Time and eternity...

From today's "A.Word.A.Day", a quote by Patrick J. Walsh: His gift of vision made him different, as he walked an isthmus between time and eternity.

Walsh was talking about Nathaniel Hawthorn, but my first thought was of the Doctor.

I don't think I've ever thought about the Doctor and Nathaniel Hawthorn in the same breath before.

The Friday Five: Books and heroes...

From thefridayfive:

1. Who is your favorite author?

   Dorothy Dunnett. Scottish historical novelist, 1923-2001.

   
   
2. What is your favorite book/series?

   Book: The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett. Series: The Lymond Chronicles.

   
   
3. Who is a book hero you most wish to be like?

   With most of my fictional heroes, one of the reasons I love them, is because I think I am like them already. But some have characteristics that I wish I had, and don't:

   • Batman, because he is so dedicated.
     
   • Nightwing, because of his physical skills and agility.
     
   • Gambit, because of his ingenuity, charisma, and wit.
     
   • Miles Vorkosigan, because of his forward momentum.

   
   
4. Who is a book character that you envy?

   That's a difficult one, because I don't think I really envy anyone in books. I'll say Philippa Somerville.

5. Which book do you wished you lived in?

   Any book about sailing. Well, almost any - perhaps not Mutiny on the Bounty or Moby Dick.

Weddings...

From the fannish5: List the five best fictional weddings.

First of all, I don't much like wedding stories. It's not something that pushes any of my buttons on any level, least of all my sense of romance. But it wasn't hard to think of five wedding stories that I loved:

1. Fantastic Four Annual #3: The Wedding of Sue and Reed, back in 1965. That's from back when superheroes in comics just didn't get married (unless it was a hoax to fool Lois Lane). I loved the story - Doctor Doom attacked, and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby even turned up, and there were lots of good jokes - or at least, jokes that seemed good to me as a kid. And if I recall correctly, that is also the comic that had a cross-section diagram of the Baxter Building, so we could see where all the rooms were. Very cool.
   
   
2. Four Weddings and a Funeral. Funny, it's the funeral I remember best.
   
   
3. A much more recent movie, Mamma Mia!, which I loved. A movie in which I could thoroughly enjoy the wedding - not a lot of pomp and circumstance, but people dancing and having fun.
   
   
4. The wedding in The Sound of Music. Not my favourite scene in that movie, by any means; in fact, I recall thinking of it when I was a kid as 'the boring bit', along with "Climb Every Mountain", my least favourite song in that show. (Then as now.) But the movie is one of my favourites ever, and the wedding scene itself is love.
   
   
5. The wedding of Gwen and Rhys in the Torchwood episode "Something Borrowed". It isn't my favourite Torchwood episode by any means, but it's fun, and has a few surprises, and I like the relationship stuff in it. I'd give it extra points for having a nice sexy alien villain, but Torchwood in general has had some very attractive villains, so it doesn't even stand out for that - just an enjoyable episode about a wedding.

I might add a special tip of the hat to Charlotte Bronte, who described the wedding of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester with the famous simple line, "Reader, I married him." Come to think of it, their previous aborted wedding is probably my favourite wedding in literature!

"The marriage can not go on; I declare the existence of an impediment." ...Mr. Rochester moved slightly, as if an earthquake had rolled under his feet: taking a firmer footing, and not turning his head or eyes, he said, "Proceed."

A lovely Friday evening..

I had a wonderful time this evening with commodorified and auriaephiala. So relaxing and fun. I made oat pilaf (an old favourite from The American Whole Foods Cookbook), commodorified brought chicken, auriaephiala brought a lovely salad, and we lounged in comfy fashion watching a bunch of music vids from Vividcon 2008, and then the Due South episode "North". It was fun and relaxing just talking, too.

I particularly enjoyed the Torchwood vid, but then, I would. There was also a lovely one about Martha Jones.

auriaephiala had a very wonderful birthday present for me: a hardcover copy of Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold, autographed. She got it at World Con. Gorgeous. That was the Vorkosogan book I was missing, too; I used to have the paperback.

I got several phone calls from both Lyn and Sandi about whether our joint birthday party with Harry, Sheila, Beulah, and Pat is still on tomorrow. Maybe, maybe not. Ahh, the suspense! Since Patrick doesn't read this, I feel safe in saying that I'm rather proud of having found four consecutive issues of Green Arrow and Black Canary for him; I had to traipse all over the city looking for them (with help form maaseru), and eventually found them in "Myths, Legends and Heroes" on Montreal Road, a comics shop I hadn't actually been in before. I was very impressed. Not only did the proprietor have them, he knew he had them and was able to put his hand on them in two minutes. He was polite and friendly - sometimes young men in comics shops treat me like someone's clueless aunt who doesn't know X-Men from Teen Titans, and I hate that - it always makes me want to play a "I know more about comics than you ever will" one-upmanship game. Too bad the shop isn't more convenient to me, geographically. On the other hand, I seldom have problems with my subscription at the Silver Snail, where Kin Jee and the others are always helpful. And on good enough terms to tease me, too.

Though Sandi's birthday comes later, I ordered her present today: the new John Barrowman CD. I think she'll love it.