The SSLP has just returned from a month-long winter sojourn to a far off midwestern ring of hell. Actually the state was not the hell, just the state of affairs she landed in. Anyway, to honor her return and describe her a wee bit better, here are two photos that, if you could combine them just right, would be just her:

This goddess

Plus this goddess

Equals my goddess.

I must add something here. I believe somewhere in my profile I've listed "Celibacy" as a hobby or profession or something.

I'm totally over that. I have some editing to do.

I'm back, I'm back, I'm baaaack. My computer suffered a hard drive malfunction and was out of my line of sight for at least a month. So much has happened, but first, a song for my shiny red laptop: Reunited, and it feels so goooood....

I am not bitter about the separation. I am just happy to be back together again.

Alright, so I've been away at least a month, probably more, and so much has happened. I'm really tired and I keep hearing a little voice in my head to step away from the computer and resume normal living, but first I have two things that I want to ramble on.

Item 1: Auntie Sister and I have recently been discussing some of our favorite novels we'd like to see turned into movies. Our focus was the dream cast for each book's main characters. The novels that prompted the discussion were actually Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat. Yes, there have already been filmic attempts at these novels. But I don't consider those fucking plane wrecks any kind of cinematic anythings. TOM CRUISE? As LESTAT? Come ON. Who did he brainwash to get that job? So here's what we came up with for our dream cast (if there were no limits: as far as death, age, etc. are concerned):

Lestat: Heath Ledger (when he was alive, obviously - WE LOVE YOU HEATH!)
Louis: Henry Cavill
Armand: Joseph Fiennes (younger than now, and clean-shaven)
Claudia: Dakota Fanning

The next we cast was The Witching Hour, also by Anne Rice. But only a couple of characters:

Rowan: Gwyneth Paltrow
Michael: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Mona: Emily Browning

Then we discussed Dagny Taggart from Atlas Shrugged, because we've been dying to make that into a movie for the last, oh, 16 years (when I read it in high school and it changed my life). First we thought Gwyneth but with different hair, but then we thought about Tilda Swinton, and then: lightning. Cate Blanchett, who is the perfect combination of the attributes that Paltrow and Swinton would have thrown into the mix. Fried gold.

We're going to throw it all away and become casting directors.

Item 2: I made a new friend with whom I have discovered an accord that is both pleasantly comfortable and sparkfully hot. He has many characteristics and attributes that I enjoy, and I'm sure they'll come up along the way, but today I'm going to pick on one particular trait. One that I respect and admire because it is admirable and completely not anything that I have ever possessed in more than fleeting moments or swift, sweet dreams. Athleticism. So here, in praise of athletes:

Coordination. Discipline. Teamwork. Dedication. Stamina.

It stirs the blood.

Yowza. Lots of italics today. Because there's lots to italicize.