Julian May - The Adversary

I've seen this book staring at me from the bookshelf for quite a while, and figured I'd pop it into the scanner. This is the cover of the first Ballantine (Del Rey) edition of The Adversary by julian May, from 1985. The cover art is by Michael Whelan. This is the final book in The Saga of Pliocene Exile. I blogged about book #3, The Nonborn King, earlier.

I consider this series one of the few best science-fiction series ever written. Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos also comes to mind.

In the cover art, the charismatic villian Marc Remillard hovers in a coffin-like box he has made to enhance his mind powers.
Whelen's attention to detail shows in the mob of Firvulag (alien ancestors of the goblins of old Europe) seen to the left....

and the elven Tanu, seen to the right:

Moon over Meijer

I snapped this photo a couple of nights ago when I had to run to Meijer at 11:00 at night to get some milk. It shows a crescent moon between the horns of some sort of antenna-like structure that is on top of a security camera. Or at least what I think it a security camera.The store is undergoing a baffling, disappointing, and drawn-out remodeling. Basically, it is hard to find anything in the store now. My first observation, and that of others, is that it is like Meijer is turning into a Walmart supercenter. Actually, it now has decor that reminds me of a Walmart supercenter circa 2004. I'm remembering the first one I went into, in Bozeman , Montana. Meijer doesn't look like a modern Walmart supercenter, because those are kind of beige and tan now.

This Grand Rapids-based store chain compete mainly with Walmart supercenters, and is found as far out as Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Two deer.

I saw these deer, two of several, exploring suburban lawns an hour or so ago this evening.

Munchkin Coroner dies

I heard on the radio that Meinhardt Raabe, the Munchkin Coroner from "The Wizard of Oz" has died. He as 94.

lI can't help but think of his most famous line:

"Not only is she clearly dead.
She's really most sincerely dead."

I considered him the last living "star" of that old 1939 movie, as he played one of the characters people remembered. I met him at a convention years ago, and I'm sure I have something signed by him somewhere around here. One thing I remembered about him was that he was kind of pushy in moving through crowds. I don't blame him at all, since he was so short that he'd end up going nowhere otherwise.

He had also visited northwestern Lower Michigan at times, to drive the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile [click here for my previous blog post about it], and also for an interview on the Norm Jones Radio Program

Cold April

It's been a lot warmer lately. A week or so in the 70s if I recall coreectly. Maybe time to think of gardening firing up the grill and getting lawn furniture out and all that. But no, it started snowing again last night.

Real estate is hard enough to sell, but even harder if your sign is half covered in snow.The Dairy Lodge was not open for several nice warm days. Now they just recently opened a couple of days ago, but who is going to go buy a cone when it is snowing?
The forlorn shore of Lake Michigan, with the far shore obscured by the increasing blizzard.

Don't forget

A lot of stores are now having half-off candy sales. So get to the store and stock up on jellybeans. But you might want to stay away from the discouted rabbits with the missing ears.

It's Easter time, so here's some eggs in the news.

I was reading a news story about a recent political egg-throwing incident, and found the following in the blog-like comments accompanying the story:

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"Only one egg hit the bus. 3 flew over the bus, 2 went too far right, 3 were dropped and broken, and 3 were still unthrown in the carton. The thrower has been identified as the quarterback for the Detroit Lions.. "

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"LEGEND HAS IT that in the early 1920s one of Vladimir Lenin's fellow Bolsheviks asked him to justify the growing number of atrocities they were committing in the name of a socialist future. "If you want to make an omelet," Lenin insisted, "you have to be willing to break a few eggs." To which the Bolshevik replied, "Comrade, I see the broken eggs everywhere. But where, oh where, is the omelet?"

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This second one could probably be quoted by anyone from liberals opposed to the US efforts in Iraq (aerial bombardment and collateral damage), to conservatives opposed to the new health care plan and its threatened penalties for people who do not become customers of private health insurance companies. Enough politics. I'm going to see if there are any Peeps left in the house.