Tom Welling's (Clark Kent on Smallville) stunt double fell 25 to 35 feet while doing a stunt for the show in Canada http://www.tv.com/tracking/viewer.html&ref_id=1718&tid=13263&ref_type=101 When I was in the Army at my last duty station, one of our field medics fell from approximately the same height while rappelling for recreation at a local state park. This news report brought that all back for me. He went through several surgeries to restore bone structure and mend tissue. He hobbled around on crutches for quite some time, but eventually regained full mobility. When your profession demands a sound body, such an accident can change your life in so many ways. I only hope that the stuntman Sayour can regain the full mobility that my army buddy did.

I have a problem with the rock. No, not this rock: Or even this rock: It's THIS $%*@# thing: By my count, it has appeared in four Star Trek original series episodes, too many Roswell episodes to count, and at least one major motion picture... maybe more, as I start melting down every time I see that oh-so-familiar landscape. Is this thing behind the Paramount lot or something? Any of my friends who read this who live in the Los Angeles area and can find out what the "official" name of this distinctive rock formation is, I'd like to know. Because to defeat your nemesis, you must know it. That, and I may make up a nice webpage all about its acting resume. Edited to add: One more shot, this one from the S3 opening sequence of Roswell, that I didn't have access to until today.

I was looking for a particular picture from the now-dead show "Roswell" for a personal project tonight. Looking at some of the rabid fan-pages made me remember how *into* the show I was during the first season, and how quickly it got really, profoundly stupid. Their mistake? Bringing the sheriff in on the alien secret. Blew the whole show into a totally different direction, gave it a different feel. While I'm incredibly eager to learn the secrets contained on the island in "LOST"... what's down the hatch, what's with the black and white, what's the monster really made of?... I'm afraid to learn the truth. Not because those secrets might be scary or tough to deal with. Nope. Because it might cause the show to change into something I really don't want to watch anymore. Seems preposterous now, I know. But then I think of "Roswell" and remember how excited I was to watch it the first season, and then when they didn't need to keep secrets any longer, the whole show went to crap. I'd find myself realizing I'd missed two or three episodes, just because I'd forgotten. And this was back in the days when I recorded my shows with each one on its own VHS tape, and used pause to keep the commercials out; when I'd make an XML chart just to make my recording schedule easier to figure out at a moment's glance. JJ Abrams take note... leave a *little* mystery. Half the people are watching just to figure out what kind of show it is. Don't let us down.

I have a real love/hate thing going on with Star Trek (the original series). More on the hate half of that equation later, right now I want to talk about the fun stuff, like this: And if it's not funny to you, then either I'm too immature, or you're too young :) Or maybe I've just been hanging around the LOST message board lately... hmmm?

When I joined the US Army in '91, I scored well enough on my ASVAB to pick almost any job I wanted. I chose a Biomedical Engineer because a) I wanted to help people but I couldn't stand blood and b) Scotty from 'Star Trek' What a cool job. I never regretted it. I may have cussed when on field training, but hey, I was the gal that made the heaters work. And the Xrays. And everything in between. James "Scotty" Doohan died today at 85. http://www.tv.com/story/story.html&story_id=470 We'll miss you Jimmy. As my husband would say, "Set phasers to very, very sad."

I'm a firm believer in the 'rental' concept. Why buy it when you can pay a modest fee and enjoy it just as much? So it should come as no surprise that I'm not only a Netflix member, but a Gamefly member as well. With hubby's recent employment history (aHEM!) we couldn't afford to give gifts last Christmas, but the top one on my wish list was the sequel to "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" for the Xbox. It was the most satisfying gameplay experience in my recent memory. So you can imagine how happy I was to see the rental of the sequel had arrived in my mailbox this morning. "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within" was in that little black box faster than you can say "rewind time". It seems to be a theme with me this week. While playing, I was thinking how gracefully the main character moves. How many male characters on the big and small screens have been both manly and graceful? Hugh Jackman... *very* manly, and I've seen him dance in both "Kate & Leopold" and an Aussie rendition of "Oklahoma!". Ewan McGregor in "Moulin Rouge" (I must confess these days I just skip the story and watch the music). John Travolta... maybe. Not so much with the graceful, but he can *move*. At least he could during "Grease". I haven't seen him dance much since he "converted". And no, I don't count "Pulp Fiction". The Gene Kellys, the Fred Astaires, they're in short supply these days. Give me a man who looks like Rick Springfield and can do Swing, and I'll be in love. This should be where I tell hubby I signed us up for lessons and we start next week. :)

Time travel movies have always been fascinating for me... the idea that some tiny, random (or not-so-random) event can change a whole series of events in history, making the world a completely different place is just mind-boggling. I sometimes think of how different my life would be right now if I changed one thing from my past... say, if I'd never joined the army. I wouldn't have my knowledge of electronics, I'd never have lived in Colorado or Chicago, I wouldn't be married to my husband, and I wouldn't have my daughter. Scary, and fascinating. Here's a list of time-travel movies that have made it into my DVD collection... not all of them are strictly travelling through time, but they deal with similar ideas. In no particular order: 1. Terminator series 2. Butterfly Effect 3. Frequency (Five stars for this one... I cry like a baby at the end, every time) 4. Groundhog Day 5. Donnie Darko (bizarre, but a trip) 6. Thrill Seekers 7. 12 Monkeys 8. Timeline 9. The Final Countdown 10. Retroactive 11. The Philidelphia Experiment 12. Run Lola, Run 13. Sliding Doors (more a look at two branches of a diverging timeline, but a "cute" movie, Gwyneth's atrocious accent not withstanding) 14. Planet of the Apes 15. Kate and Leopold (Hugh Jackman riding horses, yum!) 16. The Family Man 17. Clockstoppers 18. The Time Machine 19. My Science Project 20. Back to the Future series 21. Primer (indie film, a little odd) 22. Disaster in Time (Jeff Daniels... no DVD but I always remember this one) 23. Millenium (Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd) 24. Sliders (series DVD) but only the first two seasons before they started getting silly. I challenge you to just think about one event in your past that changed your whole life. If it was a good thing, enjoy it... if it was not-so-great, try to think of anything positive that resulted from it. For instance, you may have gotten fired from that dream job, but if you hadn't been crying into a drink that night, would you have met your best friend? Gone back to school? Finished writing that novel? Think about it.

Have you ever had a crush on someone of the same sex? Not so much in a sexual way, but in wanting to be *like* that person? There were two people like that for me. One was Tawney Kitaen from the "Whitesnake" videos, for obvious reasons. All the guys wanted her. The other one is Madeleine Stowe, and the movie that put her into my hall of fame was "Blink" with Aidan Quinn. When I was a child, one of my fondest memories was of my great-uncle playing the fiddle. He even gave me a violin, and I did take lessons for a while, but it was classical training and it didn't keep my interest. Maddy's playing in "Blink" brought it back for me, faked or not. Combined with the character's independant spirit and wry humor, I took to the movie and the actress instantly. She... was... cool. So I rented the movie from Netflix, and it's as good as I remember. The plot has been recycled in countless police procedurals now, but back then it was a fairly fresh idea, and still stands up as a mystery with some good twists and fake-outs. And Aidan Quinn is terribly adorable, and a better actor than I remember. Now I have to go dig my violin out of storage and see if it's still in tune.

After a six-month hiatus, my website is up and functional again! Since my husband was unemployed for a year (partly by choice, the stinker) I'd had to let it lapse, but now that he's back to the salt mines, I once again have somewhere to put my digital junk drawer. Some portions still need to be rebuilt, as I'm doing a total makeover and starting from scratch, but the jewelry and crappy art will be back in no time (once I feel like dealing with all those thumbnails again). I really need to get a decent picture of myself taken again, but since I've not had a portrait done since 1986, I'm pretty sure I won't be happy with it no matter what. More snow on the roof and all that. Oh, and regarding yesterday's blog... "I'm not in Love" and "Cry" have been stuck in my head all day... "Cry" by choice, as it's darn melodic. The other is there by virtue of the ReplayTV catching Rick on "Regis and whatshername". RICK... you need to start making better choices for your live performace appearances on the talk show circuit! You sound like you're losing your voice. You had this same problem with SDAA.

Rick Springfield's follow-up album to "Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance" is finally here, fresh off the UPS truck! While some fans may be dismayed that Rick has produced a "cover songs" album, it's truly a welcome nostalgic trip through some of the best songs I know (that weren't his :) ) I'm Not in Love Under the Milky Way Life in a Northern Town Broken Wings (duet with Richard Page) Human Holding On to Yesterday Baker Street Waiting For A Girl Like You Let's Go Out Tonight For No One Miss You Nights Blue Rose Cry Imagine There *is* one original tune on the CD, titled "Cry", which oddly enough is the same title of one of my favorite songs by Faith Hill. It's not the same tune, however. :) In my opinion, this should have contained his awesome rendition of "All Day and All of the Night", but since it was on the "Greatest Hits... Alive" album, I suppose it would be repetitive. But a studio rendition, instead of the live version, would have been nice. As well as an updated "Eleanor Rigby" or "Little Roland Lost" from his Zoot days. "Human" is a haunting rendition, made more poignant from the implied personal history also implied on "S/D/A/A". "Waiting" could have been the best song on the album, outshining even Foreigner's version, but the background vocals were just a tad too harsh on the chorus to keep Rick's rich voice in focus. There's a catch in his voice on Blue Nile's "Let's Go Out Tonight" that gets to me like no song has since his "April 24th, 1981" about the death of his father. And if I had to choose the best rendition of "Imagine" that isn't by John Lennon, I'd still have to choose the one by Scott Bakula on "Quantum Leap" when Sam sang it to his sister. As an album, this is a nice Quick Rick Fix (TM) but I'll keep listening to "Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance" a little while longer.