Moving: What Do You Keep, What Do You Sell?

I'm starting to get those "memories blues", as I go through all my stuff. I realize that most of the crap that I have is junk, but...of course I want to keep most of it. There's lots of stuff to sell, but it's really a matter of finding somewhere to put it while I sell it. I expect I'll store it at my Mom's place and do a garage sale rather than spend the money trying to sell it on Fleabay.

Right now I'm feeling rather low - I've got so much packing to do that I am really overwhelmed by it all. So much clothing! The plastic bags alone are going to fill my storage space. Hubby has entire closets of clothing that he doesn't wear but won't part with. I, on the other hand have on half closet of stuff. Usually it's the woman who has more clothes! Even my Mom recognises that I'm not very clothing-object attached. I can readily drop everything (except my violin) and just get on without...and I've never been one to go shopping for "stuff". I'm too utilitarian. If it doesn't suit a purpose, I don't buy it.

After talking with a friend I'm feeling better about having to move into "interim" housing. Apparently a lot of people out here have to do it while saving for a new apartment. My anger is that neither Hubby's nor my Mom will allow us to stay with them. We're married, quiet, and have some cats. Big whoopee! Their main concern is that their lives will be disrupted. I don't see it that way. I can clean, cook, work, and provide conversation that is lively, I can entertain, take care of their animals (both dogs and cats) and can do much-needed repairs in their homes for free. I spackle, sheetrock, do cabinet repair, and general maintenance. It would be a boon to anyone to have me around. If I were them, I'd be happy to have my children back for a short time. Considering the lack of time in their lives (they're all getting up there) they should be looking to spend more time with the kids. Life is short. When they're on their deathbeds, will they be thinking, "Jeez...I should have helped them while I could. I feel guilty about that." Why feel guilty today as well as later? Why not do the right thing instead of being selfish about their "quiet time"?
I think it's dealing with my Hubby that worries them. He can be kind of combatant and self-absorbed at times. He also hurls insults like they are jokes, but...it's not funny. I do know he'd try to behave himself for a week or two, but it would soon diminish into insults and crankiness.
Oh...I didn't mention - we're moving into his sister's house in the meantime. Now she's playing that motherly role that our parent should be, and she also seems to be looking out for me. I feel good about that. I honestly think that we'll get along famously, and I think she senses that too. She's a strong woman. I know she'll be a good influence on me for standing up for my rights and learning to say "no" (which is something I rarely do).

Well, I've got 24 hours to really pack everything up and store it before I find out when I need to be out of here (what day exactly) so I'd better get back to packing.
Wish me and my husband luck...we need it for ourselves, for our budding business, and for the future.

I may not be accessing this page for a week or so while things are in transition. Don't worry about me - I'll be back on before you know it.

Hershey's Sale & "Accepted"= A Great Combination

There was a sale on the jumbo size Hershey's Bars with Almonds at the local Waldbaums. Could I resist? No.
I grabbed two and headed for the checkout like I was committing a crime. Two jumbo bars for $3.00? What, were they crazy?
Last night I consumed half of one of them. I felt satisfied.
Tonight I sat down looking for a good movie to watch, and ended up with "Screamers" as the first of a double-bill. Peter Weller is always fun to look at. Any movie converted from a Philip K. Dick novel makes me happy, too. "Screamers" was okay. For about half of it I was suffering from what I call "exploding sinus". It happens to me when the air pressure falls off rapidly. Hence, I am a human weather forecaster. If there's a snow squall or thunderstorm coming, I feel it ASAP.
So I took a couple of Advil Liquid-Gels, and waited for my headache to go bye-bye.
I figured that I'd seen "Screamers" before, and I was right. I recognised it towards the second half because of the evil little boy.
"Screamers" ended and I was feeling better, so I looked for something else to watch.
Ah hah! "Accepted"...perfect. I went to a tiny college called Five Towns Music and Jazz. Silly, eh? They weren't in the Five Towns, they taught out of a tiny old church and the surrounding buildings that were once used for parochial school. It felt like someone slapped a college together overnight and got a few ailing and mentally retarded teachers to teach some half-assed courses.
I still loved it. My lab was "Jazz Guitar 101", and I was a happy camper, despite the fact that my fingers were screaming in pain the whole time. The only thing they didn't have that I wanted was an orchestra. Oh, well. The hijinx between classes made up for it completely.
So "Accepted" was about a college that was made up by a graduating senior who didn't get accepted into any college. Hilarity ensues as he recruits his friends and leases a decrepit mental institution, fixes it up, and accepts all the other college rejects from the community.


Justin Long plays the lead role. Do you remember him? I couldn't place him until I looked him up. He played the "Galaxy Quest" geek/fan in the film of the same name. I thought he was a cute kid with a good future playing geeks. Now he's got a lead role! Good for him.
The stars of the movie (for me) were Robin Lord Taylor, who did a fantastic character as Abernathy, the kid with ADD, and Lewis Black, as Uncle Ben, the Dean of the college.



Robin Lord Taylor is going to have a bright career, I can feel it. He did a better ADD kid than Jim Carey. Speaking of which, where's Jim these days? It feels like Robin Lord Taylor is going to fill his shoes if he doesn't make a return to film soon.

I remember Lewis Black as a comic, and he did a great job doing his usual routine. He flings his hands around and comments on society and how people should act in the most sarcastic way possible.

I sat watching "Accepted", while consuming the other half of my Hershey's Bar. I'm now flying high on sugar and chocolate. I actually feel happy. It's tough right now - I'm getting ready to give away most of my cats for several months, move in with a relative, and work my butt off to get into a new apartment, or hopefully a house.
What would be really nice is if About.com would come back and tell me that I can start my training. I'd like to make a few decent bucks instead of killing myself in some factory.

Anyway, it just proves something: that chocolate and a good movie can improve anyone's outlook on life.
Now I have to get back to work - I have shipping to do before tomorrow.
Go ahead and see "Accepted". It's worth the two hours of your life to sit, gawp and goof off happily.

The Big Red One

For some reason it's Mark Hamill month for me. Every time I turn on the set, there he is. AMC was showing "The Big Red One", and I knew that Hamill was in it - having seen it before. Yeah, I made it a thing to go see anything he was in, and besides "Corvette Summer" (and of course Star Wars) this was the only other movie that was available to me back then.
Lee Marvin was not and still isn't my favorite actors, but the movie played well and held a storyline even though at times it seemed a little infantile.

I wonder if AMC's programming exec really sits down and thinks about the movies they're showing, and what effect they may have upon the viewing public. I mean, we're at war, folks. During other wars it was customary to make movies about the war, against the war, and behind-the-scenes of the war. I've only seen one or two including a documentary of American critical care doctors in Iraq, and one about a group of soldiers and their thoughts on the war.


In contrast, WWII had hundreds of films dedicated to every theatre, island attack, and battlefront. We made propaganda films, we made cartoons, we even made commercials to fund the war. So why aren't we doing that now? How is it that the government is sucking up all the money causing a horrendous deficit, and they're not asking anything but more sons to lose over there?


I admit, these are a lot of questions. It's the first time I've ever seen a war handled this way. Every day the news channels talk about what's happened, if we're handling the withdrawal correctly, and if the American people are still behind Bush.
Yes, we lose boys everyday, no, we're not handling the withdrawal correctly, and no, the people are no longer behind Bush.
Can it be that our government is too sluggish to admit that Bush is a loony? Do they think that leaving him in office for another year will be good for America?
I don't see how. Sure, the senate and house persons are doing fine - they're getting a nice fat yearly salary. But what about middle-income Americans? We're fighting a war ourselves, trying to live. I'm right in the middle, and let me tell you, my taxes are insane, my paycheck is too low, gas is off-the-charts, my rent is sky-high, and food prices are terrible. How can I continue to live in these circumstances?
The answer for many middle income Americans is to become addicted to something, lose everything, and become (effectively) minorities. Then they can apply for social services, get Section 8 housing, get a little part-time job, and live off the government for the rest of their lives-- all the while sapping the rest of the middle income families until finally, the middle class will dissolve, leaving only the poor and the rich.
How is this good for our society?

Our boys come home from war mangled, and they get better care in Germany than they do here. What the heck is wrong with this picture?


Quite honestly, I'm sick of it. I'm going to go live in a rural community where these things won't touch me anymore. I'm going to hide by joining a food cooperative, growing my own food, and -- become a sort of old hippy-commune-type.
Heh...I'll get to be the Flower-child that I never was.

Deadliest Catch Finale, After The Catch Complete.

This season of Opilio crab is over for we television viewers, and I for one am sad to see it end. No, I'm sure the crews are very glad it's over, but the viewers hunger for more.
"Deadliest Catch" will no doubt go into reruns, or disappear from the lineup, as "Dirtiest Jobs" gets set for an all new season. Mike Rowe is fun enough to watch - that's why I started watching "Deadliest Catch". His great voice put something terrifically interesting into what might have been a show meant for "guys". You know what I'm talking about: "Deadliest Police Chases", "Most Violent Crimes" etc., etc.
I found myself tangled in the nets of "Deadliest Catch" after watching only two episodes. I caught it in reruns, and had a long way to go before catching up on who was who and which boat have which captain. My viewing paid off big time. The show is a raging success. I also watched because I once knew a fellah who used to go out on the cod boats during the winter as a grunt in the engine room. He spoke of high seas, snow storms, ice, and deadly waves. What he came back with was a renewed respect for the ocean and a pocket full of money. During the summer he's pull in nets of curb-dived garbage, selling it at a local flea market and reaping big enough amounts that he and his assistants had a very nice paycheck. I was a little jealous of him- I could never quite figure out where he got the nerve to do any of it on his own. From him, though, I've learned the love of dumpster-diving.
Just tonight I scored a lovely bonsai pot which I will sell on Fleabay because I intend to move apartments shortly, and won't have room for it. *cough* But back to our main subjects: I was very happy to see The Northwestern's greenhorn get his jacket. He did such a good job, and pushed so hard that he deserved it. That Sig took his own jacket off and gave it to him also had an air of real ceremony. Sig's just one bang-up guy. His family seems nice too.

"After The Catch" was funnier and louder this time around, especially Sig's story of the woman who scared him half to death in the back of a bar when he was very young.
"Almost lost my virginity in the back of ____'s Bar", drew a lot of laughs.
Phil explained - it was a local woman (big with no teeth) who would harass the young deck hands by grabbing their privates under the table. What she really wanted was a beer - and then she'd move on. Silly.

I can't explain how much I'm going to miss my Tuesday night ritual. I guess I'll have to go back to watching "Boston Legal". Eh. To think I was heartbroken when BL was in reruns! I switched over to "Deadliest Catch" and became hooked! Oh, well.
If there's one good thing about it, season four is a likely to be fun. and so long as they have the viewership (and the captains and deckhands agree to do it) "Deadliest Catch" will continue to grace our televisions for a few more seasons.

CSI: North Canton, Ohio - The Media, The Police, and The FBI

While sanding out yet another neck I watched FOX News today. Most prevalent were the floods in Texas and the story of a missing pregnant woman named Jessie Davis.
What I couldn't understand was why the media (which I watched all weekend long) never once mentioned the woman until Monday morning. The woman was reported missing on Friday - that was three full days before anyone but the family and police knew anything about it.

Have you ever watched "48 Hours"? For those of you who haven't, it's a show about police investigators and the crimes that they attempt to solve (usually murders) within the golden "48 Hours" after the crime was committed. If the crime has not been solved within that relatively small time frame, most investigators agree that the crime may go unsolved. Missing persons and probable murder victims are the most vulnerable - by the time 49 hours have elapsed their murderers may have travelled far out of state, cleaned up evidence, obtained false alibis, or simply destroyed the murder weapon and/or ditched a body.

In the case of Jessie Davis, the 48 hours have already elapsed. Certainly the police are not at fault, having lost a day and a half just because the victim had not been heard from. But the viable remaining hours were used to gather evidence rather than to alert the media. It is entirely possible that this woman may still be alive - but not seeing her face or knowing she was missing, many of the public may have turned an ignorant eye to what could have been crucial leads.

I'm also debating the evidence that came out in the reports - the missing comforter, the mattress over turned, her purse emptied on the floor, table lamps tossed about, the bottle of bleach on the floor, bleach smell in the house, the baby left alone, no evidence of tampering or break-in, and finally - the toddler's statements: "Mommy was crying", "Mommy broke the table", and "Mommy was in the rug".
All of this leads to some conclusions:
1. she knew the person who came in
2. there was violence (the broken table and lamp stands)
3. evidence was destroyed and taken from the home
4. robbery may have been a motive

The next problem is to figure out what actually happened.
We can pretty much rule out that Jessie Davis killed someone and fled, since she is about to give birth. She could not possibly have dragged a body to dispose of it.
So what are we left with?
Put yourself in her shoes.
I'm betting that she had another boyfriend. He came over to ask for money.
When she said she had none, he became abusive, took her purse, emptied it, and upon finding some small bills and her cell phone, demanded that she turn over her bank cards or credit cards. She began to cry, I'm sure, and asked that her son be spared this trauma. The "boyfriend" became enraged, and probably told her something that he didn't like about the cop/father, and told her she was to get money from him if possible.
She probably refused, and was then slapped or hit. She fell on the table, and broke her back, neck, or became unconscious. Her assailant then lost control of the situation. He did not know that the child was awake and watching. He lost his plan, and had to cover himself. He took the bedclothes, wrapped up the body, went to the kitchen and got out the bleach (having watched "C.S.I." and seen it done on an episode) and poured the bleach wherever the pool of blood was. He then got wise and perhaps got a spray bottle, and sprayed the bed, mattress, table, and the surrounding areas to hide the blood spatter (another thing he could have learned from "C.S.I". He probably wiped all door knobs that he may have touched, to hide his prints. He then transported the body to his vehicle, gave the child something to distract him, and left.

What did he fail to do?
1. probably did not vacuum the area - leaving body evidence in the form of hairs and fibers
2. probably neglected to clean his prints from her purse or purse handle
3. left prints on the bleach can
4. may have left prints around the bathroom sink
5. probably used her toilet before leaving - and left hair and/or epithelials on, around or in the toilet
6. may have left blood or bleach prints of his shoes on other floor surfaces
7. may have left evidence in the driveway (fibers, blood, loose buttons, stuff from his vehicle)

Let's hope that this person, whoever he may be, will give up to the police before he is nabbed due to DNA and fingerprint evidence at the scene.
All of Jesse's friends will no doubt be interviewed. This person, whoever he (or possibly she) may be, will be found and tested in the long run.
The only problem with that is - time is ticking away.

Do you have opinions as to what happened?
Have you found out something new on the news?
Go ahead and report it in this thread by posting a comment.
Let's see if we get this one right, or wrong.

And here's hoping that when the FBI and police finally do get her cell phone records, that Jesse is found alive. If she's injured or in shock, the sooner the better for her and her unborn child.
I also reach out to her family in saying how sorry I am that they are going through this. The person who did this should be found quickly and punished accordingly as the law permits.

If you have information about someone that you think might have been with Jesse Davis, especially a male friend of hers from way back, or have seen a pregnant woman fitting her description (see photo above) please contact the North Canton Ohio Police immediately at:
330-499-5911
Officers contact info at:
http://www.northcantonpolice.org/officers.htm
Please help solve this crime.

Robot Chicken Star Wars...Okay.

"Robot Chicken Star Wars" is airing at this very moment, all night. It's intermixed with some choice "Robot Chicken" episodes, including one that won an Emmy.
In between each episode little quips from "Robot Chicken"'s staff have been liberally sprinkled. Liberally sprinkled like pot into an E-Z Wider. I'm serious...Seth Green, his producer, and two other guys are so dishevelled, unshaven, and unintelligible that they look like the whole crew did nothing but smoke pot on the day that they were shooting the hosting breaks.
What the heck?
Seth! I saw you on Conan O'Brian the other night, and you shaved. You wore a suit. What's wrong with doing the same for your "Robot Chicken Star Wars Special"?
I don't need to see unwashed, tired geeks shooting Nerf guns at each other!
Dang.
I though you guys were funny, creative, and smart.
So what's with the stupid pot-smoker routine?
Oh. scuze me...there didn't seem to be any red eyes there, but visine is good for that.
What are you guys on?!

Look I love Seth's work, his producer (Matt) looks like a nice guy, and it's obvious that playing with dolls all day can get to a man's head.
Really, tho'. I expected some intelligent commentary, some behind-the-scenes action, and a little more humor.

WAIT! No....dang it, if you want the smart stuff, you have to go to:

http://www.adultswim.com

There you will find clean shaven, intelligent commentary for all the little scenes in "Robot Chicken Star Wars". You can also get embedding code for nearly all the sketches, which I'm going to try our right here...even though I don't think this site is capable of it. But let's try:

MMMkay...did it work? YES!
Gottah say, "Space Slugs" was my favorite of the sketches.
It's delightful, not too violent, and just dang silly.
Creative, too, really - lookit those guys! Fabulous.
So there you have it, "Robot Chicken Star Wars" right on your home computer, for you to enjoy and distribute all over the web. Seth said so. :)

Think You'll Like This:

It made me snicker with perverse pleasure.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/

While you're there, see about the Sonic Screwdriver...my, my, the toys just get better and better!

Fun With Lacquer.

For those of you new to my blog, I'll give you a little info: I play with lacquer.
I really shouldn't say play tho'... It's hard work.
Finishing guitar necks to the discerning specs of guitar builders, I glop, mix, spray and clean up lacquer of several types and tints.
There's satin, the stuff that had particles that make it more opaque, clog up guns, and generally looks like mold floating in stale water, there's clear lacquer: the easiest to deal with, and there's tinted lacquer - that tortures me with it's complexities of shading and coloring.

I started out trying to mix poly. That's polyurethane for short. It's cheap, supposedly easy to work with, and is extremely durable. Problem? It varies in color from manufacturer to manufacturer, never takes tint the same way twice, takes days (dare I say weeks) to dry, and requires only the toughest of muscles to sand it out.
I gave up on poly. Sure, the rub-on stuff is fun. A few coats of it can sometimes bring a piece of wood to life. As for the rest of it - the spray, the brush-on: forget them. They suck! I really mean that. It's a total waste of time when it comes to guitars.


Lacquer, on the other hand: takes tint like a dream, cleans up with the seemingly magical lacquer thinner, can be melted using Blush Remover, and sands quickly and easily if you haven't made any glaring mistakes.
Lacquer can also be thinned to any consistency, thickened by evaporation for drop fills, and polishes to a near crystal sheen.

One of my favorite parts of the lacquering process is seeing a piece of wood come to life! The grain stands out, the wood takes on a sort of amber stone feel - like a lovely, well polished quartz pebble that came from a sweet mountain spring.

One of the things I hate the most is dripping. Say you've just started to spray in the morning. Your first spray will undoubtedly be the sloppiest. Your caffeine hasn't kicked in, and your mind is still slow. Oops! You sprayed to close, now what do you do? There's a horrific glob forming - quick! tilt your wood! Try to minimize it! Wipe it off, FAST! Now cry as you realize that you just wiped off three coats on one spot, ruining yesterday's work. Alas!


So then you wait for it to dry, srape it with a razor, and sand out your mistake. Then you respray to fill your imperfections, sand again, respray, sand again, and respray.
Or...you could sand it and apply Blush Remover, effectively melting the what's left of the blob right back into the surface coat. Ahhhh...nightmare destroyed!
Thank God for Blush Remover. For that matter, a little q-tip dipped in lacquer remover can work wonders too, melting the surface and making the lacquer gloppy again. But be careful - the q-tip must remain full of remover the whole time it's in contact with the surface, or you'll drag the finish. I love lacquer remover for little fix-ups. Just remember - let it dry a long time after that - the lacquer remover works a little like a retarder, and makes the finish gloppy for a few days, depending upon the humidity.

So now you know what I play with all day. What fun!

Television: Sublime Moments and Tortures

As I sanded away at another new guitar neck I listened to a repeat of "Deadliest Catch" and "After The Catch", and could not help but attempt to watch both shows even though I'd already seen them. There's something about the truth in what the deckhands were saying about Captain Sig - and I wanted to catch it again. His brother said that he should have been a head shrink, and that Sig can turn your head around, making you do what he wanted - all the while making you think that it was your idea! He uses some sort of reverse psychology, and tames his rowdy deckhands all the time.

Sure enough, though - I missed it while transporting another neck back into the spray booth for retouching. (For those of you who don't know, I build and sell guitars for a living.)

By the time I was losing my sanding arm, I decided to flip around to find something to watch and make me sleepy. I found "Big Idea", airing on MSNBC. The program was about making computer cartoons for a living. The host promised that after every break they would show the viewers how cartoons can be made at home for a few hundred dollars and a piece of software. BAH! BAH! BAH! and BAH! again. I stayed up another hour waiting for a cartoonist to tell me the secret, and all he did was say, "Flash" and "Adobe Photoshop". They showed some nondescript pictures of a few frames of animation, the artist did a terrible job of explaining the ins and outs of the software. I got gypped!
The Bastards! They did what nearly every news program does - they made me wait until the end for what I wanted, and then failed me miserably.
ARG!

How could I be roped into something like this? I'm smarter that that! But no, I was tired, and I figured I might get a hint or two on how to start animating.
I regularly attend http://www.b3ta.com for their funny and outlandish animations. They've given out more info on animation than anyone else on the Internet. So if you really want to learn the secrets of computer cartoon animation, go there. Here's the address again for you:

http://www.b3ta.com

Check out the guys who made money by creating commercials for VH1, the BBC and Quiznos. Learn from some pros at B3TA.

Oh, and if you're into morbid animations, go to:

http://nails.hoogerbrugge.com/

Hoogenbrugge is my favorite computer animator artist. His work is disturbing and sometimes hilarious. You'll also find links to his other pages there and info on the artist himself. Yes, that's him - he models the guy in the animations after himself.

*sigh* I solemnly swear to never watch another news program simply because I need to see one story. From now on I'll not waste my sleep time, and pledge to always look it up on the Internet.
Yeah...we'll see how long that lasts!
I promise to let you know the next time I get taken by a news program.
How many licks to the inside of a tootsie-pop? ;)

Fast Cars And Superstars

Last year I read that William Shatner was participating in NASCAR racing, and it didn't surprise me.
For years he's been interested in pushing the envelope. He used to do motorcycle racing, off-road motorcycling, rock climbing, and paragliding.
The only thing was, the article that I read didn't give any details about where he was racing or what it was for.

Now I know! "Fast Cars And Superstars" aired last night @ 8pm Eastern on ABC. What a surprise! Racing along with him were supermodel Gabrielle Reese and NFL Coach Bill Cowher. Sponsored by the Gillette Young Guns, this was sort of a test to see if one of the Young Guns had enough training in him to be able to teach anyone how to drive NASCAR. Kindah cool.

Gabrielle did just fine, The Coach also did very well, but Bill Shatner proved that age and hearing sometimes don't make for a good NASCAR driver. He was the only one of all of them that had ever been in a manual transmission car; he'd already owned several that required shifting. But when it came down to keeping off the inside white line of the track, Bill couldn't seem to stop from drifting onto it.

First time 'round, he traced the white line. He was given a warning by his lead (timing) driver, and he did it again - going over the white line by two feet.
On his third time around the track, he hit and went over the line again. There was some serious judge-talk, and by the time The Shat pulled himself out of the car, they were already marching up to him.

"What white line?!" joked Shatner, as he explained to The Coach why he had been disqualified.
"Honestly, I couldn't see the white line...was there one?"
Even Coach groaned and shook his head.
The only explanation was that Bill didn't see the white line, didn't feel like paying attention to it, didn't know it was a safety hazard to go below it, and didn't hear his timing driver when he radioed to warn him.

So oh, well. Shat's out. Typical. I'll bet his insurance company made him do it. They would have dropped him if he really raced, instead of just qualifying. :)

Discovery Channel Programs Are A#1 !!!

What would I do without The Discovery Channel? I'd go mad. I'd throw my television set out the window. I'd cancel my cable and listen to the radio. I'd cry.

Really - I watch more Discovery Channel than I do any other channel besides the Cartoon Channel (Adult Swim). In fact, I often flip in between the two continuously.


*Click* "Man Vs. Wild": Bear Grylls is the bomb. Talk about a patient, strong willed, smart guy...Oh, it helps that he's cute. Nice accent, too.

*Click* "Family Guy"...How can you not love it?

*Click* "Deadliest Catch": Awesome Season this year...last ep coming up on next Tuesday night! *weeping*

*Click* "Futurama": No matter how often I watch, I still haven't seen all the eps. Great fun.

*Click* "How It's Made": Sometimes I just get all freaked out watching the tons of stuff being made right before my eyes! Last ep they went to an electric guitar factory. I learned so much...heh heh heh that I will use in my own business!


*Click* "Mythbusters": A geek's wet dream. Everything you ever wanted to do but couldn't. Including blowing things up! Adam and Jamie are great, but I watch for Grant...woowoo...that ep when he was testing a polygraph machine and refused to answer the question about building a female robot? Ohhhh. boy! I've never seen a geek blush like that on TV! He's rough and tough, and his voice cracks, and he builds robots. Niiiice. 'Specially lookin' cute in that "Fantastic Four" number..."Don't look at me! Don't say...anything!" WOOO!

*Click* "Robot Chicken": I don't think I need say more. Well, okay, I will. Tonight's ep showing Kianu Reeves selling sausages and Chris Walken and William Shatner touting them too was more than I could handle. As soon as they have the video feed up and running here I'll post it. Ah hah...It's at the end of this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUTo7pWII6c
*Click* "Saul of The Mole Men"!


*Click* "Dirty Jobs"! Mike Rowe has the best voice on television.
*Click*
No, no, I won't keep this up all day.
Really, though- there's way too much to watch between Adult Swim and Discovery - oh, and then there's Discover Science...by then my brain is fried for the day.

I'm going to move in the next two months...I will be without either channel for two or three days! My GOD! I WILL go MAD!
Stay tuned to see how loony I get without my brain-feed.

Dirty Bombs In NYC

The news networks have done it again.
They've reported that the threat of a dirty bomb in NYC is a possibility. They've even mentioned Washington and the White House as a target.
Why? Because today in New York they held some sort of dress rehearsal to tracking down and finding a dirty bomb.
On the vid clip: guys carrying Geiger counters, cops with assault rifles running around, helicopters monitoring, random truck inspections, and a little robot that scans the underside of boats.

It all makes me wonder. Why show all of this in plain site? Is it to sooth our nerves, or make terrorists more aware of our tactics? Is it a show to scare them off, or is it going to excite them?
I don't like to use the word terrorist ever since George Bush started pronouncing it "Turrrirists!" Not all people who fight against governments are terrorists, and to label them so indicates a total lack of understanding. I can recall the same use of "Guerrilla fighter" way back in the '70s. Evey time I heard those words, I flinched. Today's guerrilla is a terrorist. Same difference.

On the news they mentioned "The Sum of All Fears" (the movie) as an example of what might happen should "Turrirists" get a dirty bomb into a city. Not pretty. I saw the movie. It was a little strange, watching as a city went through radiation poisoning. Not mentioned was the aftermath of such an attacks, how many people would be effected in the long term, and how it could be stopped.

So we're stuck hoping that our radiation police are out and about, scanning continuously- and I just can't see that happening. Have you ever been in the city at night, say, 3am? You'd know how quiet it can get in some areas. That's the hour I'd fear the most - that quiet time when only the rats scurry about.
Security has relaxed quite a bit since 9/11. I think it's time that we got serious about making sure that radioactive devices never hit our shores in the first place.

And someone give Bush some speech lessons, PLEASE?!

Thomas The Tank Engine Poisoned!

It's not everyday that I see something that I once sold become a threat to children.
I used to work in a little toy shop, occasionally selling "Thomas The Tank Engine" toys. Back then (over ten years ago)the manufacturer was "Brio" and the little wooden toys were considered high on the priority list for little up-and-coming rich kids. Their well-to-do parents used to literally line up to buy the set in question: "Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway". It was a big box, filled with tracks and bridges and trains of all shapes and colors. See the above picture for some of the pieces that were included.

The manufacturer today is RC2 Corp., someone I've never heard of. What happened to Brio? They must have been taken over. It figures that a company with a sterling reputation for putting out completely safe and very well made toys would be hunted down and grabbed. Now it's the big company (probably manufacturing the little toys in China instead of London) that has put their very popular item in the can.
Fear of lead poisoning will cause millions of consumers to trash their very expensive little sets, and will keep them from purchasing them with the trust that they have gotten for over 15 years.

I hate scares like this.
Here's the recall page for more info:
http://rc2corp.com/company/recalls_Wood_0607.asp

Keep Your Eyes Open and Your Light-saber Lit!

(Originally Posted to MySpace on Sunday, December 31, 2006)

I was watching Revenge (COUGH!) I mean, Return of The Jedi when I suddenly remembered my first and only in-person sighting of Mark Hamill. Long, long ago (in this very solar system) I was working for Screen Actor's Guild and he was working on a Broadway play. I can't quite remember the details, but I'm almost sure he was directing it. This was around 1992-'93, just before I went to Ireland on my own.

I was doing my own thing, rushing to catch my train to work in Penn Station. Up the hall from the 1, 2, & 3 trains near the newsstand that sells soda (you know, the big one across from information), I was angling my way across the stream of the crowd when I spied something not-quite-right. A man about a head taller than me in a black Bakersfield coat (a raincoat that the Phantom of The Opera might have worn, with a small attached cape) was limping toward me at a breakneck pace. His cane flew in front of me, making me worried. I used to work for the home-bound and had done some emergency dispatching. I'm naturally concerned for those who might be injured. The feeling was immediate: this sandy-haired man was moving much too fast for his one good leg to carry him. I had to see what his rush was, and looked to his face. Unmistakably, it was Mark Hamill. In the camel coat and jeans and a dress shirt, with well worn leather dress shoes - no, I thought. That couldn't be Mark Hamill. He's too angry/sad/scary.



I got closer, simply because we were walking toward each other on the way to our goals. He limped/leaped past me, and I knew that it was him. What shocked and disquieted me was that his lovely features were all contorted with pain and worry. He was the Jedi Master - running late to a play that he was directing himself. He was the school master, the frightening one with the ruler and the switch. His poor "hamburger of a face", and his leg (from the car accident in CA) were obviously troubling him. Had I not been late myself to work, I would have taken the subway with him and asked for his autograph, hoping to cheer him up...

But he frightened me so - my heart really skipped a few beats.
Why? I was 13 when SWTNH came out. Mark was my hero. He was the 'new hope' of science fiction, the genre that had lain dormant for many years. I even dressed as Luke in high school, for Halloween. When I was young, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker, not some beauty contest queen. I eventually grew out of Star Wars, tho...and back into Star Trek, but Mark Hamill will always have a little soft spot in my heart.
That's why I freaked and froze, and nearly had a heart attack. Who expected to meet their teenage heartthrob while commuting, and be so affected by his aging that you go into shock?

I really did freak for days after that. As you can see, it still troubles me to this day. It's too bad, but I didn't have the money to go see his play. I would have liked that very much.
But more than that, I would have liked to have cheered up Master Mark.
I'm so glad that his vocal talent is being used to its full extent, so happy for him now that he's got kids, and really amazed at the body of work that he's completed.




Good job, Mark, I wish you well. *ahem* Do Smile more often. We love that, and it's good for your health.
:)

**Note: I did try to find out what play he was directing, and have fallen short.
The two plays that he starred in "The Nerd", (see picture above) was in 1987, and he did another play in 2003, but I cannot find any mention of his Booadway or Off-Broadway dieectorial debut. The reason why I knew about it was because I'd read it in a newspaper that very week...probably "The Village Voice". I'm guessing that if the play didn't live long, nobody chronicled it after that. Speaking of which, why is it that the only sites to talk about Mark's work in "The Elephant Man, "Amadeus", and "The Nerd" (and actually show some pictures) are Russian websites????
Huh.

Robot Chicken Star Wars!

Don't miss it, folks.
I love "Robot Chicken". From its inseption on YouTUbe to it's current TV series format, I love the crap out of it.
So now, from the sick mind of Seth Green, we've got "Robot Chicken Star Wars" coming at us on June 17th.
I can't wait! See all the trailers and pics at:
http://www.adultswim.com/shows/robotchicken/stuff/rcsw/
Be a good kid.
Watch Robot Chicken and keep Mark Hamill working. ;)

I've Gone And Done It.

Yes, that's right, I took the plunge.
Did I do what?
Heh.
I signed up for a consideration as a "Guide" on "About.com".
Pray for me, man. It takes up to eight weeks for them even to get back to you.
What did I write about?
Shatner's new book series that's to be released in October, 2007.
Say what?
oh, you didn't know?
It's to be called "Star Trek: The Academy - Collision Course".
Yep, it'll have all our favorite characters: Sarek, Amanda, Sam and Jim Kirk, Spock, Finnegan, Mallory (you remember Mallory and Marple, the two ill-fated security guards? Well, even if you don't remember their evil ends at the hands of a dart-throwing plant and an exploding rock, you'll be excited to know that you'll be meeting Joe Kirk, Jim's father.
Not that we haven't read about Kirk's father before - he's been in a Star Trek novel before this one.
The first book of the series is billed as a: "fast and fun warp-speed novel".
We'll see.
In the mean time, I'm hoping to get the okay from About.com to go ahead and interview Shatner myself. In addition to wanting interviews from someone like Shatner, they'll be looking for interviews with people from new sci-fi series, which means to me: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!!!!
Imagine that. Even my Hubby is all excited that I might get to interview someone like Edward James Almos. Now that would be fun!
So about the pay- $750 per month would be fine with me if all I had to do was schedule interviews with TV series actors, or movie actors, and write the darn interviews. I'm smart enough to go to a few bboards to get the buzz and find out what people are really looking for. Then it's just up to me to ask the right questions!
Imagine that: me, a buzz-creating-scifi-geek-freak.
It could be sooo exciting!
I'm just a little nervous about getting the position.
They're looking for a reporter, really.
While I never went to journalism school, I did manage honors English in high school, and took some courses in college. was also a librarian for many years. Let's hope they like my 'tude.

About.com?

I'm toying with the idea of becoming a member of About.com.
They say that after approximately 17 days of unpaid training, you can make $750 a month, guaranteed. That's if you follow their rules, write well, and post 3 blogs a week and one article every 14 days. Sounds interesting - I wonder what the catch is?
About.com recommends that you be prepared to work like a dog. I can't see that it could be so hard; at least not for a seasoned writer.
Editors will be on you to do rewrites, they'll be criticizing your work, and making suggestions for improvements.
While I can take a little criticism, I sometimes get cranky when someone gets down on my writing style. I also hate to have to type things over, and over, and over again when it isn't necessary. I like to get it right in one fell swoop, but if it takes one more rewrite, it won't kill me.

As you can see, I'm still pondering about this. Something seems shady.
Ye, you can earn more for increased page hits, and it seem the earnings will grow with time if you write about popular and timeless topics.

There's one catch: you must write in a specific category. My favorites are movie and TV reviews, science fiction, and fantasy. The problem? They only want you in one category. There's no call for reviewers in movies and TV, but there is under science fiction and fantasy. They have very little about STOS, which seems hopeful to me. I know all of it.

If you'd like to write for About.com, just go to their website, read about it, and fill out your first submission for approval at:
http://beaguide.about.com/

More Blogs? What am I, a Net Writer? Feh!

First off, let me show you my Associated Press article from "After The Catch". I had a brain fart and forgot to post it last night.

http://www.associatedcontent.com:80/article/263622/review_after_the_catch_spin_off_of.html

With that out of the way, I can get down to the nitty gritty of today's blog.

"You mean to tell me that I can have as many blogs as I want, on any given subject, that I can post unlimited Adsense and eBaY ads all over it, and that I'll be paid for goofing off like this?"

Wow. Somehow I wonder where someone would find the time to bang out thousands of blogs, advertise them on all the web searches, code them up so that they can be tracked, and update all these blogs every day?

Apparently there are lots of people doing it. Now all I have to do is learn this new language (that looks like HTML, but isn't), find myself some much cooler templates, and go wild. Riigggghhhht...

What can you expect from me? Uhm, probably a blog for every one of my favorite subjects. Am I gonna tell you all about it?
When they're up, yes. No flubbing or telling before the chickens hatch, okay?

In the mean time I've got my business chugging and I'm busier than ever at it ---
Did I tell you I'm painting my first guitar next week? If it's easier than I think it is, I may start painting professionally, and commanding some very serious prices for it. Damn, I've got to start designing!
Decals would be easier than hand-painting. Buuuttt...if you want really cool and freaky color, then I'd be forced to hand-paint. I do adore painting. When I was a kid, models were my favorite thing. Was I good at painting? No.
But I'm good at it now, and I think I can sizzle.
Let us pray.
Maybe a year from now I'll be sunbursting and hand painting guitars for the rich and famous.
Auggghh! I've got to come up with a logo! Something people will kill for.
Something aborigine, American Indian, or European Indian. Something sick, but cute.
Hmmmmmmm...

Well, while I'm brainstorming, you can enjoy one of several pages of vid searches that I loaded up on my page. If you don't like what you see, click off my page, and then back on it, and a new search will load automatically.
There's Bowie, Chris Walken, Alan Rickman, Cats, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc., etc.

Oh, and while you're at it, let me offer you a wonderful web page that I found.
It grabs vids off YouTube and MySpace, so you can make it your own.
You're Gonna LOVE IT!

http://keepvid.com/

"After The Catch" Finally Catches Up

Last week's opener episode was just a flash-back of previous episodes. It was almost as though Mike Rowe and the various Captains were feeling out the new program. It's a mini-series spin-off of "Deadliest Catch", airing at 10pm on the Discovery Channel (right after "Deadliest Catch".)



When I wrote my first published article for Associated Content last week (YEAH!), I gave "After The Catch" a fairly thumbs-down review. Sure, I was harsh. If they wanted to create a miniseries that would keep me watching, they 've really got to engage me. Playing pieces of old episodes that they thought were the viewer's favorites didn't turn out so well.

Now this weeks episode was fantastic! Tales of rough seas, 80 foot waves, 200 knot winds, rouge waves and interviews with the captains who were there was wonderful.
Especially interesting were the stories of the cameraman who kept asking Sig's little brother, "Are we gonna be okay?" -takes another shot - "You're sure we're gonna be okay?" Hysterical.

I used to enjoy Tuesday nights for "House" and "Boston Legal", but since "House" is in reruns or not on at the same time it used to be (I caught an ep on Monday) and "Boston Legal" isn't making me laugh anymore, "Deadliest Catch" and "After The Catch" are now my favorite shows on TV.



You should try them sometime. That's Discovery Channel @ 9pm and 10pm Eastern.
Go Sig and The Northwestern!

TKO Notices From eBaY?

I've just been hit with a "TKO" notice from eBaY.
What this indicates is that the buyer of a $450 guitar from my store has been cancelled.
Why? The owner states that the bid and purchase that went through was not his. He's essentially saying that someone hijacked his account and bid on an item that I was selling.

How does this happen? When the warnings have been out there for over a year, people are still claiming that they:
1. must have replied to a phishing email in the last year and their account had been hijacked
2. that their son or daughter bid on an item and hadn't asked permission first
3. that a friend was over and bid on an item using their account and never intended to pay for it, or has reneged on the payment
4. that the seller changed his or her mind at the last minute, and is willing to wade through days of emailing back and forth with eBaY to either have their account closed or have their passwords changed so that they don't have to follow eBaY's rules and regulations.

I'm blogged before on other websites about eBaY/PayPal discrepancies...but never here.
So for the benefit of other buyers and sellers, here's the gup:

Buyers:
Lock your computer when you're out. Don't let your kids access your eBaY account while you're downstairs making dinner, out at work, or sleeping. There's just no excuse for ruining a Seller's life just because your kid has free rein over your finances.

Don't reply to eBaY messages through your email, ever!
Check the address, and if it doesn't star with www.ebay.com, ignore it.
Go to your own personal account, log in, and answer eBaY originated emails through ebay alone.

Safeguard your eBaY password as well as your PayPal password. Don't let anyone else use them! This means...don't leave scraps of paper under your keyboard with your username and passwords scribbled on them! Lock up your information in a safe - or don't write it down at all. Memorize it. If it comes down to having to change your password because you can't remember it, then do so!
Just remember to completely delete the message before your kid or guest notices it.

Sellers:

I can't stress enough that there are buyers and sellers out there who are simply out to ruin your earnings. Buyers scam sellers, sellers scam sellers, and one has to remain extremely vigilant to this kind of terrorism.
Terrorism? I use that word because it's my opinion that the effects are similar.
Buyers can insist that they didn't get what they wanted, got broken items, and plain failed to order the right item. Even though the terms of the auction may have indemnification clauses, this does not help the seller in any way. PayPal does not recognise terms and conditions upheld by eBaY's sellers.
Shall I give you an example?
Seller 1 states: All Sales Final. Make sure you order the right item for your needs.
No refunds due to inaccurate ordering.
Buyer 1 complains to PayPal that he plain "does not like the item" and wants a refund. He files a dispute and then a claim without contacting the seller.
Paypal then freezes Seller 1's account for the total amount of the item (price + shipping).
Various emails run back and forth through PayPal until the Seller 1 acquiesces to buyer's terms: pay all shipping for the buyer to return the item, pay back all shipping and purchase charges, and suffer from the loss of the sale for a month or more while their account is frozen.

Another example might be a seller purposely bidding on another seller's item because of competition. He can turn around and claim that he did not want it after he won the bidding, thus forcing the original seller to relist his item at a loss of time.
This can freeze up a seller's profits by setting him back by 3 to 10 days or more!

While eBaY is very apologetic in their form emails about problems, they fail to act quickly unless a true fraud has occurred (such as bidder's account is hacked, has a fake email, fake name, or incorrect contact data. The big problem is, you don't know a fake account from a real one until all is said and done.

I like eBaY! I've had many a good experience with it. At the same time, as a seller I'm seeing more and more problems that must be addressed.
In particular, PayPal's right to freeze a seller's account due to claims made by buyers. They are not held accountable, under any law - such as that put on banks to insure funds, such as the FDIC. Since they lost a case in court over giving good customer service and providing a contact telephone #, they were still not held accountable for freezing people's electronic income.

One has to wonder at all this hubbub...it's everywhere. Check out:
http://www.paypalsucks.com
You'll be amazed at the horror stories.

Crest Toothpaste is Safe!

I just did the research for all of us.
Crest toothpaste is manufactured in the USA.
We need not harbor fears of Chinese additives like Propylene Glycol, as is stated in the publicity release from Proctor and Gamble:

http://www.pginvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticleMain&ID=1010373

Breath easy. We're safe.

Review: Last Holiday (the remake).

I've been a fan of Sir Alec Guinness ever since I was introduced to his work in "Star Wars". Back then I was pretty young, in my just-teenage years, and while I had seen Guinness before, I'd never really connected with his style of acting.



When I finally did develop and interest in following Sir Alec's career, I found excellent black and white movies such as: "Man In The White Suit", "Great Expectations" and "Last Holiday".
By far my favorite was "Last Holiday". Sure, "Man In The White Suit" had uproarious comedy, slapstick, and made me laugh harder than I had in a long time, but "last Holiday" had me on the edge of my seat for the whole performance.



In "Last Holiday", Guinness was the absolute picture of a salesman, right down to the mustache. He was mild-mannered, calm, and unassuming. He was the perfect tractor salesman. When diagnosed with "Lampington's Disease" (after a doctor mixed up his x-rays with those of another patient), he truly became down and out. George Bird got that "far-off look" in his eyes, and people begin to notice it. On a whim, he bought all of the clothing from a Lord's Estate sale at a local yard-sale store. Of course, the clothing makes the man, and so he took all of his luggage, too. He decided to go to a posh resort to spend his last days.



From the casting of the hotel staff to the confrontation with "Dr. Lampington", one cannot help but feel for George Bird(and Sir Alec). He played the part to the hilt - the sad looks, the sighs, the depression he seemed to feel permeated the screen. When confronted with something he doesn't like, George stood up and spoke his mind. No longer a salesman, he was free to be himself. As a result he ran into lots of money, helped a gangster/gambler with his debt and with his girlfriend, gave a company executive an idea for marketing, and found himself.

But this wonderful fairytale of making friends at the very last minute ended in tragedy - and very unexpectedly. The end is so sad that it leaves one depressed for days. Guinness played the role so well that one cannot help but feel affected. It's a masterpiece.

Now for the remake - Queen Latifah's role is now cast as "Georgia Bird", and instead of being from a small town in England, she's from a small town in Louisiana. She's not a tractor salesperson, but an associate of a cooking department in a large department store.
While one does feel a measure of sadness for Georgia, it's not the same as that for her character's counterpart in the original film. There's light comedy intermixed into this remake - unlike the dark, morbid, black comedy that made Guinness' version so delightful.
Latifah does handle herself well, but at some point one cannot see the same depths of feeling that were expressed by Guinness. Queen Latifah is not the well-studied actor that Guinness was (in 1950). She cannot possibly stand up to his performance, so we'll just brush that aside.



The addition of Gerard Depardieu does help this film immeasurably. He is a well-studied actor, and he lifts everyone else's performances as well.
This remake is rewritten almost to the point that it is unrecognisable from the original, and as such - the ending is a happy one. Georgia gets all she desires, and everyone lives happily ever after.
WHAT?
The loss of the dark ending destroyed any chance for this movie to do well at the box offices. It's a flop because of the rewriting, most of the casting, and the setting.

If you'd like to go to see a movie with a happy ending, then by all means, see the remake. If you really want to see a well crafted, heart-pounding, triumph of a movie - then See "Last Holiday" (1950). Revel in that which was Alec Guinness, and learn the splendid art of acting the black comedy.

Now I'm Really Surprised.

Yeah, I expected one or two people to stumble over my account in the past few days.
Not only did MyLot ignore my request for a blog feed to them, they totally deleted the request. I'm guessing it was my rant on Paypal that might have gotten them wondering whether I was the devil or something. RAHHHH!!!

No, really. So I'll go ahead and start adding stuff, like piccies. For instance, the one in the left corner. It was my favorite picture of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. When I was a kid I had it in small poster form. I guess I'd gotten it from the inside cover of a Starlog magazine.
Right next to it was a picture of William Shatner, but that's for another post.

I'll tell you a short story about my obsession with Star Wars and Luke - when I finally went to high school and was allowed to dress up for Halloween again (and still be cool) I went as Luke Skywalker. I got a Judo outfit, wrapped my legs with ace bandages, found some very plain slippers, and viola'! I was Luke. Sure, I put my long hair up, to hide it.

I thought I looked great. Or passable. I walked with the ultimate cool to the student project center, where I was confronted by two friends wearing authentic Star Trek uniforms, one of which had been Shatner's Peacock suit in the Motion Picture. After I thought I'd seen everything, I walked solemnly away, mulling on how much I'd like to own that Shatner suit. The hallway was dark, nearly creepy as the cave on Dagobah. Out of the shadows came a looming, black figure! It came up on me so fast, I didn't realize what I was seeing until it was too late----DARTH VADER!
My heart stopped for a second, and then I heard the breathing...no, not the breathing!
In a flash I found myself dangling by the collar of my judo outfit. Vader had picked me up and my legs were swinging about three feet off the floor...
Can you say, heart attack?! As I choked, sputtered, and gasped, I heard a quiet laugh brewing inside the black helmet!

Finally Vader put me down (in a collapsed heap of terrified misery) and took off his helmet. It was my friend Mike! The bastard!
He was chuckling up a storm and commenting on my terrified look...he loved it.
Well, I said, "I'm glad you liked it. Now please excuse me while I go have a heart attack..."
It's really too bad more of my friends didn't see that. I know they'd get a real kick out of it. Not only was Mike tall, but he was as big as David Prowse! I was certainly smaller than Mark Hamill, more like Leia, actually. It must have been a sight to see. In today's age, someone would have had a cellphone camera, and I'd have a picture to see!
Bah. Back then a cellphone was a suitcase-type ordeal that would have given you cancer, and none of them had cameras.
Yes, I'm that old.
Well, sweet dreams, and don't have any nightmares about Darth Vader, mmmmmkay?