Tuesday, June 23, 2009 by admin.

Today is Joss Whedon’s birthday. He is 45 years young today. I, for one, am glad his parents created him and salute them for their blessing!

On a completely different note… Did you ever have an absolutely crappy day that ended unexpectedly and reminded you that you are not alone in the universe? Today was one of those days for me.

It started out very stressful and ended with an expected encounter with a friend at Wal-Mart, of all places. It was just one of those synchronicity things. I worked late tonight so I got to the store later than I usually would. The friend in question was meeting another mutual friend to pick up her computer to fix it. I needed a hug and there he was, all smiles and a quick-witted comment to make me laugh. Thank you, to whom ever orchestrated that! Everyone at Wal-Mart was polite and nice tonight too, which is an unusual occurrence. A much needed end to an otherwise bad day.

I’m going to spend what’s left of this evening remembering that life is tough for everyone right now and feel grateful for what I have. Like my Grandma used to say, it’ll all come out in the wash.

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Sunday, June 21, 2009 by admin.

Last night I went to the local Can’t Stop The Serenity (CSTS) screening of “Serenity” and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog. The event was sponsored by the Southern Nevada Browncoats for Equality Now. A smattering of Firefly fans showed up to the event held at The Sci Fi Center at Commercial Center in Vegas. There were some technical difficulties during the first part of the movie but once they got all that worked out everyone had a good time. They had a raffle and my good friend Rani won two out of the three prizes which happened to be a nice matching necklace and earrings set with the Serenity logo. We wished there had been more singing participation during the Dr. Horrible’s screening. I guess they should visit a Southern California Browncoats event to see what a screening is really all about. The SN Browncoats wish to build interest in our local club and I aim to help them by providing information here. The club is planning on putting on a “shindig” here in town. I’ll keep you posted on the details.

Incidentally, before the screening Rani and I stumbled upon a little known local phenomenon. Well, little known to us anyway! There is a Thai restaurant in Commercial Center called Lotus of Siam that we both remembered visiting in the distant past so we decided to meet there. We arrived at 5 p.m because I assumed they would be open for dinner by then. Silly me. The restaurant didn’t open up until 5:30 and there was quite a line that formed waiting for it to open.  Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Commercial Center but it’s located in a not so nice part of town - within a 2.5 square mile radius of the Las Vegas Convention Center that has the highest incidence of violence, robbery and rape in the entire city. I used to work in the area and can vouch for the validity of that statement. One time we were locked down in the building because there was a shoot out between the police and a guy who went off his meds. But I digress… Suffice it to say, there’s not much to look at and the area’s sort of seedy. Rani and I are of tough mettle so we braved the area for the screening and, being that we were hungry and like good Thai food, we decided to visit the restaurant. Apparently we weren’t the only ones that remember their food favorably because as soon as those doors were opened, it was standing room only. They didn’t have many tables available and we were lucky to get one in the back by the kitchen. There was a group behind us and they tried to plead their case for a table by telling the hostess they came all the way from Texas! Who knew it was such a Vegas hot spot? Apparently everybody there but us; most had called ahead for reservations. I understand what all the fuss is about and it’s worth fighting the crowd to eat at Lotus of Siam because the food is awesome. It’s some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. I think they filter their water too because it was really, really good–not that nasty Vegas water you are usually presented with that requires two lemon wedges before you can even consider consumption. Well worth a visit but remember to call ahead and make a reservation! Their number is 702-735-3033 if you’re interested.

Today I’ve been doing homework and chilling out, mentally preparing myself for work tomorrow. I have to do my bi-weekly ironing yet today. Very exciting stuff. Hope you guys are having a great weekend!

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Wednesday, June 10, 2009 by admin.

Set your DVRs! USA just announced that the premiere of Season 4 of Psych will be August 7. If you haven’t watched Psych before I highly recommend it. Shawn and Gus are two of the most entertaining characters on television. The show is an giant homage to the 1980s in addition to plenty of comedy and mystery to keep everyone in your family entertained.  I saw at Target this evening they have seasons 1 and 2 of Psych for $13.99 each (in-store only). They also had all three seasons of Arrested Development and a several others for that low price as well. I also picked up a DVD set of Superman I-IV (with Christopher Reeve) for $9.99. They had a few four movie compilations, including The Matrix Trilogy plus the Animatrix. Four movies for 10 bucks is a good deal no matter how you slice it.

Just a reminder that season 2 of True Blood starts this Sunday. HBO has posted some videos on their site to help you get in the mood. I’m excited to see what’s in store for the new season. I was visiting Charlaine Harris’ web site to see if there was any True Blood info and I saw she has a Sookie Stackhouse book coming out in October. It’s a compilation of her Sookie short stories called “A Touch of Dead“. You can pre-order the book on Amazon.com now. I had no idea the short stories even existed! I’m not surprised though. Janet Evanovich does a similiar thing with her Stephanie Plum series, except I guess you would classify them as novellas, really. Speaking of Stephanie Plum the next book, “Finger Lickin’ Fifteen” goes on sale June 23. It’s available for pre-order too.

I love pre-ordering on Amazon. When they lower the price by $1 just before release I feel like I’m getting a deal. I know it’s purely psychological but it makes me feel better. Most of the time Amazon does have the best prices on the web. Sometimes you can find better deals at Tower.com but the free shipping takes forever. Tower has all of the Sookie Stackhouse paperbacks for $5.99 right now, by the way. You’ll have to pick through the list to find them but it’s worth it. You can see the bibliography at the Charlaine’s web site linked above.

Well, that’s all for me on this fine Wednesday evening. Type again to you soon!

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Sunday, June 7, 2009 by admin.

I’ve been having another quiet weekend at home rewatching seasons one and two of Psych and doing mundane tasks such as laundry, ironing and homework. Wow, my life is exciting.

I did watch the premiere of Burn Notice, albeit late because of a DVR malfunction. I saw my DVR was recording at the proscribed hour but when I went to view the show, Burn Notice was mysteriously absent from the list of recorded shows! I, of course, yelled at my poor cable box, to no avail, took a deep breath and then prayed that USA would show it again. I discovered they have a 6 a.m. replay on Saturday mornings. This time my DVR played nicey-nicey and I got to watch. I thought it was a strong start for the season and it had high ratings. Of course there’s not much competition right now, mind you, but kudos to USA anyway.

The real reason I’m writing tonight is because I wanted to let Firefly fans know about the Can’t Stop The Serenity (CSTS) screening for charity. In case you don’t know about CSTS, screenings of “Serenity” are held around the world in honor of Joss Whedon’s birthday (June 23) and the proceeds go to Joss’ favorite charity, Equality Now.

The Las Vegas Event is going to be held Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 7 p.m. at The Sci Fi Center, 2520 State Street (near Sahara and Maryland Parkway). Tickets are $5. You can get more information by contacting our local Southern Nevada Browncoats (of which I am a member) at SNBrowncoats@yahoo.com or by calling The Sci Fi Center at 702-792-GEEK (4335). This year’s screening will include prizes and raffles as well as a showing of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, which is always great fun. Come out and join us!

If you’re interested in joining the Southern Nevada Browncoats visit http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/VegasBrowncoats/.

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