molly_o

This is the BG's 4th Christmas in the world, but it's the first where she's old enough to have any comprehension/enthusiasm for what might be involved. The Rankin-Bass specials have given her some inkling, and of course we've been talking about it a lot, and a few days ago I added "The Night Before Christmas" to the bedtime story rotation.

Unfortunately -- despite being all in favor of cookies for Santa, etc. -- the BG thinks the Santa in this particular book is kinda scary looking. (She makes me cover his face with my hand when I read, and sometimes I'll let my fingers slip so part of his face shows, and she squeals with mingled joy and terror and says, "He's peeking out!")

So tonight, she ran into our room and slammed the door behind her in Mark's face, and I said no, you never slam doors in people's faces, and then (because I think girls are ill-served by being socialized to be polite at all costs) I amended that to, "Unless there's a bad guy chasing you, and then it's OK to slam that door in his face."

(Which, just -- what was I thinking??? Who says something like that to a 3-year-old at bedtime???)

So then we sat down and read The Night Before Christmas, and -- you see where this is going, I bet -- somehow she conflated the scary Santa in her book with the bad guy Mommy (foolish Mommy!) was just talking about, and after we turned off the lights she called out in the dark to let us know that if Santa was chasing her she would slam that door right. in. his. face.

I called back, "Sweetie, Santa is a good guy," and she didn't even hesitate to contradict me: "No, he's not."

Whoops.

A Fannish Thing: caoine.livejournal.com's Not Waving But Drowning and the-arc5.livejournal.com's All That I Have popped up on my flist within an hour of each other yesterday. They're both Sherlock/John, and (as far as I can tell) they're completely unrelated to each other, and by some coincidence/fluctuation in the fannish hive mind, they're telling parallel stories.

A Parenting Thing: The BG is a few days shy of three, and I am thinking ( three might just be a delightful age. )

Finally, ( two worlds collided )

I started the day playing ( Katy Perry chases Elmo )

For those who are ready to move past turducken: Turbacon. It's a bird inside a bird inside a bird inside a bird inside a bird inside a pig. With bacon. And butter. And Dr. Pepper.

The news that Prince William and Kate Middleton plan to include commoners among their wedding guests naturally made me think of Pulp's Common People (link goes to the sublime Shatner cover).

Amazingly enough, I have seen two movies in as many weeks (in the theater, even!): Unstoppable and Red. The former was seriously suspenseful -- a real nail-biter -- the more so because all the perils were utterly realistic. The latter was more of a romance than I expected (not that I minded). Malkovich stole the show, and it's always nice to see the improbably lean Karl Urban.

After five years reading almost nothing but SGA (and before that six reading almost nothing but Due South), I appear to have moved on to Sherlock BBC. I think it's interesting that fanon!Sherlock is almost always a few (or more than a few) degrees less sane than canon!Sherlock. (It reminds me of how fanon!John Sheppard is almost always more of a genius than canon!John Sheppard.) ( cut for rant about why JS is a genius without being a GENIUS )

Anyhow, despite my personal conviction that Sherlock is actually relatively sane, I am ridiculously fond of wordstrings.livejournal.com's Paradox Series.

And despite the fact that I am pretty much a monofan, I also really enjoyed dirasudis' Vorkosigan-verse series, The World That You Need

Finally, I am not much of a grace-saying person, but I -am- a science-fiction-movie-loving person, and I very much appreciated John Scalzi's science-fiction Thanksgiving grace.

Also, so as not to be miscontrued: My previous post refers to last week's episode.

*** Molly's Law of Protesting: Tea Party Activists are just not allowed to broadcast Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" at their protests. I don't *care* if the chorus seems apropos; if the actual Bob Marley wouldn't be welcome at your little gatherings, you don't get to use his music.

*** VV Brown's "Shark in the Water is an *awesome* song; it starts off kinda Corinne Bailey Rae light and retro, and then the chorus kicks in, and the chords convey as much disquiet as the lyrics do.

*** Via sanj, Just Like Last Tuesday, Except with Zombies. Fair warning, it's a WiP. But it has Glee! And zombies! And Finn and Puck and *Sue* with a zombie plan!

*** Wizard of Oz actor Meinhardt Raabe dead at 94 He's the guy who sang, "As coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her. And she's not only merely dead, She's really most sincerely dead." At his tallest he was 4 foot 7 inches. *And* he was a World War II vet.

*** Wanna be a ninja? From the press release: Viewers are invited to create a video that shows why they should be selected to be part of “American Ninja Warrior.” These videos should demonstrate strength, speed, agility, balance and endurance – be creative and put your best Ninja foot forward.

*** Don't forget to register for CON.TXT, coming in June to a hotel near me! If you sign up before May 1, you can vote on panel topics.

Found via 8asians dot com, what if Ke$ha lived a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? It made me laugh so, so hard.

For reference, here's the original Ke$ha video. (I'm assuming no one on my flist needs an introduction to Star Wars!)

There's a song out right now by David Guetta feat. Akon (or maybe the other way around) that has the unlikely and endearing (almost quaint) lyric, "I'm trying to find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful."

The refrain (and title) of this song? "Sexy B*tch"

Dude, you weren't trying *that* hard, were you?

(Also, the video is slashier than you might expect, starting at about 1:45 or so.)

RM & I watched Zombieland the other day and really liked it. It's ... slight, I would say -- no pretensions whatsoever to anything at all -- but it was a very enjoyable 87 minutes. I do feel bad for Jesse Eisenberg, though; I think Michael Cera might have stolen his career, I couldn't hear JE without thinking of MC. Also, I could not look at Emma Stone without thinking of Mila Kunis. Woody Harrelson, on the other hand, could only be Woody Harrelson. (Fun fact: Woody Harrelson's father was a contract killer. No, really.)

They've just upgraded the predictions for tomorrow's snowstorm: 10-20 inches.

I have absolutely no enthusiasm -- none -- for figuring out how to get myself into work tomorrow. If the Metro operates above ground, then I'll be fine, but if not the car is a no-go; we're parked behind our house, and the alley does not get plowed, and even if we did manage to shovel down to the end of the alley, the street at the end of the alley has not been plowed. And our Honda Civic Hybrid, though I love it so, is not designed for snow.

This (Paul Campos on fat and identity politics) is the third thing I meant to post the other day. There are several separate aspects of his argument that I find troubling, but it's nonetheless thought-provoking, and I like the way he talks.

(Thing 1: I don't know how I feel about comparing federal policy on fat to sexuality "reprogramming"; it feels a little oppression Olympics-y, and also reminds me of when I read a book published in the '30s by the NAACP condemning lynching that argued it's as bad as rape, and then saw that same book cited in a feminist book written 40 years later to make the case that rape is as bad as lynching.)

(Thing 2: He notes in passing the relationship between poverty and health and overweight, but doesn't get into the rising incidence of type II diabetes among (mostly poor, often African American or American Indian) teenagers. He makes the argument that just because there's a correlation between yellow teeth and lung cancer, doesn't mean whitening your teeth will reduce your risk of lung cancer. Which, yes -- but stopping smoking *will* both whiten your teeth and reduce your risk of lung cancer, and to the extent that federal anti-obesity policy, which he dings more than once, involves making it possible for poor people to eat more healthily, which is not the same as encouraging people to diet, it is more properly compared to smoking cessation than to teeth-whitening.)

Tyne Daly has a small guest part on tonight's Burn Notice, playing a clerk in a scene with Michael's mom -- who is played by none other than Sharon Gless.

Yes folks, that's Cagney and Lacey.

I love Burn Notice.

Mark and I saw Gamer the other night On Demand, and although I love Gerard Butler (and have since Timeline), it was basically a remake of Deathrace, albeit with delusions of social commentary.

Also, while I am intrigued by Book of Eli, I find the central premise ( cut for spoilers )

I know, I know, deer don't talk...