I've Been Sick

Well, that's my excuse anyway. For not writing. Not that you missed me or anything.

But of course, there is much more going on than that. I mean, just because I have consistently tried to hack up a lung (today, I coughed so hard for so long that my nose bled) for the last 4 days, have had a piercing headache just above my right eye for the last two, but have still had to do work of some kind for all of those days, not including the Halloween Partying that went on, despite being sick, on Saturday (4 parties in one night, photo post - with captions - soon to come), doesn't mean that it is the only thing going on.

Recently, I have been the poor in spirit. As much as the Kingdom of Heaven is mine, it has come to my attention that there is much question about said Kingdom of Heaven. The kind of questions that my poor, feeble, sickly mind can't handle right now... I mean, the realization that there is more than what the church says, and more that what people say and live, I have to do my soul searching in the form of fiction.

That's right, it's National Novel Writing Month. 50,000 words in 30 days. If I finish, it will be the first time I have carried through on the promise.

I make myself the promise every year to complete my "short story collection" or my "novel" although I haven't written anything longer than 14 pages ever in my life (well, storywise anyway). What is wrong with me. This year, I look forward to this endeavor with much more trepidation, much less hope, and much more determination than I have ever had. I say this is the year that I at least break 25,000. I get half way to all the way done, which is about 15,000 more words than I've ever done. Last year's paltry 6,000 gives me a piercing headache above my left eye.

Wish me luck.

All Things To All People

A few years ago, I started going to a coffee shop called The Vine and I was there every Thursday, Friday and Saturday for nearly a year of my life. Towards the end of that year, I began working for them. I loved my job with them because it gave me the opportunity to know more people and come out of my shell even more.

The Vine was owned by Pam and Glen, a couple that led praise and worship at their church. They also worked with the youth and they realized that kids really had no place to go. They weren't just worried about the kids in their church, but all the youth in Macon and all the youth willing to come down from where ever they were coming from. Pam and Glen were surrogate parents for many of us. They were warm and friendly, open and welcoming. They were Christians that wanted everyone to feel welcomed and to feel loved. We showed up regularly - The truck driver looking for a million ounces of espresso in a large white mocha and a good game of chess; the writer who spent too much of her time reflecting until she actually began to meet others; people who played music regularly; homeless people and people too young to do anything except hang out. Many of the people I am still friends with today I met at The Vine. Jason, who suddenly yelled out lines from The Color Purple and bonded us instantly as friends. Kevin, a jeweler who sat at my table one day just because he wondered what in the world I could be writing every weekend. Mark, the trucker/chess player that looked like he needed a few years of sleep but was so funny in a dry humour sort of way. We got along because we both looked scarier than we actually were.

Pam and Glen ran The Vine like a business and a ministry. I loved it. I could invite anyone to come and know they would have fun. It was a great place to meet, a great place to hear live music, and a great place to just hang out.

One day, Pam and Glen decided to follow their own musical dream, so they saw about selling their equipment and The Vine name. I know they hoped that they would pass along the comfortable feeling they gave the place. The couple they sold it to did not have the same idea of what a Christian owned coffee shop should be. The most memorable difference between their ownership and Pam and Glen's I saw one evening. A couple of Morman guys came in - I assume to talk. They were obvious in their clean, dark suits, bike helmets resting on the table. They got glasses of milk and when the new owners daughters came out, she also brought tracts for the men in the hopes that they might accept Christ... the right way. It was an insult to them and immediately put up a wall. They left shortly afterwards and I never saw them there again. What once had been a place of rest for anyone who visited became a place where you couldn't just rest, but were assaulted with one man's definition of Christianity whether you liked it/agreed with it or not. It ceased to be my coffee shop.

After the Vine, I started going to and working for Joshua Cup Coffee. Also owned by Christians, they wanted the shop to be a place where anyone would be comfortable visiting. From Wiccan to Fundamental, everyone could come in and not feel judged. Blue haired, tattooed punk kids to blue haired Methodists, all shared the same place and they loved it. For more than 6 years, the people worked their hearts out, sometimes without pay, because they believed in what the shop was about. They wanted it to succeed and they worked for it to succeed. About a month ago, a new owner was brought in and with him came a manager. This manager said that only Christian music would play, that only Christian bands could perform. They kicked out the entertainment newspaper because it had bar advertisement. The entertainment newspaper that some people come to the J.Cup for. It was once the only place where I KNEW it was going to be. No longer.

As I see the changes happening, it makes me sad. I remember meeting a friend at the new Vine after I came back from my first stint in California. I met him and his brother, who was wearing a pagan cross, to catch up. The owners called me to the side to warn me about these guys. Guys that had been my friends longer than they'd been business and they thought they had the right to warn me?

Thanks, but no thanks.

I see Joshua Cup moving in that direction. There are some good changes and having real food is one of them. But I am worried about the direction and I am afraid that all the work and all the heart that went into making it a shop worth respecting will be gone.

Finished!

This week has been the most hectic week that I've had since taking a job and still trying to write for pay. It is becoming harder and harder to be fair to my regular paying job when it comes to writing.

I had 6 assignments due this week, all for next month. I need to start paying attention to the business part of this. I mean, I am keeping up with receipts, but I am not trying to figure out how to optimize my time so that I am getting the maximum worth out of the time it takes to write my articles versus what I get paid.

I have been pulled all out of sorts over how hard this week has been trying to get everything done. The Honey asked me if this was not what I wanted and I found myself smiling because this is EXACTLY what I want. I want this struggle to find the right words and put them to page. I want to receive that compliment from my editor, where her touch is barely there because my words match the style of her magazine or matches the tone that he wants in his magazine. It is not getting easier, but if I am right, it is because I am still trying very hard to be better and better. I think it would be easier to write the way I've always written.

Or it could all just be horrible and it's taken me longer than it really should have to get my articles written. But praise be to my good and fluffy Lord that I am done and ready to relax.

This is what relaxing looks like today:
Little Sister is coming to town today. We will drive around town trying to find clothes for an 80s Prom party and for her Cruela DiVille (sp?) halloween costume. Then we will go to IHOP (International House or Prayer - not Pancake) which she is being forced to go to so I agreed to go for morale support. Then we are going to the Prom. I have no clue what we will be doing after that.

Tomorrow is Arts and Jazz and then another birthday party. I like to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time!

But more than that, I am not going to think about any of the things that are really swirling in my mind. I will give myself permission to rest and to have fun. That's the least that I deserve.

Necessity is the Mother of Reinvention

I heard this second hand, but I thought it was funny and a friend's post about bookstores brought this to mind.

A couple of guys I know were at the bookstore, grousing about the prices of books. The one guy says to the other, "Man, wouldn't it be nice if there was a place you could go where you could get any book you wanted without paying for it and then when you're done reading, you'd give it ba..." He stopped himself in the middle of his sentence, laughed and then said, "Fuck! I've reinvented the library!"

I don't know why remember the telling of that conversation always makes me smile, but it does.

Happy Thanksgiving!

There is a local food magazine that asked me to write some things for them, so yesterday, I baked a whole turkey, macaroni and cheese and sweet potato pie for a picture. Everything turned out well, if I do say so myself, because I'm so awesome in the kitchen.

Rock on.

If I get pictures, I'll post them. The surprise, though, was the sweet potato pie. It was custard-y, but so flavourful. I baked the sweet potatoes to softness, mashed them up (after peeling them, of course) and added a bunch of stuff to it, but it was pretty simple as well. The kicker was the maple syrup in equal amounts with the sugar. It turned out delicious. I think the pictures will be good and I hope my story is good and I'm so tired from staying up all night cooking. Fortunately, I will finish everything that's been weighing on my mind tonight and maybe I can actually just sit back and relax this weekend.

Oh, yeah, this impromptu Thanksgiving baking helped me get my kitchen clean and in order. That was a blessing and an up all night curse, but all's well that ends well.

The Bird Is The Word

Sorry about that, but I'm watching Full Metal Jacket and that song was on.

Have you ever had a day where from the moment your feet hit the floor, it's like you're running? The first song on my iPod was by Pavement Placebo featuring Kate Bush. Running Up That Hill. I like that song, but as I listened to it, I just began to get tired.

Then I heard a song from a friend called Crisis of Faith (Part 1) and it made me want to drive fast.

Driving fast and tired do not a good combination make.

Tonight, something made me think about feeling connected to others, letting my mask slip a little and just putting myself out there. I got an email from a friend about being a different person now than in the past. It included a picture of myself I thought had vanished with the time. But it is still out there, floating around, a reminder of the once me, when I would willingly and without any sense of embarrassment call myself crazysexycool - as if I needed to speak it in one breath to make it real. And cool.

I'm not sure quite where to start. Do I start with the huge crush I have on Doctor Who - which is fantasy, or do I start with how my knee, which I hurt at the beginning of this month, still has not healed? Do I talk about how I look better in my jeans or how I keep looking at this story that's due last week and I can not for the life of me put the quotes in? Do I talk about how my hair is finally growing but I still might get braids, or do I talk about how hard it is to make myself put my kitchen in order. See, all these mundane, boring things that clog my mind when there are bigger things knocking around in there.

Like God and church and life and death and irrational fears and overwhelming love and finally letting go of the past. Of losing people so dear to you, you can't breath and like realizing that your friends, the one you truly love and care for, feel like half a world away.

Well, all maudlin aside, I hope it will be nice getting to know me again.

Remembering

Sometimes I forget who I am, or why I write, or why I have blogs.

I started blogging a few years ago because I had been reading blogs for months and there was only so much you could put in a comment. There were things rolling around in my head and I admit those first few posts were more imitative or responsive than revealing. I found that I liked different writing styles and I wanted to write as well or as funny or as introspectively as the people I found delight in reading.

It had more to do with being carried away to the land of those writing and wanting to follow them, on my site, into this imaginary place where I felt at home.

But then, one day, I was revealing; writing about myself and the things going on with me, the thoughts going on in my head, not reacting to what I'd read on my favourite sites. And soon people were reading my words and living in my life. And while it lasted, it was good.

And then, it felt like I grew up. I moved to California for a while and my life has not ever been the same. In ways that I still don't understand, I am closed. That may sound weird, but I found that I could not write about my experiences or put them into any context that wasn't heartrending. And then I got married and in that, the desire to hold something of myself close to my heart and away from the world began to grow.

I guess that is still there, since my marriage is so new and so perfect (even 3 years in) that to talk about it would almost spoil it. I am surprised by how much I want to keep to myself. But as I begin to read other sites again, I have to remember why I am still here, why I take up residence at this url when I could just give it up to someone else who really wants to write. I remember that getting out the things that go on with me, typing about the pains and joys of life, revealing a little bit more than I think is fair, but a little less than everything is the only way that writing will be real for me. I have faked it for a time, slowly chugging along until the words that are jumbled in would come out on their own, but now I realize that won't happen. The words will not find a way, as some say life did. I have to find the words.

Writing is scary only in how revealing it is. Writing is hard only in our fear of telling. Here's to telling.

New Apartment pt. 2

Moving is hard to do, but also exciting. As I nagvigate through boxes, things made of glass haphazardly packed in trash bags and "protected" by sales circulars from Kroger, millions upon millions of feet of wires and clothes, both clean and dirty, I realize I am embarking on a new adventure.

Namely, where to put the dishes.

I don't know if you realize this, but where you place the dishes will affect you for years to come (and like I said, it's possible we'll never move again, not because we don't want to but because it's just easier). Where do the plates go? Cups, silverware, special plates for parties, dessert bakery things, plastics or pots and pans? Where do they go? Choosing wisely will mean the difference between kitchen nirvana or kitchen nightmare. And you'll need more than Chef Ramsey to get you out of a kitchen nightmare. Glasses in the wrong place so that when you have guests, they get in your way when you have them over and they want something to drink, plates that are too high up so that you drop them, bowls out of place making the cereal to bowl to fridge for milk process less ergonomic - so many things could go wrong.

So why don't you just change it?

Because by the time you realize you're in a kitchen nightmare, you've grown used to things where they are. So even though you curse because you hit your knee on the dishwasher every time you grab a pan, it is not enough to change it because we love our habits.

No, you just realize you'll plan your kitchen better next time.

New Apartment

We are now in our new home, a place we will possibly be staying for the rest of our lives because DAMN! that move was hard. Every muscle in my husband body is sore, I twisted my ankle and re-hurt my knee (making me virtually useless on the "moving of big things" side of it) but worse of all, the only person that could help us sprained his wrist and kept re-injuring it throughout the night. After I hurt my knee, I didn't tell anyone about my ankle until after the work was done.

I'm about to take 50 aleve, I sure do hurt.

But it is satisfying to be in this house. It's a bit smaller, but it's nice. We have some things set up, and a ton of boxes to unload. It's going to be crazy here for a few days. But we are in, almost moved out of our old house completely. I have to go back and clean, but that's about it.

We're moving in, downtown! Are you ready for us?

What Fresh Hell Is This?

Spiders working together?

Apparently, there is a group of spiders... working TOGETHER... to build a gimongus web to catch all the mosquitoes over a lake.

Spiders should never work together. They should eat mosquitoes and then eat each other.

And repeat.

Stupid spiders.

Traveling

I'm about to start traveling again, this Sunday I'm going to Florida for 4 days and the week after, I'm going to San Antonio for 3 days with an overnight stay in Atlanta for a meeting on the 4th day.

Whew.

I love to travel, I love to fly, but I hate having to go to the airport to do so. I am definitely getting my own plane and airstrip if I am ever able to afford it. I have gotten to the point where I must wear pants that don't need a belt, flip flops for easy shoe removal (although I hate walking on that floor in my bare feet), nothing metal (except underwire) and always remember to take the scissors out of my computer bag. Every time I fly, I have to check to see if knitting needles are still allowed on flights, but I take the ultimate number of bags (3) allowed on board every time which makes inspection a bit harder.

It's always funny watching people trying to walk with all their carry on luggage still haphazard, trying to close their computer cases and put their belts on simultaneously. The worst, though, is traveling with young children. Children can be a joy, don't get me wrong, but trying to handle young kids ( not only can smell the fear and despair of those waiting in line, but who are also so empathetic to that depression they will let out their own wails on behalf of the beleaguered, I-decided-to-travel-with-something-bigger-than-standard line waiters) and also trying to handle a stroller, a baby/car seat, and your own carry on luggage while simultaneously mentally nudging the two people pushing their mother through and deciding to stop for a chat.

Flying is beautiful, being so high up, I don't even worry about my normal fear of heights. I love going to different places and I can't wait to go to San Antonio. I look forward to the time when I'm traveling for the love of traveling, my husband by my side, as we explore the world together.

In an RV.

With chunnels to everywhere.

Madeleine L'Engle

I remember the first time I met Meg Murray. She was a gangly girl, smart and out of place because of it. I remember wrapping myself within myself as I read about this girl with whom I could relate. I wanted a little brother like Charles Wallace and parents that believed in me because they could see, right now, how great I was even if I wasn't popular, or pretty, or smart. I lived low self esteem and Madeleine L'Engle wrote about it as if she not only understood it, but had the heart to explain it to all of us poor confused girls so that we had the hope that one day we would not be so gangly, we would love a boy like Calvin O'Keefe who would be smart and see us for who we could be, not how we were. Madeleine L'Engle made unicorns tangible beings to us, showed us the pain of growth and to this day, I cannot think of seraphim and cherubim without being reminded of L'Engle's creation.

Madeleine L'Engle took me to a supernatural world, my first introduction to science fiction that led to Asimov and Heinlein and Bradbury and then eventually to shows like Firefly and Battlestar Galactica simply because she helped me like a little bit of science fiction in my well told tales. She was the introduction to a great cast of characters and a great way of looking at myself that that I revisit and re-read time and time again.

In 2000, I finally bought my own copies of the first three books of the Murray series after reading them from the library all my life. They were beautiful with a cover I hadn't seen before nor haven't since. The covers were unique and mystical, the way I've always remembered the feel of the stories, the way I'd always thought of Madeleine L'Engle.

I cried when I read today that Madeleine L'Engle had died. It surprised me, but the impact she had on my young self was much stronger than I realized.

Rest in peace, Madeleine L'Engle. Rest In Peace.

L'Oeuf

I've become fascinated with eggs. I never used to eat them. Even as I think back to then, I can feel the familiar reaction to eggs I always had.

They made me want to throw up.

They were slimy and gloppy and moved funny in my mouth. I could only stomach eggs if they were cooked very hard as an omelet full of meats and cheese. I would move the egg and eat the meat and cheese all melted together and if I also happened to get some egg as well, well then, that was alright.

A few months ago, I decided I was going to try a fried egg. Sunny side up.

What in the world????

But I wanted to try it, so I cooked it. I cooked it too hard, the heat was too high and the yolk was still runny, but I loved it. Just a little salt and pepper and I was on my way. I've been eating eggs sunny side up and over easy ever since. I had a couple of scrambled eggs, but they held no appeal. Over time I'm learning how to get it just right. Just the right amount of butter, just the right amount of heat. I'm certainly not an expert for anyone but myself, but the current incarnation of my egg definitely beats out its first appearance.

The different tastes that exist in their non scrambled forms is enthralling. The egg whites that soak up the butter, the yolks that hint at their hard boiled taste with something a bit more earthy underneath, together forming a taste that, for the first time in the 4 years since I started eating eggs, makes me excited about eggs again. Also for the first time, I don't require cheese, which is the thing that saved the scrambled egg for me.

I was online and I read about The Egg. I can't wait to try it.

Drool Worthy Fiber

This is so beautiful. I've found myself going back to the site just to stare at it.

Yes. I know. I'm such a nerd.

All Things Considered

If things go as discussed, I may have to move my television blog back to its original location. It has been brought up in certain secretive meetings with a particular newspaper that I may be writing my blog for their online audience. If that's the case, I will let you know, but otherwise, you will have to be bored by the things entertaining me on here instead.

Just a head's up.

Sneak Peak at Fox's K-Ville

If you want to see the season premiere of K-Ville, Fox's new police drama, you can check it out on Fox on Demand. You can also watch episodes of other shows, like Bones, Hell's Kitchen, American Dad, or the show that was cancelled after only one episode, Anchorwoman. Or you can catch the first 17 minutes of the season 3 premiere of Prison Break (a show I, personally, cannot stand).

Tell me what you think? Was I right about it not being cancelled?

Big Fat TV Nerd, Part 5

I did not do the CW last year, so here are my predictions for the new shows coming this fall. (C)=comedy, (D)=drama, (R)=reality.

(C) Aliens in America - A mom becomes an exchange student host family hoping that the exchange student will help her son be popular. What they get is an boy who is also a Muslim. The story of how these two misfits become friends in that crazy world called high school. Gut reaction? NOT CANCELLED

(CD) Reaper - A young man finds out, on his 21st birthday, that his parents sold his soul to the devil. Now he is the devil's bounty hunter with a vast array of tools to help him get the job done. Before the previews came out, many thought this would be direct intrachannel competition for Supernatural, but it is so totally not. NOT CANCELLED because it seems like it will be fun.

(D) Gossip Girl - Kristen Bell, how we will miss you. If only Veronica Mars had continued with it's good writing and your quirky, yet believable delivery. Especially after the season finale. Now, however, we look forward to you on Heroes as well as the title character Gossip Girl. /end homage. Noone knows who Gossip Girl is, but Gossip Girls sees and knows all. Her voice over narration details the drama at a ritzy prep school and the drama that surrounds its inhabitants when THE "IT" Girl returns to the fold. NOT CANCELLED

(D) Life is Wild - Based on the British show, a family moves from the concrete jungle of New York City to the wilds of South Africa. It is a journey of self discovery for this new family. Let's hope it's good. NOT CANCELLED.

The CW will also premiere two pop culture shows, one called CW Now which they hope will become THE place for the latest info on celebrities, gossip, fashion, places, and things... everything that we supposedly want to know about what's hot, what's not and what's next. They will also premiere Online Nation, which is a show that pulls together the best of video online... you know, the videos we get in email every morning? They will get all of those together and show them all to us. Will possibly be fun for the people who don't live their lives online.

Big Fat TV Nerd, Part 4

Fox has most of my current favourite shows, but it will be interesting to see what comes of this new season. First, last year's predictions. (d)=drama, (c)=comedy, (r)=reality

(C) Happy Hour - "Happy Hour... free buffalo wings... half priced drinks... and the time between the end of one relationship and the start of another". CANCELLED, but I'll take the free wings and half priced drinks.

(D) Justice - "An unflinching, behind the scene look at the way high profile cases are tried in the media age. Starring Victor Garber, Kerr Smith, Eamonn Walker. CANCELLED

(D) Standoff - Two of the top ranked negotiators in the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit are sleeping together and when it's revealed, it cause friction with the group. Gina Torres stars. NOT CANCELLED 'cause of my girl Gina aka Zoe aka good to see you on TV again Torres.

(C) 'Til Death - A comedy about new marriages vs. old marriages. Starring Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher. Two funny people and a good comedy for Fox. NOT CANCELLED

(D) Vanished - A woman disappears and the investigation into that disappearance brings up more than anyone ever thought. Rebecca Gayheart, Ming Na star. NOT CANCELLED out of sheer voyeurism and guilty pleasurism.

The Wedding Album - "Things are definitely more interesting when every day at the 'office' is the most important day of someone else's life." CANCELLED - doesn't seem to have much substance. I couldn't even tell if it were a comedy or a drama.

(C) The Winner - A 43 year old looks back to the tender age of 32 when he became a man. Now rich, he leads us through the steps he took to get there, with the help of his true love's 13 year old son. Stars Rob Corddry (of Daily Show fame - And some Arrested Development), Julie Hagerty (Airplane!) and Lenny Clarke (funny!) NOT CANCELLED

I was wrong about Standoff and Vanished. I loved Standoff and wish it could have continued. I hated Vanished from the first episode. Of course, I suppose my girl crush on Gina Torres helped with Standoff, but I liked the show for its other elements. I'm pretty excited about a few shows coming to Fox this season. I was also VERY wrong about The Winner. So sad. It had its very funny moments.

(D) K-Ville - Stupid name, but interesting concept of cops trying to take New Orleans back after Katrina. It stars Anthony Anderson who has his funny moments but is really good as a serious actor, as he's shown us on The Shield. NOT CANCELLED

(D) New Amsterdam - Actually, as of last minute information, this show will become a midseason show. That does not bode well at all. Maybe they are trying to keep it from competing with CBS' Moonlight. Maybe they want to see how well Moonlight will do. Maybe they feel they are too close and want to change some elements... If there is something wrong, that will be too bad because I thought this drama, of a guy who gives his life saving a Native American woman from his own people killing them and gets the "gift/curse" of eternal life until he finds his one true love from the saved girl, would actually be good... although I hear he gets killed when he is near his true love and then comes back to life when he is far from her at the morgue and must find out who she is so that he can be with her.... hmm, maybe that's why it's a midseason show... but still, NOT CANCELLED

(C) Back To You - Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton are news anchors at the same station... Kelsey Grammar's character made it to the big times and then a cursing spell gets him pulled from the show and the only place that will hire him is the place where he started. I hope it's good. We need new comedies. NOT CANCELLED

(R) Kitchen Nightmares - Gordon Ramsey is the chef from Hell... and he brings his own style of dealing with people to a kitchen near you. Modeled after the BBC show Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsey goes to different restaurants to help their kitchens become better. Since I loved Hell's Kitchen this year, this deserves a look. It's done well on BBC America, so NOT CANCELLED.

(R) American Band - American Idol for bands. I hear one of my husband's friends made it on the show, so worth watching to see how far he and his band got. Here's also hoping they have the horrible bands episode that's as funny as the horrible singers episodes on American Idol. NOT CANCELLED

(D) Nashville - Country music's version of The O.C. NOT CANCELLED because almost everybody and their mama loved The O.C.

(C) Unhitched - 4 friends look for love. Rashida Jones is in this, which means that she's left The Office and although it's sad to see her go (she was funny to me), I'm one of those saps who were hoping Pam and Jim got together. However, this show just seems unfunny. CANCELLED

(C) The Return of Jezebel James - The reviews of this show is not good. From what I saw, it was pretty unfunny and slightly sad, even though I really like Parker Posey. CANCELLED, unless they do some massive rewrites.

(D) The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Another version of the Terminator. Summer Glau (our girl from Firefly/Serenity) is a badass again... and what can be better to watch than Summer Glau badassing it up? NOT CANCELLED

(D) Canterbury's Law - Julianna Marguiles out sharks Shark. From the creators of Rescue Me, which in and of itself is a phenomenal show. This seems like an edgy lawyer show, what I though CBS' Shark would be and have been disappointed by. NOT CANCELLED, although the buzz about it has not been as good as it looks to me.

Big Fat TV Nerd Part 3

Continuing my series of caring a little too much about television, I bring you last year's predictions for shows on NBC. As always (d)=drama, (c)=comedy, (r)=reality


(D) Heroes - "Heroes chronicle the lives of those [with supernatural ability] whose destiny just might be saving human kind. Stars Milo Ventimiglia (of Gilmore Girl fame). NOT CANCELLED because people always want more X:MEN.

(D) Friday Night Lights - Football story, like the movie, but every Tuesday (unless they change the schedule). I loved the movie, but will miss Billy Bob Thornton. NOT CANCELLED

(D) Kidnapped - A couple's 15 year old son is kidnapped. Shocking crime or business vendetta? Watch as the event unfold. Delroy Lindo, therefore NOT CANCELLED.

(C) Twenty Good Years - Old men live the rest of their lives to the fullest. John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor (George Bluth) so NOT CANCELLED, although networks didn't take too kindly to Arrested Development, so CANCELLED

(C) 30 Rock - Tina Fey is Dick Van Dyke. It's full of SNL alums and Alex Baldwin. CANCELLED, even though I think Tina Fey is funny.

(D) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Josh Lyman and Chandler Bing are Dick Van Dyke breaking new life into a sketch comedy series. I still think this is a drama though. Starring Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet. This sounds like it has potential, but CANCELLED

I am glad that I was wrong about 30 Rock. It turned into one of the funniest sitcoms last season. And unfortunately, I was right about Studio 60, although we were two of like 10 people who loved the show. I was wrong about Kidnapped, although it was a very good show. It got a lot of critical acclaim, being MUCH better than Fox's Vanished which was basically the same premise. NBC finished the remaining episodes online, which was great for the fans, but I would have liked to see this show continue. The actors were simply fantastic.

This season, NBC is bringing a couple of shows I'm pretty interested in.

(D) Bionic Woman - A woman in a life threatening accident, a boyfriend who's a prosthetist...a bionic prosthetist who wants his girlfriend to live. A government who doesn't want the billions of dollars that is her new body to go to waste and Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff. NOT CANCELLED

(D) Journeyman - This guy travels through time and may have the ability to save the woman he once loved. But what does that mean for his current love life and is he going crazy and does this premise make sense or am I going crazy? Even though you can't dislike a series because they can't really explain the premise, you wonder if the difficulty in explaining it in simple terms will cause it to be cancelled. My guess? CANCELLED

(CD) Chuck - I remember a show called Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I loved that show. I miss that show. It looks like Chuck may be that show. Maybe not. A computer nerd sees everything that the government knows. I forget how. He hacked it, somebody else hacked it, it gets hacked and sent to him, whatever. But the government is after him...or they want to work with him. Whatever. Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly) is in it. I'm watching, I don't know about you. However, CANCELLED in hopes of some Firefly specialness from Joss Whedon that Baldwin can return to.

(D) Life - A cop gets life for murder. But he's innocent. Gets out of jail. Becomes a cop again, even though he gets millions for being wrongfully imprisoned. Then he uses the skills he learned on "the inside" to help him solve cases on "the outside". Spooky? That's what I thought. NOT CANCELLED, although I also had high hopes for Raines, another of last season's cooky cop shows that bombed on NBC. Maybe because Raines could see dead people. Let's hope Life does better.

(DC) Lipstick Jungle - Brooke Shields is in this one. This is the one I don't think will do as well as Cashmere Mafia. I think this one has a simpler premise, but it shall be seen if this NBC drama will beat it's twin on ABC. CANCELLED

When. Will. It. BE. Here!?!?!?

I heard tell that my favourite video game (Yes, Honey, XBox 360 finally beat out the Wii in my opinion), Viva Pinata will be coming to the DS Lite!!!!

According to GameSpot, the game will have more features and take advantage of the DS Lite's touch screen capabilities in interacting with the pinatas. Among other things!

As some of you may not know, I was not necessarily a video game person. You can check out this post for my awful time with Gears of War. He would never say this, but I'm sure if he could describe my attempts at playing the word embarrassment would drop. He would especially not want me to play in front of others. Stinkin' game.

But it was Tetris on the DS Lite that got me started. And now, those wonderful programmers have decided to give me a portable version of the game I love. Bless you, RARE.

Rock Band will be coming out later this year. THE GUYS have decided to come over, dressed up for their parts. If you don't know, Rock Band is the video game that takes Guitar Hero one step further. Using guitar, bass, drums and vocals, all your friends can come together and irritate the tar our of your next door, cross the hall, and downstairs neighbors. However, these guys are dedicated. They will be ready to tour the world after only a few hours of practice. I can't wait for that party.

I don't really get into gamer news that often, but this was something that I could really get excited about. And that is always good.