What-nots and Etceteras,

For those who have missed them so far, I will give you links to my reviews. I'll be nice, and put it all behind a cut tag.

( Links to my thoughts, feel free to clicky! )

Jim Butcher has the cover for his 12th Dresden Files book, Changes, up, check it out.

( Let's be paranoid about spoilers together. )

Well, if you love Stephen King and will watch just about any movie with Christian Slater in it. Yes, I watched and even enjoyed Kuffs, what of it?

( Movie Trailer )

It made me squeal like a teen in the 90's at a NKotB concert!

For a limited time, to raise money for a move that would benifit us all, squeaky is talking about offering up Hopital Benifactor [name may be changed] accounts. Please, vote in the poll in the announcements asylum and let him know our thoughts.

( Rules and big banners. )

I'll be making another post with more banners for differnent fandoms and in different sizes.

Writer:	Andrew Chambliss
Director:	David Solomon
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Reed Diamond, Miracle Laurie, Amy Acker
Guest:	Valerie Cruz, Liza Lapira, Tim Chiou

When a traitor is discovered inside the Dollhouse Echo and Sierra are programmed as Spy hunters to uncover the culprit. Meanwhile, Ballard receives surprising news from Mellie, and Adelle harbors a secret.

( My Thoughts )

Writer:	Tracy Bellomo
Director:	Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Reed Diamond, Miracle Laurie, Amy Acker
Guest:	Teddy Sears, Emma Bell, Skyler Stone, Angel Desai, Vincent Ventresca, Joe Wandell

When Echo, Sierra, Victor, and November awaken in the Dollhouse with most of their original personalities and memories intact, Echo leads the charge to free the Actives from their apparent captivity and escape the Dollhouse forever. Meanwhile, Ballard discovers the Dollhouse is closer than he thinks.

( My Thoughts )

Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow mothers! I hope you are pampered and appreciated.

Writer:	Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain
Director:	James A. Contner
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Reed Diamond, Miracle Laurie
Guest:	Brett Claywell, Philip Casnoff, Mechad Brooks, Octavia Spencer

A deadly virus outbreak on a college campus and sends Echo back to school where pieces of her past come into focus.

( My Thoughts )

Writer:	Joss Whedon
Director:	David Solomon
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Reed Diamond, Amy Acker
Guest:	Miracle Laurie, Aisha Hinds, Kevin Kilner, Liza Lapira, Mark A. Sheppard, David Barry Gray, Patrick Stinson, Patton Oswalt

Echo becomes the perfect wife for a lonely internet mogul and Sierra's attacker is revealed. Meanwhile, Mellie's life is in danger and Agent Ballard's investigation takes a surprising turn when he comes face-to-face and goes fist to-fist with Echo for the very first time.

( My Thoughts )

Writer:	Tim Minear
Director:	Allan Kroeker
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Reed Diamond, Amy Acker
Guest:	Miracle Laurie, Brian Bloom, Aisha Hinds, Rebecca Field, Angus Sutherland, Mark Totty, Sam Hennings, Brad Hunt, David Alpay

Echo becomes a blind woman so that she can infiltrate a very secretive and well-guarded cult.

( My Thoughts )

Writer:	Sarah Fain, Elizabeth Craft
Director:	Dod Hardy
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Amy Acker
Guest:	Liza Lapira, Reed Diamond, Anson Mount, Toby Leonard Moore, Kevin Will, Sarah McElligott, Andrew Bowen, Mark Ivanir, Tony Amendola

Echo's stint as a midwife doesn't prove as laborious as when she becomes an expert safe-cracker in order to perform a dangerous art heist. Yet a more than an invaluable piece of art is stolen from her on the engagement, forcing Sierra to take on a familiar persona.

Agent Ballard gives Lubov an ultimatum, and Adelle confides shocking information to Topher.

( My Thoughts )

Writer:	Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen
Director:	David Solomon
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Amy Acker
Guest:	Jonathan Kowalsky, Michael Khmourov, Manny Guevara, Stephon Fuller, Kimberly Cole, John Brantley Cole, Cloie Wyatt Taylor, Sherida Mulrowe, Billy “Sly” Williams, Alex Quijano, Miracle Laurie, Kevin Kilner, Jamie Lee Kirchner, Jim Piddock, Graham Norris, Reed Diamond

Echo becomes a backup singer to watch out for a female singing sensation with a very overzealous fan. Agent Ballard's investigation takes a turn for the worse.


( My Thoughts )

Writer:	Steven S. DeKnight
Director:	Steven S. DeKnight
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Amy Acker
Guest:	Jennifer Segal, Erin Cummings, Rico E. Anderson, Omar Adam, Tim Conlon, Rich McDonald, Miracle Laurie, Reed Diamond, Matt Keeslar, Alla Greene, Mark A. Sheppard, Kevin Sizemore

Echo becomes the ultimate outdoorswoman when she is is hired by a handsome young client named Richard, but it may turn out that neither of the pair is what they seem to be. Meanwhile, Agent Ballard receives a clue about Echo's past, and we learn about Dr. Saunders' scars and the rogue active "Alpha".


( My Thoughts )

Writer:	Joss Whedon
Director:	Joss Whedon
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Amy Acker
Guest:	Reed Diamond, Brett Claywell, Kurt Caceres, Haley Pullos, Oscar Orlando-Torres, David Doty, Vincent Laresca, Tim Kelleher

Echo is hired by a businessman to be the ultimate kidnapping negotiator when his young daughter is abducted. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Paul Ballard risks his career in his search for the elusive Dollhouse.


( My Thoughts )

recipe is posted here

Okay, so I made lemon ricotta cookies this morning. Given that none of my family had ever tried lemon cookies before and this would be my first time making cookies from scratch, I only made half a batch. This ended up being about 17 cookies [it was supposed to be @22, but my cookies are apparently bigger than Giada's].

Given that I played it safe and only baked half a batch, can you guess what happened?

Yeah, they're gone all ready.

I'm thinking of substituing the lemon juice and zest with orange juice and zest next time. We'll see.

Chlark Madness is a Chlark video contest that takes your favorite Chlark videos through a sweet sixteen sweeps – similar to March Madness – until there is one left. This should be a fun little contest that will not only create some buzz for Chlark online, but also provide some well deserved feedback for Chlark vidders.

It's a great chance to show everyone what you love about Chlark. That's what I we this to be, an event were we can talk about Chlark as represented in the artwork of Chlark videos.

There are several ways to participate. First, you can recommend videos. (See the video recommendation process in the rules thread for how.) Second, watch and vote for your favorite Chlark video. Third, give feedback on why you're recommending the video.

( Categories & Dates )

Tonight at 9 PM EST/8 PM Central [hour later than usual] we will be having a Chlarker/Chloiser live chat. It's going to be about Season Nine Rumors and any fun suggestions for season nine episodes. I don't think I can top psychotic jeweler, but I'd love to try!

We hope to keep it light and fun. Sure, there's always a panic, but it's also kind of funny if you sit way back to look at it.

Also, we will do symbolism at some point, but probably not until the second hiatus. We're leaving the thread up/primer so people can post to it! :)

I didn't announce it here, but I'm pregnant. Actually, I'm about 5 or 6 months along.

If you want to keep track of my progress, and just updated on my children in general, check out my blogspot on it. I probably won't post much about it here, though I'll probably post and give a link when I update that blog.

[and we haven't even started on the fact that they'll go get a Capri Sun out of the fridge for you]

They are little holiday decoration making machines! While decorating the house last night [we haven't been in the spirit for personal reasons], we've decided we're not actually going to buy any decorations. We stop at the fake tree, ornaments and lights we already got. Next year, I'm teaching my girl how to make snowflakes for the windows. It's fun for the kids, and cheaper than trying to buy decorations. However, you might be more heartbroken if they come up missing when you go to decorate the next year.

BTW, Happy Holidays to all to celebrate any. To those who don't... Happy Hump Day ;)

For those of you who love to cook, or who are looking for/to share recipes, I have a new community for you.

simple_cooking

The posting is moderated, so the recipes can be legible. Ooh, and the tagging is going to [hopefully] be thorough! Please, come and share your recipes. I'm always looking for some good ones.

The title pretty much says what this tutorial is all about.

( Cut because I like you. )

Little tip: If you click on the options, you can have it shut down after it's done converting. That way you won't have to randomly check the command screen that pops up to see if it's done.


If you have any questions, feel free to ask them!

If, for some reason you find yourself needing to change file extensions [change that mp4 home video to m4v for some reason], then here's the tutorial for you!

( Cut because i like using images )

Feel free to comment if you have any questions.

I know some of you like to split large files to share them [have you tried to e-mail a complicated and many layered psd file? It's difficult at best], but not everyone knows how to use programs to rejoin them. So, here's a quick and dirty step-by-step tutorial on how to join files split by HJ-Split.

( Image kinda heavy. )

Feel free to comment if you have any questions.

Remember, if you comment here, this is a public post. However, I do have anon commenting enabled. It just won't show until I unscreen it.

( Onto the poll! )

Remember: It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Then, it's a challenging scavenger hunt.

Onion Horoscope: Gemini

Apparently LKH is doing some sort of publicity 'Center Stage' thing for Barnes and Noble. Check out this question someone wrote it:

Dear Ms. Hamilton,

How difficult has it been portraying a female rapist as a protagonist?

Do you have to consciously think about the mental gymnastics she has to go through to justify her own behavior? Was the development planned like Jeff Lindsay's Dexter or did it just happen during the course of the series and you decided to continue with it?

Many times the genre of science fiction/fantasy has been used to portray things people aren't comfortable discussing in a real world setting such as racism was discussed in the original Star Trek series using aliens, do you feel discussing the psychology of a sex offender in this setting furthers understanding of it?

Thank you for the interesting perspective,
Pasty

I don't know Pasty, but I kinda love her. As far as I know, Hamilton hasn't answered her yet.

So, how is everyone this morning?

My girl started school today. We woke up late [only had about 30 minutes to get ready]. Even if her dad hadn't been planning on taking her, we so could have made it to the bus stop in time. I just wouldn't have been able to braid her hair.

I have no idea what to do all alone today. I already miss my baby!

In Love With Death
The Twilight of American fiction.
By Gina R. Dalfonzo


It's a review about the Twilight series that I am absolutely in love with.

For those of you who love books and want to discuss them in a book-club type format, I've made a new asylum!

We haven't picked out the first book yet, and we don't have the rules and stuff set up, but we're just getting started.

Feel free to join page_turners! We'll be ready and and all genres and eras.

I might not have internet connection for at least a few days starting tomorrow afternoon. Why you ask? Because my husband just signed for our new house today, and we move in tomorrow.

Blurb about book #10. So, anyone else thing April 2009 is way too far away?

Anyway, I picked up the latest of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels. My love for Reacher knows no bounds. Just... yeah. Also, Lee Child really keeps it together and manages to write a series of books where you could pick up reading anywhere in the series and not be lost, while not making so those of us reading in order want to spork out our eyes [Alan Dean Foster, I'm looking at you].

Anyone else reading the Dresden Files or Jack Reacher series?

The first 10 movies mentioned in the comments will go into a poll to determine which order they get review in by me. So, feel free to comment with a movie! Also, you may notice that more than a couple of these have been on MST3K, but only one of them is not in the non-MST'd version. I like my movies corny! If it's cross out, then I've already reviewed it.

( Movie List... in handy table format! )

7 down and 3 more left to pick!

Okay, so my husband rented the first season of My Name is Earl last night. I had never seen this show because it looked about stupid. Well, we ended up watching the first 14 freaking episodes last night. It was freaking hilarious. It's like a Kevin Smith movie in a way: on paper it seems like the kind of thing I would absolutely hate, but when put into action, I love it.

Now, for a little secret [nothing to do with My Name is Earl]. I read Laurell K. Hamilton books. You see, I got started on the Anita Blake series back when I was a teen walking to the nearest library and borrowing as many books as I could fit into my deep coat pockets [10 average size paperbacks, if anyone's interested]. Does anyone remember those first few books? They had plot, and Richard didn't make ya wanna slice and dice a fictional character? So do I.

Now I read because it's a compulsion. I started the series and got more than 3 books in, so I have to complete it. Just like if I own two or more seasons of a show, I must own them all. Anyway, I started the Merry Gentry series because... I was desperate for something to read. Anyway, it had plot at the beginning.

Guess what? I found plot again in Lick of Frost! Granted, it's not a great plot, and Merry is even more of a Sue than ever [who doesn't want her now?], but there is a shred of a plot.

...

Should the presence of plot in a LKH book be considered a spoiler for those who haven't read it?

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I'm still here, though! I'll be doing movie reviews again soon. However, it's going to be until mid Aug before I have all my dvds unpacked [early Aug until I actually have a house again].

So, tomorrow I'll have a list up of the DVDs I have here with me. Then, the first 10 people to comment with a movie title get that title on my next poll [that'll go up Monday]. That poll will decide the next few movies I review.

Sound like fun? BtW, hubby got me a couple of those 50 Classic... dvd sets, so it's going to be a long-ass list. prepare yourselves. You're so very lucky I friends cut.

It's that time again!!!


This month, we're taking it down to 7 days instead of 13. The 13 days will be for special occasions, like right before the next season starts, or there was just a REALLY great Chlarker episode on. You know, pretty much whenever I [the evil admin] feel like it. And, now, the themes:

* 01 Summer
* 02 Family
* 03 Applications of Stochastic Calculus and Partial Differential Equations in Financial Economics or just plain old Math
* 04 Red K
* 05 Care
* 06 Coffee
* 07 Fairytales, myths and legends

Go forth, join and post. You know what would be just as good? Going forth, enjoying and commenting!

This especially goes out to all those who have the urge to play Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Oliver Queen, or Mercy Graves {hint, hint}...

Rules- General Info - Taken/Holds - Application - Friend Tools - profile layout
Back To The Basics- A DCU RPG Metropolis. The City of Tomorrow. Millions call it home. The rich, the poor. The good, the bad. And at the center of it all is The Daily Planet, the great Metropolitan newspaper. Little do the citizens of Metropolis know that the world's newest and greatest hero works just beyond those doors. BACK TO THE BASICS is a DC Comics-based game, focusing on Superman's early years in Metropolis. But it's a game unlike any other... BACK TO THE BASICS is a game rooted in DC Comics canon, but here, you can put your on spin on things. Here, you can choose whatever pb you want for whatever character you want to play. Here, you can combine different media versions of your character to create your own unique version. Here, you can even create your own characters to fit into Superman's world, if you choose. The possibilities are endless. And best of all, you can watch the legend of Superman unfold before your very eyes. Once you visit Metropolis, you'll be so glad you did.

( Cut because it's actually a pretty long list. )

Rules- General Info - Taken/Holds - Application - Friend Tools - profile layout
Back To The Basics- A DCU RPG Metropolis. The City of Tomorrow. Millions call it home. The rich, the poor. The good, the bad. And at the center of it all is The Daily Planet, the great Metropolitan newspaper. Little do the citizens of Metropolis know that the world's newest and greatest hero works just beyond those doors. BACK TO THE BASICS is a DC Comics-based game, focusing on Superman's early years in Metropolis. But it's a game unlike any other... BACK TO THE BASICS is a game rooted in DC Comics canon, but here, you can put your on spin on things. Here, you can choose whatever pb you want for whatever character you want to play. Here, you can combine different media versions of your character to create your own unique version. Here, you can even create your own characters to fit into Superman's world, if you choose. The possibilities are endless. And best of all, you can watch the legend of Superman unfold before your very eyes. Once you visit Metropolis, you'll be so glad you did.

I'm playing Lex Luthor.

...

I so need a Mercy. Also, we definitely need a Clark [pb: Tom Welling]. Otherwise, Lex and Lois will end up married... shit you not.

This chick. darsynia pointed her out to me. I so need to get her cd. So do you.

Okay, I have a request. Do any of you have any [preferably HQ] episode stills from BtVS S6?

I really need images of Spike, Giles, Tara, Xander and Anya. It would help ever so much!

( Cut to save you from the annoyance of SPARKLY VAMPIRES. )


Will I be reading the rest? You know I can't resist a fantastically horrific train wreck!

Hubby sent me the first 3 seasons of Ghost Hunters as well as Ghost Hunters Live from the Stanley Hotel.

I'm squeeing so hard right now.

My external drive just went completely splat. It was working fine yesterday. Today? It's gone. No warning.

I had my websites on that drive. However, I can just get all that off the website servers again, no problem.

The problem? All my music and movies were on that drive.

...


I might just cry. I'm praying there's some way to recover that information.

I've made a new layout for svtometropolis.

Check it out! You might have to hit refresh.

Is this spam? I just got an e-mail.

subj: hi

my girls and i love watching you every week. my 4yr old wants to be you when she grows up




...

Is this The Truman Show? Am I Truman?

If all of the eight desserts listed below were sitting in front of you, which would you choose (sorry, you can only pick one)! Trust me...this is very accurate!!! Pick your dessert, and then look to see what psychiatrists think about you.

1. Angel Food Cake
2. Brownies
3. Lemon Meringue Pie
4. Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Icing
5. Strawberry Short Cake
6. Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Icing
7. Ice Cream
8. Carrot Cake

( Look after you've picked a dessert. )

Smallville, you're seriously getting on my last nerve. This is not the Chloe I know and love.

You disappoint me. Seriously, you do.

Two of Us Chlark forums is holding a little Chlark celebration. Well, actually, we'll be doing this every month. You wanna know about it? Sure you do.

It's called 13 Days of Chlark, and it starts May 1st and lasts through May 13th. You can come and look at the pretties, or you can submit your own. We take vids, fics, essays, graphics, drawings, whatever. If you make it or write it, we'll probably take it.

What's that? You can'd do any of those things? You can still join in, as long as you're willing to leave feedback and potentially squee over Chlark.

The only catch is, you have to join the forum to do that submitting and/or squeeing.

So, go and check out the 13 Days of Chlark board on Two of Us Chlark Forum, read up on the rules, feel free to ask questions, and definitely feel free to join and celebrate!

( Who wants to pet the pretty kitty? )

squeaky has a poll up concerning IJ's webhosting that could affect the prices of paid accounts and he wants everyone's opinions.

Here's the basic break down:

From squeaky

One is considerably more expensive than the other, but what they are offering us is 100% top notch service. The problem is that if we choose them we will not be able to keep our paid accounts the same price. We will raise them to $20/6mo or $35/year. If we pick the other provider, which is not as well known, and isn't offering us the same level of service we will not have to raise prices at all.

//snip//

I do want to note that once we get settled in and the paid accounts are coming in at a decent pace then we will consider lowering the prices back to a reasonable level.

//snip//

{from comments}

Yeah, i'm just worried about having to raise them that far. LJ apparently has lowered their prices to lower than where we are right now (for automatic renewals), and will be lower for manual payments too if this price change goes through. Which is why I really want to clear this through all of you before I decide. Please spread word of this poll around.

So far, that's what we've got. Please go and vote in the poll.

POLL LINKY POLL LINKY

Also, don't forget to donate. There's a post about it here!


ps. You tell me what you vote, and I'll tell you what I voted. ;)