More Farcape Wibblings (WARNING: Big Honkin' Spoilers for the 4th Season up to and Including "A Contellation of Doubt")

OK, I admit it, I'm going crazy waiting for the next episode. I'm also going crazy trying to figure out exactly what's going on... The current question that's chasing round and round in my head is the matter of whether Scorpius did set them up or not. My first thought was not, and the logic seemed pretty clear: 1. There was no way that Scorpius could have predicted how things were going to go down. Too many unknown variables, too much depending on how Aeryn and company chose to handle the situation. 2. It's hard to imagine that Scorpius would be willing to let the Scarrans capture Aeryn, even if it is the one thing that would motivate John to move against them or to make a deal with Scorpy. She's got too much information that he simply would not want to risk the Scarrans getting. 3. If Scorpy was behind it, Sikozu was almost certainly in on it, and yet she seemed genuinely distraught over what happened.

But the more I think about it, and the more reasons I try to come up with for why he couldn't or wouldn't have done it, the more I start to believe that he could have, would have, and quite possibly did. Consider: 4. He knew about the secret meeting. How big of a coincidence is it that it just happened to be taking place where and when Aeryn and friends decided to go shopping? And how likely is it that he didn't know the details of the meeting's time and place, given how much other info he seems to have gotten from Braca? 5. He had an agent in Grayza's party (Braca), and one in the Moya party (Sikozu). Between the two of them, it may not have been at all unreasonable for him to believe that they could steer the situation to his desired outcome. 6. He was the one who engineered the whole situation with splitting up the crew and sending the guys to the training camp and the girls on the shopping trip.

OK, it's all circumstantial evidence, but you gotta admit, it adds up. It seems the guy did, indeed, have means, motive, and opportunity. But how, then, to reconcile points 2 and 3 above? All I can figure -- and I admit this isn't entirely original, as I've read some other speculations along more or less these lines -- is that Aeryn being captured was not the outcome he'd foreseen or intended. So, what outcome was he hoping for? Two possibilities come to mind. Possibility Number One: Aeryn kills Grayza. Well, that'd be a good outcome for Scorpy, but why arrange such an elaborate scenario to achieve it? Couldn't he just get Braca to shoot her? Well, maybe not. Braca could almost certainly take her out, but it's unlikely that he could get away with it. He'd be captured, interrogated and executed, and Scorpy'd be exposed and minus one spy. Besides, Braca may be loyal, but I doubt he'd be willing to martyr himself in that fashion. On the other hand, if Aeryn kills Grayza, perhaps Braca can arrange to be the sole survivor to make it back to PK territory, with a lovely little story about how the Scarrans betrayed them... Which would quite possibly cause them to rethink the current appeasement policy, especially with that policy's #1 cheerleader out of the picture. Good outcome for Scorpius. Possibility Number Two: The Scarrans kill Aeryn. Bingo, John's got a motive for going after them. And we know that Scorpius is extremely big on revenge motive, and that he seems to have some trouble understanding that not everybody feels quite the same way about it as he does. Besides, in this case, he might very well be right. So, Mr. Wormhole Tech himself goes gunning for the Scarrans... Better outcome for Scorpius. There may, of course, also be a Possibility Three: The Peacekeepers kill Aeryn, but Scorpy may have been counting on Braca to keep that from happening. Given the high likelihood of Possibilities One and Two, and the fact that it's a win for Scorpy either way, the whole thing may well have seemed like a good risk.

If that line of reasoning is correct, it seems that Scorpius overlooked Possibility Four, the one that actually happened: The Scarrans capture Aeryn (and possibly Grayza, although I'm still unclear on whether the real Grayza escaped or not). Even Scorpius is capable of miscalculation, but where is it he went wrong? Possibly he thought it unlikely that Aeryn would allow herself to be taken alive, and even more unlikely that the Scarrans would abduct Grazya, given that Grayza's presence would most certainly be missed.... Reckoning, of course, without the possibility of bioloid replacement. That does seem something of an oversight for someone as shrewd as Scorpy, but given that he had never seen this particular technology in use (even though he knew of its existence), perhaps it's not too difficult to believe. In which case, it is most definitely Scorpius' turn to say "whoops."

Of course, that still leaves the question of Sikozu, her apparent sincere concern over Aeryn, and the fact that she appears to be attempting to dissuade Aeryn from acting against Grazya, rather than encouraging her. Is it possible that Sikozu's emotion is actually guilt at her own complicity? Is it even possible that she was in on the plan but had second thoughts about going through with it and was hoping to be able to go back to Scorpius and say, "No, sorry, Aeryn wouldn't take the bait"? I'm not at all sure that that's how I'd read her reactions, but it's not impossible.

What can I say? I love chewing over stuff like this. It's more fun that doing a real jigsaw puzzle. Mind you, I could be completely barking up the wrong alley here (to use an unforgivably mixed metaphor), and what's really going on is something else entirely, something that will take me completely by surprise. That would be cool, too.

Hmm, I wonder if those lucky bastards in the UK have the answers yet?

Save Farscape Update

I just noticed that one of the banner ads showing up at the top of this blog is for Farscape. How cool is that? And, nope, I'm not the one who put it there!

This makes me realize that I haven't said much of anything about the state of the Save Farscape fan campaign here for a while... Funny, there was a period when you couldn't get me to shut up about it. The good news is, the campaign is still going strong, as aforementioned banner ad can attest. The actors and writers are all on record as saying they'd love to come back and do the show if, somehow, they were allowed to continue it, and while the sets have been dismantled, they can all be rebuilt with no difficulty if the series were to be picked up. The bad news is, the ratings haven't quite been up where we'd hoped they would be. The goal was to shoot for a 2.0 rating. Instead, the show's consistently been making 1.0-1.3 ratings, which is, well, about where it was before. Which still means that it's one of the higher rated shows on Sci-Fi, but also that it's trailing behind Stargate. (Sigh. Stupid Nielsen-box people really just don't know what they're missing...)

Here's some things that the fans have been up to lately:

Plans are being made for another TV commercial. This will be a text-only ad that would air on the Sci-Fi Channel (!) during the final episode of the season, informing viewers that the show has been cancelled, and directing them to the website for more information.

A Farscape fan with a sydicated newspaper strip (or can you call it a "strip" if it's only one panel?) ran this Save Farscape-themed comic in national newspapers. (Check out some of the previous comics, too, while you're there. They're pretty cool.)

This story gave me a huge chuckle: a fan sent a singing telegram to the Sci-Fi Channel on Valentine's Day. Reportedly, it got a huge chuckle out of the people there, too. Nice to know that somebody at that network has a sense of humor! I gotta quote the lyrics to the telegram, here, 'cause they're just adorable:

[To "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"]
(Give us)
One more season of Farscape!
One more year out in space!
Give John a chance to get Aeryn back.
And make a plan when the Scarrans attack!
If the crew gets caught by the bad guys,
They’ll need a chance to escape…
Give romance
a chance
with season five…
Give us more Farscape!

Ah, you just can't put it any better than that...

For the record, Farscape is currently airing Fridays at 8 PM and midnight Eastern/Pacific time (that's 6 and 10 PM here in the Mountain Time Zone where I am) on the Sci-Fi Channel. And you want to watch it. Trust me, you do.

This Cannot Be Good.

OK, my archives disappear on a semi-regular basis. I've ceased to worry about it much, because they always seem to come back, sometimes after I've hit "republish" a few times, sometimes when I've jumped through all the recommended hoops of switching to "no archive" and then back to "monthly" and republishing, sometimes just whenever they darned well feel like it.

But it's now been a full day since they've been gone, and, after fiddling with things for a bit trying to get them to come back, they seem to have vanished, not just from the web page, but from existence. Now, when I bring up my archive screen on blogger, the only month I'm seeing listed is April. This is starting to make me feel somewhat nervous.

Dammit, Blogger, give me back my archives!

Tuesday is Buffy Day! (WARNING: Spoilers for Tonight's Episode (And Why Don't They Give Us Episode Titles on the Screen, Anyway?))

Well, I didn't find this episode quite as entertaining as the last couple, but it's still moving the story along, and for the first time in a long while, the First Evil really does feel genuinely creepy and evil. Random thoughts follow, since I do seem to have slipped into the tradition of doing them for Buffy now...

I admit it, I don't quite get the whole thing with the box and the ancient guys and the swirly darkness... You wanna know something? I really missed Giles this ep. Because I'm sure he would have had interesting and informative things to say about the whole thing. Plus, he's much better at ancient Sumerian than Dawn. (By the way, how does Dawn know ancient Sumerian?)

Speaking of characters who aren't there, where'd Andrew get to? He shows up for one scene toward the beginning, and then he just vanishes into thin air before the big meeting. Doggone it, if you're gonna go to all the trouble of actually getting me to like the guy, for pity's sake, at least keep him on the screen! His only function in this ep. was to make funnel cake. And, come to that, we didn't even get to see the funnel cake.

While Andrew's stock is rising, I'm sad to say, Kennedy's is falling rapidly. I started out being something of a defender of Kennedy, who seems to be fairly unpopular with the fans in general, but she's really beginning to annoy me now. There's no doubt whatsoever that the only reason she's allowed to be hanging out with the core Scooby gang instead of being sent to her room with the other Potentials is because she happens to be Willow's nookie-partner. And yet here she is, acting like she's somehow In-Charge Gal. Sorry kid, you have not earned the right! At least she appears to have learned a valuable lesson by the end of the episode. That's right, Kennedy, dear, Scary Dark Willow is not cool. Scary Dark Willow is dark and scary. You do not want to invite Scary Dark Willow out to play.

Buffy's tough-love, everybody-has-to-do-better speech was pretty impressive, in its own bitchy sort of way, but I can't help but feel that it would have been a lot more effective if there was anything specific for any of them to actually do at that point. I mean, Wood had a point: the First doesn't exactly have an ass you can kick. It seems to me that the big problem is not that they're not ready to fight, but that they have no means of fighting. Of course all the sitting around doing nothing in the face of incipient apocalypse is demoralizing, and calisthenics sessions in the back yard don't really help alleviate that much. If you ask me, if Buffy really wants to motivate them she needs to stop making speeches and figure out something for them to do. Something that's actually, you know, useful.

On a completely frivolous note... It's amazing what a difference just putting on that leather coat makes to Spike. It's like, instant badass. I think Buffy should just carry that coat around with her. She can hand it to Spike when she wants him to kick ass, and then make him take it off when she's ready for him to be Mr. Sensitive again. It's like Superman's costume or something, only he doesn't have to go into a phone booth to change.

I Have Only One Word to Say: Good.

It seems that the Sci Fi Channel is being sued by one of the victims (and I use that word advisedly) of its new "reality" show Scare Tactics. To quote the LA Times:

Blank said she was led to believe by the organizers of the show, some of them allegedly using fictitious names, that she had won an invitation to an exclusive Hollywood party at a Southern California desert resort. She said she was traumatized after the car taking her to the party stalled along a remote stretch of desert and she was told by the people accompanying her, who are named in the suit as actors on the show, to run for her life into a nearby canyon to escape harm by an alien attacker.

Honestly, what kind of juvenile asshole thinks something like that is amusing and OK to do? Come on, Skiffy, grow up. Then again, I guess this sort of idiotic immaturity shouldn't be too surprising from the network that thought Farscape was too mentally taxing.

"The Sci-Fi Channel," the article continues, "could not be reached for comment." Doesn't surprise me in the slightest...

Over 5,000 Served! Plus, More Wacky Search Requests

It really does kind of amaze me, but this blog has now had over 5,000 hits in the approximately ten months it's been live on the web. I never imagined when I started this thing that its contents would be remotely interesting to anybody but me and maybe a couple of e-friends, so this amount of traffic, while small potatoes compared to that of blogs that can actually claim to be "popular," does surprise and impress me.

I feel like I ought to have a prize or something for my 5,000th customer, but, although a check of my referrer logs shows Hit #5,000 as coming from a domain name that's been showing up a lot of late, I have no idea who it belongs to. So, uh, congratulations Anonymous 5,000th Customer! Have a virtual Certificate of Appreciation!

Of course, a lot of said hits have come from search engines. (I'm still getting lots and lots of hits from people looking for pictures of that damned blond elf with his clothes off.) So, since it seems to go along with the current subject matter, and since I haven't done it for, oh, at least a week, I now present still more offbeat search requests!

funny pictures gollum dress: Yeah, Gollum in a dress would be pretty funny!

causes for a smart assed personality: I blame society.

eugenics pictures naked: It's a little known fact that Khan Noonien Singh did a spread for Playgirl magazine before going on to conquer a substantial chunk of planet Earth...

mexico nude: The whole country?! That seems like kind of a tall order...

oz is another one who's sexuality is ambiguous Buffy: Really? Well, OK, there's that whole kinky werewolf sex thing, I suppose...

blog barefoot at my desk: Hey, blog however you're comfortable, I say.

fan fiction braca sikozu love: OK, that's definitely an odd character pairing... Especially considering that Sikozu and Braca only ever met for, what, about thirty seconds? Hmm, maybe they could have a menage a trois with Scorpius... Oh, go on. Somebody write that. I dare ya!

facts on aceing tests: Studying is usually a good place to start.

my boobs: I have no idea why anybody would think I had more info about their boobs than they did...

"Star Trek" Spock Albuquerque basic episode: As a long-time Star Trek fan, I can say with complete certainty that there has never been a TOS episode set in Albuquerque. Too bad, really.

Farscape unrealized realities plot thought: I have lots of plot thoughts about unrealized realities, but they're all jostling together in my head and making my brain hurt.

pictures of the Sims having sex: Uh, you do realize that it's a teen-rated game, right? There really isn't all that much to see.

blogger nude pictures: I don't think bloggers look substantially different in the nude than anybody else.

xander livejournal nude: Xander does appear to have a LiveJournal, but I don't think it features any nudity.

nude blog: And correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think blogs (or for that matter, LiveJournals) usually wore clothes...

"Philip K. Dick" paychecks Amazon: If you want to get a paycheck when somebody buys a Philip K. Dick book from Amazon, you need to set up a link like this one. Hope that helps.

naked pictures of guys alone: What, aren't naked pictures of more than one naked guy multiple times as fun? Uh. not that I'd know anything about that, of course...

noranti nude: Well, there's another one to check off for my "search requests for nude Farscape characters" collection. Even if it's one I wasn't expecting and really don't want to contemplate.

servalan nude: And if I ever complete the nude Farscape characters set, it's nice to know that I'll then be able to move on to Blake's 7.

it is space probes better than human astronuats: Wow, how did I manage to misspell "astronaut"? I am deeply shamed. And, for the record, I think space probes are better than human astronauts for some things, but not for others. A space probe can't come back and tell us what it felt like to be out there, for one thing.

wicked weasel pics: Do you think they were looking for wicked pictures of weasels, or pictures of wicked weasels? Either way, I think I'm slightly worried.

This Time, Blame Greta.


What Pattern Are You?

I also did the Spike test, but, frankly, the results were almost too embarrassing to share...

Sleeping Patterns

I seem to have settled into a rather annoying pattern in the past week or so. I get to bed around 8:30 AM if I worked the night before, or around 5-ish if I didn't. I sleep for 3 or 4 hours, and then I suddenly wake up for no apparent reason. It then takes me another 2 hours or so to get back to sleep, whereupon I sleep for around another 6. The upside to this is that I'm getting plenty of sleep when you add it all up -- probably too much, even. The downside is that it's really hard to get much of anything accomplished when you're spending 12 hours a day in bed...

I dunno, maybe I am just lazy...

Got the T-Shirt

I was just looking through a catalog I got in the mail recently which featured, among other things, a collection of humorous t-shirts. And because this is the sort of thing that flits through my mind when I'm bored and trying to stay awake to keep myself on a night-shift schedule (or, indeed, even when I'm not), I got to thinking about humorous t-shirt slogans I've seen which would be fitting for some of the characters in my favorite TV shows. Let's see...

Blake's 7

Avon: "People ruined my life." Also "Sarcasm: Just one more service I offer."

Vila: "Everyone needs something to believe in. I believe I'll have another beer." (Well, more likely adrenaline & soma, but close enough.)

Tarrant: "Still plays with spaceships." (Adapted from "Still plays with cars.")

Dayna: One of those "Life is Full of Choices" shirts, only it would feature pictures of lots of different weapons.

The entire crew: "Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?" (I think someone suggested that as a motto for the entire series once!)

Servalan: "Evil shouldn't look this good."

Farscape

Crichton: "Actually, I AM a rocket scientist."

Aeryn: "Warning: I am armed, and I have PMS."

Stark: "You're just jealous because the voices talk to me."

Moya (not that you could fit a t-shirt on her (maybe you could get an XXXXXL, cut a couple of extra armholes in it and put it on Pilot?)): "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

Hmm, I should probably be able to come up with more than that... Anybody else wanna play? Got suggestions for your favorite characters? Or am I the only hopelessly geeky one here?

Not the Battle. High School.

Well, I've finally finished watching through my Season Three Buffy discs. Just got done watching "Graduation Day" Pt. 1 & 2, and my reaction to seeing it for the second time is pretty much exactly what it was the first time: "Man, television just doesn't get much better than this!" It's an episode that works sooo well, on so many levels... But the very best thing about it, I think, is that fact that, in among all the fighting and the explosions and the giant demons, the heart of the episode (like the heart of the show itself) lies in the character relationships. The relationship between Buffy and Faith, between Buffy and Angel, between Faith and the Mayor (and it's amazing how truly touching that one is, in its own twisted way), between Willow and Oz, between Xander and Anya, etc., etc., etc. And, in the end, it's also about the coming together of an entire community in a way that -- no exaggeration here -- makes my heart swell with pride. On top of it all, those individual relationships aren't simply interesting in and of themselves; they also manage to resonate strongly with universal human experiences. I mean, OK, nobody turned into a giant demon on my graduation day, but nevertheless I can relate to what these characters are going through, and I think anybody who's been to high school, or even been through adolescence, can as well.

See, this is why it's my firm opinion that Buffy is one of the Two Shows Worth Watching on TV today. (Yeah, yeah, no points for guessing what the other one is, either...)

And now I'm missing the Mayor all over again. Golly gee, but he was one gosh-darned likeable old bad guy! If you ask me, these newer, modern evils just don't have the same core values...

This Week, On Alien Visitations... (WARNING: Spoilers for Farscape Episode 4.17, "A Constellation of Doubt")

Wow. That was cool!

And having thus summed up my overall reaction to the episode, here we go with the usual spew of random thoughts:

As solid an episode as "Terra Firma" was, there was one complaint that a lot of people had about it: that the "media circus" surrounding the aliens seemed very subdued and un-circus-like, and that we got to see disappointingly little of Earth's reaction to the whole thing. It's nice -- very nice -- to see that being rectified here, especially as the whole thing is handled with such brilliance and creativity. Man, they got the style of that particular kind of "news" show down absolutely pat. And some of the clips were utterly hysterical. I loved Noranti. And Chiana talking to Crichton's cousin about sex. And every single one of the "talking head" commentators.

The human reaction (heh!) seemed quite believable to me, and I'm sure it surpises absolutely no one, except, oddly, for John. Well, actually, even John seemed more disappointed than surprised. I'm not entirely sure why, though. Isn't this more or less what he was originally hoping for? To warn Earth, to put them on their guard for "when the real space monsters show up"?

Maybe the change in John's attitude towards Aeryn of late can be traced back to that conversation with his sister. (I'm sure there was more of it than what Bobby got on tape.) I like that thought. I think I'm going to keep that thought. It makes a lot more more sense of the current turn of their relationship.

OK. I actually knew about that clue in "Unrealized Reality," because other people had noticed it and posted thoughts about it on the internet. In a way, I kind of wish I hadn't, because it deprived me of one of those lovely moments where I smack myself in the forehead and go, "Damn it, how did I miss that?", which is always fun. Give me the booby prize, by the way. I remember, after UR aired, there were a number of people saying things like, "What was Sikozu-Stark saying just before Crichton shot her? Was that signficant? What did it mean?" And my reaction to that was basically, "Oh, come on. She's just chanting. Stark's always chanting. It's probably some preparing-to-become-incorporeal ritual. It doesn't mean anything. Sheesh, and people say I overanalyze." I forget; when it comes to Farscape, sometimes overanalyzing isn't. I still have no idea what the hell it all means. But I have the feeling the upcoming conversation John's clearly planning on having with Einstein is going to be very interesting, indeed...

It's beginning to become very clear that John is being manipulated somehow. But by who? Scorpius? Einstein? Stark[*]? All of the above? I'm actually much more interested in finding out the answer to this than I am in what's going to happen to Aeryn, to be brutally honest.

How 'bout that tag scene, huh? Aeryn for wormholes... Yeah, well, it wasn't hard to imagine that it would finally come down to that. (Well, geez, come on, John, did you actually think that "let's just kiss quietly so Scorpius doesn't find out" thing was actually going to work?) Do you think he'll actually be willing to keep that bargain? My guess would be "yes."

If Scorpius isn't behind Aeryn's kidnapping (and it's difficult to imagine how he could have arranged it, but it's usually a mistake to put anything at all past him), I imagine he's having some seriously mixed feelings right about now. He'll do anything to get wormholes, but having to face an entire base full of Scarrans has to be very, very high on his list of Least Favorite Things to Do. (I'm really hoping we do get some good character stuff for Scorpius out of this situation. Given that he's actually part of the "crew" now, he's been seriously underused this season.)

[*] Well, there've been some really wild theories proposed as to exactly what (if any) role Stark might be playing in this season's events. Personally, I have no clue, but it seems to me that he has to be significant somehow. His departure left one hell of a loose end, and the writers have been taking considerable care to not let us forget about him. I'm really hoping he does show up soon with his share of the answers. I miss the heck out of Stark, and I really want to know what he's been up to (or, in one particular case, why he's been up to what he's been up to).

The Universe Is Flat

I meant to mention this remarkable scientific news story before, and it sort of slipped my mind. Which is kind of hard for me to believe, given that it concerns nothing less than the ultimate fate of the entire universe. Indeed, I've always thought that if some omniscient being offered to answer me any one question, "Is the Universe open or closed?" would at the very least be a top-five contender.

The news, in case you're too lazy to click on the above link, is that a spacecraft called the Microwave Anisotropy Probe has finished mapping the distribution of residual energy left over from the Big Bang. The results, apparently, have led scientists to the following remarkable conclusions:

1. The universe is "flat." This means that the universe will not eventually cease expanding and start contracting, collapsing inward under the force of its own gravity until it eventually ends in a Big Crunch (a "closed" universe). Instead, it will keep on expanding forever (an "open" universe). It also means, however, that the amount of mass in the universe is exactly at the critical limit below which it would have eventually suffered a Big Crunch fate. This cannot possibly be a coincidence (and in fact, I believe it's a predicted result from a particular theoretical model called "inflationary cosmology").

2. The universe is exactly 13.7 billion years old. (Well, almost exactly. The error margin is 0.2 billion years in either direction.)

3. The first stars in the universe began to shine only about 200 million years after the Big Bang, much earlier than theorists had predicted. If my astrophysics weren't so incredibly rusty, I might have some sort of comment to make about the implications of that, but, alas, it's been a long time since I've so much as thought about the technical details of star formation.

4. Last, and possibly most interestingly, it seems that 73% of the mass of the universe is made up of a sort of "dark energy," a mysterious something that has the property of causing the universe's rate of expansion to actually increase, despite the pull of gravity. (Go ahead, call it anti-gravity if you like. I don't know what else to call it...)

That Friday Five Thing Again

1. Explain why you started to journal/blog. Well, my buddy JK, who I knew through Phoenix APA, had just gotten into blogging in a big (or at least, very enthusiastic) way. He'd started up his own blog, the recently (and sadly) defunct Trash Heap, and was looking into developing some Phoenix-related blogs. He was pretty vocal about encouraging the rest of us to give this blogger thing a try, and, like a sucker, I fell for it. I thought it might be interesting to have a place where I could jot down the random things I happened to be thinking about and people could actually come by and read them, if for some unfathomable reason they actually wanted to. I honestly never expected the experiment to be quite this... successful.

2. Do people you interact with day to day or family members know about your journal/blog? Why or why not? My sister and my dad stop by here on a more-or-less regular basis, I know. Other than that... Well, it's easy enough to find this place from my web page, and everybody knows about my web page, so probably. I don't think I've ever directly mentioned it to anyone in an actual voice-to-voice conversation, though (except for those two people that I already know read it). It's kinda weird... It's like I have an online life and an offline life, and I don't really tend to think about the two of them overlapping.

3. Do you have a theme for your journal/blog? Nah, "random wibblings" really does sum it up pretty well. If I had to stick a label on Maximum Verbosity, I'd probably refer to it as a personal/pop culture blog (as opposed to a political blog or a collection-of-neat-links blog, or whatever). Probably about half my posts have something to do with science fiction TV, so if you wanted to call that the theme of this blog, I probably wouldn't object too strenuously.

4. What direction would you like to have your journal/blog go in over the next year? You mean these things are supposed to have a direction?!

5. Pimp five of your favorite journals/blogs. Um... OK. Let's see:

The Memory Burns is well worth reading for Greta's Buffy discussions, if for nothing else.

Uncertain Principles is a wonderfully readable blog written by a physicist (he also talks about sports a lot, but nobody's perfect).

James Lileks' The Bleat is always worth reading, even when I don't agree with his politics.

Hellmouth News consists of links to Live Journals written in-character by various Buffy characters, which I still think is just too cool of an idea.

Tachyon TV Blog had a lot of interesting discussion about SF TV shows, but it seems to have gone stagnant at the moment.

Note that I've left out a lot of blogs that I visit on a daily basis and enjoy greatly: Amanda Peterson, The Beachboard Bramble, Curious Frog, Occasional Fish, The Soap Box, Thudfactor... I love ya all, guys!

A Proposition

I propose that February 13th be declared International "Single And Perfectly Damned Happy About It" Day. Who's with me?

Living in the Future

Almost constantly these days I'm struck by the feeling that I'm actually living in the future, that stuff I read about in what seemed like fairly far-fetched science fiction novels when I was a teenager are suddenly happening all around me right now. Sometimes it almost occurs to me to wonder if we aren't all characters in someone's SF novel, so strange and bizarre does reality seem any more.

Anyway, here's the latest bit of news to bring that odd sensation crashing down on me again: scientists have used a technique referred to as "brain fingerprinting" to measure neural responses to a crime scene, which may well lead to a murder conviction being overturned. The implications of this are simultaneously kind of nifty and utterly terrifying. "Until recently," says the article, "brain scientists were hampered by two rigid barriers: the skull and ethics." Looks like the skull is becoming less and less of a barrier, and that it may be past time to start thinking long and hard about the ethics. I definitely recommend reading the article; it's got a very good discussion of some of the ethical conundra involved, not just with this "brain fingerprinting" thing, but also with a number of other related and equally nifty/terrifying issues.

Well, This Is Kinda Surreal.

So, there's this web page that will put text through mutliple computer translations, with results that are certainly worth gawking at. Just for jollies, I ran my last blog post through this thing, and after being translated from English to French to English to German to English to Italian to English to Portuguese to English to Spanish to English, the following mish-mash was the end result. Very, very bizarre. (Note that all the text formatting got lost in translation, too, including the paragraph breaks and my nice little bulleted thoughts. I'd go back and stick them back in if I weren't a) too lazy, and b) no longer remotely sure where they'd belong, anyway.) Happy gawking.

thoughts 0ccasional in Buffy tonight (this INFORMS: I scrape) Spendthrift! Finally we look like the part of the Earth still to base! Certain and a recovery and an enthusiasm that the direction has of length, also... Yay! Like (the promises 0ccasional of the thoughts and the diverse continuations, are not simply for Farscape more): I surely age to something that the decision of Buffy was inside, extreme writing lucky Rome of the one to give the form me that was and that he, because it was the line. That one hour of the writing of Rome received a heart and a lheo as well as free relative of the increases wants how much the rest of us. In more returning they had regulated the part, at the time of the retirement. We could be examined the thing with sojourn local we specified as far as much hour? The duration of the writing of Rome is possibly very, much much stay. More in front of the task in many prettily of, since the electrical workers of the circuits would begin to probably diminish and of this point and in the part of that to the left he does not have more, the one that can regulating. This, after ouais, was disapprovando that the sufficiently comprehensible Giles still had been indicated that. Exactly if the relative to that the external part of one more a greater part there was dew finally of a type of "would, that one augured that suggests their son of Spike?" Type of the place. Or possibly special due to whom... Administration of the drink: Hectar! It could not do the one that defective age of I! Well, it did not have an idea, that it was true, but was he that I age seriously not to something surely. And it is on the other hand to something lucky in this subject. The line, champion, who is really and the presses and bezaubert, ' disonore of D von Buffy the one end to lose everything in evilness. They occupy them, because the way that straight does not offer the possibilities is not defective, that they interest, in the order the one that is hostile an end if to become... Sao I the end to see the type of this the torsion passed of the part that comes from the Earth, but does not use really those of this whole number. Task I too much leads to the interest of the dynamics of the letter. Nizza to see a possible assassin that the English does not say. I began to request itself because all had looked like to be the S.U.A. and England will have been produced very to saldamente that the murders and latta one he of the jump alongside advanced in all the part. It is on the other hand pleasant type to know the one that the language does not speak in Giles gives. The end approximately to say Giles, miracle that one of nobody is the reason if he is tetchy of another one in this therefore that it is possibly because one given does not have? Defective Giles. The CHARACTERISTIC of the good CHARACTERISTIC is seriously totally sufficient in the necessity he, but to take difficult small from the obligation he with the serious one if to it delays the illustrations of the landslide of the post. (it forms of ampèreheure really only the recovery of the luck, because esteem. And, you saw man the direction, that this Bringer in the return after these is lazy? Giles is always the man) that I have indicated recently that I began in similar Andrew? The left part of that one changed to me. They are really and really beginning in similar Andrew! They go, boy! Esteem the direction which they must to the warnings of Vortatsachen of the Bedraengnisses, the end to repair its telephones of the piled up ones. It is the type of the good intelligent planning, in the game of the television you very see rare and of course that I to which Xander does not have mark that conserved it for "Help, my date is strange, that he is demon." Vein, of her, he to think sufficiently; this complete thing of the Anziehendaemonen has the direction, of that beyond the agreement one that goes. The thoughts of the solved piece alongside advanced of the amiable preselezionato of him possibly take care of a course the line in second, to take it was are?

Random Thoughts on Tonight's Buffy (WARNING: Spoilers!)

All right! We appear to have finally found the plot again! And to be having some fun and excitement along the way, too... Yay!

As promised, various random thoughts follow (yes, they're not just for Farscape any more!):

I was pretty sure that was the decision Buffy was going to make about Spike, and I'm glad that she did, because it was the right one. Spike's got a soul now, and he deserves his free will as much as the rest of us. Besides, assume they had fixed the chip instead of removing it. How long could we expect the thing to stay fixed? Spike's lifespan is potentially very, very long. Eventually, I think it's pretty much a given that the circuitry would begin to degrade, and by that point there's probably not gonna be anybody left who knows how to fix it. That having been said, yeah, Giles' disapproval was still pretty understandable. Even if most of it did ultimately spring from a sort of "would you want your daughter to be involved with Spike?" kind of place. Or perhaps especially because of that...

Principal Wood: Ha! I knew he wasn't evil! OK, I had no idea what he actually was, but I was pretty sure he wasn't evil. And I'm rather happy about that, too. Buffy's right, the guy's really attractive and charming, and it'd be a shame to waste all that on evilness. Mind you, just because he's evil doesn't mean he doesn't have the potential to become an enemy... I did kind of see that last plot twist coming, but I don't really mind that at all. I think it's gonna make for some very interesting character dynamics.

Nice to see a potential slayer who doesn't speak English. I was beginning to wonder why all of them seemed to be from the US and England, when it's been very firmly established that Slayers can and do pop up anywhere. It's also kind of nice to know that there's a language Giles doesn't speak.

Speaking of Giles, anybody else wonder if maybe the reason he's so tetchy in this one is because he doesn't have a date? Poor Giles. Well, OK, OK, he's quite right about the need to get serious, but it's a bit difficult to take him seriously when he's holding up gory stick figures. (Ah, truly, I only make fun of the guy because I love him. And, man, did you see the way he took out that Bringer in the flashback? Giles is still the man!)

Did I mention recently that I was starting to like Andrew? Let me amend that. I'm really, really starting to like Andrew! You go, boy!

I love the way they've got pre-made distress messages set up on their cell phones. That's the kind of intelligent good planning you seldom see on TV. And, of course, it doesn't surprise me at all that Xander has a pre-programmed signal for "Help, my date turned out to be a demon." Come to think of it, he's right; this whole attracting-demons thing has gone way beyond coincidence. You think maybe the picked up some kind of a curse somewhere along the line without realizing it? I mean, sheesh.

For the record, Scott Bakula was, in my opinion, approximately 6,000 times more attractive as Dr. Sam Beckett than as Captain Archer. Still a good choice for Xander's alleged purpose, though, there's no denying it...

I Am a Victim of Telephone

I was woken up at about 1:00 this afternoon (or, in other words, after about four hours of sleep) by the telephone. Now, normally when I'm working nights, I turn the ringer off and the volume on the answering machine all the way down before I go to sleep, but apparently this morning I forgot. So, OK, I stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen where the phone is, shut the damned thing up in the middle of the 25th repetition this year of that idiotic pre-recorded debt-consolidation-company spiel, and staggered back to bed. It seems, however, that in my half-asleep haze, I neglected to shut the ringer off as well, and lo, some short while later I was interrupted again by someone named "unavailable" who must have sensed the withering waves of hatred radiating off of me in response, because they got scared and hung up after two rings.

Unfortunately, the seething, urge-to-commit-violence adrenalin flooding my system at this point made it effectively impossible for me to get back to sleep. I just kept lying there thinking about how much I'd like to find that smarmy debt-consolidation guy and wake him up in the middle of the night and castrate him with a blowtorch.

Seriously, I'm usually a fairly laid-back person (at least when I've been getting enough sleep), but telemarketers make me see red. They make me see shades of red that don't even have names. I usually just refuse to pick up the phone when the caller ID reads "unavailable," instead letting the machine hit them with the "I HATE telemarketers! Leave me ALONE!" message. (Those who read this blog who actually make a habit of calling me on the phone can vouch for said message's existence, as well as the slightly hysterical edge in the recorded voice.) I'm seriously thinking, though, of picking up the phone from now on and giving them the following spiel once they've gotten around to asking me if I want any of what they're selling: "No. Because I do not do business with companies who feel they have to right to interrupt me at home, whatever I may be in the middle of doing. And as for you, I know the economy's bad, but are you that broke and desperate that you can't find a less evil job? I mean, I used to work fast food. I even wore the silly hat. But at least under that hat I still had a shred of human dignity." I wonder how far I'd manage to get before they hung up?

By the way, if I've offended any people with telemarketing jobs who, by some chance, happen to be reading this blog... Good. For gods' sakes, people, I know everbody's gotta eat, but you've got to be able to find yourself a less immoral way to make a living. Like prostition. Or grave robbing.

And if you think I'm being sarcastic about that, you don't know me nearly as well as you think. In fact, that's the exact problem. You don't know me at all, and you don't have the slightest idea what you might be intruding on. I might be asleep (as, indeed, I was). I might be having sex (not bloody likely in my case, but you don't know that). I might be watching my favorite TV show. I might be reading a whodunit and have just gotten to the point where they're about to reveal the murderer. I might be waiting desperately by the phone for news of a loved one. I might be wedged into a crawlspace with a wrench in my hand and a bunch of bolts clamped between my teeth. I might be sitting alone, crying. I might be eating dinner, or cooking dinner. I might be tending to a child's boo-boo. I might be in the middle of a complicated math problem. I might be on the verge of a scientific epiphany, about to grasp the breakthrough notion that is dancing just on the tip of my mind, if only nothing happens just then to break my concentration. I might be writing a story or essay and have finally achieved that state where the writer seems to disappear and the words flow from fingers to screen as if they've got an independent existence of their own (and do you have any idea how elusive that particular state is?). I might be just lurching into the house with heavy bags of groceries balanced in my arms. I might be just about to dash out of the house, very nearly late for work. I might be sick as a dog, to the point where the short walk into the next room to get to the phone exhausts all the strength I have. You don't know. And apparently you don't care, either, you bastard. But you have no right to come intruding into my life and my home on the basis that it might just give you a way to line your greedy little pockets with my cash.

(Hmm, maybe I should read that paragraph to the next person who calls and see how far I get...)

Deep breath. OK, I'm done now. Unless you are a telemarketer, it's safe to come out. Really.

Oh, and twenty points to anybody who can tell me where the title of this entry comes from.

Why I Resent the British

It seems that the BBC is going to be showing new Farscape episodes at the rate of two a week, starting at the end of this month. Can I just say "Aaargh"? I mean, I'm sure this is great for British Farscape fans, but it's driving me crazy! The UK has consistently been ahead of us on episodes since the hiatus, and the fact that it was pre-empted there last week only serves to put them half a week ahead of us instead of a week and a half. Which means that large numbers of people have seen episodes that I have not. And these people frequently post to the internet. The result is that I'm having a very, very hard time not reading spoilers, both in the sense that I have to vigilant about coming across them accidentally and in the sense that I sometimes have to physically restrain myself from peeking. The thing is, I know that I enoy a show better -- far better -- when I don't know what's going to happen, but I have this whole problem with delayed gratification (something I may well have mentioned here before). I want to know what happens next, dammit, and I want it now!

Sigh. Well, at least I can console myself with the fact that soon those doggoned Brits will be out of new Farscape (sadly, perhaps forever), while I still have more episodes to savor. I don't really think that's helping very much, though...

A Fitting Memorial

Starscapes, NASA's memorial to the crew of the shuttle Columbia, features some absolutely stunning space photography. (Thanks to Curious Frog for the link; it was far too good not to pass along.)

National Tragedy, Local Interest

It seems that an Air Force telescope at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque recorded some footage of the last flight of the Columbia (including about one second that nobody else recorded), which may be useful in figuring out exactly what happened. They're also saying that there may be shuttle debris to be found in New Mexico, but it passed considerably north of here, so I guess I'm not exactly likely to trip over any of it.

There seems to be a lot of speculation now that perhaps the shuttle may have been hit by piece of space debris. Jay Manifold of A Voyage to Arcturus (where I got all these links from) has a good analysis of the odds of that happening.

It's Snowing!

Yes, that's right, it's snowing. This is a rare enough occurence here that I felt compelled to share.

Currently...

Hey, I haven't done this for February yet!

Current clothes: At the moment I'm wearing my nice comfy jammies, which are blue and have sheep on them. Also my big leopard-foot slippers, which, now that I think about it, is kind of an odd (perhaps even disturbing) predator-prey juxtaposition.

Current mood: Kinda sleepy. Which is not a good thing since, due to a bit of shuffling in my work schedule, I'm going to be staying on night shift for the next two weeks, and I really need to get myself into nocturnal mode.

Current music: In the stereo right now are The Essential Andreas Vollenweider and Bruce Springsteen's The Rising

Current hair: Slightly damp at the bottom. I just took a bath (hence the jammies).

Current annoyance: My sleeping problems, as alluded to above and described often enough on this blog of late that everybody's probably tired of hearing about them.

Current thing: Trying to get a bit caught up on the massive backlog of books/DVDs/CDs I still have to read/watch/listen to. I've not been terribly successful, though.

Current desktop picture: This amazing image of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Current song stuck in head: Actually, since I typed the name of the Springsteen album a couple of mintues ago, the title song's been kind of looping through my head.

Current book: Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang, a surprisingly good Star Trek: The Next Generation novel.

Current video in player: Nothing at the moment, but most recently the tape on which I recorded tonight's Farscape. Currently in the DVD player is disc 4 of Buffy season three.

Current refreshment: Mint tea.

Current worry: You know, I've got something of a list of current worries, and they're depressing enough that I'd really rather not dwell on them just now.

Current thought: Must... stay... awake...

Bring It On! (WARNING: Spoilers for Farscape episode 4.16, "Bringing Home the Beacon")

After a couple of so-so filler eps, this one was extremely welcome. Yup, this is pretty much exactly what I was wanting: a solid episode full of twisty, suspenseful, signficant, story-arc-advancing goodness. The usual spew of random thoughts follows:

Sikozu seems awfully distraught over Aeryn. I honestly didn't think she cared that much about anybody but Scorpius. Is this an indication that she's really a bigger softie than she lets on, or is it maybe just that she hates the idea of anyone being in the hands of the Scarrans?

For some time now, I've been firmly of the opinion that Grayza is either a) a Scarran agent, or b) an idiot. The answer, at last, seems to be b), but the exact nature of her idiocy now begins to make considerably more sense. It would appear that she's so concerned about her own individual power-mongering that she's developed a bit of a blind spot where it comes to the very real danger presented by the Scarrans. (And, you know, she's reminding me more and more of Servalan with every passing day. Except that Servalan grasped the concept of not wanting to be "president of a ruined empire.")

If Braca's supposed to be working against Grayza, he doesn't appear to be doing a very good job of it. In fact, he doesn't appear to be doing much of anything except hanging around being her yes-man. Well, stick with what you're good at, I know, but shouldn't he be doing something a bit more proactive by this point?

So, translator microbes don't understand Scarran? Since when? Well, I suppose it would explain why we got subtitles when Sikozu and Scorpy were speaking it earlier in the season, but, in that case, what have all the Scarrans we've been communicating with all through the series been speaking?

I love D'Argo in this one. True, he's hardly even in the episode, but he has that great scene at the end where he gets to be Supportive Guy, and he does it so well. Also, have we just had an indication that he's thinking of getting back together with Chi? I'm happy at the thought that he can forgive her, but if you ask me, renewing their romantic relatioship would probably be a really bad idea.

Classic example of how Farscape does not do technobbable: "It's a biloid"/"What's a bilod?"/"That is." Every other SF show in existence would feel the need to stop the story dead and explain the technical details. As if the truly relevant facts weren't perfectly obvious.

The thought occurs that Scorpy's habit of playing all his cards close to his shiny leather vest might have actually backfired here. How much different would things have been if he'd told Our Heros that Braca was working for him? Then again, for all we know, maybe he arranged the whole thing.

I totally sympathize with Aeryn for wanting to take out Grayza and to prevent the Scarrans from learning that the PKs don't actually have wormhole technology, but those were some pretty insane risks to take. And for what? At best, it would only serve to delay the inevitable. As far as the wormhole bluff thing goes, the Scarrans have pretty much figured it out by now. They're just looking to make sure before they strike. I've very little doubt of it.

And how amusing is it that the PKs are taking credit for the destruction of the Scarran Dreadnought? Geez, now they're stealing John's glory, on top of everything else!

The scenes from next week: OK, is it just wishful thinking on my part, or did that look like Harvey? Seriously, it's hard to tell, but it sure looks like "Scorpy" is wearing a very un-Scorpius-like shirt.

Man, oh, man. They're never going to finish telling this story by the end of the season. Things are clearly building up to a major climax now, and we're going to be left hanging in the middle of it! Whimper. Have I mentioned lately how much I loathe those jackasses at Sci Fi?

I'm Extraordinary!

A few days ago, in my post discussing the latest Buffy ep, I mentioned that, oddly, I find I'm beginning to rather like Andrew. I think that a large part of that can in fact be traced to the line where he says that he's waiting for the comics store to call and let him know when they've got the latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in. I had no idea he had such good taste in comics.

Anyway, here's yet another quiz:


Which Extraordinary Gentleman are you?

Disturbingly enough, I'd say that assessment is really pretty accurate...

T.G.I. Friday Five

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn't have breakfast, why not? No breakfast this morning. That's not exactly unusual for me; I'd say more often than not I don't actually do breakfast as such (unless you count my habitual three cups of coffee). But there's no way I'd have had time for breakfast today even if I'd wanted it, since I had to get up early and dash off to a meeting a work (as if I haven't been spending enough time here already).

2. What's your favorite cereal? I don't know that I have one favorite cereal. Life cereal is good. And various kinds of Chex. And that Muselix stuff. Oh, and Lucky Charms. Lucky Charms are kind of a guilty pleasure for me. Come to think of it, I don't think I've had Lucky Charms in a long time...

3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change? If you count fast food and take-out, the answer is several times a week. At least. And, yeah, I really should change that. I keep telling myself I ought to cook more, but it's time consuming, and it's hard to work up much enthusiasm for cooking just for yourself.

4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that? Define "tonight." It's about 1 AM as I type this, and I just had my last meal of the day (rather earlier than usual). It was a can of Campbell's Chunky Classic Chicken Noodle Soup.

5. What's your favorite restaurant? Why? Probably Garduno's Mexican restuarant. Damn, they have good salsa. And shredded beef tacos. And pretty much everything else. They're in Albuquerque, though, and I don't get there all that often. My most-frequented restuarant is a diner here in town called the El Camino. (Yes, I know "the El" is redundant, but that's what everybody calls it, OK?) They're open 24 hours, which is very important when you're a shiftworker.

Say It Ain't So!

Apparently, DVDs are subject to rot. I find this notion extremely distressing, since I've seen some of the videotapes I've had since the 1980s deterioriate into near-unwatchability, and one of the reasons I've been so diligently collecting my favorite TV shows on DVD of late is because I want them on a medium that is going to last. If my Farscape discs aren't playable twenty years from now, I'm going to be seriously miffed.

Fortunately, the only time I've had a problem like the ones described in the article[*], I was able to get the disc replaced with no hassle whatsoever. Apparently not all merchants are that accomodating, though, which has the potential to be seriously annoying.

[*] It was one of the Buffy season 2 discs. You may remember me bitching about it here a few months ago, actually.

Twisty

I've been hearing rumors that somewhere in the next few episodes of Farscape there's going to be a Great Big Plot Twist, something that "nobody is going to see coming." Considering how much really, really out-there speculation people have been spinning this season, it's hard to imagine just what the writers could possibly come up with that the fans haven't already thought up, but I have considerable faith in their mind-frell abilities, anyway. This suggestion has, however, led me to come up with my own list of plot twist possibilities. (Warning: list contains spoilers for the 4th season thus far.)

Farscape Plot Twists We Probably Won't See:

Scorpius reveals that he is John Crichton's father.

Aeryn discovers that her baby is... D'Argo's?!

Braca turns out to have been simultaneously working for Scorpius and Grayza and the Scarrans and the Nebari. And Furlow.

Chiana joins a convent, taking up vows of poverty and chastity.

John discovers that he is still in the virtual reality game from "John Quixote," and nothing since then has in fact been real.

Scorpius actually is dead. That's his ghost haunting Moya.

Due to a horrific accident involving an unstable wormhole, the Farscape 1 module and Noranti's pixie dust, the entire universe is destroyed. Oops.

Scorpius didn't actually remove Harvey from John's head. He removed John. The person we've been seeing on our TV screens ever since "Promises" is actually Harvey pretending to be John.

A (different) horrific wormhole accident wipes out all life in the Uncharted Territories. The only survivors are John Crichton, who was in a laka-induced state of suspended animation; Pilot, completely insane after spending three million cycles alone; a hologram of the dead Rygel; and a life-form that evolved from 1812.

John proposes to Aeryn. She says yes, but leaves him at the altar and runs off with Scorpius.

Episode 4.22 will end with a Sci Fi executive popping up during the credits and saying "April Fool's! We're really not cancelling the show, after all!" (Yeah, I know, we only wish.)

Sikozu revealed to be an agent planted to prise the secret recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken from John's brain.

Special guest appearance by William Shatner.

The Scarrans turn out to be gentle, peace-loving beings who've simply gotten a lot of bad PR. Once this is understood, their differences with the PKs are sorted out by means of a group hug.

Aeryn reveals that she isn't actually the female of her species, after all.

John says "screw it all," turns around and goes back to Earth, and opens up a used car dealership.

I know, I know. I'm really gettin' punchy here... I'll stop.

Shall I Compare Thee...

Here's a really fun quiz: What Poetic Form Are You?

My result, which somehow quite fails to surprise me:

I am the sonnet, never quickly thrilled;
Not prone to overstated gushing praise
Nor yet to seething rants and anger, filled
With overstretched opinions to rephrase;
But on the other hand, not fond of fools,
And thus, not fond of people, on the whole;
And holding to the sound and useful rules,
Not those that seek unjustified control.
I'm balanced, measured, sensible (at least,
I think I am, and usually I'm right);
And when more ostentatious types have ceased,
I'm still around, and doing, still, alright.
In short, I'm calm and rational and stable -
Or, well, I am, as much as I am able.

Hey, That's Better!

After a couple of so-so episodes of Buffy, tonight's was a really enjoyable comeback, even if -- oh, wait, I guess I'd better throw in a spoiler warning for this post, so here it is -- as I was saying, even if the Big Bad is still mysteriously and disappointingly absent. And even if I was rolling my eyes at that whole "wait, has anybody seen Giles touch anything?" scene. Sorry, Joss, but we were all there several episodes ago, which was probably the intent, and we'd all figured out by now that the whole thing was a red herring, which probably wasn't. That's the problem with being too good at playing mindgames with your audience. After a while, they start to expect it from you, and they get harder and harder to fool. I did very much like the way they resolved it, though. "Wait, you think I'm evil because I take a group of girls on a camping trip and don't touch them?" Heh.

Other than that, though, it was just a cool episode all around, and one that finally gets some of the last couple of eps' lost momentum back, even if that momentum seems to be going in different directions now. Good things: weird, totally unexpected plot twists, some excellent character stuff for Willow (poor Willow!), quite a bit of genuine suspense, and good use of series continuity. Also, disturbingly enough, I find that I'm actually starting to rather like Andrew. Not sure just when that happened. But, hey, when did Amy get to be so psycho? Was this set up at all during the part of the sixth season that I missed (i.e. most of it), or did it just come from out of nowhere the way it kind of seemed to?

By the way, I could have told Spike that his chip was going to start malfunctioning sooner or later. After all, Gan's did. Here's hoping Spike's doctor doesn't try to sell them out to the First, because that would be far too Blake's 7 for coincidence.

Columbia Thoughts

I've just been reading Rand Simberg's blog Transterrestrial Musings, and I think he has a number of very intelligent things to say about the Columbia tragedy. In particular, I have to agree that, as unthinkably awful as Columbia's loss is, if (and sadly, it's a big if) it leads to a clear-headed rethinking of America's space policy, than at least some considerable good will have come from it. If we're to continue manned exploration of space, we need to develop the right hardware to do it. We need a system that is more reliable and more cost-effective than the shuttle, and we've needed it for a very long time. So far, the US space program has been coasting by on "good enough" when it should have been looking towards the future and developing the tools to do the job right. And as we've all just, to our horror, discovered, "good enough" really wasn't good enough, after all. (Note that I'm not actually blaming NASA on this. They've done what they could with the funding they've had to work with. It's at a higher, US-policy-making level that this issue needs to be addressed.)

There's been a lot of debate -- not new, but perhaps more urgent -- about whether manned space exploration is even a reasonable thing to be pursuing. Wouldn't it be better, some argue, to keep us fragile human beings safe on the ground and let the machines go out and do whatever we want to do in space for us? There's a great deal of practical merit in that suggestion, and, personally, I'm a big fan of robotic space probes. (I remember watching, enthralled, as live Voyager images rolled in from Neptune.) But it seems to me that the notion that space travel is too hazardous for humans profoundly misses the point. This satirical piece by blogger Scott Ott does a better job than I ever could of summarizing why.

Simberg also asks the question: "Why do people so uniquely mourn the loss of astronauts?" Why are we so deeply moved by the deaths of these seven people when "more died in traffic accidents in the past twenty-four hours than have died in space since we first started going there"? Put so baldly, that might seem like a callous or disrespectful question, but I don't believe that's the intent. I think it's a legitimate question, and I think the answer is more than simply "because they were dedicated and brave," even though they most certainly were. Simberg thinks it has to do with national prestige:

As Wolfe pointed out, [astronauts] became the gladiators of our age, in a (hopefully) bloodless competition on the high frontier against our enemy the Soviets. They became a symbol of our technological ability, and in order to win the propaganda battle, they had to leave the planet and return alive. The loss of the vehicles that delivered them to the heavens was insignificant, because they were designed to be thrown away after they served their purpose, once, but if we lost astronauts, it was a sign that we were losing the Cold War.

With the advent of the Shuttle, and even with the end of the Cold War, we retained the same sense that space symbolizes our nation's might and prowess, in a way that an aircraft taking off does not. So, though they've become so seemingly routine that we no longer televise them, our national pride continues to ride with each flight.

But most of us are brought up to believe that "people are more important than things." . . . .

So when we are shocked by the loss of something so vital to our national psyche, and so seemingly useful to our ambitions for spaceflight, it is natural to transfer the mourning from the vehicle to its inhabitants.

I think he's got a point here, that it's most certainly not (or not just) the loss of life that leaves us so sorrowful and shocked. I know that in my case, as much compassion as I feel for the families of those who were lost, I don't normaly sit in front of the TV set and shed tears for the deaths of people I have never met and do not know. I can't speak for anyone else, but, yes, there is something else, some other emotion, which has transferred over into feelings of grief for these seven people. But it isn't a loss of national prestige. It's something that's at once much more personal and much more universal than that.

Like many of my generation, I grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek, dreaming wild dreams about the adventure and excitement of exploring space. Yes, I know, the reality isn't -- and won't be -- anything like Star Trek. No Klingons, no warp drive (probably), no freaky space anomalies that catapult you into alternate universes or send you back in time. But the reality was and is even more exciting precisely because it is reality. When I was a kid, I used to lie on my back and look up at the stars and simply ache at the fact that I was never going to be be able to fly among them, never going to see the Earth from space, never going to walk on the surface of another world. But I cannot say how much it means to me to know that someone is out there doing it. It's not a matter of national prestige. Maybe it's a matter of human prestige. Astronuats are part of humanity, and I am part of humanity, and, in an abstract way, it's as if there was a little part of me, floating out there, looking down. I may never make it beyond Earth's atmosphere, but at lest my species has. From that perspective, is it any wonder that space disasters like Columbia and Challenger are such a blow, that the loss of these particular individuals feels, somehow, so much worse than the loss of so many others no less deserving? It's not "merely" the loss of human life, it's not simply a blow to the national ego. It's being kicked right in the dreams.

Wow. I seem to be getting much more serious and emotional in my blogging of late. I'm not sure whether I should apologize for that or not...

Another Blog Bites the Dust

A moment of silence, please, for the (hopefully temporary) passing of JK Parkin's The Trash Heap. JK's the one to blame for starting me off on this whole blog thing in the first place, so I guess you'd have to consider The Trash Heap as Maximum Verbosity's parent. (Heh. Little did JK know what he was unleashing on the world when he started waxing all enthusiastic to me about blogging, way back when. (Well, OK, "way back when" was, like, last year, but never mind that.)) Good luck on your other projects, JK, and be sure and stop by and say "hi" to your blog-daughter once in a while!

Past My Bedtime

Well, I've now been awake for just about exactly 24 hours. I feel like I should be getting a prize or something. (Yeah, I can see my acceptance speech now: "On behalf of stressed-out shiftworkers everywhere, I gratefully accept this American Sleep Deprivation Award. I'd like to thank coffee, green tea, and Pepsi Cola...")

Is it time to go home yet?

Geek Dreams

Here's an interesting (well, to me) addendum to my recent yammerings about my sleeping habits. This morning (right before I woke up at the Too Damned Early Hour mentioned before) I had one of those dreams that practically screams "you know you've been watching too much television when..."

In my dream, I was watching Farscape, only at the same time I was messing around with my virtual country on the Jennifer Government Nation States website, which I mentioned a couple of posts back. (Interestingly, this immediately struck me as far and away the most implausible element of the dream. My favorite show is on, and I'm allowing myself to be distracted by a silly web game? Please.) Anyway, on the show, Scorpius was droning on with a bunch of exposition about how the Scarrans were going to overrun this planet they (we?) were on, and how terrible that would be and yadda yadda, yadda. Like I said, it was exposition, and it was pretty dull, so I wasn't paying all that much attention to it (in fact, I remember thinking how unusual it was to get boring exposition like that on Farscape). Here's the thing, though: he wasn't doing it on the television. He was actually standing right there in the doorway to the room I was in. For some reason, this did not strike me as the slightest bit strange. In any case, I probably really should have been paying attention, because just then some Scarrans came charging in. (I want to say there were three of them, but I'm not really entirely sure.) By this point, I'd somehow ceased to be me and had instead become John Crichton. I'm not completely sure exactly when that happened. The Scarrans, of course, started chasing me, and I was running from them through the rooms of this big, rambling, dilapidated house. Which was completely pitch dark (I'm not at all sure just when that happened, either). I do remember suddenly realizing that of course Scarrans are going to be able to see in the dark. Not that there was any evidence for that on the TV show, but aren't all monsters chasing you through dark rooms always able to see better than you are? And given my -- er, given Crichton's -- luck, it seemed pretty much inevitable. Oh, yeah, and the entire house was also full of trash. Well, not trash, exactly, but there was all this paper everywhere, like the previous occupants had simply dumped 40 years worth of junk mail and receipts and other assorted paperish debris on the floor. It rustled when I ran over it and stuck to my feet (I guess I must have been barefoot) and slowed me down. I was nevertheless able to run from the Scarrans for a while, but all too quickly I began to sense them getting very close to me. Whether I heard them or felt the heat or what, I couldn't tell you. I just knew. They were practically breathing down my neck, and I couldn't even see them! At this point, I finally began to panic, and I started yelling, in considerable distress and despair, "Scorpius! Scorpius, what do I do?" (Which is certainly something that would disturb me to hear coming out of Crichton's mouth.) He didn't answer me, though. And at that point, I woke up.

Interestingly, I almost never get being-chased-by-monsters dreams, but when I do, they do seem to be TV monsters. I remember dreaming that the Cybermen were after me once.

Man, I'd love to take this one onto Sci-Fi's stupid Dream Team show. "Well, gee, Annabelle and Michael, I think I can actually handle this one myself. See, the Scarrans represent the excutives at Sci-Fi..." Heh. Either that, or there's been some bizarre cosmic wire-crossing and I'm actually getting dreams that were supposed to go to a completely different, completely fictional person...

Man, If I Had a Nickel for Every Time That Happened

Here's a cute little animation of a story that will be immediately familiar to anyone who's ever been owned by a cat. (Well, maybe not the end. One hopes.)

My Sleep Problems, Continued

I was so exhausted last night from the long, lovely week of next-to-no-sleep that I'd been having that I fell asleep at something like 11:00 PM. The good news is, I finally got a solid eight hours of sleep. The bad news is, this meant I woke up at 7:00 AM. The worse news is, I have to work a midnight-8 AM shift tonight. Did I say "ugh" already?

Oh. My. God.

A few days ago, on the 17th anniversary of the Challenger explosion, I was remembering where I was when I heard the news. (Geometry class. I was so stunned that when someone told me I at first thought it was a joke, until our principal came on the PA system and her voice was so choked up she could hardly speak.) The very last thing I expected was to have to live through it again. My deepest, most heartfelt condolences to the families of the astronauts and to everyone at NASA.

My Country, 'Tis of Thee

Guess what? I've gone and started my own virtual country! The Republic of Ragania is a lush, tropical paradise which welcomes tourists. Hey, we have legalized marijuana, same-sex marriages, and public nudity! What more could you possibly ask for? Well, all right, maybe a flag that doesn't bear a strange similarity (or, um, identity) to that of Brazil, but I'll get to that eventually.

(OK, these night shifts are getting really boring...)

Mental Ramblings (Warning: Spoilers for Farscape Episode 4.15, "Mental as Anything")

For last week's episode, I think I actually ended up doing something vaguely resembling a coherent review. This week, I'm afraid, you're just getting random disconnected thoughts. So.

To begin with, although this wasn't a great episode in my estimation (it feels a lot like filler before the real action starts to happen, which I suspect is exactly what it is), it gets major points for being a good, solid D'Argo ep. We haven't really had much lately in the way of episodes focused on individual characters other than John, and, fond as I am of John, I've always thought that one of the best things about Farscape was its character ensemble. And it was high time for D'Argo in particular to get a bit of spotlight. I'd been wondering since the beginning of the season just what the heck had happened with Macton, and it's good to have at least one of those dangling plot points from the end of the third season finally resolved. It's also good to see the defining event from his past delved into a bit and certain aspects of his character explored. Anthony Simcoe does a marvelous job of showcasing just how much D'Argo has changed since we first met him, even as he carries the wounds from his past with him.

At first, I couldn't figure out why the heck they were at this monastary. It seemed to come out of nowhere. What, the writers thought it would be cool to, like, set an episode at a monastary? But I was very happy at the way the reasons eventually all started to click into place. Oh, of course, it was Scorpius' idea, and Scorpy always has an Agenda. It seems that he's expecting a face-to-face confrontation with the Scarrans very soon, and the Scenes from Next Week would seem to bear him out on that one. I'm definitely sensing a build-up here to something big.

I could have told you that attempting to lead this particular crowd in mental discipline exercises was bound to be a frustrating experience. Hmm, D'Argo's too agitated and angry to focus. Rygel's giving in to his vicious and vindictive streak at the prospect of whaling on a Charrid, to the point where he's about to do himself an injury. Scorpy appears to be getting off on the pain. And John doesn't want to cooperate, because he's had too many people poking around in his head already. (Well, it's hard to blame him for that one.) Emotional control and mental focus just aren't these guys' strong points.

For a while there, it's impossible not to entertain the idea that maybe Macton is telling the truth, and that D'Argo did do it. That moment didn't last too terribly long for me, but it's a testament to the way that Farscape habitually refuses to flinch from taking risks with its characters that it struck me, however briefly, as entirely possible that what we thought we knew about D'Argo was wrong.

Macton. Geez, what a slime. Is every Peacekeeper such a warped, twisted fuck? Well, possibly so; one of the repeated motifs in Farscape involves the interaction between environmental influences and personal growth, and the PK environment is pretty darned twisted. By the way, I'm a little surprised that Macton was allowed to keep contact with his sister. Presumably he was a conscript, like Crais, but I somehow got the impression that Crais was permanently cut off from his parents.

So, Aeryn bought John a TV? Awww. I wonder what movies she got? I also repeat what I said last time: do they think for a second that they're fooling anybody? Least of all Scorpius? Please.

I missed Sikozu, Chiana, and, yes, even Noranti. I guess this monastary didn't take girls?

Man, Scorpius really got around the galaxy when he was younger. He hooked up with Natira, he got his cooling gear fitted by the Diagnosan, and apparently he studied with these monk dudes. I would so love to see "Scorpius: The Teenage Years" and get the full story on all that.

There's been a lot of debate about whether Scarrans have telepathic abilities, or whether they just rely on good old fashioned torture to get info out of you with that heat weapon thingy. I've always been inclined towards the "telepathy" end of that debate, myself, and that seems to have finally been confirmed. The wording was a little ambiguous, but the impression I get is that they use the heat to break down your mental defenses, and then they smash the info out of your brain. Although their abilities to do that do seem kind of limited.

D'Argo's line at the end, about how he's thinking about things he can't take back, made me wonder if he wasn't thinking about Jothee, and whether we weren't being set up for a possible future reappearance by Jothee. I'd like to think so, although I suppose the odds of them getting to that in the remaining seven episodes aren't terribly high.

What exactly was all that key-dropping and John-burning-his-hands supposed to accomplish anyway, huh? Just to toughen him up against the heat? I'm not sure you'd really need to go all the way to some funky monastary just for that...

Google Me, Baby!

Yeah, I know, I've been posting like crazy lately. Blame the sleep deprivation. When I don't feel up to doing much of anything else, I sit down and spew forth words.

So, this blog has experienced a considerable increase in hits of late. I actually seem to have acquired some new readers. (Hello, new readers! Welcome to the inside of my head! Be afraid.) But I'm also getting more and more hits from search engines. Which, I guess, is why I seem to be posting them more and more often. Some of these are amusing in themselves (at least in my own easily-amused opinion), and some of them, I freely admit, I only list because they give me an excuse to make smart-assed remarks or ramble on about things they happen to remind me of.

Thus:

"what if the lord of the rings" campaign: Search request missing verb.

bohemian rhapsody partition: What are we partitioning it into? Individual notes?

everything about oz on buffy: What, everything? That seems like kind of a tall order, especially given how little the guy actually, you know, talks. About himself or anything else.

bound naked in the woods: Thank you, now I'm going to have "Dueling Banjos" in my head for the rest of the day.

Download Buffy Sex Game: Sex game? Geez, I'm afraid to ask how you go about scoring points...

farscape nude sex free: This one is mainly interesting when you contrast it with the possible alternatives. Farscape nude sex for sale? Well, I'm sure Chiana would be glad to negotiate. If she weren't, you know, fictional. Farscape fully-clothed sex for free? Well, Scorpius does seem to leave his cooling suit on, as far as I can tell, and apprently Braca can be convinced he just had amnesia-inducingly good sex just by unzipping his jacket. (Or at least, he can be convinced not to ask questions about it, which I guess is supposed to be one of the things he's good at...)

weird pictures of legolas: What, like, wearing a party hat and Groucho Marx glasses? Actually, that sounds kind of fun...

pictures of fish having sex: Would it be too obscure a reference if I made a Troy McClure joke here?

trailer trash thumbs: Thumbs are somehow trashier than the rest of the anatomy?

buzz lightyear nude: Um, I hate to break it to you, but his clothes don't come off. See, he's made out of plastic. Hope that helps.

farscape fetish: Look, if you and your partner have to dress up like Peacekeepers to get it on, hey, go for it. I just really don't want to be involved, OK?

Willow Rosenberg nude: No, no, no. I am only collecting search requests for nude Farscape characters. Not Buffy characters! Sheesh.

Where can I buy a 2003 TOS Star Trek calendar?: Make me a high enough offer, and I might be willing to part with mine.

nude pictures of black players: Players of what? The piano?

grayza nude: There we go! That's one to add to the collection! Let's see, that gives me Grayza, Chiana, Crichton, Zhaan, and Sikozu. Not too bad, so far. Although it seems highly unlikely that I'll ever manage to collect the whole set. Honestly, do you think anybody's going to be googling around looking for nude pictures of Noranti? Shudder.

farscape bondage: I suggest watching "What Was Lost, Part 2." If you want more than that, write the missing scene yourself. I am so not going there.

thought you might like this soap box exam: Um, thanks. Did I pass?

maximum over sex: If this is a porno version of that Stephen King thingy, I really, really don't want to know about it.

farscape music video +scorpy mean one: Ah! That one actually makes perfect sense to me! Just in case you happen to wander back, O Googler, the video you seek is here. The title is "You're a Mean One, Scorpius," and it's fun.

vocabulary word: copycat and coincidence: Those don't seem like very hard vocabulary words to me.

rpg banik farscape: Ah, this reminds me... I picked up a copy of the Farscape RPG over Christmas, and I was going to talk about it a little bit here and never did. (Don't know if I'll ever get to play it, alas, as the people I know who are into Farscape aren't particularly into the d20 system, and vice versa, but it's very nice to have around as a reference book, in any case.) Actually, I found the writeup on the Baniks particularly interesting, because we learn next to nothing about them in the show, and what we do learn is, well, kind of difficult to make sense of. All in all, I'd say they did a pretty good job putting together a species writeup from what we do see, though. One thing I especially like about the species writeups in general is the fact that they manage to avoid making the easy mistake of taking the characters from the TV show and assuming that every other member of their species must be, basically, just like them. Which would be an especially big mistake in Farscape, since the characters are all such quirky individualists. This is particularly relevant to the Baniks, since we only see one example of the species, but it's pretty darned clear that he's not a representative sample. You can't generalize to the entire species from Stark, because Stark's nuts. So what they do is base the Banik writeup on what he says about his species, rather than the way he himself behaves. E.g., Stark says at one point that people think the Baniks don't have emotions, because they're good at hiding their feelings, so that's how they're described in the writeup, despite the fact that Stark himself has all the emotional control of a four-year-old. And, in fact, the game designers appear to make a deliberate effort to discourage thinking of characters in terms of species stereotypes. For instance, in the description of the Luxans, it goes on quite a bit about their reputation as warriors, their strength, and their general sort of Klingon-like qualities. And then, elsewhere, they make a very deliberate point of mentioning that you're quite free to play, say, a geeky Luxan tech if you want, and strongly encourage doing that sort of thing. Good attitude, that. One of the things I've always found annoying about D&D is the way it's pretty much set up to encourage cookie-cutter characters...

Um. That last really got off on a ramble, didn't it? Well, it's OK. I'm done now. Really.

Ugh

I'm still having problems sleeping. I woke up at 12:30 this afternoon, which translates to about four hours of sleep. This wouldn't be too big of a problem, but, like the massive chump I am, I volunteered to put in another shift tonight (even though I'm supposed to have Fridays off). This'll make seven straight days -- or rather, nights -- of work for me in a row, for a total of, I believe, a 58-hour work week. And I've been doing it on an average of maybe five or six hours of sleep per day. (Now, I know there are people who seem to function just fine on five or six hours, but I'm not one of them. I'm one of those people who functions adequately on seven, better on eight, and best on nine. Sigh.) Between the extra work, the lack of sleep, and the emotional stress I've been under lately, I'm a little worried about coming down sick, which would be pretty counterproductive, given that calling in sick would just negate the progress we're making by cramming in all that overtime.

This particular kind of sleep disturbance, as it happens, is very common with shiftworkers. I remember reading somewhere that your average night-shift worker ususally averages maybe five hours of sleep a day. Night owl that I am, it's generally not a problem for me, though. (Morning shifts are my bane.) I think there's a couple of things going on here this week that make the difference. One is that my body clock just got kind of screwed up somewhere, and it doesn't quite understand that it's time to be on the night shift now. I know that this is the case, because it's 1:30 PM, I've had four hours of sleep, and I actually feel like it's now "time to be awake." I'm a bit out of it, but I'm far less groggy than I "ought" to be, and you can damn well bet that it's going to catch up with me later (probably just about the time I'm having to go in to work). The other problem is one that I have occasionally had in the past, and it's been badly exacerbated by the fact that I've been working so many hours lately and I haven't had time to get much of anything done other than work. That's the phenomenon where you wake up, realize it's early afternoon, and start thinking about all the stuff you could get accomplished if you just got out of bed now instead of rolling over and going back to sleep. I had that in spades this "morning." Lovely inner monolog going something like, "Hmm, yes, but if I'm awake now, I could get some laundry done and pay all those bills that have been piling up and get out to the bank, and I could get all that done before Farscape comes on tonight, which'll leave me the evening to get caught up on my e-mail and do fun stuff for a bit..." Yeah, like I'm gonna be all productive and fun-loving on four hours of sleep. But tell that to my subconscious. Feh.

All right. I'm done bitching now. Time to finish my coffee so I can go and get started on that laundry and stuff. Yep, I'm just a slave to the nagging little voices in my head...

I Know, I Know, But Stupid Online Quizzes Are Fun!


VILA: "Any very talented person could have done it." --

Sure, you're a slacker. Sure, you're unreliable.
Sure, you'll take anything that's not nailed
down. And, yeah, you're physically
unimpressive. But you bring the mad skillz--
even if you have to be threatened and bullied
into risking danger to use them. You'd think
people would appreciate you more! Where are
the virgins in red fur!

Which Season One Blakes 7 Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Now, that was a really cool quiz. Probably even better than the Farscape one. And, yup, of all of 'em, I defintely identify with Vila the most! Plus, I like Vila. He's oddly... cuddly.



Which Animaniacs Character are You?
"You are inquisitive to the point of getting trampled, run over, and blinded, on a daily basis. "
"Why.....?"
"It could be due to your scientific nature. You long to learn how things work."
"Why.....?"
"Because you really like to know things, but are prone to getting hurt."
"Why.....?"
"Because, if it wasn't for others generally taking the fall for you, you might well be dead by now! Remember, curiosity is great, but it also killed the cat. Well, in this case, the dog, Buttons, would probably be more appropriate."
"Okay, lady, I love you, bu-bye!"

Click here to see my Livejournal.

Aw, man, I was sure I was gonna come out as The Brain. Phooey.