PKW Widescreen!

The "Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars" DVD that I won was waiting for me when I got home today! =)

I want to watch the Making of PKW documentary, but I got home so late, and my sis would prefer I wait for her to watch it. I'm going to *try* to be patient. ;-)

Thank you, Tony Tellado from Sci-Fi Talk! :D

*doin' a happy dance*

Walking to Help the Hungry

Project Bread's annual Walk for Hunger is coming up on Sunday, May 1, and I plan on walking again this year (with, hopefully, a few new faces joining me! *g*).

If you'd like to make a pledge online/sponsor me, click here. Thank you!

To find out other ways to help ease hunger in Mass., please visit this page. =)

March is Women's History Month

MSN's got an interesting article, in honor of Women's History Month (March), Eight Great Women, Five Awful Ones.

Like the title suggests, the article notes eight amazing women and five who weren't so nice. ;)
Some I'd never heard of before, like The Trung sisters and Phung Thi Chinh:

Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, sisters and widows of Vietnamese aristocrats, led a major uprising against Chinese invaders in AD 39. Trung Trac ruled for four years before the Chinese conquered Vietnam again, but resistance continued for the next 1,000 years. Many women figured in the resistance, notably Phung Thi Chinh, who fought while pregnant, paused to give birth, and rejoined the fight with her baby on her back.

Sound like a certain Peacekeeper we know? *g*

Or how about Ida Wells-Bartlett, described as a "precursor to Rosa Parks"?

Of course, I *had* heard of some of them, most notably Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary), Countess Nadasy (Elizabeth Bathory) and pirates Mary Reade & Anne Bonney.

In the article is also a link to seven women explorers, also a great read.

Ugly Doll in the Movies!

Hey, it's Ugly Doll! :D

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/zathura/

(not that this matters, but my little niece loves her Ugly Doll that we got her -- actually, we'd gotten her two*g*)

*this is cross-posted to my live journal as well

MediterrAsian Cooking

MediterrAsian.com takes the best of Mediterranean and Asian diets and offering healthy, tasty meal options. I could definitely subscribe to this. Add some chocolates for dessert, and I am a happy person. :P

In honor of my cousin N. studying abroad in Greece, I took a look at their breakdown of the Greek diet. N., does this sound about right? *g* Actually, I was told by her that she & some new friends (six) had gone out to indulge one night: cheese sticks, fried zucchini with white sauce topping, lamb chops, two orders of calamari, feta with oil, bread, salad, cheese melt (four types of cheese w/ a tomato), and two liters of wine (though she says "it was the really cheap wine though"), and 3 liters of water. That's what she could remember. The total cost (for the six people) came to 60euro (N. kindly noted that 1euro=$1.30), plus they got live Greek music. Though I could've skipped the lamb and calamari, the rest would have been promptly devoured by me. It just sounds soooo good! :D

Anyway, I thought I'd share the site for those who might be interested.

(I've also cross-posted this to my live journal.

Happy Birthday, Sherbert

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! =)

---
The following was originally posted on my LJ, but I know not everyone reads it so, I'll repost here. ;-)

I love this. Filmmaker Scott Weintrob took his Canon digicam, his PowerBook G4 and a boom box to the streets of L.A. to record a music vid for the rerelease of the song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory. He shot, edited and burned the video to DVD within a week. Macs rock. =)

Also, on March 11, I received my Walking Papers today. I'll be signing up online, too, to collect pledges soon and will post that link when I do (just in case anyone wants to pledge me!) ... If anyone wants to join me this year, just let me know before May 1. I know a lot of people walk it on their own or volunteer for the Walk for Hunger each year, but if you want company, you know where I am. =)

Scary Dolls and Needy Toys

Over the weekend, I was surfing the net for various blog sites and took a peek at one of Blogger.com's spotlighted blogs: PopGadget.net.

On this site is a collection of posts about unusual or just really cool gadgets and toys for popular culture. :) One post in particular caught my eye, and I followed the link to
Little Apple Dolls. The site design is almost hypnotic. lol I spent several minutes simply watching what happens when I rolled my mouse over certain pieces of text. (Yes, I am easily amused sometimes. *bg*) The dolls are as beautiful as they are creepy, and the tales about each character, the Children of the Inbetween Place, are haunting. They would definitely frighten most children, but teens and adults who are fans of the Goth world will love them, I bet. I'm almost tempted to get one myself. *g*

There's also a fun write-up on the Furby, which the author describes as the most annoying toy on the market, and another on a similar but lesser known toy, the Needies. :)

Angels, Hobbits and Dragons

I found all of the following in a post (well, posts if you count the Dragons television program) on Neil Gaiman's blog.

* This story is just too freaky. In "a place where angels and gargoyles are said to keep company" (according to local historians), five dogs have leaped off a bridge to their deaths, one in front of the owner.

* Scientists have recently confirmed that the hobbit-sized human remains discovered in Indonesia were most likely a new species of human. This might explain, in a way, the folklore of dwarves and elves (like in LOTR). I'd always believed the myths were derived from those born with a medical or genetic condition causing dwarfism, and the legends about giants (like in "Jack and the Beanstalk") were made up to explain those with acromegaly or gigantism before doctors had discovered the cause, but it could be that the stories were passed down about an actual, completely different species of human. I find that fascinating. Just as fascinating (to me anyway) is the program on Discovery about "Dragons", which I missed. lol

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Unrelated to angels, hobbits or dragons is a chilling new short story by Michael P. Dunn (aka wordboy on the Dom) called "With Eyes Open ..." published in the current issue of Deep Magic. Have a read and be sure to let him know what you think. :)

Tribeca/Amazon Short Film Competition

Tribeca Film Festival is coming up April 19 - May 1. I heard on the radio this morning that Robert DeNiro is offering/hosting a short film contest in conjunction with Amazon.com. The top five entries will be shown at the festival, and in June the winning entry is announced. The winning entry gets a pre-paid $50,000 American Express card to fund future films! :) Deadline is April 13 and details are over at the Amazon site.

Podcasting and the Saturns

I got home to find waiting for me my voting ballot for the Saturn Awards. Woooohoooo! :)

Also, last night I received an email announcing that Podcasting has arrived at Sci-Fi Talk which is really cool; I can now listen to shows on my iPod. :) But the best part of the email was a little contest for their listeners. The first two people to respond to the email win a copy of the Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars DVD. Guess who was one of the first two people to respond? That's right! .. ME!!!!! :D *vbg*

*does a little happy dance*

Answers to Lyric Meme

Answers to the random song lyrics meme I had posted awhile back are below. Answers to my LJ meme (the link there's in my original post) are here just in case you were wondering. :)

The ones that are stricken out have been guessed (and the correct guesser named - in this case all were guessed by James). The ones that are in bold were not guessed, and the answers are underneath. Oh, and it's not your imagination that two songs are repeated. That happens on random play sometimes. *g* The strange thing I noticed was that I listed the same line twice! Ah well ..

1. "The devil came and I swear he made me do it."
"Avignon" by Signal Room

2. "I can say that I don't know what I'm doin' but I can't say I have the time, yeah."
"Have the Time" by The Slackers

3. "Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky"
"The Highwayman" by Loreena McKennit

4. "She's the one they're going to miss, In lots of ways"
"Our House" by Madness (guessed by James)

5. "And we still haven’t walked in the glow of each other’s majestic presence"
"Ana Ng" by They Might Be Giants (guessed by James)

6. "All that I have is nothing when it compares to you"
"I've Got You" by Marc Anthony

7. "Woo, woo, to relieve my bellyache, I say"
"Coconut" by Harry Nilsson (guessed by James)

8. "Here she comes like a brand new day"
"Glorious" by Andreas Johnson

9. "this guilt trip that you put me on won't mess me up, I've done no wrong"
"Don't Tell Me" by Avril Lavigne

10. .."All their voices can be heard, Long past their woodland days"
"The Mummer's Dance" by Loreena McKennit

11. "He's jammin' down the pedal like he's never comin' back"
"Go, Speed Racer, Go" by Sponge

12. "Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday"
"Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order

13. "Playing dead and sweet submission, Cracks the whip deadpan on cue"
"Peek-A-Bo" by Siouxsie & the Banshees

14. "I love the way you laugh when I try to be funny."
"Everything You Do" by Marc Anthony

15. "It's not such a beautiful day, but I'll stumble through all the same"
"Stumblin'" by Powderfinger

16. "But my heart got heavy and my hair grew long"
"Staring at the Sun" by Simple Kid

17. "If you wear this sweater, all the kids will love you better."
"So L.A." by Signal Room

18. "A cavern gasps, a dragon screams"
"Dragnet Drag" by Peter Murphy

19. "I wish we could dress in only happy cloaks"
"Wish" by Peter Murphy

20. "Colored lights can hypnotize, Sparkle someone else's eyes"
"American Woman" by The Guess Who

21. "I pray my wish will come true, For my child and your child too"
"Peace on Earth/ Little Drummer Boy" by David Bowie & Bing Crosby

22. "Like the leaf clings to the tree, Oh, my darling, cling to me"
"Wild is the Wind" by David Bowie

23. "Rhinestone fools and silver dollars, Curdle into bitter tears"
"Peek-A-Bo" by Siouxsie & the Banshees

24. "Here she comes like a brand new day, Belly dancing across the room"
"Glorious" by Andreas Johnson

25. "On a long lost ocean wave of light, Submerged and unafraid"
"The Scarlet Thing in You" by Peter Murphy

Quick Nitpick

Just a quick FYI for non-Bostonians, the two parks in Boston by the State House are called the Boston Common and The Public Garden. It's not the Commons or the Gardens. Their names are not plural. It might be helpful to remember it this way .. the Boston Common is a "common" area in Boston (originally designated as a common pasture for grazing cattle), and the Public Garden is one, large garden with a diverse variety of flowers & plants in its garden. Does that make a little more sense? Good. ;-)

Carry on.

Dancing & Sickness & Crime .. oh my!

It's been a busy two weeks. Two Sundays back I went to a Flamenco performance in Boston with my Mom. That night I got sick. I dragged myself into work that Monday and survived. *g*

I came home early two Fridays ago to play with my little neice before my sis picked her up. The little one was getting over an ear infection and wasn't eating as much as usual. When my sis arrived, she (my sis) had a headache which required aspirin. The next day, my sis was sick (no fever but weakness, dizziness & nauseau). On Sunday she was better but weak, achey and tired. Saturday night into Sunday it was my Mom's turn, so I spent Sunday running errands for ginger ale, bread and crackers to help settle my mom's stomach. She, too, was better Monday but achey so she opted to stay home from work. I find out at the end of the day that my brother-in-law (my sis' husband) was home sick, with the same thing that my sis and Mom had, Monday. So what happens to me Monday night? Yep, you guessed it.

No fever, but boy! does this thing take a lot out of you. All of a sudden I was sooo tired .. then shortly after, sick. Something similar happened that first Sunday (though the tiredness had been accompanied by a killer headache that time & I literally couldn't move for at least a half hour that Sunday). So, Tuesday morning, I call in sick promising that I'll be there as soon as I feel better. I dragged myself into the shower around 2pm on Tuesday and hauled myself into work for two hours. The dizziness had passed so I figured it was safe.

You might be wondering why I went into work at all on Tuesday. I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't have Jury Duty on Wednesday. On the busiest day of the week, made even busier by the fact that it was the first day my boss was back from his mini vacation in Florida, I had to go into Jury Duty. I've been called once before for Jury Duty and was excused before the afternoon began so I had no reason to think this time would be any different. So I made sure all the records were ready and all the insurances had been checked for Wednesday's work day Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday morning I left my house, still tired, two hours earlier than usual to trek over to the court house. It was a busy day at court, too, it seems, and I ended up being chosen for a jury on a criminal trial. I still went into work after wards, but one of the patients had to be rescheduled because I wouldn't make it back in time for her appointment to help with contact lens fitting/training. I arrived at work around 4pm; the last patient left around 7:30pm, and I remained there until 10pm preparing the records & insurances for Thursday, and reviewing everything that had happened while I was out.

Then Thursday's court day came & went, with a bit of delay in the beginning (well, three hour delay), and I returned to work again around 4pm. I only stayed about an hour this time, you see, because my coworker was distressed that I wanted to get coffee to wake myself up. In the hour that I was there I was fixing mistakes that she brought to me and helping her with her work and answering her questions. I hadn't even gotten to preparing anything for Friday yet, including gathering up the tax info. for the bookkeeper. She reminds me that I had a lunch earlier in the day while serving on the jury, and I remind her that I am not legally obligated to come into work at all. Then she starts to yell at me, and I realize that I don't need to do that to myself, so I tell her goodbye and head home (picking up coffee along the way).

Friday was the final day, and then it was over. Exhausted (and stressed) I stopped by work, ever so briefly, to let my coworker know that it was finished, head home and experienced a brand new work day Saturday.

Oh, and I read Jo's account of her drive down to a convention in D.C. That definitely put a smile on my face. *g*

Flash!

I'm trying to learn some Flash, and I decided to see if there were any more sites like my favorite Flash puzzle site, The Secret Garden of Mutabor. I found a fun surprise called Treasure Box. Feel free to check it out. :)

Oh, I also submitted a photo to this week's Photo Friday challenge: Distorted. It's actually more of a .. fuzzy than distorted, but it's what I found that was already in my computer. *g* If you're interested, please have a peek here. Comments are always welcome. :)

Normalcy Defined

It's funny, when you think about it, what the general public considers "normal."

Waiting for hours on a chilly day outside the football stadium for the football players to arrive? Normal
Waiting for hours on a sunny day outside a television studio for the actors to take a cigarette break? Abnormal

Wearing your favorite sports team jersey and cap while cheering loudly in front a news camera? Normal
Wearing your favorite science fiction inspired t-shirt while shopping in a comic book store? Abnormal

Paying a lot of money for tickets to a game, food & drink, and souvenirs? Normal
Paying a lot of money for tickets to a science fiction convention, food & drink, and souvenirs? Abnormal

Shouting obscenities at the opposing team while at a game? Normal
Clapping enthusiastically during a Q&A at a sci fi convention? Abnormal

Discussing the game from the night before and reciting the scores for a game that was played years ago? Normal
Discussing a tv show from the night before and reciting lines from an episode that aired years ago? Abnormal

Doing the wave at a game? Normal
Greeting people with the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper" sign at a con? Abnormal

Painting your body in the colors of your team? Normal
Wearing Spock ears? Abnormal

Decorating your room with your favorite sports team paraphanelia, including posters, newspaper clippings and tickets from past games that you've collected and saved? Normal
Decorating your room with your favorite tv show paraphanelia, including posters, magazine articles and tickets from past cons? Abnormal

Getting a baseball autographed? Normal
Getting a headshot autographed? Abnormal

Traveling out of state to watch your favorite sports team? Normal
Traveling out of state to watch your favorite tv personality? Abnormal

Taking a day off from work/school to stand in a large crowd for the opportunity to applaud, support and see players from your favorite sports team go by? Normal
Taking a day off from work/school to stand in a long line for the opportunity to applaud, support and shake the hand of your favorite actor? Abnormal

and in case anyone was wondering, ..
Go Pats! =)
Daytime Emmys! =)
Watch Farscape! =)

Hm, what does that make me? *g*

David: Update

David's funeral was yesterday. We weren't given the news of that until after the fact last night. It would've been nice to know beforehand so we could have made the decision ourselves to attend or not. That's just the way things are, I suppose.

It was confirmed that David had had a heart attack, died in his sleep. His father didn't even know that David was having heart problems. Supposedly they spoke often, and David had never mentioned it. Many people do that - keep those little details from others so not to "worry" them. As for me, I would prefer knowing the little details before something happened and not find out about it after the fact. My family has a tendency to "hide" such information from each other. I wonder if all families are like that.

Photo Friday: Youth

I just posted my entry in the Photo Friday challenge, "Youth." If you'd like to see it, go here.

Some of my favorites from those that were entered by others:
photoloukey
alphabunny
javajive: innocence preserved
dragonballyee
shutterware
shutterberry: stuffed lamb
shadow mirror
orange

All of the entries posted are awesome, by the way. I just happened to choose a handful as examples. You can see them all by clicking on the links on the Photo Friday site.

The Mysteries of Production

I'd always read that the best resource for the small, independent producer for getting a film out there and seen is to submit to festivals. You raise the funds; you hold creative control on the film. Distribution deals come after unless you're a bigger name producer in which case a studio will fund or partially fund the film. I've also read or heard that presenting your film at the American Film Market (AFM) and/or the Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM) is important in getting it picked up for possible distribution in theaters and overseas.

I started reading John J. Lee, Jr.'s "The Producer's Business Handbook" and his advice is the opposite. He suggests that the independent producer should not rely (solely) on the festival circuit. Too many producers max out credit cards and borrow money from friends and family to make their films, then submit them to festivals. Only a small percentage of the films are ever accepted at the larger, more prominent festivals (like Sundance), and of those films shown at the larger festivals, maybe one or two will actually get picked up by a distributor. Mr. Lee suggests seeking funding from a distributor and getting a distribution deal before the film is completed.

I haven't gotten far enough yet to discover how he thinks the indie producer should go about doing this, or what other avenues of funding are available, but I find what he says interesting. An independent producer will rarely or never make any profit on a film that is presented this way (self-raised funds, festival circuit). True enough, it does makes sense, but if you're a beginning filmmaker, how do you get your films seen if not through the festivals? (or online like Atom Films or self-distribution/DVDs on demand?) I'm curious to see if he offers any concrete advice and examples in his book.

As a comparison, I think I'll read up on any articles posted at http://www.ifp.org/as well.

House of Flying Daggers

I finally got to see House of Flying Daggers on Saturday since we were staying in because of the blizzard. The cinematography, special effects and action were everything I expected from director Zhang Yimou ("Hero"). The visuals were gorgeous. The casting was pretty cool, too. Taiwanese pop idol Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Jin. Hong Kong star Andy Lau Tak Wah plays Leo. Beijing born actress Ziyi Zhang (or Zhang Ziyi) plays Mei; American audiences probably recognize her best from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Hero" and "Rush Hour 2". It's a Romeo and Juliet-style tale set during the decline of the Tang Dynasty and focuses on the mysterious rebels House of Flying Daggers. It's an action-packed (tragic) romance; I enjoyed it a lot.

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Last night we watched Aladdin's Magic Lamp, which was visually intriguing, almost like watching fairtyale paintings come to life. It's a Russian film of the well-known tale of Aladdin and his Magic Lamp. The first time we tried to watch the movie, we ended up watching it in French with English subtitles. That was interesting. lol This time, we got it to play in English (dubbed).

David

I just heard the news that a cousin in Washington, D.C. has died. I'd only met him two or three times; he was my mother's first cousin, the youngest of two brothers, not too much older than myself. It's sad. My great aunt, his mother, died on September 8, 2001, three days before the collapse of the WTC in NY. My mother is understandably shocked. She's waiting to compose herself before calling her 92 year old aunt who was close to David. It's another reminder of the fragility & shortness of life.

It's a reminder, too, that we need to visit my great aunt again, preferable before her 93rd birthday, and to arrange a visit for my little niece with her surviving great grandmother.