Babyldorkgalactinerd

Pilgrimage to my people

2011-12-11T10:11:00.001-07:00

It's been over two years since I went to a scifi convention and I'm itching to go spend some quality time in the company of my fellow geeks. DragonCon is out of my financial reach these days, but it so happens there's a sort-of-local con coming up that some friends & I are attending.

GalaxyFest is in Colorado Springs February 24-26, and for a not-huge con, it looks like it could be decent. Last I checked the programming page of their site was empty, but I'm hoping for some more info soon. I'd sure like it if there were some good panels to attend. I do know I'm pretty excited about some of the guests, including Robert Picardo (ST:Voyager; Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis), Torri Higginson (Stargate Atlantis), Denise Crosby (ST:TNG) and *gasp* Claudia Christian (Babylon 5). I'm especially tickled about Claudia Christian, as she played one of my favorite characters on B5, Susan Ivanova.

As far as costuming goes, I'm putting together my version of Snake Plissken from Escape from New York. What can I say, Kurt Russell inspires me. If I think I look cool enough I might even enter the costume contest, something I've never done at a con.

Well, even if this con turns out to be lame, at least I'll have fun with my costume, and I know the folks I'm going with will provide a super good time, assuming none of us has to come up with bail money. Or maybe especially if we do.

Good night, Moon!

2011-12-10T16:18:00.001-07:00

Last night when I went to bed, it was with the expectation that I'd miss the totally cool lunar eclipse coming in the early morning. That was okay, though, as bed didn't happen 'til after a full moon snowshoe involving a little booze, a little stumbling around in the woods, and a lot of laughing & fun. We're thinking we should add some mushrooms next time.

Anyway, I woke up a few hours after I made it to bed and it just happened to be shortly before the eclipse started. Not thinking about how ridiculous I was being, I bundled up, grabbed my camera and climbed onto the icy rooftop. It was cold, windy & shitty, but I couldn't convince myself to abandon what was now starting to look very amazing.

My camera batteries died about halfway through the eclipse, so I used that as an excuse to get off the icy, cold, dangerous roof. But, I'm happy with some of the pictures I got, and I look forward to the next eclipse (I think the next one visible from where I am is due in May of 2013, so I have time to plan).

Finally, these are the pics I got -- December 10 lunar eclipse.

Look up!

2010-07-30T10:17:00.000-06:00

I live far away enough from civilization, at 9000ft in a national forest in Colorado, that the sky is spectacular pretty much all the time. Even when I can't see the stars, there's something cool going on in the atmosphere. Since I started living at this elevation, I've been continually wowed by the night (and sometimes day) sky, so I thought I'd share a few interesting astronomy links, because what's Out There is really fucking amazing.

I get a lot of cool sky news from Space.com, including frequent alerts to upcoming astronomical events. There are a lot of amazing sights to see with or without a telescope. NASA's website is also good for space news, as well as staying up to date on various NASA projects like one of my favorites, the International Space Station. I'm continually awed and envious that there are people living in space right now.

The 'net is loaded with sites full of space pictures, so I'm going to keep it simple. First, check out some awesome Hubble photos from the Gallery at Hubblesite.org. There's a fuckton of other terrfic stuff on that site as well, so browse at your leisure. Then there's Astronomy Picture of the Day, which is, as they say, what it says on the tin, and every day it's something amazing.

For further research I recommend going on a hike during a full moon, gathering your friends together for a little spot-the-satellite drinking game, or getting acquainted with your local astronomy professor. Go study space; it's interesting!

More meming

2010-07-11T18:23:00.000-06:00

Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show: B5, season three, "War without End," because it explains so much and it's so epic. It also includes a shot of Sinclair from season one's "Babylon Squared" that makes me weak in the knees. And, it's always great to see Zathras.

Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show: I can't choose between "Infection" and "Believers," both season one of B5. They are both all-around shitty episodes, with lots of heavy-handed preaching and contrived moral angst. Even that might not be so bad, though, if both eps didn't also feature my least favourite character, Stephen Franklin. I really can't stand him.

Day 08 - A show everyone should watch: Nova. Go fucking learn something.

Day 09 - Best scene ever: Two scenes jump to mind immediately. From B5, G'Kar's speech to the council in season two's "The Long, Twilight Struggle." The whole scene is pretty awesome, but G'Kar's bit begins at 1:53.

"No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power governments and tyrants and armies can not stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free."

I'm pretty sure I've never watched that scene and not been moved to tears. G'Kar is my hero.

The second scene is from season three of Battlestar Galactica, "Exodus, Part 2." I was floored by how cool the Galactica looked jumping into atmo over New Caprica, then watching the vipers shoot out into flames was holy-fucking-shit awesome.

Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving: Castle. I wouldn't quite say I love it, but I like it a whole lot more than I expected, and not just because of Nathan Fillion (though he is the reason I started watching it).

Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: FlashForward. The potential was so great, the possibilities for creativity and weirdness enormous, but they went the route of the soap opera. Even the incredibly hot Sonya Walger couldn't keep me watching these idiots and their personal dramas. And she is really hot.

More meming later.

Godzilla is very little...

2010-07-07T17:32:00.003-06:00

...and the ISS is very far away. Perspective is awesome.

Earth's Atmosphere Top to Bottom

(Found via @spacehack.)

Return to the Warehouse

2010-07-07T12:32:00.001-06:00

Season two of Warehouse 13 started this week, with some ups and some downs. Lattimer and Bering are more annoying than ever, or I'm just less tolerant of their particular brand of obnoxiousness. The adults are so much more interesting and competent. I enjoyed seeing Mrs. Frederic in action, though it's unfortunate her driver's toast. However, the trade-off was Artie, so that's kind of a no-brainer. Artie was as delightful as ever, and even if Claudia is a bit hard to take sometimes, I enjoy their exchanges quite a bit.

My next house is going to have an Escher vault, because that was kickass. It was a shame to see McPherson crumble to dust there at the end, but Wells is interesting enough that I think I'll enjoy her. Now I just hope her story doesn't get put on a back burner in favor of a bunch of monster-of-the-week episodes.

I can't help noticing that I don't think Artie's merely cool and smart and awesome; I also think he's attractive. Same with Walter on Fringe. Somehow there's comfort in knowing my Electra complex is aging right along with me... as well as getting a little more eccentric.

The internet knows what I like

2010-07-05T18:54:00.000-06:00

I was going to make a bunch of lame excuses for participating in an "internet meme" (one I found on LiveJournal, no less), but I decided, fuck that, it's entertaining so I'm doin' it.

Thus commences the "30 Days of Television LiveJournal Meme"! Follow along as I answer silly, indulgent questions about how much I love TV and want to marry it and have its babies. (Don't worry, I won't drag this out for thirty days.)

Day 01 - A show that never should have been canceled: Firefly. In case you've been living under a rock (a rock that doesn't receive a television signal, natch), you're aware this was Joss Whedon's 2002 space western, which aired about a dozen episodes before being canned. If it had been made in Japan it would have been called "Beautiful Happy Space Cowboys," and Wash would have been a robot. I miss Firefly.

Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching: I only care what other people watch to the extent that (what I consider) a good show has the ratings not to get canceled, so I guess I wish more people were watching all the shows I enjoy.

Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season): Human Target. Dramatic chases, exciting fights and things going boom, plus some pretty nice eye candy. Definitely a thumbs up.

Day 04 - Your favorite show ever: Babylon 5. For all its flaws, it has characters I care about in situations that are compelling and entertaining. It tells actual, complete stories over the course of multiple seasons, and has characters who change and grow. A good bit of it is derivative, and even when the writing's at its best it's still pretty hammy, but it tells stories that move me. I've watched the entire series a few times and some episodes I can go back to over and over; it's like comfort food.

Day 05 - A show you hate: I don't really hate any shows, but since I'm no longer living with a TV signal, it's kind of nice to know I'll never be channel-surfing again and run across Ghost Hunters or some shit like that.

Well, I think that's enough for today. Look for more silly, indulgent questions when next I post.

The truth is in a basement lab at Harvard

2010-06-12T11:16:00.000-06:00

[I'm taking a chance posting this, I know. It's risky, but I'm too impatient to wait. The thing is, I'm only about half a dozen episodes into season two, so I could be spoiled pretty easily. Please be kind if you share your thoughts in a comment!]

Though I'm late to the party, I have finally started watching Fringe and I'm totally sold. It's entertaining, well-written, creative, humourous, intelligent, and it delivers on the eye candy. I understand where the comparisons to The X-Files come from, but as I mentioned in reference to Warehouse 13, rehashing an old formula doesn't have to be a bad thing. In this case, I'd say Fringe has obvious elements of The X-Files, but I like the more direct approach it takes to unfolding a story. In that regard, it reminds me of Odyssey 5, another creative, intelligent mystery. In fact, many of the things I said about that show apply to Fringe as well.

Having accepted that the impossible can happen in this universe, I've found nothing that's unbelievable enough to pull me out of the show, for all the completely fucked up things they've come up with. I like that some of the explanations for phenomena are incomplete and raise more questions than they answer. And I appreciate that in-universe logic seems to be consistent. You know, I wonder if I'd have noticed that if it wasn't for Lost.

For the most part I like all the characters. Dunham can be a little irritating at times, but mostly I've grown to like her quite a bit. Not surprisingly, I adore Walter. Aside from being brilliant and hilarious and endearing, he makes me want to trip again. As I previously mentioned, I really enjoy his relationship with Peter. Sometimes it gets a little heavy on the sentimentality, but nothing I mind too much.

I also like Broyles a lot, but Dunham's exchanges with him tend toward the really awful for some reason. They nearly always strike me as stilted and formulaic, as though the writers weren't thinking about how these two unique characters would actually relate, as much as they were drawing on a template of Things FBI Agents Say to Each Other. I will concede, though, that it's gotten better in season two. Which reminds me, I definitely liked the relationship between Dunham & her partner Charlie Francis. Man, did season two start on a shitty note.

Something I find surprising about Dunham, and the show in general, is the lack of gratuitous sexualizing. There's no doubt Anna Torv (the actor who plays Dunham) was chosen for the role in part because she's attractive -- we sure don't like our heroes to be ugly. However, Dunham's physical attributes as they apply to her job are pretty much about her ability to kick ass and fire a gun on target. Oh, and her crazy history as Walter & Bell's guinea pig. But still, not about how hot she is. When even the best shows fall back on female characters as sexual objects, it's nice to see writers who eschew such a lazy tactic.

Finally, it would be pretty cool if we found out Dunham is so special because she's some wacky lab-grown hybrid of Walter, William Bell and a time traveling Gene the cow, and not only can she survive traveling between worlds, but she also makes one hell of a root beer float, ifyouknowwhatImean.

Sentient cow farts

2010-06-07T18:02:00.000-06:00

What is consuming hydrogen and acetylene on Titan? While it might be your momma, it would be much cooler if it was methane-based life. Whoa.

The horror!

2010-06-06T16:08:00.001-06:00

The BP Gulf oil gusher is starting to register in my brain as horrific. It pleases me that some folks are having a good time with it in some clever, creative & fucked up ways. Warning to the delicate, there are a handful of pretty nasty pictures of oil covered animals at that link in addition to the funny. You know, because it's tragic and it's funny. Also, check out BP's PR Twitter feed. What? Of course it's legit.

Look, over there! Celebrity news to distract you from the horrors of the real world! Patrick Stewart became a knight the other day, which custom I think is ridiculous and laughably antiquated, yet is still kind of neat. That's right, my social politics are a mélange of contradictory æsthetics. So, good on you, Sir Patrick!

Oh, in case you haven't cared -- uh, I mean heard, Heroes was canceled. Now all we need is to never hear from it again. Dammit! I mean, all we need is a miniseries to wrap things up. Oy fuckin' vey. Didn't these people watch Peacekeeper Wars? Although if Sylar gives birth through leather pants in the middle of a firefight, I might be convinced to sit through it at least once.

BANG!

2010-06-04T09:41:00.001-06:00

I ran across this groovy book the other day, BANG! The Universe Verse: Book 1. In simple language, with rhymes and pictures, it explains the origins of the universe and some of the stuff that followed. I think the artwork has a very Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers feel to it (without all the drug references), and is therefore well suited to explaining where things got started. My only real criticism is that the rhyme form gets tiresome very quickly. Perhaps it's best consumed in small bites. Well, it's a pared down, straightforward explanation of some fundamentals, and even if it doesn't teach you anything new, it's an enjoyable read.

LSD in a sense-dep tank? What's not to like!

2010-05-31T17:01:00.002-06:00

So, I started Fringe today and after two episodes, I'm interested enough to stick around. I like most of the characters, especially Walter, and I really like the way he and Peter relate. Dunham can get a little irritating at times, but she's been through some shit so I'm trying to cut her some slack. I hope she adjusts soon, because I don't think her job's going to get less weird.

The only other comment I'll make is that Massive Dynamic is PsiCorp and the redheaded chick is running Section 13.

Fake Science turned me on to Clear Science, handy shades for when you're being blinded with science. Since I like the site so much and expect to use it, I've added it to Geeky Places to Go over on the right. And if you were getting tired of Jason Momoa, I've also changed the Show & Tell picture; now it's some dudes dressed as those guys from King of the Hill.

Lost fans, have you started reading MetaFilter's Previously on Lost thread yet? Seriously, if you haven't, well, that's just a damned shame.

The tobacco executives in my lungs are stoned out of their minds

2010-05-27T22:37:00.001-06:00

Real science has been a bit more than I can handle lately, so I've sought comfort in Fake Science, "For when the facts are too confusing."

Speaking of confusing... I enjoyed the hell out of the Lost finale. If you're a fan - satisfied, rageful or otherwise - and want to explore the vast amount of discussion & analysis out there, I recommend a couple MetaFilter threads. Previously on Lost and Lost-Loster-Lostest-Lost-Squared-Lost-Cubed-Lostercalifragilisticexpialidocious both contain a metric shit-ton of insight and are loaded with links that'll keep you occupied for a ridiculously long time.

While I really liked most of the finale, I was one of those viewers who was a bit let down at the very end. And really, that's pretty much all I feel about it. I'm not upset or angry, nor do I feel betrayed by the writers. It's just a shame they went with such a cop-out in those last few minutes. *shrug*

Somewhere around season three I stopped watching Lost, because the Jack-Kate-Sawyer bullshit overwhelmed the rest of the show for me. When I picked it back up, it was with the attitude that I was going to ride this train again for as long as it was entertaining, and not worry overmuch about making sense of the plot or expecting answers (ref. "expectations lead to disappointment"). Well, the ride was indeed fun, and when the show's end was in sight, I was curious to see what the writers would come up with, but not especially hopeful that it would be original (ref. "there's nothing new under the sun"). Since I'm a huge sap, I cried at every reunion (except Sayid & Shannon's, because I just wasn't buyin' it). I thought there was something beautiful in the way the characters remembered who they were, and I really loved that everyone eventually came to know the serenity that Desmond felt.

It would have been cool if more things had been explained, but I'm okay with leaving a lot of stuff unresolved. Maybe I so appreciate the mystery that I don't want everything explained. I do prefer not knowing over one "for-fuck's-sake-this-is-ridiculous" explanation after another, which is already something Lost did enough of. Really, though, not only do I not mind that the series ended with so much unknown, I like the fact that there remain things to wonder about.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the thrill I got out of seeing John Pyper-Ferguson as the driver delivering Christian Shephard's body. Pyper-Ferguson was, of course, Pete Hutter on another Carlton Cuse show, "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.", so it's a pleasure though not entirely surprising to see him show up.

I'll end with some fangirlish gushing. Someone said it before me, but it's a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with - regardless of how I feel about anything else in the show, Terry O'Quinn (John Locke) and Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus) made Lost worth watching.

I'll be the Alien to your John Hurt

2010-04-30T19:14:00.001-06:00

No posts all month long, but it seems my disjointed style lives on.

Holy shit, it's almost Free Comic Book Day! Go get comics tomorrow! Check out the website's comic shop locator if you need help finding your local peddler.

To keep abreast of developments at the Large Hadron Collider, I've added @CERN to my Twitter feed. Go on, take a look at that.

I started my Dragon*Con jar, so saving has begun in earnest. This seems like a good time to reiterate that all donations to the Get Erica to Dragon*Con Fund will be put to debaucherous, possibly even illegal, use. Just think, you could help me break the law! You could also help me see such exciting scheduled guests as Saul Rubinek, Michelle Forbes and Aaron Douglas. Hoping for David Hewlett and Tahmoh Penikett, but that would be too awesome so I'm not holding my breath. I've also begun thinking about costuming; lots of things sound cool and even doable, but I haven't really been drawn to anything. I'm kind of leaning toward the ridiculous, so something like a fairy from the Legend of Zelda games (a huge, glowing cottonball with wings) might be neat. That would also require some engineering (what would I make it out of? how would I make it glow?), which would be fun. I'm open to suggestions, so share your brilliant ideas... as long as no one wants me to be in the ass end of a tauntaun costume. That Alien idea might be fun, though.

Show me on the action figure where Q touched you

2010-03-26T12:14:00.002-07:00

Not only The Most Badass Alphabet Ever, but also creepy and pretty fucked up. Yay! For example:

Like we didn't know.

Cool Distractions

2010-03-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, well, I've been busy. That said, I do not have the words to express the awesomeness of The Periodic Table of Periodic Tables. My inner archivist hasn't been this aroused in ages.

Also, this is too cool & too useful to you (yes, you) to not mention. Have a look see at The Best in Armchair Astronomy, where popularmechanics.com offers a list of free and for-fee astronomy resources. There are amazing pictures of space all over the place and you should go look at them.

I should go back to whatever the hell I was doing before I got distracted.

Mad science

2010-03-10T12:05:00.001-07:00

The mad scientists at the LHC haven't destroyed the world yet, but take comfort in knowing they're getting closer every day. And by closer, I mean the supercollider will be shutting down once again for many months, this time dealing with "design issues." The delay is okay, though - we want them to take their time and get it right, so that when the LHC reaches full potential, there are no screw-ups that leave parts of the world not destroyed. Can you imagine a future where the only place that survives is Upper Sandusky? The very thought makes me tremble.

In related news, crazy people are crazy.

Frakkin' cool

2010-03-10T09:39:00.003-07:00

Galactica: Sabotage is a shot-for-shot homage to the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" video, using Battlestar Galactica footage. Watch it, then take a look at a side-by-side comparison of that and the original. Very frakkin' cool. This came to my attention via MetaFilter, so thanks MetaFilter!

Incidentally, we know the future is awesome because "Sabotage" is playing during young James Kirk's car chase at the beginning of Star Trek.

Space-time Addiction

2010-03-09T07:56:00.002-07:00

Since I'm all excited about having just started following some NASA Twitter feeds, I'm compelled to recommend checking them out. NASA Astronauts is a consolidation of astronauts' tweets, and includes very cool things like exceptional photos from the ISS. There's also NASA, for agency news, project happenings and groovy pictures.

I swear I will not use it for evil (unless, of course, David Warner is Evil, in which case I'll do pretty much anything he wants) - kickass replica of the map from Time Bandits.

I enjoy my games, especially CivIII, and now that I have the N64, I've been playing a good bit of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Zelda, in particular, has all the hallmarks of a video game addiction, according to 5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted. For a cracked.com article to have substance is unusual enough, but this one's got actual information as well as links to other cool, interesting articles about how technology is ruining us. Pardon me now while I go save the princess.

As the Colonies Turn

2010-03-03T08:13:00.001-07:00

I watched the pilot for the Battlestar Galactica spinoff, Caprica, a little while ago and I was underwhelmed. Cylons started out as an over-privileged, under-supervised spoiled teenager who got suckered into a religious cult? No wonder everything went south for humanity. If that sounds more dismissive than is justified, I have to admit to some negativity about the series before going in. The way the creators were describing it, it sounded like a nighttime soap, with all the social drama and intrigue you'd expect. That is, pretty much the opposite of what I want out of my scifi. Well, first impressions aside, I thought I'd give it a couple more episodes before abandoning hope. If nothing else, Eric Stoltz (Daniel Greystone) is... persuasive. I think it was around episode three when I decided I'd totally watch him and Paula Malcomson, the woman who plays Amanda Greystone, gettin' jiggy with it. Incidentally, you might recognize Malcomson from Deadwood, on which she played Trixie. I enjoy her quite a bit, so I'm glad to see her as a regular on something again.

Well I'll be damned, probably quite literally. It occurs to me that one of the things I'd like to see more of in my scifi - hot people getting as nasty as network TV will allow - is a staple of soaps. I'll just let that observation sit.

So, I'm not impressed with the annoying people hoping to convert the world to the one true god. In fact, I couldn't care less about their plots and their bombs and their secret little cabals. I was ready for that bullshit to be over with well before the end of Battlestar Galactica. Some of the religion on BSG was handled pretty well and added something interesting to the story, but most of it was uninspired dren. Thus far, Caprica looks no more promising in that regard. Well, if it all happened before and it'll all happen again, I'm probably just cranky from seeing the same worn out bullshit.

On the plus side, Jane Espenson is an executive producer and writer for the show, which bodes well. She's written and acted as executive producer for several shows I'm a fan of, including Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse, and Warehouse 13. Though a few of the episodes she's written might not be my favorites, I think she tends to be spot-on with characterization, and I count her involvement with Caprica as a plus.

Then this most recent episode did nothing to convince me things are looking better. In fact, I thought most of it was not very good. Rather than bitch about it, though, I'll point out something I liked a lot - during the scene in the boardroom, there's one moment when Zoe looks at her dad and her expression is almost sexual. That perked up my Electra complex and piqued my interest. And it's a shame that's not a direction this show would go. This might be a soap opera, but I don't think incest is a popular theme even on soaps. Besides, our shiny toaster girl already has a real life boyfriend, in the tech who talks so sweetly to her.

I'll wrap this up with a few miscellaneous thoughts, in no particular order --

I'm envious of Caprica's maglev trains. Everything should be maglev.

I wish the show had gone in a different direction with the title sequence, because I get the style they're going for but I think it was damned poorly executed.

I like that the "alternative" relationships in the show - Sister Clarice and her family of wives & husbands, and Sam Adama & his same-sex partner - are presented almost banally.

So, Admiral Adama came from a family of crooks, thugs and harridans; no wonder he was such a badass.

When Amanda Greystone outed her daughter at the memorial at the end of episode two, she reminded me of the dad in Heathers who loved his dead, gay son.

Finally, John Pyper-Ferguson (Pete Hutter on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., the Pegasus CAG for a couple episodes of BSG) will be showing up for a run of episodes, and it always makes me happy to see him. Here's hoping Caprica's pretty people make it worth sticking around!

Further proof that physics is cool

2010-02-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

And that we live in a crazy universe. The Odd Physics Video Archive contains short videos of interesting things.

Just a few things

2010-02-24T22:05:00.001-07:00

I've been doing a lot of snowshoeing lately, which has left me with less time for geekery. It's an odd day when I'll choose exercize over, well, pretty much anything I can do while sitting on my ass, but there you are. Anyway, I still found a few things that I thought were worth sharing.

New comics don't often catch my attention, but I want this. I want this so much that I got a little drooly reading about it.

I was a little bummed by Obama's lack of support for the shuttle program, but I think things are actually looking pretty good. The International Space Station is almost finished, the US will still be sending up astronauts, and NASA will be able to put more resources toward other projects. About the ISS, I'm not sure what to say except holy fucking shit. There aren't a lot of things that genuinely make me think, 'wow, you built an amazing thing, humans!', but the ISS is one of them. Goddamn, do I want to go to space.

Instead, I'll watch this video again, because it's just that cool: Timmy O'Riley by L. Hadron and the Colliders.

Best use of South Dakota in a television series

2010-02-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

So, I mentioned the Syfy show Warehouse 13 a little while ago. If you're not familiar, it's about a government department responsible for collecting objects of supernatural power and containing them lest they be misused by evil-doers. Think of the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but designed by Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison and MC Escher (so they tell us). This is the thirteenth incarnation of the warehouse, it's located in South Dakota and it houses some of the most dangerous items in the world. While the show design is riding the popularity of steampunk hard, it combines the 19th century brass goggles aesthetic with a good assortment of 21st century gadgets. Some of it comes off as a little ridiculous (like Artie's computer set-up), but I've found that I really don't mind the ridiculous if it's done well, and in this case I think the effect is fun.

Unfortunately, I don't much care for two of the leads. They're a conventionally attractive, relatively young man and woman who rely on the pigtail-pulling method of flirting with each other. Rather than being cute and entertaining, it just comes off as irritating and unbelievable. They make it hard to swallow the idea that they're supposed to be trained US Secret Service agents.

Well, I don't watch for them. I love their superior, Artie, and not just because he's played by Saul Rubinek. I love his demeanor, his genius, his impatience and tolerance. I don't love that he doesn't bring some cast iron smackdown on the children he works with, but that's not his fault; he's written by people who think that kind of shit is cute, so what's he supposed to do? I like Leena, though she has me wondering if the mysterious and beautiful double-crossing innkeeper is a trope I just never heard of. Well, maybe we'll see something different when the show returns. Let's see, Mrs. Frederic and her shadow, Oddjob, tickle me every time they show up, some of the objects stored in the warehouse are super fucking cool, and did I mention how much I like Artie?

Warehouse 13 has been compared to a few shows, including The Librarian and Friday the 13th the Series. Indeed, it's not the freshest idea, but I think it has the potential to stand out if it can focus on the characters and let the objects be incidental to the real stories. Whackass-mystical-artifact-of-the-week only goes so far. There was some intrigue and vendetta business going on at the end of last season, so here's hoping that continues into its second season, which is due sometime this summer.

Worst damned funeral I've ever been to

2010-02-18T21:18:00.002-07:00

The house was filled with visitors for days and days, but they've all finally cleared the fuck out so I can get back to my 'net surfing and TV watching.

Tuesday's Lost was made just for me. I've had enough booze that I'm feeling too lazy to pick apart the episode, but I enjoyed the same things I always enjoy. Whether he's Locke or the smoke monster, whoever the fuck he is I sure do like him. Just like I sure do like Ben, and he gave the best damned eulogy Locke could have asked for. Then Locke and Ben meeting in the LA timeline had me squeeing a little bit; that scene in the teachers' lounge was terrific.

I don't know what the fuck's going on with the cave and the names of candidates, and whether or not "Locke" and Sawyer will get off the island and what that might mean for this guy who's been there for so long, but I find this show a lot more entertaining if I maintain a "going along for the ride" attitude. Can't be overly concerned with making sense of it. There's lots of talk about the idea that Sawyer's setting up smokemonster-Locke for his biggest con ever, which'd be pretty cool.

On another front, I stumbled across the blog Eureka Unscripted, about the show Eureka by some of the people who make it. Very cool stuff there, not least of which is this two part interview with adviser Kevin Grazier, who I've mentioned on this blog before as both a super genius scientist guy, as well as someone I've seen several times at DragonCon and have a crush on - Part I and Part II. Super awesome cool news - Eureka is slated for twenty-two episodes in its upcoming fourth season, up from eighteen last season.

Live Nude Girls...

2010-02-12T15:29:00.001-07:00

...reading science fiction. Aww, yeah. If you're in New York, go to this and tell me about it.

Chapter Six: Haven't We Been Here Before?

2010-02-12T15:02:00.001-07:00

The latest season of Heroes is finished and I'm disappointed but not surprised. Samuel's little saga did indeed turn out to be impressively boring. He wasn't alone, though. For some reason, Parkman's family life makes me want to claw out my eyes, and the whole Nathan-Sylar mindfuck went on for far too long. Even Claire's big reveal at the end had me thinking, "Enh, so what?" I don't care about any of these people anymore, and all their drama and intrigue is tiresome.

Worst of all, though - more disappointing than any three other boring storylines - was Sylar's conversion. Is he actually nice now? I hope not, because he was damned uninteresting to watch for the last few episodes of the season. He and Peter had an energetic chemistry that I liked, but I thought it was stifled by the action being so weak. What a fucking shame.

Thankfully, the season finale wasn't a complete downer. I liked the resolution of Charlie's situation and appreciated that even if Hiro didn't "save" her, she still had a good life. That suited the character better than dragging her around through time again would have. Speaking of Hiro, I'll also mention that, while the Hiro-on-trial gimmick that went on in his head during surgery was only mildly engaging, it sure was nice to see David Anders again.

Well, Heroes isn't the only show I've left then returned to. Yes, I have made much fun of Lost and mocked the people who watch it, but I'm back on that pony and enjoying the show almost as much as I enjoy the mockery. I won't claim to know what's going on, or even to have a sure idea of what timeline we're seeing sometimes, but I am entertained and that goes a long way with me.

It's primarily John Locke's story that's kept me coming back for more (I'll admit, it helps that I have the hots for Terry O'Quinn, the actor who plays Locke). He's a great character and I feel like I'm just starting to really recognize him for the pathetic tool that he is. I mean that in the nicest way possible. Who knows why (and we probably won't find out), but for some reason the island chose Locke, before he was born if we're to believe what we've been shown. His destiny was on the island and once there, he flourished. And now it looks like he was being used the whole time, still not understanding even as he died. What a sorry fuckin' tale.

Which, of course, brings me to Ben. Talk about being used, and for him it just goes on and on. He won me over when we first met him as Henry Gale, and as his nature was revealed, I liked more and more how manipulative and conniving he was. In any other character, a lot of his tendencies would bug the fuck out of me. But in Ben, I love spiteful and petty, and when he starts pulling the martyr act he's just fucking great. And, I so enjoyed seeing him learn how much of who he is and what he believes are products of Jacob's machinations.

Lo, some crazy shit doth happen 'pon that whack-ass island.

Here's something that's cool - popularmechanics.com has a series of articles on the science of Lost that are interesting. Start with their look at the season six premiere, "LA X", then check out the links at the end of the story for more Lost science.

After bitching about there not being anything good on TV a couple weeks ago, it's nice to have something to look forward to watching, even if (especially if?) it also frustrates and confuses me.

Groovy fandom, geeky tunes, and a good way to waste some time

2010-02-05T11:49:00.001-07:00

I actually intend to do more than a once-a-week dump of links, but that's just not how things are shaping up these days. Well, there's some interesting shit here, so I hope you enjoy it!

Check out the very cool FANAC Fan History Project, chronicling scifi fandom in its many wacky forms, with stories & photos going back to the early 1950s. Fandom really is amazing.

In the spirit of my last post, here's another cool example of musical geekery, the Geekiest Songs in the Universe.

For those into time-wasting social media trends, I hang out on Twitter. My twittilations (I just wanted an excuse to use that word) can be found at http://twitter.com/gatehag. Groovy people to follow: @dragoncontv, because they post funny things; @popmech, for interesting science & tech articles; @sjgames, that's Steve Jackson Games and if you've never played a Steve Jackson game, your geek cred is in jeopardy; and @dhewlett, because I really like David Hewlett. There are other good finds on Twitter, but this short list is a dandy place to start.

A musical interlude, the search for strange objects, and still looking for signs of intelligent life in the universe

2010-01-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

My slackerly ways have gotten the best of me this past week, but I did run across a few things that I thought were interesting. Probably the coolest is a 2008 series of entries from the blog Cruise Elroy, about the music in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Even though I'm not much of a music enthusiast and I know nothing about its technical aspects, I am a big fan of several of the Zelda games, and I often sleep to the soundtrack from Ocarina. Well, I was blown away by the depth of analysis and appreciation in these posts, even while most of it went over my head. Each post taps into a level of geekery that tweaks a special part of me deep inside. *ahem* Yes, well, I recommend checking out Cruise Elroy in general for nerdly interests both musical and game-ish in flavour.

Also cool: Saul Rubinek posted to Twitter today with, "http://twitpic.com/10jq4d - can't wait to start using my Artie stuff again March 1." Yay! I assume he's referring to the start of production on Warehouse 13's second season, which is scheduled to air this summer. While it's not the best TV to be had, it is entertaining and has some decent potential. Plus, I like Saul Rubinek so much that I'm pretty sure I'd watch him in damned near anything.

If you've been wondering what's up on the search-for-aliens front, wonder no more.

And that's a few things!

Extra geek on the side

2010-01-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Since my return, I've made a few changes to the "Geeky places to go" list over there on the right. Today I'm adding Dot Physics, the blog of Associate Professor of Physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, Rhett Allain. His blog caught my attention with his recent post, Flying R2-D2, you are doing it wrong, but I definitely recommend browsing past entries as well. He writes interesting things.

I also ditched a couple things that I'm tired of, and added TED to the list. Remember TED? We talked about TED the other day. If you still haven't checked out TED, well, that's just a damn shame because you're missing out.

Finally, I added Penny Arcade, which oversight it's about damn time I corrected.

H.G. Wells: Bitter old hack

2010-01-19T19:57:00.002-07:00

I consider Fritz Lang's Metropolis to be one of the most amazing and influential films in the history of cinema, scifi in particular. Mr. Wells, however, thought it was "silly." What a jerk. His petty and dismissive review, originally printed in the New York Times in April 1927, is available for your perusal.

What I'm not watching on TV

2010-01-15T10:50:00.004-07:00

The subject line says it all, but before I dive in, I want to give a little warning: this post is about the shows I tried and passed on, so it's not very complimentary. I'll rave when I write about Dollhouse or Star Trek, but for now it's all about the bitching.

Sanctuary was entertaining for awhile, but it lost me shortly into the second season. I certainly wasn't a cheerleader for Ashley, but I kind of missed her - they got rid of one irritating chick only to replace her with a far more irritating chick. The stories got dull, my favourite character (John Druitt, played by Christopher Heyerdahl) went away, and I just don't like any of the other characters enough to care about what they're up to. Finally, a good bit of my TV viewing is for the hot people, so between Druitt's absence and Henry (Ryan Robbins' character) getting less hot every time he did something stupid, the thrill was gone.

I also gave FlashForward a try and ended up saying no thanks around episode nine. The various ideas it presented made for some fertile ground for speculating, but the execution got too hard to watch. More soap opera than I could stand anymore. That was especially unfortunate, as I like John Cho quite a bit, and Sonya Walger (who also plays Penny on Lost) is more than enough of a hottie to overlook a lot of other flaws in the show.

V is another show I couldn't give more than a taste before I was compelled to take a pass. Aside from just not grabbing me, it starred Morena Baccarin, who's pretty painful to watch. I've yet to see her in anything where she's able to display any kind of dimensionality or nuance, and her role as Anna in V was no exception. Another unfortunate loss, since I enjoy Elizabeth Mitchell (Erica on V, Juliet on Lost) a lot.

I almost skipped mentioning this altogether, but I've raved about Stargate on this blog so much that I pretty much feel obligated. As big a fan as I am of SG-1 & Atlantis, Brad Wright & Robert Cooper (the creators) have convinced me to give Stargate Universe a pass altogether. Their attitudes about the earlier shows and the fans of those shows has just been too shitty and insulting. I'm not in their desired demographic, and that's all right by me.

So, is there anything on TV worth watching? Well, I'm not exactly thrilled with Heroes, but I am entertained by it and I could probably never get tired of Sylar. I've been enjoying Dollhouse quite a bit, so of course it's been canceled. Shit. I guess this is what folks mean when they refer to TV as a wasteland.

Brains: not just for breakfast anymore

2010-01-13T20:14:00.002-07:00

Enjoy some cool pictures of brains by photographer Peter Ross.

Taking a dump

2010-01-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

Haha, I bet you thought I meant poop! Since I was away for so long, I'm dropping on you a link dump - a collection of some of the interesting things I've found or been pointed to in the past while.

The Year's Most Amazing Scientific Images from the Popular Science website. As you would expect, holy-shit-amazing pictures.

Super cool photos of the LHC No, I'm probably never going to get tired of talking about that thing (and some of the comments on that page are hilarious).

50 Years of Space Exploration This is super fucking amazing. If you check out no other links on this list, look at this. LOOK AT IT!

Planets and Stars to Scale If you were wondering just how small you are, this will help you understand that you are really, really tiny.

Free Science Lectures In addition to the above video, this site has all sorts of cool science shit.

Questions for the Author of The Physics of Superheroes I talked about this book awhile ago (here), enjoyed it and was quite pleased to stumble across this interview.

Top 10 Worst Portrayals of Technology in Film A list you'll appreciate eye-rolling along with.

The Bohr-Einstein Debates, with Puppets Puppets! And physics!

100 Games Cupcakes As an appreciator of both games and cupcakes, I think this is just spectacular. My list of words for #39: ado and coat cod coda con coy dan don nod oat tad tan wad wan wand yon

Os Gameboys Legend of Zelda medley This actually and truly made me a little misty-eyed.

I'll end this dump with some wonderful silliness - Star Trek meets the A-Team

Enjoy!

The TED talks I've been digging lately

2010-01-12T11:53:00.008-07:00

If you're not familiar with the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences, you're missing out on a world of holy-shit-amazing ideas and information. Check out the About page for more info.

What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider - "'Rock star physicist' Brian Cox talks about his work on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Discussing the biggest of big science in an engaging, accessible way, Cox brings us along on a tour of the massive complex -- and describes the vital role it's going to play in understanding our universe."

Beauty and truth in physics - "Wielding laypeople's terms and a sense of humor, Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann drops some knowledge about particle physics, asking questions like, Are elegant equations more likely to be right than inelegant ones? Can the fundamental law, the so-called 'theory of everything,' really explain everything? His answers will surprise you."

They don't make bad boys like they used to

2010-01-07T12:23:00.013-07:00

James Dean was already dead years before I was born, having lived fast and died young, leaving behind a mangled corpse. Nonetheless, I nursed a crush on him through most of my teens. As far as I knew, none of his work was scifi, but I was entlightened this afternoon when I was catching up on my cheesy television with an episode of Tales of Tomorrow ("The Evil Within," 1953, which incidentally starred Rod Steiger) and I realized the awkwardly cool lab guy was James Dean. It's a small thing, but it put a bright little spark in my day.

Speaking of bad boys, Heroes returned this past Monday with two episodes, "Upon This Rock" & "Let It Bleed." Through some ridiculous oversight, Sylar wasn't even in the first ep. Hmph. "Upon This Rock" redeemed itself, however, with Hiro's continuing adventure. The effects of his tumor are manifesting in wonderfully appropriate ways, and I think he's going to save Charlie before he dies.

I like the character of Samuel, but I'm a little bored with his story. It doesn't help that he reminds me of a petulant kid sometimes. The carnival setting is cool, though, and I enjoyed the build up in the first half of the season. The setting and melodrama remind me of an attractive and square version of HBO's show Carnivale*.

Well, it's been a decent ride so far this season, with a few highlights but little that's really been spectacular. I loved watching Sylar in Parkman's brain. Parkman was an okay guy, but it was silly of him to think he could actually take out Sylar. Overall, though, the many stories continue to have lots of action while not going much of anywhere, and the characters keep banging their heads on the same old walls. However, I like Sylar so very much that I'm willing to overlook a lot. In fact, he pretty much carries the show for me (making his absence from "Upon this Rock" quite a drag). I'm curious to see where his story is going, and through what convoluted means everyone else gets pulled along.

*Being reminded of Carnivale inspired me to watch the show again and I was glad I did. It's two short seasons (twelve episodes each), and pretty damned great. I recommend it for the amazing atmosphere, and the high level of weird. Point of interest: Robert Knepper, who plays Samuel on Heroes, appeared in several episodes of Carnivale as radioman Tommy Dolan.

Geek-A-Thon 2009

2010-01-03T10:51:00.008-07:00

Dragon*Con - I went, I saw, I had a geeky good time. For the unitiated, D*C is a massive multi-media scifi/fantasy/popculture/etc. convention in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend, and it's how I've been spending the long holiday weekend for the past few years.

Since it's already next year, I'll skip the day-by-day report that I've given for past D*Cs. Really, how the hell am I supposed to remember most of it anyway? As usual, I had a great time visiting my friends in Atlanta before & after the con, and the con itself was loads of fun. I didn't do much costuming, but holy shit some folks went all out. My favourite group costume was the Fruity Oaty Bar girls . Dark Knight Joker was terribly popular, and steampunk was all the rage. The closest I got to costuming was a sari with a fancy-schmancy sequined choli. I caught a few excellent science & tech panels (props to the Science and EFF tracks!), in addition to several celebrity panels so I could gawk at the pretty people. One of the coolest panels was on why the LHC won't destroy the world. Damned interesting, if somewhat disappointing (I mean, something's going to take out the place eventually, so it might as well be something cool like a man-made black hole. But apparently not). The Dealers' room was all right, though I failed to find a t-shirt I wanted this year, and I don't recall even making it to the Art Show. Hunh.

Well, I took a shit-ton of pictures.

Costumes I never stop being bowled over by some of the very cool things people put on their bodies for a con

Popetine and Darth Maulducci

Parade More amazingly costumed people

Wonder Woman

~~Hotties~~ Celebrity Guests Stars from Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5 & Stargate, and scientists Kevin Grazier & Phil Plait

Bruce Boxleitner & Claudia Christian

I'm registered for this year (Sept 3-6) and have a hotel room reserved. 100% of all donations to the "Get Erica to Dragon*Con" fund will go toward debauchery.

Welcome to the Future

2010-01-02T18:19:00.005-07:00

So I was gone for awhile and with no ado, it's time to post again. This is going to get long enough as it is, so for the moment I'm going to skip much analysis and just rattle off some things that are cool, interesting or otherwise noteworthy (to me, natch). Enjoy the new show & tell picture (over there on the right), which is Darth Vader totally saying, "How you doin'?"

I still love geeks, and while the geeks at the LHC have managed to smash some tiny shit together, they still haven't destroyed the world. Patience, my pretties.

Guess where there's water? That's right, the motherfucking moon. Here's the rather dry but info-packed Mission Update from NASA (13 Nov 2009), and the story at the National Geographic site.

Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon died in December. He was responsible for Alien, Total Recall and Blue Thunder, as well as some other stuff. My 13-year old niece just watched Total Recall and we've been discussing whether the Governator's character's experiences were real or just implanted memories. Good conversations.

So I've seen the new Star Trek a bunch of times and I think it's holy shit, A+, motherfucking balls out awesome. Yeah, I liked it, and not just because I have dirty, dirty thoughts about Zachary Quinto as Spock. I might write up something coherent about the flick eventually, but in case I don't, the high points of my commentary would be: for the most part, the characterizations were super entertaining; if the story even approached scientific feasibility, it couldn't be called "Star Trek"; visually, it seriously rocked and a lot of shit blew up; most of the acting was entirely enjoyable; and finally, wheee! I hope the next movie is a redo of the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror," mainly so I can see Zachary Quinto as evil-Spock. I'll be in my bunk.

It's things like this that make me say, holy shit, I love living in the 21st century - 3D Mandelbrot Fractal.

Well, I don't know how long I'll manage to keep this up, but I'm kicking around ideas for posts about Dragon*Con '09 (good times, good times), "Dollhouse" (diggin' it), and maybe another thing or two.

Finally, since "happy new year" seems inadequate for 2010, I'll say welcome to the future.

More about LHC

2008-09-16T23:51:00.003-06:00

Just when I thought I couldn't love geeks more, this Large Hadron Rap is brought to my attention.

I love geeks.

In case you were concerned...

2008-09-12T14:07:00.006-06:00

Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet?

And if you're interested in some "actual information," take a look at How Stuff Works.

The site I wish I'd found before DragonCon

2008-09-10T22:06:00.002-06:00

If you like funny t-shirts like I like funny t-shirts, have a looksee at this very funny t-shirt site. Science is the best!

Geek-A-Thon 2008 (yo)

2008-09-03T13:48:00.009-06:00

Get yourself a tasty beverage and put up your feet, because this is a long one! Because I wasn't willing to spend $30 to connect to the interwebs from my hotel room, I kept a running diary over the weekend and now you get everything at once (with the caveat that it's all from memory, so who knows what I got wrong). My Atlanta adventure started last Wednesday afternoon, when I flew in and spent the next couple days with some friends. They're excellent people who are wonderful, comfortable and all around really enjoyable to be with, so my geek-weekend kicked off in the best way. Then, to DragonCon!

Day one was mellow, mostly just getting my bearings and catching a couple cool events. I made it to the first Stargate megapanel, which included Cliff Simon (Ba'al), Erick Avari (Kasuf), Morena Baccarin (Adria), Beau Bridges (Landry), Torri Higginson (Weir), and Rainbow Sun Francks (Ford). They were funny and entertaining and it was a dandy time. I followed that up with some wandering around, checking out people and finding out where things were in the different hotels (four now!), and enjoying all the funny t-shirts.

Later in the evening there were videos in the Stargate track room, so I caught some of that. I stuck around long enough to watch the first episode of Sanctuary so I could see David Hewlett, but then I had to turn in because it was late and I'm no fun anymore.

Day two started with a minor (but excessively irritating) personal crisis. Everything worked out fine, but I missed most of the parade, dammit. Luckily, I caught some of it, including pirates and stormtroopers, so that made me happy. I even got some not-completely-awful pictures, which is a nice bonus. This wasn't a big year for costuming for me, mostly because I was lazy and uninspired until the last minute. However, about a week before heading to Atlanta, I got it in my head to finally make the salwar kameez I've always wanted. It turned out great, I wore it at the con on Saturday and I got lots of nice compliments on it.

I made a pass through the dealers' room, which was pretty much the same as usual - funny t-shirts, corsets, comic books.

Then it was off to another SG megapanel, this time with everyone from the previous panel except Avari and Baccarin, and the addition of David Nykl (Zelenka). During the Q&A, an audience-member commented on the apparent number of single people in Atlantis and asked if the actors had any pairings they might like to see. Torri Higginson won me over when she cracked that the closets in Atlantis see a lot of action, and that McKay and Sheppard are hot for each other (I can't remember exactly how she phrased it, but I'm sure there's a clip of it on YouTube by now). *sigh* Now if only the people who make the show would catch up with the rest of us.

After some wandering and food, I hunkered down for still more Stargate, this time a Rocky Horror-style viewing of SG-1's "Window of Opportunity." Man, was that a good time! There was much calling out lines along with the characters, juggling, waving about of toy pistols, and file folders flying into the air. And, really, there's nothing quite like a room full of geeks all gleefully shouting, "In the middle of my backswing?!" Very, very good time.

I finally did something non-SG later Saturday evening, when I caught a Eureka panel. I've mentioned him in regards to DragonCons past, but I just have to reiterate how much I like Kevin Grazier, who is the science adviser for Eureka and Battlestar Galactica. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's my new science crush. So, there were questions and discussion and no spoilers for the new season. All around, quite entertaining.

Day three started early, with me actually awake and at a 10a panel with Cliff Simon. I could listen to him talk for hours. An interesting thing he shared is that he works with a dog rescue group in LA, which was a nice thing to learn. I have pretty strong feelings about how we treat the creatures we share our homes and our lives with, and it always encourages me when that's an issue that's important to people who have the ears of others because of their celebrity status. He also spoke quite a bit about growing up in South Africa, why he left there, and how very much he appreciates living in the US.

Then came more aimless wandering, followed by a Battlestar Galactica panel with Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Michael Hogan (Tigh), James Callis (Baltar), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol) and Colin Corrigan (who plays a background character I'm just not familiar with). They were all delightful to listen to, but I have a serious weakness for Saul Tigh, so getting to see Michael Hogan was a hardcore squee moment for me.

[Michael Hogan, James Callis & Aaron Douglas]

I followed that up with another pass through the dealers' room, this time successfully finding a t-shirt for my significantly awesome other. I didn't find anything for me, but I'm not especially acquisitive, so that's okay.

Sunday continued with a little video interlude in the Stargate track room, featuring clips from shows and movies Stargate actors have been in. Some of them have done some... interesting work.

I wrapped up Sunday night at a three-hour long panel on Stargate slash that I enjoyed tremendously. It involved good discussion on slash writing in particular, with many concepts that could just as readily be applied to fanfic in general, all in a very excellent atmosphere. I also got to put some faces to names I had seen on the internet, which is always a nice thing.

Then came Monday, the last day of the con, and yet still more Stargate. This time it was a megapanel comprised of Francks, Bridges, Simon, Jewel Staite (Keller), Baccarin, Nykl, and Avari, and it was a wonderful way to wrap up the weekend.

I finally packed it in with a quick perusal of the art show, then a final run through the dealers' room to get a couple things.

Of course, everywhere, any time day or night, the peoplewatching was fantastic. Again and again, I was bowled over by costumes that were stunningly original or excellent reproductions of movie, TV & comics characters. I was also just tickled by how incredibly friendly geeks can be. As much as I stood in line (and there were a lot of lines!), I rarely had to entertain myself and I had some great conversations with people.

Since the funny t-shirts are a highlight of the con for me, I'll share a few stats....
The funniest t-shirt I saw all weekend: Tell your mom sorry about last night
A close second: I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself
The t-shirt I picked up for my significantly awesome other: Got this shirt for my girlfirend (awesome trade)
The t-shirt I ended up getting for myself: Real tears excite me
(No, I wouldn't say that fits my usual style, but it sure made me laugh when I saw it.)

Finally, my friends collected me from the hotel Monday afternoon and I spent that night & yesterday morning with them, then headed back north yesterday afternoon, to be greeted by a happy partner, an absolutely ecstatic dog, and three cats who variously yelled at me, acknowledged me like I'd never left, and seriously snubbed me for a few hours. It's good to be home :)

My photos are up on my Flickr site, divided into Costumes, Parade and Guests.

Another DragonCon come and gone, and another year to wait and prepare.

You're a good friend, Arthur

2008-08-22T23:11:00.002-06:00

A couple days after the announcement that Stargate Atlantis will not be renewed for a sixth season, we get an episode of such unbelievable awesomeness that the fangirl in me very nearly exploded (hence taking time out of my busy DragonCon preparations to spew about it).

McKay is infected with a parasite that slowly but surely neutralizes his brain functions. His personality goes, along with his memory, his intelligence and everything about him that makes him McKay. It's never stated outright (in this episode, at least) that Rodney's usually clumsy and abrasive with women, but I really like that Keller realized Rodney being charming and pleasant was in fact an early symptom of his ailment. So, Rodney turns stupid and nice, his team cranks up their protectiveness to eleven, and high-tension wackiness ensues.

While Keller's medicine doesn't have a solution for Rodney's affliction, Ronon knows of a shrine where others suffering with the same parasite can be "cured" for a day, right before they die. Also, it's on the same planet as a bunch of Wraith. Team Sheppard doesn't have to think twice.

"The Shrine" is, without a doubt, the best team episode ever. Ronon - Ronon! - tells Jeanie about the shrine, he fights the strongest for making the trip during the meeting with Woolsey, he makes it crystal clear that he will go into any situation and do everything he possibly can to save McKay, and that Woolsey and Keller should step up and do the same. Of course, Sheppard and Teyla back him entirely. Then there's Jeanie, who it's always delightful to see. She and Rodney together are simply terrific. And on top of all the very excellent team adventuring and bonding, this ep is also thick with slash. The McKay/Sheppard moments were phenomenal, and even removing my dirty slash goggles, this ep did a wonderful job showing the depth of their friendship.

I gaped at the scene on the flooded planet, where we got an amazing, expansive view of the team's situation, as the four of them perched atop the stargate in the middle of a lake. And, holy crap, John and Rodney on the pier. I suspect I'll probably watch that scene until I'm reciting it in my sleep. Then there was the radioactive shrine and poking a hole in Rodney's very valuable head with a power drill. How cool was that?

The only thing that keeps this from being the Very Best Episode Ever is the incredibly bad ending. If McKay had told Keller he'd started to care for her, wanted to date her, thought that maybe she wasn't so bad despite her voodoo profession, it would have seemed so reasonable and in-character. But that he loves her? What? That's just too hard to swallow. It felt like the person who wrote the first 42 minutes skipped out on the last 60 seconds and left it for the janitor to finish. And the janitor was wacky on the junk. As well as being a 12-year-old girl. Just, no.

Well, this seems like a fine time to pile on the hurt. I'm not taking SGA's cancellation too hard - it might be my favourite show these days, but it is just a TV show. Nonetheless, I'm sad and grumpy about it, and I am not encouraged by the prospect of a direct-to-DVD SGA movie, or the planned Stargate Universe series.

Nope, not too happy about this at all.

Bah, I'm going to watch "The Shrine" again (skipping that last scene), feel stupidly gleeful about such an incredible episode, and console myself with the knowledge that the series might be ending, but I will have this gem to watch over and over and over again.

News on the Farscape front

2008-07-28T13:34:00.001-06:00

Those Farscape webisodes that were mentioned last year look to be actually happening, along with a comic tie-in. Yay! There's a short video of Farscape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon talking about it here.

Yammerings about Stargate Atlantis

2008-07-28T12:54:00.003-06:00

Two episodes with Richard Woolsey in charge and already I like him better than Sam Carter. In "The Seed," the second ep of the season, he learned a lesson about how dirty and decidedly not by-the-book life is in Atlantis. And I'm so glad he's coming in with a reasonable balance between being The Man and following IOA rules, and the recognition that being in command of a base in another galaxy does, in fact, mean some of those rules just don't apply. And in Friday's "Broken Ties," I was happy with the way he reminded the team that he's the new guy in charge, but still clearly respected the experience and commitment of the Pegasus veterans. For someone who seemed like such an odd choice to be in command, it looks as though Woolsey is going to work out well (assuming doors start opening for him, that is).

While being a monster-of-the-week episode (not usually my favourites), "The Seed" had some interesting things in it, particularly the very cool sentient not-a-plant-thing. If nothing else, it was nice to get a little more info on how Wraith ships are made... er, grown. Also, it was nice to see Carson and I look forward to seeing him again later in the season, but that doesn't change my eyeroll at dead not meaning dead. I wonder if they've told Carson's mother a clone of her son is back on Earth.

I'm afraid the only thing I have to say about Ronon's adventure in "Broken Ties" has to do with that awful mop on his head. It's a damn shame that when Jason Momoa decided to cut off his dreads, the powers that be didn't just go ahead and let his character make the same decision. It must be terribly difficult for the costume department to come up with a head full of dreads that doesn't look like a bad wig. Terribly difficult. Nigh impossible, in fact.

Other than that, the Ronon-gets-kidnapped story wasn't especially engaging. I didn't care either way about seeing his Satedan pal Tyre again, and I expected a nice clean wrap-up by the end of the episode, so that was pretty anticlimactic.

So, Teyla's back on the team, Kanaan is human again, and Woolsey makes babies cry. It seemed unecessary to drag out Teyla's decision through the entire episode, as if we didn't already know she'd be rejoining her team. Anything for "dramatic tension," I guess. Now I wonder just how much we'll see of her being a mom, and of baby Torren. Michael had big plans for the kid, but do the writers?

Because I just wouldn't be a proper fangirl if I let it pass without comment, I want to see McKay in a bubble bath in every episode. Maybe with fewer bubbles next time.

Finally, Stargate: Continuum is released on DVD tomorrow. I'll watch it and probably enjoy it well enough, but I haven't heard anything that makes me think it's going to be great. At least Jack O'Neill is back.

New season of Eureka starts tomorrow

2008-07-28T11:56:00.001-06:00

SciFi Channel's original series Eureka returns tomorrow, ushering in its third season with an all day marathon of season 2, starting at 8am EDT. The word (if you believe what "they" say) is that the new season will see a return to the light & fluffy of season 1. Given that the second season only hinted at anything dark without ever actually going there, I'm not expecting the new season to be much of a change over the last. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you - I like this show a lot, fluffy or not.

So, new Eureka tomorrow night, Tuesday, July 29, 9pm EDT, on SciFi.

Watchmen trailer

2008-07-18T14:32:00.002-06:00

Go here right now and watch this.

Go! Now!!

Man, does it look good. It's going to take an effort to keep my expectations (what's that you say, Disappointment?) in check, because I am ready for this movie to be fucking incredible.

Diseases of the World

2008-07-12T20:12:00.002-06:00

Want to know where the latest instances of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever have shown up? Yeah, I thought you did. How about typhoid, or encephalitis, or even the plague (eek!)? Conveniently, that information is now available online. HealthMap offers all this and more.

So, before you travel to Indiana, be aware of the recent outbreak of syphilis.

The return of Stargate Atlantis

2008-07-11T23:18:00.001-06:00

Be careful touching this post – it's got squee all over it.

I love my team, I love this show. I love John & Rodney's concern for each other. I love Teyla and her baby. I love Michael (I know, I disgust myself sometimes). Even Carter was good in this episode.

So, when last we saw our intrepid heroes, they were attempting to rescue Teyla, but instead ended up at the bottom of a crumbling building. Turned out, some redshirts bit the dust, while our heroes (Sheppard, Ronon, McKay and Lorne) were a little worse for wear, but survived. And, of course, the nick-of-time rescue of Sheppard and Ronon was awesome, mostly for the few moments before said rescue.

About Sheppard's dream at the beginning, Ford was never one of my favourite characters (a little too gung-ho marine for me, even before the enzyme turned him into a nutjob). Nonetheless, it was so nice to see him again. Each and every one of the two-thousand milliseconds he was on-screen was a pleasure.

Did Rodney call Michael's database a wiki? I'm not sure if that hurts my brain, or if I think it's cool.

I loved John's stoicism, but I loved Ronon's stubbornness even more. Also, John's not a very good liar. I don't believe he'd leave Ronon if their positions were reversed.

I love Rodney McKay with a fangirlishness that knows no bounds, but I'm pretty damn sure I wouldn't want him helping to deliver my baby. And afterwards, John told Rodney he did good? Uh, how about Teyla? You know, the one who actually had the baby. This ep kind of made me wonder if the writers aren't trying to brace us for the entirely unexpected reveal that McKay and Sheppard are, in fact, a couple.

Hey, a girl can hope.

Michael's ship was destroyed, but this is science fiction television and there's no reason to think that means Michael's dead. Our heroes got off his ship with five adults and a newborn, so it's not much of a stretch to think Michael managed to make it off as well. That's probably just wishful thinking, though.

So, while the end was no surprise, I liked the way the news was delivered. Call me crazy, but I actually like Woolsey and I'm kind of excited about him taking Carter's place.

Yay! Stargate Atlantis is back!! All right, now I can't wait 'til next week.

Fifty-six days and counting!

2008-07-03T15:47:00.001-06:00

DragonCon is once again on the horizon (August 29-Sept 1) and I'm starting to get a bit psyched. The guest list is looking good, though subject to change, of course. There are lots of folks I'm eager to see, but the highlights today include Aaron Douglas (Galen Tyrol, Battlestar Galactica), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck, Battlestar Galactica), Adam Baldwin (Jayne, Firefly), Cliff Simon (Ba'al, Stargate SG-1), David Nykl (Radek Zelenka, Stargate Atlantis), George Takei (if you need a reference for this guy, for shame!), and a bunch of others I don't feel like listing. The upshot is, this oughta be a good year.

I haven't thought much about costumes and I'm not really sure I'll be doing anything special this year. I do know I have neither the time nor the motivation to bust out anything really fancy, so I might just be sticking with clever t-shirts, and maybe a pirate get-up. Everyone loves pirates!

Hammond of Texas has fallen

2008-07-03T13:15:00.004-06:00

Actor Don S. Davis was taken out by a heart attack a few days ago. In geekdom, his biggest role was as Maj. General George Hammond on Stargate SG-1, but he's got a long list of TV and movie credits spanning more than 25 years. Among his numerous guest appearances on TV shows, one of his most notable was as Dana Scully's father, William Scully, on The X-Files.

Fans will get to see him one last time as Hammond at the end of this month when Stargate: Continuum is released.

On a much more up note, I've been squeeing at commercials for season 5 of Stargate Atlantis. Squeeing, I tell you! It would be undignified, had I any dignity to begin with. The season kicks off next Friday, July 11, at 10pm on the SciFi Channel. As excited as I am, I couldn't laugh harder at the promo pictures released by MGM. They're simply awful. So, in the spirit of mocking, I've changed the Show & Tell picture to a macro made by SGA and slash fan Fia Reynne. It's SGA meets Captain Morgan meets Astroglide. Awww yeah.

I think so, Brain, but burlap chafes me so

2008-06-11T22:14:00.002-06:00

This week I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I'll start my nitpicking by saying that title is too damn long. The gist of my impressions are that George Lucas had his hacky little fingers all over the dialogue, and it would make a great Animaniacs* episode. The music was mostly enjoyable (unmistakably John Williams), but there were a few scenes where it was so comical that I half expected Yakko, Wakko & Dot to show up.

While I'm not inclined to lump this movie in with Temple of Doom (appropriately number two in the series), it doesn't hold a candle to Raiders or Last Crusade.

Surprisingly, I did not find Shia LaBeouf to be especially offensive, nor his character, Mutt, especially annoying. I wasn't sure; I'd only seen him in one other movie and I was underwhelmed. Anyway, I actually liked him in this. Of course, it was such a huge pleasure to see Karen Allen again. Unfortunately, there was about one twenty-third of a second wherein Marion and Indy had any chemistry at all, and then the moment passed and I was left feeling just kind of blah about their reunion. Their romance did nothing for me and the wedding at the end felt soulless. Damn.

I enjoyed seeing John Hurt, though I felt like he was wasted considering the amount of time he spent onscreen. But, it was nice to see him, and in a very wonderful way, he reminded me of my friend Todd (hey Todd!).

On a scale of one to ten, I give it an "almost could have waited for DVD." And, that seems to be all I have to say about it.

*for those not hip to Animaniacs, it's a 1990s Steven Spielberg exec produced cartoon, and it's very funny. The title for this post is a quote from the show; Yakko, Wakko & Dot are characters.

BSG storyline striking parallel to Days of Our Lives

2008-06-07T00:19:00.003-06:00

Yes, that's hyperbole, and it's been awhile since I've known wtf is up on Days, so I don't know if it's true. However, I cannot deny that Battlestar Galactica continues to be painfully soap opera. If the way the show is going is any indication, I am so not going to watch Caprica when it kicks off. The joke has been that the spin-off will be Dynasty-in-space, but now I'm not so sure it's a joke.

I came away from last week's ep thinking that the show is asking me to suspend my disbelief regarding some pretty hefty issues of human character and human interaction, and this week's ep didn't make me feel a lot better. Adama found out his XO impregnated the Six in the brig (more on that in a moment), but then he gave him the keys to the whole fucking fleet when he decided he had to go on a quest to find his lost girlfriend? Wtf? Romo (who it was so great to see and so frustrating to see misused) showed Lee Adama a dead cat and Lee suddenly "realized" he should be the president? And unbelievably, the colonies' twisted little senate agreed? I repeat, wtf?

And then Baltar was on a Baseship trying (succeeding?) to sell dogma to the centurions, which just kinda bugged the fuck out of me. Also, how heavy-handed was the wound in his side? Very; yes, it was very heavy-handed.

There have been good things, though. I like the hybrid and I hope we don't come to understand her much better than we do now. The greatest amount of awesome to be found in the last two eps was in the scene at the end of last week's "Sine Qua Non," when the hybrid awoke with "jump!" Ooo! that gave me some shivers!

Other cool things included D'Anna snapping Cavil's neck. It's nice to have D'Anna back and it's nice to see Lucy Lawless again. Then there's Tigh's aforementioned cylon nookie, coming to Adama's attention with one of the most intriguing twists yet – a cylon managed to knock up another cylon, something they had not been able to achieve. That would have been a perfect opportunity for Tigh to tell Adama he's a toaster, but that would have made too much sense and meant Adama couldn't leave Tigh in charge of the fleet. Oddly, the fact that he's fucking a toaster, who is being held in the brig because they don't know if they can trust her, does not seem to interfere with Adama's desire to go get some nookie for himself. Really??

Further, I'm jarred by the utterly mangled love story that is Roslin and Adama. I was so pulling for those two to get together, but the past several episodes have left me bored, annoyed or stupidly surprised by some of their actions. I'm having trouble swallowing the idea that Admiral William Adama, military leader of the Colonial fleet, protector of the last of the dwindling human population, hopped in a viper to chase down the Basestar that stole (oh gag!) his fucking soulmate. Okay, I take back what I said earlier – this show is in fact a high-budget version of Days, and Bill & Laura are John & Marlene in space. Ouch.

Bah! First post on my blog after a little break and I bitch bitch bitch. Today's entry has been brought to you by the meme "lodge a complaint on the internet" and by the mood "critical." See you again soon, kids!

knockknock* Is this thing on?

2008-05-23T23:44:00.003-06:00

On the off chance that it isn't abundantly obvious, I've been taking a break from the blog. I just wanted a little time away.

During my break, I've been watching Battlestar Galactica (holy shit!), getting excited for the return of Eureka and Stargate Atlantis in July (yay!), reading some really excellent books (no wonder Rendezvous with Rama is a classic!), and enjoying some summer movie releases (Iron Man was awesome!). I'm following scifi news, having geeky conversations with my friends, and I expect I'll be back to blogging with some regularity in the not-too-distant future. I've also given up double spaces between sentences (in your face Chicago Manual of Style!).

So, if you haven't completely wandered off during my hiatus, I sincerely thank you and I hope that when I come back it will be with something that interests you.

Finally, because I totally illegally swiped the current Show and Tell picture from (SGA show runner) Joe Mallozzi's blog, I want to share a funny tidbit from said blog. A commenter writes: "Are they ever going to stop with these ridiculous hybrid names for crossbreeds? When I first got my mutt he was just a little mongrel but now apparently he’s called a Springador (Springer Spaniel/Labrador cross)…" And Mallozzi's fuckin' brilliant response is: "I want my next dog to be a Bulldog Shitzu mix just because of the crossbreed name potential it provides." I think I pulled something, I laughed so hard.

That's it for now, thanks!

Serving fandom in a very cool way

2008-04-09T21:19:00.001-06:00

Some of you know I'm into slash (in short: dirty stories about hot men on scifi shows). Well, slash is a subset of a genre called fanfiction, itself a subset of something dubbed "transformative works" - original works based on existent materials. For example, Gregory Maguire's Wicked ("The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West") falls into this category, as it is an original piece of writing that used L. Frank Baum's Oz stories as a springboard.

Really, though, the Organization for Transformative Works can explain it better than I can, which is the point of this post: go check it out if you're into that sort of thing. The OTW seems like a really great idea and can use your support.

Stargate Continuum trailer

2008-04-09T21:06:00.000-06:00

Though I've watched the first Stargate straight-to-DVD flick, The Ark of Truth, I haven't posted about it yet and I'm not sure I will. I just don't have that much to say; it was a decent episode, on par with anything else from seasons 9 & 10. The movie I'm looking forward to, though, comes out this July - Stargate Continuum.

If you're impatient like I am, and can tolerate terrible quality, check out the trailer that was shown last weekend at the Stargate con in Vancouver. Be warned, it's a fan recording of the showing, so it really looks awful. Also, I wouldn't expect it to be available for very long. Hopefully, an official trailer will be online soon.

No surprise here, but I squeed along with the rest of the audience when Jack O'Neill showed up onscreen.

Geeks who can kick your ass

2008-04-09T11:17:00.000-06:00

Q. What's the difference between people with tattoos and people without?
A. People with tattoos are cooler than you are and can kick your ass.

I just love that joke :) While I've seen lots of cool tat sites, a friend pointed me to Carl Zimmer's Science Tattoo Emporium, which is among the coolest, featuring a huge variety of ink from all geekly disciplines. It's definitely worth a look-see!

Holy shit, that was cool!

2008-04-08T10:40:00.003-06:00

For a few days, that's about as far as I was able to get in my thoughts about the Battlestar Galactica season 4 opener. I'll try to expand on that a bit now, though. It wasn't the best episode ever (that was season 3's "Exodus pt. 2"), but it definitely did not suck. That said, I'll start with the things I wasn't so fond of. I won't say I exactly disliked Tigh's murderous little trip to Imaginationland in the beginning, but I wasn't crazy about how it was done, all heavy-handed and something between too weird and not weird enough. I'm also not sure at all what I think of Roslin. Yes, I've been saying that for awhile now, but I continue to wonder. She's a great character and super hot, but she's also pretty damn frightening as the president, and I have big issues with her being so damn close to the military commander of the fleet. Of course, the part of me that's a sqeeing fangirl loves that she's staying in Adama's quarters while she's on the Gallactica.

Well, on to something I feel much more clear about - Anders getting scanned? activated?...at least recognized by the cylon raider, was fantastic. Though when that was finally discussed by the four - Anders, Tigh, the chief & Tory - I was a little confused by what the hell their agreement was about. We're not going to do anything bad because we don't want to? I appreciate their determination, but good luck with that, ya toasters! And that's not even saying I think any of them is going to get activated by the cylons and try to do something to endanger the fleet. I just think that scene was a little ridiculous, because there's no reason to think they'll have a choice should that, in fact, be part of their programming. But regardless of all that, I don't think these four pose the same kind of threat to the humans that the other seven do; they are markedly different and the fact that they've been in the fleet all this time just scratches the surface of those differences.

Later, though, when Starbuck told Anders she'd put a bullet between his eyes if she found out he was a cylon, that scene made me happy. How wonderfully in character of her.

Which brings us to the big questions - where the hell has Starbuck been for the past couple months? What happened to her Viper? Did she actually find Earth? Was she with her cylon boyfriend, Leoben, being programmed? Clearly, something big happened to her while she was gone, because she's having a hell of a reaction every time they jump farther away from what she believes is the path to Earth. Is she right? I suspect we won't get any real answers for a good long time.

And finally, there's Baltar and his cadre of worshipful hippie chicks. Not even sure what to say about that. He was funny and so very himself, and as much as I don't like all the religious BS, I can't wait to see where that goes.

I'll close with a pointer to a great pic from a GQ shoot, featuring Grace Park, Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff in full Barbarella regalia. Scifi is all about the hot chicks!

If only number 5 was true...

2008-03-26T10:08:00.002-07:00

If you're not sure about watching the fourth & final season of Battlestar Galactica, which starts next Friday, April 4, this Top 10 list on David Letterman should clear up your uncertainty.

Also, don't forget the two half-hour specials this Friday, starting with the story-thus-far recap, followed by "The Phenomenon," wherein cool people talk about how cool BSG is. Apparently, it's very cool. If you can't catch the specials on TV, they are available at the SciFi website without the irritation of commercial interruption. If you're too impatient to sit through 22 minutes of video, there's also an 8-minute recap available on the site.

My next post probably won't happen 'til after the season 4 kick-off episode at the end of next week, as I'm heading out on vacation to a town in the Colorado Rockies that has yet to achieve 21st century technology. Have a great week!

Arthur C. Clarke, 1917 - 2008

2008-03-20T10:07:00.002-07:00

Just a few months after celebrating his 90th birthday, Arthur C. Clarke died in Sri Lanka a couple days ago. There's no way I can adequately describe his contributions to science and scifi, but I'm a big believer in celebrating life rather than lamenting death, so I'll just say the loss is overshadowed by his amazing legacy.

Catching up with a classic

2008-03-17T09:45:00.001-07:00

Contrary to how things seem around here, I have not forgotten about my blog! Life's been busy lately, and will be busy for a few weeks to come, but I'll try to slip in a thing or two as I get the chance. That same picture of Jason Momoa has been up for Show & Tell for something like a month now, mostly because I haven't made the time to find something new to put there. At least he's hot. Oh! also, happy St. Patrick's Day! Wear green, drink beer, molest a leprechaun!

So, on to some geekery. This past Friday I finally saw Blade Runner - the Final Cut. As awesome bonuses, it was on a Blu-ray disc, played through a friend's projector. Holy shit, is it pretty! I've rambled before about how nice some things look, but the quality of this was just stunning. On top of that, the sound system was excellent as well, so every note of Vangelis' awesome music sounded amazing. Really, a top-notch experience.

I can't say I missed the voice-over of the theatrical version, but it's been so long since I've seen it that it's hard to say. However, I do know that one of the things that captivates me about this movie is the visual impact of it, so not having the v.o. did not seem like a loss. In fact, I think I could have been very happy if there'd been less dialogue, as well. Did I mention how pretty it was? Fuckin' gorgeous.

As far as Deckard being a replicant, I'm entirely happy to speculate either way and don't feel any particular pull towards either theory. The romantic in me likes to think he is, and that he & Rachael are fleeing off into the sunset together, to die in a year or two. But, I also like the notion that he's just a simple damaged human who's been a blade runner for too long and needs to get out of the business. Damaged humans are interesting.

Anyway, a big "fuck yeah!" to The Final Cut. Well worth the watch, especially on Blu-ray. So very, very pretty.

Now what will I do with my Friday nights?

2008-03-07T21:22:00.002-07:00

Stargate Atlantis ended its 4th season tonight with a painful cliffhanger. Teyla is still missing and a couple weeks closer to giving birth, the rest of the team apparently got squashed, Michael's plans for galactic domination seem to be moving along very nicely, and the future doesn't look any better off than before Sheppard caught a ride back in time on a solar flare. Wow, are they fucked!

Watching the end of humankind in the Pegasus galaxy was pretty cool, and it was quite a pleasure to see everyone's demise. Teyla's end was a great deal more ignoble than she deserved, but not everyone can go down fighting. And hey, her child certainly went on to have a damn significant impact on history. Ronon, on the other hand, went out as I'd expect him to, with a hell of a bang, and it gave me a warm feeling inside that Todd the Wraith was there alongside him. Carter's kamikaze maneuver was definitely very excellent. Of course, I have to give props to Michael and his amazing evilness. Man, did he wreak some havoc.

I have to voice a little gripe about McKay & Keller, but it's just a fangirl gripe so it doesn't really mean shit. Even I can't take me seriously when I get like this. Anyway, GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM, YOU HUSSY!

*Ahem*

My only complaint about tonight's season ender was how reminiscent it was of SG-1's series finale, "Unending." But really, I'm not complaining too much, and I certainly enjoyed it well enough.

As a whole, I liked this season quite a bit, but I'm pretty easy that way. For someone who didn't even like this show not that long ago, I've gotten roped in hard.

Now, let the withdrawal begin! Gateworld is speculating on when season 5 will start up, citing a TV Guide claim that it will probably come back in July. That would certainly be better than having to wait until fall, but, as I say far, far too often, we'll just have to wait and see.

On an unrelated note, in that same article they mention that SciFi might split BSG season 4 between 2008 & '09, due to the WGA strike, but that rumour has been around since at least a couple months before the strike started. Perhaps this was a plan in anticipation of a strike, but I'm skeptical...SciFi has not shown much wisdom in how it's treated BSG thus far, so regardless of other factors involved, I wouldn't expect them to make a wise decision on this front.

Is it comix? Is it art?

2008-03-06T14:57:00.003-07:00

This afternoon a friend and I checked out the current exhibition at the Adam Baumgold Gallery in Manhattan, which features some works by comic artist Chris Ware. Ware might be familiar to folks for his work in any number of publications, including RAW, The New York Times and The New Yorker. His work is quirky, mature, sometimes a little grim, and consistently captivating.

For me, the most interesting works were the images from the series Building Stories, which chronicles the hour-by-hour happenings in a Chicago apartment building over the course of a day. My favourite in the series, Introduction 3, shows a statistical view of the history of the building, noting the number of occurences of various elements - 11,627 lost childhood memories, 4 criminals, 61 broken dinner plates, 6 suicide notes, 617 dead plants, to name but a few.

Definitely worth a trip into the city. The exhibit runs through March 15, if you're inclined to check it out.

New Watchmen pictures up

2008-03-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

I've been following Zack Snyder's Watchmen blog for a little while now and yesterday's post is possibly the most exciting yet. It features pictures of five of the principles, and they look pretty damn awesome. It's too early yet and I'm too skeptical to say I'm very excited about this film, but from what I've seen so far, it looks like it could kick some serious ass.

"Tales of the Black Freighter," the comic-within-a-comic, apparently will not be featured in the film, which is quite a disappointment. For me, the Black Freighter segments in Watchmen were some of the best parts of the entire comic, so knowing its story will only make it onto the DVD as an extra is a bit disheartening. Well, I guess I should be glad it'll be represented at all.

The release date for Watchmen is March 6, 2009, so we've got a year yet before it hits theaters. Here's wishing Snyder, et al., a good post-production process!

Long live the Geek

2008-03-05T15:57:00.002-07:00

Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, died yesterday, and the world of geekery mourns.

It's been a long time since I've done any gaming. My introducting to RPGs came around 1990, when I got into a Rolemaster game shortly after becoming entrenched with a group of geeks who changed my life in countless ways. Until that point, my perception of gamers was that they were another breed, different from the rest of us and not in good ways. I've learned a thing or two since then.

The first character I played was a thief. She was wily and enthusiastic, with a penchant for the ridiculous. After creating her, my first roll in a game situation was one I expect I'll remember for a good long while. I was attempting to steal someone's underwear, while it was on his body (really, in context, it made sense). The 2d10 hit the table and I deflated as they settled on two zeroes. Damn. I groaned, then got a little confused as my fellow gamers cheered and told me nice job. But, I rolled a big fat nuthin', I said. Oh no no, they corrected me, quite the contrary - my double zero was perfect. I stole those underwear without my victim even being aware of it! What a nice way to start my first campaign.

In subsequent years, I played more Rolemaster, and got into a few Vampire games (with Cowboy, no less, who might no longer admit he ever gamed, but some of us know the truth). I never tried other systems, though I suspect there are games out there now that I'd probably enjoy had I the motivation to seek them out. RPGs led me to games like Illuminati and other offerings from Steve Jackson Games, and Talisman. Oh, the long weekends spent holed up at a friend's place in marathon sessions of Talisman!

Enough of that stroll down memory lane. Gaming might have lost an icon yesterday, but Gygax has left behind an impressive legacy and that is a very cool thing indeed.

I hope I'm the final cylon!

2008-02-29T22:15:00.003-07:00

Because I'm a goddamn fool, I've been reading too many spoilers for the upcoming season of Battlestar Galactica. I oughta lay off that shit before I'm completely ruin't. Well, since I'm not mean enough to post about any of them here, I'll just get off that train right now.

Yay, season 4 starts Friday, April 4, at 10pm EST! SciFi is kicking things off a week prior, on March 28, with two half-hour specials. In case you missed the first three seasons, the first half-hour will be a recap of where the story is so far. That will be followed by a wanktacular half-hour of BSG's "impact on pop culture," wherein celebrities talk about how great BSG is. I want to roll my eyes and mutter "oy," but I'll probably watch both because I'm the exact kind of sucker they're targeting.

Also, the season 3 DVDs will finally be available March 18. Update: Just to note, the SciFi Channel is reporting in two different places on their site a release date of March 18, as well as March 25. I guess we'll see!

Reading to change your life

2008-02-29T21:43:00.002-07:00

Check out this post on io9.com - The Twenty Science Fiction Novels That Will Change Your Life. That's a bold statement, to be sure, but it's a good starting point for further exploration and discussion. In fact, the post itself is not as fruitful as the comments.

Of course, it got me thinking. To call a book "lifechanging" is, to me, no light statement. There are hundreds of books I can say had powerful impacts on me for any number of reasons, but actually changed my life? That's something else altogether. Also, when I read a book is pretty significant. What changed my life at 14 years old surely wouldn't have had the same kind of impact even five years later. Now, at nearly 40, I'm not sure I can say I've read any book in the past decade that had so great an effect on me that I'd call it lifechanging. Well, maybe some Vonnegut, for altering my worldview.

Anyway, here's a short list of SF works that I believe I can assert did Change My LifeTM:
Time Enough for Love (Robert Heinlein) - My first Heinlein. It's not his best, but it introduced me to a wondrous new world of SF, and a whole new take on the bizarre quagmire that is human relations.
"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" (Harlan Ellison) - More than any other writing, fiction or non-fiction, this story helped me understand the importance of civil disobedience*.
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) - Growing up in a household where books were revered, this one was practically required reading and really solidified my belief in books as necessities.
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) - My first exposure to why Utopia sucks.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy (Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson) - I'm at a loss for what to say about this one. Hell yeah, it changed my life, enormously. If you haven't read it, put it at the top of your list.

*Knowing I was a political science major in college might help clarify the weight of this statement.

Many happy returns

2008-02-22T21:41:00.002-07:00

Oooh, these are the kind of episodes I really like! The past couple weeks of Stargate Atlantis have made me very happy, and I expect the two remaining episodes of the season will also do me right.

As excited as I am to see Carson Beckett, we can be pretty damn sure it's not actually Carson. Nonetheless, it's really very nice to see Paul McGillion again. Now we have to wonder what nefarious plot is at the root of "Carson"'s return.

It's nice to finally put a name and face to the father of Teyla's child. Of course, what he's been turned into is a whole other matter. And speaking of which...Michael's back! When Connor Trinneer's name came up in the credits, I squealed. *Ahem* Don't judge me; it was a mature, dignified squeal. Michael is really so badass and I love whatever crazy shit he's got going on. It appears the missing Athosians are the first of his new race, and I hope Michael lets us in on more of his plan real soon.

Todd the Wraith is back and now I'm starting to wonder if our heroes are actually going to form some kind of long-term alliance with him. It seems the face of the enemy is changing for everyone, and the landscape is becoming much more murky.

I don't have much more to say about this ep. Exciting things are afoot and we'll just have to wait and see how they pan out. A couple observations: I think Ronon has a crush on Rodney. The way he teases him sometimes is the equivalent of pulling pigtails on the playground. It's very cute. Also, on a minor, prurient note, the costume department is high on my list of favourites since Teyla's pregnancy.

I can't wait 'til next week!

Lunar eclipse tonight - repent now!

2008-02-20T13:01:00.004-07:00

For a sign of the apocalypse, head out for a look at the moon tonight around 10pm EST to catch the height of the show, though it'll get started about an hour earlier. Barring clouds, it will be visible for its entirety from most of North America, all of South America, and parts of Western Africa and Western Europe, with the totality phase lasting about 50 minutes. New York is due for scattered clouds, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Top 10 scifi movies

2008-02-19T18:10:00.003-07:00

The American Film Institute is choosing ten movies from a list of 50 for the best science fiction films ever, and broadcasting their picks on a TV special in June. While you can't have any say in that hoo-ha, you can let the SciFi Channel know what you think. Check out the story, with an address to send your picks, here.

This is the list I sent, which was chosen by use of random criteria, r-p-s with myself, and my own awful taste:

Metropolis (1927)
A Clockwork Orange
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Alien
Donnie Darko
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
The Matrix
Repo Man
Solaris (1972)

I'd be interested in hearing from other folks about their picks for best/favourites.

This is what I get for seeing a first-run movie

2008-02-18T13:25:00.002-07:00

This past weekend Jumper opened in theaters and I was persuaded to actually go out and see it (an unusual thing for me, catching movies on opening weekends). Don't read this if you plan to see the movie and don't want some things spoiled for you. So, for the first 80 minutes or so, I was enjoying it well enough. It wasn't anything great, but its premise was pretty sweet (there are people in the world - Jumpers - who can teleport just by thinking about where they want to go), and the teleport effect was cool. I was a little uncertain about Hayden Christensen's acting, having last seen him in the Star Wars abominations, but he wasn't bad.

Then, just as the story seemed to be developing some teeth...it ended. Worst set-up for a sequel I've seen in a long time. It felt as though the writers weren't sure how to end it, so they just didn't bother.

Christensen's character, David Rice, put his super cool ability to weak and unfortunate use - teleporting half a foot across the sofa to reach the remote control, zipping to London to get laid, popping directly from the elevator to his apartment, thus cleverly avoiding the use of doors. Oh, and robbing banks. It left me frustrated and disappointed that someone with such an utter lack of creativity would be gifted with such a totally awesome ability. Weak.

Samuel L. Jackson played...Samuel L. Jackson, but with really bad hair. His character was one of a group of religious fanatics called Paladins, whose purpose for centuries has been to hunt down and kill Jumpers. Religious fanatics are boring, especially when their sole justification for their fanaticism is "Only God should have this power." *yawn* Jackson's character tells Rice that he kills Jumpers, because all Jumpers go bad, but we never actually learn how they go bad. It would have been nice to see some examples of this alleged "bad." If stealing some dollars was what he was talking about, I'm wholly unconvinced.

Diane Lane makes a brief and unconvincing appearance as Rice's concerned mother and a Paladin herself. She left him and his dad after the first time he jumped, at five years old, because her only other choice would have been to kill him, she explained. So instead, she ran away, leaving him to learn on his own that he has this crazy ability. She sucked.

Okay, so it sounds like I've got nothing but complaints, but bitching is always easier than praising. Like I said, I was enjoying the movie well enough through most of it. There were aspects of it that weren't so great, but nothing that stood out as especially stinky. Teleporting is, of course, totally cool. The opening scene where Rice learns he's got this awesome ability was done well, in execution and believability. The only other Jumper we meet, Griffin (Jamie Bell), was easily the most interesting and coolest character. Rice could have learned something from him if he hadn't been such an arrogant pup. Jackson's Roland-the-Paladin was as cool as all Jackson's characters are, if entirely too two-dimensional. And my own long-standing fascination with North Africa was tickled by some really nice desert scenes, with panoramic shots of the pyramids and the Sphinx.

I could go on, but there's a Firefly marathon on tv today, so I'm going to go back to that. My recommendation: if a theater near you is showing Jumper during a bargain matinee, you probably won't want to tear your eyes out after leaving the theater. However, if you wait for it to come out on DVD or skip it altogether, you won't be missing much.

A very satisfying Stargate Atlantis

2008-02-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

I think I'm too old for episodes like this; my heart just can't take the stress.

So, I guess we don't have to see Todd the Wraith for him to make another "appearance" in our heroes' world. Even the last time we saw him, he wasn't exactly on a friendly basis with the Atlantis team, so Rodney's "He's our ally" line didn't make a lot of sense. That's okay, though; it's a minor complaint about an otherwise totally awesome episode.

Why does Carter have to be such a wet blanket? I mean, it seemed like not only were Ronon & Teal'c having a good time kicking each others' asses, but everyone else was having a good time watching & betting on them. She just doesn't want the boys to have fun. I'm pretty sure I used to like Carter a lot more than I do now.

No surprise at all that Ronon & Teal'c would find common ground in the Three Stooges, or that Teal'c would admire Ronon's weapon. Heh. Because Ronon is so consistently cool, I think I'll put a picture of Jason Momoa up for Show & Tell soon.

It was also no surprise that they managed to save the SGC, and I enjoyed seeing them have to really fight to do it. Sometimes I think our intrepid heroes have too easy a time of it when they're facing a bunch of Wraith, and they definitely don't get into hand-to-hand fights often enough.

The worst moment for me was watching Sheppard crawling across the floor as the atmosphere was sucked out of the Midway station. It's not as though I didn't know he'd find a way to survive (in fact, in an earlier scene, the EVA suits were clearly visible, so I'd even guessed how), but it was stressful nonetheless. Also, I was hurting for Rodney, who had some minutes there of being sure John was dead.

A minor thing, and maybe I'm just remembering wrong, but didn't Teal'c have more grey hair after his experience in "Unending" than he had in this ep? Perhaps I'll have to watch "Unending" again.

Yes, all around a great episode, very exciting, with some nice warrior bonding.

***SPOILER FOR NEXT WEEK'S EP***

I have to squee, because I'm so fuckin' excited: Carson!!! It's Carson! Yay!!

Our long entertainment nightmare is over

2008-02-13T13:11:00.002-07:00

The writers' strike officially ended yesterday, when 92-some% of WGA members voted to go back to work. Yay! I haven't sorted through all the news to find out what this means for shows I care about, but the networks are planning at least some continuation of the 2007-2008 season. Lost will be marginally affected, with 13 episodes planned for the current season rather than 16. Not sure what this means for Battlestar Galactica's fourth season, which halted production because of the strike.

Well, here's hoping the deal was fair and the writers are happy. Now, back to some tv watching!

Another excellently geeky place to go

2008-02-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

I've been remiss in not adding io9 to my list of Geeky Places to Go sooner. This is a blog by and for people who are truly Strung out on science fiction (their tagline). Post topics range far and wide, covering scifi in every medium imaginable, as well as comics, politics, art, society, and a whole slew of other interesting aspects of reality.

My favourite feature today was the Could You Be a Shipper? quiz. I'm not going to tell you what I scored, but I will assert that all the fanfic I've read has been slashy, not shippy!

Anyway, io9 is well worth checking out.

Sanctuary picked up by SciFi

2008-02-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago, I posted about the online series Sanctuary (here's what I said). Well, the SciFi Channel is granting it 13 episodes for air, filming to begin next month.

I like Amanda Tapping a lot in this, and I think it'll be pretty damn good for her to get away from the Stargate universe, especially with a character who is so completely different from Sam Carter. Sanctuary also boasts a very cool villain, in the form of a seriously hot Christopher Heyerdahl (who also plays Todd the Wraith on SGA, incidentally).

So, no certain word yet on when it'll begin airing, but a 13-episode commitment is a good thing and I'm looking forward to where this story goes. All eight internet episodes can be purchased at the Sanctuary website, which also has a bunch of other cool things to check out. If you're a cheap bastard like I am, you can also download all eight eps on your friendly neighbourhood bittorrent network.

Flash in the pan

2008-02-09T11:03:00.001-07:00

Last night was the season finale of Flash Gordon. It was packed with excitement, reunions, family trauma, and heartbreak. I'm glad I held out, because this show actually did get better as the season progressed. It's not especially deep, gritty or dark, and I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan, but I have been enjoying it. Some decent characters, interesting enough stories and, of course, hotties all make it worth the time. I'm still not thrilled with Ming, who just isn't merciless enough. I think he's too emotional, is the problem. He needs to get some distance.

So, exciting things have come to pass. Flash's folks are together again. Being the biggest sap ever, I was moved by their reunion. That just touched me. Flash & Dale shared a pretty steamy kiss that did a good job of teasing viewers who are into those two. I think I like Baylin & Zarkov better, though. Now there's a nice couple. And, now that he, Flash and Dale are all trapped on Mongo, they've got some time to work on that relationship. Oh, and there was a revolution, as Ming's kids, with Rankol at their side, rallied the deviate troops to free Mongo from the oppression of their "Benevolent Father."

I don't know if Flash Gordon will be renewed for a second season, but current rumours suggest it will not be.

Meanwhile, in the Pegasus galaxy...

2008-02-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind on my raving about Stargate Atlantis, so let me start with what I thought of tonight's episode. I might never have mentioned it before, but I sure do like a Rodney episode (even if he is a total fuckin' whiner). He's just so damn high strung, and stressful situations never see him at his best. His suggestion that Carter flash her tits at the kids was a good one, though.

Keller's a good character and I like that she gets nervous and uncertain under pressure, but that she always holds up. However, I certainly hope she's not making a move on Rodney [insert scowl here]

The Genii mining facility they found themselves in reminded me of a videogame. Not any game in particular, but just the general setup of being in a room with no good options for exit, now solve the puzzle! I liked that they solved it a few times before they actually managed to get out of there, and that they found the way out by accident. Not a bad episode, overall, but I wouldn't say one of my favourites.

Now, a little bit of catch-up is in order. Yes, the ep two weeks ago, "Harmony," was a bit annoying all around, and Harmony was a pretty damn annoying kid, but I liked it anyway. It was cute, lighthearted, low on the scary, high on the John-Rodney banter. A fun, mid-season snack about which there just isn't much to say.

Then there was last week's episode, "Outcast," which I definitely enjoyed. The sweet little moment Sheppard & McKay shared at the beginning made me happy. Of course Rodney would have gone with John if he could have! We didn't learn everything about Sheppard's falling-out with his family, but we didn't really need to. It's true that funerals rarely bring out the best in people, but it seems like Sheppard's brother is a douchebag and that his old man probably was too. Also, I'm really glad we met Sheppard's ex-wife, Nancy. His awkwardness with her at the wake was a little over-the-top, but I guess that could have been done worse...somehow. I mean, we don't know much about why they split up, but this many years later, when they haven't seen each other since before Sheppard left for Atlantis, it just seems like Sheppard-the-charming wouldn't be so frazzled by his ex at his dad's funeral. Seems, in fact, like he should have expected her. Bah, that's just me nit-picking, though, so I'll get on with the post already. The upshot is that I liked Nancy!

"Outcast" reminded me that I often like the stories that are predicated on the idea that, while the Stargate program and the Atlantis expedition are huge government secrets, information about them gets out nonetheless. Technology, of the insanely advanced, alien-influenced variety, is available to those in the right place at the right time, and helps build some interesting little plot scenarios. The homegrown-replicators story here was satisfying enough without being something the writers will ever need to revisit if they don't want to. However, since they have their very own replicator consciousness on ice, I wouldn't be surprised if she pops up again. So, I liked that, too.

That's my SGA wrap-up regarding current goings on. Now, sit back and marvel at my mad skillz with the crystal ball.

***SEASON 5 SPOILERS***

This week saw an abundance of SGA spoilers. Season 5 (woohoo!!) production starts up later this month, and changes are afoot. Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) will replace Sam Carter (Amanda Tapping) as the new commander of Atlantis, and Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion) is due to make a return in a handful of episodes. Tapping is leaving the regular cast to spend more time on Sanctuary (more on that in another post soon), but will make some guest appearances during the season, as will Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson. Also, Jewel Staite is joining the regular cast, as Dr. Jennifer Keller.

So, no more Carter in charge, which will not seem like much of a loss methinks. But Woolsey? Really? How...unexpected. I'm open-minded, though; I'll give him a chance. And finally, Daniel Jackson is going to make it to the Pegasus galaxy. He's only wanted to go from the beginning! So, that's something to look forward to.

Jeez, now shut the hell up already!

It's like steak-of-the-month, but with science

2008-02-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

Also, no actual molecules come to your door.

This evening I found a totally cool website called Molecule of the Month. Going back to January of 1996, this site features a new molecule every month, with entries written by numerous contributors.

I've been such a slacker around here the past few weeks and I hardly have anything to show for it, but this was pretty cool so it poked me until I decided to post about it. There should be other nifty posts in the near future, as I've been keeping up with my tv watching, and I actually have some thoughts about a nerd-appropriate book I read recently.

In the meantime, here's to this month's molecule, Vanillin!

Just say fuck

2008-01-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

As much as I loathe the replacement of a good swear word on a tv show, this list includes some of the best from scifi. Not surprisingly, Battlestar Galactica's "frak" starts the list, which also includes Farscape's "frell," "smeg" from Red Dwarf, and "shazbot" from Mork & Mindy.

I'd always rather hear "fuck," or whatever word can't be said on most tv. Just as a show won't usually grab me if there's not someone hot on it, I can be lured into a show by the language. Of course, it's usually shows with swearing that get me, but hey, I like swearing.

BSG can't start soon enough

2008-01-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

THIS CLIP & ACCOMPANYING BLURB CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BSG SEASON 4!!!

Not huge spoilers, but enough that if you're trying to stay pure, you probably want to avoid it.

Check it out here.

The commercials SciFi is airing say March, but they still don't specify a date. I impatiently wait....

New Sarah Connor Chronicles

2008-01-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

I wish I understood what happened to River, er, I mean Cameron, between the last episode and this week's. The cool terminator with the striking ability to blend in with humans suddenly doesn't know how not to be a machine and, unfortunately, that means Summer Glau was playing the same character she played on Firefly, without the crazy. Perhaps we'll get some explanation for the change in a later episode.

Then there was the irritating and superfluous side story of the suicidal high school girl. I'm not sure what that was designed to illustrate, but I didn't find it either interesting or in any way useful to the story.

On the other hand, I definitely like Sarah. I kind of thought the nuclear program parallel was a little heavy-handed, though really, it wasn't too bad. It's a damn shame she had to burn up the cute guy's toy, but I suspect we're going to be seeing her make quite a few difficult and uncomfortable decisions as she continues her quest to stop Skynet.

The bits with the evil terminator unit were very cool, and I dug how he managed to get himself a fleshsuit. He's a seriously nasty piece of machinery. Yay!

So far, so good, though given the writers' strike, I wonder how many episodes we'll actually get.

Disaster narrowly averted

2008-01-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

And I don't mean Atlantis' life support systems shutting down, or the self-destruct almost taking out the city, or the risk of the beacon drawing unwanted attention. Tonight's Stargate Atlantis was loaded with tension, confusion and uncertainty, liberally peppered with humour and sweetness. Overall, an entertaining episode. But, it could have gone horribly awry had Rodney actually proposed to Katie Brown. I hope the closing scene means we've seen the last of that little misguided romance.

(Am I jealous? Petty? Okay, maybe a little. Yeah, probably. I can't help it; geeks win me over and make me all crazy & possessive.)

On the other hand, Ronon makes me so happy sometimes. He's charming and funny and likes to blow things up. If he and Keller end up an item, it'll be a very good thing. As a bonus, we got a little slice of who Keller is, and it's always nice to see a character I like get a little more development.

Finally, I loved that it was Zelenka who saved the day. He's a great character who too often is stuck in Rodney's shadow. Getting to watch him rescue the city was gratifying.

"Monster-of-the-week" episodes are never my favourites, but when SGA does them, they tend to be good, so I at least enjoy them. "Quarantine" wasn't the best ever, but all in all, it was good.

Ass-kicking aplenty

2008-01-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

The premiere of The Sarah Connor Chronicles was certainly action-packed. It's hard to tell much about what the show will be like yet, but it's promising enough for me so far. Last night, I thought that perhaps if I were an overpaid network executive, I'd understand why Fox spread a two-hour premiere over two nights. Then I watched tonight's "second half" and realized it wasn't a two-part premiere at all - last night was simply the pilot, and tonight was the first regular episode. Of course, maybe if I were an overpaid network exec, I'd understand why they billed it the way they did. Anyway.

So, if Lena Headey (playing Sarah Connor) can maintain how cool I'm finding her thus far, I'm definitely going to like her. In fact, I'm happy with all the main actors. Without a doubt, it's nice to see Summer Glau kicking some ass as Cameron, the super awesome protector terminator. And I think Thomas Dekker is going to make a good young John.

I hope the show is not too heavy on the family drama, because that shit's just torture to me. On the other hand, one of the main characters is a teenage boy whose destiny it is to lead the human resistance against an AI apocalypse, so I'm willing to cut the show some slack if it gets a little emotionally dramatic on occasion.

Well, I'll plan on catching it next week, and we'll see how it holds up over the next few episodes.

I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue

2008-01-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I said there'd be a new Stargate Atlantis on Thursday, which, of course, was wrong. Then I missed the episode entirely on Friday night (albeit, for a good reason), and now that I've seen it, I hardly have fuck-all to say.

Let's see...Teyla's pregnancy is proving to be pretty damn interesting. Talk about crazy hormonal shit! As tense as the encounter with the Wraith queen was, it was nothing compared to the mere fact of Teyla and her baby being able to control a Wraith queen in the first place. Holy shit.

I hope Todd the Wraith actually did make it out in a dart before his ship hit the cloning facility. Now I wonder where he'll go and if he'll end up back in Atlantis anytime soon. [Follow-up: On second viewing, I caught that Todd did take off in a dart, but whether he got away or was captured by the other hive ship was uncertain. The question still remains, will we see him again?] But, back to the cloning facility - wasn't that place cool! Did the Wraith have just the one, because they couldn't get their life-sucking paws on any more ZPMs, or are there others somewhere in the galaxy? [More follow-up: It sounded like Todd was pretty sure there was only one of these bases, so they probably won't run across another. That's a shame, because that place was pretty fuckin' awesome it its total creepiness.]

Only two eps in since the mid-season break, and I'm getting impatient for things that I know are coming (like the return of Michael the Wraith, and, for fuck's sake!, Carson Beckett), as well as answers to some questions. Also, they could at least throw us a bone about the Athosians. And last week's wacky return of a new incarnation of Weir is just dangling out there like a big, pink elephant.

I reiterate, what the hell is going on?

Fans confirm: SGA good

2008-01-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've called awards shows mockable shit, but nonetheless, I think this is pretty cool: in a wankeriffic coup, Stargate Atlantis won the people's choice award for favourite scifi show. I even helped with that, casting my vote at least every day I remembered to go to the site. If you want to see the acceptance speech, featuring Jewel Staite (Keller), Joe Flanigan (Sheppard), David Hewlett (McKay) and Rachel Luttrell (Teyla), go here. (You'll have to scroll down to the right category, then select "view speech," then wait...and wait...and eventually it'll play.)

I wonder what they do with the little statue. Maybe the cast & crew pass it around for awhile, until it ends up in someone's attic, gathering dust between the trick trunk from Uncle Mort's old magic act and the dessicated remains of little Billy's third grade macaroni art masterpiece.

Good job, SGA! Also, new ep tomorrow night. Yay!

As if Rodney's mojo was ever in doubt

2008-01-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Like I don't have enough grey hair! If tonight's Stargate Atlantis is any indicator, the rest of this season is going to be a seriously insane ride, with a lot of time spent on pins & needles.

Really, there's just too much love to go around. A few helpful allies are one thing, but working with the Wraith and Larrin's people (the folks from "Travelers," who live in their ships and kidnap certain Lt. Colonels especially blessed with the ATA gene), and creating their own very cute and docile Replicator, just seems chaotic, not to mention crazy. I suppose that's why it actually worked. Well, at least the supergenius twins, McKay & Carter, were able to solve their little power outage issue. Of course, it's a damn shame they couldn't take a few of those ZPMs with them when McKay, Ronon and the Marines bugged out, since they didn't need them to overload after all.

It was no surprise that the Wraith didn't show up at the rendezvous point after the big battle. In fact, when the order to get the hell outa Dodge was relayed, I wondered what reason the Wraith would have for bothering with the post-battle shindig, so it was kind of nice to get confirmation that there was, in fact, no reason.

I actually got a little choked up when Ronon was all cute with Teyla, after she told him and Sheppard that she's pregnant. In an ep with so much - well, just so much, that interlude was a nice "human" moment.

And at the end, all I could do was wail, "What the fuck?!" I have no idea what to think about Replicator!Weir and the little project she's got going. In fact, I'm sorely tempted to seek out some spoilers. But I won't! Instead, I will wallow tensely in my own sweat as I await the next several episodes.

Ew. Let's just skip that visual.

Goddamn! What the hell is going on?!!

Exciting new television - The Sarah Connor Chronicles

2008-01-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Two Sundays from now (January 13), Fox airs the first part of the pilot for its new show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Part two airs the following night. The Sarah Connor Chronicles is set following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and will show Sarah and her teenage son, John, trying to prevent the creation of Skynet. They're protected by a seriously advanced terminator model sent back from the future, and pursued by an FBI agent who's convinced Sarah's batshit crazy.

If it's done well, it sounds like it could be pretty cool. I'm excited, at least, about the cast. Sarah is played by Lena Headey, who was the awesomely hot queen in 300. I've only seen her in a couple other things, but in addition to being very easy on the eyes, she's also pretty good at the acting. I hope she can be as badass as Linda Hamilton was in T2. Thomas Dekker (Claire's friend, Zach, from the first season of Heroes) is playing John, the 15-year-old who grows up to lead the resistance. Joining them is Summer Glau (Firefly's River), who plays a terminator programmed to protect John. Hopefully, that means we'll get to see her kick some serious ass.

As cool as it looks, I'm hoping it's not too cool for Fox, the same network that brought us - and prematurely took away - Firefly in 2002. But, it's early for me to be fretting about that; let the fretting wait until a few episodes have aired and I decide whether or not I like it.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot part one, Sunday, January 13, 8p EST, on Fox.

Way to kick off the new year

2008-01-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

The second half of Stargate Atlantis' season four begins Friday and, from what the commercials tease us with, it oughta be pretty damn exciting. Of course, the Wraith and the Replicators will be going at each other, with the unfortunate humans caught up in things. But much cooler than that is the return of two excellent characters, one of whom has been sorely missed. There's the very awesome and twisted Wraith, Michael. Last time we saw him, he was working a gig as an outcast mad scientist, in s3's "Vengeance," and I'm very psyched to see his return.

And then there's Carson Beckett. Holy cats! Now, Carson's dead; we watched him 'splode in s3's "Sunday" (some of us cried), saw his friends take his body back to Earth, and we've spent the first half of s4 adjusting to a new CMO. But there he is in the commercials, looking all, well, all alive! My guess is that this Carson (if he's real at all and not some hallucination or equally not-there trickery) has a shitload of nanites crawling around inside him. He's not exactly returned from the dead, but close to it. At this point, I'll take any Carson I can get, so regardless of how he's there, I'm just glad he's there. And when we find out he's a Replicator plant bent on the destruction of all the humans in Atlantis, then I'll be sad.

The first new ep airs this Friday, 10p EST, on the SciFi Channel. As a prelude, SciFi is showing the last three eps of s2 (for background on Michael), plus all of the first half of s4, starting at 8a.

Oh, hey, happy new year, btw!

Because geeks like tests

2007-12-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

Just when I was feeling uncertain about my geek cred, this aural quiz put my concerns to rest.

	I received 78 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Take the Sci-Fi Movie Quiz

The quiz has 14 questions with accompanying sounds. I'm bummed it didn't tell me which ones I missed, but actually, there weren't that many I was guessing at. Otoh, it told me I am a major scifi geek, but 78 out of 100 doesn't seem all that impressive.

Go on, go test your geekitude!

A few site changes

2007-12-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

I've changed a thing or two in my list of GEEKY PLACES TO GO, over there on the right. First, no offense to Heroes, but I got rid of the link to the official NBC site. I just didn't feel like having it there anymore. Very cool, though, is the addition of a couple totally cool geek sites.

Bad Astronomy is a blog by (you guessed it) an astronomer who debunks bad astronomy wherever he finds it. He also rips up other bad science, and talks about a slew of other sciency things.

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics covers, well, movie physics, the good, the bad and the totally ridiculous. Of course, not being a physicist myself and far too lazy to do the necessary work to be a physicist (i.e. getting at least one degree in physics), I can't say how accurate their physics is. I'm gullible, though, so I'll buy it. Also, the site is funny, which scores major points with me.

Finally, I added xkcd awhile ago, but failed to mention it, so now I'm telling you. Go look at xkcd and laugh.

Physics in the movies

2007-12-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

If you're interested in a brief look at science in the movies, check out this article, "Hollywood Physics," archived at physicsworld.com.

While the article is not the most in-depth look at science in films, it does give a basic overview, starting with the introduction of science in movies with 1902's Le voyage dans la lune (Voyage to the Moon). What's also great about the article is the short list of links at the end, pointing to a few sites that talk serious scifi science. Very cool stuff there.

"Im in ur manger killing ur savior"

2007-12-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

A nativity scene outside a public library, gone painfully, horribly nerd. You don't have to be a gamer to enjoy this, but it sure does help.

Merry frakkin' Xmas, ya geeks!

Thanks for pointing me to this, Bob!

I want an Alethiometer for Yule!

2007-12-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

I finally got my ass out of the house and saw The Golden Compass. Good flick! Overall, I give it a "heck yeah!" It was certainly very pretty, and many of the sets had just enough of a foreign atmosphere to make me feel like I was indeed in an alternate universe. For the most part, the special effects were all right, though I'm the sort who doesn't like any effects that I actually notice, and on occasion the movement of some of the animated characters was a little rough.

For the most part, the casting was pretty great. The young Dakota Blue Richards was really terrific as Lyra. That's a meaty role for a kid and she pulled it off well. I also really liked Simon McBurney as Fra Pavel, the Magesterium lackey; he was just as slimy and unpleasant as he should have been. Nicole Kidman did well as Mrs. Coulter, but I'm not sure the part was written as well as it could have been. She just didn't seem to have the subtle deviousness and calculating nature I thought defined Mrs. Coulter in the book.

So many of the characters were really great. The witch Serafina Pekkala was one of my favourites from the book and I definitely liked her in the movie, though I would have liked to see more of her (of course, it doesn't hurt that Eva Green is so very pretty). I was really happy with how Pan, Lyra's daemon, came out, as I liked him so much in the book. I was a little disappointed that Mrs. Coulter's golden monkey lacked a good bit of the nasty personality of his book counterpart, though I think that came out of Philip Pullman's descriptive writing rather than lots of actions that could translate well to the screen.

As far as the story goes, there is definitely room for disappointment if comparing it to the book, but I'm trying to view it on its own merits. It's not especially deep (something that could well be improved upon as the story develops in The Subtle Knife), which is a shame, since many of the concepts that were introduced could be expanded on tremendously. There also wasn't a great deal of character development, with the exception of Lyra. We didn't get to know much about the motivations of anyone else. However, something Pullman said (according to something I read somewhere on the interweb) was that some changes from the book were not a very big deal, as long as the movie stuck to telling Lyra's story. I'm inclined to agree with that sentiment, and say that it did that quite well.

As a cinematic experience, it felt as though a lot of things were left out, though not in the sense of skipping anything. Rather, it just wasn't edited very well and seemed rushed. On the other hand, I definitely thought the movie was emotionally engaging. At least, I got choked up several times when things got tense. It was especially difficult to watch Mrs. Coulter's nasty monkey daemon when he grabbed the Gyptian boy's daemon, as well as when he attacked Pan.

I'd say my biggest complaint was with the really awful Kate Bush song at the end. If I wasn't a sit-through-the-credits kind of gal, that song would have had me fleeing the theater. Thankfully, it ended and better music played over the remainder of the credits.

All in all, it wasn't overwhelmingly spectacular, but it was entertaining and enjoyable, and definitely pretty to look at.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

2007-12-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is number three of Clarke's Three Laws* and something I quote often, from the most excellent scifi author Arthur C. Clarke. Today is his 90th birthday and I hope he's celebrating by doing something really wonderful and indulgent. A tiny sampling of his works, spanning nearly six decades, includes the novels Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, and probably his most widely known book outside the geek world, 2001: A Space Odyssey; the most awesome short story "The Nine Billion Names of God"; and his terrifically enjoyable non-fiction work, The View from Serendip, recounting some of his experiences in Sri Lanka.

For my own celebration, I will endeavour to try out this nifty music/movie mashup, and listen to Pink Floyd's "Echoes" (from the album Meddle) while watching Dave's weird & wonderful sequence at the end of 2001. Some guy at Wired.com claims it's pretty fuckin' cool. Heh.

*One & two are: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong; and, The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. Man, that guy is a genius!

Because I need another way to waste time

2007-12-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Replicator activity on Stargate Atlantis got me thinking again about picking up Myst V: End of Ages, the last in the Myst series of computer games. Really, it makes sense - David Ogden Stiers (who will forever be Charles Emerson Winchester III to me) plays the Replicator mouthpiece, Oberoth. Well, he also voiced a character in this last Myst game. While I've checked out End of Ages and started poking around a bit, I haven't sat down & gotten very into playing it, so it's about time I do that.

I finished Myst, Riven and Exile, but never got all the way through Revelation. Revelation's puzzles lacked the organic feel I thought was present in the three previous games. For me, the integrated nature of the puzzles, their appropriateness to the game atmosphere and context, were a huge part of what made those games fun for me. As much as I liked some aspects of Revelation, my disappointment in many of the puzzles was enough to keep me from sticking with it. Maybe I'll go back to it sometime and give it another shot.

Riven is my favourite of the series and it's no wonder. It was the first one I played and I discovered it under very positive circumstances. I think it was around my birthday, sometime in the late-'90s, and I was at the tail-end of a solo trip that had gone pretty damn well. I joined my boyfriend at his computer, where he was playing Riven. Not surprisingly, I thought it was sooooo beautiful. Heh. As it happened he was stuck, so while pondering what to do next he gave me a tour of the game. It & I were a natural match, as I fell in love with everything he showed me, and then I promptly got him unstuck. I was totally hooked. Between the beautiful scenery, the complete lack of hack & slash, the excellent puzzles, and that nearly immediate sense of gratification upon my introduction to it, Riven was pretty much the perfect game for me.

I know that seeing the game for the first time and quickly solving a puzzle that'd been vexing someone else for awhile had more to do with being a fresh set of eyes and my heightened state of mind, than with me being any kind of puzzle genius. Many of the puzzles in Riven, as well as Myst and Exile, definitely challenged me. They also evoked appreciation and enjoyment on a purely aesthetic level, because of how smoothly they seemed to fit the games' atmospheres. Pretty much everything about the games was satisfying.

So, I'll give End of Ages a shot and see what I think. It's definitely beautiful, though I thought the intro could have been cut down. I'm more into game-playing than game-watching, so long narratives with animated characters don't really do it for me. But, if that ends up being my biggest complaint, I think it'll be a good experience. We'll see!

"Bold reimagining" indeed!

2007-12-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

That's how the SciFi Channel plugged their Wizard of Oz revamp, "Tin Man," and I'm inclined to agree with that assessment. It aired at the beginning of last week, but I'm just getting around to talking about it now because I'm slow, and not just in the short-bus sense. Besides, if you missed it, or want to catch it again, it'll be on at least one more time (next being Monday, December 24, starting at 5p EST).

So, what did I think? I'm pretty sure I'm sweet on Zooey Deschanel, as I thought she was simply awesome. She's nothing like the Dorothy we met in the 1939 technicolor classic, a version of which makes a brief appearance in "Tin Man." Deschanel's DG handled herself and her bizarre circumstances in a charming and endearing fashion. She's a nice balance between capable self-sufficiency and childlike vulnerability, as she and her acquired friends make their way through the strange environs of the Outer Zone.

The new Tin Man, played by Neal McDonough, was a very cool and complex character, who used the struggles of others' to work through his own issues. His story was a little heavy on the schmaltz for my taste, but engaging nonetheless. Very heroic.

Just once I'd like to see Alan Cumming do a crappy job in something, just so I stop feeling like such a slavering fangirl. In "Tin Man" he played the brainless Glitch, a scarecrow of a different stripe, and was nothing short of delightful. While I was not so hot on the inconsistencies of the character's brain issues, they were easy to overlook as I just enjoyed Glitch so much.

Richard Dreyfuss as the Mystic Man updated the Wizard in the most wonderful way. Who ever thought the Wonderful man himself would be a drug addict?!

The new version of Toto left me with mixed feelings, probably because I grew up with a cairn terrier and have always had a soft spot for the original Toto. However, even though the Toto in "Tin Man" didn't get enough screen time, I appreciated that he was made a significant character who had some impact on the course of events.

The story itself is not especially near & dear to my heart, so I had no complaints regarding the changes that were made. I really liked that the entire adventure wasn't a dream, that DG had a mother and a father who were actually instrumental to the story, that the wicked witch possessed the heroine's sister, that the O.Z. was radically different from Oz, and that there weren't any munchkins of the sort from the '39 movie. I didn't even miss Glinda. Something I really appreciated was that so many of the supporting characters had actual fleshed-out stories and were so much more interesting than the two-dimensional companions with whom the original Dorothy traveled. Of course, it was nice to see Callum Keith Rennie as Azkadellia's right-hand baddie, Zero.

All in all, an enjoyable, well-presented story, with lots of pretties, a good serving of darkness and some really wonderful set & costume designs.

Oh! and the mobats were definitely pretty fuckin' cool!

I [heart] Stargate Atlantis

2007-12-10T13:57:00.001-07:00

Lots of things to enjoy about the last ep of the fall season. Who knew Rodney would get along so well with his doppelganger? But of course, if he's truly going to appreciate anyone's company, it's going to be someone who's not his intellectual inferior (which pretty much leaves himself). I would, however, have expected him to have trouble with his nanite-created version being physically superior. Ronon, bless his caveman heart, is quite the charmer, and it was no surprise at all that both versions were a little nonplussed by the whole situation. Hearing Sheppard refer to "my McKay" tweaked that slashy part of me, but I'm pretty easy that way. In fact, I know it's just my perv-tinted lenses, but this whole episode was a bit on the slashy side. Not surprisingly, I loved Rodney's "Oh crap" an instant before the end credits.

Other random bits I enjoyed: Sheppard & Ronon sparring (I bet I could watch that for hours!); sneaky & secretive Replicator-Keller, -Lorne & -Zelenka; the destruction of Replicator-Atlantis; Ronon holding Rodney while Sheppard cut him; Rodney & Zelenka's painful conversation about Rodney avoiding dealing with Elizabeth's death.

I was a little disappointed to learn that Elizabeth is dead, though not because I was especially fond of the character. Rather, I sometimes get tired of how little "dead" can actually mean on some shows. So, Elizabeth is dead, but that doesn't mean we can't still have her around, indistinguishable from her former self but created by Replicators. Oy.

I can't help being a little amused by how damned convenient it is for our heroes that interraction with them leads their enemies to infighting. If it weren't for the Wraith's civil war and now the Replicators' internal strife, the humans would have been fucked a long time ago.

Now it is a mere four week wait for the exciting conclusion...or at least the continuation. The mid-season break is a blessedly short one, with new episodes resuming January 4. Yay!

Updating a classic

2007-12-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Producer Thomas Schuehly (Alexander, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) and Executive Producer Mario Kassar (Terminator 2, Jacob's Ladder, Total Recall) are planning a remake of Fritz Lang's 1927 scifi uber-classic Metropolis. The gist of this movie features the perennial struggle between the intellectual elite and the downtrodden working class, with some gorgeous art deco set design and standard silent film emoting.

Part of me really wants to see this come to fruition, and part of me rails against the mere suggestion of laying a finger on this masterpiece. Metropolis isn't just a classic scifi movie; it was a groundbreaking cinematic endeavour and qualifies as required viewing for film students and scifi fans everywhere. Of course, it's not for everyone - my significantly awesome other just pointed out that he's never seen the whole thing, because it puts him to sleep every time he tries to watch it. Once I got over my apoplectic fit, I just had to shake my head.

Anyway, the project is in the very early stages and still doesn't have a director, let alone cast or a firm production schedule. I'll keep my ears open for developments and hope for the best.

Close Chapter Two

2007-12-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what to think of the season ender of Heroes. A virus destroyed, a few dead heroes, a few resolved storylines, and a whole lot of questions left hanging.

The showdown at Primatech with Adam, Peter, Hiro, Nathan & Parkman was pretty exciting. Poor Peter, it hurt him to find out he'd been played by Adam, but at least his brother was there to hold his hand and tell him what to do. I'm glad Adam's just in a box, rather than dead. Not that he's very effective where he is at the moment, but I'm betting he'll find a way out. Maybe Sylar can help with that....

Ahh, Sylar. It's nice that Maya finally saw his true colours - black, black and black. His entire performance at Mohinder's apartment then the lab (formerly Isaak's studio) was terrific, from his creepy smiles for Mohinder to letting Maya know who he really is to his quick little shootout with Elle. I loved that he shot Maya, without even hesitating. It's too bad she didn't stay dead. Ah well, maybe she & Sylar will meet again in the next chapter.

I'm a little boggled by what Bennet's up to. Why would his agreement to work with The Company again guarantee the safety of his family? Just because Bob tells him so? Why on Earth would anyone - ANYONE! - still believe anything Bob says, most especially Bennet? Even poor dumb Elle, so desperate to please daddy, must realize he can't be trusted. Bennet, though, remains so utterly awesome to me that I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Who shot Nathan and why wasn't Parkman immediately brain-scanning the crowd for the shooter? Bennet's the likeliest choice and I rather like the idea of him using public assassination to achieve his ends. Of course, there's no reason to think Nathan's actually, really, truly dead, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Who was Angela Petrelli talking to at the end? It seems a little redundent to say Pandora's Box has been opened - after all, throughout this season she's been belabouring the point that she & her first gen pals did that 30 years ago.

As an afterthought, does anyone care that Niki probably blew up saving Monica? Naw, didn't think so. Maybe that bit was thrown in just for the sake of offing another hero and/or finally being done with her tired drama.

The little preview of Chapter Three was nice. With Sylar's powers returned to him, he's pretty much unstoppable. Of course, enough heroes working together could take him out, especially if Hiro & Peter get in on it, but I'm guessing it won't be an easy task.

Finally, I'm left wondering about what would have been different if not for the WGA strike. It forced the season to a premature end and some quick & dirty storytelling. Given everything that was left hanging, I can't help but have big hopes for a third season, but I wonder how much of that story will have to involve cleaning up the short second season.

Razor, take two

2007-12-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched the DVD edition of Razor with some friends. All in all, I think I was more satisfied with the version that aired. It wasn't bad by any means, but it seems "uncut" and "unedited" translates to "three times the gore" and "things that were not in the broadcast version for a reason." Not all of the additional scenes were superfluous, but mostly they didn't add anything to the story.

There's an added scene in the beginning featuring Kendra Shaw discussing her posting on the Pegasus that I enjoyed seeing. It gave further context to this character being thrust into wildly unexpected circumstances. It also had the benefit of being short and to the point, which other added scenes did not. For instance, the show could have done without the lengthened sequence featuring young William Adama, before he discovers the cylon lab with its hallucinogenic vats of goo. Watching his fancy flying and outrageously improbable mid-fall gunfight was more silly than exciting or revealing.

Unfortunately, the scene with the young Helena Cain was actually disappointing and definitely should not have been included. Rather than providing greater insight into this complex person, I thought that bit of exposition was trying to offer some emotional excuse for the horrific choices she made as an adult. Not only did that weaken the character somewhat, but it was entirely unnecessary given Adm. Adama's position at the end of show. Cain made some distasteful decisions in extraordinary circumstances and there's no knowing how those decisions might have been different if she'd been responsible for and supported by different people. Unlike the added scene, Adama wasn't trying to excuse Cain's behaviour or absolve her of her sins; he was acknowleging a cold harsh reality and appreciating the circumstances he was in as he made his own decisions.

Good news & not so cool news

2007-12-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Good: The Stargate SG-1 straight-to-DVD feature The Ark of Truth will be available March 11. Yay!

Not so cool: It's going to have a pricetag of $27. Wtf? I paid less than that for some of my full season DVD sets of SG-1, and this will have a run time of only 97 minutes. Grr.