Borrowing a term from Websnark, I declare this evening, in a very localized context, to be National Drunk Writing Night (NaDruWriNi!). This involves getting drunk (check!) and then writing something, anything, and refusing to edit it once it's been posted. Today I: Stayed up non-stop since 9 AM yesterday, took a red-eye flight from San Diego to New York, attended classes, gave blood at noon, and then went out for drinks on Columbia's bill at a local bar. So now I'm drunk and writing. So there you have it.
I have been itching like hell lately, but only in New York. It went away when I flew to San Diego, and now it's back. It didn't start until after I took a shower. Do you suppose it's hard water? Does hard water cause itching? What the hell is hard water? Something to do with having metally stuff in your water, from what I recall. In any case, I have a sneaking suspicion that complaining that my water is hard to my superintendant and demanding she do something about it will result in my getting laughed at and then still having hard water.
You know what are a great set of novels? The Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin. I'm not generally a fantasy fan, but these books are different. They're almost more books of medieval politics than they are fantasy novels. They remind me, in a way, of the early chapters of Dune, when it's largely about politics and house organization and not so much about spirituality and Muad'Dib and the Kwisatz Haderach. It's fantasy without the magic. Except there is magic. Only it's very small, and peripheral. For now. In any case, there's much good to say about them, but it will have to wait until my mental state is more composed.
Which reminds me of Least I Could Do. The author of Least I Could Do is also a George R.R. Martin fan, but man have I come to loathe his strip. I read it daily for the same reason I used to read Mallard Fillmore, because I feel I don't have enough raw hatred in my life and I need to artificially inject more reasons to be hateful. I found the strip a while ago when they advertised on Something Positive. It often has funny gags, but it makes you feel like a bad person for reading it, and it gets old very fast. The plot, in a nutshell: Raine is astoundingly good at getting sex. Raine is surrounded by friends who spend all of their time wishing they could be as amazing as he is at getting sex. There's a certain cleverness in the punchlines much of the time, but the whole thing comes crashing down when you realize that Raine is one gigantic galloping Mary Sue, an avatar for the author who can do no wrong and is everything the author wishes he could be. I also don't like the current artist. The original artist had sort of a cartoonish style with interesting character designs. The current artist seems to possess more raw artistic talent, which he prudently deploys to make all the girls look like they're posing for Playboy centerfolds at all times. He also seems to have mastered only two facial expressions for girls: Come Hither Stare and Googly-Eyed Wild Take. Nyah! Hate it so much!
Finally: Quick poll time! I'm feeling a bit peckish. What should I go out and eat? A. Indian Burrito Things (it's an indian restaurant that serves burritos stuffed with indian food instead of, say, beans and rice) B. Felafel or C. Pizza.
All right, all right. If I read some Songs of Ice and Fire, will you read some Empire? Since we posted references to them at the same damn time?
I'll get into Song of Ice and Fire once I get my head together and write some kind of review, but I feel a bit queasy about it because I've only read two of the books and there are four out at the moment (the fourth came out last week). And the series isn't done yet. He's said there will be at least six books, and most likely seven since it turns out that he has more that he needs to say than he expected.
And bear in mind that these aren't books with discrete plots; there are arcs and rises and falls in the action, but it's essentially one gigantic plot spanning six (now possibly seven) novels. Of which nearly half aren't written yet, so you'll be plunked in the middle with nothing for probably years when you're done.
That'll all be brought up when I write about it, but I just thought I'd mention that this is a series-in-progress, and I know some people like to wait until a series is done before investing time in it.
Amazing series though. You want your shades of grey? Song of Ice and Fire's got 'em in spades. There are good guys and bad guys and guys that are sometimes good but mostly bad and guys that are generally nice with a vicious streak and guys who are outright good but work (knowingly) for the bad guys and etc.
But anyhow, e-mail me your address and I'll send you a copy of the first book, A Game of Thrones.
www.sinfest.net
Its the only webcomic I read with regularity. And by regular, I mean, its in my favorite's list, but I haven't looked at it in 2 or 3 months.
I like to read in bulk...
NaDruWriNi is on again this year!