Sunday, July 19, 2009 by admin.

This is the first week of the year where I’ve said, “Man, it’s hot!” We were blessed with mild weather in June and now summer has officially arrived. It looks like we’re moving into a monsoon type cycle like the Phoenix area. I was discussing that with my neighbor last night because it rained yesterday. Not just a little itty bitty baby storm like we’re used to here. It freakin’ poured! Then we had lightening storms all night long. I felt like I was back in Phoenix! I wonder if blinding dust storms are just around the corner…

I’ve long blamed the humid, suffocating monsoon season in Phoenix on the artificial lakes. It used to be a dry heat, then they started building all these planned communities with water features and man-made lakes. Pretty soon July and August began to feel more like Atlanta than Phoenix and my make-up used to literally melt off my face in the afternoons. Men didn’t have that issue so much I’m sure, but we ladies did.

Now the same thing is happening in Las Vegas. We’re used to 2-5 percent humidity on average and today, for example, the humidity is 15 percent. That may not seem like much but when you’re used to 3 percent and it’s 115 degrees on top of it all…it’s a might bit uncomfortable.

That’s why I’m looking forward next week to those 80 degree days they’re having in San Diego for Comic-Con. My friend Rani and I have hashed out our panel schedule and I have all of my paperwork in order. Just have to swing by Trader Joe’s to get some more provisions, make a list of things to bring and start packing! If you’re going to the convention, you should check out Matt Goldberg’s 5 Tips for Surviving Comic-Con. Stay tuned for photos and other information for the Comic-Con convention starting next Thursday!

One other purchase I made to prepare for the con, and because they had me at “digital compass” is the new iPhone 3GS. Not that I need a digital compass, but it has a severally high coolness factor and who knows? I may need it sometime while hiking; I’m just sayin’.

I was hesitant to make the switch from my BlackBerry because I liked the convenience of using my fingernails to type. I was worried I would have too severe of a learning curve with the digital keyboard on the iPhone. My fears are allayed because I’ve only had it a few days but I’m getting proficient already.

Actually, like other Apple products I don’t know how I lived without it–I am a Mac Jedi you know =]. I can get all emails for all of my accounts on there if I so choose. I can use Facebook and Twitter using the free apps from the Apple Store. It’s an iPod too, so my little Nano will be used strictly at home to listen to music. Because the iPhone screen isn’t the size of a postage stamp, it’s actually convenient to watch shows and movies on. I can even connect to the university web site and answer discussion questions or read course material. In short, I’m glad I took the plunge and joined the iPhone revolution.

Speaking of Facebook and Twitter you can connect to me on either site to follow me at the convention. Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/macjedi and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mac_jedi. If you don’t know what either of those things are let me know and I will write a novice guide to social networking. =]

By the way, I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night. It was marginallly better than the last but for some reason David Yates has made Harry Potter a yawn inducing experience. There were a few good scenes and some funny parts but on the whole not as much action as the book. I used to go to see Harry Potter on opening day. I even used to take off work early to see it. Now it’s like any other film that I’d like to see but not overly excited about which is sad, really. I’ll watch the next two but I’m not going to rush to theater to see them or buy the DVDs on release day. I can wait.

On another note, the theater was packed with people so clearly the Harry Potter name is still drawing audience. Quite a few very young kids were in the theater in spite of the PG-13 rating and moments that would be scary  for younger children. More than once I heard a screaming kid and kid-size footsteps running up and down the stairs. Seriously, what are people thinking bringing a 4 year old to a movie like this?

I’m stepping off my soap box and bidding you all adieu for the day.

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Saturday, July 11, 2009 by admin.

Howdy, everyone! Lately, I’ve been getting over the creeping crud and doing homework like a good little girl. I need to get better because less than two weeks from now sleep will be hard to come by.

I’m preparing to attend my first ever San Diego Comic-Con at the beautiful San Diego Convention Center. So far, my penchant for organization is working in my favor:

Convention Pass: purchased in December, so, check!

Hotel: booked in March and double-checked last week, check!

Trolley Passes: purchased and are on their way to me via snail mail, check!

Panel Schedule: mmm, not so much.

That’s where I hit a snag. I’ve been pouring over the program posted on the web site trying to figure out what I really want to see. There are so many panels that overlap it’s hard to choose. Sunday’s program hasn’t been posted yet and I assume that day’s panel selections will make it really difficult to choose.

I’m really glad I had the forethought of purchasing a 4-day pass. Wednesday night’s preview includes screenings of three new TV shows debuting in the fall: “Human Target” (USA) - based on a DC Comic starring Jackie Earle Haley, Tricia Helfer and Danny Glover; “V“- a re-imagining of one of my favorite 80s sci-fi shows bursting with genre stars such as Morena Baccarin, Joel Gretsch and Elizabeth Mitchell; and “The Vampire Diaries” (CW) - the new lead-in to Supernatural starring Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley. Click here for descriptions from the Comic-Con web site if you’re interested.

I’ll be blogging, FaceBooking and tweeting the Con so if you can’t be there I’ll keep you in the loop. Like I said, I’m not really sure when I’m going sleep, or eat for that matter, what with all the activities, web updates and homework I’ll still need to do. The eating can probably be solved by trip to Trader Joe’s for handy provisions before I leave, and the sleeping…well, as they say, I can sleep when it’s over!

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Saturday, July 4, 2009 by admin.

Today is the day we gather together to celebrate our country’s independence and remember the sacrifices our forefathers made to allow our great country to be possible.

I’ve been sick lately *sniff*, which is no fun at all. To pass the time spent sucking on Ricolas and waiting vigil with a box of Kleenex, I’ve been watching season’s 1-3 of Eureka on DVD in preparation for season 4 premiering July 10 on Sci-Fi. Rather, I guess it’s Sy-Fy now. The reasoning for the name change is mind boggling, but whatever. I’m not in the mood to contemplate the return on investment they expect to receive rebranding in the middle of a recession.  Not my problem to solve. Don’t forget that Sy-Fy has a new show starting Tuesday, July 7 called Warehouse 13. Set your DVRs.

The new season of HBO’s True Blood is underway and I’ve got to say it’s awesome. They’ve gone off the book quite a bit but I don’t even mind that much.  Incidentally, season 1 is selling like hotcakes and well worth the ticket price. If you have HBO, you can watch season 1 and any season 2 episodes you missed on demand. Tomorrow night HBO is replaying the first 3 episodes of season 2 back-to-back starting at 8 p.m. Check it out!

Have fun with your BBQs and fireworks but above all be safe.

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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!

Posted in A Little of Everything, TV, Vegas, Movies | Print | 2 Comments »

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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Thursday, May 28, 2009 by admin.

Happy Thursday to you all; one more day till the weekend!

Yesterday I promised to give you a list of the returning summer TV shows and discuss show renewals for the fall season.

Let’s start with our summer list. I’m not going to list EVERY show this summer just the sci-fi or “category: awesome” shows that I know I, and most everyone I’ve spoken with lately, am looking forward to watching, so here goes:

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Thank God for cable or we’d all be bored to tears in the summertime!

Moving on to a little farther in the future. The fall schedules have been released for each of the networks. Getting closer to the start of the season I’ll post a table with the shows and dates and such. I build a spreadsheet every year so I can set my DVR appropriately.

For right now I’ll just list the renewals and cancellations.

Renewals

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Cancellations

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That’s all for tonight folks. Type to you soon…

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by admin.

I haven’t forgotten about all of you! I swear! I’ve just been swamped at work and school with catching up from my vacations this month. I went to Brian Head, Utah the weekend after my trip to Palm Springs and I just haven’t caught my breath yet. Whew!

I plan on writing a longer post tomorrow with a list of the returning summer TV shows and discussing the shows that were renewed (and canceled for that matter) in the official announcements last week.

For now, I will leave you with this tidbit of information for Vegas locals and our summer visitors…

The Regal Texas Station Stadium 18 is offering a Flashback Features series this summer each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m for $5 a ticket. The schedule is as follows:

For more information contact:
Regal Texas Station Stadium 18
2101 Texas Star Lane, at Lake Mead & Rancho in North Las Vegas
702-631-2206

Tonight they were showing Top Gun but I didn’t get the email in time. I think it would be cool to see some of these movies on the big screen again. I am definitely a child of the 80s!

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Friday, May 8, 2009 by admin.

Well, I am happy to announce that J.J. Abrams is indeed THE MAN!

Star Trek was absolutely fantastic! I was half way through the movie and wanted to watch it again. There wasn’t a slow moment; the two hours just flew by. Just one spoiler (skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know), thank you J.J. for showing us how Kirk cheated on the Kobayashi Maru exam. So awesome!

Each actor did a great job of bringing our beloved characters to life. I could sit here and type all day about all of my fave actors in the movie (because I love them all) but I want to give special props to Anton Yelchin and Zachary Quinto who played Chekov and Spock respectively. While Anton didn’t have as much screen time as Zach, his accent was perfect and he was just so darn adorable. Zach, I love you on Heroes and in this movie you made me believe you really were Spock, which is saying something. Spock was always my favorite and I had a crush on Leonard Nimoy when I was a kid. Not sure what that says about me other than the fact I’d rather have a rational, logical man than a swashbuckling womanizer (ahem, Kirk) anyday! I don’t want to say much else because you really need to see this movie. Even if you’re not a sci-fi fan per se you’ll enjoy this film. You don’t have to be a Vulcan ear-wearing, suit-donning Star Trek convention goer to like this film. For the record, I have never, nor will I dress up for a convention. I may wear a T-Shirt but that’s the extent of my nerd-dom.

There’s plenty for fans of the series and movies too. Everyone cheered at the appearance of each character and when the catch phrases were uttered. Just another teeny tiny hint: see if you can catch the voice of one’s of Zach Quinto’s Heroes cast mates in one of the scenes. If you can’t figure it out I’ll post it at a later date. Bottom line, everyone of the actors were superb, the action and special effects were amazing and I could watch this movie 100 times and not get bored.

Before the movie they showed a few trailers for the next movies I’m looking forward to seeing: McG’s Terminator Salvation opening May 21st and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opening June 24th. You can see Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation as well (see, everything comes full circle). They also showed a longer version of trailer that premiered during the SuperBowl alongside Transformers. Now, don’t laugh, but G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra (which opens August 7th) actually looks pretty awesome. I hope it lives up to the trailer!

That’s all for today kids. I’ve got some homework to do and packing to leave the fair city of Palm Springs because I’m off to see my Mom just in time for Mother’s Day.

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Thursday, May 7, 2009 by admin.

As you well know, I love a man in a kilt. I also love Nathan Fillion. Put those two things together and I am one happy girl. Nate was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night wearing a leather Utilikilt in honor of Craig’s Scottishness. Hilarity ensued. Two very funny guys chatting about traditional kilt wearing is my idea of a good time.

Unfortunately, they haven’t posted the full episode on CBS’ website yet and I was only able to find part one of his interview on YouTube. Here it is for your viewing enjoyment:

Hunky Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who you may know as the Comedian in Watchmen and various guest spots on TV, was on Ferguson’s show Monday night. He talked about birds and the new suspense movie he’s about to shoot called The Resident with Hilary Swank, his co-star from P.S. I Love You—it will all make sense when you watch it. Here’s the crazy clip from YouTube:

Other TV news, the season finale hasn’t even aired yet but “Fringe” has been renewed for a second season by Fox. I’m glad that they are giving this show another season. I think J.J. Abrams has another hit on his hands. Leonard Nimoy is guest starring as Walter’s former lab partner William Bell on the season finale on May 12th. Be sure to tune in! Speaking of J.J. and Leonard Nimoy, I’m going to see Star Trek tomorrow morning so I’ll give you a review.

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