Part 9 featuring: The Office (US version), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, State of Play, Supernatural, Firefly

( V-Z )

Part 8 featuring: Heroes, Arrested Development, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Pushing Daisies, Joan of Arcadia, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ugly Betty, Flight of the Conchords, Supernatural, Spaced, Dr. Horrible, Firefly

( T-U )

Part 7 featuring: Doctor Who, Pushing Daisies, Veronica Mars, Heroes, Supernatural, Clone High, Torchwood, BBC's Chronicles of Narnia, Chuck, The Muppet Show, Gilmore Girls-ish

( Q-S )

Part 6 featuring: Doctor Who, The Office (both versions), Arrested Development, Life On Mars, Pinky and the Brain, Burns and Allen, Chuck, Flight of the Conchords, Supernatural, Joan of Arcadia

( O-P )

Part 5 featuring: Joan of Arcadia, Clone High, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Spaced, Veronica Mars, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Arrested Development, The Pretender, Heroes, Firefly

( L-N )

Part 4 featuring: Torchwood, The Muppet Show, Supernatural, Veronica Mars, Heroes, Firefly, Doctor Who

( H-K )

Part 3 featuring: Firefly, Joan of Arcadia, Dead Like Me, Supernatural, Veronica Mars, The Office (UK version), Arrested Development, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Doctor Who

( E-G )

Part 2 featuring: Arrested Development, Spaced, Life on Mars, The Office (US version), Heroes, Doctor Who, Veronica Mars, Supernatural, NewsRadio, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

WARNING: POST CONTAINS SIMON PEGG'S BUTTCHEEKS. IN A THONG.

( C-D )

For the last little while, I've been posting a series of motivational posters at TWoP featuring obscure words found in a book called Foyle's Philavery matched up with pictures from different TV shows. The series is done now but I've had some people asking if they could see them all on display in one place. I decided my long-neglected LJ was as good a place as any, so here goes nothing.

Part 1 Featuring: Supernatural, Firefly, MST3K, Doctor Who, WKRP In Cincinnati, Joan of Arcadia, Veronica Mars, Ashes To Ashes, Life on Mars
( A-B. )

Actually, before I get into what I thought of the book, a little about my store's midnight release party. It went incredibly well. No, like REALLY well. We only had one major problem, that being that we almost didn't get the books at all (yeah, it was a MAJOR problem), because the dumbasses at Raincoast sent them to our store in Winnipeg instead of Calgary (they would only give them to us on the Friday of the event, of course, to ensure they weren't sold ahead of time...like that really worked). They weren't even prepared to fix their mistake and send us new copies, but fortunately the owner of the McNally Robinson stores is basically the scariest woman on the face of the planet, and she got on the phone with the President of Raincoast and put the fear of, well, her into him, so they sent us replacements via air that arrived to our store at 8:30 that night. And then other than THAT there were no major problems. We had around 3000-4000 people (the Calgary Herald said around 1200, but they also said our event was going to run two days and started at ten in the morning, so...), we even got honest-to-god PICKETERS! Telling us how evil Harry Potter was (I'm reeeeeally hoping we got pictures because YES! We have arrived!)! And oh my GOD. As one of my co-workers said to me as we were handing out books, "...Did Elvis come back to life or something? Why do they keep screaming?" Harry fans are VERY excitable. And inventive. I saw house elves, Gilderoys, Hagrids, Dumbledores, Rons, Harrys, Hermiones, and Bellatrixs, Tonks (although none of the characters looked as good as our employees, I'm not kidding - our Dementor costume was the Ghost of Christmas Future costume rented from the Alberta Theatre Project! It was awesome!). The two best outfits were most definitely the Fat Lady (picture frame and all) and a guy dressed up from another fandom (can't remember what) holding a sign that said, "I don't even LIKE Harry Potter". I told our Ron to go out and get him a prize IMMEDIATELY. We love sarcasm at our store.

I have yet to see any good pictures of the event up close, but one of our city newspapers has posted some great overhead pictures of the event here, if you're interested.

( Now my (SPOILERY) thoughts on the book itself )

So I've been meaning to put this in here for the Harry Potter fans on my flist as I feel the need to reaffirm there are people as nerdy as me. I mean, the majority of my co-workers are HP fans because, hello, bookstore...but I seem to have become the nerd of the nerds in this regard. I'm arranging the trivia contest/scavenger hunt for the midnight release party (btw, if anyone has a brilliant trivia question, let me know) because my brain is a vast storehouse of pointless literary facts, a large section of which is dedicated specifically to JK. People ask a question about Harry, pause, and automatically everyone in the room looks my direction because they all assume that if I don't know it no one will. And I was conscripted to write an issue of The Daily Prophet that includes the information about our release party to give out to customers.

I told them I would do no such thing. I wrote an issue of The Quibbler instead. Really, who wants to write for a newspaper when you can write for a tabloid instead? This is the content of the paper (it's just the front page). I will try to find a scanner so you can see the finished product, too, as our graphics lady did a brilliant job with it.

Main Article:

THE MUGGLES KNOW OUR SECRETS!
More evidence has surfaced about the ever-growing Muggle Awareness Movement mounted by some of the more radical witches and wizards in the magic community.

To celebrate the release of the latest unauthorised Harry Potter tell-all by J. K. Rowling (often believed to be a high-ranking witch writing under a muggle pseudonym), muggles all across the city of Calgary are planning to converge at McNally Robinson Booksellers this July. Before they stopped returning our calls, employees at McNally Robinson gave us this statement:

'Prepare for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the
McNally Robinson-Downtown Calgary Harry Potter Family Street Festival on
Diagon Alley.
'Friday, July 20 - 10:00 pm to 12:15 am
'Stephen Avenue Walk Downtown between Centre St. and 1st St. S.W.'

We sent this statement in its entirety to the resident Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts for an expert's analysis. After it was accidently returned unopened for the third time, our own editor-in-chief took it upon himself to interpret the cryptic message, saying, 'It's obvious these poor, sheltered muggles think they are celebrating the release of an exceptional children's story, instead of a real young man's life. The ignorance of these muggles to the existence of magic is as tragic as our non-subscribers' ignorance of the existence of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.' At this point, Mr. Lovegood edited himself for
length, but he later added that his sources confirm the Diagon Alley mentioned in the statement is in fact the real Diagon Alley, which has been drifting closer and closer to Alberta ever since last week, when the popular wizard shopping district was mysteriously switched with a convincing replica.

This story continues on page ...



SPOTTED:
Dumbledore lives! The latest sightings have placed the former Hogwarts headmaster in Italy posing with the Leaning Tower of Pisa, having a cuppa tea with rock star and fugitive from justice Sirius Black, and singing backup for the Weird Sisters. We're glad to see you having so much fun in your retirement, Albus!
***
Several local wizards and one observant muggle claim to have seen You-Know-Who himself flipping through the pages of Oprah's latest Book Club pick at McNally Robinson Booksellers last week. Stranger still, the muggle employee claims the 'ugly snake thing' was heard to loudly complain as he browsed, 'Hey, this isn't about Regency England!'

More Celebrity Sightings on page...




Is your anemic love life killing your reputation like a stake to the heart? Does that special someone not even think you're alive? Sanguini is here to help solve your romantic woes with a shot of relationship advice! This week: The importance of being positive, the perils of garlic breath, and the art of necking.

Dear Sanguini on page...

Seriously you guys, this party is going to be HUGE. We've blocked off our street for the evening and are redecorating it to look like Diagon Alley, we've got decorations coming out the wazoo, including but not limited to Dumbledore's Penseive, the Mirror of Erised, and the Riddle graveyard (complete with Dark Mark in the trees). We're hiring actors to show up as the characters. We've got a high-wire circus troop putting in an appearance. Oh, and the owls. I pity the people with real jobs. I bet they never get to waste an afternoon playing with a fog machine until the smoke comes out bubbling over the top of a cauldron just so, or making tombstones (yay tombstones!) in the back alley. I'll have to get some pictures you y'all can see what it looks like.

Oh dear, it's been a long time since I wrote in here. I don't even know if any of you still exist on LJ anymore, or if you've all deserted me for Facebook.

*checks friends list*

Yay! You're still here!

I got back from Portugal AGES ago, but I've been putting off writing in LJ because I wanted to start out copying my travel journal right away. Only problem with that is my sister and I tag-teamed on picture taking and I still haven't got her half of the pictures yet. She's leaving to go travel with her husband this week so I'm thinking that the pictures aren't going to happen any time soon. So I'm not waiting anymore!

I decided to jump back in here with a recommendation to those of you who like getting the crap scared out of you. I don't scare easily, especially not with television. I clap when gory things happen to Claire on Heroes and I geek out when people are mauled to death on Supernatural. My one weak spot is when the horror is psychological, but even then it's not too big a deal because rarely is it done well enough to get to me.

Well. I'm a Doctor Who fan, as you probably know, and rather than wait for season 3 to come to North America, I've been downloading it as it airs in the UK...somehow let's pretend that I'm doing this in a way that's legal. I will not go into details just in case any of you watch the show and don't want to be spoiled, but seriously: Episode 10, "Blink". Download it or watch when it airs on this side of the pond if you want a few extra years of therapy (the season starts airing here at the end of June, I think). It is THAT GOOD. Why?



That's why! There's no gore or violence (Doctor Who is family programming so there's a disconcerting lack of blood in it, I find), there's very little action to speak of. The viewer never actually SEES anything going on, but the writer Steven Moffat knows his shit because not seeing anything makes it a thousand times worse. I watched it yesterday morning and thought I was doing okay (once my heart started up again, that is), but last night I was in my basement with the lights out and my brain started going, "Oh shit oh shit oh shit. It's behind me right now. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. There's one waiting for me at the end of the hall, too, isn't there?" And so I sat in my room with my back in the corner and the lights on all the way until I was ready to go to sleep. Which I did with the aid of music to distract me from thinking things like, "What's going to be looking back at me if I open my eyes right now?"

To sum up: Steven Moffat is an evil genius who likes to prey on your most basic childhood fears and make you have a great time while he does it. I know a lot of people contend that the Gentlemen from Buffy are the scariest things they've ever seen on TV. Those people ESPECIALLY should watch this, because I swear the Gentleman are like little happy kittens to me now. Statues, on the other hand, I now have issues with. Again. It's like suddenly I'm 7 and my mannequin phobia has reared it's ugly head again. Only NOW I don't think inventing a Let's Pretend game where all my worst fears are realized will help at all. Just make me sign up for more therapy.

Just occurred to me that I've been horribly negligent in actually discussing, you know, my life on this LJ. To that end, three Big Things in my near future:

1. In two weeks I'm going to Portugal (and briefly London) with my sister for two weeks. We decided that since we traveled so well together in Rome that it was tempting fate to try to find someone else to go with on our next respective vacations (especially since my sister tried doing the vacation thing with friends and learned the hard way why that can really suck). As a general rule we each take a lot of shit from each other without holding grudges, our tastes are extremely different, but we both do compromises quite nicely and aren't afraid to request them when necessary, and we haven't really fought with each other since junior high school. Makes sense to me! Plus...Portugal. And London! The West End! We're TOTALLY going to the West End! That's on my List of Things To Do Before I Die! Woot!

2. In September (ish), assuming I get in, I'm going to the University of Calgary to major in English, and am strongly considering transferring to the University of Victoria into their creative writing program after two years, as I hear it's the best in the country. I don't know, though. We'll see how it goes just taking the classes. All my self-discipline went straight down the crapper when I left SAIT, so every day since I sent in my registration, I wake up asking myself, "Oh my God, what the HELL am I doing? I remember school. I remember learning. Panic attacks. Meltdowns in public places. WORK." Still, I think it's important I do it, as my writing is going nowhere, and if I don't try to make something of it now, I never will.

3. Harry Potter. No, it's NOT as big a deal as the other two. I just needed an excuse to segue into this (because I told oddreigh I'd post the rest of them. Feel free to answer if you know any of these!

( Harry Potter Trivia: Test Your Geekiness (No Googling!) )

The following phone call is how I ended my day at work today. I can't say it's a conversation I ever expected to have with anyone, especially because of work. Ah, the joys of working in a children's book store.

LADY: Good afternoon, Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation.
ME: Hi there! My name is Tara, and I'm calling of behalf of McNally Robinson Booksellers in Calgary. We're hosting a Harry Potter midnight book release party, and I was wondering who I might talk to about having any of your animals there for the event?
LADY: ...Harry Potter?
ME: That's right! So, you know, preferably owls or...yeah...that sort...of...*cough*
LADY: ...
ME: I take it this means you haven't committed to any other bookstore, then? Is there some one in particular I should be talking to or-
LADY: Well, I'm the co-ordinator for our educational visits, but usually our visits are educational. And about...wildlife conservation. I'm guessing that your event would be about...?
ME: Harry Potter? Yes. Yes, it would.
LADY: ...This has never happened to me before...Harry Potter?
ME: Yes. Harry Potter. Um, all the owls in Calgary are booked, so...
LADY: I'll think about it. It sounds like it could work, but this is...sort of outside the box for us.
ME: I understand. I mean...
LADY: Harry Potter
ME: Yes. Harry Potter.

Fun times at McNally Robinson Booksellers, I tell ya. I created a couple of HP skill-testing quizzes for the store, too. Rhonda (my manager) told me to make them as hard as I could. So I did. Then I made easier ones because I wasn't convinced she was aware of the can of worms she had opened. So far, all the self-proclaimed fans of the book who work within the store that I've tried out the questions on have yet to answer all of them correctly. The easy OR the hard ones. Dammit, I tried to not make it impossible, I really did, but like Tom Servo from MST3K, I have no sense of proportion.

Sample Easy Question (No Googling!):
Where Does Kingsley Shacklebolt work undercover?

Sample Hard Question (Still No Googling!):
Name the two wizards of the Order of the Phoenix who were so powerful that it took five Death Eaters to finally kill them.

Answer if you know (but not rieka_04, because I've already tested them on her). I won't tell you the rest because I don't know what or how they'll be used, if at all.

I honestly didn't think they were THAT hard, but apparently... oooh, I'm 40 different kinds of nerd.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDdd.....

*sigh*

I should probably write something brilliant and profound, seeing as how I have nothing else to do, but the problem is I'll come up with something that will be brilliant enough to shift the earth's axis and I'll just be typing it down when BAM! Customers. They obviously don't want to make the world a better place, like I do. Okay, okay, I don't REALLY want to make the
world a better place. I just want to be entertained. If I worked at Casablanca, I'd totally be watching, like, Tiger Bay or something else no one else in North America knows about. I'd also be working with a bunch of stoned people, but whatever. "Stoned people" Oh GOD, Tara. The PC term is "STONERS". I disgust myself sometimes. And it's even beyond my backwater terminology, I'm afraid. I said I'd be watching Tiger Bay, but that's not true. They don't even HAVE Tiger Bay at Casablanca. I know. I've checked. Twice. Nor do they have Jude, sadly, as their tape has broken. They wouldn't show that, anyhow
though. Between the incest, unbelievably pornographic sex scenes, and nauseatingly bloody miscarriage, it probably wouldn't make it past even the Casablancas censorship. I know, I know, why would I EVER want to watch such a nasty movie? I've got two names for you: Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP PAYING WITH YOUR GODDAMN TWENTIES. I HAVE NO TENS I HAVE NO FIVES AND YOU ARE CLEANING ME OUT OF TWOONIES. I HATE YOU ALL, YOU AND YOUR FILTHY TWENTY DOLLAR BILLS. OH GOD! *weeps*

But like I was saying, Chris and Kate. There's nothing I wouldn't sit through for them. What we have is too special. And speaking of Chris, check him out in Heroes this week! 90s hair, clean-shaven, black and white and SO HOT I CAN HARDLY STAND IT. What is it with British guys and their ability to take totally average looks and make them into something hot enough to melt entire planets? I don't know, but I'm thankful. I mean, I am THANKFUL. Woo!

And with that I think it's wise to quit because suddenly I'm surrounded by co-workers and GOD knows I don't want them to see just how big a loser I am....Or, I don't want anything confirmed so irrefutably.

NOTE: I just found out not half an hour after I wrote this that in the past two weeks I've worked over 78 1/2 hours, most of that time having been spent dealing with rampaging hoards of teachers from two separate conferences, demaning their 25% discounts. I totally claim this as justification for the lunacy you just read.

( Sexy Omnisexuals & Slutty Parents: Welcome to Family Programming on the BBC! )

So there it is. Doctor Who. Watch it. If you're gonna be in a Trekkie-esque multi-generational fandom, at least go for the one with the accents.

Oh LiveJournal. How I neglect you. In a feeble attempt to make up for my negligence, I will now post a looooong entry about what has been keeping away from LJ this past month. Namely, the discovery of Doctor Who. That's right, Doctor Who, and with the discovery of this show I also discover a horrifying truth about myself: I kind of like science fiction. But it's not my fault! I've got brilliant character development and Joss Whedon on one side of the ocean and when I try to run away from it, there's brilliant character development and frickin' British accents waiting for me on the other! How am I supposed to fight this? HOW?!

Seriously, I'd never watched DW until the people at TWoP convinced me to give the new series a go, but I thought I knew what it was, since I'd looked into it a little, back when my family first got the internet hooked up on our PC. I was investigating Tom Baker's resume because his Puddleglum was one of the ass-kicking-est things from my childhood (seriously, if the new guys ever make it to Silver Chair, they'll have their work cut out for them recasting that one). I was pleased to discover he was iconic for this doctor thing, but I couldn't really figure out why he was iconic, as the show seemed kind of... not blah, exactly, but certainly not brilliant television. Having begun to watch the new reworking of DW, though, I think I figured out what the problem was. Never try to learn about Doctor Who from an article that assumes you know something about it. You'll get it wrong. Very wrong. Here is what I spent a decade thinking Doctor Who was about. My hand to God, I am not making this up:

There's this guy who may or may not be an alien. He wears a really long scarf that is iconic and he is the host of a children's educational program. Every week he takes a couple of kids into his magical flying phone booth and they travel to a different point in history, where they have fun learning! Sometimes they also conduct science experiments that kids at home can try with the supervision of an adult, just like Mr. Wizard! For unknown reasons, this is very frightening to British children.

...Ooops. I've yet to watch classic Who (although I plan on it, and have figured out a lot of it thanks to my good friend Wiki), but I'm still gonna give a shot at writing a beginner's guide to at least the new series. Even though the new series does a pretty brilliant job of explaining it to you as it goes. Because I want to, that's why. Just humour me. You don't have to read it (But there ARE pictures to hold your interest if you decide to give it a go).

( Doctor Who: Multiple Personalities Have Never Been This Awesome )

COMING UP! Other notable characters, major enemies, and the greatness that is shipping Rose/Doctor!

Oh my God. I can't believe I'm doing this. *hangs head in shame*

List ten fictional characters you would have sex with (in no particular order) and tag 5 people to do the same. You don't have to include pictures but it'd be nice because looking at hot people is fun.

( Right this way, and I'm telling you right now, I don't care how big my crush on the character is, if they're young enough to still be in high school, they aren't making the cut. I still have to live with myself, I don't care if they're not real. Apparently, this high moral standard of mine doesn't include married men. )

So there you have it. Now, I know as soon as you saw what the meme was about you reflexively started compiling your own lists, so forget tagging. If you're brave enough to sink to my level, lemme see what you got.

I was going to hold off a little bit and post this on the actual first day of Christmas, but then I found out that wasn't until the 26th, so screw that. Merry Early Christmas, everyone! There promises to be something for almost all of you (and if you can't find anything, please join at least one of the dark sides presented immediately, as you make me very sad).

A quick note to the Doctor Who fans among you: I'm madly in love with a lovely man named David Tennant, but I'm still very new to the Doctor and I didn't want to spoil myself to get any Ten footage, so you'll have to suffer with Christopher Eccleston only (and by "suffer" I of course mean "revel in his awesomeness").

The 12 Fandoms of Christmas(MegaUpload Link)

And, what the hell. For those of you who missed the one I made last year:

Hoban Washburn: Worst Grinch Ever (MegaUpload Link)

I was looking up some Fanboys stuff to try and find a release date, and I stumbled across this delightful Chris Marquette website. I found an interview with him talking about Joan of Arcadia and more specifically, the Adam-the-Cheater storyline. I LOVE that he just confirms everything I always say about network producers RUINING my show trying to get their ratings from the WRONG DEMOGRAPHIC.

"I hated it! I got in the biggest argument with all the producers. You have no idea.[...]And I was like, and there is absolutely no reason why he should do this. I fought that for about two weeks when I first got the script, and then when I went in, I even fought about, like OK, well I guess if he has to cheat, what exactly are we gonna do with it then? Is it all gonna be in vain, is there like a—? You know, I tried to make a reason, you know?"

Tina:
You know, the fans hated that episode.

"Yeah, I bet they did. And that's what I told them! And so I'm glad to finally know, because I kept telling them. I was like guys, they're gonna— You don't understand, this makes no sense. And to be honest, you know, what they wanted is, they wanted, the studio, those people, wanted to make the show for kids. They wanted to make it for young kids. Literally, I think they wanted to make it like The O.C.[...]Yeah, we were all upset. You have no— Amber and I sat down with Jim Hayman and Peter Schindler, and uh, a couple— I forgot exactly who wrote that episode because the writers all switched so much. But we sat down with all five of them and we were like we can't do this. I don't know what you guys are doing, but we can't do this. Like, I mean, you want us to break up, we'll break up, but don't like have him cheat on her. Amber was upset, I was upset, everybody was. It really didn't make any sense. Michael Welch came to me, Jason Ritter came to me, even Mary Steenburgen, everybody came and was like, I don't understand why they're doing it. I was like, me either! I keep telling 'em, so... Everybody was completely against it."

Did no one tell these people that The OC sucks?