Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Kevin's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, April 26th, 2012
7:06 pm	I am stalled a few paragraphs into at least three different projects today. I need my brain to focus on something, and stop obse--salt pork nasal tampon? Perhaps I will give up and do the dishes instead. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
11:16 pm	Random thoughts I ate Thai food today and really liked it. Of course it would be from a restaurant hundreds of miles away. Some really good Mexican food, too. That'll teach me to bypass IHOP and Chick-Fil-A? Gary Ross, with all the budget you had for the film of The Hunger Games, I wish you would have invested in a tripod. Just one. So you could have set the damn camera down at some point. Brain sent one of the least subtle dreams that I have received in a long time. Hrm. I've definitely come around to the Kindle as (if nothing else) a holder of books for traveling. I still carry a paperback, though, because they make you turn your electronics off periodically on a plane -- and that's good readin' time! The Stretch Run is almost over. Penguicon Smithees in a week and a half. Trip down to Akron (possibly) the week after that. Then nothing until Origins. Which I wish was later in the year (*shakes fist at them -- again*). (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
8:45 pm	Today's random thought "Pants are contraindicated." I have no idea where it came from, but it probably doesn't apply to work. (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 17th, 2012
5:10 pm	the curse! It's been kind of a cursed week for Smithee peeps, so be warned. I would start this week on Wednesday night (I would start it roughly at 9:42 PM, but of course I would), and since then we collectively have hospitalized peeps, multiple sick cats, and hopes dashed -- but (and I cannot stress this enough) I have not said anything irrevocably stupid yet. Yet. At least lunargeography is starting to feel like herself again after eight months of OvaryZilla. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 19th, 2012
11:37 pm	b-i-n is almost a g-o Just three more squares before Todd Bingo can go live. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 18th, 2011
12:16 am	Three unrelated quotes. "If all I wanted was in your pants, I would have stole your laundry." --Ed's Redeeming Qualities, "I Will Wait" "In firing his gun, he has merely told us what time of day it is. It is high noon, thank God!" --William Lloyd Garrison, on John Brown "Consume as fast as possible after opening." --notice on a package of Guava Cream (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 3rd, 2011
11:20 pm	Read a book! Still slowly working toward being catching up. ( The wrong The Middle Passage & Dread Island under the cut. ) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
2:00 am	Read a book! Wow. Did I fall behind, or something? Quite a bit! I was planning on rethinking how I was going to post these, so I put off posting them until the rethinking was done. And you can see how well that has worked. So I'll pretty much be doing the same thing this year as last. Talking about some things that I've read but aren't necessarily counting in addition to those that I am. I like booniverse's cumulative page count for the year, so I'll swipe that. So, here goes. I'll let you know when (if) I've caught up. The most recent book I've finished (as of right now) is #20: The Ig Nobel Prizes 2 -- who knows how long it will take me to get that far? At this rate, about ten years. Anyway. I started the year with a few short works, for no reason other than because that's the way it worked out. First book started & finished in 2011: Metamorphosis by James P. Blaylock, et al (63 pp). Was it interesting? It was somewhat interesting. The author James Blaylock taught a class of high school students, then asked them to write the beginning of a "James Blaylock" story, and he picked three of them, and finished them. It was interesting to see the students' take on James Blaylock's work. Well-written? Written well enough that I couldn't tell where one ended and one began. Would I read it again? Probably not. Keep or give away? Probably keep. Maybe. Would I read a sequel/further adventures? Eh. Cumulative page count? 63. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
1:22 am	Read a book! I have been reading books this year. I haven't posted on any of them, because I was planning on re-jiggering my little template. But seeing as a quarter of the year has passed, and I haven't actually done so, perhaps I'll just go with it as it is now. The only trend that I can identify so far? A lot of Joe R. Lansdale. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 7th, 2011
3:10 am	Hugo Natterings: Best Related Work and Best Artist The two remaining categories that I really have any thoughts on are Best Artist and Best Related Work. ( More thoughts on the work than the artist. ) Ballot due in a little over 2.5 weeks at this point.... (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
1:35 am	Hugo Natterings: Best Dramatic Presentation As an aside, whenever I make these posts, I have the Too Much Joy song "Hugo" going through my head. ( Click here to see long versus short, &c ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 28th, 2011
4:52 am	It's that time again! I realize that I haven't blurbed it out here yet, but the 20th Annual iteration of the Smithee Awards in Ann Arbor are scheduled, and arranged, and room reserved, and etc. They will be a week earlier than typically (for "last 5-10 years" values of typically): Saturday, April 16 7 PM until we finish 1800 Chem Building (UM campus) There will be fizzy tablets that supposedly make drinks bacon-flavored. Until they're all consumed. At which point, they will no longer be there. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
3:17 am	Hugo Natterings: misc Editors? I don't really know from editors. Semiprozine? I subscribe to Locus, so I'm sure I'll nominate it. I'm also pretty sure it doesn't need my nom. What that leave that I want to discuss? Dramatic (Short & Long). Related work. Artist. Campbell (not a Hugo)? I suspect I will nominate Gail Carriger for the Campbell (she has one more year of eligibility left, I believe). So never mind about the Campbell. Next time, we will discuss either the Dramatic Presentation pair, Related Work, or Artist. And when I say "discuss," I mean that I will type at you. (Comment on this)
Monday, February 14th, 2011
2:40 am	Hugo Natterings: Short Story This was a toughie, but I managed to narrow it down to five by picking my favorite of three John Scalzi stories. If there were 7 nomination slots, I would have nominated all three, I think. Anyway -- here goes: ( Alphabetically under the cut ) And that's that. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
2:58 am	Read a book! Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years With Pogo: The official history and commemoration of Pogo's first decade... all wrapped up with a running commentary by Walt Kelly (288 pp). Walt Kelly is one of the great prose stylists of American English. I would put him up against anybody else. The book in question is a survey of Pogo (mostly strips, but some from comics or other collections of miscellanea). If you don't know Pogo (or Go Pogo), the strip is quite a treat. Even if you do, the running commentary by Kelly is well worth the cost of the book. I bought it used, because this one is out of print (as, alas, is most of Pogo). Fantagraphics took a stab at publishing a complete Pogo about a decade ago, but only got through 11 volumes ('48 to '54 or so). The good news is that it seems they're trying again. In my search for in-print titles by Walt Kelly, I came across a forthcoming Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips, Vol. 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder, due out at the end of March. Let's hope they make it this time! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
9:58 pm	Hugo Natterings: Graphic Story ...I think that's what the category is called. Sadly, both the recent Templar, Arizona and the recent Skin Horse books were initially published on the web in 2009, and so no longer eligible. Perhaps I will pick a more recent Skin Horse storyline ...? I can wait until book five of Templar, AZ is finished -- but this one is less SF/F than the last one (Jakeskin = creepy but fascinating). So what does that leave? I am loving Justin Madson's "Breathers" (and book five came out in early 2010). I will nominate it, although not being either a standard comic nor a webcomic means it's unlikely to get the visibility it needs to make the cut. Alas. I even think book five is complete enough in & of itself. Patrick Rothfuss & Nate Taylor's The Princess & Mr Whiffle: The Thing Under The Bed isn't free either, but I think it's got the visibility. I'm sure there are MANY options that I'm just not thinking of. Tara Tallan's Galaxion chapter five, maybe? Or six? Please, suggest away. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 7th, 2011
12:40 am	Read a book! Last one for 2010 under the cut. ( Here be the cut. Arrr. ) I did succeed in my goal of 70/70, and my stretch goal of 80/80. It was a bit of an effort at the end, to make it to 80 books read. I think I had watched 80 movies by mid-July. When I assessed where I was in the movie-watching, my count was over one hundred. I probably will end up reading less this year (and watching fewer movies), but I'm sure I will find something to occupy my time. Have no fear. (Comment on this)
12:28 am	Zingerman's Bacon Club #1: Nueske's Applewood-Smoked Bacon Make no mistake about it -- upon opening the package, the first smell is applewood smoke. When cooking the bacon (thick slices which sizzle and bubble slowly in the hot grease), the smell is smokey, and bacon. As the bacon cools on the plate, sandwiched between paper towels trying vainly to wick the grease away (not vainly because the bacon is overly-greasy, but vainly because I am underly-patient), it smells of bacon, and applewood smoke. If you like your bacon smokey, this might just be the perfect bacon for you. The flavor *is* smokey, but sweet. The bacon is not too salty, which lets the subtle sweetness emerge from the bacon. The applewood smoke does add an extra complexity to the flavor, and it's a very good bacon. It's just a touch too applewood-smokey for me. Even after finishing a piece, the taste of the applewood smoke rolls around in the mouth, leaning up against the tongue, and scratching itself on the insides of the teeth. I would give it at least a four (of five), but not more than four and a half. But this is not a matter for dismay -- it means the perfect bacon is still out there, waiting to be caught. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 6th, 2011
5:04 am	Hugo Natterings: Novella & Novelette I put the longer-than-short-story-but-shorter-than-novel ones together, because I simply don't have five of each. The exact distinctions are fuzzy. Technically, short story is < 7500. Novelette is 7500-17,500. Novella is 17,500-40,000. Novel is > 40,000. But each WorldCon is allowed to fudge (if they desire) if the word count is within 10%. Which is probably why the James Morrow story ended up as a loooong novella last year instead of a short novel. ( I make discuss under cut here. ) I suppose not much to discuss there. But if there are further suggestions, send them my way. Dramatic Presentation (both), Short Story, Related Work ... all of those will have more discussion from me, I promise. (Comment on this)
Saturday, February 5th, 2011
12:33 am	Hugo Natterings: Novel With neither plan nor organization, I begin my Hugo Awards natterings with my list. I have been keeping a list ever since I realized that as a Hugo voter, I got to nominate! So, the first part is novels. Published in 2010. I have read a handful of them, and whittled it down to a few for-sures, and a couple of maybes. ( Here lie my opinions. Tomorrow they'll tell the truth. ) So that's four for certain, and three maybe. And I'm sure there are books published in 2010 that I've missed. Any suggestions? Nearly two months until the deadline, and that's plenty of time to read a few obvious choices that I may have overlooked. (2 Comments |Comment on this)