Bringing Party Favors to Hell

I keep saying I'm going to post more and then failing miserably to do so. I guess it's mostly because I'm just Ms. Boring McYawnypants these days, as I said to shayheyred the other day. I just don't seem to have much interesting to say. However, this video got mentioned briefly on NPR this morning and I had to go look it up when I got to work and I was very amused by it, so I figured I'd share:



Also, just to share one fannish thing- I just watched the Teen Wolf season 2 finale last night (slightly time delayed as I was doing other things on Monday evening), and I gotta say, that show has turned out to be one of the better things on TV. For something which, when I first tuned in, I figured would be lame at best, it's really amazingly well plotted and acted. Not to mention it really brings the pretty, even if I do feel a bit pervy since I could probably be the *grandmother* of some of those people!

I did feel like they rushed the finale a bit- it probably should have been two episodes because some things that happened were never really explained (I suspect they got cut for time) but over all, this season has been awesome. I love that the teens really act like teens and some of the parent/kid relationships on the show are great. And I have to give a shout out to my favorite character, Stiles, who always has the best lines. I understand that the actor who plays him, Dylan O'Brien, adlibs some of his lines, so go him! Also, props to the series for having an openly gay jock character, and for none of the other characters even batting an eye. Even when they ended up at a gay bar this season and some of the characters were getting hit on, they didn't really play it for laughs or have the characters recoil in horror. They just went with it. :D

My one problem with the finale (and presumably the set up for next season's Big Bad) was the ( cut for spoiler ) But I'll wait and see how it plays out next season. I understand that they've got an 24 episode 3rd season pickup (they've been doing 12 eps/season) and that the show is moving from filming in Georgia to LA. I hope that doesn't negatively affect its tone or writing!

PS: Does anyone on DW know why when I am reading my DW reading list half the youtube embeds posted all show the same thing, rather than whatever they are supposed to show? (For instance, even on this post, on my DW reading list instead of the NASA parody embed it shows one of some gopher at a Russian rocket launch facility.  ALL the embeds on my DW reading list are currently showing that dang gopher.)

So I was on my way to work this morning, and is often the case, got stuck behind the schoolbus that goes through our neighborhood. I think it's an elementary school bus, as the one that picks up the older kids goes by earlier than the one that gets the younger kids. As I sat there idling, waiting for the kids to board, I suddenly noticed that one of them looked a tad odd. At first I thought it was just a trick of the eye or something but I kept looking and it didn't change. One of the kids had a wolf's head. Seriously. A complete, rather well done prosthetic wolf's head. At least, I assume it was a prosthetic and werewolves aren't riding the bus to elementary school these days. Although, that would be pretty cool. ;D

Watched the premiere of 'Awake' last night. I had thought the premise didn't sound very interesting but I love Jason Isaacs so I gave it a shot anyway and was surprised how much I liked it. Very good acting all around (including an almost unrecognizable Wilmer Valderrama). I will definitely keep watching it.  Also, just for the record, Jason Isaacs has amazing eyes.

So I heard last week that SyFy was going to give Eureka a shortened 6th season. Then yesterday they took it back and said nope, no 6th season, it ends at 5. Today, there's new news, apparently they get ONE episode extra, to 'wrap up.' One episode. Damn you cheapass SyFy execs.

I'm going to miss that show. Thank goodness there are still a few eps for next year.

Hey, do any of you know the title of and original performer of the song that was used in last night's Criminal Minds episode "Coda"? The one the autistic boy kept playing? I can send you a download link to an audio file stripped off the show's soundtrack if you're curious.

I haven't posted in forever, mostly because I feel pretty overwhelmed by Real Life. Work continues to be difficult, they still haven't let us have our front-desk person back so office support for 35 faculty, plus about 90 grad students and 600 undergrads continues to be done by just two people- myself and my co-worker. I discovered that we're the lowest-staffed department in the college, despite the fact that we teach more Core student credit hours than any other department. I feel like we're being punished for being good at our jobs. Plus, state employees haven't had a raise in 3 years and on top of that, they're taking more out for our retirement, so essentially we've gotten pay CUTS.

The kidunit got laid off in mid-November, the same week that Bluster passed away, and shortly after we found out about his autoimmune issues. His being laid off was not a result of his health issues, but they make him difficult to insure, and I am dreading his fast-approaching birthday when he will no longer be eligible for my plan. In the mean time, I can barely pay my own bills let alone his, so we're seriously considering bankruptcy. I wonder if a bankruptcy attorney will give us a two for one deal?

My mother had another stroke about a month ago, and despite her showing all the classic signs of having had a stroke, it took the hospital 24 hours to actually diagnose one, by which time it was too late to give her the tPA like they did last time, so her recovery has been much, much slower this time. While the stroke fortunately did not affect her ability to communicate, she has left-side weakness/unresponsiveness which is responding only slowly to rehabilitation. They're letting her out of the hospital this weekend but sending her to a skilled nursing facility to continue rehabbing, in hopes that she will eventually be able to be independent, but it could be the best we can hope for is assisted. No matter what, she's going to have to sell her townhouse which is on 3 levels and completely unmanageable for her now, so that she can get an apartment in a senior living facility somewhere which can accommodate her needs.

I have been spending much of my free time at the hospital with her trying to help keep her spirits up, and running errands and suchlike for her since she can't do it herself. Once I get home from that, I'm pretty much braindead and only good for staring at the TV. Fortunately a lot of my shows continue to please me- Chuck, Castle, the NCISes, Hawaii 5-0, Criminal Minds (though I am leery of this Prentiss arc, I fear the worst since I know she was on the chopping block at one point this year and may still be for all I know), Top Chef, and The Mentalist. I know everyone else is hating on Supernatural this season, but I'm sort of enjoying it, though I am willing to admit that may be because my critical thinking faculties have gone on hiatus due to stress. I was bummed that Fabio went home on Top Chef. He was my favorite, though I kind of knew all along he probably wouldn't win. Sucks that he went home because of a hamburger, though.

Y'all may know I used to be a Highlander fan (cheesy, but fun!) and an X-Files fan, and an Stargate: Atlantis fan. Because I was an X-Files fan I started watching Fringe, which I love (Walter Rules! I need a Walter icon...) because it's sort of like The X-Files could have been if Chris Carter was a better producer (don't throw things fellow X-philes, you know ol' Chris "I don't believe in a show bible" Carter was a terrible showrunner!). So recently I saw some previews for Human Target and decided to watch it because Mark Valley was in it (this relates to Fringe in that he was on it, and is now married to Anna Torv and I like him {Keen Eddie!}). Wow, this is getting convoluted... sorry!

Anyway, the first ep aired on Sunday and it was watchable, but one of the first things I noticed was that Christopher Chance (Mark Valley's character) lives in Duncan MacLeod's old apartment (it's unmistakable despite the different set-dressing, how many apartments are accessed via an old cargo elevator?). The first ep featured many familiar Vancouver faces (such as Donnelly Rhodes and Tricia Helfer) and apparently, David Nykl (Radek Zelenka, my favorite character from SGA) will be in the first regular-broadcast ep tomorrow night.

I feel like my fandoms are all colliding. ;D And of course, my brain is wondering if Christopher Chance is really an Immie and that's how he can risk his life in all those crazy ways.

Hey, SPN fen-- or maybe I should say RHPS fen. Tell me if I'm wrong or right here- I'm having an argument with the kidunit about someone we see in the preview for next week's ep, "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester." That is ( slight spoiler behind the cut ) isn't it?

In case you want to see for yourself, here's a blurry Youtube copy of the preview because there isn't an official one up yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HST0jF2ldrM

New Project Runway tomorrow! Ok, well, sort of, it's an All-Star Challenge, but still, the first new one in forever! Stupid lawsuits ::grumbke::.

ETA: Oh, there's also a new REAL one after the challenge! Cooool!

Man, it's been forever since I posted! Between moving offices at work, losing one of my full-time staff to budget cuts, having a brief but very welcome vacation, a family gathering, and just the vagaries of living, I haven't had much time for online stuff until just recently, and I kept thinking I needed to post something and not doing it. So, now I am.

For those of you playing the home game, the young Flickers have left the nest. Yay for this year's brood making it all the way to graduation! We've been trying to attract some hummingbirds in back by planting flowers, but so far have only had one brief sighting.

bluster came to visit for a few days, we hung around a lot having actual conversations, went to a movie (The Proposal, very cute rom-com), went up to ardent_muses' place and watched some NASCAR (I just tagged along, they're the fans) and we had dinner at this new Moroccan restaurant called Tangier one night. It was a blast. The food was great (especially the b'stilla!), and they gave us honorary Fezes to wear and complimentary glasses of arak which was strong enough to strip paint.

On the TV front, The Closer and Saving Grace are good, and Leverage is about to start up again! Yay! Also, Eureka started tonight, which made me v.v. happy! Fun ep! Watched Warehouse 13 the other night-- I might give it another shot. The first hour was slow but it picked up in the second. I don't buy the chick as a comfort-eater, though. She's way too skinny. ;D (Yes, I know that's a false generalization.) I've been watching Top Chef Masters, which is pretty fun even if it's not exactly what I want out of Top Chef. Next Food Network Star is predictably bizarre, though, which makes up for missing some of that drama on Top Chef. ;D Finally, just finished watching the last ep of this series of Torchwood, and I have to say, ( not really spoilery but possibly in the comments... )

I am irrationally stoked about the news that a UFO remake might be coming to the big screen. I loved that show in all its cheesy glory. I bought it on DVD last year and rewatched the whole thing, and was surprised how much better the storylines were than I remembered, though the costumes were just as whack as I recalled. (If you want to see pix of a few of them in all their eye-searing glory go here.)

Ha! I knew it! ( spoilers behind the cut )

I know there are a couple of Chuck fans here, so I thought I'd mention this. Tonight's the Chuck season (and possibly series) finale. There's a grassroots fen-led campaign to help NBC make up their minds to give it another season by buying a $5 Footlong from Subway (one of Chuck's major sponsors) tonight and then going to the Subway website to leave a comment thanking them for supporting the show and letting them know you bought the food because of Chuck. (Apparently even Zac Levi is in on this, as during a Con in England last weekend he led 600 fen to a local Subway and worked behind the counter for a bit!)

So ... Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse tonight. SCC kinda pissed me off, not ten minutes after I was telling someone what a great job they're doing with the show. ( spoilery rant behind the cut: )

As for Dollhouse, I just have one thing to say: Enough with the frakkin' Lolita outfits on Caroline/Echo, for God's sake!!! (Or mine, at least.)

(When I logged into Semagic to compose this, it reminded me that it was thamiris' birthday. Which is weirdly ironic considering the topic I ranted about above. And it also reminded me how much I miss her.)

I just read on the IMDB News that actors Anna Torv and Mark Valley got married. If you watch Fringe, you know why this amuses me.

As I was flipping channels tonight trying to find something interesting to watch, I paused on Ion for a moment because I thought I recognized a voice. And I did! It was Beau Starr, due South's Lieutenant Welsh, in a sci-fi flick called "The Final Days of Planet Earth" starring Darryl Hannah as the Queen of a hive of giant preying mantises from the Cat's Eye Nebula, come to take over the earth and use us as mulch! So of course I had to watch it. It was nice to see him in something again. :D