Well neither "New Amsterdam" nor "Moonlight" will be back in the fall. I will definitely miss "Moonlight" as I do need a vampire fix and there doesn't seem to be anything of that nature in the pipeline :(  It's a pity that Scarlet, of the red glowing eyes, turned out to be an advertisement - when I see it I play with the idea that it's scenes from a vampire show with a female lead and try to make the bits fit together into some sort of plot (I'm that desperate *g*)

Yesterday's New York Times had ad Op-Ed titled President Apostate?  In it  Edward N. Luttwak says

...it is a mistake to conflate his African identity with his Muslim heritage. Senator Obama is half African by birth and Africans can understandably identify with him. In Islam, however, there is no such thing as a half-Muslim. Like all monotheistic religions, Islam is an exclusive faith.

As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.

He further says that since Muslims would consider Obama an apostate, his life might be in danger as apostasy is a crime under Muslim law punishable by death. He believes that such a presidency  would cause such complications in our dealings with the Islamic world.

This certainly won't stop me from voting for Obama in the fall but it's an argument I have not heard before and I wonder what, indeed, the Muslim reaction would be to his becoming the next president.

 

Well we now have a case of an 82-year-old heart patient tased while in a hospital bed!!! Admittedly the man was disoriented and had a knife but really, couldn't the authorities have found a better way to deal with the situation?

We may be growing fatter as a nation but apparently our cats are taking steps to prevent catkind from joining us - they are working out on treadmills!!! See here and here.

Lastly I came across Wikihistory, an amusing time-travel story dealing with why no one has gone back in time to try to kill Hitler.

Since January '07 I've lost about 11 pounds. I can now fit into my 20 year-old size 8 Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. My current size 10 pants are a little loose as are some of my size 8s and my one size 6 while other 8s fit just right as do my recently purchased size PXS (4) cargo pants (the QVC operator did say they were cut large). To sum up I am very vexed with clothing manufacturers - why can't I just be one size?

There was a ruling in Indiana by a judge, urged by Taser International Inc., that had the fact that being tasered led to 3 men's deaths deleted from the autopsy reports. In another case a wheelchair-bound woman was tased to death in Florida (what odds the manufacturers will try to have that fact removed from the autopsy report too?) and a man in Vermont, suffering a seizure, was also tased. These things are dangerous but the manufacturer is doing its utmost to have the tasers' deadliness hidden - how many deaths will it take before we put people's safety before profit (certainly not while the Rethuglicans are in power).

BTW a new Swedish vampire movie called "Let the Right One In", won the feature prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.  It's based on a book of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist (which I believe has been translated into English) and is getting rave reviews. An Americanized version is in the works too. I intend to keep my eyes open and watch it one day (and see how much Swedish I can remember *g*)

Well last Sunday I went to my first Crafts Fair of the season near the Museum of Natural History. I looked but didn't buy anything. Today was my frist street fair of the year and I bought an eye shadow in what used to be called flesh or nude - a shade I need that is hard to find these days. I love street fairs as they are free (as long as you don't buy anything *g*) and make a pleasant walk on a weekend.

Thursday night I watched as Kara/Supergirl eliminate Brainiac (James Marsters) a role that underutilized JM's talents but gave him a nice paycheck. We've probably seen the last of Brainiac on "Smallville" but in the comicbooks he/it does go up against Superman from time to time so there's always a possibility that JM may be asked back.

On Countdown last week, Keith Olbermann aired this cute vid of a cat seemingly shadow boxing as two human boxers went at it on TV. Does the cat get that two humans are boxing and is trying to do it himself or is he just reacting to the movement on the screen? Cats usually ignore what's on the TV set. I had friends who owned a couple of Siamese and they ignored the TV except for the time a documentary on lions was shown and they were just fascinated.

Here's a rather odd story of an interspecies sexual assault with commentary by ursulav and dollraves here. Speaking of ursulav, her book Nurk has just been published. If you know of a youngster who likes funny (and furry - the hero's a shrew) adventure stories check it out. I haven't read it but I love the stories she's posted in her LJ. They're funny and witty and very imaginative.

 Well that was a waste of talent. Last night Nicholas Brendon had a couple of cute scenes with Garcia but he really was extraneous to the plot.  A.J. Cook is pregnant and he may have been brought on board to fill in while she's on maternity leave. I just worry that, like the character Marisol on "CSI: Miami", he was created to eventually be killed, creating angst for Garcia and the team :(

I also found the answer to my Scarlet question - it's a brand of TV sets!! I'm so disappointed because I really was looking forward to a show with a female vampire as the lead after "Forever Knight", "Angel", "Blood Ties" and "Moonlight".

There's a TV ad for some hotel chain (a subsidiary of Marriott) that features a woman who begins to undress then starts doing a trapeze act with the curtains hanging from double-height ceilings. It's supposed to imply that the quarters are roomy but I sincerely doubt that they would have rooms with ceilings high enough to do acrobatics. Couldn't this be considered false advertising? 

Gakked this from riani1:

Bold the books you’ve read, underline the ones read solely as a curriculum requirement, italicize the ones you started, but didn’t finish.

Final touch: denote (*) the ones you liked, and would (or did) read again or recommend. Even if you did read them for school in the first place.

 

I've come across a couple of unusual BtVS fanfics these past few days. One is  hello_spikey's  Debriefing Dana, a beautifully thought out post-"Damages" story that doesn't contradict canon. The other is a version of "Once More with Feeling" re-written by kitty_alex into a Spander story called Once More with Spander. One day I'll sit down and watch that ep again to see if the new lyrics really fit (they seem to but it's been awhile since I watched OMwF).

Now for a slight personal rant. I seem to have bought the lost 8 ounce Columbo yogurt in existence. They now have come out with the 6 ounce version like most of the other yogurt brands. Since I often make a meal out of yogurt the 6 ounce doesn't really do it for me so I am miffed. Why couldn't at least one brand remain different and offer consumers a bit more choice?