Memnoch the Devil, by Anne Rice. Well, I've officially been de-virginized to Rice - thank you, Ms. Jasmine. I have to say, I did like it for the most part; though the vampires that Rice is particularly known for were completely ancillary to the story, it was a good introductory book for me to read in how much I enjoy variations on the story of Lucifer. This variation was of special note in my mind because it hadn't particularly occurred to me before that most other variations use only a traditional view of heaven and hell - this one very much doesn't.

To flip the coin, there was something continously...presumptuous about the writing, or perhaps the story. Well, perhaps it was more that I was torn between the wonderful and awe-ful story the devil-in-question told, and the complete opposite of those aspects brought on by having the God-in-question so personified. As much as it really was a great variation, that personification just made the implacable, omnipotent force of nature into another character, equal to or even less than the others in stature. I suppose that might have been exactly what Rice was going for, but I was still a bit leary of it.

Veronica Mars is a great show that Ms. Connie found; it's got a touch of The OC, which I'm not sure whether to call fortunate or unfortunate, but it works, and otherwise is a snappy combination of a mundane Buffy and a Janet Evanovich novel.

The Purifiers, with Kevin McKidd and Dominic Monaghan. This is what I happened to watch after coming home from a cross-country flight, and eating a bowl of leftover tuna. I had only planned to flip channels, but Monaghan's presence (not out of any particular liking, but because I thought it odd he'd be in a kung fu movie) and some vague promise of original and good choreography held me. Oh my, but was it bad. I'd say the ADD editing during the fight scenes was 'stylized' if I didn't think it was to hide poor, poor quality. And the plot and writing were...cute. But not in a good way, if that makes any sense. Like I wanted to pat it on the head, for making an effort despite being a ripoff of The Warriors with a weak near-future twist.