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.