New Fall show #6

Revolution (NBC)

 

A high-octane action drama that follows a group of characters struggling to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist. Supernatural’s Eric Kripke will write and executive-produce with J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. Giancarlo Esposito, Billy Burke, David Lyons, Tim Guinee, Graham Rogers, Tracy Spiridakos, Andrea Roth, JD Pardo, Zak Orth and Anna Lise Philips will star.

Throne Quote

You know nothing, Jon Snow. - Ygritte

New Fall show #5

Last Resort (ABC)

 

A renegade crew of a nuclear submarine, led by Men of a Certain Age’s Andre Braugher, go on the run after defying an order to fire nuclear missiles. They find sanctuary at a NATO base where they declare themselves the world’s smallest nuclear nation. The Shield’s Shawn Ryan will executive-produce the pilot, which he wrote with Karl Gajdusek (Dead Like Me). Autumn Reeser, Scott Speedman, Daisy Betts, Sahr Ngaujau, Dichen Lachman, Jessy Schram, Robert Patrick, Camille de Pazzis and Dan Lissing will also star.

 

Christopher Lee - 90

Yesterday was Christopher Lee's birthday and he is spry 90. He continues to work and thrill audience well into the age that most men are in the ground.

I can thank him for a terrifying childhood. Mother's milk for a latchkey boy was Hammer Films. Lee, along with Peter Cushing, made hours speed by in wide-eyed fear and fascination.

I am certain that my love for reading and all things that go bump in the night was formed here.

His grumbling voice, his piercing eyes, and his ability to instill fear even in the most ludicrous of roles has made him, for decades, one of my favorite actors.

I relish every one of his latest roles; knowing they are soon coming to an end.

But the boy inside me knows I will never out live the terror he and his films showed me.

Again, happy birthday, Mr. Lee! A loyal lifelong fan!

 

Memorial Day numbers

1.5 million US soldiers in war zones or on combat missions.

New Fall show #4

The Following (Fox)

 

An edge-of-your-seat thriller about the complex relationship between diabolical serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) and the damaged FBI profiler, Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon), who once took him down. After Joe escapes, Hardy is reactivated and discovers that he is no longer just hunting one man, but a massive cult of serial killers created and manipulated during Carroll’s time in prison. Kevin Williamson will write and executive-produce. Natalie Zea, Nico Tortorella, Jeananne Goossen, Shawn Ashmore, Adan Canto, Billy Brown, Kyle Catlett and Valorie Curry will also star.

Happy Memorial Day/Weekend

May every generation never forget the valiant warriors who sacrificed on their behalf. And for the kids, too young to know, I hope parents will take the time to explain the supreme sacrifice that this holiday commemorates.

New Fall show #3

Do No Harm (NBC)

 

A brilliant neurosurgeon (Steven Pasquale) wrestles with his dangerous alter-ego that threatens to wreak havoc on his personal and professional life. The Event’s David Schulner will write and executive-produce with Samantha Who?’s Peter Traugott. Alana de la Garza, Phylicia Rashad, Michael Esper, Mousa Kraish and Ruta Gedmintas will also star.

New Fall show #2

Arrow (CW)

 

Hung’s Stephen Amell stars as DC superhero Green Arrow in this modern retelling of the legendary archer’s adventures. Brothers & Sisters’ Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim will executive-produce with The Vampire Diaries’ Andrew Kreisberg. Katie Cassidy, Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Paul Blackthorne, Jamey Sheridan, Colin Donnell and Susanna Thompson will also star. Colin Salmon will recur.

Quote of the Day

In the West, one makes money in the market, and uses it to buy or influence power. In the East, one seizes power, and uses it to make money. Morally there is no difference between the two, but their impact on the economy and on the polity is very different.

-Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response

 

New Fall Show #1

666 Park Avenue (ABC)

 

An innocent Midwestern couple (Dave Annable and Rachael Taylor) get hired as resident managers of an Upper East Side apartment building in New York, with the owner played by Lost’s Terry O’Quinn. Unbeknownst to them, the residents have all made deals with the Devil to have their desires fulfilled. David Wilcox will adapt Gabrielle Pierce’s book series and executive-produce, alongside Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo. Vanessa Williams, Mercedes Masohn, Helena Mattsson and Robert Buckley will also star. Erik Palladino will guest-star.

 

Quote of the Day

“Nothing bores me more than to be in New York and have a dinner in a big fancy restaurant, where you have to sit for three fucking hours. You know and people will have drinks before, wine after, then three courses, then they want coffee and someone is going to ask for a fucking French press and all the rest of this crap. To me my idea of what’s good is to drive here and go to Waffle House, get a couple of eggs and waffle. When I see the first Waffle House, I know I’m in the South. That’s good."

-Stephen King

Quote of the Day

“Those are brave men,” he told Ser Balon in admiration. “Let’s go kill them.”

-George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

 

Quote of the Day

If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

-George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

 

Lolita

Nothing beats the luscious sonority of Nabokov’s prose. It practically begs to be read aloud, so we’ll let it speak for itself:

 

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.”

Rules for Stress Free Air Travel

# 11 Undress For Success

 

Before you leave for the airport, put everything metallic you’re taking with you—watch, keys, coins, jewelry, pens, chains, et al—in ziplock plastic bags and pack them in your carry-on. Dress on the other side of security, please! This will save five minutes per passenger. Do the math: It makes so much sense.

 

Quote of the Day

“They pay me absurd amounts of money,” he observes, “For something that I would do for free.” -Stephen King

Why Do They Call It...British Columbia?

As a shout out to my gf's home province of BC, Canada. Here's something that's been interesting me for a few months...

The name refers to the Columbia District, the British name for the territory drained by the Columbia River. Queen Victoria specified that the area be called British Columbia to distinguish the British section of the District from that which belonged to the United States (which became the Oregon Territory). The river, in turn, took its name from the Columbia Rediviva (formerly the Columbia; the Latin rediviva, or “revived,” was added to the name after the ship’s 1787 rebuilding), a privately owned ship that was the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe and was used extensively in the Pacific Northwest maritime fur trade.

 

I'd Have Loved to have Seen...

Neil Gaiman met Stephen King, in 2002...Gaiman said, he pulled me up onstage to play kazoo with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a ramshackle assemblage of authors who can play instruments and sing and, in the case of author Amy Tan, impersonate a dominatrix while singing Nancy Sinatra's “These Boots are Made For Walkin'”

Stannis the grammar king

Stannis Baratheon earns my respect, as an english teacher, by being a word usage nerd. His correction of Davos on “fewer” vs. “less” was both accurate and exactly what I’d want to see in my king.

Being South African

“When you sit in America you miss the open plains and you miss the sound of rain and the smell of rain and the smell of the veld. If you’re African it’s different and I don’t think one will ever become an American or British. It doesn’t matter where you move, you will always be a South African."

--Zola Budd

 

Roose Bolton

“A naked man has few secrets, a flayed man none,” says the sinister and soft-spoken Lord Roose Bolton

For Your Consideration...

In the runup to this fall’s U.S. elections, activist Susan McMillan Emry has created a women’s rights group:  Rock The Slut Vote, inspired by the Limbaugh incident and a string of others that caused feminists of the country to cry foul.
Rock The Slut Vote.  Go here for more.

Four Storms And A Twister

Four Storms And A Twister, a photo by JD Hancock on Flickr.

HAHAHA

NYCC 2009

NYCC 2009, a photo by Anna Fischer on Flickr.

C2E2

C2E2, a photo by Anna Fischer on Flickr.

What is Cinco de Mayo?

Cinco de Mayo, contrary to popular belief, is not Mexico’s Independence Day. That occurs on Sept. 16., or el dieciseis de septiembre, si hablas español.

 

Cinco de Mayo, in actuality, marks a major victory for the Mexican Army on May 5, 1862, when 4,000 Mexican troops defeated 8,000 French troops at the Battle of Puebla. The French had decided to attack Mexico after it stopped making interest payments toward a major debt, but a devastating military defeat forever changed the fate of France in the Americas.

 

Tshirt Ideas

• BULLETS, NOT BALLOTS

• WE CAME UNARMED (THIS TIME)

• SAVE THE PLANET: KILL A REPUBLICAN