"Serenity" (2005) -- Initial Thoughts

Went to see Serenity tonight with Noumenon. All I can say is: WOOOOOOOOOO! Way to go, Joss! To be honest, I've never actually seen an ep of Firefly, because it originally aired when I was addicted to Buffy and Angel and didn't have time for another show to soak up my rare free time. What an idiot I was! How could I miss such a great Joss world?

I had a basic idea of the premise, but I was totally unprepared for the magnificent Jossness of it all! I mean, someone has finally taken the whole idea of "cowboys in space" literally!

And now I cannot wait for the first disk of Firefly to arrive at the library for me. Because I need more! (I always thought that Nathan Fillion was too boyishly cute to be a baddie anyway)(Oh, and any time Adam Baldwin gets to play with explosives and guns, it's all good)(Also, playing "Guess Who Guest-Starred as a Villain on One of Joss's Other Shows" is way fun!)(And when has David Krumholz playing a nerd not been delicious?)

My fave line: "This is the Captain. We have a slight problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some turbulence and then... explode. " (Capt. Malcolm Reynolds over his ship's intercom)

My second-fave line: "Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint. " (also Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)

Joss Whedon, you rock my world!

(PS So do you, Cowboy!)

I did it! I finished writing my first novel! Okay, granted, it's just a first draft, but it took me 3 years to do, so I'm elated. Plus, I got it out of the way before NaNoWriMo begins.

But best of all, I have my first novel out of the way. It seems like first novels are generally crap, but you have to get through them and learn all sorts of things in the process, so that your following novels will be worth reading.

I'm doing research for my NaNoWriMo novel. The librarian probably thinks I've cracked...on my last visit, I checked out five books with titles like Being a Widow and Stepmothering and Helping Your Struggling Teenager. Since I'm obviously too young to have a teenager, as is Cowboy, and since Cowboy was there at the library too, she knows I'm not a widow or raising a struggling stepteen. Of course, she was too nice to ask why I was getting such odd books. All she said was, "Weren't you just here last night?"

So anyway, now you know that my NaNoWriMo novel deals with widowhood, stepchildren, and struggling teenagers. I'll tell you its title too: No Crystal Stair. It's from a line in "Mother to Son", my favorite Langston Hughes poem.

The October picture in my Coca-Cola calendar contains a very creepy man. I'm thinking of putting a post-it note over his face. His eyes are not focused. His left eye is looking at the cherry-cheeked maiden standing next to him. But his right eye is looking far off to his right, as if he's pondering leaving said maiden, just hopping into their car and taking off without her, before she's even finished her bottle of soda. You'd think the person who painted this advertisement could have made him look less creepy, more happy with his Coke and his girl and his car.

"Raising Helen" (2004) -- Initial Thoughts

I just watched Raising Helen. Interesting movie. I never thought I could hate Joan Cusack. I never thought I could like Kate Hudson. And I've never met a Lutheran minister that looked like John Corbett (alas). Or met a Lutheran minister who wore his collar so often--or looked so Episcopalian. Hmm. Wonder where they researched their Lutheran ministers...musta been ELCA...

David Boreanaz has a new tv show! And I'm watching it right now! It's called Bones, and it's so weird to see him walking around in sunlight! And smiling! And joking! And relating well with people. He's an FBI agent (formerly a sniper!), and sort of the second-main character. It's another of those forensic shows that I love. Fortunately, my tv show provider likes them too...this is a surprise present from him on a tape that I thought would only have Battlestar Gallactica and Stargate SG-1 on it. I popped the tape in and thought, "What the devil is this?" and started forwarding through it, when suddenly, there was David! Angels sang, butterflies entered my stomach in usual formation, and I screeched with glee.

I didn't even know David B. had a new show! How cool for him! He's already worn a long dark coat once in the first 8 minutes, so I'm thinking they know how to dress him best. Also I adore his hair, it's more of a reversion to season 3 of Angel before some idiot thought he would look good with longer and curlier hair instead of delightfully short and spikey. But it doesn't go straight up completely here, sort of swooshes back a bit. And his eyes are still his eyes. The Eyes. Mmmmmmmm. And The Shoulders. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

It's based on a real person's life (not his, this forensic chick with a nose that tips up like mine).

He's got a kind of similar mission going on as he did as Angel: "Being a sniper, I took a lot of lives. What I'd like to do before I'm done, is try and catch at least that many murderers."

Oooh, speaking of Buffy alumni, Nicholas Brendan (Xander) has a new show too this fall, called Kitchen Confidential (also on Fox), but I haven't seen it. My tv show provider isn't into cooking, I guess...

Well, I did it. I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Gaaaaaaaaah! I'm insane!

Betcha can't guess what my username is over there ;-)