It’s really weird when you’re done with your holidays but the big mass-culture one hasn’t quite happened yet because it’s on a kinda dumb calendar so everyone else is still in ramp-up mode and all the ads are going liek woah.

Except for Rite-Aid, which seems to be filling shelves with Valentine’s Day candy. Who knew?

Next week will be a huge recording week – I’ve been booked from the 26th through the 30th, by Leannan Sidhe, with backup time going to Bards of a Feather as available. I actually find I get a lot of things done that week, partly because nobody else is doing anything and therefore gets in your way. <3

Anyway, faithful minions who are reading these even now, have some fun links:

• Everybody knows that Kíli is really the prettiest, but nonetheless, do enjoy Thorin Dreamboatshield: An Unexpected Hotness of Dwarves.
• I kind of like these somewhat hipster vinyl-record-emulating placemats.
• Here’s Part I of a really quite good fan effort to re-imagine the lost Doctor Who serial, Power of the Daleks
• This isn’t new, but is nonetheless a really effective video (and yes, I figured it out from watching it): Finnish underwater ice-fishing.
• This is some fairly epic data centre hax0ring: 160 Mac Minis in a single rack. I love it.

Have fun, everybody, and if I don’t say it before the first – happy new year!