This 'n that...

[liz_marcs]

I've been scarce. Yes. I know.

Water update

Yes, some of that has been writing, but my office is a-swealter and what I really want to work on is polishing the next part of Water Hold Me Down. The AlphaSmart is great for capturing thoughts, ideas, and passages on the fly. It is not a good tool for editing and polishing.


I've been Arrested

Plus, I've been distracted by the shiny-shiny Arrested Development from Netflix. I'd seen some episodes off and on over the past two years and I remember liking what I saw, but I constantly kept forgetting to catch it on a regular basis.

After running through all the discs and howling through every episode, I've tracked down a cheep-ish set copy of S1 (got it for $25!) and am waiting patiently for it to be shipped to me. Dear god, I adore this show. There's so much attention to detail and imbedded visual jokes that you can't catch them all even by the 4th viewing.

Sooooo, needless to say I'll be Arrested-palooza this summer to catch up on S2. *mumbles about wanting the DVD set*

Arrested is just one of those shows where catching an episode "here and there" just doesn't do it justice. Seeing the whole thing in order is just...wow! It's...it's...it's like a comic version of Babylon 5 in that way.

[makes puppy eyes at bastardsnow because I soooo, want Maeby or Lindsey to be a Slayer....]


Speaking of Babylon 5...

Speaking of which, I start with Babylon 5 S2 this week (I'm going through the whole series again). Damn, there's so much you miss the first four times you see it.

Plus, how much to I love JMS? I can't think of too many producer-writers-all-around-awesome-talents who are willing to admit they have less-than-godlike powers and are willing to admit that they and their universe is not perfect. He has an ego, but he's willing to admit when he's at fault for when he sees something that didn't work in the series.

Personally, I'm still floored that he mentions at least twice during various commentaries in S1 that he does have a tendency to overwrite scenes and that clunky exposition is usually not the fault of various actors, but his.

Certain writers-producers of their own television shows should maybe take notes on how to be gracious.


Will work for Harry Potter

On another interesting note: I just discovered that I, yes I, will be working at my local Borders for Harry Potter Night (7 p.m. to 1 a.m.). YAY! When I worked the last Harry Potter weekend, I had to do it on a Saturday because that was my normal schedule. I've heard the night before parties are tons of fun and the customers actually tend towards the awesome.


Cool Link of the Day

Finally, cool link via DailyKos:

Newseum is a flash site that allows you to mouse over cities and countries on a map to bring up the front page of the local newspaper. Click on the city, and you get a PDF of the front page and a link to the newspaper's Web site.

AWESOME!

Comments

[bastardsnow.livejournal.com]

Arrested is just one of those shows where catching an episode "here and there" just doesn't do it justice. Seeing the whole thing in order is just...wow! It's...it's...it's like a comic version of Babylon 5 in that way.

[makes puppy eyes at [info]bastardsnow because I soooo, want Maeby or Lindsey to be a Slayer....]

See. That's the problem. I've only caught an episode 'here and there', and while they've been pretty funny... I don't know enough about the show to really write any of the characters with any kind of accuracy.

There's also the fact that, for the last week anyway, the stuff I've written feels like complete crap to me, but what are you gonna do, you know?

Btw, did you get my e-mail about those shows? Cuz I wasn't sure if it sent or not...

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Nope. Haven't seen anything from you.

(rechecks Gmail)

Nope. Nothing.

[bastardsnow.livejournal.com]

Well, I've sent it again, this time without accidentally waiting so long (read: through dinner and 2 fairly long movies) that my e-mail session is logged out by Yahoo.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned that I love you?

[bastardsnow.livejournal.com]

I think so, but a guy's ego can never hear that too much =)

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Aww, Bab 5 -- that show was a lifeline for us in NM. I only have the first 2 seasons on DVD, but man, what a show.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

This is why I joined Netflix. Seriously. It saves me money.

Although I just bought Arrested Development because of Netflix...so, yeah, it doesn't always work.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

I'd really like to cancel premium cable and get Netflix (hell, we're going to cancel premium cable, anyway) but the only DVD player we have is on T's puter and he dislikes watching DVDs on it, and we don't have a DVD player for the TV which anyhow is all messed up (people are orange! no, really!) so it would mean getting an entertainment center, blahblah, so it's a Future Project. But I've heard great things about Netflix. Altho, heh, yeah, I think it does encourage people to buy stuff they really like.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

I'm actually planing to check with Verizon since they're starting to offer Satallite TV service. It just might be cheaper than cable in my area (I think) since I've got Internet/Phone with them.

But, YARGH! I really resent paying the cable bill because I watch maybe 2 hours of broadcast television a week in the off-season, climbing up to 6 hours a week when all my shows are first run.

I just resent paying so much for so little.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly! A big selling point is "Six channels of HBO! Six channels of STARZ!" or something like that, and, yeah, I watched one movie on STARZ the last 2 weeks (granted, it was a great movie, but....still). And about the only thing I watch on HBO is Six Feet Under -- maybe some movies. It's like the phone bill here -- it's about thirty-five bucks a month, and for what? a dial tone, caller ID, and voicemail. Bah.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say randomly (because I think it often) that Water Hold Me Down is a brilliant, brilliant title. And, as someone who loves good titles but sucks at coming up with them, I should know! :-)

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

It's such a random Talking Heads line in one of my favorite songs of theirs. I still love singing that line at the top of my lungs in my car when I hear the song.

It's funny, but some people are just *now* getting that the title references Once in a Lifetime (in fact, that was the original title of Water, but it sounded too cheerful). *grins*

Plus, the whole song just fits for this particular fic.

I think the thing I'm most looking forward to is putting out the "soundtrack" at the end of the fic.

*rubs hands with glee*

Hunh, titles...you know, maybe we should do the title meme again. Coming up with a good title is one of my favorite bits.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

I think the thing I'm most looking forward to is putting out the "soundtrack" at the end of the fic.

Ooh, I'll love that (love your soundtracks anyway).

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

It took me a while to figure out where the title had come from. The natural flow of the words in the title doesn't, somehow, lend itself automatically to the same way the words are sung in the song, and I think that's one reason people are slow to catch on. (It's also one of the reasons why I like it so much as a title.)

I don't want to do the title meme. I want people to make a list of really good titles and then let me steal from it shamelessly. *Grin*

Babyon 5

[keith5by5.livejournal.com]

Best ever show, the plot arcs, the concept, the way flawed characters become heroes, the gorgeous sets, the knockabout comedy, and ships.
And available in th UK for £ 17 a season.

And ungracious? Who could you be refering to?

Chortles.

Re: Babyon 5

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Applies to a few producers of cult television shows, really. :-)

Sadly, B5 sets are hideously expensive over here. It's not something I'll ever be able to afford.

Re: Babyon 5

[keith5by5.livejournal.com]

They were just so glorious, every char had a flaw or an achilles heel, and yet they managed to do great things. Wonderful writing.

[invisionary.livejournal.com]

Yay Arrested Development! Who's your favorite character? I think for me it'd be Tobias - he's just hysterical. But really, there's not a one of them who doesn't make me laugh.

I was a big B5 fan up until the end. I do think it had the best plot build-up I've ever seen in a TV show, though. It was appointment television, back in the day.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Well, David Cross is tha ROCK-N-ROLLER, really. What he's done with Tobias positively boggles the mind.

But you're going to make me only ONE fave character? *whines* I love them all, even the "freedom" guy.

I'm just...I want S2 NOW, but it's not available yet. FOX has promised to re-run all of the series this summer in an effort to win more people to the broadcast of the show.

All I know is I just adore Arrested. I had actually watched all the eps twice and kept finding these subtle things happening in the background (A character refers to George Michael as "Opie" and immediately cue Ron Howard's narration...things like that). I was left with a choice: keep all three discs, or just buy the set to re-watch.

Not a choice, really.

[invisionary.livejournal.com]

Even just the one-episode guest characters are great. Like the one-armed guy that George Sr. used to scare his kids.... *starts giggling uncontrollably yet again*

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

"So that was what that was about. I thought it was to get us to stop eating dairy."

*gigglegigglegiggle*

And what I love is that after that, the show makes a BIG DEAL about leaving notes and you always see notes taped to the fridge in the Bluth model home.

Michael watching the report from Iraq: "Wait. It that our firepit? Is that our living room?"

[invisionary.livejournal.com]

Michael watching the report from Iraq: "Wait. It that our firepit? Is that our living room?"

Oh, but it was just a little treason. Hee.

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

I am a huge Babylon 5 fan, in fact it was my first real journey into fandom (other than Star Trek). I was totally obsessed with it, even to the point of getting my brother back east to tape episodes for me when I couldn't find the show here. It was a lonely obsession though, because I was not computer/internet connected for most of it. I recently finished watching seasons 1 through 4. Started 5, but got distracted by other stuff. I bought myself the whole series on DVD last year as a birthday present to me.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

*sniff*

Wish I could do that.

*sniff*

This is why I ended up joining Netflix. Well, one of the reasons.

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

I totally indulged myself. We don't have Netflix here in Canada, so that wasn't an option.
I like having my own sets of my favourite shows, like I like having my own books. Don't use the library much.

[4thdixiechick.livejournal.com]

Netflix rocks. I love Babylon 5. But I pretty much squeed the loudest for Harry Potter night at Borders! Sounds like lots of fun.