I’m still waiting to be able to announce any news, but have managed to:

–become thoroughly obsessed with seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I’ve read two of the three books, also, and while I don’t think Larsson is a particularly good writer (he is a DAMN good journalist), I think he can tell a story.

–become thrilled with reading on my Kindle. Because, hello, holding onto a subway pole and turning pages at the same time without having to let go to turn a page? Awesome!

–bummed that there is a delay, if not a cancellation, of the NBA Season. I miss Amar’e! Plus I kinda like those nights the Basketball Spouse comes home later, so I get some time to myself.

–plan out, and possibly get, the second tattoo I’ve been threatening. This one, an open book, would be in tribute to my dad, sort of, plus also I figure I’ll never tire of books unlike, say, if I had gotten Gang of Four tattooed back in the day. Because those post Dave Allen/Hugo Burnham records were never as good as Entertainment!. Actually, NO record is as good as Entertainment!.

–up to the midway point of Battlestar Galactica. I work with two fangirls, one an uber fangirl, so I’m trying to know what they’re talking about.

So, yeahg. News when I can, life goes on as usual.

So this week is the week of my birthday, and normally it’s not that big a deal, and it’s not really this week, except it’s a way to get the Long-Suffering Spouse to take me to see Conan the Barbarian* the day it opens, which coincides with the anniversary of my birth.

Last night, we went to see Cowboys and Aliens, which was as I’d expected it to be: Not very good, but enjoyable. And let me say, someone who knows knew that one of the best parts of the film would be Daniel Craig’s ass. Because it was in many, many shots, framed by chaps (not assless chaps, mind you, that’d be gross). I was quite impressed.

Not so fun is the hot water heater leakage we dealt with Sunday–we still don’t have a hot water heater, which means cold showers. Luckily, it is summer, so is more tolerable, but still.

*This trailer is way bloody. So don’t watch if you’re squeamish.

So the Has A Hard Time Relaxing Spouse and I have been doing many fun things while our son is away; last night, we had dinner at the other end of the neighborhood, and strolled the long way home.

Today, we got our bikes out and took advantage of the New York Summer Streets program, where they shut down big parts of Manhattan for bikes and runners and such. We did 23 miles, and I finally got to go over the Brooklyn Bridge. I’d never done that before!

I’ve been revising my manuscript, that should go to a brand new beta reader at the end of next week, and then back to the Fabulous Agent. Plus been brainstorming another project, yay, and working many hours at HeroesandHeartbreakers.

So there you go. That’s me. I STILL have not seen Cowboys and Aliens, feh. Soon, hopefully.

And, yeah, I bought a Game of Thrones t-shirt from HBO. I am SUCH a goober.

So I tend to follow threads of things if I become intrigued by something; for example, I began reading noir when I stumbled across Jim Thompson, published by Black Lizard, so I started buying and reading all the Black Lizard press stuff I could find.

Lately I’ve been diving headlong, and with a variety of threads, into Asian film. My latest obsession is actor Tadanobu Asano, who American audiences will see in next year’s Thor:

Last week I watched two Asano films, each as different from each other as possible. Last Life In The Universe was an understated indie-feeling film with two lost people encountering each other. Ichi The Killer was an over-the-top graphically violent film about all sorts of unpleasant people and their unpleasant ways of killing people.

The latter was really hard to watch, except that Asian filmmakers make the gore SO unbelievable it’s sometimes bearable. But still really gross.

The cool thing I liked about it is Asano’s character appears in a variety of delicious clothing through the whole movie; he wears a cranberry velvet duster, a red plaid suit, leather, etc. Each scene it seems he’s changed his clothing. That combined with his facial markings and his . . . tendencies create a strong impression (and, I have to say, even Magpie Megan would balk at wearing some of his clothes!)

I don’t know if I would’ve liked it at all if I didn’t like Asano so much, but his acting in this gorefest is superb, so I enjoyed that.

Here is what he wears in the last scene:

Meanwhile, I’m working in an office for the second week in a row and haven’t freaked out yet. Yay!

Okay, so in addition to being excited about tall British men and such, I am also OVERTHEMOONOMG excited about HBO’s Game of Thrones mini-series, coming sometime next year:

A writer at Gawker, who hasn’t read George R.R. Martin, discusses it, and one of the comments perfectly distills why I like it so much:

“The books are full of sex, violence, gratuitous sexual violence, violent sex, familial violence, regular violence, war, torture, sieges and pillaging. All of the series love for Deadwood, Rome, and Sopranos I see in this thread could land comfortably on Game of Thrones.

The story is some of the most harrowing and bleak fantasy I have ever read, but amazing characters and plotting. Very little magic and only three dragons. You know how in The Walking Dead, the humans are the thing to be the most afraid of? There is no “bad guy” in this series- and no “evil races” that the people can fall back on. It is just layers of people doing what they do best- making war, making love, and scrabbling for power.

I really do feel like GoT is about as far away from LotR as you can get and still be called ‘fantasy’. I’m a serious fantasy nerd, but this will be wildly apparent to non-nerds too. LotR is really quite sunny and sanitized compared to GoT. The world that Thrones is set in is uncompromisingly harsh, suspicious, and full of pain.”

http://gawker.com/5701416/if-you-loved-lord-of-the-rings-youll-like-game-of-thrones

With these shoes:

And I haven’t been able to wear them, because we had a freak snowstorm this morning. Might be able to tomorrow, but they require stockings or trouser socks, and it’s going to be wicked cold.

Yes, they were spendy, but I think they’re gonna be worth it. Yay!

Just saw The Returner, with Takeshi Kaneshiro. The movie was fun, and Takeshi is my nomination for the Most Beautiful Man Ever:

Don’t believe me?:

Is it wrong that I am so excited about the Frampton boys decamping to South Jersey this weekend, leaving me alone in Brooklyn?

Because I am really excited.

So the 10 Year-Old is back in school (Him: “all teachers hate boys.” Me: “All 10 year-old boys make sweeping generalizations.” Him: “Hmmph.”), and I am back in the groove, only it’s cooler, and there are fewer beach days.

I am still loving my bike, I rode 10 miles in the park today and stopped off at the library to pick up a book on cycling (oh! the irony!) for the Spouse. And I am hoping to cobble together some sort of Goal Action Plan, so I don’t waste my days with banal blog posts and such–oh, well, oops.

So there you go. Not much, but it’s something. Oh, and I took a walk to pick the Son up from a playdate and listened to Richard Armitage read Georgette Heyer’s Sylvester. A walk never went by so fast, le swoon. I like that he does little voices for the characters, made me giggle.