Gonzai Gallery

The disaster that was Mike's Wii game (and me buying him the Flaming Lips' version of 'Dark Side of the Moon', which it turns out he already had) aside, we did pretty well this Christmas, esp from a fan standpoint. I landed the complete Farscape series, and season 2 of both 'Life' and 'Pushing Daisies'. Plus, of course, Dominion: Intrigue and Dominion: Seaside. Seaside arrived rather beat up, and that's how my poor little brain feels after reviewing the cards. Some of them are almost bizarrely complicated and I don't understand them at all at this point. I'll probably have to pick brains at Alphabet Soup or Farpoint to figure them out. Jack wanted to play them last night, but it was late so I've put him off until today, when we go to their house. There will be much Dominion today...

Mom also pulled in a haul. I got her an under-cabinet radio/CD player, which also has an MP3 input and a cooking timer. Mike installed it last night. He also installed the TV/DVD player he got her for the kitchen, which has a digital tuner so we finally have TV in the kitchen again. And the DVD player is built-in, so hopefully she only has to navigate the open/close button. I also got her a portable CD/cassette/radio box, which also has an MP3 input, so she can listen to anything anywhere. Last but not least, I got her the first 3 seasons of the Mary Tyler Moore Show and the first season of The Rockford Files, so she's in her own version of geek heaven now.

Back to sleep, so I can survive Christmas-crazed nephews...

Watched the season premiere last night, my thoughts as follows:

( Spoilers, of course )

Pre coffee again:

( Life )
Bones - wow. The boss has a backstory. Who'da thunk it?

( Supernatural )

My brief thoughts on last night's ep, 'Trapdoor':

( Big, big spoilers if you haven't seen it )
As you were.

Word from around the TV world is that 'Pushing Daisies' may not be cancelled after all. Current word is that while the present season will end with episode 13 and the back 9 will not be picked up, ABC will order 13 episodes of the show to air next season. In effect, PD will become a half-season show, which personally I don't think is a bad idea. It's too creative and detailed a show to work well for 22 eps a year. (I might even like it best as a 9-10 ep season.)

Also good news from 'Life' - NBC extended their order on the show to a full season, and the new time slot apparently raised the show's ratings. Anybody's guess what happens when they air head on against 'Lost' though.

Re the check forging: We finally got new checks this morning, after raising a full ruckus with the bank over the matter. So today, we finally got paid (with a little extra for the lateness). No word yet from the FBI on whether they'll take the case.

The good ol' federal government, they'll bail out anybody - except Lehman Bros. I'll bet those folks are wondering what they did wrong. Meanwhile we the taxpayers get to foot the bill for money managers mismanaging. Sigh.

Got Pushing Daisies and Torchwood yesterday. Love the PD packaging scheme, and I got it at Target so I got the pie recipe book as well as the set. The boss has already borrowed the DVDs, hopefully I'll get to watch next week. Torchwood looks like the 1st season set, except lighter on the extras. Probably start watching it tonight.

Didn't watch The Fringe a second time after all - we had one ep of Heroes S2 left, and I decided I'd rather watch that. So there. Very impressed with Sarah Connor Chronicles so far - they're pouring serious money into that budget and keeping the storyline up at the same time. I'll keep my fingers crossed for them.

The good news is I haven't been roped into moderating an orphan panel at easternmediacon . But I have, for reasons I can't explain, volunteered to rescue an orphaned workshop. Looks like the Beginner's Art Workshop will now be a tag team effort by 4 artists, myself being one of them. This should be interesting. I may also be 'pimping' some shows, particularly Life, Pushing Daisies & Spooks. Waiting for a confirm on that.

Oi. My self-imposed semi-absence from the web should hopefully be over soon. I realized at a party a couple weeks ago that given the company I keep, both online and offline, I was going to have to bail on Sci-Fi and torrent Doctor Who. 2 down, 2 to go. We watched Midnight & Turn Left today (along with mini-marathoning the first 4 episodes of 'Life' ) and as soon as Journey's End shows up on torrents...Shore Leave is of course on Friday and I'll get doused with the Doctor there, so I sure hope I'll be caught up before then!

Normally I am not spoiler-phobic. My basic philosophy is to neither seek them nor avoid them. Spoilers happen. Oh well. But, when I know I'll be getting to see something within a few days of everyone else, I do try to avoid places where the show might be discussed. (Unlike a lot of people, I feel that if I don't want to be spoiled, it's MY responsibility to keep from being spoiled. It isn't everyone else's job to do it for me!) If I know it'll be more than a few days, then hell, spoil me, life goes on. Thus I know a lot of about Torchwood S2 and naught about the end eps of Dr Who (other than the casting news).