My son and his wife are in Korea for a prolonged business trip, and they asked me if I wanted a souvenir. I thought a Hyundai Genesis might be a bit much to post. Instead I asked for a CD of the only artist I know well there, Yunho. He's a singer for a group called TVXQ, but he's done some solo work, too. He could talk about paint drying, and I'd want it. Okay, want him. Totally my type. I've never had a Korean CD before, so I thought that might be some brilliant peng.

Anyway, the souvenir arrived today, and it's something I didn't expect. Has anyone ever gotten a CD from Korea? Because what I just opened up is like nothing I've ever seen before. It came in what looked like the old cardboard CD packaging, from way back when. But it's not a holder for the CD. Of course the CD is inside, but that's the "ordinary" part of the package. Everything else isn't ordinary.

The case isn't a case--it's a book with over 120 photos of the singer, and of course other pages dedicated to the songs. The paper is high quality matte stock, thick and not chintzy at all. And the photos themselves are stunning, and not simply because the artist is quite the handsome young man. They are works of art.

The package also came with a small poster, a strip of film negative, a postcard and what looks like a playing card, or maybe some kind of promo card (?) all of course of Yunho. Now, this what they call a "limited edition" packaging, but still.... I just can't believe all that got sent out--for what would be an EP here (6 songs).

I looked up what this runs in Korea--something like $30 (if I'm reading the currency exchange correctly). Way more than $30 went into the packaging for this.

If anyone has bought CDs from Korea, is this normal for a limited edition EP? Because if it is, I feel like Western music labels have been cheating me all of my life, to demand so much money for CDs while giving music buyers so little in return. I'd have been okay paying $30 out of my own pocket to get something this well done and generous. I might not do it for every artist, but for ones I do like--yeah, definitely worth the extra expense.

As for the music...I already knew most of iy, and like it. The "big" song from the EP is "Thank U," and the quality of the MV alone staggers me. Here it is, but ***TRIGGER WARNING: Extremely graphic violence.***

https://www.amazon.com/Six-Untold-Story-Americas-Astronauts-ebook/dp/B0BTZLMP8K?ref_=ast_author_dp

This is one I've really wanted, about America's first women astronauts, so I just did a big woo-hoo dance. A bit of a wait for receipt,, since the release date is 12 September, but I can be patient for that.

Every month, Goodreads emails me a list of upcoming new releases, and I'll go through each one, to see if any have a giveaway. Even if I don't want a particular book, the husband, my mum, or the local library might want it. So why not sign up?

By the way, this is the third book I've won through Goodreads Giveaways. I also won a Kindle ebook of Blacktop Wasteland by SA Crosby a few years ago, and a trade paperback of One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris earlier this summer. I'll never win the lottery (don't play it), but if I can't win that, then winning books is the next best thing to me.

To voluntarily surrender for arraignment.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?529926-1/georgia-da-fani-willis-news-conference-trump-election-case-indictment

The list was announced at the beginning of the month, and the nominees are:

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ – A Spell of Good Things

Sebastian Barry – Old God’s Time

Sarah Bernstein – Study for Obedience

Tan Eng – The House of Doors

Jonathan Escoffery – If I Survive You

Elaine Feeney – How to Build a Boat

Paul Harding – This Other Eden

Siân Hughes – Pearl

Vikoria Lloyd-Barlow – All the Little Bird-Hearts

Paul Lynch – Prophet Song

Martin MacInnes – In Ascension

Chetna Maroo – Western Lane

Paul Murray – Bee Sting

Since the Booker Prize nominations can be for books released as late as September of this year, some of these are still unavailble. Some have releases in countries like Ireland or the UK, but not in the US (yet). Makes it hard to determine if they're the right choice if we can't see for ourselves, but I don't make the rules. Good grief, I'm still waiting for the releases of two books from the International Booker earlier this year!

Anyway, the shortlist will be announced on 21 September, and the winner on 26 November.

Has anyone read any of these that are available in the US? I made a commitment to various reader challenges, so I haven't gotten to any of them yet.

I was telling my (younger) husband about how stupid my generation was about blacklight posters back in the 70s. So, for fun, I got a little flashlight that has a blacklight bulb in it, to see what lights up these days under that.

I don't know what has happened since the 70s, but a whole bunch more products are black-light friendly than before. Some of the stuff is crazy. Sure, I expected highlighters and tennis balls to light up like they did in the old days (and they still do). But here are a few of the things that went neon, just in the immediate area of my computer desk (in my bedroom) that I didn't expect:

"Neon" color hair scrunchies, and most of my brighter hair clips.

Every single correction tape/stamper case I have, except for the 70s-avocado green panda stamper. Even the "plain" white Kokuya Campus correction case lights up pink. Weird!

The "used" stickers on books from my local independent book store.

Both water bottles, different companies, have fluorescent qualities to the logos, labels and the elastic grip.

Neon nail polish. I'm currently wearing a neon orange polish that looks like it's on fire under black light. I pulled out my other neon polishes and put the light on them there in the bottle--same thing. Well, I wanted bright nail polish--I got it!

And the weirdest one of all? The purple handle on a bottle of base coat. It glows as orange as my nails. This is what it normally looks like:



How that turned fiery orange, I have no idea.

Does anyone else here do stupid things like this when you're bored?

Just got a delivery of a few things, some of which I'd never purchased before.

The bag of Kirkland tortilla chips is higher than my knee. I realize I'm not all that tall, only 5'6", but still--a chip bag being that tall? Really?

My husband also wanted trail mix. It's about the size of a throw pillow on my bed--height, width *and* depth. 4 pounds of it. Might last him a week, LOL.

I thought about getting the half-gallon jelly belly jug, just for the lulz, but I bet it would have 2-3 inches of that nasty popcorn flavor to cover the bottom (does anyone really like that junk?). Not paying for that.

Maybe I'm the weird one for finding things like monster-sized package options amusing.

(You Know Who)?

He finally went up against a legal opponent who was bigger than anything he could ever aspire to be. Bragg has better lawyers and more extensive resources. They're also more relentless and implacable about winning their cases than he could ever hope to be.

In other words, they have real power. More than he does.

If he were capable of empathy at all, he would finally understand what it was like for all those contractors he stiffed to go up against him in court. Well, we know he can't fathom how anyone else would feel, so we'll have to be satisfied with knowing that he will feel that same suffocating helplessness that all of those contractors did as someone bigger and richer bled them dry.

Schadenfreude never tasted so sweet.