lagilman: coffee or die (Default)
[personal profile] lagilman
How cold is it outside? 17 degrees at 7:30am. A man standing in Smoker's Purgatory last night was overheard yelling into the skies "At least, damn it, send snow!" It's cold, yeah. With a bitter, bitter wind. I'm staying home today.

in vague order of importance..

1. Three more stories are up at Anthology Builder:
- "Site 14." An alternative look at our future past, if we'd gone 'down' into space, rather than 'up.'
- "Harvey & Fifth." written before 9/11, a story about the ghosts of tragedy, and how we live with them. The title comes from a street corner in Oklahoma City.
- "Blow Job Red." -- Yes, I wrote a hookers-in-space story. But the further out you travel, the more familiar things get....

2. Spent Sunday afternoon visiting a museum I didn't even know existed: the Neue Galerie for German and Austrian Arts. It's small but lovely (and OMG the cafe!) but of especial note is the temporary exhibit of the drawings of Alfred Kubin. The brochures ends with the line "He transforms neurotic terror into aesthetic achievement," and while brochures are mostly marketing hyperbole, in this case it's a fair assessment. If you're in NYC, it's worth an hour out of your day to check it out.

3. And then from high culture to cultured cheese.... "The Librarian 3" was good fun, if not quite cracktastic. But oh my... "Leverage?" May be my new addiction. Cracktastic caper cheese that's oh so very pretty without being plastic (yeah, the plot holes are swiss, but the taste is finestkind stilton).

4. and while we're talking cheese: For Harlequin's 60th anniversary, they've put together a calendar of "vintage covers" with titles like "Love me and Die!" and "I'll Bury my Dead." Pulp noir romance. Gotta love it! (seriously, these covers would have worked for any Mickey Spillane novel, too). And then there's the classic "Island Hospital" (nurse romances, oldie but goody) and "Nine to Five: the private affairs of not-too-private secretaries." It's nice to know, no matter how highbrow any genre tries to get, we all go back to very very pulpy roots...

5. Books Read: A HARD TICKET HOME by David Housewright. wealthy ex-cop do-gooder caught up in missing child case that turns out to have some ugly complications. A decent read (author is an Edgar-winner and has a slew of good reviews) but I kept thinking I was reading a John Sanford wannabe, and when I want John Sandford I read John Sandford. Still, I might get his earlier book, Penance, out of the library. About halfway through KOP, which is also good-but-familiar. But will reserve judgment until the denouement.


Recap of weekend posts:

Thannks to everyone who helped out, Vera's home is safe -- but we're still raising funds to give her a small cushion, and take care of a septic tank problem. If you've participated, thank you. If you haven't, there's still time to get on Santa's 'good' list...

And hey, don't forget my Holiday Book Giveaway. Remember to leave your mailing address!


I managed to keep from working on anything all weekend. I feel kinda ill, now. Need to go pound at the keyboard for a few hours...

Date: 2008-12-08 12:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com
Yay about Vera!

boo!!! about the cold!
It was 24 degrees when we got up at 7am here. It could at least give us the dignity of snow.}:/

Date: 2008-12-08 12:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jaylake.livejournal.com
...cheese...

Date: 2008-12-08 01:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] handworn.livejournal.com
I gave her $10. I once worked as a paralegal for a lawyer who was defending probable fraud cases for an insurance company (fake accidents, slip-and-falls, etc) and came away from it with a deep contempt for the kind of scum who pull that kind of thing. (The lawyer, the most honest man I've ever met, myself included, is now a judge, proof that sometimes the good guys win.)

Are the The Librarian things any good? We don't have cable, but anything that smacks of Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore might be worth pursuing via Netflix.

Date: 2008-12-08 03:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mizkit.livejournal.com
"So far out of your league if my league exploded you wouldn't hear the sound waves for three days."

I *love* that line. :) I haven't seen the other two movies, but I will have to. :)

Date: 2008-12-08 02:03 pm (UTC)
tryslora: photo of my red hair right after highlighting (Default)
From: [personal profile] tryslora
Ooh, I'm glad to hear that about Leverage. Realized last night that it has Gina Bellman in it, and set the DVR based on that alone. Now I'm really looking forward to it!

Date: 2008-12-08 02:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] booraven22.livejournal.com
Leverage was indeed made of AWESOME, but then, I came for the Christian Kane numminess, and stayed for the rest of the excellent cast. I thought the writing was excellent.

It's my new must watch show. And Brian liked it a lot too!

Date: 2008-12-08 04:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vincam.livejournal.com

Oh, yeah. "Leverage." It's on my DVR. Must go watch...

Date: 2008-12-08 10:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] smoemeth.livejournal.com
Plane is about to take off so I haven't read your entire post, but I just have to say OMG ALFRED KUBIN?!?

Where is this gallery, and for how long is the exhibit running? I *must* see this. Stumbling across a Kubin exhibition when I was in Munich in 1990 really kinda broke me, and I've been on a largely fruitless search for more ever since.

Date: 2008-12-09 01:26 am (UTC)
ext_12931: (Default)
From: [identity profile] badgermirlacca.livejournal.com
My fellow former students at library school are appalled by the Librarian. I adore it. I want to write that. I want to have INVENTED that. (And almost did--remember the Game, back on GEnie?) It is just about my favorite concept ever.

Loved Leverage, too. Looking forward to new ep tomorrow!

I haven't been able to find the latest update on Vera's situation, but YES!

Date: 2008-12-09 04:18 pm (UTC)
ext_12931: (Default)
From: [identity profile] badgermirlacca.livejournal.com
well... we could always start an LJ Community for it....

Date: 2008-12-09 06:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] divanoir.livejournal.com
I'm psyched for tonight's episode of Leverage.

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lagilman: coffee or die (Default)
Laura Anne Gilman

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