Pyroclastic—it's fantastic! (I like it too.)

Oh—I agree the movie's Smaug was too large by far. Just commenting on this particular painting and how Smaug's size relative to Bilbo is off in it.

If I recall from an annotated edition of the Hobbit, Tolkien was rather annoyed at himself for how large he made Bilbo in this picture—said he should've been a lot smaller, meaning Smaug is larger than he looks here.

Oh gosh, now that you say it... I think I remember it being more metaphorical than explicit, though there was a rather graphic and protracted childbirth scene later that sticks out more in my memory. But yeah, it's Madeleine L'Engle, and you just don't expect it out of her.

Oh gosh, yes. So Long and Thnaks for All the Fish was a real shocker to (very young) me. I kinda holed up in my room, terrified a parent would catch a glimpse of it over my shoulder. Then I remembered that my dad had read these books, and if he saw me reading it he'd just KNOW... So I hid it under my bed once I'd…

Just so you know, the link that's supposed to go to the Tumblr is currently only linking to the image all by its lonesome. That's some lovely art right there, though!

I could just about cry with excitement—this looks so damn good. Like nightmare-inducing levels of good. (Going to headcannon this as an alternative beginning to the Kaiju Wars in Pacific Rim.)

:) Fair enough.

Or, since whales aren't fish: Call me Ishwhale.

I think that's about when I read it too. I was mostly fascinated—but also mildly terrified. Hemorrhaging through every bodily orifice, brr.

I just started sobbing and couldn't stop. Because Iroh.

NOOooo! This is how supervillains happen.

God bless America, and more particularly the National Weather Service.

I'm rather fond of it! It's got a different texture; can be more chewy depending on how long you cook it. Definitely more flavorful than either regular white rice or couscous and has more fiber content as well. Excellent in risottos and the like.

As a female myself, yes. Just yes. I think I'd perhaps be annoyed if such scenes were played up as "something for the ladies" or suchlike—as if women were unable to enjoy a comics-based action movie without regular doses of sexy maleness—but I've never really gotten that vibe. It's more like they're in there as a…

Man, I appreciate this fellow's efforts to sound serious about this monster movie-but when I saw the preview in theaters, I just couldn't stop laughing. Absolutely could't, even after someone harrumphed in my general direction. It was just so goddamn dramatic and over-the-top. The explosions, the slow-mo, the glaring…

Oh Heinlein. I know what ya mean, though for my money I wish that his "post-senility" books just never happened. (Though this may be in part because as a little kid I read and loved Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and then decided to read more Heinlein, unwittingly picked up a later one, and suddenly found myself…

That's one of my favorite episodes, and one of my favorite aliens! 'Course, it is one of those ones where the monster turns out to be not-so-monstrous after all. I mean, it even likes Spock's pointy ears.

Pretty solid endorsement, yep! My little fifth-grader hero-worshiping heart went pitter-pat.

Absolutely yes; I read it in fifth grade (had to hide with it in my closet because my mom thought it might be too scary [this coming from a woman who to this day is terrified of the flying monkeys]) after astronaut Linda Godwin recommended it to me when I wrote a letter to her. Hell, I still love this book.