Check out my new column up at CSBG.  Thanks!

My new column is up at CSBG, check it out if you get a chance.  It’s a bit of a rant…so I’m trying to prepare myself for the inevitable hate mail…man, I’m so bad at hate mail…why doesn’t everyone just agree with me and be nice all the time? 

My article giving out midterm grades to all the shows I planned to watch this fall is up at Best Shows You’re Not Watching.

The Jilted League aka The Bimbo, The Bitch, and The Brain aka Olympia, Dina, and Val.  Click to enbiggen! Words and Art by Kelly Thompson.  Colors by Adam Greene.  Thanks Adam!

Well, so much for that.  I sent the ladies to deliver a message and as usual it’s lost in a sea of bitching and moaning.  I hope they’re better superheroes than messengers…time will tell.

So here’s what’s going on with my novel, for those of you who have been asking (you precious but devoted few!).  As some of you already know, I got an offer from an incredibly talented and powerful agent to work exclusively on the revisions to my novel with him.  This essentially means we have both put in considerable time and effort on my book and are both hoping to work together, but we have not signed a contract.  So officially, I’m working exclusively on revisions to my novel with this agent, but technically I do not yet have an agent.  But don’t worry, this is not so uncommon as it sounds.

Anyway, sometime last June the agent and I came to this exclusivity arrangement at which point I began the painful process of waiting for his revision notes.  They arrived in early August and I got to work quickly after they arrived.  The notes were excellent – but much larger in scope than I had expected.  I (finally) finished the revisions (which included cutting about 60 existing pages and adding 130 new pages) at the end of October.  Upon finishing the revision I sent the notes back to the agent to get his feedback, at the same time I sent the revised manuscript to my writing group for a critique.

I have not yet heard back from the agent, though I hope to soon, but Wednesday night I got a very in depth crit from my writing group on the new draft.  Now, I must tell you, it’s pretty scary to wait for a crit like that.  You’ve been pounding away on your keyboard all alone in a room writing 130 new pages that could be brilliant or could be the worst dreck you’ve ever written, and while it seems like it should be obvious which it is, I have to admit that I am wildly inconsistent in how I feel about my work.  I can write an amazing scene before lunch, pat myself on the back as if I’m a genius, go make a sandwich, come back in half an hour, look at the same scene and proclaim myself King of Hacks…the hackiest hacky hack to ever live.  It’s quite a sight.  So suffice to say, I really had no barometer about how those new 130 pages were working.  Some days I felt pretty good about them, some days…not so much.  And since not a single soul in all the world had read them yet…I was pretty anxious to hear what the group thought.

Overall, they really liked the new draft and the change in plot and arc (130 new pages – that’s definitely some changes).  There were problems of course (there always are) and I haven’t yet had a chance to go through all four manuscripts to see their individual page to page notes (which can sometimes be a blow to the ego), but the response was overwhelmingly good…much better than I had expected.  So I’m really happy today.  And really grateful to have such a wonderful group of writers that are supportive and critical.  Joining a writing group was hands down the best thing I’ve ever done for my writing.

So what does all this mean?  It means that I’m not crazy (yay!) and that hopefully the agent I’m working with will feel similarly about the manuscript as my writing group did.  I have no doubt that more revisions will still be needed (not to mention a strong edit – the ms is coming in at a bloated 419 pages right now) but hopefully the agent will be on board for the new direction…and sometime…sometime!…in the relatively near future we can sign a contract and get this book out on submission to publishers. So everyone, please continue to keep your fingers crossed – I know it’s already been about six months – but if you can hang on for three or four more I’d really appreciate it – and hopefully this thing will really get to go somewhere…and if I’m lucky…take me with it.

Thanks for all of your support…and know that by “support” I mean agreeing to buy at least 500 copies of the book each when it finally (hopefully!) sees publication. 

*Oh – and click here if you want to know “what happened LAST time” according to Dina in panel two.

I don’t post a lot on this blog about writing – save a few random comments about what’s going on with my novel and my “rejection status updates” I have deliberately tried to avoid making this a blog about writing.  I think I’ve stayed away from this for two main reasons.

#1. I tend to find most blogs about writing a little the same and dull and I doubt I have much unique to add to the discussion.

#2. Many people who know WAY more than me already do it MUCH better.

Super secret reason #3 is that most of the time I’d just rather rant about comics.

All that said, something happened a few weeks ago that made me want to do a post about writing – specifically a post about what I’ve learned over the past three(ish) years about publishing and agents and “how it all works”.  As I started writing it turned into a four part post, focusing on different aspects of publishing. This is PART ONE and it’s about SCAMS.

Please keep in mind while reading this that there are still innumerable things I have yet to learn.  By most standards I’m still a rookie.  If you have a manuscript and are trying to get an agent, or want to be a writer, or want to educate yourself about scams, or just want to learn more about publishing I’d suggest checking out any and all of the following:

Absolute Write, The Rejecter, Duotrope, Writer Beware, Miss Snark, and Pub Rants

Oookay.  All of that out of the way.  A friend of mine that has a solid childrens book manuscript almost got scammed the other day…which is what prompted the idea for this first post.  Now, the person that “scammed” her was actually much more upfront than most in that he acknowledged that there would be money involved in getting her published.  This is usually called Vanity or Subsidy publishing.  While this gentlemen appeared to be more honest than your average scammer, he still largely presented himself as a “legitimate publisher” that would “love to see her work”, when in fact, if you are paying money you are either self publishing or vanity publishing or getting scammed (the latter two often going hand in hand).  My friend, like many honest hardworking writers, jumped at the opportunity and sent him her manuscript.  When talking about it with her I heard her mention paying money and I had to slam the breaks on her excitement.

A legitimate publisher never asks you for a penny.  NEVER.  The publisher pays you.  You do not pay the publisher. In fact, as a writer, you pay for nothing (except perhaps postage to send your ms to agents or publishers when you are seeking one if you choose to go the snail mail route).  You do not pay agents.  You do not pay reading fees.  You do not pay editors.  You do not pay for a “web page” to help “market” your book.  As a writer YOU. DO. NOT. PAY. EVER.

Whew.  Okay…are we clear?  Good.

Now, it’s important to realize that it’s not like these people usually come out and tell you you are going to pay.  They are much smarter than that, and years of running a business that scams people has made them very clever about how they phrase things.  Websites and emails from them are often full of claims that they charge no fees, that they are paid when you are paid, that they are a legitimate agency.  In fact, here’s another hint…a truly legitimate agency will not have to claim that they are legitimate…it will be obvious to you.  If you submit to a scam publisher/agency, you will likely get an exciting letter or email of them accepting your work for publication.  Do not let your excitement keep you from using your brain – they are counting on this.

Re-read your letter carefully. Here are some of the warning signs:

Do they talk in specifics about YOUR book, or is it all generalities – a form letter that could be sent to anyone?  If it’s a form letter that could be sent to anyone, that is bad news.  This means it IS a form letter and hundreds of people like you are getting the exact same letter.

Do they suggest anywhere in the letter that the book will need “some work” and they can recommend a professional editing service for you?  That’s bad news.  This is their in-house editor (or a service run through them under a different name – or via a sister company).  This is a way for them to get money from you.  Some may even suggest that you can use your own editor (knowing full well that most new writers do not have professional editors at their disposal).  If by chance you do have an editor you want to use, they will insist that the editor must be approved by them…your editor will never be approved.

It’s important to note that most books submitted to agents (and publishers) do need some editing and/or revisions (sometimes minor, sometimes major) but that’s something they will work on with you FREE OF CHARGE.  The agent I am working with on my book sent me a massive eight page email about what we needed to work on in my book (it resulted in me cutting 60 pages and writing 130 new ones – I think that falls under “major revision” ) and that is just the first round.  But with someone you are paying to edit your work…you will never get REAL editing and revision notes.  It’s a scam.  Period.  In my case there was discussion about bringing in a professional editor that the agent likes working with and thought might have special insight into my book, we didn’t end up doing this, but if we had, that editor would have been paid a percentage of the agent’s royalties…i.e. their payday is determined on the success of my novel.  They help me finesse the book and make it as good as it can be and as such we get a better advance, and the book has better sales and we all hopefully make more money.  But at no time does anyone ask me to “send a check”.

Other things that you may be asked to pay for as things move forward with a non-legitimate agency/publisher (and there will always be new things):

A “critique” of your book

A “website” for your book (this will more than likely be a webPAGE) and will be useless to you

An “agent” to rep you in their “aggressive agenting plan”

An “illustrator” to illustrate your book (should it require – or hell – not require – illustrations).

And for sites like Publish America you will be pressured into buying copies of your own book and sent endless emails suggesting that you buy copies at such and such new discount (still not a deal).

It will be well nigh impossible for you to get this book into a real stone and mortar bookstore.  Every once in a long while an author manages to convince their local bookstore to stock a copy or two of their self published book – but it’s the exception, not the rule.  Do not expect to see your book in bookstores.  Ever.

And the worst part of this whole scenario, is that once you’ve sold the first rights of your book by allowing it to be published?  They are gone forever.  You cannot ever get first rights back (hence the term ‘first’) and 99.9% of the time first rights are the only thing major publishers are interested in.  So you now need to write a new book – well, you should be doing that anyway I suppose – but now you’re other book, the book you loved so much – the book you slaved over and worked for and told all your friends about and laid out money for?  It’s done all it can do because those rights are gone forever.

It should be noted that there ARE legitimate self publishers out there.  And there’s nothing wrong with taking that route for your book – many people do this and are satisfied with the results – but it’s important to understand what you are doing by self publishing (using up your first rights), and what you probably won’t get (your book in the local Barnes & Noble) – so do A LOT of research before you commit to self publishing.  There’s also a huge difference between legitimate self publishers and vanity publishing scammers.  I only know of one reputable self publishing zero cost up front publisher: Lulu.  I’m sure there are others out there, but I’m not familiar with them.

Okay, think I’ve covered just about everything I know on this subject (painfully little it seems!) but make sure to come back for Part II which will focus on Agents.

Please head on over to CBR’s Comics Should Be Good to read my first CSBG post.  Thanks for the support everyone!

~ Kelly

Hello fans of 1979 Semi-Finalist…and by extension…ME!

I got an amazing offer last week from Brian Cronin over at CBR’s Comics Should Be Good to start contributing to their fantastic and wildly popular blog.  I, of course giddily accepted, and so I’m going to be doing a regular column called ‘She Has No Head!’.  The column will run on Mondays and will discuss the fairly broad topic of ‘women in comics’ – ranging from real world women creators to female characters and beyond.

I’ll let everyone know when the first post goes up – but in the meantime – check out the awesome announcement Brian put up – and the Comics Should Be Good blog in general – which is fantastic with or without a column from little ole me.

Thanks for all the support everyone – I hope I can do it justice!

Kelly

My post about Modern Family went up today at Best Show’s You’re Not Watching.  Check it out.

And don’t laugh.  I’m dead serious.  Well I am serious…but you can laugh.

I caught an episode of this on late night Sci-Fi (no, I’m not writing Syfy) recently and all I could think is ‘why the hell am I getting a shitty V remake?  Why can’t I have a shitty Highlander remake instead?’

I had such a super sized crush on Duncan McCloud (and Adrian Brody ACK! Paul, ADRIAN PAUL…officially no more posts at 2am…thanks to reader David for the catch)*.  Plus, the Highlander concept was so awesome I totally didn’t want to be an organ donor for (well, an embarassingly long time) because “WHAT IF I WAKE UP A HIGHLANDER AND SOMEONE HAS ALREADY HARVESTED MY DAMN EYES!?!?!?”

Anyway, let this serve as my official plea for a hot Highlander remake.  I’m sure I’m not the first…the internet is vast and filled with fools like me.  Also, the less said about Highlander: The Raven, the better.  Amanda was always so annoyingly blech when she should have been made of 100% win.

*And don’t get on me about how the movies are better, or how dare I leave them out.  Some embarrassed part of me loves the Highlander movies too (it lives just to the left and down of the part of me that loves the TV Series) but pound for pound Adrian was just way more sexy and interesting to me as Duncan than Christopher Lambert ever was as Connor .

Parker: The Hunter.  Darwyn Cooke (Writer/Artist).  Comic Books/Graphic Novels.

I have been salivating over this new Darwyn Cooke adaption of Richard Stark’s Parker for months, and finally, to “reward” myself for finishing my big novel revision, purchased it at Jim Hanley’s last week and then devoured it in one sitting – my preferred method – swallowing it whole – going back for second reads later.

It’s a beautiful book.  I’m a huge fan of Cooke’s illustration/penciling work (see his many covers in my Top 100 list – including one in the Top 25), and this is no exception as it is picture perfect.  Individual panels being matched in beauty by the overall pacing and muted color palette.

I have not read the original material, but I assume Cooke was fairly faithful, it certainly feels authentic.  I think my main issue with the book, lies not in Cooke’s hands but in Stark’s hands (though I cannot be 100% sure without having read the original material) and that issue is primarily that I tend to have some drama with these kinds of noir/detective-y books.  I love a good detective yarn, and who doesn’t love noir?  But as a card carrying (and ranty) feminist, it’s easy for me to get my hackles up about the female portrayals in the traditional noir style.  They’re always gorgeous femme fatales and bitches that would betray you for a nickle.  And while I’m happy to read that character, I get a bit annoyed when that’s all there is.  And in this particular story all we have are a betraying wife and a handful of hookers.  Now I suppose it’s a given that Parker runs with a more criminal crowd, but it would be nice to see SLIGHTLY more variety there…and perhaps more importantly all the women here are portrayed pretty strongly as victims.  So it’s even a step down from the ‘betraying femme fatale’ type, who though not exactly revolutionary, is at least a strong woman with a plan, whereas here we have more of the ‘worthless beautiful victim’ type.  Boring.  At least as drawn by Cooke they are stunningly beautiful images.

[SPOILERS}

The story sets up well with the badass master thief Parker penniless and looking it, but thumbing his nose up at offers of a ride.  Once in the city he fakes an i.d. (much easier back in the day) and makes off with someone’s entire bank account.  Well on the road to being all fixed up – clean (ish) and in a suit, he hunts down his old flame, that has betrayed him – ‘natch.  Parker does away with her in an extra special way and moves on, following the trail to the man that set him up, betrayed him, stole from him, and got him sent to prison.

My one complaint in the story (other than the female characters issue) is that everything comes REALLY easy to Parker.  I mean, I love that he’s the ultimate badass, but there’s very little tension in that there’s just no doubt in your mind that he’s going to get his man and come out the other side smelling like roses.  He is perfection…well when perfection comes as revenge and badassitude.  And because of that, because there is no weak link in his armor – perhaps his one weak link is his presumably now dead feeling for his wife – but since he offs her first it leaves him free of any weakness – there’s not a lot of surprise in how it all works out.

If I hadn’t been spellbound by Cooke’s artwork, and drawn panel to panel by the beautiful pacing, I think I would have noticed that the actual story was leaving me pretty cold.  it’s a masterful feat for Cooke, which makes me appreciate him all the more, but regardless of the skill involved, I didn’t think of the book once after putting it down, there just wasn’t enough story to stay with  me.

Ultimately it made for a beautiful but uneventful read.

4.0 Stars*

*on illustration alone I’d give it 4.5 stars easily, but for story, I’d give it a 3.0.  I’m going to give Cooke’s illustration the upper hand and split the difference at 4.0

Apparently my angry cries of foul on Rogue’s bullshit new costume that is constantly unzipped to her navel have fallen on deaf ears.  The evidence?  The X-Men Legacy cover #232.  SIGH.  Oh comics.  I don’t know why I continue to love you when you treat me so.  I’m just glutton for punishment I suppose.

I’m kind of loathe to write another negative post today as I generally prefer to talk about things I love rather than things I hate.  Honestly – I know you don’t believe me given all the rants about comics and feminism – but I swear – I really do prefer to talk about things being awesome than things being crap – unfortunately the world does not always provide me with awesome material.  And thus, here we are today.

Project Runway sucks.  I cannot believe you can go from the peaks a mere year ago (and five seasons of quite frankly ground breakingly great reality television) to the valleys we are experiencing now.  So why does it suck?  Let me count the ways.

1. The contestants are flat out not as talented.  I doubt a single designer in the top three this year could have made it to the top three in any other season.  Even Carol Hannah, who I like.

2. The challenges were not only boring and dull, but um…not actually CHALLENGING.  They were phone it in easy, and almost never were the designers given more than one day to finish a challenge, which I think sometimes limited their potential ambition.  Where were the challenges to make things out of food, or flowers and lawn shavings?  Where were the intensely specific and brutally creative challenges?  Totally absent.

3.  Nina Garcia and Michael Kors were almost entirely absent from judging.  This makes, Heidi, who I love, but who I can also freely admit is the least qualified and least gifted judge, as the only mainstay judge getting to know the designers.  More talented designers (Ra’mon and possibly Epperson and Malvin) got cut arbitrarily, while others (Johnny and especially Mitchell) were allowed to stay on without doing anything of note for far too long.  It threw the entire competition into a strange kind of flux, where the bar never officially got raised on the challenges because the level of competition was so low.

4.  It’s on Lifetime now instead of Bravo.  Bravo is on the cutting edge (if there is one on television), they have forward thinking aggressive programming, and they have proven that they know what to do with reality television…in fact, they’re the masters.  Lifetime is a rookie in this area and while I applaud their interest in changing the face of Lifetime, I hate for a brilliant show to suffer as they get over their freshman errors. And I suppose this largely includes the new production company (which I understand is no longer Magic Elves).

4a. I can’t help but think that part of the designer casting had to do with Lifetime’s “targeted demographic”.  There was a disproportionately high number of attractive thin young women on the show this year (and in fact the final three are all thin attractive women).  So when suddenly the talent level has dropped considerably and there are all these attractive young women…I don’t know…I have no proof…but it felt a little convenient all of a sudden.

4b.  Another frustrating aspect of PR being on Lifetime is that unless you’ve recorded it – it is BRUTAL to sit through the commercials for other Lifetime programming.  The ad content is so in opposition to the show you’re watching that it’s jarring and, well, horrible.  I used to hate watching the Bravo ads because there was so much repetition but at least those ads were for shows I might conceivably watch.

Those are the big ones for me.  Others might argue that moving the venue to Los Angeles also hurt the show.  It wasn’t that big a deal to me.  If you took away the other problems I listed, I think I barely would have noticed the LA change.

I’ll be finishing out this season, and my longtime love for the show will probably compel me to come back for the first few episodes of Season 7, in the hopes that they’ve learned from their freshman mistakes.  But probably this show is over for me (for everyone? I’ve heard nothing but bad things from other fans as well).

It will be hard to recover from such a terrible misfire of a season.  It went from must see TV for both Adam and I, to Adam dropping it and me begrudgingly watching it days later on the TIVO.  Not good.

Awesome idea, as it was in 1984, but the execution here is seriously flawed.

Stilted writing, over-the-top hammy performances (with a few notable exceptions), incredibly out of touch and dated stereotypical characters, and effects that are completely hit and miss.

It’s easy to see where the money went on certain effects shots that look good to great by TV standards, but others look hokey and almost like they could have come from the original 1984 series.  Basic shoddy green screens with actors awkwardly in front of them; a “New York riot” that looks like an average day on any New York street, rather than the chaos that would ensue were aliens floating above us, etc.

I could forgive the effects though, I really could.  What I cannot forgive is ridiculous heavy handed plotting and completely unoriginal characters.  The single mother and rebellious teenage son?  CHECK!  Attractive blonde overly earnest priest questioning his place now that aliens have showed up?  CHECK!  Hot blonde (might as well be from Cali) alien to tempt the rebellious teen son?  CHECK!  “Perfect” guy with a mysterious past that is super in love with his “perfect girlfriend”?  CHECK!  Convenient traitorous partner/best friend?  CHECK!  “Tough as nails” newly divorced mother?  CHECK!  All the tropes are there – and there’s not a single interesting or new thing about these stereotypes that get trotted out for roll call.  These were tired character types ten years ago (at least!) and I saw nothing new to keep me tuned in now.

[SPOILERS]

Scott Wolf’s tempted opportunistic reporter was vaguely interesting and well executed, though certainly not ground breaking.  Alan Tudyk’s traitor FBI agent/V terrorist cell operative was not unexpected, but at least in Tudyk’s hands it didn’t incur eye rolling.  Although proof that the writing/plotting/pacing is seriously off, is that we as an audience cannot remotely begin to care about Tudyk’s character and/or his relationship with Elizabeth Mitchell’s character before he turns on her – so the reveal is totally powerless.  We can’t feel anything about it because we don’t care about these characters yet (if ever)…it’s no real surprise he turns on her, because we don’t actually know or care for him.  Morris Chestnut’s “perfect guy with a past” in love with his “perfect girlfriend” was boring me to tears as well (despite my general like of Morris Chestnut) but the reveal of him as a V traitor aligning himself with the human resistance was a welcome surprise.  The V leader Anna, played capably by Morena Baccarin is enjoyable to watch, but that won’t take me far.  And in an interesting side note, IMDB says that Famke Janssen turned down the role of Anna…which if she read the script, I don’t have to wonder why.

There was also a kind of pitifully unhip aspect about this show, that I can’t quite put my finger on.  I suppose it was primarily noticeable in the writing…it felt like someone’s grandpa was writing it and was trying SOOOO hard to connect “with teh kids!”…which as anyone who’s still remotely young-ish will tell you is a freaking death knell.  In my experience, kids (especially badass awesome ones) can sense someone trying too hard from about a thousand miles away and will run in the exact opposite direction.

Also, if this was supposed to be geared towards the young hip sci-fi crowd then why are there no good young characters?  There’s only one young adult/teenager (that’d be the rebellious teenage son – oh, and his token friend that got about six lines) and they’re probably the most annoying characters thus far.  So if it’s not geared towards “teh kids”…who is it geared towards?  The entire cast looks to be in their mid-30’s…but I’m in my early 30’s and the cast still felt old and tragically unhip to me.

And it can’t possibly be geared towards the die hard sci-fi crowd because even my barely sci-fi credentialed ass found plot holes the size of…well…I don’t know…but they were big.  Like, why do the the V’s need to engage in any kung fu fighting with us lame humans, when their technology outstrips us by miles?  And how have the V’s actually managed to stay hidden, when all it takes is a two by four to the head (or arm, or whatever) to reveal their interior reptilian selves?  And is the entire human race really so dumb that when an alien guest storms into all of our major cities across the globe and essentially says it will be taking some of our “abundant natural resources” nobody stands up and goes – “Hey…you know what is abundant here on Earth and isn’t anywhere else in our known universe?  Human FLESH!”  Lame.

All in all I’d give the first half of the episode a solid and resounding F, and the second half a wavering C- (wavering towards D that is), putting us somewhere in the D range overall.  I’ll probably tune in next week to see if they can save any of it (though if the previews are any indication – they can’t).  But if they don’t manage some better writing, better acting, less heavy handed hammy one liners, more consistent effects, and perhaps most critically – losing the dated and unhip feeling of the whole thing – I’ll be permanently pulling the plug.

Ironically, the somewhat similar Flash Forward (FBI lead characters, major global event, etc.) is already on my critical list – a mere pseudo-weak episode away from being pulled from my weekly viewing – and compared to V, Flash Forward looks like a world famous, A-list cast Shakespearean production.  And if you’ve seen Flash Forward…that’s saying a lot.

My review of The Good Wife is up at The Best Shows You’re Not Watching.  Check it out.  As always, comments appreciated!  ~ Kelly

I got another two short fiction rejections over the last couple months, so I felt compelled to update.  The funny thing is that one was from a really major literary magazine that I’d love to get into, and one was from a pretty small zine (that I’d still love to get into), but you’d think the major publication would hurt more, but it’s really the other way around.  You know if The New Yorker (not who I submitted to by the way) rejects you it’s easy to blow off, it’s like “well duh, they’re The NEW YORKER, of course they don’t want little ole me.”  But the little magazine?  C’MON!

Anyway, I’ll be honest it’s pretty frustrating to get short fiction rejections while working on agent revisions for my book.  It really undermines my confidence level.  So um, I’m just going to pretend this didn’t happen.  Nothing to see here folks…carry on…

Updated Stats:  10 out of 11 Rejected, 1 still out.  Bah.

My final Venture Brothers season recap post went up at The Best Shows You’re Not Watching today.  Head on over and check it out.

My second post about The Venture Brothers went up at The Best Shows You’re Not Watching today.  Check it out and comment if you feel so inclined.  Thanks!  Kelly

I’ve got a post about The Venture Brothers Season One up at The Best Shows You’re Not Watching, in honor of the upcoming season premiere on Sunday October 18th.  Head on over and check it out.  As always, comments on the Best Shows site are always welcome – thanks!

I’m personally invested in The Good Wife being successful (Adam is working for the show) so you should know that upfront, but that little detail out of the way I can honestly say that The Good Wife is far and away the best new show I’m watching this year.

The first episode was great, the second episode was even better, and as I realized it was Tuesday today (through the joys of unemployment I didn’t realize it until about 2pm) I got all excited that The Good Wife was on tonight – which is a sure sign that I’m loving it – even more than I realized.  And quite frankly, it’s been a long time since I felt that way about any network show other than 30 Rock or The Office…a really long time.  So I’m excited.

If you’ve missed the first few episodes you can watch them in full online and catch up.  Do it, seriously, it’s good stuff.

A lot of strange words come together to send people to this blog.  I’ve done a bunch of comics (like the one above – and you can see some here, here, here, and here) about the bizarre search terms that have brought people to 1979 Semi-Finalist, but this week I got one of my weirdest.  Are you ready?

“Sexually Enchanting Long Legged Ladies”

Awesome.

What do you think someone is really looking for with search terms like that?  It boggles the mind.

Anyway, just wanted to share, you may now continue with your day.