Spring cleaning, sorta

Just a bit of housekeeping.

We're getting to the point where our pages (the letters) are getting a bit crowded up there at the top.  I had a few ideas what we can do. How about if we make a page that summarizes the letters: "A Previously on Goosey....". Then we can keep the most recent letters, the ones we're currently working on, which right now appears to be letters 6 and 7, and will have no trouble posting new letters.

We just have to be careful about deleting the old pages before I've grab the newly revised material and saved it into manuscript #2. I'll work on that today, up through letter 5. We mustn't loose all our hardwork. So before anyone deletes anything we have to make an annoucement about it. A warning, incoming changes to the blog... that sorta thing.

Oh, and how about a project history page too, like an 'About' page.

What do you think?

The Romantic side of the story

"She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people." --from "Down the Rabbit Hole" Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

"Remind me in the future never to get in another relationship. If this is what relationships are like, I will happily drift into old age as a spinster. It's just not worth it." -- Lulu Dark by Bennett Madison  

I discovered a wonderful column online written by the author of The Princess and the Hound, a fairy tale book which I rather enjoyed. I wasn't a retelling of any particular fairy tale, but it had the setting of one.

 How to write Romance (In Fantasy) by Mette Ivie Harrison.

You should read it first, and then come back and read the rest of this post. Because then I wanted to discuss the elements of romance mentioned in her column and look at to Goosey.

Watch out for a good read - adventures in space ca. 1851

Mothstorm by Philip Reeve

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoy a good story that doesn't take itself seriously. There are so many books out there with so much heavy drama, and doom & gloom, teenage angst and hopeless romance. Well, actually Mothstorm like the first two books in the series by Philip Reeve, (Larklight: a Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farest Reaches of Space and Starcross: A Stirring Adventure of Spies, Time Travel and Curious Hats ), has plenty of drama too, what with the planning of a Daring Rescue, various space battles from one end of the solar system to the other, encounters with strange aliens and creatures like the mermaids from Uranus , I mean Georgium Sidus, the pudding worms and sun dogs, and, don't forget the very dangerous gigantic moths. There is the usual romantic entaglments of Myrtle and Jack Havock, made all the more vivid by Myrtle's diary. The story is told once again by Art Mumby, with footnotes scattered in various places throughout the book that are unreasonable amusing. It's all very delightful. It's not everyday I get to read a victorian space adventure.

It's almost tempting to nominate the book for a Gooseyness Award. Since it is a sequel though, and there are a few moments in Mothstorm where the narrative refers to the previous adventures of Art Mumby and family, so I shall just have to nomiate all three books. Huzzah!

Myrtle alone could also receive an award nomination. She is such a silly girl. So prim and proper and yet she declares "I do not intend to be left here all alone like some old maid. I shall show Mr Jack Havock that I am quite as daring and adventurous as he, even though I have somewhat more regard for the conventions of society."

Yes, she deserves a nomination, though her brother Art would probably complain about it, since he thinks she is an "absolute horror and looks like a loony fish." Myrle is just your typical Victorian girl living in space concerned about being a lady, swooning when necessary, and saving the universe from deadly creatures like spiders, giant moths, and the occasional alien.

View all my reviews

Review: The Disapperance of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is why I love Nagaru Tanigawa's Haruhi Suzumiya books: "Everything had been normal up until this point." and this, "Game over. If this was somebody's idea of a psychological attack, they'd certainly succeeded. A job well done. So, who was behind this experiment? Was it Haruhi, the Data Overmind, or a new enemy of this world . . ?" and, before I get too carried away, one more quote I loved was this one, "Obviously I had less imagination than a cave cricket."


There are many reasons to love Haruhi Suzumiya, and the fourth in the series did everything right for me. Sure, I'm familiar with the anime, seasons one and two, but I haven't seen the movie yet, so my only experience with The Disapperance of Hruhi Suzumiya is the book here. This was new material for me, so you can imagine my enthusiaum was pretty high and the book didn't disappoint.

If you want more of Kyon, Koizumi, Yuki Nagato, and Miss Asahina - all the SOS Brigage you have to get this book. This time around our main man Kyon gets to unravel a mystery by traveling through time. Where are you Haruhi?

By the way I've signed up at Goodreads.com. I'm keeping track of all the books I've read, and if I put up a review, then post the reviews here as well - when appropriate. I've set a pretty high goal for myself this year. I'm going to read 100 books! I've done 14 of 100 so far, so I have a long way to go.



View all my reviews

We have a winner (Sillyness is only the beginning)

In the spirit of the awards season, since the Oscars are coming up soon, I decided I should announce another winner of a Gooseyness Award. I finally, finally got my hands on The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. (Terrwyn nominated it last month : http://gooseyness.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-decided-i-have-dallied-enough.html )

It's wonderful, I bet the animated version is beautiful too, but I just read the book so I can only talk about that. This book completely deserves a gooseyness award. It does have simple illustrations, but the fact there are no words, just pictures is charming. Sometimes you don't need words; words just get in the way.

So, I found The Snowman at the library, along with a few other of Raymond Briggs graphic novels. I read Gentleman Jim, a somewhat dark comical story about a man sick of his day job, who gets an idea into his head about becoming a highway robber (you know the type who steal from the rich and give to the poor) and living a life full of romanticized adventure. It doesn't quite work out for him, as he runs into problems with the law and trying to keep a donkey in his backyard. I also found Briggs' The Man, which sounds like an odd name for a book, but I can't imagine what else you'd call it. It was almost a fairy tale about a boy and a man who is seven inches tall. The quote at the beginning captures the essence of the book "After three days, fish and visitors begin to stink" (a Chinese proverb). The book had some amusing moments, capturing how the the boy looks after his small house guest, the difficulties of life when you're that small. It's a book of conversations between the two.  Lastly, I read Briggs' Ethel and Ernest: a true story, an illustrated biography about his parents from the 1920s to 1970s. It was an intimate view of life in England, a family portrait in a very real way, through the struggles of day to day life during the war, the tragedies and a simple triumphs.

I enjoyed them all, though only The Snowman wins the Gooseyness Award, it was by far my favorite.

Part of the rules for the Gooseyness Awards, I believe it was number 5, went as follows:  If the other person isn't familiar with the nominee, then they should try to read, watch, etc in order to decide yay or nay. Actually, that rule may be the most important. The reason behind that rule was when we find a silly person/story/song, etc we needed to share that goofy, glee-inducing person/story/song etc. I'm know I'm always looking for a good story - something that inspires me, thrills me, makes me want to dance or run around outside under the stars. I sometimes think I write because I can't always find stories and somewhere in my subconscious mind I decide, well, if I can't find them I'll just write them myself.

This is how my brain works (yes I know it's weird)

After I posted Letter 7 something about it bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. What was it? The poems, I realized, the poems were sticking out too much and ruining it. I decided to change it, so I striped the poems from the interior of the letter and just put them on the bottom.

It's a temporary solution. I have no idea what do with with them.

First, let me share with you my thoughts while I was revising Letter 7, they went as follows:

Today Success. And tomorrow?

Dear friends,

May I present for your reading pleasure --wait a minute . . . . what - what happened to letter # 7?? click here

Oh no, its been completely, and entirely taken over by poetry. When did that happen? Oh my. And it's so distracting. Heaven help us, for Lackcroft and Roe have officially arrived. I hope their scribbling all over the letter doesn't take away from the pleasure of reading Ange's latest misadventures. (And that glaring white background! Really miss webartist, can't you at least make the background tranparent? ...stoney silence --Apparently not.)

Well, enjoy.