Whether you cast your vote for McCain or Obama or someone else doesn’t matter, what matters is that you vote.  That you express your opinion on who needs to lead this great nation of ours.  Today we get to help make change happen.

The only real statement I’ll make here is for my friends in California.  Please vote NO on Prop 8. The world is discriminating enough, we don’t need to make it any worse.

Go vote, I promise you that it is time very well wasted.

If you haven’t gotten the gist of my intent yet, let me spell it out plainly.  It’s been two weeks since there’s been a post on the site at all, and even longer since it was something meaningful and not random movie trivia.  I simply don’t have the drive for it anymore, not while I’m working 40 hours a week and being out of the house for at least 10 hours a day for five of seven days.  And those last two, the only thing I want to do is kick back with a book, a podcast, some new music and not think about work, of any kind.

Am I shutting down completely?  No, not at all.  I’ll still be throwing the random, brilliant and blatant advertisements up for my favorite podcasters, but I make no promise of a schedule.  I’m on pins and needles with anticipation for Personal Effects Dark Art and still have at least a nine month wait - I think.  Then there’s Contagious due out this winter and whatever Mur, Nathan, Tee, Pip, Edward, Nick and many others have up their sleeves.

Time Well Wasted was my job while I didn’t have paying employment, now it’s just too much for me.  Through it I have gotten to know and do things for some fantastic people with brilliant stories to tell.  These would be the podcasters I follow around like some random rabid fangirl.  And while I’m not pulling the plug completely on the site, I’m pulling in the focus and will continue to write about the podcasting community in my own time.  I’ll still be following these people like the random, rabid fangirl that I am, what can I say, feed me a good story and I’m addicted.

As for the rest of it, I’ll post what things I have lingering in my drafts over the next week and we’ll see what happens from there.  In the meantime, there’s not much more to say.  I want to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for reading and enjoying the site, for letting me be part of their advertisement régime, and for producing some fantastic content.  It’s my hope that I might still be welcome when I ask if I can help them out with a bit of advertisement and review, and maybe a hug or two if I can ever get to one of their events.

More than anything, and I’m not trying to separate anyone from anyone else, I owe a heartfelt thank you to JC Hutchins and his amazing fans for helping me and my family out during our hardship this summer.

Like I said before, I’m not completely shutting down, I think to do so would break my heart, so I hope you won’t remove us from your feeds.  I’ll still be around on Twitter and I’ll post there when something pops up here.  I just can’t promise a regular posting schedule anymore and for that I apologize.

So stay tuned…  I may post something brilliant at any time.

Thanks, JC.  Nice find.

So, now that I have a day off and there’s only 3 kittehs in the house with me, its time to open up iTunes and dust off the podcasts.  So I’m playing catch up today with the hope of getting some new articles written up for you all.

What am I listening to today?

New World Orders
UltraCreatives
Obsidian
Infected
Nocturnal
Chasing the Bard
Starkeeper
Metamor City
…and anything else I’ve missed, which I’m sure is a lot.

It’s a long list and I’m hoping to get through it all today.  We’ll see what we see.  I may save Starkeeper for when Sloane’s home with me, Star Wars nut that he is.

In the meantime, if you have a bit of time to waste, I’ll point you back to the list above.  Anything off of it is a winner.

For now, I’m going to enjoy my day off from answering phones.

Of the films staring David Duchovny which came closest to spoofing his roll as Fox Mulder in the X-Files?

The answer was Evolution, which is probably one of my absolute favorite films when I need a corny pick me up comedy. Special thanks to jundar and Cynthia for for posting their answers and adding some extra trivia as well. Congratulations to everyone who answered correctly.

Your question this week is:

In what movie did Heath Ledger play a deceptive squire dancing to David Bowie?

1. 10 Things I Hate About You
2. A Knight’s Tale
3. Brokeback Mountain
4. The Brothers Grimm

There’s your trivia dose for the week. Think you have the answer, leave it in the comments. Remember, just because IMdB is available doesn’t mean you should use it.  :D  I’ll post the answer with next week’s question.

Simply put I’d like to see him back in Texas, Austin by preference, but I’ll travel where I have to.  So lets get few votes going, and even if you don’t want to bring him to Austin, vote, so you too can have Scott Sigler in your face.

I could go on for pages about the books and films, which would likely bore you all to tears. The fact that I am a happy fan girl of the HP universe still surprises me, as I attempted to avoid the books at all cost. It took a good friend, also a kindergarten teacher to tell me about the books and open my eyes to them. I still drug my feet and didn’t really get into it until I went to see Sorcerer’s Stone after having been awake for over 24 hours. Needless to say I didn’t understand what I was seeing so it was finally time to get the books.

The phrase, “instantly addicted” comes to mind, as I devoured the first book. Since the printing of book four, (Goblet of Fire), I’ve had every subsequent HP novel in my hands on the day of release. I’ve also had them taken from me so I would sleep and was handed tissues when I was crying (Thank gods for a tolerant husband).

JK Rowling created an enduring and endearing universe when she brought Harry Potter to life. The characters, even the owl Hedwig, strike notes of familiarity with many of the readers and everyone has their favorite (McGonagall) hero and most hated villain (Umbridge). What I enjoy most about Rowling’s work is that it inspired children and adults alike to read.

Many of the people who have grown up with, or just enjoyed, the books have moved on to something called “Twilight” but I’m sure their memories of Hogwarts and Quidditch will remain with them always. I know that the whimsically bound books have a place honor on my shelf, and I’m ready to get my hands on the Beetle the Bard book. I hope Rowling will continue to entertain us all through the ages with these timeless books.

Please share your thoughts and opinions about Harry and his world in the comments.

Enjoy.

What world renowned musician played Feyd-Rautha in 1984’s Dune?

The answer was Sting, and boy howdy did he do a steller job with the material he was given.  Special thanks to Tony and Ed for for posting their answers and giving me more reasons to see Manhunter. Congratulations to everyone who answered correctly.

Your question this week is:

Of the films staring David Duchovny which came closest to spoofing his roll as Fox Mulder in the X-Files?

1. Playing God
2. Zoolander
3. House of D
4. Evolution

There’s your trivia dose for the week. Think you have the answer, leave it in the comments. Remember, just because IMdB is available doesn’t mean you should use it.  :D  I’ll post the answer with next week’s question.

Man, was I ever misled!

If you’ve not seen it, and your experience has been anything like mine, you’ve been told all about the significance of “The Angry Inch”  and you’re probably expecting a climactic, end-of-movie, expose shot where we are treated to a view of nasty, scarred, chopped-off dude-tube.  Well - thank ALL that is good and wholesome - we are spared that.  This movie is, in fact, quite compelling and interesting.  Moving, even.

In the beginning, I was hesitant - turned-off, even.  I wasn’t expecting a rock opera, and I was even less prepared for an awkward, washed-up artist rock opera.  Much LESS was I expecting a molestation-life-story, washed-up, awkward.. You get the idea.  I stuck through the opening scene, though, and am very glad I did.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the story of a (wo)man who’s life just .. sucked.  Left and right she’s made the wrong decision - trying to force herself into a mold that just never fit her.  She’s fighting through the story to take revenge on the man who broke her heart, while unwittingly dragging everyone around her through the bowels of Hell.

I couldn’t really pity her, though.  Because she’s making every decision that’s screwing her and everyone else over.  She’s doing it all to herself.  On the other hand, she always seems to fall right behind the eight ball at every turn.  From the very beginning, even as a little boy, she seemed pre-destined to a life of disappointment and yearning.  I loved her; I hated her.  And in the end, in a sort of happy-yet-sad way, (s)he got what was coming to her.  For better AND for worse.

Okay, I’ve just noticed that I’m jumping between Paranthetical and trans - gender references.  This is intentional, because throughout the movie, Hedwig is facing gender and sexuality issues.  To be blunt, Hedwig is not a man trying to be a woman, or a woman trapped in a man’s body.  Hedwig is a person who was ultimately tricked into being castrated and neutered.  I just don’t want to call hedwig “it”, because even though she’s a bitch, she did deserve better.

Anyway.  Fantastic movie.  Just enough emotion to open the eyes, and just enough comedy to keep the film from being depressing.  Andrea Martin, by the way, did a phenomenal job of being lovable, sleazy and uplifting all at the same time.  After the editors cuts, her part lost a LOT of it’s Mercutio quality, but she was still just a great counterpoint to the stress and drama of the movie.

As for the music.  DON’T  BE PUT OFF BY THE FIRST SONG!!!!  The rest are pretty damn cool.  They each tell a story while retaining a stand-alone quality.  Unlike so many musicals, where each song is almost too script-referential to add to your .mp3 playlist, each tune in Hedwig is self-contained and has plenty of meaning and significance in its own right.

Who can enjoy this movie?  Hmm.  I guess anyone with an open mind, really.  It’s a story - a drama, a romance, a comedy.  You don’t have to be into the whole “Transgender Thing” to appreciate it, but if you’re turned off by anything that’s not straight, narrow, conservative and “normal” then, well, you’ll wanna go ahead and avoid this one.

It’s about one messed up soul and the fight for love - love of another and love of the self.  And in the end, it’s found in one form or another.

That’s a great way to sum up this movie…

“In one form or another.”

Rating: