Of course its hard to say isn't it, this being The Internet and with anybody being capable of claiming to be anybody, but at the very least twas clearly something of a determined fan commenting on the short piece i wrote. Its not as if this little review of mine is exactly front page on Google after all.

http://theo1.livejournal.com/202497.html

Its (apparently) Andy Remic commenting on my Andy Remic - War Machine review.

Unfortunately (for him i suppose) i was...'less than favourable' about his work.

Still, benefit of the doubt and all that. I endeavoured to bite my tongue and instead tried to explain where i was coming from. Here's hoping Andy/Mysterious Fan gets where i am coming from. Because i'm nice. And i care. A bit.

Well, interesting in my current, headachey mass of angst over tomorrow's exam.

Did you know that as well as a major explosive, nitroglycerin can be used to treat heart disease? It's a vasodilator, much like cocaine. I never knew.

You wouldn't catch me snorting the stuff, mind you. That'd be an interesting way to blow your brains.

Too much revision, my head hurts.

Edit: Crap. Rioting in SA over migrants.

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

So after much messing around, the Potential Buyers had their inspection last Thursday, then waited until the very last minute on Sunday to turn over their list of demands.

( What the Potential Buyers want.... )

( Moving and house progress. )

Mom and I went to see Prince Caspian yesterday. I went into this movie wanting to like it and FWIW, it did not disappoint me. I paid full price, and didn't regret it. :)

This was a surprisingly gritty movie, which would seem hard to pull off in a movie with dwarves and talking badgers and swordfighting mice. It's a war movie, and there's avarice and imperialism and political backstabbing and intrigue. I liked that none of this was dumbed down. Part of me thinks they should have gone with the PG-13 rating--this is a firmly a YA movie. Violence, angst, coming of age. This movie probably gave the marketing people fits.

Like the book, there's a message about how you can push all the magic out of the world, to the point where it (magic/fairies/God) becomes just a legend or fairy tale. Other than 'choose good/selflessness over evil/selfISHness' the only remaining really Christian message is that Aslan/Christ is always hanging around, but you have to look for him. I'm not so much of a Lewis purist that this bothered me, but from a story/craft standpoint, Aslan's (physical) absence from much of the movie made him a bit of a Deus ex machina (heh, see what I did there?) when it comes down to it.

That said, I though the there were some excellent story and character moments. I've always loved Peter, and I think both the first movie and this one do a good job of giving him real world basis for some of his awesome actions in the world of Narnia. (The blitz translating into the gryphons dropping rocks like bombs, for example.) Lots of arrogance (Peter), lots of angst (Caspian), lots of glowering (both boys). This appealed greatly to my inner sixteen year old. And then there was swords and fighting and stuff, which was awesome.

Everyone got to kick butt in this movie, including Susan, which I loved. She didn't turn into a sword swinging Amazon, but she made the best use of her magical bow and arrow. There's a kind of half-assed romantic subplot, which I thought they should have committed to, or dropped completely. Apparently (according to an interview with the actress) most of this arc ended up on the cutting room floor. I'm not sure I would have liked it if they kept it in (though I do love a little romance mixed with my orc-slaying), but I definitely didn't like them HALF keeping it in.

Caspian has things you could pick apart, but on the whole, I thought it hung together very well. It's getting jabs at being derivative of LOTR, but I don't think that's fair. In the same way that every book with a young, sassy heroine who fights the supernatural (ahem, PDFH, ahem) gets compared to Buffy, anything with a big, epic fantasy battle is going to get compared to LOTR. It's inevitable. Sieges, cavalry clashes, and big sword battles didn't originate with Peter Jackson.

It looked gorgeous, it held my attention, and I enjoyed the story very much. I wasn't awestruck, but I was definitely entertained.

Seen on padfoot_uk.

RTD is stepping down and Steven Moffat is taking the helm of the good ship Doctor Who. He's been responsible for some of my favourite episodes and I take it from Sarah's elation this is a very good thing indeed. BBC News.

I know a few on my friends list didn't like The Unicorn and the Wasp very much. Crys and I both enjoyed it but then we are both fans of classic murder mystery and this while not as outlandish as Murder by Death was enjoying itself tremendously playing with the murder mystery genre.

Bye-bye Russell T. Davies.

HELLO STEVEN MOFFAT!

*worships at the Shrine of Moffat*

Here.

Riffing off what jennifer_dunne said in comments to my dreams....

Shortly after college I was working in a office with a woman who I'd call mundane as dirt. She was the type of person that never read, went home at 5 every day, watched tv until 9, and was in bed by 9:30. I'll call her Cindy.

One day I came into work saying "Boy, I had a weird dream last night."

"Me too!" cried Cindy. "I dreamed that my little dog Fifi got lost. We went looking for him and found him in one of the neighbor's yard. I called him and he ran over and got into the car. Then ...as we were driving home...WE SAW ANOTHER FIFI!!! And for some reason, I called 'Fifi, Fifi' and this second Fifi ran over and jumped in the car too! And we had TWO Fifis!!! Isn't that odd!"

I blinked for a moment and then said. "I was Martin Short and my best friends were Steven Martin and Chevy Chase. There was this mad scientist turning people into zombies by putting something into Poppi's Chicken, and I'd been one of them. Every now and then, parts of my body would fall off, but I could stick them back on if I picked them fast and held them TIGHTLY in place...."

We never again tried to see who had the strangest dream.

Mainly because it has a vintage silver tenor saxophone here in Bristol just looking expectantly at me. I can't afford a £500 outage! I have an instrument I really need to dedicate my time to once I'm out of this degree already! Damn you, you beautiful bit of kit. I know we'd make gorgeous sound together but its just not meant to be.

(honestly, when you're a short, weedy twelve-year-old lugging a tenor saxophone in an old-fashioned case up Harford Hill in Ivybridge, you speak to your instrument - mainly so that you can swear at it.)

And, I think I need a new icon. No, not to replace this one - to replace my music one.

Today my little girl is 2 weeks old exactly and she decided to celebrate this by keeping her mum up all night again. I thought it was suspiciously good of her to fall asleep ahead of her usual schedule and so deeply asleep that she was transferred up to her cot a full hour before we went up.

I enjoyed that time to myself, I have to admit, but I bloody well paid for it.

Essentially she slept until just short of 1 am, when she woke on schedule for her feed after I'd had an hour or so to sleep after going to bed. Unfortunately instead of feed, nappy, feed, sleep, she was both absolutely ravenous and absolutely full of wee. Instead of falling asleep properly she was just dozing for perhaps half an hour at the longest before waking and howling for either feed or a dry nappy. Doing this I am sure added a certain quotient of overtired to her woes.

We existed in this state until about 5 am, when I got up and brought her downstairs. When I'm exhausted I don't function well in the bedroom, all I can comprehend is my pillow *just there* rather than being able to really focus on anything.

About half an hour after that I managed to get her settled and she slept right through for three hours. I dozed for two of those hours.

At half seven or so roadworks began outside the house.

Weep.

Still. On the bright side.

The midwife came yesterday and was happy enough with our progress to discharge us from their care, although officially they are required to provide cover for 28 days after the birth, so I can still call them if I need to. Little Bear now weighs 4.01 kg, and on poking my tummy to see whether my uterus was contracting back to normal she was pleased to find that she couldn't palpate it at all, which means it has contracted back to sit in my pelvis as it normally should do. This is all good news.

This morning the health visitor came for the first time, lots of paperwork. She will be coming back in 2 weeks time unless I have need of a home visit before then. She too was pleased with baby and has no concerns.

Little Bear is now asleep again, giving me a little time to get on with other stuff. The next nappy load is in the wash, clean nappies have been prefolded and I have now washed my hair, which always makes me feel better. If my hair is grubby then I'm either very ill or slightly depressed, I like to keep it clean.

So now, off to make the most of my spare time before Little Miss gets hungry again...

I was wondering, how many people have dreams where they are not themselves? Is this normal? Is it something that comes from being a writer.

Last night was actually a typical dream for me.

I was this Captain of a major police force, a blend of the guy from Hill Street Blues and James Bond played by Pierce Bronsan. He was trying to balance career and his blossoming love affair with a lithe blond woman. His men had managed to get one step ahead of a criminal mastermind and captured a key piece of equipment that the bad guys to commit the ultimate crime. His department had gotten a tip that they were about to be attacked and one of his underlings had scrambled the entire station to gear up in this bulky bulletproof SWAT equipment. As my hero walked through his station, he realized that the tip actually came from the mastermind -- with all the bulky equipment on, it was impossible to tell one person from another. They were about to be infiltrated by bad guys in SWAT equipment. So hero starts grabbing people and saying "get into dress blues and flak jackets," knowing that the bad guys won't have dress blues.

Then there was this major POV change. The hero's love interest was basically stuck in the offices with nothing to do but wait out the attack. She was being babysat by a female cop who had the POV. Unknown to the captain or the love interest, the female cop was gay and in love with the woman too. They chat about the upcoming attack and they pull out magazines -- WOMAN'S DAY and BETTER HOME AND GARDENS (please don't hurt me I don't like these magazines either) -- and start to read. At one point they both flip to pictures featuring big, lush chocolate cake.

This is where I do think my brain is being clever. In one writing forum I hang out on, its a no-no to talk about sex, so people use the word "cake" to mean sex and "cupcake" to mean masturbation. (lol, livejournal spellchecker didn't acknowledge the word I was trying to spell ..) The two women launch into a discussion about how they want cake and would settle for cupcake but its not as good as cake.

At this point, Wen the writer POV kicks in and screams. WHY ARE THE TWO WOMEN JUST SITTING AND READING MAGAZINES??? How lame!!!! How sexually offensive! These women should be carrying guns and be active in the upcoming defense of the police station!

And I wake up.

So three POVs in the course of this dream. Two totally not me and one me as a writer critiquing the action of the dream. How typical is this? Is it a result of a writer's brain to create stories where they're not the heroes? Am I the only one that does that?

I am remarkably pleased at how quickly things have been set up with the new computers. I envisioned days and days of sorting things out and here less than 24 hours later pretty much everything is up and running and nicely networked. Crys' old computer now is living downstairs using the TV screen as a super-huge monitor. Obviously a lot is down to Crys' skills though I do think that it is easier these days to network computers and the fast download speeds meant that programmes such as Winamp took hardly any time to re-install.

My one concern was about the location of our MS Office CDs. While the machine comes with MS Works but I am unsure how compatible that is with my old documents. Happily while I was prompted to update my Java there was a notice about OpenOffice.org, which is an open source software initiative offering similar items to Word and Excel. What attracted me was that it said that the OpenOffice programmes can open existing MS documents. Anyway, installed the suite and indeed it does do the job on my old documents. I don't need particularly fancy bells and whistles for either, simple text and spreadsheets.

I finished my stint with thedailybook featuring Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost and Tom Robbin's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

My own reading is going well. I finished The Island and have about 100 pages of A Thousand Splendid Suns to go, which is a breeze. Tonight is the Borders' reading group and must remember to get there early enough to get a good position so I don't feel so left out of the chat.

The invisible bike LOLcat has been transformed into a mural by a San Francisco artist. Naturally the folk also put it on a popular lolcat site.

( It's quite large! )

Oh some good news for those using Facebook - they are changing the design to de-clutter it.

Something to please Crys - researchers are using Second Life to train an AI to think.

Now back to bed.

TV: If it should turn out that the first episode of Bones' next season is an 'It was all a dream' episode, I will actually be quite happy.

*sobs*

Same goes for next season's premiere episodes of House and CSI: Miami.

They were all excellent episodes, though.

After having watched the last fourty minutes of Dispatches tonight, on the involvement of Christian Fundamentalists in UK Politics (specifically the vote on embryonic research) I'd just like to say that I think that Andrea Williams is both an incredibly dangerous woman and worse, an embarassment to my potential profession. As a barrister the fact that she could not even reasonably argue her own beliefs was astounding and the fact that she's working with politicians on movements like the ban is deeply, deeply disturbing.

(Honestly, woman. If you're going to profess that Islam is false, at least back it up by saying that a false religion is a bad thing because it promotes division. If you're going to say the world is 4000 years old, at least try and justify fossils as part of Gods plan to confuse the unfaithful. And if you're going to argue against allowing 24 week abortions at least understand the scientific or psychological reasons why you want to reduce it, so far you're only arguing from a single, abberant interpretation of an out of date authority here. Disgrace to anybody calling themselves a lawyer.)

Anyway, the vote passed. I hope the regulation of research is rigorous enough.

One bit of the Bill I'm interested to see voted on is the role of fathers in IVF. I'm hopeful actually that by widening the interpretation of good parenting to accept that it does not necessarily require a father would emphasise the examination of any family support, father or not.

Snagged from padfoot_uk.

Link: The Which Imaginary World Fits You Test written by Azurain on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(Azurain)

Pinched from flickums

Link: The Which Imaginary World Fits You Test written by Azurain on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(Azurain)

( Meme - Transmetropolitan, apparently. )

I had to look it up on Wikipedia. Looks bloody brilliant.

In other news, I have achey eyes. Wonderful.

Crys has been brilliant spending most of the day setting up the new computers; networking them and moving things about.

I've also been busy downloading and installing various programmes, configuring bits & pieces like email and log-ins for semagic and journals.

( He knows their names and the day they will die. )
Final marks out of ten: 5 out of 10. This is a first novel so I'm going to cut the author a bit of slack. Points are deducted for: unnecessary romance/shagging, too much expose in the early part meaning the red herring of the Wrong Guy on the Run doesn't work, far too much detail in the minutae (I don't care if he eats muesli or weetabix if it doesn't matter in plot terms) and story threads that simply don't go anywhere (the egotistical ex-boss).

Final comment: An easy read without too much complexity in the plot, perfectly readable but not one to go on my 'to keep' shelf.

This is a link to information about the Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier software that is available from AT&T for cellphone users who have low vision. It is compatible with Mobile Windows.

This could be helpful for relatives who have macular degeneration or other eye problems causing low vision.

( The cha-cha-cha with a twist. )
Final marks out of ten: 7 out of 10. Points are deducted for some vagueness in storytelling, a little less cohesion between the various threads than could have existed and a bit of a hurried wrap up at the end.

Final comment: Another adequate read, a lot better than The Bloody Red Baron but still a lot less than Anno Dracula.

My main job today is tidying my study for the arrival of my new computer!!!! I won't call it shiny as it probably will be matte black.

Mainly this means the second desk I have. I've decided not to move stuff over except for frequently used documents but to invest in a Belkin Switch 2 so I can access the data stored on my Compaq when needed. It isn't that I need it often but I am a bit of a pack rat when it comes to such things and I have plenty of space in my study for them both.

Of course, there will the usual scrabble to find the box with my original software discs for re-installation. Fun activity and one I'm glad only has to be undertaken every 4 years or so.

Edit: They arrived promptly at 9am; I've got my study in order and mine is shiny as it is silver.

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

So now I'm re-reading Prince Caspian. I'd meant to re-read it before seeing the movie, but now I'm glad I didn't; I would have been going "Wait, that's not in the books" for quite a bit of it.

And I'm showing off my Edmund icon. I always liked Edmund in the books, and he's quite fantastic in the movies so far. Assuming they make Dawntreader, he'll be there too, yay.

I can't stop raving about Prince Caspian: It was perfect, and I loved it.

I love being a mum.

Even with the poo and the broken sleep and the cold cups of tea and interrupted meals and extra laundry and milk spit-up on my clothes.

Even with.

Book 55: Skin Privilege (Grant County Book 6) - US Title: Beyond Reach.
Author: Karin Slaughter, 2007.
Genre: Crime Thriller.
Other details: Large Print Edition. 554 pages.

It was a blog entry of Tess Gerritsen's responding to a diatribe on DearAuthor.com about this book that pointed me in the direction of Karin Slaughter's writing. Therefore, I began reading the series with the foreknowledge that the final one had upset many of Slaughter's long time fans. Finishing the book early this morning, I finally went to look up what the Dear Author blogger had written and it certainly was a white hot rant.

The story itself is quite focused on Detective Lena Adams, who has travelled to her birthplace of Reece, Georgia following a call from a concerned neighbour about her uncle's health. Hank was the one who raised Lena and her twin sister following the deaths of their parents though his struggles with meth addiction made him a very unstable influence in their lives. The reader knows from the prologue and opening chapter that Lena has gotten herself in deep trouble as she has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a woman who was incinerated alive in a car.

As usual with Slaughter we aren't in pleasant territory and she doesn't spare the details of this murder and other grisly happenings. Jeffrey Tolliver, the chief of police for Grant County, is called by the local sheriff once it is realised that Lena is one of his detectives. Sara, his wife and the local paediatrician/coroner, is no fan of Lena's but insists on accompanying him on the journey to find out what has happened. Once there they discover that the town hides a violent underground world focused on skinhead culture and the production of meth. It isn't long before their lives are in jeopardy.

Having now read all the Grant County books I felt Slaughter excelled herself here in terms of both plot and pacing. She splits the story between what is happening in the present and the recent past tracking Lena's movements leading to her arrest and after. The two plot lines finally come together in a nail-biting conclusion that had me both wanting to know what happens next and hardly daring to turn the page. I am not sure why the title was changed for the USA, though I suspect it is because the title 'Skin Privilege', which relates to the white supremacist movement, might have been considered too controversial by her publishers there.

Slaughter hasn't lost me as a reader over this book no matter how stunned I felt when I finished it. I also have to acknowledge that although I have disliked Lena Adams throughout the previous five novels, that here she was presented in a way that caused me to re-evaluate my former responses and yes, care about her.

Cross-posted to 50bookchallenge.

Cinemark's Friday Night Rewind for June will be Star Trek: Wrath of Khan.

I don't think I can miss this. Even if I do have to work the next morning.

Well, the internets continue to work. Apparently Verizon doesn't know what it's doing in our favor.

Yesterday I had to work and so missed the niece's graduation from college. I did, however, get the quote from the Guest Speaker, George H. W. Bush texted to me by madraxus: "Be a true friend in good times and in bed...bad."

I worked, and then dropped into WEBS to get some yarn for my Star Trek swap on sale, and breezed through the Tent Sale and was very good -- I only bought what I went in for, despite SEVERAL tempting lace yarns. I'm feeling the need to do a lace project again. Then I went to Michael's, bought the rest of the craft stuff I need, and then to Stop and Shop for some groceries, and then home. And I did my laundry.

When everyone got back from the graduation ceremony, I got to join them and we went to see Prince Caspian (OMG rocked so much!!) and then appetizers and dessert at Applebee's.

Today's plans include lunch, getting a kitten (hopefully!), and madraxus' laundry, and hopefully alcarnor will come up to visit to make my printer work again with the computer and watch Star Trek Enterprise.