Not one of my best ideas

As if I hadn’t enough much more urgent things to do, I just went ahead and signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. (In case you’ve never heard of that: that’s the thing were you have to write a 50.000 word novel in one month. November, to be precise.)

I don’t know what possessed me, but for the last couple of days I felt like I absolutely had to do this, and since I act upon every stupid idea I get here I am, an official participant in this whole novel writing frenzy. Great. Just what I needed, really.

Since I have never done that before, I have no idea what to expect and if I even have a chance to succeed. But I guess half the fun is finding that out.

Did I mention that I have no clue whatsoever what I might write a novel about?

But then again, there’s still time. The whole thing only starts tomorrow, so maybe I’ll come up with the killer plot idea tonight in my sleep. Not bloody likely, though.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that in case I can’t be bothered to post anything here in the next 4 weeks. I’m not dead, I’m just writing. Probably. Or I’m hiding from my own stupid ideas. Or something.

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You’ve been wondering why I have been so quiet again recently? It’s not that I don’t want to blog anymore.
I just don’t have time right now, because I have developed a huge and completely unreasonable crush on actor William Fichtner. (You know the guy, even though you probably never heard his name before.)
The result of that is that I have spent the last 4 weeks watching every movie or tv show he ever appeared in that I could get my hands on. In the last 2 weeks that has been mainly Prison Break - Season 2 and 3, which I have watched backwards and forwards - every which way but sideways.

It’s really typical for me to be able to watch a show with so many really attractive guys in it and fall for the one that not only plays not exactly a good guy, but who also should be completely outshone by the pretty boys.

I am aware that 99% of the fans of the show seem to be hopped up on Wentworth Miller. And while I agree that he looks exceptionally pretty (although he might wanna do something about his nose, really), that is kind of the problem for me. He looks gorgeous, but apart from his eye-candy quality, as an actor he seems just average. But I can’t really say, because his looks totally get in the way of an objective assessment of his acting abilities. But anyway, he is a good 15 years too young to be of any interest to me personally.

William, on the other hand, is not only in the right age group for my taste, he is an outstanding actor, who is greatly underrated, because he is mostly going for the smaller, but more interesting roles on the sidelines. Accordingly, his character Alex Mahone is much more interesting than Goody-Twoshoes Michael Scofield. I will always take the tortured soul over the pretty boy.
So now you know. I’ll come back on here as soon as I’m over that phase. Shouldn’t take too long. I get bored so very easily these days.

I just received an email from Doug Rice, the guy who runs the Josh Ritter website I mentioned in my last post. Apparently he liked what I wrote about Josh and offered me free tickets to one of the shows on his current tour.

Now, quite apart from me being amazed that he actually bothered to read my post at all (it’s not like I’m an a-list blogger after all), how fucking awesome is that? Never in a hundred years would I have expected anything like that and I just sat here staring at my computer screen for a couple of minutes, completely flabbergasted.

And then, after I had looked outside and seen the 10 inches of snow, which would make driving to Groningen hell, I went and checked the train times (the next train to Groningen goes around 3.30 p.m., which would make me way too late for the show tonight) and then Ryanair for tickets to London (going for around 250 Euros right now).

Finally, after I had bit into my desk in frustration, I answered Doug’s email, telling him I was unable to take him up on his generous offer…

I don’t know what to feel right now. On the one hand, I am giddy about being offered free tickets to a kick-ass show (I’m sure for some people that would not be much of a big deal, because it happens to them all the time, but as I said, I live in the middle of friggin’ nowhere and this is hands down the best thing I ever got offered for free), but obviously I’m also broken-hearted that I don’t get to go. Ah well, it sure would have been nice, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Now please excuse me, while I go and bang my head on the wall in despair…

The above is a quote from one of the songs of Josh Ritter. And I’m completely, absolutely in love with the guy! In a completely platonic way, but still…

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but you can actually fall in love with someone just by listening to him sing. I know, because I just did.

Just ignore Letterman and listen to this song. Isn’t this guy just incredible?

Before one of his songs was included on the House Soundtrack I had never heard of Josh Ritter. (Yes, I do live in a cave.) When I heard that song, though, I knew I had to check out what else the guy has done. And what can I say? Blown away doesn’t even begin to cover it.

I downloaded his last 3 CDs and I have been listening to them ever since. They are from start to finish incredible - and, believe me, it’s a very rare occurence to hear me saying something like that!

His voice is not perfect, but it’s … real, for want of a better word. Actually, he reminds me a bit of Bruce Springsteen in that regard (he even covered one of my favorite songs of his - brilliantly, I might add). He sings with so much feeling and such sincerity that I couldn’t help falling for him. And that was before I ever saw him. I’d be hard pressed to say which song is my favorite, they are all so very good. And that’s not even counting the sometimes wacky lyrics, which are fantastic as well.

From the live album I listened to it sounds like his concerts are quite the party. He seems to really bond with his audience and even without seeing him I could hear that he has an amazing presence on stage. As luck would have it, he is just touring Europe. Tomorrow he does the last concert in the Netherlands, then he goes to the UK and does a couple of shows there before finishing off the tour back home in the US.

Now, there’s no way I can afford to fly to London or Leeds on such short notice, but I could drive to Groningen tomorrow… It’s only about 600 km after all. And even though I couldn’t find out how much the tickets are, at least it looks like the show is not completely sold out.

I could say this was providential timing, but of course in reality I can’t afford to drive all the way to the Netherlands just for a concert, either. The gas alone would come to more than 120 Euros. So I guess, for now I’m stuck with listening to the CDs and hoping he’ll do another tour next year. Ah crap, being a responsible grown-up really sucks sometimes!

But instead I did have some fun checking out everything I could find about the guy online. Not only did he turn out to be quite cute, he also has got a beautiful website. With links that grow little flowers when you move the cursor over them. Sweet. And you can download quite a few of his songs for free, how nice is that?

Then there’s a special fansite, where you can listen to his song “Good Man” - which featured on House - and also download the mp3. For free.

But wait, there’s more! Also on the fansite, there’s a page where you can download almost the complete setlist of a show he did at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles last March - just him and his acoustic guitar all alone on stage. Gave me goosebumps. He’s amazing. Have I mentioned how much in love I am with his voice?

And here you can listen to all the tracks of his newest album “The Historical Conquest of Josh Ritter”. Do yourself a favour and check it out (especially “To the dogs or whoever” and “Rumors”)!

The man really is awfully generous with his music. I hope there are enough people left who actually buy the CDs. I for one definitely will. You won’t hear that from me often, but some music is actually worth paying money for.

After having sold some stuff on ebay recently (as part of my ongoing uncluttering mission) I fooled around a bit today and ended up looking for laptop bags.

The one I’m using at the moment is not really big enough and besides, it is a shoulder bag. Now I’m not a big fan of shoulder bags anyway, but if I have to lug around a 5-pound laptop plus several accessories I definitely want a backpack.

The problem is most of those laptop backpacks look exactly the same, i.e. boring. They are black with some grey, or grey with some black, or black with some blue, or… well, you get the picture. They are just damn boring.

So it took me a while to find anything even remotely interesting, but now there’s another problem: I have found 2 that I like. And I can’t decide which one I like more. This sucks, because obviously, for monetary and clutter-related reasons, I can only buy one.

So I need a little help here, guys. Which one looks better?

I think they both look nice. They are both pretty much the same size, weight and material. They both have 2 big compartments and several little ones, so fitting everything in shouldn’t be a problem. The green one has an interestingly curved form, but the white one has an extra rain cover (not that I will ever willingly walk around in the rain for hours with my laptop on my back, but it could happen, right?). But the white one looks pretty much the same as the old backpack I am using every day (which, sadly, doesn’t have any kind of padding fit for laptop transport). So I guess the green one would be something else for a change.

Gahhh, did I mention that I hate having to make decisions?

The one bad thing about getting stuff like that through an ebay auction is that I can’t order several different ones and try them and then only keep the one I like best, like I could do when ordering them from Amazon, for instance. So, what if the green one looks better, but feels like crap when I am actually carrying it on my back?

Well, I guess then I will just have to sell it again and try the other one. *sigh*

So, which one shall I get?

On a much nicer note: it looks like Vincent D’Onofrio’s new baby has already arrived.

According to this message on a forum his wife Carin gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Valentine’s Day. How fitting.

I can’t wait to hear what name they choose. I’m just curious like that, can’t help it.

Too bad he has to go back to work on LO:CI just now. As glad as I am that the writers’ strike is finally over, this is a bit of awkward timing for him. Good for me, though, because I can finally look forward to new episodes of not only Criminal Intent, but also House, Bones, Criminal Minds and Numb3rs. Rewatching the old ones over and over got a bit less than exciting lately.

Edit 22.02.08:

His name is Luca.  Love it. Goes well with Elias and Leila.

Thanks to Whedonesque (as usual) I was just able to read this wonderful essay by Nathan Fillion about his experience playing Malcolm Reynolds on “Firefly”:

I, Malcolm

(taken from the book “Serenity Found”, which has just been promoted to a no. 1 spot on my wishlist).

And what can I say: it really made me get all teary-eyed and nostalgic. That’s no easy feat, not even when I’m in a quietly depressed mood like right now. But Nathan managed it effortlessly. Why? Because he gets it. He expresses what we as fans of the show all feel - and he does it in his own inimitable way. His love for the show, for the people involved, and not least for the ship itself is incredible. Reading this essay I really believe that he had the time of his life in these few all-too-short months.

Imagine wanting, all your life, to be able to fly. Daydreaming about it, fantasizing about it. Imagine that flying was all you ever wanted. Then, for a few months, somebody gave you wings.

A friend of mine told me just recently that I had the ability to make him laugh and cry at the same time. Nathan does the same.

I have found Firefly not too long ago, but it has nevertheless had a deep impact on my life and on the way I look at the world in general. Of course, I am aware that it was only a tv show. But then again, it wasn’t. It was special. Still is.

To people who have never seen it, it’s hard to explain what is so special about it. So, if you belong to this sorry group of people: go and read this essay and maybe - just maybe - you will understand what you have missed out on so far.