Just stumbled across a reference to this at Lou Romano’s weblog —
TotoroForestProject.com

Totoro Forest Project is an international charity effort to save Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest. This endangered sanctuary on the outskirts of Tokyo is where director Hayao Miyazaki got the inspiration for his much-loved character “Totoro”.
Over 200 top international artists from […]

Posted in Cartoons, Comics, Current events, Fantasy and science fiction, Film and TV, Graphic and plastic arts No Comments »

So I’m sitting here wrapping up book packages and getting caught up on the email, and were_gopher sends me this link. (Thanks Om!) And now my birthday is complete before it’s barely started.
 
The full story is here. Go, read, be happy. (The piccie also appears in the large version here, at […]

Posted in Current events, Humor, Uncategorized 2 Comments »

…for the book that didn’t get published, starts on page 16 of this fascinating document.
Just look at all those zeroes. (Not that the poor ghostwriter gets to have many of them…)
Technorati Tags: O.J., Simpson, book, novel, contract

Posted in Current events, Writing No Comments »

But then the statement was made “late Friday”, when everybody was probably at a Christmas party somewhere. (Or NewsCorp hoped they were.) (Sorry, the only link I have at the moment is to a registrant-only story at Variety.)
News Corp.-owned HarperCollins announced the news late Friday on the East Coast with a terse press release headlined […]

Posted in Current events, Media 1 Comment »

Guns? They’re giving them guns now??
Erik Estrada and other lesser celebrities have been sworn in as reserve officers of the city police department here, allowing them to carry badges and guns as part of a reality television series.
About 200 people packed into a Muncie City Hall auditorium for the Tuesday ceremony to swear in the […]

Posted in Current events, Media No Comments »

Hey, look: it’s the congressional version of a Hugo Losers’ Party.
A closed-door panel of defeated and retiring members [of the U.S. Congress], including Katherine Harris, R-Fla.; Clay Shaw, R-Fla.; Mike Bilirakis, R-Fla.; Anne Northup, R-Ky.; J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz.; and Ed Case, D-Hawaii, turned up in the Longworth Building on Tuesday for a career advice panel […]

Posted in Current events No Comments »

Somewhere definitive, perhaps, to send your cellphone video of crashing zeppelins…
Beginning tomorrow, media companies Yahoo! and Reuters will allow members of the public to upload or e-mail photos and videos to illustrate breaking news stories. The “You Witness” service, which aims to turn the world’s hundreds of millions of camera phones into a news resource, […]

Posted in Current events, Media, Note to self 2 Comments »

Goodle. It’s Google News…but all good.
Including:
World Peace sparks outpourings of joy
George Lucas to refilm all three Star Wars prequels
Spam drying up
Scientists pack up: “Everything explained”
Rivers, lakes of wine and beer
Golden age back
And more. (sigh) Just the headlines, unfortunately.
Technorati Tags: Google, Goodle, humor

Posted in Computer stuff, Current events, Humor, Online life 1 Comment »

And too many desserts, if you ask me.Technorati Tags: White House, Barney, dessert, menu

Posted in Current events, Food, restaurants and cooking No Comments »

I swear, it’s like watching high-stakes poker on TV. But high-stakes poker played by six-year-olds.
i m divorcin u kthxbye
Oh yeah? I want a lot of money or I’m taking the kids because you’re a bad mom.
No I’m not and no you’re not. Read the prenup again and buzz off.
Oh yeah? Well I have a sooper […]

Posted in Current events, Media, Online life, Psychology / psychiatry 1 Comment »

Somebody at the BBC deserves a cookie for this one.
Transgender MP in toilet fracas
Pity, though: I had hoped it was a British MP. Turns out the story hails from Italy.
An Italian opposition MP and former showgirl has expressed outrage after meeting a transgender colleague in the parliament’s ladies’ toilets.
Elisabetta Gardini, spokeswoman for former PM Silvio […]

Posted in Current events, Humor No Comments »

I read the Long Island newspaper Newsday partly to keep an eye on the part of the world where I grew up, and partly because the father of one of my characters (apparently) works for it. This morning, though, on their website, I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before.

Newsday’s front page features a Google map […]

Posted in Current events, Media 1 Comment »