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Laurel Krahn's weblog since August 1998.

If you watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer this week, you'll surely get a kick out of Ace's recaplet of the episode over at Television Without Pity. Do we even need a full recap? This is just great.

(not like you needed more, but I can't resist quoting these).

NBC Cancels CSI

BURBANK, CA—Seeking to bolster its Thursday-night Nielsen numbers, NBC announced Monday that it is cancelling the highly rated CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. "CSI was a quality show that, unfortunately, always quite lived up to expectations," said Jeff Zucker, NBC president of entertainment. "We tried to give it plenty of time to lose an audience, but in the end, it just was working." Other shows NBC may cancel include Fox's American Idol, ABC's Alias, and CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond.

Bacon Good For You, Reports Best Scientist Ever

ROCHESTER, MN—Bacon, long believed to contribute to heart disease and obesity, possesses significant health benefits, according to a study released Monday by Dr. Albert Gruber, the best scientist ever. "My research has found that three strips of crispy, mouthwatering bacon every morning can actually reduce cholesterol and help slow the aging process," the awesome Gruber said. "What's more, the bacon's positive effects are enhanced when combined with milk shakes and/or marijuana." In 1997, Gruber, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, was awarded nine Nobel Prizes in Medicine for discovering that frequent oral sex with models cures cancer.

Richard Thompson's new album The Old Kit Bag is reportedly fabulous, it's available in the U.K. now, will be released in the U.S. in early May. I can't wait! Wish I could afford to order the import.

Thompson is touring, too, be sure to check his official website to see if when/if he'll be in your area. His website has other cool stuff, too-- like mp3s you can download (I'm especially fond of the song "I Agree With Pat Matheny" which gives you a taste of how very funny Thompson is in concert, something that I'm not sure comes through on his albums).

Joe Jackson's new album is due out on March 11th. There's also a 25th Anniversary Concert DVD due out on March 18th. Jackson has an official site which lists tour information and has other cool stuff.

Dude. There are now songs about the giant lava lamp (via Dave Barry's weblog). And there's an official website for the giant lava lamp project, of course.

"BBEdit Lite has been discontinued and is no longer being developed or supported" (via crabwalk).

What? Crazy talk. And they want upwards of $100 for BBEdit? Yikes. Was my editor of choice when I was working on Macs. (These days I've only a Windoze box and I miss all things Apple. Once I have gainful employment again and some extra cash, I'll be buying a system from Apple).

"Welcome to Reasonably Clever's LEGO Tarot!. Possibly the goofiest attempt at a custom-made tarot deck. Ever."

They said it. (via The Presurfer)

Taquitos.net is apparently all about snacks (another link from Anita's LOL).

Ooooh. A special 25th anniversary edition of John Crowley's Little, Big is in the works (via Anita's LOL).

My friend Shaun has a phone from Vonage and he likes it a lot. It's phone service that uses your broadband internet connection and there are all sorts of nifty geeky cool features that he likes. I'd dig the free long distance option, of course (though honestly, I mostly chat with far flung friends via the net anyway).

The Carrotbox is a cool website devoted to non-metallic rings. Nifty. Found via the always nifty not martha).

A few weeks ago someone pointed me to BBS Mates and I signed up. It's a website where you can find other people who frequented BBSes back in the day. In the '80s and early '90s, that is, on dial-up BBSes. If you called a lot of BBSes (like I did), you may find yourself spending a lot of time looking up info on old systems and commenting on them. (My username and alias over there is simply "Laurel").

I hadn't realized they were still coming out with new versions of NetHack. Huh.

Several months ago, I stumbled onto Weebl and Bob. Strange (yet cute) animated tales.

Since watching a whole bunch of the stories, Kevin and I will occasionally find ourselves saying "pie! me want pie!" for no good reason (other than that it's, you know, funny). Maybe you had to be there. Well, you certainly have to watch some of the cartoons.

I wasn't surprised at all when Neil Gaiman started keeping an online journal on his website. Because I read Neil's topic on GEnie way back when, which was very chatty and journal-y. (I also read the discussions lead by all sorts of other writers of science fiction and fantasy as part of the SFRT-- Science Fiction RoundTable). And then later Neil had a topic on The Well. Ages ago I'd talked to Neil about helping him put up a website with just such a feature. I'm glad he finally got an official website where he can share stuff.

There are plenty of other writers who also have online journals and/or weblogs. Some that I read (listed by author): Dave Barry, Steven Brust, Raphael Carter, Peter David, Pamela Dean, Evan Dorkin, Diane Duane, Sarah Dyer, Peg Kerr, Will Shetterly, Bruce Sterling, Jo Walton, and Jennifer Weiner.

Know of any you think I'd like that I've overlooked? Let me know.

Congenial is a wonderful small convention for science fiction fans that's all about good food, good conversation, and great music. Oh, and the hottub.

Kevin (that's my SO) and I were planning to attend, but for various reasons aren't going after all. If you or anyone you know is interested-- we've two memberships we won't be using (we've also got a room reservation in the con room block we'll be cancelling shortly). Email me if you're interested in any of this.

The con is March 7-9 in Racine, Wisconsin.

I hope to make it to the con next year.

I'm sure these two pieces have been linked to all over the place (sorry, I forget where I first saw them-- but I bookmarked them to read later at least a couple days ago). Anyway.

"Why Nerds Are Unpopular"

and

"Caring For Your Introvert"

I may have more to say about each of them later.

"Say it" (some people might think Rocky Horror when they hear or see those two words, I think of a friendly orange handheld electronic educational game about spelling).

Speak and Spell emulator for the PC. Why the heck not?

I love(d) Jessica's recaps of The X-Files over at Television Without Pity (formerly known as MightyBigTV).

So I was very pleased when she started her own journal-type-thing: it's called Ultratart and it's fab.

"A Day in the Life of the Unemployed" is too true, y'know. Well, except in my case I spend a ton of time reading my livejournal friends list (and sometimes my friends' friends) and working on tv picks and watching way too many shows (thank you, Tivo). I also spend a lot of time thinking about cleaning the apartment or of all the more productive things I could be doing.

So how've you all been? Anyone still out there?

I want to start posting more links again, get back in the habit. Also get back in the habit of visiting some other weblogs and journals and such stuff. So I checked out blogrolling.com and some other sites and added some things to the sidebar. I don't mean for it to be too obnoxious, honest.

But the links have returned thanks to blogrolling and I hope to visit those sites. I'm sure I'm missing some good ones and it wouldn't surprise me if some of the old links no longer fit me or aren't updated as often. So I'll be adjusting my list of links as I go.

So help an ancient weblogger out: suggest some links! (via comments here or via laurel@windowseat.org). I'm so out of the weblog loop. (What's a warblogger? ;-p)

At the risk of repeating some links and news for those of you who read tvpicks.net or my journal, I figure I'll post some DVD news here. Better than nothing. Honestly, I'm just not poking around the web much these days or I'd write more here. Still recovering from the deaths of my grandfathers, and now my Grandma landed herself in the hospital for a little while, too. Still unemployed, too. So things aren't exactly coming up roses around these parts and a result I guess I haven't been in the mood to post here all that much. Will try to do better, butI make no promises.

DVD News:

You can now pre-order Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD from amazon.com. It's due out on June 10th, if you pre-order you can usually save a few dollars off the price (and you'll get it right away). Season 1 of Angel is out now, as are seasons 1-3 of Buffy. Yes, I know more seasons of each are already available in the UK (I've listed those on my TV on DVD page).

Season 4 of Sex and the City is due out in May. Lots of other cool TV DVD sets are forthcoming (check out the TV on DVD page for a much longer list).

TV DVD sets due out on Tuesday, February 25th include: Season 1 of Deep Space Nine; Series 1 & 2 of Red Dwarf; Season 2 of Queer As Folk; Tales of the City; the 4th collection of episodes of Dark Shadows; and the 5th collection of episodes of The Twilight Zone.

Release dates have now been announced for all of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD sets: Season One (February 25); Season Two (April 1); Season Three (June 3); Season Four (August 5); Season Five (October 7); Season Six (November 4); and Season Seven (December 2). I covet them.

Non-TV DVDs I'm excited about: Peter Gabriel's Secret World Live concert is finally coming out on DVD (on March 11th). The quirky Ted Demme film The Ref is due out in March, too (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis and Denis Leary star in it). The special edition DVD of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home comes out in early March and is chock full of extras. (I still want the special editions of the previous Trek films, too).

Now if only I had more time to watch the DVDs I already have. If I didn't spend so much time writing about TV and DVDs, I'd probably have time to watch 'em!