TWO LINKS: Not quite enough for a blogwatch.

Cacciaguida got to see “Kingdom of Heaven,” and comments here.

Stay of Execution: How to throw a good party. Some neat ideas, though I really enjoy party decorations, and they don’t need to throw you into a tizzy. My friend Sara has a passion for party decorations, and it shows–her parties always have a profusion of funny, somewhat random themed knickknacks, posters (find a picture or quote or whatever on the Internet and print it out), colored lights, and so on. It really adds to the party atmosphere without being standard-issue, intimidating, or especially high-maintenance. If you really like throwing parties (I don’t–I’m sure you’re shocked), why not pick up a few themed tablecloths (Sara has a candy-corn one in black and orange for Halloween, for example), swizzle sticks, or other cheap party goods? Anyway, like I said, many good ideas for breaking the ice and getting the guests to go home happy. Via Kesher Talk.

Oh! Almost forgot. A reader writes,

The perhaps slightly more respectable 18th century version of fanfiction is the subject of [the] about-to-be-published book The Afterlife of Character 1726-1825, which “reconstructs how eighteenth-century British readers invented further adventures for beloved characters, including Gulliver, Falstaff, Pamela, and Tristram Shandy.” Publisher description here, and it can now be preordered on Amazon for delivery when available.

Nifty.