For the last few days, discussion about the new FTC explanations of certain regulations has been rampant. You can Google it. I don't have any links handy and I'm kind of in a hurry. Today's post is a case of random collection of tidbits of info and opinion reaching critical mass, requiring me to offer my own thoughts on the matter.
Hey, that could actually describe most of my posts!
Anyway, the basics are that the Federal Trade Commission has stated, among other things, that any blogger who reviews a book or other product and received that book or other product for free must disclose such receipt for free or face a potential fine of $11,000.
Some people have talked about the difference between paid advertising (i.e. guaranteed endorsement/screen time) and reviewing, where even if the person got the item for free, doesn't guarantee you won't get a total thrashing. Some have mentioned how even though we think this is unenforceable on a grand scale, all we have to do is come to the attention of the FTC (be reported by an enemy, for example), and come under fire.
Some people have asked what the big deal is, just say "I received this book for free." It seems pretty simple, doesn't it? But it's not. It's far more complicated than that, especially when some of the regulations apparently will hold the author liable if the blogger doesn't disclose.
First, "free" doesn't automatically mean the publisher or author provided the book. Free could mean borrowed from a friend or the library, it could mean it was the fifth book in a buy-four-get-one-free promotion. It could mean a charitable person bought the book and donated it to a prize basket raffled off to attendees of an event, completely without the publisher's or author's knowledge. Then there's that book-in-the-wild program, where you leave a book on a train or in a restaurant and track its travels.
Second, the FTC doesn't seem to be defining what a "blogger" is. If, as has been asserted in a few places, the FTC is aiming to control certain types of commercial bloggers who are inundated with free stuff but act like they're just regular users or something, that's great. Say so. But the blanket use of "any blogger" includes hundreds of thousands of regular people, most of whom will have no freakin' idea of this regulation.
Plenty of "book reviewers" aren't official reviewers, but normal readers who enter contests or ask authors for review copies. I often provide free copies of my book to places like The Romance Studio. Sometimes I'm given the name of the winner and I send the copy directly to them; sometimes it's part of a package and I never even know. But if they say "Hey, I liked this book by Natalie J. Damschroder" and don't say how they got it, I could be reprimanded by the FTC as the party who most directly benefits from that endorsement.
My mind just boggles at the scope of this. I mean, my teenage daughter could blog about Rosemary Clement-Moore's newest book and get fined for it, based on the vague, broad application of this regulation.
Okay, let me throttle back out of the hysterical paranoia a bit. The people at the FTC have a job to do, and they have a pretty focused view of what that (important) job is. They are targeting a certain segment of business and industry, a certain segment of the Internet. They probably had no inkling of the fog-like effect of their explanation, where it seeps into vast areas they might not even know exist. And enforcement IS going to be impossible, if by enforcement we mean making sure everyone who possibly falls under this regulation complies with it. I mean, are they really going to pay someone to patrol the Internet, pounce on a blog that mentions a book someone read, then force them to prove they paid for the book? Hardly!
Which makes this entire post probably pointless.
Friday, October 09, 2009
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Fun with Football Equipment
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (I know everyone knows that unless they live under a rock, and if you're reading this, you don't. Still, I couldn't help stating the obvious. Sorry.)
The NFL is participating in the campaign this week. The goalpost wrappings are pink. The helmets have pink BCAM decals on them. And the players are allowed to wear non-regulation gear (in other words, pink stuff). Most are wearing pink cleats, gloves, or armbands. The refs' jerseys also sport pink ribbons, and they're wearing pink wristbands, too. Many coaches and sideline staff have hats with pink brims or ribbons pinned to their collars. Very cool.
Even cooler, all of these pink items will be auctioned off for charity. People pay big bucks for items worn by their favorite players, and how much better for that money to be going to this cause? It makes me a little annoyed at the few players who aren't participating.
On the Cincinnati Bengals, receiver Chad Ochocinco (née Johnson) is taking it even further. He's known for being an attention hog, has probably paid a third of his salary over the years in fines for showboating and other violations. This time, he's making something good out of it. He has reportedly declared an intention to wear his pink gear all month (the NFL is only sanctioning it this weekend; after that, it would be considered an equipment violation and he'd be fined). He says he'll match his fines in donations to the campaign. He still gets the attention he craves, but for doing something good instead of something stupid.
If the NFL was smart, they'd donate his fines, too. :)
The NFL is participating in the campaign this week. The goalpost wrappings are pink. The helmets have pink BCAM decals on them. And the players are allowed to wear non-regulation gear (in other words, pink stuff). Most are wearing pink cleats, gloves, or armbands. The refs' jerseys also sport pink ribbons, and they're wearing pink wristbands, too. Many coaches and sideline staff have hats with pink brims or ribbons pinned to their collars. Very cool.
Even cooler, all of these pink items will be auctioned off for charity. People pay big bucks for items worn by their favorite players, and how much better for that money to be going to this cause? It makes me a little annoyed at the few players who aren't participating.
On the Cincinnati Bengals, receiver Chad Ochocinco (née Johnson) is taking it even further. He's known for being an attention hog, has probably paid a third of his salary over the years in fines for showboating and other violations. This time, he's making something good out of it. He has reportedly declared an intention to wear his pink gear all month (the NFL is only sanctioning it this weekend; after that, it would be considered an equipment violation and he'd be fined). He says he'll match his fines in donations to the campaign. He still gets the attention he craves, but for doing something good instead of something stupid.
If the NFL was smart, they'd donate his fines, too. :)
Friday, October 02, 2009
So Self-Fulfilling Prophecy is Trendy Now, Huh?
On FlashForward, nearly everyone on the planet saw their future. This was a malicious act, or so it seems, so they're trying to figure out why and how it happened. For Mark, the FBI agent, there's a lot he doesn't want to come true. But his vision provided clues that can help them, so he's investigating his vision. He saw a card that had a name, and assumes that name is important because it was on the board--but it was on the board because he saw the vision. It turns out to be very important, but how much of what he saw isn't? The friendship bracelet, for example, was more symbolic than vital. Then there was the Utah sheriff. She didn't see anything, and a short time later, she's dead. But she's dead because they're investigating the visions. If they hadn't had the visions, they wouldn't have been there, and she wouldn't have been killed.
Episode note: How freaky was that ending? Charlie's statement made me gasp. I'm definitely hooked on this show!
Okay, so that's one. Then we have Dollhouse. Spoilers here for "Epitaph One," only available on the DVD. A little less of the self-fulfilling part, because we know what happens in the future because of "Epitaph One," but the characters don't. Still, Joss has said they know what they're aiming for, so they can keep it in mind as they get there. I don't like the inevitability of that. It's nice to see Claire and Boyd displaying an attraction and knowing it will become much more, but horrible to know it turns Whiskey into a mindless doll again. I find a post-apocalyptic battle much more interesting than how we got to the apocalypse. But only for this show. :)
Supernatural is exploring the idea of destiny in a different way than FlashForward is. We know they can change the future even when it's foreseen, because they've done it. Mostly on a small scale, until last night, when Dean made the decision we all knew was coming.
Oh, wow. I just remembered something. I'm reading a book that's not due to come out until next year, and this destiny thing is an element in that. I almost stole one of the author's concepts to explore the whole "we always end up here" thing! Sorry, T!!!!
Anyway. Zachariah and Future!Dean told Now!Dean there was only one thing he could do to prevent the future--say yes to hosting Michael. But Lucifer believed that because of who Now!Dean is, he wouldn't do that, and he wouldn't kill Sam, which meant the outcome was inevitable. None of them recognized the real variable, but then, none of them are fans of this show. You only have to be a casual watcher to know the whole world hinges on Sam and Dean's partnership. So the bottom line is that even though we've seen a future, and even though Castiel told Dean at the end of "In the Beginning" that all roads lead to the same result, we don't believe it. Everything that happens next can surprise us, because that future, with the release of the Croatoan virus, is not inevitable.
Might as well talk about some other elements of last night's show, right?
How can Future!Dean seem hotter than Now!Dean? I was actually in the minority on the Buddy TV poll, but he totally was. Future!Dean was bigger (a matter of perspective due to the way they shot/spliced the scenes) and his Army jacket fit him more closely. He was the same color as the background, whereas Now!Dean was different, partly the blue jacket, I'm sure, but partly lighting and such to differentiate him from the future. Future!Dean was also more intense, which is inevitable given what he'd been through. I'm not saying I want Future!Dean to come to pass, but boy, he was yummy while he lasted. :)
Jensen was incredible doing the two roles and being SO different, in SUCH subtle ways. I know we all say this all the time, but man, he's an amazing actor. The poor guy, doing double duty for this ep when Jard got another free pass!
Jared did well with the little bit he had, though. He was a little too smarmy, I think, but he channeled Mark Pellegrino's way of speaking enough to see Lucifer behind the shell. I'll be quite happy to have real!Sam back, though.
Then we have Misha. I think he's having a helluva lot of fun with his acting freedom. Cas is still deadpan and intense, but he's loosened up a little bit, and I loved his lines in the opening scene, his hint of panic that his time was running out, his implacability at having to wait. And, of course, an entirely new Cas in the future that still held hints of the old (when he recognized Dean wasn't Dean and why). I can't believe I thought the show was so good before he existed! He's total enhancement, and I'd miss him if he was gone too much.
Okay, that's enough rambling. I do have work to do today, much as I want to make it a long weekend. :(
Happy Friday, everyone!
Episode note: How freaky was that ending? Charlie's statement made me gasp. I'm definitely hooked on this show!
Okay, so that's one. Then we have Dollhouse. Spoilers here for "Epitaph One," only available on the DVD. A little less of the self-fulfilling part, because we know what happens in the future because of "Epitaph One," but the characters don't. Still, Joss has said they know what they're aiming for, so they can keep it in mind as they get there. I don't like the inevitability of that. It's nice to see Claire and Boyd displaying an attraction and knowing it will become much more, but horrible to know it turns Whiskey into a mindless doll again. I find a post-apocalyptic battle much more interesting than how we got to the apocalypse. But only for this show. :)
Supernatural is exploring the idea of destiny in a different way than FlashForward is. We know they can change the future even when it's foreseen, because they've done it. Mostly on a small scale, until last night, when Dean made the decision we all knew was coming.
Oh, wow. I just remembered something. I'm reading a book that's not due to come out until next year, and this destiny thing is an element in that. I almost stole one of the author's concepts to explore the whole "we always end up here" thing! Sorry, T!!!!
Anyway. Zachariah and Future!Dean told Now!Dean there was only one thing he could do to prevent the future--say yes to hosting Michael. But Lucifer believed that because of who Now!Dean is, he wouldn't do that, and he wouldn't kill Sam, which meant the outcome was inevitable. None of them recognized the real variable, but then, none of them are fans of this show. You only have to be a casual watcher to know the whole world hinges on Sam and Dean's partnership. So the bottom line is that even though we've seen a future, and even though Castiel told Dean at the end of "In the Beginning" that all roads lead to the same result, we don't believe it. Everything that happens next can surprise us, because that future, with the release of the Croatoan virus, is not inevitable.
Might as well talk about some other elements of last night's show, right?
How can Future!Dean seem hotter than Now!Dean? I was actually in the minority on the Buddy TV poll, but he totally was. Future!Dean was bigger (a matter of perspective due to the way they shot/spliced the scenes) and his Army jacket fit him more closely. He was the same color as the background, whereas Now!Dean was different, partly the blue jacket, I'm sure, but partly lighting and such to differentiate him from the future. Future!Dean was also more intense, which is inevitable given what he'd been through. I'm not saying I want Future!Dean to come to pass, but boy, he was yummy while he lasted. :)
Jensen was incredible doing the two roles and being SO different, in SUCH subtle ways. I know we all say this all the time, but man, he's an amazing actor. The poor guy, doing double duty for this ep when Jard got another free pass!
Jared did well with the little bit he had, though. He was a little too smarmy, I think, but he channeled Mark Pellegrino's way of speaking enough to see Lucifer behind the shell. I'll be quite happy to have real!Sam back, though.
Then we have Misha. I think he's having a helluva lot of fun with his acting freedom. Cas is still deadpan and intense, but he's loosened up a little bit, and I loved his lines in the opening scene, his hint of panic that his time was running out, his implacability at having to wait. And, of course, an entirely new Cas in the future that still held hints of the old (when he recognized Dean wasn't Dean and why). I can't believe I thought the show was so good before he existed! He's total enhancement, and I'd miss him if he was gone too much.
Okay, that's enough rambling. I do have work to do today, much as I want to make it a long weekend. :(
Happy Friday, everyone!
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wandering Wednesday
Saw two movies recently, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Fame. Both, of course--following today's trends--based on old materials.
When we first found out Cloudy was being made into a movie, my kids were all excited.
Number One: I love that book!
Number Two: Me, too!
Mom/Dad: What's it about?
Number One: I forget.
Number Two: Me, too.
So we got the book from the library and all read it, and then a few weeks later we saw the movie, which had lots of funny parts (including Neil Patrick Harris voicing STEEEEVE!) and good casting but a pretty mediocre storyline. It just strayed too far sometimes, I thought, and instead of a hero who had good intentions but screwed things up through no fault of his own, we got a hero who was really an idiot. The "be yourself, even if you're a dork" subplot was incredibly sexist and kind of missed its own point.
Overall, fun movie, glad I paid matinee fees.
Fame was a little disappointing. Well casted, well acted, some tremendous production numbers, but no plot, no really strong character development/growth, too many things left hanging. It was a bunch of scenes just thrown together, albeit in chronological order. At one point I thought, "this would work great as a series." Heh. (For those of you too young to know, Fame was a movie that became a series, so I won't be surprised if they do that again.)
All of that makes it sound like it was terrible. It wasn't. There were some small messages that worked, even if they lacked substance because there wasn't anything supporting them. I did buy the soundtrack immediately, as well as the original theme song, and parts of the movie have stayed with me over the week.
Unfortunately, the part that has stuck hardest isn't a good one. MILD SPOILER ALERT. There's one character, a dancer, who for some reason is accepted into the school even though they don't meet the instructor's standards in the audition, and she even says to expect to go home sooner than expected. But this person does get a slot, and the only bits we see of them is demonstration that they aren't very good at what they do. Near the end, the dancer is told the instructor can't write a letter of recommendation for them, that they never met the potential they originally demonstrated, and maybe they can teach instead of perform.
That's been resonating a lot with me. Any creative performance-based industry has a tiny percentage who succeed. The vast majority don't. There's no formula, no way to tell who will make it and who won't, who will overcome a talent deficit through hard work or who will get the lucky break because circumstances align. So we all just keep plowing away, working hard, never giving up even though the obstacles are inches apart so you barely get over one before the next one is in your face.
You can't succeed if you don't assume that you won't be one of the ones who doesn't live up to their potential. But how long do you maintain that assumption? When do you realize that you can't learn enough, practice enough, produce enough to run out of obstacles? When you hit rock bottom, when you start to think that might be true of yourself, do you quit? Or do you stick a cushion on that rock to make yourself comfortable and just keep plugging away because that's what you do? Because you don't know any other way?
What's perseverance, and what's delusion?
Just some light thoughts for this wandering Wednesday.
Verdict's in already for my fall TV Schedule:
Monday
The old standbys, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, while not superb so far, do put a nice cap on the hardest day of the week. Castle, on the other hand, has been great. Much, much better writing this season--last week's episode was their best one yet.
Tuesday
I have nothing. The Forgotten is...god, I don't want to say it, but it's true!...unmemorable. It was okay. Not horrible by any means. But I have no interest in watching it again.
Wednesday
Talk about waffling. I decided to try Eastwick but didn't have high hopes. Almost deleted the premiere unwatched, but turned it on, saw hot and sweet Matt Dallas, and settled in. But I'm not going to watch any more. I hate Darryl Van Horn, and I think it's both the actor and the character (I'd like the actor in another role, probably). I don't like a character who really grabs my sympathies turning into an immoral, selfish thief in less than an hour. I love the actress who plays the put-upon, married-to-an-ass doormat, but I hate that storyline. So I'm deleting that show from my season pass.
Modern Family and Glee I'll keep, but I ended up not watching them last night even though I could have. I'm sad that I feel that way. I prefer to be driven excitedly to the TV. Which brings me to:
Thursday
I've been catching up on Fringe on DVD, and I don't feel any differently about it than I did when I stopped watching last season. I'll continue watching because I love the characters, but if I had to stop, I wouldn't miss it. The Mentalist didn't leave me happily satisfied like it usually does, but I'll keep watching because it's better than The Forgotten. Bones I still love, and I'm hopeful the things I want to happen, will. Funny thing: Number Two's teacher is fresh from college and very tall and thin with a long neck. Every time she tells me about her day and I picture him, I'm picturing Sweets. :)
FlashForward was all it was hyped to be and I'll probably stick that one out for the duration. Even Number Two is dead curious about the answers, and made me promise to tell her every week what happened, since she's too young to watch it.
Vampire Diaries? Gone.
I don't think anything needs to be said about Supernatural. :)
Friday
Nothing new here. Numb3rs and Dollhouse, providing the same things they provided last year, giving me enjoyable TV. Actually, it's interesting to juxtapose these two. Numb3rs offers the same thing every week. I know exactly what to expect and always get it. (I often disdain that about TV shows I don't watch, but this one gives me stuff *I* like, so it's okay. LOL) Dollhouse, on the other hand, is the opposite. It makes me think, sets up surprises and excitement--I never know what I'm going to get, and I love it.
There. I just spent an amazing amount of time I don't have on stuff that probably is of no interest to anyone. But then, I suppose that's what this blog is all about. :)
When we first found out Cloudy was being made into a movie, my kids were all excited.
Number One: I love that book!
Number Two: Me, too!
Mom/Dad: What's it about?
Number One: I forget.
Number Two: Me, too.
So we got the book from the library and all read it, and then a few weeks later we saw the movie, which had lots of funny parts (including Neil Patrick Harris voicing STEEEEVE!) and good casting but a pretty mediocre storyline. It just strayed too far sometimes, I thought, and instead of a hero who had good intentions but screwed things up through no fault of his own, we got a hero who was really an idiot. The "be yourself, even if you're a dork" subplot was incredibly sexist and kind of missed its own point.
Overall, fun movie, glad I paid matinee fees.
Fame was a little disappointing. Well casted, well acted, some tremendous production numbers, but no plot, no really strong character development/growth, too many things left hanging. It was a bunch of scenes just thrown together, albeit in chronological order. At one point I thought, "this would work great as a series." Heh. (For those of you too young to know, Fame was a movie that became a series, so I won't be surprised if they do that again.)
All of that makes it sound like it was terrible. It wasn't. There were some small messages that worked, even if they lacked substance because there wasn't anything supporting them. I did buy the soundtrack immediately, as well as the original theme song, and parts of the movie have stayed with me over the week.
Unfortunately, the part that has stuck hardest isn't a good one. MILD SPOILER ALERT. There's one character, a dancer, who for some reason is accepted into the school even though they don't meet the instructor's standards in the audition, and she even says to expect to go home sooner than expected. But this person does get a slot, and the only bits we see of them is demonstration that they aren't very good at what they do. Near the end, the dancer is told the instructor can't write a letter of recommendation for them, that they never met the potential they originally demonstrated, and maybe they can teach instead of perform.
That's been resonating a lot with me. Any creative performance-based industry has a tiny percentage who succeed. The vast majority don't. There's no formula, no way to tell who will make it and who won't, who will overcome a talent deficit through hard work or who will get the lucky break because circumstances align. So we all just keep plowing away, working hard, never giving up even though the obstacles are inches apart so you barely get over one before the next one is in your face.
You can't succeed if you don't assume that you won't be one of the ones who doesn't live up to their potential. But how long do you maintain that assumption? When do you realize that you can't learn enough, practice enough, produce enough to run out of obstacles? When you hit rock bottom, when you start to think that might be true of yourself, do you quit? Or do you stick a cushion on that rock to make yourself comfortable and just keep plugging away because that's what you do? Because you don't know any other way?
What's perseverance, and what's delusion?
Just some light thoughts for this wandering Wednesday.
Verdict's in already for my fall TV Schedule:
Monday
The old standbys, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, while not superb so far, do put a nice cap on the hardest day of the week. Castle, on the other hand, has been great. Much, much better writing this season--last week's episode was their best one yet.
Tuesday
I have nothing. The Forgotten is...god, I don't want to say it, but it's true!...unmemorable. It was okay. Not horrible by any means. But I have no interest in watching it again.
Wednesday
Talk about waffling. I decided to try Eastwick but didn't have high hopes. Almost deleted the premiere unwatched, but turned it on, saw hot and sweet Matt Dallas, and settled in. But I'm not going to watch any more. I hate Darryl Van Horn, and I think it's both the actor and the character (I'd like the actor in another role, probably). I don't like a character who really grabs my sympathies turning into an immoral, selfish thief in less than an hour. I love the actress who plays the put-upon, married-to-an-ass doormat, but I hate that storyline. So I'm deleting that show from my season pass.
Modern Family and Glee I'll keep, but I ended up not watching them last night even though I could have. I'm sad that I feel that way. I prefer to be driven excitedly to the TV. Which brings me to:
Thursday
I've been catching up on Fringe on DVD, and I don't feel any differently about it than I did when I stopped watching last season. I'll continue watching because I love the characters, but if I had to stop, I wouldn't miss it. The Mentalist didn't leave me happily satisfied like it usually does, but I'll keep watching because it's better than The Forgotten. Bones I still love, and I'm hopeful the things I want to happen, will. Funny thing: Number Two's teacher is fresh from college and very tall and thin with a long neck. Every time she tells me about her day and I picture him, I'm picturing Sweets. :)
FlashForward was all it was hyped to be and I'll probably stick that one out for the duration. Even Number Two is dead curious about the answers, and made me promise to tell her every week what happened, since she's too young to watch it.
Vampire Diaries? Gone.
I don't think anything needs to be said about Supernatural. :)
Friday
Nothing new here. Numb3rs and Dollhouse, providing the same things they provided last year, giving me enjoyable TV. Actually, it's interesting to juxtapose these two. Numb3rs offers the same thing every week. I know exactly what to expect and always get it. (I often disdain that about TV shows I don't watch, but this one gives me stuff *I* like, so it's okay. LOL) Dollhouse, on the other hand, is the opposite. It makes me think, sets up surprises and excitement--I never know what I'm going to get, and I love it.
There. I just spent an amazing amount of time I don't have on stuff that probably is of no interest to anyone. But then, I suppose that's what this blog is all about. :)
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Musical Circus
We just turned on home sharing in iTunes this weekend, and started snagging music and video and podcasts from each other. My husband wanted "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" from me, and ended up taking over 100 things. But he was making fun of my library. It's a bit eclectic. I kind of figure most people's are, but let me give you a sampling, and you tell me how weird I am:
From Shuffle:
"He's a Pirate (Tiesto Remix)", Hans Zimmer et al, Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack
"Big Bird in a Small Cage," Patrick Watson, Wooden Arms
"Burn it to the Ground," Nickelback, Dark Horse
"Generator Room," David Newman, Serenity soundtrack
"SOS," Tim Curry, The Best of Tim Curry
"Come Away With Me," Norah Jones, Come Away with Me
"Bullets," Creed, Weathered
"Leaving on a Jet Plane," John Denver, The Essential John Denver
"You Can't Take Me," Bryan Adams, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmeron soundtrack
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)," Alvin and the Chipmunks, Greatest Hits: Still Squeaky After All These Years
"Nothing Compares 2 U," Sinead O'Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
So, what do you think? Normal? Or further evidence of my Weird Brain Status?
From Shuffle:
"He's a Pirate (Tiesto Remix)", Hans Zimmer et al, Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack
"Big Bird in a Small Cage," Patrick Watson, Wooden Arms
"Burn it to the Ground," Nickelback, Dark Horse
"Generator Room," David Newman, Serenity soundtrack
"SOS," Tim Curry, The Best of Tim Curry
"Come Away With Me," Norah Jones, Come Away with Me
"Bullets," Creed, Weathered
"Leaving on a Jet Plane," John Denver, The Essential John Denver
"You Can't Take Me," Bryan Adams, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmeron soundtrack
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)," Alvin and the Chipmunks, Greatest Hits: Still Squeaky After All These Years
"Nothing Compares 2 U," Sinead O'Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
So, what do you think? Normal? Or further evidence of my Weird Brain Status?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Ups and Downs
First, I got a nice ego stroke when I got a comment that The Daily Reviewer selected this blog as one of the top 100 romance blogs. Sure, I gotta take it with a grain of salt. I mean, how likely is it that they really got nominations about me? They feed my content to their ad-supported site. But on the other hand, their links to my blog also feed my Google rankings, so that's a benefit to me. And I have a nice pretty badge to paste here.
Then, I got word that a book I edited is now available at Amazon. And Amazon lists me as editor! That was pretty cool. Most of the stuff I work on, I don't get public credit for, which is fine. But it's nice when I do, and I am happy to say I'm proud of our work on this book. It's got a pretty decent approach to dieting, too, IMO.
But then...
Then I got an e-mail that Kate Duffy had died. I never had the pleasure of meeting her personally. I have been rejected by her, dating all the way back to my second book. She was one of the powerhouses of romance publishing, someone known to be blunt and challenging, who really knew her stuff. If she liked your work, you could bask in the glow of that for a week. We will suffer for this loss.
Hitting a little less close to home, a little more in an "end of an era" kind of way, was news of William Safire's death. It's been a long time since I heard anything about him, or read anything by him, but when I was in high school and college and first starting out in my career, he was The Word on everything to do with words. If he said put the period inside the quotation marks always (and he did say that), by gum, I put the period inside the quotation marks. Always. So even though he has no current impact on my life...he'll be missed.
Then, I got word that a book I edited is now available at Amazon. And Amazon lists me as editor! That was pretty cool. Most of the stuff I work on, I don't get public credit for, which is fine. But it's nice when I do, and I am happy to say I'm proud of our work on this book. It's got a pretty decent approach to dieting, too, IMO.
But then...
Then I got an e-mail that Kate Duffy had died. I never had the pleasure of meeting her personally. I have been rejected by her, dating all the way back to my second book. She was one of the powerhouses of romance publishing, someone known to be blunt and challenging, who really knew her stuff. If she liked your work, you could bask in the glow of that for a week. We will suffer for this loss.
Hitting a little less close to home, a little more in an "end of an era" kind of way, was news of William Safire's death. It's been a long time since I heard anything about him, or read anything by him, but when I was in high school and college and first starting out in my career, he was The Word on everything to do with words. If he said put the period inside the quotation marks always (and he did say that), by gum, I put the period inside the quotation marks. Always. So even though he has no current impact on my life...he'll be missed.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Exploring "Free to Be You and Me"
I just read a bunch of snippets of recaps so I'm not inclined to address the whole episode of last week's Supernatural episode. Instead, My Ramble: Let Me Show You It.
(I can't decide if it's fun or sad that the whole world is speaking in LOLcat nowadays.)
So the biggest topic is, of course, Vesselism. Zachariah told Dean he's to be Michael's vessel, and Lucifer told Sam he's to be his. I love the symmetry of it. A couple of things I read expressed disappointment that Dean isn't God's vessel, because that would be epic, but they're missing the fact that Lucifer is not God's opposite. God created Lucifer, who was just an angel. Michael, being the current leader of the angels, is the counterpart. Anyway, symmetry: brothers hosting brothers to fight to the death. Pretty cool.
However, I can't see this coming to fruition. The show is successful because of who Sam and Dean are. Let Michael and Lucifer take over--something that in any other show or creative work would be amazing--and we lose Sam and Dean completely. And what's the point of that? (I reserve the right to change my mind after next week, when we presumably see Sam hosting Lucifer in the future [why else would Sam be wearing those horrible shoes?], but I don't think I will.)
John seems to be the most obvious vessel for God, as the father of the vessels for God's most powerful sons. Of course, John got salted and burned at the beginning of season 2. On the other hand, Anna was vaporized and Castiel exploded into chunks, and both of them "pulled some strings" to get their bodies back, so lack of actual matter doesn't seem like a true obstacle. On the other other hand (other foot?), bringing John back hinges on Jeffrey Dean Morgan's schedule, and he can't even show up for 30-second shot driving the Impala in a flashback. So that doesn't seem likely.
BTW, I hate how everyone keeps saying "because it always had to be you" when Sam asks why him. THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER. It's like saying, "Why is that a carrot?" and getting "Because it always had to be a carrot." It's driving me insane. Okay, maybe it takes too long to say "Because finally some kid was strong enough to 'win' Azazel's crazy game and open the Devil's Gate so Lilith could get out, and you happened to be there and kill that kid so he couldn't do it, and you just happened to have a brother who was codependent enough to bring you back from the dead AND do that by making a deal that would put him in hell AND be righteous enough to break the first seal, which of course had to happen in your lifetime in order for you to be a suitable vessel for me, and oh, yeah, it had to be you because Ruby and Lilith decided no one else would be strong enough so they set it all up for it to be you, and made sure you did all the stuff that had to happen to line up the cards and stuff so I'd get free."
Of course, he could just say, "You're wicked big, man. And I'm vain enough to want someone hot."
Anyway. What else?
I'm loving Castiel. Misha Collins is playing him brilliantly. He's got so many extremes, but everything is played subtly enough that it doesn't seem impossible for him to be so scared at the brothel, but so intense with Raphael.
Speaking of Raphael, how good was he? There was heartbreak in his voice when he said they just wanted paradise. I find it difficult to condemn him, where I found it less so to condemn Zachariah. It's like corporate management, in a way. Those closer to the main/regular work force have more connection to and empathy for them, and have a harder time making changes that negatively affect those people, and when they don't, shame on them. Executives don't have contact with the masses, so they can make more dispassionate decisions. That metaphor only stretches so far, though, because the angels have been working for humanity, trying to save our sorry asses (or whatever) and fighting a losing battle. No reward, no success? No fatherly thanks or praise? Who wouldn't want rest?
It makes me think a tide will turn somewhere down the line, that Cas and Dean will get more angels back on their side. They're all walking among the humans now, so surely they'll see some of the redemptive elements of humanity, those quiet things that make us special but rarely get fanfare and wouldn't be apparent to someone watching from afar. I guess that's one thing we'll have to watch for.
In the meantime, I'm banking on one more painful episode before the brothers join up and we get some true hilarity with the Paris Hilton episode. Then they can start showing signs of rebuilding. Last season, with the brothers falling apart and Sam's horrible spiral, it dragged me along reluctantly because it was so well done, but where it was going was a place I didn't want to see. This season is the opposite--as dark as everything is, we can only go up, climb to a much better place than they've ever been. As long as it doesn't take 18 episodes to get there, I'm a much less reluctant passenger this time around.
(I can't decide if it's fun or sad that the whole world is speaking in LOLcat nowadays.)
So the biggest topic is, of course, Vesselism. Zachariah told Dean he's to be Michael's vessel, and Lucifer told Sam he's to be his. I love the symmetry of it. A couple of things I read expressed disappointment that Dean isn't God's vessel, because that would be epic, but they're missing the fact that Lucifer is not God's opposite. God created Lucifer, who was just an angel. Michael, being the current leader of the angels, is the counterpart. Anyway, symmetry: brothers hosting brothers to fight to the death. Pretty cool.
However, I can't see this coming to fruition. The show is successful because of who Sam and Dean are. Let Michael and Lucifer take over--something that in any other show or creative work would be amazing--and we lose Sam and Dean completely. And what's the point of that? (I reserve the right to change my mind after next week, when we presumably see Sam hosting Lucifer in the future [why else would Sam be wearing those horrible shoes?], but I don't think I will.)
John seems to be the most obvious vessel for God, as the father of the vessels for God's most powerful sons. Of course, John got salted and burned at the beginning of season 2. On the other hand, Anna was vaporized and Castiel exploded into chunks, and both of them "pulled some strings" to get their bodies back, so lack of actual matter doesn't seem like a true obstacle. On the other other hand (other foot?), bringing John back hinges on Jeffrey Dean Morgan's schedule, and he can't even show up for 30-second shot driving the Impala in a flashback. So that doesn't seem likely.
BTW, I hate how everyone keeps saying "because it always had to be you" when Sam asks why him. THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER. It's like saying, "Why is that a carrot?" and getting "Because it always had to be a carrot." It's driving me insane. Okay, maybe it takes too long to say "Because finally some kid was strong enough to 'win' Azazel's crazy game and open the Devil's Gate so Lilith could get out, and you happened to be there and kill that kid so he couldn't do it, and you just happened to have a brother who was codependent enough to bring you back from the dead AND do that by making a deal that would put him in hell AND be righteous enough to break the first seal, which of course had to happen in your lifetime in order for you to be a suitable vessel for me, and oh, yeah, it had to be you because Ruby and Lilith decided no one else would be strong enough so they set it all up for it to be you, and made sure you did all the stuff that had to happen to line up the cards and stuff so I'd get free."
Of course, he could just say, "You're wicked big, man. And I'm vain enough to want someone hot."
Anyway. What else?
I'm loving Castiel. Misha Collins is playing him brilliantly. He's got so many extremes, but everything is played subtly enough that it doesn't seem impossible for him to be so scared at the brothel, but so intense with Raphael.
Speaking of Raphael, how good was he? There was heartbreak in his voice when he said they just wanted paradise. I find it difficult to condemn him, where I found it less so to condemn Zachariah. It's like corporate management, in a way. Those closer to the main/regular work force have more connection to and empathy for them, and have a harder time making changes that negatively affect those people, and when they don't, shame on them. Executives don't have contact with the masses, so they can make more dispassionate decisions. That metaphor only stretches so far, though, because the angels have been working for humanity, trying to save our sorry asses (or whatever) and fighting a losing battle. No reward, no success? No fatherly thanks or praise? Who wouldn't want rest?
It makes me think a tide will turn somewhere down the line, that Cas and Dean will get more angels back on their side. They're all walking among the humans now, so surely they'll see some of the redemptive elements of humanity, those quiet things that make us special but rarely get fanfare and wouldn't be apparent to someone watching from afar. I guess that's one thing we'll have to watch for.
In the meantime, I'm banking on one more painful episode before the brothers join up and we get some true hilarity with the Paris Hilton episode. Then they can start showing signs of rebuilding. Last season, with the brothers falling apart and Sam's horrible spiral, it dragged me along reluctantly because it was so well done, but where it was going was a place I didn't want to see. This season is the opposite--as dark as everything is, we can only go up, climb to a much better place than they've ever been. As long as it doesn't take 18 episodes to get there, I'm a much less reluctant passenger this time around.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Waay-ay-ting is the Hardest Part
So, as previously mentioned, I can't watch Supernatural tonight. It's pushed back for baseball. I had to close Facebook to avoid the reactions.
In the meantime, I'm sitting here listing left and right because of vertigo I started suffering at 6:30 tonight. It was weird. I wrote for half of practice, then took a nap, and when I woke up everything swam around me. The kids both had very brief bouts with a cold, and I'm thinking I caught it, but in the ears instead of the sinuses. I'm feeling clogged.
I watched FlashForward tonight, and it was as good as I expected. The acting is superb, and the mystery has me totally hooked. I'm so tempted to go around saying "What did you see?" to everyone tomorrow. :)
There are obvious parallels to LOST. The show opens with the central character coming away from an accident, disoriented and surrounded by screaming, terrified people. Instead of a polar bear, there's a kangaroo. And there's a very strange, overarching mystery with lots of questions and bound to generate tons of debate. The central question of destiny and free will is an old one, of course, but that doesn't make it any less compelling. So far, this is my favorite new drama of the season! (Modern Family is my favorite new comedy, so far).
I'm going to go lie down and watch Bones now, see if I can manage to stay up late enough to watch Supernatural. I can't stand that the rest of the world knows what happened and I don't! :(
In the meantime, I'm sitting here listing left and right because of vertigo I started suffering at 6:30 tonight. It was weird. I wrote for half of practice, then took a nap, and when I woke up everything swam around me. The kids both had very brief bouts with a cold, and I'm thinking I caught it, but in the ears instead of the sinuses. I'm feeling clogged.
I watched FlashForward tonight, and it was as good as I expected. The acting is superb, and the mystery has me totally hooked. I'm so tempted to go around saying "What did you see?" to everyone tomorrow. :)
There are obvious parallels to LOST. The show opens with the central character coming away from an accident, disoriented and surrounded by screaming, terrified people. Instead of a polar bear, there's a kangaroo. And there's a very strange, overarching mystery with lots of questions and bound to generate tons of debate. The central question of destiny and free will is an old one, of course, but that doesn't make it any less compelling. So far, this is my favorite new drama of the season! (Modern Family is my favorite new comedy, so far).
I'm going to go lie down and watch Bones now, see if I can manage to stay up late enough to watch Supernatural. I can't stand that the rest of the world knows what happened and I don't! :(
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Too Much Sleep?
I've been trying to be responsible lately, with the whole sleeping thing. So the last two nights I've gone to bed early. Today I even slept until almost 6:30 because Number One needs nothing from me, Number Two only needs my presence most mornings, and even that's not until we're ready to go to the bus stop. But I've still been tired mid-afternoon, and there have been other odd effects:
Like, this morning, I conditioned my hair twice.
And then, after I returned the dog to the house, I went out to do my morning exercise walk--in flip-flops.
Actually, those could be explained by a busy brain as much as a tired one. In the shower, I was deep in thought about a client's manuscript. I rinsed my hair, and somehow that was triggered as "shampoo out, conditioner in" even though I was actually ready to get out of the shower.
The flip-flop thing was just unthinkingness. I realized it on the second hill. I was working way too hard to keep my shoes on. LOL I have these Adidas flip-flops that have cushioned insoles and silky fabric, so when I've had them on for a little while, the cushion compresses and they're roomier and also therefore slippery. It actually made for a decent walk, though, because I used all the muscles in my legs more. But I had to come down the last hill barefoot--it's so steep, I was afraid I'd break the thong of the flip-flops, and they're new.
Anyway. My brain doesn't feel like it's working right today.
I also had this weird dream last night. It was a "back in school" dream, though not one of the typical anxiety ones. I was in a big room stuffed with stuff. Kind of like on Fringe, where the lab they're given is a storage room for old furniture and equipment? One of the things was a big unit of old-fashioned mailboxes. They took a key but also had a combination--you put in the key, then turned to the proper numbers. I had three mailboxes and opened two of them (my mother had sent me some weird stuff) but for the life of me, I couldn't open the third one. It had something important in it, I knew it...or hoped it, though I always have hope there's something important and there never is. So I think I understand the metaphor. *sigh*
So I guess we can come to the conclusion that it's not "too much sleep" so much as my brain is weird. And I'm sure no one is surprised by that.
Like, this morning, I conditioned my hair twice.
And then, after I returned the dog to the house, I went out to do my morning exercise walk--in flip-flops.
Actually, those could be explained by a busy brain as much as a tired one. In the shower, I was deep in thought about a client's manuscript. I rinsed my hair, and somehow that was triggered as "shampoo out, conditioner in" even though I was actually ready to get out of the shower.
The flip-flop thing was just unthinkingness. I realized it on the second hill. I was working way too hard to keep my shoes on. LOL I have these Adidas flip-flops that have cushioned insoles and silky fabric, so when I've had them on for a little while, the cushion compresses and they're roomier and also therefore slippery. It actually made for a decent walk, though, because I used all the muscles in my legs more. But I had to come down the last hill barefoot--it's so steep, I was afraid I'd break the thong of the flip-flops, and they're new.
Anyway. My brain doesn't feel like it's working right today.
I also had this weird dream last night. It was a "back in school" dream, though not one of the typical anxiety ones. I was in a big room stuffed with stuff. Kind of like on Fringe, where the lab they're given is a storage room for old furniture and equipment? One of the things was a big unit of old-fashioned mailboxes. They took a key but also had a combination--you put in the key, then turned to the proper numbers. I had three mailboxes and opened two of them (my mother had sent me some weird stuff) but for the life of me, I couldn't open the third one. It had something important in it, I knew it...or hoped it, though I always have hope there's something important and there never is. So I think I understand the metaphor. *sigh*
So I guess we can come to the conclusion that it's not "too much sleep" so much as my brain is weird. And I'm sure no one is surprised by that.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Premiere Week
Fall TV actually premiered two weeks ago, but the majority of shows are coming back this week. Here's what I'm watching and how I feel about it so far.
Supernatural
I know, Duh. And you know how I feel about it. Though I do have one thing to say: This summer, when I was watching all four seasons over again, I discovered that as much as I loved season 4 while it was airing, and as a whole it's awesomely done, it's not my favorite season. The episodes I get excited about when they come up on the next DVD are all in seasons 2 and 3. And so far, while I still consider "Sympathy for the Devil" possibly the best ep ever, I don't think it will hit that Favorites list.
It's a damned good thing I'm not the one writing the recap at Supernatural Sisters this week. For the first time in four years, The CW is airing a Phillies game and pushing the show to midnight. Which of course means it COULD air at 11, or at 1, so recording it will be tricky. I know this has happened to others, sometimes often, and we've been lucky so far. Doesn't make me feel better. :(
Glee
Still loving it, though the musical numbers always bug me. Even though I dig them, they're so slickly produced and obviously overdubbed, it takes something away from the show overall. I do hate the wife a little less, which is good. In the pilot, she came across as a selfish, conniving, manipulative bitch, which makes you think the hero is stupid for staying with her and not seeing through her. But now she's just a self-centered moron who does seem to love her husband, at least. I still don't like her, but it harms how I feel about him less. My eyebrows went up last week at the implication that Quinn might be shifting from cliché bad-girl cheerleader to someone worthy of Finn.
Vampire Diaries
I liked it much better than I expected to, though I swear Nina Dobrev is a clone of that girl on Roswell and now that they've kissed (not that I didn't want them to), I'm less excited about where it's going. I mean, is Damon just going to tear through Elena's friends? A murder or attempted murder each week? *yawn* The obvious conflict when Elena finds out what Stefan is and why he came to find her isn't something I'm looking forward to, either. But I'm not dropping it yet.
Bones
Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly had a blind item last week about a show with a will-they-or-won't-they couple, and how the network is making the showrunners hold off on bringing them together for two more seasons. Everyone in the comments assumed it was Bones, but he said it's not. Still, after last week's premiere, it's clear they're not paying that off immediately. I didn't really take issue with all the people cautioning him to make sure of his feelings before pursuing them. Most of them were right about Brennan's vulnerability and protection of it. But Sweets, I wanted to slap silly. He's such an idiot! Everyone around Booth and Brennan know they're in love with each other and have been for a long time. I love Sweets, but his idiocy was eye-rolling.
Returning Shows
How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory came back last night, and were okay. Castle was a nice surprise. The writing has gotten better, and the cast chemistry is more natural. The rest of the week brings Dollhouse and Numb3rs and Fringe, though the latter I have to catch up on DVD because I got bored last spring, apparently just as it was getting good.
New Shows
Replacing all my mourned cancellations, I'm adding Modern Family (I got to watch the pilot a couple of months ago and it was great!), The Forgotten (meh, but Christian Slater), and FlashForward, which has things in common with LOST but not the things you think. Well, okay, Penny is probably one of the things you think. :) I started watching LOST because Dominic Monaghan was going to be on it, and that's part of my reason for picking up FF. The rest of the cast seems fabulous, too, though that's not always enough (ref. The Nine and Daybreak). The little bits I've seen also make it look like it will be an intriguing show. Then will come V in November, but geez, why are they waiting so long?
So that's it. Did I miss anything worthwhile?
Supernatural
I know, Duh. And you know how I feel about it. Though I do have one thing to say: This summer, when I was watching all four seasons over again, I discovered that as much as I loved season 4 while it was airing, and as a whole it's awesomely done, it's not my favorite season. The episodes I get excited about when they come up on the next DVD are all in seasons 2 and 3. And so far, while I still consider "Sympathy for the Devil" possibly the best ep ever, I don't think it will hit that Favorites list.
It's a damned good thing I'm not the one writing the recap at Supernatural Sisters this week. For the first time in four years, The CW is airing a Phillies game and pushing the show to midnight. Which of course means it COULD air at 11, or at 1, so recording it will be tricky. I know this has happened to others, sometimes often, and we've been lucky so far. Doesn't make me feel better. :(
Glee
Still loving it, though the musical numbers always bug me. Even though I dig them, they're so slickly produced and obviously overdubbed, it takes something away from the show overall. I do hate the wife a little less, which is good. In the pilot, she came across as a selfish, conniving, manipulative bitch, which makes you think the hero is stupid for staying with her and not seeing through her. But now she's just a self-centered moron who does seem to love her husband, at least. I still don't like her, but it harms how I feel about him less. My eyebrows went up last week at the implication that Quinn might be shifting from cliché bad-girl cheerleader to someone worthy of Finn.
Vampire Diaries
I liked it much better than I expected to, though I swear Nina Dobrev is a clone of that girl on Roswell and now that they've kissed (not that I didn't want them to), I'm less excited about where it's going. I mean, is Damon just going to tear through Elena's friends? A murder or attempted murder each week? *yawn* The obvious conflict when Elena finds out what Stefan is and why he came to find her isn't something I'm looking forward to, either. But I'm not dropping it yet.
Bones
Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly had a blind item last week about a show with a will-they-or-won't-they couple, and how the network is making the showrunners hold off on bringing them together for two more seasons. Everyone in the comments assumed it was Bones, but he said it's not. Still, after last week's premiere, it's clear they're not paying that off immediately. I didn't really take issue with all the people cautioning him to make sure of his feelings before pursuing them. Most of them were right about Brennan's vulnerability and protection of it. But Sweets, I wanted to slap silly. He's such an idiot! Everyone around Booth and Brennan know they're in love with each other and have been for a long time. I love Sweets, but his idiocy was eye-rolling.
Returning Shows
How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory came back last night, and were okay. Castle was a nice surprise. The writing has gotten better, and the cast chemistry is more natural. The rest of the week brings Dollhouse and Numb3rs and Fringe, though the latter I have to catch up on DVD because I got bored last spring, apparently just as it was getting good.
New Shows
Replacing all my mourned cancellations, I'm adding Modern Family (I got to watch the pilot a couple of months ago and it was great!), The Forgotten (meh, but Christian Slater), and FlashForward, which has things in common with LOST but not the things you think. Well, okay, Penny is probably one of the things you think. :) I started watching LOST because Dominic Monaghan was going to be on it, and that's part of my reason for picking up FF. The rest of the cast seems fabulous, too, though that's not always enough (ref. The Nine and Daybreak). The little bits I've seen also make it look like it will be an intriguing show. Then will come V in November, but geez, why are they waiting so long?
So that's it. Did I miss anything worthwhile?
Friday, September 18, 2009
How to Build Narrative Tension...Or, Damn You, Sera Gamble!
Sera Gamble is very clever.
Executive story editor for Supernatural and Kripke's right arm, she's well known for killing off our most beloved secondary characters--and heck, even some of our primary ones. We hate her for it, even as we love the story she's taken such a large role in shaping.
But that propensity ratcheted up the tension in last night's episode to 11. None of us would ever put killing Rufus, Jo, or even Ellen past her. So every minute they were under fire, I expected them to take a bullet. When Sam and Dean finally confronted War and Ellen was fighting off that military guy (hey, wasn't he kinda cute?) with the knife at the base of her throat...well, in most movies or shows, she'd have gotten that last-second reprieve. But this show doesn't do that most of the time. Believing it could makes for a far more engrossing show, and when it doesn't happen, the relief that much sweeter.
That aside...
I can't watch this show with Number One anymore, not if I want to stop feeling slow. Not stupid, because I was coming around to the amulet, and if I hadn't been so busy lusting over the car I would have instantly known one of the horsemen was there, and I did notice the lack of effects with the knife immediately. But she's calling them much faster, most of the time.
I think my favorite part was Castiel in the beginning. His passion and fire was beautiful. He's not technically working for anyone, including God, but his belief has been fully restored. Since he's been cut off from heaven, he's more connected to humanity and emotion--but still doesn't have a sense of humor. "God is not on a flatbread."
No, wait, my favorite part was the music. It's like the Impala was off the show for almost a full season, and now it's front and center. LOL The music in the actual show, not just the recap, made it feel whole for the first time since season 2.
Bobby's depression and anger are heartbreaking. I didn't think anything could faze him, and I hope he pulls himself out of it quickly. I'd rather see a butt-kicking wheelchair Bobby than a self-pitying one.
Speaking of self-pity...
I also hope next week signifies rock bottom for the boys, and things start going up from there. I have no complaints about the way things have gone so far. But the addiction thread can be resolved now--all connections to reality aside, I'm done with it. I don't watch this show for reality. Sam can stop using "what's inside him" as a scapegoat, take control of his own actions and strengths, and forgive himself so he can realize his full heroic potential.
Same goes for Dean. I don't think he's being a dick for no good reason, and it doesn't make me mad that he's acting that way. He's carrying a shitload of guilt (and, yes, therefore, self-pity). He broke the first seal. He didn't stop the last one. He didn't save Sammy, who turned on him. The hardest thing Dean is going to have to do is let go of Sam. Not as his brother, but as someone he is responsible for. Like any parent, he can't stop Sam from making bad choices. Hopefully, without Dean's tight hold to struggle against, Sam will stop making them.
Once Dean and Sam can stop wallowing in their weaknesses, they can go shoulder to shoulder to take on heaven and hell to save earth. Full partners, the way we've always wanted them to be!
Oh, here's something else cool (besides the symbols all over Dean's ribs! how awesome is that?!)--the Buddy TV recapper noticed that the guy who played War was Jacob's antagonist on last season's LOST finale. And Jacob, of course, was played by Mark Pellegrino, the actor now playing Lucifer's host. I wonder if they went after him on purpose, or if it's all coincidence.
I also wonder about the rest of the Horsemen. Will War have a different body next time, since he was emulating one of the locals? And who will play the others? How will their storylines play out?
I can't wait to find out.
Executive story editor for Supernatural and Kripke's right arm, she's well known for killing off our most beloved secondary characters--and heck, even some of our primary ones. We hate her for it, even as we love the story she's taken such a large role in shaping.
But that propensity ratcheted up the tension in last night's episode to 11. None of us would ever put killing Rufus, Jo, or even Ellen past her. So every minute they were under fire, I expected them to take a bullet. When Sam and Dean finally confronted War and Ellen was fighting off that military guy (hey, wasn't he kinda cute?) with the knife at the base of her throat...well, in most movies or shows, she'd have gotten that last-second reprieve. But this show doesn't do that most of the time. Believing it could makes for a far more engrossing show, and when it doesn't happen, the relief that much sweeter.
That aside...
I can't watch this show with Number One anymore, not if I want to stop feeling slow. Not stupid, because I was coming around to the amulet, and if I hadn't been so busy lusting over the car I would have instantly known one of the horsemen was there, and I did notice the lack of effects with the knife immediately. But she's calling them much faster, most of the time.
I think my favorite part was Castiel in the beginning. His passion and fire was beautiful. He's not technically working for anyone, including God, but his belief has been fully restored. Since he's been cut off from heaven, he's more connected to humanity and emotion--but still doesn't have a sense of humor. "God is not on a flatbread."
No, wait, my favorite part was the music. It's like the Impala was off the show for almost a full season, and now it's front and center. LOL The music in the actual show, not just the recap, made it feel whole for the first time since season 2.
Bobby's depression and anger are heartbreaking. I didn't think anything could faze him, and I hope he pulls himself out of it quickly. I'd rather see a butt-kicking wheelchair Bobby than a self-pitying one.
Speaking of self-pity...
I also hope next week signifies rock bottom for the boys, and things start going up from there. I have no complaints about the way things have gone so far. But the addiction thread can be resolved now--all connections to reality aside, I'm done with it. I don't watch this show for reality. Sam can stop using "what's inside him" as a scapegoat, take control of his own actions and strengths, and forgive himself so he can realize his full heroic potential.
Same goes for Dean. I don't think he's being a dick for no good reason, and it doesn't make me mad that he's acting that way. He's carrying a shitload of guilt (and, yes, therefore, self-pity). He broke the first seal. He didn't stop the last one. He didn't save Sammy, who turned on him. The hardest thing Dean is going to have to do is let go of Sam. Not as his brother, but as someone he is responsible for. Like any parent, he can't stop Sam from making bad choices. Hopefully, without Dean's tight hold to struggle against, Sam will stop making them.
Once Dean and Sam can stop wallowing in their weaknesses, they can go shoulder to shoulder to take on heaven and hell to save earth. Full partners, the way we've always wanted them to be!
Oh, here's something else cool (besides the symbols all over Dean's ribs! how awesome is that?!)--the Buddy TV recapper noticed that the guy who played War was Jacob's antagonist on last season's LOST finale. And Jacob, of course, was played by Mark Pellegrino, the actor now playing Lucifer's host. I wonder if they went after him on purpose, or if it's all coincidence.
I also wonder about the rest of the Horsemen. Will War have a different body next time, since he was emulating one of the locals? And who will play the others? How will their storylines play out?
I can't wait to find out.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Geekdom
I'm totally geeking out.
I love an author who inserts tributes into her books, and tributes to the things I'mobsessive passionate about make me giddy with insidery geekiness.
In the space of a few pages, CE Murphy's latest, Walking Dead, references Star Wars (lightsabers), Supernatural (shotgun loaded with rock salt, holy water in sprinklers*), Firefly (big damn heroes), and The Princess Bride (rodents of [un]usual size).
CE Murphy is so cool. (And powerful. I wasn't allowed to say "My hair was doing its Hermione Granger impression" in one of my books, and hers is peppered with pop culture--even some things I have to look up!)
*Salt and holy water are standards in mythology, so it's likely she came up with these before the SPN writers did. It still feels like a tribute. :)
~~~~~~~~~~
I paused in reading to write the above, and planned to leave it at that. But I loved the book so much that my geeking out made me not pay attention to what I was reading, so I decided to write more.
Generally speaking, I don't want to be the next anybody. I have my own voice and my own style, and I want people to chomp at the bit to get the new Natalie J. Damschroder book because it's not like anything else they read. But there are a couple of authors I want to emulate. I want to make readers feel the way I feel when I read them. CE Murphy is one.
Though I have a lot of friends who are authors, she's not one of them. She doesn't know me from Adam, but I read her blog. What she says there makes me marvel even more. I'm reading this book, and it's so perfect. The balance of action and introspection, the level of humor, the characterization, the progression of events. Nothing lags or fluctuates.
The thing is, because I read her blog, I know this book didn't start out this way. Most of her books, she talks about rewriting a third or two thirds of the original. Her agent gives her revisions, then her editor gives her revisions, sometimes twice. She works really hard. But it's skill that makes her hard work result in such a good book. I thrill to it as a reader, and I'm challenged as a writer to achieve her level, eventually. The little bud of despair that I might never make it? I refuse to water it or offer it any sunlight.
So that's all. Now I'm going to debate myself over spending the rest of my time in the auto service waiting room reading this awesome book, or writing my own.
I love an author who inserts tributes into her books, and tributes to the things I'm
In the space of a few pages, CE Murphy's latest, Walking Dead, references Star Wars (lightsabers), Supernatural (shotgun loaded with rock salt, holy water in sprinklers*), Firefly (big damn heroes), and The Princess Bride (rodents of [un]usual size).
CE Murphy is so cool. (And powerful. I wasn't allowed to say "My hair was doing its Hermione Granger impression" in one of my books, and hers is peppered with pop culture--even some things I have to look up!)
*Salt and holy water are standards in mythology, so it's likely she came up with these before the SPN writers did. It still feels like a tribute. :)
~~~~~~~~~~
I paused in reading to write the above, and planned to leave it at that. But I loved the book so much that my geeking out made me not pay attention to what I was reading, so I decided to write more.
Generally speaking, I don't want to be the next anybody. I have my own voice and my own style, and I want people to chomp at the bit to get the new Natalie J. Damschroder book because it's not like anything else they read. But there are a couple of authors I want to emulate. I want to make readers feel the way I feel when I read them. CE Murphy is one.
Though I have a lot of friends who are authors, she's not one of them. She doesn't know me from Adam, but I read her blog. What she says there makes me marvel even more. I'm reading this book, and it's so perfect. The balance of action and introspection, the level of humor, the characterization, the progression of events. Nothing lags or fluctuates.
The thing is, because I read her blog, I know this book didn't start out this way. Most of her books, she talks about rewriting a third or two thirds of the original. Her agent gives her revisions, then her editor gives her revisions, sometimes twice. She works really hard. But it's skill that makes her hard work result in such a good book. I thrill to it as a reader, and I'm challenged as a writer to achieve her level, eventually. The little bud of despair that I might never make it? I refuse to water it or offer it any sunlight.
So that's all. Now I'm going to debate myself over spending the rest of my time in the auto service waiting room reading this awesome book, or writing my own.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Triumphs and Frustrations
Today was loaded with triumphs and frustrations.
I spent the entire--and I mean ENTIRE day working on the kids' computers. They had a .NET problem for the past year that I've tried to fix intermittently, but never could get working right.
Triumph
Today I found the right utility and got that taken care of on both computers. That enabled me to load service pack 2 on both, so they're fully updated now.
Frustration
Number One's computer is having major problems, though. I bought Registry Mechanic and ran that, hoping the startup problems it detected would solve the issue, but it didn't.
Triumph
I researched the problem, and many similar issues seemed to be solved by replacing the PSU (power supply unit). So I went and bought a PSU and swapped them out. That's the triumph. I'm always proud of my success at techie stuff like that. But it's marred by...
Frustration
It still didn't solve the problem. So I'm going to have to take the computer to someone, unless one of my super-smart blog readers can tell me what is probably wrong when the computer turns on but won't boot up--the power button stays orange and everything has power, especially the fan, which revs to jet engine levels. We power it down, then try again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. And then one more time. And then it boots, and is fine. Until we shut down or restart, and go through it all over again.
Triumph
My iPod case broke this weekend. It was nothing special, just a slip-in case that came with my iPod Photo years ago, and I use it for my iPod Classic now. But the clip came off, and since I primarily use the iPod when I'm working out or grocery shopping, I MUST have a clip.
So at Staples I also bought a new case. And while I was at it, I grabbed some new earbuds, as the old ones were getting grody (a novelty, since they usually crap out before then). The case is leather and has windows, so I never have to take the iPod out again, and the earbuds slipped divinely into my ears and stayed there without wedging or compressing, which means they won't hurt even when I do an hour on the treadmill or a marathon shopping session.
The even bigger triumph? I saved 9 bucks with my toner recycling rewards. \o/
Your turn. Any triumphs or frustrations today?
I spent the entire--and I mean ENTIRE day working on the kids' computers. They had a .NET problem for the past year that I've tried to fix intermittently, but never could get working right.
Triumph
Today I found the right utility and got that taken care of on both computers. That enabled me to load service pack 2 on both, so they're fully updated now.
Frustration
Number One's computer is having major problems, though. I bought Registry Mechanic and ran that, hoping the startup problems it detected would solve the issue, but it didn't.
Triumph
I researched the problem, and many similar issues seemed to be solved by replacing the PSU (power supply unit). So I went and bought a PSU and swapped them out. That's the triumph. I'm always proud of my success at techie stuff like that. But it's marred by...
Frustration
It still didn't solve the problem. So I'm going to have to take the computer to someone, unless one of my super-smart blog readers can tell me what is probably wrong when the computer turns on but won't boot up--the power button stays orange and everything has power, especially the fan, which revs to jet engine levels. We power it down, then try again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. And then one more time. And then it boots, and is fine. Until we shut down or restart, and go through it all over again.
Triumph
My iPod case broke this weekend. It was nothing special, just a slip-in case that came with my iPod Photo years ago, and I use it for my iPod Classic now. But the clip came off, and since I primarily use the iPod when I'm working out or grocery shopping, I MUST have a clip.
So at Staples I also bought a new case. And while I was at it, I grabbed some new earbuds, as the old ones were getting grody (a novelty, since they usually crap out before then). The case is leather and has windows, so I never have to take the iPod out again, and the earbuds slipped divinely into my ears and stayed there without wedging or compressing, which means they won't hurt even when I do an hour on the treadmill or a marathon shopping session.
The even bigger triumph? I saved 9 bucks with my toner recycling rewards. \o/
Your turn. Any triumphs or frustrations today?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Nature Wins Out
I'm a pretty self-aware person. I think it comes, in part, from being a writer, and having to dig deep into what makes people who they are. But there are some fundamental things I know about myself:
1. I need 8 hours of sleep a night.
2. I am required to get up at 6:20 a.m. on weekdays, and sometimes even earlier on weekends with away soccer games that the bleeping officials set for first thing in the morning even though we have to travel nearly 2 hours to get there.
3. I am not a morning person. It's difficult to struggle out of bed any day, never mind when I'm operating on too-little sleep.
I've known these things for a very long time. Before my kids started school. Before I had a 45-minute commute to an early day job. Before I scheduled 8:30 classes in college (frosh mistake--I hate being a cliché!). So why is it such a challenge for me? Simple equation:
Bed at 10:00 + Up at 6:20 = full complement of sleep = happy Natalie
But there are a couple of other factors that trump this self-awareness and solid logic. I'm not only not a morning person, I'm very much a night person. My body tries very, very hard to follow its preferred pattern: Stay up until 3:00 a.m., sleep until 11:00 a.m., repeat cycle. Some nights this summer I was up until 4 or even 4:30, and it was easy. I wasn't tired! Not at any point during the day!
Yes, some of it is a matter of training. If I force myself to go to bed at 10:00 or 11:00, I can maintain the week with no trouble. So far, I haven't been able to make that happen. The problem is work.
Any of you who freelance or work for yourselves know that one of the drawbacks is constant availability. It's okay if I don't do this data entry while the kids are at school, because I can do it after they go to bed. I'll critique this friend's manuscript over the weekend, which will let me work on my own book Monday...until the proofing jobs come in, pushing the writing back to after the football game. That kind of thing.
So what happens is I come back down to my office after the kids are in bed, and that's it. I keep working and working until it's stupid time, then I need unwinding time (pleasure reading, and--an unfortunate side effect--a snack, because it's been 5 or 6 hours since dinner and my stomach is growling).
It wouldn't be so difficult if I got progressively tired. But I don't. I'm at my most tired between 3 and 7 in the afternoon/evening. But I have to push through, because of after-school stuff and soccer practices and meetings and school events and kids' bedtime activities. Then I have my second wind, and if I'm not tired, I should be productive!
Then the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., and I want to stab somebody in the head for being such an idiot.
After three solid years of this with no real change, I've come to decide that imposition of a "smart" pattern is impossible. Nature is winning, and all I can do is hold on until the kids are both old enough to not need me, and then I can follow my own pattern...for the rest of my life, if I'm lucky.
I know Mary either has the opposite nature or has greater control over her natural rhythms (as evidenced by daily 4:00 a.m. blog posts). How about the rest of you?
1. I need 8 hours of sleep a night.
2. I am required to get up at 6:20 a.m. on weekdays, and sometimes even earlier on weekends with away soccer games that the bleeping officials set for first thing in the morning even though we have to travel nearly 2 hours to get there.
3. I am not a morning person. It's difficult to struggle out of bed any day, never mind when I'm operating on too-little sleep.
I've known these things for a very long time. Before my kids started school. Before I had a 45-minute commute to an early day job. Before I scheduled 8:30 classes in college (frosh mistake--I hate being a cliché!). So why is it such a challenge for me? Simple equation:
But there are a couple of other factors that trump this self-awareness and solid logic. I'm not only not a morning person, I'm very much a night person. My body tries very, very hard to follow its preferred pattern: Stay up until 3:00 a.m., sleep until 11:00 a.m., repeat cycle. Some nights this summer I was up until 4 or even 4:30, and it was easy. I wasn't tired! Not at any point during the day!
Yes, some of it is a matter of training. If I force myself to go to bed at 10:00 or 11:00, I can maintain the week with no trouble. So far, I haven't been able to make that happen. The problem is work.
Any of you who freelance or work for yourselves know that one of the drawbacks is constant availability. It's okay if I don't do this data entry while the kids are at school, because I can do it after they go to bed. I'll critique this friend's manuscript over the weekend, which will let me work on my own book Monday...until the proofing jobs come in, pushing the writing back to after the football game. That kind of thing.
So what happens is I come back down to my office after the kids are in bed, and that's it. I keep working and working until it's stupid time, then I need unwinding time (pleasure reading, and--an unfortunate side effect--a snack, because it's been 5 or 6 hours since dinner and my stomach is growling).
It wouldn't be so difficult if I got progressively tired. But I don't. I'm at my most tired between 3 and 7 in the afternoon/evening. But I have to push through, because of after-school stuff and soccer practices and meetings and school events and kids' bedtime activities. Then I have my second wind, and if I'm not tired, I should be productive!
Then the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., and I want to stab somebody in the head for being such an idiot.
After three solid years of this with no real change, I've come to decide that imposition of a "smart" pattern is impossible. Nature is winning, and all I can do is hold on until the kids are both old enough to not need me, and then I can follow my own pattern...for the rest of my life, if I'm lucky.
I know Mary either has the opposite nature or has greater control over her natural rhythms (as evidenced by daily 4:00 a.m. blog posts). How about the rest of you?
Monday, September 14, 2009
Let's Not Do That Again, M'Kay?
I felt like I was watching the Browns.
But kudos to Stephen Gostkowski for being unafraid to dig around another man's crotch to secure a fumbled football. That takes a real man! LOL
Boo to the media for being too afraid to post a picture of the recovery. This will have to do, until I'm told to take it down:
Photo by Jim Davis, Boston Globe
But kudos to Stephen Gostkowski for being unafraid to dig around another man's crotch to secure a fumbled football. That takes a real man! LOL
Boo to the media for being too afraid to post a picture of the recovery. This will have to do, until I'm told to take it down:
Are You Ready for Some Footbaaaaaall?
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
I know, the NFL officially kicked off last Thursday, and most of the games were played yesterday, but my team plays tonight, so THIS is the kickoff of MY football season.
Yeah, like any of you care.
Friday, September 11, 2009
BEST. EPISODE. EVAR.
An hour and a half ago, my husband went up to bed. I said I'd be up shortly. He said, "see you at 1." Well, look at that. He's prescient.
I've spent the last hour reading some discussions of the announced closing of Quartet Press. I'm exasperatedly amused by people. I am still quite uncertain of what ACTUALLY happened, and while I've speculated, my ideas haven't been in the same realm of other people's. I mean, people who've never started a business yet assume that it's so easy to figure out every single possible startup cost BEFORE you announce the formation of your business. People who really don't know what a business plan is who assume that "certain costs didn't line up with projections" means "we never bothered to create a business plan." Sheesh.
And hey, how about those people who are blasting us 7 authors who contracted with Quartet for getting what we deserved, taking a chance on a startup? Uh, sorry, I knew exactly what I was doing, and I'm not harmed in the slightest by this development. Disappointed, yes. "Destroyed," no. You know what I get? Reversion of rights on a book that is now 1,000% better than it was a month ago.
Here's a point: Many authors pay hundreds for the free editorial I just got, and now I can submit this book elsewhere if I so choose.
Then there are those who are scoffing at all the "hype" and taking the closing to mean the people involved in Quartet AREN'T smart, savvy businesspeople. Well, maybe they're not. I'm not in a position to say. But the "hype" wasn't hype, it was buzz, and everyone was watching to see what would happen, not predicting the saviors of digital publishing, for cripe's sake.
Anyway. That's really not what I was going to post about.
*takes off author hat*
*puts on fangirl hat*
OMG. There is so much joy in me over tonight's (last night's, but I haven't gone to bed yet) episode of Supernatural. It gushed all over my keyboard earlier. Now I'm tired, so it's just a bloat of joy instead of a geyser.
I knew immediately, with "The Road So Far," that this season was going to be AWESOME. AC/DC, the fast-moving clips--it said, "Please keep hands and feet inside the car at all times. Fasten your seatbelts, hold on, and enjoy the ride!"
And then it flung us out into space.
The size and sound of Lucifer's rise. The boys appearing in an airplane, then just missing the burst from the convent. It was disorienting to see them suddenly in a car, NOT the Impala, but it wasn't choppy editing, it was symbolic of how they had to be feeling.
Then Dean slams a bloody hand on the door and sends the angels soaring. Like, WHOA. I tried to figure out when he did that, but we only saw him turn away from Sam and Chuck. Speaking of, OW, but *laughs*.
Then the continuity, OHHHH, the continuity! Dean had been at Bobby's when the angels took him, so that's where the Impala was, so of course Bobby brings the Impala to them. And of course a demon follows and rides him inside. Number One totally called his possession. She flat out didn't believe he'd say those things to Sam. But I hesitated to guess that, because I guessed it at the end of last season, when he questioned if they should just let Sam out to do what he was capable of doing.
Then came the biggest gasp. I expected Bobby to knife the demon behind him, but himself? No one can ever say now that Bobby is not teh awesome.
The whole sword of Michael thing was so cool, too, how they tricked Dean into going there, and upped the stakes over and over, but Dean just kept saying no, and then CASTIEL.
We had some debate over what happened there. I first thought "Ha, Michael doesn't want that meat suit, Zachariah!" but as soon as Castiel started talking (after his badass fight--so much better than his fights last season), I thought "geez, no, that's god getting involved there." One of my friends doesn't trust him, thinks maybe Lucifer put him back together and got him involved, mainly because he was knifing angels. Or she thinks Michael. But I thought Zachariah was far too certain that Michael would just dive right into Dean as soon as he allowed it. Seems like he had to have been guided by Michael in that. I could be wrong, he could just be assuming Michael would take his place at the head of the army. So I'm thinking maybe Gabriel is the one who put Castiel back together and sent him in there. After all, he was knifing angels who'd defied God's will, who had actually stopped believing God was "in charge" anymore. If Anna had a death sentence for a bit of doubt and longing for emotion, and Lucifer was imprisoned for siding with the angels over humanity, then these guys actually got off easily.
So I'm reserving judgment on Castiel.
I saw the clip with the fangirl, so my delight over her was diminished due to repetition, but we giggled over her fanfic and her Galaxy Quest-esque reaction to Chuck's call. How many wanted to be her, feeling up Sam's chest? Show of hands. *raises hand* And how many wanted to comfort Dean and assure him we love him just the way he is? Show of hands. *raises hand*
We returned to teh awesomeness of Bobby back at the hospital, when he roared at the doctor over his caution that he might not walk again. Dean's speech in the hospital room was great, especially the GED/attitude line.
I loved the entire show so much, even though I knew I should be sad at the ending, I couldn't stop smiling. Partly because I know this is pretty much rock bottom for the brothers, and they'll be going up--maybe not directly from here, but it can't take too long for the healing to begin. I mean, Sam made some very poor decisions and let himself be manipulated, but his intentions were always, always good, and you can't argue with the fact that he did save lives. In the big picture, I can't condemn him.
Of course, Dean's pain doesn't come from the big picture. It can't. He's just as culpable. He was pushed to it, manipulated exactly the same (well, okay, not exactly) by Alistair into breaking the first seal. If he hadn't done that, Sam never would have been able to break the last one. So they have to be considered equal there. (I kept waiting for Dean to confess. I don't think he ever really did last season, so I'm not sure if Sam and Bobby know he started things off.)
Anyway, Dean's pain and his lack of trust don't stem from the end result of Sam's journey. They stem from that one moment when Sam broke with Dean and chose Ruby over him, almost killed him, in fact. It's completely personal and justified. And he's absolutely right, they can never go back to what they had before. But in the long run, they'll build something new, stronger, healthier, and probably far more worth loving by the fandom.
And that's saying something. :)
I've spent the last hour reading some discussions of the announced closing of Quartet Press. I'm exasperatedly amused by people. I am still quite uncertain of what ACTUALLY happened, and while I've speculated, my ideas haven't been in the same realm of other people's. I mean, people who've never started a business yet assume that it's so easy to figure out every single possible startup cost BEFORE you announce the formation of your business. People who really don't know what a business plan is who assume that "certain costs didn't line up with projections" means "we never bothered to create a business plan." Sheesh.
And hey, how about those people who are blasting us 7 authors who contracted with Quartet for getting what we deserved, taking a chance on a startup? Uh, sorry, I knew exactly what I was doing, and I'm not harmed in the slightest by this development. Disappointed, yes. "Destroyed," no. You know what I get? Reversion of rights on a book that is now 1,000% better than it was a month ago.
Here's a point: Many authors pay hundreds for the free editorial I just got, and now I can submit this book elsewhere if I so choose.
Then there are those who are scoffing at all the "hype" and taking the closing to mean the people involved in Quartet AREN'T smart, savvy businesspeople. Well, maybe they're not. I'm not in a position to say. But the "hype" wasn't hype, it was buzz, and everyone was watching to see what would happen, not predicting the saviors of digital publishing, for cripe's sake.
Anyway. That's really not what I was going to post about.
*takes off author hat*
*puts on fangirl hat*
OMG. There is so much joy in me over tonight's (last night's, but I haven't gone to bed yet) episode of Supernatural. It gushed all over my keyboard earlier. Now I'm tired, so it's just a bloat of joy instead of a geyser.
I knew immediately, with "The Road So Far," that this season was going to be AWESOME. AC/DC, the fast-moving clips--it said, "Please keep hands and feet inside the car at all times. Fasten your seatbelts, hold on, and enjoy the ride!"
And then it flung us out into space.
The size and sound of Lucifer's rise. The boys appearing in an airplane, then just missing the burst from the convent. It was disorienting to see them suddenly in a car, NOT the Impala, but it wasn't choppy editing, it was symbolic of how they had to be feeling.
Then Dean slams a bloody hand on the door and sends the angels soaring. Like, WHOA. I tried to figure out when he did that, but we only saw him turn away from Sam and Chuck. Speaking of, OW, but *laughs*.
Then the continuity, OHHHH, the continuity! Dean had been at Bobby's when the angels took him, so that's where the Impala was, so of course Bobby brings the Impala to them. And of course a demon follows and rides him inside. Number One totally called his possession. She flat out didn't believe he'd say those things to Sam. But I hesitated to guess that, because I guessed it at the end of last season, when he questioned if they should just let Sam out to do what he was capable of doing.
Then came the biggest gasp. I expected Bobby to knife the demon behind him, but himself? No one can ever say now that Bobby is not teh awesome.
The whole sword of Michael thing was so cool, too, how they tricked Dean into going there, and upped the stakes over and over, but Dean just kept saying no, and then CASTIEL.
We had some debate over what happened there. I first thought "Ha, Michael doesn't want that meat suit, Zachariah!" but as soon as Castiel started talking (after his badass fight--so much better than his fights last season), I thought "geez, no, that's god getting involved there." One of my friends doesn't trust him, thinks maybe Lucifer put him back together and got him involved, mainly because he was knifing angels. Or she thinks Michael. But I thought Zachariah was far too certain that Michael would just dive right into Dean as soon as he allowed it. Seems like he had to have been guided by Michael in that. I could be wrong, he could just be assuming Michael would take his place at the head of the army. So I'm thinking maybe Gabriel is the one who put Castiel back together and sent him in there. After all, he was knifing angels who'd defied God's will, who had actually stopped believing God was "in charge" anymore. If Anna had a death sentence for a bit of doubt and longing for emotion, and Lucifer was imprisoned for siding with the angels over humanity, then these guys actually got off easily.
So I'm reserving judgment on Castiel.
I saw the clip with the fangirl, so my delight over her was diminished due to repetition, but we giggled over her fanfic and her Galaxy Quest-esque reaction to Chuck's call. How many wanted to be her, feeling up Sam's chest? Show of hands. *raises hand* And how many wanted to comfort Dean and assure him we love him just the way he is? Show of hands. *raises hand*
We returned to teh awesomeness of Bobby back at the hospital, when he roared at the doctor over his caution that he might not walk again. Dean's speech in the hospital room was great, especially the GED/attitude line.
I loved the entire show so much, even though I knew I should be sad at the ending, I couldn't stop smiling. Partly because I know this is pretty much rock bottom for the brothers, and they'll be going up--maybe not directly from here, but it can't take too long for the healing to begin. I mean, Sam made some very poor decisions and let himself be manipulated, but his intentions were always, always good, and you can't argue with the fact that he did save lives. In the big picture, I can't condemn him.
Of course, Dean's pain doesn't come from the big picture. It can't. He's just as culpable. He was pushed to it, manipulated exactly the same (well, okay, not exactly) by Alistair into breaking the first seal. If he hadn't done that, Sam never would have been able to break the last one. So they have to be considered equal there. (I kept waiting for Dean to confess. I don't think he ever really did last season, so I'm not sure if Sam and Bobby know he started things off.)
Anyway, Dean's pain and his lack of trust don't stem from the end result of Sam's journey. They stem from that one moment when Sam broke with Dean and chose Ruby over him, almost killed him, in fact. It's completely personal and justified. And he's absolutely right, they can never go back to what they had before. But in the long run, they'll build something new, stronger, healthier, and probably far more worth loving by the fandom.
And that's saying something. :)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
IT'S ALMOST TIME
I kept forgetting. I had a meeting today with some other authors, and we talked and talked about everything under the sun. Then I'd remember at random moments...
Tonight is Supernatural!!!!!!!!!!
And I'd feel a squeal of glee.
Now it's half an hour away, and I can't waaaaiiiiiiiiiiitttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!
Off to make popcorn!
Tonight is Supernatural!!!!!!!!!!
And I'd feel a squeal of glee.
Now it's half an hour away, and I can't waaaaiiiiiiiiiiitttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!
Off to make popcorn!
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Welcome Guest Blogger MJ Fredrick!
I’ve always written stories to relax, telling myself stories to go to sleep, telling myself stories on road trips, telling myself stories because I liked having a situation I could manipulate to please me. Sometimes it meant having a movie star fall in love with me—yes, I wrote a lot of Mary Sue heroines. I was able to take mental trips to places I couldn’t afford to go, to have adventures I am not brave enough to have.Never was writing more of an escape than the summer I started writing Beneath the Surface. I’d ended a terrible school year with the principal from hell. I was ready to give up my teaching certificate if I couldn’t get another job. My grandmother, who I loved with my whole heart, fell and hit her head and was in the hospital that summer. At first everything seemed fine, and she was sent home, but she wouldn’t eat so had to go back into the hospital and eventually into a nursing home and then to hospice.
I spent time every day wherever she was, and I’d come home and write. I wrote about adventure and treasure and lost love reunited. I wrote about pain and sorrow and loss. All the time I wrote, I knew this was the first book of mine my grandmother wouldn’t read, but I wrote, every day, diving into the world of Adrian and Mallory, digging to find their conflict, revealing the love that had only been buried. I could find joy in this world, no matter what bad happened to Adrian and Mallory, I knew they would have a happy ending.
That’s what I tell people who ask me why I love to write and read romance. No matter how bad anything else is, I know I’ll find a happy ending in the pages of a romance.
Here’s the blurb for Beneath the Surface:
In retrospect, perhaps archaeologist Mallory Reeves shouldn’t have delivered the divorce papers to her estranged husband mere weeks before her marriage to another man. She knew seeing Adrian again would stir up memories, but she didn’t expect so many of them to be good, not after the mess they both made three years ago. She also didn’t expect to want to stay at the dig site on the Yucatan Peninsula. But the lure of the ancient ship and, yes, her sexy ex provide more of a draw than the white picket fence she thought she wanted.
Marine archaeologist Adrian Reeves has good reason to trust no one. His former partner—and former best friend—made off with his last archaeological find. And his wife left him, frustrated by his obsession for professional revenge. Now both Mallory and his nemesis have returned, and it can’t be an accident that they’ve turned up in the middle of the most important excavation of his career. Seeing her again unearths old pain—and rekindles never-forgotten desire. Now he has to decide if he can trust Mallory again. More importantly, if he can trust himself with her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks, MJ, for guesting here today! I can't wait to read BTS!
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Or is it EVP?
I had a weird moment the other night. I was getting into bed, and the "in use" indicator on the telephone on my nightstand was flashing. It was, like, one in the morning, so there was no reason for that. I picked up the phone, and the screen said "line in use." Trepidatiously, I hit the "on" button. Static. And then an electronic noise similar to a fax machine, but not exactly like a fax machine. I turned the phone off and then on, and it was gone.
"This is how every paranormal horror movie starts," I thought.
But then I figured it out. The TiVo/DVR was probably calling in for updates. That had to be it.
Right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a deficiency of book discussion on this blog, and I harbor a fairly high level of guilt about it. I'm so afraid I'll miss one friend's release or announcement, that I just don't mention any. Ditto when I read books by people I know--I don't want anyone to feel bad that I neglected to post about their book, so I don't post about any reading, most of the time. But there is one surefire way to make absolutely certain I'll post about you and your book--be a guest blogger! :)
So tomorrow I'll be thrilled to host MJ Fredrick, author of Hot Shot, Where There's Smoke, and last week's release, Beneath the Surface. She'll be talking about writing as escape, so don't miss it!
"This is how every paranormal horror movie starts," I thought.
But then I figured it out. The TiVo/DVR was probably calling in for updates. That had to be it.
Right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a deficiency of book discussion on this blog, and I harbor a fairly high level of guilt about it. I'm so afraid I'll miss one friend's release or announcement, that I just don't mention any. Ditto when I read books by people I know--I don't want anyone to feel bad that I neglected to post about their book, so I don't post about any reading, most of the time. But there is one surefire way to make absolutely certain I'll post about you and your book--be a guest blogger! :)So tomorrow I'll be thrilled to host MJ Fredrick, author of Hot Shot, Where There's Smoke, and last week's release, Beneath the Surface. She'll be talking about writing as escape, so don't miss it!
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Cohesive Fail
I can't seem to post a single-topic post this week. *shrugs*
I'm doing some Facebook catching up right now, and this appears a lot:
" No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day."
At first, who posted it made sense. The first three or four were authors, and we're a small world. But then I saw Christopher Lennertz, a composer (video games, movies, and SUPERNATURAL), who is very much not in the same world. Kinda cool.
I don't care how many people tell us technology is distancing us from each other, I keep seeing more and more ways it's doing the opposite.
~~~~~~~~~~~
So today Number One was telling me about this story she's reading in English. She gives a little rundown of the story, and says as she read, first thing she thought was "The Benders!" I said, "Ray Bradbury, The Most Dangerous Game" and she was floored that I knew what she was talking about. *snort* Kids.
(But srsly, as good as Bradbury is, and as teachable as that story is, why does generation after generation get taught the same musty old literature? How about some contemporary stuff that comments on the human condition NOW? Mix it up a little, people.)
~~~~~~~~~~~
Productive day today. Cleaned my office (whoa, there's carpet in here!) and did my filing, which necessitated spreading the foot-tall pile over the pool table. To-do list is decimated. Not really smaller, but it was a good day.
Now I'm off to watch some Supernatural season 4 DVD bonus features and write an analysis for Supernatural Sisters! Check it out. After midnight. Central time.
Night!
I'm doing some Facebook catching up right now, and this appears a lot:
" No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day."
At first, who posted it made sense. The first three or four were authors, and we're a small world. But then I saw Christopher Lennertz, a composer (video games, movies, and SUPERNATURAL), who is very much not in the same world. Kinda cool.
I don't care how many people tell us technology is distancing us from each other, I keep seeing more and more ways it's doing the opposite.
~~~~~~~~~~~
So today Number One was telling me about this story she's reading in English. She gives a little rundown of the story, and says as she read, first thing she thought was "The Benders!" I said, "Ray Bradbury, The Most Dangerous Game" and she was floored that I knew what she was talking about. *snort* Kids.
(But srsly, as good as Bradbury is, and as teachable as that story is, why does generation after generation get taught the same musty old literature? How about some contemporary stuff that comments on the human condition NOW? Mix it up a little, people.)
~~~~~~~~~~~
Productive day today. Cleaned my office (whoa, there's carpet in here!) and did my filing, which necessitated spreading the foot-tall pile over the pool table. To-do list is decimated. Not really smaller, but it was a good day.
Now I'm off to watch some Supernatural season 4 DVD bonus features and write an analysis for Supernatural Sisters! Check it out. After midnight. Central time.
Night!
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
First Week of School Annoyances
1. Teachers who have typos or errors in their course descriptions. "Everyday" is an adjective. And yes, I made proofreading marks on half of Number One's papers I had to sign.
2. Parents who ignore the rules, particularly pertaining to drop-offs. The ones who stop dead center in front of the walk to the main doors instead of pulling up so five more cars can fit and drop kids at the same time are irritating. What, their preshus babays can't walk 15 more feet?! But worse are the ones who stop in the passing lane because they don't want to wait their friggin' turn. They hold up the flow of traffic, endanger their kids, and risk fender benders. Morons.
3. Time speeding by at three times the speed it did in the summer, so I only seem to get a third as much done, despite being alone with no interruptions (except Tracy)!
4. The need to eat. I'm trying to work on my book, and my growling stomach is totally distracting.
5. People who post answers on loops several days after ten other people already posted the same answers. I admit I learned the hard way, but I read all my mail before I answer it, because other people's time is valuable and I don't want to look like a moron.
6. Not getting e-mails back when I want them. This one is totally internal because I don't expect everyone to work on my timetable. That would be obnoxious. Still, it would be nice to get the ones I'm waiting for now, instead of in half an hour when I'll be deep in an escape scene (or, even better, the last few pages of the book!) and will be compelled to break the flow to address the issues related to the e-mail. (I have problems leaving things hanging.)
7. All the Supernatural stuff flowing around me. I gave in and watched a clip, and it didn't ease my gnawing need for the show, it made it worse. And reminded me there are tons of reports out there from Vancouver, and I don't have time to go find them and read them, but the addiction is giving me the shakes. September 10th is toooo far away!
8. Computers that need serious maintenance when I don't have time to do it! (Not mine, knock wood).
Not everything is annoying. I am alone, so I can work guilt-free. The inevitable bus issues on Monday were quickly worked out, and even Number One's horrible first day was eradicated by how well the second day went. Our evenings are busy, but not to the level of hectic, and tonight I have virtually no obligations. Looking forward to weekend activities and not even minding the school schedule that gives us a four-day weekend.
Now, if I could just get through this to-do list...
2. Parents who ignore the rules, particularly pertaining to drop-offs. The ones who stop dead center in front of the walk to the main doors instead of pulling up so five more cars can fit and drop kids at the same time are irritating. What, their preshus babays can't walk 15 more feet?! But worse are the ones who stop in the passing lane because they don't want to wait their friggin' turn. They hold up the flow of traffic, endanger their kids, and risk fender benders. Morons.
3. Time speeding by at three times the speed it did in the summer, so I only seem to get a third as much done, despite being alone with no interruptions (except Tracy)!
4. The need to eat. I'm trying to work on my book, and my growling stomach is totally distracting.
5. People who post answers on loops several days after ten other people already posted the same answers. I admit I learned the hard way, but I read all my mail before I answer it, because other people's time is valuable and I don't want to look like a moron.
6. Not getting e-mails back when I want them. This one is totally internal because I don't expect everyone to work on my timetable. That would be obnoxious. Still, it would be nice to get the ones I'm waiting for now, instead of in half an hour when I'll be deep in an escape scene (or, even better, the last few pages of the book!) and will be compelled to break the flow to address the issues related to the e-mail. (I have problems leaving things hanging.)
7. All the Supernatural stuff flowing around me. I gave in and watched a clip, and it didn't ease my gnawing need for the show, it made it worse. And reminded me there are tons of reports out there from Vancouver, and I don't have time to go find them and read them, but the addiction is giving me the shakes. September 10th is toooo far away!
8. Computers that need serious maintenance when I don't have time to do it! (Not mine, knock wood).
Not everything is annoying. I am alone, so I can work guilt-free. The inevitable bus issues on Monday were quickly worked out, and even Number One's horrible first day was eradicated by how well the second day went. Our evenings are busy, but not to the level of hectic, and tonight I have virtually no obligations. Looking forward to weekend activities and not even minding the school schedule that gives us a four-day weekend.
Now, if I could just get through this to-do list...
Friday, August 28, 2009
Hit and Run
I have a ton of stuff to fill the rest of my day (contest judging, website proofreading, text rewriting, novel revising) but I was just catching up on e-mail. I looked at the "33 of 44" on the bottom, all 11 of which came in as I was answering earlier ones, so I don't know what they are or who they're from. There's such a feeling of anticipation, because any of those could bring good news, something exciting, or a lovely compliment.
Of course, they could also be spam from "threateninggoat.com" asking if I'm looking for the Fountain of Youth.
Does anyone else feel that way when they're checking e-mail, or am I just weird?
Of course, they could also be spam from "threateninggoat.com" asking if I'm looking for the Fountain of Youth.
Does anyone else feel that way when they're checking e-mail, or am I just weird?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Uh-Oh
Last year sometime, we bought a Wii, partly because it's cool and everyone has one, partly because it's more active than watching TV. We have a few games, but some of them are either too sedentary, or the family pretends they are. And Wii Sports can only go so far before you get bored, you know?
So this week we went and got Wii Sports Resort. And OMG.
1. I killed 2 hours today playing. What? Deadline? Yeah, I'm on track. Just have a little bit more to do today. What do you mean it's not today anymore?!
2. To use another definition of the verb, I kill at swordfighting. Not the platform. And not the speed slicing, though I love that. J just has faster reflexes than I do (but not faster than Number Two). No, I slice through my opponents on the swordmaster one like they're butter. My level is over 500 already, and I just started today.
3. While I suck rotten ostrich eggs at anything to do with frisbees and am only passable at basketball and archery, I am a MASTER at wakeboarding. Okay, not Master with a capital M. I'm 52 points behind Number Two. But it was gratifying to beat J at it after he slaughtered me on frisbee golf. It told me to give up. Srsly!
4. My right arm is going to fall off. It aches right now, shoulder to elbow, and it's that kind of crampy, deep-seated ache you know will mean when I get up in the morning it won't move. And if I force it, you'll hear the screams in Transylvania.
5. I wonder how good I am at left-handed swordfighting?
So this week we went and got Wii Sports Resort. And OMG.
1. I killed 2 hours today playing. What? Deadline? Yeah, I'm on track. Just have a little bit more to do today. What do you mean it's not today anymore?!
2. To use another definition of the verb, I kill at swordfighting. Not the platform. And not the speed slicing, though I love that. J just has faster reflexes than I do (but not faster than Number Two). No, I slice through my opponents on the swordmaster one like they're butter. My level is over 500 already, and I just started today.
3. While I suck rotten ostrich eggs at anything to do with frisbees and am only passable at basketball and archery, I am a MASTER at wakeboarding. Okay, not Master with a capital M. I'm 52 points behind Number Two. But it was gratifying to beat J at it after he slaughtered me on frisbee golf. It told me to give up. Srsly!
4. My right arm is going to fall off. It aches right now, shoulder to elbow, and it's that kind of crampy, deep-seated ache you know will mean when I get up in the morning it won't move. And if I force it, you'll hear the screams in Transylvania.
5. I wonder how good I am at left-handed swordfighting?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Sunday Stuff
Dream Update:
Last night I was an intern working for editor Fred Kirsch of Patriots Football Weekly only his office wasn't in Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, it was at the beach in South Carolina. He had three turtles in his jacuzzi bathtub.
But the horrible/weird part was that I was driving on a big bridge high over deep water and saw a school bus flip sideways off the bridge. Something else happened that sidetracked me before I could do anything, so later I guess my subconscious felt guilty because I saw two other kinds of buses deliberately drive off bridges, and it was apparently in solidarity for two drivers who had died the week before because of negligent maintenance or something.
~~~~~~~~~
The booksigning went really well yesterday. Because I'm not as good as some of my fellow authors (not the ones at the event) at total pushiness and forcing my books on people who clearly don't have an interest, I only sold one. We had fairly steady walk-through, though, and altogether they took in enough to donate $500 to the Lebanon Library, so that was worth it.
I barely got home alive, though, I was so tired (despite getting enough sleep all week, it's clearly not quality sleep). I dozed off on the couch for the 45 minutes before I had to take Number One and her friend to the movies, and while I did, Frisbee dozed with me.
After, of course, kneading my face along with the pillow and grooming my hairstyle into one more to her liking:
The Time-Traveler's Wife was pretty good. (Mild Spoilers)
I haven't read the book, but I bet it's better. The movie had weaknesses--part of it jumped from one unimportant travel to another, and even the "important" scenes felt short and episodic. There were allusions to things that made him travel, like alcohol and being in a TV store. These allusions were contradictory to the visual evidence that he was mostly passive in the whole thing. There were a lot of unanswered questions. He had a genetic anomaly that he could pass on to a child, but where did he get it?
There were strengths, too, mostly between Henry and Clare. When they first meet as adults, it's hot. I adore Rachel McAdams, and she did a great job. I loved that even when traveling caused big problems, Henry never apologized. It wasn't his fault, and he couldn't control it. Other than his frequent absences, though, there was a dearth of meat until the pregnancy issues started. I wanted more with Dr. Kendrick, more of the science of it, more showing of how he got to be the sophisticated, wordly man who first appeared to Clare when she was 6, instead of the helpless one she meets as an adult. It's hard to pack all that into a movie, and what they did pack in was good enough to make me cry.
Warning for those like me who hate to be blindsided:
This is not a feel-good movie. Though, at least, probably most of us guess that going in.
We saw a preview for The Blind Side, I think it's called, where Sandra Bullock plays a real-life rich mom who takes in a very underprivileged boy. The damn TRAILER made me tear up! This one will undoubtedly be feel-good, at the end.
Two weeks left of summer. Two weeks left on my two deadlines. I'd better get to work.
Last night I was an intern working for editor Fred Kirsch of Patriots Football Weekly only his office wasn't in Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, it was at the beach in South Carolina. He had three turtles in his jacuzzi bathtub.
But the horrible/weird part was that I was driving on a big bridge high over deep water and saw a school bus flip sideways off the bridge. Something else happened that sidetracked me before I could do anything, so later I guess my subconscious felt guilty because I saw two other kinds of buses deliberately drive off bridges, and it was apparently in solidarity for two drivers who had died the week before because of negligent maintenance or something.
~~~~~~~~~
The booksigning went really well yesterday. Because I'm not as good as some of my fellow authors (not the ones at the event) at total pushiness and forcing my books on people who clearly don't have an interest, I only sold one. We had fairly steady walk-through, though, and altogether they took in enough to donate $500 to the Lebanon Library, so that was worth it.
I barely got home alive, though, I was so tired (despite getting enough sleep all week, it's clearly not quality sleep). I dozed off on the couch for the 45 minutes before I had to take Number One and her friend to the movies, and while I did, Frisbee dozed with me.
After, of course, kneading my face along with the pillow and grooming my hairstyle into one more to her liking:
The Time-Traveler's Wife was pretty good. (Mild Spoilers)
I haven't read the book, but I bet it's better. The movie had weaknesses--part of it jumped from one unimportant travel to another, and even the "important" scenes felt short and episodic. There were allusions to things that made him travel, like alcohol and being in a TV store. These allusions were contradictory to the visual evidence that he was mostly passive in the whole thing. There were a lot of unanswered questions. He had a genetic anomaly that he could pass on to a child, but where did he get it?
There were strengths, too, mostly between Henry and Clare. When they first meet as adults, it's hot. I adore Rachel McAdams, and she did a great job. I loved that even when traveling caused big problems, Henry never apologized. It wasn't his fault, and he couldn't control it. Other than his frequent absences, though, there was a dearth of meat until the pregnancy issues started. I wanted more with Dr. Kendrick, more of the science of it, more showing of how he got to be the sophisticated, wordly man who first appeared to Clare when she was 6, instead of the helpless one she meets as an adult. It's hard to pack all that into a movie, and what they did pack in was good enough to make me cry.
Warning for those like me who hate to be blindsided:
This is not a feel-good movie. Though, at least, probably most of us guess that going in.
We saw a preview for The Blind Side, I think it's called, where Sandra Bullock plays a real-life rich mom who takes in a very underprivileged boy. The damn TRAILER made me tear up! This one will undoubtedly be feel-good, at the end.
Two weeks left of summer. Two weeks left on my two deadlines. I'd better get to work.
Friday, August 14, 2009
I Can't Help Myself...
I'm seeing a lot of mini-blogging about this.
Nutshell: A woman was raped in a hotel parking garage at gunpoint in front of her children, with the rapist threatening their lives. There is little more horrifying than that. Her rapist was captured, prosecuted, and sentenced. Though that's more justice than a lot of women get, I doubt it went very far toward her recovery.
The woman then filed a lawsuit against the Marriott, claiming they knew the rapist was hanging around and did nothing.
The gist of the Twitters and Facebook status outrage is that the Marriott defense, in part, says she failed to exercise due care, interpreted by the public as blaming her for her own rape.
That's unconscionable, but it's the LAWYERS who are doing that. The LAWYERS are the soulless, unfeeling freaks who would apply standard response language (according to other lawyers in the comments of the linked article). I say the lawyers are working for Marriott so the defendant should have a say in how the defense is mounted, but someone else said it's in the insurance company's hands, not the hotels, and if there is anyone more soulless and unfeeling than lawyers, it's insurance companies. I mean, we've all got to agree with that, right?
Another detail is that the woman is only suing for $15,000. I don't think this is true. The article says MORE THAN $15,000, and another attorney in the comments said this is also a standard factor in Connecticut law, that they have to prove the case is worth at least that much. Most companies are smart enough to settle a case that's going to make them look bad, so they either got really bad legal advice (by someone seeking a spotlight, maybe?), or they know the case could cost them millions, maybe billions, once it goes to court. It's also possible they are trying to avoid a precedent. If they settle this, how many people are going to come out of the woodwork trying to blame hotels for things that happened in them?
Part of the prosecution argument is that the man was hanging around for days before the rape, that hotel staff saw him, and no one did anything about it.
1. How do they know he was hanging around? If the woman saw him, why didn't she report it?
2. If two separate security people and a staff person all later admitted they saw him but none of them knew others saw him, how would they have known their one spotting was part of a pattern? One person has to see someone multiple times to recognize loitering.
3. Someone in the comments to the article said all security had to do was ask him if he's a guest and if not, kick him off the property.
3a. Yeah, 'cuz he's going to admit that he's not staying in the hotel (and hey, maybe he was--the article doesn't say).
3b. Do people realize how many thousands of people go through a hotel every day? The turnover of guests over a week probably numbers in five digits, PLUS you don't have to be a guest at the hotel to be on the premises--a conference could have hundreds of people attending it who aren't guests of the hotel. I was in the Waldman Park Marriott a few weeks ago for HOURS. I was in the same spot multiple times. I could have gone to my car in the parking garage two or three times during the day. They should have asked me if I was a guest and kicked me off the premises...oh, except I don't think any staff saw me, beyond the server in the restaurant and maybe the bartender in the bar, several hours later.
I am NOT blaming the victim here. What happened to her is horrifying and my heart breaks for her and her children. I totally understand the need to lash out and place blame as part of the healing process. Maybe there WERE things the Marriott staff could have done. I don't think the attorneys were wise in the way they laid out the defense, and I also think they should have just settled and kept it quiet (though if this was filed over a year ago, maybe they tried and she wouldn't).
But I'm not going to assume extreme negligence by the staff based on a few lines in a news story, nor do I think boycotting the company who licensed their name to the hotel will have any impact, though I wouldn't tell anyone not to do it--that's personal principle.
Mini-blogging and our short attention spans/lack of time have given us more opportunities for knee-jerk reactions to bits of information, and this post is my rebellion against that. Feel free to call me names in the comments; I'll feel free to delete them. :)
Disclaimer: The article I'm referencing seems to have its dates wrong. It says the woman filed suit against the hotel in May 2008 and that her rape occurred on October 10, 2008, which is obviously impossible. Therefore, many things in the article could also be wrong, invalidating anything I said.
Nutshell: A woman was raped in a hotel parking garage at gunpoint in front of her children, with the rapist threatening their lives. There is little more horrifying than that. Her rapist was captured, prosecuted, and sentenced. Though that's more justice than a lot of women get, I doubt it went very far toward her recovery.
The woman then filed a lawsuit against the Marriott, claiming they knew the rapist was hanging around and did nothing.
The gist of the Twitters and Facebook status outrage is that the Marriott defense, in part, says she failed to exercise due care, interpreted by the public as blaming her for her own rape.
That's unconscionable, but it's the LAWYERS who are doing that. The LAWYERS are the soulless, unfeeling freaks who would apply standard response language (according to other lawyers in the comments of the linked article). I say the lawyers are working for Marriott so the defendant should have a say in how the defense is mounted, but someone else said it's in the insurance company's hands, not the hotels, and if there is anyone more soulless and unfeeling than lawyers, it's insurance companies. I mean, we've all got to agree with that, right?
Another detail is that the woman is only suing for $15,000. I don't think this is true. The article says MORE THAN $15,000, and another attorney in the comments said this is also a standard factor in Connecticut law, that they have to prove the case is worth at least that much. Most companies are smart enough to settle a case that's going to make them look bad, so they either got really bad legal advice (by someone seeking a spotlight, maybe?), or they know the case could cost them millions, maybe billions, once it goes to court. It's also possible they are trying to avoid a precedent. If they settle this, how many people are going to come out of the woodwork trying to blame hotels for things that happened in them?
Part of the prosecution argument is that the man was hanging around for days before the rape, that hotel staff saw him, and no one did anything about it.
1. How do they know he was hanging around? If the woman saw him, why didn't she report it?
2. If two separate security people and a staff person all later admitted they saw him but none of them knew others saw him, how would they have known their one spotting was part of a pattern? One person has to see someone multiple times to recognize loitering.
3. Someone in the comments to the article said all security had to do was ask him if he's a guest and if not, kick him off the property.
3a. Yeah, 'cuz he's going to admit that he's not staying in the hotel (and hey, maybe he was--the article doesn't say).
3b. Do people realize how many thousands of people go through a hotel every day? The turnover of guests over a week probably numbers in five digits, PLUS you don't have to be a guest at the hotel to be on the premises--a conference could have hundreds of people attending it who aren't guests of the hotel. I was in the Waldman Park Marriott a few weeks ago for HOURS. I was in the same spot multiple times. I could have gone to my car in the parking garage two or three times during the day. They should have asked me if I was a guest and kicked me off the premises...oh, except I don't think any staff saw me, beyond the server in the restaurant and maybe the bartender in the bar, several hours later.
I am NOT blaming the victim here. What happened to her is horrifying and my heart breaks for her and her children. I totally understand the need to lash out and place blame as part of the healing process. Maybe there WERE things the Marriott staff could have done. I don't think the attorneys were wise in the way they laid out the defense, and I also think they should have just settled and kept it quiet (though if this was filed over a year ago, maybe they tried and she wouldn't).
But I'm not going to assume extreme negligence by the staff based on a few lines in a news story, nor do I think boycotting the company who licensed their name to the hotel will have any impact, though I wouldn't tell anyone not to do it--that's personal principle.
Mini-blogging and our short attention spans/lack of time have given us more opportunities for knee-jerk reactions to bits of information, and this post is my rebellion against that. Feel free to call me names in the comments; I'll feel free to delete them. :)
Disclaimer: The article I'm referencing seems to have its dates wrong. It says the woman filed suit against the hotel in May 2008 and that her rape occurred on October 10, 2008, which is obviously impossible. Therefore, many things in the article could also be wrong, invalidating anything I said.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Craziness
Okay, that's not craziness. It's just an official "Up to Speed" recap reel. But look at the end! Looklooklook! It's the new title card, I think! And I LOVE it.
Interestingly, the background looks very much like the sky in my dream last night (one of them), and that's kind of freaky. Or crazy.
It used to be that when I wasn't writing for long stretches, I'd have these heavy-duty, vivid dreams. Exhausting ones, where I didn't feel like I'd slept at all, like I was doing the stuff in my dreams instead of resting. Once I started writing regularly, though, they subsided back to normal vague random brain-firings.
Not anymore.
Though I've been writing, and very hard, my dreams just seem to be getting worse. This morning I had these two doozies:
First, Number One was trying to fix or change an outlet in her room, but it wasn't going right. She hadn't turned off the breaker for her room, so I went down to do it. When I tried, it caused an EMP above the house. A brilliant white-purple flash of light that coalesced and burst. I did it three times, then tried to turn off the main breaker, which seemed to do fine, except stuff in the house still worked (electrically speaking).
I went outside to see what was over the house, because authorities were showing up. There were swirling clouds and flashing lights (in the dark sky), like the government had sent a satellite over us, and at one point I thought I'd actually signaled aliens.
Then the dream abruptly changed. I was back at the beach, though it wasn't Myrtle but somewhere else. I'd gotten separated from J and the kids and was walking on the street just off the beach, talking to some friends. The tide was in, and suddenly a big wave soared in and broke against the sea wall. But it didn't recede, it just covered the beach.
I couldn't reach J by cell phone, he'd forwarded to his work phone, which had a recording that he was out of the office for a week. I kept calling and calling as I wandered the street, looking, terrified that they'd been on the sand. Then the waves kept flowing inland, until I was being pushed forward, like upright bodysurfing. A couple of kids near me said it was so cool, and I said "Yeah, except for the people who drowned." Then my subconscious reprimanded me, because I felt bad for pointing that horrible thing out to them.
I guess at some point J called me, because I was then in my former boss's house while I talked to him. I didn't ask about the kids! But after I got off the phone, I assumed he'd have said if they weren't with him and okay.
I don't remember why, maybe I was pushed under the house by the water and was kind of trapped, but I had to climb up inside the house. After I did, other people showed up, including John Locke, except the way he was acting, I figured it was that other guy from last season's finale (LOST, for those who don't watch it). I saw a guy in a mirror who wasn't really there, but who was, and I scowled and scolded him for being invisible.
Oh, and I'm not sure when it was, but at some point, I was on a residential city street and there was a cat in a tree, and a guy was acting like it was about to fall out, and I was gonna scoff and say it wasn't, because really, that doesn't happen. And then it did, but the woman I was with caught it. I didn't recognize her, but I think it was supposed to be Lori. So if anyone has a white and orange long-haired cat who is prone to treeing itself--it's okay. You can come pick it up during the next REM cycle.
The weird thing about that part (yeah, I know, like the whole thing isn't weird) is that there were food dishes hanging from strings tied to tree branches, and I was like, "do they entice the poor cat up there?" And there was a red plastic curvy slide-type thing, and I think the cat was supposed to slide down it. I realized it was attached to a special truck that looked like a fire truck but was just for rescuing cats. Except no one was manning it, they'd apparently gotten tired of trying and just left the poor cat to fall onto the sidewalk.
So there you have it. A peek inside the insanity of my subconscious.
What did you dream about last night?
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Booksigning Saturday!
10% of the proceeds to benefit the Lebanon Library.
SATURDAY AUGUST 15TH
MULTI AUTHOR BOOKSIGNING
10-11 a.m. discussion panel on how to become an author with a publishing contract with Megan Hart, Savannah Russe, Mindy Klasky, and Maria V. Snyder
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Author Signings
Angela Ginnetto
Romance
Vicky BurkholderRomance
Victoria Smith
Romance
Misty Simon
Romance and Mystery
Arthur Ford
Local Interest
T.K. Marion
Civil War
Natalie DamschroderRomance and Erotic Romance
Brian Keene
Horror
Savannah Russe
Paranormal Romance
Byron N. Morrison
Fantasy
Sandra Asher
Childrens
Charlene Haines
Young Adult
Kelly Ann Butterbaugh
Children’s History
Doris Washington
Poetry
Robert Vogel
Fiction
Dr. Dewey Shaak
Memoir
Richard Curtin
Military fiction
Dr. Laszlo Geder
Memoir
Mindy Klasky
Fiction
Frank Bittinger
Horror
J.F. Gonzalez
Horror
Maria V. Snyder
Fantasy
Joan Landis
Self Help
Megan HartErotic Romance
Lucy Finn
Romance
Andy Pete
Fantasy
List subject to change without notice
Prize drawings!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Let Me Be Random
I'm ba-ack! Yay.
So I've traveled a lot this summer. Tennessee for a week, Maryland for a soccer game, DC two days in a row for a booksigning and then professional meetings, New York and back, and then Myrtle Beach. The longer trips put us through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. That's a lot of states in 7 weeks.
What I've found really interesting is that gas prices have been essentially the same everywhere I went, even New York City. I've been amazed by that. Of course, I made that observation, then got home and gas here in Podunkville, PA, is 20 cents a gallon higher than it was yesterday in Myrtle Beach, Ultra-Commercial Vacationville. That's, like, opposite how things usually are.
Most of you probably don't pay attention, but if you look, you'll see this post was put up around 2:30 a.m.-ish. I got up this morning, did some chores, and spent several hours working (both household and professional stuff). I didn't do the four most important things on my list before the family talked me into a movie, and I had to do grocery shopping (yes, I live in the freakin' grocery store!!!). Then I made dinner. I came back and did two of the important things, but it was 10:30 and my brain was fogged, so doing the other two important things would be stupid. They need a sharp brain. So I brainstormed with a friend who's writing proposals for her publisher, and started catching up on blog reading. Which I've just completed (almost), and it inspired me to blog.
But now I feel I wasted four hours of what could have been productive time. It wouldn't have been. Revisions and critiques are a lot harder than reading blogs. Especially when I don't comment.
Then I felt guilty, because Jessica/jade_kadir did a meme that said I was one of the three people she talks to most online, and with vacation and busyness that led to late reading, I've been very silent lately. And Gail/un_conscience said no one seemed interested in her SPN recaps, and I totally am, but never commented on them...ref. vacation and busyness and reading several days after the post went up.
But even when I'm not busy, I don't comment much, on any of the blogs I read. Sometimes it's because I tend to read them late at night, like I did tonight, and that generally means tired brain = can't think of pithy comments. Sometimes I don't even need that excuse, I just don't have anything to contribute. But it doesn't mean the people I'm reading are shouting into the wilderness. I'm always entertained and they are always making a connection, even if they don't know it.
I need to become better about telling them.
I saw two movies this weekend. Friday, while J and Number One saw GI Joe, Number Two and I saw Aliens in the Attic. I was pleasantly surprised. It was funny, and decently acted, and far, far better than, say, the Hannah Montana movie. Today Number Two talked Daddy into seeing that with her, and Number One and I went to (500) Days of Summer. I knew it was one of those typically downer-topiced indies, but I've loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt since Third Rock from the Sun and Zooey Deschanel is decent. I found the movie delightful, because it did three things:
1. Used a non-linear timeline to break up the downer stuff with happy stuff.
2. Made the downer stuff funny, even while it was tragic.
3. Ended on a high note.
So definitely worth the price of a ticket.
The downside to taking vacation at the beginning of August is that when you get back, the month is nearly half gone. I know, the math doesn't compute, we were only gone 8 days, but yeah. I have 22 days to my deadline, and must finish the paid critique before then, too, and the schedule is full of soccer and back-to-school stuff, and if I have time to blog at all, it will probably be at 2:42 a.m. every time.
I know. I can see you wincing. Me, too.
So I've traveled a lot this summer. Tennessee for a week, Maryland for a soccer game, DC two days in a row for a booksigning and then professional meetings, New York and back, and then Myrtle Beach. The longer trips put us through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. That's a lot of states in 7 weeks.
What I've found really interesting is that gas prices have been essentially the same everywhere I went, even New York City. I've been amazed by that. Of course, I made that observation, then got home and gas here in Podunkville, PA, is 20 cents a gallon higher than it was yesterday in Myrtle Beach, Ultra-Commercial Vacationville. That's, like, opposite how things usually are.
Most of you probably don't pay attention, but if you look, you'll see this post was put up around 2:30 a.m.-ish. I got up this morning, did some chores, and spent several hours working (both household and professional stuff). I didn't do the four most important things on my list before the family talked me into a movie, and I had to do grocery shopping (yes, I live in the freakin' grocery store!!!). Then I made dinner. I came back and did two of the important things, but it was 10:30 and my brain was fogged, so doing the other two important things would be stupid. They need a sharp brain. So I brainstormed with a friend who's writing proposals for her publisher, and started catching up on blog reading. Which I've just completed (almost), and it inspired me to blog.
But now I feel I wasted four hours of what could have been productive time. It wouldn't have been. Revisions and critiques are a lot harder than reading blogs. Especially when I don't comment.
Then I felt guilty, because Jessica/jade_kadir did a meme that said I was one of the three people she talks to most online, and with vacation and busyness that led to late reading, I've been very silent lately. And Gail/un_conscience said no one seemed interested in her SPN recaps, and I totally am, but never commented on them...ref. vacation and busyness and reading several days after the post went up.
But even when I'm not busy, I don't comment much, on any of the blogs I read. Sometimes it's because I tend to read them late at night, like I did tonight, and that generally means tired brain = can't think of pithy comments. Sometimes I don't even need that excuse, I just don't have anything to contribute. But it doesn't mean the people I'm reading are shouting into the wilderness. I'm always entertained and they are always making a connection, even if they don't know it.
I need to become better about telling them.
I saw two movies this weekend. Friday, while J and Number One saw GI Joe, Number Two and I saw Aliens in the Attic. I was pleasantly surprised. It was funny, and decently acted, and far, far better than, say, the Hannah Montana movie. Today Number Two talked Daddy into seeing that with her, and Number One and I went to (500) Days of Summer. I knew it was one of those typically downer-topiced indies, but I've loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt since Third Rock from the Sun and Zooey Deschanel is decent. I found the movie delightful, because it did three things:
1. Used a non-linear timeline to break up the downer stuff with happy stuff.
2. Made the downer stuff funny, even while it was tragic.
3. Ended on a high note.
So definitely worth the price of a ticket.
The downside to taking vacation at the beginning of August is that when you get back, the month is nearly half gone. I know, the math doesn't compute, we were only gone 8 days, but yeah. I have 22 days to my deadline, and must finish the paid critique before then, too, and the schedule is full of soccer and back-to-school stuff, and if I have time to blog at all, it will probably be at 2:42 a.m. every time.
I know. I can see you wincing. Me, too.
Friday, August 07, 2009
Winding Down
The rest of the week has become a blur. We did the beach the last two days, and it didn't storm, but we all did get a little roasted. I keep lamenting my inability to stay at the beach for an entire day, like we always did when we were kids, but MAN, the sun is so much stronger now. I blame Tiffany Amber-Thiessen and her can of hairspray per episode.
I've changed in other ways, too. When we first got here, I kept scoffing at the beach club pool. I mean, we had the whole friggin' ocean at our feet! But then Wednesday, we rinsed off and swam in the pool before driving back to the resort, and that was actually kind of nice. Soothing, after the action of the waves and the stickiness of the salt and graininess of the sand.
One thing that hasn't changed is my preference for northern beaches. When the water temperature is only five degrees cooler than the air, there's nothing refreshing about it. I don't want to take a bath, I want to cool off from the deadly heat and humidity.
Gah. I sound like such a complainer! I'm at the beach. On vacation. And really, I'm loving it. I just spent so much time at the beach when I was a kid, my brain won't stop making comparisons.
Yesterday we did a banana boat ride. O. M. G. My arms ache like crazy. The ad on the website says all you have to do is hold on! HA. That's all. We were waiting by the water, watching the previous group coming in, and they capsized twice. That freaked out Number Two, and I tried to give her an out, but the boat was there and she said it was too late, so we got on, and she fretted the whole time about getting dumped in the ocean, a mile from shore, and I fretted about her fretting. Other than that, it was FUN. We had one near mishap when we tilted a little too far right and Number One, who was in the front and the most difficult position to hold on to (not to mention, facing the spray), nearly got dumped off. She wound up sprawled across the boat on her stomach. The guy running the Jet Ski pulling the boat was very good, though. He stopped immediately so we could right ourselves, and most of the ride, he hit the waves in the easiest possible way to stay on.
So we're aiming in to shore. I'd told Number Two we wouldn't capsize. Then we're almost there, and a wave tilts us, and Number One tilts left, and so do I, and then she overcompensates and flips us all off to the right. I kicked J pretty hard--couln't help it, he fell on top of me--but thought it was Number Two. I'm searching frantically for her, say, "Where is she?!" to J, and he chuckles.
"She's on the boat."
She was the only one who didn't fall off!
So that was quite an adventure. After hiking in the Myrtle Beach State Park in the morning, doing the boat ride, and battling the choppiest surf yet for a little while, we were pretty beat.
And Number Two STILL wanted to go to the pool last night! She's lucky she has such a game Daddy. Lame-o Mommy would have just sat poolside and read (which I did) and made her swim on her own.
I like dunking in the pool and cooling off (or whatever), but I'm not much into swimming in the pool for very long. The exception is the lazy river, which seems to be all the rage now. They have them everywhere we go. It's totally aimless floating, but since you're going somewhere, it feels like a purpose? I don't know. I just like it. And after Number Two got scolded for floating under her innertube, the guy telling her she was going to get her feet tore up, I had an idea. And guess what? The bottom of a lazy river is an AWESOME exfoliator for heel calluses.
Today's our last day, and we're all sad. We'll do the beach one more time (with the accompanying two more loads of laundry) and Number One talked J into taking her to see GI Joe, so I get to take Number Two to see Aliens in the Attic (yay). We also might go get a picture taken with baby tigers and apes. That one's up in the air.
Then it's the long drive back tomorrow. I won't sigh. Saving up all our points for two years (plus borrowing from next year) allowed us to have two vacations this summer, and I know a lot of people don't even get to do one. We're lucky.
Still...I've got doctor's appointments and soccer practices and meetings and a looming deadline waiting for me when I get home, and I'm just not ready to face that yet.
I've changed in other ways, too. When we first got here, I kept scoffing at the beach club pool. I mean, we had the whole friggin' ocean at our feet! But then Wednesday, we rinsed off and swam in the pool before driving back to the resort, and that was actually kind of nice. Soothing, after the action of the waves and the stickiness of the salt and graininess of the sand.
One thing that hasn't changed is my preference for northern beaches. When the water temperature is only five degrees cooler than the air, there's nothing refreshing about it. I don't want to take a bath, I want to cool off from the deadly heat and humidity.
Gah. I sound like such a complainer! I'm at the beach. On vacation. And really, I'm loving it. I just spent so much time at the beach when I was a kid, my brain won't stop making comparisons.
Yesterday we did a banana boat ride. O. M. G. My arms ache like crazy. The ad on the website says all you have to do is hold on! HA. That's all. We were waiting by the water, watching the previous group coming in, and they capsized twice. That freaked out Number Two, and I tried to give her an out, but the boat was there and she said it was too late, so we got on, and she fretted the whole time about getting dumped in the ocean, a mile from shore, and I fretted about her fretting. Other than that, it was FUN. We had one near mishap when we tilted a little too far right and Number One, who was in the front and the most difficult position to hold on to (not to mention, facing the spray), nearly got dumped off. She wound up sprawled across the boat on her stomach. The guy running the Jet Ski pulling the boat was very good, though. He stopped immediately so we could right ourselves, and most of the ride, he hit the waves in the easiest possible way to stay on.
So we're aiming in to shore. I'd told Number Two we wouldn't capsize. Then we're almost there, and a wave tilts us, and Number One tilts left, and so do I, and then she overcompensates and flips us all off to the right. I kicked J pretty hard--couln't help it, he fell on top of me--but thought it was Number Two. I'm searching frantically for her, say, "Where is she?!" to J, and he chuckles.
"She's on the boat."
She was the only one who didn't fall off!
So that was quite an adventure. After hiking in the Myrtle Beach State Park in the morning, doing the boat ride, and battling the choppiest surf yet for a little while, we were pretty beat.
And Number Two STILL wanted to go to the pool last night! She's lucky she has such a game Daddy. Lame-o Mommy would have just sat poolside and read (which I did) and made her swim on her own.
I like dunking in the pool and cooling off (or whatever), but I'm not much into swimming in the pool for very long. The exception is the lazy river, which seems to be all the rage now. They have them everywhere we go. It's totally aimless floating, but since you're going somewhere, it feels like a purpose? I don't know. I just like it. And after Number Two got scolded for floating under her innertube, the guy telling her she was going to get her feet tore up, I had an idea. And guess what? The bottom of a lazy river is an AWESOME exfoliator for heel calluses.
Today's our last day, and we're all sad. We'll do the beach one more time (with the accompanying two more loads of laundry) and Number One talked J into taking her to see GI Joe, so I get to take Number Two to see Aliens in the Attic (yay). We also might go get a picture taken with baby tigers and apes. That one's up in the air.
Then it's the long drive back tomorrow. I won't sigh. Saving up all our points for two years (plus borrowing from next year) allowed us to have two vacations this summer, and I know a lot of people don't even get to do one. We're lucky.
Still...I've got doctor's appointments and soccer practices and meetings and a looming deadline waiting for me when I get home, and I'm just not ready to face that yet.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Deja Vacation
Day 1: 13.5 hours of driving instead of the 9 it should be, mainly because of congested traffic. J is a trouper, for sure, for doing most of the driving.
Day 2: Got about an hour and a half at the beach before it started to storm. The beach club that gives us access to the beach had water damage so the lockers, showers, changing rooms, and snack bar are all closed. No one bothered to tell us, even when we called the front desk about using the beach club.
Spent most of the day running all over town trying to find a second bathing suit for Number One (found one, as well as replacements for my broken flip-flops). Did grocery shopping (twice), three loads of laundry and the dishes.
This is vacation?
~~~~~~~
Didn't get a chance to post...
Day 3: Repeat of day 2--just under two hours at the beach, rain started. Didn't storm as badly, but we didn't go out again. Except, oh, wait, to the grocery store. *sigh* We did get to Rioz for dinner--awesome Brazilian steakhouse--and then played mini golf and swam in the pool.
Day 4: Lazy day, letting injuries heal (not me this time!) and taking a break from the beach. Of course, it didn't rain. *sigh* Went to Magiquest, the fastest hour and a half in history, and narrowly defeated Number Two at a duel. Then we went in search of a bookstore and spent lots of money on books! Best part of the vacation so far! LOL
Now the kids are all over me to go pick up Sonic for dinner. We don't have Sonic at home, so it's a treat. A cheap one, luckily, since Rioz cost us two bills. Ouch.
Luckily, the beach is free. Hey, honey, how's your leg...?
Day 2: Got about an hour and a half at the beach before it started to storm. The beach club that gives us access to the beach had water damage so the lockers, showers, changing rooms, and snack bar are all closed. No one bothered to tell us, even when we called the front desk about using the beach club.
Spent most of the day running all over town trying to find a second bathing suit for Number One (found one, as well as replacements for my broken flip-flops). Did grocery shopping (twice), three loads of laundry and the dishes.
This is vacation?
~~~~~~~
Didn't get a chance to post...
Day 3: Repeat of day 2--just under two hours at the beach, rain started. Didn't storm as badly, but we didn't go out again. Except, oh, wait, to the grocery store. *sigh* We did get to Rioz for dinner--awesome Brazilian steakhouse--and then played mini golf and swam in the pool.
Day 4: Lazy day, letting injuries heal (not me this time!) and taking a break from the beach. Of course, it didn't rain. *sigh* Went to Magiquest, the fastest hour and a half in history, and narrowly defeated Number Two at a duel. Then we went in search of a bookstore and spent lots of money on books! Best part of the vacation so far! LOL
Now the kids are all over me to go pick up Sonic for dinner. We don't have Sonic at home, so it's a treat. A cheap one, luckily, since Rioz cost us two bills. Ouch.
Luckily, the beach is free. Hey, honey, how's your leg...?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Announcement
This post is dedicated to Shannon Stacey.
Seven weeks ago, Shannon posted on her blog about a new publisher with an impressive pedigree. Curious, because Shannon has also posted about new publishers that looked abysmal, I clicked over to check them out. And was impressed. I investigated backgrounds, Googled for more info, and thought, "hey, I wonder if this would be a good place to try Black Widow".
Yous see, BW is my problem child. I wrote it to target a defunct line of romantic adventure books in which the romance was often light or untraditional. And boy, did I go balls out on the untraditional with this one. But they didn't like it.
I sold the book to Inara Press because it didn't have a chance in you-know-where for a home anywhere else, and come on. Inara Press! I was still in full Firefly obsession back then. But Inara succumbed to reality before we even got to editorial.
The great thing about start-up publishers is their time frame. Query to submission to contract offer in 22 days!
I don't have a release date yet because the revisions this book requires are whew let me sit down, but I'm fully in love with the publisher and my editor and will shout the news as I have it. But you can make a mental note now:
Black Widow. Quartet Press. Coming soon.
Seven weeks ago, Shannon posted on her blog about a new publisher with an impressive pedigree. Curious, because Shannon has also posted about new publishers that looked abysmal, I clicked over to check them out. And was impressed. I investigated backgrounds, Googled for more info, and thought, "hey, I wonder if this would be a good place to try Black Widow".
Yous see, BW is my problem child. I wrote it to target a defunct line of romantic adventure books in which the romance was often light or untraditional. And boy, did I go balls out on the untraditional with this one. But they didn't like it.
I sold the book to Inara Press because it didn't have a chance in you-know-where for a home anywhere else, and come on. Inara Press! I was still in full Firefly obsession back then. But Inara succumbed to reality before we even got to editorial.
The great thing about start-up publishers is their time frame. Query to submission to contract offer in 22 days!
I don't have a release date yet because the revisions this book requires are whew let me sit down, but I'm fully in love with the publisher and my editor and will shout the news as I have it. But you can make a mental note now:
Black Widow. Quartet Press. Coming soon.
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