Quack
There were ducks napping right outside my front door last night when I got home. This makes me happy. I like ducks.
The Leiji Matsumoto fans on my flist (I know there are a couple) really need to check out this iTunes link… Look! More cool-looking TV I don’t have time to watch!
Wish I could make the Yeager Anniversary picnic this weekend. There are real disadvantages to living 5 hours’ drive away from the fandoms I grew up in. I do feel like I made a modest contribution to the history of the chapter, and I’d love to see everyone again, but it’s not to be this time. Hope everyone has a great time!
Explosive Devices
How to identify a complete Trek geek, #117:
The use of “photorp” as a verb, e.g.: “They’re actually adverstising phaser eye surgery now, so I figure the next step is getting your eyes photorpped.”
In other news, the gnome mage/engineer Mirandala finally reached level 60 last night. Though this accomplishment is no longer as cool as it was two months ago, it’s still a wonderful milestone.
Hardcore World of Warcraft players manage this in 6 weeks – it took me about 18 months of casual play. If it’s an addiction, it’s one with a very weak hold on me 🙂
And then I built another Death Star… it also exploded.
Really, I try to restrain myself from linking to YouTube stuff very often, especially when I don’t have much more content for the post.
But this one, I couldn’t resist: a lightsaber battle in an English forest, long ago…
Reboot! -whap-
It’s pretty easy now to find copies of the J. Michael Straczynski and Bryce Zabel proposal for re-booting Classic Trek. This series would not have had to deal with 40 years worth of continuity unless it wanted to from time to time, and would have had technology more believable to the 21st century viewer; as well, it could have been interesting to see new actors and scriptwriters putting their spin on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. (The authors even throw out the idea of a female Scotty or Sulu, just to cut down on the sexism a bit.)
But would it have been Star Trek?
I don’t actually have a problem with a single revision they suggest – lots of it would have been quite interesting, and I think their season arcs had much more potential than Enterprise‘s. No; what I’m worried about is the current angst-ridden quality of Sci-Fi right now, and the idea that this show would bring that to Star Trek. That simply doesn’t work right.
Star Trek‘s main message was: “If we ever get a grip on ourselves, the future’s gonna be great.”
TNG: “In fact, with a little more time, it’ll be even shinier and comfier. Though we will talk a lot.”
DS9: “And once in a while, we’ll have to make nasty decisions and put ourselves on the line to keep what we’ve worked for. Worth it, though.”
(Then things came apart a bit)
VOY: “Of course, this future society will produce a few spoiled brats who, in a crisis situation, will manage to be smug and whiny simultaneously. Hell, let’s look at boobs and funky alien tech for a while.”
ENT: “And for a while there, we were just whiny, and everyone in the universe hated us and had cooler toys. Wow, we sucked.”
—–
While the main message of B5 and the current BSG seems to boil down to, “Humans (and the aliens who are like us) suck. We’ll muddle through somehow, but we suck now and forever. Deal with it.” Perhaps, a more realistic message, but I’d prefer to fight for the great shiny future, myself. Would this Star Trek be a gritty, realistic, angst-ridden examination of the flaws of humanity? If so, I don’t think I’d want any part of it.
Cue John Cleese
In WoW, warlocks drain soul energy from their enemies and store it to power their spells. Tuesday night, I drained the soul of a parrot. Hey, it attacked first!
Stacey “Pink Five” is back. Amazing to me how one can start off making a one-camera, one-actress short Star Wars fanfilm and go on to making a 60-minute extravaganza that includes a full-scale X-Wing prop and legal agreements with Lucasfilm. But then, we live in a time where Star Wars fandom gets its own Hasbro action figure.
We started up the grill last Saturday, officially welcoming back Spring!
TCon 23 report
Some cool things about Technicon 23:
Giving rattrap his combined holiday present for the next several years.
Playing the WoW board game with jsciv, meiran, and candidevoltaire; then buying a copy.
A copy of The Heroic Trio from kittykatya.
Opening the wrong door and accidentally joining this year’s Vile Skit.
Being practically the only character in vileone‘s LARP that was exactly what he said he was: no more, no less.
Friday dinner seated between Dwight, raininva, and Christy.
Friday night panels that went Most Excellently. (Some details soon in a filtered post, heh heh.)
A Vile Script that forced me to wrestle with rainbowsaber. (Oh, shucks.)
Helping southernsinger perform “The Dragon & The Lady” for Holly Lisle.
Late Saturday dinner and great conversation with meiran.
Thanks to trenn, chown -R us:us yourbase.
Frequent backrubby morale- and energy-boosts from shrewlet.
Two boxes full of new reading material from the Auction.
Cool artwork from kittenchan and ranchonmars.
It’s my 20th Technicon.
—–
Some less-cool things about Technicon 23:
It’s my 20th Technicon.
Not enough time to be in Whose Con Is It?
Long drives from and to Norfolk.
Not enough quality time with many friends.
My lousy Simon Cowell imitation.
A body that gave out too early on Saturday night. (For once, stomach issues rather than exhaustion.)
Our air mattress developing a hole.
Not enough time for after-con dinner in Blacksburg. (But a good one with Bert & Meche in Salem.)
—–
I’d call TCon 23 a success, for my part. Well done, nius, and thanks for the good weekend!
