After not adding a new skin to this site in over six months, I finally finished one that I've been thinking about since the Blogathon. It's very retro and I owe a lot of thanks to Pixel Decor. Why don't you see what I'm talking about?

.: 48 words at 08:04 PM in Skinning the Fish, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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All of the group information for Burn It - The Fall Edition has been sent out, so keep an eye out for your group. Let me know if it doesn't show up so I can double check your e-mail address.

.: 40 words at 07:38 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Steven and I are having friends over tonight and while we're not dressing up or anything, I am doing some Halloween-themed BookCrossing releases. I'm letting loose ten horror novels (King, Koontz, Straub, Rice, and Harris) in my area, so if you're in northwest Houston, keep your eyes open for some free books. They'll be at Best Buy (near Willowbrook in the DVD section), at Willowbrook in a few places, the local Randall's, and more. Hope someone finds them and enjoys them.

Happy Halloween, everyone! Don't eat too much candy!

.: 89 words at 11:46 AM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Swagbelly: A Novel for Today's Gentleman by David Levin: a tale of a pornographer and the events and memories that make up his life.

Elliot Grubman is an extremely wealthy publisher of Swagbelly - a pornographic magazine who's quality is below Playboy but above the crude, typical magazine that dominate the industry. Newly divorced, Elliot's life is slowly falling apart despite the fact that he is worth over $100 million. He tries to put his life back together by dating models from his magazine, learning polo, and other measures, but what really is it that he needs and wants?

I find it hard to really describe this book. I guess it's a "Day in the Life" kind of novel, even if that life does involve lots of money and models. It would be hard for most to like a man who uses women, intimidates people, and deals in the sex industry, but Elliot is a surprisingly rich character who I really liked. I wanted things to go well for him.

While the tale of an extremely rich pornographer may sound like an off-putting idea for a novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would like to see more of Levin's work.

(Finished on October 29, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 210 words at 05:42 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Dude, it's the end of the world. (But I am le tired!)

.: 13 words at 05:17 PM in Entertainment Value, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I just a few hours Steven and I will be at Lupe Tortilla for dinner and drinks (maybe - damn blood thinners!) with the H-Town Bloggers. This is only my third outing with the group, so I hope to meet some new people and see some old friends.

In the northwest area (I-45 near Richey Road)? Come by and see us!

.: 62 words at 05:08 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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As you've probably noticed with my constant references to BookCrossing, I've become really involved in the whole thing. I've even started over ten Bookrings/rays (a list of people sign up for a book, one reads it, passes it to the next, and so on and so on).

I sent out my first ring way back on September 6th. I even included two of my Burn It CDs as thanks since that person was the first to sign up for any of my rings. I never heard an acknowledgment of them, much less a thanks, which I thought was kind of rude, but I let it go. I've also sent this person three books off my shelf with no trade required simply because they asked and I'm a nice person.

That person's had my bookring for just about two months now and there are almost thirty people behind them on the list. I sent an e-mail saying, "Sorry to bother you, but when do you think you can pass it on? There are lots of people behind you and I'd like to keep the ring moving. Thanks!" I get back this in reply, "Hmm... Well, when I don't have two tests to study for or a book to read or a course packet to read or a report to do or a job to find or a cat to find, catch and take to the apl.... then I will attempt to finish the extremely boring book you sent me."

How fucking rude can you be? I send you this book (and others) for you to read, state in the sign up rules to feel free to take your time with the book, but make it reasonable, and you jump on me about the book being boring and you'll get to it when you can? If the book's so fucking boring, send it to the next reader. They had actually requested more books from me, but I'll be damned if they get them or get put on another ring of mine.

I've had such amazingly positive experiences at BookCrossing and I'm pissed that this person has sullied it. Ungrateful fucker.

.: 359 words at 08:03 PM in Rants, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (11) :.

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Just a few more hours until Burn It - The Fall Edition CD Swap is over. Better hurry and sign up!

.: 21 words at 07:43 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Cannibals of the fine Light by Simon Brown: a short story collection from an Australian author that never quite lived up to its potential.

These stories, set in a not-to-distant future, almost all revolved around biochips planted in people's brains and their relationships with other humans, machines and animals.

For the most part, I didn't really enjoy too many of the stories. I wanted to know more about the time and place that they happened in. Kind of like with William Gibson's Neuromancer, I felt that I was missing key elements as to why people did the things that they did. I just never really felt myself drawn into the story.

Saying that, however, I did enjoy a few of them. They were "The Mind's Eye," "The Final Machine," "Brother Stripes," "Rain From the New God," and "The Truth in Advertising," a clever little co-written piece that made reading the book worth it. Not really recommended, but fans of anthologies may find enough gems in here to make mining the book worth it.

(Finished on October 27, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 184 words at 03:08 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Just a reminder, but today is the last day to sign up for Burn It - The Fall Edition CD Swap. If you want to participate, read the rules and send me your info before midnight tonight. We already have sevnety-five participants, so let's see how many more we can get!

.: 51 words at 12:29 AM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I finally have some pictures from my reunion ready to put up! (Click photo for supersized image.)

.: 344 words at 05:46 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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