Another non-entry

Whole lot of nothing to say, lately. Since the residency came through, it's all been rather slow.

Had an uneventful but enjoyable Christmas. So there's that.

Started reading a Donald E. Westlake book last night, and 19 pages in I decided to stop. People who are funny, I can take. People who try to be funny, not so much. The other two books I read -- Somebody Owes Me Money and Money For Nothing -- actually were funny, so I don't know what happened with this one.

Nikki got me a book today called "The Map That Changed The World" which looks fascinating. It's by Simon Winchester, who wrote "The Professor and the Madman", about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. "Yawn," I know, but it was incredible! Can't wait to read this one, but I have a stack from the library that I have to plow through first. One about the Black Dahlia, which is always good reading. Except when it's by James Ellroy. And a couple others that I can just burn through in a day or so. All serial killer stuff, so it's not heavy-hitting journalism, but the sensationalistic tripe they like to churn out to cash in on tragedies. Well, that's commerce for you.

We're going down to Deb and Brendan's on New Year's. The plan was to play the Dawn of the Dead boardgame (!), but Brendan and I felt it's way too complicated to just toss Deb and Nikki into, so we've decided, instead, to have a horror movie marathon. I said I'd bring Shaun of the Dead, and Brendan suggested I bring some more along -- I'm thinking the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre (which probably won't go over very well, so I'll bring the remake as a backup), Creepshow, Jacob's Ladder, Return of the Living Dead, The Thing and The Fog. I'd love to do a Romero/Dead marathon, but I'm pretty sure I'd be out-voted on that. And I'll count myself lucky enough if I can get Brendan to watch the original Chain Saw...