Wooo! New 1-18-08 trailer on Apple. It's now known as "Cloverfield", the production code name.

It's funny. In 1999 a little movie came out you may remember called The Blair Witch Project. I know, I know, we regard the memory now with tepid emotions: the ending was terrible and you could only really watch it once. But let's face it, no film had ever entered the mainstream consciousness before that used this kind of concept (careful sticklers, I said mainstream). That is, the camera, usually a camcorder which conceivably is carried by one of the characters, acts as a roving eyeball. We, the viewer, are not spoiled with the near-omnipotent vantage point of the typical action or horror flick. Instead, we're placed on the ground, with the protagonists, forced in the same crawling-worm perspective as them. Suddenly, something which may not be particularly scary from an omnipotent viewpoint (such as a monster attack on a New York City... hint hint) becomes terrifying. We are drawn in to the helpless predicament of the characters as they struggle with lack of knowledge and fear, scrambling to survive. It's a brilliant, and relatively simple advance in storytelling. I look forward to seeing it evolve, and sincerely hope that Cloverfield will be part of that evolution. If you're still scoffing, well, it sure as hell beats the traumatizing blood-and-guts shock tactics of most modern horror films.

Moving along.

Had a nice bonding experience with Martha on Friday. She brought chocolate-chip peanut butter cookies and we spent hours talking about stuff. Now I'm indoctrinating her into the BattleStar Galactica fold.

I finished Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay recently. For anyone looking for a good, modern-day fantasy read, I heartily recommend it.

Christmas is coming, so gift suggestions are welcome. Could the stores please hold off on all those awful, mouldy Christmas songs for another two weeks, please? Maybe this year I'll get the majority of my shopping done before it gets too crazy. Here's hoping...