Book Review Whatever Day I Get to It.

Full Dark No Stars by Stephen King

If you know me at all you know that I love Stephen King. He is my all time favorite author and I am one of his "constant readers." Even though that is what he calls all his fans, I somehow feel he is talking only to me when I read his missives to CR. He and I have many firsts. The Stand was the first ADULT book that I read all the way through when I was 12. IT was the only book that I finished and enjoyed so much that I closed it only to open it right back up to read it straight through again. The Green Mile is the only book that so disturbed me that I slammed it shut in the middle of a paragraph, yelled at it "YOU WOULDN'T DARE!" then threw it across the room. It took me a half hour of pacing and muttering to this book on the floor before I was brave enough to pick it back up and finish the journey. Any fans of Mr. Jingles will know of which scene I speak.  He brings out my emotions like no other writer. His characters live and breath to me. Like he once said when explaining why he released an updated and complete version of The Stand in the 90's, he gets letters from people asking what happened to Frannie or Stu, like he gets postcards from them occasionally filling him in on what is going on in their lives. They came from his mind but they are alive just the same. Although my love of him is not unconditional. I found Pet Semetary to be hateful, irredeemable and unfinishable. I did not like Under the Dome. I have read many of his books repeatedly and own pretty much his entire output and there are only a few that make him a legend.  One is the Dark Tower series. These books are right up there in the pantheon of greatness with Tolkien, Baum, and Lewis. He has created a world just as real and vibrant, with good and evil, bravery and terror and triumph of spirit as any other author of worlds like are own, only not quite.

But I digress. This is a review of his latest book of short stories. If you have ever read any of his other collections of stories you know you are in for a treat. Some of his best work come like this. Very similar to bursts from a machine gun. Fast, furious and hell if they don't get the job done. They are like the AK-47's of the book world. His short stories have been turned into some of the best movie adaptions to date. Think Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist. This collection is no different. It is very similar to Different Seasons as it is only four stories and they are doozies. I enjoyed all of them, some more than others. 1922 had a very HP Lovecraft feel to it. But King is no stranger to writing stories that pay homage to this style. I found it enjoyable but at the same time dark. I don't like having anybody to rote for and still I was enthralled. I just had to see how it ended. King has a way of making even the most unlikable people understandable and relate-able while not even contemplating doing what they did. This story was unlike A Good Marriage. Other reviews have said this was like a black comedy. I did not get that for myself. It gave me the same oogie feeling from it that I got from Pet Semetary. The protagonist had no redeeming qualities and just had a stripe of hatefulness running through it that I did not like. The other two stories were good but not memorable. This was a good book. I enjoyed a taste of King back to form. There was so much of his former power in the prose that I shouldn't complain. Except that he has set the bar so high for himself he has only himself to blame when he does not reach that lofty goal. If you love SK as I do, by all means, do yourself a favor and pick this book up. You will not be disappointed. If you are not a SK fan, don't let this be your introduction. Read Skeleton Crew, guaranteed if you do that you will come back for more. Once you go King, you never go back.

State of the Union?

I'm not quite sure what to make of Obama's speech. It was "full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." My apologies to Shakespeare. As Rachel Maddow said so perfectly, "It was a prayer to the free market." He said we should not cut government spending on the backs of the poor and then touted that his general's "generously" agreed to cut funding for defense programs they said they didn't need. I have a feeling what they don't need will be open to wide interpretation. No mention on how many trillions are spent in Afghanistan and Iraq or the rampant corruption and profiteering that costs billions more. And so of course most of the cuts will be made on the backs of the poor, social programs are always the first to go. That is just par for the course. He talks about closing loop holes and letting the Bush tax cuts expire, but we have seen how successful he was at that only a few weeks ago. Talks about growing industry here at home but doesn't mention that it could be accomplished easily by tightening tariffs and protecting our manufacturing base the way China and Europe does. But that is not popular with big business, so of course it is off the table. Also no mention of closing tax breaks for companies who export jobs, apparently that is still okay.  There are many more things I could mention but you get the picture. I wasn't expecting much and was not disappointed. I want to believe that he believes what he says. I guess I am getting too cynical for that. The change I can believe in has morphed into the same I can barely tolerate. Things won't get better and it didn't help having to look at the smug orange face of the Boehner behind him the entire time. I never thought I would miss Nancy Pelosi so much. His acting like he can work with the Republicans charade is getting so old. Of course he might not be trying to reach a consensus so much as wanting what they want behind closed doors even while saying it is not what he wants out loud. That makes sense because it seems that the Republican agenda keeps right on trucking. More tax cuts, more money funneled upwards, poverty rates rise, the standard of living continues to fall and all is right with the world. At least if your rich. If your not, who cares, you don't matter anyway.

American Pickers.

Sometimes it takes a television show to really bring out an interest that you never knew you had. I've always known that I love old and abandoned buildings. You show me an old tumble down barn or a creepy deserted house and I itch to get my butt into it and explore. The older the better. I also love old things. That is why I find antiquing so much fun. So American Pickers is like the best of both worlds. It's two guys who go digging around in old buildings looking for old things to buy and resell. I love it. I want to do that. I don't know enough about the artifacts they find to be a good judge, I'd just find things that I thought were cool and keep them to decorate my house. I wish I lived in an area where there was some history. It would be fun to take weekend road trips and do some picking on my own. To wend my way through dilapidated barns, dank basements or musty attics just full of who knows what. Things that have been put away and forgotten about. I would even like to do what is called urban spelunking, exploration or building hacking. This is done in areas of the city where buildings are left to decay like old factories or hospitals. God, it would be so amazing. Just a camera and a picnic basket and a bit of bravery cause it can be dangerous. But so worth it. I have seen some pictures that urban explorers have taken and they are quite breathtaking. There is so much still to see that has yet to be torn down and replaced by another big box store or parking lot. I have a few places I've read about that I'd like to get to one day. Places that are till extant and full of mystery, just waiting to be explored.

Goodbye Olbermann!

Keith Olbermann is a progressive hero. Unapologetic in his tone, clear in his wording, erudite and scathing. His intelligence and charm on Countdown earned him a loyal following and was the highest rated show on MSNBC. Because of him Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow now have their own shows and now he is gone. It smells bad that this happened so soon after the monstrous Comcast NBC merger was announced. The head of Comcast was a huge supporter and donated a lot of money to Bush. He was no friend to Olbermann. I would not be surprised to see Schultz and Maddow edged out in the coming months either. Liberal voices in media are getting harder to hear all the time. I live in Vegas and if I did not have satellite radio I would not even know there were any great progressive programs on the air. Except for places like Seattle where there is the excellent AM 1090 that anyone can access, those are a lucky few exceptions. I haven't watched Countdown in a while and I'm sorry about that now and I am sorry that he is gone. Hopefully another network will pick him up, there has been rumors about CNN, we'll see. But until then goodbye Keith, I'll miss you. You kept me sane during some pretty dark times for our country and you made me think, made me mad, made me laugh, made me cry you informed and outraged and television will be drearier without you. So to you sir, I say, goodnight, and good luck.

Book Review Wednesday

I know, I know its really Friday but I was so busy I wasn't able to get this written until today. So here it is. I'll try to do better next week. 

Life in a Medieval Cloister by Julie Kerr

I was really excited to read this book. I find this subject fascinating. To think the hold the church had at one time on the minds of man to the point where they could take your life if they chose is hard to fathom in this day and age.  When I read The Pillars of the Earth (a great book which I have reread several times and love, the sequel though, not so much), it had many parts that described what life may have been like in those cloistered grounds. But I wanted an accurate account of that life. What kind of people became monks or nuns? Was it mostly choice or was they driven by necessity or family? I wanted an account of the scandals that rocked the church and drove Martin Luther to break away and sparked the reformation. I was not expecting a book that didn’t delve too deeply into its subject and basically presented the monasteries and the monks and nuns who populated them the way they wanted to be viewed and not the way they were in reality.

There were many anecdotal stories taken from contemporary sources and they were told as if everything was factual, right down to demon possession to the hand of God reaching down to assist the brothers and sisters in their time of need. She discusses their foibles and follies as if every one of them were divinely inspired to join a monastery and when they slipped up it was only due to innocent human error. They were human but not quite. It was almost a fairy tale version of what this life was like in truth. These people were human. Just as prone to greed, vice, avarice, anger and lust as any of us. Putting on the robe or the habit does not erase that. And if all of the reports of what really went on in these places at the time are true, and I’m sure not all were and not all were corrupt, but it must have indeed been rampant as it became a cliché. The fat dissolute monk became an easy target for ridicule and mockery. Those for whom this life was not a calling but a stepping stone to wealth or influence or they were placed there under duress by their family must have been especially prone to slips or were just going through the motions.  For them, the monastery must have become a life sentence to be borne. I would of really liked to hear from those voices a little more.

The book was fairly interesting and I finished it, but almost only because it was so short at 194 pages. I’d of felt guilty for not getting to the end of this one.

The dominoes are starting to fall...

Net neutrality will soon be gone, if we don't work to stop it. I am sharing this email. Take action. I am. Share this with everyone you know if this is important to you. Even if it is not, you probably know someone to whom it is.

The decision was handed down moments ago,¹ and you should be mad as hell.

The FCC just blessed the merger of Comcast, the nation's largest cable and home Internet provider, with NBC Universal. The Justice Department approved the merger, too, leading to the unprecedented consolidation of media and Internet power in the hands of one company.
There's no way to sugarcoat it. Wherever you live, the Comcast-NBC merger is a disaster.
Letting one company control the pipes and the content that flows over those pipes is a formula for abuse. Comcast-NBC could soon hike up rates, take away your favorite channels or even stop you from watching your favorite shows online. Comcast has already targeted Netflix and other companies that compete with its video and Internet offerings.
The merger lays waste to then-candidate Barack Obama's 2008 promise, when he said, "I strongly favor diversity of ownership of outlets and protection against the excessive concentration of power in the hands of any one corporation, interest or small group. I strongly believe that all citizens should be able to receive information from the broadest range of sources."
We at Free Press believe that, too. But unlike the president and his FCC chairman, we're not caving to corporate pressure. Free Press is working with our allies and activists to fight for more open, democratic and diverse media.
Here's how you can help:

1. First, let Washington know that there are consequences to blessing this bad deal. You can tell everyone that this merger is a disaster by Tweeting about it, spreading the word via Facebook, and sharing this e-mail with others.

2. Next, join our national network of local Comcast watchdogs. Sign this pledge to protect your community against future Comcast abuses, and we'll connect you to a growing network of activists in your area and beyond.

3. Finally, support the Free Press Action Fund so we can mobilize a broad coalition to stem the tide of new media mergers sure to follow in the wake of Comcast-NBC.

Today's deal, combined with the FCC's recent loophole-ridden, fake "Net Neutrality" rule, sets the stage for Comcast to turn the Internet into something that looks like cable TV. This administration has a long list of weak compromises to corporate lobbyists during its first two years. But today's merger is particularly alarming.
You might be saying, "I'm not a Comcast customer, so I'm not worried." But Comcast will jack up the prices that other cable and online distributors pay for NBC content, and you'll pay higher prices -- we promise.
You might be saying, "I can just get a new Internet provider if I don't like it." But there's almost no broadband competition. And as TV, radio, phone and other services increasingly become Internet-based, cable will be the only connection that's fast enough to deliver high-quality media and services to most Americans.
You might be saying, "Why should I care about a business deal between two giant companies?" But this merger is certain to be the first domino to fall in a series of mega-media mergers. The FCC's blessing of Comcast-NBC will embolden companies like AT&T or Verizon to try to gobble up content providers like Disney and CBS, creating a new era of media consolidation where even fewer companies control the content you watch and all the ways you watch it.
The Comcast-NBC merger is truly catastrophic for the public, and for the future of media, technology and democracy.
We can't let a few corporate giants control the flow of information in America. It's time to get mad, but it's also time to get involved.
Thank you,
Josh Silver
President and CEO
Free Press
www.freepress.net

It's not easy being blue.

I’ve been feeling a bit weepy lately and certain things will set me off. I’ve had two incidents in particular that stick out.

 One comes from a documentary from last night. It was called Unforgotten and was about a “school” for the mentally ill called Willowbrook in New Jersey. Due to budget cuts the residents of this facility were subjected to hideous abuse and neglect because there were 50 patients to a care giver. It was exposed by the investigative journalism of Geraldo Rivera. Apparently, he used to be a serious and respected reporter. The footage they showed of this place was horrific and it showed an interview with a young man named Bernard, taken at the time. He had been imprisoned in this hell for 18 years, not cared for properly and not allowed to go to school. He had been diagnosed as mentally retarded but in fact had cerebral palsy. There was nothing wrong with his mind. Today he works for an advocacy group helping to make sure what happened to him never happens to anyone else, but you can hear the regret in his voice when he thinks back. He said if he had been allowed an education he could have been a lawyer, he always wanted to be a civil rights lawyer. Triumph of the human spirit, thy name is Bernard. But the saddest part came when he talked about Sunday’s. That was visiting day at the facility and he said that 3 o’clock would come and all the other kids would have had family to visit by then. But not for him, he never had anyone come play with him, give him cookies or a hug. His family put this bright young man in this horrible place and forgot about him. God, I just broke down. This just reinforces why I am getting my degree in social work. To help children like Bernard, to make life better for those who can’t do it for themselves. I watched another documentary that featured this same facility but on the periphery called Cropsy. About a serial killer that preyed on mentally handicapped children, in the area around there. It was very good, even though I watched Unforgotten to the end and was moved by it, it wasn’t the best documentary I’ve seen,  Cropsy was much better and more effective. These two could be watched in conjunction for interesting viewing. Both are available on Netflix.

The second time was just this morning. I was driving to work and there was a kitty dead by the side of the road. I hate to see that. I will send a little prayer their way. It makes me wonder if they were loved in life and now someone was missing them. That of course made me remember my kitty I lost a while ago and all the Rainbow Bridge ideas. It is comforting to think that all of my beloved pets are waiting for me on the other side. But what happens to those animals that are not loved? The strays, the abused, the abandoned. Where do their little souls go? Who is there to love them? I can hope in a naïve way that maybe there are spirits waiting there just for them, to finally give to them the love they never had in life. Silly really, but nice to believe. 

I love awards season. I will watch the GG’s, Emmy’s along with the SAGS ending with the super bowl  of them all the Oscar’s. I especially like when movies or TV shows I enjoy are nominated or win. The GG was filled with movies and shows I have never even heard of but some great winners came out of last’s night craziness.

Ricky Gervais better run to Canada…he will need to hide out there with Randy and Evi Quaid to avoid the Hollywood whackers. That was one crazy, I don’t give a shit performance if ever I did see one.  He is the greatest host ever and I doubt he will be asked back. 

A few observations:

1)      Gabourey Sidibe wore a dress that looked like something Mariah Carey vomited out of her butterfly   and rainbow covered pie hole. 

2)      Angelina Jolie looked so out of it that I thought she was going to turn into that old man sharing the slammer with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in Stir Crazy that chases the imaginary fly around the room. 

3)      Apparently getting divorced makes you want to do weird things with your hair, like growing a Unabomber beard (Michael C. Hall) or get the sheep dog makeover (Sandra Bullock). 

4)      Robert DeNiro was completely charming and surprisingly funny. 

5)      Eva Longoria should wear a dress that does not make her trip with every step.

6)      I’m sure things were very awkward with the windswept Scarlett Johansson  and Sandra Bullock as there are rumors that Sandra and Scarlett’s seconds , Ryan Reynolds,  are humping the divorce blues away together. 

7)      Somebody should inform Annette Bening that monkeys do not make good hairdressers and she should rethink that choice for the next award show she attends. 

8)      It feels like Claire Danes has been winning awards for the Temple Grandin movie for five years now. When will it end?

9) Helena Bonham-Carter? The crazy, it burns, it burns!!!

I was thrilled that the Walking Dead was up for a nomination, I have such a thing for zombies and it is nice that they are finally getting the recognition they have long had coming. Boardwalk Empire is a great show and it was a worthy win along with Steve Buscemi. He is such a talented actor and deserves all the accolades coming his way. And last but not least, Jim Parsons of the Big Bang Theory. Wonderful! He is the best thing on a great show. As always the best actor on television today was once again completely snubbed by the GG’s, Fringe’s John Nobel. Hopefully one day soon this magnificent actor will walk away with every award ever invented and then they should make up some new ones just to give him.

So there you have it, my Golden Globes post-mortem. Just like every year there was some boring, some bizarre, some WTF?, and some great wins. See you on the flip side.

Happy Martin Luther King Day

I wish we had a leader today like MLK. It seems that there is nobody anymore that can orate to stir the masses and speak the truth and guide us on the way to change things. Alan Grayson was a fiery speaker but the right shut him down and managed to oust him from his seat in Florida. I think that he will be back though bigger than ever. They may have won that battle, but I can see him winning the war.  I think that is what needs to happen now. Our country is just a powder keg waiting to be ignited, just waiting for that certain person to show the way. Not with violence, not with guns but with the sheer force of the masses. The millions of us taking to the streets. If we had the will of the French we could shut everything down completely until they listened to us. The monied elite of this country needs to corralled before they destroy whats left of this country for good and all. We need an MLK, a Roosevelt, a JFK. Hell, I'd even take a Huey Long. Could you imagine a politician today saying something like this "No man has ever been President of the United States more than two terms. You know that; everyone knows that. But when I get in, I'm going to abolish the Electoral College, have universal suffrage, and I defy any sonofabitch to get me out under four terms."(1933) There is so much that can be accomplished if we hadn't all been turned into uneducated wage slaves desperately treading water that all we want to do on our downtime is tune into Jersey Shore. Keep us distracted with bread and circuses so we won't revolt. Although with bread becoming scarce the circus is becoming a lot less compelling.

There will be 2 posts today. I want to discuss the Golden Globes. So much fuckery in one room needs at least some comment.

Book Review Wednesday Part 2: Electric Bugaloo

This is a little early but what the hell. I so enjoyed writing the first review I got impatient for Wednesday. I hope you, dear readers, do too. Next week will be a book about medieval monasteries, so stay tuned.  

Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams

I’ve read a few books about Queen Victoria. This is the second one I have read that focuses mainly on her path to queendom, the first being Her Little Majesty by Carolly Erickson, and it was convoluted indeed. The path for royals can be very serpentine and confusing on how many down in line a person is to the throne and why this person and not that one, especially to someone who wasn’t raised in a country with royalty.  There was always a big deal made about Victoria when she was born because she was so far down in line that it seemed unlikely that she would ever reach the throne and Kate Williams offered an explanation to how she became queen in a way I finally understood. Her ascendency was a surprise and that she was able to shape an entire generation, change her country forever and have an era named after her even more so. Nobody thought this strangely small girl child with the bulging eyes and perpetually open mouth would amount to much of anything but she confounded them all. 

The one thing I really enjoyed in this telling of Victoria’s journey was being introduced to Princess Charlotte. This engaging and lovely young woman was the intended recipient of the English throne. She was seen as a new hope after the dissolute children of George the IV finally threw off the mortal coil.  He had many children but none of them seemed inclined to marry, at least, for the sons, not women who could be queens as they had a penchant for prostitutes and courtesans, and the daughters tended toward spinsterhood. This seemed to be a seriously messed up family and how Charlotte and Victoria were able to reach adulthood with any sanity is a surprise in itself. Princess Charlotte seemed to step right out of a Jane Austen novel, a kindred spirit to Marianne Dashwood. Her premature death in childbed after marrying for love was sad indeed.  How different England might be to this day had this intelligent. liberal but impetuous woman lived long enough to take the crown. This is the first book I’ve read that talked in depth about her, now I want to learn more. I love when a book does that.

As for Victoria (I did not know that she was the first person in history to have this name. At the time, it was like naming your child Apple, a made up foolish name.), she had a mind of her own from the time she could walk. Her father died when she was still an infant and she had a domineering/interfering mother who saw her daughter as a way to rule England through her daughter as regent and gain vast wealth (very much like the sad pathetic mother of Lindsey Lohan, who sees her child as a way to live a life that she could never achieve on her own, the ultimate stage mother.) She set about browbeating her along with her ever present secretary, Sir John Conroy, who may or may not of been her lover. Victoria's childhood was sad and lonely but it also forged an iron in her that a more idyllic one would not of. Everything changed when she was just a slip of a girl at eighteen and became queen. Her uncle, William the IV, so hated Victoria's mother that he forced himself to live until she was of age to take the throne without a regency, thereby thwarthing all of her mother's and Sir Conroy's machinations.

The one thing I did not care for in this otherwise very good and interesting book was the downplaying of Victoria and Albert’s love affair. She made it seem that he could barely tolerate her and that she was a shrewish harpy to him. That just does not seem to be backed up by most sources, as they were one of the great royal love stories. That Victoria was difficult is beyond a doubt but I don’t see her being as bad as portrayed. The caveat to that statement is that I am not a Queen Victoria expert so could be completely wrong about this. Other than that this was an enjoyable read at 464 pgs with an array of pictures of our cast of characters.

Occasionally it does seem like the end time...

Reading about that shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was very sad. I don't know much about her but these kinds of incidents are always hard to hear about. Especially the death of a child at the hands of the shooter. At this time no one knows why this man did what he did, but I'm sure it will come out in the days and weeks ahead. Much like the shooting at Fort Hood or the man who flew a plane into the IRS building in Texas. I hate to say it but I don't think this is the last incident of this kind we will see this year. There is so much hatred and animosity right now and the average person does not know on who or how to vent their anger and frustration. They lost their job or their spouse is dying due to lack of medical care or they are working three jobs or their home was foreclosed. It does not seem that the government much cares about those of us who live and work in this country and actually care about it. The right and the left are at each others throats little concerned that we all have the same enemy. But we don't notice the men behind the curtain as we fight amongst ourselves for the few scraps that those at the top deign to throw us.

And then we have birds dropping from the sky, bees dying out in record numbers, floods ripping through Australia& California and it can seem that the signs of the apocalypse are all around us. I know that many times through the centuries things have seemed just as dire and that we will weather this too. As they say, this to shall pass. I hope so. The state of things can seem very dark at times. All I can do is try to watch out for my neighbor and be the best person I can be. We should all try to do that. Be a little nicer to someone you don't know. Smile at a stranger, give a homeless person that dollar crumpled in your wallet or purse or just let that person in a hurry get ahead of you in line. I know it is corny but good does come back to you. And we could all use a little more good in our lives. 

Break out the party hats! It’s Book Review Wednesday!

I thought I might make this a regular feature on this here blog. I read a lot and a few of you out there may enjoy my take on what I’ve read and wish to pick these books up yourself or download them or whatev’s. If not, too bad so sad, this is my blog.  I do tend to read mostly biographies, histories, historical fiction, the occasional thriller and Stephen King. I’ll start with one book that I finished recently and really enjoyed.

Wicked River: The Mississippi, When it Last Ran Wild by Lee Sandlin

This book is a sweeping overview of the Mississippi River from when this country was first settled until the end of its glory days at the hand of the U.S. Corps of Engineers at the beginning of the last century written in a very enjoyable and concise style. It takes you through harrowing tales of those first river men who were the lifeblood of the river and the only source of food and supplies for the first white settler’s.  The arrival of these barges would be a time to celebrate and these master’s of the river knew how to drink. This book is filled with pirates, natural disasters, war, violence, and mayhem. The coming of the steamboats was really the beginning of the end of the wild Mississippi, the river wild as forever immortalized in Mark Twain’s stories. The river today is but a shadow of what it once was and I had never really thought about it, but this book made me sad that I will never get to see this force of nature the way it was meant to be. Instead the river today has its hair combed and stuffed into an uncomfortable suit, it is forced to behave. This book is a wonderful slice of our countries history, ranging from unsavory to respectable, from violence to heroism and back again.  Basically, the story of humanity told against the backdrop of the river. The writer is very easy to read and the stories were entertaining. I highly recommend this book to anyone, even those who may not think they would like this subject matter. It is meticulously researched and documented and it is a quick read at 241 pages with lots of beautiful pictures. This was a wonderful surprise.

Watch Fringe, please!

I am a big fan of the TV show Fringe. It is so smart, fun & funny, exciting, gross and touching. I watch it all the time, have the first 2 seasons on DVD and seriously ship Peter & Oliva. The first show that really drove me into obsessive fandom like this was The X-Files. The parallels between these two shows are icing on the cake and they even gave a shout out to it in one episode, saying the extreme cases they were working on would have been under the old "X" designation years ago. And much like I did for Mulder in days of old, I now have a serious crush on Peter Bishop as played by Joshua Jackson. I visit a site called Fan Forum and wax rhapsodic about him with others of like mind under the nom de plume "fringe du jour". I also like to talk about just him at the Joshua Jackson site, Fringe at the Fringe site and his other work as Pacey in Dawson's Creek. When I fall, I fall hard and it is complete (in my X Files days it was fan fiction, magazines and conventions). I find that I enjoy sharing ideas with other fans so much that I will post in other areas of the forum for shows like True Blood and Veronica Mars. I had somebody introduce me to Veronica Mars not too long ago and now I just love it. I can't believe I didn't watch it before. Oh well, at least Netflix has allowed me to watch and enjoy it all. The reason I bring this up is that Fringe is in danger of being canceled prematurely, much like Veronica Mars and another excellent show Firefly. I want to encourage everybody who likes great TV to give this show a try before its gone. The first season was good but gets progressively better and season three has been off the hook.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years. Ours was low key. Lots of nibbles and games with some good friends. Almost perfect if you ask me. I always make resolutions at this time like a lot of people, whether I can keep them our not is the question. Some I'll share, others I will keep to myself. That way I am letting down only me. This year, I am finally giving up cigarettes. I am so tired of smoking, it is time. And good riddance. I have many reasons for this, some far more important than others, but all valid ones. I will strive to get my Bachelors Degree this year too. Thus opening up a brand new career path for me. I am excited about that.

2010 was a wild ride from the oil gusher in the gulf to Republicans taking the house, Citizens United to the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell. The financial and employment outlook is still grim but on the home front both of us are working. California is washing away while those back east are frozen. It will be fascinating to see what this next year brings both for us and the world.

My thoughts and love to all my family and friends, even those I don't see anymore. So many people that have come and gone in my life, but all important in one way or another. I look forward to sharing 2011 with all of you.