It's been a bad week, in terms of the depression thing. I'm just at a point where I'm afraid to talk about it. I finally let my mother in on the severity of it, and she immediately went into I JUST WANT TO FIX IT mode. And she knows she did, and she knows she can't. BUT OMG IS THERE ANYTHING SHE CAN DO TO FIX IT? NO REALLY, IS THERE? I've made about six different attempts at this paragraph and backspaced them all. My inner Elinor is flaring up and I'm afraid to say anything about how I feel now, because mostly I feel moldy and selfish and unmotivated on the best of days, and hellaciously cranky/stupidly weepy on the worst. And I am so, so afraid that if I don't post regularly enough (mmm, aged news! Delicious), readers are going to wander away, but I know I have to hold off if that's what I need to do. And meanwhile, I want to talk about this the way I usually talk about depression, but I just--can't. I don't know. Maybe I'll do a voice post or something--I feel like y'all would need to hear from my actual tone of voice that I'm not falling to pieces over this. It's just... heavy.

And please know that even when I'm not posting, I'm flagging stories for later, not all of which I even end up using. So really, I am keeping up with things, and if I don't compile a linkspam, you can still see what's going on there, if you want.

Re: Tonner SDCC exclusives: They're apparently going to be selling whatever's leftover on the direct site, so I think I'm going to try that (or eBay) rather than ask an unknowable number of readers to try to track down a slightly variant Tonner Edward. As much as I appreciate y'all offering--and, I mean, I did ask--I'm just not sure how that would not end up being a total clusterfuck, since no one would know if anyone else had managed to get one, and we'd end up, with, like, seven.

Also: they're going to have a Black Canary exclusive as well.

Also-also: I think I have found the Uhura I want.

( Linkspam: Yes, I *did* hear about the getting kinda-hit by a cab thing )

Tags: 9, american idol, batman, books, conventions, crazy, depression, dolls, fame, harry potter, indiana jones, inglourious basterds [sic], iron man, movies, music, pixar, public enemies, remember me, robin hood, sherlock holmes, sparkle motion, star trek, thirst, tonner, twilight, vampires, werewolves, wtf, zombies
Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Eleanor McEvoy - Whisper a Prayer to the Moon

I am having a gigantic crankiness problem lately, particularly in real life. I can tell I'm being really irritable and snappish, but noticing it tends to make me... more irritable. At least I can hide it a bit better online, but I'm still losing my patience way more often than I should--I get really pissed off about things I know are stupid, about things I know never used to bother me, but--it's completely involuntary and irrational. And I've been like this for weeks now, if not months.

I'm trying to work on it--I cut out caffeine again (a long while back) after I noticed it was making me cranky, I've been trying to eat better but more often, drink more water, get more sun--I already take a B complex and a multi-vitamin (and antidepressants, for those of you just coming in; I've been doing really well as far as the drugs + vitamins regimen goes, and for a long time now). I just don't know what else it is. Stress, maybe--stress of the uncertain and the unfinished, I guess. People around me dumping their stress on me, possibly. To be honest, I think a lot of it started six months ago when I began getting really emotional about turning thirty but not being what and where I wanted to be by this point in my life, and I don't think I've gotten past that yet.

I think I need more alcohol in my life. Perhaps something with fruit.

( Linkspam )

Tags: awards, batman, books, clash of the titans, conventions, crazy, disney, dolls, harry potter, inception, john carter of mars, london boulevard, movies, nora roberts, oh dramatize, remember me, sex, sexism, shutter island, sparkle motion, star trek, the da vinci code, the time traveler's wife, tonner, true blood, tv, twilight, twitter, wanted, watchmen, where the wild things are, why we can't have nice things, writers, wtf, x-men
Current Mood: hungry

MTV Movie Awards roundup, partially courtesy of my Twitter feed: ( JJ Abrams keyboard solo *what?* )

( The rest of the linkspam )

Tags: awards, bond, crime, deaths, dolls, gulliver's travels, harry potter, lemony snicket, movies, music, pixar, public enemies, robin hood, salt, sparkle motion, star trek, stephen king, titanic, tv, twilight, twitter, vampires, video, web comics
Current Mood: sleepy

Not doing too much today, even by our standards. My stepfather's out drumming at the American Village in his Revolutionary soldier coat; Sister Girl and her boyfriend came over for lunch. Mom used her new ice cream maker to whip up a pretty simple vanilla, which we then put homemade hot fudge sauce and fresh strawberries on (kind of like a chocolate-dipped strawberries sundae). Melted really fast, though. We're going to freeze the mixture all afternoon and try it again tonight (the bowl lives in the freezer as it is).

She also wanted to go see a movie yesterday, and while she kind of wanted to see Angels & Demons (Wolverine was also on the table. Terminator Salvation was not), I pointed out that I could absolutely guarantee that Star Trek would be worth the money, something I could not say about the other three. So I saw it again; she loved it. And in the car on the way home, she revealed that she'd seen the entire original series as a kid and had gone around making the Vulcan fingers all the time. I can't confirm this, but she might have even been a young Trekkie. And here I'd thought I'd have to explain who everyone was! So that went well.

So today and yesterday, I've felt pretty mellow, in a pleasantly limp kind of way. The next Secret Life is almost ready to go, but it depends on a couple of pictures that in turn depend on a new "set" that will involve a good bit of cleaning. (You know the bookshelf/printer table next to my file cabinet, the one that appears at the edge of so many pictures? Well, there's a reason you've never seen it properly, because it is a wreck.) Yeah. Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow. I have a sudden urge to reread some comfort-food book for the eleventieth time. Jane Eyre, maybe.

Tags: ice cream, movies, my mother, om nom nom, sister girl, star trek
Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: Kris Allen - Ain't No Sunshine

Y'all, I don't wanna do a damn thing tonight. It took me this long to do a simple linkspam, Adam Lambert's got steel cage shoulder pads on, and I haven't even had dinner yet.

ETA re: American Idol: ( Can AI have spoilers? )

( Linkspam )

Tags: 9, agora, american idol, books, deaths, disney, fame, harry potter, inglourious basterds [sic], iron man, movies, my little pony, sherlock holmes, sparkle motion, star trek, stephen king, terminator, true blood, tv, twilight, vampires
Current Mood: blah

Apropos of nothing much, I'll tell you that I tried to watch the third Mummy movie last night, and I could not get fifteen minutes into it--because I can forgive a lot, and I can have a lot of fun with stuff that isn't actually good, but I just could not, not, not get behind Maria Bello replacing Rachel Weisz (who I love in the first movie). They just weren't even the same character--Rachel Weisz brought a kind of giddy can-do energy to Evie, whereas Maria Bello had this arch, coy, detached take on the whole thing (and how much of that is due to her wrestling with a fake accent, I don't know).

But I will give the movie this: the first time we hear Bello!Evie, she's reading aloud from a novel she's published (a thinly fictionalized version of her own adventures). Then a woman in the audience stands up and asks if she based the heroine on herself, and then we see Bello!Evie for the first time as she says, all but winking at the camera, "No, I can honestly say she is a completely different person." I laughed so hard.

Must Watch: First Trailer for Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes'!

ETA: Early leak of the New Moon poster, it looks like. Although the watermark is cracking me up.

( Moar! )

Tags: agora, clash of the titans, harry potter, lost, movies, nine, poe, shakespeare, sherlock holmes, sparkle motion, spider-man, star trek, terminator, the da vinci code, the imaginarium of dr. parnassus, the road, true blood, tv, twilight
Current Mood: mellow

Still "recovering" from burnout a bit. Attended two separate social gatherings last night, believe it or not. Now need to find something to wear for The Lovely Emily's wedding (did I mention she's getting married at the end of May?), which ought to be... interesting, and possibly depressing. The wear-finding, I mean, not the wedding (I approve of The Future Mr. Emily 110%).

I do have some linkspam today, if only because some really good stuff just came out. (Nothing gets my attention like the word "EXCLUSIVE," by the way--because I automatically know which site's version of a news item I ought to go with. Also among my priorities: trailers and images.)

( Nine, The Road, Princess and the Frog, Deathly Hallows, Dawn Treader, Wuthering Heights, a lot of exclamation points!!! )

Tags: disney, face value, harry potter, lost, lovecraft, movies, my little pony, narnia, nine, public enemies, star trek, terminator, the da vinci code, the princess and the frog, the road, true blood, tv, twilight, unbound captives, vampires, wtf, wuthering heights
Current Mood: meh

Saw Star Trek last night. It was v. good. I didn't have a cinematic orgasm or anything (which I had kind of been led to believe would be the case, actually), but it was good, and I'd go see it again. For some reason, Bones was totally my favorite.

(Am genuinely considering getting the Barbie Uhura now. Wouldn't get the Kirk and Spock Kens, though.)

Wrote a good bit this weekend; managed to save over the newest installment of Secret Life, so that kinda sucks. (Mostly this is bad because we are falling wayyyy behind and a lot of things are going to happen soon.) Sister Girl came over and made Crepes Suzette for Mom for brunch, and then we had barbecue for the family lunch while Sister Girl was at work, and then I slept for three hours because I was painfully tired for some reason. And then I got up and wrote a little more, but in a very slow, meandering kind of way. Might go to bed early just in hopes of feeling more energetic tomorrow, I don't know.

Tags: barbie, movies, star trek
Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Tori Amos - Bliss

I feel really crappy, probably because the weather's been hideous for several days now, but it's sunny now, so here's an early linkspam so I can go recharge my epidermal solar panels.

(Re: Yesterday's Secret Life: There are a ton of awesome reader-made icons sprinkled through the comments; The Littlest Hat is courtesy of MaggieCat; and TLE is not technically napping [sparklepires don't sleep, if you will recall], so he has actually stopped for a Q-tip snack break, if you look closely. Also: Let's have a big hand for Squeakers the Cat-Toy Stunt Mouse.)

( Linkspam )

Tags: awards, bad ideas, books, deaths, disney, dracula, harry potter, inception, internet, lord of the rings, lost, movies, pixar, salvador dali, seasonal affective disorder, sparkle motion, star trek, terminator, the da vinci code, the princess and the frog, the road, the secret life of dolls, tori amos, true blood, tv, twilight, twitter, vampires, wanted, x-men, zombies

First off, dollish news: Freakishly Lifelike Joker (With Extra Police Uniform) is available for pre-order and a January release! If you do want this, you may want to reserve yours now, because I think the previous version completely sold out.

THE LITTLEST BELLA IS IMMINENT. (Scroll to the end.) I am advised that she will be shipping next week, in fact. I think it'll take me a few entries to work her in, as I started planning for the worst (JULY, WTF), but I can adjust the story pretty quickly. (As previously mentioned, any and all spare Littlest Edwards will be used as doubles. I did the sorta-twin thing once; I don't think I can manage it again.)

MOAR DOLLS: My Little Ponies that might actually taste like candy; Tonner Warehouse Relocation Sale in NY; I have two things to say about the latest repaint here, and they are: 1) This is a very talented artist. 2) That shit ain't right. I don't even want to contemplate what the eventual owner might do with that.

A note about links to movie parodies, video and otherwise: I wanted to do Watchmen in Fifteen Minutes, but I never did because when I sat down, I just couldn't think of anything to say. And several weeks later, I realized it was because I had seen two or three really funny takes on the original book... so when I sat down to write, all that came to mind were their jokes. So from now on, I might link to parodies of movies I plan on writing about in the future if I happen to see them (the movie sites I watch often post them), but only for y'all to see them--if you specifically want me to watch them, well... it's not going to happen. I'm talking about parodies of things like X-Men/Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator--all the summer movies, whichever if any I end up trying to write about, but also stuff later in the year. I mean, I'm sure parodists will eventually switch over from Twilight to New Moon, and I won't be able to look at those either. I barely look at them now, even the ones I link.

(I remember that I said to someone once that I couldn't read other people's parodies if I hadn't written my own yet, and whoever it was got really huffy about all the things I was "missing out on." You know what? If it's the only way I can keep doing my own thing, I'm pretty sure I'm okay with that sacrifice.)

( ACTUAL LINKSPAM )

Tags: batman, cameron!avatar, clash of the titans, comics, crime, days of our lives, dolls, easy virtue, friends, harry potter, lost, my little pony, my mother, picasso, scifi, soap operas, sparkle motion, spider-man, star trek, terminator, the da vinci code, the last airbender, the lone ranger, tonner, tv, twilight, vampires, werewolves, x-men
Current Mood: full and sleepy

A few things:

I think I gave the wrong impression when I talked about my closet the other day--it's not Confessions of a Shopaholic up in there; it's filled with fifteen (or more) years of cheap junk. The "purses and handbags" are, like, $20 woven satchels or totes from a couple of local places, not $1500 Prada bags or something. And I have a habit of stashing away old odds and ends--the scarf nobody wanted, the ribbons from opened gifts or old dresses, the old green vase cluttering up the kitchen counter, the beads from the necklace that broke--and so most of the accumulated stuff didn't even cost me anything. And many of the "boxes of clippings" are shoeboxes, not gigantic crates or anything. The list was more of an exercise in "Wow, when you put it in words like that, I really do have a lot of ancient and pointless crap I could stand to get rid of," not "Look at my decadent materialism!"

However, if you were interested in the historical costume coloring books, they are from Bellerophon Books and roughly $5 each.

Re: Yesterday's Secret Life: The rocking chair (sitting unheralded in the back of one of the pictures) was one of the smaller reader gift/mail items that I've been holding onto until I can work them in. Also, I don't know why Anna's arm kind of looks jaundiced in the picture. Also-also: two icons!

(I TOLD YOU GUYS The Littlest Edward was tiny, didn't I?)

( Catchup linkspam! )

Tags: cameron!avatar, cleaning, conventions, deaths, dolls, epic fail, facebook, harry potter, icons, lost, mail, narnia, never let me go, sparkle motion, stage and theater, star trek, superman, terminator, the da vinci code, the hurt locker, the lovely bones, the secret life of dolls, tv, twilight, x-men, zombies
Current Mood: mellow, a smidge headachy
Current Music: Chicane - Leaving Town

So... I ended up going to bed really early last night with a headful of snerf. Also, yesterday was apparently Everybody Being Bitches Day, and I was tired. Thus, you get a late yesterday/early today linkspam now.

Correction: Abdullah/Windfola was not an Arabian; he was a Trakehner, and a rather famous one at that.

Also, thank y'all for all the Findy Thoughts, because after my failed expedition to the farthest reaches of the attic, I went back to my closet and found The Thing I Need In Order to Write the Next Installment. It's going to be epic, I think.

( Linkspam! )

Tags: books, disney, dvd, green hornet, harry potter, iron man, lost, music, patricia cornwell, publishing, shutter island, sin city, sparkle motion, spider-man, star trek, terminator, the da vinci code, the fighter, the lone ranger, thor, true blood, tv, twilight, twitter, vampires, watchmen, werewolves, x-men
Current Mood: late for lunch and hungry

<---- New Secret Life of Dolls thataway.

(Okay, twelve hours later, and I am still GLEEFULLY proud that I scored something rare-ish on eBay for half the usual price. Number of dolls I am keeping secret from you guys: back up to 2.)

( Linkspam! )

Tags: awards, batman, books, comics, crime, dolls, ebay, harry potter, iron man, jane austen, lost, neil gaiman, pirates (arrrr), pride and prejudice, publishing, robin hood, sparkle motion, squee, star trek, state of play, strikes, the da vinci code, the lovely bones, the time traveler's wife, tv, twilight, twitter, webcomics, x-men, zombies
Current Mood: sleepy

There seems to be a Team Littlest Edward movement brewing in the Secret Life comments--I particularly enjoyed these two icons. (If you feel the urge to acquire your own Littlest Edward, you can get one from Entertainment Earth through my affiliate account. Put a teacup full of cotton balls or knitting yarn out for him and your stuffed animals ought to be fine.)

Early linkspam, so I can go outside and play! ( Read more... )

Tags: art, awards, books, harry potter, icons, lolcats, lord of the rings, movies, never let me go, percy jackson, pixar, public enemies, sparkle motion, star trek, state of play, terminator, terry pratchett, the hurt locker, the secret life of dolls, true blood, tv, twilight, twitter, wanted, wtf, x-men, youtube
Current Mood: cheerful

... which could probably change on a dime.

First off--had a couple of requests to talk about saving the show Chuck: library_of_sex says, "There's the usual letter-writing campaign and voting at E!Online's Save One Show, but there's also the Finale and Footlong, involving Subway, a big sponsor of the show," and foresthouse has more ideas here.

Oh, by the way: super cute charm necklaces. I have the Love Letter (wearing it right now, actually) and the Chat Noir.

( Linkspam! )

Tags: american idol, books, copyright, crazy, disney, epic fail, fandom, harry potter, jewelry, lolcats, movies, never let me go, robin hood, saturday night live, scifi, sparkle motion, star trek, stephen colbert, terminator, the da vinci code, the hurt locker, the wolfman, titanic, tv, twilight, twitter, wtf, x-men, young victoria
Current Mood: mellow

Thataway: The Package is REVEALED, and the responses are cracking me up. (I love how the predominant sentiment is, "He's an asshole! YAY!")

(Hello, new unlurkers! A few folks mentioned getting LJ accounts so as to comment on that entry, so welcome aboard and enjoy your stay.)

Meanwhile, I am hearing disturbing rumors that NECA might not put out The Littlest Bella until JULY. Y'all... I am gonna be so screwed if I have to tread water on this for another three months. I am trying very hard not to email them like a wingnut and plead for information.

Meanwhile-meanwhile, I've been clenching my jaw again, fnarr. Got a lot of work done today, though (which is probably why).

( Linkspam! )

Tags: american idol, art, books, candy, crazy, deaths, dolls, epic fail, fandom, harry potter, iron man, john carter of mars, kurt vonnegut, movies, neil gaiman, never let me go, perfume, public enemies, publishing, robin hood, salvador dali, sparkle motion, star trek, terminator, the da vinci code, the rum diary, the tudors, thirst, tv, twilight, twitter, vampires, watchmen, wtf, x-men, zombies
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Exposé - Point Of No Return (shut up. You know I have no pride)

Since it's kind of a slow news day, I wanted to ask--about the Secret Life thing. I can't quite put my finger on when, but it's like it suddenly exploded a while back in terms of people getting really, really into it. I mean, I had some passing references to the dolls doing stuff as early as 2003. For whatever reason, I got whimsical last September and started writing about them on a more regular basis, so the series as you know it has been going on for like six months now. What happened? I mean, I'm curious to know from y'all's perspective--I know a lot of y'all kind of roll your eyes sigh indulgently and scroll past when I go on about them again, but for the people who have gotten invested, what was the tipping point? Was it when I started adding pictures? Was it a particular entry, a new character, a plot development, a specific storyline? I just don't know--I feel like interest increased a lot very suddenly, but I can't figure out why.

(While we're here--it looks like it's now going to be two more entries until The Package, so five entries total, rather than the four I had thought I would need instead of three. Uh. Sorry about that.)

Actual linkspam: ( Nerd Herd, Nerd Herd! )

Tags: disney, epic win, harry potter, movies, robin hood, sherlock holmes, star trek, the secret life of dolls, the simpsons, tv, vampires, werewolves, x-men, zombies
Current Mood: cold

Man--for some reason I really crash in the evenings. I mean, not unreasonably, but since I try to put off the linkspam as long as I can to get the last news of the day in--*flop.*

(And I really need to go take some pictures, too, because I need to have night in the background, if that makes any sense. Nrrrgh, second wind!)

Re: the book: A number of people commented yesterday that they've seen the Movies in Fifteen Minutes book in different Half Price Books stores around the country, so it may be a chain-wide import thing, not just that one store in Austin. And if you were concerned as to whether I get royalties if the book is half-price, secondhand, whatever--I honestly don't care. My personal feeling at this point is that it's more important for people to read the book (and come back here and start reading my journal, even) than to get whatever few cents on the dollar might come in. And I'm even saying that from a financial perspective--it seems like an investment in the future to try to get more people to see the book, so if you buy it used or borrow it from a library or lend it to a friend, I am perfectly okay with that.

From ook: Lein Wein, creator of Wolverine, lost his home, dog, and original art in a fire. I'm not sure if he lost the entire house? It's deeply unfortunate either way.

Re: Project Download and Erin's passing: I've been holding on to this perhaps longer than I should have, but I wanted to get an answer from Erin's mother first--chris_walsh did attend Erin's memorial last week, and says, "Jo [Erin's mother] wanted to hear from more people who knew Erin online. If you want to reach Jo, her e-mail is jorn43 [at] yahoo[dot]com." You'll need to put Erin's name in the subject line ("About Erin," for example) to make sure Jo knows to open it.

( More linkspam )

Tags: deaths, facebook, inception, iron man, m15m book, movies, music, project download, sparkle motion, star trek, star wars, terminator, the box, tv, twilight, twitter, wizard of oz, x-men
Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: The Servant - Body

I had dinner and then took a hot shower and that was apparently a baaaad idea because I'm about to fall asleep right here at my desk. So, before I pass out:

ipomoea spotted a few original Movies in Fifteen Minutes hardbacks for sale in Austin!

( More linkspam )

Tags: 300, blogs, books, dvd, epic win, fame, harry potter, his dark materials, iron man, lost, m15m book, music, salvador dali, saturday night live, sparkle motion, star trek, stephen king, terminator, the box, the curious case of benjamin button, the imaginarium of dr. parnassus, tv, twilight, twitter, watchmen, where the wild things are, writers, x-men
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: The Killers - Jenny Was a Friend of Mine

New Secret Life of Dolls thataway. I think we might be able to get to The Package after two more entries. That second entry, though? Ought to be pretty exciting on its own. And keep in mind that the last time I said that, I brought in the My Little Ponies. So keep an eye out for that.

( Big news in the linkspam! )

Tags: april fool's day, epic fail, harry potter, iron man, jane austen, lord of the rings, lost, movies, nightmare on elm street, pirates of the caribbean, schadenfreude, sparkle motion, spider-man, star trek, terminator, the rum diary, thirst, tv, twilight, vampires, watchmen, x-men
Current Mood: sludgy