I unboxed my new camera today. It is the replacement to my three-plus year-old Canon Digital Rebel XT. The Rebel has been great, but it’s showing it’s age, plus I wanted to upgrade. If you click through, you’ll go to my flickr set that has the unboxing.
The 2010 Hugo Nominations are out and I haven’t read a single one of them. Nada. Zilch.
This is surprising to me. Not that I’m a grand peruser of all that is scif/fantasy, but usually I manage to read something that hits the list, if only by accident. Last year I got three of the novels under my belt without even trying. China Miéville’s The City & The City is in the house, but I haven’t read it yet. Jenn is currently talking on that chore.
I was a tiny bit surprised that Steven King’s Under the Dome didn’t get a best novel nomination. Only a tiny bit, though, because while I suppose it could be considered scifi (or fantasy, depending), it may not have been very good. I only got through the first four chapters before it lost me.
So I guess I have books and stories to go find or buy. Five months until the actual awards come out.
I find it fascinating when something can be bought new for less than what the reserve price is on ebay. Weird.
April Fool’s Day has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Part of that is because I’ve never been into practical jokes; I’m not a fan of being on the receiving end which translates into not wanting to offer them up to someone else. Plus I always feel obligated to help clean up if someone gets a messy prank played on them (such as filling an office cubicle with shredded paper).
That being said, I’ve been a huge advocate for the tongue-in-cheek reporting that comes out today. I just saw a posting for Google acquiring nuclear weapons and a few years ago NPR had the story of the exploding maple trees of Maine (I want to be a professor of arboreal thermodynamics). Those, I think, are near the pinnacle of jokes/entertainment because everyone gets to enjoy them, including the victims.
I’ll be listening to NPR today to see what they come up with.