Back to life, back to reality

I’m back in Texas after a fantastic time abroad. It’s always hard to leave and this time was no exception, but at least I left happy and contented, and anticipating the months to come.

Back at work and home, I’m coming up with all my plans for the new year, which mostly involves developing projects (so much to make, so little time). In this vein, I’m going to be doing a smallish occasional podcast, each episode of which will be a collection or miniature time capsule of whatever’s going on in my life, at that moment in time.

I did my first recording for this project last night based on my upcoming trip to Austin to see Coraline, and interviewed my younger sister about a shared childhood memory. I was planning to edit it today, but I think I left it at home on the external hard drive, so it will have to wait til this evening – but I will post it here when it’s complete.

Still debating what to name the show, though…according to Google, “minipod” seems to be a slang term for small ipods, and “metapod” turns out to be a Pokemon that looks like a granite half-moon with a face.

A bit of funny synchronicity — I bought one of the Coraline button keys on ebay as there’s no promo going on in my area, and I am really anticipating it…and thought that a Polaroid snap of my prize would appropriately represent of the spirit of the film, as it’s all hand-crafted stop-motion. As real Polaroid film production has been canceled, I turned to Poladroid to get that instant-film look:

But the same day, I got this blurb via email:

Polaroid has been saved! An Austrian businessman/artist named Florian Kaps recently purchased the Polaroid factory in Enschede, Amsterdam. An effort called The Impossible Project, Kaps is working with photography company Ilfort to develop new (old school) Polaroid film, which will reportedly hit retail under the Impossible label by December.

Now THAT is something to celebrate!

(I am also dancing a small dance of glee as the above photo was featured on the best Coraline news blog around, Evil Buttons.)

In other news, I’m behind on my reading, but currently I’ve got going:
- Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
- The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (Jey and I unknowingly gave this book to each other for Christmas so now we have both the US and UK covers)
- Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan, by Lisa Katayama and Joel Holland (though this is one of the many reference books I’m always skimming, this book specifically is a part of World of Laucraft, my game-based self-improvement project)
- Jennie, by Paul Galico (I had to leave the copy behind in the UK before finishing, but Jey is going to read the rest to me via Skype)