All About Me
The First Evil
User: [info]asta77
Name: The First Evil
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Evil Incarnate and Satan's Hellspawn
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Since I don't have a website, all my fic in one place.

Battlestar Galactica

Time and Space - Lee/Laura
Sway - Lee/Laura
Unrealized Reality - Lee/Laura
Impulse - Lee/Helo
Certainty - Ellen and Zarek

Horatio Hornblower

Merry Christmas, Mr. Hornblower - Archie/Horatio
Comfort - Archie/Horatio

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This morning, I saw an email from DeepDiscount.com informing me they are having a mega sale on DVDs, CDs, and books. So, before I placed my order for the Farscape DVDs with Amazon, I thought I'd take a look at their price - FRELLING $74.38! Yep, they are selling it at 50% off retail. If you want to buy a copy I suggest placing an order before the price goes back up.

Now, Best Buy is selling a limited edition with Peacekeeper Wars included, but I can't rationalize paying a lot more for one disc I already have.

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[info]simplystars made me promise to post as soon as I got home. The 21st century way to let everyone know you're home safe and reasonably sound. My plane actually got in two and a half hours ago, but after a bit of drama involving who would be picking me up at the airport (I ended up taking a cab) and a long chat with my mother, this is my first opporunity to get at the computer.

I had a FABULOUS time and miss everyone already! I do not have enough fan girls near me and that fills me with woe. But I got to spend five fun filled days with [info]danceswithwords, [info]brynnmck, the aforementioned [info]simplystars, [info]50mm, [info]pdxscaper, [info]kernezelda, [info]pukajen and her friend S (who OMG does not have an LJ!) and I got to meet the delightful [info]zegeekgirl.

I'll have much more to say about all of them and the awesomeness of Ben Browder and Claudia Black after I get some much needed sleep. I also was able to catch up on some TV on the plane and I have thoughts on Bones, White Collar and Friday Night Lights. In their own ways, they all rocked last week. :)

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In a few hours, I'll (hopefully) be on the first of two planes heading to LA. The nice thing about a later flight is a) being able to sleep in and b) not having to worry about getting everything packed and organized the night before. Actually, I'm hoping to make it over to the apartment complex office to pick up a package to see if I want to take any of the clothes I ordered with me. :)

And I realized last night I'll have quite a bit of TV I will be missing. I was double and triple checking the DVR setting then realized ALL the shows would pop up on Hulu eventually.

I have no clue what kind of internet access I'll have while away. No one do anything terribly exciting until I get back Monday night, OK? This trip I had the wisdom to not go back to work the next day so hopefully I can recover from the jet lag before dealing with the crazy at work.

::waves::

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I'm a wee bit late with my White Collar thoughts. My digital cable, which had been working fine all day, suddenly decided to get glitchy during the show Friday night. And there was also some travel drama (I'm heading to LA this weekend) which, fortunately, was quickly rectified. I finally had the opportunity to watch a non-glitchy version of the episode Sunday.

White Collar: Threads )

In other TV news, in preparation for ABC's reimagining of V, I watched the original miniseries V and V: The Final Battle yesterday on SyFy. I was pleasantly surprised at how well both hold up. And all these years later I still feel sorry the lizard baby. It's not his fault he was born all green and veiny and tore his way out of his mother's womb! Actually, I found the mother much creepier.

And in case you haven't heard, TNT has saved 'Southland'! TNT purchased the seven episodes that aired last season, plus the six recently filmed. The series is scheduled to return January 12th at 10:00pm. Yep, that's right, it will be airing against Leno and hopefully kicking his ass in the ratings. MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

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It's been awhile, my friends. The skills were a bit rusty. But I've managed to listen to Ron's podcast Jane and Eddie's DVD commentary so you don't have to. To be honest, it wasn't nearly as painful as I feared it would be. Eddie barely spoke! I know! I'm shocked too! I actually felt a bit sorry for Jane. It's clear she didn't think she would be doing most of the talking. By the midway point there were long silences she tried to fill by asking Eddie questions and attempting to get him to speak, with no luck. When he did talk it was mostly to say how "terrific", "fantastic" and "great" the cast and crew were. While it was nice of him to bestow so many compliments on the people he worked with, it makes for a boring commentary track.

So, there is not a lot of revealing information to share.....although there was a small highlight for the Sam/Jean shippers. I had no idea there were Sam/Jean shippers until recently. As a Lee/Sonja shipper, I feel we obscure shippers need to stick together. ;)

The Plan: DVD Commentary )

For those who haven't purchased, rented or acquired the bonus material for The Plan, here is a run down of the deleted scenes.

The Plan: Deleted Scenes )

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Since The Plan leaked last weekend, fandom has had kerfuffle #153. Normally I avoid the drama, but a couple of aspects of this kerfuffle bothered me. Some of the criticism of the film came from people who hadn't seen The Plan yet, a pet peeve of mine. And after reading several angry comments I was left wondering - my apologies for paraphrasing an overused and cliched expression - why we can't all just get along?

Cut for extended blathering on the ship wars. )

And I am DONE writing posts for the day. Phew!

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The Plan: I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. Oddly, I had no strong feelings after watching it. There was some interesting new material, but it felt mostly like someone rewatched the first two seasons, found relatively small gaps in the story, cut and pasted existing footage together, then threw in some new footage to fill in the gaps. While the film didn't really add anything new to the saga, it didn't ruin anything either. My biggest disappointment was a lack of powerful character moments and not a single stunning revelation. The answers given to lingering questions were answers I assumed long ago. While I can pat myself on the back for piecing so much together myself, it doesn't make for gripping viewing.

Cut for the spoilery stuff. )

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I don't have any White Collar icons yet, but I will. Oh, I will. The Fall TV season was off to a slow start for me. Sure, there were some returning shows to hold my interest. Castle is nice, frothy entertainment. House, for the moment, shows small signs of it's former glory. The Office and 30 Rock continue to amuse. I was waiting for Southland to return until NBC made the WTF decision to cancel it two weeks before it premiered. But new series had yet to fill me with any sense of joy. FlashForward has not lived up to the hype. Glee continues to be a mixed bag. Modern Family has fulfilled the promise of being the best new comedy of the season with some genuine laugh out loud moments, but with no comedies around it to interest me, I can catch it any time on Hulu. Let us not even speak of Stargate: Universe.

Following so much disappointment, I had just one series yet to look forward too. One series that had earned good early reviews. One series that starred Matthew Bomer. Matt's (he's credited as Matt for White Collar) Bryce Larkin was one of my favorite things about Chuck. During the pilot for Chuck, I thought, "He can't be dead!" Fortunately, he wasn't. Part of me wished he could be a regular, although he would prove distracting from Zachery Levy; part of me thought it would be awesome if he landed the lead role in a good series. A series I would eagerly look forward to each week. And it happened. :)

White Collar: Pilot )

I'm not sure I'll be so verbose in the coming weeks, but, dammit, I need a show to talk about!

Last week, Entertainment Weekly reported that Hulu looks to begin charging for content in 2010. There are numerous 'How dare they!' and 'I'm through with Hulu as soon as they start charging!' statements left in comments. I love how people feel they are owed free TV and movies. How do they think the product they are watching is paid for? When I clicked on the Broadcasting and Cable link within the article I saw the situation is not as dire as EW reported. I've long assumed the day would come when content would become tiered. For instance, if you want to see episodes the day after they air on the network, you'll have to pay. Want to watch a thirty year old episode of Barney Miller? It's free. I'm actually not put out by the thought of possibly having to pay for some content. Maybe I'll cancel part of my cable package.

And forgive me in aadvance for being spammy this evening. I have two BSG related posts I plan on getting finished tonight. :)

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So, I've been back since Sunday night, but have been battling fatigue and the soul-suckingness of work. Today, for instance, I wanted to lecture a partner on personal responsibility and treat him like the child he was acting as if he was at the same time. Those statement may seem contrary, but if you knew him it would make sense.

But instead of focusing on the negative, let me focus on happy making things. I got to hang out with the awesome Beccatoria! )

I was shocked to learn [info]beccatoria had not yet seen the 'Shatner on the Mount' video that seemed to spread like wildfire on the internet following it's endless showings at Dragon*Con. Just in case anyone else missed this soon to be classic, here it is:



And speaking of Dragon*Con, THEY HAVE GUESTS ANNOUNCED! They've never announced guests this early before! Trek looks to have a large contingent in 2010 with Armin Shimerman, Rene Auberjonois, Mirina Sirtis and Jonathon Frakes already signed. I'm especially pleased to see Frakes listed because I'm hoping he'll talk about his work on Leverage.

And speaking of Leverage, Dean Devlin announced on Twitter that there will be a Leverage convention in Portland March 19th-21st. I'd love to go, but I'm not sure I can fit in the travel.

In TV news, I still find I don't have much to say. [info]beccatoria and I both lamented that neither of us have a show we feel compelled to discuss at length and analyze to death since Battlestar Galactica ended. TSCC was an heir apparent, but we know how that turned out. House is, surprisingly, holding my interest thus far this season. I'm enjoying seeing the old team back together and House is both the same, yet a little bit different. If I had one problem with this weeks episode it was in the last five minutes. The writers went with an ending that lacked balls and didn't make any sense.

Remember how I said I thought the Stargate: Universe premiere wasn't very good, but it didn't feel me with rage? Well, I decided to watch the second episode, which is actually part 3 of the pilot, and there was rage, people. Cut for spoilers and venting. )

And that's probably it for my posting for the week.

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Wow. I haven't posted since September 26th. My life is so boring! The cold, hard truth is it's a new season of TV and I have nothing I'm fannish about. It's a first for me. I've always had one show that I could go on and on and on about. You know me. There are shows I enjoy (Castle, Modern Family, Bones, The Office, Community). Shows that I feel have moments of brilliance and the potential to be great when I'm not thinking "Die, Terri, Die!" (Glee). Shows that I Hulu at work (Fringe) because I don't care that much about them. I have some thoughts about House, but I'm not nearly as invested in the show as I used to be. Hugh Laurie is still awesome and there are moments that remind me of why I once loved the show, but I feel as if I can walk away and not look back at any time.

Spoilers for this weeks 'House'. )

I gave Stargate: Universe a shot. It didn't fill me with rage as I feared, but it's just not any good. In the first fifteen minutes they ripped off the opening Alien and a plot point from The Last Starfighter. Let me repeat that last bit. They stole from The Last Starfighter. But the worst part may be that none of the characters are likable. (Or hot. How can a 'Stargate' series have no hot guys?) And when SyFy told the producers they wanted a darker show like BSG, they apparently took that to mean literally turning down the lights.

I recently rewatched Season 1 of Leverage, with the episodes in the order they were intended to air, which allowed me to develop an even deeper appreciation of the the show and I feel as if I've gone from really liking it to loving it. I even began listening to the episode commentaries, which I rarely do, and found myself jotting down notes. I think it's become a compulsion after years of BSG podcasts. Before I try and break myself of the habit, would anyone be interested in highlights from the commentaries?

In Dollhouse news, there will not be a third season. There, I said it. Also, I saw Eliza Dushku on The Late Show last night wearing an outfit only a Goa'uld would love.

I'm heading to New York City this Friday to meet up with [info]beccatoria. I'M SO EXCITED! Three days of talking about BSG! And Lee and Laura! And vids! And Fic! And, oh, yeah, seeing some sites. We're also hoping to meet up with a few people while there. ::crosses fingers::

So, yes, back to LJ silence for while.

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As many of you know, I am not a Dollhouse fan. I tried, really. I've liked all of Joss's other TV series, but with Dollhouse I had too many issues with the concept and casting and I gave up. I even declared I would never watch again.....unless Jamie Bamber made a guest appearance. Very funny, Joss.

Since I had to watch another episode, I tried to go in with an open mind. Maybe the writing got better. Maybe the themes were less sketchy. Maybe Eliza took acting lessons over the summer. But fifteen minutes in, I realized all the old issues I had were still there. So, if you love the show, you may want to skip what I have to say. If you love Jamie Bamber and/or Amy Acker, you may wish to read what I have to say. And if you are going to try and convince me why I should love the show, please don't waste your time.

Dollhouse: Vows )

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I don't think I've discussed Glee at all, but we're up to episode four and I seem to have a different take on the than many viewers. I haven't found 'Somebody to Love' ;) yet on the show, which may be why I can't seem to work up the same enthusiasm as others. But there is also the writing which I find problematic.

Glee: Preggers )

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The new TV season sneaked up on me and I'm already behind on posting about TV. I figured I better get Monday's thoughts posted (I didn't have anything but Flipping Out to watch last night and all I can say is Jeff Lewis is funnier than Jay Leno ;) before a glut of new TV tonight and tomorrow night and 'Damn You Joss Whedon for Making Me Watch Dollhouse' Friday night.

House: Broken )

Castle: Deep in Death )

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I'm still not sick, but am suffering from some sort of post con extreme exhaustion, hence my long delayed second post. So, without further adieu.....

Why I Now Hate Paul Campbell )

Speaking of the Quadrangle of Doom, [info]ddt73 posted the extended cut of the Lee/Kara scene from 'Taking a Break...' that was included in the BluRay box set. There is some interesting discussion on the scene in comments on ddt73's post as well as in comments on [info]taragel's post. Of course, as a Lee fan and as someone who doesn't ship Lee and Kara, I have a different take on the scene. ;)

Cut for My Thoughts. )

No promises on when my next DC post will be, but I foresee one more BSG related post, followed by thoughts on 'Buffy', 'Trek', 'Stargate', and 'Farscape' because I actually do have other interests! ;)

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Yeah, I'm already behind on posting highlights from the con. Thus far, I've managed to avoid full blown illness, but I do feel exhausted so I'm trying to rest as much as possible. I have no plans this weekend so, hopefully, I can catch up on a lot of stuff. Including laundry.

But, I did want to make a public service announcement. Rooms are available for DragonCon 2010! At least if you want to stay at the Hyatt, Hilton, or Sheraton. The Marriott will not open reservations until October 1. This has been confirmed by DC and quite a few people who asked as they were checking out of the Marriott. I just reserved as a room at the Hyatt as a Plan B using this link. No code is necessary since it's a site set up specifically for DC reservations. If you click on the link for a four night stay, you may get a message stating no rooms are available. If you go back and click on the link for a three night stay, you can put in the dates you want and it will let you reserve a room, though the cost is a few dollars more per night. I don't get it either.

The Hilton's site is here and the code you'll need is DGC. The Hilton will charge you for one night's stay immediately. This is the main reason I made the Hyatt my Plan B.

I didn't look at the Sheraton's site. I'm lazy and don't want to walking two blocks to panels.

Most of the above I gathered from [info]dragonconrooms which is a great source for information. Also, the Daily Dragon on Twitter first alerted me to rooms being made available for next years convention.

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I'm back from DragonCon. I've been back almost 24 hours, but this the first time today I felt like I could sit at the computer and post. I don't think I've developed a full blown illness, but I was sick both Friday and Monday at the con and have felt exhausted all day. So while I feel better at the moment, I thought I would attempt making a post.

As with every DC I attend, there were highs, there were lows, and there was various success in getting to see people. I hung out most of the weekend with [info]danceswithwords, [info]thmoasina75, [info]molly_may, [info]50mm, and [info]sugargroupie. I did manage to have a lovely conversation with [info]frolicndetour as well as catch up with [info]nicole_anell, [info]sebaceanbabe, [info]greycoupon and [info]rebelliousrose. And I got to meet [info]emmiere, [info]cujoy, and [info]nnaylime as well as a friend of Nnaylime whose LJ name escapes me. Sadly, I missed meeting up with [info]wisteria_, though I caught glimpses of her at the BSG panels and [info]taragel.

I've been thinking about how to do posts this year. Do to illness and other things I did practically no posting after the last two dragon cons. It an era of YouTube it seems silly to spend hours typing up detailed recaps when the panels will soon be online. (The Nimoy/Shatner panel and one Stargate panel are already posted in their entirety.) Plus, after seeing four BSG panels, the information starts blurring together. So, I'm opting to do a series of shorter 'highlight' posts. I'll also post some photos, after I download and edit them, since I feel I got some good shots.

Today's post I think may be the most popular and led [info]frolicndetour to say, "You are posting this to LJ, right?" ;)

Mary McDonnell is even more awesome them we thought (spoilers for 'Daybreak'). )

Tomorrow's DC Post: 'Why I Now Hate Paul Campbell'

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I'm about to shut down the computer and finish packing. I have no idea what, if any, internet access I will have so I may not be back online until Tuesday. Hopefully, only good things will be going on with you all and Jamie Bamber doesn't do anything exciting while I'm gone. :)

Current Mood: anxious

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2009 Programming Changes ยป Daily Dragon

Edward James Olmos is out and Michael Hogan is in. Still no word on what this means for the 10am panel on Friday. Mary certainly could do a solo panel, but perhaps she'll be added to the afternoon panel.

ETA: Just saw a comment on another post that states the DC Director of Programming has said Mary still plans to do the Friday panel.

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New deleted scenes from Battlestar Galactica are making there way to the interwebs. I'm assuming these are all from the BSG BluRay box set - if I'm wrong, please correct me. On the set is a quiz and if you answer all the questions correctly you unlock a series of deleted scenes. I've read there are a total of seven clips. The first deleted scene I came across is from The Passage and involves Laura Roslin addressing the fleet inter-cut with shots of Sharon and Helo, Adama, and Kat among others. The scene was long, over four minutes. Unfortunately, the poster has now locked their post and I haven't located an alternate source for it.

[info]kellychameleon3 has posted a transcript (transcribed by [info]ds888) for an extended cut of the scene between Lee and Kara in 'Taking a Break from All Your Worries'. I'm rather glad we only saw what we saw. The extended cut leaves me even more confused as to what is going on with Lee and Kara and a remark about Sam doesn't really gel with what happens in Season 4.

Thanks to various people I was pointed in the direction of the rest of the scenes.

Video of the Five Other Deleted Scenes )

In other news, the 2009 Dragon Con is testing me. Now the Shatner/Nimoy panel has been moved to the Centennial I-III with the Q&A being broadcast to the Atrium. Which a) means they know this is going to be the biggest line EVER and b) I have to decide whether to get in line for the panel or the overflow. O_o Or just say screw it and watch it on TV. Tough I really would like to say I was there and nit sitting in my room. Sigh.

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