On conventions and office hours

Here's the deal:

I started the routine of holding office hours on the weekends. And, there's a big sci-fi/ comic convention coming up. I blogged about it on WordPress here.

I think the office hours went well and will go better when I can network more and set a firm day, time and location.

As for the convention, I'm going with a press pass and am trying to set up interviews with some of the stars/guests attending. Please go to the convention Web site and look around. If there's anyone you want me to try to get an interview with, let me know. I'm already working on interviews with Nathan Fillion of Firefly and Serenity, Nicholas Brendon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Psycho Beach Party, Greg Grunberg of Heroes, Jeremy London of Mallrats and various other movies and TV shows I've seen and Fat Momma of Who Wants to be a Superhero?.

The Sweeney Todd experience

I went to see Sweeney Todd Christmas night with my friends. It was, by far, the best movie-theater experience I've had in years, and I'm not saying that because I scammed my friend Alex into buying me a cherry coke and stole Josiah's popcorn.

The music made me giddy, and the blood-letting made me light-headed. I loved Helena Bonham Carter's hair and her clothes. I loved the dreary sets, and once again remarked on Tim Burton's obsession with bleached-out blond hair on his damsels in distress.

There were mixed reactions from my group of friends. My friend Alex loved it and wants to see it again. My friend Josiah thought it was sad and moving, and my friend Jason utterly hated it. I'm surprised he didn't leave the theater in the middle of the movie and wait outside for us, chain-smoking through his contempt.

I also don't think Dreamworks and Warner Bros. did a good job of marketing to its intended audience. Not all people are going to like all movies, and the "this is a slasher/horror flick" marketing brought in a lot of people who were unsatisfied with their experience. Out of the 50 or so people who were in the theater with us that night, at least 10-15 walked out within the first 30 minutes. That's not a good thing.

So, if you love musicals and murders (in films) go see Sweeney Todd. If you don't like musicals or aren't willing to try new things, don't bother.

Picture of Sweeney Todd stolen from Thompson on Hollywood. Picture of Depp and Carter from FilmPeek.net.

Random acts of kindness

Quite a while ago, I realized what I wanted my New Year's resolution revolution to be. I want to practice random acts of kindness next year. Fortunately, the gal over at Crafty Chica beat me too it. Kathy Murillo writes about her exciting RAOK shennanigans over the holidays in her blog.

Yay RAOK!

I'm thinking about randomly giving out knitted goodies, for starters, and in the gold ol' stand by, the local coffee shop/ tea house.

Blogging award

I received my very first blogging award!

Thanks to The Shameless Lions Writing Circle and Catherine Gardner of The Poisoned Apple, I am now an award-winning blogger. (Not that I'd ever gloat about something like that...) And, I'm supposed to pass this thing on to five people, so I pick Howard Troxler, for his powerful way of pondering all sides in his writing, Kevin Walker, for having words powerful enough to hook me at an early age, Joe, for having the power to get his voice out there in trying times, Wade, for having the power to write about his dreams of wrestling and comics without stooping to the lowest possible level, and Keli, for having the power to call others out on their senseless acts.

Looks to be a chilly night...

Sometimes I hate Florida life. It's very hot down here. From around March to mid-December, the weather is unbearable to me. I'm sweaty, grumpy, and lethargic.

However, there is one plus about living in Florida that trumps all other. Lording our winter weather over the Yankees. (Let's forget that I'm actually a Yankee for just one moment here...)

Even though I love snow, there is something to be said about the fact my tiny space heater heats my entire tiny apartment.

It's a chilly 46 degrees out there, so I thought I'd put the little baby to work tonight.



And, for those of you who demand multimedia excitement, I even took a video. I'll have it up as soon as it's accepted on YouTube. Here it is:

Holi-daze

You're driving to work this morning, and you remember you forgot to send Aunt Myrtle a Christmas present this year. What do you do?

You could scour eBay when you get to work and hope you find something nice in an auction ending in the next few seconds.

You could go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and order a couple of books, hoping her tastes are similar to yours.

You could send her an E-Card, even though she sent you almost $50 worth of your favorite chocolates this year.

Or, even better yet, you could send her one of the many Gift Baskets from Delightful Deliveries.

A gourmet gift basket is a great gift to send the message "I love you enough to send you these tiny little sausages and some chocolates; it cost me a bundle."

Plus, Internet Retailer ranked the site No. 1 in the nation for 2008. Here's the press release about the honor:

DelightfulDeliveries.com Recognized as Hot 100 Retail Website

Internet Retailer Ranks Website Among Best in Nation for 2008

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DelightfulDeliveries.com, the premiere Internet Gift Retailer and America’s #1 Gift Basket Website, today announced it has been named one of The Hot 100 Retail Websites for 2008 by leading industry magazine, Internet Retailer. The Hot 100 list represents the best of what retailers are doing online, highlighting innovation and setting the standards in online for what the rest of the industry should be doing.

DelightfulDeliveries.com, a privately-held company, with one of the largest and most unique selections of gourmet gifts, ranked alongside larger sites such as Dell, Nike and Amazon.com, by building its award-winning site on selection, functionality, speed and the complete customer experience. A recent re-design has improved the customer’s shopping experience to make holiday gift-giving easy and enjoyable, including rating and reviews, behavioral recommendations and free shipping offers.

“We are extremely honored to be recognized as a pacesetter in online retailing,” said Eric Lituchy, Founder and CEO of DelightfulDeliveries.com. “We pride ourselves on using the latest technology to make gift-giving fun and easy. Being named among the best in the nation validates we are succeeding in our efforts to deliver the best possible customer experience.”

In addition to making Internet Retailer’s The Hot 100 list for 2008, DelightfulDeliveries.com was recently recognized by Inc. Magazine as part of its Inc. 5000, which highlights the fastest growing private companies.

DelightfulDeliveries.com offers over 2000 unique and delicious gifts from America’s best brands to the finest boutique shops. Consumers can easily shop the site by gift or food category, occasion, type and best-seller. Corporate gift-givers can choose from hundreds of customized gourmet treats.

For additional information, and to see a complete selection of gifts available, visit www.DelightfulDeliveries.com.

About Delightful Deliveries

DelightfulDeliveries.com is an award-winning website that began in 1998 and quickly established itself as one of the premier Internet gift retailers. Its mission is to bring great products to gift-givers, while providing world-class service. The company selects its offerings from a broad variety of fine food gift products for consumers and for corporate gifts, and gathers them in one place to make the selection process quick and simple.

This post was sponsored by Delightful Deliveries.

Speaking of New Orleans

While I was browsing through Feministing, I saw a new post about protesters barricading themselves between a bulldozer and a housing project. New Orleans has to do some major thinking about how they want to rebuild the city. They can either tear down the affordable, low-income housing and kill the heart of the city, or they can build more low-income, affordable housing and keep New Orleans the multi-cultured, multi-hued, lively birthplace of jazz it's always been.