So. Those of you who also have scarletts_awry on your flists may have seen this post that she made earlier tonight.

All I have to say is this: LIES LIES ALL LIES. Also, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS.

I agree with her on one thing, and one thing only: for the good of the fandom, I have to speak out. She has earned herself a fine place in CSI:NY fandom, what with her intricate plots and finely-honed characterization, and her dedication to polymorphous perversity. And she presents herself as a calm, thoughtful person, one who is not given to unfair outbursts, or to committing completely uncalled-for wank.

But, oh, Gentle Readers, what you don't know -- what all of that talent is a cover for -- would make you quake in your beds. Believe me, it would.

As scarletts_awry noted, we spent most of last week together. While it is true that I often offered helpful suggestions, and that I also made frequent appeals to Earth Logic over the course of our many discussions, all of these things were done solely out the spirit of helpfulness and friendship -- purely innocent and virtuous impulses, not the venal calculations that she implies them to be. The FACT of the matter is that scarletts_awry, like Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, cannot handle the truth.

I, too, must break the cycle of abuse! I must speak out against her and let you all know the dark Cthulhuian heart that lies behind those well-written words and that innocent Southern accent.

She insists upon getting up terribly early in the morning, even when she's ostensibly on vacation.

She worries that directions given to her are incorrect, even when they are simple, and when I LIVE HERE, thus betraying her INABILITY TO TRUST.

She refuses to accept the validity of Earth Logic, and I ask you, is any of this my fault? I think not!

Also, she's taller than me. And blonde. And she totally flaunts her tallness by wearing shoes with ridiculous heels. Oh, yes, she does; I saw it with my very own eyes.

LOOK INTO THE HEART OF DARKNESS, AND BEHOLD: scarletts_awry.

Yes, we just had a 5.8 earthquake down here in the L.A. area, centered two miles outside of Chino Hills. That's the biggest one we've had in a while; it lasted much longer than they normally do. The windows were rattling, and everything was swaying and shaking.

Everyone here is fine; the company had us evacuate the office when we realized it wasn't just a quick tremor, but we're back now, and there are no injuries or damage to any person or property. We're all a little giddy/giggly from the adrenaline rush, but we're fine.

Cell phone service is down now, or at least it was a little while ago, so calls and text messages may not get through right now.

You can see a map of the quake here.

The third season of Eureka debuts Tuesday, July 29th, on the Sci Fi Channel. Sci Fi will be running a marathon of the first eleven episodes of the second season tomorrow, with episodes 12 and 13 being rebroadcast immediately prior to the third-season debut on Tuesday night.

gin200168, who got me into the show in the first place, has posted an Illustrated Eureka Character Primer with a nicely detailed breakdown of all the show's main characters, intended as a guide for people who are curious about the show, but who may feel reluctant to jump into S3 without the benefit of having seen the first two seasons.

The guide, which obviously contains some spoilers (although she avoids going into detail or revealing anything too major) is an excellent resource for folks who find themselves in that boat, or for those who may have seen the show but find themselves in need of a refresher course.

Really, I'm just trying to pimp the show so that more people watch. This is a charming, occasionally goofy, well-written and thoughtful show with a great premise and with fabulously-developed characters. It has, to paraphrase myself from my post the other day, many delights in common with shows like The Middleman and Pushing Daisies, both of which it shares a number of tonal and narrative kinships with.

Although, in thinking about this since that original post, I'm inclined to say that Pushing Daisies is, ultimately, fundamentally darker at its core than either Eureka or The Middleman, despite the bright colors of the production design and the similar quirkiness of the writing. To vastly oversimplify, Pushing Daisies is about the inevitability of death in all its forms, while Eureka and The Middleman are each, in their own ways, celebrations of life -- moreover, Pushing Daisies doesn't just deal with death, it celebrates it and embraces it as a lover.

Which is something I may need to explore further after I get the S1 DVDs and have a chance to rewatch the show.

If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Certain of you in particular; you know who you are. ♥ ♥ ♥

There have been several things that have made me happy lately, some of which I really, really need to make posts on at some point:

• Poppy Z. Brite's Liquor novels



• Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely, and good YA fiction in general



• The Dark Knight. I'm not going to see it until scarletts_awry gets here in a few weeks, and then we are going to see it TOGETHER YAYZ, but I'm delighted at all the good things I've heard, and I am so excited about it.
As I think I've mentioned before, the Bale/Nolan Batman is my Batman, and seeing that finally realized on the big screen, as I originally did with Batman Begins a few years ago, makes me more happy than I can easily put into words.


• the set and costume design on Mad Men (I've been watching the marathon today), which are gorgeous



• The Middleman, which is continuing to delight me. Okay, one comment about the most recent episode, "The Flying Fish Zombification."

Happy belated birthday to michelleann68 and iluvroadrunner6! I know this is ridiculously late, but I still hope you both had lovely, amazing days. And

michelleann68, I look forward to seeing you either next time you're in L.A. with Gin, or next time I'm up in Seattle.

I meant to post this last night, as well: A SAG strike is highly unlikely.

There have been subsequent reports since this was posted with where the guilds stand as of right now -- including one in which Alan Rosenberg confirmed that the SAG Board has not called for a strike authorization -- but this is the most detailed summary of why we probably won't be facing a repeat of the WGA strike. There are a variety of factors at play here, including the fact that SAG is nowhere near as united in their goals as the WGA was, and that a strike at this point would not generate the kind of sympathy or support that the WGA initially had, not least because no one in Hollywood can afford a repeat of that, especially not so soon.

The town is sort of in de-facto strike mode right now, in that a lot of movies have pushed their start dates until they can get confirmation that they won't be faced with a sudden shutdown of production. However, TV production moves forward as usual: most shows are scheduled to start in mid-July, as usual, and will do so barring any unforeseen events. I can also say that, while there's a lot of gossip about this, the general mood around town isn't nearly as bleak as it was in the weeks leading up to, and following, the end of the previous WGA contract.

The short version of all this:

We aren't likely to have a repeat of the WGA situation, and we'll most likely have a normal TV season.

Some of you have maybe noticed that I haven't been around too much since the season finale back in May.

Nothing is terribly wrong, but I seem to be having some sort of early-onset midlife crisis. Next year is a milestone birthday, and every time I try to figure out what the hell I'm doing with my life, I hit the big brick wall of "Well, not much, actually." Worse, I don't seem to know what I might want to do that isn't, well, this.

My writing ability and creative inspiration seem to be similarly dead in the water, which is not helping. My sole source of creative expression lately? Making CSI:NY LOLcats on I Can Has Cheezburger. I'm not even kidding.

No, really.

Totally not kidding.

So, yeah: early-onset midlife crisis, and I am completely useless and completely uninspired. I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself.

In better news: I got my stimulus check today. And although it's tempting, I'm not going to attempt to drown my sorrows by blowing the entire thing. I'm going to be a grown-up.

I caught Doctor Who on Sci Fi this weekend -- specifically, "Silence in the Library"/"Forests of the Dead," and although the two-parter is the first of the current season that I've managed to see, I really kind of loved both episodes. Excellent stuff, Donna is awesome, and Steven Moffatt still knows how to bring the creep factor.

They've posted the trailer for Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day, which is nothing short of completely made of sparkles and win, and you need to watch it, like, now.

Also looking forward to the start of the new season of Eureka, and to the upcoming long weekend.

For those of you on my flist who are watching The Middleman, spyscribe has posted some things you should look for in tonight's episode.

And if you haven't started watching The Middleman yet, give it a try, huh? It's awesomely geeky and fun.

Another friend of mine is taking a three-month study course in South Korea, and he's blogging the experience. He's a good writer, and he's also been posting some gorgeous photographs, so check that out, too, if you get a chance.

A lot of my friends seem to be doing really great things right now, and I'm so happy for (and proud of!) all of them.

hannahrorlove asked me to ramble about

( bread )

( reptiles )

( superpowers )

The Middleman premieres tonight on ABC Family. The show is about the titular Middleman, an "independent contractor" who deals with problems like tentacle monsters and mad scientists, and is based on executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach's graphic novel of the same name.

It looks like it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun, and has been getting stellar reviews. More importantly, it's my friend spyscribe's first regular TV show gig, and we're all really proud of her here, and excited about the show.

If you like comic books, if you like sci-fi, if you like quirky humor and well-written characters, this is a show for you.

gin200168 asked me to ramble about

( Abernathy )

( Eureka )

( Little Tokyo )

Happy belated birthday to tink_05! I hope it was a fabulous day.

blueraccoon asked me to ramble about

( insomnia )

( wind/weather )

( Danny Messer )

scarletts_awry asked me to ramble about

( Johnny Cash )

( Mac Taylor )

( Urban fantasy )

Happy birthday to webbgirl! I hope it's been a fantastic one for you.

I'm going to start on the alphabet ramble responses tomorrow, but in the meantime, I have to post this meme, snagged from everywhere, given that scarletts_awry and I spent far too much time today texting about it and arguing our points with great earnestness.

Zombies iz srs bzness, o yes.

You are in a mall when the zombies attack. You have:

1. one weapon

2. one song blasting on the speakers

3. one famous person to fight alongside you

* Weapon can be real or fictional; you may assume endless ammo if applicable. Person can be real or fictional.

1. A flamethrower. Stick with the classics, and fire is one of the few surefire ways of killing a zombie for good. Yes, taking out the brain works, too, but I have no desire to get that close to them. A flamethrower gives you good firepower, and you can take them out from a distance.

2. The first that comes to mind is Johnny Cash's "When the Man Comes Around." I know, I know; they did this in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, but the opening sequence is famous for a reason: because the song works.

Either that, or something suitably apocalyptic by Nick Cave or Dead Can Dance (I also liked the use of the DCD song in The Mist) or Leonard Cohen.

3. I'm going to cheat and claim two people: Buffy Summers and Mac Taylor. Buffy knows how to deal with this shit better than anyone, and scarletts_awry and I decided ages ago that Mac is one of the people you want by your side when the zombie apocalypse happens. Between the two of them, the revolution would end by lunchtime, and then Mac could handle clean-up while Buffy and I went shoe-shopping.

...scarletts_awry and I have also decided that Buffy and Mac need to meet, because first they'd hate each other, and then they'd bond over weapons glee and be BFF, and so this choice is also fueled by my growing desire to see the two of them interact.

I also want to see Buffy explain to Mac that Slayers don't use guns, and then have his skeptical reaction to that, and then get her impatient reaction to his inevitable lecture. I imagine that talky-talky handpuppet gestures and eye-rolling would be involved.

...Okay, that kind of got away from me. But. Really. They would be AWESOME together.

Which reminds me, speaking of Buffy: Buffy: Season Eight's second TPB collection, No Future for You, is also awesome. I am really loving this continuation of the series; it's turning out to be such an amazing comic book.

I also picked up the new Fables TPB, The Good Prince, and, while I haven't read it yet, I haven't been disappointed by this series yet. So very, very good.

Snagged from various people.

I'm doing this because I need to start interacting with people again, and because I have to put words of some kind on a page or I will go out of my mind, and this seems my best shot, right now, at actually doing that.

1. It begins with a list of all 26 letters of the alphabet.

2. Comment with something for me to talk about that starts with one of those letters. Make me ramble about anything -- e.g., TV shows, actresses, food, authors, etc.: be creative.

3. One topic per letter; it's like a claims list! I will cross off letters as topics appear.

4. I will post about all 26 topics given to me.

( claimed letters )

Let's say...up to three letters per person? No more than that, please.

1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) five songs that start with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.

iluvroadrunner6 gave me the letter G. (And I uploaded six instead of five, because I couldn't quite decide which one to cut.)

1. Girl -- Tori Amos:

and I ride to work
every morning wondering why
"sit in the chair and be good now"
and become all that they told you
the white coats enter her room
and I'm calling my baby
calling my baby calling my baby calling

2. Goodnight Irene -- Leadbelly:

Sometimes I live in the country,
Sometimes I live in town,
Sometimes I have a great notion:
Jumping into the river and drown

3. Guided by Wire -- Neko Case:

Life is not a constant thing
It's only made of short stories
I couldn't even tell you where I'm from
Guided by the voices I've deflected
Guided by electric wires' hum

4. Good Friday -- Cowboy Junkies:

Do you ever finally reach
A point of knowing
Or do you just wake up one day
And say, I am going?
What will I tell you
When you ask me why I'm crying

5. Ghostly Girl -- Jolie Holland:

Nobody likes a spook
Or so I've deduced
I have loved some ghosts in my time
But that doesn't mean I want them around

6. The Great Event -- Leonard Cohen:

Next Tuesday, when the sun goes down, I will play the Moonlight Sonata
backwards.

( episode spoilers )

Okay, right now I really fail at thinkpositive30. But I'm going to try to backtrack through the week and make up for all the days I've missed.

I'll start with today's good thing, because it's the most important, and I don't want it to get lost down at the bottom of the post.

You've probably already heard, either from the news or from the million times it's been linked to on your flist, but California State Supreme Court has ruled that the same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. Hooray for my state, and hooray for Governor Schwarzenegger, who announced after the ruling that he has no plans to overturn it.

This is a real, true good thing. Seriously, I got all weepy when I first read it this morning, and I'm getting teary-eyed again now just typing this. Little by little, it's changing.

Okay, now for good things from the rest of the week.

Sunday (May 11):

gin200168 and I got up early so we could go to the Studio City Farmers Market, where we bought pumpkin bread and hummus and various other good things. We got Korean pancakes for breakfast, and after we were done shopping, we snagged a picnic table and had them along with some strawberries.

Afterward, we stopped back at my place so we could drop things off, and so we could stop by Starbucks, because I needed my coffee. Then we went downtown to Little Tokyo, and spent the next few hours at the Japanese Village Plaza and Fugetsu-Do Confectionary. We got a ton of yummy and cheap Japanese food, including some of Fugetsu-Do's amazing mochi, and I bought a few pretty dishes in one of the little stores (I'm into mismatched dishware) and a Haiku anthology. We also got...Gin, what were the little pancake things? I can't remember the name. We got hot, freshly-made little pancake things with red bean paste, and sat by the fountain to eat them. By then, the morning fog had burned off and the sun was out, and it was turning into a gorgeous day.

(and scarletts_awry, given your love for Asian food, we should totally go here when you visit next.)

I also appear to have inadvertently started a Maneki Neko (Lucky Cat) collection. I already had two standard ones that Gin had given me, and on Sunday I picked out a fat little purple one in one store, and then the store with the dishes had really cheap lucky cats, so I got one holding a pink marble and a little black one, and then it turned out the little black one came as a set, so...yeah. They're all sitting on my coffee table right now, smiling at me. I'm picky about tchotchkes, but I'm utterly charmed by lucky cats. And I was pleased to discover, after the fact, that the purple ones are supposed to bring a person artistic strength.

It was just a really good day all around, and we spent the evening watching Eureka.

Monday (May 12):

Gin had to go home today, but we had time in the morning to go out for breakfast one last time, and to make another Target run so that I could snag the cardigan I had decided I wanted.

After she left for the airport, I hung around the house, then finally managed to get some writing done, and I was actually able to finish the story that I'd been trying to work on forever. It was such an enormous relief to see it all fall into place, and posting it was a weight off my shoulders.

Now Gin is back home and I miss her, but we had a great visit, and got a chance to have a lot of good conversations and do some sorely-needed catching-up.

Tuesday (May 13):

Back to work today, unfortunately, but nothing had exploded in my absence, which was good.

I also started reading Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely, which is really a most excellent novel.

Wednesday (May 14):

"Taxi" was another great episode in what's been a fabulous season. While I'll be sad to see the season finale next week, I'm also looking forward to it, and looking forward to what will happen next once S5 rolls around.

(Also, I can't believe we're heading into a fifth season, and that they're approaching their 100th episode. Blows my mind, it really does. Where has the time gone?)

...and I believe that gets me all caught up. scarletts_awry, you may have pulled ahead briefly, but don't start counting those chickens just yet.

( episode spoilers )

Title: Way Through It All
Author: stellaluna_
Fandom: CSI:NY
Rating: NC-17 for explicit sex and language
Summary: Stella needs. Set sometime after "The Thing About Heroes." Stella/Mac
Disclaimer: None of these are mine. Characters are the property of Anthony Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer Television, CBS, and Alliance Atlantis.
Notes: Spoilers through "The Thing About Heroes."

( This is desire, she thinks, and opens her eyes wide )

Feedback is always appreciated.