RhymePhile's Rat Race

During last week's repeat of the Supernatural episode "Monster Movie" (which I admittedly had on in the background and was sorta paying attention to, because I dislike that ep) the CW aired a promo for Season 4, which was the winning entry made by kookiemonster11 for Supernatural's Making the Cut promo competition, as seen here. I recorded it in high quality and you can see it behind the cut. It's less than a minute long.

( Supernatural Season 4 summer promo in high quality )

Hey kids out there in Supernatural-loving land!

If you love spoilers for the upcoming Season 5 and you plan on posting uncut spoilers to your journal, please let me know so I can put you on a filter.

Everyone has their way of dealing with spoilers, and if you like posting them in your journal free for discussion, that's cool with me. But I'd rather not know one single thing about Season 5, be it character spoilers, casting spoilers, or pretty much anything, really.

Thus, please let me know your opinion on how you like to use spoilers on your personal LJ, and for some of you I shall see you in September, no hard feelings.

ZOMG BORED. You ever have those days where you've clicked on your Flist like a hundred times and there are no new updates, and you've read your blogs and you've refreshed everything that can be refreshed yet you are STILL BORED? This is where I am.

This is usually where I ask for a writing prompt, but it's almost 2 p.m. and I'm sure all of you are off doing more important worky things or sitting down to tea maybe if you're across the Pond. Aren't you all also sick of my Supernatural obsession? I apologize. It owns me.

Anybody have some good time-killing blogs?

In other news, I've subjected my GF to the season finale of Supernatural, because I subjected her to the episode before that, and I conceivably convinced her she needed to know what happened. However, she DOES NOT CARE ABOUT MY BOYS, which, y'know, makes my heart hurt. *sigh*

But, this transpired last night:

GF: What's your boyfriend's real name again?

Me: Jensen Ackles

GF: *perplexed look* Jansen?

Me: No, Jensen.

GF: Jam Spackles!



Now I'm going to think of him by that name!

She makes up nicknames for all my TV characters. Col. Saul Tigh from Battlestar Galactica was "Billy One-Eye." Admiral Adama was "Stand And Deliver." Paul Adelstein from Prison Break's Seasons 1 and 2 was "Mr. Puffy Face."

And I tease her that her TV boyfriend, Gareth David-Lloyd from Torchwood really only has three first names.

This is going to be the most bizarre "look what I found on the web" via clicked links EVER.

I knew about Misha Collins' Twitter feed, and I hadn't read it since he escaped the bunker by turning the doorknob the right way. He's Twittering this bizarre tale, starring himself. It's easier to read it than try to explain it (calicokat reminded me of the feed earlier today).

Anyway, in one of his Tweets he mentioned Alyssa Milano and linked to her Twitter. LOL, I thought, let's see what she has to say.

She in turn linked to this really interesting post on Mental Floss, where blogger Chris Higgins discovered a website filled with Polaroid photo images from 1979 to 1997.

Turns out this guy named Jamie Livingston took a Polaroid photo of himself, his friends, his surroundings in New York City or wherever he was traveling, every single day from 1979-1997. He was a cinematographer and music video editor, and his photos show his daily life. Sometimes the photos show common scenes of his apartment, or images of the television, or street scenes.

You can visit the website to see all the photos.

But what's most remarkable about this is that the entire project is a memorial. Skip ahead to 1997, and you will see photos of Livingston in the hospital, after having had surgery. He's had surgery on his brain, as you can see a huge stapled scar on his head.

Within five months of that photo, the final image is of Livingston on his deathbed.

To learn about the whole project and why it was done, visit Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn and learn how his friends took digital photos of the original Polaroids and displayed all 6,000+ photos at Bard College in NY, Livingston's alma mater.

It's amazing to click randomly and see what was going on in the world on that date -- we see a newspaper reporting the death of Princess Diana in one photo for example, and the 1986 World Series was captured via photographs of the TV. It's also a remarkable study of one man's life, however fleeting.

Absolutely worth a look.

My GF came over last night to watch the Deadliest Catch in HD on my TV, which is big and large and not her dinky 27 inch CRT.

Last night's episode was intense. Captain Keith Colburn of the Wizard had a huge wave hit the ship while four crew members -- one of them his brother Monte, or "Mouse" as he calls him -- were at the front of the boat up on the crab pot stacks. They were all thrown around violently. It was crazy scary. The crew members were hurt, and Mouse broke some ribs.

Then there was a moment when Keith was buttoning up his brother's shirt so they could get him to town and get looked at. This is what transpired:

Me: Look at that. His brother is buttoning up his shirt! That is the sweetest thing...
GF: Wincest in 40 years.

ZOMG, I laughed so hard at her, and she doesn't even watch Supernatural, nor do I read Wincest. It's that prevalent that it crosses fandoms.

In other news, I discovered spnsecrets today. It cracks my shit up. It's just a TV show, people. However, there was one interesting post which said that it was bothersome when people didn't explain which show their icons were from in their Userpics. I took that to heart because it makes sense, and labeled a bunch of mine.

In related news: New mood theme thanks to tonicangel

In other other news, I need to write some Dean/Castiel and I cannot, for the life of me, come up with an idea. I mean, it's killing me. I want to write something canon-esque and plausible and probably UST, but I can't think of a freaking thing to write. Any ideas peepe?

Made a new header today. It took me about three hours because the most difficult part is finding the right screencaps to use. Then of course there's a lot of playing around with textures and hunting down the right ones.

Resources

Screencaps by oxoniensis via her site
Dean taken from "In the Beginning"
Castiel taken from "The Monster at the End of This Book"
Sammy taken from "The Rapture"

Textures by
yunhe
wrennette
seeaseye
3mmet here

Supernatural title treatment in high-res can be found at my Photobucket album, Supernatural ephemera

Y'all, I am now officially a New York driver! And it only took me 2 and a half hours!

I went to Herald Square DMV in Manhattan this morning. As I tried to enter the building I was informed there was a line, as it turned out, around the block. The office opened at 8:30, and I was there around 8:15 or so.

I waited outside in the rain for a while, then they herded us in small numbers into elevators, which took us to the eighth floor where the DMV was. Then there was more line waiting. And then I waited on line. Also, line waiting. For you in the UK, I was queued in the queueingest queue there ever was!

Some excitement: two Chinese women who didn't speak a word of English were cutting the line, and some Hispanic lady (or is it Latina? I'm not up on my political correctness) got pissed and went to get a uniformed employee, growling, and I quote, "Oh, you gonna make me, ain't you?" Hee! Then there was swearing and hand gestures and blank stares and much Cantonese (or maybe Mandarin). Eventually, it got sorted even though the guard was all, "I have no idea what you're saying." I was laughing hysterically.

I was doing fine until I went to get my registration. My insurance had to have been in effect for at least 45 days. My card said April. Y'know, I researched the shit out of the NY DMV website, took almost an hour and a half filling out forms last night (no lie), and still I got screwed up. Christ.

I then had to visit Staples on the second floor, call Geico, and get them to fax me a new insurance card. Sheesh.

Then luckily I got an expedited ticket to get helped again, and eventually got it all sorted. In all that time, I listened to music and watched the Supernatural episode "On the Head of a Pin" on my Playstation Portable. Angels, torture, and tears sure pass the time at the DMV!

Unlike New Jersey, I have to wait for them to send me my license. I got a temporary one. I have no idea how my photo will turn out, because I swear the guy that did it looked like one of those weird recluses that live amongst stacks of their own filth and newspapers, I kid you not. Where do they find these people? And I wish they would tell you what's happening. I kept asking "What do I do next?" a thousand times because they never offer information of their own volition. I also had to tell the guy that I didn't need to get my car inspected in 10 days, because my NJ inspection isn't up until November and it will carry over. GAH.

I'm going to miss my Jersey license. I actually look nice in it! I know I'm going to look like hell warmed over for this one. There's no way Weird Creepy Dude took a normal photo!

I posted this to supernatural_tv, but I'm sure it's held up in the moderation queue at the moment.

Here's some box art of grumbly-looking Dean, blue-steeling Sammy, and ethereal Castiel from the cover of the Season 4 set. We get Dean's hand (or suitable stunt hand double) but no Metallicar! It comes out September 1.

DVD and BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

· The Mythologies of Supernatural: From Heaven to Hell – Three section featurette gallery bridging Heaven, Purgatory and Hell to examine key mythological precepts

· Commentary on 3 Key Episodes by Executive Producers and writers

· Extended/Unaired Scenes

· Gag Reel

Total Running Time: Approx 1034 minutes, EC runtime approx 243 min
Price: $59.98 SRP
Language: English, Portuguese
Audio: English 5:1
Subtitles: ESDH, Chinese, Thai, Spanish, French


Blu-ray
Price: $79.98 SRP
Language: English, French, Japanese
Subtitles: ESDH, French, Japanese

inthekeyofd requested this for a SPN prompt: "The Happiest Place on Earth, in other words, the land of Pie and Bacon Cheeseburgers for Dean...except this isn't a little ordinary town, there's a wishing well where everyone's dreams seem to come true...for a price."

I didn't follow it exactly. But the cheeseburger and dream prompt did inspire:


"This...this is Heaven. It has to be."

Sam looked at the trail of hamburger juice trailing down Dean's arm and made a face. "Really."

"Yeah, Sammy, really. Medium-rare, cheese perfectly melted, crispy lettuce, tomato, onion, a hint of bacon -- but not too much -- and a mix of ketchup and mayo? Nothing can ruin this moment."

"You're right," Sam agreed, smiling. "You seem happy."

( It's short, come finish off the cheeseburger )

Thank you, weekend flight to Atlanta, because now I have a massive head cold and I feel MISERABLE. What's worse is that I took yesterday off from work, and I would have taken today too, but I had to make it look like I cared about work even though I HAVE NOTHING TO DO. Whatever. Ugh. My nose is dripping.

The wedding I went to was for my girlfriend's friend, and as weddings go it was kinda crappy. There weren't enough appetizers for the cocktail hour, which meant we didn't get to eat any of those, and the lines for the bar looked like Walt Disney World they were so long. The meal was buffet style, but they had little tiny plates for us to use, and WTF? I want a dinner plate, not a saucer. By then my throat was sore and raspy and I just wanted to go home. Oh, and the cake? I took photos to send to CakeWrecks blog. Seriously.

But I did see the Georgia Aquarium -- which, for supposedly being the largest in the world, was disappointing. They did have the Titanic exhibit though, the same one Ghost Hunters visited this season, where they heard the "Wait, don't go" EVP in the iceberg room. Weeeeeird! When I left I wrote "Steve and Tango 4ever" in the guest book. Heh.

Went to see the World of Coca-Cola too, and the different sodas from around the world was worth the $15 entrance fee. They had these help-yourself fountains set up and you could taste sodas that Coca-Cola distributes from all over the world. I had some fantastic and weird flavors from Latin America, Asia, Africa and North America, but my favorite was a North American flavor from Barq's. I know them for root beer, but this was a "red cream" soda and OMG WANT. It was like cream soda with a hint of cherry. They don't sell it around here. The hell! IT IS AWESOME.

Quick word on the season finale of Supernatural: I was hoping for more, and it was dragged out too much (what with the flashbacks) that it should have been a three-parter with a conclusive ending. I don't mind cliffhangers, but that one was a bit much to wait all summer for. But! There was much Dean/Castiel in this ep to be gawked over, and that is good.

I've sort of been in a fog all this week because of badtyler, where I've been turning it over and over in my head, and eventually settled on being depressed about it. Thus I've been unfocused and meh about things this week, but I'm feeling a little better today. Luckily I have my girlfriend to support and console me. She understands the whole online friend thing.

She's also the one dragging me to Atlanta (as in Georgia) tomorrow for the wedding of one of her best friends. We fly out tomorrow around 4 p.m., and then we're back Sunday. I can deal with that. I hate getting dressed up and doing the wedding thing though. The only reason I go is for the food. I like to get mah snack on, yo.

And tonight's the big showdown on Supernatural. Listen, show, this week has been rather sucky, so although I'm down with the angst and the sad and the sexy angels and the apocalyptic ZOMG SAM VS. DEAN stuff, don't make me cry. But also, please don't suck. This season has been wonderful, and I don't want them to crash and burn in the season finale.

( A few notes about last night's episode )

It's noon and I'm done with my work for today. SO: PROMPT ME, YO.

You have until 3:30 p.m. EST to prompt, and I can't guarantee I'll write all of them. Oh, and since I'm on an SPN high I'm more likely to write those first.

NOTE: This is the only time I'll write Wincest, so if you prompt I'll give it a go.

Fandoms:

Supernatural
Battlestar Galactica
X-Files
Jossverse -- Angel, Buffy, Firefly, Doc Horrible
The Wire
Torchwood
Nip/Tuck
Law & Order:SVU
OZ

Lions Gate sent over a copy of the two-disc My Bloody Valentine special edition today. It comes with both the 3D and 2D versions of the film, four pairs of 3D glasses, and a bonus disc with extras, including two featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending, and a gag reel. The film comes out on DVD May 19th.

The gag reel is short (2 minutes 15 seconds), and Jensen is in it maybe two or three times. Once he can't a door open and says with a smile, "It's really closed!"



There's another moment when his character Tom is popping pills and one doesn't make it into his mouth, and Jensen says, "Shit!" and the crew laughs.



And finally, there's a scene where he's walking through a mine corridor and there's a noise off-camera, and he runs away.

I also took screencaps of the behind-the-scenes featurette, "Deep Inside My Bloody Valentine." See those images, as well as the nice things the director said about Jensen, behind the cut.

( Screencaps of the featurette and a quote from director Patrick Lussier )

nuptse asked for "Sam and Dean trying exorcise Krycek's ghost" in my I'm bored prompt me post.

"Existence-Challenged"

"Try the salt!"

"I already tried the salt!"

"Try more!"

"How the hell is that supposed to help?" Sam yelled back, ejecting the shotgun shells. "'More' is not helpful, Dean!"

Dean started rifling through their gear bag, searching for something -- anything-- that could repel the ghost that stood menacingly before them.

"I've got nothin', Sammy."

"How about a warding spell? An amulet? Mojo bag? Anything?"

Sam then looked up at the phantom, who seemed to be...tapping his foot.

Dean dropped the holy water he was holding and frowned. "Sam, did that ghost..."

"Seriously, guys, I have places to be," the ghost said.

( It's only about 500 words. Come read the end. )

I saw one of my TV boyfriends, Felix Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) last night on Smallville while waiting for Supernatural to start. He was playing a doctor or something maybe, I don't know, because I had it muted since that show is awful. I also saw another BSG alum, Crashdown (Sam Witwer), whose character turned green and had horns or some shit. LOL. Anyone ever play the The Force Unleashed video game? Witwer provides the voice for The Apprentice, and damn if it doesn't look exactly like him, too.

I think I'm going to have to run like 50 feet of freaking coax cable into the bedroom because waiting for the super to drill the hole I need through the wall is killing me because NO INTERNET, *criez*. In related news, the dishwasher is still broken! In other other news: two dudes are coming early tomorrow morning to take the dead air conditioner out of the window. I LIKE SLEEPING LATE, BITCHES, FRAK.

I finished all my work for today, huzzah.

SO: PROMPT ME, YO.

I can't guarantee I'll get to everybody's, but fandoms I can write in (slash, het, etc, I'll go for it, I'm bored):

Supernatural
Battlestar Galactica
X-Files
Jossverse -- Angel, Buffy, Firefly, Doc Horrible
The Wire
Torchwood
Nip/Tuck
Law & Order:SVU
OZ


NOTE: This is the only time I will write Wincest, so if you have a prompt that strikes my fancy, I will attempt it.

PROMPT ME!

DOODS. I MISS TEH INNERTOOBS on the weekends. Reason? I am cheap!

Explanation: I got FiOS, and rather than pay another $7 a month to rent another set top box for the bedroom, I used the coax out connector on the box in the living room and went through the bedroom wall. Then I split it to the bedroom TV and the computer. This means anything I have on the box I can watch in the bedroom, or watch on the computer, and even record. This is good.

The only downside to this is that I need a direct line for the modem/router. It can't be coming from the box. So I need to drill another hole in the wall and run coax to the modem/router to get online.

Then I can buy a remote control extender and change the channels in the living room while in bed.

Other things: I hate the summer and it's not even summer yet. I hate the heat. HATE. Some of this vitriol has to do with the lack of an air conditioner, but it's just general hot weather hate. I should live in Alaska, I swear.

I set up my receiver and components Saturday. I had an extra center speaker, so I made a 6.1 surround field.

Watched Stacy Peralta's Crips and Bloods: Made in America over the weekend. Not what I was expecting; it was more about the history of the African-American experience in LA than it was about the gangs. I learned more about gang history on the History Channel's Gangland. What up, cuz? What up, blood? Boo, Stacy. Get back to surfing/skate movies.

Since my train ride is so short to and from work, I've been reading more. I already finished Little Women (which was fantastic, except for the fact that Jo married the guy almost 25 years her senior, and y'know, actually got married) and have moved on to Pride and Prejudice (which is rather tedious going I must say, as the particulars of upper-crust British society and their astute conversations on such trivial things as writing letters is driving me up a freaking 21st century wall). Up next: Jane Eyre. I'm doing the classics thing.

Hopefully the dishwasher will be fixed today.

Quick Supernatural comment: If Dean and John were (theoretically) hunting together from the time Sammy left them and went to college, when did John find time to have a secret life? Or, does this mean that Dean and John had been on separate hunting paths for a long time and only kept in touch sporadically? The timeline doesn't jibe here somewhere.

I missed my Flist!

He's an interesting read (if only for the comments): io9 covers "Great Unsung Slash Fiction Heroes". At first I thought it was making fun, but Charlie Jane Anders was actually pretty nice in her post.

Interestingly, she didn't cover Wincest. Perhaps that's outside the parameters of what she intended to write about. Still, interesting.

I don't seem to have an icon to use for this post that is gay yet non-sexual. LOL. Such is the state of my teh sexxxy icons, I suppose.

Here is what all you musical/gay film with cute boys/Shakespeare (really!) lovers out there need to add to your queues for June 9: Were The World Mine.

It's a modern, semi-musical with a gay twist, inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Timothy (Tanner Cohen) is the lone gay boy in his all-male prep school, and when his eccentric drama teacher encourages him to try out for the play, strange things happen. Timothy gets the role of Puck, and while studying the play, discovers the ingredients for a Love Potion. Using his flower, he squirts the magical potion into the eyes of school rugby star and unrequited crush Jonathan (Nathaniel David Becker), who immediately falls in love with him. Then, to make others understand how he's been ostracized and been made fun of for being gay, squirts the flower on everyone in town to turn them all gay (which, truthfully, is the weakest and silliest part of the film).

Now, the movie itself is okay with some minor weak points, but what really sets it apart is the fantastic (and I mean FANTASTIC) musical score, as written by Tim Sandusky.

And, for your convenience in case you're intrigued, here's the title song Were The World Mine, a duet between Cohen and Becker, in MP3. I paid for it and downloaded it from Amazon, DRM-free. No more iTunes for me. Enjoy!

Also, not really related, but last night I had a dream that my dream self was having a dream with me in the middle of an episode of Supernatural. Get that? I don't do things easy, apparently -- even my subconscious is dreaming of dreaming! It did have a totally awesome ending in which Sam used his powers on Dean, who basically freaked out and ran, so that was cool!

Got on the L going the wrong way this morning. D'oh! Then I had to get off and pay again to go the right way! Double d'oh!

The Fat Girl Flea Market takes place tomorrow. I have some stuff I'm going to donate, not much, just some dresses my aunt gave me years ago I've worn once. I'm on the lookout for not-boy work clothes, that is, clothes other than my T-shirt/jeans/sneakers ensemble I wear every day. It would be nice to find something!

So, is fandom making head-splodeys from last night's Supernatural? I can see how some people may be upset, but I thought it was pretty funny and (from past sci-fi conventions attended in general) a fairly accurate description of many, many people I've seen over the years. I laughed.

Well guys, this is it!

I'm picking up the moving truck at 3 p.m. this afternoon, to get it ready for the trip up to Yonkers tomorrow morning, bright and early.

This weekend has been a whirlwind of activity: mom came over and painted the entire 9 x 10 computer room after she and my girlfriend finished scraping the fucking shit-ass duct tape from the walls (never again!); we have the big stuff left to pack today (couch and loveseat, coffee table, TV components); I think we're going to have to carry the couch up 6 flights of stairs tomorrow because at 7 feet-something inches I doubt it will fit in the 6 foot-something elevator; and I have to return the cable box and cancel my account as soon as I finish this, so you won't hear from me until I get FiOS on Wednesday (fingers crossed the installation goes well).

I had a little mini emotional breakdown last night around 8 p.m., where I just got overwhelmed by EVERYTHING and had an ugly cry with hitchy sobs and snot. But my girlfriend gave me hugs and we watched the Simpsons and I ate Domino's chickens wings, and we got through it.

I am both physically and mentally exhausted. I've learned quite a few things when it comes to packing and moving, lemme tell ya. I'll have better ideas on how to do things next time.

I'm turning off comments because I know you guys love me, but I don't want a thousand responses from LJ in my inbox. ;-)

Wish me luck and a strong back for tomorrow.

My only tiny regret? That I didn't get to watch last week's Supernatural again before I had to return the DVR!

Love you guys; I'll write as soon as I can!