Gwynnega's Journal [entries|friends|calendar]
Gwynnega

[ website | gwynnegarfinkle.com ]
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soapy [14 Jul 2009|03:25pm]
[ mood | good ]

today's GH )

yesterday's Ryan's Hope )

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henna day post [12 Jul 2009|02:17pm]
[ mood | lethargic ]

Henna: On my head. Very drippy. Twenty more minutes until I wash it out.

Noveling: Still working on chapter 15, but the chapter's getting close to done, I think.

Torchwood miniseries: Finished watching it last night. Well-done, gripping, but not really my cup of tea.

Dark Shadows: Julia Hoffman managed to reattach the Malevolent Head and the headless body of the decapitated warlock Judah Zachery, but when he came back to life, he was engulfed in flames! (Weirdly, the Head actor was still credited as "The Head" even when he was reattached to the body.) Not sure if that's the end of him.

Ryan's Hope: Tomorrow's ep #1 is where this icon comes from!

Weather: Summer summer summer. I'm taking refuge in air conditioning. The Garage Kitty is doubtless napping under a car and waiting for the sun to go down.

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writing and Ryan's [10 Jul 2009|03:19pm]
[ mood | geeky ]

Due to the weirdness of this week (i.e., evacuation from my office due to wild fire), I managed to get a lot more work done on the Jo book than I usually do during the week. Last night I had a particularly good writing session--and then had a terrible time falling asleep, because the novel was racketing through my brain. Then I woke up around 5 a.m. and the novel started up again! Oh well. I look forward to getting back to the book this weekend.

In perhaps the ultimate example of my old soap opera geekiness, I am ridiculously excited about this coming Monday's Ryan's Hope because 30-year-old spoiler ), even though I have watched my favorite scene a zillion times (and the scene in question is on YouTube). But my Ryan's Hope-watching friends will get to see it! Hooray!!

In other news, I really wish I were at Readercon.

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in the neighborhood [09 Jul 2009|01:03pm]
[ mood | amused ]

Sign outside Trader Joe's: SMALL ONE-BEDROOM APARTMENT IN GLENDALE FOR RENT. ONE PERSON MAX.

So I suppose fewer than one person would be preferable?

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good things [07 Jul 2009|11:28pm]
[ mood | productive ]

Good things of today:

I got a lot of noveling (and novel research) done. I even had another noveling session after dinner.

Torchwood (of which I just watched the second episode). Why is it so good? It's surprising.

Fantastic Jack/Siobhan scenes on today's Ryan's Hope (with more to come very soon).

The Garage Kitty and her repertoire of meows.

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more Dark Shadows hilarity [05 Jul 2009|07:41pm]
[ mood | giggly ]

So now the headless body that once belonged to the malevolent Head is running amok on Dark Shadows. I thought, "Surely the body won't get an on screen credit." Then the credits rolled:

Headless Man: Norman Parker

I busted up laughing. Then I looked up the guy, and he has a hefty imdb.com resume, including a bit part as a "Dr. Valenti" on Ryan's Hope in 1976, various other soaps and a lot of nighttime TV. But his first role? "Figure in vision" on Dark Shadows! Heeeeeee.

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awesome [05 Jul 2009|02:15pm]
[ mood | pleased ]

I've discovered a fantastic research resource for the Jo book: the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, which gives detailed rundowns of network evening news broadcasts from 1968 on, including the commercials. So when Jo sits down to watch the news on December 30, 1975, I can even mention that she sees a commercial for Geritol or Clorets!

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OMG Abe Vigoda [04 Jul 2009|07:08pm]
[ mood | amused ]

Watching Dark Shadows just now, I thought, "Wow, that antique dealer looks a lot like Abe Vigoda. I wonder who it is?" A minute or two later the antique dealer was dead on the floor, due to the malevolent Head, and the credits rolled...

Otis Greene: ABE VIGODA

Heeeeee.

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the 4th [04 Jul 2009|04:59pm]
[ mood | creative ]

I've been having a nice quiet day in the neighborhood. I've done some non-novel writing--started writing a sequel to "In Lieu of a Thank You" which suddenly appeared in my brain, worked on poems, and made some notes for the Writercon panel I'm moderating ("Making Old Monsters New Again"). I made scrumptuous scrambled eggs with heirloom tomato and spinach for brunch, which I ate while watching Dark Shadows (featuring the malevolent Head). I read some more of [info]papersky's delightful Tooth and Claw. I walked to Trader Joe's and Gelson's to pick up a few things, including chips and guacamole, which seems like a good thing to eat on the 4th of July.

Now I'm in for the evening and hoping there won't be too much in the way of loud fireworks to startle me and scare the Garage Kitty. Drinking some Trader Joe's tea and lemonade and battling a slight headache. Later there will be more Dark Shadows, and some noveling, and I may watch a 4th of July Ryan's Hope episode or two if I can find the tape that has 'em.

Last night I watched a documentary for Jo book research: The Camden 28, about "the trial of 28 Vietnam War opponents, mostly priests and devout Catholics, who broke into a New Jersey draft board office in 1971." It's a gripping film, with friendship, betrayal, idealism, tragedy, and government machinations. Highly recommended.

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weekend ahead [02 Jul 2009|04:37pm]
[ mood | tired ]

It's been a rather trying week, but I have a four-day weekend ahead, hooray! I look forward to some uninterrupted noveling time, plus plenty of lying around reading and watching my usual Netflix weekend fare (one Dark Shadows DVD, one grim Vietnam-related documentary for Jo book research).

today's Ryan's Hope: goodnight, Arthur )

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Ellen Klages - The Green Glass Sea [01 Jul 2009|04:16pm]
[ mood | impressed ]

Last night on my way home from work I finished listening to the audiobook of Ellen Klages's novel The Green Glass Sea. It's about two preteen misfit girls living at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. I can't think of another book that captures so perfectly being a preteen misfit girl (I remember it well!). It's also a remarkably successful historical novel, political novel, and novel of ideas (science and mathematics). It manages to be both cozy/heartwarming and utterly chilling.

Today I got an email from the public library: the audiobook I requested of Georgette Heyer's The Devil's Cub is in! Yay.

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ratings, ratings, ratings [30 Jun 2009|11:52am]
[ mood | giggly ]

yesterday's GH )

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writing and soaps [29 Jun 2009|02:57pm]
[ mood | boggling ]

I'm still revising chapter 15 of the Jo book. It is very slow going, but today as part of my work on the chapter, I got to look at nifty photos of NYC newsstands. This weekend I finished revising a poem and sent it out. It's the first poem I've finished in ages--novels take up so much brain space!

Also this weekend I filled out my Rhysling ballot. And I watched a ton of Dark Shadows. In the 1970 eps I'm currently viewing, a malevolent head in a bell jar has been introduced. The Head is portrayed by an actor who, so far 1) has his eyes closed or 2) stares evilly at the camera. (Oh, and once he blinked. Accidentally, I think.) I wondered whether the Head actor would get an on-screen credit, and sure enough, he did! The credit roll listed the actor as portraying "THE HEAD." Heeeeee.

***

Trouble in Gaytime:

Around the time I was at Wiscon last month, a story broke in which an actor from The Young and the Restless, Chris Engen, walked off the set because he allegedly took issue with having to play a gay-themed story. He was fired and replaced with Michael Muhney (from Veronica Mars). Sure enough, immediately after Engen's final episode, Adam, the (straight) character he'd portrayed, seduced his gay male lawyer in order to keep said lawyer from investigating his nefarious deeds. This happened VERY off-camera--the characters didn't even kiss on screen. The irony is that, up until this point, Adam had set his father up for murder, injected Botox into his eyeballs (ewww) to fake blindness, and tormented his father's pregnant wife until she miscarried. But apparently Engen had no trouble playing any of this stuff--just off-screen gay sex. Fortunately, Michael Muhney, whose first episodes on Y&R aired last week, has quickly made the character of Adam his own and has surpassed Engen's portrayal.

So this weekend, a story broke that an actor from One Life To Live, Patricia Mauceri, who has been on the show since 1995, was fired for refusing to play a story beat in which her character Carlotta Vega, a Latina mother, expresses gay-friendly sentiment! "She objected to Carlotta's positive attitude about homosexuality, saying it conflicted with her personal beliefs." Needless to say, since this is a soap opera, the character of Carlotta is far from squeaky-clean, but apparently that never conflicted with the actress's personal beliefs.

It boggles my mind that, in this current economic climate, these actors have opted to trash their steady gigs because they can't bring themselves to do their jobs when gay material is concerned...

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Jackson 5 cartoon intro [26 Jun 2009|04:03pm]
[ mood | nostalgic ]

Ah, this was such a happy part of my childhood. I remember sitting close to the TV watching the first episode...

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RIP Michael Jackson [25 Jun 2009|10:22pm]
[ mood | contemplative ]

I was a Jackson Five fangirl when I was but a tot. I can't remember which album it was, but the first pop album I ever bought (at Zody's, I think!) was by the Jackson Five. ABC, maybe? I remember that the album's inner sleeve had all kinds of fan club merchandise you could send away for, and I sent away for a Jackson Five magazine and some stickers with the band's faces on 'em. Years later, I found one of the stickers stuck to a grade school class photo. I was also a huge fan of their cartoon series.

Time passed, and as a punk/new wave fangirl I still thought "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" was superb.

A lot more time passed. It feels like many lifetimes ago.

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RIP Sky Saxon [25 Jun 2009|11:26am]
[ mood | sad ]

The Seeds performing "Pushin' Too Hard," circa 1966, from The Mothers-in-Law:

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Toy Love [23 Jun 2009|12:14pm]
[ mood | hopeful ]

I've been following the blog about Chris Knox and the aftermath of his stroke, and the news sounds more encouraging every day.

Here is a fun music video of "Bride of Frankenstein" (1980) by Chris's early band Toy Love:

make me a bride, he said

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noveling epiphany [22 Jun 2009|03:31pm]
[ mood | silly ]

It occurs to me, after researching various NYC universities Jo and Cyn could have attended circa 1970, none of which seem quite right, that I can create a fictional university according to my specifications. Sheesh, sometimes I forget I'm writing a novel. I get to make stuff up!

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all roads lead back to Ryan's Hope [22 Jun 2009|02:03pm]
[ mood | Mondayish ]

Last night I watched the original version of The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974), which had some wonderful footage of seventies NYC (next best thing to the TARDIS I really could use for Jo book research). Earl Hindman (Bob Reid on Ryan's Hope) played one of the hijackers--apparently he had quite a career playing menacing types before he was cast as kind-hearted Bob. Plus Kenneth McMillan (Charlie Ferris) played a cop, and Anna Berger (Nancy Feldman's mother Beryl) played one of the subway passengers. Needless to say, all of these actors have vast IMDB pedigrees...

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Neda [21 Jun 2009|07:56pm]
[ mood | indescribable ]

The video of the death of Neda made me sick to my stomach. I thought it was important to bear witness.

The world IS watching.

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