Dear Animal Planet:

What the hell makes you think that a reality series about a sociopath and convicted rapist raising pigeons is something your network needs? If I want to watch a psychopath and his birds, I'll stick with Marlo Stanfield.

Mid-week Amazon Deals: Flogging Molly and lots of TCM Classic movies!

Amazon has 15 Free songs from Extreme Party Animals, which seems to be a group dedicated to singing covers of songs typically played at parties. Nothing great, but hey, it's free.

The MP3 Deal today is Flogging Molly's Drunken Lullabies for $2.99.

Finally, the TCM Film Festival and Contest includes 40-55% on a few hundred classics (including The Music Man, Brigadoon, Captain Blood, The Shop Around the Corner, Kelly's Heroes, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Searchers, Top Hat, The Big Sleep, 2001, Blow Up, A Star is Born, Gaslight, Freaks, Strangers on a Train, The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, Tom Thumb, and a lot more). It also features a contest (no purchase necessary) offering a trip to the TCM Festival and lots of other neat prizes).

Speechless

I'd been working in the stacks (out of cell coverage), came back to my desk, hit "post" on that last post, and saw that I had both voicemail and email from 'song asking me to call her.

irana passed away last night.

I'm stunned. I don't know how many of you knew her, in person or online, but she was just one of those amazingly warm and wonderful people, the kind who dominated a room not because she was obnoxious, but because she was simply that damned fun. She was the sort of person who would drop everything for you, who you could geek out with for hours, who was just wonderful to be around.

My heart goes out to her husband and daughter, and to everyone who no longer has her in their lives. She truly made the world a brighter place for everyone she knew.