Moving! ...back... again...

I've decided to move Sparkle Motion back to Blogspot. I only moved it here in the first place to improve my paid blogging opportunities, and since I'm not doing paid blogging here anymore, that reason is moot. Also, the archives are big enough that it takes for-dadgum-ever to publish it all every time I post. And most importantly, I found a pretty, shiny New Blogger template that I want to use, but it's XML, and I don't have time to figure out how to convert it to Classic Blogger. So, moving.

Lifeinsparklemotion.com should still point you there, but so will jeanjeanie.blogspot.com.

See you there.

Pains in my butt

My butt hurts. Sorry for the lack of TMI heads up, but I'm more into whining than warning right now. Don't let anybody ever try to tell you that swimming isn't good for the glutes. My whole body is sore, actually. I guess this is what I get for skipping the gym four days in a row. Although the butt thing could also partly be because I haven't gotten out of my chair for at least two hours...

I've been spending most of those two hours moving old posts from my fiction blog to my new fiction Livejournal. I would explain here, but I'm already planning to explain at both of those other places, and I'm too sleepy and sore to explain it all a third time. Yes, sore butt does in fact make it difficult to type. Hush.

Tonight I'm meeting Tess for dinner and then we're going to see RENT. This has always been one of my favorite musicals, and I've only seen it once before (not counting the movie), so I'm not sure why I'm not really that excited about it. I think I might have outgrown the whole celebrating rebelliousness and individuality and diversity message of the show. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those things, but I've reached a point in my life where I'm pretty comfortable embracing my homogeneous middle class mediocrity. I'm not sure how many years ago I saw the show last, but I'm pretty sure I was still in my twenties. At twenty-something, the bohemian lifestyle is a lot more attractive and romantic than it is at (not quite yet) thirty-five. Now it's more like, "Stop whining and get a day job! Grow up and take some responsibility for your life! Get off my lawn!"

But still, the music is awesome. I'm sure I'll be more psyched about it once I get there. I'm also sure it has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I haven't slept properly in days, thank you so much Daylight Savings Time.

Beowulf

Husband and I really wanted to go see this movie in 3D when it was playing at the IMAX over the holidays, but it just never worked out. Having watched it on DVD on our sad little regular-def 19" TV this past weekend, we now know what a tragedy it is that we missed the chance to see this much awesomeness amplified by like a thousand.

We watched the unrated version, which was pretty no-holds-barred with the violence and gore...which is part of what made it so damn awesome, actually. It was a fantastic take on the story, and I was riveted to the screen for most of it, the only exceptions being after the exceptionally cool bits when we'd start geeking out over what a perfect medium this would be for A Song of Ice and Fire; but then that just gave us an excuse to rewind and watch the cool bits again, so that worked out.

As for the animation, at times it was mind-blowingly realistic, but at rarer times it missed the mark by a wide enough margin as to be mildly distracting, but that's a small quibble. This movie has earned itself a permanent spot in our collection. And if it ever makes it back to the IMAX, or even just to a big screen somewhere, we are THERE.

Something's brewing at Tor.com

Looks like my source was correct about what Tor is up to. According to Patrick Nielsen Hayden, in addition to a blog, the site will...

"...feature new original fiction on a regular basis, illustrated under the supervision of art director Irene Gallo, and that these original stories—free of DRM, offered as part of the blog feed and also Available For Your Convenience in a variety of other formats—will have their own associated open comment threads, just like everything else on the blog. We know that there will be lightweight “social networking” features for registered users, including the ability to form mutual-interest groups through tagging and the ability to create journals and/or discussions of their own. Most of all, we know that the real point of the exercise isn’t to create yet another blog, but rather, a place and a context for the lively, ongoing, wide-ranging, and profoundly self-organizing discussions that have characterized the science fiction subculture since its earliest days."

So basically, it's the fanzine meets Web 2.0. Sounds pretty good to me.

Musings

Jason Castro reminds me of a long lost Hanson brother raised by Rastafarians.

Rastafarian is a fun word.

Random strange guys who call me "sweetheart" as they pass me on the sidewalk do not flatter me or make me feel good about myself. They just make me feel...ick. Really, ick. It's right up there with the twits who command me to smile. It's demeaning, belittling, irritating, and not to mention incredibly presumptuous. If you're a guy who does this? I don't know a single woman who likes or appreciates this sort of thing. So knock it off.

I'm willing to give the guy from this morning the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't shooting for any of the above. But I figure they're never shooting for any of the above. Nevertheless, this is how it's usually received. So again, just stop it.

Drivers in Tulsa are just friggin' insane. Myself excluded, natch.

But seriously, I was recently given the bird AGAIN for no discernible reason whatsoever, other than perhaps that I signaled to change lanes. And that's exactly what's wrong with drivers in this town. DRIVERS OF TULSA: You are SUPPOSED TO SIGNAL. Signaling is NOT an ACT OF AGGRESSION. It's a polite notice of intent. Signals are for OTHER DRIVERS' BENEFIT, not for your own, except in that warning people that you're about to slow down to turn or get in front of them is a good way to prevent yourself from getting rear-ended.

Um, wow. Wing, Glark & Sars are leaving TWoP. I've had my issues with those guys over the years, but that site also was the foundation upon which my crazed Buffy obsession was built (when it was still Mighty Big TV), and the forums served as a springboard for some fun, if fleeting, friendships. I know the site itself isn't going anywhere, but it just won't seem the same without them. It's definitely the end of an era.

Quickly, before I have to race the sleet and snow home

Links of interest on this dreary Monday morning:

This is quite possibly the neatest web design in the history of web designs.

This free online Tales of the Slayer comic by Drew Goddard is pretty funny. Lo, the spider-eating man-bitch returneth.

Elsewhere in the galaxy of Buffy alumni, Amber Benson directed a Common Rotation video.

Giving away books online seems to be all the rage these days: Go and read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for free.



In Which I Rant About This Year's "Best Picture"

We used my Friday off to finally see No Country for Old Men. The consensus between me, Husband, and Husband's friend: Eh? It felt like two different movies mashed together. One was a quiet little introspective film about growing old while the world changes around you and you feel helpless to stop it, and in the middle of this somebody plopped the first two-thirds of a really kick-ass action/thriller. We loved the action/thriller part--and Javier Bardem definitely earned that Oscar. That guy was CREE. PEE.--that got us all worked up and invested in Josh Brolin's character and his plight, only to have it end abruptly, any resolution having happened off-screen and returning to the introspective old man movie, which also ended abruptly, and pretty much left the three of us sitting there going, "What the eff was that?" That said, the acting, cinematography, dialogue, etc. were all excellent. But I have many, many issues with the story structure and pacing, and I feel like the intent was to play around with story structure in unexpected ways for the sake of ART, at the audience's expense, and really, I can't stand that crap. I want a resolution to my story. What's more, I want a resolution to the story I spent almost two hours getting really invested in. I want characters that exist for more than the sake of getting killed in shocking and violent ways. I don't want to be jerked around and left feeling like I just had my lunch money stolen. Boo, Cohen brothers. Boo.