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finally i got to see the first episode of LotS. it answered some questions about the show.

mainly, it appears that Richard did not read the entire Book of Counted Shadows. i wonder how they’re going to end the season, then. unless Richard just pretends to have the book memorized, when all he knows is the first line, which is arguably the most important. I’ll see soon enough.

i don’t like that they changed Richard’s mother. In the book, she brought him across the boundary and married the widowed Mr Cypher, to die years later in a fire. In this TV series, she was left behind in Brennaden and might even be alive. eh. i don’t like that.

i still wish Richard was more manly and less boyish.

in my DVR I still have 2 episodes of Heroes, one episode of Sanctuary and one of Sarah Connor, plus the replay of the Legend of the Seeker pilot which i missed the first time around.

i just don’t care about Heroes enough to watch 2 hours of it. Sanctuary is something i usually put on in the background. i’m not excited about watching Sarah Connor either. LotS i do want to see, and may watch today.

i’m on vacation next week, so i’m using that as an excuse for not getting these shows cleared out of my DVR - i need stuff to watch next week. i really don’t need any such thing. i can always find something to watch. besides which, i have the first 3 Indiana Jones movies on order from Amazon. i got Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for x-mas and enjoyed it muchly. i’m going to have an Indiana Jones marathon one day on my vacation.

ooOOO. i just checked my tracking # and my movies were delivered today.

damn damn damn. i just found out that the show labeled Legend of the Seeker was really TMZ. damned CW channel. it’s not the first time one of these shows has been mislabeled. once again, Hulu.com will save the day.

i’ve StumbleUpon’d a site that teaches Japanese in easy audio lessons. ‘Easy‘ being a relative term.

NHK World

This morning I’ve learned to say ‘excuse me’, ‘nice to meet you’, ‘thank you very much’, and ‘this is the first time i’ve come to japan’.

and i’ve forgotten them all except for the domo-arigato-somethinganother, which was the thank you very much.

Ed the Hatchetman is a character i made up over 10 years ago when i was in high school. the premise is Ed, an alien, crash landed in the Bermuda Triangle a few hundred years ago. He ended up living with a tribe of native americans who were later slaughtered by english settlers. Since then Ed has vowed revenge on every descendant of those settlers while developing a penchant for brutal murder. According to legend he does most of his killing with a hatchet made of lead. His sidekick is his horse, Patsey. he has three fingers, alien bug eyes and usually wears a hat. (more…)

Jason Chan's Zombie Playground

thus far, i have neglected to mention my zombie paranoia and i’m not going to go into it now.
however, i need to share a my new desktop picture. i found it on this site in “the junk drawer”

the artist is Jason Chan. (more…)

i’m glad to see Shota’s in this episode, although i think her role is going to be completely different than in the book. but what’s new? besides, i hardly remember what she did in the book aside from keep that freak (was his name Samuel?) who used to be a seeker, but because he wasn’t the true seeker, he’d turned into a mutant.
this show is so silly. but i still like it.
this merchant’s son guy reminds me of a young Dean Winters, a little in the face, but mostly in the way he speaks. henceforth, he shall be known as Ryan O’Reilly.
i think i can see where this episode is going. Ryan O’Reilly has an arranged marriage he doesn’t look forward to, Richard envies this guys domesticity. Shota wants to save Richard, so she switches the two for Richard’s own good (well, i know she switches them, it’s in the episode description) to save Richard’s life. ’cause that’s what Shota does. she does what she thinks is for your own good, meanwhile, you don’t like what she does. but generally her intentions are good. (more…)

I generally don’t have much to say about this show. the acting is sub-par, the special effects are laughable and the stories are just entertaining enough for me to have the show on in the background whilst i’m bouncing about online.

but now Joe from Highlander has showed up as Dr Magnus’ father and i can’t contain myself.

please, please let Methos and Duncan appear as her long lost brothers. it will propel this to the top of my favorites for at least a week or two.

acting and special effects aside, this show suffers from a lack of story arc. (that’s what i’ll call it). the premise has great potential, but recurring characters and themes aren’t enough. i want some overall story to care about - something that i’m looking forward to happening. they could have dropped clues in earlier episodes about Magnus’ father - then him appearing would have been a pay off. i would have clapped my hands in delight at something i looked forward to occurring - not clapped my hands because there can be only one, may it be Duncan McLeod, the highlander!!111!! lol!! OMG!!! he said he can play blues harmonica. maybe he’ll open up a blues bar that the immortals, i mean the abnormals, can congregate at.

(more…)

like coffee? like eggnog? here ya go.

yesterday i bought some eggnog because it is december and it’s the only time of year that i’ll drink the stuff. last night i had a nice cup o’ eggnog with a bit o’ captain morgan in it, garnished with whipped cream and nutmeg.

this morning i woke up thinking gee, wouldn’t eggnog be great in my coffee too?

damn right.

here’s how i made it: (all measurements are approx)

1 tbs instant coffee

1/2 c hot (boiling) water (it filled my mug not quite half way)

2/3 c eggnog (once added, it filled my mug nearly to the top)

1 swig captain morgan spiced rum (optional)

nutmeg to taste

Directions:

put instant coffee into coffee mug. boil water. add water to instant coffee; stir. add eggnog and stir. this may make your eggnog coffee a little colder than you like. i put mine in the microwave for a few seconds to bring it up to a more desirable morning beverage temperature. add a swig o’ the captain if you so desire then garnish with a bit o’ nutmeg. whipped cream on the top wouldn’t be out of order, either.

so i was technically wrong. eclipses - from beginning to end - last for hours.

here’s the link

In general, though, a total eclipse takes on the order of a couple of hours from start to finish, with totality (the part where the sun is completely blocked out) on the order of a couple of minutes.

i was thinking about the part where the sun is completely blocked out, when it gets really really dark outside, it only lasts a couple of minutes. there was an eclipse when i was in high school and it got creepy dark during lunch time, but it only lasted a couple of minutes.

here’s another good link, with some rather pertinent information:

In a solar eclipse, the maximum possible length of totality is about 7 minutes. The partial phases add considerably more time, so that the entire eclipse seen from any given location can also last several hours. However, the partial phases of a total solar eclipse are much less noticeable to the ordinary observer, and might be missed entirely.

in the Heroes episode, as soon as the moon started touching the sun, it got really dark outside - when in reality most of the eclipse would have gone unnoticed until the central 7 minutes.

so technically i was wrong; eclipses can last for hours. but since the noticable part of an eclipse only lasts a few minutes, i feel i was right in the spirit of the matter.

and still the eclipse rages on. the Haitian guy has no powers. this is nonsense. he had powers before the eclipse in season 1. did his powers go away during that eclipse? i doubt it. i think he’d have noticed. as would everyone else who had powers before the eclipse.
Claire, at the hospital is possibly dying because not only has she been shot, but she has no antibodies to fight infection.
meanwhile, Sylar and Elle are all romantic together. ugh. mushy stuff.
Elle sees the the laser dot on sylar, and gets him out of the way before Bennett shoots. they run. Bennett pursues.
he’s out for revenge for what happened to Claire way back when Sylar took her power.
ha. the petrellis are locked in in some kind of Haitian dungeon. nathan is speaking french and making friends with the natives, also in captivity.
mohindir is still in the lab researching eclipses. i hope he’s going to find out why this eclipse is lasting for hours. mr. petrelli wants answers as to why their powers are gone. i guess we’re supposed to believe whole eclipse thing really is a phenomenon and it’s special because everyone has lost their powers.
mrs bennet calls mr bennett to find out where the hell he is while claire’s dying in the hospital.
looks like mr bennett is once again on the trail of Elle and sylar, so he’s not going to the hospital for claire.
Daphne is cerebral palsy and only became super fast after the last eclipse. without her powers, she’s on crutches. (more…)