one of the top headlines for the day here in Tulsa is that the legislature passed a bill to move the repeal of the vehicular inspection law up from August 25th to sometime this week. vehicle owners had a dilemna if their inspection sticker expired before August 25th. should i comply and renew, or should i let it expire and risk the fine of $75? the people are worried that police officers will take advantage of those risk-takers and snag some extra money for their respective cities. the legislature has decided to help out these poor souls by having the repeal take effect this week instead (none of this really matters to me since mine is good through next April). i'm not certain why they're bothering with this. the price of the inspection sticker is only $5. it would have been much nicer is they'd moved up the date for the change in tag prices last year. i paid $200 for mine. three weeks later it would have only cost me $80, but the jerks-who-are-officers police department would have cited me as much as possible had i not had a current tag.

ack. there are postings that say that, in the live-action Tick this fall on Fox, two characters will have different names: die Fledermaus will be Batmanuel (which i can grudgingly accept), and American Maid will be known as Captain Liberty (which is so lame it's nauseous). there is absolutely no cleverness in that name, and i wish a pox on whomever came up with it.

my dreams have reached a new level of mundacity. last night, i dreamt that i was shopping for groceries. i was Comparison Shopping and even had coupons. my life must really suck.

this is good for a smirk first thing in the morning: Voyager's Wang Looks Ahead

oh good lord! there was only one Full House fic, so i decided to read it to see what someone could possibly write about that ridiculously saccharin show. someone had some serious Danny/Jessie fantasies. blech.

here's something to keep me busy between tomorrow night's season finale of Buffy and August's season premiere:

3,681 Buffy fanfics. or i could read some of the Starsky and Hutch or Full House.

i don't think anyone can refute his calculations.

have you been thinking "there just aren't enough mouse-eating, false-skin-wearing, we'll-trade-for-your-water-and-snag-most-of-your-population-for-snacks-while-we're-at-it aliens on tv anymore"? someone's been thinking the same thing.

*sob* it's gone!

updated: eh, the bastards... now it's back. but now i'm kinda wishing they'd take it down. that site makes Jimmy out to be a real idiot, not the lovable, dumb as rocks lovely that he really is. no good.

bloody hell. today is the birthday of someone in the office, and i see that there's a cake stashed in the community cube. this means there's going to be one of the those "Let's get everyone together and socialize over cake" moments. i hate that.

a photo of the cast of The Tick, with Arthur, American Maid, Die Fledermaus and Tick. heh. Arthur does look like a bunny.

i have decided to sell my extra copies of Kithbook: Pooka and Kithbook: Sluagh.

anyone interested can email me with offers.

sorry, folks. when i said in a post yesterday "Professor shot," i didn't mean the Professor from Gilligan's Island. i apologize for any confusion.

the drink of choice for the Buffy and Angel season finales watch party of one. it probably tastes like crap, but hey, gotta have a theme for the night.

woo hoo! thank you, sir, for the heads up.

i should probably stop emailing members of Congress, especially when it's just to send a link and say something like "how do you like them apples?" they may not like that, and they'll probably have some sort of Congressional Secret Police spirit me off to the secret Congressional Dungeon and Sacrificial Pit deep beneath the Capitol. if ever i vanish, that's probably where i am.

Another major set we toured was a faux-mountain top that comes into play at the movie’s end. Without mentioning any spoilers, we were told that this set involved a battle between Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and one of the bad guys, which Suckle describes as a “pretty balls-out, kick-ass fight…[a] really incredible comedic/action set-piece bringing together The Matrix and the WWF.” Part of this action scene will involve wire-work with a Hong Kong wire team.

a tour of the Scooby Doo set. i'm not sure what "balls-out" means (not in this context anyway), but i do know what "kick-ass" means, especially when used in tandem with SMG's name. i'd be pleased as peaches if it involved a staking, particularly of Freddy.

Prinze Jr., not Jones.

Professor shot.

The gunman selected the victim at random, shot him four times with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, placed a note by his body and then shot himself, Hall said.

The note said the gunman intended to kill an innocent person.

yesterday, UPN (among others) announced their 2001 fall line up. it includes a brief description of what went on behind the scenes in order for UPN to get Buffy. i didn't know network programming worked this way.

Section 31 has a more detailed description of the unveiling of Enterprise, along with a look at the title treatment. UPN is supposed to air a sneak peek at the series next Wednesday.

[Faith Gimmill] is a member of the tribe of 10,000 in who live 15 villages spread across Alaska and Canada. Her people are close to the wildlife of the refuge that includes polar bears, musk ox, wolves, and moose. They are particularly close to the 160,000 Porcupine caribou that migrate in large herds from the ANWR to near the Gwich‘in villages.

Alaska has experienced a number of oil spills, 17,000 in the North Slope since 1972 according to The Last Great Wilderness Project. The most recent one occurred earlier in April of this year.

from the Native American Times article by David M. Scholes

i hope she gets to feeling better.

heh. a joke

something new to waste my time on: PicRave (thanks a lot Metafilter).

I like to play the guitar. Chicks love guitars, hopefully. Maybe I can play you a song, hopefully. Or I can tell you all about root beer. Or maybe we could go running, since I am a runner. Consumption sumption what's your function? this guy sounds like loads of fun.

you must enjoy macaroni and cheese, shave with pear scented skintimate, have flannel jammies and refer to yourself as "the bestest hoo-hoo-nanny this side of detroit". knows what he wants, though i'm getting an Oedipus vibe from this one.

I'm unemployed and live with my parents! I do make web pages for companies in my spare time, but basically I am a loser. a little down on himself, i think.

this guy is from the Home of Happiness.

and so, after a wasted hour, i stop.

my boss came by to give me my weekly free copy of the print TVGuide (just try to beat my benefits package!), he enters my cubicle, raises his eyebrow and says "I know which one you want" before tossing down a copy with Jeri Ryan on the cover.

wrong, bub. i want the Kate Mulgrew. seriously, who wouldn't? Kate could kick Jeri's butt easily, and, as far as i'm concerned, Kate has better hair.

ever the ones to capitalize on one of the hokiest "Collectible" items ever (anyone remember 24 covers in one week for "The Simpsons"?), TVGuide Online has an exclusive 4th "Bon Voyager" May 19th issue cover in a collectible box for only $20.

btw, i was unaware that Jeri was a former Miss Illinois.

Wolverine's getting an origin.

Smallville has a website up. looking at that photo makes me miss Dean as Superman.

UPN has scooped up the WB-cancelled Roswell, possibly influenced by the 12,000 bottles of Tabasco sauce that fans sent in. it looks like the WB's line-up will be heading off to UPN, except for Angel, of course. UPN may be cancelling Celebrity Deathmatch, which really sucks because i still haven't seen my fantasy deathmatch: Kristy "Movie Buffy" Swanson vs. Sarah "Ass Kicking Series Buffy" Gellar. well, that or Pope John Paul II vs. John and Paul from the Beatles.

X-Files will be back for another season, with considerably less Mulder. The Tick is expected finally to premiere (yippee!), and The Lone Gunmen is expected to be dropped. excuse me while i enter catatonia. i'm holding out hope that the last one will prove to be false. i need my weekly Jimmy fix, dammit!

Christian Rock music has destroyed many lives.

maybe Buffy should move from Sunnydale to Hollywood.

btw, i figured out the Wolf, Ram and Hart thing before Wesley did. neener!

and today is David Boreanaz's birthday. he looks good for 240-something (and he looks good for 30 too).

ok, i did panic a little last night at the end of Angel.

for some Buffy talk, go see what Jean has to say (at the link above). don't miss Buffy next week. it's the showdown between Buffy and Glory, and from the previews, it looks like it's going to one kick ass battle.

i didn't realize that he's been in-the-closet.
[gratitude to Max for the link, and the intense feeling of being excluded from the party. why didn't someone tell me that, until now, he was still ambiguous or uncomfirmed or whatever? maybe i should watch more television. oh, and by the way, i actually already do know Shaggy's name.]

El presidente has nominated John Walters to be the U.S. Drug Czar. Don Hazen gives ten reasons for the Senate to reject Walters.

E! Online asks Joss and the Scoobies some questions (yay for Tara!)

bloody hell, they're moving Angel to Mondays, which Roswell will soon vacate (so long, big-eared alien boy), and putting Smallville in Angel's old spot. Smallville will not fit with Buffy the way Angel did, so this will totally screw up my Tuesday nights, and the rest of the week will go with it without Voyager on Wednesdays and the possibility of The Lone Gunmen not coming back at all. my entire week may be shot this fall. of course, Quantum Trek is supposed to premiere, and there is a chance that Gunmen will be back (i need my weekly Jimmy fix), so maybe it won't be too bad, but my Mondays and Tuesdays will definitely be screwed up.

some Smallville info: the show will have Lana Lang and not Lois Lane as previously reported, and Luke Duke will be Clark's pa. also, the 15 year old Clark will be played by a 24 year old actor who does not look to be anywhere near 15. and this is the guy that's going to be Lex Luthor? don't really get that menacing, evil guy vibe from him (maybe that's why he's also a good guy, voicing the Flash for JLA).

an email making the rounds at work:

KIDS BOOKS THAT YOU PROBABLY WON'T SEE PUBLISHED


1. You're Different -- And That's Bad
   
2. The Boy Who Died from Eating All His Vegetables
   
3. Robert: Dad's New Wife
   
4. Fun Four-Letter Words to Know and Share
   
5. The Kids' Guide to Hitchhiking
   
6. Kathy Was So Bad That her Mom Stopped Loving Her
   
7. Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence
   
8. All Cats Go to Hell
   
9. The Little Sissy That Snitched
   
10. Why Can't Mr. Fork and Mrs. Electrical Outlet be Friends?
    
11. That's It, I'm Putting You Up for Adoption.
    
12. Grandpa Gets a Casket
    
13. 101 Things You Can Do at the Bottom of the Pool
    
14. The Magic World Inside the Abandoned Refrigerator
    
15. Controlling the Playground: Respect Through Fear
    
16. The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy
    
17. Strangers Have the Best Candy
    
18. Whining, Kicking and Crying to Get Your Way
    
19. You Were an Accident
    
20. Things Rich Kids Have, But You Never Will
    
21. Daddy Drinks Because You Cry
    
22. Your Nightmares Are Real
    
23. Where Would You Like to be Buried?
    
24. You've Got Hepatitis B, Charlie Brown
    
25. Valuable Protein and Other Nutritional Benefits of Things from Your Nose

Authorities expressed shock Friday about the abuse of a 13-year-old developmentally disabled boy who was hog-tied to a tree and hit with balls, fists and spraying water while family members and friends videotaped the actions.

In a court affidavit, Detective Diane Young said the victim told her that Richter and Cy Zezza tied him to a tree in the front yard on Brookline in east Bartlesville and struck him with tennis balls and a basketball they threw at him.

The boy had a rope burn on his left shoulder and three rope burns on his abdomen when he was interviewed by child welfare authorities, they said.

The videotape, seized by police, shows the victim crying in pain and tied with rope at his hands and feet. At one point, his attackers picked up the screaming boy by his hands and feet.

Several times the boy was sprayed in the face with a water gun. The video also shows Cy Zezza punching the victim, according to a court affidavit.

Police said Richter told them that he tied the victim to a tree but said his hands were free and that they were playing catch with him, the court affidavit stated. Richter later told police he was punishing the boy "for cussing in his house," according to the affidavit.

[Police Lt. Steve] Johnson said he is not aware of any calls coming into the police Detective Division about the abuse case, despite the fact that the video shows cars and a bicycle passing by the house while the boy lay screaming in the front yard.

(see article, though i've posted most of it)(by the by, emphasis mine)

that the mother allowed her friends to do this while she and others watched doesn't suprise me. i've long ago accepted that some people are monsters who do this type of thing, but, motorists and bicyclists passed by. neighbors must have heard the screaming. someone had to have seen this happening, yet no one called the police. they looked away and let the monsters go about their work. i hate people.

in the last two months, there have been 25 burglaries in the area that i'm moving into at the end of this month. go me for finding the crime hotspots.

if you were a Thundercats fan like me, here are some audio outtakes that aren't for kids.

Paramount's finally made it official.

Douglas Adams died over the weekend.

i spent the day at my grandparent's. i hadn't been there in quite a while, so my grandfather wanted to show me around and point out some of the changes and improvements he and my grandmother had made to the farm. afterwards, he, my uncle, my mom's man and i sat on the porch. they talked while i listened. i discovered that fathers and grandfathers actually do sit around and discuss power tools. i always thought that that was something like a folk tale, but they really do.

today was a good day, all in all. mothers and grandmothers are the best. especially grandmothers, constantly asking "are you eating enough?" and "do you want me to send some [insert name of grandmotherly food] home with you?"

"Come on, the word 'shit' is not blasphemy, for Christ's sake!"

Voodoo Academy, a Full Moon production (see review). it's terrible. bad acting, bad script, really bad dialogue, cheesey special effects, and guys in revealing-wear. well worth it if you like movies that don't even make the B grade.

Freddy Prinz Jr. cannot be Batman. stop saying that.

according to The Hollywood Reporter, Scott Bakula will be the Series V captain. i still say that the first officer should be a hologram that only the captain can see.

A concert by Jennifer Lopez has been cancelled by German officials over fears it could wake hibernating bats.

the U.S. is a Rogue Nation.

eating posts again, i see.

i just finished watching "Heros," the episode of Angel in which Doyle dies. he went out like a hero (which i didn't expect), but geez that guy's accent is sooooo fake.

‘Our country has made great progress in the
past in reducing drug use, and we will do it again.’
— JOHN WALTERS
Drug policy adviser

what country/fantasy world is he living in?
[source was an MSNBC article]

simple pleasure.

someone has answered my question and let me know that Stephen Snedden is not just some big dumb oaf.

Fred Phelps is coming here to protest against the Gay/Straight Alliance at Jenks High School on June 4th. Jenk's last day of class is May 24th, so Fred will be protesting at a nearly deserted school.

More fan fiction: Debbie Gibson... is disturbed by a horde of attacking ninjas. After killing two of them, Debbie unmasks the leader... to find that it is fellow 80s star Tiffany. After fighting for a while, they have lesbian sex.

a fanfic. be warned, it's an erotic fanfic thing. it was the Tiffany-as-ninja-clan-leader part that got my attention.

[anyone notice that i like to string words together with hyphens? link taken from Popbitch]

last night's Buffy (yes, this means there may be spoilers in this post. read at your own risk. don't blame me if you're a weak-willed spoilerwhore):

starts out immediately where last week's left off. Buffy grabs Dawn and takes off running. Glory starts to follow but Evil-Eye Willow smacks her down for a sec, giving Buffy a little bit of a head start. turns out that it didn't matter, because Glory suddenly decides to go all Barry Allen and zip across the UC Sunnydale campus. Buffy is just about to cross the street when Glory stops several feet in front of her. Glory's looking all smug, and says something like "Any last words, Slayer?" to which, Buffy replies "Yeah. Truck." you can almost see the cartoon Questionmark of Confusion appear above Glory's head right before the *SMACK!!*. a tanker truck slams into Glory, throwing her down the road and into a parked car. i laughed myself out of my chair. i'm not kidding. i ended up on the floor just in time to see Glory morph into Ben, which just set me off even more to see Ben in Glory's dress, causing me to do an asthmatic wheeze through my laughter and dig my inhaler out of my backback. i ended up laughing through most of the first commercial break.

of course, after that, it started to get more serious and didn't laugh so much. Anya cracked me up with her Spam and pan-in-the-purse, but pretty much, there were very few chortles and chuckles for the rest of the ep. i liked Spike's goggles, and the way Buffy stood up to everyone about Spike being there. she was being practical, and i wondered whether she'd be willing to kill actual people (the Knights) to protect Dawn.

there were many, many 'that's cool' parts. Spike grabbing the sword, Buffy on top of the RV, Spike and Xander bondage (that doesn't sound right), Willow getting powerful, stupid Knights wearing chainmail, in the desert, chainmail that was way too heavy for them to be fighting in effectively, Buffy punching out Head Knight, the Spike getting singed by stray sunbeams.

i know there are those out there (and lots of them, it seems) who don't like Tara, but i do, and it made me very sad to see her in the Insane-Because-I've-Been-Brainsucked state. Tara's cool.

overall, this episode had several "oh shite!"s, many "no!"s and, at the end, a chin-quivering "oh, Buffy."

usually, it news when a cast member from a series reveals something about a highly anticipated upcoming season finale. so desperate to publish *something* every day about Buffy, it's now become news when a cast member won't reveal anything.

a question about whether Jennifer Lopez's new movie Angel Eyes is a supernatural thriller or not. the answer?

"The supernatural aspect of it is love," [Director Louis] Mandoki said. "Love is supernatural.

blech. i don't think i'll be seeing this one.

House will vote to punish U.N. over Human Rights seat.

like little children throwing a fit because they don't like what happened. bastards.

ok, so i just completed this little Match-You-to-the-Philosopher quiz, and i was equated (at 100%, no less) to Nietzsche. having read nothing by Nietzche, would someone be kind enough to let me know whether i should be please with this or not? [found via Metafilter]

wow. i've nearly gone the entire day without mentioning Buffy. did you think i might not say anything at all about it today?

please. it's Tuesday. it's Buffynight. i've been busy most of the day, but now, with less than an hour before i go home, i've got the spare time. i won't say much though. i'm still a little dazed from watching the eps i downloaded last night. some very good ones.

everyone tune in to the WB tonight and watch Buffy. last week (in what i have affectionately dubbed the "Oh, shit!" episode), Glory brainsucked Tara, leading to the discovery of the Key's identity (in a roundabout, just happened to tear down the walls at the right time kind of way). this week's episode follows immediately on last week's, with the gang going on the run from Glory. in an RV. it's the Roadtrip episode! so far as i know, though, Tom Green does not make a cameo.

another in the 'headlines that cracked me up' series (please keep in mind that i am a simpleton): New Middle East Violence Erupts Despite Pope Appeal . not the 'Violence Erupts' part (i'm not a total bastard). the 'Pope Appeal' part. it conjures up images of John Paul walking down the street while people say "man, that guy has some real pope appeal."

and Pope Makes Parting Plea From Syria for Just Peace. just peace. to hell with everything else.

Gov. Frank Keating vetoed a bill Monday that could have resulted in fines of up to $50,000 against candidates who lied about their opponents' voting record.

In his veto message, Keating said Senate Bill 352 "inappropriately limits the First Amendment right of freedom of speech." The bill "can be construed as not allowing for fair comment on a voting record and would likely have the effect of chilling constitutionally protected speech."

eeg. i found this on Dark Horizons:

"Halloween 8: Busta Rhymes has been confirmed for the role of 'Freddie' according to MTV News"

i couldn't find whatever MTV News report that's from (i didn't look too hard though. i hate the MTV website).

it's a good day when you get to spend a couple of hours watching Buffy at work. nacho grasses to Jean for pointing out someplace to download eps that i've not seen before.

yippee! just got the news: my best mate's coming home!

i finally got to see it. "Hush" is the coolest episode, and parts of it are downright scary.

read a war game scenario involving India and Pakistan.

a look at US public opinion concerning the death penalty.

do shows like WWF Smackdown have a season finale?

this woman frightens me.

hooray for me. i work for a Dittohead.

for you, Jean.

someone has invented a working tractor beam.
[via Metafilter]

an idea for a reality show i'd watch.

A high school substitute teacher was fired after taking off her shirt in class and teaching in her sports bra.

she should have known: if the shirt goes, the bra goes.

''It didn't seem like a big deal, but maybe something's totally wrong with me,'' Gibson said.

it's much more difficult to find photos of a bilby than you'd think.

here's the Australian Bilby Appreciation Society with a photo. even better, they have a cute little plush Easter Bilby.

jokes like this crack me up beyond belief.

i'm a simpleton, i know.

Dark Horizons has a report on a visit to the set of the live action Scooby Doo. no new photos, but there is a brief paragraph recapping a talk with Sarah Michelle Gellar that suggests that Buffne (hey, it's better that Daphy) might do a little butt kicking.

[Michael Elashoff] was assigned to review Relenza, the new flu drug developed by Glaxo Wellcome. He recommended against approval.

"The drug has no proven efficacy for the treatment of influenza in the U.S. population, no proven effect on reducing person-to-person transmissibility, and no proven impact on preventing influenza," Elashoff wrote, adding that many patients would be exposed to risks "while deriving no benefit."

An agency advisory committee agreed and on Feb. 24 voted 13 to 4 against approving Relenza.

After the vote, senior FDA officials upbraided Elashoff. They stripped him of his review of another flu drug. They told him he would no longer make presentations to the advisory committee. And they approved Relenza as a safe and effective flu drug.

the LA Times report on the FDA's changed role in protecting public health by working as a partnership with pharmaceutical companies. the author won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for this article (yes, yes, i'm just now getting around to reading it).

this is interesting: U.S. loses seat on U.N. Human Rights Commission.

i hate work. please, someone volunteer to be my sugardaddy.

have some interesting search referrals:

• Striped s_xy g_rls. i hadn't thought of stripes as being s_xy. i took a look to see what kind of sites come up before i decided that they must have been looking for stripped s_xy g_rls.
  
• Celine Dion Naked photo. why?
  
• ingredients for a meth lab.
  
• Jack Klugman fan club.
  
• vanessa williams tooth
  
• one that i won't name here (though i'll still provide the link!) because i don't want too many people coming here in search of anything related to !ñç꧆.
  
• and of course, i'm still getting lots of hits for S_xy S__di G_rls and S_xy S__di W_m_n. it's 17% of my site traffic. i need to figure out a way to make money off this.

speaking of searches, to the right, i have added a search thingie. it's main purpose is for me, since it only searches my blog, and allows me to indulge in my self-linking fascination (see ninja entry, below), and because i often forget that i've blogged something and end up blogging it again a couple of days months later. i'm absent minded like that.

oh boy! something ninja-ey to keep me occupied.

i never realized how often i seem to mention ninjas and their skills..

Fox will broadcast the unaired last four episodes of Freakylinks in June.

for anyone who missed them (if you're not watching Buffy, you should be), here are some recap/reviews of Buffy and Angel.

you say you want to see a UK mini-series spin-off of Buffy that features Giles back home? maybe you will.

this book was released two days ago and already the publisher has it listed as out-of-stock. i am displeased. i don't have a copy yet. i must have one. i think i know where to get one tonight.

however, i don't know if i should get one. funds are limited right now, so limited that it could be the difference between having food and not. the little Voice of Responsibility (hidden WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY back in the back of me brain) says in a stern voice "Do NOT buy the book." there's the Voice of Gotta-Have-New-Toys (which is right up in the front part of the brain) says "It's just one book, and twenty bucks really isn't that much, and it certainly can't buy much food anyway." then there's the Voice of Changeling-Product-Consumer-Panic that screams "BUT IT'S A LIMITED PRINT RUN AND AFTER THIS THEY WON'T PRINT ANYMORE AND THE ONLY WAY TO GET IT WILL BE ON EBAY FOR ABOUT A HUNDRED BUCKS, SO YOU'RE ACTUALLY SAVING EIGHTY DOLLARS THAT YOU CAN SPEND ON FOOD AND THAT'S A RESPONSIBLE THING TO DO SO GO BUY THE BOOK." i have to listen to and satisfy all three voices if i want to feel good about my decision, so i throw them all in a big kettle, turn up the heat and simmer for a while to get my answer, which is.... child trafficking, narcotics smuggling and prostituition are excellent ways to get cash for food AND books.

anyone wanna put me in touch with some infertile European couples, drug cartels/DEA/CIA (same thing) or pimps?

an archive on the American Eugenics Movement.
[Khan Noonien Singh created by Memepool]

eeg? Sandra Bullock as Wonder Woman? rumors of George Clooney as the lead in Batman: Year One disputed (thankfully. he's a little too old) and get ready for the funniest thing this side of Genosha: the Fantastic Four!

Bush said today's threats come from "a small number of missiles" in the hands of rogue states "for whom terror and blackmail are a way of life."

yup, rogue states like Nebraska and Delaware, surpassed only by Canada in criminaliness (heh, i like that word).

Bush wants to scrap a thirty year old ABM treaty with Russia.

Black Penn State students demand protection.

condom manufacturers pleased.

something to be proud of: we've just finished the fourth month of the year, and Oklahoma had it's 11th execution last night.

"I expected an apology" from Marilyn Plantz before she died, Cotton [sister of the victim and sister-in-law to the condemned] said. "We did not get it."

had Cotton been apologized to, would she have asked that Plantz be spared?

Buffy: they did it. they let Glory suck Tara's brain. not a happy moment. and poor Willow, running to get to Tara, catching glimpses of Gloria just as she starts the sucking, trying to cast a spell but stopped by all the visiters to the multicultural fair until it's too late. damn ethnicity! if everyone on television was white like they were back in the '50s, there wouldn't have been a multicultural fair slowing Willow down. she might have stopped Glory and saved Tara.

on the bright side though, it REALLY pissed Willow off. i've been waiting to see her cut loose on someone and do some magickal ass kicking. go go Willow! she was a little scary though, so i think i'll be nice to witches from now on.

what else happened? Giles gets tough on the hobbit leper (cool); Anya goes all patriotic (not cool), but mostly in a capitalistic way (sorta cool); Spike tells Dawn "stop it. you're not evil" (cool); Spike should look into getting something to cover those bruises (talk to Buffy. i'm sure she has some Maybelline he could use); Glory's a lush ("Mimosa. mmm. vitamins!" i don't think there's a vitamin -OH); got to see Glory doing some evil superpowerful breaking stuff (but i still don't think it was up to Hellgod snuff. i think she's got a lot more to dish out. she's holding back); Xander... was he even in this ep?

and, the episode ended with a major "oh shit!", one we knew was coming but still made me exclaim, as i said, 'oh shit!'. (see, there's a reason we lock insane people away, just so they don't accidently let the cat out to extra-dimensional beings).

Angel: this episode just made me feel sad for Cordelia. the visions, the after-effects of the visions, the goof balls she works with, and her pursuit of an acting career (i can't believe she just took that director's crap!). i felt sad for Wesley (damned fathers). i was a little sad for Gunn (because he let those half-wits give him a good dose of the Guilties. those guys he used to work with need to realize that he probably just doesn't want to work with a bunch of half-wits who, even though there are twenty-five of them, end up with a dead guy or two when they go up against a few vampires. seriously. how many vamps were in the theater at the end of "Disharmony"? around 100? and how many of the Angel Investigations crew died fighting them all? zero? Gunn's better off where he is.

anyway, lots of sadness in Angel last night, not quite off-set by the story with the Host (i love him! i just can't call him that name), and by the goofy-Angel antics (i kinda miss the brooding-Angel). and, at the end, we get a minor exclaimation, "oh crap," vocalized by me and Cordy at the same time.

Extra: here's a brief interview with Amber Benson, which reveals almost nothing about the final episodes of the season, but does talk about the movie she wrote, directed, produced, and even starred in with two other Buffyversers (a certain green-skinned lounge singer, and a currently-bruised blond British vampire).

i love you in that special Cordy-Angel way too.

"the Emmy nominee [Joss Whedon] maintains that this climax is as likely to leave the audience sobbing as it is to start them gasping."

oh boy! another Kleenex episode!

more Buffy links: Spike looks like he's auditioning to be Bruce Wayne's new sidekick; the Scoobies play ring-around-the-roseys with Dawn, Tara's looking a bit nervous, and Glory has a Calgon moment.

UPN pulls All Souls after the second episode aired. did the show suck that much?

today started well. i woke up often last night, like i used to do, but wasn't tired or groggy in the least this morning. i actually got out of bed wide awake the first time my first alarm went off (i have three alarms, staggered to sound in three minute intervals). i showered and dresssed at the same pace i always do, but was able to leave the house 10 minutes earlier than normal. traffic was light during the drive to work. i stopped by the supermarket, as usual, for bagels and milk. the bakery people had just taken the bagels from the oven, and they anticipated my arrival by having the rack within easy reach of the counter (usually, it's still in the back near the ovens, cooling), so there was no wait for the baker to retrieve the rack for me. at the check out counter, the cashier decided to have a buy-one-get-one-free on the bagels today, so i got a free bagel. at work, my boss was in a good mood and feeling insular today, so i've only had to see him once. all in all, today has been a good day, which only leads me to believe that something really, really, really bad is going to happen very soon.

writing the words "fall of Saigon" has left the song "Fall of Saigon" in my head, and so...

during my senior year of high school, i attended "Music On the Move," a showcase competition of some big-name (to those who know anything about it) DCI Drum and Bugle Corps. most of the performances were forgettable. in fact, other than the now-defunct host corp (whose name i cannot remember. sad, considering that they were based here), the only corp i remember being there was the Santa Clara Vanguard for their performance of selections from Miss Saigon. after hearing it on the field that day, i went out and bought the soundtrack that had inspired the SCV performance. it was my first Broadway soundtrack. turned out that one wasn't enough.

next came Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera, followed by Jelly's Last Jam, Falsettos, Guys and Dolls (not Guys As Dolls), and Into the Woods, and an assortment of others leading up to my current playlist of Passion, Aida, Rent and Man of La Mancha.

so, dad, you can stop blaming mom, my high school teachers, my high school friends, my college professors, my college friends, books, television, radio, movies, the Democrats, plush animals, Thanksgiving Day parades, PETA, my cat Patches, and the English with their hot tea. blame it on Santa Clara.

today marks the 26th anniversary of the fall (or liberation, depending on your point of view) of Saigon.

i was a day short of six months old at the time, so i, natch, don't remember it, and still know little about it. during my freshman year of college, i roomed with a guy who's family had fled Saigon in the days before the North Vietnamese Army entered the city. he was only a year old at the time and doesn't remember it either, but his parents do, and they've told him the story over and over. it was an extremely traumatic event for his parents, and they'd managed to implant in their son their intense reverence for the event that brought them to the United States, and their sorrow and regret at the same event that caused them to leave their home and family behind. my roommate didn't talk about it unless asked. even then, he said little, and his voice was tinged with sadness. it was astonishing to see the depth of emotion he felt for an event that he was too young to remember, that he knows only through the first-hand account of his parents. it was also astonishing to see the pride and patriotism he and his family felt towards this country, especially astonishing in contrast to my lack of patriotic tendencies.

The International Society of Cubists officially launched its Web site today, a brilliant rejection of natural form and perspective that metaphysically establishes the implication of movement, analytically redefines spatial relationships, and is an absolute bitch to navigate.

The site — digital graphics, text, and HTML on browser — has fared no better with art critics, who immediately accused the cubists of stealing the absurd navigation and layout from MSNBC.com.

heh. SatireWire

casting has begun for Mutant X, and it's set to debut this fall.

Jean told me about this last week, but now i can link to an article: Joss reveals his plans for the musical episode of Buffy next season, and mentions that there may be a fourth Buffyverse program in the works (you do know about the other three, right?).