13 ways to say yum

I always forget to do the Thursday Thirteen posts that some folks do. But tonight I remembered. So I figured I'd start with the good stuff:

Thirteen favourite men in books (no particular order):

1. Rupert Carsington
2. Gideon, Lord Carradice
3. Daemon Sadi
4. Japhrimel
5. Phin Tucker
6. Shan yos Galan
7. Daav yos Phelium
8. Miles Vorkosigan
9. Gilbert Blythe
10.John Knightley
11. Paul Schafer
12. James Fraser
13. Ammar ibn Khairan

Hey this is fun...how about a Thursday twenty-six?

Thirteen favourite celluloid men (again, no particular order):

1. Captain Jack Sparrow
2. Captain Malcolm Reynolds
3. Commander John Crichton
4. Spike
5. Russell Hammond
6. Mr Darcy (pick a version, any version)
7. Derek Shepherd
8. Crash Davis
9. David Addison
10. Josh Lyman
11. Johnny Castle
12. Will Turner (so sue me, I'm in the mood for pirates)
13. Han Solo

Er, so if I was to analyse that I'd say I like:
1. Captains and commanders
2. Pirates
3. Demons
4. Doctors
5. Scholars
6. Warriors
7. Musicians and dancers
8. Men who are smart, funny and sexy

If you can figure out who fits into what, then you probably like the same things I do ...as a hint, some of 'em fit into more than one category!

A shout out

Happy first release to Rachel Vincent (another of the fabulous Miriam's clients)!

Her urban fantasy, Stray, which features feline shapeshifters (what's not to like?) is out now. It has a cool cover (as you can see) and the snippets I've read are likewise cool. I have to wait for the vagaries of the postal service being all the way here downunder but the rest of you don't...get thee to a bookstore!



PS Rachel's running a contest on her blog to win cool Stray stuff, so check it out!

It's not easy being orange

Apologies because this is a little blurry but I had to get a picture of what I found the orange cat doing tonight when I got home (he'd obviously been sleeping like this quite some time). And then of course he moved when I tried to take another.



Life's hard when you're orange. Obviously just knocking down the cushion to sleep on isn't comfy enough, no, there must also be stuffing of the butt into a shopping bag to keep one's delicate rear end warm.

The grey cat has expressed an opinion that there is too much orange mentioned here. To which I reply 'yes but he does so many more nutty things than you'. Which earned me A LOOK. So now she's probably plotting something.

And now, because I need to exercise, eat and write before I can look at any of the books the nice postman delivered, au revoir

Yo ho Yo Ho

Back from Pirates 3. The verdict? I loved it! I know it's gotten mixed reviews and even in our group of 7 there were varying opinions - interestingly the guys liked it less. And I think that's because it's very emotionally driven for a big swashbuckling adventure action movie. The motivations are all love and family and freedom and revenge rather than just 'let's blow some shit up'. With interesting results. But I found myself just sitting there smiling in sheer joy at several times during the film, just enjoying the big, audacious, all out, hell of a ride of it. And no, not just because Johnny as Jack completely RULES. Someone once pointed out to me that I like the Quest story, the impossible dream. And Pirates had always been about quests...multiple quests by the time we get to this installment. Quest heaven. Sue me but I like characters that aren't always black and white and complicated stories and betrayals and good things done for bad reasons and bad things done for good ones. Worlds where nothing's certain and there are big things at stake in personal ways.

Like Serenity, it's not perfect, there a few bits that maybe could change but I'd rather see someone go for the balls to the wall story and emotion and miss in a few places and whack it out of the park in most spots than play it safe and end up with boredom. Really Gore Verblinski had me at hello (and btw, the hello in this movie is not pretty and I really would suggest that this isn't such a kids film) and has yet to lose me. I would happily watch more Pirates movies. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll see this at cinema at least once more. For one thing, Johnny. For another, Orlando is growing up just fine. For a third - COOLEST WEDDING EVER. And for a fourth , well stay for the end of the credits.

And if, in an alternate world, I can be marooned on one of those pretty, pretty islands with Cap'n Jack, that's just fine by me. In the meantime, I've got my own quest story to be playing with.

Better

Well, something worked overnight, I feel a LOT better today, despite the fact I don't think I slept terribly well. I kept dreaming about people having babies...no idea what thats about but it wasn't me having them, which is good : )

The cold is still there, lurking a little, but I no longer feel like a limp dishrag with a head stuffed full of cotton wool. In fact, I've had quite the productive day. I've finished the draft of my partial revision and sent it off to be looked at by wiser heads. It'll get another polish before it goes off to Miriam in a few weeks. I've even done (ssssshhh) housework and gone for a walk. And the business cards are sorted and ordered.

Soon I'm going to the mall for a poke around Borders to see if anything takes my fancy and to pick up my tickets for Dallas!! Yay. Less than 7 weeks now (counting days? who, me?). Then I'll come back and see whether the wolf might be ready to come out and play.

Happy Friday!

PS Anyone know why blogger isn't emailing my posts to me? Anyone? Bueller? Confusion reigns.