Today I did something I rarely do. I ventured into Barnes and Noble. I quite like shopping with them online, but going into the store [at least the one nearest me] is almost always a hassle, unless I time it just so. A holiday weekend is never just so, but I was hoping Mumsy would tell me something she wanted for her birthday so I could pick it up for Dad. Okay, and also because my trip to BAM failed to yield any of the 'new' Gossip Girl books. Which aren't new, but have new slipcovers with photos of the cast, complete with posters on the back of said flipcover. Only...

How do I put this gently? How do I justify my need for all things Leighton Meester/TV!Blair when the rational part of my brain is telling me I'm being a bit nutty? I expect better. I really do. Of the company and of myself. But mostly of the company. GG has the sort of rabid fan base that means we'll buy shit, and I'm on the more conservative end of the spectrum. But you shouldn't tout your limited edition books and then cheap the fuck out on it. It's just not right, especially since the books cost even more than they did when they first came out and it's the exact same book underneath the slipcover. Yes. The EXACT same book cover. I was hoping they'd have the cast photo printed there so I could run away with my slipcover/poster but no. Which I could live with if the damned cast photos weren't craptacular quality.

You know how you'll fall in love with a scene from an episode of your favorite show and someone will screencap it and it's not the best quality in the world, but since you'll be shrinking it and fixing things here and there, you're okay with it? But if you left it the way you found it, or you enlarged it, or just cropped it, you'd notice that everyone turned splotchy and the colors bled and why, oh why would anyone lighten a scene that was fantastically dark to begin with without correcting the aforementioned blotch/orange/bleeding issues? Because that's what happened with the cover of You Know You Love Me, and I couldn't just leave it there because Chuck/Blair. Seriously. You either fix that shit or you pick a different damn picture. And the 'posters' suffer the same issue. But again, much like my love for Holly, my love for Leighton overrode common sense. But this quality control thing? Yeah. NOT. COOL.

The sad thing is that I still want the other reissues and it kills me that I have to hunt them down in person or pray I luck out and win the damn things. G'ah.

To get to these two copies of joy [the only two they had], I had to wait for the obnoxious tween busy texting in front the first crop of Teen books to notice that she was standing in the damn way. As I'm looking for the Gossip Girl books [seriously, who knows how they shelve these things because it's not always by author name, no matter what the signs might indicate] I notice the new Melissa Marr book is out, as is the manga Wicked Lovely volume. But mostly I listen to the group having some meeting near the religious section of the store. And I think to myself, as someone says something so insane that my brain immediately shut off at the sound, "Old people. Tee hee!" As I walk past them, books in hand, later I hear a familiar voice. I turn around and nearly walk into a bookshelf because holyChristonacracker, it is a friend's mother.

And then I feel bad. But I also wonder why she's associating with this particular brand of crazy or if maybe I mis-heard the other old dude, or maybe she's debating. Issues I may have or have had with her over the years [when your friends are hurting and sometimes it's directly tied to how their parents are treating them, you see the parentals as the enemy so long as their behavior continues, okay?] I will say that she was never dull. Art, artists, crazy people [some good, some bad], and hearing the story that always began, "So, sweetheart she was, -name omited to protect the naive- never realized she was dating a warlock until..."

Attention starlets: White blond hair and red, red, red lipstick is an unfortunate pairing. Almost always. Add black leather/pleather pants and we leave almost behind, okay?

   Sigh. I need a good GG forum to bitch on. Except that'll kill what I do love. Is why I don't find a Supernatural one either. But at least I could, in theory, call Cass or Ari and discuss the joy of SN. Who else will properly appreciate the general feeling of WTF concerning Penn [Dan on GG] and his whole... outfit and look for the upfronts? Or assure me that eventually someone will snip the ends of Jessica's [Vanessa] extensions or explain to her why she really, really should? [They look dried, dead, and generally not good, in case you wondered.] Also, when they do the snipping, could we get Jessica and Ed to step away from the tanning beds because they're both orange and when they stand next to Chace, the poor boy looks paler than the general cast of Twilight. Or... maybe he makes them look more orange? I'm not entirely sure.

On the Tori front, I'm liking the last half of the album more than the first. Hmm.

Blergh. I slept entirely too long. Part of it was completely my fault. Widge tried to wake me up to make dinner, but when my headache pulled my ponytail and said, "if you even think about getting out of bed, I will cut you, bitch" I passed.

I woke up again at eight and realized no one brought me lunch, nor did they wake me again for dinner. Considering I was starving when I went to bed this morning, this made for cranky Aunty M time. About halfway through making my first sandwich, I stepped on a piece of glass. Had to dig and grit my teeth because GLASS IN FOOT. And then promptly bled to death because apparently all the band-aids in the house are in my room and I wasn't about to bleed my way upstairs.

When I made it up here, I found a carefully placed band-aid in front of the computer. Widget love!


I dreamt I was watching Charmed and that it was their 150th episode, or rather, they kept saying 100th, but I knew that this sure as shit wasn't that, and well, it wasn't the 150th either, but I was willing to admit that maybe my brain had just erased everything from that point on. Anyway, it was weird. Really... weird. Like Phoebe being a mother and the kid goes missing or something and Paige thinks to herself that the Elders told her that the kid was hers and Phoebe's hubby's although not... exactly. It was, like I said, weird. And Phoebe could read Paige's mind, but I chalked that up to the empath crap they never should have done in the first place. Needless to say, the fall out from that comment was fantastic. Also, while they're freaking out about the kid, Paige lies down on the floor, in a fairly crowded room, then slowly crosses her legs, pulls herself up so that she's sitting Indian-style, and acts as if this is completely, totally normal. o_O

Piper/Holly just has this look on her face like, "well. THAT wasn't in the script."

And now I feel all... twitchy. Part of this is because dude, cat goes to vet in 12 hours. Don't want to go. But need to go. Cannot find my checkbook though. This could be problematic. And now the dog is snoring. Oi.

Hours later: Found checkbook. Almost out of Pepsi. People! Do not cut the addict off right before you need her to do something she doesn't want to do. It will end badly for all involved, to say nothing of the caffeine withdrawal headaches that ensue. Seriously. Not. cool.

Before I return to my massive game of catch-up with Gossip Girl...
( spoilers? Mebbe. )

All that said, I need a new Gossip Girl icon. Yes.

Instead of sleeping yesterday, I went through my nine billion DVDs and found most of my Season 2 episodes of Gossip Girl. There's one fatality, in that I think last week's episode was mangled by the machine somehow. I'm not entirely sure, and I haven't fully given up hope... yet. But if you have access to the episode and want to send it to me somehow, I will love you forever and name any actual children after you. Please note that I don't really want children, so things may be substituted if that's okay with you.

That said, I really need a Gossip Girl cohort. Come on, one of you has to have succumbed to the show by now.

I may be the only person in all of Gossip-onia who feels this way, but I'll say it anyway: Bitchy-to-Blair-and-Dan Serena is not a Serena I can get behind. Queen Bee Serena is entirely too similar to Book!Serena and I loathe her. LOATHE. And yet, despite admitting that she's annoying as sin, they still went and did it anyway.
When Dan blows up at Serena for not stopping Penelope from Nair-ing Amanda's hair, I was right there with him for most of the rant. Nothing is EVER Serena's fault. She kills a guy, and it's okay because he had a serious coke addiction beforehand anyway. She lies to Dan and expects it to be magically okay, and it is, because he gets played by Georgina... which would never have happened if Serena had told him the truth in the first place.
So I frickin' call foul on Serena, when at the end of the frightening Fashion Week episode, she tells Blair she's spent her whole life worrying about upsetting Blair, and holding herself back.
The fuck? I say bullshit. What few glimpses we caught of party!Serena pretty much match the book. Serena does whatever the hell she feels like and it all works out perfectly for her, except it comes at the cost of someone else. Usually Blair. Last Season it was doing Blair's mother's fashion shoot without bothering to think about why Blair wasn't there yet. There was also her plea for Blair not to flee New York and her promise to help Blair land on her feet. Did she bitch slap her boyfriend's sister when she tried to humiliate Blair? No. Serena didn't say one damn word to Jenny about the feud of doom. Serena didn't do a damn thing for Blair that Blair didn't turn around and do one better. Actually, she might have, but I'm on a roll here, kay? Facts have no place in this.
So. For Serena to tell Blair she's tired of holding herself back? Un.Cool. There are better ways to assert yourself, S. It's come to the point where I was cheering Jenny on again, Serena. I spent most of the last half of S1 hating Jenny and now you're making her seem likable. Do you know what that does to a girl?

Truthfully, it wasn't until Jenny tried to take on Blair that I disliked her. Well, that and the recap at the start of each episode with her saying, "Who says this family isn't cool?" was grating after one airing. Nyergh. Anyway, I like Jenny, but I think her actress has gone insane given her fashion choices [and her hair!] lately. I also really don't like the Jenny is so gifted and will surpass Mama Waldorf because that'll trickle down badly for Blair. As it already has. My loyalty, you might've noticed, is to Blair.
Dan... is really vexing this season. I loved him last season. Not all the time, but most of it, y'know? But this season I keep thinking "Penn is hot, Dan is not." Dan is also a tool, although I have to admit that there have been a few times my love has returned. Telling Serena off? Yup. Telling his newest mentor off? Yesssss. Being invisible at school? Yeah.
I don't like the revolving door Rufus has going on. I'm fairly certain it's just one person now, but we don't know her and I need my Rufus fixated on Lily. Or maybe just being on screen. I love him. Painfully so.
Oddly enough, I was really liking the Nate/Vanessa thing they had going. I say oddly enough because I agree with CvZ. They ruined Vanessa, and no, I'm not blaming the actress. TV!Vanessa lacks anything that makes her standout, aside from giant earrings. But Blair's got goofy headbands and Serena's got those strange facial expressions, and Jenny's got... that hair. Or something. So in the grand scheme of things, they really should have gone with crazy!V, even if they let her keep her hair. My Vanessa needs combat boots, an attitude problem, and a video camera of some persuasion at all times. She and Nate work because they've both got nothing else to do.

And that leads us to Chuck. Oh... Chuck. You've got Daddy issues and Blair won't back down and what's a poor boy to do but take her down the only way a Bass knows how? I shouldn't like Chuck. I really, really shouldn't. But I do.


And my frickin' DVR didn't record Gossip Girl last night either. *kills things*

Ha! Called it! I totally knew ( ... was gay. )

So, last week's Gossip Girl? Meh. Good effort, but not enough to truly hook me. This week's? Hot damn!

The bananas didn't fare so well, but the oatmeal rum cookies? I could die of joy. I'm off to hide the rum.

...apparently I finally snagged an early review copy of a book. Only, the note is dated a month ago and... uh, no book. That's utterly fantastic.