Twilight

Yep . . . I read it.

And, honestly, I have to admit that it was not as bad as I expected.

Note: I did not say "good;" I said "not as bad as I expected."

Were I a girl in my teen years I think I would have loved it. However, being a guy in my early twenties, I may not have been quite so able to relate to it.

The copy I read was 498 pages and probably could have stood to lose about a hundred of those pages and been better. Meyer wasted a lot of time with dramatic looks and repeating--almost verbatim--how attractive this Edward fellow is. If I had to read a description of how he made Bella's heart miss a beat one more time, I was going to go insane.

She also waited until about page 400 to realize, "Crap, I don't have a plot!" and had to add one in by introducing characters who had not been so much as foreshadowed previously in the book.

All that said--taking into account the millions of errors and poor writing--I, err, kinda want to read the next one.

I want to figure out how she did that.

Then I can write a horrendous book and have millions of teenage girls go crazy, becoming a multi-bajillionaire.

Oh, one more thing . . .

This Edward Cullen guy? Really?

I don't see what's so attractive about an angry, bossy vampire with horrible mood swings.

Clue me in?

The Future of Countries

So I don't know how interesting anyone else would find this, but I watched it last night and I think the guy knows what he's talking about.

It's a talk given by a guy about the future of countries and borders in places like the Middle East and East Asia.

Worth watching if you've got the time.

Death Star

Pardon me while I am a complete nerd for a moment.

I just finished this book:

And, while it kinda annoys me that they keep going back and adding new books into the middle of the timeline, I really liked this one.

Basically, it goes back and gives insight into the lives of "regular people" (bartender, TIE pilot, construction supervisor, medic, etc.) who were aboard the first Death Star. You know, to prove that a battle station that huge can't possibly be full of evil, conniving maniacs bent on galactic domination.

At least not completely.

My only complaint comes from a stylistic viewpoint. All of the characters that the authors get you to invest in actually are able to escape the Death Star before it blows. I mean, I actually liked the characters and didn't especially want them to die . . . but I think the book would have made a much better point if they had.

Oh well, still a pretty good read.

And now for something completely different . . .

Look! Stripes!

PC Police

Whew.

What a day.

In Oral Comm we are giving informative speeches and this one girl . . .

Grr, this one girl . . .

I have no idea what the purpose of her speech was supposed to be, but her first point was that the Mexican-American War was Mexico's fault (Umm, no . . .). Her second was that "Spanish people" and "Mexicans" (by which she meant alternately Hispanics or Latinos) were illegal immigrants of whom 80% have a criminal record. Her third? We should hire more ESL teachers because "Mexicans" are too lazy or incapable to learn the English language on their own.

I coulda smacked her clear to Mexico.

Anyway . . .

I finished my blanket last night. May post a pic later if I feel more in the mood. Right now I'm too exhausted from being outraged at the she-bigot to do anything productive.

Been treating myself to a Star Wars novel recently. It's relaxing.

Haven't seen any good movies recently. Or any at all, really.

Dinner plans?

Leftovers will be crafted into a Mediterranean-themed casserole. There may or may not be a picture later depending on how I feel.

Ciao!

A (Sorta) Southern Classic

This was breakfast Saturday:


Scrambled eggs with homemade biscuits and (veggie) gravy!

While vegetable gravy may not be as great as the regular stuff, I've found that vegetable bouillon with milk and flour gets a pretty similar result that is probably (slightly) better for you.

My weekend was spent at a variety of events centered around Marvin's birthday . . . chief amongst which was a surprise party that I actually managed to organize and pull off without him figuring it out.

It was a resounding success for which I spent 5 hours in the kitchen making food from scratch. Unfortunately, it was all gone before I could get a picture of the table.

I guess that's a good thing, right?

Bella

I watched this film for the first time over a year ago and loved it . . . then forgot about it until a few weeks ago when I was able to pick it up for a couple bucks at a going-out-of-business sale at a Blockbuster around the corner.

It is an amazing film.

The two main characters--a soccer star turned chef and a pregnant waitress--bring out the best in each other in a film that explores many different aspects of our society and what it means to be human.

And it has a really good message, too.

Watch this movie (with a box of Kleenex).

Crochet-volution

Oooh, shiny picture.

These are my first few projects since I took up crocheting a few weeks ago. The brown one in the center--affectionately named Primo--was the first . . . as you can probably tell by the fact that he gets wide and skinny, wide and skinny, before finally reaching a constant width near the other end.

Yeah, I had some trouble figuring out when to end my rows.

Don't judge me.

I was doing much better by the time I reached the second one (on the left), which was completed for Marvin. His width only varies a little bit in a couple places.

By the time I made my third (right), which was made from luxuuurious Alpaca wool, I pretty much had it down to a science. My fourth scarf, also in the gray Alpaca, could not be pictured because it was gifted to my friend Lan for procuring the Dalai Lama tickets.

Now, with a closet full of scarves, I am moving on to bigger and better things.

Like what, you might ask?

A wool blanket!