Long have I regarded March 1st as the first day of Spring, and never mind that the equinox is still three weeks away. I actually wrote an entry about this two years ago. Anyway, for me, Spring begins March 1st and ends on June 1st. So, hello Spring. Right now, it's 60F outside, and the meteorologists say we'll go to 63F.

By now, all subscribers should have Sirenia Digest #27. If you don't, email Spooky at crk_books(at)yahoo(dot)com, and she'll make it right. I'd love to hear some feedback on the issue today, but it is a long issue, so I expect many people won't have finished reading it for several days yet.

Yesterday was an odd blur of work and movies. Early on, I did some work getting the last loose threads tied off for Sirenia Digest #27. Then Spooky and I went to the 2:40 pm (CaST) matinée of Justin Chadwick's The Other Boleyn Girl (based on Philippa Gregory's novel). Truthfully, I mostly went for the eye-candy factor. Most of the film is carried by Natalie Portman, though Scarlett Johansson's role is more robust near the ending. Not a great film, and I don't expect it to wind up on many "Best of 2008" lists, but I found it quite enjoyable. Back home, the signature pages for Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy arrived via UPS, and I received the final version Vince's illustration for "Beatification." I think the Digest actually went out about 6:30 pm (CaST). We found our Kid Night movies from Videodrome this week, which got me out of the house twice in one day — a Val Lewton double feature, I Walked With a Zombie (1943) and The Body Snatcher (1945). The latter is a particular favorite of mine, and surely one of Boris Karloff's finest films. Lewton produced and wrote The Body Snatcher, but it was directed by Robert Wise. I Walked With a Zombie was also produced by Lewton, but directed by Jacques Tourneur. Anyway, a great double feature, and I ate too many Oreos.

Someone sent me a link to the video for Björk's "Oceania," which I almost based a vignette on, a year or so ago, but never got around to finishing the piece. Regardless, it's very Sirenia Digest, and so I'm including it below:

Also, thanks to Wikipedia, I finally know why eBay is named eBay: "Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com (the domain has recently been put up for sale) but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com." So, don't go sayin' I ain't never learned you nothin'. And speaking of eBay, please have a look at the current auctions, set to end on Monday.

And, lastly, I could not resist taking the "Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test." I am not in the least bit surprised by my results (behind the cut):

Your Score: Rabbit

You scored 21 Ego, 20 Anxiety, and 16 Agency!

IT was going to be one of Rabbit's busy days. As soon as he
woke up he felt important, as if everything depended upon him.
It was just the day for Organizing Something, or for Writing a
Notice Signed Rabbit, or for Seeing What Everybody Else Thought
About It. It was a perfect morning for hurrying round to Pooh,
and saying, "Very well, then, I'll tell Piglet," and then going
to Piglet, and saying, "Pooh thinks--but perhaps I'd better see
Owl first." It was a Captainish sort of day, when everybody
said, "Yes, Rabbit " and "No, Rabbit," and waited until he had
told them.

You scored as Rabbit!

ABOUT RABBIT: Rabbit is generally considered Clever by his many friends and relations. He is actually a much better reader and writer than Owl, but he doesn't consider it worth mentioning. Instead, Rabbit's real talent lies in Organizing Plans. He organizes rescue parties, makes schemes to reduce Tigger's bounciness, and goes on missions to find out what Christopher Robin does when he's not at the Hundred Acre Woods. Sometimes, however, his Plans do not always go as Planned.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are smart, practical and you plan ahead. People sometimes think that you don't stress or worry, but this is not the case. You are the kind of person who worries in a practical way. You think a) What are my anxieties about and b)what can be done about them? No useless fretting for you. You don't see the point in sitting around and waiting for things to work out, when you could actually work them out today and save yourself a lot of time and worry. Your friends tend to rely on you, because they know that they can trust you help them work things out.

You sometimes tend to be impatient with people who are less practical in their ways. You don't have much patience for idiots who moan about things but never actually DO anything about them. You have high expectations of everyone, including yourself. When you don't succeed at something, or when something goes wrong despite your best efforts to prevent it, you can get quite hard on yourself. You need to cut yourself some slack and accept that everyone has their faults, even you, and THAT IS OKAY. Let yourself be faulty, every now and then, for the sake of your own sanity.

Link: The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test written by wolfcaroling on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test
View My Profile(wolfcaroling)