• Damsel Undistressed by Suzanne
• Dr. Terror’s House of Pancakes by Sandy
• Sci Fi Chick(s) by Gail (she gets to keep the name because she paid for it, heh)
• Fangirl Says by… uh, Fangirl Says

Sci Fi Chicks will still be around, just scattered throughout the web

I am so happy that the show didn’t cop out and pull a solution out of thin air so that everything worked out and everyone lived happily ever after. The government still made the choice to sacrifice the children and enacted the plan to round them up. They couldn’t even salve their collective conscience by thinking they were helping to save an alien race; the children were nothing more than recreational drugs to the 456. John Frobisher still chose to kill his family and himself rather than hand over his children and live with what he’d done. And although Jack Harkness ultimately came up with a solution to save the day, it was at the deliberate expense of his own grandson’s life. By sacrificing his grandson, Jack also lost his daughter. There’s no way in hell she’s ever going to forgive him for killing her son.

Science fiction has always been at its best when using extraordinary circumstances to examine the human condition. For quite a few years now, the genre has timidly presented its protagonists with moral and ethical dilemmas, then produced a last-minute deus ex machina that allowed those characters to agonize about their circumstances without ever having to actually make a choice or get their hands dirty. In “Children of Earth,” everyone got their hands dirty and were forced (or unable) to live with the consequences. Jack couldn’t even bear to stay on the same planet after what he’d done.

Ironically, season one started with Gwen Cooper being the new girl on the job, and season three ended with her as the last one standing. If there’s never a season four, then the show certainly came full circle and went out on the highest possible note.

Of course, the part of this episode that fans will remember most is the death of Ianto Jones, especially after having just lost Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper a few episodes ago. I understand that Russell T. Davies wanted to emphasize how dangerous it is to work for Torchwood and that almost everyone who works for Torchwood dies young, but killing off characters in climactic moments on science fiction television shows has become such a cliché at this point that I no longer feel anything except irritation when characters die. To have the show defy convention by forcing its characters to make the horrible choice to sacrifice 35 million children only to turn around moments later and dish out one of the most overused plot devices in science fiction entertainment today was very disappointing.

Meanwhile, the virus that killed everyone in Thames House failed to kill Jack (permanently anyway), but the fact he survived may mean he now has antibodies to the virus the 456 are using against Earth. Given enough time, scientists could probably develop a vaccine from his blood, but not by the next day, which is the 456’s deadline. Given that the 456 broke their word and came back after being given twelve children in 1965, there’s no reason to think they won’t come back again someday, so developing a vaccine would still be worthwhile as a long-range plan. But in the short-term, things are not looking good for the children of Earth.

Torchwood, now thoroughly annoyed at being hunted like criminals, decided to rebuild the Hub by acting like the criminals they were accused of being. Petty theft and credit card fraud can apparently net you a pretty sweet set-up. Ianto even found Jack a new coat to replace the one destroyed in the explosion. Jack tried to use his new position to out-threaten Frobisher, only to discover that Frobisher’s people were holding Jack’s daughter and grandson to ensure Jack’s silence regarding the events of 1965. Frobisher may have prevented Jack from going to the press, but he couldn’t prevent the rest of Torchwood from finding out. Gwen found Clement McDonald and brought him back to the new Hub. When Clem saw Jack, he instantly recognized Jack as the man who handed over the busload of orphans to the 456 in 1965. I would say I was shocked, but Jack has done some pretty ruthless things before in the name of the greater good (like handing little Jasmine over to the faeries in “Small Worlds”). The 456 would have to have presented a pretty sizeable threat for Jack to sacrifice twelve children like that.

My only disappointment in the mini-series so far is that the plot has been moving so fast that there hasn’t been time to follow up on all the repercussions of what’s happened so far. I liked that the show reminded us twice that just because Jack can recover from any physical trauma doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. However, no mention has been made yet of anything destroyed in the Hub explosion aside from the computers and software. I can see none of the team shedding a tear over the Weevils in containment who surely died, but Jack’s little brother Gray was still in stasis in the Hub. Considering that Jack felt so guilty over what happened to Gray that he allowed himself to be buried alive for nearly two thousand years, I can’t believe Gray hasn’t even been mentioned. Of course, it’s probably for the best if Gray didn’t survive. That poor kid was far too broken to fix.

I guess tonight we’ll find out what’s worse than handing over children to the 456.

The plot didn’t advance much in this episode. We learned that the 456 are coming tomorrow and that they want their contact in the British government to build something for them–something that can contain an atmosphere they can survive in. The bulk of the episode was taken up by the various members of Torchwood trying not to get killed.

Gwen had barely climbed out of the rubble from the explosion when two fake EMS workers tried to kill her. It didn’t go very well. She escaped and was able to collect Rhys before the government agents found her home. Snipers were waiting for Ianto when he clawed his way free, but they proved to be pretty bad shots for snipers. Jack was a sitting duck. The agents collected what bits of him they could find and carted them off in a body bag.

Gwen and Rhys went to London to try to contact the government about the assassins on their tails, only to discover that the person they thought could help them, John Frobisher, ordered the hits in the first place. However, they did find an ally in Frobisher’s personal assistant, Lois Habiba, who has only been on the job for two days but was already highly disillusioned by what she’d seen going on in Frobisher’s office. Habiba was able to point Gwen and Rhys at the facility where Jack was being held, while Ianto found the same facility on his own by tracing the truck he saw hauling Jack’s remains away.

Meanwhile, Jack had just about the worst day in the history of ever. First, his body attempted to regenerate from a starting point of one arm, a shoulder, and part of his head, and he woke up in the middle of it while he was still pretty much all raw nerves. The screaming was perfectly understandable. Then when the government agents realized that blowing Jack literally to bits wasn’t enough to kill him, they buried him alive in concrete to contain him. Gwen and Rhys failed in their rescue attempt, but Ianto stole the entire block of concrete with a forklift and dropped it down a quarry. Gwen and Rhys were able to escape in the ensuing chaos. The episode ended with the entire Torchwood team alive and back together–which is exactly what Frobisher didn’t want.

Frobisher seems to be ordering the deaths of anyone who knows anything about the 456 and their previous visit. Jack is apparently one of those people. Gwen and Ianto were either ordered killed on the off chance Jack told them something, or possibly just to cover up the true nature of the explosion that destroyed the Hub. Whatever happened in 1965, the government certainly doesn’t want anyone to talk about it. Of course, if I handed over a busload of orphaned children to a bunch of space aliens, I wouldn’t want anyone to know about it either.

Despite everything that happened in the episode, the one question that keeps bugging me is if Jack was able to regenerate from an arm, a shoulder, and part of a head, are his other parts that weren’t recovered regenerating into Jacks too? Can the universe handle more than one Jack Harkness?

In 1965, a busload of Scottish orphans was abducted by an alien race codenamed the 456 by the British government, all except for one boy, Clement McDonald, who managed to escape. This wasn’t a random alien abduction however. These kids were delivered to the 456. I suspect the reason why won’t reflect well on the administration of the time. Even the current administration doesn’t want anything to do with the issue. They don’t have much choice. Periodically, every child in the entire world stops dead and turns into a receiver that broadcasts a message: “We are coming back.” Whether the ‘we’ refers to just the 456 or the abducted orphans remains to be seen. Whatever is going on, the government not only doesn’t want Torchwood’s help, it’s ordered the assassination of Capt. Jack Harkness. Yeah. Good luck with that.

Gwen Cooper found Clement McDonald, now going by the name Timothy White, in a psychiatric facility. He was the only adult in the world who stopped with the children. He also has an extremely acute sense of smell, which allowed him to determine whether or not Gwen was lying to him, that Gwen was pregnant, and that armed government types had arrived at the facility to collect him in time for him to escape. Those same armed government types, who have some of the same equipment Torchwood does, managed to kill Jack (repeatedly) in order to plant a bomb in his abdomen. Jack accidentally discovered the bomb in time to save Gwen and Ianto Jones, but the Hub is a total loss.

With the focus of this fast-paced mini-series event being on action, I was worried that character development would get the shaft this time around. Not so. We got to meet Jack’s daughter Alice and his grandson Steven. Alice doesn’t want Jack anywhere near them because the danger that follows him around tends to lead to collateral damage (and she’s right–Jack was there to see Steven because he wanted a child to study to see why the children were stopping and who was broadcasting through them). We also got to meet Ianto’s sister and her family. Ianto also has little contact with his family, but for a different reason. He has nothing in common with them anymore. Once you’ve saved the world a few times, it’s hard to sit down and gossip about who’s dating whom in their working-class neighborhood. His life is just so much bigger than theirs, and he can’t talk about it because everything he does for Torchwood is classified (apparently only Gwen gets a free pass to blab about Torchwood to everyone she meets).

Jack and Ianto were also working on quantifying their relationship. Ianto kept pointing out the number of people who referred to them as a couple, while Jack hates the term ‘couple’ even though they’ve basically been one since late in season one. Ianto still seems to be afraid that the normally promiscuous Jack will kick him to the curb any second. Meanwhile, Ianto’s not afraid to dish out the hugs when Jack gets killed multiple times on the same day.

So far, this mini-series event has been a rocket ride without sacrificing character development. I’m looking forward to seeing what the 456 want and why the government would ever give them a busload of orphans.

Season four The second half of season three opened with Jack Carter interviewing for a job with Homeland Security after being fired as the sheriff of Eureka. Things weren’t so hot for Deputy Jo Lupo either. When she found out that she was being passed over for the sheriff position for the second time, and this time in favor of an android named Sheriff Andy, she quit.

Sheriff Andy was affable and had all the bells and whistles one would expect from an android in Eureka (like scanners that allowed him to do an injury assessment of an entire crowd of people at an accident site just by looking at them), but like most androids doing a human’s job in science fiction parables, he wasn’t much for thinking outside his programming. It was Carter’s persistence that proved that the objects collapsing all over Eureka weren’t just random accidents, even though no one would actually talk to him because he no longer had the security clearance to talk to anyone in Eureka about anything. By the end of the episode, Sheriff Andy was beginning to model his behavior on Carter and gave Henry the ammunition he needed to get Carter his job back. It turned out that the Department of Defense can’t fire Eureka’s sheriff without permission from the mayor, who is currently Carter’s best friend Henry Deacon (it was nice to see Jack and Henry back to being best friends after all that drama over Kim’s death).

One interesting idea wasn’t pursued in the episode. Poor Sheriff Andy constantly getting squished by the migrating gravity wells in Eureka turned out not to be a coincidence. S.A.R.A.H., Carter’s smart house, was steering the gravity wells as much as she could to target Sheriff Andy because she didn’t want the Carters to move away and leave her alone. That brings up the question: can an android file criminal charges against the artificial intelligence of a smart house?

This summer’s story arc made an appearance at the end of the episode. Henry picked up an unknown radio signal in space headed toward Eureka. Could someone or something be coming after the artifact? I have mixed feelings about the return of the artifact as a plot device if that’s what’s going to happen. On the one hand, I thought that plot line had more potential and could have been cooler than it was, so this could be an opportunity to finally discover something about the artifact and where it came from. On the other hand, I feel like we’ve been there and done that and should move on to something new. But as long as it doesn’t involve Kevin, I’ll be happy.

Tom Hanniger is shocked at how much fake blood a decent serial killer needs these days.

A little over a year ago, My Bloody Valentine 3D was in the process of shooting in Pittsburgh.  Today, we have a report from a resident of that fair city, who had the opportunity to participate in filming for a few days, as an extra.  She gives us a glimpse into the “glamorous life” thusly:

The last two days have been exhausting but one helluva lot of fun.

For the record - my actual Jensen contacts were as follows:
Tuesday June 3rd -

Saw Jensen come on the set with a very nice tank top-type shirt whilst I sat in a wheelchair.

Smiled and said “hi” to him. He said “hi” back and smiled, then walked past into the greenroom.

An hour or so later, Jensen came out another door and headed back to his trailer. Someone on the crew said “Thanks Jensen.”

Wednesday June 4th -

On my way to the prosthetics wagon, saw Jensen again in the tank-top style shirt unlocking and about to open his trailer.

Said: “Hi Jensen” and smiled. He looked at me, smiled and said “Hey!” in a very Dean-ish voice. Then he climbed into his trailer.

So for all you who are only reading this for the Jensen Report, you’re now finished.

*g*

Otherwise read on.

I’m writing this tired but wired and completely unable to wrap my head around the idea of going to bed. It’s nearly 7:00AM and I’m still feeling the rush.

When I arrived on Tuesday at the “hospital,” I was outfitted as a patient and we were herded into the “Extras Holding” space. About an hour later two of the “patients” including me and two “nurses” were picked out for the first filming of the day. My entire contribution was to sit in a wheelchair and my nurse rolled me down the corridor to balance an actress’ cross the other direction. Since the focus was on her, not me, and since I was sitting in a wheelchair, I had absolutely no screen time at all. The actress, btw, was Jamie King.

This was the instance, btw, of my first exchange with Jensen. I also saw, but had no contact with, Kevin Tighe.

The nurse and I rolled back and forth several times and were then, along with the other patient and nurse combo, were sent back to the extras area.

Then we waited
and waited
and waited…

You get the idea. Lots of talking and exchanging of info, experiences, political views, etc. during the wait. But for those who’ve never done the extra thing, it embodied the very essence of movie making philosophy:

Hurry up and wait.

We were still there for the “lunch” at 9:30PM, but in between our lovely Craft Services person kept us stocked with all manner of snacks. The sweetheart even brought in tea fixings to the coffee table when I mentioned that I prefer tea.

After “lunch” (no, Jensen wasn’t there), we hung out around the entrance to the “hospital,” went inside and out depending on how stuffy things got and generally got sillier and sillier as night rolled into morning.

The litany of “please wrap us” was on everyone’s lips. But no one from production was around to hear it.

1:00AM
2:00AM
3:00AM - still there and still waiting.

Finally about 4:30AM the wrangler came out and asked me, the other patient from the afternoon shot and one more patient if we were definitely going to be around the next day. They wanted to create an establishing shot for the next day in which we all were going to be hacked up and bloodied. We all said yes (I admit, I almost cheered - who can resist letting themselves be a corpse for a day?) and he ushered us back up to the redressed set for the shot.

We finally were wrapped at about 5:30AM on June 3rd - just before sunrise and in enough time that the sky was not yet brightening so I knew I’d be able to catch a few zzzzs.

I got less than five hours of sleep so when I arrived on June 4th for my 3:30PM call, I knew I was in trouble.

The wrangler brought us over to get our prosthetic chests and told us we’d probably be the first or second scene filmed.

And if you believe that, I’ve got some great swampland in Florida that you’re going to just *love*!

I predicted to a couple of my fellow future corpses that we would *definitely* be around for lunch.

Remember all that waiting from June 2nd/June 3rd? Double it.

Luckily we were all used to entertaining ourselves and each other by now. I brought along my mini DVD player and we watched a couple of movies. One of the actresses, determined to watch the hockey game, ran out (with her prosthetic still in place but covered up) to find a place to buy a set of rabbit ears and a remote control for an old hospital TV set she could turn on, but couldn’t switch channels on. It took over half an hour, but she was successful and the most popular person in all of Extras land.

As for me, I and a couple of other non-sports people watched “The Devil Wears Prada.”

“Lunch”time came, still in our prosthetic chests and still waiting for that first or second scene to be filmed, we ate at around 10:00PM.

And waited some more.

This time we had a little more outside entertainment - they’d moved some of the filming to an area right outside the building near where we were hanging out. The actors involved with the scene were directed to run into the building and finish their run in the Extras Holding area - which, besides the extras, included Tom Atkins - one of Pittsburgh’s BIG NAME ACTORS.

Around this time was when I began to make a bet with myself that we wouldn’t be wrapped until 6:00AM.

The scene, since it involved about ten actors, took a *lot* of takes. We got to joke around with Atkins quite a bit - our open bloodied chests tickled him something fierce.

*Finally* at about 4:00AM, we were escorted to the redressed hospital corridor for our big moment in the film. I sprawled in my bed and was heavily doused with “blood” (partially made of some kind of syrup, I was told) and instructed how and when to hold my breath and keep my eyes under my eyelids from moving.

While laying there unmoving, Atkins came by and remarked about the sheer volume of blood I was soaked with. I pointed out the pink teddy bear also drenched with blood at my bedside. He laughed and said “That’s just *wrong*!”

To their credit, the shooting of the scene went fairly quickly - one rehearsal and about three takes (IIRC). It was the setup that took the longest amount of time.

When I was finally told I could get out of bed, I discovered the blood had seeped into my hair - bleaugh…..

We showered, changed and were clocked out at 5:45AM - whereupon I lost my final bet with myself about our actual wrap time.

I arrived home just as my upstairs neighbor was leaving for work. Ah the mundane life of 9:00 to 5:00 - how I loathe and despise it.

A funny thing, btw. One of the other extras was blissfully unaware that Jensen was in the movie despite being a complete and total geeky fangirl for Supernatural. She and I had a *great* time gabbing about the show and she was *very* disappointed that she hadn’t seen Jensen at all.

Entrance to the "hospital"

*Way* too cheerful all things considered - Would you have that grin on your face if your chest looked like that?

The youngest corpse - You may actually see this lady alive and breathing in the movie.

She started giggling when she heard me pull out the camera. *g*

Victim of an equal opportunity heart ripper outer

Caffeine picker upper - That must be some fantastic coffee - it even perks up the dead!

No chance to finish lunch

Another one a little too perky? - This guy started out as a paramedic, never made it on camera and was switched to a victim later on.

Happy heartless trio

Open chest theatre

And that was about how I felt by the end of two days, 30 hours on the set and about seven hours of sleep altogether.

Strangely enough, I could absolutely get used to this if I could A. make enough money to live on and B. get enough sleep to survive…..

Hope you all enjoyed this little romp through my life in extra-land.

Remember all those psych meds that J.D. was taking? Apparently he should have been sharing them with his brother, because Henry turned out to be buckets of crazy. In fact, I’d make the argument that Henry was even more barkers than John Wakefield, because Wakefield could never in a million years pass for normal, while Henry had everyone so fooled that he basically had to confess to being the killer twice before Sully caught on. How stone cold do you have to be to invite your friends, who Trish said loved you as much as she did, and your whole family to a sham wedding knowing in advance they were all going to be killed? Was Tacoma really that bad?

Little slug-frying Madison really seemed to be taking all of the slaughter in stride. The only two times she freaked out were when murders were actually being committed right in front of her face. The rest of the time, she seemed to think it was all pretty cool. She even responded to all the information about what a psycho John Wakefield was with a “He was nice to me.” I recommend finding the kid a good therapist before she starts drowning classmates for having better penmanship than she does.

I just saw the remakes of My Bloody Valentine and Friday the 13th over the weekend, and I have to say that neither Jason nor The Miner radiated the menace that Callum Keith Rennie did as John Wakefield. He scared the crap out of me, which is awesome because I’ve never seen him play a character as irredeemable as this. Considering how gruesome and plentiful the murders were, not to mention the elaborate displays of many of the bodies, there was always a danger that Wakefield could have been played as an over-the-top, campy psychopath, but Rennie’s Wakefield was as implacable as the tide. He just kept coming at you and he was thoroughly unimpressed with your attempts to defend yourself.

The Coast Guard said they’d found over twenty bodies on the island, but I have a feeling that Lucy and Booth are only going to be found with cadaver dogs. And poor bedraggled Gigi has no one left to feed her. She’s going to end up as dinner for something bigger than she is out in those woods.

CBS originally billed the show as a “mystery event,” but it wasn’t much of a mystery. It took half the show (and about half the cast) before anyone even realized that murders were occurring, and then everyone was too busy trying not to die to do much actual investigating. However, as a thirteen part horror movie, it was great fun. I’m going to miss it.

When I read Television Without Pity’s “recaplet” of this week’s episode, I wondered if it was written by the fabulous Raelle Tucker.  It was!

Sadly, though, we do not see Bill’s beat-down at the Hamby household.  Perhaps because it wasn’t a beat-down.  Instead, he glamoured everyone.  Lame!

In the car on the way back to Bon Temps, Bill and Sookie are fighting ferociously.  Jessica is in the back seat crying, and I’m beginning to like Jessica.  It’s nice to see her softer side.  Finally, Sookie’s had enough of Bill’s preaching, and gets out of the car to walk the 20 miles home.  Bad idea.  She’s followed by some weird half-bull/half-man creature.  (It looks sort of like the devil in that classic (not!) horror film Devour.  In other words, mucho creepy!)  It attacks and puts three wide and deep scratches her back.  Worse, it’s paralyzed her.

Bill hears her screams and comes to her aid, but the creature is gone.  He tries to give her vampire blood, but all it does is cause her to vomit foam.  He takes Sookie  to Fangtasia and tells Jessica to drive the car straight home.

Eric calls on his personal physician, who apparently has dealt with this type of thing before.  She pours some acidic something over Sookie’s wounds then digs into them to pull out… the venom?  And yes, it’s just as painful as it sounds.  However, it works, and the next morning Sookie wakes to see her back is completely healed.

Sookie runs into Ginger, who’s concentrating on not telling Sookie Eric has Lafayette chained in the basement.  Of course, Sookie hears her thoughts and is furious.  She ends up making a deal with Eric for Lafayette’s freedom.  She’ll go to Dallas with him to help find his missing vampire friend, but demands Bill go with them.  And throws in the requirement for $10,000.  Eric is not happy and threatens Sookie, complete with fangs.    And although Sookie flinches just a bit at the surprise of it, she stands up to Eric with equal ferocity.  And it is awesome.  I’m not sure Eric knows what to do with someone who doesn’t follow his every command.

Elsewhere, Maryann is having another orgy party at her place.  She’s invited everyone who was at Merlotte’s the night before.  Plus some others, from the looks of it.  The coroner and the barfly get it on, several of the girls take off their tops.   One of the topless chicks steps into the hot tub with Tara and Eggs, and, being a masseuse, begins her therapy on Eggs.  Tara looks around at the melee and finally gets some sense.

At fang-hating Jesus camp, Jason also grows some sense.  In group “therapy,”  he explains his experience with vampires has been decent.  He thinks maybe he’s made the wrong decision and leaves.  But the minister’s wife goes after him, gives him a sob story of how vampires killed her sister (although there is no proof).  Jason’s invited to dinner at the minister’s house, where he’s told God is good, and therefore against evil, and vampires are evil.  Jason, being the empty-headed dope he is, caves.  Oh, and somewhere along the way, he has homo-erotic dreams of Eddie.  He prays for a sign from God, and is thusly hit with a pillow from across the room, the tosser saying, “There’s your sign.”  Ha!

Jessica does indeed drive straight home to Bill’s, but the big empty house is too saddening for her.  She dolls herself up and heads over to Merlotte’s, where Hoyt is sitting in the last booth all by himself.  She sits in the next booth, eyeing him somewhat shyly.  Hoyt gathers up his nerve and asks if he can join her.  Their banter is sweet, but when Hoyt asks her if he can get her something to eat, she hesitates.  I’m a little worries about what she’s going to do to Hoyt, but she simply says, “A bottle of True Blood.  B+.”  And Hoyt, being his totally adorable self, leans in and says, “You’re a vampire?  Awesome!”  Oh Hoyt, can I take you home with me?

They head home to Bill’s place (because, remember, Hoyt lives with his mama).  Jessica tells him she sleeps in a hole.  Hoyt tells her his mother keeps his doll collection in his closet.  Then he spies Bill’s Wii.  He’s going to teach Jessica one of the games, but of course sitting close together on the sofa is a bit too much.  They start making out and Jessica’s fangs appear.  She’s horrified.  (And did I mention I’m coming to like Jessica?  A lot.)  Hoyt says they should take it slow since he too likes her a lot.  She then attacks him.

Bill and Sookie arrive home and find Jessica and Hoyt making out on the sofa.  (It doesn’t appear they’ve gone very far.)  Bill, being the poopie-butt he is, is furious.  He throws Jessica across the room.  And I think he does something with Hoyt, but don’t remember what.   Oh gawd, Bill’s become such a parent.

Sam is leaving town for awhile and gives Terry the responsibility of running Merlotte’s in his absence.   Terry doesn’t want it, and apparently is Sam’s last choice (well, except maybe for Daphne), but everyone else is otherwise occupied.  Terry’s not happy and as he gets in his truck to drive away, he chides Sam for running instead of fighting.  “I wouldn’t want you in my foxhole.”  Excellent zinger!

Sam’s collie buddy shows up, probably sensing Sam is leaving with his doggie-sense.  So Sam and his pal decide to go for a late night swim.  CollieSam jumps into the lake but his friend hesitates.  As collieDog leaves, new (really horrible) waitress Daphne shows up.  Sam (back in human form, since humans can swim better than dogs) invites her in.  As Daphne strips, we see three gigantic scars resembling the same scratches Sookie had at the show’s beginning.

And the episode ends.  And we have to wait 2 weeks to find out what happens.  Dammit!  (Obviously, I need to get to the library and put my name on the wait list for the books.  Or, I could buy them at Amazon, I suppose.)