purplerabbit

Instructions: Highlight in BOLD whatever applies to you. [I made a few notes and italics on questionable ones.]

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We pulled out my four trunks of costumes from the attic today.

In preparation to a planned SCA (Medieval re-creation group) event outing, we sorted through the "garb" that would fit each of us, especially the stuff that would fit our teenage boy -- mostly stuff my husband and I wore twenty years ago.We manage to find something to fit each of us, given I had an entire trunk of Medieval and Renaissance costumes.

But we also had fun sorting through the other costumes that span nearly forty years of my costume making. A lot of it was 1970s vintage science fiction and fantasy costumes. I also have vintage clothing pieces like my grandmother's hats that date back to the 1940s.

Four trunks full of costumes and odds and ends, only the really sentimental stuff left from probably hundreds of costumes made and/or worn over the years, not including ones made in the last ten years. Some of the costumes in the collection include:

• The 1776 dress I wore for the Bicentennial Parade in 1976


• My Logan's Run satin tunic with golden belt and golden sandals


• My infamous black boots worn as part of many costumes, including the Captain's uniform from original Star Trek


• The female "Warrior" costume - skimpy gold armour, black fishnet body suit and sword - that I won awards with in 1979


• "Starry" the blue and gold satin clown suit I was wearing when I met my husband 23 years ago


• My "Tavern Wench" costume from early SCA revels


• My black and purple corset worn to Rocky Horror Picture Show in the 70s and 80s


• My boffer armour and tunic made up to be my D&D character in 1981


• Several of my singing telegram costumes including the red-lame tux jacket that was worn with black body suit and fishnet stockings


• Several of my stripping telegram costumes including the hat from my police uniform


• The glow-in-the-dark fairy wings my cat, Catherine, used to wear at Halloween


• A very 1970s alien ball gown for the "Babel Ball" at a Star Trek convention


• A leopard print body suit with tail and ears


• Half a dozen different witches hats, including sexy dresses to match.


• Nearly see-through elf costume with custom-made latex pointed ears


• Various "super heroes" of my own creation including one that involved a sexy black fishnet body suit with red flames covering strategic places


• Gypsy costume with ribboned red circle skirt, drop shoulder chemise and brocade bodice


• Crete Priestess outfit with beaded layered skirt with hoops, breast-exposed bodice and snake jewellery


• Pirate costume with corset, feather-plumed velvet pirate hat and real cutlass

I have worn easily several hundred costumes in my life so far and made many more for others. I wonder what it would take to pull together pictures of most (if not all) into an album. My son certainly was awed to look at only the remnants of the collection (claiming a few for his own use now).

Since Faewolf is an ebook, it has got me thinking a lot about the barriers that I have had to buying ebooks.

My first objection was readability. That is becoming less and less of an option, especially given how much reading folks do online already and how much better the technology is now. For Faewolf, I think Circlet Press has done an excellent job in their formatting and in making sure it is available in lots of different types of files. The new readers that are coming out are amazing in their quality so that they look more and more like reading on paper. (I have friends who have Sony and Kindle devices.)

My second objection was durability. I am very used to having a book to hold in my hands. And I still like that. On the other hand, ebooks make up for that in a number of ways. The files are permanent, you can keep them and store them on your computer or other device. They take up less space and are easier to move. Our last move was a nightmare. We have over twenty large bookcases. I am actually looking at getting more of those books in digital form so we can have more room in our house. I am also finding ebooks might help with access issues for me. My fibromyalgia means it can be difficult and painful to hold a large book, especially in hardcover, when I read.

My third was value. Like most people, I want to stretch my money to cover as much as possible. Yet, most ebooks are priced less than a paperback. Even with discounts, the traditional hardback release is usually five times as much money as a new ebook. And ebooks are immediately downloadable and you don't have to pay for shipping. Even when you find a cheap used paperback online, you have to pay to ship it.

Faewolf, along with most ebooks, costs less than it costs to go to see a movie. When you go to the theatre, you don't even get to re-watch the movie. And DVDs usually cost more than ebooks. My family are big movie fans. For one movie, we will spend the cost of taking all of us (4-5 adults) plus soda, candy and popcorn to the show. Then if we like the movie, we buy the DVD when it comes out. That means we probably spend at least $50 on a film, sometimes more.

My biggest problem with ebooks so far is portability. But only because the ebook readers are still too expensive. If my family is to realistically switch over to buying more ebooks, we will need a reading device for each of us. The ebook readers we like so far are all several hundred dollars. There are five adults and one teenager in our house. That's a lot of money to equip us. We probably won't be able to do it until they are under $100 each. In the meantime, we use our laptops. I like to read in bed, and I find it possible, but more difficult, to read in bed with a laptop. It gets heavy and hot though. And I want the book that can slip into my bag or pocket. In my family, we never go anywhere without a book. It can be odd but fun to see us all sitting there during a lull on outings, reading our books.

The move to ebooks has a lot to recommend it and I will be doing more with them. I like the growing diversity of choices for reading and I want to support it. As a writer, I like the potential to develop new literature and give more creative control to authors. As a reader, I like that it will give me more books to read.

For those who have bought the story about it being a mistake, a glitch or a hacker causing problems in the Amazon search engines, I suggest you read this: Amazon's Glitch Myth Debunked

My non-fiction titles appear to have their rankings back but are still missing all the reviews left.

I am not just concerned over non-fiction books that have been "accidentally" labelled as "adult." I believe strongly that no censorship should be allowed. The deranking of adult selections is censorship. I have no trouble with them being marked as "adult," but being removed from the fair selection, review, and ranking system is absolutely unacceptable.

Write Amazon, defend your right to read what you want.

I have a video editing program, Studio Plus (v 10.8). I have been trying to figure out how to copy home movies into digital format so we don't loose them. Turns out the program doesn't work with just sound and S cable. It needs a video capture device to turn analog to digital. I don't know which device to use. Here are four on Amazon. Can anyone give me advice on this? (Or any other advice on this process?)

From least to most expensive:

EasyCap USB 2.0 Video Capture Adapter with Video Editor Software

Diamond VC500 One Touch Video Capture Device

Dazzle DVD Recorder

Belkin F5U228 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 DVD Creator

Alternate suggestions welcome too on both hardware and software.

Best condom ad ever!

( NWS )