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Dec. 6th, 2007 12:16 pmVictor, CBC's movie about Victor Davis that I posted about quite some time ago, finally has an air date: Sunday, January 13, 2008. The film was written by and stars Mark Lutz, a/k/a Groosalug.
Still Here, Just Really Quiet Lately
Jul. 11th, 2007 10:03 pmI'm lurking on LJ more these days than in the past few months, but haven't quite got that habit of posting back.
What news?
I took a week's holidays last week, which is to say that I was working on some chemistry freelance editing at home and spending seven days in close quarters with many children. The latter was more challenging than the former, actually. Said children are usually nice to be around, but I really must break them of the habit of watching The Simpsons 24/7 in my living room. They have a nice family room downstairs with comfy couches and an X-Box, but the living room is closer to the kitchen (and therefore the food), so the basement TV hasn't become the default yet. However, I have a new and cunning plan: we disconnected the cable from the upstairs TV this evening and plugged it into the stereo instead (Jim wants to see how many radio stations he can get this way). DVDs are still watchable up here, which is mostly what I watch in the summer anyway, but actual cable TV is not. The long-term plan is to buy a big-screen TV for the basement for a 'family' Christmas present. That and six weeks of summer training for lack of other options will hopefully make 'TV' and 'basement' synonomous in their minds.
Jim and I made a quick visit to Toronto over the weekend for a kid-free night at a hotel and a day at Polaris (the convention formerly known as Toronto Trek). They were both fun, in different ways. ;-) I met Ron Glass and got him to sign my Firefly DVDs and Serenity promo poster (I'm up to five BDHs now!), as well as my father's Barney Miller DVDs (a surprise for him--he doesn't know that my sister 'stole' them for me the last time she was over there for dinner :-). I also got Katee Sackhoff to sign my BSG DVDs. I've heard interviews with Ron before, so he was pretty much what I expected, but Katee surprised me. She was smaller and very much more girly than I thought she'd be. For some reason, I thought we'd be presented with a big ego, but she was downright shy at the start of her Q&A. All that Starbuck bluster really is just acting.
After a too short hook-up with![[livejournal.com profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
redeem147, Jim and I took sunnyd_lite out for sushi and saki to celebrate her new job.
I haven't posted much on the house lately. We've spent quite a lot of time attacking extraordinarily weedy flowerbeds and hacking down dead branches from trees, so the place is starting to look quite civilized. I have four whisky barrels planted with tomatoes and found my first ripe one yesterday. I also did my research (thankspetzipellepingo!) and made a list of plants that like both shade and the toxin oozed out by black walnuts, and the front flowerbed actually looks like, well, a flowerbed. It used to look like a grassy hummock, so I'm calling it a win.
I'm back at work this week, though I can't say I've been terribly productive. I have, however, finished the first draft of Chapter 3 of Wish You Were Here and sent it off to my betas. Hopefully, I'll get it posted later this week.
What news?
I took a week's holidays last week, which is to say that I was working on some chemistry freelance editing at home and spending seven days in close quarters with many children. The latter was more challenging than the former, actually. Said children are usually nice to be around, but I really must break them of the habit of watching The Simpsons 24/7 in my living room. They have a nice family room downstairs with comfy couches and an X-Box, but the living room is closer to the kitchen (and therefore the food), so the basement TV hasn't become the default yet. However, I have a new and cunning plan: we disconnected the cable from the upstairs TV this evening and plugged it into the stereo instead (Jim wants to see how many radio stations he can get this way). DVDs are still watchable up here, which is mostly what I watch in the summer anyway, but actual cable TV is not. The long-term plan is to buy a big-screen TV for the basement for a 'family' Christmas present. That and six weeks of summer training for lack of other options will hopefully make 'TV' and 'basement' synonomous in their minds.
Jim and I made a quick visit to Toronto over the weekend for a kid-free night at a hotel and a day at Polaris (the convention formerly known as Toronto Trek). They were both fun, in different ways. ;-) I met Ron Glass and got him to sign my Firefly DVDs and Serenity promo poster (I'm up to five BDHs now!), as well as my father's Barney Miller DVDs (a surprise for him--he doesn't know that my sister 'stole' them for me the last time she was over there for dinner :-). I also got Katee Sackhoff to sign my BSG DVDs. I've heard interviews with Ron before, so he was pretty much what I expected, but Katee surprised me. She was smaller and very much more girly than I thought she'd be. For some reason, I thought we'd be presented with a big ego, but she was downright shy at the start of her Q&A. All that Starbuck bluster really is just acting.
After a too short hook-up with
redeem147, Jim and I took sunnyd_lite out for sushi and saki to celebrate her new job.I haven't posted much on the house lately. We've spent quite a lot of time attacking extraordinarily weedy flowerbeds and hacking down dead branches from trees, so the place is starting to look quite civilized. I have four whisky barrels planted with tomatoes and found my first ripe one yesterday. I also did my research (thanks
petzipellepingo!) and made a list of plants that like both shade and the toxin oozed out by black walnuts, and the front flowerbed actually looks like, well, a flowerbed. It used to look like a grassy hummock, so I'm calling it a win.I'm back at work this week, though I can't say I've been terribly productive. I have, however, finished the first draft of Chapter 3 of Wish You Were Here and sent it off to my betas. Hopefully, I'll get it posted later this week.
Victor Davis
Mar. 9th, 2007 01:44 pmI love watching the Olympics. Summer, winter--it matters not. If it's Olympic, I will watch it. I will sit in front of the television for twelve hours a day, seven days a week and watch it. Figure skating? I'm there. Diving? I'm there. Track and field? I'm so there. Greco-Roman wrestling? I don't understand it, but I'm still there.
I also have a slight tendency (OK, maybe slightly more than slight) to hero-worship the athletes I'm particularly interested in. I made spreadsheets to keep track of decathlete Michael Smith's scores over the years. I rewarded myself for passing my PhD comprehensive exam by driving through a blizzard to Barrie, Ontario, to watch figure skater Elvis Stojko train at his practice rink for a day. I went to Oakville for the "Welcome home, Donovan Bailey" parade after he won the 100-metre sprint in Atlanta. I had a crush on high jumper Greg Joy for years after seeing him in person at the Montreal Olympics (hey, I was 13 :-). My perfect man is diver Greg Louganis.
When I was an undergrad at the University of Guelph, swimmer Victor Davis came to town for an autograph-signing gig at the mall. I still have the signed pic I got from him in one of my photo albums. My residence went on a pub crawl to a place called Uncle Sam's somewhere in New York that same weekend, and you can just imagine my delight when I discovered that Victor had some friends at U of G and turned up on my bus! After fortifying myself with a few drinks at the pub, I worked up enough courage to ask him to dance with me. He declined--graciously; there was no chair-kicking--but gave me a kiss on the cheek. I twittered for the rest of the night.
Just a few years later, he was dead. He'd gotten into an altercation with someone at a bar in Montreal, and that someone hit him--apparently, deliberately--with his car. Victor suffered a skull fracture and never regained consciousness. He died a couple of days later from his head injury. His funeral was held in Guelph (his hometown), but I couldn't go because of a prior commitment in Toronto. As per his wishes, many of his organs were donated by his family to patients in need.
Why am I bringing this up? CBC will be airing Victor, a film about the life and death of Victor Davis, later this year. Who will be playing Victor? Mark Lutz, our very own Groosalug.
That's just... neat.
I also have a slight tendency (OK, maybe slightly more than slight) to hero-worship the athletes I'm particularly interested in. I made spreadsheets to keep track of decathlete Michael Smith's scores over the years. I rewarded myself for passing my PhD comprehensive exam by driving through a blizzard to Barrie, Ontario, to watch figure skater Elvis Stojko train at his practice rink for a day. I went to Oakville for the "Welcome home, Donovan Bailey" parade after he won the 100-metre sprint in Atlanta. I had a crush on high jumper Greg Joy for years after seeing him in person at the Montreal Olympics (hey, I was 13 :-). My perfect man is diver Greg Louganis.
When I was an undergrad at the University of Guelph, swimmer Victor Davis came to town for an autograph-signing gig at the mall. I still have the signed pic I got from him in one of my photo albums. My residence went on a pub crawl to a place called Uncle Sam's somewhere in New York that same weekend, and you can just imagine my delight when I discovered that Victor had some friends at U of G and turned up on my bus! After fortifying myself with a few drinks at the pub, I worked up enough courage to ask him to dance with me. He declined--graciously; there was no chair-kicking--but gave me a kiss on the cheek. I twittered for the rest of the night.
Just a few years later, he was dead. He'd gotten into an altercation with someone at a bar in Montreal, and that someone hit him--apparently, deliberately--with his car. Victor suffered a skull fracture and never regained consciousness. He died a couple of days later from his head injury. His funeral was held in Guelph (his hometown), but I couldn't go because of a prior commitment in Toronto. As per his wishes, many of his organs were donated by his family to patients in need.
Why am I bringing this up? CBC will be airing Victor, a film about the life and death of Victor Davis, later this year. Who will be playing Victor? Mark Lutz, our very own Groosalug.
That's just... neat.
Kinky Boots
Feb. 20th, 2007 07:20 pmIf you haven't seen Kinky Boots yet, you really should. You owe it to yourself to see the Operative from Serenity (Chiwetel Ejiofor) playing a singing transvestite. The man can belt out a tune, and he makes a surprisingly good-looking woman. I just discovered that the soundtrack is available from iTunes and used one of my Christmas gift cards to buy it. You can get it from Amazon, too. It also has two songs by Nina Simone. There's just no bad there.
Browncoat Backup Bash
Dec. 10th, 2006 03:26 pmWell, the Browncoat Backup Bash has turned out to be all kinds of awesome--possibly even better than Flanvention II would have been. Read some of the details here.
All those actors? Big Damn Heroes, every one of them.
All those actors? Big Damn Heroes, every one of them.
Flanvention Cancelled
Dec. 8th, 2006 10:12 amAfter a week of waffling, Booster Events has cancelled Flanvention II at the last minute. The very last minute--some flans had already arrived at the hotel, while many others (including some from as far away as Australia) were in the air en route.
Adam Baldwin shows up anyway. You rock, Adam.
In an effort to salvage the weekend, the California Browncoats are organizing a Backup Bash. You also rock, California Browncoats.
Adam Baldwin shows up anyway. You rock, Adam.
In an effort to salvage the weekend, the California Browncoats are organizing a Backup Bash. You also rock, California Browncoats.
Rumour has it that a previous BtVS regular is being considered for the role of a male nurse on ER. Over at Whedonesque, the money appears to be on either Nick Brendon or Marc Blucas, although Seth Green and Danny Strong have also been mentioned as possibilities. The new character is going to be a love interest for Linda Cardellini (Sam); the latter two would certainly be more her height.
For anyone who has not yet heard: Nathan Fillion will be guest-starring on Lost! (Beware of mild spoilers if you click on the link.)
::squees::
::squees::
Drive-by Posting
Sep. 20th, 2006 06:38 pm- Went to Stratford with Jim to see Oliver! last Friday. It was great fun and Colm Feore made a terrific Fagin (I knew he would). When the actors came out for their bows, the entire audience spontaneously booed Bill Sikes because he is teh ev0l. I suspect the poor fellow has been booed after every single performance, which just means, of course, that he has done his job well. He took it in good humour and laughed.
- I learned while flipping through a book on the history of the Stratford Festival that Colm Feore's first role there was as Romeo in 1984. Several hours later, I realized that I actually saw that play with my mother. Me and Colm Feore? We go way back. :-)
- I've had songs from Oliver! running through my head for five days now.
- I finally got my car back from the body shop. Total cost of repair was $6500. I suspect the cost for Jim's car was twice that. They must have disconnected the battery while working on my car because the anti-theft feature of my radio/CD player had gone off which made it unuseable. I didn't have the code to fix it with me, so had to drive three hours from Peterborough to Ottawa on Sunday evening in the dark and in silence. Boring.
- Jim and I went to a Chinese wedding on Saturday--I wore my Serenity jacket from the London Prop Store. The wedding itself was very North American, but the reception was held in a Chinese restaurant. We were treated to a ten-course banquet which included suckling pig, jellyfish, and shark fin soup. I didn't care for the soup, but the jellyfish was actually not bad.
- Joel Grey guest-starred on House last night. This pleased me immensely.
- I have a telephone interview for a job in Peterborough tomorrow morning. I have to give a 15-minute presentation--which will be weird over the phone. I'm sitting here practicing it over and over again because the topic isn't all that familiar and my vocabulary keeps abandoning me.
SFX 2006 Report
Sep. 10th, 2006 10:17 pmI only had one day--Sunday--at SFX this year. I missed both the Canadian Browncoat lunch and dinner/Shindig on Saturday. :-( As I was there for 2.5 days last year, with the Serenity fantable occupying much of my time, this year's quick Sunday breeze-through left me feeling a little as if I'd only gotten SFX Digest experience. Still, it was fun. And there was Gaius glee, which a total bonus.
( SFX 2006. Not for the faint of modem. )
Now I want to know who's going to be at SFX 2007!
( SFX 2006. Not for the faint of modem. )
Now I want to know who's going to be at SFX 2007!
My father saw Colm Feore playing Fagin in Oliver! at the Stratford Festival a few weeks ago. Upon reflection, I decided that this was something I just had to see: one of my favourite actors in one of my favourite musicals. So, I just bought tickets for the evening performance on Friday, September 15. :-) I'm in Row E, which is plenty close enough to enjoy the Colmy goodness.
ETA: I made a Colm Feore icon. :-)
ETA: I made a Colm Feore icon. :-)
Prison Break
Aug. 28th, 2006 11:08 pmWho the heck starts the second season of a series on August 21?!? Also, the nifty streaming thing that Fox has going only works if you live in the U.S. ::huffs:: I forgot to watch or set my VCR for the premiere last week and had to find, er, a creative way of obtaining it.
Also, if Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows are brothers, why don't they have the same last name?
I watched S4 of Nikita this month and was amused to see the actor who plays Teabag on Prison Break in a suitably psycho role in one episode. He's really, really good at being creepy.
Also, if Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows are brothers, why don't they have the same last name?
I watched S4 of Nikita this month and was amused to see the actor who plays Teabag on Prison Break in a suitably psycho role in one episode. He's really, really good at being creepy.
Desperate Housewives
Apr. 28th, 2006 11:29 pmStill trying to catch up on shows. I just watched an episode of Desperate Housewives from weeks ago and was puzzling over where I'd seen the nurse tending to Susan in hospital. She's Dagney Kerr - she was Buffy's roommate at the start of S4. :-)
Thank heaves for IMDb.
Thank heaves for IMDb.
Huh. I was wondering why Wilson was wearing a McGill sweatshirt, so I looked Robert Sean Leonard up on IMDb thinking maybe he was Canadian and that it was one of those inside things. He's not Canadian, but he was Neil in Dead Poet's Society! I should have recognised him.
So, anyone know why Wilson was wearing a McGill sweatshirt?
( Slightly spoilery question. )
So, anyone know why Wilson was wearing a McGill sweatshirt?
( Slightly spoilery question. )
Saturn Awards
Apr. 5th, 2006 05:04 pmSerenity was nominated for Best Film and Summer Glau for Best Supporting Actress in this year's Saturn awards. (As someone else commented, how did she get nominated for Best Supporting Actress when she was the lead??) This was Joss's comment on that:
Okay. I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna skip a hundred catty comments and say I've enjoyed the Saturns because, well, mostly because I won one, but also because they celebrate the genre, and where else are you gonna hang out with Jim Cameron AND Stan Lee? And now I'm gonna tell you I'm disappointed.
Say it with me now: Nathan Fillion.
Not even a nod? A nom? I'm pleased as anything for Summer, and glad the movie made a showing at all, but for Nathan to be overlooked shakes my faith in this awards program, which is truly terrifying because it means I had faith in an awards program. I'm such a yob.
Nathan owned that screen. You went to see the movie, there was a little print on the screen that said "On Loan from Nathan Fillion." Textured, rich, funny, real, heroic... I don't know who else was nominated (and for the record, I think Tom Cruise was great in WotW), and I don't even think the movie is all that -- oh, I'm into it, but the more I look at it the more I go "They couldn't have got a director?" -- but Nathan is the man. He's all man. A man's man. Two men. He's like if James Gumb had been sewing a MAN suit. This has taken an unsightly turn, but you get where I'm going.
Well, I don't usually do this, but I'll tell you a secret. I'm dropping the BOMB on the Saturn awards and you got this straight from the horse's mouth. The truth about the Saturns? A few weeks after you get them home, the glue on your name-plate dries up and it pops right off. You heard me. Award over HERE, nameplate sitting over THERE. That's how THEY roll, dog.
Wow. I went a little far there. Things were typed... But I'm truly bummed.
Go Summer!
-j.
joss | February 15, 19:04 CET
From methane eructations to Joss in less than 10 minutes. That's multi-tasking. :-)
Okay. I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna skip a hundred catty comments and say I've enjoyed the Saturns because, well, mostly because I won one, but also because they celebrate the genre, and where else are you gonna hang out with Jim Cameron AND Stan Lee? And now I'm gonna tell you I'm disappointed.
Say it with me now: Nathan Fillion.
Not even a nod? A nom? I'm pleased as anything for Summer, and glad the movie made a showing at all, but for Nathan to be overlooked shakes my faith in this awards program, which is truly terrifying because it means I had faith in an awards program. I'm such a yob.
Nathan owned that screen. You went to see the movie, there was a little print on the screen that said "On Loan from Nathan Fillion." Textured, rich, funny, real, heroic... I don't know who else was nominated (and for the record, I think Tom Cruise was great in WotW), and I don't even think the movie is all that -- oh, I'm into it, but the more I look at it the more I go "They couldn't have got a director?" -- but Nathan is the man. He's all man. A man's man. Two men. He's like if James Gumb had been sewing a MAN suit. This has taken an unsightly turn, but you get where I'm going.
Well, I don't usually do this, but I'll tell you a secret. I'm dropping the BOMB on the Saturn awards and you got this straight from the horse's mouth. The truth about the Saturns? A few weeks after you get them home, the glue on your name-plate dries up and it pops right off. You heard me. Award over HERE, nameplate sitting over THERE. That's how THEY roll, dog.
Wow. I went a little far there. Things were typed... But I'm truly bummed.
Go Summer!
-j.
joss | February 15, 19:04 CET
From methane eructations to Joss in less than 10 minutes. That's multi-tasking. :-)
This is neat - this link will pull up all threads containing posts by Joss at Whedonesque: http://whedonesque.com/tag/joss+post.
Saw Slither on Saturday with several Ottawa Browncoats. It was, er, kinda slimy. Not all that scary, which was good news for those of us who are cowards (like me!), but a little on the gory side. If you don't like that sort of stuff, you'd perhaps be better off seeing something else.
Anyway, it's not the kind of movie I'd normally see, but it was fun seeing Nathan in another role. It'll probably develop its own cult following like Night of the Comet. I hope Nathan gets something a little more meaty in the future - I'd like to see what else he can do.
As requested, I'm reporting back on www.ficwad.com: It seems to have low but reasonably steady traffic - the number of hits on my fics is creeping slowly upwards. I still haven't gotten any actual reviews (I rarely get them on ff.net either), but a few stories have been rated once or twice. It's kind of fun watching the hits and seeing which fic is in the lead on any given day. All Set Down is winning at the moment, with Wolf's Bane and The First Light of Day in hot pursuit. I'm rather astonished by the latter - I can only assume that it's been read so many times because it's the shortest.
Saw Slither on Saturday with several Ottawa Browncoats. It was, er, kinda slimy. Not all that scary, which was good news for those of us who are cowards (like me!), but a little on the gory side. If you don't like that sort of stuff, you'd perhaps be better off seeing something else.
Anyway, it's not the kind of movie I'd normally see, but it was fun seeing Nathan in another role. It'll probably develop its own cult following like Night of the Comet. I hope Nathan gets something a little more meaty in the future - I'd like to see what else he can do.
As requested, I'm reporting back on www.ficwad.com: It seems to have low but reasonably steady traffic - the number of hits on my fics is creeping slowly upwards. I still haven't gotten any actual reviews (I rarely get them on ff.net either), but a few stories have been rated once or twice. It's kind of fun watching the hits and seeing which fic is in the lead on any given day. All Set Down is winning at the moment, with Wolf's Bane and The First Light of Day in hot pursuit. I'm rather astonished by the latter - I can only assume that it's been read so many times because it's the shortest.
Harry Groener is joining the cast of Spamalot as King Arthur! How much would I love to see that? Too bad Alan Tudyk's not still there - seeing them both on the same stage would be something else.
