Hump Day Hottie : Travis Fimmel

Hottie lovers rejoice, I give you: pretty boy Travis Fimmel



.....who never seems to wear any clothes, and it is exceedingly hard to find pics of him wearing much more than his six pack abs. Whew.



Actually, he does do more than look pretty.



Though he was a model (and yes, a lot of underwear).... he acted in a few movies (One of which, "Restraint", also stars Stephen Moyer of True Blood fame) and was also Patrick Swayze's last co-star when he worked with him in the recent A & E television show "The Beast".



As Randy Jackson would say, Folks, we've got a hot one tonight.

Because I don't have kids....

Since I don't have kids to plaster photos of all over my blog, I give you...
Oliver.

Hump Day Hottie: Timothy Olyphant

Today's Hump Day Hottie is the charismatic and sexy Timothy Olyphant.



Currently starring in the critically acclaimed FX television show, Justified, Olyphant has always had a knack of bringing charm and personality to all his roles. Justified is no different folks, and I think it's his best role to date.




Above, in last year's thriller, A Perfect Getaway.
Dude still looks pretty hot for 41.




Even bald (for his role in 2007's Hitman) he still looks attractive, and not many can say that. I have heard a sequel is in the works.




Again, in A Perfect Getaway.
He also starred in this year's The Crazies - a remake of a George Romero film that comes out on DVD on June 29th, I believe.




Do I really need to say any more?

The resurrection of the Hump Day Hottie.

Following an explosion of fine-looking fellows I've recently noticed here and there on tv, movies, and on the internet...I am breathing new life into the Hump Day Hottie feature here at The Smug Pessimist.
Because we're never too old - or too married! - to enjoy some delectable dishes of delightfully dreamy dudes. Forgive me that, I've been reading my thesaurus too often;)

First up, someone I never would have thought of as anything more than simply cute.
When I first saw Dawn of the Dead back in 2004, Kevin Zegers played an attractive young security guard and looked like this:

He'd have been around oh I don't know, 17 or 18...

Yeah, well flash forward to present day.
The dude is 25 now, and looks a little bit different.
I feel almost "cougar-ish" even mentioning this, but hot damn does he look good now!
I mean... check this out.



Holy wow-ness!

Kevin is a Canadian actor and model (natch!) who has been in several movie projects including many random horror films, such as Wrong Turn, last year's Frozen, and the aforementioned Dawn of the Dead remake.
And this year he plays Clyde Barrow in an upcoming biographical film about Bonnie & Clyde.

So he goes from this:



To this:



And this:



And in my favorite, uber-emo shot:



(Looks like he's auditioning to be the next lead singer in Green Day...)

Next week: Timothy Olyphant....and yes, it's justified.

Random Rambling...

*I'm really beginning to question the integrity of the Pittsburgh Steelers football organization. Well, the players at least. First it was Jeff Reed peeing in public and resisting arrest last fall, then Ben Roethlisberger and his previous motorcycle accident (no helmet? no brains!), his first sexual assault troubles... now yet another "questionable encounter" and investigation, add to that Santonio Holmes' new problems and I'm starting to think we're turning into a certain NFL team in Ohio.
If you really want to continue, I could also mention the former Steelers issues - namely Plaxico Burress and his freakin' self-inflicted gunshot wound, and now Joey Porter arrested for DUI and belligerence.
WTF, people?
Hell, at least Michael Vick and Ray Lewis never played here.

*Ricky Martin is gay! Livin' la vida loca apparently means something else to him than it does to me. But hey, I'm okay with it. So why wasn't he for the last twenty years or so?

And what are he and his buddy doing over here at left...?

*What is up with this Heidi Montag chick? I mean, she is so completely pointless and talentless that it amazes me to no end that she (and her goofy husband) still get press. First of all, they aren't really actors in the true sense of the word. Secondly, she totally morphed into a whole different person with all this plastic surgery (Really, Faith Hill should consider suing her). And now she's writing a movie about 3D boobs? Say it ain't so. That story was filed not under 'Entertainment' on MSN, but under 'Weird News' - which to me, sounds about right.

*Jesse James.
Wow.
What the hell was he thinking?

*Sandra Bullock.
Wow.
What the hell was she thinking?

*My husband hates basketball on tv. I hate basketball on tv.
Hence, no March Madness for us. Yay!
All the television interruptions have only given us more time to get caught up on all the crap we've DVR'd in the last few months!
That being said, I was mortified when Kentucky lost. Boo.

*Speaking of Kentucky. Early KY Derby (5/1/10) predictions?
Eskendereya. Odysseus. Dublin. Rule. Awesome Act. Lookin at Lucky.
Or some other horse!
Ask me again in mid-April...

*I really wish people would stop seeing Jesus and/or other religious images in pieces of toast, oil deposits, clouds, and other random places. I don't believe for one iota that a dental X-ray shows the Pope's face in it or that that Cheeto is shaped like Jesus on the cross. Sorry. Get a grip people.

*California is seriously considering legalizing marijuana. You know what happens when they do?
People start seeing Jesus' face in their morning cinnamon bun.

*Is everyone out there watching "Justified" on Tuesday nights on FX? If not, you better jump on that bandwagon pronto! Not only is it a really good show, but Timothy Olyphant is to die for. Top notch show from a station that keeps putting increasingly good shows on the air. Nip/Tuck, Sons of Anarchy.... and shows I haven't seen but hear good things about -Damages, The Shield, and Rescue Me.

Justified follows a Kentucky-bred US Marshall under scrutiny for questionable use of force (that's putting it mildly - basically he likes to shoot people) in a recent case and has been reassigned from Florida to his hometown of Harlan, KY., and he brings his own gun-slinging kind of justice with him.

It's all kinds of awesome.
{And can I just make mention that a town very close here (Kittanning for you locals) has been a filming location. Hmm... western PA filling in for eastern Kentucky. Yep, seems about right.}

*Recently I saw two very good movies that I reviewed over on my other blog,Fascination with Fear. Neither are not the horrifying, gory films I watch so much of. "Lake Mungo" (reviewed here) is a fantastic mockumentary about a girl who drowned at a family outing, and "Moon" (reviewed here) is one of the best films I've seen in quite some time. An astronaut is reaching the end of a three year stint in space when something rather unusual occurs. It reminds most people of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it is so much more than that - and soooo not as boring. I highly recommend it, even if you aren't much for sci-fi. (I like science fiction considerably less than full-on horror, so you can trust me.)

Oh, and I made a few creative changes to that blog - a bit of a face lift if you will. It seems a bit more streamlined and neat now. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, it's staying that way, because it was a pain in the ass getting everything the way I wanted it.

*I'm really not impressed with this season of American Idol. Matter of fact, I tend to think it's the worst season I've seen yet. If Crystal Bowersox (who is a cross between Alanis Morrisette and Janis Joplin) doesn't win I'll eat my hat. Besides her and one, maybe two other people - there is very little that stands out.
And while I'm bitching, please make someone END those rot-gut live group performances on Wednesday (results) night. Gah! Soooooo very awful. Thank heavens for the MUTE button.

And why the hell don't any of the contestants pick songs from the last twenty years....like, evah?

If I hear another crappy Motown redeux I will seriously choke on my chocolate Cherrios. And please, kids - no more of the following:

No Mariah Carey.

No Celine Dion.
No Christina Aguilera.

No Michael Jackson.

No Stevie Wonder.

No Queen.

No Whitney Houston.

And stop covering 'Unchained Melody' by The Righteous Brothers, 'Against All Odds' by Phil Collins, 'I Will Always Love You' by Whitney Houston, and 'I Don't Wanna Be' by Gavin DeGraw.

And for the love of God, please stop singing the songs of previous Idol winners. Especially in your less than stellar auditions. Bleck!

*Well that would appear to be all I have for this random post.

Till next time...

Oscar ranting and other tidbits.

And here is where I chatter and bitch about the Oscars, and throw in some other random junk at the end.



Belated congrats go out to Kathryn Bigelow, the Academy Award winning director of this year's winner of Best Picture - The Hurt Locker. Sunday night she became the first female director to win an Oscar. Can I hear a Woot Woot!!

By the way, I did see The Hurt Locker and it was, quite frankly, intensely terrific. It can't not affect you. Pardon the double negative but it's well worth the praise.

Oh, and another special shout out to Bigelow for one-upping her former husband and maker of all things blue and silly, James Cameron. His Avatar was up for Best Picture and he was in the running for director as well. Guess there's a "queen of the world" right about now.
And I have two words for Avatar. Popcorn film.
Two more: Sorry Jim.

Still in the Avatar vein... what the hell was she thinking??? I can't even begin to comment on that. I will say I enjoyed her performance in Star Trek.

And how nice for Sandra Bullock. Much as I like some of her movies I've never thought of her as an Oscar-worthy actress. But I guess she is. And you'd better recognize - or Jesse James will come kick your ever-lovin' ass.

And Jeff Bridges - Dude! He's deserved one of the gold statues for awhile. I haven't seen Crazy Heart yet, but I'm sure it's great. My favorite JB role is, of course, Seabiscuit.

While I'm still ranting about the Oscars (and here comes a big one folks), can I just say that while I appreciated the ode to horror movies I do have a few complaints. First off - the presenters of the clip were Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner of Twilight fame!! Okay, here's the thing. One last time. Twilight, New Moon, and all other forthcoming Stephenie Meyer adaptations are not horror. They are teen angst. Among other reasons, there are no fangs on the vamps and there is no blood. And waaaaaay too much brooding. Not horror. And yes, I feel I AM a horror expert, so you can trust me on that.

Second annoying little piss-off? The Academy forgot about Silence of the Lambs sweeping the Oscars back in 1992. The statement was made that it had been over thirty years since horror was recognized - back when The Exorcist had ten nominations and won two Oscars. Excuse me?
The Silence of the Lambs won five - taking the win in all the major categories including Best Picture. Obviously people like Eli Roth and Quentin Tarentino are not Academy members, or this glaring error would have been corrected. Come to mention it - why didn't those two start the horror clip off???

That being said, the clip wasn't bad but it showed way too much of the same thing. Too much Psycho, The Shining, and (for the love of all that is good and sacred) Texas Chainsaw 4!! While The Shining and Psycho are two of the most worthy additions to be sure, I can't see why we could have had one clip of each and moved on to some of the glaring omissions I noticed. For instance - NO VINCENT PRICE! Sacrilege! NO ITALIAN HORROR! No Argento, no Bava, no Fulci. NO ROGER CORMAN - who incidentally picked up an honorary Lifetime Achievement Academy Award AT THAT VERY CEREMONY not an hour beforehand! NO HAMMER HORROR! At least not that I saw. For God's sake, throw me a bone here.

Instead, they gave us one too many clips of the worst chapter in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film history just because Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey starred in it (which I'm sure they were super-glad to acknowledge!) and a clip of Jennifer Aniston (pre-nose job) in the stellar film, Leprechaun! I know it's nearly St. Patrick's Day and all, but pleeaaase!

Anyway, here's the clip if you missed it, starting out with a cute Paranormal Activity spoof by hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. And it completely cut out the bad intro by the New Moon stars, so mega-kudos there.



Now...perhaps on to other, less histrionic complaints.

Anyone else slightly disturbed by the influx of natural disasters lately? I'm beginning to think the Mayans may be correct and things are getting geared up. When's the last time you can remember this many killer earthquakes happening so close together? Haiti? Chile? Another one yesterday in Turkey and one hit this morning off the coast of Hawaii. And of course then we have the heinous tsunamis that follow. And all this after the biggie in Sumatra in late 2004. Seems like since that event, things have went downhill. If you factor in all the horrific hurricanes we've had in the last several years (esp. Katrina) you have to wonder if someone is trying to tell us something. So far, this year has been awful. I'm so not looking forward to hurricane season.
As I write this, I notice a massive tornado has hit in Oklahoma. I don't even want to talk twisters. Greensburg, Kansas anyone?

So, Ben Roethlisberger has gotten himself all lawyered up for his most recent legal woes. Who does he hire? None other than the same attorney that defended Ray Lewis back in 2000 for his murder trial. Oh wow, talk about making yourself look guilty, dude. Sounds like it's all "make this go away" to me.
Guess we'll see.

Betty White is going to do Saturday Night Live! Yay! After a viral internet campaign she was apparently asked and has agreed to go on SNL. I'm making a prediction that it will be one of the most-watched-ever episodes! She's hil-arious!





A question has arisen in my mind and I just have to ask. Why do so many women carry such immensely HUGE purses? This has baffled me for some time and I figured I might as well ask.
For example: I have a co-worker that carries a handbag the size of Rhode Island. When I ask her what the hell is in there, she says "stuff". No kidding. But what stuff?
This reminds me of a great segment from The Breakfast Club which I must share.




So, after that - I still ask. What the HELL do you women carry? I mean, as for me, I simply have my wallet, a pen, a pack of gum, some Excedrin, sunglasses, chapstick, and a tampon! And there's still room for my keys. If I had a cell phone, it'd fit as well. Small purse. Not shoulder-crushing heavy or the least bit hernia inducing.

I mean, what the f*** else do you need to have with you? The menu for the House of Hunan? No! Toss it! A bag of 100 calorie mini-oreos? No! Get rid of it. (Well, unless you're diabetic in which case I'll give you a pass.) Mini calendar? Why? Are you really that likely to need to know when Aunt Eunice's birthday is while you're at your kid's soccer practice? If you're that forgetful you mustn't care too much for Auntie in the first place. Speaking of kids - if you've got a diaper (clean or dirty) in there then you are just beyond the scope of my gross-out factor. How about that umbrella you've got shoved in there? How much of you is it going to cover anyway? Wear a hood. Those dog treats in the outside pocket? Unless you're a postal carrier I say ditch 'em. And if your purse is big enough that you're shoving a change of clothes in there? Get a freakin' duffle bag and carry it when you need it. Are you accident prone or something?
I'm just sayin'.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

Just one more thing. Welcome home (well, to their home in Alaska!) to my cousin Jackie's hubby, Aaron - who just got home from another tour in Afghanistan. Thank you, and we're glad you're home safe!!!

...And they said it wouldn't last.

Happy Valentine's Day to all.

For me, it's not just V-Day, it's my wedding anniversary. The hubby and I have been married 20 years today. Yay for us!

When we first got together, well - when we moved in together (ah, the sacrilige!) everyone - in particular most of my family-(sorry guys but that's true) thought it wouldn't last. They didn't trust me enough to realize I knew what the hell I was doing.

So to them, I have only one word. HA!

Okay, two more....So there.

Anyway, we started dating back in the fall of 1986, moved in together in February of 1989 and got married Valentine's Day 1990 in the living room of my grandparent's house. And contrary to some former co-workers beliefs, the baby never came. Hope you're not still waiting on that one.
Matter of fact, we decided against children. A decision I have never regretted and I hope Todd hasn't regretted too terribly. So it's just been us.

Twenty years of just us.

So how does one keep a marriage going that long? For many years I didn't feel "qualified" to answer questions about relationships, but holy crap - I think after twenty years I can lend some insight from the knowledge of my experience.

You want to know the real secret to our success? Many things combine to make a relationship last, of course... but the main key is just one thing.

Communication.

We talk. We discuss. We rant (usually about other people!). We bitch and complain (usually about other people!). We laugh. We make decisions together. We ramble on and on for hours at a time.

Just the other night we were watching a tv show and he wanted to comment on something so he put the tv on pause (Love that DVR and it's ability to pause live tv!). A half-hour later we figured we should probably finish the tv show.
Sometimes we literally sit for hours at a time - no tv, no radio, nothing - and talk. About anything and everything, including winning the lottery. We envision that one a lot;)
We just never shut up. We always find things to talk about and we're never straining to think of things to say.

If something he does pisses me off by God I tell him. Immediately. I don't let it fester and stew inside me until I'm so irritated I can't speak. Hell no! Same goes for him. We don't hold things inside or keep secrets or just hope we 'take the hint'. So many couples I know don't talk.

It is certainly why many marriages fail. If you can't talk to the one you love, you're freakin' doomed, I don't care how good the sex is, okay?

And I really have to admit, we rarely fight. I guess it's cause we're generally on the same page and pretty satisfied with how the day-to-day life goes. It seems to be the outside influences in our lives that piss us off the most, never each other. Sometimes I feel like our house is a coccoon and it's the only place I feel truly at ease and happy.
On a side note, that crap everyone always says: "Don't go to bed angry" - yeah, well screw that. Go to bed angry. By morning you'll either forget what you were arguing about, realize how damn dumb it was in the first place, or both.

Here's another thing. I'm a VERY independent person. I like my alone time, and don't feel the need to be with Todd 24/7, nor do I speak with him incessantly on my cell phone (which I don't have BTW but I wouldn't even if I did) or have to know where he is at, going to be, or when he is coming home.

But he is just flat-out considerate to me. He leaves me a note, a message on the answering machine, or tells me where he's going to be. He just does. There's no guessing, and I don't beg him to keep in touch - he just does it out of consideration and I do the same. That works for us.
That whole thing where women kept their husbands on a tight leash makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

I'm not bothered if he wants to spend the entire day - hell, the whole weekend - in the garage, working on a car or cleaning his Harley - whatever. I can entertain myself and just cannot bring myself to smother him. I don't understand women who can't function on their own - who have to be with a man in every spare moment - or pine for them continually until they return home.

I trust that he is coming home, and that he is not out gallivanting around with other women. I do not feel the need to know where he is at every moment of every day. He is his own person. I think he can go to the store or get a haircut without my approval.

Trust is a big issue, folks. Get some - it comes in many sizes and it's free.

I think one of the most important things about my lasting marriage is that at the end of the day, he's still the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. Okay, so maybe that sounds cheesy or sappy, and so be it. It is what it is. I'm happy and I'm still in love. And I plan to continue the trend.

So after my 'serious' speech, I feel the need to share some of the more lighthearted reasons I'm still married.

***

*He watches my vampire shows (True Blood, The Vampire Diaries) with me.
Really, he does.

*He's quite possibly seen P.S. I Love You (which HBO tends to run on repeat) more times than me...and enjoyed it. Matter of fact, he likes chick flicks, a lot.
But before you think he's picking out draperies, let's not forget his two favorite movies are Braveheart and 300.

*He makes me (the best) blueberry pancakes with real blueberries and always makes sure I have blueberry syrup cause he knows I'm not crazy about maple.

*He puts up with my crazy and unrelenting obsession with horror movies.

* He is great at buying cards - always gets the perfect ones.

*At Christmas, he puts up the tree and does the lights (the part I hate) and I do the rest.

*He lets me sleep in late on weekends because he knows I stay up into the early morning. And he doesn't make me get up to go get breakfast with him. He does get donuts on random Sundays, and I will get up for that. But not before nine.

*He's taken me to the Outer Banks eight years in a row but still doesn't complain.

*He makes up his own lyrics for songs all the time, most of which I couldn't print here.

*He puts out the best spread of cheese, meats, crackers & condiments this side of Martha Stewart.

*If given the choice of buying only one container of ice cream, he'll always get the kind I like before thinking of himself. Except Butter Pecan. He won't go that far...

*He loves to cook, and I let him love it. On that note, he makes the best cinnamon French toast, meatloaf, pumpkin gobs, shepherd's pie and chocolate covered strawberries you'll ever have.

*He always unlocks my car door first, and always tells me to wait in the car while he loads the groceries up in the back, especially when it's raining.

*He looks uber-hot all leathered up and on his Harley.

*We both love American Idol and both feel we could do better than at least 60% of the people on there;)

*He takes care of me when I'm sick. (That's a big one, folks. Big. Huge.)

*He understands my crazy affection for Oliver (one of my cats).

*He doesn't get mad when I get to attend Steelers games and he's watching from home on the couch.

*He puts up with my outrageous amount of flannel pajama bottoms...

*He doesn't get mad when I play Bob Marley's Legend cd twenty times in a row.

***

Okay, so most of those things may seem silly.... but little things are the glue that holds the whole thing together, you know?

May everyone be as lucky and blessed as I am.
Happy Valentine's.

In Remembrance...

Didn't want to let the day pass without a shout out in remembrance to Barbaro, who died on this date in 2007.



I won't go on and on, as most of you know how fond of him I was...



But I will say, simply... you're missed, big guy.



R.I.P.

Randomness...

So it's been forever since I actually updated this blog, so I figure I'd better get with the program.Truth be told, I've been soooo busy with my other blog that I haven't had time for the randomness that is The Smug Pessimist.

The thing is, my Fascination With Fear blog has been getting a lot of attention and so in turn takes a lot of mine.

Not that I mind, of course. I love horror, and it is a major part of my daily life. I've made a whole new chicken coop of friends via the horror blogosphere, many of which I consider an extended family.
That being said, you might find this blog lacking in posts, but I will still keep it up until I cannot lend any focus to it at all.

So, what have I been up to? It's relatively hard for me to remember what I wore yesterday, let alone what I have done for the last few months, so I'm just going to leave you with some random thoughts and comments.

*First things first - I am going to be married for 20 years next month. TWENTY freakin' YEARS.

If that doesn't make me feel old I don't know what does. I will be posting a bit more about that next month closer to the date (2/14 for all those not in the know)... I thought about doing a "pros and cons of being married" for the occassion, but seriously - I couldn't think of enough cons to make that work. So it will just be a pros list. Wait for it....

Suffice it to say I am even happier now than I was way back in 1990, and so things have worked out well with the man who lives in my house with me.

*I now sit in 9th place on the Daily Racing Form's Public Handicapper Fantasy Horseracing game.

Number NINE!! That might not sound like a lot to you, but let me just say there are 11,280 people under me. Of course it's my highest ranking evah! The current game ends this coming weekend, and while I really don't win anything unless I hit top 3 (which I don't foresee, but if so I'd be going to Vegas, baby!) - it's been an absolute hoot to make it this far. Last weekend I hit a long shot horse at 28-1 and that boosted me up there. The horse's name was Jody Slew- which those of you in the know can figure out is a descendant of Seattle Slew, which I almost always factor in when placing my bets. Yea for Slew - still making me happy after all these years.)

Seattle Slew

Don't ask me for any early Kentucky Derby picks though, I haven't thought that far into the future yet. Check back in March.

*Speaking of horses, one of my favorites over the last several years, Kip Deville, has been suffering with laminitis for a while now - and if you'll remember, that is what took the life of the outstanding Derby winner Barbaro (RIP) back in 2007, to my great distress. However, Kip is doing quite well, and things look good for him. I'm keeping fingers crossed for this very successful, gorgeous grey thoroughbred.

*And while we're still on the same page, awe-inspiring filly Rachel Alexandra won 2009 Horse of the Year honors at the Eclipse Awards last week.




It was filly vs. filly in the voting - Rach vs. the astoundingly fabulous Zenyatta (winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic in November)... Both horses were undefeated in 2009, and both beat every male horse of any importance as well. But I think it came down to the fact that Rachel had won in several different states on several different tracks, whereas Zenyatta only raced in California. If you were still making a case for Zenyatta - which I would - you could still bring up the fact that she won the Breeders' Cup Classic, dammit. She beat all the boys in a race typically dominated by the boys. The fillies have their own distaff race, but Zenyatta's connections felt her good enough to tackle the men. And she did - quite impressively. In any event, Horse of the Year this year was no doubt the hardest choice in decades for those voting, and the race (pun intended) was close.
Best thing of all is that it has been decided to keep Zenyatta (now 6) in training. So we just might see the match up between these two female juggernauts at some time this year. That would be the biggest race this side of Seabiscuit and War Admiral. So let's make it happen!


*I love my DVR. How the hell did we ever live without it? I'll never miss another episode of Ancients Behaving Badly again!

We are able to record stuff we never would have thought about before...the whole 'remembering to get a tape and set the timer for the VCR' thing is history - Gah!!

And I can (wonder of all wonders) record American Idol and never really have to wait till "after the break" with good old Ryan Seacrest. Zip, Zip, Zip goes the commercial skip!

*I'm surprisingly jazzed for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next month.

While that might sound strange because I'm not a big sports fan, I do love winter sports. Though I do not understand the point of luge (because no one should fly down an icy track while lying down face up in a sled) -



-and especially curling (WTF?), I love the skiing, snowboarding, bobsledding (though stupidly similar to luge, at least they are sitting up!), and the ice skating competitions. No, I still do not like hockey. I'm not Canadian, so I'm not required to.

But the DVR will become utterly a blessing. There are so many commercials during the Olympics that I can zip right through all the annoying McDonalds ads just.like.that.

*The Borders Express store nearest to me is closing. Let us pause for a moment of silence at its imminent departure. I've no clue what's up Borders' ass, with them closing all but the really big Borders stores. I've read online that they are going to focus on online sales. How ironic.

Oh well, more of a reason to drive nearly 40 miles out of my way just to get a book. Damn it anyway.

*I'm still reading vampire books.

I did go out of my comfort zone to read 'Breathers: A Zombie's Lament' this month (which I should add is hilarious!) but now it is back to business. The new Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book comes out next tuesday, so I'm all pre-ordered and hoping that the new book will be a departure from her last eight books or so and she actually has some vampire hunting going on, instead of all the vampire and shapeshifter humping she has become infamous for. But alas, the book's title is FLIRT, so I'm not getting two excited...yet.

*Speaking of books, I read a grand total of 81 books in 2009. It was a major record for me, as I had slacked off to about one a month prior to that. But I gave up some tv shows and cancelled a whole slew of magazines that I was getting and Voilà! - I had time to read. Of course I also kept a book stapled to my hand at all times, too. While cooking supper, waiting for my car to warm up, while watching tv (yes, I can read and watch tv at the same time), and while doing other unmentionables as well.

All but one book was preternatural/paranormal/fantasy in nature. And with the passing of Patrick Swayze, I felt his autobiography was worth a read, so that's the book that made it through my strong paranormal shields. And let me tell you, it was heartbreaking to read so close to his death. RIP to him - I'll miss him.

*I'm currently addicted to the films of Dario Argento. He's an Italian film director famous for giallo (a specific type of horror) and I did a marathon viewing of almost all of his films in the last two weeks.



I'm doing an interview with an author (for my horror blog) who wrote a (forthcoming) book about the films, so I wanted to do my research. Many of them I saw as a teenager, and a lot I already owned, such as the more famous Suspiria and Profondo Rosso (Deep Red), but there were a few I hadn't even seen. So I've been busy with that.

*And lastly, if I'm going to watch a movie about hot male angels....I don't want them to look like this:



I want them to look like THIS:



I'm just saying...