Yeah, it's true

Kelly mentioned in the comments the news that there's a Buffy movie being shopped around - a "reboot" without Joss, without Sarah Michelle Gellar, and without ANY supporting characters from the TV show.

In other words, the worst idea ever. And to top it off, the people behind it are the same ones who bought Joss' original movie script and turned it into the painfully campy disaster that is the Buffy movie. Considering they want to make a movie that's "darker" and has "franchise potential," I'm guessing they really have NO clue what happened on the TV series (if season 6 isn't dark, I don't know what is, and I'd say an official comics continuation, various unofficial comics and tie-in novels, video games, action figures, not to mention a TV spinoff that has spawned its own tie-in novels, comics, and action figures pretty much already constitutes a franchise).

Now, before you start to panic, keep in mind that no studio has picked this up, and it's possible this announcement was just a test balloon floated to gauge reaction to the idea (which was very, very negative among fans). So it's possible (likely?) that nothing will come of it.

What does Joss have to say about all this? "I hope it's cool."

Ahh, long weekends

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day. I had a pretty busy weekend. Left work early on Friday so I could drive to my parents' house to join a barbecue already in progress. Spent Saturday at a car show, where my dad won a trophy and I got one of those freaky sunburns that's only on one arm and I have a weird shirt line, and then when it was over, my mom decided to take a different route back to the car, so of course we couldn't find the cross-street where we'd parked, and we walked for about half an hour before we found it again.

That night, we watched "Taken," the Liam Neeson movie where his daughter goes to Paris and doesn't call him when she lands, and then she gets kidnapped - which prompted my mother to say, "You see what happens when you don't call?" (Let it be known that I have gone to Europe many times, and I have never once been kidnapped, so there.) I pointed out that if that ever did happen, I'd be a goner, because my father insists he doesn't like to travel, and would probably say, "I'm not going to France!"

The highlight of the weekend was Sunday, when my parents and I went to another barbecue, where it was really, really windy. My mom had a paper plate with tartar sauce on it (they had the BEST crabcakes there), and along came a gust of wind and splat! Plate hit my dad square in the chest. Huge tartar sauce stain on his shirt.

Dad: The only way it would've been better is if it had hit me in the face.
Mom: You know, I'm finally feeling closure after that wedding cake incident.
Dad: What wedding cake incident?
Mom: OUR wedding. You smooshed the cake in my face.
Dad: You really need to let that go.

Fortunately, when we got home, my mother managed to work her magic with Shout spray cleaner, which prompted her to say, "We should reenact the whole thing and film it, and send it to Shout to use as a commercial. This stuff really works!"

On Monday, my parents decided it would be a good day to clean the deck. My dad got out the power washer and everything. I said, "The hell with this. I'm going home."

Oh, and in between all the excitement, we also did some trip planning - we're going to San Francisco in July!

Shh!

I did not watch the HIMYM finale OR the 24 finale last night, so nobody say anything. I'll probably get to 'em tonight.

In the meantime, looking for ways to save money in this tough economy? Don't do this. My favorite quote from the article:

And while there is no national database that tracks do-it-yourself home injuries in recessions, experts say that there does seem to be an increase in the kind of accidents and mishaps that come with spending more time at home, based mostly on anecdotal evidence.

Finally!

Usually, if I'm not posting for a while, it's because I'm busy, and then there's this whole catching-up process where I try to cover everything that I missed over the X number of weeks I wasn't able to check my regular blogs.

Lately, it's been the opposite. Plenty of time to read, nothing to talk about. Most shows are winding down (WTF was up with the Bones finale?), and so the only big news is in what's getting renewed. If you've been following along with the cheat sheet I linked to a while back, you should be up-to-date, but in case you're not, here's the deal.

First and foremost, CHUCK IS BACK! Albeit with a reduced budget, but that seems to be par for the course in TV this year. Also an emerging pattern is that low-rated shows seem to have a better chance at renewal this year, since I guess the networks would rather spend their money on low-performing shows they already have than risk spending it on new shows that might do even worse. That's apparently what saved Dollhouse (along with, again, the slashed budget thing), which I'm kinda "meh" about. I was ready to call it quits, but I hung on till the magical episode 6, and... yeah, it's better now than it was at the beginning, but I found the finale somewhat disappointing, and wouldn't really have minded if that was the last we saw of it. I feel like this time Joss' grand statement is kind of getting in the way of the storytelling. (Also, I no longer trust him farther than I can throw him, after how he ruined the Buffy season 8 comics.)

Also, this article is mostly for Kelly, but honestly, it pisses me off that my diploma is in Latin. I find it ridiculous that we need to make up Latin words like "Franklinus et Marshallanium" (I have no idea if that's right but it's close enough) just to make ourselves sound smarter. It's bullshit. That's not the name of the college I went to, and I don't want it on my degree.

Happy birthday to MEGAN!!

Yay!! Hope you have fun at the concert!

Nail-biting

It's that time of year when we find out whether all our favorite shows have been canceled or not. Still no word on Chuck, but we know that Life is out and Fringe is in. I'd kind of have preferred that the other way around. Life was awesome. If you need a list to keep track of everything, here's a handy one. So, to sum up the shows I watch:

Already renewed: 24, Fringe, Friday Night Lights, The Office
Likely coming back: HIMYM, Bones, Chuck (although I'm not sure I trust this), Parks & Recreation
Likely canceled: Cupid, Dollhouse, Kings (and I just started watching it, too)
Already canceled: Dirty Sexy Money, Life

I have a weird life

Went to McGrath's last night with Jade and saw pirates. Also met a chick from Estonia who kept grabbing Jade's boobs, until her boyfriend dragged her away all, "Uh, sorry for the intrusion." She also danced on a table (the Estonian chick, not Jade). Ah, Europeans. No sense of boundaries.

Today, there was a bug crawling around on the carpet, and Chelsea, who hates bugs, was meowing frantically and giving me a pitiful look. I was all, "No, you kill it!" (It was a big bug.) After letting her stalk it all around the living room and swat at it unsuccessfully, I finally intervened and killed the thing. My cat is a terrible hunter.

Also, anyone want to go on a cruise to Alaska? If we go next week, it's only $499.