The Muppets' Sam the Eagle and Criminal Minds' Hotchner are Sick of Your Crap

This past week hasn't been particularly... funny... to me. High-stress: yes. Creative and light-hearted: not so much. This weekend, instead of writing fiction, I decided to productively use my time by curling up into a ball in my favorite chair and staring glazedly at a wall.

I do not regret this decision. :)

Anyway, while I was staring glazedly, I might have seen a few episodes of Criminal Minds pass by my eyeballs. And it occurred to me that if I were to make a Muppet version of this program, I would cast Sam the Eagle as Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner. I mean, look above: the eyebrows alone are perfect. The bags under the eyes... the steely gaze, the unyielding beak-- er, lips.

Which led me to then cast Scooter as Dr. Spencer Reid, and Miss Piggy as Penelope Garcia. The latter, mainly because I would enjoy seeing Piggy decked out with cat's eye glasses and lots of hair do-dads, answering the phone with things like, "Goddess of all knowledge: beseech of moi answers to your questions."

Anyway, I am hoping for more merry and less soul-sucking days ahead, with this coming weekend the goal of producing a few thousand more words on the third There Goes the Galaxy book, Tryfling Matters.

Hope you all are having yourselves a good week! --Jenn

There Goes the Galaxy Official, Unofficial Soundtrack and YouTubely Goodies

You ever listen to music and think, "Wow, this song sounds like a soundtrack for this very moment of my day"? Well,  'd had some songs that either inspired actual bits of the There Goes the Galaxy books, or seem to me like they work in my Greater Communicating Universe. I've been pulling them together when I can, for the eventual launch party of the third book (y'know, down the road). I will also be including some of the fun, spacey dubstep/trip-hop songs in the mix, that one of my Facebook followers was kind enough to connect me to (I love driving around to it!).

Anyway, this week has already been madness for me, work-wise, but I didn't want to leave you folks all empty-handed. So I thought those who have read the tales might enjoy seeing some of the songs I had in mind. This is what I would include:

• My, My, Time Flies- Enya
• Is That You Mo-Dean?- B-52s
• End of the World as we Know It- R.E.M.
• Walking on the Sun- Smash Mouth
• Blinded Me with Science- Thomas Dolby
• Angel is the Centerfold- J. Geils Band
• Rapture- Blondie
• Rocket- Def Leppard
• Crime of the Century- Supertramp
• There Goes a Tenner- Kate Bush
• Planet Claire- B-52s
• Space Age Whiz Kids- Joe Walsh
• Satellite- Smash Mouth
• Major Tom- David Bowie
• Space Oddity- Peter Schilling
• Ashes to Ashes- David Bowie
• Songs for a Dying Planet- Joe Walsh
• Watching the Planets- Flaming Lips
• You Will Go to the Moon- Moxy Fruvous

I am, of course, open to additional suggestions for a good, spacely soundtrack! Because, as you know, new inspiration is never far away! 

Also, I'd posted another audio reading of There Goes the Galaxy on my YouTube channel. If you enjoy these, you can subscribe to them here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBeC9G_DzC4UAG2f9HVxtgA

Otherwise, I hope you all have a good week. I aim to come back to you all with an actual humor post when I'm feeling less day-job stressed and more, um, humorous.

Wedding Bells and One Dingaling

I'm going to have an extra-special treat for my friend Kitty when she returns from her honeymoon, oh yes!

Yesterday, she and her long-time boyfriend-- we'll call him "The Dude"-- got married in a lovely little ceremony, and aside from the bride nearly blowing into the next county when the enthusiastic wind caught her train and turned her into a parasail, it was a great day.

I had been assigned the task of taking photos of some of the decorations they'd made. Kitty and The Dude had both spent a lot of time and effort pulling things together, and my friend just wasn't sure the photographer would get some of those more subtle elements. So, armed with my Canon Powershot, and a couple of sets of camera batteries, I agreed.

So, I turned up at the hotel for the recepton, prepared for my minor supporting role. And right there, out front of the row of ballrooms was the specific thing Kitty had asked that I photograph-- the table of seating place cards. It was a beautiful table, with perfectly printed name cards, evenly spaced with glimmering, shimmering tealights and red rose petals. Red, being the accent color of Kitty and The Dude's wedding.

And I was stoked. I mean, I made sure to get just the right angle... put the proper Indoor settings on, and stood back to make sure the shots came out. After a moment of review, I determined Kitty and The Dude would be pleased.


I was only MILDLY aware that I didn't recognize any of the names on the seating place cards. But this didn't seem especially strange, because I also only know the immediate members of the bride's and groom's families. Done with my first big task, I noticed another shrine-like display a few feet away that I decided might also merit a shot-- and as I went to check it out, then I realized there was a small issue...

Who the heck WAS that couple in the black-and-white Glamor Shot-styled framed 8 X 10 surrounded by rosebuds and dripping with streamers? It was certainly not Kitty and her husband.

Oh no, in fact-- Kitty and The Dude's wedding reception was being held in an obscure wing of the hotel even as I shutterbugged away. And upon entering that area, I immediately saw the familiar table themes Kitty had told me about, as well as a photo album of people who actually looked familiar.


So, when Kitty returns from Jamaica next week, I will show her the photos I took of her beautiful reception. But I think I'll start her out on the shots of Bif and Muffy McSappy's shindig.

I figure after a week in the tropics, her nerves should finally be able to take it.

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At the end of any event, Humor-blogs is the one with the lampshade on its head, singing karaoke.