Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and hiatus

I've been enjoying reading and watching movies without wondering what to blog. I've got the J. Frank JACOB in my mitts, and MJD's SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES and haven't gotten around to them. I'm not too surprised, since lately I've been bummed by pretty much everything paranormal barring Meljean's stuff. Historicals are bores, too, and I've lost that sense of discovering new things that I want to read. EVERYTHING HAS BEEN HOMOGENIZED! /endminirant

Skimmed and passed on these:
WORKING FOR THE DEVIL, DEAD MAN RISING - L Saintcrow
DOPPELGANGER, WITCH AND WARRIOR - M Brennan

But! I saw the international, English-dubbed version of the Russian film NIGHT WATCH, and liked it enough in spite of itself to order the sequel, DAY WATCH. LAYER CAKE was entertaining, too, and I didn't have to FF through *too* many musical interludes. Heh. I'm too much a wuss to watch FEAST, since gore for the sake of squick isn't my thing. Nightmares, bad.

I'm off for the rest of the year and a bit of the new year; in case I'm not back by then, it may be an indefinite hiatus--more time to bloghop and catch up with blog buddies, I say.

lol

Lisey's Story, Born in Death

The former, underwhelming. I ended up skimming just to see what happened. Great job on the transitions between flashbacks and present times, though.

The latter was sort of a running gag of Roarke and Eve being horrified and disgusted by children/birthing including any idea of their own.

By the by, does anyone know what "Ta cion agam ort" translates to in English?

(Roarke says) "Ta cion agam ort." [sic] ...

"I love you," Eve thought, in Gaelic. Knowing he used it when it mattered most to him, she smiled.

I gather that the above phrase means "I have affection for you", and while this would be amusing all by itself, I'm curious. Is the Irish Gaelic for "I love you" (let's go with intimate address) "Tá grá agam duit", or is it something else? If anyone knows the answer, please drop me a note!

[In Scottish Gaelic, "I love you" seems to be "tha gaol agam ort". I just tossed that in there so you can go say I love you to your favorite Scottish Gaelic-speaking/reading bloggers...]

The UnCover

This is new to me:

"...why not publish our favourite books without front covers?!"

"According to consumer research conducted on what factors matter to people when they decide whether or not to pick up a book in a bookshop, the cover design comes out as most important. So this might be the stupidest thing we've ever done. "

-from the Penguin UK blog: "YourSpace"

The cover gallery link: Cover Gallery

(I so did not know that Penguin UK had a blog. Pretty interesting, on scanning it.)

Now, I know that I've ragged on my fair share of covers, but I don't know if this is more than a gimmick. What do you guys think about the make-your-own cover idea?

Reinventing the Nail

Cutting down hurricane damage: this guy deserves a Nobel Prize, or better.

The hand-crank laptop is wicked cool, too.

The Queen

Finally got round to seeing this, and liked it, although the actress is probably more cerebral than the real thing.

The contemporary news footage mixed in with the film was a nice touch, and wow, that snowbank of flowers!

Anybody else catch it?