So, you've probably been wondering for a while if I was okay, if I was dead, or if I just hated you. Well, the latter 2 are not true at all. The first is most definitely true. And I've got about 4 months' worth of updating to do. So here goes...

( Comedy, headshots, work, therapy, finance....BIG ENTRY! )

If I don't do this in a timely fashion, adaras_r0se might fly over the pond and slap me silly.

So, I must pick who to marry, shag, or throw off a cliff from this list of 3:

1. Inara Serra
2. Gwen Cooper
3. Arwen Undómiel

This one is really tough, given that I would gladly marry and/or shag all three. But, rules is rules, so here are my choices after some very deep pondering.

( The tough choices I have in this life )

I promise to make a proper update sometime soon!

For the past month or so, I've had to keep my mouth shut about a certain something happening behind the scenes, but now I can finally tell people about it! Well, actually I was given the go-ahead yesterday, but I've just been crazy busy and haven't had a chance.

My good friends at Whedonopolis have teamed up with 20th Century Fox and Comic Con to bring about the triumphant return of the "Once More With Feeling" Singalong!

These events are always a blast, and I'm so thrilled to be a part of it! What part am I playing, you ask? I'm only creating the special DVD presentation of the episode for Comic Con. To be honest, I'm not doing anything that a DVD professional worth his salt wouldn't be able to do with ease. But let's face it, how many DVD professionals do fan organizations have at any one time?

This is going to be a fantastic event that will actually be closing out all of Comic Con! So, if you're going, I really urge you to stick around on Sunday. This is not to be missed!

So, I just got an email from the El Capitan that tickets for Prince Caspian go on sale today. I'm planning on getting tickets for a show on opening weekend tomorrow after I get my paycheck. I just want to throw it out to my LJ friends to see if anybody was interested in coming along. The El Cap is such a wonderful theater, and Disney puts on a great display for their shows, really giving you a full movie-going experience that transcends the regular multiplex outing.

If anybody is interested, you can comment, email, IM, call, text, etc. to let me know. But please try to do so today.

First of all, big hugs and thank you's to everybody who called, texted, emailed or posted in LJ to wish me a Happy Birthday! You all made me feel very loved! :)

For my birthday, I decided it should be spent doing something I'd really enjoy. So I went down to Long Beach to check out Star Trek: The Tour, a new traveling exhibition of Star Trek stuff. It was at the Queen Mary, so it was in a lovely area to begin with. But the exhibit itself was tons of fun! I went with hystericblue42 (who got me a card that was so lovely, it almost made me cry), scififreak, fangirljen and brokenbacktango.

( more on the exhibit and a picspam of geekily epic proportions )

So, a little background on what I've been working on lately for those who don't know.

When I first started watching Supernatural in earnest a few months ago, a voice spoke up in the back of my head, saying "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to do the same kind of story with aliens?" That was the spark that got this whole mess started.

( further details within )

This is an essay that I wrote descrbing my very strong feelings about the WGA strike. I'm not freinds-locking this, because I want people to read it.

( cut for length )

Another day, another tiny slice of terror to haunt your dreams and rape your inner child. As we slowly move up this ladder of horrors, what will we find on the next rung? Is it a monster? Is it a book filled with anthrax? Is it the resurrected spirit of Tiny Tim come to serenade us with his ukelele for all eternity?

Put on your rubber pants and get ready for the #12 Scariest Thing in the World!

( Click here only if you don't care if your brain implodes )

This is a silly time-waster, but I thought it could be amusing. Over the next 13 days leading up to Halloween, I will post one of the 13 Scariest Things in the World. These are things guaranteed to terrify and make you poop your pants repeatedly and for extended periods of time while you come to grips with the horrors that are these 13 things. You will need therapy, and you will hate yourself for reading it. So let's begin! Yay!

Let's start with #13.

( Let the Horror Fest begin! )

Stolen from iceandlime

* Bold all of the following TV shows of which you've seen 3 or more episodes.
* Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode.
* Asterisk if you have at least one full season on tape or DVD
* If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).

( here they be )

Sorry this took so long. Catching up with work has been something of an ordeal. But here's my full review of Stardust as promised. I'm not friends-locking this, as I do so many of my posts, because Neil Gaiman has encouraged all of us who saw it to spread the word. He personally doesn't want this to be a movie that disappears from theaters quickly and is only discovered later by the masses on DVD.

( There are spoilers in this review, but they're really only for people who have never read the book and have no idea what this movie is about )

In short, this is a film that I cannot recommend highly enough. It is a tremendous fantasy ride and an unexpectedly heartfelt and feel-good film. If you are a fan of this type of film at all, then you absolutely must see it. Even if fantasy is not your genre of choice, I find it hard to believe that you would not walk out of Stardust with a smile on your face.

I have pics and tales aplenty just from this first day. I'll try to post more about it later on. Right now it's late, and I'm in one of those "too thirsty to sleep" modes. So I thought I'd just head on down to the hotel internet room and shoot this off while I attempt to rehydrate myself.

I went to a screening of Stardust earlier tonight with a Q&A with Neil Gaiman. His message to all of us in the screening was this: If we liked the movie, we should tell everybody we know about it.

Well, I didn't just like this movie, I FREAKING LOVED IT!!!! This is seriously one of the best movies I've seen in years! I want to write a much more detailed review, but it's just too late for me to gather my thoughts into anything coherent.

I try not to use the words "must see" lightly. So bear that in mind when I say to you that this movie is an absolute must see! We gave the movie and Neil a big standing ovation after the screening, and it was very well deserved.

Right time to try to get some sleep.

So, while watching The Sound of Drums for the umpteenth time - but this time with hystericblue42 - we started speculating about a "Vote Saxon" poster in the style of those Andre the Giant "Obey" posters.

Well, I started messing around in Photoshop, and came up with this:

( cut for those who don't like or care about Doctor Who )

Oh God! I was afraid of this! The firebombing knocked out part of the fences around the terrace! They're coming in!

I rushed back up here as quickly as I could and locked every door between the elevators and my office, but I know it's only a matter of time before they get to me.

I never dreamed that this would be how I die. I always hoped that I would live to a ripe old age, surrounded by loved ones, not cowering all alone in an office. I'm so sorry for being such a coward. I might still be dead, but at least I would have died with a clear conscience.

I'm so scared.

I just heard a crash. They've gotten through the first set of doors. Only two more before they get to my office. I can hear them. Their moans. Oh God their moans! I never thought I could feel so alone!

I hope somebody can read this and remember that there once was a great human race. We did so much, and now there will be nothing left of us but ruins and these horrific zombies roaming the planet. And I'm about to become one of them.

They've gotten through another door. They're getting louder. It sounds like so many of them. I don't even have a gun to shoot myself in the head and deny these creatures their prize. Why did I stay here?

The last door just went down. Now they're at my office door. I can hear them at it now! It's almost as if they can smell me. They're scraping. Banging.

This is it! They're about to come through.

They're here! Oh God, helalnsdpas90n odasfm, fasds

The end of the world

Those explosions I heard were aircraft firebombing the city. Leave it to the military to find that to be the best solution to any problem. I suppose if my building gets destroyed or collapses, then I'll just be lost to "collateral damage."

They seem to be backing off now. I guess they did as much damage as they were willing to do. My building is still standing, so that's a positive at least.

Let's see if I can bring you up to now.

I arrived at the office. Needless to say the garage was fairly empty. There were still a few stragglers from the swing shift in the building. They were too afraid to leave. One of them nearly took my head off with an axe when I came out of the elevator.

They were using the word I was too afraid to use to describe these creatures: zombies.

One of the stragglers had a blowtorch. God only knows why. He used it to seal the doors to the stairwells shut on the garage and ground levels. I had to point out a flaw in their plan. What happens when the power goes and we can no longer use the elevators? They suggested that we take the elevators to the garage while there was still power, get in our cars, and make a run for it.

I did not like this plan. Where could we run to? This chaos was happening all over the world. There would be no safe haven from the zombies. Nevertheless, they seemed determined to do it. I went down with them to the ground level. The easiest access point to the garage was a door on the ground level. It was at the far end of a small security area that consisted of a security desk and a bank of elevators. At the other end of it was the main entrance to the building. The door was passcode-locked, so there was no way the zombies could get in from that side.

As they opened the door to the garage, it seemed that the coast was clear. Maybe this idea had some merit after all. I don't know if it was caution or plain cowardice that caused me to lag behind. But it was a good thing that I did. As they fanned out to their cars, I began to hear the screams. The zombies were in the garage, and they were feeding.

My next act could only be described as cowardly. I closed and locked the door to the garage, sealing them all in; leaving them to be eaten and transformed into the walking dead. In a panic, I got back into the elevator and took it all the way back up to my office on the top floor.

I left them all to die. Now I'm alone.

After having what I can only describe as the fastest and most intense nervous breakdown in human history, regained myself and decided to reinforce my cowardice by building a barricade by the garage door using whatever materials I could find. It seemed pretty flimsy, but at least it was something.

I decided to just hole up in the building. Perhaps if I waited long enough, the zombies would get bored with no more food coming out of the building and move on. On the lobby level, which is above the ground level, there is a kitchen and terrace. It's not very well stocked, but it could have enough to last me for a few days.

There is a hill behind our buliding, and our terrace in back is actually at ground level there. But it is reinfoced by tall, strong fences. The zombies would be hard pressed to climb over them. And as long as I don't show myself on that side, they'll have no reason to think that I could be in here.

So that's where I am now. I have been hiding in this building for the past eight hours. I've been killing time by watching movies and trying to ration my food. I can't shake the fact that however I ultimately die - which will probably be soon - it will be a coward's death, and one that I probably deserve. At least I'm giving myself a chuckle thinking about the standup comedy of Patton Oswalt. He said that the people who die in the apocalypse will get into the VIP section of the Afterlife because they'll have all the cool stories to tell.

I hope he's right. I'll find out soon enough.

Oh no. I just realized something. I need to check on it before it's too late. I hope I'll return.

The end of the world

It's getting worse out there. All I can do is thank God that my office goes into a kind of lockdown after 7 pm. The entire building, even the reception area, is above ground level, and the only access to it is from an elevator. That alone should be enough to keep them from getting in. After 7, however, even access to the elevators is restricted only to those with security cards. I set up a barricade on the ground level by the entrance to the parking garage. It's the only easy way to get in from the outside. Even now, the security gate has gone down on the garage. But there is a group of these creatures still in there, trapped between the secure gate and my makeshift barricade. It's only a matter of time before they break through. The ground floor is now off-limits to me. So is access to my car. I'm trapped here.

Perhaps it would be best to just continue my story.

I woke up this morning to scattered reports of murders happening here in Los Angeles. That alone would be frightening enough, but the reporters were now saying that these murder victims were not staying dead. They were coming back and joining the ranks of these crazed creatures (it would be impossible to call them human anymore). That was how the mania was spreading so quickly. With each death, they were increasing their own ranks.

The roads leading in and out of the city were closed. Anybody in LA was trapped in its borders. This seemed to be the case with most cities across the country. I heard that it was in other countries as well. The creatures were springing up in the UK, Japan, Russia and who knew how many other countries.

I called all of my friends and family, but got no reponse. There volume of calls on all cell phone networks was too high. It was impossible to contact anybody. I kept trying, but with no success. For all I know, everybody I know is now dead. My heart is filled with an anguish that cannot possibly be described in words.

Somehow, my mind concocted the idea that I would be safe here in my office. While not a fortress, the building's design itself would be inpenetrable to these things. They were not smart. They were being led only by a visceral need to feed. With the murders only beginning in LA, I risked leaving my apartment to get to my office before the full force of what to come descended.

The horrors I saw. People were running into the streets, crazed with panic. Most of them ignored me in my car, too insane with fear to even acknowledge a potential path to safety. And, God help me, I never stopped. I was too scared myself to even consider stopping to take on passengers to the office. I had a few blunt instruments for weapons, but no plan or strategy. I had to use all of my energy just to focus on getting to my office and not succumbing to the panic myself.

Does this make me a coward?

Hang on. I just heard some kind of explosion. I should go and see what's happening.

The end of the world

I don't know who is out there to read this. Maybe a few people are left. Maybe they'll read this or not. For all I know, I am the last human with computer access before the inevitable loss of power. Whether that truly is the case or not, I will still shoulder the responsibility of trying to explain the events of the past 24 hours. I can only pray that whatever evolves after the last of us are gone is able to somehow resurrect the internet and read the accounts not only from myself, but from anybody with the ability to document the last days of humankind.

It all began at approximately 5:00 pm yesterday, June 12, 2007. It began so inconspicuously with scattered reports of a rogue satellite crashing into a farm somewhere in New Jersey. It was not really news as far as the general population was concerned. With everything else going on in the world, nobody was really willing to dedicate too much attention to a ruined cornfield. It was a few hours after the inital crash that reports began coming in of strange occurances in cemetaries near the crash site. People were finding graves that were opened. The internet exploded with its usual blase attitude; people making crass jokes about a rash of necrophiliacs in Jersey, and how that was so typical of that state.

Then the murders began.

The reports began coming in at about midnight. People were being brutally slaughtered, and the murders were happening in areas radiating out from that small town in New Jersey at a pace that would give even the most virulant of diseases a run for its money. The murders were happening as far west as Kansas City. The president came on television and did his best to reassure people that all was well - that we should continue to go about our days undeterred from this new danger.

I'm sorry. I can hear them outside again. Those unearthly moans are enough to drive a man insane. I have to stop for now and check my barricades. God willing, I'll be back to continue my story.

The end of the world

To try to make myself feel better after that terrible Transformers song, here's a random list of fandom stuff:

( You might be a Firefly Fan if... )

Create your own visitor map!


Pretty interesting. Thanks, brianrubin, hystericblue42 and katbaggins!

Heroes, 24 and Studio 60.

( maybe spoilers, maybe you don't care )

So, not exactly all I was hoping for, but still good stuff. I'm going to keep an open mind about the things I didn't like and hope that they get better.