Category Archives: media madness

Thursday Thoughts

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With apologies to Hilary…I’m working on something better, but right now, Thursday Thoughts it is. 😉

  • Thanks to Jen, for hosting game night. 🙂 LCScotty and I kicked butt at Cranium! I’m glad I got to assure him that I was, indeed, a real person and not a figment of Jen’s imagination.
  • I need to find a place to buy some quality loose tea, preferably locally. So if anyone knows of a place I can go in the Buffalo/Niagara region, or someplace I can order from (in the US) that has reasonable prices, please let me know! *I’d like to avoid international shipping rates, if possible…*
  • I cannot stop watching Veronica Mars. I just finished the 2nd DVD, and I want more NOW. Like, immediately.
  • I finished I Was a Non Blonde Cheerleader. Full post later, but let me just say that I’m glad I kind of wandered away from my original idea for the NaNoWriMo novel. Because someone else already wrote it…except for the part where it was set in Florida and everyone was blonde. 😉

Reading, watching, listening

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So, I’ve decided this is going to be a regular Monday feature.

Reading: As most of you know, I haven’t been doing much novel reading, mostly due to the fact that I spent the past month writing a novel of my own. (more of my thoughts on NaNoWriMo and the fruits of my labor to come soon) Additionally, it was the month of reading submissions for the December issue of Toasted Cheese, up now! I think it’s a pretty strong issue, and the editorial staff was in very solid agreement about our picks this time.

Apart from that, I’ve been reading collections of Calvin and Hobbes strips, which I’m enjoying very much.

I’ve added a couple of things to the “to-read” pile…The Awakening, so we can get on that book club thing, and I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader, which I picked up used for under $5 with shipping. Hardcover, even. 😉

Watching: I am continuing to adore Heroes…we’ve got the last episode before it goes on hiatus tonight! I admit, I’m a little skeptical about how this whole Sylar thing is going to play out…last week’s episode left me going, the-wha?

ETA: I forgot to mention my favorite moment in last week’s episode. Hiro, upon discovering that he has sent himself 6 months into the past, says “Great Scott!” hee.

Got the second disc of Veronica Mars S1 last week. I just watched episode 5. It made me cry a little. I *heart* this show.

Rand and I are working our way toward catching up on Studio 60…we watched up to The Wrap Party last night, and I thought it was a fantastic episode. Yay for the Sorkin! Now that the characters and issues have been introduced, we really get to see some of the actors shine. I’m really enjoying the Christine Lahti character, who seems to occupy the same space as Felicity Huffman on Sports Night and Allison Janney on The West Wing. They have the same vibe, the same speech rhythms, and even a sort of similar look.

And in a blast from the past, Rand picked up a DVD of the first season of Night Court. I did love me some Night Court…the pilot episode was kind of scary, but the show quickly got on track. I remember why I liked it. 🙂

Listening: John Denver and the Muppets, A Christmas Together. Who can hear the Twelve Days of Christmas without thinking of the Muppets?

Jellyfish, Spilt Milk. I’ve heard much of this before, on Rand’s iPod, but I took the CD to listen to in the car. I really enjoy The Ghost at Number one, and I think New Mistake was the other one that really stood out when I listened.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Save the cheerleader, save the world

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Ok, who’s watching Heroes?

It’s my new most favoritest show. 🙂 It is what Alias and then Lost once were to me.

I adored Hayden Panettiere (Claire) when she was a little girl playing Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light. Since then, I’ve been waiting for her to break out in a big way. I liked Raising Helen, but that wasn’t going to do it. Neither was the direct-to-video Bring it On: All or Nothing. So yay for Hayden!

My biggest gripe w/last night’s episode…where the heck is Hiro? Augh!

Can’t wait to see what happens next. 🙂

Good news for Studio 60?

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Maybe?

I was happy to read this post on TV Squad yesterday, amid rumors of imminent cancellation.

I am SO far behind on my tv watching…thanks to grading, nanowrimo, weekends out-of-town…thank goodness for TiVo!

I think I’ve got three eps of Studio 60, two of Lost…perhaps just this week’s episode of Heroes? And I’m not even counting all the Daily Show/Colbert that’s been sitting around.

Rand and I stalled about halfway through the second season of Deadwood, right about the time school/the new tv season started. And I never did watch that 4th episode of Veronica Mars…

There’s just too much stuff to watch!

Ookla show in Rochester

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velma

(me as Velma, photo by jennimi)

So the Ookla the Mok show at the California Brew Haus in Rochester was indeed a rockin’ good time. The guys sounded great, and the crowd really seemed to dig them.

Scott and jennimi came out, and it was great to see/hang out with them! (jennimi posted about the show here, and the rest of her flickr set is here. Dave Wheeler also showed up, as did several of Rand’s friends who live in the Rochester area.
I’ve got my photoset on flickr here.

I really like this blurry Ookla shot:

blurry rand and adam

I have a couple of interesting shots of Rand as well.

The Velma costume was a big hit! The coolest thing to happen? I had on my brown Mary Janes, and when she saw me, Kelly said “Oh my God, I have a pair of shoes like that in my car that are RED!”

They were just a teeny bit too big for me, but served their purpose well. 😉

The band that played after Ookla was called Smock. We didn’t hang around for their whole set, because it was pretty late, but they were a lot of fun. My favorite part was that they came dressed as Futurama characters. Hee!

Ookla in Rochester this weekend

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Friday, October 27–9 pm

California Brew Haus

Ookla does a big fat huge enormous Hallowe’en bar gig in Rochester! How often do you get to see sad overweight middle-aged men prancing pathetically in handmade costumes in a popular bar in a major United States city? Ookla will be there, too!

oh, and I’ll be there. 🙂

[Ookla’s website]

Unfortunately, this means I’ll be missing my good friend Stephanie and Horror of ’59, who will both be in town this Friday. The band is playing at Club Diablo at the exact same time as the Ookla show.

And another plug…Jackdaw was supposed to play at Cozumel the day of the big storm. They’ve rescheduled for this Friday. Of course. 😉 Too many bands…

The point? Get your butt out there and see some live music this weekend! Preferably in costume. 😉 (I will be…)

Lazy weekend

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A happy Columbus Day, and a happy Thanksgiving to my neighbors to the north. 🙂

This weekend has been productive in the TV-watching sense…Rand and I finished watching Season 2 of The Office. Yay!

I also had some productive writing time yesterday. I finished my latest story, ready to be submitted to Woman’s World. (I was partially inspired by an email that Lady Turpentine sent me about a romance writer who’s doing an online workshop about getting published in WW.) Anyway, I’m pretty happy with it. I think when NaNo is over, I should make it one of my writing goals to finish one of these every other month or something.

The writer in question has sold five of these stories in the past two years, out of twenty-one submitted. (hey…I’ve got a pretty good success rate so far!)

Anyway, it sounds cool. Maybe I’ll fork over the $20 and take the class.

That’s it for me. Headed over to LT’s this evening for a Tastefully Simple party. Hope everyone’s having a pleasant weekend!

Oops…almost forgot…posted about Living Buddha, Living Christ over at the places I go. Also cross-posted the workshop mentioned above. 🙂

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: I finally finished Living Buddha, Living Christ. I will post at the places I go soon.

Rand’s gotten me into Doom Patrol.

Last week, while subbing, I got a few chapters into Dark Angel, by David Klass. I was finding it really interesting, and am sad to see that no local libraries seem to have it. I guess I’ll have to buy it if I ever want to finish it.

Watching: The watching has been slow over the past week, because Rand and I have both been pretty busy. I watched the second episode of Studio 60, and episode 3 is waiting for me.

On a completely random note, we’ve caught some of this odd little program, The Morgan Waters Show. From Wikipedia:

A 6 minute sketch comedy show starring Morgan Waters made by the CBC for its afternoon youth programming lineup. Morgan goes through a variety of situations with most characters being played by himself, including the badminton-loving Goth, Trent, Phillip the Nerd, and the lovable CBC Executive, Boss Boss. Guests appearing on the show include Canadian Idol hosts Ben Mulroney and Jon Dore, Rick Mercer, Ashlee Simpson and Sabrina the northern flying squirrel, among others.

What’s amusing is that the show’s creators are clearly big fans of Mr. Show…it has that same kind of quality, but it’s made for kids. Anyway, it’s pretty quirky and fun. 🙂

Listening: Got the new Carbon Leaf CD…yay! I’ve only listened to it once so far, but it’s definitely got that same mellow kind of feel as Indian Summer. What makes me a little sad is that they seem to have completely abandoned any Celtic sound at all…

Lyrics, dude. Recite her some lyrics.

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Shocking, well, everyone, Rand recently posted on his blog! He was responding to a post by lady turpentine, followed by some goading by jennimi. 😉

Anyway, I started thinking about what MY favorite song lyrics are. It’s a hard question to answer, because I tend to be affected by particular lyrics at particular times in my life.

I think that, unquestionably, Ron Hawkins is one of the most poetic songwriters out there. I could post hundreds of Ron Hawkins lyrics, but I’ll limit it to just a few. 😉

I know a woman who reached out to me
and all she got were my barbed wire hands
Lowest of the Low, Black Monday

There’s a hole in my old faith where he belongs
but the whole of me has never been that strong
Ron Hawkins, The Tame, the Half-born, the Wild, and You

Sometimes I see a white-hot sound and all I hear is a piercing light
and I realize I’m not all right.
Ron Hawkins and the Rusty Nails, Crackstatic

Sometimes, I just like a lyric for the way the words sound…it might not be anything insightful or brilliant, such as this lyric from Movin’ Out:

He works at Mister Cacciatore’s down on Sullivan Street
Across from the medical center

And one of my favorite things about Carbon Leaf is the attention they pay to the sound of words:

Peel back this backdrop like the lids from my eyes
Put you in plain view, let me visualize
Raise the Roof

You’ve come far, and though you’re far from the end
You don’t mind where you are, ’cause you know where you’ve been
Let Your Troubles Roll By

I’m turning it from shade to light
Hold it up to candlelight,
Roaring into firelight,
Scorching up the charlatans
Until it’s city wide
All the people mobilize,
Nothing left to polarize
And nothing left to fake
Desperation Song

I’m sure I’ve got about a million more, but those are some that immediately come to mind. What are your favorite lyrics?

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Yeah, it’s been a while since I finished anything.

Recently, Rand and I finished a collection of Jules Feiffer cartoons, mostly political, from the 50s through the 80s.

I picked up The Passionate Teacher earlier in the week, and I read a bit more of Teaching with Fire.

I’ve been working my way slowly through Living Buddha, Living Christ.

And it looks like I’m going to have to go hunting through boxes for that copy of The Awakening that I know I have, as All Things Jennifer, Lady Turpentine and I are going to try and get a little book club thing going…

Watching: Almost through the first season of Deadwood. I admit, I was skeptical at first, but I’m now fully hooked.

Some interesting facts about Deadwood:

Deadwood features many historical figures, such as Wild Bill Hickok, Seth Bullock, Sol Star, Calamity Jane, Al Swearengen, Wyatt Earp, E. B. Farnum and George Hearst. The plotlines involving these characters include historical truths as well as substantial fictional elements.

I knew that some of the characters were historical figures, but had no idea so many of them were. Also, all the scripts are written in iambic pentameter. How cool is that? Once I was alerted to this fact, it became more apparent. And interestingly enough, EB Farnum (played by the guy who played Larry on Newhart, as in “Hi, I’m Larry. This is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl“) gets all the cool Shakespearean soliloquies.

EDITED: Finished S1 of Deadwood. Another interesting fact…as I was listening to the character Jewel (the “gimp”), I thought, “Hmmm…I’ll bet that actress really has cerebral palsy. In fact, she sounds a lot like Blair’s cousin from The Facts of Life. Could it be?”

A quick trip to IMDb confirmed that, indeed, Jewel is played by actress Geri Jewell, one of the first actresses with cerebral palsy to have a recurring role on a TV series…that role, of course, being that of Blair’s cousin Geri. Also, Jewell is from Buffalo. Who’da thunk?

Oh, wait…more Buffalo connections. David Milch, the show’s creator, is from Buffalo. Also Jeffrey Jones (aka Principal Rooney) is from Buffalo. I did not know that.

Continuing to watch Season 2 of The Office. Without entirely meaning to, I watched the season premiere with Jen and Mark on Thursday…I wanted to wait, and watch it all in sequence. Oops.

Listening: Hmmm…do I have anything new? How about something I want to be listening to:

Carbon Leaf–Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat