Denmark. Come for the fjords, stay for the moral chaos.

The title of this post has nothing to do with anything, of course. I just love Rick Mercer. And it's so catchy.


Once upon a time, I purchased Season 2 of The Dead Zone. The sun was shining, the chickadees were chirping, my heart was light... and Disc Three was all glitchy and pixelated and unwatchable. "Oh no!" I said. "'Zion' and the true love of Johnny and Bruce are trapped on Disc Three!" I said. "Help, help!" I said. "Send it back," Deep Discount said. "You weren't in a hurry there, little missy, were ya?" the Post Office said. Many times the sun rose, and many times it set, and at last a shiny new copy of Season 2 found its way to my door. "Hurrah!" Deep Discount said. "Hurrah!" I said. And into the DVD player went Disc Three. Hurrah! "Zion"! Hurrah! Ally Sheedy and Robert Culp guest-starring! Hurrah!

You can guess how this story ends, right?

That's right! Disc Three 2.0 is also glitchy and pixelated and unwatchable! In fact, instead of going kerflooey halfway through like the first copy did, this one starts out that way. Yay! A replacement that's even more broken than what it's replacing! Just what I always wanted! Arrrgh. So I guess I'm emailing Deep Discount again in the morning. It's enough to embitter a girl most severely.


At least my Bruce Broughton CDs arrived too (and they work), so the mail was not entirely frustrating. Huzzah for sales. O Pioneers! is pretty and likeable, and it sounds very much like True Women. Very, very much. It's not quite Horner-level self-plagiarism, but the two scores are definitely first cousins. It's not his best work, but it's solid and skillfully done, and I think it'll improve on further listening. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, on the other hand, has been on repeat for most of the day. What a thoroughly appealing score! Both of the major themes, for Lucy and for her brother, Butte, are lovely (I like Butte's particularly), and they're ably supported by a few well-chosen period tunes and some setting-appropriate instrumentation (plus some judicious use of electronics). Really, really nice score. Between the music and the snazzy pictures on the liner notes, I rather wish I'd gotten to see Lucy Whipple. Good-looking costumes. Interesting cast, too- I knew that Glenn Close and Jena Malone were in it, but Michael Welch (looking very young) and Meat Loaf were a surprise. Pity it doesn't seem to be available on video or DVD. Oh well. There are a few spots where Lucy Whipple reminds me of the score from Frontier House, which is funny, since I've often thought, "This Edward Bilous guy is obviously a Bruce Broughton fan." Guess I know of which score, now. Heh.


Speaking of PBS's time-traveling reality shows, they're taking applications for the next one, if anyone always wanted to be a rancher or cowhand in 1860's Texas. As much as I hate reality shows, I have to admit that the PBS versions are pretty fun. Still, something tells me I'm not cut out to be without modern plumbing and to be on camera simultaneously. That wouldn't be fun for anyone. I might be able to do the Ye Olde Home on the Range thing without harming myself or others as a history boot camp sort of deal, but in front of an audience? Not a chance. Can't wait to see it, though.


Yay, Showtime is indeed showing Mag7 unedited! I don't really have anything useful to say about that, but yay! A full quota of Ezra! *g*


And tomorrow I really need to answer comments. It's not that I don't want to talk to you guys. That's silly, of course I do. It's just that eight out of ten times that I try, fricking LJ gives me nothing but "sorry, we can't find your page even though nothing is officially wrong with the site, so nyah," messages over and over, and I get frustrated and give up. Glitchy technology and procrastinators mix poorly. But tomorrow I'll set aside lots of time and just beat the blasted thing into cooperation. Grr!

Huh, most of this post is at least tangentially western and I have no real western-themed icons. I have Firefly and Queen of Swords, though, so... *flips coin*

My fan-brain has atrophied.

You know, I remember the days when I used to watch episodes of shows and hop on here promptly afterward to chit-chatter away, "The blahblah of the blahblahblah likely symbolizes Blah's blahblah, and the use of the great blues hit, 'My Baby's BlahBlah,' adds a layer of depth to the scene that truly blahs." And I can't do it anymore! The babble, she is gone! I just watched NCIS and House and loved them madly (madly!), and yet where once I had thoughts, now I have only single word squeaks, a la "Ducky!", "Gigolo!", "Turtleneck!", "Wilson!", "Turtleneck!" (yes, again. Different turtleneck.) and so on. Brain, why do you desert me in my hour of need? I want to blither blithely! This is terribly unfair (and must be rather dull for anyone reading this. Sorry). How does one jumpstart a brain anyway?


And of course I couldn't resist that "Which Stargate character are you" quizzie, nor am I surprised even a smidge at the results. Predictable right down the line, cheating-free. ( Not that predictable's always a bad thing in my book, of course... )