My printer/copier/fax may be kaputski. We had a power flash during one of our many storms over the weekend and while we didn't completely lose power, it was the equivalent of a momentary brownout. I didn't think much of it, since everything came back on immediately. But I hadn't had opportunity to use my printer until this morning and that's when I noticed it wasn't on. Okay, no big. When we have power issues, it turns itself on. I pressed the ON button.

Nothing.

Not even a "Bite me," wheeze. We're going to see if it's just that the power cord got fried. If that's all it is, then no big. But if it's not, then it's printer shopping for me. Which... while it's a bit of a time-consuming pain, not such a huge deal. I'd been thinking of getting a new printer anyhow, since the one I currently have on has enough space for standard paper and there have been entirely too many occasions when I want to copy/fax legal sized sheets.

My mother's coming to visit. 'Nuff said there.

However, on the upside, my critique partner is a wondrous, marvelous being, whom I adore and wouldn't trade for the world. Ima gonna love her and pet her and call her George. Or just Selah. (Or dubious_virtue.) Seriously-- a good critique partner is a gem with a value above rubies. Why yes, she helped me brainstorm through yesterday's crisis of plot. And assured me that no, I wasn't losing my mind. At least, not any more than usual.

Also on the upside, SHOW! Oh, SHOW!

( Pretties with mild spoilers behind the cut )

Now, just closing out with a couple of random pretties. A handsome, sun-washed man is always a lovely thing to see, no?



And a man in a slightly disheveled tux? Especially of the dinner jacket variety? RAWR.

Oh SHOW!

You're back!

::squees and bounces up and down with glee::

And Pete, you're still a weenie.

Okay, this is just too much fun! Mad Men Yourself!

Choose body type, hair, clothes, accessories, even your backdrop.

What do you think?

Is it me?

About fifty pages left on the revisions. Unless, of course, I go all mental and decide to go back to the beginning and check it one... more... time...

Just to make sure, you know?

I just want it to be as good as it can possibly be. Maybe just... one more pass through?

Right?

Or I should just let the bugger go.

Right.

How about some Cabana Boys, huh?

Okay, then.

So who watched Torchwood: Children of Earth this past week?

Yeah. I know. Russell T. Davies is a bastard. But it was absolutely brilliant. As I told ocvictor, the writer in me was cackling gleefully even as the loyal viewer was emotionally gutted.

Russell, you bastard.

But let's start off with pictures of one of the prettiest casts on television.



And one of the prettiest and sexiest couples in recent memory.



And because I have a ridiculously soft spot for Rhys.



For Cora, no, he's definitely not forgotten...



( More, more, more, including some smokin' hot, possibly NSFW shots. )

So, my next big television event to look forward to is going to be the S3 premiere of Mad Men. Hee! *rubs hand together gleefully* (What does it say about me that I love all these cruel writers? Minear, Davies, Weiner. Cruel bastards, the lot of them.)

So here's a shot of my boy, Jon Hamm.



And a pretty, pretty shot of one of the scenes from last season. God but I love this show. I mean, isn't this just stunning?



Okay, fifty more pages! Unless, of course, I start over again...

AUGH.

Matthew Weiner inks two-year deal with Lionsgate.

Mad Men will return-- which actually wasn't in doubt. It was just whether or not it would return with Weiner at the helm. Considering it's been his baby for over eight years, it would've been wrong like a wrong thing to let anyone else run it.

And I can't totally blame Weiner's reps for trying to get him as good a deal as possible. Mad Men has done some absolutely extraordinary things and while there have been some excellent shows on basic cable before MM, there's no doubt it really threw open the door to exceptional programming on basic cable much in the way that The Sopranos did for premium cable.

Okay, Matt. Your turn. Don't jump the shark just because you got the good deal now. Not that I expect you to-- I'ma just sayin'...

Oooh... now the delicious speculation begins. How much time will elapse, will they pick up before or after the Kennedy Assassination? (I'm betting after, but not completely sure yet.)

Over at Romancing the Blog today I'm going on (and on, and on, and pretty much on) about Mad Men, more specifically why it works (at least for me), when by all rights, it really shouldn't.

I also pose the question as to whether or not something like Mad Men would work as a novel.

At the moment, I'm looking quite loserish with no responses, so if you feel so inclined, please pop over.

This year, I only have one wish and that wish is that I wanna write like Matt Weiner when I grow up.

That's all.

kthxbai

Barb

P.S. Could you please send the Empress a fainting goat?

Okay, I'm going to be utterly and completely shameless here. Yes, even more than usual. I'm just so, so tickled that Mad Men took the Emmy last night for Best Drama (and very deservedly so). I mean, I know a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon this year (and please, jump on, jump on) but I've followed this show since its premiere last summer a) because the time period intrigues me b) the setting intrigues me and most importantly c) the writing and acting are just through the roof magnificent. (Not to mention, I'm totally in love with Matthew Weiner's perseverance in trying to get this show on the air-- eight years people, between writing the pilot and actually selling it.)

Anyhow, it won, everyone was pretty, and I'm gonna have my Cabana Boys, starting with the delicious Jon Hamm. What a great job he does giving an inherently unlikable character so much depth, that you want to find out what demons drive him.



And here he is, alongside the Silver Fox, John Slattery:



( More Mad Men behind the cut )

Also making the Cabana Boy cut today are the funny guys. I'm going to include Josh Groban in that because as I said in my post last night, you gotta love a guy who's totally not afraid to poke fun at himself and his own image and do a damned fine job at it. Here he is, proving that he's easily the whitest guy in the room. With AUTHORITY!



Beyond Josh's musical montage, there were two other moments that just totally made it for me. One had Ricky Gervais demanding that Steve Carell return his Emmy.



Seriously, an epic moment. Watch for yourself.



And finally, I've often told my husband that just about the only man I'd ever leave him for is the brilliant, brilliant Jon Stewart. (Luckily, my husband is short, Jewish, prematurely graying, smart, and funny as hell, so it's not something I need to actively pursue. My husband is quite reassured.)

So I leave you with today's final Cabana Boys and another hilarious skit:

Congratulations, Mad Men on your very deserving Best Drama Emmy!






And I told y'all it would be high-larious. Especially adored how he shamelessly milked The Love Boat theme-- dude knows that's exactly what many people think of him. That he's a cruise ship lounge lizard, so why the hell not, right?

It is so utterly dead on, not just about television, but it could apply to publishing, music, pretty much any creative field.

John Slattery from Mad Men.

Q: You've run the gamut in television, working on pay-cable, on network television and now basic cable. Is there a difference, as an actor?

A: There's definitely a difference. The fewer people who are allowed to make creative decisions, the better. In the network situation, there are so many decisions that seem so ridiculous. It's not that there aren't any smart people in network TV, but there's so many people paid to make decisions that they have no business making them. (For Mad Men) they hired Matt (Weiner, of The Sopranos) to do a show he had a strong idea about, and they let him do it.

**

Keep in mind, Mad Men is the most nominated drama in the Emmys race, with sixteen nods. I think only 30 Rock is ahead of it in terms of nominations. Publishing could definitely take a lesson from those words.

RITA is still shiny and still has her quill.

If any of you have never heard me babble, you can catch a snippet at RomanceNovel.tv where there was coverage on the red carpet prior the RITA awards ceremony. I'm about 1:30 into the clip.

Watched American Movie Classics new original series Mad Men the other night. A lot of people hate it because in some ways it's downright nasty with unlikable characters. Of course it's nasty and has unlikable characters-- it's set in 1960, in and around a Madison Avenue advertising agency. Anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, and many other "isms" run unapologetically rampant, mostly because people didn't realize it was something for which they had to apologize. I said to the Hub, it's amazing how inured and cotton-wooled we've become in this Brave New Politically Correct world. In this show, representing this one slice of time in our history, people smoke in public and men are outwardly lewd and the double standard is alive and well and paraded proudly. It's absolutely fascinating and makes me appreciate what we've got all the more.

Which brings me to:

At 560 posts and counting, the Big Ass Swan Hat & thigh highs at RWA National discussion has evolved or devolved (depending on your viewpoint) into the thigh highs, in particular, being a damaging blow against the public perception of romance and of women's movement as a whole. And of course, because the most vitriolic commentary is often the one that incites most response, the many reasoned, thoughtful responses that are actually in the discussion tend to either get lost, or even worse, horribly misinterpreted in the heat of the moment. Losing the reasoned commentary of course makes my little Virgo soul twitch, on the other hand, it does give me a better understanding of how lynch mobs form.

Look, the suffragette/women's right movement is not going to be struck down by a pair of thigh highs at RWA National or a Big Ass Swan Hat. It will, however, be constantly slowed by thoughtless commentary. Things like supposedly intelligent, successful women reduced to name-calling such as "crack whores" or "pedophile lures" or "prostitutes" simply because other intelligent, successful women are trying something a little out of the box is far more damaging.

However, things like the President of the Author's Guild--an organization that is there ostensibly, to protect us as writers--referring in his column in the members' newsletter to the NASCAR/Harlequin tie-in novels as "jumpsuit rippers." That, my friends, is not only potentially damaging, but also incredibly insulting. Sort of like implying that a young adult novel isn't as worthy a read as an "adult" novel. Or a commercial novel can't be as entertaining and "good for you" as a literary novel.

I'm not saying that we have to be all rah-rah cheerleaders (I'd make a crummy cheerleader) but have at least a modicum of respect for people who work very, very hard at what they do. And no, just wearing thigh highs isn't an indicator of working hard-- the bearers of said thigh highs have between them an MBA in marketing, Emmy awards, starred reviews in Publisher's Weekly, starred reviews in other publications, and many, many books. It's not just about the thigh highs.

Finally, I have a new MySpace page at BarbaraCaridadFerrer. Part of that whole easing into using my full name for the writing gig. And stay tuned, because I'm going to be featured on MySpace Books page in the near future.