And now for this word from our sponsors...

It's already linked over there in the Google reader side bar (for now), but I thought I'd point out that Deep Genre In Action - Bloody Ballet – Dracula is actually an account of an author's discovery of Buffy and how it saved her sanity during a period of illness, long after she had already given it a cursory try and--as so many do--dismissed it outright. There's also a discussion in the comments about how Buffy fits (or doesn't fit) into the vampire genre, and, basically, what a rockin' show it was.

~~~

Friday night I picked up a package of AcneFree, the less expensive (but still not cheap) drug store knockoff of ProActiv, that green acne stuff that Jessica Simpson and P. Diddy are always pimping on Saturday mornings. I've used it faithfully morning and night for the last four days, and I can tell you, it works. This morning, though, it left a mild rash on my neck, and my face is uncomfortably tingly. The directions say to use it less frequently if that happens, so I think I'll skip a couple of applications and then start using it only at bedtime. But irritation aside, considering that my neck, chin and jawline have been covered with zits for over a year now and this stuff finally made them go away, I gotta say I'm pretty pleased with the results. [/infomercial]

Oh, and that reminds me. Remember mine and (mostly) Matt's concerns about the potentially carcinogenic properties of Neutrogena T-Gel shampoo? We finally found a couple of alternatives. One of them is Grandpa's Pine Tar shampoo, which is safer yet every bit as stinky as the T-Gel. The other is Psoriasil Scalp & Body Wash, which is all natural, smells nice, and is gentle on my hair. Neither of them are quite as effective as the T-Gel, and the second one has to be used daily to really get the job done. Since I don't like to wash my hair every day I use the stinky pine stuff about once a week and the other in between. Together they keep my scalp problems under control, they don't cause me split ends, and best yet, they don't give me cancer cooties.