*ObPlug* Lenox Avenue has updated with Issue #6. (Full disclosure: I'm a slusher/copyeditor.) Some wonderfully weird stuff. Go read! (slithytove is far more eloquent with his exhortation.)

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Only four pages yesterday. I get too distracted. On the dubiously plus side, I think it will be five years before I am inclined to watch Buffy S1 and/or S2 again, and S2 is the season I adore irrationally. *wry look*

Several chapters of Wheelock in the last few days. I'm about halfway through! Of course, then I should actually go through the Loci Antiqui and Loci Immutati (despite the intimidating number of footnotes). And after that, who knows? Resume math, resume Japanese I o' Rosetta Stone, poke at the Greek...there are options.

No tennis yesterday because Joe got himself sucked into a stupid WoW quest with party and used up the sunlight. (He had work yesterday, so.) And then three hours in they all died before reaching the end-boss or whatever. I am vindictively vindicated? */evil wench* Anyway, we must play tennis today!

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Bookroundup for the month. I plead that travel wreaks havoc on these things?

Fantasy: 4
Darrell Schweitzer's Mask of the Sorcerer is beautiful, dense, and painful; for sheer Cool Idea, the YA Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve is also fun, if occasionally overwritten.

Fiction: 2
I highly unrecommend Gillian Bradshaw's disappointing Alchemy of Fire. I do recommend Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede (abject thanks again to papersky).

Nonfiction: 6
No standouts, although Arthur Segal's City Planning in Ancient Times, despite being brief and aimed at juveniles, was informative and reasonably well-written.

Total books: 12. Yeah, I sucked this month.

Graphic novels/comics: 5
I suppose I would recommend Park's manhwa The Tarot Cafe for the artwork, although the plotting is not strong; the other things I read were light, fluffy, enjoyable, and not particularly noteworthy.

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Fooding with Yoon! Yeah, I actually made dinner after a scant lunch--well, it depends on your definition of scant, I suppose. Tofurky sausage is appallingly dense. I mean, we're talking depleted soyium here. (Joe ate much of it and is therefore not yet hungry for dinner. Heh.)

I made tuna casserole with cornbread crust, which is pretty easy. No lemons, but I tossed in some chopped asparagus. This was one of my better ideas (I wanted something green in there, y'know?), although in future I will probably toss it on top of the crust instead of in the general goopage of milk/onion/tuna/etc. where it turned mushy. Still, asparagus is asparagus, I'll go for the less mushy next time, and my tummy is happy with me. I think maybe tomorrow I shall bake a cake or something. Maybe we can buy some strawberries and I can do some kind of cockamamie cake with strawberries in.

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A useful term I picked up at VP VIII, from Geoff, was "on-the-nose dialogue"--where people say exactly what they mean, no further layers or hidden agendas. (No, no, no need to quote Lewis Carroll at me. Although I should someday dig my Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass from IABIK and reread 'em.) I think my problem right now is anti-on-the-nose dialogue. Perhaps I should dub this "inside-the-sinuses dialogue," except that's just an extremely yucky image. So, um, pick the anatomical reference of your choice, and let's move on.

I am tempted to blame Ellen Kushner and Buffy/Angel/Firefly for this, although it's probably a combination of factors beyond these as well. And really, the problem is not sparkly twisty dialogue with other symbolic layers and tricksy personal maneuvers going on. The problem is twofold, for me: (a) the execution and (b) its overabundance. Look, lots of repartee in a novel like Swordspoint (...which I will reread when I'm allowed to reread stuff again...I did start Lansdale's Zeppelin's West from the unread books pile, though, so yay me?) is appropriate. Is "fantasy of manners" a term they've used for Swordspoint? I can't remember.

I, on the other hand, would be really kind of pleased if I ended up with a fantasy of manners. (Given that anytime I set out to write something in a certain subgenre, everything goes horribly wrong. My mistake with Clockwise Shadows the putative parody was tossing in the post-apocalyptic backstory. Whoops. It sounds so obvious in retrospect?) Which Paper Knives, alas, is not; the POV who comes closest is probably the one that would be easiest to cut. (But I'm deferring that decision until I have a complete draft, dammit!)

Anyway, I think (as I've whinged before) this is partly also the influence of Korean conversational pragmatics, where you tend to talk around things and being too direct is, well, usually some form of impolite. And that's fine, too, I suppose.

But here I have characters talking in Plans Within Plans (don't say it, maric23!) Within Plans and sometimes Within More Plans for good measure. One wonders that their brains don't implode. (Granted they live in their worlds and I don't, I just oil the gears and pull the strings and jab pins into vulnerable bits.) And I'm starting to think: Can't they just have one simple no-triple-meanings conversation? I mean, wouldn't normal people (okay, even privileged mover-and-shaker people) do this once in a while?

Also, my usual way of dealing with characters talking about topics that the reader knows rather less about (in terms of historical/political context or whatever) is, if the dialogue is being clever and sly and allusive rather than direct, to have the reaction-POV narrative tease some of it out. C.J. Cherryh does this a fair amount in her FOREIGNER books, I think, which is entirely appropriate, given Bren Cameron's situation as liaison between two disparate species; and it adds to the tense creeping paranoia/second-guessing that is part of the novels' necessary atmosphere. I'm not sure I want to go so far in that direction. And also, Cherryh has extremely tight control over her POVs. That isn't going to work for me, here, now.

In any case, I now feel the desire to throw in a perfectly straightforward conversation or two. At least with the characters who remember how. (One of them is kind of a lost cause, but that's okay, because it's another pin. Mmm, pins. The chibi voodoo doll pickle jar (...I should draw more of those...) theory of writing?

Okay, this is getting quite navel-gazing even for me. Anyone want to suggest a writing topic for rambling about? Or even for sporking about? (Or you can just go read limyaael, among many others, y'know?) *wry look*

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mrissa on Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, among other things.

cofax7 has spoilery notes on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

sovay wonders about Jewish vampires.

Behold, the power of poetry: Festivals pack a lyrical punch (4/29/2005)
Something's happening here in poetry. What seemed a budding verse scene five years ago has blossomed into a remarkable flowering beyond the usual small corps of poetry devotees. Seattle is now alive with poetry festivals, series, publications. [Seattle P-I: Books]

madwriter shares puppy photos.

Serenity trailer review.

Firefly was of course Joss Whedon's western-themed science fiction show, excellent from its first episode, better on DVD, and cancelled early by the FOX network so they could show Fastlane instead. Anyone remember Fastlane? Me neither. They cancelled it, too.

Uh, by non-DVD 1st episode, do they mean "The Train Job"? I shall, ah, forebear comment to avoid the flamewar.

And another review thereof. Maybe this would be considered spoilery. I'm not bothered, but yeah.

"Hitchhiker's Guide" Thumbs Its Way to Silver Screen
Like Albert Einstein, British comic sci-fi author Douglas Adams sought a unified theory to explain the universe. Well, sort of. His answer, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, hits U.S. movie theaters today. [National Geographic News]

And keturn's unspoilery? report thereon.

Fan Fiction booms as modern folklore [Newsday.com]. Would you really classify fanfic as folklore? *mildly puzzled* Ah well. I try to avoid definitional squabbles.

Ramp Fests Add Flavor, Stench, to Appalachian Spring
Schoolkids used to be sent home for smelling like ramps, which grow wild in eastern North America. Now the onionlike herbs inspire spring celebrations. [National Geographic News]
*blink*

Also known as wild leeks, ramps are members of the same family as garlic, scallions, and onions. Poking up through leaf litter on the forest floor, their green circles of sword-shaped leaves are among the first signs of spring in the region. Once the trees turn fully green and block the sun, the ramps go away for another year.

The vegetable's taste is described as an appetizing mixture of its kin: garlicky onion. The smell is what keeps some would-be connoisseurs at bay. It's pungent and can linger for days.

The smell oozes out of the pores of sweaty folk. In years past, schoolchildren who gorged on the spring veggies were often excused from classes for several days. "You can imagine in a one-room classroom—especially with little boys getting overheated—and what that smelled like," Owens said.

*blink, blink*

Star reaches out to white dwarf
Image fleshes out theory of how stellar bodies interact. [news@nature.com]

The image shows a bridge of gas streaming from a red giant, called Mira A, towards a nearby collapsed white dwarf, called Mira B.

Researchers had a good idea that the white dwarf was probably sucking up material cast off from Mira A by its own stellar wind. But the visible bridge of material between them indicates that the white dwarf is also capable of snatching material straight out of the heart of Mira A. "The bridge shows that there's actually matter flowing from the red giant towards the red dwarf," says Margarita Karovska, who led the study and works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Purr!

Planet 'seen' around distant sun
Scientists say they have photographed a planet outside the Solar System for the first time - 200 light-years away. [BBC News]

The European Southern Observatory group said the red image is the first direct shot of a planet around another star.

The planet, known as 2M1207B, is about five times the size of Jupiter and is orbiting at a distance nearly twice as far as Neptune is from our Sun.

*swoon*

Journal prints rejected paper - as ad
Incident raises questions of editors' and publishers' corporate connections [The Scientist :: Daily News]

Two years ago, Egilman submitted an editorial to the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM) that critiqued a 2003 Dow-funded paper in Texas Medicine that said 11 cases of mesothelioma among Dow workers exposed to asbestos did not "suggest an occupational etiology"—even though mesothelioma typically strikes only 1 to 2 people per million, Egilman said.

He received an E-mail with comments from editor Paul Brandt-Rauf, who said the material was "not likely to be a high priority for the majority of JOEM readers."

Egilman told The Scientist he believed the article was rejected unfairly, and he wanted to "see what would happen" if he submitted the rejected paper as an advertisement. When he did, it was published in its entirety as a two-page ad in JOEM, along with his survey asking if readers believed this material was a "priority" to them. Egilman said he chose to publish the paper as an advertisement in JOEM, rather than get it peer reviewed at another journal, because he became more interested in finding out if the paper was interesting to JOEM readers.

Truly bizarre. And creative. I must ask Joe what he makes of this.

Online Dating Meets Cybersex
A startup combines a dating database with teledildonics in an attempt to bring joy, love and happiness to the world. Commentary by Regina Lynn. [Wired News]
*morbidly fascinated*

No training wheels needed [CNN]. *nostalgia* I miss biking. Anyway, this is a nifty funky design.

The design features a single front wheel and two slim rear wheels that are initially splayed outward to stabilize and prevent the rider from toppling over. As the rider accelerates and leans forward, the rear wheels shift inward, narrowing into a single wheel surface that essentially makes it a two-wheel venture.

There's a pic at the site. Isn't that nifty?

Hey, isquiesque and bird_voyeur, I'm sure y'all've heard of this already, but:
"Extinct" Woodpecker Flies Back from the Beyond [SciAm].

If some breeding pairs still exist, the scientists remark, conditions favoring population growth are becoming increasingly available to them, thanks to forest restoration efforts by both public and private landowners. "Just to think this bird made it into the 21st century gives me chills," comments team member Tim W. Gallagher of Cornell University. "It's like a funeral shroud has been pulled back, giving us a glimpse of a living bird, rising Lazarus-like from the grave.

Brain Scan Helps Scientists "Read" Minds [SciAm]. Yes, yes. I could have sworn I saw some variant on this image-scan thing mentioned a couple years back. It's still interesting. I wonder how far it'll go.

Strawberry Shortcake

What better way to conjure up memories of the joys of youth than strawberry shortcake? This is one of my favorite desserts, though there has been an ongoing controversy here at the house over the use of Bisquick for the biscuit mix. Strawberry shortcake consists of sliced strawberries that have been macerated, whipped cream, and a white cake or biscuit. I'm from the camp that insists that strawberry shortcake is made with a biscuit, not a cake, and preferably a biscuit from Betty Crocker's Bisquick mix. My mother won't use Bisquick any more (after decades of use) because it contains saturated fats, which we all agree are very very bad for you. She prefers to buy scones from Whole Foods and use those instead. The scone method is okay, but still isn't as good as a Bisquick biscuit. My view is a few times a year eating Bisquick biscuits won't kill you. And rumor has it that a new version of Bisquick is coming out, sans trans fats. But for future reference, and for the purists out there, I have found a recipe that looks like it may make a good substitute for the Bisquick. It's at the end of this one.

[elise.com Simply Recipes]
*hunger*

rachelmanija posts some food experiences. *hunger*
I have so got to squeeze a California visit to yuneicorn/fannishly/oyceter

em_h reviews BPAL's Bloodlust.

View from the Cube: Suit up
This week's correspondent recalls the beginning of a beautiful workplace relationship - with a suit. [BostonWorks - Weekly Articles]
It bodes not well that the prospect of purchasing and wearing such a creature fills me with trepidation.

By way of markm, Beer Makes You Clever [The Register]. *snrk*

annafdd points out Fun with Adobe Acrobat Pro:

...the bilateral commission investigating Nicola Calipari's death published two separate set of results. This is already a fairly messy situation, including mysterious satellite footage appearing and disappearing again, squabbling intelligence operatives, and a potential diplomatic crisis in the offing.

But now comes the fun part.

The American part of the commission published their results as a .pdf documents, which they put on line, but, of course, they proceeded to blank out the parts that had to be kept confidential, like the names of the soldiers manning the checkpoints and other sensitive pieces of scr... information.

How did they blank them out? They used the highlighting feature of Acrobat Professional edition.

And then forgot to protect it.

*amazed*

Terror in Ägypten: Blutige Anschläge in Kairo [Spiegel online]. German reading.

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Is it bad that I was working, albeit fuzzily, go/baduk problems in my dreams? Why do my dreams never provide clever insights on writing, only quasi-insights on swordfighting and lasers and the tactical importance of stairways and, now, go problems? Maybe I need a go icon.