Howard Hughes and the Unredeemed Platypus (Canto I)
The weather is warming up again here in Providence. It's sunny, though windy. We're supposed to reach 69F today, and low 70sF tomorrow.
Day before yesterday, I wrote 812 words on "Tempest Witch." I may or may not be changing the title to "The Sea Witch," after discovering that's the correct name of the Frazetta painting upon which the vignette is based (also, it was painted in 1966, though not published until 1967). Yesterday, I wrote nothing, as I had an appointment with my psychiatrist, and those always throw days into disarray. But any day I see my psychiatrist and she lets me come home afterward, I count as a good day. I did get a lot of reading done yesterday, all research for "The Maltese Unicorn."
The eBay auction for a copy of The Five of Cups ends in a couple of hours. Remember, it'll be a while before you see another from me. This novel has been out of print since 2003.
It feels as though I've been watching an awful lot of "television" lately. I used the qualifying quotation marks because we don't actually watch television, but use Spooky's laptop to stream from Hulu and Netflix, and we watch a lot of DVDs. On Tuesday night, we saw Dr. Who: The Waters of Mars. Wednesday night, there was the new episode of Glee, which was great, even if there was a cover of "Jessie's Girl" (ew, ick) and even if we did have to suffer through Kurt's rendition of "Little Pink Houses." Last night, there was the very, very excellent new episode of Fringe. We also watched Michael and Peter Spierig's Daybreakers (2009). Not a great film, but a good film. Nice eye candy, which is the very least I ask of a vampire film (and which few ever deliver). Indeed, it's the only good vampire film I've seen since 2008's Låt den rätte komma in (which was much superior to Daybreakers, but still). So, yes, lots of watching.
Also, last night, I did something I swore I'd never, ever do. I rolled a gnome on WoW. A female gnome warrior. I fucking hate gnomes. And, yet, I did it anyway. Spooky and I had been joking around with silly gnome names the night before. I couldn't resist creating a character named Gnomnclature. Spooky matched me by creating a male gnome warlock named Klausgnomi. Last night, I leveled Gnomnclature almost all the way to Level 9. Man, I remember when the first ten levels were not half so easy as they are now (and when you didn't get a mount until Level 40). I suppose Blizzard figures they'll be able to create more addicts...um...I mean players...if lazy-ass, easily discouraged, free-trial players are given a cushy ride at the start. I might actually level Gnomnclature as far as 20, so she can get a mount and join the Knights of Good.
The platypus says that's enough, and I argue at the risk of losing another finger.
Day before yesterday, I wrote 812 words on "Tempest Witch." I may or may not be changing the title to "The Sea Witch," after discovering that's the correct name of the Frazetta painting upon which the vignette is based (also, it was painted in 1966, though not published until 1967). Yesterday, I wrote nothing, as I had an appointment with my psychiatrist, and those always throw days into disarray. But any day I see my psychiatrist and she lets me come home afterward, I count as a good day. I did get a lot of reading done yesterday, all research for "The Maltese Unicorn."
The eBay auction for a copy of The Five of Cups ends in a couple of hours. Remember, it'll be a while before you see another from me. This novel has been out of print since 2003.
It feels as though I've been watching an awful lot of "television" lately. I used the qualifying quotation marks because we don't actually watch television, but use Spooky's laptop to stream from Hulu and Netflix, and we watch a lot of DVDs. On Tuesday night, we saw Dr. Who: The Waters of Mars. Wednesday night, there was the new episode of Glee, which was great, even if there was a cover of "Jessie's Girl" (ew, ick) and even if we did have to suffer through Kurt's rendition of "Little Pink Houses." Last night, there was the very, very excellent new episode of Fringe. We also watched Michael and Peter Spierig's Daybreakers (2009). Not a great film, but a good film. Nice eye candy, which is the very least I ask of a vampire film (and which few ever deliver). Indeed, it's the only good vampire film I've seen since 2008's Låt den rätte komma in (which was much superior to Daybreakers, but still). So, yes, lots of watching.
Also, last night, I did something I swore I'd never, ever do. I rolled a gnome on WoW. A female gnome warrior. I fucking hate gnomes. And, yet, I did it anyway. Spooky and I had been joking around with silly gnome names the night before. I couldn't resist creating a character named Gnomnclature. Spooky matched me by creating a male gnome warlock named Klausgnomi. Last night, I leveled Gnomnclature almost all the way to Level 9. Man, I remember when the first ten levels were not half so easy as they are now (and when you didn't get a mount until Level 40). I suppose Blizzard figures they'll be able to create more addicts...um...I mean players...if lazy-ass, easily discouraged, free-trial players are given a cushy ride at the start. I might actually level Gnomnclature as far as 20, so she can get a mount and join the Knights of Good.
The platypus says that's enough, and I argue at the risk of losing another finger.