Back from the dead: return of the lost earring

Several weeks ago I was minding my own business, doing my laundry.  I pulled the lint trap out of the dryer and heard a muffled clinking noise.  Inside the fur-lined trap was one of my earrings, and I was instantly petrified with fear.

These earrings by themselves are slightly special, but not out of the ordinary: 14 karat gold posts with small cubic zirconium studs.  But my ears are so sensitive, that sterling silver and 12 to 14k gold is all that I can wear without getting irritated in a couple hours.  This half-pair of earrings sitting in my lint trap was one quarter of only two pairs of earrings in my possession that never bothered my ears.  For some reason, I had taken off my earrings during the day and put them in the pocket of my pants.

I searched in every crack of the drier that I could reach for the other half of the pair, and in the washer, too.  I never found it.  After crying for about five seconds, I put the lone earring on my jewelry tray, thinking that the other was lost to the washer/dryer forever.

But last night something amazing happened!  When I pulled the lint trap out of the dryer this time, I heard a pulse-quickening rattle.  This time I was filled with positivity: could it be?  It was!  My other earring was returned to me at last!  Every nook and cranny was filled with lint and the pair still requires a good cleaning (ironic, no?), but I have a complete set once more.

New trailer, new hope for BSG's Blood & Chrome

I wrote my first impressions of the teaser trailer for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome over half a year ago.  I was breathless when I watched it the first time, ecstatic when I watched it the second time, and I would watch it every couple of weeks for the first few months after it was released because I was just so gosh darned excited!

And now there's this:

A new trailer was released today!  And what's more?  The series will air in ten 7-12 minute episodes on Machinima Prime starting this Friday, November 9!

Machinima Prime is a YouTube channel belonging to Machinima, which is an online video entertainment network featuring episodic series (as in TV shows, but not on TV) in many genres.  Blood & Chrome is produced by Universal Cable Productions, a division of NBCUniversal that also produces Psych, Covert Affairs, Alphas, Warehouse 13, and other series for USA and Syfy channels.

Writer for i09, Charlie Jane Anders views Blood & Chrome's status as a webseries as a demotion, but I think of it as an opportunity.  Syfy has time and time again cancelled some promising shows because the ratings weren't competing well enough against pro wrestling (like my darling Caprica, or Fox and Firefly).  In an online format, Blood & Chrome has the chance to thrive thanks to a devoted audience that can watch the show whenever and however many times they want to.

Still not convinced that a webseries can be successful?  There are plans to release the entire series as a movie on Syfy a few months down the road, then in DVD and Blu-ray format.

Disney acquires Lucasfilm

The Walt Disney company announced today that it will purchase Lucasfilm Ltd. in its entirety, including LucasArts, Skywalker Sound, Lucas Online, all other production companies previously owned by George Lucas, and the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.  Disney will pay $4.05 billion in cash and stock for Lucasfilm, which is expected to generate around $215 million in consumer products for 2012.

Lucas, who is the chairman, CEO, and sole owner of Lucasfilm, said, "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.  I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime....  Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come."

Disney and Lucasfilm already have a long-standing relationship, partnering together to bring Star Wars and Indiana Jones to Disney theme parks.  In a prepared release, Disney chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger stated that there are already plans in place to continue the Star Wars saga, including Star Wars Episode VII in 2015 and a new film every two to three years.  Lucas will serve as creative consultant to the new Disney-Lucasfilm brand.

Disney executives are confident that they will grow Star Wars to its full potential, as they have with other big franchises following acquisitions of Pixar in 2006 and Marvel in 2009.

A full press release from Disney, including statements by Iger and CFO Jay Rasulo, can be found at the Disney Newsroom.  

Jenna makes:

-blogs.  I have started many and more blogs, deleted most of them, and, other than this blog, all have been discontinued.  I like to write, I really do (especially when it's about something I know/love/want/feel) and yet I don't post often.  I get all worked up about something awesome to write about and then I get all worked up about everything wrong with my idea and all the time it would take to write and edit and make perfect and then I don't do it.  I do this in many areas of my life, with things I really enjoy, and it brings me down.  It's bad and I'm trying to work past it with therapy, meditation, and medication.  I am one hundred percent serious when I say this: admitting you have a problem is the first step.  I did that a couple of years ago, and haven't stopped improving since then.  Sometimes it takes a while to realize what your problem actually is, or that you may have many other problems that contribute to your overarching problem.

In other words, I don't have to be perfect when I start something; that's why I'm writing again, to improve and be better later when it might count for something.  I believe that writing a public journal is a great way to prove that you've been doing something with your life, even if you're just trying to prove it to yourself.  To get back into writing, I'm starting with something pretty simple: a list of what I make.  Inspiration comes from my high school friend Rebecca.  She is my inspiration in many aspects of life, and in many ways she is like the Jenna that I could be if I made it past myself.  (Pronouns can be confusing when talking about oneself and one's mental processes, can they not?)  And so, without further ado, Jenna makes:

-happy, well-trained dogs.  My family's first dog, Willow raised me, as I am fond of saying.  With a lab/German Shorthair Pointer mutt came a liking for hiking, an appreciation of nature, and self-discipline.  I became the unofficial dog-walker of the family, and though Willow seemed to have been leash-trained already, I learned to pace our walks and watch out for someone's safety other than my own.  A few years after getting Willow, we brought another dog into our home: purebred GSO Lucy.

She was rescued from a puppy mill and was very challenging to raise.  She was afraid of literally everything, never seemed to walk on a leash or heel, and became lonely, bored, and scared every time she was left alone (peed indoors, ate plants, threw up, chewed things that weren't toys).  As my family grew ever frustrated with her, it came to me to train her.  Love and patience helped her learn to stay close when off the leash, and that love eventually spread through the rest of her life.  She's quite the companion now.  

-clothes!  I recently started making some skirts and dresses for myself, and I want to continue to do so and learn more challenging patterns.
-mistakes
-homes
-creative spaces
-plants grow

-fooooood.  I can be very indulgent when it comes to food, and making it is cheaper than going to fancy restaurants.  Good thing I like to cook!

-friends
-crafts
-memories
-a good impression
-music
-scorn
-thoughtful conversation
-informed decisions
-blanket forts
-dreams
-drinks
-friends feel valued
-nonsensical sounds and movements

My first thoughts on the trailer for BSG prequel Blood and Chrome

Okay.  Okay.  Battlestar Galactica, the remake.  I loved every bit of it, even awkward season 3, and when Caprica came out, I loved the history I was learning about man and cylon, despite its basis in intrigue and suspense rather than action (and despite its cheesiness).  What reason could I possibly have not to love Blood and Chrome?  Well, Syfy killed Caprica before airing the pivotal and excruciatingly awesome final episodes in favor of wrestling and desperately cheesy movies.  I don't want to get attached to another fabulous television show in the world of the Thirteen Colonies only to have it ripped from me when it is starting to get good.  But then I saw the trailer.  Here is a play-by-play of the emotions I went through while watching it.

:03 Heh, Husker.  So cool.  Look how young he is, maybe late teens?

:07-:15  Okay, action, technology, space happenings.  I like.

:18  Har, what an awesome song to use.

:20  This is going to be pretty cool.

:25  Oh shit, this is so cool, I'm going to piss my pants.

:30  Fuck, this is totally awesome with this song!  There's going to be guns and stuff!  (Obviously there's going to be guns, but the part with the flashlights in that cold place made me tingly.)

:40  BAH, there's a cylon, I SAW HIM AND HE IS COOL!  I love the "antique" cylons!

:45  Ooh, scantily clad people, you know there's going to be drama.

:52  EXPLOSIONS!!!

After this point I stared, mouth agape, and made unidentifiable squealing noises, possibly some expletives.

1:22  There's Adama again!  I like that they're mirroring what happened at the beginning of the trailer.

1:27  Game changer to the max!  Hopefully they won't cancel it before it's begun, and with a trailer like this they sure as hell better not.

1:29  BLOOD AND CHROME!!!!  WOOOOO!!!!!!!!  I am officially excited, like a minute ago.

I think Syfy may have canceled Caprica because there wasn't enough action in it.  And with a name like Blood and Chrome, I don't think this new spin-off has any chance of failing Syfy's action expectations.  But wait! you may say.  I liked that Battlestar was an action-based drama.  This trailer looks like all the thinking and emotions will be taken out of it.  Well, I don't agree, but there's not much evidence of anything at this point.  I guess we'll see.