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.

Important Fangirl Reminder

Best not be forgetting that Teh Marsters is on Torchwood tomorrow night on BBC America.

That link takes you to a TV Guide interview.

In other loosely 'verse-related news, Episode 6 of The Guild is up. Poor Codex.

News from the outer territories of the 'verse

Poor Young Simon Tam: Zac Efron had an emergency appendectomy.

Yay River! Her new show is doing well enough in the ratings that it probably won't get canceled! This pleases me. If you still don't know what all the hubbub is about, you can see the pilot episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles free on iTunes (direct link).

But she'll always be River to me.

Cameron! That's her name. *slaps forehead*

Thanks, Io9.

Io9 interviews Summer Glau.

Let's all defy gravity.

Awesomesocks, indeed. This gave me chills. And I might have something in my eye.

Firefly & Serenity fanvid: Defying Gravity

I totally feel you, Megan.

I miss Buffy the Vampire Slayer too.

Is it still slash if it's canon?

Did I say posting would start yesterday? BWAH HA HA!

But seriously. I watched a lot of movies on my break, and read a lot (that's part of the problem right there--I'm still in more of a mood to read than I am to write), and reviews are coming...sometime. I am gradually getting my blogging act back together, though, so that's something.

Here, have some man candy.



The slash writes itself.

Nobody truly outgrows fandom.

Substitute "Fred Thompson" for "Ron Paul" and this is totally me.

Hi there! Actual blogging will commence tomorrow.

Guh. *thud*

Dear Heroes writers, producers, et al:

Can the next showdown between Peter and Sylar please, PLEASE happen completely sans shirts?

Pretty please? I'll bake you a pie.

Better yet, I'll buy y'all some (more) pencils!

Lustingly,
Jean

Cloverfield

Oh noes! The LOST Monster's loose in NYC!!!1!

But seriously... I can't wait for this movie. JJ + Ultimate Drew = HAWESOME!

There are no vikings here.

Sugar Shock! Part 3: The Greatest Story Ever Blogged.

If you need catching up on this awesome and hilarious web comic by some guy whose name I forget...something like Josh Sweden? Anyway. Here's part 1. And here's part 2.

TV Boyfriend Tuesday: Heroes Edition, Part 1

It has come to my understanding that Heroes just has too damn much hotness to be contained in a single post. So consider this first in a series.

Jess who now?





Senator Delicious





Who's your daddy?




Credits: miloventimigliafan.com; adrianpasdartributesite.com; IMDB; TV Guide

Yes, I know the captions are lame. I have a headache. Just hush and enjoy the pretty.

Thursday Thirteen #7: Fangirl Edition

Thirteen Fannish Obsessions I've Had Throughout Life, in Chronological Order 1. Star Wars (at four years old, seeing this movie pretty much sealed my geek fate) 2. Freddy Kreuger 3. Star Trek 4. The Vampire Lestat (the anti-Spike!) 5. Batman/The Joker/Harley Quinn (no, not like THAT! Ew. Although I'm sure there's fanfic....) 6. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Sigh and swoon!) 7. The Phantom of the Opera 8. The X-Files (...movie! Yay!) 9. Gargoyles 10. The Entire Whedonverse 11. Farscape (Swoon and sigh and SOB!) 12. A Song of Ice and Fire 13. Supernatural, Heroes and Dr. Who are all contenders for my newest obsession, but none of them are quite there yet. Header graphic by samulli Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Impworks 2. Angela Klocke 3. Lynne 4. Qtpies (See more in the comments!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Shiny Whedonverse DVD Goodness from Best Buy!

All seasons(!) of Buffy and Angel are on sale for $15.99 each at Best Buy! Angel Season 5, you will at last be mine! MINE! Mwah-hahahahaha! (Via Whedonesque)

*ahem*

Also, the Serenity CE set is only $17.99, and they're giving away a free Serenity comic, co-written by Joss, along with it.

Shiny!

Buffy fans recognize! Plus: 'Ripper' movie news. TV giveaways, and more

I have a lot of busy-work to catch up on today, which makes for a slow blogging day. Instead of coming up with content of my own, here's what's loaded in all my Firefox tabs at the moment, most of which is Whedonverse related, natch:

@ Physics of the Buffyverse author Jennifer Ouellette reviews Allyson Beatrice's book Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? True Adventures In Cult Fandom. Which, I gather, is more memoir than expose. I avoided The Bronze, so Beatrice never made it onto my BNF radar, but I still think I need to check out this book.

@ Lots of juicy news bites coming out of Joss Whedon's Comic-Con panel, not the least of which is an announcement that the Ripper movie is a go! Yay! Also touches on plans for Angel: Season Six and Buffy: Season Eight (and Nine!!!), including "casting" spoilers for the latter.

@ Nothing But Red is seeking submissions for an upcoming anthology, to be published through Lulu.com, the proceeds of which will go to benefit women's rights organizations (most likely Equality Now). Their mission statement:

The purpose of Nothing But Red is to bring attention to the issue of violence against women worldwide, as well as the continuing need for equality, through art—both written and visual—and by raising money for a charity that strives to help women of all faiths, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, with the support of dedicated volunteers who share a desire to promote equality.

This project was inspired by Joss Whedon's now-famous essay about the televised "honor-killing" of Dua Khalil, who was stoned to death by the men in her family after she had been seen in the company of a man from another faith. I'm still trying to decide whether I'll submit anything, but either way I want to spread the word.

@ On a happier, and non-Whedon-related note: 5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a TV! All you have to do for a chance to win a 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, courtesy of Best Buy, is go comment and then spread the word. Done and done.

@ Finally, one for the Potter-maniac knitters on my list: This Dark Mark Illusion Scarf pattern is made of cool and dipped in awesome sauce. I only wish there were more Harry Potter fans in my inner circle of family and friends, so I'd have an excuse to make one for somebody for Christmas. Hmm, looks like I'll just have to knit one for myself instead. Tragedy!

Fannish tidbits

@ Buffy Singalong this weekend! Yippee! I am, however, kicking myself, because I knew about it months ago, but didn't order tickets right away because A) I was hoping I could convince some friends to come with us and B) I was afraid my husband would change his mind about going. And then I forgot about the whole "needing to buy tickets" part. When I finally remembered and went to buy the online the other day, the 10:00 PM showings on both nights were sold out. So we're going to a midnight showing. Husband is most displeased. He still says he's going, though, 'cause he's all wonderful like that.

@ I ordered my copy of Deathly Hallows, and thanks to a free trial of Amazon Prime, it should arrive tomorrow. I'm still going to try to hold out until I'm done re-reading the other books, though. I'm enjoying reading about Harry's early, more innocent days with the bittersweet knowledge of what's in store for him, but without the ultimate knowledge of how it will all end for him. So long as I manage to stay unspoilt. *knocks MDF*

@ I think I saw somewhere that Buffy: S8 #5 actually ships this week, which would mean it's out today and waiting for me at my comic shop as I type this. I should probably look into that.

@ I haven't had time for a review, but I did watch Dr. Who this weekend. Can I just say that I love Ten? Because I do. He's made of awesome.

@ I caught a new TV spot for Moonlight the other day that showed a little more promise than what I'd seen previously. Greenwalt's influence was coming through loud and clear. That can only be a good thing.

@ My mom just agreed to switch back to Dish Network in exchange for two free DVRs, one of which she'll let us have in our apartment. No more having to share the downstairs TiVo and camp out down there to catch up on my shows on Saturday mornings. This makes it very tempting to scrap that whole "moving to Tulsa" plan and just stay put. Yes, we're cramped and we have no kitchen and the commute is hellish and expensive. But my very own free TiFaux! Priorities, people!

Thursday Thirteen: The "Nerdier Than Thou" Edition

Look, ma! I'm participating!

Thirteen Things you might not already know about why Jean's a giant nerd: 1…. I was first chair alto sax in high school, from the day I finally won it in 9th grade until I graduated, much to the relief of the second chair. 2…. I can also play the harmonica, although I'm no John Popper. 3…. I didn't eat my first sushi until about two years ago, when my husband took me to a sushi restaurant when we first started dating. I didn't know how to eat half of it, and I couldn't handle the chopsticks, and even though I'm pretty sure I embarrassed him, he was very patient with me and had a good sense of humor about it, thereby increasing my already growing suspicion that this was the guy for me. My love for both Husband and sushi has continued to blossom to this day. 4…. I once thought I was a fairly hard-core Trekker. Then I attended my first (and only) Star Trek convention and learned that I was but a lowly padawan (wrong universe, but you get my meaning). Since then, I've grown kinda "meh" about Trek, although I still have a warm, squishy place in my heart for the original series, TNG and DS9. 5…. Speaking of me being a giant nerd, I only stood in line for four hours for the first midnight showing of The Phantom Menace, yet somehow I still got interviewed by a local TV news reporter doing a story on the crazed fans. I mean, other people stood in line for like a month. I don't think four hours made me that crazed. 6…. Except that it would have been more like four days if the theater management hadn't barred us from the premises. 7…. I didn't visit a foreign country until I was twenty-five. 8…. I didn't visit another one after that until my honeymoon last year. 9…. I used to be completely obsessed with the Joker. To that effect, I even built a fairly popular (by those days' standards of popularity, which were definitely not today's standards) fan site about him. 10…. But that's nothing compared to the nerd points I racked up in Buffy fandom, in which I attended two fan conventions, wrote several novels' worth of fan fiction, wrote several academic papers, one of which I even submitted to Slayage for consideration, collected action figures, built web sites, moderated discussion forums, and spent countless hours on IM debating the shows' intricacies with fellow fans. 11…. I still have a sizeable Star Wars toy collection. I wanted to decorate our kitchen with it. Husband said please no. 12…. At the end of the month I'm dragging Husband with me to attend the Buffy Sing-a-long, and I'm so excited I just might pee my pants. 13…. And I'm not even going to get into my whole Phantom of the Opera phase. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. The Rock Chick 2. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Today is like Fangirl Christmas!

It will be at least another year before I get to see it, seeing as how the first season of Torchwood won't kick off until September on any channel to which I have access, but if James Marsters' Season 2 appearance means the Internet will keep on bringing me eye candy like this, then I suppose I can be patient.

Please pardon my squee...

...but there is more, and more notably, new Farscape in the future.

I can't say anything about this news that won't make me sound like a Japanese schoolgirl at a boy band concert.

I want to care.

David Duchovny (why don't you love me?) claims that the new X-Files movie is coming soon. Which leads me to ask myself two questions:

1. Did I know they were making another X-Files movie?

Yes. Yes I did. It's just been so long since anybody's mentioned it that I completely forgot.

2. Do I still care that they're making another X-Files movie?

Yes. Yes I do. Although I had to think long and hard about it to be certain.

In other news:

Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.

Reason: The Websense category "Streaming Media" is filtered.

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C3f3jieOiI

Woe!

Blue Sun Propoganda: "Visit Tranquil Miranda"

I would very, very much like to own a full-size, framed copy of this poster. If I can get ahold of one, it will have a place of honor in my living room. When I have a living room worthy of hanging unabashedly geeky yet nevertheless beautiful posters in, that is.

And now for some peace and quiet. With lightsabers.

Colbert, Whedon and Jackson describe the first time they each saw Star Wars. Excuse me, I have to go home now and watch A New Hope for the eleventieth time. Right after I wipe this nostalgic tear from my eye.

The blog is going dark for a few days. I got approved to be on the every-other-Friday-off schedule, and my first Friday is tomorrow, which means I get a whole entire four day weekend. That comes dangerously close to a vacation! Tomorrow's going to be jam-packed with errands and household chores so that I can devote the other three days to R&R. And also possibly to Star Wars.

Happy Memorial weekend, everybody. Stay safe.

Construction ruckus and fic fracas

It's a slow week here on the blog, partly because I'm busy at work (busy but productive! I actually have time to do the parts of my job that isn't just putting out fires. It's nice), and partly because I just don't feel like saying much. There's construction going on, on the roof above my cube and outside the window five feet away, and it involves a lot of REALLY LOUD pounding, and it's not very conducive to thoughtful post construction. It's more conducive to getting headaches, nervous tics, and having to reign oneself in from jumping up from one's chair in the middle of the workday and screaming "For the love of TiVo, SHUT THE F*** UP!!!!"

It's happening now. "POUND! POUND! POUND! POUND! POUND!" with a slightly less loud "bang-bang, bang-bang, bang-bang" serving as backup.

ANyway.

I'm sure those of you from the fanfic community who either followed or managed to track me down here probably already know about the FanLib fracas, but in case you don't, allow me to point you to it: Making Light blogged it first, and then Scalzi blogged his two cents, and now Lis Riba has uncovered the "shocking" truth of what they're really all about, which is essentially, as Scalzi put it (there's just too much hammering to put it in my own words *tic*), to "[control] and [exploit] [Fanficcers] as cheap labor by the copyright holders."

As I'm not really part of the fic community anymore, I don't really have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said by these guys and others, other than that I took a curious peek, and I don't get what about this site could possibly appeal to veteran ficcers. My guess is it's populated with young, impressionable newbies with high hopes of getting discovered via their fic who think this will get them more exposure than FF.net or a niche archive.

So there, at least, is something to keep y'all busy whilst I get caught up on stuff, or while I'm working things out with my court-appointed attorney for pounding a construction worker in the head.

What I was trying to say about Veronica Mars was...

... pretty much everything she said. Only she said it way better.

Doctor de Carabas

In this lovely introduction essay to a Doctor Who novella, Eye of the Tyger, Neil Gaiman admits that he wrote the Marquis de Carabas (from Neverwhere) as if he were writing his own version of the Doctor.

I can't put my finger on exactly why this pleases me so very much, but it does. I'd never made the connection before, but yes: The Marquis is SO the Doctor.

There goes my Tuesdays.

Veronica Mars is cancelled. I'm not surprised, and after what I've seen of this season so far, I can't say I'm all that heartbroken, except over the fact that it was awesome once upon a time, and that time is no longer.

I've also been storing up the latest round of new episodes, planning to marathon them after the season finale. I'm sure I'll watch them over the summer, but now there's certainly no reason to hurry. At any rate, now everything I watch on Tuesday nights is cancelled. Maybe I should finally check out that House show I keep hearing so much about.

In other news... Reaper sounds an awful lot like a short-lived show I used to watch starring Peter Horton, with Jon Glover as Satan. If I'm going to be pointing out rip-offs, though, then I suppose I have to also mention CBS's Moonlight:

Moonlight (Fridays, 8 p.m.) is a drama about an "undead" private investigator (Alex O'Loughlin) who uses his vampire senses to help humans instead of feed on them. Of course, he also has to deal with the "bad" vampires — including the wife (Amber Valletta) who turned him into one of the undead — and a human reporter he's in love with.

Yes, well. Like they say, there are no new ideas under the sun, and what matters is the execution. Knowing CBS, execution will probably come about three or four episodes in. Badump-bump! Seriously, tho', quality-wise I expect something that really wants to be Angel managing to fall short but at least turn out better than Forever Knight. And I'll betcha this one won't have any puppets.

Goodbye Girls

I haven't yet watched the final episode of Gilmore Girls. It's on the TiVo, but I don't know when I'll get around to it. I've been frustrated with that show more often than not the last couple of years, and I've considered breaking up with it a few times, and I have to admit, when I heard that it was ending, I felt a little bit relieved. Sad, but relieved. But now that it's done, I'm just sad.

These pictures of the remains of Stars Hollow, taken by Pamie, are making me more sad.

I'll probably go ahead and watch the finale this weekend. I feel like I can stave off the end by not watching it, but that would just be prolonging the inevitable.

Goodbye, Gilmore Girls. I never got my wedding under the chuppah, but you still gave me a pretty good ride.

Weekend Pop Culture Roundup, Part 1: The Non-TV Bits

In theaters: Mama Mia! - this would be in the actual theater, pronounced "thee-ah-tah" if you're kind of pretentious. I love this show like I love Abba, which is an unabashed lot. This is the second time I've seen it, and I think I liked this cast better, and not just because the male lead reminded me a heckuva lot of Nathan Fillion. I thought the actress playing Sophie had both a better voice and more chemistry than in the last production I saw, plus, not to imply she had anything but a lovely figure, but I appreciated that she wasn't a twig.

On Netflix: Near Dark - yes, I thought of Nathan Petrelli the entire time I watched this, because it's not as if Adrian Pasdar has had a long and varied career in between now and when this movie first came out. Even so, I started to get the sense that he's getting typecast: likeable, well-intentioned guy with understandable aspirations (getting laid, becoming president... same difference [insert your own Clinton joke here]) gets in over head with evil, murderous group who wants to make him a pawn; he doesn't really want to go along with it, but he doesn't exactly stand up to the bad guys, either, at least until his family becomes threatened. Yes, methinks Pasdar had some prior experience at playing that role. But besides that, Bill Paxton is cheesier and more over-the-top than ever in this movie, and I can't help loving it.

Croupier - this one was a pick from Matt's queue. Clive Owen stars as a writer turned blackjack dealer who's really researching a book, except that secretly he really wants to be dealing, and he almost unknowingly sleeps with his step-mom-to-be... or something. Clive Owen is pretty. That's what I mostly remember. That, and he needs to give The Edge back his hat.

In comics: - I'm slowly but surely catching up on Astonishing X-Men. I read #s 16 and 17, and so far, I'm with Kitty: "YeahbuhWHA?" I need to track down issues 18-20 so I can understand what the heck is going on. What I can say for sure is that I adore Joss's treatment of Wolverine, and also that he's made me love Kitty almost as much as Buffy. And, I hope Emma's not really evil, and has a good excuse.

Weekend Pop Culture Roundup

May is probably not the best time to start a regular feature that mainly focuses on what I watched on TV, considering that the current season is about to wrap up. But summer will bring with it plenty of its own TV goodness, plus we're sure to see more than our usual share of movies, so I'm sure there will still be plenty to talk about once May is over. At any rate, here are brief, single-paragraph reviews of the things that fed my brain over the weekend. All but the first two entries contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen/read them and don't want to be spoiled, just don't read past the title.

In theaters: Hot Fuzz - The reviews were split for this one in the Bauhaushold. It's not quite the laugh-out-loud hilarity of Shawn of the Dead, but even so, I loved it. Matt, however, didn't, and thought it was a major let-down. He thought this movie had less heart than Shawn, but I think it just had its heart in a different place. Where Shawn was, in essence, a romantic comedy, Hot Fuzz is in essence a classic Buddy Cop movie, and I thought it hit every note it was trying to hit perfectly. Also, I laughed. A lot.

From Netflix: Casino Royale - Not a huge fan of Bond movies, but I liked this one. Mostly because Daniel Craig is a beautiful specimen of manhood, and I am a shallow, shallow gal.

On the TiVo: Heroes - First, I was relieved to find out that Sylar, and not Peter, was really the man-bomb--and not just because future Peter was Teh Sexay--until I found out he wasn't, and that he was posing as Nathan, at which point I actually shouted "OH MY GOD!" at my TV, and then I couldn't decide whether I was more sad that Nathan was dead or relieved that he wasn't an evil genocidal hypocrite. The sad thing, of course, is that I totally believed Nathan could turn into an evil genocidal hypocrite. Also: Bennett's still my daddy.

Grey's Anatomy - The part of the show that was actually the show was rather meh. I have to say, I heartily do not approve of this Izzie & George business. This has Marti "Let's make Buffy a rape victim!" Noxon written all over it. Also, yes, we GET IT: it sucks to be Meredith. As for the part of the show that was really a pilot for Kate Walsh's new spin-off vehicle, I'm in favor of anything that heavily features both TimDaly AND Taye Diggs. Did you see the part up there where I'm shallow?

America's Next Top Model - ...speaking of shallow. Man, Brittney was my girl, until she went and unequivocally proved her immaturity to her haters and made a complete embarrassment of herself and anyone rooting for her. Now I think I'm actually kind of secretly rooting for Renee, mainly because I think she's achieved more self-awareness than anyone else in the competition this "cycle," and because I can't help feeling for the girl that everybody hates, even if it is because she started out being a heinous bitch to each and every one of them. But if you ask me, I'll probably say I'm rooting for Natasha, because only the hardest of hearts could remain untouched by that level of naivete.

On live TV: The Amazing Race - Up until last week, I was rooting for Danny and Oswald, so for me it once again came down to trying to decide which would be the least objectionable victory. I actually went with Eric and Danielle, only because they had so much bad luck thrown at them over the course of the race, and managed to get yielded TWICE, and so I thought it would be damned impressive if they won, which they did, so... yay, I guess?

In comics: Buffy: Season 8 #3 - HA! It was Ethan, which also triggered MY "barflex." And triple HA! to Buffy's threesome fantasies. Really, who can blame her? Of course, the big question is, who kissed her? I don't believe it was Xander, as he's obviously moved on to yet another Slayer crush. Also, Warren: Eek! And eew.

Supernatural: Origins #1 - Even wee Dean is a total woobie. I'm sure that comes as a surprise to no one. I liked this... it's an intriguing story, tracing a believable path from how Daddy Winchester went from a stunned and clueless victim to badass vengeful demon hunter. I just wish I could say the same for the artwork. Yuck-o.

Of course, if you're following any of these series, I would love to discuss them with you in the comment thread. Here, let me get you started: Dean Winchester, Peter Petrelli, or James Bond: who's prettier?

Now there's a shocker.

Drive is canceled. I think at least this show got more play than Wonderfalls.

Stupid Fox. Poor Tim Minear.

Why Heroes is da' bomb

My street slang is so five years ago.

Like most of my greatest TV obsessions, I got in late on Heroes. See, I have this rule--or at least I did until a few months ago--where I don't watch TV on Monday nights. I'm not sure when exactly it became a rule. Probably back when I was working on my degree, and there was nothing on Monday nights I couldn't stand to miss (this wasn't quite before TiVo, but it was before TiVo made it into my house), and I figured there ought to be ONE night a week devoted to studying instead of television. Since then I've used Monday nights to get stuff done, or to catch up on reading, or, more recently, to hang out and watch movies with the hubby. Monday nights weren't for television. That's why I didn't give Heroes a shot from the beginning.

But then, as obsession-worthy shows are wont to do, it started to generate a lot of talk. On the web, among my friends, even among my family, people kept telling me what a great show this was, and that they couldn't believe, superhero comic book geek that I was, that I wasn't watching it. I explained my Monday night rule, and resolved to stand by it--at least until I found out Jeff Loeb, author of some of the best Batman stories ever and future writer for Buffy: Season 8, was a co-executive producer and staff writer. I couldn't just keep turning my nose up at that.

So I tuned in on a Monday night. And tuned right back out again. What can I say? It was a slow episode. Did I mention that it took me a season and a half to start liking Farscape?

Thank Heaven for rerun marathons on the SciFi channel and slow TV nights. A few weeks after my initial attempt to give it a chance, my husband chose just such a night to go to bed early. I turned the TV on for company while I worked on my knitting. It was SciFi, it was a Heroes marathon, and I didn't feel like surfing to see what else was on.

I started out knitting and ignoring. And then I was listening. Soon, I was watching, and wishing I could keep Hiro Nakamura for a pet. Then a shot of a cheerleader flayed open on an autopsy table ended with her coming back to life, and that was the end of the episode, and oh my LORD how could they end it like THAT and I had to see more NOW.

I watched the rest of the marathon. By the end, I was pretty much hooked.

Thanks to more marathons and Friday night reruns on SciFi, it didn't take me long to catch up. It was the last run of new episodes, though, that got me to declare this my new favorite show, and very possibly a brand new obsession. I haven't been anywhere near obsessed with a series since Buffy went off the air four years ago, so that's really saying something. The last few weeks of hiatus have been both excruciating and exquisite, and most importantly, finally over. New episodes start tonight, leading up to the season finale, and these are the questions that are burning in my little fangirly heart:

- Is Peter dead?

- Is Mohinder?

- Is Not-Bad Glasses Daddy, who, by the by, has gone from awesomely menacing to just plain AWESOME? Is Mama Bennett dead, too? And OMG, what about Mr. Bojangles<