Hippo birdy two ewes!

[cleolinda]

So today is the day of the birth of the Mama of the Cleo! It is also her sister's (my aunt's) birthday. However, my aunt (her sister) is five years younger. Yeah... we don't really know how that happened, exactly. I mean, at least Sister Girl and I were born seven years and three days apart. Anyway, that's what I'm doing this evening: dinner, chocolate roulage, and presents. Remind me to tell you tomorrow what I watched on TCM today.

Linkspam catch-up:

eBay seller boycott to start Monday (today). Dammit, why didn't I sell my LOTR collectibles before things got stupid? I mean, I still haven't put them up, but...

Guilty plea in 'Waitress' actress/director Adrienne Shelly's NYC slaying; Adrienne Shelly's Murderer Gets 25 Years.

Lohan recreates nude Monroe photo shoot.

Sex gossip Web site starts student backlash.

In Case You Thought About Growing A Beard, Watch This, JACK.

Where You Going With That Monet?

The first lolproposal; vampire kitties are getting nervous; i nap periodically (think about it...).

Scientists find ‘Devil Toad’ fossil.

Giant Squids Invade The Dead Zones Of California.

xkcd: How it Works (it's true).

This Site Full Of Leaked Documents Is So Good, The Government Just Broke The Constitution To Shut It Down.

A truly breathtaking rant from John Scalzi about why Andrew Burt should not be elected SFWA president. As Patrick Nielsen Hayden comments at the link, "However the SFWA election plays out, a lot of people will wind up with the vague impression that John is a hothead whose position defines one extreme of a controversy. Whereas, in fact, on the substantive issues that have recently roiled the organization, John is very much a moderate." It's the kind of situation that makes you want to write a sci-fi/fantasy novel for the sole purpose of qualifying for the organization and joining it, so you can then resign from it in disgust. It's that bad.

How To Tell When The Fans Are Killing Science Fiction.

"There was a young author named Gaiman / Whose books were beloved of the layman...."

David Bowie Sings With ScarJo. Did I mention she's done an album of Tom Waits covers?

Wal-Mart Chooses Blu-ray; Toshiba to Dump HD DVD?

Depp, Law, Farrell to finish Ledger’s last movie; Mattel Releases World's Most Awkward Figurine; The Dichotomy Of Heath Ledger: Saint, Sinner Or Both?

James Bond Caught in Real Life Gang War. NOT THE PRETTY! DON'T HURT THE PRETTY!

Gains on Wrapping the Watchmen Filming; Producer Herb Gains' Heartfelt Watchmen Thank You.

New Watchmen Hints, Plus Batman and Wolverine Spoilers [Morning Spoilers].

'The Dark Knight' Meets 'The Animatrix.'

Dozens of Prince Caspian Toys Unveiled at NY Toy Show; Elbakin.net Interviews Ben Barnes.

NECA's Newest Harry Potter Toys; Mattel's Dark Knight , Speed Racer and Panda Toys; Hasbro Previews G.I. Joe, Hulk, Iron Man, Indy & Clone Wars; Toy Fair: Up Close And Personal With The ‘Indiana Jones’ Crystal Skull.

HD links to the untampered Indiana Jones trailer. Also, I am so relieved to find someone else who didn't think the trailer was all that good.

Ryan Reynolds Joins 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' as Deadpool?; More X-Men Origins: Wolverine Updates: Stryker Casting and The Blob.

More 'Twilight' Cast Confirmed; Ever Dreamt Of Being A ‘Twilight’ Character? Now You Can!; Will 'Twilight' Be The New 'Harry Potter'? And Why Do We Care?

Cillian Murphy and Ellen Page: Psycho Pair of 'Peacock.'

Diablo Cody, meet "Diablo Quotey."

Jonathan Pryce to play president in G.I. Joe; First Look at Quaid as Hawk in 'G.I. Joe.'

Jumper Director Talks About Ideas for a Sequel; Eminem almost starred in ‘Jumper.’ Okay, I actually would have paid to see that.

First image of Isla Fisher in 'Shopaholic.' I didn't say it was a good one; I just said it was the first.

First Look: 'Where the Wild Things Are.'

First Look: Richard Kelly's 'The Box.'

First Look: Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan in 'Eagle Eye.'

First Look At Sulu's Away Mission Suit? Uh, also with John Cho in it.

'The Love Guru' Poster Has Huge Nonsensical Euphemism.

Another Full Trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Happening.'

New 'Incredible Hulk' Photos.

John Landis Directing 'Ghoulishly Yours.'

Rumor: Is Will Ferrell Bringing Anchorman Back?

What Movie Remake Are You Dreading Most? [Poll] (Related: 22 film remakes dramatically different from the originals.)

Peter Greenaway Plans to Animate DaVinci's 'Last Supper.'

New 'WALL-E' Image; Wall-E Meets Peter Gabriel.

First Look at the Big Screen Smurfs. Really? We're doing this now?

ETA: Breaking local news: If you grew up in the Jefferson County (AL) school system and have fond memories of band director Pat Morrow, you may want to send him a get-well card--apparently he's in ICU, having a third stint put in tomorrow, after a heart attack he had last night.

Comments

[christigilly.livejournal.com]

'Tis my papa's b-day, too! Happy birthday, old man, lol! He's 55, and is proud to be able to order off of the senior menu at Denny's now.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee, my mom's turning 55, too. She keeps saying that she's "two nickels."

[ter369.livejournal.com]

She keeps saying that she's "two nickels."

That's adorable. Happy Birthday to the mama of Cleo!

[laddical.livejournal.com]

Same thing with my dad an aunt - to the day, 10 years apart.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

It's the kind of situation that makes you want to write a sci-fi/fantasy novel for the sole purpose of qualifying for the organization and joining it, so you can then resign from it in disgust.

Lots of us have written scifi/fantasy novels. We can't join SFWA because our novels haven't been bought by the qualifying markets, per membership requirements.

Just, y'know, trying to not promote the fallacy that once a writer types "the end", they then "have the book published". I am asked this all the time by adult professionals, often lawyers or teachers, who have no idea how publishing works.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I don't know why I was thinking "publish" and then said "write"; you're absolutely right.

[ccaretta.livejournal.com]

Was it the movie with Elizabeth Taylor? And it was called Raintree County or something like that? Cause my mom was watching something like that and it seemed a bit...odd.

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

It is also her sister's (my aunt's) birthday. However, my aunt (her sister) is five years younger. Yeah... we don't really know how that happened, exactly.

When I was younger, I was friends with a girl whose brother was born exactly one year after her. I was fascinated by it back then and still am today.

Eminem almost starred in ‘Jumper.’ Okay, I actually would have paid to see that.

Pay to see it anyway. It will be the most wonderfully, fantastically stupid hour and ten minutes of your life.

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

Stay strange, Peter Greenaway!

Dear Cinematical Dude,

They speak SPANISH in Panama.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kind of looked askance at the Panama thing myself. Surely he was kidding? Surely?

[delirium9.livejournal.com]

Ehm... Sorry to butt in, but... well, I live in Panama myself, and we don't have gang wars here. And yes, we speak Spanish.

And that article was the stupidest thing I've read in a long while. And the guy who wrote it is a complete moron.

Sorry, Cleo, but I had to say that. I'm so fed up with Hollywood portraying my country, my city (*any* Latin American country/city, in fact) as a run-down town where chickens run on the streets, everyone is a barefoot farmer, and the rich are all drug dealers... or something like that :/

And the article was more insulting because it poked fun at a real tragedy: yes, there were some protests, because a construction crew worker was murdered by the police, in the last of a series of incidents involving pay-offs by big building corporations and unsafe working conditions for the workers.

By the way, I don't even like James Bond AT ALL (not a fan of any of the films), much less Daniel Craig (ugh), but I guess I'll go see it, since my sister is one of the 700+ extras in it. I doubt I'll get to see her, but maybe I'll be able to spot her arm or something... :P

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

Just on the bit of "Will Twilight the the new Harry Potter?"

No. No. No, and a thousand times, no. The books are okay for a read, I'm looking forward to the next one, but for the love of God, every single time a new series gets it's fifteen minutes, suddenly it's the New Harry Potter. When will people just accept that Harry Potter is Harry Potter and Something Else will simply be Something Else. Bah.

[dreamingreader.livejournal.com]

iawthc.

And how many "new Harry Potters" have we had? 50? 100? Maybe instead of having a "new Harry Potter", we should have "hey look at this great book!"

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

I have a book club with some co-workers of mine, we work in a bookstore, and when we meet I'm often told how again the current book we're reading is being called "the New Harry Potter" and I'm thinking, "I just heard about this book because of this club, are you kidding me?" I work at a bookstore, for the love of god, and I still don't hear about these books!

But yeah, just saying, "This is book is awesome, read it" would be a lot better instead of bandwaggoning on HP.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I think it's unusually tempting in this case because Cedric Diggory is involved. I think really, though, "Harry Potter" is code for "shitloads of money."

[wednesday]

Oh, thank you for posting the Diablo Cody stuff.

That whole "and suddenly she was a FAMOUS SCREENWRITER!" thing is basically driving me off the rails with associated writing-insecurity crap. That sort of stuff is oddly reassuring, like you actually have to have some weight behind you to be taken seriously after the first chunk of your fifteen.

[sevenmarie.livejournal.com]

Hey! my mommy and HER sister are born on the same day 6 years apart (jan 6) not only that but they have different dads (my grandmother's 1st husband died in ww2) so that is carazy!

not only that my friend Dan's uncle, grandfather and great grandfather were all born on the same day of the year!

and my husband was born the day after his moms birthday. way to ruin her birthday party there bud ;oP

[edda.livejournal.com]

Happy Burfday, Cleo's Mom! May Gerald descend temporarily from the heavens and shower you with many, many store credits!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Heeeeee, that should totally happen. Or maybe a free meal at Sonic, God help us.

[library-of-sex.livejournal.com]

For a short month, February sees a lotta birthdays! It's my friend Jackie's b-day today, my mom's tomorrow, and mine next week! Like my icon says, "Holla!"

[klik101.livejournal.com]

It's strange how birthdays can work out. My cousins, a set of identical twins, were born on May 15th. My twin sister and I (fraternal) were born exactly one year later. On this side of my family, 6 out of 9 grandchildren were born on the 15th of a month.

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

Happy B-Day to the Mama of Cleo! *ties a ribbon around Clive Owen's waist and sends him by post* Hears to a woman who has so many wonderful adventures to be written about. :D

[mercat.livejournal.com]

Hehe, weird on the birthday thing. I was born on my dad's birthday, and my sister was supposed to be born on his brother's birthday, but was two days late. Still kind of strange because there's only two siblings in each situation and all that. I love it, though, my dad and I get to sing happy birthday to eachother and not sit around looking embarassed. =D

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

That Scalzi rant is beautiful. Do you mind if I repost it to Fandom Lounge?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee, go for it. If he doesn't have a FW wiki entry (schadenfreude pie!), he should.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

In both instances with the birthdays, count back 9 months and see if there is a significant event around the time period (anniversary, birthday, Valentine's, etc).

[everstar3.livejournal.com]

That Scalzi rant is excellent, but what really amuses me is that I read the comments and found myself fangirling over some of the names I recognized. "Eee, Garth Nix! Eee, Elizabeth Moon!"

Re: big screen smurfs. OH HELL NO.

[leucocrystal]

Wall-E Meets Peter Gabriel.

...I think my brain just imploded from the combined awesome. (Seriously though, my favorite musical artist and my favorite production company, together? Omg.)

[bigeyedrabbit.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday to your mama!

[wearejustducky.livejournal.com]

All I can think of when I see the picture of the giant toad is:

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD

with that bzzzzzz noise in the background.

This is probably a sign I have watched Futurama too many times.

[daemonnoire.livejournal.com]

Lohan recreates nude Monroe photo shoot

The actress... said she didn’t know why the industry wreaked such havoc on some stars, adding, “I sure as hell wouldn’t let it happen to me.

Someone update the Dead Pool. Lindsay Lohan is about to die from IRONY.

[celticangel76.livejournal.com]

Happy bday to your mama!

Here's another odd bday thing for you - my first child was born on my brother's birthday. They are exactly 13 years apart. Sort of ruined his 13th birthday.

Hubby and I are 10 1/2 years to the day apart.

[schmoosey.livejournal.com]

Well, my nieces are four years apart on Jan 9th. The youngest was scheduled for a late Jan birth but apparently the oldest when asked what she wanted for her birthday replied 'her sister'. We were all 'haha funny but no' but when my sister-in-law went into labor late on the 8th did we realize that we have them both on the same day. That is also why oldest one thinks she can get whatever she wants cause she got her sister.

We expect problems when they are teenagers but right now it's no problem

[glyphs.livejournal.com]

Aw, yay! Happy birthday to your mom! One of my friends in middle/high school shared her birthday with her younger brother. They were both born on May 8th, 2 years apart.

David Bowie Sings With ScarJo. Did I mention she's done an album of Tom Waits covers? >Wait, so is that version of Missing You with a woman singing with Tom Waits that I always hear on the radio at work her? I did not know this. If they are one in the same, she has a very nice voice.

Also, I'm getting very excited about all the Twilight news involving both the movie and Breaking Dawn. I've never pre-ordered a book before but I may just have to with this one because I love these characters so much. It can be so annoying to myself how attached I become to fictional people. What's up with that?

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

HAPPY B-DAY MOM OF CLEO!!!

Also: 3-D Smurfs?! Is nothing sacred?!?

[elbales]

Er. Belated happy birthdays to the Cleomom and other relatives. Yes.

[trasnochadora.livejournal.com]

Wow, that xkcd link just...made me really sad all of a sudden. It's tough work, being a woman.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

Belated b-day wishes
to the ... uhhhh ... Mrs.es? Dunno.