Two - No, Three - Links

One website is really eating into my online time: Geni. It's a site which will let you generate your own family tree for free. I have an unwieldy and complicated family tree (think Jeremy Kyle or vintage Jerry Springer) which makes it super-fun to figure out how people are actually related to one another. As Geni also lets you add photos of the different family members, you can also trace where that family chin originated.. Another website which has captivated me today: the 'Coraline' website. The website seeks to promote the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "Coraline" book - and in all honesty, I am not a big Gaiman fan. However,  try typing in the code: sweaterxxs and you will see why I'm enchanted. Clues: Starmore and miniature.

Addendum: Darn, I forgot to add this amazing video of a meteorite falling in Canada and burning up as it hits the Earth’s atmosphere. The footage is from a police car in Alberta. (via)

From Me To You

Today is the 21st of November 2008. I am one gift away from having completed my Christmas shopping. I know it's completely and utterly disgusting and I apologise profusely. If you do not know what to get people, here's a little list of helpful tips:

1. Animatronic dinosaurs will please most boys, no matter what age. Some girls might also appreciate the thought but make sure you check with said girl's friends and family first. It would be epic fail if said girl had really wanted bling and you got her a Triceratops instead.
2. Etsy rocks, full stop. It is particularly useful if you had promised Auntie Petunia a nice handknitted scarf and you didn't get 'round to it. Although if you find a scarf which will set you back $112, you might want to get out your own knitting needles, you lazy sod.
3. Awesome handpainted shoes would go down very well with some girls (read: me). Of course I do own one handpainted sneaker and am eagerly awaiting the other (spring 2010?). And then I'd like me some totally amazing handpainted shoes I cannot wear because I have wonky feet.
4. I would avoid Lush if I were you, but I think I'm the only human being alive who's not susceptible to being covered in glitter and smelling like blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Wtf?! Wtf, I ask you. But if you are not buying for me, the company does giftboxes which most panicky boyfriends/sons/brothers will purchase in late December. Also, what's with the Lush staff? They are scarily friendly. Time to pick up that cult assessment questionnaire again.
5. Amazon wishlists are really helpful. Unless you haven't updated them since early 2003 when you thought adding that album by The Darkness was really appropriate and hadn't considered how this would make you a bit of laughing stock a few years later. Or that desperate and distant relatives would uncover your wishlist and think you'd actually really, really, really like that album.. in 2008. Not that I know anyone who'd be that careless.
6. Finally, both Wists and Kaboodle are great tools if you are the sort who go "ooh, wouldn't mind that.." and then promptly forget what thing you wanted. They are also very useful if you happen to have a parental unit who starts asking for your Christmas wishlist in August. I think one of my goals of 2009 shall be to actually use these tools so I don't end up stuttering that I'd like some tea towels (which I once did).

But hang on, it's not Christmas yet. US citizens get to have Thanksgiving first! Everybody's favourite Hail Mary, Sarah Palin, went to pardon a turkey and then had a little chat with journalists. Squeamish people who are adverse to a) blood, b) dead birds or c) political ineptitude might not want to watch this video. Best captions evah, I tell you. (via)

The Next Doctor?

Philip Rhys - a UK actor starring in BBC's new adventure series Survivors with Freema "Martha Jones" Agyeman and Paterson Joseph - had a little slip-up during an interview on BBC News 24 tonight: “Yeah, we have a great cast. Max Beesley, Freema and Paterson Joseph .. y’know, the new D.. potentially the new Doctor.” And then the good Mr Rhys looked mortified and the interviewer quickly changed topic. Potentially? Let the speculation continue, although I suspect this might be confirmation enough for a lot of people.

Addendum: Behind The Sofa picks up on the potential slip-up. They've posted a link to a youtube clip of the interview.

A Bit About Yarn

I wonder what my favourite colour is..? I have been spending the past few evenings winding up a lot of yarn from hanks into these cakes you see. It's both totally gratifying and hard work. Gratifying because I get to rummage around my stash, see all the gorgeous yarns I own, daydream about future projects and fondle the fibres as I wind them up using the swift and ball winder that socherry let me borrow (thank you! thank you!).

Hard work? Well, my right wrist is sore thanks to all the laceweight yarn I am winding. Believe me, 1300 yards of any yarn will make even the strongest wrist a bit sore. I must admit I'm cursing my thriftiness: "Ooh, laceweight yarn is cheaper by the yard and will totally last longer than bulky yarn, so I'm going to buy that laceweight, yes!!" - of course by "thriftiness" I mean a completely patchy sense of thriftiness that mysteriously allows me to buy more yarn.

People (who shall remain nameless, but I live with them) claim that my knitting groups have a "cultish" air to them. I would like to refute that by directing everybody's attention to The Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame which examines how likely it is that a given group is a cult. I'll just go through a few of the questions.

"Lack of clearly defined organizational rights for members"? Certainly not. Anything mildly important is decided via polling and discussion. Anything mildly unimportant is also resolved thusly.

"Amount of infallibility declared or implied about decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations [by leaders]"? As accomplished some of these knitters are, even they have to frog rows and picked dropped stitches. Sorry.

"Emphasis put on attracting new members" ? Okay, I'll give you that. We like new victims.

"Advancement or preferential treatment dependent upon sexual activity with the leader(s)"? Sadly, we get our kicks from fondling yarn, not each other.

Cult claim refuted, I believe.

Anyhow, I'm off back to bed with my almost-flu/cold. Thank you, Paula, for your professional medical advice. I might just survive (although I'm not sure Other Half will).

And Then We Came To This

We have the dreaded November lurgee in Casa Bookish. I have also found myself embroiled in an unexpected and uncalled-for family drama (it's double the fun when you're in another country). So, this is all the blogging you'll get out of me today. This little animated video will have to do:

Peace out, dudes and dudettes. Although anybody with a great flu remedy should leave a comment.

Fa'en!

My partner, David, doesn't really speak Danish. He knows a few, carefully selected, words like tak (thank you), hej (hi), ja/nej (yes/no), tillykke med fødselsdagen (happy birthday), and the good, old chestnut undskyld (sorry). He's also very fond of exclaiming kylling (chicken) whenever we make it across to Denmark. He says it makes him look special. I say exclaiming "chicken" in public places makes him look very special indeed. For fa'en is David's favourite Danish expression, though. He says that swearing in Danish means you don't really swear. Hmm. When I came across this youtube clip explaining the Norwegian swearword Faen, I knew David would get a kick out of it. He did and so will you, I promise.

Afterwards, go to this Metafilter thread for commentary and an insight into Scandinavian neighbourly "love":

"After living in Finland, I just can't take Swedes seriously."

"I mean, Norwegian is, without a doubt, the wussiest of all Nordic languages. Icelandic and Finnish are the two hardest languages, then comes Danish due to its awesome gutturalness, then Swedish, then Norwegian."

"I lived in Iceland where national sports involved remarking on how the Finns are always drunk and how Danish sounds like Icelandic spoken by a retarded sheep. I do firmly believe that both of these are true."