50 Book Challenge 09 update:

46: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
What can I say? It's Neil Gaiman, so of course I liked it. The book was cute. A little dark & spooky for a kids book, but cute. It would make a good Tim Burton film.

#47: Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot
This one was a challenge to get through. It's a graphic novel, so I figured I'd breeze through it. The book is so jam packed with facts and other information that it took a while to read. Alice in Wonderland isn't one of my favorite stories. I've always thought it to be really creepy. This book was a fascinating look at everything surrounding the Alice story including Lewis Carrol, Alice Liddell, and city they spent much of their time in. The narration wanders all over the place, but I was so fascinated by both the words and the pictures that I didn't mind.  I loved the art in it. It was a blend of traditional comic drawing, photographs, and painted images. All in all a very unique read.

#48: Shadowbridge by Gregory Frost
#49: Lord Tophet by Gregory Frost
These books are a two-part series and were given to me by my friend audrey_cooper . I probably wouldn't have picked them up in the story, so I'm glad she made me read them. They told a fascinating story about a world built on bridges. There are a few islands, but most of the world seemed to be on these bridges that were said to be created by the gods. The books are about a storyteller. She wanders the world collecting stories and ultimately living her own story (which is a continuation of her parents epic story). The book was full of colorful characters and places. Now that I think about it, some of it was very Alice in Wonderland-like. It felt very dream-like.

Hmm.. that means my current book is #50 and it's July 1. I know I read a lot of books, but I didn't realize just how many I'm capable of reading.

It's just been a good week when it comes to fan-geekiness. First I got to meet half of Wilco. Then this...

One of the authors I like, CE Murphy, posts a blog every day on livejournal (mizkit ). Yesterday she posted that she created a fan page for her work on facebook. So, of course, I promptly logged onto facebook and became a fan. In less than 24 hours she had 130+ fans. In appreciation of that, she decided to randomly draw three names from those first 130 people and send them an advanced copy of her next book, Walking Dead.

***My name was one of those three!!!!***  YAY!!!!

She said she likely won't get the books until August, but when she does she will send one my way. :-D  How cool is that???

Seriously though, when I saw my name as one of the winners I had to refresh the page a few times to make sure I wasn't imagining things. lol...

In other news, I have a book update, which is oddly appropriate given the first half of this.

50 book challenge 09:

#43 The Pretender's Crown by CE Murphy (now you understand)
This is the sequel to The Queen's Bastard that I posted about a few weeks ago and is the series that takes place in an alternate version of Elizabethian era Europe. I *loved* this book. And yes, I would have said this before I won. The first book I liked, this one I loved. Her characters made so much more sense in this one. In the first book you get hints of their true potential, in this one they are exploring that potential & power. Now I'm torn as to which series of hers I like better, the Walker Papers (of which Walking Dead is the next book) or this one. Either way, I can't wait for the next one to come out in this series.

#44 Black Ships by Jo Graham
I loved this book too. It's basically the story of the Aeneid, but told through the eyes of Pythia (her title and name, she is the handmaiden to Death and the only priestess on the journey). It follows her life growing up and adventures that lead to her joining Aeneas and his crew around the Mediterranean and landing in what will be Rome. The author changes the names of some of the people & places, but it's pretty easy to pick up on who's who. The book was mesmerizing. If you are a fan of this era of history, I highly recommend it!

#45 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
I loved this book too. It's just the week for really good books, I guess. This is a reread and is the next pick for my sci-fi/fantasy book club. Prior to rereading it, the only thing I remembered about the book is that I loved it. It only took a few pages to remember what is was about and why I loved it so much. It is the first in a series, though I don't think the second is out yet. It is a fantasy book, meaning it's set on another world in another time. It follows the humble beginnings of someone who becomes a hero and then, we are led to believe, becomes disgraced and is in hiding. This book only tells about the first third of his story. It is so well-written. I couldn't put it down and I look forward to discussing it with the group.

Remember when I turned into the ultra-geek girl over James Callis at Dragon*con last year? Picture that but times ten. I think I'm still riding the high from what happened Friday night. To those who are not on Facebook or have not been on it lately, Friday night my boyfriend and I saw Wilco yet again in concert. But what made this concert unique from all the others is we MET half the band afterwards!!! All in all, Friday was one of those rare, near-perfect days that culminated in us meeting Wilco.

( One day in Cincinnati... )

All in all, a GREAT time in Cincinnati!!!

Wilco rocks!!

Well, I have more time to write then I did for my last post, but I am mentally a zombie**, so we'll see how this turns out. So the belly dance show was Friday night. I'm still waiting to get picts from my dancing friends. Once I get them I will post some here and probably on facebook. The show went well. There wasn't as big of a turnout as we'd hoped, but it was still fun. I performed the 3 numbers with minimal mistakes. I had a little trouble balancing my sword on my wrist and my leg, but other then that there were no major flaws. I didn't drop the sword, so that's a very good thing!

All day Saturday and Sunday I was in a belly dance workshop with Aziza. She was the guest performer, and the whole reason for having, the show. All I can say is she was amazing. Which if you ever take a workshop with her, you'd know that was a funny thing to say about her because her favorite way of explaining things was to do each movement in your body as if it were AMAZING to you. She has an incredible amount of energy and is absolutely exquisite in how fluidly she does everything. She worked us hard, but we learned a very fun drum solo dance. I had to collapse at the end of each night though and my body & mind are still tired today (hence the zombie-ish comment).

In other news, I screwed up on my book update. I listed #41 as the Queen's Bastard by C.E. Murphy. In reality, that's book #42 and at the time I wrote that post, I was in the middle of reading the book. This is the real #41, but to avoid confusion and me having to re-read this later to figure out why my numbering is mixed up, I'll just list it as #42.

#42: Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
This is the 5th book in the Temeraire series - which is the one about the Napoleonic wars with dragons. I loved the first 4 books. This one I wasn't so enthused about. I got into it about halfway through and enjoyed the second half of the book more then the first. If it was a tv series, I'd almost be tempted to say it jumped the shark. I have high hopes for the 6th book though, so hopefully I'm wrong.

I have 2 fun youtube clips to share courtesy of my friends on facebook. Both made me laugh, but for different reasons. All you Detroiters will likely recognize the first. My sister and I quoted this commercial for YEARS....




And the 2nd just pokes great fun at the video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart."


I hear the people who did this also did a video for A-Ha's "Take On Me" but I haven't watched it yet.

Yay youtube!

That's it for today. I have to go rest.

**only today. I expect to be human again tomorrow.

I have a whole lot to write about, but not a lot of time to do so. So... in the words of Inigo Montoya " Let me 'splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up.."

Tonight is the belly dance show that I've spent the last 2 years prepping for. I am in 3 dances (3 different costumes) and I'm very excited. It should be a fun show. I will post pictures of the costumes and this year's henna on my hands once I get them.

I had a song stuck in my head for 2 weeks that I didn't know the name of, any lyrics, or who sung it. It was driving me nuts. I finally figured out yesterday what it was. It's this song by Matt & Kim:



50 book challenge update in a flash:

#39: The Born Queen by Greg Keyes
The last book in the Kingdoms of Thorn & Bone series. I had heard this book wasn't as good and I have to agree. It completes the story, but isn't nearly as engaging as the previous 3 books. Overall though, not bad.

#40: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
A good book about hacking and the dangers of giving the government too much control when it comes to protecting our freedom.

#41: The Queen's Bastard by C.E. Murphy
A reread. I'm reading the sequel now, so reread this one to re-familiarize myself with the players. I liked it better the second time. Sort of set in Elizabethian Europe, but with different names for everything. It's about a bastard daughter of Queen Lorraine (aka Elizabeth I) who's trained as a spy/assassin.

Ok, back to the grind. Work is hell this week, but today is the last day of it. Next week will be better.

But I get to dance tonight, so today will be a good day.

In my last post I commented how I was sort of dragging my feet on reading. Since finishing the first book on this list, I have made up for that with a few really good books that I can't put down. I deserved it after getting through the first book here.

#34: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
This is the book I mentioned (though not by name) in my last post. It was the May pick for my sci-fi/fantasy book club. I would not have otherwise read this by choice. It read like a book written by hard core computer science guys for hard core computer science guys. I did not enjoy it. It was too dry overall and very nondescript it setting up the premise of the world. If you like futuristic sci-fi and virtual reality, you may enjoy it. I did not. I skipped the book club meetup too because I didn't even want to talk about it.

#35: Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold
In the beginning this book reminded me of Katherine Neville's The Eight. That book is about an elaborate chess game. This book sets itself up to be an elaborate Mahjong game. Though not as cleverly written as "The Eight," this book was very well done. It's about a certain group of humans who are descendants of thirteen orphans from another time and place. Each person has the power of a Chinese zodiac animal and there is someone out there trying to steal their powers (in so doing erases their minds).

#36: The Briar King by Greg Keyes
#37: The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes
#38: The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes
These are the first 3 books of "The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone" series and I have read them before. I reread them because the next book that I'm reading is the fourth and final book in the series, which I have not read before. I wanted to reread these to re-familiarize myself with the characters. This is another one of those very well-written fantasy sagas where each chapter is told from a different character's point of view. I have talked about this author before. He has no fear of throwing the worst at his characters, resulting in me literally not putting them down until I find out what happens next. It's not quite George RR Martin & Robert Jordan level, but it's pretty close in my book.

Hmm... 38 books and it's not even June.

Sort of. By that I mean I have recurring places in my dreams. The content of the dreams often change, but the places are the same. To my knowledge, none of these places exist in the waking world. They are:

The mall:
The oldest recurring place. It's been remodeled over the years and the shop I go into depends on what the dream is about. I've worked in the mall, both in small novelty shops and department stores. There is a bookstore, an exotic pet store, a jewelry store, a few clothing stores, a game & music store, a food court, a movie theater and 2 department stores. What makes this location odd for me is I hate malls in the real world.

The mansion:
There are 3 things that are consistent with the mansion. 1) I can only get to the second floor by going to the third floor first and coming down. 2) there's a hidden room. 3) there's usually a dead body. Sometimes I own the house, most times I'm visiting.

The up-north downtown:
It's a town on the way to my parent's cabin up north, only it doesn't really exist. There is a main road in town that's divided into 2 parts. On the east side of the street are a bunch of buildings that are all linked together. They're almost all novelty stores. You can get to them all from the outside or walk from one to the next inside. On the west side of the street are festival booths and has a very gypsy-like atmosphere.

The game: 
This is probably the most elaborate. I started dreaming it in early college. Every time I dream I'm in the same area of the game trying to get a little further. It's a RPG, so I am usually fighting my way through castles, temples, forts, caves, etc and battling demons, skeletons, thieves, mad priests, etc. There is a whole history to the game that would make this a much longer post to go into now. I've seen the map to the world I'm fighting my way through and while I've been dreaming this dream for roughly 15 years, I've only been to about a quarter of the areas on the map.

More include a Renaissance festival, a cruise ship, an amusement park, a large city like New York and a smaller city like the downtown area of Savannah or New Orleans French Quarter. And lately I've been going to a foreign country that I can only get to by boat (usually the cruise ship).

...media-wise anyway.

First with the movies. In the last 2 weeks I've seen both Wolverine and Star Trek.

( wolverine )

 

( star trek )

Beyond movies, I have 1 book update. I know, I know, it may seem like I'm slacking on my reading. That's not true. Here's why:

( books & a bad tv show )

That's all for today.
 

 

There are so many things here that I want. Not just want, but want a place to wear them and want the body to pull it off....

I know, I know. It only took me a week to get to this. What can I say? It's been a rough one. Not just from the post-vacation blues and wine-withdrawal, but I actually had to work hard this week too. How rude.

( Wine! Wine! And still more Wine! ...and some beer. )

So count them. That's 20 wineries in 5 days. No wonder my body wants more wine!

All in all, a very fun trip. 

I saw this on theweaselking 's lj site and had to cross-post it. It's just funny. And apparently serious. IS it just me or does Stalin look like the dancing baby from Ally McBeal?

I need to post about the Napa trip, but not just yet. The post-vacation relaxation lasted about a day before reality decided to bite me in the ass. It's been a rough week. Even more so because I could seriously be going through wine-withdrawal after the trip. Well, no, not seriously. But maybe. I need a spare half hour to write about the trip and download my picts off the camera, but that likely won't happen today.

Instead, before I forget what I've read, the book update:

#28: Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
As any of you that have read Hitchhiker's Guide knows, I couldn't leave it at that. I had to read this book to get the whole story. As with Hitchhiker's Guide, I hadn't read this since high school and completely forgot everything about it. When I got to the end, my first though was "Hmm... this is suspiciously familiar. Oh yeah! BSG." lol...

#29: Empire of Ivory by Noami Novik
This is the 4th book in the Temeraire series (you know, the series about the Napoleonic wars with dragons?). If you like dragons and historical fiction, I highly recommend this series!! They are so well-written and this one is no exception. Each book takes Temeraire and his rider (Will Laurence) to different parts of the world (all related to England's defense against Napoleon). In this one they head to Africa.

#30: Deadly Desire by Keri Arthur
This is the latest installment in the Riley Jensen Guardian series. The main character is half werewolf/half vampire, though very few know about the vampire part. This belongs in the quick & easy read category, which made it great for the plane ride to California.

#31: Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance
Another quick & easy, good for vacation, read. This is the 4th in the Cassandra Palmer series and is about a clairvoyant time-shifter who's mixed with with magic-users and vampires. I like the series, but still say what I always say about these books.... time-travel is tricky and it's too easy to screw up your own storyline when you mess with events in the past and keep doing it. These books are no exception to that. But I try to set that not-so-minor detail aside.

#32: Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
This series has been on my radar ever since I started reading Robert Jordan's WOT series. I've heard the two series often compared to each other, though I have also heard that the only things they have in common are being fantasy sagas with seriously lengthy books. I've also heard this series is being or has been turned into a tv series. I don't know what channel and if it's airing yet. I picked up the first 2 books in the used bookstore (I think there are 12 in the series). The problem with reading a series like this is the first book is usually set-up. So that's roughly 700pgs of set-up. This one read like it was originally intended for a stand-alone book, but it still took the first few hundred pages to set up the world. As far as fantasy sagas go, so far it's not even close to my favorites, but I liked it enough that I am reading the 2nd book now. I don't want to give it away for people who haven't read it, but I really like what the wizard's first rule is. *snickers*

Yes, I have another book update and I haven't mentioned anything else lately. So... here's the latest news. I'm leaving for vacation next week! YAY!!! My boyfriend and I and 3 other couples are renting a house in Napa Valley. So I will be enjoying warmer weather and tasting a whole bunch of wines. It should be fun. When I get back I will post a report on the trip and my favorite wineries.

I already know one of those wineries. 4 out of the 8 of use absolutely love Plumpjack. It's got really tasty wines and a very inviting tasting room. It's pricey to find in MI, so we typically go in on a case with our friends every year or two and have it shipped direct. The nice thing about the house we're renting is it overlooks the Plumpjack vineyards and the tasting room is walking distance. Oh darn!

Ok, on to the books...

50 Book Challenge 09 update:

#25: In The Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
This is the first in the Company series. I hope to read the rest, but they are a little hard to find. This one I borrowed from a friend and hope she'll loan me the rest after the trip. It's an interesting premise - sometime in the future time travel is invented, but you can only go backward in time and you can't do anything to change recorded events. There are ways to twist things to your advantage, but it's tricky. Another thing that has been developed is immortality, but it can only be done on children of a certain brain size & age. In effect, they change humans into a sort of cyborg creation. This book takes place in Spain & England during the reign of Elizabeth I. It's told from an immortal's point of view as she is rescued from the Spanish Inquisition as a child and transformed into an immortal, and sent out into England to do her work for the company. In her case, she's a botanist who's job is to record DNA & information about plants that become extinct in the future so that the Company can recreate them (mostly for medicinal purposes). I normally have issues with Time Travel stories. It's hard to keep them consistent, but that doesn't stop me from reading them. This one was well done, although there was no time travel in this particular book, just the set-up explanation of how the Company works. It's quite a blend of historical fiction & sci-fi.

#26: The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran
This is the sequel to Nefertiti that I read earlier this year. This one is about the life of Nefertari, starting from about thirteen and up until Ramses crowns her his queen. The author does an amazing job of detailing Ancient Egypt and weaves a wonderful tale. As with the first book, I couldn't put it down. The actual relationship between both queens is a little fuzzy.  In these books the author sets them up as Nefertari being Nefertiti's neice. I think I read this book in a little over 24 hours. It was that good. For as much as I raved about Nefertiti, I liked this book better!

#27: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams
We all know this book. I read it for the first time when I was in high school working at the library. I read a lot of books when I was supposed to be working. I reread the book because this is the April pick for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy book club. It should be interesting to see what sort of discussion comes out of this book.
 

50 book challenge 09 update

I think I'm on the verge of being sick. I can't decide what my body is telling me today. As a result, I'm little miss crankypants, so this will be brief. All 3 books are by the same author - Jo Walton. A friend of mine loaned me a bunch of books and this author came highly recommended. I like her writing style will willingly read more. I have a preference for the later two over the first for some fairly obvious content reasons.

#22: Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
This book is about a society of dragons. I can honesty say I don't think I've ever read a book like it. The story is from the dragon's POVs (there are several main characters all woven together) and the dragons have a really evolved society. Their society is actually very much like our own Medieval times with governing lords, a strong church, and a system of laws. They have cities and high society functions. The main notable difference (besides them being dragons) is they eat their dead to grow stronger. The book is quirky and fun.

#23: The King's Peace by Jo Walton
#24: The King's Name by Jo Walton
This is another King Arthur tale told from what would be the equivalent of Sir Lancelot. I say the equivalent because it takes place in an alternate version of our world and thus all the names are different. The Lancelot character is a female named Sulien. The books follow the highlights of her life when King Urdo (Arthur) was gaining power and up to his death. It was a bit hard to follow at times because my brain kept trying to translate all the characters and places into the names we're familiar with. Some were easy to translate, others not so much. Finally I had to give up on it and just read the story. There are several battles scenes that I sort of glazed over (I do that with any battle scene, not just these books). Overall though, I will admit I loved the Sulien character way more then I ever tolerated Lancelot (him & Guinevere are my least favorite Arthurian folks).

It's been a while since an update. That's mostly because the first 2 books on this list were around 600pgs each and I was apparently in no real hurry to get through them.

50 Book Challenge update:

#19: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I read this book for the first time around this time last year. I reread it because it was the March pick for my book club meetup (which sadly, I could not make). After reading it the 2nd time, I concluded that this book deserves a spot in my top 10 favs (in fact, it made my top 5 recently listed on facebook). As when I read it the first time, it makes me feel like Gaiman is a literary god and my feeble attempts to tell a god-related story are just not worth it (not looking for pity reassurance here, just stating it makes me feel that way). Loved the book more the 2nd time!!

#20: The Right Hand of God by Russell Kilpatrick
This is the final book in a trilogy that I started last year. As a reminder, this is the series that is all about an epic journey - very Tolkienesque. The final book is told mostly from 2 characters points of view. At several points during the book I wanted to strangle both characters, but they end up pulling through at the end. Overall, it's a decent series and worth the read if you like big long epic fantasy sagas. Not my favorite, but decent. The story wraps up nicely.

#21: The Grail of Hearts by Susan Swartz (no link, it's apparently out of print and not listed on amazon)
A friend of mine loaned me this book and it's the first Arthurian story I've read in a long time. I love stories about anything related to King Arthur and this is no exception. It's sort of a blend of the grail mythos with the wandering jew story from the bible. It's a little confusing at first to get what's happening, as it jumps around a bit. Once you understand what the main character is and what she's doing, the story becomes easier to follow. The story takes place both during the time of Jesus and a thousand years later. It's got some idealistic notions of sin that rub me the wrong way, but that are understandable concepts for the time periods.

Apparently I've got a god-theme going in the books for this session. Sort of coincidental when compared to the chat in the previous entry (which I can't elaborate for this who haven't seen BSG).

So the BSG finale is tonight. I am both very excited and very sad about that (sad to see it ending). And I am going to a frak party - whoohoo!! I have high hopes for the final episode and will undoubtedly post about it after the fact (yes, behind a cut for people who haven't seen it)

I found this on the battlestar_blog  and passed it along to the hostess, who is recreating it for the event:
Eye of Jupiter chip & salsa plate! lol.. Very creative I thought.

I'm also on the hunt for drink recipes and found this site. Course, it seems the fleet only drinks margaritas because you need a margarita machine for all but 1 drink listed there.

Also, in case you haven't heard, the final episode is 2hours 11mins, so all you out there tivo-ing it, make sure to adjust accordingly. :-)

Last night's dream:

I dreamed I was on a tour of Mayan archeological sites. I was particularly interested in viewing the temples. I walked through the jungle to a site that was being excavated. 2 buildings had been unearthed and the archeologists were digging out a third. The buildings were set up in a pyramid fromat, the unearthed ones on the left and right of me and the one being dug out in front of me. I wanted to go into the building on the right and got permission from the site excavator to do so. I approached the building. It looked vaguely pyramid shaped and had what looked like serpent statues on either side of the narrow door. I had to duck my head and crouch down to get into the building.

Inside was a huge disappointment. They had set up this building as a cafeteria and put carpet down on the ground and had a concession stand in one corner. There were tables and chairs all around. On the far side of the room, makeshift windows had been created out of stones that had pushed through to the outside. The site excavator noticed my disappointment and said he wanted to show me something. He led me to a narrow hallway in this structure that I didn't notice before. Again I had to duck down and follow the hallway down further into the earth.

The hallway exited into a swampy area of the jungle. He led me around a pond to an area where he said was a particularly sacred temple. It was dedicated to a deity of the poor and you had to get their blessing to even enter the temple. He led me on a narrow stone path through the swamp (pond water on either side, as if the path floated on top of the pond). Aged bronze statues of kids dressed in ragged clothing lined the path (at least a dozen). Most held out their hands, as if begging. I remember walking by all these statues and being allowed to enter the temple. There were other people with us who were not allowed in by the statues and had to wait outside. I don't know who they were or when they showed up.

Something happened when I got inside the temple, but unfortunately, I don't remember what. I remembered at 4am when I woke up from the dream, but not now.

50 Book challenge 09 update:

#15: Blood is the New Black by Valerie Stivers
I started reading this book sometime last fall. Then I lost it for a while (the book, that is). Then after I found it I set it aside for whatever book I was reading when I found it. So now that you know all that random unnecessary information, I guess I should go on to say that it's a fun book to read and I shouldn't have lost it in the first place. It's about a girl who goes to work as an intern at a high fashion magazine that's run by vampires. This book surprised me. Despite the cheesy premise, it was actually quite clever and fun. The author makes frequent references to Lestat, Jean-Claude and Angel (2 of the 3 I agree are fun to read and/or watch). I couldn't put it down.

#16: Rats And Gargoyles by Mary Gentle
This is the same author that wrote Golden Witchbreed that I read earlier this year. I picked up both books on the same trip to the used bookstore. I really enjoyed Golden Witchbreed and had high hopes for this. Sadly, it sorely lacked any coherent storytelling. In GW, the author has this elaborate world that she takes the time to explain in great detail as she's telling the story. You start off not quite getting the world and it's language, but can pick it up fairly quickly. In this book, she doesn't do that. She throws you right into the story, which is set on a fantasy world, but doesn't explain anything about how the world works. As a result, I found it incredibly hard to follow. I tried very hard to get into the story, but after about the first 250 pages and still not getting it, I skimmed the rest of it.

#17: Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn
#18: Kitty Raises Hell by Carried Vaughn
These are the latest installments in the Kitty Norville books about a werewolf names Kitty who has a midnight radio show discussing all things weird and supernatural. Again, it sounds like it should be the cheesiest thing ever, but they are fun to read. Kitty is not your typical heroine. She's not a big tough wolf who bravely faces any challenge. She does work her way up to being the alpha female of her pack, but it's more through cunning, wit and sheer luck than anything else. She is a magnet for trouble, but isn't an idiot about it. And she doesn't gain superpowers in every book, nor does she sleep with everyone around her (all things that seem to happen a lot in urban fantasy these days).

This is reposted from theweaselking 's site. It was too cool not to pass on: