Fairy Tattoo Links

HEMMINGSEN: Meet me in the middle (The Gazette)

File this one under No Kidding: researchers say romantic comedies are bad for real-life romance.The folks at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh think cornball flicks like "Serendipity" and "Maid in Manhattan" reinforce people's unrealistic expectations about relationships. After watching the saccharine shows, it seems, people are more likely to believe in fate and think if someone really loves ...

First Night Monterey festivities ring in another year (The Monterey County Herald)

A couple of Vaudeville-style magicians at the Monterey Conference Center proved to be masters at making handkerchiefs vanish right before your very eyes, but what the masses came downtown to see Wednesday night was the disappearance of 2008, a crummy year for too many people.

The best books of 2008 (Austin American-Statesman)

As per our annual tradition, the American-Statesman recently asked a number of locals to tell us what their favorite book of the year was. The results, from an array of readers, offer up an array of books. A look, for instance, at the three books that were named by more than one of our respondents demonstrates just how varied our loves are: There's a period spy novel from a celebrated American ...

Saddleback Church's Warren tries to clarify gay marriage stance (Orange County Register)

Megachurch leader says he was misrepresented as equating homosexuality to pedophilia and incest.

India v England - as it happened (Guardian Unlimited)

Hello . It's not good morning, it's great morning*. Once upon a time, a 2.30am start would have meant technical problems galore at GU Towers. But not in our plush new abode, oh no.