Forever A Fangirl

'Homeland' and 'Dexter' Recap: Both End with a BIG Bang #homeland #dexter

 

Yvonne Strahovski as 'Hannah McKay' on DEXTER 'Do The Wrong Thing' on SHOWTIME

If you tuned into SHOWTIME'S two marquee series last night you don't need no stinking recap for them. One writer though, Drusilla Moorehouse, actually has a witty style of writing (and a sharp eye for details for what she's recapping) which makes her day-after blogs stand out from most of the rest. Even she however, missed what I consider to be the worst moment in the 7-year history of Dexter.

DEXTER/'Dexter' (Michael C. Hall) is deliciously twisted-- a big part of our fascination with the show. He has also been pretty asexual, which set up a sort of innocent paradox to his serial-killer persona.

Casting former "Chuck" fanboy goddess Yvonne Strahovski, to play Dexter's prey seemed pretty awesome--if Dex hadn't decided, after trussing her up on a kill table, to nix knifing her through the heart and instead untruss her with his knife and go all stabby with his throbbing member.

Of couse, being a 'sick fuck,' as his sister Deb might call her, 'Hannah McKay' was aroused by her near-death experience with Dexter and intiated the use of sex as a weapon. But, it was way too rape-like for me. It was repulsive and seemed written for cheap shock value. In three words: I hated it.

Here's a short bit from Moorehouse's 'Do The Wrong Thing' recap which you should read in it's entirety by clicking the link that follows it:

 

Meanwhile, Hannah gets her own flirt on with Dexter, dropping by his apartment with a more appropriate house plant: a spotted phalaenopsis, an orchid whose coloring resembles blood spatter. Placing it in his bedroom, Hannah says provocatively, "Now you can look at it when you wake up and when you go to bed." No wonder she agrees to Dexter's offer to "take [her] out," although she definitely expects the evening to end differently. Or maybe not. "This is what I need to fill my emptiness," marvels Hannah at a closed-down carnival where Dexter had surprised her, a substitute for Santa's Holiday Adventure, where Wayne promised to take her during their crime spree. Instead, she wakes up on Dexter's killing table. And as he holds a knife to her throat, she says fearlessly, "Do what you gotta do." And did he ever. 

Killer Quotes"Something planty." --Dexter, when Hannah asks what kind of décor he's looking for "Don't be a cop tease," Deb when Sal hints at his theory about Hannah "I'd really like to avoid killing anyone in here -- they can get in the way of my being released," Isaak, warning George to get him out of jail "Guess I'm maybe kind of a morbid guy" --Dexter

CREDIT: Dexter excerpt:

 'Dexter' - 'Do the Wrong Thing' recap: Dexter's shocking tableau for two

 

Damian Lewis and Claire Danes star in HOMELAND on Showtime

Last night's episode of HOMELAND was far superior to anything Dexter was offering, despite the nit-picking going on with reviewers who, since they can't find much to criticize about the near-perfect offering, are instead seeking out 'experts in field' to debunk how the real CIA and FBI would do things and how the show, you know, isn't like real life. Note to all of you: It is precisely that reason why we watch television dramas--we get enough real-life in our every breathing moment not watching television. Remember, escapism is fun. Small children call it 'pretending'--it's really quite OK and in the hands of Homeland's makers quite excellent.

Here's a short excerpt from Moorehouse's 'A Gettysburg Address' recap which you should read in it's entirety by clicking the link that follows it:  

 ...So Carrie summons Brody back to Langley to help out, where he admits to killing Bassel the tailor. While a forensics team plans to search his shop, the CIA orders Brody to meet with Roya. This time the task force manages to listen to the entire conversation ... or so it seems. 

When Roya bristles at Brody initiating contact, he tells her that he's sleeping with Carrie, at her suggestion, and overheard Carrie mentioning Hezbollah during a phone call. Roya tells Brody she knows about Gettysburg (the mole strikes again?) and hints that they might find something in the tailor's shop. The task force is unnerved by an extended period of silence between the two -- ostensibly because of a bystander. But could they be communicating via other signals? Remember, this is the guy whom Carrie caught tapping out code on national TV "when everyone else was calling him the patriot of the century." 

While Carrie stays in Washington, Quinn (Rupert Friend) joins the Gettysburg group. He's just about to discover Bassel the tailor's secret hiding place behind a wall when Hezbollah agents brazenly storm the shop, open fire on the agents, tear down the wall and walk out with a giant crate of no good. 

In her grief and rage, Carrie confronts Rep. Brody at his office -- who of course denies any involvement in a setup. In the end, the anguished CIA agent ends up sobbing in his arms -- consoled by the man who not only murdered the Gettysburg tailor and almost detonated one of his suicide vests, but may have played a role in the latest attack. 

 

CREDIT: Homeland excerpt: 'Homeland' - 'A Gettysburg Address' recap: Is Brody to blame for another terrorist attack?

Photo/Video credit: Showtime

True Blood - Is Bill Dead? Is Anna Paquin (Sookie) Quitting True Blood? Ausiello SPOILERS (PHOTO) #trueblood

 

True Blood Season 5 finale - Stephen Moyer as "Bill"  a/k/a "Billith" (Credit: HBO)

Q: So, is Bill God now? (Or, did you kill Bill?)

A: I don’t want to say if he is or he isn’t. Who’s to say what Lilith really is? He is still Bill but he is something different.

Q: So there is some of the old Bill in there?

A: It is Bill, but it is a transformed Bill. He is not a completely new person. It’s not like his memories or his experiences have been left out and he’s just a baby.

Read More at: True Blood Season 6 Spoilers

 

Anna Paquin as 'Sookie' in True Blood - episode 5.12 'Save Yourself' (Credit: HBO)

 Q: As you warned me back at Comic-Con, there was a lot of death in the episode — some more ambiguous than others. Did Luna die?

A: You’ll have to watch [next season]. We didn’t see her die.

Q: And Russell? Is he really dead? He’s gone. We may see him in flashbacks, but he bit it.

Read More at:  True Blood Season Finale Post Mortem: Alan Ball Answers Burning Questions, Previews Season 6

 

Anna Paquin, who is carrying twins, as seen on August 27 2012 wearing a bright yellow sundress while going to lunch in Los Angeles (Credit: INFphoto.com, Pacific Coast News, AKM-GSI)

And now the question that has been looming ever-more largely, after Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer's bundles of joy arrive, will Mrs. Moyer be inclined to return to her job as "Sookie Stackhouse' on HBO's TRUE BLOOD?

First, I must be honest with you: I don't know.

Paquin is famously private and so has said very-little-to-nothing about her 'condition.' The timing of the arrival has been announced as 'in the fall' (of 2012) which means she and Moyer would have at least the traditional amount of time that the average working American mom has to enjoy her babies. Sadly, if she were in New Zealand, the country which she has referred to as where she calls 'home', she'd have a lot more time off to do all the things that a mother of newborn twins does, which is to put it simply, twice as much as a mom of a singleton. That is, if she were an average mum.

The upside is that much of True Blood's filming is done at night so once the babies have settled into a nightly routine it could be a bit of an easing up on the pressure that all new mothers face. I'm assuming that there will be a nursery on the True Blood set, that nannies will be involved, and of course, the bonus of both mom and dad working on the same television show. Even so, Paquin has the additional pressure of having to get back into pre-baby shape pretty darn quick. Hopefully, the costume department will help her out a bit there as well as the camera people, who seemed finally to get the hang of shooting a pregnant actress whose character was not pregnant by the final episode of season 5.

When all is said and done, most likely, though twins are automatically considered a high-risk pregnancy, Anna Paquin will give birth to healthy babies and because she has the resources she'll be able to cope with both work and the raising of two babies with the variety of help at her disposal, not the least of which is her husband, Stephen Moyer. His character on True Blood who has been dubbed "Billith," will be getting some serious face time in season 6, so unless they kill him off early in the season (doubtful) both Paquin and Moyer will return to work on True Blood as scheduled sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. 

Anna Paquin, late August, 2012 (Credit: FameFlynet, Inc)

 

 

True Blood Synopses Episode 5.11 & Season 5 Finale 'Save Yourself' - Season 5: Episode #54 Featurette VIDEO SPOILERS#trueblood

 

Alexander Skarsgård as Eric, Stephen Moyer as Bill, and Denis O'Hare as Russell in True Blood Season 5, Episode 6, "Thank God, Russell Finally Showed Up!' (j/k) i True Blood (HBO)

 

Remember, earlier this season, True Blood's Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) were held captive & tortured by The Authority? When Authority 'chancellor' Salome (Valentina Cervi) was bullshitting reporting to leader Roman (Chris Meloni) her assessment of Eric and Bill as possible "Sanguinistas?"

Of Eric, Salome said that he had no allegiance but to (anyone but) himself. Of Bill, it was quite different: Though not Sanguinista, he had not made a choice, 'yet.' (paraphrase).

Of the tripe Salome periodically has fed Roman this was actually a pause in the shoveling of untruths/distortions. It was clear to us the audience, that she wanted both Eric and Bill alive (but for different reasons). Now that the thumbnail synopsis of the final episode of True Blood season 5 is out (scroll down) I'm going out on a limb and saying that Salome is a Sanguinista and by season's end, if he isn't yet, Bill will be, too. Obviously, Eric will not be.

I don't know if Alan Ball is going to do what everyone dared him not to--kill Bill---but it would surprise me not as the scuttlebutt was he got a semi-public tongue-lashing from the creator of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Charlaine Harris, who, years ago of course, sold her rights to Sookie to Alan/HBO. She has yet to wind up her Southern Gothic book series but apparently the blogosphere relates, Ball got wind of Harris's plan to kill 'book Bill' and he promptly spilled the info. That is not a great way to shock your Sookie Stackhouse readers so my current guess is that Charlaine had to scrap the killing of book Bill--but that does not preclude Ball, the departing show runner of True Blood (HBO), from killing off 'our' Bill, played by Stephen Moyer, as the show moves into it's 6th season.

 

Anna Paquin as 'Sookie' in True Blood episode 5.06 (HBO)

 

 

 SYNOPSES-SPOILERS  True Blood Episodes 5.11 and 5.12:

True Blood Episode 5.11 - 'Song of the Dead Faerie'
Bill slips into religious fervor; Sookie seeks insight from the faerie Elder.

True Blood Episode 5.12 - 'Save Yourself'
Eric tries to save Bill from losing his humanity.

Source: SpoilerTV

Don't miss episode #54 on Sunday, July 15th at 9PM. For more on True Blood, go to http://itsh.bo/HAObVp or jump in on the Twitter conversations http://twitter.com/truebloodhbo #trueblood.

LG DoublePlay: The Ultimate Social Networking & Multi-tasking Handset

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LG DoublePlay™ for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Whether you use social media like Facebook, Twitter or many others for work, play, family needs or any combination, you are probably texting and accessing your social media hubs more than ever before, right? I know I certainly am!

It can be a real chore trying to juggle the 'information flow' day-to-day (hour to hour, if I'm going to be precise). I probably use my smartphone, using both texting and accessing my social networks at least 50 hours a month, maybe more. How 'bout we compare notes and you share with me how many hours you spend on your smartphone or other device for texting and networking? Drop me a comment if you would, please!

Since I do a lot of texting and networking on my portable device I want -- need actually--built into it, a great little 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recorder which I know I would use often in my interactions through my multi-tasking handset. I use photos taken with my plain old cellphone now but it would be fantastic to take advantage of the use of a LG DoublePlay™  featuring Android 2.3 with it's super-friendly, comprehensive user customization featuring 7 home screens and up to nine touch screen shortcuts for easy-as-one-touch navigation. Put this awfully nice-sounding package together with a split QWERTY keyboard and dual capacitive touch screens which make your multi-tasking mobile activities a breeze, and you'll agree that it is time to make an addition to your holiday gift list! Why not check out the LG DoublePlay™ --the ultimate social networking and multi-tasking handset and remember, the LG DoublePlay™is available ONLY through T-Mobile!

True Blood: Why Season 4 Needs to NOT Suck #trueblood @HBO @trueblood #waitingsucks

Alan Ball directs Anna Paquin as "Sookie Stackhouse" in True Blood Season 1, Episode 12 - Photo Credit: HBO, inc.

Based on 'leaked' set reports, True Blood should be entering the near-halfway point of filming Season 4 about now. Depending on how the season is rolling along this could be the definitive point for the season 4 story arc to catch on--or for it to simply keep going with thrills n'chills but no overarching fantastic mystery-story which, now that I'm well into re-watching Season 1, I've realized has been one of the weakest points--since the end of the superawesome Season 1--about getting the 'Sookie Stackhouse Southern gothic mysteries' transformed into True Blood episodes.

In Season 1 True Blood, there was a great deal 'unknown' to both the audience and most interestingly, the characters. Then of course was the overarching theme/question:  Who is killing the fangbanging women of Bon Temps?

By Season 2, True Blood had hired on the fantastic Michelle Forbes as villainess 'Maryann,' the Dionysian disciple with voracious tastes, including for orgies. Barkeep/shifter Sam Merlotte as well as the audience, knew who was responsible so it was it was almost no mystery from the get-go 'who' had the town of Bon Temps at her beck and call--literally under her spell. (What happened to Lafayette at the Dumpster & his subsequent 'thing' with Eric/ in Eric's dungeon? was not meant to--nor did it carry the season.)

 

Season 3? Let's see: Who kidnapped Bill? I can't remember when we knew--episode 2?--and by eppy four Sookie knew--so the mystery was???

Bill's Civil War maker, 'Lorena' (Mariana Klaveno) had a hand in his kidnapping.

I'm not a True Blood 'bookie':

Not even comic books:

Sidenote: Does anyone know? Are the stories told in the comic books 'True Blood' canon?

I heard that comic book stuff would be things that 'happened offscreen' but the plots so far have sounded nothing like the show. So are the True Blood 'graphic novels' officially considered part of the True Blood story--or not?

 

In fact, after book four, I struggled to get through Charlaine Harris's best-selling tomes, but I agree with the bookies that show creator Alan Ball needs to do something to make his stories compelling and certainly to re-introduce the mystery element, which with the supernatural element (including Sookie Stackhouse herself) is the very foundation of the book series. A foundation, one would suppose that would at least help build up the True Blood storylines.

 I'm not on 'Team' anyone except perhaps Team: Good Television.  

Alan Ball has got to make Season 4 True Blood really count, notwithstanding the crushing expectations of the legions of Erik Northman (Alexander Skaragård) fans.

 

  True Blood Gifs

I truly hope though that Ball & Co. are not writing for the fans be they bookie or non-bookie (or graphic novelites for that matter) for that will surely doom the show.

 

Should Ball give the Truebies what they want?

 

HELL no!

Give them something better!

(Bellow: A true gem of a scene:)

VIDEO: 'Shameless' Episode 12 Season Finale - 'Father Frank' @SHO_Shameless @SHO_Kareem #teamgallagher

 

Father Frank: John Wells Executive Producer John Wells discusses the season one finale of Shameless.

One of the crucial aspects of a TV show isn't just how you react to it while you are watching, but what you think of each episode upon its conclusion. I found Showtime's new series, Shameless, which just finished a 12-episode first season, very conducive to some lively discussion afterward. My spouse and I watched the show at home in real (Chicago) time, taking our dogs for their nightly walk as soon as it was over. Our neighbourhood, though only 25 or 30 miles from the Gallagher's, may as well be 3000 miles away. Even so, this fictional family, first introduced on British television (with a British cast) has issues that most any family can relate to on some level. Nothing about the Gallagher's seems truly foreign, as loyalty and love of family are something (hopefully) everyone knows and understands. And so love of family and sacrifice for them amidst rather dire circumstances, despite all the far-out situations in Shameless, is the show's core theme, some aspect of which my spouse and I came 'round to discussing frequently.

Another commonality that non-TV families have with the Gallaghers is what we like to call 'dysfunction.' Essentially, a 'dysfunctional family' is one whose behaviour deviates from normal families--whatever they are.

Some folks say there is no such thing as a 'normal family' and the older I get, the more I think the saying, 'We are all dysfunctional in our own way,' is on the money. It's really about how we cope with the dysfunction, don't you think?

Episode 12 of Shameless, 'Father Frank, Full of Grace' was about coping with the fallout of some highly dysfunctional circumstances that impacted every family member as well as those involved with the Gallaghers (rock-steady neighbours 'Vi' (Shanola Hampton) and 'Kev' (Steve Howey) excepted--they literally played supporting roles in this episode).

In the video I've included (above) showrunner John Wells discusses two of the main dysfunctional aspects of the Gallaghers in this episode.

The foundation of the show, perpetually drunk father 'Frank Gallagher' (William H. Macy) has lived with 'accidental' girlfriend, 'Sheila' (Joan Cusak) for most of the season. Her situation includes having debilitating agoraphobia and anxiety, an almost ex-husband (Joel Murray) living in her basement, and a very sexually active older-teen daughter who is dating the eldest Gallagher son, 'Lip' (Jeremy Allen White).

Daughter 'Karen' (Laura Slade Wiggins), and her father, who she once referred to as 'f*ck-face,' causing me to forget his character's real name, have a very strained relationship due to 1. her furious sexual activity and 2. his outrage about her behaviour coupled with his lack of a filter when he shares his opinion about it. Most commonly, Karen's dad calls her a slut. He's managed, by this episode, to have called her a slut in front of a roomful of people as they were supposedly 'making up,' sending her into a tailspin of self-destruction while seeking revenge against him.

Much more after the jump!

Tricia Helfer As a Spell-Caster? Absolutely! #BSG #Baltar #17thPrecinct

 trutriciahelfer 

Beautiful ride up the coast yesterday. Rode by Baltar's House #BSG:

http://yfrog.com/h4mkhpwj

You know what I love about Hollywood? (besides the many gifts that it bears for me--see photos above and below). There is no 'off-season'! Oh sure, shows like my fave Showtime show Shameless go on hiatus (as of tonight <sob>) but there is always something good percolating, maybe just about to be unveiled.

I, like I'm quite sure thousands, if not millions of Battlestar Galactica (RDM) enthusiasts, have been waiting for the right project with the perfect combination of cast to look forward to settling in and being amazed by ever since BSG took it's final bow. Darned if 17th Precinct doesn't sound like it could be the very show that we've been waiting for!

I'm so excited at the prospect but totally nervous that something could get in the way of it airing... but I'm really more excited than nervous because I'm keeping a positive attitude. Tricia Helfer as 'Morgana,' a spell-casting, potion-making coronor? All of a sudden all those network procedurals sound so very dreary.

Photos: Credit to and courtesy of @trutriciahelfer (Tricia Helfer)

 

Last nights wrap party with another #17thPrecinct actor, Matt Long. Great guy and great actor! http://yfrog.com/gzfe3czj

 

Tricia has signed on to play Morgana, a potion-making and spell-casting coroner in Ronald D. Moore’s NBC Pilot, 17TH PRECINCT, a supernatural-themed police drama for NBC.
She’s the third BATTLESTAR GALACTICA alum to join the cast — Jamie Bamber and James Callis being the first two. Ron Moore was of course the executive producer of the re-imagined BSG series, making 17TH PRECINCT a reunion of sorts.

Also joining the cast is Stockard Channing, Matt Long and Eamonn Walker.

Source: Triciahelfer.com -  'Tricia Joins Ronald D. Moore’s 17th Precinct':

 

Three Excellent Reasons to Watch 'Episodes' On Showtime:

1) The writing by David Crane & Jeffrey Klarik is super sharp and very funny. 2) The cast, from lead to support, are excellent--Matt LeBlanc stars alongside two superb British actors, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig. I'm so happy to have discovered all three of them* and, 3) Episodes is from Showtime, who rarely miss when they aim for great.

*More on Matt in a bit.

What Episodes is about: 'Husband and wife writing team Sean and Beverly can't wait to bring their successful British television series across the pond to make it big in America. But in true Hollywood fashion, it quickly becomes a laughable, clichéd sitcom - starring none other than Matt LeBlanc. Matt not only messes with their beloved show, he rocks the foundation of their relationship. So now, even if they survive the absurdity of show business, will their marriage survive Matt LeBlanc?'

Episodes takes on some familiar territory but does so with verve, biting humour, and originality.

Matt LeBlanc stars as himself starring in a TV comedy, so it is structured as a show within a show. My reaction to a Matt LeBlanc-led production was not quite as extreme as Beverly's (Tamsin Grieg)--utter horror--but I'd  wasn't familiar with his work other than via all the 'Joey' jokes that were made about the character LeBlanc played in the much-loved American sitcom, 'Friends.' Turns out, I like the guy!

LeBlanc as well, Matt LeBlanc, is a bit of an arse in Episodes. He well aware that he's thought of as such and is first to admit to his own foibles, making him quite likable despite his sometimes extremely annoying behaviour. In sharp contrast to LeBlanc, Merc Lepidus (John Pancow) the president of the network, is utterly spoiled, mercurial, unfaithful to his spouse and un-loyal to everyone in general. He's a perfect example of someone rising to the level of their ineptitude. Pancow nails the character, making Merc easily despicable.

The hapless writers in Episodes, Sean and Beverly, are a husband-wife writing team who accepted the offer of a lifetime to jump across the pond from their British successes with their award-winning series to a chance to strike it bigger in Hollywood. Previous to Episodes, I'd not seen any of the work done by Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig, and I'm so very glad to have discovered them. They worked together with much acclaim in their native U.K. and it's immediately apparent why. The chemistry is intense and appealing and they are very funny.

Enjoy a look at the sure-to-be a hit, Episodes which premieres on SHOWTIME Sunday, January 9th at 9:30 PM ET/PT:

SHOWTIME | December 14, 2010

From the people behind Friends and Mad About You comes a new comedy series about making it 'Big in Hollywood.'

'All the jobs are cheating!' LOL!

Screwed, Hollywood Style

Official EPISODES Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EpisodesOnShowtime

 

Official EPISODES Twitter: http://twitter.com/sho_episodes

 

Official EPISODES Series Site: http://www.sho.com/episodes

EPISODES premieres on SHOWTIME Sunday, January 9th at 9:30 PM ET/PT, following the Season Four premiere of CALIFORNICATION, and followed by the series premiere of SHAMELESS. Encores will be broadcast throughout the week and available On Demand and on Showtime Anytime™.

Wear Your Watch, Win A Sweepstakes!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Victorinox Swiss Army. All opinions are 100% mine.

I suppose it is unsurprising that as we move further into the 21st Century that the wearing of watches seems a vestige of the past. After all, most everyone carries a cellphone and all of them have a time function. In addition, many people, especially more active business people carry netbooks or the like in their day-to-day coming and goings.

What used to be an "essential" to be fully dressed for work is now seen less and less in favour of tech pieces that forgive the pun, do not stand the test of time. Even though technology generally improves our lives there can be a cost, too. In the case of wristwatch-wearing the cost has been their increasing scarcity. And that can be a great loss because a great watch is not disposable. It can be worn by a father and passed on--still fully functional with timeless style--to his son

Since I can remember, my Dad has worn a watch and my spouse as well and my eldest son wears one to work. And speaking of work, I think one of the best reasons to wear a time piece is that you look so much more businesslike checking the time on a great-looking  Victorinox Swiss Army watch for instance, then you do pulling out your cellphone and checking it. It's undoubtedly more convenient to simply pivot your wrist slightly to check the time as well. Plus no one is going to suspect you of wasting time on the job  when you take a peek at your watch versus whipping out your cellphone.

If you haven't thought about watches for awhile I encourage you to check out this Victorinox Swiss Army timepiece:

 

This is the Swiss Army Summit XLT Chronograph. It's appealing both visually as a fine piece of functional jewelry.

• Made in Switzerland with precision Swiss analog quartz movement
• Mineral crystal
• Water resistant to 10 ATM (100 meters/330 feet)
• Stainless steel case
• Luminous hands and hour markers
• Screw-in caseback
• Date
• Unidirectional rotating bezel
• Chronograph
• Rubber strap

This watch would be my choice for either of my sons, one a businessman and the other a just-graduated high school student. It's rugged, functional and great-looking with features they'd both appreciate.(The mom in me thinks too, "That watch looks really well-built (and beautiful) I bet it will last forever!")

Are you thinking of Father's Day or a graduation gift that will always be remembered? Have a look then at swissarmy(dot) com so you can see a terrific range of quality timepieces.

And because everyone loves to win really great stuff, go to the Facebook IWAW sweepstakes page and become a fan and participate in the I Wear a Watch sweepstakes. 

You could be one of  the 30 (!) winners over a  30 day time frame who will win a Victorinox Swiss Army timepiece!

The Dead Weather 'Sea Of Cowards' Album Review - Dead Weather Prize Package Giveaway

I’m giving away a Dead Weather prize package that includes a copy of the just-released Dead Weather album, ‘Sea of Cowards’, CD PLUS a Dead Weather mask/poster/sticker combo!

 

 
Artist:  The Dead Weather
Release: Sea of Cowards
Label: Third Man Records
Date: OUT NOW
 
http://www.thedeadweather.com/

 

I was fortunate enough a couple of weeks ago to be turned on to The Dead Weather's Sea of Cowards, their second album in as many years, and as is my habit when I love a body of music I've immersed myself in it.

I pretty much expounded upon all the reasons I love this LP in this post but it is easy to add more now that I've dug deeper into their catalog.

Lead singer Alison Mosshart brings Janis Joplin to mind more than any female singer since Janis Joplin. Janis was before my time but there have been enough female blues-rock singers since her premature passing 40 years ago and Mosshart is the very first one who reminds me of Janis.

It's not just the singing--which is pretty damned impressive--it's Mosshart's soaked-in-the blues attitude that she brings to each song. She, like Janis is fearless and that makes what she does exciting, primal, electric and dirty, oh gawd yeah--down and dirty.

Jack White knew exactly what he was doing when her brought Allison on board into his current supergroup because her fearlessness matches his, providing the perfect grungy counterpoint.

Besides the spot on musical match in Mosshart and White, the quality of sound tonally, the production values are just off the charts. The sound is full and visceral and as we've come to expect, Jack White has again brought aboard crack musicians in Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita. These guys seem to fit like pieces of a puzzle into this mix of alt-blues-indie-garage rock.

Not every single song on Sea of Cowards may be your cup-of-tea but guaranteed, the guys anchoring the sound of this band are amazing.

One night I played Sea of Cowards for my significant and we found that it is perfect for a night of shall we say, enthusiastic romance.

There is a strong blues rock-infused feel to Sea of Cowards and no one has ever tried to get around the fact that the blues and sex are very close companions. The guy-girl dynamic in this band works, period.

I like too the artistry that accompanies this band. I know ultimately that it is about the music but I like my other senses stimulated, too. The Dead Weather's live videos augment the recorded music in that you can appreciate that the sound is raw, straight-from-the-gut and through the heart. I admit too, straight as I am, I cannot take my eyes off Allison in concert.

If I could see one band in concert this summer it would be The Dead Weather. They are the perfect band for the hottest time of the year. 

Scroll down to check out The Dead Weather's Summer Concert schedule as well a another of my favourite tracks off the new LP AND a link to where you can "Die By the Drop" from Sea of Cowards! 

May 07, 2010 — http://thedeadweather.com
The Dead Weather's performance of The Difference Between Us, live from Third Man Records on May 3rd, 2010.

"I'm not the way that you found me I'm never here or there

One day I'm happy and healthy

Next I ain't doing so well..."

SEE The Dead Weather Perform LIVE!

Tour Dates: June 12 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo July 13 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club 14 Boston, MA - House of Blues 15 Toronto, Ontario - Sound Academy 17 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre 19 San Diego, CA - House of Blues 21 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium 22 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre 24 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom 27 Billings, MT - Babcock Theatre 28 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue 29 Milwaukee, WI - The Rave 30 Chicago, IL - The Congress Theater 31 Detroit, MI - The Fillmore August 2 Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head Live! 3 Brooklyn, NY - Prospect Park

Download "Die By the Drop" from Sea of Cowards on RCRD LBL!
http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/The_Dead_Weather/track/Die_By_The_Drop

 

The Dead Weather's Sophomore Album, Sea of Cowards, Out NOW!

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sea-of-cowards/id364908824

Bicycle Rush Hour in Utrecht (Netherlands): Must Been Seen...

markenlei — April 28, 2010 — Morning rush hour in the 4th largest city in the Netherlands. Streets look like this when 33% of ALL trips are made by bicycle!

This is an ordinary Wednesday morning in April 2010 at around 8.30 am. Original time was 8 minutes that were compressed into 2 minutes, so everything is 4 times faster than in reality. The sound is original.

These cyclists cross a one way bus lane (also used by taxis and municipal vehicles), two light rail tracks and then a one way street that can be used by private vehicles.

This is one of the busiest junctions in Utrecht a city with a population of 300,000. No less than 18,000 bicycles and 2,500 buses pass here every day. And yet Google Street View missed it. Because private motorized traffic is restricted here.

Behind the camera is a railway (you can hear the squeaking sounds of the trains passing) and the main railway station is very close too. A number of rental bikes from the station pass and many of the cyclists will have come by train for the first part of their commute.

For those who frown upon the total absence of bike helmets in this video, consider these findings from a US study:

"Cycling in the Netherlands is much safer than in the USA. The Netherlands has the lowest non-fatal injury rate as well as the lowest fatality rate, while the USA has the highest non-fatal injury rate as well as the highest fatality rate. Indeed, the non-fatal injury rate for the USA is about 30 times higher than for the Netherlands.

Injury rate per million km cycled: USA 37.5; NL 1.4
Fatality rate per 100 million km cycled: USA 5.8; NL 1.1"

From: Pucher, John and Buehler, Ralph (2008) 'Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany'.

http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/Irresistible.pdf

I want a bike. I miss riding my bike.

I totally love that there is a total absence of bike helmets in this video. 

There are only a couple of standards scenario when you fall from a bike, only one of which in many years of cycling have I personally participated in:

You wipe out on your own and almost always your limbs take the brunt of it. I have a very nice scar on my knee to show for it. I have never hit my head while bicycling. Helmets are for toddlers.

Just as a P.S., I'm curious how the rate of obesity in Utrecht compares with an American city of equal population. Something tells me they ain't equal.

Lesbian Vampire Killers OST - Debbie Wiseman - Nominated For 'Best Original Score For a Comedy Film'

Soundtrack: Lesbian Vampire Killers
Composer: Debbie Wiseman
Label: Silva Screen Records

LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS is British composer Debbie Wiseman’s gothic romantic soundtrack to Phil Claydon’s horror comedy. Wiseman is well-known in the British film and television composition industry for her lyrical style and penchant for melody and the soundtrack she created for Lesbian Vampire Killers proves this still true. In a similar way to Arsène Lupin (2005), Lesbian Vampire Killers has a bold, Gothic darkness to it, tinged with a large amount of highly thematic orchestral and choral beauty, which belies its clearly comic roots.

The soundtrack features The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Crouch End Festival Chorus and popular classical singer, Hayley Westenra.

Released by Silva Screen Records, the musical score for Lesbian Vampire Killers is comprised of nineteen tracks, including Showaddywaddy’s 1976 UK chart-topping “Under The Moon Of Love.”

Even though Wiseman adopts a full-bodied gothic orchestral approach for Lesbian Vampire Killers, she peppers the soundtrack with fun, lighter selections, creating musically an entity that provides listeners with a range of compositions — from the seductive suggestion of tracks like “Centuries Ago…” to the epic grandeur of “Lesbian Vampire Killers”.

Unlike the spine-tingling, terrifying quality often sought in traditional horror scores, Wiseman’s compositions are at times melodic and playful, contributing to the comedic nature of Lesbian Vampire Killers’s storyline. LVK is an interesting, varied soundtrack that embodies each of the various qualities of the film it accompanies and expertly employs both The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and The Crouch End Festival Chorus.

One of the coolest features of the Lesbian Vampire Killers soundtrack is how the track tracks were named, many of them named for quotes from or scenes in the film. In particular, “I Know Something Really Wrong Is Happening Here, But Is There Any Chance We Can Just Ignore It?” and “Have You Been Hanging Out With Vicars?” are two compositions whose names are direct quotes from the film — and some of the film’s funnier quotes, as well.

Track Listing:

1. “Centuries Ago…” (03:13)
2. “Adv_nture” (02:03)
3. “At the Olde Mircalla Cottage” (01:47)
4. “Have You Been Hanging Out with Vicars?” (02:18)
5. “I Know Something Really Wrong Is Happening Here, But Is There Any Chance We Can Just Ignore It?” (02:45)
6. “Vampires? Lesbian Vampires!” (02:56)
7. “Run You Bellends!” (02:49)
8. “You’re a Virgin?” (01:28)
9. “Give Me One Last Kiss” (01:09)
10. “My aXe Girlfriend” (01:07)
11. “Full-On Lesbian Vampire Attack!” (03:43)
12. “The Dawn of the Red Moon” (06:06)
13. “Jimmy, I Love You” (01:27)
14. “All Grown Up” (03:10)
15. “The Crypt of Carmilla” (02:05)
16. “Carmilla, the Vampire Queen” (03:22)
17. “Whores of F***ing Hades, Prepare for F***ing Death!” (02:29)
18. “Lesbian Vampire Killers” (05:34)
19. “Lesbian Vampire Killers It Is… Let’s Ride!” (01:28)
20. Showaddywaddy - “Under the Moon of Love” (03:13)

The International Film Music Critics Association has nominated Debbie Wiseman in the category of "Best Original Score For a Comedy Film" for her score for "Lesbian Vampire Killers".

Debbie Wiseman was awarded the MBE in 2004 for her services to the film industry, recognizing her as one of the UK's leading score writers. Her work includes acclaimed scores for Flood, Wilde, Warriors, Tom's Midnight Garden and Arsène Lupin.

Survivor - Episode 20x5 - Heroes vs. Villains 'Knights of the Roundtable' Summary - Screen Caps - Jeff Probst Blogs Survivor 20

Preview episode 6 of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains

CBS

I started watching "Survivor" with my family a  decade ago because my son, then age 6, liked the challenges.

When he was about age 11 or 12 he gave up on the show, I think in favour of video games. My spouse and I probably watched a couple more installments before we quit it, too. I tried watching the one with Courtney and the now-booted Randy and Sugar in it--Micronesia?--Tocantins? but couldn't stomach it after about 7 episodes of utter stupidity.

I'm feeling the same way now. Now in it's 20th installment, this show has devolved into a game of who is the best schemer. Even if a good player gets fairly far you just know the weaker, nastier people are going to win. If I had to pick one million dollar winner who turned me completely sour on the game it would be without question the aptly-named Parvati Shallow.

I'll be frank. I just read in a couple of different places who wins Heroes vs. Villains-- well, who the final 2 are--and I dislike them both intensely. For the jury it's going to be a choice between bad and ...bad. So why should I sit through more stupidity?

I'll just take comfort that I'm not alone as I've included a couple of excerpts from Jeff Probst's blog, EW.com, MSNBC and a couple of others and if they have to endure this show that honestly needs to be put down or at least put out to pasture, then I suppose so can I. This is the only 'Reality" show I've ever watched and it was pretty cool once--but that was long ago. In Survivor, the bad guys almost always win, and for me that's not entertainment.

Next time on Survivor:

IN A HIGH STAKES CHALLENGE, BOTH TRIBES BATTLE FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN IMMUNITY AND A COVETED REWARD THAT PROMISES TO IMPROVE NOT ONLY THEIR MORALE BUT THEIR ENTIRE TRIBE'S STRATEGY, ON "SURVIVOR: HEROES VS. VILLAINS," ON A SPECIAL NIGHT, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24

"Banana Etiquette" - When the castaways discover that two people will be sent packing in a rare double elimination, everyone scrambles to save their own skin, and one castaway surprises everyone and risks it all at Tribal Council, on SURVIVOR: HEROES VS. VILLAINS, airing on a special night, Wednesday, March 24 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network

Jeff Probst blogs Survivor 20 Heroes vs. Villians

Okay onto Survivor…and THE DUMBEST DECISION YET.

Once again, Rupert tried to sell his vote based on keeping his tribe strong.

Rupert: (referring to James’ bad leg).  “He’s still stronger than Tom.”

Rupert, if you really believe that James, with his bad leg, is still stronger than Tom, then you need to stop drinking that pirate grog because you’ve lost your friggin mind.

Ah, but that isn’t what Rupert believes.  Rupert is doing what he needs to do to keep his alliance strong.  Once again, let me, “Mr. Back Seat Driver,” point out why this makes no sense.  Your own personal alliance may be intact, but your tribe is dwindling and if and when there is a merge, you are putting yourself in a very weak position because you will have fewer members than the Villains.

You know how I feel.  James has been a problem from day one.  First it was his attitude and now it’s his physical limitations.

And no, I’m not friends with Tom, nor am I enemies with James. I’m just sharing what I feel and I’m guessing what the audience feels as well.

RUSSELL FINDS THE IDOL

I loved the exchange between Russell and Parvati:

Russell: Just grab onto my coattails.

Parvati: I don’t ride coattails, baby.

Russell: You’ll ride these.

Russell is very good at using the idol.  I’d say he’s as good at using it as anybody.  He really understands how to leverage its power and he completely changed the game by securing Parvati in his alliance and then bringing over Coach.

IS PARVATI RUSSELL’S ACHILLES’ HEEL?

Do you think Russell made a wise move?  Or is he falling prey to one of the most deadly flirts in Survivor history?  Both Russell and Parvati pulled out their big guns and told the other everything they need to know.  Russell believes Parvati will ride his coattails.  Parvati told him very clearly she does not ride anybody’s coattails.  It may be the showdown of the season thus far, even more so than Russell vs Rob.

Parvati and Russell have both proven they can play this game very well.  It’s a deadly duo if they stay teamed up but there is no way this relationship ends peacefully.

REWARD CHALLENGE – SCHMERGENBRAWL

I think my favorite part of the challenge was when Rupert threw Jerri up against the side of the course:  “Like I meant to do that!”  And Jerri responded by draining the winning bucket for the Villains.   You think it was the chocolate that made the difference?...

You may remember SCHMERGENBRAWL as the challenge that resulted in me tossing somebody (Ben) out of the challenge for unsportsmanlike behavior and also resulted in the evacuation of Mike Borassi due to dehydration.  We should have known that it was too rough, even for Survivor.

But instead, we brought it back again this season. Once again it was physical and once again it resulted in a major injury as James was removed from the challenge after wrecking his knee.

This challenge will NEVER be played again.  It was officially retired after last night’s challenge...

(NOTE: No Survivor next week and...

NEXT WEEK

Due to the NCAA college basketball tournament, SURVIVOR WILL NOT BE ON NEXT WEEK!  I know, we hate it too.

THE FOLLOWING WEEK

Survivor will be on for a special Wednesday night episode:  WEDNESDAY MARCH 24^TH

BACK TO NORMAL

On April 1^st we return to our regular Thursday night time slot.)

Read the entire article at: Jeff Probst blogs Survivor 20 Heroes vs. Villians

Find out what each tribe member had to say as they cast their votes

CBS

Screen Cap Source: See more

In the space of one episode on Survivor Heroes vs. Villains, the Heroes have gone from an amazing blindside to yet another amazingly dumb decision. Between their stupidity at Tribal Council and their streak of losses, they’re starting to look like so many tribes to come before them, except as previous players, you’d think they’d suck less. But you’d be wrong.

They kept James around, despite the fact that he can barely walk and is an increasingly antagonistic bastard. (Does anyone still like him the way they liked him in China?) Instead, they voted out Tom Westman. Now, as a previous winner, a likable guy, and someone who isn’t a part of the dominant alliance, I get why they wouldn’t keep him around. But the choice was Tom, an able-bodied, capable person, or James, who can barely walk!, and they kept James, thereby ensuring that they’ll continue to suck at challenges even more.

The challenges tonight were a replay of Schmergen Brawl from last season; since this season was filmed in Samoa, too, they just left up the structure and returned to it. Its brutality as a challenge led to James’ knee injury, and to Rupert slamming Jerri Manthey’s face into a post for no discernible reason at all. (“Wow, stop!” Probst yelled, and Rupert said, “I did not mean to do that. You okay?” Jerri, who remarkably wasn’t even bleeding, said, “Whatever, dude, whatever.”) I’m sure that’ll make Rupert a hero to Jerri-haters, but her resilience impressed me and his action did not.

Read the entire article at: Reality Blurred

What does it take, exactly? How badly do you have to be injured before your tribe will you vote you out? Do you need to be shot at close range in the face? Will that do the trick? What about if you lost a limb — an arm, say? Is that enough to get sent home? It is not my desire to sound macabre. I’m just curious and all, seeing as how last night the Heroes tribe decided to keep a player who could not even walk! How absurd is that? James looks like he just stepped off the battlefield in a Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced HBO war miniseries, and then the tribe kept him instead of able-bodied Tom. Because he’ll definitely be more of a help in the challenges, right?

Remember when James said the tribe had to get rid of Stephenie based on her past results in challenges in Palau. Okay, let’s apply that same criteria to Tom. Hmmm, well, let’s see — his tribe that season never lost a single immunity challenge. Not one. And then he proceeded to dominate the individual challenges as well. Yeah, let’s get rid of that guy and keep Gimpy McGee over here with the occasional bouts of roid rage. (And what’s James’ record in challenges anyway? Sure, he’s massive, but he has never dominated in the way that Tom, Terry, and Ozzy did.) You know what? If I could swap a player out, I actually would take Probst’s niece over James at this point. C’mon, she’s a Probst so you know she is scrappy, surely has ingrained leadership skills, looks great in baseball caps, and will help your tribe get the benefit of the doubt at all times from the host.

My favorite part of the Heroes deliberation came courtesy of Rupert and Amanda. Rupert claimed that you don’t get rid of people because of injury, citing how it would have been just as wrong for people to have gotten rid of him for breaking his toe. Exactly! Because your tribe has been doing so well in challenges with you and your broken toe! Amanda put her rose colored glasses on as well, telling Rupert ” James is okay, right?” Of course, he’s okay! Pay no attention to that man limping with a splint covering his entire left leg! He’s fiiiiiiiiine. Absolutely fine. Nothing to worry about.

Obviously, Amanda and Rupert are concerned about their alliance numbers and nothing more, but in doing so, they are making it that much harder for their own tribe to win. And not only that, but they are running the risk of alienating people that may flip and align with others on the Villains side if given the opportunity. As for J.T. and Candice — I don’t now what the hell they are thinking. James, Amanda, and Rupert seem like an air-tight threesome (not ITALIC {that}] kind of threesome — get your head out of the gutter) so why would you want to be in an alliance on the outside of that? Had they both aligned instead with Tom and Colby, they would have made a much stronger foursome on a much more level playing ground. I think they flat-out blew it on this one. However, as we’ve seen in pretty much every single puzzle so far, thinking through all the possibilities has not been a strength of the Heroes tribe.

Read the entire article at:
EW.com

TRIBAL COUNCIL recap 

"Knights of the Roundtable" (CBS)

At Tribal Council, host Jeff Probst points out the obvious fact that James presents a huge liability to his tribe due to his injury.  His tribemates stand up for James with the exception of Tom, Colby and Candice, who contend that he is only being kept for a loyal vote for his allies.  James accuses Tom of being the sole reason why their tribe continues to lose challenges, and proclaims that he is much stronger with a bum knee than Tom is without any ailments.  With this, the Heroes cast their votes, and with five out of the seven votes cast against him, Tom was voted out.  Tom Westman, the 45 year-old from Survivor: Palau became the fifth person voted out of SURVIVOR: HEROES VS. VILLAINS.

The Losers tribe — or, uh, Heroes — lost yet again, unable to compete physically or mentally with the Villains and keeping their losing streak. Then they did their best to stay losers by keeping someone who’s literally unable to walk. So heroic!

As Jeff Probst said at the end of the episode — our last episode for two weeks, because basketball will interrupt next week — “Even with a bad leg, James is more valuable to the tribe than Tom.” But before he was voted out, “Survivor: Palau” winner Tom Westman identified the real reason during Tribal Council: other arguments are “all nonsense,” Tom said, because James is “being kept because he’s a loyal vote.”

The reward challenge almost knocked James out of the game. It was a replay of the brutal “Survivor: Samoa” challenge Schmergen Brawl. Having participated in a rehearsal in Samoa before that cast did the challenge, I can promise you it’s very, very brutal, and we weren’t even playing for $1 million.

Read the entire article at:
MSNBC 

James gets hurt The True Dork Times

 

Music Review: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan/Razor Soundtrack, by Bear McCreary

 
Have you been missing Battlestar Galactica? It's been a while since any new material from the iconic science fiction drama, a re-imagined adaption (2003-2009) of a prior series with the same name was available but thanks to La-La Land Records' new release of series composer Bear McCreary's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN/RAZOR you may now feast your ears.

It's true. Humanity does live on in composer McCreary's offering of the soundtracks to SyFy Channel's "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan" and "Razor" [feature-length] TV events which combined, were "literally years in the making," says McCreary.

Of the many accolades bestowed upon Bear McCreary this one I think says it best: (McCreary's music) "fits the action so perfectly, it's almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other," (NPR).

I have felt this many times whilst listening to Bear's music scores either alone or when they are more prominent in the Battlestar series as well as other efforts of his that I continue to enjoy, currently "Caprica." Bear forges an emotional connection which is completely, uniquely his in style and substance.

The music within this well-crafted CD includes music that Bear wrote before and after the tracks on the Season 4 Battlestar Galactica Album. Bear, as he has over the course of the Battlestar Galactica series' run, makes strong use of past character and concept themes, expanding, refining and tweaking them so a number of familiar sonic elements do bubble up (which I love) as they in effect end up as sort of bookend-companion pieces. Bear McCreary's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN/RAZOR is yet another another powerful offering from Bear McCreary .With almost 70 minutes of music spread over 19 tracks, this is more than a full-length sampling of music from both Razor and the Plan.

You'll find another instance of "bookending" done to great effect on the new CD with Apocalypse (Theme From The Plan) both beginning and finishing out the album.The final, live version which completely rocks out, barely edging out the intro Apocalypse as my favourite version (so far). I'm sure many Battlestar Galactica/Bear McCreary fans will find it completely satisfying as many folks simply could not deal with the logistics inherent in attending the Bear McCreary/Battlestar Galcatica Orchestra live gigs in Southern California held last year.

It's been noted that compared to some Battlestar Galactica CD's,The Plan/Razor has a more introspective feel overall. When I went to pick a few of my favourite tracks I realized that two of my three were from "Razor": "Attack on The Scorpion Shipyards" and the haunting "Starbuck's Destiny." Razor's music is maybe a bit more unified and seeing as though it is the story from the perspective of newbie Pegasus crewmember, Kendra Shaw, it makes sense to me that they would be slightly more interior-sounding.

The almost palpable energy and enthusiasm of the live version of "Apocolypse (Theme From The Plan)"  tips the scales for me as the best of a very solid effort. (I need to see this band live!)

Check my prior reviews of some Bear McCreary's work:

Caprica Soundtrack

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Soundtrack

LOST - 6x06 "Sundown" - End Scene - 'Catch a Falling Star' HD / No More Hating Kate (Screen Caps)/ A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall

LOST - Season 4 finale -  Kate & the little 'turniphead' at their faked rescue

latestlost 

As LOST's last season continues barreling to its May 23 conclusion, the LOST writers have given us some scenes that are sure to be referenced as "the best." I nominate this one, LOST - 6x06 "Sundown" - End Scene - ('Catch a Falling Star') HD in it's entirety but specifically Kate's (Evangeline Lilly) part in it.

'Kate' has MANY detractors, in fact she's probably more reviled in the fan community than Ben (Michael Emerson) ever was--and his is a 'good' kind of bad. But Kate is NOT bad. She just been written that way.

Think about what they gave this character to work with. Not a lot.

For every time Kate has been "bad" and here's the rub--she gotten pilloried more for her sexuality (Jack & Kate & Sawyer)--for every time she's been a bad girl, she's been badass twice as often.

This scene of unspeakable devastation & carnage shows Kate, though completely aghast at what she's experiencing still having the presence of mind take up a dead man's rifle & arm herself. It reminded me of the scene in Season 1 in both its similarities & contrast.

In LOST S1, the plane had crashed, bodies littered everywhere. Kate needed to be able to help pull the group together and at Jack's suggestion she needed to find some sensible shoes in which to do so. The only shoes that looked about right for her were on a corpse. She made her way to the corpse, fighting fear all the way and gingerly removed it's shoes and put them on. Contrast that scene with this. She's in a similar devastated situation--seemingly in shock but this time without anyone to prompt her into action. No need as her survival instincts are on full alert. She glances at a fresh corpse, see what looks like a working rifle and plucks it away from the body to take as her own--all the while taking in the insane scene of a reanimated John Locke with a ragtag clutch of Others and Claire--and Sayid!--all now followers of UnLocke. So much was telegraphed without words--only eye contact between UnLocke and Kate. No more hatin' on Kate. Kate is great.

Lost 6x06 Sundown ending - Catch a Falling Star

TheConst4nt

Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall Found at abmp3 search engine

Torchwood: Children of Earth Soundtrack Review including "I Can Run Forever" (End Scene)

 

Torchwood: Children of Earth OST Cover

The disc includes 40 tracks, 38 tracks divided between the five parts of the miniseries with the other two, the opening and closing themes, being sort of "bonus tracks."

Composer Ben Foster’s soundtrack to Torchwood: Children of Earth can be found in the US on Amazon. (Released August 11).

"I Can Run Forever"
"One of the best tracks from the Torchwood: Children Of Earth Soundtrack. Here is the end scene, with an isolated score. "

Mharkin007

“Children of Earth,” the five-part miniseries that in essence, serves as the Torchwood's third (and perhaps final?) season with the stakes higher than ever for Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones. Veteran “Torchwood” composer Ben Foster (Dr.Who) rises to the occasion, capturing the apocalyptic tone on the Torchwood: Children Of Earth Soundtrack, set from the moment a malevolent force speaks through the "Children of Earth."

The soundtrack is split up according to each of the five parts in the miniseries, opening with  “The First Sacrifice,” a haunting melody which starts out very similar to a soothing lullaby. Given that the miniseries initially centers on the world’s youth, this music is particularly fitting, instantly conveying a perversion of innocence that wends its way through the story.

Performed with energy and verve by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the score features an exquisite instrumental blend, the music often conveying a sense of danger looming with all-too-brief respites of great beauty. As each day passes the soundtrack grows more and more epic and intense with the three-note theme for the alien "4-5-6" used often to punctuate the story as it blows by like a runaway train.

Composer Ben Foster has put forth an inspired volume of work here, not just outstanding in its for its purpose to compliment but not overwhelm Children Of Earth, but in the fact that it stands alone as a complete listening experience.

Music Review: The Music of Star Trek Performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Having quite literally cut my teeth during the Star Trek, the original series' 1966-69 run, then fallen in love with Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and with the best Star Trek Captain ever--Jean-Luc Picard--as a twenty-something, having gone on to embrace Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and it's bold move to have the setting of the show deviate from all others in that it took place on a space station and having been pleased and a bit proud of the franchise's choice of a woman as a Star Trek captain in "Voyager," and finally, trying multiple times to embrace Scott Bakula as captain the Final Star Trek television series, which improbably had a four year-run between 2001-2005, I do feel competent to comment on the score of The Music of Star Trek Performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Music of Star Trek is comprised of sixteen tracks, covering all eleven feature films and five television series. The track list is organized chronologically, showcasing first the films and then moving through the television series. The selections are heavily weighted towards closing credits, with seven of eleven feature selections being the close, which makes sense as that is where the main theme and motifs of the film are generally revisited. This means we get to hear the classic theme many times throughout with slight variations as a bridge to the other themes. It is also interesting to fully comprehend the impact that Jerry Goldsmith had on the entire series. In addition to writing the new theme for Star Trek: The Motion Picture--the original film, Jerry Goldsmith composed the score for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek: First Contact  and Star Trek: Nemesis as well as for the television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.

Though there are a large handful of composing talents here which include James Horner (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock) Leonard Rosenman (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), Cliff Eidelman (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) Dennis McCarthy (Star Trek: Generations) and of course, the soundtrack work of this year's "Star Trek" film by Michael Giacchino,  it is the work of Jerry Goldsmith which speaks to me most.

The City of Prague Philharmonic  has done a commendable job demonstrating their ability to make this soundtrack eminently listenable with these stellar renditions of Star Trek's themes.  You may want to think of The Music of Star Trek as both a "greatest hits" and cover album as the music bears a comfortably familiar vibe throughout.

You do not have to be a hard-core Star Trek fan to add this little gem to your collection. It can be appreciated for it's place in pop-culture and well as for it's musicianship, both on the part of the composers and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

500 Days of Summer Soundtrack Review

The (500) Days of Summer soundtrack has been the the perfect antidote to the less-than-perfect summer weather that I and many other folks seem to be  have been experiencing.

I've been listening to the soundtrack on my Blackberry and much of it is danceable, spirit-lifting, and fun.

The film is a post-modern love story of Tom, a greeting card copywriter(!) and hopeless romantic who is blindsided after his girlfriend Summer dumps him. Tom takes us back, reminiscing through various stages of their 500 days together trying to puzzle out how things things went wrong. His reflections ultimately lead him to rediscover his true passions in life.

The  full track listing is below:

1.A Story of Boy Meets Girl - Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen

2. Us - Regina Spektor

3. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

4. Bad Kids - Black Lips

5. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths

6. There Goes The Fear - Doves

7. You Make My Dreams - Hall & Oates

8. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

9. Quelqu'un M'a Dit - Carla Bruni

10. Mushaboom - Feist

11. Hero - Regina Spektor

12. Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel

13. Vagabond - Wolfmother

14. She's Got You High - Mumm-Ra

15. Here Comes Your Man - Meaghan Smith

16. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - She & Him

(500) Days of Summer has been described as a "quasi-indie" movie and I suppose that's fair as the soundtrack is a good balance of well-known indie tunes sprinkled with some new(er) "hipster" tracks that I was anxious to hear. There are three songs that are either performed by the Smiths or in the case of Please, Please (Let Me Get What I Want) covered by "She and Him," a band fronted by Zooey Deschanel and M.Ward.

Deschanel sounds much like one would imagine she would--kind of sweet and definitely charming. She does a very credible job of the one tune she contributes to the (500) Days Of Summer Soundtrack.

I'm not really big into labels--I just know what I enjoy listening to and this soundtrack is packed with great tunes. Some of my faves include the old, but aging incredibly well and terrifically suited to this film,“You Make My Dreams” by Hall & Oates’, First Lady of France Carla Bruni's, Quelqu'un M'a Dit, the timeless classic, Bookends, by Simon and Garfunkel, Here Comes Your Man by Meaghan Smith, Mushaboom by Feist and of course, the already-mentioned Smith's tunes.

This is a joyful, bright soundtrack that makes some tasty ear-candy.

"Boy meets girl
Boy falls in love Girl doesn't"

500 Days of Summer Soundtrack Now Available!

Download Now with iTunes
Buy from Amazon.com
Download Now with iTunes
Buy from Amazon.ca

How has Twitter helped or hurt your blog?

I can't imagine how Twitter could hurt anyone's blog unless maybe you made your Twitterfeed public on your blog and posted something that offended your readers.

Twitter has helped my blog in that it spreads the word about what I write about. In the case of my TypePad blog, Forever A Fangirl, I write about entertainment and pop culture that I enjoy or sometimes endorse because I like it. Twitter sends people to my blog by making them aware of what I've written. And yes, I do keep track--through bit.ly currently. I also get many story ideas and leads by following sources in the know as I'm a very small fish in a huge pond.

On the topic of Twitter however and this is tangential to the query, since I do a very little bit of sponsored-post writing on this blog and now am starting hand-picked-by-me reviews of music that I'm interested in, I do follow some people who are shall we say, in similar businesses--that of selling. If I wanted to really go off on a tangent I could say that we are all in the business of selling if we desire an audience. If we don't care then really we are just keeping a journal.

Anyway on the business tweeting, I'm  sort of in a conundrum because a number of people including ironically, the guy that asked this question, are tweeting too much for me. I'm finding myself scrolling through so many of their tweets that it's feeling like clutter. And if I was not interested in a tweet the first time I'm not going to be interested in it the next time when it is re-tweeted or the third time, for that matter. I realize I've accidentally double-tweeted but as soon as I'm aware of it I delete the extra tweet. I don't think you should re-tweet your own post unless it's really good.

I'm afraid that Twitter will soon reach critical mass where there is just so much "noise" and that it will become less effective. Maybe that is already happening. I'm quite sure that this social media platform like others will began to fade and that something will take it's place: think MySpace, Facebook, some say Google--though obviously Google still retains a lot of power-- yet it's getting less buzz than Twitter (I read that headline in my Twitter stream today).

I consider Twitter "of the moment" as I do many things Internet-related. There will be a time when it is no longer of the moment and the next big thing will be what the early adopter segment of social networking platforms is abuzz about.

Bear McCreary - Caprica Soundtrack Release - 'Battlestar Galactica' Beyond Background Music

Perhaps the best way to express how great a talent Bear McCreary is is to say that Battlestar Galactica, my favourite television show of all time, which concluded its four-year run this year, would not be Battlestar Galactica without Bear McCreary's creation of it's superb scores. His style is like no other, obviously classically trained yet at times tribal-sounding, Bear qualifies the music he composed on Battlestar Galcactica as "ethnic rock-pop-classical soundtrack music." 

I could fawn over Bear's signature sound but he has many. Some once you hear them, your ears will alert you to later when hearing an entirely different soundtrack. This happened during an early episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which Bear also scored."That's Bear!," I exclaimed when a hint of one of his amazing compositions seeped a tiny bit into Terminator--just long enough for me to recognize it.

Bear worked last year on scoring a miniseries, "Caprica" that is to air on the SciFi/SyFy network this fall. It has been released in DVD from and on CD it's called appropriately, "Caprica."

I've been listening to it this week and it's good. Yes absolutely, Bear pulled off his stated-upfront mission to "pay tribute to Battlestar Galactica without imitating it."

In an NPR interview with Bear, host Guy Raz said that at times Bear's work is "almost devastating." 

I don't think it can be phrased better.

It can touch you that deeply. I admit to tearing up along with some of Bear's best work as well as having had my heart rate seem to pick up as Bear's soundtrack draws me in and along with him.

Bear McCreary has an uncanny sense of matching the score to a scene, though as his sold-out concerts indicate, his music stands on it's own. Many a time I've noticed a theme or two of his running through my head the day after viewing one of his shows and hearing some new pieces of his work. Now the same thing is happening after having given the Caprica soundtrack a couple of listens. It's very beautiful and it tells a story that I'm very excitedly looking forward to.

Bear's music can elevate a scene to the sublime and though he's still a young guy, he has quite a notable body of work building. Bear says in his liner-notes for the Caprica soundtrack that he hopes it will be "a seed from which the the Caprica musical universe will grow."

I'll look forward to hearing more music from Caprica after it debuts and in the meantime "Caprica," the CD will continue to be a new, amazing piece to enjoy.

To my fellow Battlestar Galactica fans, yes there are moments on Caprica where you are transported into BSG territory--usually with a very light touch, though after viewing the miniseries you'll see and hear where some of Bear's trademark sounds are very appropriate and I cannot say it enough, enhance each scene.

Bear McCreary is currently scoring the music for Galactica's series prequel, Caprica, to be aired on the SciFi (SyFy by the time it debut) Channel.

Some links you may like-

Caprica series and music updates from Bear McCreary

NPR Music on BSG's Bear McCreary and his live, sellout Shows

The Shape of Things to Come (full track)

All Along The Watchtower(BSG) (full track)

More BSG on NPR -How 'Battlestar' Brought Me Home From Iraq

For some fun facts about Bear McCreary and his new Caprica soundtrack as well as the upcoming SyFy Channel miniseries and series, Caprica, click below.

WEEDS : Season 5 - Episode 5.03 - Su-Su-Sucio - 2 Sneak Peeks *Videos* - Kristen Scoop, More

So eppy two of Season 5  Weeds, "Machetes on Top."

The best: Andy (Justin Kirk) and 'bitchface" Jill's, Nancy's sister that were are hearing about for the very first time, wine-fueled encounter.

The good: Silas (Hunter Parrish) and Doug (Kevin Nealon) hiking "6 hours" into a National Park, finding the perfect spot to grow weed only to moments later find that the spot was already found by rifle-bearing pot-growers.

The not-so-good:  Nancy's alcohol, cigarette and sushi binge (for the mercury) as a way of rebelling against Esteban's (Demián Bichir) "goon" Cesar (Enrique Castillo) dogging her everywhere including inside her home.

The awful: Esteban's rape of the drunk and pregnant Nancy to drive home the point that she will do as he tells her.

I hated this scene not because it was shocking that Esteban would do this to Nancy as at this point he's in the deciding process of whether to kill her or not. I just hated it period. I felt as a viewer manipulated. We already know that he is a brutal, vicious man. I hated that Kohan and company and I include Mary Louise Parker in this group felt it necessary to make this part of the episode. I would have much rather he punched her in the face if we needed to see what a bastard he is. It left a really bad feeling in my stomach.

From here on in if Nancy continues to 'love" Esteban, as actress Parker has indicated she will, all hope in my opinion to for her to get her shit together--even a little bit--fades to black.

A few Q and A's answered by Kristen: (SPOILERS)

Guillermo was so good in the Weeds premiere. Will we see more of him this season?
Yes, indeed. While he is currently incarcerated, the Weeds baddie will be back in some capacity and leading lady Mary-Louise Parker could not be more thrilled about it. MLP tells us, "Guillermo [Diaz] is truly one of the best actors I've ever worked with. There are two bigger scenes that we have coming up, and when he works, I just want to stay all night." Let's just hope he stays behind that plate-glass window for the safety of Nancy and baby-to-be.

Any scoop on Weeds?
Remember Sucio from last season of Weeds, the grungy guy who guarded the infamous drug tunnel? He's back in Nancy's life under the pretext of keeping an eye on her for Esteban. He begrudgingly becomes somewhat part of the family. However, don't get too attached to him. Sniff. Someone else is out to get Nancy, and Sucio falls victim to the first attack.

Below: Thanks to  The Futon Critic for some greats comments by Weeds' creator Jenji Kohan.

Regardless of the sometimes-bad things that Nancy does, we still root for her. How do you strike that balance so the audience stays invested in that character? Jenji Kohan: Well, I think first of all it's Mary-Louise and just how fucking great she is. Just those big brown eyes. [laughs] That's a huge part of it.  EDIT/ This is precisely why I watch it. Mary-Louise is simply great in this role. --Cyn Jenji continues: But I think people identify with deeply flawed characters because we all are; it's universal. So when you're able to identify with the fuck-ups and the messes I think you feel sympathy because she's trying. She's trying. And she's trying to do the right thing. She didn't set out to do bad things. And I think, in a way, it's a relief to see real repercussions for her bad behavior as well as her good behavior. The black and white of protagonists on televisions - I think it's a little weary. Nobody is completely a villain and nobody is completely a hero and, in general, we all try to do the best we can and I think people buy into it because it's a universal experience.  In the first few episodes of this new season, you touch on the one-sided love that Andy (Kirk) has for Nancy. Is that story going to progress? JK: I don't think so. I'm sure Nancy has a lot of feelings but she's invested in her baby-daddy and, as she's demonstrated over and over, she's a danger junkie and she likes the excitement and she doesn't take Andy seriously. She loves Andy but not, as he says in one episode, not in the good way and I think that's sort of his cross to bear and his journey this season and how to deal with feelings that aren't reciprocated in the way he had hoped. EDIT/ Though I sympathize with both the Nancy and Andy characters, to use an old expression, "He's too good for her." --Cyn JH: Do you miss the "Little Boxes" theme song since you stopped using it after the third season? JK: I miss the covers of the theme song. I miss all the different versions of it and getting really excited about the musicians who are doing it. But I kind of like our little openings now and it gives us much more time for the show. It's more relevant, I think, for what we're doing now and I mourn the passing of "Little Boxes" but I think we've found a good alternative. EDIT/ Every episode opens so cleverly with pot leaves creatively worked into the last glimpse of the opening credits. In episode one, among other places, a pot leaf -shape was in the middle of sushi pieces. And they all tie in to the show. I do miss the "Little Boxes" theme but it wouldn't work now that there's no Agrestic--the setting for the "little boxes."--Cyn

True Blood - An Acquired Taste? - Keep This Party Going - Promo Video - S2 02 *Spoilers*

'Keep This Party Going"

Sookie is forced to babysit Jessica, as well as the romantic inconveniences the teen vampire’s presence creates. At the Light of Day leadership conference, Jason makes an impression on its ambitious leaders, Steve and Sarah Newlin. Maryann casts her spell on Merlotte’s patrons.

ASAdmin | June 22, 2009 WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC! HBO owns the rights. No copyright infringement intended. . "Pam Will Kill Me" True Blood S02xE02 "Keep This Party Going"

perajoe | June 23, 2009

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. Summary: True Blood S02xE02 "Keep This Party Going" After making up with Bill, Sookie suggests that he take it a little easier on Jessica as she is just a teenager. Bill tries to convince Sookie that a vampire as new as she is not capable of controlling her impulses and that she could be dangerous. En route to the Light of Day Leadership conference Jason becomes fast-friends with an anti-vampire zealot named Luke, but after Jason makes a good impression on Steve Newlin, and Sarah Newlin in particular, Luke’s good-natured friendship turns to bitter jealousy and he tells Jason that he doesn’t belong there. Eric approaches Bill and demands that he and Sookie help in finding a vampire sheriff named Godric, who has gone missing in Dallas. Meanwhile, Tara finds out more about Eggs' past as a criminal and he makes it clear that he is interested in her. After a failed attempt to escape from the basement of Fangtasia, Lafayette is badly injured and asks Eric, Pam and Chow to turn him into a vampire. Fangs bared, they ferociously bite him. Jessica realizes she misses her family after her parents, who think she has just gone missing, appear on TV. She asks Sookie to take her to see her family and Sookie agrees, on the condition that Jessica stay in the car. Although she agrees, Jessica eventually ignores Sookie and drops in on her old family. When her father comes home, he angrily accuses her of putting the family through hell, and even though Sookie tries to stop her, Jessica attacks her father and threatens to kill him for all the times he beat her. But Bill shows up and glamours his way into the house just in time. The episode ends on an ominous note, with Bill throwing Sookie out of the house barking at her that he has to "clean up her mess"

Last night we saw Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer quarrel over his keeping secrets--big secrets from her--and then having fierce, kinky make-up sex that looked pretty real right up to and including Bill's chomping on Sookie's neck, blood flowing like a necklace across her throat.

When True Blood actors said in pre-season interviews that there would be "more sex," I think they were being quite literal. Will more sex and violence, especially when coupled together turn off the audience members that are not the most ardent fans?

I hope so.

There is a vampire overload in American entertainment right now and most of it is dreck. Nothing especially wrong with that as judging from what the top twenty network shows are, most of teevee-show-watching America thrives on dreck. 

I would just as soon see a smaller, more cerebral audience for True Blood than to see a bunch of teenagers jumping on the True Blood bandwagon seeking vampires that sparkle--because they don't belong there.

Despite all the hype--especially the viral marketing of True Blood--it's made for a specific demographic that is not put off by vampires biting whilst having sex, (almost)vfull nudity, intense violence which includes buckets of blood--and more sex. And just to mix it up and keep it interesting and fun we get the sheriff of Area 5,1000 year-old former Viking, vampire Eric Northman paying a visit to his dungeon whilst in the middle of having his hair highlighted, foils and all. 

We also get Sookie, upon discovering that Bill has turned his first victim vampire as punishment for last season's killing of Fangtasia bartender Longshadow when he was attempting to snap Sookie's neck, enquiring of Bill and new vamp Jessica, "Did you have sex?" To which Bill blurts out "No!" while Jessica throws in "Old"! (as in ew, he's disgustingly old). <big smiles>

Sookie and Bill, afters she stomps off and then comes back another night, end up declaring their love for one another and having frenzied sex. This is not stuff for teenagers, not stuff for the easily unnerved or to be blunt, prudish, nor is it for the squeamish. 

The violence in True Blood, though played straight, is in fact done with a wink and a nod. Just pay attention to how ludicrous the storyline gets. 

Last season for example, a scene begins with vampire Bill in his dilapidated old mansion--playing Wii-like golf on his big screen. It's funny yes, but also kind of sad as we know that no matter how long he "lives" he'll never play out on the greens.

And so True Blood goes. It's intense, scary, funny, sexy, witty, violent, escapist entertainment for, need I say? Grown-ups.

There is a thread of social commentary running through it which you can feel free to ignore or acknowledge though why would you want to ignore it?

Please though if it offends you, pick up your remote and click over to Animal Planet. Oops, there's sex and violence there, too.

How about Dancing with the Stars or American Idol? They are pretty harmless and I've heard quite entertaining if you are into that kind of thing. And that's really my point. People that are into True Blood and therefore into Alan Balls' work are a bit left of mainstream and we don't get all freaked out by the freakiness. For us, the farther out he goes the more we enjoy ourselves. 

Last time I checked that was the point of couch-sitting for 60 minutes whist facing a large plasma screen.

True Blood - God Hates Fangs - HBO - Deposition, Gymnast, 911, Seeing Eye Dog - 2 Viral *Videos*

Our campaign in London churches. Take a look!

godhatesf

The ending is rather amusing and I hate to point this out because it feels sort of third grade but it really isn't a big leap to go from God Hates Fangs to God Hates (drop the letter "n").

Even here in the video as the woman who is viral marketing her hate campaign, shouts out "God hates fangs," it sounds very close to a real epithet. Didn't anyone at True Blood marketing have any qualms about this? Sort of hard to believe.                                                                                                 

Below: leandroy2

All credits are from Digital Kitchen, Chicago
Direction of Mark Bashore

HBO | True Blood Season 2 | Viral Deposition, Gymnast, 911, Seeing Eye Dog

Gawker and BloodCopy - A Marriage Made in Advertising Heaven or Hell?

"The blogging empire is temporarily welcoming a new site into its fold that’s written and paid for by HBO to promote the network’s noir vampire drama, True Blood. And the word “advertisement” won’t appear anywhere in the project’s vicinity."

I'm gonna say it. 

Wowsa.

I've been blogging in the "sponsored post" arena since November 2007, and there has not been one minute that it has not been controversial. Initially and I was late to the party by at least 18 months, all sponsored posting was baaaad. Only bad people with bad intentions did paid blogging without the blog post itself screaming "I'm an advert!!! She's getting money to write this!"

I admit I had not thought through what the ethical implications were to writing short blog posts which pushed products. I didn't think it was doing any harm as I talked about what I thought of the product or simply talked about the product in the days where I was assigned work that if I turned it down I would get no further work.

That company literally did not care what I wrote. They simply wanted me to insert a link. So for example, if I had to write about a diet supplement I would talk of the dangers of dieting and if you ever did use a product like "X" do so only under your doctor's care.

Frankly, I was glad when that company told me to choose them or another another company to work for.  The other other company told me to work for whomever I pleased. Guess who I chose?  At the same time, in fact years before, Google was getting very agitated because companies that had bloggers share their opinions about products got free "Google" juice when a "do follow" link was used in the post. That means, to make it very simple, that the company pushing a product was in direct competition with Google's Adsense when it came to search engine results that Internet users would get.

Huge no-no in the land of GOOG. Again, I totally had no idea that what I was doing was in violation of Google search engine rules. They stripped me of PageRank which is a metric which is considered to be a short-hand way of telling the world what your blog is worth.

Since 11/2007, I've made over $4000 doing paid blogging some with "do follow" links and here now only with "nofollow" links. There are no ads on this blog that violate Google's policy. I only very occasionally write adverts here and all of them have a big honking in-post badge saying I got paid, along with the non-Google juice producing nofollow links. I might add that I'm offered many posts per pay for decent money but the advertisers do not want me to disclose that I'm writing an advert. So I never write them. For one, I'm acutely aware that I'm being used (for my Page Rank! I feel so dirty!). They want to take advantage of my PageRank so they get sweeter link juice--for about a week--because that's when Google will strip me of my PageRank and if I have anything to say about that, it's not going to happen. I know better now.

If you read an ad on this blog you'll know it's an ad. And this is important, too: I hand-pick all my ads. As I said, I turn down money each day--and that's really painful, believe me. But I'm preserving my PageRank and my integrity.That's the other part of Gawker's experiment (their wording) that I find intriguing. Will they too lose PageRank? One would think that the Blood Copy ads will be in violation of Google's rules. I know I'm staying tuned in order to see what happens when one of the big guys does what the little guys got crushed for.

 

Lastly, Gawker is utilizing paid blogging to advertise one of my favourite shows. I have to be honest. I'm excited about this. I'm interested to see how it plays out, yes and I'm curious to hear what kind of reception the advertising gets from various fronts but most importantly from the consumer because friends, despite being told as we grew up that the Hokey-Pokey was what "it" is all about, that is simply not true. In this great land of consumers what it is all about is selling stuff, the more stuff the better. The ways of selling are changing at a dizzying rate. With newspapers, magazines, and television losing ground in the advertising wars, those that want to sell stuff need to be willing to experiment with a variety of venues. That's what it's all about, folks.

From: Gawker VP says sponsored posts will bring in majority of revenue one day

Entries from the blog, BloodCopy, will appear as cross-posts in the mix of Gawker Media’s eight verticals, which include Gizmodo, Kotaku, and the flagship. They’ll be set off by a border and labeled as BloodCopy posts but otherwise indistinguishable from editorial content — except that the blog is written by an undead, bloodsucking ghoul.

“With vampires, we thought we could be a little looser with the disclosure and create some disbelief,” Chris Batty, Gawker’s vice president of sales and marketing, told me yesterday, dismissing critics of the advertorial as “humorless.” He also made a bold prediction that surprised me so much I made sure to confirm I’d heard correctly:

 “If we’re around in three or four years,” Batty said, “the majority of our advertising revenue will be in sponsored posts like this.”

       

Everything Is New Again at Typepad... or, Who loves ya, baby?

..or at least that's how it feels. In a good way! There are just all kinds of new features that the talented, smart, and creative team at Six Apart have been offering up that really lend themselves to easy and painless customization and making and joining conversation with some fascinating folks and other good stuff--like this fun Q and A from TypePad.

I think it's another new feature here at TypePad but I loved a similar one at Vox (which I must say I'm not getting over to as much as I 'd like).

Here's the Q:
Blockbuster season starts this weekend with the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Next up: Angels & Demons, The Transformers, Harry Potter, Star Trek and Land of the Lost. Which summer mega-hit are you most looking forward to?

Star Trek: My dad, nerdy science dude that he is/was "force-fed" the original Star Trek series to me. It was on in the morning, I think on a UHF station(!) The concept of a peaceful universe, beaming up and phasers and the Prime Directive was cool but I was not a big fan of the show. Later, I enjoyed most of TNG and the often-ignored Deep Space Nine. I didn't initially watch the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation because I disliked the original Star Trek, most especially Shatner as Kirk. I'm being truthful when I say he makes me gag. Spock was always cool and Scotty and McCoy were amusing. Not seeing it unless someone I know is dying to see it.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: How big a part does Dom Monaghan have? I miss him since he was killed off LOST. Hugh Jackman is cute n' angsty but he alone couldn't get me in the theater to watch it. Possibly, I may take my kid if he wants to go. The one Jackman did with Anna Paquin (were there two?) was OK.

Transformers: Probably yeah 'cos my first son was devoted to the original TV show when he was little so I watched, too (spent a fortune on transforming cars and trucks) and I've seen newer incarnations through my younger son. I've always dug the transforming sound and that cars and trucks could turn into robots. It was a pretty cool show. I'm curious to know if they'll keep Shia's seriously busted-up hand hidden as he broke it off-set, but while filming, I believe. Still gets surgery on it. Yikes.

Angels & Demons: No.

Harry Potter: Have read and watched the film series so far so, yes.

EDIT/Igot this confused with Land of the Giants.

The plot of land of the Lost appears the similar except this is a Will Ferrell comedy./end edit

Land of the Lost: Did not even hear about this one 'till the other day.
I watched the teevee show (again, in the mornings on UHF, the public television channel). Depends on who is in it and what the reviews are like. I haven't missed the show but they could probably do some cool things with it.

TVGuide video interview with Dom Monaghan about Wolverine and his "Easter Egg" part in it.

Irony on top of tragedy: Triple murderer in Hoffman Estates police custody just an hour before the killings began

Yesterday, my son came home from high school and he did what he always does. The routine each day after school is for him and me to go through his day, recounting what he did in his classes. When he got to his Engineering class, he mentioned something odd in the instruction that his teacher gave in regard to how my son's class should interact via Internet (Skype) with students from another District 211 high school, Conant H.S., with whom they are collaborating on a major project. His class was told to be careful how they interacted with the Conant High School kids who were just returning to school after the weekend in which they learned that a senior Conant girl and her family had been brutally stabbed by the girl's older sister's boyfriend.

I've been out on the loop on local news and had missed the story but my son had printed out a couple of articles off the nets before leaving school yesterday and I read the story with great sadness. The sadness turn to anger however when I read that already the perpetrator's court-appointed lawyer was "spinning" his client's tale of woe--child welfare case messed up in the system.
Take a look at a snap of the man that stabbed an entire family. For one thing he's not a child, he's 20 y.o.--old enough to have made the choice not to stab an entire family because you were pissed at the world.

Does he look like he's really suffering or demented? (This is a mug shot from another crime of his.)

My younger son has construed a general notion of what would be his ideal of a justice system that works. He calls it the "iron fist" justice system though he doesn't have all the details worked out--much would have to change. Broadly speaking, we stop going all soft on violent offenders. Ultimately, garbage like the person who essentially killed a whole family would be tossed.

I'm also mad at the sister who had a kid with this guy, a convicted, violent sexual predictor. I know she'll feel bad that she is ultimately the reason why that man was anywhere near her family. I'm just really mad and I can't even blog openly about my feelings about how society makes excuses for the "D'Andre Howards" of the world. A thug is a thug and as such is a threat to society.

It's now up to the only physically unscathed member of this family besides older sis with the murderous bf, the guy in the photo, age 20 that sort of looks like Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters circa his Nirvana era. He was at a good university, editor of the college paper, finishing out his junior year when he was informed on his family's demise. Now he gets to cope with this and hope his mom pulls through all right. Otherwise, he's left only with his dumbass sister who brought the documented convicted felon into her bed, ultimately sending their dad, little sister, and grandmother to their graves.
I'm really angry. And sad.

From the Chicago Sun-Times

Before going to the Hoffman Estates home where he allegedly stabbed three people to death, 20-year-old D’Andre Howard went to the suburb’s police station, authorities said Monday.

Howard was arrested early Friday on a traffic warrant by Hoffman Estates police, but was released from custody barely an hour later after posting bail, police said....

The Engelhardt family: Father, Alan, and his wife, Shelly, Laura (center), Amanda (left) and Jeff Englehardt. D’Andre Howard is charged with stabbing and slashing three members of girlfriend Amanda's family.
(Courtesy ABC7 Chicago)

Howard is charged with murdering his girlfriend’s younger sister, 18-year-old Laura Engelhardt; her father, 57-year-old Alan Engelhardt; and her grandmother, 73-year-old Marlene Gacek.

Howard — the father of the couple’s 8-month-old daughter — also is charged with critically wounding 52-year-old Shelly Engelhardt, his girlfriend’s mother.

Neither his girlfriend nor daughter was harmed, authorities said.

Howard and Amanda Engelhardt had quarreled earlier that night at their Hoffman Estates apartment, but Engelhardt had taken their daughter and gone to her parents’ nearby home, authorities have said

From the Chicago Tribune

At Hoffman Estates' Conant High School, senior Laura Engelhardt would lean against a locker in the morning, ready to make her friends laugh.

There was a lot to be happy about. Engelhardt was an A student who had just chosen a college. She enjoyed a close bond with her father. And in recent days, she began dating a boy on whom she had long harbored a crush.

When school  began Friday, though, she wasn't at her locker.

"I just thought, 'Oh, you get a boyfriend and forget about your friends,' and laughed about it," said her friend Jenny Earl, 17.

Engelhardt, her father and grandmother were stabbed to death Friday in the family home in Hoffman Estates, authorities said. D'Andre Howard, 20, a man who had a relationship with Engelhardt's older sister, has been charged with their slayings.

The Unusuals (ABC) NEW Video Trailer - Promo #1, #2, #3 Video

(Again, thanks to ProgGrrl)! 

I saw some promos while scrolling past the commercials on LOST and I finally stopped and watched some for The Unusuals and the show looks worth hyping. See why I think so below.

Series Premiere: Wednesday April 8th 10/9c on ABC More information here: http://abc.go.com/primetime/theunusuals/

The blurb:
Like a modern-day M*A*S*H, "The Unusuals" explores both the grounded drama and comic insanity of the world of New York City police detectives, where every cop has a secret. It also helps to have a twisted sense of humor, since every day could be your last.

Detective Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn) has just been transferred to the NYPD's Homicide unit from Vice and is instantly thrown into a setting of bullets and bodies. As she begins her new assignment, Casey finds that the force is full of secrets, which serves her well, since she's keeping a few of her own. But her first case is not an easy one, as she's assigned to investigate the death of one of the department's own, the former partner of Detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), who is now her new partner.

As the duo seeks out the cop killer, the secrets and eccentricities of the rest of the department begin to emerge. Prank-magnet and social climber Detective Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox) has no qualms about stealing cases, as long as he can turn them into front-page stories; partners Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg), who is trying to get himself killed in the line of duty, and Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau), an overly cautious officer who refuses to remove his bulletproof vest, are polar opposites; and the very religious Detective Henry Cole (Josh Close) is trying to keep his secret past from both his streetwise partner, Alison Beaumont (Monique Gabriela Curnen), and Sgt. Brown (Terry Kinney), who is struggling to rid the 2nd precinct of corruption.

CAST - The - Promo #1 : Amber Tamblyn as Detective Casey Shraeger, Jeremy Renner as Detective Jason Walsh, Harold Perrineau as Detective Leo Banks, Monique Gabriela Curnen as Detective Allison Beaumont, Josh Close as Detective Henry Cole, Kai Lennox as Detective Eddie Alvarez, with Terry Kinney as Sgt. Harvey Brown and Adam Goldberg as Detective Eric Delahoy.

Created by Noah Hawley (Bones).

I think this show is worth taking a look at because Amber Tamblyn needs a good vehicle to showcase what she does well. Same goes for Harold Perrineau though he seems to adapt really well to almost any role. Love him. Adam Goldberg is never out of place. Just his facial expressions are enough to get me. Finally, Terry Kinney is amazing in anything he's in. I'm not familiar with the others actors' work so I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

I have not watched a New York cop show since several years before NYPD Blue ended so I know "gritty." A good dollop of comedy infused into such a setting sounds like a premise that can work.Wednesday nights after LOST sounds like a good place to be, too.

Hmm, after watching several preview-promos for this show it's dry sense of humour reminds me of Barney Miller, a show I loved. This will be different because they never left the precinct in Barney Miller and it appears that there's much action in The Unusuals.

I have not seen the show so until I do I can't really say much more. But I will have more to say. ;)

The Unusuals (ABC) - Promo #1

The Unusuals - Promo #2

The Unusuals - Promo #3

Chicago Tomorrow

Chicago Tomorrow

“And I swore I’d be in Chicago tomorrow, and made sure of that, taking a bus to Chicago, spending most of my money, and didn’t give a damn, just as long as I’d be in Chicago tomorrow.”

– Jack Kerouac, “On the Road” (thanks to 538.com)

It's enlightening to hear what Americans with the privilege of voting and electing the leader of your country have to say.

I've lived in the States a long time and opted to not renounce allegiance to Canada in order to have your privilege.

Just the same I've followed the past couple of elections and been active to one degree or another in an attempt to effect positive change.

I'm pretty appalled at some the comments I've heard Americans make today. I hope they were made out of simple ignorance and the individuals who made them opt to sit this one out.

Today's Polls, 11/3 (PM Edition)

The national polls have all consolidated into a range of roughly Obama +7. That is right about where our model sees the race as well, giving Obama a 6.8 point advantage in its composite of state and national polling. Our model notes, however, that candidates with large leads in the polls have had some tendency to underperform marginally on election day, and so projects an Obama win of 6.0 points tomorrow. (thanks to 538.com)

more after jump

Black on Black Crime in the USA: Will it ever stop?

It seems from the breaking news that the body of Jennifer Hudson's nephew, Julian King was found. That's a relief as it was just about certain given the dynamics of the victims and the killer, that the boy, the murderer's stepson, had no chance to survive.

This story broke into public awareness at about 3 p.m. on Friday. However the forced-entry shooting through the home's front door occurred at about 9 a.m. Friday morning. Neighbours told police that they hear gunfire "all the time" so took no action when they did. Stopping right here for a second. Gunfire in this residential neighbourhood is so common that people ignore it. I realize this goes on but why is it not a critical issue? This is happening just a stone's throw from the "civilized" part of town. It is a situation that repeats itself in the pockets of blight around large US cities--it's black on black crime and if gunshots were not a normal, everyday ocurrance might the boy have been found in time?

I've listened in dismay to stories like this all my life. Usually they have no connection to famous people so the stories don't even warrant news coverage in the eyes of the news companies.

The story as it has unfolded goes like this. Jennifers Hudson's sister had a son with her ex. That relationship ended. She took up with the suspected killer of her son, William Balfour, a criminal on parole having served 7 years for attempted murder and other serious charges. As cold-hearted as this sounds I'm going to say it. She married him, a dude on still on parole for attempted murder. She was a dumbass. What a horrible price to pay for that.

Sister finally realizes this is not a good guy--they separate--though he is still -currently- her husband. There's been acrimony that for unspecified reasons bubbled over to Friday morning when Balfour shot his mother-in-law and brother-in-law and kidnapped his step-son, killing him at some point before being taken into custody Friday evening. Note #1: People on parole are not allowed to have guns. Note #2: In the US "they will take away your gun when they pry it from your cold, dead hand."

Black on black crime is so common in the south Chicago suburbs that while they were looking for the missing boy on Sunday they found an 18 y.o. woman shot to death in an unrelated crime--in the same neighbourhood.

This is my point. Why is it OK? And if it's not OK why are the powers that be not giving law enforcement and community services and the myriad other factors that need attending to the resources to do so? 

Why just let people live miserable gang-infested lives only to barely make it to age seven or even 18 before getting shot to death?

When I was young I was very much an idealist. As the years have passed and as one human atrocity piles up upon the next I've moved away from idealism to realism--though perhaps questioning why this violence is OK makes me naive and not quite a realistic enough realist.

I refuse to give in to pessimism and defeatism but I have no idea how I personally can help to save the black community from preying upon one another.

In closing I must look back longingly to the time when I was an idealist and state that it is my hope that by electing Barack Obama and putting in the White House- a family not of privilege but of strength of character and a sense of purpose, that a spark of hope can be ignited in the black community. They do not have to be resigned to being "use to" the sounds of gunfire. That they deserve better. That their commander-in-chief a man of mixed race, proves that there is no magic wand to stop the perpetuation of poverty and violence. There has to be a unified hope for the black community and it's my feeling that a black man and his family in the White House is cause for hope and could be that spark.

Sadly for Jennifer Hudson--a self-made black woman, hope must be in short supply right now.

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.

Is there a link between Aluminium and Parabens in Antiperspirants and Deodorants?

Pit stains

I was asked to provide my honest opinion about the questions revolving around if there is a correlation between cancer and using parabens and aluminum in cosmetics, antiperspirants and deodorants.

Firstly it goes without saying that we all have an expiration date. The question we are asking is will using "X" cause your expiration date to come sooner than it would have had you not used "X."

To that I have no answer. Certainly on the surface it doesn't sound like a good thing to plug your sweat glands with aluminum compounds, which when activated by your sweat break up into ions to form a plug in the duct of the sweat gland.

However, if you have a job in a setting that is corporate casual and above I can guarantee you that massive sweat stains on your clothes are not going to help your career and hence your ability to make a living and support yourself. If you are not able to work because people in this Western culture are offended by armpit hair on women you won't really fret about the ingredients in your pit stick. You'll be worrying about how you'll keep a roof over your head. 

If it were socially acceptable to leave your armpit hair in place the need for antiperspirants would be eliminated all together and the argument could be put to rest.

My opinion is let people have freedom of choice to use potential cancer-causing agents be they cigarettes, bacon, or anti-perspirants and meanwhile get creative with solutions. If tomorrow it became socially accepted for my pits to do what they should naturally, as soon as my hair grew out, I'd toss the antiperspirant.

In re: paraben. I would encourage people to read the labels on their cosmetics. If you are not comfortable using a product that uses it, stop using it. But again it is not socially acceptable in most work environments for  women to appear at work with a bare face, especially older women. 

The use of aluminum and paraben in cosmetics is a societal issue that is very much worth discussion but  for now it remains a matter of personal choice about how far one is willing to buck what society dictates.

 

Aren't you glad it's only virtual trash?

Ah, long weekends. People seem to yearn for them but come time to go back to work lament that they have so much work that they are behind on, often phrased as number of "emails to catch up on."
It's like email has a life of it's own. You've got to catch up on it because it's waiting for you. :)
As for me, I never catch up. I'm happy to get the number of unread emails down to 25 or so. Baby steps are what it's all about. Hitting the delete button is a good option as well as screening your emails so no "Fwd's" make it through.
I figure if I'm not special enough to receive email addressed specifically to me then it's not really important that I take time to read it. And if it was important that I read the email they'll contact me again--maybe personally this time. If anyone gets her nose bent out of shape, I can explain that I use the "forward" filter and it must have gone straight to the trash.
On that note--a reminder. Sometimes your filters are too stringent and email that is not trash gets sent there so it's good to periodically go through your trash just to make sure.
Aren't you glad it's only virtual trash?

Played some mini golf over the weekend:
Mini golf place is bordered by a golf course and a forest preserve. (That is unnaturally blue water.)  

Daylilys at mini golf

NICOLE KIDMAN Gives Birth to Baby Girl, Sunday Rose (Updated March 2012)

From Keith Urban's publicist:

"Nicole and Keith Urban are delighted to announce that Nicole Kidman gave birth to a baby girl on Monday morning, July 7, 2008, in the United States. Sunday Rose Kidman Urban weighed 6 pounds, 7 1/2 ounces. Husband Keith was by Nicole's side and mother and baby are very well."

 

Urban's post to his web site upon the baby's birth:

“Earlier this morning Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban.

“We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of you today.”

The Australian actress has spoken publicly of her desire for biological children since she divorced Tom Cruise. Kidman recently told Vanity Fair that she had a miscarriage early on in her relationship with Cruise, leading them to adopt. It has also been reported that Kidman suffered an ectopic pregnancy while married to Cruise.

After marrying native New Zealander Urban in 2006, Kidman stated: "I think I would be very sad if I wasn't able to have a baby. Keith knows I want one, and he has been getting there slowly."

The baby is the first for Kidman and Urban, who married in June 2006. She has two children, Isabella, 15, and Connor, 13, with Cruise.

Cruise filed for divorce in February 2001 after 10 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized later that year.

 Kidman, 41, won an Oscar for her role in the 2002 film "The Hours."

During a concert Saturday in Nashville, Urban said, "I'm going to dedicate a song to my very, very, very, very, very pregnant wife" before singing his hit, "Better Half."

Urban, 40, won a Grammy in 2006 for best male country vocal.

"The unknown excites me a lot," Urban told reporters in May. "What kind of feelings will fatherhood bring? I'm sure I can't even imagine, but I am really looking forward to finding out

The couple, who were both raised in Australia, have a home in Nashville.

UPDATE March 12, 2012:

This photo of Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban and their daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret, at the Sydney airport on Wednesday was posted on the entertainment website, Popsugar.

 

Nicole Kidman and daughter Sunday Rose

Image Source Page:

UPDATE-- Official announcement from Nicole's publicist:

Nicole Kidman has delivered her first child, a baby girl, her agent, Wendy Day, said.

Sunday Rose Kidman Urban was born in the American country music capital of Nashville just before midnight on Monday Eastern Australian standard time, weighing 6 pounds 7.5 ounces (2.93 kilograms).

Her husband, Australian country singer Keith Urban, was by her side for the birth and mother and baby are very well, Ms Day said.

The couple had just celebrated their second wedding anniversary in Nashville where they have been living in a gated community. They were married in Manly on June 25, 2006.

The Academy Award-winning actress has two adopted children - 15-year-old Isabella Jane Kidman-Cruise and 13-year-old Connor Anthony Kidman-Cruise - with her previous husband, Tom Cruise.

Nicole Kidman and daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret:
Image Source Page

 

From the UK Times Online: 50 craziest celebrity baby names (in alphabetical order)

 

Miley in Vanity Fair

Sometimes, I get dismayed at how female sexuality scares people, especially when it's reflected like today's celeb story on Hanna Montana's Miley Cyrus.

She's 15. She's a young woman.

Vanity Fair Magazine?! asked her to pose for Annie Lebovitz??

Vanity Fair, not Teen Vogue or the equivalent?

I call inappropriate. And if you read Jamie Lee's Curtis's full HuffPost blog post you'll see that Miley is not at all topless--she's backless. Lots of blame go around here with overreactions and twisting of truths all wrapped up in Victorian-mindedness and as Curtis says, "Business," "SHOW Business" or, as she likes to call it, "Show Off Business".

And yeah, Miley's too young if she wants to keep working for Disney to do these kind of shoots (cover after the jump) and if as she states, it embarrasses her, lesson learned, no more "back shots" until she's out from under her Disney obligations to be "perfect." Judging however from recent photos, Miley's going through a phase where she's really chomping at the bit, pushing boundaries, but she'd best not yank Disney's chain unless she wants to be a former employee. We'll see how it goes.

I think she needs handlers that don't include her father at something like this photo shoot 'cos obviously, he let it happen. Is there a Miley's mom or is she a step, or what? Who is calling the shots? Miley herself?

Not cool. She's perfect for a teen's/tweens magazine. But a sexy shoot with Annie Lebovitz for Vanity Fair at age 15 as a Disney employee?  No way, José.

The New York Times

Miley Cyrus is embarrassed, and apologizing to fans over a topless* picture of the 15-year-old Disney star, covered only by a sheet, that was published in Vanity Fair magazine. The photo was taken by Annie Liebovitz for the magazine, and Miley's parents were on hand for the shoot, but now Miley is trying to do "damage control" (or drum up extra publicity), claiming the pictures did not turn out as expected. *(That's factually incorrect. Semi-topless is what the photo is; backless, to be precise.)

In the Vanity Fair article, written by Bruce Handy, Miley is quoted saying this about the topless photo:

Annie took, like, a beautiful shot, and I thought it was really cool. That’s what she wanted me to do, and you can’t say no to Annie. I think it’s really artsy. It wasn’t in a skanky way.

However, in her statement about the published photo is Miley had this to say about the Vanity Fair shoot:

I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be "artistic" and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.

Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak, had this to response:

Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day. Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley.

That's is nutz and exploitive.

I agree with Jamie Lee Curtis:

Jamie Lee Curtis wrote in The Huffington Post , "I know how Miley feels. I too was a little embarrassed by my recent topless "scandal" and the subsequent parodies, but I am an adult woman. I protected myself during the shoot and I can take the heat. I only wish that her guardians had protected her."

If you're getting one, how are you planning on spending your tax refund?

Spouse finally finished our income taxes last night and we get a refund!

Also, he informed me that the silly Economic Stimulus Act 2008 “rebate” which is 5 times the size of the tax refund is going to really help towards vacation. (We try to break even. Using the US government as a no-interest-earning savings account does not compute for us.)  It will pan out that we are going to spend most of our "big American dollars" in my native Canada.

What is that saying, "As Canada goes, so goes the United States."?

I kid, I kid. It used to be the other way around but I think in some key ways the Canada of today is more European-leaning than USA-following. IMO, the "foot down" moment was when Canada would not follow the USA into the Iraq war though they did, like a number of other countries send military support-- and bore the casualties.

I love the States. But not the "rebate."

Note to Bush: These rebates need to go to pay the quadrillion dollar National
Debt you've racked up on the war and other bad choices, dumb-a$$.

Transition/ While we were walking Raven last night spouse reminded that his itty-bitty work bonus is being distributed in a month as well. In order of size we have Geo. Bushes rebate, and both the tax refund and the work "bonus" are about the same–not very big, but together nothing to sneeze at.

I think that like many people, we’ve been spooked by the thought of gasoline prices getting even higher over the summer and how much that may curtail our usual plans. It’s with enormous relief that I can anticipate a slight financial uptick for us and have the ability to start really planning for fun times!

It’s been a long, cold, wet winter and it’s so nice to be able to realistically plan for summer vacation!/edit

We hashed out all the days off tonight. We are less restained so far this year with son only going to summer school for half the summer (driver's ed--another post) and then needing a dermatologist appt/ blood test once a month. And spouse was granted another week's vacation having been with the Company 10 years so yay! for vacation.

So we'll be merrily burning up gasoline going back and forth all summer if all goes as planned.

I''ll also need to get the Interent installed at Maple Lake if I'm staying half the summer in total~ Two long weekends  for putting together/putting away the cottage plus possibly six weeks! This is very exciting stuff.

I'm just going to fret about the Internet*** until then as it's satellite and expensive. Bleh. I'll dive into that later today.

***Long story about begging for Internet in the woods of Ontario at: My other other blog ~ Maple Lake Ontario .

News & Politics QotW: The Taxman

As the April 15th tax filing deadline looms, many gay couples are facing higher tax bills because they do not get the federal tax benefits that accompany marriage. The same is true for heterosexual couples who chose not to get married. Do you think this is fair?

First of all, it's not true. There are loads of reasons to argue for gay couples being able to unite in holy matrimony but paying less tax is not one of them.

Ever hear of the Marriage Tax Penalty ?          

It's true: the tax tables have a built-in bias against married couples.

In a nutshell, people who have taken their marriage vows pay higher taxes than two single people with the same income.

Though this was corrected for the 15% tax bracket back in 2003, even now if your income puts you into the next tax bracket, there is still a marriage tax penalty that is built in.

And in the more bad news department, you also start to lose part of other deductions and tax credits once your income reaches a certain point. See the previously-mentioned marriage tax penalty link (above).

Extras Instructions For Public Enemies (The Film)

Extras Instructions For Public Enemies (Quotes in bold. My comments make up the rest of the content.)

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an extra on a set of a major movie? Last night, while I was surfing around looking for the latest on the Michael Mann-directed film, Public Enemies, I found a page which I'll reproduce in part to give you a glimpse into the straight jacket-world of being an extra.

Public Enemies is a “period” feature film, circa early 1930s. You know what this means period hair styles and wardrobe fittings – guys please keep your hair long – do not cut it!! Women will need to have period hair styles – Everyone that will be cast will need to attend a wardrobe fitting. The fitting usually takes a few hours – you’ll be fit in an outfit and also be looked at by the hair department. Haircuts will most likely happen at the wardrobe fitting. The fitting usually happens a week or so before your day on set...

So essentially, for a lousy-paying job if you are a man your cannot cut your hair. I suppose then you also cannot keep a day job that requires you to be clean-cut.

I am also looking for people (non-speaking roles) that will be able to work many days. So let me know if this might be you!; I’m also searching for people that might be available for one or two days. These are paid extras positions. Rate TBD. Being that this is a period film we need to find people that are able to fit into the period wardrobe. There are size requirements

MEN need to 6’1” and under and WOMEN 5’8” and under (no larger than a size 12), all ages (including children) in order to be considered.

 

Wow, this lady must have done her homework. I never knew that in 1934 the average woman was no larger than a modern size 12! Good thing for the lady extras that, despite Public Enemies being "a period piece," the ladies clothing she describes are modern size 12's and not 1934 size 12's. The rough equivalent of a 1934 size 12 Ladies to today's size 12 Ladies is: 1934 Size 12 equals today's size 8-10.

KIDS: I only consider casting kids that have current work permits on file with (xxxxx Casting). Casting children goes down fast. I mean super fast. They might call me the night before a shoot and ask for a child of a certain age. I run to my kids’ files and pull any child that has a work permit. Don’t miss out because your child doesn’t have a work permit!

 

Calling all stage parents!

And gee, who knew that the casting lady "just run(s) to her kids’ files and pull(s) any child that has a work permit?" See, it's really not that hard to land a job in a Hollywood picture. It's just matter of casting closing their eyes and grabbing.

Next!

We start shooting in mid-March and shoot through June 2008. I will be holding open casting calls soon! Stay tuned. We will be shooting in Chicago and on location in Wisconsin.

(various towns). We will have open casting calls in Chicago for our Chicago extras and   in Wisconsin for our Wisconsin extras. All casting calls TBD.

 

In others words, you’d best be on the edge of your seat—and stay there or in more modern parlance keep your cellphone on your person at all times and make sure the battery is charged.

Who are the types of people I cast to be extras? Nice people. People that act professionally on set. People that I meet who are courteous and pay attention at casting calls. It takes a patient, attentive, nice, punctual, respectful person to do well on a film set. I know because I’ve met many. MANY WONDERFUL PEOPLE who work as extras.

This boils down to BE NICE! If you are not NICE do not darken casting’s door.

All I ever hear from every film I’ve ever cast is how nice the extras are. This is huge! Seriously, you guys should be proud. I know I am. A prepared and wonderful person working as an extra makes for a great experience for all—from the wardrobe department to the locations department—from the Assistant Directors, to the actors. The crew notices!

In addition to being NICE you also should be both PREPARED and WONDERFUL.

You can be a person that has never been on a film set in their life and be an extra. One day, regular person, next day… oh, my gosh, on a movie set!!

But only if you are willing to be NICE, PREPARED and WONDERFUL. Because…

It can be a wonderful, life-changing experience.

See! It’s worth being be NICE, PREPARED and WONDERFUL.

It can also be incredibly boring.

R’oh, r’oh.

Mind-numbingly boring as you sit in the holding area (an area where the extras hang out while waiting to go to set).

This is starting to sound really unappealing. Maybe it’d be better to go to the local opening night?

There are some sets where you might be in holding for hours and hours before you get out on set. Heck, back in the day when I was doing extra work, I sat in the holding area for two entire days and I never even got out on set.

Hanging.

 

Sweet how she talks about back in her starving uh, casting director days.

She hung. A lot.

I said hello to the person on my right, and I said hello to the person on my left.

Then she turned herself around…

And then I laughed my head off for two straight days

And went completely insane. How fun!

—see, life is what you make it. Make a friend, or be miserable. Your choice.

That’s it? Only two choices in life?! Two?????

That’s the beauty and magic of film making!

I picture neither beauty nor magic when I read her description of life as an extra. But that’s just me.

The secret to being a successful working extra: Have a great attitude and be prepared! Bring a book for those times you are hanging in the holding area. Bring some snacks. Aside from the delicious lunch served about halfway through the day, don’t count on being fed at other times. I never did. You need to take care of yourself. Be smart. Bring a few drinks (um, not that kind). If you are working outside and it’s hot and sunny, wear sunscreen! If it’s freezing, layer what you can under your outfits. Bring hand and feet warmers. Are you starting to get it?

I think I got it back when you recounted the two "straight" days of hysterical laughter.

A normal film day lasts 12 hours and sometimes even hours longer. You need to be available the entire day/night. There’s no cutting out early, ever! (kids under 16 work fewer hours). If you are cast on a shoot you need to prepare yourself that you will never know when your day will be over. No one knows.

It sounds so not worth it. There has got to be a better route to breaking into showbiz!

 

Never ask on set, or at a wardrobe fitting, when you can go home – this is quite the uncomfortable question and will make you look ill-prepared (you want to be in the know – a rock star!) Please don’t ask. You’ll get some not-so-nice looks. Believe it or not, everything gets back to me. Instantly. Something happens on set with an extra and…

(goes on at length about how intrusive it is when an extra annoys someone important on set.)

***Things change constantly on films. This is so important to know. If you are cast for a particular shoot date, this date might change many times before you actually find yourself on set. Flexibility is key!

 

So here’s the scoop, people!

If you want a job with no security, horrendously long hours—both day and night—or conversely, no work whatsoever for long stretches, a job that can be deathly boring for extended periods, a job in which you will be made to stay in a holding area (wonder if that used to be called “pen”?), in other words if you want a craptastic job in the film industry in which you have no hope of being anything more than what you are—an “extra”—then this may be the job for you!

I’d like to give a “shout out” to all the fantastic extras I know—avert your eyes to the above as you already know all this and do fabulously well on set!

I dunno. I’d suggest “avert(ing) your eyes” for the entire page.

Working as a film extra is a challenge when shoot dates change – I realize that you guys go to great lengths to take off work, get babysitters, switch your lives around to be out on our sets. It’s appreciated.

Wow. Just wow. Someone explain to me why anyone would want to be an extra for more than say, once?

Thank you!

Can’t wait to see everyone! You guys rock!

We will be making calls to cast extras anytime from now until the end of June.

OK. Well you for sure won’t have me bothering you. Anyone else who does-- like the lady said, you guys rock!

What do you think is too serious to joke around about?

Nothing. That's why we have "dark humour."

The Little Miss Priss side of me wants to say, war, death, disease, crime... but in truth we use humour all the time to cope with these things. If we don't see even a glimmer of humour in a situation then we are destined be forever glum about something as there is always something unpleasant happening. Therefore I feel humour is never not called for.

You do not have to agree with me.

However, we are probably horribly mismatched as neighbours if you can't see at least a bit of logic here.

Seriously. heh.

Joke in Bad Taste:

Photoshop Express: What A Disappointment!

I read about Photoshop Express, the free application that includes bountiful storage, ability to resize, correct and otherwise photo-manipulate digital photographs and as I tend to do, especially with something that includes "free" and "photographic" into the description, I went straight over and signed up.

My everyday full-featured photo alteration program is not Photoshop, it's Corel Paint Shop Pro. I've tried using Photoshop a couple of times over the years and I find it lacks intuitiveness--it's clunky and hard for me to get the hang of.

And I have really set my mind to it but I hate trying to find "help" only to dig myself further in, not getting the answer or the result I want, and getting frustrated.

My assumption is that the release of Photoshop Express, which is in beta, is a gesture in two ways. One, it acknowledges what the "futurist-type" techies have been saying and that's that software--all of it--essentially shall be free fairly soon. Secondly, for those dissatisfied with their primary photo manipulation program, Photoshop Express could provide a bridge for potential users to get accustomed to "Express" and then move to Photoshop.

   

Well, I just spent hours editing on my Paint Shop Pro photo program and then attempted to make a simple album in Photoshop Express and it was a dismal failure. Once again, things were not where I'd expect them to be. For example, when I signed up there was a generic-looking shadow figure that was supposed to be replaced by something that represented "me." An avatar, user photo ID, "Gravatar" in WordPress, whatever--and it took me a half a friggin' hour to find how to do it. It wasn't in the place where one would think it would be--which is with other user info. Instead, after I mucked about I found it by accident--and I can't even tell you where. Even when I pressed the last-ditch "help" icon--I was taken someplace foreign that had nothing to do with Photoshop Express as far as I could see. I even tried the Photoshop Express Forum. Besides being ugly aesthetically, it had nothing--nothing when I used various search terms which should've have brought up something so that I'll be able to head towards some kind of answer. But no.

One more thing. When you make an album in Photoshop Express, why does it default to a butt-ugly fake woodframe "book?" That makes no sense at all. And if I do have style choices why are they not readily apparent? Bah. I went back to Picasa--which is not perfect--but that's for another post. I did the full album upload there--no problems. Photoshop Express, Photoshop period. Not for me. In a nutshell, I tried Photoshop Express and I hated it.

Click the "bubble" next to the little yellow guy to move text off photograph.

Cruising along Huntington Beach on my Beach Cruiser

I used to live right next to the Pacific ocean in Huntington Beach, California. I love the ocean. One of the ways I enjoyed the serenity, the smell, the sounds, the sights of the Pacific, was on a beach cruiser. A beach cruiser is perfect if you want to slow things down a bit from say, the velocity of a skateboard or roller skates and relax more into a steady ride. Frankly, I felt more safe and in control on my beach cruiser, especially when the crowds got thicker in the areas near Huntington Pier.

I can't say enough about the positive benefits of getting out into the ocean air on your bike and just going for it . You've got the sun above and the ocean unfolding before you--nirvana.

In a more practical sense almost anyone can ride a beach cruiser, no matter what your fitness level. It's any excellent way to get started building your strength and endurance as you control the pace. As you ride more often and grow more confident you can pick up the pace a bit and challenge yourself a bit more based on your surroundings. When I move back to the beach or more realistically, when I visit this fall I will rent a beach cruiser. I'd much prefer to buy a beach cruiser but that will have to wait until I achieve my dream of moving back and again living by the ocean.

Who's the best dressed male celebrity?

Brad n' Angie. He dresses them.

They always match (see "casual" second from bottom).

I probably place far too much importance on "matching" but I came of age during the "mix and match" or "separates" phase of fashion of the 1970's. Now that I've looked at several photos of them as a couple I can see Brad plays it a little safe, a bit conservative in his choices for them both. Still I like his style most of the time. And I think she's looks fabulous. They always look at minimum, good but I am tired of Brad's (scroll to last photo)....

SAG Awards 2008

Mighty Heart Premier, New York City

Maybe early 2007?

... favourite hat:

Oh, it's for charity, they sort of have to look like crap. Her shirt is totally awful, (she's still a babe) and his hat is silly. They both look tired or stoned. Washed out. Whatever.

What is the worst city you've ever been to and why?

Just keep driving

Detroit. At night--by accident. Was just trying to get home from Canada--needed gas for the car. Took a wrong turn and was deeply afraid for my life.

I'm not a wuss. Many cities don't scare me but Detroit is less a city than the detritus of what used to be a city that saw it's heyday forty years ago.

It sad, but it's still scary and except for this 40 minute excursion in fear, I always avoid the city of Detroit.

The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

Jeffrey Toobin

This book is much different than I would have imagined. I picked it off a "best of" compilation for 2007. It's quite an interesting read if you are curious about the personalities that made up the Supreme Court with an extra focus on the Bush-Gore era (2000) through last year.

Maybe I knew at one point that Sandra Day O'Connor was the swing vote that decided the Nation's fate. I didn't know that she regretted it fiercely not-too-much later on. Lots of behind the scenes behaviour looked at in this book--it's very much a look at the men and women of the court in the context of their humanity and how it suited the Court.

I'm the last person that would normally read about American History but when personalized like this I find it very enlightening as it gets inside the thought processes of Nation's highest court.

Gone all day to the city.

Cheers!

Optimize This

I'm beginning to feel very discouraged with what the blogosphere is turning into for me.

Unless a blog is strictly a "doesn't care about driving traffic-to-itself-type" blog-- a personal journal with no ulterior motives other than to express themselves to any size audience--or no audience. Does anyone blog for that reason anymore? Or is it all about networking? Eyeballs landing on your pages, long-tailed posts, keywords, popular search terms, SEO, SERPs. All this business-stuff. Can't I just write? For pay or not? Apparently only if I don't care whether anyone reads what I've written.

Blogs that are interested in making money are looking cluttered with traffic-monitoring widgets. It makes my head spin thinking about what I should leave in, take out. With the predicted de-indexing this blog will cease to exist for most of the blogosphere so I'm trying to get good content up here. And be particular about my widgets. Sadly, the one I find most "clickable" is the one that I'll probably not be approved for and I'll have to take it down.

The very people who I was going to for information about what to do--"reading" is more accurate--with some commenting back and forth--are saying we have to strap ourselves in for this sea change with their mantra being write more good content. They say this and  then add, "There's a lot of bad blog content out there." Well hell. I don't try to write bad content. Why click publish? Unless it is paid, is their response. Why bother to work on a paid post when the people paying--the advertisers--don't care what you write? The answer is simple. I care what I write. Me. That's who I write for even if it's paid content. I don't always do as good job as I'd like but why do I try to write something decent when I have a link elsewhere? Maybe so the reader will consider clicking the link. Maybe the advertiser doesn't care but the content on my blog is reflective of me.

I suppose after this rant what I'm really realizing is that many of so-called/self-styled experts are winging it almost as much as I am. This leads me to believe both that some of them know a lot less than what I was giving them credit for and conversely, sometimes I know more of some aspects of blogging than I'd realized. I suppose the sheer act of producing material for this blog has given me that. Experience. And with that, practical knowledge. And I should trust while being open to new information that I can implement it--or not--based my opinion of what's best. I've been busily doing every thing I can as I perceive the big G about to execute the final blow to Cyn City. But in truth it feels like little of it will matter. Content is King. That much I agree with. The rest--no matter who is saying it-- ultimately doesn't count for much.

What work of art changed your life?

It's going to seem quaint. I was 19 years old. It was a print for my first apartment and really, the first time that I'd ever had full-size proper art (though in framed poster form) on my wall and it wasn't even one of my favourites of his but just the same it got me started on my journey of art appreciation. It also helped me to see "art" in so many things in day-to-day life. Thank you, Vincent.

Sunflowers #2

~Vincent Van Gogh

Gold Medal Wine Club~ Madroña Vineyards

I am very fortunate to have friends who live in a renown California grape growing area, dense with small vineyards, so though not an expert I've had a number of guided wine tours and have a decent knowledge of how small "boutique-type" wines are produced. I also know that some of the best wine I have tasted came from a winery so small that it sells most of it's wine right there at the vineyard.

Some of the wineries I've visited have offered membership in wine clubs and though i have not yet joined, after receiving my Madroña Vineyards 2003 Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and 2004 Estate Merlot I must admit I am sorely tempted. I received my bottles of Madroña wine as part of the Gold Medal Wine Club. They were very well packed for safety and inside the bottles were presented in a very eye-appealing fashion in decorative tissue and with accent ribbons and bows. In other words, they looked exactly like a festive gift.

Included with these lovely wines was The Wine Press, a Gold Medal Wine Club Newsletter and a  personalized gift card. The Newsletter is on glossy paper with full colour photographs of the vineyard--which is beautiful. It also had a biography with photos of the family who founded Madroña Vineyards as well as the winery history. A recipe section included tasty-sounding treats like Blue Cheese Madroña Cabernet Butter and Chicken Parmesan El Dorado. Yum! Inside the newsletter too was a Judge-The-Wine-Results page in which there was "cumulative, on-going tallies of the Judge The Wine Scorecards, which are provided in each delivery of  wine and mailed back by club members." Very interesting and chock full of information. The Wine Press also had a full-page, comprehensive description of Madroña Vineyards 2003 Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and 2004 Estate Merlot including the wine credential highlights. The descriptions seemed very accurate based on the tasting that was enjoyed after the corks were popped. All-in-all it was great fun trying Madroña Vineyards 2003 Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and 2004 Estate Merlot as part of the Gold Medal Wine Club award-winning, small production wines collection.

Actor's Studio Ten Questions

Borrowed from American television's Inside the Actor's Studio interview of a name-brand actor. There's a segment where each guest is asked the same 10 questions (originally compiled by Bernard Pivot, slightly edited by me). These are my answers.

1.) What is your favourite word?
sunshine

2.) What is your least favourite word?
war

3.) What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Nature-- beautiful sunsets, the rustle of the trees in the breeze, snowflakes. Natural bodies of water (rivers, lakes, oceans). Rock formations. A starry night. A sunny day. The desert and its life. Fresh meadows and lush greenery.
All these things make me feel cleansed and more alive.

4.) What turns you off?
Constant complaining. Change yourself or change the situation.

5.) What is your favourite curse word?

My favourite substitute for the f-word is "frakk" also spelt "frak." The word is used on Battlestar Galactica. A lot. When I'm severely upset however, the f-bombs drop.

6.) What sound or noise do you love?
Sounds sappy, but little kids laughing. I love that whole-body laugh. 

7.) What sound or noise do you hate?
Commercials on the television. The mute  button exists for a reason.

8.) What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Tour guide in a tropical paradise.

9.) What profession would you not like to do?
Anything that involves sitting in a cube all day.

10.) If (a )heaven exists, what would you like to hear the gods say when you arrive...? "It's your choice--care for another go?"

Jung Explorer Test/My Comments

This Jungian-type inventory is interesting only if you are me. It was about 150 questions and I was an honest as possible.

The test explores Jung dimensions (I-E S-N F-T J-P) from three perspectives: who you are, who you prefer to be, and what you are attracted to.

This is kind of fun to take to have a baseline--then see year-to-year if there is any "shifting." It was a bit different when I first took the real version of this in grad school. You had to be moderately sane and truthful to get into the program I was in. And there were a couple of people that the university chair suggested pursue other vocations. No lie.

Jung Explorer Test
Actualized type: INFJ
(who you are)

INFJ - "Author". Strong drive and enjoyment to help others. Complex personality. 1.5% of total population.

Preferred type: ESFJ
(who you prefer to be)

ESFJ - "Seller". Most sociable of all types. Nurturer of harmony. Outstanding host or hostesses. 12.3% of total population.

Attraction type: ENFP

(who you are attracted to)

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

Take Jung Explorer Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Vincent Price, Tim Burton Animated Short

We just watched the classic "The Pit and the Pendulum" the other night. I enjoyed it though son was not interested in watching any of it as he questioned how much of a movie Roger Corman could have extracted from a "two-page story." Spouse thought it was hokey. Of course it was hokey--it was played with tongue in cheek. For a Roger Corman project the production values seemed amazing. They used a real castle, I'm sure of it! Also, I noticed for the first time that Vincent Price had a very slight syllabant "s" when he spoke.

Very fun and clever! Excellent collaboration!

A Woman In The White House

It appears as if one of my blogging buddies has up and quit. She deleted her blog completely--just poof--overnight. I hope she is okay--as well as her son and her 2 four-legged friends. It's very strange when someone disappears online but I guess not so different than when someone gets out of someone else's life completely offline. It's just a weird process. In the case of the now-missing blogger, we'd exchanged private, more-personal-than-on-the-blog messages--so I thought I was a bit closer but...I guess I'll see. I haven't had this situation in a while where a one-time blogging friend just...goes.

Gunderson Bee!  Where are you?!

Here's what my Vox blog  looks like as of today (posterity). Changing backgrounds changes everything. :)

I love the blue skulls-- and that there are lots of colours and other designs! Now Vox, share with TypePad like a good sibling!

EDIT/ TypePad closed down Vox.

 

(Below) As an aging feminist, I can relate. We'd really like to see a woman in the White House in. our. lifetimes.