Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Teaser

Just sneaking this one in: the teaser trailer for Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. And if you are thinking Bzuh?! (which is admittedly very likely), here's an explanation:

During the WGA strike ['Buffy' and 'Firefly' creator] Joss Whedon started writing a three part musical series for the internet. Each of the three episodes will be approximately ten minutes each. (..) “It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.” says Whedon. “Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” will star Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny and a cast of dozens.”

General awesomeness, in other words.

Fantabulous Faber

Faber and Faber is sending me a proof copy of Andrew Sean Greer's new novel, The Story of a Marriage. Greer's The Confessions of Max Tivoli was excellent and I'm looking forward to see how his new novel compares. Thank you, F&F. I hope this is the start of a beautiful friendship between TS Eliot's old publishing company and yours truly.

(If you ever feel like letting me rummage through your archives, you know how to contact me)

The Timeline of Fictional Events

This is really nifty: The Timeline of Fictional And Fictional Future Events.

1609: A vampire known as the Master converts a young woman dying of syphilis to fellow vampire Darla. The conversion reportedly took place in the Colony and Dominion of Virginia which at the time only included Jamestown 1620: Norville "Shaggy" Rogers' and Scooby-Doo's ancestors, McBaggy Rogers and Yankee Doodle Doo, arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower. 1622: Duncan MacLeod revealed to be an immortal. 1626: D'Artagnan arrives in Paris and meets The Three Musketeers. 1635: Gotham City is founded as part of the Swedish colonization of the Americas. 1659: Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked 1666: September 2 - September 5 - During the Great Fire of London, the Ancient One battles Dormammu and forces him to retreat. 1685: John Ridd and Lorna Doone find themselves caught up in events surrounding the Monmouth Rebellion 1687: Robinson Crusoe rescued

The Dark Side

I'm hand-dyeing yarn right now.

Edit: Modus Operanti: First, I soaked a hank of merino laceweight yarn for about forty minutes in lukewarm water. While it was soaking, I mixed green food dye with a touch of blue food dye into about two pints of water. I added citric acid as a fixing agent. I heated up the dyeing solution in an old stovetop pot. When it was very warm (but not boiling), I took the soaked yarn and gently put it into the warm dye. The idea is not to agitate the yarn because agitated yarn = felt. I let the yarn simmer for about 35 minutes until I saw the liquid running clear. I turned off the heat and let it cool for ten minutes. The yarn was rinsed gently in very warm water as temperature shock would cause the yarn to felt. And now the yarn's drip-drying, huzzah!

Proper instructions here.

I'm reserving judgement on the end result but at least the merino's no longer pale yellow-green..

Five Things I Have Learned Recently

Don't you just love lists? I do.

+ Mattel has made The Birds Barbie. It's brilliant. (thank you Darth Ken)

+ Wordle is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It even makes Spandau Ballet seem cool.

+ I have finally found a food item that I simply cannot abide.

The falooda we bought at today's Glasgow Mela bore an unfortunate resembles to worms bathing in strawberry milkshake with added (pink) tadpoles. I think we were unlucky because all the falooda recipes online have very yummy photos. How did it taste? The kulfi was delicious but I couldn't really cope with the rest of it..

+ I can knit quite awesome shawls and watch football at the same time. Both my teams are out, alas.

+ This is how stormtroopers are made. They're not space soldiers of Maori descent - no, they're Danish!

That's Not My Name

Yesterday I had to convince nurses that my name wasn't Flora Westmark of [absurdly named Glasgow suburb]. It wasn't until I pointed out that Flora's patient file stated she was born in 1949 whilst I clearly was not that they went in search of my file. Oh, you wacky NHS with your strange disorganisation - I think I'm growing to almost love you and your quirks.

Title courtesy of The Ting Tings, natch. I'm naff.