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Cool! The New York Times ran a Harry Potter crossword today! The Snook and I are working on it right now… (Link courtesy of Manda.)

On Friday Amy and I got together to make some galleons, sickles, and knuts for our Harry Potter train trip next weekend. We’d originally had plans to do them in Fimo clay, but the guy I spoke to at Barnes Casting Supplies in Newtown thought they might be too brittle. He suggested something a little more fun and a lot more dangerous: resin casting. So armed with a buttload of supplies, we set to work.

Looks fun, doesn’t it? We were like two kids having play-dough craft time! First we made the Fimo coins, which turned out much better than expected. We flattened the Fimo with the rolling pin, cut out circles with cookie cutters, and then stamped the coins with letters and shapes. While they were in the oven we got started with the resin. The first step was to make some molds. We were using “dental putty,” which is evidently the stuff they jam in your mouth when you get braces. You knead two different colors of Silly-Putty-like goo together and then you have, like, five minutes before it turns into complete rubber. We attached the charms to the bottom of various sized glasses and then smooshed putty all over them. Picture 2 shows the completed molds. Picture 3 shows the baked Fimo coins. Back to the resin. In Picture 4 Amy is measuring out equal parts of Scary Resin Stuff “A” and Scary Resin Stuff “B”. Note that we’re wearing dust masks and we had the door open with the fan blowing. (It actually didn’t smell bad at all though. I don’t think we had the super toxic version.) Picture 5 shows me and my small hands pouring the combined mixture into the molds. Within a few minutes they were starting to turn from clear into white and give off some serious heat. (That’s Picture 6.) In Picture 7 you see them nearly finished. Then we just popped them out of the molds as seen in Picture 8. The Snook is now going to help me spray paint them and add some further writing and detail.

So to summarize, we just spent $50 and countless hours of time to make fake wizard coins to pay for chocolate frogs on a steam train to a fictional village. Really, we just want to show up the other kids. Hooray for being grown-ups with discretionary income!

We just finally saw Batman Begins and, much like Ebert, I thought it totally kicked ass. The only negative was the pair of FLAMING IDIOTS who brought toddlers to the show. Toddlers! I wish I were joking. The kids cried through the whole damn thing. As the Snook put it, “The whole plot was about a guy tramatized as a child, and now those dumbass parents just did the same thing to their kids.” Finally one of the other moviegoers yelled out to get the damn kids out of there, and the father actually had the nerve to look annoyed. That’s the kind of crap that makes me laugh whenever people mention my “biological clock.” I DON’T THINK SO.

Forgot to mention: Any of you Sydney Apple users looking for a new keyboard and mouse? The new machine came with a brand new Apple keyboard and mouse, which means I’ve now got three sets. (I’ve got the wireless ones on my desk, while the Snook has my old black ApplePro keyboard on his now. “I think it makes my computer go faster!” he says. The assimilation has begun.) Anyway, I don’t need it and I’m not feeling charitable enough to return it to them. Anybody want to make me an offer? Interesting swaps considered! (Lets be honest; buy me a beer and it’s yours.)

Ladies and gentlemen, DeskCam is BACK! Also note that I have changed my hair yet again. The colour is still red – lovely deep refreshed shocking red – but I had her chop a few inches off. We started with a classic bob but then cut into it and thinned it out a lot. (I have way too much hair.) Paige said that her official name for the cut is a “shattered bob,” which I totally love. It goes with the punk rock image.

The Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Making Your Own Pizza. How useful! My few attempts at homemade pizza have seriously sucked. (Link courtesy of not martha.)

After eleven-and-a-half weeks… I finally got a new computer! About damn time.

Oh my God. We just saw the news. The Snook and I were sitting in a bar when he noticed a reflection of a TV screen behind us and recognized the words “London” and “bomb” as they scrolled past. We recognized Tube stations that we had both been in dozens of times. It’s unbelievable. Londoners like to act blasé about the IRA threat, but something like this is just shattering. I remember how it felt on September 11, 2001 as we watched the World Trade Center fall from our kitchen in Hammersmith, getting reports of the City evacuating and wondering how safe we were. We’re sending e-mails and SMSes to friends over there right now. Any of you Londoners able to tell us what it’s like in the city?

This is a sad time. I hate to say it, but the possibility of something like this happening was part of the reason we left. As the Snook said on September 12, “If America goes to war, we’re going to Australia.” I’m really glad we did.

Good grief. How many times do I have to say it? Willy Wonka didn’t “hate children”. That’s just WRONG. This Patrick Lee guy has obviously never read the damn book. This is half the reason I stopped updating my Dahl site. No matter how much misinformation I try clear up, the same myths and inaccuracies persist. It’s like shouting in the wind sometimes.

Look, I may indeed have muttered “I wish these damn candy bars were off the shelves” during my darkest diet moments, but I swear the whole Masterfoods extortion threat wasn’t from me, okay? (Although I will admit to a certain “If I can’t eat Snickers, nobody can eat
Snickers!!” shadenfreude.)