subdee

Posted to 50bookchallenge:

2006 Books
2007 Books *new!*

I cheated a bit and included books I posted about but didn't finish, as well as books I haven't finished yet, but plan to finish before the ball drops in Times Square.

MyAnimeList for manga I'm reading but not purchasing.

A belated Happy Chanukah to everyone. My mother and I started off on the right night but lost track over the weekend, since she was out of town and neither of us is religious enough to observe the rituals alone. We had thought that Monday (missed because of a fundraiser) was the last night, but we decided to light the candles on Tuesday anyway, after Congress passed a bill reaffirming the importance of Christians. As it turns out Tuesday was the last night after all. Go us!

In a wonderful coincidence, Tuesday was also my last night of class. Except for the final next Thursday, this semester's Anatomy and Physiology course is officially over, and I have officially completed all of the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan. Go me!

Studying for my A&P final, I remembered that I'd forgotten to tell array_of_colors that damage to the left side of the brain results in decreased mobility on the right side of the body -- see wikipedia. The right side of the body is controlled by the left side of the brain and the left side of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain. This is a minor plot point in chapter 7 of Elegy of the Willow Sword, which still isn't up yet. The delay is getting ridiculous -- but since the issue isn't up, maybe it's not too late to fix the mistake. Anyway, I've emailed Eve about it.

As long as I'm posting issues in public that would be better addressed in private, what's up with changing the name of the magazine from "India and the Conundrum" to just "The Conundrum"? I prefer the first name, and so does Google -- you can search for "India and the Conundrum" and easily find the magazine, but just try searching for "The Conundrum". Also, what are we going to call it for short? Should we keep calling it "India" even though there's no longer any "India" in the title? How do you shorten "The Conundrum"? Not to mention, while the latest issue of the magazine is up at http://www.quatre-gats.com/conundrum/, earlier issues continue to be up at http://quatre-gats.com/india/. That's just confusing -- if I was trying to torpedo the magazine, I might do something like this.

It's late to be complaining about this stuff, but I guess it'd been bothering me more than I'd realized. (One day I'll have to wherewithal to bring these issues up to Tin as they happen.)

Finally, some sad news: Terry Pratchett has announced that he has a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's. If I was in his place, I might not have announced it. There have been so many beloved-author deaths in the last two years that it's hard not to think of him as another one. Also, it's going to be hard to think about him and his books (especially the ones that haven't come out yet) without thinking about Alzheimer's. On the other hand, when you have a life-altering condition, maybe you don't want other people to forget to remember that you have one. Pratchett sounds pretty hopeful in his statement, but a part of me thinks that this is only because the true horror hasn't set in yet...well, we'll see. Maybe he'll just get mild Alzheimer's. Maybe the publicity (1% of all books sold in the UK are Pratchett books) will increase funding for research into memory-related diseases. (That would be good.)

Livejournal's sale to internet start-up company SUP (pronounced "soup") based in Russia makes last summer's fracas over journal deletion look like hot air. I like pleonastic's post on this so I am just going to link it: check the Wired article at the end for a (possibly greatly exaggerated?) cautionary take on SUP. It looks like the same people will be running the US-based section of livejournal as were running it under SixApart, so unless the Great Fan Migration finally happens everything should be business as usual over here; but I would not want to be a livejournal user in Russia right now.

Comments disabled as I don't have much else to contribute to the discussion.

EDIT: More on SUP.

1. Drunken Scrabble is wicked fun.

2. I was going to post about Kekkaishi here but I just realized my notes are on the other computer. Next time!

3. Just a little bit tipsy right now because company and beer are over for the Michigan/Ohio State game. Which has not been a very exciting game even for sports fans, sadly.

4. I can't believe I forgot this! Pretend it was included in the last entry.

Videogames: Went back to playing Phoenix Wright: Justice for All and am up to the fourth (final) case. (See, Chrissie, I do care!) The game is hysterical esp. now I've gotten past the dumb urge to measure the wacky court antics against real-world justice systems. (Can we all pretend I never wrote that dumb stuff about the first game?)

( translation )
( first case )
( second case )
( third case )

Maybe something on the fourth case when I finish. Then again, maybe not. ^^;

5. Go Scarlet Knights!!!!!!!!! (I think I can hear the Rutgers fans screaming from here, XD.)

Books: I’m between books at the moment. Any recommendations?

Movies: Over the weekend I saw Backstage, M, and The Pursuit of Happyness

( Backstage )
( M )
( The Pursuit of Happyness )

Television/Anime: Still haven’t seen the second episode of Nobuta no Produce (but I will!) or the end of Darker than Black. Watched to episode 8 of the third season of Avatar and cheered to see two genuinely awesome episodes after a series of slightly overburdened ones. Thinking about watching Boccano! (or whatever it's called). Caught a couple episodes of Bleach (Soul Society Arc) and was shocked by how well the comic relief translates to screen. Caught a few episodes of Hitman Tutor Reborn! and: it’s less stupid than the manga, but still EXTREMELY STUPID. Up to episode 15 of Higurashi, more on this later.

Manga: Read the first eight volumes of Kekkaishi on lacewood’s glowing recommendation and I, I think I’m in love. ^____^ MORE ON THIS LATER ALSO. For now I’m off to emblem‘s for some long-overdue socialization.