...and I come across this little bit of joyous fannish serendipity:

Then came the kicker. The moment I knew couldn't be topped, so I just left the con after. I came out from the Paramount booth, and directly across is a booth that has an elevated, second-story platform for autograph signings. I look up, and there's that guy who's playing Rorschach in Watchmen. He's having his picture taken on the balcony, away from the signing. I tell my lady to snap some shots, she does. Then I pause, and realize, the fates have aligned me and Rorschach perfectly. He's up there, I'm down here. I couldn't resist.

I yell "Rorschach! Save us!"

He looks down at me, smiles, and whispers, "No."

Best Comic-con day ever.

Amazon selling each season set of The X Files for $19.99. MSRP is $50 each.

Sale lasts for fewer than 24 hours.

RUN!

Colm Meaney out, Harvey Keitel in as Gene Hunt in American version of Life on Mars.

I'm not gonna watch the thing anyway (certainly not after reading how the creative team is changing Sam Tyler's "mythology" because it "felt a bit unsatisfying"), but... wtf? Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli... is this a mob show now?

FanLib/Fanhistory suicide-pact slash deathfic.

Evanescence lyrics a plus.

With more to come on the Laura Hale front, I thought now would be a good time for a quick intermission. I suppose "palate cleanser" is more correct, but "amuse bouche" sounds tastier. So here's the tasty! The Dark Knight himself, Christian Bale (very very blond!) and House's own Doctor Wilson, Robert Sean Leonard (very very floppy-haired!), swing-dancing with one another in a quick clip from Swing Kids. (Their bit starts at one minute in.) Some of you who were around this lj about three years ago have probably already seen this, but you can't share a good thing too many times, sez I. Please note how the other couples are male/female. *cough*




For those who cannot see the embedded video, here it is on YouTube.

David Duchovny wants to play a bad guy on Doctor Who.

And in other, more OMG YES news, Playing The Riddler would be David Tennant's boyhood dream come true. " 'I'd love to play the Riddler and be bad to Batman,' the Doctor Who star told the Daily Express."

YES, PLEASE BE BAD TO BATMAN, DAVID TENNANT-AS-RIDDLER. THANK YOU.

ithiliana has posted, publicly, what many of us have only discussed privately. Read it, please. Link to it, if you want to help spread the word.

I hope this moves more people to post their own stories about Laura Hale. I hope this finally helps push fandom past the fear of appearing rude and into the shunning this woman deserves.

ETA: Also read dejana's take here.

Posts are limited to 65,535 bytes in size. Anyone know what this works out to, generally, in character count?

Comments are limited to 4,300 characters, with subjects of 100 characters. Why are comments defined by characters, while entries are defined by bytes? Seems random.

Icons - Permanent Account limit is 143 userpics (includes maximum number of Loyalty Userpics). 143 is bizarrely arbitrary, no?

I can't add to the superlatives being thrown around about the movie in general, and Heath Ledger's performance in particular, but I need to mention something that might otherwise slip past viewers.

The Dark Knight passes The Bechdel Test. Now, the scene maybe 30 seconds long, but IT PASSES THE BECHDEL TEST.

So, in one of those "testosterone-fuelled" films, we somehow got a tiny, tiny moment. Maybe the editors missed it and it slipped in under the radar. *g*

Take THAT, cock-fuelled Hollywood.

For them what is just discovering that NPH can sing, thanks to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, may I present:

Neil as the Balladeer (he comes in later in the song) in the Tony Award-winning production of Assassins.

Neil as Toby in the 20th-anniversary live concert edition of Sweeney Todd, singing "Not While I'm Around".

Neil and Jason Segal, during a talk show interview with the cast of "How I Met Your Mother", wind up singing "Confrontation" from Les Miserables.

A not-quite-good bootleg of Neil and the cast singing the opening number, "Wilkommen", in the recent revival of Cabaret on Broadway (jazz hands for the big finish!). The bootlegger doesn't quite understand how to deal with filming through a spotlight. But Neil's face *does* eventually appear out of the freakishly blank oval with black hair you first see.

So here's a publicity photo - ( Neil as the Emcee in the Broadway revival of Cabaret )

There is finally an stable, wide-screen, multi-size trailer site up for Watchmen (now with added smiley face with bullet hole in it!).

Yet more interesting news, which I am guessing is going to thrill fans of the novel, from today's New York Times:

Mr. Snyder [the director] is also directing a separate-but-related picture that Warner plans to distribute exclusively on DVD. The second film, tentatively called Tales of the Black Freighter, follows a side Watchmen storyline about a shipwreck, and will arrive in stores five days after the main movie rolls out in theaters.

The Watchmen film, Mr. Snyder said, will probably generate at least three DVDs: Tales of the Black Freighter, followed about four months later by release of Watchmen itself, and then an “ultimate” edition in which the two are edited together into one megamovie. (Editorial note: FUCK YEAH)

Mr. Snyder said he was eager to head a direct-to-DVD project, in part because it would allow him to use more material from the Watchmen graphic novel. “I thought the Black Freighter story would never see the light of day,” he said. “The main picture is nearing three hours long and I know I have a fight on my hands just with that.”

The first trailer for Watchmen is online ETA: online at YouTube. Uh... online at YouTube HERE. Wow. Empire put it up just this morning and it's already gone. I guess they didn't have permission? Bummer--it was FABULOUS looking compared to the YouTube ones. If the YouTube link doesn't work, just search YouTube... it'll be there somewhere.

FINALLY. A stable link to the official, high-quality Watchmen trailer. Thank you, Apple. (Now with added bullet-hole smiley face!)

Anyway.

OMG Dr. Manhattan looks AWESOME. Rorschach looks AWESOME. New York City looks... oh God. Just. MOVIE.

If you have never read Watchmen, I humbly (okay, not so humbly) suggest you boogie on over to Amazon (or, please, your local bookstore or comic shop of choice) and buy that puppy. If such things as critical opinion matter to you, it's been on several "Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century" lists, and Maus (and maybe Sandman?) is the only other graphic novel usually included in those lists. It's considered The One That Changed It All--the comic series that changed superhero comics forever. I'm not a comic-book expert, but I have no doubt that most people reading this either are one or know one. Ask them if you don't believe me.

omg dr manhattan

Since Act I of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is up, I went browsing for interviews and articles, so you don't have to!

We'll put it on in my uncle's barn!

Whedon created this musical-comedy, comic-book-themed mash-up during the writers strike.

“Basically, it was, ‘Hey, kids, let’s put on a show,’ ” said Whedon, 44.

The actors lent their talents for free and Whedon himself funded the low-budget, six-day shoot.

[T]he three episodes will be published over the course of this week, and will stay available until July 20th. Then they’ll be removed from the free site, but you’ll be able to pay to download the episodes from iTunes, and a DVD containing all the episodes plus extras will be available shortly too.

[Q]: Although plenty of fans are going to want to own the DVD, which has extra features like musical commentary tracks, you have to anticipate others obtaining Dr. Horrible through file-sharing networks. Are you concerned about illegal torrenting at all?

[A]: I think if you want [DVD sales], you have to expect [illegal downloading.] If you incite passion in your fans, you get both sides of that coin. But what else would you want? A note, though, to all you would-be pirates: Scurvy is a serious issue. Eat some limes.

Almost as soon as the video became available, the familiar complaints of U.S. only video started rolling in. To their credit, team Dr. Horrible quickly updated their twitter account to let everyone know they were working on international viewing.

I was directed to an lj user's info page today that was about ten browser-screens long; it had photos and quotes and lyrics and drawings and policies and school info and art credits and every possible thing lj lets you display on it and then some. And it made me wonder (among, uh, other things) what it is people hope to find on info pages, and what people put on their own info page, and possibly why.

So, naturally, it's time for another poll!

ETA: *sigh* I forgot to include "interests", because I am a chowderhead.

Poll #1220018 Hello, my name is:
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

My info page includes:

I read an lj user's info page:

I look at info pages for any of the above reasons:

tzikeh:

I'm posting this one thing for people who like Ten and Rose. I tried to come up with a way to say this without being remotely spoilery, but this is the best I can do. ETA: Yes, of course send other Ten/Rose fans by.

( A little extra from the Confidential which would have been nice to have in the episode )

NOTE: This is a happy-only post; skip on by if you wanna skip on by, but please, I beg you, only shallow and/or happy thoughts if you want to comment.

Sure, they're naive and optimistic almost beyond belief, but they were the first exposure I had to American history, and they still make me happy. Besides, they're catchy.

Right-click, save, and sing along!

Rockin' and a-rollin, splishin' and a-splashin, over the horizon, what can it be?

There's gonna be fireworks, on the Fourth of July!

Well, the shot head 'round the world was the start of the Revolution--

We the People....

I'm just a bill; yes, I'm only a bill....

And finally, I'd completely given up on believing in the Great American Melting Pot, but in light of the fact of our Democratic nominee:

Lovely lady Liberty, with her book of recipes....

Jesse Helms has died on the 4th.

And no, I'm not sorry he's dead. I'm sorry for his grieving family; it's terrible to lose a loved one. But I'm not sorry he's dead.

No caffeine yet - anyone got a punchline?

ETA: Some words of wisdom from the great man himself:

“It's their deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct that is responsible for the disease.” -- on homosexuality and AIDS.

"To rob the Negro of his reputation of thinking through a problem in his own fashion is about the same as trying to pretend that he doesn't have a natural instinct for rhythm and for singing and dancing." -- on criticism that a newspaper cartoon of a black person was offensive.

"[President] Clinton better watch out if he comes down here [to North Carolina]. He'd better have a bodyguard." -- on then-President Clinton's supposed unpopularity with the North Carolina military. According to Helms (and refuted by military personnel), the military was likely to shoot Clinton if he came to North Carolina.

"Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping, and the murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior." -- from the text of a fundraising mailer sent out by the Helms campaign.

I logged into Adium tonight, and all of my clients (gtalk, MSN, icq, ljtalk, yahoo) logged in just fine, except for AOL. It asked me for my password. This has never happened, and I haven't changed anything. I went to the AIM website and changed my password, got the confirmation email, and then tried again. No joy. So I installed the AIM client itself in case the problem was with Adium, and tried logging in just through AIM. Same problem.

Anyone have any advice? I've looked through the FAQ and found nothing.

The first poll is still open here. This is culled from comments on the original poll. I'm sure there are many, many more, but I can't do this forever; I have serious amounts of television to watch schoolwork to do. And yes, I know for some of us these predate internet usage, but most of them exploded into the vernacular thanks to the internet, so I'm including them.

The following has/have crept into my spoken vocabulary:

More -

Please point your friends over, if you would--I'd love a really broad sample!

The following has/have crept into my spoken vocabulary:

Two friends of mine just saw State of Play, and are desperate for other quality British shows on par with that--especially thriller action-type shows.

I have Spooks recommended. They've already seen Life on Mars and adored it. They've seen Hustle and adored that one as well.

Anyone have some recs for me?

OMG WTF ETA: The UK show Spooks is called MI-5 in the U.S. Season One DVDs at amazon.com say 360 minutes. Season 1 DVDs at the UK amazon asy 460 minutes. I'm assuming, therefore, that the DVDs in America are of the BBCA version, where they cut all the swearing and nudity. WTF?? Is this some sort of typo, or is America so sad that they can't even release the complete show on DVD?

( I don't think it's that simple )

The Beeb aired the trailer for The Doctor Who finale this afternoon. You can view it here at BlogtorWho.

Starting around thirty minutes into the Confidential, when you first see the table read, don't drink or eat. I'm laughing so hard my sides hurt.

I'll be over here in the corner screaming incoherently, if anyone needs me. (Warning: spoilers in comments)

So there I was, eating my grapefruit, watching Ace of Cakes reruns on the TiVo, with my laptop open to my online Astronomy quiz....( and then suddenly I'm in an episode of The Wire )

You know, all I wanted to do this morning was eat my grapefruit and take my astronomy quiz. And then suddenly it's fucking HBO out my front door. WTF, life.

BTW for your Ace of Cakes fans--Food Network is showing a preview of the new season on Sunday night. I just saw an ad for it.

Quoted directly from Metafilter:

"For U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963, the rights holder needed to submit a form to the U.S. Copyright Office renewing the copyright 28 years after publication. In most cases, books that were never renewed are now in the public domain. Estimates of how many books were renewed vary, but everyone agrees that most books weren't renewed. If true, that means that the majority of U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963 are freely usable." How do you know? The renewal copyright records have traditionally been scattered and hard to access, but Google - with the help of Project Gutenberg and the Distributed Proofreaders painstakingly typed in every word - has just released a single database as a freely downloadable XML file.

You can just call people on their shit. Because if you're hated, you may as well go nuts on the "fuck it; it can't get worse" part of that.

HBO2 will present 11 of George Carlin's specials over two nights. (all times ET/PT):

Wednesday, June 25 (That's tonight, in case you're all datefuzzled today, like me)

8:00 p.m. George Carlin at USC (1977)
9:30 p.m. George Carlin Again! (1978)
11:00 p.m. Carlin at Carnegie (1983)
midnight Carlin on Campus (1984)
1:00 a.m. Playin’ with Your Head (1986)

Thursday, June 26

8:00 p.m. What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988)
9:00 p.m. Doin’ It Again (1990)
10:00 p.m. Jammin’ in New York (1992)
11:00 p.m. Back in Town (1996)
12:05 a.m. You Are All Diseased (1999)
1:00 a.m. It’s Bad for Ya (2008)

This Saturday night, NBC will run the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, which George Carlin hosted. He does three separate monologues. The episode also features musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston, and special guest Andy Kaufman.

AND TITS.

"And now, in the interest of equal time, here is a message from the National Institute of Pancakes: It reads, and I quote, 'Fuck waffles.'"

FUCK. He was just about to get the Mark Twain Prize, too.

Tonight's forecast: dark.

As I've begun posting (with great trepidation) in a few Doctor Who communities, I've noticed something about Doctor Who fans' version of "icon love" that I haven't seen in any other fandom. Rather than commenting on something with "I love your icon; is it shareable?" the DW fans respond with "I love your icon and I'm stealing it! *yoink!*"

WTF, Doctor Who fans? "Hi, I'm taking this" is okay in what part of the universe?

I'm still back-and-forth about the font, but I'm letting it go. (For now *cough*.)

I want to thank xenacryst and lydiabell and elynross and cereta and amireal for suggestions and advice and handholding.

Also, guh.

The Color Thesaurus. Yeah, I'm never leaving this site. Crayola can suck it.

iRetroPhone. Ssssshk-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka, shhhk-ticka-ticka-ticka....

Teeny USB vacuum for your computer desk--just like grandma's!

Suede, laser-cut alphabet scarf.

For anyone who has ever slammed into a parking meter or fire hydrant while walking and reading at the same time, now you can do it the high-tech way!

And if you haven't seen Jon Stewart's interview with Steve Carell from this week on The Daily Show, you really, really must.

I just installed FF3, and some of my old plug-ins and add-ons are no longer compatible. Since I am not all that well acquainted with what I should trick out my browser with anyway, I turn to you, the all-knowing, to clue me in. What are your favorite Firefox doo-dahs, and why are they useful? Tab thingies, ad-blocker thingies, script thingies, download thingies?

Soooo yeah--anyone got a spare $36,000 lying around? You'd be investing in the education of our children! (Who are apparently our future, if you believe as Whitney believes.)

Alternatively, anyone know some men who'd pay big bucks to have sex with a slightly overweight 39-year-old?

I'm not proud... or tired....

If you have seen The Happening and didn't care for it, or if you haven't seen it and have no intention of seeing it, you should totally go read this. If you haven't seen it and want to, don't go there.

Also don't be drinking anything if you go read it.

OMG.

1) OH LIZA MINNELLI NO

2) Paulo Szot - Completely, utterly deserved. A return to a real, honest-to-God Broadway baritone. I can't remember the last time we had a majestic voice like that on stage.

3) Patti LuPone. Well. If the live performance was anything to go by, this is a "We haven't given you a Tony since 1980" award, and not a "You were better than Kelli O'Hara" award. But? Awesome, awesome, AWESOME speech.

4) And so another Tony Award broadcast comes to an end, watched by literally dozens of people across the nation. GO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL THEATER COMMUNITY. SEE A PLAY. GOODNIGHT, EVERYBODY!

1) Why is it that any time I hear the two words "Tom Stoppard" I get a smile on my face? It's totally involuntary, I swear!

2) Hello, Gabriel Byrne. Please come to my house so I can lick you. The fact that your tie is loosened enough that it is obvious just makes you more delectable.

3) Once again - Chicago, represent!

4) This show would be two hours long instead of three hours long if Whoopi Goldberg would just. stop. it.

3) Seeing Mamma Mia! featured just makes me giddy that the Meryl Streep / Pierce Brosnan movie is coming up.

4) Mary Louise Parker! Show Brad Whitford show Brad Whitford show Brad Whitford....

5) I would have loved to have seen Patrick Stewart win for Macbeth, but I saw Mark Rylance play Olivia in his theater company's all-male production of Twelfth Night. I've never seen an actor give a performance that came anything like close to that. (To give you a sense of just how fucking awesome he was, I've seen Ian McKellen as Edgar and Helen Mirren as Alice in Dance of Death, Derek Jacobi in as Alan Turing in Breaking the Code, Johnny Murphy as Estragon in the most riveting production of Waiting for Godot you can imagine, Emma Thompson as The Fool in King Lear, Brian Dennehy as Willy and Elizabeth Franz as Linda in Death of a Salesman, and more.) I'd watch Rylance in anything. Also? SPECTACULAR acceptance speech.

6) Oh, Richard Griffiths. And we nearly got through the show without a reference to Harry Potter.

7) Yeeeaaaah, boy. Tracy Letts. "Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel. They did an amazing thing. They decided to produce an American play on Broadway with theater actors."

8) WTF Sondheim isn't THERE to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award? I... don't know what to make of that. Is he ill?

9) Holy SHIT, the special effects in the revival of Sunday in the Park with George actually contribute to, rather than detract from, the artistry. Oh my God I just got chills. And "Move On" is still freaking gorgeous.

10) OMG. Xanadu What. No, really. What. I can't tell if this is... no, okay, clearly this is meant to be hilarious. Thank God, because, um, it succeeds. These people are nuts. I think this is kind of awesome. OMG TONY ROBERTS FTW. I really want to see this. OMG. Have I said OMG yet? Or, as Lily Tomlin said as she introduced it, she saw it and she "L... M... AO."

1) Kelli O'Hara, no one is allowed to be that cute while being that talented. OMG.

2) Kristin Chenoweth, see #1.

3) Okay, Whoopi Goldberg in the Mary Poppins outfit being flown in was pretty freaking funny. But saying "If I can play Mary Poppins, anyone can" is kind of insulting to the woman playing Mary Poppins, no?

4) Laura Benanti, that was the best dress. No, seriously. THE BEST DRESS. Also, I'm so happy for you, because you were so fucking awesome in Nine that you were able to steal scenes from Antonio Banderas. The only other woman in a cast of sixteen women (including Jane Krakowski and Mary Stuart Masterson) who was able to do that was Chita Motherfuckin' Rivera.

5) DEAR BROADWAY PEOPLE STOP PUTTING SONGS INTO BROADWAY REVIVALS THAT WERE WRITTEN FOR THE MOVIE BASED ON THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION. GREASE DOES NOT NEED A DISCO NUMBER KTHXBAI.

6) Why is Daniel Radcliffe there? Are they bringing his Equus to Broadway?

7) OH LITTLE MERMAID NO

8) Shuler Hensley, why oh why couldn't Tim Burton have looked past his heterosexual man-love erection for Johnny Depp and cast you as Sweeney Todd? Surrounding you with big stars would have still sold the film.

9) Brad. Smile. Your show won. WTF sourpuss.

1) Why is Bradley Whitford in the audience? Is there a tribue to A Few Good Men or something? ETA Whoops: he was in the revival of Boeing-Boeing, which won Best Revival. Okay then.

2) OH MANDY PATINKIN NO

3) Is it me, or was Patti LuPone's rendition of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" totally not worthy of a screaming standing ovation? And who the hell BLOCKED that shit? Oh, right, Arthur Laurents, who has had a long and distinguished career in theater direction and in screenplay writing, and should have quit before he was 1) behind, 2) 90 years old (not kidding), 3) completely senile.

4) I am so looking forward to Sondheim's Lifetime Achievement Award. MOST DESERVED AWARD EVER.

5) Chicago Shakespeare Theater Regional Tony WOOT!

6) Someone stop Whoopi Goldberg. Forever.

7) I'm sure your show is completely "urban", In the Heights dude. But if you rap your acceptance speech, I *will* laugh at you, not with you. Thought the "Finishing the Hat" reference was clever.

Poll #1205258 twelve... twelve... twelve...
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

VCR:

DVD Recorder:

TiVo / DVR

Torrent:

The nigh-inevitable ticky-box:

How 'bout that there Battlestar Galactica show, huh?

More later when coherency returns from wherever it's gone.

There is no way this is going to be there long, but there's a website called "restofthemovie.com" which streams movies which are currently in the theaters. You can see Iron Man here (there are subtitles). It is a camcorder of a widescreen in a movie theater, with a direct audio in from the source (so you don't hear the audience).

The have other movies, but really? I didn't browse.

*is on part 2 of 5 now*

Just a brief post, as the source has mentioned something which wasn't posted before:

( spoilers; you know the drill )

There was a special screening of the BSG mid-season finale last night in L.A., and even though Ron Moore begged people not to post anything, someone did.

I feel bad about repeating what they posted. Kind of. Maybe. A little.

Okay, I really don't.

If you don't want to read the massive spoilers, but want to know one or two small things, you can find me on chat or email me with your specific questions (yes/no questions often work well), and I will answer them if I have the answers. I'll be around after 1pm Central time.

Email: tzikeh ut thechicagoloop deet net.

Chat IDs:

AIM: tzikeh
Yahoo!: tzikeh
Jabber: tzikeh
Google Talk: tzikeh
LJ Talk: tzikeh@livejournal.com
MSN: tzikeh@thechicagoloop.net
ICQ: 336685900

( SERIOUSLY. MASSIVE. GINORMOUS. DON'T CLICK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW. )

I don't have the time, brain, or energy to do this properly, so I am entreating those of you on my friendslist who are fans of I-Man to spread the word far and wide.

Hulu is hosting all of Season 1 of Invisible Man. This means anyone (in the U.S. only, apparently, which stinks) can watch all of season 1, for free, on their computer. Every episode. In order. (Many thanks to misspamela for the heads-up.) ETA: If anyone out there knows a method for letting people outside the U.S. view the content on Hulu, please drop a line in the comments. (AFATG, if anyone knows a method for letting people *inside* the U.S. view stuff at the Beeb's site, drop that line too. Why doesn't the entertainment industry catch up with the consumers?!)

( Links to The Amazing Sisabet's Brain: Invisible Man PicSpam posts. )

The Season 1 DVDs are also available for sale, but free online streaming makes hooking someone on the show about a million times more likely then asking them to go buy a DVD set because you swear they'll love it really really.

Anyone reading who loves the show: now is our time to efangelize. If we can't get fans hooked on a show that is as enjoyable and engaging as Invisible Man is, while the entire first season is *free to watch online*, we may as well hand in our Fandom membership cards. And if we can't get *slash* fans hooked on it, we should each be forced to stand in the middle of a bunch of Klingons while they turn their backs on us, and then get dropped off on our own ice floe. Or something.

I have tried to see this movie twice before. Once we didn't even make it to the movie theater; the second time we paid, got into the theater, sat down, and then due to Unfortunate Pain we had to leave. I *finally* got to see it today.

Hand over the Tony/Pepper, and no one gets hurt.

No, seriously. Where is it.

( Doctor Who 4x9 )

Apparently, there is no limit to the utter, utter randomness of David Tennant.

( David Tennant, sitting in a bean-bag chair, wearing a hula hoop, holding a bunch of bananas, in order to win 500 pounds. )

How about that Battlestar Galactica, huh?

ETA ( SPOILERY VISUAL DESCRIPTION )