Much Random Catch-Uppage

[oselle]

The CW upfronts this year were once again held at Madison Square Garden, which is two blocks away from my office. In 2007 (the first year that my company was at this address) I wasn't into Supernatural and then last year, the writer's strike resulted in an abbreviated and very low-key upfront presentation at Lincoln Center instead. My friend and I decided to "go out for coffee" for an hour or so this morning to see if we could catch any Winchester sightings but no dice. We did see pretty much everyone from every returning CW show except their Thursday night lineup, including the entire cast of Gossip Girl. Ed Westwick is a tiny, tiny man. I think he's shorter than Elijah Wood, no joke. A tiny man with a large head but actually somewhat more attractive than he is on television.

The CW must have requested that all of their actresses dress like whores because it looked like the lineup of the Chicken Ranch was doing a trick-stroll down that CW-green carpet. Strangely, when the pictures started hitting the internet this afternoon, the actresses looked normal...just Hollywoodish. But seeing them in person, dressed like that at 12 noon in the middle of Manhattan? They really did look like hookers. And every one of them as emaciated as a crack addict (the camera really does add 10 pounds) and all of them hobbling and slouching in monstrous, ugly heels...kind of depressing, really.

My friend and I had a brief moment of excitement when some ad agency chick who'd attended the presentation said "everyone!" was there and then attempted to show us pictures of the presentation on her cell phone. But we couldn't see anything in the bright sun and when she admitted that she didn't watch SPN and didn't know any of its stars, we wrote her off as an unreliable source. We hung around until the MSG crew started breaking down the CW banners and registration tables and by then we were very, very hot and we left.

I am actually pretty relieved. The crowd of on-lookers was very, very small and security seemed very, very light and so when the actors walked out of 4 Penn Plaza they were right there and I think I'd have had some sort of episode if I'd seen The Lovely Mr. Ackles that up-close and personal. Especially if he was wearing anything remotely like the weirdly porn-starish ensemble he wore to the 2006 CW upfronts, which I still think he wore on a dare.

Speaking of porn I had a genuine, bonafide Wincest dream last night, my first ever. It was very short and if it had been fanfic it would have been in the "Sam and Dean have to have sex to save the world/each other/whatever-they-just-have-to-do-it" genre. Basically, the angels (anonymous angels, there was no guest appearance from Castiel or Anna or anyone else in the show) told Sam and Dean that they had to set right what they'd done (unleashing Lucifer) but before they could get to that business they had to atone for their transgressions by...having sex with each other. While the angels bore witness. Watched, in other words. So there they were in this seedy motel room and they had to fuck under duress while twelve angels circled the bed and just stared at them with no expression on their faces at all. And neither of them wanted to do it but they had to and Sam was on the bottom on his back and Dean was on top with his face turned away and his eyes clenched shut but Sam stared at Dean the whole time. The whole time. In retrospect this all seems rather hot but in media res it was very grim. No really, you perverts, it was. Okay, it was kind of hot in a grim way. Anyway, no one was enjoying themselves! Except maybe Sam. Who seemed quite...taken with the proceedings. For reasons I cannot fathom. At all...

ANYWAY, MOVING ALONG, I actually watched the last 10 minutes of American Idol last night and all I could think was how there have GOT to be people out there writing RPS about Adam Lambert and Kris Allen because DAMN were they adorable. I'm not really invested in who won and from the little bit I saw it did seem that Adam was the better singer but Kris was simply delicious in that prettyboy way that I'm so partial to (q.v. Ackles, Jensen), and together they were such a cute couple what with Kris being so much shorter than Adam and all. I mean, nowhere near as cute as J2 but a daisy-covered basket of puppies, kittens and hedgehogs with one of those Anne Geddes flower babies smack in the middle still wouldn't be as eyeball-searingly cute as J2.

Finally, I found out today that the lease on our office is up in September and no one knows if it's being renewed but we all do know that there has been no initiative to research new office space. So either the lease is being renewed or we're folding in September which would actually sound about right. Our last issue of the 2009 calendar year closes in July and I suspect that's going to be our last issue, ever. I am not at all sure how I feel about that. On the one hand I certainly don't want to be unemployed...on the other? People can sometimes do interesting things when they're unemployed. I probably wouldn't do anything except have panic attacks, but still.

In other news, my sister came for a visit and we went to see Star Trek. Found the plot incomprehensible and thought it was ludicrous that the flagship vessel of the Federation would be almost entirely crewed by Academy grads so young that the ink probably hadn't dried on their diplomas, not to mention mini-skirts and go-go boots -- REALLY??? You sure haven't come a long way, baby. But what the heck. Karl Urban (EOMER!!) was a scene-stealing laff riot as Bones McCoy and Chris Pine was sure working the prettyboy thing to the hilt (q.v. Ackles, Jensen), so I'm good.

BTW, in case you don't know, Smallville will no longer be SPN's Thursday-night lead-in. They're giving that slot to the new Vampire Diaries. I am so sick of vampires.

Finally, I've started reading up on the Dust Bowl era, my interest being piqued by writing the dust storm scenes in Lazarus Came Forth. I'm not even a quarter of the way through Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time and I'm already horrified by how similiar our time is to then, ecologicially, financially, politically. We have not learned anything at all.

Comments

Re: i am so sick of vampires right along with you...

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I was quite confused in the movie by the different versions of Kirk -- the movie one and the one that clearly hearkened back to the original series. How could both have existed?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

What a pity that the two Js weren't there :(

And whoa, interesting dream, Oselle! Heheh, talk about subconcscious ... ;P

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know what my subconscious was trying to tell me there and I don't think I want to know. Sex as penance? Jeez.

[roque-clasique.livejournal.com]

HAHA I had one of those screw-to-save-the-world dreams too once!

I believe it's called "fuck or die" to those in-the-know.

In my dream Dean had to give it to Sam without lube, in a cave by the sea.

I don't even really read that much wincest or slash or porn or anything, so I was impressed by how specific my brain was with the no-lube thing.

Anyway... you are not alone.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, "fuck or die." I knew there had to be some succinct moniker for this genre.

I was surprised that Dean was on top because in most of the fanfic I've read Dean or Jensen is invariably the bottom partner. But it was understood in the dream (the way you know things in dreams) that Dean had to be the ah...pitcher, rather than the catcher. A role that he did not seem to enjoy at all but that clearly transfixed Sam. The subconscious is very dirty.

[ariadnes-string.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the excellent report on CW red carpet. LOL! Sorry the Js weren't there! (though I'm with you, and I think I would dissolve into a puddle of something completely undignified and age-inappropriate if confronted with a real live Ackles).

Speaking of which, I saw ST yesterday, and found myself enthralled by Chris Pine (who is he? Jailbait relative to me, that's for sure!). But I kind of loved his Shatner-esque, pretty, energetic hamminess...

The movie was ridiculous, but in an endearing Star-Trek-y kind of way ("red matter"!?), though the mini-skirts were kind of WTF.

And Bones-who-used-to-be-Eomer cracked me up, too. There is lots of Kirk/McCoy fic swirling around LJ, and, God help me, I can understand why!

That's an impressive dream--very intricately plotted and ceremonial! The only time SPN has ever shown up in my dreams, it was the Js cuddling on an airplane...BORING.

And I hope things work out at your job--or it folds, it impells you into something new and wonderful!

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I know...I never heard of this Chris Pine dude and now here he is being all adorable. I think The Lovely Mr. Ackles could have rocked this role about 10 years ago but he is now over the hill, alas.

The best was McCoy yelling, "Good God, man!" followed closely by the always delightful Simon Pegg as Scotty. At first I didn't even realize it was him. And Winona Ryder...WTF??? Please tell me she doesn't look that old in real life. And please tell me they cast her because she's good friends with J.J. Abrams, because it's sure depressing to think that someone YOUNGER THAN I AM can only find work playing the middle-aged mom of one of the heroes, and also impossible that there were no age-appropriate actresses available to take this part.

Js cuddling is NEVER BORING.

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

OH MY, that was quite a dream!

Adam Lambert has been very coy about his sexuality, but everyone knows he's a fabulous gay man, and he really does not try to hide it. He just doesn't come right out and say it. Anyway, he and Kris were roomies in the AI house, and they have nothing but adorable, squee-worthy love for each other. Adam has said repeatedly that Kris is the most open-minded, tolerant, NICE guy evar, and Kris says the same about Adam. It's disgustingly cute. I hadn't thought about the slash possibilities (what's wrong with me?!) but I'm sure going to look now! :-D

[oselle.livejournal.com]

What I'd heard here and there about Lambert was that he was pretty openly gay or at least gay enough that there wasn't any room for any "is he or isn't he?" speculation like there was about Clay Aiken before he finally came out. I hope that isn't part of the reason he lost, but given some of the sentiments in this country, I'm willing to bet that there were people who voted for Kris Allen just because he was a "nice boy" from Arkansas and not some SoCal queer. Kris Allen seemed so genuinely humbled by winning and I hope that wasn't an act and would love to think of him going all OTP with Adam Lambert.

[pensive]

The first time I saw Trek I was in squee mode just for having my fave franchise on the big screen again. Plus the pretty (URBAN I AM LOOKING AT YOU, QUINTO TOO SOMETIMES). But plot holes? And that movie is "chain of command, what's that?" lol.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

This movie made me understand why Kirk/Spock was the seminal fanfiction OTP. But plot? What plot?

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, but J2 weren't there, were they? It's a shame CW ever left them and also never promoted Supernatural the way it should be.

Your dream about Sam and Dean? Phewwww....I wish Kripke ever made it into one of the episodes. :D

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I suspect J2 had no desire to be there. It's really kind of a hideous event in which the network's stars are paraded out like prize cattle in front of an audience full of advertising agency drones and potential corporate sponsors and there's something depressing about the whole thing. It reminds you that the entertainment industry is just that -- a business -- that has very little to do with art or creativity and I'll bet most actors loathe having to participate in this sort of thing.

[ala-tariel.livejournal.com]

They'd prefer to use their free time with each other. :D

[tskterata.livejournal.com]

I loved Star Trek - the fact that it's the first movie I've seen on the big screen in six months probably helped, but I really enjoyed myself. It was completely ridiculous on so many levels - I mean my arms were sore from all the handwaving (I watch Supernatural - I have very strong arms). Everyone was so shiny (holee crap - Karl Urban) and Eric Bana hammed it up like nobody's business.

I'm sorry you didn't see J2. I'm planning on attending the Vancouver Convention (I've never been to one before), but I haven't bought tickets yet because financially speaking I should really only attend one day, and I can't decide between the more economical Misha and everyone else or the holy trifecta of J2 and Jim Beaver (J3?). I know it seems like a no-brainer, but I too fear that my brain will disengage in the presence of the beautiful Mr. Ackles and I'll miss the whole thing anyway.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm rather relieved I didn't see J2, or even just J. I don't have that many brain cells left to lose. Good luck in Vancouver. I think if you are going to go, you might as well go all the way.

Halfway through Star Trek my sister kept asking me questions and I told her "Just look at the pretty pictures!" And they sure was pretty.

[kjfri.livejournal.com]

This: Especially if he was wearing anything remotely like the weirdly porn-starish ensemble he wore to the 2006 CW upfronts, which I still think he wore on a dare. made me have to look those pictures up. And thank you for the random Friday afternoon photo hunt. Dare or not, that boys can always put a smile on my face.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I was so sure I had a picture of THAT on file but was surprised to find that I didn't. I really should. Jensen in a shiny black shirt and junk-displaying gray slacks and stubble and dirty hair and sunglasses should absolutely be part of my photo archive. Frankly I think the pictures from those upfronts were the genesis of the whole genre of RPS in which Jensen is a high-priced hooker/pornstar/sex slave and Jared is his bodyguard/handler/chauffeur etc.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

I'm tired of vampires too. I thought most of the vampire love was covered in Buffy anyway.

All I will say job situation except to say I hope you've done some serious thinking should the worst happen.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure this is a situation that will be remedied by thinking, no matter how serious. If it was just my magazine that was in trouble I could already be out there looking, but frankly the entire publishing industry is stagnant. Companies where I would have killed to work a couple of years ago have had massive layoffs. Better publications than mine have already folded or are just hanging on and better people than I am are out of work or, like me, working the same job for less money. I've been living pretty frugally for a long time and have some decent savings and, aside from my mortgage, no debt. What else should I be thinking about other than trying to sock away as much money as I can to weather what could be a long employment hiatus?

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

Good for you for saving! Too many people raise their spending level to match their incomes, which doesn't end well. My savings are now saving me now.

I guess the best thing to think about is what to do with your unemployed time. Sitting around shocked isn't going to help (you know that.) But it may not be enough to just network for a few months either, if you think your field is in some sort of permamnent re-structuring. You may have to consider re-training or expanding your own career options.

(my field is different, btw. R&D has been given the shaft since Daddy Bush, so they're expecting much more hiring as soon as the worst of downturn is over).

[oselle.livejournal.com]

The one good thing that came out of my dog's death three years ago was that her medical expenses left me with only $500 in the bank. That scared me enought to get me on a savings kick and now I've got about $40K in the bank. Bully for me, but I know how fast it can go when you don't have any income (although I think unemployment benefits in New York state are for at least nine months).

I think I'd like to sit around shocked for...maybe a couple of months. Then see what's out there. I really like the publishing industry. I have a good friend in advertising who could probably get me an admin position at his agency but things are sucking over there, too. Basically what I do -- advertising/marketing/copywriting -- can be applied to numerous industries but right now nothing is happening, anywhere.

The one good thing about my magazine is that it's privately owned and is basically the only asset the owners have. We're not like Conde Nast or Hearst that have multiple titles and can just up and decide to fold the ones that aren't performing all that well in order to salvage the ones that are. At my place, if the mag folds? The company folds. That doesn't mean the owners won't keep expecting the employees to settle for less and less in order to keep the magazine afloat. Nevertheless, things are really grim right now. The swine flu, of all things, may be the coup de grace -- I'd say about a third of our ad revenue came from Mexico tourism properties and they have pulled ALL of their advertising for the rest of the year.

Maybe it's time to start that novel.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

Oh, and take a look at your budget and stuff too. It's pretty easy to blow through savings even if you're frugal. In my situation, just my basic expenses to live (rent/car/insurance/utilites/COBRA) eat up all the unemployment $$. That's before food and goodies.