Random cuteness overload

Hugz!!

He doesn't pout as well as his mother.  lol

Snapple wanted people *drinking* their tea, not eating their bottle caps.  

Whatever he's got planned, it bodes ill for someone.  :D

Thus endeth your cuteness quotient for the day, courtesy of my favorite grandson.

Random reading, writing and TV

Criminal Minds, you kill me every year.  And it wasn't the finale, but I love the little glimpses we get of JJ's Will, and the way she decided to work off that bad juju was great.

I have seventeen (!!!!!) pieces, BSG and original, in various stages of done, and having my beta-reader otherwise occupied for the past month is driving me crazy.  I'm hopeful that with school letting out, her life will slow down soon.  Cross my fingers.  I might have to go over there and make her read while we're watching TV.  I can just see that.  "Here.  Read my porn, please.  No, I don't want cookies (I'd be lying), I want to finish my stupid stories so I can post the porn."  lmao

Arrow is not a perfect show, but it's got really great moments, and there were a lot of them during the last four or five episodes of the season.  During the scene where Oliver was trying to tell Tommy he'd be fine, there was so much homoerotic subtext that it wasn't even subtext.  Damn.  I swear I thought Oliver was going to kiss Tommy and I think it might've been hotter than Oliver kissing Lauren.  lol  And what's with Diggle?  All of a sudden he's running around in tank tops and he's even buffer than Oliver?  The shoulders on that man.  See, the show gives me plenty of eye-candy, and for that alone, I will continue to watch it.  John Barrowman.  :flails:  And that little moment with Thea and Roy?  Awwww.  I kind of like the idea of Oliver and Lauren, but frankly, there's more chemistry between Oliver and Felicity, and that's not even considering her continual verbal sexual innuendos.  How is Oliver ignoring those with a straight face?  Hell, how is the actress saying those lines with a straight face?  Every time she lets one fly, I think of the story Like Something Out of a Fanfic and it makes me laugh.

Once Upon a Time is getting too convoluted for me.  These two are conspiring with each other, and she's conspiring with him and he's conspiring with another her and she's become a barfly and where the hell is Red?  And Charming is boring again without his gun.  I still have the last three episodes to watch, and I will.  Ethan Embry is wasted here.  And seriously, this show does not have enough sex - everybody wears too many clothes.

Still have Revenge and Castle to finish up for the season.

I'm liking Grimm a lot better then OUaT right now.  I could listen to Sasha Roiz read the script in a monotone, if he would do it in French.  He has very pretty eyes.  I'm wondering where the Juliet thing is going.  Something's off with that.

I think I'm going to skip the rest of Monday Mornings, except for the shower scene, of course, when I visit my TV friend.  I'm also not going to bother to watch Revolution or Touch.  I'd really like to watch a few episodes of Bates Motel - I love the two leads - and see if it appeals to me.  And A&E is having a marathon of Katee's Longmire today, with the new season starting tomorrow, I think.  I have to catch up on Person of Interest, too, since I can only watch that one on the DVR.

I ran into a professional cook at Kroger today.  I was trying to find something for which I had a "free" coupon, and he asked what it was I wanted to make.  He was describing making something, and he's all "bip bip bip and it's done" and it was adorable.  I explained that I suck at cooking, unless it comes in a box or has very strict instructions, whereas my brother can pick six random things off the shelf and make something fantastic.  He said he could do that, too.  I envy that, but more I envy that he likes to cook.  I just hate it.  Cooking is all hot and sweaty and there's no good payoff.  I mean, yeah, there's food at the end of it, but if I want to eat, I have to cook every day, and that is just a big fat pain in the ass with nothing to show for it but ten minutes of eating and then dishes.  I just need to win the lottery.  Plus, I got back from Kroger and realized that I didn't pick up one of the three things I even went for in the first place.  :sigh:

Having a latex allergy and then finding out that something I used has latex in it?  So not fun.  At least my morphine allergy makes pretty purple poofies on my skin.  The latex makes my skin look like I have leprosy.  Ick.  And ow.

My new Kindle will not let me download the app that lets me read my Nook books on my Kindle.  Frakker.  The Nook is just not as user-friendly, and makes reading slow and cumbersome.

Been too long, so a little fun

I have OCD.  I am (?) OCD.  Whatever.  Anyway, this manifests in my life in some odds ways.

When I drink from something that has writing on it, the writing has to face me.  If there's writing all the way around, I have to pick something and that has to stay facing me until I'm done with that cup.

When I tear my Sweet N Low packets (or whatever the store/restaurant equivalent is), they all have to be facing the same direction - right side up, facing me - and I tear the right ends off.

As a matter of fact, while I'm sitting at a restaurant, it would be very unusual for me NOT to face all the packets in the little condiment rack.

I sit with my back against a wall.  If trouble's coming, I want to see it coming and maybe do something about it.  I've been told that this is something I learned from my dad, though I don't recall that at all.  I just know I can't eat with my back to a room full of strange people.  Or a door.

I alphabetize to destress.  Give me a stack, pile, room full of anything, and I can work off my stress by putting whatever it is into alphabetical order.  I also bake and throw furniture around, but I think those are more normal destressing activities.  lol

Cans, boxes, jars, etc., in my pantry all face front.  If there's more than one of something, the labels all have to line up with each other.

If I'm eating at a restaurant, when I'm done, I start stacking stuff and cleaning off the detritus.  Some of my dining companions find this amusing, some find it annoying, but the waitstaff?  They love it.  This is something my stepmother does, too, so maybe it's a learned behavior, rather than related to my OCD.

I do my stuff in the shower in a certain order.  Whenever I've tried to shake myself out of that, I always forget something important and have to get back in to take care of it.  Having to do that irritates me more than just keeping to my routine and being weird.

Movie: Death Race 3: Inferno

This was mindless entertainment at its C-movie finest, complete with gratuitous female nudity and blatant misogyny.   The female nudity was fine, and I even expected it.  I neither expected nor needed a rearview shot of Danny Trejo's character getting a blowjob.  Talk about not being able to unsee something...but kudos to the filmmakers for making the scene with someone who doesn't have a perfectly sculpted ass.

A race through the desert, a bad buy, a contract gone wrong, an unexpected sacrifice, mediocre special effects with regard to human carnage, and an unnecessarily expositional ending complete the tour.

Set in the Kalahari Desert, and filmed entirely on location in Cape Town and Cerese (not sure of the name), South Africa.

Dougray Scott is a delightfully over-the-top bad guy.  Actually, most of the bad guys were a bit over-the-top.

Ving Rhames was a nicely understated amoral race promoter.

If you're into these kinds of movies, I think it's worth your time.  If you're not, you'll hate it.

What a wonderful world this would be...

I went to the CVS this evening to return my redbox and take the landlord to get his McDeath for dinner.  As I was driving away from the CVS, my car started acting funny.  Thanks be to my misadventurous youth, I know what a car feels like when it's running out of gas, so I maneuvered to a blank spot in the parking lot and had myself a little think.

We ended up walking over to McD to get his food, since he's insulin-dependent, and I don't want to deal with blood sugar issues.  He did not have the dog or the cane, so he couldn't walk home.

We get back to the car, and we're trying to brainstorm who to call.  His father, the obvious choice because he lives five minutes away, has already turned his phone off for the night.  His brother, on a rare in-town weekend, is actually camping with his kid.   I could walk to the gas station, but I have no gas can and no money to buy one.  He's willing to spring for gas, but doesn't have enough to buy a gas can, too.  What happened to the days when gas stations would have a gas can on hand and let you borrow it?

I'm scrolling through my phone and it's all Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, DC, New York, Texas!  Oh, wait, he lives two hours away.  Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, damn I know a lot of people in OK.   I finally found someone and managed to get hold of her after three unanswered calls, and so a ten-minute trip to get food turned into a three-hour sit in the car.  She got there, had already procured a gas can and had filled it, and a random guy that she just happened to know was there and offered to come help.

Anyway, car started right up, I got a tank full of gas (I asked for it last week, but this is not the way I anticipated it happening, lol), and I even got my Fossil Felix the Cat watch back, because my friend had found it a week or so ago, and remembered it was mine.

While we were sitting there, I commented that the one time I leave the house without my Kindle is the one time I needed something to occupy my time.  After I declared that I was never leaving the house again without my entire purse, including my Kindle, we had a good ten minutes riffing on what would be in the magical backpack in the trunk from now on (included a tent, a camp stove, chainsaw (wtf) and various other goodies).

We also talked about energy exchanges and how he'd come to understand them.  

I've never been comfortable asking for help.  The last five years have been an exercise in curing myself of that in a big way.  Anyway, I've reframed the help thing in my head, because someone once explained to me that everyone likes to feel useful or needed or just have the warm fuzzies, so when I refuse to ask for help, I am depriving other people of an opportunity to do something that makes them feel good.  I have to tell myself this a lot sometimes, but it works.  Sometimes.

Tonight, though, he talked about it in physics terms - you know, the universe is energy and everything is energy and it flows around and through everything.  When I try to be self-sufficient, I'm frakking up the energy flow - I can't put energy out if I'm not taking any in.  I'm not explaining it very well, but it hit me that by trying to be all I need no one and can do everything myself, I'm mucking up the flow and that makes things worse for everyone, including the people around me.  So I've got some thinking to do and more reframing of the crap in my head.

And on that note, what stopped me from calling any of a dozen people was the idea behind saying, "Hey, I ran out of gas, will you come rescue me?" which is, "Hey, I'm a loser who doesn't even have enough money to put gas in my own car, and I ran out of gas five minutes from my own house, and won't your Saturday night suck if you come help me."  Gah!  I complain that no one ever calls me for help, even though I would, gladly, even at my own inconvenience.  So what makes me think that others don't want the same opportunity?  My head is a frakked up place.  I'm blaming the 60s.

But.  Full tank of gas.  Felix the Cat. I bow to the universe.

Movie: Skyfall

There's a moment, about ten minutes in, when Bond is drowning, and you can see exactly how well Daniel Craig is built.  :ahem:  It's reminiscent of a popular still from the set of the senior pilots' bunkroom on BSG.  heehee

What?  I've been writing smut, and I'm feeling shallow at the moment.  :D

Dame Judi Dench is the bomb diggity.

I like suspenders on a man.  They give his trousers the right....drape.

The new Q is adorable.

Scruff does not look as good on DC as it does on some other men.  At least not the scruff he was sporting here.

I laughed out loud several times.  I think my personal favorite is "Welcome to Scotland." 

I loved that house - out in the middle of nowhere, plenty of room to tramp around, water nearby, and a secret tunnel!  When can I move in?

Replacing Google Reader

OK, so Bloglovin did not work for me.  I couldn't arrange my feeds the way I wanted, and it would only display one column, down the middle, which included blurbs and pictures and the whole shebang.  I want HEADLINES/SUBJECT LINES only.

NetVibes gives me that.  Importing it from Google Reader was easy, once I found the tutorial on it.  It has a very user friendly interface, with click to expand and click to collapse, so I can view more of a headline, then collapse it again if it's not what I want.

Since it's headlines only, it allows me to scan the headlines for the things I want to read first.  It allows me to rearrange my feeds into new groups by dragging and dropping.  It lets me mark all of a blog read without impacting the other blog feeds under that category.

So far, I've found nothing I don't like about it.  It's going to replace Google Reader nicely.

Also, it's free, but has upgraded versions that do more things - more than the average reader would need.

One thing I do like that Google Reader doesn't do, when I mark things read, they don't disappear. So if it happens that I marked something read and it turns out that I want to refer back to it a few days later, the headline is still there, just grayed out so I know it's been read.

Movies: Paperboy, Deadfall

Movies I've seen lately via my redboxinstant trial (and can I just say, I don't recommend it) are Paperboy, Deadfall and The Cold Light of Day.

Paperboy was a very strange movie, described by a friend thus: "despite getting booed at Cannes was a hugely entertaining over-the-top, sweaty, sexy and then some, Southern Gothic kinkfest of a movie."  Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, and David O (from MI-5) are the main stars, with an ubercreepy turn as an inmate by John Cusack.  :shudders:

I had to see this because my friend (mentioned above) told me that Zac runs around most of the movie at least shirtless, and frequently pantsless.  Zac is my hugely age-inappropriate movie star crush, and naturally I was intrigued :snicker: by the idea of him doing much of the movie in his tighty-whities.

If you have trigger issues with incest, probably not your thing.  I do, but it was very subtle here, and male/male, so not as triggery for me.  It was a train wreck, but an entertaining one.  And yes, Zac Efron was muy bueno in his underwear.  lol

Deadfall at its core is a story of family and what we'll do for them when the shit hits the fan.  Brother and sister, father and son, husband and wife, father and daughter.  All four families are dysfunctional in some way, with some overt brother/sister incest vibes (seriously, someone needs to tag these things) that were not too squicky, for me anyway.  Deadfall had a fairly heavy-hitting cast, including Kris Kristofferson, Sissy Spacek, Treat Williams, Kate Mara (a favorite of mine because she gets parts that don't depend on looks - not that she's unattractive, she's just not Hollywood gorgeous) and Eric Bana, with relative newcomers Olivia Wilde (who has gorgeous and unusual eyes) and Charlie Hunnam.  Except for a news report playing in the background in one scene, you'd never know what the brother and sister did that necessitated them running, and it's really not material to the plot.  Suffice it to say, they're on the run, and all kinds of violent hijinks ensue.  Does include one very short but effective lovemaking sequence, with Hunnam and Wilde naked (not the brother and sister, fyi).  Not all the families find resolution by the end of the movie, and the denoument, while not precisely Hollywood, was just what I expected.  It could only have ended one other way, really, and while I was hoping they would go there, they at least opted not to give it a happy ending.

Mark Cuban had top production credit on Deadfall.

Cold Light of Day was a Bruce Willis movie, with Henry Cavill as the son placed in a very strange situation when someone kidnaps his family while he's visiting on vacation.  It did some slightly surprising things with the plot.  A potential love interest (great chemistry between Cavill and the actress) turned out to be the character's sister, and I was really pleased that they chose a sibling direction for the two rather than the more usual love starting under harrowing circumstances.  Cavill is in the new Superman movie, Man of Steel (?) and has grown into quite a striking man since his turn as the young Mondego in Count of Monte Cristo.  The action sequences weren't always believable, and the camera action was a bit much for me at times, but I really enjoyed this movie anyway.  Aside from Bruce Willis, whose part is rather short, there's a star turn by Sigourney Weaver as a colleague of the father's whose motives are suspect.  With the ending they gave it, it could easily turn into a franchise for Cavill, though perhaps not as successful a one as Bourne or Die Hard.

As for the redboxinstant thing - I did like getting the four free credits that I could use at the kiosk, but their streaming leaves a lot to be desired, and that's assuming you can find a recent movie you want to watch (they don't have much in the way of recent major motion pictures available to stream, and what they do have is extremely difficult to find - their search function sucks).  I did managed to stream One For the Money and SWAT: Firefight.  With only four credits per month and the streaming issues, it's definitely not worth $8 a month.  Amazon is a much better deal at $80 a year, or Netflix for the same $8 a month, with a far greater selection and very few streaming issues that I've ever encountered.

Replacing Google Reader

I've tried feedly.  Very big footprint and runs in the background, even when the browser's closed.  I tried feedreader, which though it let me sign up for it, I can never actually get the webpage to open.

Now, I'm going to try bloglovin.  We'll see.  Ignore the follow me link if you want.  I'm just trying something new.

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Book: Marked For Vengeance

I received a digital copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.

Marked For Vengeance is about Alyx, who is some sort of supernatural being called a Protector, and her experiences during her third lifetime as a human.  Her job while on Earth is to be in the vicinity of her Marked and protect him or her if necessary.

It’s an interesting idea, and I probably would have enjoyed reading more if the book hadn’t been plagued with awkward sentence structure throughout and a much higher than average rate of homophone mistakes, as well as other incorrect words.  As the daughter of an English teacher, I tend to read with a mental red pencil at the ready, and to be hypercritical of mistakes.  Many people will not be bothered by the problems I noticed.

Alyx has a stronger than normal (for her) attachment to her Marked during this lifetime and pays enough attention to him that she borders on stalking.  The major events of the story take place within a tight timeframe - maybe just a few days, and at the book’s end, Alyx is uncertain if she’s fulfilled her purpose as a Protector, and several other questions remain unanswered - the ones to which I’d most like the answers, honestly.

Based on this first book, I’m not convinced there’s enough compelling story material here to warrant a trilogy (as I understand it), though I’m willing to wait and see how the coming battle will play out.  Obviously, I’m not privy to the author’s imagination, and there may be much more to this story than I think there is.

There was a three-chapter sample of the second book at the end, which pretty much picks up where the initial story stops.  During the first three chapters, there’s an awful lot of internal Alyx dialogue and exposition, more than necessary to move the story forward, in my opinion.

Descriptions are vivid, and characters are easy to imagine as real people I might meet on the street.  I really like the friendship between Alyx and Cindra.  The entire premise is a unique take on Angels and the hierarchy of the Beings above us, so not the same-old, same-old.


This book is currently exclusive to Amazon.

BzzCampaign: Kroger dairy blends and Greek yogurts

As a BzzAgent, I get coupons or free products to try in exchange for providing my honest opinion about the product.  In this case, I got coupons, which I will gladly share, and a $10 Kroger card to be used to purchase the product.

I got into this BzzCampaign for Kroger's new dairy blends and Greek yogurts and used the coupons and my Kroger card to stock up on different flavors.  So far, I've only tried the Black Forest Cake, and I have to say that I was not impressed.  This was a flavor of dairy blend, meaning it's not yogurt and not completely dairy.  It also doesn't taste very good.  Not bad, but not good, either.  I've got seven other flavors to try, so keep an eye here for more first impressions.  It's got a strange lumpy texture, whereas my usual Yoplait is always smooth, except for the fruit in it.

Book: Venus Blackmailed, Part Three

Guess I wasn't paying attention to the Part Three in the title when I purchased this. Even so, I didn't have any trouble picking up what the plot was, since it's pretty simple. Student enjoys humiliating teacher and for whatever reason, teacher allows it. This is all about debasement of and control over another, nothing else. If you're into that sort of thing, this'll probably work for you, but there's not even the tiniest hint of emotion in this one, so if you're looking for that, move along.

It's also riddled with poor grammar, homonym errors and other technical gaffes, maybe two or three per page.

Book: The Prince by Tiffany Reisz

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.

I got to read The Siren last year, and was greatly looking forward to reading the rest of the books as they came out. This book focused on Wesley on his home ground, and Nora's relationship with him. A lot of things come to light about Wes - he's not necessarily who we thought he was. Nora actually has a little crisis of confidence, wondering if she's good enough for him.

The books ends on a bang, and I almost hate the author for ending it there. Seriously? I might have to hire a hit man for that.

I did find the Soren and Kingsley story interesting, as well, and that part dovetails with Nora's adventure with Wesley in a very interesting way. That series of showdowns will be fascinating to watch.

Book: Power Play: Resistance

I don’t understand Jonathan’s move from zero (meeting Bran at the bar) to 200 (spending $8K on a suit, cooking him dinner and cuffing him to the bed the next night), why he’s so enamored of Bran that he’s pushing so far, so fast.  I got the fast face-fuck in the alley the night they meet - people do that all the time, but the rest?  Not so much.

I did not find either of the men to be in-character as they were described.  Jonathan is not sadistic, or was not portrayed to be, despite the fact that he said he was more than once - he struggles internally too much to be someone who enjoys giving pain.

This story was not romantic or sexy or sensuous or erotic or even educational about the S&M lifestyle.  I just kept hoping there was something there, and it never showed up.  If this is truly an example of a TPE, I want no part of that.  At all.

Bran is too Alpha to really be a sub - he struggles too much internally to enjoy submitting to someone else, and he does not enjoy the pain.  His body responds, no doubt, and he says he’s having some of the best sex of his life, but seriously, except when he's actually orgasming, he's not enjoying any of it.  Three million dolllars is not worth the kind of mind-fuck Jonathan’s putting him through.

Jonathan punished Bran more than once for using his safeword.  It’s only OK to use it if Jonathan thinks Bran is actually at his limit.  I get the concept of not using the safeword willy-nilly, but there were at least two times that Bran's internal dialogue told me he was at his limit, and Jonathan ignored it and kept going.  What's the point of even having a safe-word?

Basically, at the end of this book, I’m left wondering why Jonathan wants to Top someone he can't respect, why Bran can’t tell Jonathan and his three million to fuck off, and why either of them are even doing this.  Except for the first time in the alley, none of the sex was hot - I didn’t get the feeling Bran was willingly engaged at any time, just his body.

If my mind is elsewhere during sex, as in “not there at all” there is something wrong, and the person with me should notice and do something about it.  I’m not talking about the pain/pleasure of subspace, but the mind going away because what’s happening to the body is unacceptable.

Aside from all that, the book was well-written and I found few errors of the technical kind.  Any BDSM errors are in my own mind, because my personal experience with the lifestyle is minimal.

Random, some more...

Got another request for a book review.  This one's not just some no-name author trying to perk up his or her review count.  This one's from Brenda Novak.  Technically, it's from her assistant, who said she enjoyed reading my reviews, and could I please review the latest book if she sent me a copy. 

:eek!:

Also, in the seriously amusing category:  Landlord's dad was over Sunday to hang the curtains they got him for christmas.  Since Landlord is blind, I was the eyes, and made sure things were level and even and whatnot.  Later, dad's gone and we're hanging pictures in the game room, and out of the blue I say to Rick, "Your dad's a sub.  Maybe not in his work, but with home-related stuff."  Silence for a moment.  "You know, that explains a whole lot about a lot of things."   Conversation passes to other things, and another friend comes up in the conversation about getting on Medicare versus paying COBRA premiums. They're talking about the best way to get K to go through the information and get signed up (he'll be 66 in March), and again, apropos of nothing, I say, "Kent's definitely a sub.  If you want him to do something, you have to tell him what he needs to do and just keep telling him until it's all done."

So Landlord decides that we should find a way to start a dating service, where part of the inflow process is to sit and have a conversation or several with me, so that I can determine where in the spectrum someone lies, thus matching them up with their proper complement.  I got to imagining the ads for such a service and just giggled madly for a few minutes.  Me, who hasn't dated in well over two decades, matching people up based on a BDSM profile I make up in my head.  :snicker:

Sooo, Die Hard...

I saw it twice on Saturday, once the first show of the day and once late in the evening.  Two different theaters/locations, two different friends, two different experiences.

I liked it, but didn't love it.  I did absolutely love the interactions between John and Jack.  It was all quintessential McClane snark going both ways and it was funny as hell.  It will not surpass One and Four as a favorite, but it edges out Three, despite Sam L Jackson, barely.  MEW has gained or lost some weight.  It made me completely unsure it was actually her until I saw her name in the credits.  She doesn't look bad, just different.

Jai Courtney did a great job as Jack McClane.  He's gone on record as saying that when casting was going on, the implications were that when Bruce was tired of making the movies, he would be ready to pass it on to whoever got cast as his son.  I think Jai's a good choice, physically and in his mannerisms.  He's also on record as saying that despite knowing that the possibility of taking over the franchise exists, he definitely wants at least one more with Bruce, and would prefer more, as many as Bruce is willing to make.

Much as I hate to, I noticed that Bruce is showing his age.  That most assuredly will not stop me loving the Die Hard franchise as a whole, and as long as he wants to keep making DH movies, I'll want to keep seeing them.

There's a lot of the movie in Russian, with subtitles, so be prepared for that.  Listening to so much of it renewed my fickle interest in learning the language.  I'll never have occasion to use it, so I have no idea why I'd want to learn it, but I have for years now.  There were about half a dozen moments that I noticed held some parallel to the first movie.

First show was in a TINY theater, and it was pretty packed.  That was unexpected for 10:25 in the morning, and we had trouble finding seats.  I saw it with my friend B, and we laughed like schoolgirls throughout.  Of course, we both adore DH & BW, so it was fun for both of us.  Interestingly, that audience was almost entirely made up of (I don't even want to say this because it just isn't true, dammit!) middle-aged women, including me (the youngest at 48), B, her older sister, and their mother.  lol

She shared with me that her girlfriend had asked her to marry her, and instead of a ring, she'd gotten a ring on a charm bracelet.  Much more in keeping with B's work, since she'd be unable to wear a diamond ring a lot of the time.  I snarked, correctly, that since she was wearing said charm bracelet complete with engagement ring charm, that she must've said yes.  

Second viewing was less fun, since my companion to that one didn't seem to be enjoying it as much.  I made sure he liked the other DH movies before I asked him to go with me, but I'm not entirely certain he liked this one.  AMC apparently has something called ETX, which is their version of IMAX, and the only difference I was able to ascertain is that it costs three dollars more, and we both got DH t-shirts.  Video, sound, theater set-up, everything seemed the same.  It was very loud, though.  I could have done with the sound turned down about 20%. 

So, while I liked it, and it's a good enough addition to the franchise, I probably won't buy it on DVD unless there are compelling extras.  That said, I have the 1-3 trilogy pack, and rarely, if ever, watch Three unless I do a marathon of all of them, but I did buy it, nonetheless.

Trailers:
Bates Motel on A&E looks like it might be interesting.  I only ever saw Freddie Highmore in August Rush, and he has grown up!  He's much taller, and not 11 any more.  lol  Vera Farmiga is the lead.  I've not seen everything she's made, but I loved her in Roar, and try to keep up with her at least in movies.  Yes, I will go see Fast & Furious.  I don't even care how bad it is, because it'll be so damn much fun!  Olympus Has Fallen - it looked intriguing, and I do like Gerard Butler, but then I saw Morgan Freeman.  I'll see anything that man makes.  Anything.  A Sandra Bullock film that looks truly horrible - Fed/cop thing with Melissa (?) McCarthy (The Heat).  Some Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson thing that might be funny but will not be getting my dollars at the box office to find out.  Also, AfterEarth - Will and Jada make some really frakking pretty kids.  Jaden looks more like Will every day, but with softer, less coarse facial features.  As for the movie, interesting concept.  I'll probably wait for the dollar movie to see it, though.  Now that I know that the first show of the day is only $6, I'll probably try to see Olympus at the regular theater - it's so much more comfortable than my LaZBoy - though getting out of 'bed' that early on a Saturday is hellish.

Movie: Looper

So, Looper.  Interesting concept for a plot.  Low-key performance by Jeff Daniels.  Bruce had some good moments, and he was mostly pretty low-key himself. Gordon-Levitt did a pretty good job.  Never imagined I would see Piper Perabo virtually nude.  The real star of the movie, though, was Pierce Gagnon.  He played Cid, the little boy on the farm, and he Stole. The. Show.  Easily.  I wanna see what that kid's doing in 15 years, and let's hope it's not drugs.  His imdb is pretty sketchy, so I can't even tell you how old he is, but he's worth watching out for. 

Movie: Fire With Fire (2012)

And no, I'm not talking about the Sheffer/Madsen flick from the 80s, though I enjoyed that one, too.

This one apparently went straight to video in August of last year, and it's got a really fantastic cast.  I think I would have cast someone else in the female lead :Katee Sackhoff:, but Rosario Dawson did a fine job.  Bruce Willis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Josh Duhamel (I finally know how to properly pronounce his name!), Rampage Jackson (I gather he's some kind of fighter), a football player whose name I can't spell, Rosario, Julian McMahon, and some good people in the background parts.  

It's heavy on the action, set in Long Beach and New Orleans, and it's got heart at the core. 

I'd never heard of it, so I wasn't sure about renting it, but I figured with a free Redbox code, I wouldn't be out anything if it sucked.  Besides, I'll see just about anything if Bruce is in it.

It does have a racial component - Aryans/black gangs - so avoid if that sort of thing squicks you, or if you're not a fan of violence, but otherwise, I recommend it.

Of interest in the extras, there were cast/crew interviews, and one of the things the director had to say about Bruce Willis was that his scenes were shot during the first week, and Bruce was crucial in helping to pull a crew that hadn't worked together before into a team, that he did it more than the director did, and he really appreciated that Bruce was able to do it, and it helped him see how to do it for himself next time.  Curtis Jackson, in talking about other projects, I think, said that Bruce has worked with him on several indie projects, and that Bruce is not afraid to work with new talent, particularly directors.  He was saying that a lot of big name actors won't do a film if the director has no recognizable work behind them, because they need the security of knowing that person's work, but that Bruce is not like that.  He'll work with anybody.  I've long enjoyed Willis' work, and it's nice to hear that he's not a diva. 

Weird story of the week

My landlord was telling me this morning about a friend in California who met a woman through his doctor's office - she works there as a nurse.  He's been on a date with her and subsequently slept with her.  Well, he found out that said nurse had taken an extra bit of blood, and had run an HIV test through the lab under an anonymous name, so she'd know whether or not he was 'clean' before she slept with him.  This was apparently before she even told him she was interested in going on a date.  Friend out in California is, by all accounts, totally OK with this behavior.

I am glad this didn't happen to me.  First, there'd be the violation of my personal privacy.  Then, there'd be the abuse of position at work, and the misuse of company funds, unless the office has a policy to cover employees paying for personal STD testing on potential bed-partners lab work.  Then, there'd be what seems to me a fairly serious violation of HIPAA laws.  Loss of licensure, loss of job, civil or criminal liability, the consequences for this sort of behavior far outweigh any possible benefits.  What ever happened to just asking?  I mean, I know it's an awkward conversation to initiate or to have, but in today's sexual climate, it's a necessary one.

I'm more than a little stunned that the guy's OK with what this woman did.  In the same situation, I would have dropped the guy like a hot anvil, and at the very least, reported his behavior to his boss.  I would NOT be OK with someone doing this to me.  And I most assuredly would not sleep with him after he told me all this.  

TV Catch-up

In which I say irreverent and raunchy things, and make snarky remarks that won't make any sense to you at all.  :D

Revenge - all the little complicated pieces are conspiring against each other and getting in Emily/Amanda's way (Maybe I should call her Amily).  Also, I don't trust Aiden for some reason.  He's a hottie, but he rings that little warning bell in my head.  Amily's going to regret that for some reason.  I'm still holding out hope that Amily and Jack will end up together.  I mean, how could Sammy the dog be wrong?  lol  And, boy, do I hope this means that Ashley is gone.  Her character has always struck me as sleazy, and the little six-year flashback into how she met Amily doesn't make me like her any better.  Nolan, Nolan, Nolan.  Will you never learn not to trust a good-looking guy?  Seriously, dude, your romantic choices in men are always out to get you.

Once Upon a Time - Alpha!Charming Acting Sheriff is so much more intriguing than lovelorn milquetoast David.  Mulan is still boring, and she and Princess Aurora always look like they're about to kiss each other.  Methinks Prince Phillip will have some competition on his hands, unless all three of them settle down in a menage and live happily ever after.  :)  Queen Regina has the most fabulously awesome clothes, not that Storybrook Regina dresses like a slouch.  Barbara Hershey has ill-fitting dentures.  And Hook.  He's got an angle, just can't figure out what it is.  Whatever it is, he still looks good in those leather pants. 

NCIS - Something I really enjoy about Tony's relationship with Ziva as opposed to the relationship he had with Kate:  he actually likes her.  Yeah, he liked Kate and flirted with her, but it's not the same.  And yes, there's that constant undercurrent of something else in his relationship with Ziva, has been from Day One.  Bottom line, though?  He genuinely likes her, wants her friendship, and is willing to offer his real friendship in return.  He just wasn't that guy with Kate, wasn't mature enough or hadn't lived through enough heartbreak or something, I don't know.  Whatever the reason, I like what NCIS has done with their friendship. 

NCIS: LA - I'm sorry.  Are we supposed to just not notice that that Marine is missing the stripe down his leg?  FAIL, costume guys, FAIL.  Hanna looks good in that uniform.  Yes, yes he does.   Hetty pretending to be the grieving widow was priceless.  "Felix here is almost like a second child to me."  :pets the dead fox:  What a hoot!

Arrow - Best Dad line in a TV show in a long time: "Merry Christmas, sir.  How are you?"
"Proficient with firearms."
For all out cheesy intimidation, I still prefer the Bad Boys scene with Martin and Will, but this guy had just one line, and made it work.  lol 

L&O: SVU - Man, lotta heavy hitters in the 02/06 episode, Monster's Legacy.

I like that they just let Amaro blatantly express his appreciation for how good Olivia looked when she approached the original crime scene.  Much more realistic than just one cop ignoring another cop who usually doesn't wear dresses, and does usually somewhat downplay her femininity at work.  Are they intentionally being vague about who "he" is?  We saw a hand in the episode where she was on a plane heading for vacation, then just the reference to "he" in this episode.

I adore Andre Braugher whenever he guests on SVU, and this was no exception.  I think there might've been enough to the stories to warrant a second hour, what with the way the case kept spreading out in different directions, but  L&O generally avoids two-parters, near as I can remember.  It does tend to make some big, meaty cases seem too easily resolved, in my opinion.  In this case, the wrap-up was a bit of a disappointment, because there are going to be waves of repercussions, no doubt about it.  But I guess that's not really what SVU is about.

I see some of young Olivia in Rollins - the inability to quite control the expressions on her face when she's confronted with information and stories that arouse her disgust and anger on behalf of victims, the perseverance to keep making and tracking down connections.  That character's not always used to her full potential, but they did a decent job of it in this episode. 

Hawaii 5-0 - Alex is getting the tiniest little bald spot starting on his crown.  lol  Danny is really kind of a jackass sometimes.  He was more antagonistic than usual in the 02/04 episode, but not uncharacteristically so.  That little moment at the end with Steve and the three guys?  If taken at face value, and assuming the belief in something inexplicable, would seem to imply that Ookala did not survive surgery.  Love William Sadler as McGarrett the elder, and the little handshake between them was very touching.

NCIS - I love an Abby-heavy episode, but this one (01/29) didn't quite do it for me, though the actress did a marvelous job of playing young Abby.  I just think the end was too easy.  Gibbs saves the Abby day again, and it was too pat.  I think it might've been more Abby to have tried to reconnect with Ricki Evans and to find out what kind of difference her small act of kindness made to a young girl who'd lost her mother and her grandpa in one fell swoop.  It was a good episode, just off somehow, not true to Abby Sciutto or something.  The music in the scene where young Abby talks to Ricki's grandpa brought back fond memories of high school days.  lol

02/05 - McAbby - lol  The team had entirely too much fun with the hacker guy, who had seriously the whitest teeth.  the acting NCIS director is wishy-washy aka a weenie.  He's got potential, though.   

Watching NCIS: LA (01/30) and the terrorist in the headgear looks familiar, and then when she starts talking, she sounds familiar, so I go to trusty old IMDB, and her name really rings a bell.  Since I'm on my Kindle, I don't have all the information, but suddenly my mind makes the connection - it's Kat!  Hah!  I'd not seen her in anything since I finished watching BSG last fall.  It is extremely amusing to see wild-haired Kat all covered up from head to wrists to ankles.  :)  The fish thing was cute, too.

(02/04)  Nell pronounced Joint Special Operations Command. They all know what it is.  She's NCIS, she would have said JSOC.  Everyone else did.  Oh, but let's just assume everyone who watches this show on a regular basis needs it dumbed down for them, eh?  Sheesh.  And now.....they're functioning as a team.  Sweet work.  "She's got the Gorgon stare."  OMG too funny!  Go, Nell!

"Wouldn't three courses make it a triangle meal?"  "Waitress?"  lmao

Criminal Minds 02/06 - Ooh, one of my favorite character actors, Keith S.  I've loved him since Equalizer.  Which leads me to Edward Woodward, which leads me to a remake?  With Denzel Washington as Robert McCall?  :grumbles:  I guess I'll just wait and see.  Now, back to CM.  lol  Well, that's a twist - and right in time.  I was just thinking it was way too easy to settle on the dad as the bad guy.  Aaand an even bigger twist.  Nice work, CM.  I did not see that coming. 

CSI - 02/06 - Opens with Greg and Sarah, easily my two favorite characters.  No poker face today, for either of them.  BTW, I hate the predictable thing they're doing with Sarah and Grissom.  There are ways to keep Grissom alive in Sarah's life without Peterson being on the show, but instead they're going with outta sight, Sarah's unhappy.  Ugh.  As for the mystery - much as I want Mac to be happy, and much as I liked Megan Dodds' characters in Ever After and MI-5, I think the character of Christine on CSI:NY is boring.  Mac doesn't need boring.  

CSI:NY - 02/01 - They telegraphed the thing with Lovato and Flack from the very beginning, which is unfortunate. We'll see if they manage to maintain interest in the pairing, and how long they wait to let them sleep together.  I like Lovato a lot, though.  She's fiesty and smart.  I really liked the background music in the scenes where they're working the cars.  Nice emotional ending, uncle remembering his nephew and laughing.  That sort of memory is hard after a death - difficult, but makes the grief process easier in the long run, remembering happy things about the deceased.

02/08 - Conclusion to the 02/06 CSI ep.  So far, much as I hate to say it, I'm just not particularly impressed.

Elementary - two of the last three episodes, Watson was wearing the same brown/black leather skirt.  Weird.  I do like the way Sherlock and Joan seem to be getting closer - learning things about each other, and becoming more friend-like, though I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call them friends yet.

Blue Bloods - the end of Inside Jobs was Too.Much.Fun!  Very creative way to fill out the letter of the contract.  Nice guest spot by Mastrantonio.  And I really like the new brunette partner, Mac.  Men In Black - I'm always fascinated by shows/movies/portrayals of religions other than my own, and particularly by those that are more hmmm....exclusive?  The Hasidic community is always interesting.  I had the killer pegged pretty early, and the overall reason, but not the underlying one.  Tom Selleck can still bring the woobie-face.  Dude.

Oh, and on Arrow?  Whoever is in charge of buying Diggle's black suit pants should be given an award.  :ahem: 

Helluva Day!

(original lj post 02/06/2013)
A couple of days ago, when I was running my landlord around, doctor, Home Depot, lunch, etc, something weird happened in my car.  I spent the last two days figuring out what the problem is, even going so far as to call the guy who replace my oil pan (and kept my car for an entire frakking year!) and ask him, since he's a Volvo lover.

Bought a light tester today, couldn't figure out from the directions how to use the stupid thing, and ended up pulling each individual fuse out of two different places in my car (inside and under the hood) to find the blown one/s.  None.  And now my hands hurt.  So, it's a relay.  I also took each one of them apart and checked, but could not tell if any of them were blown - have no frame of reference.  Auto Zone guys were completely clueless.  O'Reilly's guy at least knew exactly what I was talking about when I told him what I needed, but told me it was a dealer part, $40 each, nonreturnable, and O'R have no way of testing those, so I can't figure out which one it is.  Maybe Volvo does.  I really don't want to go to the dealership.  

While I was there, another O'R guy came in and after I described everything, including the blooming chime that never shuts up, he said, "Sounds like your alternator."  It does not sound like my alternator, but I just looked at him.  Apparently I used my 'mom' look or something, because he said I looked confused.  "Well, your alternator is basically a small electrical generator."  Really?  I had no idea.  I've never worked on a car before in my life, or rebuilt a carb, or helped pull an engine, or worked at a parts house or a dealership.  I didn't say any of that, though the frustrated bitch in me surely wanted to.  Actually, the frustrated bitch in me wanted to smack the crap out of him, but that's neither here nor there.

I've never owned a Volvo before, and I have to say that it's been a big, fat pain in my ass.  Parts are impossible and expensive, and finding someone to work on them that doesn't work at a dealership is extremely difficult.  I'll go back to American from now on.  At least I know how to find the parts and how to fix them.  Mostly.

Got back, and the guy (I call him Scrawny Hernia Guy) who was supposed to do the painting on the side of the house did a crap job, much like the crap job he did in my landlord's closet (none of the shelves are level, and seriously?  Landlord's blind, but you aren't.  Frakker.).  He wanted to get paid anyway, and his reasoning was he was paid to paint on the second story (uh, only one story on this house) and that's what he did.  If we wanted it done right, as in old paint scraped completely off before the new paint goes on, he'd have to come back next week, and we'd have to pay him the same amount as today, again.  Uh-huh.  Maybe that works for other people, and maybe that worked for landlord before he had me, but I'm a perfectionist, and I don't pay people to do crap jobs and to come back to do the job right the second time instead of the first.  I'll get up on that stupid ladder and paint that one little piece myself before I'll pay you another flipping dime.  Idiot.

On the other hand, nine days until Die Hard, and only three until Saturday, plus, my fingers have been typing a lot of stories lately, and none of that sucks, so...  :D

Maybe I'll take some benadryl and go to bed early tonight.  Wake up on the right side of the chair tomorrow.  lol 

Yet More Random

I've decided that "because you kissed me backstage during a play in high school your freshman year" is probably not a good enough reason to friend someone on Facebook.  It was a memorable kiss, but it was over 30 years ago now.  Better to move on.  lol  Besides, I'm paring down my FB friends list, not adding to it.

Texts From Last Night is a never-ending source of amusement.  Some of them are just so far out I have to wonder if they are even real, and some remind me far too much of things that I did in my twenties.  I keep reading them, who knows?  I might even find something that inspires a story.  heeeee

I went to sleep and woke up with pieces of stories and lines of dialogue in my head, mostly stuff that can expand already existing prompts-in-progress in my working document.  One of them, I thought to myself, "OK, I just now started writing for the first time in my life, and you think I can tackle *that*?  Seriously?  Methinks you need some caffeine."  Yes, I really do think to myself that way sometimes, complete sentences and Shakespearean language.  

I noticed in a lot of fics lately that people use span instead of spun as the past tense of spin, and every single time it takes me out of the story.  I saw it again a couple of days ago, and finally went to look it up, because I just didn't understand how so many writers could be using the same wrong word. I'm reading through the definitions, yeah, yeah, I already know what span means, thanks, and then way down at the bottom, there it is: archaic, simple past tense of spin.  Color me surprised.  It still sounds wrong to me, and will probably always take me out of a story, but at least now I know from whence it came.  Yeah, I know I'm weird.

Full of Random

(original lj post 02/01/2013) Two rats down in the last two days.  Creeps me the frak out to dispose of them, but then I get distracted by the science nerd in me, who examines them very closely - tails, ears, hair color, both male.  Yes, I noticed.  Then I triple-bag them and take them out to the trash bin on the alley.  My landlord has this whole story going now where the momma rat/s are at home thinking, "I just sent him for some damn food.  He's out frakking some skinny bitch with no tits, isn't he?"  It's pretty funny.  Or maybe we're just really strange. I responded to a comm prompt tonight.  First time a prompt put a whole entire story in my head, so yay for progression in that area.  I'm still working on a challenge from someone else.  That one's being a little more elusive, though I've got parts of it. Went to pick up a crockpot from a freecycler today, and OK, before I tell you the rest, I have to say that the crockpot was disgusting.  Not clean, dessicated roaches and roach eggs, just gross.  Am I the only person on the face of the freecycling planet that cleans things before I give them away?  I mean, that was just nasty. Anyway, driving away from the disgusting house, and I noticed two garage sales.  At the second one, there was a lovely four-poster bed that I would adore having, but my room is cramped and getting more cramped as it is, so no bed for me.  We drove past it, because we were on the way to lunch, and I almost missed a frakking stop sign, and yes, the mom in me still functions, because I hit the brakes hard and put my arm in front of landlord, as if he were a ten year old.  That was also amusing.  Anyway.....after lunch, we went back to the garage sale with the bed, and since it was a full and not a queen, it wouldn't work for him, but not six feet away were washers and dryers and fridges, and they looked very new.  Turns out, the family having the garage sale, the dad is a maintenance guy for an upscale apartment/condo place, where when something goes wrong, they just remove it and get new.  He takes the "broken" stuff home, fixes it, then sells it.  So, we bought a practically new washing machine, desperately needed, complete with warranty still intact, for $125.  Guy delivered it, noticed we had a problem in the outgoing pipes, fixed that and hauled away the old washer.  Didn't charge us any extra for all that.  Also, now we have a number for someone who can do some minor stuff around the house who is NOT a dumbass.  Granted, he speaks little English, and I'll have to seriously work on my Mexican/Spanish conversational skills, but that is promising.  Now we have to get the stuff to mark the washer knobs so landlord can 'see' the settings when he's doing his laundry.  I'm getting a real education on blindness accommodations living here, I gotta say. Also at this garage sale, I saw a Hawaiian shirt and a suit jacket with tails, both in my grandson's size.  I was so tempted to get them, but I resisted.  The lady running the garage sale brought me some jeans, and when I told her they were too small, she looked me over pretty good and looked at the jeans again, and  was all, "No way, these would fit you," only in Spanish.  Great compliment, but yeah, six sizes too small, thanks. And a month after I got sick (Happy New Year to me, right?), I can still/again hear my lungs squeaking when I breathe, so I guess I really do have to go to the county's urgent care clinic.  I mean, I'm not in pain or anything, but the squeaking is distracting, and I am having trouble breathing, more trouble than usual.  ETA:  I told myself if it was still bothering me on Monday, I'd go, and it wasn't, so I didn't.

Dreams and Random Stuff

I had this weird dream just before I woke up this morning.  I'm a military brat, so I've been around planes my entire life.  Well, in this dream, I was outside, in front of my house, watching a plane fly across the sky.  Suddenly the plane stopped and hovered.  Not many planes do this, and certainly none non-military, so of course, I knew it was a military plane.  It was also carrying something on its back, a la space shuttle type thing.  Anyway, this hovering plane slowly turns exactly nose down, pauses for a very brief moment, then plunges to the earth.  Somehow, I was seeing this all simultaneously from directly below the nose, and also from a slight angle.  Don't ask me - it was a dream.  Anyway, as I see it begin to slow down before it turned nose down, I said, "Oh, shit."  Then as I watched it hit the ground, in my neighbor's front yard, I was just frozen.  Just watching it happen, like I had no sense at all.  Fortunately, though I watched the explosion in the neighbor's yard as if it were in slo-mo, I woke up before my dream self was dissolved by the shockwave of the impact.  lol  Sometimes, I don't know where my mind comes up with this crap.  I don't even want to know, for that matter.

The cough I got when I got sick at the first of the year has hung around.  Makes me short of breath several times a day, and I'm kinda weaker than usual, but otherwise, I'm getting back to normal.

I have two friend-dates to go see Die Hard 5 opening weekend, and I have another friend-date next Monday to have dinner to celebrate our upcoming birthdays early.  I have a $10 gift card for Cheesecake Factory that expires at the end of the month, so we're going to take advantage of it.  Love Cheesecake Factory, despite the fact that I do not love cheesecake.  Not even a little bit.  Not even at all.

I noticed in November that all I was doing on Facebook was liking a bunch of stuff and reading other people's posts, so I decided that I would check out for a while.  This was also at least partly in response to changes in FB and their incessant need to change their privacy policies for the worse.  Since then, I've been reading a very small list of people whose lives I actually care about, and not liking anything at all, and only posting a comment when I had some actual information to share.  Nobody's noticed I'm gone, and I haven't missed FB, so I've decided I'm going to trim down the pages I've liked (I've already trimmed down friends several times) and make what's on my FB pretty basic.  I haven't posted anything on my own page since mid-November, and I pretty much plan to keep that up.  I guess if somebody wants to know what I'm up to, they can get hold of me some other way.  In the meantime, I have more time to obsess about BSG and read BSG porn.  Thank the gods for smut!

Last but not least, my Firefox has gotten some kind of freaky thing.  When I click on something, a pop-under will randomly open up and redirect me to another page.  You might think this would be some kind of actual porn, all things considered, but the redirects are to Amazon, or search pages, or, about 10% of the time, to porn pages.  Weird, and unwelcome, and I have not been able to figure out how to get rid of it.  It doesn't seem to do anything, other than open a random page in a pop-under.  It never redirects the page I'm actually on.  At the same time this happened, I get ads randomly on livejournal, over the top of people's pictures, that I have to click closed if I want to see said pictures.  Have people begun to monetize their ljs?  Has livejournal started doing this to a random selection of people?  The two things may or may not even be related.  Maybe I should uninstall Firefox and redownload it.  ETA:  I did uninstall and reinstall, and that fixed the problems.

Stuff That Happened

(original lj post 01/09/2013)
'Cause yeah, my brain is too tired to come up with something intelligent to call this.

Last week, landlord went to the movies with a friend on New Year's Day.  They came back about the time I was heading out the door because I was ravenous.  They decided they were sort of hungry, too, mostly for dessert, so we all went to the same place.  Oh, did I mention this friend was on the recovering end of sick?  You can see where this is going.  Yes, landlord and I both got sick, and apparently with something completely different from the friend, though I contest that is because our immune systems are already compromised and so we are handling it differently than she did.  Anyway, I'm still recovering, and doing the slightest little thing wipes me totally out.  Last week, I slept through nearly four entire days, and didn't turn my computer on for three of them.  Didn't turn my computer on at all.   That's sick, folks.  lol  

And yet, somehow I did some kind of time warping, because despite sleeping through nearly four whole days and more than half of the other days, I finished seven books and a bunch of short stories, only one of which was on my To Review list.  Yes, I purposely picked books to read that were just because I wanted to read them.

Anyway, now I'm down to exhaustion and hacking up a lung at inopportune moments.  And randomly feeling like I haven't eaten in weeks. ETA:  that frakkin' cough lasted until about a week ago, so it hung on a LONG time.  

Landlord talked to a friend in the medical community who says that there are three big viruses going around, one the flu shot kills dead, one the flu shot didn't plan for at all, and one GI virus that is extremely tricky and keeps coming back.  I'm thankful we got the one in the middle.  I have zero interest in any kind of GI virus, unless it means I get endless men in uniform for the next year, in which case?  Sign. Me. Up.