J.T.'s Dead!

Does anyone who reads my blog watch Degrassi? Not the old school Degrassi, but the new stuff on The N [cable channel I can only watch at my parents' house]? If not, go to http://www.the-n.com/ and click on "The Click." You can watch episodes from the current season. Anywho, they just killed off a main character, J.T. An obnoxious student of mine told me he was going to die (I had already guessed it, but I didn't want to believe I was right) because he figured out a way to download the episodes from a Canadian website, where they air earlier than here in America. Even knowing who was going to die, the episode was very emotional. I couldn't hold back the tears. I loved that character. He was the Joey Jeremiah of this generation- a clown with heart. Sigh. J.T., you will be missed.

I hope that when Get Well Soon (my novel, out September 2007!) comes out that Degrassi is still on. And after that I hope that teens read my blog. Cause then we can discuss Degrassi.

If anyone is interested, I found this article about the publisher of my book. When people ask me who's publishing Get Well Soon, I tell them Feiwel and Friends, which no one has heard of. Here's a link to an article that explains it: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/RBI-0072-13309119.htm

The galleys for my novel come out in March, which means that reviewers should start receiving copies. Yikes! I am going to change my web page to make it more "teen," so I have to figure that out. My goal is to do it before the galleys come out, but I'll have to find the time. I usually just build my webpage through HTML, but that's super time consuming. I'm thinking I may explore Dreamweaver. Matt's very good with it, although I'm annoying and don't like to ask for help. Stay tuned.

Degrassi is My Family

As many of you know, I have been a fan of Degrassi since they showed us the original first Degrassi Junior High episode back in 1987 at Cooper Junior High. I watch the new eps, and love them all. The-N.com (the cable channel that shows the new Degrassi) has a quiz to find out which family on their shows is most like your family. I took the quiz, and check it out:


Of course my family would be from Degrassi! And not just any Degrassi family- the one with the parents from my old skool Degrassi! Snake and Spike!

OK- this probably means nothing to anyone reading this, but I'm psyched.

Disappointments...

Yesterday, while not a bad day, was filled with minor disappointments.

1. I saw Flushed Away, and I enjoyed it very much, except for the fact that THEY DID NOT HAVE THE SLUGS SING Everybody Dance Now. That was totally the reason I wanted to see it! That looked so funny! It turns out that was only for the promos. You can see it online. Here is the link, for anyone as interested as I. And who knows why I am so interested? Damn that's funny.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7099070886331888562&q=flushed+away

2. There should have been a new episode of Degrassi on last night, so I went to my parents' house to watch (because they have the good cable), and The N (the channel it's on) didn't work!!! All night!!!

3. So instead, we all watched four hours of VH1's top songs of the 80s. I'm a sucker for VH1's countdown shows. If I had VH1 I would never leave the house. And after four hours, what song was number 1? Hmmmm? Freakin' Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. As if! Total letdown. Check out the VH1 page if you want to see some of the interviews and videos from the show. I know I will. I'm an 80s fool. Never mind about the damn clip. I can't find it on the site. How unuseful.

Happy Thanksgiving (if I don't write before then).

Gay Office

The gay episode of The Office is on now. It's a painful one. The kiss scene. Ugh. This seems to be a re-runny week for TV shows. Degrassi is also a rerun.

This week I received my manuscript back with copyeditor marks all over it. What a crazy job. It made me feel like a moron to see all of the mistakes I made. It was also funny to see how many words I made up that we she to figure out how to spell. Perhaps I should make the Julie dictionary.
Matt is sitting next to me clapping with laughter as Oscar and Michael kiss. The best part of watching The Office is watching Matt watch it.

TV Stinkbombs

Hello. I am disillusioned by the poo on TV these days. I still miss Buffy. I'm trying to watch the Gilmore Girls, but I don't love Lorelei. Why is she still so immature? How can she lose Luke and fall in love with her (very gay-ish) ex so soon? And what is up with Degrassi? Does anyone out there watch the new episodes (Beth?)? Darcy is a skank Christian Ho. She was all righteous, and now she's taking off her clothes for internet pervs? I watched an online mini doc about filming that episode, and there were all of these old dudes filming this teenage girl stripping. How do they sleep at night knowing they're making, essentially, kiddie porn? They probably sleep quite nicely, actually.

Project Runway- blah. Jeffrey is a butt. None of them were all that interesting, although I liked Uli's clothes. They better make next season a nice season or I'm walking away. No more Runway for me. But what then? Oh! And for some reason, the Milwaukee episodes of Antiques Roadshow (which I will hopefully be on)are not going to air until FALL 2007!!! That makes no sense! Milwaukee was not the last stop on the tour, so why is it pushed back until the next season? Click here for the weird details:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/series/tvschedule.html#season11

Matt and I are off to a pumpkin farm today in Wisconsin. I love that we live so close to another state. It feels like we're on vacation. Too bad it's so crud out. Oh well.

Eyes on the Prize

I had to see an eye doctor today. Turns out I have cysts on my eye. They could go away by themselves, or I can voluntarily have them taken off. Yeah. That will happen. I wish I weren’t so afraid of doctors. It seems to get worse as I get older. I think it's because I like to know what's going on. I like to be prepared. But doctors never have time to explain things, and even when they do, it's not like I could then do it to myself. Does that make sense? Probably not.

What the hell is wrong with Maria Shriver? She looks like an absolute freak. I heard some guys on the radio call her Skeletor. And she's on The Insider right now talking about trying to maintain her weight. She is repulsively skinny. I hope she's OK. Ugh.

Project Runway. It’s off the air for one week, and I’ve already forgotten. I have to find a new show to be in love with. I’m leaning towards Gilmore Girls, even though I don’t agree with Lorelei’s boozing ways. Still, it’s no Buffy. I hate living in a world without a new Buffy episode every week. It’s just not right. I should be happy that a new season of Degrassi starts this weekend, but I still have a little bit of creepiness about enjoying a show about teenagers so much.

Enough of the rambly ramblings. There’s a story coming up on The Insider about M’onique that I can’t miss. I love her. Of course, The Parkers is off the air…

Degrassi Dreams

I seriously cannot stop thinking about moving to Degrassi Street. Am I psycho? Is it because I am in the weird window between the end of summer and school starting and I need something to fixate on? But I'm already fixated on revising my novel and redecorating the library and... Wait. Maybe I'm not at all fixated on those things, or at least I'm trying hard not to fixate on them, and so I'm fixating on a wonderful fantasy, a la Degrassi Street?

Toronto was so wonderful. Matt and I are already talking about going back. Every restaurant is vegetarian friendly, the transportation is so easy (albeit not cheap), and the cable TV is funny. What more could one ask for in a city?

So who has seen Snakes on a Plane? I would like to see it in the theaters, as I think it will be a nice item to talk about with my students. We'll see if I can convince Matt.

There's No Oprah on Degrassi Street

I’m watching Oprah (which has to do more damage than good), and there are these kids on who hate themselves and the way they look. Some of them are three years old! The whole theory that Oprah’s therapy lady believes is that you automatically pass all of your bullshit through the womb as you have a baby, so the only way not to pass stuff on (like self-hatred, weight issues, etc.) is to get rid of it before you have a baby. Whatever! Who the hell can do that?

In more realistic news, I plan to someday move to Degrassi Street in Toronto. It was so perfect and beautiful and magical. Matt and I already looked up house prices, and we feel that someday we may be able to afford it. Canada, here we come! Maybe.

I have a lot to say about my recent road trip to Toronto, but I have to work on the revisions of my novel before I go back to work (next week!!!). More later!

Oh- and if you’re posting comments (thank you!!!) will you please either sign in with a funny code name so I know who’s posting or just put your name? I feel weird with the “anonymous” thing.

Thanks!