Forever A Fangirl

TRUE BLOOD S1, Episode 04: Escape from Dragon House *SPOILERS* Episode 5 Promo Video

Episode 4 was worth watching and would have been so if it only contained the scene where Sookie and Bill were pulled over off the highway by an overzealous cop who first tries to humiliate Sookie then puts his gun in Bill's face. Bill, fangs already bared, "glamours" the cop, asking for and receiving the gun which he aims squarely at the cop. Bill goes on to warn him that next time he pulls over a vamp, he'd best think twice as they aren't all as kind as Bill is. Sookie of course, is scared to death--not of the cop but of what Bill might do to the cop. The scene ends nicely with Bill and Sookie continuing home from their adventures.

What wasn't worth watching: Anything with Jason in it. I just don't dig the character or the actor and he had many scenes throughout this episode. If there is a weak link for me, it is Jason. Now that Tara has more backstory, she's growing on me. The vamp club was a bit too predicable in theme. OMG! Goth!

However, there was a great subtle stab at our lame duck president in the scene at Fangtasia with Sookie asking questions of the bartender, Longshadow. The vampire was so riveting that I missed him in the first viewing but in the next what was over his right shoulder was unmistakably this:

The last scene was funky until you get some more backstory on Mr. Merlotte ("Did you know he barks in his sleep?" -Tara.)

Synopsis: Episode 04: Escape from Dragon House

First aired: SUNDAY, SEPT 28
Another killing in Bon Temps finds Jason back in custody with officers Andy and Bud. Tara gets him off the hook, but neither she nor Lafayette has the antidote to his current ailment. Urged by Gran to use her telepathic abilities to weed out the murderer and exonerate her brother, Sookie persuades Bill to take her to a Shreveport vampire bar called Fangtasia, where she impresses a dominant Nordic bloodsucker named Eric with her prescient powers. Later, Bill demonstrates his own considerable powers when an abusive patrolman stops the couple on their way home.

Synopsis: Episode 05: Sparks Fly Out

Bill proves to be a popular attraction for Adele's historical society, but his stories of the Civil War dredge up painful memories of the wartime experiences that changed his life forever. Meanwhile, Jason decides to give "V" another try; Sam finally asks Ski for a date; and Andy and Bud keep the murder investigations open.

Cast: Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse), Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton,), Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse), Rutina Wesley (Tara Thornton), Sam Trammell ( Sam Merlotte), Nelsan Ellis (LaFayette Reynolds), Lois Smith (Gran)

Dexter Season 3, Episode 01, E02 Previews, *SPOILERS* Video

Dexter
S3, E01
Our Father

Showtime

Synopsis: In the third season premiere, life for Dexter seems to be going well. His relationship with Rita and her kids is back on track. He’s no longer under scrutiny at his day job as a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Homicide. And his night job as a serial killer is operating on all cylinders. So when he sets his sights on Freebo, a dope dealer and killer, it looks to be just another night of Dexter’s dark justice. But things don’t go as planned and Dexter must find a way to extract himself from a pair of problems that he created, both in his home and night life. Dexter also finds himself inexorably drawn to Miguel Prado, an Assistant District Attorney, who has a very personal reason to bring Freebo to justice. Meanwhile, Debra is put in a difficult situation when someone from Internal Affairs wants her to inform on her new partner, Quinn.

Dexter is one of few series that has held it's own for a full two Seasons, no string of mediocre episodes, nothing to say oh, they kind of dropped the ball on that episode because they never drop the ball on Dexter. The opening of Season 3 seems to indicate that the tradition will continue though I have one nagging concern (besides Deb's hair. Why did you cut it?! It looked fantastic--you looked fantastic last season!)

The storyline in this episode, which introduced Jimmy Smits as the ADA, had a solidly good premise  that looks to be played out over at least half the season. Smits is labeled as a "Special Guest Star" so I'm uncertain if the season will culminate with him still present or if his role will be recurring or what.

What I'm a tad concerned about is the domestic side of Dexter. I'm fully comfortable with little bits of Rita and the kids here and there but too much Rita...is too much. Unless she turns out to be some type of dark creature too, there is no happy ending for these two--there's just a lot more angst and doesn't Dex have plenty of angst already? I'd have to say in an episode that I would give a solid "B" on the Dexter scale of excellence, the scenes with Rita/her kids were what brought it down from a B-plus. The classroom scene with Rita's son, Cody on bring your dad to school day was cute---but I'm not looking for cute when I watch Dexter--at least not for more than a few seconds. There were three Dexter-Rita sex scenes which is great but I felt like I was getting a clunk over the head with the foreshadowing. To sum up: I love Dexter, both the show and the character. I do not love the Rita character at all. She's generic and uninteresting and she gets in the way of Dex's super-shininess. Looking forward to next week and with any luck, less Rita.

NEXT on Dexter

S3, E02

Finding Freebo

Synopsis: Dexter and Rita have to make a big decision about their family, forcing Dexter to think about what it means to be responsible for kids. Is he ready to commit to this new family? Meanwhile, Dexter and Assistant District Attorney, Miguel Prado, find themselves hunting down the same murderer, Freebo, the man accused of killing Miguel’s little brother. As a result, Debra and the Homicide department are tasked to find Freebo. Debra, through her supposedly dirty partner, Quinn, is introduced to a C.I. and musician named Anton, in the hopes of drumming up a lead on where Freebo may be. With all of these hunters in play, can Dexter find Freebo before anyone else? 

STARRING: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee.

This makes me happy. Springsteen and E Street to play Superbowl '09

Springsteen and E Street to play Superbowl '09

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will play the half-time slot at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, snagging the spot at the most-watched musical event of the year, according to the organizers.This year, more than 148 million viewers in the U.S. watched Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play at the championship game of American football, the National Football League said on Sunday.Read the whole story here.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY~

US politics has been so ulcer-inducing this week--it's pretty freaky when the President of the United States throws up his hands and begs the country to heed him because in his words, "our country could experience a long and painful recession." Then he talks about a plan of Treasury Secretary Paulson's that he backs but just hours later his own party turns against him saying there's never been (a plan) to back Paulson's's plan. Awkward! Anyway this is a cute non-partisan informational video of Palin and Biden --mini bios and thumbnail political backgrounds. A welcome respite.

NYTimes.com QUOTATION OF THE DAY~

"The situation is like that movie trailer where a guy with a deep, scary voice says, ‘In a world where credit markets are frozen, where banks refuse to lend to each other at any price, only one man, with one plan can save us.’"
JARED BERNSTEIN, of the Economic Policy Institute, on the push for a financial bailout.

Three Ring Emergency Financial Summit

Have you been keeping up with the news about the state of American finances? It's so discouraging not just because so many of us it seems don't know the meaning of having a credit card limit, including the financial entities that issue them. Today comes a US financial crisis summit hastily called by President George Bush to meet with his cabinet and both US presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama (D) and John McCain. The meeting literally took on the qualities of a three ring circus. I really hope there is film at eleven of United states Treasury Secretary Hanry Paulson down on bended knee, pleading with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to "not blow this."

Her reply? "It's not me. It's the Republicans."

One day after President Bush said the nation's economy is at grave risk, lawmakers argued over competing counterproposals and wound up without any apparent financial bailout deal on the table. Even Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson got down on one knee to half-jokingly beg Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders not to go to the television cameras and blast the failed negotiations, according to two senior Democratic aides.

Dexter Season 3 Promos, Widget, Theme song, HUGE! *SPOILER*

 

Synopsis: DEXTER: OUR FATHER In the third season premiere, Dexter's life seems to be smoothly back on track, until he targets a dope dealer who is also in the sights of Assistant D.A. Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits); Internal Affairs pressures Debra to rat on her new partner.

STARRING: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee.

Hard to believe but this Sunday, everyone's favourite sociopath, Dexter is back! Dexter is the best non-science fiction cable show, IMO and Season Three, with some cast additions including the still quite hot Jimmy Smits, looks to be of the same great caliber that we've enjoyed for the past two seasons. As the networks do, Showtime has released a fistful of promos but if you go to YouTube to watch them be prepared to sort through many repeats. So stay here and watch--I've already gone through them. The Showtime site has some interesting extras, some cast interviews, behind the scenes stuff so check that out as well. My favourite promo by far is titled "Dexter's Funhouse Of Horrors" and it is very well done like a surreal and fantastic dream-into-nightmare. You must watch!

"Dexter's Fun house Of Horrors"

"Secrets"

HUGE S3E01 SPOILER after jump.

Woman To Woman

I imagine that it would be most difficult to meet a same sex partner in just about any state but given the state's vast size, Texas Lesbians, probably have as big or a bigger challenge than most in doing so. There is a FREE online dating service however that caters exclusively to lesbians that boasts of being the number one online lesbian community.

I know personally of more than one off-line lesbian couple who originally met online and I'm sincere in my belief that online dating before meeting is a genuine alternative to trying to sort through all the challenges one meets in the real time world.

TRUE BLOOD S1, E03: "MINE" Video, Episode #4: "Escape from Dragon House" *SPOILERS*

TRUE BLOOD S1E03: MINE

Synopsis: Foiled in their attempt to "glamour" Sookie, vampires Malcolm, Liam and Diane make a hasty retreat after Bill lays claim to the waitress. At Merlotte's, Sam seeks a short-term remedy to his long-term loneliness, while Tara seeks respite from her mother's alcohol-fueled rage. Spurned by Dawn for lack of performance, Jason turns to LaFayette, Merlotte's short-order cook, for help with his problem.

Wow, the fantastic news that I just dug up about about True Blood almost eclipses tonight's episode. Almost.

The previews for tonight were totally misleading but I can forgive that as the show did deliver. We found out a bit more about vampire Bill and his acquaintances, followed Sookie as she meandered back and forth about her feelings for Bill--which included feelings of the very lusty type. We also got a glimpse of Tara's hopelessly drunk and violent mother as well as of Tara and her unlikely (one-night?) hook up. Jason was insufferable or pitiful depending on how the actor rubs you. I kinda hate him though he did pay a visit to LaFayette who is turning out to have a very colorful life outside of Merlotte's. Surprised? I thought not. ;)

The episode left off with Sookie screaming but we'll just have to anxiously await Episode 4, "Escape From Dragon House," to find out the repercussions of what has upset her so.

But meantime, big news this week via the Hollywood Reporter: True Blood, based on it's "outstanding performance" has already been renewed for a second season! And in a changing of strategy for HBO they are not going to make us wait all that long for some fresh stories. The filming of Season Two of True Blood is slated to begin just after the New Year (2009) with the debut set for summer 2009.Woot!This is what HBO and True Blood creator Alan Ball had to say about the announcement:

We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced TRUE BLOOD,” said Michael Lombardo, president of HBO's programming group and West Coast operations. "It gets better in every episode...Alan Ball has done it again – made an addictive series that is unlike any other.”

“I am thrilled to be able to continue to work with such a talented group of writers, cast and crew to explore the characters and world created by Charlaine Harris in her novels,” Ball said. “It really is a joy to go to work every day and I couldn’t be happier to be back home at HBO.”

Also, in casting news that Michelle Forbes fans should be very happy to hear, Michelle will edit/ be a series regular beginning in the last episode of S1./end edit/  She will then go on to begin filming Season 2 in the New Year as this installment is slated to run for just 12 episodes. Michelle is so perfect for roles with some bite to them, don't you think?

Next week: Episode 04: Escape from Dragon House, Debut: SUNDAY, SEPT 28
Another killing in Bon Temps finds Jason back in custody with officers Andy and Bud. Tara gets him off the hook, but neither she nor Lafayette has the antidote to his current ailment. Urged by Gran to use her telepathic abilities to weed out the murderer and exonerate her brother, Sookie persuades Bill to take her to a Shreveport vampire bar called Fangtasia, where she impresses a dominant Nordic bloodsucker named Eric with her prescient powers. Later, Bill demonstrates his own considerable powers when an abusive patrolman stops the couple on their way home.

Cast: Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse), Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton, a 173-y.o. vampire), Ryan Kwanten (Sookie’s n'ere do well brother, Jason), Rutina Wesley (Sookie's best friend, Tara Thornton), Sam Trammell (Sookie’s good-hearted boss with a big secret, Sam Merlotte) and Nelsan Ellis (LaFayette Reynolds, a cook at Merlotte’s).

Down For The Count

Wow! This must have been one of the fastest weeks of my life! Is that another sign that I'm aging? Because seriously, I do not need another sign. I'm fully aware that I'm on the cusp of decrepitude. It wasn't because I was sick and "out of it" because that was my status beginning last night. I did however and quite fortunately have a brief respite around lunchtime today which happily coincided with spouse picking me up for lunch and us going to Mongolian Stir Fry. I love that place and we have not been for far too long! It's a very basic premise of grabbing a big bowl and adding ingredients which include a choice of 4 kinds of meat, if you desire, and then countless variations of vegetables and noodles. Then you add special sauces and spices, then pass the bowl to the chef and watch him whip it up on the circular fry area and offer it back to you all ready to eat. There's also an area where you can get additional food choices like vegetable rolls, fresh fruit, and oddly, hush puppies (I love hush puppies!). It was delish and the neato thing is they are very moderately priced.

Anyway, now I am unquestionably sick. Spouse was sick for a week and now he's recovered. My youngest son had a 24-hour bug and he's all good now. Older son claims that all the super charged things he adds to his food and drink will ensure that his immunities will protect him. I held out pretty well I think, given all the crud floating around me but there's no denying now that I'm down for the count.

Dirty Sexy Money Premieres Oct 1 *SPOILERS*, DSM Widget

Official Dirty Sexy Money website

The fall season start is a long one with Dirty Sexy Money beginning Season 2 on Oct 1, 2008.

Surprisingly, ABC is spoiling who gets killed in the season opener. They state that it is a family member while at the same time announcing that Samaire Armstrong who played Juliet Darling will no longer be a series regular.

I'm not at all upset that they are removing a character that I've described thusly : "... I'm finding the references--outright ripping off actually, to utterances made by the real life celebutante Paris Hilton becoming tiresome. If there are many more I'm going to have to hunt down the writers and clock them over the head because I get it already, OK? The Juliet Darling character (the female half of the Darling twins) is not written; she's just cribbed from the lives of several tedious, spoiled celebutantes and semi-celebrities."

Joining the show is Lucy Liu who will play yet another of her patented "do not mess with her"-type characters. It is a huge improvement.

Also in the works is to "dirty up" lead character Nick George (Peter Krause) having him be less morally conflicted and more willing to act like the people he works for. Says Krause, "While I enjoy the ambivalence of what world am I in and how can I maintain my integrity, I think that we need to see Nick give into some more temptation, and that, I would say, is the change of course for the character of Nick, that rather than standing back from it and seeing it and weighing it, there's going to be a few times when he makes the choice in a direction where it's going to make him a little dirtier and it's going to cost him.”

DIRTY SEXY MONEY - ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" stars Peter Krause as Nick George, Donald Sutherland as Tripp Darling, William Baldwin as Patrick Darling, Natalie Zea as Karen Darling, Glenn Fitzgerald as Rev. Brian Darling, Seth Gabel as Jeremy Darling, Zoe McLellan as Lisa George, with Blair Underwood as Simon Elder, Jill Clayburgh as Letitia Darling and Lucy Liu as Nola Lyons. (ABC/RANDEE ST. NICHOLAS)

HBO True Blood Videos/Promos S1, Episode 2 "First Taste"/ Episode 3 "Mine" *Spoilers*

 

I wasn't aware of them until I started watching the show but HBO promoted their new series "True   Blood" throughout the summer with a series of videos. There are eight HBO-produced "Blood Copy Reports" videos on YouTube. There's content overlap in some of the videos--they tend to recap a lot. It won't take much time to get a feel for what the Alan Ball-created show was going for in the promos. I'm probably spoiled by the inimitable "Six Feet Under"--also an Alan Ball creation--but the "Blood Copy Reports" are not quite as good as any thing Six Feet Under did in it's promotions. Still, they are worth having a look as a character or two in the YouTube shorts appears on the actual HBO-produced show. I'm not sure if the eight HBO- promo/backstory videos are considered canon relative to the series or if they are just supplemental. The series is based on the Charlaine Harris southern vampire mysteries. Creator Ball has stated that the first season, comprised of 12 episodes, will follow the series faithfully but he will not commit to the same if the series has a second season. 

Synopsis:

E02 TRUE BLOOD 02: THE FIRST TASTE :Bill returns Sookie's favor by rescuing her from the Rattrays' revenge, healing the wounded waitress with his own blood and leaving her, temporarily, with heightened senses. After being invited into Gran's house for a "get-to-know-you" gathering with Jason and her family, Bill joins Sookie for a nocturnal sojourn. They end up at Bill's dilapidated antebellum estate, where Bill fights off his primal vampire urges for the acquiescent Sookie. Later, Sookie's desires get the better of her as she returns to Bill's--and is greeted by a gaggle of his bloodthirsty vampire friends.

"Vampires were people too" - The Vampire American League reminds you to vote "Yes" on the Vampires Rights Amendment on the ballot.

http://vampireamericanleague.com

Next week's promo/widget after the jump.

Salt Creek Breaches It's Banks

clipped from www.cnn.com

Chicago seeks aid after worst rain in at least 137 years

• Story Highlights
• Records kept since 1871 say Saturday's rain marks worst in more than century
  
• Heavy rain more related to Tropical Storm Lowell in Pacific than Gulf Coast's Ike
  
• Commissioner: Chicago River flowed "down the 5000 block of North Monticello"
  
• Authorities say 90 billion gallons of water fell on the city's water district

OK. Only 33 more days to go with the raining for 40 days and nights. They *say* it's supposed to not rain tomorrow, that we will get a break for a couple days.

All I know is I'm not mentally prepared to never see the sun again. And now that the floodwaters are receding some of my neighborhood has a funny smell.

I bought sort-of-boots today. I'm not running around in the mud here in the 'burbs and really, clogs don't cut it for the terrain nor do my trusty Birkenstocks.

Here are some shots from our neighbourhood taken on Sunday, Sept 14,2008.  Pictured are houses adjacent to Salt Creek, which breached its banks (to different ends depending where among it's many miles you consider).

We got lucky. Plus, we didn't buy on a flood plain.

Go Away, Rain

So. Is anyone else getting some weather, specifically wet weather? 'Cause you can have ours if you need it.
Jeez Louise. The bullfrogs are taking over. Man-made ponds and a real creek surround us. Critters,too.

Spouse, when we walked the dog tonight was marveling at the swollen Salt Creek overflow just down the street us. Houses--big, expensive houses are built right on a smallish river bank. They are all new w/in the past couple of years and we were gobsmacked at how close one was built into the bank. It was just a matter of time before this house would be under water and right now, it is. Not completely but lower areas of it have several feet of water up their sides.

Another home adjacent to Salt Creek, though it remains on it's foundation is in fact part of the creek now. The water rushing past it on both sides of the house--and it's runoff/river water. Big ick factor there.

Guess where the flood plain is. Hint: Food plains support life--may look more lush than other areas.

That's one of our ponds on the lower left--the smaller one--our pool matches it in tininess. lol.

Below--when hadn't rained in a while--can't even see Salt Creek and it's right there.

 

They have a couple of pumpers running but there's lots more rain to come so it looks bleak still.

Man-made ponds and a real creek surround us. We are fine, though are checking the basement of our condo. The condo's basement. Unless it has a problem and it really shouldn't our only worry is taking roads that are not flooded.
This is a very big storm.

I will walk over and see what's up tomorrow--with my camera.

Windows Vista: What You Don't Know...

I finally had a chance to use Windows Vista--and only Windows Vista on my notebook computer this summer when I brought it with me as the OS for my Dell XPS. Honestly, I was a bit dubious about using Vista on the Internet for the first time as I'd heard some negative comments from the Internet and I wasn't sure if it was up for carrying me through many hours use each day.

Knowing that I couldn't go and use another computer-being away from home for an extended period like I was, I felt like  "Oh,oh what if I can''t figure out how to use Vista?!" My fears were put to rest though after I took it for a spin a couple times.

Once I got acquainted with the important modifications I realized Windows Vista works much like XP--only better. In fact it works so much better that I was a bit taken aback recently find a very similar (like, exactly the same) great feature added to the latest update of a certain other browser.

It's a great feature wherever you use it and it absolutely makes working at the computer feel less like work--in other words Windows Vista enhances the user's experience by being more intuitive than it's predecessor and is visually much more appealing, too.

If you use Windows Vista Small Business Assurance you would probably like to note a couple fast facts about what Window has to say about it:

Stronger security. Windows Vista SP1 has fewer than half the security vulnerabilities of Windows XP. It's also  60% less likely to be infected by spyware or malware than Windows XP SP2. Finally, Windows Vista is the most secure Windows release to date.

  

 

Modern Naturalism: The New Comedy

I was reading about the "new comedy" in the most recent Rolling Stone (RS1061) and they cited the Will Ferrell/Pearl video (link below) as a good example of comedy "naturalism" which though I enjoy funny stuff, was not aware had such a label.

Sarah Silverman, Tiny Fey, and Jon Stewart of The Daily Show were mentioned, as well as others including late night talk show host Craig Ferguson. They say that modern naturalism in comedy goes back to early Dave Letterman but even further, historically. Jack Benny, Andy Kaufman, and Steve Martin were named as comedians who incorporated "anti-punchlines" into their routines.

A very now example is the Garfield Minus Garfield web comics that was cooked up by Jim Walsh and endorsed by Garfield creator Jim Davis. Note: If you can check out this issue of RS, do so. It has a large fold-out cover spread that includes a guy that has hiked his pants up to knee-length. I totally thought he was Bill O'Reilly. It's Robin Williams but the resemblance in the photo is actually frightening.

Couldn't get the video of Pearl and Ferrell to work so below Garfield is Craig Ferguson instead~

clipped from garfieldminusgarfield.net

On the Sept. 10th edition of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, a new American citizen preparing to vote in his first US election asks, "Are we so lost we have to be sold our own democratic right!?"

Posted on September 13, 2008 at 04:50 AM in Entertainment News, Humour, Internet | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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September 11, 2008

QotD: Did you go to summer camp?

 If you didn't go to camp, do you feel like you missed out?

I spent the summers of my youth at Maple Lake , however I did go camping in Connecticut with the Girl Scouts a time or two. I don't really have an entire story to tell but my most vivid recollection involves needing to pee during the night and having been told to "always have a buddy" with you when out in the woods. I woke up my assigned camp buddy and we made our way to the outhouse. The memory I have is sitting there next to Debbie as the out house was a two-seater, and thinking that this was a completely unique experience. And it was 'cos it's never happened again.

Posted on September 11, 2008 at 04:17 PM in Personal | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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September 10, 2008

True Blood Has Sucked Me In

 

True Blood could and maybe should be subtitled:The Adventures of Sookie Stackhouse...

...which is actually a good thing, at least for now. Anna Paquin rocks as the mind-reading ("Not psychic!") 20-something waitress/barmaid stuck in the northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse, who happens to be quite a virginal character. And her new friend Bill (Stephen Moyer) is actually dead. He's 173 years-old so he's not really chipper and seems even a bit glum. But as the show played out you saw that he started to appreciate Sookie's guileless interest in him. At the least she'll make his life such as it is, interesting. Isn't that the beginning of what I'm guessing will become intense attraction?

True Blood's southern Gothic setting is probably necessary as this show features melodramatic vampires. However it would really be OK with me if most of the actors either perfected the Southern accents or just dropped them altogether.

I ordered the book and it should be here in a week may be less with any luck, as I find the story quite compelling and want to read it while I'm watching the show (not literally, of course). :p

Posted on September 10, 2008 at 05:01 AM in Photography, Six Feet Under, SPOILERS, Squee, Television, True Blood | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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September 08, 2008

Go Home, Sarah

There are numerous reasons which I won't blather on about here about why Sarah Palin is not a suitable candidate to be a "72-year-old heartbeat" away from the presidency.

The one that irks me the most has nothing to do with her gaping lack of experience, her hideous beehive hairdo, or her advocacy of hunting animals from a helicopter.

It's an odd little quirk of mine that I can't like any public figure if they clash harshly with what I think is right vs. wrong. If an actor for example, is busted repeatedly for busting up the face of his wife--forget it. I won't watch him on-screen--ever. If a politician like Joe Biden gets hair plugs that are so obvious a legally blind person such as me can see them--and he lies about it--I won't ever take him seriously again.

See, I'm allowed to think any way I want and it doesn't have to be rational to you.

In the case of Palin, I think she's a bad mother. That's it. No bad mothers as Veep.

Is it a double standard to think that four months after giving birth to a child that will forever require vast amounts of time and attention that person shouldn't run for the second highest office in the land? I don't care if it is.

I've been extremely lucky that both my kids had no obvious birth defects. But I know quite well the day-to-day challenges of a couple of moms whose children do have birth defects with similar characteristics to Palin's son. These women are very hard at work trying to make biggest strides they can with their babies in these crucial first two years. Palin, who may not have even resumed her normal cycles yet has leaped at the chance to be in the White House despite the fact that there's no way that she will have the time required to raise a Down Syndrome newborn.

I can't speak to what her spouse is doing in his involvement with the baby. The press states that Todd Palin works two jobs. Has he taken a leave of absence for take care of his and Sarah's newborn boy? On this I cannot opine. But no matter what he's doing she does not need to be throwing these precious months away trailing after John McCain.

And then there's the matter of her pregnant child. Just as her mother took the increased risk of have a baby with birth defects by giving birth at age 43, Sarah Palin's 17 y.o. daughter's risk of complications are increased notably due to the fact that daughter is still an adolescent.

Sarah, go home. Your family needs you. Don't worry. The country can get by just fine without you.

Posted on September 08, 2008 at 02:30 PM in Opinion, Politics, Writing | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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September 06, 2008

It's the weekend, right?

Happy weekend, everyone.

It's been an unusual week here in my corner of the Greater Chicago Area.

I suppose the week following a holiday time-out feels a bit "off" for many folks. This however felt absolutely turned upside down and then shaken up a bit for good measure.

It started with the week not officially beginning until when I awoke Wednesday afternoon after co-driving all night into Wednesday morning. Wednesday was a wash. I felt completely drained and lacked anything resembling energy and thus motivation.

Though the boys did a good job on their own for 5 days, I'm fussy enough if it's not how would have done it, I do it over. They were at school and work so they were not aware of this, hence no bruised feelings. Besides, they both seemed really grateful that the cook (spouse) was back to magically produce a hot meal each evening after restocking the fridge.

Anyway, it's hard to know where to begin again online but for me and my dream of Disneyland it has to be getting back to work. So I jumped right in only to find a major malfunction at IZEA, preventing me from doing much work. Goggle helpfully stepped in and let their algo monkeys out too which further confused things.

The dust with IZEA finally settled yesterday. Despite my respect for the IZEA team there's no escaping the fact that this fix was slow coming and that it's time to hire staff that can be paged during non-work hours and at least assess the situation. According to what was stated by an IZEA rep they had all left for the day and it would wait until morning. Unfortunately, morning came and went two more times before a final fix was rendered.

All is good at the moment however as I just got an independent offer to write for an advertiser! It's my first one--and in truth I never even tried to do this aspect of blogging because it seemed rather pie in the sky. However it's happened for real. I'm jazzed actually because it means someone took notice of my work and sought it out specifically.

Posted on September 06, 2008 at 07:11 PM in Personal | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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September 05, 2008

Trading Detroit-Windsor For Port Huron-Sarnia

View Larger Map

Starting back in June when we drove to Maple Lake, Ontario to open up the cottage for the summer we endured what was the most dreaded part of the trip--crossing the border into Canada at Detroit.

Crossing into Canada at Detroit-Windsor is frustrating, time consuming, confusing and worst of all IMO, frightening if you are unfortunate enough to to do so when it's dark.

Due to various commitments here we often did it in the dark--and I did it alone--for the last time I might add. The second to last time that we came home I made up my mind: no Detroit crossing for me. It appeared that crossing the border by driving slightly north--via Flint, MI would be viable though possibly of a longer duration. Every other trip we'd made via Detroit--six of them previously this summer--resulted in a travel time of a minimum of 13 hours. We don't dawdle or make excessive stops, either. Short stops with some brisk walking (we have a dog) and back on the road. This trip we ventured out and decided to blow Detroit off completely. The crossing at Port Huron-Sarnia was painless and fast and on the way home we made the almost 700 mile trip in 12 hours flat!

We had a superb long Labour Day weekend. We took an extra day so had three full days at the cottage. The weather just got better each day with the last actually getting quite hot. It was hands-down the best weather of the 5 weeks total that I spent on Maple Lake this year* and it was a fantastic send off for summer.

*They broke a 70-year record for rainfall.

My very favourite Maple Lake photo from summer, 2008.

 

Two weeks later this groin (the rock thing above that spouse built) help form this much beach (below w/ red canoe). There was no beach initially due to rain all summer.

   

 

Spouse is a master beach-maker!

 

Continue reading "Trading Detroit-Windsor For Port Huron-Sarnia" »

Posted on September 05, 2008 at 10:49 PM in Canada, Chicago, Family, Maple Lake, Ontario, Photography, Travel, Travel/Vacation, Vacation, Weather | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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September 04, 2008

Sept 4, 2008~ NEW LOST Casting: Zuleikha Robinson-- It's Pronounced Zoo-lika

It's seems Ausiello had the big casting scoop for Season 5 of ABC teevee's LOST but I found the information at the No. 1 Source of Spoilers

The scoop?

(Please keep in mind that Season Five of LOST does not actually start for five more months.)
This woman----->

LOST Spoilers helpfully provided the phonetic pronunciation of Zuleikha Robinson's first name: Zoo-Lika. 

Zuleikha Robinson was last seen on Fox’s series New Amsterdam, but has also co-starred in HBO's mini-series Rome as Gaia (above), the film Hidalgo, and has lots of other work on her resume as well.

In the first the first major casting for Lost's fifth season it was confirmed by LOST insiders that  Robinson will play the pivotal role of Illana, described as "a European female who possesses great intelligence, but who's also dangerous as all get out. She's alluring and apparently used to getting her own way."

Zuleikha Robinson is slated to be on LOST as a recurring player in S5 and if we really like her there's the possibility of her moving up to series regular in the sixth and final season.

Continue reading "Sept 4, 2008~ NEW LOST Casting: Zuleikha Robinson-- It's Pronounced Zoo-lika" »

Posted on September 04, 2008 at 02:53 PM in LOST, Photography, Squee, Television, Update | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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 If you didn't go to camp, do you feel like you missed out?

I spent the summers of my youth at Maple Lake , however I did go camping in Connecticut with the Girl Scouts a time or two. I don't really have an entire story to tell but my most vivid recollection involves needing to pee during the night and having been told to "always have a buddy" with you when out in the woods. I woke up my assigned camp buddy and we made our way to the outhouse. The memory I have is sitting there next to Debbie as the out house was a two-seater, and thinking that this was a completely unique experience. And it was 'cos it's never happened again.

 

True Blood could and maybe should be subtitled:The Adventures of Sookie Stackhouse...

...which is actually a good thing, at least for now. Anna Paquin rocks as the mind-reading ("Not psychic!") 20-something waitress/barmaid stuck in the northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse, who happens to be quite a virginal character. And her new friend Bill (Stephen Moyer) is actually dead. He's 173 years-old so he's not really chipper and seems even a bit glum. But as the show played out you saw that he started to appreciate Sookie's guileless interest in him. At the least she'll make his life such as it is, interesting. Isn't that the beginning of what I'm guessing will become intense attraction?

True Blood's southern Gothic setting is probably necessary as this show features melodramatic vampires. However it would really be OK with me if most of the actors either perfected the Southern accents or just dropped them altogether.

I ordered the book and it should be here in a week may be less with any luck, as I find the story quite compelling and want to read it while I'm watching the show (not literally, of course). :p

There are numerous reasons which I won't blather on about here about why Sarah Palin is not a suitable candidate to be a "72-year-old heartbeat" away from the presidency.

The one that irks me the most has nothing to do with her gaping lack of experience, her hideous beehive hairdo, or her advocacy of hunting animals from a helicopter.

It's an odd little quirk of mine that I can't like any public figure if they clash harshly with what I think is right vs. wrong. If an actor for example, is busted repeatedly for busting up the face of his wife--forget it. I won't watch him on-screen--ever. If a politician like Joe Biden gets hair plugs that are so obvious a legally blind person such as me can see them--and he lies about it--I won't ever take him seriously again.

See, I'm allowed to think any way I want and it doesn't have to be rational to you.

In the case of Palin, I think she's a bad mother. That's it. No bad mothers as Veep.

Is it a double standard to think that four months after giving birth to a child that will forever require vast amounts of time and attention that person shouldn't run for the second highest office in the land? I don't care if it is.

I've been extremely lucky that both my kids had no obvious birth defects. But I know quite well the day-to-day challenges of a couple of moms whose children do have birth defects with similar characteristics to Palin's son. These women are very hard at work trying to make biggest strides they can with their babies in these crucial first two years. Palin, who may not have even resumed her normal cycles yet has leaped at the chance to be in the White House despite the fact that there's no way that she will have the time required to raise a Down Syndrome newborn.

I can't speak to what her spouse is doing in his involvement with the baby. The press states that Todd Palin works two jobs. Has he taken a leave of absence for take care of his and Sarah's newborn boy? On this I cannot opine. But no matter what he's doing she does not need to be throwing these precious months away trailing after John McCain.

And then there's the matter of her pregnant child. Just as her mother took the increased risk of have a baby with birth defects by giving birth at age 43, Sarah Palin's 17 y.o. daughter's risk of complications are increased notably due to the fact that daughter is still an adolescent.

Sarah, go home. Your family needs you. Don't worry. The country can get by just fine without you.

Happy weekend, everyone.

It's been an unusual week here in my corner of the Greater Chicago Area.

I suppose the week following a holiday time-out feels a bit "off" for many folks. This however felt absolutely turned upside down and then shaken up a bit for good measure.

It started with the week not officially beginning until when I awoke Wednesday afternoon after co-driving all night into Wednesday morning. Wednesday was a wash. I felt completely drained and lacked anything resembling energy and thus motivation.

Though the boys did a good job on their own for 5 days, I'm fussy enough if it's not how would have done it, I do it over. They were at school and work so they were not aware of this, hence no bruised feelings. Besides, they both seemed really grateful that the cook (spouse) was back to magically produce a hot meal each evening after restocking the fridge.

Anyway, it's hard to know where to begin again online but for me and my dream of Disneyland it has to be getting back to work. So I jumped right in only to find a major malfunction at IZEA, preventing me from doing much work. Goggle helpfully stepped in and let their algo monkeys out too which further confused things.

The dust with IZEA finally settled yesterday. Despite my respect for the IZEA team there's no escaping the fact that this fix was slow coming and that it's time to hire staff that can be paged during non-work hours and at least assess the situation. According to what was stated by an IZEA rep they had all left for the day and it would wait until morning. Unfortunately, morning came and went two more times before a final fix was rendered.

All is good at the moment however as I just got an independent offer to write for an advertiser! It's my first one--and in truth I never even tried to do this aspect of blogging because it seemed rather pie in the sky. However it's happened for real. I'm jazzed actually because it means someone took notice of my work and sought it out specifically.

View Larger Map

Starting back in June when we drove to Maple Lake, Ontario to open up the cottage for the summer we endured what was the most dreaded part of the trip--crossing the border into Canada at Detroit.

Crossing into Canada at Detroit-Windsor is frustrating, time consuming, confusing and worst of all IMO, frightening if you are unfortunate enough to to do so when it's dark.

Due to various commitments here we often did it in the dark--and I did it alone--for the last time I might add. The second to last time that we came home I made up my mind: no Detroit crossing for me. It appeared that crossing the border by driving slightly north--via Flint, MI would be viable though possibly of a longer duration. Every other trip we'd made via Detroit--six of them previously this summer--resulted in a travel time of a minimum of 13 hours. We don't dawdle or make excessive stops, either. Short stops with some brisk walking (we have a dog) and back on the road. This trip we ventured out and decided to blow Detroit off completely. The crossing at Port Huron-Sarnia was painless and fast and on the way home we made the almost 700 mile trip in 12 hours flat!

We had a superb long Labour Day weekend. We took an extra day so had three full days at the cottage. The weather just got better each day with the last actually getting quite hot. It was hands-down the best weather of the 5 weeks total that I spent on Maple Lake this year* and it was a fantastic send off for summer.

*They broke a 70-year record for rainfall.

My very favourite Maple Lake photo from summer, 2008.

 

Two weeks later this groin (the rock thing above that spouse built) help form this much beach (below w/ red canoe). There was no beach initially due to rain all summer.

   

 

Spouse is a master beach-maker!

 

It's seems Ausiello had the big casting scoop for Season 5 of ABC teevee's LOST but I found the information at the No. 1 Source of Spoilers

The scoop?

(Please keep in mind that Season Five of LOST does not actually start for five more months.)
This woman----->

LOST Spoilers helpfully provided the phonetic pronunciation of Zuleikha Robinson's first name: Zoo-Lika. 

Zuleikha Robinson was last seen on Fox’s series New Amsterdam, but has also co-starred in HBO's mini-series Rome as Gaia (above), the film Hidalgo, and has lots of other work on her resume as well.

In the first the first major casting for Lost's fifth season it was confirmed by LOST insiders that  Robinson will play the pivotal role of Illana, described as "a European female who possesses great intelligence, but who's also dangerous as all get out. She's alluring and apparently used to getting her own way."

Zuleikha Robinson is slated to be on LOST as a recurring player in S5 and if we really like her there's the possibility of her moving up to series regular in the sixth and final season.

QotD: Did you go to summer camp?

 If you didn't go to camp, do you feel like you missed out?

I spent the summers of my youth at Maple Lake , however I did go camping in Connecticut with the Girl Scouts a time or two. I don't really have an entire story to tell but my most vivid recollection involves needing to pee during the night and having been told to "always have a buddy" with you when out in the woods. I woke up my assigned camp buddy and we made our way to the outhouse. The memory I have is sitting there next to Debbie as the out house was a two-seater, and thinking that this was a completely unique experience. And it was 'cos it's never happened again.

True Blood Has Sucked Me In

 

True Blood could and maybe should be subtitled:The Adventures of Sookie Stackhouse...

...which is actually a good thing, at least for now. Anna Paquin rocks as the mind-reading ("Not psychic!") 20-something waitress/barmaid stuck in the northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse, who happens to be quite a virginal character. And her new friend Bill (Stephen Moyer) is actually dead. He's 173 years-old so he's not really chipper and seems even a bit glum. But as the show played out you saw that he started to appreciate Sookie's guileless interest in him. At the least she'll make his life such as it is, interesting. Isn't that the beginning of what I'm guessing will become intense attraction?

True Blood's southern Gothic setting is probably necessary as this show features melodramatic vampires. However it would really be OK with me if most of the actors either perfected the Southern accents or just dropped them altogether.

I ordered the book and it should be here in a week may be less with any luck, as I find the story quite compelling and want to read it while I'm watching the show (not literally, of course). :p

Go Home, Sarah

There are numerous reasons which I won't blather on about here about why Sarah Palin is not a suitable candidate to be a "72-year-old heartbeat" away from the presidency.

The one that irks me the most has nothing to do with her gaping lack of experience, her hideous beehive hairdo, or her advocacy of hunting animals from a helicopter.

It's an odd little quirk of mine that I can't like any public figure if they clash harshly with what I think is right vs. wrong. If an actor for example, is busted repeatedly for busting up the face of his wife--forget it. I won't watch him on-screen--ever. If a politician like Joe Biden gets hair plugs that are so obvious a legally blind person such as me can see them--and he lies about it--I won't ever take him seriously again.

See, I'm allowed to think any way I want and it doesn't have to be rational to you.

In the case of Palin, I think she's a bad mother. That's it. No bad mothers as Veep.

Is it a double standard to think that four months after giving birth to a child that will forever require vast amounts of time and attention that person shouldn't run for the second highest office in the land? I don't care if it is.

I've been extremely lucky that both my kids had no obvious birth defects. But I know quite well the day-to-day challenges of a couple of moms whose children do have birth defects with similar characteristics to Palin's son. These women are very hard at work trying to make biggest strides they can with their babies in these crucial first two years. Palin, who may not have even resumed her normal cycles yet has leaped at the chance to be in the White House despite the fact that there's no way that she will have the time required to raise a Down Syndrome newborn.

I can't speak to what her spouse is doing in his involvement with the baby. The press states that Todd Palin works two jobs. Has he taken a leave of absence for take care of his and Sarah's newborn boy? On this I cannot opine. But no matter what he's doing she does not need to be throwing these precious months away trailing after John McCain.

And then there's the matter of her pregnant child. Just as her mother took the increased risk of have a baby with birth defects by giving birth at age 43, Sarah Palin's 17 y.o. daughter's risk of complications are increased notably due to the fact that daughter is still an adolescent.

Sarah, go home. Your family needs you. Don't worry. The country can get by just fine without you.

It's the weekend, right?

Happy weekend, everyone.

It's been an unusual week here in my corner of the Greater Chicago Area.

I suppose the week following a holiday time-out feels a bit "off" for many folks. This however felt absolutely turned upside down and then shaken up a bit for good measure.

It started with the week not officially beginning until when I awoke Wednesday afternoon after co-driving all night into Wednesday morning. Wednesday was a wash. I felt completely drained and lacked anything resembling energy and thus motivation.

Though the boys did a good job on their own for 5 days, I'm fussy enough if it's not how would have done it, I do it over. They were at school and work so they were not aware of this, hence no bruised feelings. Besides, they both seemed really grateful that the cook (spouse) was back to magically produce a hot meal each evening after restocking the fridge.

Anyway, it's hard to know where to begin again online but for me and my dream of Disneyland it has to be getting back to work. So I jumped right in only to find a major malfunction at IZEA, preventing me from doing much work. Goggle helpfully stepped in and let their algo monkeys out too which further confused things.

The dust with IZEA finally settled yesterday. Despite my respect for the IZEA team there's no escaping the fact that this fix was slow coming and that it's time to hire staff that can be paged during non-work hours and at least assess the situation. According to what was stated by an IZEA rep they had all left for the day and it would wait until morning. Unfortunately, morning came and went two more times before a final fix was rendered.

All is good at the moment however as I just got an independent offer to write for an advertiser! It's my first one--and in truth I never even tried to do this aspect of blogging because it seemed rather pie in the sky. However it's happened for real. I'm jazzed actually because it means someone took notice of my work and sought it out specifically.

Trading Detroit-Windsor For Port Huron-Sarnia

View Larger Map

Starting back in June when we drove to Maple Lake, Ontario to open up the cottage for the summer we endured what was the most dreaded part of the trip--crossing the border into Canada at Detroit.

Crossing into Canada at Detroit-Windsor is frustrating, time consuming, confusing and worst of all IMO, frightening if you are unfortunate enough to to do so when it's dark.

Due to various commitments here we often did it in the dark--and I did it alone--for the last time I might add. The second to last time that we came home I made up my mind: no Detroit crossing for me. It appeared that crossing the border by driving slightly north--via Flint, MI would be viable though possibly of a longer duration. Every other trip we'd made via Detroit--six of them previously this summer--resulted in a travel time of a minimum of 13 hours. We don't dawdle or make excessive stops, either. Short stops with some brisk walking (we have a dog) and back on the road. This trip we ventured out and decided to blow Detroit off completely. The crossing at Port Huron-Sarnia was painless and fast and on the way home we made the almost 700 mile trip in 12 hours flat!

We had a superb long Labour Day weekend. We took an extra day so had three full days at the cottage. The weather just got better each day with the last actually getting quite hot. It was hands-down the best weather of the 5 weeks total that I spent on Maple Lake this year* and it was a fantastic send off for summer.

*They broke a 70-year record for rainfall.

My very favourite Maple Lake photo from summer, 2008.

 

Two weeks later this groin (the rock thing above that spouse built) help form this much beach (below w/ red canoe). There was no beach initially due to rain all summer.

   

 

Spouse is a master beach-maker!

 

Sept 4, 2008~ NEW LOST Casting: Zuleikha Robinson-- It's Pronounced Zoo-lika

It's seems Ausiello had the big casting scoop for Season 5 of ABC teevee's LOST but I found the information at the No. 1 Source of Spoilers

The scoop?

(Please keep in mind that Season Five of LOST does not actually start for five more months.)
This woman----->

LOST Spoilers helpfully provided the phonetic pronunciation of Zuleikha Robinson's first name: Zoo-Lika. 

Zuleikha Robinson was last seen on Fox’s series New Amsterdam, but has also co-starred in HBO's mini-series Rome as Gaia (above), the film Hidalgo, and has lots of other work on her resume as well.

In the first the first major casting for Lost's fifth season it was confirmed by LOST insiders that  Robinson will play the pivotal role of Illana, described as "a European female who possesses great intelligence, but who's also dangerous as all get out. She's alluring and apparently used to getting her own way."

Zuleikha Robinson is slated to be on LOST as a recurring player in S5 and if we really like her there's the possibility of her moving up to series regular in the sixth and final season.