

While I mentioned it briefly in my last entry, I want to remind everyone that this week's LJ Idol poll is up.

Here is my entry.

Here is a link to the vote.

Thanks for your support.

Not a traditional Halloween, but fun in its own way. I ran a 5K late yesterday afternoon. I did about what I set out to, which is good. I didn't wear a costume, but a lot of folks there did. Which means did I get to outrun Kratos, Lara Croft, and Rainbow Brite. However, I didn't outrun the dead sorority tennis players or the Hulk or the Ninja Turtle. rosepurr got her hair colored pink and a bright star painted on her cheek and greeted me with a kiss at the finish line. YAY!

After a couple of free beers from the race sponsors, we went over to campus for a viewing of "Nosferatu," the classic silent film (1922). They had a 6-piece ensemble playing live with the movie. The group apparently just does soundtracks for silent films, writing and playing and touring. They were fantastic and the music added even more creepiness to an already creepy film. I'd seen it before, but it had been many years. I'm always amazed by how well it holds up. It's still eerie and mesmerizing and the pacing is extraordinary.

Then, because I was ravenous, rosepurr and I stopped off at Red Robin on the way home. Word of advice: Red Robin is deserted late on Halloween night. Which was kind of awesome. While we had a great time out and about, we were a bit people'd out. So we shut down Red Robin with peachy drinks and a Monster Burger with turkey patties instead of beef (a small effort at eating healthier).

Today, we're busy bees. Which kind of sucks. I just want to lay around on the couch, preferably in nothing more than underpants, reading a good book between dozing spells. But there's laundry and other housework to be done, LJ Idol posts to read and vote upon, a Nanowrimo novel to begin (it would probably help if I had any ideas), and some attempts at rest before the new workweek (which is promising to be harrowing) begins.

Sigh.

‘PW’ Unveils Top Titles of 2009 :

Seven books from the Random House imprints, two from Norton and one from Penguin comprise the first-ever Top 10 list of the best adult books of the year as compiled by the review editors of PW.

Really?  Really?  It's not even November 1 yet, and I'm hit with my first "Best of" list. 

Sigh. 

I guess I should have seen this coming when I saw Christmas decorations in the stores over the summer. 

It's time.

You've waited too long.

I know you've longed for it, like a good meal, a glass of wine, a cigarette, or a vacant bathroom stall.

And, because I love you, I'm gonna give it to you.

Do you think you can handle it?

Do ya?

Really?

Okay then.

Hot library smut.

( Life is hard. )

[Posted for LJ Idol - Week 2 - Uphill, both ways, barefoot]

I don't know why Allison Moorer isn't more popular. She's a beautiful woman with a fantastic voice who makes fantastic music. Maybe it's because she's more interested in making music that appeals to her rather "finding an audience." Maybe it's because she's Steve Earle's wife and Lord knows he's burned some bridges.

Anyway, I'm listening to her latest as I write this. It's called "Mockingbird."


[Clicking on the album cover picture above will take you to Amazon.]

Except for the title song (which she wrote), it's a collection of covers of songs written by female songwriters. Things from a incredibly sexy version of "Ring of Fire" to Nina Simone's "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl" to Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." As if that weren't enough, Buddy Miller produced the record. And Steve Earle plays on it.

In short, it's awesome. And I just read she's in the studio for a new album early next year. Hooray!

Mad props to roina_arwen for finding this. I hope she won't mind me reposting.



(For the VI: A photo of a polar bear seated on a rock with his head is ducked down and one huge paw covering his eyes. The caption reads, "I'm ashamed of what I did 4 a Klondike bar.")

Hater by David Moody


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A growing epidemic of random violence sweeps across England. Society collapses as everyone wonders whether the person next to them might turn into a raging murderer, whether that person is a stranger, neighbor, friend, spouse, or even child. The Haters have superhuman strength to match their murderous rage.

At first, I had a hard time with this book because the narrator is a bit unlikeable. As the book goes on, however, that bothered me less (though it was still true). The book is a quick read and well-paced, and at times very violent and bloody (the cover is streaked with blood so what do you expect?). It will stick with you, making you ask how well you really know the person next to you.

Note: A movie is planned, as are 2 sequels.

View all my reviews >>

Here's a kind of cheesy video, designed to promote the book:

Well, this song has been in my head since I had G'n'R's Greatest Hits on the iPod to get me through my longer run.

And, today, it took me over an hour to get to work. Of course, weather probably played a factor. It's pouring today.

So while technically it's still a week away, here goes . . .

I'm a bad person, because this just made me laugh. The whole self-help angle makes it perfect.

Hyperion Postpones James Arthur Ray Books Following Sweat Lodge Deaths :

Hyperion has postponed the publication of two books by self-help author James Arthur Ray, following the author’s possible involvement in the deaths of three people and hospitalization of 21 others in a sauna-like sweat lodge at an Arizona resort last month.

Yesterday rosepurr created a Pandora station around Leonard Cohen. (We have tickets to see him in less than 2 weeks and we're very excited.)

We had no idea what Pandora would give us with Leonard Cohen as its criteria, but we shouldn't have been surprised. Every other song was one of his, interspersed with other strong songwriters like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Tom Waits.

A song came on I didn't recognize though the voice sounded very familiar. I asked who it was. rosepurr said it was Tom Waits, off an album entitled "The Early Years." (Forgive me for not recalling the song title just now.)

Then she commented that this is what he sounded like before he smoked every cigarette in the world. Twice.

I laughed a lot. rosepurr is delightful.

It's that time again where I ask for your help in LJ Idol.

If you read my entry and enjoyed it, please vote here.

I appreciate your support.

I've been busy with reference questions the past couple of days. I got one from a professor this morning that has eaten up most of the day. It's mildly interesting, but mostly a matter of pulling a lot of tedious statistics. I'll probably be working on it well into next week, too. Ah, well. Job security.

Yesterday, one of my students came by to ask for research help. The student was very thankful and cooperative and easy-to-work-with. I think I found her some good material to use.

I mention it because her topic is incest, specifically looking at some of the case law about incest.

There is no quicker way to lose heart in humanity than reading some of these cases. I know every stepfather has not raped his stepdaughter, but that's the general pattern that emerges.

Oh, well. Try not to dwell on it. Not my project. I only had to deal with it for an hour; it's not my case. Things like this are why I don't practice any more.

Thank God.

( A Flowchart of Important Decisions )
From http://lowereatside.wordpress.com/

These statistics make me sad, though I don't doubt their veracity. I have copied them from one of the many book blogs I read and had trouble verifying the source (the provided link didn't go directly to a press release or anything and I was unable to locate any more).

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.
(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)

My librarian heart breaks.

I needed to hear this today.

( ”Shithead” )
[Posted for Week 1 – LJ Idol – Empty Gestures]