New Vehicle for Holly and Robin!

Well, it's not actually new, but they're trading in their old car and getting a newer Hummer H3.

The dealer didn't have what they wanted on hand, so it's getting shipped in from North Carolina, and it's on it's way. It's supposed to be dark green, but the dealer sent her photos, and they're of a blue one. I'm guessing that the photos are generic ones and not of her particular vehicle. But here goes:

It's a shame, because the blue color in the photo is really pretty.

Here's what the front seats look like.

Once again, I think this is a generic photo because the seats in the car they're getting are supposed to be black leather. Back seats look like this:

And here's the cargo area:

It looks like the back seats go down to provide even more space if you're not carrying people, too.

I am so excited! I can't wait to ride in it! Holly says it has lots of blind spots, though, so I'm less than eager to drive it.

Something seems to be in the air, because Lynn got a new vehicle, too. You may remember that I recently had photos up of her beautiful, not-very-old Prius with it's front smashed in. I can only guess that the insurance people thought she should get a new one rather than fix the smashed one.

But here are the photos:

The front seats:

And the cargo area:

And I think that's enough car photos  for one post.

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The Monday before last, I had something happen that embarrassed me.

There is a lady who lives across the hall from me, Ms. Ray. She's a really wonderful, friendly person.

Well, I rode downstairs with her in the elevator, and she was telling me that in spite of the soundproofing in the building (which is very good), when I laugh, she can hear me all the way across the hall! She said that she enjoys it, though, because every time she hears me laughing, she has to giggle, too.

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There's some great science fiction on TV this weekend! You need to check it out for yourself because there's just so much! TNT will be rerunning The Librarian trilogy on Sunday. SyFy will be serving up a lot of serviceable "B" movies most of the weekend, and don't forget to check out BBC in America. There will be a new Being Human on Saturday. Oh, and Hallmark seems to be running all the Mystery Woman series on Saturday, so if you like mysteries and haven't seen them, it's worth watching.

I'm not going to give you any more hints than that because there's just too much to list, so check out everything!

And have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday, Invader!

Twenty years ago, on the first of November, principal filming started for a movie that had the working title of The Killing Edge. It was released in theaters all over the world with various names, but eventually came out on VHS as Invader! Later (much later), it was released on DVD.

Here you see the German cover.

This is the Japanese Cover.

And here we have the British cover.

Here's my story on the film.

I headed down to Virginia on Halloween, and somewhere in Maryland, the drive chain on my car broke, leaving me stranded. A state trooper came along, called a tow truck, and I wound up in a motel on Halloween night. The only good thing about that was that the motel had cable, and I got to watch Evil Dead, a film by John's friend, Sam Rami, who I was later lucky enough to meet at the premier for Invader!

The next day, I finally got down to John and Cindy's house, and started my part on the movie, which was, initially, to do all the computer work and hold down the fort and do administrative things for two weeks while everybody else was on location.

They started off the location shooting with one of the crew running an errand with John's car and crashing it. This movie was hard on cars at the beginning. There was another car it was hard on, too, and that was a little yellow sedan, which we put bullet holes in during filming. Later on, John became the hero of all the little kids in the neighborhood when he drove up in a car full of bullet holes.

While everyone else was on location, the Berlin Wall fell, and when they came back, everyone was asking about it. They were asking because other people were talking about it, and none of them had heard news reports or done anything but film a movie for two weeks.

Most of the film was done on location, one way or the other. The place we filmed in most often was the Prince Georges County Film Office, where we got into some really interesting things at one point with some dueling videotaping. Except for the initial two week location shoot, one of my main jobs was to document the making of the movie on videotape. But while we were at the Film Office, they wanted to document the making of the movie, too, and the video cameraman was blown away that we were also videotaping it, so he took a lot of footage of me, and we eventually got into a game of taping each other. The film office got a batch of this footage broadcast on TV, so I got to be on TV along with everyone else. There were some shots of me applying makeup to some of the actors in what looked like a glamorous dressing/makeup room, but was really the men's room at the Film Office. Of course, they interviewed John and Phil, and showed lots of action shots, which made it a fabulous trailer for the movie.

One interesting day, we were filming at some government office in PG County, and it was supposed to be a cafeteria in the Pentagon. It was memorable for several reasons.

First of all, we shot Robert Biederman.

Walter Suarez, who did all the explosive special effects for Invader and New Genesis, rigged Robert for it, and Robert was really nervous because he had never done it before. But Jack Lane fired a prop pistol at Robert, and he and Walter did a fabulous and very visual job of showing him getting shot!

Hans learned CPR especially for the occasion, right before we filmed him doing CPR. One of the "medics" that showed up to take over from him was a real paramedic, and was the one who taught Hans how to do it.

The other "medic" was a friend of John's who wanted to be in the movie. He was supposed to be in the military, but he showed up with hair so long that he could almost sit on it! Not something that anyone in the military would be allowed to have (except a woman who kept it up when in uniform). John gave him the choice of not being in the movie or of cutting his hair. He finally agreed to get it cut, but didn't know where he could do that. So, John had me cut it for him. I left it longer than was regulation military, but soaked it with water, and plastered it against his head in the back so it would look shorter. I heard later that his mom was delighted with it because she had been trying to get him to cut it for a long while. I heard that he even liked it, once he got over the shock.

That same day, I got to stand on a table with the video camera and pretend I was a surveillance camera and film a fight in the cafeteria.

We did one marathon day and night at the Film Office. We initially did a lot of filming in a conference room there, and one of the actors involved was George Stover, who has a cult following due to having been in all of John Water's films.

Later on, we did some shots that were part of the night scene in the film where the prototype fighter tries to kill everyone. During breaks in the filming, Hans Bachmann, Al Smith and Rick Foucheux did a little chorus line number, kicking up their feet. While they were doing that, Phil Cook grabbed the smoke machine and ran around behind them to add more foul-smelling "smoke" behind them. He came dashing back and dropped the smoke machine to the cement floor of the sound studio, where it struck a spark and burst into flames.

Matt Herath, who was slouched down in his chair, and looked like he was asleep, was actually totally awake, and yelled "fire!" before I could manage to, and I was paying attention. I guess Matt was, too. Phil skidded to a halt, ran back and grabbed a cardboard box, which he upended over the flaming smoke machine. Luckily, the lack of oxygen put out the fire before it could ignite the box. Matt yelled across the room at him "Oh, very good, Phil! I always use cardboard to put out fires!"

Right after I met Steve, who I later married, we needed to do some pick-up filming. Principal filming was over and we were in the process of editing it, so it was a bit later. I asked Steve if he wanted to be an extra in a film. He, and a bunch of his friends showed up to be in it, and we all played soldier for the day.

Well, there are a lot more stories I could tell, and I'm only telling stuff I saw with my own eyes, so it's only one person's view of the filming. There's so much more to say.

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The Librarian trilogy is currently playing on TNT. Quest for the Spear is almost over, and Return to King Solomon's Mines is about to begin. But if you enjoyed the New Orleans parts of my Halloween post, check out Curse of the Judas Chalice later! There's a lot of good New Orleans stuff in it.

I hope you've been having a great weekend!

Librarian on TV Today!

Starting at about 5 pm (here), TBS will be showing all three of The Librarian movies back-to-back! Don't miss it!

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Pennsic is ending, which is sad for all who were there. And it's always hard to pack everything up and go home, but home is so comfortable, just waiting for you. The good thing about getting home on Saturday is that you have Sunday to recover before you have to go back to work.

I'm sure that many people will start to put photos of the war up on the internet during the coming week, so that's something to look forward to.

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The computer has been shipped via FedEx, and is on it's way from Colorado. The tracking number they gave me isn't in the system yet, so I don't know where it is. My experience with FedEx, though, is that it usually arrives by the time they manage to get tracking info up. I have high hopes for Monday.

This new computer may change the face of blogging for me. It should certainly change the face of Twitter for me, because it will be convenient to Tweet on the spur of the moment. We'll see.

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Kyle's first sock is done (except for darning in the ends, and I've got a head start on the second one. She's found out about it already, and unlike most grandchildren, seems to be happy that I'm making her socks. She seems to become quite attached to stuff I make for her, just like her mother.

Have a great weekend!

Quick Post! (again)

I was really busy yesterday, and I have lots to do today, so this will be quick.

I finally got the rest of the yarn for the stockings ordered. I tried over the weekend, but the JoAnn Fabrics website was malfunctioning and wouldn't let me actually pay for the order and place it. I had better luck on the phone today. I also got the order for the DP needles for the heel part ordered from Knit Picks.

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I've been darning in ends and finishing a pile of projects that just needed ends woven in but were otherwise finished. Some of those projects will need blocking, too, but I'm saving those up to do in one batch. 

I now have a dedicated box that is collecting finished Christmas presents that are ready to wrap and give. Once I finish all the projects that are almost done, it will be a lot more full.

I also ordered the stuff I need to make Christmas cards. Now that I have a working printer, I ordered the card stock, envelopes and some glitter glue. I seriously never thought I'd be putting glitter glue on anything, but the art I'm using for the cards almost screams out for it. I suspect that the little wreath I got for my apartment door will look really smashing with it, too. The glue I ordered is clear with glitter that is also clear, but iridescent. I saw some commercial wreaths that had something similar to this last year, and they were beautiful.

I also plan to make some nifty Christmas ornaments to include with the cards.

Oh, and I ordered a punch to use to make hang tags from for stuff I've knitted. I plan to update my logo, and these should make really neat tags with the logo.

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For knitters/crocheters/craftspeopls/fans of Firefly, Buffy, etc., Joss Whedon gave an interview about crochet, knit, and crafts in general at crochetme.com. You can see a transcript of the interview here. He even discusses Jayne's hat.

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The Librarian trilogy on TNT yesterday was wonderful! If you missed the new one, Curse of the Judas Chalise, it will be on later in the week, along with Leverage, which is the best pilot I've seen in a long while. Check your local listings for Tuesday evening for precise times.

Tuesday evening, the pilot for Leverage will be on again, followed by the second episode. The second one will be on at the same time as Fringe and The Mentalist, but if you want to see all three, Leverage will be repeated later in the evening.

Tonight, we'll be having the usual four new episodes of Lost on SciFi, plus new Chuck, Heroes, and My Own Worst Enemy on NBC.

I need to go and get stuff done!

Have a great evening!

Fun Saturday

Holly and I went out together yesterday, and I, for one, had a wonderful time!

First stop was Borders, where I got my own personal copy of Beedle the Bard. I brought along coupons for both of us, and we each got a bargain.

Holly bought a collectors edition of Beedle through my Amazon store, and it arrived this past week. I wanted to see it, but she said it's so big that she didn't want to bring it along.

We stopped in Michaels to get the rest of the yarn for the stockings. I found the beige yarn for Santa's face, but they had none of the red yarn that I started using for the main color of the stockings. I tried to order it from JoAnn Fabrics over the internet this morning, but their website (although it will accept the order), will not let me pay for it and finish the sale. I've bought from them over the internet before, so I don't know what was wrong. I tried to call them, but they won't be open for phone orders until tomorrow. There will be more stocking info later in the post.

We went to the WalMart that actually has things for sale so I could get what the local WalMart didn't have. My sister who works at a different WalMart says I should complain to them, and once I figure out how to do that, I will. I keep hoping that they'll fix the problem on their own, but that really isn't happening.

The other WalMart has Caron Simply Soft Eco, and I got some for a scarf/mitts/hat for someone (who shall remain nameless at this point) for Christmas. They had several beautiful colors to choose from, and this is what I got:

That the start of the Just Enough Ruffles scarf, which you can see if you belong to Ravelry.

A while ago, I completed the cuff for another Santa hat, and just hadn't taken a photo, so here it is:

I am liking my Santa hat so much (even though I haven't made the pom pom at the top yet) that I thought a friend of mine might like one, too, to show his Christmas spirit. So, this will be made in his favorite color.

Then there are the whole pile of projects that are knitted, but need some Kitchner stitch and ends darned in and they'll be finished (except for the few that need blocking).

I plan to spend the daylight hours finishing these and then getting back to the Christmas stocking.

Here's the hood for John M, finished except for kitchnering the top of the hood, darning ends and blocking. It's so close to done, it's a shame not to finish it today.

I've been meaning to buy a light so that I have adequate light to knit by for the last two years, and at some point I'll get around to it (translation: have the money to get one or two). In the meantime, I'm reduced to waiting for daylight to finish projects that need light to see for finishing details.

And now, back to the first stocking. 

I found some gold metallic yarn for the star on the top of the Christmas tree, even though you can't see it here. I'm about to start on the furry part of Santa's hat. The intarsia (multicolored knitting on the top of the stocking) is the slowest part. Once I'm past that, the foot will go quickly. 

At this point, it's accumulated so many loose ends on the back that it's difficult and time consuming to handle, so some of the ends I'll be working on today will be on the back of the leg of the stocking. You can see a very small amount of the ends at the bottom of the photo. I've added a hem to the top of the stocking so that it will have a lot less tendency to roll.

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While I'm sitting and knitting this afternoon and this evening, I'll be watching all three of the Librarian movies on TNT (Quest for the Spear, Return to King Solomon's Mines, and the new one, Curse of the Judas Chalice), followed by Leverage, which sounds like it will be good.

For those of you not so inclined, I hope you're getting to see the Harry Potter movies on ABC Family. They will be showing Goblet of Fire this evening. and working up to them with earlier movies all day.

I hope you're having as much fun this weekend as I am!

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PS  When I was leaving yesterday, there were a whole batch of people arriving to decorate a Christmas tree on my floor of the apartment building. When I got home, there was a bag of candy and Christmas greetings on my door. This is an amazing place to live!

The Librarian just started. Got to go!

Twenty Days Until Christmas!

But if you celebrate Twelfth Night, you get an extra dozen!

On that cheery note, here is a photo of my progress so far on the first Christmas stocking I'm knitting as a commission.

That's the sample stocking on the left, some of the yarn bought for the stockings, and the small amount I've gotten done so far. For nonknitters, you should understand that stockinet stitch (which is what this is) tends to roll until it's blocked. That's why the bottom is rolling up over the date. I'm actually about to start the icicles at the bottom of the white section at the top. This seems like slow progress, but since I haven't yet found the yarn for the Santa face on the other side, it's just as well. The upper left hand ball of yarn is the fuzzy stuff for Santa's beard and the fur on his hat. I thought I'd have trouble finding something good in the store, but it was almost the first thing I found. Instead, it's the skin-tone yarn I'm still looking for.

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While I was out yesterday, I got some rechargeable batteries for my camera. I had planned to get some of the new, ecologically superior hybrid ones from Amazon, but saw these in the store and snapped them up.

The fine print on the package was very fine, and I didn't discover until I got home that their claim to ecological superiority depended on the fact that they used slightly less packaging materials (thus saving a bit on landfil) and the fact that (like all the other rechargeable batteries)... they're rechargeable! So you don't keep using and tossing non-rechargeable batteries.

Bring your glasses and read the fine print when you're shopping.

Now that they're home, I'll keep them, because I really do need batteries, but I'll get the better ones from Amazon in the next month or two.

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Tonight, we have the usual, but all new episodes of Ghost Whisperer, Stargate Atlantis
(along with a rerun from last week in case you missed it) and Sanctuary.

The SciFi Channel is doing a dragon theme on Saturday, and they're rerunning Dragon Sword along with the rest. For you fans of really, exceptionally bad movies, you'll want to tune in to Grendel. It's truly horrible. I couldn't stand to watch much of it, but several other bloggers did, and wrote glowing reports of it's total hideousness.

On Sunday, they'll be running Tin Man again, and later, a movie called Tristan and Isolde. I haven't seen the later movie, but I love really old stories, so I can't wait to watch.

Of course, don't forget The Legend of the Seeker on the CW on Saturday evening, Harry Potter all weekend on ABC Family, and The Librarian movies (afternoon and evening) and Leverage on TNT on Sunday. As usual, check your local listings.

I came across some really neat SF stuff on the internet, too.

There's more about The Librarian series on io9 here.

There's some Doctor Who fanfic (?) from the BBC site at Planet Galifrey. I haven't read all of it yet, but the little I did read looks interesting.

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I played around with my camera the other night (the first night that there was no cloud cover) and snapped this photo of the moon.

One thing I discovered was that even though it's got an anti-shake scheme, you still need a tripod to photograph something this far away. But I like it. That's the full frame, nothing cropped. I love this camera!

I know I keep saying this, but I really have to get the apartment reorganized and set up for Christmas.

Today!

Well, at least started today.

I hope you have a great Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

We Have (some) Yarn!

I spent a lot of today shopping for yarn for the Christmas stockings I'm knitting for a customer.

After examining the sample stocking, I realized that the person who did the originals did it to a larger gauge than specified in the instructions, which say it should be knit at seven stitches per inch on size 3 needles. The sample stocking was knit at eight stitches per inch, and I found that I could do that with Wool Ease on size 4 needles. I pulled some yarn from stash and knit a gauge swatch last night after getting the sample stocking.

This means that I don't have to order a bunch of new needles in size 3, I can use my Options needle set to provide the size 4 I need. I'm going to get a set of double point needles in 4, though, because I like DP needles for the heel part of regular socks when I knit them, and I don't have any size 4 DPs.

So today, I hopped on the bus and went to JoAnn Fabrics and shopped for yarn. I thought the Wool Ease red (Ranch Red) would be too orange and too bright, but it turns out that the sample is even more orange and brighter. Ranch Red is probably as close as I'm going to get to the color. Unfortunately, the store only had one ball. I did get the two balls of dark green, which I think will be enough. I also found a white for the top and the toe that looks like snow. It's a bright white, and has a bit of subtle sparkle, just like snow. I grabbed three balls of that. 

Then, I surprised myself by finding a fuzzy white yarn that looks like it's going to work beautifully for the fur and Santa's beard. This is a softer white than the stuff for the "snow" at the top of the sock.

I didn't find a good color for Santa's face, though. And I still need more of the red. One skein is not going to make five stockings.

But I have enough to make a start on the first one.

Walking around JoAnn was an eye opener. Large sections of the shelves were empty, and I started to get a bad feeling, the more empty shelves I saw. Then I found a sign apologizing for the lack of stock due to the store closing. It turns out, though, that they're just moving to a location that the bus doesn't go to, and I can't get there without a lot of walking.

I'm bummed.

It's better than if they were going away entirely, though.

I should have a photo or two on Friday of the yarn and what little I'll have done by then.

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No post tomorrow due to extensive dental work starting early, and probably making me feel bad for the rest of the day.

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Apparently, Leverage will be premiering on Sunday, not Saturday as I mistakenly thought. Sorry. The trailers look good, though.

The Librarian movies (Quest for the Spear and Return to King Solomon's Mines) will be back this weekend on TNT, and there will be a new one. The first two are excellent (some of my favorite movies), so with any luck the new one will be, too.

I need to get some sleep so I can get up early to go to the dentist tomorrow.

Have a great day!