Finally, a blip on the KSR radar!

Kim Stanley Robinson's next will be The Years of Rice and Salt. Information on it so far is sketchy, here's what I could find: synopsis and book cover shots, may be possible to get an advance copy from here (I'll know as soon as I get offline to try it out), a hint of where the title may have come from in this text on gender roles in premodern China (long, the reference is a third of the way into the page, the gist of it is: Women in elite households called the childbearing years of marriage the years of "rice and salt," and they generally constituted the busiest time in a woman's life. Duties connected with raising children, looking after sick or aging household members, and managing certain economic aspects of the household required much time and energy, even with the assistance of servants.). By all accounts, the novel is set in a world where the Black Plague destroyed European civilization, with India and China becoming the world's dominant societies. That's all I could gather. Scheduled for release Feb 2002.

"Write down in my victory notebook: another victory!"

More hep comix: Pokey the Penguin, low tech penguin comic antics with lines like: "Write down in my victory notebook: another victory!" I laughed as I puzzled through the clunky art and virtually subliterate dialogue: brilliant! Also sprach Bob the Golferthustra. (the former directly, the latter indirectly, via milov.nl/links out of our trusty referral log)

Ocean's 11

Saw Ocean's 11 Saturday night and am glad I did for two reasons: (1) It was a funny,smart, hip-but-not-too-hip bit of fun that sat nicely with the Red Bull and Raspberry Stoli buzz I carried in, and (2) I finally discovered the secret genius of Julia Roberts. What secret genius is that, you ask? I'll tell you. It's her mouth, which we already knew was somehow unnatural, but I finally recognized in what specific way it's unnatural -- she's got it on upside-down. It was so obvious I almost missed it, like when Whoopi first showed up as Guinan and I couldn't quite put my finger on what was off with her face. Humans, you notice, by and large have an upper lip that is thin in relation to their lower. Julia's upper is easily 3x the size of her already Jagger-esque lower. Once you realize what she's done, the full monstrousness of it hits you. I have a feeling she'd've had her nose done up that way too if she weren't afraid of drowning in the shower. It's freakish and insane and I'm so glad she and her surgical abomination of a piehole had only a few minutes of screen time.

Movies on the Horizon

Three movies I'm anticipating seeing before year end (links to official sites): Fellowship of the Rings, Ocean's 11, and Ali. Fellowship is both a Peter Jackson film, reason enough to be jazzed, and based on a cool book. The trailers look pretty wild and I've got high hopes. O's11 is Soderbergh, therefore worth looking forward to, but the cast scares me a bit. Too much 'star power'? Ali is a Michael Mann movie, which does nothing for me, and biopics tend towards hagiography, a treatment Ali doesn't need. This has the most potential to disappoint, but it's giving Fellowship a run for most highly anticipated on my list.

Gift From Wisconsin

Zombied home from work per usual this evening and something out of the ordinary catches my eye. It's a little brown box on my front stoop. Close examination reveals it's a package from Christi back in ol' Wis-gon-sin and I immediately start thinking "cookies!" Pick the box up and it's too light. "Can't be cookies. What gives?" I like cookies. Anyways, bring the thing inside, get it open, and I find a letter (with a kung fu monkey graphic no less!) which is cool and the letter tells me to enjoy Al's spicy jerky (enclosed) which I will cos believe it or not it kicks ass for the lord. The letter also tells me to check out this CD by a honky tonk band out of Oregon, WI. The disc, called Hunker Down is by The Junkers and it's spinning now. I'm not all the way through it, but I love it enough already to give it wholehearted endorsement. With song titles like "It's Hard to Win a Woman (When You're Working for the Man)" & "The Pint of No Return" it's no doubt they've got the right idea, the question then is: can they deliver on the promise? Well, I'm not going to tell you they're revolutionizing anything; it's songs about booze and women and how much it sucks to wake up in the morning with a day of work starin' ya in the face. The singing hits all the right notes without too much twang like somone's puttin' a pose on, just a bit of homage. The band is tight and swingin' ... the extra autograph on my disc is by a keyboardist/accordionist who joined after the disc was released and knowing he's out there now makes me think these songs have a bit of a hole in 'em he's probably filling well. Nice to see the last song was recorded at one of my fave music spots in Mad-City, O-Cayz Corral. I'm guessing, and taking Christi's word for it, that they got the crowds movin' pretty good at the shows. You can get the disc at their shows, at some of the finer cd stores in Madison, or by visiting the website. It's $12 shipped and well worth it. Thanks Christi!!! OK, now the disc is done and I'm giving it another immediate play through...