via WHEDONesque: Buffy was nominated for the Television Critics Association Heritage Award, which, according to its website, "recognizes a long-standing program whose positive cultural and social impact extends beyond television." BtVS appears in good company, alongside Reading Rainbow and 60 Minutes. The 2002 winner was The Simpsons.



It's been just over two weeks. I still get emotional.

via Dark Horizons:

One woman who is definitely not in the running [for the role of Wonder Woman] is singer Jessica Simpson. But she is managing to keep tight-lipped about playing the lead in the next big movie based on a popular Marvel Comics series. "I don't know if your everyday person would know it," she recently told reporters, "but I can tell you this -- it's not Wonder Woman." [source, scroll down. also a some SMG there]

::prays to Stan Lee that it not be Dazzler::

not that there's a huge chance that Dazzler will ever make it to the silver screen, but evertime they mention a "singer" up for a role as a Marvel Comics character, I get nervous. and psychotic.

Comfort food toys.

"Three alternate universes have come together to form one, now one ship and crew have to fix it."

Those three universes are the Whedonverse, Star Trek and the X-Men. . Posted as a "Look what's out there!" kind of thing, it may cause cringing.

Me: Very satisfied. Very sad.

Made even better by FX airing Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest tonight also.


"The Earth is DEFINITELY doomed."

Woot! Got my Kindred: the Embraced dvds! (Amazon link)

New Buffy game out in August! Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds. You can play as Buffy, Faith, Willow, Xander, Spike and Sid the Dummy(!), but no Giles.

The game's storyline seems topical, if you take Pure Evil as First Evil (if they are two different things, do they get along, or do they fight over who gets to destroy the world?): "Developed as a "lost episode" from season five of the television show, Chaos Bleeds involves an unraveling tale in which a dimensional bleed has been enabled by Pure Evil to consume humanity once and for all."

A good weekend for me:

Saw X2. Gah! If you haven't, GO SEE IT!

I received my Dazzler: the Movie.

Bought Fray #7, though I'll have to reread before commenting too much. It's like a companion piece to the current Buffy arc.

Bought the Star Trek: the Next Generation - The Complete Seventh Season. I was going to buy the second season, but then I had this wacky notion that I didn't have to buy them in order! After that, it was tough to choose between the fifth (which I missed most of) or the seventh (which had so many episodes that I liked).

Jason bought me this.

For Jason, I bought Xena: Season One (though for much less than the website's price). Best thing about it is that everytime you open up the little foldy box thing, it says "Yiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi!" (ok, not really, but it'd be fun if it did).

Saw Equilibrium. It's 1984 with many gun battles, some martial arts and a sword. Also Christian Bale and Taye Diggs. This and The Transporter are now on my Must Have list.

A map of the orignal area code boundaries established in 1947. I'm enough of a goob to have pulled up a current map to switch back-and-forth between the two ("They've added one there... and there... and there....").

Management here at TV Gourd has their collective heads up their ass. Or their heads up their collective ass. I'm not sure which.

We're working on a huge project (one of those "We know this isn't really what your group does, but we could really use the help because, instead of using the last 6 months to work on it, we put it off until the last minute!" -type things^†).

Problems include:
• Forcing us to use proprietary programs that we've never used or been trained on, and no, they're not going to train us to use them.
• Those same programs actually being of no use to us.
• The one program that is useful (and almost necessary) is one that can't be installed on our group's computers because our software is out-of-date.
• The single, most useful database resource available to us (as in, 80% of the information we need is there) is also a single user resource. Only one person at a time can be logged in to it!
• The reports from which we're working: There are two different versions of the first half of the first report, no one seems to know what happened to the second half, while the second report is being given to more and more people who all try to start on the first page. When it is divided, it's by "I'll take the third page!" instead of dividing it up by subcatagory, so we'll have multiple people working on the same subcatagory.
• No standardized method of keeping track of our progress. I was the first to begin working on the report and I use a apparently complex system involving colored highlighters and a pen. When the others were brought on, Dumbass_Manager_01 asked me to explain my system, then suggested the others use whatever will work for them. Which, of course, will be great fun when all the reports are given to one person to be compiled.

^† Even better is when they say "If you do well on this, maybe they'll keep you around instead of laying you off!" when we've already been told by several management-types several months ago (including the one who said that) that the layoff dates were finalized and that there is nothing, short of a Jedi mind trick and the blessing of an Incan mummy girl, that will alter the fact that we're being laid off.


edited, because it's harmonious when your corresponding nouns and verbs agree in number.

Odd Place Names: Meat Camp, NC

An interesting site that I've missed until today: EyeWitness, "history through the eyes of those who lived it." I haven't had a lot of time to explore it yet and only read of a few events in which I have a particular interest: The San Francisco Earthquake, 1906, The British Burn Washington, DC, 1814, The Destruction of Pompeii, 79 AD, and Doomed Expedition to the South Pole, 1912.

At the bottom of this page is an audio clip of a very cranky Orson Welles during a voiceover recording session that wasn't going well.

He doesn't sound much like The Brain (except for that "Yes!" part about one minute in). Compare to The Brain's voiceover in his commercial for his new fragrance, Subjugation.

Oh, and wasn't last night's Angel great? I LOVED it! The season is building up a lot of excitement and tension, and now I can hardly wait for Wednesdays.

Is Wes getting hotter with each episode?

One episode from each Joss series nominated for a Hugo in the same category (plus two Enterprise eps I'm not concerned with):

Nominations for the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Category:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Conversations With Dead People"
Firefly, "Serenity"
Angel, "Waiting in the Wings"


Do they ever have three-way ties, 'cause I can't pick just one (though I am leaning toward "Serenity," but I think that has more to do with everything that happened to the series and the general feeling of FOX FUCKING SUCKS that I still have).

Some people need to be thoroughly flogged.

Clock spider.

Spiders don't really bother me, but if I saw this one, I'd probably freak and wet myself.

"I've been moved to tears on Buffy before but I've never been so truly upset."

That's about all I can say about "Dirty Girls."

It's difficult to believe that a New-Buffy- Tuesday could get much better without more Buffy news, but mine got a little better outside new-Scoobiness: I paid off my car today. Yay!

So, between this and my not-quite-three-weeks-old computer, I remember the reason I took up that weekend video store job, and maybe I'll whine a little less about never having a day off.

New Buffy tonight! Yay!

Last night, I saw the trailer/commercial for the second X-Men movie for the first time. I nearly wet myself with Fanboy Awe.

Some stills. Siryn? Look at her clothes! I'm liking this Jubilee better than the Generation X tv movie one (though I like that one too, and the whole movie). Yum!

Gotta stop looking. I'm starting to get all spazzy.

Small things make me happy: a transcript for Clue

WADSWORTH
Professor Plum, you were once a professor of psychiatry,
specializing in helping paranoid and homicidal lunatics
suffering from delusions of grandeur.

PLUM
Yes, but now I work for the United Nations.

WADSWORTH
So your work has not changed.

The April 12 issue of TV Guide has an article about John Walsh. The really "Ah-ha!" part: In 1996, FOX "dropped [America's Most Wanted] due to declining ratings. Fifty-five members of Congress lobbied for its return, and 38 governors signed a letter in support of the show. Fox reversed its decision."

So there it is. Folks, start writing you Congresscritters now and call your governor to get them signed on. We can still save Firefly!

I left my apartment after lunch yesterday, got to the bottom of the stairs on the second floor (I live on the third) and there's a squirrel sitting in front of my downstairs neighbor's door. Being of the "Aww, a cute little squirrel!" type, I stopped to watch him do his little squirrel thing, expecting him to freak out and run away. Instead, he puffed his little tail and started shaking it at me. After another "Aww, how cute!" moment, I stepped slowly toward him (had to round the corner to go down the next flight of stairs). He turned like he was going to run, but then he turned back, puffed and twitched his tail again, and took a hop toward me and snorted. Again I thought it was cute, and fascinating. Here's this liiiitle fuzzball threatening me and letting me know that he means business.

I took another step to go around the corner, and again, he hopped and snorted at me. Then again. And again. And once more. At this point, I'm starting to get a little freaked, wondering if this squirrel could be rabid and carnivorous. I stepped again, and this time, the little guy turns, runs a foot or so, turns back, and repeats the hop-snort process until he's close enought that I could have reached down and picked him up. That was a little too close for me, so I hurried around the corner, with the squirrel turning away, hopping back, turning away, hopping back, and snorting at me the whole time. I turned to go down the next set of stairs, which double back and would have forced me to go by the squirrel again. The space between the bars on the railing is way more than enough for a rabies-crazed squirrel to leap through and eat out my eyes once my head was level with him. I didn't want that to happen, 'cause I like my eyes. Instead, I backed up, walked through the breezeway to the back of the building, took the rear stairs, and walked around the building to my car.

A vicious, diseased-brained, possibly flesh-eating squirrel has taken over the front side of the second floor of my apartment building.

Update: Went home for lunch today and thought I'd check up on the squirrel. He was still there.

Upcoming Buffy eps:

• Tonight: all new "Lies My Parents Told Me"
  
• April 1: "Sleeper" (repeat)
  
• April 8: "Never Leave Me" (repeat)
  
• April 15: all new "Dirty Girls".

Upcoming Angel eps:

• Tomorrow: all new! "Players"
  
• April 2: all new! "Inside Out"
  
• April 9: all new! "Shiny, Happy People"
  
• April 16: all new! "The Magic Bullet"

Neither Gem Nor Star
Embattled TV programming-guide provider Gemstar-TV Guide reported this week it will restate $111 million in revenues it booked in the past. In other words, the company claimed revenues it shouldn't have.


Naughty, TV Guide!

Still, most of us around here preferred Henry to current Big Cheese Jeff.

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome all the fine folks coming from Metafilter, and to let you know that Angel is on tonight at 9pm, EST, on the WB. You should watch it. It'll answer every question you could possibly have about anything*.



* may not be the truth

Dreamed last night that I was in Sunnydale with the Scoobies. Andrew had been arrested and was in jail, all part of some devious plot by the First, who was controlling the police officers. Somehow, Jonathan had come back to life, but the First and his Bringers didn't know that. We used Jonathan as a decoy to break Andrew out of jail, and hid out in Angel's old mansion, only the mansion was different. Much bigger, more spacious, and less darkness there. Also, Katharine Hepburn lived there with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who spent the entire time naked. And anatomically incorrect. And his job was to cook corn dogs for the ball park next door.

Andrew and Jonathan disappeared, while Buffy and Katharine argued over the best way to fight the First. Buffy eventually stormed out, leaving me to deal with the fuming Ms. Hepburn. Katharine picked a fight with Arnold, then kicked him out of her house for not paying rent. Instead, Arnold climbed into bed, pulled the blanket over his head, and disappeared. This is where I woke.

I saw that there's a rumor going 'round that Jennifer Lopez may take her fiance's surname when they marry. Won't happen. J-Leck doesn't work.

FX is running Buffy season 5 right now. They're still in the first half of the season, which means lots of Joyce moments that make me very sad. I get a little emotional every time I see her with that bandage on her head.

What will I do with my Tuesday nights?

CNN on Daredevil. Confirms my fears (no I still haven't seen it. Hush). I also overheard some people discussing the movie at an eatery around the corner from the cinema. The big thing I noted was that "Affleck doesn't fit the superhero" discussions.

I can still have hope for the Hulk movie, right?

Hunter: the Reckoning (my brief review) has some sequels in the works.

For Xbox, Hunter: the Reckoning - Redeemer

For PS2, Hunter: the Reckoning - Wayward.

I enjoyed the first one on Gamecube, and I'm happy that there will be sequels. I have a second reason (again) to get an Xbox.

Yeah, I like dumb humor:

One day Count Dracula is walking down the street when suddenly 10 tons of smoked salmon sandwiches, sausage rolls, vol-au-vents, chicken wings, chipolatas, tomato salad, pizza slices and crisps descend on him from a great height and knock him to the ground.

"Oh no!" he gasps with his dying breath.... It's Buffet the Vampire Slayer!"

Had a nice post on why the next comic-to-screen superhero should be Dazzler, but Blogger ate it. All I have left is a link to a decent walkthrough of Dazzler's history (ignore the part about Dazzler: the Movie wrapping up her series. It didn't. Her title ran for another dozen issues or something). [here's also the cover to Dazzler #1]

Never trust (or like) anyone who says their favorite movie is "Halloween III."

Inside joke:

Two Film Reviews That Say More Than They Say:

• The Four Feathers - an Heath Ledger film I liked!
• The Tuxedo- is there a Jennifer Love Hewitt film I don't like?

Been watching my Angel dvds all week, trying to get caught up. So many suprises for me. I started watching Angel in the middle of the second season. It's nice to see how they've maintained continuity, plus there's the bonus that these episodes have been really good. I've seen a lot of people during seasons 3 and 4 say that Angel is really good now. It seems to me that it always has been.

By the way, I've missed this Cordelia. Woot! and Wesley in leather trousers!

Jason's been watching the eps too, after I go to sleep. He's determined to finish the season before I do so he can say "Ha ha! I saw it all before you did!" Then I'll laugh back and say "Ha ha! I've already seen the other three-and-a-half seasons before you!"

(this post edited because it was mistakenly published before I meant it to be)

Hooray for Pokemon vitamins! Picked up some last night while searching for something for a back ache. They come in four colors/flavors, with pokemon shapes. The purple flavor is shaped like Gengar (my favoroite pokemon)! Of course, gengar is a ghost pokemon of the poison element. I don't know what marketing genius chose him for the purple shape, but if a kid knows his or her pokemon, you'd think they'd avoid the gengar vitamins.

Angel season 1 DVD set is on the shelf today. Happy joy!

Details on the Region 2 DVD set for Buffy season 6 (will this also be what's on the Region 1 discs in 2004?), including director's commentary for "Bargaining," "Hells Bells," "Grave," and "Once More, With Feeling" among others, as well as Karaoke Sing-Alongs (!!!!!! for OMWF? If so, my neighbors are gonna fucking hate me. If they already didn't, I mean). Joyous happiness!


Army of Darkness (Boomstick Edition).

Though anyone else linking to Peter David's blog right now seems to be talking about his recent Buffy entry, I'm gonna point to "Of Muppets and Money". I'm not going to dig deep enough to figure out who Kathleen O David is (because I'm lazy, and really don't have the energy to care), but it's a muppet link, which I don't have often enough.

Muppets rock. I hadn't seen an episode of The Muppet Show in years until I recently rented a 3 episode DVD (the one with Julie Andrews, Gene Kelly, and Elton John). We need more muppets in our lives.

We'll probably be seeing Nathan Fillion back on television soon, though not in the role in which I'd like to see him. I'm happy for him, even if it means I'll have to watch NBC again.

Barring the return of Firefly (which I still haven't left go of. There has to be a way!), I'd like to see Adam Baldwin somewhere. Naked, if possible, but that's not necessary.

If I can't have Firefly (FOX fucking sucks!), I'd really like to see all the cast in new things. I liked them all, but I think I may have trouble dealing with Gina Torres and Alan Tudyk on separate projects. Zoe and Wash belong together. And they belong with Kaylee and Simon and River and Book and Inara and Jayne and Mal on Serenity.

but geez, wouldn't that make a cool Supreme Court case? Godzilla v. Mothra. How could SCOTUS make a decision? Which ever big, bad ass monster they decide against would go on a rampage, destroying Washington D.C. That'd probably make the court less likely to accept cases involving giant monsters and superpowered beings.

and what about Ecks v. Sever? The justices would all be killed in the resulting gun-and-martial-arts battle.

from Appellateblog, An interesting ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit:

Sharply divided en banc Tenth Circuit, by vote of 6-4, rules that a Kansas appellate court could hold defendants guilty of crime for which they were not charged, tried, or convicted.

In these consolidated appeals, one habeas corpus petitioner had been convicted of indecent liberties with a child, while the other habeas petitioner had been convicted of rape. Under Kansas law, because the victims of both crimes were close relations of the offenders, the proper criminal charge that should have been brought against both offenders was the charge of aggravated incest. On appeal in the Kansas state court system, appellate courts corrected the error themselves, changing the defendants' convictions in both instances to convictions for aggravated incest.

The majority opinion began by noting that "Petitioners-appellants Steven D. Beem and Donald H. Henson, Jr. sought habeas corpus relief in federal district court, 28 U.S.C. sec. 2254, arguing that the Kansas state courts violated their federal constitutional rights by sentencing them for aggravated incest -- a crime for which they had never been charged, tried, or convicted." By a vote of 6-4, the en banc court affirmed the federal district court's denials of these petitioners' habeas petitions.

Now, most of my legal training came from watching Perry Mason and The Practice, so reading the actual ruling is something of a headache for me to try to comprehend. I rely on the Appellateblog summarization, but, by what's provided, I agree with the lead dissenting opinion on this:

In the present case, the majority has ignored the Supreme Court's mandate in Cole. Mr. Henson was charged, tried, and convicted of rape, and Mr. Beem was charged, tried, and convicted of indecent liberties with a minor. As the Kansas Court of Appeals in these cases held (based on Carmichael), under Kansas law, both should have been charged, tried, and convicted of aggravated incest. Vacating Mr. Henson's and Mr. Beem's sentences and then sentencing them instead for aggravated incest (because their conduct also violates that statute) clearly violates Petitioners' due process rights because they were never charged, tried, nor convicted of aggravated incest. As this court previously stated, "[w]hat . . . is before us now is the fundamental due process question of whether one can be sentenced for a crime not charged and to which no plea of guilty has been entered. The answer is an unequivocal no." Von Atkinson v. Smith, 575 F.2d 819, 821 (10th Cir. 1978) (applying Cole)

I haven't been able to find anything else on this (mainly, I think, because they aren't conveniently named things like Godzilla v. Mothra. Or they may be and I missed it). I'm waiting to see if anyone picks this up and breaks it down for the Judiacially Challenged such as myself.

I'm crossing my fingers…

My Buffy season 3 DVD set should be in today.


That will be the only time I order something important from the video store. I ordered and paid for it 7 weeks ago, and I've been waiting not-so-patiently for it to arrive. You know what really sucks about that? Other video stores have had it for some time while I've had to wait.

David Greenwalt talks about the Angel season 1 DVD set and DVD sets in general. sorta. (via WHEDONesque)


Same website: Wherehouse Music Seeks Chapter 11 Protection. Setting aside the share of blame they give to illegal music downloading, the other major factor they attribute is... competition. "If it weren't for those damned competitors, we'd be doing great!" Fa la la

holy shiznit, i think i actually fixed the permalink problem on my own!

from the TVtracker daily ratings analysis:

"On Fox, the Friday news remains grim with recently relocated drama Fastlane (#4: 3.8/ 6) and the once relatively promising John Doe (#5: 3.4/ 5)."


Friday nights will kill these shows (not that either deserves to live. To put it in perspective, Firefly started around 4.1 and slid to just under 3.0).

And FOX still fucking sucks.


And Jayne is still yummy.

I cannot express how glad I am that today is Friday. Yay just doesn't cut it.

Coming to Lifetime Movie Network: "On the Edge of Innocence"

A rebellious 17-year-old manic depressive is committed to a mental hospital after she starts skipping her medication. When she becomes romantically involved with a fellow patient, her psychiatrist tries to break up the relationship, forcing the troubled teens to flee for the Mexican border, encountering trouble along the way.

Forced to flee to the border!

I love this network. I've never actually watched it, but I'm reading through a movie synopsis for March and it's hilarious. All of these women in all of these unfortunate, often bizarre circumstances. It's not all murder. Sometimes, it's women facing suspicions when long-thought-dead relatives turn up to claim inheritences, or "emotional and financial distress when a business tycoon decides to buy their property, which would sever their longtime roots in a Nova Scotia fishing community."

A quick rundown of today:

1. At around 3am, power went off at my apartment again. Repeat of Sunday (grrr), only this time, it wasn't restored until 8:40am. My alarm clock has no batteries,so I awoke when the heater and my fans kicked on. I was two hours, thirty minutes late for work. /cheer Temperature in apartment when I awoke: 40 degrees. No hot water. Makes for a grouchy Terrence.

2. Workload maintained at level of the previous 5 weeks, i.e., twice as much as normal due to #3.

3. Long ass, boring meeting this afternoon with 75 other people. Very boring and quite long ass. Topic: How to find another job. Our jobs are going away over the next several months to Pennsylvania. They originally told us that in a November meeting, but today's meeting was to let us know that the time table has been moved up. Some groups will be leaving months earlier than originally planned. My group was scheduled to go sometime around July 1. Now, we'll be leaving… around July 1. We'll find out definite date ranges next week. Also, we're not being Laid Off. We're being "Transitioned" (thank god, 'cause I'd cry if this was a lay off). And they did spend the bulk of the two hour meeting going over tips for a better resume and cover letter, and even roleplayed an example of an interview.

archiving link here: Killer Super London Fog of Black Death (via archived Max)

Mr. Pointy, a Buffy script/transcript dialogue search. My first search, for "Computers don't smell," came up empty. Misspelled words in the transcripts can cause some problems. Via WHEDONesque:

Oh hey, I forgot about that permalinks-not-working thing. I'll get right on that <snicker>

Jason and I were talking the other night about various console games, and we decided suddenly to buy a Gamecube. And six games. I haven't made my way through them yet. I've only tried a little of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, but I spent a lot of time on Hunter: the Reckoning, one of the two games for which I wanted an Xbox (the other being, of course, Buffy).

"Hunter" is based on the White Wolf pen-and-paper role playing game of the same name. I enjoy a good hack'n'slash video game, and Hunter certainly doesn't fail there. Hordes of zombies, gargoyles, and other unidentifiable undead come relentlessly. It's grand fun for up to four players.
It's a bit different from the normal hack'n'slash in that you can choose one of four "Creeds" (no, not that one), or character archetypes, that has a distinct role, with appropriate "Edges" ('supernatural' abilities, though if you're familar with the RPG you'll now why "supernatural" isn't right) to fulfill that role. Edges aren't your only weapon/defense though. Each character starts with a melee weapon (sword, axe, knives) and a ranged weapon (mostly firearms, but one has a crossbow), and there's also a variety of weapons you can pick up along the way, from shotguns to chainsaws.

The first night we played, we were up well past sunrise. It's a kick ass game, everything I'd hoped it'd be, and well worth the cash if you like that sort of game. It stays mostly true to the game on which it's based, and has a decent storyline to follow. It can be tough too. Jason and I together only made it through a few chapters (the toughest part we played so far was the part where you have to keep the little girl alive as you escort her through the cemetary to a church where her parents wait. The girl is stupid and slow. She runs for the nearest player instead of the one safest, that is, the one who's not actively engaged in serious smackdown with some walking dead. I wanted to let her die, but you can't continue without protecting her, and since I was playing the Creed: Defender, it was kind of my job to hold her hand throughout). If we restart, without the learning curve, we'd do much better and get to see much more of it. If we could get a couple of other people to play with us to fill out the party, I've no doubt that we'd own those zombie hordes.


Now that Hunter is out of the way, I wanted to add that Jason (who works evenings) has me doing the same thing for him. I'm turning on the stupid lighthouse at 6pm.

Scratch another off the wishlist: The Young Ones - Every Stoopid Episode.

Tonight's Buffy is a new episode, "Potential."

I missed it before, but now that I know about it, I'm sharing: Jean has started a TV Guide Spoiler Topic over on her forums. You can check on the TV Guide summaries for future episodes of Buffy and Angel, and talk about 'em there.

Because Hotmail is crap, I've updated my email address. If you've been using the stinky fish address, just change the domain name (see sidebar) and I'll get it.

I was able to get to my Hotmail yesterday, and I've forwarded everything to the new addy. I'm still going through and replying to everyone. Give me a wee bit o' time.

Woot! I knew I wasn't wrong about using a comma before an and. Now I can stop editing them out when I review the papers, reports, and blog entries I write, and I can feel good about it not doing it.

Hey folks, don't forget the new episode of Angel tonight.

Garth Franklin of Dark Horizons gives some "links, rankings and quotes from my reviews for the creme de la crap that blinded us in 2002."

I haven't seen some of the films he lists (The Master of Disguise and Texas Rangers) and one I hadn't even heard of (Abandon). Of the ones I have seen, for the most part, I agree with him (though I did like Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. C'mon! It's a shoot 'em up with lots of explosions. Who needs a story?). His list of "Other Notable Fizzers" contains one that amused me (Big Fat Lier) and one that really cracked me up (The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, but probably not for the reasons that the producers, studio or Steve and Terri Irwin hoped for).

Mmmm! More Seann Scott!

Four consecutive days that I can't get into my Hotmail. I thought I'd found the problem on my end and fixed it because I was able to get in. Once.

Please don't hate me because I'm not replying to you.

The title bar of this Metafilter discussion made me very happy.

In the mail this weekend, I received an envelope from Max with a tape of the two hour pilot/finale ("Serenity") of Firefly that I had missed last month (thank you sooooooo much!).

I'm completely baffled by FOX's decision not to show it as the pilot. On it's own, it's a strong episode, well written, well acted, with action, humor and drama. More importantly, it was a great pilot. Everything was set up, the back story explained so much better than the blurb just before the theme song each week, and we're introduced to the characters and see the dynamics between them as they form instead of being thrown in the middle, wondering why He behaves that way toward Her and Him, and why She said what she said. It's a credit to the writers, cast and crew that Firefly as shown was addictive, but how many more viewers would it have had had this pilot been aired as intended?

I knew that Friday night would be death to the show, and I've considered often what night it should have been scheduled. After seeing "Serenity," I'm convinced it should have been a part of the Sunday night line-up, FOX's strongest night.

So, with it is with solid conviction that again I say, FOX fucking sucks.

Images from JoBlo.com with the ever tasty Seann Scott.

In other movie news: Considering it's not due out until June, I'm starting to get way too excited about the Hulk movie.

UPN makes a huge mistake. C'mon, WB!

Eric Balfour (Jesse, in Buffy's "Welcome to the Hellmouth") will be in the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake. Here's a photo of the cast in one scene (main link here). Don't you just feel so much pity for beautiful people? No matter where they go, when they get into a group of 4 or more, serial killings always break out. It's sad really.

There's also a shot of Jessica Biel. It looks like it's from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but it's actually a candid photo of her reaction when her agent told her "We just found out that you're contractually obligated to continue appearing on Seventh Heaven."

I was hoping that the end of the holiday season would mean a leveling-off of work, but it seems that the (Sorta) Big Wigs at TV Guild have made some decisions that greatly increase my workload. More details on that another time (ooh! suspense!).

I wanted to spend the day analyzing last night's Buffy, but my workload wouldn't permit it, and won't for long time, I think. Coupled with some projects I have going on elsewhere, I probably won't be getting much Buffy-talk done in the near future.

Hotmail is flubbed up for me again. I get "You are not authorized" messages or "Page Not Found." I started having these problems when the company decided to upgrade my browser, so either TV Gruel or Microsoft is responsible [sound hypothesis, if I ignore the fact that it's also happening to me at home]. Seriously, I'm not ignoring anyone.

Lastly, my Buffy s3 DVDs didn't come in. I've decided to blame FOX for this, only because I haven't said in a couple of days that FOX fucking sucks (If you say "Fucking Sucks" fast enough, it sounds like FOX, you know, and for good reason).

Bonnie Hammer, president of The SciFi Channel, talks with TV Guide's Insider about the cancellation of Farscape.

I hate that Farscape has been cancelled, but to be honest, she's right about the series becoming too serialized. I'd watched more than a few episodes, and missed even more. It could be very difficult for me to follow what was going on. Still, I wish they'd give it a proper send off and wrap up. One day, I'll buy the DVD sets and will prefer that the last episode feels like an ending.

jeez, this thing made me laugh! i want that poster-sized on my wall.

Tales of the Slayer, Vol. II is now available. I still don't have the first one, book or comic book.

My little Amazon Gold Box thing includes an offer for a Norpro Stainless Steel 8-Inch Mesh Strainer. Normally $23.99, if I act within the next 60 minutes, I can get it for $12.95. I'm thinking about, though I know it'll probably end up on a shelf in the back of the cupboard, forever unused.

"Undoubtedly, the most important thing about Halloween 4 is its ending, which is probably the most creative and suprising ending ever filmed for the fourth film in a series." [source]

High praise? The next installment of the Michael Myers saga is supposed to be written by the same guy who wrote the fourth.

Edit 1/07/03: [/sigh this one has been shot down. Actress Bianca Kajlich said on her message board that it was false.]

Narfe!

Here's what we have listed in the TV Goad database regarding Buffy for January:

• Jan. 7 (tomorrow!) - "Showtime" (new ep)
• Jan. 14 - No Buffy. Some blooper clip show that'd be better suited to another night. any other night.
• Jan. 21 - "Potential" (new ep)
• Jan. 28 - "Help" (rerun) This is the Cassie episode, of which I think Sarah Kuhn missed the point.

For Angel:

• Jan 15 - "Habeas Corpus" (new ep) New night.
• Jan. 22 - "Long Day's Journey" (new ep)

Beyond that, we haven't any episode titles listed, though both shows are scheduled to air through the end of February (that could change, of course, should the need for another blooper clip show develop).

There's a link at WHEDONesque to some spoilery pics from "Potential," the new Buffy ep that will air on January 21. The site is in German, so I thought I'd take a look. I can't read the text, and how spoilery could photos be (yeah, I know they can be really spoilery. I was making excuses)?

OMG! Yeah, it's spoilery, and I was twirling in my chair, much to the amusement of my co-workers. It made me happy, DON'T LOOK! Trust me, you'll be much happier if you're suprised during that episode.

Buffy season 3 DVD set will be out tomorrow. I ordered it from the video store at which I work part-time, but it still hasn't come in. I'm worried.

Just as I did when the seasons 1 and 2 sets came out, I'll be giving my third season VHS taped-from-FX tapes to my sister. The difference this time is that I have some of the little snappy-cases from the video store, and I'm going to make some nifty little cover inserts for them. My sister won't care about that. She and my nephew just want the tapes. So, if anyone with any power over my Buffy order is reading this, please consider that, if my order doesn't come in tomorrow, it'll make my little six-years-old nephew sad. Won't you think of his happiness and insure that I'll get my Buffy s3 DVDs on time?

Nope, this color thing won't work. It is already irritating me and making my eyeballs hurt.


Hotmail had been seriously screwed up for me lately. Most of the time it won't let me in. When it does, my mail often isn't be there. I'll have to figure something out.

Kitties are gone, cute as they were. I want some suspense every time I load my blog. What color will it be now???

This probably won't last long. There are things about it I don't like. The happy colors, for one. And man oh man is that A LOT of color. Ick.

(still too lazy to work on something original. I'll just keep borrowing the work of others)

Gah, I fucking hate FOX. I read articles like this one about Firefly and I get all choked up again that it's been cancelled. [Long, full-of-profanity, anti-FOX rant omitted]

link via WHEDONesque.

Only because I should have his photo somewhere on my blog:


Which Firefly Guy is For You?
brought to you by Quizilla

So after a weekend of illness and one whole day of wellness, I was sick again on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got to spend New Year's Eve lying on the couch wrapped in a blanket (in between mad dashes to the bathroom to yak up what wasn't in my stomach), and feebly asking Jason to bring me water.

Again, I watched movies to treat my ailment (screw medication!). Prescribed DVDs for both bouts of infection:

The Importance of Being Earnest.
Signs (Shyamalan's little monster short is hilarious!).
Blue Crush (which may have been the real reason I was periodically running to the bathroom to retch).
The Good Girl.

I found out today that the next two days are paid holidays for us here at TV Git. Woot! I need more days off.

Speaking of illness:


Take the Affliction Test Today!

I was ill Friday and all weekend. To aid in my recovery, I watched a whole lot of movies so I wouldn't have to get out of bed. I finally got around to seeing "Reign of Fire." I liked the dragons. Did I miss the part where they explained where the female dragons came from?

Certified Bah Humbugger here to say, uh, "Bah! Humbug!" I hate holidays (except for the Get the Day Off part), and the whole "Christmas Spirit" that some people seem to think means being total assholes for no reason.

Still, as much as I dislike Christmas, FOX sucks a whole lot more.

And here's what Tim Minear had to say about final days of filming on Firefly.

I am such a bad fanboy. I forgot to turn off the VCR when I went to work Friday evening, so the timer didn't kick in, and I didn't record Firefly. From what everyone is writing about it, I missed something great.


FOX still sucks.

By the way, we received our annual holiday email from Mr. Rupert Murdoch, and in it (the whole thing really had nothing to do with the holidays. It was more of a year-end recap of Newscorp's performance and a lot of Rah! Rah! about next year), Mr. Murdoch hails Joe Millionaire as "innovative." That's right! Joe Millionaire is innovative! Is it any wonder that FOX Broadcasting Company had a disappointing year?

if you read the Buffy review i linked to yesterday and were spoiled about something happening in the future, i apology a gazillion times. i didn't read that far down, and now i've ruined something for some people.

Review [dead link] (with spoilers, for this episode AND FUTURE EPISODES) of "Bring On the Night," last night's Buffy.

gah, i'm stupid. i apologize to everyone who was spoiled about the future episode stuff.

New Buffy tonight! Wooooo hooooo! I haven't been this excited on a Tuesday since the last one with a new Buffy.

Anyone watch John Doe? I tried to get into it (I liked the first few episodes), but it seemed really formulaic, so I quit watching. Is it any better now?

One more thing. If you liked Firefly, write to Fox and tell them how they suck, but don't say it like that. Also, if your of a mind, write UPN and WB and be suggest/ask/beg shamelessly that they pick up Firefly.

Fox sucks.

TVGuide (our database, which will reflect changes much more quickly than the Online guide) is still listing tonight's Joss-directed episode, and the 2 hour not-yet-shown pilot episode for Dec 20th. Because they suck, though, there's a chance Fox will pull the episode in favor of more of their stupid "When crustaceans attack!" or "America's Funniest Traffic Fatalities." Fastlane takes Firefly's spot in January (which I think was already announced, sparking the rumors that Firefly would be getting a new/better/any timeslot).

Firefly cancelled. A post on the official Firefly boards says Joss may shop the show around to other networks.

Fox sucks.

I'm too sad to continue today.

Potato Help.

One of my favorite Supreme Court cases was decided on this day, 108 years ago: Plumley v. Massachusetts.

I want.

What the hell(mouth)? Fray #s 7 and 8 are scheduled for April and May 2003 release now? What happened to it being this month?