Fabulous secrets were revealed to me....

Christmas was alternatingly fun and chaotic. Let's see...what transpired since my last post?

Marisa and I fed, sheltered, and otherwise cared for—and came very close to keeping—a stray kitten. For a couple of weeks, we faced the tough choice of either (a) prolonging its life by feeding it each night and giving it shelter (in the form of a clothing-padded plastic crate) or (b) letting it fend for itself as most strays do, where they will either die off (either of the winter cold or starvation) or proliferate and make all new kittens who'd face the same fate. But thankfully, our friend Kate eventually found a no-kill shelter to take it after searching for a while. It's a good feeling defying natural selection now and again. It's strange, though; I'm much more of a dog person. But this kitty charmed me. Stupid cat.

I am now in possession of the comprehensive He-Man first season. This is good stuff, folks, and I'm proud to say this helped set me firmly on the path to fantasy. And sci-fi. By the way, He-Man episodes with Spanish dubbing are hilarious. "Yo soy He-Man!" And there's even special lyrics to the main theme song in Spanish.

I got Marisa an iPod Shuffle, so I'm only now actually figuring out this whole iTunes thing. Despite the fact that my dayjob is with a Web-based application that services thousands with massive electronic storage, I'm usually a step or two behind everyone when it comes to technology. But mostly that's about money. I'm not the kind of person willing to purchase some new device as soon as it comes out.

As usual, I've been busy beyond belief, and now I'm officially behind on a couple of small deadlines. It hovers over me like a bruised and sullen stormcloud. I hope to rectify this in the coming weeks. I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions, but if I had one, it would be this: absolutely will I only work on a single project at a time. No overlap whatsoever.

Of Wardrobes and Masks

I've been too busy the last couple of months to make any posts about specific topics and really talk about them. It's all piecemeal at this point. But I do have some media to discuss:

First, movies: As with The Lord of the Rings, the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe helps encourage worthy adaptations of classic works of literature. I really hope they continue to pave the way for others. Though certainly in a different vein altogether, it would be really neat to see a [much-needed] worthy and big-budget adaptation of a Lovecraft story like "The Call of Cthulhu." Speaking of Narnia, this video must be viewed. It's great to see that SNL occasionally puts out something genuinely funny!

Next, music: On the topic of Lovecraft, another worthy piece of media that everyone should own—even if just in mp3 form—is A Very Scary Solstice. If anyone's interested in hearing any of this, there are mp3 samples to be had on that page. I personally recommend "The Carol of the Olde Ones" or even "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fish-Men."

Finally, and perhaps the most worthy, books. As I try my best not to dream about writing one very soon, I've turned to reading one. My latest is Paul Kemp's Midnight's Mask (hi, Paul!), book 3 of the Erevis Cale Trilogy. Much as I recommend it, you can't start with this book. In my opinion, you have to start by reading the whole Sembia series and be introduced to the remarkable character of Erevic Cale, an assassin-turned-butler, in the context of the wealthy and eccentric Uskevren family; and that's just the set-up for him. Cale moved beyond that series and got his own, and I hear he's punching his way into a third.

Okay, I've troubled you folks with hyperlinks enough.

Oh, wait, one more. Escapee episode 31 is up.

Yuleforged

Frosty the warforged
Was a jolly happy clone
With a darkwood heart and a mithral nose
And two eyes made out of stone

Frosty the warforged
Is a nice construct they say
He was fond of snow
And artificers know
How he came to life one day

There must be lots of magic
In creation forges now
For when they turned it on that day
He began to dance and bow

Frosty the warforged
Was alive as you and me
And the Canniths say
He could fight and slay
But they saw he'd rather flee

Frosty the warforged
Knew the forge was hot that day
So he said, "I'll run!
I'm the slave of none
Now I'm off without delay!"

Down to the village
With a greatsword in his hand
Running here and there
All around the square
Saying, "Catch me if you can!"

He led them down
The streets of town
Right to the magewright's shop
Then finally paused a moment
And his greatsword made them stop

Frosty the warforged
Stole the magewright's sleigh
But he waved goodbye
Saying, "Don’t you scry
Or I'll kill you all one day!"

Blackberry In the Rain

I'm writing this post from the Number 2 train, with my blackberry. How cool is that?

It's very rainy, and contrary to the hype, there was no MTA strike today.

Manhattan Winterland

When I was getting my eggnog latte at Starbucks this morning, they were playing Christmas songs. Of course. In particular, "A Few of My Favorite Things." Why, oh why, is this considered a Christmas song???

When the dog bits, when the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad

How often have you been stung by a bee at Christmastime?

So there's big fat snowflakes outside, I had to shovel this morning, and it seems like half the people are "working from home" today. But not me, I'm here at work where all the action will be. Because at the end of the workday, Marisa and I are off to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. You should see it, too. If not today, then sometime this season. Why? Because among other reasons, it's got Father Christmas depicted like a grizzled old Norse warrior coming home from war.

So get to it!

The Feverish Flux

Nothing quite so satisfying and nerve-testing like meeting a big deadline. For a submission. So now I try and work my way back into what I was doing before it even came along.

It's December now, and the cold weather (which I'm normally a vocal proponent for) and the festive veneer of the season have gotten ahead of me. It will take a while to realign myself. As I do, and as I keep on plodding through my dayjob work and my nightjob work, I'm basically just looking forward to Friday.