I used to have these dreams where I would be in a thrift store or used book store and find Trixie books I'd never read and hadn't known were ever published. (I can remember discussing this on one of the Trixie forums a long time ago, too.)  I haven't had that dream in ages, and I wonder if it's because I haven't actually read any of my Trixie books in years? I think I've been writing my not-too-terribly-canon-like Trixie stories for so long, my version of her has become more "real" to me than the actual book version. That goes double for Regan! (Bad Monkey! No cookie for you!)

So, it's kinda funny that something similar just happened to me with my other much-loved childhood mystery series - The Three Investigators. I knew the 3Is were popular in Germany, but what I didn't know is that there have been 100 additional German books published in the series, and several of them have been translated into English to help German students learn the language. So suddenly, I'm confronted with an entire list of new-to-me 3I books! Wow. (Of course, I'll have to get over the fact that Jupiter Jones has been turned into Justus Jonas. Why? I have no idea! And Pete Crenshaw is Peter Shaw. Again, huh?)

Those wacky Germans. They made (through the International Disney branch) a couple of 3I movies. They were filmed in South Africa, which was fine for the one where they changed the story to relocate from a Greek Island to South Africa, but was awfully funny when it was supposed to be set in California and looked nothing like California. The movies are... cute, I suppose. The actor who played Jupiter was good; he had that sense about him that he was much older -  maturity wise, not so much physically -  than his actual age, like the Jupe of the books. But canon? Uh, let's just say these movies have less in common with the book canon than ASKOF has with the TB books. Yeah. They really are that far off. I guess we could consider this a "careful what you wish for" warning if we were hoping for any Trixie movies to somehow happen. That's certainly lottery-level long shots, though, since the books are out-of-print here, and no other country as inexplicably embraced them and kept the series going.

Meanwhile, there's another Nancy Drew show in the works. Meh.

I "googled" Trixie Belden last night, because I wanted to confirm something from one of the wonderful sites with all the book info (I don't always stick to canon, obviously, but I try to when it doesn't interfere with whatever weirdness I'm writing) and I couldn't remember the URL/title of the site. Hello, Trixie Belden Tidbits! Thank you for still being around! I can't believe I forgot your name.

Anyway, just like I used to go to YouTube and get sucked in for hours watching things like Honest Trailers, I found myself jumping around all sorts of Trixie-related sites and forums and then I landed on something that I won't be linking to here, but suffice it to say, it was a community set up to anonymously make fun of a large portion of the Trixie fandom - publicly. No, seriously. All the posts were behind an "anon" mask - or some other word/letters to indicate first poster, second poster, and so on; for real - there was an entire list of words and acronyms to use - but the whole shebang is publicly available to read. To read, mind you, but not to comment on yourself if you aren't a member. Eh? If you're going to be cattier than the characters of Mean Girls, either a) do it in a private setting that is not open to anyone who stumbles across it or b) own up to it and put your name and give people a chance to respond to your "criticism." 

At one point there was even a discussion about what would happen if they were found and someone suggested that they'd be called cowards. Two others discussed how they'd considered posting to other Trixie forums to call attention to themselves and that they'd probably enjoy the drama that would ensue. That was as close to any self-awareness that I could see, though it didn't exactly own up to the fact that, Yes. Posting digs like this anonymously on an open forum is actually a cowardly thing to do, dears. I'm never going to be the person who says you can't say what you want, because that would make me a huge hypocrite. The truth is, words only hurt if you make the choice to let them hurt you, and I believe people should be as honest as possible. What I'm getting at, though, is if you can't put your name to it? Then probably you shouldn't say it at all. Along with being honest, you should also be grown-up enough to stand behind what you have to say.

 So... I loved the X-Files for the first several seasons when it originally aired. My interest started waning, though, somewhere around the seventh season. I actually did like Agent Doggett (sp?), and got a little bit more into it again when he came on board, but I was only a casual watcher by then. I thought the final episodes were a huge let-down. To me, this series went out with an indifferent whimper - most definitely not a bang. I tried on three separate occasions to get through the second movie. I fell asleep every time. I vaguely remember some guy who looked a lot like Crazy Data, and something about a frozen lake or field or something, but it was all such a "meh" at that point. 

Youngest got her hands on  DVDs of the show and we've been binge watching them because she wants to "know the background" before watching the new series. I've discovered something that will probably make me hugely unpopular with most X-Files fans.

Agent Fox Mulder is a total [insert favorite pejorative here.] Seriously, I get that he went all the way (literally) to the ends of the Earth to save Scully in the first movie, but holy crabapples is he a self-absorbed jerk most of the time. I suppose on some level, I always thought this. It was probably why I didn't care when Duchovny left the series and was okay with the T-1000 taking over.

I don't know if I even care that the show is back. I purchased a "season pass" from Amazon, but honestly, I did it for Youngest. If she wasn't such a fan, I wouldn't have bothered. Why? Because I don't have that much attachment to either the lead characters or the show itself. Bring back the Lone Gunmen and I'm there, but otherwise... *shrug.*

I have internet and I am a very happy camper.