Leah

I'm finally back in Atlanta. It's nice to be in my own place with all my own stuff, though I already miss my family. (Hi, Sis!) Loved being able to experience a white Christmas for the first time, especially playing with my nephew in the snow. Yesterday we went to see The Princess and the Frog, which was quite a darling movie. The flight home was uneventful -- the only evidence of any new security measures at DFW was that I was chosen for a pat-down after going through the metal detector. I asked the TSA agent if this was a random thing or if I should expect it from now on; several years ago, my name was flagged and I had to go through the secondary check every time I flew. But she said it was just a random thing because I happened to be wearing a bulky sweater (even though I wouldn't consider it very bulky.) Both DFW and ATL were fairly empty, which was a surprise during the holidays. Then again, I guess that's because I was flying on Monday afternoon. And now here I am, though for some reason I'm feeling rather twitchy tonight.

Not much else to tell, but I do have a ton of links to clear out of my bookmarks and Google Reader....
-- I laughed at this parody of those GAP ads with the little girls.
-- Several from the NYT: why do people shoplift books?, the glories of marching bands (I played bass clarinet for three years), and a fun essay by Mindy Kaling about imaginary families.
-- AdWeek lists the 30 freakiest commercials of 2009, and Salon has the best viral video of the decade.
-- Sepinwall has a long non-spoilery interview with David Tennant, and Vanity Fair interviews the rather kickass Rashida Jones.
-- Check out a wacky video of an octopus snatching a coconut.
-- I'm a few weeks late with this one, but Jason Segel wants female fans to call him for a good time.
-- Another oldie-but-goodie: the English to TXT-speak Translator.
-- Broadsheet wonders when we started sounding just like our mothers. God, I use so many of her phrases that drove me crazy as a kid.
-- Boston.com has a very cool picspam of 2009 in photography.
-- Celebrity Baby Names Blog awards the top celeb baby names of the year. I hope Bandit isn't a hint of things to come.
-- Miller-McCune discusses the end of handwriting.
-- Oddee offers ten cool stories - or cautionary tales - of when Facebook and real life overlap.
-- And since I'm going retro tonight, I can't resist another viewing of Alec Baldwin's Schweddy Balls.

So, Seth Godin posted a blog that declared that bookstores were dead. And 2009 sales proved it. Entry here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Er, Seth? Wither cometh the proof? I see no stats, other than the generic "the typical American buys one book a year for pleasure" statement.

For clarification, here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about the year's bookstore results on 12/14/09:

Despite the severe recession, bookstore sales through the first nine months of 2009 are down by less than 1%, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales, which include results from college bookstores, were $13.56 billion through October, off just 0.7% from the same period in 2008. Bookstores have fared better than the overall retail market, which was down 8.2% in the nine-month period. Sales have generally been better in the second half of 2009, when comparisons with 2008 are easier as the recession deepened. In October, bookstore sales were a bit disappointing, falling 0.9%, to $1.03 billion, after posting a 7% increase in September and a slight gain in August.

Hmmm. So ... OTHER stores fell 8.2%, but bookstores were down by less an an overall 1%. Yet *bookstores* are dead.

Someone's facts are a little wonky here, and I don't think it's PW's.

For reference, check out the Zogby poll done for Random House in 2008:
http://www.zogby.com/random%20house%20final%20report.pdf

Not a huge sample size, but the statistics are certainly still trending heavily in favor of print vs. electronic delivery, and although about 50% of the respondents bought "10 or fewer books a year," that's still a far cry from "one."

Periodically, someone will declare the sky is falling, books are dead, and the New Hot Tech will inherit the earth.

I think this could be one of those times. And now I shall go buy a book.

-- Rachel

The Sound of Music is on ABC right now! Whee! (Though I've missed the good parts, alas.) ETA: My mother has just implored me to never again attempt to sing; however, she admits that even *I* sing better than Liesl.

Our very rare and treasured White(!) Christmas came and went. Overall, a fairly good one, aside from some unpleasantness that involved a Swiffer and rubber gloves. To commemorate the day, here are two low-quality iPhone pics: ( The ham loaf, and a dog in a Snuggie. )

My sister gave me a copy of Catching Fire -- the sequel to The Hunger Games -- without realizing that I've had one since September. She got it at a Scholastic Book Fair and can't return it. So, anyone interested in it for, say, $10 plus book rate postage? (Or best offer.)

And finally, a poll. I am very much pro-giftwrap. I avoid giftbags unless I simply cannot wrap a present, because they seem like such a lazy way to do it. Plus, I'm enough of a purist to prefer ripping the paper off of something. OTOH, bags are reusable, and many people swear by them as looking more festive than a sloppy attempt at paper-wrapping. Where do you stand?
Poll #1503462
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 52

For optimum present concealment, I use

So, I'm now in D/FW (technically the midcities), and everyone's freaking out that IT IS SNOWING OMG. Hell, it's a top trending topic on Twitter. It's coming down fairly hard and actually starting to stick a bit. I must say that it's rather cool to have a White Christmas (Eve) for the first time that I can remember!

Yesterday's travel went fine. Did not oversleep as usual. No traffic whatsoever going through downtown to Hartsfield, and the airport itself was damn near empty two days before Christmas -- which is a bit alarming for the world's busiest airport on the 23rd. My suitcase was only 41lbs. No problems on the flight, aside from the selfish woman who demanded I remove my small laptop bag from the overhead bin so she could stow a 20" rolling bag AND a large carry-on satchel -- her purse was staying in the seat. I won that argument.

I have plenty more to say, along with catching up on comments, plus a ton of bookmarks that need to be moved into a linkspam. But right now I'm yawning and will either take a nap or go play in the snow with my nephew. Happy Christmas Eve to all who celebrate!

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

It seems like there is so much so many people are suffering this year, I thought I'd do a post about the things I'm happy about or grateful for: ( Behind the cut )

Time for the saga of my Christmas knitting. ( In which a sweater goes from Large to XXXL to Small in just a few hours. )

I leave for Texas in the morning, so I've been cleaning and packing. The most frustrating thing about packing is not knowing whether or not your suitcase will exceed the weight limits. American's limit is 50lbs; last year my suitcase was 49.6lbs. No scale at home, so I have no way of knowing whether or not I'm safe. This means frustrations like leaving one of my winter coats at home along with other things I'd rather have with me. And packing also means hiding my suitcase from my cat, who sees it and immediately hides under the bed -- which is a problem because I prefer to keep my door shut while my neighbor is checking on the cat. Sigh.

I was going to say more, but I really need to be packing. So, I'll see everyone on the other side!

Work "upgraded" me to Office 2007.

I won't say I hate it. But I do hate that after 15 years of using MS Word as my word processor of choice, I now have to relearn where the heck everything is. Ugh. It's really disruptive to me that if I want to format this paragraph, look up this word, spellcheck that one, or do pretty much anything else, I have to actually stop and think about it. Talk about disrupting the flow when I'm writing.

*is grumpy*

I made it to the end! Credit for this ficlet idea goes to Indi, who is marvelous at coming up with inspiration. And a million thank-yous to everyone who has been reading for the past twelve days!

12 Drummers Drumming
For elly427 and elzed, who love a bit of a Pilot tease. :)

( She reaches over and slaps the snooze button, all without opening her eyes. Ten more minutes. )

Only one more to go! After months of writer's block and me running out of ideas over the past couple of days, I think I'm actually going to be sad when I post the last one tomorrow night! But it's been a fun ride, and I'm just pleased to be writing so easily -- nearly 7,000 words in ten days.

An angsty character study this time, but I promise the last one will be more cheerful. ;)

11 Pipers Piping
For wickedgillie and rayruz, who love Kara angst almost as much as I do.

( The first time she understood guilt was when she was five. )

Let's just pretend like I posted this one last night, okay? Thanks!

10 Lords A'Leaping
For queenofthorns, who loves the mythology and "Home".

( And then it began to snow. )

Last week I watched with Bethany a movie called, THE NATIVITY STORY. I thought it was excellent. And Bethany really enjoyed it too. I also really enjoyed how Bethany would ask very intelligent questions during the movie, so I'd pause it and clarify areas for her.

The movie ended with the birth of Jesus and their flight to Egypt.

I asked Bethany, "Do you know what happened to Jesus when he became an adult?"

And she replied, "I know he gets a new fancy white robe!"

Gorgeous (as ever)! And adorable and wonderful! And...

...............waitasec...

OH HOLY CRAP THAT'S NOT GOOD.








dammit CLAMP, you've done such a great job so far, you better do this story justice

Well. I am officially halfway through the school year. Overall, it's been a fairly good one -- certainly better than last year. The past week was quite a challenge, though. The next time someone jokes/snarks about how many vacations teachers get, I'll challenge them to spend the week before winter break with a hundred and fifty 11-12 year olds. (And while I'm being kinda bitchy, I get bristly when people tell me, "You're a middle school teacher? They couldn't pay me enough to do that!" It makes teaching -- a career for which I have a Master's degree and tons of experience -- sound rather repulsive and beneath them. I know they mean well and are expressing admiration, but I wish they'd phrase it another way!)

My hands are sore because I've spent so much time knitting in the past few days. With a bit of luck, I should have all my projects finished by the time I fly to Texas on Wednesday. Knock on wood! While knitting, I've been listening to the "Holiday Pop" station on Comcast's music selection to get me into the Christmas mood. It isn't helping much. Most of the holiday-themed music out there is pretty awful. And for some reason they threw in "Hold on to the Night" by Richard Marx, which totally took me back to 8th grade and begging to go to his concert at Six Flags Music Mill Amphitheater. Ah, the (cringeworthy) memories!

Just read an article about how charity donations tend to double in the last week of the year vs. the previous fifty-one weeks. Gotta love folks going for the tax deduction, though at least they're giving something! I really like This American Life's new fundraiser: you send a text message to a certain number, and $5 is added to your cellphone bill. So easy! And tacking it onto a bill you're already paying is perfect for someone as profoundly lazy as me.

This afternoon I watched Galaxy Quest on the local NBC affiliate for the first time since it came out. Such a cute little movie. Why has nobody written crossover RPF in which Jamie Bamber, for instance, finds himself in spaaaaaaace?

I also watched last week's episode of Legend of the Seeker; for some reason, the local affiliate is showing them a week late. Huh. Must track down the new ep. That show is so bad that it must actually be really good and I'm just oblivious to its merits. Also, I want to applaud the show for having two strong female leads (Kahlan and Cara), yet it loses points by showing tits and ass whenever possible. It's hard to wave my feminism banner when most of the women on the show are dressed in such skimpy outfits. Alas.

Anyway. Off to knit some more. (And the 12 Days entry might be late this time, thanks to me having no ideas whatsoever. Eh, when I finish, I'll just backdate the post. ;)

 I'm sure my new icon gives away some of my feelings about the movie. My non-spoilery thoughts tonight:

~ Was it pretty?   If it doesn't win an Oscar for best special effects, it will be an absolute crime.

~ But I've heard some people say that the pretty is really all it has going for it.  Sorry, but I do disagree.  Was the story a familiar one?  Yes.  But so is every romance novel, every epic fantasy novel, every hero's journey.  I happen to enjoy this particular story when it's done well.  I love Dances with Wolves, and yes, I admit I enjoyed The Last Samurai.  I enjoyed the heck out of this movie, too.

~ Zoe Saldana was undeniably awesome as Neytiri.  And I'm going to say it: I thought Sam Worthington was pretty freaking awesome, too.  I totally believed his story arc as Jake, and I thought he did a great job with it, both emotionally and physically.  They played off one another very well, and totally sold me.  You give me great characters, and I'll buy into their story.  The actors here took a  story that could very easily have stumbled into yawn territory, and totally invested me in it, in them.  And let's face it - doing that while spending the entire movie as a digital character is a freaking accomplishment.

~ The villain could have used some three dimensionality.  And I really could have done without the couple of preachy/politically motivated lines that broke me out of the story.  ( cut for very minor spoilers - VERY minor )But really, it could have been a lot worse.  Cameron could have hammered us over the head again and again with the message of the movie, but for the most part, he let the story and the pretty just lay it out there, which I vastly prefer to repeated hammer blows.  Really, it's obvious anyway, and the audience is generally a lot more clever than filmmakers often give us credit for.  99 times out of 100, we don't need to be struck over the head repeatedly to "get it".

~ But other than the very minor quibble, Avatar is probably my favorite movie this year.  It is certainly in the top five, and it's without question the prettiest! :)  My theater broke out into spontaneous applause when the credits rolled, and was sold out at a show that had two other theaters showing the movie at the exact same time.  When we walked out, the line for the next showings was out the theater doors.  
( Now for a couple of spoilery notes I can't not talk about. )

Before I get to the recs: a moment to celebrate the return of Odessa Castle (formerly bishink)'s Advent Calendar! I was really bummed when it looked like the old site was gone for good, and there was no way of knowing whether the multi-fandom advent calendar tradition would continue with the new one. Not only is it back, but this year's calendar is just as chock-full of goodies as always: recipes, mp3s, oneshot fics, and more. (Day 12 is my favorite so far.)

The Knack and How to Get It by penelope_z. Weiss Kreuz crackfic, probably R-rated. Ish. It's my favorite kind of Weiss humor, completely off the wall and borderline meta. Crawford has a vision: Schuldig has to 'seduce' a member of Weiss within the week or Schwartz will all meet a grisly end. You'd think this wouldn't be so hard for a telepath to orchestrate. Oh, how I laughed.

Do Not Go Gentle... by alleyprowler. Gundam Wing, post-series, currently Quatre-centric. Author's summary: In AC 208, it is discovered that the Alliance experimented with more than mobile dolls and machines of war. A mystery, with Quatre and Heero investigating.

...There are Maguanacs. Seriously, that alone would make this fic an instant hit with me, but it also happens to be incredibly well-plotted. It's ongoing and updated slowly, but I really hope the author keeps up with it, because I want to know how it ends! It's creepy, suspenseful and full of great characterisation and interesting little details.

Right, that takes care of what I've saved up over the last couple of weeks... back to work with me. Or off to bed, rather. I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season; I'm looking forward to next week, when I will be able to turn into a couch potato and watch Christmas-themed movies for three days straight. :)

ETA: Oh no wait! Neil Gaiman posted this entry, which contains a... video blog entry? by Amanda Palmer. And it totally, amazingly, wonderfully, happily made my effing WEEK. (As things Neil posts tend to do. But this. Oh, just go watch it.)

I'm finally on winter break (yay!), and a day of tween-wrangling has left me exhausted. So I'm going to post this now, and after a very long nap I'll catch up with LJ stuff and try to do a non-fic post. ;) For this one, I decided to bring back Baby Jack from several drabbles I wrote months ago; I'll try to update this later tonight with links. If you haven't read them, they feature Lee as a single father after Kara's sudden death. And much love to Indi for her (typical) stroke of brilliance in helping me come up with an idea for this!

9 Ladies Dancing
For latteaddict, who requested another Jack ficlet way back when, and who loves Pilots as parents.

( Lee heard the familiar wails from two corridors over. )

Vanished Persian army found in desert

....Whoa. (Although the mention of the 'beautiful sword' that was sold to tourists kind of broke my heart.)

And this: Ancient Amazon civilisation laid bare by felled forest

Not that cutting down all those trees was a good thing, but. That's pretty incredible.

A disclaimer: this one has almost nothing to do with maids, but hey. Trying to make them all fit is a nearly impossible task! And, as usual, all the stories thus far are here.

8 Maids A'Milking
For daybreak777, because this feels like the kind of story she would enjoy!

( When Kara Thrace was born, her mother stared at the newborn and said, 'Well.' )

Note to f-list: if you post fairly frequently and don't have a paid account, I sent you one of my allotted $10 off coupons LJ is letting permanent account holders send to friends. Use it or don't, I just figured I might as well send them out! :)

If you haven't received one and want one, please let me know! I have like five left, I think.

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb. #

My friend and colleague Wood Ingham wrote the most amazing Christmas poem, one of the best things I've read all year, something I've read over and over, and something that has sent me down giant rabbit holes the likes of which I have not experienced in probably two years (and inspired this tweet). Seriously, go read it.

For music: We Three Kings of Orient Are by Sufjan Stevens.

image by Kevin Tyson of the Garabedian House Christmas Display

October 21-25, 2009

We ate delicious pizza at Geraci's Restaurant, 2266 Warrensville Center Road, Cleveland OH 44118-3130; a tasty and inexpensive breakfast at Jack's Deli and Restaurant, 14490 Cedar Rd., University Heights OH 44121; and dined on locally-raised foods at The Greenhouse Tavern, 2038 E. 4th St., Cleveland OH 44115. We also sampled fruits, cheeses, and pastries for sale at the Westside Market. On our last morning we ate at a terrific breakfast/brunch at the Inn on Coventry, 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd, Cleveland OH 44106. We all tried a different type of pancake (mine were lemon ricotta) and sampled each other's. The only problem with the Inn was the rude hostess. On our last night we visited Claddagh Irish Pub which, despite being part of a chain (albeit a small one), was cozy and served tasty food. I really enjoyed the Guinness 250 which was on tap (in honor of Guinness Brewery's 250th anniversary), even better than I enjoy classic Guinness; I've since looked for it in the Irish pubs in our home area and unfortunately it's nowhere to be found. Too bad!