Okay, totally cool news! I’ve had a trip to Dragon*Con in my plans for a few months, but it wasn’t until today that I found out that I’ve been approved as an author speaker along with good pal Tanya Michaels/Tanya Michna. We are such geek girls about certain TV shows, so in addition to our speaking and autographing duties we’ll be prowling the halls looking for cast members from Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville. My goals for the weekend of Dragon*Con (Aug. 29-Sept. 1):

1. Meet lots of readers to get the word out about my books
2. Meet Tahmoh Penikett, Katie Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber (Helo, Starbuck and Apollo from BSG); Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin (from Serenity and Firefly); Michael Rosenbaum and Erica Durance (from Smallville); and James Marsters (from Buffy and Angel). Yes, I’m letting my sci-fi geekdom shine!

The only thing that could make this weekend better would be if the boys from Supernatural were going to be there. Then I would be absolutely beside myself. (But Mary and Natalie might hate me forever. Eek.)

Check out the Dragon*Con site for more info, including the huge list of celebrities attending. I’m not on the list yet because I just faxed in my letter of agreement tonight.

I hope everyone had a great 4th. Having done our cookout and partying last weekend, we didn’t even leave the house except to step out onto the front porch to watch the neighbors shoot off fireworks. And as you can tell from my lack of blogging the past couple of days, I’ve been in the writing cave. I’ve written 33 pages in the past two days. I’m really pushing to have a rough draft done by the time I head to San Fran so I can do editing on the train.

You know how you get those meme things in e-mail and are tagged by other bloggers all the time. You know the ones that ask things like — tell us six random things about you? Well, I’ve decided to start my own and see how long it takes the world of the Internet to send it back to me. So, here goes:

Famous People Meme — Which famous person in each of the following categories would you like to meet?

Author — J.K. Rowling

Movie Actor — Orlando Bloom

TV Actor — Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, also Sarah Michelle Gellar

Musician/Singer — Bon Jovi

Historical Figure — Queen Elizabeth I and Sacajawea

Fictional Book Character — J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood brothers

Fictional Movie or TV Character — Buffy Sommers

Okay, if you have a blog, go forth and blog. Everyone, including the bloggers, share your answers in the comments section. I’m verrry curious.

Humor is one of those things that is vastly different between people. What one person thinks is funny another may think is the dumbest (or most crass) thing they’ve ever heard. That’s why I think it’s hard to write good humor, why I admire authors like Janet Evanovich and Bill Bryson who can literally make me laugh out loud. And it’s why I admire comedians who get up on stage and do stand-up when they know some people in the crowd are likely not going to enjoy their show. I got to thinking about this because I could hear Kathy Griffin on the TV in the other room. Kathy is one of those comedians who some people hate (usually the celebrities of whom she makes fun), but I think she’s hysterical. Admittedly, she does sometimes go a bit too far, but on the whole she usually leaves me rolling.

Who are other comedians who leave me in stitches? Carlos Mencia, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Lewis Black, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall (okay, really that entire Blue Collar Comedy Tour lineup), Craig Ferguson and the late Mitch Hedberg. Clueless wonder that I am, about a year ago I looked up Mitch online thinking that it’d be really fun to see one of his shows in person. I was saddened to see that he died of a drug overdose in 2005. Hubby and I loved his funny one-liners and short, humorous observations. His delivery was like no one else’s. Here’s an example.

So, who are some of your favorite comedians? Who are some of your favorite authors who write humor well?

Anyone out there seen the teaser trailer for the new J.J. Abrams’-helmed Star Trek movie slated for release this Christmas? All we have is a teaser so far, but I’m still looking forward to it. Some of my favorite actors are in it  — his hotness Eric Bana, Karl Urban (Eomer from the Lord of the Rings movies), and Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis).  If you’d like to see the trailer, it’s up at IMDB.

I got through the end of my chapter-by-chapter revisions today. Now I have to re-read the revision letter and go back through the manuscript one more time. That means reading through half the book tomorrow and half on Friday. My eyeballs should be falling out by the time I go to bed on Friday.

I was shocked and saddened to hear about the death of Heath Ledger yesterday. He was one of my favorite actors, and I admired his work and the way he didn’t just take any ol’ role to make a buck. He waited until he got scripts he liked. I think I first saw him in 10 Things I Hate About You with Julia Stiles. It’s one of my favorite teen movies. I also really enjoyed A Knight’s Tale and am looking forward to his performance as the Joker in this year’s The Dark Knight, though it will be sad to watch it knowing he’s gone and it will be his last performance. But the role that really showed his range as an actor was that of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. I was very disappointed when he didn’t win an Oscar for that performance. However you feel about the movie and its subject matter, he did a fantastic job in the role.

I have to wonder how many other fantastic performances were in store for him. I’m saddened for him, for his little girl, Matilda, his family, his friends, and for the movie-going public who won’t be able to enjoy what would have likely been a long, distinguished career.

I live in a city where you’d expect to see at least the occasional famous person, but I never do — at least not since we used to go to NHL games. There we’d see the hockey players and some of the music industry stars who attended the games. Granted, I pretty much stick to the burbs and don’t venture downtown much.

My sister, however, always seems to have an interesting story about a brush with someone famous (or at least semi-famous) at work. She works for a large hotel chain near a conference center in the Pacific Northwest. Following are some of the people she’s met and some observations:

Alice Cooper (this is among my favorite stories — He asked her about good places to go golfing and antiquing. My, that doesn’t go with his shock-rocker image, does it? She said he was nice.

Dave Coulier (who played Joey on Full House)

Bill Maher (of Politically Incorrect fame) — um, no comment

Graham Kerr (aka The Galloping Gourmet)

Kevin Farley and John Farley (Chris Farley’s brothers) — They, along with French Stewart (who played on Third Rock from the Sun), were at the hotel for several weeks while shooting a movie. She said they were all really nice, and she talked to them fairly often. She also said that one of the Farley brothers had his wife and baby there for part of the time, and the baby was the cutest, smiliest baby.

Pat Buchanan

Sarah Evans

Larry Gatlin and one of his brothers — cool guys

Keith Morrison (Dateline NBC correspondent) — She said she doesn’t remember a lot about him, just that he was in town doing a story on a local serial killer.

the members of Air Supply

U.S. figure skater Emily Hughes

U.S. ice dancer Ben Agosto — She said he was really nice, which made me very happy since I’m a big fan of his and his dancing partner, Tanith Belbin.

Then there was an older singer (who shall remain nameless), of whom she got to see a little more than she bargained for. She took his room service meal up to him, and when he opened the door his robe came open as well, revealing that the robe was all he was wearing. In her words, “It was not a nice view!”

A funny story she heard at work from one of the cooks in the cafe was from several years ago, before she worked at the hotel. The cook said that former President George Bush was staying at the hotel, and in the middle of the night he called down to the kitchen to get a boglona sandwich. Seriously, you’re a former leader of the free world, and you want a boglona sandwich while staying at a nice hotel? LOL!

Looking back, other than authors, I’ve not met that many famous people. I’ve met a few second-tier country singers, a former governor of Kentucky while he was running for governor and I was a newspaper reporter, and Lou Diamond-Phillips, who one summer was touring with a band he had at the time. I have his autograph on a hot pink Corvette T-shirt my friend Jen got me at the National Corvette Show.

Have you met any famous people? I’d love to hear the stories.

I’ve blogged about favorite fictional couples before, so I thought I’d share another — Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

I’ve been listening the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End soundtrack a lot while doing revisions the past several days, and I always perk up at the songs that evoke parts of the movie devoted to Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth’s (Keira Knightly) love story. They’re great characters, each willing to do put their own lives in jeopardy and dive into a life (that of pirates) largely foreign to them at the beginning of their story in order to save and protect and be with each other. They are different people at the end of the trilogy, but their love is stronger than ever for all the trials they’ve been through. Ah, dreamy sigh.

Here’s a fun fan video on YouTube devoted to Will and Elizabeth. The song is a good choice, and I like the video editing job.

For the legions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans, excitement doesn’t accurately describe how we felt when we found out that Joss Whedon was going to pen a series of comics that are basically a Season 8 of the TV series, starting after the TV series ended. Months of waiting were worth it. I’ve just read through the third in the series, which arrived in my mailbox today. The comics are physically beautiful, and it’s so fun to be back with characters I really love. And I love how Whedon is answering some questions and clearing up some things that fans didn’t particularly like (like that whole The Immortal storyline from Angel — bleh!) from the latter seasons of Buffy and spin-off Angel.

I did get a surprise when I opened today’s package though. I looked at the cover and went, “Huh?” I was expecting the really cool cover of Willow, and I got a more cartoony cover of Willow and Xander putting together a puzzle of Buffy. So I e-mailed fellow Buffy fan, Jody, and asked her what was up. Okay, so I’m clueless and didn’t know that each comic in the series also has a variant cover. One cover is more arty, one more cartoony. I like them both, but I much prefer the main artistic covers. Take a look at the covers below and tell me what you think. Also, have you been reading them? If so, how are you liking the storyline? If not, get thee to the nearest comic store or order online at Things From Another World.

Buffy 1 — main cover

Buffy 1 — variant cover

Buffy 2 — main cover

Buffy 2 — variant cover

Buffy 3 — main cover

Buffy 3 — variant cover

Buffy 4 — main cover (out in June)

Buffy 4 — variant cover (out in June)

Sad news from Hawaii — singer Don Ho has died. He and his song “Tiny Bubbles” will forever be tied in my memory with The Lawrence Welk Show, which I would see when I spent the night with my Mamaw and Papaw, both of who are also gone now.

Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
In the wine (in the wine)
Make me happy (make me happy)
Make me feel fine (make me feel fine)…

I remember when I first saw the trailer for 300 and said to myself, “I can’t wait until this movie comes out.” After a morning of judging short stories in a high school contest, I took a midday break and scooted out to the mall to return a pair of shoes that killed my feet when I tried to wear them and to see 300 on the big screen. First, let me say, I was surprised to see someone bring their little boy to this movie — and not surprised when they left. The violence is one thing, in itself probably too violent for a child to see, but there is overt nudity too. It’s an R-rated movie people. Don’t bring the munchkins. That said, I really enjoyed it. But then, I’m not six years old.

So, here are my 10 Reasons to Go See 300:

10. Amazing CGI and cinematography. When you realize that this movie was shot against a blue screen on rocks that looked like big pieces of papier-mache, the end result is amazing. It’s obviously not real, but it’s beautiful in that graphic novel sort of way.

9. A nice mixture of emotions — anger, determination, pride and even some bits of humor thrown in.

Bad guy from Persian army: “Our arrows will blot out the sun.”
Stelios: “Then we will fight in the shade.”

8. A strong female lead in Queen Gorgo, played by Lena Headey. She’s not an ornamental queen. She’s smart, strong and can kick some butt when needed.

7. David Wenham (Faramir in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) as both a Spartan soldier and the narrator of the story. I can’t resist an Aussie voice.

6. The allure of the underdog story — 300 Spartans versus tens of thousands of Persians.

5. Six packs. No, not of your favorite beverage. The guys who played the Spartans worked out and trained for months to get into the shape they needed to be in to believably portray these ultimate soldiers. That bit of characterization through physical fitness comes across when the 300 are compared to others trying to stand against the invading force. And I can’t say they were hard on the eyes either.

4. The soundtrack. It’s no secret I love movie soundtracks, and this was one where I stayed until the end of the credits to listen to the music.

3. It’s a movie that has that epic feel that needs to be seen on the big screen, at least for your first viewing.

2. Stelios, played by Michael Fassbender. He’s funny in the midst of the battlefield but still the ultimate soldier.

1. Gerard Butler as King Leonidas. Not only does he look good and sound good (hey, I like those Scottish accents too), but I really liked how his character showed the range of emotions. The fatherly love he shows his son while still teaching him how to fight, his pride in being a Spartan, his determination to stay free and keep all Spartans free, his humor (”There’s no reason we can’t be civil,” he says as he eats an apple and strolls across a battlefield littered with Persian dead to meet Xerxes.), and the way he and Gorgo express their deep love for each other in few words but very meaningful expressions and actions.