Tagged AGAIN

And to think I used to whine 'cause no one ever tagged me...

Cindy is to blame this time.

(This is the 8 things tag, BTW, and I have a feeling I'm repeating some things...)

1. I love Pringles Right Crisps Sour Cream and Onion but when I eat them, I lick off the sour-cream-and-onion powder so it's best if I eat them alone.

2. I wasn't much of a football fan (except playoffs/Superbowls) until I met my husband in college, and then, because we only got Cleveland Browns games (and he was a native of Cleveland's suburbs), I learned the game while watching the Browns. And I ended up a Browns fan for years. I got us into a Browns Backers club so we could go see games in a bar every Sunday (took Number One for her first year, too). Then, when Cleveland lost the team for a few years, I had to turn to my first team, New England. I've been a rabid fan ever since. And thank goodness for NFL Sunday Ticket.

3. Though I am not against (parental) corporal punishment (I grew up with spanking, and it was a very good deterrent), I have spanked my kids exactly once. Number One was about two, and she wouldn't pick up her toys. She was being willful and defiant and I was at my wit's end. I pulled her across my lap and whacked her on her diaper-covered butt about three times. Set her back down and demanded she pick up her toys. More willful defiance. I asked if she wanted me to spank her again. She crawled over and laid herself across my lap.

4. I was on the Equestrian Team in college, for at least two seasons (maybe 3). I rode English in the beginner classes and earned two fifths, a third, and a first. The first was won on April Fool's Day at Michigan State on a gigantic old police horse named Teacher's Pet. Fitting in all kinds of ways.

5. When my brother was about 2 or 3 years old, I fed him a bottle of vitamins I got down off the fridge while our parents were sleeping in on a weekend. I think we were playing doctor (the real way, you know, where you prescribe medicine). The vitamins were red and kind of like Spree candy. My parents had to feed him ipecac. It's a wonder he doesn't hate me, as this is only one of many indignities I visited upon him.

6. I have never been diagnosed with a broken bone. I used to say I've never broken a bone, but last year I jammed my left middle finger with a bad bounce by a football and I'm pretty sure I cracked it at the first joint. It has a bump now. I never went to the doctor, just borrowed a splint and tried not to open filing cabinets with that hand.

7. I love snakes. And owls. The local radio station had both in the studio last week to advertise Creatures of the Night at ZooAmerica in HersheyPark in the Dark. The on-air personalities were annoyingly squeally and squeamish. I worked at a nature center the summer of 1990 and did a lot of teaching with Joey, a barred owl, and Charlie, a six-foot boa. Joey had been orphaned as a baby when someone cut down the dead tree his family lived in, and he didn't get assimilated after he'd been cared for. He was dive-bombing the kids on the trails, so they kept him in the barn near the interns' farmhouse. We fed him dead, thawed mice and took him over to the center or to schools and stuff for classes. I don't think I've ever felt anything as soft as his feathers. Charlie was also a dead-rat eater. We fed him once a month or so, so he didn't grow very fast. He tended to be sluggish because of the heat, but when we took him out he occasionally got squeamish. He was my buddy, though. Snakeskin (on a live snake) is also very soft to the touch, and the power of the muscles underneath is amazing.

8. My mother had a Mac when I was in high school. I learned on it, then used my first PC in college (DOS-based Wordperfect). My Mac experience led to my first good adult job, the company that let me take the kids to work every day when they were babies. I currently have a desktop PC and a Mac laptop, and unlike pretty much everyone else in the world, I like them exactly the same.

I'm supposed to tag 8 people to tell us 8 things about themselves. I shall tag people with the following 8 first initials:

M, T, O, E, S

All My Thoughts on Bad Day at Black Rock

I planned from the first few minutes of the show to watch it again and type as I watched because there was so much I loved. So I did that.

1. Okay, this one is really funny. I made fun of Misty for not noticing the star in last year’s title, but it took me three episodes to notice the claws in this year's!

2. I still love the way Ruby’s eyes flare into demon eyes and back. It has more impact, for some reason, than when it’s an evil demon about to attack.

3. Is this a guy (Kubrik) I know from a dozen other things, or just someone who looks like him? Gotta be him--no one else could have that same mouth.

4. Hey, Gordon, shut up about Bobby! (Love that Gordon laugh, though.)

5. Sammy, you big liar. Tell him about Mom!

6. Is that hope in Dean’s hesitation for just a moment (about Ruby being able to help him)? Before he says “What is wrong with you?”

7. How cool is it that a guy like Dean can tell another guy, even his brother, that his weakness is him, and not have that other guy protest? I love that.

8. “Dude?!” Dean's all-purpose word.

9. Love that Dean’s so clever about the Dad-phone thing--but how does he keep the bill paid? How do they keep any bills paid, for that matter?

10. LOL at the Jesus-eyes-following-you bit.

11. Creepy storage unit building place. I’m excited about all the possibilities the stuff in here opens up. New weapons, new legends…

12. Sammy played soccer!!!!

13. “About the closest you ever came to bein’ a boy.” AHAHAHAHAHAHA

14. Poor Dean made a sawed-off shotgun in 6th grade. That’s really sad. :(

15. Flimsy lock on Dad’s curse boxes.

16. The casting in this episode was really exceptional. From Wayne and Grossman to Kubrik and Creavy, these are solid, well-drawn and well-acted characters.

17. Gawd these two have great voices. Sam and Dean come bursting into my house, guns out in front of them, yelling at me to freeze, I will be completely unable to. I’ll just be a puddle on the floor.

18. The music during this silly fight scene is perfect.

19. Sammy got throttled! Everybody drink!

20. I wonder how many times they had to practice that gun-toss/catch? I wanna see the misses on the gag reel.

21. I can imagine the boyish glee Kripke felt at the whole fork gag. Heee! Gag. Get it?

22. Bobby can build curse boxes! But I betcha the lock wasn’t his. Flimsy thing.

23. I love the mythology of the curse. Very poetic.

24. Okay, Sam, your jacket pocket is a really dumb place to put something you can’t afford to lose. It should go deep into your front jeans pocket. Here, let me show you…

25. Dean’s ice cream headache. I’ll warm that nerve for you, honey…

26. Funny that Sam is getting hit on--funnier Dean’s expression--funniest the way they lean forward to watch her…and then, of course, it was obvious she’d taken it.

26. Bela is so smug. And deservedly so.

27. “Oh wow. You suck.” Poor hapless Sammy with the skinned knees.

28. I bet a lot of people will be unhappy that the expansion of the Supernatural universe means less screen time overall for Sam and Dean. But I’m loving it, for two reasons--they have interesting characters, mostly good acting, and well-written dialogue (“I like when they drop the whole onion in the fryer”) and Jensen and Jared don’t have to work so hard and be so tired.

29. Poor Sammy, tripping and knocking stuff over, and Dean already taking it in stride and not even turning around. "You okay?" "Yeah, I'm good."

30. Nice zoom on Dean with his little “I can read people speech.”

31. HAHAHAHAHA. Sam lost his shoe.

32. And they come rapid-fire now:
“Just…look out for your brother…ya idjit.”
“I lost my shoe.” Poor, hapless, little-boy Sammy.
“You, my brotha, are stayin’ here…” (Not funny, just funny, with his accent slippin’ in)
“Don’t even scratch your nose.” (And Sam's face! Again!)

33. I love that Sam’s going to do exactly as he was told. Little boy.

34. Wow, Bela’s got money! And she’s smart. The only thing better than a really dumb adversary is a really smart one. She keeps a gun in the wine cooler. What kind of men does she DATE?

35. Even better than a smart adversary is a smart hero. Love the alarm thing.

36. Don’t rock, Sammy! You’ll tip the chair and hit your head! Ooh, much better that the A/C unit catches on fire. LOL at Sammy’s whine. How cuddly can a 6-foot-four guy GET?

37. Stop drop and roll, Sam! Oh, how funny that those guys are right outside the window.

38. Man, Dean’s hot. Sorry,but he’s standing all wide-legged and sturdy, holding that gun on Bela. Let's pause that for a while...

39. Owww, poor Sammy smacked in the face.

40. Cool twist on a thief--communing with the dead.

41. Yay! Dean stole the foot! He can’t be shot! Go save Sam, Dean!

42. Headbutt him, Sam! (I think Creavey’s not fully on Kubrick’s bandwagon here.)

43. Gawd, I love cocky Dean. The pen in the gun! People knocking themselves out left and right. “I’m Batman!” AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

44. Oh, yeah, I forgot the preview. I always love how the show seems resolved but we've got 8 minutes left. So of course Bela's back!

45. Oh, Dean, cockiness goes too far. You got poor hapless Sammy shot!

46. “I can aim.”

47. Ha! He got you. "Think fast" always works.

48. “Not even a little.”

49. Or maybe this time you’ll hang him out to dry, huh, Bela? Dean, you fool. Bye bye lottery tickets. Sam won’t let you forget that!

50. I love that psycho Gordon thinks his new zealot is psycho, too.

So I read a blog post after I wrote this wherein said blog poster didn’t like the show very much, and a few people agreed.

Now, any show can be nitpicked. I didn't find it necessary to latch on to the weaknesses because the strengths (the things *I* found to be strengths, anyway) were far stronger than the weaknesses were weak. But I always find I have to address those nitpicks once someone points them out. *sigh* It's a weakness.

So here we go.

Z. Yes, it seems odd that Dad had a storage unit that Dean didn’t know about, and that he had all this stuff in it Dean didn’t know about. But it’s been well established that Dad did not share as much with either son as they (or at least Dean) wanted to believe.

Y. Yes, Dean not knowing about curse boxes stretches believability, but exposition has been the bane of all TV writers’ existence forever. It’s more awkward to do the “as you know” thing.

X. Dean getting giddy over the good luck didn't strike me as out of character. First, he’s a dork that way. He’ll take whatever good he can get, however he can get it, and he's often a live-in-the-moment kind of guy. Second, his current frame of mind lends itself to such a response. It’s not like he wanted to keep it or tried to stop Sam from destroying it or anything. I did wonder, however, why Dad didn’t destroy it when it was possible to do so. Maybe he didn’t feel it was necessary since he clearly hadn’t touched it.

W. It was asked, if Dad had an object that would bring him luck, why he didn’t use it (the luck) to catch and kill the demon. It seems like an obvious question, but if you think about it, the answer is just as obvious. He knew he was “getting close,” but like Harry Potter going after Voldemort, he had no idea how long it would take him to actually confront the demon. Going to retrieve the rabbit’s foot might have meant losing the trail, and taking possession of it was too risky. Losing it was almost a given--remember, Bobby said everyone loses it--and leaving the demon at large with his sons in danger was not something John was willing to risk (until the only other option was letting Dean die, and he obviously found that a worse outcome). Plus, what if demon magic trumped hoodoo magic?

V. There’s some annoyance at convenient writing, jumping to conclusions, etc. I find it amusing in the context of a television show, specifically, though it’s true of all fiction. Fiction is made up. Authors manipulate every single bit of the story to make it what they want it to be. It’s true that fiction has to be different from real life (e.g., the whole “out-of-character” thing, because real people act out of character all the time). But it’s fiction. Dean doesn’t exist. Dean ONLY ever does or thinks or says what the writers tell him to do or think or say. It’s not like he can decide to be suspicious of the rabbit’s foot because it’s “what he would do.”

U. I won’t criticize anyone for not finding the episode funny. Humor is probably the most subjective of all subjectivity. Not everyone finds the same things amusing in any context. But I don’t think it’s fair to be derisive of those who do find it funny, either. It just is what it is.

Overall, if 90% of the people who watch Supernatural find it great 90% of the time, that would be good enough for me.

Or, you know, whatever percentage will keep it on the air. :)

Heeerrre's....TRISH!

Getting Writing Inspiration from TV and Movies
by Trish Milburn

I admit it. I hate it when I hear someone call television the “idiot box.” Um, I like TV. Does that make me an idiot? Far from it. In fact, I am a big believer in writers (writing being one type of creative form) gaining inspiration from TV programs and movies (two other types of creative forms). I have proof in the form of my manuscript, Coven, which won the Golden Heart in the Young Adult category this year. Let’s go back in time a bit...

I call the months of June and July 2006 my Summer of Buffy. Why, you ask? Well, I was in the serious writer pits. I’d been writing a long time, submitting for several years, adding rejections to the file in my filing cabinet at about the rate I was adding gray hairs to my head. The weeks were counting down to another RWA National Conference that I would likely be attending as an unpublished author. Was it time to face the fact that selling a book just wasn’t in the cards for me? Was I supposed to be doing something else, something besides beating my head against the wall? Add to this the fact that I got sick with some type of crud, and moving from the bed to the couch was the highlight of each day. A friend loaned me the first couple of seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. I’d heard about this show and its characters endlessly at writers’ conferences, but I’d never seen it. Time to figure out what all the hoopla was about. Besides, it’d help get me through the summer.

Imagine my surprise when those two seasons didn’t last more than a few days and I was hitting up my friend for more seasons. I was a woman possessed with the need to know what happened next. Seriously, I was watching eight to ten episodes a day. When I finished all seven seasons of Buffy, I moved on to the five seasons of Angel, then the first season of Supernatural. And while I was lounging away on the couch crying for Buffy and Angel and eagerly anticipating the start of the second season of Supernatural that fall, my excitement for writing was building in the back of my mind. By the end of the summer, I had an idea for a paranormal YA percolating in my mind. The excitement kept building and didn’t wane as I started to write what would become Coven, not even at the point that should have been the sagging middle. Because of the inspiration I got from watching TV, I’d regained the joy of writing and actually pulled myself out of my funk. That’s pretty powerful if you ask me.

I, of course, don’t lift entire plots or characters from programs or movies, but elements of those shows spark ideas of my own. It could be a line of dialogue (Dean Winchester from Supernatural and Spike from Buffy and Angel have some of the best lines!), some characteristic of a character, even the look of a character. Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam Winchester on Supernatural, was the inspiration for the hero in Coven. I like those tall, lean guys.

Out of Sight, my finalist in the current American Title contest sponsored by Dorchester Publishing and Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine was partly inspired by a what-if question and partly as a result of my fascination with characters with special abilities, superpowers. Characters like Superman, the X-Men and the Bionic Woman.

I don’t think a writer’s brain ever truly turns off, even when the owner of said brain is taking a break. If you’re parked in front of the silver screen or the small screen, more than likely some part of your brain is processing the stories and characters you’re seeing, trying to figure out if there’s something there to spark a story idea of your own — something unique from but inspired by someone else’s creation. And that’s pretty cool.

Is that my TiVo calling me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trish Milburn is a several-time Golden Heart finalist and winner (most recently in 2007 with her YA Coven and author of Heartbreak River, soon to be released by Razorbill/Penguin. She is also, as previously mentioned, a finalist in the American Title contest, so don't forget to go vote!

Thursday Thirteen #20

Thirteen Things I'm proud of this week

1. My First Guest Blogger

Don't forget, tomorrow my first guest blogger, Trish Milburn, will be talking about "Getting Writing Inspiration from TV and Movies," one of my favorite topics. She's a finalist in the American Title contest going on right now, so don't forget to go over and check it out.

2. Mary's Sale

I haven't mentioned this yet, I don't think, and that's not being a very good friend. Besides the fact that I've mentioned MaryF on this blog several times (she's the one who always tags me *g*), she has been poised for this moment for a very long time, and is one of the most deserving writers I know. Besides her very discriminating taste in things like Supernatural and music. Anyway...she sold her first book! *raucous cheers*

3. Filing

I caught up on Sunday/Monday on about three months worth of filing; it was nearly a foot high. But what's more remarkable than that is that my filing spot on my desk is still completely empty. Yes, I have filed every day this week. I know it's not much, but hey, it's longer than I've ever gone before.

4. Soccer bags

I was feeling guilty because I coordinated ordering soccer bags for Number Two's team, and we just got them this week, and there are only three games left in the season. There are several reasons outside of my control why it took five weeks to get them from the day I started coordinating, but I still felt guilty. But they are in and distributed and very, very nice and all the kids are thrilled and the parents pleased and no one at all was annoyed that it took so long.

5. Brochures

The brochures I made for today's author event came out very nice, even if they didn't stand out next to postcards of this.

6. My husband

A more fun, steadfast, willing, supportive, easy-going, responsible, loving, hard-working, tolerant man doesn't exist.

7. My kids

I've said enough on here to explain why.

8. Unanimous 5.0 ratings on Elance

It's nice to be appreciated for the things you feel are your strengths.

9. My MySpace

My blog readership on MySpace has gotten huge. At least, huge to me. :)

10. Supernatural

Well, not the show, of course, I have nothing to do with that. But I've successfully gotten to Thursday without having withdrawal symptoms, and I only watched last week's episode once. So far.

11. My weight

I'm below a certain psychologically significant number for the first time since I stopped nursing Number Two.

Yes, she's eight. And a half.

12. The New England Patriots

6-0 is a pretty darned good start. "They" say we haven't played anyone yet, but the teams we've played outside our division so far were playoff teams last year. "They" also say the NFL as a whole stinks. That may be, but the Patriots have still put together a damned good team, and it will take a lot to keep them from going all the way.

13. That I came up with 13 things I'm proud of, just so I could brag about the filing thing.

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Whack and Non-Whack

Things that are whack today:

1. The Otherworld Diner blog got an unusual spam comment on Friday. (It's deleted now--sorry.) In addition to being some incomprehensible mumble-jumble about gods and reincarnation and football and people in India and technology and college classes, it was over 122 pages and nearly 49,000 words long.

That's Craziness, Extended.

2. Terrell Owens, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, saying the New England Patriots are definitely not the best team in football, without stating any evidence to back up his assertion.

Dallas was 5-0. New England was 5-0. Now New England is 6-0, after winning against Dallas 48-27. I'm not sure if he was implying that Dallas is the best team in the NFL, or someone else is. Some other team might certainly be better than New England. We'll get a chance to test the idea when we play Indianapolis in a few weeks. But Dallas is absolutely below New England on the list of the Best Teams. You can claim all you want that New England didn't beat Dallas, that Dallas beat themselves (and yes, 12 penalties for 100 yards goes a long way toward beating yourself). But then, a truly good team wouldn't beat itself, either, would it?

3. I dreamed I was back in school. Again. This time it was supposed to be Ichabod Crane, though the school was not, and my home was not. The most vivid part of the dream was walking home along a stream that ran along carved rocks, including between two rows of trees and inside a cavern. That didn't exist on the route to my house back when I was really going to that school. I was also supposed to be a senior but I gave my married name to people and my kids raced me back to the house.

Things that are not whack today:

Trish Milburn!

The American Title IV contest run by Romantic Times has opened for voting today. Trish is one of the ten finalists. Usually I know more than one finalist, and the notion of voting for people you like instead of the best content kind of rubs me the wrong way*, but this year not only is Trish the only person I know, her line really is the best! (Trust me--if I liked another one better I'd vote for it and never tell her :) )

Trish is one of those super-nice people who works really hard and is finally achieving some of the success she deserves. Because of that, she will be My Very First Ever Guest Blogger this Friday, 10/19. She'll be writing about something near and dear to my heart, getting inspiration from TV/movies. So make sure you check back Friday to get her take on this topic!

Don't worry, I'll remind you. ;)

In the meantime, head over to the American Title IV contest page and vote on the line you think is best. I'm betting you'll think it's Trish's. :)

*Those of you who've been around a while may remember me soliciting votes for The Romance Studio feature-of-the-month when they used to do that. I admit I encouraged everyone I knew to vote--but I did say to vote for whichever feature you liked best and pointed out why my competition was pretty great, too. So I'm really not being a hypocrite just because Trish is my friend. Honest.

Book Tag

I'm sure I have more to say, but I'm tired, so I'll just go with this tag from Mary:

Total number of books?


Like, in my whole house? Counting the ones in my office, the ones on the four sets of shelves in the family room, the ones in the bedroom (mine and Jim's), and the ones in both kids' rooms? Thousands, for sure, and what a futile task, logging them.

Um...no offense to those who log their books.

I'm down to about 30 on my TBR pile. *panics* Help! I need a conference!

Last book read?

Prom Dates From Hell by Cabot, Myracle, Harrison, Jaffe, and Meyer

Last book bought?

Technically, it's three copies of each of five of my own titles, for an event next week. But not my own, it's Crazy in Love by Lani Diane Rich.

Five meaningful books?

Man, that's tough.

First on the list has to be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is slightly different than what I saw on the other lists. This first book in the series launched my entire family on an odyssey of love and obsession. She had us with the cat reading the street sign.

After that, I really don't know. "Meaningful" is such a heavy word.

I'm going to say:

The first book I ever read by myself (no idea what it was).

The first time I read a book because of the romance in it (probably Little House on the Prairie when I was six).

The first book that made me consider being a writer (though I don't recall such a thing).

The last book I will ever read (and may I please not realize it at the time).

OMGs All Around

First, the short ones.

This will crack your a$$ up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday it was over 80 degrees and we had the A/C on.

Today it didn't reach 60, and we're running the furnace.

Yeah, THAT'S a stable climate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not quite OMG worthy, but notable:

My 12-year-old has been picking up books from the library that target an age group a little older than her. Normally YA readers read "up." So a 12-year-old will read about a 15-year-old, who will read about an 18-year-old. But she's been getting stuff for highschoolers and above. Not because of the content so much. One book was called Caribbean Cruising and she got it because of the Caribbean, as in Pirate of the. But it was about a girl the summer before her first year of college who wanted to have a one-night stand to lose her virginity. Another is a novella by Meg Cabot, part of Prom Nights From Hell. She adores Meg Cabot, but that book is targeting 9th grade and above.

I don't forbid her from reading the books, but I read them first. I know about them because the notification from the library that they are in comes to my e-mail address, so I check them out (in two ways! LOL) and if they seem like they might be too old for her, I read them first. I'm not averse to doing so because she begged me to read Cabot's Avalon High so we could talk about it and it ended up being one of my 10s for the year.

It has other side effects. I have just added all of Michele Jaffe's non-historical books to my Amazon Wish List, and I'm considering reading Stephanie Meyer, even though I hate vampire novels.

I am soooo glad YA publication has exploded. There was a dearth for a very long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, now the biggest OMG. Yes, it's Thursday, so it must be SUPERNATURAL!

And what a kick-a$$ show it was.

I loved every single minute of it. It felt a lot smoother and more natural than last week's episode. Sam didn't have enough of a role, but I just now realized that--it didn't bother me at all in the episode (and of course, the ending made up for any dearth of Sam, but we'll get to that).

The creepiness factor ranked higher than any season 2 episode, and probably ties with "Bloody Mary" for ongoing tension. Which made up for the fact that secondary characters had way more screen time than usual (are they trying to lighten Padackles' work load or something? How dare they!). The mother of the little girl was spectacular. The casting was great--the women were more diverse, less plastic than usual, even the gorgeous Lisa.

I like Ruby. Katie Cassidy is a good actress. She had a little less drama this episode, especially at the end, and OMGtheending.

One of my fellow obsessed fans has said she is so over Sam being the Chosen One. I can understand that, but I gasped three times in that final scene. I'm hella intrigued by what's going on. I mean, come ON! A not-so-bad demon? Who hunts other demons? And who can maybe help Sam save Dean? What she wants has to be pretty big if she's willing to offer that. Of course, this is episode two, and they've got to carry the Dean-dying arc over the whole season, so this was just a teaser, I'm sure.

Backing up. Ben was awesome. I wasn't too enamored of his smarmy eight-year-old love of the "chicks." But the way he helped and reassured the other kids, and his resourcefulness getting them out, and his bravery and quick-thinking--I would be proud to have him as my kid, and I never wanted boys!

I'd heard the premise of this ep in advance, and saw a couple of negative fan reactions. I figured the kid wouldn't be Dean's because it would either make him either an absent father (which is bad) or require his parenthood to be an ongoing element of the show (which is worse). But as I watched the beginning, when Dean was wondering, I thought, "Of course he's like Dean. She would have gone for other guys who were the same type. Most women do." (Right, Megan? ;) ) So I was really happy that she said that very thing at the end. And it's logical, given his randy reputation, to think there's a possibility of Little Winchesters somewhere. It was a good factor to address, especially in the context of his "new reality."

Of course, Sera Gamble wrote the episode, and hers always rank among my favorites. She layers nuance in there very well, all kinds of subtle things not just relating to Sam and Dean, like the motherhood stuff.

"Does that make me Pokey?"

*sigh* Is it (next) Thursday yet?

Bugger That

I haven't watched last night's Prison Break yet, but I indulged in spoilers since I figured I knew what was in the box. I was right. It totally sucks, and I blame the show, not the actress.

It's easy to say it was a mutual thing, that the producers tried hard to bring her back, and that it's understandable that she didn't want to cut her original 22 intended episodes to 13, 10, or 4. None of that really matters. Why?

Because killing her is the stupidest move they could have made.

I don't get the reasoning that Michael has no motivation if she's alive. Have these people never been in love? Dramatically speaking, it would be much more understandable for Michael to give up completely upon knowing that the woman he loves is dead. He has little reason to do what they want now. Yeah, yeah, LJ is still in danger, but come on. Is saving LJ REALLY a bigger incentive than saving Sara? I don't think so, and suddenly all my interest in the show has disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other "I can't believe they did that" news, it's been known for some time that Rachel Weis is not returning for Mummy 3, and her character is now being played by Maria Bello.

Bello is a good actress, one of my favorites, and I'm sure she'll do a decent job overall. But she's nothing like Weis and I find it hard to believe she can fill the roll of Evie believably.

Harming the film's interest is also the fact that it's been written by the guys who do Smallville. I deleted last week's show unwatched and canceled my Season Pass. So that doesn't excite me.

However, there is one damned good reason for going to see the movie anyway:

Things I'm Looking Forward To This Week

It's a messed-up week. My kids were off yesterday and today, which wreaks havoc on my schedule. I cleaned almost all day yesterday, got two pages written and the rest of the book planned in the evening.

Got a decent night's sleep, but even sleeping in today didn't really help me. I ended up with eight hours sleep and must have needed ten, because all day I've been wanting to close my eyes and doze off.

I keep thinking today is Wednesday. Which is whack, because I know Number One has practice tonight, and she only has practice on Tuesday, not Wednesday.

It should be illegal for it to be 87 degrees on October 9th in Pennsylvania. I'm tired of sweating, for Pete's sake!

So anyway, here are the things I'm looking forward to this week:

• Gilmore Girls: On Friday, my disk was cracked. I reported it right away, but they don't send stuff on Saturdays and yesterday was a stupid postal holiday, so I shall have two new disks tomorrow.


• Supernatural: This week's episode looks better than last week's. Creepier, anyway. And really, no episode of Supernatural is truly bad.


• Boot Squad: Friday I meet with my writers support group. Some of us really need the boost. Some of us need a kick. *raises hand* All of us need the recharge.


• Pay Day: No explanation necessary.


• Finishing Hummingbird: Last night I summarized the final scenes, which should make it very easy to write the last 40 pages. It WOULD make it easy, if my brain wasn't so frickin' fuzzy.


• Soccer: Both kids play away (pretty far away) on Saturday, but it's in the same town, so that's good. Of course, it's six hours apart. That's less good. Except my sister-in-law and her family live out that way, so that's great.


• Patriots football: I was going to say they're going 6-0 on Sunday, but that's not a given, especially after the Browns showed how to exploit our weaknesses. It should be a good game.
  

What are you looking forward to this week?

Ridiculousness

According to this article, Warner Bros. (the movie studio) is no longer interested in making movies with female leads.

I only read a page and a half of comments, but they were starting to piss me off, where the original story only amused me (in a disgusted way).

Several people defended the "decision" as being based on numbers and named certain movies, like Catwoman and Elektra and Stepford Wives as solid reasons why female lead = tanking box office, and that it is not a sexist decision.

I say it sure the hell is.

Besides the list of examples consist of very poorly conceived and even more poorly written movies, there are also plenty of successes. The Devil Wears Prada, anyone? How about Hairspray?

It also amuses me how people distort what they read. The article said WB doesn't want to make ANY movies with female leads. The commenters often addressed action films and comic book characters, but those are a very small sampling of the overall release schedule.

Of course, movies with any kind of single lead are rare, anyway, and usually artificial. A big name is perceived to sell tickets, so whoever the biggest name is in a movie gets top billing. The reality is that the top grossers every year are ensemble movies or movies with equal male/female leads...when they aren't animated, that is.

This is all indicative, though, of a bigger, long-term problem. Women are still undervalued in Hollywood (except maybe as studio heads). In every interview with a "hot" actress, she makes reference to the lack of good scripts for women. Female directors are rare, and female screenwriters are even rarer. Next time box office tallies are not inflated by a Harry Potter/Pirates/Spider-Man trifecta, I have one suggestion for those nearsighted studio heads:

Betsy Morris. :)

Random Friday

It is 85 degrees here in Central PA. It has been since Wednesday, when the average temperature was 13 degrees higher than normal.

My kids are in a soccer tournament this weekend. Number One did the same tourney last year, and we wore gloves and hats and wrapped up in blankets and ran from the wind to huddle in the car between games. This weekend it will be 85 all the way through.

Who'd know it was October?

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So I've been missing Planters Cheese Curls/Balls for a long time. I can never find them anywhere, and figured they'd been discontinued. But I also figured nothing ever gets COMPLETELY discontinued, right? Like, you can go online and buy candy that was popular in the 50s. So last night I finally thought about it and decided to do a search.

All I found was a bunch of threads with people lamenting the discontinuation. I don't get it. They were the best cheesy junk food EVER. I don't like Cheetos nearly as much, and the big barrels of cheese balls are pretty terrible.

Not that, you know, the junk food isn't all terrible anyway.

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Over the past few days I've managed to use several of the "one post" tags I had here. One I haven't used yet is "Law." That one's tough. Let's see...I got nothin'. I might have to delete that one.

Hey! I just talked about it! Two-post tag, it is!

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The CW has made some of their season and series premieres available at iTunes for free. They had Supernatural yesterday, and I downloaded it about ten hours before it aired on the network. It was torture not watching it.

Why didn't I? Partly because it's a show I watch with my husband. Partly because I had a lot of work to do. Partly because seeing it in advance, on my little monitor instead of my big screen TV, even in better clarity without commercials, would kinda kill the fun of the anticipation. I'll tell ya, though, by 7:30 I was really jonesing.

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How SPN stacked up to my hopes:

1. Yeah, baby!

2. They did do something new, I like the stone look, and the connection to season one with the electric zap thing--but nothing changed. Half a point. :)

3. We didn't get to see much of Ruby, but she sure intrigued me. Kick-ass characters always do. :) I want a knife like that. The moment when Sam knew he was being followed, and she disappeared, was way cool. I see a very adversarial relationship there.

4. Full point! I should keep a spreadsheet, see how many eps Sammy gets throttled in.

5. No Dean-wall-slamming. :(

6. There was no jerk-bitch routine. But Sam slamming on the car window was pretty funny.

7. Don't think JP got bigger, but his voice might be deeper. He's carrying himself a little heavier, a little more world-weary. Dying from a severed spine will do that, I hear.

8. N/A in this ep

9. Yes, not really, and very much. Not that it helped.

10. Sadly, no t-shirts.

11. Hope for the future

12. SO not.

13. Okay, so I didn't race to the computer (I watched Eureka and did laundry first) and I didn't really squee. There were plenty of great moments, such as the camera shot of Bobby when Isaac hit Dean and Dean was lying on the floor. And this line:

"Oh, so he kills somebody and we just sit here with our junk in our hands?"

The interaction between the brothers was still squeeze-worthy, and Bobby rocked the...well, the junked muscle car he was driving. :)

Next week looks verrry creepy. Sera Gamble wrote the ep, so it's sure to be one of my favorites. Can't wait!

Thursday Thirteen #19

Thirteen Things I'm Hoping About Supernatural Tonight/This Season

1. I hope they don't use the same "Saving People...Hunting Things...the Family Business" opening they've used for two years. It's a nitpicky thing, but I'm ready for new stuff.

2. I hope they do something new again with the show name, like last year they had the flames and the A turn into a pentagram. I especially want to see how long it takes Misty to notice whatever is new/changing. :)

3. I hope the actress who plays Ruby is better than her split-second moment in the preview indicates.

4. I hope Sammy gets throttled (I saw the preview, I already know he does *VBG*).

5. I hope Dean gets thrown up against a wall.

6. I hope they do the "Jerk" "Bitch" routine.

7. I hope Jared Padalecki is even bigger and his voice even deeper than last year.

8. I hope Dean doesn't do the single emo tear anymore. The finale last year kinda broke that dam wide open. Probably he won't do any crying, but if he does, I want it to be intense, heartbreaking, macho crying. Not "look how much control I have" because that's what it will be if he reverts to it.

9. I hope Dean has sex, and I hope we get to see some of it, and I hope it's got better lighting than "Route 666."

10. I hope the boys wear more T-shirts.

11. In fact, they can get shot in the shoulder again, either one of them, and have their T-shirts torn for repair, because man, have they got gorgeous arms.

12. I hope Sam matures a little and starts thinking about his brother and not just himself. Megan pointed out once that Dean wanting Sam to stay with him is just as selfish as Sam wanting to go off on his own, and I can't disagree--Dean's relationship with his brother has become very codependent. But Dean always does what Sam wants, always makes decisions to safeguard his brother, and if Sam truly wanted to go back to school, Dean would argue but wouldn't stop him. He didn't stop him in "Scarecrow." But Sam's focus has always been on what was happening to him and how things affected him, and rarely on what Dean was feeling and needing. I'd like to see a little outward focus this year. (Please note this is not a criticism of the show in any way.)

13. I hope, no matter what happens with any of the above, that at 10:00 p.m. I will be racing to my computer, eager to discuss the awesomeness of Supernatural with my fellow squee-ers.

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My Favorite Date

Today is my 15th anniversary. In honor of that, here are 15 random things I'm thinking/doing today:

1. I'm trying really hard not to watch the Supernatural Director's Cut. One more day! I can wait!

2. My keyboard started acting up this afternoon--and it's not even Merc retro for 9 more days! It was typing in all caps when the caps were off, and not in caps when the caps were on, and the * key on the keypad was stuck down. So I popped off the left Shift key and ohmylord, the cat hair. Ended up popping all the keys off to clean it (which doesn't freak me out the way it does Shannon). It has an odd touch now. Like it's smoother, but also takes more effort to depress.

3. While popping and cleaning the keys, I noticed that not only is my E completely worn off, my L is nearly so. S, M, and O are not far behind, and those I get. But L?

4. I bought the new Supernatural comic today. Don't know why I bother. The art is not to my taste and the story line doesn't thrill me. Saw the cliffhanger coming, though not until the end. I'm just always hoping to see more Wee!Dean and Baby!Sam, I guess.

5. Tom Brady is totally hot.

6. We watched our wedding video with the kids tonight. OMG, the hair. 1992 hair was an awful lot like 1987 hair. I couldn't believe all the women who wore it in that frizzy perm but pulled it all forward over their shoulders so there was no hair hanging in the back. My favorite part of the video is still at the end of the ceremony, where someone opened the side door as we started down the aisle, and my very long veil swept sideways and across the crowd, causing Aunt Phyllis to duck or be strangled.

7. We also watched Heroes (both eps) tonight. From the reviews and comments I was expecting to be underwhelmed, but I really enjoyed it. Better than the whole first season, I think. I love Matt and Mohinder taking care of Molly together, and Mohinder and HRG's plan to take down the Company--and winning, so far! I love Badass !Peter and Hey-I-Can-Heal!Kensei (I could just eat David Anders up), and I REALLY love that there was no Nikki/Jessica yet. I could do without the twins, and would have preferred Angela die first instead of Sulu. But overall, a good showing. Oh, but TiVo cut off the end because I didn't have it set to go over a minute or two, and we didn't see what happened after the Flying Kid saw Claire cut off her toe and it grew back. She ran outside, and freeze. So what happened?

8. My book will not be done by my self-imposed (19th) deadline. I only have about 35, 40 more pages, but I'm also doing a proofing job, and since that's paid work and the novel is the fifth in line to be shopped/sold, there's no rush on it.

9. I'm also quite convinced the book sucks, it definitely isn't as good as the three that came before it, but I'm not gonna worry about it now. I'll lament it during edits.

10. The comments trail at PubRants today is very amusing reading.

11. My next Gilmore Girls disk is coming from Lansing, MI, because that's apparently the closest warehouse that has a copy. Which meant it did not get shipped yesterday like it was supposed to, and even worse, it will take two days to get here AND two days to get back, delaying the NEXT disk. Geez, you think I'm spoiled much? It shouldn't matter. I had TV to watch with J tonight and tomorrow is Supernatural, and we still haven't watched Numb3rs and I have a new Prison Break and the season finale of Eureka to watch. I don't need the Gilmore Girls DVDs, especially since I'm not thrilled with the current Dean situation (Rory broke up his marriage and now it seems to be awkward between them unless it's about sex and I know he only has about half a dozen episodes left and I shall MEEESS HIM even though I know he does Supernatural during GG season 6 and I wouldn't trade THAT for anything in the world). But I'm like a junkie. A fast-paced, witty dialogue junkie.

12. Karmela is right. TV is evil. Well, that's not really what she said. But it's gotta be, right? Taking over our lives like this...

13. I got J an iPod for our anniversary. I was running errands tonight so Number One was showing him how to use iTunes and work his iPod. She told me "that's how it goes, the kid always shows the parents." I told her that's not how it is for ME, thank you very much, and she said, "Well, no, Moms are smarter." HEE. Someone's raising my kids right.

14. October 3 is my favorite date of the year. Not just because it's my anniversary, because we only make a big deal out of it maybe every two out of five years or so (not evenly distributed, as we did a cruise for 10 and Manassas for 11). But October 3 is the date German reunification was officially completed, associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Cleveland Indians played their last game at Municipal Stadium on October 3. And the date just rolls nicely off my tongue, and looks good, too.

15. It wasn't always that way. J and I met the first week of school my freshman year, 1988. On October 28 we went to the Barn Party his frat threw, and then November 5th the pledge formal, and we've been together ever since. He graduated in May 1990, and proposed that August. We weren't going to get married until after I graduated in May 1992 (I ended up graduating early, December 1991) so we'd have two years before the wedding date. I knew I wanted October, and fall is his favorite season, too, so he was all for it. So I counted ahead and said "Okay, let's get married October 4th." I forgot the leap year in 1992! I think his parents checked a calendar and said, "Ummm, that's a Sunday?" But for the longest time I kept saying October 4th, both before and AFTER the wedding.

Road Trip! Or...not

So the movie Ten Inch Hero has a special screening on October 27 at noon, in conjunction with some Supernatural Fan Gathering.

In Vancouver.

Totally great road trip, right? Megan has the Impala, there's a great movie and a gathering of fans in a place where we could totally get a chance to see Padackles in action, right?. Load all my fellow Supernatural freaks into the car, head on out for the Best. Trip. Ever.

Except it's, like, a two-day drive from Pennsylvania to Vancouver. And most of us have kids, and/or day jobs. And flying is still 12 hours and costs, like, $800.

So I guess THAT'S not gonna happen.

Premiere Week Results (and label issues)

I was looking at my tags, or labels, yesterday, and I realized I've been remiss. This is my 450th Blogger post (not sure which for MySpace and LJ) and I have three tags I use a lot: Writing, TV, and Supernatural. But I have 16 labels I've used only once. And that's appalling.

There's something pathetic about that lonely number one, so I'm going to make an effort with every one of the next 16 posts to address one of those tags, in order, so that (1) becomes (2).

Today's label is "birthdays." Kind of surprising that I only have one post with that. I'm sure I've mentioned MY birthday, for example. Which is the next one in my immediately family. Last year I was post migraine and my husband was sick in bed all day, so my kids watched TV while I read most of the day. He felt bad, but I did no chores and made no meals, and that was all that mattered. :) I always look forward to "My Day" and it doesn't matter if this year is any different than last (though we can do without the migraines and the flu, thanks.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, on to Premiere Week.

I admit to being pretty disappointed overall, but there are some bright spots.

Prison Break
I was uncertain after the first episode, which was a week earlier than anything else. Like a lot of people, I was turned off by the violence. I also am very unhappy about Sara being off the show. But the final moment gave me hope--it lent urgency and personal emotion to the situation. It didn't bother me, though, that all the people had wound up in Sona. Some of it was orchestrated, as we saw at the end of season two. Mahone and Michael being there was, at least.

The second episode really locked me in, though. I LOVE LOVE LOVE when they are smart! Michael blowing up the blocked pipe so water would flow again. Lincoln being told he's the dumb brother, but having TWO copies of the bird guide and handing over the wrong one. GENIUS. I also love the moments they have at the fence. When Linc told Michael he'd trade places with him in an instant, and Michael put his hand on the fence and said, "I know." My heart sighed.

Ugly Betty
Eh. Fat Amanda looks ridiculous. I don't mind her being fat--I do mind the way they did it. I hate them for the Santos thing. Part of the reason I wasn't looking forward to the new season was because they'd killed him. Then they say, "Nope, he's okay!" I suspected she was hallucinating him except Justin had no negative emotion. They wrote it that way to not give away their oh-so-poignant big reveal at the end, but it backfired. First, I hate that Santos is dead. He was my favorite character because of the effort he was making for his son. Secondly, Justin being totally unconcerned that he lost his father? Making fun of his mother for not coming out of her room for three weeks? Bad job.

I can't dredge up any interest in the rest of it. I'll keep watching because Betty is a great character and I love her relationship with Daniel and Mark and Amanda are hilarious, but I am tired of Wilhelmina and Bradford and I can only roll my eyes that they have made this a true soap opera with an amnesia plot line.

Smallville
Stupid. I am going to stop watching.

I haven't watched Heroes or Numb3rs yet because my husband hasn't been in the mood. Tonight is a Patriots game so probably not until later in the week will we catch up. And, of course, I'm holding off on Chuck, Private Practice, Bionic Woman, Pushing Daisies, and Reaper.

Supernatural starts in three days!!!!!

Goals in September

You may notice I have abandoned my usual title, "Goals Progress, September." Progress is just way too optimistic a word.

26170 words for September (not counting whatever few I manage tonight), which is up there, but nowhere near where I needed it to be. I've written 182,377 words this year so far. Again, not bad, but kind of dismal for me.

I have seen my lowest weight all year this month, but it's still less than 12 lbs. overall. Obviously, I'm not trying really hard, so I'm lucky it's that much.

I missed 5 days of exercise this month, though I'm still on track for that. Unfortunately, I think I had a record number of days where I did a little arm work and that's it.

I read six books, which was low because I had a LOT of editing/proofreading/critique projects that took some time I would normally have been reading. I'm 5.5 books behind my goal.

I do expect to finish Hummingbird this week, but I'll spend the rest of October working on my web site and preparing for NaNoWriMo in November. I have a new book planned, and a pretty solid handle on the basics of the story, so I just need to figure out what their powers are and why they can't be together. Anyway, the point is, October won't be a gangbuster writing month, either.

On the other hand...

Supernatural starts on Thursday! \o/ I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this show, and this show alone. Before SPN, there was only one TV show that I actively sought to watch more than once: Firefly. I watched all those episodes, gave the DVDs to a friend to watch, and immediately wanted them back. I've watched them all half a dozen times. And now I've done the same (to a lesser extent) with SPN.

I just deleted four paragraphs of reasons to watch Supernatural. But you don't need them, really. Here are three inspirations for you to TiVo Grey's Anatomy (you're pissed about that whole George/Izzie thing anyway) and watch Supernatural:

Number One (awesome dialogue):

Sam Winchester: Dean, there's ten times as much lore about angels as there is about anything else we've ever hunted.

Dean Winchester: You know what, there's a ton of lore on unicorns too. In fact, I hear that they ride on silver moonbeams, and that they shoot rainbows out of their ass!

Sam Winchester: Wait, there's no such thing as unicorns?

Number Two :

Number Three :

Thursday Thirteen #18

Thirteen Random Things From This Week

1. There's been a lot of talk (articles, blog posts, e-mail group discussions) about feeling envy/jealousy for authors who are finding success when we aren't. Everyone is saying envy is okay, that's just wishing you also had that sale or good news or whatever, in addition to being happy for that person. Jealousy is bad, because that's not wanting them to have the good thing they just got.

My question is, if envy is okay and jealousy is not, why is envy one of the seven deadly sins?

2. The gag reel on the Supernatural Season Two DVD is quite possibly the best one I've ever seen. Usually gag reels are people messing up lines or being unable to stop laughing. But this nine-minute-plus video has true gags and some highly entertaining exchanges. Plus boytouching.

3. I'm irritated with the people who mentioned the Jared barefoot kickboxing on the DVD (yes, Gail, I'm looking at you!), because I can't find it. I have some interactive map things to look at still, and didn't finish the webisodes, but if anyone can point me to the barefoot kickboxing, I'll be grateful.

4. I love soccer, but I've been spoiled. The problems we've encountered this season have left me with constant nausea and a strong desire for the season to be over. I hate that!

5. Can the Patriots go 16-0?

6. I listened to last week's Pottercast, and they discussed Dumbledore's plan and how he was a jerk, and how he should have just told Harry that the sword of Gryffindor would destroy the horcruxes. I shouted at my iPod a lot. Dumbledore was dying, yes, but he thought he had a year to live. He didn't expect to be killed on that tower. We could presume that as soon as he and Harry got back to his office with the locket, he would have showed him how to use the sword and explained why it would work. He just never had the chance. He never wrote it down because it was of paramount importance that Voldemort not know they were aware of/were after the horcruxes. Anyone else knowing about it, or documents lying around that mentioned it, could lead to someone telling him, either out of loyalty or fear.

7. Supernatural starts in...*checks ticker*...seven days!

8. I decided to do NaNoWriMo again this year. I hope to finish Hummingbird by October 6 and have the rest of October to revise it, with a final polish in December or January or even after that, as I have other projects that can come first. In the meantime, I've been percolating More Than You Know, about a married couple who has to learn to live together for the first time. I have enough to pound that out in November, I think, the way I did Under the Moon last year.

9. I've had several friends in various levels of stress and/or crisis lately, and I think for that reason I've been nursing anxiety off and on all week. It's not my own anxiety, though it is probably exacerbated by fatigue.

10. I can't complain about being tired as it's all my own fault. I've had a lot of work, which I've been focusing on at night as well as during the day, but I haven't given up my vegging time, nor have I taught myself to watch only two episodes of a TV show on DVD (still Gilmore Girls), even if watching four meant going to bed at 2:00 a.m. when the alarm goes off at 6:11 a.m.

11. Fall TV Premiere Week is filling up my TiVo. I have Prison Break, Eureka, Heroes, Reaper, Private Practice, Bionic Woman, and four hours of Dancing with the Stars. Tonight Smallville and Ugly Betty will join them. And I am not eager to watch anything!

12. Waiting does not ever get any easier in the publishing industry. In fact, as hope increases, for whatever reason, waiting gets much, much harder. That's a no-brainer, I know, but it seems like the waits should be shorter (and may be) but it doesn't matter, because it's still torture every minute that the wait is occurring.

13. Captain Black's Grog-Flavored Pirate Mints are not as gross as they sound.

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Finally! Progress!

Check out the word meter in the sidebar!

I did most of that at the soccer field, some distracted by practice, some in the complete dark by real touchtyping. Love my Alphasmart Neo.

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After I posted on Saturday, the whole family went to see The Game Plan. It looked like one of those typical movies with exaggerated humor that kids love and parents wish didn't exist. But I like The Rock and I love football.

Guess what? It was one of those typical movies with exaggerated humor that kids love etc. But after a wobbly start, and despite the predictability of the story progression, it was really good! Well acted, touching, funny, with an amazingly great ballet in the middle of it. And I don't like ballet. I fall asleep at the recital every year when the ballet pieces come on. This one was dramatic and beautiful, it told a story, and the response by the main character's teammates was perfect.

Okay, I admit, the parallels to the New England Patriots tickled me. The Boston Rebels were heading to the playoffs against their biggest rivals--they played Denver and Indianapolis before playing New York in the championship game. And that's very funny, since it was New York who ratted them out a couple of weeks ago and became our all-time nemesis.

Anyway, it's a good family movie or a decent rental if you like sports/kids/feel-good movies.

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Speaking of football...The Patriots scored 38 points again. That's the third week in a row, except this time the Bills only scored 7, whereas the first two opponents scored 14. Forget going 16-0! Let's go for 38 points every single week! LOL

There are only five undefeated teams left in the NFL: The Pats, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, and Pittsburgh Steelers. We play all of them except Green Bay. Gonna be an interesting season.

The attention is, rightfully so, on Randy Moss. A talented yet troubled receiver in the past, he made waves with his ego in Minnesota and even bigger ones in Oakland. Taking what they call a $6 million pay cut (is it really a cut if no one else is gonna pay you?), he has shown up and blown up in New England. I don't know if I've ever seen softer hands on this team.

But honestly? My favorite receiver is Wes Welker. Moss is grace and speed. Welker is an acrobat, snatching the ball out of the air, stepping backward in what appears to be perfect choreography to make tacklers miss--oh, yeah, and tossing ill-advised backward laterals that nevertheless set up four-yard touchdown runs. He may be the most exciting player on the field.

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Okay, enough football talk. May I refer you once again to the most excellent word count tracker on the left? I have to do about 10 pages a day for this week and next and then I should be done with the draft. I can't wait! Then I'll have October to revise, and I want to start my next book for NaNoWriMo. It was so much fun last year, I'm eager to do it again. I just need to figure out what powers my hero and heroine have...

Randomizer

I've never "gotten" the whole Nielsen thing. I mean, so much rides on how many "viewers" a TV show gets, but they extrapolate from such a teeny tiny pool, relatively speaking. I have no idea how many Nielsen families there are, but unless there are over a million, I don't understand how anyone can trust it. Besides the fact that people are a lot less predictable, individually, than the system allows for. I'm 36, a college graduate, a married mother of two under 13. So you'd think I watch Gray's Anatomy on Thursday night, right? Of course, you all know me (even if you don't know me, you read this blog, so you know enough), so you're all going "No Way!" Of course, I watch Supernatural.

So anyway, it's always bothered me, even more so in the last few years when I really cared which shows got canned and which stayed, that what I watch doesn't count. When the critics and showrunners and actors beg the audience to watch their show and get friends to watch, what they really need is to get Nielsen families to watch. Right?

I think I need to research that a little.

Anyway, the times they may be changin'. I just learned about this. Nielsen is starting a new program called "Hey! Nielsen." It's in beta now, going to a public beta later this month, I think. Billed as "Part opinion engine, part social network, and part buzz tracker, Hey! Nielsen is the place to share opinions on your favorite entertainment," it sounds very promising if the networks and advertisers will take the data/comments/info seriously.

So everyone who wants to count, go sign up for an invite!

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My husband and I went to see Good Luck Chuck today. Superficially speaking, it was a good date movie. Raunchy, sexual, juvenile humor on one side, sweet romance on the other. A lot--and I mean, A LOT of the raunchiness was over-the-top and disgusting, and the "juvenile" label is an insult to juveniles. The romantic plot was cute, nothing special, but it's difficult to be unique in romantic comedy anymore. Jessica Alba was great, and Dane Cook was surprisingly good. Overall, worth seeing, if only to marvel that one film hired every hot blond chick looking for an acting job.

MILD SPOILER ALERT

There are a few moments that completely save the movie. The premise that Charlie was hexed at 10, so every woman he goes out with marries the next man she dates after him. People find out about it, and he's overwhelmed by women who want to have sex with him so they can meet their soulmate. My favorite moment is when his assistant, a widow of generous proportions, comes to him for "help." Crying, she tells him to just close his eyes and think of someone beautiful. Resistant until that moment, he puts his hands on the sides of her face and says, with serious intent, "I'll think of you." And he totally sells it.

Of course, there are a few moments that can be considered to totally ruin the movie, too. The best friend is so horribly lecherous--I swear, it's not possible for a real human to be that obnoxious. The vignette during the end credits makes your whole body cringe in horror. You can't stop laughing that awkward, horrified laugh.

There is little depth of characterization, and little that can't be predicted, but the funny parts and the sweet parts make it a nice diversion for a Saturday afternoon and well worth the price of a matinée.

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I don't know if I've talked about the fall TV season here yet. I haven't been blogging very regularly (sorry) and I've posted on other people's blogs, so I just don't know. Yes, I could check. I don't have the energy. Sorry again. :)

So, fall TV.

I'm not at all excited this year. Not like last year, when the Upfronts put my anticipation level way high. Then The Nine and Six Degrees, while well done, just didn't grab me. Didn't make me care. Every comedy I watched except one was flat and unfunny (and yes, that counts 30 Rock, about which I have a highly unreasonable level of resentment, not least of which because of their snarkiness toward my favorite new show of last year). The stuff I liked? Got yanked. The Class was my only sitcom (except for Scrubs, which didn't come until midseason). Gone, though it got a "full" season. Studio 60, Daybreak, Drive, all given a varying level of chance, but all tossed away, some too soon, and one wayyyy too soon.

This year, I'm lukewarm. I haven't watched the season premiere of Prison Break yet and have a pretty low level of enthusiasm for it. Part of that, I'm sure, is because I'm early in season 4 of Gilmore Girls and not wanting to stop that. Part is because Eureka isn't over yet, and that's my "summer" show. Part is because none of the rest of my shows premiere until next week, so it doesn't feel like the season started yet. But mostly, it's because Sarah will be gone and the direction of the show seems to be less about smartness and tension and more about violence and fear.

My other returning shows and my level of excitement, in order of air dates:

Heroes
Eh. I feel the same way that I did all last season. Eager to see the characters I like, wishing the ones I didn't had been killed off in the finale. I'm excited about David Anders and Kristen Bell, but come on, do we REALLY need additional morally ambiguous characters? I really, really, really don't want Sylar around anymore. So we'll see how that goes.

Ugly Betty
Santos is dead. That really dampens my enthusiasm. As long as Henry has tons of air time, I'll be okay--but would like to put in an order for LESS Alexis/Wilhelmina/Daddy stuff.

Smallville
I watch this show out of habit now. If they kill Chloe, I'm probably done, especially since I know Lana's still gonna be the focus of the show. Hottie Supergirl underwhelms me. And I've heard Tom Welling is a jerk on set, so...

Numb3rs
This show has always been quiet for me, inspiring nothing but positive feelings but little passion. If Colby's character is redeemed and stays on the show, great. If not...well, I'll still watch.

Supernatural
Except for Scrubs, this is the latest returning show, and it figures, because it's the only one I am dying to see again. The teaser photos and trailers have been torture. The direction of the plot and the new element in the brothers' relationship are incredibly compelling. Once again, this will be the only show I don't delete as soon as it's watched.

Scrubs
Possibly the only funny sitcom left on TV--or at least, the only one funny enough to make me watch it.

New shows I'll try, but only after four episodes have aired and they're not in danger of being canceled:

Chuck
I keep going back and forth on this one. The premise is appealing, the tiny bits I've seen are not so much. Monday is a full day for my TiVo, so I have to VCR this one on the bedroom TV, which is a hassle. The tipper is Adam Baldwin, whom I adore. So I'll give it a try, since it's got critical acclaim.

Reaper
I have seen more of this pilot than any other show, and it looks very funny. Actually looking forward to it--possibly enough to break my four-week moratorium. After all, The CW has not prematurely canceled any of my shows in the past, and it needs all the support it can get.

Bionic Woman
Pure nostalgia. I was Jamie Somers/Summers/Sommers/however the hell it's spelled when I was a kid. My best friend David was Steve Austin (the six-million-dollar man) and my poor damaged brother was forced to be Oscar Goldman, our handler. I'm skeptical that I can like the show as much as I want to.

Private Practice
I'm totally watching for the cast.

Pushing Daisies
I love the novel premise and the fantasy-level production values, and I'm pretty sure the main promo was narrated by Jim Dale, so that sold me.

Then there's Lost, which doesn't come back until February, but which is the second-most-anticipated show on my schedule.

How about you?

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I've refrained from talking about football on here, because the controversy is so painful. Most of you don't care, anyway. :) Suffice to say I'm thrilled football is back, I'm dismayed that the Patriots' reputation is damaged, but I think it's quite intriguing that they have won 38-14 twice, anyway, once against the team that had the second-best Las Vegas Superbowl odds before the season began. 16-0 seems a definite possibility.

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What's that? Writing? You're wondering where the status bar is for Hummingbird? Welllll....

I had several nonfiction jobs last week, proofreading/editing, and it took all my time, so there's been no progress. I shall rectify that this coming week. Stay tuned!

Favorite LOLCats Image EVAH

Full post can be found here.