RhymePhile's Rat Race

Today I hereby declare that I will make at least a dent in my Oz Magi story, which is due on Sunday. Gah. I'll get it done of course, it's just that I haven't exactly been inspired yet. Once that happens (*Rhyme looks to the heavens*) I can write that sucker quick.

For reference and to get the juices flowing, I'm now going to watch some Oz. Here in work. Do they really expect me to work in work today? We had our party yesterday, I have a lovely four-day weekend ahead, and there's tons of crap to eat, and they want me to work? I don't even get a half day! Grrrr.

Thus, my rebellion. Oz!

Now if you'll excuse me, a certain blue-eyed devil is calling...

Rhyme's Oz AIDS Walk auction up to $150!!!!

Apparently there was a different version of the speech Coach Used To Be on That Show Where He Got a Newspaper From The Future and Tried to Save People Taylor gave on the season finale.

It will only be up for two weeks, so go watch it now if you're a fan of the show.

I think I might start watching the series once they show full-frontal shower scenes. Someone let me know when that happens. I'm Oz spoiled.

Speaking of, Rita "Sister Pete" Moreno will be guesting on Ugly Betty in May.

chureezee asked me quite some time ago for screencaps of the particular scene in "Exeunt Omnes" from Oz Season 6 in which Dr. Nathan and Ryan O'Reily finally kiss.

Here it is! YAYZ.

There are 44 caps in total right over here.

I'm going to keep these at my Photobucket account for only a short period of time, so if you see images you like please be sure to save them as I will be deleting the folder soon.

I even capped a little bonus Ryan!Tongue:




Enjoy!

I had a package arrive for me at the front desk this morning, so the receptionist, Taki, sent me an e-mail.

Me: (ripping open package) Oh, it's from the BBC. This isn't what I wanted. I was expecting SVU.

Taki: Oh my GOD I love that show. I make sure I'm home every night before 10! Girl, what's going on there between Stabler and Benson? She was all bitchy and stuff at Dani and now they're friends again sitting on the stoop together...

Me: I watch it mainly for him.

Taki: Oh I love him, too. He was so good on Oz!

Me: (ears perking up...Oz fan!!!) I met him.

Taki: SQUEE!

Me: (telling story of Season 6 signing, then whipping out the keychain I had made of the photo I took of Lee)...And Chris wanted a T-shirt, and Tom Fontana laughed, and then Lee was mugging for my camera and I took this! He kissed me too!

Taki: SQUEE! I bet you were ready to faint. Damn, I love them as much as I loved that other guy, what's his name, from The X-Files.

Me: SQUEE! David Duchovny!!!

(Taki and Rhyme then spend the next half-hour at her desk talking fagngirly stuff.)

A fellow fangirl. Right here in my office! YAYZ!

My cube-mate Bill is eating right now over at the Corner Bistro here in New York City, and he called (being quiet on his cell phone) to inform me that "the guy from Oz who's now on 30 Rock just walked in." Dean Winters!

Bill said that he was calling in case I "just happened to want to get a hamburger." Hee.

Um, not that I don't love Deano and all, but if it were Lee or Chris? I wouldn't be typing this. I told Bill to sneakily try and get a cameraphone shot of him. We'll see if Bill's stalker abilities are up to par.

ETA: Bill said it would have been too awkward to get a photo. That's okay, at least I reported it.

Tonight The Sopranos premieres on basic cable net A&E in an edited-for-basic-cable edition. A&E paid a hefty sum for these distribution rights, and spent a lot of money cleaning up the episodes for broadcast. Since HBO is a pay cable channel (as most of you know) they can get away with pretty much anything. A&E is forced to more closely follow those FCC bullshit regulations about sex, violence, and language.

From what I've read thus far the language coming out of Tony Soprano's mouth has been cleansed extensively. Obviously you can go out and rent the previous seasons, but many people prefer the simplicity of simply turning on the TV and finding an episode there. I can always pop in a DVD disc of The X-Files whenever I want, but I like watching it on TV when it runs in syndication, too.

A&E skews older demographically, and I can see people like my parents watching the sanitized version. It makes sense, I guess. The question is, do the shows carry as much impact when the language and violence have been ripped out of the narrative? Tony Soprano is supposed to be this scary mob boss -- I can't see him saying "freaking."

Also coming over the next few days are episodes of The Wire on cable net BET. They're going to have to sanitize the language in that as well. I don't think the hardcore lives of corner boys and the po-leece will be as effective with weak language.

Can you imagine trying to watch a sanitized Oz? "Freak you, ya freak!" just doesn't carry the same amount of dirty cleverness Keller uses to say it. And hello, nudity! Not that Keller would lose any of his sex appeal if we hadn't seen the Melonibits waggling all over the place, but it's certainly a plus. Why bother watching it?

And that's what I ask myself with The Sopranos premiere tonight.

See, here in the U.S. the government likes to think that we are complete imbeciles and can't be trusted to change the channel if language, violence, or sex offends us. They do it for us. Those of you in Europe should consider yourselves lucky not to be living in such a Puritanical nation such as ours when it comes to TV.

I needed to make this post to thank everyone on my Flist who sent me cards or gifts. Full list under the cut, along with photos.

Before I get to that, however, I feel the need to express my gratitude and affection for all of the Ozzies on my Flist. A year ago this week is when I discovered Oz, and between the overwhelming response I've received on my fiction to the absolutely wonderful friends I've made, I thought I needed to share how honored I feel to be a part of this community. Many of you have been fans since the beginning (back when I couldn't afford HBO!) and the degree to which I've been welcomed makes me incredibly grateful to know all of you.

To celebrate, here's something you've probably never seen before. The Oz Season 1 radio script, read during radio commercials. I'm linking to it, because it's high-res and hugely huge.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a170/RhymePhile/Extra%20stuff/OzSeason1radioscript.jpg

( Christmas card thanks and photos behind the cut )

Guess what time it is!



A special Christmas edition, slightly truncated because I know no one's around to read this...

( Krycek gets a Christmas present from a friend behind bars... )

The Black Donnellys is one of NBC's mid-season replacements, and really the only reason why we should care is because our Ozzie Kirk Acevedo is in the first two episodes (at least according to the IMdB, but who knows). NBC has a preview clip up, and you can see Kirk, along with Chris Bauer who played Frank Sobotka on The Wire, and Mark Margolis who played Antonio Nappa on Oz. I'm hoping there will be lots of familiar faces and the show is watchable.

Go see The Black Donnellys preview and watch for the scene with Kirk in the car

I really like how many of these came out. Feel free to take, so long as you credit. I spent a few hours downloading the bases, finding good images, and putting all of them together. How do you credit? Lookit:














( Resources listed behind the cut )

Just posting to show off my new Christmasy icon. Base and brush are by the talented lil_brokenangel.

And no, you can't steal it! :-)

Lookit what foxxcub got me for my birthday (which as you recall was December 2nd, but this was backordered so pretend today is then)



( Read more behind the cut )

Some of these kinda suck, but I've been playing around with color fills and adjustment layers, so I thought I'd share anyway. All caps from the B/K Bin because I'm too lazy to make my own, and there were textures from lil_brokenangel and impala67, along with brushes from framedinblood. Go nuts. Credit would be nice, too, if you take any.

Jeez, I'm spammy today. Sorry; I can't focus on work because I keep finding fangirly stuff.

Okay, look, y'all want yet another reason to rent and watch The Wire, aside from the fact that I've pimped this show more than once?

Here's executive producer David Simon, who created the show. Please notice the hat he's wearing, a show that he wasn't even involved in. (Besides knowing Tom Fontana from their Homicide: Life on the Street days)



Down wit' me now, yo? Ya feel me? He of course also did Homicide: Life on the Street, and if you haven't seen that show yet, that should be next on your list too.

Look who popped up on the show 30 Rock tonight as Liz's (Tina Fey) boyfriend Dennis! Uh, this would be Dean Winters, in case you're not, y'know, crazy obsessed like me about Oz. Also, the only reason I knew he was on was because I heard his voice, since I wasn't actually watching the show. Scary? Maybe.



( A few more behind the cut )

In one of his commentaries (I can't remember which one) Tom Fontana mentions that he created the term "prag" to identify prison bitches in Oz.

Anyway, on tonight's episode of Nip/Tuck, an old nemesis of Dr. Christian Troy, Merrill Bobolit, has gotten out of prison after 38 months (he might have tried to cut Christian's face off -- long story). Here's what he had to say about the experience:

Merrill: The only way for a guy like me to protect himself on the inside is...get married. It's not like I wore a white dress and danced to Unforgettable, Christian. I became someone's prison wife. Someone more powerful than me.

Christian: A bitch.

Merrill: I prefer the term "prag."

Now, there is no possible way the above conversation can be considered anything other than a huge shout-out to Oz, if we take Fontana at his word and he was the one that coined the term.

Later on in the ep, we get this quote:

Merrill: And just so we're clear, Christian, being a prag isn't about going queer. It's about surrender.

I just think that's so frickin' cool.

I tried another upload service and it was like poo. Poo, I tells ya! I'm sick of how slow YouSendIt is, so now I'm trying it with SendSpace. Everything is in MP3. Here we go again...

Season 1 "To Your Health"
Beecher singing "I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good"
http://www.sendspace.com/file/rqduro

Season 4 - "Famous Last Words"
Commentary 1, in which Lee Tergesen explains to Dean Winters and Tom Fontana why he loves to smell men and why the smell of men is "like snowflakes." If you download any of these, download this one, because just the sound of Lee's voice will crack you the hell up.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ztuphv

Commentary 2, in which Dean wonders if Lee and Chris Meloni "really are gay, right?" after Meloni leaves a voicemail on Lee's cellphone. This is where you can hear the famous "LEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
http://www.sendspace.com/file/pnzqdi

Season 5 - "Variety"
Beecher and Schillinger's "Last Duet." Listen to Lee hit that high note!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/xxsfbv

Beecher's reprise of Sister Pete's song earlier in the ep, "Days Like These."
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lo5g5o

Father Mukada singing a bit of Tori Amos' "Leather." B.D. Wong nails it beautifully.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qm3tpf

Season 5 - "Impotence"
Hear Dean Winters singing parts of "Summer Lovin'" from Grease to Tom Fontana when Keller and Beecher kiss.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4uipdi

Hear Dean discuss who was the on-set fluffer the day of the infamous Nun Strip.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hd5g5t

And because maybe you'd like to hear Keller say "Show me your tits" like I do when I turn on my computer, here's that soundbyte.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3i1pao

Enjoy!

It's been a little over a month since the Oz Season 6 DVD signing, and tomorrow I'm finally headed to the post office with the T-shirt package for Teh Meloni. Yayz. It took a while to get the shirt of course, and then I had to come up with something halfway intelligent to write.

( The letter I wrote, and an image of the package )

Meloni's Oz/South Park T-shirt finally came today from Zazzle, and I have to say I'm quite happy with it.



Knowing him, this T-shirt is definitely the proper attire for, say, an evening out at a movie premiere, or a celebrity event, or even a TV interview! It would be nice if he wore the thing -- provided he gets it that is. I plan on writing "Here's the T-shirt Chris requested from the Oz Season 6 DVD signing!" on the envelope, so no one chucks the strange, bulky package into the shit can.

For those interested in still buying shirts, I have two black, short-sleeved shirts, one in XL and one in L; and one similar to the one you see pictured here, in an XL. foxxcub, you have first pick because I know you wanted one. Please be aware that these are extremely roomy XLs. Nice. Those interested can e-mail me (rhymephile (at) hotmail (dot) com), first come, first served, and we can discuss shipping and price and what not. I'm not making money from these; I just want my investment back. Feel free to cross-post this info to other mailing lists or friends you may know. Anyone can contact me. Just put "Oz Shirts" in the subject header, or respond here.

Two more images of his shirt are behind the cut. Everyone look at the T-shirt I hope Teh Meloni will soon be holding in his hands (and I feel the need to iron it before sending it to him!) hanging in my bathroom. Ha!

( I am touching something Teh Meloni will soon touch, *clings* *gropes* *feels it up* )

If you go to TV Shows on DVD.com, you'll find the usual list of DVDs and such on their homepage.

But on that main page, look up at the ads at the very top, and keep refreshing the page until you get to the Oz Season 6 ad. You might have to refresh a few times. Roll over it with your mouse. It's this cool little animated Flash ad that shows a slot machine which cycles through inmates, weapons, and locations. For example, when the slot machine shows pantyhose, Vern, and lipstick, it says:

Poor choice! Your cellmate hangs you with pantyhose after you refuse to put on lipstick for him.

An image of Keller, a broken bottle, and a heart gives you:

Youch! One of the inmates puts broken glass in your food for messing with his boyfriend.

Many of the inmates are here: O'Reily, Alvarez, Poet...and even a few COs like Howell and Murphy. I even hit "Paroled" once, which gave me:

After 35 years in prison you are paroled! You have a heart attack in your cell the night before your release.

LOL!

You don't even have to click where it says "Try Again" -- just roll off the ad and roll over it again and it will change.

It's pretty cool. Go check it out. And like I said, you may need to keep refreshing the page a few times until the ad comes up.