(no subject)

A clever person put this link on one of my mailing lists today: Strange Statues from Around the World. Some are conceptually wonderful, some are ugly, some are just strange - and I found it frustrating that, as far as I can see, none are identified by location. Makes me want to track them down.

Makes me want to go out and photograph the more interesting statues in Ottawa.

My favourites: the torn umbrella, the man upside down, and the hand in the stone.

(no subject)

The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his clients to plant vines. - Frank Lloyd Wright, 1869 - 1959

(no subject)

monanotlisa had this on her LJ yesterday and I liked the meme so much I decided to do it here, rather than on her territory. (Though some of the questions are boring and lame, others are interesting.) She said:

Lurkers, hey! All you folks who have me friended but never comment, all you folks who come via friendsfriends, all you folks who just happen to stumble in here now and again - say something? Say hello, share a smile, a story, a fic, fandom or vid rec.

Or you know, whatever else.

Turnabout, fair play, you know the drill.

( Here's a meme... )

Flying free...

There is a story that when Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England, was released from prison in Austria, King Philip of France sent a message to Richard's brother John, saying, "The devil is loose."

I was thinking of that this morning as my budgies wreaked cheery morning havoc: two devils were loose in my living room. I couldn't get them to go back into the cage last night. Sometimes they are good as gold and just fly around for a while before going back inside. Last night... Well. Gambit decided to take up territory on top of Pryde's cage, and dedicated himself to attacking Logan whenever he tried to land beside him. The birdie testosterone was riding high. Logan ended up sulking on the curtain rod. Gambit ended up sleeping on top of both cages with one foot on each cage.

The budgie books say one shouldn't go to work and leave the budgies flying around, but they don't have a lot of advice on how to lure, cajole or force budgies into their cages when they don't want to go. I remember once running around after them with maaboroshi and a butterfly net. Never again! It was good exercise for everyone, but the budgies can fly a lot faster than we can run, and they had a full chorus going of "You can't take the sky from me".

I am told that other people have sweet, well-behaved budgies. I think I need a budgie training school. Clearly, they already have me well trained.

(no subject)

I got this link from ellen_kushner:
fajrdrako's Halloween party:

alice_montrose didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
evremonde dressed as a bottle of Novaiflu.
hackthis dressed as a fullback for the Vikings.
in_stead dressed as Alex Rodriguez riding a rabbit.
limmenel dressed as Anna Nicole Smith.
losthuan dressed as the Flash.
monsieureden dressed as a shelf.
svilleficrecs dressed as Milla Jovovich.
talkoncorners dressed as a diplomat from Anguilla.
vervassal dressed as a penguin.

Throw your own party at the Hallomeme!
Created with phpNonsense



...Now, I have the notion that I don't understand nearly as much of that as I should. Who is Alex Rodriguez? Where is Anguilla? As long as vervassal is a penguin and not The Penguin we should be okay. As I recall from Detective Comics, the Penguin's parties are usually interrupted by gunfire. I do like the inclusion of the Flash, of course. And monsieureden ought to come as her own Eden.

If I were to make a Halloween costume this year, I think I'd want a Doctor Who costume. Or maybe I'd just go as a Torchwood operative. Yeah, I like that. Do my hair like Gwen and get an earpiece.

Birds in captivity..

When birds misbehave.

Gambit went back into the cage for a snack. Logan, something of a copycat, decided that looked like a good idea, and followed him. I crossed the room in one bound and slammed their door shut. Hah! Gotcha.

Logan sat there pointedly staring at the door and silently requesting that I open it. Uh-uh, no way, nohow. You're grounded, guys.

Love his style..

From an interview with John Barrowman that came out today, about his role as Captain Jack in Torchwood:

it's really respectable not only to get up and fight aliens and have a spaceship and shoot guns, but I also get to have sex, so that's good!

And asked "Have you been tempted to get inside [a Dalek]?" he said:

Captain Jack might have been inside a Dalek and a Dalek might have been inside Captain Jack!

Ooh, bad, bad man - Daleks are evil!

One day, while Billie [Piper] and I and Christopher Eccleston were filming, I picked up the microphone that controls the Dalek's voice and I started singing "There's No Business Like Show Business."

I would give a lot to have heard that.