Thursday, May 31, 2001

 
And after looking at it I found an amusing story about the Jedis Stand for the Census Count which you might have seen going around, especially if you're on mailing lists with lots of UK or Australian members...

 
I just sent this site into linkwatcher: why surf?. Why not? Though I don't really take this blogging thing as seriously as some people, it's not for anyone's benefit besides my own....

Wednesday, May 30, 2001

 
The Doctor Who News Page at Outpost Gallifrey has information if you've been hearing rumors about any new Doctor Who series.

It's also, of course, just the best place for Doctor Who news anywhere. And it's always good at balancing rumors and facts.

Including a possible rebroadcast of the 1996 TV Movie on the Sci-Fi Channel in July.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2001

 
Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Buffy's leap of faith

Cool season wrap up thing.

One question I have -- why does it seem that The West Wing is a genre show? I've never watched it, but it seems that lots of SF-type people I know do.

 
Forbes.com: Where To Score As A Single

Ah does this explain it for me? Actually, I don't think the Twin Cities came out too bad -- better than the last city I lived in. .

(besides, who'd ever accuse me of being hip....)


Monday, May 28, 2001

 
The Rumor Mill - Current Posts

says that both Buffy and Angel will have their first season released on DVD by the end of the year.... hopefully that's true!

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Friday, May 25, 2001

 
APOCAMON: THE FINAL JUDGEMENT

Pokemon meets the Book of Revelation. It was inevitable, I suppose.

 
A mystery is solved.... I wondered why some people spelled the Minnesota CONvergence as ConVergence, but then I find that there is an Australian ConVergence with the V capitalized instead of the ON capitalized in our CONvergence.

That's the problem with picking a word that includes CON in it as a convention name, I guess... :)

 
Ain't It Cool Newshas more links to the Fellowship trailer, including some quicktime ones that are a bit easier to download than the one on the official site

 
The Lord of the Rings

Has the new trailer for The Fellowship of the Ring, but I haven't been able to download it yet....

Thursday, May 24, 2001

 
TAP: Vol 12, Iss. 10. Kicking the Hobbit. Chris Mooney.

Interesting article about Tolkien as a more "serious" book...rather than just a book for fantasy geeks and the like...


 
Klingon Speakers Now Outnumber Navajo Speakers

Scary enough it could almost be true.....

 
Klingon Bandit Sought by Police

heheheheheh.

 
CNN.com - Jeffords leaves GOP, throwing Senate control to Democrats - May 24, 2001

I totally appreciate his situation -- I can understand his situation, as in a perfect world, I'd probably be a moderate Republican, but it's not a perfect world, and so I really look at the current ultra-conservative Republican party as something I can't be happy with at all, and don't support at all, for all sorts of obvious reasons.

Wednesday, May 23, 2001

 
- Hecklers.com: Sim Shatner

This is actually much better then the series ending to Star Trek:Voyager, which was well, like the rest of the series, a lot of wasted potential....

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Jack Watling - 1923 - 2001

Unfortunately, the two Doctor Who stories he was in don't exist in the BBC archives, so it's mainly through audio recordings and a kind of confusing fan video that most of us encountered him in the series. Even though if you've seen the existing episode of The Web of Fear, or listened to the audio of it, you know that it was one of the better Doctor Who stories out there.

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The Death Clock

or

Long to Live

if you're feeling morbid today....

 
The Longest E-Mail Disclaimer Ever

This *can't* be real...it's longer than most people's emails!

Tuesday, May 22, 2001

 
rootnode.org has the whole sorted story about Kaycee. It's interesting, in a mystery novel sense.

 
Well, Buffy was really good tonight. The "previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer" section was fantastic. Did they have a snapshot from the prior 99 episodes? I think so... it's amazing how physically they've all changed since the series started.

Angel was a bit difficult to get into tonight though, after that Buffy ending -- but I understand the logic of the two. I'll be interested to see how both series work on different networks next year....




Oh...today's (well, tomorrow's) trivia fact: I went to my first science fiction convention of any kind fifteen years ago. It was a one day Doctor Who event at the old prom center in St Paul with Peter Davison, run by the old Doctor Who Fan Club of America. I've still got some vivid memories of being a big geek and trying to debate what order we should put the novelizations in; as you could either put them in the order of the book release, or the order of the TV episode airdates.

It wasn't a convention in the sense I like them today -- a couple on stage events and a huge merchandise selection. But it was fun, and it was really good for our club. Our first, small step into a wider world. I should scan in some of my stuff from that sometime...

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tom-baker.com

Oh my, it was only a matter of time.


 
You can make a page of comics (including the current day'sthe Norm at BayArea.com: Comics


 
I've been told that the site I refered to here was a hoax, or at least not entirely accurate. I don't quite get it all, as I didn't see where it all was revealed to be a hoax, though I'm a little distressed because it hit me at a bad time personally, where I was thinking about mortality and the like.

How very sad.

But of course, there have been real people with real websites that have passed away too young. And of course all of the people that don't have web sites, aren't online... I'm glad I wrote a check to the American Cancer Society recently, and I hope other people do the same, as it's not a funny thing at all.


Sunday, May 20, 2001

 
I just realized there was something a bit amusing; my birthday day was pretty much all wrapped up in fan activities of one sort of the other. But at the same time, maybe not so bad. It provides me with new and fresh social interaction, and gets me out of the house. It's sort of fitting, as it's such a big part of my social life these days.

First thing was a CONvergence programming meeting. At this point, it's all a matter of different people brainstorming to find out who they know to fill panels with, and drop panels that aren't working. I'm pretty psyched about the programming -- I wish I had a time machine, so I could be at the convention two or three times simultaneously. I'm really excited about this year's convention, I think it's going to be really fantastic.

Then as I had some spare time in the middle of the afternoon, I went to a Minn-stf meeting. Minn-stf is the "other" general science fiction group in the twin cities -- they're older than MISFITS, and there have been a lot of political problems over the years with the organization and there are some real hurt feelings around, because of some of the changes in Minicon. They've recently had some change in leadership though, and I've been sort of investigating them lately, because I've been curious about how different subgroups of "fans" operate, how they are similar, and how they are different, after my experience at Minicon.

MISFITS is definitely my group, but it's healthy to be in new situations, and I'm trying to not just be isolated in one group, as I think that's caused a lot of the problems in fandom over the last few years. I think it's a good time to be involved in fandom in the Twin Cities right now, I think there are a lot of interesting things going on, and I think they are getting better. And this would be my only chance to stop by one of their meetings for quite a while, as I've got a lot of conflicts. I was there for about an hour -- long enough that it wasn't just a quick cameo, short enough that it wasn't too uncomfortable or where I was stuck by myself. Their meetings are really parties (which I already knew)....and actually not a lot different than a Viewing Society, except without a television. I had a good time while I was there though, and I'll go back someday as my schedule allows...

And so then it was off to tonight's Minnesota Doctor Who Viewing Society gathering. 18 people, not bad at all. It was a Pertwee fest, in recognition of his death. Our main features were Carnival of Monsters, Day of the Daleks, and Curse of Peladon. I'd seen Carnival of Monsters within the last six months -- it was the last Pertwee I saw -- so I spent most of it just chatting away.

I was stunned when I watched Day of the Daleks, because I realized that it's actually the first Eric Saward story; Guns, a flashback sequence, and so on. I mean, take it as given that it's the best Pertwee Dalek story -- and I think it is a good one. If more of the rebels hadn't had any contact with the Doctor, it would have been even more Sawardesque. And of course, it, more than any other Doctor Who story, is one I remember from the novelization more than the TV story; it was probably my first Doctor Who novelization, and my first non-Tom Baker story in any format.

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Saturday, May 19, 2001

 
It's also CONvergence 2001 Guest of Honor Peter Mayhew's birthday as well. :)

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Freak that, I'm 30!

I went to see Shrek yesterday -- very sweet, very funny. I definitely recommend it. Might, if I can, get around to a review for MISFITS We'll see.

Friday, May 18, 2001

 
A good Douglas Adams tribute

Wednesday, May 16, 2001

 
Scott Bakula is going to be the new Star Trek captain -- a couple weeks ago we had at the MISFITS site a possible preview of what the opening narration should be

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° living colours °

It's been a grim week. I'd only come across this site once or twice before, but there's something immediately hard hitting about a site that you see someone's last words, and someone who even under horrible circumstances managed to have some brightness. Even if it isn't a site you regularly read, or someone you know...

I'm feeling particularly mortal right now. 30 is literally around the corner for me, but I think what is important is while it sucks to get old, it's better than the alternative.

Monday, May 14, 2001

 
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Lament for Douglas Adams

Richard Dawkins's comments...

Sunday, May 13, 2001

 
My personal thoughts on Marscon....

Good Things:
- I enjoyed the panels I was on & attended. The ones I did were really well attended. I think the mix of people on the panels were good as well -- I think they had a good mix of panelists. It was nice, for example, on the Buffy panel to have a group of people that already knew each other; most of us hadn't talked about Buffy before. I'd do that again.
- Friday night/Saturday morning at the Minn-stf party, as it was amusing to discover that my degrees-of-separation with many of the new Minn-stf/Minicon regime is closer than I would have expected. (This happened on Saturday night as well, when I ran into Erik Baker in the hallway with some other acquaintances.) All and all, I'm very encouraged.
- Gaming was packed everytime I walked by there. I don't game much at conventions, but it looked very successful.
- MISFITS/CONvergence room party was voted the third best party by Marscon -- and I certainly agree with the con that both ValleyCon and the Rakehell had better ones! And the B'herak as well, but they were only Friday night.
- And speaking of that, the B'herak room party. The Taco salad they had was fantastic.
- Masquerade was packed, and I saw the winning entry and some fellow MNDWVS people were a part of the winning entry.

Mixed Things:
- Con roundtable. I think there were two different panels going on there -- when Chris first told be about the panel, we thought it was going to discuss more what was going on locally, and it started out sort of as a "con-running" panel -- which made sense with having one of their out of town guests on it. Though by having an out of towner on the panel, it just served to remind me how good we have in this market these days...

I think a panel about local fandom though is a good thing, and I thought it was significant to get representatives from all of the major SF conventions on the same stage at the same time, for the first time in my memory.

Even though I know it's not really bureaucratically possible, the idea of a way to buy memberships to all of the local conventions simultaneously is appealing. Or possibly it'd be funny to have some sort of special badge or button for anyone who successfully makes the complete circuit of local conventions.

Bad Things:
- Douglas Adams. His death brought me down quite a bit on Saturday, as his works are one of the things that made me a fan. :(
- Where are the book dealers in the dealers room?
- A little more density would be good. 750 is a good size for a convention, but I think that the space needs to be allocated so that things are a little tighter sometimes. I think the first year -- where the parties didn't have cabana space, but were all on the same floor -- was actually the best year for parties. Sometimes I feel that Marscon is a 1500 person convention with
only 750 members, and that rattles a little. It's not that 750 is a bad number -- Gallifrey One, the Doctor Who convention I attend in LA every year, has about that number, and I think it's a great con.

==

Other thoughts: I wonder how many of their registrations are one day passes? They said about 750 people were at the con over the weekend; but there were some times I felt it was a bit smaller than that. I think some of that's
the density issue I mentioned earlier.

All and all though, it was a good weekend and a good convention. I'm worn out; I stayed up late, had some good conversations, and saw some interesting things. Not bad at all. I'm sure I'll be back next year.

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MISFITS - Douglas Adams Tribute

I included my thoughts on his passing as well as Tim Wick's...

Saturday, May 12, 2001

 
BBC News | UK | Author Douglas Adams dies

Wednesday, May 09, 2001

 
Marscon is this weekend.

I'm part of a Doctor Who panel and a Buffy panel, and I'll be at the MISFITS party a lot of the time as well. See you there....

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Tuesday, May 08, 2001

 
Some analysis of the Doctor Who Book Rankings Results

still haven't looked at it...

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Doctor Who

A big cultural-studies paper about Doctor Who. I haven't read it yet, and it's an academic-style paper, but might have something interesting to say....

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Monday, May 07, 2001

 
But What's It For?

I'm thinking about why I have this on my site again.

I think the main reason is a way to keep track of links for myself. I'm the prime user of this log, and by doing a bit of history with it, and now that I can search my site, I can look for old references. Though if I was really ambitious, I'd find some way to automatically create an index, or something like that. Because since this isn't really topic-based as a log, it's pretty unlikely that anyone bit me will be interested in everything I put up here.

And since I'm on multiple computers, it's useful to have these things on another site somewhere, so I can reference things later if I'm pointed to something and don't have the immediate time for it.

 
I can tell by looking at my server logs that I'm having people look for more information about Marillion's Anoraknophobia, so I thought I'd give a few more review comments, now that I've been carrying it along with me for the last several days, and it's available in the UK this week, and the US next week.

All and all, I think all of the tracks are excellent. I think the weakest song is probably The Fruit of the Wild Rose, but I think many of the others are great, from the pop-rock of Map of the World, which in a just world would get radio play, to the mainly uptempo Between You and Me, to the harder rock of Seperated Out. Stylistically this is one of the most varied Marillion albums yet.

If you're interested in checking out a good album, that isn't just a simple pop or rock album, but is something modern, a real 21st Century album, you couldn't go far off by picking this disc up. This is the 21st Century indeed.

Saturday, May 05, 2001

 
Well, it was time for me to make another compilation cd -- I figure my upcoming birthday is a good time for me to pick some songs that I'd listened to recently over the last year...so I picked:

Between You and Me, Marillion
You Can't Get What You Want, Joe Jackson
You Might Recall, Genesis
If I Fall, Tara MacLean
Doctor?, Oribital
Araby, Sponge Awareness Foundation
Karma Police, Radiohead
On a Night Like This, Kylie Minogue
This is the 21st Century, Marillion
Redemption, Mary Fahl
Day After Day, Badfinger
Broken/Head Over Heels, Tears for Fears
Open Your Eyes, Ivan
Suburbia, Pet Shop Boys


Friday, May 04, 2001

 
How To Write Unmaintainable Code -- in today's software advice....

Wednesday, May 02, 2001

 
Loopz (The Official Orbital Website)

They do a version of the Doctor Who theme, so I have to be sad...apparently there is a video on their site as well, which I haven't looked at yet.

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Tuesday, May 01, 2001

 
I got my pre-order of Anoraknophobia -- the album is, as I thought, fantastic, quite probably their best since Brave. Between you and me and This is the 21st Century are immediate favorites.

I'll be listening to this a lot, I'm sure...

 
NICK NOSTALGIA SITE

If you watched too much Nick as a kid in the 1980s, this a place for you...

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