Heaven, I fancy, has no place for me...
...and I can find hell on my own.
-"Jekyll and Hyde"
Well, this week kind of sucks.
Yesterday, school dragged on forever (even though I was not, thank Goddess, called upon to make my speech yet). When I got home, I reminded my mother about the Interact night at Friendly's, where they get 10% of the profits from all customers between 5:00 and 8:00. This is sort of a big week for Interact, incidentally. Anyway, she had me call Daddy at work to ask him if he wanted to go, and from that simple phone call arose a stupid fight that involved conflicting plans for Ocean City and New York this summer and all sorts of other nonsense. We did end up going to Friendly's, but the parents spent the whole time hemming and hawing about the beach house they're attempting to rent and how Aunt Lynn is such a passive-aggressive martyr for always sleeping on the floor and letting the twins have the bed. Friendly's was also swarming with Interact people, which was to be expected. Connie and Sam came to sell us a 50/50 ticket, and they totally pretended not to know me. It was obviously just for fun, but still rather odd.
That brings me to the most interesting part of Wednesday evening, and because the only people who read this journal are faraway Internet friends and my sister, I suppose it's safe to write about it. Sam was standing right in front of me, still trying to talk my parents into buying that ticket, when her phone rang. She answered it, listened for a minute, and then started squealing, "It's a girl!? Really!? I'm gonna have a niece!?" Then she said, very fast, in one breath, and I quote: "Guess what? I'm pregnant!" and hung up the phone.
So Sam's finally getting what she wanted. I really don't know what to feel. For one thing, I've barely seen or talked to her all year--she's not in any of my classes and hardly involved in Interact anymore, and from what I hear, she works all the time. For another thing, she's 18 years old, still in high school, and a former junkie. She's supposedly engaged, and I don't even know what to think of that, although her ring is pretty gorgeous. I also know that she's good with kids and spent a lot of time taking care of her ex's baby nephew, but this, of course, is completely different. I've always liked Sam a lot, and it's not my place to judge anyway. I can only wish her the best of luck.
Post-Friendly's, the only notable things I did last night were miss the first five minutes of Lost and have another heated fight with Daddy that involved me throwing the remote control against the wall. Yeah, only one of you has actually encountered that side of me. Aside from that, Lost was pretty much an eyebrow-raiser, the shining moment of which was Hurley's priceless eulogy: "Nikki and Paulo. I guess we didn't know you very well. And it appears that you killed each other for diamonds." I think those two got cooler deaths (if they are indeed ultimately dead, and how shuddery was that last scene?) than any of the real cast members. The whole thing was ridiculous and bizarre, but that's kind of Lost's M.O., isn't it? The point is, it was great fun, and that's all I really ask for from Lost.
Which brings me to today. Still no speech-making for me; the "eenie-meenie-miney-moe" gods smile upon me. (Not kidding, by the way. That's actually how Mrs. R.'s been selecting people.) Also, I love Miss G. She let us have a cracker party. Apparently, the nurse is being forced to stop selling her famous packaged peanut-butter and cheese crackers, since the Hall Nazi caught some kid with them and he wouldn't turn them over to her. Whatever. The result was a blowout sale, so Miss G. let Connie take money and orders from all of us and go down to the nurse's office to help buy her out, and we spent the first ten minutes of Spanish class munching away. (I love how some of the teachers have totally exploitable weaknesses; Miss G.'s is food, of course, and for my math teacher, Ms. S., it's gossip or word puzzles. Use those particular methods sparingly on those particular teachers, especially when a substantial number of students are absent, and you will slash any classwork to the bone or eliminate it altogether.)
On the not-so-bright side, I've decided that the crackers were poisoned. Cosette and I both had stomachaches by eighth period, and I came home only to grump at Mommy, overdose on liquid Tylenol because I'm a baby who hates pills, and flop in bed to watch hours of Brimstone on YouTube.
"Hours of what?" you may ask. Well, I was saving the best for last. New fandom. What can I say? I'm a fandom whore. But the fun things about this one are that I can almost guarantee none of you has ever seen or heard of it and you can watch it for free.
Brimstone: a genre show that I had never heard of (*gasp*) that ran for 13 episodes before FOX cancelled it despite its quality and high potential (try not to die of shock). A show about an undead man who is not, in fact, a vampire, but a highly-decorated policeman named Ezekiel "Zeke" Stone whose wife was raped seventeen years before the pilot. He tracked down and killed her rapist, but two years later, he himself was killed in the line of duty and went to hell for the murder he committed. Fifteen years after that, the devil found himself in a bit of a pickle; 113 damned souls staged a mass escape from his fiery kingdom. With his rep on the line and more than a little pressure from on high, the devil selected one of his more trustworthy "children" to track down all the escaped souls and return them to hell, offering a carrot for his trouble: another chance at life on earth if he succeeded. Zeke, of course, was the man he chose.
I learned all this from a Zeke/Devil entry in--wait for it--the 'Ship Manifesto. And thanks to the blessing of YouTube, I've now seen the first few episodes of a show that is not out on DVD or VHS or even readily available in the form of illegal downloads. I fell in love with Zeke--in a mostly platonic sense--in the first five minutes of the pilot. The devil is John Glover. How can you go wrong?
I'm actually thinking of writing Brimstone reviews. It reminds me of Angel; as soon as I saw the opening shots of the pilot, zooming through a glittering, ominous city, I felt a familiar excitement. And Zeke's definitely got Angel-like qualities. He's undead, nearly invincible, and working toward a second chance at humanity. People are frequently uneasy in his presence, but they're just as frequently attracted to him. Everyone's always mistaking him for the bad guy, only to be soothed by the disarming gentleness he often displays with the living. Angel sometimes showed that same tenderness with the people he helped, the victims of the week, and it always got to me, although I have a very complicated relationship with that character. In short, I hated him on Buffy with a blind passion, then came to love him once he got his own show, except for those times when he went back to annoying the hell out of me.
All things considered, it's probably a good thing that, striking parallels aside, Zeke isn't Angel. Zeke's mind is still on revenge, not redemption. He doesn't wear a leather coat, have stupid hair, or try to break the world record for brooding. He's scruffy, snarky, and admirably unflappable--except when it comes to any mention or memory of his wife, Rosalyn. And, negating any other comparison to Angel, Zeke is definitely not a dork.
For the record, I don't think I'm on board with the Zeke/Devil 'ship. Their relationship is absolutely delightful, but it doesn't give off the scorching slash vibes that I seem to require. Maybe Angel/Lindsey and Mulder/Krycek are the only flukes in my canon-loving heart.
After finishing the Brimstone pilot, I just sat back and thought, That was frakking awesome, and that hasn't happened since I started Battlestar. Best of all, it's a super-obscure show that even Billie hasn't discovered. (I have this chronic Cannot-Compete-With-Billie-Doux syndrome that's gotten in the way of several attempts at reviewing. ^_^) So I'm working on organizing my thoughts into some semblance of coherence, and in the meantime, I honestly encourage people to give the brief, unorthodox little show a try. As fandoms go, it's a pretty lonely one, and I could use some company.
I mentioned that this is a banner week for Interact; tomorrow, I'm working at the Chinese auction, and on Saturday, I'm doing the Senior Citizens' Social again. So you'll probably be hearing about more wacky community-service antics. In the meantime, peace.
-S.W.
-"Jekyll and Hyde"
Well, this week kind of sucks.
Yesterday, school dragged on forever (even though I was not, thank Goddess, called upon to make my speech yet). When I got home, I reminded my mother about the Interact night at Friendly's, where they get 10% of the profits from all customers between 5:00 and 8:00. This is sort of a big week for Interact, incidentally. Anyway, she had me call Daddy at work to ask him if he wanted to go, and from that simple phone call arose a stupid fight that involved conflicting plans for Ocean City and New York this summer and all sorts of other nonsense. We did end up going to Friendly's, but the parents spent the whole time hemming and hawing about the beach house they're attempting to rent and how Aunt Lynn is such a passive-aggressive martyr for always sleeping on the floor and letting the twins have the bed. Friendly's was also swarming with Interact people, which was to be expected. Connie and Sam came to sell us a 50/50 ticket, and they totally pretended not to know me. It was obviously just for fun, but still rather odd.
That brings me to the most interesting part of Wednesday evening, and because the only people who read this journal are faraway Internet friends and my sister, I suppose it's safe to write about it. Sam was standing right in front of me, still trying to talk my parents into buying that ticket, when her phone rang. She answered it, listened for a minute, and then started squealing, "It's a girl!? Really!? I'm gonna have a niece!?" Then she said, very fast, in one breath, and I quote: "Guess what? I'm pregnant!" and hung up the phone.
So Sam's finally getting what she wanted. I really don't know what to feel. For one thing, I've barely seen or talked to her all year--she's not in any of my classes and hardly involved in Interact anymore, and from what I hear, she works all the time. For another thing, she's 18 years old, still in high school, and a former junkie. She's supposedly engaged, and I don't even know what to think of that, although her ring is pretty gorgeous. I also know that she's good with kids and spent a lot of time taking care of her ex's baby nephew, but this, of course, is completely different. I've always liked Sam a lot, and it's not my place to judge anyway. I can only wish her the best of luck.
Post-Friendly's, the only notable things I did last night were miss the first five minutes of Lost and have another heated fight with Daddy that involved me throwing the remote control against the wall. Yeah, only one of you has actually encountered that side of me. Aside from that, Lost was pretty much an eyebrow-raiser, the shining moment of which was Hurley's priceless eulogy: "Nikki and Paulo. I guess we didn't know you very well. And it appears that you killed each other for diamonds." I think those two got cooler deaths (if they are indeed ultimately dead, and how shuddery was that last scene?) than any of the real cast members. The whole thing was ridiculous and bizarre, but that's kind of Lost's M.O., isn't it? The point is, it was great fun, and that's all I really ask for from Lost.
Which brings me to today. Still no speech-making for me; the "eenie-meenie-miney-moe" gods smile upon me. (Not kidding, by the way. That's actually how Mrs. R.'s been selecting people.) Also, I love Miss G. She let us have a cracker party. Apparently, the nurse is being forced to stop selling her famous packaged peanut-butter and cheese crackers, since the Hall Nazi caught some kid with them and he wouldn't turn them over to her. Whatever. The result was a blowout sale, so Miss G. let Connie take money and orders from all of us and go down to the nurse's office to help buy her out, and we spent the first ten minutes of Spanish class munching away. (I love how some of the teachers have totally exploitable weaknesses; Miss G.'s is food, of course, and for my math teacher, Ms. S., it's gossip or word puzzles. Use those particular methods sparingly on those particular teachers, especially when a substantial number of students are absent, and you will slash any classwork to the bone or eliminate it altogether.)
On the not-so-bright side, I've decided that the crackers were poisoned. Cosette and I both had stomachaches by eighth period, and I came home only to grump at Mommy, overdose on liquid Tylenol because I'm a baby who hates pills, and flop in bed to watch hours of Brimstone on YouTube.
"Hours of what?" you may ask. Well, I was saving the best for last. New fandom. What can I say? I'm a fandom whore. But the fun things about this one are that I can almost guarantee none of you has ever seen or heard of it and you can watch it for free.
Brimstone: a genre show that I had never heard of (*gasp*) that ran for 13 episodes before FOX cancelled it despite its quality and high potential (try not to die of shock). A show about an undead man who is not, in fact, a vampire, but a highly-decorated policeman named Ezekiel "Zeke" Stone whose wife was raped seventeen years before the pilot. He tracked down and killed her rapist, but two years later, he himself was killed in the line of duty and went to hell for the murder he committed. Fifteen years after that, the devil found himself in a bit of a pickle; 113 damned souls staged a mass escape from his fiery kingdom. With his rep on the line and more than a little pressure from on high, the devil selected one of his more trustworthy "children" to track down all the escaped souls and return them to hell, offering a carrot for his trouble: another chance at life on earth if he succeeded. Zeke, of course, was the man he chose.
I learned all this from a Zeke/Devil entry in--wait for it--the 'Ship Manifesto. And thanks to the blessing of YouTube, I've now seen the first few episodes of a show that is not out on DVD or VHS or even readily available in the form of illegal downloads. I fell in love with Zeke--in a mostly platonic sense--in the first five minutes of the pilot. The devil is John Glover. How can you go wrong?
I'm actually thinking of writing Brimstone reviews. It reminds me of Angel; as soon as I saw the opening shots of the pilot, zooming through a glittering, ominous city, I felt a familiar excitement. And Zeke's definitely got Angel-like qualities. He's undead, nearly invincible, and working toward a second chance at humanity. People are frequently uneasy in his presence, but they're just as frequently attracted to him. Everyone's always mistaking him for the bad guy, only to be soothed by the disarming gentleness he often displays with the living. Angel sometimes showed that same tenderness with the people he helped, the victims of the week, and it always got to me, although I have a very complicated relationship with that character. In short, I hated him on Buffy with a blind passion, then came to love him once he got his own show, except for those times when he went back to annoying the hell out of me.
All things considered, it's probably a good thing that, striking parallels aside, Zeke isn't Angel. Zeke's mind is still on revenge, not redemption. He doesn't wear a leather coat, have stupid hair, or try to break the world record for brooding. He's scruffy, snarky, and admirably unflappable--except when it comes to any mention or memory of his wife, Rosalyn. And, negating any other comparison to Angel, Zeke is definitely not a dork.
For the record, I don't think I'm on board with the Zeke/Devil 'ship. Their relationship is absolutely delightful, but it doesn't give off the scorching slash vibes that I seem to require. Maybe Angel/Lindsey and Mulder/Krycek are the only flukes in my canon-loving heart.
After finishing the Brimstone pilot, I just sat back and thought, That was frakking awesome, and that hasn't happened since I started Battlestar. Best of all, it's a super-obscure show that even Billie hasn't discovered. (I have this chronic Cannot-Compete-With-Billie-Doux syndrome that's gotten in the way of several attempts at reviewing. ^_^) So I'm working on organizing my thoughts into some semblance of coherence, and in the meantime, I honestly encourage people to give the brief, unorthodox little show a try. As fandoms go, it's a pretty lonely one, and I could use some company.
I mentioned that this is a banner week for Interact; tomorrow, I'm working at the Chinese auction, and on Saturday, I'm doing the Senior Citizens' Social again. So you'll probably be hearing about more wacky community-service antics. In the meantime, peace.
-S.W.