Driving around Winnipeg this weekend, and this song came on the radio. What to do?
Crank it up, so it’s almost—almost—audible over the two Harleys beside me at the light.
Amusing
Volleyball
We went and watched my nephew’s team play some volleyball this weekend. Did you know that kicking the ball is allowed nowadays?
Also, in unrelated news, apparently I’m old now.
(Aside: I just searched unsplash.com for “volleyball”, looking for a suitable header image, and I was frankly surprised at how many motorcycles and surfboards it turned up.)
The Debaters
Hey Brandon, if you didn’t make it to the WMCA for the Debaters live taping (or if you did), you can now listen to the first of the three shows recorded there.
Parenting!
I overheard a mother today telling her kid, “Remember, silent suffering”, and I thought of Dad and I smiled. It just seemed like something he’d say.
The Tao of Pratchett
Over on Tor.com, a discussion of Sir Terry Pratchett’s works, and how there’s more to them—far more—than just silly puns and goofy characters.
Terry Pratchett is best known for his incompetent wizards, dragon-wielding policemen, and anthropomorphic personifications who SPEAK LIKE THIS. And we love him for it. Once we’re done chuckling at Nanny Ogg’s not-so-subtle innuendos and the song about the knob on the end of the wizard’s staff, however, there’s so much more going on beneath the surface of a Pratchett novel.
Read the whole article; it’s worth it.
Writer’s Tears
Since we were in Edmonton, I stocked up on author fuel whiskey.
You don’t say
Of course, because this is The Good Place, I can’t honestly tell if this is just some placeholder text that slipped through, or if this is legitimately the intended description for tonight’s episode.
The game’s afoot
A quick quote for Throwback Thursday:
God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
From Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
A classic
Things I didn’t expect to see in Victoria Avenue the morning after a heavy snowfall the week before Xmas: this guy.
Christmas movies
Is Die Hard the best Christmas movie? I dunno, I’ve always leaned toward The Nightmare Before Christmas*, myself.
But this article makes a compelling point for others, too. I just re-watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in the summertime, during my writing retreat. (How is that five months ago already? Man, time flies.)
[M]ost of his films [have a] fairy-tale like sheen, similar to what makes Die Hard so successful. And making it Christmas in L.A. (which the majority of his films do), offers a different sensibility to the use of the holiday on film.
—Emily Asher-Perrin, Die Hard is Great, but Shane Black is the King of Christmas Explosions
* Oh who am I kidding? Nightmare is second; A Charlie Brown Christmas is first, even if it’s only about half an hour long.