Adam and I tried to watch "V" last night. About 20 minutes into the first episode, we realized it was immensely stupid. We did sit through the whole thing, though. There's so much good TV these days, writers really shouldn't dumb things down. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think people would prefer to watch things that are a little too smart for them, rather than dumb. Also, New York looks suspiciously like Vancouver! Having been a bike courier downtown, I recognized almost every single building in the show.

God, was it dumb. That was the problem with Fringe as well. Also, I heard Dollhouse was canceled, which doesn't really surprise me. It was nowhere near up to par with Buffy or Firefly or Dr. Horrible. Whether or not that's Fox's fault doesn't really matter now -- the quality of TV has increased substantially (IMO) since the late 90's/early 2000's of Buffy's heyday (Mad Men, True Blood, Lost, the first season of Veronica Mars, parts of Battlestar Galactica, etc.).

Q: What did one lesbian vampire say to the other lesbian vampire?

A: See you next month.

Aside from vampires: It's raining a lot, now that November is in full swing. Adam and I have been watching lots of David Attenborough nature documentaries. The new one, Life, is especially awesome, even better than Blue Planet and Planet Earth.

I would like to set up my sewing machine soon and start doing some sewing again.

I've been having mild cramps on and off from the IUD, but it's not a big deal.

I've been majorly obsessing about True Blood still. Like to the point where I've downloaded all the Southern Vampire Mysteries audiobooks and have been listening to them for hours every day. I've written brief reviews of what I've listened to so far on my Goodreads profile, but the gist is that it's the literary equivalent of Hallowe'en candy, whereas the tv show is like 70%-plus dark chocolate. And that I'm even more obsessed with Eric now.

I'm up to book 5, which in less than a week means I haven't spent hardly any time on the internet at all. I've also considered reading Interview with the Vampire, since I never have, and possibly watching Vampire Diaries after I'm done with the Southern thing. I do not plan on touching Twilight at any point.

I'll be back eventually. Just let the phase run its course.

okay, True Blood has eaten my fucking brain. The last half of season two was so... Buffy-ish! I will have much more to say on this entire subject at a later time. For now I am going to play and re-play in my head Eric's wolfish grin and his, "only for Sookie." GodfuckingDAMN.

I am so addicted to True Blood right now. I'm up to the 6th episode of season 2. ( fangirling and spoilers follow )

Adam and I have also been watching the BBC Life documentary, which is even better than Blue Planet and Planet Earth. The footage they get is incredible, because camera technology is pretty awesome these days. I bet it would be pretty amazing to watch in HD.

Seriously, there is so much good TV I can't watch it all. For instance, I have never seen The Wire or Dexter, both of which have been recommended to me over and over again. It's weird, though, because when I stay at my parents' and we watch TV (and they have a satellite), none of the good shows are ever on. We watch What Not To Wear and The Dog Whisperer over and over again because the rest is even crappier. What's up with that? Then again, I think a lot of shows I watch really need to be watched in episode order, so you can't just turn on the TV and watch them whenever you want.

I just discovered goodreads.com, and it is like crack. It's like they made Librarything for Mac users. Click, click, click!

We just got to notarize some meeting minutes from the New Zealand Consulate General. The girl who came in said they get a lot of FotC jokes. Awesome.

I've been on another Ursula Le Guin kick. I read Changing Planes, and then Lavinia (not as good), and now it's Unlocking The Air. I also got Always Coming Home from the library.

I write little mini-reviews of most of the books I read on my librarything account. Re-writing them over here feels redundant.

Google reader is still occupying most of my internet time (mainlining/streamlining internet awesomeness!). I did get into an argument with somebody on Facebook today, over whether saying "How much?" to an attractive woman (i.e. implying she is a prostitute) is inherently misogynist. FUN TIMES. It's because I meet random people on facebook I wouldn't actually want to be friends with or converse with in real life.

I just watched Food, Inc. (I started watching it like two weeks ago and finally watched the rest tonight, that's how into watching movies I am) and it was good, although it did have a bit of that kind of propagandistic glib thing going on that Michael Moore loves so much. They could have covered fewer topics and included more facts backing up their argument, but I guess if you're trying to get your message to a wide audience, you want to make it as simple and accessible as you can. Parts of it made me cry, like when they were arresting illegal immigrants and the parts with animals in factory farms.

The best TV show I've been watching lately is still Community. The Hallowe'en episode had me and Adam in hysterics (BATMAN, Senor Chang's pickup line advice, Shirley going apeshit on the hot professor, Pierce and his pills), kind of like when I used to watch the Simpsons and I'd have to stop laughing to catch the next hilarious line. We totally rewound and re-watched a couple scenes.

They were going on and on about the Olympic torch today on the CBC (it is only November, I can't imagine what the fuck it will be like in February). There was even an engineer from Bombardier who designed the torch who talked about all his inspiration for the design, and how it comes from snowdrifts, etc. Have you seen it? IT LOOKS LIKE A MASSIVE REEFER. And Vancouver continues to uphold its reputation as a giant stoner city.

I found out there's a new train that goes down to Portland and they have round-trip tickets from Vancouver for $70! I think Adam and I are going to go down there for the weekend Hanukkah starts, and meet up with his mom, and his cousin who lives there. It costs five dollars to bring a bike on the train with you (although, yes, it will be December). It's about 10 to 15 times more expensive to take your bike on a plane. It's always nice to get out of town. When you don't have access to a car and you don't travel for work, getting to leave the city is very rare.

I'm not that excited about Halloween this year, for whatever reason. I didn't have any brilliant costume ideas, so I'm wearing one of my Burning Man outfits. We're going to a party up in Squamish (camping overnight) and I anticipate that it is going to be fucking cold and rainy (although the party itself at least is indoors), so I'm glad we're getting a ride in a friend's RV. The rains have begun, fellow Temperate Rainforest dwellers. Say goodbye to the sun for the next six months.

Caller: Hi, I'd like to have a document notarized. How much does that cost?
Me: What kind of document is it?
Caller: It's a fax.

*facepalm*

Me: IS IT ALSO A PAPER DOCUMENT
Me: IS IT BLACK AND WHITE
My friend Greg: WORDS OR PICTURES?
Me: IS IT RECTANGULAR OR IRREGULARLY SHAPED

So, True Blood is a pretty porny show. It's got some good characters, and some funny characters, and some ridiculousness. (And lots of great things about the South, as far as my experience with it -- which amounts to having friends from the South and reading and hearing about the South -- goes.) And it has a whole lot of sexy sexy sex! If it were up to me, I would have watched all of Season 1 by now, but Adam likes to ration them out. We just finished episode 6. Lots of eating and food themes in that one. Also, I love Tara and Lafayette forever and ever. And also I have no idea why Sookie had to wear that ridiculous outfit for the "culmination" at the end of the episode -- she could've worn something else white and not have it be that silly maternity-ghost thing. The scene itself was okay (I mean, still hot, but), but it could have been a whole lot better. That part in episode 2 where Bill says "I can smell the sunlight on your skin", and gets a fang-boner and has to stop kissing her -- that's the hottest part in the whole series so far.

Yes, vampires turn my proverbial crank for some reason. Apparently Vampire Diaries is really great, too. I haven't seen it yet and I have absolutely no idea what it's about, but if there are vampires and sex and it isn't Twilight, I'll probably dig it. I think my sexual tastes veer toward pretty stereotypically female a lot of the time: smell, sound and touch (sensuousness), and being focused on (Bill is always staring at Sookie, totally in awe), rather than visual stimulation or power dynamics. Well, everyone's got their things that do it for them, I suppose.

Youtube randomness: Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal! Ding-ding-ding-di-ding-ding-di-ding-ding KIKI QUIT IT YOU'RE YESSING TOO HARD

I read Freakonomics this week, which was interesting, very Malcolm Gladwell-esque but with that economist asshole undertone (I may be biased against economists, but they're often assholes), lots of tidbits to take away from it. Now I'm reading We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jackson (who you may remember from such high school required readings as "The Lottery"). It is weird, creepy, and pretty awesome. I feel like I could finish it and read it again -- there's lots going on under the surface, and lots of mysterious foreshadowing too.

Had a good dinner and walk with Graydon last night. I realized he's my bitching-about-politics friend. He always gets where I'm coming from, with things I've been stewing over for weeks or months that I can't articulate to people very well. We have really good conversations.

I got panniers for my bike. Adam ordered them for me from the store. They're awesome! Takes a bit of getting used to, but it's so nice having nothing on my back when I ride, and they carry a whole lot. And they're totally waterproof!

Has anyone been watching Community? Because Adam and I have, and it's hilarious. Something 30-Rock-ish about it -- the pacing, and the ensemble cast, and the male and female leads who are a bit like Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin's characters at times -- but it's different from that, too. Funnier characters, I think. Watch it.

There's too much good TV out there these days to possibly keep up with it all. We did try to watch Fringe recently, and it was pretty terrible. The pseudo-science was unbearable, and the dialogue was bad as well. We've watched a few episodes of the Demetri Martin show, which was funny but also seems like it'll run out of steam pretty quickly (there are already too many filler bits).

bacon

zombies

steampunk

The dubstep party we were supposed to last night was cancelled -- Rusko, the headliner, was ill and didn't make his flight to Vancouver. We were so relieved, because we were both exhausted and sick and just wanted to go home after our awesome Thanksgiving at Ranae's. Apparently he might play in November or December instead, so I'm hanging on to my ticket for now.

Ranae introduced us to True Blood last night, too. She lived in the south for several years (Tennessee) and also loves vampires. I was totally skeptical until I actually sat down and watched it. It's dirty as fuck -- some of the scenes are downright pornographic -- but it's also really smart, compelling, and has good characters (and actors!). It's got a lot of potential. We've watched the first two episodes, and I definitely want to watch more.

Thanksgiving Dinner part 2 is at my parents' house tonight. My mom told me to bring Tupperware so I can bring food home.

I watched the beginning of Food, Inc and it was totally good. I'm downloading the rest of it. I also downloaded Harold and Kumar (the first one) because Adam's never seen it before and it's kind of the perfect movie for him. Also, I've been obsessing extra hard over Neil Patrick Harris lately, and wanted to re-watch his cameo template for Barney Stinson.

Dollhouse has been really hit-and-miss, but that last episode, with the serial killer, was really smart. Joss is not shy with the symbolism -- And of course, that opening scene where the serial killer is literally using women as dolls, as stand-ins for his own life, drugged up and totally against their will. Not to mention intercutting the serial killer talking about how it's "all the [women's] fault, they made me," and Echo on her seemingly harmless "R-rated" engagement with the professor where they talk about the Wife of Bath (everyone's favourite sexually empowered female literary character) and then she "convinces" the prof not to give her an F. You go, Joss.

I also appreciate that they've made Topher a much more compelling character (that scene with him and Claire/Whiskey in the first episode was one of the only good parts of that episode - I kind of wanted to make out with him at that point). And that Boyd's seen it all now, it's all old hat -- he's, like, reading a novel and when Topher tells him there's a serial killer on the loose he's like, "okay, whatever." And something is going on with Doctor Saunders, who knows what (oh and Saunders/Boyd, liking that). And I love that they're making Paul, the seeming hero protagonist, into a kind of icky character whose attraction to Echo is highly questionable (the ogling in this episode, for instance).

BTW, Ira Glass did an interview with Joss for a fundraiser for 826NYC, a non-profit that supports literacy and creative writing for younger people (founded by Dave Eggers, connected somewhat with McSweeney's). Ira's obviously a Joss fangirl, so it's extra fun for that.

I'm still coming off this cold, but I'm definitely feeling better than I was. Tonight I don't think I have much planned, but tomorrow we're making stuffing to take to Ranae's, then going to a potluck Thanksgiving at her house, and then going to Rusko (woot!). And then on Monday another Thanksgiving dinner with my family. So I'm happy to just chillax today and do nothing. I might watch Food, Inc. now that I'm caught up on Muh Stories.

The NPR books podcast is really good. 20 minutes once a week of the best of their book-related pieces, including reviews of books by famous authors -- one I enjoyed was Richard Russo's review of a bunch of in-the-office type books. He even talked about Bartleby the Scrivener. I've also been listening to Planet Money, which is usually fascinating and occasionally frustrating (its hosts kind of worship The Efficiency of The Market sometimes, which I think is BS). Culturetopia is good if you wanna know about upcoming pop culture stuff, mostly movies but other stuff too, and it's got the NPR left-wing intellectual bent to it instead of just "What did ___ wear to the Oscars? Who is ____ dating?"

YAY WORDS: "She was a real see-you-next-Tuesday."

I got a raise at work! I'm making something like 40% more per hour than I was when I first started there two years ago. Pretty awesome.

I finally, finally set up wireless internet for my computer. My computer is ancient but I can't afford a new one. Maybe I will upgrade it just part by part. Anyway I HAVE INTERNET ON MY OWN COMPUTER AGAIN. It has been two months, so I am very excited at this prospect.

That's all, really. Mostly I've just been plowing through The Dispossessed. I have a pile of books to read after this one, too.

I'm re-reading The Dispossessed and it is fucking awesome. I don't often re-read books anymore.

I went to the computer store and bought a wireless card so I can have wireless internet on my computer. My brother is coming over tomorrow (during the pig-roast) to help me install it. At the store, there was a Chinese-speaking couple talking to a Chinese-speaking salesperson. The wife was saying, "that's too expensive ("gui")!" But the salesman thought she said "too fast" ("kuai") because the words sound very similar. And the wife said, "Oh no, too fast would be okay!" and then the salesman made some joke about selling her a slow computer. I was so excited that I could understand not only their conversation, but the little play on words that was going on. I tried to explain it to my salesguy (who also spoke Chinese), but he seemed unimpressed. Ah well. When it's your native language I suppose it's a lot less thrilling.

I went to a coffee shop with Adam today while he was on his break called Elysian Fields that was so retardedly hipster and elitist that I couldn't help making fun of it while we were still in the shop. Instead of having "mild" and "dark" coffee, they had "classic", "nuanced", and "exceptional" blends, the exceptional one being a $3.25 cup of drip coffee. I said to the guy behind the counter that I wasn't feeling particularly nuanced or exceptional and that I was happy to just be classic today. And then I kept making comments about how disgusted I was with the place (ultra-minimalist decor, and every single customer was a hipster -- there were even fancy-ass fixed-gear bikes all locked up out front). When we left Adam said I hate capitalism too much and it causes too much stress in my life. "On the contrary," I said. "It makes me happy to know that there are so many possibilities for the world to be better." Also I generally keep away from places like that and Whole Foods (which I am boycotting) because it makes me happier.

I don't drink coffee very often anymore, which is probably causing the verbosity of this post, by the way.

I've been watching Glee, and I'm on the fence about whether it's brilliant or not. As other people have also noticed, it's ripped off wholesale a bunch of ideas originating from the movie Election. Sometimes the blackness, the heavy-handed tongue-in-cheekiness of it (which gets in the way of being able to sympathize with any of the characters) gets to be too much and too over the top. And I like the musical numbers, but they're not the greatest thing ever. I'm reserving judgment; haven't given up on it yet.

Mad Men and Dollhouse are both at about 80% awesome right now.

Zuul is currently using my arm as a pillow. So cute! Must type in non-disruptive fashion.

Margaret Atwood was awesome. She had people performing the hymns from the novel and doing dramatic readings. She only had about 10 minutes of Q&A, though. I wish it had been more of that. She's so famous, though. This was stop 13 of 20 on her tour. She must get tired of answering questions.

I am pretty tired now. Still getting over my cold.

Here's a conversation I had with my boss the other day. She forgets that I'm a veggie on a nearly daily basis, but this was a new record.

Her: So, being a vegetarian, what kinds of things do you put in your food to give it flavour?
Me: Oh, spices, things like that.
Her: You must be a pretty good cook by now.
Me: I think a lot of women my age are pretty experienced with cooking.
Her: Do you ever buy a cooked chicken from the supermarket and then just add your own flavours and spices to it?
Me: No, I've never done that.
Her: Oh.
Me: You know why?
Her: Why?
Me: Because I'm a vegetarian.

That's right, she forgot about it in four sentences (and yes, she is aware that chicken is not vegetarian). Actually, she's very similar to my dad in that way. Not with the veggie thing, but my dad has these weird mental blocks on certain things where you can tell him the same thing 17 times and he still won't remember. I think it's hilarious.

My roommate is roasting a sow in our backyard for his birthday this weekend. Lots of people will be coming over. V exciting.

Google Reader is causing me to neglect you, LJ. Flist, if you'd like to join me over there and share shit, I'm onlyzuul. Or if you have sites to recommend that I follow, do tell.

Adam and I are caught up on How I Met Your Mother. It's so hilarious. LOVES.

I'm reading Year of the Flood and it's fantastic. Get to see Ms. Atwood speak in two days. Stoked.

I have a rack on my bike now, and am going to order panniers (yay for boyfriend pro-deals! 60% off!). My full fenders are awesome. My bike is awesome all around.

I have a cold. And it is not very busy at work, which I loathe. Hourly wages equals pretending to be busy even when there's nothing to do. Fucking retarded. Wish I was on salary instead. I wouldn't mind working late sometimes if it meant I could go home early when it was dead.

Bummer. I had all these errand-running plans for today which involved riding my bike around a lot, but when I woke up I felt like I was coming down with something. It seems to be getting worse as the day progresses. So instead of enjoying this beautiful sunny day, I'm at home gargling salt water and making cups of green tea with lemon.

Adam cut my hair last night. He's very meticulous with his hands so he did a very good job. It's shorter on the sides but still has length on the top.