The L Word

Upon the recommendation of several colleagues I met at a LGBT conference last year, I decided to rent the first two seasons of The L Word from Netflix. I know there has been a lot of disagreement about this show, especially among lesbians, but despite its problems it still seems to suck in just about everyone I know who has watched it. Like many a show, it has its soap operatic qualities (which I actually sort of enjoy) as well as more serious subject matter. The women are all gorgeous and the characters are incredibly interesting.

Of course, while watching the show I found myself hugely attracted to one of the characters. And it was indeed the character that everyone I met at the LGBT conference last spring was talking about. That's right, I've got the hots for Shane (Katherine Moennig). (And from the fan discourse on the web, it would seem so does everyone else!)


The only relatively "butch" regular on the L Word, Shane is totally the type of woman I find sexually attractive. For some reason, the only women I really find myself erotically interested in tend to be what I would describe roughly as tomboy-punk-butch. And Katherine Moennig has got that going on! Shane is definitely the most interesting character on the show, not just because she's hot, but because she has the most mysterious background. We don't know a lot about her past, although tiny tidbits have been slipping through the cracks lately.

My biggest disappointment in the show, however, was the disappearance of a character and resulting storyline that I found very interesting. At the end of season one, Kit (Pam Grier--the only hetero gal on the show) meets a drag king name "Ivan" and they begin an intense friendship. Ivan, however, wants to make it something more. And Kit seems to be leaning toward investigating this possibility as well. But when season two starts, they immediately nip this storyline in the bud and practically eject Ivan from the show. I was so damn pissed about this because I thought this character had so much potential and offered some really compelling perspective in comparison to the other women. But alas, I guess the network thought it was too controversial or something because they immediately shacked Kit up with some adulterous dude afterwards. BIG disappointment.

Nonetheless, I'm still looking forward to season 3 coming out and more of the delectable Shane to admire.

Review: Working for the Devil

I picked up this book while wandering around the Strand bookstore in NYC and had one of those pleasurable "can't put it down" reads. Working for the Devil is a good example of a hot new area in fiction being labeled "urban fantasy." What I like about this genre is the fact that it tends to blend some of my favorite genres together. Urban fantasy typically stars a strong, independent lead heroine with a special skill or talent who has to fight the forces of evil, kick butt, and get action with hot (usually paranormal) dudes.

This book is different from some of the urban fantasies I've read recently in that it situates it's narrative in a futuristic, sci-fi-esque Earth (with cool gidgets and gadgets like "slicboards"--flying skateboards, and hovertrains, etc). The lead heroine, Dante (Danny) Valentine is a for-hire necromancer trying to make ends meet. Obviously we have a little Anita Blake nod here, but Dante's methods for raising the dead are different--and there's a whole different history for necromancers here which satisfied me enough to feel like Saintcrow wasn't just going to spin off into some Anita Blake fanfic in the guise of an original work.

As a character, I actually found Danny more likeable than Anita. Of course, it's still early in the series here. But Danny isn't anywhere near the Mary Sue that Anita is. She's pretty tough and has a troubled past that is only vaguely alluded to, but there are enough details that slip through to make me want to find out more about what happened to her at the mysterious and horrifying orphanage she was raised in. I'm sure that will come out in a later book.

As the title pretty much reveals, Danny's skills are hired out by the devil who needs the help of a necromancer to track down a demon who has escaped into the world of mortals. While this premise already had me feeling a bit less than enthused at first, I was extremely pleased to discover that Saintcrow doesn't reinforce some Christian universe of good and evil. No, it turns out that demons are actually something else entirely...and that Christianity (in the future) is seen as a rather outdated and uninformed worldview. For the agnostics like moi, I say hip-hip-hurrah Lilith Saintcrow! She totally earned brownie points in my book for this and it made me even more interested quite frankly.

So, Danny's hired without much option to say no (she can't really go up against the powers of a powerful demon). Of course, it turns out that the demon who has escaped is actually a crazy ass killer that she's had a run in with before and Danny has a score to settle. But the devil isn't going to just trust her with this task on her own, so he sends one of his demon underlings to watch over her and try to keep her alive long enough to whack the renegade demon on the loose.

Enter Japhrimel. The tension between him and Danny is pretty good, and they take a while to get used to one another. And of course, there's an erotic undercurrent brewing that takes an interesting turn later on, but I won't give any spoilers! Suffice to say, Japhrimel is interesting. He's incredibly secretive and rather mysterious. Like Danny, he has a past that is only vaguely sketched out. So there's much more to learn and Saintcrow did a nice job of maintaining my interest to the end.

Ahem. The end. Okay. I don't want to give anything away, but talk about fucking insane ending! I immediately wanted the second book, and I wanted it NOW! Alas, it looks like I'm going to have to wait until September or some bullshit. Fuck. I wish the publishing industry moved a bit faster.

So, to anyone interested in urban fantasy, I recommend checking out this book. Just beware, the ending is both exciting and incredibly frustrating!

The Gossip Rawked my World!

The Gossip in Gainesville!

The show was, quite frankly, spectacular! The Gossip totally rawked my world! Common Grounds is such a small venue that I was able to meet the band before the show. I talked with Beth Ditto for a few minutes and she was super sweet to me. She also liked my purse! When I nervously asked her if she would play one of my favorite songs, "Yr Mangled Heart," she was all like "Of course! We can totally do that! No problem!" So when they got up on stage, what song do they open with? That's right! *squee* My song came first! I was utterly thrilled. And after seeing her perform I have to admit I have a total girl crush on her. She's just too cool! *sigh*

Living large (albeit briefly) in the Big Apple!

Me and Ming in New York

I got back from my fabulous trip to New York on Sunday night, but was totally exhausted and could not even attempt to endeavor blogging about it. This was in large part due to the fact that I got lost in the fucking wilds of Florida on my drive back to Gainesville from the Jacksonville airport. I'm not joking here folks. Florida can be a scary ass place. I'd made it most of the way home, but then somehow missed an itty bitty sign in the darkness and ended up in fuck-knows-where. Let me just say I was about ready to have a nervous breakdown. It was like I'd managed to find myself in some scary Texas Chainsaw Massacre-style alternate universe on a two lane road with NO FUCKING LIGHTS! And no signs of civilization save for the occassional dirt drive leading into the woods on either side, and undoubtedly to the home of some wacked out incestuous cannibals waiting to skin me alive and eat my plump juicy flesh. During this trip down the Lost Highway I really freaked out because: 1) I had no cell phone--so if I got a flat or any other problem I was royally fucked, 2) There wasn't a gas station or other sign of civilization anywhere, 3) I had no idea where the hell I was or how to get where I needed to be going. After panicking and driving down this road for half an hour I came to another side road I could turn onto that seemed to be heading back the way I'd come. So I took it (fingers crossed) and a few minutes later I found a sign indicating I was already 10 miles outside of Gainesville. Fortunately, this road was better lit and it finally got me back to where I needed to be. But let me just say, I was never so glad to see the wee lights of Gainesville proper once more! A harrowing tale to be sure--but I digress. I must tell all my dear readers about my adventures in New York!

So, it was fabulous to see my pal Ming again. We had loads of fun talking about music, joking about crazy ass shit, and watching Netflix episodes of X-Files Season 1. Hellah nerdy I know, but it was awesome!

I went to MOMA, where they had an awesome Edvard Munch exhibit going on. People tend to be most familiar with his famous painting "The Scream," but he also did some other amazing work and much of it was on display at MOMA. And I got to see it for free because Ming got me the awesome hook-up! Yay!

I really enjoyed the following works that I saw while cruising the exhibit. Munch's "Madonna" above.

"Vampire" and this painting which I didn't get the name of alas... But after seeing this exhibit I'm looking for a good biography about Munch, because he had a very interesting life and I'm intrigued about the very tumultous relationship he had with the woman who was his most frequent muse. If anyone knows of a good one I should pick up please drop me a line in the comments!

Ming and I also ate plenty of awesome food while I was in town, but by far I think my favorite was when we visited Otafuku and had delicious takoyaki and okonomiyaki! It totally brought about a wonderfully nostalgic culinary moment for me. It was like being back in Tokyo again. Mmm! Yummy! I must admit though, that the many cupcakes we tried also tied for top place with me. We went to several different bakeries and tried just about every kind imaginable! They were super tasty, but now I must get back to the gym to burn off those crazy calories...

While in NYC I also went to Central Park and wandered around. But shopping was pretty big on my agenda. I wandered around and visited H&M, the NYC branch of Kinokuniya books (hunting for manga!), The Strand bookstore (8 miles of books yo!), Toys in Babeland (woot!), and Beard Papa (for yummy Japanese cream puffs). I also found myself some sparkly eyeshadow at a cool cosmetics store frequented by drag queens. :)

Unfortunately, I never found the sparkly sneakers I've been dreaming about. I don't think they've been created yet. But I wait for the day with great anticipation!

Okay, so my fave events while in NYC...

1) Sweeney Todd!!!! It was totally spectacular. Not as gory as I was expecting, but wonderfully tongue-in-cheek and morbidly grotesque. Michael Cerveris was simply amazing as Sweeney Todd (and I really wished I could have seen him in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in London!). He had a superb voice and a very compelling presence on stage. I also enjoyed Patti LuPone (even though she didn't manage a very convincing English accent).

2) Seeing the Silver Jews in concert. This was a really fantastic concert and we were able to get pretty close to the stage. I hate being so far away you can't see jack. Anyway, I totally have an even deeper appreciation for David Berman after seeing him perform. Big thanks to Ming for getting me into this awesome band!

The Triumphant Return of Sparks!

I woke up feeling much better this morning, although still a bit weak. Not eating for a day doesn't agree with me. But I did manage to stay pretty well hydrated and so far the stomach seems to be holding it's own today. I do admit that the day of torturous vomiting took a lot out of me energy wise. But sustenance today seems to have given me a bit of energy to pursue packing at last. (La, la, la, la! Going to see Ming! Yay!)

I also picked up my rental car--I have to drive to Jacksonville airport ass early tomorrow morning to catch my flight. It's really ridiculous, but Gainesville doesn't have a regular shuttle service to the airport. Talk about annoying! Fortunately I get a discounted rate for the rental car since I'm an employee of the state of Florida.

So, I've been going through my guide book to New York marking down places I want to visit/check out. A definite priority is Toys in Babeland. I've been a loyal customer of theirs for several years now and they take care of all my electronic self-pleasuring needs, so I feel it incumbent upon me to go visit their main store and gush about how much they rock. And maybe pick up a toy or two....

Next on the list are the many fun and unique bookstores that sound appealing to me. I never go on a trip without coming back with an armful of new books. What can I say, once an English nerd, always an English nerd.

My shopping fantasy while in New York revolves around bling (of course). Not the real stuff mind you, but something shiny and fantastic. I'm envisioning a pair of super cool sneakers with swarovski crystals on them...I shall be on the hunt for these elusive fantasy shoes. But if that doesn't pan out maybe a sparkly new pair of sunglasses or a funky new purse could assuage my need for the shiny.

I shall return with tales and hopefully pics of NYC to share with one and all!

The evil baked potato that did me in...

Ugh. Still recovering, very slowly, from a horrendous bout of food poisoning. A rare occurence for me, especially since I'm vegetarian. I can only assume it was the baked potato I bought yesterday. I'm thinking the sour cream was probably off...all I know is I woke up at 7:00am with major gastric pain that had me huddled in the foetal position, wimpering. I then spent most of the morning yarking up the entire contents of my stomach and then some. This was then followed by a bout of the runs and then more projectile vomiting.

I did manage to drag my weak and weary self to school this evening to screen a movie with my film class. (See, I am a dedicated teacher folks) I'm starting to feel better now and hope that I can attempt to eat some food tomorrow as I didn't even want to try at all today. All this and I have to fly to New York early Friday morning. I better be back in tip-top form by then or it's going to be a miserable journey.

Movie Madness

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a total DVD ho. I can't stop buying. My collection is fairly extensive already and I just keep adding to it. Today was a particularly fruitful shopping expedition all in the name of movies I knew I had to have. First up, was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That's right folks, the new HP is out! I scampered over to Best Buy pronto and nabbed that sucker (and being the lame-ass nerd that I am, I even bought the more expensive double disc version with all the extra features). Is it wrong that I find Dan Radcliffe hot? I mean, he's legal in Britain right?

In keeping with my Jake Gyllenhaal addiction, I also felt the need to buy Jarhead. Lots of naked dudes and plenty of homoeroticism. Boo-rah!

I then gave into my inner comic book nerd and finally bought Hellboy, which has been out for a while. I'm not quite sure why I enjoyed this movie so much. I have several of Mike Mignola's graphic novels and I like them but I'm not an obsessive Hellboy fan. In all honesty, I think my affection for the film is totally due to Ron Perlman kicking ass as Hellboy. He was the perfect choice for the role and he gives me the warm fuzzies for some odd reason. Plus, he and Selma Blair have good chemistry and I like the little romance between them. Yeah, yeah....I know. But hey, I'm allowed my occassional cheesy moment.

I think the sadder part of this whole tale is the fact that I watched all three of them in succession of one another while grading student papers....

Okay, this one's better. Although you can't see my pink furry handcuffs all that well, alas. Note the black leather riding crop with a heart on the end...sexy, is it not? Don't worry, my punishments aren't too painful. Unless you want them to be...

This is me and my good pat Joanna as...Bondage Fairies! This was our Halloween venture. I nearly set my wings on fire on a tikki torch. And I don't quite know how to flip this photo so you'll have to look at it sideways.

This was from way back last semester...and illustrates the very small confines of my apartment. Fortunately you can onlys see one of my overcrowded bookcases.
Potluck memories

This one's just of me. I believe I was belting out Madonna's "Like a Virgin" here. *snicker*
Moi...the karaoke diva...

More Karaoke Madness! 

My pals and I like to go to karaoke on a regular basis. Here's a more recent photo of us rocking out to synethesized tunes on a karaoke machine. Woot!
Karaoke Fun

The never-ending saga of Anita Blake...

Okay, so I had to buy Laurell K. Hamilton's Micah when it came out the other day. I became an official LKH addict last summer when I read the first Anita Blake book, and then promptly rushed out and bought the next twelve books in the series. Craziness, I know. But I literally holed up in my apartment and didn't join the real world for about two weeks as I ploughed through the increasingly longer books in the series. Now, I know some more traditional romance fans have totally given up on LKH because they see the later books as too smutty. Personally, I'm all for the smut. The sex is pretty damn hot and there's plenty of it (what with all the hot dudes that just can't get enough of Anita). But I do have to admit that the writing has gotten a bit crappy (many editing problems) and a bit repetitive (too much internal monologue whining). This book is supposed to be a "novel-lite" side story about Micah and Anita spending some alone time together while she's out of town to raise a zombie for the FBI. It read very quickly, which is nice since I know Danse Macabre is going to suck some serious hours out of my life when it's published in June. And there was a great little teaser for this next book at the end of this one (Anita might be preggers? And isn't sure who's the baby daddy--after all, she has been sleeping with seven men. Oooh the drama...although I really hope it's a false alarm. I can't see Anita having a child. I think that would fuck up the storyline in so many ways, but we shall see...).

Overall, I enjoyed Micah but I wasn't overly blown away. Partly because, although I like his character, he's definitely lower down on my list of favorites. Give me a side story about Asher or Jean-Claude and I'm totally there. But anyway...I think the best thing about reading this book was reading the subsequent blog entry about it over at It's not Chick Porn!

If you haven't read this entry, GO NOW! It is absolutely fucking hilarious, and pretty much says what my unconscious was secretly muttering but my conscious brain refused to vocalize. Don't get me wrong. I still love LKH, and will devotedly purchase each installment in the Anita series ad infinitum, but it can be a conflicted love at times. Especially as I too cannot stand fucking Richard. I want more Edward! Bring back his tough ass super coolness, and maybe he can knock some sense into Anita...

An Elliott Smith Compulsion....

I don't know what it is, but for the past week I've been on a strange and nostalgic Elliott Smith music kick. It all started I suppose when I was listening to an online indie radio station and an Eric Matthews cover of "Needle in the Hay" came on. Then I remembered just how much I love that song, and that album in fact--his first self-titled one. Hence I decided it was time to go back and compile a playlist of Elliott Smith tunes and I was sucked in from there. Although his work was sometimes a bit hit or miss, there was always at least one song on each album that I really loved and my playlist at the moment is fairly long. He was incredibly prolific in spite of a life cut short too soon.

Indeed, this nostalgic music kick comes with a lingering sense of sadness. His suicide at the age of 34 was a tragic loss for so many reasons. The man had a truly lovely and melodious voice. And he really communicated passionate and earnest (sometimes desperate) longing in his songs with a bittersweetness that always leaves you straddling the precarious edge between joy and misery at the end of his songs. He also had a witty and sarcastic sense of humor that is often deceptively obscured by his quiet but melifluous voice.

It always seems even more supremeley tragic to me when an artist dies, especially at a young age. They leave behind a gaping hole of possibilities that will never be--their absence haunting us with the ghostly impression of an artistic incompleteness that can never be resolved. And with Elliott Smith, I mourn him and the songs he still had left to sing.