(no subject)

1. Well, there's now a site, which at the cost of $26-32 and some change, you can research any name including your own and get in-depth details, including location, residence, criminal records, etc. I find it a bit frightening. It also researches all relatives associated with the person you are researching.

I tried it - discovered I had to pay for it. Ended it. But, it reiterated that there are over 1000 people with my name in the US. So, in order to find me, you need to know how old I am, where I've lived, and who I'm related to. Good luck with that.

2. Started watching S5 Game of Thrones finally, at least I think it is S5? It's the most recent season in any event. And I'd forgotten how good it is -- sort of blasts most television series out of the water in the quality department, including most of the television I've watched this summer. (Granted that's not hard to do, considering I've mainly been watching a daytime soap serial via youtube and taped on ABC.)

And..it's completely jumped away from the books. I mean entirely. None of the story threads are following the books any longer, except for possibly Arya's, and just barely. This is not necessarily a bad thing -since I remain convinced that GRR Martin wrote all his characters except for Ayra into a corner in Dance of Dragons. Also he had one too many characters, and one too many sub-plots. Martin had the annoying habit of adding characters and subplots to the story - as if he didn't have enough already. And forget about the previous sub-plots. The writers of the television series have decided to fix this problem, by either completely ignoring the additional subplots (as in the case of the Iron Islands) or killing off the subplot's characters in one fell swoop (see Dorn -- in fact, I thought when it happened, okay, that's one way to get rid of an annoying subplot that doesn't appear to be going anywhere). If you read the books - the Iron Island and Dorn subplots, along with Davos' wandering about is rather dull and plodding and doesn't really go anywhere. I decided after reading them that GRR Martin required better editors. Apparently, the television writers agreed and decided to do a bit of editing themselves, resulting in a much tighter and far more cohesive story.

If you've read the books and aren't fannish about the books, then you may have gotten a kick out of how they did it. I certainly did. Personally, rather like how they've changed Brienne's story thread, far less frustrating and bleak, and a wee bit more proactive not to mention satisfying. Also, Davos is much more interesting than he used to be. And a lot more pro-active in the story.

But, if you are worried about people who have read the book spoiling you from this point onwards? Not gonna happen. We're clueless too.

3. Struggling with a sinus headache all day. I blame the weather. A/C woke me up at 5 am in the morning, with incessant banging. I don't know why it was banging. It's not banging now. And it was banging worse when I turned it off, so it's clearly not something wrong with it. Maybe a bug got stuck in it? The Locusts have been noisy this summer. I can actually hear them.

A Lazy Sunday...

1. It's a lovely day, crystal blue sky, barely a cloud drifting by, and a slight breeze in the air. I'm thinking seventies, although hard to tell. Where's that nasty storm they were predicting? No where in sight. Maybe it decided to skip us and drift out to sea after whomping Florida and the southeast?

Feeling a bit guilty for not frolicking in the day. It is sinfully beautiful out there. But, alas, I live in a city. And I want to be by myself. Wandering around said city is not conducive to that aim. Although, perhaps a long walk to and around Greenwood Cemetary might be in order? I think the park will be packed. I've been avoiding it all summer for that reason.

Decided to do the park afterall - mainly because I'd rather hear children playing and smell barbecue than stare at headstones. It was pleasant, not too crowded, with people evenly sparsed out here and there. Everyone was relaxed, happy, and polite. Speaking about a dozen different languages. I don't know why I need to travel elsewhere, I can pretty much soak up the cultures of about fifteen different countries without leaving my own neighborhood. Lots of kids on skateboards and dog walkers.
Also, quite a few people out in row boats on the lake, along with swans, geese, and ducks. I bought, an outrageously priced, cucumber mint lemonaide for $4. And meandered my way around the lake.
On the way back, I stopped by Walgreens, picked up few things (specifically 'Tyelnol Sinus + Headach' which to date is the only medication that appears to kick the sinus headach in the bud), and a mango lasse from a Bengali Street Food Truck. (You gotta love New York. Where else can you pick up a gluten-free strawberry rhurbarb pie, coconut ice cream, cucumber mint lemonaid and a mango lasse all in a five to six block radius?)

Was also feeling a bit guilty for not dragging my ass off to church this fine morning, instead I went to the farmer's market and bought the aforementioned gluten-free strawberry rhubarb pie, goat cheese, green beans/yellow wax beans, and raspberries (which must be in season). It was a lovely walk through Ditmas Park, which resembles Greenwich Village, Connecticut, except more down-to-earth, a heck of a lot more diverse and older trees. I hadn't slept well the night before -- my air conditioner for reasons that escape me, continues to bang at about 1 am in the morning. It does it for about two or three hours, then seems to stop. Does it bang at any other time? No. I'm beginning to think there's a ghost inside it and it just comes awake in the middle of the night. Or maybe a bug? Or someone is cleaning the gutters at 1 am in the morning? (I have a window air conditioner.) Also plagued with a sinus headache. So...I decided to sleep in and do the farmer's market instead. Church isn't really in session at any rate. The minister is on vacation and we basically have congregants doing their own little impromptu services.

So all told, did about 3 and a half miles of walking today. At least that's according to my cell phone. How accurate it is, I've no clue.

2.Being on the lazy side, saw a couple of flicks yesterday.

*All the Way - the HBO film based on the play about LBJ show-casing Bryan Cranston in the lead. It was slow. I kept going to sleep during it. And at one point was interrupted by a phone call. So lots of rewinding ensued.

The best part of it was the negotiation of The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which lost the Democratic Party the South for about three decades.

( spoilery review )

* A Walk in the Woods - based on the book by Bill Bryson, which I read for a book club back in the 1990s, I think. Can't remember when I read it. The book was charming, and so is the movie. I liked the book better, but that's hardly surprising. I think Redford and Nick Nolte may have been too old for the roles. Bryson and Katz were in their 60s, Redford is now 80 and Nolte is 75. But whatever, it's still a tale about two old coots attempting to hike the Applauchian Trail. Emma Thompson is married to Redford aka Bryson. Who, well, Redford is basically Redford in every movie that he is in, and yes, he's aged well. Also quite spry. Not as spry as Dick Van Dyke, but then nobody is.

This, that and Game of Thrones

1. Been puttering on my novel this week, struggling through a plot-bunny. My goal was to kill off two subsidiary characters tragically. They aren't really supporting, they are more like the novel equivalent of red-shirts actually. But alas, no, they refused to die or my protagonist refused to let them - one or the other. Who am I kidding, I'm not telling my story, my protagonist is -- I'm just writing down what she tells me.

Not sure many people reading that will get it. People write differently. My stories sort of come to me. It's why I can't do fanfic effectively -- I channel the story and its deeply personal. Sometimes I think it would be better if I could write fanfic effectively - because in today's publishing world, fanfic genre writers get stuff traditionally published faster due to a built-in fandom.

Oh well, not really writing for those reasons, so probably doesn't matter. Always a bit astonished when people enjoy or grok what I write and send out there. Writing is a solitary sport for the most part, you really have no clue how people will react to it. And usually by the time they do, you've forgotten what you wrote.

2. Game of Thrones

Hmmm, they stuck to the books after-all in some instances. The whole Sam/Gilly and Iron Islands storylines popped up in the third episode, Oathbreaker. Will state that they managed to make Cersei more likable in the television series than she was in the books, and a lot smarter. I think it may be the casting. Same deal with Jamie Lannister. It's odd to be rooting for the Lannisters, but I just can't root for the religious zealots or the Queen of Thorns aka Diana Rigg.

Rather like how they tightened up the Iron Islands story line. Appears they are threading Theon back into it, and separating that story line from the Stannis/Bolton/Winterfell war story line.

( major spoilers for the rare few who haven't watched it yet and managed to avoid the entertainment media spoilers regarding a certain beloved character's death. I didn't but if you managed it, kudos. )