Note to Self: Don't watch the first three episodes of Buffy right before bed.

Even if it is a series in which you can't possibly take the monsters seriously, your brain is still working away in the night ... and the dreams can be horrendous.

Book Blogs Featuring General Fiction - UPDATED

We did a lot of talking about books yesterday and Rose asked if I read any blogs that discuss modern general fiction. She knows my taste is much more genre-oriented. As do y'all, now that I come to think of it.

I was able to direct her to these three spots, where I seldom comment but keep track of their book talk:

• Reading Envy: I "met" Jenny via SFFaudio so it is funny that she actually is much more of a fiction reader. She's one of those people who sees the long list for the Booker Prize come out and instantly starts reading as many as possible so she can see if she agrees with the short list later. So unlike me and, therefore, fascinating.
• A Momentary Taste of Being: Steven Riddle's book blog. Steven has remarked before that he probably will like 95% of what I recommend, whereas the percentage I am likely to enjoy of his recommended reading is much less. True enough. I am sadly limited in my enjoyment of the breadth of literature Steven reads and enjoys. That doesn't mean I don't like perusing the excerpts and reviews however!
• Semicolon: Sherry reads a lot more childrens' books than I ever would, however, she also reads current literature and enjoys coming up with reading challenges for herself to which she invites everyone interested. The latest one focuses on Northern Africa. Sherry wants to read an adult's book and a children's book from each country. I'd never have thought of that!

UPDATE
I realized I do listen to a podcast that talks about current fiction, Books on the Nightstand. The cohosts work in the publishing business so they often are talking about current trends and upcoming books. I think their forums are really active. At least I know the one on Goodreads is.

Another Jesse Tree Online

Karyn at Days of Grace and Stumbling began her Jesse Tree with the beginning of Advent. And she doesn't just give art and readings, but also her own thoughtful reflections on the journey.

Check it out...

Weekend Joke: Christmas Mail

An oldie but it never fails to make me laugh.

A woman went into a post office to buy some stamps for her Christmas cards.

"What denomination do you want?" asked the lady at the counter.

"Good Heavens!" she replied, "Has it come to this? I suppose you'd better give me twenty Catholic and twenty Presbyterian."

Awesome People Reading

Awesome People Reading is just a photo blog on Tumblr but I enjoy the unlikely people who pop up reading books. I feel sure I found this blog via Margaret at ten thousand places. She is a constant source of great stuff to me.

I find that I don't really care about photos of people reading newspapers or magazines ... or even scripts, for that matter. I am interested in people reading actual books and what sorts of material they're interested in.

Therefore, you may understand why I find this photo of Orlando Bloom endearing on several levels.

Orlando Bloom tried to read, but he was too sleepy.

Tips for Protesters: nothing says "easy to read" like Helvetica.

Our office is next-door to Jeb Hensarling's so we've been seeing occasional groups of protesters on the sidewalks outside. (Once I took the elevator with about 15 protesters heading to his office ... leaving the remaining 15 waiting for the next elevator. Suddenly I understood why I'd seen his office manager exiting down the stairs on my way down to the mailbox.)

Anyway.

Usually they have hand-made signs but they are written large and simply.

Today, there is a more organized group, although not many of them, sporting a variety of pre-printed signs.

There is nothing worse for protesters than to have bunch of people working in advertising looking out the window. No matter what our personal political views, there is one thing we can agree on.

NEVER use an open-face type to print a protest sign.

Use Helvetica. Keep it simple.

We couldn't really tell what they were protesting because of the confusing messages on the signs. ("Shop local" - were they protesting the Walgreen's across the street? "We love capitalism but hate greed." The Post Office lay offs? Our building is right next to a huge Post Office and we've seen a protest or two over that. "$$$ ... elections ... blah, blah, blah" The government thing? The Occupy thing? Not that we understand that, but we know it's a thing.)

Again in the elevator, clarity came.  I talked to some other tenants who'd spoken with the protesters ... it's for Occupy Dallas. They probably didn't appreciate this gentleman's advice of, "That's not how you get a job. Go to the unemployment office. Knock on business's doors. No one's going to hand it to you standing by the street, even with a sign."

Be that as it may, take our advice.

Helvetica.

Always Helvetica.

Julie and Scott got out of the convenience store just in time! After calling an ambulance, they talked about Tokyo Godfathers ...

... , a meaningful Christmas movie from an unlikely source. Hear it all at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

More New Liturgical Info: "Stop Holding Hands"

We know what this is about, right? Holding hands during the Our Father. Our family prefers to discreetly hold our own hands ... in other words, we fold our hands in prayer and leave each other alone. If someone insists on grabbing my hand, I'll allow it. But, I don't like it.

Neither does Bishop Foys of Covington who has issued a decree clarifying the proper gestures and postures for Mass and says, among other things:

Special note should also be made concerning the gesture for the Our Father. Only the priest is given the instruction to “extend” his hands. Neither the deacon nor the lay faithful are instructed to do this. No gesture is prescribed for the lay faithful in the Roman Missal; nor the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, therefore the extending or holding of hands by the faithful should not be performed.

This comes via Deacon Greg at The Deacon's Bench who has more pull quotes and a link to the overall decree.

To be fair, I have always known that you really aren't supposed to be doing this. I just didn't bring it up. Trying to keep the peace and all that jazz. But since it's been brought up ... I'll pass it along.

Vietnamese Coffee, Anyone?

It's over at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Blogging Around: Seasonal Stuff

New Liturgy

• An important point people keep getting wrong about the new Mass - from Deacon Greg
• "Well, actually he's not talking to you." Answering One Critique of the New Translation - from Msgr. Charles Pope

Gift Giving

• Dr. Boli's Encyclopedia of Misinformation -- is now an actual book! If you've seen my sidebar, you know how amusing and clever this book is. It is surprisingly inexpensive.
• xkcd has posters, shirts, mugs, and a book -- you could hardly miss with getting something from here for the geek in your life. Or even just the comic lover.
• Happy Catholic - the book! I'd be remiss if I didn't remind everyone that there's a great book you can give friends and family. Buy it from your Catholic book store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or ... get an autographed copy from me that has an extra quote that didn't make it into the book.

This 'N' That

• The Emperor's Edge - free on Kindle. I've been enjoying this book read aloud on Podiobooks.com but you can read it for yourself free. It is a steampunk-ish fantasy which I discussed a bit more on Goodreads.
• Danielle Bean to take over leadership of Catholic Digest. So says Jeff Miller with great huzzahs. I never even heard of Catholic Digest. So their appointment of Danielle already is doing them good! Congratulations to Danielle and best wishes for this to be a fruitful period for her and the publication.
• Smile that melts misconceptions: How Taya, who was born with Down's, became darling of the modelling world. Via New Advent comes this wonderful story. Take a look at this little doll ... more photos are scattered throughout the piece.
  
  

New Liturgy - not that hard and I had a few "aha" moments thanks to the new wording.

We didn't have much trouble with the new liturgy although we were probably helped by our deacon's homily, which pointed out that the correct response to "the Lord be with you" was "and with your spirit" ... AND that it happens five times in the liturgy.

There was some stumbling, but not much.

Our favorite of the local news stations, Channel 8, was there during the Mass we attended, and did a story on the new liturgy. You can see quite a bit of our church here ... and also, quite a bit of our Church. I was surprised because I knew practically everyone shown in the video. Rose is in it for a bit, although blurred in the background. On our big tv screen, Tom and Rose said they saw me in the very last shot in the pews, albeit quickly and far away.

You can see it here, if you are interested.

Snapshot: Walking to Work

My car has been in the shop for a few days, having some repairs done to a door after a slight accident.

Tom decided to walk to work at one point in the complicated process of getting three people to work, errands done, and so forth ... with two cars.

He liked it so well that he walked home again that evening.

We realized that we actually only live one mile from work. We'd never thought about walking because you've got to cross a six-lane highway (though, to be fair, it does have a stoplight so we can get across).

I began walking, too, though usually once a day, with Rose picking me up or dropping me off, depending on what other errands had to be run.

It is invigorating. It connects us to the weather, the topography, the world around us.

I imagine that we'll continue it on days when it isn't pouring rain or when the morning temperature isn't 90 by 9 a.m. (yes, it happens).

I also realized that I usually say my world is lived in a 5-mile radius, but that our church, work, the grocery store, library, bank, and Target are all within one mile or less.

No wonder I can duplicate that small town feeling inside of a big city like Dallas.

I like it that way.

And I'll probably be walking to many more of those places in the future.

Chinese Pork with Eggplant and Rice Sticks

Turn Rose loose with a lot of eggplant from our CSA and a recommendation that my Cooking Light cookbooks usually include lots of vegetables in main dishes ... and certainly get a really delicious result for dinner. Even Hannah ate it and she's no eggplant fan.

Find out more at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Thanksgiving ... Seemed Longer This Year

I mean that in a good way. A very good way.

It was almost like taking a vacation.

We were worried about transporting Tom's mother after her amputation. She's been moved to a skilled nursing section where she lives but hasn't been to our house since all that happened.

We went to visit her on Thanksgiving morning and she was so mournful (not in words, but attitude) that we made renewed efforts to figure out how to get her home for Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't easy, but it was do-able so Mom came home for a couple of hours, which was all she could manage.

She was so happy to get out and watch the cooking and have a home cooked meal. I haven't seen her eat so much for a long, long time. It made us very happy just to see her face at the table. We will definitely be bringing her home again soon for a visit.

On other fronts, all went quite well. The Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Crumble was simply amazing. Rose loved the ginger. I loved the nutmeg. We may be working on adapting it to pie form soon.

I got tons of reading done. It helped that my pal, DJ, had just lent me Midshipman's Hope and Challenger's Hope by David Feintuch (my comments at links). I like military science fiction and, although the first book began slowly, I was soon caught up in the adventures of a young midshipman when a fatal accident thrusts him into leadership.

I didn't get to listen to Patient Zero as much as I'd hoped (my comments here), which left me eking out bits and pieces of the final showdown as I washed dishes or swept the floor. I'm still eking ... this feels like the longest, slow motion finale in history. One of the things I love about this book is the hands-down patriotism of the main character, Joe Ledger. That made it perfect for Thanksgiving weekend when all-American seemed the way to be.

That all-American bent was reinforced when we watched Captain America. Loved it! Solidly old school patriotism, the way it would have been in the original comic books, and a straight forward story line. In many ways, it made us think of another family favorite, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Rose and I also watched Tokyo Godfathers, both as a kick-off to the Christmas season and because Scott and I will be discussing it this week on A Good Story is Hard to Find. I forgot just how many funny moments this anime has ...

Other movie watching included Monsters, which Rose had heard good things about and which I had on my list for some time. Sadly it struck us much like Schultze Gets the Blues ... potential and story idea were good but it needed other input (or something) because the story just meandered and nothing much really happened. The one thing that seemed quite clear was that it was an allegory about illegal immigration. Turns out that wasn't the intention of the British writer and director, but that doesn't matter because anyone living in Mexico or the southern U.S. is going to see it loud and clear. I did like the monsters. They were creative and fascinating. Hannah says that the way their life cycle was discussed was exactly the way something like that would happen and she also pointed out that it was a typical "invasive species" story. That's what happens when you watch things with Wildlife Management Sciences majors.

The best movie of the weekend, though, was Gone Baby Gone. This was everything that critics said. Ben Affleck's directing was superb and surprising considering that it is the first movie he's directed. Casey Affleck's acting was subtle and right on target. The supporting cast was wonderful as well. The story was morally grounded and made me want to look for Dennis Lehane's books, as this was based on one of his. All round a wonderful movie.

An Excellent Review of the Twilight Series as Well as Good Advice About Letting Kids Read the Books

Right here from Clare Cannon ... I sure love Goodreads, which is where I found the review.

Buffy vs. Edward Cullen

I was never a Sarah Michelle Gellar fan so I just watched Angel instead.

However, I may have to change my ways. (Because even whiny Slayers are better than twinkly vampires.)

Via Frank Weathers, who saw it first.

Star Wars Subway Car

Brilliant.

Snapshot: Rose - Cook of the House

I finally have a breather so I can do more than the minimum around here ... so I'll start by filling you in on the most significant change in the household lately.

About three weeks ago, completely frazzled from our huge annual project which takes all waking hours, I assigned Rose the dinner duties for weekdays. She's home for a bit between graduation and heading off to L.A. to seek her fortune in film editing. Other than training the dogs to do tricks (three dogs now know "down", two also know "shake" and all are gradually coming to grips with "fetch), she's been whiling her time away reading Middlemarch and working on screenplay ideas.

She likes to cook but hadn't been expecting this, which began with a phone call (as she reminded me the other day), "Check the freezer for things to use, but you've got to make dinner tonight. And the rest of the week."

She rose nobly to the challenge. I don't remember what she pulled together for that evening, but she has been planning weekly meals that reminded me of the joy that can be had preparing and consuming meals when you go beyond the same old thing.

I have to admit that  "same old thing" is what I'd been doing for too long. I believe that most people who are responsible for daily meals every day of the week will know what I'm talking about.

Rose, however, faced different problems when in college. She had little time, little money, and few people to consume what she was interested in making. She has had all those deficits filled in our family where I give her my debit card, add my weekend cooking items to her grocery list, and where all four of us either appreciatively enjoy the meal OR laugh together over the failure of the recipe. I hasten to add that in each case the failure has definitely been in the recipe writing or testing, not in Rose's skill in cooking.

The biggest change for me is that Rose's fearlessness in trying whatever looks interesting has rekindled my interest in cooking is returning to enjoying the process and experimenting more. It is becoming more of a joy than a chore.

Also, I painlessly lost three pounds because Rose incorporates so many vegetables in every meal and I'm not tasting while cooking all the time. Something to take note of for my full-time return to the kitchen!

I will be sharing some of the recipes that I've been trying and my favorites of those that Rose has served.

First up, Burgers with Blue Cheese Mayo and Grilled Onions.

Weekend Joke

Thanks to Mark W. for this one!

A young woman on a flight from Ireland asked the priest beside her, "Father, may I ask a favor?"

"Of course child. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I bought an expensive woman's electric hair dryer for my mother's birthday that is unopened and well over the Customs limits, and I'm afraid they'll confiscate it. Is there any way you could carry it through customs for me? Under your robes perhaps?"

"I would love to help you, dear, but I must warn you: I will not lie."

"With your honest face, Father, no one will question you."

When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her. The official asked, "Father, do you have anything to declare?"

"From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing to declare."

The official thought this answer strange, so he asked, ""And what do you have to declare from your waist to the floor?"

Priest answered, "I have a marvelous instrument designed to be used on a woman, but which is, to date, unused."

Roaring with laughter, the official said, "Go ahead, Father... Next please!"

Mailbag: Publishing, Videos, and Voodoo

From my inbox and worthy of your interest:

Publishing

• TAN BOOKS: It's the three year anniversary of Saint Benedict Press’ acquisition of the venerable TAN Books out of bankruptcy ... interesting article.
• FREE CATHOLIC BOOKS, written by saints
• FRANCISCAN MEDIA: "St. Anthony Messenger Press has changed its name to Franciscan Media. With its new name and branding efforts, Franciscan Media hopes to bring greater clarity to our Franciscan tradition and become more inspiring, innovative, and personally relevant in today’s marketplace." ... my comment: it's certainly easier to say in a hurry. Read about it here.
  
• SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS: Sophia Institute Press announced Wednesday the acquisition of Catholic Exchange. I remember back in the day when Catholic Exchange was just about the only good place gathering together Catholic writers. They were ahead of their time. Read more here.

Worth Watching

• Eskimo Hallelujah Chorus ... charming, creative, and sweet ... they hold up the cards with the words while the music and singers provide the sound. Some of the very creative ways to display the cards really made me smile.
• The Hunger Games ... the movie. Haven't read the book, but this looks great! (scroll down for the trailer)

Pope & Voodoo Newswatch

• BBC article wins the prize for how many times can an article force the word Voodoo into an article about the Pope going to Africa. Despite the pope never mentioning it once. I believe the article may have been commissioned by Dah Aligbonon.