Society for Aesthetic Deletions

Found a transcript of James Marsters' Q&A from GenCon. One of the questions is mine (it's pretty far down, look for it summarized as: DOES HE WATCH MUCH TV OR MOVIES OR READ ANY BOOKS? I had that and another in mind, but when the Passions question came up, I had to ask what else he did if he didn't watch Passions.

Buffy was really good Tuesday night. I can now say I am pleased at how they brought her back.

I'm starting a game on DreamLyrics. I hope I can keep the game going. I get in moods, where I am all excited about running something, and then the excitement fades. So far, it hasn't faded much yet, but it's only been a couple days. See me in a month when it's actually work, and then ask me again. I'll have WEF, ATF, and this new game going. But I do feel a need to have another creative outlet, at least right now.

Watched West Wing last night. Lou got hooked last year, I'm sorta sucked in.

But I was cheesed last night at the end, the whole apology thing. It was mentioned earlier, but unless I missed something, I never saw anyone mention it to Bartlett, so for him to pick that out of thin air and apologize at the end just made me so pissed. It was perfectly scripted, at just the right time to pull everyone together -- it was just too staged. Ah well, maybe it's just the cynic in me coming to the fore.

I much prefer Buffy anyway, and what they're doing this year is just fantastic. I could have dealt with the first two episodes being squished into one; it felt too drawn out to me. But they're still a lot better than a lot of dreck that's on these days.

I have only had three character concepts for my new game, and I'm bummed. I was hoping for more. I still have a few more days until my deadline, but there was such original overwhelming interest, I'm thinking I just suck. My teasers must have been too confusing. I didn't want to give out a lot of details, but if I don't get any more responses, I may have to give out more.

All the Way. This is Loey's Early Bird Review of the episode, which I have started to read after the episode is shown. I don't want to be spoiled this year. But I want the Musical Episode, darn it!

I was so upset at the Old Man Kaltenbach getting killed. In retrospect, too, after the episode. This is the second time something like this has happened to me this year, and I'll be damned if I can remember when the first one was. Need to rewatch some episodes. But it was looking so like he was going to be the baddie, then switcheroo, he's not, just going to cut up some marshmellow squares, with cute little pumpkins on them. Waaah! Just thinking about this again is making me all weepy.

Joey Pants is on Roswell! Well, at least for a few episodes. Playing the latest incarnation of the shapeshifter. I may need to tape it next week while watching Smallville.

Watched "Once More, with Feeling" again today at lunch. It was even better on a second viewing.

The first time I saw it, about half-way through I thought that it seemed familiar to me. I finally realized, at the end, why it did. It reminded me of The Bitter Suite, from Xena. There were a lot of heavy, emotional issues on the table, and a musical helped clear the air.

But with Buffy, while everything is out on the table, there's no reassurance that everything is all right now. Next week should be interesting.

Thanks to Michael, I have all the songs from Once More With Feeling on CD. He found them on a german site, and burned them to CD. He brought it to WEF and I burned a copy of the CD. One of the songs is VERY loud though, so I'm going to try to talk to a guy at work about trying to hook these songs into our sound board and maybe adjusting the levels. Bringing the others up to the loud one's level would be best, because the others are really too quiet. But I've already listened to the whole thing twice at work. Had to stop otherwise I'd be shouting lyrics...and I wear headphones when I'm at the 'puter at work.

WEF went pretty well on Saturday. Dawn even showed, amaze amaze! Unfortunately, people left early, and the co-GM wasn't there, so I don't feel I got a lot done. Not a lot at all. sigh. Well, we'll work on that next month, when Jim also won't be there.

The day after my birthday, this past Thursday, it was 70 degrees in Providence. I was able to go to lunch with a friend and drive to and from with my windows down (blasting WBRU's Retro Lunch). And last night, it was snowing.

There's an old saying...if you don't like New England weather, wait a minute, it'll change.

Lou and I went to see Ocean's Eleven at an early show today. It was our lucky day...their computers were down for credit card processing, and so they comped us on the tickets, and then on the concession (Lou had gone to buy popcorn while I was getting tickets). So we got the movie, a large drink, a large popcorn, and Raisinettes for free. Lou joked that if he had known that, he would have gotten more!

We only had a dollar each, and the theater didn't have an ATM. Something they might want to think about adding in the future!

But the movie was definitely worth the price (how I usually rate movies)! It would have even been worth the $5.75 they would have charged. Fun, good movie, nothing spectacular, won't win any awards, but something that is worth watching at least once. Vaguely interested in seeing the first movie now, but not enough to make that big of an attempt. I just have a feeling I will like the remake a lot better than the first.

So I saw Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring on Wednesday. I wasn't foolish enough to see the midnight show -- I'm too old to stay up that late, even with a vacation day the next day. 3:00 a.m. is when it would have been over. I'd arranged for a bunch of friends and two co-workers (including my boss!) to go to the 11:00 a.m. show.

It was worth every minute of the wait. And I believe the next two will also be worth the year of wait to see them.

A beautiful feast for the eyes, and for the ears. Tolkien purists will despise it, those who can't get past the rewriting of their beloved god, JRRT. (I heard on Talk of the Nation on NPR yesterday a caller who walked out before they reached the Ford of Bruinen) I can accept the rewrites. I would have liked some things to remain the same, but others I don't mind. Merging Arwen and Glorfindel for one. No, it wasn't Arwen, Warrior Princess. But it was Arwen, Elf Lord.

I want to see it again. I'll even pay full price. It should be seen on the big screen. While I want to own it on DVD (my precioussssss), it will do a great injustice to put it on the small screen. Letterboxing will help, of course.

Little things I loved:

Legolas walking on top of the snow on Caradhras while everyone else was plowing through it;

Bilbo's face when he sees the Ring around Frodo's neck, and asks to hold it;

The Mines of Moria;

Sam running after Frodo as he was leaving alone, and Frodo pulling him from the water;

Gimli's and Legolas' faces as Aragorn invites them to hunt some orc;

I hadn't finished the reread of The Fellowship by the time I saw the movie (too many other things to do and read), but I am hoping to finish before I see it again.

Do yourself a favor. Go see it. Take a walk in Middle Earth. Relax and enjoy it. We can all use a bit of fantasy in our lives right now, and Peter Jackson gives it to us.

This is late, but it's still appropriate, methinks.

Sins of the Father has been shown! Thank the Lord!

FX has been advertising this movie since OCTOBER! Every commercial break on Buffy, which is on twice a night. I was SO ready for this to be over.

Don't get me wrong, I think the movie was important and probably a very good movie. But it was SO overhyped. They're even overhyping the replay next Sunday.

Sorta like the new iMac. It's cool, but not worth a week of hype on the front page of their website.

Supposedly someone got a script and posted a review, which says it kicks serious ass.

We'll see.

Survivor 4.

As some of you know, I sent in a tape for Survivor 3, but was not chosen. Hell, I wasn't even notified that they got my application and tape, other than the FedEx receipt. I missed getting in my application for this new one - totally missed deadline, didn't even see it at all. But after hearing that they are having NO food or fire given to them at all, I'm not that upset. Though spending the winter in the Marquesas sounds like fun.

I also missed out getting on Survivor 5, wherever that is. The deadline is today. I even had a (better) vague idea for my tape. But I never did it. I decided that they'd never accept me for health reasons.

I'm as blind as a bat without my glasses. I can literally see only three inches from my face clearly. And then there is my old C1 Esterase Inhibitor Deficiency, which is not bothering me currently. I think they want fully healthy people.

At least that's what I keep telling myself. I'll have to start making popblog entries for S5 when it begins at the end of this month. I didn't win at the office on 4, but I did have Kim picked, and she was 2nd place. Go me!

Schoolhouse Rock will be coming to DVD in July. Yay! Have to get a pre-order for that in soon.

I have the icky videos that put Cloris Leachman and a bunch of singing and dancing kids between the segments. If I want to watch one, I fast forward past those as quickly as possible.

And bonus! It will have a new segment written by the show's original creators! Woo-hoo!

Courtesy of ***Dave.

I'm so glad my old boyfriend gave me Remo Williams books to read and showed me the video. I missed this movie when it came to the theater, though I did want to see it.

Chiun gets the best lines. I watched it this morning while home sick. Very busy weekend made for very tired Julia, and tired Julia's get sick much quicker.

I did get to see Mamma Mia yesterday, which I will write up for a review for my pop culture blog soon. It was a lot of fun, very much a wacky romantic comedy musical, and if you have even a single fond memory of any Abba songs, treat yourself and see it on tour.

I'll also have more on the Letter Blog Game later today, for those who asked.

You can take a look at it here. If you have a problem viewing the link, refresh and/or cut off "index.html" from the end. Worked for me after a bit.

Looks like they downplayed the romance angle in this one, playing up the action. You get to see Mace Windu use that lightsaber his action figure came with.

Doesn't surprise me. Try to hook the chicks early, 'cause you know the geeks will see it anyway.

And is it just me, or can anyone not see this Jedi without thinking of Andy Dick at the Oscars from a few years back?

LotR:FotR DVD news

Scroll down on the page to get to it.

So now, the decision is:

August 6 - buy two disc set.

November 12 - buy 4 disc set.

Or wait until all three movies are out and buy mega-box set, which you KNOW will be released.

Or just buy every one as it comes out.

I'm going to see it again, hopefully this weekend. Saw it on Sunday, thinking that they'd already switched the last reel out. D'oh! But it was still good to see it for a second time. I was more moved by some scenes than I had been before.

This is a very interesting article on the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon from one of its designers/developers.

You want to know why Eric the Cavalier was so whiny? They made him that way. On purpose. And he always had to be wrong, in the end.

This is a cartoon, my friends, that I used to set my alarm for on Saturday mornings, because our local stations would show it, but only at 6:30 a.m. And I was so enamoured of it -- BEFORE I was into RPGs mind -- that I had to watch every episode. Even if I'd already seen it.

And of course, today I'm still haunted by Uni the Unicorn (who was voiced by Frank Welker, THE hardest working voice-over actor in the business. Go on, take a look at what he's done. Any place where there's an animal sound to be produced in a movie, HE's the guy they use. And I'm not just talking animated stuff, but ANYWAY...).

Lou's playing FFX, as I've noted here before. The main female character is named Yuna. But one of the other characters calls her Yunie. This wouldn't be a problem save one thing...they actually use VOICE actors in FFX, to deliver the lines as they are also typed on screen.

Any time I heard Rikku call her Yunie, I want to make that annoying nasal bleat that the frelling unicorn did, and I wonder where Bobby the Barbarian is.

Enough tangents. The original link is...

Courtesy of Ginger.

My Amazon package arrived today! Four romance novels, Diplomatic Immunity (which Lou will read first, probably starting tonight), and the FFX Soundtrack!

I will be ripping the latter in a few minutes, as soon as I rip open the plastic packaging.

Gee, this now, a Chow Yun Chat with Anne tonight, Spider-Man with Jack and Lou tomorrow (after a nice breakfast at Percy's), Rilla and Gevrok stuff with Jack and Lou for the rest of Saturday, and Sunday is relaxation, baby, and more FFX playing!

Had to redo a bunch of stuff last night (razza-frazza) because I did some stuff out of order, and never got the Aeon's Soul. Stupid me.

I talk about this game enough, I figured it's time I share some of the music with you.

I am nearing the part in Final Fantasy X where I get to participate in all the side quests, before going off to finish the game. I have been party spoiled (my own fault), but I have managed to not tell Lou.

This is the opening credits music. I think it's just beautiful and somewhat sad. Now that I have made it to the part of the game wherein the opening credits scene takes place (a departure from other FF games), I must say it is a perfect fit.

I will post more about this game when it's over, possibly on my Pop Culture blog. Hmm...reminds me, I should do a Spider-Man review...

Just caught the teaser trailer for The Matrix Reloaded. Excellent quality vid...beautiful images, makes me want it NOW.

Oh yeah, and he's back.

I watched it through once, then went through it frame-by-frame. Why do I have to wait for 2003??

Oh yeah, because they've gone through about thirty cast changes, or at least thirty attempts to get some great Hong Kong action stars to be in it, and they all saw the script and walked.

Plus, the Wachowski brothers decided they didn't need Woo-ping Yuen. (rolling eyes)

[though, IMDb notes that he's listed as the "action choreographer." Maybe they did get him back?]

Anyway, this will tide me over while I hide from the AotC spoilers.

I have seen it.

I enjoyed it.

More later when I've had time to digest (and maybe see it again...this weekend?), and read everyone else's reviews/comments/spoilers.

While I compose my thoughts and ideas for an Attack of the Clones review, I'll give you a little music to bounce your day through.

Ukulele de Chocobo, from the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack.

This is bright, and bouncy, and is the music played when you ride your chocobo around the countryside.

Enjoy!

Seclusion Has Left Lucas Out of Touch is a good article on why Attack of the Clones has failed to capture audiences like the first trilogy did.

It's not the first to make the argument that Lucas should leave the directing and acting to others. The Self-Made Critic pointed it out in his review of the movie, now on the website. (I get the reviews early in email)

I hope that George takes these commentaries, criticisms, reviews, what-have-you to heart. Write the story for III, Mr. Lucas. Then give it to another writer, and let another director helm your project.

Please. Before it's too late.

Courtesy of ***Dave and Brunching Shuttlecocks' Self-Made Critic, respectively.

Hell Yeah!

Tomorrow, starting verra early in the morning (well, not that early), 7:00 ET, Farscape is running non-stop until 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

Within this 24-hour marathon, are hours 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m., which compromise the last four episodes of Season 3. Hour 4:00 is the one I missed taping.

Yay!

My tape should be back tonight, which means I can rerecord the end of Season 3 on its proper tape, all episodes in order. And then come home, watch a few hours, and then go back and watch the missed episode (I get out of work at 4:00).

Go me! Go Farscape!

Who's your Daddy? D'Argo, tell him who his Daddy is!

Can I get a Hell Yeah?

Figured it was time for some more FFX music. I give you two of the saddest (I think) songs in the soundtrack. I have actually played through the first song, but the second one will come at the end, I know it will, just by its name.

Maybe I find these songs so compelling because I know their background. I'd be really interested in knowing what others think, hearing them out of context.

So, we have Revealed Truth and Someday the Dream Will End, for your listening pleasure.

These are from the third and fourth discs, respectively.

Two Towers Teaser Trailer was leaked out early, and available for download from mirror sites.

Enjoy!

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Update 06/27/02: Removed file and link to the trailer on my site.

The Digital Bits says:

Also, ADV has announced the DVD release of a Farscape: Season One box set to street on 10/29 (SRP $149.98). The set will feature all 22 episodes on 11 discs, packaged in 6 keep cases with a newly-designed slipcase box. Extras include episode commentaries, conceptual drawings, video profiles. Note that these are the same discs already available individually.

I have just the first two DVDs, now I can get a complete set in one box. Yay!

From the BBC come an article which states that Spielberg was refused an opportunity to direct a Star Wars episode by Lucas.

"I've asked him. He won't let me do one," said Spielberg in the interview.

But Lucas, please! Follow these instructions! For the sake of everyone who loves the Star Wars franchise!

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Once More, With Feeling

Looks like a September release from Rounder Records. Coolness.

Courtesy of ***Dave.

Buy One Book, Get Twenty-Two Free

The books to which the article is referring, if you don't click on the link, are the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.

Well, I can tell one Husband is going to be very happy. Not that we don't have all of these in paperback or hardcover already, but...

Me, I got about to the fourth book before the infodumps put me off entirely. Just can't stand books where the narrative breaks so that the author can spend paragraph after paragraph explaining some cool tech bit that he's written/discovered/created. Just tell me the damned story already!

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Farscape To End

"...Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to reach a broader audience, Farscape has been unable to grow beyond its core fan base. That, coupled with the extreme and growing cost of production, has led to the difficult decision to end the series at the conclusion of season four."

I can name three or four people who have just started watching it this year or late last. This is just so much frelling dren.

Courtesy of Farscape Lives' Livejournal.

Looks like John Kovalic is a fan of our favorite cancelled show.

Tachyon TV takes on the Farscape Cancellation in a brilliant parody, Crackers Do Matter.

Please read with a sense of humor, please.

While we may have to wait until October 9 for Birds of Prey, you can see the animated Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman on Gotham Girls.

Five episodes so far, five more to come!

Flash required to view.

David Kemper and Richard Manning discuss the cancellation, our efforts and where to go from here

That's it, Pat, Betsy, Kevin. I'm not going to loan you the tapes any more. Watch it on your own.

Damn. I had a Nielson book at one time. For a month, when I was living in Providence. We were supposed to write everything that we watched down in a book though - no box to automatically keep track of the shows we watched.

I will watch in January. Even if nothing ever happens, they will be the best 11 episodes ever.

I have faith.

In MOV format and in Real Player format.

Editing work calendar to include December 18 as a holiday.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

New Wallace & Gromit shorts are coming!

View Soccamatic or download it, courtesy of BBC News.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Wishing I was in Toronto right now...

Tanya Huff, a wonderful Canadian science fiction, fantasy and horror writer, is giving a talk at the University of Toronto on Oct 21.

I love to say that I gamed with Tanya once. A friend from my CIS days, Caroline Julian, knew Tanya and her partner Fiona Patton (now an author in her own right) and invited them to sit back in on a session with us when I was up visiting Carrie for the weekend.

Tanya patiently worked on a quilt while we gamed. She was very down-to-earth, and a great person. Fe was much more outgoing, though I'm sure a lot of that had to do with Fe's young knight character.

She's a great author (Fe's books I have, but they're a bit harder for me to get into) and one I highly recommend.

Courtesy of BoingBoing.

The Remote Controllers is a great article at the New York Times (free registration required) about Television Without Pity, and its impact on TV shows.

"...I don't overreact to the boards, but I pay real attention to messages that are thoughtful. If you ignore your customer, you do so at your peril.''

I just wish the Angel reviewer liked Wesley. He's SO much more interesting than the boring Angel. *sighs*

Pitchfork: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s

I have none of the top 10 albums. I've heard songs off of some of them, but I do not own the albums in any format.

Of the top 20, I think I had Purple Rain, #12, but don't have it anymore. I'm certain that was vinyl. Michael Jackson's Thriller (#27) was in the house, but I think it was my sister's. I have #30, U2's The Joshua Tree, on tape.

I just recently (within the past year) purchased #38, The Cure's Disintegration, on CD along with their greatest hits CD. While I love The Violent Femmes, the eponymous #36 was my brother's. I bought Hallowed Ground specfically for Country Death Song.

Ah, #46 (can you tell I'm browsing backwards?). XTC's English Settlement. My brother had this one, and this was my first intro to XTC. Love this album. My sister and I would listen to it all the time.

Well, that's the top 50. Wonder how many of the rest I'll have. *counts* Looks like 4. If I count in my siblings albums again.

Not buying any REM really didn't help my count. Then again, I'm not a critic, and I listened to and bought a lot of pop, which (with the exception of Duran Duran's Rio) doesn't seem to have made this list.

I'd like to see them do the top 100 songs of the 80s. Then I'd probably have a better ratio!

From the Wall Street Journal - If TiVo Thinks You Are Gay, Here's How to Set It Straight

Mr. Iwanyk, 32 years old, first suspected that his TiVo thought he was gay, since it inexplicably kept recording programs with gay themes. A film studio executive in Los Angeles and the self-described "straightest guy on earth," he tried to tame TiVo's gay fixation by recording war movies and other "guy stuff."

"The problem was, I overcompensated," he says. "It started giving me documentaries on Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Eichmann. It stopped thinking I was gay and decided I was a crazy guy reminiscing about the Third Reich."

Courtesy of Slashdot.

In a recent post on her OTHER LiveJournal, Cassie Claire said:

Most overrated story of mine: The Very Secret Diaries. Is that even a story? I guess it is. I just can't believe that anything which took .05 seconds to produce and was mostly written drunk could be that good...

I know some of my readers hate fanfic to death or beyond, but if you can stand it, do read her Draco Trilogy. I'm dying to talk to non-fandom people about it. And she's right. It has gotten SO much better as it's gone along.

I still need to read Chapter 11. I hear it has a surprise/controversial ending. *chuckles*

CNN.com - Gibson to appear in new 'Mad Max' film

It'll be called "Fury Road," at least according to this article on CNN. It'll be interesting to see what sort of flick this will be, considering how "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" ended.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

ScoopMe! - ...And to All a Good Night

I want to be Zoﾎ, and I want to marry Wash. Or the other way around. Whatever. I love this couple.

And here, I would like to think that I am sorta Zoﾎ, and I do know that I did marry my very own Wash.

Another reason to watch Firefly, oh yeah.

Oh, and to complete the ME (that Mutant Enemy, not *moi*) love...

I have to rip someone a new asshole for the image of Cordy and Connor humping that has left scar tissue in my brain and caused this uncontrollable twitching in my eyes.

Yeah, what was up with that idiocy? Did they not replace Cordy with the real? Is she a pod-Cordy? Gaaaah...

Courtesy of Doyce.

Return of the King 2003 Calendar

Such pretty pictures. Spoilers, maybe. No Éowyn spoilers, though I can understand that. The pic of her is good, but not good RotK Éowyn. But Frodo with the phial of Galadriel is just plain cool.

Courtesy of ***Dave.

EDITED 1/14/03: Someone posted the LJ to TORN. Needless to say, her bandwith went through the roof. All entries are friend/locked only now. So I've removed the links from this entry.

Some people are very lucky folks. They get "For Your Consideration" DVDs. And just what do you think they are considering, hmmm?

How does it feel to have an arrow aimed at your head?

More caps can be found at her livejournal, often behind the cuts.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been scheduled for a June 21st release date in Britain, Canada, Australia, and the US.

*checks off date on calendar*

Now if only Amazon would update their page for pre-orders...

I will post a more coherent review here later tonight when I get the chance to organize my thoughts. And maybe rewatch the episode and take notes.

But DAMN! if this isn't a great show! All new direction from here on out.

Doyce? Did you watch it? Please say you did...

The Letter Box is a campaign to make sure that JKR and WB understand that the Harry Potter novels aren't just for kids.

I was given the first HP novel some years back by Lou when I was panicking at our friends' house in North Carolina, as on Thanksgiving morning my upper lip swelled to, what seemed to me, to be enormous proportions.

HP helped distract me from my problems, well mostly. But I never bothered to go back and pick up the others for a long time. Just over a year ago, I read some Harry Potter fanfic, and that got me hooked to read the rest of the series.

Of all the people I know, more adults have read the HP stories than children. Most my nieces and nephews rarely read. My bookclub chose the first book as one of their choices last year.

Some of you may think that Ali's overreacting. You're entitled to that opinion.

But me, I'm writing my letter.

Buffy to end, but spinoff possible

Well, if Reuters has it, it must not be rumor, right?

I think it's best if it ends after this year. I have to applaud SMC for leaving, and not dragging it out another year.

Oh, and spoiler alert! Willow's supposed to show up on Angel. WB also hasn't announced it'll pick up Angel for a 5th season, but I think that WB'd be stupid to not. (then again...)

Oh, and Alias was picked up early for another season. Whoo!

''Daredevil'''s Jennifer Garner gets a spin-off

Sorry, Paula. Looks like she'll even be the dark Elektra too.

It's a terrible shame when shows like Firefly and Farscape get cancelled, and shows like Are You Hot Or Not? and Scare Tactics get made.

So, until Fox gets off its ass and shows the last three filmed and post-produced episodes of Firefly, you can go here and read the script for Heart of Gold, courtesy of an eBay auction winner.

Courtesy of Doyce.

Firefly Fans have the gag reel! Three mirrors currently up, and probably on Kazaa or Limewire or elsewhere as well.

Quicktime 6 needed to play it.

Firefly screen caps

They're just byootiful, too. Jaynestown! Objects in Space!

Am nowt downloading program to pull things off my ReplayTV, for caps and encoding of my own. I would need a faster connection, tho, this wireless is just so slooooow. If I was doing that. Which I'm not.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - American Cover

And just for completeness, the Brit Cover.

I must admit, I think I prefer the Brit covers to the US ones.

Farscape fans, have you seen this morning's UserFriendly?

I am planning on having a "last episode" fest this weekend. Just so you know. I have everything since "A Constellation of Doubt" saved to the ReplayTV. Have to get ACoD to tape, and then the rest to another tape.

*whimper*

Realized as we sat down to watch the last few eps of Farscape Saturday night, or at least start to, that we had seen the first episode of the We're So Screwed trilogy. So we watched the last two Saturday and the final episode, Bad Timing, last night after our game.

And I must start out with this: *blink* *blink*

Academy Award(R) Winning Animated Feature 'Spirited Away' Set to Open in Theaters Across the Country This Friday

And that should really be REopen. It was already released, just very, very limited. 151 screens, I think.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

I hereby absolve the SciFi Channel for cancelling FarscapeThe Invisible Man.

SCIFI.COM | Roar

Must. Clear. Space. On. ReplayTV. Tonight.

And, that was Heath Ledger? Where was my head? Why did I not recall this??

Ain't It Cool News

No release date yet, but Fox Home Entertainment will be releasing. It sports the entire season, including the unaired eps, in 16:9 glory and, most likely, in the "correct" order. With lots of goodies.

Squeeee!

The Two Towers Special Edition Length Confirmation

According to an interview in the Official Lord of the Rings Fanclub Magazine, Peter Jackson has confirmed that The Two Towers Special Edition will come in at a whopping 222 minutes in length, a total of 43 minutes added to the film (that's 24% more movie!). Nearly all of this new footage will consist of character scenes, including a good deal of Treebeard expansion and Huorns at Helms Deep.

So, do we have a release date on this yet?

I still haven't recovered from the switch to Daylight Savings Time.

I have a cold.

And Tuesday marked the 7th day of gaming in a row.

Last night it was dinner and Bulletproof Monk, which was fun. I was displeased at some of the editing choices during the fight scenes, but the rest of it made up for it. And Seann William Scott did better than I ever thought he would.

Game tonight, and then we have the entire weekend off of gaming. Inconceivable! But well needed.

It was 85 degrees yesterday, and today it is 36. Lou said he was able to watch the cold front come in and the temps dropped at least five degrees while he sat out front waiting for me to come out of work.

I've been thinking of starting a meme. Of course, now I've forgotten what it was I was going to do.

Jack has his 17" PB in hand, or so his away message tells me. Just in time for him to head to NYC with it. (He says it's "Tiny, yet huge.")

The Sluggybot (on Y!M and AIM) is hysterical.

I'm nearly caught up with UserFriendly since NaNoWriMo. Then I can start in on Sluggy. Woefully behind. Woefully.

Our cast iron skillet arrived from Amazon yesterday, and with it the two Berlin CDs (80's nostalgia, anyone?), and two DVDs: Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers: The Klendathu Campaign, which marks the full set that we have now. Have to reserve some time to sit down and watch them all; and 100 Girls, which Lou and I caught on cable a few months ago. It nearly made Lou late for his game, because he wanted to see how it turned out, so I Replay'd it so we could watch it, and then bought it for him on DVD. Very underrated film, I think. Not as much as, say, Can't Hardly Wait, but still rewatchable.

Still haven't gotten Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets yet, but maybe that'll be a WalMart pick this weekend.

Current Music: More Shouting / Bloke In A Dress from the album "Unrepeatable" by Eddie Izzard

The new Hulk trailer is out.

I have to admit, you really can tell the Hulk is CGI. That doesn't mean I won't go see it, of course.

::sings quietly, "Doc Bruce Banner, pelted by gamma rays, turns into the Hulk..."::

[Edited to include the MP3 version of the original song. Is it Pelted or Belted? You make the call!]

Alias - The Complete First Season

September? I have to wait until September?? ::wails::

EXCLUSIVE: THE TWO TOWERS DVD ANNOUNCED! Menus, video, and more!

I'm still waiting for November, though. Maybe a rental.

Oh. My. God. (spoilers below)

I can't handle this sort of thing. Squeeing over X-Men 2 at the beginning of the weekend, living and enjoying the high and starting to fall into another fandom...

And then to have it all come to a screeching halt, watching the last two episodes of Alias this season.

Is J.J. Abrams that much of a masochist? Yes, yes he is.

I had no one online to discuss the episodes of Alias with as they happened. So I took notes. I found myself yelling at the TV screen during the first hour, and decided that I'd write down the timestamps and my reactions to the second hour.

It rambles. It is fangirly screaming. But it was me for two hours last night, ending with me drained and spent, and too worked up to get to sleep right away.

Damn. What the FRELL is he trying to do to us??

Other than the above and below....I. Have. No. Words.

RUMOR only, alas

(ROTK) is indeed, far and way better than both Fellowship and Two Towers. It was a 4 hour, 20 minute cut of the film. Feeling that he has proven audiences will gladly sit for 3 hours of quality cinema, Peter Jackson will try to leave the film's 1/6 of a day total time as is.

So, my iTrip arrived on Friday. Too bad I was already on my way to The Black Road and couldn't use it, but I expect it will start getting more use now.

Unfortunately, it looks like it was designed for use with the original iPods, that didn't have covers for the FW port. So I'll either have to turn it to the side or force the cover to be open a bit more than I would like. *sighs* Also got a FW power adapter, though it's unnecessary in the Matrix, as it has the power converter. But we'll be taking the van to North Carolina, which doesn't have the converter and will be the place where we'll be likely to use an iPod for the longest period of time.

The Black Road was a lot of fun, even if I did see my husband in all the game slots he played in, and I did game with almost the same group the entire weekend. :) This is my last year being involved with the con. Con Chair for two years, and web slave for the past two, I've just burned myself out on Amber (though am not letting go totally) and really just didn't want to be involved anymore. Hopefully a year break will revitalize me enough that I will attend next year. I mean, I had fun this year, right? Even if I didn't really play in any "traditional" Amber games.

And I was quite pleased that the Apology Pigs managed to make their way from the Friday night slot into many other game slots. Lou played an excellent Zim, and I had fun as Dib. Also played in Jack's Amberclaw, which used dice (Horrors!!), and was a good first try. I think it could be better with a bit more work (but who was expecting Caine to hijack the plot?), but it appears Jack is trying for something else next year, which could also be a lot of fun.

I didn't know a lot about this movie going into it, and I was very glad that I didn't. To know a lot about this movie has the potential for spoiling the movie for the viewer, I think. So this review isn't so much of a review as a recommendation. Maybe in a few weeks or so I'll post a longer review on my Popblog.

That said, I really do recommend that you see this movie. It's clever, dark, dangerous, and highly entertaining. Identity is by far the best movie I've seen this year, and that includes seeing X2 (still the current obession, so much so that I watched Sugar and Spice today just to see James Marsden without the goggles) and Matrix Reloaded.

I definitely want to see it again, and want to drag Lou this time (went with Pat and Betsy). And Pat and I are working on making a game of this for the next TBR. That should tell you something!

E D D i E i Z Z A R D . C O M :Tour Dates US/Canada

*puts October dates in Boston on calendar, and makes note to discuss with Lou what date we want to attend*

We have three tickets for the closing night show at the Shubert Theater in Boston, October 25th. Lou, Jack, and me.

Center Orchestra, K101, 102, and 103. Right on the aisle.

Whoo!

Nothing can make me feel better like $200 worth of Amazon bits and bobbles.

I have in a neat cardboard box under my desk:

Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (THE Letters Game novel. Still makes me want to do one. Tried once, didn't quite work out. *sighs*)

Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris (third in her Southern Vampire mystery series. Think Anita Blake without as much sex. Okay, very little sex. And a telepathic heroine)

A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin. This is for Lou, who is reading these. I will read them myself when they're all out. They're just my kind of thing, but I have too much reading to handle now to start another large series.

Tithe: A Modern Fairy Tale, by Holly Black. Will probably give it to Lou first to read, since he can probably read it in an afternoon. Then I'll dive into it myself. When I'm done with Someplace to be Flying.

The Field Guide (Spiderwick Chronicles #1), by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. Will probably pour over this tonight!

Long Hot Summoning, by Tanya Huff. Also, probably throw this at Lou first. Maybe I can get to it by the weekend, maybe next week. Should be a light, quick read.

The Ultimate Toy Box: 3 Disc Collector's Set of Toy Story 1, 2, and a supplemental disc DVDs. Maybe tomorrow night, we'll take this for a spin. If not, at least I can say I got it before Disney pulled it! Anne recommended this over the set with just the two DVDs of the movies. Am glad I listened to her.

Angel - Season 1 DVDs. Doyle, how we miss ye. But Rogue Demon Hunter Wesley! w00t!

Buffy - Season 3 DVDs. The Wish. Dopplegangland. The Zeppo. Earshot. *rubs hands gleefully together*

and of course, finally...

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Widescreen Edition) DVD. Yes. Am bad fan. Had not bought this yet! But tonight, it goes in the DVD player, if only to watch the deleted scenes!

NP: Homer's Barbershop Quartet (Medley) from the album "Songs In The Key Of Springfield" by The Simpsons

Harry Potter audio cookie! Here! RealAudio MP3, courtesy of Amazon.

For those who don't want to be spoiled, skip this entry. But there is a tiny cute thing that I put in the extended entry. :)

I must say...I am shocked. Appalled. Horrified.

Lou IM'd me this morning (he's doing his summer conference this week, but the college is a 10 minute drive, so he's staying at home until he needs to leave) to tell me that Night of the Comet is on TV.

He also adds that we should get that on DVD. I agree. I go to Amazon, to try to find it.

Nothing.

Okay, maybe it's on VHS.

Nothing.

Oooookay, let's go check on IMDb.

And there it is, telling me the awful truth. Night of the Comet is unavailable. In any format.

To quote my husband..."What mad world have we fallen into?"

That's it. I'm going to pull out my movie quote quiz again.

I have a question for any iPod users out there...

I currently sync my iPod to my Mac at work. It has all my playlists, all my music, just the way I like it.

I've copied a number of files to the hard drive portion of the FW drive. I would like to be able to give these files to my husband, who has a 12" PowerBook. He also has an iPod.

If I plug in my iPod to his Mac, while logged in as him, will it start to sync my iPod to his iTunes playlist? Can I just get it to be a FW drive, and if so, how do I do it? Just plug it in?

I haven't wanted to do that for obvious reasons.

*looks around for a category to put this under, decides on Entertainment*

Firefly Unaired Eps Reviewed

"I shudder to think that bobble-head dolls still exist 500 years from now."

Me too. Me too.

I shouldn't be surprised. Really. I was there through Farscape. I know about Invisible Man. I'm not naive. Really.

The Scifi Channel has taken Roar of its schedule for now, with the last two episodes still unaired. The last two of the five that were never before shown in the US.

I had wondered why the Replay didn't record last night. And a quick search of the guide showed no Roar eps at all.

I can only hope for a DVD release someday. I won't buy nth generation copies off of fans outside the US. Though I did get to read the synopses of the last two eps. And let me tell you, The Cage should have been the season ender. No doubt about it.

So, anyone out there going to a midnight sale of the newest Harry Potter book, or am I the only idiot out here in the blogosphere?

Finally found our copy of Goblet of Fire today. Right in the (near) open, too. Must have gone unnoticed because it actually had the dustjacket on it. Won't have time for a full reread, alas, but I will do some skimming.

Man, if there's one thing I hate about this (slightly modified) default layout for MT is that when the entries go, the formatting is all messed up. So, it's back to putting a certain number of entries on the page, so that I can at least keep some of the content there.

So, Jenn asked...

So. Are you now a happy sated idiot?
Is the book good?

A quick reply:

I am a sated idiot.

Yes, the book is good.

More will go into the cut later, when I have a few minutes to write it up.

Okay, no blogging for days, then a spate of blogging!

No real spoilers here, but a teaser poster for RotK that features Aragorn and the Sword-That-Was-Broken (and not hastily re-glued, since it's taken them THREE MOVIES to show it).

December? ::sighs, taps foot impatiently::

EDIT, also, desktop images.

::stares at Aragorn/Viggo while (trying) to work::

Boy, does this game suck!

Okay, it's not really that bad, but it has more bugs than ANY other TR game before it. The other games had small glitches here and there, and some stuff you could exploit, like the corner bug.

This game, so far, has seen Lara float upwards into the side of the Louvre, for no apparent reason that Lou and I could discern. After looking around in/through the wall for a minute or so, she floated back down.

There was also the ledge glitch. In one certain area, you were supposed to jump up from a platform that rose and lowered, catching the ledge when the platform was at its peak, and pull Lara upwards.

We could catch the edge, but we couldn't pull her up. And we also couldn't move her from side to side. She appeared to be actually floating about a foot or two (her perspective) above the ledge she was grabbing onto. Lou finally got a hold of the ledge by standing in a very specific spot and jumping.

Heh. And now, after we've done the whole archeological dig site, and are fleeing the Louvre, the game just totally seized up. Never had that happen with a PS2 game before. Eidos and Core really should have endured the further wrath of fans and waited to put out a less glitchy game. It's not like you can patch a PS2 game to fix bugs.

But we're still playing, and for the most part, still enjoying it. The controls are very different from the past games, and I don't think I will do well when I get a chance to play (I already tried to get us through one very badly setup area, and did not enjoy the new controls). But we usually play with Lou controlling Lara and me looking around for the things he missed, and it works well for us that way.

Edited to add: Oh my god! Kurtis Trent has the best introductory cut scene EVER! I so want him right now. To play him, I mean. Yeah. That's what I meant.

Well, it's been coming for a while now. The power supply on my laptop has pretty much kicked the bucket.

I've found a place online to send it to me (for a price, of course), and I've next-day aired in. I would have had them send it 2nd day or more, but the battery is worn down to nothing due to poor planning on my part, so I really need it, like, NOW.

I'm using Lou's laptop to post this, and may use the desktop some tomorrow night (or his laptop again, if he doesn't take it to the game). But my normal email and 'net access are inaccessible now, and I'll have to rely on work access and webmail in the meantime.

I've been promising this here for a while now. And since I've just added the spoiler tag, I would ask that if you are replying in the comments, please use it, so that other people can guess without reading your answers first!

That's one thing I like about Livejournal better, but I do still love MT.

To use the spoiler tag, please put <span class="spoiler"> before your replies, and </span> following them. Once all the quotes have been correctly identified, I'll go in and remove the spoiler tags so you can more easily see the responses.

No prizes for this, except wallowing in your own geekitude. Please refrain from using Google or the IMDb until after you've given it at least one go. Onward to the quiz!

EDIT: Okay, the spoiler span in the comments isn't working. I'm looking into the sanitize spec now...

EDIT^2: Okay, spoiler span fixed. And I must give a shout-out to MT Wiki, which gave me just the perfect solution for this, and is an awesome resource.

So yeah, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

Spoilers in the cut!

I'd go see it again, but League opens this weekend, so ...

And the trailer for Haunted Mansion? Eddie Murphy is SO going against his comic routine! Doesn't he recall his Delirious show? Black people in a haunted house? *whispered voice* "GET OUT!" "That's right, we be leaving." *shakes head* Boy, has Disney scraped the bottom of the barrel when they're doing movies based on rides.

Hey folks! I'd like to thank Doyce and Boulder Dude for participating. The spoiler tag didn't work as well as I thought it might, since on the Mac everything was open after the first answer. *pouts* Ah well. next time. If there is one.

Here are the answers to the quotes! Hope you two had fun, since no one else seemed interested. I doubt I'll do it again. :)

FilmForce: IGN FilmForce Exclusive: Farscape May Be Ready for a Return

One can only hope!

Carly Simon to auction off information about just who she was singing about in "You're So Vain" in charity auction.

Along with serving up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and vodka on the rocks, CARLY will reveal to ONE of you WHO the song was written about!!?!!

You know, if I had the money, I think I'd win the auction just to tell Carly I didn't want to know.

Yeah, I'm perverse that way.

If so, perhaps you should read a bit more on what got left out. Not of the ending, mind. But of earlier in the script.

And Norrington's first name is James.

EDIT 08/15/03: Since the link is dead, a copy is provided in the extended entry.

Texting blamed for summer movie flops

But those days are over, because the technology of hand-held text-message devices has drastically cut down the time it takes for movie-goers to tell their friends that a heavily promoted summer action movie is a waste of time and money.

They do admit that movies this summer are arguably as bad as movies 5 summers ago.

I wish there was a way to search by release date (not just year) on the IMdb. Because I think I could argue this point.

Courtesy, also, of Slashdot.

The Matrix: Revolutions Trailer is online.

From Variety, which is a paid subscription website so I'm not going to link to it, comes this news:

New Line Cinema will re-release The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, with additional scenes and footage added, just two weeks before the worldwide December 17 release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

More info in the cut. Now I just need to find a place that is going to show them all on the 16th. A place with comfortable seats. Oh yes.

You know, if they'd kept this (QT, low res) (QT, high res) scene in the movie, people wouldn't have been so confused as to why Jean left the X-Jet. More links to deleted clips (including WMV formats) can be found here.

Joss Whedon ... is adapting his short-lived television series Firefly into a feature film for Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

WHOOO!!!!!!

Sometimes, I wish I did live in California.

Stewie: Why am I running for governor? What business is it of yours? I tell you why I'm running for governor. I want to see tax dollars in California spent the way they are meant to be spent: On a weather machine, with which I can blackmail the world into making me absolute ruler. Does that answer your question, you filthy, wicked drag-your-tail drunkard?

And it looks like they're doing a direct-to-DVD release as well! Whoo!

EDIT: Another interview here from Maxim Online, complete with sound (via Flash, and a bit distorted) bites, including quotes on other candidates, and poopy Pampers.

I want to know whose decision it was to put nearly all the programming I want to watch this year on the same night at the same time. Because, you know, I'll go stab them repeatedly.

It definitely is going to give me an up on getting another ReplayTV box. Because you can do show streaming from multiple places in your house. Whooo!!

"See, hon, we could Replay Smallville and Angel on the living room Replay, and watch them there, and then in the bedroom we can be Replaying Ed and West Wing, and then we can still watch them in the living room, whenever we have the time." (like on the other nights of the week that have sucky programming. But not Sunday. You'll not take my Alias from me!!)

Oh yeah!

Of course, that does mean Jake 2.0 is still out of the loop, having no other TV or cable box on which to record. Okay, that's not true. We do have another TV, on the floor of my closet. but UPN doesn't come in well without cable. Station's too far away.

So it'll be back to VCR tapes in the bedroom for Ed and West Wing, which we'll have to try and schedule a time to watch each week. We fell away from Ed and taped but never ended up watching West Wing, but with Carol and Ed together, Lou has more incentive to watch it now! And West Wing...we'll see how well they do sans Sorkin.

Survivor: Pearl Islands is also on the list, but will likely be VCRd in the bedroom, so that I can take the tape to work and watch it during "Survivor Lunch" on Fridays, since Anne and I will be taking our second "Writing the Romance" course at Brown on Thursdays this fall.

Anyone else out there watching Survivor? Anyone think Rupert is Survivor's own Hagrid? :)

Wow. Just ... wow.

And though I am devoted to my editor, I always had mixed feelings about this process of receiving her comments and responding to them.

After the publication of the The Queen of the Damned, I requested of my editor that she not give me anymore comments. I resolved to hand in the manuscripts when they were finished. And asked that she accept them as they were. She was very reluctant, feeling that her input had value, but she agreed to my wishes. I asked this due to my highly critical relationship with my work and my intense evolutionary work on every sentence in the work, my feeling for the rhythm of the phrase and the unfolding of the plot and the character development. I felt that I could not bring to perfection what I saw unless I did it alone. In othe words, what I had to offer had to be offered in isolation. So all novels published after The Queen of the Damned were written by me in this pure fashion, my editor thereafter functioning as my mentor and guardian.

I am perfect. I need no editor.

Well, if she keeps selling as she does, there must be some truth to it. I'd heard that once authors "made it," they stopped being edited, or at least edited so much. Now I hear that it is true. At least for one.

The mind...boggles.

I give unto you the Borg MegaCube, containing every ST:TNG episode for all seven seasons. That's 48 discs. Limited to 1,000 numbered copies.

For ｣449.99. Or about $750 USD.

Since the didn't show it with The Rundown this weekend (which was hysterical and I really do recommend it), I am forced to download it to watch at work.

Now, to schedule a time to see Secondhand Lions so I can see the new trailer in the theater....

Trailer courtesy of Slashdot.

Bard's Tale Announced for the PC.

Bard's Tale I was the first CRPG I ever played. I loved it, adored it. I can still hum the bard's "Robin's Song" or whatever it was called. I must admit, it wasn't until much, MUCH later that I heard where they got it from.

When I moved out of my mom's house to move in with Lou, I found the stacks of graph paper that were the original maps I'd made of the dungeons of BT. I believe I threw them out, but I diligently mapped every dungeon.

I participated in my first ever online chat with game designers based on this game. My brother and I signed on to Compuserve (and that's where the handle "Dazzler" came from, from him) to get hints. I distinctly recall asking in the chat WHY there were no female characters in the game.

Bard's Tale II, with its outdoors environment, didn't thrill me at all. I wanted more dungeons, dammit! So I played it a little, but not much.

This new Bard's Tale, from the screens, are definitely not the same old, same old. Of course, with the graphics advances since then, I'd not expect it to be!

Ah, the good old days.

The Lord of the Rings: Trilogy Screenings

Anne, how many tickets are we going to buy? :)

Tickets purchased for me, Anne, and Jack.

Starts at 1:15 p.m., which I'm hoping means that they're allowing for food breaks between films! Otherwise, it will be whatever they have at the concession counter... ::shudders::

You know, it's not often that one can say that one of their friends' stories is in an anthology with authors such as Neil Gaiman, Poppy Z. Brite and Barbara Hambly, among others.

So, the occasion should definitely be marked by something. Like a blog entry. And encouragment.

So go and buy Shadows over Baker Street, edited by Michael Reaves and John Pelan, and support your fellow Amber player and GM, and soon-to-be-famous published author!

It is really just a rumor or maybe wishful thinking at this point, but talk has started for the originally-mentioned-but-later-denied Episodes VII, VIII, and IX of the Star Wars Trilogy.

But now, the source told Dark Horizons, "apparently there is some talk, even to the point of [Steven] Spielberg—who was interested in doing [Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones] at one point—stepping in for Lucas, who may want to write, but probably won't want to direct."

Let George come up with the storyline, please. Then let someone else write.

The source added that it's possible Lucas could strike a deal with writer/director Frank Darabont, who is writing the script for the proposed fourth Indiana Jones movie, to write the sequel scripts.

This is the thing that really makes me think it's wishful thinking on the "source's" part. Because Lucas wouldn't give up control of I, II, or III, why would he do it for the later movies?

Ah well, just something to tide me over before Star Wars: Clone Wars begins.

Courtesy of SciFi Wire.

In the OMGOMGOMG category...

...we know for a fact that tomorrow afternoon The Jim Henson Company will host a press conference concerning the future of FARSCAPE.

If not a series, then we can only hope for a movie.

*crosses fingers and toes and anything that can be crossed*

Courtesy of Scapers LJ.

"Family Guy" may return.

In a sign of the growing importance of DVD sales to Hollywood, 20th Century Fox is considering a plan to resume production of Family Guy, a sometimes crude animated comedy that the Fox network took off the air more than 18 months ago.

And, though I'm sure you've all heard, Farscape returns for a miniseries.

Farscape, cancelled last year by the SCI FI Channel, will return as a 4 hour mini-series.

Now, we just have to make sure that Captain Tightpants gets his day in the sun.

Did you know that the album art is somehow stored on an iPod?

I put album art in iTunes using Clutter this morning, on Ginger's recommendation.

And suddenly, Euterpe couldn't hold all the playlists she'd just been holding.

Quoi? I wondered. I removed a playlist, and then my entire iTunes list resynched.

Everything I'd added art to, suddenly was "new" on Euterpe, and needed to be re-added. Adding in more album art later proved that I needed to lose another playlist.

This is just annoying! There is NO WAY to view the art on the iPod, so why does it add to the size of the song?

Not Happy. Other than having almost all my cover art now in iTunes, that is. I'm happy about that.

NP: Tennessee from the album "Fat City" by Shawn Colvin

I love complete seasons on DVD. Still need to get Buffy 5 and Firefly (maybe for Christmas?), but until then, I'll just keep adding them to my Amazon wish list.

Oh! How did I not know that this was out?

::puts on wish list::

I'm already tearing up just looking at (SPOILER ALERT!) this (SPOILER ALERT!) photo. I must remember to bring extra tissues tomorrow.

And I'm not one who cries a lot at movies. It has to hit me at the right moment. But this scene in the book always gives me chills. I can't wait to see it on screen.

Some good news - it appears that RotK is going to start at 10:00 p.m., meaning we should be home by 2:00 a.m. at the latest. Bad news is that there's no outside food allowed, and our Line Party is an unofficial one, since National Amusements Cinemas frown on that sort of thing.

Second breakfast after the movie at Denny's, though. I think I'll just save mine for when I get up later.

A Lord of the Rings and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical Adventure. Not quite complete yet, but getting there!

I think I know where I'll be headed in August.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - The Exhibition - Museum of Science, Boston.

On August 1, 2004, the Museum of Science will open the much-anticipated The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy—The Exhibition. The Museum will be the U.S. premiere site for this international touring exhibition.

Thoughts and commentary on the movie coming later. Maybe much later. I am still digesting it all.

But I do agree with what a friend of mine said, when she saw it at a press premiere...

Fucking wow.

Invader Zim comes to DVD on May 11.

Prepare to meet your doom! Or sing the doom song!

If Christina Hendricks is in your show, she's going to be the bad guy.

I just watched last week's Tru Calling, and the minute I recognized Saffron, I knew that Tru was barking down the wrong path.

TV's 'Captain Kangaroo,' Bob Keeshan dies

*sniffles*

I did grow up watching him and Mr. Green Jeans.

Rest in peace, Bob Keeshan.

'Rings' characters discuss Oscar snub.

Very amusing. I was hoping Sean Astin would get a nod, but not surprised he didn't. It truly was an ensemble cast, which always makes the Oscars get funky.

Angel is not being renewed by the WB.

Movie events? How about just another plain good season, like last, and this one is shaping up to be?

Stupid fuckers.

I got my check for $13.86, did you?

I have become a poker fan. (I've actually become a Howard Lederer fangirl too) I still am cheesed at myself for missing out on the Texas Hold'em game I saw running at the Sahara when we were in Vegas (that had a full table alas, and I was so busy losing my money at Blackjack when we went back that I forgot to check for poker games).

It all started with the Celebrity Poker Showdown on Bravo, which then followed with a marathon of the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel during Christmas break. That's when I saw Howard Lederer win at Foxwoods (if I'm remembering correctly), an Indian gaming casino located about an hour's drive from me.

I'm planning on watching the last half of the WPT on Wednesdays this year. Not watching the first half because Angel is on, at least for this season, at 9:00 p.m.

But what I really want to do is play. Penny poker, with some friends. We've got a lot of pennies in a container at home, we could make it work.

If I could find a night to do it. And people who wanted to play Texas Hold'em.

Jesus: Wait a second. [puts down cross]
Off Camera: What is it?
Jesus: [wipes right eye] There’s something in my eye.
Simon: Oh my God, it’s a mote.
Off Camera: [laughter]

I'm sure they'll never make it onto the DVD, but I thought them very funny, and that's just the text transcript.

Courtesy of DJ's LJ.

Farscape Mini Series News

We once again have assumed the identity of the Henson Creature shop in Sydney and are in the final throes of the Farscape Mini Series, only a couple of weeks to go till completion. We have produced 22 episodes worth of work in 4 mini-movies, so get ready for Farscape on Acid! It's been an experience we will never forget.

I can't wait!

The New York Times Magazine [free registration required] has an interesting article on the man behind Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and how the film came to be.

June 25th is the release date. It seems so far away...

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Neurotic Fishbowl: Burn It - The Spring 2004 Edition

If I don't have enough covers (not likely, considering the number of cover albums I have), I'll just bug Jack for a few songs.

Thanks to Ginger for pointing it out.

I've gotten my BurnIt recipient list, and I ended up having to pare down the playlist I'd created. I think I was over by three songs, and damn me if I can't remember what the three songs were before I tossed them. *sighs*

Now, I just have to figure out how to put it in a good order. I've made Anne a preliminary CD, and we'll see if she thinks the order is good or not.

And now I am totally thrilled by using Clutter, no matter how much I whined about it earlier. The mosaic is just beautiful, and will definitely be included, printed out on our nice color laser printer, with the jewel case and another page with complete song listing.

Kenya, the live-action version. Or maybe it's the furry version.

They need to have the "Holy Crap. Lions! Tours" on the side of their "bus," though.

*whew*

Not only did Lou like the series finale of Angel, he actually got a lot of the bits that many folk, like me, missed.

I was worried there, that he might be in the "I don't like it" camp.

And he didn't like the Smallville finale as much as me, but then again, I'm not as big a classic comic fan as he is.

ETA: Lou told me this morning that it wasn't that he didn't like the finale. I just thought it would be an excellent series ender, if they weren't renewed. He didn't think so, because it's not, to him, Superman.

I think the main thing people are forgetting when they're talking about the Star Wars movies, is that after the first, Lucas was only involved as the story writer.

MSNBC - Can 'Star Wars: Episode III' be saved?

I do not think that Hayden Christensen needs to be axed. I think he can do it, if put in the hands of a talented director with an excellent script to back him. Hell, I didn't think Leonardo DiCaprio could act, until I saw him in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, and then I wondered what had happened, since that was an early film of his. Plus, if Steven Soderbergh can get top quality acting out of Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight), then I'm certain someone can do it for Christensen.

And we all know that Natalie Portman can act. Well, anyone who has seen The Professional/Léon knows it.

Come on, George! Give it up! While there's still time! Like I asked once a few times before!

Courtesy of Slashdot.

I started watching Sweet Home Alabama earlier tonight. It's a movie the husband and I saw a few years ago, in Virginia, actually, at a friend's wedding. We went down early to meet his fiancée and spend some time with them before the wedding, but they had things to do to prepare and we had a lot of free time.

So we went and saw the movie, as romantic comedies are favorites of both of us, believe it or not. I recall as we left the theater, that we talked about Patrick Dempsey's role in this movie, and how Reese Witherspoon's Melanie seemed to be really in love with him. And when it came down to it in the end, she chose Jake instead of Andrew. And Andrew thought about it when she made her choice, smiled at her, and left her to her choice.

He didn't get mad, he wasn't jealous, he just smiled and walked away.

Tonight, I got up about halfway through the movie to do the dishes in the kitchen. Our dishwasher finally broke in what appears to be a non-repairable way two weeks ago tomorrow, and the landlord hasn't done anything to fix it yet. So the dishes tend to pile up until one of us (and that's usually not me, alas) breaks and does the pile.

It was while washing those dishes that my mind wandered to a lot of places. And where it ended up, as I was down to my last few items, was this...

I want my Sweet Home Alabama sequel.

Most people wouldn't think that the movie needed a sequel. It had a happily ever after ending, and there was nowhere for the characters to go, unless they want to break them up.

But it's not Melanie and Jake I want a sequel for. I want one for Andrew Hennings. I want him to find love again, and have his happily ever after ending.

They do this in romance novels. If "Sweet Home Alabama" had been a romance novel, the next book would likely be Andrew's book. He was a plot device in the first book, the thing that drives the heroine into the arms of the hero. But he also was left hanging. And he wasn't the villain. If anything, his mother (played to the hilt by Candace Bergin) was, for trying to keep Melanie and Andrew apart. Even though Andrew wasn't the hero.

I know I'll never see it. Hollywood wouldn't see bankability in the follow-up story of a semi-successful movie. But in the romance field, his story would come. Readers would demand it. The author would have written that into the proposal, a two or three-book deal. Perhaps the third would deal with Andrew's sister (if he had one), or perhaps his bride's brother or sister. Melanie was an only child, and there's no mention of siblings for Jake, and most of the other characters are married.

I want my sequel. And I'll never see it, alas.

When, after you've made two CDs because you had too much to fit on one for the Burn It Covers Edition, you realize that there is yet another song you could have put on it that was a cover that you completely forgot about.

Not that I don't have enough covers to fill up a few more CDs if I wanted to. But this wasn't from a covers album. It was the Indigo Girls doing Dire Straits' "Romeo And Juliet," and I'd just ripped a bunch of Indigo Girls CDs after I realized I only had the one live set here at work.

But hey, I am doing their cover of "Midnight Train to Georgia" in my CD set.

Now, to buy more CDs at Staples so I can finish burning by Friday!

She's done it for Troy, Van Helsing, and others, and made it onto BoingBoing, and now she's doing it for our latest disaster movie.

The Day After Tomorrow in Fifteen Minutes

As I mentioned before, I made more than one CD. But in looking back now, I realize it will likely seem that I'm a huge Eagles, Dolly Parton, and Elton John fan, but that's not quite true. I was trying for the unique takes on songs, and these artists had the most covers like that.

I mailed the CDs out on Saturday, media mail, so it may take a few more days for them to get to everyone. Ginger, I'll bring your CDs to TBR.

In the cut, you'll find the track listing for both CDs.

A good interview with St. Alton is located at Wired online.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Especially seeing as I'm playing Aeryn in Firescape at The Black Road...

First promo images from Farscape: Peacekeeper War and
More promo shots from Farscape: Peacekeeper War

Once upon a time, the members of the RPGames forum on Compuserve had gatherings in the northeastern United States (and Toronto!). We'd go to each other's houses, and sit and game and chat and watch laserdiscs/videos and listen to music and chat some more. All weekend long.

At the last one at the house I lived in in Portsmouth, it was called Rivendell. Likely because of it's large size and ability to accommodate everyone, including some in their own rooms.

I moved out on my own, and my mother sold Rivendell a few years later. We were the first family to own it. And now the second family to own it have put it up for sale.

I need some better exterior pictures than that. But that's the house I grew up in. It's what I considered my home for most of my life. If I had the money, I'd buy it, just to have it. But as you can see, it's going for a bit more than the average vamily can afford these days. Almost twice as much as my mother sold it for lo those years ago, IIRC.

Ah, nostalgia.

I'll move the main review into the extended entry, to avoid spoilers. But here's the one line review.

This movie was completely adequate. Average. Nothing special.

In PoA, Remus Lupin has a wonderful love of swing music. He plays one song during the boggart DADA scene, and he also has some background music playing in his office at the end.

Google has provided me with "Sing Sing Sing" by Glenn Miller (or maybe Benny Goodman, or maybe Swing Swing Swing?) for the DADA class, but I'm still stumped when he's talking to Harry at the end.

If only my father were still alive, I'm sure he'd recognize it right off the bat.

And before you ask, NO, it's not in the credits or on the soundtrack.

A good speech, even though she calls it "grunting." Amusedly so, but still, I wish I could grunt as eloquently as she does.

Ursula K. Le Guin's BookExpo America Speech

Courtesy of Sarah.

FilmForce: An Interview with Stephen Colbert

Not only did he play D&D, he mentions some of my favorite authors, and even geeks out, from memory, on LotR quotes on Faramir. Of course, the interview is from last August, before the Return of the King came out.

J.J. Abrams, creator and executive producer of the ABC spy series Alias, told SCI FI Wire that he remembers the exact moment when he realized the show had gotten off track this past season.

Yay! He realized that he lost Sydney, and thereby lost a lot of the show! Let's just hope he fixes this in the right manner.

The Washington post (free registration required) had an article on the battle TiVo has ahead of it to allow its users to download TiVo shows to their PCs. One of the issues Hollywood has is that then users can share shows.

TiVo's Plans Lead to Fight On Copyrights

Of course, ReplayTV has this capability with the wonderful DVArchive, and thanks to Poopli, we can already share shows across the internet. I think my record now is 5/5, for shows received and sent. (The Cowboy Bebop movie I recorded and never actually got to watch rocked me right up on the send score)

Personally, I'm waiting for the integration of the DVR unit with the cable box. Unless I can find another Replay unit for $100, I'll be content with the one I have.

For Lou, because I thought he might be interested in this. And anyone else, actually. FilmForce: IGN Interviews Alan Tudyk

Courtesy of Doyce.

I am so happy that I don't have to fret over not having a complete run of the comic anymore. Do you know how hard it was to find back issues of this comic?

IDW Publishing to Bring Back GrimJack

Courtesy of Sarah's LJ.

This went around blogs and/or LJ a bit ago, a google thing were you typed this in and got a list and posted it. Now someone's gone and collected them all. Blogthings - You Know You're From...

As I fall into both MA and RI categories, I won't post anything myself, except to say they're very nearly 100% accurate. They forgot Victory Day/VJ Day for RI, though. I mean, who would give up a Monday holiday in August, no matter what it's called? Not RI, that's for sure!

Note to Self: Read this later

Nilly Reviews: It Means a Thing

Also, talk to Doyce about those Unanswered Questions and Tidbits thing for the wiki.

Once I caught up with the internet and found out about this guy, I immediately watched an episode. I haven't watched it since, alas. But it's rumored that he will walk away at 75 shows, but whether it's a loss or a decision to leave will have to wait for a few more months.

Has Ken Jennings ended his 'Jeopardy!' run?

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Perhaps in response to fan outrage that Han Shot First, he's tweaking the DVD trilogy release to have them shooting at nearly the same time. You can find more changes at the link below.

Star Wars Trilogy - 2004 DVD Changes

Don't forget to click through to the Empire and Jedi changes!

I am disappointed that I didn't make WorldCon this year, as it was in my own back yard. Maybe in LA in a few years, or Scotland if we suddenlly win the lottery or something.

Or you know, I write a novel and get the "I'm Getting the Next Round" sort of deal.

Of course, that would mean actually *writing* something...

Oh yeah, forgot to add...Courtesy of Sarah's LJ.

I found these lyrics on a blog that chose not to have them anymore, since the owner was upset that most people were finding his blog by googling for them. I could care less if people find me that way, and I think they should be out there for reading!

So, what follows is what I believe the Japanese lyrics to the Teen Titans animated TV show:

Domo kotsu uru mamoru yo, Teen Titans
Suki kidai naku randemo taberu yo, Teen Titans
Shin kami dari kari oyai
Okuga san su ika shakai
Omae mo wa nari mounai, Teen Titans, GO!

Okida koidei yopei oku dayou, Teen Titans
Mono yami haku daiketsu shichau yo, Teen Titans
Kas rana suke ju kontoro
Mama na daichu kontoro
Megau dou wa hate shinai, Teen Titans, GO!
1,2,3,4, GO! Teen Titans!

Grabbed from Slashdot, a few pics from behind the scenes of Serenity.

Also, rumor has it that EE RotK will be in stores on December 14th.

My mother-in-law, the librarian, called us up tonight with a reference question.

"Can you give me the name of some SF books/stories where the aliens win?"

All we could think of off the top of our heads was "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the 1955 novel made into three movies.

Does anyone have any other books to add to the list?

'The Last Starfighter', the Musical, Beams Down Into World Premiere in NYC.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Saturday, Lou and I went to a local Renaissance Faire, King Richard's Faire. Thanks to Anne's connections, we had managed to score free tickets, but they were only good on weekends in September. The first weekend we were gaming on Saturday, so we planned to go last weekend. Saturday was a terrible day, as New England was hit by the remnants of Ivan.

So it was decided that we would go on the final weekend available to us, and since we have a regular Sunday game, we'd go on Saturday.

It was a great day for it, though a bit breezy. We went pretty early and managed to catch the middle tiger show, which this year featured two new cats - two 16-week-old female tiger cubs - along with the regular 4-year-old Liger, a white Bengal Tiger, and a white Bengal Tiger with white stripes. They also had a mountain lion this year; I think he or she was 3-years-old.

We also bought me a neat hair-thing, and a cedar staff. Pictures will be forthcoming when I can borrow a digital camera. Lou did not find anything to his liking, within our price range. He was looking for a dagger from the Starfire Swords booth, but the price list he saw told him it was out of his range. In looking at their website now, I am wondering if he was looking at a numbered dagger or some other speciality dagger, because it does look as if they are within the price range we could have spent. Ah well, maybe next year, when they've replenished their stock.

Saturday night brought us home and more playing of Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves. Pat & Betsy came over, obsensibly to watch Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited. We ordered out, and belatedly realized that neither show was on, as they were doing a Star Wars: Clone Wars reshowing. But we also had Lost to watch, and pulled out the tape from our VCR (Smallville is the one that gets Replay'ed, though I think I may start requesting that Lost is sent to me via Poopli, because tapes are so ... so ... 90s. We all enjoyed Lost, and I had fun playing "Spot the JJ Actor" due to my Alias fascination (note to self: buy 3rd season Alias, and watch the friggin' 2nd season again!!).

We had found out on Friday night that Shaun of the Dead had opened locally, but with all our busy plans, we didn't have time to see it until today. The game was cancelled due to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law wanting to celebrate their birthdays with dinner out, but an early one. So Lou and I went to the 2:40 showing of "Shaun" and then to dinner afterwards at 4:30.

This was after, this morning, Lou finished Sly Cooper 2, which was quite an enjoyable game, with a serious amount of improvement over the first one, including having both Murray and Bentley as playable characters, and a much longer and more detailed game.

Shaun of the Dead was a very funny movie, and surprisingly poignant in scenes as well. There is even a sly nod to the other recent British zombie movie, 28 Days Later, if you listen into the newscast at the end. We enjoyed it very much, though there is some slow bits. It was also a good social commentary on how much people pay attention to what is going on around them, and how much they just do the same old, same old, and never really take a moment to really look around them and see what's going on.

Came back home this evening, and Lou was itching to play Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando, but had forgotten that he had loaned it to Pat. He wanted to make sure he had maxed out everything that he could max out on his save game, in case there is something like with the first to second games in the series, where weapons from the first game could be brought over when you reached a certain point. But a brief trip out and back, and now he's playing R&C 2 again, maxing out to the Ultra versions of all his weapons, and while he still needs some work on the controls (it's been a while, and Sly Cooper has a very different set of controls), he's doing pretty well. Hopefully this will tide him over until the beginning of November, when Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal comes out. PSM gave it a 10 out of 10, and Sly 2 only got an 8.5 out of 10. Jak 3 got a 9 out of 10, so R&C 3 is shaping up to be one hell of a game. We can't wait.

Well, they've announced the specs of the Return of the King DVD.

Pre-orders start on Friday, but the discs won't be out until December 14th. Just in time for a belated birthday present for me (which I'm more than willing to "suffer" for being late, Lou!), or an early Christmas present for both of us.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Being one of the few people I know who thoroughly enjoyed this movie, even in the theater (where I first saw it), I have to admit that I'm very pleased to hear that Spaceballs Will Return, if not before the next SW movie comes out, then a year or so after it. More news here, and all the info comes from a Playbill magazine interview.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

As Jack mentioned on his blog, we're heading to Boston tomorrow for The Lord of the Rings Exhibit. Which means this will NOT be the longest time we'll have gone without seeing Jack recently, since it will not be a full month but only three weeks. *laughs*

We'll be driving to Quincy and taking the T in. Fortunately, the Green Line still goes to the MoS, but not any farther than that currently, as they work to demolish the old elevated tracks and move everything underground. Which is unfortunate, but necessary, I suppose. I liked those elevated tracks in Cambridge.

And I borrowed the camera from work, though I don't think I can take pictures inside the LotR Exhibit. I may take it to use elsewhere, though!

It looks like a bunch of fans got together to do a little commercial to air on Cartoon Nework's Adult Swim, to promote the Farscape miniseries.

Watch it here. Quite funny, and fits into the AS mindset very well, I think.

And yeah, that about sums it up. *nods*

Courtesy of the Scapers LJ.

Amazon is having a big Fox TV DVD Set sale. Pick up the first season of a bunch of their shows for only $15, for a limited time, no doubt.

Too bad I have most of these already! Though 24 is tempting, since we've been watching it at work during our lunch hours. And M*A*S*H is definitely tempting at that price.

Courtesy of Anne in IM.

I was searching my blog today, trying to find the place someone had mentioned a long time ago that had Farscape DVD box sets cheap (found the entry, but the site no longer exists), and I came across an old post referencing a UserFriendly comic.

I'm very glad to see that, come this Sunday, this is definitely not going to be the case.

And just after watching the recorded mini-series, hot on the heels of that is the announcement of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (mini-series) on DVD!! January 18th release date, street price of $19.98.

Excellent. Though I'm still going to play around with burning the episode onto DVD on my computer once I download it from the Replay.

Like many folks, I have gotten sucked into watching Lost, even though it's opposite Smallville. We Replay the Smallville episode, and then I have someone send me the Lost via Poopli, and since I've requested the "Standard" quality, we usually get it overnight and can watch it Thursday night when we watch Smallville.

[all of which is going to be moot soon, as my boss is going to be selling me her Replay cheap, as she bought herself a second TiVo and doesn't feel the need to cross-platform anymore.)

But anyway, the point of this post was to point you to the latest Penny Arcade comic, where Tycho and Gabe discuss the Beast, and try to decide what it is.

Of course, this discussion, and discussion elsewhere, is all amusing to those of us who have been watching Alias for three seasons. Because if you know JJ, just when you think you have everything all figured out, he'll suddenly switch it up, and go off in a totally different direction than what you, or maybe even he, thought originally.

And if you're following this show and not reading Cleolinda's recaps, then you really should be. Links to the previous recaps are at the end of her post.

Thanks to Slashdot, I've now read two reviews of "The Last Starfighter: The Musical," and the second one most especially is making me want to try to work a day to go to New York and see it.

But I don't think it'll happen. Alas. Maybe it will return in some shape. One can hope.

First pics!!

The Fantastic Four Pictures - MovieWeb

Okay, I'm starting to buy Jessica Alba as Sue Storm. Chris Evans does nothing for me as Johnny, but I like Chiklis and Gruffudd. And I do wonder how much time McMahon will spend covered in the film.

The Guardian has a good in-depth interview with one of my favorite comedians, Eddie Izaard. It's a good read, though I am disappointed that he really only has a cameo in Ocean's Twelve. But anything has got to be better than his role in the Avengers, for screen-time.

I know I've not been keeping up with my blogroll lately. I'm trying to do better, honest.

So, it was with some disappointment that I read on Peter David's blog that a show that was just getting going, in my mind, was abruptly cancelled, after filming six episodes of the now-to-never-air second season.

Now Nikki's comment to me makes much more sense. Ah well, I still want the first season DVD set.

According to Watch Farscape, come next Fall, Farscape will be in syndication.

While this doesn't mean I don't want the entire series on DVD, it does mean that I'll have a good chance of watching those episodes I missed while waiting for those DVDs!

Just after I introduce the Gaineys to a little show called Firefly (am seriously encouraging them to get a copy of their own on DVD), and telling them the movie Serenity will be out in April, comes the news that it's been pushed back to a September 30th release date by the studio, due to an already crowded April/May release schedule for films in the same demographic.

*sighs*

I am afeared to what Doyce will have to say about this.

I should also mention that, thanks to a notice from a friend who has XM Radio, I am now listening to a three-day free trial of XM Radio on my PC.

Just the sort of thing that would make me want to get it for pay. Though I don't know if it's really worth it, but it's definitely got me listening for the rest of TurkeyCon (not to be confused with TurkeyCon). And Bob Edwards! I so miss his voice on NPR.

GrimJack - returning to Cynosure in 2005

I can't wait!

According to ComingSoon.net, there will be a theatrical movie set in the Babylon 5 universe. And it looks like techno-mage Galen (from Crusade) will be a major character.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Just in case you wanted a nice slipcover to keep all the Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings Movies together, you can now order one for only $3!

Of course, this requires having a DVD rack/case that enables you to display all your DVDs in one place, instead of shoved in where ever you can find space, because you have too many damned DVDs for the frelling thing, and need to buy something else, but just haven't managed to do so yet, nevermind where you would put it in your overcrowded apartment.

I'm sorry, did I overshare?

Courtesy of Peg Kerr's LJ.

Way back in my early days on what would become the Internet, back before going to meet strangers you only knew online wasn't quite as strange and dangerous as it is today, I drove from my home in Rhode Island to the New Jersey home of a man I met online, who went by the handle of Magic Man. There was a purpose for this gathering: someone else I knew online was going to be in town for a wedding, and a bunch of us decided to head down and meet up.

We had so much fun we decided to do it the next weekend as well, this time at one of the other people's houses, a woman who went by the handle of Silverwolf.

Of course, two weekends in a row was killer on my sleep habits, so we decided we'd start doing it once a month. And the minicons of Compuserve were born!

At both of these first gatherings, there was a man there nicknamed PT, a nickname derived from his last name. When we were at Silvy's (the shortened form of Silverwolf's nickname) house, we listed to a mix CD that PT had made for her, called Radio Free Mordor. It had some good music that I knew, some strange music that I didn't, and some really strange stuff that I wasn't sure I'd want within ten feet of me. But when PT offered to make me a mix tape, I said sure.

The resultant tape was called "Razzle Dazzle," a play on my online handle at the time (which most of you should remember/know by now - Dazzler). I've listened to this tape over and over, many times when we'd go on long trips. The songs are an eclectic mix, and there was no track listing, so I had no idea who sang what, or what even the names of some of the songs were! Over time, I have figured most of them out, and some times even sought out more songs by the artist based on the songs on the mix.

Well, this tape was made for me back in 1989. It's stood the test of time VERY well, but it's a 90 minute tape, very full of songs, and I worried each time I put it into my tape player. I wanted to make electronic copies of the songs therein, so I could listen to them on my iPod without fear of breaking the tape and losing them forever.

Thanks to a co-worker, I now have in my possession two very large .wav files, consisting of each side of the tape. I'm using the trial version of Peak to cut up the file into individual tracks, choosing not to import the songs I already have electronically from my own CDs (besides, that skip in his album always messes me up when I try to sing "Black Coffee In Bed" along with the tape).

I took the CDs home yesterday, forgetting that I'd only copied one of them to my hard drive for editing. Tomorrow or Thursday or Friday, I'll be cutting and saving more tracks. For now, I have the tracks of the "B" side of the tape for your viewing pleasure.

Many thanks to the internet for having many lyric repositories and fan websites that enabled me to figure out just who was singing what!

Okay, I've finished chopping up the first side of PT's tape, and without further ado, I present, beneath the cut, the tracks of that tape. There is at least one I'm not quite 100% on (that would be the singer of "La Vie En Rose"), but c'est la vie. *heh*

'Law and Order' Actor Jerry Orbach Dead at 69

No more Lennie Briscoe. Anne, what's that link to the site with the Briscoe sayings?

Found this linked on a community somehwere, and thought it was quite interesting. Something for the wiki to link to when it's done, perhaps?

Firefly Timeline

The guy who did it has a bunch of other timelines listed as well.

Someone got the whole Vanity Fair SW Cast Pic scanned in, and it's making the 'net rounds.

I find it interesting that the original cast is the farthest from George. And Carrie Fisher looks like she's hiding behind Harrison Ford, though the Han/Leia 'shippers must be squeeing loudly.

I think I first noticed this phenomenon when I was playing SimCity a lot. I would look at the landscape around me as I drove, noting which was industrial, which residential, and noting the buildings that I would tear down because of new construction.

But I do know that both Lou and I have experienced the effect with other games, especially SSX Tricky (looking for rails to ride and secret paths), the Jak series (looking for places to grind the jetboard), and other games as well.

Though I don't think I'd ever grab the wheel from him as we were driving. It does make me reconsider getting a copy of Katamari Damacy, though.

Stole this from ***Dave, who got it from elsewhere...

1) Shake the Disease, Hooverphonic (from For the Masses: A Tribute to Depeche Mode)
2) I'm No Angel, Dido (from No Angel)
3) Devil Inside, INXS (from Kick)
4) Belong, R.E.M. (from Out of Time)
5) Anytime Lisa, Was (Not Was) (from What Up, Dog?)
6) So in Love, Lara Fabian and Mario Frangoulis (from the De-Lovely Soundtrack)
7) Hold Me Down, Gin Blossoms (from New Miserable Experience)
8) Beautiful Child, Fleetwood Mac (from Tusk)
9) The British Arrival, Randy Edelman (from The Last of the Mohicans Soundtrack)
10) Piano Man, Billy Joel (from The Complete Hits Collection: 1973-1977 (Disc 1))

Do I think this is representative of my music? Not really, actually. There is NO country music on here, and I have a LOT of country music. Okay, not as much as soundtrack music, (which is double that of my country music), but still...

No, they're not making ABC's Lost into a comic book yet. But if you want to know about the Spanish comic that Walt is seen reading in a few episodes of the show, you can go here and see a summary and some page scans.

I paused a few times on the title last night, and I knew they had the old Flash (Jay Garrick? Do I have the name right?) in the first ep with OMGWTFPOLARBEAR. And I will admit, I wanted to go looking, but I don't have a lot of Flash or Green Lantern comics, so I really was just waiting for someone else to do the work. And so they have.

Own an MGM DVD? It's at least likely you have one in your collection.

Well, were you aware that MGM did fake "widescreen" on their DVD releases, using the pan&scan and just cropping off the bottom and top to make it look like it was in the 16:9 aspect ratio?

You are now. And you can claim recompense or a new DVD, hopefully in the proper aspect ratio. There is a PDF file with all the affected DVDs, and I have seen two with a quick glance at the first and last pages that we have at home.

Too bad I've not managed to get Readerware up and running at home yet.

Courtesy of Slashdot.

Can I just say how much I want this right now?

I just purchased four tickets to next Thursday's advance showing of Serenity, mentioned here. Jack, if Lou doesn't want to go, you can have one. I can't get a hold of him. And I bought four because I doubt I'll have problems giving them to someone. Anne said she was at least partially interested.

I am so so so far from Serenity right now.

A man known for voicing his opinions, Orson Scott Card goes where no writer has gone before. He says it's long past time for Star Trek to be over, and is quite glad to be rid of it.

I certainly hope Card doesn't do any conventions anymore. I can't say that I agree with all of his opinions on Trek, but I do agree with him that "Lost" is sci-fi and quite good, and of course, so was "Firefly."

One more day to Serenity!

First off, let me start with SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Second, let me say we got swag! Keychains! Anne's Tim got two due to his sneakiness of going out to get popcorn and an icee and when coming back in was offered another one!

Thirdly, we got Sean Maher and Morena Baccarin!!! And if Lou didn't have to work today, I SO would have stayed in the 500 person line and gotten autographs.

Sean and Morena looked quite overwhelmed by the audience response. I knew we were going to have SOMEONE there based on the camera crew that we had, and the way that 10 minutes before the start of the movie, moved to one side and kept focusing on the one exit door at the front. I kept a watchful eye on them and the door.

We had a big speech about no cameras, and the guy from Universal messed up and said privacy instead of piracy and the crowd laughed. He took it all in stride, and also warned about using night vision technology. Of course, geeks that we are, everyone in the audience was SWEET! *laugh*

Joss began the movie with a segment that MUST be on the DVD. He explained about how this never gets done with cancelled shows (except for, you know, Star Trek, as Anne mentioned, except that Firefly didn't even get a full season), and that if we loved it, recruit more people, and if we didn't, then it was a time for silent contemplation.

There's not really anything spoilery below, but for those whom comments about non-spoilery things IS a spoiler, I will cut it for you.

So, I bought a total of 8 tickets for the Providence screening on the 26th.

And 5 of them are gone already, and likely at least one more tonight, and maybe the rest by Wednesday.

It looks like Providence MAY be showing it on two screens. Or it may be a bug. MovieTickets.com had two listings for a 10:00 show on that day.

And my boss Kate is going and taking her friend, who has not been introduced to Firefly yet.

Anne and Tim will be in Italy, but they've already seen it, so SQUEEE anyway!

ETA: aaaaand I might not be able to go. We're going to see the Brockton Rox that night. 7:00 p.m. game.

Think we can get from Brockton to Providence by 10:00? Think the game will be rained out? Think I'm insane to be even considering it???

Oh yeah.

I said this about Alan Cumming and Nightcrawler, so maybe I'll be proven wrong. I think they were trying for the brainiac interpretation, but the rest leaves a lot to be desired.

This is a spoiler, so don't click if you don't want to know about X3 casting news.

But I could like the Juggernaut casting. I'm also displeased they're potentially going with a THIRD actress for Kitty, and it doesn't look like James Marsden is on board yet, alas.

Having a bad day? Work/Life/Relationships got you down?

Then take a look at this trailer for March of the Penguins. If that can't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will.

So with the weather New England has been having lately, my baseball vs. movie decision was decided for me. I had already decided to not go to the ball game because the weather was looking rainy and highs in the low 50s, if that (not counting wind), but the Rox ended up postponing their opening day game until today. We can use our tickets later in the summer, so that's what we'll do.

The screening was sold out, and I ended up not being able to find anyone wanting a ticket, as Lou decided not to attend. He has not been feeling well, having a bout of illness that started after our friends (re)wedding on Saturday night, and ended up with him spending most of the night in the bathroom on his knees. That's when he was able to make it that far. And no, it wasn't alcohol, but true illness, causing him to sleep away all Sunday when he wasn't in the bathroom.

Turns out that a number of his co-workers had the same problem, so there is obviously some bug going around.

So, Serenity last night was just as good, even though we had no stars. I noticed a few things in the movie this time that I wish could have been done better, but all in all, it was just as good. Even more fun was experiencing it with a crowd who had, and hadn't, seen it before. My crew was all first-timers, so I was watching and listening for the scenes I knew would have the best reactions.

My boss brought a Firefly Newbie, someone who hadn't even seen the series at all. And she enjoyed it, and was able to follow it very well (though she feels she may have missed some in-jokes), so that's a good thing. Even more a good thing - she wants to watch the show now! Yay!

September can't come soon enough.

A great article by a Firefly fan about the movie and the whole Firefly phenomenon. And it has a link to Blue Sun shirts! Too bad they only go up to XXL. :(

So the Big Damn Movie comes out tomorrow.

And we'll likely be going to see it on Saturday, at a matinee. Work is too busy finishing a final proposal for our next 5-year contract to take the day off. So maybe tomorrow night, but more likely Saturday, first showing.

Can't wait.

Oh, and since this went around LJ:

When you see this on your blogroll, quote Firefly.

Zoe: “You sanguine about the kind of reception we're apt to receive on an Alliance ship, Captain?”
Mal: “Absolutely. What's sanguine mean?”
Zoe: “Sanguine - hopeful. Plus, point of interest, it also means bloody.”
Mal: “Well, that pretty much covers all the options, don't it?”

Tick, The - S P O O N ! ! ! ! !, coming soon, to DVD. Animated, of course.

Here's to hoping these rumors are real!

Star Wars: Episode IV | This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD

Guess this means I paid too much for the original trilogy on VHS from eBay. But you know what? I will wait to see if it's *truly* unaltered when it finally comes out.

George, you have burned me too many times for me to trust blindly.

But omgsquee!

via Anne.

I may just need to put this on the Christmas list this year.

Oh yeah, and I'll finally be porting over to Dreamhost this week. The last of my sites to migrate!

Since Star Wars has pretty much been on repeat on the cable channels these days, I kept meaning to link Lou to this, and never remembered. So now I did, and I am.

BTW, it's snowing out! And it's sticking! And it's STILL snowing! Yay!!!

Paquin Bites Into True Blood

I heard about this first on my RomSF list this morning. They're renaming the Southern Vampire series True Blood, but here's hoping they can make the series work without changing too much of it.

And for those into vampires, make sure to catch Blood Ties the Tanya Huff detective series (okay, it does have a vampire as one of the main characters, he's also a romance novelist!) when it premieres on Lifetime next month.

They're making a movie, released this November, based on Stephen King's "The Mist" short story.

The Mist (2007)

This rocks! I love this short story! And it made a great game setting.