Happy Winter!

Just got back from seeing The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was good, although I did have a few nits to pick. First, I realize the movie was only PG, but not only was there no blood, but Peter’s sword remained shiny throughout the entire battle sequences. That was just entirely too clean. They could have made it at least dirty looking. Second, I thought the fight between Peter and the White Witch was beyond belief. Tilda Swinton as the White Witch was gorgeous in her handling of her swords, while, for good and obvious reasons, Peter came across as little more fumbling. She should have cut him to ribbons. My disbelief was having trouble being suspended there.

But other than that, we really enjoyed it. It was fun. Lots of sword bashing. Very low gruesome factor. See it in the theater, only try to avoid seeing it with toddlers, like we had the misfortune to do.

Sorry, but I don’t think three year olds belong at a PG movie.

The latest rant over at Smart Bitches Who Read Trashy Books got me thinking.
Their complaint is about a romance publisher who is apparently increasing the font size and the margins of books by decreasing the word count.

On one hand, I can understand precisely where they’re coming from–paperback prices are up to $7 or $8 now, which is getting pretty expensive in my opinion, especially when they’re putting out so many books in hardback and trade paperback first.

However.

As far as fantasy books go, I really wish that someone would put a limit on authors. A major peeve of mine is that only a handful of authors seem to be able to complete a story in only one or even two books. Why? It’s not like it’s physically impossible to write a good fantasy story in one book. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett can do it, Charles de Lint does it–in fact he repeatedly manages to do it in short story format.

So why can’t I find single books when I go to the book store? Why is it that books always seem to be Book One in a series? And why is the series more often than not a trilogy? Is this J.R.R. Tolkein’s fault? He wrote The Lord of the Rings as a trilogy and so that’s what everyone else has to do? This is especially maddening with New Authors whom I have never read before. They’re asking me to invest in an unknown not just one book, but three–at least if I want to know how the story turns out.

Why can’t more fantasy authors do what Charlaine Harris and Steven Brust and Terry Pratchett do? Which is write a complete tale in a single book, and then write another complete tale about the same characters in another book. Mystery authors do it all the time–everything is resolved in a single book, but you get to enjoy all your favorite characters again in the next book. Why are fantasy authors incapable of the same thing? Are they so unsure of the loyalty of their fans that they want to make sure they’ve got you for a minimum of $24?

All I know is that sometimes I don’t want invest the time to read three or five or ten books. I just want to read a single book, and then move on (usually because I’ve got something else I need to be doing). Why do they make this so hard for me?

You know you order a lot of stuff on-line when the UPS man asks you, “What are you doing home? You’re never home!”

Well, I’m up to 25k words now. Things aren’t going quickly, but at least they’re going.

I had a problem last week, when I decided that I had a major plot continuity problem, however, I have resolved that issue, at least for now. We’ll see if it holds up.

And for the curious, here’s the first draft of the Prologue. Please be warned, the first thing I do is kill a whole bunch of children.
(more…)

…I believe that this nation sits at a crossroads. One direction points to the higher road of the rule of law. Sometimes hard, sometimes unpleasant, this path relies on truth, justice and the rigorous application of the principle that no man is above the law.
Now, the other road is the path of least resistance. This is where we start making exceptions to our laws based on poll numbers and spin control. This is when we pitch the law completely overboard when the mood fits us, when we ignore the facts in order to cover up the truth.
Shall we follow the rule of law and do our constitutional duty no matter unpleasant, or shall we follow the path of least resistance, close our eyes to the potential lawbreaking, forgive and forget, move on and tear an unfixable hole in our legal system? No man is above the law, and no man is below the law. That’s the principle that we all hold very dear in this country.
The president has many responsibilities and many privileges. His chief responsibility is to uphold the laws of this land. He does not have the privilege to break the law…
Rep. Tom DeLay

No greater harm can be done than breaking the covenant of trust between the president and the people, between the three branches of our government and between the country and the world.
Rep Henry Hyde

Our Founding Fathers established this nation on a fundamental yet at the time untested idea that a nation should be governed not by the whims of any man but by the rule of law. Implicit in that idea is the principle that no one is above the law, including the chief executive.
Since it is the rule of law that guides us, we must ask ourselves what happens to our nation if the rule of law is ignored, cheapened or violated, especially at the highest level of government.
REP. ROBERT GOODLATTE

…When serious and credible allegations have been raised against any president, the Constitution obliges us to determine whether such conduct violated that president’s obligation to faithfully execute the law. We must make this determination, or else forever sacrifice our heritage that no person is above the law. This Congress must decide whether we as a nation will turn a blind eye to allegations respecting both the subversion of the courts and the search for truth…
Rep. James E. Rogan

OUR PRESIDENT (is) NOT OUR KING. HE IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW. TO ALLOW OUR CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER TO COMMIT THESE FELONIES WITHOUT FACING SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES, IS TO SEND A DANGEROUS MESSAGE TO ALL AMERICANS THAT THERE ARE AGAIN TWO STANDARDS OF JUSTICE IN AMERICA — ONE FOR THE PRESIDENT AND ONE FOR THE REST OF US.
Honorable Wally Herger

The president is a citizen with the same duty to follow the laws as all other citizens. The world marvels that our president is not above the law, and my vote today helps assure that this rule continues. With a commitment to the principles of the rule of law which makes this country the beacon of hope for political refugees like myself throughout the world, I cast my vote in favor of the resolution to undertake an impeachment inquiry of the conduct of the president of the United States.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

No one is above the law.
Senator Strom Thurmond

I suggest that you click through to see more about what some of our representatives believe should happen to presidents who break the law.

For those who regularly go to The Breast Cancer Site, is it just me, or is their December fund raising meter rather…unfortunate?

“Well, I’m good at acting like decapacitated poultry.”

A Great and Terrible Beauty (2003) Libba Bray

I picked this book up because the cover caught my eye. I think it’s the corset, which looks both authentic and terribly uncomfortable (or so says the eternal tomboy). Before the book starts, Libba Bray quotes part of the poem, The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, a poem that has interested me since I was younger, because it’s mentioned in the Agatha Christie book The Mirror Crack’d. I figured that was pretty good grounds for getting a book–despite the fact that the main character is a teenager.

Read More about A Great and Terrible Beauty

In celebration of finishing the semester, we went to see a matinee of Aeon Flux. A little gratuitous violence is always a good way wind down after finals. Although I enjoyed the movie, I cannot say the same for the setting.

Because the new theaters didn’t have a matinee showing, we went to Carmike Cinemas.

I wish we hadn’t.

Apparently they’re saving money but not turning on the heat in the theaters. I was wearing a turtleneck, sweatshirt, and jeans, and was still huddled under my coat trying to keep warm. Michael never took his coat off, and said his feet were frozen by the end of the movie (which was, mind you, only an hour and a half long.)

I probably should have gotten up to complain, except that I didn’t want to leave the tent of warmth I’d built up under my coat. I’m pretty sure I’ve been to November football games that were warmer than that theater.

Additionally, I was subjected to entirely too many coke commercials. Which is just one more reason not to go there again. I don’t need to spend $5 for a matinee and be subjected to commercials.

But the movie was fun. It wasn’t great, but it was enjoyable.

Might have been more enjoyable if I hadn’t spent most of the time wishing it was over so I could go outside where it was warmer.

Bonus: In a utterly geeky moment, a preview for George Cooney’s movie Syriana came up, and I got to exclaim “It’s Doctor Bashir! It’s Doctor Bashir!” Yes. Yes I am a geek. Why do you ask?

I’ll quote directly from my friend Pony’s e-mail here:

This is very important info to have. Morgaine, I think you should include this link on your site!

http://zapatopi.net/afdb/build.html

NOTE: Morgaine was my BBS handle, and the boards were where I first met Pony (Speakeasy was the network we were both on, for the curious). So she still calls me Morgaine, and I still call her Pony.

Fructose may trick you into thinking you are hungrier than you should be

This is a very interesting piece of research. Anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention for the past several years knows that there is an increasing obesity problem in the United States–as well as in other countries.

There are a variety of possible causes put out, some more reasonable than others: yo-yo dieting, lack of exercise, too much meat, too many carbohydrates.

Although most people are looking for a magic bullet, reasonable people know that there is no single solution to the problem. There are, however, things that exacerbate the problem, and fructose looks to be one of those things.

UF research implicates a rise in uric acid in the bloodstream that occurs after fructose is consumed, Johnson said. That temporary spike blocks the action of insulin, which typically regulates how body cells use and store sugar and other food nutrients for energy. If uric acid levels are frequently elevated, over time features of metabolic syndrome may develop, including high blood pressure, obesity and elevated blood cholesterol levels.

I like the way that the researcher puts it:
“We cannot definitively state that fructose is driving the obesity epidemic,” said Johnson. “But we can say that there is evidence supporting the possibility that it could have a contributory role – if not a major role.”

When I was younger, my parents would often get live Christmas trees that they could then plant in the yard. For a variety of reasons, this often did not work (clay soil as well as who wants to dig a really deep hole in January?)

The name these trees are called didn’t make any sense to me, but that’s what my parents called the trees, so that must be correct.

However Friday I achieved enlightenment.

They aren’t “bald” trees, they’re “balled” trees.

(sigh)

Bread Pudding
Leftover bread, cut into cubes (enough to more than fill a casserole dish)
2 cups milk/half-and-half (whatever you have on hand)
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup shredded apple (I used Granny Smiths)
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 F and then butter a medium sized casserole dish.
In a saucepan, heat milk, butter, sugar, and cinnamon until the butter melts. In a bowl, beat eggs. Remove milk mixture from heat, and then mix in eggs.
In a large bowl, mix everything together and then dump into casserole dish. Alternatively, put bread and apples into casserole dish and then pour milk and egg mixture over bread.
Bake at 350 F for 30-45 minutes, or until knife comes out clean.

(adapted from How to Cook Everything)

Whiskey Sauce
4 tbs butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp whiskey
1 tbsp water
1/8 tsp nutmeg
salt
1 small egg

Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugar, whiskey, water, nutmeg, and salt. Heat over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Beat egg and whisk into whiskey sauce. Raise heat to medium, and stir gently until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

(from The Joy of Cooking)

Spoon hot bread pudding into bowl. Spoon hot whiskey sauce over bread pudding. Add scoop of vanilla ice cream. Eat.