Book Recommendations: Since I did some extra work for the Gleewarts train trip last weekend, I now have a nice gift voucher courtesy of the folks at Gleebooks. I don’t know what to spend it on. Suggestions? Other than Harry Potter, my most recent book purchases have all been non-fiction or comic books. Which books have really been floating your boat lately? Stuff I know I like: fantasy or sci-fi that tells a real, engaging story (like Atwood, King, or Dick), biographies (both historical and recent), annotated classics, humorous essays (a la Steingarten or Bryson), really good short stories (a la Saki or Dahl). Stuff I don’t think I like: chicklit, William Gibson-type sci-fi, Pratchett (sorry, love), angsty autobiographies of people with horrible childhoods who go on Oprah, thrillers and spy books. That said, I’ll give anything a try. So come on, help me make a shopping list!

I just got a call from out in the shop.

Co-worker Who Shall Remain Nameless: You know the Vero Tweed, colour #55? The one with the purple in it? Would you call that colour gay?
Me: What?
CWSRN: Gay. Is it a gay colour?
Me: EXCUSE ME?
CWSRN: I’ve got a customer on the phone. She’s been after that colour for a while, but she just showed it to her son and she thinks it’s too gay for him. Would you say that?
Me: (spluttering) I’d never say anything like that! Colours are just colours. Newsreaders wear pink shirts and that doesn’t mean they’re gay. She’s an idiot.
CWSRN: Well, what should I tell her?
Me: “Get stuffed.”

The BBC website held a contest asking people to tell the entire story of the first six Harry Potter books in under a hundred words. Here are the top 6 entries. My personal favorite is #4, which I shall repeat here because it makes me giggle:

“Harry and his posse gots ta eliminate gangsta V-Man and his evil yet sexeh followers lest they destroy the world.

V-Man has already got Harry’s posse members shot down (family, godfather, Dumble-D), and it’s a-time for revenge!

Harry and crew has got to cruise ’round the hood to find V-Man’s treasures to destroy, and only then can they take him on and blast his ass! Pow!

Hermione and Ron want to hook-up, but feel that Harry’s hollah is more important at the moment, which is way cool, but Harry ain’t bovvered, because he knows that luuurve will get him through.”

V-man and his “evil yet sexeh” followers. How can you not vote for that?

A Hello Kitty costume… for your cat. WANT.

Magic and free will
I’m listening the Deathly Hallows audiobook with the Snook, and tonight something struck me. (No spoiler! Don’t worry… although if you haven’t finished it yet, you’re really pushing it!) So anyway, I was thinking about the Imperio curse, and how it’s pretty much one of top three worst crimes you can commit in the wizarding world, right? Taking away someone’s free will ranks right up there with murder and torture. Compare that to the Star Wars universe, where Jedi seem to apply their mind trick to the weak-minded whenever they feel like it. Obi-Wan even uses it on random people he meets (like the deathstick merchant on Coruscant) to force his own morals on them. Shouldn’t we find that more repugnant? In the movie it’s played for a laugh, and I guess it’s supposed to be okay because we trust the Jedi to be good guys. But hey, you know, that really sucked of him. Hmm, maybe I’ve discovered another of the contributing factors to the Jedi’s downfall. Their attitude towards “muggles” seems a lot more cavalier than wizards’ of Harry’s world.

Oh man. This list of “sissy, post-grunge, mid-90’s poseurs” just breaks my heart. Why? Because it looks like my Top Rated playlist in iTunes. Those are ALL the songs from when I was in high school! See, this is why I don’t listen to much modern music anymore. My tastes just aren’t fashionable enough. (Okay, okay. I’ll admit I do cringe a little when “The Freshmen” comes on.)

It’s a gathering of knitbloggers…

From left to right, that’s Bex, Lara, Anna, Fiona, and me. We had a lovely time knitting squares, and I even got interviewed for the evening news tonight. (I’ve set it to record.)

Faceball. I’m sure we have an inflatable beach ball around here somewhere…

Cat = Harbinger of Death. I could’ve told you that.