My family went on vacation last week, and our dog, an 8 year-old Boxer (Allstar, a.k.a. the love of my life), is boarded with the breeder from whom my parents purchased him whenever we go away. Let's call her Jane. Jane is a seriously awesome lady, an extremely responsible breeder, and Allstar loves to go there. I dropped him off last week, and we talked for a while, and I mentioned that I was eventually looking to adopt a second dog and asked her to let me know if she came across any adoptable frenchies. (She breeds Boxers and French Bulldogs). Jane said that she generally doesn't rehome any non-breeding, older, or ill dogs - they just live with her in her house.

BUT - she has three Brussels Griffons (a.k.a. Griffon Bruxellois) that she was asked to care for by a humane society around Madison, because they were seized from a hoarder. (Long story re: why she got the brussels.) And Jane's looking to rehome two of the Brussels, because they need more attention than she can give them. And Allstar and I met the girl, a 3 year-old fawn Brussels, and OMG SHE IS PRETTY FUCKING CUTE.

(We also met the boy, who is larger and more outgoing, but he and Allstar made a few growlies at each other, which, while it's normal behavior and not the end of the world, made Jane and I think that Allstar would be more comfortable with a female.

Jane would give her to me at no cost, provided I sign a contract agreeing to spay her and return her to Jane if I need to rehome her. Allstar seemed only mildly interested in the BG girl - he sniffed her once and went back to eating grass while Jane and I discussed her.

So while on vacation, I thought about the BG all week and read a bunch of stuff about BGs online and thought and thought. I'd decided that I wasn't sure a BG was a good dog for me, but then I picked up Allstar at Jane's today and asked to see BG-girl again, and I squeed and cooed and adored her all over again. We played around outside a bit, and now I can't get her out of my head.

SO NOW I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. Here are just a few of my concerns about taking this Brussels Griffon:

1. They're a toy breed. I'm not really a toy breed person. I like big, goofy, sloppy, stupid, drooly, loveable, squareheaded, jowly dogs who live in the moment and are happy and silly and make me laugh. That's why I love boxers and pibbles and rotties and etc.

THUS

( point-by-point, continued )

What should I do, y'all? I need some advice. Any words from BG owners would be most welcome. I'm trying to decide which dog comms I should post this on after I refine my rant a bit, so if you have any suggestions on where I'm most likely to get a good response, that would also be welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

eta: ( some pics of Griffons Bruxellois )

I'm so disappointed The Unusuals is getting cancelled. I was really loving this show. Adam Goldberg and Harold Perrineau killed me with their banter. It was so great to watch a procedural that was funny, but not campy, but also didn't take itself too seriously. Urgh. ABC, I hate you right now.

You guys, is Dollhouse seriously being cancelled? That's the scuttlebutt, but I haven't gotten around to finding any articles that detail how likely the cancellation is.

I just watched ep. 9 last night, and IT WAS AWESOME. I am officially loving this show, and am going to be very disappointed if it's gone.

( minor spoilers for most recent ep )

Anyone else have thoughts? Is the show definitely getting cancelled?

I e-mailed amazon with a partly-form e-mailed ganked from copperbadge's post here (I added in a bit myself), and received the following e-mail reply that made me go Hmmmm....:

"Hello,

Thanks for contacting us. We recently discovered a glitch in our systems and it's being fixed.

Thanks again for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Sharmila S
Amazon.com"


A "glitch"? Color me skeptical.

I see there are various theories floating around about how this sales ranking mess happened - whether it was deliberate on Amazon's part - but I haven't had time to read them yet. Will be interested to see how this plays out and if Amazon makes a public statement.

Amazon rank

CLICK IT.

Again and again and again.

OMG you guys the Obama's new puppy is TEH CUTE. I think I'm ded from the sheer adorability of these pics.





I'm disappointed they weren't able to adopt a rescue, but I think every family has to consider its unique situation, and with Malia's allergies, it seems like this dog is the best choice for them. And major kudos to the Obamas for donating to the DC Humane Society.

They are the most awesome family ever.

HI BO I LOVE YOU.

I am feeling much better today, and I want to thank everyone for their kind, insightful, and encouraging comments on my post here and over on petbulls. It meant a lot to me. Thank you guys.


But now - I am in serious need of some X-Files fic. I've just re-read everything by syntax6 and various other favorite writers, and I can't find ANYTHING to read. I've checked Ephemeral, Gossamer, XF Lost&Found, etc. But nada.

So any recs? Any new fics? Is someone writing something soon? Puh-lease?

CHOP-CHOP PEOPLE. LET'S GET TO IT.

Has anyone else been watching Legend of the Seeker? I started watching it on Hulu, and I'm hooked. It's cheesy amazing silly goodness with awful mangled accents and sword fighting and cleavage and sexy lustful UST Looks of Longing between the lead characters and I love it big time. It's by the people who did Xena and I don't even know what channel(s) it airs on during the weekends, but every Sunday I hunker down in excitement to watch when it's posted on Hulu. I haven't heard anyone talking about it on lj, so I was wondering if that's because it's clearly crap and no one is interested in it or what. (It is crap, but SUCH GOOD CRAP.)

Also, I want these shoes so bad in red: http://www.shopbop.com/prop-hidden-platform-square-toe/vp/v=1/845524441831021.htm?folderID=2534374302117231&fm=browse-brand-viewall-shopbysize

I have them in purple, and they're insanely comfortable. I'm trying to save money, because I have none, but UGH I wantthemsobad. Even though I already have a pair. But so comfy! I admittedly have a shoe fetish, as well as a buying-clothes-online problem that I'm trying really hard to break myself of. One of the docs I work with calls me Imelda in all our correspondence.

Lastly, I'm loving Dollhouse. I thought Friday's episode was great. ( teensy spoilers ) So yeah, I was way skeptical about this show at first, because honestly I was never a huge Eliza fan (I did not love Faith and was happy when she peaced out of Buffy), but she has impressed me on this show. I didn't think she had the acting talent to pull it off. She's obviously no Maria Falconetti, but I've become an Eliza fan, which I never thought would happen.

I also was skeptical of the claims that this episode would delve into the mythology, because from past painful experience with sci-fi shows, myth-arcs get mah hopes up only to bring them crashing down in the most painful way possible, so I was not excited about the show's 'backstory' so to speak. And yet - here I am, sucked in once again, because I totally enjoyed this episode and am now actually interested in the mythology. I was all, no let's keep with the standalone episodes, don't get ambitious and too big for your britches, show. But now I'm tentatively on board for the time being. Damn you Joss Whedon.

And randomly, I had a really involved, detailed Dollhouse-related dream last night in which Alpha appeared (he was delicious-looking), but there was also a girl-Alpha called Saint Valentine (why? who knows...I find my subconscious vaguely embarrassing) and it was all intrigue-full and then at the end apparently we were actually filming the show, and it wasn't real anymore, and wow what a weird dream. But kind of good one, you know? I love when my dreams have plotlines and cute boys....

eta: I haven't read the Legend of the Seeker books, so I'm not making any judgment upon them by saying that the show is crap (but in a really wonderful way!). Also, I did notice some fan-rage on Hulu about the extent to which the show is diverging from the plot of the books, so maybe that's why nobody's watchin' it.

OH NO. Where is ONTD?

:(

ETA: *BREATHES*

Okay, we're back up. There will be no need to dust off any of those "books" you have at the bottom of your closet or to interact with any human beings.

"We will make umlauts with shallots and...justice."

( Psych: If You're So Smart, Then Why Are You Dead? )

I am watching an X-Files rerun on SciFi right now, and the episode is "Trust No 1", and I forgot...

JOHN LOCKE IS IN THIS EPISODE.

AND HE HAS A PORNSTACHE.

John Locke. Scully. Pornstache. It is all too much.

Plus, he's the one who reveals Mulder and Scully's night of passion to the viewers, the moment that we found out definitively that It had already happened and that we probably weren't going to see it. I had completely forgotten that John Locke participated in the most infuriating moment in the history of television.



ETA:

Has everyone seen this? It's the awesomest shit ever. I love this guy.

Elijah Wood on Yo Gabba Gabba



http://youtube.com/watch?v=_VV229DbXic

Can anyone recommend something for me to read? I graduated from college in May, and since then I've been doing my best to avoid reading any Serious Literature, lest I have a nervous breakdown. (My thesis was stressful, to say the least.) I've been reading all the books I haven't had a chance to read because I've had schoolwork, and watching all the trash on TV that I neglected. But now that I've gone through the first wave of my Post-Collegiate Anti-Literate Book List, I'm not sure what to read next.

What I've been reading recently:

Laurie R. King: Her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery series is quite entertaining and decently written. I'd love to find a similar mystery series. To be honest, I wish there was a bit more mush in these books, and yet every time there is mush, it's totally unbelievable because it's so antithetical to the essence of Holmes. So I've always thought that this basic contradiction weakens the premise of the series, but whatever. I do my damnedest to ignore it. Three cheers for Wedlock Holmes! Another reason I really like Laurie R. King's stuff is because it's a mystery novel with a little bit of romance, and yet it's definitely not a "romance novel". Not that I object to romance novels, I've read plenty of them, but I like that King's characters are fleshed out enough that they seem like genuine people, and the mushy stuff is just a small part of a larger plot.

Jasper Fforde: I know I'm not the only Fforde fan around here (I LOVE HIM AND I KNOW THERE ARE OTHERS LIKE ME), so tell me guys: What do you read while waiting for the next book? I love his Nursery Crime series, actually to be honest a bit more than the Thursday Next books (blasphemy?), and I'm really looking forward to the third installment. But until then, I need somethin'.

Philip Pullman: Always a favorite. I just re-read the entire HDM trilogy, so I'm going to have to put that aside for a while.

Shannon Hale: I really liked Goose Girl and Princess Academy, so I started reading the next book in the GG series, called Enna Burning, but I'm having a hard time getting into it. Her books tend to start slowly, and not pick up until about a third of the way through, and I have difficulty keeping myself going. Not sure I'm going to finish reading Enna Burning right now. I think I might return it to the library for now.

Megan Whalen Turner: Her Thief series is absolutely amazing. So wonderful, exciting, charming, funny, and romantic. Her plots are so clever, above all, and she's a really great writer, which is always a relief. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you go get yourself a copy of the first book in the series immediately.

One I didn't like: Dorothy L. Sayers: I started reading Strong Poison, which is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, and I didn't like it at all. So many people seem to love these books. Am I missing something? Maybe it's my fault for trying to come into a series halfway through, but it seemed to me that she doesn't spend any time fleshing out her characters. It's bizarre, actually. Nor is there any sense of setting, time period or surroundings. I suppose it's an aesthetic choice, but it doesn't work for me in this particular instance. They're talking cardboard cutouts. Maybe this is different in the first book of the series. But I really was not impressed by her writing at all. I quit halfway through the book.

So, that's what I've been reading the last two weeks, and now I've ground to a halt because I don't know where to go next. I'd like stuff that's smart and literary, but also humorous and plot-driven. I like clever exchanges and absurd situations or vast Scottish estates and stiff formal tea parties with glittering wit. Or anything at all, really.

From the list above, which hopefully gives you a little bit of an idea of what I might like in my current reading mood, does anyone have any suggestions? Or any suggestions unrelated to the above list but of a book I just need to read?

If you like, I promise to let you know if I will read what you recommend, and then tell you what I thought of it. So you will not be making suggestions into a vacuum, if that helps any.

EEEEEEEEK I'M DESPERATE FOR BOOKS HELP.

Big Love

I recently signed up for Netflix, which is awesome, by the way, and one of the first things I rented was Big Love. And I just couldn't get into it. The acting is great (I particularly love Jean Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin), I love the wardrobes and the writing is really good, but it's so far from the familiar that it feels actively alienating. I worry that this means that I am much less open-minded than I like to think. (I'm sure that I am, but I hate having it pointed out to me.)

So much of the situational comedy that's supposed to leaven the seriousness actually seems kind of horrible to me. Like the infighting among the wives, or when Bill's father sits outside the mother's house with a gun. I don't laugh, because I find the situation so repellent.

I don't have moral objections to polygamy. If that works for someone, that's fine with me. But it's not a situation that I can ever imagine myself in. And to me, that's one of the things I look for in a story, is being able to place myself in the action. And I guess that this kind of marriage is so different than what I would want, that I can't imagine myself as one of the characters.

Plus, I think what disturbs me more, actually, is that I really like Barb (Jean Tripplehorn's character), and I identify with her a lot, and so when I watch her what I really want is for her to escape from the marriage. Because she doesn't seem happy, and I want her to get out.

Hmm. It's too bad, because it seems like a good show. I really want to enjoy it, but I don't think I can get over the premise.


Californication (the return of Mulder)

( cut for people who don't want to be spoiled )

Hey everyone,

So it seems like there's something of an exodus going on from LJ to greatestjournal and various other sites. To let everyone know, I am also velena on GJ, and I'm thinking of trying to snap up that username on the other sites that people are moving to.

I'll still be here on LJ, and this will remain my main journal for the time being. But I'll start checking my other flists as often as I can remember to. So if you're moving and want to friend me elsewhere, that would be awesome. I know I rarely post or comment, but I actually do read my flist most days, and I'm going to try to be better about commenting. I am here, and I'm reading!

If anyone reads this and is definitely switching over, if you could comment and let me know where you'll be, I'd really appreciate it. I don't want to lose anyone. It's not clear to me yet if most fandom people are going to GJ or where, so do let me know if a crowd is going to another place.

Okay, thanks everyone. Cheers.

Velena

ETA: Now I'm also on IJ, same username.

I loved it.

( Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows )

Hmmm, well I think I'm going to sleep on the rest of it. I've been avoiding LJ for a month now, in order to avoid spoilers, and I'm so excited to be back on and read everyone's comments and reactions. Happy reading and re-reading!

I just accidentally read a "spoiler" (speculation) for Book 7 and now I'm freaking out. Someone has got to tell me this is not true. I DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW.

( Harry Potter Book 7 Speculation )

We're a little more than halfway through the Grey's Anatomy season finale and I have two thoughts so far:

( Read more... )

Also, Patrick Dempsey is the voice for the Mazda commercial, I just realized. Icky.

I just finished reading the His Dark Materials trilogy (I know, I'm like 500 years behind the times), and I'm looking for some guidance. Would anyone be willing to oblige me? Fic? Fanart?

I know the fandom is pretty old, since The Amber Spyglass came out in 2000 (and OMG did the ending make me cry!), but does anyone have any really good fic bookmarked that they could dig up for me? Any good HDM websites that could help me?

I'm especially looking for Lyra/Will stuff, since I'm still traumatized by the end of the book. I need to be healed, friends.