There have been other things filling my days and sometimes even my early morning hours. No longer am I waking up at 1:30am or 2am like I was for a while. Now there are nights I’m just going to bed at 1:30am or 2am. That hasn’t happened too often, but in the last week or so, I’ve definitely noticed a change in the hours I keep at the end of the day; mornings are still early, but not ass-crack-of-dawn early, though. A nice change, after all the years of getting up early for work and then in the last few months at the factory, getting up even earlier for work.

Sarah Jane mp3s are being uploaded pretty regularly; I’ve got only two more serials left to re-watch as back-end work for Fashionista Fever!, so I suspect this will slow down by week’s end. But, then there’s always the last two episodes of Doctor Who with which to work, not to mention season one of TSJA…

Entirely too much time is being spent creating images for lol capshunz, but I’m having entirely too much fun with it. I’ll eventually need to incorporate more than just Doctor Who capshunz, but due to the insane number of screen caps I’ve got scattered amongst two laptops, that might not happen for a while.

Fashionista Fever! has taken on a life of its own and is now a multi-part project; “A Clotheshorse is Born” has been uploaded and will cross-post on scary-crayon tomorrow. I had no idea I’d have such a blast writing it, but as I said to Wes in a recent email, “It’s been really quite fun, the obvious joy of rewatching all the S! J! S! serials again notwithstanding. Writing again has been good for me, makes me use the brain I feel sometimes atrophying.” Thank goodness, since there are at least three more installments for sure, with the possibility of at least one additional critique of non-serial specific observations - what some may call total over-analysis - but we’ll see.

In order to make these projects (and any others) more accessible, I’ve included direct links to each one’s page in the left-hand sidebar. Handy!

Lest anyone think I’ve been working on these outside projects and watching movie after movie (I’ve pretty much abandoned TARDISvision because everything I’ve watched recently has been a repeat - or a three-peat - until last night, actually) exclusively and conveniently forgetting I’ve now been unemployed for two months to the day, believe me, I haven’t. There’s a pretty rigid schedule I’ve instituted and have been very successful in adhering to it Monday through Friday. Afternoon naps are pretty much a thing of the past, although I will admit dozing off yesterday after lunch while trying to watch “How Awful About Allan.” To be honest, saying I tried watching it isn’t exactly right: I dozed off during the beginning credits. There was something about combining the talents of Aaron Spelling, Anthony Perkins, Julie Harris, and Joan Hackett into a made-for-television vehicle that signaled snoozeville.

Speaking about TARDISvision, I need to post an update. Yes, it’s true. I finally watched a current episode. With the tenth Doctor. And companion Donna Noble. Just as this season is coming to an end. Since this is the first show I’ve actually watched this season most of the references to previous current episodes went right over my head as I watched. But reading the wiki article refreshed my memory on a few others. I was going to bitch about the causal nexus/”Logopolis” reference (thank you, wikipedia!) just now, but then realized how sickly ironic that would be, since there was a certain reference to a certain companion working for a certain magazine that totally didn’t go over my head.

The only other two episodes I’ve seen from this season were “Poison Sky” and “The Sontaran Stratagem,” and I was sick as a dog for both; thus I don’t count them at all. Perfect, since I’ll have almost a full season to get me through the upcoming drought.

All business at the beginning, all play at the end!

Let me get the business out the way:

Yesterday I had my first interview in four years. The woman with whom I met was quite personable and I liked her a great deal, but when she learned my salary requirements and I learned her salary budget, friendly smiles were exchanged and we wished each other luck in our respective searches and I was on my way home.

Today I have another interview, again in Irvine, but on the other side. Well, I think it is. When the emm and I took a spin there last night, we got all fa-kyed. Add to that my general and alarming ability to get turned around at the drop of a hat. Or an unexpected the turn of a steering wheel. So, I’ll don The All Black Interview Outfit again today, cursing the near 100 degree weather, very much like I did yesterday.

I’m hoping next week turns up some better possibilities because this week was devoid of them.

Thus endeth the business of this mullet post.

While I’m on the subject of mullets and therefore being distracted, please let me draw your attention to one Billy Ray Cyrus…

Then…and now. Obviously, the hair cut has changed, but definitely not for the better. What the fuck goes through this dude’s head? Yeah, we all the know the mullet is just frickin’ bad, but who told Billy Ray his current look is a good one?

If I may continue on this tangent, please allow me to submit today’s Billy Ray and the elusive Jordan Catalano from My So-Called Life (ca 1994):

Okay, so the hairstyles might not fall into the separated at birth category, but there are strikingly unsettling similarities here. The most troubling is the fact both of these men think/thought this was a good look and no one told them to get their eyes examined. Some friends these two have, hunh?

Getting back on track to the play at the end of Friday’s Mullet Post…

After writing three pages of Fashionista Fever!, I’ve come to the conclusion there’s far too much to have the article be a one-off type thing. I haven’t even scratched the surface yet, so I’ve decided to make it an on-going series. I think there might be enough material for three parts, maybe four, which should keep me busy. While IM’ing with Wes about it last night, I came to the conclusion if it were multi-part, it would give me a better chance to really focus. My emm’s read the first draft of Part One and found it very entertaining and even laughed at one point.

Continuing with my recent infatuation with, and Johnny-come-lately appreciation of LOL, I’ve put up a new picture here. It’s totally non-Doctor Who-related…please, I know it’s hard to believe, even with just the one I’ve done.

So, when I haven’t been writing and LOL-ifying and getting screen caps, I’ve been tweaking the blog: moving, removing, and adding. At least I’m not changing the theme; I really like the five-column layout a lot. A lot-a lot.

I’ve also been downloading a mess of open-source programs and subsequently adding them to my dock. Oh, that poor dock. I used to pride myself on the austere look it had. But that austere look has disappeared, to be replaced by this:

This page pointed me to all the new apps, all of which I like quite a bit. I only know one other Mac person, so I doubt the link above will be of any interest to anyone but her.

And thus endeth the play of this mullet post.

I’ve had this picture languishing on my hard drive for quite a while now; I meant to upload it days ago, but just never got around to it. The whole thing creeps me out, but not in the “Oh my God, I can’t look at this!” way. I did express some of that the other night on the phone with Wes; it’s pretty much passed now, but that’s probably more due to the fact it’s still light outside more than anything else.

Instead, it creeps me out on a “What if it’s not fake?” level, because what if it’s really not? No surprise here: I totally believe in aliens like I believe in ghosts, although I’ve never seen any space aliens, so these types of things do stop me up when I slow down long enough to pay attention.

At any rate, here are a couple handy links to the Denver Post’s coverage:

Video captures alien visitor, Denverite says
Alien video: Puppet or real E.T.?

Okay, now that’s finally out of the way and off my hard drive and I’m off onto other things. What’s likely the most important thing is the interview I have tomorrow. It’s the first interview since I’ve started sending out resumes, although I’m the first to say not that many have gone out. Regardless, I’m glad at least there’s this one. My emm and I made a dry run this morning, so I would be sure to know exactly where I was going tomorrow afternoon; there’s nothing worse than looking for a place you’ve never been before and especially if a) you’re the only one in the car; b) you’ve got the added pressure of an expected appointment time; and c) that appointment is a job interview. I’ve tried on the only appropriate-for-an-interview outfit I own and thank goodness I’ve lost some weight; the last time I tried it on, which was just for shits and giggles, it didn’t fit all that well. So. Yeah, there we go. Got my car gassed up and washed today; it’s the first time I’ve bought gas since late April. I was only at a half a tank and it cost me $35; on one hand, that didn’t surprise me at all, but on the other hand, all I could say was, “What the fuck?”

There are a ton of new S!J!S! sound clips here, namely from “Planet of Evil,” “The Android Invasion,” and “The Brain of Morbius,” so please download them to your heart’s content. I’m still trying to figure out recording levels and all that, so if they’re not totally perfect, mea culpa. This is a totally cool by-product of needing more screen caps and finally breaking down and realizing the tele-top is just not going to work, at least as far as this is concerned. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell happened, although I’ve come to suspect it very well may have something to do with a recent momentary power failure; I was watching some Pertwee serial at the time and when the power failed, the tele-top just froze. Its battery power didn’t kick in at all, which I find a little odd, now that I’m thinking about it a little more. That doesn’t explain why only certain disks won’t play, though. But I finally stopped trying to fight it, only to be totally aggravated in the process and have pressed my trusty Mac into service. Ah, but it’s not as easy as all of that because for optimum comfort, I move the entire TARDIScloset operation into the living room and use the toy box (which remains unpainted) as a table/desk and lounge on the couch, trackball mouse resting on my leg. It’s quite lovely, really, and although I do love my TARDIScloset, it can get really warm in here even with a fan and between you and me, the whole thing about it being bigger on the inside is a bald-faced lie. I only say that because it makes people look at me cross-eyed.

I’ve also jumped on the LOL bandwagon and I’m probably quite late, just catching it on the way down to its death. This is the only picture I’ve captioned so far. Yes, it’s from Doctor Who (”Invasion of the Dinosaurs”) and yes, it’s S!J!S!, but despite that, the hard-core 70s look, not to mention the next-to-bad quality of the picture itself, I really do like the shot, and probably would no matter who was in it. But given enough time and opportunity, I could likely branch out into other television programs and movies.

That’s a great segue into the next topic, but I’m going to hold off for now because it’s time for dinner.

I’m still quite unclear as to how this 13-year-old KaTe song remained totally undetected by my radar until just last week…I’ve been searching up and down and sideways for it and have even pressed a couple of factory-mates into the same search. Our luck so far has been nil.

I’ve found it mentioned on many a site and many a site has the song’s lyrics. When I read the lyrics, it seemed very, very vaguely familiar, but I can chalk that up to no more than the opening lines of the song: one had been used in a previous song and another was to be used in a later song.

Can I find it for download?

Absolutely not.

Fun. Weird. Informative, to a point.

Another album found via boingboing and pulled from the dusty vaults of my external hard drive in order to danger up my listening experience.

Download Music for Robots here, if you’d like.

I had no idea Ackerman was so…famous, until wikipedia came to my rescue.

I love you, wikipedia!

And I love you, too, Uncle Forry.

Here’s another album of the odd variety, straight from the really weird mp3s collection. I listened to the entire album for the first time a couple of nights ago and although it doesn’t have a good beat, it’s not something I’m soon to forget. And obviously there’s something about it pulling me back to the lessons Louise Huebner teaches here, since I find myself listening to it again this evening.

Seduction Through Witchcraft is twelve tracks of spoken word entries, complete with trippy, spaced-out sounds in the background. Louise herself has an intriguing voice, although I wonder how much of it is hers and how much is due to tinkering in the studio. Regardless, and with the addition of those trippy effects, it’s a very entertaining listen.

Luckily, Seduction Through Witchcraft can be found for download on the internets, even though I’m given to believe it’s no longer in print. You can download it at Scar Stuff, where you’ll be able to find some other sonic oddities, including the L’Etrange Monsieur Whinster album I blogged about late last month.

A quote from the slapshoe slapping, flat hat wearing man himself. I downloaded quite a few more silent movies this weekend; I’ve pretty much exhausted the silent offerings at the Public Domain Movie Torrents website - there weren’t that many to begin with, but boy, are there some classic bad talkies. Holy cripe! It’s a hoot and some of them are definitely up for a post some day.

I’ve been poking round the Internet Archive more and more; the site has quite a collection of silent movies. Of course, as I’ve mentioned before, the quality of these downloads isn’t always the best, but typically, I’m not really too much concerned with that type of thing enough to eschew the site’s seemingly endless offerings.

The officially oldest movie in my collection now is the Irwin-Rice Kiss, made in 1896. Granted, it’s not a movie per se - complete with a storyline, but the players, Irwin and Rice move, so it’s a movie, right? I may pop this bit of cinema history into the computer tonight and watch it, since I haven’t yet, mainly because I managed to misplace the disc about the time I ejected if from the computer on Sunday night and just found it this morning.

I started watching the 1927 version of The Cat and The Canary last night; I’ve tried watching it a few times in the past, but it always managed to put me to sleep. This time around, though, I’m not going to let that happen because I really do want to see it through, not to mention it’s one of those oddly colored silent movies I find so absolutely mesmerizing. This movie has been remade a handful of times - the earliest version is what I’m currently watching. Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard rolled with it twelve years later with some slight changes to character names. Unfortunately, the last time I looked for this version on Amazon, it was not available on DVD; I see now it is, for Region Two and for a bit more money than I’d like to spend on it.

Forty years later, Radley Metzger got his hands on the story - this was the first version I’d ever seen and I’ve watched it more than a few times since. In fact, I have this on tape and DVD (not my original plan), believe it or not, thanks to my goal of owning every single Honor Blackman movie I can get my hands on. Naturally, this is my preferred version because of Honor Blackman - my favorite actress - ever! That she portrays a lesbian (Strange Cousin Susan) involved with Olivia Hussey doesn’t detract from the movie at all…except the ewww factor gets notched up about million levels when you realize they’re cousins. But after you recover from that, you may realize those two are really good together.

I’ve veered so terribly from my intended topic that I don’t see how I can get back on track with it now; I hope to return to it soon - perhaps between now and then, I can corral my thoughts a bit more and appear more focused than I typically do.

Disco dog
Dribble on your shirt
Never mind the tin dog
Not Croyden
The Loch Ness Monster (my favorite)

There were a few more to offer, but in light of my digitally-challenged weekend, it’s no surprise I lost them, is it? For some reason, the wee program I’m using for this latest bit of entertainment will only record the first thirty minutes, which precludes me from snagging the line about K-9 being a daft tin dog and the Doctor claiming ownership of “(his) Sarah Jane,” naturally. But no matter. I’m quite pleased with what I’ve got.

As for an update on the Great Computer Fuck-Up 2008, I’ve got it all back to rights, including my numerous playlists in iTunes; for a while, I feared I’d lose them all because I couldn’t keep my iPod visible to iTunes for some reason. I’ve got a handy program called iPod Rip that has saved the day, again. I’ve only used it less than a handful of times since I bought it three days before my first trip to London, but it’s been worth every single penny nonetheless. And again, it’s proven its worth because there was no way I could have recreated all those playlists.

After all this unscheduled excitement this weekend, I’m quite pleased to announce the completion of my taxes, the one task I’d wanted to accomplish. Both federal and state are ready to be mailed tomorrow and then all I have to do is sit back and wait for my refunds. Sadly, my combined federal and state refunds this year are less than my federal refund alone was last year, but that’s the price one pays for cashing in a crapload of Series EE savings bonds.