Insert Witty Journal Title Here

Tried to update earlier.. yesterday, I think, and the posting page wasn't loading with CSS. But, not it is. So.

My bookfast has ended. I even went into the giant used bookstore... the day before Harry's birthday, was it? And did not buy anything. Gasp shock. There was a sale and a coupon on top of that and everything.

I general, I don't know that the bookfast helped much. Maybe it wasn't long enough. Maybe I just need to dump all these library books I still have kicking around.

On the day of breaking my bookfast, I grabbed Beauty Queens by Libba Bray on my way out the library door. (Okay, yes, I swung back around to get it checked out first!) In a way it was an impulse checkout, but in a way it wasn't, because I'd had my eye on it for awhile.

Lord of the Flies. With beauty pageant contestants.

Only more awesome than that.

Maybe it's whatever the reverse of Stockholm Syndrome in that I had just finished The Feminine Mystique, which I did not find very easy to get through. So a nice, funny sf-y YA was just what I needed. And it was new and shiny! Or maybe it really is as awesome as I think. Have not finished it yet. Because very busy...

I started library school also on August 1st. The first class is a 1-credit pass/fail self-paced course just designed to get me used to using the courseware and the school library and things like that. (Oh, it's online. But that's a given, right? No such thing as meat schools anymore, is there?) I'm blazing through it, because it's.. new and shiny. And easy. And because that's the best way to fight procastination. I'm also going on a mini-vacation with the family next weekend-ish, and then a longer break... also with family. (Did I say 'break'? Hrm.) That's around Labor Day, which is about the time my first 'real' class starts.

So if I can get the first course mostly done by next week and finally done before the other class starts, it'll be real good.

Still reading and reviewing and discussing for Triple Take, including our Nebula Project.

Between those things and laundry and not being here next weekend, this weekend is feeling a bit full. Meh.

Oh! And the Clarion Write-a-Thon ends tomorrow, so I want to bang out as many stories as I can in a final push. (Did I mention I'm a procrastinator? Oh, I did? I wonder I didn't save saying that for the end of the post...)

Thanks to all my wonderful sponsors so far! I say so far, because it's still not too late!

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So.. yes... off to chill some more tonight before the big push on er.. several things.. tomorrow.

1d5h until I can watch Torchwood. Unless some seeds start to sprout (JA said cryptically.)

Movie Update: Have not watched movies! Have not watched Harry Potter 7.2! Have not watched Cowboys v Aliens! & Aliens? Or Aliens? NOT Aliens? Have not watched Captain America. Have not watched Neil Patrick Harris make out with Brainy Smurf. Last movie I saw was X-Men. ------- Have watched some DVDs, generally on LGBT themes. It was a substitute for not being able to bring books home from the library. Have yet to figure out where the Band is in The Boys in the Band. (You mean the movie isn't about glam rock? Srsly?)

Okay, really going now.

Still very busy and spending my free time other places. Haven't even kept up with my flist, which means if it's not on Whatever, icanhascheezburger, or Cake Wrecks, and it's still happening in the blogosphere, I'm probably not aware of it.

I maybe shouldn't add to Avatar's hype by posting about it and giving it one more hit in the search engines, but really, it's gotten so unbelievable that I need to post about it.

What is with all the advertising? It's everywhere and it's obnoxious. It's even worse than the 'Team Edward/Team Jacob' Burger King commercial (which still manages to sell burgers to construction workers rather than teenage girls).

It's one thing to plug your movie with special full-length trailers during an episode of something or other. It's one thing to have special little 30-second segments during 2 hours of cartoons on Sunday night. It's another thing entirely to make the characters of "Bones" be your shills.

Who's going to wait in line for Avatar tickets? No one I know.
Who's going to skip work to go see Avatar? No one I know.
Who's going to go see Avatar at all? Well, maybe some people are. But if so, no one's told me they're going to.

I'm sure not. Even without the over-the-top, unbelievable Fox-pushing hype, which by itself is enough to make me boycott it, I had no interest at all in seeing it.

What's the appeal? Cool special effects? That's a reason to go see 2012, which I haven't yet done. That's not a reason for 99% of movies.

Blue people? Unless your name is Kurt Wagner, I don't care that you're blue. I don't even care if there's several of you and you're playing with paint on a stage.

Military action? Um. No. Never, ever a draw.

It looks like a video game? Is that a reason to go see a movie?

A magical cure for a paralyzed guy? There's an anti-reason to go see it right there.

The director? He's somebody big. I forget who.
The actors? Nobody I care about, as far as I know.

Teh awesome science fictional-ness? Nothing new.

One of the more annoying aspects of this is that it's not Avatar The Last Airbender, which is a movie full of its own fail.

So, Fox, really, give it up already. You're really ticking me off.

And now Daily Show is in on the act tonight.

*crawls off whining*

This is what I woke up today thinking about:

( Spoilers for Star Trek: (subtitle withheld) )

But maybe part of the appeal of Star Trek is nitpicking it. As the canon grows and grows, it becomes a more complex task to nitpick. Easier, in one sense, as they're more likely to get things wrong. But harder, because you have to know all this esoteric trivia, like Starfleet policies and matter/antimatter intermix ratios.

Which is why it's fun to snigger at McCoy's bisexual tribbles, to wonder how Picard acquired a British accent, to formulate theories about different races of Klingons, and to be annoyed at people "de-evolving" into lizards.

If we couldn't nitpick, would it not be Star Trek?

You know you're getting old when they start remaking shows and movies you watched as a kid! And I'm not just talking Disney (Escape to Witch Mountain *coughpurpletwinscough*).

"Knight Rider" is at least more of a sequel than a remake. I wish they'd kept KITT's original voice actor though.

But they're now going to be remaking "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Not a sequel. Not a prequel. A do-over!

I heard about it from io9, so you can go read their take on it.

Apparently they're ditching the phone booth, so I guess we can't expect any TARDIS jokes.

Should we look for a "Back to the Future" in 2015?