Wednesday, November 04, 2009
My Heaven
Song of the day: Delicious Surprise by Beth Hart
State of mind: reflective
Date: November 4th, 2009
Day Four!
I am an athieist, however... if Heaven or some other form of an afterlife does exsist, the following is a description of what I would want it to be.
You know that moment when you are at the beach or just in your back yard and your plan for the day is to sit back and relax? So you set up your lawn chair or spread out your blanket to settle back and maybe read a good book. But just after you get ready to pick up that book you maybe sit back and close your eyes and the sun is so warm on your skin but there is just enough of a breeze to keep you from getting too hot and all you can hear are the leaves on the trees rustle softly and the indecipherable sounds of laughter and joy of whomever else is enjoying the perfect weather... So for just that moment your mind is serene and you can barely feel your body because it feels so light and perfect. That. I want it be a perpetuality of that. Sublime unending perfection.
Show quote of the day: "Is this about the cake problem?"
"What's the matter with you mathmaticians? There is never a problem with cake!"
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Equality Now has just issued Women’s Action 34.1 -- Yemen: End early marriages through enactment of a law enforcing a minimum age of marriage. Research shows that up to 50% of girls in Yemen are married before they are 18. Despite the negative physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual and sexual implications of child marriage on girls, the Yemeni government has failed to take effective steps to prevent such marriages. The campaign calls upon the Yemeni government to end early marriages by enacting and effectively enforcing a law establishing 18 years as the minimum age of marriage.
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We hope that you will support this and our other Women's Action campaigns.
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
V 2.0
Song of the day: Blame by Korn
State of mind: Busy. So busy, I thought today was the 2nd. Honest.
Date: November 3rd, 2009
Day Two… er, Three!
Tonight I get to take another sci-fi soaked nostalgic trip through my childhood via re-imagining. ABC starts its epic series V, based on the mini series of the same name that aired over twenty five years ago. (Whoa. Really? It’s been that long?! Damn, I’m old.)
All I know of this new version is what I have gleaned from the ads as I have not been paying any attention to the online buzz about it, despite the series star being Whedon alum Morena Baccarin. (And according to articles posted on Whedonesque that I also didn’t bother reading, Alan Tudyk has a role as well. Sweet! *Please don’t let him die horribly.*)
Despite the pedigree of some of the actors in this new version, I am trepidatious. I want to like it. However, it’s based on a show I loved when I was 11 and back then all I really needed to consider a show awesome were spaceships and weapons that shot laser beam bullets. Like all the shows I loved back then they were cartoons compared to the sci-fi offerings of today. For example, the original BSG, Voyagers, V, Buck Rogers, The Tomorrow People, The Powers of Matthew Star, ect. Which is a point lost on Dirk Benedict as evidenced by his misogynist rant. I don't think he understood that the people that watched the original Battlestar Galactica were kids and that those kids grew up and were going to be the same people watching the new version and would want something more grown up as a result… The new show was geared towards an older audience, period. And if he doesn't think the show was about family, spiritual faith, and hope, then he wasn't watching the same show I was. His thinly disguised beef with the show is a stupid as the essay complainging that women are ruining sci-fi because the skirts on female characters aren’t as short as they used to be. Ok, the essay didn’t actually say that, but that’s pretty much what it boils down to. Wahh, the women in shows now have brains and are people! Grow up, and get your porn from Hustler like everyone else.
I’d like to think in the intervening decades my tastes have matured from cartoonish action to something with a little more meat to the story. I do still like shows with a touch of the fantastic, and admittidly Firefly grabbed me the moment I saw Serenity rise up from behind the cliff... but… uh… it’s still different… somehow.
V (circa 1983) has a special place in my heart not only because it was creepy and cool, it marked the first time I really recognized that good guys could also be bad (and vice versa), and it was also the show that inspired me enough to attempt my first fan fiction. (Which I think I still have somewhere in my 6th grader scrawl. Or, wisely, I burned it.) I didn't know the political climate of the time but I was smart enough to understand the Nazi allegory and be horrified that us Americans would so easily succumd to those tactics, and I can’t believe the writers wouldn’t play up the polarization of the media as it is now as the Visitors in this version use massive propaganda campaigns to win the hearts of the humans they wish to ... control/eat/make slaves of? Hmm... I wonder if their endgame is going to be the same this time around and all they want us for is to beef up their pantries? How much is it going to deviate from the original? Will it go it’s own way like BSG 2.0 did from the romp filled skirt chasing golly gee original? Or will it stick to the story with only updated effects? I'm kind of hoping for the former. I'm not a kid anymore and space ships and lazer beams aren't enough.
So, I’m expecting it to blow my socks off while at the same time not expecting anything. The only thing I would like is for Jeff Yager (Kyle) to make at least a cameo. And no, not just because I had a huge crush on him back then.
Ok, it’s because of the crush.
Plus, I haven’t seen that guy on anything since the original show went off the air (with his character apparently doing the stupidest of stupid things by sneaking aboard one of the departing ships that is loaded with human eating aliens. Seriously, WTF was he thinking?) Oh wait, I lied. He had a guest spot on Newhart … The hoity toity maid had a crush on him I think. And at one point someone ripped off his shirt sleeves. Why do I remember that?
*Quick check of IMDB*
Holy crap! He’s been in a lot of stuff since then… how did I not know this? Well then, guess he doesn’t need the work after all… But still, it would be cool to see some of the original cast get to play some part in the new version. Like Richard Hatch, Apollo on the original Battlestar Galactica, playing bad guy Tom Zarek for 22 episodes of the new version. (What’s Marc Singer been up too…?)
Besides, any remake automatically gets cred with the fans of the old version when they pay homage to the original cast and crew. At least I think there is a correlation to make such a statement. Take the two versions of Hulk movies. The first one was pretty much universally panned, even though I kind of liked the comic book pages on the screen that everyone else seemed to hate. But the second had clips of TV Hulk star Mr. Bixby and even cast Lou Ferrigno as a security guard as well as used his voice as the Hulk, and the movie was just blatant in its honoring of the TV series. Also, JJ Abrams included the much beloved Leonard Nimoy in his explosive version of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek so it was a bit hard to dis the movie when the man that gave Spock life endorsed it enough to be in it.
But, since I'm DVRing it, I can't tell you what I think until later. I guess nostalgia is going to have to wait for a few more days.
*Original post submitted at 7:20. Corrections and edits made at 10:55. (I was in a hurry because So You Think You Can Dance was about to start. Crazy, I know. I love a show about dancing. Me! Guess tastes change as well as mature.)
Show quote of the day: “What's funny about Cylon toast?”
Sunday, November 01, 2009
NaBloWriMo... (Not Dirty.)
Song of the day: Fly Away by Poe
State of mind: Combative
Date: November 1st, 2009
Once again it's National Novel Writing Month and I had fully intended on participating this year, but like usual, things never go according to plan. So instead I'm going to try and write 30 blogs in the 30 days of November. Some will be wordy, some not. But there should be at least something each day.
At least, that's the plan.
Day One!
To celebrate his extremely short return of the coolest character ever created, I give you a You Tube clip of Mal. Sorta.
BTW, if you look realllllly close, you might just see a nothin' part on the shelf...
And if you need a refresher in all things Firefly or are looking to do some early holiday shopping, get a new set here.
Show quote of the day: "You want to bite me, you buy me dinner."
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Dr Horrible Takes On Manhattan
Song of the day: "Chasing Pavements" by Adelle
State of mind: Mostly sunny with patches of rant.
Date: 9/27/09
So it's been about 5 days since I took the train down to NYC to see Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog and Joss Whedon at The Symphony Space to benefit 826NYC.org and I wanted to do my own non-singing blog about it pronto but I caught a cold while there and haven't had a lot of energy, plus a lot of shows premiered this week so... whatever. Also I lost my notes.
I could try and recount all the witty things Joss said in the Q&A after the screening but I'd ruin each joke with my bad recall and besides you can hear it all for yourself on the 829nyc.org website. They do ask, and quite kindly too, that you throw a little cash their way in return for being able to hear the interview. Trust me, even at 20 bucks, it's a steal. So give deeply and give often.
The screening itself was a lot of fun. The theater was a pretty good size and as Abby and I had gotten in line two hours before they opened the doors we were able to snag pretty good seats. About 7 or 8 rows back, I think. Close enough to see everything but far enough away to wish we were closer. ;)
After a slight technical foul up, which was more funny than foul, Sarah Vowel explained the reason for the evening and also explained that following the screening Joss Whedon would be Q&A'd by Ira Glass. Ira got a large "woot" of applause to which she replied after a short pause, "Yeah, he's ok."
Then Joss came out to a standing ovation, and that seemed to both please and fluster him.
Then the screening! Woot!!
After all this time I don't think I have to say how much fun Doctor Horrible is. Everyone reading this has had to have seen it by now. I mean, I mention it enough don't I? It broke the Internet. It was one of Time's "Best Inventions of 2008". It just won a freaking Emmy! So if you haven't seen it, do so. It's on iTunes, Hulu, Amazon.com... honestly, if you can get to this blog you can get to the Sing Along Blog. No excuses will be accepted.
But seeing it with a room full of other people is an experience, both good and bad.
One ad lib that got a lot of approval was when someone called out, "You're forgetting something!" in the second Act as Dr. Horrible is ranting about Penny calling Captain Hammer sweet and getting off track about the Freeze Ray. (It's not a Death Ray. Or an Ice Beam. Why? If you've seen the Blog, you know. If not, I'm not going to tell you.)
What I don't approve of is trying to recite the lines along with the good (but, you know, evil) doctor. It's a Sing Along Blog, not a Talk Along Blog. Honestly, everyones timing sucked. They were enthusiastic, don't get me wrong! Just waaaaaay out of synch. I mean, if your going to say everything along with him, shouldn't it actually be with him? For all the same reasons I listed above why there is no reason that everyone shouldn't have seen DHSAB, there is no reason those who wish to act it all out couldn't practice their timing- at great length. And of course the audience wide recitals were of the best lines that are not just funny but also require the impeccable timing of someone like Neil Patrick Harris. Besides being kind of annoying, the bad synch with the lines also ruined the funny for anyone that might have been brought to the screening by their friends and had never seen it before and lost the effect of those lines because 100 other people stepped all over them. Think of it this way, if you were at a party with some great comedian and he was telling one of his (or her) more famous jokes that you knew the punch line too, would you jump in and say it just before he did? Or worse yet, say it before he even finished the joke? No. So don't do it just because that comedy is on a screen. Please.
Other than that, the screening was awesome. And funny. Then sad. Then funny. Then sad again.
It ended and the screen rose up to reveal Ira Glass and Joss Whedon sitting facing each other for their Q&A. Again, standing ovation. Again he was pleased and flustered. I think it'd be OK though to reveal a secret. The ovations are always heart felt, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Whedon fans like giving them because a) they are deserved and b) they make him blush and that's kind of funny. But shhh, don't tell anyone, 'kay?
Again, if you want to hear the Q&A, go to 826NYC.org. It's all there. Then you will understand my two tiny complaints:
1) Wooting. Anytime any actor was mentioned that had worked on anything in the whedonverse that was beloved by any portion of the audience, there would be much wooting. Which was cool, but it started to get annoying and on more than one occasion I couldn't hear the answer to whatever question was being asked because it was lost in all the woot. And one never knows if a recording of an interview is ever going to be available. (Example: It took until August for the Humanitarian Award speech to make it online.)
2) Shouts of "spoilers!" Look. For fraks sake, the finale of BSG aired in March. That was six months ago. That episode, along with every season of that show, is available online and on DVD and if you haven't made the time to see it yet, that's your problem. This is the second time where I have been present that someone asked Joss what he thought of that finale (because not only is he a writer that might have some interesting insight, he's also a huge fan) and again he was prevented from giving his opinion because people in the audience actually thought that they not having seen it yet was more important than his opinion of it. And guess what? They're wrong. When it happened in Boston during the Easter weekend, I could understand it. The finale had only aired a few weeks previous and chances are that a good portion of the audience were Harvard students and maybe watching a sci fi show wasn't a priority. But six months later? Give me a fucking break. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT THE ENDING! Next time he's asked that question and if you are in the audience and hadn't bothered to watch the finale, plug your ears and let him have his say.
The Q&A ended and woot another standing ovation. Which flustered him. Hilarious.
Show quote of the day: "Every person I know is pretty poorly constructed."
Sunday, August 23, 2009
From the iTouch: Pondering
Song of the Day: Her Diamonds by Matchbox 20
State of mind: giddy
Date: 8/23/09
The other day I was thinking random thoughts while performing some menial task and as the words of my thoughts drifted from left to right in my brain I suddenly wondered: how did one mull things over before language had been invented?
Show quote of the day: "You're saying he's a dictator that doesn't know he's dictating?"
Easter Comes to August...
State of mind: On an even keel.
Click Me.
Show quote of the Day: "River, you don't fix the Bible."
"It's broken. It doesn't make sense."




