Hi friends! I am pretty sure this is the last time I’m going to Blog before Christmas (though after Christmas I’ll have 3 lovely weeks of, so lots of time for web-surfing and uncovering oddities!) so Merry Christmas to All!! Hope these links are suitably festive (if not, drink really rumnmy eggnog while browsing, it’ll help!) Those of you with snow about, stay warm and cozy (and make snowmen for me) those of you in summer, stay cool!

1) A blogosphere friend of mine (babychaos) has written a short story, a sort of taste test for the book she’s bringing out. You can find it here. Friendly bias and stuff aside, it’s really very good in a Douglas-Adams-y kind of way…

2) In summer we chuck stuff out at my University Library. In the gallery of Awful Library Books, their public library’s doing the same thing. Only with more “so-bad-it’s-awesome” titles. And cover art. Gotta love public library cover art…

3) Again, more muppets. Because they’re just fabulously awesome. And because, well quite frankly, this one’s slightly creepy…

Hi friends,

Well, camping went very well – I am quite sun-bronzed, and not a victim (or perpetrator) of six-year-old related homicide of any description. Success! I also went down to Sydney for a long weekend last weekend – long story short, fencing is boring after 4 straight days, museums are awesome, and mummified animals are the coolest things ever. As are prehistoric ducks with teeth. Oh, and let’s all blame my cheap hotel and its cheap lack of wireless for a 2 week silence, shall we?

To welcome you all back, here are some links:

1) You and I and every other teen that was mocked by their peers for reading Sandman graphic novels at lunch at school knows it: now we have PROOF!
2) Bibliophiles and triviaphiles, get your drool-cups ready – the New York Public Library drags out the secrets from its collections for the world to see…
3) YouTube is Muppets again this week: normally I’m not the “flog a dead horse” type (not that the Muppets are dead, Kermit et al shall live forever!) but I couldn’t resist this one!

I am going camping this weekend with many many small children – that plus the fact it’s quite grey outside, and six-year olds en masse have the patience of an ADHD capucin monkey, has got me quite worried… think positive sunny thoughts for me all weekend, friends! And enjoy this week’s links (because if it’s a choice between browsing the web and having a panic attack, I’ll choose the first thanks!)

1) I guess every animal’s got to have a fan page (see here for exhibit A) but none quite match the fervour of the Ultimate Goat Fansite. I guess some sites, the answer to “Why>” is just “Why not?”… (though I wouldn’t be the last to admit that a baby goat is quite cute…)

2) Imagine if Garfield never really existed and Jon was just a delusional schizophrenic…

3) This week’s vid is from Wired.com and is pretty cool – libraries don’t just have to be collections of books… (Note if you’re squeamish, wait til next week for your video fix…)

Hello pretty readers! Hope you’ve all been as super-busy as I have! Need I remind you it’s CHRISTMAS IN SIX WEEKS!!!!

*runs around screaming and waving hands…*

Now that we’ve all calmed down, back to business… linkety linkey business!

1) I’m of the opinion that The Daily Squee needs no introduction. At least, one from me could never do it any justice… in a word, *squee!!!* indeed. Bring spare clothing in case you asplode from cute…

2) Nobody could ever say Australians, and young Australians at that, were ever anything but cool….

3) Finally, Youtube – this week in honour of my fellow altos in community choir as we prep for our big recital Saturday. Don’t worry girls – we’ll rock them!

Why is it the most beautiful day of the year so far outside, and yet I’m stuck inside working? (Yeah I know it’s not summer and I have used Henry James in vain, but judge not lest ye be judged, readers!)

*Sigh* Silence your siren call, Beach. It won’t do you any good!  Life is not fair…

On the bright side, it’s decidedly unbusy, and I’m gathering links like it’s the harvest festival in a week (which I guess being Halloween next week technically it is). Come share!

1) If it does get really dull around here, I can work my way through 100 Awesome Social Sites for Bookworms... whoops there goes the rest of MY social life! (Ironically the more social sites for books one gets into, the fewer books one actually reads…)

2) If you’re wondering could anything possibly have been more hilariously awesome than the Beatles’ “Help” movie, cast your mind across this list of Beatles Movies Which Never Happened… mmm, Hobbit Paul anyone?

3) Another Muppet movie for this week’s YouTube – with a slightly more modern twist…

I’m racing to finish Assassin’s Creed I this week before I can go get Assassin’s Creed II – dizzy from jumping off things!

Oh, and I’m re-watching Arrested Development, which never fails to make me feel great about myself and gives me something new and previously undiscovered to laugh at ever time… *huge smile*

I’m also reading Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs and Steel” to try and wake my brain up a bit – it’s a hard slog, but I guess it is thirteen thousand years worth of history at once, so that’s acceptable, right??

In between times, here’s what I have found for you – enjoy!

1) Have pretties using Tag Galaxy – waste time with photo balls. And realise that user-defined tagging is really lame… but at least there are pretties…

2) When science is so wrong that it’s very very right… it’s the IgNobel prize 2009!

3) Finally, I took my mother to see “Julie and Julia” on the weekend (and EVERYONE I know who’s gone has either gone with their mother or their daughter – it’s that type of movie!) and thus I have celebrity chefs on the brain. And you don’t get much more celebrity than this…

I am all by myself this week (Mr LD is interstate for work) and the one thing I have learned is that If I hadn’t gotten married, I would definitely have been a Crazy Old Cat Lady. It’s sort of comforting, chilling and a little disappointing all at the same time… and Cat is now thoroughly sick of the sound of my voice.

Hopefully you don’t share his sentiments! Here, have some links…. good kitty, goooood…

1) I’m sure if you’re a fan (or training as a travel agent) you’ve certainly seen this one before – but I know where I’m taking my next holiday to…

2) If you’re a Bulwer-Lytton fan, the Redlines & Deadlines blog runs a similar contest, in case (like me) you can’t get enough.

3) Finally YouTube – and though I’m not one to forward plan too much, I now know exactly what I’ll be doing the day I quit working in libraries!

Hello!  (Was going to say HAIFRAND after having been set the ridiculous challenge of saying HAIFRAND to at least three people a day for the whole week, but quickly worked out that it’s a stupid word and a stupid challenge anyway… grumble…)

Non stupid links time!

1) We can all go buy “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown now, lucky us eh? Just in case you’re wondering what could be in it – or what he might be putting in the next one – try your hand at the Interactive Dan Brown Plot Generator – guaranteed bestseller blurb! (Hey, if you look it up on Delicious.com maybe user “danbrown” has it tagged as “next_book”…)

2) News about J.R.R Tolkein that’s just come to light – in case you didn’t think he was awesome enough already!

3) Youtube – this week, see what cats REALLY do with catnip… (which, by the way, I am SO going out and buying and planting in my yard…)

Hi gang! Feeling much better now weather (and broken air conditioning) back to some semblance of normality. Went off to Melbourne for the weekend with mother, cousin and aunt – very nice, but for some reason we walked a square of about 5 blocks and could not find a single night club. What’s going on there? How can the country’s most cosmopolitan city not have a single CBD night club? (Or a single Cosmopolitan, for that matter?) Dear Minister for Commerce, I object!

One thing (or three things) I do not object to at all are this week’s links…

1) We all know how insanely fan-screamingly popular vampire books are now, thanks to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight et al . Could Amish be the new Vampire?

2) Epitome of time wasting = cute furry animals. Especially kittens. Especially if they’re all doing the exact same thing but you HAVE to see them all anyway. My friends, prepare yourselves for the epitome of epitomes (? can’t remember my greek grammar, not sure if that’s the right plural or not) … Dreaming of Kittens!

3) Finally, YouTube for the week (and a poked-out tongue to kalafudra who beat me to it but I’m posting it anyway) let’s all get super excited about Dorian Gray!

Hi friends! Well the weather is back to normal, the students are back to crazy, and now it’s only 4 months to Christmas so I am happy! I also did a 10km charity walk on the weekend(gasp! Liberrydwarf! Doing something healthy!) first time ever, and now my muscles have gone back to non-agony state (only 2 days later, haha) I’m happy to be blogging! Here’s the fun I found for you this week…

1) Another for the “Odd but Great Webcomics” file – Goats. The link here takes you to the start of the story arc so you don’t miss anything. Nothing like drunk demonic chickens to make you giggle into your herbal tea…

2) Something intelligent and intellectual yet still weird (and we know that’s why you’re here!) – Peter Leeson’s just written a book about the economics of piracy, but for free you can listen to him on EconTalk discussing why pirates are the best case study of economic rationalism ever. Don’t you feel smarter already?

3) On the subject of pirates, I dug out the sheet music to this to have the guys in choir sing it – best musical song ever. And the Kevin Kline version is the best version ever – nuthin’ but the best here at the Liberry for you!