MuseBlog

The latest of many threads about books, including

Books and Reading,
Libraries, Books, and Bookstores,
and
Books.

Muse turned out to be a tiny place, one of those towns that people describe as “a wide spot in the road.” It’s not far off the beaten track, but you probably wouldn’t stumble across it if you weren’t looking for it.

It has a smattering of wooden houses,

two lodge halls (Kokonventioneers take note!), a church or two, a beauty salon, a day school that appears to double as a general store, a post office (see above), an elementary school,

and not much else.

Cell-phone photos taken on a gray, drizzly day in late December probably don’t do it justice. All the same, it’s probably never exactly picturesque.

In other words, it’s absolutely bursting with potential.

Same rules as before, but new identities. Shadowkat’s description:

…a thread where everyone posts under a different (new) name, and pretends to be their alter-ego. We could even take it a step further, and have everyone try to guess who each alter-ego-name actually is. Once somebody figured out who you were, if they ever did, you would post under your original other-thread name, and just keep talking and trying to guess who other people really are if that makes any sense

People who want to talk about this really want to talk about it. Here’s your thread.

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, winter officially begins today (Thursday, December 21) at 6:22 p.m. MuseBlog time (U.S. Central time, the time at Muse headquarters in Chicago). That’s 4:22 p.m. Pacific time, 5:22 p.m. Mountain time, and 7:22 p.m. Eastern time. In Switzerland, it’s 1:22 a.m. on Friday, December 22. In New Zealand, it’s 1:22 on Friday afternoon.

What did you think about it? How did you like it?

WARNING: This thread is bound to contain spoilers. Better read the issue first.

Let us know when your issue arrives. Don’t post spoilers, please. We’ll have a separate thread for discussing what’s in the issue.

Do re mi fa so la ti do and all that jazz. A place to talk about music.

*Round-Robin ‘Riting, a MuseBlog tradition in which MBers take turns writing a story.

Continued from Part 2 (the one about the afareet). The story before that was summarized on the RRR 2006.1.3 Reference Text.

MuseBlog’s monthly random thread, continued from Part One.

Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!

Shadowkat’s idea. Here’s here description

…a thread where everyone posts under a different (new) name, and pretends to be their alter-ego. We could even take it a step further, and have everyone try to guess who each alter-ego-name actually isonce somebody figured out who you were, if they ever did, you would post under your original other-thread name, and just keep talking and trying to guess who other people really are if that makes any sense

Some MBers have asked Rebecca and Robert to create CafePress shirts with their signatures on them. We think that’s a great idea. Send your signatures in electronic form (scanned or created with a tablet or a drawing program) to gapa@musefanpage.com, and we’ll compile them all into a big file and slap them on the backs of various items of Musewear. The deadline is blog closedown* on Wednesday, December 20. No last names on the signatures, please–blognames and/or first name plus last initial only.

(If you don’t know what “Musewear” is, you can see some examples at http://www.cafepress.com/musery .)

*No, the blog isn’t shutting down. That just means whenever the last Administrator goes to bed.

Almost certainly the year’s last installment of MB’s forum for subjects that need careful handling and/or an extra dose of civility.

It’s on Sunday the 10th. Ms. Dickinson wrote:

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,—
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.

She also wrote:

If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?

Elassë~Adael (currently calling herself “e~a the sock monkey”) humbly requests a new installment of the Poems and Songs thread. There’s plenty of room left on Poems and Songs, v. 2006.4. We’re all in favor of humility, however, so here’s one more P&S thread to round off the year.

By popular request, though we’re not sure exactly what you have in mind. This topic never quite came together the last time we tried it (https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=151), but maybe it will have better luck this time around.

The only Muse-themed online boutique in the known universe is ready to accept orders. Its instigators, blog moderators Robert Coontz and Rebecca Lasley, will be happy to answer questions.

One tip: we’ve found that shipments can take twice as long as CafePress says they do, so don’t wait until the last minute to order holiday presents.

We’ve given up trying to understand this thread. Referring to Ships’ Logs: Part Three is no help at all. People do seem to be having fun here, though; there’s no denying that. So… welcome aboard.

Note: Prarilius Canix has posted an excellent synopsis in Comment 5.

Robert writes:

Over the past few months I’ve mentioned a couple of mysterious Muse-related projects that I’ve been working on. One of them, a collaboration between me and my fellow moderator Rebecca Lasley (a.k.a. Lady Bunniful), has now reached the sneak-preview stage. It’s not up and running yet, so please don’t try to do anything with it. But if you’d care to visit www.cafepress.com/musery , we’d love to hear what you think.

Project number two will be unveiled in a few weeks.

MuseBlog’s monthly random thread.

Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!

Less random than the random thread. More continuity, focus, and attention to spelling, punctuation, and other niceties.

The rules? Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. And, as always, have fun.