Warning: this entry is going to be randomomer than usual, because I have a chinchillaload of strays to set down. And not just a regular chinchilla, but a giant, atomically enhanced chinchilla, like the ones you used to find roaming around the Mojave Desert in ’50s. You know, the ones the government created to eat up those giant, atomically enhanced ants.

Yes, chinchillas do so eat ants. Do not kid yourself that your prized Caledonian show ants are safe in the company of chinchillas, my friend.

Okay, have I established a randomness baseline? Excellent. Moving on:

1. Here is my favorite bit from today’s application demo, spoken in reference to configurable graphical portlets and rendered by me into the poetical format it deserves:

   Some people work better with bars.
   Some people work better with pies.
   Some people work better with lists.

   Guess which kind of person I am. (See below. Hint: it’s not pie.)

2. My girl JD (aka DJ Cherrybomb) has been writing music reviews, and they are both lovely and, she warns, not safe for work. Her HalloQueen review is particularly delish, with tasty bits like this:
   

   For the record, Whiskey is never allowed in my mouth ever. If I see Whiskey again, I am punching him in the face.

   Which makes me squeeee! in delight, not just because I’m keen on the sentences, but because, you know, more for me.

   (Fun fact about JD: if you want to get to her attention at a noisy party, all you have to do is say — in your regular speaking voice, mind, and from an entirely different room — “The Clash are overrated” and trust me, she will find you. Just remember to duck when she does find you. I saw her supercool spouse DB actually use this summoning spell, and I can attest to its effectiveness. Hey, that gives me an idea…

   JD! I just stared into a mirror and said “The Clash are overrated” three times. I expect you to appear in my bathroom in London any minute now.)

3. Since the links above are NSFW (follow them from home or you’ll miss the picture of Hunter S. Thompson passed out under the bar with Ali G), I recommend three stories by the fabulous Cat Rambo for your work-surfing pleasure:
   

   “Magnificent Pigs” at Strange Horizons
   “Ten New Metaphors for Cyberspace” at Abyss and Apex,
   “The Dead Girl’s Wedding March” at Fantasy Magazine

   All as nifty as Cat herself, but I have an extra special warm and fuzzy for “The Dead Girl’s Wedding March”.

4. E sent me a link to this below the phrase “Oh Danny Boyle, sci-fi, sci-fi is callin’…” For which I expect to forgive him any day now. Although I do have to ask whether SF didn’t call in 28 Days Later, since those were rampaging virus zombies and not, say, demon-driven Necronomicon zombies.

   Speaking of which, behold! Evil Dead: the Musical. Groovy.

Out of time, more catching up tomorrow!