...THAT got your attention, no? Anywho, it has come to my attention that two of my favorite things have suddenly popped up for free on teh interwebs, and I thought I'd give you peeps a heads-up if you wanted to get your mitts on them.

The lovely 's very excellent gryfon-centric book, "Song of the Summer King," (not to be confused with the equally-excellent unicorn-centric "Son of Summer Stars") is free to download this weekend on Kindle! (Or Amazon's Kindle app, for the Kindle-less among you). Get it here: [link] ! It's awesome and you won't regret it.

If you still need convincing (seriously? It's free!), here's the story. The grey gryfon Shard is the last fullblooded member of the peaceful Vanir tribe, who were conquered by the fierce and warlike Aesir. Desperate to prove himself to his new pride and their terrifying king, Shard finds himself learning more about his heritage--and his own powers--than he ever believed possible. Shard must parlay with wolves, face his fear of the ocean, and dare to defy all he has ever known if he hopes to unite the tribes and find his own place in the world. It's an awesome book, guys. Read it read it read it!

Also: the amazing, glorious, phenomenal movie "The Secret of Kells" is on Hulu!!! [link] If you haven't seen this movie, you're really missing out--it's one of the most beautiful pieces of art I've ever seen. Brendan is a young monk-in-training at the abbey of Kells, watched over by his stern uncle, the Abbot Cellach. Cellach is consumed by building a wall around Kells to keep out the Northmen, whose trail of terror and destruction seems unstoppable. With the arrival of the strange old monk Aiden and his mysterious cat, however, Brendan begins to learn that there are other forces that roam the woods beyond the wall--from shapeshifting faeries to terrifying pagan gods. If Kells--and all Ireland--is to survive, Brendan must learn to understand and protect the Book, the Book that turns darkness into light.

So basically it's a fictionalized account of the Book of Kells, an illuminated Bible and a national treasure of Ireland. It's a gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous special movie and you absolutely should watch it if you want a reminder that sometimes true art shows up in strange places. Love love love

As for me, life is going well--it's good to be back in school now, while everybody is a little less stressed and has time to hang out and enjoy themselves a bit. My boyfriend (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) and I are going on our first "real" date tomorrow, which in some ways is a bit silly because we're already pretty attached at the hip (or as far as possible considering that we're busy as anything and have no classes together) but at the same time eeeeeeeeee.

Hmm, what else? Les Mis was amazing and you should absolutely see it, I was very pleasantly surprised. Everyone really just poured their heart into it and did a phenomenal job (except for Russell Crowe, and he wasn't even awful...he was just "ok," but everybody else was so bloody fabulous he stuck out like a sore thumb. Oh well.) and the cinematography was really creative and the music was great and it was stuck in my head for daaaays you guys aaah. XD I'll probably be going to see the Inauguration on Monday, because regardless of my political opinions, it's pretty cool to be at a historic event...that said, I'm sure the crowds will be horrendous. We'll see.

Hope you all are having a lovely 2013 so far, and here's to an excellent new year!