After a look at my finances last week, I decided a yard sale was in order.  Past experiences have not been very successful, but I threw one together anyway, posting a Craig's List ad the evening before.  It helped that I've been gathering things for months intending at some future point to have a sale, but I still spent several hours pricing things, checking a lot of items on eBay and Amazon to make sure I wasn't underpricing.  Whenever someone pays exactly what I ask, I think I should have marked it higher.  Still, no matter what price I put on an item, about 75% of all people asked if I would take less.  I went along with it on some items, like the cans of hair spray & bottle of styling gel I don't use any more, certain clothes, and that kind of thing.  But eventually I learned just to say, "No."  Most of the time, the people will still buy it anyway.  And if one person won't, another will.  It all depends on how badly you want to sell it.

Today I crushed and compacted aluminum cans, filled my car, and journeyed to the world of scrap metal in a sketchy part of town.  It's the part of town in which I kind of regretted wearing my upscale college t-shirt.  Just because I go to an expensive school doesn't mean I have money.  In fact, it pretty much guarantees I don't.  But I turned in the cans, and got $27.36, which is exactly $27.36 more than I had this morning.  Fantastic! On the way home I stopped for gas, charged it, put the key in the ignition, and then--nothing happened.  No engine trying to turn over, no clicking, no radio, no clock, no power locks or windows.  The only thing that worked was the door chime.  Dead.  A jump from Dad, a trip to Sam's Club, and $67.69 later, I have a new battery. 

Now I need more cans.

I'm officially in dire need of some income to pay bills.  I'm having a yard sale tomorrow.  Also, I just put a Comic-Con item up for sale online.  A friend introduced me to a relatively new site called Bonanzle.com.  Catering to a niche of buyers and sellers of unique & collectible items (rather than mass-produced new products), they really are easy to use and charge only for items that sell.  I only have one item up now, as I said, which is a graphic novel, Perfect Dark: Janus' Tears with exclusive Comic-Con cover art, from 2007.  I know this is not a commercial site, and I promise I will not mention this over and over.  But it's what is going on in my life, and that is what this blog is about.  Cool?

My Bonanzle Booth

I'm playing Puzzle Pirates now.  If you like online puzzles and pirates, you should, too! I've earned enough pieces of eight to by my online persona a swanky new white wide-brimmed hat.  She still has no shoes, but who cares?  She's a pirate!

Speaking of pirates: Cary Elwes on Psych! He looked.... um, a bit older than he did in the 80s.  Not old.  Just about right, I'd say.  He still has great hair, too.  Better than when he guest starred on The X-Files with brown hair.  Dark blond suites him better.

So, Comic-Con has come, kicked booty, and gone, and I'm just now getting around to posting about it.

I recorded some great panels this year, most of which are now on YouTube.  As usual, they aren't perfect.  A lot of people kept standing up in front of me, which not only blocked my camera view, but also made the autofocus go nuts.  Still, I'm pretty pleased.  Yes, as someone on YouTube pointed out, the videos are shaky and not always really good quality.  Buy me a new camera and an easily-carried tripod, and I'll do better next time.

To begin my Comic-Con wrap-up, I've put together a non-inclusive Best and Worst list.

Best Panel: Chuck, followed by Burn Notice and Fringe. Psych was also good.
Best Swag: True Blood (a bag, book, notebook, and t-shirt) and Psych (t-shirt, comic book, and Magic Psychic Ball)
Personal favorite: getting Bruce Campbell to say “hi” to my friend on video
Other pleasant perk: shaking Gil Gerard’s hand (Buck Rogers!!!!)

Biggest Frustration:  The ridiculous lines, of course
Biggest Annoyance:  Missing out on the Chuck signing because of the crowd, and the Fringe signing because they handed out the passes before they were supposed to.
Best Assessment Overheard at the Con: “Comic-Con has become a victim of its own success.”

For some reason, they handed out passes for signings at the booths themselves this year.  With thousands of people simply trying to move around in the dealers' room, it was nearly impossible to tell where the lines snaked around and ended, even with the numerous Con Center employees helping out.  And when you did find the line, it was typically capped within a few minutes, because some 200 people or more were already in it.  My getting in on the Burn Notice signing was almost dumb luck.

Now for some of the fun stuff.  The Chuck panel - fantastic. In Ballroom 20 this year, it was hard to hear unless the panelists spoke right up close to the mics.  I've got my footage up on YouTube, and you can also watch the panel on Hulu. The audio is great on the Hulu version, helping clarify a lot I couldn't hear from the audience.  Still, my video has one advantage: I could respond to the panelists a lot faster than the professional camera could, since it panned very slowly, resulting in disembodied voices.  My shaky hand-held camera gets right over there.  For example, when the crowd is chanting "Jeffster," the official video doesn't show Vik Sahay's antics; mine does.  Bottom line: I recommend watching both so you can get more out of it.

Michael Shanks really seemed to enjoy himself while moderating the Burn Notice panel -- "heroically." Bruce Campbell dominated, which seemed to take the other actors off-guard, though Shanks held his own.  Stars Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar were absent, but had they been there, they would have had some serious competition.  Still, there were plenty of people there for the show as a whole, and not just Campbell or Shanks.  Several questions were directed at persons other than Campbell, and Shanks made a gracious and charismatic moderator.  And I'm not just saying that because his official site, Michael Shanks Online, has requested the use of my footage.  (Hi, Michael.) Insert cheesy grin >here<.

Because of these things, Comic-Con was still a lot of fun, in spite of the crowds, frustrations, and the fact that I was sick the entire time.  I am enjoying it a lot more retrospectively than when I was actually there.  Sorry, that's me occasionally coughing or clearing my throat on my videos.  Couldn't be stopped, although my roomie, Invisible Mom, practiced Reiki on me and that was awesome.  It wasn't a cure, but it did help me feel better. 

Finally, I'll post a link here the TV Guide Sci Fi Hot List Panel, which includes many talented actors, including Zachary Levi, John Cho, Rebecca Romijn and others.

I took my cat to the vet today because she wasn't eating much at all, and she was her usual charming self.  She sliced my finger when I foolishly reached inside the pet-carrier for her.  I know better than that, but I didn't sleep much overnight, and I still could zonk out any minute.  The doc gave her a couple of shots and said to offer her food this evening.  As soon as we got home, she went straight to the food bowl and chowed down.  She didn't eat very much, but she was definitely interested in it.

This is all a prelude to the welcome fact that the last three episodes of Pushing Daisies will air, starting tonight, on ABC.  I hope in my sleep-deprived state I don't forget, or konk out before it comes on (9 p.m. Central).  I'll record it, of course, which means I'll have to adjust my $50 special antenna in a precarious position (basically on its face, part of which is round) on top of about 20 VHS tapes on top of my television, and maybe that channel will come in.  It used to work perfectly for all channels, but now it's remarkably wiggy with the local ABC affiliate.  It will be worth the trouble to see these last episodes of PD.

I finally got up the nerve to check online and Chuck has been renewed! for a 13-episode season, with a reduced budget.  I found the story here.

Chuck has always struck me as relatively economical as far as sets, locations, and even special effects: they never look cheap, but they never seem to go overboard, either.  If they want to cut back, they should cut down on the cavalcade of unnecessary guest stars and at least one tertiary actor.  Keep Bakula in the rare but recurring role of Stephen Bartowski, and dump Tony Hale, who does a great job in a role that just isn't needed.  It's okay if they keep the Buy More and its crew for occasional scenes, but I do not want Chuck to go back to work there; that would be too depressing. 

In the meantime, yay for season three!  I know it will be great.  And this means there will probably be a Chuck panel again this summer at Comic-Con, so yay again!

Finales are over, so bring on the low-IQ-required "reality" shows!  Good.  I have a lot of work to do, so now I don't have to worry about missing anything.

On Ghost Whisperer last night, we learned three important things: Melinda is having a boy, it will be either Jesus or Satan, and it will gestate about 10 1/2 months according to their timeline.  Last night's season finale clearly stated that Jim died November 7, and Melinda's due date is September 25th.  Since the baby was conceived "before Jim went away," Melinda apparently has reproductive organs an elephant would be proud of.  Jennifer Love Hewitt is the executive producer of the show; does she not read the dialogue before she says it?

NBC still has not announced the fate of Chuck, preferring to wait for the up-fronts on Tuesday, May 19. That means news will probably leak on Monday the 18th.  That means I'm not writing any more letters, because they won't get there in time.  I might revert to e-mail feedback from the NBC site.  The season 2 wrap up was awesome, and don't you love how the show has revived that once-tired 80s expression?  I can now say it with only a small trace of irony.  Awesome.  And it really is.  The good news for its outlook is that ratings, though not spectacular, were solid, and NBC has a way of sticking with shows it believes in, such as the mythological Friday Night Lights.  I've never watched it after catching a few minutes one night because, well, it's a sports-oriented show, and I'm sorry, but snooze.  Nevertheless, NBC stuck up for it and stuck with it, and I'm sure its fans are glad.  I also appreciate that NBC did not air reruns of Chuck the last two Mondays, because reruns always get lower ratings, and that looks bad.  (I watched online instead.)

I'm not going to talk about Lost because due to a major storm front, most of it was pre-empted locally for frantic weathermen boring the crap out of me, talking about tornados happening everywhere I wasn't.  I haven't watched it yet online, because I haven't, but I'll see it soon.  All I got to see live was the first 30 minutes and then the last 5 seconds.  Not looking good for Juliet.

As for Heroes, I just don't know about this.  Nathan is one of my favorite characters.  Okay, they are all my favorite characters.  But I just don't know about this.  And how do you refer to Sylar/Nathan now?  Sathan?  Dunno what Angela Petrelli was thinking, because you know this won't work out.  Poor Claire.  Oh, well, you never know.  Sure, Sylar could go all homocidal crazy ("Okay, technically, I'm a serial killer") when he figures it out, but he could also decide he likes being Nathan.  That would be awesome. 

Fringe has been renewed--yay! And has more viewers than Ghost Whisperer, by the way.  I love, love, love the direction this show is going in.  I wasn't sure about it at first, and the bigfoot-looking-fellow on the airplane as well as the griffin a few nights ago were really a bit much, but kudos on the parallel universe with the other-side's Peter Bishop twist!  Did anyone else think Nimoy's smile at the end was just creepy?

Even though I'm not on satellite or cable, a friend introduced me to Burn Notice a couple of months back.  I'm sure she hasn't a clue that it is in many ways a reworked A-Team/MacGyver, but I'm tickled we actually agree on a television show.  (She keeps trying to get me to watch Sex in the City with her. Shudder.) Its new season is supposed to start next month, I think, so that's something to look forward to.  I'm still mad at Michael Westen, or rather, the writers, for kiling Michael Shanks, but, you never know--maybe they fake-killed his character with a bullet to his gut.

Finally, this seems to be the season for hallucinations and neurological problems.  Let's see, we've had House, Booth, and Izzy Stevens seeing things that aren't there, with Booth and Izzy both going in for brain surgery.  I'm not counting Olivia on Fringe, because the things she sees really are there.  It's like the writers sit around at Guild meetings doing exercises that turn into episodes of the shows they actually work on, leading to all this overlap.  Although, hey, it could also be executives standing over their shoulders telling them hallucinations are hot right now, according to surveys, so they should work them in to major characters' plotlines.

On a miscellaneous note, The Mentalist has turned out to be much better than I expected.  I think it's on at the same time as Fringe, though, so I usually have to catch it later.

Okay, that's all for now about t.v.. :)  If you want a freaky book to read, try Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins from 1971.  Reminds me a bit of Vonnegut with a Catholic-appocalypse perspective.  He even says "So it goes."

Oh, boy! Well, the executives at NBC are officially undecided about the future of Chuck.  Frankly, I think anyone who watches the season finale should just be begging them for more.  You can watch the season finale at nbc.com.  And you should.

I don't stay in touch with the online Chuck fandom, although it appears to be thriving.  In checking on the show's status, I have learned fans are buying those Subway $5 footlongs, then contacting Subway to make sure they know it.  I've bought a couple, and promptly visited the Subway website to give feedback.  Yep, I'm a nerd.  I even wrote a letter to NBC and Universal, asking for a third season.  The addresses are available all over the web, but here they are again, just because:

Ben Silverman
Co-Chairman
3000 W. Alameda
Admin Building
Burbank, CA 91523

Angela Bromstad
President of Primetime Series
100 Universal City Plaza
Bldg 1320, 4th Floor
Universal City, CA 91608

If you are reading this blog, you are probably familiar with the Do's and Don'ts of writing letters to networks, but I'll run over a couple, also just because:

1. Be polite.  Don't threaten the network by saying you will stop watching if they don't renew the show.  Would you feel favorable to a letter like that?
2. Mention the other NBC shows you watch regularly.  Networks like to please their regular viewers.
3.  Tell something about yourself.  Networks want to know who their viewers are: age, education, family, job, that kind of thing.  Work it in so it makes sense, and if you can tell it in a narrative about why you love Chuck or when you watch it, so much the better.
4.  Make your English teacher proud, and don't forget what my dear ol' dad always says, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right."  Proofread.  Be neat.  Handwritten letters are great--they show more effort--but if your handwriting leaves something to be desired, type. 
5.  Don't be afraid to entertain the reader a bit.  Draw a picture if you like.  Include an origami Nerd Herd logo.  Enclose a picture of yourself in your Buy More or Jeffster gear (you know you have it).  The people who get these will get bored if all the letters are the same. 
6.  Don't be a total weirdo.  Seriously.  You want to sound mentally balanced.  Being a fan is all right; scaring people is just worrisome.  If you aren't sure if you sound like a weirdo, ask a trusted friend.  If you don't have a trusted friend, this might, just might be a sign that you are a total weirdo, and you should probably seek counseling and medical help.  But your letter still counts, so go ahead and write it: just try to tone the crazy down a bit.  Let this be your guide:  if Jeff or Lester would do it, then don't.  
 

I just found these scenes for the next Fringe episode, and wanted to pass along the link.  There are five clips, all found on a player interface that looks empty, but they are there until May 13.  Just hit play for the first one; then, click on the black boxes at the bottom of the player to play each of the next 4 clips.  It looks like it's going to be a good one, but it's always good when we get to see Walter (John Noble) dance.  Enjoy!

Spring Break is winding down; I spent my time sleeping and watching lots of t.v. shows that I couldn't watch while I was studying, and even a whole bunch of shows I watched just because I wanted to.  That qualifies me to comment on the current state of television in the United States.

Chuck: Still good; continuing to have some great guest stars; however, it had its worst episode ever the day after the Super Bowl.  Entitled "Chuck Versus the Third Dimension," it's boasting point was that it was in 3-D.  Every time I think of this episode, I have to struggle a little bit to remember both the plot and the guest star.  And the guest star was Dominic Monaghan!  Monaghan plays an international rock star: basically, he was Charlie from Lost before he got off the drugs, but even shallower.  Sure, he did as good a job as possible with what he was given.  But, honestly, there was just no point to this episode.  Recent high point: Robert Picardo guest starred, although he was woefully underused.  And it seemed odd that he used the term "flash," although I suppose it's possible Beckman has been spreading it around.

Life on Mars has been canceled, so what was promising to be a gradual, well-developed story arc is all getting crammed in to the last 4 episodes.  Hmm... sound familiar, Moonlight fans?

Fringe, which started out shaky, actually seems to have found its footing.  It's renewal is still up in the air, although apparently production is moving to New York (old news if you keep up with stuff, but I just read it).  That could be a sign of a network investing in it's future.  We shall see.  I hope it doesn't get cancelled and crammed into the last episodes, as it just started a really promising story arc.  John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop makes the show.

Is it story arc, or arch?  It's late, and I can't remember.

Ghost Whisperer: This show has always been take-it-or-leave-it for me; however, this season's storyline with Jim dying and taking over another man's body, while flawed, got me interested in the show again.  The last aired episode's ending seemed a bit too tidy; I hope they will not just go with it as the end of that storyline.  It wouldn't ring true, and there are still too many things up in the air to assume the show will be reverting as if this bodyswitching never happened.

Medium: Do the writers of Medium and Ghost Whisperer pal around together, or do they just watch what the other show does, and then copy/parody them?  Because Medium had a whole episode dedicated to how metempsychosis is impossible.  That's a fancy word for one soul taking over another person's body, as in Jim/Sam.  Not that the idea was original to either series, but I've noticed things like this in the past, and it's pretty hard to believe it's pure coincidence.

Isn't metempsychosis a great word?  I picked it up from studying Poe.