My top 10 (or so) vampires - 4 Days to Halloween!

A few weeks ago, Entertainment Weekly listed the 20 Greatest Vampires of All Time. I disagreed with at least half of the list - after all, if I've never heard of them, how great can they be? And Edward Cullen? Don't get me started...

In response to EW's list, here are my top 10 (or so) most interesting vampires, in no particular order:

• Dracula - has to be near the top of everyone's list. In my mind, Dracula will always be Frank Langella's version. I remember sneakily watching this late at night when I was really too little to be seeing such things. So now you know where it all started... I liked Gary Oldman as Dracula, too, but nobody holds a candle to Langella for me. I remember this scene in particular:
  
  
• Lestat -I like him much more in the books than the movies, and I like Stuart Towsend's version in Queen of the Damned better than Tom Cruise's in Interview with the Vampire (although if you want to know how I really imagained Lestat - despite the description of him as blonde - watch Farinelli)
  
• Eric Northman from "True Blood" - He's new to my list, but ooooh, la la! (I hope you won't beat me up if I admit Bill Compton just doesn't do it for me)
• Selene from Underworld -She's a kick-ass heroine first, vampire second. Bella could certainly learn a thing or two from her.
  see more Lol Celebs
• David from Lost Boys- My first bad-boy hot vampire (Michael doesn't make the list on a technicality - he was never a full vampire)
• Claudia from Interview With The Vampire - Forever a child in body, but not in mind, and that makes her very interesting
• Jessica on "True Blood" - From an ultra-restritive environment to vampire - she went through a total "no rules" phase and then has done a lot of growing up very quickly. 
• Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"- yummy! Bad boy with sensitive interior (and a really bad poet!)
• Harmony  from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" - went from whiny spoiled human to whiny spoiled vampire and was a hoot to watch
• "Naughty Willow" - Willow wasn't usually a vampire, but in the "Buffy" episode "Doppelgangland," a vampire version of Willow from an alternate reality comes to Sunnydale.
  
• Godric - I wish he'd had a longer story arc on "True Blood." I want to know more about his backstory. I haven't read the books yet - is there more on him in there?
• Angel - Yummy. 'nuff said
• Drusilla from "Buffy" and "Angel"- A good girl gone mad

So, who are your top vampires? Have I forgotten anyone I should have included?

Five Days to Halloween!

Friday Fun: This, Jenn, is the Internet

After the Friday Rant (which was really supposed to be the Thursday Rant, but I forgot to hit "publish") here's your regularly-scheduled Friday Fun.

Here's another clip from one of my favorite shows, The IT Crowd. Jenn, head of IT (even though she knows nothing about computers), has gotten Roy and Moss to write her speech for the company shareholders meeting and the boys decided to have a bit of fun. I wish I could embed it here, but I can't, so here's the link to This, Jenn, is the Internet. Enjoy!

I keep hearing this over and over...

As posted at FlickFilosopher: Question of the day: Is ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ too dangerous for children?: "I wondered in my review of Where the Wild Things Are whether the film wasn’t the beginnings of a shift away from overprotecting children from themselves and the world. After all, it offers a very dark portrait of the most secret workings of a child’s imagination, and it fully embraces of the fact that children are people and that they can be angry, resentful, and bitter." (You can read the rest at the link above)

My answer: As with any movie, I keep saying "You've got to know your child." LilGirl was watching the Lord of the Rings movies when she was three and was fine with those (and proceeded to explain the Balrog to her uncles one day). She also liked Hellboy, but when we watched Hellboy II (on video), she excused herself about 15 minutes in because "It's creeping me out." I have to admit I was a little surprised by that reaction, but I noted it. Besides the cost, we tend not to go to many movies in the theater for exactly that reason. At home, she knows if anything in the movie is too scary we can talk through those parts, or she is free to go to another room and find something else to do (this happens if the movie just bores her, too).

If we do see something in the theater, it's generally something we know is pretty innocuous, or something we have familiarized ourselves with enough to attempt to prepare her for "the worst." We tried to do that for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but a classmate had already revealed the Big Bad Moment to LilGirl, so when we mentioned it she waved it away with "Oh, I already know about that." Occasionally there will be something we didn't know about or that she reacts to unexpectedly, but the key is to keep an eye on her reactions throughout the movie. Most of the time, just an arm around her shoulder is enough. Once or twice, a well-timed "bathroom break" was a good idea.

Obviously, this is just my experience of what works with my kid. Every kid is different. You have to think about YOUR kid, not kids in general, when choosing a movie to see. This is Basic Parenting 101, folks, which is part of why the whole "Is it too scary for children?" thing bugs me.

All this said, I'm still on the fence about Where The Wild Things Are. I don't think it will be too scary for her. I have heard it may be a bit depressing, and that worries me. Scared is one thing, brokenhearted is another. But I think my biggest hang-up may not be about LilGirl's reaction at all. It's about mine, which I've blogged about before.

Photo by  http://www.flickr.com/photos/uaeincredible/ / CC BY 2.0

You won't hear me say this often, but...

I can't wait until Monday!!!

Actually, I guess I do say it fairly often in reference to The Big Bang Theory...but especially this week.

Signed, Geeky McGeekerson  ;)

Wednesday Pic: Just Keep Swimming

Taken at the Henry Doorly Zoo

Where the Wild Things Might Be

I don't know how soon I'll get to the theater to see Where the Wild Things Are but I'm half holding my breath. It's one of my favorite books and I soooo want the movie to be good, but there's always that fear that the filmmaker's vision is nothing like your own.

I came across an article in the LA Times which talks about how different from other children's books Where the Wild Things Are was when it came out. I figure I probably first encountered the book 12-15 years after it was published, at which point it seemed (to me) to have always existed, to always have been accepted, and I was initially surprised now to hear that it was considered controversial when first published.

I think director Spike Jonze "gets" the book, at least, and seems to come at it from a similar childhood view of it. In the LA Times article, he says

"How crazy is it that he invented those monsters?" Jonze asks. "Those creatures seem like they always existed. They seem like they were always there."

and

"As a kid, you gravitate to things that feel true. I didn't know what it was about, but I knew what it meant."

Exactly.
 

I hope against hope the movie will be good, that I won't sit there seething that the filmmakers "ruined" the book. Sadly, the best I'm even hoping for is a solid "Eh, it was okay." I'm not even remotely expecting that my reaction will be "OMG that was sooo good!" (That would be a nice surprise, though. Here's crossing fingers, toes, eyes and anything else I can.)

Maurice Sendak rewrote the rules with 'Wild Things' -- latimes.com (Posted using ShareThis)

Wednesday Pic: Happy Fall!

In case you were curious about The Rules

Finally! ReadWriteWeb has clarified The Rules of social media (please note "The Rules" (with caps) should be spoken in a loud booming voice).



Are you ready?



Are you sure?




Okay, here they are...

"Blogging? You should be posting twice a day. No, actually that's too often; it abuses people's attention. Wait, actually that's not often enough; other people will eat your lunch. Actually, blogging's dead, so move to Twitter, where you absolutely must follow everyone who follows you, unless you absolutely mustn't, so don't, unless you do. And when they do follow you, sending them an automatic direct message will either lift you into the Twitter elite or damn you to eternal ridicule. Possibly both."

If you're still confused, here are Chris Brogan's rules (which ReadWriteWeb was nice enough to remind me of).

Okay, everybody clear now? :)

Banned Books Week: Map of banned books

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2009 in a larger map

Friday (Not So) Fun: 100 Banned Books

Banned Books Week: Author speaks out, Part 2

She has some very good points, especially near the end. I like the football analogy.



via Kids' Right to Read Project

Banned Books Week: *BLEEP*

Banned Books Week: Author speaks out

via Kids' Right to Read Project

Banned Books Week: Puppet Time!

Banned Books Week: The List

Each year, ALA publishes a list of books challenged or banned in the past year:

"The challenges documented in this list are not brought by people merely expressing a point of view; rather, they represent requests to remove materials from schools or libraries, thus restricting access to them by others. Even when the eventual outcome allows the book to stay on the library shelves and even when the person is a lone protester, the censorship attempt is real. Someone has tried to restrict another person’s ability to choose. Challenges are as important to document as actual bannings, in which a book is removed from the shelves of a library or bookstore or from the curriculum at a school. Attempts to censor can lead to voluntary restriction of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy; in these cases, material may not be published at all or may not be purchased by a bookstore, library, or school district."

See the list of books here

Banned Books Week: Manifesto

Get a PDF of the poster here

Friday Fun: Dragon*Con Thriller

I know Dragon*Con was weeks ago, but here's a fun video of costumed con-goers doing the Thriller dance. The video is a bit long, but there are a few costumes which make it worth watching the whole thing - like the alien from Alien (who knew it could dance?), Westley & Buttercup, a disco-ball stormtrooper, and zombie Quidditch players.

An iTricorder?

Some (more) interesting stats

A bit of a compaion to my earlier post about social media.



(via Mashable)

Arrrrrr, Matey! It's the Shelf o' Pirates!

This year, I be givin' ye landlubbers a peek at me piratey interior decoratin' - I may decerate fer Halloween and Christmas fer a few short weeks, but I decerate fer Talk Like a Pirate Day year 'round with my Shelf o' Pirates. I know not where that scurvy Jedi wandered in from, but I see he gave that lass Elizabeth Swan a might purty lightsaber - now she can cut down e'en more scalawags!

Friday Fun: Too Much Butter

Finally (I've been such a bag BAD, bad! blogger this week), today's Friday Fun, from one of my favorite shows:

Wednesday Pic: Signs, signs...

1880 Train 08, originally uploaded by mdesive.

Musings on my clutter

Blogger's Blog of Note today is Ramblings of the Bearded One. In skimming through his posts, I came across one about how he makes notes in the margins of his Sudoku books. This sounds like my process for most of my notebooks and other scraps of paper [bold type is mine]:

Before I can throw an old Sudoku book away, it has to be meticulously gone through and any important information needs to be transferred to a different scrap of paper, to be put in a pile, lost, briefly refound and placed in another important pile, lost again, then rediscovered 2 years later when it is no longer relevant.

My piles of paper are legendary. But I am getting better. Really! Truly! I'm trying to implement GTD in my life, but like anything else, I can't just follow the directions, I have to add my own twist, so it doesn't quite work out the way it's supposed to.

Still, even partial GTD has helped me vastly. By simply asking myself "What's the next action?" I've gotten past the overwhelm of dealing with my clutter. I can now use my garage, family room, and home office all at the same time. Not one is full of the boxes and clutter from all the other rooms, which is how it used to be. I've spent years shuffling boxes from one of those areas to another, depending on which area needed to be used at the time.

I never remember to take "before" pictures,
but here's a "before before" picture ;)

The most improvement still needs to come in the garage, but I keep whittling away at the stuff out there. For now, I'm happy I can get my car in. Someday, we'll be able to get both vehicles in! (It's great to have lofty goals, isn't it?)

It's 9:00 on 9/9/09

Just thought you'd like to know.

Motivation

I came across this today in GTD Times. Great advice about a way to keep yourself focused on your goals: send yourself reminders of what your goal is. (I definitely will be implementing this.)

Send a letter to yourself! Mothercraft Tip (Life Coach Carley Knobloch) from Carley Knobloch on Vimeo.

Friday fun: Medieval tech support

Once upon a time, books were "new media" and this might be how some encountered them:

Wednesday Pic: Butterfly

DSC_0287, originally uploaded by mdesive.

September is Library Card Sign-up Month!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Now that school is in full swing, there's one more supply you need to get your kid (or yourself if you don't already have one): A Library Card! [Insert heavenly music and golden, glowing card here! Sorry, didn't have any, you'll have to supply your own]

I remember getting my card on a school trip to the library (our school was small enough that we didn't have a proper library, so every few weeks, we took a trip to the public library). I remember having that feeling I still get every time I go to the library:

OMG SO MANY BOOKS CAN I TAKE THEM ALL HOME????

If you aren't convinced you need a library card...

52 Ways to Use Your Library Card
by the American Library Association

1. Get to know your librarian, the ultimate search engine @ your library.
2. Update your MySpace Facebook page. [my strikethrough - MySpace = bleh]
3. Research new job opportunities.
4. Find a list of childcare centers in your area.
5. Learn about local candidates for office.
6. Pick up voter registration information.
7. Check out your favorite graphic novel.
8. Pick up a DVD.
9. Get wireless access.
10. Participate in a community forum.
11. Find out how to navigate the Internet.
12. Prepare your resume.
13. Get new ideas for redecorating your house.
14. Get a list of community organizations.
15. Attend a lecture or workshop.
16. Hear a local author reading his/her latest novel.
17. Join a book discussion group.
18. Attend preschool story hour with your child.
19. Get homework help.
20. Look up all kinds of health information.
21. Research the purchase of a new car.
22. Trek to another planet in a Sci-Fi novel.
23. Call the reference desk if you have a question.
24. Research your term paper.
25. Learn about the history or your city or town.
26. Decide which computer to buy using a consumer guide.
27. Check your stock portfolio.
28. Borrow or download an audiobook for your next road trip or commute.
29. Use the library’s resources to start a small business.
30. See a new art exhibit.
31. Volunteer as a literacy tutor.
32. Find a new recipe.
33. Ask for a recommended reading list for your kids.
34. Make photocopies.
35. Get a book from interlibrary loan.
36. Enroll your child in a summer reading program.
37. Take a computer class.
38. Hear a poetry reading.
39. Take out the latest fashion magazine.
40. Enjoy a concert.
41. Trace your family tree.
42. Check out a special collection of rare books.
43. Check out a legal question or issue.
44. Find out how to file a consumer complaint.
45. Learn about home improvement.
46. Borrow some sheet music.
47. Learn how to use a database or computerized catalog.
48. Find the latest romance paperback.
49. Pick up tax forms.
50. Connect with other people in the community.
51. Find a quiet spot, curl up with a book and enjoy.
52. Read a newspaper from another country.

Friday Fun: Talking Animals

You get a twofer today because I couldn't decide which was funnier :)

Think social media is just a fad?

via The Travelin' Librarian

Wednesday Pic: A peek at Faerie

I took this on our latest visit to the zoo, and played with it in Picasa.

Musicals I like (a very short list)

I'm not a big fan of musicals. This seems strange to me. Something tells me I should like them, but I don't. In fact, I think I'd usually rather clean toilets than see a muscial.

Oddly, I often enjoy the music from musicals, just not in the musicals. I used to own albums of Andrew Lloyd Webber's music and I still know the lyrics by heart, but I have trouble actually sitting through a performace of Cats or Phantom of the Opera (even with Gerard Butler in it), no matter how much I love the songs.

Here is the short list of musicals I actually enjoy watching (and will even watch over and over)

• The Sound of Music - This has always been and will always be one of my favorite movies. Period. I used to drop everything to watch this when it came on about once a year. Mary Poppins was always "that movie with Maria Von Trapp in it." :)
• Moulin Rouge - I didn't really expect to like this, but I did. It's made up of all those songs everybody belts out in the car when they're driving alone.
• Mamma Mia - I like this one for pretty much the same reasons I like Moulin Rouge. Plus it's just a fun movie - one that you can turn on while you're cleaning the house or something and it'll keep you moving.
• Labyrinth - It never occurred to me that this is a musical until recently when someone else referred to it that way, and I still don't really think of it as one. It's a movie. There's singing. There's dancing. Nope, not a musical. ;)
  

Okay, you can start throwing the tomatoes...and if you have any suggestions of musicals I might like if I just tried them, tell me in the comments - I promise to give them a shot. And if any happen to make the list, I'll let you know.

Friday Fun: Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Here's a clip from my new favorite show, The IT Crowd, which is set in (you guessed it!) an IT department:



There are more clips here, or if you have Netflix, you can rent or stream the first two seasons.

Yesterday's timesinks

This is what I was doing yesterday, instead of things I should have been doing, like writing blog posts, working on my WIP, cleaning the house, scanning slides/negatives/old photos/family history stuff, reading from the TBR pile...

I watched the Crazy Horse blast. I love that they tweet imminent blasts with a link to their webcam (and then post it on YouTube)...

...And I kept One & Other open in one of my tabs most of the day (It's addicting!)



You can find out more about the One & Other project here. Too bad Kate M didn't explain in her bio why she was knitting with giant needles in a tiara and ballgown, but you can re-watch her hour - maybe she talked about in a moment I missed (after all, I don't watch it constantly, I do try to have a life...sort of).

Wednesday Pic: Balloon

DSC_0014, originally uploaded by mdesive.

From last year's Nebraska Wine and Balloon Festival. The night we went to this year's, it was too windy for them to put the balloons up :(

Do you still shake the thermometer?

Beloit College has released its annual Mindset List, which for some reason didn't make me feel as old as it usually does (except for the knowledge that most college freshmen this year were born when I was a junior in high school). One entry in the list really caught my eye, though:

#17. They have never had to “shake down” an oral thermometer.

Now, tell me. How many of you shake the digital thermometer, simply out of habit? I used to catch myself doing it almost every time.

Back-to-school memories

It's back-to-school week in our household, and that got me thinking about my own school days. They were very different from my daughter's. She goes to a pretty typical suburban school, where her grade is split into several classes. Several hundred students attend her school. It's just small enough that she can usually put a name with each face, but not always.

From Kindergarten through 8th grade, I attended a one-room rural school. My daughter has more people in her classroom than I had in my entire school.

It was a very different experience. We all went to recess at the same time, ate lunch at the same time (brought from home, there was no hot lunch program), did most of the same extracurricular activities, and we all went on the same field trips at the same time. While the teacher gave lessons to one grade, the others worked on their own assignments or did group projects. Some grades had a single person (one of my brothers was his entire class through most of grade school), other grades simply didn't have anyone. I had two classmates most years. My daughter has a hard time imagining this. So do a lot of adults I meet. Little House on the Prairie only goes so far as a frame of reference. Here's some visual help:

This was my school house:

And this was the entire student body when I was in Kindergarten, plus the teacher and teacher's aide.

(That's me in front, in the green sweater vest)

By 8th grade, there weren't even this many students. Sadly, the school is now closed.

A strange thing I just noticed (I don't know why I never did before): I'm the only student who isn't related to any other student in this picture. Everyone else has at least one sibling, and some have cousins. In fact, half the students all had the same last name.

One of my most vivid memories is from the beginning of the day when everyone stood up to say the Pledge of Allegiance and I had no idea what they were doing. I don't even remember there being a reassuring "We're going to do this now, but don't worry, we'll teach it to you later today." It just happened. I didn't know where to look, or anything. I think the rest of the day must have gone pretty well: My only other memory was not being ready to go home at noon, since Kindergartners only went half a day.

I still get a bit awed at the different experiences my daughter is having in school. Every child in her classroom is at roughly the same level. They're all getting the same instruction at the same time. They don't overhear the older kids' lessons, don't necessarily see the older kids' books (which seem magical when you're little and there's a little disappointment when you reach that grade and find they're just regular schoolbooks like the ones you've had before). They don't get the passive review of the younger kids' lessons, either, and maybe don't have the same little chances for mentoring.

At the same time, she has resources at her fingertips that I could only have dreamed of, and I'm not just referring to computers - she has an entire library complete with a librarian, a school counselor, and actual gym equipment (I remember our "home base" was always a round piece of metal, roughly the size of a Frisbee, which had long ago come off some piece of farm equipment). I didn't feel deprived at the time, and still don't think I was, but sometimes I wonder if my daughter will ever understand just how good she's got it.

Friday Fun: Kiss a wookie, kick a droid...

The Star Wars saga, set to the music of John Williams...wait, wasn't it already??



Just don't blame me if you watch this five times and are humming it the rest of the day. (Or am I the only one who does that?)

A writer's friends

A good friend will visit Mount Moriah Cemetery with you...

...A really good friend will lean out over the edge of a cliff to to take pictures so you know how to describe it when your heroine falls off.

Wednesday Pic: Sunrise

Virginia Beach, Virginia

I am heartily ashamed

...of our city leaders.
No real post today. I'm in mourning for the Florence Library.

Florence library closing for '09

Is that Zac Efron, or...???

I was flipping through a magazine the other day and came across a picture from the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet. I was shocked, shocked, I tell you! "Zac Efron was in that movie? I KNEW he looked familiar!"

Okay, so it wasn't really Zac Efron, but you can't deny that he looks uncannily like Leonard Whiting. In fact, when I Googled Whiting, several of the top hits were for sites comparing him to Efron, so I guess I'm not the only one who has noticed.

Here's a video I found which compares the two. I think it's a little scary.



Just for the record, LilGirl, who is firmly in the High School Musical age demographic, doesn't think they look all that much alike.

Friday Fun: Facebook Electronic Friendship Generator

Tyler is Trending Topic on Twitter

Some of these are funny! Others are where I expect your thoughts would go, given recent events. RecW Mary: "Did you see where Steven Tyler fell off the stage?" Jim: "Did he land on his lips?"5 minutes ago from web

melarimo I think it's entirely possible that Steven Tyler was feeling no pain. And if he was,there were prob women lined up to offer comfort...4 minutes ago from web
steven421 Almost fainted when i saw "Steven Tyler" as a TT, thought he died, he only fell on stage, i hope he's ok :(3 minutes ago from web
tropicalthought The Tour of Pain continues: Aerosmith's Steven Tyler falls off the stage. This give new meaning to The Tour of Pain.2 minutes ago from web
MisterWhitie Saw "Steven Tyler" as a trend and thought he was the next celebrity to die and I was like "Nooooooooooooo!"3 minutes ago from web
pitawindstar Steven Tyler fell off stage last night apparently....man I wish I was one of the fans he fell on!! XDhttp://tinyurl.com/mqayb72 minutes ago from web
MLCrom can't help but check everytime a celebrity is a TT on twitter, because she thinks they might have died. Not Steven Tyler!1 minute ago from web
More here

STURGIS!!!! Well, virtually...

Okay, so I'm not in Sturgis, but I'm having a much easier time attending "virtually" this year than ever before. And no, I don't ride, but I wish I did (note to self: learn!). Technically I don't even qualify to participate in the ride/trailer debate.

Either way, Sturgis is a people-watcher's paradise. You can just sit still and watch humanity go by, from the bikers who live the lifestyle to those who are doctors or lawyers in "real life." They're all interesting. For a taste, you can check out my best find for a virtual Sturgis people-watching fix so far: The Sturgis Sidewalk Cam.

I've also been following mentions of Sturgis on Twitter, and there are lots of photos on Flickr (but a bit of warning there, many are NSFW)

We spent an afternoon at the Sturgis rally in 2005 - I took lots of photos and even met Paul Sr. and Paul Jr. from Orange County Choppers. Here are a few pics:

Of course, last night, I missed out on all the big excitement when Steven Tyler fell off the stage during Aerosmith's concert at the Buffalo Chip. I woke up to a text message from my brother and a ton of tweets. Geez, just when you give up for the night because you think sleep might be an important thing...

Wednesday Pic: Double Hippo

I shot this at the Henry Doorly Zoo a few years ago.

Timewarp: My first venture onto the internet

I documented the beginning of my addiction in the Feb 15, 1996 edition of The Eagle, my college's student newspaper.

Discipline? What's that?


(click the article for a larger view)

And I'm still happily surfing! :)

Odd art, revealed

While reading this article on hidden art today, I was reminded of a painting I saw in the Norwich Castle Museum years ago. The paintings in the article were a second canvas meant to fit over another, while this one was actually partially painted over, but it still has an interesting story.

Frances Mathew Schutz in his bed, by William Hogarth, was apparently commissioned by Schutz's wife "to remind him not to party too hard" (as I wrote it on the back of the postcard I bought at the time). According to the Tate Britain website, "The canvas proved too indecorous in its imagery for Schutz’s Victorian descendants. They hired an artist to paint in a newspaper over the chamber-pot; only a recent programme of restoration returned the painting to its original state."

Friday Fun: Sticky Notes!

Sticky Note Experiment by EepyBird from Eepybird on Vimeo.

For more fantastic experiments go to www.eepybird.com

Thanks to The Happiness Project for the link

Friday Fun: Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

I'll let Sheldon explain how it works:

My baby bro is 30 today!

Wasn't he adorable...way back when?

I've been scanning old negatives Mom brought me, and these were a bunch I think my aunt shot. I think they were for a photo contest (apparently sponsored by Cheerios) if I remember right.

He's just lucky I haven't gotten to the really embarrassing pictures yet. (Yes, you know the ones I'm talking about, Baby Bro. Bwahahaha!!)

Happy Birthday!!!
(We won't talk about how old this makes me)

Rambly old favorite: A Room With a View

Some of you may have known me to mention A Room With A View as the gold standard of "Mary Movies." The funny thing about A Room With A View (and don't tell anybody this) is...

I hated it the first time I saw it.

(Okay, don't tell!)

In my defense, I was only 12 or so. I just couldn't figure out why Lucy suddenly claimed she loved George when she'd spent the whole movie insisting that she didn't. What did I know?

I saw it again in my mid-teens and was hooked. At that age I decided George Emerson was just the swooniest guy evar (or for the next five minutes, anyway). I can't remember why I gave it another chance, but I'm glad I did. It led to a love of Merchant Ivory films and E.M. Forster's books.

Though I always enjoy a re-read of ARWAV, it's not my Forster favorite. That distinction goes to Maurice. Unfortunately, the movie version of Maurice did not turn out to be as good as the book, or even as good as the ARWAV movie. But if you're interested in seeing a young Hugh Grant, you might want to check it out.

The other night, I was thrilled to find ARWAV in the Instant Watch section of Netflix. So, as that implies, I instantly started watching.

Of course hubby had to walk in during the pond scene (if you've seen the movie, you know the one I mean). I remember being incredibly embarrassed by that scene when I was 12 - after all, I was watching the movie with my parents (gasp! The horror!). Hubby simply gave me the "What are you watching?" look, shook his head, and went on his way. After all, I wasn't making him watch, so he was probably breathing a sigh of relief.

Miss Lavish's opinions on travel and tourism have seeped into my bones ("No, Miss Bartlett, you shall NOT look into your Baedeker...we shall simply drift...Now, this is what I call an adventure.") and the Emerson's ideas of the world intrigued me even when I hated the movie in that first viewing.

George has one of the best quotes in the film. Reverend Beebe tells him it is not coincidence or fate that has brought the Emersons to Summer Street, but being "naturally drawn to things Italian, as are we and all our friends."

George replies "It is fate. But call it Italy if pleases you, Vicar."

Some Dr. Who/Shakespeare fun

Haven't had a Shakespeare-related post in awhile.

Here's a clip from Red Nose Day featuring Dr. Who (David Tennant), Catherine Tate and Shakespeare. Love it!

Friday Fun: NCBI ROFL

My boss came across this hilarious blog the other day. Two Molecular and Cell Biology graduate students at UC Berkeley gather articles on funny things in PubMed, a database for biomedical research articles, and post them. I generally spend 90% of my work day poking around in PubMed, but I don't think I've ever come across any of these:

• Procrastination by pigeons: preference for larger, more delayed work requirements. - see, it's not just me, the pigeons do it too!
• The nature of navel fluff - Ever wonder how that stuff gets there?
• The spermicidal potency of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola - Ummm...okay. Don't think I'll be trying this
• Feet rolled over by cars: radiological and histological considerations from experiments. - I should probably read this one - been there, done that.

Great scientific minds at work, I tell ya! And think about this: somebody funded each of those studies. Can you imagine the grant applications?

Bring your inner 12-year-old's sense of humor when you read this blog: they tend toward the juvenile - bodily functions, fun with animals, super powers. They do have a "Rated G" label if you want to avoid any of the...um...naughtier-sounding research.

And I hope this stuff isn't only funny to medical professionals (and their librarians). If not, sorry, I'll do better next Friday. :)

Photo by Frankenstoen / CC BY 2.0

Today is the reason 6 is afraid of 7

Because....

wait for it!...

Seven Ate Nine!

Okay, go ahead and groan.

One last note: Later today we'll see 12:34:56 7/8/09 the only time in our lives.

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled activities :)

Goodbye, Mrs. Slocombe

On top of everyone else the world has lost lately, Mollie Sugden passed away yesterday. "Are You Being Served" has always been one of my favorite Britcoms. Here's a tribute by nednickerson2009:



A few weeks ago, a friend loaned me the Are You Being Served movie (along with Fawlty Towers, which I was working my way through first). I think tonight would be a good one to sit down with a glass of something, and watch this and remember.

One year later...

A year ago today we made it through a tremendous storm. Luckily we had no damage to our house. In fact, I think our ultimate loss was a couple pepper plants. I was sure my hostas and peoney were toast, but both came roaring back to life this spring. Our neighbors just half a block away weren't so lucky - they ended up with a trailer on the back deck. One of the more seriously damaged houses just a couple blocks away is still being rebuilt. Here's a slideshow of some of the pictures I took that day:

Friday Fun: Magical Trevor

An oldie but a goodie, from the people who brought you Badgers!

I located my mystery castle!

I am bouncing up and down right now - and kicking myself at the same time. This is no easy feat, but somehow I'm managing it.

In July 1991, I spent three weeks in Germany. One of the days we were out sightseeing, we stopped at a castle ruin where only a single tower remained. We climbed to the top where there was a spectacular view, and where I discovered to my horror that I had one shot left on my last roll of film! I took a deep breath and tried to make it count:

Unfortunately, I didn't make note of the name of the castle or the town in my diary (why? I don't know). Later on (but still in pre-Google days) when I wanted to figure it out, I didn't have an easy way to find out what route we'd taken or any information about this particular ruin, though from time to time I would give it another shot, to no avail.

Years passed, the diary was put away (scanned first, of course, and eventually I saved a copy in my GMail and elsewhere, where it was essentially buried and forgotten). Today the light bulb clicked and it finally dawned on me that these days I have everything at hand to at least narrow the search for my mystery castle.

I pulled up the diary in Gmail and skimmed through the pages until I found the entry I wanted:

July 11, 1991: Today we went to Ravensburg, Weingarten and Wangen. We went to several churches in each place. On the way home, we visited an old tower near a small town. The tower is all that is left of a large castle that used to be there. We climbed all the way to the top of it on some rickety old stairs that seemed ready to fall at any moment. The view from the top was breathtaking, but the climb down the stairs isn't something I'd like to go through again.

Then I went to Google Maps and put in the last place I knew we stopped before the castle: Wangen. I made Lindau (where I was staying) the destination and told Google Maps I wanted directions.

The route shot me right past Neuravensburg, a small town on the edge of a small lake. I zoomed in and found what looked like a footpath going up a hill to a squarish gray blob. The footpath took the same general route I remembered, and on the same side of the road. I googled the name of the town and found the blob was indeed a tower! After a search for the town's name in Flickr, I came up with this shot (as well as pics of the tower from the outside).

At last, mystery solved! With under five minutes of research. Why I didn't think of this when Google Maps first surfaced I'll never know. *sigh*