I Hate Balls, Too.

I know lots of people hate on Katherine Heigl and while I don't really care about her either way, I do like the work (and how much of it) she does for animals. And I completely agree with this message! People really don't realize the importance of spaying or neutering their pets.

Katherine Heigl Hates Balls from Katherine Heigl

I think I'm going to scrape my pennies together and try to get this shirt...

TV Tidbits : Updated (Series) Death Watch

We gave up on Up All Night because, well, it was very "meh." Not horrible but not hilarious and though I pull for Will Arnett (hi, meet the only person who watched Running Wilde), I just don't have time in my life for meh. Which begs the question "Why am I still watching A Gifted Man?" I don't really know. It's kind of a nice vacation for my brain for an hour, I guess. I dunno. I'm not surprised its odds aren't looking too hot right now but I'll probably hang with it for a while yet. Especially since they have been featuring his annoying ex-wife less and less. :o) We like Person of Interest so I'm glad it'll be hanging around but I still can't believe how many people love 2 Broke Girls. Clearly, my sense of humor is not in line with that of most of America. But I think we knew that already.

Here's the breakdown from EW.com:

New Girl (Fox): 5.0, 10 million.
Status: Fox was the first network to pick up a new show for a full season. We’re now focusing of that second year pickup, when we think her chances are rosy.

2 Broke Girls (CBS): 5.5 rating, 13.7 million.
Full season pickup. Notice the ratings: This is the highest rated new show of the 2011-12 season.

The X Factor (Fox): Wednesday, 4.4, 12.5 million; Thursday, 4.3, 12.6 million
Full season pickup.


Once Upon a Time (ABC): 4.7, 13.7 million.
Full season pickup. We’ll be brutally honest: After the middling launch for Pan Am and Revenge, we didn’t have high hopes for this high-concept drama from a couple of clever Lost writers. Sometimes, it’s a relief to be wrong. Show like this need to succeed if we want to see more genre shows in the future.

Terra Nova (Fox): 3.6, 10 million
Status: Fox executives already confirmed that it will complete its 13-hour run in December. The network will decide by the end of the year whether Terra Nova will get a second season. Though the dino drama is performing weaker than what the network wants, it’s still got a shot to return.

Last Man Standing (ABC): 3.7, 11.9 million.
Full season pickup. Not surprising: It was a big deal for ABC to get Tim Allen back. But with a new showrunner at the helm as of this month (last one left for personal reasons, new guy comes from Reba), job one is to keep refining Allen’s voice without boring viewers.


Suburgatory (ABC): 3.5, 10.1 million
Full season pickup

Person of Interest (CBS): 3.3, 13.8 million
Full season pickup

Revenge (ABC): 3.6, 10.5 million
Full season pickup. Good news for prime time soap fans.

Unforgettable (CBS): 3.0, 13.9 million
Full season pickup

Pan Am (ABC): 2.8, 8.3 million
Status: The period drama has settled at a modest number and, as a result, has yet to get a full season pickup. ABC might complete its run at 13 and postpone a final decision on its fate until May.


How to be a Gentleman (CBS): 2.7, 8.4 million
Canceled
 
Up All Night (NBC): 2.7, 6.2 million
Status: Full season pickup plus two additional episodes. NBC will hang onto this for a full season because its from SNL’s Lorne Michaels.

Whitney (NBC): 2.7, 5.5 million
Status: Full season pickup for a show that doesn’t really belong on a network that has comedies like Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock and Community.

Allen Gregory (Fox) 2.2, 4.5 million
Status: Sandwiched between The Simpsons and Family Guy, this new animated comedy has been a real let-down. Fox only ordered seven episodes. Once they finish airing, we don’t expect the network to mention the show again.

Man Up! (ABC) 2.2, 7 million
Status: Man down? We think this is be the next freshman show to get a pink slip.

Grimm (NBC) 2.3, 6.8 million
Full season pickup


Charlie’s Angels (ABC): 1.8, 7.4 million
Canceled.


Prime Suspect (NBC): 1.7, 6.1 million
Canceled. So are networks done with reboots of old shows? Heck no: The peacock just ordered a pilot for The Munsters.


Playboy Club (NBC): 1.5, 4.9 million
Canceled 

A Gifted Man (CBS): 1.4, 8.6 million
Status: Though the network has yet to give it a full season pickup, it recently ordered three more episodes. Still, we’re not feeling upbeat about its chances for another season.


Free Agents (NBC): 1.5, 3.8 million
Canceled

Secret Circle (The CW): 1.2, 2.7 million
Full season pickup

Rock Center with Brian Williams (NBC): 1.0, 3.9 million
Status: Rock bottom with Brian Williams. This should go quietly into the night after the new round of shows debut after the holidays.

Ringer (The CW): 0.9, 1.2 million
Full season pickup

Hart of Dixie (The CW): 0.9, 2.0 million
Full season pickup

Hey, we can play death watch all season! Look at all the cannon fodder coming soon:
ABC: Work It (Jan. 3), The River (Feb. 7), GCB (March 4), Missing (March 15)
NBC: The Firm (Jan. 8), Are you there, Chelsea? (Jan. 11),  Smash (Feb. 6), Fashion Star (March 13)
CBS: ¡Rob! (Jan. 12)
FOX:  I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Nov. 30) Napoleon Dynamite (TBD), The Finder (TBD), Touch (TBD), The Flintstones (TBD), Alcatraz (TBD)
The CW: The Frame (TBD)

You Knew It Was Inevitable...

More Harry Potter! Actually, just more Daniel Radcliffe. Hey, the Deathly Hallows 2 DVD came out a couple weeks ago so you had to expect this.



And just for fun:

Image Credit: Timothy Eaker

There was a Hogwarts reunion at Broadway’s Golden Theatre on Nov. 7 when Daniel Radcliffe nipped backstage to congratulate former Harry Potter co-star Rickman on his Main Stem return in Seminar. The actors, who were all smiles in Rickman’s dressing room after the show, are both currently gracing the Great White Way — at least until Radcliffe bows out of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Jan. 1.

Movie Morsels 74: The Dark Knight Rises

This info is a few days old but I didn't really see it mentioned anywhere else so chances are it'll still be news to you. According to EW.com, TDKR will be set eight years after TDK left off:

Hollywood franchises don’t really end anymore. If you look at the current list of 2011′s top 10 top-grossing films, eight are sequels/spin-offs/prequels that were specifically designed to create more sequels/spin-offs/prequels. (Heck, four of the movies — Thor, Captain America, Fast Five, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes — all included teasers for the next installment in their freaking end credits.) The highest-grossing movie of the year is Harry Potter 7 — Part 2, the eighth film in a franchise based on seven books. The only non-franchise film is Bridesmaids, a movie that will soon be pushed aside byTwilight 4 — Part 1, which features already the most popular teen pregnancy since the Gospel of Matthew.

It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when no respectable Hollywood franchise lasted longer than three movies. I’m talking about good threequels — like Return of the King, or The Bourne Ultimatum, or the underrated Back to the Future Part III — but I’m also talking about not-so-good franchise cappers. The Matrix Revolutions, Alien 3, and Return of the Jedi aren’t perfect, but by god, they all follow through on the most basic promise inherent in telling a story: They have endings.

The secretive Christopher Nolan hasn’t talked very much about his upcoming third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, but a close reading of his public statements indicate that he envisions the movie in those classical terms. In a new interview with Empire, Nolan explains that the movie is “all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne’s story.” So much so, in fact, that Rises will feature a rather significant time jump: “Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he’s an older Bruce Wayne; he’s not in a great state.”

That’s a huge time jump for a blockbuster franchise, but it’s especially notable in light of Batman’s particular character mythology. The first two films in Nolan’s franchise focused on Batman’s early days: His origin, his first meeting with the Joker, his decision at the end ofDark Knight to pretend to be a bad guy for the good of Gotham. By leaping forward in time almost a full decade, Nolan seems to be shifting focus onto the hero’s declining days. In fact, that time jump leads me to wonder if the director is going for a Dark Knight Returns thing with this final movie. Frank Miller’s iconic ’80s graphic novel was about a middle-aged Batman coming out of retirement just long enough for a few final adventures. Returns has always been a spiritual predecessor for Nolan’s Bat-series, and I wonder if that vision of an older Batman — who was also “not in a great state” — will influence the film.

There are other reasons to be excited about the time jump. An eight-year break means there won’t be any questions about the Joker’s absence. It also means that, hopefully, Bruce Wayne won’t spend the entire movie moping over a lost love interest (a plot point that essentially derailed the most recent James Bond movie). What excites me most of all, though, is the fact that this time jump instantly reconfigures our understanding of the films’ universe. It feels like Batman could genuinely be in danger.

The Batman franchise will probably never really end, of course; Warner Bros. has already put plans in motion to reboot the series post-Nolan. But am I the only one intrigued by the idea that Nolan might actually bring his interpretation of the character to an actual conclusion?

Intriguing. I like this idea a lot; people have been questioning how the story is going to handle the Joker question and this seems like a good way to deal with that baggage. I also like that it sort of sweeps the whole Rachel thing under the rug, too, so two birds with one stone! I say this all the time but expectations are so high for this installment that I hope stupid Anne Hathaway doesn’t ruin it   it doesn't disappoint.

Robert's "Surrey"-First Birthday

(Can I take a moment and bask in my cleverness in coming up with the title of this post? Oh, me. Sometimes I tickle even myself. Whee!)

Poor Robert. This year his birthday fell right during my first set of midterms and, as such, I was a bad wife and didn't plan anything spectacular or extravagant to mark his special day. As always, though, Robert was much more gracious than I would have been had our roles been reversed and was happy to spend the day together, just hanging out in Monterey. I must admit that I had a sneaking suspicion that he'd go for the Monterey plan because there is something there that calls to Robert that I had previously denied him - surrey bicycle rides down Cannery Row. Robert had tried to get me to do it on my 30th birthday but I poo-pooed that idea really quickly; looking like a tourist dork huffing and puffing down the street in a fringed carriage bike  is NOT something that appeals to me! But Robert really, really, really, really, really wanted to do it so when the opportunity presented itself he was quick to snap it up. So, I sucked it up, hopped on the bike's bench and started pedaling. Robert absolutely loved it, as we knew he would. There was lots of smiling, lots of giggling and even some waving to people sitting on their porches as we rode past. (Later there was a lot more huffing, puffing, sweating and straining but let's not focus on that aspect of the journey...) And I must admit that, as self conscious as I thought I'd be (and actually was for the first 2 minutes of our ride), I wound up enjoying myself very much. I liked seeing Robert have so much fun and it really is a nice way to take in the views up and down the coastline. That's one thing I love about Robert - his enthusiasm for things helps me get over myself and enjoy those things I normally wouldn't do.

I honestly had "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" in my head during most of the ride.

At the halfway mark we treated ourselves to an ice cream break. 

Even Monterey knew it was Robert's birthday - the record store and used bookstore were right next door to one another and a half block from where we parked.

We celebrated Robert's birthday with others by seeing Eddie "I've Got Burnt Dick on My Hand" Griffin at the Improv on November 12th. I didn't get any photos of that outing so here's one of us with the Blackards and Christopher Titus, whom we saw at the Improv a few weeks earlier to celebrate Wade's birthday.

Titus liked my shirt and said it reminded him to write his Darth Vader bit. So, when you hear it, you'll know who to thank!

Radar's Visit

Oh my goodness! I'd completely forgotten about this post. I started it back on August 31st, right after it happened so it's a wee bit old. Sorry!

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You guys already know how in-love I am with Radar, the only dog not adopted out after the end of last year. Well, this past weekend Foothill experienced a power outage due to some construction work being done on campus. That meant that while a backup generator would supply (some) air conditioning to the animals living in our lab, poor Radar would be at the mercy of the two tiny windows in the dog barn. So, of course, I worked my magic and got Robert to agree to let me bring Radar home for the weekend.

Unfortunately, the visit got off to a bit of a bumpy start; I did a poor job introducing Radar to Garfunkel and right off the bat there was a lot of barking and growling. Then there was some lunging. Now, that is all my completely my fault because I didn't do a proper, graduated introduction. That was little comfort to Robert, however, who was pretty adamant that things were not going to work out and that we needed to take Radar back to Foothill ASAP. I really didn't want to admit defeat, however, and after much pleading and cajoling I got Robert to agree to let us take Radar and Garfunkel for a long walk around the complex to get better acquainted. MUCH to my relief, my plan seemed to work - the boys started off the walk completely disinterested in one another (but at least they weren't fighting!) and by the end of the 75-minute walk they were sniffing each other and playing nicely. We brought the boys into the house and let them play the patio a bit and they continued to do well. Robert was persuaded to let Radar spend the night and Radar continued to impress. Luckily, we still had Garfunkel's old crate from when he was a puppy (and it is huuuuge so Radar fit just fine) and Radar went in and slept through the night with no complaints. In fact, he did so well that he was allowed to stay the entire weekend! :o) Radar had no accidents in the house, was happy to hang on the couch or go for walks with Funk and he didn't chew up a single thing. He hit a bit of a speed bump when we tried to walk him around Lake Elizabeth; Radar has lived his whole life in a kennel and gets verrrrrry excited at the sight of other dogs. If you don't know his temperament, he can seem a little intimidating when he starts shrieking at other dogs so walks around the neighborhood were made instead and he did A-OK on those. I was absolutely tickled pink that the boys wound up getting along so well and that Radar had a chance to get away from his run and spend some time in a real home. It goes without saying that I was in tears when I had to take him back to school at the end of the weekend.

Radar is, unfortunately, still with us at Foothill. He's being clicker-trained by one of the seniors and all of us are just amazed at how far he has come. He is SUCH a good boy - he loves people, dogs, and playing and if I had the space I would've snapped him up two seconds after he got to school. He is definitely a high-energy dog but he loves to please his people so if you know anyone who might be interested, PLEASE think of Radar. He would be a wonderful addition to anyone's home!!!





(Where was Linguini during all of this, you ask? Well, while Radar was very intrigued by Linguini, having never seen any kitties before, Gweenz was less than enthused at Radar's arrival. He spent the entire weekend (save nights when he was moved to the office) mewling in our bedroom. He was the only one in the house happy to see Radar's behind go through the front door!)

PUPPIES!!!!!

One of the dogs Foothill selected for our program this year is Julia, a sweet little girl whose background is unknown. She is a little dog, less than 20 pounds, and her age is estimated to be around 5 years. She had definitely already had at least one litter, as one of our other pups this year is one of her puppies (he's about 7 months old now). Unbeknownst to the instructors when they picked her out, however, was that Julia was already pregnant with another litter!

Dr. Peter took an ultrasound on October 26th and counted at least 5 puppies - and they were coming soon. So my friend Amy, who has experience, volunteered to take Julia home and help her whelp. The puppies were born late Halloween evening with a surprise sixth puppy coming a little more than an hour after number five, in the wee hours of November 1st.

I had never seen a newborn puppy - the youngest puppy I'd seen was about 6 weeks old and that was when we saw Funk at his adoption event. So Amy let me come over on the 2nd and check'em all out. I was in HEAVEN!!! You'll see it in the photos - my excitement could not be contained! :o) I have seen them again since, on the 8th, and those pictures are at the end of the slide show. The puppies just opened their eyes for the first time on Saturday so you know I'm gonna have to head back over and love on them some more. They are just as adorable and soft and wonderful as I'd imagined. Oh, and while the puppies will eventually make their way to stay at Foothill (until they find their forever homes), Julia has found her home with Amy and Jeff and is now named Koukla. I am SO happy for her! She's a super huge love bug and couldn't have found a better place to be pampered. YAY!!!

TV Tidbits 102: NBC Midseason

NBC has just released their midseason schedule and it's made me so happy!!! I have been 30 Rock-less for too long and January 12 isn't that far away! :o)

From EW.com (where else?):

NBC revealed its midseason schedule today, which includes the return of 30 Rock and the debut of the new dramas Smash and The Firm. It also revealed new day and time period changes for Whitney, Up All Night, Rock Center with Brian Williams and Harry’s Law. Community will be temporarily benched but is expected to return later this season. Prime Suspect tabled, too.

Here is the schedule:

Mondays
8-10 p.m. — The Voice (season premiere Sunday, Feb. 5; series resumes Feb. 6)
10-11 p.m. – Smash (beginning Feb. 6)

Tuesdays
8-10 p.m. — The Biggest Loser (beginning Jan. 3)
10-11 p.m. – Parenthood (through Feb. 28)
10-11 p.m. – Fashion Star (beginning March 13, 9-11 p.m. with two-hour premiere; one-hour broadcasts resume March 20)

Wednesdays
8-8:30 p.m. – Whitney (beginning Jan. 11)
8:30-9 p.m. – Are you there, Chelsea? (beginning Jan. 11)
9-10 p.m. – Rock Center with Brian Williams (beginning Feb. 8 )
10-11 p.m. – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Thursdays
8-8:30 p.m. – 30 Rock (beginning Jan. 12)
8:30-9 p.m. – Parks and Recreation
9-9:30 p.m. – The Office
9:30-10 p.m. – Up All Night (beginning Jan. 12)
10-11 p.m. – The Firm (two-hour premiere Sunday Jan. 8; Thursday time period premiere Jan. 12)

Fridays
8-9 p.m. — Who Do You Think You Are? (beginning Feb. 3)
9-10 p.m. – Grimm
10-11 p.m. – Dateline NBC

Saturdays
8-9 p.m. – Harry’s Law (encore broadcasts)
9-10 — The Firm (encore broadcasts)
10-11 p.m. – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (encore broadcasts)

Sundays
7-9 p.m. – Dateline NBC (beginning Jan. 8 )
8-9 p.m. – Harry’s Law (beginning March 4)
9-11 p.m. – The Celebrity Apprentice (beginning Feb. 12)

I know nothing of Smash or The Firm so I quickly checked TV|Line and I found a quick preview of Smash but bupkus on The Firm. I assume it's just a TV version of the film; turns out, I'm right. Whee! I love it when that happens.

First Post of the New School Year

Yikes. It's been a looooong time since I've posted anything. I'm sorry. And I hate trotting out the same ol' tired school excuse every single time but I swear it's the truth every single time! This quarter especially. I have been so buried underneath schoolwork and clinic hours that I can't see daylight most of the time. Robert can back me up on this. So can Funk - his play times have been greatly diminished this quarter and he is the saddest looking thing at about 9 o'clock every night, it's pathetic. I had good intentions in the beginning, too! Here's (the beginning of) a post I wrote back on October 9th: 


Wow. The first two weeks of classes have already flown by and I haven't posted a thing about them. I've actually gotten do to a couple cool things, too, so before I let too much time slip by, I want to update you all on just what kinds of things are occupying my time.

• First off, I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE my classes this quarter. It's stressing me out on many levels. Mainly because the classes are completely dry and boring and do not fall within my range of interests so it makes it difficult to focus or retain much of the information. Secondly, it's just a massive course load. This quarter is the most units I'll take (18) during the course of the program and that, combined with my internship hour quota, leaves me with little spare time. And lastly, because many of my fellow students are psyched that, as seniors, we've reached the point in our curriculum that's most applicable to our everyday lives in the clinic. So even though they agree that the chemistry of hematology (yuck) and the physics of radiography (double yuck!) are dry, they're excited that they're learning things they can apply to their time spent at their internship sites. I don't really have that 'glass half full' kind of outlook on life so not only am I annoyed at the boring class lectures and reading assignments, I'm down on myself for not being more interested or excited about things like other people. I really don't think there's a more neurotic or tightly-wound person out there. 

• This last week brought some sadness to the program, as one of our two sheep had to be euthanized on Thursday. Theodore had been acting a little off the past couple of weeks - eating less, separating himself from the rest of the guys in the pasture - so Dr. Mac had Dr. Bellamy come and take a look. They decided he was most likely suffering from pneumonia and put him on antibiotics. Things did not improve, however, and eventually Theo just stopped eating altogether. I had a Clin Path lab on Thursday afternoon so some of Theo's blood was drawn and Ms. D and Ms. Terry performed a bunch of different analyses, showing us what they were doing along the way. Sadly, the results indicated that Theo was in end-stage renal failure and the decision was made to euthanize him right away. Dr. Mac allowed any interested students to stay and watch, which I did. I know that seems like an odd decision but one of my weaknesses is (surprise) keeping my composure during euthanasia procedures at the clinic. I don't want to fall apart in front of clients so I viewed as an opportunity to try and work on keeping it together when I want to fall to pieces. I was a complete failure, of course, but at least Theo had some friendly faces around when he left us. The poor guy was just miserable and it showed; he was just skin and bones under his woolly coat and his eyes were almost completely dilated. And though I'm sure it sounds very strange, once he was gone, we were able to look more closely at his feet and the inside of his mouth, which was really quite interesting. (Sheep have large papillae on the insides of their cheek, which are absolutely fascinating. I couldn't find a good photo or I would have included one. Also, and this may creep you out, but apparently renal failure gives an animal a very distinct odor within their mouth and we were all able to smell that, too.) Alvin seems lost without his shier friend and the pasture seems so empty now with no Bonnie and no Theodore. :o(  It was very sad to say goodbye but I'm happy he's no longer suffering and even in death he helped us learn something new, so thank you, Theo. You will be missed.

 

• On a lighter note, I have switched clinics and am now interning just 2.3 short miles from my house. Which is NICE. And the people at the clinic seem very nice, too - the head tech has been there 10 years and is very comfortable with interns from the greenest of the green to those with a little more experience. The remaining three techs have also been welcoming, making sure to include me in interesting procedures or asking me what kinds of things I'd like to learn. Even one of the DVMs made a point of pulling me aside and asking me to check out some specimens under the microscope. That never happened at my old clinic so I am cautiously excited. This clinic is just a standard day practice, though, (as opposed to an urgent care hospital, which is what my old clinic was) so things definitely go at a much slower pace. And there are less out-of-the-ordinary cases, which means I'm a little worried that will pose a problem insofar as getting certain things checked off my skills list. But I'm trying not to stress about it too much. Trying.

• Unfortunately, my first week at the clinic tested my 'keep it together' face even before Theo's death. A call came in just before closing one day from a woman whose dog was seizing in the car. Since we were the closest clinic, she wanted to bring him in. Everything was set up  and everyone was ready when she arrived but, sadly, her dog had already died - he'd suffered major cardiac arrest and there was nothing to be done. He was a four-year-old Boxer and, unfortunately, that breed is fraught with health issues, heart abnormalities and cancer chief among them. As sad as I am to see the animal and its devastated family, I have to say that the hardest part of the whole thing for me is when the animal is put in a plastic bag and placed in the freezer. I know it's what has to be done and I know that's what happens in human medicine, too, but it just seems so terribly impersonal that it's hard for me to watch. I made myself participate, though, because it's the reality and the more I immerse myself, the better tech I'll be.

• The second week of clinic brought much more interesting things.

See there? I got past the complaining and all the steam apparently ran out. :o/  And do I remember what else I wanted to say? Not so much. Now how will Future Lauren know what interesting things happened to 2011 Lauren?! Way to go, Current Lauren. You're screwing it up for everyone.