My final review of Harper's Island is up on Sci Fi Chicks.

I've been trying to find a way to work in a reference to The Bad Seed ever since I saw Madison frying slugs with a magnifying glass in the pilot, and I finally managed to squeak one in just under the wire. \0/

I always like seeing my hometown on TV, even if it's just stock footage.

( Spoilers )

Ten results returned by Google when searching for "[Your name] is":


1. Sandy is a spider
(oh, that is so not cool)

2. Sandy is my fantasy
(dude, you'd better hope I know you)

3. Sandy is dandy
(wow, you must've been up all night thinking that one up)

4. Sandy is a fan
(I can go with this one)

5. Sandy is such a wonderful friend
(I try, but I'm not that good)

6. Sandy is taking questions
(so knock yourself out)

7. Sandy is also in 9th grade
(not for many, many years)

8. Sandy is a Scottish pet form
(???!)

9. Sandy is a lady
(beats being a Scottish pet form)

10. Sandy is located in Salt Lake County
(actually, I'm located in DuPage County)

Today was the last day. I think the con topped out at 20-25 people this year, which is only a few people less than last year, but you don't have to spend a ton of money to go to a con with thousands of people in order to have fun.

Today started out with a raffle. I won a Friday the 13th promo poster with Jared on it. I hadn't seen that one before, just the official hockey mask one. I may actually have to cough up the money for an autograph ticket at a con now so I can get him to sign it.

The first panel of the day was a discussion of angels and demons on Supernatural both in general, and the specific characters we've met (like Castiel and Alastair). Information came from the show itself and mythology.

The next panel was on making LJ banners and icons in Photoshop. I don't have Photoshop so it wasn't that helpful to me, but I did learn that Sell Your Soul is the official Supernatural font, which could come in handy someday.

Then we went over the basic character alignments from role playing games (lawful good through chaotic evil) and tried to apply them to various characters from the show, which led to some interesting discussions.

We broke for lunch early, but somehow I wound up staying behind to watch some songvids and some video footage one of the other con-goers shot of the Styx concert last Friday night. Here's a tip for anyone who has never attended an all-fan-all-the-time con: always carry a flash drive with you. Load it with some of your favorite pictures, vids, or interview clips to share with others, but leave plenty of room for snagging from other people. I was able to contribute to a very ::coughcough:: academic discussion some of us were having about Jared's Sam jeans vs. his Friday the 13th jeans with a picture I had on my flash drive. I also used that drive to snag two awesome songvids from other people.

We still had a bunch of time left after everyone came back from lunch, so we all watched "Monster Movie." I love that ep, but then I grew up watching those movies on UHF.

After lunch, anteka took the annual group photo. This is the only con I've ever been to where the entire con membership could fit in a single photograph, but that's one of the things I like about it.

Then there was a video tribute to the late Kim Manners, which consisted of clips from episodes of various shows he directed, behind-the-scenes stills, clips from commentary tracks by or about him, and a couple of interview clips.

The con was scheduled to end with an open discussion, but everybody was really tired and had been discussing the show non-stop for two days already, so after a little while we gave up and threw on "It's a Terrible Life" instead. Someone had the genius idea to pass around a sheet of paper and have us all write down our LJ names on it, then had the hotel make enough copies for everybody. I've already been friended by two people ::waves at asyouleft and wilde_moon::

If you're interested in attending future cons, keep an eye on winchestmidwest or the WinchestMidwest website for updates.

This was the long day. It's the only day of the con that literally has programming all day long. We started at 9:00 a.m. with a general discussion of where season 5 could go in regard to Sam, Dean, the brotherly relationship, the angels, and the demons. There were some really interesting ideas that built on what we already know. This con is very considerate about spoilers, so the spoilers were held until the very end and the spoiler-free people simply left the room and went on a potty or snack break.

The next panel was actually a presentation of "classic rock done right." ( Read more... )

Is Yahoo!Groups down, or has it just been an exceptionally slow day? I haven't gotten a post since midnight, but Yahoo!Groups says I'm not bouncing emails.

I left for the con directly after work on the theory that I would be very early, but it would give me time to hunt up dinner before the con started. That turned out to be an excellent decision. I ran into agt_spooky in the hotel restaurant (this is getting to be a habit!) and we had dinner together. The floor show was provided by the fire department (which made agt_spooky very happy) when the fire alarm went off. None of the staff even blinked. We were very close to the door and didn't see any signs of fire, so we stuck it out. Our waitress said the fire alarm goes off all the time. Apparently the smoke detector in the kitchen is very sensitive.

After dinner, we headed over to the ballroom where the con was being held to pick up our registration packets. I have never been so instantly popular in my life. Everybody who had gotten there before us was playing People Bingo--you know, that game where you get a sheet of paper with a grid on it and you have to find people to sign off on the squares that apply to them? It's a 'getting to know you game.' Anyway, none of the people playing were eligible for the square "I am not staying at the con hotel." I'm not staying at the con hotel since I only live about 20 minutes away. As soon as the first person found that out, I was mobbed. :-)

The first scheduled activity was to troop out to the parking lot to ogle a fan's 1967 Chevy Impala. Yes, it's a two-door and black. The fan who brought it (John) let people climb all over it and take pictures, and he even loaded up the car and drove people around for awhile. I'm not that into the car, so I just chatted with people (I met some people in person that I had only previously known through LJ and Yahoo!Groups). Somebody had the idea to take a group photo, so anteka's son collected cameras from everybody and took group shots of all of us in front of the car.

The rest of the evening was taken up by a double feature of The Miner's pickaxe fu in My Bloody Valentine (the Jensen version) and Jason's machete fu in Friday the 13th (the Jared version). I'm not really into slasher movies. I like scary movies, but slasher flicks aren't scary to me, just really gross. It didn't matter though. This being a roomful of largely fangirls (and two guys), it rapidly degenerated into an MST3K experience. There's one scene at the beginning of My Bloody Valentine where The Miner is on a rampage and killing teens partying in one of the mine tunnels. The Miner heads off into one of the side tunnels to look for more victims, when a future victim stumbles across the previous victims and starts shining his flashlight down the side tunnels, where the flashlight beam hits The Miner square in the back. Future Victim promptly calls out, "Jason, is that you?," and I swear every con-goer in the room yelled, "Wrong movie!," at the same time. It was fun. The con even provided us with hot popcorn.

And now I need to get some sleep because I have to get up in six hours to go back.

I liked the second half a lot more than the first half.

( Spoilers )

Anyway, this show has a lot of potential so I'm going to stick with it and give it a chance, but I won't be very upset if I miss an episode.

Instructions: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

When I really like a movie based on a book, I always go back and read the original book to see what the characters and events are like in "canon." When I was in 8th grade, my mom made me watch the Richard Lester Musketeer movies and I loved them; therefore, I dragged The Three Musketeers around school with me for 2 months while I read it. The book was very different from the movies, but I loved it, and I wound up loving the characters even more in the book than I did in the movies. While my peers were scribbling "I ♥ Simon LeBon" on their spiral notebooks, I had a huge crush on d'Artagnan.

( Read more... )

The good news:

Callum Keith Rennie will appear on 24 next season. It sounds like he's going to be a regular cast member. Personally I can't stand 24, but it's nice to see CKR in something so high profile. He deserves all the attention he can get.

The bad news:

Jan Rubes died. He played the medical examiner, Dr. Mort Gustafson.

Happy birthday, bookwurm!

Here's a virtual present to tide you over until your real one gets there:

Awful Library Books

Grabbed from kellifer_fic.

List 10 platonic relationships on TV/Movies that you enjoy.

Rules:

1. They interact in canon, preferably in a significant (apply your own interpretation of such) way.
2. They are not related. They can, however, view each other as surrogate family.
3. Neither has confessed or implied romantic love for the other in canon.
4. They have not dated, been married, had sex, or made out in canon, on purpose, and of their own free will.
5. A popular fanon ship is ok (though preferably not your ship) but a canon pairing you wish were just friends is out.
6. Try to avoid using the same character or series twice.

Rule #2 is a killer. Many of my favorite platonic relationships are between characters who are brothers. Anyway, in no particular order:

1. Dr. Bruce Kellerman & Dr. Robert Dalgety (MDs) -- MDs was a medical drama that lasted all of 10 episodes back in 2002. I only watched it because I love John Hannah (Dalgety). Doctors Kellerman and Dalgety met for the first time in the pilot, and the chemistry between them was so instant and strong that within 3 episodes TPTB had saddled them both with love interests and reduced their screen time. I don't miss the show, but I really miss watching these two characters interact.

2. Chris Larabee & Vin Tanner (The Magnificent Seven) -- You've heard of love at first sight? These two were best friends at first sight. From the first moment they made eye contact, it was only minutes until they were finishing each other's sentences and saying the same things at the same time. If one was in trouble, the other would materialize out of nowhere to watch his back.

3. Col. John Sheppard & Dr. Rodney McKay (Stargate Atlantis) -- They bickered like brothers and took turns saving each other's lives. When they weren't saving themselves or anyone else from certain death, they could often be found playing videogames, racing RC cars through the halls of Atlantis, and generally behaving like 2 little kids at summer camp.

4. Capt. Paul Blaisdell & Det. Peter Caine (Kung Fu: The Legend Continues) -- This one is pushing the rule on characters not being related because Paul is Peter's foster father; however, he never actually adopted Peter at Peter's request (Peter loves the Blaisdells but was never ready to let go of his birthfamily). Paul understood Peter in ways even Peter's own biological father never did and was the rock in Peter's otherwise turbulent life.

5. Constable Benton Fraser & Det. Ray Kowalski (Due South) -- Two odd ducks who never really fit in with their peers but whose personality quirks fit each other just fine.

6. Col. Jack O'Neill & Master Bra'tac (Stargate SG-1) -- Two experienced soldiers with vastly different backgrounds who had a great mutual respect, yet never stopped trying to show each other up. Whenever one would succeed, the other invariably replied, "Not bad."

7. Dr. Greg House & Dr. James Wilson (House) -- The level of snark between these two often reaches critical mass. Wilson takes crap from House like no one else, but he's also not afraid to dish it back on a level no one else would dare. Instead of getting pissed off, House seems to like that about Wilson. Wilson doesn't bore him like everyone else does.

8. Seamus Harper & Tyr Anasazi (Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda) -- These two couldn't have been less alike if they tried. Harper was everything Tyr usually despised. Tyr was from a race that enslaved Harper's people and made Harper's childhood a nightmare. Harper came up to Tyr's shoulder only if his hair was exceptionally spiky that day. They eventually came to grudgingly respect one another, but the flow of snark never slowed.

9. Any combination of characters played by Kiefer Sutherland & Lou Diamond Phillips in the same movie -- Could somebody please tell me why these two didn't work together more? Okay, their movies weren't exactly Oscar material, but the screen chemistry between them was always amazing.

10. PC Hamish Macbeth & TV John McIver (Hamish Macbeth) -- I've never read the books (I tried, but M.C. Beaton's writing style does nothing for me), but in the series Hamish is prone to bouts of depression and occasionally needs a Jewish mother to look after him. TV John fits the bill nicely.


Now watch, after I killed myself trying to come up with 10, I'll think of at least 5 more I'll wish I'd done as soon as I post.

My review is up on Sci Fi Chicks, in which there is much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (I DO NOT approve of this week's victims) and some gushing over how awesome Callum Keith Rennie is (like his awesomeness is a surprise to anybody).

My review is up on Sci Fi Chicks.

( Spoilers )

And may I just say that it was nice of building management to give me a new air conditioner after my old one sounded like it was going to throw a fan blade and burst into flame at any moment, but if I have the AC set at maximum cold/maximum fan, it should not be 84 degrees in my living room. You know, the room where the air conditioner is. I'm just sayin'.