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That cool daemon meme swiped from superplin.

His Dark Materials is amongst my favorite childrens fantasy novels. And in my opinion far better than some of its predecessors. Also amongst the few that feature a strong, independent, female heroine who is a little girl. Most of these books have boys - Narnia, Harry Potter, Earthsea, the Hobbit. It was Pullman's response to a lot of the themes he found troubling in the Narnia series.

Really looking forward to this film, far more actually than Harry Potter, or Spiderman.

Bookcases, dollar bills and little accomplishments...

Sometimes life can surprise you with little unexpected gifts that you just happen upon due to being the right place at the right time.

While wondering back to my place with Wales today, we were having a lovely chat...commiserating and completely in synch. Anywho...I found a one dollar and a five dollar bill just lying on the sidewalk. I picked them up, looked around but didn't see anyone who might be missing them. Then in front of my apartment was sitting a bookcase - the right size, shape and color for my apartment. I've been dragging my feet on buying a new one - they tend to run anywhere from 100-150 if you're lucky. And there it was, a little smudged here and there, but otherwise in good condition. Painted the same white as my walls, also oddly smudged in the same places. (Both my walls and the book case probably could use a new coat of paint.) Wales volunteered to help me lug it up the three flights of steps to my apartment, it was light, but I don't think I could have done it by myself. And once inside, it fit perfectly on the other side of my couch, and is the exact same size and shape as my other two book cases. You have no idea how long I've been looking for a book case to match the other two, and here this one just popped up. My downstairs neighbor was moving out and giving stuff away for free on the sidewalk below - this bookcase was one of those items.

Prior to this, I finally managed to finish the second to last chapter of my novel - this is the chapter I've been pecking at for the last month. Now, I only have one chapter left and I'm done. It's currently at 245-246 pages or a little over 100,000 words. And last night I made it through a sizable chunk of my friend's novel.

And just a few moments ago, Wales and I finished watching a film that I'd rented from netflix three weeks ago and had not gotten around to watching - finally we watched it, together, and whined about it together. It's called The Science of Sleep - an abstract French/English art film that doesn't really go anywhere and dwells a bit too much on someone else's dreams. Together - it was treat. Alone - it would have been torture. As Wales put it - "no one's dreams are ever that interesting but our own, don't people get that?"

The weather was perfect, warm but not too warm, cool but not too cool. Some clouds, some sun.
The new restaurant we ate lunch at, quaint, uncrowded, with comfortable chairs, and great Buffalo burgers and fries. No line at the grocery store. Not much of one at the drug store where we picked up a card for her boss' 40th - it was a rather cool card shaped like a martini glass that said Happy Birthdini..innocuous yet appropriate.

Today was the universe's gift to me for a long frustrating week. A little treat to be savored, nothing fancy. Just a treat. Almost as it were saying, hey, I like you, hang in there.

From my correspondence list...

Picked up the following bits from my scan/read of my flist.

1. Cool Book Meme via petzepillingo

( cut because it is a frigging long book meme...and I'm saving you real estate on your flist, aren't I nice? )

2. Canon - ( canon - wtf? Cut because I'm certain something in there is bound to offend someone on my flist, 'canon' and anal debates on 'canon'='continuity' is one of my pet peeves about sci-fi/fantasy fans - and why I've never really fit in that much with them. )

3. Fanfiction - a debate about whether or not women writers are being silenced or hiding behind fanfic. And should write original works. Sigh. Old argument - which isn't logically supported when you look at all the evidence. Such as: ( Read more... )

4. The Golden Compass Daemon thing is fun. Tempted to post my original version just for comparison. The only problem with it is it is really hard to move that slider on a lap-top computer. Took me forever last night. Some questions I left at neutral b/c it was just too damn difficult and I decided didn't care that much. Which makes the meme either slightly inaccurate or really accurate, can't decide which. Not crazy about my second name - Alvin? Alvin? What happened to Achelynon or Thelon...hello? ;-)

5. Whedon. Three really good bits on flist this week about Whedon.

First was an interview with him - where he states why he decided to go with Lynch on ATS S6 series and what canon means to him. In case you are curious - he defines it in the same way rahirah does in her lj. It's the work of the original writer and comes directly from the story he created and fits within that continuity. Can't remember who posted it though.
Most of them came from elisi.

The other two come from interviews with David Fury - posted by elisi and possibly petzepillingo - who has a lj name I can't remember how to spell, sorry.

*Whedon loved his characters. Unlike most TV writers, who after a while grow tired of them and see writing the show as a job and just do it as a job - Whedon genuinely loved what he did. He lived his characters. Adored them. Lived for them. They remained active in his head. And he was driven to tell their story. It was never just a job - and that energy, that passion spilled over to everyone else.

- That may explain why I fell in love with BTVS, ATS & Firefly and have not really fallen in love with any other tv show in quite the same way. When the creator loves the characters - the audience does. It's a good piece of writing advice, actually. If you love your characters - others will to. If you don't care about them - how can you expect anyone else to?

*Whedon and Sarah M. Gellar both left the series feeling that the other treated them inadequately, didn't respect their work, what they did for them or the series. Whedon thinks Gellar didn't appreciate how Buffy helped her career. Gellar thinks Whedon doesn't appreciate
how Gellar created Buffy. Fury personally thinks they are nuts - and that they were equally great. But what can you do? LOL!

--In short - don't expect Gellar to ever reprise the role. (Which I'm actually pleased about, I think she's too old and it would look funny, but hey to each their own. Also never expected it anyway. Got the very strong impression when BTVS ended most of those guys were happy not to see each other again. 12-15 hour days is a long time to work with people who irritate you. Wouldn't mind a Spike movie though, doubt I'll get one - Have the very strong impression that Marsters doesn't want to reprise the role either, unless he was paid a lot of money for it which there is no way in hell Fox will dish out. Much cheaper and easier to do comic books. Plus, I'm not certain Whedon is that interested in doing a Spike movie.)