Popular Culture

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Teaser

Just sneaking this one in: the teaser trailer for Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. And if you are thinking Bzuh?! (which is admittedly very likely), here's an explanation:

During the WGA strike ['Buffy' and 'Firefly' creator] Joss Whedon started writing a three part musical series for the internet. Each of the three episodes will be approximately ten minutes each. (..) “It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.” says Whedon. “Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” will star Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny and a cast of dozens.”

General awesomeness, in other words.

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The Timeline of Fictional Events

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This is really nifty: The Timeline of Fictional And Fictional Future Events.

1609: A vampire known as the Master converts a young woman dying of syphilis to fellow vampire Darla. The conversion reportedly took place in the Colony and Dominion of Virginia which at the time only included Jamestown 1620: Norville "Shaggy" Rogers' and Scooby-Doo's ancestors, McBaggy Rogers and Yankee Doodle Doo, arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower. 1622: Duncan MacLeod revealed to be an immortal. 1626: D'Artagnan arrives in Paris and meets The Three Musketeers. 1635: Gotham City is founded as part of the Swedish colonization of the Americas. 1659: Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked 1666: September 2 - September 5 - During the Great Fire of London, the Ancient One battles Dormammu and forces him to retreat. 1685: John Ridd and Lorna Doone find themselves caught up in events surrounding the Monmouth Rebellion 1687: Robinson Crusoe rescued

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Five Things I Have Learned Recently

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Don't you just love lists? I do.

+ Mattel has made The Birds Barbie. It's brilliant. (thank you Darth Ken)

+ Wordle is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It even makes Spandau Ballet seem cool.

+ I have finally found a food item that I simply cannot abide.


The falooda we bought at today's Glasgow Mela bore an unfortunate resembles to worms bathing in strawberry milkshake with added (pink) tadpoles. I think we were unlucky because all the falooda recipes online have very yummy photos. How did it taste? The kulfi was delicious but I couldn't really cope with the rest of it..

+ I can knit quite awesome shawls and watch football at the same time. Both my teams are out, alas.

+ This is how stormtroopers are made. They're not space soldiers of Maori descent - no, they're Danish!

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Stick A Fork In It

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Today is World Wide Knitting In Public Day. That means I'll be bringing my needles and wool to the F.O.R.K. Gala (as well as a rug and a book and my patient Other Half). Meanwhile, The G delivers a deliberately misguided attack on crafters. I'm slightly disappointed.

I've been reading up on D&D 4.0 and so far it sounds intriguing - particularly the "streamlining of skills" bit which was something which always frustrated me somewhat with previous editions. It didn't feel entirely intuitive that certain skills - say Climb and Tumble - weren't connected (although 3.0 introduced the idea of synergy). I understand the new set of rules have implications for magic users but as I have never been massive on magic (I think I've only had one magic-using PC), it is not such a massive thing for me. You gamers out there, what is your take? Are you going to convert to 4.0 or are you holding on to previous editions?

Finally, because I can, here's something for the easily amused amongst you (and also me).

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Just Call Me Ariadne

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Friday afternoon I went through my yarn stash and decided to give some of it to charity. Okay, so it was some not-really-funky cheap acrylic novelty yarn that I picked up at the beginning of my knitting career (i.e. February), but it doesn't matter if the destashed yarn was cheap and nasty - I destashed yarn. I have also put myself on a strict yarn-diet after a very sinful yarn excursion with a handknitted pirate last weekend.

So here's what I'm not buying:
+ Natalie Yarn Yard's Wicked laceweight in grey-white-pink.
+ 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Aran in shade 11
+ 6 hanks of worsted merino wool in shade "Forest"

On a different note, I'm amused to see that I'm currently numero duo in Google's search for "fourth edition". I'm pretty sure that won't last very long seeing as D&D 4thEd is about to make serious business. Hey, this might be a really great time to re-purchase all the D&D 3.5 stuff that I gave away when I moved to Scotland..What did I say about not spending any money? Ebay, here I come..