Don S. Davis passes away.

Best known to many SF fans as General Hammond from Stargate SG-1. In fact, I found this out while watching a Stargate SG-1 rerun as I looked over my friends list.

Unlike most of my friends, I did not care much for this episode. I will therefore have to do a spoilery filled rant. Which means cuts for those who haven't seen it.

( Read more... )

This week I got three books:

New Warriors #13 (meh, okay)
Runaways #30 (My pick of the week, some interesting tweaks to the status quo)
Secret Invasion Runaways/Young Avengers #1 (reasonably fun)

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

I also noticed the bookstore I got my giftcards at for my birthday/xmas was having a 'buy 3 books, get the 4th free'... not _that_ great a deal, but still, better than nothing. So I used up one of them and got:
Queen of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder
A Meeting at Corvallis by S.M. Stirling
Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross
and
Camouflage, by Joe Haldeman (Nebula Award Winner).

Work was okay, but a bit later than usual and so got home later than I'd like, both hot, tired (from the long walk), and hungry (I wanted to stop at a Taco Bell and see if I could take advantage of Phillip Ontakos, but alas, none is ever in my path when I need one. :P). However, on the way home I did pass a strip club with "Hulk was filmed here" on the marquee (outside). You can see the one in the trailer, when the two monsters are rushing each other in the streets and you see a big Zanzibar sign in the background. I just found it was amusing that they were advertising that.

In other news, I'm reasonably pleased with myself writing wise this month. Not only have I met my writing quotas for on-weeks, but I've also _edited_ a significant amount on my off-weeks. Pretty much every day this month that would have been a writing day on an on-week has become an editing day on an off-week. Okay, sure, I may not have done as much as I would have liked on each day, but I've done a chunk that I can at least be mildly pleased with. So yay me. I think I'm also getting a little better at identifying exactly what about particular passages that doesn't sound right - before it was usually sort of a vague unease, that the words didn't flow as I wanted them to, but wasn't sure exactly what to fix. So I think I'm getting a little better at it. Yay me x2.

In TV news, well, there's Doctor Who, and... well, unlike a lot of people on my flist, I didn't much care for the latest episode. Like a lot of RTD's work, it was only okay. Well-acted, certainly. A few good moments, undoubtably. But on the whole it didn't do much for me - the basic plot has been used many times in SF (and even non SF) and, really, not done terribly innovatively here. The reason why it happened (both the sci-fi reason and the more human reason behind the title) didn't reall work well for me, nor did I see why certain elements of the resolution should work (which seemed to boil down to 'just because we need that'). There's also a lot in the episode that, because it's a tease for big events that the finale will handle, I have to hold in abeyance before I decide whether they were handled well or terribly in this episode. Midnight was much better.

Also watched the S5 premiere of Stargate Atlantis, which I watched early by... let's say 'magic'. It was also okay, but a little more on the enjoyable side. Kind of a lot there that I expected to happen, but Stargate's the kind of show that it's fun to follow along even with that. Still, one thing really bugged me (fairly minor spoiler, but cut anyway) ( Read more... )

Oh, and a teaser from Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog (the Joss Whedon mini-musical with Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris), if you haven't seen it yet.

I did a Sci-Fi friending meme a while back, and got some new friends out of it. So, welcome! Maybe I'll try to do one of those intro memes going around in the next little while. One thing you should probably know is I occasionally do big random post full of whatever comes to mind, with few segues.

Done another writing cycle... still working on the same longer story I was doing so last time, and still doing well with it, know generally where I'm going, so that's a relief. It's still pretty rough, of course, but I'm having fun with it.

I hate when ads answer questions I never asked. On the way to work I pass a place where there's a big sign in the window saying, "Yes, we have lemon tarts!" That's a little presumptuous of them, don't you think? How do they know what question I'm asking? Maybe it's "Do you have anything that I can break into your store and steal without you getting mad or pressing charges?"

Speaking of ads, whenever I see a dating website commercial that shows a couple happily in love, I always try to find myself imagining which of them will snap and attempt to kill the other first. Have I become too cynical?

In TV, what's been new? BSG and Doctor Who! (Hey, that's a poem and I didn't know 'em!)
BSG was somewhat disappointing, all in all, both all this year and, to a lesser extent, the finale. It wasn't bad, just, kinda meh. We'll have to see where it goes. I'm still thinking they jumped the shark with the Final Four. I get the impression they got too enamored with OMG COOL NEW IDEAs at some point that they dropped the ball on their previous ongoing plots and won't be able to tie everything up in a fundamentally satisfying way.

Doctor Who, though, wow, that actually turned in a good episode by RTD. Surprising, because his are the episodes that I usually dislike quite a bit, even if I like elements of them. This one, although it had a few rough spots, was overall very well done. (My main problem is that I thought the reactions turned a bit too extreme _too_ fast, at least without invoking alien paranoia-rays), and I don't think I have any reservations in calling it one of RTD's best. And, for that matter, possibly one of the best of the season.

I saw a trailer for the US version of Life on Mars. I didn't really plan on watching it, but was just curious. Now, one of the big rumors is that they're going to redo the whole pilot and recast everybody except the star. Based on the trailer? Wow, I'm hoping the rumor is the exact opposite. Because I can see everything else working in a kitschy sort of way, but the star is _so_ flat. And you do not mess with Colm Meany. You recast something to _get_ Colm Meany, not to get rid of him. Anyway, I probably still won't watch it, regardless of recasting, unless nothing else is on when it premieres, but it's the principle of the thing.

You know you're a comics geek when anytime someone starts talking about 'green living', you instantly suspect them of being Skrulls (or Green Martian, I suppose, for DC fans).

Finished: 13 Great Stories of Science Fiction by Various Authors (50s short story collection)
Started: The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein

Well, it was a short story collection, mixed bag, some good, most unmemorable. Best of the lot was probably The Analogues, by Damon Knight. They're all from the 50s (and maybe a year or two on either side), so there's a retro, nostalgia vibe to them all reading them now.

Started and Finished: Starfish, by Peter Watts (available online, and read that way)

Thoughts behind the cut, not especially spoilery, though. Overall: okay with some cool beats, but not as good as the other Watts I read, Blindsight. ( Read more... )

Finished: Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold (2004 Hugo Award Winner, 2004 Nebula Award Winner)
Started: (To be determined, have a couple choices and probably won't choose till Wednesday... most likely the last Otherland book)

PoS thoughts behind the cut. Not really spoilery. Short version: Meh, okay. ( Read more... )

Now, most importantly, after reading Paladin of Souls, I have completed one of my life goals. Well, or half completed one. Or half-completed one, also requiring ongoing maintenance.

In any event, with this book, I have now read every single Hugo Award winning novel. (Not counting Retro-Hugos, but there's only one of those I haven't read yet so maybe I'll try to pick it up eventually). That goes from 1953 to 2007. That's been a goal of mine for something like 10 years at least. Technically it requires ongoing maintenance (the next winner is announced late this summer), and you might consider it only half completion of my goal to read every Hugo or Nebula award winning novel, since I made the decision to read all of both at the same time. (I have 7 Nebula winners left to go). Still, yay me, reading milestone.

In non-book news... well, TV's sucked this weekend since most everything's been on a skip week. Supernatural finale was okay, mostly for how it ended, though the episode itself kind of felt flat and lame for what was going on. I think I'm pretty well done with Grey's Anatomy for good. It's been hanging by a thread all year, and the thread finally snapped. I might watch eps if nothing happens to be on at the time, but no more priority watching.

What else... that chat (with the castaways from the closed BKV forum who formed a new one) seems to have died off mostly. Chats often die out (particularly ones where you can't stay connected easily and so have to depend mostly on people randomly showing up at the same time), so I can't say I'm surprised, but usually the dropoff isn't quite so fast. Most of the people I particularly enjoyed chatting with haven't been around in weeks, which kinda sucks, and it seems the only one there with any regularity is a twit who refuses to identify him/herself (and has on at least one occasion impersonated me, possibly only because he knew I was there, but still), and yet still seems to expect conversation, so I've taken to mostly ignoring him. I'll probably hang around there a little more just to ensure it wasn't some kind of natural lull, but I don't have much hope. Ah well. Maybe it's me driving people away. I know I'm not the greatest conversationalist in the world. Who knows. Anyway. Yet another thing seemingly falls into the category of 'fun while it lasted', and there's still the forum.

It's official - new showrunner after RTD. Definately good news in my book.

Since I'm here and talking about Who, my thoughts on The Unicorn and the Wasp:
Great beginning, didn't like the finish. Also, I knew it was not going to happen, but I really wanted (spoilers ahoy) ( Read more... )

BSG was good this week, one of the best of the year. Though oddly enough LOST has once again become the show I'm most excited about.

Of course, this week sucks for TV - not only is LOST on a skip week, so is BSG _and_ Doctor Who. Oh well, at least there's the Supernatural finale (which airs tomorrow for me, so I haven't seen it yet despite it already ending), that's something.

Book Foo!
Finished: Otherland, Vol 3: Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams
Started: The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

No detailed thoughts since it's part of a series and one part left to go. Still enjoying it though.

Started and Finished: Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (available online, and read that way)

Thoughts behind the cut, not especially spoilery, though. ( Read more... )

Finished: Ventus, by Karl Schroeder (available free online, but I read it in book form)
Started: 13 Great Stories of Science-Fiction (short story collection, mostly stories from the 50s)

Ventus thoughts behind the cut. Not really spoilery. Short version: Quite liked it, will have to check out more by the author.
( Read more... )

What else? TVwise, Lost was good this week, BSG better than the last few, and Doctor's Daughter had some good moments but overall didn't satisfy. Don't really feel a need to go into it any more than that, though.

Haven't done one for quite a while, so let's do another Wiki Random Battle!

The Rules:
Go to Wikipedia, select Random Article twice, and pit the results against each other:

Round 1: The Cocoi Heron vs Sir Winston Churchill Public School
Results::
( Read more... )

Round 2: Gaston Leroux, Canadian politician vs Richard Beesly, British Rower
Results::
( Read more... )
Round 3: Baeocystin, a psychadelic mushroom component vs ProgressSoft, a software development company
( Read more... )

Lifewise, well, nothing else really new. When is anything? My life unchanges. Yes, my life is so static that it forces 'unchange' to somehow be a real verb.

Edit: Oh, and it's around that time of year for Networks to announce their schedules. A few networks have already announced their slates, and this site I've found has given me a good roundup of them in the past.

Well, that was lame. There were a few points, but overall I thought it was awfully silly, and not in a good way. And normally I don't post on it, but since the majority of people seemed to enjoy the ep, I felt the need to rant.

(Spoilers)
( Read more... )

Edit: I've decided to attach some quotes from an article about "Why Doctor Who Sucks right Now" that sum up how I feel. No spoilers for future episodes in my segments, though the original essay has a few. I just wanted to quote it here because of a big, MAN I AGREE (not specifically that it sucks, just that it could and should be so much better).
( Read more... )

Kind of a dull one. This week I got four books:

Avengers: The Initiative #12 (Dropping the book with this issue)
DC Universe Zero (does nothing to make me interested in DC again, feels like a 50c ad)
New Warriors #11 (my reluctant Pick of the Week, but only okay)
Ultimate X-Men #93 (a waste that at least thankfully ends Kirkman's run)

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

So I'll talk about TV instead, in quick bites.
Doctor Who was pretty good, but (spoilers for newest UK episode) ( Read more... )
Battlestar Galactica was meh (not really spoilers) ( Read more... )
The real surprise of the last week or so was LOST, though, which was awesome this week (minor spoilers) ( Read more... ).

So no long walk either. Although there was some rain on the walk home that was annoying, and some thunder. Of course I had the usual hope that I might be struck by lightning and develop super powers, but it's probably for the best that I didn't, considering what I was carrying at the time I'd probably wind up as Lemon Meringue Man (Le Man Meringue? Lemon Merin-Guy?), and that would just be undignified.

Only other thing to report, they finally made it official: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is coming back. So yay, and yay for Summer getting a series regular role on a show that wasn't cancelled first year! ;) She may be the first Firefly person to accomplish that, (I'm going to assume she's coming back too, because it would be lame if not) or at least a tie with Adam Baldwin on Chuck (I suppose technically he was renewed first though). Brian Austin Green's been made a series regular too, which is pretty nice, and believe me, I'm as surprised that I ever typed those words as anyone else.

So let's start with the TV, shall we? Doctor Who was a better episode this week with a trip to the past, and Donna's doing a good job as the Doctor's Companion. Though I do kind of wish we'd get a story set in a historical time period that _doesn't_ deal with some alien plot to destroy or take over the world, or really deal with aliens at all. I know they're the bread and butter of Who, but I'd like to see one that _just_ dealt with the history, with some of the drama being involved in being swept up in events, maybe being killed in the middle of a war, etc. Hell, I'd kind of like the same in a future story too. BSG also worked out better, with some odd developments on the cylons that were kind of cool, but (minor spoilers ahead) ( Read more... )

In other news about the old Televisual system, Amy Acker has joined the cast of Whedon's Dollhouse, so there's another alum of his old shows. You know when he finds someone he likes he likes using them again. There's still no official word on the renewal of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but TV guide lists it as a 9 on "chances to return out of 1-10" and pointed out that apparently they've been adding to the production staff, so that's good to hear. I just wish they'd make it official. John Shiban's taking up a showrunning position on another series (Wizard's First Rule) which I suspect means he may be leaving Supernatural or having less of an involvement, which I only mention because there are some SN fans on my flist who might be interested. Also Ron Moore and Michael Taylor (of BSG) have a SF pilot greenlit for FOX. Let's hope it works out better than their last series, the Bionic Woman. Here's how it, Virtuality, is described: "(A) sci-fi drama which follows 12 astronauts who are sent on a 10-year journey to find a distant solar system. The explorers pass the time by hooking up to advanced virtual reality modules to explore self-created worlds. But they discover someone has downloaded a computer bug into the system -- and one of them may be the saboteur." You know, I kind of dig the description? It sounds like they're making it a Slower-Than-Light travel SF series, which is good, and as long as the virtual reality element is handled well it could be quite cool. I'm in for it. I know a lot of people don't bother with FOX because they cancel stuff, but if you ask me, that attitude's just dumb and liable to get more stuff cancelled. They want a hit as much as anyone and they as a network seem to _try_ a lot more for SF than many of the other ones, who only attempt it when another network has hit big with one. Anyway, rant over. Moving on.

Writing-wise, I'm on another writing cycle, although I was actually working on a fair bit of free-writing during my off-cycle, so it doesn't seem like much. It's going okay I guess, still a bit slogging and still don't have the whole excitment about writing back yet, and though I still have decent ideas for the SFnal aspects of a story, the more basic plots sometimes elude me. However, last week I did make some good progress on a story (a sequel, or at least set in the same universe but much later, to one I finished and was quite pleased with a while ago). In the process, I wound up wroting my first male/male sexual relationship. ( Read more... )

I think the lack of writing excitement probably signals I haven't entirely pulled out of my winter depression, despite it being spring. I still feel a bit hopeless, which while a realistic outlook doesn't help me get up and moving like I'd want. Helping to mitigate it though is that I've been a bit more into chatting with a new group. No offense to the other people I chat with, but, well, you suck! No, no, you don't suck, it's just there is something sort of ego-stroking about talking to a new group of people who you haven't already told your best jokes to. ;) This is actually the remnants of the old BKV online forum who since migrated to a new one after he closed it, where we also set up a chat room.

Anyway, what else is else? Oh yes, Book Foo.

Finished: Look to Windward, by Iain M. Banks
Started: Ventus, by Karl Shroeder

Look to Windward is another Culture novel, and the last of them I'll be reading for a while (since it's the last I've got right now). It wasn't bad, but not my favorite of them.
( Read more... )

Ventus is a first SF novel by a Toronto writer, looking like it's a nice big idea novel, and it's pretty hefty.

Finished: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
Started: Otherland, Vol 3: Mountain of Black Glass, by Tad Williams

Thoughts on OotP behind cut. Short version, not bad, but some elements rankle.
( Read more... )

First, the regional accent meme. For reference I'm a 30 year old Canadian in Toronto (but who moved around a bit when I was young).

What do you call these things?

A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Waterslide
The thing you push around the grocery store: Employees
A metal container to carry a meal in: Cage
The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: Toaster
The piece of furniture that seats three people: 3 Milk Crates
The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: Gnome
The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Tree
Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Poison
A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: Bacon
A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: Gyro
The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: Not enough.
Shoes worn for sports: Unimportant.
A flying insect that glows in the dark: Radioactive mutant cockroach
The little insect that curls up into a ball: Radioactive mutant cockroach (in defensive posture)
The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: Deathtrap
How you eat pizza: Naked
Where private citizens sell their household goods/stuff in their driveway/front yard: Pathetic
The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: Lair
The thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: Sink

Okay, real answers: ( Read more... )

I don't think Wendy's advertising people have logic is a strong suit. I saw a recent ad where they said, "If hamburgers were meant to be frozen, wouldn't cows come from Antarctica?"... uhm, by that same logic, if hamburgers were meant to be cooked, wouldn't cows come from volcanos? Holy crap, I'm never eating at Wendy's again, they're not going to cook my burgers.

Who was on. Plot a little dumb, though the Adiposes are cute and could make a good plushy toy. Liked Donna for the most part but was worried that they were leaning too much towards her lurving the Doctor. Yes, they made that whole speech "I'm not mating with you", but it still struck me as her earlier chats with Grandpa that felt to me more that she thought the Doctor was awesome and wanted to lurve him rather than just wanting to travel and see the universe. But most of the reviews I've read had people who came away with the distinct impression that she _doesn't_ feel that way, so I'm hoping I'm wrong and they're right. Even if I am, it still feels a bit too much like Hero worship, I'd like a little more independence in compaions.

BSG was okay, but no big comments on it.

In surprising nice news, yesterday morning as I was heading out to work, I noticed some paper in my inside jacket pocket where I keep my hat, and decided to clean it out. There, what did I find? An uncashed paycheque from work... from mid December. So yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Pleasant one, though.

Anything else? Don't think so.

This week I got one book:

Young X-Men #1 (Pretty predictable all in all)

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

Work was okay, but I'm a little wiped from the comic walk.

Random short news bites of recent interest to me: Anthony Stewart Head's apparently going to be in a new Merlin series on NBC next year (he's not playing Merlin). There's talk of a Firefly DVD set rerelease with more commentaries. Kristin Bell and Rob Thomas are re-teaming up apparently for the pilot of a new show called Outrageous Fortune. There'll be an Office 'spinoff' next year. Steampunk movie? The director of Victoria: The Golden Age's next project is an adaptation of a novel described as 'set in a Victorian-era alternate universe in which mankind has been exploring the solar system since the time of Isaac Newton, revolves around a brother and sister who team with a band of renegade space pirates to save the world from destruction at the hands of a madman.'

I normally post some kind of April Fools thing, even just in-jokes among subgroups of friends. But I'm skipping it this year because I haven't though of anything. Really. Disbelieve me at your peril.

After a discussion with locker_monster, I was reminded of the old Fox show Vr5, and so I went to download some of it to see how much of it, if any, holds up. And it's surprising how many people I'm familiar with from elsewhere passed in it. I'd already known that Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy) plays a major role after the first few episodes, but not only is Robert Picardo (Doc from Voyager, Woolsey from Stargate) in the first episode, but so is Adam Baldwin (Firefly's Jane). Not to mention Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn from DS9) playing the mom, and David McCallum (Man From UNCLE among many other roles) as the father, and a couple other more minor appearances.

For those of you who are unaware of the show (which will no doubt be a lot of you, it only aired like 9 episodes on FOX), it's about a woman who discovers that by hooking an active phone line up to her modem while she's wearing her VR equipment, she can sort of enter a 'virtual reality' state which is hyperrealistic, but very dream-like and based on the subconscious of her and the person she's connected to. They typically don't remember any of the encounter, but she does, and sometimes things she does to them can have effects on their subconscious. There's also a complicated conspiracy-esque backstory involving her family, her father and twin sister who (supposedly) died in a car accident when she was young, and her mother who has been catatonic since (but who she can reach in Vr5). Okay, the tech underpinnings of it are laughable (although part of that's intentional as later in the series it's made clear that there's a lot more going on than you find out at first glance). On rewatching... yeah, it's more than a little cheesy at places, but I still enjoyed the first couple eps (haven't got the rest yet), and the way it's filmed and such. It's no Firefly or anything, but might be worth a look if you haven't seen it and are into weird stuff. It's torrentable.

And some book foo...
Finished: Otherland, Vol 2: River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams

No detailed thoughts on this, since it's part of a series. Still generally enjoying it and will finish up.
Started and Finished: Singularity Sky, by Charles Stross
Some thoughts behind cut, concept spoilers but that's about it.
( Read more... )

Started: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling

Also
Finished: Use of Weapons, by Iain M. Banks
Started: Look to Windward, by Iain M. Banks

Liked Use of Weapons, not as much as Excession, but still enjoyable, and the non-linear
storytelling actually worked well - sometimes it annoys me. The major reveal I had sort of guessed early on (but I kept going back and forth on whether I actually believed it was going to happen or was just speculating wildly), but still entertaining. Continuing onto the Culture for one more book, then I'll be taking a break and moving on to something else for a while.

BSG and Doctor Who new this weekend, so there's that to look forward to.

Writingwise, I haven't edited as much as I'd like, but I'm trying to finish up soon. Been a little distracted by a 'silly project' (that is, one which has no hope of ever getting published), which you might oneday see if I finish (it's somewhat WIDWish). Anyway, new writing cycle starts this week.

There, I told you no April Fools pranks. Unless I've cleverly hidden one, I suppose. But I haven't. Promise.

Nothing worth getting today, so just went to work and went home. And it was actually a pretty good day. Truck came pretty early and so with no comics, got home early too.

At the grocery store (No Frills) I saw something that struck me as a little odd. Avatar: The Last Airbender Action Figures. Now, it's not odd that they exist, seems a standard enough thing to do. It'd odd that they were at the grocery store. And what's more, they were only $3.00 each (and looked to be fairly standard action figure quality). At that price, I almost considered getting some, but although I like the show I'm not a huge fanboy for it (I haven't even seen the first or newest season), and they didn't seem to have all the main characters in their selection (Just Aang/Momo, Sokka, Spirit-Form Aang, and Fire-Nation-Guy-With-Scarface-Who's-Name-I-Can't-Remember), and unless you can get all of them it's no fun, they'd feel lonely. I just wish they would get Marvel or DC superheroes at that price, I might actually pick some up.

Anyway, temperature was nice, and it would have been great reading weather (not that cold ever really stops me), except for one thing. Just the faintest drizzle. Enough to make me not want to read and get the book wet, but not enough to actually enjoy the rained-on feeling. Since I couldn't read, as is my wont, I thought. Among other things I was thinking of that PoG episode and my recurring desire to see PoG back. I think if I was a bolder person and could speak publicly with any skill, I would actually get a decent webcam and try and produce my own show, soliciting video interviews with various SF/Fantasy/Comics people and putting the clips together in shows. I actually sort of plotted it out in my head a bit, maybe going with, instead of shooting up into space, as the host "uploading" myself into a NANCY like satellite, and use the first episode to talk about the Singularity and Transhumanism/Posthumanism in SF and comics (and then different subsequent episodes talking about all sorts of different topics). Call it Prisoners of Matter? Prisoners of Flesh? I dunno. But in my head it seems like a cool idea. Alas, I'm not bolder.

Oh, and also, I'll be boycotting LJ on Thursday Night/Friday, like others on my list. No posts, comments, or even reading LJ. Here's the details, if interested. But when it's over I'll still read everyone's posts. I suppose I'll take the time off and try to work more on editing rather than constantly refreshing LJ to see if anything new is going on.

Sweet, someone uploaded more Prisoners of Gravity. Okay, only one more ep, but it's a start. Wonder if my praise of the previous ones had something to do with it.

And it's a topic especially near and dear to my heart. Robots and AI! (and it's great because the human host and the AI co-host argue the whole show over which is better Robots or AI)

Links/Interviewee List:

Part One: Gregory Benford (writer of Great Sky River, on Robots vs AI), Nancy Kress, George Zebrowski, Douglas Adams (writer of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Marvin the Paranoid Android)
Part Two: a young Frank (WHORES!) Miller (on Robocop), Robert J. Sawyer (on AIs in Golden Fleece, whether and how AIs think, biological chauvenism), Donald Kingsbury (author Courtship Rights, on the speed and miniturization ability of AIs), Gregory Benford, George Zebrowski again, Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens (ST book authors, on lack of AIs in Star Trek in general and Data)
Part Three: Brian Fawcett (SF critic), Judith Merrill, Gregory Benford again, Pamela Sargent (Behind the Eyes of the Dreamers), Lewis Shiner

In sadder SF news, Arthur C. Clarke is dead.

So, I watched Stargate: Ark of Truth. Thoughts behind cut, some spoilers.
( Read more... )

That wraps up most of what I watch for the next little while, until BSG starts and Doctor Who shortly after that. Lost's still ongoing for a couple more weeks. It's been better than last year, since they've decided on a course to actually finish up the series. Up and down. The Desmond ep was the best so far this year I think.

Watching Serenity on Space now.

Book Foo:
Finished: Excession, by Iain M. Banks
Started: Use of Weapons, by Iain M. Banks

Thoughts on Excession (and a quote from it) behind the cut, non-spoilery. Generally liked it.
( Read more... )

Finished: Reflex, by Steven Gould (sequel to Jumper) (reread)
Still reading: Otherland, Vol 2: River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams

Brief thoughts on Reflex behind the cut. Not really spoilery.
( Read more... )

Haven't been writing very much, have been trying to do some editing, but have been in a real funk lately and haven't felt much like doing _anything_. Oddly enough I've had some decent ideas for writing, just when it comes right down to it I have trouble forcing myself to. Still hoping my depression tapers off before the end of March like it often does. Oh well, keep trying, the only way to go.

Weird short story idea my mind woke up working on furiously. Can't remember having the idea, just working on it, maybe dreamed it and woke up to work on it, maybe thought of it and sort of drifted in and out of dream. Probably unsalvagable in any event, but writing it down just in case.

The cast of Corner Gas in the middle of a technological singularity.

Probably old hat since it's been boingboinged, but... Ever watch a zombie movie and wonder, "Hey, in the midst of this zombie apocalypse, I wonder how beloved magicians Penn and Teller are faring?"... Well, here's your answer.

In other news, feeling pretty low on motivation all around lately. I'd have hoped I'd pull out of my winter depression by now, but it's still going on. Anyway, despite that I've still managed to do some editing on writing. Also word comes that I may be able to get a free, secondhanded printer in the next little while, so that helps too, lets me expand my submission range.

Other computer's still running but I haven't tried to reboot and I occasionally hear odd sounds from the HD so I suspect it may only be a temporary reprieve from death, unfortunately.

Got a call today that the truck would be late tomorrow. Except the last 3 times I've gotten such a call for Monday it was followed up on the actual Monday with a call at the regular time saying it was there and where was I (combined with the driver having no idea about it even being thought to be late). So I'm not getting my hopes up to it.

In media... Atlantis finale was okay, but not as cool as I'd hoped. Still, only a couple months till the next ep, and pretty soon SG1 movie. Supernatural's renewed for another season, probably not a big surprise, but nice to hear. Still waiting on word on Terminator. Caught the new Spidey cartoon. Not bad, weird mix of Ultimate and regular continuity elements, a couple annoying voice actors, but worth a look. Wolverine and the X-Men's still a year away though, so it'll have to do me until then for comic cartoons. Comicbookresources has been doing a feature on the cast of Paul Cornell's Captain Britain and MI-13 comic series... unfortunately only Wisdom and John the Skrull really appeal to me, but we'll see, maybe I'll like the new char or some of the older ones I've not liked much before.

Ah well, enough for now.

Done another writing cycle, and a little early. It's a bit odd, because there were two things I complained about this week: 1) I didn't have any new ideas I was particularly interested in so I was probably going to have to force the writing on older stuff, and 2) Most of my writing tended to be a little longer in word count than most magazines are interested in. However, I not only worked completely on new stuff, I also finished a story in just a smidge over 3000 words. Yay me! (The other thing I worked on was a little forced-writing though).

It's a bit odd how the finishing one worked, too. Because of 1), while I was on the way to work one day, I said to myself, "Self, you need a new idea to write. Expand your horizons." Okay, I didn't actually say it in those words, but that was the gist of the thought. So I decided I'd experiment. I'd try to come up with the silliest idea I could think of in the next few seconds, and see if I could build a story about it. And I thought of a silly idea very quickly, and thought about it, and thought of a way it might not be totally silly after all. Now, of course, that was just the 'science fictional' germ of an idea. I didn't have anything else, nor know exactly what to build a story around. So when it came time to write, I basically just started with two simple character ideas and no idea where I was going. That's usually not a recipe for great writing for me, but in this case, it worked spectacularly. It was one of those beautiful writerly moments where the story revealed itself to me more or less naturally as I was writing it, to the point where I actually had a point where I essentially went, "Holy crap, (so and so is happening behind the scenes) and this is the story of how the narrator (first person) learns about it." So I was able to finish it up pretty easily. It wasn't a complex story, maybe a little obvious, but I'm rather pleased with it all the same. Oh, it still sucks and needs a great deal of revision, but it sucks less than much of my other work and I may try to polish it up and send it off next when my other story gets rejected.

I've mentioned many times my nostalgic love of the old Canadian TVO program "Prisoners of Gravity". It was a show where the host would interview various creators of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Comics. It's a bit kitschy (see the opening cartoon) but holds a dear place in my thought and have always thought more people should know about it. Well, I happened to do a search again and to my surprise, at least a few episodes now appear to be up on Youtube. Only 4 so far, alas. But, I've been watching them this afternoon, and I share! If you're a fan of written SF in particular, watch (each link's about 10 minutes in length)!

Amnesia/Total Recall: An episode devoted to how the loss of memory or perfect memory is dealt with in various spec-fic.

Part 1: David Cronenburg talks about his attempt to write the adaptation of We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (what eventually became Total Recall), Walter John Williams talks about Voice of the Whirlwind, C.J. Cherryh about memory, particularly in Heavy Time, Harry Harrison on The Turing Option.
Part 2: Pat Cadigan on Fools, and Korsikov's Syndrome. Nancy Kress on Brain Rose, Kim Antieau on "Another Country", Samuel R. Delany on Dhalgren
Part 3 (the eidetic memory part): Ray Bradbury on his own claimed eidetic memory, Megan Lindholm on Alien Earth,
Terry Pratchett on Small Gods

(other links/summaries will be behind the cut to save flists)
The Tolkien episode: Different fantasy authors/comics creators/artists talk about Tolkien's influence on them and the field in general. ( Read more... ), Science and Technology, pros, cons, definitions of SF and fantasy, science vs magic, other views, etc: ( Read more... ), Writers talk about Fans and Fandom: ( Read more... )
And it's not a whole ep, just to complete the youtube collection, here's a clip from PoG of Alan Moore and Steve Bissett talking about Swamp Thing and Metamorphosis in comics in general
Not my favorite of the episodes (though the Amnesia one I quite liked, and the second part of the fans one with Ellison and Gaiman was pretty cool), but still a blast from the past. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I really wish there was a show like this now.

Okay, let's start off with Jumper. I saw it, and I was, expectedly, very disappointed. Significant spoilers behind cut, both for the book and the movie, to some degree comparing and pointing out the differences.
( Read more... ) In short, the same old story, loved the book, hated the movie.

Second, let's go for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Good episode on the whole, except for one BIG, obvious science flub (unless I'm mistaken, but I don't think I am) which really detracted things for me. (not major spoilers, but some for the recent ep)
( Read more... )

Now let's move onto Stargate Atlantis, "Kindred". Minor spoilers, but I'm not going too in depth.
( Read more... )

And we'll wrap it up with some two-for-one Book Foo...
Finished: Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan
Started: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman (reread)

Thoughts behind cut, non-spoilery. ( Read more... )

Finished: Otherland, Vol 1, by Tad Williams
Started: Jumper, by Steven Gould (reread, to get the taste of the movie out of my head)

I'm not going to cut my thoughts to keep this short: It was interesting enough that I'm going to read the next book in the series, and probably the rest of it unless it starts to suck fast.

Let's start with the recent Stargate Atlantis episode, "Midway". Some relatively significant spoilers behind the cut.
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I also finally got around to rewatching Terminator 2. So yeah, the timeline problems with the movie series are clear. What was a surprise to me though was that T2 wasn't even able to stick to its _own_ timeline. ( Read more... )

Still, I still believe T2 was the best of the series. It's not perfect, but it's quite good. It manages to avoid some big pitfalls. ( Read more... )

So, posting a bunch of random stuff again...

Is it just me or does "Vantage Point" look like on of those crappy "go through the same story from different people's points of view" type plots that every TV series in existence eventually does one episode based on the concept if they last long enough. If so, isn't that, as a movie plot, in the 'done to death' category?

Speaking of movies, the more I see commercials for Jumper the more I'm convinced I'm going to be disappointed in how much they changed from the book, to make it worse. It's kinda killed off my interest in seeing it.

It should be come as no surprise to my flist that I'm a man who shuns reality and lives deeply in fantasy. When I'm not watching TV or movies (which are often fantastical or SF in nature), I'm often working out story ideas or SF concepts in my head, or daydreaming around a SFish concept in a Walter Mitty way. These daydreams go back and forth, certain ones repeat every once in a while after a break, sometimes I do several different ones in a day. Lately though I've been stuck on the last man on Earth scenario. ( Read more... )

Looks like the Writer's Strike may be winding down. Yay. Hope it lasts past the initial 'back to work while we vote on the actual deal' and hope it's a good deal for them, since they deserve it. Edit to add: They officially voted to end the strike, at least until they have a chance to review and vote on the deal. So writers are back to work tomorrow.

Speaking of writing, done a writing cycle. Started a new story and managed to finish it... except I hate it. I still like the idea, and maybe one or two of the beats, but I don't like how it turned out and if I want to use it I'll probably have to write it all over again from scratch. And I'm not even sure how I'd start. So, kind of a good news bad news situation. Oh well.

I've been feeling a little iffy for the last week or so. It's odd, sometimes I feel fine, but often at some point during the day I feel dizzy and very very slightly nauseous. It's irritating, but I suppose it's better than being actually sick. Although sometimes I wish sickness would come and get it over with rather than these shadows of it coming and going regularly.

One of the few forums I hang out at closed suddenly. Most of the people knew it was coming (though not quite so suddenly) and so there's a backup getting in place for the people who hang there, but still, end of an era, of sorts.

Doctor Who Fandom Meme/Survey, stolen from locker_monster.. ( Read more... )

Thoughts on yesterday's Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Slightly spoilery, also with an answer from one of the producers that some Terminator fans have wondered about since the second episode about a potential 'mistake'. ( Read more... )

Finally to end on a random note completely different from all the rest, I have been craving spiciness lately a lot more than usual (I always enjoy it). Also, I've been craving trying something _different_ than all the usual stuff I try. I am considering getting a bottle of Jerk BBQ sauce when my current BBQ sauce of choice (chipotle) runs out, to perhaps satisfy a little of both at once.

Mostly due to Runaways' delay again. Work was annoying. Timeframe wasn't bad, but due to all the snow and relatively mild temperatures, there was slush everywhere, and my shoes have a bit of holes in them, so often I was walking in ice cold water.

Since I had no comics, I didn't do the longish walk, and stopped at a new used bookstore on the way home. The bad news, there isn't much of a SF section, and the owner was extremely chatty, going on and on about things I had no idea about, until finally I got a chance to duck out. Nice enough seeming guy, but I'm not good at social interaction at the best of times. I might go back when he's set up more and has more books but hopefully he'll have some employees by then.

Since no comics, I'll talk a bit about TV of recent...
Stargate Atlantis - minor spoilers, not big ones though, for The Outcast ( Read more... )

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Very minor spoilers. ( Read more... )

Supernatural, last Thursday's episode, just saw it yesterday. Moderate to significant spoilers. ( Read more... )

And, finally, some book foo.
Finished: Superluminal, by Vonda McIntyre
Started: Woken Furies, By Richard K. Morgan
Minor, spoiler-free thoughts behind the cut.
( Read more... )

As for writing... writing cycle starts tomorrow, have tentative idea what I'm going to be working on, at least part of the time. It also occured to me today, that somehow since I started writing again, Toronto's become kind of my default setting for Earth based stories. I don't know how that happened, because usually I avoided Toronto before.. I think if I had any default setting, it was New York (due to all the exposure from comics). But now I usually write stories as though they're set in Toronto, and sometimes change it after the fact or if it doesn't fit. I kind of like the idea of giving my city a little more exposure in SF.. but on the other hand, most of my exposure to culture has been from US TV shows, so it's possible I might make some mistake with something that may or may not be different in the US than it is in Canada (like, say, for the sake of illustration, how police are structured... I don't know if they roughly follow the model of the US, or if they're different in some way I can't easily determine).

Anyway, that's about it for today.

So, I'm a fan of ImprovEverywhere, but I usually only go to their site when I'm alerted to their shenanigans from some other site like . So today I saw their prank where 200 people froze in place in Grand Central Station for five minutes, and as is my nature, I went back to see if I missed anything else. Well, I did. They had their annual No Pants Subway Ride day... and this time, in addition to the New York one, they had it in Toronto as well, along with something like 8 other cities. How did I not hear about this? Probably because I don't read the papers, since it supposedly made both of our big ones. But yay for Toronto.

I personally never could have gone on No Pants Day due to extreme shyness (I don't even wear shorts in summer), but, still cool. The other new development I missed was that they've set up an Improv Everywhere Global where spinoff groups are sprouting up in other cities. Maybe one day I'll actually get to see an op in progress, or if I ever get some nerve, participate.

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The latest selection from Harper Collins Canada's First Look program (where they are willing to send me free advanced review copies of books in exchange for writing up my opinion of them) for this month actually had a book I was interested in. It's a YA book called "Gone", in which everybody over 14 suddenly disappears from the world. I've toyed with similar concepts in my own head and have enjoyed seeing other variations of it (the plague that kills adults, like was done in Jeremiah). So I put in a request for that one. Hopefully I'll get it, and it'll be my second book.

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Judging by the commercials, people who like Malteasers are easily amused.

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Why Canadian Teachers should be carefully monitored

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Crazy snowblowing today.

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Lost was last night. Decent episode, although I still haven't had a chance to really 'get into' it again. Hopefully the next few eps will help with that.

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I got a "Wow, good for you" from a stranger today. I was at the grocery store after work, and the cashier asked me for my postal code, and if I walked there. Now, either she's stalking me and is now on to getting rather obscure information to make her fantasies extra complete, or it's some kind of market research thing. In any event, she just noted it down, but I guess the woman in front of me in line must have had some idea that my postal code was rather distant from the store, because she said, "Wow, good for you" when she heard I walked. (It's about a 45 minute walk, maybe an hour when the snowfall's heavy and unplowed as it is was then).

Stupid State of the Union, making TV suck tonight. Of all the things Bush is to blame for, this is the worst. Well, okay, maybe not the worst, but it's annoying me right now.

Anyway, some stuff... lets see, we had Stargate over the weekend, but it was a total filler ep.

And in a bit of Canadiana of interest to probably nobody except me... I must have not been paying attention to the news, because I only just recently noticed that Space, Canada's science fiction cable channel, is now owned by CTV, when it used to be affiliated with CityTV. ( Read more... )

Writing cycle's over, ahead of schedule because, yay, I finished another story. It was a much older one. I actually thought I finished it earlier but when I went back to do some editing I remembered that I didn't. I had decided in broad strokes where to finish it, but the nitty gritty wasn't actually written, and there were many details that needed to be worked out. So I worked on that most of the time, and managed to get it finished. It'll be a pain to edit though, even more than normal. ( Read more... )

And from my writing to someone else's, Book Foo!
Finished: The Depths of Time, by Roger MacBride Allen
Started: Superluminal by Vonda McIntyre

Thoughts on DoT behind the cut, conceptual spoilers and other stuff behind the cut. In short, I didn't care much for it.
( Read more... )

So today I came across something that was supposedly the conceptual outline for Stargate Universe, the long talked about 3rd Stargate series.

I have no idea if it's accurate, and even if it is they might have moved on, but I'm going to put it behind a cut anyway because if it is true there are conceptual spoilers.
( Read more... )

This week I got one book:

Astonishing X-Men #24 (okay but this last arc's not worth the waiting)

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

Work was a pain. Late, and due to renovations it's a more annoying job even though the load's lighter.

Almost took the subway home (from the comic shop, anyway), due more to lateness than any tiredness, but I decided to press on. I'll need the fitness if I ever go on the long walk. Speaking of walking, did help me develop some ideas... unfortunately, they're mostly ideas for the story I'm editing now. Which is good in one level, since the story involves rapid technological progress and I was needing to add more tech stuff to the background, but I worry the story might already be getting too bloated as it is. Maybe the story's beyond my capabilities to tell well at this point, but oh well. And of course, it's a problem because that story's in the editing stage, and since tomorrow is the start of another writing cycle I need either completely new stuff to work on, or new ideas for older stuff, and I didn't get much of those. Ah well.

Also on the walk home, I wanted to check the time, and I saw a phone booth, which usually displays it. Except when I got there, it said, "Please hang up receiver". So I did. And then it immediately changed to "Please pick up receiver." No. Just because I do you a favour, doesn't mean I'm your little puppetmonkey. Make up your mind. Anyway, then it put the time up.

On other fronts, I'm still enjoying the Sarah Connor Chronicles quite a bit. It's going in directions I don't expect, which is often a good thing (though I still hope it goes in a couple directions I expect). And bonus points for a mention of the Singularity.

And, I suppose I should mention something about Heath Ledger. I'm not a particular fan of his -- by which I don't mean that I had any dislike for him whatsoever, just that I haven't _seen_ a whole lot he's been in. The only real connection I had to him, aside from looking forward to his role as the Joker, was that I used him as the character model/actor for Scuzz on XET. So it does hit me a _little_ more than any other actor that I don't have a particular connection to, so it was something of a shock. I think I actually said "Holy crap" when I heard it on the news. And of course, mostly, it's a tragedy for his family. Must be hard for them, especially with him being fairly young (he's actually younger than me, though I wouldn't have guessed), and him having a young daughter. I wish the best for them in the times ahead.

First new comic day in a couple weeks. This week I got one book:

New Warriors #8 (okay, still annoyed at too many characters looking alike)

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

Work was okay, but new drivers and so they arrived a bit later than usual and the load was heavier. Ah well.

The long walk wasn't bad, though. I just came off a writing cycle. Met my full quota, but I think I'm going to have to throw out about half of it. I worked on 3 stories. One, the one I wrote the most on, is more or less okay, but I still have to decide where I'm going with it and how to finish it. One of the others I need to revise drastically as I finally decided who the viewpoint character needed to be - I sort of wrote it with some kind of vague guy in mind as is, and it won't work. The third, well, there was something that wasn't clicking with it, and on the walk today I figured out what it is. ( Read more... )

So, Sarah Connor Chronicles. Episode One was similar to the pilot I saw, luckily. They changed a bit but not what I feared they'd change. The only big disappointment was the recasting of one of the characters - I liked the old actor much better. Second ep kept up the plot very well. I'm enjoying the show and glad it's done decently in the ratings. It's not perfect - there are a few potentially big glitches in the concept and the couple eps we saw, not to mention that you have to shut your brain off anytime they mention a timeline that's in any way supposed to match with the movies because it just doesn't no matter how much you try. Treat it as an alternate universe or rebooting where that much makes sense. But it's enjoyable, and love seeing Summer Glau active again.

Really not much to say lately, but a couple random things...

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is tonight. At least the pilot is, which I've already seen, but let's face it, until the strike's