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This is Radar. He's a dog. He's five. He was a stray that the rescue found and he'd been there since October, and as of two days ago he's home with us, chewing things, being awesome, scaring the cats, and sleeping curled up on the couch. He is the sweetest lickingest doggie-dog you ever did see, and once he learns things like "sit" and "stay" he'll be unstoppable!

Rottweiler mixed with Chow and possibly some beagle...like a Row or a Chiler or possibly the Regal Beagle?

Anyway, enjoy this irresistible punim:

( radar, just doing his thing )

"I don't know a lot about rich people. I do know that for some reason they carry mustard around in their cars."

"If I'm rich, does this mean I have to start carrying mustard around in my car? Do we know what they use it for?"

"I'm not sure. They trade it sometimes, I think. Through their car windows."

"For goods and services?"

"It would stand to reason."

I've been meaning to tell LJ about some various programs I've been using that are exciting me, particularly now that I've embarked on this whole thirtysomething archiving endeavor. Things I like, and perhaps you will like them too!

• GOM Player, which so far has pleased me even more than VLC, to the point where I had a couple files VLC wouldn't play that GOM handled effortlessly. When I first got Vista VLC didn't totally support it, so I had to search for another app, and GOM player plays everything, and comes with its own codecs. It's nice and light, and free, and I definitely recommend it, especially if you've had problems with VLC/Vista compatibility, or if you've got files even VLC won't play.
  
• AnyDVD and CloneDVD, which cost money (somewhere in the $40 range) but have proved totally worth it, especially because AnyDVD makes my DVD drive region-free, which is a feature I've enjoyed enormously. It also can strip ads and trailers, unlock copy-protection, and has a bunch of other useful customizations for dubbing DVDs. It can also burn a DVD with menus, etc, from .ISO files.
  
• Aimersoft DVD Ripper might be the best purchase yet. It cost $35, and is the most user-friendly DVD ripping software I've ever used. For example. I put in a thirtysomething DVD, and the software presents me with all four episodes, separated out, with drop down boxes for me to choose the converted file type (with sizes! .avi, 500mb, .mp4, 320mb) and rename the selected file. So I get four .avis individually renamed and saved to my harddrive, in, like, an hour and a half. Additionally, you can crop and color correct, etc, within the program, so, for example, one of these thirtysomething DVDs had three episodes in a single chapter, so they came up as only one episode in the DVD ripper interface. Using the tools, I was able to clip the chapter into three parts, individually rename them, and save them as three separate files. And I was able to adjust the contrast and resolution before ripping the file. Amazing stuff, I tell you!
  
• Megaupload and associated products, including the Megamanager download manager (I get speeds of, like, 400kb/s and can bring down hourlong episodes in about seven minutes sometimes) and the upload toolbar (though at the moment I can't figure out how to configure it to upload faster -- although I've used it before and had great success). A two month premium membership is like fourteen bucks, and considering how frequently I use it and how many files I download in a day, a month, whatever, it's absolutely been worth the money. Plus, now I've got a place to permanently store and access 30 gig of thirtysomething for posterity!
  
• Graboid -- amazing. Several months ago I downloaded the Veoh TV interface, and thought I was sitting pretty with selected CBS and NBC episodes and a ton of streaming horror movies. Then I got Graboid, which both streams and provides episodes for download, and seriously after three minutes of buffering I was watching 30 Rock fullscreen, in perfect resolution. Beats the hell out of the grainy 5-part TV episodes you find on youtube or alluc.org. And free free free! Well, 4000mb bandwidth limit free. I don't know if that's a day, a week, or what -- I've only just started using Graboid and haven't hit my limit yet.
  

Anything awesome you want to recommend to me?

Now, god willing and the creek don't rise, to sleep, to the dulcet quips of Tina Fey. And dudes, where's my 30 Rock icon??

For those who have never seen "thirtysomething," are curious about "thirtysomething," or simply like polls, a poll:

( this show that was on in the late 80s and never came out on DVD )

Okay, dammit. thirtysomefic. Live it learn it love it. Pimp it or I will probably kill you. Join it or I will make people write you weird e-mails. Write thirtysomething fic or I will have you boiled alive in a huge pot of water!

Okay, I take all that back. But seriously. SERIOUSLY. Even if you don't want to write thirtysomething fic, still join! Even if you don't join, pimp! Even if you don't know a thing about the show thirtysomething (ABC, 1987-1990), your friends MIGHT! So send them over! thirtysomefic!

There's even an inaugural fic challenge. You could write me drabbles. You could love me. You could help!

Look, dude, I started a community and will hopefully proceed to start a fandom and fic blitz! It worked for scrubsfic -- when I started that comm there were three Scrubs fics to the internet's name, and hardly ANY porn. And now, just look! There's like a million members and it's like it was always there, just born fully formed as a fandom. And we can do it AGAIN!

So, again. Thirtysomething. It was, like, this TV show. By the guys who later went on to make things like the movie Glory and the shows My So-Called Life and Once and Again. It won tons of awards and was pretty much sheer genius for the four years it was on, capturing the rise of yuppiedom in the face of AIDS, liberal politics, family, kids, queers, romance, advertising, art, marketing, photography, extramarital affairs, a house under constant renovation, cancer, death, anxiety, and therapy. It starred people who are A-listers in film and television today, and its entire cast has pretty much gone on to join tv show staffs as award winning directors and guest stars. There is nothing about thirtysomethign that is NOT AWESOME, except its lack of fannish presence.

So, thirtysomefic? No, for REALS, I will pay you MONEY.

I'm going to pimp the hell out of this thing all weekend. Please, you also do said?

RIP, Bobby Fischer, you strange, obnoxious, brilliant, neurotic, self hating Jew expat chess champ, you.

I have seen approximately one zillion movies over the last two weeks but since I've flipped the DVDs over and over at Amoeba since then, without keeping a list, I've forgotten most or all. So I'll just single out the ones that were good enough to remember, namely:

Feast, the 3rd season Project Greenlight winner and a perfect example of the horror/comedy. Think Sean of the Dead or even Grindhouse. Group of folks trapped in a bar while the zombie apocalypse (or whatever) tries to get in. Bar the doors, load the rifles, protect yer mama, etc etc etc. Featuring Navi Arwat (Numb3rs, Thoughtcrimes) in an ass-kicking horror hero role, and some other awesome people too.

Criminal, with Maggie Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly and Diego Luna. I sat down to watch this and immediately thought I'd seen it already. Which was not outside the realm of possibility, because I do tend to seek and consume any and all heist/caper movies within consuming distance, and I'm good at forgetting titles. But I am not good at forgetting Maggie Gyllenhaal's crazy flared nostrils, and I had definitely not seen those in a heist context before, so I settled in and figured I hadn't seen this, but that it just shared qualities with this Argentinian heist film Nine Queens that I'm quite fond of, only with currency instead of stamps. Of course it turned out later to be, in fact, the American remake of Nine Queens, so I get points for recognizing it to begin with -- but either way, it's still a delightful snappy heist film in its own right, and John C. Reilly really IS a doable leading man. Also Diego Luna is friggin gorgeous.

Bad Blood (Coisa Ruim), a Portuguese thriller on the Tartan imprint. Good old-fashioned "family moves back to their ancestral home only to find dark secrets lurking there" kind of story, erring on the psychological thriller side more than the horror side, and pretty disturbing and creepy. Think a Portuguese version of any of those blockbuster Jodie Foster-protecting-her-daughter kind of dramas, coupled with some M. Night Shymalayan small town creepy tradition ambiance.

The Weight of Water, Kathryn Bigelow-directed interpretation of the Anita Shreve novel. Starts out feeling like simply one of the better made-for-TV thrillers, but with an extra hot and talented cast lead by Sean Penn, Catherine McCormack and Sarah Polley, and filled out by Josh Lucas and Elisabeth Hurley. No, for serious. Both Catherine McCormack and Sarah Polley carry this film on their quite substantial shoulders; McCormack is a reporter gone back to a distant New England island to research the murder of two Norweigan immigrants over a century ago, and Sarah Polley is the lone survivor of that massacre, seen in flashback. There's a definite socio-political comment made near the end of the film that is less than awesome, but the rest is all moody, creepy, twisted and atmospheric. Also, there's SEAN PENN.

So, you? I'm looking for movies that fit in one of three o genres, either the heist/caper/con artist genre, or the "a group of friends go into the woods on a camping trip only to encounter such and such supernatural horror" horror genre. Anything that takes place in a distant cabin, down a dark road, at a country house or beach house, or on a college campus gets extra points. And then, the Tartan Asia Horror probably-will-be-remade-with-Sarah-Michelle-Gellar genre.

I've seen all the Mamet capers and probably lots of others, the Oceans Eleven and Italians Job and Thomas Crown Affairs, both original and remake -- but STILL, if there's an awesome caper out there that I haven't seen, I WANT it, so don't be afraid to rec me things I've probably already seen.

As for cheap horror, I'll take anything from The Descent/The Cave/The Hole/The Cabin type to House of Wax/Scream/Urban Legend type, just, anything, dude, bring it ON.

As for Asian horror, I like good old The Grudge/The Eye/The Ring type movies, anything Pang brothers, etc etc. Again, go ahead and rec it even if you think I've seen it. Also, any remakes of any Asian horror gratefully received.

And for those of you not interested in caper or horror flicks, please enjoy an NBC News Correspondant's defense of the new Britney Album.

A toast!! To More Joy day, brought to us by the combined inspiration, heart, and soul of mostlikely2 and sdwolfpup, and I'm already feeling all ooky inside.

Here's John Prine, "That's The Way The World Goes Round." I wanted to put up Patty Larkin's "Might As Well Dance" (my go-to More Joy song), but I apparently don't have it on this computer. If you do, toss it in the comments, yeah?

Friends, slashers, acafans, writers, readers, artists, WGA supporters, Democrats, Republicans, people who live here on the internet with me, I love you, really, THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS MUCH. More, probably!

Extra hugs to txvoodoo, who is amazing and generous and kind, and to thassalia who might be the best friend anyone could ever have, and to samdonne and projectjulie for sharing my house and my cats, and to runpunkrun for sharing my crazy brains and midnight history, and to nerdcakes and twentyfivepast, my teeny set of Mini-Mes, and to everyone else who did heavy lifting for fannish infrastructure, the mods of the Remix and Yuletide, the board of the OTW, the fannish lawyers and journalists and panelists and lecturers, to somedaybitch, the ultimate mobilizer, and wga_supporters, and and and.

And to lurkers and new people and people who don't show up on love memes or snap cups, people who don't usually get virtual gifts or paid time, people who have never had an LJ community set up to celebrate their birthday or the death of their laptop, people who leave feedback that doesn't get responded to -- YOU, our bread and butter, our unsung heroes, please be to having LOTS AND LOTS OF JOY. If you're in this category and you're reading this, speak up! I'll give you special bonus hugs.

I LOVES THE INTERNETS YAY.

In my Google Alerts: John Barrowman to snog a man on Torchwood.

On MSNBC: Unpopular girls gain more weight.

On Facebook's daily politics poll: Will Americans know everything there is to know about their candidate before they vote in '08? No.

In an e-mail from my sister: Jodie Foster comes out! (this one's not the same big fat DUH as the above, it's just it's own special kind of DUH and plus we all saw it happen three weeks ago.)

The real question is, which one of these things, if it WEREN'T true, would best indicate the coming apocalypse? I think it'd have to be a world where John Barrowman only invites girls back to his room to eat their only snogs girls, where the popular girls are all obese, where we know every hidden thought of every politician, and where Jodie Foster is, somehow, magically straight. I don't wanna live there, though. Somebody come take me home!!!

Oh also I saw Sweeney Todd and was astounded by its definite somethingness. Even while watching the movie I felt like I'd seen it four times before and was bored already, and that had nothing to do with being familiar with the original musical, and more to do with...something? Maybe it's time for Tim Burton to stop with the steampunk shabby chic, lay up on the dried-blood eyeliner and let Johnny Depp and HBC do something new? Then again, that kid had some great pipes and Alan Rickman was Alan Rickman indeed. And to reiterate what someone else on LJ also pointed out: surprise!Anthony Stewart Head! Always a bonus.

Iowa caucuses begin in an hour and a half. I've got agita. It's going to be one of those years.

ETA: So I'm going to distract myself quite possibly with a meat lover's skillet at IHOP after my shrink today. MEAT LOVER. Oh which reminds me I had a dream about some random gay guys having a highly publicized kiss. The crowd went wild and...someone good was elected president. Fuck, fuck, Iowa caucuses again.

Love,
MLE

Yuletide's a gold mine this year and I haven't read a lick of it save what were writ for me, namely, Zombies & Incest (An Average Day), which is a hilarious Green Wing romp starring Mac, Guy, Caroline, Sue White, Boyce, Alan, eye shadow, and yer mom, written by latropita. Tropie, it's a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for this nugget of awesome!

::

Me, I finally filled a lifelong fantasy and wrote thirtysomething fic. Have a look, if you miss those yuppies from Philly the way I did:

The Thousand Nights and One Night, ~4000 words, Michael, Gary, Melissa, PG.

::

I just woke up and I have promises to keep and miles to go and socks to put on and so forth. Do me a favor? Please rec me your favorite Yuletide fics that you think I'd like, in fandoms I like, like MASH and Slings & Arrows and various others, here in the comments? I tried to go back and scan LJ for the week I was gone, but I was so overwhelmed I went back to sleep for a day. Plus I can't weed through all that mythology and RPS and random vampire novel trilogies and historical fiction and whatnot. Why? Because I'm lazy and spastic, that's why.

Happy 2008, everyone! It's officially an Election Year; that's something. Also a leap year, also a favorite year, also a year of living dangerously. One month from today I turn 32 years old. Put that in yer pipe and smoke it, universe!