08.26.08

Deus ex Monkeyna

Posted in Reviews, Writing at 9:23 pm by JC

It’s a new phrase I invented for when at the end of a novel a monkey pops out of the jungle to wipe leaves and spit on the fatal wound of the hero, thereby (somehow) saving him, before hopping back into the forest, never to be heard from again.

No, I’m not making this up. I just read a novel that ended like that. Now I’m wondering if there are multiple novels that this concept can be applied to or if this is a one shot thing. Have you ever found another example of deus ex monkeyna? And can we still call it deus ex monkeyna if it was, say, a panda bear or a horse that did the saving?

08.24.08

School Days!

Posted in Personal, Reviews at 1:29 pm by JC

Sorry I’ve been out; school started! I’ll probably be spotty for a few days, but I promise to return soon. For today, I found this on The Editing Room, which may be my all time favorite movie critic site. Check out the abridged script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

08.16.08

Rock Band is just like the Real Thing, man. The Real Thing.

Posted in Reviews at 10:18 am by JC

Kat’s hubby showed us this last night at his birthday dinner (Happy Birthday!), and I thought it was awesome and had to be spread. The first is from The Colbert Report (one of my favorite shows) and the other is backstage at TCR.

This is Rush playing Tom Sawyer:

This is Rush playing Tom Sawyer on Rock Band:

The look of utter concentration on Alex Lifeson’s face is only slightly more awesome than the look of disbelief on Geddy Lee’s and the image of Neil Peart trying to improve his performance by adjusting the plastic drum set. Rock on.

08.13.08

Time to Talk about California!

Posted in Reviews at 8:14 am by JC

Not really. Ginger just sent me a link to this, and it was so dern funny, I had to share. Plus, as I might’ve mentioned, Joss Whedon is a demiurge in the JC’verse.

Yes, that is Capt. Malcolm Reynolds. Mal, you rascal, I miss you and your gun-toting, government hating, Big Damn Hero ways! And yes, that is Doogie Howser MD! He sings! Quite well, I might add. [Poor actors who will always be associated with a character in my brain. I guess I should be a good theater teacher (did I mention I'm a theater teacher?) and say the actors' names, so "Yes, that's Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris!"]

08.12.08

Back from San Francisco!

Posted in Personal at 6:20 pm by JC

But before I post photos and discuss my first trip to the absolutely fantastical place known as northern California (and no, that isn’t the amount of Sonoma wine I consumed talking – I totally loved it), I have something far more trivial to announce. I got my hair cut! Finally.

I got new hair (and tried to take a photo of it myself)

I asked for “flicky” and showed Stephanie several photographs that weren’t exactly what I was looking for to try to explain what that meant. And she still managed to do this. Stephanie rocks. Maybe one of these days I’ll get somebody else to take a photo so you can see it better, but as I despise getting photographed, don’t hold your breath. But I had to show the hair.