Congratulations, Christan Bale!

Best Supporting Actor--The Fighter

Blog Overhaul Incomplete--but the blog's back up!

I'm still in the midst of overhauling A Treasury of Stories, but I figured it's about time I made it available again. Thanks for your patience!

Blog Overhaul!

This is not an abandoned blog--but I'd like to put a big 'Under Construction' sign on it.

Blogspot has changed its format a bit, and now I'll be able to put up pages of fan-fic recommendations and other cool things. (So my blog of fan fiction reviews will be going away, since I can add the information here.) I'll have to make a lot of changes; not sure when I'm finishing up.

Meanwhile, I'm posting my new fanfiction to my Livejournal. I also have a new blog devoted to White Collar.

Thanks for your patience during the overhaul!

Pernell Roberts, May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010

May his memory be a blessing.

White Collar--My New Love!

Ok, I've been gone for a while. I've got a load of excuses--but I'll spare you. I think I might just get my blogging groove back with U.S.A.'s new series White Collar.

Peter Burke owns Neal Caffrey for the next four years--that's the premise of the show. Ok, that makes it sound a bit kinkier than it is--but those were pretty much Peter's exact words to Neal. ("I own you for the next four year--you ok with that?")

Neal's a charming conman and master forger--four years ago, Peter captured him and put him away. Neal had almost served out his sentence, but in a foolish romantic guesture, he broke out. He wanted to reach his girlfriend, Kate, who had just left him. Peter captured him again (and even paused to sympathize about Kate.) But the upshot is that Neal, who should have been freed in a couple of months, was going to be spending another four years in prison.

Not quite--Neal wheedles Peter into a better arrangement. Neal is released into Peter's custody, with an ankle monitor that gives him a two mile radius in Manhattan. In exchange, he works at Peter's side, helping him solve cases. The bromance that develops between them is the heart of the show.

Perfect slash set up, right? Not quite--Peter is happily married to a wonderful character. Elizabeth is so perfect for him that even slash writers aren't keen to get rid of her. (Enter some interesting three-way fics . . .)

It's safe to say that no three-way-relationship will develop in canon, but the relationship between Peter and Neal has me hooked regardless. Here's the actors' take on it:

Dang! I can't get it to embed properly. Oh well. Click here for the link--you'll love the interview. The chemistry between these two guys shines through.

Caption Winner--Gratz Warrior Sister!

Spock: "I--I'm sorry, Leonard. I really thought this was how a mint julep was supposed to look."

Caption Contest! (Yeah--Finally!)

Ok--I've been neglecting this blog for over a week. I do have an excuse! A good one! But I won't bore you with it now, lol. Instead, I'll present this classic picture. We've captioned The Tholian Web before, but not, if memory serves, this shot:

Caption Winner~Gratz Womanwarrior!

Great entries all around--every single one got me giggling! But this one clinched it for me:

A portable nutcracker? Are you sure that's what Harry Mudd said, Spock?

Dealing with our faults and frailities . . .

. . . That spirit of resilience and good humor would see Teddy through more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know. He lost two siblings by the age of sixteen. He saw two more taken violently from a country that loved them. He said goodbye to his beloved sister, Eunice, in the final days of his life. He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible.

It is a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. And it would have been easy for Ted to let himself become bitter and hardened; to surrender to self-pity and regret; to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. No one would have blamed him for that.

But that was not Ted Kennedy. As he told us, "…Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in - and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves." Indeed, Ted was the "Happy Warrior" that the poet William Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote:

As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.

Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and suffering of others - the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armor; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed - the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health care, the Family and Medical Leave Act - all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life's work was not to champion the causes of those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow. . .

~President Obama on Ted Kennedy

These words struck me--President Obama didn't disect Ted Kennedy's failings, but he didn't ignore them either. Instead, he used them to show Kennedy's resilience. Ted Kennedy could have slunk off in shame into a private life after Chappaquiddick, but he chose to do what he could to redeem himself. He went on to become a champion for universal healthcare, for ending the death penalty, for civil rights (including gay rights) . . . for so many other worthy causes.

There are times when I look at my life and think it's a disaster. No, I have nothing equivalent to Chappaquiddick in my history; my weaknesses are of a different sort. Nonetheless, I think most of us, at one time or another, have looked back and boggled at all the wrong choices we've made.

Ted Kennedy's life was an eloquent statement on what it is to continue on, to march forward and do our parts to repair the world--even if we helped screw up our little part of it.

I'm going to hang Ted Kennedy's words on my wall, right near my desk where I'll see them day in and day out: "Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in - and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves."

Caption Contest!

Hehe . . . this should be fun!

Caption Winner~Gratz Julianna!

McCoy: Spock, get your skinny green ass out here. You can't look any worse than the rest of us. ...Legolas?

Caption Contest!

Ok, I had to do this at some point. And, since I spent part of my vacation watching a Lord of the Rings marathon, now is as good a time as any. For this week's caption, I present to you Bones--er, that is, Karl Urban--as Éomer:
So what inspired Dr. McCoy's costume? (And that's just one direction you can take . . .)

Caption Winner--Gratz Liederlady!

McCoy: Hey Jim boy! Is that a tribble in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Spock: Dreamer! He's been in that condition ever since I dumped T'Pring.

Too Many Irons?

I'm going to pat myself on the back--I've been getting lots of writing done! I'm working on two original stories that I'm hoping to submit to real publishing companies. I've also been working on my new Kirk/McCoy AOS story, so much happiness here. =)

One thing worries me: do I have too many irons in the fire? Does everyone work on multiple projects at once? Or is anyone out there disciplined enough to stick with the same story until it's done?

I appreciate all responses . . .

Caption Contest!

Hello all--reporting in from Virginia, where I've been visiting family. I've had so much fun visiting that I haven't spent much time on my poor, neglected blog. In fact, I even owe this week's caption contest to the keen eye of Julianna . . . and it's perfect:
Have at it, folks!