• On the cryptozoology front, an interview with Jon Downes, Monster Hunter
• Dr. Julius T. Roundbottom, Victorian scientist from the universe next door
• The (thankfully) unproduced script for the Watchmen movie [IMDb; official site]. For those who haven't read the graphic novel, even this wildly divergent script will spoil things for the real film, so tread carefully.
• 25 Free Icon Resources For Commercial And Private Use
• To Whom It May Concern: unsent letters to various people and things
• It's been pretty much everywhere by now, including some local sites, but for the yet-uninitiated, The Matrix Goggles
• Thomas Edison was the Bill Gates of his era; I am a Nikola Tesla fan.
• "gorilla"

Okay, what are the Illuminati up to now? I've been getting a flurry of messages from nurses who inherited bulldog puppies from their dead grandmothers, and want to give them to me. But it isn't just me, as the message is turning up in a variety of places on the Internet and in print publications, as well. In some places they throw other purebred dogs and even birds into the offer.

It seems as though the Illuminati's long-time enemies, the Justified Ancients of Mu, must be based in Eden Prairie, MN, as the best explanation I have found so far is from someone there. All the reply addresses point to 2itb.com, which is a hosting company.

San Diego, Nigeria, Eden Prairie, Cameroon, Miami... interesting.

While sitting at a traffic light beside the Federal Courthouse I saw two young people walk toward the corner. Both the man and the woman were impeccably dressed in smart black suits, both carrying obviously expensive leather briefcases. At the corner, the tall blond woman stopped and spoke to her companion for a moment, and then they briskly shook hands and headed their separate ways.

The young man headed away past the Wallflower Gallery, while the woman confidently and quickly crossed the street in front of me. As she approached the far corner, two doors opened in the glossy black stretch limousine parked alongside the road. Two burly men emerged, wearing black suits accessorized with dark sunglasses and coiled white cords behind their left ears. One faced the courthouse, scanning the street with his right hand not quite in his jacket, while the other held open the door as the young blond slid gracefully inside. Once she was settled they jumped in, the doors closed, and the limo pulled away into the traffic.

For your education, amusement, and arousal*, please enjoy these fine pointers.

• Wouldn't it be interesting if you had to answer a simple question before you could browse the Internet? Something like this, perhaps?
• Looking for something to spruce up your cubicle? Consider a Glow-in-the-Dark Flesh Eating Zombies Play Set, from Archie McPhee.
• I confess, I am loving it. But I still love this more.
• Here's a lovely webcomic adaptation of The War of the Worlds, in its original Victorian, steampunk, socialist splendor.
• Did you know a secret government cabal has already started minting coins for the North American Union, converting our Godly dollars into some atheo-communist currency called the Amero? It's undoubtedly a plot by inferior non-white mongrels. Beat the rush, order yours now!
• If you enjoy art-house and/or non-US films, Robin Laws' end-of-show wrap-up of the Toronto International Film Festival is now available for your reading pleasure. Mister Lonely sounds like a must-see.
• Did you think the saga of the LOLCats started with I Can Has Cheezburger? Clearly you need to learn a bit of comics history. Go forth and learn about the Laugh-Out-Loud Cats.

I hope you found something to amuse you among the above links.

*Arousal not guaranteed, and given these links, is probably kind of icky, too.

I've not yet succumbed, but I'm still having a hard time concentrating enough to write. I'm trying to force myself, though, so you may see more from me soon.

knight anole(?)on my porch

In other news, I have hired a new web developer at the day job, a lovely and talented young woman from Volgograd. If everything goes well then within the next couple of months I may see my daytime workload reduced. Perhaps — be still my heart! — I may be able to take a weekend off.

Those of you who are interested in movies will want to read Robin Laws' journal this week. He's a major Toronto film geek who is spending this week watching five or six films a day at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Robin's coverage really begins here, with his run-through of the pre-festival scheduling work (which takes a full day), then continues with Day Zero, Day One, Day Two, and so on.

I should warn you that these won't be capsule reviews of Hollywood blockbusters; it's an "international" film festival.However, if you are interested in cinema, you may want to check it out.

I've not yet received any word from my doctor concerning the results of my tests. Current thinking (sans any significant scientific basis) points toward multiple sources: eye trouble of some sort, and a neck injury that causes the sporadic ice-pick pains. But I am not going to get complacent or paranoid until I hear something from the professionals.

Nonetheless, I confess that it is damned hard to muster the energy to write when I've had a headache for over two straight months. What concentration is available to me has to be reserved for my employer; like it or not, my day job has to take precedence over creative endeavors and social activities. (No job, no insurance; no insurance, no treatment; no treatment, no Hidden City.) I occasionally knock out a few words via Twitter, but mainly I'm watching DVDs, reading a little, and trying to sleep.

So if my writing is even more uneven and irregular than usual, chalk it up to my injuries (whatever they may be). But this is the last I am going to mention the headaches until I have any concrete news. I most emphatically do not want to become Miami's version of Dr. Zachary Smith, wailing constantly about "The pain... the pain...".