"The names are never spoken. The curse is never broken."
In all ways, today has been a better day than the last several. However, it's getting colder, and the next two are three are going to be, by Jefferson County, Alabama standards - brutally cold. Today's temperature was not so bad. The high was 49F, but the low tonight will be 30F, and then the real cold arrives.
We lost power for about half an hour this morning.
That said, this morning I finally managed to finish the story that I have been wrestling with, intended for Sirenia Digest 213. I've been calling it "A first Sequence of Scenes," a title I was never happy with, and today I retitled it simply "Gorgon." It's sorta Charles Fort meets Lovecraft, with my old "Lobster Quadrille" obsession thrown in for good measure. I did 820 words today, for a total story length, before line edits, of 5,184 words. Tomorrow, I'll proof it, make the edits, and hopefully a new issue of Sirenia will go out to susbcribers before sunset.
I also handled some long overdue email with photographer Beth Gwinn and did some work on Bashi Marl gastropods.
This afternoon, I watched two documentaries, one on Venus and the other on the Soviet Semipalatinsk Test Site (the "Polygon), active from 1949-1989.
Last night we watched the secod, third, and fourth new Doctor Who specials. After my immense disappointment with the first, I was reluctant to go back. But the second special, "Wild Blue Yonder," ranks among my favorite episodes ever. A marvelous script, cosmic horror, and the splendid chemistry between the Doctor and Donna Noble with none of the nonsense that so marred the interminable Moffat years. And, really, everything about David Tenent's exhasuted Doctor was a delight to watch. The next episode, "The Giggle," wasn't quite as good as the second, but it was not at all bad, and Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker redeemed the few small things that annoyed me. And finally the fourth special, "The Church on Ruby Road," was quite good also, focusing entirely on the the Fifteenth Doctor (15!) and the new companion (and hopefully that will remain "companion" singluar). Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson are both very promising. The musical scene on the goblin dirigible was...wow. More musical numbers, please. So, for the first time in a very long time I am hopeful about Doctor Who. Thank you, Russell T. Davies.
Today I began reading The Search for the Green River Killer: The True Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer by Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen. The GRK was the inspiration for Neko Case's "Deep Red Bells," by the way.
Money is really tight right now, and about to get tighter, so please visit the Dreaming Squid Sundries shop. Spooky has listed what might be the only numbered copy of Tales from the Woeful Platypus (plus the Black Alphabet chapbook) that we've ever listed. Oh, and she put up one of her uber creepsome puppets.
I think that's all for now.
Today, another Outside photo coutesy the intrepid Spooky.
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
11:58 a.m.
We lost power for about half an hour this morning.
That said, this morning I finally managed to finish the story that I have been wrestling with, intended for Sirenia Digest 213. I've been calling it "A first Sequence of Scenes," a title I was never happy with, and today I retitled it simply "Gorgon." It's sorta Charles Fort meets Lovecraft, with my old "Lobster Quadrille" obsession thrown in for good measure. I did 820 words today, for a total story length, before line edits, of 5,184 words. Tomorrow, I'll proof it, make the edits, and hopefully a new issue of Sirenia will go out to susbcribers before sunset.
I also handled some long overdue email with photographer Beth Gwinn and did some work on Bashi Marl gastropods.
This afternoon, I watched two documentaries, one on Venus and the other on the Soviet Semipalatinsk Test Site (the "Polygon), active from 1949-1989.
Last night we watched the secod, third, and fourth new Doctor Who specials. After my immense disappointment with the first, I was reluctant to go back. But the second special, "Wild Blue Yonder," ranks among my favorite episodes ever. A marvelous script, cosmic horror, and the splendid chemistry between the Doctor and Donna Noble with none of the nonsense that so marred the interminable Moffat years. And, really, everything about David Tenent's exhasuted Doctor was a delight to watch. The next episode, "The Giggle," wasn't quite as good as the second, but it was not at all bad, and Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker redeemed the few small things that annoyed me. And finally the fourth special, "The Church on Ruby Road," was quite good also, focusing entirely on the the Fifteenth Doctor (15!) and the new companion (and hopefully that will remain "companion" singluar). Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson are both very promising. The musical scene on the goblin dirigible was...wow. More musical numbers, please. So, for the first time in a very long time I am hopeful about Doctor Who. Thank you, Russell T. Davies.
Today I began reading The Search for the Green River Killer: The True Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer by Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen. The GRK was the inspiration for Neko Case's "Deep Red Bells," by the way.
Money is really tight right now, and about to get tighter, so please visit the Dreaming Squid Sundries shop. Spooky has listed what might be the only numbered copy of Tales from the Woeful Platypus (plus the Black Alphabet chapbook) that we've ever listed. Oh, and she put up one of her uber creepsome puppets.
I think that's all for now.
Today, another Outside photo coutesy the intrepid Spooky.
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
11:58 a.m.