This appears with many thanks to dossier. My quiz response, which I'm quite happy with, is partly thanks to declineandfall, without whom I'd never have attended a hockey game, nor understood just how sexy hockey players can be. :-)

( Who is your Stargate SG-1 fantasy man? )

Wow. Not perfect, but still, a definite wow for doing terrific extrapolation of current technology and making this not just a lawyer show but good science fiction too. Okay, lots of Ioan didn't hurt, and he seems to be settling into the character nicely.

Much better than the first episode that aired, and I was busy playing with LJ formatting and forgot about the second one. I will now state that while ratings for the first night totally sucked, I kind of hope this show keeps going, if they continue to do real s.f. plot lines.

This is the first quiz I've gakked from kristine_smith. I might even go so far as to say it's pretty accurate. I like it.

( Which Art Movement Are You? )

This is courtesy of declineandfall. I suspect part of my feelings are the casting. How could I not like Alan Rickman as Snape?

( What kind of Snapeist are you? )

I watched the premiere of "Wonderfalls" tonight, and it coalesced an idea I've had about the series dealing with being given assignments.

It probably wasn't the first, but "Early Edition" comes to mind as one of the earlier ones. And now we have "Tru Calling," "Joan of Arcadia," and "Wonderfalls." In each case, an outside entity(s) takes control of a person's life either through offering the opportunity to change things or from threats if the instructions aren't followed.

To me it's damn annoying because it's reflective of what I perceive as our current abandonment of the idea of personal responsibility. Your life sucks? Well, something/someone will come along and give you a purpose. You have no control over your own life; you have to obey orders from outside yourself. The essential implication is that there is some outside power that can at its whim interfere with your life. Shades of the Old Testament deity.

Yes, it's likely comforting to believe it's not our own fault, and there are those who will always find someone else to blame for every little thing, but whatever happened to taking responsibility for one's own life and actions? Seems like along with everything else in the overarching societal culture, we're heading even further down the Roman decadence path -- it's the gods' fault! I'm only a little guy! Not my fault!

Balderdash.

First, a moment of silence, please, for one of the two men who inspired me to take the surname I did when I changed my name back in July 1990. The first inspiration is obviously T.E. Lawrence. The other is Jerome Lawrence: writer and director. Over the course of his career, starting with helping found the Armed Forces Radio Service during WWII, he and his writing partner, Robert E. Lee, wrote 39 stage plays including Auntie Mame, Inherit the Wind, and one of my personal favorites, having co-starred in a stage production, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. He died in Malibu recently, at age 88.

Second. I couldn't help myself. I snickered my way through the teaser on tonight's "Without a Trace" episode. It was Martin's firearm and hearing protection choices, or to be more precise, wardrobe's choices. A firearms instructor I spoke with recently described the Glock as so simple even a cop can use it, and later described those ear plugs with the strings as "blonde ear protection." They have the strings so blondes can remove them after pushing them in too far. I know it's tacky of me, but I snickered anyway.

Having changed my own name, I found Danny Taylor's backstory fascinating. They're doing well by that character, imho. And I'm looking forward to the three-episode arc with Martin Landau as Jack's dad. I'm guessing it'll be May Sweeps. And for those of us who like the LaPaglia, he ought to be part of the "Frasier" finale, since allegedly all three of Daphne's brothers are going to show up, and he was one of them. (One night I was channel surfing during commercials and bounced back and forth between him as Daphne's drunken brother, and as Jack. Damn, he's a good actor.)

This was thanks to either windrose or declineandfall. I have no memory.


You are a complete literary geek, from knowing the classics (even the not-so-well-known classics and tidbits about them) to knowing devices used in writing, when someone has a question about literature, they can bring it to you and rest assured; you know the answers.

How much of a literary geek are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

With many, vociferous thanks to suricattus, the news is now official -- we'll see more of Serenity!

Check out: http://comingsoon.net/news.php?id=3750 for the full story.

Script got turned in 3pm my time (30 minutes ago, since LJ seems to be playing with time stamps). It's pretty solid, amusing in parts, kickass in other parts, and totally not brilliant.

This isn't undue modesty, either. I've been doing this for nearly twenty years now, and I have enough talent to recognize brilliance -- writers like some on "Batman Beyond" and "Animaniacs." Me, I'm merely good. This isn't a bad thing -- good is certainly better than bad. But compared to what I wish I could do, it's mediocre. All Hail Salieri!

Anyway, now I have to focus on my prep work for the 4-day FRP game that starts at *groan* 9am Saturday. Have I mentioned I hate mornings and multiple days of it leave me sick and exhausted?

Doesn't help that today we're getting some much-needed rain. I'm grateful for it, but it definitely affects my mood.

( Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You? )
( Pirate Monkey's Harry Potter Personality Quiz )
( Friday Five )

The only way I've ever been able to deal with feeling overwhelmed is to organize things to a faretheewell.

Things are now organized. I have nicely labeled three-ring binders for the animation series, for the 4-day FRP game, for an encyclopedia project I'm contributing to, and now have room to place the 3" thick file on the Labor book on my desk, so I can go through it with room to find things. The "Rough Winds" binder is put away, and I just need one more binder for the stuntman script project, and I'm done.

Okay, still need to clean out some files and create new one in my Multimedia file cabinet drawer (web pages, ISPs, etc.), but that can wait. It's a very small, organized stack of papers.

So Wordies, then delving into the copyedits, then the script, then the FRP game, in that order. At least now I know I can find everything easily. :-)

Now I get a little more sleep, with the alarm set for 10:00 a.m. *whimper*

This first came to my attention thanks to suricattus. I'm afraid it just might be accurate.



Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

I've gone from nothing to swamped in one day.

Copyedits were supposed to arrive Saturday and due back in NYC probably Tuesday. They didn't arrive.

I've been waiting for over a week for notes on the outline, so I can go to script. They just arrived and the script is needed immediately.

Have Wordies Tuesday, which sucks up most of the day, less than two weeks to prepare for a 4-day marathon FRP game (I'm only half-ready), and a couple of other things on the calendar between now and then.

I kind of miss having days of leisure. But given Saturday was spent sleeping all day (other than checking for package and getting mail) and I'm now doing major painkillers for cramps, just as well I didn't get copyedits Saturday. Must start script later today, after yet more sleep.

It's warm! Not just a hint of warmth, but WARM!! Temps in the high-70s to mid-80s, depending on where in town you are. And tomorrow's supposed to be much the same!!!! My muscles have stopped clenching against the cold and I can't help but feel wonderful.

Odd, considering it turns out a large part of my setting for the trunk novel has gone up in flames, literally. ( details )

For those interested in period/historical undergarments, may I direct you to www.periodcorsets.com? I foresee novel research in my future, and better posture. :-)

I have indulged myself beautifully for the past day and a half. Late Friday afternoon I hit the used bookstore as the library was already closed and indulged myself in romance novels, one collection and a three-book series by Mary Jo Putney, her Silk series. Just finished the last book. No logging on, no thinking of work, nothing but historical romance. :-) Now that is an excellent St. Valentine's Day.

So now it's back to real life.

( Real Life )

Of course what I really want is more romance novels and more chocolate. But ah well, the holiday is over. :-)

As I read the following, it sounds like we might get the original, since it says restored, not enhanced. If so, I'm SO adding it to my collection.

On September 21 Lucasfilm Ltd. and Fox Home Entertainment will release the Star Wars trilogy on DVD in the US and Canada. The four disc set includes, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, as well as special bonus features including a feature-length documentary about the Star Wars saga and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films. The sound and picture on each of the three Star Wars Trilogy films has been digitally restored and re-mastered by THX.

Well, received notes on the revised outline. ( Writing details on this and another project. )

On other fronts, house guests (lovely, low-maintenance house guests who don't mind not seeing me much and don't expect concierge services) departed this morning. Then I learned my personal equivalent of "marking my territory." I cleaned. The first post-guest laundry load of linens went into the washing machine, the floor was vacuumed, furniture restored to normal positions, and the place was incontrovertibly mine, all mine, within two hours of their departure. Then I went back to bed since I'd only had three hours sleep. :-)

My writers group meets Tuesday, then Duel Monsters duelling Tuesday evening (perhaps, if we both make it this time), and sometime this week going to see "Miracle" with declineandfall, and another trip to Charleston, A.T.

At least the novel is moving forward and I'm mostly pleased. May not sing as I wish, but at least it's pretty much on-key. I go for the small victories when the large ones escape me.

Love having a fellow writer next door. Thursday night I was awake but not awake enough to write so went over to windrose's and we talked writing for two hours. Then I came home and did the outline rewrite and sent it back to the story editor at 7:30 a.m.

( Tombstone-Charleston jaunt )

P.S. That's Charleston, Arizona Territory

My two houseguests are asleep in the living room as I sit here in my office, door closed, working. Missed the afternoon business call because I just couldn't wake up, but was up and showered in time for the visitors to call from north of the city, on their way here. Lovely evening of chatting, CBS, and pizza. Then it was time for me to get to work.

Already have notes on the outline, and while I'd love to get them done tonight, it's just not going to happen. Too tired. *sigh* So I'll take them to bed with me and figure out how to fix the teaser (nothing wrong with it, just that other writers have already used dream sequences to open with), and the few other tweaks. Overall he liked it and thought it was good. YAY!