What's My Gift?

Your Gift is Imagination

You are constantly dreaming. You are always thinking about what could be. You love to express yourself in many ways. You have a way with words and tell vivid stories. You love to be amused. You are good entertaining yourself, and other people find you hilarious. You're the type of person who finds staying happy easy. There's always fun to be had!

What's Your Gift?

How Do I Live My Life?

You Live Your Life Silently

You seem to be straight forward, but you keep a lot inside. You tend to avoid confrontation and stay away from sticky situations. You tend to have one best friend you hang with, as opposed to many acquaintances. You tend to dream big, but you worry that your dreams aren't attainable.

How Do You Live Your Life?

Interesting... True, though.

Major Case of LSS

It is so weird that this song is stuck in my head.



I know, Michael Jackson just died and it's normal for one of his songs to be playing on a loop in one's head. But why this song? I don't think I've heard the entire song!

Cover of Off the Wall

Oh, well. I'd just go buy Off The Wall from iTunes. And I'd upgrade to the iTunes Plus version of "Butterflies" (from the Invincible album), which I forgot to transfer from my old iPod to my iPod Touch.

By the way, LSS means "last song syndrome" - as in, the last song you hear keeps playing in your head - for those who didn't know.

A Sad, Sad Day in Hollywood

First, it was Farrah Fawcett, who died today at age 62 after a long battle with anal cancer. I was not a fan of hers, per se, but I admire her strength and courage to face her illness. It's sad that she passed away before she and her long-time love, Ryan O'Neal, had a chance to get married. She will be missed.

Image via Wikipedia

Then, it was Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, who tragically died from cardiac arrest. He was 50. TMZ.com reported that MJ suffered a heart attack in his home and that paramedics were unable to revive him. I cannot say that I was a fan of his, but I grew up listening to his songs. He was an unbelievable performer, and he influenced lots and lots of artists. One of them, JC Chasez, said the following about MJ:

"Words can't begin to describe my sadness for the loss of Michael Jackson. I was honored and humbled to have the opportunity to perform with him several times and he had a profound influence on my career. Michael forever changed the world of music and entertainment and I will always remember him for his kind and sweet spirit."

Michael, you will be missed.

However, word around Twitter that Jeff Goldblum also died today after a fall in New Zealand. Thankfully, it was a hoax, created to drive traffic to the site. For shame!

It really is a sad, sad day in Hollywood. May you both rest in peace, Farrah and Michael.

LOST Wins Saturn Award

Even if LOST feels no love from the Emmy Awards this year, I will be satisfied with LOST's win as the Best Network Television Series at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards.

Boo-yah!

Of course, I am biased towards LOST. But can you really deny the awesomeness that was Season 5? I am so happy for the best network TV series win! (Battlestar Galactica won the Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series award.)

Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus) and Mark Pellegrino (Jacob) attended the ceremony. JJ Abrams was also there to accept LOST's award, as well as to present Leonard Nimoy (Fringe's Dr William Bell) the Lifetime Achievement Award.

I am also happy that Iron Man and The Dark Knight were finally rewarded in their separate sub-genres (Best Science Fiction Film and Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, respectively). I love them both, and, yes, I am still torn between these two movies when it comes to deciding which was the best movie of 2008.

Visit the official Saturn Awards website for a complete list of the winners.

Fringe Season 2 Filming Begins Today!!!

FringeTelevision.com reports that filming for Season 2 began today in Vancouver.

*Squeals*

Excuse me while I finish jumping up and down, and doing my happy dance...

Ahem. OK, I'm done.

As EW.com and I reported in February, filming for Fringe moved from New York to Vancouver, a.k.a. Hollywood North, because the State of New York's film/television production tax incentive program had dried up. So many of the on-location crew are newbies to the show. Get this: JJ Abrams wrote a letter to the cast and crew to kick off the filming season. I'll post the image later, but the following words excite me so much:

"I cannot wait to get up there soon and say hi in person!"

*Squeals again*

By the way, here's the image. Thanks to Fringe Television for letting me post it here.



So, now I've gotta keep an eye out for filming locations around the Lower Mainland. I hope I can bump into any one and I can take a pic or something.

Lemme know if you bump into one, a'ight?

Fringe Casts New FBI Agent Role

EW.com reports that actress Meghan Markle has been cast as Fringe's new FBI agent. Her character is still unnamed, but the website describes her as "an attractive, brash and quick-witted junior FBI agent". The character is rumoured to replace Kirk Acevedo's character Agent Charlie Francis. Kirk Acevedo was "let go" in May, just after the Season 1 finale.

Wait.. Isn't Jasika Nicole's character a junior FBI agent as well? Hmmm... This new character sounds like a cross between Astrid Farnsworth and Charlie Francis to me. What are the creators planning now, in terms of Astrid's story arc?

Anyway, I don't remember this actress anywhere, although I might have seen her on Deal or No Deal (as one of the briefcase models), on the CSI:NY episode 3x07, or on 90210's pilot episode (which was the first and last 90210 episode I watched).

Well, as long as the casting changes reflect a freakin' awesome Season 2 overall story arc, it's fine by me. I'd miss Kirk, though, and his level-headed Charlie Francis, when I watch each episode in which he doesn't appear.

Bathtubs and Laptops Still Don't Mix

Someone loves Twitter a tad too much. Well, loved. She's dead.

A teenage Romanian girl died while reportedly plugging her laptop into an electrical outlet in the bathtub. She was updating her Twitter status ("tweeting" or "tweetering") while in the bath. It is unclear what exactly happened, but we know from watching too much CSI that the electric shock killed her. And she was only 17.

OK, I love Twitter, but I'm not obsessed enough to bring my computer in the tub - or shower, as I'm not really a soak-in-the-tub kind of girl - to update my status. I've learnt that social networking can wait while I'm in the bathroom, for example.

I wonder what her last tweet was. Has anyone found this girl on Twitter?

Anyhoo, just a friendly reminder, people: bringing your computer in the bathtub is a stupid idea. It will kill you.

Showbiz Woes

So, it's official: Jon & Kate Gosselin, stars of TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8, are divorcing.

Frankly, I saw it coming. The way their lives and marital issues were portrayed in the media, particularly the tabloids and gossip blogs, can take a toll on anyone's marriage. Although I don't watch the show, I've seen enough to make me think that this divorce is probably the best way to end the couple's suffering. I guess it was difficult for Jon to have a wife that is more strong-willed than he is, and I guess taking care of eight children has also taken a toll on Kate and it has affected her relationship with her husband. Jon did not help things when he was seen with another woman when it's, I think, "improper" for a father of eight to be out, especially when the woman is not his wife. I do not condone divorce, but if it is the best thing that could happen to everyone involved, then so be it. I only hope TLC ends the show too. Sure, the Gosselins have given the network its highest rating ever, but it was at their family's expense. The parents were obviously suffering (in the season premiere, I think), but TLC was so happy that a lot of people tuned in. They are cashing in while the family is breaking up.

Come to think of it: this is not the first reality show that ruined - or contributed, at the very least, to the ruin of - its stars' relationship. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's marriage crumbled within its first two years. About the same thing happened to Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro, as well as Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker. Their marriages may have been doomed from the start, but having cameras around them all the time may have made their respective situations worse for them. This has happened to many other reality show "relationships" and, judging from history, Jon & Kate won't be the last either.

It's just one of the many reasons I do not watch a lot of reality shows. HGTV shows do not count as they are fun and helpful, as are select TLC shows (like What Not To Wear). Gene Simmons Family Jewels is my guilty pleasure, though; I enjoy this show because they are all freaking hilarious. Gene Simmons may be arrogant and may have a God-complex, but he's funny. I also enjoy The Amazing Race, because I like the travelling part of the show. I especially like it when my favourites win at the end (hehe).

In other showbiz news, Perez Hilton claims that Black Eyed Peas' manager, a man named Liborio Molina, assaulted him after this year's MuchMusic Video Awards. Apparently, Perez started the fight when he called will.i.am a derogatory term when the latter confronted the former about the blogger's posts about Fergie. He then claimed that will.i.am hit him. Then his story changed and the manager was revealed to be the one who hit him.

I find two curious things about this event. One, why didn't Perez go directly to the police? Rather, he posted his allegations on Twitter. He also posted a vlog on his site as an answer to will.i.am's video where the Peas member denied he hit Perez. Sure, his tweets alerted the Toronto police. But I don't see why he had to tweet them, instead of reporting what happened to the police. It doesn't make sense to me. Two, why did he call will.i.am a f****t when Perez himself, as a gay man, should be insulted by the term? Now, even GLAAD is upset with him. As of this writing, Perez has not responded to GLAAD.

A question remains: did Perez Hilton instigate this fight for publicity? Hmm... If I were a betting woman, I'd say yes.

Eh. Whatever. I don't pay much attention to them anyway.

Fringe Returns September 17th

EW.com's Michael Ausiello reports that FOX has released its Fall 2009, premiere schedule. Looks like Fringe will return on September 17th, Thursday, at 9pm.

Yay!

Let's hope ABC won't put LOST in the same time slot as Fringe, when it returns in the winter. It's probably unlikely, but weirder things have happened.

I wonder if filming has started. Hmmm... Maybe I should visit Vancouver soon. Hehehe...

Walk On Golden Ears Bridge Day!

We walked along Golden Ears Bridge this afternoon. And I survived it even though I was experiencing cramps! BOO-YAH!

Well, I wore flip flops, because no matter what I wear, my feet will hurt like bloody-murder anyway. We had to ascend the bridge's slope a good half hour. I knew tip-toeing would have helped me, but I was stubborn. So my feet started to hurt ten minutes into the walk.

On our way back, we saw this band. I don't know their name and I cannot understand what they were singing - it was in a different language. But it had a great rhythm and very danceable.



You'll see that we left before the song ended and continued with our walk back. The band finished the song about a minute and a half after we walked on. Ain't that ironic?

So we got on the crowded bus back to R. E. Mountain Secondary School and went to Tim Hortons. Unfortunately, it took forever, because there was only one person - a church mate of ours - manning the store. I paid $16, but we finally gave up and left, so I lost $7 - two large iced capps. Oh, well.

Overall, I had fun, even though my feet were - and still are - killing me. It was a good, albeit painful, walk. I proved I was not anti-social (hehe). We saw a bunch of people we know (the fab five from Walnut Grove Park & Ride, our former church mate, and three current church mates). I broke a sweat (which I immediately replaced with iced capp). Lastly, I saw a bunch of cute shirtless guys... Kidding!

Funny How I Choose Sometimes

I have a long list of books to read this year. It's primarily because I keep buying novels and other books even if I still haven't finished The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (Stephen King). So I don't know when I'm going to finish the entire Dark Tower series in order to get to the next book (either Kristin Billerbeck's Back to Life or Bernhard Schlink's The Reader).

Anyway, I picked up Kristin Harmel's How to Sleep with a Movie Star when it was on sale ($2.50, dude) at the Muriel Arnason Library (formerly Willowbrook Library). One time, I grabbed it from my pile of unread books when I needed something to read while I was having dinner. (Yes, I know what people say - that it's bad to read when eating - but it's the only option a single girl has sometimes.) I think that was some weeks after I edited Miss KC's IB essay. Freelance editorial as a moonlight business has not fully formed in my mind then. Fast forward to 1pm today, when I resumed reading it while having a late lunch.

Then, it clicked: the protagonist, Claire, is an entertainment editor at a women's magazine in New York (i.e. mecca of the publishing industry in the US).

Yeah. Heaven-sent.

Maybe after I read the book, I'll know enough about editing that I can breeze through the prerequisite course for the Certificate in Editing in SFU.

Hehe. Just kidding. I still have miles (or shall I say kilometres?) to go before I can say that with real confidence.

And isn't one protagonist in Jennifer Weiner's short story collection The Guy Not Taken also moonlighting as an editor?

Hmmm...

Foxy Breaks Radio Silence

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT!!!

Matthew Fox, who plays Jack Shephard, broke radio silence during the 49th Monte-Carlo Film Festival. As many of us have guessed, the sixth and final season will show the aftermath of Juliet detonating Jughead's core. Foxy added that it will develop in a way that is "very surprising - and probably very confusing, initially, to the audience." He also said that the two separate timelines - 1977, when the majority of the main characters are, and 2007, when Flocke/Anti-Jacob, Locke's body, Jacob, Sun, Ben, Frank, Richard, Ilana, Bram, et cetera are - "are going to be solidified into one, and we will be operating in a more linear time, to the end of the series," by the fifth or sixth episode (as in, a third of the way into the season). He also said, "I do know how the show's going to end, I know what the last images will be," and hinted that it will lead to "a final conflict." But he also mentioned that Jack and Locke "will come head-to-head again" - how can that happen if Locke is still dead? Will Jack take on Anti-Jacob for some noble reason? Or will John Locke be resurrected on the Island? I think the former is very likely, especially if you consider Flocke's face when Jacob said, "They're coming." Foxy also said that Damon, Carlton, and the rest of the writers "will prove that they did know all along where they were heading with it... All the pieces will come back into play." He also wisely acknowledged that, "[y]ou're not going to please all the people all the time."

What shall we make of these statements? While I'm not saying that he's lying and it's entirely possible that Darlton did tell him what's going to happen in Season 6, I wonder whether Darlton told him a rough outline or one that has a bit of specifics. I understand why Darlton would tell him something - he's the protagonist of the show - but did they tell anyone else in the cast?

Regardless, Foxy's statements make Season 6 look very interesting, don't they?

Well, let's hope Damon and Carlton will shed some light on these hints on the final (WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!) LOST Panel at Comic-Con 2009.

Leap, Dude, Leap

I just started an editorial and typing service business. Yeah. I did an outline for a business plan, researched my market, carefully read statistics and business start-up info, and created a web site.

Well, I need extra money so I can save enough for a down payment and closing costs. A little moonlight business can help. A former co-worker is moonlighting as a bookkeeper for at least one small company. I figured, I could moonlight too - not as an accountant, but as an editor. I've been writing prose and blogs for years now - specifically, 15 years all told - and I have been editing my nephew and niece's school papers for almost half of that. Plus, I always edit stuff - like news articles, feature articles, company and road signs, other people's blog posts, etc. - in my head.

I thought I could make it as a freelance editor after I worked on Miss KC's essay for her high school IB program. I needed to whittle it down from 600 words to 200. I only managed to reduce it to 400 words, but I tried to rearrange sentences and change the wording so that I could unite her ideas into one decent application essay. Apparently, after I gave it back to Miss KC, they sent it to their editor-friend in New York (yes, the mecca of publishing in the US) for further polishing. I don't know what the final essay looked like, but it probably helped her get in the program. According to Mrs C, their friend said it looked professional - as if a pro editor worked on it. From there, the freelance editorial services business idea was born.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of my research, but it took me two or three weeks before I finished the rough draft of the business plan outline. I still have not finished writing the business plan itself, but I can work from the outline. I even figured out a fair pricing plan: I will be billing based on either word count or page count (depends on the document), rather than on the number of hours I worked on it. Since I have a day job, LOST obsession, and a hint of a social life, the usual pricing basis will not be fair. Anyway, I added document or manuscript typing to widen my market. I would probably do a bit of editing as I type anyway.

So I created a website on Google Sites, because it is free and it is convenient (I am using my other GMail account for the business). It's a decent site - frankly, Microsoft Publisher can do better - but it works. The site is almost complete; I only need to complete my bio and to figure out how to make the file upload page work and secure for my customers. Check it out, if you'd like.

Also, a thought came to me last Saturday: Why don't I actually study editing? Simon Fraser University has a Writing and Publishing Program, which is based in the City of Vancouver. There is a Certificate in Editing program, but all applicants need to complete Editors and Editing: An Introduction. So I registered for the online course, which starts on July 1st (a.k.a. Canada Day) and should be completed after four months. I hope I get to finish all the requirements so I can apply to the Certificate program. And for $420, I'd better!

Now, I need customers. So, if you need someone to polish your work, then let me know. Pricing is on the website, and you'll find it cheap and reasonable.

And, oh, this feels so much like Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother's Season 4 finale ("The Leap"). Although the field is still architecture, teaching is an entirely different career. With the help of his friends, he took the metaphorical leap and left the architectural practice to teach. My situation is different, but the action is the same: I also took the metaphorical leap by moonlighting as a freelance editor and by studying editing. I actually remember telling my old boss (from the one that laid off the entire Burnaby finance department) that I want to go into the literary/publishing field. Ten months after, I finally made good on that statement. Let's hope I become successful enough so I only have to work part-time as an accountant. Hehehe...

Funny Anecdote of the Day

I can't help but share this funny tidbit of our Sunday lunch conversation. My nephew/godson is turning 13 this year, and he has all the annoying teenage attitudes. His dad was saying that he and my nephew/godson should go somewhere for The Talk and to spend some time together.

The following is just a paraphrase of the funniest part of the conversation:

Bro-in-law: Spending time with you, my son, is more important than anything.

Nephew/Godson: (Sarcastically) Aww, dad. My heart just melted. (Laughs)

Mother: Do you have a heart?

Hahahahahahahahahaahahahaha! I almost choked laughing.

Priceless.

iTunes Hates LOST and Fringe

Of course, I'm exaggerating. (The title is also a parody of the way some publications sensationalize news items.)

But downloading LOST Season 5 and Fringe Season 1 from the Canadian iTunes Store has been very frustrating!

It's been more than a week since I bought LOST S5 and Fringe S1, but I still haven't been able to download both the HD and Standard Definition versions. I keep getting this error message:

Unable to check for available downloads. The network connection timed out.

Make sure your network settings are correct and your connection is active, then try again.

So, I did. Still doesn't work. I tried every kind of troubleshooting I know and the ones that iTunes Support suggested, but nothing has worked so far. I even tried buying and downloading songs and applications, and then attempting to download the episodes, but it has not worked.

Most recently, I tried buying How I Met Your Mother's Season 4 finale ("The Leap," because I relate to it) to see if it works. As of 8:15am, both the HD and SD versions are downloading nicely and steadily.

Crap.

I just thought of this: It could be the amount of time it will take to download the HD and SD versions of LOST S5 and Fringe S1. HIMYM's Season 4 finale will take approximately three hours to download; that's just the HD version of one episode. Think of how long 78 episodes (one SD for each HD episode) will take. Nonetheless, I should have been able to download the episodes, even if it takes forever.

*Sigh* I wish iTunes Store would just refund the amount I paid for the order, so I can retry it.