gwynnega: (coffee poisoninjest)
It is Henna Day, on a cool Los Angeles afternoon. We might even get some rain. The henna on my head is a bit chilly, rather than refreshing. I am glad we've been having some actual autumn weather.

My car battery has been less thrilled by the cool weather--i.e., it died yesterday. But at least I was at home when that happened, and now I have a zippy new car battery.

Last night I watched Abar, the First Black Superman (1977) on TCM. It's a blaxploitation film about a black scientist who moves with his family into a white, ultraracist neighborhood in Los Angeles and ends up creating a wonder drug which gives a neighborhood activist super powers. The film apparently had a beleaguered production history. I was particularly taken with the 1970s LA location shots, especially the fight scene filmed at Watts Towers.
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
This morning I finished reading [livejournal.com profile] claudiagray's YA vampire novel, Evernight (the first in a series). It was an excellent antidote to the Sparkledammerung. An interesting take on vampire lore, intelligent worldbuilding, and some truly fantastic twists, as well as a racially diverse cast of characters. It mines some of the same emotional territory as Twilight--i.e., teenage hormones running amok equated with bloodlust--but does so with a non-Mary Sue heroine. It was a bit slow getting started, and I preferred a different guy to the one the heroine fell for, but overall an enjoyable page-turner. (And no sparkling whatsoever.)

Today's mail brought me a copy of Armed and Dangerous: A Writer's Guide to Weapons, which I needed primarily for the chapter on bombs for the Jo book.

This afternoon I returned a couple of things to Old Navy, then briefly scoped out the Glendale bookstores (Borders, Brand Bookshop, and Bookfellows). None of 'em had Diary of a Provincial Lady, darn it--but I did pick up a couple more Amanda Cross titles at Bookfellows (Poetic Justice and The Theban Mysteries). I'm currently reading The James Joyce Murder and The Brontes Went to Woolworths.

In non-book news, I think my dilapidated old car is trying to tell me it really is time to buy a new car: the ceiling upholstery by the rear window is starting to sag. I probably should've gone to the Toyota dealership for a test drive on my way home, but it was too damn hot out.

This evening: noveling, plus Dark Shadows viewing (I'm currently in 1969), and maybe I'll watch Hearts and Minds, the Vietnam documentary I Netflix'd for Jo book research...

And tomorrow is Henna Day!

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