Some Changes to the Template

New things are shiny and distracting for me. In case you haven't noticed, I've been playing around with the new template for this blog. It has been a while since I changed the layout. I ask indulgence as I figure my way out on the new look -- but in the event you find the layout hard to read or hurtful to the eye, please feel free to drop a note in the comments.

I'm trying for the tasteful and minimalist look.

HOUSEKEEPING

I've been having a lot of problems with Google and Blogger. Anyone knows what it means when they say:

The security certificate presented by this website has expired or is not yet valid.

Security certificate problems may indicate an attempt to fool you or intercept any data you send to the server.

Are there hackers/some nefarious worm hanging around my blog or on my laptop? I can't log in using Safari or Firefox. Only Explorer. Which sort of creeps me out, because I prefer not to use Explorer.

Records for 2008

100 Books To Read: Version 2.2

100 Books To Read 2008 [Original List]

Graphic Novel Challenge

Outmoded Author Challenge

Comics & Manga Read 2008

Books Read 2008

New Avatar

In case anyone notice, I'm now posting with a new avatar.

It is from Philip Tan's rendition of Renee Montoya as the Question for DC's Final Crisis: Revelation. I dig the jacket, the tank-top and the fedora.

You can't go wrong with that fedora.

Books & Reading for May 2008

For the past month I've been meddling with the items on my sidebar. I've shifted some items onto my Wordpress blog, which has been renamed Dark Orpheus’ Reading of Notes. (What is it with me and pretentious blog names?)

I have decided to keep a closer eye on my reading habits by keeping a monthly records - on the number of library titles I check out, how many I actually get around to reading/completing, how many books I buy each month.

Why do we do things like this? Keep track of our books and readings?

Who knows?

My Books & Reading Records for May 2008:

Library Books Borrowed:

1. Tender at the Bone • Ruth Reichl


2. Amber and Ashes (The Dark Disciple Volume 1) • Margaret Weis


3. Savage Dreams: A Journey into the Landscape of the American West • Rebecca Solnit


4. We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction • Joan Didion


5. The Making of a Chef • Michael Ruhlman


6. The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen • Jacques Pépin


7. White Slave: The Autobiography • Marco Pierre White


8. Library at Night • Alberto Manguel


9. Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays • Joan Acocella


10. Last Rituals • Yrsa Sigurdardóttir


11. The Reach of a Chef • Michael Ruhlman


12. The Art of Eating • M.F.K. Fisher


13. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone • Deborah Madison


14. Comfort Me With Apples: Love, Adventure and a Passion for Cooking • Ruth Reichl


15. The Magical Chorus: A History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn • Solomon Volkov [Translated by Antonina W. Bouis]


16. Other Colors: Essays and a Story • Orhan Pamuk [Translated by Maureen Freely]

Books Started:

• Tender at the Bone • Ruth Reichl
  [09/05/2008 ~


• Amber and Ashes (The Dark Disciple Volume 1) • Margaret Weis
  [09/05/2008 ~


• Red Bird • Mary Oliver
  [23/05/2008 ~


• Kitchen Confidential • Anthony Bourdian
  [27/05/2008 ~


• The Making of a Chef • Michael Ruhlman
  [27/05/2008 ~


• Last Rituals • Yrsa Sigurdardóttir
  [29/05/2008 ~


• Library at Night • Alberto Manguel
  [30/05/2008 ~


• Comfort Me With Apples: Love, Adventure and a Passion for Cooking • Ruth Reichl
  [31/05/2008 ~

Books In Progress:

• The Surgeon's Mate • Patrick O'Brian
  [18/04/2008 ~
  bookmarked at p268


• Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics • Rebecca Solnit
  [26/04/2008 ~


• The Prisoner and the Fugitive • Marcel Proust
  [translated by Carol Clark & Peter Collier]
  [08/05/2008 ~

Books Completed:

• Tender at the Bone • Ruth Reichl
  [09/05/2008 ~ 26/05/2008]


• Checkmate: Fall of the Wall • Greg Rucka, Joe Bennett & Chris Samnee
  [18/05/2008 ~ 18/05/2008]


• B.P.R.D. Killing Ground • Mike Mignola, John Arcudi & Guy Davis
  [18/05/2008 ~ 18/05/2008]

Books Bought:

1. Alice Water and Chez Panisee • Thomas McNamee


2. Gardening at the Dragon's Gate • Wendy Johnson


3. Red Bird • Mary Oliver


4. Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller • Judith Thurman


5. The Landmark Thucydides • Edited by Robert B. Strassler


6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You • Brian K. Vaugh, Georges Jeanty & Joss Whedon


7. B.P.R.D. Killing Ground • Mike Mignola, John Arcudi & Guy Davis


8. Checkmate: Fall of the Wall • Greg Rucka, Joe Bennett & Chris Samnee


9. Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit • Robert Macfarlane

Changing My Avatar. Yet Again

As much as I adore the quirky Ellen Page, it's time for a change in avatar. So, dear friends, please feast your eyes on Lena Headey in white tank top. It will last as long as my whimsy.

Changed My Avatar

It's 2008, and I am bored with the Lena Headey avatar (but this does not mean I am bored of Lena Headey). I've updated my avatar to that of Ellen Page dressed up as Patti Smith's picture on the Horses album. So when I comment on blogspot, you see Ellen Page.

Until I find another picture.

Using My Wordpress Account

Dear Friends,

I had some difficulties commenting on many of the Wordpress blogs recently. It seems Wordpress doesn't recognise my blogger account, (or whatever. This is not the first time it has happened). Because I am not the sort to allow system glitches to censor my banalities, I have resorted to logging on with my Wordpress account. The last few I have posted on Wordpress blogs appear to have gone through.

There's nothing on my Wordpress account though. Just a link that send you back to this blog.

Records for 2007

• Armchair Traveler Challenge 2007


• R.I.P. II Challenge 2007


• Non Fiction Five Reading Challenge 2007


• Southern Reading Challenge 2007


• Once Upon A Time Challenge 2007


• Books Purchased But Are They Read? 2007


• 100 Books To read 2007 Version 4.5


• 100 Books To Read 2007 [Original List]


• Books Read 2007


• Comics & Manga Read 2007


• Films Watched 2007


• DVDs Watched 2007