George Carlin is gone. I am so stunned. I never would have predicted he would die at such an early age. It may sound weird, but I don't think of thin people being susceptible to an early death. Yeah, I know he did drugs and had heart problems, but my Dad is still kicking so I'm surprised George isn't.

George Carlin is my favorite comedien. He has been all my life. My Dad and I used to watch him on HBO in the late 1970s. We bonded over George. My Dad LOVES to laugh and he's a got a loud boisterous laugh, which I inherited.

George is going to be sorely missed.

...this Sunday, the 21st, at the NFC championship game, which starts at 3 pm! Whoo hoo!

Go Chris!

Just think - a year no one knew who the heck he was. *G*

Thank you, google alerts.

I'm doing the annual heartwalk for the second year in a row. The whole company participates, which is a very cool thing. It takes place on November 4th in DC.

Here's my donation page. I'm a little behind the eight-ball this year. So if any of you are able to donate anything, I would be extremely grateful!

ETA: Thanks to drkcherry for the first donation!

I just realized that I had neglected to thank my (other) anonymous pal for the LJ gift certificate that was sent back in December! A thousand apologies for my rudeness. Apparently, if my head was not attached, I would leave it at home.

Thanks so much!

to my anonymous valentine for the virtual chocolates!

They were delicious!

*G*

Did anyone else mutter "gag me" to themselves a dozen times or so while watching this episode?

( This has to be the sappiest Smallville ever but still I enjoyed it. )

Borrowed from latxcvi and nifra_idril, the five fictional characters you most want to punch in the face.

Greg Stillson from the Dead Zone - He's evil and he's smug about it. And not in a good way, like, say, Vern Schillinger.

Omar from Oz - who has to be the single most annoying character ever to grace t.v. land. And another punch for McManus for "not giving up on him." Puke.

Det. Beau Felton from Homicide - He's got this skeevy air about him and he's just ugh. Makes me shudder when he's on the air.

Amy Gray from Judging Amy - She's so damn judgmental and self righteous. Shut. Up. Please.

Carol Brady from The Brady Bunch - she was too damn saccharine perfect for me.

Oh wow. It's beta appreciation day and I didn't even know it. It's been so long since I've written a fanfic story, you all probably forget I even used betas, right? ;) heh.

Let's see, where to start? That's easy. maverick4oz! She was my first-ever Oz beta and she has always been there for me when I needed her. She's smart and she's blunt and she's good. Not only that, but she seems to be able to read my mind and gets me back on track when I forget where I'm going. *G* She's also done a dS story of mine. rustler has also betaed one of my Oz stories (a surprise for Mav) and she did a fabulous job as well. Also, thanks to darthrami for input on several stories in many fandoms.

In Smallville, my main ladies are justblue0162, alyt and jfc013, all of whom come through for me when I need them. callmerizzo also betaed a longish SV story for me in a crunch, for which I am extremely grateful. Also thanks to lexalot, blissfulvanilla, juno51, oxoniensis, rosesmove, reetchick (where has she disappeared to, anyway?), and sparklebutch, who each helped out on a story or two.

data785 volunteered for the rather enormous task of beta reading my very long Sentinel story, Edge of Something Deep, all in one shot! I still don't know how she slogged through it, but the story is better because of her input. I am also grateful to belidibabe and ekaterinn for their betas of my TS and dS stories.

Many thanks to you all.

I apologize if I forgot anyone.

This one is for the American Heart Association on Oct. 29th. My company is one of the sponsors and our president has offered us four hours of paid time off if we participate. Bonus. *G*

I'm walking this one in honor of my Dad, who has been fighting hereditary heart disease for 22 years and he's still kicking. Every male member of his family has died before the age of 68. Most of them died in their 50s. My Dad is 67 years old and is the only one to have bypass surgery - twice.

If want to sponsor me, go here. I thank you in advance.

Oh my GOD! How did we not know this?

I was reading my t.v. guide and got to the description for L&O tonight (which I usually never never EVER read) and then I saw Lee's name and I did a double take, thinking I was reading about some repeat of CI or something, but NO. Lee is on L&O tonight!! And the only reason we don't know this is because Diane is on vacation and has no computer access!

Gah!

10 pm EDT, NBC

I'm heading off to New York City tomorrow for the Komen Race/Lee's Peeps weekend as I like to think of it. I'm so very excited to see everyone. doctorevel is going to be there and I'm going to get to meet evelina69 after spending so many hours on the phone with her. And I get to see solamentenic and fanfromfla again. First time since last November. And hopefully, callmerizzo will make an appearance. And Jay and Tesa and a bunch of other folks I don't even know.

Unfortunately, inthekeyofd was hoping to come but is unable to make it. It's the third time she's missed a Peeps gathering. I swear that chicka has some funky karma hanging around. ;) And Lee is still in L.A., so he won't be there either. Nevertheless, we will still all have a lot of fun, I just know it.

Team Tergesen had done a great job on fundraising and I've had to keep upping the goal, which is cool. And we still haven't counted the folks who've been fundraising at home and plan to donate when they arrive. Thanks to everyone who has so generously donated their hard earned cash.

If you still haven't made a donation and you want to, go here.

If I'm lucky, I may get tickets to see Lennon, which co-stars Terrence Mann, my favorite Broadway singer.

Yay for weekends with friends!

inthekeyofd just called me to let me know that CKR is on t.v. right now in Supernatural on the WB. Not sure if it repeats.

You may recall that a few months back I bought season tickets to the Shakespeare Theatre. Weeeeeellll, today I saw the first one. Othello! Oh my God, it was soooooooooooo good.

I was so excited to see Avery Brooks play that part (and he was good), but the actor who really blew me away was Patrick Page , who played Iago. He made Shakespeare's words just roll of his tongue in the most natural way. It was just amazing. He was funny and sexy and amazing talented. You *know* how I get when I see an actor I admire. I cannot say enough good things about this guy.

I've read Othello many times and I've seen several movie versions but this guy gave line readings that made me think, "I don't even remember Iago saying that." He just has this whole new way of playing this character. I was blown away.

This is what Washingtonian magazine wrote about him: "As Othello’s nemesis, Iago, Patrick Page is brilliant. He is sinister but intriguing in the way he turns Othello and Desdemona’s idyllic romance into a nightmare. He does this not with bravado or bold speeches but by insinuation, lies, and manipulation in a voice that sometimes growls. “I am not what I am,” he says. Evidently. As players, Brooks and Page are well matched, making this the most well-balanced production this reviewer has seen."

And the GW Hatchet, which was not crazy about most of the other performances, wrote: "An exception to the forced acting is Patrick Page's performance as Iago. Each line of Page's is immediately understood by the audience; he makes it seem as if speaking in iambic pentameter has not gone out of style." Yes, yes, yes!

He also gave his portrayal a slashy slant. You know that scene where Iago is talking to Roderigo and telling him that Desdamona is basically a whore who's looking for the next hot thing? Well, the whole time he's telling Roderigo how Desdamona will eventually tire of Othello and Roderigo can have his turn with her, he's rubbing Roderigo's belly and whispering in his ear in a suggestive voice. Then, in other scenes, he was slapping the other guys on their asses or leering at them. And a few times, the actor who played Cassio (a gorgeous little blue-eyed, blond-haired fellow named Gregory Wooddell) turned around and gave Iago a confused look. It was quite hilarious.

The audience gave them a standing ovation, which was well deserved.

So, I finally got to see Othello performed on stage and it was a wonderful experience!

Plenty
by Sarah McLachlan

I looked into your eyes
they told me plenty
I already knew
you never felt a thing
so soon forgotten all that you do
in more than words I
tried to tell you
the more I tried I failed

I would not let myself believe
that you might stray
and I would stand by you
no matter what they'd say, I would have thought I'd be with you
until my dying day
until my dying day

I used to think my life
was often empty
a lonely space to fill
you hurt me more than
I ever would have imagined
you made my world stand still
and in that stillness
there was a freedom
I never felt before

I would not let myself believe
that you might stray
and I would stand by you
no matter what they'd say, I would have thought I'd be with you
until my dying day
until my dying day

Well since mkitty3 insists:

For 5 of your fandoms, name:
1. The first character you first fell in love with:
2. The character you never expected to love as much as you do now:
3. The character everyone else loves that you don't:
4. The character you love that everyone else hates:
5. The character you used to love but don't any longer:
6. The character 'ship everyone else loves that you don't:
7. The character 'ship you love that everyone else hates:

( I only really have four but I put Firefly in just for fun )

Don't forget to watch tonight!! 10 pm EDT, TNT.

Tonight is a very Lee-centric episode. He'll be riding a motorcycle and playing a bad boy. If you only watch one ep this season, WATCH THIS ONE!!

Set your VCRs, DVRs, TIVOs etc. Set your timers. Send yourself an email reminder but DON'T FORGET!!

/ LT promotion

I do not, as a general rule, partake of country music. Thus, I sat through the entire movie Friday Night Lights without realizing that the abusive dad was played by Tim McGraw. Still, I couldn't help notice that the man was damned attractive, even though his character was a total prick.

Once I realized who he was (while watching the credits), I naturally got curious about his music and went over to Amazon.com to see if I had heard of any of his songs. Alas, none of the titles rang any bells with me, but I did listen to a few excerpts from his greatest hits album. I have to say, I think he's a better actor than a singer.

And Oh my god. Is he pretty. Guh.

doctorevel, don't bother because he's not skinny or pale or hairless. heh

Last night, I watched Ray for the sole purpose of seeing Richard Schiff, my other favorite "Toby." And then when I went to sleep, I dreamt about him. It has been many months since my last RS dream.

In the dream, he was in a play that I went to see and while he was on stage he had no beard (the same way he looked in the movie) but when I greeted him after the show, his beard was back.

I greeted him and said, "You probably don't remember me, but I met you a couple of times while West Wing was filming in D.C." And he gave me the most adorable grin and said, "Oh, I remember you." And then proceeded to note personal things about me that he could only know if he remembered our last meeting. He also made a very nice comment about my father and gave me a very nice hug.

It made me feel all warm and happy when I woke up. *G*

Let's get some discussion going on last night's Wanted ep at the LT boards. I can't do it without you. *G*

Don't forget to watch WANTED tonight at 10 pm EDT on TNT!!!

Dori has created a new forum for Wanted on the LT boards!!!!!

GO FORTH AND SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

About six months ago, I called the phone company to have the bill changed from P's name to mine. No problem. All taken care of. Except that whenever I call anyone, his name still shows up on caller ID. So I called the phone company today and asked them to change that. Sure, no problem, they said. We just have to charge you a $5 fee. Why? My name's been on the bill for six months. Shouldn't they automatically change the name on caller ID? Grr.

Around the same time I changed the name on the phone bill, I called the gas company to do the same. They wanted $25 to "start a new account." It's not a new account, I argued. It's the same freaking account at the same freaking address with a different name. I've been living here for almost four years. No one moved. Sorry, they said, it's their policy. Never mind, I told them. Leave it as is. I'm not paying $25 to have my name on the account. I didn't even bother calling the electric company, figuring I'd get a similar story.

What is with these companies? Do they purposely want to alienate their customers with these ridiculous fees? Don't they realize that some people just don't have an extra $25 for something as inane as a name change?

So, my bills get forwarded to P's address and he has to bring them back to me. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.