kaleidotrope

Happy holly-daze

Tucker seems to be feeling much better today, back to his old self. The blood work came back negative for Lyme’s disease, and the anti-inflammatory seems to have renewed his energy. He even started playing with some of the toys he got for Christmas, and the stairs haven’t proved any real challenge. We’re keeping an eye on him, but we’re hoping he’s over the worst of it and we won’t have any more trips to the vet anytime soon.

Meanwhile, I spent most of the day fiddling around with the upcoming new issue of Kaleidotrope, which will go live sometime next week, and watching some more movies. First I re-watched Cabin in the Woods — for the second time, actually, after having listened to the commentary track yesterday — and tonight, Midnight Run, which was enjoyable.

And that was…I don’t know. Thursday? That can’t be right, can it?

A winter’s day, in a deep and dark December

It got very cold here today, with a few snow flurries in the morning and then just a whole lot of wind chill.

I finished reading submissions for Kaleidotrope, giving me at least a week before the zine opens up to submissions again. (And in which I have to finish putting together the Winter 2013 issue. Anybody got any art they’d like to submit?)

I also watched the not terrible (nor brilliant) The Living Daylights. Honestly, there isn’t a whole lot to say about it. Timothy Dalton made for a decent, if not terribly remarkable James Bond.

Meanwhile, Tucker’s clearly feeling better today. He’s still obviously quite exhausted, but the fever seems to have broken, and his appetite and most of his energy are back. This is not a dog who deals well, on his best of days, with discomfort, but it’s good to see him back to 80-90% his old self.

Sunday

Another cold and rainy day, like yesterday, only more so. In fact, today was pretty much yesterday all over again, except instead of of Quantum Leap, it was M*A*S*H, and instead of editing for Kaleidotrope, I was reading stories. (I’m down to just ten, which is good because I re-open to submissions in January.)

Also did the crossword and took a nap. I was going to go for a walk, honest I was, but, y’know…rain.

Sunday

Sunday just sort of disappeared out from under me.

It turns out, I do have jury duty starting Monday, not just telephone standby but actually showing up to the courthouse in Brooklyn. There’s no way of knowing yet if anything will come of it, if I’ll actually wind up on a jury, or just sit there all day. I’ll definitely be bringing a book. I can’t bring my computer, obviously, or even a cell phone, so there’s that. We’ll see. I’m not upset by the jury duty itself — even if it’s all the way in Brooklyn, not the much closer Mineola — so much as the timing of it.

The rest of the day…I dunno. I slept late, if not well, and did but didn’t finish the crossword puzzle. I did some editing for the next issue of Kaleidotrope, which amazingly is only one month away. When the heck did it get to be December?

Nobody does it better

It was kind cold and dreary out today, so I spent most of it just puttering around the house. After a week’s reprieve, I returned to James Bond and watched The Spy Who Loved Me. It wasn’t at all bad, although that may only be in comparison to the last few, which were pretty dire. And, as someone who’s more or less committed himself to watching all of the Bond films — I own them all now — I’m a little disheartened by the oft-repeated wisdom that this was Roger Moore’s best. (It’s not that good.)

I also watched Men in Black 3, which was pleasantly diverting. Mildly entertaining. I mean, Josh Brolin does a pretty great Tommy Lee Jones impersonation, and that’s worth something.

I also set up these polls to vote for your favorite Kaleidotrope stories and poems from 2012. I realize I may just end up exposing myself (and everyone else) to how few people actually read the zine, but it seemed like a thing to do.

I mean, it was that or watch Moonraker, and nobody wants that.