Heroes: To watch or not to watch...

So I've been debating with myself about whether or not I wanted to keep watching Heroes or if I was just going to give up on it. The current season has already ended but I've only seen the first five episodes of Vol. 4 Fugitives. I can remember during the last volume watching episodes as soon as they downloaded, wishing for the next episode as soon as the current one finished. Now I have a backlog of eight episodes. Thats eight weeks where I didn't feel the need to watch it immediately.

I will admit that the series has not been as good as it's truly spectaular first season but it has remained a fun show. After talking with a co-worker about series, I've decided to finish out Vol. 4 before deciding if I'm going to stay with it. Maybe I'll watch them in marathon while on my training trip, if I have the time that is.

Random update

First good news. I will be going with my manager to Houston for four days to learn how to make pretzels. My manager had told me that he was going but he wasn't sure if I was too. Today the regional manager mentioned it and confirmed that I would be going as well.

Ok now some less than good news. I am starting to feel the effects of stopping HRT. I'm feeling emotionally unstable and slightly more depressive. Also my sex drive is returning to pre-HRT levels which I find unpleasant. I might be trading physical health for mental health.

I managed to stave off a good bit of 'day off blues' by getting out of the house yesterday. I cashed my check and then walked to Hastings. I sat and read for a little while until I started getting hungry. So I left Hastings and walked next door to Quiznos and ate a sandwich and cup of soup. Afterwards I rode the bus to Walmart where I hoped to find a new backpack. I like the design of the one I just want one a little bigger. There weren't any of the same type as the one I have but I did find a cheap collapsible 20" duffel bag, which I thought would be good for taking large loads to the laundromat but will also serve me well as a make do suitcase for my upcoming trip. I, also, bought some cat food and kitten food, which I carried home in the duffel. Once home I checked a few things online and then watched a couple of movies before going to sleep.

I've recently realized that I might not like the tv show Heroes any more. I'm about 20 episodes behind and really don't feel the urge to get caught up. I'm a little saddened to think the show is no longer interesting to me.

Writing problem/Look at this new cool comic I found!

I think I may have a problem. At some point in the last couple of days I started asking myself what I was saying with "Am I Memorex?" See I had this feeling that besides being a story that people might want to read just because, that there was something I wanted 'say' with the story. Not like I wanted to preach some kind of lesson but rather to show some part of me. And I figured out what part of me was trying to come out through the story. This has a downside cause now that I know what I want the story to be I can see bits that I want to change in the parts that I've already posted. I don't want to restart the story but I also don't want to make anyone who has been reading to have to go back and reread everything. Any ideas?

I just found this comic Khaos Komix because someone had an image from the comic as their LG icon and someone else said "Love the icon I can't wait for the next part," which totally made me go "I must find this comic," cause the one who said that is the author of Tales of Mu, which is an online serial story that I love(that link is to the first episode of the story btw). So I set out to find the comic, which was very easy cause the user with the icon had a link on their userpic page that I followed right to the comic.

I'm now a little more than half way through the archive and I can not believe that I did not know about this comic. I mean like a couple of years ago I set out to find as many LGBT comics online as I could and I found a bunch but somehow this comic never even blipped on my radar. I may need to set out on another hunt but that will have to wait for a little while.

There are a few other things I wanted to gush about but I really want to get back to Khaos Komix so I'm just going to list links:

Girl Genius - Adventure, Romance, Mad Science!

FutureMe.org - Send an email to the future.

EZTV - My source for torrents of current tv shows.

W Juliet - An awesome manga that I started reading but fell out of for some reason but now have restarted.

See ya.

Am I Memorex? - Week 2 up

Parts 7-12 of "Am I Memorex?" have been collected and posted in the weekly round up.

In other news, I no longer have cable tv in my room. Not a big deal since I rarely, less that once a week, watch it. Due to circumstances that would take too long to explain right now, because I gave up cable tv, I now have a bigger tv.

More tomorrow when it's not two hours past my bedtime.

Am I Memorex? - Part 5 up and some ramblings

"Am I Memorex?" Part 5 is up on Gillian's Fiction.

I really got nothing else to say tonight. I spent my day off at home doing a little writing and reading. I cleaned up my room a little but got sidetracked by watching Firefly. I just got the set of the series. Yeah I should have bought it a long time ago but I rarely by TV show DVD sets because they seem to cost so much and it's rare that I'll sit down and watch them so it's this whole "how much I paid for it" vs "how much I'll really use it." But I'm more secure financially so I'm letting my self buy a high cost($50-$100) item once a pay period. I of course spend more than that on other things combined during the same period but on smaller cheaper things. It's just the way my mind thinks spending of money. Buying twenty $5 items over a few days is fine but buying one $80 item feels like spending a lot of money.

What was I talking about? Oh yes, not cleaning my room. Well I did clean a little. I just didn't finish.

And here's a cake I decorated for a customer. This was one of those rare ocassions where a guy just wanted a cookie cake with chocolate and white icing but didn't care what it looked like. So I did this:



I liked the way it came out so I thought I'd share.

Ok, it's 3am as I write this so I'm going to clear off my bed, cue up the latest episode of Castle(I'm feeling the need for more Nathan Fillion tonight) and then go to sleep. See ya tomorrow.

Late night musings on Dollhouse

I should be asleep. It's late and I work tomorrow but I felt like typing up a little something so here I am. Do not expect anything too coherent.

I just got through watching the third and fourth episodes of Dollhouse.

For those that don't know Dollhouse is Joss Whedon's newest tv show. It stars Eliza Dushku as Echo a woman who has had her memory wiped. Echo is kept by the Dollhouse, a secret company that has the technology to wipe peoples minds and implant custom memories, personalities and skills. When not in the field Echo, like all the other 'actives', is wiped clean of all but the most basic knowledge and reduced to a childlike state.

I watched the first two episodes a few weeks ago. The first episode had very little explanation as to what was going on so I felt a little lost. The second episode had enough back story that it would have made for a better first episode. After seeing it I thought maybe the episode order was wrong but there are events in episode one that clearly happen before episode two. This may have been network meddling. This would not be the first time Fox asked Joss to reshoot the first episode of one of his shows.

After watching the first two episodes, I kind of forgot about the show. I enjoyed watching them but it didn't really grab me in a "I have to watch the next episode now!" way. So I let a few pile up on my hard drive until tonight.

I now have that gotta watch feeling. I'm starting to see the threads of the larger plotlines being weaved in and they have me exited. The FBI agent plotline that seemed tacted on, has started to get it's feet under itself and I'm starting to wonder how it will playout.

It's still to soon to say if this show will really take off but for now it has me wondering and waiting for what's next.

Ten random things

A friend mentioned I hadn't posted anything recently. I have had a lot of things I want to post about but like no energy to write about them. I meant to make this post last night but I ended up catching up with the blogs I follow and made several comments but no post here. So real quick here are ten random things I'm thinking about or that have happened to me recently.

1. Opened a savings account. I'm a 27 almost 28. It's been about seven years since I had a savings account. I haven't felt this secure about money for a long time.

2. I'm thinking of getting this.

3. I need keys to the store I work at. As someone who closes and locks up about two or three times a week I need to have them. I may kidnap my boss's keys and make copies tomorrow.

4. I intend to go see Watchmen. I read the graphic novel years ago I really liked it but haven't read it since. I glanced through a copy at the bookstore in the mall and it was as good as I remembered it being.

5. I finished Braid. The ending makes you think about lots of things that I need to write into a seperate post.

6. I've started watching tv again in a bit of an experiment.

7. I saw a bit of the new Real World on MTV. I've never really been a fan of the show. I accidently selected it in the program guide. It popped on screen while I selected what I really wanted to watch. I changed the channel pretty quickly but not before hearing, "..mantain vaginal depth.." In about half a second I remembered that I had read about there being a transwoman on the show. I changed it back and watched the rest of the show. I might keep watching it just for her but the preview for next episode shows her talking about leaving because she can't pay her rent.

8. I'm trying to decide what I want to do about my twitter. I don't use it very often and I've almost stopped reading the tweets of those I follow but there are a few people I don't have any other contact for and wouldn't want to not know them.

9. I'm having trouble writing the story I started in the Storytime posts. I have this idea of what story I want to tell but its like this shape in my mind. I can see all of it but I can't see the shapes that make it up.

10. I just watched this again and downloaded it so I can have a copy. It's Neil Gaiman reading some stories from his book Fragile Things and answering questions. I know I've posted it before on my LJ but I haven't posted it here and Neil is an exelent speaker and reader.

So thats ten things and now I need to hurry to not be late to work.

Bye and lots of hugs to my readers.

Middleman News

I have some bad news and some good news for fans of The Middleman. For those who don't know The Middleman was a very cool show full of movie, comics and tv references. The show followed the adventures of Middleman in training Wendy Watson and her boss the current Middleman. Think of the Middleman as a one man MIB who's job is to investigate and cover up all manner of strange, paranormal and down right odd goings on.

First the bad news: The Middleman has been canceled and will not be back for a second season on ABC Family.

The Good news: The DVD set comes out this July and will be packed with extras and behind the scenes stuff. Also coming out in July is a graphic novel based on the unfilmed thirteenth episode of the first season. The graphic novel, titled "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse" will serve as a season finale but will tie up enough plotlines to serve double duty as a series finale.

While I'm sad that The Middleman isn't coming back it's hard to be too down beat when Javier Grillo-Marxuach, creator of the series, is so positive about the whole affair. You can read his The Middleman Rumor Control FAQ on his blog The MiddleBlog. He has high hopes that The Middleman will continue beyond the graphic novel. I am powerless before his optimistic attitude and can not help but believe he is right and that The Middleman will return.

One last treat. A sneak peek at the character designs for the graphic novel by Armando M. Zanker via The Middleblog(click for bigger images):

Infowhore's Library - Netflix on X-Box

Recently I signed up with Netflix.

The idea of renting movies through the mail has never really appealed to me, even the ability to watch select movies online wasn't enough to lure me in. However back in November, Microsoft updated the interface of the X-Box 360, adding in new features like customizable avatars and the ability to watch Netflix online movies on your X-Box, among others. This perked my interest but not enough for me to sign up right away.

Saturday after stumbling onto the part of my X-Box's interface that would hold the queue of Netflix movies and finding only a sign up page, I decided to jump on for the free trial at least. I was surprised to find I really liked Netflix even before selecting my first DVDs.

Why? Because of the website design.

When looking at a page of movies you're presented with a thumbnail of the DVD cover of each movie. Above each is the title of the movie, which is useful because it can be hard to read the title off the thumbnail picture. Below the thumbnail are five stars. If you haven't rated this movie some of the stars will be red indicating what rating Netflix thinks you would give this movie based on how you rated similar movies. Rating movies is as easy as clicking on the appropriate number of stars. Beneath the stars is the add button. Mouse over the thumbnail and an info card for the movie pops up to one side. The info card gives you a short description of the movie a few of the actors, the director, genre and rating.

All of this is pretty standard stuff, what makes it great is the way it works together. You can rate movies, read descriptions, and add movies to your queue without leaving the page you started on. This is great for quickly running through, say, all the comedy movies or action movies or all the movies.

It's not perfect. There is no easy way to organize movies in your queue. Movies are added to the end or the beginning. Also sometimes movies repeat in the same category. These are minor complaints.

The real draw, for me, has been the movies I can watch through my X-Box. I've already added over a hundred items to my instant queue.

Most are movies that I haven't seen but want to: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Meet the Robinsons, The Invisible, Underdog, It's in the Water, Grindhouse, The Rage in Placid Lake , ect.

Some are movies that I have seen like enough to keep in the queue just in case I want to see them: Primer, Gray Matters, Threesome, Tremors 1,2 and 3, and Erin Brockovich. There are few of these because while I like a lot of movies, very few are really good enough to be watchable more than twice.

Also in my queue are some tv shows I haven't seen before: Wisecrack from Logo, Rough Science from PBS, TransAmerican Love Story from Logo and The Vicar of Dibley from the BBC.

Tv shows that I have watched and enjoyed enough to want to rewatch them: Coupling, Earth2, Seaquest DSV, MacGyver and Kim Possible.

Also on the list is a health dose of anime: Last Exile, Project A-Ko, Appleseed: Ex Machina, Utawarerumono, R.O.D., Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig, Dominion Tank Police, Best Student Council, ect.

All this is to explain where I've been for the past few days. On Netflix rating movies(700+) and adding them to my queues(200+). I think I'm past the worst of my Netflix binge.

I hope. Pray for me.