Sahn ticha lay. Manitampitach manichita.
Randomly landed on “A New Hope” on Spike HD. Wow, that movie never gets old. Shame about the unfortunate editing error in this copy during the Greedo scene.
Subspace radio is down
This Monday, we finally got the DirecTV service replaced with Cox cable. Only problem: the HDTV is upstairs in the bedroom, which was in NO condition for visitors. (You may theorize why.) So, we had the guy install the HD box on an old standard TV downstairs where was located one of the two coax connections the DirecTV used, explaining that this was a temp television for a week or two and that we’d be getting an HD soon. Then I figured I’d move the box upstairs to the other coax connection, since he was nice enough to make sure they both remained intact.
I went to do that tonight, and discovered that he’d hooked up the wrong cable. There are six coax lines running into the house; the downstairs line was working, but he’d hooked up the wrong one of the other five. No worries, I can figure that out. I ruled out one immediately: it was so corroded that the center wire broke off the moment I examined it. I ruled out another because I’d already verified that one wasn’t working; so I tried each of the other three in turn, hooking it up, rebooting the box, and waiting for start up. I did this three times. Nothing worked.
Finally, in a desperate attempt to work out which wire worked, I hooked the output of a VCR to the upstairs cable and dragged a (not especially portable) television outside hooking it to each one in turn. None of the three worked, which startled me seriously – one of them had been working not two days ago. With mounting horrified suspicion, I picked up the corroded cable, stripped it with my Swiss Army Knife, and replaced the coax connector. (Oh, did I mention that dark had fallen by this time, and I did this with just the reflected light from a streetlamp a few dozen yards away?) You know what happened: the TV lit right up with the old Mystery Science Theater tape I had running upstairs.
So, to wrap up the story: a few minutes later, cable box was beginning. We get signal. Main screen turn on. I called the cable box a bug-jumping cork-sucker, and may possibly have danced around the room a tiny bit; but in a battle between me and technology, I’m not backing down until I’ve tried everything. And tonight it paid off. (Wonder what my Shadowrun 2nd Ed. target number was on that one?)
Starfleet 101
I suppose this had to happen eventually.
A new friend down here in Virginia Beach and I speak much of the same fan dialects: anime, gaming, even art and writing. But she’s never seen a single episode of Classic Trek, or even any of the movies. (Yes, I can hear joints creaking all over my flist from here.)
She’s interested, though, and will get a dose of Khan’s Wrath as soon as we have two hours to set aside. But, she wants to see some episodes too, and I’ve never sat down and watched the show with a complete newbie; I’m not even sure where to start. We all know the legendary episodes: City on the Edge, Doomsday Machine, Tribbles, and more. But I’m not sure any of those is right for her first experience. On the other hand, “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before” might not be the best, either.
So, I’m turning to you, Friends List. With which Classic Trek episode would you start a noob, someone who doesn’t know Balok from Sarek, impulse drive from warp?
Grace me with your input!
Norf Wind Bwoah!
Somehow, Starr has lived this long without seeing “Duck Amuck” or “What’s Opera, Doc?“! Luckily, Turner Classic Movies put on a special Chuck Jones tribute tonight, and a Tweet from kittykatya alerted me to the fact. Starr’s cultural education is now increased.
Luckily, she’s the type of person who can properly appreciate a classic Looney Tunes short, and her reaction to each consisted of “This is my new most favorite cartoon ever!” The woman has taste. It’s amazing how funny a cartoon can be without focus groups, Nielsen ratings, a merchandise line, or a stream of “notes” from studio executives. The folks at Termite Terrace just made films they liked, and hoped other people would too. It worked.
I note that Daffy Duck used the “D’oh!” exclamation long before Homer Simpson. Also, Starr will never again hear “Ride of the Valkyries” without the word “wabbit” echoing in her head. Heh heh heh.
Brief updates
- 07:41 Mythbaby: “Mythbusters” Build Team member Kari Byron is pregnant! Congratulations! Guess she’ll be missing some of the rougher stunts. #
- 14:50 Walked to client and back, about 10 minutes each way. Great day for it, 70 degrees out. #
Sent subspace radio by LoudTwitter
We have Main Engine Start
This is the first shuttle launch in decades that I’ve managed to watch live. The experience takes my breath away; so daring, so defiant, putting people atop all that high explosive and flinging them into the hostile vacuum above us. I’m not always thrilled with my species, but this sort of thing restores my faith in our future… at least briefly.
In a very small way, I contributed to this launch, which only adds to the thrill. I contributed indirectly, to be sure, just by doing my day job keeping the Macs of Langley humming; but I’m proud nevertheless.
Bowling for Dilithium
I don’t even know who won the Super Bowl. As the “Mythbusters” marathon unreeled in the background, I spent the day doing laundry and dishes, finding our digital camera which has been lost for three months, and making a little box for the new kitten’s food bowl. The box has an opening through which only she should be able to fit, therefore keeping the other cats from stealing her kitten food. Older cats seem to love kitten food.
Anyway, the Internet’s allowed me to catch up on some of the Super Bowl movie trailers. J.J. Abrams has done me a favor, I think; it’s finally gotten through my head that this is not the Star Trek I grew up on, and that I need to stop worrying and just go along for the ride, or not. Right now, I’m still on the side of giving it a shot – if nothing else, it’s audacious, and the franchise needs “audacious” badly. Besides, I’m a bit impressed with their method of crowbarring this story into 40 years of canon whether it ought to fit or not.
Plus, Enterprise appears to have a LOT of firepower these days. In that one half-second clip, she seems to be absolutely dumping phasers and photorps on whatever’s upset her. Battletech players, remember the “alpha strike”? “Screw the heat, screw the ammo, fire everything!!!”
Having said that: the Ninth Doctor as the arms-dealing mastermind behind Cobra is awesome, but I already miss his mask. And the Baroness’ bodysuit. Also, Land of the Lost didn’t look too bad, once we take out the bits with 20-century junk lying around. And the bits with Will Ferrell. Oh, wait…
Late celebration
Freaky: We have, on the downstairs TV: the satellite box, the DVD player, a PS2, and now a Wii. I have been thinking all week about getting a switch box so as not to keep yanking cables from the TV’s two RCA left-right-video connections. Yesterday morning, I mentioned this casually to Starr. Yesterday night, Starr’s sister gave me for Xmas an RCA input switching box that she’d purchased days ago, thinking maybe I might find a use for it.
Whoa. Telepathy.
Awesome: Starr is in the dining room playing “Hey Jude” from a Beatles piano book I’d given her for Christmas. This is one of the best “sit down, take a deep breath, and stop fretting about stuff because fretting’s the best way to blow it completely” songs ever written. There’s a lot going on in my life right now, much more than I’m used to trying to keep track of, but I just can’t get too messed up about it all when “Hey Jude” is drifting in from the other room.
Gonna make my award-winning mashed potatoes this afternoon to go with the pot roast Starr started last night at 1am. Should be an excellent Fauxmas dinner.
Christmas / Time
Since my ‘Net connection is still wonky, I may be reduced to watching this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special on SciFi. The horror.
On the other hand, I received a nice Who fandom Xmas present in the from of this Livejournal artwork post by _tonylee_. The image linked at the bottom cheered me greatly; the likenesses are a bit off, but it’s still my desktop wallpaper for a while. (One of them. The other wallpaper is the Apollo 8 “Earthrise” shot right now.)
As Starr works tonight and tomorrow, we finished the majority of our own gift-giving last night. Among other things, I received two hardcovers: an H.P. Lovecraft collection, and a Hitchhiker’s omnibus of all five novels and the short story. In each case, these will supersede paperbacks already on my shelf, thus retaining the integrity of the Stuff Reduction Plan. Starr, on the other hand, got a gift card for plenty of crochet yarn, and a brand-new toolbelt to aid in her remodeling projects (she’s already done a den and a bathroom). She wore the toolbelt around all evening to ‘break it in’, so I think it was appreciated.
I am messing with my co-workers today, playing Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra with album breaks provided by cuts from the “Sailor Moon SuperS Christmas For You” album.
Reviewer to Battloid mode
Four years after the OAV series concluded in Japan, I have finally found time to sit and watch through Macross Zero. For my part, I was disappointed in the show.
The CGI effects of the Valkyrie fighters made up a high point – the opening chapter demonstrates a drawn-out Fighter-to-Battloid transformation sequence that nearly made me drool. Sadly, the actual plot and characters brought me right back down. The series suffered from prequel-itis: I knew the Earth wouldn’t be destroyed, because that job would fall to the Zentraedi in four years. For the same reason, I knew that Roy Focker wouldn’t be killed in combat, making his dogfight duels mildly tedious.
A repeated subplot is the preservation of the ancient ways of the island people, which again felt moot with the coming holocaust; and the bad guys only received the personalities of one-dimensional psychopaths. I expect better than that in anime. One of them had the nerve to try a sympathy ploy on the audience minutes after napalming a village of non-combatant islanders. I just wanted them to hurry up and get killed in combat so we could get back to the real plot.
Oh, and late in the series, there’s the standard anime “I have taken it upon myself to decide that humanity has reached a dead end so I shall cause their destruction in order to pave the way for the next rulers of the Earth” scientist. Isn’t that one on TV Tropes yet? Boring. Lame. Move on.
Still, I feel more “caught up” on the Macross mythology now, so I’m ready to hit Macross Frontier next. As always, your mileage may vary.
