I bought plants!

One is ivy and I'm going to try and get it to grow all the way along my bookshelf (like the epic plant Bunny has in Desk Set, which I couldn't find a picture of). As I was leaving the mall holding the ivy, I walked past an elderly woman who said to her husband, "I hope she knows what she's doing with that." Which was a little insulting. I know pretty much nothing about plants or gardening but surely you can't tell by looking at me. Anyway, my being clueless will only make it all the more impressive when I end up with a plant that is MADE OF WIN.

I have no idea what kind of plant this is—anybody?

When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. Unknown

BTT: Blurb

Suggested by Jennysbooks:

Something I’ve been thinking about lately: “What words/phrases in a blurb make a book irresistible? What words/phrases will make you put the book back down immediately?”

Hmm... Nothing springs to mind that would be irresistible in a blurb. I do have a rule that if I lose interest or get confused while reading the blurb, the book goes back on the shelf. Too many character names, place names, complicated-sounding political plots... I'm easily confused. :-)

Comparisons to other books in the genre hold a lot of sway with me, as in 'fans of [insert name of beloved author here] will love this. Some authors' names will convince me to try something even if I'm put off by other things, while others will put me right off. I guess that's the closest thing to a deal-breaker.

I guess the thing most likely to make-or-break a book for me is a comparison to another author's work. If I'm told that "fans of [insert name of beloved author here] will love this," then I'll probably give it a go regardless. If the blurb (or review, or whatever) cites an author whose style I know I don't like, it takes something pretty special to compensate.

Happy BTT everybody! :-)

What goes ha ha plonk?

A man laughing his head off.

I figured I'd start back at the bottom and (maybe) work up to posts that actually have some thought behind them. For now I'm just copying from a sticky I found with stuff I might have meant to blog on it:

1. Some old spellings are really cool: rhetoryke, fasshyon, chyuldhode.

2. 'Tentacular' is a word, and yes, it is the adjectival form of 'tentacle.'

3. Does anybody else ever think, when bunging up some manual task (such as cutting paper with scissors), that "it's okay, I can command-z it?"

4. The dreaded essay word count can be made more interesting by reading it as a date. E.g. My essay is currently in the Elizabethan period (1558-1603 words) and I'm not going to sleep until I get to the Napoleonic Wars (1800 words). If you're a sci-fi geek like me, you can write essays longer than 2000ish words: 2063 - my essay just achieved warp capability!

5. A final scraping from the bottom of the to-be-blogged barrel: vandalised toilet signs that made me giggle.

TO LET
SEX TOI
SEX TO LET
MEN TO LET

UN TOILET (for all the other rooms in the house)

UN SEX

(Last two courtesy of Brooke)

The middle two originally read 'unisex toilet,' in case you were wondering. Additions anyone?

And that's it. Good thing I haven't been blogging lately really.

* * * * * * *

I've just been looking at my reading challenges and I'm failing most of them rather badly. I'm definitely going to make an effort for the Casual Classics since I only have to read two more. RYOB I might manage. Really, it shouldn't be that hard, given that I'm on summer break now and not working full-time. Are there movie challenges out there? If there are, I'm so doing those next year. :-)

I was going to ramble about movies and books I've seen and read lately in this post but some are Good Art and it doesn't seem right to include them in a post sullied with toilet humour.

I took your leaving with a grain of salt, tequila and a slice of lime. A lyric from Toby Keith's 'Grain of Salt.'

Fantasy baking

After the Sci-Fi and Fantasy themed BTT I got all fan-girly and excited about the idea of SFF Writers' Day and decided to bake awesome, fantasy-themed foods. I got sick of baking after about an hour and the results were mostly FAIL but here are the pictures anyway.

The biggest FAIL was my Wizard Cupcakes. They're supposed to look like the picture on the right (click for website with recipe etc.) but I apparently didn't put enough cupcake mixture in the ice-cream cones and this is what I ended up with:

They were tasty though, better than I expected. Also just as easy as putting the cupcakes in patty pans and a bit less messy. Because the 'wizards' didn't have enough head to warrant hats, my sister and I decided to make the pointy cones into standalone wizard hats. They're dipped in white chocolate and decorated with all the kinds of sprinkles we have. How badly we failed probably depends on how phallic you think they look.


Here are the hats being modelled by Nathaniel and an owl who prefers to remain anonymous:

Last, and the only think that turned out more-or-less like hoped, is a cake with the coat of arms of Valdemar on it. Valdemar is a fictional country, the creation of Mercedes Lackey, and one of my favourite literary getaways. The blue, amongst other things, is totally wrong but check it out - I drew a recognisable pegasus! In icing! With a little help from Google image search.

Life is attention to both the large and the small. Pay heed to the sun, but watch your feet, or you’ll fall ingloriously on your nose. (not sure which book this is in... one of the Storms trilogy)

How many Hawkbrothers does it take to form a mating circle?
|Only one, but he has to be flexible.|

BTT: Fantasy and Sci-Fi

One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day.

As she puts it:

So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

Yay! I've never read much sci-fi (television is a different story) but fantasy is my literary hometown. I'll probably make a cake, 'cos that's standard practise in my family for this kind of thing. A themed cake. =D I'll definitely spare a few thoughts for my favourite SFF writers and their positive influence, probably read some fantasy, maybe blog... What, if anything, are you planning? Please share so I can copy! :-)

Why fantasy? One of these days I'm going to sit down and write the long answer to this, but here's the short one for the meantime: I've never been particular interested in reading stories set in the here and now - if I'm reading fiction, it's usually to take a break from that. Obviously fantasy isn't completely distinct from reality but I like the feeling of 'going' somewhere else. Then there's the fact that magic and adventure and elves and dragons and stuff-that-talks-in-your-head can be a whole lot of fun. =D

Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong. Terry Pratchett