(no subject)

Chicagoans are a practical people. When a building was proposed that was like a very thin spire shooting up into the sky on the lakeshore, we immediately named it The Drill Bit. Marina Towers is one of the most architecturally unique buildings in the city, and we call it The Corncobs. The Cloud Gate is a gorgeous mirrored construction that draws people daily to Millennium Park, and locals know it exclusively as The Bean.

Marilyn Monroe hasn't even been completed yet but we already call her The Lawn Ornament.

I give this to you as context for the following conversation:

Sam: OH L, I am about to come upstairs so we can talk about the Lawn Ornament.
L: OH MY GOD SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE'S ABOUT TO BE THROWN IN THE TRUNK OF A CAR.

For real, guys, it just gets more unsettling:



SHE HAS A PLASTIC BAG OVER HER HEAD AND TIED TIGHT AROUND HER NECK. And you can't see it in that picture but the rope is also wrapped around HER LEGS.

We're torn between "Marilyn Monroe, Kidnap Victim" and "Marilyn Monroe: Tragic Death By Auto-Erotic Asphyxiation".

(no subject)

BOOOOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

I think I'm just going to use that as a header on book posts from now on. I say it vaguely chicken-fashion. BOOK BOOK BOOK...*

One, Candlemark & Gleam are holding a contest to win a galley copy of Erekos, the first novel they published which is now coming out in deadtree format. It's as easy as entering your name and email address in the contest form, but if you Word Of Mouth it (blog posts, twitter, etc) you can get extra entries.

Two, I have Created a Thing. There is now a group for Cafe members and readers of my books on LibraryThing: theSam's Cafe Library Branch. Feel free to drop by, join, start discussions, or introduce yourself.

Three, through Friday, Lulu has a coupon code: BIG305 will get you 20% off any purchase. If you've been waiting on a sale to get a copy of my deadtree books, now's a good time!

* Every week a chicken would show up at the library and tell the librarian BOOK BOOK BOOK! until the chicken was given a few books. The librarian got curious, so one week the librarian followed the chicken until they reached a pond. There the librarian saw the chicken holding up each book in turn to a frog, who replied, READIT, READIT, READIT.

(no subject)

First, for those of you who were wondering if the Marilyn Monroe statue (aka the Hood Ornament, thank you twirlynoodle) has undies:



Second, I'm taking a poll on what's under the bag on her head.

[Poll #1761459]

There's also the very remote possibility that it could be a giant baby head ala the ones outside the Boston MFA, but that's too creepy to contemplate.

(no subject)

Reading an anthology of short scifi stories right before reading a book about society and the internet probably wasn't the best idea in the world.

I don't actually know why this anthology was even on my reading list. I assumed when I checked it out that it was because there was a specific story or author I was supposed to read, but if so it's long since faded from memory. Possibly it's because Harry Harrison edited it?

( The Light Fantastic, edited by Harry Harrison )

Final Verdict: Not worth buying -- I can't imagine it's still in print anyhow -- but I suppose if you like working out what makes science fiction be science fiction, it's worth a look through. If you do get a chance to read The Machine Stops by EM Forster or Something Strange by Kingsley Amis, they're both quite compelling.

(no subject)

Once upon a time, when I was in grad school, we did a production of You Never Can Tell, which is a fantastic play by George Bernard Shaw that has, as one of its main characters, a flawless wisdom-dispensing waiter named Walter. I was shooting the shit with Walter's actor one night when he told me about how he had spent two hours the previous evening finding interesting ways to say "sir", because he had worked out that he said "sir" something like two hundred and ten times in the course of a two hour play.

Seven months of origami is a little like that. It's very difficult to keep these posts fresh, because there are only so many ways to say BAM I FOLDED SOME PAPER IS THIS AWESOME OR TRAGIC? I always try to find something interesting to say, but sometimes it isn't easy. Even as I was folding today's Star Box I had the feeling I had folded it before, which makes it doubly hard.

But then, serendipitously, I took a picture of the box that reveals THE HIDDEN PRIZE:

That's right. It's a star box with a FROG INSIDE!

Hey, I'll take my triumphs where I can get them. (Sir.)