one more for the weirdly stupid .... or stupidly weird:

In a bookshop- Lolita in the "Young Fiction" section

Which reminds me of one for the recommended reading list:
Granitas - (at least I think it was called that) - parody by Umberto Eco of Lolita - the narrator is obsessed with an elderly woman with "lasvicious white locks"

which reminds me of the latest parody I came across - a parody of The Chronicles of Narnia called...The Chronicles of Blarnia (or something like that, I really need more sleep)..... four kids enter a magical land through an enchanted wardrobe and do what you'd expect them to - break stuff and teach all the magical animals foul language. And the book has an assortment of mangled names - The Wide Witch and Astma the cat (only a foot high).

which brings me to a cliqued observation about spoofs - for a spoof to "work", you need both a writer and an audience who knows (loves) the work being spoofed - so here's to being spoofed someday, because parody is the second sincerest form of flattery

http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/

incredible blog - really worth a look

an Indian journalist, currently touring Pakistan, with some genuinely interesting stories and pics

turns out there are two Parsis in Islamabad - guess that brings the grand total to 50,002. Wahoo!!

.....and worse verse

Making Tea

Boil the water she says,
Till its warmer than common lust,
But cooler than a hot temper.

Pour the water, let it sit
Longer than an impatient child's pleading,
But not as long as brooding jealousy.

Pour it out into cups.
Add sugar sweeter than kindness,
But not as sweet as indulgence.

Stir after you add milk,
Enough for the colour of compassion,
But not for the shade of weakness.

Serve it, with gentility,
That falls short of servitude.
And sip it, with gratitude.

Valenpoem

Anyone asking how personal it is will be very personally drawn and quartered -

Maybe

Maybe it was the roses,
That told her to get up and leave,
Too many thorns on their long stems.

Maybe it was the coffee.
Its sitting there sulkily undrunk,
While she's outside on the phone.

She's back again, lost in a smile,
With a bright warmth in her voice,
Tho maybe, just maybe, not for me.

First Place!!!

First place in the SMS Poetry Contest at Kala Ghoda. Yay!!!

currently reading

Evolving the Alien - Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart

The book is about the science of evolving workable theories as to what aliens (IF they exist and WHEN we run across them) would be like.
The authors discuss the science of "xenoscience", using whatever they can of terrestrial biology, astronomy and astrophysics.
The book also attempts to answer the question so many people asked me when I told them I was reading it - why?
Why bother? Apart from the nutcases who burble on about being "abducted", who has actually seen an alien?

Here are the book's and my reasons combined (because it's so hard to remember whos ideas are what in my raspberry jelly brain ):
1) If we (as in the Human Race) are ever going to intelligently look for signs of alien life, spaceprobewise or SETIwise, we should try and make an intelligent guess what to look for
2) While terra-forming or inter-planetary colonisation still looks more fictional than real at this point in time, we're not too far off from the point where discussions of the "environment" will have to be prefixed with a planetary name to be clear
3) If enough of us talk seriously about the subject, we might actually be able to beat some sense into Star Trek fans (on the plus side for trekkies, although the book doesn't look kindly on the aliens created in most sci-fi shows or movies, they provide a (plausible?) explanation for the evolution of "tribbles" - you do remember THAT episode don't you?)
4) Stepping back a bit from the view that Earth is the only planet which supports life and can support life, helps us to understand life and the evolution of life better

The sweet pieces of the book for me are the small blurbs of SF novels they've sprinkled liberally over the chapters.
That and the eww-gross delight I take in discovering just how weird some creatures are - nasty frogs that feed on the tadpoles of their own species, fish that change sex as per convenience and an Indian (and I thought I was the only one) stick insect which has given up sexual reproduction as a means of reproduction.

If you have read this far, DON'T try and borrow the book from me - I've already got too many friends on Betelgeuse 7 waiting to get their tentacles on it.

line popped into my head while ghordoping on malang's blog
read it an advert somewhere long ago - can't remember where

Children walk to school, children run home

about as profound as watered down reader's digest I know, but still, true