Last night, I finally went for dinner with fellow foodie (and, more importantly, fellow sweet tooth) Nia. I say “finally” because we’ve been meaning to get together for a while now but the girl is: a) busy, b) very popular, c) trying to avoid me, or d) all of the above. Anyway, we were originally scheduled to hit that really popular Italian restaurant with the great desserts, but I ended up going the other week and was underwhelmed so we ended up going to the ever-excellent and always dependable Q4 (aka Quattro). Great timing too as the kitchen had just acquired a new pizza oven. Our meal –
- A pasta platter made up of – damn, I should’ve written this down…um, I’m thinking linguine in pesto sauce, garganelli in a white truffle cream sauce, penne arrabiata, and fettuccine with minced chicken. All great, but the garganelli was the big winner.
- A very simple but very good margherita pizza.
Anyway, a great night. I’m confident that next time we can work our way up to four desserts.
Hey, I don’t know about the rest of you, but if this World Cup has taught me anything, it’s that cheating pays off. Whether it’s faking an injury so that a player from the opposing team gets sent off, or blocking an opponent’s winning goal with your hand to stave off elimination, it’s A-Okay because more often than not you’ll be richly rewarded with anything from an unfair advantage to an undeserved win.
Finally finished another anime series. Claymore was, in my humble opinion, a giant waste of time. We chart Clare’s progress as she strives to exact her revenge for Theresa’s death, going from one extended battle sequence to the next in which our heroine, time and again, is seemngly mortally wounded only to make a miraculous recovery and best her opponent. When she finally faces off with the dreaded Priscilla, she defeats her and…decides to let her go. Hell, even the other claymores who spend the last two episodes trying to kill Priscilla suddenly change their minds at series’ end. A few peripheral characters die, ultimately nothing is accomplished, and everyone goes their separate ways no doubt to reconvene for season two and go through the motions again.
I HAD planned to check out Baccano next but because Funimation, in their infinite wisdom, ensured I was unable to fastforward through or skip the Baccano trailer at the beginning of my Claymore disc 1, I’m already sick of the series and want nothing to do with it. Guess I’ll just be going with Akemi’s choice then. Lucky Star it is!
I’ve finally booked a hotel for my Tokyo trip. As much as I love staying at The Peninsula, I wasn’t able to get any sort of preferred customer rate, so I’ve decided to go with The Imperial instead. I stayed there once, many years ago when I was traveling with Fondy. The service was impeccable. I recall one afternoon we came back to our room to find an enormous fruit basket awaiting us and a note that read: “The maid was cleaning your mini-bar fridge when your apple fell to the floor. Please accept this fruit basket as an apology.” Seriously. It’s older than The Peninsula, but quite majestic and, more importantly, located in the heart of Ginza. Also, my fellow traveler Ivon Bartok will be staying there as well which should make it easier for me to ensure he gets in okay after a night of heavy drinking.
A reminder that we have two weeks before discussion begins on July’s Book of the Month club pick: Alastair Reynold’s House of Suns. I’m about two hundred pages in and loving it. If you’re a fan of science fiction (and something tells me most of you are), then do yourself a favor and pick it up. You’ll also be supporting a fellow fan of the Stargate franchise: http://approachingpavonis.blogspot.com/2010/05/stargate-atlantis.html. Also, for all of you in the U.K., here’s how to claim your free copy of House of Suns: http://approachingpavonis.blogspot.com/2010/06/give-it-away-now.html. But be quick!
And while am it, let me again remind everyone that we’ll be doing August against this year and, as a result, will also be doing an August Book of the Month Club discussion. We’ll be chatting about Daryl Gregory’s The Devil’s Alphabet. Check out his book (http://www.darylgregory.com/devil/Default.aspx), his blog (http://darylgregory.wordpress.com/), and his awesome entry in the upcoming superhero-themed anthology Masked (http://www.amazon.com/Masked-Lou-Anders/dp/1439168822/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278209463&sr=8-1) along with my modest contribution to the kick-ass collection. Which reminds me – we’re doing September as well this year so I need to select September Book of the Month Club candidate. What’ll it be… What’ll it be…
BTW – Some great natsukashii moments, gang. Keep ’em coming!
Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans. My home town Bristol, Rhode Island hosts the oldest and longest 4th of July parade http://www.july4thbristolri.com/ check out the festivities. It’s usually this time of year I get really homesick.
First!
Oh. Damn.
@joe: Fifth?
@kabra: Happy 4th of July to you too!
I looked at the Bristol website and was happy to see they actually have fireworks on the 4th.
I grew up about 15 miles away from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland (you know the “Rockets Red Glare” battle that Francis Scott Key wrote about which inspired fireworks on the 4th?) Fireworks were always held on the 4th around there.
Now I live in Illinois and here each town moves it to whatever day gives them a three-day weekend…sometimes it’ll be different weekends in different towns.
It just doesn’t feel like the 4th that way…just another federal holiday. A bit of a shame…but at least this weekend, they all agree (even though some are having their fireworks tonight).
Hmmph. I thought there’d be a couple of people in the queue ahead of me.
Everyone’s out on the town…I guess 🙂
***Happy 4th of July*** to all who celebrate it.
😉 Happy Birthday Koko 😉 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)
Susan
Mr M
I’ve been seaching your book club entries for one of my fave Sci-fi authors, Julian May and I have not come across her (my search-fu may be lacking however) Have you read any of her works (esp the “saga of the exiles” and “galactic melieu” trilogy? If so, what are your thoughts on the series?
To the others who read this blog and haven’t read them themselves, I cannot overstate how enjoyable I found the series (all 8 books!) and how highly I recommend them to any sci-fi fan.
Cheers
Yeah, some of the shenanigans that are pulled at the world cup make me ashamed to be a fan at times. However, the Spain-Paraguay game today restored my faith a bit today. The right calls were made, no fake injuries were acknowledged by the refs and one player even kept going after being kicked in the head.
My favorite shenanigan thus far, though, goes to Ghana. They were totally wasting time at the end of the game against the US. As evidenced by one of their players when he seemingly laid down on the field with about five minutes left. Nobody was near him; he just went down. It was odd, and the refs thankfully ignored him.
More natsukashii…
Went to a friend’s house for first time. The drive was pleasant – nice area to live, etc. Then the road narrowed a bit and mature tree tops formed a bit of a canopy over the road then lots of canopy, almost like driving into a tunnel. Then it happened, a sign with – bridge, narrow road, and one lane only. Instantly, I was transported “home” to to my childhood and drives going up to and over the Pali on Oahu and the road to Hana on Maui. WOW….I could feel the tradewinds and smell the scent of plumeria and ginger blossoms and the hint of mauka main showers drifing makai. And I now live in Illinois.
I laughed at your wanting to be First!!
I like what you and/or Q4 did with the pasta. I would prefer to taste four smaller differing portions of pasta, as opposed to having a large portion of one flavour. I find that when you eat a large portion of something, it gets….boring, like the palate gets used to it, if that makes any sense (even when it’s good!!) Do you know what I mean? I’m glad you found some decent pizza. Hopefully they deliver!! The dessert trio looks good, if I had to choose one (since I just had Tiramisu a couple of days ago), I would go for the cherries w mascarpone cream in phyllo. Yummy!!
Nia looks really familiar for some reason, is she an actress?
Oh sure, make me look bad….. I leave for T Dot reeeeeeally early Monday morning, (yes, day after tomorrow, THAT Monday) and I still haven’t booked my hotel. Frankly, I DON”T want to go. *pouts* However, this trip has several appointments that I have been procrastinating on. So I just need to bite the bullet and get it done. So can you guess what I’m doing tomorrow? I know I’ll have a lot of fun once I get there….. Fortunately, or unfortunately, my trip coincides with Summerlicious….. I’m of two minds for these kinds of food events. I like them but I don’t….
Yeah, it’s generally a good idea to stay at the same hotel as your travelling companion. That does sound like amazing customer service. For some reason, I make the assumption that that level of customer service, in Japan, is the norm as opposed to the exception. Do you find exceptional service across all industries in Japan, like clothing shops, cafes etc.?
My rant from the other day involved just this topic. I don’t understand how anyone could be proud of winning, if they had to cheat to do it, where is the honour in that? How can they look into the faces of the children who idolize them, knowing that they cheated? Or accept the award? Or let their name stand in the record books? I don’t get it, but they have apparently somehow resolved it within themselves. Maybe I’m just naïve and it’s ‘just’ business and therefore all about the money, with the goal being to win by any means necessary. If this is the case, then I guess it’s true, when it comes to sports, there aren’t any heroes anymore…..
…and on that light note, I bid you a good night LOL!!
Have a good one!!
Kymm
The food, and company, looks lovely!
And don’t get me started on football/soccer again. 😛
You want more natsukashii moments? Okie dokie, this is probably my fondest, and one I hardly need a trigger for – just talking about it pulls me right back in time, and I can hear and taste and smell and see and feel everything.
When my grandmother – my ‘Nan’ – would come to visit she stayed at her summer house – an old carriage house – next to my parents. I was always very close to my Nan. When I was about 8 years old she became like a mom to me because my mom – only 34 at the time – had a serious kidney infection that nearly took her life, then a stroke that left her partially paralyzed on one side (eventually she did fully recover). During that time Nan took care of us, and in the summer we stayed over at her place. Soon it became a habit – spending summers across the yard in ‘Nan’s house’ – the best vacation in the whole world!
Nan’s house was (and still is) paneled upstairs floor to ceiling – AND over the entire ceiling – with old wainscoting. It was dark and dimly lit and the furnishings were old – a horsehair couch and brass bed and potbelly stove – but it was still very cozy, like something right out of an old west town. The wooden floors were covered with thin jute rugs, and the muffled thunder of waves pounding along some distant beach rolled in on sea breezes through the big, open windows that circled the room.
Downstairs the kitchen was painted ‘seashore’ aqua, with old white appliances from the 40s and 50s and a wagon wheel light fixture over the table. Against the back wall was a big aqua and cream coal cookstove that Nan would fire up to keep the house warm during her winter visits, but in the summer it was just a conversation piece, and a place to set a bowl of fruit, or a sweaty pitcher of ice-cold lemonade. This is the house everyone gathered in when relatives came, and I have so many fond memories of it. All it takes is the smell of Sea Breeze astringent, or Oil of Olay, or tea and Krimpets, to send me right back to my childhood.
On those hot summer nights at Nan’s house she would rub us down with Sea Breeze before bed, and it would cool our skin and help us sleep. The bed was this big old thing we called the ‘fat bed’, with a mattress that just swallowed you up and it was wonderful and safe, like being cradled in your mother’s arms all night long.
After Nan tucked us in, she’d go through her evening rituals – the washing up, the denture cup, the hairnet, the Oil of Olay. Always right before I fell asleep I could smell the Oil of Olay (or, ‘Oil of Old Lady’, as we used to call it 🙂 ), and it was oddly comforting.
But before bed – that was even better. Nan and I would sit in the kitchen under that old wagon wheel light, sipping tea and nibbling on butterscotch Krimpets, chatting about our day…or just sharing the little sayings on the Salada tea bag tags. Even now I can see her getting cups down from the white Hoosier cabinet, and I can hear the water working itself into a boil on the old gas stove in the corner, and I’m sitting there, snitching a little piece of icing off the Krimpet because I just can’t wait!
I really miss those days…and I really miss her. But I have these great memories, and they make me happy and they remind me that I’ve had some very good things in life, even if they were just simple things, and I’m very grateful for it all.
Have a good night, sir…and thanks for letting me share.
das
Happy 4th everyone…. And dang Joe.. Looks like you had a good time… That pasta looks soooo good. 🙂
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
I think that my natsukashii moment would be hearing any Sesame Street song from the early 90’s. It brings me back to my youth – from carrying my toy Ernie around to singing Sesame Street songs in school. When I was a lot more carefree!
And I can’t wait to read your tales of this year’s Japan trip once you go! The excitement here is building already!
The dogs are acting weird tonight. It’s like they know something…
What do they know?
Spooky.
Hmmm, I’m honestly surprised you didn’t like either Claymore or Baccano.
Although I do admit the series didn’t end as well as it should have, but there’s a reason for that. Two words: filler ending. The animators ran out road with manga material to adapt (and since they couldn’t end on the biggest cliff-hanger in history, like Berserk), they had to make up their own ending. Same thing happened with Gantz, whose ending I personally felt was even worse. Both Claymore, Gantz and even Berserk are still on-going series and honestly, they’re better than their anime counter-parts.
But since you ended up disliking two series that I suggested, I should make up for it (if you need any help with that after watching Lucky Star). I guess it’s time for me to break out the big guns on recommendable anime you may not have watched yet:
– Gungrave: The tragic story of two lifelong friends as they turn from street thugs into high-ranking members of a crime syndicate, going higher and higher…
– School Rumble: A seemingly simple highschool-set anime, but I found it one of the most hilarious series I’ve ever watched, topped solely by GTO.
– Seirei No Moribito: Beautiful fantasy series, set in a sort of mix of ancient China/Japan, chronicling the tale of a spearwoman hired to protect a young prince from his own household.
– The Place Promised In Our Early Days: Great movie, set in the 1990’s of an alternate timeline Japan.
And one of the best series I’ve watched recently:
– Ergo Proxy: A complex, dark series, taking place in a ruined future of Earth, with the last remnants of humanity living in domed cities.
Yikes, how are they acting?
Maybe it’s an earthquake!!! Hold on tight!!
K
It looks like you and Nia had a good time, not to mention an excellent dinner, so I’m glad you were finally able to make the connection. – Like Kymm, I’d go with the cherries with mascarpone cream in phyllo – sounds fully and completely delicious. I’ll be having something similar tomorrow: strawberry shortcake, which it seems is pretty much a traditional dessert for the Fourth of July. This version will have real shortcake, so double yum. (Not a fan of spongecake except in tiramisu.) And after my fill of grilled meat, too. . . (another natsukashii [sp?] item *sighs contentedly*). Tammy Dixon mentioned potato salad, and that also is a natsukashii food for me that’s sitting in my fridge ready to take over to my friends’ house later today. It’s driving me crazy knowing it’s there, but having to wait to eat it, lol.
Interesting about your dogs. Perhaps the “something” is the same thing I’ve been wondering about – or not. Guess we’ll know soon. . .
Hey Mr Mallozzi,
Ok, so this is the first time I’ve written a comment on your blog before. I only found the greatness that is stargate a few months ago thanks to my house-mate. And ever since that lazy Sunday afternoon watching the very first episode of sg-1, I’ve been catching up on anything and everything that has anything to do with stargate!! I just can’t get enough!!
Wow, the food looks great! My mouth was watering just looking at the photos…but it may just be that I haven’t eaten anything aaaaaaalllllllllll day…
I have a suggestion for a book. I’m not sure if you have heard of it or read it yet (I only recently found this blog) but I really enjoy it. Well, it’s a part of series… It’s called “A Game Of Thrones” by George R R Martin. Last time I heard they were making this book into a tv show with Jason Mamoa and some other really awesome actors. It’s a fantasy genre with kings and queens and knights and sword fights. I really enjoyed it!
@ Kymm
Merci mille fois (or mille feuilles, for those with phyllo on the mind *w*) for your Fourth of July greeting. You made me laugh by dropping the “u” from neighbour in honour of the occasioun. After such a noble gesture, how could I not down a cocktail or two in your behalf? – although I have to admit that I can only work in that much extra because the get-together chez mes amis will go on for a loooooong time. (*cues “All the Day [and All of the Night]” by the Kinks* – well, no, not gonna rock ‘n roll all night; but I can catch some zeds there if I need to. Aaaaanyway. . .)
Hope your trip to T-dot goes smoothly and gets business taken care of for you. Travel safely, and if you do go to Summerlicious, maybe you could return the cocktail favour and have a small treat for me. *puppy-dog eyes* lol
Coucou =) ça va bien?
Moi oui, il fait une très belle journée 🙂
Vous avez bien raison, c’est souvent les équipes qui triche qui ont de la réussite, mais ce n’ast toujours vrai, il n y’a qu’a voir la France et la main d’Henri XD
Miame!! ça à l’air très bon tout cela!! 🙂
J’aurai une question, vous n’en avez pas marre d’aller à chaque vacance au Japon? vous devez tout connaitre maintenant?
Gros bisou 🙂
@Chev
Summer or not, I had hot chocolate today after dinner – it was cool and drizzly; good atmosphere for it – since after you first mentioned it on Twitter I couldn’t get it off my mind. That brought on a natsukashii of coming home in the early winter dusk after a long time spent sledding (and trekking back up the hill) on a rare, perfectly sunny New England winter day, doffing the outdoor gear in the mudroom as fast as possible, and racing into the kitchen upon smelling rich chocolate milk heating on the stove. It’s such a great treat, with so many things you can do to make it a little different each time. Ah, winter. . . Cheers!
hey,you posted a pic of a guy in a grey suit,well thanks to my detective-esque abilities and the special features on sgu season 1 dvd i know that you used grey suit guy to help make the blue aliens. . .so does this mean that we’ll see the blue aliens again or is it some new cgi alien?
Eleventh!! Or, something like that. I have to admit I don’t understand that whole internet phenomenon. It would seem a pretty sad statement if that’s someone’s greatest claim to fame.
I agree that the idea of the four smaller servings of the pasta are a great idea. They look and sound great and the desserts looked excellent.
Maybe your dogs are sensing some major, impending Earth-shattering event. Like maybe the official go-ahead for the SG1 movie! 🙂
rest assured, you don’t have to be first to be number one. Though it did bring a chuckle that you did so.
Why did you ever switch hotels when you had a place that provided that kind of service? An entire fruit basket for a damaged apple? Which the maid could have simply put back and pretended hadn’t been dropped? That sort of place deserves customer loyalty. And thank you for posting the hotel names. No idea if or when I’ll ever make it to Tokyo, but if I do it would be nice to go to a first class place, if only for a few days.(If I go that far, I’d be travelling around to other cities. Which I am suprised you haven’t done in order to sample some more of Japan’s best). Anyways, a great Fourth of July, both to my American compatriots and to all the others out there for whom it’s just another sleep in Sunday
Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate it! All of the food looks good as usual. My natsukashii moment would be driving over the NC/VA border into VA. When I was a child, that meant that we were 20 minutes away from my grandmother’s house, a big rambling house that was built in the 1930’s. Since my family moved around alot when I was a child, going to my grandmother’s house always felt like going home.
Ooh…got another natsukashii moment. The ice cream truck! Everytime I hear an ice cream truck music or see one drive by….I immediately go back to my childhood memories. I remember as a child that whenever I heard that ice cream truck music…I would run to my mom begging for money. Then…I would wait on curb or my house for that ice cream truck. That music would get louder and louder. Then…when I saw come down the street. I would jump up and down waving my arms. The strawberry shortcakes were my favorites. Those are the best memories!
Happy 4th of July
Happy 4th to my fellow Americans
We’ve been going to the Boombox Parade in Willimantic, CT for the past couple of years..
http://www.wili-am.com/parade.htm
It’s a BLAST!! Anyone who wants to march can and do…It’s just a giant marching party…The main goal is to throw candy to the kids and try to get the spectators wet…
I was born in Willimantic, but live across the state now, but it is nostalgic to go back…
“The dogs are acting weird tonight. It’s like they know something…
What do they know?
Spooky.”
They know that you need to start honing your super-duper ninja detecting skills, gaijin.
das
Re: Claymore: The whole fight with Priscilla is an anime only change in order to give the anime an ending, and doesn’t happen in the manga at all as far as I’m aware.
The pups were hearing early fireworks from south of the border?
Do you actually follow the 4th July in Canada? I would say celebrate but Canada is part of the Commonwealth where surely the dogs would get spooked on 5 November and not today?
While you’re in the area you should check out the Ginza Lion Beer Hall. From my understanding they have many different types of beer, almost all brewed in Japan. It’s a large German pub with their servers dressed in German outfits.
Joe, do you ever run across a item on a menu that you just will not order? Or are you willing to try any and all strange foods?
Have you ever tried Durian fruit?
Happy Fourth to everyone.
Natsukashii moments – ‘Conjunction, junction, what’s your function?… – all of the School House Rock jingles really. The smell from a Brazilian bakery, I lived in northern Brazil when I was very young and that smell is wired in to make me smile. A powerful thunderstorm on a summers day (obviously when I’m not working out in it). Mom’s milanesa. Spicy boiled blue crabs reminds me of my grandfather who used to make the best!
Thanks Joe for the fun exercise!
Libby
My 16 year old son agrees regarding Claymore. He thought it was boring. He’s heard of Lucky Star but heard it was ‘girly’. Yes? No?…..
Happy 4th of July everybody (whether you care about the significance in the States or not…). I really get homesick for the US on holidays like today.
My re-watching of SG-1 has brought me to season six and I must say that I actually like it even better the second time around. A question regarding episode 11, ‘Prometheus’ – as much as I like the characters of SG1, the one thing that has always bothered me is the secrecy of the project, though of course most of the characters aren’t directly responsible for that. Now for the actual question: Do you believe it would really have been possible to keep such a project as the Stargate Program secret for so long? And do you think it was the right choice?
A side note to anyone who enjoyed Firefly, there’s a humorous reference to it in Castle, the series Fillion is currently starring in, in season 2, ep.6.
Hi Joe,
Happy 4th of July! I’m looking forward to the day, but am sooooo tired – I’m pet-sitting Willy the Rottweiller and he’s so scared of fireworks. They’ve been banging away for the last few days and today will be the worst. After every snap-crackle-pop the poor big guy looks around as if the very air is about to attack him. His family forgot to get tranks for him, so I’ve been sleeping in the kids’ room with him each night to keep him calm as he’s not allowed in the Master. We’ve walked a couple miles each day and we’ve played really hard during the day to tire him (and me) out, but it’s still hard to sleep next to the shivermeister. I’ll be glad to leave the fireworks behind tomorrow.
The pasta looked great – avoiding the pics of desserts – I indulged last week on the cruise so I’m desserta-non-grata for awhile. I may have lost weight last week, but my blood sugar was up after the trip, so I have to be careful. Decrease sweets, increase salmon, broccoli, spinach and fiber – and ingenuity! 😉
Damn, fireworks again – laters!
Smiles, Julie
Hey Joe,
looks like I’ve kinda lost interest in your blog cause I stopped reading it. I have to admit that I wasn’t drawn towards SGU and as you hardly posted anything about SGA or SG1 anymore I kinda skipped most of your blog posts for the interesting stuff and finally didn’t return at all. But as I still had it bookmarked I strayed across your blog today and remembered, that you’re also taking notice of soccer. If you’d be blogging more about soccer I might be returning 😛
But I hope you don’t mind my posing some soccer related questions despite my lack of loyalty of late
1) I skipped through your recent blogs for the soccer related parts and interstingly found Carl Binder in a German football shirt. It seems like our Team has managed to win Carl over or does he indeed have German relatives?
2) Do you have a reason to hate the German soccer Team (just courious not judging. I hate the Italian Team so we’re even ;))
3) Of the last 4 Teams in the Cup whom do you cheer for now?
4) Why are you even interessted in soccer if you think it boring? (I have to admit, many teams feature a “Don’t dare scoring for fear of catching a goal”-mentality which doen’s improve the game itself but I’ve seen at least 5 matches which were pretty good)
Hey Joe – thought you might be interested in this LA Times article on the dearth of screenwriting work in hollywood. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/03/business/la-fi-ct-writers-20100703
“Hey, I don’t know about the rest of you, but if this World Cup has taught me anything, it’s that cheating pays off. Whether it’s faking an injury so that a player from the opposing team gets sent off…”
Faking an injury? The Brazilian player stamped on the Dutch player’s thigh while he was down! What’s worse, he probably did it with intent to injure his opponent as it’s well-known that he only just recovered from a serious hamstring tear. It was a well-deserved red card, and the Brazilian should receive a 10 match ban. That’ll teach him.
I agree with you on the Uruguay hand ball, though, but they will get their due in the semi finals. Who do you think will take it all, though?
Happy Independence Day to all and sundry. Our small town had a parade (in which I took part) and fireworks yesterday, but there will be more in the surrounding area today.
I was intrigued by July’s BotM pick, so I’ve just finished House of Suns. Couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s wavering, and it looks like I’ve found a new author to follow.
Happy Independance Day America!
Reading some of these natsukashii story moments is taking me back to watching “The Walton’s” on TV. As I’m reading I can just hear John Boy’s older, adult narrative voice telling the stories.
When I watch old TV favorites, I can still remember exactly were I was sitting and doing while watching the show. But mostly lately, I can’t stop laughing at how outdated those 60’s and 70ish shows are now…driving around without seat belts on, the humongous car phones they use to have, a doctor stepping outside a patient’s room and lighting up a cigarette! OMG!
What do your weird acting dogs know? When my crazy beagle starts acting weird it usually is just a Fly flying around the room and making her crazier.
I clicked on the link for the book, The Devil’s Alphabet, and read the first chapter on line. Now I have some curiosity questions and the book sounds interesting so I am going to order it. I wish you would decide on a September selection quickly in case I wanted that one too. (save me some shipping costs to order both at once)
Thanks Joe!
Hey Joe? Did you see what author Daryl Gregory (August BOM) said about your blog on his own blog’s June 29th entry?
He said, “The blog also covers an entertaining mix of TV, SF, and general weirdness.”
HA! “GENERAL WEIRDNESS”! Ain’t that the truth!! That’s funny! He’s got your number! Now you know where your dogs get it from… 😆
hey joe, you know the guy who is engaged to jennifer lover hewit? Ross McCall, i think you should get him for SGU.
Joe,
How does the BOTM club work? I should have House of Suns, by Alastair Reynolds finished before 12 July 2010. Should we prepare and send questions for Dr. Reynolds before then?
Since Dr. Reynolds writes SF without FTL, I think it would be funny for SGU to show a scene of a soldier or scientists reading a dog-eared copy of Revelation Space.
Later
Jim
You know these blog posts and associated comments are natsukashii triggers too…cool huh?
cheers, chev
@otros ojos – you went sledding? sooooo cool – never been. glad I could start the hot chocolate wave…everyone get out there and make some – sooo good no matter the weather.
cheers, chev
Okay, last comment for today, then I’m done. My crazy beagle is sooo beautiful, she should be a dog actress. (I’d post a picture if I wasn’t so computer illiterate.) She is especially pretty when she is sleeping. Right now, as I am sitting at the dinning table, on my computer, she is laying at my feet, looking so sweet and absolutely stunningly beautiful. I just wish she would quit FARTING!!!
Heya, Ponytail makes a good point. It would be so cool if you could announce 2 books at a time just for the savings on shipping.
Now to crab at you. I had to get a jar of Nutella – dag nab it and it is soooo good even just spooned out of the jar. Hmmm, is this like drinking juice or milk from the carton?
Natsukashii – parental unit getting balistic because one drank from the carton. Ouchie..that hurt.
Hi Mr M!
Greetings from a rented holiday home in the South East of Ireland. Thankfully Blog Regular Gilder left some of that good ole Texan weather behind, as we bask in the sunshine temps of 20C!!
Infrequently dropping in due to laptop restrictions (in fairness to Her Royal Highness, she let me take the laptop!).
Have picked up a couple of the BOTM selections and hope to get to same over the week!
Best to all
S’n’T
Once again, food looks tasty, tasty! I have been making my own pizzas with that boboli whole wheat crust; totally edible and healthy but the trick is to pre slice the thing, puzzle it back together and then add toppings and bake, because the crust is kinda tough to cut through once it’s been cooked. Must be all that fiber.
My natsukashii was triggered this weekend by some excellent zombie movies, both new and old. Rewatched Night of the Comet, epic, and saw Zombieland for the first time; loved it.
ZombieL reminded me of staying up late and turning the TV way down low so our folks wouldn’t know we were watching horror pics. I get wistful over Escape From New York, Precint 13 and that one about the canablistic disembodied hand from outerspace.
Joe, do people ever get annoyed with you always taking pictures? I ask because I am a photographer and when trying to get candid shots, my friends are always telling me to “put the damn camera away.” Thanks for your time.