The Aviary

( Brief reactions to The Avengers, because it is late and I am both keyed up and about to fall asleep )

Two non-spoilery things:

1) I am totally going again on Sunday. It is a plan.

2) We can have a Black Widow&Hawkeye movie now, right? (Or Black Widow/Hawkeye. I would be totally down with that.)

My family opens presents on Christmas Eve, so Christmas Day is always a quiet, laid-back sort of thing, full of playing with new toys and taking naps and eating things.

Thus, yesterday, I spent much of the day quietly reading Kim Newman's Professor Moriarty: the Hound of the D'Urbervilles. I am almost finished with it and can already tell that it's the sort of book that I'm going to finish and then mope about because it is over and there is no more of this book for me to read.

Let me tell you all the things I love about this book:

( Cut for spoilers and also to avoid annoying people who don't care )


In short, I kinda want to finish the book and then immediately read it again. I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to go down to B&N today in order to buy it. Hmm.

In which a winner is me:

So, a few months ago, I made some of these, because I like pie and I like tiny things in jars and I especially like hoarding treats that I don't need to eat right now for some unspecified point in the future when I will need them*. And they sat in my freezer.

Tonight, I got home from work and ate dinner and thought, "I would really like some pie. But there is no pie in the house and it is raining and I don't want to go to the store." And then I thought, "But there is pie in the house!" So now there is a tiny pie in the oven which will be baked in half an hour and sufficiently cooled to be edible by about 7:30, which is the ideal after-dinner-dessert time.

I totally win.




*Really, I ought to get into canning. I should learn to make the pickles my Nana used to make - the only pickles I have ever really enjoyed** - and put up jars and jars of them.

**Well, the only pickled cucumber. I love peach pickles and pickled watermelon rind. Mostly because both of those taste somewhat reminiscent of my Nana's pickles.

Hello, the internet! Tonight, la familia and I went to see the Sherlock Holmes movie.

( my thoughts )

In conclusion - totally awesome! Possibly, I will go see it again on Monday! Also, now I must go and reread all of Katie Forsythe's fanfiction.

::flails with glee::



ETA - podfic of Katie Forsythe fic! Apparently, Christmas is still happening!

Hey, y'know what we haven't done in a while? Picture Books You Should Read! I should get on that.

So, this week's Picture Book You Should Read is Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery by Kevin O'Malley, illustrated by Patrick O'Brien.


Otherwise known as my favorite picture book ever. And I know that I've talked about it before but really, it is amazing enough to be promoted again.

The planet Jurassica is in an uproar because a mysterious object has crashed into its moon! What could this object be? Is it dangerous? Is Jurassica in peril? Send for Captain Raptor!

Why should you read this book? Because it is about heroic spacefaring dinosaurs, one of whom is a cyborg. Because it is written like a comic book, with beautiful lush illustrations and engaging page layouts. Because every time Captain Raptor or his ship are in danger, the text says "Could this be the end of Captain Raptor?" Because Captain Raptor has a jetpack and uses it to punch a pterodon in the jaw. Because there is a giant octopus. Because it is awesome.

And because it is about the need for exploration and expansion of knowledge, not out of a desire for conquest but a desire to understand and learn. It is great beginner sci-fi and terribly fun for older fans who are well-versed in the genre.

Also, and this really can't be stated enough, because it is totally fucking awesome. Dinosaurs In Space!

Onward to the stars!