Hero Material and I are getting married.

Sorry, May, but there's no picture of the ring. Hero Material and I decided to skip it. I don't really wear rings, and I can't justify spending thousands of dollars on something that I'm going to wear for about a week at the most. Furthermore, with the economy the way it is and the expenses going up (thanks, IRS!) I'd rather not. But we're getting a nice set of wedding bands with sapphires. So I think that makes up for it. :)

Shiro‘s doing awesome. She now weights 28 grams, incredibly energetic and jumps on top of Kuro all the time to assert her dominance. Yay! :)

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Have you seen Nalini‘s Angels' Blood cover? It's just awesome. It's out on March 3. I can't wait. :)

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Two industry insiders' view on Kindle's text-to-speech feature:

Neil Gaiman's position is that TTS is okay. Jason Pinter disagrees since TTS can potentially cannibalize audio sales. He quoted an interview with Robert B. Parker:

…what about an author who makes $60,000 a year, $10,000 of which comes from audio sales? What if, down the road, the Kindle cannibalizes his/her audio sales to the point where another contract is not offered? Audiobooks are more expensive to produce than print books and carry a higher price tag, so the author loses out on a certain dollar amount for every audio sale lost. Saying this issue is no big deal is like a politician claiming we're in a “mental recession” while riding in his private jet, unaware that below him there are people losing their homes. At some point perspective is lost, and while arguing dollars and cents may seem silly to some, to other it ceding this completely may at some point alter their career.

There have been other blogs and organizations stating their positions on TTS. But what I find singularly interesting is that most of pro-TTS people are telling authors to just hand over rights without getting compensated. I haven't seen a single pro-TTS people telling Amazon to cough up some dough and pay the authors for TTS.

BTW — IBM has TTS technology that sounds like a real human. So it is a very real possibility that something like Kindle TTS may replace audio books within years.

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This interview with Binky Urban just rocks. I love the part where she discusses McCormick.

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Nathan Bransford discusses sympathetic v. unsympathetic characters. Everyone should go read it. :)

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That's it! Do you have anything to share? Or discuss further? :)

Chelle tagged me. Although I'm supposed to post this on my Facebook profile, given its last TOS fiasco, I'd rather not. (I hate giving any entity irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, worldwide license to anyting I've written without a huge compensation in return.)

So here it is — on my blog. :)

1. Were you named after any one?
No.

2. When was the last time you cried?
A couple of weeks ago when I thought Shiro was dying.

3. Do you like your handwriting?
Yes.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat?
Does sushi count?

5. Do you have kids?
No.

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?
Of course. ;)

7. Do you use sarcasm?
Usually.

8. Do you still have your tonsils?
Yes.

9. Would you bungee jump?
Sure.

10. What is your favorite cereal?
None.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
No.

12. If you could have only one album front to back for the rest of your life, what would it be? And it can't be a greatest hits album?
Beethoven Symphonies (complete, of course)

13. What is your favorite ice cream?
Haagen-Dazs strawberry-flavored ice cream.

14. What is the first thing you notice about people?
Height.

15. Red or pink?
Red.

16. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?
Legs.

17. Who do you miss the most?
My family.

18. Do you want everyone to complete this list?
No. I'm not tagging anyone, although if anyone wants to do it, it's fine by me. :)

19. What color pants and shoes are you wearing?
Red & white pajamas / no shoes.

21. What are you listening to right now?
Nothing.

22. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Red.

23. Favorite smells?
Strawberries & steak. Crisp new bills.

24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
I don't talk to people on the phone. All my calls go to voicemail.

25. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yes.

26. Favorite sports to watch?
Figure skating.

27. Hair color?
Black.

28. Eye color?
Brown.

29. Do you wear contacts?
No.

30. Favorite food?
Fugu sashimi and zuwaigani temaki.

31. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy endings, where all the bad guys die horribly. (Does that make it scary?)

32. Last movie you watched?
Hancock.

33. What color shirt are you wearing?
Red and white.

34. Summer or winter?
Neither.

35. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs.

37. Most likely to respond?
???

38. Least likely to respond?
???

39. What book are you reading now?
None at the moment. I just got done reading a couple of books.

40. What is on your mouse pad?
Don't have one.

41. What did you watch on TV last night?
News.

42. Favorite sound(s)?
String orchestra, hamsters playing

43. Rolling Stones or Beatles?
Neither.

44. What is the farthest you have been from home?
Half-way around the world.

45. Do you have a special talent?
Perhaps. Depending on your definition.

46. Where were u born?
Secret.

47. Whose answers are you looking forward to getting back?
I'm not tagging anyone, so I guess it's irrevelant.

48. How did you meet your spouse/significant other?
Secret. ;)

Last night, Hero Material and I were surfing channels until we saw something so strange that we had to stop and watch: Men's Premium Bra.

At first, I thought it was a joke, but none of the people on the show was a comedian, which meant it probably wasn't.

The panel featured a company called WishRoom, which designs and manufactures bra for heterosexual men. You'd think that the company would've gone bankrupt within a week, but no. It turned out that men actually like wearing bras in three beautiful colors:

According to the male panelists on the show, the bra promoted “a sense of security”. I'm not sure what kind of security they were talking about since the word they used was “anshin” — peace of mind. Can you imagine the kind of customer testimonials?

Before I discovered WishRoom Men's Premium Bra, I dreaded the day my manly breasts would plunge to my knees. Now with the extra wire support, I can wear my dress shirt with confidence.

Thank you, WishRoom Men's Premium Bra!

Now, the company sells matching lacy bikinis and thongs. So you can buy a set for about $50 / each.

Although Aso cabinet is incredibly unpopular, it's good for one thing: providing lots of humor. Every night Aso or member(s) of his cabinet issues some kind of explanation or retraction of previous remarks that others have “misunderstood”. Sometimes I wonder if they're really Japanese since none of them seem to be able to speak Japanese language that the citizens can understand. Aso is so bad that he makes Bush sound eloquent by comparison.

So what is the recent “typical” screw-up?

Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa appeared drunk and incoherent during the G7 meeting in Rome. He denied the allegation, but the Japanese media played the tape and analyzed everything he did (and said) and declared that he must have been intoxicated, esp. since several people pointed out that Nakagawa is fond of drinking and that some call him Nakagawa Sake.

Here's Nakagawa's Q&A. You don't need to speak Japanese to know that he's totally wasted on the tape. (BTW — his Japanese was so slurred and weird that nobody really understood what he was trying to say.)

Now…you'd think that the Finance Minister from the #2 economy in the world (in terms of GDP) would display more sobriety. Japanese economy shrank by over 12%, and unemployment rate along with suicide rate is rising rapidly right now.

BTW — the latest poll showed that Aso cabinet approval rating is currently at 9.7%. Maybe it's time for Prime Minister Aso to resign. Aso's been in charge for less than six months, but still…

P.S. Nakagawa said he'd only resign if Aso asked. He also declared that his performance in Rome didn't do anything to harm Japan's standing. The opposition disagreed and demanded his immediate removal. We'll see how Aso responds. (Aso and Nakagawa are close friends.)

mood: stuffed…! Hero Material and I had three days of gluttony starting Friday
eureka of the week: figured out two important world building / plot elements in All the King's Women; must incorporate them into the current draft

Happy belated V-Day! :)

Hero Material and I ate tons of food. On Friday, I made cheese fondue — very very good! — and on Saturday, we had Italian and on Sunday, I made beef stew and a ton of garlic bread.

I still feel stuffed.

We also went to a local jewelry store on Saturday to look at some custom made rings and design diagrams (pics). I do like diamonds, but for our engagement and wedding, we decided to go for sapphires. Hero Material has six loose gems, and I love their deep blue color. The issue, of course, is the right setting.

I liked some of the designs, but it was much more than I expected to pay. And to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to spend that much money given the current economic condition (recession) and so on. Hero Material thinks that I'm fiscally conservative — meaning I don't like to spend money even during bubble — but we'll have to see. The designer told us that it takes about twenty days, so if we give her a month, she'll have all the rings ready for us.

(My mom was determined to send me hundreds of jewelry store catalogs. I had to ask her to not bother since it's really not necessary.)

Speaking of spending money…

Numerous Japanese news stations reported about U.S. “stimulus” bill's “Buy American” clause. (BTW — it was very amusing to watch it since Japan is incredibly protective of its own domestic firms.) The foreign countries' problem isn't that the U.S. is spending the money it doesn't have, but that it wishes to use that money to buy American-made steel and so on for construction projects, etc.

Now, I'm not a big fan of protectionism — I'll blog more about how it can really hurt consumers later with some examples from Japan — but come on! The bill is supposed to stimulate domestic economy. The American taxpayers are going to be infuriated if the government uses $800 billion of their money and stimulate the economy of some other countries, when American economy is in recession.

I can't help but think that the countries that complain are just looking for “free lunch”. They don't want to spend the money but still get the benefits. If they want to stimulate their own domestic industry, they too can pass a $800 billion stimulus bill.