Suffering and Symphonies

There's, er, something in my eye. Yeah, that's it.

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:10:33 GMT

I just watched "The End of Time, Parts One and Two" for the third time, and I definitely cried more this time than the first time. I think it has a lot to do with knowing how everything plays out; it lets you be more in the moment. Not that you don't already know what's going to happen by episode's end, of course, but the details of it. And, really, the details are where the heartstrings really get pulled.

Honestly, there are moments in this show that make me water up. I think it's most pronounced at the end of both series two and four. Like, the emo wall shot of the Doctor from "Doomsday"? With Rose on the other side? Tears. Donna's last moments on the TARDIS? She was so great, and then she was broken and can't be allowed to remember her greatness. So sad.

Actually, I watched some special or other that ended up featuring things from both of those bits, and the Donna stuff had me watering up, just from the clips. Which is when, I think, I discovered that Donna's my favorite companion. I love Rose and Martha and Jack and the others, too, but Donna's the best. (Why do I always need some external push to pick a favorite character? It's not like they know I have favorites.)

And she's his best friend! *sniff* His best friend who he can't visit again 'cause it would kill her! *sob*

With "The End of Time," pretty much any scene where the Doctor and Wilf get to actually talk, rather than just run around and move the plot forward, is a "get the tissue ready" moment, and they're all fantastic, really. I love that, when Wilf first finds the Doctor in this, Wilf salutes, and the Doctor salutes back. Particularly because he's always telling people not to salute (even over the phone). It's like he's recognizing the awesomeness that is Wilf and the actual honor that is intended by it. I love that they'd both be proud if they were father and son. And I love that Wilf, at the end, is very much willing to stay in the chamber and die so the Doctor (well, that Doctor) can live on. Wilf's just an ol' sweetheart, really.

It's funny, though (well, not funny-ha-ha, but funny-interesting); I was crying because of all of the goodbyes and the sadness that entails (helped particularly by David Tennant's performance, which was magnificent), but, after the regeneration, with the sort of manic regeneration energy fueling the new Doctor, I found myself smiling. Like, it's a new energy, a new sort of Doctor. Like Ood Sigma said, "This song is ending, but the story never ends." Which is the beauty of the show, really, that it doesn't end.

Still doesn't make the goodbye less sad, though it does mean there's always something good to look forward to. And there's always stories to look back on, so it's not really a goodbye, anyway.

Heh. So I've got the end of the second episode playing, to get Ood Sigma's line, and the Tenth Doctor's last line made me tear up. Again. (And the Eleventh Doctor made me smile. Again.)

I've not had to do "Doctor Who" during a regular series since I only began watching in the fall of 2008. Waiting for specials is not like waiting for episodes. *taps foot impatiently* Is it spring yet?

Obligatory Christmas-y post

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:49:26 GMT

I'm not sure I've ever done a "here's what I got for Christmas" post, but there was some epic and awesome this year that must be shared.

There's one thing I haven't gotten yet, but that's because it's not been released: the LEGO Harry Potter game. I'm really excited about this, actually. I adore the LEGO games, particularly the Star Wars one, since that's the franchise I'm most familiar with of the ones they've done so far. But, we all know how familiar I am with Harry Potter, so the game should be pretty epic. When it comes out. In March. :D

My mom gave me a leather checkbook cover (which I'll probably use, unlike the wallet she gave me last year; not that I dislike the wallet or anything, but I'm still using this coin purse I bought in England in, like, '85 or '86 for a wallet) and a very pretty ring. I usually forget to wear jewelry, but I should try to wear this ring, 'cause it's very nice.

Also? She put the ring in one of those plastic gift boxes made like a Chinese takeout box, and... I kind of love it. I'm not sure why, but I do.

Otherwise, there was a bit of a theme from my dad (I think; they feel more like Dad presents): a Craig Ferguson book (American On Purpose) and DVD (Saving Grace). The movie was cute, but the book will have to wait a bit, since I'm still reading through my British/Canadian editions of the Harry Potter books. Once I'm done with those, though, I've got a shorter book to read before reading Craig's book.

See, Russell's gotten me the previous season's "Lost" DVD set the last couple of years, and so that's what he got me again. Awesome, right? Yeah. Well, he also decided to get me something else, 'cause he's cool like that. I guess, inspired by my wholehearted recommendation of the Futurecast, he got me Wil Wheaton's Memories of the Future, Volume 1, which was more of a surprise than it probably should have been. I mean, looking back on it, it's a really obvious choice, but it's not something I ever considered. It's funny; I hadn't really thought about getting the book; I just really enjoyed the podcast. Now, though, I'm going to get the season one discs from Netflix and have a proper viewing. It should be fun.

Finally, Amanda gave me a knitting book (note to self: add it to your Ravelry book thingy) with various and sundry felted projects. It should be fun. She also gave me a Knitpicks gift card (whoo!). But, the best part of it all — it's a little sad I consider it the best part, but its awesomeness cannot be denied — was the gift card presentation. I was literally in tears of laughter.

Seriously, click for the full size; it's awesome.

It might be sad that I get so much joy out of that presentation, but... well, whatever. Its awesomeness just can't be denied.

What I gave was, well, kind of lame, I have to say. Except for Amanda's present, which was a Slanket. Much classier than a Snuggie, even if it doesn't come in leopard print. *g*

Oh, my god, what is this? I'm posting?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:57:31 GMT

Yeah, I'm a way lame LJer, I admit. Oh, well, what can you do.

Anyway.

Is there anyone out there who doesn't, like, play HOL Quidditch (I'm trying to keep things from getting "tainted" or something) or whatever, who likes solving logic puzzles? 'Cause I'm thinking I should maybe have a small stash of logic puzzles somewhere, for emergencies, but having someone else test them to make sure they're logical would be awesome.

And, here's what I mean by logic puzzles, if you're unsure:

Sgt. Potter's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Wizards and Muggles alike love the Beatles, and Harry and his friends are no different: they've formed their own Beatles tribute band. Each has a different part and, to add to their rock 'n' roll mystique, they've come up with rock nicknames. From the information provided, determine each band member's instrument, nickname, and favorite song.

1. The keyboardist, who isn't Hermione, loves "All You Need Is Love." Neville rocks the lead vocals.
2. 'Steve' doesn't play guitar or bass. Ron goes by 'Stone-Cold'.
3. Ginny and 'Smash' play guitar and bass, in some order. Hermione prefers "Boys," but 'Smash' prefers "Revolution."
4. The five band members are 'Shades', Harry, the drummer, 'Sport', and the keyboardist.
5. 'Sport' loves "With a Little Help From My Friends," but the guitarist prefers "I Feel Fine."

I'm not including the answer, in case anyone wants to solve it or something. (Post your answer in the comments! Which aren't going to be screened, but whatever.) But, uh, if you're interested in maybe helping test puzzles with me, could you let me know? Thanks!

A few thoughts on HBP

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:44:56 GMT

So, it's my brother's birthday, but he was accommodating and went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with me. It was fun, I enjoyed it, and there were a couple of things I really, really loved seeing.

And, yes, I took notes during the movie. I've been doing it since PoA. I don't know why. It's not like I'm writing down good stuff. It's usually like, "Quidditch!", "Seamus=Mythbuster", or "Arthur's shed! Of Muggleness!" It's silly, really, to do it, but I like having some initial thoughts.

Yeah, I'm a nerd. Whaddya gonna do?

Anyway, a few random thoughts I had.

1.) Seeing interviews and stuff, I was afraid of the Quidditch stuff, because everyone was saying how Ron's really bad at Quidditch and stuff. Which, as we all know, isn't true. He's not pro-caliber or anything, but he's good; he just fumbles because of nerves. So, I was really happy that they kept in the stuff about Harry faking giving him the Felix Felicis. Honestly, I don't trust Steve Kloves to short-change Ron on that front.

2.) There were some really great bits of foreshadowing for the last book. I think Dumbledore's line that's used in the trailers, about having to ask too much of Harry, isn't in the context it appears to be in. In the scene, Harry's just learned about the horcruxes, and it's right before they travel to the cave. But, Harry just touched the ring horcrux, which spun around, and we see flashes of Voldemort at various ages. Then, back to Harry, who does that weird head/neck thing he did in OotP when he thought he was becoming like Voldemort (I think it was the bit at the mirror, with Harry's reflection turning into Voldemort). Then Dumbledore says that he thinks he's found another horcrux, that he can't hope to destroy it alone, and that he must again ask too much of Harry. Honestly, I don't think he's talking about the cave; I think, for the movies, that's when Dumbledore realizes that Harry got horcruxed. I would not be surprised if Harry has a flashback to this moment, to Dumbledore saying "I must again ask too much of you," when he realizes he has to let himself be killed. I won't be surprised at all.

3.) I thought all the actors were fantastic. Jim Broadbent as Slughorn was great. The trio did really well. Rupert Grint was funny, and usually in a not-embarrassing way, and Jessie Cave (as Lavender) was hilarious. Seriously, she and Luna cracked Russell up. And Tom Felton did really well, too. He had to do a whole lot without much dialogue, and he totally brought it. Yay, cast!

4.) The part that made me tear up was Fawkes flying away from Hogwarts. *sniff*

5.) THE KNITTING PATTERNS LINE WAS IN THERE!!!!! OMG!! When Dumbledore excused himself (there was a lot of loo-going in the movie, actually), I was anxiously waiting to see if the line stayed in, and it did! And Dumbledore walking out with the magazine? Priceless.

So, that's that. There were things that weren't 100%, but that's okay. I think I just want to focus on what was good, which was a lot. And, my mom was saying she wants to go see the movie, so I might be able to focus on the good again. Whee!

End of the universe butterfingers

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:25:33 GMT

I've been randomly watching "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood" over the last couple of weeks. (Actually, I watched "Torchwood" Season 1 over the course of two nights last week. Good times.) But, there's one "Doctor Who" thing that I've watched a lot. I mean, a whole heck of a lot. It's on my not-iPod, I've got it streaming from my laptop to the Xbox, and I've favorited it on YouTube.

In fact, I love it so much that I'm *gasp* embedding it here, which is something I just don't. do. It's just that awesome.

Seriously, it's just utterly and completely charming. I love watching it. I've never seen any of the original "Doctor Who" series, but, solely based on this, I think I want to watch at least the Fifth Doctor episodes, 'cause, to quote the Doctor, "not a lot of men could carry off a decorative vegetable." Or, at the very least, I think I have to knit this hat.

Anyway, back to the laundry I have to do so I can go hang with the sis for a couple days, and then the bro for a couple of weeks. Oh, and copying my Xbox profile stuff so I can get achievements or something.

It's been nearly four years, and I'm still talking about it.

Tue, 19 May 2009 20:27:39 GMT

And by "still," I mean properly mentioning it.

I just rewatched Goblet of Fire, and I have to say, while I really enjoy the movie, I think there's a place where they really missed an opportunity to do something cool.

Remember in the book, at the moment of Priori Incantatem, the golden cage... thingy formed around Harry and Voldemort and Harry hears this music, which lightened his spirits while seeming to damper Voldemort's? It's because both wands share cores — feathers from Fawkes the phoenix. The music is a phoenix song, presumably Fawkes's.

With that in mind, how great would it have been, in the movie, for them to echo Fawkes's theme from Chamber of Secrets? It would have been a way to keep that thread from the books alive in the movie without having to spend any time on it. It's not the sort of thing that would need explained, and it would be a sort of Easter egg for book fans (who happen to remember the movie music).

I know, I know, nitpick much? Still, I think it would have been awesome. Of course, Fawkes's theme is one of my favorites from the series (along with the "Double Trouble" and "A Window to the Past" from Prisoner of Azkaban, and I've got a certain fondness for the "Hogwarts March" from Goblet of Fire); it's all lovely and soaring. Here, have a listen:

Fawkes the Phoenix

Pretty, huh?

Threepio's still kinda useless.

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:08:50 GMT

OMG, y'all, there's gonna be a Lego Rock Band game! I love the Lego games, I love Rock Band, and this combines the two? How awesome is that?

Seriously, this news makes me all giddy. I think it's because it came after I discusses the ghost characters in Lego Star Wars and that they can't get killed (except by falling off of stuff) and can still, like, use light sabers and the Force and stuff. Ghost Obi-Wan is so much fun; I love him, even if he cost most of my moneys (yes, I like to call the studs moneys; it's more fun that way). His way of wielding his light saber is different than others, and I like that. Mace Windu is also very awesome, not surprisingly.

You know, if they made a Lego Harry Potter game, I'd be in the middle of a Lego trifecta of awesome. Please, Lego video game people, make a Potterverse verion; it would rock.

Icon meme, what?

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:46:07 GMT

Look, zardi, I'm doing this in a timely-ish fashion! Whoo!

From stereosymbiosis:

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick six of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

Keywords: CosmoB - cosmob
Why I have it: Cosmo Brown is awesome, and I love him, which is part of the reason I named myself after him (for online stuffs). I love the "Moses" number, so I thought I needed something showing him dance a bit, since I'm him... sort of. Plus, I love his expression when he's doing that part of the dance.
Made by: cosmob

Keywords: D is for... - teh_indy
Why I have it: Sometimes, having a random icon is a good thing. Which is why this one sticks around. It's a reference to a Mitch Hedberg joke about not needing a receipt for a donut. Wait, let me find the quote.
"I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughnut. I don't need a receipt for the doughnut, I'll just give you money and you give me the doughnut. End of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I can't imagine a scenario in which I would need to prove that I bought a doughnut. Some skeptical friend? 'Don't even act like I didn't buy a doughnut, I've got the documentation right here. Oh wait, it's back home in the file... under 'D,' for doughnut.'"
Made by: teh_indy

Keywords: Lag - cosmob
Why I have it: Um, I probably don't need this so much any more. This is a lingering icon from when I Quidditched a lot. Well, I'm Quidditching again, so it may prove useful once again. Anyway, when playing Quidditch on IRC, one of the most frustrating things is the lag. This icon is from a log of mine from a Summer Quidditch League match a few years ago when the ref had some serious lag, showing it all in real time. Yeah, it's amusing for those who have experienced things like that. Otherwise, I think it gets one of these: o.O
Made by: cosmob

Keywords: Huh? (star cellist) - grrliz_icons
Why I have it: This is my random Harry Potter and/or music-related icon. See, grrliz_icons had made a bunch of Summary Execution icons, with great, absurd summaries from really bad HP fanfic. This one just struck my funny bone, 'cause... really? Harry's a star cellist?
Made by: grrliz_icons

Keywords: Help - sweetdisease
Why I have it: General purpose computer ails and/or annoyance icon. 'Cause, you know, sometimes your computer is being so annoying that the "F1" button (which is almost always — in Windows, at least — for help) is useless. Also, there's a sort of despair about it that amuses me.
Made by: hermintage (Who appears to have changed user names since I saved this. Huh.)

Keywords: Glasses - literati
Why I have it: After I finally watched all of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," I had to get some icons. And, I wanted icons with Giles and/or Wesley, since they ended up as my favorite characters on their respective shows — not that I don't love the other characters, 'cause I do; a lot of them are in the top tier, but Giles and Wesley come out just a hair ahead in a photo finish. So, this icon was nice and handy, what with it featuring both former Watchers. Plus, if I ever have occasion to talk about, like, glasses or I need something all smarty-pantsy, it could work for that, too.
Made by: literati

Nothing important

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:31:50 GMT

(Just a little something to pass the time as the DVD burner chugs along so I can clear some room on my hard drive.)

That was such a good episode, oh my goodness. I was reminded again how much I would love a sitcom featuring John Locke and Benjamin Linus sharing a tiny apartment in the city and all the antics that would inevitably ensue. I was also reminded how awesome Locke is. I really liked the calm and confident Locke. Ben was also great, but Locke's wave to Sun? Fabulous. Except that I already have two "hi" icons, I'd totally try to icon that.

In other news, Neil Gaiman listed His Girl Friday first in a short list of favorite movie contenders. Yay. I should watch that again; it's been a long time since I did. Though, I am reminded that I keep forgetting I have a good DVD copy of it, simply because the set it's in is behind a stack of other Lew Ayres DVDs. (No, Lew wasn't in HGF, but he was in Holiday, which is also featured in the set.)

Also? Apparently Adam Savage of "Mythbusters" fame has a Twitter. Apparently, he enjoys "Once More, With Feeling." And "30 Rock." So, you know, something for everyone.

And now the DVD burner is done. As am I. :D

Happiness is a free mp3.

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:35:27 GMT

Hey, are you fan of Flight of the Conchords and/or free music?

Well, if you are, and you're in the US and can handle a small proprietary downloader, for a limited time you can get a Flight of the Conchords song from the second season for free! You can get the song on its own (5MB), or a whole sampler album with other bands. Your choice.

Also, Amazon has a bunch of free mp3 downloads all the time. They rotate the top things out about every week or so. I've got a bunch of stuff from them so far. Their Free Songs and Special Deals section is where they put their "Friday Fives" (five albums for $5 a pop), their deal of the day (an album that's usually $2 or $3 for the day), and their free songs.

So, yeah, check it out. At least get the Conchords song; it's good.

My mother is evil.

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 07:48:13 GMT

~~Tonight~~ Last night, whatever forces of good will and fun descended upon our house, and my mother, my father, my sister and I all played Rock Band together. First time this has happened. The other day, I talked my mom into creating a Rock Band character, and a few weeks ago, I got my dad to create a Rock Band 2 character. Mom, I've only seen her do vocals; Dad, he spent a while that first day working on guitar, not getting very far, and a bit of time with the drums.

So, we did some quick play (all of us on easy, because we are wusses), Dad on drums, Mom on vocal, and Amanda and me on guitar (me on main guitar, Amanda on bass). It went okay. Dad and Amanda switched, and Dad had to figure out the guitar again. We started playing, and Dad failed out once or twice, but he started getting the hang of it. Like, going from a 40% to an 85% in half a dozen songs. Mom didn't know a lot of the songs, but we pointed out that, in easy mode, you don't have to sing the songs that accurately in order for the game to think you're in the general vicinity. She ended up as a modern day Helen Kane, boop-boop-ba-dooing her way through most everything.

We got to the point of five-starring a lot of the songs, which was pretty great, and even earned an achievement — deploying an 8x multiplier in a song. So, sweet, right?

It was awesome and fun until the end, which was when Mom got evil.

Let me 'splain. There's this song you can get for the game, "Still Alive," which comes from a game I haven't actually played. But, I like singing it, in part because of the cleverness of the lyrics, the peppiness of the tune, and it's a frakkin' Rock Band song that's in my range! Ahem.

Anyway. We did the song earlier in the evening. Dad was all, "One more song." And Mom was all, "It's not Rock Band without Nancy singing 'Still Alive.'" So I'm all, "What, you wanna play guitar?" Her response? "No, I'm gonna hold the mike for you, and you're gonna sing and do the guitar."

Evil.

So, here I am, still rockin' out on easy 'cause I'm a wuss and suck at anything above that (seriously, I started the hard vocal tour the other day, and hard is hard), trying to sing and remember all the words and not lose my place with the guitar part and... and.... I DON'T ACTUALLY PLAY GUITAR OR ANY ACCOMPANYING INSTRUMENT, SO THIS ISN'T SOMETHING I'M USED TO!!

That said, I did manage to get a 97% on vocals and 94% on guitar, which isn't too shabby. (I'm bragging about my lame easy self; pathetic, really. *g*)

But, seriously? My mother is evil.

Because this needs shared

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:18:56 GMT

From a comment on Whedonesque:

"The Firefly Crew travel back in time to the present day and advertise for a new crew member. Tobias, thinking it's a acting job, comes aboard ... and forms a special relationship with Jayne (who, in a shocking twist, is also a never-nude.)"

Also? If you have some spare time to read stuff, I recommend checking out cleolinda's Secret Life of Dolls. There are quite a few, but she's got a wiki with good pullquotes and some basic explanations, and each entry's page links to the original journal entry. It's really fun and funny, and there are all sorts of plot twists and stuff. I think every single one has made me giggle.

For example, from the latest entry in the saga, here's Cleo's rules for The Littlest Edward:

"No biting people. Or elves. Or any bipedal beings of a vaguely humanoid nature. Or daemons. Or any stuffed animals not specifically designated for explushination. Or my dogs. You can bite the cat if you want, good luck catching him."

Beware, though, if you head to the wiki and start reading stuff there; it's very easy to get sucked in and not leave for hours. :D

Oh, I'm so amusing...

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:52:59 GMT

...to me, anyway.

I've spent the last few... hours... going through stuff I've got archived on disc and in my email, mostly related to HOL, and I find myself hilarious. There's stuff that I barely remember doing, stuff that's just silly, and stuff I absolutely, positively cannot remember at all. Like, stuff I wrote. Creative stuff, even. Absolutely no memory jogging going on. Which is a shame, 'cause it was some sort of mystery/treasure hunt story that could have been pretty great.

And, oh, those discs with iddy biddy 320 pixel wide videos, 'cause that was pretty awesome in what I could find then. And the big, hi-res videos I downloaded that I couldn't play on the computer we had at the time, but I downloaded them for posterity (or something).

I really should sort through some of this stuff... eventually. In the meantime, up it goes, back on the shelf.

Seriously, I find the old, archived me so amusing at times.

"PS: Thou dost be knowing the things of which I meanteth, so again, as I spake unto thee before, I say unto thee again: Neener neener."

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:34:33 GMT

I decided to take that embroidery class. I'm oddly excited about it, though I'm not sure why. We went out yesterday, and I bought most everything I need. Except for black thread. I thought I picked some up, but I missed it. But, I'm working on a way to get it (and a few other colors) inexpensively without having to leave the house. So... *crosses fingers*

My brain is also feeling very knitty (though my socks are slow-going). Actually, I really should try to finish my socks tonight, so I can mentally move on. I want to start working on a thing, but I don't want to really start it, full-throttle, until these darn socks are finished. So... hopefully it won't take too long to do the short row heels. At the very least, at least I don't like my socks to have long legs.

I should probably go eat something-ish before dinner. I don't remember if I'm supposed to cook tonight or not. I ought to find out, shouldn't I?

Part (read: all) of me wishes this were true

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:53:06 GMT

Neil Gaiman tweeted this, and, oh, boy, did it make me laugh.

Obama Disappointed Cabinet Failed To Understand His Reference To 'Savage Sword Of Conan' #24*

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama expressed frustration Wednesday after members of his cabinet failed to recognize his allusion to the 24th issue of the comic series Savage Sword Of Conan during their first major meeting together.
...
"If my inner circle of advisers can't even communicate about the most basic issues, how are we going to tackle the massive problems our nation faces?" Obama said during a press conference. "When I tell my cabinet that getting bipartisan support is exactly like the time Conan got Taurus to help him steal Yara's jewel, they need to understand what I mean."
...
When asked by the press corps if this week's hiccup has caused him to rethink any of his appointments, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton interrupted the president to assert that she and her colleagues have already begun educating themselves about comic books, and will soon be "an invincible team of Supermen and Wonder Women working to save America."

"Wonder Woman? That's not even Marvel," Obama responded before storming out of the press room. "Who are you people?"

*Just in case anyone missed the link, this is from The Onion; it's parody. Though, the president is apparently a collector of Spider-Man and Conan comics. Which just makes it that much funnier.

Less Super Bowl, more Office!

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:41:34 GMT

So, I'm sitting here, waiting for the Super Bowl postmortem to hurry up and finish so we can get to "The Office," and the world revolves around my needs and wants and.... Oh, it doesn't? Darn.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide on which HOL class to take as my fourth one. (I could do five, except not really; I'd end up not doing one of the classes, so I stick with four.) I'm sorely tempted to sign up for Ronja's Magical Embroidery class, but I want to see about getting all the supplies before committing. Maybe I can do that tomorrow.

I've also been looking at a lot of knitting patterns yesterday and today. Even though I rarely do anything there, I'm finding Ravelry very handy, what with the free pattern downloads and the centralized nature of it all. Like, if I'm not careful, I could get addicted.

Like I'm sort of addicted to Twitter. I like the quick, random updates from people. It's fun, and folks get really creative in their 140 characters. I also like how it's streamlined when compared to Facebook, which is too bells-and-whistley for me, I think. Though, I should probably see if there's a way to send Twitter updates to Facebook or something. Or LJ posts. Or both. Not that I do a ton of either, but still.

Oh, look, "The Office" is on. Yay!

Feelin' Sorta Kinda

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:34:54 GMT

Blargh, I woke up, like, half an hour ago. Though, I did use my phone in a valiant effort not to sleep so late; three alarms set, each with its own 10-minute auto-snooze thing. Still didn't help (much).

Meanwhile, I'm trying to do a quick check of LJ and Twitter, see what's happening in the world. It's probably just me, but it feels like the servers for both (well, more Twitter than here) are being particularly robust right now.

I'm finding it annoying (because the internet exists to serve me, didn't you know).

Anyway, back to reading.

OMG I MADE ICONS!

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:38:23 GMT

No, really. I actually made three of 'em.

See, ever since Barack Obama was elected president (yay!), I've had this in mind, but... well, I suck and never got around to them. Until tonight, for who knows what reason.

All right, backstory time.

Back in the day, there was this SNL sketch featuring a retelling of the New Testament. Except it was improvised. There ended up being this guy named Barry who becomes the main guy, getting betrayed by Jesus, and the like. The sketch ends with him proclaiming, "Barry power!"

Now, keeping in mind that President Obama went by the name "Barry" as a young'in, and, well, you can see where this is going, right?

I was going to make another one, but it was being fiddly. I did, however, make a serious (and simple) President Obama icon.

President Obama. I still like the sound of that. :)

And the sun is high (if only metaphorically)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:58:56 GMT

I've got "Brand New Day" from "Dr. Horrible" running through my head at the moment. And not just because I went to sleep to it. Most of it definitely doesn't fit in with the occasion.

Still.

It's a brand new day, y'all.

I'm such an easy audience

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:49:59 GMT

I'm working on the "Doctor Who" lesson from Anya's class right now, and I've just amused myself. More than I'm sure anyone else might be amused by this, but that's okay. I'm having a good time.

Okay, back to writing.

A little slow on the uptake

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:05:41 GMT

I was just browsing the on demand stuff, 'cause I'm procrastinating my HOL homework, looking for something to watching. In the run-up to the inauguration, they've got a bunch of Obama's speeches, mostly from last year.

One speech that wasn't from 2008 is his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In all this time, I hadn't actually seen or listened to it. Sure, I've seen the highlights, but never the whole thing.

So, I watched it. My immediate reaction?

"That was lovely."

(Yes, I said that out loud. To the cat and dogs, I guess.)

How many days is it until he's president?

So, apparently I can't nap

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:48:29 GMT

I keep trying to, really, but it's just not happening.

So far this week, I've twice tried to nap (once even setting an alarm), and both times I've not woken up until at least six hours later.

In the meantime, my days and nights are all screwy, and I don't know if I'm coming or go. That said, it does mean I'm up to see "Knitty Gritty" on the DIY Network; it's always good for some knitting inspiration.

It also means I'm up to see parts of weird musical remakes of It Happened One Night with June Allyson and Jack Lemmon. Actually, I wish I'd been recording this; I'm strangely fascinated with classic Hollywood musical remakes. Sometimes they work really well. Other times, they don't. This seems to fall into the latter category, though, so maybe it's for the best that I've missed most of it.

And yet epic in its scope

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:08:56 GMT

So, I finally got around to ripping "Commentary! The Musical" so I can listen to it and learn it off by heart ('cause it's what I do). I thought I might try transcribing the lyrics today ('cause that's also what I do; plus, when I transcribe lyrics, I seem to remember them better), but it turns out I don't have to: the lyrics were posted!

Seriously, this is exciting for me, because I now have song titles to put into the mp3s. Right now, I'm doing the song version, which is the banter tacked onto the beginning and/or ends of songs in ways to make it not seem out of the blue. But, I also have it subdivided, keeping the songs as banter-free as possible and having the dialogue as individual tracks. And, of course, O also have the easiest mp3 to tag, which is all 42 minutes unsplit.
If anyone doesn't want to rip their DVD on their own but would still like to listen to "Commentary!" on their mp3 player of choice, let me know. *wink*

Yes, I am a "huge f#!king nerd," as the song suggests.

I might as well get this out there

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:56:05 GMT

Yes, folks, I've gotten sucked into yet another TV show. (Several, actually, but that's beside the point.) At least this time it's still on the air.

I'm... now a fan of new version of "Doctor Who."

There, I said it.

Oh, and "Torchwood." I didn't know what order to watch them in, so I saw Doctor Who3/Torchwood1 out of order, but that's okay. I enjoyed them both, which is what matters.

I finished watching what I could a week or so before Christmas, and I've spent the last week searching for things beyond the main four ~~seasons~~ series and the Christmas specials. Little things, mostly, but they're fun. Actually, when I first started watching, I mentioned it to Anya, who wondered whether I'd prefer the Ninth Doctor or the Tenth one. Honestly, I didn't have a preference... until earlier this week. I found online the mini-episode "Time Crash." I found it utterly charming and decided that I think I like the Tenth Doctor a bit better. Not much, but enough.

So, yeah. "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood" have sort of eaten my brain. Pretty soon, I won't have any brains left.

In the meantime, I've also started watching the new show "Leverage," which is pretty fabulous. As my brother likes to put it, it's "Ocean's A-Team." For me, it's the show with Archie Goodwin, Lindsey MacDonald, Jane from "Coupling," and two other people who seem pretty cool. Either way, it's a lot of fun and something nice to look forward to while waiting for "Psych," "Lost," and "Battlestar Galactica" to come back in January.

Anyway. Today (the 28th) is Lew Ayres's 100th birthday. I think I should watch Johnny Belinda or a Dr. Kildare movie. Ooh, or the episode of "I Spy" he guest-starred in, since my dad has the DVDs of the first season. Sadly, I am lame and have nothing else commemorative to do or put out in the world, which had been my plan. Oh, well. Who says there can't be a big to-do in order to commemorate his 101st birthday, eh?

Because watching TV isn't straight-forward enough

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:51:25 GMT

I've spent the last couple of months rewatching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel." (Good times.) Since I came into the shows well past their original airings, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to blend the shows — that is, to watch episodes of "Buffy" and "Angel" somewhat simultaneously. The question was then do I watch the episodes in strict broadcast order, or should I try "story" order. I opted for story order.

I used a list from Wikipedia, which has since been revised because the list represents (ONOZ!!) original research. (Lucky for me, they have that handy history thing.) Going into it, I wasn't sure how accurate the list was, but upon viewing, it mostly made sense as "story" order.

Actually, story order was pretty good up through Buffy5/Angel2. Episodes end up spaced out pretty evenly, and crossovers fall right into place. In fact, it was interesting seeing, say, Buffy leave Sunnydale to take care of something and have her pop up in LA right after.

But, once you hit Buffy6/Angel3, story order isn't all that it's cracked up to be, which makes a whole lotta sense (since "Buffy" was no longer on the same network as "Angel"). There's still a proper story order to things, but it's not particularly even. You start getting big blocks of one show or the other, and not entirely because the episodes bled into one another, each starting seconds after when the previous left off.

Buffy7/Angel4 was probably the worst in terms this story block thing, particularly towards the end of the seasons, since you have to have "Angel" finishing before "Buffy" and a lot of the episode bleeding, too.

The worst thing about the story blocks is that you leave one show for so long that you lose its momentum. A lot of Buffy7 momentum was lost by going back to Angel4's story. Then again, looking at the broadcast dates, Buffy7 had a series of three episodes aired in the span of about seven weeks, which is some serious momentum-killer.

Still, when it's all said and done, I think story order was a good choice. I may even do it again (at least for Buffy4/Angel1 and Buffy5/Angel2). Switching discs practically every. single. episode. wasn't my favorite thing ever, but that's okay. Getting a better sense of the stories, how they connect, was more than worth it.

I want to write out some thoughts on the two shows, but that'll be a little later. I've got some things I have to do first, plus my thoughts need to stew a bit longer; they're a little jumbled at the moment and not as clear as they should be.