A Happy Birthday picspam for darling PQ--hope part 2 of birthday is as good/better than part 1! Some Jared, some Sam, one with that other guy whose name starts with J ;-) and one Brock (with little Sam). Oh, and some Hobbits--ha! All of it pretty! One Jared for a preview, rest after the cut... *big smishy hugs*



( Pretty Padalecki, comin' up... )

Eeeeee! Preview for next week's episode of Castle "Vampire Weekend"--Hallowe'en themed--spoilers--but I'm posting because I'm so excited about Rick Castle's choice of Hallowe'en costume--I love Nathan Fillion!

( Preview behind cut...jeez, this is giving me fits today... )

My friend Patty made this for me at JibJab--it's a rock n' roll birthday card with "Dean" as the rocker!  Heeeee!  It's awesome--thanks, Patty!

</div></div>

As far as birthdays go, this one is turning out to be lovely (and hopefully, the fun is just beginning, my birthdays tend to meander for the month, celebrating with various friends who also have birthdays later this month, and I'm always happy to hear from folks whenever they can!)

This day started out with Happy Birthday sung to me by my mom--who has a great voice (oh, why couldn't I have inherited some of that!), and a big thank you and much love to her for all she is and does for me.  :-)

And next, at work, I got an awesome cake (above) from boss, who knows my favorite band of all time is Guns n' Roses, and made sure I had a suitably decorated cake (told a funny story about convincing the bakery it was okay to draw "guns" on my cake, hee!), and he, his wife and her dad all came to work with cake, a rose and presents--eeeee!  So thoughtful of them, even in amongst our crazy work lives.  *hugs them*

And a fellow Virgo called from work to make sure I knew she remembered, even though there's even more work craziness there, too...

Yup.  It's my birthday.  *iz happy*

(Oh, and a shout out and smishes to Becky, who got the full photo op of Men Wearing Winchester Bros/Winchester Radion podcast hats at the Vancouver con, and PQ, who made awesome icons from it!  Eeeeee!!)

Promo that was first on Kristen's E! site and here via SF Universe--and then just a few guesses/thoughts of mine... :-)

( Spoilers ahoy in promo and musings! )

...I actually made an icon all by myself and wanted to make sure it would post/look okay.


*previews LJ post*


Well, dip me in pudding and call me Charlie.  It worked!


Not sure I'm ready to make 100 of these things, but it's a start...

:-)

Eeeeeeeeeeeee!



All done with Sera Gamble Q&A for WinchesterBros.com--hope you all enjoy--lots of great stuff in there.  :-D  Please post any thoughts, etc. if you want in the comments, would love to hear.


SEASON FIVE SPOILERS ABOUND!


Link directly to WinchesterBros page--please do not repost Q&A, link to the page only--thanks!


(I'm sorry, for some reason I can't get the full link to work here.  Sigh.  My apologies for the "cut & paste" necessity--if someone can help me fix it, that'd be great)


http://www.winchesterbros.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3866&Itemid=1

*runs in circles, shrieking in excitement*


Sera Gamble most kindly answered a bunch of questions for us at WinchesterBros.com--I've got to organize and edit a bit, then it will be posted, within a day or two, for sure. 

We came up with some really great questions, and Sera has some terrific answers, definitely spoilery, though not super specific--but if you're a spoilerphobe, when the Q&A comes out, *do not* read it.  But, I'm excited!  :-D

I'm going to post a teeny, spoilerly tease behind the cut:



( Season 5 spoiler, ahoy! )


Wheeeeee!

Creation Entertainment sent out an email announcement today about more guests to the Vancouver and Chicago cons--I'm not going to Vancouver :-(  (wah!  I wanna take a picture with Metallicar!), but I will be in Chicago in November, and omgyay, we're getting Rob Benedict who plays the prophet, Chuck Shurley--whee!  And, I like Julie, too, she's so nice and funny.


Info reposted from my email--see Creation's site for tickets, etc.(no, I don't work for them ;-) just giving credit where due):

www.creationent.com/index.htm

Two cool guests to add to the roster of upcoming Creation Entertainment SALUTE TO SUPERNATURAL CONVENTIONS coming to Vancouver (August 28-30, 2009) and Chicago (November 13-15, 2009)!

Even though these events are almost totally sold out we're still working overtime to deliver the VERY best experience for our fellow Supernatural fans....

IN CHICAGO we'll be joined by:

ROB BENEDICT: SUPERNATURAL’s Chuck Shurley; HEAD CASE’s Jeremy Berger; FELICITY’s Richard Coad (appearing Sunday)

JULIE McNIVEN: SUPERNATURAL’s Anna Milton; MAD MEN’s Hildy (appearing Friday)
 

In VANCOUVER, joining the fun will be:

JULIE McNIVEN: SUPERNATURAL’s Anna Milton; MAD MEN’s Hildy (appearing Friday)

 

So, the other night, I had a crazy dream with Misha Collins in it.  Misha =  Whole Bucket of Crazy, so no surprise there.  ;-)  And, I've been having lots of weird/crazy dreams lately.  Maybe it's the full moon.  I dunno.  *shakes head*

But, really, Subconscious, why this?  Misha Collins in an olive green woolen coat and black velvet floppy beret , standing there at the back of the crowd (wherever it was), provoking me to lean over to...someone...and say, "wow, Misha looks like the Archbishop of Canterbury."


WTH, Brain?

:-/

Would some dear soul with far greater Mad Photoshop Skillz than I kindly make me an icon of this?  *coughBeckyPQcough*




Please?  Pretty please, with olive oil and Jared on top?

Full credit and tons of gratitude to the maker.  :-D

I'm feeling sad and a little abandoned today.  Nothing too terrible, but just that it all seems to have piled up in one day...  *sniffles forlornly*


My boss left for California today, for a week.  And though I do enjoy the chance for peace and quiet and catching up on work, we have a really good working relationship and joke around a lot in the office, so I'll miss that part of it


Sadder, though, is that we said goodbye to our wonderful, multi-talented, sweetheart of a studio intern today.  He is going back home to New England (he's been here since January), to finish out his senior year in high school, then off to RISD in the fall.  He's been here, working in the studio (My boss is a collage artist), and could handle anything we asked of him, with patience and good humor.  Honestly, he puts some adults twice (and more) his 18 years to shame.  We will miss him very much.  :-(  I asked him for a piece of artwork as a memento, and I can't wait till it's done and I can show you guys--he's a "car guy" and I gave him a photo of Metallicar to work from and said to also make the drawing 'his own.'  It's still in progress but so much fun, I am so looking forward to when he sends it to me!  We hope that he will stay in touch and keep us up on how he's doing at college, and maybe we'll see him next winter--hope so!


And if all that wasn't killer enough, last night's Supernatural ep 4.21 just about did me in.  And, in another goodbye, 4th season is almost over, and we'll be stuck in summer hiatus hell for *months*...Wah!  :-(  ( And a little more about 4.21...  )

Anyway, thanks for listening.  I know things aren't so bad, boss will be back, our intern will do great and we'll keep in touch, and Supernatural will...well...be back for a 5th season--yay!!  So, I'll be fine, but just trying to get through a tough day...

*shuffles back to work*

So.....I stopped at Target this morning on the way to work, and they have a Starbucks, also.  My frappucino and coffee cake (whee! decadent breakfast day!) added up to $6.66.  And, it's the 6th of May.


I didn't know whether to cheer, look for Lilith behind the counter or just go home and hide for the rest of the day.


So, I went to work anyway.  Hee.

I'm going to fill out the customer survey for Target to win a $5,000 gift card:  maybe this 6.66 will bring me luck!  Ha!

mfluder42  updated her LJ with even more AHBL loveliness...check out her LJ and sigh, drool, flail, etc.  If you pass on, use, etc., please credit her:  mfluder42.  :-)

Preview here:








( More pretty samples after the cut... )( Even more prettiness after the cut... )</div>

So, my friend, LJer mfluder42  (the right link this time!!) took these wonderful photos at the AHBL convention in Sydney over the weekend.

I've posted some of my favorites here; there are more at her LJ mfluder42 .  Thanks, hon, for taking them and making them available!  *hugs*

Preview, more behind the cut--






( More pretty from Down Under! )

Promo clip 4.18  ( behind the cut... )

Just saw spoilery promo pics for Supernatural episode 4.18....

*runs in circles, shrieking in excitement*


( pic specific comments... )


*flails and falls down*

First, the Good:  lovely spending the weekend with friends (I have 3 friends who live in Orlando, I live in Florida, so I pick up another friend of ours in Vero and we drive up to stay with them, plus janglyjewels *hugs* and some other nice internetz related folks).  Patty and I had a pleasant chat with Jason Manns in the autograph/vendors room and bought a couple CDs.  Jim smiled and winked at us passing in the hallway, nothing special about us, just that he likely recalled our faces from other cons in general--he said at his panels he recognized all the faces of the audience.  :-)  Julie McNiven (Anna) complimented Patty's art manipulated photo of her with angels wings subtly in the background with a profile pic of Dean.  All of the Q&As were great fun--we've seen Chad, Gabe and Jim before, and Jason Manns (just once, though).  Jim, bless him, did 2 Q&As, one Saturday, one Sunday, since Misha couldn't make it.  The guests occasionally wandered in and out of another's Q&A, and once in a while interacted (like Gabe and Chad, and Chad's now infamous prank on the crowd in cahoots with Froggy the photographer).  Patty and Jason Manns had a delightful exchange about Jason's SAT scores--Patty is a high school guidance counselor, and since Jason has said before that he went to William & Mary, and that is a very difficult school to get in, his scores had to be awesome.  She asked what his SATs had been (after explaining why she wanted to know, and that she'd gotten students into Harvard and Yale, but not W&M yet)--he was sweetly cagey about answering, or really, *not* answering, making us believe the scores are quite high.  He said at first "1607"--which is an impossible number considering when he would have taken them, as at that time, the highest would have been 1600.  Hee.  My photo op with Jim (which started out as an op with Jared, was next exchanged for an op with Misha, then Jim, when Misha couldn't make it)--no dis on Jim, I have a great pic of him and Jared with me in the "Hunters" pic from the first Eyecon) was great fun and huggy and came out nicely.  Julie McNiven is sweet and strong and pretty.  Said Jensen was a gentlemen in their love scene.  Said they all laughed and laughed in between filming takes.  Told a great story about how she's a Supernatural watcher, and always thought while watching that Sam and Dean are the "Tall One" and the "Short One."  Then she met them, and they're "The Giant" and "The Tall One."  Heeeee!  Jim was also highly complimentary of both Jensen and Jared; there was a question about what kind of acting he preferred and it led to a discussion of his own techniques--it could be considered spoilery, so I'll put it under a cut:

( Spoilerish for last couple eps of season... )


Next, the Bad:  well, disappointing, really.  First, Jared needs to cancel, then Misha also needs to cancel, at the last minute.  No dis on them.  It's the nature of the business, and their day job comes first, it's what pays the bills and they have a professional obligation to keep, and are too respectful of their employers and co-workers to cause a problem.  For con attendees, it's always a crap shoot, and you get to know the guests that do their damnedest to get there, and if they cancel, well, you pays your money and you takes your chances.  It happens, and you gotta decide early on to have fun no matter what with who *is* or isn't there. 

And finally, the Ugly:  Eyecon staff sold autographs and photo ops with Misha Collins up to about 5 minutes before Dizzy (stage host) announced that Misha couldn't make it (as hard as they'd tried to work it out), and that it had been known by convention organizers that there was a very good chance that Misha couldn't make the con, that he was having to work/be available to work, and while they did try to arrange flights to get him in late Saturday and out before Monday morning work call, it wasn't going to happen.  We'd heard talk in the vendors' room that "it was too bad the angel guy couldn't make it" as early as Friday night, yet tickets, ops and autos continued to be sold.  When Patty and Annie bought their autos and ops, I specifically *asked* if Misha was going to be there.  I received the vague "well, he is our Sunday guest" answer, and the staff worker hesitated slightly.  People paid with cash and credit cards.  Now, I have no idea if the staff table workers knew or not, but obviously con organizers did, and let their staff keep selling.  And did I mention they kept selling until FIVE MINUTES before the cancellation announcement??  That is *appalling* unprofessional, unethical, disrespectful behavior towards people spending their hard-earned (or not, who cares?) money for something that was not going to happen.  It's shameful.  And while told they could exchange Misha autos/ops for others, many wanted refunds.  These refunds were supposed to be run today.  I have no reason to believe that the money won't be returned as promised.  I hope it goes smoothly.  Annie won't rest until she does get her money back, if any delay for any reason occurs.  She's a very determined person.  But, it remains that this should not have happened in the first place.  Anyone asking for a Misha related purchase should have been informed.  It is not wise to treat your paying customers like that (in many cases, attendees had been to Eyecon before more than once--this was my third).  I can't imagine there will be another Eyecon, but perhaps arrogance will tell.  I have my doubts it will succeed, trust has been broken.  And really, who schedules a third con with 2 others (Creation) in the same month??  Especially during a time when they are still filming, and it's the end of the season!

Anyway, thanks to the delightful *guests* the attendees had a nice time with them, at least.  If I think of any other *fun* cast/set related stories, I'll post them.

 

For my dear, departed external hard drive at home.  I pulled the plug last night, after it slipped into a coma and no amount of resuscitation would bring it back to me.  ::sob:: 

 

It’s been acting oddly for a long time, sometimes ‘there’ in My Computer or whenever I wanted to save a file, and many times not there.  And it would whir and chirrup to itself even in the middle of the night.  I came this close >< to salting and burning it!  Anyway, finally called my comp techs and described the problem to them, and they clutched their geeky pearls and shrieked ‘oh the humanity!’ (okay, maybe they actually just said ‘hmm, sounds like it’s failing’) .  So I went home, hoping to coax it into coming on and copying my files to my computer hard drive (yes, yes, yes, I know, I should have done that sooner!).  It was there in My Computer, but the icon was the little mystery pic when Microsoft can’t read the type of file, and when I tried to open it, it said ‘files empty’.  I shrieked in horror, but managed to find the files through another ‘explore’ method and promptly hurried through copying them to my computer HD.  I think it’s out of warranty, so I guess I’ll be off to the Devil’s Playground (aka Best Buy) for new one—luckily I have some Reward Zone $$ and I don’t want more than a 250GB, so it shouldn’t be too costly.  I hope.

 

Sigh.  At least I didn’t lose my files!   =:-O

 

And on a cheerier note:

 

Misha Collins interview bit:

 

<<So are we going to get to see your wings? Not just the shadow of them?

Collins: I have a suspicion that the wings, ... there is no way that they would fail to disappoint. And, you know, since we've just seen them as shadows, no one knows what they really look like. Maybe they're actually only 3 inches tall [laughs].

Now, you don't want people to think you have small wings ...

Collins: No, no.

That would be embarrassing.

Collins: I would be trying to find wing enlargement.

I'm sure someone has that on the Internet.

Collins: That's right. >>

 

Heeeeeee!!

Sidetracking my mostly Supernatural LJ today (I dunno, I think Dean and Sam would like Michael and Victor... ;-) for a little Burn Notice love--the 2nd season finale was last night, guest starring Michael Shanks as Victor, as an ex-spy also burned operative.  He was amazing.  I love the show and Jeffrey Donovan (I still miss Touching Evil USA, wish they'd put it out on DVD, but I digress...).  Anyway, I'm still thinking about the ep and their performances today, and that means it was a great episode.  Some specific thoughts...

( spoilery on episode events, etc... )

Looking forward to the 2nd season DVDs now!  I recommend the show highly, great cast, including Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless, they all mesh really well, the Miami scenery is well used and beautiful, nice mix of humor, mystery, action and handy how to make spy stuff tips!  He's like MacGyver with guns!  Hee.