RhymePhile's Rat Race

( Master fic list behind the cutCollapse )

YAY! Happy Birthday, dodger_sister! I'm sure you're doing all sorts of fun, nerdy, geeky things today, so I hope you have a great one! Best wishes for a happy and healthy year ahead.

You may recall my frustrating history with the first-generation Kindle I own. First, the battery exploded and burst from the Kindle's plastic housing. It was under warranty, and Amazon replaced it...although it shouldn't have mattered because I know the exploding batteries was a known issue.

Then I had yet another problem in which none of my books or apps would download to the Kindle device itself. The only remedy was a factory reset, which meant all my games were history.

NOW the touchscreen is failing. The on screen keyboard is practically useless. If I press the delete button for example, the G and the V on the keyboard activate! Tweeting is impossible, as is trying to type anything in to search the internet. Even navigating around online is frustratingly difficult. I tried everything from taking off the protective screen to doing a hard reset. I called Amazon and basically got the "You're shit out of luck" speech.

The rep helpfully offered me other Kindle products I could buy, but I told the woman she can be assured I will never be buying another Kindle or Amazon device again. Not that she gave a flying fuck, but y'know.

I don't use it every day, but my girlfriend recently bought a beautiful iPad Mini and there is no comparison between it and my new brick Kindle. Fuck.

I've been watching SyFy's series Defiance (excluding tonight's episode) and I've officially given up.

I was giving the show a chance, hoping it would improve. The lead actor, Grant Bowler, is nowhere near strong enough to carry an entire series on his own. His character Nolan is a perfectly designed stereotype of every devil-may-care, rakishly handsome rogue male that's *ever* been created. Take Han Solo, Malcolm Reynolds, Snake Plissken, and John McClane and put them together and you have Bowler's Nolan, but with a tenth of the acting skills.

The thing that kept me coming back was the alien cultures, especially the cool languages.

But after the fifth episode, I'm done with it because of the constant undercurrent of misogyny in the scripts. In the pilot it was Nolan twice calling Amanda "sweetheart." That was irritating enough, and then in the second and third episodes there were two different characters calling Amanda "Lady Mayor." Really? Finally, in the fifth episode someone called the female alien prisoner a "crazy bitch." Why is that necessary? It's 2013 for God's sake. Isn't anyone vetting these scripts? Isn't there one female executive somewhere that finds this insulting?

I get enough of that annoying shit from Supernatural all the time, where in eight seasons anytime a female character is evil she's *always* referred to as a bitch, or the word is used to insinuate weakness in male characters. Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, it comes out of Dean's mouth constantly. I really have become sick of that word.

So goodbye, Defiance. The only unique characters on that entire show were two women -- Julie Benz as "Lady Mayor" Amanda and Stephanie Leonidas as Irisa -- and you screwed it up.

I enjoyed the season finale of Supernatural with a few exceptions. I guess they should put Sam in jeopardy more often because it's the best acting Padalecki has done in a while. He was very, very good in the final scene. This season has been the first that's worth a re-watch in a long time, if you ignore the bizarre Amelia storyline that was OOC and dropped because it made no sense. Very much looking forward to next season, Show's ninth, if you can believe it. I don't know how to prepare myself if this next season is going to be the last. Gah.

I was disappointed with The Office series finale. Too few good moments. I don't know what I was expecting, but that wasn't it.

Ahhhhh, no one say anything about Elementary. My girlfriend is gone this week at home visiting and I had to DVR it last night. She needs to hurry up and get home so we can watch it. I am impatient because I am completely invested in this show.

I've been alternately annoyed and bored at Once Upon A Time this season, so if there's nothing interesting in the last two episodes of this season (which I have yet to watch) to pull me back I'm done with it. I really want Regina to just kill everyone.

AMC's The Killing comes back from the dead in June after being cancelled last year. Everyone complained that the murder wasn't solved in the first season, which was legitimate, because a lot of first season episodes dragged on for no reason. Season 2 was better paced and tightly scripted, and the murderer's identity was an amazing surprise. I'll be back for Season 3.

I tried watching Hannibal, I really did, but too much of that show is practically murder and body part porn. It is lovingly shot to an unbelievable degree. Thus, I prefer not to watch it. Besides, it's on opposite Elementary.

After Game of Thrones is over (is it dragging this season or is it just me?) I have to find out what happened to Bill on True Blood. I know Alan Ball left the show, so maybe it won't be as ridiculously campy without meaning to be? Some stuff on that show is beyond stupid that I have to fast forward. Oh, and I still haven't forgiven them for killing my gay vampire boyfriend!

I stumbled across a nifty little Tumblr called "I Heart the X-Files" (http://iheartthexfiles.tumblr.com/) tonight and have been scrolling through memory lane. Ahhh, the olden days. Worth a visit if you love the show.

Happy Birthday to a lovely lady and cool mom and fangirl (even if she doesn't believe she is; we all know otherwise, LOL).

Hope you have a wonderful day and a healthy and prosperous year ahead. *many hugs*

Happy 17th Birthday Sable!



She had a rough Christmas and we were afraid we were going to lose her, but the old lady toughed it out and here she is 17 years old today! She's still a little tippy from her vestibular syndrome that was diagnosed over the winter. Other than that, she's totally happy and healthy and as howly as ever.

Happy Birthday Sabey!

(If you're not going to read my post under the cut, the one thing you should know is stay in the theatre past the credits)

Not hyperbole! Definitely the best of the three films, and, IMO, a far better script than the convoluted mess Avengers was. I enjoyed Avengers, but I went out yesterday and picked up the Blu-ray to remind myself of what Tony went through in that film, and man the script is sloppy for Joss Whedon.

( No spoilers, mentions of aspects of the film that I thought were cool without going into detail, but cutting just in case because for the first time in like, ever, I actually saw a film opening day and not everyone willCollapse )

First show on opening day, in 3D!

I haven't actually been to a film on opening day since...the X-Files movie I Want To Believe (*grumble grumble crappy grumble*) I don't know why I have the need to see this film right away; I just do. I'm caught up on all the other Marvel films. I'd like to have seen Avengers again, but no worries. The most important thing to take away from that is that Tony almost dies.

I'm most looking forward to the emotional aspect of the film more than the explosions. If anyone can pull off the frailty of Tony Stark hidden behind the swagger, it's Robert Downey Jr.

According to Fandango, in the theatre I'm going to will have:

Enhanced Theatre Experience (ETX) Includes 20% larger floor-to-ceiling screen, breathtaking sound and digital projection that is higher resolution than HD.

RealD 3D is the new generation of entertainment, with crisp, bright, ultra-realistic 3D images so lifelike you feel like you've stepped inside the movie. RealD 3D adds depth that puts you in the thick of the action.

I actually get to know what people are talking about when they mention the film! I am up with current trends! I have to get up around 7:30 a.m. to go see this! I better go to bed earlier than normal, i.e. not 2 a.m.!

Who wants to come with me?

Despite thinking about it and emailing my betas and doing some plotting, I won't be signing up for the Dean/Cas Big Bang this year. The sequel to In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn't Dare Elsewhere hasn't been abandoned, just postponed.

I have to focus on other professional writing right now, and can't devote the time needed to a Big Bang. Hopefully next year when things are better settled I'll be able to do it.

Tonight my girlfriend and I went to the movie theatre to watch the newly remastered version of Star Trek: The Next Generation's two-part episode (at the time, the Season 3 finale/Season 4 premiere) "The Best of Both Worlds."

It's probably one of the best episodes TNG has ever done, in which Picard is captured by the Borg and turned into Locutus.

The was a one-night-only event across the nation to celebrate the Best of Both Worlds special Blu-ray edition being released on April 30.

Before we got to see the two parts put together into one feature-length film, we got to watch interviews with the cast and crew about filming the episode, and after the film we got to watch a gag reel that covered the episode and others during the show's run.

It was interesting watching a television episode on the big screen with an audience. I've seen the episodes numerous times, but it was great to hear the audience laugh at certain points and then clap at the end. I wish they would show awesome TV episodes from various series on the big screen more often. It makes for really cool interactive experience.

Want your Compose window in Gmail to pop up in the center of your screen instead of defaulting to the bottom right corner, where you can't see shit? Sure you do!

Simply hit Shift + C and that window will pop up right in front of your nose the way God intended. If you do that and it doesn't work, be sure your keyboard shortcuts are on. Click on the gear icon then Settings at the upper right of the Gmail window, and then under General you'll see the ticky box for Keyboard Shortcuts.

You can also hold Shift and click the Compose button if you'd rather not turn on shortcuts.

This happy little tip brought to you by lifehacker.com.

LOL For some reason my LiveJournal mood was set to "blah" when I opened the composition window. Perhaps it's telling me something.

*deep, sad sigh* Boston. The networks did not vet any of the images coming in very well at all. In one video, you can clearly see emergency workers running with a guy in a wheelchair who has both of his legs missing. God. It's very obvious because the man with him has a cowboy hat on. Another scene was a woman who had a piece of shrapnel sticking out of the back of her head. And they kept replaying videos over and over! Edit Gawker has more info on the guy in the cowboy hat, along with a photo of the guy I'm talking about. The photo is cropped, so you can't see the man's injuries, but there's a full color shot of it in the comments (under a cut) so be careful if you're triggered. I hope that man survived.

Thanks to Amazon Video (and a free month of Amazon Prime) I finally saw Hunger Games this weekend. Am I the only one who didn't like it?

I read all three books, and when we started watching the film my girlfriend was confused. I agreed with her, because they didn't describe the world/universe of the books very well. The most important thing in the film isn't the Games themselves, really, but the society and its repression by the Capitol. The possibility of rebellion because of Katniss' actions should have been more clearly stated.

I also hated the direction, editing, and photography. Especially the lack of Steadicams. The fight scenes were very sloppily done. I get that it's PG-13, but c'mon.

The lovely mf_luder_xf was in town this week, so misanthropic Rhyme got herself together and drove into Chicago to meet her, LOL.

We met at her hotel, with her all sophisticated and smart and beautiful and working on a PhD and me all fat and old and unemployed. Gah! We figured out that we had known each other for close to eight years from way back in X-Files RATales days. I may have been less weird-looking and round back then.

Because the Chicago CTA doesn't take credit cards nor gives change back from their automated ticket machines to ride the subway (what is this, I asked, 1955?), I owe her $5. Stupid Chicago! Oh, and you have to *pay* to transfer to a bus! The hell?

We walked around the Field Museum for a few hours. Oh, the poor Field. It is antiquated even for a museum. There were so many artifacts that were casts or reproductions that it was disappointing. Their Central and South American Native Peoples exhibit was extensive, but nothing on the Mayan calendar or their rituals. Then it went right into the Arctic and Northwest Coast Peoples, skipping over all of the center of the US. Which was kind of weird.

And man, the rocks and minerals section hasn't been updated since the 70s at least. You know that giant Meteor Crater in Arizona? They had a display on that with a large image of the crater. Except when I got closer I realized it wasn't a high-definition photograph, but a *painting* from like 1975 or something!

I understand that not every museum can have *everything*, but hell, almost all of the interactive exhibits we played with didn't work. You know those type of "Press a button to see the parts of a cell light up!" kind of displays. Sheesh.

The ten-foot giant sloth skeleton was pretty cool. I think that was my favorite. Actually, no, the fact that the museum was practically empty on a Thursday afternoon was my favorite thing.

Anyway! After the museum we stopped for a bite to eat, and then it was time for my 2+ hour drive home in bumper to bumper traffic. Stupid Chicago with its ONE ROAD to get out of town. Who the hell laid this out?

But next time my dear mf_luder_xf is in town, I can brave the traffic for another visit. I had a great time.

You'll recall last year when my Kindle Fire's battery swelled and burst from its plastic housing through no fault of my own.

Luckily it was still under warranty and Amazon replaced it.

Earlier this week I bought my first Kindle book. Yeah, I know, I still prefer to purchase actual physical books, but two were reference books and one was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. I bought 2000 to 10,000: How to write faster, write better, and write more of what you love; The Emotion Thesaurus; (which gives you words to describe feelings, e.g. "satisfaction" has "a crisp nod," "arms crossed," "clapping," "a sleek walk that draws the eye," and more) and more Western research, Terry's Texas Rangers: The 8th Texas Cavalry.

I downloaded the 2k to 10k and Texas Rangers books to my Kindle, and left the other one in the Cloud.

Last night I tried reading one of the books already on my device, and all I kept getting was a gray screen with an orange "Kindle" icon in the center. Weird. Then I tried to download the third book and nothing happened. I even tried logging on to my account online and sending the book to my Kindle again, but nothing happened.

Well, the first guy I called at Amazon's Kindle support couldn't figure it out, even after we did a hard reset, a deauthorization, and re-sync.

I then had to talk to a Kindle specialist and the only solution was factory resetting the Kindle. Which meant anything on my Kindle that wasn't in the Cloud got nuked. I had side-loaded some apps that are available on the Android store but not the Kindle store, and lost all those. All my free games also got nuked. It wasn't a big deal since I hadn't used the games in a while, but still. Luckily all my books and other apps were restored, but I had to set up my email again and log on to everything all over.

I can imagine this might happen to other people who use their Kindles more often, which would be a major issue. Luckily, everything I paid for was there and it all worked out in the end.

I forgot to mention Because I had to call Amazon for service, I got a free month of Amazon Prime! Cool.

Happy Birthday to the lovely foxestacado, who is creative and artsy and intelligent and works too damn hard and hopefully takes a vacation soon to relax. I hope you have a prosperous and happy year. ♥

Mmmm, sacrilegious! The curly-headed sexpot is Athelstan, a monk captured by pretty boy viking Ragnar. He is his slave. Does he look like a slave to you? Nnnnngh.



Two episodes ago Ragnar invited Athelstan to have a threesome with his wife!

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates. I'm gonna have a ham steak for dinner with sweet potato casserole and biscuits. Yay.

My girlfriend gave me a surprise Easter egg hunt this morning. Growing up, we lived in a tiny apartment and my Mom never hid eggs for us to find or anything like that. So this year I got to have a hunt! I found all ten eggs with candy inside :-)

My TV dance card is also full tonight. Thanks to DVR time shifting, I have the second season premiere of Call the Midwife on PBS at 7 p.m., then Game of Thrones at 8 (EEEEEE, Mother of Dragons, kill everyone!), Vikings at 9 (Athelstan! Mmm, sacrilegious), then The Walking Dead finale at 10. I've been mostly disappointed with The Walking Dead this season. I'm starting not to care about characters. I already fast-forward through Glenn and Maggie scenes because they bore me to tears. I don't mind that it's over.

If the brats downstairs would shut up during dinner that would be awesome. God, this place gives me stress and anxiety!

Well, time to peel my sweet potatoes. Enjoy all the good TV on tonight.

My parents don't get HBO, so when Comcast had their "Watchathon" of free TV series this week, she and Dad have been mainlining Game of Thrones. Friends of theirs offered to let them borrow the DVDs, but Mom never wanted to. Now she's emailing me every day telling me who she loves and how she's addicted and how much she has to hide her eyes at the violence. This is what she said:

Of course, I am hiding my eyes in some of this...horse head cut off...YIKES, that dog done in...... the blond princess eating the stallion heart YUCKS...like to throw up...lots of head chops...EEKK! And lots and lots and lots of boobs, bottoms and even frontal men nudity OH BROTHER!

LOL! I told her it was a nice change of pace to see *men* naked for a change.

Then she says:

Of course, dad says that the guy wasn't circumcised!! I didn't zero in on that part...just was aware of the full view.

Which is sort of a weird thing to notice, I guess, but then my parents are kind of traditional and probably haven't been watching as much gay porn as I have. (Uncut guys are actually kind of rare) I had to explain to Mom that since this show is primarily filmed in Europe with European actors, European guys aren't usually circumcised. That's an American thing, and Dad probably noticed because he and my brother have a European style, if you know what I mean. And if you're wondering why I know this aside from the family growing up together, it's because my brother chose to get my nephew circumcised against my Dad's wishes and there was a big hullabaloo about it.

Anyway.

I told Mom to figure out how to set up the internet on their new TV so I could give them the password to my HBOGo service and they could watch Season 3 as it airs. Can't wait for Sunday.

Here's another crazy job post I came across. The highlighted section is pretty self-explanatory!

Happy Birthday ladymidath, although by now it's already tomorrow afternoon there by you! I hope you have a healthy and prosperous birthday year ahead!

( There are THINGS to talk aboutCollapse )

From a recent job post found on Indeed:

Ability to work rotating shifts including afternoons, midnights, weekends, holidays, days off and overtime as necessary.

Why don't I just set up a cot and SLEEP there?

Man, the amount of shit some employers pull because they all know how desperate we are out here is unbelievable.

My poor girlfriend went into Chicago tonight to go see one of her favorite bands, They Might Be Giants. (Don't guilt me by asking why I didn't go. I don't particularly care for their music, and partners can do things separately once in a while!) She called me in a panic because the parking garage across the street from the theatre was full! So I jumped onto Google Street View and navigated her to THREE MORE PARKING GARAGES THAT WERE FULL! This would never happen in Manhattan.

Finally, I navigated her to the fourth garage that was still open, blocks away from the venue. UGH. I stayed on the phone and followed her via Google Street View as she walked and told her what to look for as far as landmarks.

Happily, when she got there and her band still hadn't gone on yet.

Now I just have to navigate her home! UGH, Chicago. UGH!