Zombies in Austin (And Zombies in Austen?)

But first...

In case you didn't know, Amber's sister, who was once living with us, is now back in Ohio. This caused some hurt to Amber, but we're making the best of the situation and spending a whole lot more time together.

Ah, the joys of having only one job.

Amber's really excited about the Coraline movie. We went out and got the book (the PS edition), which Amber will promptly read after we see the film. It comes out a week from tomorrow, and to be honest, we're both kinda excited about seeing it. Amber got excited about it after seeing the making-of videos in the internets. She showed me some of them, and let me say: they were pretty cool.

I'm very glad that Amber's found something to be happy about, as she's had a rough start of the year, and it makes me happy when she's happy.

...

As part of my sworn duty to keep our southern borders safe from zombies (I hope there's someone up north sharing my job desc. The stocking caps of the Canadian zombies give them special protection from headshots), I have the following news to report w.r.t. our undead adversaries.

Apparently, there was a brief zombie scare in Austin, TX. DOT signs warned motorists of "Zombies Ahead". Some motorists failed to pay heed to these signs. Their cars are now currently available at the Austin police auction, slightly torn, scratched, and stained, but otherwise in perfect working condition. (Full Story)

Additionally, Jane Austen scholars have unearthed missing works from the author. Turns out Pride and Prejudice had several passages dealing with zombies that T. Edgerton, publisher, did not consider appropriate for the end reader. Some 200 years later, we may read it in it's unabridged form, entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (Full Story)

Last on the zombie front is the documentary based on the nonfiction chronicle of the Zombie Wars. The footage from the wars has been edited together by director Marc Forster, whose previous work includes more fictional accounts of British spies and the like. Once a few sequences are professional reenacted (with dialogue touchups by comic/space soap author J. Michael Staczynski), the film should be gracing our movie theaters some time next year. Keep a lookout! (Full Story)

Well, that's it on the zombie front. Keep those downstairs doors locked and those shotguns loaded!

Oh, and on a more serious note, I'll probably be focusing my attention more on my Blogger account (http://jacobsilvia.blogspot.com) than my LJ. If you have an LJ or any other OpenID provider, you may leave comments there.

I'll still crosspost to my LJ (http://aethercowboy.livejournal.com) for the time being, but may eventually phase it out. This has been your deprecation notice!

Stuff, stuff-stuff, stuff!

Wow, another round of updates?

Let's see... I no longer work for Apple (and apparently, neither does Mr. Jobs, te-hee). Did anybody see that hilarious XKCD (http://www.xkcd.com/527/)? Of course it cost me a pound of flesh, or at least, a pretty nasty scar, as the Micromanaging Hobbit had me get something down from a top shelf while I was suffering from a head cold, and I lost my balance and met a nice, sharp, metal corner. Yeah! Unfortunately, it didn't scar in the form of the Apple logo, so I can't have that as a conversation piece. Oh well.

It's a new year, and I work for a new NASA contractor under a new contract. We're waiting on all the connections to be fully established, and until then, we have to find ways to be busy. Yay.

I've been roped into doing early reviews of books for LibraryThing.com (Check me out, I'm aethercowboy!). If you would like me to do an early review (or even a review) of your book, contact me, and I'll tell you where to send it. I'll even post it to my blog!

I recently read Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry. It's like Tom Clancy and Max Brooks wrote a book together, or something. Here's my review: http://www.librarything.com/review/39779688.

Coming up next is Rich Like Them by Ryan D'Agostino.

And next? Who knows!

Also, I decided that now I have loads of free time, I'm starting a local writing group that will be infinite times better than BAWL (Bay Area Writers League) or The Word Factory, because (A) it pertains to writers critiquing each other's writings distributed to them the previous week, (B) it's free, and (C) there will be talks, readings, and activities to help writers. Woot woot.

The official blog is http://clearlakeareawriters.blogspot.com. It's called "Clear Lake Area Writers" (CLAW). Sweet.

Hopefully the other writers will not be just Romance/Memoir writers as was BAWL, which was the main reason I gave that up (also, four hours of boring non-writing activity). I needed a group that was more specific to me, and since I can't find one, I'll go out and make one. I just hope our local art center will let me meet there. Otherwise, I suppose the library's the next best thing. And if all else fails, maybe Borders will host me. But I'm going Indie first, yo. I'll find out next week. In the meantime, if you're in the Clear Lake area, feel free to subscribe to the blog, or leave a comment (once I post something). There's also a public calendar, but it has nothing on it. Watch the CLAW blog for updates!

Well, that's really all I had in my buffer.

Until next time.