Last night: two Sean Bean movies, mainly because they were both so awful that I wanted to get them over with quickly.

The Dark is another one of those horror movies about scary little girls, psychically intuitive mothers, and clueless-but-well-meaning fathers. The "scariest" thing in this movie was a bunch of rampaging suicidal sheep. I'm trying to figure out which is a goofier attempt at horror; these suicidal sheep or the garbage disposal spewing applesauce in In Dreams.

Sean Bean's role was pretty much the same as in Silent Hill, although happily he got more screen time. He looked hot, as usual, but mostly I spent the movie wondering why he's been in so many bad movies.

Fool's Gold was like a tame version of Essex Boys. Sean Bean plays a tough guy criminal who gets in over his head. On the plus side, he loves his kids, and we get some cute scenes of him playing with them. But mostly he's being tough and scary and angry, which he's good at, but it's kind of limiting for such a good actor. He does get some really good scenes near the end, though, when his character starts to realize just how utterly screwed he is. And he's young in this one, which makes him extra-hot, so I enjoyed it for the eye candy. But it's not a very good movie.

South Park last night was awesome. They're having a great season; I haven't seen a single lame episode so far.

Veronica Mars yesterday ... um, what did I ever see in this show? Wallace's plot was directly out of a "cheating is bad, mmmmkay?" after school special. And feminists ... faking rapes ... does not compute ... what the fuck? *sigh*


I've been seeking out Sharpe fic. I find myself gravitating toward slash, even though I'm not really interested in reading anything sexual. I just want good fic, gen even, but slash seems far more likely to be good. I know people are always fighting about how slash is no better than het, but really, at least when I open a slash fic I don't face a 70% chance of running into a Mary Sue within the first four paragraphs.

Slash fic is much more likely to explore a premise that I'm interested in, namely the relationships between the existing characters. I'd much rather read about the powerful emotional connection between Sharpe and Harper (which is canon), and if it happens to get sexual, so what? At least it's exploring something I'm interested in, unlike random Mary Sue fic. Maybe this is because there aren't many interesting canonical female characters. Though I wouldn't mind reading Sharpe/Teresa, if was actual badass Teresa and not lame author-insertion "Teresa."

Not that all the slash is good (not even close); it's just less likely to be bad. In this fandom. In my opinion.


I realize I haven't said anything about the election yet. Obviously I'm delighted (Santorum's gone! Rumsfeld's gone! Democrats got the House! and probably the Senate!) and I'm just praying that the Democrats won't screw it up too quickly. (*fingers crossed*) Yay democracy!

Plus The Colbert Report was to die for last night. Ah, poor Stephen in denial. And you know, anytime he sings the national anthem, it's bound to be a good episode. ;)

Well, I voted. Now I officially have the right to complain about whatever happens.

Last night's Sean Bean movie was Essex Boys. Sean plays an incredibly creepy criminal; it's a testament to his acting ability that I was thoroughly convinced by the creepiness. He was still hot, at least, which made the movie somewhat enjoyable. Overall it was pretty pointless, though, and clearly biased in favor of the narrator. And the whole thing left me feeling kind of icky.

I am going to go fight election nervousness by watching Alice in Chains videos. And possibly "Veronica Mars" or the other Sean Bean movie, "Fool's Gold." And definitely the Daily Show / Colbert Report thingy tonight.

GoldenEye: from 1995, the first James Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan.

My thoughts:

* I kept coming up with paper topics. "The evolution of feminism as reflected in the James Bond films" or "The changing concept of masculinity as embodied by James Bond." I wrote a paper in college about how Dr. No reflects the Playboy ideal of masculinity, so maybe that's why. I was amused by the nods to female competence and to the sensitive man of the 1990s.

* I don't dislike Pierce Brosnan, but he's no Sean Connery. Connery always gave this impression, no matter what was going on around him, that he was above it all, like the whole world was his own private joke. Brosnan has all the Bond moves technically correct, but he's like an automaton. There's nothing beneath the exterior.

* Two X-Men! Alan Cumming and Famke Janssen were both good in their roles. And both kind of hot back then.

* They totally got the casting wrong. If they'd switched Sean Bean's role with Pierce Brosnan's, it'd have been perfect. Sean Bean could've pulled off that Connery thing of "more going on beneath the surface." (In my fantasy world, young Sean Bean perfectly embodied Jaime Lannister in the epic ASOIAF movies, then went on to become the best James Bond ever.)

* The hand-to-hand fight at the end was very well done. I get bored when there's lots of random disconnected violence, but there was actually some drama and characterization going on with this fight (the rivalry between former friends Bond and Trevelyan).

* If I'd have written the movie, it would've been all about the relationship between Bond and Trevelyan. This film took pains to make sure there was no subtext between the two; that they hated each other now and that neither regretted having to kill the other. (Okay, there was one scene of Bond looking angsty which was quickly healed by the hot chick of the week, and nothing from Trevelyan, who they went out their way to show was totally nasty and irredeemable now by having him sexually assault random-hot-chick.)

Of course, I'd have done the opposite, and made it clear that Bond and Trevelyan still totally cared about each other and missed their friendship, but that their duties to their respective ideologies came first, and so it would've been all about the angst. And hotness. And ho!yay. *sigh* Actually I'm rewriting the movie in my head right now, and my version is so much more interesting....

Clarissa: What a nauseating, joyless monstrosity of a movie. In fact, it reminded me most vividly of the nightmare that was Buffy season six.

*shudder of absolute horror*

On the plus side, Sean Bean was awesome in his role, and way hotter than James Marsters. But like S6, the hotness was ultimately not worth the preachy, moralistic, self-righteous crap.

(PS: Men are evil and they exist solely to consume and destroy women. In case you were wondering. :P)

Last night's Sean Bean movie was Patriot Games. I really hated this movie, probably more so than it deserved. Something just totally rubbed me wrong; I think maybe it was that the main family reminded me on the family in Fatal Attraction: ( Read more... )

The next DVD is Clarissa, which I'm really kind of dreading because me and period costume dramas are not mixy things. Fingers crossed that I won't fall asleep.

Also, I hate to admit this, but I finally got the imps from BPAL that I ordered ages ago. I'm wearing Blood Kiss today, which I love. In my defense, I'm not jumping on the fandom bandwagon; I got a bunch of free imps at Convergence, that goth con in New Orleans that drujan and I attended this spring, and just recently figured out that they're the same thing that harmonyfb is always talking about. I can totally see how people get addicted to this stuff.

I put the audio book of Sharpe's Tiger on my MP3 player. I had no idea how delightful this would be. Sean Bean's lovely voice caressing my ears as I walked to work this morning--I must've been grinning like an idiot. I have little tolerance for audio books because I'm impatient, but I've already read this one, so I'm just listening to savor Sean Bean's yummylicious voice.

drujan called me last night to squee over "Sharpe's Rifles," the latest book I lent her. She liked it even better than "Sharpe's Sword"; in fact she seems to be more excited about Sharpe than I am. This is amusing me immensely. Hopefully today I'll get the Sharpe DVDs that I ordered from Deep Discount DVD, so that we can have another Sharpe day this weekend.

I have also been reading bits of Sharpe fanfic, and I find myself consistently amused at how they all start out like a Cornwell book: soldiers, dirt, war, etc., but then somehow they end up maneuvering the characters into very un-Cornwell-like situations, y'know, usually by somehow finding an excuse to get Sharpe naked and/or wet.

I've been reading Fandom Wank a lot lately. It's funny, when I first got into fandom I thought Fandom Wank was horrible and mean and pretty much an example of the worst impulses of fandom. Somehow my thoughts have shifted--maybe it's a combination of realizing that above all fandom should be fun and I need to not take it so seriously, plus the whole Cassandra Claire/Ms Scribe thing making me realize that the currency of fandom is social popularity, and so a venue for social ridicule is really the only way to deal with those who violate its social codes. Or maybe I realized that fandom is often just fucking hilarious. I was looking over the Fandom Wank wiki and I found what is pretty much my favorite wank ever: Perhaps I have a special anus. Every time I re-read this, I can't stop laughing. (Don't forget, Superman is a careful rapist.)

So, strangely enough, Fandom Wank originally made me kind of hate fandom, but now it reminds me why I love fandom.

Also this weekend, I'm going to this thing called "Night of Too Many Stars," which has been advertised incessantly on Comedy Central. I just went to Ticketmaster to peek, and when I tested it, it pulled up such a great seat that I couldn't not buy it. I really need to stop blowing cash on ridiculous things. But dammit, I should take advantage of the fact that I live in NYC, and plus, Jon Stewart is hosting, and Stephen Colbert is going to be there, so really, how could I not go? (::squee!::)

Also, The Colbert Report pretty much, y'know, won, this week. First there was an episode celebrating the "American Lady," in which Stephen baked an apple pie (and received several kisses) from Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, then declared everyone in the audience, including himself, "Mrs. Colbert," in a parody of the Miss America contest. Then in the next episode, he announced the finalists of his lightsaber challenge (note to any company trying to figure out how to tap into user-generated content and participatory fan culture: Colbert does it perfectly), and I actually screamed when George Lucas showed up, and then screamed again when Lucas "lost" to some random girl from the internet. And then screamed a third time for good measure when the show ended with a lightsaber battle between George Lucas and Stephen Colbert. ::adores::

I know that I should download this week's episode of Veronica Mars (I missed it because we had Columbus Day off and I thought Tuesday was Monday). But I'm kind of dreading it. Fandom's supposed to be fun, but VM leaves me feeling annoyed and condescended to. I might wait until the season's done and then decide, based on fan reactions, whether to catch up with it. Though I do miss participating in discussions as the show happens.

Also, how does the LiveJournal spellchecker not recognize the word "fandom"? I mean, come on. This is LiveJournal. :P I wish they'd stop doing stupid shit like adding IM features and finding ways to help corporations shut down fandom. Why not, say, fix all the annoying stuff first? Like, a better spell checker, and easier way to customize styles and mood themes, a way to turn off that horrid nav bar everywhere....

Well, I finished the Sharpe series!

My conclusion is ( Sharpe spoilers )

This weekend's Sean Bean movies:

Ronin, which was a slightly-more-interesting-than-usual action movie. It was made pretty well, and if you like car chase scenes it probably counts as great art. Alas, I'm immune to car chase scenes, and sadly I'm also immune to whatever everyone else sees in Robert DeNiro, so I was mostly bored. Sean Bean was barely in it, but he was good in his part.

The director's commentary is very interesting. It's highly technical, and he comes across as kind of pompous, but it's interesting to hear how they did the car chase scenes (with actual actors in cars going ridiculously fast).

National Treasure. Okay, there's a reason I didn't see this in the theater, and I basically put it on my Netflix queue to get it over with as quickly as possible. Here's an excerpt from my Netflix review, because I don't want to have to think about the movie again:

This ludicrous excuse for a movie is so awful that it honestly hurts my SOUL to contemplate it for too long. It's riddled with shallow characters, non-sensical plot developments, and utter stupidity at every turn. I could write a 20 page essay pointing out every horrid thing, but see above about how soul-crushing that would be. The thing that annoyed me the most is probably that the "heroes" were all willing to sacrifice actual human lives and actual human friendships for a piece of paper whose only value is historical. If you want mindless patriotism and characters so simplistic that "one dimensional" would be a complement, this is the movie for you.

For some strange reason, no one on Netflix seems to find my reviews helpful... :P

* South Park is awesome.

* Veronica Mars is boring.

* queenofthorns was right; young Sean Bean would make the perfect Jaime Lannister.

I say this because I just watched the latest from Netflix, Inspector Morse 24: Absolute Conviction. This is an episode of an English detective series from 1992, guest-starring Sean Bean.

He's only in it for about 10 minutes, but between this and Sharpe, I'm thoroughly convinced that he's the ideal Jaime Lannister. His character in this is a semi-bad guy: cold, arrogant, and mocking, but with a simmering anger underneath, and apparently some genuine love for his wife. You could *so* totally see him as Jaime in all those classic moments: coldly ordering Ned's men killed, flashing his cruel smirk, while underneath he is terribly worried about Tyrion and bitter towards Ned; telling Cat that he tossed her kid off a tower, indifference and mockery masking his self-loathing; threatening to send Edmure's newborn baby back to him with a trebuchet.

And, of course, with Sharpe we see Sean Bean playing a character who is a warrior, whose first reaction to any problem is to solve it with violence, and who has an idealistic/romantic core. So he could also play the impetuous warrior side of Jaime and the decent side of Jaime, disillusioned idealist that he is.

Oh yeah, and he's stunningly beautiful, with golden hair, green eyes, and high cheekbones.

See, it didn't quite work for me before, probably because I was thinking of older Sean Bean, who is too rugged to fit that "mirror image of his twin, the beautiful queen," thing that Jaime has going. But younger Sean Bean? Perfect.

Speaking of Jaime, there's a nice discussion of his character development here on the ASOIAF forum.

* I also watched Lady Chatterly (thanks to Sean Bean I've watched more British television in the past two months than I've ever seen in my life). It reminded me that I despise love stories. On the plus side, Sean Bean is very beautiful and occasionally naked in it. And I did like the end; the characters actually had the guts to do what I would've done, which was to say "fuck you" to society and to run away (to Canada!) together. On a metaphorical level, it was more about the irrelevance of the class system, so that was cool.

It's deadline time. Last week I was at work until 8pm, 9pm, and finally until midnight on Friday night.

Then I had to take a wacky detour home, because a crane working on a building I pass every day decided to collapse and land on a taxi. Several blocks were blocked off and I was very lucky that my apartment was just out of the range of inaccessible buildings. It was quite weird, walking home after midnight, past all the people waiting at the police barriers to be allowed back into their apartments.

I've been listening to Marilyn Manson's album Antichrist Superstar. It's making me incredibly nostalgic for the mid-1990's, for being a teenager, and for some of the best concert experiences of my life. Manson used to put on such a great show, and I was naive and enthusiastic enough to enjoy it thoroughly. Wish he hadn't gotten old and lame. :( I think "The Reflecting God" is still one of my all time favorite songs, and Antichrist Superstar really is an amazingly cohesive album full of interesting ideas. Manson's more a writer than a musician ... but a good writer, and back then he was working with actual good musicians.

I have two more Sharpe books to read, but I'm not rushing because they're the final two (Waterloo and Devil) and I'd rather drag them out. Once they're done, that's it for the Sharpe book series, and despite its cheesiness and predictability, I've really been enjoying it. Sharpe is totally my kind of hero, with his social awkwardness and inability to fit in and ruthlessness and need to prove himself...

drujan and I hung out on Thursday night (commiserating over work problems and how much the INS sucks) and she stopped by so that I could lend her Sharpe's Sword (book). I also showed her the cover of the Sharpe's Eagle DVD. She stared at it for 30 straight seconds and I was afraid she was going to start drooling on it. We now have plans for a Sharpe movie night. ;)

Saturday I watched a 1988 movie starring Sean Bean called Stormy Monday. It also starred a surreal group of actors including Melanie Griffith, Sting, and Tommy Lee Jones. It was an atmospheric, moody film noir that didn't really go anywhere, though I think it was trying to make some kind of comment about the destructive power of American capitalism. Mostly I was distracted by how ridiculously gorgeous young Sean Bean was. Like, ridiculously, insanely, mind-boggling gorgeous. I watched it twice, despite it not being all that good. Sean Bean played a naive young man getting disillusioned by life, and falling in love, and walking around in jeans and a Walkman and looking adorable... ; it was nice seeing him as something other than a historical figure or a supervillain.

Then I had to go to Brooklyn. Twice in one weekend, which, in my opinion, is two times too much Brooklyn. I really, really, really hate that borough.

Saturday night I went to some concert ("industrial festival") because my friend April was going to be there. She's the one who just got married, so I wanted to see her. Unfortunately this involved getting on the L train, which took a half hour to arrive, then went only two stops into Brooklyn before stopping and announcing that this would be the last stop. So a whole mob of pissed off people had to get out and get on a bus, which took us the rest of the way. My stop was some empty wasteland full of abandoned warehouses, and I had to walk five blocks to get to the venue. (Happily I found a girl who was going to the same place, so we walked together.)

Then when we got there, we had to wait in line 45 minutes (with people smoking, ick) because the ticket takers were so stunningly disorganized. (The only good part was that there was a hot guy milling around who looked like Brian Kinney.) Once we finally managed to pay our $18 fee ($28 if you weren't on some promotions list), we had to go upstairs for the concert. "Upstairs" meant up the rickety metal outdoor fire escape. It was barely more than a ladder. And it shook. And it was see-through, not nice for all the girls in skirts. Half of us were clutching the sides in terror as we climbed up.

Once inside, the place turned out to be an utter shithole. Some old crumbly warehouse, horrid fire hazard (with wooden floors and only that one stairway), sweltering from all the people packed in. I entirely missed the band April was there to see (Imperative Reaction), but I did manage to find her. We headed to the bathroom, had to wait a half hour, then it was so gross that I decided to wait until I got home. So we went to the bar and it took literally a half hour to get a bartender's attention; it wasn't even a real bar, just some coolers and people running around. And did I mention how it was swelteringly hot, and the only air came from the fire escape, which you weren't allowed to stand on (probably because it would've collapsed from the weight of people trying to get air)? At least April drove me home so that I didn't have to rely on the L train bus, and of course, it was awesome to spend time with April, who is a good and true friend.

Still, in my many years of attending shithole music venues, this place was the very worst.

Sunday was better. My friend Livi organized this "Vegan Buddies" gathering at Red Bamboo Brooklyn (a veg restaurant in a much nicer neighborhood), which had some interesting speakers, good food, and a surprise birthday party and cake for Livi. I got there around 5pm and didn't leave until midnight, but it was worth it for the fun of hanging out with Livi and our fellow SuperVegans.

And now back to work. And, happily, Netflix is sending me more Sean Bean movies as we speak. :)

( Sharpe books )

( Profit: the greatest TV show ever? )

( Two Sean Bean movies, Bravo Two Zero and Extremely Dangerous )

( More Robert Downey Jr movies: Only You )

( Restoration )

( In Dreams )

Two amusing links:

Quiet Guy Mistaken For Nice Guy at The Onion. Because I love how you can be totally silent and people will project their expectations onto you and see what they want to see.

And Sharpe's Piss Pot at Something Awful. "1813. Sharpe is tasked with rescuing Wellington's favorite Piss Pot from the clutches of General Ennui, but a filthy new sergeant with evil schemes and a mysterious damsel with a great deal of cleavage have..."

Having just watched the entire Sharpe series, I could not stop laughing while reading this.

drujan informed me this weekend that BAPS is closing, which makes me sad, particularly because they're deleting the archives.

I haven't been back there in years, but that's where I entered fandom. (And my opinions have certainly changed dramatically since!) Still, the nostalgia is strong.

I'm looking through old posts now. 2001, and everyone's wondering what's going to happen when Riley returns. (Kelly suggests that Buffy will have to kill him to save Spike--oh, those were the good old days!) There's drujan, 10zlaine, kellyhk, redeem147, chenanceou, ww1614, spikewriter, jerrymcl89, jaydk, shipperx, klytaimnestra, cindermom... and plenty of others, but I can't spend all day scrolling through BAPS. To think, the different places we were in our lives back then.

It's amazing, looking through the list of people posting, how many of those people I later met in person, and how many I still know today. Fandom is crazy. In a good way.


The weekend was fun. jaydk and I finally celebrated drujan's birthday with a dinner at Pukk, which involved lots of their excellent sangria, and I secretly squeed over the fact that I'd gotten my two omnivorous friends to be enthusiastic over a vegan restaurant. ( seeing The Illusionist and other movies )

On Sunday I got some actual work done, and then watched my three latest Netflix movies, which were Less than Zero, Richard III (with Ian McKellen), and Wonder Boys.

( Wonder Boys )

( Richard III )

( Less Than Zero )

( Sharpe's Honor, the book )

Oh, and I'm leaving for DragonCon tomorrow. I'm not really into anything fannish at the moment, but I'm sure I'll find stuff to do, and I'll definitely be seeing Godhead, the Cruxshadows, and Voltaire, and hanging out with jaydk and 10zlaine.

Some thoughts on what I've been watching and reading lately.

( Sharpe's Eagle, the book )

( a bunch of Robert Downey, Jr. movies, starting with U.S. Marshals )

( Air America )

( Home for the Holidays )

( The Pick-Up Artist )

( Two Girls and a Guy )

( Heart and Souls )

My photos of the Chemlab show in DC are here.

In other news, jaydk and drujan came over after work on Thursday and we had a little pirate party. Watched the first film, ate lots of takeout and got drunk, then headed to the theater for the 12:01am premiere at the AMC 25 (most comfortable theater in the city).

It was good. So good, in fact, that we went to see it again Friday night at the Ziegfeld. So I've seen Pirates 2 twice in 24 hours. :)

It's amazing how shallow the mainstream reviews are. As if they assume the genre is inherently shallow, so they utterly refuse to see any depth in the film itself. Like willful blindness. I don't get it.

Meh, whatever. Maybe I'll write up my own review at some point. I'm sure I'll end up seeing it plenty more times. (drujan is at the theater now, but I bowed out of a third viewing in three days.)


Also, I really wanted to see Macbeth; it's Shakespeare in the Park and tomorrow is the last day. I went to get tickets on Friday, but the line was INSANE, and I didn't feel like getting up at 6am today. *sigh*

Haven't seen X-Men 3 yet?

Here's what to do:

Put X2 in your DVD player. Turn out the lights and turn the volume up.

Appreciate the depth of the story. Revel in the nuance, the complexity, the layers. Enjoy the fact that even the "villains" are treated as three-dimensional characters, that the metaphor is explored in a variety of intriguing ways, that the various storylines are so perfectly woven together. Realize how carefully the events are foreshadowed, and how genuine the emotion is, how honestly you believe the relationships between the characters.

Preserve your memories of the first two films... and save your money for Superman Returns.

--one pissed off former X-Men movie fan

(On the other hand, if you want to see inane action movie cliches, characters acting like they're possessed by really boring puppets, stuff blowing up, pointless comic book shoutouts, and not a single drop of complexity or genuine emotion ... yeah, go see X-Men 3.)

Today is a wonderful day...

It's Lucifer's birthday!!!!

Eight years ago today, in the laundry room of my parents' house in New Jersey, Lucifer's mother Shadow (a beautiful, sweet black stray cat who I'd made friends with) gave birth to Lucifer and his three siblings. Lucifer was the second born (I have it on videotape) and his head got stuck coming out. We all thought he was going to die, but Shadow eventually pushed him out and started licking him, and finally he started making teeny little squeaking baby kitty noises that meant he was breathing.

And ever since then, he's been the greatest cat ever. Sweet, fun, adventurous, but most of all--cool. Being in Lucie's presence could calm anyone; he's just totally accepting and trusting and relaxed.

I gave him a pile of treats for breakfast. I'll have to find something fun at Petco to bring home to him tonight.

I took some photos of him the other day in the bathtub (trying to drink out of the faucet). I'll post those here later so you can all see how adorable he is. >:)

( Movie Meme )

Last night I was working until 8pm and talking to my former coworker Sarah about "relationships." Interesting conversation. Sarah's awesome.

Forgot to mention this: I watched two movies over the weekend, Velvet Goldmine and American Psycho.

( weird rant about Velvet Goldmine, American Psycho, Fight Club, and the emptiness of consumer culture )

PS: Excellent thread over at the Hydrogen Board imagining a Chemlab/Pig tour. *sigh* If only.

And I must say, I love it when the bands write their own slash fiction:

petegala (here): If you go into the men's room between sets, you might just find Raymond and Jared making out in a stall.

jared: and, in reference to Pete from the Cracknation board, Raymond and i would only be having sex in the bathroom if we could sandwich you. we've discussed it, and i call the south side of your street, honey.

And it goes from there.... ("The Brokeback Techrat tour anyone?" "BROKE-DICK METRONOME" "Rivetback Mountain" "Tesseract Fountain"....)

PPS: Did you guys watch the Daily Show last night? The Cheney thing actually didn't strike me as that funny when I first heard it, but when Jon got ahold of it, I thought I was going to die laughing.

PPPS: Celebrate International Quirkyalone Day. (Great link; check it out.)

Veronica Mars season two premieres tonight on UPN. This is the first time in recent memory that I've planned a day with television in mind. Just saying... now would be a good time to get into the show, if you haven't seen it before...

On Monday, chenanceou and I saw Everything Is Illuminated, with Elijah Wood. It was pretty good--well-made in every regard, really. ( vaguely spoilery musings )

We had sushi beforehand, at a place on 2nd and 11th, which was very good. Afterward we headed over to the brewery on 6th Ave at 9th St, which usually has the yummy raspberry beer. Except they didn't, so we had Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout (awesome) and a strange Blackened Voodoo Ale thing (interesting). We drank more than we'd planned, unfortunately, and had a, er, interesting trip getting home from the bar. Aside from that it was a fun night.

Last night I watched the first episode of my brand new DVD set of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr (don't ask me where I got it). This show is just the most wonderful thing. I adore it so much, and for the past twelve years I've always included it on any list of TV shows that I've loved, but it's actually been something like five years since I've even seen an episode. Not only was it a nostalgic treat to revisit, it was actually even better than I remembered. (Perhaps because I have a more thorough understanding of television, and because I get a lot more of the jokes now that I'm an adult.)

It breaks my heart that this show didn't find success. It's got so many brilliant little touches, and it's clear that such care was taken to create it. And Bruce Campbell amazed me, too--he was also even better than I remembered, so stunningly charismatic, bringing the character to life perfectly. And the supporting cast are excellent (the guy who plays Pete is just too funny, Bowler is the perfect blend of menacing and endearing, and Dixie longing and scheming and still winning your sympathy). The characters are exceptionally complex for a show with such a light-hearted touch. It all comes together so well, in such unexpected ways--which, I suppose, explains why people didn't "get it" and FOX canceled it after the first season. :*(

Sadly I had to watch it huddled near the TV with the sound as low as I could get it, since my roommate went to bed at 11PM!!!! !@#$#!@!$#@@%!!!! INCOHERENT RAGE

Yeah, I can't watch television on normal volume in my own home at 11pm. I'm a night person. I so have to move. :(

I've been busy.

Wednesday I saw Tim Burton's Corpse Bride with chenanceou, jerrymcl89, and drujan. I was ( minor spoilers )

Afterward I dragged Chen and Jerry to a vegetarian Thai place called Pukk. Chen was very skeptical, but as she soon discovered, the food there is delicious. :)

Afterward we ended up at this bar on St. Mark's that we've been at continually--the same place where we met the Irish guys and Chen had her first lemonade. We talked for a while, Jerry left, then we saw a rat so we left.... (Oh yeah, did I mention we found one of the Irish guys on google? Keith Keds. Alas, no info on his friend, though.)

Damn, these days are blurring together. I can't remember if we did anything after that or not.

On Thursday, we decided to go to Gobo, but it ended up being packed and having a half hour wait. So we went instead to Vegetarian's Paradise 2, which is also good. Chen couldn't believe that the Crispy Soul Chicken wasn't made from real chicken. Being a vegan in NYC is awesome. :)

After that we went to The Pyramid Club, because they have an 80s new wave night on Thursdays. We hung out there for a while--the music was good, and they were playing the Depeche Mode 86-98 video without its sound, and Chen danced for a bit. It was fun. We ended up leaving after a while, though--the crowd wasn't that great, lots of touristy types and young college kids.

Afterwards we ended up... where? We stopped by the bar on St. Mark's, and were told that they didn't have lemonade (despite Chen having it there like three days in a row beforehand). So we ended up back at the Mexican place on 3rd and 13th, where she had quesadillas, and I had rice and beans, and we both drank Negra Modelo.

Then we ended up back at my place, because Chen wanted to see some of my old Jon Stewart show tapes. I was more than happy to share the Jon Stewart love. So we watched the one with Marilyn Manson (the second-to-last episode) and cooed over how adorable Jon was. But Chen was very disturbed by Marilyn Manson, and insisted that she really dislikes him. I think the guy is smart, a talented artist with a lot to say, and at the worst, a dorky guy from Ohio wearing makeup and dealing with some inflated ego issues. Certainly nothing to get intimidated by.

So I showed her his book (which she started reading and quickly went out and bought). And I showed her his 1997 Politically Incorrect appearance with G. Gordon Liddy, Florence Henderson, and (some psychotic nut) Lakita Garth. That show is one of the most surreal and ridiculous things ever, but Manson is awesome on it. Chen went from cringing every time he appeared to listening, riveted, to his every word. Pretty cool. >:)

Anyway, so my roommate didn't really appreciate this (even though we had the volume as low as possible and were whispering to each other). So Chen eventually left (also, it was 4am).

I had Friday and Saturday to myself--I caught up on sleep, listed stuff on eBay, and finished The Goblet of Fire. *sigh* I love Sirius as much as ever, and am having a very hard time forcing myself to read The Order of the Phoenix. *sob*

Yesterday (Sunday) Chen was back. We went to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which was very funny, but strangely, not as funny as I expected given the massive praise it's received. ( spoilers )

Meh, but I'm being bitter. It was funny, and we were laughing our asses off during most of it. (Except when the assholes behind us started kicking Chen's chair and telling her to shut up. People really suck sometimes.)

Afterwards we went to Pukk again, which was as yummy as always. Oh, and on the way, as we were at Astor Place walking toward St. Mark's, guess who we passed. Seriously... think for a minute... who do I not know and yet see every weekend?

Yes, that's right, Voltaire! Poor guy must think he is being stalked. He was out with his son, and we were walking right past, so I smiled and Chen said hello, and we hurried by. I felt bad, even though, y'know, it's not my fault. We run in the same circles, or something. (I've never gone anywhere specifically to see him, yet we were both at ComicCon, that wacky Long Island con, Dragoncon, the Bella Morte show, the Neil Gaiman reading, and Astor Place last night. That was the fourth time I've seen him this month.)

Anyway, so after Pukk, Chen and I walked to TeaNY, which was delicious--we each had a pot of tea and shared tea sandwiches and a brownie. Later, I really wished I hadn't had a whole pot of tea, though--it took a very long time to fall asleep last night.

After TeaNY we headed back toward St. Mark's place, where the guy from the lemonade-and-Irish-guys bar saw us and invited us in. So we drank Negra Modelo and talked for quite a while, but left (relatively) early. I was home by 1:30am, since I had to work today.

It's been such fun--I live in such a wonderful neighborhood, and it's great to hang with someone who appreciates it and wants to explore it. And of course, Chen is awesome.

And now... back to work. :(


PS: How is "working" a mood? If I choose it, will it put me in the mood to get work done?

PPS: New Pig November 8!!!!!!!! :)

I've barely been reading LJ. I know, I suck. Sorry.

I was channel surfing the other day and came across Logan Echolls. I haven't watched, or really even thought about, VM for a couple of weeks. So the level of my emotional reaction was surprising; it was close to the kind of affectionate happiness you get when you see an old friend after a long time apart. I've not felt that level of emotional investment in a fictional character since, oh... Spike.

I guess we'll see what happens when the new season starts. Thus far I haven't felt any need to write essays or participate in the fandom or any of that. And I've (hopefully) learned my lesson from BtVS: don't get your hopes up and never allow some TV show to influence your own personal happiness. So, emotional investment heavily checked. And I'm sure it helps immensely that I'm not a shipper, though I continue to hate the way that these shows are framed so that any character who is not important to the main character is supposed to be considered unimportant by the audience, too.

Part of what I love about "A Song of Ice and Fire" (to switch topics here a bit) is its true ensemble nature. There is no one hero around whom everything else revolves, and no one "truth" against which all opinions are judged. You can have characters on completely different sides who are each understandable and sympathetic despite their differences (and it's also nice that the series has many different factions, not a "one side vs the other side" binary).

( A bunch of babbling, mostly about moral ambiguity in A Song of Ice and Fire and more comparing Jaime Lannister with Logan and Spike )

( Bad Christian Bale movies: Newsies and Equilibrium )

( Raymond Watts )

( The first three Monkey Island video games )

( Movies: Death to Smoochy, Empire of the Sun )

Anyone know, what's a good place for in-depth Half-Blood Prince discussion? On LJ or elsewhere. I'm not familiar with Harry Potter fandom--from what I can tell, it's huge and full of kerfuffles and little kiddies--where do grown-ups go to talk rationally?

Just wondering. I'm in the midst of re-reading the HP series.

So I joined Netflix, in an attempt to see those movies that I've "always been intending to see but never got around to."

Anyone have movie recommendations?

Last night I watched "Stand By Me," because I'd never seen the whole thing. What a cast! River Phoenix was so good, Wil Wheaton was adorable, Corey Feldman was... Corey Feldman!, Keifer Sutherland and John Cusack both brought such depth to small roles... It's really interesting to see, just for the actors.

I have issues with the screenplay, the sort of fantasy-nostalgia and idealization of childhood, but I also liked how real the kids were in certain ways: drinking, cursing, more "South Park" than scmoopy kid movie. (Isn't it interesting how adults can nostalgically view children with complexity, but when it comes to their own kids it's always ultra-clean and sanitized?)

Whatever. I mostly rented it because it's a Corey Feldman movie I hadn't seen (I might go see his play again, they're offering $20 rush tickets an hour before the show) and because I'd been reading WilWheaton.net. (Wil Wheaton seems so cool--really smart and honest and dorky--I'll have to read his book.)

Next up: Evil Dead.

A FEAST FOR CROWS!!!

I'm incoherent with delight. It feels like I've been waiting forever for the announcement of this book's publication.

GRRM is going to split it into two novels by character and location. We'll end up with two complete stories, which I definitely prefer over him chopping it down the middle and giving us two halves of a story. Of course, my delight is probably mostly because Jaime will almost certainly be in the first one. More Jaime!! Squee!!

If you haven't read this series yet, seriously, catch up. Plenty of people are starting now; I just got drujan and 10zlaine to read them, too. :)

So yeah, aside from that, I had a pretty good weekend, actually. jaydk and I spent the day together on Sunday and did a double feature: Revenge of the Sith and Kingdom of Heaven. My obsession (Star Wars) and hers (Orlando!).

It was my third time seeing Revenge of the Sith--very cool to see it on the huge screen at Lincoln Square--and once again it made me cry. Luke and Leia's theme music, and Alderaan, and Luke's house, the twin suns, OMG.... *sob* And, also, it helped that I've been reading the novelization--it answers a lot of questions, so that you can more easily sink into the story. (Although the novel is terribly written and its intro to Padme is grotesquely offensive: being a senator doesn't matter at all, because she's all "completely defined by her husband," as if this is a GOOD, ROMANTIC thing, ugh, give up your identity for your husband, so obviously written by a man, and reason #54788514 why I will never get married, and seriously, let's get George Lucas some gender studies lessons, k?....)

Kingdom of Heaven was a lot better the second time. Plus, seeing it right after Revenge of the Sith definitely made me appreciate its sparseness and subtlety. It's beautifully filmed, and I love the minimalism of the dialogue. And I really thought Orlando Bloom did a good job portraying a character who is defined by his actions rather than by his words. (Although we had to run all over the city to see it, and ended up at a 10:20 showing, because the first one we tried was apparently the only sold out showing of that movie in the world.)

Um, and then on Monday I read Veronica Mars fanfic and played Dr. Mario on my NES Emulator. It was a holiday. :P

So tonight I'm going to try to see Chuck Palahniuk, because he's doing a talk at the Barnes & Noble at Union Square. And then on Friday I'm going to try to meet George R.R. Martin at Book Expo America. *crosses fingers*