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| An old fannish5 or two... |
[29 Jun 2009|03:00am] |
It's not Friday and it's been a long time since I've done one of these, but it's too delicious to skip. Also, I've been neglecting this thing for a long time and don't want everyone to go away or forget I exist.
Also, it'll be fun to see who recognizes these names and who doesn't.
From ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) fannish5:
Name 5 characters who'd be most pleased if they ever got the opportunity to see what fandom is writing about them. (and the 5 characters who'd be most shocked ;)
I think Sky, Bridge, Sari, Kenta, and Blurr would like how they're written... Kenta purely because he gets actual screentime. Blurr would probably skim the ones where he's slashed with Bumblebee... unless he got to be dominant. He'd never let anyone know he was reading it, though. And, of course, he'd read it all in five seconds flat.
(Why, why did he have to die after only three episodes? Let's have a moment of silence for the coolest Autobot of all time.)
And yeah, I did mean the Animated version. (Not that the only-three-episodes thing wouldn't make that obvious.) Haven't seen much of fandom's portrayal of Armada version, and I really don't care for G1 version... he basically had the fast-talking gimmick but nothing else, so he repeated the same thing over and over, just to remind us that was his gimmick, and seldom added anything. Animated Blurr had the same gimmick, same actor... and actually had something to say. That last thing is what makes all the difference between my least favorite G1 character and my all-time favorite TFA character. Ironically, most people would say those two versions are a lot alike.
Shocked is easy. Harry Potter, Starscream, Orlando Bloom (seriously! Any fanfic about LOTR's production as opposed to the movie itself... man, what I wouldn't give to have been there to see the look on his face the first time he surfed the 'net and found a fanfic about himself - not any of his characters, but him - as a hermaphrodite who impregnates himself. Stuff like this is... not rare. You don't see it happening to whoever played Aragorn.) Davis, and Rika.
Harry and Starscream for the sexual, uh, adventures. Even non-NC-17 stories are the same half the time, the gory details are just taken offscreen. Davis and Rika, on the other hand, are... a bit different.
See, in the show, he could be a jerk early on, but half the time I felt the way the others treated *him* was worse, and waaaay out of proportion against anything he did. Somebody spank Kari, especially. In fanfic, he makes Osama Bin Ladin look like the Easter Bunny and all other aspects of his personality don't exist. Rika, on the other hand... in the show, she's tough, and a fighter, and a professional snarker. She grows over the course of the series and learns to open up and trust more, but she never stops being a fighter... she just learns everyone's not the enemy. In fanfic, she basically cries and whimpers and can barely face getting out of bed in the morning without her prince [insert whoever she's being paired with here] to rescue her. Uh... you did watch the show at least once before you started writing, right? If the show Rika could appear in this world and see her typical fanfic portrayal, I'd feel sorry for those writers. A lot of serious butt-kicking would be administered in short order.
And from earlier, "Name 5 characters you think really need a hug."
Let's see... Jack Bauer, obviously. Tough and awesome as he is, the havoc it's all wreaked on his life... dude. Not to mention the fact that the people he works for have screwed him a few times (let's let him rot in a torture chamber until we get him out because a bad guy wants to see him executed!) and then there's the fact that nobody ever listens to him when it's obvious. I've heard it said that if he was listened to from the beginning, it wouldn't be called 24, but 6. (Or is it 8?)
Then... Daniel Jackson, Peter Parker, Jeri Katou, Chuck Bartowski. (Chuck's life's not quite as screwed as the others, but the kind of things that happen to him episode to episode... well, he and Peter Parker would get along. I say "Poor Chuck!" aloud at least once almost every time.
Unrelated except in that it's also connected to the world of fiction: "Clownhouse" is seriously. Messed. Up.
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[28 Jun 2009|11:57pm] |
I officially feel like death warmed over. Or really, like someone started to warm over some death, went to play Warcraft and forgot about it, and now it’s burnt beyond recognition and setting off fire alarms.
(Warcraft being Warcraft, whoever’s cooking it still doesn’t notice.)
Mostly, was up to 5 AM last night because I was coughing on and on and on, and no medicine I took was working. Woke up this morning with the kind of headache that makes you wish there was a handy cliff to jump off of, and nothing helped. At all. Spent most of day lying in bed, writhing in pain, and allowing as little light into the room as possible.
WTH. I’ve been sick twice this year already. I don’t need any more. Really.
But at least I managed to find the little missile that goes with a toy I want to sell on Ebay.
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| PR RPM 3: Rain |
[23 Jun 2009|01:49am] |
Got all five RPM figures, with the combining weapon thing. And I don't plan on talking about all the toys... my windowsill's only so big, and my bookshelf's too full of actual books, so I don't have a place for the Zords or anything. There are people who review every figure ever to come out, but... I guess they've got more money and space than I've got.
Anyway, this is the "Full Throttle" set. (The 'full' is important, though: there's a set that's apparently just called 'throttle,' and those are a bit smaller and less detailed. They've got weapons - oversize enough that I don't see how the figures can carry 'em and stand - but I don't know if they combine. Oh, and some shuttle-shaped daggers that you'll become well familiar with later.)
What's funny is, Yellow is so dainty. Usually, the toys for the girl Rangers are 90% like the male ones, but this... somebody stuck a Ranger suit on Barbie. The tiny, high-heeled-ish feet mean she really likes to fall over. And she's got her own, smaller, daintier Nitro Blaster. The 'gas pump' design is improved, with the trigger being a proper squeeze handle, and her finger can actually pull it like a trigger, but she can hold the regular one, and if you want her to hold one in gun mode and one in sword mode like the she did during the fight in Ranger Yellow (say what you will about what they made her backstory, wasn't that one fight awesome?) you'll wanna use one of the normal ones, or the "there's no way this can turn into that!"-ness just screams at you.
( In living spandex... uh, bio-armor. )
I'd meant to do these once a week like before but that doesn't seem to be working so well. I think I'm going to skip to more recent episodes and then fill in the blanks. Coming soon, Embodied... coming eventually, Handshake. Coming when I feel more motivated, a real entry. [Shrug]
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| PRRPM 2: Fade to Black |
[23 Jun 2009|01:42am] |
Ziggy still tries to explain just what a Ranger is to Dillon, as the newcomers attack with their personal weapons. Yellow's is... interesting. This little yellow car thing zips around, hitting the monster over and over, actually lands, kicks up dirt as it swings around to hop up again and hit the monster right in the teeth! Ouch.
Yeah, it's funny when the sentai leftovers and the tone of the PR story don't match at all.
Oh, and when Ziggy explains what a Ranger is, and points at the RPM team, he says "There" for Scott, "That" for Flynn, and "Those" for Summer. Interesting choice of words, Zig-ster...
As for the monster, it's got a bunch of guns on it, but only uses the two big ones. I was hoping it'd do something like Kamen Rider Torque's finisher. I wanna see some totally destructive overkill!
(Speaking of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, how awesome was it to actually see the KO-35 area again? I kept waiting for Ecliptor to form T-1000 style. And speaking of Torque, we lost him waaay too soon. Which seems to be going around lately [glares at Transformers Animated writers for what they did to my favorite character, after he'd only been around for three episodes.])
( Mad Max: Beyond Rangerdome )
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| PRRPM #1: The Road To Corinth |
[30 Mar 2009|12:53pm] |
Hey, it's been a while. A bit late with this, and can't promise any better - life doesn't always leave time for it. Also working on a 'real' entry, but will get to that later.
May as well start from the beginning: the opening. We haven't had an opening theme I could really, really love since DT, but I might just be being picky. Scenes used are just okay. We get full names for everyone, for the first time since Lightspeed, which is the only other time.
The last name we see isn't with a character, or given an "as" part; just "and Olivia Tennet." That's common with a lot of shows, but for PR, it's a first.
However, one thing makes this perhaps the sweetest PR opening of all time:
The name Bruce Kalish is nowhere to be found.
I hardly dared hope, but it's true! [Tears roll down cheeks] Mr "who needs things to make sense, we've got slow-mo and explosions!" has left! The! Building!
( The beginning of the end? )
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[06 Nov 2008|02:53pm] |
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...and because I forgot to say it before... a moment of silence to remember the great Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park was my favorite movies (and books) ever, and if it's all you've seen of his work, don't stop there. You don't have to agree with his environmental views (or reaction to one person who disagreed with them...) to enjoy his work, after all... and more often than not, you will enjoy it.
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| [Pokes self] Yup, still alive. |
[06 Nov 2008|12:09pm] |
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mood |
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 YEE-HA! |
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Ahem.
YEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAH!
That’d be about the election result. I’m still all bouncy about it. [Dances on ceiling] There’s still a reason to have faith in humanity. I’d be *almost* this excited even if he wasn’t black... okay, maybe not. But it'd still have been a very good day.
Oh, still not dead. Keep meaning to write a mega entry of epicness but never get around to it. Working at the zoo now, actually. And supervisors I don’t hate! I never thought I’d see the day! Don’t plan on being here for life or anything, but it’s a huge improvement over past jobs (not to mention the times *between* them.)
And if I buy any more comic books, especially when I still need new shoes, hit me. Hard. Still... the entire Marvel Transformers series. At the Half Price that's ten minutes from me. Now. [Drools] It's calling me... can't resist...
Now, if only they also had the Marvel UK run... of course, it might be on Amazon, somewhere... NOOO! BAD! [Makes self go sit in the corner]
PS: Oh, and if you're gonna post your icons in communities by linking back to your own LJ, remember that it helps to unlock those posts. Can't tell you how many times I've followed a link to someone's icons and gotten "you are not authorized to view this entry."
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[31 Mar 2008|01:11am] |
Sigh. It's been a long past few months. As usual, not much of it is interesting enough to talk about, though. Or maybe I'll feel like it later. Sleepy.
Was gonna save icon for the next Star Trek movie, but that’s in almost a year, and I’d rather hope that it’s good. (I’ve lost count of Star Trek movies. Is it even or odd?) Sylar as young Spock! Dude! Not to mention Leonard Nimoy back as old Spock. Though you gotta feel sorry for an actor who’s always had such a hard time getting a role not involving pointy ears because there’s this one role from ten, then twenty, then thirty, then forty years ago that nobody can un-see. (Though I think he’s considered himself as having retired from acting before it reached the 40-year mark.)
I didn't plan to make this an all fandom journal, but... when I don't have work, all I have to talk about his how much being broke sucks, which isn't very interesting. When I do, all there is to talk about is work, which isn't very interesting.
I wonder what I could do that I would find interesting enough to talk about all the time.
There is the matter of the rest of the Overdrive reviews. Rather than make a buncha posts, I'm going to post the last few at once. Unfortunately, I don't have Home and Away pt. 2 on tape, and the one after that was a clip show and doesn't really count. (No, really. I mean, Koragg's Trial had a story and a point to the clips that fit it. Way Back When, uh, didn't.)
(Actually, since writing that, I have found what I did with Home and Away 2. But don't want to wait any longer. I'll get around to it... uh... when I feel like it. I actually had most of these done months ago but wanted to post them all at once.)
( Better late than never... )
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| =p |
[18 Dec 2007|02:31am] |
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Nothing to say at the moment, but... just so you know I didn’t fall off the edge of the earth. Hi, everybody!
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| PROO #26: Red Ranger Unplugged |
[03 Oct 2007|01:15am] |
I AM CAUGHT UP! Boo-yah!
Nice bit of continuity with the sequel to the book Mack was reading in the premiere. I wonder what the rest of the fandom has to say about that, considering the (over)reaction Mack's little dream sequence at the beginning of the season got.
(Speaking of which... I guess androids don't dream of electric sheep.)
Dax is amusing. Wonder what his dad's like. To have said "you can be anything you want to be, so long as it's not a stuntman," he might have also been in the movie business...
While Mack sets out to find himself, the Fear Cats are... uh, where are they? It looks a lot more interesting than most villain lairs, but they don't show enough to tell what it is. There's a new Fear Cat in town, and it's... Zen-Aku's mother?
Seriously. That looks a lot like ZA and nothing like a cat.
And Flurious has a Fear Cat detector? There's a diagram of a small downtown or industrial area on his screen, with three little triangles, green for Mig, yellow for Benglo, and light blue for the newbie.
Norg's got a cold. And Flurious decides three Fear Cats is three too many and sends Norg to get rid of 'em. Because Norg has shown himself to be that competent in the past, right?
( Heavy metal )
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| PROO #25: Things Not Said |
[03 Oct 2007|01:10am] |
I didn't get the beginning of this one. What I've got starts with Mack showing pictures from a childhood fishing trip that, as we know, can't have happened, what with Mack having popped out of the test tube only two years ago. Wonder who the kid in the photo is and when it was taken.
Down in the batcave, Mr. Hartford's working on the tablet and talking about a Star of Isis, and Rose has done her first Billy-esque feat, a new weapon that's got a few bugs working out. Prepared for the Zords but likely to cook human users.
The alarm barks, and our heroes rush over to an office building. Once they get their, the Trackers can detect whatever the batcave's computers picked up.
Mack decides he's going to go around back 'cause something seems fishy.
Ooh. We've not had a Kamdor episode in a while. At least, not an all-Kamdor episode. He's doing something on one computer (looks like downloading but that doesn't fit what happens later) and turns another computer (monitor, actually) into a computer monster called Datum. Y'know, I wouldn't be surprised if most people didn't even know 'data' had a singular form.
While he takes on the Rangers out front, the real fun's inside as Mack shows up. Miratrix is having trouble fighting him alone, and Kamdor's saying "nah, you can handle this" and just ignoring them. Miratrix's expressions are priceless.
( Mack 2.0 )
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| PROO #24: Ronny on Empty, Part 2 |
[01 Oct 2007|11:02pm] |
Man, that's a lot of Zords.
The word "Egypt" at the bottom of the screen (in case we missed the pyramids) now has snazzier, more Egypty looking script. The gang's not having a great time.
Of course, stuck with Norg, Will just may have it worse. Or maybe not. Norg's tracking capabilities prove to be pretty impressive. Between that and healing dance... how come he never shared any of this with Flurious? May turn out in the end that he's smarter than he looks.
Meanwhile, the bad guys notice Will and send in the goons. It would happen right after Mig said they'd never find the lair.
( Four Rangers walking through the sun for five minutes )
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| PROO 23: Ronny on Empty, Part 1 |
[01 Oct 2007|11:02pm] |
A shiny new opening that's got major ADHD. Which is a good thing. ^_^
It's got most of the Zords we've seen and a few we haven't. That aircraft carrier is sweet. But how many Zords does one team need?! I think we're approacing Wild Force's record by now.
Also of note: usually, any change to the opening after the change that adds the sixth Ranger is a step down, with more and more cool scenes replaced with transformation stock footage, or just the various toys in order. Good to see that not happen. In fact, there's less of the Flashpoint transformation.
How not to do it is like last year, with virtually the entire battlizer scene, or DT and that truck. (I still wanna know just how a truck that was in one episode only deserved to be shown very prominently in the opening for half the season and Hayley didn't merit being in the opening at all.) TF's opening became something of a gadget showcase near the end, too. One more transformation scene of gadgets we see frequently isn't exciting.
( Did anybody get the license plate of that carrier? )
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| PROO #22: One Fine Day |
[01 Oct 2007|11:00pm] |
Well, first, some things I didn't remember to say about Once A Ranger.
One, who says Thrax was imprisoned for thousands of years? Just like Koragg, who also wasn't imprisoned for thousands of years, he said "all these" years, not giving a number. If you were stuck in a jar for three years, with no minions to talk to unlike Rita, you'd be glad to get out, right? It makes a lot more sense to me for his imprisonment to be short in cosmic terms but longer than you'd want to be locked away, and for him to have simply started his evil career young.
Though it's not implausible that Zedd wasn't above having his way with a pretty underling (at the end of Countdown to Destruction, we saw what Rita really looks like, remember?) and so realistically he could have been around a while... but you don't have to try quite that hard or go quite that far outside something likely to happen in Power Rangers to fit him in.
Born during MMPR or PRZ. Got old enough to use magic staff. Did bad stuff. Got locked up. Got out. Just that simple.
( Because you didn't ask )
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| 9/11 Is Over |
[01 Oct 2007|12:29pm] |
By Thomas L. Friedman
Published: September 30, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/30/news/edfried.php
Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:
"At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. 'My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,' said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. 'As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.' If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions."
Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true - how much, since 9/11, we've become "The United States of Fighting Terrorism." New York Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there's no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don't need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.
( What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. )
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| PROO #20-21: Once a Ranger |
[20 Aug 2007|03:09am] |
Starts with a sailor or pirate monster coming out of a museum with a big ruby. Kamdor says it's not one of the Jewels and tosses it aside, but Miratrix catches it, saying she'll take it if he won't. It seems they were just kicking back and waiting for the monster to return.
The Rangers show up, and Kamdor's ready to fight even though he doesn't want the ruby. It's a fairly short fight. Ooh, they don't do the jump kick thing that often anymore. Ty uses the Drive Detector's finishing slash on the monster, which doesn't get blown up but still isn't seen again after this. Ironic, given how many bad guys are gonna blow up in the near future and mysteriously be just fine later.
Miratrix and Kamdor run off after this. We switch to Flurious, who unsurprisingly shows no sign of that grand plan it sounded like he might've had up his sleeve last time. However, someone else has something in mind. Norg gives Flurious a clam-shaped device with a very familiar Z symbol. The message is someone offering to give them what they seek.
Oh, and there's this thing about an ice cube thing on Norg's head that I think was... supposed to be funny or... something.
( Go, go, retro Rangers! )
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| PROO #19: One Gets Away |
[20 Aug 2007|02:46am] |
We kick off with Rose following the COM-paahs along the beach, saying "a little more" every few seconds. When they call her name, she basically tells them to quit saying "are we there yet?" I thought, though, that they were trying to tell her to quit saying "a little more." That got annoying real quick.
But it turns out that she'd run out of beach. Sadly, we don't get to see nearly enough of her right after she's come out of the water.
Meanwhile, it's Stupid Alliance Time. This time, Moltor's lured the Fear Cats in. He gives them the location of a new kind of armor in exchange for getting rid of the Rangers.
Okay, not-so-stupid alliance time. More like, getting someone else to do his dirty work, enabling him to get a power source greater than the one he's led them to. Still gotta wonder why he doesn't use it himself. Is he running out of monsters?
Back at the beach, Dax, Ronny, and Will emerge from the water morphed, and with a good-sized blue gem. You'd think Rose, the only one who knew how to read the COM-paahs and the one whose Zord is a submarine, would have gone.
Miratrix is watching. And Rose looks dry.
( Armed and dangerous )
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| PROO #18: Out of Luck |
[05 Aug 2007|03:00am] |
Hartford and Spencer talk about that compass thing being important, and Spencer says the Rangers are always on high alert. I was sure scenes of them goofing off would follow, but instead, this episode jumps right into things. A familiar-looking dragon enters Moltor's lair. No, not a monster we've seen before, though given how many lives Bullox from Face to Face seemed to have, I wouldn't be surprised if he walked up. Hey, think we're going to have a monster reunion episode this year? MF didn't have one...
Anyway, it's not a past monster, but another past Zord design. Namely, Serpentera. Uh-oh...
And he gets a name, for once. Blothgaar. Meh. We also find out what the board thingy is: an item Blothgaar recognizes as (according to CC) the Paedra Aztec Del Compass. Throughout the episode, he pronounces 'compass' as 'COMP-aaahs.' (He also seems more than a standard monster-of-the-week. Moltor talks to him as almost an equal and called him 'old friend.')
Moltor demonstrates the compass by blasting a Lava Lizard into the magma pit. But we know they can withstand that...
Moltor sends out Blothgaar to use the compass on the Rangers. He winds up not having to look too hard for them, since the Rangers are tracking the compass. (Where's Tyzonn? We don't see him until about halfway through the episode. Please, tell me they're not gonna Trent him...) Speaking of which, Moltor's gotta have some way of shielding his lair. You'd think the Rangers would be able to find it via stolen artifacts. The crown (Moltor's still got it, y'know) especially. That ought to show up on Hartford's instruments like a bright neon sign.
Of course, it's against Ranger law to go after an enemy's lair until a lot closer to the season finale than this. It's in the rule book right after unmorphed Rangers being unhittable.
( Mack and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day )
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| PROO #17: It's Hammer Time |
[05 Aug 2007|02:57am] |
Our heroes have discovered the two items reacting to each other, and it's time to go to work. I'm assuming this is the morning after last episode, then.
When the computer screen is staticing, and Rose can't get through, Ronny bops the control panel and it fixes.
I guess the writers don't think people are really listening. When is getting through firewalls involved in using your organization's computer (to which you have the passwords for this sorta thing) to analyze objects?
Turns out they both have the same signature of the Yanomami Statue. When they show it close up, only now do I notice that the statue is holding both a little Mjolnir and a little Ki Amuk Cannon! They never mentioned it.
Rose discovers that the face on the statue matches the face on Mars, apparently pointing towards the jewel (again, writers have to stop assuming audiences are stupid. I think your average ten-year-old knows that the same point on Mars isn't pointing to the same point on Earth constantly.)
Anyway, the Rangers wind up driving through Mexico on way more vehicles than they need. Even Hartford's gonna run out of money with what they've gotta spend on gas.
( Can't touch this! )
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[05 Aug 2007|02:52am] |
Haven't done a real entry in some time. Partially due to not finding my own life too interesting. Also haven't had much time lately.
So, the HP saga is over. I wonder what some people are going to do. I personally am not into HP. Nothing wrong with it, but I never got through the first book. With some writers, I can breeze through it, and some are a bit tougher. Was considering trying again, but then saw the lengths of the later books. I'll wait for the movies, thanks.
I wonder how the movie will handle them. People talked about things getting left out with the early ones. How do you cram a 1200-page monster into two hours if you can barely do it with the 200-page ones?
Didja know the K in JK Rowling doesn't actually stand for anything? She doesn't have a middle name so she used K from her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for an initial when asked to not use her actual name (Joanne) in case male readers wouldn't want to buy something they knew was written by a woman.
We had major downpours for about a week straight nonstop a while back. Some places had major flooding starting with the first day, but fortunately, this area doesn't get it so bad. Some places, though, had a mini-Katrina before it was all over (assuming it's over.) complete with rooftop rescues.
I like the rain, though. And around here, by this time of year, after only getting a few sprinkles around what's supposedly the rainy season, we're usually talking about major drought conditions, rationing of water, rolling blackouts due to air conditioner usage... not nice.
And to watch the news a few days ago, you'd think Bush's colonoscopy was a grand and momentous occasion. Even though his decisions certainly come from there, George Bush's butt is not anything you'd think anyone would want to know about.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
(Oh, no point to that, just saw it on a site somewhere.)
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