fall TV; fear of frogs

I was not planning to watch anything on The CW this fall. Reasons:
1. The demise of "Veronica Mars."
2. An interest in scaling back hours spent watching prime time television.

Only three fall shows are on my Must Try list: "Pushing Daisies," which I am sure I will love; "Bionic Woman"; and "Chuck," which precedes "Heroes" (a plus) but conflicts with "Prison Break." Add to that list one show — The CW's "Online Nation" — I am planning to watch because I actually know one of the hosts, Rhett. Sure, I haven't seen or talked to him in, roughly, years. But he's funny. Here's a music video about fear of frogs from Rhett&Link (Rhett's on the right):

//Video has been deleted because it starts automatically, which some people (like me) might find annoying. Enjoy it via the Rhett&Link site. It's still funny.//

cheerio

I love British people. When it comes to my favorite movies or books, British people definitely represent (C.S. Lewis, Harry Potter, Jane Austen, "Shaun of the Dead"). And when I was compiling a list of British movie/TV suggestions for a story in the autumn issue of Prerogative, I got to see some more rather good British films. Here's the list:

Where to begin? “British” sure does cover a lot of ground, from movies created by British people to films set in Great Britain. You could build a marathon easily around either famous Grant (Cary or Hugh). You could go with stand-bys such as Alfred Hitchcock, Monty Python, Harry Potter and James Bond. Recent movie choices include “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” “The Holiday,” “Eragon” and “The Queen.”
Here are even more options, both well-known and less so:

Jane Austen (Austen is your go-to gal for great girls’ night in fare. Her six novels have been retold repeatedly as movies and miniseries, many of them well-received. These are our top picks):
• “Pride and Prejudice” (two-disc mini-series from BBC)
• “Pride and Prejudice” (2005)
• “Emma” (1996, with Gwyneth Paltrow)
• “Sense and Sensibility” (1995)
• “Persuasion” (1995)

Films:
“The Importance of Being Earnest” (2002)
“Much Ado About Nothing” (1993)
“Gosford Park”
“Millions” (2005)
“Lassie” (2005)
“Miss Potter”
“Dear Frankie”
“Nanny McPhee”
“Truly Madly Deeply”
“Shaun of the Dead”
“Finding Neverland”

Miniseries (for longer gatherings; enjoy a meal as intermission between parts):
“Middlemarch” (two DVD discs)
“Jane Eyre” (several miniseries and film versions are available)
“Wives and Daughters” (three discs)
“Bleak House” (try the three-disc Masterpiece Theatre version from 2005)
“Horatio Hornblower” (starring Ioan Gruffudd)

TV series:
“The Best of the Original Avengers”
“Doctor Who” (pick any generation; the newest version of the series is available in CD sets from 2005)
“Jeeves and Wooster” (starring a pre-“House” Hugh Laurie)

Several in the "Jane Austen" section and most of the "movies" list are real winners for me. Did I leave any out?

Update: Have you ever wondered what the difference is exactly between Britain and England, or those and the U.K.? Here's the breakdown of what is (and is not) “British,” from largest to smallest:
• The British Isles refers to the group of islands that includes Great Britain and Ireland (though the Republic of Ireland is not part of Britain).
• The United Kingdom — whose full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as smaller islands such as the Isle of Man.
• Great Britain includes England, Wales and Scotland. (Northern Ireland, meanwhile, isn’t on the same island — it’s on the nearby island with the Republic of Ireland.)
• The Republic of Ireland is a separate nation altogether.

Mountain Lake and 'Dirty Dancing'

Chrissy Herrell wrote a feature about Mountain Lake Getaway Resort for the autumn issue of Prerogative. Some of you may know Mountain Lake as the site of some scenes from "Dirty Dancing." Chrissy and I headed down to the resort for our first visits there (in Giles County, Va., it's less than two hours away from my hometown of Princeton, W.Va.). We both took lots of pictures.

Of course, we had more photos than room in the magazine. Here are some of the ones that didn't make it, taken by Chrissy and me. (For some neat trivia about the resort and the film, check out the Prerogative website.)

We took several photos of the stone hotel, which lends itself to cool shots from several places around the resort.
This is part of the hotel's dining room:
On the "Dirty Dancing" tour:
Notice the Gazebo, which appears in the film:
This building houses the gift shop, art gallery and more:
The Activities Barn:
Inside the Activities Barn:

a note to some ads: roll over and die

Complaining about annoying aspects of the Internet seems basically irrelevant, considering that the Internet by nature includes several annoying features, from the way it brings out the cruel, critical sides of people who post comments or messages on boards to the existence of spam and pop-up ads. Still, just because something's common doesn't mean it's acceptable.

For example, rollover ads. Sometimes online ads can be sort of cool, like when an animated character just appears on the screen, unconfined by recognizable ad-sized boxes. But those neat ads are still annoying. And rollover ads are always annoying, even when they're encouraging you to learn about something you like — a particular TV show like "Eureka," for example, or some new movie out on DVD. The ads are, logically, placed at the top and/or right of the Web page, so you're more likely to accidentally roll over them with your mouse as you navigate from page to page or from top to bottom.

A note to advertisers, though, and the people who allow these advertisements to appear on their pages: The ads are ALWAYS annoying. When a person rolls over them accidentally and they slide down or sideways to cover the text or photos the person wants to read/see, that person might just hold it against the product being advertised, or even the site that allows the obtrusive ad to annoy its readers. Sites that often feature such ads may turn some people off for good, particularly when the ads are the sort that don't automatically roll back into place when you move your mouse away from them (and you have to click the little "x" to close them, as if you chose to open them in the first place). Ads should not distract from the website experience, unless a person legitimately chooses to be distracted.