Friday night, starving (breakfast for dinner!)

[cleolinda]

So I went and visited Della, the Goddess of Hair, and had mine done and now it is soft and silky and fluffy. Okay, maybe a little too fluffy, but that's nothing that washing it can't fix. (FYI if you're in Birmingham: They're dismantling much of the Riverchase Galleria Belk's and moving most of the merchandise to a [new? returned?] McRae's, while the cosmetics and fragrances will go to Parisian's. Except that, rather than "moving" it, they're slashing prices. I mean, seriously--I saw a clothing department where everything was 50% off, and then 75% off that. Everything must go, literally.) Then I got myself two bottles of OPI (everything! MUST! GO!) and some Haagen-Dazs (Belgian Chocolate Chocolate. No, that's not a typo). It was a good day. Apparently the rest of my family had a pretty shitty day, but I had nail polish and chocolate. Damn, it's good to be a gangsta.

And then, while I was browsing the OPI racks, it came to me: the solution to my problem. I was trying to stretch one problem (let's call it the London Problem) over a series of four books, long after the action was... no longer in London. Why not go ahead and solve that problem in the first book--make it the big problem in the first book--and let the consequences and reactions to that solution drive the other three? All the same things can happen, it's just that now they'll be happening because of the London Problem rather than in addition to. (Let's put it this way: if you foil an enemy in some way, he's going to be really, really pissed, right? I'm just having the heroes foil him now in one area, doling out other minor defeats over the series, rather than hold it all off until the end. And of course, the heroes suffer some defeats and setbacks as well; I already had most of those locked in.)

And I figured out a really awesome way to do it. Now I just need to read up (more) on organized crime in the Victorian era.


Judge: Same-sex couples can wed in Iowa. Except maybe not: One Gay Marriage, Then Iowa Judge Stays Ruling.

Beer critic Michael Jackson dies.

Feds soft-pedaled breast-feeding advocacy after formula makers complained.

China kung fu monks seek apology for ninja affront. Turn off the internet, we're all going home: there can be no greater headline than this.

Speaking of "the internet": It's Just the 'internet' Now. Thank God--I always wondered why it was "the Internet" and "the Web," but no one ever seems to write about that great show they saw on the Television.

From particle_person: Who Founded Facebook? A New Claim Emerges.

I've never heard of this guy before, but he is courting some righteous ass-kicking here.

Thai Censors Lift YouTube Ban.

'King Tooth' hauls train by his teeth.

Opera singers talk about sordid side of art.

Lone Star Statements: A collection of one-star reviews on Amazon.

Power Women: Forbes' List Of Most Powerful Penis-Lackers Contains Some Surprises.

Depressing Emmy rumors of the day, or No Hugh Laurie for You!

Owenwatch: Steve Coogan Finally Gets His Breakthrough Moment As Owen Wilson's Enabler--according to Courtney Love. But is Love stalking Coogan?

No Pictures Means No: Sienna Miller Photo-Op Marred By Ugly Accusations Of Camera-Rape.

Photoshop contest: Celebrity Face Transplants. You know what the really weird one is? The Natalie Portman/Keira Knightley, in which there is no appreciable difference. (Actually, weirder: Jessica Biel/Julia Roberts, for the same reason, except that I didn't expect them to secretly be the same person.)

Venice Film Festival: Opening Ceremony and Atonement premiere; more pics from the premiere. Meanwhile, Knightley: "Flashing Starlets Have No Class": "I'm not going to get blind drunk and then stumble out and fall over and puke up in front of people. I'm not saying I don't do that in private, but I try not to. The whole celebrity thing is not magic. They're real people proving they're shittier than everybody else because they don't even wear knickers." This may sound harsh, unless you've accidentally stumbled across night-on-the-town photos of Paris Hilton's hey-hey-AUGH MY EYES. As she gets out of a car. In vivid Technicolor. I'm just saying.

Jodie Foster: Candid Q&A with ''Brave One'' star.

007 Visits Madrid.

New stills! Prince Caspian (I freaked the hell out until I realized they were only production art), Gone Baby Gone, Lust, Caution.

Assorted movie posters, including Beowulf, Michael Clayton, The Brave One, Trade, Sisters, and Lars and the Real Girl.

Cruise Talks Valkyrie.

Shyamalan Addresses Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Rob Cohen Kicks-Off Mummy Blog.

Exclusive Featurette: The Streets Of ‘Darjeeling Limited'; Darjeeling Limited first still of Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman; Wes Anderson Short Film Stars Natalie Portman.

Thornton, Basinger, Routh in New Bret Easton Ellis Movie.

Zellweger and Connick to Get 'Chilled in Miami.'

Danny Boyle Prepares for 'Slumdog Millionaire.'

Verhoeven to Direct 'The Paperboy.'

Zombie Reveals Alternate Ending For ‘Halloween.’

Ang Lee Sidesteps Controversies Over His Latest Film.

John Cusack's Action Hero Dreams Dashed.

Taylor Momsen: From 'Grinch' To 'Gossip Girl.'

Justice League Casting Call.

Dune Film Rumor Emerges.

An Animated 'Goonies' Sequel?

Is ‘Iron Man’ An Anti-War Film?

Are the eggs ready yet? Seriously.

Comments

[brainchild129.livejournal.com]

Man, Iowa does not have many claims to awesomeness, but if they would have stuck to their guns about the gay marriage ruling, that would have vaulted them into awesomeness. Alas, it is not to be, because a bunch of middle aged white politicians got scared of Teh Ghey.

I don't hold much hope for the ruling to stay, unfortunately. Don't want to scare the easily confused, vaguely conservative, God-fearin' farmers, especially this close to the primary.

*sigh* Fucking Midwest politics. Makes me ashamed to live here sometimes.

re: Owenwatch

[rebel-waltz.livejournal.com]

it's been like a week since Owen Wilson tried to off himself and i still think of Michael Owen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Owen) whenever someone mentions it.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Zombie Reveals Alternate Ending For ‘Halloween.’

Somebody is giggling quietly to themselves in the headline department, no?
--

I dropped you an email and a comment on an earlier entry, btw.

[megmatthews20.livejournal.com]

Heh...I am actually about to go watch Children of Dune which has lovely McAvoy, and is...well...Dune.

That man roxors...

So does Keira...

cheers here's to hot Scots

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

And then, while I was browsing the OPI racks, it came to me: the solution to my problem. I was trying to stretch one problem (let's call it the London Problem) over a series of four books, long after the action was... no longer in London. Why not go ahead and solve that problem in the first book--make it the big problem in the first book--and let the consequences and reactions to that solution drive the other three?

Shoot - I did the exact same thing with one of my stories. Or actually it's more like I decided to skip to book three and cram what I liked from books one and two into three.

There is some impulse in writers, I believe, to start or end the story in the wrong place.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

And then, while I was browsing the OPI racks, it came to me: the solution to my problem.

Reminds me of my friend who scribbled html/css over the back of her shopping list when the solution to a problem in her new layout suddenly hit her in the middle of Ikea.

[linz-lou.livejournal.com]

"I saw a clothing department where everything was 50% off, and then 75% off that. Everything must go, literally."

Oh, my gosh, are you serious? My sister and I were planning on going shopping tomorrow anyway. We'll definitely have to check that sale out! Thanks for the tip! :D [linz_lou's checking account does not thank you.]

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, if you go to the Riverchase Galleria, scope out all three floors of Belk's. You will literally see empty shelves and jewelry cases.

[zrath.livejournal.com]

"Verhoeven to Direct 'The Paperboy.'"

My first thought was "Aw man! Another dumb videogame movie?!?".
Yeah, I'm old. :)

By the way, I loved Joust to bits. I played it all the time in the arcades.

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

My mom says- and I agree with her- that a person's ethics are shown by how they treat service people. God, that Sharkansky guy sounds like a jackass. And I hate people who let their kids run wild in restaurants to begin with. Show some respect for the waiters, they're trying to make an honest living.

[trash-addict.livejournal.com]

Thankyou, wired.com. You have now justified my use of 'internet' instead of 'Internet' in my thesis, when all the old scholar writing the books on this stuff are still capitalising it.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the opera link, Cleo.

This must be my primary fandom, after all. I've seen every singer mentioned in that article onstage, at least twice.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

Who's the actress they spliced with Tom Cruise? (I don't mean Katie Holmes, I mean the other one.)

[sorchar.livejournal.com]

Okay, dude, the Steve Coogan/Courtney Love thing can go one of two ways. Either you go, "Um, this is Courtney Love we're talking about, not exactly a trustworthy source" or you go, "Dude, if Courtney fucking Love thinks the guy's a sleaze, he must be really bad."

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I'm kind of leaning towards Courtney Love being a whackadoo just because--well, Occam's Razor--but yeah, it's kind of worrying that it might be the other.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Whilst I haven't followed this at all because, uh, I don't care about celebdom one bit, I would be really disappointed to find out Steve Coogan had done such a thing because he's a brilliant comic actor and, I dunno, it seems so... Hollywood, somehow. He's one of the current generation of great British comics and I don't want that to be tarnished.

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Interesting about Wired changing its style rule on "Internet/internet." I've been spelling it lowercased for ages and grudgingly had to capitalize it when I started working at my uni paper, where we follow AP style. They also have stupid, inconsistent things like "Web site" and "Web page" but "webmaster" and "webcam". Wonder if Wired's move to a more sensible rule on this will encourage the AP to do the same--would sure make me happy.

[dzurlady.livejournal.com]

And then, while I was browsing the OPI racks, it came to me: the solution to my problem. I was trying to stretch one problem (let's call it the London Problem) over a series of four books, long after the action was... no longer in London. Why not go ahead and solve that problem in the first book--make it the big problem in the first book--and let the consequences and reactions to that solution drive the other three? All the same things can happen, it's just that now they'll be happening because of the London Problem rather than in addition to. (Let's put it this way: if you foil an enemy in some way, he's going to be really, really pissed, right? I'm just having the heroes foil him now in one area, doling out other minor defeats over the series, rather than hold it all off until the end. And of course, the heroes suffer some defeats and setbacks as well; I already had most of those locked in.)
That sounds pretty awesome!

internets

[sevenmarie.livejournal.com]

my husband and i just call the internet 'the gorewebs'

you know, 'cuz al gore inventend them!

i <3 al gore!