I really hate to say "I told you so"...

But all those people I've been writing to for years who have replied (when they've replied) that off-shore drilling is safe and necessary and that there would probably never be a spill or accident because the oil companies know what they're doing??? I told you so! I told you that yeah, they know what they're doing like the Captain of the Titanic, and it's too dangerous to keep temping fate this way.

Now we've got a gusher going at a rate of at least 200,000 gallons per day with a slick currently covering the approximate area of Puerto Rico (3,500 square miles+). The shrimp and oyster industry in LA and MS is completely ruined for probably the next few years, just as it was finally recovering from Katrina and in this economy. BP is saying it will continue spilling for at least another 8 days before they have any hope of stemming the flow with - get this - a dome that they're going to put over the site of the busted pipe (which, personally, I can't imagine will actually work), and another 3 months before they have a "relief well" drilled to divert the oil to another rig. We're screwed. And God help us if the oil gets into the Gulf Stream. Seriously, God help us because no one else will be able to at that point. Good job, BP.

I also think it's hilarious in a completely not funny way that our governor, who until recently has been a Republican, was against off-shore drilling (because most of the state is against it) until he was elected, then he was for it because it was popular in the Republican party, and now that he's an Independent because that's his only hope of being elected to the Senate, and this has happened, he's against it again.

I'm not particularly pleased with Obama on this issue either because he's been trying the impossible to do task of placating the Republicans to try to get them on his side way too much on these energy issues, saying coal, nuclear and drilling for oil is largely okay. The Republicans will oppose him, whatever he does, unless he becomes one of them and does exactly what the party line is. And even then they might oppose him just on principle. Best to tell them what Bush told the Dems all these years: my way or the highway. Because I do not agree with trying to placate people whose main motivation is money and power for themselves and their backers and the status quo because it preserves the other two. At all. I think it's all disasters just waiting to happen. And since the worst that can happen with a wind mill is a bird can fly into the propellers and get chopped into little birdy bits, I'm thinking that - despite the fuming of traditional energy corporations and the cost to set green methods up - it is the way to go. Seriously.

Education in Florida and why I might not be a part of it in the near future

Florida education is in trouble. Everyone knows it. It's not news. What Repulicans in the legislature are trying to do with it now is news.

Governor Charlie Crist and Senator John Thrasher (who wrote the legislation) plan to make teachers' salaries and continued employment based entirely on how their students' perform on standardized tests. These are (the already passed) SB 6 and (the soon to be voted on and expected to pass) HB 7189. Teachers will even have the threat of loosing their teaching certificates if their students don't make the mandated gains. I would make jokes about the legislature getting medieval on us, going back to the policies of the University of Bologna circa 1090 CE, but the details of this legislation make me physically ill and I can't. It's too disgusting and too disheartening. I can't enumerate them all here. Please, go here to see what this is all about. It breaks my heart.

What is clear to me in all this is that I am and what I have to give are not appreciated in this state, not by those who would employ me and not by the parents if they would allow such legislation to go unchallenged. The service that I was hoping to do for my community is not valued. If this legislation passes, it would be impossible for me to teach in public schools in this state. I will not do it. To teach under these conditions would be absurd! There are 49 other states out there and there are many private schools. I will get my teaching certificate, meet those requirements, and then I will take my youthful enthusiasm and desire to inspire young minds and I will go somewhere I will be properly respected for it (at least in the way I'm dealt my salary from my employer, in the way my contract is written, and in the way I can actually gain tenure and have advanced degrees and years of experience mean something to those who employ me - we all know that teachers aren't respected in general... that's why legislation like this is even possible).

He's okay...

At about 11:20 this morning, my dad got into a car accident. If he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, he probably would have been killed (everybody, always wear your seatbelt!). Someone who was speeding ran him off the interstate (and they didn't ever stop), he lost control of his car, hit another car (apparently driven by a nice young woman who goes to USF - she wasn't hurt but her car was pretty badly dented on one side and it spun around on the shoulder of the road), went off the road, and then his car flipped over and landed on the driver's side against a barbed wire fence next to a cow field. He climbed out through the passenger side window. He's got a bruise and cut on one elbow, a cut on his forearm, and a cut on the top of his head, where he must have hit something, although he doesn't remember doing that, and his knee that he injured almost two months ago while working in the garden got banged pretty good against the driver's side door and now it's as bad as it ever was again. Poor Daddy... but no concussion and he's okay and glad to be breathing.

We don't know if the car is totaled yet. It's been towed to the Toyota dealership he bought it from back in '01 and we'll hear tomorrow or the next day from the insurance adjuster as to whether or not it will be declared "totaled."

The school secretary tracked my mom and I down in the teachers' lunchroom about halfway through our lunch period to tell us. Scared my mom half to death. Luckily, my dad had called the school and there was a phone in the teachers' lunchroom, so she got to talk to him right away. I was going to leave school and go get him to take him home, but my dad's cell phone died before he could tell her exactly where he was (isn't it awful when that happens? Like, that's what people have cell phones for, but sometimes they just die right when you really need them), and Mom didn't want me to go on a wild goose chase up and down the interstate trying to find him because he had been at the dentist in St. Pete and might be anywhere or might be picked up by the tow truck before I got there. He had said before the phone died that AAA was sending a tow truck to get his car, and that if his phone died, he'd call her again when he got to another phone, either the tow truck driver's or when he got to the Toyota dealership, if he couldn't get a ride home and needed me to come get him. However, (again) luckily, the tow truck driver very kindly offered to drive my dad all the way home even though our house is about 8 miles away from the dealership and he didn't have to do that, so Dad called once he was home, not much more than an hour and a half after the accident happened.

What I've been up to...

I'm going to the dentist on Tuesday. I really do think I may have some cavities. Possibly three... I really blame the acid-reflux. I'm a little nervous about it...

I've signed up for the Subject Area Exam that I have to take to get certified to teach. I'll be taking it on the 24th of October. I'm also applying for the grad certificate program at USF to help me in obtaining this ultimate goal. I have to go over to school on Monday to talk to someone about the application process.

I uploaded all the photos from my vacation. DC, VA, and SC. They're captioned and whatnot so, hopefully, people other than myself can make out what has been photographed.

Home and getting ready for Autumn...

I got home late last night from my very long vacation. I had never been away from home for so long before. Two whole months. It's strange to be back. Good, but strange.

There will be pictures and details of the trip just as soon as I can figure out how to transfer the photos from the laptop to the desktop. Hopefully, it will be done by the end of the weekend or certainly early next week at the latest. *crosses fingers*

Seasons are changing, whether I can feel it in the air yet or not. The garden is totally finished for the warm season. I need to get to work on it for the cool season garden, but I have a few weeks yet until it becomes imperative. My dad has given me a headstart by getting rid of all the weeds that had invaded the planting beds while we were out of town.

I'm getting ready for another school year of subbing. Not signed up for classes myself yet, but at least I've figured out what program I want to do. The Grad Certificate program at USF for Social Science Education. *nods* For sure.

I may have two cavities in two of my bottom-right molars. I've never had cavities before. Must go to the dentist. *sighs* This is what I get for not going to the dentist for 8+ years... although I think the blame truly lies with the bout of acid reflux I suffered earlier this year and last. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Also, in much, much brighter news, it's almost time for more Supernatural. Based on this preview, I have a sneaky notion that this season just might kill me with its awesomeness.

Also, the gag reel from last season is out on YouTube. I lol'd a lot!



Season 4 will be out on DVD on September 1st. WOOT!!!

An interesting happening...

So I'm in the house at the moment to have lunch before finishing the mulching on the garden, which is now half done... A man just rang the door bell... dressed somewhat like a Mormon proselytizer so I hesitated to open the door, but did anyway... He's a reporter for The Saint Petersberg Times wanting to interview anyone who saw the big to-do this morning... My father is talking to him now... [pause to go get lunch from the kitchen] In the interim, there was another knock at the door... This time a tv reporter also wanting to interview someone on camera for the evening news on the local CBS station. Dad is talking to them too...

Now, what about? I'm sure you're wondering. A man who lived one house down and across the street was arrested this morning for (from what I can tell) bank robbery, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, fleeing the scene of a traffic accident and resisting arrest... possibly some other things too... O.O He got up early apparently, robbed a bank at gun point shortly after it opened, went to (of all random places and for reasons we don't know) a chiropractor's office, where he stabbed someone with a screw driver, then he stole a car, got in a traffic accident and then ran back to his house. This all went down early this morning, and we only caught the tail end of it ourselves. ('Cause he lived across the street! Now... we live on a very quiet, nice suburban neighborhood on a dead end street. Things like this just don't happen. o.O) When I woke up shortly before 9am, I thought one of our neighbors were mowing their lawn, but no, the noise I was hearing was the low-flying police helicopter hovering over our house. The guy had crashed the car he had stolen a few blocks away and ran on foot back to his home and they had tracked him down with bloodhounds (not kidding!). At 9am, police were facing off against him while he had barricaded himself in his house with an assault rifle (*facepalm*... Seriously, dude! WTF!). But within the hour, they arrested him without further injury to anyone involved... Thank goodness!

If there is video of the news report posted to the internet tonight, I'll embed it here if I can...

Now, I have to research some things quickly and get back outside to finish the mulching...

An Article...

from the Saint Petersburg Times... Persevering amid life's many tests. There's a 1974 Impala involved. Very sad.

I've been watching the local news again...

A wooden spear was found by archaeologists in Little Salt Springs in Sarasota, Florida. The spring has no oxygen in it, so things are very well preserved there. The wooden spear has been carbon dated to 12 thousand years ago. According to traditional anthropological thinking, humans did not reach Florida until about 9 thousand years ago. O.O

The archaeologists will be searching the same area of the spring in July to see if they can find more artifacts.

Other interesting recent finds: A prehistoric, 1100 year old canoe has been uncovered in the sand on Weedon Island in Pinellas County (that's near St. Pete and Clearwater). It was found by a local man, who reported the find to authorities at which time professional archaeologist took over the job of uncovering it. It was originally about 45 feet long, the longest ancient canoe ever found in Florida.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!!

I didn't do a thing for it today today, other than tend the garden. But my mom is a science teacher, so she had a great ecological curriculum for today. She taught about the benefits of recycling, hanging laundry to dry outside rather than using a dryer, using reusable bags for groceries rather than paper or plastic, and how solar power works. She said the kids really seemed into it, and she was surprised by the number of kids who said their parents use the reusable bags and hang their laundry out.

Also all the public and charter schools in our county planted at least 38 trees given to them by the forestry service in honor of the 38th Earth Day. Nearly 6,000 trees (FTW! \o/) were planted between 11am - 12pm all over the county by kids and their teachers. Makes me all kinds of happy! The Guinness Book of World Records people were here to monitor the event, and the school system here now holds the record for most trees planted in a day and in a single hour. I hope this becomes a tradition and when they run out of space to plant trees at the schools, they can plant them elsewhere - places where there are erosion problems, etc. - and maybe things other than trees, like mangroves, sea grapes, and sea grasses along the bay and coast to help rebuild the estuaries in Tampa Bay and prevent erosion on the barrier islands, and go on field trips to study various ecosystems and maybe do clean-up projects. That would be cool...

Been busy...

I went on a little trip to South Carolina and Virginia last week during my Spring Break to visit Susan and my brother and sisters and other family there. It was a lot of fun and it felt like a lot longer than just a week with all the things we did. I took lots of pictures (312 to be exact) on my mom's new digital camera, which I borrowed for the occasion.

While in Virginia, I picked out the granite for the countertop in my bathroom in the new cabin. The guy told me that it's called "Green Juparana" but I can't seem to find a picture of that online... In any case, it's got some subtle splotches of sagey green, but is mostly yellow and gold tones, with flecks or red and black in a folded pattern across the surface of the stone... It's very pretty and mirrors the exposed bedrock stone outside where the hill was cut back a bit.

The cabin itself is progressing quickly. The plumbing and electrical things are all done and the interior walls are being finished. The roof is pretty much finished as well. The flooring and ceilings go in next week. We went out and took pictures.

The back:


The front:


The hillside:


The view from the porch:


We also went to the fabric store and got things to make a shirt and a dress for me for EyeCon and a shirt and new dresses for Susan, which I think she mostly needed anyway, but is also making especially for EyeCon. It's in 16 days! Wheeee!

We also went to Yarns, Etc. in Greensboro and I got roving... I think the gray stuff might need to be picked through some more before spinning, but overall it's good stuff from a small farm, so I shan't complain. The blue-gray 30% mohair/70% corriedale is very nice... I've spun some on my Hitchhiker (which is now fixed and working perfectly) and did a simple 2-ply. See here:



And I spun up the last of the black Merino that I had... about 6 1/2 ounces...



I also bought a pound of bleached 50% linen/50% silk roving for a shawl I want to make of my own design, which I typed of before here... I'm going to spin it going for a dk-worsted weight... And I want to try Navajo plying. But first, I think I need to dye this stuff... I want light colors... I want light blue-green and very light, almost-not-there pink and I want to leave some of it natural. I have no idea how to go about achieving these colors though because everytime I've ever tried to dye things before I've been going for deep, dark colors and the only way I know how to get lighter colors is by exhausting the dyebath. Also, I've never dyed roving before, let alone roving that is silk/linen. And I don't want to fuck it up. Although, maybe it might be better to spin it, knit it and dye it afterward when it's all finished so that I can get the color placement exactly as I want it... and maybe even do something like a tie-dyeing effect... I don't know. So. Any help, suggestions or advice you might be able to give me on any of this will be much appreciated.

In other news: This Saturday, I'm going to RenFaire with my friends. It will be awesome...

Evolution is in Florida Public Schools! Thank God!

Hallelujah!

This article is copied in its entirety from the original source... because you know links to articles break or the articles are taken off the site, so. If it still works, click and go there, if not, it's here to read, from Wired Blog Network: Wired Science:

Evolution Wins as Creationists (Accidentally) Switch Sides in Florida
By Brandon Keim February 20, 2008 | 12:59:46 PM
Categories: Education, Evolution

The Florida Board of Education officially upheld evolution yesterday.

The board didn't quite mean to do that, of course. In a 4-3 vote, the Board accepted a proposed curriculum that replaced all references to evolution with the phrase "the scientific theory of evolution." In so doing, the board inadvertently made evolution central to public school science education, and also, almost incidentally, mandated education on just what constitutes a "scientific theory."

Until now, Florida's schools weren't required to teach evolution. The old curriculum guidelines didn't even mention it by name.

That state education officials would approve the new standards was not a foregone conclusion. Since last November, 12 county school boards passed resolutions calling for classroom evolution to be balanced by "alternatives" -- a polite euphemism for religiously orthodox explanations of life. The resolutions were non-binding, but raised fears that that the Board of Education would try to duck controversy by diluting the new standards.

Apart from being illegal, teaching creationism as science is a very bad idea. Students may not be permanently scarred by failing to learn about evolution at an early age -- though the National Academy of Science would surely disagree -- but, they're bound to be stunted if told that evolution and creationism are even remotely equivalent in any scientific sense.

Yesterday's decision is thus great news for Florida -- and perhaps for the nation. Had Florida backed down, Texas -- where a pro-evolution science education official was fired last year, and a curriculum revision is scheduled later this year -- might have followed suit. Together they exert enough purchasing power to drag the nation's textbook manufacturers with them, science be damned.

The 4-3 vote was obtained by including a last-minute amendment to the standards. Suggested last Friday by religious conservatives and dubbed the "academic freedom proposal," the amendment required that the curriculum's references to "evolution" be replaced by the "scientific theory of evolution."

The amendment's supporters called the language change a victory -- and it is, though not in the way they imagine.

Not only will Florida's students learn about evolution; they'll also learn that the scientific definition of a theory is different from the everyday definition, referring not to wild-eyed speculation but to a vast body of observation and testing that confirms a hypothesis so strongly that it might as well be considered fact.

A big thank-you, then, to religious critics of evolution education. The language change will better help Florida's children understand not only evolution, but science itself. (If only this USA Today headline writer had the same education.)

Isn't democracy grand?

Note: People interested in how religious and scientific beliefs need not conflict should check out my Q&A with evangelical theologist Michael Dowd.

Decision: Florida schools must teach evolution [Palm Beach Post]

Evolution joins curriculum [St. Petersburg Times]

What I did last night...

Went to see Maya Angelou last night at the Sundome here on campus with my friend Mia. I almost didn't go because I had homework and it was ridiculously cold outside and I had no jacket, but I'm so glad I did. And I got my homework done sitting in the warm Sundome before her lecture started so it was all good. She was awesome and amazing and made me cry and laugh at the same time. Such an amazing person and phenomenal woman (I don't mean to pun her poem, she really is... there's just no other word that comes even close to covering just how glorious she is in the English language). *loves her* There will be pictures eventually. I have to get them from Mia.

She spoke some poems, some she has written and some written by others, including one of Shakespeare's sonnets. and she spoke about her love of written words and how important they are. And she said over and over and over until we laughed that she kept saying it that we all needed to go to our library to talk to our librarians because that's what they're there for and to read some poetry. Any poetry. Because she said it belongs to us and was written for us, so we should at least see what it is. And she told us about some inspiring people she's known in her life, like her grandmother and her Uncle Willy. She said we all need to appreciate and realize the rainbows in the clouds of our life and realize that we are also rainbows in the lives of other people, each and everyone of us. And I think that's so true. Amazing, amazing, amazing... If you ever get the chance to hear her speak, go! Do it!

There were so many people there that it took an *hour and twenty minutes* to get off campus and we were only parked about 1/2 mile from the edge of campus, or not even that far. So much traffic and not a campus cop in sight to direct it and people were being asshats. Very sad that. But still, there was music and talk of Maya and also our favorite tv shows and roving because I got samples yesterday from my favorite supplier, Yarns Etc. in Greensboro, and I had the samples in the car to discuss and pet, so it was all good. I'm going to be making hats in the next month or so for the actors on our favorite tv show 'cause I can and I think Vancouver is cold enough to warrent hand-spun, hand-knit hats...

Blogger Posts while Blogger was not working...

Here's all the stuff I tried to post in December when the Blogging programs weren't working for me. I'd try and end up with blank posts. So I back-logged them and now that Blogger is working for me again, here they are.

12/08/2005 - All but done with the semester! WooHoo!!

12/09/2005 - "The Straight Dude's Guide to 'Brokeback Mountain'"

posted here in it's entirety from: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10342237/

The straight dude's guide to "Brokeback"

Our intrepid gay columnist has sage advice for his straight brethren
COMMENTARY
By Dave White
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 7:26 p.m. ET Dec. 8, 2005

You are a heterosexual man. And you have no personal beef with gay people. You're educated and fairly socially liberal and occasionally listen to NPR and you don't like to see anyone bashed or discriminated against. You're no homophobe. You're proud of yourself.

But your girlfriend/wife/common-law/female or whoever loves that adorable Jake Gyllenhaal has already stated her intentions. When it's her turn to pick the Saturday night date-movie, you're seeing "Brokeback Mountain."

"But I am a heterosexual man," you''' thinking, "very, very, very, very straight." And you're kind of freaking out as the release date quickly approaches, and even the expression "release date" is making you kind of jittery. You're hoping to remind your female life partner that, while you feel gay people are very wonderful, colorful, witty additions to the human population and that Ellen sure is fun to watch dance in the credit card commercial and that Tom Hanks really deserved that Academy Award for whatever that movie was where he died at the end, that you are very, very, very, very straight and that it should exempt you from seeing Adorable Jake... um... do "it" with Heath Ledger. You really don't even want to know what "it" entails because you've lived this long without finding out. You're thinking the words "red-blooded," as in "I am a red-blooded American male, etc," don't sound so retro anymore.

And yet, you're still going to see it whether you like it or not. This necessarily presents a dilemma: how to make her happy and endure your first gay-themed movie where guys actually make out on a very big screen right in front of your face? And that's where I come in. I'm a red-blooded American male homosexual movie critic who's already seen "Brokeback Mountain." And I could just tell you how great the film is, that it's really powerful and moving and all that, but that isn't what you want to hear. So I have some viewing tips for you, my straight brothers. I promise I'm only here to help...

1. Accept the fact that this is all your fault in the first place. You were the one who was all excited to take your ladyfriend to "Jarhead" anyway and when you got there and saw that it consisted of lot of AJ (how this article will refer to Adorable Jake from here on) running around all sweaty, muscular and shirtless in the desert, doing a sexy dance wearing nothing but a Santa Claus cap over his "area" and then simulating a big gay orgy with his fellow grunts, you were like, "When does the killing start in this movie?" while your woman thought, "Oh yes, more Santa Dancing please." You brought it on yourself.

2. Realize now that you have to shut up. You kind of have no idea how important it is for you to shut up. But it's crucial. I was recently at a press screening for another movie and I overheard four guys in the theater lobby talking about "Brokeback." They were resolute in their refusal to go see it and they couldn't stop loudly one-upping each other about how they had no interest, were not "curious," and were, in the words of the loudest guy in the group, "straight as that wall over there." Oh, the wall with poster for the Big Gay Cowboy Movie on it? That straight wall? Well here's something that everyone else now knows but that guy: he's probably gay. Being silent marks you as too cool to care about how other men see you. It means you're comfortable and not freaked by your own naked shadow. Did Steve McQueen go around squawking about how straight-as-a-wall he was? No, he didn't. He was too busy being stoic and manly.

3. The good news - there's less than one minute of making out. It's about 130 minutes long and 129 of them are about Men Not Having Sex. So yes, maybe it will be the longest almost-60 seconds of your life, but there it is. Less than one minute. In fact, it's 129 minutes of really intense longing and sadness and unabashedly weepy, doomed love story. In a very real way that's a lot more porny than any of the man-on-man canoodling that made it past the editing room. But if you're going to be a big sissy about it then you can go get her that Diet Coke and jumbo popcorn during the first major sex scene. And no plugging your ears and singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," either. All singing is inherently gay, is why. Plus you'll be in a movie theater and some big bruiser gay guy might kick your butt. Then you'll feel even more emasculated.

4. Remember that it's a western. And the script was adapted by none other than Total Dude Larry McMurtry. That guy is the coolest western writer in the country. He wrote "Lonesome Dove." You love "Lonesome Dove." In fact, the only problem with remembering that it's a western is having to ignore the fact that most westerns are about 1000 percent gay. If you think I'm making that up, just go watch "Red River" again.

5. They're tortured and you get to feel sorry for them. Just like in that Tom Hanks movie, these gay guys get kicked around a lot. It's set in the 1960s and the characters played by Heath and AJ don't even know they're gay. They think they're just regular straight guys who suddenly find themselves all turned on by each other and, honestly, don't even really understand why they're awash in yucky, hypnotic love feelings. Actually wait... you know what? Don't think about that too much. Better if you just forget about the "why" of it all and start rooting for these underdogs. Pretend they're like Sean Astin in "Rudy."

6. Anne Hathaway, who plays AJ's wife, gets topless. The End. I think it's fair to report this and here's why: as a gay man, the only reason I even agreed to sit through the really stupid remake of "The Longest Yard" was because one of my friends told me you get to see the wrestler Goldberg in the shower. In one scene. That's it. I sat through the whole thing for one scene. In that respect, my hetero pals, we are all brothers deep inside... it's just a different brand of naked flesh that ignites our prurience.

7. And finally, it's just your turn. Really, it is, and you know it. Imagine how many thousands of hetero love stories gay people sit through in their lives. So you kind of owe us. Now get out there and watch those cowboys make out.

Dave White is the film critic for Movies.com and has a not-all-that-gay blog at www.livejournal.com/users/djmrswhite.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive

********

I am most amused... I saw this movie last weekend, and while it is almost completely wrong, wrong, wrong... Matt MacFayden was really hot as Darcy, and Keira wasn't as bad as I thought she'd be. This is what happens when I go in with expectations that couldn't be lower, I am usually pleasantly surprised. I thought Matt put in some subtle little looks on Darcy's part when Elizabeth's back was turned that were very telling and a good addition to the smouldering that Colin gave us. It was an interesting interpretation of Darcy at least. And of course, the script comes near to butchering the story... And I don't know what the costumers were thinking. The dress that Bingley's sister is wearing at their ball has straps just slightly wider than spaghetti straps - that can't be right. The women don't even have corsets on for half the movie, and at least half of the time they do, they are the wrong corsets... And there's a line where one of the girls is complaining that the corset being tightened is painful... again... It wasn't Keira this time, but for pity's sake! And there are some distinctly Bronte-esque scenes. And the last scene, while it had me grinning like a mad fool, was total invention of the script writers... But miracle of miracles, Zinzi saw it with us and she *loved* it! Anyone who knows the kinds of movies she usually has that reaction to knows just how amazing that is! 'Cause usually she'd have to be tied down and her eyes would have to be pried open to get her to watch a traditionally romantic movie, let alone something based on one of Jane's novels, but she really liked this, and was even asking me questions about what was going on during certain scenes cause she really wanted to know... Which is something that the filmmakers should have done better! There are parts where I know if I didn't know the story so well, I wouldn't have a clue what was going on, and the dialog is several scenes was unintelligible. On to the amusing article!

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9995610/
The importance of being Darcy
Matthew MacFayden has a tough job filling Colin Firth's smoldering shoes
COMMENTARY
By Mary Beth Ellis
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 10:24 a.m. ET Nov. 11, 2005

I was speaking to an older colleague about the latest essay I was writing; I informed her it concerned a new movie based on "Pride and Prejudice," which she last read at approximately the same time the Earth was first cooling.

And first words out of her mouth were: "Oh! Mr. Darcy!"

Yes, Mr. Darcy. Thanks loads, Jane Austen, for ruining generations of perfectly good women with your ballgowns and your rolling barouches and your Mr. Darcy. Many are the ladies who wait in vain for their own personal, portable Darcy, complete with estate in Derbyshire.

The number has increased since 1995, when Colin Firth took on the role for a BBC miniseries. Colin was Action Figure Darcy. He fences! He swims! He bathes! Naked! He gives and fixes and scowls and rides his horse and just in general Firths all over the place, and we are much the better for it.

He also stares, a lot. There is a great deal of staring on the part of Darcy, mostly at Elizabeth Bennet, who occasionally stares back, which in the Regency era I suppose was the equivalent of text messaging.

A difficult act to follow
Primarily, what sets Colin apart from all other Darcys is his hair. It truly is wonderful hair. The man rides thither and yon - sometimes yon twice in the same scene - and not once does he suffer hathead.

You kind of get the feeling that Darcy, in college, was not a frat boy. He wasn't showing up at your doorstep with Game Cube and a 12-pack of Natural Light and calling it a romantic evening. Darcy would at least change out of the ball cap he had been wearing for the past eight consecutive days first. He's a difficult act to follow.

But now the Lord has now bestowed upon us a new incarnation of Darcy, now played by Matthew MacFayden, which' good luck, Matt. Sometimes actors simply define roles; I cannot imagine Professor Higgins without Rex Harrison, Harold Hill without Robert Preston, or, of course, Larry Gigli without Ben Affleck. So has Colin's stare enamored any number of Austen fans.

It's all in the smolder, you see. For in today's culture, there is little time to smolder; the next episode of "The Apprentice" is roaring down the pike, or the plane is circling the airport yet again, or our cell phone is insistently informing us, via a tinny version of "La Bamba," that our best friend is currently standing 10 feet away - where are we? I don't think modern society loves Elizabeth and Darcy as much as we covet their spare time. House parties would last up to six weeks at a time in the 1880s. Who, outside of Paris Hilton, has that much alcohol on hand?

Among his other fine attributes, Colin Firth's Darcy possesses the ability to selectively bilocate. It really is quite extraordinary; one moment he's brooding on horseback, the next his face is floating to the forefront of Elizabeth's mirror or carriage window, issuing dark, repetitive, and sonorous pronouncements about how very icky he finds her family. "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you - but your mother is horrid and will have to stay in the basement. Dad needs to go too, and I seriously hate your sisters. And how attached are you, really, to the family dog?"

Darcy also maintains quite the respectable crib, and, it's safe to imagine, the most pimped-out carriages available. The driveway alone could serve as a landing strip for the space shuttle. And the pond - all proper estates require a pond. All I have is a sad puddle of warm beer beneath the refrigerator.

And you just know that Darcy gets into all the best clubs, too. He really is the ultimate date. There would be no standing at the hostess station, light-up seating alert device limply in hand for Darcy. No, he walks into Friday's, and he sits right down!

Shall we dance?
Impressive, too, is this whole business of dancing. I welcome any new adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice," Firthed or un-Firthed, so long as the dancing is done properly. People in Regency England didn't dance quite the way we do. There was, for example, precious little grinding. Smoke machines were rarely used. I doubt lasers made much of an appearance. On the other hand - fortunate generation! - everyone was spared the Electric Slide.

Physical contact between unmarried men and women was pretty much limited to a lot of bowing and fan fluttering. In dancing there was a great deal of twirling, which - and I say this as a square dancer from way back - is a lot harder than it sounds. I've thrown off the rotation of the planet with a poorly directed alamand left. But Colin manages this admirably, and with a remarkably small amount of dorkiness. He even skips in a manly manner.

Darcy, however, may not be well suited for the long haul. Once all the smoldering is done - what is there to burn after, really? A really excellent pot roast on Michaelmas, or whatever in the world people yearned for once plights were trothed? I mean, Pemberly is quite the hizzy, but how many chandeliers does one person need?

And is he really the best judge of character? Look at his friends: He hangs out with Wickham, who is the leading candidate as a spokesman for Rohypnol, and the overly smiley Bingley, who never met a pile of dog poop he didn't like. "Colin-as-Darcy," I would say - for I'm sure Colin Firth prefers to be addressed as nothing but - "Colin-as-Darcy, you may stay for as long as you like, but your friends are only allowed inside when I'm off at Pilates class."

However, given the bilocation and the preference for pond-swimming, I suppose I could settle in for a nice life of horses and twirling. An 80-year-old Colin Firth is still far preferable to a 27-year-old Kevin Federline.

Freelance writer Mary Beth Ellis runs http://www.blondechampagne.com/, from whence she leads a merry chase, or plights her troth, or whatever.

© 2005 MSNBC Interactive

************

After working really hard on my Cinxia sweater (pattern can be found here: http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/PATTcinxia.html ) for weeks and weeks I found today that it is undoubtedly going to look like crap. I don't know if I made a size too big or what, although I'm making the size according to my exact bust size. And my yarn is the *exact* same gauge as the one the pattern writer used... so I don't get it. I'm almost done with the collar, so I could try it on easily while it was still on the needles... It's not that the fabric is too bulky. It's that there's too much of it in the wrong places. The back of the sweater looks like it's a bed jacket, very loose, almost like a gathered skirt, with no shape at all (I know what you might say, that it was decreased wrong, but I was very careful and counted stitches the whole way at every step and sometimes in between. That is definitely not the issue). The front might look okay after it's blocked, but I can tell there is no hope for the back of it. Which sucks 'cause I was really hoping that it would look like the one pictured at knitty... I might try to make the next size down to see if that was the problem at some point in the future, but for now I have a lot of ripping to do and I'll just move on to something else.

12/13/2005 - Done with exams, thank goodness! I also got my second archaeology paper back from Dr. White. She gave me an 83. I do not think it deserved an 83. Her comments on it indicated that she only seemed to have a problem with one sentence, claiming that it was, in fact, not a sentence. Actually, it is a sentence. I don't write incomplete sentences in academic writing... I even have a hard time managing it in e-mails. Plus, Word would have picked up an incomplete sentence and I would have fixed it. So it is not an incomplete sentence. She also expressed that she would have liked to see me explain "cultural history method" more fully. Personally, I think we're beyond that, but whatever. Other than that, her comments said that it was "very good, but difficult to understand." This is one of the lowest grades I've *ever* gotten on a paper, let alone a paper in college. I admit it was not my best paper, but it did not deserve an 83. An 87 maybe, if one is being particularly nitpicky, but not an 83. I take it as further evidence that Dr. White doesn't like me. Every time I ask her a question, her face takes on an expression like she just tasted or smelled something nasty.

If that weren't enough, when I turned in my exam, there were two stacks of papers facedown in front of her on her desk of approximately the same height. I couldn't tell which one were the exams, so I asked, "Which are the exams?" with a smile. She rolled her eyes, snatched my test out of my hand and with a small disgusted noise, put it on the correct pile. I blinked and left the room. I may have slammed the door (I was the second to last to finish and the other person was handing her the test when I did that, so I didn't bother anyone but her). Her behavior was entirely uncalled for. I'm at a loss as to what I did that so offended her this semester. It's very true that she told me around midterms that she wanted me to participate more in class discussions and that I didn't really do that because I hadn't a thing to say, but honestly? Where's the professionalism on her part? So if I get a B in her class, I put it entirely on her because in any other professor's standards, I've given A work or near enough to it all semester.

I'm lucky that this is only the second prof that has been this unprofessional toward me. The first one was Dr. David Underwood, professor of Humanities. He was untenured and let go a semester after I had his class, I think it was because our entire class (and probably his other classes too) wrote very long complaints about him during the instructor evaluation. We were all very vocal about it, since he was not in the room while we were writing them and they went straight to the Dean's office for review, reminding each other of shitty things he had done, not missing a thing. But he was unprofessional with the entire class (although I do think I got a B in there specifically because he didn't like me). He was one of those sleazy kinds of guys who would flirt with the blonde sorority girls. I e-mailed him asking if he could let me know what grade he had given me on our class journal project and he never e-mailed me back. All other grades indicated that I should have had a solid A and the journal grade was supposed to be based on completion, not content, and it was complete, so I don't know what could have happened other than he gave me a B because he didn't like me or I was very blatant about my disgust for him. And since the only grade that prof's are prohibited by the school to give by e-mail are final exam grades, he had no legitimate reason not to e-mail me. To put it simply, he sucked.

I am *so* over all the bs at USF! Thank G-d this semester is over! ::sighs:: Now, on to preparing for the holidays!

*******

OMG! Joe Redner has just publicly announced to the Tampa community that he's gay and that that's why he's suing the county in Federal court for discrimination. He said that no one can prove that he is and no one can prove that he isn't, but that the reason that his previous suit over the County Commission prohibiting the recognition and funding of Gay Pride events was thrown out of court was that because the prohibition did not directly impact him... which is bs if you ask me... but since he's publicly announced this, the suit can't be thrown out for that reason again... So it's entirely possible and (knowing him) probable that he's just saying this so he can sue, although he says that he isn't lying about it because that would perjury. One might point out that he owns at least three all female strip clubs in Hillsborough County along with others in NYC and Las Vegas... Not to mention, this guy is like a hometown version of Hefner. Despite that, I still love this guy just cause he's such a thorn in a lot of conservative politicians' sides down here, and would have voted for him to get a City Council seat the last several times he's tried for it if I could have (unfortunately, I'm not a resident of the city). For more on that, see my post from earlier this year on this case.

In reaction, Rhonda Storms, the leading bigot on the Commission, said that the reason they can and should prohibit public money and authorities from supporting Pride events is because "[gays] are not a legally protected minority." Well, Rhonda, the Jews weren't protected by law in Germany either, but that sure as hell didn't make the Holocaust okay. (I know Jon Stewert has said that we really need to stop jumping to the Hitler/Holocaust analogy because it demeans the evilness of Hitler and the seriousness of the Holocaust, but it's the first analogy that pops into my head and one that is readily recognized by the most people. Sorry, Jon.)

In other news, there is a group of people trying to get Gay/Straight Alliances (a GSA) banned from high schools in Hillsborough County. They have petitioned the School Board to take care of that. The School Board however has put together a commission to study non-academic clubs at all high schools cause it doesn't want to get sued. Pretty much, it's looking like if they ban the GSAs, they will be banning the Chess Club, Star Trek Club, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and all the rest too. I don't think that they will. I hope that they won't. If the Blake High School GSA is still as large and active as it was the year I left, they'll probably have representatives, at least, show up at the January School Board meeting, where the Board will be reviewing the commission's findings. I know Equality Florida and the local GLSEN people will be there.

The parents that are protesting it probably don't even know what a GSA is... They say that they don't want their minor children participating in a GSA and think no minor children should be in a club that focuses on sex. Well, I'll have them know that sex has nothing to do with it. It's about charity events, peer counseling, and awareness programs within the school to educate the student body that there really is no difference between gay and straight high school students and people in general, and most importantly, there is no reason to harass or make fun of students who are different. We had to fight for it at Blake, despite the school being affectionately known by some as "Bi High" and that students from other high schools at sporting events and the like would often ask students from Blake, "So, you go to Blake? Does that mean you're gay?" The principal did everything he could to block the GSA from forming, up to and including intimidating the faculty against sponsoring the club, and that I know is a fact because a faculty member admitted that to me. Finally, in my senior year, the efforts of Bryan (aka "Big Gay Bryan," the president) and Jorel (the VP and a total hottie) paid off and we found a sponsor that wasn't intimidated by our principal and we had at least 45 people at our inaugural meeting. Even in the 2000/2001 yearbook it said, "The GSA is not as new as some people would like to think." I don't remember ever talking about sex in that club. We didn't even take a census of which students were gay, which were bi, which were straight, and which were questioning, but we were supportive if it came up in the course of our usual activities. As far as I remember, the big thing that year was getting teachers to participate in our "Safe Place" campaign, which meant that they would put stickers in their front classroom windows next to the door to show students being bullied or harassed in the halls could feel safe about taking refuge in their classrooms. Now, that might sound like an obvious thing, something all teachers would want to be a part of, but it's not. We worked hard and only got a few out of dozens of teachers to post the stickers. We also had a number of members participate in the Tampa AIDS Walk that year. The year after I left, when I was a Freshman in college, the GSA at Blake grew to such an extent that they had to hold meetings in the cafeteria because there were no classrooms large enough to fit everyone who wanted to be a part of it.

12/14/2005 - Heard that Colin Farrell is in rehab for exhaustion and dependency on prescription drugs. Poor darling. He needs to sleep more. He's said before that he has had chronic insomnia since he was a child, it was only a matter of time before it caught up to him. He also works way *too* much and knows it. His publicist has released info on how the addiction came about. He injured his back several months ago and was prescribed pain killers for it and has become dependent. At least he was responsible enough to catch himself fairly early and didn't let it go on for years. In somewhat related news, 30 Seconds to Mars has had to cancel some of their show dates because Jared has injured his back. Poor darling... Probably climbed one too many towers or something...

County Commissioner Update!

Well, this is just wonderful. I've said it many times, and I will say it once again: Joe Redner is a pretty cool guy. Joe Redner hates the Hillsborough County Commission and the Tampa City Council. He's never hid that fact.

For those who don't know, Joe Redner is one of the most notorious businessmen in Tampa. He owns at least 2... maybe 3 strip clubs in Tampa, and I think I heard somewhere that he's also opened some in New York City and Las Vegas. The ordinance that the City Council passed a few years ago, the also notorious "6-foot Law," was passed because they were trying to hurt his business, specifically. But while they have tried to charge both women and patrons with violations, none have ever stuck, and Joe has paid all legal fees. He did a lecture in an American Law and Justice course I took several years ago. He apparently, lets the women at his clubs set their own hours, provides day-care for their kids, encourages them to go to college and helps with tuition, and by all accounts, he's the classy kind of sleazy... more like Hugh Hefner than Larry Flynt. He also ran for City Council in the 2000 and 2004 election years, but didn't win.

Now, Mr. Joe Redner is suing the 6 County Commissioners who have consistently supported anti-gay legislation over the last several months, lead by Rhonda Storms. What he's siting exactlty, I don't know. But the papers are to be served tomorrow during the morning Commissioners' meeting.

Hillsborough County Commission... grrrrrr!!!!

For those who don't know, there has been a battle going on in downtown Tampa for the last four months. It all started when the head Librarian of Hillsborough County ordered two libraries to take down their Gay Pride Month displays of books written by famous gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered authors and books with GLBT themes, after (we are told) *three* (unnamed) people called her office to complain. These were not books that were any different than any other book display they might have, except that it was pointed out that their authors were homosexual (Byron, Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Proust, Alice B. Toklas & Gertrude Stein, E. M. Forster, etc. etc.) . There was considerable public outcry over the issue, since there are Black History Month displays, Hispanic Heritage Month displays and all manner of other seasonally themed displays in Hillsborough's public libraries. The libraries were allowed to put the displays back, but were told by their higher-ups that they were to be confined to the back of their buildings, in out of the way places so as not to cause undue discomfort... to the back of the bus, if you will.

Well, within two weeks of this scandal, serious rumors began that the County Commission was going to ban all gay-themed books from Hillsborough County Libraries. Within days they passed an ordinance that prohibited all County organizations from recognizing Gay Pride Month "in any way" and also prohibited the recognition of *any* event which reflected positively on gay people. There was considerable public outcry once again, and though the previous plan to ban books was confirmed, the County Commission has not yet been able to act on it (probably because they've been told by the NFL that if they actually go so far as to ban books, the NFL will find another place to hold the 2012 Superbowl). Only one Commissioner, Cathy Castor, has opposed these measures. In the week after this ordinance was passed, the County's webserver was crashed at least once by e-mails from as far away as England and Iceland voicing outrage over their discriminatory acts... It is estimated that they received at least 15,000 e-mails in a matter of days. It has been published that the number of e-mails received supporting the Commission have been less than 1% of the total (that's fewer than 150 e-mails for those who hate math).

And proving that the Commission is persisting in the face of public outrage, today, I received this e-mail:

Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 20:19:06 GMT
From: "Equality Florida"
To: Me
Subject: Hillsborough Commission Steps Up Their Anti-Gay Campaign

Hillsborough Commission Steps-Up Anti-Gay Campaign
Actions Shine Light on Discriminatory Intent

(Tampa, FL) Today, Equality Florida and the Pride is Back Community Coalition expressed outrage over the Hillsborough County Commission's continuing efforts to discriminate against LGBT citizens, as evidenced at yesterday's board meeting.

First, the commission rebuffed a recommendation from its own Human Relations Board to revisit the exclusion of "sexual orientation" from the protections of the county's Human Rights Ordinance. And in an act that completely removed any doubt of their discriminatory intent, the commission went on the make it more difficult for LGBT people to gain protections in the future.
"For the past four months, Commissioners have tried to deflect widespread public criticism by saying they do not support discrimination," said Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida. "Given an opportunity today to put those words into action, the Commissioners sat silent. There can no longer be any doubt that the intention of this commission is to discriminate against our community."

The Hillsborough County Human Relation's Board recommended that the Commissioners revisit their 10-year-old policy of excluding "sexual orientation" from the protections of the county's Human Rights Ordinance. Commissioner Castor told her fellow Commissioners that revising the policy would not only heal some of the damage done by the commission's now infamous June 15th anti-gay policy, but would also give Commissioners a chance to prove their previously declared opposition to discrimination. Not one single Commissioner was willing to second Castor's motion, in spite of the Human Relations Board's recommendation.

"The Commission had an opportunity today to begin a healing process. Instead, they escalated their attack on Hillsborough's LGBT community and intentionally tore open the wound of bigotry they inflicted four months ago," said Brian Winfield, Communications Director of Equality Florida, who along with field coordinator Lesa Weikel, attended the day-long session.

In a final slap at the gay community, the commissioners passed a legally suspect resolution that requires a super majority of the commission for the issue to be brought for a vote. When asked, the county's own attorney made it clear that the new policy was legally inconsequential.

"If you're not going to support my motion, that's one thing, but please don't be mean-spirited, Commissioners," Castor begged of her colleagues. Her plea appears to have made an impact on at least one Commissioner. Even Thomas Scott, who has repeatedly toed the majority line in casting anti-gay votes, didn't have the stomach to support Ronda Storms outrageous motion, which went on to pass in a 5 to 2 vote.

Since the Commission's June 15th passage of a policy that bars county agencies from even acknowledging any event that portrays gay people in a positive light, there has been an enormous outcry from the community with unprecedented involvement by individuals, businesses and religious and civic organizations. Their continuing efforts clearly demonstrate that the Tampa Bay community does not support the Commission's discriminatory actions.

At least 15,000 people have taken action by emailing the commissioners, attending marches, interfaith worship services, benefit concerts, read-ins and vigils and supporting the BUYcott. Neighboring cities, such as Dunedin and Gulfport, have shown their support of equal rights and community diversity. On October 4th, the night before the Hillsborough Commission meeting, the Gulfport's city council unanimously passed an inclusive human rights ordinance.

Welcome to TV-Land... and news from the Sunshine State

I've been watching all the new TV shows the last two nights while alternately knitting and working on homework. There have been some interesting programs... All three this evening had references to Mulder and Scully of "X-Files" fame ("Bones," "Supernatural," and "Law & Order: SVU"). I wonder why? Or if it's just coincidence...

Watching "L&O: SVU" right now... They're trying to indict the US Army for rape and murder for giving soldiers an anti-malaria drug known to have violent psychotic side-effects, which they concealed from the soldiers and their families causing one rape, two murders, one suicide and one attempted suicide in NYC alone (on the show, not in real life...). The DA just subpoenaed Donald Rumsfeld... got a bit of a thrill from the thought that they would do that (although I wouldn't expect him to be any more honest with a Grand Jury than he is with Congress or the American people... but that's a topic for another day.) This show's getting pretty ballsy this week. Real-life type corruption in the government (or as close as TV drama can get)... All the better to feed my conspiracy theories with, my dear.

"Bones" (on Fox) is a very interesting show... It's about a forensic archaeologist working out of Washington, DC with the "Jeffersonian Institute." ::winks:: It stars an unknown actress, Emily Deschanel, as Dr. Temperance Brennan PhD, and David Boreanaz, as Special Agent Seely Booth. Seely likes to call her "Bones" 'cause she hates it and she likes to remind him of her PhD 'cause he seems to hate that. And she's got a lot of really high-tech looking toys to play with, like catscan-type things that create just shy of instant hologram images of the dead people she examines. Pretty cool... and I'm sure there's a whole lot of forensic archaeologists would love to get their hands on something like that. The back and forth baiting between the two stars is very amusing and the science on the show is very interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it. You can find out more about the show here: http://imdb.com/title/tt0460627/

"Prison Break" was on last night. That one's also very interesting. It's about a guy, Lincoln Burrows, who was set up for the murder of the Vice-President's brother. He's on death row, less than a month from his execution date, his wife isn't talking to him, his teenage son has been having truancy problems with school, no one will believe that he's innocent and he doesn't know what to do. His brother, Michael, an engineer who helped with the design of the prison and has since had the blue prints tattooed all over the upper half of his body (hidden in a very intricate devil and angel gothic motif that is very cool), has gotten himself sent to prison by pretending to rob a bank so that he can break his brother out. He has to deal with being a new guy in the slam, making enemies just because he's breathing, trying to make allies without letting what they're up to get out, and disgustingly corrupt guards. What makes it even more interesting is that they have several lawyer friends on the outside working their butt's off trying to find a legal way to get Lincoln out... but it's difficult because what they are finding is more closed doors than they should and what seems to be a government conspiracy involving the CIA and Secret Service... because the Vice-President's brother apparently found out some things he shouldn't have and was going to make them public... And every time someone gets remotely close to figuring anything out, black suits appear and they disappear. My only issue with the show is that it's not quite as gritty and cut-throat as it should probably be... but then, it's on Fox and not HBO, so one can only expect so much... More here: http://imdb.com/title/tt0455275/

I taped "House" (also on Fox). Hear that this is its second season... I don't remember it last year, but the commercials looked interesting so I'll check it out as some point this week. Of course, coming up pretty soon will be the season premieres of "Smallville" (which I'm not looking forward to because if what I think is going to happen, happens, I won't be watching it anymore) and "Lost" (can't wait, can't wait! What's in the tunnel? Where does it go? Why did Kate scream? Who kidnapped Walt and why?...) Anyway...

The reason I taped "House" was because "Supernatural" premiered on the WB at the same time, and I've been waiting for that one since I saw the preview for it after the "Smallville" season finale like four or five months ago. It's about... well, I'm still not sure exactly what it's about. It's like "The X-Files" meets "The Ring." Now, I really wish I had never gotten talked in to seeing "The Ring" because I'm still trying to block that one out, but this show is freaky in a good way... Like the main-story arch episodes of "The X-Files." It's about two brothers who are searching for their father, who has recently gone missing. Since the youngest was just a few months old, their father has been obsessed with finding the thing that killed their mother. She was attacked by something in the baby's room and her husband could do nothing but watch as it killed her horribly. He's convinced that it's some kind of... demon, I guess. **spoiler** After looking in the town their father was last seen in, only to find that he had left them a message and moved on to somewhere in Colorado, and dealing with the "woman in white" ghost that had been murdering men for 20 years in that tiny town, the youngest, Sam, insisted that his brother, Dean, take him home because he wants to become a lawyer and had an interview with a law school rep. the next morning. Upon returning home, he went straight to bed, hearing the shower on in the bathroom and figuring that's where his girlfriend was, only to look up at the ceiling to see that his girlfriend was being killed by the same silent, creepy thing. As he screamed in horror, his brother burst in and pulled him out of the room just before the whole thing went up in flames (just what had happened to their mother). It ended on a very "screw law school, let's get this thing" kind of note. **end spoiler** I'm thinking that this could be a pretty good show. One thing I particularly like is that the dialogue between Dean and Sam is very brotherly... Half the time, it seems they can barely keep themselves from escalating it into a shoving match or all-out brawl. Such as here:

Dean Winchester: Nice work, Sammy.
Sam Winchester: Yeah, wish I could say the same thing about you. What were you thinking shooting Caspar in the *face*, you *freak*!
Dean Winchester: Hey! Saved *your* ass!

Other lines I found amusing:

Homeland Security Man: Can I help you, boys ?
Dean Winchester: No, sir, we were just leaving.
[two FBI agents walk past them]
Dean Winchester: Agent Mulder. Agent Scully.

Sam Winchester: When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45!
Dean Winchester: [totally unconcerned.] What was he supposed to do?
Sam Winchester: I was *nine* years old. He was supposed to say, "Don't be afraid of the dark"!
Dean Winchester: "Don't be afraid of the dark'"? Are you kidding me? Of course, you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there!

More info on "Supernatural": http://imdb.com/title/tt0460681/

On a totally unrelated note, but it was on the local news tonight and the reporters were bring kinda stupid and "we don't know why it's happening" about it... Alligators... Apparently, attack incidents in Florida have increased almost 300% to a present 14 per year in the last 15 years, sightings have been up and there are more incidents of alligators coming into people's yards and pools, and authorities are at a loss as to why. Hmm... I wonder? Could it be because a.) people are moving into and venturing into areas they have no business doing either (i.e. alligators' territory) and b.) people are stupid and do stupid things, like not respecting the alligator's space and feeding them(!!!)? I'm surprised that more people aren't attacked by alligators to be honest... I once saw two 8 or 9 year old kids, parents nowhere in sight, trying to *poke* a 4-foot alligator in their backyard with *sticks*... an alligator that the construction workers who had worked on their recently finished house used to throw leftover lunches to... Can you say "tonight at 11?"