Yet another boring work day...

Though it was cool enough this evening for me to test out The Jacket. I'll have to hem the cuffs of the sleeves, since they're a tad long, yet the fact that the rest of it is big on me works: the demon hunter's jacket is loose enough to blur his body lines, and when I'm walking quickly it helps create the effect of it "following a step behind [me]" to quote the screenplay.

And, oh yes, the rude awakening this morning: about seven this morning, this awful screeching, squeaking, grinding noise, accompanied by the house shaking jarred me out of a sound sleep. I thought it was an earthquake (we get those once in a while: nothing major, just the kind that rattle the dishes and scare my bird and wake me up from a sound sleep...), but then I realized that the road crew still working on widening our street was moving a big earthmover down the street.

::Uses one of her "Powerpuff"-style Harry Potter icons, just because it's teh KYOOT!!111::

Readin' and trying to write

All this talk about the bigscreen, live-action movie version of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" inspired me to dig out my "Chronicles of Narnia" books today. So I've been reading "Prince Caspian", in between running research on sedevacantist groups who've "consecrated" their own "pope" (read: anti-pope. They just haven't tried to renact the Great Western Schism. Yet. I'd like to see they TRY and take on God's Rotweiller...). This is gonna be a plot-point in "Changing of the Guard". So far one of the best articles has been this one from Catholic Answers's "This Rock" magazine: http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0003fea1.asp. One line in it irks me a little, since it's a teeny bit condescending toward traditionalists like myself, but I could just be acting a little sensitive. Other than that, it's really informative, shocking and even a little laugh-worthy. Yah gotta laugh at some of these folks' antics, they're so inane. (Yes, I know they're acting disobediant; I'm not laughing at their disobedience: I'm laughing at their stupidity. You don't think God laughs at some of our craziness? It's probably one of the things that keeps Him from getting mad enough to tear the whole damn universe down and start off from scratch.) They overlooked one that I'd heard about: a woman in Pennsylvania "consecrating" her seminarian son as "Pope Michael II" (I think).

I've been poking at writing parts of "Guard" as well: The German cardinal is increasingly becoming a thinly disguised version of the former Cardinal Ratzinger; I've had an unconfirmed report that he was an exorcist when he was younger, but I've yet to confirm that (anyone know anything about it?). If he was, this would help me build up the character a little: I've defaulted "Hermann Cardinal Donnermuth" as having been a former exorcist, which makes him an interesting foil to the demon-hunter. The best part I banged out today was a conversation between Constantine and a slightly hesitant, put-upon young seminarian: It's a great study in contrasts between the kid's idealistic, adolescent piety and Constantine's rough-cut spiritual realism.

Speaking of Constantine, happy forty-first birthday, Keanu! Okay, so maybe as far as acting goes, he's no Lawrence Olivier, but he's fun to watch. And can you really hate a guy who donated money to improve the hospital where his half-sister was treated for luekemia, and who takes his mom to the awards shows he's supposed to appear at, *and* who's humble enough to admit he's "cute, but not very bright", to quote the Oracle in the first "Matrix" movie? That and he's mastered something which a lot of Hollywood actors fail to do: It's called Staying Out of the Media Spotlight. (I'm looking at YOU, Tom, Brad, and Jude...)

( Two of my current favorite Keanu pics )