gwynnega

My poem "It's a Universal Picture," about my father and thirties horror movies, has been accepted by Mythic Delirium.

I've been greatly enjoying actual autumn in Los Angeles.

DVR alert: On tomorrow's episode of General Hospital, Ilene Kristen will reprise her role as Delia (the woman in the icon) from Ryan's Hope!

I am hennaing my hair on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, while SOAPnet re-airs last weekend's weekend-eating fifty-hour General Hospital marathon. We're supposed to have OMG Strong Winds in Los Angeles starting tonight. I hope the power stays on.

I've been loving all the GH 50th anniversary celebrations (Frisco singing "All I Need" at the Nurses' Ball on Friday's show!). Also, I loved last week's Doctor Who...this week's, not so much.

New Mad Men tonight!

I took a couple of vacation days (today and tomorrow) to celebrate my birthday. (Oh, the joy of not having to drive across town!) Today I went to Skylight Books, where I bought Kate Zambreno's O Fallen Angel. Then I went to Cafe Tropical and picked up a Cuban sandwich, guava & cream cheese pastry and cafe con leche for dinner.

Tomorrow night I'll be having birthday dinner with friends, then birthday lunch with my mom on Sunday.

***

What did you just finish reading?
Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who (edited by L.M. Myles and Deborah Stanish). This made me want to immediately park in front of the TV and watch/rewatch hours upon hours of classic Who (especially the Third Doctor, for some reason).

What are you reading now?
Still reading American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath. This has lots of good material from letters (unpublished Plath letters and letters to Plath from friends). It's been a long time since I've read the earlier Plath biographies, but there's a fair bit of info new to me.

I've just started Seanan McGuire's Midnight Blue-Light Special.

What do you expect to read next?
Probably a General Hospital tie-in novel, Love in Maine by Connie Falconeri, which, according to Romantic Times, is actually quite good. (On GH, teenaged Molly wrote the book, then publishing magnate Kate Howard's alternate personality [!] Connie Falconeri stole it, added sex and got it published.) I suspect that when I read it, I'll keep remembering Molly's outraged editorializing at the book party: "Dear god, was that all one sentence?...'Grip on her hip?' It's like a nursery rhyme for perverts!"

It is Henna Day, on a rather chilly day for Los Angeles (high temp in the mid-50s, I think?). The henna is cold on my head.

Friday night I went to Taix to see Extra and Superbean, saw a lot of friends, had much fun, and stayed out past 2 a.m. (which I don't do very often these days), and as a result was not firing on all cylinders yesterday. I did finish reading Heroines and started reading some other things, but I guess I will save that for Reading Wednesday.

(Note to lapsed GH viewers: Genie Francis returns to General Hospital tomorrow!)

From handful_ofdust and others, the year-end fandom meme:

Your main fandom of the year?
General Hospital. At the beginning of the year it was unwatchable and probably a breath away from cancellation, but Ron Carlivati and Frank Valentini have made it must-see TV (for the first time in well over a decade). I cannot describe how very fannish I feel about the presence of Anna Devane, Cesar Faison, Robert Scorpio, and Lucy Coe on my TV once more.

Your favorite film you watched this year?
Of the films I saw in a theater (not too many), probably The Avengers. Runner-up: Dark Shadows (though more for the experience of watching it in a theater full of hardcore fans than for the actual movie). Recently I rewatched Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist on cable a couple of times each and fell in love with them all over again (especially Rosemary's Baby).

Your favorite book read this year?
Contemporary novel: Delia Sherman's The Freedom Maze. Runners-up: Available Dark and Radiant Days by Elizabeth Hand, and Blackout by Mira Grant.

Classic novel: The Bostonians by Henry James (which I spent many enjoyable months reading on dailylit.com).

Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
Music that came out this year: Theatre Is Evil by Amanda Palmer (especially "Do It With a Rock Star," "Massachusetts Avenue" and "Melody Dean").

I listened to a TON of 1970s music this year while revising the Jo book. According to last.fm, my top 2 most-played songs of the year were "Cracked Actor" by David Bowie and "Where To Now St. Peter?" by Elton John, and I'm not in the least surprised.

Your favorite TV show of the year?
General Hospital, hands down. Runner-up: Homeland, which delivered probably the best hour of TV I saw all year (though a few episodes later it nearly jumped the shark). (Also it must be said that I spent many hours this year rewatching Dark Shadows, and now that I own the complete boxed set, this will surely continue.)

Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
It took several episodes for me to warm to it, but I am getting quite fond of Nashville.

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
One Life To Live going off the air in January. (It may be back via Prospect Park next year, though I'll believe it when I see it.) Also Days of Our Lives starting out the year revitalized (especially with the hot, subtextual EJ/Will relationship) and then turning dull dull dull when the head writers got replaced. This season's Dexter was pretty disappointing, as well.

Your fandom boyfriend of the year?
Ron Carlivati, maybe? He is certainly my fandom hero.

Your fandom girlfriend of the year?
Anna Devane all the way!!

Your biggest squee moment of the year?
"Duke Lavery" turning out to be Faison in a Duke mask. Anna and Faison coming face to face for the first time since the early 90s. Robert melting off Faison's Duke face with fondue.

The most missed of your old fandoms?
I do miss the Buffy days (though back then the Buffyverse took over my brain to the extent that I could barely write anything but fanfic).

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
Well, enough people seem to love Once Upon a Time (I only saw the first couple of episodes) that I want to give it another go.

Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
Not to sound like a broken record, but...General Hospital's fiftieth anniversary, and all the cast returns that will likely ensue as part of the celebration.

It is Henna Day, on a chilly day (well, chilly for Los Angeles), and the wet henna is making me chillier.

On last week's General Hospital, the Faison Posing as Duke storyline reached its climax with the very well done (and brilliantly disgusting) scenes in which Robert Scorpio flings hot fondue at Faison's head and melts off his Duke mask (at 9:15):



I hope they figure out a way to bring back Anders Hove, because having Faison back (especially in scenes with Anna, Robert, and Real Duke) has been magical. Ian Buchanan also has done a marvelous job with the complex acting role of Faison-pretending-to-be-Duke. As always, Finola Hughes knocked every scene out of the park.

For more on GH and all that Ron Carlivati and Frank Valentini have accomplished in turning it around this year: 2012 WUB AWARDS --General Hospital

I haven't been posting much lately about General Hospital...but I really should, because it is getting more and more awesome. I am enjoying it more than I have in over a decade. It reminds me a lot of GH circa 1991.

Sometimes its awesomeness is of a cracktastic nature, as when it turned out that the reason returned-from-the-dead Duke Lavery was behaving so out of character was because he wasn't Duke Lavery, but evil mastermind Cesar Faison in a Duke mask! Yep. And then at the end of the episode, it was revealed that Real Duke is alive, after all!



Sometimes the awesomeness is not cracktastic, but simply a righting of the imbalances that Guza's regime had put into place. For example, Anna Devane is front and center on the show again, as she should be. (And Robert Scorpio returns to the show tomorrow!) Another example: the return from the dead (yes, there are lots of those at the moment) of AJ Quartermaine--played by tall, muscular Sean Kanan, rather than the man who'd replaced him, the wonderful but pocket-sized Billy Warlock--in what is rapidly turning into the Call Sonny and Carly on Their Hypocrisy Tour. Watching Sonny and Carly squirm as Michael starts to call AJ "my father" is damn satisfying.

It is Henna Day (a day early, because I'm going to a party tomorrow). I have various pre-travel tasks to take care of this weekend.

This draft of the Jo book is so close to done...but not quite yet.

Meanwhile, yesterday's General Hospital was hilariously meta. Jerry Jacks (played to perfection by Sebastian Roche) took over a Port Charles cable station in order to announce his nefarious plans...and, in the process, preempted The Chew (!) and said (at 3:25) "I'm sure many of you out there are wondering...where's my soap opera?"

I am so relieved:

ABC Keeps ‘General Hospital’ On, Cancels ‘The Revolution’, Adds ‘GMA’ Afternoon Show For Summer

I'm thrilled GH got a stay of execution. Also pleased that they're not even letting The Revulsion live until they need its time slot in September. Ha!

...or, how Ron Carlivati rescued Robin Scorpio from a hack writer's clutches and saved her from the grave:

GH’s Ron Carlivati and Kimberly McCullough on the decision to have Robin turn up ALIVE!

Now if ABC can just decide to cancel The Revolution and save GH from the grave. They're supposed to make their decision in the next couple of weeks.