Congratulations, you two.

These look great and the price is right. Anyone tried them? My legs are not such that I wear brightly colored stockings very often, but they're amusing every once in a while. The green looks fun. Though, practically, I think I'd wear chocolate, red or pink.

I'm very sad I don't have the legs for these.

Work log updated.

Okay, quick check-in:

- My short story FIGHT is out now in 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: BLOODSUCKER TALES #2. Issues #1 and #2 are available at your local comic shop or online through the publisher. There are discussion threads on Niles' board and the IDW forum.

- SLAYERS 3 ran a *month* over-deadline, which mortified me. Clearly, I could not handle that book with my current schedule. On the bright side, I realized that after SLAYERS 2 and had already resigned before I began the 3rd book. So at least my guilt was partly assuaged by what I figured to be the Responsible Action. Had it been my only assignment during the same time frame, it would've been no problem - but there was just too much to juggle. I'm still on good terms with Nicole and have recommended a couple possible replacements -- oh and the Amazon reviews on the first book are pretty good, so I guess all is well. I'll miss Lina and Nicole -- and it was a great gig for me, uh, developmentally (meaning that I learned more about my process and what I'm capable of), but I'm glad to be done with it.

- Regular books are up-to-date (SENSUAL PHRASE, GIRL GOT GAME and KARE FIRST LOVE) and my newest property, DOUBT!!, is running close, but it's on-time so far, too. Sadly, the super-special-bells-and-whistles Viz book that I can't yet name is running behind because of the SLAYERS delay, so my stomach is still in knots. The holiday didn't help get me caught up either. Oy.

- SENSUAL PHRASE VOLS 1 and 2 are going into their second printings. Woo!

- I've gotten some really nice mail on DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS and a few letters about Tatsumi's name change. If you found this site googling for info on that, take heart: a) it wasn't me! I didn't do it! and b) it's being corrected for subsequent volumes. Presumably if Volume 1 goes to a 2nd printing (and I'm sure it will) corrections will be made there. If you don't know what I'm talking about, consider yourself blessed. (As a reminder, I left that book after Volume 3, so any mail on subsequent volumes needs to go to the new staff.)

- Got a lead on a big new project for next year, but don't want to end up back in this position so I need to wait until GIRL GOT GAME is done (one volume left to adapt) before I pursue that too enthusiastically.

- ELEANOR is still on the back-burner until I have more time, as are the books with Nikol. When next I have a few minutes I want to see if I can get a short story down on paper that's been swimming around in my head for a while. It's about a womanizing arachnologist and I need to talk to Chris Ryall and find out if he's got a spot for it.

- I just turned down an invite to submit to NERVE's Christmas issue and I'm bummed. But there was not way I was going to have the time. C'est la vie, I suppose. On the upside, I referred them to Gina Kaufmann for one of their special issues and I'll let you know as soon as her piece gets posted.

Okay, that's all, I guess. Sounds dour, doesn't it? I promise to be in better spirits next week.

On the upside, I had a wonderful visit with my family and My First Traditional Thanksgiving At Our House went off without a glitch.

http://www.moleskinerie.com/
http://www.moleskineart.com/
http://www.moleskine-us.com/
Moleskine on Lovemarks
...and tangentially, 43 Folders

...but I like it. Mind you, unlike the boots, these "Mongolian Spats" cross the line into something most non-models could not pull off, methinks.

But would that I were six feet tall...

...help me name my new computer?

Previous machines (RIP): Lois, Perry White and, um, New Lois.

I'm thinking of abandoning the Superman theme for the time being. What with Christopher Reeve's death this year, it just seems, well ... sad.

So, current candidates (I haven't chosen a gender yet):

Meiko Kaji
Lady Snowblood
Tadanobu Asano (that's a mouthful, I know)
Maggie (for Cheung and Estep) (I love that name so much. It might actually be too good for a computer.)

The new machine is an iBook G4 and it looks fairly identical to my previous machine. Which is kind of weird. I feel like I got a clone to replace my ill-behaved baby, you know? This baby isn't retarded or given to tantrums or narcolepsy. Hm. Maybe "New Baby"?

Suggestions?

I'm favoring "Lady Snowblood" at the moment, probably because it gets Meiko Kaji in there and the machine is white. Also, I'm fairly obsessed with the Women of Vengeance genre.

The Recap:

I did not come up with the Uberlist. That was the mad genius of Nikol Lohr. (I like to remind people that Nikol was my college roommate. I'm not sure why. I think it makes me feel like a mad genius by association. Right now, I'd like you to imagine me smiling to myself and gazing off into the distance with a certain twinkle in my eye as if to say, "Ah, the stories I could tell..." Would you mind? Thanks.

Anyway.)

A few years ago Nikol got me started making New Year's To Do Lists as opposed to New Year's Resolutions. I think we started in 99? Maybe 98. Anyway, the list was "98 things to do in 1998," and she dubbed it the Uber To Do List, or the Uberlist.

I shared my list with friends; they started lists of their own. Then in 2002 we started posting our Uberlists and tracking our progress on the Delphi forum MLF. We had a little informal contest -- on the honor system, obviously -- and posted lists that were edited for privacy. People got ideas from each other. It was good stuff.

Now, I think I only accomplish about 30% of my list in any given year (one year, I didn't finish MAKING THE LIST) and generally by June there are a good 10 items that are no longer applicable or even desireable, but it's a fun thing to have nonetheless, and it keeps me focused for the first few months of the year. Then I forget all about it until about, oh, say, NOVEMBER, at which point I scramble about trying to remember where I put last year's list. Or, I used to.

Two years ago, Nikol "Mad Genius" Lohr, started manufacturing and selling spiral-bound datebooks complete with space for tracking your list in the front and scoring your progress in the back. I nearly wept.

I have a dirty, dirty love for anything that might be considered in the same breath with School Supplies, so Nikol's datebook is the thing for me, but you don't need a special book or a forum to make an Uberlist. You need a piece of paper, a pencil and about half an hour.

Think about the coming year and what you'd like to accomplish. List the reasonable and the ridiculous, the practical and the absurd. When you run out of steam start thinking in terms of categories - what would you like to accomplish in your CAREER this year? Your HOME? Your LOVE LIFE (you dirty little minx...)?

When you're done, the best thing to do is post your list somewhere where you'll see it regularly. E. Bess put hers up in her kitchen one year. I usually tack mine up over my desk. Or, print it really small and carry it around in your wallet.

You should make an Uberlist. Really you should. It's fun and you like fun. Do it. And then write me next December and let me know how you did.

I'll post my list her and do the same.

___

My 2005 "Year of the Smartass" datebook and blank book have arrived and they're fabulous! Completely revived my enthusiasm for life and the world in general, they did.

Finer points (cut & pasted from disgruntledhousewife.com):

- Sturdy! Stiff pressboard covers and heavyweight pages
- Full-sized fold-out monthly calendars on superheavy acid olive stock form handy monthly dividers
- Hansel & Gretel coloring book with fatass witch and another oversized bunny (I think the bunny might be an annual feature...)
- Hand-screened covers, unusual materials & handmade charm!
- A bright file band to mark your page or secure it shut
- Fun-filled activities each month
- Annual Überlist (big fat year-long To Do list)
- Moon phases, astrological signs, birthdays, plus the usual holidays.
- Year-at-a-glance calendars for 2005 & 2006 printed on the double pocket
- Approx. 8 x 9 x 3/4" thick (including spiral)
- Spiral bound to lay flat or flip around

Pictures and order form here.

This year Nikol has also included a page with super-fine print versions of her Uberlists of years past. They're a hoot and great for inspiration.

____

We've moved list-tracking from Delphi to Livejournal, so play along here.
____

Wanna testify for the uberlist? Tell me all about it in the comments section below.

Researchers at Yale University, for instance, found that yoga and meditation relaxed arteries in people with cardiovascular disease. Thirty-three people with or without cardiovascular disease were subjected to three one-and-a-half-hour yoga and meditation sessions per week for a total of six weeks. At the end of the study, endothelial-dependent artery dilation improved by 69 percent in those with cardiovascular disease. There was no improvement seen in the healthy group.

A Minnesota study gives new meaning to the term "marital bliss," for both men and women. The researchers report that social support, particularly being married, was associated with a reduced likelihood of developing risk factors linked to cardiovascular disease.

Woo hoo! Marriage - check! Yoga - check! (Okay, not so much lately, but I've been busy. And poor. Oof. Nevermind.)

More common sense tips here.

It pretty much boils down to "stress=bad." But you knew that.

There are people who regularly function on 2-4 hours a night...?

Thank you, Sanders.

Keith's got a personal blog at long last. Into bikes, body mod, or Brooklynites who smell like campfires? Make with the clicky on the pretty picture:

Keith writes...

METAL!

We're going to see Slayer tonight. F*cking funny. Last time I saw them was in 1984 when we opened up for them out in Dover NJ at a club called the Showplace. I was in Carnivore at the time. 20 damn years ago. Wow.

We're not really going to see them, but to see an old friend of mine. I know him as Eric, but you know him as the Lizardman. He's MCing the show on behalf of Jagermiester. This is gonna be fun...

Miss McCubbinn needs to raise some rent money and is selling off prints on the cheap - $30 - $75 bucks for screenprints on wood or paper.

Buy! Buy!

And every time you blame someone other than the candidate and the party management as it stands and you’re shooting yourself (we’re shooting ourselves?) in the foot. This red state-blue state shit is precisely what the kind of poison they want polluting the discourse. Anything is better than a group of reasoned, intelligent people pointing out again and again and again that 51% does not a majority make. Every time you sneer at a red state, every time you read another fucking article by David Brooks and nod sagely over your Sunday coffee, every time you denigrate the entirety of a state that had but a sliver of distance between the two parties, you’re winning the fight for them.

We just debated this for more than an hour. Essentially, we agree, but Fraction's more of a strategist that I am and he has more faith in the electorate. I identify as a Northerner (NY), he as a Southerner (NC) [of interest: both our families are from the Midwest -- Ohio, specifically]. I think his point that the red state-blue state thing is divisive and ultimately harmful to the Democratic cause is well-made. But while I agree that this was an incredibly close race -- more purple than red and blue -- I don't feel like individual positions are so close. I understand his point, but I feel this cultural divide.

I mean, something like 70% of the Missouri electorate voted to AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION to ban gay marriage. The constitution! He says he believes in numbers and that 60% of the national electorate doesn't care about gay marriage or supports civil unions -- this was an election about security, and the Republicans were able to frame the debate so that a decorated war hero was made to look like a near-traitor, light on defense. And you know, I agree with him. I know that this was not an election about gay rights, but as an indicator of the cultural divide, it'll do ... and ... 70%. That sure as shit makes me feel like I live in a red state.

If you have my AIM name on your buddy list, drop me a line, please. I've canceled my AOL account at long last and, apparently, if your AIM handle is attached to an actual AOL account and you close that account, the AIM name goes defunct as well.

There's 'so bad it's good,' and then there's 'so bad it's GENIUS.' And then there's FEMALE PRISONER #701 SCORPION -- which is so good, that despite the fact that it's a HUGELY EXPLOITATIVE movie, I'm not at all convinced it's bad. I'm getting dizzy trying to follow my own thinking here. I think I have a crush on this movie. And apparently the sequel is even better.

I'm all aquiver.

Oh, and also -- my souvenir from Memphis? A big black floppy hat. Now, is that kismet or serendipity?

It's funny because it's true.

Veteran Sues After Being Called to Duty

HONOLULU (AP) - A veteran of the first Persian Gulf War is suing the Army after it ordered him to report for duty 13 years after he was honorably discharged from active duty and eight years after he left the reserves.

Kauai resident David Miyasato received word of his reactivation in September, but says he believes he completed his eight-year obligation to the Army long ago.

''I was shocked,'' Miyasato said Friday. ''I never expected to see something like that after being out of the service for 13 years.''

I'm very excited about this cast: Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt and Lynn Redgrave. Holy crap.

I've heard of, but never read -- or even seen -- either of Kinsey's books, have you?

Sexual Behavior in the Human Female: By the Staff of the Institute for Sex Research, Indiana University, Alfred C. Kinsey ... Et Al. ; With a New Introduction by John Bancroft

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

Also, I understand there's a relationship between the T.C. Boyle book The Inner Circle, and the film, but I'm not sure how direct a connection it is.

And oh, hey, look what Mike saw in Dublin. I bet those are some warm boots.

For one amazing week in November, Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco has agreed to allow its estimated 20,000 books to be reclassified by color. Shifting from red to orange to yellow to green, the books will follow the spectrum continuously, changing Adobe from a neighborhood bookshop into a magical library—but only for one week.

Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco's Mission District, and all of its contents, will be transformed. It will take a crew of 20 people pulling an all-nighter fueled by caffeine and pizza and following a master organizational plan—but come Saturday morning it will be like a place that would only exist in a dream...

...or at our house! Okay, well, we don't have 20,000 books, but we've been shelving our books by color since before we were married (and in my apartment in Brooklyn before that). I'm sure we're not the only ones -- I confess that I picked the practice up from Josh Tecu and his lovely wife Kate. It's the best solution I've been able to find to the problem of integrating a large number of books into room design without inviting visual chaos. Unless you have built-ins (and if you do, I'm jealous), I think it's the best fix.

I can never stop monkeying around with things so we're making a few adjustments for the new house. (All of which will have to wait for us to find the time and money to put the rest of the bookshelves up, re-organize and finish unpacking. There are a great many books still in boxes.) This time we're going try separating a few books out by room. My office gets all the pink spines, for example. (We did this a little in our old apartment -- the livingroom had one large bookshelf with a black and white checkerboard arrangement). The books in guestroom are all getting kraft paper covers - another "borrowed" idea, this one from India Hicks, by way of Amity.

Still, as many books as we've got, we're no bookstore. If anyone goes to Adobe, can you take pictures for me? I want to see this. I'm imagining the bookstore from Funny Face. Wouldn't that be lovely?

More in link.

Thanks, Dietsch.

Mourning in America
Getting over it by getting organized
by Molly Ivins

AUSTIN, Texas -- Do you know how to cure a chicken-killin' dog? Now, you know you cannot keep a dog that kills chickens, no matter how fine a dog it is otherwise.

Some people think you cannot break a dog that has got in the habit of killin' chickens, but my friend John Henry always claimed you could. He said the way to do it is to take one of the chickens the dog has killed and wire the thing around the dog's neck, good and strong. And leave it there until that dead chicken stinks so bad that no other dog or person will even go near that poor beast. Thing'll smell so bad the dog won't be able to stand himself. You leave it on there until the last little bit of flesh rots and falls off, and that dog won't kill chickens again.

The Bush administration is going to be wired around the neck of the American people for four more years, long enough for the stench to sicken everybody.

More in link.

2005 Disgruntled Housewife Datebooks and Uberlist trackers are available! This year's theme is YEAR OF THE SMARTASS.

Direct link here.

Since Bush is going to be in charge of the economy for the next four years, we're going to have to take it easy this Christmas -- which is a shame, as nothing nothing soothes my shallow soul like shopping. Happily, there are always resale and thrift shops. Whew.

Anyway, we stopped by a bookseller last night and did our part for the economy in a sort of no-more-spending-money-on-ourselves-until-after-the-holidays last hurrah.

Here's what we picked up (call it homework, I guess):

and:

...and a couple of Christmas magazines. Shut up.

While in the magazine section, I heard some jackass fatty pointing out to a woman he was no doubt trying to impress how the "Men's Interest" section was populated by 'magazines about gay guys.'

"Look -- this guy's gay. It's all over Hollywood that this guy's gay. And here -- Queer Eye..." then he made that 'sheesh' sound.

Now, while I'm sure that that ugly fucker is super-connected in Tinsel Town and has allll the lowdown to which any t-shirted, double-chinned, doughy midwesterner is entitled, and thus COLIN FARRELL and MATT DAMON must be gay, I was nonetheless inspired to inquire "What the hell are you afraid of, fatass? Do you really thing that there are gay men lining up to get their hands on you? I guarantee you that their very existence does not offend you half as much as yours offends me. Also, that chick is too young for you and -- unless she's retarded -- you don't stand a chance."

I didn't say anything, of course. Not because I'm above accosting strangers in public, but rather because I was so raw yesterday I would have cried. And I am above crying in public. So instead, I shot him a dirty look, which he interpreted as critical of his tone and not content. "I guess I'm talking too loud," he said.

That was so not the problem, Asshole.

...I need some time to process this. My big epiphany this afternoon has been that 49% of the country is a LOT. I know "the glass is half full" is not earth-shattering as epiphanies go, but it's keeping me from climbing a tower right now.

In the meantime:

I have no clue about the actual product.

This is the one souvenir from Memphis that I regret we did not buy. The price is absurd, but-but-but...I love it so.

Fraction and I got matching TCB coffee mugs.

John Greenleaf Whittier's
"The Poor Voter on Election Day"

To-day, of all the weary year,
A king of men am I.
To-day, alike are great and small,
The nameless and the known;
My palace is the people's hall,
The ballot-box my throne!
The rich is level with the poor,
The weak is strong to-day;
And sleekest broadcloth counts no more
Than homespun frock of gray.
To-day let pomp and vain pretence
My stubborn right abide;
I set a plain man's common sense
Against the pedant's pride.
The wide world has not wealth to buy
The power in my right hand!

Album #1
Album #2
Album #3
Album #4

I felt guilty about going on vacation while I'm behind on deadlines, but I took work with me and, well, it's kind of amazing what recharging your batteries will do, isn't it? I kind of forget.