Michael Lee's Train of Thought

Podcast Who, a Doctor Who podcast, recently referenced some additional variations on the Doctor Who theme that I think are pretty cool.

Labels: doctorwho

Time magazine has a joint interview with two definite Geek Gods, Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon. With both Serenity and Mirrormask opening in some movie theaters this weekend, and with Neil's latest book Anansi Boys just out, it's a good time.

Time also has one of those fairly regular articles about how Geeks Rule. Nothing terribly new, where we've had arguably genre concepts win both Emmys and Oscars over the past couple of years, as well as the success of many books (Harry Potter) as well.

(Amusingly, they've got Joss's last name wrong in the title of the article... but hey, it's not an easy one to spell right.)

It looks like it'll be two weeks until Mirrormask opens at the Lagoon here in Minneapolis. So at least there isn't sort of massive friday night "what do I see first" conflict here....

Serenity opens this weekend, and while I saw a preview of it a couple of months ago, I'm planning on seeing it again.

I've got a real fondness for old-skool Peter Gabriel era Genesis, even as it's so terminally unhip that it's gone right around and in my book is geeky-cool. And what's geeky cool about the upcoming Musical Box show at the Fitzgerald Theater is that it's clearly faithful reconstruction of a 30-year old tour that really has very little recorded footage and was probably way more ambitious than it has any right to be. You just have to compare pictures and you know that they've gone to extreme detail.

I've heard about the group off and on as I've dipped into various online Genesis or Peter Gabriel discussions over the years, and have heard lots of good things, and it looks like it's one of those rare, once-in-a-blue moon experiences that I just have to check out.

To some extent, it looks like this shares a lot in common with the various Doctor Who reconstructions of lost Doctor Who episodes that I've seen over the years -- it's a particular recreation of something that has been lost in any complete sense, as there aren't any complete video recordings of this tour, much like many of the 1960s episodes of Doctor Who no longer exist. It's a particular type of fandom that I really appreciate.

Labels: music

I'm playing around with bloglines a bit. I haven't included it on my page, but you can see my subscriptions on their site.

I want to play a game with these cards

One of the things that I've been pointing out to people is that it's not at all unusual for television shows to take eighteen months or so to cross from the BBC to America. Obviously, something like Doctor Who , which has an existing fan base, any delay is considered unacceptable to the fan base, but when you have a series that people aren't aware of in this country, like Sea Of Souls, no one even notices that the episodes that are soon to air on BBC America originally aired on the BBC in February of 2004 -- Eighteen Months ago.

Note, by that standard, we're unlikely to see Doctor Who on American television until October of 2006. And for those of us more impatient, there are always region 2 DVDs....

Labels: doctorwho

Sometimes, someone comes up with an idea that you wish you had thought of. this is one, as is this.

I ran across Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black, in a discussion of the infamous "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt popularized by Napolean Dynamite.

And while I didn't care for Napolean Dynamite, I like this Behind the Typeface....

Just a dull night of playing around... see any good blogs lately?

Dork Tower's John Kovalic has some nice pictures and memories of Michael Sheard. (they both attended CONvergence as guests in 2003.)

Labels: convergence

Former CONvergence Guest Larry Dixon has posted information about a relief effort connected to people that are science fiction and fantasy fans. Like many of you, it's been my experiences in fandom that have connected me with people around the world -- and shows how small a world at times it really is.

And since I know Jack Beven through Doctor Who fandom, whenever there is a hurricane I usually hear his voice at least once from the National Hurricane Center -- and that was true this time as well.