Catching Ducks

Dalek pumpkin!

Labels: Doctor Who, holidays

From "Lonely Hearts" (episode 1.02):


Angel: This socializing thing is brutal. I mean, I was young once. I used to go to bars. It was never like this.

Doyle: No, you used to go to taverns, man. Small towns, everybody used to know each other.

Cordelia: Yeah, like high school. It's easy to date there. We all had so much in common. Being monster food every other week, for instance.

Labels: Angel

From the pilot (episode 1.01):


Normal: You tell Theo if he's not in tomorrow, he can start looking for another job.

Max: I don't know how to break this to you, Normal, but we're all looking for another job.

Labels: Dark Angel

After many, many years of service, my old mixer died last spring. It was hand-me-down from my mom. Think how many Christmas cookies it baked!




My very kind parents bought me an early Christmas present:




I decided to celebrate by baking a double-batch of chocolate chip cookies!

Labels: food

From "Silence of the Lamb" (episode 1.11):



Jackson: I hear you do detective stuff for people.

Veronica: I do favors for friends.

Jackson: I can pay.

Veronica: Sit down, friend.

Labels: Veronica Mars

In 2010, the WNBA had twelve teams. Six of them had team names beginning with "S":

Shock
Silver Stars
Sky
Sparks
Storm (duh!)
Sun

What's even weirder is only two of them (Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky) are in the Eastern Conference. That means that four of the six teams in the Western Conference (two-thirds!) start with an "S": Seattle Storm, L.A. Sparks, San Antonio Silver Stars (say that one five times fast!), and Tulsa Shock.

Seriously, what's up with that?

Labels: Seattle Storm, WNBA

"Swandive"

cradling the softest, warmest part of you in my hands
feels like a little baby bird fallen from the nest
I think that your body is something I understand
I think that I'm happy, I think that I'm blessed

I've a lack of inhibition
I've had a loss of perspective
I've had a little bit to drink
and it's making me think
that I can jump ship and swim
that the ocean will hold me
that there's got to be more
than this boat I'm in

'cuz they can call me crazy if I fail
all the chance that I need
is one-in-a-million
and they can call me brilliant
if I succeed
gravity is nothing to me, moving at the speed of sound
I'm just going to get my feet wet
until I drown

I teeter between tired
and really, really tired
I'm wiped and I'm wired, but I guess it's just as well
so I built my own empire
out of car tires and chicken wire
I'm queen of my own compost heap
and I'm getting used to the smell

and I've had a lack of information
but I've had a little revelation
I'm climbing up on the railing
trying not to look down
I'm going to do my best swan dive
into shark-infested waters
I'm gonna pull out my tampon
and start splashing around

'cuz I don't care if they eat me alive
I've got better things to do than survive
I've got the memory of your warm skin in my hands
and I've got a vision of blue sky and dry land

cradling the hardest, heaviest part of me in my hands
the ship is pitching and heaving, my limbs are bobbing and weaving
and I think this is something I understand
I just need a couple vaccinations for my far-away vacation
I'm going to go ahead and go boldly because a little bird told me
that jumping is easy, that falling is fun
right up 'til you hit the sidewalk, shivering and stunned

and they can call me crazy if I fail
all the chance that I need
is one-in-a-million
and they can call me brilliant
if I succeed
gravity is nothing to me
moving at the speed of sound
I'm just gonna get my feet wet
until I drown...

Labels: ani difranco

From Season Three:


Computer: HELLO. YOU ARE EARLY. YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE FOR ANOTHER 1,856 YEARS.

Church: What is this place?

Computer: THIS IS THE HOUSING FACILITY FOR THE GREAT WEAPON. I AM THE KEEPER OF THE GREAT WEAPON. YOU ARE THE GREAT DESTROYER. YOU WILL DEMOLISH THIS FACILITY, KILL ME, STEAL THE GREAT WEAPON, AND BRING ABOUT THE GREAT DOOM FOR BILLIONS OF PEOPLE. ... WELCOME! HOW MAY I BE OF ASSISTANCE?

Church: What are you talking about?

Computer: YOUR COMING HAS BEEN FORETOLD BY THE GREAT PROPHECY.

Church: Does your society have any other adjectives besides great?

Labels: Red vs. Blue

From tonight's episode, "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" (episode 2.05):



"You know, Halloween is fast approaching. The day when parents encourage little boys to dress like little girls and little girls to dress like whores, and go door to door brow-beating hard working Americans into giving them free food.”

— Sue Sylvester

Labels: Glee, holidays

Currently, all three episodes of Sherlock are available at the PBS website.

I think this is the link to the first one.

Labels: Sherlock

I just finished watching the first episode of Sherlock, the new Sherlock Holmes TV show. It's set in modern day London, and it's AWESOME!

This is from that episode, "A Study in Pink":



Sherlock Holmes: Did he offer you money to spy on me?

John Watson: Yes.

Sherlock Holmes: Did you take it?

John Watson: No.

Sherlock Holmes: Pity, we could've split the fee. Think it through next time.

Labels: Sherlock

From "The Peacekeeper Wars" mini-series:


Chiana: What's their problem?

Stark: Fear. Abject fear.

Noranti: Fear of what?

Stark: Their fear extends to not talking about their fear.

Labels: Farscape

This site is just too cute!

Labels: food, random silliness

Apparently there's a movie called "Red Dawn" about the Soviets invading the U.S., and a ragtag group Colorado high school students that fight the invaders. Yeah, I've never heard of it either. (It came out in the 80's.) But Cracked.com has some thoughts:



The opening scene takes place at a high school in Calumet, Colo. Suddenly, Russian troops parachute onto the lawn, in a surprise attack on America ...

... Alright, stop the movie. How the hell did communists make it all the way to Colorado?

Later it's explained that the invasion came from two directions: Mexico (which in the film had recently fallen to communists) where half a million troops had amassed, and from the north, where 60 divisions of Russian troops flooded across Alaska and then down through Canada. Both forces were presumably marching to converge on a small high school in Colorado to knock out America's Swayze capability before it could be mobilized.

So let's start with the north. Keep in mind, a military division is anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 troops. Sixty of those, showing up in Alaska. Excuse me? Have they never played Risk before? How the hell did the U.S. miss the 600,000 troops even back when they were amassing in Kamchatka?

The U.S. intelligence networks and spy satellites then failed to notice this massive army as it moved south across 3,500 miles of land to reach the USA? And what the hell did we do to piss off Canada, that nobody there bothered to pick up the phone and let us know thousands and thousands of Red Army tanks and jeeps and support vehicles were clanking down the highway?

Labels: movies, random silliness

From Stephen Fry's America:


[He's in upstate New York, with a group of hunters.]

"Now, let's get you kitted up..." Tom holds up a plaid jacket and an enormous pair of woolen trousers.

Naturally. Of course. It wouldn't do for me to look dignified or sensible.

"This hat is a rather sudden orange, isn't it?" I complain, dropping a day-glo foraging cap on the table.

"Hunting orange, they call it. Other hunstmen know not to shoot you."

"Mm. yes." I pick up that cap again. "I like it. Goes with my complexion"

Labels: Stephen Fry

King Sotosoroto has made an official decree.

I better get cracking!


Let's see.... Oh yes! I was going to tell my "name" story:

At work the other day, an overly-friendly customer asked my name. (They do that sometimes.) Here's the conversation that transpired:

me: Maggie.

overly-friendly customer: Oh, that a nice name!

me: I like it.

OFC: I bet you didn't like it when you were a kid, though.

me: Well, the nice thing about "Margaret" is that there's so many different things you can do with it.

OFC: Oh, you're a "Margaret"?

me: Yeah, but I go by "Maggie".


[In case there's actually someone reading this who doesn't know me personally: My name isn't Margaret.]

Labels: random silliness, work

From the dedication of Give War a Chance:


Like many men of my generation, I had an opportunity to give war a chance, and I promptly chickened out. I went to my draft physical in 1970 with a doctor's letter about my history of drug abuse. The letter was four and half pages long with three and a half pages devoted to listing the drugs I'd abused. I was shunted into the office of an Army psychiatrist who, at the end of a forty-five-minute interview with me, was pounding his desk and shouting, "You're fucked up! You don't belong in the Army!" He was certainly right on the first count and possibly right on the second. Anyway, I didn't have to go. But that, of course, meant someone else had to go in my place. I would like to dedicate this book to him.

I hope you got back in one piece, fellow. I hope you were more use to your platoon mates than I would have been. I hope you're rich and happy now. And in 1971, when somebody punched me in the face for being a long-haired peace creep, I hope that was you.

Labels: P.J. O'Rourke

From Fuzzy Logic by Darby Conley:


[at the dinner table]

Bucky: I'm not going to eat this.

Rob: [quietly, to Bucky] You're gonna eat it, and you're gonna be nice about it, too. Satchel made that special for you. .. And I don't see you cooking anything.

Bucky: The last time I cooked you complained.

Rob: Setting a bologna sandwich on fire is not "cooking".

Labels: Get Fuzzy

Norm Feuti, the guy who writes the comic strip "Retail", has put all of the strips online.

Awesome!

I love this one. (Sadly realistic.)

This one is also funny-but-sadly-realistic.

This one makes me think of my dad. :)

Labels: random silliness, work

From Season One:


[Church is explaining how his ex-girlfriend, Tex, got recruited into the Freelancer program.]

Church: She got recruited into some kind of weird experimental program back during basic where they infused her armor with this really aggressive A.I. I'm not really sure how it all works, but all I know is it made her meaner and tougher than hell.

Tucker: So, the military put this program in her head, and that program made her a killer. But underneath it all she's really just a sweet, down-home girl?

Church: Oh hell no. She's always been a rotten bitch, it's just now she's a rotten bitch with cybernetic enhancements.

Tucker: Wow. Sounds like you really won the lottery with that one. Good catch there buddy, she's a keeper.

Church: So how're you doing, Caboose? Are you following any of this whatsoever?

Caboose: I think so... That guy Tex is really a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.

Church: Yeah... that's right... I'm a gay robot.

Labels: Red vs. Blue

From "The First David Job":


Sophie: [Are you] drunk again?

Nate: Are we still unclear? I'm a functioning alcoholic. And the trick is to not get hung up on the "alcoholic", but celebrate the "functioning" part of the sentence.

Labels: Leverage

From "The Girl Next Door" (episode 1.07):


Principal Clemmons: Mr. Echolls, I was wondering if I could have a word?

Logan: "Anthropomorphic." All yours, big guy.

Labels: Veronica Mars

From this column on a Mischa Barton outfit:



"I think it means that, deep down, I still want the best for poor Mischa, poor little Marissa Cooper, who touched us all so much that she had that bitchin' hissy on The OC and threw all her mom's patio furniture in the pool. (Parenthetically, why would someone do that to Julie Cooper Nichol? Julie Cooper Nichol is AWESOME. She once appeared on an episode wearing a shirt that I own and, unlike the times when Liz Lemon pops up in something I also have and I get concerned about myself, that made me feel like such a bad-ass that I went out and started hitting on underage pool boys.)"

Labels: The Fug Girls, The O.C.

Except for Swin Cash, all of the 2010 Storm players are playing overseas. The Seattle Storm website has a place where you can keep up with all of them.

Labels: Seattle Storm

From "The Third Man" (episode 6.03):


[Dean and Sam are trying to contact Castiel, an angel.]

Dean: Well, let's give it a shot. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray to Castiel to get his feathery ass down here.

Sam: You're an idiot.

Dean: Stay positive.

Sam: Oh, I am positive

Labels: Supernatural

I know I recently posted a quote about how horrible Phoenix's defense is, but the WNBA website just posted Phoenix's end-of-year report, and I was reminded again. They were first in the league in points scored (93.9) and last in the league in points allowed (93.8). That's insane to me.

Anyway, this is from the Conference Finals Previews article at Sports Page Magazine:



"The problem for Phoenix is that they essentially only play at one end. Their defense is horrible, and this year it's been so bad that their offense has had trouble keeping up. A comparison to swiss cheese would only be fair if several mice had attacked the block beforehand."

Labels: WNBA

From "The Train Job" (episode 1.02 ... or 1.01 ... or 1.03 ... It depends on how you look at it.):


[Mal bursts into Inara's shuttle.]

Inara: What did I say to you about barging into my shuttle?

Mal: That it was manly and impulsive?

Inara: Yes, precisely. Only the exact phrase I used was, "Don't."

Labels: Firefly

Stats from the World Championships.

A really cool article about Storm CEO Karen Bryant. I knew she ran the Seattle Reign (Best. Team name. Ever!) but the article gives a lot more details.

This one's a little old (it's from July), but it's a neat article about Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.

Labels: Seattle Storm, WNBA

I'm almost done watching season 2 on DVD. Which is sad, really, because I don't know when I'll get season 3. And season 4 won't even air on HBO until next summer!

Sigh.

Anyway, this is from "Timebomb" (episode 2.8):



[Eric (a vampire) has come to rescue Sookie from the bad guys.]

Eric: I could have you out of here in seconds.

Sookie: There's kids out there.

Eric: The other humans wouldn't think twice about hurting us.

Sookie: Why didn't you bring Bill with you?

Eric: His attachment to you is irrational. It clouds his judgment. He would kill every child in this church to save you.

Sookie: Why aren't you?

Eric: I'm following Godric's orders and getting you out. That's all.

Sookie: He's your maker, isn't he?

Eric: Don't use words you don't understand.

Sookie: You have a lot of love for him.

Eric: Don't use words I don't understand.

Labels: True Blood

I overslept today. I usually get up at 7:40, but I didn't get up until 8:05 this morning! I rushed through my morning routine, hoping to catch the 8:25 bus, but knowing that the 8:40 bus would be ok, too.

I left my apartment at 8:15. I got ready in ten minutes. I think I've done it in fifteen before, but ten is a new record.

(I caught my usual bus, by the way. I signed in at work at 8:50 ... that's just forty-five minutes after I got up.)

Labels: work

I think it's kind of funny how basketball announcers/statistics people make such a big deal of reaching "double" figures -- i.e. ten or more. (Especially since they don't make a big deal out of hitting twenty. It's just the 9/10 divide that interests them.) But I guess it can be a useful way to quickly show how much of an impact a player made, especially if they made a "double-double". Anyway, this article talks about triple-doubles in the history of women's basketball, then it discusses the one recorded quadruple-double in professional women's basketball. And then...


"Even when looking over the wide expanse of women's basketball history, a quadruple-double isn't the ne plus ultra of double-digit achievements. There has actually been a quintuple-double scored by a female basketball player in high school competition. In 1997, during a game for Duncanville (Texas) High School, a player had 25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals and 10 blocked shots in a game. The circumstances of the game are no longer known; one suspects that details are light to protect the name of the losing team.

I wonder whatever became of that player who scored the quintuple-double. Her name is Tamika Catchings. Maybe she's playing in Europe somewhere."


The joke, in case you didn't get it, is that Tamika Catchings is a huge star in the WNBA. She's one of the captains of the USA team. She was runner-up for MVP this year. She was Defensive Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010. She's my favorite non-Storm player. She's very, very awesome, and if you don't believe me, take a look at the end-of-year stats for her team (Indiana Fever): She led her team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. Wow. Maybe she should have won MVP? Nah....

Labels: WNBA

From "The Time of Angels" (episode 5.04):


[The Doctor is trying to fly the TARDIS.]

River: Use the stabilizers!

The Doctor: It doesn't have stabilizers!

River: The blue switches!

The Doctor: The blue ones don't do anything, they're just... blue!

River: Yes, they're blue: they're the blue stabilizers! [presses the button and the TARDIS stabilizes] See?

The Doctor: Yeah? Well, it's boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers! They're blue... boring-ers!

Amy: Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?

The Doctor: You call that flying the TARDIS? [scoffs] Ha!

River: Okay, I've mapped the probability vectors, done a foldback on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination and... [presses a button, the TARDIS chimes] parked us right alongside.

The Doctor: Parked us? But we haven't landed!

River: Of course we've landed; I just landed her.

The Doctor: But it didn't make the noise.

River: What noise?

The Doctor: You know, the... [does an impression of the TARDIS materialization sound]

River: It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on.

The Doctor: Yes, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise.

Labels: Doctor Who

Apparently FIBA is considering lowering the rim for women's basketball.

Yes, really.

Jayda Evans thinks it's "the stupidest idea I've ever heard at this point in the women's game".

Mechelle Voepel from ESPN weighs in on that idiotic idea as well as other inanities FIBA discussed, such as "regulating" uniforms. She makes an excellent point:

"The notion for the need to 'feminize' players while they're on court, which seems like what 'regulating the uniform' is code for, is saying that players, by some arcane, arbitrary standard, need to look more like women. But the idea that rims need to be lowered suggests the women's game needs to look more like the men's.

So there you have the impossible conundrum that women athletes continue to face: that they're deficient both because they're not 'good enough' women … and because they aren't men."

Personally, if I wanted to see dunks, I would watch men's basketball. I think they're boring as heck, which is (one of) the reasons I love watching the Storm.

Labels: FIBA, Seattle Storm

From Season One:


Simmons: Hey.

Grif: Yeah?

Simmons: You ever wonder why we're here?

Grif: It's just one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God, watching everything, you know? With a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night.

Simmons: What? I mean why are we out here, in this canyon?

Grif: Oh. Uhhhhh. Yeah.

Simmons: What's all that stuff about God?

Grif: Uhhhhh. Hm? Nothing.

Simmons: Do you want to talk about it?

Grif: No.

Simmons: Sure?

Grif: Yes.

Labels: Red vs. Blue

From his End-of-Season Awards:


Worst Defender of the Year:

Kristi Toliver or Charde Houston? Charde Houston or Kristi Toliver? I just can't decide. Ooh wait, Candice Dupree was awful in Phoenix as well. It's so hard to decide when there are so many strong candidates. Oh wait, I know:

Worst Defender of the Year: Phoenix Mercury head coach Corey Gaines. Your team is worse defensively than Tulsa, coach. That deserves an award.

Labels: WNBA

From "Diefenbaker's Day Off" (episode 1.02):


Ray: [about a man involved in an insurance scam] So what's the dilemma? We bust him.

Fraser: Then I'd be breaking my word to the little girl.

Ray: And this gives you a problem.

Fraser: Yes.

Ray: Oh.

Fraser: And if I don't turn him in, then I'm withholding evidence of a crime.

Ray: Very good, Benny. You can go to the head of the class.

Fraser: So I've given it some thought and I've come up with the only...only logical solution: you have to arrest me.

Ray: For what?

Fraser: I can't tell you that.

Ray: Well, then I'm not gonna arrest you.

Fraser: But you have to.

Ray: Well, I'm not.

Fraser: You have to!

Ray: Oh, I'm not!

Fraser: You have to!

Labels: Due South

Due to my (awesome) vacation, I'm still catching up on the World Championships.

The U.S. won (hooray!) and the U.S. played Australia in a game that always had at least one Storm player on the court (hooray!), but they did not play Russia (boo!) and when they played the Czech Republic, Jana Vesala was injured at the beginning of the game and wasn't able to play (boo!).

Storm coach Brian Agler went to a bunch of the games, here's his thoughts.

This article was written at the start of the tournament. Apparently Svetlana Abrosimova used to hate Lauren Jackson!

This article is from after the U.S. won. Guess what? Only six players have won a NCAA, WNBA, Olympic and world championship. Guess what else? Two of them are Sue Bird and Swin Cash.

In worrying news, the coach of the Australian team wants Lauren Jackson (and all the other Australian players) to skip the WNBA in 2012 so they can prepare for the London Olympics. I know that LJ left early in 2008 to train with her team, but the entire season?!?! Eek!

Update: Jayda Evans thinks that the Australian coach wants LJ to skip the 2011 season. I thought she had a contract, though.

Labels: FIBA, Seattle Storm

From this blogpost:


"Of course, almost any anger at the entertainment industry’s obsession with youth – particularly female youth – is justified. Women are past their prime by 40 while men are still happily headlining into their 60s. And May-December romances are just part of the everyday lexicon. Try to think of five recent adult dramas where the male and female romantic leads were the same age. Or give me one where the woman was older and it wasn’t used as a gimmick. Keep thinking, I’ll go make a sandwich."

Labels: random silliness

From "Swan Song" (episode 5.22):


Dean: Cas, you're alive?

Castiel: I'm better than that.

Dean: Cas, are you God?

Castiel: That's a nice compliment. But no.

Labels: Supernatural

From Fuzzy Logic:



Rob: Hey, Buck, your birthday is coming up and I just thought I'd ask you if there was something you needed.

Bucky: Baboon repellent.

Rob: ... Excuse me?

Bucky: A can of baboon repellent.... You have to be ready for them. ... They attack when you least expect it.

Satchel: I'm sorry.... I had no idea you lived in fear of that.

Bucky: Well, you know what they say -- and ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Rob: Nobody who says that is referring to baboon attacks, Bucky.

Bucky: If you won't get me a can of baboon repellent for my birthday, can I have a goldfish?

Rob: Let me think about that. No.

Bucky: You didn't really "think about that"!

Rob: Trust me -- I've been thinking about that possibility your whole life.

Satchel: Does that have anything to do with how you used to wake up screaming "NOT THE FISH, NOT THE FISH!"?

Labels: Get Fuzzy

From this article about the World Championships:


"The rivalry between the United States and Australia has been percolating for a while now, since Jackson became a force for the Aussies a decade ago, but Team USA has won every meeting between the two in either the Olympics or world championships.

Regardless, the Aussies are thought of as a serious threat. And because there are so many connections between the Aussie and American players who compete together in the WNBA, there are added subplots.

A couple of weeks ago, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Jackson and Abby Bishop were celebrating as Seattle Storm teammates after winning the WNBA title. Now Bird and Cash are in red, white and blue, while Jackson and Bishop are in green and yellow.

This is old news to players who are used to turning various emotions on and off depending on what uniform they're wearing … and yet it remains fascinating to watch them do it."

Labels: Seattle Storm

From episode 5.4:


[Interview with Jimmy Carr]

Jeremy: Then after Cambridge, it was off to work for an oil company.

Jimmy: Yes, Shell.

Jeremy: Middle management?

Jimmy: Yeah, middle - I was in marketing, for oil.

Jeremy: Okay...

Jimmy: ...which is technically the easiest job on the planet. Do you have a fuel gauge in your car?

Jeremy: Yeah.

Jimmy: Yeah, you know when that goes into the red?

Jeremy: Yeah?

Jimmy: Buy some petrol. Job done.

Labels: Top Gear

Good: My DVR's at 91%.

Bad: To record the newer stuff, it deleted some older stuff.


Oh well.

Labels: travel, TV

From "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" (episode 1.11):


[The class is discussing 'The Merchant of Venice'.]

Ms. Miller: But has Shylock suffered? What's his place in Venice society?

Willow: Well, everyone looked down on him.

Cordelia: That is such a twinkie defense. Shylock should get over himself. People who think their problems are so huge craze me. Like this time I sort of ran over this girl on her bike. It was the most traumatizing event of my life, and she's trying to make it about her leg! Like my pain meant nothing.

Labels: Buffy the Vampire Slayer