What the hell are you doing?: SVU & Twitter = Twimprov

What the hell are you doing?: SVU & Twitter = Twimprov

Ok so it's been a REALLY long time since I blogged. I've been busy! I've lost 17kg, started working out, and have been obsessively watching every second of SVU with Stephanie March in it. Granted, that wouldn't take very long, but I rewind a lot.

But, I wanted to mention something I've been allowing to take over my life. Yesterday a friend called it Twimprov. Of course it's all about Twitter. I think it all started when @NealBaer, the Executive Producer of NBC's Law and Order: SVU started Tweeting throughout episodes.

Someone set up a Twitter page for Stephanie March's recently reprised character, ADA Alexandra Cabot. Since then, about 18 characters have surfaced, from the messed up children of Rage inspired Elliot Stabler, to much loved Judges like Petrovsky and Donnelly. CSUs Ryan O'Halloran and Dale Stuckey are both represented, as are ME Melinda Warner and Captain Don Cragen. Missing are Sgt John Munch, Detective Odafin Tutuola (although Ice-T himself tweets often). The only character I found who are represented by the real life actress and the character are Diane Neal and her ADA character, Casey Novak.

There are more as well.

Honestly, I wonder has this happened for any other shows? If so, I'd love to see it. I'll keep calling it Twimprov, cos I can.

LEAD TEASER! STEPHANIE MARCH and BALLERINA TEASER!

Woooooooooooooooooooooo!

My Next PC and my First Server

So I have my plans set out. Sometime in the next 12 months our old PC will be retired, and a new home theatre PC will be built by me.

The old PC will be then converted into a server for me to play with and learn from. I'm not sure how it will work. I guess I have to find out first if my ISP supports static IPs. I hope they do -- I'm tied in for 18 months with them.

I've been reading and most people seem to advocate going GUI-less for server. That kind of scares me... as good as I'm getting at command line, I still think a GUI could come in handy.

BUT I want to have a project. No point having a server without users. I'll never learn what I need to if I'm the only person using my server. Any ideas?

I was thinking of buying a neat-o domain and offering email addresses. I'm wondering if I could put together an email package that would be well tailored to mobile email, since phones are my are of expertise.

If I was going to offer email, I would have to satisfy myself that it would satisfy my standards

-- there would have to be good junk/spam/virus control at the server end.
-- I would have to be able offer text only/html/attachment stripping and attachment download options.
-- i would have to be able to guarantee people that the email domain would always be maintained.

Ah it's just a brain storm at the moment, you never know!

Backing Up to prevent reinstall hell

Well, yesterday I reinstalled windows Vista and Ubuntu for the 3rd time. I don't know what happened, but I'm pretty sure it was a cross between my fluffing the install of Ubuntu last time, so that it ended up on a weirdly high numbered partition (oops) and the Vista updates that had installed the last time I turned my laptop off.

Anyway, partitions suddenly had disappeared, and even the Super Grub Disk couldn't help me... I couldn't even find my Ubuntu files to back them up, so I lost everything from the past month.


On the upside, the install went quicker than before and my blog post about my issues from the 2nd time came in very handy.

Oh and the pink shadows issue is gone with this new install, i didn't have to put the fix in at all. There must be new nVidia drivers.

Actually it was a weird install; I used a disc that came with a Linux Format magazine and it had all sorts of KDE apps on it and tonnes of stuff in the menus that didn't belong there at all. Still, it had loads of stuff preinstalled that I would have spent the evening installing so that was pleasant.

So I spent the evening sussing out backup options to prevent this from being an issue again! I have been backing up evolution (it has a built in backup facility) to a folder on my desktop which I hope will cause me to remember to copy it to my external HD from time to time. The email really was the heartbreaker in all of this, setting up the folders and filters took ages.

The other heartbreaker was firefox... my add-ons and especially my bookmarks. I have LOADS of bookmarks and I love them. So I searched and discovered Foxmarks which saves my bookmarks on a server and allows me to have the same bookmarks on both computers, but most importantly, allows me to restore my bookmarks if I have to reinstall again. Brilliant. Firefox should make this a permanent part of the package. I know Opera have a similar feature (I use Opera mini on my mobile phones).

And for the rest of the stuff, I have downloaded Simple Backup Solution and configured it to back up to a samba share. Fingers crossed!

I rarely use my Windows install but there are some times it's handy, like when IT want to check my computer at work or if I'm on a dodgey wifi connection, Windows reconnects better than Ubuntu. Also the Nokia SDKs only seem to work on Windows so I have to use them sometimes too! But, there's nothing there I really care about if I lose. Anything I do on Windows I move to the external drive immediately anyway because I'll likely be needing it later when I'm in Ubuntu. So not worried about a backup solution for that.

I'll be happy if I never have to go through this again!

Driving is not a womens' issue

Analysis, Opinion - Independent.ie

That's right Carol, I don't care how you phrase it. The new laws are not a womens' issue and have nothing to do with gender. Women are equally as capable as men of driving safely and passing their test, and I'm sorry if I sound "vociferous" but I actually bothered my ass passing a test (twice in fact, at home and in Ireland) and would prefer not to share the road with the lazy asses who think they're qualified to assess their own driving skill.

And no, there should be no amnesty for older drivers with clean driving records. Some of the worst drivers I know have "clean driving records" mostly because of the disgraceful lack of law enforcement on the roads of Ireland. I know a woman who has driven with no licence whatsoever (provisional expired) for over a year, every day, to and from work, picking up her kids (because having children is a licence to do what you want, with smugness). No garda has ever asked for her licence in that time. And she had a bloody breakdown when she realised, a week ago, that they might be checking licences in July... and she didn't even have a provisional, let alone a full licence.

Until the country starts enforcing laws, people won't bother obeying them... it's just that simple.

Ooooh Mariska!

Dorothy Surrenders: Straight Gals Acting Like Gay Gals: Fight Club

Special Hotties Unit. Sorry, that was bad. But what’s not bad is the love that dare speak its name between Mariska Hargitay and Maria Bello. Look at those two lovebirds.

Best Blog post I've seen in forever. And yummy. Scrumdiddlyumpcious.

Go forth, and drool.

New ADA for SVU

"Law & Order: SVU" has a new assistant district attorney: Young thesp Michaela McManus.

Interesting choice. I've never watched One Tree Hill, so I have no idea what she's like as an actress but she does seem very young for the part. Whatever happens I really hope she has some charisma. The show could really use some now that Munch rarely gets to speak, Benson is spending her days longing for a baby and Stabler is gradually self destructing under his massive ego.

I do hope we'll see Stephanie March reprise her Alex Cabot character, even if she won't be SVU's ADA.

Beanz meanz bigotz -- too right.

Ben Summerskill: Heinz has insulted gay consumers | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

And while Heinz's decision to withdraw the ad might be seen by them as an easy way to palm off 200 fundamentalist Christian complainants, it seems to have been made under the quaint impression that it will cause no offence to Britain's 3.6 million lesbian and gay consumers. Or any of their friends. Or families. Or colleagues.

I thought I might be over this today, but I'm not. So much so that I've been searching the internet looking for some clue that Heinz might have figured out the huge mistake they made.

While searching, I cam across this article in the UK newspaper, The Guardian.

He says it better than I could or than anyone else has. Heinz made a knee-jerk decision based on a handful of complaints (200 complaints, while meaningful, was probably 1 church group in motion) and that decision has alienated millions.

They've also managed to draw attention to the high fat content of the advertised products as people have been pointing out that the complaints were groundless as the ads are not allowed to be aired during childrens' programming anyway.

I don't think I'll be happy anymore with the ad being reinstated. I expect a full on apology from Heinz. I've left a comment on their website, I hope you all will too.

Here's the link to tell them how you feel.

Queers United: Heinz Pulls Ad With Two Men Kissing

Queers United: Heinz Pulls Ad With Two Men Kissing

This also comes under the "OH SERIOUSLY" category of stupid. I've seen this ad several times, and had a great chuckle. In fact, I hadn't thought of it as a "gay kiss" but that the idea was these sauces would make it just like having a New York Deli in your kitchen, sandwich guy and all.

I think it's disgusting of Heinz to bow to these weirdos. Newsflash: Gay is no longer a bad word. Get over it, or move to Iran.


(evil video in question)

(note the explicit gay sex)

(you don't see it?)

(look closer)

(watch it again)

(it must be there)

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Nokia: Open source developers should play by our rules

Fatal Exception | Neil McAllister
Nokia could be following Google's example. Instead, it has allowed itself to be bogged down by notions inherited from a computing model that's rapidly becoming outdated. As Jaaski himself admitted, "As an industry, we plan to use open source technologies, but we are not yet ready to play by the rules."

Tsk tsk Nokia.

I've worked in mobile phone stuff in the past and it still fascinates me. But Nokia's attitude is less fascinating and more cringeworthy. While the overall quality and competitiveness of Nokia's handsets has plumetted over the past 18 months, other manufacturers are becoming better and more savvy. Nokia need a lead-in. They need something that will make their handsets must-have devices.

To do that, they need to open them up. They need to allow us to write apps that will work on their phones. They need to make them the most customizable (Nokia 5110 anyone?) phones available. They need to allow their phones to be the device that changes the way people interact with each other and the world. Phones are capable of this -- they've already done it -- and they are capable of bringing it along much, much further.

The open-source community are innovative, keen and clever. They are the end-users so they know what they want. Why the suits at Nokia feel they need to be telling the community how to operate is a question, but for those of us familiar with the feebleminded execs who head up most of these companies, it's not a tough one to answer.

Stephanie March Sex Change

Seriously? I mean, the rest of the search terms all seem reasonable but... check out my list of search engine keywords that have lead people to my humble blog.

Open Source (aka there's more to the internet than p0rn)

O'Brien: Mozilla's open-source model represents valley at its best - San Jose Mercury News: "For now, let's just be grateful to have Firefox 3.0 and the community that built it."

As I write, downloads of Firefox 3.0 have reached 6,124,310 since 18:16 UTC yesterday. It makes me happy :-) and I'll tell you why.

Now, I've loved the internet since I first encountered it in 1994. I spent my first year in university connected to a high-speed campus network, spending nights in chatrooms and meeting people around the world. I even operated a "pen pal" service in my dorm, matching 18 year old Canadian university students with Scottish grad students at the University of Edinburgh. I found a bulletin board for their university using Gopher.

I eventually met one of the Scottish students when I lived in England. Although we'd both changed and were no longer able to be friends, it felt incredible to know that we'd been such a presence in each others lives, having never met in person (although we did talk on the phone when my budget allowed). We'd even post each other books. That experience taught me early on that the internet was at its most powerful when connecting people.

I'm getting a bit weepy now. It's ok, I'll get over it. :-)

What does this have to do with Firefox? Granted, it sounds like I'm going to rhapsodise about Facebook.

I'm not.

While my earliest experiences taught me that the internet could connect people, what I have only just learned is that the internet can connect people and they can use those connections to make things happen.

WOW.

Think about it. On my laptop, I run Ubuntu as an operating system. It does everything my computer with Windows does. Only, people built Ubuntu because they wanted to. And they distribute it for free. And not free like some free software that only gives a company the ability to plant spyware and adware into your computer, but FREE. It's not costing you anything and they're not looking for anything in return (unless you want to help out!). It's also FREE as in "free speech". The source code is available. Anybody can look at it. Anybody can modify and make it suit their needs. Hardware companies can see the source code for themselves and provide drivers that work properly, instead of the guesswork involved with the OS source code is not available for viewing.

You've heard of Linux, right?

Basically, in 1991, this guy posted on newsgroup that he was setting up his own operating system, as a hobby. He was looking for feedback and suggestions. He never made it proprietary. He never claimed any kind of monetary rights to his OS. He never sought to sell it off to a company, he just allowed it to be used by the community and it became the root of the operating systems we call "Linux" (Distrowatch list 349). People just kept building stuff the way they wanted to use it. And they still do.

Wikipedia is an example of the same phenomenon in action. They claim 75,000 active contributors. While there are always warnings about the potentially unreliable information to be found on pages that can be freely edited, Wikipedia has proven to be one of the most reliable and current sources of information for those doing research, especially in the preliminary stages. I'd be hard pressed to find a reason to own a set of encyclopedias today.

Firefox, is of course, part of the same community developed phenomenon. The Mozilla Developer Center informs potential developers how to obtain the source code, write patches, and submit them for review and inclusion.

When you look at these (and so many other projects) it seems completely insane to continue supporting the proprietary software that keeps us bound to brands and restricted in our productivity(and charge us for it!). Recently the company I work for have started using Open Source projects, like Open Office. I also noticed our LCD display runs on a linux box when I unplugged it by mistake the other day and saw the startup script.

Perhaps there is hope for the old internet yet, beyond Bebo and porn.

Ubuntu vs Windows Vista?

This guy asserts that the battle for our desktops is between Ubuntu and Windows Vista. He's not alone... I've been reading a lot of this since Ubuntu 8.04 was launched.

This has a lot to do with the massive failure of Windows Vista on lower-end machines. While €300 laptops are trumpeted as "Vista Ready", they don't support the vast majority of new features included in the new Microsoft OS, and they run incredibly slowly.

I was first introduced to Windows Vista at work, where I sell cellular devices that work with PCs. Before Vista I rarely, if ever, saw a customer in store with their laptop. The devices worked well with anything from Windows 2k onwards and Mac OS users were used to sorting themselves out, as were Linux users. Suddenly, I was working on several laptops at once, all low-spec machines running (or crawling!) Windows Vista. I remember explaining to the guy at tech support that after 5 minutes of silence that the laptop was still in the process of restarting.

The issue, of course, was that the defacto OS on most new computers is Windows Vista. This means that those who know the least about computers, spend the least on them and are largely uninterested in finding out how they work are all now saddled with one of the worst operating systems I have ever used. (And I've used just about everything available since my TRS 80).

In my senior year of High School I was the editor of the school newspaper. This is where I first met Macs. I fell madly in love with them and my first computer of my own was a Mac Quadra 605. I had that for almost 6 years. Ultimately I made the decision to buy a Windows 98 laptop because I had gotten sick of not being able to get software and peripherals for my computer locally.

My new laptop has Windows Vista on it, and I've used it. It's workable, and on my reasonably spec'd laptop, it runs quickly enough. The killer on Vista is the training wheels, guardrails, plug covers, rubber rounded corners and child proof cupboards. Using Windows Vista is like being told you're incapable of making wise choices, every minute. No matter what I try to do, a box jumps up and tells me that changing this particular thing might change something. No shit sherlock. It's seriously annoying. Not only that, but if you turn "Account control" off, Windows warns you you've turned it off all the time... and will not let you turn off the warning. The Aero effects are pretty, but I don't see any particular improvements on XP, which I think was possibly Microsoft's Golden Age. In summary, Windows Vista is pointless.

After I got my computer, I installed Ubuntu 7.10 on a small partition to try it out. Years ago I lived with my best friend and she used Linux on everything. I remember watching her setting up a new printer on it (all command line!) . I was so intimidated by it I promptly borrowed some money and bought my own computer with Windows 98 on it... which will go down in history as the worst computer I ever bought! Linux is a different beast these days. My first install was totally uneventful and it was love at first sight. It's pretty, very customisable and all the software I'll ever need is available in a little database. I just tick the stuff I want and Ubuntu installs it for me. I had to fiddle a few things (see my last post) but the information was readily available and command line makes things so quick. I've lost my fear of it now and am currently in awe. I hope someday that will all give way to understanding.

My point is that I don't think Windows Vista is a worthy opponent for Ubuntu. I've been reading however that Microsoft have far from buried XP and will likely be promoting it on lower spec computers, like the Asus eee (which first sold with Linux) in order to compete with the rise in Open Source operating systems and Free software.

It's still anybody's market but I don't think Linux-based operating systems can be dismissed out of hand. I also don't think Vista is going to be a real threat... in fact it may well be what drives some ungeeky users to trying the likes of Ubuntu.

My Ubuntu Install stuff

I'm really just publishing this for my own reference, but it may help someone else!

I just reinstalled Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 (just to get a larger partition) and had forgotten all the tweaking I'd done when I installed it the first time... so in case I'm doing it again, I decided to keep a record of what I have to do, and where to find the tutorials!

My Spec:

Dell XPS 1330

Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz, 2GB RAM, 160 GB HD, Nvidia 8400 graphics card, Dell 1505 draft-n wireless card.
Dual boot Vista/Ubuntu, networked to my home PC in a workgroup with Windows XP.

First thing, I had to get my wireless working with Ndiswrapper. Although I've found articles out there about my own wireless card, they haven't worked for me. This does, even though it's for a completely different card. I even tried it with updated drivers and it didn't work. It works exactly as written.

Second, those pink shadows had to go. It's an issue with the Nvidia drivers apparently. But I just don't do pink! The workaround is here.

Third, I have to network my home PC so I can access all my multimedia on my external HD. Download Samba with Synaptic Package Manager. Go to terminal:

sudo /etc/samba/smb.conf

edit workgroup name to match the XP machine. save.

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Wait a few minutes, then I should be able to browse the workgroup again.

That's it so far.

Time to re-think

When your ITA ("I totally agree") moment occurs over a DailyMail aritcle, it's time to check in and sober the hell up.

On a related note, stupid people piss me the hell off.

And while I dislike people who publicise their personal lives, I have a far stronger contempt for bigots and people who agree with the DailyMail.

Maldrobe Warfunctions

Maldrobe Warfunctions "Meanwhile, though, I'm developing and testing and checking in and not suffering and not yelling and not waiting for my seriously unhappy Windows environment to get things done. I am no longer desperately jealous of the happy Mac-heads in the office. At the level this thing is performing so far, I may never be."

Amen! It's the Mac jealousy thing that caught my attention. At work there are 4 of us with laptops. 1 of these is a shiny new macbook. I was a mac lover in my teens but got into gaming. Still, I've always been jealous.

But, since I've got Ubuntu, I'm no longer jealous. I even noticed a green eyed glare from macboy himself as I flipped my desktop cube around. Was I ever chuffed.

Very Preliminary... Stephanie March again!

Ask Ausiello "Question: With Diane Neal leaving Law & Order: SVU, what are the odds of Stephanie March returning as Alex? — Judith
Ausiello: Officially, an SVU spokesperson denies that March is returning next season. Unofficially, I'm hearing that the actress is engaged in very preliminary talks with The Wolfster to appear in a handful of episodes next season."

*Thinks happy thoughts*

"No comment," says Stephanie March

It's amazing how saying nothing can say so damned much. Someone edited the wikipedia entry for Stephanie March a while back, stating she was "in talks", but as it was unsubstantiated, it was best to ignore it.

This interview (if you can persevere through the annoying interview with her husband) seems to put things in a far more hopeful light!

NBC, please bring back Alex Cabot. Give Stephanie March whatever she's looking for. Especially if season 10 is the end, it would make so much good sense to have her back.

My Wii Fit Review!

Nintendo

Well, I got one on Friday, and I am pleased with it so far.

Turns out it's selling for 90 euro which is cheaper than I'd expected a few months back, but that could be down to the relatively strong euro.

Setting it up was dead simple and went off without a hitch. (except... I had trouble stamping the date on the calendar... maybe it's my sensor but it took me ages!)

Starting up the game, you are prompted to be weighed and it measures how well you carry yourself. It's quite accurate, I think. The difference was obvious between my non-athletic self and my wife who is very athletic and used to do Tae Kwon Do. She stands still and her Centre of Gravity (CoG) is almost perfect. Mine is far from perfect but has been improving daily. I don't know if there is anything to the idea that the CoG determines how effectively you burn fat, but I have noticed since mine has been improving, I'm walking better. I actually feel more balanced, which I guess is good!

The board itself works well, even on carpet and turns itself off when not in use so at least I won't be constantly leaving it turned on like I do my wireless sensor. My one complaint about the board is that there should be an A button that you can kick. There are so many times in the wii fit that you don't want to be holding the controller, but you have to keep pressing A to continue.

Every day you are promted to do the body test, which I have mixed feelings about. You're not supposed to weigh yourself every day, and if you work a schedule like mine, you're not going to be excersizing at the same time every day either. I do like that it measures your CoG every day. It's also not a good game for those especially sensitive about their weight. If you are obese, it will say it, and your corresponding Mii will increase in size to illustrate the point. I think it's kinda cool (I'm fully aware I'm obese, that's why I bought this).

You can install the game so that the body test can be accessed on the Wii even if a different disk is in the machine. That's handy. To move on to the training segments, however, you have to have the Wii fit disk in. I'm hoping the Wii Fit game is a starting point, as far as a workout program, it's got a lot of improving to do.

You have four catagories: Yoga, Muscle Building, Aerobic and Balance Games.

The Yoga implementation is very good. I've tried Yoga classes before, and while I enjoy it, I always found it hard to judge if I was doing the positions correctly. With the balance board, it tells you if you're holding your body correctly. There are visual and audio cues to guide your breathing as well.

The Muscle Building is similarly effective. The balance board can tell if you've done a push up properly and the tutorials are good.

The Aerobics that I've tried -- Hula, Super Hula and Step have all been ok. I dislike the step but that's a personal preference, as the visual representation is contrary to what I expect as a musician. It would work better for someone who couldn't read music. The Hula is mad fun, and works very very well. It does leave you very sore, but I think that's a good thing!

The Balance games are tough, but this is of course the point. It also showcases the kind of things I hope we can expect from Nintendo in the future, like skiing games for instance.

My main issue is with the Yoga and Muscle Building parts. Each pose or excersize is separate. You then have to listen to the "personal trainer" prattle on and say the same things over and over. You can't skip the verbage. It's really annoying. You also cannot string together separate poses or excersizes, so your "flow" is constantly interrupted. It takes ages to do 10 minutes of excersizes because of all the Wii Remote stuff you have to do to get at the excersizes. I would love the opportunity to choose a string of Yoga poses, Muscle Building excersizes and even a balance or aerobics game. I think others would too.

In conclusion, I like the balance board... it should be a real winner when the software catches up. The game itself is passable but hopefully we'll see better things in future.

Bring back the Triangle of Lust

The Whateverlah Blog » je souhaite…

So Diane Neal is leaving SVU. Sad yes. I have to admit a certain soft spot for the softball playing carrot top. But moving on (quickly)

Apparently they're looking for an "Up and coming" person to replace her. Seriously? why.

"Can you explain it to me?" (in the immortal words of Casey Novak)

We loved Alex Cabot. Everyone loved Alex Cabot. Alex Cabot, Olivia Benson and whatshisname Stabler. The triangle of Lust. They were beautiful and together they were unstoppable, especially in the raunchier fanfics. Seriously, like Energizer Bunnies.

I'm getting ahead of myself here.

They need to bring Stephanie March (and Alex Cabot) back. I don't really care how they do it. I'm not in the slightest bit bothered if they forget to show Casey leaving and in a random episode, Alex just happens to be the ADA. Or if Alex sleeps with Donnelly to get her job back. Or if she's granted just three wishes from a magic Genie in a bottle. Hey writers, it's ok. Write her back in however you can. She can pop out of a box of crackerjacks. But we want our Alex back.

Please?

A Gay Football Player and Livvie gets Laid

The Preview for next week's SVU -- "Closet".

Lesbian couple with child 'a de facto family'

ireland.com - The Irish Times "Mr Justice Hedigan said there was nothing in Irish law to suggest that a family of two women and a child 'has any lesser right to be recognised as a de facto family than a family composed of a man and a woman unmarried to each other'"

This is exciting and -- frankly -- emotional stuff! I'm thrilled to see a judge has actually taken a child's interest over that of the traditionalists.

This is a really great day.

Mother denied daughter's organs

BBC NEWS : "A mother who urgently needs a kidney transplant has branded the system which denied her the organs of her dying daughter as 'ridiculous'."

As a family member of an extraordinary man who died of kidney failure after two transplants, I have the utmost respect for the process of organ donation.

While I can sympathise with the mother, if I was the local constable I'd be looking into the origin of the fatal asthma attack based on the totally selfish reaction to her daughter's death.

What person, when faced with the sudden and unexpected death of a child, immediately starts thinking about the organ that might suit them... and complains when those organs are donated to people who have been independently judged as needing them more than she does?

It smacks of McCannism... my own word for parental narcissism in the face of losing a child.

In related news, I saw a headline today that they actually finally admitted they were wrong to leave three babies alone in a room while they went drinking. Almost a whole year later, and they finally drop the "we did nothing wrong" speech.

Perhaps I expect too much from parents. Whenever I speak to people who have children, they tell me that I'll never understand the intense love for a child, until you have one, but I don't see much of this love in action.

SVU Season 9 is back on Tuesday!

We'll see Mariska Hargitay's Olivia Benson character go undercover in a womens' penitentiary to catch a prison officer who she has heard is raping inmates.

I'm impressed. The last time Olivia went undercover as an environmentalist she was made up like the cover of vogue, which was a bit stupid. This time around it looks like she's actually given up the make up addiction in order to actually blend in.

The action looks pretty damn good too.

Criminal Minds" Returns, With a Great Guest

The Five: Piet Levy on Pop Culture

Piet blogs about Nicholas Brendon guesting on Criminal Minds as Penelope Garcia's love interest. I have to admit, I've had a look at the clips on YouTube and it's a brilliant story, and he suits the character very well.

Season 3 has only just started here in Ireland, so we haven't got to him yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Don't Take Anything Personally

Have you read "The Four Agreements"? It's a great book and I've found it useful for coping with unpleasant situation and reducing stress.

The Four Agreements are:

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Today's topic is Don't take anything Personally.

I work in a job I blatantly dislike. I can't change it for various reasons, so here I am. Some of the people I work with are nice, but most I wouldn't socialise with if I had the choice. One girl in particular seems hell bent on my destruction even though she puts herself across as all nice as pie.

Today she told me -- laughing-- that her son said I have a big belly. Well, I guess I do. But if I was talking to my child and he insulted someone, I probably wouldn't go passing that on. It really hurt. I am sensitive about my weight even if I don't mention it a lot. I'm sure she knows that too.

So I look back at "Don't take anything personally".

This agreement tells me that the things she (or her son) say have nothing to do with me, and are projections of their reality, not mine. It's easier to read than to feel. My first instinct is to bite back. But I have to remember that my thoughts and words are powerful. I have to correct my thinking so I no longer want to "bite back" but so I can dismiss the comment as meaningless to me so that these barbs can't hurt me anymore.

If I go back to "Be impeccible with your word" I see I've agreed to use my words for truth and love, not to hurt people. So I won't bite back and I'll work on the not taking it personally, but it's not easy.

Bring Bruce Home

I don't think I've ever seen anything so upsetting. This is the COUNCIL neglecting the animal in a way that would invite prosecution by the RSPCA if an individual had allowed a pet to get into that kind of condition.

Breed Specific Legislation is the stupidest, laziest political joke I have seen ever. The only successful dog-control legislation centres on punishing irresponsible owners, not the unfortunate dogs.

Please, sign this petition and also contact the USPCA to see can they prosecute the council for criminal negligence.

I love Geeky Chicks

Ok. I couldn't find anything from the news to complain about, so I thought I'd write about something I love. I was having a discussion today about geeks on telly, and it got me to thinking how much more I love a show if there is a geeky girl on it.

To start, there is Chloe O'Brien from 24.

There's little not to love about Chloe. She's loyal, smarter than God, and cute. Sure, she has the facial expressions of a goldfish on speed, but she really can pull an episode together.

And the only other one I could think of was Penelope Garcia from CBS Criminal Minds. I adore this woman. She reminds me of Jenna Elfman's Dharma from the comedy Dharma and Greg except that she seriously knows her way around a computer, or a hundred. She's chirpy, funny, funky and dammit, she has curves! More women on telly need curves and attitude.

But mostly, I conclude more shows need she-geeks. I propose a new she-geek for CSI Vegas and for Law and Order SVU. After Olivia Benson's stint in computer crimes (season 7), maybe she can bring in a friend she met there.

Gay rights group pays tribute to Bertie Ahern

Pink News: "Ireland has been transformed by Bertie Ahern's time in office, and no matter what conclusions history comes to about his involvement in corruption scandals, for the lesbian and gay community he will always be remembered as a friend and an ally."

It's too late for an April fools like this. HONESTLY. This guy is leaving office a thief and a liar, his party has stood fast against all bills presented to grant any level of security to gay couples, he has pandered to the church at every available opportunity and we're "paying tribute". I, for one, will not.

Ahern to resign as Taoiseach and FF leader on May 6th

Independent.ie

I feel like doing a wee dance in honour of the man.

While he still maintains he has never put his own interest above the interests of the country, he is stepping down. If my next door neighbour did the things he did, she'd be in prison for 5 years, and branded a criminal. But not Bertie.

Watch while the political world falls all over itself now to point out the goodness of Bertie.

Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian

Religious Left US: Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian: "3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in 'tongues' may be all the evidence you need to 'prove' Christianity."

Good article, and has me chuckling.

It's scary how true this all is. Having been a fundie myself I know. And it still makes me cringe.

Pregnant man: we just want to be a family - World news - News - Belfast Telegraph

Pregnant man: we just want to be a family - World news - News - Belfast Telegraph: "Thomas Beatie's sex change treatment made him legally male, but he retained his female reproductive organs and he's not afraid to use them."

There's been a lot of blogging about this recently. People have been discussing if a transsexual is fit to be a parent, or why someone who didn't want to be a woman (or wasn't a woman at all, except physically) chose to retain a uterus, etc.

For me, the big question that keeps popping up is this: why are we obliged to be categorised by gender? If equality is a goal that most people recognise as valid, why then do governments persist in categorising us with a meaningless label?

It would take care of so many inequalities, not least the ones posed to homosexual, bisexual and trans people. And what does the categorisation give us? Other than medically, it seems to be an unnecessary detail.

I'm not a homophobe, but...

Janet's Blog: Speaking the Truth

Ah, the old "I'm not a homophobe, but..." speech. It never gets old, does it?

You know what, Melissa and Tammy know they cannot have children that are biologically from both of them (because they're not total morons). And because the US is controlled by fanatical religious zealots (as is the country I now call home), they are well aware their relationship is not legally a marriage.

Now, I'm not unbiased. To me, Melissa is like an old friend... her music has been there through the roughest and best times of my life. Not only that, but she is a model of sanity in "celebrityworld" of all places. When she and Julie Cypher split, they did everything they could to make things easiest on the kids... they even bought houses that shared a yard, so the kids could run back and forth between homes. Then you see the Britney Spears' and Kerry Katonas of the world, doing everything they can for themselves. Not that I have anything against heterosexuals, the point is that whether you have an inny or an outy (or which your partner has) is no litmus test for morality, goodness, faith or salvation.

But it's the comparison this Janet makes between two women and Pharisees that boggles my mind. Are right-wing Christians so blind?

Princeton wordnet defines Pharisee as "a self-righteous or sanctimonious person". Melissa and Tammy are far from either. Melissa's autobiography reads like a confession of sorts and she never speaks of anyone with malice or anything approaching self-righteousness. Her motto, well known to her fans, is "Be Strong, Speak True and Spread the Peace." Not exactly something Jesus would have objected to.

As an ex-fundamentalist and reformed heterosexual I know that I was taught this stuff, but even then people who spoke like this always seemed so far from God. I couldn't understand what they found attractive about Christianity at all. One of the most Christ-like people I ever met was Buddhist, and I think my split from fundamentalism happened with that realisation.

At the end of the day, Janet Cassidy comes across as the Pharisee, not Melissa or Tammy. Honestly, Janet, if you have to preface your statement with "I'm not being mean or uncharitable, but" then the statement is obviously mean AND uncharitable and you know it. The truth is that religious zealots cannot stand Melissa Etheridge because she is good and honest. They prefer the promiscuous, scandal-laden homos who give them fodder for their hate speech and propaganda.

This I know: Jesus would hang out with Melissa and Tammy long before he'd darken the door of Janet Cassidy's temple of self-righteousness.

(told ya there'd be rants!)

TV's May-September romance - 03/30/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

TV's May-September romance - 03/30/2008 - MiamiHerald.com: "even among actresses, where the conventional wisdom is that age is a curse, the top three are Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay (44), CSI's Marg Helgenberger (49) and sitcom star Reba McEntire (53)."

Very interesting! Personally, I watch very few shows where the actors are younger than thirty-something me. And although we always hear that in entertainment, youth rules, if I made a list of the most attractive actors/actresses on television, there wouldn't be one under 39 (and that's Jorja Fox).

I think in the last decade or so, new talent has been selected poorly -- often selected exclusively for looks and pop appeal, and that method has backfired. Audiences are no longer captivated by a beauty when you know she bought every body part she shows and spends months at a time in rehab. We want actors. We want people who make us feel a story and can hold our ever decreasing attention spans.

I do anyway.

While I have no idea who Reba McEntire is, Marg Helgenberger and Mariska Hargitay are beautiful women who really can act. Jorja Fox too, beautiful, but more than that, she can act. We might have forgotten about acting during the Baywatch years but thankfully, it appears to be returning as a priority.

Cuisine of Canada

Cuisine of Canada - Wikipedia

You know, there are millions of reasons I love Wikipedia. But today, having discovered this article, I am more in love with it than ever.

Sometimes people ask me what would be traditional food at home, and I think back to all these wonderful foods!

Poutine, Kraft Dinner, maple everything, Sugar Pie, fiddleheads... but I forgot so many too.

Hot Turkey Sandwiches!
Bannock!
Butter tarts!
Nanaimo bars!

MMmmmm I need to go home for a wee visit, and loads of food.

:-)

Thanks to FX Cuisine for the poutine article that has left my mouth watering!

Anyone Else But You - Michael Cera and Ellen Page

Oh yeah, I'm in love with Juno. I mean, who isn't? Ellen Page is adorable and offensive in that great teenaged way. Her boyfriend is dorky and honest. They're a little bit Dawson's Creek I suppose, but then I liked Dawsons Creek at the time, so I suppose it follows I'd enjoy Juno.

The Ellen Page "sexuality watch" is a tad annoying really, but it was bound to happen and I'm sure she knew that. Hell, she's Canadian, isn't that enough to make her gay? (I'm so joking)

I'm also madly in love with this song by the Mouldy Peaches even though I get annoyed when they hit sour notes... it's an ear worm!

"The X-Files" sequel: Invading theatres this summer | AfterEllen.com

"The X-Files" sequel: Invading theatres this summer | AfterEllen.com

I'm sort of hopeful and frightened at the same time! I used to adore the X-Files. Used to... back in 1997-ish.

The last movie was a huge disappointment to me... I guess I wanted it to be more like the show.
But far be it from me to prejudge. I am looking forward to the new one.

Olivia Benson gets her Man *sigh*

Olivia gets a Boyfriend: "New love on 'L&O: SVU'

Her mother, Jayne Mansfield, would surely be proud: Mariska Hargitay, who plays the tough yet tender -- and single -- Detective Olivia Benson on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,' has bagged an awesome man.

Well, her character has: People magazine says that on April 22, 'SVU' will pair up Olivia with a new love interest played by Bill Pullman.

Last week Hargitay told TV Guide, 'I've been begging Neal (Baer, executive producer) for five years to give me a boyfriend.'"

Hoooo hum. Am I the only one who is a tad bored by this? And by bored, I mean completely annoyed.

I have no beef with Bill Pullman, or with Olivia having someone to love, but seriously -- over the past two seasons she's become more and more desperate and pathetic... not exactly a lead up to an affair to remember.

Of course, if it lasts more than this one episode, it'll mean the end of all HoYay which is sad, because Olivia did it very very well. I get the feeling more and more that Mariska Hargitay doesn't like the Olivia she created so well in the first four/five seasons. In the past 3 seasons, she's moved her character in a way that might have made sense had they chosen that direction after season one, but once you have seasons 2-5, don't seem to make sense at all.

Her hair has become more and more complex, her outfits are frillier and less practical. She's not dressing for her job, but a fashion shoot. If you saw the bit in season 8 where she went undercover, she wore tonnes of makeup while apparently going undercover with environmental activists. Perhaps environmental activists in New York are covered head-to-toe in Max Factor, but I doubt it. Even the recent cover of TV Guide speaks volumes... all the other actors are dressed in character, but Mariska Hargitay is wearing a bright blue evening gown, not exactly uniform blues.

Maybe that's why these days I find myself skipping the new episodes to watch reruns.

1 in 4 believe rape victims are to blame

Rape: our blame culture: "ONE in four people believe women who have been raped are partly to blame for the crime because of how they dressed, their sexual history or how much they had to drink."

Read it and weap.

Shooting of Gay Student Sparks Outcry

The Associated Press: Shooting of Gay Student Sparks Outcry: "Larry King was a gay eighth-grader who used to come to school in makeup, high heels and earrings. And when the other boys made fun of him, he would boldly tease them right back by flirting with them."

First things first -- I suspect Larry King (what an unfortunate name) was in fact transgendered, and not gay.

Second, what a frickin tragedy. And it's not even the fault of the kid who shot him-- it's the fault of the homophobic nonsense that is pumped into our children every day by fascist morons hiding behind the banner of "religion".

Irish teachers face dismissal for being gay

Irish teachers face dismissal for being gay- from Pink News: "She added that gay and lesbian teachers faced 'isolation, alienation, harassment, discrimination and downright bigotry' on a regular basis and stated that only six out of the 35 members were in a position to be open about their sexuality in school."

Yet another reason to tell the church to feck off out of our schools and hospitals. It's 2008. Let's stop living in the middle ages.

I'm going to see Melissa Etheridge!!!

I've got tickets for her Massey Hall (Toronto) gig in the summer. I'm so excited!

I've seen her once before, in Hammersmith (London) during her Lucky tour. My wife bought me tickets and I was over the moon. I've been a fan of Melissa's forever and had never had the opportunity to see her live.

And grrl, she does not disappoint. After four hours of rockin in our seats, we were exhausted and she was still rockin on stage!

This year, we'll rock some more after the concert as I've been told that the party continues at Toronto's best womens' bar, Slacks. This will be in stark contrast to our London experience where the concert ended late enough that we were unable to procure any refreshments for in the hotel. Even the bloody hotel wouldn't sell us a bottle of wine! Four stars, me arse.

And speaking of hotels, I haven't managed to pick one out yet for the concert. I was looking at the Pantages since that's where they are holding the travel package, and it looks lovely -- especially the serenity floor.

We stayed in the Radission Suites hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia when we were married. I was really impressed! It wasn't cheap, but for the standard of accomodation and service, it was a true bargain. Sadly the Radisson Suites in Toronto appears to be near the airport, not downtown... and I don't want to be driving until the day we leave Toronto.

So any tips would be most welcome, and until then I'm waiting for the alarm guy to show up and surfing Trip Advisor.

The Big Gay Sketch Show

Why don't we have stuff like this on telly over here? It's brilliant!

The Associated Press: AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

The Associated Press: AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

I think I'd find this less scary if it was cocaine in the water supply than the crazy combination of stuff they have found.

Officials in Philadelphia said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals
or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain,
infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart
problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city's
watersheds.

And I know it's tiny tiny amounts of it, but still it makes you wonder.

Sherrie Cannell's Rock

Oh dear god. The lust. The vitality.

Anyone with any good ideas on how to raise $1000 quickly?

Her other stuff is excellent too. I'm just in awe.

I found her because she the featured artist at Slacks in Toronto this month.

Oh and welcome to my sorta new blog by the way. The other one got suspended for being spam, which must be some kind of an insult I'm sure! They said they'd look into it, but I'm impatient like that. :-)