Gift Cards: The Gift of Champions
This lovely post over at The Guardian is exactly why I tell my friends and family to give me gift cards (or cash) instead of actual gifts. In fact, I am adamant about requesting gift cards (or cash) from family because they, of all people, have no idea what I read or what types of things I enjoy, stemming from the fact that they don’t hang out with me on a regular basis and even close family members (short of married couples) tend to forget things.I have had many problems with receiving gifts that I didn’t need, just like the article above mentions. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate said gifts. It’s nice to know that someone thought about me when they bought me something, even if it was something I didn’t need or didn’t want. Regardless, I make it a point to tell family and friends to just get me cash or a gift card, particularly to a book store (because, to be honest, I enjoy buying books more than any other commodity, which is why one wall of my room is covered in books from the floor almost to the ceiling).So, perhaps a good word of advice for people who “think” they know what to buy a friend would be to just get a gift card to a store you know they shop at. If your friend goes to Borders a lot, then get a gift card there, and the same goes for Target, Walmart, and all the other stores you can think of (heck, even nifty local places sometimes have gift cards). Even better is to give cash to a friend whom you know could use it. Granted, gifts shouldn’t be given to pay off debts and what not, but giving someone cash allows that person to make their own decisions on how to use it (and I would caution you to telling them, “Oh, this is so you can pay off your credit card bill”, because that would probably tick them off).Some people think that gift cards are lazy, thoughtless gifts. There is some truth to that; after all, some people get gift cards at the last minute and hand them off like they’re the best gifts ever. For me, gift cards are the best gift because it allows me to find the things I want rather than having to deal with all the stuff I would get otherwise that would end up never getting used.So, get your friends and family gift cards. Seriously. It’s okay. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Twitteriffic Stuffs
Here’s my random twitter nonsense for the day: 22:07 Work it harder. Move it faster. More than ever… <—if you know the next phrase, respond to me on twitter. Seriously. # 11:48 Writing a review for Sly Mongoose and I’m pretty much drooling cause the book is awesome. # 12:00 Firefox 3.0 sucks. I went back to 2.0. Word of advice: flashy pretty-ness a good program does not make. Basic, functional…goooooood. # 12:23 I’m a little irritated now… # 13:29 Magical Lesson #4: When I’m irritated I can’t write. It shuts me down entirely. And yes, it sucks quite a lot. # 15:36 Magical Lesson #5: My grandma is awesome. End of story. If you don’t think so, then something is wrong with you. # 16:28 Another fiasco averted. Ticket bought for me girlfriend. She’ll be here Aug. 7 to the 28th. # 16:32 @mightymur I do! I got a review couple a couple weeks back. I intend to read it relatively soon here! # 20:25 Back from my walk after sufficiently wasting almost 4 hours on the Internet today…two hours of that trying to get a plane ticket. Yeah. # 21:41 Okay, so after finishing my review of Sly Mongoose by Tobiase S. Buckell (here: rurl.org/vzc ), I have decided that I should write. # Thanks for not exploding. Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Book Review Up: Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell
Well, I have another review up, this time of Tobias S. Buckell’s fantastic novel, Sly Mongoose. Check it out here. Oh, and go pre-order his new novel here. Seriously, it’s that good. Anywho! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Networks Are Evil
Sometimes even smart people (like Joss Whedon) say things that make you go, “What?”. Mr Whedon has been filming his new TV show called Dollhouse and managed to utter this in regards to Fox not liking the initial pilot: Buffy didn’t make the fall sched, Angel got shut down when they saw the second ep outline… it’s birth pangs. The network truly gets the premise (this is a whole new crew, as you know), loves the cast, is excited about the show – but they’re also specific about how they want to bring people to the show and I not only respect that, I kinda have to slap my forehead that I didn’t tailor my tone and structure to the network’s needs, since that’s something I pride myself on . . . I tend to come at things sideways, and there were a few clarity issues for some viewers. There were also some slight issues with tone – I was in a dark, noir kind of place (where, as many of you know, I make my home), and didn’t bring the visceral pop the network had expected from the script. The network was cool about it. Now, I respect Mr. Whedon because I happen to like his work (well, mostly I like Firefly and have a passing interest in Buffy), but there’s something really wrong about a guy as famous and truly intelligent as Whedon telling us that he should be tailoring his interests to the network. And not just any network, mind you, but Fox, the station that has killed just about every good scifi show it has ever laid its hands on; it even tried to kill X-files several times, and we all know how stupid that would have been. Then you look at Firefly, which had a brilliant premise, amazing actors, amazing everything (possibly one of the greatest and shortest lived science fiction shows to ever grace the small screen). Fox cancelled that, and do any of us think that was a good idea? Maybe a few cranky nuts do, but most of us look at Firefly and wonder what the hell Fox was thinking in the first place.What exactly is dumb about all this? Well, the fact that he thinks he needs to tailor himself to a network. Of course, you have to tailor yourself a little, but other networks wouldn’t be so anal as Fox, so why deal with Fox at all? Do they own Whedon or something? Is he bound by contract to write them new shows? Why not peddle your interests to networks more willing to work with you? Fox sucks anyway. True, they have Family Guy and The Simpsons and loads of other popular shows, but ABC and NBC aren’t all that bad anyway. Why are you dealing with these guys in the first place, Mr. Whedon?You know what, we like Joss Whedon’s strange, sideways view of things. Really, we do. We like his ideas and the ways he presents them. The numbers say it’s so. Fox needs to get over the fact that they don’t understand science fiction and realize that we viewers do. Stop fiddling with our science fiction! And Mr. Whedon, stop pandering to the network. Pander to the masses. We like you better.