Killing Demons news at Newsarama.

Sneaky little teaser down there in the last paragraph, too.

10% Off and Free Shipping!

We wanted to make this last weekend in June a great summer sale for you. Not only can you receive 15-20% off all new Demeter products, but now you can try out those scents you've been so curious about. Get 10% Off all Demeter products and FREE SHIPPING on ALL orders This Weekend Only!. This great discount offer is available for a limited time. Don't hesitate to take advantage of it today!

10% Off Sale Coupon Code: CC030701-10

This code will need to be entered during checkout to receive your 10% Off discount and Free Shipping! There is NO minimum purchase amount. Expires: June 30, 2003 and is valid only for new orders placed through Monday.

PC player available here.

Mac player available here.

Thanks to Warren and his 24/7 Thundergeek brigade.

The bloody cats knocked Fraction's digital camera off the table and something inside it broke. I love them madly and I realize they didn't mean to break the camera, yet I still sit here wondering where you sell a used cat.

At least the futurephone still works.

Greg says, "Oh, for those who would like updates and are on LiveJournal, you can now add 'kellysue_rss' onto your friends list and get them regularly. Hurrah!"

So.

I put a couple of items up on ebay. Nothing too exciting. I'll try to do more this week.

It always takes longer to put up listings than I think it will.

Not sure what is going on exactly, but apparently the boys have been been put on reception duty? Anyway, they're entertaining callers, gentlemanly and otherwise:

Call Fraction & Dwyer.
(415) 753-3037

Today only.

These are the wires that hung over the tree, that was hit by the car, that was hit by the van, that was stolen by the jerk, that caused the fire, that killed the 'net at our house.

Couple of images added to the Hulk Hands Gallery.

If you don't have your Hulk Hands yet, get them here.

(Saw the movie, by the way. Didn't hate it.)

Just got back from Florida, where Fraction and I helped my grandparents celebrate their combined 150 years. I'm exhausted, but filled to brimming with affection for my disfunctionally delightful little family. I think they were all Comedia characters in previous incarnations. (Can one be reincarnated from or as fiction? I do hope so.) I could just drown them all with kisses, I could.

My contacts are dry, and I've got travel brain. I'm wearing a dirty t-shirt of Fraction's and my thought patterns are about as organized as bloodsplatter just now.

I have pictures to post from the van+car+tree=ks+mf-internet incident and garden pics and future phone goodies* ... very few of which are going to happen tonight, I think.

I did try to get you all a futurephone photo of the asscrack of the turd mountain who sat next to me on the flight from Tampa to KC, but as he was getting down his bag and I was setting up my shot, his adult son noticed my phone and pretty much busted me. What? Your Pa dripped over into my seat for two and a half hours and poked me with his elbow every time he turned a page in his book (when I looked over to see what he was reading, it was Rich Dad, Poor Dad). And he breathed audibly through his mouth.

Alas, I caved and pretended I was doing something else with the phone. (Like Pa, Boycub's mouth managed to hit both ears before disappearing into neck folds. It was kind of fascinating, actually.) Anyway. No buttcrack photos for you!

Air travel highlights my personality flaws, I fear.

I need to figure out that blogplanet business. I think I'll enlist Fraction to help with that upon his return.

Speaking of which, he's just landed in Oakland where he's carousing with our beloved Peter and Grace at this very moment. I'm horribly jealous. My bitter jealousy, however, is offset with radiant pride: Last of the Independents (which was reviewed most favorably by no less than Entertainment Weekly in their "IT LIST" double issue, currently on the stands) hits the shelves sometime between this Wednesday and next, depending on your location. Fraction and Dwyer are signing at Isotope in San Fran tomorrow. It's all terribly exciting. You should go to Isotope tomorrow if you're near enough.

I'm on page 485 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I love it. And it's just brilliant to see kids so excited about reading! I overheard Nascar Mom and Nascar Dad at Books-A-Million in Port Charlotte, Florida yesterday trying to work out how little Nascar Katie and little Nascar Justin would read the book in tandem since the family budget wouldn't allow for two copies. They decided to go with time limits and bookmarks. Justin's older, so he gets to read first. When he's reached his time limit, he marks his spot with his bookmark and hands the book off to his sister, who reads for her alloted time and marks her place, etc. I had love in my heart for Nascar Mom and Nascar Dad just then. See? See how J.K. Rowling is making the world a better place?

Er, sorry.

So! Many! Books! Also waiting for me: Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga, Manga! Manga! and some bizarre book on Jack Chick from Fantagraphics.

Best stop now, methinks. More tomorrow, assuming I'm lucid.

* Merry, I think, has come up with a way for me to do a futurephone blog on the left-hand side of this screen, similar to the sidebar on the right at present. Not sure; we'll see. Sounds nifty, though.

'Designer baby' born to UK couple

A boy has been born to a British couple who want to use stem cells from his umbilical cord to treat an older brother with a life threatening blood disorder.

Michelle and Jayson Whitaker's baby, Jamie, was genetically selected while he was still an embryo to be a near perfect match to four-year-old Charlie.

More in link.

Life under the ayatollah: A graphic novel
Author's 'Persepolis' recounts her childhood in Iran

NEW YORK (AP) -- Marjane Satrapi does not like being told what to do.

"Here, in New York, I smoke twice as much as I do in Paris. Because it is forbidden, it tastes so much better," she says, referring to New York's new anti-smoking laws, her large, dark eyes shining with amusement.

The 33-year-old Iranian author is here to promote her graphic novel, "Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood," which details her life in Tehran as the willful daughter of intellectual Marxists. Her father is an engineer; her mother is descended from the Qajar dynasty, which ruled Iran from 1779 until 1925, when Reza Shah Pahlavi took control through a coup.

More in link.

Buy Persepolis here.

My artbomb piece here.

I'm up against two deadlines and planning a trip to Florida at the end of the week and some idiot steals a van and crashes the van into my neighbor's boyfriend's car, which then hits the tree outside our window and the van, the car and the tree all catch fire.

Fire, as you may know, is hot. The tree, you may not know, is situated such that the phone lines and high speed internet cable pass about 15 or 20 feet over the base of the tree before connecting to a grey metal box, through which we are magically provided with those increasingly important communication utilities.

Fire, as we agreed, is hot. Cables and wires, it turns out, melt. Those are facts.

Also a fact: phone companies don't keep their repair appointments.

A truism: When cable companies do manage to keep their appointments, doorbells inexplicably won't work and the next available appointment will be at an incredibly inconvenient time at least four days in the future.

MF: La la la la

KS: What are you singing?

MF: The Ingrid Bergman song. "Ingrid Bergman, you're so perty ... "

KS: Is that supposed to be from the point of view of Rossellini?

MF: I don't think so. I think it's from the point of view of Woody Guthrie. I'm pretty sure the only hot rock Woody Guthrie sings about is his hot rock.

KS: Oh.

KS: Did you know Isabella Rossellini has an identical twin?

MF: Really?

KS: Yep. She's a medical doctor.

KS: Can you imagine having a doctor that looks like Isabella Rossellini?

MF: I'm imagining it right now ...

Picture David Hasselhoff flying.

Thanks to OAA for the link.

Kite flyers in Pakistan's Punjab Province will face murder charges and a possible death penalty if their sharpened strings cause more deaths.

Several people have had their throats cut this year by strings that are either metallic or coated with abrasive materials.

Police throughout the province have now been instructed to treat such deaths as murder cases.

More in link.

It is believed the disease spread from Gambian rats imported from Africa as exotic pets. It spread from there to prairie dogs, members of the squirrel family that live in the dry plains from Texas north to Canada and which have been rescued from exterminators for use as pets.

Phil Moberly, co-owner of a pet store in the Chicago suburbs where some of the infected prairie dogs were believed to have become infected, said on Monday he had bought the apparently infected rats in question from a breeder in Texas without knowing they were ill.

More in link.

Heard about this on NPR this morning. Makes sense to me.

A good amount of the code chatter on this site is over my head, but it's fascinating nonetheless.

idea swiped from fraction

I did a google search trying to find a less expensive alternative to Martha Stewart's tissue paper pom pom maker and turned up this gem. It doesn't help me, of course, but I'm mesmerized. Halleluja girly art.

Old Man: You sure do an awful good job trimming your toenails.

Me: ...

Me: Why, thank you.

Old Man: You must do that regular. How often do you do that?

Me: Uh ... you know, I'm not sure. When I notice that I need to, I guess.

Old Man: Oh, so you don't do it regular? Well, you do an awful good job.

Me: Thank you. I can honestly say that no one has ever complimented me on that particular thing before. Oop! My turn.

Old Man: Okay, you better go then.

Saw Dale Watson at Davey's Uptown -- the music was great, the crowd was profoundly stupid. I smell like cigarettes and cracker trash.

Watson at one point solicited made-up song titles from the audience, for an improvised tune. The suggestions ran the gamut from "shitfuck" to "fuck shit" and back to "keep it shitty." He dismissed one about "fucking dogs" and finally went with "A Three Dollar Tab and A Four Dollar Whore."

My favorite moment of the evening was turning around to see Kelli exclaim with a giant grin, "I LOVE cheap women!" (We love you, too, Kelli.)

I'm working on being more generous with people and less judgmental. I'm gonna have to work harder.

(I did run in to Jacob, who is a lovely soul.)

(Have I mentioned that I stink?)

My thanks to Merry for blog repair, and to Neil for the name check in his journal.

The "Current Projects" page is broke, but we'll get it fixed soon. I have many things to report, but you'll just have to wait. I know, I know, but the discipline is good for you.

I need to update the sidebar, too. The current reading links in particular are way out of date. This weekend.

Fraction is in LA for the BDA conference until Sunday. The cats miss him and my toothbrush looks sad all by itself.

I stink. To bed now.

Oh -- I took some unspectacular Dale Watson pics on the futurephone. They're here because I'm too lazy, tired and smelly at the moment to ftp them properly.