Wednesday, February 20, 2008

News of the Day -- Feb. 20, 2008

First of all, many thanks to the folks who realized that I'd lost my temporal mind yesterday and labeled "News of the Day" with a January date instead of a February date. No doubt Freud would have attributed this to a latent desire to return to the womb...one month at a time.

Now, with our feet firmly planted in "today," let's check out some news:

+ Gigantic sea creatures are apparently swarming the icy depths of the Antarctic waters...and they're beautiful. I'm betting 50 bucks they're aliens sent to Earth in search of really large ice chunks for some monster-size dacquiris. The umbrellas they're making to garnish the glass are going to blow our minds.

+ Alyson Hannigan is the latest alumna to join the upcoming PaleyFest Buffy reunion on March 20 in LA. It should be a fantastic event with Joss Whedon and pretty much the entire cast including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seth Green, Nicholas Brendan, James "I Am Dorian Grey" Marsters, Eliza Dushku, Amber Benson and Charisma Carpenter on hand, to name just a few. Actually, I named a bunch of them. It might just have been easier to say, "Everyone except Anthony Stewart Head and David Boreanaz will be there." I hear it's going to be more of a shindig and less of a hootenanny than originally anticipated.

+ Last night, Yahoo News ran a feature on former Nerd Man of the Month and all-around charming fellow Jonathan Coulton and how he quit his day job to become a rock star. The story is basically framed around the idea of "how could this wacky person quit a job to pursue a lifelong dream?"

Which leads me to a question for you: what did you want to be when you grew up and would you ever quit your day job to try for it now? Share in the comments section. I'll add my answer later today.

7 comments:

Chewbob said...

First of all, I cannot even begin to express how badly I want to see the Buffy reunion. How much it hurts me that tickets are probably a gazillion dollars. How my soul aches to know I'd have to miss work and hop a plane to go, and I can't do that because I'm already blowing off work and wasting money to attend the Portus Harry Potter convention in June. How, in the hypothetical place in my brain where I actually do attend, I'm okay with Giles not being there because I already met him about six years ago.

ANYWAY. I've always wanted to be a rockstar, too, but that's boring. I've considered quitting my job to open a yarn store. Sometimes I just quit when I want to fulfill my dream of lounging around the house all day in my underwear. This is a bad habit of mine (the quitting, not the lounging).

Liz said...

Wait, wait, you met my imaginary boyfriend Anthony Stewart Head? When? Where? How? I implore you to share details.

I almost got to meet him once. We were on our honeymoon in England and we went to Bath. He was going to be performing at a fundraiser the next night -- which unfortunately was the day we flew home. I was crushed. :(

Chewbob said...

He came to a comic book shop about an hour away from me! IT WAS AMAZING. I hauled every piece of Buffy memorabilia I owned along with me in a giant duffel bag. The line was really, really long, so by the time we were actually entering the store, they were sending messengers telling us that Tony would only sign ONE thing. I glanced despondently at my bag and settled on his season four character trading card.

When we got to the table, he was all speaking with a British accent, and I was all, "ZOMG. YOU'RE NORMALLY ON THE TV EXCEPT TODAY YOU'RE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I CANNOT PROCESS THIS. PLEASE SIGN THIS CARD. THANKS." And I'm pretty sure he laughed at my complete fangirlishness. It's okay, though, because he touched something I own!

Liz said...

Jessica, your description is great. I'm so jealous. I absolutely would have humiliated myself if I'd been standing there. I'm pretty sure I would have tried to crawl onto his lap or something, like Santa. I tend to go completely stupid when faced with celebrity British men, especially ones who play librarians on Joss Whedon shows.

Thank you for sharing your story. I feel like I can boast a six-degrees thing now - I know someone online who met Tony Head. Very cool. :-)

Unknown said...

I always dreamed of being a writer. Mostly novels, but essays, too. I even have a master's degree in creative writing. Which I put to good use as a Technical Writer and Systems Analyst. I've just sold my first story and I'll be taking the plunge this year to give freelance writing a try (with a possible transition with continuing to work part time). Scary, but exciting.

Liz said...

Jennu, I hope the freelance writing goes well. I did that for a few years and loved it. It was busy and crazy but having the freedom to work when you want and where you want is pure bliss. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

And, you know, if you ever wanted to write for free for a certain blog about nerdy women, that could be fun, too. :-)

Chewbob said...

Yay! I am pleased to assist!

I think I just stood there with dumb shock, afraid to open my mouth for fear of saying something INTENSELY stupid. Actually, I think maybe I said, "I'm trying not to pass out right now," and that's what he laughed at. He laughed at me for saying something stupid, so I failed, is what I'm saying.