Splishin and a Splashin

Have a great day!

Summer Hope E-Bay Auction

One of the recappers over at tvgasm, Umnata, is the founder of the Summer Hope Foundation, a "...non-profit organization that supports the fight against cancer (alas none of our proceeds go to getting Paris exported) through fundraising events, such as "Drink for the Cure" ("We hate cancer... but we love to drink") and "Rock Out for the Cure" ("The Let's Kick Cancer In The Ass" Concert Series). With the money raised at these events we donate money to cancer research facilities as well as fund our own internal programs, like the HOPE package, which we send out to people diagnosed of cancer."

Well, the Summer Hope Foundation is holding an auction over at E-Bay to raise money for their organization and
the stuff they have up for grabs is pretty cool.

Are you a fan of Veronica Mars or Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, Serenity) or perhaps the musical "Wicked" or maybe The Office or Without a Trace? Well then I suggest you beat feet over to EBay and support a worthy cause and maybe even, as Umnata puts it, help him get into heaven.

Kidnapped

So I watched the second episode of Kidnapped last night and, well, some of the bloom is off the rose, I think. The writing seemed better and the acting was good, but the story veered a little too far from where we were at the end of last week.

I got NO sense of urgency about Leopold last night while they pursued the sister-abduction instead. I mean, let the cops in Rhode Island deal with the possible disappearance of Leopold's bar-hopping, coke-sniffing co-ed sister - Christ, she could have been anywhere, hooked up with some guy - and concentrate on the kidnapping case at hand. Am I right? No?

I'm aware of the practical side of this, that they need to weave more stuff into this story in order to stretch it out over the entire season, but it just seemed wrong that at the end of the episode Knapp and the FBI guys were hanging out, having a drink at a bar, like they were chillin' at happy hour at the end of a workday. Hello!? Kid has been abducted? Remember? Shouldn't you be camped out at the parents' house?

I'll still watch next week - they haven't lost me yet - but they're on thin ice now.

This is how I spend my lunch hour.

, originally uploaded by gina64.

The Order of the Phoenix Stills

Check out this Photo gallery for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I want picures of Sirius Black, please!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Little Superstar!

Red Rover, Red Rover, send T.O. over to the hospital.

Flamboyant Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens tried to kill himself by overdosing on pain medication, even putting two more pills into his mouth after a friend intervened, according to a police report obtained Wednesday.

Note: The police report at The Smoking Gun

Stranded.

Stranded., originally uploaded by gina64.

The leaves are really starting to turn around here and I wonder if we will have some decent color this year.

TV Talk

I caught NBC's re-airing of the Heroes pilot last night. The show wasn't on my list of "new shows to watch", mostly because of a bad review I read at teevee.org; however, a bunch of my friends did like it, and that's enough of a recommendation for me to check it out. And I'm glad I did. There are elements of the teevee.org review that I think ring true (the female roles, the hospice character), but I didn't think it was nearly as bad as he led me to believe it was. It's certainly worth another look.

Eureka, on the other hand, is nowhere near as good as I had hoped it would turn out to be. Last night's episode was particularly bad, lacking any suspense, logic, originality, or decent acting, for that matter. It's a shame because it really could have been a good show. In fact, if I look hard enough, I can almost see the show it wants to be, hidden under all that mediocrity.

Chocolate Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting., originally uploaded by gina64.

Baked by Sheila and delicious!!

Little Drummer Boy ROCKS.

These are the times I wish I knew someone else who watched BSG.

What better way to celebrate the season premiere of television's best show than with a Frak Party? The organizers of the Frak Party Movement (who are also affiliated with MoveOn.org) say that everyone they've "ever met who's into Battlestar is pretty frak'n cool. So we thought, why not get all these people together and have one big cool nationwide party when the new season Premieres on October 6th." I know plenty of cool people - why don't they watch BSG? I wanna have a party, dammit!

Oh well. Just because I won't be participating, doesn't mean it's not a great idea. Anything to spread the frakkin' word!.

(thanks, boingboing.net)

Mmmmm.

Mmmmm., originally uploaded by gina64.

Life doesn't get much better than being 7 years old, sitting on a beach in Maine and eating a chocolate chip cookie.

Dinks Taxi

Dinks Taxi, originally uploaded by gina64.

This is a sign over the door of the Route 66 restaurant in Bar Harbor, Maine. The inside of the restaurant is filled with all sorts of 50s memorabilia and vintage toys. It's a great place to take little kids and they serve old-fashioned comfort food.

Wasn't there a movie, or a cartoon, with little characters that yelled "Dink! Dink! Dink dink dink dink dink !!"?? I know! Spaceballs!

Thank God I remembered or that would have driven me crazy all day.

TV Talk

So I watched Kidnapped last night. I'm not completely sold yet - I'm not likely to be sold on any show after only one viewing - but I definitely like it enough to watch it at least a few more times. It was no surprise that the acting was very good, but I found that I didn't really like any of the characters that much, except for Delroy Lindo's FBI agent, and that may be an issue for me. But it's really too early to make judgments about the characters so I'll give them all a chance to grow on me.

The pace was lightning-quick, which I liked, but the dialogue could really use some help. That may improve as we get deeper into the story.

So, yeah, I give Kidnapped my recommendation for anyone looking for a new show to watch, especially if you like shows like 24.

I also finished season 2 of Veronica Mars last night. I know that some of you are planning on watching it so I don't want to spoil anything for you. I'll just say I laughed, I cried, I scratched my head...and I'm really looking forward to the third season premiere on Oct 3!

White Hot

White Hot, originally uploaded by gina64.

This was a sunset on Second Beach, Vancouver. Check out my Flickr set of sunset pictures if you get a chance.

An eye for an eye, I say.

Man accused of dragging woman to her death: "Preliminary results of an autopsy indicated the woman died of asphyxiation and head injuries from being strangled by being dragged by a vehicle."

How one person can have so little disregard for another is beyond my capacity to understand. Jesus.

And her name is Veronica.

I've lately been spending most of my free time at home watching season 2 of
Veronica Mars on DVD. I get a DVD from Netflix, I watch all 4 episodes that night. I'm supposed to be receiving the last disc (6) today. I can't wait to find out who caused the bus to crash!

The second season started off a little slow for me. I'm a big fan of Veronica and Logan as a couple and when the season started with them broken up, I wasn't all that jazzed about it. But things picked up storywise and the writers really started to develop a lot of the secondary characters that I love - guys like Cliff the public defender and Vinnie Van Lowe the private investigator, and Kendall Casablancas and Mac Mackenzie. (What a kick it was so see Allyson Hannigan (Buffy's Willow) and Charisma Carpenter (Buffy's Cordelia) in the same scene together!) And the continuity and tightness of the writing is amazing. Loose ends are not a part of Veronica's world.

The show feels like it's about to hit its prime when the third season starts on October 3, and I can't wait. But first I get to find out who crashed the bus tonight!

Suspect Everything

I wasn't going to watch the new NBC show Kidnapped, but I saw an ad for it last night while watching Law & Order CI and SVU and you know what? It looks pretty good! The cast really appeals to me: Timothy Hutton, Dana Delaney, Jeremy Sisto and Delroy Lindo. And the actor who plays the kidnapped boy has a local connection for me - he's from my father's hometown.

Kidnapped premieres tonight on NBC at 10:00 PM. I'll let you know if I like it.

Arrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Arrrrrrrrrr!!!!, originally uploaded by gina64.

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Cap'n Marty says Ahoy, Mateys!

Cavewoman sought for questioning in baby theft.

So the 'woman' who slit a mother's throat and stole her baby has a goatee and slugs for eyebrows?

This is probably in bad taste but, come on! Either the perp is a man or that poor woman is a Neanderthal female, in which case she may have thought it perfectly acceptable behavior to attack another female and take her young.

Seriously, I hope they find 'her' and especially the baby, safe and sound, very soon.

Make a wish.

Make a wish., originally uploaded by gina64.

Some of you have been waiting for me to post pictures from Sheila's surprise 40th birthday party, and I thank you for being so patient. Click here to view the Flickr set. They are not all of the pictures - I'm still waiting on a bunch from my other sister Mary. I wish I had more of my own, but I was so busy that I didn't take nearly as many as I would have liked to, and of the ones I did take, about a third of them were blurry or folks had their eyes closed. You'd think it was a pretty boring party considering how many people looked like they were asleep.

Anyway, please check out these pictues. I'll notify you here when I've updated the set with shots from Mary.

I guess it *was* self-defense.

Remember the nurse who killed an intruder with her bare hands? Well as it turns out, the guy she choked the life out of was hired by her husband to kill her!

Connecticut

The land of giant babies.



The child wears clothes for a 6 month old and newborn diapers are too small. Imagine what he eats!

Please watch this.

Can I PLEASE take it off now?

Can I PLEASE take it off now?, originally uploaded by gina64.

Dressed to Kill.

Eddie Izzard will be joining the cast of 24 this season. Cake or death, Jack? Cake or death?

9/11 Memorial Hole

NYC Unveils 9/11 Memorial Hole: "Days before the fifth anniversary of the destruction of New York's World Trade Center by terrorists, city officials gathered on the site where the Twin Towers once stood to dedicate the newly completed 9/11 Memorial Hole.

'From the wreckage and ashes of the World Trade Center, we have created a recess in the ground befitting the American spirit,' said New York Governor George Pataki from a cinderblock-and-plastic-bucket-supported plywood platform near the Hole's precipice. 'This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together.'"

Never say never, honey.

Longoria says 'Housewives' her last show.

And David Caruso shakes his head in dismay, wondering, "Will they ever learn?"

Made in Eureka

Eureka is not only a new show on SCiFi, it's also where you can find the latest in nifty gadgets, like the eyePod Spy Satellite Tracker, which "bill" describes as "i like this prodcut. lets me watch whoevr i want all time. no hide. soon i not just wach, i show. i show them all."

Personally, I'm looking at buying the ThinkBack Memory Backup Drive, something I surely cannot live without.

Chicken Pugs!

Watch the carnage unfold as Marty and Mickey wear their chicken costumes for the first time.

From the sublime to the rid -- well, weird I guess. And sad.

Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son found dead in bed.

A Hole in the Heart of Manhattan

The Hole in the City's Heart: "The wreck that still stands tall and the pit that still sinks deep sum up the troubled history of ground zero. A site of horrific tragedy whose rescue and cleanup operation was a model of valiant efficiency, ground zero turned into a sinkhole of good intentions where it was as difficult to demolish a building as to construct one.

For all that has not yet risen from the ashes, there has been considerable sturm und drang, "like a novel, a cheap novel," said Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the site. The combination of big money, prime real estate, bottomless grief, artistic ego and dreams of legacy transformed ground zero into a mosh pit of stakeholders banging heads over billions in federal aid, tax breaks and insurance proceeds."

I said to a fellow office worker the other day that I thought it a disgrace that five years after the attacks there is still nothing but a hole in the ground where the towers once stood. That was before I read this article. Now I'm just plain ashamed, for all involved.

Obey the Cute

Mickey, originally uploaded by gina64.

Weatherman Freakout

Defamer Headlines Rock

"Ellen DeGeneres To Put On Slightly Fancier Pair Of Pants As New Oscar Host"

Lion's Gate Bridge

Lion's Gate Bridge, originally uploaded by gina64.

Crossing from Stanley Park over to North Vancouver, the beginning of our day trip to Whistler.

I'm totally doing this the next time I go.

What we're doing the next time we go., originally uploaded by gina64.

I have no idea what it's called or which company runs the activity, but I'm going to find out.

Each one of these things has a person in a wetsuit strapped inside of it and they go rolling down Fitzsimmons Creek like a hamster in a ball. One of them was a woman who was screaming and laughing hysterically. Tell me that doesn't sound like fun.

Yellow Flower

Yellow Flower, originally uploaded by gina64.

Taken in the Upper Village, Whistler, British Columbia.

Mountains.

Mountains I don't know the name of., originally uploaded by gina64.

This was taken from a scenic lookout alongside the Sea to Sky Highway, the road between Vancouver and Whistler.

The beauty of the area is beyond description. Along with beautiful mountain ranges like this there are alpine meadows and lakes the color of turquoise.

Cupcakes at sunset.

Cupcakes at sunset., originally uploaded by gina64.

There is entire store devoted to cupcakes on Denman Street in Vancouver. What better way to enjoy them than on a beach at sunset?

Watching the day end.

Watching the day end., originally uploaded by gina64.

More of the sunset at Second Beach, Vancouver.

Our Inukshuk

Our Inukshuk, originally uploaded by gina64.

One night during our trip we watched the sun set at Second Beach in Stanley Park. We built our own Inukshuk from stones on the beach.

Red

Red, originally uploaded by gina64.

We went to the Chinatown Night Market on our second day in Vancouver. One of the vendors was selling these...things. I'm not sure what they're called but I loved all the red.

BSG: The Resistance

SciFi is airing 10 webisodes of Battlestar Galactica in preparation for its October 6 season 3 premiere.

The series of short clips deals with the Resistance against the Cylon occupiers. You don't need to see these in order to be up to speed for season 3, but they will be helpful in laying the foundation for the story. Check 'em out - new ones are posted every Tuesday and Thursday until the October 6 premiere.

How It Should Have Ended

On the set of LOST.

Did these two guys stumble across an abandoned LOST set in Hawaii, or were they invited? Check out their Flickr photoset and judge for yourself.

Spray

Spray, originally uploaded by gina64.

Granville Island in Vancouver is a great place to spend a few hours shopping, walking and eating. There's a large farm market, artisan shops, a brewery and a free water park. This is a boy playing in that park on the day we visited.

I'll post more photos from the trip tomorrow.

Blue on blue

Blue on blue, originally uploaded by gina64.

We were blessed with fantastic weather for the entire trip.

Day's End

Day's End, originally uploaded by gina64.

A day trip to Vancouver Island is it worth it for the ferry ride alone. The scenery is spectacular.

China Beach

Driftwood, originally uploaded by gina64.

This was taken on China Beach, Vancouver Island, such a pristine, beautiful place. We took the ferry to Vancouver Island on our first day in Vancouver. We were going to visit Victoria but the beach was calling us and we decided to skip the city and have lunch on the beach. I think it was a good choice.

More photos from the trip will follow this post. If you wish to see all of them, visit my Vancouver set at Flickr.

Dog Pile

Dog Pile, originally uploaded by gina64.

All of this togetherness is more than Marty can handle.

When Porsches Collide

Ellen DeGeneres gets hit by a Porsche while riding in her Porsche with Portia.

Hee!