Obsession is Good

Eep!

2004-07-06T21:17:21Z

I forgot I was here :)

I have far too many blogs. Ugh. The TCZ blog, 24 addict which is basically a blog, my own regular blog, and now this one and Elvis help me I'm thinking of starting another one. I have to say, not to demean the fine folk here at Livejournal, but I kinda like Blogger better which is why I use it more. Livejournal is wonderful for the community atmosphere and has some neat features, but Blogger's got the better flexibility as far as design and back end stuff.

But I don't hate LJ so don't beat me up :)

I've found a new Tuesday show to kill time in the dry months between seasons of 24: Blow Out on Bravo. Discovered one Boring Saturday when there was f-all on telly, I got sucked into Jonathan Antin's world of hair styling, bitchy, cocky stylists, and pretentiousness that is Beverly Hills.

I alternate between adoring Jonathan and being appalled at the Botox parties and $700 haircuts from a man who can't be bothered to do his own blow-drying. Part of me loves the show because it makes me think of my best mate Meechie who's one of those high-prices stylists in Monterey and I wonder if his salon is remotely like Jonathan's :)

So between Blow Out and Queer Eye, I get my gay tv quota filled :)

KieferLand

2004-05-20T22:50:06Z

Out of a desire to provide more avenues for spreading the Kiefer goodness, I created a Kiefer forum devoted to him. I know there are already several really good ones out there (ie. Kiefer's Krew, the very first K forum I ever visited.) but you can never have too much Kiefer.

So if anyone's interested, KieferLand is open for business.

It's a bit empty right now as I just went live with it today. I'm hoping to someday have plenty of users to keep me busy :)

Mini Melia

2004-03-27T17:20:42Z

So for most of my daughter's young life, she's had her own domain name: Sweetiepete.com. Yes her mother is a geek and a web designer by trade so of course she's going to have her own site :) Sweetiepete is a sort of family nickname that was passed on to my daughter after my sister outgrew it. Since I don't want her real name used on the Net, Sweetiepete was the perfect choice.

Well now Sweetiepete is 12, soon to be 13 and Sweetiepete.com was tooooo embarrassing to tell her friends about :) Hehehe, bless her little heart. So I let that lapse. I hated to let it go, but ahhh well. Kids. She still wanted her own site though so we're running through names, trying to think up something 'cool' (which we both suck at doing) when it occurs to me to use the nick my friend gave her, 'Mini Melia' :) Well that went over a treat so minimelia.com was born. So there's me, at ukmelia.com, and now mini-me at her address. I'm actually kind of surprised she liked it.

Anyway she's a happy bunny freak, so we used that. She wanted a forum for her and her friends to hang out on so we did that, and now that she's learning how to make her own wallpapers, she's got a photo gallery similar to my Kiefer one. I reckon this will keep her busy this summer :)

Anyway... off to the store. Three days til K-Tuesday *sigh*

Oops.

2004-02-25T22:04:08Z

So my boss decided to treat us all to dinner out tonight since he discovered it's in the budget to reward his employees once in a while. I planned for my kidlet to spend the night with the grandparents so I could enjoy myself and not have to worry about picking her up at a certain time etc.

half an hour before we're meant to meet at the restaurant, I get a call telling me that Boss has forgotten that today is Ash Wednesday and everyone but me is a Catholic and can't eat meat. Or whatever I dunno the tradition, as I said I'm not Catholic. So they cancelled the whole thing.

Irksome, but what really worries me is that I called the Gs to inform them that my dinner was cancelled and to see if they still wanted to keep the kidlet overnight (which of course they do, but I thought it would be rude not to offer). So they invited me to go with them out to dinner at my favourite steakhouse. I declined. Now I feel bad for declining because my grampa sounded a little disappointed. I don't knbow why I declined either except that I'm really trying to put the kibosh on any eating out. I went cold turkey on fast food back in August and have not set foot in a burger joint since (yay me!) and I figured since I'm doing well at that, I'd extend the ban to include restaurants. Obviously the company dinner was a bit different and I fully intended to be good and just have salad anyway. But if I set foot in that steakhouse tonight I will lose it and order a bigass ribeye and I can't be doing that.

But how do you explain that to your grandfather who loves you just the way you are? I dunno, but I just didn't want to put myself in that position. Ahhhh well. Least now they won't have to pay for my dinner :)

Blah

2004-02-12T18:37:08Z

So I have walking pneumonia. Wheeee. I've spent the past miserable week with a throat that feels filled with shards of glass, coughing up my lungs and missing work. Ok so the missing work thing isn't so bad, but man I'm gonna feel it on payday.

Anyway, been having the occasionaly server problems with both my 24addict site and my Kiefer gallery. I don't know what the problem is exactly, but my host, who is also a close friend, assures me it's nothing I'm doing. So if ever anyone can't get to either site, rest assured I wouldn't remove them without giving a warning first. It's just a server issue that will be resolved quickly.

I also haven't been very good about writing in here. Oopsie. Well, there are a variety of reasons for that, but I don't feel like going into them :) I'm gonna make an effort tho to write here.

Ooo time for my meds.

Brrr

2004-01-06T16:42:34Z

It's fecking cold here in Nebbyland. -10 with a windchill of 30 below. I would rather be cold than hot, but not this cold.

So I'm hanging out at the KK board and out of the blue this lovely young lady offers to send me the DVD for a very old, very cheesy Kiefer flick called Brotherhood of Justice. He's got second billing in it, but he's really not in it much as it's all about Keanu. Anyway, this fab chick thought I might like to screencap it so she mailed it to me. How nice is that? I don't know what they're talking about when they say the Net's full of wackos because I've met more than my fair share of wonderful people online.

And this girl included a nice CD of Kiefer wav files mixed with songs that reminded her of the K-man as a little pressie. How thoughtful is that? I'm so chuffed :) So I got the film capped last night and it was another little surprise to discover it was filmed in Santa Cruz. A year after this film came out Kiefer would be back on the streets of SC to play the world's sexiest vampire :)

I love Santa Cruz. I spent so much time there during my misspent youth. We'd go up to the Boardwalk (yes, THE boardwalk with the infamous carousel) in the middle of the night and just goof around. Or we'd go to concerts on the beach, that sort of thing. When Lost Boys came out and I fell in love with David (really, what 15 year old hot-blooded female didn't?) I dragged my friends to the Boardwalk all the damn time so I could stand where Kiefer stood. Sad? Yeah. Fun? Hell yes :) Did I lose any friends over it? No. They were Kloset Kiefer fans anyway.

hurray for football!

2003-12-30T05:29:40Z

Never thought I'd say that! :) But I was right. the stupid Husker game made for a nearly empty theatre which also made for a happy Melia who finally got to see this beloved film in peace and quiet. No snickering teenies, no stupid girlfriends asking their equally thick boyfriends what's happening plotwise every five minutes, no sniffly little kids who are really too young to be there so they whine the whole time, no cell phones going off, no one kicking my seat.. Ahh bliss. 5th time's the charm, as they say :)

Oh and my sites are all back up now. I can go to bed chuffed.

And the saga continues

2003-12-29T23:51:59Z

Websites: Still down.
VCR I just bought at Walmart: No connector video cable included which means I have to fecking buy one of those now too.

I hate the internet and I hate Walmart.

Ok so it's a cheapo vcr. I only bought it so I could screencap some Kiefer videos I have that aren't available on DVD yet. And I can't hook the #@$&*@! thing up. Grrrr.

Gosh it seems like all I do here is whinge. Oops. Well on a lighter note, I'm definitely going to ROTK in a little bit. I live in Nebraska home of the Nebraska Cornhusker college football team complete with rabidly fanatic freaky Husker fans and tonight they are playing at some bowl game. So I figure the cinema ought to be fairly empty :D Wish me luck.

Up down up down.

2003-12-29T15:13:49Z

Aaaaand they're down again. Bah. I think it's a sign that yes, I should go see ROTK one more time tonight and forget about the Net :)

Oh an update on my friend's comments about the film.. here's snips from the entire conversation:

Chris:
I'd give it a 7.
Definitely not the best movie I've seen all year. Kill Bill vol. 1 reserves that title.
#2? Stuck on You.
#3: X2
#4: Once Upon a Time in Mexico
#5: Return of the King.

That's right. I RATED 'STUCK ON YOU' THREE POINTS HIGHER THAN ROTK. I await your onslaught with glee. Take away the CGI from #1 or #2, and you still get a great movie. Take it away from ROTK and you have a bunch of people milling about in New Zealand. X2 would undoubtedly also be fairly awful. I swear, if PJ wins best director I'll be very distraught.

Please defend why this trilogy is with more and more frequency being called the best of all time. It's easier to say a movie's not the best than explain why it is
Good, but highly overrated.

Me:
I don't know if I can even going to begin to address your views Chris. Life is too short to be spent trying to explain the emotions and feelings the LOTR trilogy invokes in folks like me that other folk probably will never 'get'. Besides, you're allowed to rank Stunk on You (typo not intended, but I'm leaving it ) wherever you like. Everyone's opinion is different and what appeals to you may not appeal to me and vice versa.

ROTK itself isn't for everyone and inevitably there are those who don't like it for whatever reason. And that is all good. But it's not going to change how I feel about it and I'd hope my strong feelings for these films would be respected and not questioned (ie. saying "I don't know why people think this is the best movie ever" because to some people, it IS the best movie ever. To others, it's not.) Why judge each other? Why knock each other's opinion (not saying anyone here is knocking anyone, but I've seen some really nasty comments made towards fans of the films elsewhere online and I just don't think it's right.)

Obviously I feel very passionately about the films. I'm in awe of them and everything it took to get them made. I think a lot of detractors are put off by the amount of hype the films have received and I have to admit I was worried that ROTK wouldn't live up to that hype. But I was so wrong. For me it was better than the hype for every reason one girl mentioned. Yes the CGI was great and plentiful but what I took away from the four viewings I've been to are the character stories. The scenes I remember are the ones involving the ordeal of Frodo and Sam (oh god especially Sam *sniffle*), or how Merry and especially Pippin come into their own (Pippin's song kills me.) How Aragorn 'becomes who he was born to be...' and the bravery of Eowyn at that crucial moment. That's what I took away from the films. Not a bit of the CGI stuff. So respectfully Chris, you're dead wrong about 'taking away the CGI and having nothing left but folks wandering around New Zealand.'

Anyway I've rambled enough. At the end of the day, films in general are what they are and how people feel about them will always vary from person to person.

Chris:
Melia, point taken! I know you're a huge movie buff who sees a wide variety of films, so that's why i find your opinion to be well-informed. If someone has seen some of the classics and still finds LOTR to be best of all, more power to you. As Radiohead says, you're "an empowered and informed member of society".
---------

I rock :)

Ahhhh

2003-12-29T13:27:23Z

Woke up this morning to find everything is back to normal. Isn't it funny how you panic about stuff like sites being down, but when they come back up, you feel silly for freaking out?

Am totally running late. Have to leave for work in 15 minutes and I only just got out of the shower. Eep! But I had to upload the caps or it would bug me all day. So new 24 caps are up for now (Season one, 4pm-5pm). I might do more tonight but I'm contemplating going to ROTK just one more time before it leaves my town :) Yes I am a geek.

I give up

2003-12-29T04:10:56Z

Damnit it's bedtime and all my sites are still down. 24addict, the gallery, ukmelia, TCZ, the forums. Son of a beeyotch. I've never had a problem like this before. My best friend's husband is my host for the majority of my sites, apart from my daughter's which is up. Apparently his entire network is down. Every one of his sites, his wife's stuff, other people he hosts - we're all down and he's on holiday.

Not that I'm mad at him, mind you. It's his service that's bunged up, not him. And it is the weekend, and a holiday weekend to boot so I'm hoping it will all be fixed by tomorrow. I never realised how often I go around checking stats, adding entries, and posting everywhere until I spent today checking every 10 minutes to see if it was up yet. It's been frustrating :) I've started capping the 5th disc of Season one of 24 as well as some caps from a great interview with him on the new Wayne Gretzky DVD. So I'll have to wait until this mess is sorted outbefore I can upload them all.

More whining. I'll stop, sorry. On another note, a friend of mine posted his opinion of ROTK and it did not make me happy. He ranked that crap Farrely Brothers' film Stunk on You 3 places higher than ROTK on his top films of 2003 list and proceeded to say that without the CGI effects, ROTK would be nothing more than a bunch of people wandering around New Zealand. FFS. Did this guy see the same movie I did? Argh. You know, I don't mind if people don't like the LOTR films as much as I do - I realise I'm a bit fanatical about them and that works for me. I've said it before, LOTR's just not for everyone. But his comments just don't sit well with me I guess. But for what it's worth, his opinion is his opinion and he's entitled of course. It doesn't change mine.

It's hard to explain why negative opinions about these films bug me. I try hard to accept differing views, but it's different when the negative views are from people you know, people with whom you share interests with and who know how you feel about things like this. When they diss it, well, it does feel weird. I still think he just saw the cartoon version tho and not PJ's version :)

Anyway enough out of me. Anyone reading this is warned that I rarely blog just a paragraph or two and am prone to meandering, long-winded diatribes on whatever strikes my fancy :) I dunno what LJ etiquette is for posting with all this 'friends' stuff and whether you're meant to keep your posts short and sweet or whatever. But feel free to tell me to shutup and I'll keep my bloated blatherings to my other blog :) Gnight for now.

24addict @ 2003-12-28T13:26:00

2003-12-28T19:50:31Z

Gah this really sucks. I've got screencaps to upload and my fecking sites are still down. I am not a patient person and now my plans for the day are screwed up. Blasted internet. *bitch bitch bitch, moan moan moan* So if there's a plethora of posts on here today, that's why. I'm also playing with the look of this place though I seem to be severely limited with an LJ free account. But I can't bring myself to pay for an account when I can do whatever I want for free with Blogger. But as a web designer I hate having an uglyass site :) I'm picky like that. Ah well I'll deal.

Currently I'm watching football on Fox. I'm not a football fan and the only reason it's on is because apparently there's a new advert for the next 24 flitting around and I want to see it. I won't say why because it's a spoiler for anyone not watching season three. Suffice to say that I'm willing to be spoiled on upcoming eps just to see this clip (I'm spoilerphobic normally). I haven't seen the ad yet but the Chiefs are beating the Bears.

24 Best show on telly

2003-12-28T16:51:57Z

Well since 24addict is down for a while I'll stick this cool bit of sunshine here. Kevin Williamson from the Calgary Sun has placed 24's third season at the top of his 'Best of 2003' list (again). Woohoo!

1) 24: As impossible as one of Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) near-death escapes is the fact this real-time thriller is enjoying its best season yet. Gone are the roll-your-eyes subplots -- wild cougars, survivalist rednecks -- endangering Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) as the show's scribes have incorporated her into the main narco-terrorism festivities. Gone, too, is the nagging sensation that they're making it up as they go. Having gotten off to a slow start -- the third season premiere was solid, but unexceptional -- head honchos Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow are now allowing story threads to develop over time before yanking the rug out from under viewers. Is it perfect? Hardly. Does it play fast and loose with its real-time framework? You bet. But it is television's most exhaustive, relentless entertainment. This is the third consecutive year 24 has topped this list. Challengers, anyone? Anyone?

Right on.

Argh

2003-12-28T16:37:05Z

My entire network of sites seems to be down, which is annoying. This includes my personal site, the 24 site, the *gulp* Kiefer galleries, all my forums. And of course my server host, AKA my best friend Kat, is on an interstate somewhere between Louisiana and Chicago. I hope it's just a temp glitch :(

Return of the King

2003-12-28T05:11:25Z

I'm digging this lj thing and I've had far too much coffee tonight.

I've a bit of a rant about a certain aspect of the LOTR films some people tend to focus on and that is the alleged homoeroticism between Frodo and Sam. For some reason this pisses me off. Now, I'm not saying homoeroticism in general is bad - noooooooo. I love me some slash :) so I'm also not talking about slash writers who may like to use them for their stories. I have nothing against slash. I write slash occasionally - well... I used to a long time ago but stopped for some reason.. Anyway, slash I can stand - But I won't read any LOTR slash because the stories/films are too beloved for me - but I'm ok with its existence. I just don't want to ummmm, associate these stories I've read and re-read since junior high with slashn no matter how well-written. It's just a thing I have and I, in no way, wish to impugn any slash writers who enjoy LOTR slash. (I'm trying to see how many times I can say the word 'slash' in one paragraph.) More power to them, have at it and enjoy :) But I can't bring myself to read it. The reason I bring this up, and the thing that pisses me off is when some idiot in the cinema weakens the emotional ending of ROTK for me by telling his mates he 'knew they were gay' when Frodo kisses the top of Sam's head. I think that was the first time I ever turned around and told someone to 'shut the fuck up' in a theatre.

It's silly of me, I know. But the Lord of the Rings - the books and now the films - are things I take seriously because I love them so much. They're a part of who I am and it bothers me when something I take seriously is treated in such a light, almost rude manner.

To me, the relationship between Frodo and Sam begins as a sort of Master and Servant kind of thing. Frodo, after taking over Bag End became the modern equivalent of a gentleman. Sam was his gardener. But it was more than that because I never thought Frodo was comfortable with his position in Hobbit society and today I think he would have been the type of Master who hung out with the help in the kitchen. So he and Sam were also good friends for the majority of their young lives. And Sam looked up to Mr. Frodo and was devoted to him in that friend/loyal servant sort of way. After Gandalf sent them off on their terrible journey that relationship only deepened - but for god's sake, not in a sexual way. Sam began to regard himself as Frodo's 'minder'. He tried to keep him in sight at all times and ensure his safety as best he could because that's what Gandalf bade him to do. It was an easy task to take on because he was already Frodo's good friend.

So after everything that they went through - from Frodo constantly getting singled out by every baddie imaginable along the way and injured in some way to Sam having to make the toughest choices of his life, the orcs, the tiresome trek, dealing with Gollum, the Ring eating away at Frodo and Sam having to watch his friend's slow decay to finally having to witness Frodo's weakness at the very end and eventual salvation, surely it's okay for Frodo to kiss his best friend's forehead at their final parting eh?

So to the dipshit at the theatre during the midnight premiere - grow up you twit. And to any slash writer I may have pissed off (who am I kidding? No one's going to read this anyway) - please don't be mad. Slash is good :) But LOTR slash is just not for me.

yikes

2003-12-28T04:21:40Z

well colour me embarrassed. My first post in a community journal and I fucked up the damn lj tags. Then it took me a little while to figure out how to edit my entry and sometimes I really think I'm not the sharpest tack in the box. My luck someone was online at the time and caught me in my goof :) Ah well got it sorted in the end.

This is kind of fun.

Hmmm...

2003-12-28T02:36:44Z

I've never used LJ before. I've always stuck with blogger or greymatter. But I was bored tonight so voila. Here is this ugly ass journal. Maybe I'll pretty it up later but right now it's just gonna look like crap :)