2008: Goodbye and good riddance.

Oh, 2008: you really crept up and bit me in the ass there at the end, didn't you?

The year started out okay: in January, my book did well in that Amazon competition. And then it was pretty much all downhill from there. My company was bought out and my job was eliminated. I couldn't get an agent for the book for love or money or sweat or tears. I couldn't find work. I resurrected all my film-school demons. I had far too many projects and possibilities fall through. And then, devastatingly, my mom died.

So, 2009, I'm pinning all my hopes on you. Here's to good friends and good fortune for all in a bold new year.

Because I'm currently bankrupt for ideas for original content, I'm going to end the year with another look at some of the keywords used to find this site. Here we go:

are seaquest and farscape the same universe
No, but that's not as preposterous an idea as it would first appear. The same thought flickered through my head while I was watching seaQuest DSV, mostly because Kent McCord makes Special Guest Appearances playing a ruggedly heroic astronaut on both shows. Farscape, by the way, is the vastly superior series, though seaQuest is not without a certain dorky charm.

"aries digital camera" review
"aries digital camera"
"aries digital camera" walgreens
aries digital camera complaints

I get a lot of variations on this. Lot of interest out there in the uber-cheap Aries camera. It's a perfectly serviceable $20 digital camera. The picture quality is not outstanding: outdoor photos are passable, but there's no flash, so indoor photos are pretty sketchy, as you can see from this moody and soulful self-portrait and the one above. But the camera is cheap, it's reliable, it runs on two AAA batteries, it's easy to use, and most of all, it's indestructible. I have destroyed three digital cameras in my time -- two of them this year alone, one within a day of receiving it -- and the Aries one hasn't failed me yet.

heroes eclipse improbable
Yes.

heroes review nbc analysis science impossible
Yes.

strain 138 and shanti virus difference
Speaking of heroes review nbc analysis science impossible... The mutated Strain 138 can be cured only via a mixture of Mohinder's and Claire's bloods, whereas the original Shanti virus can be cured with Mohinder's blood alone.

heroes: what do the writers think of a peter/claire romance in volume 4
Probably something along the lines of how the audience for a big, splashy mainstream prime-time network series isn't quite ready for a controversial and fanbase-alienating subplot about incest.

inappropriate chemistry peter claire
Yup. Bucketloads.

kristen bell tub party sendhil zach
sendil hot tub parties
I know, right? Sendhil mentions it on the commentary for Chapter Ten ("The Eclipse, Part One"). Living the dream, Kristen.

jack coleman handsome
Sure, but why do I have the feeling this is Coleman doing a vanity Google?

qualities that hiro has with viewers?
Abundant charm, enthusiasm, and near-suffocating adorability.

sendhil ramamurthy in-person
Super-hot. Very sweet. Probably smells good. Super-hot.

what are the words to the momologue at the end of volume three of the nbc tv series heroes?
I have no idea. I tuned it out, as always. But wait -- are people calling them "momologues"? Good to know: over in these parts, we've been tossing around "mohologue", "mohinderlogue", and the slighly more esoteric "Mo-Vo."

mohindercentric heroes
You've come to the right place.

"morgan richter" "talk soup"
That's me. I'm assuming this is from someone I know, so by all means drop a line to say hello, okay? It's New Year's Eve and I'm by myself, drinking Prosecco and petting the cat and grousing to myself about how no one loves me.

Happy 2009, everyone.

Comments

Morgan Dodge said…
heroes: what do the writers think of a peter/claire romance in volume 4

I'm a little concerned, alarmed even, that anyone out there would think that this was a good idea. I'm solidly of the opinion that there are some things teenage girls should leave in their fan-fiction.

Wait now... are you trying to suggest that Sendhil is hot? I'm not sure I've ever heard such a concept bounced around. Least of all here.
Morgan Richter said…
Yes. I can appreciate that Peter and Claire are cute together and have crazy mad chemistry. But... dude, incest. It's a deal-breaker.

There are days I feel I should just rename this blog "Sendhil Ramamurthy is Smoking-Hot" and be done with it. Maybe that should be one of my resolutions: fewer references to Sendhil's astonishing hotness.
Lou said…
Happy New Year PotA! I hope 2009 will be a much better one for you Morgan.

The things people search for amazes me. For the record I found this place via Dan’s marvellous astonishingtales.com. No crazy google searching. I wish I was more original.

There are days I feel I should just rename this blog "Sendhil Ramamurthy is Smoking-Hot" and be done with it.
I have no objections to this. None whatsoever.

Maybe that should be one of my resolutions: fewer references to Sendhil's astonishing hotness.
I had planned to do something similar. Then I saw my screensaver this morning, I wibbled, I failed.

Oh and yes Kristen truly is living the dream.

(For the record it’s not just Sendhil on my screensaver, it’s anything in “My Pictures”. But he does crop up. Probably more than he should.)
Morgan Richter said…
Lou, I have Sendhil as my desktop background. He's just so darn pretty. It's inspiring!

Dan and I first became acquainted a few years back when I emailed to nag him about being tardy in updating his fantastic Smallville updates over at Astonishing Tales. We've managed a fair amount of cross-promotion of our sites since then. Dan, as some may have mentioned before, is funny.
Dan said…
Maybe that should be one of my resolutions: fewer references to Sendhil's astonishing hotness.

Fewer?!? No, that way lies madness. How would I know I was at the right blog? More references, that's the way to reassure loyal regular readers.

jack coleman handsome
Sure, but why do I have the feeling this is Coleman doing a vanity Google?


Well, of course. I always start my day by googling 'Dan Liebke handsome'. Results are invariably somewhat disappointing. Still... you've seen my avatar. What should I expect?
Morgan Richter said…
I always start my day by googling 'Dan Liebke handsome'.

A month or so back, after I'd had some crippling rejections, Ingrid was trying to boost my fragile ego via my site statistics by googling "Morgan Richter is awesome." However, Google Analytics didn't have room to display the full phrase, so when I checked my keyword stats, all I could see at first was "Morgan Richter is a..." And I had this wild surge of panic: "What? What am I?"

I'm always astonished when I encounter people who are immune to Sendhil's beauty, or people who can't stand Mohinder and wish they'd kill him off. My reaction is always a baffled, "Yeah, but you've seen him, right?"
Ingrid Richter said…
And here I thought I was being so sneaky and clever! For the record, it took Morgan about half a second to realize that it was me searching for "Morgan Richter is awesome" on Google.

Of course, I have no idea where the Skulky the Turtle Wonder searches from New York are coming from.

Happy New Year, everyone!
Morgan Richter said…
I lack the necessary hubris to assume anyone other than a close blood relation would be googling "Morgan Richter is awesome." And since I've never heard our dad say "awesome", Ingrid, that pretty much narrowed it down to you.

A whole lot of those Skulky searches also come from San Franciso, as do all of the "turticular" searches. Not to point fingers, but... hi, Boy-Morgan!

Fun fact: my second most popular search term right now, with a total of eleven searches, is "flint mohinder slash." I present this without comment.
Anonymous said…
Happy new year to preppies near and far! In thirteen days, I'm getting in my car and moving out of Oklahoma for the second (and likely) final time. I'm sure I'll be back for some reason, but if things go well we will come back to deed the house to our older daughter as a reward for making it through six years of Coast Guard service without any felonies.

Here's to new seasons of shows worth our commentary! Heroes, Doctor Who, the final episodes of BSG, et.al.

May this year be better and more rewarding for all of us!
Morgan Richter said…
Best of luck with your move, Josh. I know Lou also has a huge move -- of the crossing-the-ocean variety -- coming up, so here's to smooth travels for you both.

I was giving some thought to recapping the final ten episodes of BSG when they kick off this month in the hopes of holding lively discussions here. Problem is, my lousy cable package doesn't include SciFi, so I always have to scrounge around to view the episodes, and I can't guarantee anything like a consistent viewing schedule.

When the Heroes recaps start up again in early February, my smart and funny friend Jason has expressed an interest in joining our discussion group. I'm hoping he does. Expansion! I'm all for it.
Anonymous said…
I think hulu.com will probably have the new BSG episodes. That's how I end up watching a lot of stuff these days.

On the Heroes front I'm kind of hoping that Mohinder wasn't simply healed and returned to normal by the fully functional serum at the end of Volume 3. My initial thought when he hooked up with Maya in the lab while reveling in his new found abilities was that he must have some super powered pheromones going on as well. That would actually be a more interesting and entertaining ability than super strength, agility/wall crawling, especially if he was kind of oblivious to it at first.

Why are all these people smiling at me? Or, I guess I'm not the only one having a bad day today.

Inadvertently or intentionally (as he mastered his abilities) projecting other emotions like anger or fear onto others would be cool as well.

On the other hand the writers probably just wanted Mohinder and Maya to get together and didn't worry too much about a logical explanation. Considering Sylar successfully seduced her in Volume 2, Mohinder isn't really a stretch.
Morgan Richter said…
Welcome, Jason. Good to have you join us.

I think hulu.com will probably have the new BSG episodes.

That'd be handy. Alas, I'm still on dial-up (it's still 2002, right?), except when I'm able to jump on the free wireless from the hospital across the street.

(New Year's goal: Investigate these newfangled "high-speed connections" everyone keeps talking about.)

My initial thought when he hooked up with Maya in the lab while reveling in his new found abilities was that he must have some super powered pheromones going on as well.

That's sure what it looked like. I also was hopeful, from the way he was ogling Maya, that he'd developed a super-powered libido as well. Which makes for better television: a crazy bug-man, or a horny and sexually irresistible crazy bug-man?
Anonymous said…
Dialup. 2002. Wow! Although we only switched to broadband cable a few months back, I've had at least DSL since the summer of 1998. WiFi is definitely a 2002 addition though. Needless to say, broadband internet is probably the last thing I'd be willing to give up.
Ingrid Richter said…
Aw, heck Morgan - you're probably reaching speeds of 56K right now, right? At Dad's place, the modem line wouldn't go above 33.6 kbps. Glacial web surfing is a whole new experience in patience.
Morgan Richter said…
At least in 2002 it wasn't quite as cripplingly loser-ish to still be on dialup. Maybe if I hang in there for another couple of years, dialup will suddenly become retro and cool? No?

Glacial web surfing is a whole new experience in patience.

Yep. Of the "while I'm waiting for this page to load, why don't I get up and fix myself a cappuccino and a sandwich?" variety. The key is to multi-task.
Morgan Dodge said…
A whole lot of those Skulky searches also come from San Franciso, as do all of the "turticular" searches. Not to point fingers, but... hi, Boy-Morgan!

I'm not sure what makes you think I would ever try and spike your keyword search results. I mean, first off I don't live in San Francisco, I only work here. Secondly how many other people access the web from SF? And yet I'm the one with the fingers pointing at me?


Maybe if I hang in there for another couple of years, dialup will suddenly become retro and cool? No?

I don't see why not. There's still a pretty good-sized market for vinyl. Retro is in the air!
And it's also one of the best ways to instill a multi-tasking ethic into web surfers. I mean, if Facebook and YouTube keep loading quickly I'll likely never do dishes again. To that end I'm all for glacially-paced web surfing.


I recall the first time I read Astonishing Tales. It was a summer day, not unlike today other than in temperature, quantity of condensation and position on the calender. I laughed out loud, like the Luddite I am. I then went back an hour later, like a crack addled ADD ten year old, and was so upset by the lack of new content that I prepared a scathing email criticizing Dan's lack of constant updates. I failed to ever send the email as my attention had been quickly taken by something shiny.
Morgan Richter said…
I kept reading Dan's brilliantly insane Smallville recaps on Astonishing Tales for many, many seasons after I stopped watching Smallville. I think Smallville has finally broken Dan's spirit, because he hasn't updated in months. It had to happen sooner or later. That show became dauntingly awful.
Dan said…
Aye. Smallville has defeated me for the time being.

If I could just make fun of the daunting awfulness I'd be happy to continue on. But I have to watch it first, and that's too much to ask anybody.

Although, people keep telling me Season Eight is much better...

(And shucks, Boy-Morgan, thanks. Being compared to a lazy crack dealer is the finest compliment anybody has paid me all year.)
Morgan Dodge said…
And shucks, Boy-Morgan, thanks. Being compared to a lazy crack dealer is the finest compliment anybody has paid me all year.

You also have very nice eyes. I failed to mention that I suppose along with the attempted suggestion that your humor is addictive.
Lou said…
Thanks girl-Morgan and good luck with your move Josh!

Fun fact: my second most popular search term right now, with a total of eleven searches, is "flint mohinder slash."

Excellent. Flohinder ftw! Sorry I was just looking for an excuse to use ftw & look cool/geeky/ridiculous (delete as applicable). My brother taught me what this means today. Ah the youth of today and their crazy interweb slang.

people keep telling me Season Eight is much better...

It really is Dan. Honest. Well, until Lana comes back.

Livejournal can be an interesting experience. May I present Sylinder: crochet style. No, I have no idea why Sylar is a duck either. But I did find some nice non-wool based Mo pics to add to my collection woo hoo.
Morgan Richter said…
May I present Sylinder: crochet style.

Oh, cool, that's some of Violet Anchovy's handiwork. She's done some mighty fine work in the past with crocheted Sylar and Mohinder dolls. It's important to have hobbies. She also very kindly gave me permission to swipe Sendhil screencaps from her site for my Ultimate Force episode guide. Big thumbs up for Violet Anchovy.

That said, I don't know why Sylar is a duck, either.
Ingrid Richter said…
Hmm, Duck Sylar. I was trying to come up with some esoteric analogy based on the saying: "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck." For Sylar: "If he walks like a serial killer and acts like a serial killer..."

Er, yeah. Need more coffee this morning before I can figure it out properly...
Morgan Richter said…
I mean, there's no reason why Sylar shouldn't be a duck. Perhaps it's his spirit guide.
Morgan Dodge said…
I think you're on to something there Ingrid. All I could come up with was something about how Mohinder needs to be the duck cause he's such a quack... ya... more coffee.

I kinda had a squirrel pegged as Sylar's spirit guide. No clue why.
Morgan Richter said…
Mohinder needs to be the duck cause he's such a quack

In Mo's defense, it's really not his fault* everyone keeps assuming (incorrectly) that he's a medical doctor and asking him to perform autopsies and such. I'm waiting for the episode where we find out he has his doctorate in, I don't know, cosmetology or massage therapy.

*Exception: remember that episode where he refuses to take coma-ridden little Molly to the hospital and instead hooks her up to an IV in his apartment? Yeah, that's totally his fault.
Dan said…
Sylar's a duck because that's what you should do when he comes into the room.

No?

... hmmm, I don't even drink coffee