Evidently I’m not the only person who has gone to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End during the six days it’s been in theaters. It has smashed all previous records by already raking in a whopping $401 million! Holy macaroni.

The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is awesome too. I’ve been playing it a lot the past couple of days while I read RWA-related e-mails. I kid you not, I probably spent 12 to 14 hours yesterday reading RWA e-mail. Today, it’s more manageable, and I’m actually working on revisions to Coven too. Yay! And so far, it’s not as onerous a task as I feared. It’s not fast work, but my brain hasn’t cracked yet, so that’s a good sign.

Back to revising…

Since it’s my birthday today (at least for 25 more minutes as I write this), I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. I really enjoyed it, and it generated a blog post idea — Which Orlando Bloom do you like better:

as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings trilogy or…

as Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy?

Though I love the Legolas character, I’m going to have to go with Will Turner. He’s heroic, will do anything for his lady love, and he looks good while doing it. While Captain Jack Sparrow is very funny, I love the Will Turner character.

After a very busy week last week and the holiday weekend away visiting family, I’m on the verge of undertaking a type of manuscript revision I’ve not tackled before. I’ll be taking one of my young adult manuscripts that is written in third person and rewriting it in first person. I’ll be sad to see my teenage hero’s point of view go bye-bye, but hopefully I can craft the revision so that everything that is revealed in his head or in scenes from his POV will be revealed through dialogue or action. I’m hoping it’s not as onerous as it seems at this point. Guess I’ll find out when I dive in.

Have any of you writers done this type of revision before? How did you do it? Was it difficult? Any tips?

Freelance project completed — check.
Take Mom home — check.
Laundry — check.
Call to wish niece happy birthday — check.
Still mourning the passing of a cast member on LOST — check.

If you haven’t watched the season finale of LOST yet, read no further!

I’m so sad that Charlie is gone from LOST. I keep thinking that maybe he’s not REALLY gone, that somehow the magical island will bring him back. What did you think of his death? Was it just dumb since he could have swam out of the Looking Glass Station? Or was it heroic in that he fulfilled Desmond’s vision so Claire and Aaron could be rescued? And if the latter, how awful is it going to be that it was actually the wrong decision if the storyline is true that they will be worse off if they’re rescued?

And what did you think of the flash-forward? Whoa! I’m a little slow. I didn’t catch on until the end.

I can’t believe we have to wait until January for the new season! At least it’ll make the middle of winter bearable.

My to-do list is beginning to look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I sure hope it doesn’t topple and fall on me. This week is filled with freelance editing, RWA stuff that has to get done, plus my Mom is visiting until Friday. My big goal is to get caught up on both freelance jobs and RWA duties by the end of the holiday weekend, then I’m totally diving into serious rewrites on my YA. An editor has expressed interest if I change it to first-person from the heroine’s point of view. So that’s the plan.

Okay, so I’m soon to be 37, your average writer living in the suburban South, but sometimes I still feel like I’m either a teenager or in my early 20s. So pardon me while I have a geeky squee moment. I’ve been listening to Lacuna Coil’s Comalies album a lot lately. It’s one of those CDs that I like more every time I listen to it. I bought this CD because I heard “Heaven’s a Lie” on their MySpace site, but “Daylight Dancer”, “Comalies” and “Swamped” have also become favorite songs from this album. (FYI, there was some initial controversy about “Heaven’s a Lie”, but the band explained that it wasn’t a religious reference.)

I’m not familiar with many bands that have two lead singers as Lacuna Coil does. It’s a great mixture of Cristina Scabbia’s female vocals and Andi Ferro’s harder rock male vocals. My opinion of the band is helped by the fact that I’ve heard they are all very nice and meet and greet fans after all their shows. When I hear of a band being snots to fans, that sours my opinion even if I really like their music. Same goes for authors, actors, whatever, so I’m happy LC seems to be such a nice bunch.

So, to the squee moment. Thinking my e-mail would probably end up floating around in outer space somewhere never to be read, I e-mailed Cristina and Andi about how much I was enjoying their music and how I was bummed to miss their Knoxville show (boohoo). Lo and behold, only minutes later Cristina e-mails me back to thank me for the e-mail I’d sent her. That’s classy, folks. Rock on, Lacuna Coil!

All the TV networks are in the midst of renewing and canceling shows and announcing their fall lineups. Alas, I’ll have to say goodbye to two of my favorites.

Following in the footsteps of the bozos who canceled Serenity, Invasion and The Nine after a season or less and leaving fans in the lurch is CBS. They canceled Jericho after leaving us with a big cliffhanger ending. I HATE that! And what makes my blood boil even more is that the American viewing public is to blame. They obviously like all the reality programming better than stories with great story arcs that should be able to play out over multiple seasons, thus giving the reality programs like Who Wants to Be the Next Pussycat Doll? (insert eye roll here) better ratings than programs with good stories and characters. I feel lucky that LOST, Heroes, Supernatural and Prison Break will be back considering they are serials. Seriously, they should start a network called Good TV and move all the really good stories there.

Hot on the heals of mourning Jericho‘s loss, I found out today that The CW has nixed Veronica Mars, a critical favorite but not a ratings giant. At least we’ve had three years of Veronica and the gang, but I’m sure going to miss it. The CW redeemed itself a bit by scheduling a new show called The Reaper, about a young guy whose parents sold his soul before he was born, forcing him to be a reaper now. Of course, they’ll probably cancel it after a year or less. Sigh.

I blogged about world building over at The Romance Bandits blog today. You’ll need to scroll down to the May 15 post since the May 16 one from Caren is already up for your reading pleasure as well. Be sure to stop by and tell us who your favorite world-building authors are.

I blogged a couple of days ago about my fabulous new iPod nano the hubster got me. And then Natalie told me about the Pottercasts at The Leaky Cauldron.

Click here for episodes and info;
click here
to subscribe via iTunes, and click here to use this player on your space and win prizes!
———–
So I loaded up several episodes to see what they were like as I walk my way around the neighborhood each day in my quest to shed some pounds. All I can say is I’m bummed I didn’t find these sooner. When I listened to Episode 88, the first podcast I’d ever listened to of any stripe, I found myself feeling like I was sitting in a living room on a comfy couch with show hosts Melissa, Sue and John learning the latest Harry Potter news, theories and commentary. I’ve laughed several times, and it’s possible that as I walk by the neighbors are shaking their heads and thinking, “Oh, look, that poor girl has written and edited so much that she’s finally cracked up.”

I really like the fan interviews, Canon Conundrums, the way the crew can take apart a movie poster or trailer pixel by pixel, and all the new stuff to which I’m being introduced. Who knew there were wizard rock bands with names like Harry and the Potters, Ginny and the Weasleys and Draco and the Malfoys? Okay, so lots of people knew, just not obviously-painfully-behind-the-curve moi.

So, unlike listening to songs while I walk, which makes it easier to stop walking sooner, listening to Pottercasts keeps me walking longer and thus hopefully getting slimmer and healthier. So not only is it fun and informative, it’s healthy! So, thanks to everyone at Pottercast. My waistline and cholesterol count will be indebted to you.

If you’re a fan of Harry Potter and are eagerly awaiting The Order of the Phoenix movie and The Deathly Hallows book this July, I urge you to check out the fun being had at Pottercast. Even if you don’t have an iPod, you can listen to the podcasts on your computer.

Recently, Entertainment Weekly ranked the best 25 science fiction movies and TV series from the past 25 years. The big surprise — not a Star Wars film to be seen. I’m of the generation that grew up with Star Wars, but I can kind of understand why the films aren’t there. While I enjoyed them and loved Han Solo, they do have a big cheese factor and a lot of the acting was sub-par. So what did EW think were the top picks?

1. The Matrix — Believe it or not, I just saw this movie in its entirety within the past two weeks. And it’s cool! I’ve always been a Keanu Reeves fan, and this story is entertaining and makes you think. Plus, it makes you want to don a black trench coat, black boots and dark glasses and go kick some bad-guy butt. It also brought special effects to a new level.

2. Battlestar Galactica (the new one on the Sci Fi Channel, not the cheesy series from the ’70s) — Absolutely fabulous show. Great writing, great characters.

3. Blade Runner — have only seen bits and pieces of it on TV. Must add to Netflix queue. The hubby says this would have been his top pick.

4. The X-Files — LOVED this show. I was a total Mulder and Scully fan.

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Seriously, all I remember about this movie is that Ricardo Montalban of Fantasy Island played Khan.

6. Brazil — Never seen it.

7. E.T. — I remember seeing this at the drive-in theater (which no longer exists) in my hometown.

8. Star Trek: The Next Generation — Enjoyed watching this show. Perhaps one of its most lasting contributions to popular culture is the Borg saying, “Resistance is futile.”

9. Aliens — Sigourney Weavers kicks butt. She launched what is fairly common now, wonderful female action heroes. And in the process, she grabbed a Best Actress Oscar nomination, not something you see often associated with sci-fi.

10. The Thing — Never seen it.

11. LOST — Love this show. Don’t miss an episode. And despite all the moaning from some fans that they want answers already, I’m willing to go along for the ride for the next three years to see what the heck is going on and hope the powers that be don’t disappoint me.

12. Back to the Future — cute.

13. The Terminator/Terminator 2 — Enjoyed these, though I wonder if I could watch them now without retitling them in my mind The Governator.

14. Children of Men — Haven’t seen it yet, but want to. It looks to have a really intriguing premise. Set in 2027, Clive Owen (enough to reason to see the movie on its own) tries to lead the first pregnant woman in 18 years to safety.

15. Firefly/Serenity — Absolutely fabulous. I love the combination of science fiction with a bit of western thrown in. My blood pressure will still go up if I think about how much I hate how Firefly was canceled because of stupid decisions by the powers that be at FOX and before they really gave it a chance to find its following. It’s a good thing these people weren’t in charge when the X-Files started or that show would have lasted about four episodes.

16. Total Recall — Have only seen bits and pieces on TV.

17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — Haven’t seen it.

18. Heroes — Another in the group of wonderful recent TV series. I always love a superhero story, and it’s even more intriguing when everyday people discover they have special abilities other people don’t have. I’m glued to the TV each Monday night at 8 p.m. (Central) to watch what happens next.

19. Starship Troopers — Seriously?

20. Star Wars: Clone Wars — As close as we get to an actual Star Wars movie on this list. Of course, the first Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back are too old to be considered for this list. This was a series that ran on The Cartoon Network, one I knew nothing about, not being a frequenter of the The Cartoon Network.

21. Futurama — Didn’t watch this.

22. Quantum Leap — This was a good show. I liked Scott Bakula in this and Enterprise, which isn’t on this list.

23. Doctor Who (the new one) — Haven’t watched it, though I probably will eventually on DVD.

24. Galaxy Quest — Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman are great in this parody.

25. V: The Miniseries — I remember watching this when I was young (12 or 13). Creepy, but I remember being planted in front of the TV each night to see what happened next. Wow, I wonder if it’s on DVD. Must go check.

So what do you think of the list? Agree? Disagree? What should be there that isn’t? And what shouldn’t have made this list?

Others that come to my mind are Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WHY isn’t this on this list?), The Fifth Element, Stargate (either SG-1 or Atlantis), Dark Angel, and Babylon 5.