Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Cammie,
Happy birthday to you.



And a happy birthday to Braz too! I only e-sing once per post though.

Patriot Games

From Peter David's blog:

Monopoly alert: Spread the word

While attending Toyfair, I found out that Hasbro is putting together an international version of Monopoly, and instead of street names on the board, there will be city names. The color coding remains the same: The most valuable real estate will be on blue spots, for instance (normally occupied by Broadway and Park Place), and then green, yellow and so on. There is currently a vote going on that is open to anyone in the world with a computer, and you can vote once a day for up to ten cities. The top vote getters will be on Broadway and Park Place, and the rest will be apportioned to the remainder of the real estate.

Now how, you may ask, is the United States faring in this international voting? The answer: Miserably. Of the twenty eight properties on this quintessentially American game, only two US cities are making any kind of showing, and neither is in prime real estate. New York is #8 (relegated to the much less tony yellow section of the board), while, Las Vegas is an abysmal #23. What's number one, you may ask? The most popular international city?

Istanbul.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Personally, I think this is an abysmal state of affairs. Istanbul the number one city of international Monopoly? The best thing one can say about Istanbul is that it's a catchy song covered by "They Might Be Giants." But "New York, New York" is practically an anthem.

According to the woman at Hasbro I spoke to, the website where the voting is going on--www.monopoly.com--is getting 10,000 votes a day. That's not all that much. A concerted web effort can turn this around.

Obviously I want to see New York nestled in the top spot, with more US cities occupying as many of the rest of the valuable properties as possible. Knee-jerk patriotism? Unreasonable nationalism? Well...yeah. You got a problem with that? If the residents of freaking Turkey should be allowed that indulgence, so should I.

We've only got until February 28th to get it done, so spread the word to all and sundry. Feel free to repost this anywhere and everywhere.

PAD

Hmm. . .not sure I care whether New York is the top spot, but Istanbul?

The Killers

50 Book Challenge #6:
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. This book has the distinction of joining an elite club, previously consisting of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, It, American Psycho and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (sacrilege, I know) where I'm of the very unhumble opinion that the film version is vastly superior to the written version.

I almost really liked this book. I have to say that the style of the prose was fantastic; perfect for putting the reader into Dexter's head and taking us on that wild ride. But that same limitation is also a bit of its shortfall, and some other stylistic decisions (the cut between the second-to-last and last chapter especially) are too much neither showing nor telling that they were problematic. I don't expect to be getting the second or subsequent novels when I have the show to enjoy more.

***

A (late) TMI Tuesday for a little filler:

1. Which one turns you on more Ink or piercing? Why?
2. What ink do you have? If none, what would you get and and where?
3. What piercing do you have? If none, what would you get and and where?
4. Any other adornments you like to do for your lover or have then do for you?
5. Of all of the above is there anything that is an immediate Turn-Off?

1. I find tattoos far more attractive visually than piercings. I think the obvious artistry and commitment that has to go into a tattoo vs a piercing play a heavy role in this. Tattoos are more to look at.

2. I have the zodiac symbols Gemini, Taurus, Virgo, Aquarius, Gemini and Scorpio on my left forearm; there is a feather quill with an ink blot and the first of my "grace" tattoos--"venia" (latin) and "charme" (french) on my left shoulder; my right shoulder has a slightly altered gryffon tattoo that the comic hero Jack Knight has on his left shoulder: the coloring is changed a little, the kanji on the inside is changed to shjin "poet" and some of the finer details are a little tweaked.

3. My ears are pierced. I would consider piercings in my eyebrow (impossible with my current job), nipple and tongue.

4. Nah. I'm pretty situational with these things.

5. I'm not a fan of septum piercings, tattoos on hands feet or faces, tattoos that were obviously done to be trendy rather than to show meaning to the wearer's viewers--you'll never find a tat of Marvin the Martian tramp stamped on my lower back.

Waitress

Watching Denise off to work last night and this morning, at those moments my only thoughts: God, I love that woman. And I do.

Valentine's Day. . .didn't do a blasted thing except send an e-mail and kiss my wife. I feel guilty that I can't be more romantic, but cash is better spent on non-romantic things. Monogamous people have it so easy--they only disappoint one person when they skip out on holidays, Hallmark holiday or no, with gifting. Of course, my favourite lesbian thinks I'm more the girl and Denise is more the boy in our emotions and so maybe I should be huffy with Denise for forgetting V-day. . . nah.

I've decided that I really like Juno after-all. I felt as if the movie dealt with its issues honestly and I haven't disliked a performance of Ellen Page's yet. I am still a little bugged by the non-Arrested Development pairing of Michael Cera and Jason Bateman, though.

If I haven't gushed about it, Once is also beautiful musically & cinematically, though Falling Slowly is not the best song from the film (still a great one). Both of these films had fantastic soundtracks.

I took the weekend off from work (really, only one extra day) and I'm a bit ambivalent about it.

50 Book Challenge #4:
Danse Macabre, another Anita Blake novel. This one threatens to be good with Anita facing pregnancy scares, an increase in focus back on supernatural politics stuff. And then Anita just sluts out a whole lot more again and the book really doesn't go anywhere.

50 Book CHallenge #5:
The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes, translated by Alfred Mac Adam. I'm surprised not to have read this book in any of my literature or translation classes in seven years at university. There are frequent times I'm reminded of Hemingway. There are also frequent, poignant moments of poetry in the storytelling.

There was going to be more but, seriously, Tasmia is screeching and I can't think.

Memento

A taste of the pictures taken from New Year's Eve to present. As always, if you want to see the entire album, mosey on over to where I keep it on facebook.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog day has come and gone and I neglected to find out if the little prognosticator decreed we would have a longer winter. I do know it's been truly effing cold and dreary and I am ready for some sunshine already. My favourite lesbian at work was talking about how she hated the movie Groundhog Day and I chimed in that it was to that movie that Denise and I began our relationship (a topic I don't actually think of much, as our getting together was also attached to a bad memory of losing a friend. . .and I haven't seen the movie since). She then made me do a spit-take by asking if we "were what, chasing the same guy?"

Work has been stressful, what with employees constantly calling in sick, various inspections past and pending, and, of course, the customers. Always the customers. I think some of our customers are the craziest lot of mouth breathers in the world, but some of them are fairly nice too, so I'll be ceasing the bitching, for the moment anyway.

If you're waiting with baited breath for news on my cancer check-up: everything was still clear, so I have another yearlong furlough until I have to go in for testing again. Denise was even nice enough to remember to tell me the good news a whole two days after they called and told her for me.

Aeia turned eight on Monday. Eight. Wow. It's hard sometimes to remember she was the baby that the doctors told us to expect to lose. And now she's eight. Fo' shizzle.

I watched Juno last night. I'm still digesting it. I think it bothered me that Jason Bateman and Michael Cera were in a movie together so soon and not playing father and son. I liked the movie, though, just not sure yet how much. I'm still thinking about it (to steal lines from Cammie stealing lines from Lash).

Ugh, there is dried grease particles in my hair. Fucking gross.

Word to your mothers.