Internet-less & frustrated!

So, I had some time today to pop by the library, sign into a computer and log in to re-visit my blog which has been sadly ignored since the end of April!

ACK!

I am currently without internet access at my wee hobbit hole (i.e. home), and, as it looks as I shall remain so for a while, I shall have to try to get into the library more frequently.

Anyone out there who follows my blog still...I am alive and kicking! Please follow me on Twitter (there's a link at the bottom right of this page) as that is the only quick access I have at the moment!

Cheers!

Not a book review, a favorite poem.

Hope is the thing with feathers (254)


Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~ Emily Dickinson

If you like Neil Gaiman....

Puppy Love

Sam & Pilot
xo

Christian the Lion (grab a hanky)

When Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall, two recent college graduates from Australia, wandered into the Pet Department in Harrod's of London, England, the last thing they expected to find was a lion cub for sale. Christian the lion quickly won their hearts and before they knew it, they had bought him, brought him home to their London flat, and began the job of, yes, raising a lion cub.

Ultimately, Ace and John knew that Christian was destined to live wild and be free and so, they embarked on a trip to Kenya, where George Adamson was working hard to rehabilitate lions into the wild.

This footage, taken one year after leaving Christian in Adamson's care, shows the remarkable reunion of the best friends: Ace, John, and Christian the lion.

What joy there is in true friendship...

You may say "Glitch", but I say Great Big Boo-Boo.

This was a fascinating weekend for the online corporate giant, Amazon.com and for free thinking readers around the nation. At some point over the past couple days, Amazon moved to "de-rank" a smattering of titles due to "adult content", meaning that a cursory search of a title/author would no longer automatically bring a particular "de-ranked" book to the forefront of the search.

Read a great article about the glitch, here.

Interestingly enough, these "adult content" themed books included a high percentage of gay/lesbian/transgender titles. Even Annie Proulx's recently film adapted short story Brokeback Mountain, and D. H. Lawrence's classic Lady Chatterley's Lover got hit by this de-ranking "glitch".

I mean, really? Does anyone smell a wee bit of censorship in this so called "glitch"? Or is this only a LGBT specific kind of glitch? Don't know about you, but I don't want anyone deciding for me what "adult content" is and what it isn't (i.e. if I am over 18 - don't worry parents!)

It's all a little too Big Brother for my taste.

Just in case you were wondering...

I wasn't kidding about the new book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This is an illustration from the brilliant new title by, none other than authors Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Those Regency women sure do know how to wield a dagger, do they not?