Thursday, October 31, 2002

Trick Or

It's barely 7:15 and most of our four big bags of candy are gone. EEK! Hope the kids bring home lots of lollipops. I'm wearing my Captain Janeway uniform, wishing I had a Kai Winn outfit. The hat alone would make my Halloween.

Don't telemarketers EVER take a break? And which idiots connected with the congressional races thought Halloween would be a good night to call and harrass voters?

Thursday night is Dawson's Creek night in my house because Wednesdays at 8 we're watching Enterprise. After a long day of kid-related Halloween activities, I figure I'm entitled to my regular Thursday night date with Dawson. May I just say how happy I am that Dawson and Joey are both dating other people and that Pacey and Audrey are on the verge of a breakup? Last year's couples were so painfully atrocious, I wasn't sure I could keep watching the show, even though it's been my favorite guilty mindless fix for going on five years now (and I have discovered a great deal of music I really love from the show -- that and the exterior shots of the water in NC used to be why I watched, but now they rarely do exteriors, and when they do they try to pretend it's Boston so no sunset on the water).

I'm not sure whether Katie Holmes is the worst screen kisser in the history of television or if she just doesn't like kissing the regulars on DC, but she always looked like she thought Jack and Pacey might give her cooties and her kisses with Dawson in the season premiere...let's just say I shared Television Without Pity's sense that it would be less painful to tear my eyeballs out than keep watching. If the producers wanted to convince viewers that Dawson and Joey really should not, should never be together, they succeeded admirably! They can't pair them up with other people quickly enough now, though gosh it would be nice for once to see one of the women on that show NOT relationship-oriented (not that I think there's sexism involved because the men are just as relationship-oriented if not more so).

I missed Jack's professor tonight. I was a little worried when it became obvious that he returned Jack's affections because the show has not exactly been responsible with dealing with the consequences of teacher-student affairs in terms of how they affect students (Pacey gloriously loses his virginity while Tamara gets fired; Joey gets idyllic memories of man who thinks she's perfect). But this storyline with Jack, they had the (closeted gay) prof in a situation where the potential for exploitation was clear, and Jack said so, and I thought it was just going to be the token "Okay, teachers sometimes DO take advantage of their students and doesn't it just figure it's the gay character who gets stuck with this plot." Instead they had this killer scene where the prof reminded Jack that when he was young, people didn't come out on MTV (and there wasn't this big supportive online community). Made me remember what high school was like when I was there -- I'm closer to Jack's professor's age than I am to Jack's. God the world has changed for the better. I really felt for this guy.

Happy Halloween!

Had to review last night and HAVE to transcribe an interview today before 1:00 so I can go to the Halloween parade and both kids' parties at school, then have Hebrew school carpool in the afternoon and trick-or-treaters start coming as early as 5 p.m. I'm hoping I have time to light candles and clear my head late at night. Where did this week go?!

From The Barrow-Downs Middle Earth Name Generator: According to the Red Book of Westmarch, I was: Fearless Sackville-Baggins (I love this! I'm fearless, and related to Bilbo and Frodo as well as Vita Sackville-West!)

The root of my Elven name:
Quellecirith
Feminine version:
Quellecirithiel

Hobbit name:
Pearl Tussock from Gamwich

Dwarven Name:
Varin Tombbringer

Orkish Name:
Mortrak the Basher
Hee!

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Books in the pile

Lisa DiDio, Sherwood Forest (for review for GMR)
Wolfram Von Eschenbach, Parzival (because I've never gotten around to reading it)
Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue (a companion to The Giver, picked up at my kids' school book fair)
Roger Kamenetz, Stalking Elijah (my Jewish mystical thought for the month)

No point in listing movies -- I'm saving all my money for the inevitable multiple viewings of Harry Potter and Two Towers, plus maybe Trek X if it looks tolerable.

It's Not Easy Being Green:


What Is Your True Aura Colour?

brought to you by Quizilla

Actually, green is my favorite color, always has been.

Tuesday, October 29, 2002

First Post

After getting introduced to all the classy people on Blogger, I realized that all my friends were on LiveJournal. So now I'm in both places. Still trying to catch up from two weeks of doing absolutely nothing while the sniper ran around keeping everyone indoors. Got used to the hours slipping away. The one night we went out to dinner, at IHOP when we discovered we were out of chicken, we were thinking about how we could get shot right through the paper blinds. The place was nearly empty.

Better to stay home and watch movies. Current obsessions obvious on my web page. How come Viggo Mortensen's character dies in every single readily-available movie that he's in? I've now watched him die in Daylight, Albino Alligator, A Perfect Murder and Deception, and it's starting to get on my nerves. And he's always a bad guy, though not as bad as the luscious Sean Bean. I hadn't realized how much Peter Jackson was casting against type. Brilliantly. Can't wait for the next two. Ah well, maybe I'll go find some more LOTR fic like plasticChevy's "The Captain and the King". If anyone knows any please send links.

Worked in the kids' school library today, where book fair was going on -- discovered that Lois Gould has written a companion to The Giver (not a sequel, that's what she calls it). Bought it, of course. Who knows when I'll get to read it; I have to review Sherwood Forest for GMR next. Rewrote part of my M.A. thesis as a review of The Left Hand of Darkness for GMR yesterday, had forgotten that it was actually pretty good (the thesis that is; the book is phenomenal, must put that on my "to reread" list if I ever get through the "to read" list). Thinking about reviewing With Roots in Heaven.

Two days till NaNoWriMo and I don't even have a coherent outline. Blew off last night watching Y Tu Mama Tambien, which was superb; tonight I'm sure I'll blow off everything for Buffy and Smallville, and then tomorrow I have to transcribe Bruce Davison for TrekWeb before I can do anything creative.