• 14:40 Adamant's big sale continues -- even on new releases! Today's release: REBELS OF MARS! tinyurl.com/yg2j2pr #

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Is that really so much for a girl to ask?
(Wonders if that rates higher or lower on the 'Inconvenience Scale of Corvidic Wants' than, say, a particular Southern Gentleman, consumption, or a garret of her own...? Hm. They're all probably about even in impossibility, give or take.)

Today I don't want laudanum in a 'I'm crazy and pained and want to be dead, make it better, give me drugs you bastards' kinda way. I want laudanum in a dreamy-stylistic 'I haven't eaten in a while and there's been art and it's cold and my brain is stuck in another time and - damnit - surely I'm allowed?' kinda way. After all, there's Pimms o'clock. My neurons feel it's laudanum o'clock.

It occurs to me that may be why I'm smoking agin - neurons keep hoping the strange fizzy-interesting-ill feeling the tobacco gives us will morph into something better...

Failing the actual imbibing of any soporific drug, I want this please: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Victorian-Laudanum-Poison-Label-Gothic-Lowbrow-Poster_W0QQitemZ400087828311QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Prints?hash=item5d2717c757#ht_1002wt_1145 because it amuses me.

Long ago I wrote a series of stories about a bunch of assassins, most of whom had yet to complete their A-levels. The knives tutor was a grave individual who dressed in black and looked rather like Syd Barrett circa 1968. His tag name was Morpheus. Because of all this, several unforeseen things have happened over the years: such as various friends of mine giggling at The Matrix and ranting at the cinema screen - "That's not Morpheus!", much to my delight. But mostly there's been the discovery of the phrase 'into the arms of Morpheus' used in Victorian/ish literature which now always makes me either laugh at the absurdity of the thought or sigh in satisfaction.

Currently my neurons think that falling into the arms of Morpheus (both the narcotic and the individual) would be a fine and fun thing to do. However all I have is a cold room, work to complete, a pack of cigarettes and a small bottle of cider. Damn.

Why can't I have laudanum? And consumption? And.... wah.
My life would be easier if what I coveted with a soul-burning desire was shoes or make-up or something.
*sigh*

• 13:09 #blackfriday Art Print Sale... aaronace.livejournal.com/146666.html #
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Visit the Monkey King at KoboldQuarterly.com.

Damn yoou Virgin telly!

I like Moonlight. (I realise this is a reprehensible lack of taste, but hey, trashy vampire fiction, it's my thing. Deal.) Catching up a few eps on the TiVo this morning, I watched the one where he's searching for a kidnapped kid who's the grandson of his old WW2 buddy... well, his old war buddy's wife, anyway. So there's a photo of the regiment in the house, including Mick, all hooman-like. It just lurks a bit (makes Beth start, but so does everything) until it's spotted at the end and the kid's dad takes it out of the frame, reads the back and looks flabberghasted. Last shot of the ep is a closeup of the writing on the back, which holds long enough for you to read it.

So Virgin, in between programmes, they have this cut scene thingy with a cute knitted monster watching the last few moments of the ep on a TV about 15% of the size of your screen.

The last full size frame is the picture side of the photo, about to flip over.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Smallville remains the drunken aunt at the wedding of superhero shows on television as it approaches it's ninth season and the kind of quality one shudders to remember as the final season of X-Files.

However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just the least bit curious about this:
"When it comes to Smallville's two-hour Justice Society-centric movie (airing Feb. 5), there's no such thing as too much hype, right? Good. Glad we're all on the same page. In related news, feast your eyes on these exclusive new images from Absolute Justice. The shot above previews the violent showdown between Justin Hartley's Green Arrow and Michael Shanks' Hawkman, while the photo below offers a first look at Doctor Fate (Brent Stait) and Stargirl (Britt Irvin)."
-Article by Ausiello

• 09:10 Morning Twitterverse! As @gmskarka said earlier, when you work for yourself there are very few holidays. #
• 10:56 Dropped Annie off at the mall and it was CRAZY! The grocery store not so much. Love the idea of Black Friday but can't stand the crowds. #
• 11:15 @jasonlblair Give me Cyber Monday anytime #
• 21:28 Got the new Star Trek Vanguard novel by @davidalanmack. Really looking forward to reading it. No one does Vanguard Trek like he does. #
• 21:33 The A-Team, Trekified: tinyurl.com/ygq2ko3 #fb #

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lj-tags: thoughts
Richard's mind blasts in 140 characters...

• 06:10 iMac us mine. :) #
• 06:43 @ephealy the line at the apple store #
• 06:44 @TrapCast_Jenn standing in line = hard work. I want that job. :) #
• 08:26 @TrapCast_Jenn what time did you start? #
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Some random thoughts

• #pumpit till the end starts to bleed #
• #pumpt like a $3 whore #
• #pumpt like godzilla had bent it over a rusty radiator #
• twitpic.com/r5tq8 - The joy of web 2.0 #
• twitpic.com/r5tz8 - #pumpit win for @chococat #
• #pumpt man. Stop bouncing the ball and do a dance for the viewers! #
• #pumpt man. SHOE ON HEAD! SHOE ON HEAD! SHOE ON HEAD! (please) #
• #pumpt man. Shoe on head please! #
• #pumpt shoe on head. shoe on head. shoe on head!! #
• #pumpt, #pumpt till she cries for moar!! #

Seem to be having some problems adjusting to my new flatscreen monitor. I cannot find a brightness setting where the glare isn't uncomfortable, unless I get so dull that it's causing other problems. Maybe it's just because there's so much more screen, and therefore more glare at the same brightness, but anything with a white background is driving me nuts.

1. Ninjas must have ridiculously high blood pressure. They get so much as a paper cut, and they're spraying blood like a Rain Bird.
2. Sho Kosugi has become the Japanese Jack Webb.
3. Every ninja movie deserves an '80s training montage, and on that count this movie delivers in spades.
4. Somewhere around the remake of "Zatoichi", digital blood became more practical for the special effects people.
5. No matter how much of a bad ass ninja you are, there's always one man tougher and his name is Sho Kosugi.
6. All shuriken are now about the size of two crossed daggers and every ninja throws a dozen or more like they're Nolan Ryan.
7. The ultimate ninja power is not invisibility, but the ability to temporarily become Barry Allen.
8. Ninjas may be able to dodge a bullet, but they cannot dodge a helicopter gun mounted on top of a tank.
9. Some ninjas are, in fact, terminators.
10. Ninjas are good sports. The kusari-gama is an unstoppable whirling blade of death, and if you use it to trap a ninja's weapon, that ninja will not hold onto it because that wouldn't be fair.

Pretty awesome:



.

This was yesterday

• 00:43 Dancing with Sredni moblog.net/view/915240/dancing-with-sredni #

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Awesome.

Grade School summer computer classes were included afternoons with the use of this show, mixed with showings of Tron & Wargames.

Good times.

I have never liked beer. To me it always seemed like a giant bait and switch scam. When I was a kid, I saw all these TV commercials that told me how awesome and delicious beer was. When I was 12 some of my cousins sneaked some from the keg at my Uncle Mel's place and we found a corner away from the adults to try it. It tasted like boiled socks. What the hell? Where was the refreshment? Why did adults drink so much of this swill? Since then I've tried dozens of different beers of all sorts in countries around the world. I've found a few I can abide but Belgian lambics are the only ones I can say I actually like and that's because they don't taste much like beer. No, beer isn't for me. I later discovered hard cider, however, and that became my brew of choice.

About 11 years ago I was home in Massachusetts for Xmas. I think it was the first time I brought Nicole east to see my old stomping grounds. We were out getting some libations for the holiday and I saw something I'd never encountered before: a mulled hard cider. It was a seasonal special, I think by Cider Jack. I got a six pack and drank it all in a couple of days. It was delicious, and the mulling spices added a lovely flavor to the cider. I said to Nik, "We'll have to get some of that when we're back in Seattle."

The problem was it never made it Seattle. I don't know if that was a regional test that didn't sell well or what, but in fact I never found that mulled cider again. And oh, I have looked. For over a decade I have haunted liquor stores and specialty shops, scanning the ciders from brewers big and small. I never found anything close. The only things I searched for that long were the Witch Hunt RPG and the "Kill by Remote Control" album by Toxic Reasons, both of which I eventually tracked down.

The other night Nicole and I went to a cider tasting at Full Throttle Bottles in Georgetown. We tasted six ciders. Five of them were made here in Washington. The sixth was Scrumpy Jack, which I've had in England but isn't sold in the US. The woman running the tasting wanted to contrast a mainstream English cider with the local varieties. The tasting was fun and we got to try some different ciders. As we were browsing the store, it occurred to me to ask her about mulled cider. She seemed to know her business after all. So I told her my story and she said without missing a beat, "Try J.K.'s Solstice Hard Cider." I found it in the case (it's made by J.K. Scrumpy) and picked up a bottle to take home.

I am drinking said cider right now and it's delicious. It's the closest thing I've had to that mythical mulled cider of over a decade ago. It's spiced with cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup that enhance the apple taste and give it a very full flavor. The label has snow flakes which makes me wonder if it's also a seasonal variety. I think the only safe thing to do is go back to Full Throttle Bottles and stock up for the winter!

Ever wondered what the Kill Bill trailer would have looked like if all the characters were from Star Wars? Me neither, but this is superb (once you get past the quite boring prologue):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD9-tFTifY8