Sad news from outside the Hollywood realm because this guy just didn't roll like that.  You probably won't even hear about it on the news, which is sad.  He was the ultimate trifecta...actor, writer and director.....Patrick McGoohan.  

He was a hero of mine, not only based on his body of work but because of his beliefs, perfectionism, genius and work ethic.  He wrote, starred, produced and directed many of the episodes of his tour de force, The Prisoner.  A thinking man's (woman's) drama which questioned the reality of freedom and choice.  A show that is still fresh today with its use of wireless phones, government cover-ups and the convoluted meanings behind good and evil. He influenced the way I think and question the world around me to this day. 

McGoohan was an underestimated actor and influenced much of the sci-fi we see today.  He was a visionary who refused to use a gun in his show "Danger Man/Secret Agent", relying on his brain power as a British operative rather than fire power.  He even turned down the role of James Bond because he felt James Bond was 'morally bankrupt'.  His last great role was as King Edward Longshanks in "Braveheart".

I've always said it was a strange thing that my two favorite actors would share similar numbers.   McGoohan for his role as "6" and Eccleston for his role as "9". 

A sad day not only because we lost a visionary but it will go unnoticed.    Cheers, Mr. McGoohan.....Be seeing you.....

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! While we're all waiting for the Christmas special to air, here's a little Xmas game to keep you from killing all your relatives.....:)

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Just saw Chris Eccleston on the Sarah Silverman show. He's as gorgeous as ever even as he spoofed British sci-fi and obsessed DVD fanatics. Does he really sleep alone....lol :'(

Having a glass of bubbly and toasting our new president from our home town in Chicago!  History is a beautiful thing.....

 Happy Belated Birthday to angdelia



Alittle bit of Eccles makes everything better!  Hope you had a great day!

Many thanks to my flist for the many birthday wishes. Needless to say, I've finally recovered from the 4 days of celebrations.

I've now seen 'The Dark Knight' 3 times. To say that it was an excellent film is really an understatement. To say it was a great superhero movie would be selling it short. The film reaches beyond genres and weaves an intricate story around the struggle between good and evil. A character driven story with a tour de force performance by the late Heath Ledger which asks questions instead of making statements. What is needed to defeat evil without becoming evil in the process?

The crux of the movie can be found in this quote: "You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain."

This is a film that does not leave you and hence you end up seeing it multiple times just to unravel all the layers. Christian Bale's Batman is character driven and moves beyond comic book portrayals. Bale is so good that he allows Ledger to own the screen without losing sight of his own character. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman are not simply window dressing, they move the plot along at breakneck speed adding balance to the struggle between Batman and the Joker.

And my city never looked better on film. Kudos to Chris Nolan for choosing Chicago to become Gotham City.

It works like the Rice Bowl vocabulary game for free rice to third world countries. Here's one for our furry friends and a bit of dog and cat trivia to boot.


http://www.freekibblekat.com/ Cats

http://www.freekibble.com/ Dogs

For all the Whovians on my flist...It's D-Day. For my Brit friends who will be watching the finale in a few short hours, I wish you much squeeing as you bite your nails through the finale. The pessimist in me believes we'll all be sitting in front of LJ with boxes of Kleenex. The optimist hopes for a shipper ending with an exclamation of "EVERYBODY LIVES!" The realist hopes for a finale that does not suck ala 'Last of the Time Lords-Love Boat special' redux. However it turns out, I'll be on later tonight catching all your posts and enjoying our shared cyber fandom experience. Till then....

PS: Is it wrong for me to wish for a Nine flashback? No? kthnx!

Piper came over on Sunday and met Patton. Things are going well. Now if she will only realize cats are toys not to be played with! She is an American Stratfordshire terrier/pit bull mix. I was terrified when I found out about the pit bull part! But the only thing she aggressively does is lick you to death and cuddle. The third picture is her David Tennant impression! LOL Just an unbelievable dog!

( Cut for extreme cuteness )

Hey...if anyone is interested I just posted part two of my "Run!" ficathon fic "Ancient Tomes and Bittersweet Wishes" at hearts_in_time. I swear...I'm never doing this again.






Part one


Part two

I hate people. I mean seriously...you use LJ to escape rl and then you meet more pompous assholes here. Where do they get off? Jesus Christ...I'm outta here...

Someone needs to icon this....STAT!!!!!!!!!

:drools::


http://iesb.net/images/stories/productionstills2/DESTRO-205_F.jpg

Need emergency beta NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey babe...check your email. Don't know if the one listed in your userinfo is one that you use regularly or not.

Happy Birthday Lillibetm3!

A small offering for my favorite Nine/Rose author!




The Doctor Dances on Lilli's Birthday!

I just saw a commercial for Torchwood series 2 on BBC America. Apparently series 2 is beginning a run on January 26th. Has series 2 even aired in the UK yet? Is this show so insanely popular here that they will be aired simultaneously? Holy shit....

I haven't posted anything in a while because it's been bat shit around here lately. But today really took the cake...

I walk into work this morning (I'm a teacher)and one of the students drops in front of me and has a seizure. We got him stabilized and called an ambulance.

At 2:10, a gang fight broke out between two 8th graders in my computer lab. It's the worst class I have. They are a transitional bilingual Hispanic class so a)they understand English but refuse to speak it b)talk in Spanish so I can only marginally pick up what they are saying and c) are all gang-bangers. I just barely broke it up, called security and the fucking fire alarm goes off!

Turns out one of the poor autistic students (he's only 9) ran out of his class, sprinted down the hall and pulled the fire alarm.

So, now I'm stuck with the classroom full of gang-bangers who are trying to kill each other AND have to usher them to safety---->OUTSIDE. It's freezing, it's snowing and no one is listening to me. We get outside...only to have the fight start again. I screamed for security but no one can hear me because we have a huge campus.

I watched these 4 kids pound each other into oblivion in the snow and decided that it wasn't worth trying to break up. I moved the other 'students' out of the way and let them have at it until security and the Fire Dept. arrived.

But I can't shake that mental image of these young kids trying to kill each other over nothing. Is this why I became a teacher? What the hell is going on? If our children don't eat themselves to death, they most certainly will kill each other off, one by one. As for the future of America? I'm trying in earnest to teach it right now but if they can survive past high school, they will be too under-educated to hold even the most menial of jobs.

For the first time in the 16 years I've been teaching...I'm scared.

Maybe I should just laugh it off as just another day in Chicago....

Is there anyone else out there watching 'The War'? It's just one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Burns has really come to redefine this genre and this documentary is no exception.

I really debated whether or not to watch this. My parents were Holocaust survivors and rarely spoke of their experiences. Even though we were not Jewish, the Nazis used Polish civilians and POW's as slave laborers and later placed in death camps for resistance or because they could no longer work. My father and I used to watch war movies and documentaries together and it was in those moments that he would mention tidbits and memories of the things they endured. In some ways, this documentary makes me feel closer to both of them, now that they are both gone.

My father met my mother in one of those slave labor camps just before they were liberated by the Brits. He saw my mother from a distance, and swore that if he survived, he would find this beautiful girl with the sad, haunted eyes, marry her and run away. And here I am.

We are losing this generation at a rapid rate. A generation that fought, came home and went on with their lives as if nothing happened. They need to be honored and thanked before they are all gone.

I've watched a grand total of 3 Torchwood episodes on BBC America and am completely flummoxed by the character of Ianto. Is his sole purpose on the show just to make tea and coffee? And on that note, can we safely say that this is the first time in the history of TV that a major character was created with the sole purpose of providing beverage service to other characters on the show? Even Max from 'Hart to Hart' had more to do. Please flist, tell me that more is coming for Ianto...

Have I told you all lately how much I love Lewis Black? The man is a fucking genius. He pulls no punches and tells it like it is. Sci-Fi channel and BBC America take fucking note!





The new Triumvirate---Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Lewis Black. The only reason I watched the Emmy's this year.