Gillian Polack's Blog, page 323

gillpolack @ 2010-02-20T21:24:00

I just found a picture of what one of my favourite epic heroes looks. I don't mean what he looked like in anyone's imagination, or what he looked like when he was a young man. His bones don't look half bad for a man of his age. I need to visit him one day.

gillpolack @ 2010-02-20T20:55:00

Today I'm into armchair travel. It's either that or pay too much attention to the weather changes that are on the way and maybe whinge a bit. I have some solid things to whinge about today, actually, but I just don't feel in the mood.

There is a third option, which is to thoroughly critique today's film (thanks, bookgirlwa !) but since what I really want to say is that the composer mucked up in choosing predictable variations and key changes for the theme during the big action sequences (so e...

gillpolack @ 2010-02-19T16:18:00

Sometimes life is funny. The post I made about life imitating art, where ants in my unit are copying what ants did in my novel has been markeed as offensive by someone in Facebook. Every time I tried I got a pop-up window saying it had been marked as offensive and was censored. What this means is that my original comment was not made (though I managed to get other comments in, a few minutes later). It's been censored before I even make it. What did the readers of that post in Facebook mis...

gillpolack @ 2010-02-18T13:53:00

Last night I was presented with a red fabric toilet seat cover by Kaaron Warren. You know how friends, when they travel, bring you back something special? Well, this was my present from Fiji.

I passed it round the table (since Kaaron was guest speaker at the regular CSFG meeting last night - and I know I am supposed to have spent the evening quietly, but she was bringing her new book and I just had to be there) and most people refused to handle it, even though it was inside a plastic bag. I...

gillpolack @ 2010-02-17T18:58:00

I have a bit of a problem with life imitating art. Lots of bits of problem, actually. Each and every one of these bits of problems is in the shape of an ant.

There were ant trails. When those trails passed beyond my loungeroom and kitchen last week, I was happy. "End of ant season," I thought, and started to rejoice.

Alas, the ants are back. The ants act disturbingly differently this time round. They climb all over my friends and they play mind games on me. This is bad enough. Starting...

gillpolack @ 2010-02-17T16:18:00

Lat time I missed a day's posting, someone panicked. I may have time and energy to write a proper blogpost later and I may not, but, either way, take this as a Granny Weatherwax sign pointing out in clear English that I aten't dead.

Snapshots 2010

I've been snapshotted. There are some really cool other snapshots linked at the bottom of the page and more to come all this week.

Aussie history for Aussiecon4

Yesterday, Scalzi wrote briefly about 1812 in his blog. I had a vision of Napoleon and brambles. I wasn't the only one, judging from some of the comments. I keep forgetting that the US doesn't think of itself as being part of a side skirmish in the Napoleonic Wars. Australia quite often thinks of itself as a solution to someone else's prison problem partly due to those wars, partly due to the North American unrest, but mostly due to a harsh penal system. '1812' to us is mostly a piece of ...

gillpolack @ 2010-02-16T12:17:00

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday - the root canal work and the trip home were more than I could manage and I kind of melted for the rest of the day.

It wasn't a bad melt. It was the simple result of doing too much. My tooth needed two injections and getting home including 4 kilometres of walking, partly thanks to the excitement that is the demolished Belconnen Bus Interchange.

I rang my dance teacher this morning and said "I don't think I should be dancing today." This is because my right j...

gillpolack @ 2010-02-14T18:34:00

The new Steam Engine Time* has just been released. I haven't time today to read it properly (this marshalling my energy is not only a lot of work, but it's a right royal pain) but I did have a quick skim through. It's an issue about women and I need to get past my paid work so that I can read it properly, soon.

What amused me today, however, were the several comments about me. They appeared because an earlier SET contained my guest of honour speech from Conflux, but also because I have a pie...