On the other hand, there was today. Today was pretty much a loss. I've had several nights of poor sleep. Another last night. Only...I crashed at about 6:30 a.m. and didn't wake until almost 8 a.m. And that kind kicked the legs out from under the day (and never mind that I'd hardly slept ( Read more... )

Christ, I'm depressed. But at least the sun is shining, and the high today was a comfortable (to me) 82F. You may have seen on the news the beating that Mississippi and Alabama took last night from tornadoes. At least twenty-six dead, mostly in Mississippi. The Birmingham area was mercifully spared. Well, no. There is no mercy. There Birmingham ( Read more... )

I've been watching a lot of TV lately, catching up on this and that. The second season of Ozark (Netflix) was very good. Sharp Objects (HBO) is extraordinary, and I recommend it to everyone. And there's Big Little Lies (also HBO), and it's extremely good, as well ( Read more... )

I have two lists that I posted to Facebook today:

Ten dark fantasy/weird books (unranked) that had a great influence on my writing:

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
2. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
3. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
4. Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray ( Read more... )

Clear and chilly this morning. It was 58˚F when I woke. It's now 65˚F. We're supposed to reach 70˚F today. It's autumn here, full on, but the tree outside my window is still green, and that helps.

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours getting together information for the John Hay Library, mostly relating the the Joey LaFaye dolls that Spooky ( Read more... )

And here, the last day of this foul year. It's appropriately overcast here in Providence, 32˚F, windchill at 25˚F. It should be overcast the world over, mourning 2016 and the fear of 2017. This year, the ball drops on an entirely different variety of uncertainty ( Read more... )

Sunny, 78˚F, 43% humidity. It was actually quite hot yesterday, almost 90˚F in Providence.

No writing yesterday.

Matt Ross' Captain Fantastic is really, truly a very fine film, possibly my favorite of 2016 thus far. We saw it yesterday at the Cable Car, which I wish showed more films that I want to see, because the place is remarkably comfortable ( Read more... )

Cold and sunny. At the moment, 27˚F, windchill at 13˚F.

I didn't work yesterday, unless answering email counts. I likely won't write today, though I have a call from my agent coming at 4 p.m. It's an important call. Spooky and I need to go out to the market before then.

I need to finish proofreading Mythos Tales, and I have to think of something ( Read more... )

Cold this New Year's Day. Cold and sunny. Currently 40˚F. Much colder weather on it's way, though, and I wish someone would tell me why I'm not spending New Year's Day in Manhattan. I'd settle for Birmingham.

I really don't have much to say this morning - er, afternoon. We played Guild Wars 2 all night, leveling our new Asura. At midnight, we were ( Read more... )

I used to be better about these end of the year "best of" lists. Anyway, I figured I'd give you one this year. My favorite American and British films of 2015, unranked (id est, in no particular order):

01. Ex Machina (Dir. Alex Garland)
02. The Hateful Eight (Dir. Quentin Tarantino)
03. Mr. Holmes (Dir. Bill Condon)
04. The Danish Girl (Dir. Tom ( Read more... )