(For reference: this website: http://www.jewelboxcafe.net/home_jewelbox.html )

I grew concerned enough over the state of that poor website to give the guys a call, and the fellow manning the phone reassured me that it was still under construction, in fact, "The website's not up yet."

So it's just unfinished, not an actual problem. Hooray for them!

Crossposted. comments.

I was willing to let the comment about the "Canadian secret service" pass as an American officer translating RCMP into terms those around him would understand but you know what? I don't think the Spanish Victory bond subplot was particularly credible because among other things I don't think the US government was particularly interested in funding the resistance in Spain in 1944. Actually, I took as proof the writers don't do research.

Bob and I got to go to a Christmas party (work related) in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho a couple of nights ago. We flew from Portland to Spokane and the Resort picked us up and brought us to town.



Lake Coeur d'Alene

We arrived starving. We threw our bags down and set off for a little walking tour.



Fifth and Sherman

One of our super powers is finding great little restaurants in new places we visit and we did great on this visit. We found Scratch where we had a huge lunch and rank it in our top ten restaurant meals of all time. Even factoring in that we didn't eat much all day until then. Smoked trout appetizer with some sort of cheesy-heaven dip, smoked lamb French dip sandwiches and signature salad with spinach, brie, candied cashews and pepper bacon.



We did a bit more walking around and then returned to our room for a quick nap before the big event of the evening.

The boat trip though the Christmas lights to the North Pole. I liked the sea monster. I also liked the Grinch but we need to wait for Bob's photos.



We saw both Mr. and Mrs. Claus who greeted all the kids by name. Then they made it snow and then lit the largest living Christmas Tree in the world. They had a ton more lights but by then my hands were cold and I didn't want to take them out of my pockets for more photos.

The music was a super dramatic version of Carol of the Bells.



We cruised back to the hotel and had a fabulous dinner which I could only eat about 7 bites of because of the giant meal earlier. Remember when I was young and could eat two pizzas, a loaf of bread with peanut butter, a carton of ice cream and a package of Oreo cookies? Sometimes I miss those days.

Not really.

We have a quiet weekend at home to get geared up for the rest of the holidays.

New STO video, with Zachary Quinto. I like. Also, we seem to be doing pretty well in Voodoo Extreme's Most Anticipated Game Poll. Please feel free to go vote for us (after all, it will help keep me employed!).

My hair, after being French braided for two days.

Photograph © 2009 Shannon Page, used with permission.

• 20:06 Poll: Who's unfunnier: SNL's Gilly or Jeff Dunham's puppets? #
• 11:39 Novel epiphany! Just figured out what to do with a character. #

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Police advised the homeless man to not attempt selling art to the metalheads at Studio 7 in the future. The man agreed.

(This is, you'll recall, the same nightclub where someone got shot outside during the Korpiklaani show I was at several months ago.)

In other news, Mr. Darcy and I bought each other Christmas gifts this morning. Soon he shall have a brand-spankin'-new iMac, and I now have two wool coats that aren't falling apart. Yay!

So here's the thing. One of the hardest things to deal with about being a science fiction writer is the scope of the material. Almost all of us cheat, because the universe is so... inconceivably vast that it's almost impossible to work with. So we work around it.

I keep hoping someday I'll write something that captures how that universe really looks and feels to me. I imagine if I ever swing it, it will be excoriated, but I still think it's a worthy goal. It's awfully neat out there, even if we don't, in the face of it, matter. (Am I unique in not finding that particularly bleak prospect? Sometimes, I think I am. The vast indifference of heaven feels rather inevitable, to me.)

Recently, I've been exposed to two pieces of art that capture that scale, in some regard.

One is here. It's called The Known Universe. 



It's a planetarium show from the American Museum of Natural History.

Another is a spoken-word piece by Peter Mulvey, entitled Vlad the Astrophysicist. You can listen to a live recording here. Right-click to download, and crank the volume: it's soft.

I wonder, sometimes, if that is why so many people cling to what they cling to, even when it's patently cruel or ridiculous. Because we are so small, and the universe is so very large, and we matter so little to it. And we are not adapted to deal with that. We are very, inherently, biologically, solipsistic.

But I kind of think all that emptiness is beautiful.

And so Chanukah draws to a close. One last night of candles, one last day of yummy foods. I was going to post Neil Diamond's version of The Chanukah Song, but given today and tomorrow's other significance, I find that I can't bring myself to post an embedded video, only a link.

Today, tonight, tomorrow are bittersweet for me. Not only is it Chanukah, but it's Shabbat and also, my mother's yahrzeit begins tonight. Because she died on December 28, 1981, her yahrzeit always falls this time of year.

( Let me tell you a little about her, with some old pix )

Had another job interview today at 10. Same agency, yet another position and location. At this point it's feeling a bit ridiculous since I still haven't heard anything about the other interviews. p_dilla is convinced that with the boys on Xmas break I'll get hired and have a December start date since he has a busy schedule these next two weeks. That would be awesome, albeit somewhat inconvenient. I did have a good feeling after today's 4 person panel interview though so we'll see. Separately, in today's "weird thing that happened because I went outside" news I would like to tell all the people who watch too many music videos to please be aware that when you see a group of young women wearing matching pink and black outfits and bandannas? They are probably not a dance group. Really. Yes, even if they're white (?) and pretty. The pit bull and the rottweiler should have been a clue, but apparently you're not smart. So when you and your drunk (frat boy?) friends decide to yell rude things at them and then jump out of the car? It won't end well. They'll let the dogs off the leash and you'll wind up on top of the car cringing while they laugh at you. And I laugh at you. And the guy next to me howls. While I enjoyed the show I'm guessing you did not. Next time please be aware that you are still on the West Side of Chicago even if it is near a lot of hospitals. One of those hospitals is Cook County. This should also be a clue. You're lucky that they didn't actually want to hurt you.

Okay, I've become incredibly obsessed with the brilliant website Television Tropes and Idioms. I'm pretty sure I could spend MONTHS perusing the sight and still not get enough. I have to admit I'm using it to help my writing, embracing the ones I love, lampshading the ones that need it or rejecting the tropes I loathe. Well, I've decided to add a new bit to this blog...my trope of the day...it won't turn into a daily thing really, but when I come across one I want to discuss, I'm going to do it...today's? The Award Bait Song.

I LOVE this one. It appeals to the Broadway musical loving side of my personality. I love a big number over my credits that's also a motif in the movie's score. These are the songs that get heavy rotation while I'm writing. I'd done a poll a while back about something similar to this that I can't find right now. Among my favorites? "All For Love" by Bryan Adams, Sting and Rod Stewart, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams and, of course, the queen mother of all Award Bait Songs: "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. (I am a fan...seriously...on the iPod I'll hear "Enter Sandman" followed by "I Drove All Night") It's these melodramatic, over-the-top songs that help mold my mind into a more "theatric" tone when I'm writing, like I'm trying to imagine the book as a movie already.

If I had my choice, all time, I'd lean towards Celine or Bryan Adams to sing one for one of my novels turned into a movie, though I'd also consider Beyonce or Jennifer Hudson. It'd have to be a powerful ballad, though I don't think that there's a place in Winter for a song like this, but maybe there'd be one in Sisters of Khoda.

What about you? Are there ones you like? Loathe? Who would you choose? Why?

I was sexually harrassed as I walked home from the shops today... BY A TREE which dropped a bunch of mistletoe on me, the pervy xenophile!!1!! No, rly. ;-)

( 6 images: mistletoe, buzzard, pepperpot, boat, river, & tree. )

Someone typoed "cospels" for "gospels" on racs, which led racs regular wkharrisjr to ask "'Cospels'? Is that something to do with cosplay? ;)".

I could totally see gospel cosplay. I could also see it going horribly, horribly wrong.

Remember Kevin W. Reardon?

Have a follow-up.

We are all familiar with large dollar (or Euro, Yen, rubble, etc.) figures attached to missions for their costs. Rarely do we see a break down of where mission dollars go.

The breakdown for this particular mission is

( Read more... )

My column this week looks at the films of Roald Dahl.

There are few authors who have had as profound an influence on the fantasy movie genre as Roald Dahl. It's not just that so many of his stories have been adapted for the screen, but also that he was himself a fantasy screenwriter. You might think you know a Roald Dahl movie when you see one, but I'm willing to bet that a couple of his masterpieces will surprise you.

via AMC – Blogs – SciFi Scanner – Mary Robinette Kowal – The Many Fantastic Flicks of Mr. Roald Dahl.

Comments? -- Link.

...are you working on a novel? 
What is your process?
What's your schedule?

I'll show you mine if you show me yours!