Joining the iPod revolution and other adventures
I'm going to start back on Thursday night. Not the movie, but the movie theatre. I saw S3 at Jordan Commons - arwen_0926 and weaselgod, if you read this, this is the same place as the Mayan restaurant - currently undergoing theme renovations. It also has a MegaPlex 17. Like most cities, now is a good time for road construction. However, I think I might have asked the SLC police to direct traffic considering the major roads were all down to one lane, not 3 in each direction. I rush into the theatre and I am greeted with confusion. On my part. I saw the ticket machines to get my ticket. That was almost easy. It was after that that got hard. My theatre was 13. There were no signs that I could see. (I didn't look up high enough.) Instead, there were restaurants and concessions and arcades and, periodically, some theatres. If I had known the size of the food court, I wouldn't have bothered trying to eat beforehand. I certainly would have left a lot earlier. Eventually, I found someone who could help me find my theatre. He decided to take me there rather than point. Though once I understood where we were going, I would have found it. This is not just a movie theatre, it's a complex. I think they need to hand out GPS locaters to people so they can find their way out.
But back to my original topic. Joining the iPod revolution. I got my Pink iPod Nano. Engraved. Even though I am going to put a leopard print skin on it. I've been playing with it all weekend. I have more music than I thought and it won't all fit. So now I'm picking and choosing and having a blast. I bought headphones since I knew the earbuds wouldn't work for me. They require their own manual, but I really like them. I ordered an armband from eBay. Good choice, that. So now I'm one of the sheep and proud of it!
I also set up my craft light. Have I stitched? No. Haven't had time yet. And I'm going out for the afternoon and I still have to pack. But anything is possible.
I finished Star Trek, the Original Series, Season 1. It was brilliant. Season 1 contains my favorite episode, City on the Edge of Forever, by Harlan Ellison. More on him later in this post. But the majority of the episodes were about story rather than about special effects. They were operating on a shoestring budget. And they were always about a week away from shutting down because they didn't have a script. I loved it just as much as I did when I was a child.
Finished Dr. Who - The Ribos Operation. This is the first episode in the Key to Time series. It's with Tom Baker as the Doctor. He is not my favorite doctor so I found the story slow. Eventually, it got more interesting all around. But I want to want to watch the whole series because I'm not sure I ever did.
Finished book #54, Killing Time by Elise Title. Title wrote one of my favorite category romances. When I met her, she agreed that Too Many Husbands, a Harlequin Temptation, was her favorite as well. She has moved on to suspense and Killing Time, published in 2002, was her first title in that genre. It takes place in Boston, so it had a familiar feel to it, though a little forced in that I don't think readers really cared where some of it was taking place. Natalie Price is a superintendent of a pre-release house for inmates. When her best friend is murdered, most probably by an inmate in Natalie's care, her life shatters. The lead cop on the case, Leo Coscarelli, is willing to look at alternatives to the primary suspect, unfortunately, they aren't much better. The problem I had with the book is that I thought Natalie was too stupid to live. She's in the prison system. She knows the hard truths. But she still put herself in harm's way repeatedly. Since this was her best friend that got killed, she should have been removed from any aspect of the case. If I have the chance to meet Title again, I would get book two, but I'm not going to rush to read the series. It isn't that I think women shouldn't take chances, but there is a difference between taking a calculated risk and keeping things from the police. I would have thrown her in jail. 3.5 stars.
Last night I saw Ruth Reichl speak at the library. It was a packed crowd and she was a delightful speaker. She talked about the last 18 months in Lalaland. 18 months ago a big Hollywood producer called her and told her that he was working on developing a series to replace Sex and the City. Apparently, Food is the new Sex. Her third book is about her adventures as a restaurant critic for the NYTimes. She used a bunch of disguises. It was a great idea for a series and HBO loved it. Unfortunately, the first script sucked. So now it's in the hands of a big Hollywood writer and Fox2000 has bought the rights. Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon want to see the script. But after the last 18 months, she said that she's believe it's real when they start shooting. And maybe not even then. She said that once HBO gave them the green light, there was still 6 months of negotiations. She said she still doesn't understand the language.
All of which sounded familiar to me. And is why I was not excited when Laurell announced that Guilty Pleasures had been optioned. It means nothing. It means that she might get a script together but that's about it. Nothing has changed in Hollywood in 40 years. Reading Harlan Ellison's adventures in Lalaland, and William Goldman's and David Gerrold's all made it clear that nothing has changed. It's still crazy and it's all a crapshoot.
Reichl was hilarious. Food is her life and it shows - not physically but in her descriptions. She's remarkably down-to-earth. She doesn't feel that she is particularly special except that she has been able to do work she has loved. She talked a little about Gourmet trying to do some focus on sustainable farming and fair treatment of animals. She also said, and I agree, in response to a question about Gourmet creating more healthful recipes, that her readers aren't interested. I don't read Gourmet because I don't have the skill set for most of the recipes, but yum, definitely yum.
But back to my original topic. Joining the iPod revolution. I got my Pink iPod Nano. Engraved. Even though I am going to put a leopard print skin on it. I've been playing with it all weekend. I have more music than I thought and it won't all fit. So now I'm picking and choosing and having a blast. I bought headphones since I knew the earbuds wouldn't work for me. They require their own manual, but I really like them. I ordered an armband from eBay. Good choice, that. So now I'm one of the sheep and proud of it!
I also set up my craft light. Have I stitched? No. Haven't had time yet. And I'm going out for the afternoon and I still have to pack. But anything is possible.
I finished Star Trek, the Original Series, Season 1. It was brilliant. Season 1 contains my favorite episode, City on the Edge of Forever, by Harlan Ellison. More on him later in this post. But the majority of the episodes were about story rather than about special effects. They were operating on a shoestring budget. And they were always about a week away from shutting down because they didn't have a script. I loved it just as much as I did when I was a child.
Finished Dr. Who - The Ribos Operation. This is the first episode in the Key to Time series. It's with Tom Baker as the Doctor. He is not my favorite doctor so I found the story slow. Eventually, it got more interesting all around. But I want to want to watch the whole series because I'm not sure I ever did.
Finished book #54, Killing Time by Elise Title. Title wrote one of my favorite category romances. When I met her, she agreed that Too Many Husbands, a Harlequin Temptation, was her favorite as well. She has moved on to suspense and Killing Time, published in 2002, was her first title in that genre. It takes place in Boston, so it had a familiar feel to it, though a little forced in that I don't think readers really cared where some of it was taking place. Natalie Price is a superintendent of a pre-release house for inmates. When her best friend is murdered, most probably by an inmate in Natalie's care, her life shatters. The lead cop on the case, Leo Coscarelli, is willing to look at alternatives to the primary suspect, unfortunately, they aren't much better. The problem I had with the book is that I thought Natalie was too stupid to live. She's in the prison system. She knows the hard truths. But she still put herself in harm's way repeatedly. Since this was her best friend that got killed, she should have been removed from any aspect of the case. If I have the chance to meet Title again, I would get book two, but I'm not going to rush to read the series. It isn't that I think women shouldn't take chances, but there is a difference between taking a calculated risk and keeping things from the police. I would have thrown her in jail. 3.5 stars.
Last night I saw Ruth Reichl speak at the library. It was a packed crowd and she was a delightful speaker. She talked about the last 18 months in Lalaland. 18 months ago a big Hollywood producer called her and told her that he was working on developing a series to replace Sex and the City. Apparently, Food is the new Sex. Her third book is about her adventures as a restaurant critic for the NYTimes. She used a bunch of disguises. It was a great idea for a series and HBO loved it. Unfortunately, the first script sucked. So now it's in the hands of a big Hollywood writer and Fox2000 has bought the rights. Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon want to see the script. But after the last 18 months, she said that she's believe it's real when they start shooting. And maybe not even then. She said that once HBO gave them the green light, there was still 6 months of negotiations. She said she still doesn't understand the language.
All of which sounded familiar to me. And is why I was not excited when Laurell announced that Guilty Pleasures had been optioned. It means nothing. It means that she might get a script together but that's about it. Nothing has changed in Hollywood in 40 years. Reading Harlan Ellison's adventures in Lalaland, and William Goldman's and David Gerrold's all made it clear that nothing has changed. It's still crazy and it's all a crapshoot.
Reichl was hilarious. Food is her life and it shows - not physically but in her descriptions. She's remarkably down-to-earth. She doesn't feel that she is particularly special except that she has been able to do work she has loved. She talked a little about Gourmet trying to do some focus on sustainable farming and fair treatment of animals. She also said, and I agree, in response to a question about Gourmet creating more healthful recipes, that her readers aren't interested. I don't read Gourmet because I don't have the skill set for most of the recipes, but yum, definitely yum.