Well, it's Christmas at last, and from the sound of you all on Twitter your cards are sent, and your presents wrapped. It's been great hearing all your cries of delight recently, as your poor postmen and women have struggled with packages through the snowy weather!
Hope those of you who have time off over the festive season get everything you wish for, and those who are working have more fun than you might be expecting. We've published the dates we're working over the holidays, so if you find yourself in the office, you might well have company here in the UK, or over with the MOO Crew in the US.
We've had a great few weeks spotting unique gifts and ideas created with MOO, here's a few of our favourites:
A tetrabox advent calendar, by Bcome
Also by Bcome, this lovely looking memory game, complete with a great pattern on the back:
This super-cute Mosaic Frame, created by thisiswoly. Filled with 20 Minicards, it features the beautiful baby Sarah.
These wonderful looking alphabet game cards, by taraghb, which look like they were as fun to make as they will be to use!
And last but not least, look at this! another entry into our MiniCard Gift Box competition! Created by emusing-emma, it's really bought an extra flutter of Christmas cheer into MOO Towers. We love his little sledge!
Fancy joining in the fun? Closing date for entries to our competition is midnight PST 28th December 2009. Why not grab some festive paper, and see what you can do! More competition details can be found right here.
And now all that remains for me to say is a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at MOO!
Moonmallow (the adorable plushie above) and I hope you and your loved ones have some very happy hollydays this year. ^___^ I've been busy with buying pressies for my friends and family, wrapping the pressies, and sending out cards to people over the past few weeks. Everything seems like a blur-- but a very happy blur!
I'm sending many warm thoughts your way. <3
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...
12 ships to plunder,
11 cannons firing,
10 crewmen leaping,
9 sharks a' swimming,
8 rum-filled bottles,
7 lusty wenches,
6 jolly rogers,
5 gold doubloons,
4 eye patches,
3 earrings,
2 wooden legs
and a parrot for my shoulder - Arrr!
Towards something more seasonal.
It took:
30000 plus lights
130 extension cords
Over 8000 feet of control cable
Programming time: don't ask.
Most of the neighborhood used LED lights this year, so they are using 1/10th of the power as last year.
What do you get when you mix a Christmas Light show with Guitar Hero? Christmas Light Hero!
Song is "Cliffs of Dover" by the incredible Eric Johnson.
Have a Merry Christmas.
Patricia Brennan from Yale University is trying to encourage male Muscovy ducks to launch their ballistic penises into test tubes.
Full article here - and it really is worth the read. Fascinating stuff to learn whilst eating toast and marmite!
all i know is that santa claus
don't care about breakin no flyin laws
And not just for singing, either!
Friday was a great night. All the months of organizing and planning on behalf of the UA Crew / Filthy Digital came down to this evening. A new venue, a new city and the uncertainty of the composition of the party-comers and the unique diversity found within them weighed heavy on these two crews. Everyone had a great time. The ambiance of the warehouse / storage area for imported Asian furniture was tasteful and took a bit of production. Pure Filth provided sound and OH MY GOSH. I had the immense pleasure and was lucky enough to play a few tunes to open up the evening's musical extravaganza throughout the evening of the following performers and producers: Reactivity, APX-1, HD4000, Reid Speed and Gridlock. They all rocked the party and kept a wicked party vibe going the whole night. Dubstep, drum and bass, and so much variety! The amount of bass was intense and felt so good. Hell to the yeah! It was so fun to play on that huge ass system. The vibrations shook my knees and as Wish from HD4000 commented later that evening, it felt similar to "getting a foot massage" while mixing some wicked heavy and filthy dubstep tunes together for the music lover's enjoyment.
Dan O'Bannon was a wonderful screen writer. Best remembered for Alien, my personal favourite remains Dark Star. Moody, funny and owing much to American film and comic history, O'Bannon is credited with acting (as Pinback), screenwriting and editting on the original short, and the extended John Carpenter effort.
For your viewing pleasure, and as a memorial to a great artist, here is the trailer for Dark Star.
Review from eZine: (cos I am feeling lazy today)
The story line was very well done, and the characters were interesting, although fairly predictable. I believe Raymond tries to have the same writing style as Dan Brown, but in my humble opinion, he doesn't do as good a job as Dan.
The worst thing about The Sanctuary is that it takes a long, long time to get to the point. There are an inordinate amount of chase scenes and shoot-outs, which ruined it for me a little bit. I don't mind a bit of violence, but when one man can out shoot 6, I find it a tad ridiculous. When they can out shoot that many people more than once, it becomes even more ridiculous.
When I first started reading the book, I thought that it was going to be just another book about chasing a mysterious elic of unusual, Godlike power. While in some sense, that is what this book is about, it is deeper than that.
If you like historical fiction that's jam packed with car chases, diabolical villains, shoot-outs and action, then you can do worse than buying The Sanctuary
Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture Stand By Me, and growing up on television as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart Just a Geek.
In this, his newest book, Wil shares his deeply personal and difficult journey to find himself. You'll understand the rigors, and joys, of Wil's rediscovering of himself, as he comes to terms with what it means to be famous, or, ironically, famous for once having been famous. Writing with honesty and disarming humanity, Wil touches on the frustrations associated with his acting career, his inability to distance himself from Ensign Crusher in the public's eyes, the launch of his incredibly successful web site, wilwheaton.net, and the joy he's found in writing. Through all of this, Wil shares the ups and downs he encountered along the journey, along with the support and love he discovered from his friends and family.
The stories in Just a Geek include:
- Wil's plunge from teen star to struggling actor
- Discovering the joys of HTML, blogging, Linux, and web design
- The struggle between Wesley Crusher, Starfleet ensign, and Wil Wheaton, author and blogger
- Gut-wrenching reactions to the 9-11 disaster
- Moving tales of Wil's relationships with his wife, step-children, and extended family
- The transition from a B-list actor to an A-list author
From Powell's Books:
Angels: Dru has always known about the poltergeists, vampires and werwulfen that inhabit the Real World since her father has traveled the country battling them, often with Dru's help. But when he is killed after they move to the Dakotas - and is sent back as a zombie to kill her - Dru digs deeper into her history, trying to find out who murdered her mother and who is after her. Graves, an orphan, joins up with her, and Dru is able to get some answers from Christophe, a djamphir (part human, part vampire).
Betrayals: Poor Dru Anderson. Her parents are long gone, her best friend is a werewolf, and she has just learned that the blood flowing through her veins is not entirely human. (So what else is new?)
Now Dru is stuck at a secret New England Schola for other teens like her, and there's a big problem she is the only girl in the place. A school full of cute boys wouldn't be so bad, but Dru's killer instinct says that one of them wants her dead. And with all eyes on her, discovering a traitor within the Order could mean a lot more than social suicide. . .
Can Dru survive long enough to find out who has betrayed her trust and maybe even her heart?
From Powell's Books:
Julie Walters has been delighting audiences on screen and on stage for more than 25 years, and has been described as Britain's most popular actress and comedienne. Now she tells us her own story, in her own words.
She was born in 1950s Birmingham, daughter of an austere Irish Catholic mother, and was sent to school in a convent. She wanted to be an actress from a young age, but to appease her mother she first went into nursing--that didn't last for long, and she soon joined Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. West End success followed, and she quickly replicated her success on film, earning an Academy Award nomination for her role in Educating Rita. Julie's collaborations with her close friend Victoria Wood have given audiences many unforgettable characters, and she's recently charmed a new generation of fans playing Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter films, alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia , co-starring with Helen Mirren in Calendar Girls, and co-starring in Billy Elliot.
A natural writer with an instinctive sense of timing, Julie's memoir is warm, moving, painfully felt, fiercely intelligent--and totally entertaining.
The Brief but Excellent Synopsis from Powell's Books:
Two boys--a slow learner stuck in the body of a teenage giant and a tiny genius in leg braces--forge a unique friendship when they pair up to create one formidable human force. Basis for the film "The Mighty." Named as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.
Summary:
So, out of all these books, I would wholeheartedly recommend Geek and Freak. Angels and Betrayals are good for those who like the genre (for most of Betrayals I just wanted to shake Dru to wake her up!) and the Walter's biography is good too. But skip Sanctuary - it really is not worth your time!
