This photo is funnier than any caption I could come up with.

I read this headline as "Onassis Heiress to Inherit Family Balloons." Much laughter ensued.

I must be mutating into some kind of Arctic life form. I just came back from running an errand and the guy on the radio said it was 16 degrees out with a wind chill factor of 6 degrees. And I had just been thinking about how much warmer it is today than it has been the past couple of days. Maybe it's my winter blubber.

There are speed-drinking bars in England. You can drink all night long for one low price (about $US22 for men, $US15 for women). My God, what Einstein came up with that idea? Haven't they ever been to a wedding reception??

Ah, another candidate for Connecticut's Father of the Year.

I am so dreading doing my taxes this year. It's looking as though I will need to consult a professional this time around. Let's see...last year I collected unemployment, had a part-time job, did some contract work and cashed in a couple of small retirement accounts from my previous employer. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

The Vidiots have posted a very funny Super Bowl blog.

(Note: I watched the halftime silliness, so I especially liked those entries)

Still wondering about the relevance of the Oscars? Peter O'Toole, nominated seven times, has never won. At least they're giving him this one before he dies.

I hear Tampa Bay kicked some Oakland heiney. Whatever. I had the TV on here for a good portion of the game, muted, so I could catch the score periodically while working at my computer. I did actually get a last minute invite to a "party" (more like a get-together with 2 married couples and my sister), but declined. What good is a Super Bowl party without single men? Hmm? Well, there is the food of course.

Drive-Thru Reviews

Recently-watched movies:

The Importance of Being Earnest-Enjoyable bit of romantic fluff. Reese Witherspoon's British accent is passable, Colin Firth is sexy-sexy and Rupert Everett has a really big head.
Donnie Darko-Deeply flawed but highly watchable. Great 80's soudntrack. Big, scary bunny. I think I understand what happened at the end.
Signs-Liked this one. Good idea to have the whole alien thing be incidental. Mel Gibson is believable as a reverend. Some truly scary moments, I thought, and some truly funny ones. Humor is something that was missing from Shyamalan's other films (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable)
Charlotte Gray-Best thing about this film was Cate Blachett (which can probably be said about most of her films, except, of course for LOTR). And the French village and countryside. I love WWII era stories/movies, however, and this one fit the usual bill: beautiful, plucky Brits, lots of cigarettes, Nazis, war-time romance and intrigue.
Songcatcher-This one's been on our new release wall at work for a while now, and starring Aidan Quinn, it naturally caught my eye. It was on Cinemax yesterday immediately following Charlotte Gray, so I settled in. At first, the somewhat stiff acting put me off, but it turned out to be a pretty interesting movie, basically about all women's issues in the context of the lives of mountain people. No new ground was covered but the music is a powerful part of the picture, and deserved to be so. And Aidan Quinn was in it.
Shallow Hal-Liked this one more than I thought I would. The Farrelly brothers seem to be growing up. A little. Gwyneth Paltrow does some great physical acting, and Jack Black is a fave of mine. And Jason Alexander plays an even bigger loser than George Costanza.

Have I seen The Two Towers again yet? No. Yes, I am hanging my head in shame. Believe it or not, I am too broke right now to spend even a matinee price on a film (all of the above movies were either free rentals from the store or on cable)! Hopefully that will be changing soon.

I guess some people do get what they deserve.

I'm stating the obvious, yes, but I don't care - it's bloody cold outside. Which is why I'm still in my pajamas, a blanket over my lap, watching "Charlotte Gray" on Cinemax, instead of being out and about on a day off. That is the extent of my complaining, however; how can I complain when I think of all those poor people who are homeless or too poor to afford to heat their houses?

I've a few days off now - don't go back to work until Tuesday evening. Bliss. Without money, there isn't much I can do. I have a box of hair color that's been sitting in my bathroom for a couple of months now, so I could do that. And do a little job-searching. Maybe do a little cooking, too. I hear there's a big football game on tomorrow, but unless I get a last-minute invite to a party, I certainly won't be watching. I will be hard-pressed from now on to find a Super Bowl-watching experience that can beat last year's: Sitting at a tiki bar at our hotel in Key West, watching the New England Patriots finally win one.

This plays out like the climax of some wonderful 1950s melodrama, doesn't it?

Adult Film Title of the Week: Charlie's Anals

How very British of them.

Hello, it's me.

Been busy with work and real life, such as it is. I'll be back on the weekend, however, with more regular posts. Have a great Friday!

[Yancy] Butler, heroine of TNT's supernatural drama, voluntarily checked herself into rehab for alcohol abuse this spring, causing a halt in the show's production.

I don't think it worked.

For whatever reason, I thought of the TV show "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" today. Oh, how I loved that show. I missed it during its first run from 1968-1970 (I was only 4 years old, for crying out loud); I watched the show in re-runs on Channel 38 (WSBK) out of Boston. I remember getting home from school and turning the TV on at around 4:00 every day. I think the Captain was one of my first crushes. I hadn't realized until today that the show only ran for 2 seasons. Or that Hope Lange won 2 Emmys. Or that Gull Cottage is a real place. God I wanted to live there.

Feel like reminiscing? Never heard of the show? Try these sites:

The G&MM Multimedia Collection
Macwombat's G&MM page
The G&MM Homepage

Now you'll have to excuse me. I have to go satisfy the sappy romantic in me as I browse through image galleries and episode lists.

I'm sure most of you have been following the case of missing person Laci Peterson. Have you heard the latest? The husband was reportedly having an affair.

For Your Consideration.

Quite possibly the best description given to the police, ever. LOL

He may have loved his old man, but I'm sorry, this is downright ghoulish.

The ever-shifting shape of child abuse.

Scared yet?

24

Goddamn, this show just keeps getting better, every week. It has the power to make me cry - George Mason and his son, President Palmer telling Nina she can kill Jack Bauer - even while it's keeping me on the edge of my seat. And last night's revelations regarding our villains was s-w-e-e-t. I nearly choked when I heard the announcer say the show would be back with new episodes in three weeks. Nooo!

Does anyone have or know anyone who has DirecTV? I was just browsing their site to see if they were a reasonable alternative to cable, and their deal seems just too good to be true. Our current setup includes about 65 channels, including local channels, plus HBO, HBO2 and Cinemax. Our service does not include BBC America or Turner Classic Movies, for example, channels that we would love to have. The cost per month: around $75.00.

Now, DirecTV. If we were to sign up now, we would get the system (antenna, receiver and remote) for free (special offer). The Total Choice package (the base package) has 110 channels, including BBC America, TCM, Independent Film Channel and a host of others I would watch. Price: $31.99/mo. If I want local channels added (and I can add them since I checked and they are available for my zip code): $6.00/mo. Do I want HBO (7 HBOs, that is)? Price: $12.00/mo. Total cost per month: $49.00/mo.

Has anyone heard anything about DirecTV? Any horror stories? Like I said, it just seems too good to be true.

Good news for us West Wing fans:

The General Electric Co. -owned network is near a deal with Warner Bros. Television to renew "The West Wing for roughly triple the $2 million it currently pays per episode, sources close to the show said on Tuesday.

The licensing pact, which is expected to be completed in the next few days, would keep the Emmy-winning White House drama on NBC's prime-time schedule for two or three more years beyond its fourth season, which ends in May, the sources said. (source: yahoo)

It feels like forever since I've seen a new episode of this show. Have I been missing them?

Here's a nice story: All a young autistic boy wanted was a set of traffic lights in his yard, and he got them. People can be really cool sometimes.

(thanks, fark)

Adult Film Title of the Week: Pocahotass Part 6

My God, can you blame her for crying?

A Flak magazine opinion piece on the fight to save Farscape and the plight of the TV fan.

A vampire with soul, and cheekbones. I haven't read the article yet since I don't want to be spoiled (possibly) for last week's episode, but why should all you Spike-lovers be denied?

Maurice Gibb, of the BeeGees, died this weekend at age 53 from a heart attack suffered prior to intestinal surgery. He made some wonderful music with his brothers and will be sorely missed. I may need to put on our BeeGees Greatest Hits CD.

Farscape

The final 11 episodes started airing this past Friday. I want to ask a favor. I would like to ask you to watch these episodes. If you like what you see, spread the word. There is still hope left that SciFi will pick up the show for another season, but only if the numbers are there. The Save Farscape folks have worked incredibly hard to keep this fight alive. I am going to occasionally post some of their to-do lists over the next several weeks. Please try to join in when you can. Here are some suggestions for what you can do (from savefarscape.com):

OPERATION SCHMOOZE SCI-FI

How many new viewers have Nielsen boxes is out of our hands. You're not a Nielsen family? Fine. Get yourself counted.

We've managed to keep a small stream of letters going until now, but to support the ratings -- whatever they are -- we're going to need to show some serious presence. This is as important now as it was in the days just after the cancellation. We need to go back to a constant, huge barrage, and not let up until 422 airs.

Remember, there's a new Head of Programming at SFC now, and he hasn't seen what this fandom can do. So let's show him. If all 4,660 of you that filled out the demographics survey do just this much every week, that's a veritable mountain of mail.

From now until 422, we're going to ask you to set aside one day of each week. Pick whatever day suits you best, it doesn't have to be Monday. On that day, do the following things:

1) Write two letters by hand (it can be the same) and send one to
Bonnie Hammer and one to Mark Stern. A short, positive review of the
ep you just saw is a great subject for this. Be encouraging, be
positive, be supportive. Schmooze. Say thanks. Remember: WE LOVE SCI-
FI. They funded Farscape for four seasons, and if they think there's
money to be made, they *will* fund a fifth.
2) Email a copy of the letter to each address below
3) Call SFC until you get through, even if it's just to leave a
message.
4) Fax, if you have one available, one of the handwritten letters to
each number below.

Bonnie Hammer, President
bhammer@usanetworks.com

Mark Stern, Head of Programming
mstern@usanetworks.com

Mailing address:
The SCI-FI Channel
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Phones:
Switchboard: 212-413-5000
Extensions = the first letters/numbers of the last name
Programming Phone: (212) 413-5821
Comment Line: (212) 413-5577
New Comment Line: 212-413-5679

Faxes:
212-413-6531
212-413-6522
212-413-6503

Other Email addresses:
scifiweekly @ scifi.com
program @ www.scifi.com
feedback @ www.scifi.com
series @ usanetwork.com


We'd also like to ask everyone to start throwing some pennies into a jar and plan on sending at least one telegramme, after 422 airs. With the cliff they're bound to leave us hanging from, we don't think you're going to need a lot of prompting to tell SFC how badly you want to know the end.

To give you something lovely to write your letters on, Maayan has made watermark stationery of six main characters: John, Aeryn, Chiana, D'Argo, Rygel and Scorpius. The logo at the bottom says "I'm not Nielsen, I am Farscape." We strongly encourage you to use these. They're downloadable as PDFs at: http://the-janissary.com/SaveFarscape/FSWatermarks.html. Right-click to download, and don't worry if you don't see the image on your screen. It looks great printed, even in draft.

Above all, WATCH FARSCAPE. Tell your friends, your family, your co-workers to watch the show. Post about it to all the non-FS lists and boards you frequent (and don't hesitate to ask them to write letters as well -- some of them will!) Wear your Farscape pins, your t-shirts, drive around with your Farscape bumper stickers and car
wraps. It's a great show, be proud to be a fan.

I've finally seen The Two Towers! The film lived up to all of my expectations. I could not believe it when the movie ended - not only did it not seem 3 hours long, it didn't even seem to be as long as The Fellowship. There was so much about the movie that I liked, but I can't really express it coherently right now; it's all a blur and I want to see it again before I comment on it. I promise that I will have more to say about the movie. Suffice to say, for now, that I loved it.

And I want Aragorn to be my boyfriend.

A week! It's been a week?! Oops.

How about we start things off with a light topic, say, capital punishment? I'll say right off that my stance on capital punishment is a bit shaky. I believe it is inherently wrong to take another life no matter what side of the law you are on; there are some people, however, whose crimes are so hideous that the only solution that seems appropriate is to remove them from existence altogether. Even then, I question the motive behind a death sentence. Are we killing them to punish them, because we don't know what else to do with them, or is it that we would prefer to be rid of them and not to be reminded of how despicable a human being can be?

I applaud Illinois Governor George Ryan's decision to clear out his state's death row; not because I think these people deserve a second chance - I don't know a thing about their cases. I credit the Governor for making a landmark and controversial decision based not on politics (his career was already over) but on conscience and what he thought was the right thing to do.

Let the slings and arrows begin! ;)

I want.

No? Then I want this.

Oh man, is this guy asking for it, or what?

Drive-Thru Reviews

Here's a quick rundown of some of the films I've watched recently:

The Cat's Meow - about the mysterious death of movie mogul Thomas Ince aboard W.R. Hearst's yacht in 1924. Directed by Peter Bogdonavich. Most notable for Eddie Izzard's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin. Enjoyable film.

8 Women - French film, weird yet oddly captivating. Murder mystery in a French country estate - man of the house is found dead in his bed in the morning. Who did it: his wife? one of his two daughters? his sister-in-law? his mother-in-law? the cook? the maid? his sister with the bad reputation? The players occasionally break out in songs which have nothing to do with the plot, but the colors are gorgeous, the melodrama is high, there are some honestly funny moments and Catherine Deneuve is still gorgeous. Odd ending.

Men in Black II - inferior to the first film, definitely. Sort of a blur, actually. Most notable for Tommy Lee Jones as a postman and Frank the pug. I need to watch it again.

Possession - Based on the A.S. Byatt book (that I didn't read), starring Gwenyth Paltrow and Elizabeth Ehrle (from A&E's Pride & Prejudice). A love story and a mystery. Good movie.

Insomnia - with Al Pacino and Robin Williams. I really liked this one. Not really a murder mystery (the cat is let out of the bag early on), but more of a game of psychological cat and mouse. Best performance by Al Pacino in years. He doesn't chew a bit of scenery, there is no "hoo ha!"-ing - he just "is", and we have no problem feeling what he's feeling. And the scenery is gawgeous.

Now that my back is finally improving, maybe I'll get to see The Two Towers next?

The second half of Farscape's fourth (and right now last) season will begin airing this Friday on SciFi at 8:00 P.M. The fight to save the show continues. There is hope that if SciFi does not agree to pick up the show for a fifth season (and I think it's likely that it won't) another network (namely UPN) may sign on. I'll write some more letters in the coming weeks, and hope for the best.

It's been too long...

Adult Film Title of the Week: Snow Balls

Well, Satan himself must be freezing his you-know-whats off -- I managed to fix and update my archives. I've spent the past half hour reading my first few weeks of posts. And I realized that I have not been "boring readers since 2000" - I started blogging in February of 2001! As a matter of fact, this site will be 2 years old on Feb 4.

So, what do fixed archives mean to you? It means that you can now use the permalink on a post (the blue "link") if you would like to link to something at my site. If you had the time, you could also kick back and read some of the old stuff. Kinda fun.

It's snowing this morning. It was snowing when I drove home from work last night. It's going to start snowing in my dreams pretty soon.

Joyce Millman writes about "celebreality" in today's NYTimes. In the article she cites that old classic "Battle of the Network Stars" as the progenitor of such current shows as "Star Date", "Celebrity Boot Camp" and "Celebrity Mole in Hawaii". I really enjoyed reading the article, mostly because it had me flashing back over 20 years ago, to those pre-historic TV times when there was no cable, only 3 networks and no remote controls. My sisters and I loved it when there was a new "Battle of the Network Stars". We were an ABC household so it was a gimme who we would be routing for - the stars of "Charlie's Angels", "The Love Boat", "Six Million Dollar Man", and so on. Don't you think it would make absolute perfect sense for TVLand to re-run those old "Battles"? I know I would watch.

A sock disappears in a dryer, a foot is found in a washing machine...there's a joke in there somewhere, I just know it.

Hilarious game my sister hooked me up with: The Michael Jackson Baby Drop. Try to catch the babies and see how good a parent you are. LOL

Sheila got me a super-cool Christmas present: Scene It: The DVD Movie Game! Invisibles in the comfort of my own home. Can't wait to play it.

Here's an interesting NYTimes article about the use of laptops inside the college classroom. I in no way question the usefulness of a notebook computer at school. But to be logged on the Internet and surfing while attending a lecture? Uh, why? Aren't you supposed to be listening to the professor? Taking, um, notes, perhaps? Am I that out of touch?

The mention of the issues of "etiquette" and "distraction" hit a nerve with me; I have rarely come across anything more rude than a customer on his/her cellphone in the store. They are walking around yelling; if they're wearing a headset, they look like some lunatic yelling at himself. I really love it when they come up to the register to pay for their movies and they can't bother to either end the call or tell the person on the other end to hang on. Instead, they continue to yell into the phone while I'm ringing them out. So incredibly rude.

There Was A Crooked Woman...

And I do actually live in a crooked house. It's a renovated old farmhouse and we live on the second floor. The floors all slant in towards the middle of the house and you can't place a pen on a flat surface without it rolling away from you. Anyway, I'm still walking around like I have a stick up my ass. This back just doesn't want to heal. In fact, it's hurting a good bit right now. That's one of the reasons for the dearth of posts lately - I just can't sit still long enough. There are a few things I wanted to post this morning, though, so don't worry, lol.

Oh, it's snowing. Again. I really do love the snow, but I have to work tonight until midnight and I just know the drive home will be a nightmare. Bright side of the back injury: I don't have to shovel.

Much love and happiness to you all in the new year. Thank you for sharing another year with me!