Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

[cleolinda]

I will never complain about November again. We have had the most gorgeous, diamond-bright sunny weather with, I think, one slightly drizzly day this whole month. It's not as cold as I'd like (or, really, at all), but Seasonal Affective Disorder has been postponed for another several weeks at least. Huzzah!

Meanwhile, my sister is sort-of-not-dating a burgeoning alcoholic, we gave my step-nephew stephew a stubby little interactive lightsaber for his birthday, and my mother's cooking has been cursed all weekend--the caramel brownies didn't turn out too well, the pancake recipe she tried (in lieu of mix, which we ran out of) was crap, and then she forgot about the chicken on the grill and came back three hours later to find no survivors. Woe.

I dreamed last night that the book sold 58 million copies, and that this was "pretty good." Meanwhile, it seems that one of your esteemed fellow readers was at a Neil Gaiman signing the other day and gifted Unca Neil with a copy of the book. The funny thing is that I think he may have heard about it before--Vladimir, who is one of his translators, may have mentioned it to him when I was still writing it.

(Unca Neil mentions that Sci Fiction is going down, which is a damn shame, particularly since I hadn't even heard of it until today. If you read no other story, read this one--or these ones, rather.)

Oh, also: apparently the book is mentioned in the Observer today, wherein a number of titles (the Bible in txt-speak, the Odyssey in haiku) are accused of, basically, causing the downfall of Western civilization. (I had no idea obliterating our cultural past could be fun and profitable!) Fortunately, I think (if I'm reading this Very, Very Serious article correctly), my book gets off the lightest, because the reviewer admits that I'm going after "James Cameron and Mel Gibson, not Shakespeare and Dickens." Also, he concedes the hilarity of the results. That's a direct paraphrase, people.

(What I find funny is this idea that condensing the movies might possibly destroy our cinematic past, when the reality is that if you're not a movie buff, you're not going to get a lot of jokes. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's a reference to The Birds in there that no one got, because I didn't do a good enough job of framing it. Despite the subtitle about the book being for people who can't be bothered to watch the movies--which was not my idea--I'd say that the real point isn't that the movies take less time [hey, ask the Total Film reviewer]; it's that certain absurdities rise to the top when you boil off all the window-dressing. Like the fact that Frodo falls down every five minutes, or that there's a battle of Stirling, and a battle on a bridge, but no actual battle of Stirling Bridge in Braveheart.)

Anyhoo: forgive me if the linkspam is slightly stale; it's been accumulating over the last few days.

sigma7: "In slightly better news, Sony gives up, for now. Slashdot responds. We finally won one, gang."

_digitalangel: "i'm not sure how much this has to do with anything, but MIT study shows that tinfoil hats actually incease some radio frequencies. so maybe dom and elijah really ARE sekritly gay together?" Shhhhhhhhhhh, they'll hear you.

Pat Robertson Warns Pa. Town of Disaster. Because they rejected Intelligent Design for their schools. Yeah. Also: "Robertson made headlines this summer when he called on his daily show for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to 'kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.'" Actually, I find that becoming a de facto sapphic Wiccan has made me much more pro-capitalism. I mean, you gotta buy your moon almanac and your dolphin-shaped dildos somewhere, right?

Poll: Most Americans Say Bush Not Honest.

Kuwait bird flu is highly pathogenic strain, says official.

French rioting spurs British haughtiness, introspection.

Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born filmmaker and producer of the "Halloween" horror movie franchise, died Friday from wounds sustained in the triple hotel bombings in Jordan.

Internet holds only future for newspapers, experts warn. Well, who wants to buy a paper when the news is already out of date?

Four People Injured at B5 Concert in Minn. Who?

Finding Said to Boost Proof of Goliath.

Lemur Species Named After John Cleese.

RIP Ginny the Dog, Rescuer of Cats. The accompanying picture is your day's recommended dosage of awwwww.

Networks cancel '7th Heaven,' 'Arrested'.

"Nip/Tuck" Ads Slashed.

Thief Robs Banks While Chatting on Phone.

Memoirs of a Geisha doll. From the people who brought you the Chicago dolls, the very Wicked-looking Glinda and Wicked Witch dolls, and the terrifying Harry Potter doll I linked a while back.

Katie Holmes, Stepford Housewife.

The Atropa's Cottage drama, now with bizarre, veiled threats to sue the BPAL boards for libel. I wasn't going to mention it at all, because the woman seemed very nice and had excellent customer service (I will admit to ordering a sampler pack to be more informed about the whole brouhaha, and... I'm sticking to BPAL. But excellent customer service, yes. Ghirardelli squares were involved), but this claim of libel is just too much.

Speaking of which: bpal_feedbackuser: A community to check out sellers and buyers before they can swaplift you.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to read some more of the periodic table.

Comments

[cisforcorrie.livejournal.com]

Pat Robertson is as much fun as a barrel of monkeys, man.

Jon Stewart did a retrospective of his "greatest hits" on The Daily Show and it was pretty funny. Too bad some people take him seriously.

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

No. Nonono. Sci Fiction cannot possibly be ending, not now that I've submitted something to them and won't be hearing back. ARGH.

...thanks for the heads-up, though. ^_^

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

I don't think we've won anything yet (http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/45):

We stand by content protection technology as an important tool to protect our intellectual property rights and those of our artists.

I continue to suggest "Fuck Sony."

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I don't think we've won anything yet:

Very true. But I think the very act of the blogosphere's upheaval actually lit a fire under Sony's collective ass and moved them to action. It may not have changed their strategies, but I think one particularly catastrophic tactic may've been stopped.

And yeah, suggestion approved and held strongly to. I don't blame anyone for downloading music anymore; suddenly it seems safer.

[hongkongaton.livejournal.com]

The Fox Network deserves a nice punch in the face.

Good for you..

[penguincrush37.livejournal.com]

You did get off rather lightly in the article, but I agree with you that the reviewer essentially missed the entire point of your book... M15M are funny only because you've taken the time to see the movie, and understand the absurdity of the movie industry's tricks. I really don't think M15M is a reflection on the culture of time in any way... though the author would like to make it so in order to contrive his point... (I'm not much a fan of wistful commentary-journalism.)

Anyway, I generally don't post, but I always read your entries and they are highly enjoyable... I'll never forget Troy in 15 Minutes, it was the satirical highlight of my life.

But (honestly) thanks for writing in your journal, (unhonestly) I guess otherwise I'd have nothing to do with my time but sit around enjoying condensed classics, longing for the good old days when I might have instead enjoyed long hours of solitude sitting in a cornfield chewing on a piece of wheat..

Oh, and congrats on the book! I'm waiting to hear about it stateside, but I'll be abroad in Scotland next spring so I'll be sure to take a look :)

-Steph

[rebel-waltz.livejournal.com]

do you think you could make a link in your next link post to http://www.myspace.com/arresteddevelopment? it's a whole campaign put together to try and save Arrested Development. i'd really, really appreciate it, this show is too good.

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised I didn't pick up "The Birds" joke; it took three viewings of a really obvious parody of it in The Simpsons ep. A Streetcar Named Marge before I realized what it was.

Here's hoping the Cooking Karma Gods let your mom off the hook soon ('cause pancakes are yummy)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem is more that I referenced a bit of dialogue from The Birds, and the dialogue ain't what people remember from that movie, unlike the Jaws/Indianapolis bit in Titanic.

[lo0o0ony-lauren.livejournal.com]

Hmm. The snide reviewer kinda sucks but, hey, could've been worse compared to what some people got and he seemed to enjoy reading it so there you go.
I'm getting it for Christmas =D
I was gonna do the whole, 'long time reader, first time commenter' thing but I'd only bore you to death so... Heh.

[sarah531.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, it seems that one of your esteemed fellow readers was at a Neil Gaiman signing the other day and gifted Unca Neil with a copy of the book. The funny thing is that I think he may have heard about it before--Vladimir, who is one of his translators, may have mentioned it to him when I was still writing it.


OMG- was that at Milton Keynes? Because I went to the Ottakars there to get the book yesterday, and there was a sign saying Neil Gaiman was signing, but he wasn't there yet.

Duuude.

[pescivendolo.livejournal.com]

That cat-rescuing dog article made me cry.

[waltzingalong.livejournal.com]

I noticed your name being mentioned in the Observer today.

And Pat Robertson should just... well, admit that he's a failure of intelligent design. Or something.

[maetang.livejournal.com]

I remember you were asking for pictures of your book in bookshops a while ago. I live in York in the UK, and while I was in the local branch of Borders the other day, I saw the book on a display table, and snapped a picture of it with my phone cam.

[wicked-goddess.livejournal.com]

Oh my! Someone told me about the Atropa's Cottage wank a week or so ago, but I had no idea that it had roared back to life again. And made fandom_wank to boot! It all just makes me appreciate Beth's artistry and craftsmanship all the more.

That is so cool that someone gave your book to Neil.

Coming from a journalist...

[virtuistic.livejournal.com]

The thing about newspapers, besides the history of the printed press, is that it's a tangible copy, direct source copy. People like to save newspaper clippings and the printed newspaper is generally more trusted than online news. It still carries more authority. Plus, for citation purposes in papers... it looks better in the eyes of a skeptical TA 'cause it's a lot easier to print untrue statements on the net.

While you could print off a copy, the internet is kinda shady in terms of "real news" sometimes. A lot newspapers are already making the switch, but c'mon people! Think of the crosswords and the comics and my career!

Re: Coming from a journalist...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, that's true. Still, I can definitely believe that people will switch to thinking of it as a hard copy of online news, rather than the internet being an online copy of print news.

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman squee! That's just too cool. How awesome would it be if you got a mention in his blog?

[istoo.livejournal.com]

oh, 'esteemed'? :D

'The American humourist' sounds like a catchy title. :)

[cosmob.livejournal.com]

Heh, you're officially an American humorist; so says the Observer. I like that.

Actually, besides the reviewer kind of missing the point, I thought it was a good mention. This line, in particular, "The anxiety is illusory, which is what makes it so absurd," seems almost to put the book into the realm of Ionesco and his ilk. Okay, well, maybe not, but he does seem to have enjoyed the book, so that's good.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Insofar as he seems able to enjoy anything, I guess. ; )

[skyblade.livejournal.com]

Getting off easy with The Guarian is like getting the Mafia to buy you dinner after you told the FBI the life story of each and every Don. It's just not them if they aren't bemoaning culture coming to a screeching halt every week. But then again, they might not realize you aren't actually British.

I don't usually mind Novemember, but it always bothers me more when October ended up being a write-off. And right now the leaves are a color that seem to be upsettingly my currently sensitive stomach.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Didn't they call me "American humourist Cleolinda Jones"? If they know I'm American on top of all the other, it must really be my lucky day.

[dramedy.livejournal.com]

my friend clearblacklines posted this (http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1Y2ZCTUH83PEM06KFPPPP9S6TR) link in her LJ.
I tried to reup it, but i couldn't :O
It's Jodi Benson(the singing voice of Ariel) singing "I got Ryhthm". It's great.
:)

[duncanatrix.livejournal.com]

Here's something interesting. It's this awesome little flash thing called Epic 2015 that talks about how the whole world is going to go online--newspapers, shopping, entertainment, everything. The link is here: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic

[cellardoor28.livejournal.com]

I was at the signing yesterday with the lovely Neil and can confirm that he had a copy of your book sitting next to him. I even have photographic evidence which I can upload if you like.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Eeeeee!

[la-petite-singe.livejournal.com]

Awwww. I thought you meant the "Nip/Tuck" ads were slashed in, you know, the fun way. Boo.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

In fact, I'm pretty sure there's a reference to The Birds in there that no one got, because I didn't do a good enough job of framing it.

Shit, there's a Birds reference in there? I love that movie. I ought to get this book. Somehow. With money. On the street.

[carebear080787.livejournal.com]

My family just decided to go to England this summer so I'm going to buy your book then instead of paying for shipping. Because I am poor and Disneyland steals all my money.

Also, the loss of Arrested Development is depressing. But alas, not enough people caught on to this amazing show.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hey, you'll still get it faster than the rest of the continent. : )

[miyabiarashi.livejournal.com]

...why on earth is that Memoirs of a Geisha doll's obi tied in front? I suppose it's meant to be stylish, but...only courtesans wear their obis tied that way, not geisha. (/nitpicking blather)

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

AND it's crossed backwards, like a corpse, or the photo's flipped.
I'd rant to geisha_girls, but I don't want to start another Memoirs of a Geisha flamewar.

Nice Ping & Fen icon! :)