My Year End Wrap Up 2012

Another year has slipped away, and here I sit, reflecting back on what entertained me in 2012.  I always start my wrap up by going back to the beginning of the year, to see how my interests have changed.  I began the year dividing my time between British stuff and vintage television shows…and that’s exactly where I find myself now.  Only the faces have changed!

Best Books:  Might as well get the embarrassment out of the way first.  Normally I read a couple of books a week, but I went 8 months out of the last 12 without finishing a single book!  Oh, the shame.  I could blame my eyes, since I need new glasses, but the real truth is that I spend too much time online.  Making videos has also sucked up my reading time, but that’s for another category.  Of the small selection of books read this year, I really enjoyed Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth, and Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim.  (More about Arngrim’s book in an upcoming post.)  The biggest disappointment was Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.

Best Television:  My television is usually always tuned to either Me-TV or CBS, except on Sunday night, when I watch Masterpiece on PBS.  I still enjoy The Big Bang Theory, but I do think it’s losing something from having too many separate storylines, with the characters spending less time gathered in the same living room.  More characters means less screen time for favorites Sheldon and Raj.  I discovered Leverage in reruns just as the show got cancelled, but at least I have five seasons to explore further.  Since September, I’ve been enjoying reruns of Emergency! on Me-TV.  Another season of Sherlock brought more delight, as well as more Inspector Lewis.  Thanks to a friend, I’m now back to enjoying EastEnders, the British serial drama, and already my life wouldn’t be complete without weekly visits to Albert Square.   This year’s favorite program was Call the Midwife, featuring new favorite Miranda Hart as the wonderful Chummy.  I can’t wait for more of this series!

Best Twitter:   I’m very picky about twitter.  Too much shameless self-promotion?  Unfollow.   Too many retweets?  Unfollow.   Too many conversations that should be private?  Unfollow.  No sense of humor?  I shouldn’t have been following in the first place!  I enjoy humor, whimsy,  and folks who don’t take themselves too seriously.   The most consistently entertaining tweets this year have come from Josh Groban.  I’ve also enjoyed following Russell Tovey.  I can count on a friend to share the best of Demetri Martin and The Onion, so I guess they count, too!

Best Theatre:  Oops.  Didn’t see any.  Never mind.

Best Movies:   I had good luck with the movies I saw in the cinema this year.  Mind you, I still haven’t seen three of the four films I was most looking forward to in 2012, so they will have to wait until 2013!  The Avengers was terrific, and I also enjoyed Life of Pi.  The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t a favorite, but Tom Conti and Joseph Gordon-Levitt made it worthwhile for me.   I saw my first 3D movie, John Carter, but I’m not a fan of the technology.  It was a great year for silents: Napoleon was stunning, and I also saw three films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with The Canadian (1926) making the deepest impression.   Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan had an entertaining beginning and middle, but I was disappointed by the third act.  The best new film I saw in 2012 was Argo.

Best DVDs:  I spent six months of this year with Wagon Train at the top of my Netflix queue.  They never sent me any on the discs, and my queue always said “short wait.”  I could have bought the DVDs for the money I spent on my Netflix plan, especially since I wasn’t watching the discs they sent me instead.  I cancelled my account.   This means I can’t go look at my history for this year to review, but this an easy category.  The best DVDs of my year have been the classic television western Laramie, particularly seasons one and two.  When I’m not watching the episodes again and again, I’m making tribute videos and posting them on YouTube.  I now have more YouTube followers than blog followers!   Which leads me to a new category…

Best Time-Sucker-Upper:  Call it a hobby, a passion, an obsession, a skill or an art.  But this year I started making videos, and now I can’t stop.  I’d been making slideshows using still images at animoto.com, and this summer I tried using their template program for short video clips.  It was okay, but I didn’t like their wide border which wasted space, so it forced me to try Windows Movie Maker.  I had no idea it would be so much fun!  My Laramie tribute videos aren’t very interesting to people who aren’t fans of the series, but I’m proud of my channel and grateful for all my followers.

Best Music:  Mostly I’ve listened to older stuff this year.  When Davy Jones died, I started listening to lots of the Monkees.  I love Gaelic Storm’s album How Are We Getting Home? (2004), discovered in a stack of my own CDs that I never got around to hearing.  I’m definitely going to listen to more of this group in 2013.  I’ve also been enjoying lots of Kate Rusby.  One of my favorite new old songs is “Can’t Turn My Heart Away” by Art Garfunkel.  I’m still enjoying The Book of Mormon Broadway soundtrack, but I learned the hard way not to listen to it in public.  Even with earphones, you look like a nutter snickering at the lyrics.

Best Music Video:  My choices are never conventional, but that’s what you get for taking musical advice from me!   Here’s my favorite:

Never mind that it was uploaded in 2008.  It’s still the most adorable video I’ve seen on YouTube this year!  If you don’t know it, this is India’s national anthem.

Best New-To-Me Software:   Handbrake for ripping DVDs, and Google Talk for saving me a fortune on phone bills.  I chat now with friends around the world, without the complications of installing Skype, and no webcam to show everyone how hideous I look through a fisheye lens.

Entertainer of the Year:  Honorable Mention this year goes to Miranda Hart.  I discovered her in Call the Midwife, and now I’m enjoying her comedy on YouTube and her BBC series Miranda.  The winner is an easy choice.  In April, I purchased season one of Laramie on DVD, and by the end of May, I was a member of Robert Fuller’s official fan group.  While my favorite role is Jess Harper in Laramie, I’ve been enjoying Wagon Train, Emergency!, and all of Fuller’s other television shows and movies.   I’ve spent hours chatting with other fans, making tribute videos and collages, and searching ebay for vintage photos.  For so much entertainment in so many different ways, Robert Fuller is my Entertainer of the Year.  Thank you, Mr. Fuller!

Robert Fuller in Laramie

A Sci-Fi Goof

I was watching hulu.com last night, when an ad for Battlestar Galactica interrupted my program.   I usually don’t pay attention during ad breaks, but this graphic in the middle of the trailer jumped out at me.  Maybe the spell checker was replaced by an evil Cylon?!

Two Years Old

The Ugly Bug Ball turns two today!

When I first started blogging, I read that it takes about two years for a blog to get established and find an audience.  Not encouraging!  I wasn’t sure that it would last for two months, but I’m still committed and enthusiastic.

I recently watched a few episodes of Party Down with Jane Lynch.  I cringed when the geeky cater-waiter kept telling people, “I have a very active blog.”  Identifying yourself as a blogger isn’t particularly cool, and everybody and his dog now has a blog, a tumblr site, and probably even a pinterest board.  People are so busy doing their own thing.  I’m sincerely grateful for every visitor, especially those who take the time to leave a comment.

My first year, I published 95 posts.  This year, I managed 145 posts.  There are new subscribers, and my daily traffic has more than doubled.  To be realistic, many of my “visitors” never actually land on these pages, because of the way image search engines work.  WordPress recently added a world map to their detailed stats, so I now enjoy seeing where my visitors are located.  Most are in the US and the UK, but some are in Poland, Brazil, Hong Kong…even Malta!

I’ve tried to keep things balanced with lots of different topics.  Of course, what I call “balance,” others might call “lack of focus.”  When I’m in the grip of an obsession, I could easily go overboard.  Fortunately, most of the things that fascinate me already have devoted fan sites that I can’t compete with.  On the other hand, it would get too monotonous if I stuck with just the topics that bring the most visitors.  These include Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Ramin Karimloo, and Hadley Fraser.  I feel an obligation to the subscribers who follow me because of the these interests.  I added a West End Index page for those who don’t want to scroll through all the other content.  I also invite friends to write concert and theatre reviews, since I’ve never seen Karimloo or Fraser perform in person.  My first year, I would have been horrified at the idea of guest bloggers, but now I’m delighted when friends contribute to these pages.

I think my favorite post in this second year is Postcards from Camp Hell.  I had a great time putting it together, although it was a struggle not to correct my adolescent spelling and grammar.  I also really enjoyed writing My Huckleberry Friend, My Sondheim Summer, The Rifleman, and all the Stage Door/Celebrity Encounter posts.  There are a lot more photo essays than before, and my favorite is Tanya and Chloe.  Getting silly in photoshop has also been very entertaining.  Congratulations, Jeff Nicholson! is probably my best creation, but I also love a good birthday party.

Making videos and posting them on YouTube began with Enation’s “video for a cause” contest back in July.  I didn’t win, but I definitely got hooked.  It’s another chance to get creative in photoshop.  Now I check my YouTube stats almost as often as my blog stats.  I also finally overcame my aversion to twitter.  Mostly.

I’m not really sure what the future will bring.  I keep getting the feeling that something new should be arriving any minute to grab my attention, but it hasn’t quite happened yet.  Bear with me until it does, and then bear with me when it does!  Thank you to all my friends who keep me going with encouragement and support.  It’s not a ball when you’re dancing alone.

I wanted to post a photo here of this great cake, but I didn’t hear back from my request for permission.  Take a look, and be sure to click the enlarge button!  Who wouldn’t want a frosting slug?!

Wil Wheaton’s Book Event, 2005

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Like many, I first saw Wil Wheaton in Stand By Me (1986), then watched him mature on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94).   He dropped off my radar for many years after that.  I gradually became aware that Wheaton was writing and blogging.  When I started working at Borders Books, I spent a lot of time browsing the entertainment section.  I knew of Wheaton’s Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek.   One day, Wheaton visited the store as a regular customer.  Whenever we had a famous person came into the store, the news spread quickly.  From a distance, I watched him talking animatedly to a co-worker.   He looked friendly and approachable, but I didn’t go over to meet him.  Later, I started reading his blog and leaving the occasional comment.  I also read his books and enjoyed them.  When he posted on his blog that he was appearing at the January 2005 MacWorld convention here in San Francisco, I left a comment encouraging him to visit my Borders again.  He messaged me about doing a book reading.  When I asked the area event coordinator, she told me I would have to organize it myself.  I’d been assisting with lots of events, so I felt ready to take it on.

I had to make sure we had enough copies of Wheaton’s books in the store, although I had no idea how many fans would turn up.  I posted flyers at nearby computer stores to get the word out.  The hardest part?  Getting the event added to the Borders website and automated phone information line.  I don’t think those ever got fixed.  Of course, the most effective promotion was Wheaton’s own blog post about the event:

“Good news, everyone!

When the press release went out about MacWorld, a lot of WWdN readers asked if there would be a reading or signing for people who were unable to afford admission to the conference.

Well, it turns out that we have a mole at Borders in Union Square. She made an introduction for me, and I am super excited to announce that I’ve been invited to their store for a reading and signing when I’m in town!

It looks like the Borders website hasn’t been updated yet, but I’m scheduled for Friday January 14th at 7pm.

Oh! I just got a Really Big Idea™, that could be a whole bunch of Supercool: I have a short list of stories from Just A Geek that I choose from when I perform at bookstores. Based on comments and e-mail, I know there are a lot of WWdN readers in NorCal. How about, instead of me choosing what to read, I let you guys pick what you’d like to hear? If you’re planning to come out on the 14th, say so in the comments, and leave a brief description, or chapter number, or page number, or whatever, and the majority will rule.”

I was excited and nervous when the day arrived.  Once the chairs were in place, the book displays set up, and the posters hung around the store, I just had to wait.  Some enthusiastic fans showed up really early to get good seats, and one of them came up to me to complain.  He’d heard a skeptical employee making snide comments about Wheaton.  It was just the kind of attitude that Wheaton was writing about, coming from people who thought of him as “that guy who played Wesley Crusher.”  I let my supervisor deal with the situation and went off on my dinner break.

When I got back to the store, a co-worker told me that Wheaton had arrived and was waiting in the employee area.  I rushed down and found him alone, sitting on a desk.  I felt bad, because the people who came to do store events were often given the manager’s office and some VIP treatment.  I presented Wheaton with some gifts and introduced him around, and he signed my copy of Just a Geek.  Then we took the elevator upstairs to find a big crowd waiting.  In fact, it was standing room only.  I got to do the introduction, and somebody took a photo and posted it on the internet the next day.  I can’t believe I wore that sweater!  Oh well, nobody was there to see me.

Wheaton had the crowd right from the start.  He’s a great reader.  Somebody posted a brief video of his reading on YouTube:

After the reading, the folks waiting to get their books signed were in good spirits, and it was obvious that Wheaton was enjoying himself.  I should have ordered more copies of Dancing Barefoot, because we ran out. Wheaton was also a great salesman for his favorite poker books.  I kept myself busy taking lots of photos of everything.  The event coordinator dropped by to check things out, and it seemed to me she was basking in the glow of a successful event that wasn’t her own.  Several of my co-workers told me that it was one of our best, including the skeptic.  After it was all over and I was saying goodbye, I finally got awkward talking to Wheaton.  It’s always easier when you’re kept busy!  I was excited to see how he would describe the evening on his blog.  As far as I know, he never got around to it.  It only took me seven years to get around to it, but I’ve got an excuse.  I haven’t been blogging that long!

Later, I received a delightful email from Wheaton:

Hey Stacey,
I have this horrible habit of getting so overwhelmed by everything, I do 
nothing.

. . . like remember to thank you for sending me the amazing photos you 
took when I was up in San Francisco. Oh, I've looked at them and I've 
showed them off to my kids and my friends . . . and I've said, out loud, 
"Stacey was so cool, and look at all this great stuff she helped me get 
done . . ."

But I kept forgetting to just sit my stupid ass down here and type it 
out to you.

Thank you, so very, very much, for making it possible for me to read in 
your store. 

I owe you, big time, and I won't ever forget it.

So thank you for sending me such great photos, and thank you for all 
your support.

I hope this finds you well,
Wil

I saw Wil Wheaton again in fall 2009, at his first wOOtstock performance in San Francisco.  He remembered me, but I made two big bOO-bOOs.  I went up to say hello while he was tweeting (bad twitter etiquette?) right before his performance.  I couldn’t stick around after the show, but it’s not cool to bother a performer before they go on.  Anyway, wOOtstock was great, and I’d love to go to another one.  I very much enjoy Wheaton’s guest appearances on The Big Bang Theory.  Did he influence me to start blogging?  Maybe just a bit!

Other reports of the event:   Doug’s Online Journal       stomachpains      brainwagon

Kony 2012

Some things are far more important than being entertained.  I just spent 30 minutes watching the Kony 2012 documentary on YouTube.  I’m sharing it here, to help spread the word about an important cause. (This video is better seen on YouTube in a higher resolution.)

This is a powerful film that works on an emotional level.  There are critics of Invisible Children’s support of military intervention who are also hard at work on the internet.  I trust people will look at what both sides are saying and make up their own minds about how best to get involved.

Confessions of a Computer Junkie

I am an internet addict.  I once used the internet as a tool, but now spending time on the computer visiting the same sites repeatedly has become my primary form of entertainment.  Frankly, it’s not very entertaining.  I’m not reading books or watching movies the way I did before.  So, in order to break out of this bad habit, I’ve made a Lenten vow to cut the time I spend on the internet in half.  I’m not counting my work in photoshop, because that’s usually creative.  I’m also not reducing the time I spend writing, whether it’s for posts here or messages to friends.  These are too important and too satisfying.  It’s just not productive to check my visitor stats three times an hour, or twitter or facebook or email or ebay or YouTube.  So far, it’s working out okay.  I’ve read half a book in the last two days, and I’m even enjoying my time on the computer more than before.  I’m hoping that the time I spend away will result in more interesting blog posts, since the quality of what entertains me is reflected here.

I have another confession to make.  I spend way too much time on the internet correcting mistakes and submitting complaints.  I’m constantly removing my hands from the keyboard and telling myself, “You are not the internet police.  This is not your job!”  Here’s a good example.  Tonight my book club is discussing Willa Cather’s Death Comes For The Archbishop.  I got the book out of the library over the summer, kept it for nine weeks, and never got past page fifty.  We have a very good rule at book club—you can come if you haven’t read the book, but you can’t join in the discussion.  If I don’t go to enjoy the company, not to mention all the wine and snacks, then I’ll just sit at home browsing the internet again.  This morning I went to cliffsnotes.com (oh, the horror!) to read the summary in order to follow tonight’s discussion. There was a sloppy error in the synopsis, obvious even to someone who hasn’t read the book, so of course I had to submit a correction to the site.  Yesterday I complained to iTunes because I had to enter my credit card number and mailing address just to use the “like” button on an album page.  It’s bad enough that you have to waste time downloading an entire software package just to browse their store.  Spending less time on the computer will not reduce my urge to correct and complain, but I won’t have as much time to follow through.

I know I need to stay off ebay, but at least I rarely spend money there.  I have become fascinated by the selling of cancelled checks as “authenticated autographs.”  Seriously.  People are auctioning bank checks, either written to or by celebrities.  When they’re written to a celebrity, it’s the endorsement on the back that is the valued autograph.  Woe to any collector whose favorite celebrity had an accountant that used a rubber stamp!  My favorite so far is a check written by Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched) to a Hollywood grocery store in 1974.  It is the amount that intrigues me.  Back in 1974, you could buy an awful lot of groceries for $560.  Was she having a party?  Somebody has already purchased this gem, but not to worry.  There are two other checks written by Montgomery that are still for sale.  I can’t help wondering about the more recent checks, with account numbers, addresses, and driver’s license numbers on them.  They haven’t been blacked out and can be seen clearly in the images posted on the internet.  There really isn’t any privacy anymore.  Of course, with paypal and online banking, handwritten checks themselves will soon become antiques from another age.

The other night, I tweeted my intention to spend less time on the internet.  I woke up to find a whole bunch of new people following me on twitter.  Is this supposed to be an affirmation or a temptation?!

Update:  I got a friendly note from the webmaster at cliffsnotes.com thanking me for my correction.  ITunes sent a customer service survey asking me for my opinion of the response I never received about my complaint!

Sweepin’ The Clouds Away

I’ve been listening to my Johnny Crawford Orchestra CD, Sweepin’ The Clouds Away, an album of vintage dance band arrangements from the 20s and 30s.  I decided to learn more about the bands and orchestra leaders that Johnny Crawford mentions on his facebook page, since I’d never heard of most of them.  I love the old photographs from that era, so I was inspired to put together this little video.  It’s much better viewed at YouTube, in full screen mode.

 

Credit from Tumblr

It’s no secret that I hate tumblr.  I’ve seen far too many of my images posted there and reblogged without credit.  I also don’t like the poor search engine, the lack of permalinks for finding specific posts, and the fact that you have to register with tumblr to comment on many sites.  It’s too bad, because there’s some great stuff being posted by interesting, talented people.

I just saw this at fandom-frenzy.tumblr.com, and it made me feel pretty darn happy.  I would tell you the exact link to this, but—well, you know.  No permalinks on tumblr.

(click to read larger version)

Thanks, fandom-frenzy!  I’d send you a direct message, but—well, you know.

My Year End Wrap Up 2011

Another year comes to a close, so now it’s time to reflect back over what entertained me in 2011.  I just looked at the wrap up from last year, to get an idea of how far I’ve come in twelve months.  It’s clear that my focus has shifted in two directions.   I spent a large part of this year with my head in London, after watching the 25th anniversary concert of Les Misérables in March.  I also headed back to the past in a big way, once I started watching RetroTV and MeTV during a summer of unbearable television on the big networks.   These two obsessions have a major influence on my best and worst list of 2011.

Best Books:  Most of the novels I liked this year were written for children and teens.  I particularly enjoyed Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (the 2011 Newbery Award winner) and Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John.  Guitar Boy by MJ Auch and Countdown by Deborah Wiles weren’t perfect, but they each stayed with me long after reading.  My favorite non-fiction book was The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean, which managed to make the periodic table interesting to someone who barely paid attention to science in high school.  The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan was a little book filled with some gems, and it goes into the “hard to categorize” category.  The funniest books were Demitri Martin’s This is A Book, and Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz & David Hayward.  The biggest disappointments were The Sherlockian by Graham Moore and The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz.  The lesson here is to give up on Sherlock Holmes in books and stick to the BBC.

Best Television:  The Big Bang Theory remains my favorite sitcom, just for being consistently funny.  The best line: “Let’s hurry up and watch this Star Wars blu-ray before George Lucas changes it again!” (Sorry for the paraphrase.)  NCIS consistently underwhelmed me, and I’m can’t help wondering if I’ll give up on it soon.  In spite of my declaration to boycott Masterpiece on PBS, I still watched and enjoyed Downton Abbey, Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zen, Jason Isaac as Jackson Brodie, and the Inspector Lewis mysteries.  I spent my summer wrapped up in the old series Da Vinci’s Inquest, and my winter has been dominated by reruns of The Rifleman.  Overall, the television program with the biggest impact this year was the Les Mis concert on PBS.

Best Twitter:  Last year, Matthew Gray Gubler was my favorite tweeter.  He’s still whimsical and original, but now most of his tweets are links to his tumblr page.  I hate tumbr, so this is a big strike against him.  Sorry, Gube.  West End performer Hadley Fraser can be great on twitter, but he goes quiet for long stretches.  Ramin Karimloo tweets with sincerity, but all those tattoo photos freak me out!  Matt Lucas, Josh Groban and Yigit Pura have been consistently entertaining, and Shah Rukh Khan’s twitter feed has a good balance of the personal and professional.

Best Movies:  I did slightly better than last year getting out to see new films on the big screen.  I really enjoyed X-Men: First Class, The Descendants, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.   I’m not sure The Phantom of The Opera 25th Anniversary simulcast even counts in this category!  At the Frameline Film Festival, I enjoyed Kawa and Spork.  I have many more late 2011 films to see on DVD when they’re released in 2012.

Best DVDs:  I watched a lot of bad DVDs this year, just because they featured actors that I liked.  I really need to get over this habit!  While not necessarily bad, I endured a lot of fighting and CGI in movies like Thor, Captain America, and Centurion, just so I could see actors Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, JJ Feild, and Michael Fassbender.  I tried to watch all ten Best Picture Oscar nominees on DVD, but I faltered at 7½.  I did love The King’s Speech.  I hate to admit it, but I think my most entertaining DVD experience this year was re-watching JJ Abrams’ Star Trek with a friend.

Best Streaming:  Da Vinci’s Inquest and The Rifleman on hulu were great, even though I was also watching these series on broadcast television.  The worst: when Netflix split their charges for DVDs by mail versus streaming.  I tried a month of streaming only.  It was a disaster.  Nothing I wanted to watch would play without long pauses to reload.  Now that I’m getting DVDs only, the Netflix site doesn’t tell me what is available streaming only.  Netflix, you’ve got a long way to go before you win back my trust.  One free DVD rental for Christmas isn’t enough.

Best Theatre:  Les Mis and The Phantom of the Opera, obviously, even though I didn’t see either show live in an actual theatre.  I had some fun at San Francisco’s BATS Improv, especially seeing their Spontaneous Broadway.

Best Music:  I’ve spent most of my time listening to Josh Groban, Hadley Fraser, Sheytoons (Hadley Fraser and Ramin Karimloo), and Johnny Crawford.   Another favorite is the song Electricity from Billy Elliot (the stage musical).  Still, nothing beats Hadley Fraser singing Again.  The worst music this year?  Whatever was playing in the trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  Gack.

Best Music Video:  It really doesn’t count, but I can’t help it.  I love Josh Groban Sings Kanye West Tweets.

Best Entertainment News:  Following the news from London about West End performers from the Les Mis concert has entertained me at least as much as the concert itself.  It brought me new friendships with fellow fans from all over, and it kicked off the practice of having guest bloggers here at The Ugly Bug Ball.  If I’m blogging less about the West End, it’s only because things are pretty quiet right now.  2012 promises some guest reviews of Ramin Karimloo as Valjean.

Entertainer of The Year:  Last year was easy.  This year, it’s difficult to choose.  Johnny Crawford is great, but he came along late, at the end of November.  I blogged the most often about Hadley Fraser.  He provided me with a rich variety of entertainment, between the Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera performances, the online news and tweets, the music recordings and the YouTube videos.  Still, Ian Tracey beats Fraser out for sheer volume.  Tracey has been working steadily since he was a teenager, and even without an online presence (no tweets, fansites, or facebook page) he provided me with the most hours of entertainment.  I’m going to have to declare a tie between Hadley Fraser and Ian Tracey.  Congratulations, guys.  There’s no prize, but you get my sincere thanks.  I’m sorry I can’t promise you my exclusive loyalty, because there’s always going to be a Johnny-Come-Lately waiting in the wings!

Hadley Fraser as Grantaire in the Les Mis concert; Ian Tracey as Adam Worth in Sanctuary

Next: What I’m excited about in 2012.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Consider a Kiva Christmas

Here’s my suggestion for Christmas gifts this year.  If you’re tired of giving your money to big corporate retailers who give nothing back (Amazon, anyone?) to buy useless stuff that nobody really needs, just to fill a space under the Christmas tree, consider a Kiva gift card.

Kiva is a non-profit based here in San Francisco, which makes me particularly proud.  I can’t describe their mission nearly as well as their website, but I will try.  Kiva brokers micro-loans between individuals, which means you can loan as little as $25 to a farmer in Tajikistan, or a mother selling fruit in Kenya.  You get to choose where your loan goes, and just reading through the list of borrowers is a lesson in geography.  After you make your loan, you get updates on the status of you loan, and when the money is paid back (with a 98.93% repayment rate), you get to make another loan.  You can also withdraw your money or donate it to Kiva.

When you give a Kiva gift card, you give someone else the chance to experience this process.  I think this is particularly valuable for kids.  Instead of just logging in to facebook on their computers, kids will look through profiles of people around the world who are seeking to improve their lives.  Then they will actually help some of them.  So many gift cards go unused and wasted, with the money reverting to the retailers (although here in California, we have some good gift card expiration laws).  If a Kiva gift card isn’t redeemed after 12 months, the money becomes a donation to Kiva.  At least it’s going to a non-profit doing good work.

There are several ways to give a Kiva gift card: you can print one on your own printer, post one to facebook, send one in an email, or have a card sent by snail mail from Kiva.  The last one is especially nice, but they need at least 10 business days, so be sure to plan ahead for Christmas delivery.

And so, as Tiny Tim said, “A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, every one!

What I’m Thankful For

I’m stunned that Thanksgiving is here already, but there’s nothing I can do to turn back the clock.  Here are a few of the things I’m thankful for this year:

• For Anthony Horowitz, because he finally wrapped up the Alex Rider series before Alex got too morose to hang with anymore, and for writing a new Sherlock Holmes mystery.  Will I feel grateful after I’ve read Scorpia Rising and The House of Silk?  We’ll see.
• For Phil Rickman, because he published another installment of the Merrily Watkins mysteries. Now if it would just become available on kindle in the US…
• For the end of my addiction to General Hospital.   My boss is even more thankful.
• For DVDVideoSoft, for allowing me to put some new music on my mp3 player on a tight budget.
• For Shah Rukh Khan, because he’s in two movies this year instead of the usual one.
• For RetroTV and MeTV, because with all the bad new TV shows on the major networks, I can still be entertained by the classics.
• For YouTube and twitter, although a little less of both during work hours might be a bigger blessing.
• For Da Vinci’s Inquest reruns, but also for having watched every episode already, because now I can go to bed earlier.
• For the two Redbox machines around the corner, saving me from the long Netflix queues for new releases.
• For Alan Cumming, because his introductions to Masterpiece Mystery always make me think he’s enjoying himself more than we are.
• For Josh Groban, because I enjoy his music, but also because he doesn’t take himself too seriously.  His “Kanye West Tweets” video started the year off, and it still cracks me up as the year ends.
• For Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, Penny, Amy and Bernadette.  The Big Bang Theory consistently makes me laugh, and I’m especially grateful for this joke (paraphrased, I’m sure): “Let’s watch Star Wars on blu-ray before George Lucas changes it again!”
• For Hadley Fraser and Ramin Karimloo, because of the music and videos and tweets, but mostly because of the new friends I’ve made this year through following them.
• For the community at St Agnes, who have become a part of my family, and who continually remind me that there’s more to life than entertainment.
• For my boss, because she trades book recommendations with me, tolerates my endless chatter, and is always willing to watch a good movie—or even a bad one, as long as there are good snacks.
• For my friends, because without them to share it all with, it just wouldn’t be any fun.
• For my family, because they make me laugh a lot.  Besides, they’re stuck with me, and they rarely complain about it.

I wish everyone a peaceful, uplifting, delicious Thanksgiving.  May your teams win, your in-laws get along, and your holidays be blessed.

I Don’t Do Fan Clubs

I’m not really very good at promoting my blog, but I do occasionally post links if I’m particularly pleased with something, or if I think a specific person or group might find it interesting.  Occasionally I get an invitation to join a fan club, fan group, or a fan forum in response.  Well, I don’t do fan groups anymore, and here’s why.

When I got my first computer with internet access, back in 1999, I had just discovered actor Ioan Gruffudd.  I spent hours in fan chat rooms with various ladies in the US and the UK.  It was really fun, and these online discussions eventually led to real meetings with several people both locally and in London.  Then it was actor Hugh Jackman, only for him I met other fans in New York.  Then it was a stage actor from London.  For each one, something similar would happen.

First I would meet people who shared my interest after we’d chatted online.  I had about a 50/50 success rate.  Roughly half the people I’d meet from online were nice and normal—or should I say, about as normal as me, which may not be saying much.  The other half were just odd.  Sometimes it was something scary and intense in their eyes, sometimes it was just general social awkwardness.  Most often, what turned me off was a kind of hyper-competitiveness over their obsession.  They conveyed the attitude, “I accept you as a fellow fan, but I am and will always be a bigger fan than you.  My interest, affection and devotion are greater than yours.”  I began to learn how to spot this kind of person through clues in their online interactions, but I’ve never become an expert.  In my online groups, I would try to avoid these people and just stick with the people I genuinely liked, but that’s where the group dynamic became tricky.

It’s really hard to avoid people when they’re members of an online community.  And, there’s something that happens with groups online, when people are able to post their thoughts without face-to-face social restraints.   Sometimes things just get really silly.  I left the Ioan Gruffudd fan group when we ran out of his work to dissect, and the discussion devolved into “If Ioan was ice cream, what flavor would he be?”  Worse, people get nasty.  Often, it’s a failure to be welcoming to new members combined with an attitude of superiority because one has been a fan for much longer.  It’s that hyper-competitiveness rearing its ugly head.  There’s also usually a person or a couple of people who become dominant, and soon anyone who disagrees with these leaders gets pushed out.  What usually happens to me is a growing sense of being boxed in, where I become reluctant to express my real opinions.

My preference now is to find several like-minded fellow fans and connect through one-on-one interactions.  I don’t consciously seek them out, because that kind of deliberateness is creepy!  It just happens naturally.   After some back and forth in public forums, we then communicate privately, where we can be more honest.   I’ve met some wonderful people on YouTube, facebook fan pages, twitter, and through my blog.  It starts with a mutual interest in a particular actor, but the fans who become friends share more in common with me, whether it’s other interests or a similar sense of humor.  I’m lucky to know these people.  And grateful.

So, that’s why I’m not a joiner.  What about you?  I hope you share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.