Pre-Christmas miscellany

[mellicious]

I talked Rob into going out to eat with me tonight, and going to Half Price Books afterwards. I can't ever get him to go anywhere on work nights - I don't even try any more - but since he doesn't have to work tomorrow, I kidnapped him as soon as we got home and we went and ate Italian (just for fun, we went to a different Italian restaurant than the one we normally go to!) and then went book shopping. I completely forgot to buy anything for my father - that tells you how disconnected I've been from my normal Christmas preparations this year, 'cause normally I think of things like that a lot earlier in the process than December 23rd. I almost always buy my dad books, thus the trip to Half Price - they always have a good selection of the kind of thing he's interested in. Don't ask me the name of the book I bought - something about the days leading up to Pearl Harbor. My dad says himself that I have a good track record for picking books he'll like, so hopefully this one will work.

Jay Thomas is on Letterman right now, telling a story that I've heard before, I'm pretty sure. Maybe it's part of the Christmas tradition, along with throwing footballs. (Letterman seems to have a lot of Christmas traditions, after all these years. Wonder if Paul has done his Cher imitation yet.)

I mentioned something about nail polish and small children's gifts, or something to that effect, yesterday. I meant to talk about the highly important subject of my Christmas-green nail polish, I think, which I am now going to have to re-do, or at least touch up, because my nails have pink and purple paint stuck to them, from said small children's gifts. I had to go and buy something that needs painting. (I am still working on this. I'll try to remember to take a picture when I get done. I hope to god these gifts are not totally embarrassing in the end. Of course the kids in question, who are quite small, will probably think they're great no matter what.)

Another vaguely Letterman-related thing: I've just been looking up the cast of A Game of Thrones, because Amanda Peet was on and she mentioned that her husband is working on it. I'm particularly interested in this subject because I've been reading the books -  they're the main reason I've been tempted to sneak out the Kindle before the date I'm technically allowed to, i.e., Christmas Day. I've got the 3rd book of the series downloaded and ready to go as soon as I can use the darn thing without getting fussed at. (Obviously I've had it out already long enough to set it up and download some stuff. And I may have already cheated and tried it out a tiny bit, which is why I will at least get dark looks if Rob catches me reading on it again.) Anyway, it turns out that Amanda Peet's husband is a writer - this gentleman. (Actually they have him down as "creator" as well as writer - by which I assume, since he's not George R.R. Martin, that they mean that he developed the books for television.) Also, I had to look on Wikipedia to find this out, but it's not on 'til April. Darn, I was hoping for sooner.

Added:
(SPOILER AHOY!)
Ooh! HBO has already aired an "Inside A Game of Thrones" thing - there's a link to it here. It seems awfully early to be airing such a thing, but man, if you haven't read these books, this is a huge epic sprawling thing and has a correspondingly huge cast, and this piece (which runs about 10 minutes) is essentially an introduction to the characters. I was trying to describe it to Rob, and I said, well, it's sort of a swords-and-sorcery thing, only without much sorcery, at least in this book, but with (eventually) dragons. (That's the spoiler, only it's hinted at from pretty early on, so I don't really consider it much of one. Your mileage of course may vary, which is why I put in a warning.) I guess the thing that feels different to me - which is also talked about in the preview - is that it has the feel more of a historical epic than the usual fantasy crap. It's obviously not history, because, y'know, dragons and all, and it doesn't take place in our world at all, even, but still, it the feel of it is somehow more realistic and grounded than the swords-and-sorcery genre generally is. Does that make sense?

Comments

[ursulahitler.livejournal.com]

I don't know how many years ago, Thomas told that Lone Ranger story and Letterman laughed and everything seemed fine, but then after Thomas left Letterman groused, with what I took to be sincerity, that Thomas told the same goddamned story EVERY YEAR. There was a real edge to how he said it. I'm guessing it's an inside joke they worked out, but I'm not completely sure.

[mellificent.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I imagine it that was an inside joke, although sometimes with Letterman it's very hard to tell. If Dave was actually sick of hearing it, surely Thomas wouldn't have been there telling the same story this year!