More on the buzz about The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I checked my e-mail this morning and found more about the buzz on this movie. I hear that it doesn't have a release date here yet, but it's coming out in the fall in Italy. I wish they'd release it somewhere in the states. Even if it's in limited release. I really do want to see it.

The clip that I did see, the same one that's all over You Tube...it stayed with me. I actually dreamt about it stayed with me so deeply and I only saw the clip once. This also reminds me of a bizarre/eerie thing that happened to me last weekend. I was napping and I woke up and started channel surfing, completely at random. I ran up on one of the few Heath Ledger movies that I hadn't seen before I'm Not There. When, I found it, it was right on the "Robbie" part. I want to see the movie in its entiretly to fully appreciate it, but I have to say, finding it at that exact point, was...weird to say the least.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month...

Wednesday night PBS had two programs on about being Chinese in Hollywood. The first covered all Chinese and Chinese-American actors. The second focused on Chinese men. I think every minority goes through similar experiences in Hollywood, but it's still interesting to hear the different perspectives.

One thing that definitely jumped out at me, was the story that was told about the screening of the original ending for Romeo Must Die. They tested this with an urban audience, and supposedly, the urban audience didn't like seeing Jet Li and Aaliyah kiss. When I heard this, I felt anger, disappointment, and frustration. To me, all that buildup without the kiss, just doesn't make sense. I felt cheated by the ending and now I know exactly why. I would like to think that if minority groups banded together over the things we all have in common, more opportunities would open up for all, and we'd be a step closer to color blind casting (Yeah, I'm still hanging on to the tattered shreds of my idealism. Don't you just love it? Color blind casting. For the most part, I love the idea of it. Particularly, examples of it like . But on the other hand, the idea of it seems odd to me, like the instance where someone decided to put on Huck Finn with a Black Huck and a White Jim.)

Something else has me wondering too...I love to watch J-horror films ( I know I've mentioned this before.). Usually they have an all Asian cast, whether they are shot in Japan or Thailand.
Why don't they think Asians would pay to see an All Asian cast? Or that no one else would want to see an All Asian cast? The American version of Shutter takes on a whole different meaning/tone with the lead male character played by a White actor. But then, maybe that helps make the story all the more disturbing.

I overheard an interesting conversation when I was at my job's Annual Cultural Fair for Asian Pacific American month. An Asian woman was asking an Asian man, who I'm assuming was Chinese, what Chinese attitudes are about someone being part Chinese. The man answered that they are seen as completely Chinese. Now, when you look at the man and woman having this conversation, they look unmistakably Asian. I found out something about my ancestry last year, that I would like to verify before I go out on a limb, but it got me to thinking anyway, because when you look at me, I just look African-American. I don't look like Kimora Lee either. I just look African-American. I wanted so badly to ask, and what about me? I wouldn't be surprised to hear him tell me "No, it doesn't include a situation like yours.". I've run into this type of attitude when I was trying to track down a Chickahominy relative (She'd have been my maternal great-grandmother.). Most of the Native American nations that I know about have largely oral traditions of record-keeping, so I think I was fighting a losing battle anyway. I also found out she would have been shunned/ostracized/disowned for marrying a Black man. So, as I said, I basically hit a wall.

As far as what was/is driving me to do all this research...It was a variety of things. Alex Haley's books Roots and Queen. And I guess when I was in my late teens and in early adulthood, I just became very wrapped up in searching for identity...finding and learning everything I could about all the people who made me me. I wanted to research it...document it. I felt like I'd be more confident, if I just knew who I was. Don't think I'm neglecting the African part of my African-American heritage either. I'm very interested in finding out from where in West Africa I came from, what language is spoken there, etc. . But that would take considerably more time and money than I have right now (I want to go to graduate school, and get my Masters degree in Library Science, or whatever the new jargon is for it now. I'm also very interested in becoming a museum technician. I'm very into history, pop culture, and I was an English major in college. It all just makes so much sense to me now. I wish I'd been this clear-headed when I graduated high school. Everything in its own time I guess...).

It will be interesting to see whether having Barack Obama in The White House will change how people of different races relate to one another (And no, this is not something that I expect to happen overnight.), and whether or not it will be a lasting change or a cosmetic change. Although I never expected to live to see a Black president, for the most part, I still think that race is that elephant in the room that no one is quite comfortable talking about.

They wanna what?!!!?!!!!

I just checked out my Google newspage under my screename(I have two, one under my real name and one under my screenname. I may eventually delete the one under my real name once I bring all the features from that one over to the other.) and found out, that they might be making a Buffy movie, only Joss Whedon won't be involved. I don't understand how that could be...Didn't he create the character? His name is so closely associated with Buffy, I couldn't imagine anyone else doing it and doing it well. Plus, he has certain trademarks that are uniquely his (We wouldn't get the Mutant Enemy Grr Argh thing at the end of the movie, either. Corny as it sounds, I love that little thing. I smile almost every time I see it. Same thing with Bad Robot.)



To some degree, I can understand how some of the more serious fans of TOS felt about Star Trek. I was/am a huge BtVS and Angel fan. (I think I've said that in different posts here. I'm not sure.) I associated the actors with the characters they portrayed and they all did a fantastic job. I've even met some of them at a con (Moonlight Rising I think it was). With as much time that's passed, I can't imagine all of them would want to return to their roles, even if they could.



I read some of the comments at the EW.com website and there are a couple of ideas that helped make this idea a bit easier to accept. Thinking of the movie as a form of fanfiction for example. All fanfiction is not a part of cannon, right? Some of it, the authors themselves even identify as AU. [Speaking of AU, I wish they hadn't killed off Kendra (I think she and Xander would've worked.). but without Kendra being killed, we wouldn't have gotten Faith and I enjoyed her character too.] I believe the AU idea, is part of why the Star Trek reboot worked so well, and made it easier to accept for a lot of people. Those that didn't...Well, you can't please all of the people all of the time. And like fanfiction, if you don't want to read the fic, you don't have to.

Another idea that I saw that would make a new BtVS movie more acceptable, would be to have it be about one of the new slayers. Which would certainly work given the events of BtVS season 7 ( I didn't really love Seasons 6 and 7, but I was so emotionally invested in the characters, that I couldn't imagine not watching the series until it's end. ) I would also enjoy it (if the script is well-written and doing so makes sense) having someone from the TV series in the movie as their character, if it's not too ridiculous and far-fetched (Xander would work. I don't like Andrew. If I think about it some more, I could probably come up with some other characters that would work.)

Something else that hadn't even occurred to me, that was also pointed out in the comments on this at EW.com, was that they're only doing this to cash in on the vampire trend that the movie version of Twilight started. That idea sickens me, but it doesn't surprise me, especially when one considers the fact that the WB has a show called The Vampire Diaries lined up (That series is also based on a series of books, from what I understand. These I've never read. I love vampire novels, but only if they're well-written. If they're not, I don't waste my time. The same goes for vampire movies [for movies, it also helps a lot if they actors know what they're doing. You can have the best script in the world, but if the actors don't know what they're doing, or the casting is just wrong, it becomes a joke.]. )

I'm leaning towards boycott, unless I see or read something that makes me change my mind. I gave Star Trek the benefit of the doubt and I'm far from sorry (I love them both for different reasons.). So for right now (although I was very unhappy to hear the news) , I've got a wait and see attitude.

Land of the Lost marathon(s) on the Sci-Fi channel

I caught the first one of these they did, which was during the Memorial Day weekend. It's funny, this wasn't even my favorite Kroft show (I had lots of little favorites. HR Pufnstuf definitely stands out. About the only Kroft shows I didn't like were Far Out Space Nuts [Bob Denver was basically still playing Gilligan only in space. It was just as annoying in space.] and The Lost Saucer.) and I found myself sitting in front of the television really getting into these episodes. Now don't get me wrong, the special effects and some of the costumes were pretty awful. (I think I actually tweeted something like "Harryhausen this ain't." or something like that.) But the writing, was actually pretty good in the first season. I noticed some names that I recognized, like Walter Koenig, Ben Bova, and I think there was another sci-fi writer's name I noticed, but I'm drawing a blank. At one point in an episode Rick Marshall cracked me up, because he was describing sleestaks to a parachutist that had somehow wound up in the Land of the Lost as well. (I'm guessing it was one of those pylons that caused it.) But anyway, Rick described it as a "giant insect". I'm like "Huh?" They look more like lizard people to me. Bizarre. To each his own.

The movie version coming out today, differs somewhat. Marshall, Will and Holly aren't related in this version. (It's kind of nice in a way, because I guess it gave the writers and the actors more room to play.) I may go see it and I may not. What I've heard hasn't been good so far. I would rather save my $10.00 if my gut feeling is right. I've still been thinking about going to see Up or Drag Me to Hell too. I'm not sure what I'll do...

Entertainment Weekly did a story on the Kroft brothers. I remember most of the shows the interview/article mentioned except for Lidsville, for some reason, I'm drawing a blank on that one.

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

This will probably be the first post of a few I do about this film.
I've seen some clips from the movie. EW.com had one up. I've also seen some really beautiful stills from it. Finally, seeing this film will be bittersweet (I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.) to say the least.

TV news that suprised me...

Dollhouse is getting another season. I couldn't be more thrilled. For the most part, I enjoy Joss Whedon's shows and comics. I'm a huge BtVS and Angel fan. Firefly was gone before I really got the chance to check it out and get into it (I'm also more into horror/fantasy. With a few exceptions here and there, I'm not quite as into Sci-fi.), so I'm glad this didn't happen with Dollhouse.

Fringe will also be back for another season. I am starting to get into that. I also think that Lance Reddick is pretty cool. I was very disappointed when they killed his character off on Lost. I think his was a character they could have done way more with. Especially with all the island enigmas that still have yet to be solved.

My Name is Earl has been dropped by NBC. That surprised me too. It can be silly sometimes, but I like it's overall message. It's hard for me to catch, because it comes on at the same time as Smallville ( Yeah, I still watch it. Are they going to drag that out for another season? How much longer will it take for Clark to become Superman? Don't get me wrong. Tom Welling still looks fantastic, but time doesn't stand still...at least not in reality.) , so I usually flick between the two, depending on which is more interesting.

Crazy Nightmare

A crazy nightmare woke me up in the wee hours of the morning. I dreamed that (this thing...It kind of looked like one of those face-hugger things from Alien) while I was exploring some dark place, it dropped down on me, and was trying to suck my brain out of my head. The dream scared me so bad, that I woke up screaming. I must not have been too loud, because I didn't get cussed out. As for what brought the dream on, before bed I was channel flicking between MonsterQuest, some UFO documentary, and Star Trek : Nemesis. Not to mention that I'm worried that my younger sister is keeping some potentially devastating secret from me. I'm not really good with dream analysis, so I can't really break it down beyond that. I know I didn't eat anything weird. I just had some pepperoni pizza a couple of hours before I went to bed. This is actually the first nightmare I've had in a long time.

My search for the Saturna Trilogy

I logged onto eBay yesterday and looked around. I only saw Saturn's Child. I have seen Saturna's Quest, but only on Amazon and on Ms. Nichols site. I'd prefer to order the book from her, especially if I can get it autographed. The only thing that makes me hesitate (again), is the fact that it's been so long since the site was last updated. In any event, I just hope she's well.

Advertisement on the ceiling inside a bus...

I got on the bus yesterday and happened to glance up at the ceiling (I don't mean along the sides of the ceiling either, it was on the ceiling, running down the center). There was an advertisement for I forget what. I probably don't remember, because I was so shocked that someone would paste an advertisement on the ceiling of a bus. Besides putting in eye drops, why would someone be lying down looking at the ceiling of a bus? That's more than a little bit disturbing.

I'd have taken a picture with the phone on my camera, but those pictures always turn out crummy unless you've got a really good model.

Original Star Trek cast member autobiographies...

Anything and everything will start me on a reading kick. A few weeks ago, the Sci-Fi channel had a Star Trek marathon of sorts. (I was kind of ticked off that there were no episodes of the original Star Trek throne in. This could possibly have been due to some type of legal red tape, but I digress.) This got me to wondering about the cast members of the orginal series. I'd seen Nichelle Nichols book, but had never really gotten around to reading it. Star Trek 2009 coming out was the perfect thing to light a fire under me. I found out stuff about her that I never knew. I never knew that she practiced dance under Katherine Dunham. I never knew that she was a singer and I also never knew how active she was in getting women and minorities to become a part of NASA. She's a wonderful storyteller, and I enjoyed the book so much I couldn't put it down. I've tracked down one of her sci-fi novels, but can't seem to find the other two parts of the trilogy. I'll probably have to go on eBay or Amazon to find them. Until now, I didn't even know she'd written a sci-fi novel. It made me wish that I hadn't waited so long to read her book. As you will find though, when it comes to certain things, I'm a horrible procrastinator, and I'll be the first to tell you. Ms. Nichols will also have the honor of being the first orignal Star Trek cast member whose fiction I've read. I googled and found her Official Website. I sent her an e-mail. I was thrilled not to get a failure notice back. Still, the fact that her website hasn't been updated in about 5 years made me sad. I know it can't be just me out there wanting to get in touch with her. I was so happy when I saw her on Heroes, that I wanted to jump up and down. Believe it or not, I also feel like you should let people know the impact they've made on you, while they're still here. I was lucky enough to be able to tell Eartha Kitt. I wanted to tell Ms. Nichols too.

I may read other Star Trek biographies. I'm hemming and hawwing about reading either William Shatner's or George Takei's. I may or I may not. I've put in orders at the library for Leonard Nimoy's, Grace Lee Whitney's, and Walter Koenig. I was surprised to find Majel Barrett-Roddenberry didn't write one. I thought for sure she did. I'm not really so much into the gossipy tell-all stuff, as I am the behind-the-scenes, this is how we got the idea for that kind of stories. If I could just hit a convention within the next year, [almost] everything would be golden.

Sci-Fi Fantasy Hodge Podge

I was just looking over some of the Comments threads about this season of Lost, particularly the season ender. I ought to be ashamed that this hadn't occurred to me before. Particularly when there was a time when I ate, slept, and breathed anything that had to do with Ancient Egypt.
I still refuse to believe that they (producers, set designers, etc.) would have overlooked the fact that crocodiles don't have ears. Or that they so hastily switched from Anubis to Sobek that the ears were again overlooked. I'm beginning to agree with the person who mentioned Set. The picture they have of Set on Wikipedia even has the ankh in its hand (Not that I think that everything on Wikipedia is gospel, but sometimes it comes through.). The question is which version of Set are we getting? This again raises the question of who is "good" or who is "evil". Is everything really so cut and dried?

Jacob's touches and the horcrux possibility that someone suggested didn't occur to me either (and it should've, because I did read the whole Harry Potter series). Sleep deprivation is not a joke, guess I'm finding that out the hard way.

How Bruce Lee changed the world

I caught this program on the History Channel last night. As dumb as it sounds, I expected a little more from it, so I was somewhat disappointed. I remember my younger sister telling me she had seen some film about Bruce Lee that said he was a good dancer. It gave us the biggest tickle for some reason, but if we'd have thought about it, and considered the fluidity of his movements, it would have made complete sense to us at the time. If they think his impact on us was this far reaching having not been chosen as Kwai Chang Caine, imagine how much of an impact he'd have had if he was. (To this day, it's hard for me to see David Carradine in anything without thinking about this.)

Also as dumb as this sounds, until I heard that story where this dude assumed Bruce Lee was actually a chauffer, just because he was dressed like one (on the set of The Green Hornet during his Kato days). I never realized white men also called Asian men (only in uniform?) "Boy" during that era in addition to Black men. If I feel angry and insulted at hearing it, I can only imagine how they must have felt and in some places still feel. (I'm not going to let Obama being in the White House lull me into a false sense of security. We've come far, but we've still got a ways to go as far as people treating each other like people. )

Subway has a breakfast menu!

I just came back from getting a BLT at Subway and they now have a breakfast menu! I don't know how long ago they started this, but I am definitely going to give it a test run. Subway is actually closer to my job than either McDonalds or Burger King. So, if I like the menu, this could turn out to save me some hassles as well.


Note: 5/18/2009 I found out over the weekend that only some locations of Subway offer the breakfast menu. The location near my job does serve breakfast, but I guess the quality of your breakfast, depends on either your server or the location. I ordered a cheesy bacon bagel and dude skimped on both the cheese and the bacon. To say I wasn't pleased is an understatement. I knew better than to act a fool in the restaurant though, because I wouldn't want anything suspect served to me, along with my food if you catch my drift. Needless to say, I'll see how another server handles it, or I won't go to this particular Subway to get breakfast.

I figured it out!

Now I know why that old drawing of Wolverine of mine won't upload properly. It's saved as a PDF, not a jpg or a gif. I know some of the more technologically skilled/advanced of you are probably going "Well, duh!" Be gentle with me. I'm encountering a lot of these problems for the first time and I was never really all that into computers before (when I was a teenager or in college). Now, you almost have to know a little bit about computers just to be able to function in society. They're everywhere.

Anyhoo, I will either work on converting the file of the drawing into a gif or jpg or just give up on it altogether and move on to something else. (Heaven knows when I'll be able to afford a digital camera, but I'm working on it. Hopefully, I won't disappoint.)

My medicines (Amytryptyline (sp?) and Tramadol) are making me feel horrible. I may as well be walking around accompanied by an orchestra doing an instrumental of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb".

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Why are there so many versions of this going into production now? It's not as if it's the anniversary of the story or anything (1886 is when it was first published. Incidentally, I loved Valerie Martin's Mary Reilly.). 50 cent and Forest Whitaker are associated with one production. Keanu Reeves is associated with the other. I'll tell you, the thought alone of 50 cent or Keanu Reeves doing this scares me way more than any state of the art special effects ever could.

Why is it...?

Why is it that stuff inevitably goes on sale, the week after you're paid? CVS had some patio/deck chairs on sale, unfortunately I can't buy them now. Another little snag I've hit, is that I don't drive or own a car. I don't care what time of day it is, I'll be damned if I want to walk down the street carrying two deck/patio chairs. Maybe I can work something out with my sister (who does drive.)

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I just signed up for the mailing list at the official website. I am determined to catch this. I've seen a few of Terry Gilliam's films before. My favorites are Time Bandits (although the ending made me a bit sad.) and The Brothers Grimm (it even looked as though they were setting up for a sequel by the ending. ).

Hot Toys Bank Robber Joker

I just got him/it in the mail on Wednesday. The UPS person had already made to attempts, and I was on my third and last attempt. Needless to say, I had them deliver him to my job, there was no way I was going to let them ship it back.

I opened the package yesterday. The box is designed so perfectly, it makes you hate to open it. The pictures don't do the action figure justice. So much detail. They even got the little smirk right on the alternate head. The only Joker action figure I love more is the one my friend made up for me OOAK. It has real hair and there's a little chain that connects to his pocket watch. She even went so as to paint his nails black. He's got the lines in his face that the makeup didn't cover.

A few weeks back, I saw pictures of the Hot Toys GCPD Joker (Guess this'll be Birthday and Christmas rolled into one). The eyes roll around on the alternate head for that one. When I get him, I'm probably going to act a complete fool.

If they do one in the nurse's outfit, I'm going to lose my mind.

Photo update

I have a friend who uses Blogger as well, I'm going to e-mail her and see if I can't get any suggestions as far as getting my photos, drawings, etc. to upload. I tried uploading both at home and at work and got nowhere. I'm determined to have this be the blog that I stick with.

The Season Finale of Lost (Here there be spoilers)

This has been an amazing season on Lost. I would definitely consider it one of the best. (My favorites are 2, 4, and 5 so far.)

I guessed who little Kate was right off. (The Patsy Cline music was a dead giveaway.)
They made good choices in picking the child actors.

I was absolutely ecstatic to see more of the statue. I tried to log on to The Fuselage, when I recognized which Ancient Egyptian (I'm really fascinated by that time and place in history.) deity it was, but my Comcrap connection was acting up(I guess they want me to switch to a competitor.). I never would have guessed that the statue had a crocodile's face. I can't figure out whether the ears on the statue are a goof or what though. From the back, the ears are what had me thinking that it was a giant statue of Anubis. If I can ever start and complete a Lost fanfic, I'm making the statue into one of Anubis (I like that idea better, especially with the way Hurley and Miles see and communicate with the dead.)

Jacob and ?. It kills me that these characters weren't introduced until the last episode of the season. Clearly Jacob doesn't age either. I want to know who/what he is. I want to know the same about the other guy as well (He's been dubbed Esau over at The Fuselage.). The question of free will and the idea that two players are moving their pieces on a gigantic chessboard makes me think of God and The Devil playing chess. (This idea has definitely popped up more than once in various media.)

We finally saw Rose, Bernard, and Vincent. That tickled me. I also loved how laid back Rose and Bernard were. I envy them that quality.

The only thing that bothered me is we never find out what happened to Claire. Hopefully, that's something they will resolve next season.

I would also like to see Walt back in the mix, because I'm fairly certain he has a part to play in the endgame. I definitely think Aaron may too. I would even go so far as to say that Ji Yeon might play a part as well.

Why didn't somebody just knock Radzinsky out, when he insisted on continuing to drill? A lot of misery could have been avoided. (Or am I just oversimplifying?)

I know it's terrible of me to say, but I'm glad Phil got his in the end.

I'm curious to know more about Ilana.

I don't remember seeing Sayid die, although his condition seemed to deteriorate pretty quickly after he got shot. Did he? I hate to see that character go, but he seemed to have lost his reason for living when he saw Nadia get killed. (I also hate to see another fine male character get killed off. In my opinion, Sayid, Sawyer, and Jin are the finest dudes on the island right now. I'd count Mr. Eko and Boone among them, if they were still alive. I also love Hurley in an earthier kind of way. Yes, I'm definitely a Baskin Robbins kind of woman.)

The fist-fight between Jack and Sawyer. The thread on this at The Fuselage had me cracking up (I'll admit, it was pretty amusing, my mother would've been in stitches). This can't be the first time they've come to blows. I would swear this is not the first physical confrontation that they've ever had. In five seasons?

The way everyone was bracing for the explosion after Jack had tossed the nuclear bomb into the hole/pit would've been kind of funny, if it hadn't been so sad.

Juliet...at first, I didn't like her or trust her, but this season for some reason, I feel empathy for her. Elizabeth Mitchell does a fantastic job portraying her. She should definitely get an Emmy, especially for her work last night. What really got to me, is that she was still alive (and obviously very much in pain and seriously injured) lying at the bottom of that hole. I was hoping she'd be out of her misery. Which leads me to...Josh Holloway's performance. He has truly shown that he is not just a pretty face. I'd seen him in some other things, Sabretooth and Mi Amigo mainly (I saw him in the pilot episode to Angel, but he wasn't onscreen very long.). I haven't seen Whisper in it's entirety, so I'm not going to count that. His acting has come a long way, especially this season. Last night, when he was trying so hard to hang on to Juliet, I was close to tears. They were both just amazing. I'd truly love to see him win an Emmy for his work this season, no lie. Sawyer's probably going to be a mess next season, he thought he lost Kate, after being with her for 3 years, now he loses Juliet...Man! Talk about an emotional rollercoaster.

Welcome to the machine...

Was looking at my iGoogle newspage, when I spotted a headline something to the effect of "Are Chris Pine and Zach Quinto (He scares me witless when he's in character as Sylar.) the new Robert Pattinsons?" What? Is Mr. Pattinson's (Someone cast him as a young Salvador Dali, I'm like WTF?) 15 minutes up already? Again pops up the short-attention span thing I was blogging about (yesterday?). Is the American public really that fickle? If so, I really think that's sad.

I would also like to crush on somebody for at least a good 5 minutes of said 15 before the dude(s) in question is/are deemed "Hot" and then here comes a stampede of other women like cattle running me over. It's like they lose their minds (I'm not just talking about teenagers here either). After spending some time on a forum centered around one actor, I can honestly say, I will not be doing it again. I have a much better time at forums that are centered around a show or movie, because depending on who's running them, they don't get as crazy .

Grey/Silver hair

I found a grey/silver hair amongst my eyelashes. (I can almost imagine God/Jesus/Buddha/Allah/Yahweh...laughing at me and saying "Let's see you pluck that one out.)

When I see them in my hair, I pluck them out. I get reddish highlights put in my hair every now and again, but I don't go beyond that. I'll only continue do anything with color up until the point where it looks ridiculous. (I won't be sitting around at 90 with dark hair, unless I continue to be well-preserved in other words.)

I haven't seen any in my eyebrows.

Observations...

It's been a few days, since I've seen Star Trek, and I'm looking around at all the comments, that the film has gotten on some of my favorite sites, IO9, Den of Geek, and Sci-Fi wire to name a few. Most people either really love this film or really hate it. I'm not seeing a lot of middle ground people. I don't think the people that are criticizing the film get the fact that not only are we dealing with an alternate timeline, but this is supposed to be a reboot of Star Trek.

Speaking of the works of Abrams and Lindelof, I am so watching Lost tonight.

I just found out there's going to be a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas in August. I wish like mad I could go, but unless some miracle happens, nothing's doing.

Twitter...I hate to say it, but you have to be a certain type of blogger to really appreciate Twitter. I don't like blogging too much about minutiae (ie. It's 11:55pm and I am brushing my teeth. Now it's midnight and I'm turning down the covers.), because it gets boring fast, even if the person in question is a celebrity. I try to tweet about things that are out of the ordinary for me, or that I think might be of interest to others that are into the same thing. Like when I post about a J-horror film I'm watching or something like that.

I'm procrastinating like mad on seeing if I can get that drawing uploaded to this blog. I don't think anybody is really thinking about Wolverine at this point anyway. Are American attention spans really so short? If so, that doesn't speak volumes of us does it?

A little of this, a little of that...

Got the results to my CT scan today. It came back normal, but my primary care physician is still urging me to see a neurologist. I'll go as I'm curious to see what he has to say. I'm still clinging to the hope that it's just the combination of my sinus troubles and my fibromyalgia that are making me go through hell.

Regrettably, I missed the season finale of Dollhouse. I'm going to have to hit Hulu, I think.

The season finale of Lost is on tomorrow. The wait for the new season of that show is always hard. I'm twice as sad this time around, because next year is it's last year. But, I'd rather have it end while it's still cool, then have it drag on and become a complete mess.

Did they cancel Harper's Island? It wasn't on last week. I missed an episode and now I'm not sure what the deal is.

Another show I like is The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I've read some of the books. There are little differences here and there. I like that the TV series doesn't make Precious Ramotswe such a Mary Sue. I feel kind of sorry for Mr. J.L.B. Matakoni. I don't think Precious is leading him on, but I'm not sure that she loves him in the same way that he loves her.

True Blood comes back on next month. I can't wait. I'm starting to like the show better than I do the books.

While channel surfing, I also recently discovered a show called Deadliest Warrior on Spike. The episode I saw was Mafia vs. Yakuza. They had different segments featuring different weapons on each side. Overall, it was predicted that the Mafia had the edge (which I'm not sure I agree with). I say that it depends...For example, they had a fight with nunchaku (Yakuza) against a baseball bat (Mafia). In this particular battle they said the Mafia would win, but doesn't it depend on the conditions being fought in, and the skill of the warrior?

Star Trek

I loved it. It's a bit difficult to talk about it without revealing spoilers.

I didn't know Karl Urban was in it. I remember him from such TV shows as Hercules and Xena and movies such as Ghost Ship and The Chronicles of Riddick. He did a wonderful job as McCoy. I didn't watch much of the original series (I usually catch as many of them as I can, when someone is doing a marathon), but I knew right off, exactly who his character was.

Chris Pine...I don't know much about him, he did a better job as James T. Kirk than I thought he would. I could also kind of see a resemblance between him and William Shatner. (Maybe the photo of him that I initially saw, wasn't the best one to go buy.)

I think that Zachary Quinto [ I looked on Imdb and his height is listed as 6'4". That can't be right, can it? If so... My! What a tall drink! :)] did an excellent job. When he takes on a new character, you believe he is that character. I love actors who can do that.

Zoe Saldana...I wish she'd have gotten to participate in the action a bit more. This is 2009 after all.

I hardly recognized Simon Pegg. I don't what that little thing was at the outpost with him, but it knocked me for a loop (in a good way).

I also didn't know Winona Ryder was in the movie. I just kept looking at Spock's mom's face, thinking I know I've seen her somewhere before. When the credits were rolling I could have kicked myself.

The same thing happened with Ben Cross (I mostly remember him from that new version of Dark Shadows that NBC had briefly).

Some of the nods were a bit over the top, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

I got a bit misty-eyed at that beginning sequence, but I didn't let one tear fall. (What woman wants to be teased for that? Not me.) I felt for Spock in this movie, I really did. A pairing also came out of this that I didn't see coming. (That knocked me for a loop in a pleasant way as well. I'd like to watch some old episodes of the original series, and see if I can figure out what prompted them to do that.)

They also stated in the film, that Romulans and Vulcans share a common ancestor, I had always wondered that. Now I know. (This is probably old news, or pretty obvious to a hard-core trekkie/trekker.)

Overall, I think my mother would have gotten a kick out of it. Star Trek and Star Trek:TNG were another one of the shows that we would watch together.

I've seen mixed reviews/blog entries. Most seem to have enjoyed the movie. I went to IO9 I think it was and there was a cannon vs. non-cannon debate going on in the comments. Again I say, to each his own. Everybody is not going to want the same thing. I'm not going to go off on somebody just because they don't share my taste(s), because I wouldn't want it done to me.

Can't wait to see the fanfics that come out of this. I don't write them, but I love to read well-written ones.

It's a few hours after my initial post and I think I'm going to give it a week or two and check back at Fanfiction.net or Google some terms. The reason I say this is because right now, all the fics up at Fanfiction.net appear to have been written by people, who have never heard of spell check or grammar. If English is your second language, I'll lighten up a bit. If not, you're not going to instill the greatest confidence in what you have to offer, if your summary has enough grammatical and spelling errors that would make even the Tasmanian Devil cringe.

With all this time travel stuff popping up, first on Lost, then in the Star Trek movie. I'm getting interesting in time travel theory (They even had a program about it on the History channel.). I think this kind of stuff falls under Physics or Quantum Physics. I wonder if that Dummies or Idiots series has anything on Physics or Quantum Physics. I'll start from there and work my way up I guess.

Uploading images

I tried to upload one of my drawings of Wolverine that I'd found at my dad's apartment. I got an error message, so I'm going to try it again at home and if that fails, I may have to go to Kinko's as a last resort. I don't think either of the public libraries I go to has a scanner, but I'll try my hand there as well. As dumb as it sounds, it's important to me that I get that drawing up, so that I don't become knows as just another liar on the internet.

Collectibles, collectibles, and more collectibles

I just ran over to the Burger King near my job to check and see which Star Trek glasses and toys they have before the feeding frenzy begins. For toys, they had everyone and everything but Spock and Uhura (my two favorite characters from the Original Star Trek as I mentioned in an earlier post. At least I thought I did...). From what I could see of the toys on display, I don't think the little toy Uhura does Zoe Saldana justice at all. So maybe it's just as well that they didn't have her toy. They had all the glasses, but I chose Spock first, figuring depending on the neighborhood the Burger King is in, he'll go faster than Uhura. There's a Burger King close to where I live, maybe I'll get the Uhura glass from there. Wish the Downtown D.C. location hadn't gotten my order, but oh well. Serves me right for being in such a hurry I guess. One day I'll learn. :)

My drawings...

I stumbled across a drawing of old school Spridle and Chim-Chim from Speed Racer that I did ages ago. I created a new Photobucket user name and password, because it's been too long since I used my old one and I forgot it. I'll also try to look for the drawings of Wolverine that I did and left in my old room at my father's apartment. I think I even did one of Gambit. I have access to a scanner(only black and white unfortunately) at work, so we'll see what happens.

Yet another health scare...

I won't know for sure what the deal is until Saturday, and frankly I'm terrified.
I went to a doctor's appointment this morning, and got a second opinion to go to a neurologist. This I was not expecting to hear. I have balance problems and dizziness, but I had just chalked it up to my sinuses.

I'm hoping when I get my CAT scan on Saturday that nothing is found. I've got enough on my plate to worry about without being diagnosed with yet another illness. It would also devastate my father. I don't want to give him news like that, not after how we lost Mom. I'm not sure how my sister would feel if it turns out to be something serious. I think if something were to happen to me, she'd probably feel like a weight had been lifted. She values my help, but sometimes I get the feeling that because of how different our personalities are, that I'm too much for her to handle sometimes.

If I do turn out to have something seriously wrong, I have no choice, but to accept it and get through it the best I can, without becoming a burden to anyone. I've always been afraid of that. That and losing my mobility and independence. I couldn't imagine living like that. I have beneficiaries for certain things, but I wonder how much it would cost to get the rest of my affairs in order... I'll have to look into that.

Weight loss

I went to the doctor yesterday and found out that I've lost 6 lbs.
In a way it's good, but in a way it's not so good.
I had a really pretty size 10 dress that won't fit me now.
I also don't want to get so small that my ribs can be seen or I look sick.
I'll be happy at 6. (It's a good happy medium.)
Right now, I'm pretty miserable regarding certain things going on with me, that out of courtesy to the people involved, I won't blog about here.
So, the weight loss did not come as a shock to me.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (contains spoilers)

Well, I did wind up going to see Wolverine this weekend, but it wasn't what I expected.

It wasn't as much of a letdown as Spiderman 3 or X-men 3 was to me though.

Hugh Jackman was fine. Liev Schreiber was good too (That run when Sabretooth's about to attack. That was so wild. I loved that. He also cracked me up when he talked about how they created that effect on Empire magazine's website.) I liked his version of Sabretooth better than Tyler Mane's. (Most of the time weird revisionist stuff backfires, like making Phoenix into a personality of Jean Grey's. But in this instance it wasn't so bad.) will.i.am.'s performance as Kestrel...I'm on the fence about that. I didn't know too much about some of the characters that were introduced like The Blob, Deadpool, Kestrel, and Bolt. So, I don't really know how greatly they differ from their original comic book selves. Silver Fox also has a different ability than the comic book version.

I understand why nothing was said about Alpha Flight, but I still missed them just the same.


Making Heather and James Hudson an elderly couple (instead of the age they were in comics) was kind of amusing, but again I missed how this part of his story was told in the comic books/graphic novels.

Young Gambit...Well, he didn't have a Cajun accent that's for sure. I've got to say I would rather have no Cajun accent than a lousy attempt at a Cajun accent though.

Seeing a young Scott Summers/Cyclops was interesting too. My only question is this. Does he have regenerative powers too? I don't remember him having regenerative powers. But if Colonel Stryker took Scott's eyes (there was blood on the bandages over his eyes, so Colonel Stryker did something.) to add to Deadpool's arsenal, how did Scott recover them/his powers?

Or were we all supposed to be paying so much attention to things going boom, that we're not supposed to wonder about things like that? (Nope, not even naked Wolverine distracted me. Sorry. Close, but no cigar.)

Also was it my imagination, or for a split second did it look as if Professor Xavier was completely CGI?

On the Empire website there was also a mention made of easter eggs. I caught all of the ones I found in the Hulk last year during my first viewing. With X-Men Origins: Wolverine, not so much. I think I'll wait until it comes out on DVD/Pay per view for my second viewing though.

Hugh Jackman expressed enthusiasm about doing a movie that covers Wolverine's time in Japan. I enjoyed those comics too (Next to the Weapon X graphic novel and the comics where Typhoid Mary was a guest star. The Japan years were a fave of mine too. Wolverine is definitely one of the more fascinating X-men). If he does decide to do that, I hope it's better than this movie was.