Seriously, the weather has been apocalyptic lately. One minute it's warm, the next it's cold, one day sunny, one day rainy (like today)--argh! Too much! So, who was the one that woke up this morning and said, "Hmm, I think God isn't angry enough, let me do something about that"? red_maven, I'm looking at you.

Anyway, because of the insane weather, it's been a mess out there, which is thoroughly aggravating me. A little bit of water and everyone in the subway loses their minds. Not to mention my umbrella broke, so I had to get a new one at lunch or face death by drowning. It's just not my day, lol.

BUT, some good stuff did happen. I started watching The Listener for the first time and I'm happy to say I loved it. The main character, Toby, is quite dreamy and his laid-back sweetness puts a good twist on the psychic avenger theme. And the subplots about his past should also make for an interesting hour, as well.

Also, I seem to have gained a little popularity on Twitter. Warren Ellis tweeted, "I am convinced that all the women on my followers list are bots who want to pulp my brain for joint lubricant." So, I replied, "The store was out of vaseline, so what's a girl to do? *turns on bone saw*" And he retweeted it! This is what I love about that man, he is the only celeb that will sometimes reply to something I say. Yes, it's only the second time, but so what? It's still cool! And it's being retweeted by other people, too, which is neat. It's too bad I don't care about gaining followers, or I'd be ecstatic at this turn of events.

Final awesome thing that happened: I finally bought the necklace I've been obsessing over for ages. It's a silver cast pendant with the door to the Chalice Well etched in it. If you know your Welsh folklore, the stream there is dark red and represents to some the red dragon of Wales. If you're Christian, then you might know the legend that the water is red because the blood of Christ that was carried over in the Holy Grail runs deep in the stream. Either way, it's a pretty neat place. You can check it out here if you're interested. Anyway, someone designed a pendant on the door of the well, and I've been going back and forth on whether to buy it. But I gave in today and boy am I glad! I should hopefully get here in a week or so! I'll post pictures when I get it! Promise!

Aaaand, that just killed enough time so I can get out of work now! Thanks for being my accomplices!

If you haven't seen this, watch it now! Mark Paul Gosselaar comes onto Jimmy Fallon to promote his show, "Raising the Bar" dressed like Zack Morris. He agrees to the Saved by the Bell reunion and even does a quick performance with his band, Zack Attack! OMG, this is a must see! Bleach his hair, and it's like he never aged! Seriously, this amazes me!



Excuse me while I swoon some more!

You know, I've been reading rumors that Joss wants to bring Summer Glau into Dollhouse now that Sarah Connor got cancelled and, while that makes me happy beyond belief, it brought up something that is bothering me right now. Why isn't he bringing Sean Maher into anything?

Joss is notorious for reusing actors he's worked with. He put Alan Tudyk and Eliza Dushku in Dollhouse, as well as Mark Sheppard (Badger, from Firefly). He had Nathan Fillion on Doctor Horrible and Buffy. Adam Baldwin was in Angel and Firefly. God knows he would have brought Jewel in for something if she hadn't been working on Stargate Atlantis. Of course, there are people he hasn't put into a project since, but most of them are working pretty steadily, going their own way. But Sean, since acting in Firefly, has been in two made-for-TV movies with a possible third on the way. That's all he's done for the last three years. So why not bring him into Dollhouse, at least as a guest role? Maybe he can be a Doll, or an FBI agent. Or a client. Something. I just want to see him work. Is that silly or pathetic? I really adored his character on Firefly. I'd love to see him do another show.

I guess I'll just have to keep hoping.

So, I'm watching Buffy, well, not really watching it, but listening to it on Hulu as I work (a pastime I enjoy), when it went to commercial. Seeing as how I wasn't looking at the screen, I didn't realize that anything had changed and so when I heard, "When you're a cyber-warrior, you don't have to go out into the desert to be in the field," and I thought, for some bizarre reason, that it was Xander being sarcastic and started to laugh. Then I look up and no, it wasn't Buffy. It was a commercial for the Army. Now, even more than before, I just can't take them seriously. Oops. =D

I totally just got the first three seasons of Doctor Who (2005) on DVD! It is much awesomeness and I find that, on second viewing, the first few eps with Christopher Eccleston are not as boring as I used to see them. It took me three episodes to get into the show the first time around. When the pilot consists of mannequins coming to life to kill people and the only weapon to stop them being "anti-plastic," well, it's kind of hard to take it seriously. But now that I'm as in the show as I am now, I can see it for the charming wackiness that is ever-present in the show. And now I can't say "Fantastic!" without sounding like him.

Seriously, I feel like my mind is melting. I always have something I want to say here, but I can never remember come time to type. I think my job is making my brain short out. Too much data entry, never enough sleep, you know?

Saw the ex two weeks ago. The guy who broke up with me last summer. For the first time ever, he worked at Starbucks on a Saturday that I'm volunteering at my old job. I was so shocked to see him that I actually walked back out of the place and had to stand outside. After a few deep breaths, I willed myself to go back in. It's not like I'm still hung up on the guy or anything, but I haven't seen him in almost a year and the last in-person conversation we had left me crying, so I have a right to be a little nervous. As it turns out, I didn't need to be, since the conversation we had was not awkward at all. It was actually quite pleasant. Though I think at one point he might have thought I was trying to ask him out again. Oh well. At least it didn't leave me feeling cold and upset. But it was still odd to see him after so long.

Also went to see a PEN Festival Cabaret (with the indomitable Aaron) where playwrights, poets, spoken word artists, and authors perform some of their greatest hits. Got to see James Franco (*gasp* I know!) and Parker Posey in a great dramatic scene about New York, William Moseley read out a chapter of one of his books, Nick Laird read aloud a few poems. The only part that I did not enjoy was when Lou Reed and his wife Laurie Anderson did their performance piece. Oh my God, save me from aging hasbeens. Now, I know that's not a nice thing to say because many artists can go on creating beauty for years after their "prime." But in this case, I won't apologize. The piece was a monstrosity of experimental music with either nonsensical prose performed by Laurie Anderson, or poetry about growing old that is badly sung by Lou Reed. To make matters worse, it lasted for over 20 minutes. Is it possible to get post-traumatic stress disorder from a performance? If so, I have it! (Apologies to anyone who actually has PTSD as this is not a jab aimed at your or the disorder, but rather Lou Reed's incapability to create something enjoyable.) I wish there was a way to illustrate the horrors because no mere blog post will ever do.

Ok, back to mopping up what's left of my brain off the floor. Watch your feet!

I am going crazy here! While I am enjoying my lovely new computer, all is NOT as it should be. This whole thing with iTunes has me running around going bananas! First, I can't update the program. Then I can't uninstall it. I tried uninstalling Quicktime first and no luck. Then I tried to find an alternative to iTunes, but the sound doesn't work. Now I have Quicktime back, but iTunes still won't import or burn CDs. And to add insult to injury, now my iPod isn't recognized on the computer because the driver isn't functioning correctly! I am about ready to pull my hair out!


*cough* And, erm, how is your evening going? =D

OMG you guys, in a couple of days I'll be 24! That's right, I'm one year closer to my quarter-life crisis. Looking forward to that one. How should I handle it, though? Gotta save the sports car and trophy wife for my mid-life crisis. So, what shall it be? Not doing the daredevil thing, where I try to experience life in its extremes. Going sky-diving and rock-climbing is not for me. I'd like to actually live to see my mid-life, you know? Also, it involves getting up, which, as a rule, I don't do. Oh well, I guess I have another year to think on it, right? In the meantime, I'll just keep freaking out about what to do to celebrate this year. It's good to have a hobby.

In other news, got my new computer! It's all shiny and pretty with a HUGE screen and enough memory that I can actually download stuff again! It's like...being reborn. It makes me SO happy! Is it sad that I get so enthusiastic by a machine? Naaaaaah. I just don't know how I feel about Windows Vista yet. It's pretty cool and it has some fun stuff to it. But if it starts to seriously fuck with my computer, I'm switching to Ubuntu or something. Seriously, I'm not letting anything ruin my enjoyment!

And say what you will about Zac Efron, I thought this was hilarious!


I'm glad he's starting to leave the tween genre a little. I keep hoping that he'll move into scifi given his days (alright his one episode) on Firefly.

Much happier post today than the last one. Which is kind of funny since I don't really have much good news. ( cut for people who don't care about what's been going on lately )

On the upside of things, the office is less stressful today. Maybe it was just me being tired and cranky that ratcheted up my nerves at work. Now I feel like I can sit at my computer and not have to worry about whether I'm bothering anyone. Also, I found out that Neil Gaiman is doing two panels for the PEN festival in NYC in about a month, so I'm totally excited and gearing up for that. Colm Toibin is also going to be there, which should be interesting. He wrote several books, one that I read called The Master, which is a fictional account of the life of Henry James. He wrote Portrait of a Lady and Turn of the Screw, I believe. Beautiful writing, but no real story. I kept waiting for him to get to the point and then the book ended. But I have another book of his, so I'll check it out and maybe I'll go see what he has to say.

Am reading John Barrowman's autobiography, "Anything Goes," and am having an amazing time with it so far. It's so entertaining and engaging! The best part are the footnotes, which do not clarify anything. I love that. After I'm done with this, I'm going to read Amber Benson's book, "Death's Daughter."

Oh! Also, saw Watchmen twice: ( I don't know how long this review will be, so I'm cutting it just in case. Also, don't read if you don't want to be spoiled. )

Anyway, long story short, I enjoyed the movie. I'm still not sure if it should have been made, but I'm glad that Snyder, a real fan and not a Hollywood sockpuppet, made it.

So, that's how things have been. How about you?

I just had the most wondrous and startling discovery in a while. It might not be so wondrous or startling to anyone else, though. Unless they're fans of NCIS. And Disney movies.

Ok, so Sean Murray, who plays Tim McGee on NCIS, also played Thackeray Binx in the 1993 hit (in my mind, anyway) Hocus Pocus! You know, the kid who tried to save his baby sister and gets turned into a cat in the beginning of the movie? OMG, I had the biggest crush on him! When he was a boy, not a cat, of course. And finding the clip on youtube just about made my day! I love it when my childhood collides with my not-childhood (I know there's a word for it--don't make me say it).

Enjoy the loverly-ness of seeing McGee, er Binx, confront the witches:

Today, I feel like death warmed up in the microwave. Seriously, for the past three days I've been waking up at least an hour before my alarm because I was too hot and my throat was killing me. I can't keep going on less than 7 hours of sleep. Now I'm dragging my ass around, trying to do as little work as possible without people noticing, lol.

It's funny, though, despite feeling like crap, I did wake up enough to notice a bunch of teenage girls standing around in the lobby of my building. They were all holding bags from z100 (they broadcast from here) and some were just crying. I was wondering who could have been the guest on the morning show to make all those girls tear up. My first guess was the Jonas Brothers. Or some kind of teen heartthrob-y type person. Turns out it was Miley Cyrus. I understand getting ferklempt (sp?) over someone you've had a huge crush on, but Miley Cyrus? Give me a break, lol. But it was kind of fun to watch. I still hold out hope that one day I'll share an elevator with someone famous. Cross your fingers for me.

Am looking forward to some good ol' fashioned sleep this weekend. Who is with me?

Also, who is going to walk into the madness that is Watchmen opening weekend? I know I'm not! Too many people, too much aggravation. But I can't wait to see the movie! Maybe next week.

So, last night I downloaded the first episode of Law and Order: UK. Not sure how that's going to go. I've been a fan of the original Law and Order since high school and it's going to be a little jarring to see such a landmark show not set in New York. But it does have Freema Agyeman in it, so there's always the possibility that the Doctor will pop in out of nowhere and expose the rapist/murderer/embezzeler/nogoodnik to be a Cyberman/Dalek/Slitheen/nogoodnikfromspace. One can hope, anyway.

Have been watching Dollhouse. I like it, but I feel like Joss is trying a little too hard this time around. He's good, we know he's good, he doesn't have to force it. But Eliza Dushku is dreamy, the premise is interesting, and there's already slash potential. So, I'm in. Plus, it's starting to become a bit of a tradition to watch it with Tony, so that's another plus.

Ok, yeah, about the boyfriend. ( Cut for those who just aren't interested in hearing about my relationship. )

And now back to work! *sigh*

Yeah, so it's been a rough couple of weeks since Comic Con. Shortly after that blissful, if lonely (since my two best buds, Lor and red_maven got sick), I succumbed to the bug that seemed to be going around. I'm still attributing the illness to Fan Flu, or What You Get When You're In An Enclosed Space With Several Hundred People For Three Days Straight (WYGWYIAESWSHPFTDS for short). Following that, got swamped with work and then this weekend went on a long overdue trip to Boston to visit a friend.

BUT now I'm here and now I can finally share the last two days of NYCC, since I know some (okay, one) of you want to know.

( Day 2 )

( Day 3 )

And that was basically comic con! Yeah, this was one long ass post. Hope it was worth it!

Also, for posterity's sake, I post this recent tweet conversation:

warrenellis: I've done nothing but talk music and be horrible to people all day, and I still have more than 20K followers. Plan B: exposing myself.
warrenellis: Plan C, by the way, is impregnating people over the internet using the power of my mind. I don't think anyone wants things to get that bad.
pardonmysass: @warrenellis Actually. I kind of do.
warrenellis: @pardonmysass Excellent.


OMGWARRENELLISREPLIEDTOSOMETHINGISAID!!!! *cough* Yeah, sweet.

Btw, eyezrthewindows I'm sorry I haven't sent out the CD yet! I have it, I just need to get it to you! This week, ok? I'm a bad friend and I'm sorry!

more animals

Will post about NYCC when I'm done passing out. Excuse me...

Well, I just woke up from a gloriously deep sleep after completing day one of the event I wait all year for. NY Comic Con started off this weekend with tons of awesome stuff! I'm afraid I went a little crazy yesterday, looking at stuff and buying stuff, though I did restrain myself somewhat. Didn't see any programming yet, either, but that's all going to change today!

So, one of the first things I did was meet up with two of my most wonderful best friends after having some lunch and heading to the Jacob Javits Center. We got a little overwhelmed by the showroom floor as can be expected with all the MUST WANT stuff around for the picking. I got a couple of great shirts as my first move. One is a cute sports tee that says Central City Track with a little winged foot on it. It's a little too big, but I've always wanted to show my Flash love. Also, got a t-shirt with Enzo from ReBoot. That was a major slap in the face because I wasn't even aware tees of that show existed, especially since it's been cancelled for so many years. I'm going to be rocking that one today when I go back.

Then, me and red_maven found ourselves at the Doctor Who store booth. We're both such Who freaks so we of course had to check it out. Man, I got a comic book autographed by Colin Baker! The 6th Doctor! Ok, I admit to not having seen his stuff, but I've been trying to get my hands on classic Who for ages to no avail. Colin Baker was so sweet and wonderfully lascivious. He totally hit on me, which I thought was hilarious and strangely heartwarming.

Me: It's a pleasure to meet you! Would you mind signing your autograph for us?
Colin Baker: Of course.
Me: And would you mind posing for a picture with us?
Colin Baker: Well, that depends on what you mean by posing. *raises eyebrows*
Me: *coyly* What do you want it to mean?

LOL, it was pretty cool. He was just so incredibly sweet. So, I have my first autograph of the weekend! Whoo! The rest of the day passed in a blur of shopping. I got a neat leather pouch from a couple of Ren Faire sellers, a cheap plastic gun (mainly to appease the nice old lady who ran the booth), some free comics, a free S. Darko shirt (the shirt is cool, but I'll NEVER see the movie), an incredibly rare Death plushie from the Sandman. My friend Loranth went in half with me since he knew how much I wanted it. Now all I need is Daniel and Dream and I'll have finished the collection. Also got some free comics. All in all, it's been a pretty fabulous Friday! I'm excited to see what is going to happen today!

Will post pics as soon as I get a chance!

I just read a request for a download for an episode of SNL hosted by Matthew Perry and musical guest Oasis. The request was written as SNL Matthew Perry/Oasis. As a slasher, I read that completely wrong.

And the sad thing? I didn't even bat an eye at the pairing.



Oh! And funny thing: the oldest brother from the Nick show The Brothers Garcia just played a drag queen in last nights The Closer. The old saying is true, the best things in life ARE free. =D

So, yesterday I deposited two weeks worth of paychecks in the bank. I hadn't had the time and couldn't find a branch of my bank close enough to go during my lunch break. Turns out I just wasn't looking hard enough, because there was one just two or three blocks away. Decided to check my balance when I got home and I realized something.

When I started my job at the publisher, I had n amount of cash saved up. This was from not overdoing it during my unemployment days. Every week (give or take one where I just wasn't able to go), I put my paycheck in the bank almost as soon as I got them. But, when I checked my balance, I still had the same amount of money in the bank as when I started. This is Not A Good Thing. I've been spending too much lately, blowing my hard-earned cash as soon as I got the chance. A good portion did go to food and transport, but it also went towards DVDs, collectibles, comics, and other nonsense. And, of course, holiday shopping is in there, but I don't have that excuse anymore. So, now, I'm cutting myself off. No matter how painful it's going to feel not getting some of the things I've had an eye on, I'm going to be very careful with my spending from now on. I want to be able to buy a new computer in a couple of months and I can't do that if I don't have the means with which to pay for it. I'll just need to be strong. Really, really strong.

Um, I will be making only one concession to this show of willpower, though. Comic Con is in a week. Nobody is strong enough to resist that particularly sweet Siren's call. But after that? Thrifty is my middle name! It'll be easy, I'm sure. Right?


...right?

I've been seeing this meme floating around on LJ and Facebook, so I've decided to try it out for myself.

( Wanna learn more than you ever wanted to know about me? )

At the end of my senior year in high school, I got into this band called The City Drive. Their lead singer is an actor that used to be on a fun cult TV show called "Big Wolf on Campus" and when I was looking up his new projects, I came across the band's website. Honestly, when I listened to their demo of "Bring Me Everything," I wasn't expecting much. Rock bands are a dime a dozen and all to often they fall short of the expectation for talent. But, to my pleasant surprise, they turned out to be really good. Fun, happy music, good harmonies, very catchy. The more I listened, the more I liked them. When they finally came to New York for a concert, I jumped at the chance and dragged two of my friends with me. I wore the shirt I bought off their website that said, "The City Drive Owns Me" (hey, I thought it was funny). Outside the venue, I sort of met Scott (the bassist) for the first time, who immediately came over to talk because I was one of the only people at the concert wearing a shirt from them. They even walked around with a video camera, asking people their favorite songs and I feature in that. And after the show I met Marc and Danny (the lead singer and actor) and got autographs and pictures. One of my most favorite nights ever.

For the next couple of years, I would try to catch them every single time they were in town. It became such a staple to me. A unique experience that I enjoyed and it got to the point where the guys started to recognize me, and I made friends (sort of) with another of the fans, at these things. So many good memories come from these guys and I hold on to these memories very fondly.

Then Scott left and no one said why. He decided to pursue his own music and started a new band called Lido Beach (see a few entries back where I review his debut album). I followed him and though I never asked him why, it always stuck in the back of my mind what had happened. That was a year ago or so. Now, it seems like The City Drive broke up for good. Their myspace page became all about Danny and everything TCD-related was wiped out. Some of the songs are still up, but in addition to that are a couple of drippy love songs that Danny did solo. This is so disappointing. Not just because the band broke up (which should be enough by itself), but because no one said anything. The last few announcements were for Danny's new roles in film and that's it. I just feel like they never cared about the fans. No one needs an explanation for the break-up, but a little warning would have been nice. I mean, some fans have been hanging in there for 5 years, spending two of them with only a handful of demos. There was so much that was supposed to come out, the ideas for the new album sounded amazing. And instead we get nothing and not even the courtesy of a bulletin to let us know. It makes me so sad. And now I wonder even more about what on Earth happened.

RIP TCD.

By the way, feel free to ignore this. I just wanted to record the day I found out one of my favorite bands dissolved without a whisper.

You guys, I totally slipped and fell yesterday. The snow was coming down kind of hard early in the morning, but it hadn't iced yet. Word to the wise: never wear Ugg boots when you're walking on fluffy, powdery snow because the soles have absolutely no traction and it feels exactly like walking on ice. I fell sideways and landed on my hip, which still hurts like a bitch whenever I sit down, but has not bruised yet. I'm thinking the muscle got hurt, which is why there isn't discoloration. And then I woke up exhausted and with a stiff neck. I think I wrenched it on the way down. As long as I don't turn my head to the left too fast, I'm ok. Man, I'm falling apart, lol.

In better news, I bought myself a region-free dvd player! Yay!!! red_maven, my Heterosexual Life Partner, gave me QI series B over the holidays, but there was no way for me to play it. Now, not only am I enjoying all the Stephen Fry goodness of this series, I can get the other ones now. And The Tribe! And David the Gnome! The possibilities are now endless! *is overwhelmed*

And yesterday didn't suck completely as I got to hang with the gang and do the post-holiday gift exchange. All my buddies loved the gifties I got them. My friend Tom was especially happy with the Tom-the-Ninja plushie I made for him (pics to come later). I got a Harley Quinn Barbie doll, which is absolutely gorgeous, a Harley Quinn action figure (sensing a pattern here), a box of tasty chocolates, a Mouth action figure (my Goonies collection is almost complete!), and a cute Betty Boop figurine. Then we went for Thai food. It was a good night. I just wish I wasn't injured during it.

I do feel kind of stupid missing Supernatural like that. But tonight I stream it and all will be well!

How's everyone's week going? Happy for the weekend? Monday's off!

I find it unendingly amusing that my creative professor types emails in lapslock. =D

Matt Smith is so happy and excited about being the new Doctor! I hope it turns out as good as he says!