Number6's Journal

So, I haven't posted since the con, as it turns out. What have I been doing since then? Not much. First I got an annoying dose of Con Flu, but thankfully, that's worn off, I think. I rooted my phone, mostly to remove some of the annoying bloatware apps (I don't need a separate app for Google Magazine and Google Movies and Google whatever, especially since I can get all of them through the app store). I also changed the start screen, so instead of an ad for the phone carrier I got the phone from, I get a shot of the TARDIS flying through the Time Vortex while I boot up.

I considered doing some kind of stargate-gate-dialing animation but I couldn't find any I liked. I also had a crazy idea that I don't think's already implemented and too lazy to do myself, but... wouldn't it be awesome if, instead of entering a pin, you had to dial a gate address on the Stargate? Sure, you'd have to use more digits than most people use, but it'd just be cool. ;). In other phone news, I've started reading books on it more actively, but I still prefer paper books, so I do it in two circumstances: first, when I'm walking to work and it's too dark to read normally, it's easy to read on my phone. Eventually it'll probably get too cold to do that, but for a while, it means more reading time. And secondly, of course, when I finish a book but am still on-the-go, I automatically have a backup. Before I realized how easy it was to read in the dark with it, I spent a few too-dark-to-read walks listening to audioplays... the Neverwhere adaptation, and the adaptation of Iain M. Banks' "The State of the Art", both quite enjoyable. There are also some short stories I can get readings of online for free I'm going to load on them.

Anyway, beyond that, I'm still alive. Not much changes in my life, but I consume media, so let's see the results of my digestion... wait, that sounds inappropriately icky. Strike that. Something else.

Thanks to st_aurafina, I've discovered an amusing weekly webcomic, Monster of the Week, which is basically... a (usually) comedic take on every episode of X-Files, as a (usually) 12-panel comic, from the beginning, in order. They just did "War of the Coprophages" which is here, but if you want to start from the beginning, click here.

New TV season has started, but on the whole I'm not too excited about it. So far I've only checked out two, SHIELD, and Sleepy Hollow.

Let's start with the good.

How about you guess which one that is?

Did anybody guess Sleepy Hollow? Then you're not a good guesser. SHIELD was pretty good... a little rough, and, because of the ubiquitous promos, all the best bits fell a little flat, since we'd seen them so many times. As Whedon pilot episodes go, it's probably on the low end, but that still means a watchable show with some great moments, and I look forward to seeing where they go with it. Also, surprise Ron Glass! (Well, a surprise to me!) Hopefully he's recurring. Maybe now that he's got two big SFTV credits, he'll be more likely to be recruited for cons. :)

Now Sleepy Hollow... I guess it's not outrageously BAD, the actors have mostly been good, and once in a while there's an interesting moment of friction between attitudes of the past and present, but... it's not nearly good enough to get past the silliness of the premise of Ichabod Crane teaming up with a modern day police officer to solve crimes (magic crimes!). Every time they do something to make Ichabod surprisingly useful in the modern day, or find some way to allow him to continue to help, I feel the beams straining under the weight of the sillyness. Honestly, I can't imagine how it got approved to the pilot stage, much less a full series. But maybe it'll surprise me and be a success... apparently the first couple episodes got decent ratings, but.. meh, I might watch as long as nothing else airs at the same time, but I would not bother to download if I missed an episode or something else started airing in that space.

I have no faith in the quality of the long-term plot either... prepare to have nothing in the series mean anything or make any sense, because Sleepy Hollow is done by the same people that did the recent Trek Movies, so, I guess that's as good a time as any to Segue into talking about movies (I also need to talk about cartoons a bit, but it's a shame to waste a good segue, so let's do that a little later).

I saw Star Trek Into the Darkness. You may or may not recall that I was not at all impressed with the original remake, it was just full of stupid, and this... this is more of the same. The only thing these movies have going for it are some good actors and a good flashy look, it is practically completely brainless, plotholes up the wazoo. And, annoyingly, the writers treat Starfleet... well, they pretty much treat it like it's Hollywood: Where even if you haven't paid your dues or have in fact $!$@ed up spectacularly in the past, you can get control of a flagship based on a lucky success or somebody liking you personally. (Longer complaints below, some spoilers) ( Read more... )

I also watched World War Z, and... another meh. In this case, the movie itself's not bad... there are even a few good ideas here, some decent action moments. But it wasn't a World War Z movie. As I expected, it was a "Brad Pitt is awesome and fights zombies and beats impossible odds and saves the world" movie. And ANY movie could have done that, but a World War Z movie could at least have done something different that matched the book. I've mentioned this before, but I actually read (and have on my HD) what was allegedly an early script by J. Michael Straczynski where ( Read more... )

Now let's dart back to the small screen, for cartoons. Legend of Korra is back for season 2, finally, and it's good so far, although some of the manipulation is pretty obvious to everybody but Korra and I kind of want to take her aside and shake her by the shoulders to point out some of the stupidity. But it's nicely animated and got some funny moments.

Beware the Batman is the new Batman series, featuring a military-grade Alfred and Katana as a sidekick, all done in CGI. It's actually not too bad, mostly owing to the (frankly, brilliant) commitment to use obscure Bat villains instead of the classics, so we don't have to face the 30th Poison Ivy origin story, or the 30,000th Joker story. I just kind of wish they didn't go with Katana as a side kick and instead went with Cassandra Cain, or used a Stephanie Brown Robin or something. And, the animation... it's too clean and stiff. I feel like I'm watching plastic toys walking around in a plastic world. That's a risk in lots of CGI, but I've not only simply seen it done better as a whole, but it also stands out much more because Batman should be... grittier. But the stories are generally keeping my interest.

Now I have a bunch of Book Foo to get through, most of the reviews will be copypasted from Goodreads as usual, with maybe a few additional comments.

Finished: The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross

It's after the singularity, and much of humanity has uploaded into digital consciousness out in the solar system, but there are plenty left on Earth, trying to live the old way. One of these is Huw, a technophobic Welshman who signs up for a special kind of jury duty, to evaluate a piece of new technology sent to Earth by the occasionally incomprehensible cloud, and decide whether it should be allowed among the public. Huw plans to vote no on general principle, and maybe use it as an excuse to rant about the cloud in general, but instead gets wrapped up in events that will not just change him, but potentially the whole world.

( Read more... )
Short version: It's a solid book, fast-paced, fun... probably not going to be one of my favorites, but worth-reading.

Finished: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (reread)

A war is brewing around the distant planet of Hyperion, between two factions of the descendents of old Earth, but what happens on the planet itself might affect the universe more. ( Read more... )

It was a pleasure coming back to the universe, even if it doesn't capture quite the sense of wonder as it gave me the first time I read it, and I notice a few more flaws, I still think it's a great book.

Throughout the Hyperion series there have been occasional quotes that strongly reflect my values, or I just really like, and I believe I've posted them before, but I feel like quoting again, so, I'll do that. It's non-spoilery so I'll leave it uncut:

Sol wanted to know how any ethical system--much less a religion so indomitable that it survived every evil mankind could throw at it--could flow from a command from God for a man to slaughter his son. It did not matter to Sol that the command had been rescinded at the last moment. It did not matter that the command was a test of obedience. In fact, the idea that it was the obedience of Abraham which allowed him to become the father of all the tribes of Israel was precisely what drove Sol into fits of fury.

After fifty-five years of dedicating his life and work to the study of ethical systems, Sol Weintraub had come to a single, unshakable conclusion: any allegience to a deity or concept or universal principle which put obedience above decent behavior towards an innocent human being was evil.

Finished: The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (reread)

As interstellar war threatens the human Hegemony, a poet dreams of the planet of Hyperion and the quest of several pilgrims for the time-bending Shrike... events that are actually occurring, and may decide the fate of all of humanity. ( Read more... )

Finished: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (received for free!)

Full disclosure, I read an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book through Goodreads' First Reads program.

The Justice of Toren was an artificially intelligent starship serving the Radch, a galactic empire, controlling both the ship itself and many ancillaries... soldier bodies that were once human, their minds replaced entirely by the AI. But that was before... now all that's left of the Justice is Breq, one of those Ancillaries, carrying on the ship's memories and a futile quest for revenge on the Radch Emperor.

( Read more... )

Short version: Quite good, I enjoyed it all the way and wanted more, has an interesting approach to gender for those who might not read the full review but are interested in such things.

Finished: I Am Legend (and other stories) by Richard Matheson (reread)

Robert Neville is possibly the last uninfected man on Earth after a plague has killed billions... and returned to life as monstrous beings that stalk the night looking for fresh blood. Every day he renews his supplies or researches the phenomenon, while by night all he can do is hole up in his home and hope the defenses hold.

This is it, the granddaddy of the zombie apocalypse tale, ( Read more... )

Finished: Endymion by Dan Simmons (reread)

Hundreds of years after the fall of the human Hegemony, a man named Endymion is rescued from execution and given a task... to intercept and protect a young girl named Aenea, expected to appear out of a portal from the past and walk into an army of soldiers controlled by the now corrupt and ruling Catholic Church, so that she may fulfill her destiny. ( Read more... )

As I recall, the last book has more problems, but this one is one of the better books in the series.

And a quote:
"Entropy is a bitch," I said.
"Now, now," said Aenea from where she was leaning on the terrace wall. "Entropy can be our friend."
"When?" I said.
She turned around so that she was leaning back on her elbows. The building behind her was a dark rectangle, serving to highlight the glow of her sunburned skin. "It wears down empires," she said. "And does in despotisms."

Finished: The Mothership by Stephen Renneberg (received for free!)

Full disclosure, I received a copy of this book through Goodreads' First Reads program.

The Mothership tells the tale of a spaceship craft in a remote part of Australian. A US military team is sent in to investigate and retrieve any alien technology they can find, and destroy it if it becomes a threat, and a few locals are also caught up in the alien crash.

This book unfortunately left me cold, (some more-than-usual spoilers ahoy)( Read more... )

Finished: The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons (reread)

This novel concludes the Hyperion Cantos and the tale of Raul Endymion, as he stands by the messiah figure Aenea's side (or, occasionally, is forced to leave her) against the dangers of the corrupt Catholic Church who, in league with the parasitic AIs of the TechnoCore, not only want her dead, but are also about to launch a new crusade throughout the galaxy to destroy all of humanity who won't submit to their rule and the resurrection-providing cruciforms.

It serves as a pretty good conclusion, overall, ( Read more... )
Finished: Blindsight by Peter Watts (reread)

I've probably reviewed this book on LJ several times already so I won't even bother with an introduction before the cut. ( Read more... )

I'm not the kind of person to choose just one favorite book... but this would absolutely be in my top ten.

Started: The World's Best SF 4 (short story collection)
Started: Defining Diana by Hayden Trenholm (received for free!)

So, yeah, that's about all I think I have to say.

The Prisoner.

Man, that was just awful. A story of a very boring man trying to figure out a deep, complex mystery that I don't give a damn about, told in a pointlessly complicated way.

None of the charm, wit, subtlety of the original. It's like they just decided to take some of the trappings of the original and graft it on to a crap story and cardboard characters, and throw in heaping amounts of weirdness and discontinuity and hope we think that reminds us of the original.

(major spoilers ahoy, of course) ( Read more... ) About the only other good thing in it was the acting of Ian McKellen, but even he couldn't save this stinker. All he does is provide the crap with a temporary, illusionary, veneer of profundity. If you loved the original, stay away. If you didn't, I don't think it's worth watching.

In other, happier news (at least as far as anything which will inevitably have a tragic, horribly unfair ending can be happy news), apparently work's beginning on producing a full follow-up to Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. Song-writing work rather than actual production, but yay, it's something! Whedon, if you get stumped for ideas, I'm willing to give up all rights on my awesome ideas for a good superhero team played entirely by Firefly stars.

Prisoners of Gravity links first:

Women
Women in SF, Fantasy, and Comics

Part One: Trina Robbins (on how she first got hooked on comics), June Brigman (on why women don't get into comics, and trying to change it using Barbie comics), Louise Simonson (on lack of things in conventional superhero comics for women to relate to), Kate Worley of Omaha, the Cat Dancer (on whether she's bothered by being in one of the few prominent female comics creators), Elaine Lee (on the difficulty of breaking into comics and the 'boys club'), Chris Claremont (on why he was renowned for good female characters and how it became a cliche for him)
Part Two: Steve Bissett (on why comics are so slow to recognize women, and some of the key roles women played in comics). Shift of focus to SF. Lois McMaster Bujold (on whether SF is a good platform for a treatment of women's issues, and her most 'feminist' book), Veronica Hollinger (professor on SF) (on who are the landmark female figures in SF and male writers who are most 'feminist'), Candace Jane Dorsey (on leaving out gender pronouns in her stories), Pamela Argent (on 'strong female characters' who are just men in women bodies), Gregory Benford (on the tension between the sexes as being a good thing and some of the difficulties on juggling everything in SF compared to toher fields)
Part Three: Leona Gom (on creating a 'last man' in an all female world), a story about James Tiptree Jr. (actually a woman under a pen name) being asked to leave a summit on feminism in SF. Lois McMaster Bujold (on if there are difficulties in writing male viewpoints). Switch in focus to Fantasy: Karen Wehrstein (on her own challenges in writing women characters), Tanya Huff (on whether fantasy has improved in terms of the women, and info about something she changed about her own work on realizing it was somewhat sexist), Terence M. Green (on how men and women are different), Trina Robbins (on the complaint about things that interest women being 'banal')

Leisure - May 2, 1991
How we will spend out leisure time in the future, according to SF
Part One: Lois McMaster Bujold (on mandatory zero-gee workouts and the physiological adaptations of zero-g), Andrew Weiner (on some of his leisure-centered short stories, in particular one about filling time in a permanent unemployment), Christopher Hinz (on the idea of recreational space colonies), Jack Womack (on leisure time, or lack thereof, in his Draco books), Gregord Benford (on the management of leisure, and passive leisure), William Gibson (on dismissing 'television' as 'empty calories' leisure, and the mystery of TV and media and what it's doing to us)
Part Two: Alberto Manguel (editor) (on television in the future according to Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, and how it's somewhat come true, Terence M. Green (on children raised on TV and creating a video literate world), Bruce Sterling (on what he thinks of TV and his 1991 view of future of TV, and Virtual Reality), Douglas Adams (about Virtual Reality and using it to save the world, and creating virtual reality IN reality). Candace Jane Dorsey (on a baseball story on Mars in a collection she edits), Mark Chiarello (on baseball's imagery, and drawing a baseball card collection on the Negro League), Todd McFarlane (on how Spider-Man hangs out when not working), Walt Simonson (on how Thor spends his leisure time)
Part Three: Neil Gaiman (on how Miracle Man recharges), Louise Simonson (on Superhuman not having any leisure time, except for being Clark Kent), Ty Templeton (on his theory on how Superman kicks back), a clip of Superman Song by the Crash Test Dummies, Fabian Nicieza (on whether he'll show Alpha Flight in their leisure time, and what leisure time says about us), Steve Bissett (on the 24 Hour Comic, as a sort of 'game' for comic creators, and other games of artists (the surreal corpse)).

Censorship - October 25, 1990
Part One: Comics facing obsenity charges. Interviews with Harlan Ellison (on the good messages in a lot of SF), Kevin Eastman (on how his characterss influenced a kid to hurt himself), Harlan Ellison (on how the censors are exposed to the 'corrupting material' constantly, and standing up to censors), Steve Bissett (on the Comic Code Authority and the congressional hearings that led to it), Frank Miller (on him feeling relatively free from censorship lately), Steve Bissett (on temporarily dropping the comic code for the Spidey drug issue, and Swamp Thing deciding to do away with the CCA permanently)
Part Two: Spider and Jeanne Robinson (on the problems with censorship of sex in SF, and a particular unsavory reference that an author slipped past the censors), Jack Vance (on some of the censorship he faced), Spider Robinson (on Callahan's Lady, taking place in a brothel, and not being get the stories in the same magazine as the rest of the Callahan stories), Jack Vance (on the basic choices of censorship), Maryanne Neilsen (on whether, as an editor, she's a censor), David Lloyd (on creative choice to leave our detailed of violence and sex in V for Vendetta), Denys Cowan (on being uncomfortable with drawing a lynching scene)
Part Three: Elaine Lee (on handling violence in Starstruck), Elaine Lee and Charles Vess (on a particular censorship blowup around a comic back-up story about a young witch that includes her first period, when the first story had so much violence), Harlan Ellison (about the comic Taboo, and how art should unsettle you), Clive Barker (on worrying about a backlash, another Dr. Werthem).

Next week: Utopia, Ecology, and Advice for wannabe creators.

Now that that's out of the way, TV wrapup for the week. Doctor Who... well, I've met Adric. For some reason, in my head, I always pictured him older, from the name. Seems nice enough so far, although probably not one of my favorites. Only a few episodes left before I can say goodbye to Four and get to Five.

What premiered this week? House... it was okay, but I thought it dragged on too long focusing on House, and I wanted to see the others. And the ending annoyed me. (spoilers) ( Read more... )

Heroes also premiered and... well, I suppose, objectively speaking, it's probably a little better than last year. But it's still hard to watch and take seriously. The Trust has not just been lost, it's been thoroughly shattered and the pieces each taken on a separate boat ride in a different ocean by a different man who dumps it into the ocean at some random time not in sight of land. It's hard to take anything seriously after the stuff they pulled last year, because there's the feeling at at any moment, they could decide to ignore some plot point they've already established. Slightly more spoilery behind cut ( Read more... )

Dollhouse also premiered, and it wasn't bad, although they seem to be slightly unskeevying one of the characters at the expense of extra-skeevying one of the relatively unskeevy ones. We'll see how it goes, though, the revelations towards the end could be interesting to go on.

FlashForward... it's okay. Needs time to find it's footing to judge for sure. Not sure the premise really works as a basis for a series, but it's got my attention for a few episodes at least.

Fringe: Okay... the second episode of the second season of X-Files was about a genetic mutant Flukeman. Is it just some wacky coincidence or intentional homage that the Second episode of Fringe's Second Season feels like almost the same thing, only, you know, less interesting (because Fringe is mostly a less interesting version of X-files)?

Otherwise, not much. This week: Stargate Universe, the last thing for... oh, about a month or so probably that I'm looking forward to.

Like I did for the midseason, here's my thoughts of the second half of the TV season, stretching roughly from the new year, up until now. I'll generally not be commenting on the whole season, just the second half (excepting of course shows that only debuted in the new year, etc). My criteria for inclusion is if I watched it with most of my attention, most of the time (either now, or up until the midseason point... there've been some dropoffs). There WILL be spoilers, but I'll break each show into a cut.

Prison Break: In short: Well, it's over, and ended up okay, but I still think it should have ended over half a season earlier. ( Read more... )

Heroes: You know how a guy being tortured to death might look over to another guy being tortured to death, but by a window, and say, "Hey, at least you have a nice view."? Well, that's sort of what the second half of S3 is like from the perspective of the first half. It's still a cluster$!@$, but it's the tiniest bit better. ( Read more... )

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (cancelled, sadly): Short version: Second half of the season started very very poorly, but got kickass at the end. I'll miss it. ( Read more... )

Lost: Complete season ran in this half, so let's discuss it. Short version: Quite liked it. One of the few cases of a show that's picked up from a couple bad seasons and has gotten better, and, what's more, gone from a show that started with limited SF influence (a couple hints here and there in the first season), to one that is definately all out SF. ( Read more... )

Dollhouse (new show): Short version: Started poorly, and still probably Whedon's weakest show, but it did pick up. ( Read more... )

House: This is kinda episodic, so there's not much to say. Short version: The big development shortly after the midseason started, although full of emotional play that made for a good few episodes surrounding it, can't help but lower my interest for the show. ( Read more... )

Criminal Minds: (cut and pasted from the midseason review since it still applies) Another episodic show. I don't even know why I like it, especially since the awesome Inigo Montoya (that's his name for me from now on) left, but I still mildly enjoy it. No spoilers, no cut. Still enjoying it, maybe because it's my only real 'serial killer crime' show I watch.

Bones: Another show I watch more by circumstances than choice - it's on, nothing else is, and I like it enough to watch it regularly so long as nothing conflicts. I kind of like the way they use rotating assistants, which allows for a variety of different fun characters they use again. Otherwise, the show's okay.

Supernatural: Short version: Mixed, not feeling the arc so much but still enjoy the series. Don't really like a lot of the big developments this year and don't expect that'll change next year.
( Read more... )


The Office: Not much to say here. Why? Because I stopped watching it. Not a deliberate act, but it conflicted with Supernatural and somewhere along the way I just stopped bothering to look for episodes online. It was my last half hour comedy show, and now it's gone. Since half the fun of watching it is the ongoing plotlines that don't mean much in isolation, I don't even know if it's worth watching reruns,since they'll skip episodes. *shrug*.

Stargate Atlantis (ended): There were only two episodes left at the end of my midseason review, so it still technically qualifies for this. And those last two episodes were pretty good. Not great, but enjoyable. Still I'm more looking forward to Stargate Universe than I am to an Atlantis movie. They had a good run, but if it ended there I'd be okay with it. (Whereas SG1, I'd still be very disappointed if we never got anymore)

Doctor Who (Planet of the Dead only): I don't have a lot to say about it, I think I already did a post about it. In retrospect, a decent stand-alone episode. Not great, not horribly bad and full of stupid, but almost completely forgettable. In fact, aside from the companion and the general thrust of the plot, I'm having trouble remembering anything about it at all. Can't wait till RTD's gone.

Doctor Who (classic): I finished my run on Sarah Jane Smith some time ago, and just recently finished the Leela run. Short: I quite liked Leela. But the Doctor's a bit of a jerk. ( Read more... )

Wolverine and the X-Men: Short version: Still pretty enjoyable. Not up to Evolution enjoyability yet, and too much focus on Wolvie, but fun. ( Read more... )

Spectacular Spider-Man: Watched S2 in this midseason arc, and you know... I think I'm going to call it. This is now the best of the Spider-Man cartoons ever. ( Read more... )

Battlestar Galactica: All I have to say about this I've said before. It jumped the shark with the final five. Sure, they did a couple cool things with it, but on the whole it's left me a little cold this year, and a very poor ending.

The Listener (new show): There's very little new SF out there, so I wanted to give a new one a chance. This is a Canadian show picked up in the US during the writer's strike. And, you can tell it's Canadian... because it's crap! Okay, not really, but it's a little lame, overearnest, and not all that great. ( Read more... ). I officially gave it a chance and I am done with it.

I think that's about it. If there are any other shows you know I watch (or wonder if I watch) that I left out, feel free to comment and I'll let you know what I think.

Finished: The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon

Short version, I thought it was quite well written, with beautiful flowing language, but on the whole it's just not my kind of thing. Minor spoilers behind the cut. ( Read more... )

Started and Finished: The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks (reread)
Started: Weapons of Choice, by John Birmingham

It's a reread, of course, so no real detailed comments. It's enjoyable, but I think it loses a bit on the reread, and feels a little more like it could be a long short story rather than a full novel.

Finished: Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
Started: Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)

So continuing my rereading of the Kovacs saga. It's interesting, I find the character strangely compelling, even though he's normally the sort I find boring. The first book is still the best, but there's enough in the other ones to be entertained, even on a reread.

I also of course watched Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog on DVD. And, finally, all the extra features, including Commentary! The Musical. The short verdict: I was impressed by the things I wasn't expected to be, and less than impressed by the things I expected to love. Slight 'spoilery' comments behind the cut.
( Read more... )

I still have my "Wrap-up of the second half of all the year's TV" review to do, but I'm almost finished Leela's time in my old school Doctor Who watching (doing an ep of Invasion of Time right now), so I'll wait till I've done that and throw that in there.

This week I got one book:

Captain Britain and MI13 #14 (one of the best issues of the title, rousing and fun. Wish it wasn't getting cancelled)

Full reviews as usual at my comic reviews site for anyone interested.

I also finally did it. I bought Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, the DVD. Now that it's no longer amazon exclusive (me, lacking a credit
card and they, not liking paypal, do not get along). While I was on my way to work from the comic store I stopped into an HMV, specifically to
look for it, and lo and behold, they had it in their New Releases shelf, and for only $12.99. Since the online places I checked earlier had it
for $19.99 (plus shipping), that pretty much settled that. I will soon be sitting down to watch it while I eat my dinner. Expect the songs running through my head for the next few weeks.

Oh, and I noticed that President's Choices has a few new potato chip flavours, so I was weak and bought them. There's Baby Back Ribs, and "Greek" (Feta, oregano, and olive oil).

So, the computer's still doing well. Haven't got an IDE enclosure yet to attempt to restore my old data, but I'm making slow progress on getting my other stuff up to speed or better than up to speed. For example, now I don't need to watch TV, sitting in my uncomfortable chair with dollar store earphones in my ears! My old PC had an internal speaker that was good for watching, this one doesn't. Luckily my brother had recently upgraded his speakers (he's one of you 'tunie' freaks who listens to 'music' for 'pleasure', and so the quality matters to him... weirdos) and still had the old ones around. With some kajiggering that left me completely soundless for a while (oops), I managed to get 'em up and working.

So, what have I been watching lately? Well, the Dead Like Me direct to DVD sequel-movie "Life After Death", for one. (some spoilers)( Read more... )

Wolverine and the X-Men wasn't bad this week, though a bit low on the funny. And a NM cameo!

Terminator... From what I understand, the show has slipped severely in the ratings its first week out on the Friday Death Slot, so I'm not optomistic about it surviving another year. And judging by the last couple eps, I'm not as broken up as I would. I dunno, the writing seems to be getting more and more stilted (spoilers ahoy) ( Read more... )

And speaking of Friday night deathslots, Dollhouse. Dollhouse, Dollhouse, Dollhouse. I'm not feeling it. It's slightly enjoyable. I mean, I think I could really dig a hypothetical third season where (slight spoilers and longer discussion of the show ahead)( Read more... ) So I'm thinking this is a slight misfire for Joss. I _almost_ wish it gets cancelled so that he can move on to doing something else awesome. But I won't add any bad wishes to it. I'll still watch but I don't think it'll be must-see for me anymore.

BSG I'm still worried has lost the plot. They're at the stage where people seem to be changing their minds and allegiences suddenly for no good reason, and (spoilers for most recent) ( Read more... )

Lost has been fairly enjoyable... not super exciting, but good.

What's up other than TV? Not a whole lot. My Dad, who's been out of work about two months or so, got a new job that pays much more than his previous ones, + benefits, so that's nice.

Writing-wise I should be on a writing cycle this week, but since I lost my last weekend trying to sort out my computer and otherwise not being able to enjoy myself much until I got the new one, I'm taking this one off, from my normal metered writing at least. I find I need a certain amount of unproductiveness and I lost that. However, I'm not abandoning writing entirely, I've just decided to work on unproductive writing and dipping my toe into fanfic for the first time in quite a while. Specifically, Runaways fanfic (well, sorta a crossover), set between the Secret Invasion mini and the 1st issue of vol 3. I may not actually get past the outlining stage (since for some reason I can't write comic fanfic as prose, I have to structure it as though I'm actually writing a comic script), but at least unlike my other Runaways ideas (like the What I'd Do With one, even though my ideas have moved far beyond what I have in that one entry) it's unlikely my ideas can become incompatible with the real storylines, I can actually work on it slowly without the fear that I should chuck it all into the 'why bother, it's not even theoretically possible anymore' bin. Shrug.

Gateworld has an interview with Ben Browder, mostly general history and a little on the series he's working on developing (as a writer), a bit on Farscape and Stargate and his semi-acting rivalry with Nathan Fillion.

Also of interest, to Stargate Altantis fans, one of the producers gave a breakdown of what episodes the 6th season might have had, if it had gotten one. Apparently they were far enough along that they had ideas, even if many were ideas that couldn't fit in the previous year. Some potential spoilers, in that any of the elements there might be reused, and they say some might be factors in the SG:A DVD movie. Most interesting is, to me, (spoilers just for Atlantis finale, not for the future) ( Read more... )

Also related: Joseph Mallozzi's "Best 4 SG:A Episodes I never got to write". Somewhat more detailed.

A couple of the (collective) episodes sound kinda cool and I'm a little disappointed we'll never get to see them. Also they had some ideas I've had, too, proving once again, I should TOTALLY write for Stargate! ;) Anyway, I wish I could tap into parallel worlds sometimes just so I could see all these 'what might have beens!'. Or Nathan Fillion as John Crichton in Farscape!)

Speaking of Fillion, remember Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog? Well, Whedon has said that it will continue in some form, but he's not sure what the form is. It may not be an internet series anymore. I dunno, I'm in as long as it's not a "I'll continue it as a comic book!", because it has to stay a musical! ;)

Anyway, talking with locker_monster the other day, I mentioned off-handedly that they should get Summer Glau in the sequel, and make use of her trained ballerina skills. The idea was good for a few seconds of amusement, but it also stuck with me and came to me this morning before I left for work. And I have a longish (45 minute or so) walk to work, in which it's generally too dark to read, so my mind tends to latch on any old thing and work on it. I came up with the idea of having all of Doctor Horrible's major enemies being Firefly actors. Yes, I know it's unlikely and impractical he'd ever do anything like it, but amusing (to me, which is all that counts).

So, the product of my thinking on the way to work (and a little bit after), behind the cut. It's just silly fluff, but might be worth a chuckle. I present to you: the heroic counterparts to the Evil League of Evil!

( Read more... )

Edit: Oh yeah, and Doc Horrible fans in Canada, apparently the glitches with Canadian distribution are over and you should be able to reorder from amazon.ca.

Edit2: Although technically my Doctor Horrible ideas isn't a "What I'd Do With..." entry, I'm adding the tag anyway because it's related and it'll make it easier to find it again when I want to reread it. Yes, I like rereading my own ideas, I'm lame.

Panel report on the Dr. Horrible Panel at Comicon, linked because, really, any panel with Fillion and Whedon is hilarious even if you're just reading their banter second hand and not hearing it. (Plus, more details than you probably wanted to know about "The Hammer", and how to apply to join the Evil League of Evil and be on the DVD)

Review on the latest Stargate Atlantis episode, "Broken Ties". Some spoilers. Overall.. a bit meh. Boring plot and one thing that really annoyed me. ( Read more... )

I also finally tracked down a torrent for Livewires, one of the entries from Marvel's Tsunami imprint (the same one that launched Runaways which... is pretty well the only surviving book of that, I think). I actually was going to buy it but I couldn't find it in my comic store or any bookstores, so I resorted to... magic, to acquire the scans. Ah well, I suppose at this point there was 0 chance my buying it actually affects more Livewires ever being produced. It was fairly enjoyable, actually. Maybe a _little_ too fast paced in terms of plot vs development, and a little too full of gimmicky dialog, but some really cool concepts and ideas explored, and I found myself liking the characters and wanting to see them again. And hey, I love stories dealing with AIs/AI rights and their interactions with humanity, so how did I miss this the first time? (Well, possibly because my love for AIs has grown quite a lot in recent years, and wasn't nearly so high when it came out). Plus, it's got me plotting Livewires/Runaways crossover fic in my head.

So, what's been going on in my life? Not a whole lot. Same job, same thing day after day, in a rut and can't even see any end to it. Meh. No, I haven't seen any of the latest movies because I'm lame and don't really go to them. So, random stuff.

We may be getting a kitten (by we, I mean more the roommates who will be taking care of it mostly, I'll just be giving it occasional scritches). We already have an older cat.

Been writing some, of course, and actually more than I've been before... even on my 'off' weeks I've usually been writing a fair bit. Right now still working on a novel-length work on my on weeks and a comic project on my off.

What else. TV I guess. Since it's summer, I've resumed my watching of Old School Doctor Who. On Terror of the Zygons, which features the Brigadier in a kilt!

Doctor Horrible concluded. Spoilery thoughts behind cut. ( Read more... )

Watched Stargate Atlantis, but it was the kind of forgettable, 'we sort of have to do this set of character beats to get where we need to go next' type episode, and wasn't really memorable at all.

More annoying commercials. Wendy's is the offender again, with more tortured logic. Previously, we examined their analogy about cows coming from Antarctica, which really suggests that they believe they should serve their burgers raw. This time, though, they say "If chicken is good, and salad is good, then doesn't that make our chicken salad... good good?" No. I will demonstrate. "Gravy is good. Ice cream is good. So, logically, ICE CREAM COVERED WITH GRAVY, IS GOOD GOOD!". This all assumes 'good good' is a term at all.

Speaking of commercials, am I the only one disturbed that the Lucky Charms Leprechaun can now apparently CONTROL TIME? KILL IT NOW, BEFORE IT'S UNSTOPPABLE. Anyway, also disturbing, but for a different reason, here's a knife that will freeze your internal organs and make you explode when you get stabbed with it.

I had a dream where I was a time traveller back in the old West (specifically, Deadwood), and somebody said "Cool!" and so I suspected they were another time traveller, so I said something was "awesome" (explaining for the others involved that I merely meant literally inspiring of awe), to get his attention, and we later got together and confirmed that we were both time travellers. He was a historian, trying to find out what happened. *shrugs*.

And finally, the latest LJdickery... they announce "We're bringing back Basic Accounts", and make everybody happy, but you have to go to another community to see the truth - they're 'bringing them back', but they're going back on their word furthur by putting ads on them. Which means they're not actually bringing them back at all, they're removing them, and giving the name to something else. It's like "Due to popular demand, we're bringing back our vegetarian burger!" And then hiding somewhere, "Our vegetarian burgers will now all be made from beef". If you really, absolutely had to do crap like breaking the original promise and adding ads to basic accounts to survive as a business, you could earn a lot more of my respect by doing it honestly instead of constantly pulling bait and switch crap like this.