I was one of those little scaredy-cat kids that hated Halloween. I admit, I was afraid of everything. My dad ruined me when I was just an infant with a devil costume he had - that came with a very lifelike mask. Now, I realize that it's the fact that it is incredibly well done that is actually what scared me. Sure, it was plastic, but the craftsmanship was beautiful - it even had hair. So my entire childhood, I grew up associating Halloween with being terrified and that damn mask. But over time I realized that Halloween is really a lot of fun. It's a chance to dress up and eat sweets and have a bonfire. And it doesn't even have to be scary. So without further ado, my list of non-scary, completely awesome Halloween movies (and a few tv shows.)

Halloween Must-Sees

Practical Magic - A must-see for anyone who loves witch movies. The sets and locations are gorgeous as are the witches - Sanda Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
The Good Witch/The Good Witch's Garden - A relatively new Hallmark series about a woman who may or may not be able to do magic but at the very least changes lives for the better.
Bell, Book and Candle - A classic most have never heard of. It's odd, sort of the original Charmed with Jimmy Stewart, and a very interesting take on (mid-century) modern witches.
Arsenic & Old Lace - The original Halloween movie. Cary Grant and Boris Karloff have never made psychopaths so hilarious.
Charmed - Sister witches fight evil and balance precarious love lives.
Eastwick - Three women come into their power in New England when a mysteriously handsome man arrives in town and begins buying everything up.

EDIT: Forgot one!
I Married a Witch - A sort of Bewitched-style show about a witch falling in love with a human man but she's a little more wicked than Samantha ever was...

I am very impressed with this new show. It's well-written, funny, sexy and it has a great take on magic. It is based on Witches of Eastwick but, I'm told, that it is very different from the movie. The cast is stellar - imagine, Aimee from Leverage/Tess from Eureka, Adrienne from Just Shoot Me, and an actress that apparently played Gina's part in the American version of Coupling? Lots of love for this show.

Check out eastwick_tv and eastwick_fic

Everybody say farewell to my beloved old laptop, Joe. In his last days, he didn't run on battery power nor did his mouse button click, but he served me well for three years. *waves* Bye Joe...



And a jaunty hello to my new laptop, Albert! Look at him in all his pretty shininess...

Il faut du temps au temps... by Makali

Oh my god, it's only 10:30 in the morning and I'm already having one of those days. We're almost out of foam and I need some, I have a slightly crazy woman coming in to basically clean me out of flowers, (and she's going to be grouchy and upset - she apparently hates the heat and her mother just died), I can't get a hold of the boss and Facebook is being so stupid! *gah*

I just finished watching Just One Night for the first time and it was excellent. For those of you who have never been to San Francisco (and therefore don't love it the way I do) the movie really captures the essence of that city. It's not like other cities. Sure, it's smoggy and dirty and cold. But it's also wonderful. Everything is different there. Everyone is different there. I can't explain it but it's a town made of movie moments. You meet random people on the shuttle and you just hang out with them. You have dinner with them and you wander through Ghiradelli with them and you stop to raise your eyebrows the supremely abstract art in the window of that little gallery across the street. And then you go your separate ways, home, and in a few weeks you can't even remember their names. You remember one was older and one was young. You remember the younger was a redhead. You remember they were from somewhere near Eureka and they worked in the gift department of an ACE Hardware. But you can't remember their names to save your life. Because it doesn't matter. They were just two people you had a good time with for one evening that you ran into the next day for no apparent reason and that you never saw again. That's how that city is. It's different than anywhere else in the world, somehow.

Many of us lost a dear friend this past evening, musicforcylons . I know I counted her among my buds and she seemed to make friends with everyone. There are so many inane things I will miss discussing with her, including the pictures of my almost-finished new studio that she never got to see. She was my co-mod at parker_eliot and, taking on her duties, I will always think of her when I post episode discussions. There are so many Leverage episodes she will miss but if there is a tv in heaven, I know she's watching (and blogging)! :) As I write this, I realize there are so many little things to a friendship. That (<) for instance, is her favorite of my icons and started many "discussions" about how incredibly gorgeous Christian Kane is. My nickname, which came from nowhere and seemed to just be applied to me one day, never failed to make me smile. We shared several good laughs over a traumatizing picture of my grandfather in a speedo in the '70s. Many will miss her terrible, myself definitely included.

With love and laughter,

Sugarplum

This episode really didn't have a ton of Nate and Sophie but there were definitely a few smidges. "Leave her alone!" Aww... we gushed about that one in the Tempted discussion. And it had some hilarious one-liners!!

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I feel like grumbling today so I'm going to just say it: wire services are the bane of my existence. They're always Indian or something, not that I have anything against Indians but if you're going to work for a national service, the majority of shopkeepers should be able to understand you. Plus, and even worse, they are incredibly cheap. They think flowers don't cost a thing! How am I supposed to make any money on an arrangement for $35, including delivery? Really? *sigh*

The wonderfulness that is Leverage has returned!! I missed it so much, more than I realized it. And I love Sophie this season!! Of course, I always love Sophie, but I think she is going to be particularly fabulous this season.

Now. I have two things I am hopefully going to be able to do for each episode (so long as I remember.) One, I am going to list all the Nate/Sophie moments. And two, I am going to list all the opportunities I spotted for fic.

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All right. My first real attempt at icons. A little scared because all previous attempts have, well, miserably failed. Tell me what you think...

[01 - 04] Leverage: Nate/Sophie
[05 - 14] Leverage: Sophie

Teaser:
 

( Icons )

I'm sitting here eating Chinese food watching Dad try to fix a light that fizzled out at the shop. The fuse broke or something and apparently he can't fix it because he just said, "It's cooked, man. Toasted. Toasted muffins."

Struck me funny somehow.

Shipping meme stolen from rubykatewriting:

I thought this went along well with my last post. If you want to do this one, make the list of pairings before you see the questions!

Six ships you're into right now.

01 → Nate/Sophie, Leverage
02 → Parker/Eliot, Leverage
03 → House/Cuddy, House
04 → Jenny/Jethro, NCIS
05 → Tony/Ziva, NCIS
06 → DG/Cain, Tin Man

Three ships you liked, but don't anymore.

07 → Indiana/Elsa, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
08 → Mina/Tom, LXG
09 → Carter/Jo, Eureka

Three ships you never liked.

10 → House/Cameron, House
11 → Bella/Jacob, Twilight
12 → Rory/Dean, Gilmore Girls

Two ships you're curious about, but don't actually ship.

13 → Mary/Marshall, In Plain Sight
14 → Shawn/Juliet, Psych

( Questions )

I've seen this a couple of times and figured I should probably do one of my own: a ship post! They are in order by when I first started shipping them.

( Image Heavy )

I have finally fixed my Private Message status! Of course, if you're reading this, you're already a friend and it doesn't matter because you never had any trouble sending me messages in the first place. But it is fixed, so contacting me about communities is no longer impossible!

Feeling like some memes...

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( 80 Questions )

So, yeah, I know, I haven't done anything with my LJ in over two months. And I didn't even realize it - I guess I was busier than I thought! So, I have lots of things to update on.

Livejournal

New Nate/Sophie Community: Tempted.
New Nate/Sophie Ficathon: The Nate Ford & Sophie Devereaux Ficathon

And of course my awesome new layout! I loved the old one but the way the ads didn't fit drove me nuts since I don't want to run my funds dry paying for my own LJ as well as all my communities. Anyway, Audrey is fabulous, so yay!!

Birthday Party

I will get around to posting the pictures from the party. I swear. The CD is sitting on the table next to my chair - I just have to do it.

My Shows

Leverage, of course, has taken over my life. The DVD comes on the 14th and then the season starts the next day! (I wonder if that will make up for my stupid doctor's appointment two days later...)

Burn Notice is back on and as Miami Vice-fabulous as ever.

Royal Pains is my new thing: I don't think it will become a fandom sort of show, aside from maybe reading some Evan/Divyia (Divya?) fan fiction, or Eviya as I've christened them in my head. I do love it, however, and Hank is just adorable!

All right. I think that's everything. Oh wait! I'm getting luggage for graduation *happy jig* and I'm being incredibly picky, since it's all I'm asking for. Reasonable, right? Well, I want the Samsonite Black Label Vintage collection: just the beauty case, the duffel bag and duffel on wheels. I love the grey/silver but it seems to be the least available so I have to go into the city and look at it in person. Anyway: it's gorgeous!

My shows have annoyed me since, well, pretty much since the writer's strike. Bones decided Zach was a serial killer (apprentice), House killed off Wilson's girlfriend, and the patching-up this season has been downright painful in parts. However, since those two have come back from their winter hiatuses (hiati? hiates?) they have slowly begun to come back around to the shows I once knew and loved.

( Spoilers: House & Bones, through most recent episodes )
Anyway, this was really supposed to just be a bit of squeeing over House and its wonderfulness - but if you can squee over Boreanaz and Laurie in the same post, why not?

This one was just too cool to pass up!

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