Yinz Deers

Most of you would not be aware that the first day of rifle deer season is a holiday throughout much of Pennsylvania. The kids get the day off school and most people can take the day off work without penalty. Crazy, aint it?
I didn't take my hunter's safety course until I was 30 years old, and then I hunted for only a few years before I gave up the miserable cold and stinky field dressing mess. Yet, my youngest son, Riechter Von Sanchez, has besieged me with entreaties to accompany him hunting this year. Thus and verily have I dusted off the blaze orange duds to sally forth into the woods predawn tomorrow morning.
Why am I sharing all of this? To announce that there will be no webisode Monday post. No, I'll be in the Pennsylvania sylvania, drinking coffee from a vintage Alladin thermos, smoking organically grown cigarettes, and reading "Zombie-ism For Dummies" by a headband flashlight. Oh, and I'll have a loaded 30-30 Winchester lever action rifle.
Watch out, yinz deers! I'm prepared!

Webisode Monday

I've never allowed myself to get immersed in any sort of role playing game (RPG) because, simply, I lack self control and I have an addictive personality. It's a dangerous cocktail, trust me on this.
Yet, this is not to say that I cannot uniquely revel in the obsessive RPG compulsion that is "The Guild".
The webisode show is the brain bairn of writer/actress Felicia Day (Vi on BtVS, season 7, 8 episodes). In "The Guild" she plays 'Codex', a young woman who lives and breathes all things World of Warcraft, and who ends up being stalked by one of her fellow WoW guild members. Hilarity ensues. Really. It's a very clever and witty show, one that Day tried to pitch to the networks who shot her down with the knee jerk reaction that it's 'too niche'. Oh, I beg to differ, Powers That Be. The niche of this show is its kitch, its hook. The characters are all fully realized and I look forward to every new episode that gets posted!
If NBC can pick up that yawner, "Quarterlife" then somebody oughtta give "The Guild" a shot at the big-time.

Cover Girl

As I slouch toward the weekend, and the first snow flurries of the season cascade idly from a steely sky, I can't help but be warmed by this bit of artistic genius rendered by the incomparable Jo Chen. I've loved each and every Buffy comic season 8 cover painted by Chen. Sadly, it's been reported that Chen is stepping aside from her duties, at least for the time being. Why? Who knows. Artist Jon Foster is going to replace her, at least for the time being.
I dunno. Chen's covers on issues 1-9 are nothing short of inspired, and inspiring. She lends an authenticity to her character portrayals that never slips into comic bookland of ridiculous female forms or stances. Yes, Supergirl, I'm looking at the clowns who pencil you. So even though Faith is nude on the cover of Issue 9, she doesn't look as if she's posing for a posse of losers at some strip club.

I for one will miss Chen's brilliant work and hope we get her back soon.

Ribollita

I was foolish enough to ask Miss Kitty what she'd really like for dinner. I thought she'd say something easy like baked mac and cheese or burritos. No. She said ribollita.

Now, for the uninitiated, ribollita is a Tuscan bread soup that starts off as minestrone and then evolves in the following days. Yes, that's right, days. So, if you just happen to have a pot of minestrone lying around your kitchen, then you're in luck! But if you have to make the minestrone first, sharpen your knives because that baby spinach isn't going to chop itself. So, yesterday I spent much of the afternoon making minestrone soup, which was then served for supper along with some garlic bread. Now today I get to try out one of two recipes for the ribollita: One by Giada De Laurentiis or one I got off of divinacucina.com. The latter looks more promising and more appetizing to me, so despite my sister's straight girl crush on Giada, I think I'm going with divinacucina. God only knows how this is going to turn out because even though I've made minestrone soup many times before, I've never made ribollita and I'm a little concerned that it'll come out too clumpy, if that's even possible.
Ah well. I'm sure that if I just serve it with a big enough glass of chianti everything will be fine.

The Bastards!

Friday evening, after fortifying ourselves on meatloaf, Amish egg noodles, and green beans - all washed down with Three Thieves Cabernet Sauvignon (comfort foodie perfection!) - Miss Kitty and I walked down the street to Club Cafe to catch the Heartless Bastards show. The joint was packed and when the Bastards took the stage the crowd erupted wildly (including me).
For years, yes years, Miss Kitty and I have been waiting for the Bastards to come to Pittsburgh. They're not a well known band, but they should be. Fronted by lead singer/lead guitarist Erika Wennerstrom the Bastards employ a fusion of punk and garage grunge that is irresistible and as infectious as pink eye in a day care.
When midway through their set Wennerstrom asked the crowd if Pittsburgh was considered the midwest, one smart ass piped up and said, "Technically we're the western edge of the east coast." Go back to your dorm, CMU nerd! Technically we're the mid-Atlantic, but why get hung up on labels?
When the Bastards launched into 'New Resolution' the girl at the table next to ours went absolutely nuts! The march-like staccato of the drum beat underlying Wennerstrom's power chords just make you want to jump up and down. And her voice! Her voice is deep and smokey so that when she starts screaming the lyrics you just want to hug her, or slam into someone standing close by.
Good times, good times. Hopefully since the Heartless Bastards received such an enthusiastic welcome on their first return to the city in four years, they won't wait so long to perform here again. Personally I'd love it if they came back in the summer and jammed at one of the outdoor festivals!

Half Century of HiJinx

Today is quite auspicious. It's my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. At left is not a picture of them. In fact, who are these people?
Anyway, to celebrate and get them out of town for a few days, we, my siblings and I, pooled our funds and sent them to New Jersey. Nothing says 'We care' like two bus tickets to the Garden State.
The tickets were roundtrip. Give me a break. Mom and Dad are retirees. And like all retirees they like to go to casinos and gamble. There's just something about slot machines that's irresistible to old people. That's how they ended up in Atlantic City.
They're back now, which means that we have to have a huge dinner party and everyone is forced to attend. Reichter Von Sanchez is planning on wearing his black cape, as the weather has sufficiently chilled enough to warrant donning such outerwear. I was thinking about wearing my black leather pants, but as I've gotten older something terrifying has happened to my ass and the pants just don't have the same effect they used to. Fortunately Miss Kitty likes my ass no matter what it does, otherwise...bedlam.
Ah well. So, to Mom and Dad, I say congrats! None of us thought you'd make it this far, not after that unfortunate fork stabbing incident over the last lamb chop.

Dollhouse, yeah

The biggest news to hit Joss Whedon fans since the premier of the Buffy Season 8 comic...Joss and Eliza Dushku are reteaming for the new Fox series, "Dollhouse".

If Miss Kitty were here instead of at work I would demand that she pinch me. Pinch me, sweetie, pinch me!

Ahem and anyway. You can read more about the show and it's concept at the afforementioned link, which takes you to a lengthy Q&A with both Whedon and Dushku. I just adore the way Joss unfolds a story, especially ones with long and demanding story arcs that never feel long and demanding and the second it gets resolved you already miss it. Kind of like the exact opposite of "Lost"which demands every crumb of attention and then takes the crumb away from you and you wish more of the main cast had died.

If the writer's strike can be averted the show will go into production in February, but that seems unlikely so we'll hopefully at least get a Fall '08 premier date on this puppy.