Flight of the Conchords, Free eBooks and Messing with Text Generators--
I think I'm deeply in love with Flight of the Conchords. I'm more than halfway through the first season, with four episodes left, and I've watched the two episodes that have so far aired in the second season. I've had the S1 DVDs for who knows how long now, and I can't figure out why I didn't crack them out earlier. *G*
Oh, and while I'm not a romance reader1, I am a fan of free books, and am fairly indiscriminate in my tastes if it starts with "free." According to smartbitches, Harlequin is celebrating 60 years with 16 free ebooks for download at Harlequin Celebrates.
I popped over, downloaded all 16, and then noticed a button that said, "My Story." A quick peek told me it was a MadLibs sort of application, where you plug in a few choices, and it spits out a Harlequinesque book blurb. The application encourages you to make it your own story, using your name and the name of your object of affection, but you know I couldn't do that, because that's far too... normal. ^_~ So I plugged in a few unsurprising choices, tidied up the pronouns in the generated text, and got:
And then, of course, I had to try it again with the roles reversed:
1. During my undergrad, I decided against taking a class on the Romance writers because I assumed it was, you know, romance novels. (Yes, I know how stupid that sounds.) In my defense, at the time the "Special" courses in English didn't have online descriptions, so you'd have to guess what the full topic was via the short-form titles in the course catalogue; this was also how I ended up taking "Transcendentalism in American Literature," as it was listed as "Trans in American Lit," and I figured transformation sounded like a cool thing to explore, plus I needed to take at least one American Lit course to round out the British, Canadian and African/Caribbean stuff I'd already taken; good god, I hated that course. To this day, I can't hold the definition of "transcendentalism" in my head for more than 30 seconds at a time.
Oh, and while I'm not a romance reader1, I am a fan of free books, and am fairly indiscriminate in my tastes if it starts with "free." According to smartbitches, Harlequin is celebrating 60 years with 16 free ebooks for download at Harlequin Celebrates.
I popped over, downloaded all 16, and then noticed a button that said, "My Story." A quick peek told me it was a MadLibs sort of application, where you plug in a few choices, and it spits out a Harlequinesque book blurb. The application encourages you to make it your own story, using your name and the name of your object of affection, but you know I couldn't do that, because that's far too... normal. ^_~ So I plugged in a few unsurprising choices, tidied up the pronouns in the generated text, and got:
- International jet-setter Sean Bean heads across the Australian Outback's most dangerous territory to break his unwanted society engagement. Only, his biggest problem isn't outlaws and killers. It's a rugged, relentless cowboy...
With a killer to catch, Viggo Mortensen has better things to do than escort his commander's shy son. But his fiery charge is as irresistible as he is off-limits, and to protect him he'll risk his reputation, his life--and his heart.
And then, of course, I had to try it again with the roles reversed:
- No one knew what Sean Bean looked like, but they'd heard the rumors all across Paris, the City of Lights. How he'd been broken, even scarred, being a military man. How he never showed his face...until the day he took an overwhelming interest in one very special award-winning writer.
Viggo Mortensen would have been a serial killer's next victim if not for Sean. The rescue gave him a glimpse into Sean's world of shadows--yet the adventurous man dared to want more. To really know if the carefree passion between them was real. They would have to come face-to-face if the killer was to be caught--and Sean could only conceal his body from Viggo for so long...
1. During my undergrad, I decided against taking a class on the Romance writers because I assumed it was, you know, romance novels. (Yes, I know how stupid that sounds.) In my defense, at the time the "Special" courses in English didn't have online descriptions, so you'd have to guess what the full topic was via the short-form titles in the course catalogue; this was also how I ended up taking "Transcendentalism in American Literature," as it was listed as "Trans in American Lit," and I figured transformation sounded like a cool thing to explore, plus I needed to take at least one American Lit course to round out the British, Canadian and African/Caribbean stuff I'd already taken; good god, I hated that course. To this day, I can't hold the definition of "transcendentalism" in my head for more than 30 seconds at a time.