This morning, the news-reading guy on public radio got tongue-tied, and then quoted Willy Wonka: “Strike that; reverse it.” I grinned.

Twilight aside, this Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack is amaaaaazing. I’m scraping together the tracks one by one.

My friend brought his wife along when we met for lunch. It was awkward and un-relaxing. I know it’s selfish and wrong of me, but you know how it is: you don’t really chat the same way that would if you were alone.

Brent Spiner mentioned Micky Dolenz on his Twitter page. (They were both appearing at some Super MegaFest.) My fannish worlds collided and I sat staring at the wall for ten minutes. I should have gone to this MegaFest. It’s probably best I never meet Brent Spiner because I’m fairly sure I would have a stroke. I was able to speak coherent sentences to Micky, but probably only due to the fact that I met him twenty years after my fan heyday for the Monkees. I will never get over Brent Spiner.

The cat threw up on my notes for a fanfic. I’ve taken her criticism to heart. But instead of working, I’m writing this. I have no discipline.

Much cooking ensued today. Tomorrow we’re doing Thanksgiving at work (so we can have leftovers for the remainder of the week; these people take food seriously) so I made some biscuit/roll sort of things from some random on-line recipe. Took the opportunity to bake a pie out of all the blueberries that have been accumulating in the freezer for just this purpose. This pie is NOT going to the vultures at work, however! I slaved away picking many of those blueberries myself! And I threw on a crock pot of beef stew. Right now I’m priming myself on the leftover wine from the stew and looking forward to tonight’s dinner.

****

Finished writing a story yesterday just in time to get my Secret Santa assignment today. I’m still wavering between excitement and anxiety, but not particularly concerned. It’s always a thrill to have a germ of an idea, and see in what direction it wants to develop.

****

This week or so has been a nostalgic blast from the past re: Sesame Street. There have been cast interviews galore on NPR, and there’s me grinning through all of them. As a kid, I guess I watched Sesame Street longer than most due to the fact that my siblings were younger, so it was a household institution for many years. I completely attribute the short animations interspersed through the episodes to what became my animating style in college. Any Spanish I know, I learned from Sesame Street. If someone said to me, “You can be anything you want,” I would be a Muppeteer. I’d seen this great interview with Bob McGrath on YouTube last year. In one story, he told about a time when he was walking into a store, and a little boy passing by said to him very casually, “Oh hi, Bob.” Bob asked the boy’s name, and he was kind of surprised that Bob didn’t know it already. After all, Bob was a fixture in his daily life! Anyway, congrats guys. Thank you for so much.

Dear Secret Santa-
If you're here to check me out, hi! If you have any questions, feel free to ask (through our Mod, of course). Thank you in advance, and go have fun with your project :)
Aitch

Just watched Inglourious Basterds and enjoyed every minute of it. Great work. You can tell that Mr. Tarantino has been practicing. An entertaining number of one-on-one dialog scenes -- excellent writing, jokes that come at you by surprise, and all completely mastered by the cast. The many casting agents deserve medals. Sliiiightly vignette-based, which is nicely Tarantino. However, it felt overall very different to me as a QT film...which is why I liked it. The opening scene alone was enough to blow me away. None of his other films have appealed to me the way this one did, and I'm immensely glad it hooked me.

Too much italics here. Apparently I'm starting to talk like a comic book character to denote emphasis.

( Revisiting my enjoyment of Garak/Bashir. Cut in case you want to skip it. )

Completely unrelated, but...
Is “spasming” a real word? Spell check doesn’t like it. What do you say, then: “in spasm?” That’s not as sexy.

Last night I was over-tired and couldn’t sleep. I found the film Pi so I watched it, fell asleep, and dreamed about numbers. It must have been slightly nightmarish, because I remember repeating to myself “They’re only numbers.” (And while awake, I have fun repeating “Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky”… to myself. Try it. And try any of his films. As your doctor, I recommend them.)

I hadn’t seen that film since 1998, I suppose, when it came out. I’d found an art cinema that showed a different film every week, and decided to make it my practice to go once a week after work. This lasted for three consecutive weeks until it suddenly closed.

Changing subjects, apparently all of It’s Garry Shandling’s Show were just released on DVD. Very unique show, from what I recall. Surreal and fourth-wall breaking. I haven’t seen those since 1986, but can still sing you every word of the theme song. It’s very catchy and easy to learn:



I can also do you a rendition of The Facts of Life theme song…but don’t worry, I won’t.

Sorry about this post. Apparently I'm still over-tired.

Today is my cats’ birthday. (Also Guy Fawkes Day.) Got them a bag of cat weed and a boingy mouse. Six bucks well spent. They are pleased.

I signed up for a gift fic exchange recently. I’ve never done one before, never had the inclination, but it should be very exciting to have an assignment...and a present of fic. As a result, I'm suddenly looking forward to the holidays.

I’d really like to get back in the habit of writing in my journal. Of writing plenty of anything. It’s been going well these last few months, comparatively, but I tend to beat myself up about all that I’m not doing. I need an attitude adjustment and fewer excuses.

In the meantime…
Halloween is over and done with. Woke up and literally startled myself in front of the mirror the morning after the goth party. Too much black make-up migrating to new locations. Hair on backwards. Eyes bloodshot! as all get-out -- due to the make-up or too much drinking, I don’t know. My best friend and I spent much time talking about our slash pairings, her husband teasing me mercilessly the entire time. We didn’t do the usual photoshoot. (In fact, I kinda hope there aren’t any pictures at all.) But we didn’t do the staged ones. Maybe we’ve finally outgrown it; maybe it’s just not the same without R. He died unexpectedly a few months ago, and the goth party was just as much his as our hostess’s. He was missed but memorialized. Good guy, R. Astronomer. Taught physics at Johns Hopkins. We dated for a time, and every decent kitchen utensil I have was bought for me by him. He taught me how to grill fish, grind coffee, and berated me for not separating laundry properly. Best Friend once pointed out that I was the “man” in that relationship.

Didn’t mean to go off on that tangent; sorry. Finally started the new job at my new job, coordinating images for the website. I’m diggin’ it. It’s fine. I get left alone a lot more than I did before, which I like. I’d gotten too used to the independent environment over the years at my previous workplace! I still find it kind of weird that there are people walking past my desk all the time. Phones ringing. I’d never sent a fax in my life before. The Office is such a ridiculous place, really. Do not let me become institutionalized to it.

Be back tomorrow, I hope. bye

The other upstairs apartment here is vacant at the moment. I jimmied the back door and let my cats in so that they could have a look around.** It's so freakin' funny! It's like they have bobble heads, the way they're checking things out, doing double-takes in their meticulously observant, nervous cat way. It's just like my apartment, but in reverse! How Twilight Zone that must seem to them.


**Yes, it's astonishingly easy.*** All it takes is a library card and less than two seconds. My ex-neighbor (who is now a policeman) taught my mother the trick when she came to stay with me and was locked out.


***But if you happen to have my address and are considering a breaking-and-entering escapade, tough luck. They've installed guard thingies (on my door) since Mom learned how to slide my lock.

The Big Bang Theory throws those geek bones left and right, but my three favorite so far have been...

1) Sheldon's Tron t-shirt

2) The Time Machine replica in season 1

3) Wil Wheaton's appearance on yesterday's episode.

Not only was the ST:TNG nostalgia enchanting, it was also charming to see a real-life geek doing geeky activities with other (fictional) geeks. I just checked his blog for production notes (there were only a couple, but more coming soon). The man uses the word "grok" correctly in a sentence. Ten points to Gryffindor.

Watchmen graphic novel photo manips

I've been sheltering most of my flist from this behavior of mine. But here they are. Not only is it enjoyable to see the characters in new (generally slashy) situations from what canon gives them, but it's highly rewarding to spend time paging through the book again and again -- not to mention studying the artwork through the tip of a stylus. I wanted to gather them all together for a couple of catch-all posts. Approximately 50 pics in the first post; about half that in the following one, but growing. They're probably funnier if you're familiar with the original panels. (That's not me posting them at /coq/, by the way. I'd have chosen different ones! Hah!)

Manips Post 1 - Nite Owl/Rorschach - NSFW here and there
Manips Post 2 - Nite Owl/Rorschach - some NSFW



Watchmen Action Figure Theatre comics

Also, the action figures' adventures continue in the following comics. Generally all are Rorschach/Nite Owl, but Hollis Mason, Laurie, and Jon feature here and there. (Linked to my journal; not the comms)


Retribution
Creature Comforts
Investigate Further
American Love
First Kiss
Vodka and Tachyons
Beer Session
Venus and Mars
Rose-Colored Goggles
Owl Watching
October Twelfth

Master Post 2 of Watchmen graphic novel manips

( Read more... )

I Hope I Become A Ghost mp3 -- The Deadly Syndrome


When I die, I want to haunt you.

I loooo-uh-uh-huh-ooove October. I love the weather, the shortening days, the changing leaves, and cozy gray skies. (And then of course there's Halloween.)

Passing by a roadside stand, I could not pass up getting one of these white pumpkins.



Don't know whether I'll carve it or draw on it yet.



These were in the grocery store. Obviously, I thought they were little Rorschach-faced lanterns...but it's actually the silhouette of a witch on a broom. A bit of an ink blot test all the same!

Master Post 1 of Watchmen graphic novel photo manips.

( Warning: LOTS of pictures under cut. Nite Owl/Rorschach. NSFW here and there. )

Silk Spectre's new uniform.

Whatwhatwhaaat?

Heroes premiere last night? I'm going to go watch. Hopefully I can remember where we left off last season.

Only ten minutes ago, I stuck my hand down the sofa looking for the phone, and I found action figure Noah Bennet's glasses! I thought they were lost forever...or at least until the next vacuuming. Much better this way.

This time of year is always a bit of a lonely time for fandom. So many people return to classes and need to devote themselves to classwork sorts of projects instead of fic and art kinds. Output slows, and there's a lull for a while before they adjust or get bored or just can't contain themselves anymore.

I'm wandering the halls alone, refreshing my friends page but seeing too little of what I need. I'm writing and all, but it's just not the same -- I know what's going to happen in those stories. But I will be patient. No need for anyone to fail a class just because I want something new to read.

I heard one of the most amusing names today -- Andrew Wigglesworth. I've been repeating it in my head all day, and it's quickly replacing Nigel Bottomley as my favorite "sounds like it's from a storybook, but really IS someone's name" name.