Zoinks!

Magnet #1323 - Scooby Gang

"Oh, Joy. Scooby-Doo won't marry you."

- My mother, upon hearing that I was watching yet another episode of Scooby-Doo mysteries.

What? I can admit it - long into my 30s and I still love a good Scooby marathon. Honestly, when I bought this at Comic-Con a few weeks ago, I couldn't believe this is my only Scooby-Doo magnet.

You would think that watching all those Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?s growing up (and now, to be honest) would desensitize me to anything hokey scary. But nothing could be further from reality.

When I was 12ish, I beat up a Disney World attendant. To let me out of the Haunted Mansion.

When I was in college, I screamed, "You can't do this to me, I'm an American citizen!" to the Jack the Ripper dayplayer who fake grabbed me and held a fake knife to my throat at the London Dungeon.

And just this past Halloween weekend, I was laughing hysterically with tears streaming down my cheeks, literally quaking in boots and wondering if I should yell out the safeword "safety" at the fake scary Haunted House downtown.

Yep. When it comes to scaring easily, I would pretty much roll with Scooby and Shaggy, thankyouverymuch.

Our gang

Magnet #455 - The Little Rascals

When I bought this magnet last week from the (other!) magnet vendor at Union Square, I was all excited to find this little gem of a magnet, and I couldn't wait to write it up. But now, it has a little more meaning...

There was a summer where my sisters and I got hooked on watching The Little Rascals. So freakin' cute and hysterically funny and I always wanted to be part of their gang. I dunno why they're not on today.

Did ya'll know that a lot of the little ones were too young to read, so the director would just explain what was going on in the scenes, and then direct them via megaphone and had them improvise a lot?

Oh! And that apparently, this is where okie-dokie came from. Hee. I say that a lot. Like, a lot, a lot.

Yes, I'm trying desperately to be cheerful on an otherwise crappy week. It seems like this year, we've all had to say good-bye to many of our friends and colleagues as the ravages of this recession wage on.

Not to get too maudlin, but I'm learning as we move through life, we meet and make circles of friends with whom we share our daily lives. We come to depend on them, they become part of you, and hopefully, you become part of them.

And as we move on - growing up, moving away, leaving our jobs, or even just staying right where we are - those circles expand and contract, get closer and get farther, and sometimes even implode.

These days, obviously, it's easier to stay in touch - through Facebook and LinkedIn and various other SNS outlets. And, hopefully, we'll be able to do that - I'm sure going to try. Odds are, we'll lose touch. Which totally sucks.

I'm definitely going to miss our little gang of happy faces - hell, I'll even miss their mean faces - while I'm sitting here in offices that are much quieter with cubes much emptier...mirroring the sad little corporate America we've become.

eta:
Right. I was trying not to be maudlin. Ooops.

Clear eyes, full hearts

Magnet #403 - Friday Night Lights

Ya'll know I've been waiting on this magnet for a while, since I love me some Coach Kyle. (Yes, imagine this entire magnetpost with a bit of a North Carolina twang.)

I decided today's the perfect day to use this one, since Variety announced that DirecTV and NBC are picking up Friday Night Lights for not one, but two (!) seasons!

Hell.

Yeah.

Well directed, well written, well acted, well produced - it's just the perfect little show that could. Quality television all around.

I'm not gonna lie - the pretty boys (yes, I just unabashedly linked to a bunch of Taylor Kitsch picspam from a friend of mine's LJ site, so any guys reading this, don't click this link) running around a football field don't hurt, either. I mean, who doesn't want to come home to a Coach Kyle at night, no matter how pig-headed he's being.

Mind you, I'm managing my own expectations on this deal - two seasons is a pretty big commitment for a show that almost didn't finish the season last year or the year before. And, even if it's only 13 episodes each season, we'll shut up and take what we can get, man.

This is one of those shows that people just love. I think it's because no matter where you're from, we all recognize these people, places and situations in our own lives.

For me, it's the accents of everyone I ever grew up with down in Salisbury, NC. (Yes, I know there's a difference between NC and TX, thank you.) It's the high school football games I stood in the stands, and marched on the field for.* It's all the teachers and classmates that I had.

For me, Friday Night Lights just reminds me of home. (sans the really hot football coach, but if you substituted a really hot band director, you'd be spot on)

So, well done, DirecTV and NBC, for taking a chance, and mostly for taking the time to develop an audience for a beloved show.

And yay, for the FNL folks!


*Yes. I was in marching band. Shut it.

And not for nothing, but if I had one thing to complain about for FNL, is that they need a bigger marching band component to make it just a little more real. I'm just sayin'.

eta:
Two other places for more (than just squeeing over pretty boys) insightful information:
Jace @ Televisionary
Alan Sepinwall @ What's Alan Watching?

Blah, blah, blah Deletecakes

Magnet #310 - Doctor Who Cyberman

I mentioned a while ago that I'm not a big Dalek fan. Which is tantamount to sacrilege in the Doctor Who universe. But, I'm also not a huge Cybermen fan, either.

So, I haven't really been looking all that forward to the Christmas episode of Doctor Who. We've all been seeing the same snowy graveyard pictures since earlier this year, and when I found out it was a Cybermen episode *and* that David Morrissey was in it, I was kinda nonplussed about The Next Doctor.

But, that didn't stop me from watching it just as soon as we could, and my sister and I were able to watch it on Christmas night, only a few hours behind the UK.

My blogger pal Cameron at Stuff on TV did a good review of the whole eppy here, so I'm not trying to review The Next Doctor episode here. Suffice to say that:

- I'm so glad that David Morrissey isn't the real next Doctor, because I don't think I could handle a wimpy, crying Doctor.
- Dudes, the ho-yay between the two Davids was a tad over the top.
- Mercy's gorgeous red dress provided some really beautimous shots at the graveyard and in the giant robot ship. (Which admittedly was way cooler than I thought it was going to be.)
- I winced at every stunt David Tennant did that potentially killed his back, right down to having that really-not-so-great child actor hop on his back. Sigh.

Other than that, it was a Cybermen episode, so it won't go down as a favorite of mine. And, it could have been much better. Though, it did pull in 11.7 million viewers, second only to last year's Voyage of the Damned, which I loved infinitely more.

And, I finally uploaded my "Is there a Doctor in the house?" album on FB. It's DW and Hamlet and DT related, and I totally didn't need captions, I know. I'm also missing a pic of my little stuffed Adipose, but these are up. I visited the DW Exhibition in Cardiff, and was seriously underwhelmed by stuff that I could buy...and shockingly, I owned the magnet set they had for sale. Oh well.

eta:
Having watched the first half of the DW Confidential on the Christmas Special, I have to say that the Cybermen retrospective has made me quite grateful that these current Cybermen are what we've been given. The Cybermen of yore were kinda cheesetastic.

The readiness is all

Magnet #301 - BBC

So, yesterday, we did the BBC Tour, where I’ve pictures with a TARDIS (yay!) and a Dalek (boo!) and I bought tons of swag (yay, again!).

I also learned a ton. Or rather, a tonne:

Apparently, the BBC World News that we get in the States on BBC-A or on PBS has never been seen by the folks on UK soil. It's not permitted to transmit here, which makes me wonder all sorts of conspiracy theories. What are they showing us, that they can't show their people here at home? Hmmmm.

When asked why in the heck Auntie Beeb schedules their programming in such odd increments and times – like 39 minutes at 7:28 or 58 minutes at like 6:40, or whatever – there was no standard answer aside from “Who says that on the hour/half-hour programming has to be the standard? Why does that make it right? C’mon, we’re a kooky little island, haven’t you learned that by now?”

The BBC hires real-live certified meteorologists (which means my Dave Price, the Early Show weatherman who “only synthesizes the weather for us” couldn’t get a job there) who aren’t on state wages (whoa, does that mean David Tennant’s a civil servant?), but who get a clothing allowance (which explains the weathergirl in the silly capris with kitten heels I saw yesterday morning – who knows what the weather report was, it was freezing, and the weathergirl was in capris! Capris!). Also, there was a look of sheer bewilderment from our guide when asked if they have a dedicated weather channel, followed by a slightly disdainful, “Uh, no? Because we don’t like our weather as much?”

Oh. Ohhhhh. Maybe you’re looking to know how Edward Bennett’s Hamlet was. Well, during the fairly entertaining Q&A session afterward with some of the cast (including a very energized, but slightly frustrated Patrick Stewart), Edward Bennett said, “Look, you’re either ready to play Hamlet, or you’re not.” And, as my post title says, the readiness is all. Yeah, he was ready.

I agree with many critics that you can see where the production was slightly tailored to David Tennant, and you could almost see how Tennant would have interpreted certain lines and gestures. But, Edward was fabulous, if a little understated. Patrick Stewart was amazing. The rest of the cast were pretty darn great, too.

The whole production, with its Spartan, but well-executed against sets was fabulous. I can see why David would be devastated at having to drop out of the show. There’s a tiny part of me that’s glad he did, though. I hate seeing physical altercations, and this production (I imagine with all of them, actually), has several pivotal ones. But it’s the two superintense scenes with Hamlet, where he pretty much assaults Ophelia, and later, Gertrude, that were disturbing for me. I don’t think I would have liked to see David be so ruthless and borderline misogynistic.

Oh! But dudes – Patrick Stewart would like to add “coughing” to the list of things you turn off at shows, along with cell phones, etc. I dunno how you do that, but it seriously screws up a play when people are coughing throughout the whole thing. He was livid, and almost distraught, at how bad last night was – and I quote: “it almost made me want to give up.”

So, if you have a cold, don’t go see a show. Or you darn well better bring some Halls (other cough drops are available).

Happy 45th, Doctor Who!

Magnet #275 - Doctor Who

Today marks the 45th anniversary of Doctor Who, which, according to the fabulously neat BBC archives, aired this day in 1963 on BBC TV.

I've mentioned DW quite a few times here, because I'm a bit of a fan. And though it loses me geek credits, I'll freely admit I'm pretty much a johnny-come-lately, watching only in its new incarnation, and unabashedly calling David Tennant my Doctor.

But, in all seriousness, you really have to respect any show (and a proper sci-fi show at that) that can capture a nation's heart for 45 years. I can't think of an American counterpart to this show, one that pretty much every adult can remember watching at some point over the decades, a show that's transcended generations and genres, and formed a whole culture of hiding behind sofas and Dalek and TARDIS references all over the place.

We just don't have anything of that ilk here, so thanks for sharing, UK!

Whewwww-whewwww, Whewwww-whewwww

Magnet #258 - Knight Rider

I watch Knight Rider.

There. I said it.

Hell, I even have a magnet for it. This magnet was part of a series of buttons that NBC Uni put out earlier this year, to help push their shows for Emmy *snerk* consideration.

I remember watching the original, but to my friends' consternation, not well enough to remember KARR...or Goliath, for that matter.

I'm not gonna lie. Knight Rider's not the best show on the air right now - I'm convinced it's still on only because NBC can't afford to dump anything right now. I also full-on admit (again) that I'm watching it, simply because there's a hot boy and a hot car. And, I suppose I should also admit that my head bops when I hear the souped-up version of the original opening theme.

The hot boy is played by Justin Bruening, who used to be on the soap All My Children, where oddly, his character Jamie is the son of Tad, played by Michael E. Knight, who in real life used to be married to Catherine Hickland, who used to be married to David Hasselhoff who played the original Michael Knight on Knight Rider. How's that for weird degrees of separation?

The new KITT is a product-placed Ford Mustang which morphs into a couple of other Ford vehicles as necessary, which is silly, but I actually kinda like the effects when he goes into his attack mode. Though, I could do without the Val Kilmer as the voice of KITT. Sorry, Val.

The writer/producers are the same guys who worked on Las Vegas, which I also watched (again, for the hot boys, who just happened to have hot cars). So automatically, we're guaranteed gratuitous T&A, silly, almost nonexistent plots, cheesy writing and acting, and sometimes superslick (and sometimes not) special effects, graphics, and camera work.

I don't care. I'm watching, and I like it. Because every so often, the show surprises me. Last night was one of those nights.

It was their Halloween episode, and they had dressed up a couple of the secondary characters in costume and the running gag of the first ten minutes of the show, was that the guy was dressed as Captain Jack Harkness. He sashayed around, expecting people to know who he was. And thus ensued at least three different interchanges discussing Captain Jack Harkness, the "time-traveling bisexual" ("or omnisexual, if you prefer") guy from Torchwood and Doctor Who.

I gotta admit, the kid really did resemble Jack - all he was missing was the hat.

While it totally tickled my funny bone and my BritShow fangurl sensibilities, I spent the next several minutes on pause, while my sister and I discussed if a BBC show reference to DW/TW was completely accessible on such a mainstream U.S. show. (We watch a ton of BBC shows, and the U.S. references are always apparent in them, so it's odd to see the reverse here.)

Our guess is that the showrunners have enough charismatic geek (/TM Rovan) credibility to be sending out a rather well-done shout-out to the DW/TW universe, and the audience has just enough charismatic geek credibility to get it. And those that don't, are hopefully curious enough to check out both shows on BBC-A.*

Loved it. Well played, boys.

*Commercial: If you don't know, the fourth season of Doctor Who starts on BBC-A this weekend. Yes, you've already watched it on SciFi. Yes, you already know what happens at the end. Who cares? Watch it.

An open letter to David Tennant

Magnet #251 - The Tenth Doctor... again

Dear David -

Thanks for a great run.

Time to break the U.S. market now. I'm thinking Broadway. Here in New York. I'm just sayin'.

Hugs and kisses,
joy

A Natural-Born Alien

Magnet #247 - Doctor Who's Slitheen

So, we established yesterday that we moved from Chicago and its snowy, snowy environs down to sunshiny Salisbury/Granite Quarry, North Carolina, when I was in Kindergarten. And, though I was fairly young, I remember feeling very much like an alien on the playground.

First, the alien name: Supposedly, that's when I started going by Joy in school. I swear, I was told it was because no one could pronounce "Linille" as my first name, though now I'm rethinking that train of thought, given the kidnap thing. So already, I was kinda getting used to the name - apparently that took, given my penchant for, well, my name.

Second, the alien language: I remember the first day of school. Because my last name begins with Ab...I was first in the lunch line. The teacher told me to lead the line from the classroom, and "stop down yonder."

I got in trouble. Because I kept going. Because I didn't know what the hell "down yonder" meant. C'mon, I mean, even now, can anyone tell me what "down yonder" actually means?

Third, the alien accent: I was lucky to understand the words "down yonder," cuz on top of not understanding the Southernisms (which we ended up buying a book about later on, which explained so much), I couldn't understand the thick accents. Seriously. Northern versus Southern accents are hard to get used to. Still are, sometimes.

Fourth, the alien environment: No snow. There was NO snow in North Carolina. At least not smackdab in the middle of the state. And how was Santa going to find us without snow? So what'd my very sweet parents do? They packed me up in the car and drove me up to the mountains of North Carolina to prove that it did snow there. I swear, I remember being let out of the car to touch the snow and being very happy.

Finally, the alien communications: So small was Salisbury, that our moving to town made the front page of the local news section of the local newspaper. A whole article about the new family in town, and the kid they had to tote up to the mountains to prove the existence of snow in the South.

Anyway, there were many other things over the years that made me feel like a alien in NC, and the ensuing culture shock from it...but, I probably have magnets for those, too.

(Mind you, they probably wouldn't be a Doctor Who Slitheen from Raxacoricofallapatorious, but this was apropos to the subject, and also, pinkish for NBCAM!)

eta:
Today's DW shout-out is also because I had a dream last night that I was pals with David Tennant. And went to watch his new show: Hamlet.

The musical.

David Tennant wasn't that great of a singer in it. Also, mysteriously short.

I'm just sayin'.

We are in a plane

Magnet #229 - Doctor Who's K-9

My sister and her friend are winging their way to the UK today for her meticulously planned Great, Great Britain Tour.

The overall theme is Jane Austen, with a splash of Doctor Who, Beatles and Spooks. Stops include London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Bath, and Cardiff. Stalking dates include Richard Armitage, Rupert Penry-Jones, and David Tennant. In that order. Yep, with my luck, she'll probably end up sitting next to Clive Owen on the train or something.

Anyway, since she does a great K-9 impression, this DW magnet is apropos, methinks. Apparently, K-9 is much-loved in Doctor Who lore - I mean, who doesn't love a mechanical dog with a weird Dalek-esque plungey thing on his nose, and rabbit-ear ears, and no legs?

He's just a silly tin dog, but he's supercute. You can see K-9 in action with the Cybermen here.

The Pacey with the Fringe on top

Magnet #223 - Joshua Jackson

So, FOX picked up the back nine for Fringe. That means a full season of my Pacey!

I'm superhappy about this. Because I love my Pacey. And, as I mentioned before, I was just hoping FOX kept it on long enough for me to learn what Pacey's name is on this show.

Now that we know that Fringe is supposedly topping the list as the best new show this season, and might actually air the rest of the season, they're gonna have to improve a few things.

I'm not liking Anna Torv any better - I'm still waiting for the spark that they must have seen to have cast her. It's like watching Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy...or Dawson Leery from Dawson's Creek. We're not paying attention to the supposed lead, we're glomming on to the other more likeable characters.

I'm not liking the cases (though this week's was probably the strongest of all we've seen so far). Admittedly, I don't like procedurals - I've been known to FF through the Bones cases. But honestly, these supposedly Fringey cases are more milquetoast than anything.

I'm not liking the mythology. Though that could be because I have made it my mission to not fall for any more of JJ Abrams' ancillary marketing tactics with fake conspiracies, fake websites, fake phone numbers, fake commercials, etc. You'll not get me, JJ. It's also that the Pattern's just not that compelling. The Observer is a little silly.

I don't like how they're lifting from Doctor Who. This last eppy had a blatant rip from the Midnight eppy of this past DW series. C'mon - JJ may call it an homage, but that was way too obvious - and? Midnight was executed better. I wouldn't have thought twice, except that this is the second concept from Doctor Who. The other was that "magical man baby" story about the government trying to grow soldiers. Hi. That's The Doctor's Daughter without the instant DNA reader/replicator and the slightly squicky behind the scenes RL dating between the Doctor...and his (onscreen) daughter.

So...what do I like?

I like that they film in New York - even though I've not bumped into Joshua on the streets yet.

I LOVE that they film at Gehry's IAC building. If I'm not mistaken, it's what they're using for Massive Dynamic's interiors. Freakin' great building.

And to bring it full circle. I love that my Peter Bishop's got a regular gig in my living room every week.




Yeah, sorry, Joshua. Calling you Peter's just not gonna work out for me. Once a Pacey, always a Pacey.

"Who"se castle is this?

Magnet #191 - Martha Jones, in Germany

Oddest thing ever...watching Daleks speaking German, as Martha Jones did in Journey's End episode the last series of Doctor Who, when she went to that totally random German castle to help Osterhagen the world.

What? I said I'd have to stretch some of these.

Country #2 - West Germany

Yes, you read that right. That's how long ago the musical ambassadors trip was.

Not in any particular order, we did:

• Heidelberg, went to a castle
• Rode the Rhine, saw castles
• Wiesbaden, haven't a clue what we did there, but I'm sure there was a castle
• Berchtesgaden, remember when the boys in Band of Brothers cleared out Hitler's Eagle's Nest? That's where this is...and that place was big enough to be a castle.
• Learned the German word for shit while playing video games at an arcade, but not the German word for castle...wait, unless it's schloss?
• Ate wiener schnitzel for the first and last time (and EPCOT doesn't count, though they do have castles there.)

Yeah, there's a ton more we did in West Germany, but not that included castles...

Odd to think that I've been to a country that (I suppose, in name only) doesn't exist anymore.

No, really - talk about Cash in the Attic

Magnet #162 - Blue duck

If you've read any page on this blog, you know that I have a serious anglotelephile (teleanglophile?) habit. I can't stand Brit humor shows, but give me a drama or action/adventure, and I'm your gal. Which doesn't explain my newest obsession at all.

While I was home sick a couple of weeks ago, I was completely sucked into my new favorite show Cash in the Attic, with my new favorite presenter Alistair Appleton and my new favorite valuer Paul Hayes. Basically the Cash team comes to your home, rummages around for stuff to take to auction, and then auctions off the stuff to help raise money for a particular goal.

Seriously. I can't stop watching it. And BBC-A airs the hell out of them during the day, so when I get home at night, there's like five episodes all ready to roll.

Some of the homes are just full of crap. But some of the most gorgeous homes are just amazingly stuffed to the gills with...quality crap. What's funny is that it's really only in Europe that you'd have a beautiful serving plate from the 1700s just sitting in some box in the garage, or you've been using a 1800s sheet music rack as a TV remote holder and just not realized that it's worth hundreds of pounds. It's amazing.

Now, I'm dying to go to my mom's house in North Carolina. Our house is jampacked with flow blue plate sets and other treasures - the result of hot summers of antiquing, with me stuck in some dusty shop while my parents went rummaging around for yet another stack of blue plates. Now? I want to turn over every. single. plate. she owns. Of course, with my luck, the Georgian period plates are really the Bush, Sr. era. Heheh.

Hmmm. I wonder if this little duck magnet's worth anything. I really can't remember where it came from - either it was from Holland, or Dutch country. I turned it over, and it has no markings beyond the magnet. So, while it's supercute, I'd put maybe only 50p - 75p price band on it.

Do I hear 80p?

Cheating on George Clooney...with Joshua Jackson

Magnet #151 - Dawson's Creek, but really, Pacey's Pond

I swear, this is the last of the Cheating on George Clooney series, but really only because I haven't any magnets for Clive Owen or Jason Statham or Gerard Butler or...well, you get the picture.

Really, one could argue that my fling isn't really with Joshua Jackson, but really with Pacey J. Witter (except for the tragic Promicide episode, which we won't discuss here).

Joshua's probably the longest fling, since he's from like, OMG, the 1990s, which is odd, since he's actually the youngest. He's also the most like George, too. I'm convinced young Joshua's gonna be a George when he hits his mid-30s and 40s.

Really. He had a taste of success when he was really young - obvi, those Duck movies (/Pacey, Breakfast Club-esque Detention eppy). Then the Creekers were the hottest thing off The WB for a couple of years. And during and since, he's done a couple of rather ok movies, mixed in with some critical work that no one really saw. Having watched almost anything he's put out - I think he's damn sight better than most people give him credit for.

I'm hoping that Fringe, his new show this fall, will do for him what ER did for George. That might be shooting a bit high, and I might be here next year at this time wondering why it didn't take off. Granted, I've seen only the same "leaked" pilot version online that everyone else has seen.

It has a few things going for it. Joshua Jackson. The other JJ - J.J. Abrams. A fairly interesting concept. Damned awesome titles and supers (what? yes, I'm reaching, but they really are freakin' awesome). A fabulous good teaser campaign that I hope they decide to nix the real launch ad campaign for.

It does have a few things against it. It's on FOX, which means (unless J.J. has them over a barrel somehow) it has only a couple of shots to make it, before Fox programming decides that they don't care how much they've spent on advertising and ruthlessly pulls it. Also, Mark Valley's in it, and though I love him and he's adorable, too, he can be somewhat of a show killer. And, the verdict's out on the lead chick - though she's like a young Cate Blanchett, she's a little too bland. (They should have cast his real-life gal pal, Diane Kruger, but no doubt, there's another National Treasure to produce. Heh.)

But, for now, who cares? My Pacey's gonna be back on my tv every week!

Dear FOX,

Don't screw it up.

Love and kisses,
joy

Cheating on George Clooney...with David Tennant

Magnet #149 - Doctor Who (again)

As I mentioned yesterday, my current fling is David Tennant. Again, George Clooney doesn't mind. After all, he's been clearly enjoying his summer post-that Vegas cocktail waitress. George is also safe in the knowledge that David seems to prefer BBC employees anyway. *snerk*

Since Josh got his time yesterday, David gets equal play today. Well, that's not quite true - I keep blogging DW/DT since I was silly and bought not one, but two, different Doctor Who magnet sets and now have a disproportionate amount of DW magnets lying about my fridge.

I will give David his props - after I finished Christopher Eccleston's turn as the Ninth Doctor, I was absolutely sure that I wasn't going to like the Tenth Doctor. I derided the Wee Doctor at first, but it didn't take long before David's mad but passionate Ten quickly overwrote Nine. Sorry, Chris.

As I've managed to watch more of the David Tennant oeuvre, he's proven himself in role after role - whether as the mad but passionate mental patient in Takin' Over the Asylum, or as the mad but passionate psycho in Secret Smile, or even the mad but passionate lover in Casanova.

But, he keeps saying that being on the telly's more like a sabbatical from his real job - stage actor. So, I can't wait to see him in his natural environs. I finally got my Hamlet tickets - looks like I'm spending a few days in London during the holidays. Supposedly, that performance will have a talkback/Q&A with the cast, so I'm equally (if not more, actually) excited at the prospect of hearing Patrick Stewart speak as well.

Who knows, maybe it will take David and Patrick to make me like Hamlet, the play, the production, the Prince. (Not that Richard Burton was able to sway me, but I'll give it a shot.)

And, they'll have at least six months to practice - they open this week in Stratford. Break a leg, boys!

Cheating on George Clooney...with Josh Duhamel

Magnet #148 - Las Vegas

Every once in a while, I cheat on George Clooney. My flings never really last long, because I always go back to George. And, really, he doesn't mind - we have sort of an understanding. An open relationship. (Except that chick, Sarah Larson - I dunno what the hell that was about.)

Anyway, my current fling is David Tennant from Doctor Who. But, not so very long ago, it was Josh Duhamel from Las Vegas.

I never really watched Josh during his All My Children years, but the second he hit prime time and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, I was won.

I loved Las Vegas - yes, yes, I know it was a total, gratuitous T&A show. Really more girl (and sometimes, on-girl) action for the boys, but as long as they gave me equal time of my boys - Josh, James Caan and James Lesure - I was pretty happy with it.

It was a silly show, and to be honest, I dunno how it managed five seasons all told. I was a big Danny/Mary fan, right down to the Duran Duran-centric episode, where they talked about going to the DD concert back in the day. And, I loved Vanessa Marcil - she totally rocked the girl-power as Sam "Hummingbird" Marquez.

But, my biggest reason, besides Josh, for watching this show, was James Caan. He was just fabulous to watch. I freakin' love James Caan. Sorry, Magnum, but Las Vegas jumped the shark the second they let Jimmy go.

Anyway, the show's done, but I heard rumors somewhere they may try for a special to tie up loose ends, or the producers may figure out a way to get a cameo Danny/Delinda (cuz of that stupid spawn of theirs about to be born in the series ender) scene on to one of the other shows.

Well, I guess I shouldn't complain. I'm all for seeing Josh Duhamel in anything. I mean, really, did anyone need to watch Turistas past the shirtless Josh on the beach scene?

Whew! Or, is that Who!

Magnet #135 - Doctor Who - Ten (again)
(U.S. folks, caution: There be Who spoilers here.)

Yep. Dodged that one with a bullet.

For the past week, the world's been been waiting to see if the BBC had managed to pull off the biggest secret in Doctor Who's broadcasting history - regenerating David Tennant's Ten off the show, and casting the Eleventh Doctor. I swear I think I got more damn Google alerts about David Tennant in these past seven days than I have since I created the alert last year.

Finally, we have our answer - not only didn't David Tennant leave, he became a Doublemint twin! And now, all TPTB at Doctor Who and the BBC can rest at ease.

Except, apparently they haven't. What's also been interesting this week is the massive crackdown that the Beeb is finally getting around to doing. After a whole season of full episodes being available all over the net, the BBC spent this week been pulling vids and accounts left and right, sending out cease and desists, and in general, flexing their BBC muscle - obviously to protect their show copyrights and licensing fees and what not.

Since 4 or 5pm New York time Saturday, only a few hours after the show had been broadcast in the UK, I've been watching as content just disappeared from almost every outlet, as if the Daleks themselves were at work. In fact, it's like the BBC specifically targeted this time period, because they knew the traffic would be just enormous. Seriously, it's like the middle of the night, and vids were still getting yanked.

What's even more surprising is the will of the people: the material's getting re-uploaded, almost as quickly as it's taken down. Poor BBC web team, I imagine it's like trying to take out an anthill in your backyard - the more you kill, the more and more pop up from underground.

If I were to be perfectly honest, I've always generally landed on the side of big business - it's their material, and they've the right to protect it however they see fit. When it's uploaded without permission, no one involved with the show gets one red cent from that airing. So in the end, we're hurting the little guy, and the people that poured their blood, sweat and tears into this project. Yep. That's me with my business cap on.

However. There's the fangurl part of me - you know, the one who'd move to the UK just to be on the same viewing schedule - the one who just wishes they'd held off one more week, and then did their crackdown.

Of course, that fangurl is the one who watched the finale tonight at least four times, the one who will watch the episode when it airs on SciFi in four weeks, along with every other airing of it on BBC-A and SciFi this summer and for months to come, and most important, the one who will buy the damn DVD box set at its highly inflated (though generally worth it in the end) prices when it's finally available in the US.

No, I have no answers for you here. I just wanted to say that while the Doctor Who finale (and its truly devastating ending[s]) was pretty good, the real show tonight was the BBC vs. the Internet.

The Doctor, our dads, and a couple of loose screws

Magnet #121 - Doctor Who - Ten

Ok. So I've seen a few Doctor Who articles/interviews where David Tennant says that he's not very handy with the practical stuff, like putting up shelves, or fixing the plumbing, and the like. And it always gives me a bit of a point-and-laugh giggle, because he's 37, and he should be able to wield a power tool by this time, without having to call his dad to come do it.

(Hey, get your mind out of the gutter. I mean, literally - a power drill or even a non-sonic screwdriver.)

So, it was with a great sense of gleeful pride, that I, myself, (in my own mid-30s), bought my first power tool just yesterday - a Ryobi 18v power drill. (insert Tim Taylor/Home Improvement growl here) It's pretty! And blue!

And, okayfine, so I asked my dad to put up one of my magnet boards this morning. But, I decided to let him drive home to NC, leaving me to put my DVD shelving all by my do-it-yourself self. I mean, really - how hard could it possibly be.

Doot-de-dooooo....a few hours later...

This is what I get for making fun of David Tennant, I suppose.

David, since my dad is on his way home, if you could pack up your dad and ship him over to my place, to put up these stupid IKEA shelves, that would be fabulous. Please and thank you.

Right now, there are eight semidrilled holes in the wall, a few mollies sticking out here and there, a drillbit or three sitting on a tray, and about six packages of loose screws of varying sizes sitting over there in the corner.

And, I don't think the funny sounds coming from the wall bode well. I'm just sayin'.

Always. Only you.

Magnet #120 - Zen

Today's magnet is in honor of last night's Daytime Emmys, which I have on DVR, and may get around to watching, at some point...but probably not.

Oh, how the times have changed. Not so long ago, I was stalking Radio City for when the tix went on sale in town. Now, I can't even be bothered to watch. How sad.

An online friend of mine gave me this magnet - apparently, the Zach and Kendall (Zendall) fanbase did some sort of campaign to lobby ABC Daytime not to break up our favorite little soap couple on All My Children.

As with all of my obsessions, my little Zen candle burned hot and bright - through fake marriages and real affairs, and real divorces and fake affairs; through blackouts and serial killers, crazy parents and crazier best friends; through secrets and lies; through divorce island and lobster slaying, and balloon New Year's and belly button balloons; through gardenias and pencil doodles; through many pregnancies and a voiced-over coma; through myriad "Always. Only you. / Always. Only us." declarations followed up by "where's the trust" conversations; through stab-stabbings and kidnappings, plus Shelters of Suck and Mardi Gras igloos.

But alas, The Powers That Be finally managed to turn me off of the show after three years of shipping the good ship Zendall. And, there's no real explanation for it.

However, I will say that had it not been for Zach and Kendall, I wouldn't have met a really great crew of online folks - folks that have become friends in real life as well. So, it looks like the soapy angst was worth it in the end.

And look! I got a magnet out of the deal, too!

Daleks are to Who, as Klingons are to Trek

Magnet #102 - Dalek

At the risk of letting my inner geek run rampant, I'm about to share an extreme and possibly inflammatory UOA. (That's Unpopular Opinion Ahead.)

Daleks. I don't get 'em. I know they're the UberEpicEnemy of the Doctor in Doctor Who. That much I get. What is completely beyond me is why they are so popular. And so scary. Is it their lack of humanity? Is it their toilet plunger suck-ery thing? Is it their flashing lights and funny voices? Is it their need to conquer the Universe(es)? Was the Last. Great. Time. War. all that bad?

Take me out back and exterminate me, but I gotta say, I'm not a big fan of the Daleks. Every DW episode with a Dalek drives me nuts - it's probably blasphemous, but I skip rewatching any episode with them. Or, at the least, I fast-forward through their scenes.

I was the same way with any Star Trek: The Next Generation / Klingon episode. First, I didn't buy in TNG that the Klingons were no longer enemies. That'd be like the Doctor saying to the Daleks, yes, let's bury the hatchet - I forgive you. Second, while I loved Worf (and even his spawn from Family Ties), I hated every Klingon-centric episode. It was the grunting and the made-up language and the war cries and the scary weapons.

Maybe it's the mythic enemies that I have trouble with - because my dislike might also extend to the Cybermen and the Borg. Or, maybe it's that I haven't a clue of their rich show history - I'll admit that I was never a Classic Who fan, and go even further by admitting I'm one of those annoying fans of only the newest incarnation.

And, yes, I totally get that this post outs me as an unworthy and not-true blue Who/TNG fan, but I'm willing to entertain anyone who can give me good reasons why I should admire and/or fear the Daleks or the Klingons.

And, yes, mean comments will be deleted - I'm looking for reasons to like these guys. Obvi, since I chose a Dalek as my first actual Doctor Who magnet. Otherwise, I'd have used the supercute David Tennant / Ten magnet first. I'm just sayin'.