oiran | veronica / high kicks and flicks / dog, of course / boys in their finery

I already liked Veronica Mars, despite having some issues with the way sexual assault was dealt with in the pilot. So, now that I've seen episode #2, I like it even better.

Not only has she has retained her nerdy friend, Wallace, from the pilot, but now he's got a job where he can help her out in her P.I. work, and this happy accident was handled believably. She also has a new friend, Troy, whose introduction I kind of missed due to dealing with dog issues. However, I get the impression he's supposed to be part of the "in crowd" although he's stubbornly not getting with the hate-Veronica program. Continuity and character development!

It's interesting to me that Lily is supposed to have been Veronica's best friend, but they don't seem to have been close in the way that most teenage girls are with their "best friend." I'm curious if this is on purpose or if perhaps it's just my interpretation and my history of obsessive, over-emotional friendships casting doubt.

I think the guy who plays Duncan, the ex-boyfriend, is very unattractive. In fact, I find all the guys unappealing except for sexy, bald, Chicano bike gang leader boy. Weevil? How does a guy get a name like Weevil, and then not insist on being called something else? Pretty long eyelashes on that boy…

I can't quite believe I missed Kyle Secor (Jake Kane, the dead girl's father) the first time around, though I picked up on his presence once it was mentioned after the first airing of the pilot. I loved Bayliss - LOVED. I'm not sure if I want him to turn out to be a murderer, or not, but I hope we get to see him more on future episodes.

Anyway, the plot thickens, and the gaps left over from last week are slowly being filled in, so I'm very pleased.

Oh. Paris Hilton - ew. A girl that incredibly wealthy should be able to afford a weave that looks like hair. She looks like one of those Barbie beauty heads you see at garage sales with half the hair torn out and crayon scribbles on the face. In terms of acting - she did what she was supposed to do without any trouble, it seems, but she wasn't asked to do much, so I give her a solid C for performance, and a D for freakass, unattractive hair.

dance movies! I'm a sucker for any movie where people dance as a main feature of the plot. This isn't the same as liking musicals, though. In a musical, people will suddenly sing and dance for no logical reason. In a dance movie, people are dancers, or want to be dancers, or otherwise have some actual reason for dancing, and dancing is an acknowledged behavior, not a plot whimsy. Which means that I loved Center Stage, yawned through Save the Last Dance (Julia Stiles - does anyone like watching her onscreen?), and can't get enough of Strictly Ballroom. My favorite movie of all time, All That Jazz, would certainly count as a dance movie, though it's got a lot more going on than just the dance sequences.

So, anyway, I watched The Company last night. Neve Campbell is the sort-of-star. Apparently, she trained as a dancer originally and went back into intensive training for this role. It's an Altman film, and I really don't usually like Altman stuff. I haven't seen Gosford Park yet because of the fact that it's Altman, even though it sounds like I probably really would enjoy it. Neve dances for the Joffrey Ballet, Malcolm MacDowell is slightly annoying and hammy as the company director (and, yeah, he's supposed to be that way, but probably not that much that way), and James Franco eventually is her boyfriend, and nothing much happens except pretty dancing, lazy dribbles of time in Neve's really cool apartment, and skinny people doing stretches while wearing layers and layers of dance gear. Still, if you like dance movies, you'll like this one. Because, duh: people dance.

Pirates of the Caribbean: So, I must commend all of you who found fannish glee in this for your resourcefulness - because, dude, this was the most boring thing I'd seen in a long time. Sure, Johnny Depp is great as a Big, Gay Pirate, but he's just sort of thrashing around all alone without any other character worthy of interaction. Sadly, despite not disliking Elizabeth, and my mild confusion regarding her bizarre love/repulsion conflicts about pirates and the pirate life, I was ultimately disappointed that her intimations of pluck seemed all but forgotten by the end. Pretty thing, though. The one I felt the worst for, however, was poor Norrington, losing his balls and his dignity in the last couple minutes of the film.

Bend it Like Beckham: Can you believe, I watched this whole thing without recognizing Keira Knightley? Maybe it's because I loved her in this, and didn't care about her at all in PotC. Also loved the adorable Pavinder Nagra. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers was remarkable for having big damn jug ears. This was utterly charming, and had a great soundtrack, as well.

In the Mood for Love: Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung are a real-life couple, but they're great here as neighbors whose spouses are having an affair. There's a repeated motif of the two of them acting out imagined turning points in their spouses' affair that never failed to surprise me, even long after I'd realized what they were doing. Everything looks so cool, too. Apparently, Thailand stands in for circa-1962 Hong Kong. Gorgeous colors, lighting, and costumes: sharkskin suits for Tony, and Maggie models seemingly dozens of groovy sixties-print cheongsams (including a striped, sheer number over a slip) that are quietly incredibly sexy. The soundtrack is beautiful, and I'm planning on getting this for writing/staring into space music.

dog, of course: The poor dog is completely zonked. I am hoping it's due to the quantity and variety of medication he is taking. He can barely walk, but we're pretty sure his immobility is from joint pain due to fever and not actually something wrong with his legs or spine. The thing on his neck is still draining which is supposed to be good, but it's hard to view it in a positive light when it's so disgusting. The one on his side began draining, too, but now he has a couple of new ones on his ribcage - though these may turn out to be just lymph nodes and not pus pockets. I've been feeding him beef broth with a syringe. He lies there and licks/swallows while I squirt it into his mouth and it's incredibly pathetic and makes me want to scream and demand that someone else fix this for me, but that isn't going to happen.

Despite being on enough antibiotics to kill EVERYTHING, he does not seem better. But that isn't the same as seeming worse, so I'm trying to be patient.

get out of the house: Mr. Glove called me and insisted that I leave the house for awhile, so I did. I had some coffee and a gourmet popsicle (pineapple!) and read at a table in nice, indirect sun.

I then went and got the October W, since it's apparently late making it to the stands. I am disappointed that there aren't any more pictures actually in the issue than were available online, but I am grateful for the larger scale. I also wonder if anyone can tell me who is who among the male models. They're all listed in the credits, and I know who Boyd and Harry are already, but I want to be able to put names to the other three faces. Specifically, the sultry fellow leaning against Harry and the wall on page 316. Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

In the book I'm reading? The one where I keep hoping the teenage boys will make out? One of the other characters apparently hopes so, too, having made a passing comment to that effect. Now I'll really be annoyed if there's no boykissing by the end of this thing...