Hmm. Well, counting from October-ish (and omitting rereads and re-views):

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READ: The Sharing Knife: Passage, Lois McMaster Bujold; Odysseus and the Serpent's Maze, Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris; Beka Cooper: Terrier, Tamora Pierce; Werewolf: The Apocalypse, 2nd ed.; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. II, Alan Moore*; The Books of Magic: Bindings, John Ney Rieber*; Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Howard Chaykin*; Fables: Legends in Exile, Bill Willingham*.

READING: Tales of the Slayer, Vol. I; The Conquest of Gaul, Caesar; The Invisibles: Say You Want a Revolution, Grant Morrison*.

QUEUE: The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft*; Age of Bronze: Sacrifice, Eric Shanower*.

* In case you couldn't tell, I recently discovered the graphic novels shelf at the Mattapan branch. They had a number of things I wanted to read more of (LXG, Age of Bronze) and others I'd been wanting to try out for a while (Fables, Invisibles; if they have the 1st volume, Sin City will go on that list, too).

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WATCHED: Dollhouse, Season One (and Season Two on broadcast and Hulu.com); Ocean's Eleven; Coraline [and I plan to Netflix the 3-D version, too]; Transformers; The Gamers: Dorkness Rising; Star Trek: Nemesis; The Producers (2006); Once Upon a Time in Mexico; The Color of Magic; Entrapment.

We also introduced the kids to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a week or so after we all went to the HP exhibit at the Museum of Science. They were pretty scared in parts, but liked it enough to beg to watch it again a few days later. Win.

QUEUE: Hogfather; Heroes, Season One; Reign of Fire; Live Free or Die Hard.

The kids' costumes (Max in his wolf suit, and Captain Obvious) are done, with the possible exception of a ribbon-style domino mask for the Owl. (They asked last night what the "O" stood for, and I told them without defining the word--and they didn't ask. The Owl only needed a couple tries to say the name properly.)

Thanks again to meranthi for sewing the last couple stripes onto the torso last night! That gave me the time to construct the head frame instead and attach teeth and some skin to it. Until I added the eyes, nose, and horns this morning, it looked more like an anglerfish than anything else. Now it looks like a bald, somewhat cyborg-ish Wild Thing. Once the eyes dry, I can attach craft fur to the head. Once that and the tail (also craft fur) are done, I'll be finished!

In other Halloween news, this article about costumes in public schools rubs me the wrong way. I understand the desire to keep things safe and p.c. for the kids, but this is shoddy execution. It gives me a new appreciation of the Blackbird's school's policy of not celebrating holidays (or pseudo-holidays) at school at all, so as to not favor one culture, race, or religion over another. It's p.c. without being obnoxious about it, and it's simple enough that it leaves no gray areas (like what is too scary or too sexy to wear to school). Are my kids disappointed that they can't wear costumes to school today? Maybe a little, but they haven't complained, and they're plenty excited about trick-or-treating tomorrow wearing the cool costumes Daddy made them.

The Blackbird's costume (Max in his wolf suit, from Where the Wild Things Are*) is almost finished. I just need to add a tail, decide how best to attach the clawed hand and foot covers, and make the crown. She tried on the hoodie (with ears and whiskers) this morning, and was very happy with it.

The Owl pouted at seeing her excited about her costume. But he's already seen his half-finished costume: Captain Obvious. It's a family in-joke: the Owl has a habit of stating the obvious as if it's a profound discovery. It's basically a Superman costume with a big "O" where the "S" would be--generic enough that he can be whatever superhero he wants to be whenever they play dress-up.

I'll be spending much of today working on mine (finally!). I'm going as a Wild Thing (the striped one with the beard and horns), in order to match the Blackbird's Max.

* From the book, not the movie, which I haven't seen yet. Maybe after Halloween...

ETA new userpic!

GURPS Vorkosigan Saga is finally coming out.

It's been ages since I first got a peek at the initial playtest draft. I think I was still working at Northeastern back then, so that would be at least 7 years. GURPS Fourth Edition came out while this was still in playtest, so it certainly needed a massive overhaul. And now it's finally made out of back-burner limbo.

I may need to actually buy another GURPS 4E book now...?

"Stacy Griffith. 15. Liked frequenting chat rooms online. One day, she met a funny, goofy boy who was deep and intelligent. They talked all the time and eventually, they decided they were going to meet up at a mall in Stacy's home town.

Only when they met, Stacey realized he was no boy..."

Currently reading: A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Robert J. Schwalb; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling [re].

Recently watched: The Education of Charlie Banks; El Mariachi; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [re]; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [re]; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [re]; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [re]; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; From Hell [re].

In the queue: Quantum of Solace.

A friend of mine recently ranted on LJ about his incompetent teacher. I was reminded of a similar experience I had in college, but it didn't seem quite appropriate to relate it in the comments there, since it probably wouldn't help his problem. But I decided to share here, as a random anecdote of the ancient history of Tim.

I had the misfortune in college of taking Painting I and Drawing II (or III?) during the semester that a new Artist-in-Residence taught them because the regular prof(s) were on sabbatical. She was the worst single art teacher I've ever had. That painting course is the only C+ I ever got in an art class, mostly because she couldn't articulate what she wanted, and I despised her too much to put in the work to cater to her banal ideas. I've had other art instructors whose own personal work I could never see any point to, but at least they were good, insightful teachers who challenged me--I even asked one to be my advisor! But this poor woman just had crap for brains.

In Drawing, on the other hand, I got an easy A+. That's always been my best medium, and IIRC, was supposed to be one of hers. But I'm pretty sure that most of the time, she was stumped on how to critique me, so just gave me the next assignment and spent her time "helping" other students. In fact, the professor who I'd had for every other drawing course told me later in the year (at the faculty art show itself, I think?) that most of the Art Department now regretted hiring Ms. Incompetent at all. Also, Ms.I. had confided to her that I was better at drawing than she was. My old prof took some evil glee from sharing this, and (as I'm sure she intended) it did wonders for my mood, too.

If only all the other useless people out there were recognized as such so promptly!

Recently read: (None new since last time.)

Currently reading: A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Robert J. Schwalb; Age of Heroes Campaign Sourcebook, Nicky Rea [for AD&D 2nd Ed.; rereading, because I got a replacement copy for my birthday].

In the queue: The Sharing Knife: Passage, Lois McMaster Bujold.
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Recently watched: 300; Sin City; The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything [re]; The Light Before Her Eyes [my 1st Netflix Instant Play]; Fanboys [Netflix] (my new favorite paean to fandom, I think!); The Corpse Bride.

In the queue: Reign of Fire; El Mariachi. (And towards the end of the month, when meranthi is taking some vacation: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And likely rewatching movies 1-5 before then.)

While idly browsing LHS alums on Facebook this weekend, I found the page of one of the other art geeks I knew back then, and saw ILM listed in her networks. I vaguely recal,led hearing a few years back that she was working there, so I dropped her a note and looked up her IMDb page. She was on the vfx teams of quite a few movies and series I've enjoyed, which I find pretty damn cool.