There it is!
The first photo of the little protobear. Gender unspecified for now- but more because it was hiding. Camera shy already. That little blob on the left is its head. Or possibly that more amorphous blob on the right- I can't really tell now. One possible source of confusion is that I seem to have scanned it upside down. Oh well. The other picture we got looks like a demon skull or some sort of alien. Which opens up all sorts of cool naming possibilities. Cthulhu Waddell! The downside is little Cthulhu would forever have to spell her name to teachers and receptionists. Yog Sothoth would probably be easier.
Anyways I wrote a haiku in honor of one of the gazillion doctors and nurses and technicians that have suddenly become a part of my life:

o-b-g-y-n
why do you all spell it out?
I just say objin

Tomorrow we have our ultrasound appointment. That's pretty exciting. Of course the big debate right now is whether to find out if the little critter is a boy or a girl. Michelle really wants to find out, but I am more inclined to wait. But in fairness I asked her to present her case. She was watching a courtroom drama when I got home from work so I was expecting some razzledazzle oratory and impeccable logical rhetoric. Her argument: "I really want to know!!!!!"
So then it was my turn.
"Okay so you know about quantum physics right?"
"No."
"You don't?"
Anyways, the gist of my argument is that, once we know, this quantum uncertainty of gender will be a known factor, and all of the fun we are having trying to choose a name will either end altogether (in the case of a boy since we have already decided what Boyquantumstate will be called) or, um, well, I forget how I worded it. Anyways we ended in a stalemate. But then Michelle started looking at boy names.
"How about Roman?" she said.
"How about Spartan?"
"Be serious!"
"I am serious- how about Leonidas?"
"Leonidas sounds like a disease."
"It's not a disease it's a mighty Spartan warrior."
"All I hear is 'itis'."
"It's not Leonitis it's Leonidas!"
"Well I like the name Roman."

Finished reading Iron Council by China Mieville. I think The Scar is still my favorite of the three Bas-Lag novels, but they are all amazing and relentlessly creative. Where Perdido Street Station, for all its freshness and vividity was essentially a bughunt, Iron Council is more political, maybe not a manifesto (Mieville is a socialist) but a pretty good fable about the oppressed.
Anyways, here is a little fanart since today is Friday- some Bas Lag sketches by HomarusRex.



And a far more in-depth review of Iron Council if you want to know a bit more.

No eating breakfast for me today. I have some sort of medical thing I have to get done for work so I have to fast. So here's what I've had for breakfast instead:
John Scalzi discusses the pivotal role of Ellen Ripley in Aliens.
At io9 a brief look at some of the best science fiction covers ever. Only thing is, most of their choices suck! Brain Wave? Is that a sea monster or a monkey? My own favorites- all of Michael Whelan's covers for The Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and The Godwhale, by Unknown Artist. Among others.
And BAT Booshka makes me want to go to Russia! Or maybe Gothamgrad.

Fanart Friday: Clone Wars
The best thing about the whole prequel trilogy was the Clone Wars Animated Microseries that Gendy Tartakovsky did. Though he isn't involved in this new CG Clone Wars series, the aesthetic is more or less the same so despite some negative reviews I am excited for this new chapter in the Star Wars Saga.


This row: Grant Gould's Anakin; Dennis Budd's Yoda; Trev Murphy's Obi-Wan; and Shoomlah's Ahsoka Tano redesign.


And can't forget the clones! This row: Ragelion's Clone cards and Asajj; in between those is Galeart's Incoming Storm; and Grant Gould and Katie Cook teaming up for a Yoda/Padme scene.

Here's a trailer for the new Animated Wonder Woman dvd:



You've probably seen the beautiful cover art - I know Selkie has- but you might not realize it was done by deviantArtist Lauren Montgomery, aka NotThePornStar.

I just have to say I am pretty proud of our little cub who recently developed forward facing eyes! Way to go little protobaby! But with stereoscopic vision comes great responsibility- like quit making your mother sick alla time!
Anyways, here are some fun Star Wars links that hopefully are new to you.
You can find out how R2-D2 would say "stereoscopic".
You can make your very own Stormtrooper cubecraft guy, as well as myriad other guys.
Too bad these Chewbacca plush mouseys are all sold out.
And you might not have seen the newest batch of Steampunk'd Star Wars figures from Sillof- this time it's bounty hunters!
Here's a Flickr photopool devoted to Clonetroopers. I think I have a photo or two in there.
And finally, a YouTube video of Lego Darth Vader conducting the Imperial March.

Also it's unlikely you want to hear about digging rocks all day at the mine. But you DO want to hear about the new Slipknot CD! Isn't that the best news you've heard all week? Maybe even all year! What's that honey? Oh right, the baby. Uh, second best news all year! It's called All Hope Is Gone.
Sounds like it will be more cheery than their last one!

And you probably don't want to hear about all the baby stuff we're buying. But everyone likes to hear about gorillas, especially good news- like the 125,000 of them just discovered in this secret gorillaland.
And how about the snubfin dolphins caught on tape for the first time?

I must be turning into a boring suburbanite since all my days lately have been taken up with landscaping and such. And I know you don't want to hear stories about landscaping. Even if they involve female gravel truck drivers hitting on me. Sort of.
Actually I don't really know what you want to hear about, but if you're anything like me you want to hear about werewolves versus vikings. DeviantArtist Extraordinaire, Grant Gould (aka grantgoboom), has been working on his Wolves of Odin graphic novella for a while now and though it's not out for a few months, you can see some pinups and other goodies at his WoO blog. Plus his personal blog where he talks about his art, including his involvement with the Clone Wars for Topps and Lucasfilm. How cool is that?

Look- A Saturn Ion Decepticon!