Brian's New Blog

Just found out about it. You know, because he's Mr. Secretive.

Not Worrisome at All

From Sheila's latest S Factor Newsletter:

So, I'm teaching on the Westside last Thursday night. We're using one of those tension poles, you know, where it's just pressure holding the pole up. I throw a flying firefly and I and the pole and together go flying across the room, bounce about three times before landing, me on my ass, the pole on her side. She makes a hell of a lot more noise then I do, but, hey, she's made out of metal and I'm only flesh and bone. I've been pole dancing for about six years now, so I've had a few falls so I'm getting pretty good at it. 'Go with the fall, go with the fall,' is what I say over and over to myself as I'm flying through the air. And it pretty much works, I got a little bruised but, thank God, that's it. Lesson learned. Forget the tension poles. Bolt your babies top and bottom and, if you have to have a removable pole, I love the Lil Minx poles that we sell because, even though they have spring mounted tension, they have a little anchor on top that keeps it in place.

Oh, you mean a tension pole like the one I have upstairs? And how much less does Sheila weigh than me? Fan-fucking-tastic.

Come Again?

I knew there was a reason I don't like his movies. Free David's Wife t-shirts to follow.

I'm Over It

The freak out, as it were. Big Bro called me up yesterday and straightened me out. Good speech about stress being 97% things that haven't happened yet that we're worried about. It's funny, what sent me into the tailspin was really seeing the estate lawyer last week and BRAINSTORMING about all the things that could go wrong very soon...which was appropriate to the meeting. But nobody told me to stop thinking about those things afterwards. So I kept going until I ended up in a little heap on the couch. Good lord. Like Brian says, think about one hour at a time.

Had a great dinner last night with my friend Sharri and brainstormed about projects. Her good friend is a WA, so I'm going to get to meet her and get some advice. Jamming. Pretty sore from the workout today, which is great. Because I've got five days left to grow some biceps. And I signed up for S Factor Level 4 - I'm an advanced girl now. New teacher Barbara D. isn't dicking around anymore. No more excuses, I'm going upside down again this week. Whimsical sequel to cartoon of me falling on head to follow. Darnit, if Kevin James can do it...

Hero Doll...vote now before it's too late

Okay, latest sketch is back. And it's happy! I like that they adopted some of Lynne's ideas, though they're definitely reticent to change things like the tail and the ears. The only other thing I see really off is the fat neck. So if I can get them to adjust those three things, do you guys like this? Would you buy it?

I was talking with a friend last night who totally thinks I should email the whole story to Oprah. Just need 3,000 orders for a sound chip in the toy. I think it would be so great to have a Hero doll that said "I love you" and "Get Better." And maybe it could make that weird wheezing noise Hero makes when he's really happy. That would scare the little buggers into remission. ("Mommy, my Hero toy is choking...")

I don't know though, I don't really want to be in the fulfillment business. Can't you just picture our house overflowing with cardboard boxes, postage meters, hero dolls? But at the same time, it would be so amazing and worth it if somehow each one we sold could pay for one to be donated to sick kids...I don't know how this works. Must find a toy distribution mentor. Or maybe a corporate sponshorhip mentor. I don't even know what I don't know. Kind of exciting, though.

Started my workout class today. 7 am. No comment about the time. It was surreal, at one point I looked over at my girlfriend stretching out on the mat and flashed back to us in ninth grade as cheerleaders. Time is an odd thing. If the Dirty Dancing soundtrack had been playing in the background, I wouldn't have blinked.

Newest plant sketch 

New Hope

Another kick in the ass. At least she's telling the truth.

Trying not to come down with the stomach flu by sleeping and crying all day. I'll let you know how that remedy goes. Missed my Mad TV taping last night, and a good friend's b-day party. Missed Proof this morning, visiting Mom, and The Shining at Hollywood Forever cemetary tonight. Got nothing accomplished. Going back to bed now.

Do Something

Ah, my old friends action/activism. Nothing beats the pants off despair and depression and overwhelm like helping others. Yes, this is a mass email, but I just called and got through...so unlike the bogus gas information of last week, this works:

I just spent five seconds to be counted in the governor's office tally of support for gay marriage. So quick, and hopefully it will sway him to sign the bill which has passed California's congress so we can marry legally!

California is so close to the passage of the same-sex marriage bill. All we need now is the Governor's signature. Though he's threatened to veto it, he HASN'T YET. We need to tell him that the people of California are for legalized same-sex marriage. It only takes a few seconds - AND - you do not need to speak to anyone. It's all PROMPTS - no live person!

Call 916-445-2841 and follow these steps:

1 - Press "2" - to comment on legislation

2 - Press "1" to comment on AB 849 (AB 849 is the gender neutral bill, which will allow same sex couples to marry)

3 - Press "1" to support it

That's all there is to it! Thanks for taking the time. Please forward on to family and friends who might lend their support!!

Bat Signal

Alright, kiddies. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon time.

Mom is being kicked out of the hospital system next weekend, ready or not (that would be a big NOT). Nurse Sis and I are busy prepping for her return home...rentals including a hospital bed, and getting the house in order for strangers to live with us for full-time health care while we manage Mom's emotional needs and twenty-plus daily prescriptions (a full-time job in itself).

Some of my lovely readers out there must have some experience with this, either as caregivers or as patients.

Issue #1: We need to interview some "longterm caregivers in the home." Anyone have agency suggestions (or individuals) for LA?

Issue #2: Medicare doesn't okay 24/7 homecare. And the expensive (read: Rolls Royce) Blue Cross plan we got in the event Mom needed 24/7 homecare won't cover anything not approved by Medicare. Nice little Catch-22 there. Apparently what they call "homecare" is really one hour a day of PT, and what the rest of us call homecare THEY call "Custodial Care"...and don't cover it. Nice tricky use of semantics. I should know. Worked a few years for an evil insurance company. In the video department, but still witnessed all the chicanery they practiced while being completely paranoid of their customers duping them.

So starting next week, Mom is footing her bills alone. Which means we may soon be moving to a state near you, just to lower living expenses and bleed Mom's bank account a few months further. Anyone reside someplace cheap and want three crazy, single chicks as neighbors? Must be near airport for quick escapes. Hurricane states are not in the running.

All of this turmoil has shot to shit my determination to be a Writer's Assistant by October sixth. And I've used the whole craptastic week as a big excuse not to send out my mentor request letters (Asking for 3 ten minute phone calls with complete strangers in the industry...what kind of a pansy am I?) or to follow up with Charlie Kaufman's agent, who I was supposed to call last Monday per the mentor request I actually delivered to him. (at his play, assuming he received it backstage along with the flowers. Because calling Marty Bowen at UTA isn't intimidating at all. I'M SUCH A FUCKTARD. Why am I alive?)

I'm a little flumoxed by the whole thing, frankly. Don't know if I should blithely chug after the goal, or focus everything on Mom yet again, while listening to her bitch about me not having a job...Argh! Frankly, it seems like too small and undoable of a goal now. (Can I really work 15-18 hour days while worrying about her? Does anyone ever want a part-time WA, or one that only works eight hours a day? All for minimum wage, right?) What I really need to do is sell a script. Sure, that's all. The Gold Ticket into the Chocolate Factory. Not like anyone else in town is looking for one of those...

Nurse Sis spent the night with Mom Wednesday, and I spent last night. I was pretty freaked out about it. Never spent the night in a hospital before, and it's creepy as hell after hours. Gave me some great script ideas for a Horror movie. But Mom actually slept some, and so did I. No night terrors when she wakes up and sees us. She's probably pretty sick of three months in a strange place.

Today, with the help of a wonderful PT, Mom stood for the first time in three months. Weight on her right leg. And I learned how to safely transfer her from the wheelchair to the bed using a board, which was a huge fear of mine. Next week I start working out 3x a week with a trainer, so I should have more upper arm strength by the time she comes home. Lots to lift...but now I know some great tricks. See kids, Geometry DOES come in handy.

Anyway, that's my sucky life. Pretty excited about the Hero doll. Would love to figure out a way to go from our current order of 500 to the 3000 minimum needed to have a voice chip that said "I love you" and "feel better". If you have any ideas on partial funding/storage/distribution, drop me a line here or on my email.

Thanks everyone. Kill me now! I mean...Soldier on!

Oh My God

For those of you naysayers who watched a couple Battlestar Galacticas and gave up, or watched them out of order and didn't get the fuss, check out Ron Moore's response to this fan question (from the sci-fi channel blog):

"Just how did Starbuck become so fracking awesome? I mean, she's the best pilot, the best shot, potential pro athlete, ex-flight instructor, her personal vehicle is a Humvee loaded with submachineguns (like that BEFORE the Cylons attacked), she dual-wields Skorpions like Neo, her fists pack a wallop, she's a tactical genius, second-best card player in the known universe... she's a tomboy Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in every macho way."

RM:This is partly an outgrowth of the original Starbuck character, partly a result of the realities of television, and partly a riff on the traditional male action hero transposed to a woman.

Make the jump for the rest of his awesome answer.

Can't decide if I want to be Starbuck or Ron Moore. Do they sell Halloween costumes of them? Battlestar Galactica season finale tomorrow. Frak, yeah.

Wow! Lynne's version of Hero! 

The Emperor Has No Shoes

I went to Neiman Marcus yesterday to try on Manolo Blahniks. What the HELL have all you ladies been gabbing about all these years? First off, they are not extraordinary looking in person. They don't shine like a spotlight is on them (for $600-30000 they should...) and many of the designs have been knocked off by Ann Taylor to the point that I don't know how anyone looking at you would know the difference. So there's that.

Then...the fit? Are you kidding me? My six-inch POLE-DANCING shoes are more comfortable. I can run around the house and up and down the stairs in them. But even the two inch "MOST COMFORTABLE" Carolyne style instantly had me grimacing in pain. I have a completely normal foot, except that my ankles run tiny...AAA to AAAA. None of their shoes were going to be staying on my ankle. The arch of all six of the styles I tried on created immediate, shooting pain...AND worst, there was no room for my toes in any of the foot beds No wonder society women have taken to lopping off the fourth and fifth toe.

I don't believe they're well made. There's no padding whatsover. The soles are paper thin. If you stepped on a pebble or a crack going down the street, you'd be debilitated for life. Wake up people. Don't fall for the hype.

I consider myself occassionally chic, but I certainly don't buy the bullcrap the fashion magazines push. I was taught style by my Great-Grandmother, a true fashion maven and shop-owner who flew to Paris and NYC to bring back hand-picked items for each of her clients in the 40s and 50s. I inherited many of her designer pieces, including some custom silk Audrey-style dresses and many original Givenchy. Gold to me.

What am I trying to say? You can't buy proper fit. You FIND it. By looking HARD. And it could be in Neiman Marcus, or it could be in Target. Quality isn't reflected by the price tag or the designer label. And if that bugs you, then mix and match your diamonds and Prada bags with your Ann Taylor shoes. But for gods' sake, don't buy ill-fitting items when you can get better quality ones elsewhere and donate the money you save to Katrina. If you feel the need to burn money. And Jesus, don't buy a vinyl bag for $600 because there's a tiny Prada label on it...especially not when you can buy a buttery leather one for $800. Quality, cut, color...not labels.

Sorry. I don't mean to preach. But if I see one more woman in LA running around in a metallic purse because Lindsay Lohan did...

One nice experience in NM...was gazing at the Prada purses and stopped to pick up a chocalatey suede beaut...the second I put it down, a dapper man in his 50s ran behind me and snatched it up. Asked me if I liked it, to which I responded it was very pretty, fabulous fabric. He immediately turned to the salesman and said he'd take it (do I get the commission? It was a $1700 purse). The buyer complimented my jacket, and then asked if dark brown was in, he'd heard it was. Men in LA are so cute about fashion. But sometimes I think they read more trend magazines than the women do. He really had his ear to the ground buying some special lady in his life a lovely present. Very much wanted to please whoever it was. He pleased me by recognizing me as a woman with taste. Made my day.

Another Emperor's New Clothes item: why is there positive buzz about Grizzly Man? I liked it fine as a film. Stunning footage. But that's no documentary. While it's true that the act of observing with a camera instantly nullifies authenticity, um, Werner...coaching your subjects on what to say and doing several takes to the point the none of them say "Um", or ever register a moment of thought...well that's as duplicitous as making your subjects Executive Producers. Or staging the watch scene and including yourself in the viewing of the death footage. (how painfully fake was that scene? "You must destroy this tape...")

Again, good film, bad documentary. And I totally disagree with the thesis that animals don't have souls and can't get to know humans. If anything, the fact that the subjects were eaten by unknown bears and had changed their pattern by staying too late into the hibernation season just proves the opposite. Somebody at some point in time lived among the wolves...that's why we have domesticated dogs.

My two cents.

My Hero Dog - Prototype sketch 

Arrrr

Get your accents and boot tops ready...tomorrow is National Talk Like a Pirate Day!

I'm So Late...

I really have to get out the door to go visit Mom and then get to Paramount for a free screening with my friend Heidi. But in the meantime, what name do you think we should give the Hero stuffed animal? Getting the sketches back from the puppy mill, I mean stuffed animal factory today...I need to brainstorm line/doll names. I was thinking maybe I love Hero or Hero Loves Me...keep in mind this is targeted for Kids with cancer. And the big kids out there, you know who you are with your preorders.

So what sayeth the public?

Quote of the Week

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people
always do that, but the really great make you feel as that you, too, can become great. - Mark Twain

Stingy Blogger

Hey guys. Sorry the personal posts have been so sparse. I started an accelerated course designed to get me a Hollywood goal that would normally take six months to a year to accomplish...in one month.

By October 6th, I will be hired as a TV writer's assistant on a Top 100 non-reality show.

So in addition to the crazy amounts of work I haven't been getting done in screenwriting, my life, Mom's life especially, I now have about five hourse of homework a day to reach this new goal...and twenty classmates calling/emailing me to make sure I do what I say I'm going to do all month long.

It sounds crazy, but I'm actually getting more done in my life now that I've taken on an insurmountable workload. They're asking me to do crazy shit I wasn't brave enough to do before, like write talented strangers asking them to be my mentor (just a few ten minute phone calls...I'm not asking to be adopted).

Also have to get the rest of my unbalanced life in order, from cleaning out my closets for Katrina to calling people I lost touch with, to getting the corporate taxes done I missed the extension on (ohhh...public confession of a dirty secret...that should earn me double points!).

Stuff really is working, though. Friends have started calling me out of the blue. An old friend of mine from junior high even set up a workout schedule with me to walk off the pounds. We start in ten minutes, which you know is an ungodly time for this nightowl. But I figured I might as well go with the remodeling schedule next door (they started at 7 am today!) and let it shape my new life.

There you have it. Me, only better. The Six Million Dollar Lis.

I'm also going to try to put together a public reading of one of my feature scripts in a month. I'll keep you posted/invited.

The Whedon Speaks

Full article here.

"...It’s rumoured that Whedon’s looking to bring the character of Spike (played by James Marsters on Buffy and Angel) back for a telemovie, and he’s happy to validate that. “I’m talking in reference to that…..and possibly more”, he smiles. “I can only teasingly hint unfortunately until it’s got backing and we’ve got a schedule and a contract. I have been talking to some of the actors, writers, and some executives and are trying to put something together - - but it’s not happening fast. [But no] I haven’t left the Buffyverse behind”.

Meantime, Whedon is writing and directing a feature film version of "Wonder Woman", which might shoot in Australia. “We’re looking for Paradise Cove somewhere other than L.A”, he says. “Still, I have to write it first – and then they have to decide whether they like it enough to make it.”

Whedon says he was a little reluctant to sign onto "Wonder Woman" at first, but quickly realised the character was essentially “The Grandma of every character I’ve ever written”.

I would be much more comfortable with this if he'd immediately gone into directing X3. As it stands, with WW not even written yet? Yikes!!!! Go buy a dozen ticket so that he gets a chance to direct again! As my new friend Dallas said the other night, "Firefly" is a tiny niche within a niche within genre fans.

Need a Laugh?

Stuff on My Cat

Remodeling going on next door. They say for three months. Arrgghhh!!!! BANG BANG CRASH. That's what all my scripts are going to say.

Good times over at the Flying Spaghetti Monster's loyal site. New game, and it's free! Convert people to pirates! If you haven't yet been touched by His noodly appendage, I highly recommend the religious experience.

Breaking News

From Defamer.com: Breaking: Britney Spears May Be Giving Birth

Radar’s setting off the sirens, claiming that Britney Spears is about to unleash the fruit of her womb on an unsuspecting Los Angeles:

A little (very reliable) birdie tells us that Ms. Spears is giving birth (via C-section) at Cedars-Sinai right now. The Federletus has arrived! We suppose that the whole world will know shortly if this is true. In the meantime, if any of our readers over on the westside see the sky above the hospital suddenly darken and unleash a hail of Cheetos and Red Bull, please drop us a line. We’ll be checking e-mail intermittently as we flee into the desert, hoping that all of those fresh souls in Beverly Hills sate the baby’s appetite while we make our escape.

Just so you know, no swarming locusts yet here in Hollywood.

Katrina

Two great articles: Richard Roeper, of all people, with a summary of quotes. And The Washington Post steps up to bat with "Was Kanye West Right?"

No Snowball yet.

Backyard Landscaping

Here's pix of the backyard we had done in time for Mom's B-day party. Won't show you the before pictures. Visualize dead grass and dog poo.

I had an amazing weekend, but there's no time to get lost in the blogging sphere right now...too much homework to do!

But I most highly recommend Hollywood Forever's Saturday screening series (thank you Heidi for organizing!). Annie Hall was fabulous with a cemetary full of buzzed, happy movielovers. I could feel the dead stars smiling at being remembered in such an eccentric, beautiful way! Definitely going back for The Shining.

No word on Snowball. Just a bunch of false alarms the press won't retract. I'm as positive as the next wingnut, but with a huge reward unclaimed...I'm fearing our little zeitgeist is on that puppy farm in the sky.

Egyptian fountain 

back 

Corner 

Backyard Overview

Sorry Nurse Sis. I took the photo down.

Damn

Looks like we all have to start saving up for that Prius again. The gas-rationing email has been debunked. Thanks for sending that along, Kira.

Back to drinking and cracking my knuckles to feel in control.

Kumquat

Sorry, again couldn't think of an appropriate title. Brain=mush.

Here's something serious Something light And something positive you can do to feel a little more in control:
CAVEAT EMPTOR: I (Kid Sis) didn't write this, nor did I research it. Just trusting the Email Chain Letter Gods on this one. Please let me know if it's a hoax.

Gas rationing in the 80's worked, even though we grumbled about it, The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor. An interesting thought is to boycott their gas. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from Saudis.

Nothing is more frustrating than knowing every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill my family, my friend, and me. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern Oil:

SHELL-----------------------------205,742,000 BARRELS
CHEVRON / TEXACO---------------144,332,0000 BARRELS
EXXON / MOBIL---------------------130,082,000 BARRELS
MARATHON / SPEEDWAY--------------117,740,000 BARRELS
AMOCO------------------------------62,231,000 BARRELS

At $56.00 a barrel these imports amount to over $37 BILLION

HERE ARE COMPANIES TO BUY FROM
Large companies that do not import Middle Eastern Oil:

CITGO--------------------------------------0 BARRELS
SUNOCO-------------------------------------0 BARRELS
CONOCO-------------------------------------0 BARRELS
SINCLAIR-----------------------------------0 BARRELS
BP / PHILLIPS------------------------------0 BARRELS
HESS---------------------------------------0 BARRELS
ARCO---------------------------------------0 BARRELS

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.

However, to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It really is simple to do.....Now do not wimp out at this point...... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people | I am sending this note to thirty people. If each of you send it to at least Ten more (300x 10=3000)....and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this onto ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted. It goes One level further, you guessed it.....THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE.

If each of us sends this E-mail out to 10 people within one day, all 300 MILLION people could be contacted within eight days.

Kid Sis talking: You can copy and paste the above or link to here.
It's not that hard to find these gas stations. Just go to their websites and enter in your city's info under their locator page.

A Big Hello

To Twisty Faster and her readers. A great blog...so happy to have found you all. And thanks for giving everyone a heads up about the "Show Us Your Tits" article.

And here's Jon Stewart's take on Katrina. Watch the free clips.

How Do You Deal With Anxiety?

I have friends who overeat, won't eat at all, drink, do drugs, pick their cuticles, pick their face, get way too busy, won't get out of bed, cut themselves, pull out their hair, crack their knuckles, surf the web (AHEM you bloggers and porn addicts), shop, clean, watch movies or read books incessantly, overexercise, have random sex, shoplift, work too much or not enough, etc.

With relentless media images of problems we can't control, what bad habits do you turn to for an illusion of control?

While I've done several of the above before, this time around I'm overeating and picking at the scabs on my left elbow (don't ask, I have no idea...but if you saw my left arm you'd understand. When things are really really bad, look for the right elbow to be scabby).

Alchohol consumption is way up for me. Two drinks a day, usually starting at 3 pm. Which of course has caused me to gain 5 pounds, because pretty much any caloric intake over 1200 a day = me being a fatty fat can't- fit- in my- new- clothes- I- bought -because - I'm -a - fat PIG. Oh yeah, and the self-talk gets a little negative. It's like I'm PMSing only worse. Which makes me not leave the house, so procrastination and absenteeism become issues.

Current Automatic Stress Reactions Beyond My Control = pimples, migraines, insomnia and canker soars, grinding my teeth at night, and cracking my neck while I'm asleep.

If I could pick my poison, I sure wish my stress reactions were to clean and exercise too much. Oh yeah, and to write too much, too. Whoo yeah, bad habits, those.

And you? (Place your negative personal ad here!)

If you actually want more Katrina news, may I suggest here and here. Oh, and don't forget the Police's version of Girls Gone Wild. And no, Snowball has not been found. They picked up a small dog of an entirely different breed.

On an unrelated to Katrina note, look how far womenhaven't come! The Onion story is faux for those of you not in the know, but the stats are real.

Lex Effin' Luthor

Cool. Heh heh.

Katrina Evacuees Distraught Over Pets

Isn't it amazing how ordinary people show more remorse and sadness for their cherished pets than the government has shown for its own citizens? Maybe instead of pointing fingers, someone should stand up to a microphone and cry and beg us for forgiveness.

Snowball 

Snowball trying to get on the bus to follow his master 

No Clever Title

I keep getting in trouble for what I post about Mom's health, or getting other family members in trouble (which of you lovely readers sent hatemail to my brother? I wonder...)

Anyhoo, Mom's on yet another rollercoaster. Because it wouldn't be a holiday without an ER visit. If you want to keep up with her, please check her site for updates.

I'm totally emotionally spent. Look at these lovely additions to our national catastrophe: Castro Had Plan, Bush Played Golf
And my favorite: Snowball. "On Thursday, when an officer confiscated a dog, a little boy cried out Snowball! Snowball!'' until he vomited. The police took from a boy and tossed by the side of the bus- the dog tried again and again to get on the bus -police pushed it away...These photos appear to show evacuations from the I-10 causeway near the Convention Center. The little boy who survived 5 days of the Hell Hole once known as the Superdome with the last connection he had with his former life, his little dog, only to have this dog torn from his arms as he was loaded on a bus to Houston. His distress – on film – was such that he vomited."

Are you effing kidding me? This is what our country is about? I get that people come first, everyone would want to bring their pets, blah blah blah. But the dog was tiny and right there, and...OI!

On the bright side, started S Factor with a new teacher who identified my problem with some of the tricks...I have no hand strength. Like, Nurse Sis actually bought me that fancy Black & Decker jar opener for X-mas. Apparently, that's why I slide down the pole and fear falling on my head when I attempt Snake.

So, problem solved...a month of daily hand strengthening exercises, then I try Snake again. And as a class bonus, I learned a new trick that I actually did perfect the first time - it's beautiful and all glidey and I felt like a pole Goddess. It was nice to get that exhileration of flying. Needed something positive to concentrate on.

Misc.

Wasn't thrilled with the season finales of Comeback or Entourage. It's always disappointing when you have strong seasons and an "eh" ending. Lost springs to mind. And Dead Zone and The 4400.

Polar opposite? Nip/Tuck. Again, highly recommend renting season 2 DVDs in time for its season premier. Don't need to see season 1 first.

Okay, we're sick in this household, but also very upset by the images pets left behind in New Orleans. Thank you Pet Finder.com for your good work.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

May I again highly recommend Kathy Griffin's Life on the D-List, and that you view Nip/Tuck's second season on DVD in time for the new season premiere later this month? Nip/Tuck's second season is understandable without the first, and it has one of the top three finales I've ever season. Seriously stunning.

Katrina

Yup.
and Yup.

Cool Friday Night

John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl. Simply amazing. A lifetime dream to see him conduct at HB, and he was on fire tonight for the New Orleans victims. We all respond to tragedy in unique ways, and his was stoic and focused...he only really spoke to us once, to praise the three famous conductors who died this year, and to say he wished the notes they played tonight could somehow float on the ethers to those suffering in Katrina's wake. Four encores, one of them being the original Star Wars, which I was told by my JW expert next to me that he NEVER plays. And of course, the Sith tune was accompanied by a huge chorus onstage, and much lightsaber-play in the audience, which all made my hair stand on end. Amazing how one melody can encompass all the emotional resonance missing from eight hours of celluloid. If I ever think of watching the prequels again, I'll just play JW's music instead.

The company I was in was just delightful. Got to hang with my two best Bruins, happily married/cool Mark & Charmaine. And I met Carey (or Carrie?), a fun friend of theirs, and Dallas Middaugh, a manga author for Random House imprint Del Rey. Dallas and I frequent the same comic book store, which is an odd coincidence. He has been lurking on the blog for a while, which didn't surprise me that much because he's Mark's friend...but then we found out he found my blog through the Eisner's instead of Mark. Small world. It was pretty wild to meet him and have him ask how my wrist was! (I forgot about it too much yesterday with all the Advil onboard, though I did stay off the keyboard...I kept myself from clapping by keeping something in my hand the whole night to remind me not to use it. Did the annoying Whoo instead for JW. Sure the foreigners next to me LOVED that.) Everyone was so nice and witty; it was great to be included in a cultured night. You know, except for the sea of lightsabers and thirty-year-olds screaming "PLAY E.T. and INDIANA JONES!"

Mom is okay. Rough day. Her cough is back, and we're waiting on test results. They painted her room today, and moved her in with a Russian family that didn't speak English and kept staring at her. Then they were going to move her back into her room without opening any windows first...hello, lung cancer people! I swear, I don't know what Mom would do without Nurse Sis having her back.

John Williams - Hollywood Bowl 

'allo, Luv!

So there's not any real SYSTEM to this whole blogging thing...often I get readers' comments emailed to me, then can't for the life of me find where they posted to respond to them. And such is the case this week. So here is an official hello to Ted and Melody, two new readers who (separately) posted lovely hellos to me, and are currently working their ways back through the archives. It's great to have you here, and I'm flattered you're reading previous posts. Melody, your words about Calliope were very kind.

Chrome Pole of Death - Day 4

I'm feeling much better - I'm not dead yet! Okay, so it must have been a minor wrist sprain that just REALLY hurt. You'll be happy to know I took a few spins on the pole today using only my right arm (they had just taught us those variations)...so I'm back on the horse! I'll go back to class next week, and tell them no on the upside down crap. New definition of limp wrist.

Courtesy of my smart-ass/genius brother, you can all now see what I looked like:

Liz on the pole