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Note to Self: Keep your eyes peeled for cheap thrift store silk ties to construct the ultimate 1994 Sassy-girl outfit.

Thanks to Dave Barry’s Holiday Gift Guide, I now know what I’m getting everyone on my list for Christmas. Let’s see, there are some Catholics who’ll love these inspirational “Jesus-playing-sports” statues. I’m sure Dad would love the shotgun shell Christmas tree lights. My sister will appreciate the instructional tennis shower curtain to help her brush up on her game. And of course, the Snook will love me forever when he sees his magnetic filing cabinet flames.

(I joke, but in truth I probably wouldn’t mind getting a duct tape purse. Or hey! Maybe I could make one. Hmmm, new craft project…)

Rodd and I have been working our way through the Angel Season 1 DVD. We just got to the episode where Doyle dies. The spooky part is, according to Kim, Glenn Quinn, the actor who played him, died on Monday. Weird.

Well, the Snook is off for his company’s Christmas party today – they went lawn-bowling at Bondi, if you can believe it – so I decided to take in a movie. I’ve been eagerly awaiting Possession, which is based on the novel by A.S. Byatt (which I just read a few months ago). I liked the book a lot, even though I felt like most of the poetry and literary analysis were over my head. (You can read my initial thoughts about it here.) The movie, on the other hand, sucked. I thought it completely dumbed down everything I liked about the novel. Numerous characters and sub-plots are cut in favor of making a straightforward romance. It also managed the neat trick of surgically removing all the hotness from Aaron Eckhart and Jeremy Northam. (Seriously, I’m going to have to go watch Emma right now just to replace the images of Northam I currently have in my head.) I also don’t get why Eckhart’s character was made American instead of English. It obviously wasn’t a simple casting decision; they make reference to his origin several times in the script and tie his “impulsive” behavior (stealing manuscripts) to it. What the hell is the point of that? Were the filmmakers worried that American audiences wouldn’t go to a film where all four principals speak with a British accent?

Overall I just thought the movie spelled things out that I felt should have been handled more subtly. Like the lesbian relationship between Christabel and Blanche, for instance. In the book we don’t know the truth, because it’s impossible for Maud and Roland to have known. But in the movie we have to see them clasping hands and giving each other numerous smoldering glances. I felt embarrassed for the characters. It felt like we were seeing things that they wouldn’t want us to see.

Ebert would be ashamed of me, because I’m committing the cardinal sin of film reviewing: I’m reviewing the movie that wasn’t made rather than the one that was. He seemed to think that it was pretty good. I guess without reference to the original book it’s still a decent film, and it’s a fairly intelligent date movie. I just can’t get over the fact that, for me, the love story was the least interesting part of the novel. That the filmmakers chose to focus on that at the expense of everything else shows that they never really got the point of the story in the first place.

Firestorm. I headed into the city today and finally saw with my own eyes the large cloud of smoke obscuring the sky. You can even smell it on the wind. I keep having flashbacks to camping with my folks, except I know that the fire causing this isn’t nearly so nice and friendly. Fellow Sydney blogger Tracey lives near one of the areas in danger and she’s posted some photos at her site. You should check ’em out. It’s really weird to think of y’all on the other side of the world dealing with snowstorms and ice while we all sweat and worry about bushfires.

Synchronicity. You know how I linked to that Rudolph article yesterday? Well, check out today’s Foxtrot. Hilarious! (Except his name’s Hermey, not Herbie.)

Vampire Ecology in the Jossverse. That rules! (Link courtesy of John.)

“I’d like to be… a DENTIST!”
Matt linked to a great article about my favorite Christmas special: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I’d love to see the restored version on DVD, especially the bit about Yukon Cornelius finding a peppermint mine. (So that’s why he kept licking his pickaxe!) My favorite character is Hermey, who I’ve been known to quote on occasion. (But nobody ever realizes what I’m quoting.) And remember everyone… BUMBLES BOUNCE!

This is so weird. The power has been flickering for the past couple hours and it keeps knocking out our computers. I wonder if we’re having “brown-outs” from all the air conditioners running in this heat.

Later: Holy crap. It isn’t the heat; it’s all the fires. Snookums just pointed out that you can see them on the weather radar map. (I’ve archived a shot here.) That ain’t rain; there isn’t a cloud in the sky. All those blue dots – including the two huge ones – are smoke.

Just received my first Christmas card of the season… from good ol’ Notre Dame. Am I the only one that thinks it’s highly questionable etiquette to send someone a card and then hit them up for a donation? Not to mention the fact that they obviously don’t cross-reference their donation requests with the student loan records. I mean really, I already owe them, like, seven thousand bucks. But that doesn’t stop them from suggesting I pass over another couple grand to get enrolled in the “Sorin Society’s Founder’s Circle”! Sheesh.

[Sidenote: I’m also becoming quite Hemisphere-sensitive. Get this line from the accompanying letter: “Christmas arrives at the darkest time of year, as if to remind us, in the words of St. Luke, ‘that a light was born to shine on those who sit in darkness… to guide our feet in the path of peace.’” Hello? For literally half the globe, Christmas arrives at the brightest time of year! Am I being overly critical here? Does the Northern Hemisphere have some exclusive right to Christmas? Besides, isn’t it sort of accepted that Christ wasn’t born in the winter anyway, but that early Christians moved the celebration in order to capitalize on existing pagan Yule rituals? Why am I getting so worked up over this? It must’ve been the request for money. That always pisses me off.]