becky's random commentary

batman

2008-05-06T05:20:40Z

Woot! The full trailer for The Dark Knight is now up. Very most cool.
http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails/trailer.htm

doctor who

2008-05-01T17:31:03Z

Nine and Rose (series 1) summarized and 'capped in a one lovely post.
http://kae-nine.livejournal.com/11253.html
Gorgeous.

fic recs

2008-05-01T05:35:21Z

Since I've been in a Buffy/Spike mood and feel like recc'ing....

Acts of Contrition by clawofcat -- Set in the aftermath of Showtime. Spike realizes that all of his sacrifice has not been in vain. He’s given his pound of flesh for Buffy, but what gift can she give him in return? --- Oh, wow....lovely, gorgeous writing that I only wish I could do.

Latter Days by enigmatic_blue -- (Set post-Chosen) After the Slayers are activated, the balance between good and evil is disturbed, and the Scoobies are flung to the far corners of the world to respond to the crisis. In the midst of all of this, will they be able to keep their relationships strong? Or will they be divided by circumstances and torn apart by fate? --- I pretty much love everything by enigmaticblue and this WIP is no exception; 16 chapters thus far and still going.

more grr...

2008-04-30T16:37:20Z

I need a good whine.

Sometimes I really detest living in an apartment. Like last night when my upstairs neighbor decided to play music until sometime after 2:30am. I'd actually gone to bed 20 minutes earlier than usual and then was dragged out of sleep at 1am by his music. After I woke up enough to be coherent -- and gave up trying to ignore said music -- I put in earplugs. Unfortunately, he has a rather effective woofer which mean the bass kept right on coming through.

By then it was getting past 2:30 and I was getting tireder and crankier and my temper finally cracked and my patience left. I reached up behind me and hit the wall very hard several times. I usually try to stay out of my neighbors' lives, not wanting to cause waves. Even when dealing with obnoixous people playing music at way too late hours. Headphones were created for a reason, folks!!!

In any case, after I smacked the wall (and hurt my hand in my anger), the music abruptly shut off. Still took me another 15 minutes (probably) to resettle and fall back asleep again. Having to get up 5 hours later to get to work....was not fun. I expect to be tired and headachey and probably borderline cranky all day.

There are days I wish I would've taken some of the higher paying job offers that have floated my way. I could probably afford to move to a better, newer place with thicker walls. And my own washer/dryer or at least hook-ups. ~le sigh~

grr...

2008-04-29T06:32:31Z

I am just about ready to go find something to shoot the neighbor's dog with. It's been barking nonstop for at least the past half-hour, if not longer. And it's only about 15 feet away from my bedroom window. Considering that I'm just heading to bed, this doesn't bode well for an easy time falling asleep.

~mutter~

happy secretary's day to me

2008-04-23T21:19:54Z

Though the official term is "administrative professional" I still think of myself as a secretary. Besides, that's actually part of my real job title. And I never was one for pretentious titles anyhow...

In any case, lunch at Claimjumpers with the other secretaries in my office courtesy of one of the two bosses (the other was speaking at a retreat though he would have rather been with us I've been told), plus cards, a plant, two B&N gift cards (whee!), a litle chocolate... Actually lots of chocolate considering we got the Chocolate Motherlode Cake at said restaurant -- six layers of chocolately fudge. One layer slice is the size of a regular piece of cake. Yummy.

avatar

2008-04-23T05:15:47Z

Well, about darn time!! Avatar Spirit has announced that the second half of season three (and sadly the last eps overall ~pout~) of Avatar: The Last Airbender are *FINALLY* going to air. Of course they don't start until July 14. ~whimper~ Which, strangely, is after the next dvd volume release which includes some of the new eps. Odd.

In any case.... trailer for the rest of season three. Most cool. Especially Zuko. Of course. Heh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKhbVBezdg

Me? Zuko fangirl? Nah....~grin~

~~~~~

Not sure what it says about me that I'm very much not in the age group this series is aimed for and I've been looking forward to it for months. Though perhaps it says more about the state of current tv and its huge lack of worthwhile-watchy-ness (no, not a word, whatever). Reality tv ~shudder~ is everywhere. Even SciFi Channel airs wrestling now. I mean, really....that's just...wrong. Bad enough I have to see ads for the ghost hunter dudes. ~rolls eyes~

farscape

2008-04-22T15:30:30Z

~~I need a Farscape icon for this...but the ever-lovely "HI!" Ten/Rose icon will do just as well. ~grin~~~

Edit: And now I have a Farscape icon...

Yesterday's Comics Continuum column reported that BOOM! Studios has picked up Farscape for a comic series. Whee! And that it will be a complement to the much-earlier announced (as in way before the writers' strike) and still-pending webisodes, which was one of the reasons I finally got DSL since I wanted to watch those.

The whole blurb is at BOOM! Studios blog, the entry for Sunday, April 20, 5:09am.

stargate

2008-04-21T22:18:08Z

The teaser trailer is up for Stargate: Continuum. Whee!
http://www.gateworld.net/video/newsandfeatures/1208754002.shtml

Short but cool. Now I'll just hope for at least one perhaps even two (*gasp*) Sam/Jack scenes. I'd be so tickled...

ah snark

2008-04-16T06:16:23Z

Since nothing has come out as of late that I want to buy (such as dvd sets) to watch and there's pretty much nothing much of interest on, I decided to dig back into my shelves and pull out Angel season one to rewatch. Season one, I thought, was pretty good. Angel got too... bizarre later on and kept sliding back and forth between good and not-so-good. Hard to watch. Plus the show was a bit lighter. And it had Doyle who I really liked as a character.

In any case, I watched "In the Dark" this evening in which Spike guest-starred, pre-chip. I had forgotten how deliciously snarky he was way back when -- *especially when it came to Angel. Heh. His voiceover in the teaser scene of Angel and the damsel-in-distress is one of my favorite scenes to watch. I loved that scene even before I really started to like Spike. One of the things I most appreciated about the writing of Spike and Angel, especially when the former joined the cast in season five, is that they didn't still really like each other, though they managed some sort of respect for each other's skills.

Anywho...just some much belated commentary...

work on Sunday

2008-04-13T21:27:14Z

For some reason several weeks ago, I agreed to work on Sunday by taking notes at a meeting. Originally it was scheduled to go 8-12. Then I was told 8-3 to read and discuss 6 papers on EG White and her writings and subject matter therein. It's 2:15 and the group is just now getting to paper #4 which is 30 pages long. *thumps forehead on desk* Granted, I'm getting paid for this and it'll be extra money that I can use to catch up on my credit card bill (still paying for a large auto repair bill in January which trickles down since I always have quite a few regular charges on my card).....but it's going to be a *loooooooooong* day.

I've never taken minutes for a group quite like this and between the subject matter (very religious) and the variety of accents from non-US folks and the hit-and-miss use of mics, it's making things interesting. Hopefully I'm catching enough of what the chair wants to be useful.

Paper 3 was especially interesting since I've never actually heard of the topic they were discussing, something about the "shut door" vision/message. I sorta figured out by context after several minutes, but not having the background of something does make it a bit harder to take effective notes. Obviously I haven't read enough EGW books.... Really I've only read the most well-known ones. I've never even looked at the ones where her visions are recounted.

At least there's a nice gap between papers and while they're all reading that, I'm working my way steadily through one of the latest Anne Perry paperbacks, At Some Disputed Barricade. I'm probably going to finish it with time to spare. Good thing I brought the next one - We Shall Not Sleep - as well. I actually put both of these aside once I agreed to do this. I wanted to have more...kosher reading than my typical scifi/fantasy books in case I got asked what I was reading. I didn't think bringing the latest Dresden novel (which actually I finished Friday) and saying I was reading a book about a wizard in Chicago fighting various fairie beasties would go over well with this crowd. Heh.

Now if only the folks at Campus Engineering were working and I could get them to turn off the A/C for this room. I is cold!

Edit: Finally...after paper #5 (about the 1919 Bible Conference, again something I'm ignorant on), it's time for paper #6 at 4:15. If I'm lucky, we'll be done by 5 or shortly thereafter. Whee.

Obviously I'm really not one for Adventist history. I know the basics and that's pretty much it. Of course, the same could be said for my knowledge in regards to history in general....

Oh, and, yes, I did finish ASDB as I expected. On to the next one...

no luck for me

2008-03-25T05:43:13Z

It's been a few of those...days. The weekend started off okay, but sorta slowly slid downhill....

I got paid Friday (good thing) which means bill paying (has to be done). That evening as I was doing said bills, I realized that I had three entry places left on my checkbook register...and I didn't have a new one. ~mutter~ I put everything in that register, not just checks and I couldn't find a way to order one from my bank's online site. So I wrote them since I knew I wouldn't get a chance to get down to the the nearest one until next Friday. The reply I finally got on Sunday said it would take 10 days for me to get it. ~sigh~ So now I have a stickee in my old one to keep track of what I spend.

Late Friday night, as I was talking to my bff (I can't *believe* I used that term...) on the phone, I realized I'd forgotten that Sunday was Easter which meant I couldn't do any shopping due to everything being closed. Which meant heading out after sundown on Saturday. I dislike driving at night, so I, erm, cheated a bit and left a wee bit early. I needed to do my book shopping! And a few other things that I didn't want to wait until the following Sunday to get.

Late Saturday night....well, I stupidly managed to cut the cord on one of my earphones. ~smacks head into desk several times~ And it being Easter the next day, that meant no going to get a new set until sometime during the week after work (which I did today). Fortunately i have another set I can use, but they're not as nice and they make my ears hurt.

Sunday...I decided to renew my Norton virus protection on my computer and get an 20o8 update to boot. Only now I've tried installing said update twice and both times it bounces back to the 2006 version and won't show that I have a new version with a new subscription deadline. I'll try one more time to download and install it before I go yelling at Norton. Tomorrow, though. I get tried of having to reboot my computer several times in a row.

So far work has been normal, but with my supervisor on vacation this week and both bosses here and one of the other assistants on jury duty tomorrow which means I will have to cover one of her committees on top of the three sets of minutes I already need to type up....

Why, yes, I *am* just about to go nutty. And it's only Monday. ~whimper~

stargate: ark of truth

2008-03-12T19:44:29Z

As one would expect, I zipped by Best Buy yesterday after work and picked up the Stargate SG1: The Ark of Truth movie and watched it when I got home. Overall, I was happy with the wrap-up of the Ori plotline and the movie itself. It was good to see all the familiar faces again all together in a team.

Oddities...
* The question of who wrote the program to create the Replicators on the Oydssey was never answered.
* The question of what exactly Morgane Le Fay was doing to "distract" the Ori and Adria was never answered.
* I have an odd suspicion that the two above questions could be the answer to each other. Perhaps MLF created the program in some human guise? And the gave it to IOA/Merrick to get to the Odyssey to use said Replicators to distract the Ori/Adria whilst one-half of SG1 was working to open the Ark?

Yes, I watch too much tv and think too much. ~grin~

Hey, we finally got to see what a human/Replicator mish-mash would look like. Very unpleasant. Though the skeleton thing after Host!Marrick got blowed up was kinda cool -- reminded me somewhat of Terminator for some reason. Some friends and I kept expecting to see "Apophis-Bug" after his ship got taken over some seasons back. Alas, never happened.

Poor Cam -- he must've taken a bit to get better. Oddly, I'm used to see Ben all bloody and such after four years of Farscape.... Heh.

The only thing that was a bit too easy was at the very end, after they opened the Ark and then MLF came in to duke it out with Adria. I had the "and they all got hit by a bus" feeling when the two energies crashed, spun a bit, and then vanished. And that was it. Um...okay.

I did chuckle a bit at Landry's comment to Daniel at the end about the Ark being studied by those at Area 51 (which is a *really* scary thought if they figure out how to use it to convince people of their "truth"!) that he "had done all he could do." I was expecting Daniel to make a comment about how he'd heard that before from MLF (in the Ori jail cell).

The ending with the team going through the gate was lovely. I was very glad they just didn't end it at the defeat of the Ori and that was some time given to more personal wrap-up/interaction.

I'm rather looking forward to Continuum, due out this summer, mostly because RDA will be in it -- I miss Jack. I'm really hoping for just a smidgeon or three of Sam/Jack moments or some acknowledgement of their relationship. Especially after the cut dialogue between Sam and Jennifer in SGA's "Trio." (lj link) Why oh why did that have to be cut....???

bad windstorm

2008-03-04T05:28:28Z

Over the weekend, we had *HUGE* winds blow through where I live. At one point, when I was out on Sunday, the wind tried blowing me to walk just a bit faster across a parking lot. Lovely. When I got home a bit later to eat a late lunch while flipping tv channels, I discovered my cable was out. Um....okay. No big. There's not much on that I'm watching right now, mostly due to the recently ended writers' strike and the fact that I think all reality shows are ... um ... to be polite, not worth watching. And I don't watch many of the "popular" series that are still on.

Today, after work, I discovered my cable is *still* out. Okay, now it's getting a tad annoying. One show I am watching is Jericho which airs tomorrow, Tuesday. Friday evening is the Stargate: Atlantis fourth season finale, which I really cannot miss. Plus the fifth season finale of The Batman (yeah, yeah, cartoon, I know, still...it's Batman!) airs on Saturday morning. I've submitted a request for Time Warner to come check the outside cables, so hopefully they will soon. In preparation for the cable *not* being fixed, I've emailed a favor request to a friend to ask her to record things for me. Just in case. ~crosses fingers~

empire by orson scott card

2008-03-01T05:26:07Z

I just finished reading Empire by Orson Scott Card, a novel about a possible future for America. Most a thriller type of novel, though a bit scifi as well. It was....different. Very well written (as I expected). Very fast-paced, though the characters could have used a *bit* more depth here and there. It actually felt a lot like a movie novelization. Which makes sense because in the afterward, the author notes that it's based on a notes for a video game.

It takes a lot to surprise me in either books or movies or tv most days since I typically figure out the "big reveals" way before they're shown/told. I surmise that it's too much reading (as if there could be such a thing!) and too much tendency to expect such things after years of television series writing from Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly/Serenity), JMS (Babylon 5), and probably the Farscape writers as well. (Not so much the Stargate writers, alas, since they pretty much never surprise me. Or if they try, SciFi promos ruin it. Such as the promo for SGA: "The Kindred", part 1. ~rolls eyes~) Of course at the same time, being used to that caliber of writing makes me compare everything I watch to be at that level. Sadly, most times I'm greatly disappointed.

In any case..."big reveals" and being surprised....

The author did manage to surprise me with how one character's arc ended -- I certainly didn't expect the original hero (Rube) to be killed by his assistant. Though after it happened and looking back at the structure of the story, I should have expected it to happen though not by whom.

I did, however, suspect who the mastermind was (the history professor/teacher guy) behind the whole thing way before the characters (namely, Cessy) started suspecting. Of course, nothing was ever proven one way or another in the end. It just sorta....stopped after the guy got elected. Which I'm guessing was the author's plan all along.

It could be because I'm not into politics nor do I understand them, but I really can't see the plot of this novel happening in America like the author can. Perhaps I'm just naive. Or hopeful.

justice league: new frontier

2008-02-27T06:19:20Z

Right after work, I zipped over to Best Buy and picked up the newest straight-to-dvd DCU animated movie, Justice League: The New Frontier. Now while I haven't actually read the graphic novel, I've heard lots of good things about the storyline. Plus, you know, superheroes...animation...several actors I like doing voices...cool stuff.

I liked it a lot more than Superman: Doomdsay. Though that *could* be because I'd read the novelization of The Death and Life of Superman comic arc (at least twice) and so knew that there was a *lot* missing from the story. And while having the story circle around Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and Martian Manhunter wasn't hugely thrilling to me, there was enough of the characters I like the most (the Big Three - Supes, Bats, and WW) to make me happy. It was amusing to see WW bigger than Supes -- Darwyn Cooke even commented on it in the special features. The voiceover from Kennedy's speech at the end was very moving (I get moved by things of patriotic nature but not typically sad things...go figure.)

Still not a huge fan of the particular art style that was used for this tale -- which is admittedly part of the reason I've never picked up The New Frontier trade paperbacks. But...I may have to see about changing that. I know there's gotta be a whole lot more story to this even if the 75 minutes was pretty full as it was (though a bit of a slow start).

All-in-all, a satisfying movie. Color me pleased.

I just hope that their next one, Batman: Gotham Knight (due in July), done by several anime folks is as good. Oh, and the WW coming up...eventually. Though Keri Russell doing WW just seems...odd. I do like Nathan Fillion as Steve Trever, though. ~grin~

knight rider

2008-02-19T18:42:15Z

Being the child of the 80s I am, I watched the new Knight Rider movie on Sunday evening. And was pleasantly surprised. For once, a revival of a campy show seems to have gotten it right. Just enough of the nostaglic things mixed up with all the updated tech. I missed the TransAm at first, but quickly grew to like the new Mustang. The actors were good. The plotline was fairly decent. Good connection with the old series. There were minor things that were different but probably in a good way -- earpiece instead of watch comlink, jet instead of semi (a jet makes it actually kinda nifty since I'm guessing this means Mike and KITT can go anywhere now).

I loved that they kept the highly identifiable theme which I cheered at when it started. ~grin~ Updated, yes, but those first few bars were just lovely. I wonder if that'll be released as a single anywhere. And if it gets picked up as a series, if there's going to be a voiceover.

My only real quibble was the voice of the new KITT. Val read it kinda flat. I really missed William Daniels and his lovely KITT personality. Also, no matter where Val was talking, it sounded like his voice was everywhere, rather than coming from a device or the car. *However*, considering that the movie had all of a week to recast and revoice the role because of the previous actor's conflicts, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt. I bet Val had one, perhaps two, read-throughs and that was it. If the series gets picked up, perhaps this issues will be addressed.

And, of course, the guest appearance of "The Hoff." I liked seeing Michael, though I was looking for a shadow of the TransAm somewhere. I noted no one ever said what happened to the the original KITT. If I remember correctly, he was still around after the last tv movie (whenever that was). It would be kinda cool if DH and his KITT could make a larger appearance in a series; only if William Daniels would agree to do the voice, though. Anyone else would just be wrong.

After watching this, I got further nostalgic and had to go reread my favorite Knight Rider fic again. So I thought I'd rec it here in case anyone is interested and hasn't seen it.
Soul Survivor by elfin (found at this site) -- I loved this when I first read it and still love it now.

unhappy

2008-02-14T20:11:11Z

As a general rule, I don't get sick. The occasional sore throat which goes away very fast, but that's about it.

However, I seem to have contracted the latest flu bug this year. I haven't had an actual flu bug in probably 6 years. I'd forgotten how miserable it makes me. The coughing, the muscle aches, the headache, the general "I really don't want to be at work today" feeling... Alas, I have to be at work today due to deadlines on two large projects, both due tomorrow. Thankfully tomorrow is Friday, so that'll give me the long weekend to recoup. Before I go to jury duty on Tuesday. ~sigh~

airwolf and zorro

2008-01-29T06:01:15Z

Odd combination of subject, I know...

I just purchased the newly released remastered Airwolf soundtrack by Mark Cairns and Sylvester Levay last night from iTunes. I have been waiting to get this since I first found the soundtrack site many moons ago. I do so love this music, especially that wonderful and very memorable theme. If I actually used my cellphone, I'd probably have it as a ringtone....

And Zorro... Well, I've been rewatching (again) my set of Family Channel Zorro episodes. I got to the last ones this evening, "The Conspiracy of Blood," and was surprised to see a familiar name in the credits that I hadn't noticed last time I watched this. Probably because I didn't really know the actor then. Daniel Craig -- aka the current Bond. I probably would've recognized him, if I'd paid attention carefully enough, but he was mostly a background guest character and didn't have too many lines. Regardless, it was a bit funny.

trek and terminator

2008-01-16T05:17:42Z

Star Trek: The Tour -- something I found out about in my periodic newsletter from Creation. The first stop is in Long Beach, somewhere I could drive to. If I really really wanted to. I'm very tempted to go on Monday, a holiday, but driving back home afterwards with all the insane people on the highway just doesn't appeal. I may have to ponder longer....

Also, I've watched the two-part premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Hmm....not sure. I like Summer Glau, but I don't know if I like her enough to want to keep watching. It's okay. Not hugely great. A little violent for my tastes. And thus far, not a huge amount of depth. I might give it another episode or two. With most series running out of eps due to the strike, it's not like there's much else on.

Fortunately, SGA is already filmed for the year since it's an off-season series. I'm not sure when the fourth season of Doctor Who will make an appearance but I know it won't be until after SGA is finished for the season. Jericho will start up its limited second season (8 eps) in February and I assume it's all written and filmed or it wouldn't be on. Avatar...don't know when it'll show up again, though I'm waiting rather impatiently. Everything else I watch regularly is on strike-induced hiatus, I believe. ~sigh~ Not that I don't support the writers, I do. I just despair at all the horrid reality tv that's going to appear in the mean time. Reality tv is bad enough already -- I'm probably one of the very, very few people who doesn't watch *any* reality tv. It's all just... ~shudder~

doctor who

2007-12-31T07:15:01Z

Recently I started hearing bits and pieces about a special DW Children in Need segment guest-starring Peter Davison (ie, the Fifth Doctor, probably my favorite "classic" one). This evening, I was idly hunting for Ten/Rose pics to make a button (yes, another ship...after it's sorta over, of course) and visited the BBC site and found pics and wallpaper for the segment (Time Crash) which apparently has already aired in the UK. So I did a Google search and found it. ~grin~

Link

Ah...so much joy. And squee.

holidays

2007-12-27T22:06:35Z

This week I'm visiting the folks in northern California...which means cold cold cold. Though no rain for once, which is a nice change from how it can be typically during winter up here. And for once I don't think I'll have to ship anything back home since I got small things and gift cards. In some ways that's a good thing since having to ship things is annoying. And I do love gift cards. In other ways, it means less fun with gifts. ~shrug~ I may be past 30, but I still like surprises.

In any case, I got cat things, Doctor Who, and SGA stuff for the most part, as well as assorted gift cards. And this evening, I believe we're going book shopping. I never turn down book shopping, especially when I know there's a new hardback (Pern) that I want. Now I just have to decide if I want to get it while I'm up here and then have to lug it back south. I'm also *still* looking for that SGA novel that was released a month ago and still hasn't shown up in stores. If I don't find it tonight, guess I'll order it (and another previously released dvd that I want) sometime after I get back to home base.

I haven't been up here in a year, so it was good to see lots of people (including family) that I've known for years. And my parents just recently finished doing an almost entire remodel on the house. And it's *very* nice. I think I almost have it remapped in my head since it pretty much looks nothing like it used to inside.

Sadly, I still won't get to the storage areas again this year. I have a collection of 12 small unicorns that I got during my teenage years still buried in a box somewhere in my folks' collected stuff. Every time I come up here, we try to get to the storage areas to look for it but never quite manage it. ~sigh~

hellboy 2

2007-12-21T07:57:48Z

Another movie trailer for next summer.... Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Looks good thus far. Besides, it's Ron Perlman, one of my fave actors.

http://blog.newsarama.com/2007/12/20/hellboy-ii-the-golden-army-trailer/

noisy neighbors

2007-12-20T06:03:11Z

Anyone know how to soundproof your ceiling? My previous set of upstairs neighbors were a young couple...with a somewhat...squeaky bed. So I had more, er, education that I really wanted. They moved and a single guy moved in and for awhile, it was nice. I occasionally heard walking, but that was about it. However, sometime in the last few months, I believe he's installed an entire entertainment system in his bedroom. With a big woofer. Which he uses with either music or tv and typically late at night, even after midnight when I'm trying to sleep.

~mutter~

Apparently, I'm the only one in this fourplex to comprehend the meaning of respecting your neighbors and not advertising your music and/or tv habits to the world. I like to listen to my music, but I keep it low. There's no reason it needs to be loud enough to be heard two rooms away if I'm sitting right in front of the speakers. Geez.....

dark knight

2007-12-17T06:10:14Z

Ooh, most cool. The first trailer for The Dark Knight. It looks *very* good as I expected, though quite a bit darker. Which is probably to be expected with Joker who is creepy enough in the trailer (Heath Ledger is going to surprise me, I see!)... I can't imagine what an entire movie with him is going to be like. ~shudder~ In any case....

Link to trailer:
http://www.atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm