So do you feel as privileged as I to be alive? I guess my feeling of gratefulness is at least explainable, seeing as, for all intents and purposes, I should maybe be dead. Yikes! I did something incredibly stupid yesterday, and immediately afterwards almost burst into tears that I didn't die. Okay, so there were no tears, but I was shocked-and no not physically. Okay-enough with the tease.
A little backstory is necessary, I presume. In one of the edit bays at work there is a leaking AC unit. Everyday, this thing leaks all over the ground. It has become such a nuisance for us that, many times a week, the water on the floor goes unnoticed. We joke that one day, someone is going to get shocked. WELLLLL...to empty out the back of the unit helps decrease the flooding, and since we empty it out like everyday, there is a plastic trashcan with around a foot of water in it sitting beside a bookshelf in the office.
Okay, so here goes: I sit in the chair and start to scoot it up to the desk. There's a little resistance, but I think, in my not thinking rationally, that maybe the wheel is caught on something. So in a split-second, I pull up a little harder and then I hear a splash. I turn around, and much to my horror, a dvd player, that is plugged in, has plummeted into the trashcan of water. The power cord is wrapped around the foot of my chair. In such horror that I have ruined a piece of equipment at work, I immediately, and this is hard to admit, because, I'm not a dumb person, but I immediately reach my hand into the trashcan, and pull the device out, setting it on the ground. I reach into the bucket of water, that holds an ELECTRICAL item, that.is.plugged.in.
Okay, so I'm not sure where my mind was at that moment, but it certainly wasn't thinking of the dangers of doing such a stupid thing. I set it down on the ground, and horror sets in. I touch my arm and pay attention to my body, and check for signs of near-death. I put my head on the desk and take deep breaths only to realize, I didn't die. Which is always a good realization to have. But I certainly could have, and maybe should have, and got so freaked that I couldn't really function for quite a while. My co-workers made me feel a bit better saying that if it had been on, or whatever needed to happen for the water to ignite the electrical portion of the dvd player, would have happened immediately and I would have known before I had a chance to reach in the bucket. A little solace, but with the cord wrapped around my chair, I wonder still my fate.
Anyway, I didn't die. Which is a good thing. I learned a pretty big lesson, and the dvd player, albiet this is the least of the worries, wasn't expensive and is not going to be missed. But man, it's good to be alive. Lesson time: Don't do that people. Think rationally! Don't stick you hand in water that hold an electrical item! Ever! Not a good plan! Not a smart idea!
Okay, well I'm sure as hell glad that turned out okay. Whew. Not much left to say now except, well, that was stupid.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Aliens in America
Okay, first off, I loved it! Seriously! It was funny and endearing and I love the two boys, Dan Byrd and Adhir Kalyan. They are just fantastic.
I recognized the father from a "Sex in The City" episode from back in the day. And when Scott Patterson says the character is a blank slate, he's right. Not that Patrick Breen wasn't good, it's just not a huge part and doesn't have many characteristics that add too much to the show. (And he reminded me a lot of David Sutcliff, which is kinda humorous considering...) I have no idea how SP is going to play the father, but I can't wait to find out. Most importantly, I think he will be able to do it. And do it well.
Anyway, the music was awesome and the mother is awesome. I can't say enough good things. Cherry on top? The principal reminds me a tad bit of Principal Blackman from "Strangers With Candy". The first scene in which you see him, there's a subtle hilarious thing he does that immediately gave me a good feeling about this show.
For as many wonderful things I can say about it, my informed friend believes it's not going to make it. Which is unfortunate on many levels. I hope she's wrong. But for my part, I'll spread the word to tune in October 1st, with the assurance that audiences won't be disappointed. I'm a little sad that it's on The CW, considering the low ratings it will probably get as a result, but hopefully, it will still be able to do well, even if only by CW standards.
Yay for AIA being good! I can totally see why SP was drawn to this project!
(It's hard to review something that you love! There's nothing to gripe about!)
I recognized the father from a "Sex in The City" episode from back in the day. And when Scott Patterson says the character is a blank slate, he's right. Not that Patrick Breen wasn't good, it's just not a huge part and doesn't have many characteristics that add too much to the show. (And he reminded me a lot of David Sutcliff, which is kinda humorous considering...) I have no idea how SP is going to play the father, but I can't wait to find out. Most importantly, I think he will be able to do it. And do it well.
Anyway, the music was awesome and the mother is awesome. I can't say enough good things. Cherry on top? The principal reminds me a tad bit of Principal Blackman from "Strangers With Candy". The first scene in which you see him, there's a subtle hilarious thing he does that immediately gave me a good feeling about this show.
For as many wonderful things I can say about it, my informed friend believes it's not going to make it. Which is unfortunate on many levels. I hope she's wrong. But for my part, I'll spread the word to tune in October 1st, with the assurance that audiences won't be disappointed. I'm a little sad that it's on The CW, considering the low ratings it will probably get as a result, but hopefully, it will still be able to do well, even if only by CW standards.
Yay for AIA being good! I can totally see why SP was drawn to this project!
(It's hard to review something that you love! There's nothing to gripe about!)
I Smell A Blog Entry
Sometimes things happen in life in which you are powerless to do anything except write a blog entry. Such an event happened to me yesterday. I was riding with my friend around town and spotted possibly the most intriguing billboard I have ever seen. It read: "Life is Short, Have an Affair" and then gave a website. My friend and I were stupified at the prospect that this billboard was actually ENCOURAGING people to have affairs. I immediately stated, "I smell a blog entry."
Because what kind of society do we live in that makes it okay for people to publically try and convince people to lie and cheat and damage your family for their own gain? And actually say, "Hey it's okay to do all this horrible stuff that, let's face it, never turns out well for any parties involved, because life is short, and hey, that means it's all okay."
Surely this was a misunderstanding. Me and my naive little heart decided that when they said "affair" they actually meant vacation. (I chose to ignore the intimate position of the two people on the sign.) But I looked up the website, because honestly, wouldn't you? If for no other reason than to just make sure that this is not as horrifying as it sounds. And look up I did. And it wasn't as bad as it sounds, right? Wrong! It's worse! If you thought "Life is short, Have an affair", is in poor taste, try these. "When monogamy becomes monotony." "People who are inclined to have affairs are usually more attractive." "It's stimulating, naughty, and fun at the same time!"
Yeah that's right my innocent little creatures. Our world sucks! This site is even more horrendous than the giant billboard. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that this site is trying to convince you to have an affair. Telling you it's going to be fun, the people are really attractive, and hey, what a great escape from normal day to day life.
So basically, yeah. It's a horrifying prospect that people actually use this service enough that they can afford a giant billboard in Hollywood. They even brag about how many people have signed up with them: clocking in at one million, three-hundred ninty-five thousand! (Wha--!?!) What a sad state of affairs. (Pun intended.)
On a more exciting note, another billboard I saw yesterday was promoting the show in which I make my LA editing debut! Woo! "Murder" premieres on Spike TV, next Tuesday night, July 31st, at 10pm! Yippee!
Because what kind of society do we live in that makes it okay for people to publically try and convince people to lie and cheat and damage your family for their own gain? And actually say, "Hey it's okay to do all this horrible stuff that, let's face it, never turns out well for any parties involved, because life is short, and hey, that means it's all okay."
Surely this was a misunderstanding. Me and my naive little heart decided that when they said "affair" they actually meant vacation. (I chose to ignore the intimate position of the two people on the sign.) But I looked up the website, because honestly, wouldn't you? If for no other reason than to just make sure that this is not as horrifying as it sounds. And look up I did. And it wasn't as bad as it sounds, right? Wrong! It's worse! If you thought "Life is short, Have an affair", is in poor taste, try these. "When monogamy becomes monotony." "People who are inclined to have affairs are usually more attractive." "It's stimulating, naughty, and fun at the same time!"
Yeah that's right my innocent little creatures. Our world sucks! This site is even more horrendous than the giant billboard. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that this site is trying to convince you to have an affair. Telling you it's going to be fun, the people are really attractive, and hey, what a great escape from normal day to day life.
So basically, yeah. It's a horrifying prospect that people actually use this service enough that they can afford a giant billboard in Hollywood. They even brag about how many people have signed up with them: clocking in at one million, three-hundred ninty-five thousand! (Wha--!?!) What a sad state of affairs. (Pun intended.)
On a more exciting note, another billboard I saw yesterday was promoting the show in which I make my LA editing debut! Woo! "Murder" premieres on Spike TV, next Tuesday night, July 31st, at 10pm! Yippee!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Useless Info About Drugs
Drugs. I would never have expected to be doing a blog about drugs, but today has just been one of those days. I went to the dentist today, (follow-up appt), and when I was speaking to the hygenist about how I was from NC, she told me she had a friend there. He is a neurosurgeon apparently. Then, out of nowhere, and quite unexpectedly, she leans in and is like, "I don't know how he does it after all the LSD we used to do!"
Bwah! I'm just going to skip over the part where this guy works on people's brains, (and that she was about to work on my mouth). But I laughed, and she laughed with me, but mine was more of those startled laughs where something catches you so off guard that you don't know what else to do. The fact that this woman felt so comfortable with me that she shared such an interesting tidbit about her past, was just so unexpected! You don't expect that from your hygentist, let me tell you!
Anyway, now here I am now watching this thing on cocaine on the History channel. The "Hooked" series. Pretty awesome, btw. It's discussing cocaine, and let me tell you, this stuff is interesting. Did you know that Freud was addicted to cocaine? And that the very dreams he had and became famous for interpreting, were cocaine induced? Also, it was used medicinally at first, in over-the-counter drugs given to adults and children alike. Causing all sorts of addictions and craziness in all sorts of people. (All ages!) Insanity! AND, if that wasn't enough cocaine trivia, then try this on for size. The south made it illegal before the federal government because they believed it made black people violent towards white people. That's right! Double-u tee f people.
Anyway, it's late and I'm all out of drug trivia at the moment. Have a good day people of the world and thanks for reading.
Bwah! I'm just going to skip over the part where this guy works on people's brains, (and that she was about to work on my mouth). But I laughed, and she laughed with me, but mine was more of those startled laughs where something catches you so off guard that you don't know what else to do. The fact that this woman felt so comfortable with me that she shared such an interesting tidbit about her past, was just so unexpected! You don't expect that from your hygentist, let me tell you!
Anyway, now here I am now watching this thing on cocaine on the History channel. The "Hooked" series. Pretty awesome, btw. It's discussing cocaine, and let me tell you, this stuff is interesting. Did you know that Freud was addicted to cocaine? And that the very dreams he had and became famous for interpreting, were cocaine induced? Also, it was used medicinally at first, in over-the-counter drugs given to adults and children alike. Causing all sorts of addictions and craziness in all sorts of people. (All ages!) Insanity! AND, if that wasn't enough cocaine trivia, then try this on for size. The south made it illegal before the federal government because they believed it made black people violent towards white people. That's right! Double-u tee f people.
Anyway, it's late and I'm all out of drug trivia at the moment. Have a good day people of the world and thanks for reading.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Woe!
So as a good friend of mine keeps saying--karma owes me big. I've had a kinda hectic couple of weeks. Between trying to scrounge up enough money to register my car in California before my 30-day grace period is up, and trying to play peacemaker in my home between the two dogs, who think they are both dominent, things have been a little stressful lately.
As far as the car thing goes, little did I know when I was buying my car in NC, that when I brought it into California less than a year after purchase, I would have to pay sales tax on it, which roughly estimated is 1000% percent. I've had thirty days to get the sixteen hundred dollars together, and all was going well until the tooth incident of 2007.
The two dogs in our house have been fighting pretty frequently. It's been stressing me out enough, but It all came to a head on this past Saturday night. Several things were unusual about this fight. I was outside and the two dogs were hanging in my roommates room. Usually when the fights occur, we are both present and it seems to be a fight over attention or food or something. But I hear the tell-tale yells from my roommate who is friutlessly trying to seperate the transformed beasts. I come in and rush to help. We hadn't done much research on the matter, so we were still grabbing their collars trying to seperate them. Wrong move, I now know. As I grabbed Hopper's collar and started pulling her towards me, the collar snapped flying back into my face, breaking off a large piece of my bottom tooth.
I was horrified, but kept my cool, (well as far as the tooth thing goes), until we had sucessfully broken up the fight. Immediately afterwards, I broke down, having enough of the fights and suffering the trumatic loss of a large piece of tooth. It was painful and had me just at a loss at how something like that could happen. I saved my tooth and after some good pep talks and sympathy pains from friends, we set out to Walgreens where I could get something for the pain, and/or, discomfort.
Once again, this financial burden increased two-fold. How in the world could I afford to get this fixed when I have a hefty bill to pay for my car, that coincidentially is due this week. I called some emergency dentist, not having a dentist in the area, who offered to call me in some painkillers and said he could see me first thing on Monday. I passed on the painkillers, and stuck to Tylenol, but counted down the hours until I could find some relief. The Tylenol worked pretty good, but the whiskey worked a little better. On Saturday night, with the dogs locked up for the night, I sat back and through a straw drank some whiskey that eased the pain quite nicely. I just wish that in my gum-numbing fun I would have realized just how painful it would be to brush my teeth. But no, not then. It felt fine and I brushed, carefully, but still with enough fervor to have me up at six am on Sunday crying for my mommy.
Monday came and I went to see the dentist. He was able to glue to portion I had broken off back on, but not without shooting me full of novicane first. (Little did I know, you aren't supposed to drink coffee on mornings before you visit the dentist in which you are going to be numbed. Now you know.) Five shots later, I was finally numb enough for them to start work. It went off without a hitch, and after expressing my financial concerns, they gave me a discount that although made thing easier to handle, still took enough out of my account to not have enough to pay my bill at the DMV.
Long story short, I got some help from the parents, which at this point in my life, is a little humbling, but much appreciated. And today, finally, on the day that marks the end of my grace-period, I can go and register my car.
So everything seemed to work out, as things usually do. Now I'm just trying to find a way to keep the peace with the dogs. I've been absolutely horrified about another fight, and have started to keep the dogs seperate almost every moment I am home. I have to get some sort of advice from some dog professionals about how to handle this correctly. If you have any advice, please share. I'm at a loss right now, so scared to even attempt any methods of defusing a situation, not even wanting to let them get close enough to each other to try.
But, other than that, things are just great! Heh! I perhaps had a quarter-life crisis last night, in the startling realization that all the women editors I know are single and without children, and that one of the assistants I work with is way older than I thought. Her solace was no help, "Time flies!", "I still feel like I'm twenty," "It was only yesterday---"
Whew. So lots going on right now. My computer battery is dying and I'm about to go to the DMV to take care of this pesky robbery thing that I feel I am a victim of. But I was just checking in and sharing my latest with you fine folks.
Aliens in America review to come!
As far as the car thing goes, little did I know when I was buying my car in NC, that when I brought it into California less than a year after purchase, I would have to pay sales tax on it, which roughly estimated is 1000% percent. I've had thirty days to get the sixteen hundred dollars together, and all was going well until the tooth incident of 2007.
The two dogs in our house have been fighting pretty frequently. It's been stressing me out enough, but It all came to a head on this past Saturday night. Several things were unusual about this fight. I was outside and the two dogs were hanging in my roommates room. Usually when the fights occur, we are both present and it seems to be a fight over attention or food or something. But I hear the tell-tale yells from my roommate who is friutlessly trying to seperate the transformed beasts. I come in and rush to help. We hadn't done much research on the matter, so we were still grabbing their collars trying to seperate them. Wrong move, I now know. As I grabbed Hopper's collar and started pulling her towards me, the collar snapped flying back into my face, breaking off a large piece of my bottom tooth.
I was horrified, but kept my cool, (well as far as the tooth thing goes), until we had sucessfully broken up the fight. Immediately afterwards, I broke down, having enough of the fights and suffering the trumatic loss of a large piece of tooth. It was painful and had me just at a loss at how something like that could happen. I saved my tooth and after some good pep talks and sympathy pains from friends, we set out to Walgreens where I could get something for the pain, and/or, discomfort.
Once again, this financial burden increased two-fold. How in the world could I afford to get this fixed when I have a hefty bill to pay for my car, that coincidentially is due this week. I called some emergency dentist, not having a dentist in the area, who offered to call me in some painkillers and said he could see me first thing on Monday. I passed on the painkillers, and stuck to Tylenol, but counted down the hours until I could find some relief. The Tylenol worked pretty good, but the whiskey worked a little better. On Saturday night, with the dogs locked up for the night, I sat back and through a straw drank some whiskey that eased the pain quite nicely. I just wish that in my gum-numbing fun I would have realized just how painful it would be to brush my teeth. But no, not then. It felt fine and I brushed, carefully, but still with enough fervor to have me up at six am on Sunday crying for my mommy.
Monday came and I went to see the dentist. He was able to glue to portion I had broken off back on, but not without shooting me full of novicane first. (Little did I know, you aren't supposed to drink coffee on mornings before you visit the dentist in which you are going to be numbed. Now you know.) Five shots later, I was finally numb enough for them to start work. It went off without a hitch, and after expressing my financial concerns, they gave me a discount that although made thing easier to handle, still took enough out of my account to not have enough to pay my bill at the DMV.
Long story short, I got some help from the parents, which at this point in my life, is a little humbling, but much appreciated. And today, finally, on the day that marks the end of my grace-period, I can go and register my car.
So everything seemed to work out, as things usually do. Now I'm just trying to find a way to keep the peace with the dogs. I've been absolutely horrified about another fight, and have started to keep the dogs seperate almost every moment I am home. I have to get some sort of advice from some dog professionals about how to handle this correctly. If you have any advice, please share. I'm at a loss right now, so scared to even attempt any methods of defusing a situation, not even wanting to let them get close enough to each other to try.
But, other than that, things are just great! Heh! I perhaps had a quarter-life crisis last night, in the startling realization that all the women editors I know are single and without children, and that one of the assistants I work with is way older than I thought. Her solace was no help, "Time flies!", "I still feel like I'm twenty," "It was only yesterday---"
Whew. So lots going on right now. My computer battery is dying and I'm about to go to the DMV to take care of this pesky robbery thing that I feel I am a victim of. But I was just checking in and sharing my latest with you fine folks.
Aliens in America review to come!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Jezebel James
My blog is finally back up from a brief hiatus caused by an idenity crisis. (My blog's, not mine.) The good news is I'm back with a review of The Return of Jezebel James, aka Amy Sherman Palladino's new show, ahem, sitcom.
I haven't watched a sitcom in so long that I couldn't help but be startled by the laugh tracks and applause at the end. This, of course, is not unusual, but caught me off guard immediately. Then there was Parker Posey. I'm a fan, I like her work, but immediately I felt like I didn't like her as this character. Maybe it's because of the obvious similarities to Lorelai, (from Gilmore girls), where PP just didn't deliver where I knew LG could have. Not fair to compare the two actresses, I know, but it was the natural place my mind went. Why? The chatty-chatty dialogue of course. ASP is back in action with the snappy convos and the quick retorts. Did I think it worked? Honestly? No. Just one humble person's opinion, but it just wasn't carried the same. It seemed like ASP was trying direct Posey exactly towards a classic Lorelai performance in nearly every scene. (Including those infamous sad faces!)
First half of the show, it was cringe after cringe of Gilmore moments, (my personal favorite: when NAI-April showed up). The jokes fell short and I wanted to scream at the audience everytime they 'laughed'--"Stop telling me that was supposed to be funny and that I'm supposed to be laughing!" (First step in improving the show: lose the laugh track!)
Okay, this review is not all bad! I swear! By the end, I was satisfied. Don't know if I'm going to be running home to catch new episodes but it's definitely Tivo worthy. (Rating the pilot on a sliding scale of course.)
My mind started changing for the better midway through, with the appearance of Lauren Ambrose-who is awesome in this show. She makes the cartwheel thing (from the promo) funny! If that's not amazing, I don't know what is!!! For some reason, all the jokes started working. I laughed out loud a few times, and could even start to appreciate some of the characters, who before I had simply found annoying and useless.
But there's a big problem here. And I hate to say it, because I hate negative reviews of things, especially people, but it's clearly a problem. I went in with a clear mind, forgetting about Gilmore and all things previously ASP, but almost immediately it was clear to me that Parker Posey's character was a reincarnated Lorelai. Which, by all accounts, would be great, if only it was pulled off. But it's not. Not even close.
Long story short, Gilmore fans are going to be disappointed I fear. Like I said, the show itself rounded out pretty nicely, but, and this is a major but, somehow, ASP and PP have to get over the Lorelai hump. Everytime I would start to see Sarah, (Parker Posey's character), in her own light, they'd throw something towards me that would remind me of Lorelai. I was fighting them at every turn! This character needs something that's not there now. Something is off with her. She's too theatrical and just, well, kind of annoying. LG made the quick and witty dialogue endearing. The way it is now, Posey makes it seem like how Gilmore girls would sound if someone described it to you without actually watching it. All those people who used the, "I hate the unrealistic banter" excuse for not liking Gilmore girls are going to depise JJ.
I haven't watched a sitcom in so long that I couldn't help but be startled by the laugh tracks and applause at the end. This, of course, is not unusual, but caught me off guard immediately. Then there was Parker Posey. I'm a fan, I like her work, but immediately I felt like I didn't like her as this character. Maybe it's because of the obvious similarities to Lorelai, (from Gilmore girls), where PP just didn't deliver where I knew LG could have. Not fair to compare the two actresses, I know, but it was the natural place my mind went. Why? The chatty-chatty dialogue of course. ASP is back in action with the snappy convos and the quick retorts. Did I think it worked? Honestly? No. Just one humble person's opinion, but it just wasn't carried the same. It seemed like ASP was trying direct Posey exactly towards a classic Lorelai performance in nearly every scene. (Including those infamous sad faces!)
First half of the show, it was cringe after cringe of Gilmore moments, (my personal favorite: when NAI-April showed up). The jokes fell short and I wanted to scream at the audience everytime they 'laughed'--"Stop telling me that was supposed to be funny and that I'm supposed to be laughing!" (First step in improving the show: lose the laugh track!)
Okay, this review is not all bad! I swear! By the end, I was satisfied. Don't know if I'm going to be running home to catch new episodes but it's definitely Tivo worthy. (Rating the pilot on a sliding scale of course.)
My mind started changing for the better midway through, with the appearance of Lauren Ambrose-who is awesome in this show. She makes the cartwheel thing (from the promo) funny! If that's not amazing, I don't know what is!!! For some reason, all the jokes started working. I laughed out loud a few times, and could even start to appreciate some of the characters, who before I had simply found annoying and useless.
But there's a big problem here. And I hate to say it, because I hate negative reviews of things, especially people, but it's clearly a problem. I went in with a clear mind, forgetting about Gilmore and all things previously ASP, but almost immediately it was clear to me that Parker Posey's character was a reincarnated Lorelai. Which, by all accounts, would be great, if only it was pulled off. But it's not. Not even close.
Long story short, Gilmore fans are going to be disappointed I fear. Like I said, the show itself rounded out pretty nicely, but, and this is a major but, somehow, ASP and PP have to get over the Lorelai hump. Everytime I would start to see Sarah, (Parker Posey's character), in her own light, they'd throw something towards me that would remind me of Lorelai. I was fighting them at every turn! This character needs something that's not there now. Something is off with her. She's too theatrical and just, well, kind of annoying. LG made the quick and witty dialogue endearing. The way it is now, Posey makes it seem like how Gilmore girls would sound if someone described it to you without actually watching it. All those people who used the, "I hate the unrealistic banter" excuse for not liking Gilmore girls are going to depise JJ.
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