...as usual when it comes to anything "technical" on LiveJournal I'm completely lost. I don't know why this is, at work if I have to a can dole out some serious mojo to the PCs and servers there. But here I feel like I did when we would try to program our VCR to record  back in the early '90s when we first got one- utterly pathetic! Though actually ( Read more... )

Well on Friday my local high school had a visit from representatives of the Westboro Baptist Church. I don't know if you've heard of these lovelies ( and I won't link to their site, because, well just "yuck"..)  but they're the group from Kansas who,  among other acts of mind bending stupidity and hatred, go to the funerals of soldiers and scream ( Read more... )

Since over at the community the last and very sad and very depressing chapters of The Persian Boy are under discussion I thought I would relay a little humorous "Renaultesque" anecdote from my own life ( Read more... )

Since there is a truly wonderful discussion of The Persian Boy going on over at maryrenaultfics but my feelings about a certain "person"  ( eunuch) who is the primary character remain strong and unrepentant I thought I would muse a little on my favorite Macedonian general, pretty much just to make me feel good.

Ah,Hephaistion! Putting aside the obvious fangirl ( Read more... )

  I went into the my local branch of the Boston Public Library in the hopes of picking up something, quick off the shelf to read.  I wasn't holding out much hope, the local branches generally get the dregs while the main branch gets the pick of the litter, when I saw the word "Alexander" on the spine of one of the "new fiction" selections. The ( Read more... )

Sigh! Rats, another "not great but not bad" Alexander read! Fairly well written, but once again, next to no dialogue and what there is, is completely unilluminating as far as character is concerned. Have Mary Renault and Judith Tarr cornered the market on good, insightful and believable "published" Alexandrian dialogue? ( there's some great ( Read more... )

Being in between books at the moment I re-read portions of Pressfield's "Virtues of War" and thought I'd share some of my favorite  passages. Mind you I don't think this holds as well as Renault or Tarr, too many battles in minute detail and not enough character development and dialog, but I did enjoy it. So who do you think I think the best quotes ( Read more... )

I know that among the few visitors I have here there will be various head scratchings, sighs and words to the effect of " oh no, not another TPB rant! How old did she say she was? " . And I quite understand. Even I'm surprised by the amount of bile and general bitchiness I'm exhibiting here. But hey, like I said, I've waited a couple of decades for ( Read more... )

The North Pole is melting??? I guess it's official, I've even heard it may be completely iceless by the end of the season. This is bad, in a really, really bad, spooky way. We've been having bizarre weather here in Boston as well. Everyday is high humidity with a massive thunder/lightening storm in the middle of day with an almost apocalyptic-like ( Read more... )

The time has come once again when the necessity of sifting thru books and giving/donating them away has reared it's ugly head.  How do I know this? Because the room on the 2nd floor where we keep them is in danger of coming down onto  the 1st floor and annihilating my kitchen. And I like my kitchen. We ( the husband and I) have tried this before ( Read more... )