For not-currently-paid LJ users, $10 off a year (as previously mentioned); I have lots so just ask.

Comments screened.

So I realized, a few episodes ago, what the TV show White Collar is.

Despite having a con artist as one of its main characters, it's not a caper show (like Leverage) or an action/MacGyver-y show (like Burn Notice or, indeed, MacGyver). Instead, it's a cop show, subcategory reluctant-partners. This accounts for the (rather disappointing) paucity of capers, cons, and nifty technological tricks, and the generally slower pace.

(Perhaps this was obvious to others from the beginning, but I heard about the show through fannish osmosis and got the impression that it was much more like Leverage.)

Which brings me to the half-season finale which aired some time ago and which I only watched on DVR tonight.

( spoilers )

In one short links dump:

• When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like "Avatar"? - Analysis - io9 :: "This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside. // [ . . . ] // Whites need to stop remaking the white guilt story, which is a sneaky way of turning every story about people of color into a story about being white."
  (tags: race movies sff)
• thete1: "I know it's racist, Te, but the special effects look awesome!" :: "But if you *do* believe it's racist and you're spending money on it anyway... fuck you."
  (tags: race)

[*] The "what these blue people need is a honky" one, not the live-action version of the cartoon (which is actually titled The Last Airbender). I already said (probably) all I have to say about that.

Via Boing Boing, the Guardian's list of the decade's (sic) best unread (sic) books.

Which of course got me going on my own list. Three immediately came to mind, and even after perusing my booklog I couldn't improve on them:

• The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford (booklog). Beautiful, evocative, compact urban fantasy about growing up and love and power and magic; an adult version of the Borderlands books.
• The Apocalypse Door, James D. Macdonald (booklog). Fast-paced fun fantasy thriller featuring Peter Crossman, Knight of the Temple, and Sister Mary Magdalene of the Special Action Executive of the Poor Clares.
• Point of Honour and Petty Treason, Madeline E. Robins (booklog). Austen noir, with all that such a juxtaposition implies.

I don't get the impression that any of these is really widely known, and indeed the novels by Robins sold badly enough in mass market paperback that I understand the author will be publishing under a different name in the future. If forced to pick just one, I would say The Last Hot Time; but I think all three would be well-loved by the people who like those kinds of things if they knew about them. (And, happily, all are currently in print.)

What about you? What little-read books of the last ten years do you want to bring to the world's attention?

So apparently I can send ten non-paid users [*] a $10 coupon good towards purchase of a year's paid time (so the discounted amount would be $9.95 on an automatic payment plan or $15 one-time). I don't know who actually wants such a thing, so leave a comment here if you're interested (screened) and if necessary I'll choose at random.

This runs until 1/15 but no-one will remember it by then, so let's say that if I get more than ten, I'll pick on Monday 12/21. If less, I'll send all of them then and update y'all accordingly.

[*] Not currently-paid users who need to renew.

Dear fellow drivers in winter weather:

Despite what you may have been told, driving in winter weather is not actually that complicated. Keep these two simple rules in mind and you will be fine:

1. You must change speed over a much longer distance than usual.
2. You must change direction much more slowly than usual.

(The observant will note that these themselves are simply applications of the fundamental rule, "You will have much less traction than usual.")

Everything else follows from these rules. HTH. HAND.

ETA: here's a corollary that I really thought would go without saying: do not brush snow off your car in the middle of a residential street immediately after pulling out of your driveway.

SteelyKid is 16 months old today.

( development update, links to pictures and videos )

Thank you, silveraspen and anonymous for the virtual gifts; they are lovely.

SteelyKid and Chad have been away since Thursday afternoon. They return this afternoon.

Thursday and Friday I went to work. In the evenings, I walked the dog, did Christmas shopping (all done except for one thing!), wrote a badly-overdue LotR post, and worked on Yuletide beta stuff.

This morning so far I have walked the dog, had breakfast, and spent too much time reading the Internet. Now I'm going to pick up the house, shower, get a few groceries at the store, finish at least one of my Yuletide beta reads, and then work on a badly-overdue review of The Other Lands.

And the possibly-sad thing is? That all looks pretty good to me. I think it's the two nights of actual uninterrupted sleep, making me giddy . . .

rachelmanija's recent post reminded me that I never did get around to posting my recommendations from the 2008 Yuletide rare-fandom fanfic exchange. So a little cat-vacuuming with my bookmarks, and here they are.

First, two stories that everyone has to read, period, end of discussion. They are fanfic in only the very broadest sense and could easily be published in, say, a Datlow/Windling fairy tale anthology or a magazine or some such. Also, they are perfectly and utterly brilliant.

• Fire, Measured By What Doesn't Burn
  A contemporary re-telling of a traditional fairy tale, dark and gritty and grab-your-throat compelling. R, 13233 words.
• One Thousand and One and Counting
  To the prompt, "A woman tells stories to a man at night - stories that keep her alive. Let it matter that much." Powerful and sad and hopeful. PG, 2894 words.

Seriously, I mean it: go read them.

And now for the rest, behind the cut: 36 stories in 32 fandoms, mostly books, ranging from 200 word character-based snippets to plot-full 16,000+ word tales.

( recommendations )

(Note that commenting on the stories is currently closed because the archive is being moved, but if you like, say so here, and I will leave links when the comments are back up. Also, the author links are closed because they always are before the current year's stories are posted and the authors are revealed, so if you want to see what else those authors have written, you'll have to wait a month.)

Last time I looked, it seemed like Samsung was making the best all-around machines, in terms of keyboard size, battery life, and weight. That still the case? And is Windows 7 an actual advance for netbooks, or should I stick with XP for operating system consistency?

You guys, you guys, Chad's recreated the debates between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein over quantum physics with puppets. With cameos from a bunch of other physicists of the era and, of course, our dog Emmy.

It is adorable and historically accurate (reasonably) and so very silly—and SteelyKid approved, as in, she giggled all through it. You have to check it out behind the cut (smaller) or at Vimeo (larger). Or if you don't like Vimeo, it's at YouTube in three parts: one, two, three. (It's eighteen minutes, but some of that is credits, and it moves right along.)

( embedded video )

SteelyKid is sleeping in this morning, so:

White Collar: new TV show, art forger reluctantly helps FBI to keep from going back to prison, having escaped to look for his girlfriend, who has gone *poof*. Fairly appealing leads, good diversity in cast, not hugely caper-y but had some clever moments. Didn't love it, liked it well enough, will do until Leverage comes back. (Speaking of which: "Accessories," a crossover between the two, general-audience, gen, 1300 words.)

( quick spoilers )

There is free time (gasp!) on the horizon, and there's always the middle-of-the-night holding of SteelyKid, but I don't know what I'm in the mood to read. Suggest me things?

ETA: duh, I know what: our ARC of Iorich (with nightlight, if necessary). But other suggestions will be noted for later.

1. Chad has real books! (On shelf Dec. 22; see dogphysics.com for more information.)
2. Rubin Museum of Art: excellent new (2004) museum focusing on the art of the Himalayas. Explanatory text that comes close to the Asian Art Museum's (in San Francisco) for clarity and informativeness. If you like that kind of art, go.
3. Bronx Zoo on an unseasonably warm November Saturday: thumbs-up. Even at 60F, some of the colder-weather animals were more active, and most of the warmer-weather animals we looked for were out. Very close looks at tigers (hello, gorgeous top predators!), a red panda (hello, animate stuffed animal!), etc. But even on a usual November weekend, I bet it would be worth going: the winter signs make a point of saying which exhibits are in heated buildings, and as long as it wasn't too cold to walk between them, with quick pauses to admire the cold-weather animals on the way, well, I think it would be pretty cool.

And now, the stack of mail, and unpacking, and brief-writing, and so on and so forth.

Once again, while I've offered beta services for a short list of small book fandoms over at yuletide, if you know me and think I might know your fandom, feel free to ask. Comments are screened; leave me an e-mail address so I can continue the conversation privately.

(Yes, I'm appallingly busy but I like beta'ing for Yuletide, so I'll manage.)

SteelyKid is 15 months old today.

( developmental update )

Scroll down.

Dad's birthday, Mom and Dad's anniversary.

I miss him.

Reading summaries of the last Wheel of Time book before bed results in dreams consisting of long lists of difficult names and an omnipresent fear of betrayals.

(ETA: In other news, it was very very difficult to click "next" past leighdb's spoilerific post just now. Oh, the desire to find out What Happens Next, it is strong!)