The Long List of I-Haven't-Posted-In-Awhile

I'm posting because I can - Toys is at his night class, and I'm home alone, drinking a beer and thinking about Buffyfic. About reading it, and how I haven't written it in an age, although I've thought about it a lot. (In that context, the news about Writercon happening for reals next year struck me as kind of depressing - at this juncture, since I've been such a tardy author, overall lax presence online, and generally shitty Internet friend, I doubt anyone would even want to talk to me in the flesh.) But there are a couple of fic masterworks I feel I should point to. ( Why I Love Missmurchison's 'Pillow Talk' )

( Why I Also Love Nautibitz's 'Don't Stop' )

Can I keep going? It's a long night, and my spaghetti is cooking slowly.

This link in the vintage_ads community, of the Laugh-A-Lot doll, is a mind-blower. The comments are actually funnier than the video, which is actually not so much funny as kind of horrifying - yes, kids' toys used to be different! Really!

On that note, I followed one of those scrolling YouTube links and got this little item. It seems to be mislabeled in terms of era - the announcer says "1970" in the voiceover, so this is within my memory range as a bona fide target for their doll consumer demographic, and damned if I don't remember most of these playsets, although whether I actually owned them, my friends had them, or I just lusted after them in catalogs, I couldn't say. But I'm hugely digging that background music! Takes me back.

( Reminiscing About Dolls! )

I'm now watching Magnum Force on TV and avoiding the Presidential debates. (My heart, it can only take so much - this election can't be over fast enough, IMHO.) Dirty Harry and the perp du jour are driving around in the Potrero district, which is more or less where I work now, and ride the bus everyday, except that this is what it looked like the '70s, far less candy-colored and twee with yuppie redevelopment. Wow. When I moved to San Francisco at the tail end of the '80s, most of this landscape was still there, all faded industrial ruins and grass-choked sandlots. I forget if it's this particular Dirty Harry saga or another one, but there's one in the series with a chase scene through the remnants of the old train yards at the end of Fourth Street, all high grass and line shacks - I remember those. They're mostly gone now, just collapsed piles of hundred-year-old wood planks, slowly being reclaimed by nature.

I feel old.

Oops, I've been typing too long. The movie's over. On to Monster Quest.

( Stargate: Atlantis fans, this one's for you!! )

Okay, maybe I'll skip Monster Quest tonight. It seems to be a Dirty Harry marathon of sorts - AMC is proceeding on to The Enforcer - and I can't resist the siren call of '70s film.

God, these movies have a whole new vibe now that I've lived in SF for more than a decade. This is MY TOWN. Dude. And oh, Christ, is Eastwood actually driving a Chevy Impala? Holy hell.

OMG, he's on Fisherman's Wharf. I've totally eaten in that restaurant. It looks almost the same now.

Awwww... remember when they called cops "pigs" on a regular basis in film? Takes me back.

Time to stop. Apologies for the length.