Dear Bad Horse,

Please admit me at once to the Evil League of Evil.

I have a PhD in...mild naughtiness.

Sincerely,
The Mad Lori

Originally published at superherofan.net - objectifying men in pop culture. You can comment here or there.

ZOMG!!! Geek overload! First looks at the new Kirk and Spock! Zachary Quinto looks dead on! So hot!

Source

I know they’re not shirtless or kissing each other or anything, so here’s a couple more pics of the actors in other roles just to make it up to y’all, especially given that it looks like canon Kirk/Spock slash isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

For more pics of Chris, visit Chris Pine gallery.

For more pics of Zach, visit my Zachary Quinto gallery.

We're home. 400 miles in a shot to the West and South.

It's hot. *sigh* The house got hot while we were away, no duh. But by arriving in the evening we're letting it cool off before going to sleep. I got my best pictures up. It's just 64 this time, not 400+.

( Cut just for length. )

This evening I sprayed off my patio. I can't even begin to describe how happy this made me.

When I was growing up, I always helped my mother plant the yearly flowers. I didn't exactly enjoy it. In fact, she usually had to threaten me with something awful to get me to do it. But the one part of it I loved was spraying off the sidewalks and patios when we were done to clean off the dirt and bits of flowers. I liked spraying them off after mowing too, to get rid of grass clippings. There's just something about it, making it all nice and clean and shiny with water.

I really wanted to spray off my patio, because a) it was dirty, b) sweeping just doesn't cut it and c) yay, spraying. One problem: no faucet outside. I knew that such a thing existed as an adapter to hook up a hose to one's kitchen faucet, and last night I found one and bought it, plus a hose and a small sprayer nozzle.

It got the job done, although the water pressure from a faucet isn't too thrilling, so it wasn't the high-powered jet of my youth. Got the patio clean, though, even if it took longer.

Geek stuff now.

No, I'm not going to see Dark Knight tonight. Yes, of course I want to see it. Yes, you're correct in recollecting that I have a super speshul attachment to Heath Ledger.

Maybe that's why I'm not all chompy. I can wait till next week. Or the next, even. I don't know. Normally I'd want to see a movie like this in a theater full of fans. This one? I don't know. I'm tempted to say that it's the Heath thing, that I'm loathe to see his final film and for there to be none more. I'm not sure that's it, though.

The Watchmen trailer was pretty damn righteous, though. I've read some of Watchmen. Not all. It's on the list.

Oh, and the next person to inform me that life as I know it will cease to exist and I will lose any and all pop-culture credibility I have if I don't watch Dr. Horrible like right the hell now gets a spork to the larynx. I'll get to it, all RIGHT?

Yay, I'm going to finish all my target documents for the week. Whew!

I'm reading a fascinating book right now. It's called Standing
Next to History by Joe Petro. Petro had a 23 year career in
the Secret Service during which he guarded Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald
Ford, Pope John Paul II, Dan Quayle and for four years, President
Reagan.

Petro is appealingly forthright, not holding back but exercising
discretion (he won't discuss what's inside the football, for example)
and relating interesting and often humorous stories about the people
he protected. He has a great deal of affection for both the Reagans,
who he describes as kind and generous, and none at all for Nixon, who
he said was an arrogant blowhard. Even so, he is diplomatic about
everyone.

The insight into the workings of the Service is fascinating, too,
although Petro is circumspect about certain details of their
procedures.

I was laughing out loud at one particular story. Before a
presidential visit to Moscow, he was on the far advance team, the
first of three that visits somewhere before the President does, and he
and the other people with him were staying in a Moscow hotel. One
night they decided to comb their rooms to find the listening devices
they knew the KGB had put there. they went over every inch and didn't
find anything, then one of them pulled up an area rug and found a
strange brass plate with a screw. A-ha! They unscrewed the
plate...at which point the chandelier in the room below crashed to the
floor.

Whoops.

The KGB bug thing isn't smoke, either. On a different visit when he
was protecting Nelson Rockefeller's wife, he checked into his room,
then left. When he returned, the phone was different...and there was
still plaster dust on the floor beneath the jack where they'd put the
bug in.

Anyway. It's interesting.

Originally published at superherofan.net - objectifying men in pop culture. You can comment here or there.

I downloaded the 2008 Making of the “Dieux du Stade” calendar, and while I was checking out my favorite player Clément Poitrenaud’s scene, I ended up making my very own picspam of him. So, now it’s here for y’all. I might turn this into a whole series, if people are interested (or if the actor’s strike happens).

WARNING: Some caps aren’t worksafe!

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Yesterday, Maeve tried to sing the intro here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlFqhHJczDs with good ol' Patti. Ahhh ahhh ahhhhhh!

Nothing like taking on a challenge -- at's my girl.

She's been attempting to get through the ABCs in the vid, but of course, it doesn't make a helluva lot of sense to her. She calls the video, "Ceebees," which I think is pretty good considering. However, when all the muppets go nuts and start dancing and singing and finding the good ol' spirit of ABCs, she pretty much loses it dancing and clapping with them.

She's now picking out parts in other songs while we're in the car (more than just lala parts) and repeating them, and asking the song to be played again (oh, yes and again, you know the drill, other parents/kid lovers reading this) so she can sing a bit more to places she recognizes. Tonight the three of us sang a bit together, and she really dug it. Of course, we just *hated* it. Heh.

We're particularly enjoying Ellis Paul's new CD "Dragonfly Races." Highly recommend, if you like folk, and whether you have kids or not. Thank you, Mona! We are very happy to have it on heavy rotation.

Still struggling with the sleep issue, as in, Ms. Thing doesn't want to let go of the day. However, if we put her in the car, generally, she's out within 1-3 songs. I'm really struggling with this, because well, 1. COST of GAS. 2. Environmental gah! 3. Don't want her to have to be in the car to go to sleep.

That said, we struggle for like, 2 hours every night, with every trick in the book, to get her down if we don't pop her in the car. Seriously sucky exhaustion for all involved. We used to pop her in the stroller, go for a nice 45-min walk and it worked like a charm, then a few months ago, she was through with that, and would cry inconsolably, unless I picked her up and nursed her while we finished the walk. She just can't let go. Well, my back really can't handle hauling a 20+ lb toddler while strolling and nursing. I've tried, and short-term it's ok, but for our good long walks, it's untenable.

I know it's a stage. I don't need advice, just need to put it down, I guess. Even the driving her will change, because it has before. And I'd say about 80% of naps during the day she'll go down w/o a drive.

So, for now, at 8 p.m., it will be one of us, her current CD fave, a blankie and a car ride. Fingers crossed this is a short stage, and we can get back to being how we'd like to be -- conserving folk. I suspect that once all her teeth are in, we'll see a change. (Hope springs eternal.)

N leaves for a 5-day camping trip tomorrow, back next Tues, prolly late. Going with my two cousins and a family pal of one. Is hard on this end because no cell contact -- more so for Maeveling having contact with daddy. :( We'll mark on the calendar the days he'll be gone, then we'll x them each day. It really helped with his recent trip to the UK for bizness, but also she got to talk to him on the phone. I know, not the end of the world, just part of life, but firsts for us. Makes me feel protective.

What else? Went to Carpinteria on the Amtrak on Monday with my pal Rochida and her little one, Channing, who's 3 mos younger than Maeve. Was a really lovely few hours, and very cool to do the first train ride thing. Love Carp, and looking forward to doing more time there.

Went to the Gull Wings Museum in Oxnard on Tues. Was great fun and exploration for M, a bit depressing for me. Not as in getting depressed, but as in seeing the need for money and upkeep/upgrades in the *only* kids museum for miles and miles and MILES around. Seriously, can't our community step up just a wee bit? I could go on and on, but you guys don't live here, and yannow, will I do anything about it? Maybe. Putting it on the list. I was thinking, if P&G just donated like, 20k a year to the place, it would be a HUGE diff. Even 10K. And some volunteer hours. Put some time and money where their community lies. Anyhow...blah blah.

My parents arrive on Sunday, staying to Weds...helping out with the kidlet and the house. Is good.

Ah...tree-cutting saga to be detailed at another time. Must help the partner cut down his packing pile.

loves onya all...

Originally published at superherofan.net - objectifying men in pop culture. You can comment here or there.

Around the Net, it’s shirtless Chace Crawford day, which is a nice thing. Although I’m not a “Gossip” fan, I do appreciate a nice pretty boy, and Chace is probably the prettiest of them all.

Credit to JustJared

Credit to On No They Didn’t!

And just cuz I had it from my Netflix queue, some caps from “Covenant”:

( Read the rest of this entry » )

In case anyone's interested, here is the first preview I wrote for that Best Freelance Job Ever website.

Death Race

*sigh* Here I go, recreating the long, involved art-related post I wrote yesterday that got eaten.

My current spate of art-collecting was prompted by the bare-ass walls of my bedroom. That wasn't a surprise. What WAS a surprise to me was how strongly I'm suddenly gravitating towards folk art and primitives. I've been thinking about why that is. I've always liked the folk-art aesthetic but I've never really collected it before now. I suppose a big part of it is that it's readily and inexpensively available, and it enables me to have original, one-of-a-kind artwork on my walls without paying an arm and a leg for it.

I've got a bit of a collection going by an artist named Tamara Ryan. Here's one that I already have.



Her paintings run strongly on this theme. All of them feature trees in the foreground, with her stylized round leaves. Some are winter scenes, some aren't. Many of them have these cute owls in the trees. There was one that had sheep on a hillside that I really wanted but missed the end of the auction for. The paintings aren't large, and I think the most expensive one I bought was $20.

Now, when I first started looking at folk art paintings, I asked myself what's the difference between primitive art and just bad art. Well, I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that there's definitely a difference. I was in an antique/junk shop last week and I saw a ton of homemade, amateur art...all of it just bad. Not folk art. Not primitive. Just bad. Tamara's paintings aren't like that. They have a childlike quality, but they aren't childish. They have a style to them, an intent. Maybe that's the difference, I don't know. But I know that it's an immediately apparent difference when you look at the paintings whether they're primitive, or just bad.

It doesn't help that the terminology has gotten muddled. Historically, "folk art" was artistry in objects that weren't intended to be pieces of art, like handmade weathervanes or the carvings on a handmade door. That definition has expanded to include what used to just be called "primitive," in other words art by people without art training. Then there's "outsider art" which originally meant art done by people in insane asylums (no, really) and has kind of expanded into the folk art/primitives arena as well, although outsider art tends to be edgier and done by people really on the fringes, like homeless people.

Okay, so related topic.

Remember those tacky-awesome vintage needlepoints I got at the Sunbury Crafts & Antiques Fair? I find myself wanting to acquire MORE tacky needlepoint.

It's no secret that I enjoy things that have a certain kitsch factor. In my primary living spaces, like the living room, front hall, bedroom, etc, I like to display tasteful, attractive art. But I think it would be really super fun to have a large collection of kitschy vintage needlepoints hung salon-style in a secondary space, like a stairwell. I was surprised by how much I liked how the needlepoints looked up on the wall, especially when they were grouped. Grouping them kind of removes the implication that I think they're good. If I hung them alone, that'd put over the message that I'm being serious hanging this tacky fruit-basket needlepoint. But hanging them together makes it about the genre, not the individual pieces, and lets me hang them...ironically? Does that make sense?

Anyway. It's really easy to find these old needlepoints, but not quite as easy to find the RIGHT ones. IT's a delicate process. There's a balance to be struck with their taste level. See, they can't be too nice and tasteful, but neither can they be too hideous and awful. It's a narrow band of taste between legitimately nice and vomitous where you find the awesome-tacky-kitschy. I don't want any with people in them. No Precious Moments, please. Nothing country, no samplers or teddy bears. I'm finding myself mostly choosing landscapes, farm scenes, that kind of thing.

OF the ones I'm watching at the moment, I think this one's probably my favorite:



Mmmmmm, tacky. Wool embroidery. Want.

Y'all probably think I'm nuts. That's okay.

The art I've gotten for the bedroom is arriving now. Soon I'll be able to hang it. I've had some (I hope) great ideas for creative ways to hang and display that I will attempt to implement this weekend. Pics to come if they work out.

I found out why Wall Drug is in the town of Wall. And why the town is called Wall. The Badlands turn out to be a wall between the high prairie and the low prairie, and, in the words of Jet, "I climbed all the way up and all the way down again."

And we did.

( Cut for length and more pictures. )

Poll #1225163 Live Journal : the state of things.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: Friends

If Boo left live journal , I would

If Boo got a different blog, I would

What do you think Boo should do about her live journal/blogging malaise ?

Account Structure Update
Back by popular demand, Basic Accounts will be available to all users again by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer. More information on the decision-making process and proposals relating to the future of Basic Accounts are in lj_2008.

New Themes
Two attractive and all-new Flexible Squares themes, "Circular" and "Circular Brown" are now available.


L to R: Circular and Brown

New V-Gifts
Give someone you care about the gift of enticement. With the new Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi v-gifts, all the significant people in your life will be able to share in the longing for the tasty edibles below. Plus, it reminds loved ones you think they're really sweet, really savory or just plain satisfying.


L to R: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi

Ж-Men...but not the ones you might expect!
This week LJ Russia launched Ж-Men, a new comedy series about superheroes, inspired by the LJ communities dedicated to superheros, comics and cartoons. The title's "Ж" comes from ЖЖ, the nickname for LiveJournal in Russia.

Ж-Men's script is written by a group of LJ enthusiasts who also happen to be television professionals. Who knew? Following the premiere, five more episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks. We hope you find the series fresh and enjoyable.

This is, of course, an experiment for LiveJournal. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!

I cannot get enough of this Rodrigo y Gabriela album. For those of you unfamiliar (as I was, I'd heard of them but had no idea what kind of music it was) it's this really intense, kick-ass Spanish guitar. Instrumental, but kind of hardcore. Awesome.

I also can't stop listening to the Adele album. I listened to "Best for Last" five times in a row today, then "Tired" five times in a row. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I also liked the OneRepublic album, but I thought I probably would, and Bitter:Sweet is awesome. I also really liked that Howl album.

On the downside, I didn't care for Sara Bareilles, Coheed & Cambria or Cold War Kids. My winnowing method is simple...I listen to an album in its intended order, and if by the fifth song none of them have made an impression, I'm done.

But I still greatly appreciate the recs from whoever suggested those albums. Exposure is a good thing!

Man, oh man. Earlier today I wrote this long, involved post about my recent art acquisitions, and my ideas for kitschy needlepoint displays. It had photos and everything. Gmail had a hiccup and ate it. Damn. I'll try and retrieve it tomorrow, or rewrite it.

Today was significantly calmer than yesterday, that's for sure! My new car is performing wonderfully. I am hypermiling like a bandit to try and offset its gas-guzzling tendencies. My only irritation is that the cigarette lighter doesn't work. Jason, the mechanic who sold it to me, said I could bring it by his shop and he'd fix it, it's likely a blown fuse. And no, I don't smoke...my TransPod plugs into the lighter. No lighter, no iPod in the car. But randomly, the car does have a 5-CD changer, which I had no idea it had when I bought it.

After work I swung by the garden store again and picked up a few more inexpensive pots, some potting soil and a bag of mulch. I'm searching for a hose adapter that'll let me hook it up to the kitchen faucet, since I don't have an exterior spigot. I know they exist (I've found them online) but Strader's didn't have one. I'll call around. I want it for watering but also so I can spray the patio clean. Sweeping just doesn't get it done.

It's been very hot the last few days. The worker who loaded the bag of mulch into my car was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a hooded sweatshirt. How was he not DEAD? Yikes.

I got home to find Eric in Full-On Grill Mania mode. He bought like a zillion pounds of burger and sausage and was making all different varieties of burger patties. I potted up the rest of my flats leftover after the planting bed was done and was dripping with sweat after twenty minutes. My Gerbera daisies were looking a bit wilty, but they perked up after a bunch of water. I guess it's super important to water a lot in this heat. I spread some mulch on top of the topsoil in the planting bed; hopefully that'll help. But the flowers are doing all right. They're not dead, anyway.

So we munched on burgers and grilled potatoes and watched the premiere of Teh Runway. YAY, Runway!

So, in an openly flagrant mommy-post, I have to note that Maeve peed in the toilet for the very first time today. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! She, and I were very proud. It was happenstantial (sp?)-- we were dressing after swimming lessons, and she was nekkid and started to go on the floor, looked a bit worried, stopped...I asked, "let's go on the potty?" and put her on it. She peed a whole bunch then. Much yaying ensued.

She's almost 21 months and has been interested in the toilet for awhile, and telling us for about 3 months or so when her diaper is poopy and that she wants to be changed. "Change? FRESH!" She loves to stand in front of the toilet and pretend she's peeing like N -- makes the pshhhhh sounds and all. Some days when I've got to go she asks me, "Penis?" and when I say "no..." she laughs and says, "GYNA." So, she's got the parts and what to do down, now for the ability to control it etc. And more than a passing interest. I offer daily to sit her on it, and when she says yes, we "try" -- she takes a deep breath and says, "relax," and then does.

Love that. So cute.

What else? Oh, so much else, of course, because I just haven't been posting. In case you hadn't noticed... :)

So we had two goals for today, the geographical center of the United States and the Devil's Tower as they were both approximately in the same area and direction away from our hotel.

( Cut for pictures and length. )

Originally published at superherofan.net - objectifying men in pop culture. You can comment here or there.

Well, I’m in into “incredibly hot but stupendously dysfunctional” when it comes to my shipping lately, so here are some more caps of Beecher/Keller from the third season of “Oz”. Not as, uh, “meaty” for Chris Meloni fans this season; but when I get to the fourth season later, it’ll sure make up for it. I love the third season premiere when Beecher rightfully is a total ass to Keller (breaking all his extremeties can do that to a person), and he’s like “How can I make it up to you?” and Beecher is like “How about I fuck you in the ass?” Ah, sweet, sweet prison love.

I’ve also been marathoning John Paul and Craig (I still haven’t gotten into John Paul/Keiron yet); man, I can’t wait for Guy to come back in September. I wish the show had aired on BBC America like it was supposed to; I would kill to have had made caps from those eps of James Sutton and Guy Burnet. All I have is freaking YouTube as source material.

Anyway, for more pictures of the “Oz” boys, visit my Chris Meloni gallery and my Lee Tergesen gallery.

WARNING: One cap isn’t worksafe.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

"Nothing lives long, only the earth and the mountains." -- White Antelope

Which makes all this carving of images into mountains something haunting, or, perhaps, mildly more understandable. The Lakota elders were the ones that asked for the carving to be done.

The other was the fact that in Deadwood, which was created for gold mining, the Chinese that came were not allowed to have any mining claims, so could not get in on the principle reason for the rush. They could "only" to peripheral things, and made a good living at importing expensive goods for the rich there along with the other usual stuff. Deadwood had a really large Chinatown. That bemused me.

SCARY THINK SOME PEOPLE GET *UP* THIS HOUR GO TO WORK!

AGAIN MEK NOT ABLE SLEEP, DECIDE GET WORK DONE AND IMMEDIATELY BREAK MENTAL BLOCK FROM PREVIOUS TWO DAY.

BRAINS ARE WEIRD.

=M=

Originally published at superherofan.net - objectifying men in pop culture. You can comment here or there.

Remember “Starship Troopers”? Well besides being an entertaining summer popcorn action flick a few years ago (and a pretty decent fascism satire), it had a FANTASTIC shower scene with hottie Casper Van Dien parading around naked with the rest of the troops. Well, he’s back in film #3, and guess what… we’ve got another great scene of him getting naked with his fellow soldiers, this time for a bioscan. It’s so completely gratuitous; I absolutely love it! I did some croppage of some of the ladies (sorry, bisexuals) to focus on Casper, who has some of the best cinnabuns in the business.

For more pictures of him, visit my Casper Van Dien gallery.

WARNING: Some caps aren’t worksafe.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mountains day, today, and it was worth the doing.

And the walks were really fun, too.

( Cut for length. )

Whoa. What a day.

Up at 6:30, at work before 7:30. Work, work, work, stress about car, make eight million phone calls, rush around like a fiend, get car, get home at 7:00.

8:00 go to bed, totally spent.

10:00, Brian calls. We're having coffee, come with. I sez no, sleepies.

But then...*blinkblink* Wide awake. Call Brian back. Still on for coffee?

Meet Brian and Indie Dayna. Brian just bought a house! It's very exciting. Take road trip to show off new car and go look at Brian's new house.

Home now. Bed soon.

I'm a tad worried about my new plants. The ones in the planting bed don't seem any worse off than they were in their flats, but neither do they seem any better. The ones in the pots seem a bit worse for wear. I think I may have planted too many plants per pot. I'll get more pots and space them out. Eric recommended mulch for the planting bed.

Originally published at superherofan.net - objectifying men in pop culture. You can comment here or there.

I’ve gotten a few requests to cap Jeffrey Donovan from “Burn Notice”, so now that the DVD is out, I’m going to fulfill it. Damn. Dude is f—ing hot.

From what I saw, it looks like a pretty good series; I need to sit down and marathon it fully this weekend. I’m excited that “Battlestar Galactica’s” Tricia Helfer is going to be in the cast; she is AMAZING. Plus, it was nice to see one of my favorite divas, Lucy Lawless, guest starring in season one.

The next season of “Burn Notice” starts Thursday at 10:00 PM on USA.

( Read the rest of this entry » )