shuffle!

Or, Memep3 take 2.

Remember this meme? (Which led to this one that was also cool, but sadly, never seemed to catch on...)

Anyway. Time to do it again. Just because!

Meme rules:
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.

Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.

Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.

Yeah, I'm not doing 20 this time. I think, oh, 8 or 9 is a better number.

While I fire up iTunes, I'll talk about something. Um.
Huh. I guess not. Here we go!!

1) "Happy Jack wasn't old, but he was a man." (oh, way to start all easy!)

2) "Well you've got the perfect disguise and you're looking ok."

3) "So long to this cold, cold part of the world."

4) "So you say I need to consider this." (finally start getting harder)

5) "I'm losing speed, trying to keep up with you."

6) "Just living the way I live, the faces in the crowd."

7) "Howard, the strangest things have happened lately"

8) "SPEW!!!"

9) "I know, I know, I said that I would quit!"

Oh, here's an iTunes related question - does anyone know how to make it stop skipping the final five seconds of songs when playing a playlist? Sometimes it's cool, but mostly it's kinda annoying.

Good luck, everyone! (And if you want to do the meme on your own blog, let me know. I suck at the guessing, but I do like getting the peek into what's on everyone's playlists.)

I'm only happy when it rains

I was going to blog about how last night between 1:30 and 3:30 in the morning there was an incredibly powerful thunderstorm that passed through the Las Vegas valley, waking up everyone. (Seriously. Everyone in the house, and everyone I've talked to about it at work, plus all the news anchors and radio djs stated how the storm woke them up.)
And I was going to blog about how, during the storm, I had fears of the house's roof falling in.
And I thought about blogging about how that didn't happen, but when I got to work this morning, I discovered that the lobby was completely flooded and the ceiling tiles were soaked and collapsing. And I'd blog about how that was due not to the rain, surprisingly enough, but because the upstairs urinal in the men's bathroom was broken (probably on Friday) and kept flowing all weekend and flooded the upstairs which soaked through to the downstairs lobby.

I was going to blog about all that, then I realized that it's late, and I have to wake up early tomorrow morning, and there's a chance for another storm tonight, so instead, here's a silly little quiz.

Your Score: Starbucks

53% personality, 24% politics/class, 78% intelligence

You're a Starbucks whore. Spread those lips.

Link: The Which Evil Corporation Are You Test written by memoriesrewound on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

She turned me into a newt!

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, untagged. If you have not read that book completely, just know that the discussion might not make sense to you, and may ruin some elements of the novel if/when you do get around to reading it.


J.K. Rowling is a witch.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend a good portion of the novel in the woods, on the hunt for the remaining Horcruxes that belong to Lord Voldemort. (A Horcrux is, as was determined in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, an object that a (dark) wizard uses to store a part of their soul. In order to fragment your soul, you have to murder someone. Tom Riddle, AKA the Dark Lord Voldemort, has created seven horcruxes. In order to completely kill him, all of the horcruxes must be destroyed. Otherwise, as long as a horcrux remains, a part of Voldie's soul still lives on, and thus, he manages to be somewhat immortal. [/backstory for anyone that needed it])

One of the horcruxes is a locket that Harry, Ron, and Hermione take turns wearing/guarding while they search for a way to destroy it. This locket, which contains part of this powerful man's soul, actually begins to affect the young trio if they are around it for too long.

When this particular event took place in the novel, I came to my horrible realization:

The Harry Potter books are horcruxes.

Ignoring for the moment that souls don't exist (or that I don't believe in them, if you want to be all picky), the stories that J.K. Rowling wrote do, in a very real way, contain a part of who she is. She put her thoughts and memories and ideas into the stories, and if thoughts and memories and ideas are NOT what a soul is supposed to be, well, then I don't know what is.

Additionally, the stories go on to affect people who spend an extended amount of time with them. By reading Rowling's stories, you change your own soul.
And the fact that she has printed them into books means that she has, in a way, achieved Voldemort's goal: Immortality.

Coincidentally, both Voldemort and J.K. Rowling created seven different vessels.

But I'm 99% certain that Rowling didn't have to kill anyone to create hers.

TV in September

I'm going to attempt to blog everyday in September. (With the exceptions being the days we go out of town)

The 'blog everyday' thing has been done before, so this time, I'm bringing a P@ypical twist to it.

I am going to review/document/talk about/snark on everything I watch on television during that month. Whether it be broadcast on the air, watched on DVD, or screened at work, I'll blog about it. (I might even include videos watched on the computer, but we'll see how the tv angle goes first)

I may not be able to document *everything* I watch (I mean, how many times can I include the HeadOn commercial?) but I hope to get at least 90% of my boob-tube interaction blogged. I want to see a) exactly how much television I watch and b) hopefully provide some entertaining insight into what I'm seeing. (Plus, I can talk about movies that everyone else saw years ago, and I'm just catching up with thanks to Netflix!)

The ungoogleable

There are some people - probably quite a few, actually - who, it appears, can NOT be found using Google.

On a whim, I've googled several of my old friends from time to time, just to see if they show up, or what they might be up to. Bits and pieces show up for most of them, but there are instances where putting in the person's name wields zero results.

Who are these people? Why are they not showing up on the internet? Have they gone on to become modern-day Luddites? Are they in the Witness Protection Program for having seen the truth about Pat Sajak? Do they have some sort of google-shield magic working?

I'd find out the answers to those questions, but, alas, google isn't helping me.

Top Ten

Heh.

Today being Saren's decade-mark, here are the top ten events of the day (in no particular order).

10. Seeing a rainbow
9. Riding the 'tomato' at Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix
8. Getting rained on, while at Las Vegas Mini Gran
7. Getting cards and presents from her sisters
6. Getting cards and presents from her friends
5. Playing for hours with her friends at the park
4. Cake!
3. Taking pictures with Steph's camera
2. Turning ten! Certainly doesn't happen everyday.
1. Being awesome. But then, she does that on a daily basis.

Happy 10th Birthday, Saren!!

I can name ... in six words

Who's up for a little lyrical game?

I will post the first two words, an ellipses, and the last two words of a song. Your mission is to identify them. Artist and title, if you're really good. ;)

I'll post the answers after a day or so.EDITED!

Decided the game was a little too difficult, so I'm adding a word to the beginning and the end. Plus, the ones that have already been IDed are no longer in the running. Answers will be up..probably the day after tomorrow.

Here we go!

1) "I'd like to ... garden with you."

2) "Came in from ... is my world."

3) "There are places ... love you more."

4) "I want ... my atmosphere." Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie [IDed by Kirk]

5) "Some say the ... all come down."

6) "On a dark ... can never leave."

7) "Can you feel ... what is it?"

8) "Hello I've waited ... when she sang."

9) "Is this ... wind blows." Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen [IDed by CosmicAvatar]

10) "In my ... just disappear." Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden [IDed by Kirk]

11) "Are you ... of mine." Scarborough Fair by Simon & Garfunkel [IDed by Cosmic Avatar]

12) "An old man ... helping you out."

13) "What's with these ... care about that."

14) "Spent my days ... as it seems."

15) "Don't you ever ... never never change."

Good luck!

Eight eight I forget what eight was for

Yeah, I should really use that title next year. I'll have to try to remember that.

Random ness.

1. I read The Big Question by Chuck Barris. God only knows why I finished it. Very very badly written stuff. Chuck Barris, in case you don't know, and don't feel like wikiing him up, was the creator of The Gong Show, The Newlywed Game, and the author of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which was recently turned into a movie.
Anyway. We rented CoaDM from Netflix a few weeks back, and when I saw that Chucky Baby had written a new book about a game show wherein the final question is a matter of life and death (answer the final question correctly, win 100 million dollars. Get it wrong, and you're executed live on tv), I figured, that might be a fun read.
Um. Not so much.
Interesting, if not completely original, idea. Horrible horrible execution. (No pun intended)

2. I'm now reading (about 100 pages in) State of Fear by Michael "Jurassic Park" Crichton. I have a feeling this book is going to piss me off. It's interesting so far, but I just suspect that the anger will eventually come.
Why do I read things again?

3. Here's a youtube video that is quite catchy, and pretty fun. Plus, it's Harry Potter related. Harper loves it. And I find myself singing it at random moments in the day. Dumbledore!


4. I found a site that you can watch movies, tv shows, cartoons, music videos. Not sure if it's legal or not, but, anyway, I'm about half way through watching The Host. I bet that Annika and or Will have seen it. It's a Japanese (?) horror movie that came out in 2006 about a gigantic mutated ...monster attacking people. Surprisingly good so far.

5. Dinner? What should we have for dinner?

6. Stateris. It's Tetris, using the United States. (There's also a European countries version, if you're so inclined.)

7. Dude, it would be nice if I finished a project once in a while, wouldn't it? Lately, I've been wanting to go back and work on/add to/finish (ha ha ha ha) the Perth story. You know, the one that I started as my nanowrimo novel back in 2005. I left it in a spot where I had written myself into a bit of a corner, but recently I've been thinking about ways to get out of it. Of course, I haven't found time to actually do any work on it, but, at least it's reemerging in my mind.
The ironic thing is that *new* story ideas have begun to invade my imagination, claiming for the attention that rightfully belongs to other, older, more neglected stories first. [sigh]

8. I had something to say here, but I've forgotten what it was.
(See what I did there?)

Sadly, I neglected step 4

Million Dollar Plan!

1) Grow hair for, oh, say a year or so.
2) Get haircut quite short.
3) Go to work sporting new do.
4) Charge everyone who comments on your new appearance one dollar.
5) PROFIT!!!!

Hallows, Hallows. I'm in a place called vertigo

Huh. That title isn't the best, but, eh. I'm rusty. It's been a while since I've blogged.

It's been a week since we finished reading HP&tDH, so it's (beyond) time that I discuss it, no? I mean, a week is plenty of time for me to accio thoughts. That being said, I'm guaranteeing now that a) they won't be presented in a logical flowing manner and 2) there's most likely not going to be anything uniquely insightful or groundbreaking discussed. But, you know, read it anyway, because it's my POV and I'm asking nicely. :)

I probably don't really need to tag this, but I'm going to anyway, because how often does one get a chance to genuinely use spoiler tags? Also, I have more integrity than the New York Times.
[this was cross posted on the WD]
[begin spoiler for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - highlight to view]
As Steph pointed out in her review (go read it! It's really good!), this book was the most 'human' of them all.
As such, I have complex feelings about the book. Just like I do people I know. There is good and bad in all of us, and there is good and bad in HP&tDH.

One of the things I thought was very well done was the interweaving of all the previous book's occurances. Rather than having a bunch of backstory at the beginning (the 'previously' section that took up a lot of time in all the earlier books), it was worked into the narrative throughout. Clever!

The downside to that, though, was that it seemed like Rowling wanted to tie up *everything* that she'd had in the previous books. Which, um, you know, is good, especially since this was the final installment, but ...I'm not explaining myself very well. Let's see, how to put this? It seemed that some of the callbacks were ...gratuitous? And of course, I can't think of any examples right now, so, just pretend that this whole paragraph never happened. *casts memory charm*

I still find it hilarious that a good portion of the heroes are high school dropouts. Harry, Ron, Hermione (!!!!), Fred, George, Neville... all left Hogwarts prior to graduation.

It bummed me out having Dumbledore's memory tarnished, but it was also a very brave thing of JK Rowling to do. It made him more human, more real, more flawed, and in a lot of ways, more respectable as a result. Although I have qualms about the fact that Dumbledore would be looking for the Deathly Hallows when he had access to the Sorcerer's Stone all along. (And that makes me wonder if he truly did destroy it as he claimed he did at the end of Book 1. [eyebrow])

Deaths. [sigh]

Freakin' Hedwig, man. The two things that upset me about this (other than the death itself) was that Harry & Hedwig didn't end on good terms. Hedwig was pissed at Harry for having kept her cooped up, and they didn't get a chance to make-up. Also, the grieving stage seemed awfully brief. I mean, yeah, there were Death Eaters chasing them, and the Order may have been infiltrated, and nobody knew where half the Order was or who was still alive, but ...dude. She's been your companion for 7 years. Show some respect.

Dobby. Dobby, Dobby, Dobby. [sigh] This death had the right touch to it. The mourning stage was adequete, the death was touching and shocking and ... Freaking Bellatrix, man.
It was interesting, though, that both Dobby & Hedwig were killed by things that were intended to kill Harry, and that both of the characters were as innocent as you can get. There is undoubtedly a lot of symbolism about sacrifice in there that I will leave to smarter folks to analyze. [up]

Fred's death, strangely, didn't really bother me. I think because Amy had predicted it, and I was expecting it.

Tonks and Lupin, however, did. I mean, it was bloody obvious as soon as they asked Harry to be Godfather that they were doomed, but when it happened, my reaction was still, "But they just had a baby!!!"

Snape's death hit me about three days after the book was done. The fact that he looked into Harry's eyes - which were Lily's eyes - as he died simply made me unbelievably sad.

What else?
Weird theories/ideas time:

Umbridge was totally in love with Frank Longbottom.
I mean, if Snape was in love with Lily Potter, then obviously, Dolores must have had some unrequited love as well, no?
Well, I'm sticking with my Umbridge/Longbottom ship until I hear proof otherwise from Ms. Rowling herself.

Also - Dudley? He totally grew up to become the next Dark Lord. I don't care what ANYONE says, or how much canon it goes against. Dudley Dursely eventually performed magic. And eventually, that magic was Dark Magic. And eventually, he began to raise an army of Death Eaters. Oh yes. It happened.

And lastly, wand issues.

1) Why don't wizards have more than one wand? I was trying to think what wands would be analogous to in the Muggle world - cell phones? Pencils? Guns? Car keys? Probably something near all of those, but really, don't you think that a wizard would want a spare wand or two just in case something happened to their main stick?

2) Underage wizards don't need wands to perform magic. So why do older wizards? I *think* it's because the wand helps direct the spell, and therefore acts as a sort of tool that the wizards use. But still, doesn't that mean that a spell *could* be cast without a wand? (It would just be ...diluted, I guess? A curse intended for one person would kinda spread out and might hit the target, might not, and even if it did, it wouldn't be as powerful as if it were cast with a wand in hand.)
That being said... Voldemort's killing curse rebounding makes absolutely no sense. The wand doesn't control the spell. And even if it does, it doesn't control the spell after it's been sent. Guns don't control the bullets that they shoot once they're in the air. So the Avada Kedvra should have, at the very least, have simply not effected Harry. Bouncing off and hitting Tom Riddle is not really plausible. (Also, it makes for a highly tragic book. I said many times that Book 7 would be completley sad if Voldemort died. And lo and behold, he did. [crying])

But, of course, the answer to any inconsistencies is "A wizard did it."
[end spoiler]

Feel free to discuss the book/my thoughts/your thoughts/whatever in the comments. Anyone that has gotten this far, and looks at the comments and expects to NOT be spoiled is asking for a bit much, in my opinion.

Borders lines

(If you're anything like me, you now have Madonna in your head. I'm sorry. Actually...If you're anything like me, I'm sorry.)


So the other day we went to Borders, and I used their restroom.

Bathroom graffiti has always been interesting to me. Complete strangers leaving (usually profane) messages for each other, really bad spelling, pictures of naked body parts ...it's like the computerless internet!

Here's what I saw this time around:
Someone had drawn (a pretty good likeness) George Bush's face, and given him a Hitler mustache. Next to it, they had written FUCK BUSH.

Someone else (I assume) had drawn a body for BusHitler. Except that it was a female body. And it was, of course, naked and spread eagle. Near the vagina, they had written FUCK THIS BUSH, with an arrow helpfully pointing.

On the far wall was written (and painted over, but still visible) the words: WORK IS SLAVERY

Below that were two other notes:
"Whoever wrote that is a lazy fucker"
and
"He must depend on the gov't 4 cash"

I need to remember to start bringing a pen into the public bathrooms...

Oh my god, you look like a frog.

Movie status: Awesome. Left a lot of stuff out from the book, of course, and ultimately, nowhere near as great as one's imagination from reading the words, but still a very very enjoyable time.

We got there an hour early (!!!!) and there were STILL about 80-100 people in line in front of us. Muggles are crazy!

Spoiler tag time!
[begin spoilers for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - highlight to view]
Best scene straight away, without question - the fight in the Ministry. Totally. Awesome. Dude. Voldemort vs Dumbledore is the fight of the century (um..to date, anyway. [wink])

Other great and/or memorable things:

"Nice one, James!" = Aww.

Snape's worst memory was not seen through a Pensieve, but it worked pretty well the way it was shown.

Umbridge you're going down! (Hee!)

Actually, the casting choices and/or acting for Umbridge, Luna, and Bellatrix LeStrange are inspired. Great jobs, all around.

Huh. I just realized that there were no ghosts in this movie.

The Dementors have changed their appearance from last time. Unsure how I feel about this development.

They also changed the way that the fireplace communication goes on. Not really for the better.

Bellatrix is wicked.
Her 'escape' from Azkaban was goosebumpy.

Grawp actually looked pretty cool. Although I got flashes of Alfred E. Newman for some reason a couple of times.

Kreacher, despite only being onscreen for a few minutes, gave me the creeps. He gives off the 'ticking time bomb' vibe very well.

The Black Family Tree was shown for a while, and I spent the time looking at the background, trying to find Regulus and/or any other "R" name. Where's the pause button when you need it?

Ron's "fight the man" fist thing? Um. Not in the movie!

Neither was Hermione! (Hee.) Yes, she was, of course. We joked beforehand about all the things that they would not be able to include from the books, and I said, "What if Hermione's not in this one?" And then said that I would have to include that joke in my blog. Done and done.

Fred & George's fireworks scene, while pretty damn cool, still didn't quite measure up to the images in my mind. There were sinister wheees, though! When the decrees exploded, I have to admit I felt like cheering.

Hilarious lines:
"He's back!"
"You may not like it, but you have to admit.... Dumbledore's got style."
"That's clever, Ron." "It's been known to happen."
"Oh, there are plenty of things I'd like to say."
"I may vomit." (heh. Snape.)

[end spoiler]


And now, it's pretty late at night, and I have to wake up an ungodly hour. But in the end, I think having seen HP&tOotP [2 days before it's release, even!] was worth it.

Did I mention

Things I've been meaning to blog about

1) The heat
2) Harper's birthday
3) The heat
4) The heat
5) The heat
6) The trip to the Kwik-E-Mart
7) Work
8) The unbearable, excessive heat
9) Harry Potter
10) The Simpsons
11) 7/7/7
12) Story ideas, and the lack of doing anything about them. (aka business as usual)
13) The heat. Oh god, the heat.
14) Things I've been meaning to blog about

I'm the cult of per-sa-nal-TV

Ha!

So, on Friday, TV Guide came out with a list of the "top 30 cult TV shows of all time".
[aside - why do these lists even bother saying "of all time"? Shouldn't they wait until ...I don't know, the end of time, before compiling these things? Especially since they composed a 'top 25 cult TV shows of all time' about 5 years back.]

ANYWAY.

The article is here.

And here is the list:
Bolded show numbers are ones that I have seen, bolded titles means that I greatly enjoyed them.

30) Strangers with Candy (1999-2000)
29) Absolutely Fabulous (1994-2003)
28) Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)
27) H.R. Pufnstuf (1969-1971)
26) Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1975-1978)
25) Firefly (2002-2003)
24) Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
23) Dark Shadows (1966-1971)
22) Doctor Who (1963-present)
21) Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)

20) The Avengers (1966-1969)
19) Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
18) Veronica Mars (2004-2007)
17) Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990)
16) Babylon 5 (1994-1998)
15) Family Guy (1999-present)
14) Battlestar Galactica (2003-present)
13) Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1989-1999)
12) Pee-Wee's Playhouse (1986-1991)
11) Jericho (2006-present)

10) Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)
9) Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
8) The Simpsons (1989-present)
7) The Prisoner (1967-1968)
6) Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974)
5) Lost (2004-present)
4) Farscape (1999-2003)
3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
2) The X-Files (1993-2002)
1) Star Trek (1966-1969)

Notable missings:
Futurama, Alias, Angel, Smallville, The Star Trek spinoffs [maybe they were included with Star Trek?... but, no, they only put 1966-1969, so they meant only the original series as #1 on their list. Weird.], Heroes, House [I'm not a fan of it, but I know it's got a huge cult following], V, Alien Nation, and Dead at 21. [Someone should revisit this idea. It really wasn't given a chance. I guess maybe NBC's upcoming Chuck might be sorta like it, but I'm skeptical of that show at this stage in the game.]

Questionable inclusions:
#30 - Strangers with Candy. What? I've never even heard of this show.
#29 - Absolutely Fabulous. Sucked beyond the telling of it.
#20 - The Avengers. Really? I never saw the original series, but the movievized version was horrible. (Of course, most movievized versions of tv shows past are.
#17 - Beauty and the Beast. Again, huh? I'd think that The Adventures of Lois and Clark would be more apt here. I mean, at least Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher both still have careers. Linda Hamilton and ...um... whoever the Beast was? Yeah. Nowhereseville.
#11 - Jericho. I keep hearing that it improved after midseason, but I gave up after the first 3 or 4 episodes. It was just too ...not good.

Anyway, when they do this list again next year, or whenever, I bet that Reaper will be on there. I've seen the pilot episode of it [and also Aliens in America and Life is Wild, which were...less impressive] and I can totally see this show catching on. It's very funny, and it has the supernatural twist to it, and it has enough plot potential to last for a while without getting stale. I even came up with one of my trademark way out theories! But, after giving it a little more thought, I've decided that it's most likely totally wrong. [Just like always! Yay!]
But, for the sake of prosperity, here's my theory. If it turns out that they use it, remember where you heard it first....

[begin spoiler for Reaper theory that is quite certainly way wrong CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE PILOT EPISODE OF REAPER! - highlight to view]
The Devil is actually God.

Why I thought this - 1) His comment, "I've seen how this ends. God wins."
2) He's having Sam do "good" work.
3) Sam's friend's comment about how you can't sell someone else's soul.
3a) The fact that Sam wants to continue to work for the Devil.
4) It would be an awesome twist, and something that I would appreciate.

Strikes against it
1) The Devil does watch as the guy gets killed by the Zamboni. [granted, the guy was a bad guy [so he said] and the god in the bible is a vengeful ass, but the vengeful ass thing is usually ignored by media portrayals of the Almighty God.]
2) The DMV worker.[see below]
3) Why would God pose as the Devil? That just doesn't make sense.
[/end spoilers]
Regardless, the show was still fun, and Tuesday nights at 9pm, we'll be watching.
Edited to add - Here were some of the best parts of the pilot ep of Reaper:

Highlight at your own risk!

1) The fact that the DMV is a portal into hell. Sure, the DMV is an easy target, but it explains so much!
2) "The winner gets a ham."
"I'm Jewish, you jerk!"
"..or a gift certificate."
3) "Sam tried college for a month, but it made him sleepy."
4) "It takes a charger."
5) The DMV worker having horns. Hee!
6) Their address is 667.
7) "How drunk are you?"
"Totally sober."
"How drunk am I?" [as with so many of Sock's lines, it's more his delivery than anything. Sock is awesome.]
8) "DMV!!" [another Sock line, and the messing up of the clerk's desk that goes along with it]
9) Eyebrows.
10) "I can be nice."

Endless Summer

God, this month has dragged. It has seriously felt like June forEVER.

And there's still another day to go!

I blame the 107 degrees that it is, even at 8:00 at night.

Open to interpretation

Pop culture is chock full of things that have ambiguous endings. I really enjoy when artists create such things, because it provides us nerds with something to argue about.

Examples follow (and I'll include my interpretation for each example, because it's the correct one)...

The ending of Angel:

Not Fade Away ends with ...um, I guess I should spoiler tag this, just to be on the safe side:
Angel and his crew have spent season 5 working for the bad guys, trying to take them down from the inside.
In the final episode, they set forth into motion a plan that seriously weakened many of the higher-ups in the bad team's hierarchy. This pissed them off, so they sent an entire army after Angel, Ilyria, Spike, Gunn [badly wounded], and Wesley [who did not survive].
The show leads up to the final battle between an army of evil and the final 4 good guys.
Angel and his team know that the odds are against them, but they are determined to go down fighting. Angel says, "Let's go to work." and the show goes to black.
So - did they survive? Did the army wipe them out? Did the earth grow tired of it all and hurl itself into the sun? We don't know. That's for us to decide.


My interpretation: When I first watched it, I felt for sure that Angel and his crew died heroic deaths, but that Evil won in the end.
Years have gone by, and maybe it's because I know that there are plans for a continuation of the series via comic books, or maybe I've just grown more optimistic, but I now feel that they beat the odds and ended up surviving against the army. Yay!

Here's the Youtube video of the last 5 minutes of the show, along with the WB's "goodbye" that shows some of the clips from the previous years.


#2) The Sopranos


I've never actually seen an episode of this show, and that includes the controversial series finale which just aired, but I've read all about it.
Basically, the final scene is set in a diner, where Tony is with his family, and the tension is building as to whether the next people coming into the diner will "whack" him or not.
His wife is outside attempting to parallel park, and it goes to black - midscene.

My interpretation: Tony bit it. If the show is from Tony's POV - and I guess most of it was - then it makes sense that once he's dead, that it would go to black. Also, apparently, the line of "you never see it coming" was used several times, which leads credence to that idea.
I was trying to find the clip of it on youtube, but I can't seem to find an unedited version of it.

#3) "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam

Video that came out in the early 90s.

I almost didn't include this "debate", because it's so obvious that he shoots himself, but when it was first popular, I had a friend who believed with all of her heart that he shot his classmates. Um...no.

#4) Han shot first.

#5) "That's where I'm a Viking!"

In the Simpsons episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" - a classic episode, from, like, 15 years ago - Ralph Wiggum is told by the teacher to go to sleep while the rest of the class tries to learn. He exclaims, "Oh, boy, sleep! That's where I'm a Viking!"
He then promptly falls asleep.
My interpretation - Ralph dreams of being a Viking each and everytime that he goes to sleep.
For years I thought that that was the only way to interpret that line. And then, a few weeks back, I saw that there was a different way to perceive it. That "viking" was a metaphor, and that Ralph was excited because he was going to be able to do something that he excelled at.
When I began reading that thread, I asked Steph, "The line 'Oh boy, sleep, that's where I'm a Viking!' means what?" and she instantly said, "That he's really good at sleeping."
And I was all, "WHAT!!!???!!!"
After having read all 467 comments in that thread, and talking to Steph (and Jupe) about this matter, I can see that way of thinking, but ...it's still wrong.
(And, sadly, the link to the youtube video of that particular clip of the show has been removed.)

And now, it's later than I had expected it to be, so I'll just end it there. I didn't even get to lyrics and/or book interpretations. So I'll open up the comment section - what books/movies/tv shows/songs/whatever are ambiguous and unclear enough to warrant debate and discussion? And/or, what about the above 5? If I'm seeing things in a completely erroneous matter, please, show me the light.

ETA- a few more examples:

The Wizard of Oz - it was all just a dream....or was it? [see also, about a million other copies of this idea. *Normal Again* from BtVS, for instance]

American Psycho did a similar riff.

The ending of FlashForward by Robert J. Sawyer - highly recommended, btw - has one of the most awesome ambiguous endings ever. "I must be getting old."

Modest Mouse lyrics are ripe with double meanings.
I couldn't remember
I couldn't remember
If I tried

being one.

Long Live Ambiguity!

So I says to Mabel I says

"What should I blog about?"

And she says, "........Harry Potter?"

So, we just got back from the book store, and the grocery store, and while at Borders, I saw a bunch of books that had my interest, so I'll be making stops at the library shoonish. ['shoon' being a combination of 'shortly' and 'soon', and meaning in an unknown amount of time, but not too far from now.]

While at the book store, though, I realized while in the children's section that everything for kids now is a Harry Potter clone. It's all "Jack-a-mo and the Fee Non Ay: Book 1 of 6" or "The China Chronicles" or "The Adventures of Whoozitdog". Which, you know, cool, but I wonder what the next big thing in children's lit will be, because right now, it seems all... the same.

Also Harry Potter related, but in a [grr!] type of way: Harry and the Potters were performing last night at the Sunrise Library, which is just down the street from our house. WOO!, we thought, That would be so awesome to go and see!, plus, the tickets were free, which is totally within our price range!

But, then, comes the grr! aspect.

The concert was for adults only.

Grr!!

That makes ZERO sense. I mean, hello? They're a band that sing songs based on books written for children!

Harry and the Potters are totally a thing that children should experience and would enjoy. Also the girls have been listening to the H&tPs CDs the past two days, and really liking them. Plus, some of their youtube videos displaying other performances of that band had youngish people in the crowd, so I don't know what is up the butts of the Sunrise Librarians, but the result was that we did not get to see the band. Boo, hiss. Maybe next time.

Oh, and the song "Dumbledore" gets added to the list. It's got good company - "The Day the Music Died", "Cats in the Cradle", "Still Fighting It",... "Vogue"

And lastly, it's nearly July! Which means movie 5, and book 7 are, like, days away now!

And the world is beautiful, just look around

Went to the libe during my lunch break because if I didn't get out of the office, I was going to have a complete and utter nervous breakdown. Hey, maybe I did anyway! [insert crazy laugh]

ANyway, I faced the quadruple digit temps and picked up a bunch of comic book/graphic novels/books with pictures and 3 cds by Harry and the Potters, because I'm lowbrow, and easy to please. Also, my attention span is just not up to reading full length novels anymore. Or writing them, either, apparently! [insert crazy laugh]

[sigh]

Today was a ...not good day at work. I'm trying to let it go, though, so maybe I shouldn't blog about it. On the other hand, perhaps getting it out will allow me to stop thinking about it. Let's compromise, shall we?

I'll blog about it in a moment, if I still feel I have to. First, other things:

We (well, Saren and I - Steph & Harper were smart enough to stop at various midpoints) watched Napoleon Dynamite last night.


HOLY FUCK that was the absolute worst piece of garbage I have seen in a LONG time. What the fuck is wrong with people that that movie has been so hyped? It was the opposite of funny. It was the epitome of UNfunny. I sat there, for an hour and 36 minutes, thinking, "It's got to get better." "It's going to get better, right?" "Maybe it'll get better."
It doesn't.

In fact, I realized something last night, anytime I've watched something thinking, "Maybe it gets better" ...it doesn't. Season 7 of Buffy didn't. Napoleon Dynamite didn't. I'm sure there are other examples, but I can't remember any right now. But the "maybe it'll get better" line is a fool's trap.

At some point, I realized that ND was NOT going to get better. I don't know when that was, but instead of turning it off, or finding something better to do, I opted to stick it out to see just how bad it could be.
Bad.

But after watching it, and after thinking back to all the hype that surrounded it, I had two thoughts:
1) The hype must be an elaborate prank. It's some sort of complex meta-joke, in which people know that it's an awful unfunny complete waste of time, but they say that it's great in order to see if anyone else will really buy into it. Those who do, are just as ...challenged mentally, shall we say? as Napoleon is himself.
2) Maybe I just don't get it.

Anyway, if it were possible to rate negative stars on Netflix, this would certainly deserve them.

Hmm. Urge to post about work is fading, but still somewhat here.

I'll suffice to say that work sucks. People expect me to be a mind-reader, and also don't take into consideration a) how much work I already do and b) that piling on more work on top of that won't be a problem.
Also, I'm vastly vastly underpaid.

On the bright side - I'm taking July 2nd and 3rd off, and the 4th is a holiday, so there's a five day break coming up at the end of next week. Cool.

s.o.c. it to me

Thoughts:

How the hell did SkyNet come up with the idea of time travel to begin with? The computer system was designed to monitor defense systems, it became self-aware, and when humans decided to shut it down, that's when it opted to kill us. So ...when did it develop time travel? I mean, if there truly were a nuclear war, wouldn't most of the materials have been destroyed to begin with?

Dear Area 108,
1) It's Area One-oh-eight. Not one-oh-seven-nine. I refuse to accept this change. Refuse!!
2) I do not like (green eggs and ham) Icky Thump by the White STripes. It is not a good song, and will not become a good song no matter how many times you play it during a day. (eg, 832)

Dude. Gremlins 3 would so rock, if done conrrecltly.

Oh, yeah, I'm UTP@, in case that was not of the evident ...material?

Um. Wow. I just keep on blanking. It's ...sorta scary, honestly. But. Oh, you know, at least, something.

Heh.
Um. Oh! You know what wiuld suck? If you died, and went to heaven, and when you got to the gates, there were three celebrity judges.

Actually, not only Gremlins 3, but I'd like to see Grease 3, Bill & Ted 3, and ...no, that's all. Are there any other movies that stopped at 2? Everything goes to 3 now. Or gets redone. And then goes to 3. Or 5. Or 11.

Oooh! Pizza! I'm starving like a marvin.
Tommorow is Summer. Pizza time!

Half a minute birthday

I am such a dork!

Anyway. 32's good so far.

1) No Zombies. (Which was a lot of fun participating in. The site responsible is already planning a sequel. It's still being worked out whether the next apocalypse will be another zombie infusion or something more (or less) sinister. Personally, I'd love to see a world-wide version of Wolf go down. [um...in the blogosphere. Real life werewolf attacks - not so much.])

2) Awesome gifts from my family and coworkers and cards from the same, as well as from some internet weirdos.
Here's the breakdown:
A 24 pack of Pepsi (hee!)
20 dollar gift card to Best Buy
20 dollar gift card to Del Taco
Pursuit of Happyness on DVD
Gremlins on DVD
The Goonies on DVD
Willow on DVD
2 bags of Beef Jerky
1 handmade book about cats from Harper
6 birthday cards total (3 from family, 2 from internet weirdos, 1 from work)
2000 extra points on the Wii Virtual channel - I haven't downloaded anything extra from there yet, though.


3) Um. I guess there isn't a 3. Oh, except that tomorrow is Friday. And payday. So, that's of the good.