So anyway…

I just finished reading an Ann Rice novel. I’m not sure why I do this periodically. Well, yes, I do. I like some of her work. She’s exquisitely good at painting a vivid picture of periods in history, and I’m quite captivated by that sometimes.
I liked Cry to Heaven, although I could have done without the graphic sex scenes which weren’t, in my opinion, very sexy anyway, and the story sagged in the middle.

I also liked Servant of the Bones very much, although there was a “loose end” that bothered me and which was never tied up and explained.

I might like the Mayfair Witches stories, because they’re not about vampires. In fact, the book I just finished was about a Mayfair, but it wasn’t “the Mayfairs”. I didn’t realize that it was actually pretty much a vampire story. I’m going to say it right now, I really don’t much care for Ann’s vampires (yeah, I know, a million Ann Rice fans are going to descend upon me in a fury, but we like what we like, what can I say?).

Partly, the very idea of being trapped on this earth in an immortal body, unable to leave… that’s pretty horrible to me. The idea of immortality on earth is just… Well, let’s just say that I cherish my mortality, and I’m glad to know that someday, eventually, I’ll die. It’s probably kind of weird, but that’s how I feel about it. I’m not suicidal or anything, but the sure knowledge that eventually I will, absolutely, die, is comforting on a lot of levels.

Partly, the eroticism of drinking blood is… okay, I’m not sure if she intends it to be erotic, but I’m pretty sure she does, and if so, that’s just weird. I can see it as a metaphor for loving someone “to death”, but… I dunno. Vampires, even ones who only kill evildoers, well, that just seems pretty unappealing to me.

Anyway, the book I just read was Merrick, which, for the most part, I did enjoy. The voodoo elements were fascinating, and, as usual, the portrait the author paints of New Orleans is enticing, as are some of the descriptions she gives of other locations in the book. I can’t say I was thrilled to listen to Louis being morose (as usual) or Lestat being… well, Lestat… but overall the book was all right. I kind of read them in spite of the many parts I really don’t like that much, because the strength of the author’s descriptions make it worth it for me.

So, well, if you’re an Ann Rice fan who adores Lestat et al, I do apologize if I’ve offended your sensibilities. I don’t hate Ann’s books (I wouldn’t have read more than two if that were the case), but I always come away from reading them with a sort of less-than-satisfied feeling, which is certainly subjective. I DO wish she’d write more stuff along the lines of Servant of the Bones or Memnoch the Devil (which I liked in spite of Lestat and in spite of the rather icky menstrual thing toward the end, ugh).

I think I really will have to investigate the books that deal specifically with Aaron and the Mayfair Witches. I suspect I’d like them more than the vampire ones…

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In a discussion one day not so long ago, someone said to me, “Well, that’s your opinion…”

To which I might say…

Why, yes, yes it is. I have an entire collection of them, and they’re all mine. I don’t necessarily think they’re better than other people’s opinions (although many of them are quite well-considered), and I’ve been known to change them when sufficient evidence persuades me to do so, but, basically, my opinions are mine, and I voice them as such.

From time to time, when I have an unformed opinion because I lack the scientific, technical, or other knowledge to form one, I will accept that the opinions of experts may be valid, and I may even repeat or cite those expert opinions, but I never claim those opinions as my own.

When I was younger and much more unsure of myself and much less able to form opinions (at least, unable to form opinions with much substance), I did, indeed, frequently take other people’s opinions and claim they were my own, but now that I’ve lived a reasonably long time and had lots and lots of life experience both good and bad, I find that forming my own opinions is much more comfortable and satisfying, and is preferable to adopting the opinions of others (although, at times my opinions may agree in whole or in part with those of others, through coincidence, shared life experiences, or other means).

Yes, it is my opinion. And your point is?

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Perspiring Minds Want To Know!
I was particularly amused by Evil on a Budget: How to threaten the free world on fifty dollars a day

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Being overweight is nowhere near as big a killer as the government thought, ranking No. 7 instead of No. 2 among the nation’s leading preventable causes of death, according to a startling new calculation from the CDC.

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It’s pretty rare that I actually find spam funny, but just now in my spam filter I saw this:

Makes you great in bed. Now all you have to do is get laid.

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First, please take a few minutes and go and visit my unicorns site. It’s not too terribly big, won’t take you long to check it out. Just take note of the information there and the various links. Okay? I’ll wait.
Done? Okay. Now. Read this email:

hi do you have any infoon if unicorns
where proven to be real or if they were
just a myth and info on what history
and the bible say about unicorns? if
you could give me some web sites that
would be great!

Note that the unicorn site DOES have links, including a link to an entire essay on the unicorn in the King James version of the Bible, and a whole page of links to external sites, AND that I say right on the main page what my opinion is of the literal, physical reality of unicorns.

I get mail like this periodically. I just wonder what they think… Do they believe I’ve got a vault of top secret evidence for or against the physical reality of unicorns and that if they just email me, I’ll share the documents with them? Do they not know how to follow a link? Do they not know how to READ?!

I’m just wondering…

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A Perth company suspected of bombarding computers across the country with tens of millions of spam emails has been raided by officers from the Australian Communications Authority (ACA).
 
ACA inspectors seized the contents of computer hard drives and other material at the firm – which has not been named – as part of the investigation under the federal anti-spam legislation.

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I admit it, I was a Diana (as in “princess”) fan. Yes, I know she was a very dysfunctional person, and she had some huge personality flaws, but maybe that’s part of why I liked her. When she died, I cried and cried (although, let’s face it, I was rather seriously mentally ill at that time, so that was part of why I cried so much, as my emotions were so very raw then).

So when Charles finally married the woman he’s been unable to keep his hands off, despite both of them being married to other people, I wasn’t particularly interested. I do see the romance of it, with them finally being able to be together in every way after all these years, yadda yadda yadda, but really, I don’t care that much one way or the other.

I didn’t watch the royal wedding, even though it was televised. Since I’ve watched every royal wedding I could (including the Danish Crown Prince’s wedding last year; he married an Australian, you know, it was big news here!), sometimes multiple times, that shows just how apathetic I am about Charles marrying Camilla.

I did, however, have a look at wedding pictures on the web. Even when I’m indifferent to these things, I’m still at least curious…

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