I'm back!

Made it back alive last night! Woohoo!

Had a wonderful holiday season, as always. shadesong's biological family is comprised of truly wonderful people, and we always feel like we're at home when we're with them. And our final 24 hours was spent with morenasangre and farren, who really are family, regardless of any biological connections.

The time with both families was basically spent the same way -- hanging out, talking, eating, and playing with dogs. 'song's aunt and uncle have a poodle named Pepper and a chia-pap named Petey, which meant I was amongst two of the few breeds who don't make me react. Both are sweet, cuddly pets. Wendy and Bret have two adorable bigger dogs, Evie and Sheila, who are wonderful and sweet but who, alas, do a superb job of triggering my allergies. Still, they're cuddly and fun puppies.

Time spent with both families was what made it a wonderful holiday. But that doesn't mean that presents weren't exchanged, either.

Loot: From the family: Simpsons season 4, Puerto Rico, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (something I pretty desperately need), and Rocky and Bullwinkle season 2 (containing over 1000 hours of material!).

From morenasangre and farren: The Science of Supervillians (they'd given me the first one a year or two ago), which all comics geeks should read, and The Future of Spacetime, which looks really really nifty.

I flew back last night, and only had minor Delta delays. Both shadesong and Elayna are spending a few days in FLA, which means I get the greatest gift of all for a day or two -- free time and a house to myself! Anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to need recharge time alone. :-)

Time to get to work, which basically means cleaning out my inbox from all the crap that piled up.

Fox/Amazon DVD sale, again!

That Fox Season 1 DVD Sale at Amazon is back! And if it's not better than before, it's still pretty nifty -- Buffy, Futurama, Dark Angel, Bernie Mac, Son of the Beach, and NYPD Blue (!) are all at $14.99, and they have X-Files season 1, finally, for $35 (hella cheap, considering the normal price), as well as The Shield and Lost in Space for under $30 each. There's a few others, too. I guess this is their way of rewarding people who don't get around to shopping for holiday presents until after December 25. :-)

Random items of note:

Many of you know that yuki_onna is a damned talented writer. She's also a military wife who is looking at the prospect of a hellish and costly pair of moves. The cost of the moves are especially burdensome due to the costs of shipping a dog across the Atlantic. She's come up with an offer of a subscription to a serial novel to raise money to help her move the puppy, as detailed here. If you've read her stuff, you know that it's well worth the money, even ignoring the fact that it's for a good cause.

Speaking of published authors, today's the day that matociquala officially becomes one! Gee, and I've got an Amazon GC to spend. Wonder what I'll buy with it? :-)

Sometimes the snark writes itself department (comic book category): From the latest Rich Johnston column: And Michael [Avon Oeming] needs something to establish him more as a writer than an artist. Anyone who read MAO's run on Thor would have to agree.

Like Craigslist? Then you're one of the bastards costing the SF newspapers money! For shame! Seriously, I'd like to see an analysis of how other resources (eBay, etc) have affected things.

Macgamer.com did a great page of joke news on Christmas Day. Funny thing is, I really could imagine Freeverse releasing Burning Monkey Russian Roulette.

I'm still stunned over the tsunami and its aftermath. We were out of the loop for most of the weekend, and I only really heard about what happened while CNN played at the airport. It really is the sort of thing one tends to only imagine happening in movies.

Finally, just to end on a happier note, go read Slashdot's story on the tenth anniversary of Marathon, still the best FPS franchise ever, imnsho.

Upcoming movies

I don't care what other folks think. I'm really looking forward to this movie. *Happy Sigh* (or *Happy Sai*). Cute assassins are wonderful. And Zod as Stick! Gotta love it.

I am decidedly not looking forward to this movie, a remake that just doesn't need to exist. That said, I'll probably see it. And maybe it'll be that rare remake (like DotD) that's worthwhile. It will, without a doubt, be better than anything that John Carpenter has done recently.

I will not, no matter how much my daughter begs, see this movie. Ice Cube deserves better.

I might have to give in and see this one to get out of the previous one. This one will probably reek as well, but it's hard for me to say no to any movie with the voices of David Spade, Joey Pants, and Dustin Hoffman.

Gah! And Double Gah!

Gah: Every campus dining location is closed all week. Sodexho (folks who run the dining services) are assholes.

Double-Gah: A co-worker brought her son in. No biggie (I bring Elayna during vacations all the time), except one of his $Winterholiday gifts is the Motherfucking Robosapien (the hot toy of the season!). And it's loud. Motherfucking loud. Annoying, loud, and likely to be broken in about ten minutes if something doesn't change.