Oooh! All Dana Scully fans immediately report to this page.

"Ally McBeal star Portia de Rossi is having a lesbian affair with former Beatle Ringo Starr's stepdaughter. ... The Australian-born actress and singer Francesca Gregorini, daughter of Starr's wife Barbara Bach, were spotted kissing passionately in a Hollywood restaurant."
-- The Australian Associated Press, Nov. 4.

I always liked Portia. =)

Learn more about your body with the Always Menstrual Calendar (& it's free) I haven't opened it yet: it's a 2.26 meg d/l. Nothing, one would imagine, like the small Tidy Cat 1998 calendar I used a few years ago... One would hope, at any rate. =)

Saturday is almost over, and I've applied for a job... UPS has an 888 number you can call and answer a few questions & they'll call you back. I think I could lift 25 to 35 lb packages for 3.5 hours a day for a couple of weeks... in my dreams. There is not much in the newspaper that looks acceptable, except at a vet clinic, but I wouldn't want to get a job there and just quit after a month or so. I'm thinking Blockbuster Video or a temp service is probably the honorable way to go.

I did go to Blockbuster today. Rented Hedwig and the Angry Inch and was disappointed. I enjoyed Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, more, and that was mostly for the ABBA songs. Reviews compare Hedwig to Rocky Horror, and I can see that -- queer theme, improbable plotline, lots-o-wigs & clothes, but my favorite part was the animation. I am just not a glam-rock fan. I'm not saying Hedwig was bad, or even mediocre. I just expected something different. Also, I don't really go for the lovers as being 'two halves of one whole thing', though, which is pretty central to the whole movie... One half person plus another half person doesn't equal a whole person, it equals two halves.

I was thinking earlier today about some of my favorite films, Go; Run, Lola, Run; Memento; and
Groundhog Day. What they all have in common is the manipulation of time. Go is the only one that has one fixed, immutable time, which is seen through the eyes of the different characters. Run, Lola, Run shows one woman trying over and over to change events to save her boyfriend's life. Memento's protagonist lives a life with no short term memory, and writes himself notes on papers, photos and his body. In Groundhog Day, the main character lives the same day over and over again until he gets it 'right' and fixes up his soul (and wins the girl). They all play with film in different ways to create the illusion of control over time. Or the fight to gain control of time, in the case of Memento. That was an amazing movie. Check it out. It's still available for rental in the New Releases section.

I'm trying to find a way to let people comment on this blog, but the programs available are either defunct or not accepting new bloggers. I'm waiting to see if the person at snorland.com does in fact release a version of his script that can be kept on another server. That would be nice. Until then, please email me & let me know what you think. Is it heresy to put a Bill Murray film in the same category as one from the New German Cinema (that would be Run, Lola, Run)?

'Home again, home again, jiggity jig', as my mother used to say when I was very young and we arrived home after dark. I'm back in Austin, and I'm playing on the web. I've been signing people I know up for Free Stuff... shampoo and cosmetics, mostly. Why? Why not? It's not like I'm low on cash and unemployed.... er, well, it is like that, actually. I got up at noon and have spent the past two hours messing about. I have piles of stuff in the living room that I just dragged in from the car last night. I should unpack.

I had a good Holiday. Spent Xmas Day in Houston with my sister and her family, my mother (66) and maternal grandmother (age 93). My mother is having her knee replaced in January, on MLK Day. Hopefully there will be no classes that day, but if there are, I'll be skipping to be with her in Houston. Mom and I went to see The Lord of the Rings, and like everyone else on the planet, we thought it was great. We sat on the second row because of Mom's knee, which made all the action just a bit too intense. This is not a movie to take little kids to see. Too violent in places. I'm bummed that we have to wait a whole year to see the next one.

I have so much to do, but the energy or motivation (terror, usually) is just not there. I think I will probably start my weekend today, by cleaning house and reading some of the many books I got as gifts. I also have one Xmas box that I need to mail. That might get done.