Lost Returns in 2008 on January 31

Wow! I should post more often, I guess. Maybe I'll make that a New Year's Resolution. Watching football this afternoon, I saw the ad for the new Lost season and I can't wait.

Heat Vision and Jack

Okay, so my post on The Wendell Baker Story is up for maybe a day and I get an email with a link to Heat Vision and Jack on YouTube. It's a TV pilot from 1999 and it's utterly hilarious. It's hard to describe. I particularly liked the duel between Paragon and Heat Vision at the gas station/diner.

The Wendell Baker Story

I went to see The Wendell Baker Story this morning. I only got to see the first half because the projector ate the film, but the first half had me interested enough to see the end.

The movie has a certain hometown kind of charm, even though I'm not from Austin. Luke Wilson plays title character Wendell Baker, a relentlessly cheerful guy lacking introspection, but full of entrepreneurial ideas--most of them illegal. Wendell has a girlfriend Doreen who just adores him and he adores her, although he doesn't show it much.

The movie starts with a voiceover by Wendell. He says that people always say you never know what you have until it's gone, but that he knew what he had, he just didn't realize how soon it would all be gone. The film continues in that vein, with pithy lines sometimes profound and often funny.

Wendell Baker is such a likeable character that I know I'll come back to this one. And I'll probably get the soundtrack, too. The music is seemingly random, but it really sets the tone, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure what "Scarlet Begonias" has to do with Wendell's insurance scam, but it fit for some reason.

Kids Who Exercise Stay Slim

Wow! What a clever idea. This article says that fifteen minutes a day of running around keeps kids from getting fat. Hmmm...

Thanks to Krista at Stumptuous for noticing this.

Battlestar Galactica Returns in 2008??

I TiVo Battlestar Galactica and watch it a day or two after it airs, so I'm slow on this one, but--it won't return until 2008? What? That's a long time from now. Especially after that zinger they threw at us towards the end. Well, there were a few, but how can they wait until 2008 to let us know what happens next?

New Romance Mag

Well, I was AWOL all February, but now I have news too good to keep silent. DEP is starting up a new magazine with the focus on romance short fiction. We're still working out the details, but the launch date will be in the fall. In the meantime, I'll still be at Haruah.

Sold To Baen's Universe!

Woohoo! I sold "Chicken Soup" to Baen's Universe! This is my first fiction sale, so it's quite thrilling. It's slated for the June issue. Can't wait.

I'm Mad At Afro Samurai

Yeah, I admit it, I'm mad at the Afro Samurai franchise. In the second episode, Okiku and Afro sleep together and then she is killed. How cliche. How disappointing. Are there no heroes any more? Why can't these super-duper, totally amazing, sword/gun/raygun wunderkind ever protect those they love or who love them? What good is that kind of skill if it isn't used for good (or excessive personal gain)? Couldn't he have pursued revenge for his father's death and helped those around him?

Not many characters do these days.

I like the intro song to Afro Samurai. The music is by the RZA.

Lost Cast at the Golden Globes

Videos of Naveen Andrews, Josh Holloway, and Evangeline Lilly are up at Lost Fanatic. After the interview with Lilly, the hosts criticize her choice of gown. Apparently, the hosts wore that dress ten years ago. Hope it doesn't rain on them.

Lost Preview

I think I have these out of order now, so I'm not sure which preview this is. Spoilers contained.

An Evening With Lost

I have some clips from the web cast "An Evening With Lost" up on Lost Fanatic. Some of them are quite funny and none of them are spoilers.

Is Juliet good or evil?
Matthew Fox and his tattoos
The secrets of Lost

Barefoot Contessa at Home

Ina Garten, former owner of the specialty store "Barefoot Contessa" and star of the Food Network's television show of the same name, has a new cookbook out called "barefoot contessa at home". Reviews of the cookbook and some recipes are in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News. Ms. Garten just seems like such a nice person and a fantastic hostess.

Sneak Peek Ten

The most recent sneak peek is up at Lost Fanatic.

Day Break Online by End of February

Day Break will be online at ABC.com by the end of February.

Meerkat Manor Season One

Animal Planet is showing the Meerkat Manor series from the start. Last week, the first two episodes aired: "A Family Affair" and "Love Thy Neighbor". This week, "Some Like It Hot" and "Revolution" aired.

To catch you up, if this is your first time watching Meerkat Manor, Flower is the mom and leader of the Whiskers clan of meerkats. Her partner is Zaphod. He's the dominant male and must lead the Whiskers males to defend against rival clans, although it seems that the girls often get involved in any scuffles that come along.

Only the lead female of a group of meerkats is allowed (by mom) to have pups, but Tosca has gotten pregnant anyway. Will Flower kick her out of the burrow? Shakespeare has been bitten by a poisonous snake and his sister Mozart is watching over him while he suffers through it.

Shakespeare is a sweetheart, always first to defend the burrow or take care of the pups. Seeing him in so much pain and so close to death is heartbreaking.

It turns out that Mozart has also had pups. Meerkats will often kill the pups of another female. It's harsh, but there's not always enough food to go around and Flower will want to keep as much food for her pups as possible.

Youssarian, a strange and nervous meerkat, is the younger brother of Zaphod and former leader of the Whiskers. He takes all twelve pups to the top of the burrow as if instigating a burrow move. Without leadership, the other meerkats don't know what to do and neither help with the burrow move nor take the pups back underground. Eventually, the meerkats get all the pups back in the burrow.

Youssarian tries another den move, this time getting the babysitters to carry the pups far away from the den. Flower and Zaphod catch him in the act and Youssarian drops his pup and runs off. That pup belongs to Mozart and is forgotten. Mozart goes back later to find her, but there's too much territory to cover and she can't find her. The pup dies.

To Do List for Day Break

Day Break has been cancelled. It won't be back on the air in January or any other time. ABC quietly took it off the air in December and I think a lot of people missed that because of the holidays. Anyway, I posted a to do list of things you can do if you are so inclined.

Recap Episode for Lost

When Lost starts back on 07 Feb 2007, a recap episode will air immediately before the new episode.

Sneak Peek Eight

Sneak peek eight is up for viewing on Lost Fanatic. This one has quite a spoiler, so beware. I also added some text to the video which contains more spoilers.

Afro Samurai -- The Pilot Recap

It starts with a short backstory. The AfroSamurai is just a kid (not a samurai yet) and his father is Number One. To be Number One means you're a sort of a god; no one can touch you. No one, except Number Two.

Number Two lives a life of constant combat. Anyone can challenge Number Two. And, apparently, everyone does challenge Number Two.

The Number Two who challenges Afro's father is a strange-looking cowboy fellow with a four-square hat named Justice. He manages to best Number One and removes his own headband, putting the Number One headband in its place.

He makes a short speech to the young Afro and ends it with: "Come challenge me when you're old enough."

Fast forward and Afro is an adult. He's surrounded by thirty or so bad guys who have been hired to take his headband. In swift and bloody fashion, he despatches them all. He ends with the line: "Nothing personal; it's just revenge."

Perched in a tree, a strange fellow watches the whole tiff.

As Afro walks away, NinjaNinja, who has been crouching on a rock and also watching the fight speaks to him. He tells him about the fellow in the tree, but Afro seems unconcerned. NinjaNinja follows Afro and they walk off the screen.

In a bar, a fight begins. A man sits in a corner asking about the legend of the AfroSamurai and a woman tends bar. Afro arrives and walks nonchalantly between the combatants. Naturally, one of them has to attack him, but the attempt turns out ill-fated.

Afro orders a lemonade and provides his own straw--a pretty nifty-looking one with a gem hanging from it. The bartender murmurs some advice about the bad guys waiting for him at the mountain pass. He thanks her and leaves.

The man from the bar catches up and introduces himself as Shosun. He challenges Afro and pulls out a crossbow with a grenade launcher on it. Afro defeats him handily, but receives a wound in the process.

Up on the cliff, some bad guys from a temple (that is not in the least bit ascetic or introspective) watch. Number Eight realizes Afro is wounded and leaps down to finish him off. He pulls out an RPG and fires it. Afro cuts it in half and the two halves pass around him and NinjaNinja, exploding behind them and taking out a large chunk of the mountain.

The pilot ends with Afro falling among the debris. Where will he land? On his feet. He's one cool cat.

Ha! Just had to say that. Likely he'll land in a very damaged position and need the tending of the lovely Okiku (Kelly Hu) who we have not yet met.

Review is here.

Afro Samurai -- The Pilot Review

I enjoyed it. A nice balance of action and stoicism. The animation is lively and mostly monochromatic, with the exception of lots of red in some scenes.

Samuel L. Jackson is the voice of both brooding, man-of-few-words Afro and hyper, chatty NinjaNinja. The bad guys are really really bad and very determined to take what is not theirs by whatever means possible, but Afro is on a mission of vengeance over his father's death and won't be deterred. The story just got started in this one and I think we met a lot of characters that we won't meet again (besides the ones who died). The next few episodes will reveal if the plot moves forward much in a half hour.

I'll be there next week. It's showing on Spike and each episode shows more than once, so you may not have missed it yet. Recap is here.

Build-a-Bear

I spent last night at a Build-a-Bear workshop spending a gift certificate received for Christmas. It was really quite fun starting a stuffed animal from scratch. Picking out clothes is always enjoyable, even though I'm not the one who gets to wear them.

Novelists' Income Survey

I stumbled across this survey on Tobias Buckell's site. He received information from more than a hundred sf and fantasy novelists about their advances and how many books they've written and how many years they've been writing. He then organized the data (keeping the authors anonymous) so that we could get an idea of how much a novelist makes. Interesting, to me, is the fact that a first-time novelist can expect an advance around $5000. After five to seven years and as many books, a novelist can expect $12,500. Not bad. Not enough to live on, but it doesn't take every second of every day to write a novel, either.

Lost Preview

I have another Lost preview up. It's for the third season, part two. Lots of new scenes in this one.

Sleet on Snaps

In December, a sleet storm blew through here. All my flowers were caught in full bloom, including these snapdragons that are on the cover of Haruah this month. That shine on them is the ice. It took a few days to melt off.

Movie Review -- Night at the Museum

I spent New Year's Eve at the movie theater watching Night at the Museum. I'm not the only one. The theater was packed. Judging by the crowd reactions, I'm not alone in my enjoyment of this comedy. It was great!

Ben Stiller plays a divorced dad who doesn't really have his act together, but he needs to because his ten-year-old son is starting to notice. He gets a job as the night guard at the Museum of Natural History and finds out that the exhibits come to life at night. Things get messy the first night, but slowly, he learns important life lessons while bringing the museum under control and impressing his young son.

But don't think it's preachy. It's not. And even if it was, I was laughing too much to notice. Owen Wilson plays a cowboy in a diorama who is leading the charge against the neighboring Romans (also in a diorama) led by Octavius (Steve Coogan). The two tiny guys were one of the most enjoyable parts of the film.

I'd definitely recommend Night at the Museum.