I’m pleased to report that episode 008 of Sci-Fi Cast is now online and is truly one for the ages. Dave Caolo and I participate in the geek version of Fesivus and “air our grievances” with the Star Wars prequel films. We cover a wide range of important nerd-esqe topics such as GCI sets, the less than deadly nuisance Battle Droids, poor casting decisions and how a high school biology lesson managed to suck the life out of the Star Wars universe.
It’s now May 25th, and every day I peek at my bank account online in the hopes that my fabled tax stimulus check will magically appear so I can pay for gas. Since my social security number ends in the 00-20 range, it was supposed to have been deposited electronically starting the week of May 2nd, but so far no luck.
What started out as a fun idea born on Twitter has evolved into a full-fledged gig. How do I know this? The answer is easy young Padawan! Dave Caolo has been working overtime to get Sci-Fi Cast, our informal chat of all things science fiction, a new home and now it’s ready. Point your browser to www.thescificast.com and you’ll be on your way to a geek love-in not seen in these parts since the Pasadena Star Trek convention of aught ’05. Read on…
One of the things I love most about Twitter is the way interaction between friends and followers can take on a life of its own. Today I casually threw out a question on Twitter that turned into a genuine laugh riot. Taking a cue from one of my all-time favorite shows, Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, the question I posed was this:
Name a quote from a Star Wars movie that could apply to your significant other.
Without missing a beat, I received back dozens of responses, some of the best of which I’ve reposted here for your amusement.
Admit it. There have been times when you’ve tuned into an episode of a particularly bad television show for no other reason than, shall we say, the “eye candy”. Maybe you even tuned in for an entire season or more just to catch a glimpse of that certain actor or actress that made your heart go pitter patter. So I’m happy to present a list of what I’m calling my top five “TV Turd Blossoms”. Even though the shows that starred them were veritable train wrecks, they all made us think twice about changing the channel, which I think, was the entire point of casting them.
While I was busy watching the Red Sox vs. Yankees tonight, the world kept turning and evidently things happened. Here’s some stuff I missed while I was watching the slugfest in New York:
If you’ve been watching season 4 of Battlestar Galactica then you may have noticed things have changed since last season, and not for the better. No, I’m not talking about the 4 new Cylon models or Lee abandoning the cockpit of his trusty viper. I’m talking about what Laura Roslin, or more correctly, Mary McDonnell has done to her once lovely face.
Summary: The length of some audio podcasts are increasing at an alarming rate. Podcasters should learn to master the fine art of editing or risk losing large portions of their listening audience. I provide some helpful tips to help them avoid pitfalls and offer some anecdotal evidence on the subject.
Even if you read no further than the above summary, you’ll have a pretty good feel for what this post is about, where it’s going and what will be discussed. Unfortunately, this is more than I can say of many of today’s most popular audio podcasts.
Let me just say up front that the engineers, programmers and developers I work with are some of the most talented people in the industry. They manage to write software and code few others have the skill to create, and I am often in awe of their abilities. That being said, I’ve recently been reminded of an inequity between designers and programmers which I have to get off my chest.
If you’re a sci-fi fan then you probably know that this Friday, April 4th, marks the return of Battlestar Galactica on the Sci-Fi Channel. After almost an entire year on hiatus, fans everywhere are finally getting ready to embark on the final season of what some have called the best science fiction show on TV. Of course, the main puzzle on every geek’s mind is who will turn out to be the final 12th cylon model. Over the last four years I’ve wavered on who was and who wasn’t a Cylon, but one name keeps coming back to me – Gaius Baltar. I know you’re thinking that he’s too obvious a choice to be the 12th Cylon, but deep down it makes perfect sense, and here’s why:
With reports that iPhones are sold out of all three New York Apple stores, and Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney believing that Apple has placed an order for 10 million 3G iPhones, Apple’s stock price climbed another $3.66 today to $144.64.
If there is a truism about living in the Triad, it is this: people here love to eat out. More than any place I’ve lived, the residents of Greensboro enjoy dining out. A lot. Ask anyone who’s tried to get a table here after 6 pm and they’ll most likely tell you they had to wait. Yet despite all this, the place is littered with the corpses of eateries that for one reason or another, couldn’t take the heat. Some of these fine establishments were ahead of their time, others suffered from poor location, but a few died sudden and mysterious deaths. This post is dedicated to these wonderful joints, that for whatever reason, went the way of the dodo.
My mom recently sent me a bunch of photos from our family album taken when I was just a kid. I’ve posted a few of them up on Flickr and will keep adding to the set as I find time to process them.
Good news everyone! Amazon.com has posted the release date for the second direct to DVD installment of Futurama. The Beast With A Billion Backs will be available starting June 24th and is now available for pre-order. According to Wikipedia, this second of four movies will feature the voices of Brittany Murphy, Dan Castellaneta reprising his role as the Robot Devil, and a personal favorite of mine, Professor Stephen Hawking.
Late last week I purchased the audio book of Julia Sweeney’s one woman show “Letting Go of God”. You may know Julia best from her comedic performance of “Pat”, the androgynous character from Saturday Night Live. After Sweeney left SNL, she was hit with a series of family traumas. Her brother Michael was diagnosed and eventually died of lymphoma, and soon after she herself was also diagnosed with cancer. She battled through the disease and came through the ordeal resolved and creatively infused.
The result was a series of monologues that she honed into one-woman shows. Letting Go of God is a funny and moving autobiographical account of how Sweeney explored her traditional Catholic upbringing and eventually found it wanting. If you enjoy critical thinking and are prepared to listen with an open mind, then I highly recommend Letting Go of God.
Both the Clinton and McCain campaigns have decided to attack Barack Obama on his seemingly “empty” speeches. They say he speaks eloquently, but actually says very little. I heard the same canard tonight on Alan Handelman’s show from FM Talk 101.1 radio. Both of these factions are desperate, I’ll say that again, desperate to find some point of weakness regarding Barack Obama. He has inspired young and old, has momentum, new ideas, independent voters and is raising piles of donations even as we speak. But if we don’t nip this myth that no one knows where Obama stands on the issues right now, it might gain a foothold.
So in order to help Alan, Hillary, McCain and all those GOP lovers out there who are too lazy to actually do a Google search, I provide you with this hyperlink:
Growing up, one of the things my friends and I did to keep ourselves amused was hold mock game shows. Our favorite was a play on Name that Tune called Name that Show. Each week, a different kid in the neighborhood was in charge of taping theme music from anywhere from 10-30 TV shows. We’d then get together on Saturday afternoon and see if we could stump each other with our selections.
So now I’m pleased to present Name that Show, in blog format complete with audio! Were you a TV junkie growing up? Grab a pencil and paper and get ready for a romp down memory lane. For extra fun, grab your significant other and see who scores best.
A flash mob is basically performance art, but on a grand scale. Large groups of people quickly assemble, perform a particular action and then disperse. Of all the flash mob events I’ve seen, this one in New York’s Grand Central Station has to be the best. Over 200 people walk in, and freeze solid for about five minutes. Check it out:
You have to hand it to the people at PopCap. It’s amazing how something so simple can be so addictive. I mean the player strategy behind their hugely successful game, Peggle Deluxe, amounts to little more than a digital coin toss. Despite this, the game is immensely satisfying and keeps players coming back for more.
This funky watch has to be the coolest thing to come out of Korea since Kalbi. A company named Funshop has released this wonderful, retro accessory much to the delight of pixel geeks everywhere.