Poppy Z. Brite's Blog, page 104

Cryptozoology

I observed a strange pair of creatures in my house today. I call them Watering-Can-Headed Things One and Two. They appeared to represent two different coat/color morphs, but both had heads that strongly resembled old-fashioned galvanized watering cans.





Though they were as large as good-sized house cats, they did not appear equipped to bite or sting, and were curiously uninterested in me.

Chawmin', Dawlin'

So after having had it on my shelf for a couple of years, I finally read Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It's amusing, quite well-written, has an interesting main character, and probably seems exotic to people who haven't read a lot about sub-Saharan Africa, but I was somewhat at a loss to understand the massive literary fuss that has been made over it and the ensuing series. Of course, writers usually can't control whether their books are annoyingly hyped, ignored,

Megacolon

[Car conversation between me and Chris, discussing a publisher who asked for more rights than I was willing to sell:]

PZB: I had to tell them it wasn't my first day at the rodeo.

CdB: It wasn't even your second day at the rodeo.

PZB: Actually, I was on my way out the door of the arena where the rodeo was being held.

CdB: Elvis has left the building.

[pause:]

PZB: I don't have a megacolon.

And that seems like a good note upon which to mention that it is now My Official Birthday Month, and that on May 25 I

Celebrity Dreams

Last week: Alan Moore had written a comic in which he himself shows up at the narrator's door and escorts the narrator on a bizarre walking tour of London, sort of like Dr. Gull and Netley's ride in From Hell. Robert Burns (yes, the dead Scottish poet) wrote and drew a hilarious parody in which the part of Alan Moore was played by Hello Kitty, complete with long hair and wild beard.

Last night: John McCain was manning a booth at the Our Lady of Prompt Succor Tomato Festival, and I was chatting wi

New Computer

Yes, I can haz new computer! In fact, I'm posting this on it. It's nice working on something that isn't an antique. And to the friend on my list who recently complained about otherwise intelligent people using the Internet's version of baby talk, I can only say I've heard that parents raising toddlers often get so used to speaking in baby talk that they sometimes find themselves doing it even when the baby is not present. Likewise, if you live with 19 cats, it is inevitable that you will lapse i

Update

Lying flat on my back on a heating pad posting this on my iPhone.

Sig is home, but can't have the extractions until Monday. In the meantime, I must give him antibiotics and painkillers ... if I can find him.

Tooth Emergency

Waiting to hear from the vet. Siegfried had a tooth emergency this morning; he came to me as we were having coffee, foaming at the mouth with one of his poor fangs all crooked. Sig has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, and I am frankly surprised (and relieved) that he had the sense to come and get me instead of cowering under the bed or something.

Catching Up

chefcdb: [Huitlacoche is:] one of the most common foods for ignorant ass food bloggers who think they're the person "who will try anything" to go and say a bunch of stupid blather about how it looks and tastes, invariably from canned product (which has usefulness in sauces and mashing up) and get self-righteous about how brave they were in the face of such disgusting goo. Those people crack me up as they never have a clue how to cook anything nor bothered to glean a little cultural info about how

Thwarted

Dammit. Not swine flu, but a bizarre prelude to a bad pain attack. I had big plans in the garden today -- yesterday I finally got a faucet installed back there, after two years of filling my watering can at the back bathroom sink -- but instead I am in bed with my trusty old heating pad. My major consolation is that, even during these bad spells, I don't find myself longing for opiate painkillers. I know they would only wear off after a few hours and I'd take more and more and eventually make my

docbrite @ 2009-04-29T13:21:00

Have ordered a new MacBook, though I declined to pay the extra $299 for the cool aluminum case. Am feeling dizzy and unwell today. Swine flu, most likely. Also just finished Dan Simmons' amazing DROOD and now nothing will satisfy me except another long novel of sinister Victoriana, which I do not have.

Posting this on my iPhone, so I'll keep it short since this little tiny keypad is a real pain to write anything longer than ''plz get milk.''