RIP Jeff Conaway

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Steve

His death was a long time coming since his final days were spent in a coma which was a damned shame.

However, Jeff participated in three great franchises I enjoyed throughout my life. The first was being Travolta’s sidekick in Grease‘s film version (he played Zuko on stage though). This is the role I tend to forget the most often which I will get to later. During the transition of the Seventies turning into the Eighties, he was Bobby, an early character in Taxi (he quit before it was cancelled on NBC); still a great sitcom even though time, technology and NYC’s character has changed. Jeff may not have been the breakout character like Andy Kaufman’s Latka or Danny DeVito’s Louie but I think his struggling actor was vital. Other than LA, NYC is another city filled with people getting by on odd jobs until their dream gig comes through. Lastly, Jeff is immortalized in Sci-Fi circles as Security Chief Zack Allen (some instances it’s Allan) on Babylon 5. I think he supposed to just be a guest yet the role morphed into something more permanent when the actor who was playing Garibaldi’s second-in-command decided to leave. The audience like Zack enough that Jeff got promoted to being part of the show’s opening credits by the third season. I enjoyed his character too; so when Garibaldi quit the station’s staff to become a full-time dick (much like Jerry Doyle is now), Zack’s succession wasn’t a pity promotion.

Now I’m going to need Patton Oswalt’s time machine to get my Babylon 5 cast photo signed since too many members have died pre-maturely, compared to Star Trek‘s.

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A new Kate Bush record coming

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Steve

What a relief to know she hasn’t given up on new material because I’m probably not going to buy Director’s Cut (a remixing of material mostly from the Nineties) and I was disappointed by 2005’s Aerial. The latter I’m not sure if it was truly bad or I had ridiculous expectations like I did with Peter Gabriel’s Up; I found myself being one of his few defenders on Scratch My Back though.

There was no timetable according to the article so my wife will have indefinite relief from any new Kate music in the car, until there’s an announced release date. I know what you’re thinking? How could’ve you not known Somara dislikes Kate Bush before marrying this woman? I blame myself entirely for the matter. I foolishly assumed she was cool with my favorite Irish artist since Kate is often popular in nerd/geek circles. Her friends probably ask the same question when they learn I just can’t get into Red Dwarf.

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Picayune maintenance this weekend

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Steve

In case anyone cares or bothers to really use the Internet during a three-day weekend, I will be taking advantage of the downtime to back up the server and upgrade its OS.

The only side effect I can tell of immediately when the site/server are offline is your RSS Reader might give a negative symbol. Mine usually gives a tilde (~) in a gray circle. It should go through pretty quickly with our “new” Uverse download speeds.

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Hockey isn’t completely over yet

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Steve

This Saturday, I will be hauling ass to Houston with Jeremy to catch game number two of the Calder Cup between our rival, the Aeros (proxy for the Minnesota Wild) try to bring the prize home against the Bimington Senators (proxy for Ottawa).

I haven’t been to the Energy City (that’s the nickname it had in Rollerball, the original, not the atrocious remake) for several years. Although there won’t be time to take in the sites, I will get to have an unhealthy and delicious dinner of James Coney Island. If you know what they serve, then the Senators who get sent to the penalty box will regret me sitting nearby, heh heh.

Meanwhile, the inevitability on the Thrashers moving to Canada keeps a rollin’. Yesterday, I saw a piece with Atlanta’s mayor sounding pretty resigned to the team’s sale to an ‘outside’ interest. Sorry dude, hockey just doesn’t belong in diehard NASSS-CAHR turf. Hockey News must also be congratulating itself over its prediction on Vancouver going to the Stanley Cup championship. The Eastern Conference continues to drag out between Boston and Tampa. I still give the edge to the Bruins yet I’m impressed by the Lightning after how lame they’ve been after the lockout.

Looking forward to making a couple posts from the Gulf Area. Fear not (or maybe remove the ‘not’), I plan to keep doing a little before we hit the road in a couple days.

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Farewell Bugs

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Steve

I finally sold off my VW Golf GL for good tonight. At least I got cash on the barrel head for it…which was more than I can say the damned car did for me in its last five years. Hell, maybe the last 10 because I think it was practically rebuilt: throttle body, instrument cluster, starter/ignition system, clutch, the alarm and the ability to maintain fifth gear.

The tipping point went down last month when I needed to give a friend a ride and it wouldn’t turn over. Yet another battery! Fortunately, I had the day off from work so I was spared the additional aggravation. We then just kept procrastinating on replacing the part because we’ve grown accustomed to working our lives around the Honda; it’s also transported us the same number of miles in a year while consuming 60 fewer gallons, saving us about $200, maybe double if we were driving two cars more often. Besides, I started looking into how much work the Golf was due for in the short term and felt it wasn’t worth any further spending.

What’s the plan now? Get the paperwork filed with the state and have our insurance lowered tomorrow. Use the cash to put toward the timeshare which is in striking distance of being paid off in full. By the mid-Summer, we will then be making a payment on Somara’s Honda every two weeks.

Then I can finally have my first, new car in 15-plus years! Hint, it will not be a blankity blank Volkswagen. I will miss the relationship I had with Underground/Toby, we’ll continue to support him and provide holiday treats. However, the fault lies in the German corporation. Their cars are overpriced; we paid $18K for the Honda and got an eight-year warranty on it; my Golf in 2010 money was $20K new with only the power train covered beyond a year, an equivalent 2011 Golf starts at the same point; the mileage hasn’t improved (our Honda clobbers the new Golfs by at least four mpg), they manufacture odd models most Americans won’t buy (when one thinks of V-8, VW isn’t on the short list), their girth has increased which is mind boggling unless things got wider in Europe and they’re squeezing out independent mechanics like Toby. Maybe the ones built in Germany/Poland/Czech Republic are better, they just aren’t affordable with our household. Oh to beat the VW diesel apologists to their inevitable rebuttals, I did my homework and discussed the TDIs with Toby who was less likely to bullshit me than a dealer; their ownership costs are ridiculous unless I was a traveling salesman who drove 20,000 or more miles a year. What little savings there could be in mileage evaporates in maintenance; don’t count on the new diesels to have the longevity of their ancestors thanks to the increased reliance on computers.

I think the biggest issue is that I’m not a car person. I don’t like driving, I was never interested in shop during high school and I don’t feel a vehicle should cost as much as my college education.

There were great memories with Bugs, namely the road trip to Phoenix with Somara in 1999, having the means to show Jose and Cindy Austin in 1997, and giving my mother a lift to the Cadillac dealer. During the latter voyage, Mom started to be a backseat driver as if I were in high school again and I got the satisfaction of telling her to shut up since I paid for the entire car myself. However, the “marriage” soured well before the final payments in 2001. There were plans to trade in the Golf around 2006. They were derailed by a larger, more presser financial situation until 2010.

Let’s hope being a one-car family doesn’t kill us since it’s considered unpatriotic.

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RIP Bill Hunter

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Steve

Although he didn’t have humongous fame in America like fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman or Geoffrey Rush (Mel Gibson is a transplant like AC/DC), Bill was a distinctive presence in his nation’s hit movies. The majority of the world will always remember him as the dentist in Finding Nemo but you’d probably recognize him as the corrupt official of Strictly Ballroom, the nogoodnik politician dad of Muriel’s Wedding or the mechanic who travels with the drag queens in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. You could say he was the Brian Dennehy of Oz.

My own personal anecdote about Bill involved a conversation with a real Aussie I encountered in Las Vegas. We were sitting around the Luxor’s hot tub, making small talk and since I recognized the accent I asked where he was from. The man chuckled, replied that (as an American) I wouldn’t know. I said, try me. When his answer was Queensland, I followed up if he was from Brisbane. Impressed a bit, he said no but he came from a nearby area (he was a home builder). I followed up about how disappointed I was that Porpoise Spit didn’t exist in his state; a friend of mine got to visit Australia for three weeks and she checked. However, I drew the most laughter from the nice man by telling him my theory on his nation’s movies…there must be a law saying all films from Australia for American consumption must cast Bill Hunter as I listed everything I had seen, this is to counter Ireland’s requirement with Colm Meany!

More about the man is best covered by this Sydney paper.

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Winnipeg Thrashers?

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Steve

I’ve always wondered why Atlanta was given another NHL team after the city let its last one move to Calgary 20 years earlier. Minneapolis-St. Paul I can see, they didn’t give into the Northstars’ blackmail but capitulated as so many eventually do after the threat was followed through on.

Personally I do hope the Thrashers pack up and go North. The only real loser will be the AHL’s Moose, one of six IHL teams the AHL took in because it was a successful teams they deemed worth saving. I’ve seen a proposed series of moves from The Hockey News but I don’t think it will happen, the poor Moose will fold since there’s nowhere for them to go in Canada: the East is crowded and the West is sparse. Maybe they’ll merge with the Chicago Wolves.

Something has to be done by July since the NHL will have its scheduled announced. Will the Thrashers get moved to the Western Conference, which begs me to ask, who joins the Eastern? Logically, it has to be a team in the Eastern time zone. I would prefer Detroit since they’re competitive yet I can live with Columbus. The Blue Jackets may actually improve being in a more balanced division; the Central has been dominated for years by Detroit and then ’rounded out’ with non-threatening St. Louis, Chicago and Nashville. Knowing Bettman, he’ll be a jerk and keep Winnipeg in the Southleast which could bankrupt the new owner(s) in travel expenses, as if being in Canada weren’t enough; ask any team in California.

Meanwhile, Houston blew their third game in a row against Hamilton, tying the series. Tuesday night will be tense in the Toyota Center. It’s win or go home. Either way, the Bimington Senators are resting up. They’re probably hoping for Hamilton, it’s a much shorter trip to Ontario than Texas, from New York state.

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The Science of Battlestar Galactica
by Patrick Di Justo & Kevin R. Grazier

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Steve

Book number two on my iPad completed! This time I went with one through iBooks, Apple’s software/store/whatever for a couple reasons:

  1. I wanted to compare the experience to the Kindle software.
  2. The book’s price was the same with either solution.

Like last time, I will get to the technical elements at the end.

As for the content, my mere mentioning of the title usually made most people’s eyes roll which meant you know it’s just a TV show was going through their minds…if it didn’t come out of their mouths. Excellent fiction, especially Sci-Fi, strives for consistency (rules) and works with what’s plausible (what we know about the universe now). The authors receive a few passes to get things rolling (FTL travel being the number one MacGuffin) but if you’re all over the place, the audience will call ‘bullshit’ and lose interest. BSG producer Ron Moore knew this very well from his years with Star Trek: Voyager, probably the worst franchise yet I felt all three Rick Berman shows frequently had sloppy, lazy Matlock in Space episodes to pad their seasons. Better yet, try watching the original BSG from the late Seventies now. Besides being Mormons in Space, the writers’ ignorance of basic Astronomy is painful.

I decided to get this book because it’s co-written by Dr. Kevin Grazier who was the show’s Science advisor. Grazier’s regular day job is working at JPL with the Cassini/Huygens probes observing Saturn and its moons. He also teaches Astronomy, planetary Science and Cosmology so I wish I had the means to take his courses. Lastly, he is friends with Dr. Phil Plait which automatically raises his stock with me. Patrick Di Justo is the more professional writer yet has a strong scientific background by building experiments for STS-107 (sadly, the last mission for Columbia). As for BSG, I’m of two minds about it. Eventually I will write about it since this book did motivate me to start re-watching from the beginning after Netflix posted the two-part pilot, which I hated for reasons I’ll state another day. Before any tells me…yes, I know how it ended and this is why I stopped with five shows remaining. I blame the ’07 Writers’ Strike for the crappy conclusion.

Did I like BSG? Compared to other Sci-Fi programs? Yes. I won’t go on with an elaborate explanation beyond I enjoyed it enough to read about the Science which was the most accurate I’ve seen after Babylon 5. Plus Dr. Grazier and another producer went through all the trouble to make this map I scored earlier. If they went through this much trouble to explain how the Colonials came from 12 inhabitable planets in such close proximity, I had to know about the rest.

Science is broken down into four key sections:

  1. Life Here Began Out There. This would be the Biological matters like how easily amino acids are created on other worlds, Colonial physiology (they’re not 100 percent Human) and why didn’t the Cylons show up in standard medical examinations. The latter resulted in a minor argument with a friend. I was very convinced by the authors.
  2. The Physics of Battlestar Galactica. How important energy, gravity and time dilation are with interstellar travel. The sections covering nuclear weapons provided no comfort. Artificial gravity was a bummer; in short, it can’t be done short of magic due to the force’s spherical nature. Rotating sections as per 2001, 2010 and B5 don’t work reliably; passengers barf from space sickness if it’s too slow or motion sickness if it’s too fast.
  3. The Twelve Colonies and The Rest of Space. The Astronomy portion was somewhat a repeat on what I’ve read from Dr. Plait’s books.
  4. Battlestar Tech. Emphasis on weapons, namely why the writers chose contemporary stuff (bullets) and kinetic-energy (KEWs) over traditional Sci-Fi conventions (lasers, fusion, plasma, etc.). I never did get a decent explanation on how the Jump Drive worked beyond what is the definition of the red line for Colonial vessels (approximately five light years). Interstellar navigation is possible by checking the positions of neighboring galaxies unlike Star Trek‘s central navigation beacon or common stars. I need to bug my old Traveller GM Flynn about this when I was the navigator of an ill-fated mission; I tried to make the argument for spectral analysis. Now I know better!

The writing is excellent. Di Justo and Grazier convey the technical information without dumbing it down dramatically nor buffalo it in super jargon for grad students. There are some formulas I will need help understanding if I ever want to run a good d20 Future campaign; life before affordable spreadsheet software was a pain. Science would be a great gift to give a pre-teen (or older) person with a modest interest in Physics and/or Astronomy. I did buy a Kindle copy to give my sensei Lester for his birthday, I need to get his two cents! Being at least a casual fan of the show helps but it isn’t a requirement. I was impressed with the authors’ name-dropping for comparisons: Star Trek, Star Wars, B5, Dune, Firefly (craptacular) and 2001 (the most realistic movie ever made).

However, I can’t recommend Science beyond its built-in audience. It’s a great primer but Americans generally have little interest in academic subjects due to the nation’s crappy priorities. Count on the first permanent Moon base to be Chinese or Indian.

Part Two: How was it on the iBooks software via the iPad?

Not much better than Kindle. They’re pretty identical in their abilities resize the type, page turning, altering the brightness and activating a sepia-based background (easier on some people’s eyes versus white, Kindle can do black for those bordering on blindness). iBooks’ only advantages were bookmarking and navigating. It shares Kindle’s annoying issue with layouts which was more pronounced in Science through captions; they’re frequently found on the preceding or following pages containing the photo.

Which do I recommend now that I’ve completed one of each? For me, price won right after selection (Kindle is winning here yet iBooks is closing the gap). If it costs the same (as it was with Science), then iBooks has the advantage and I’d get the iPad edition.

Sadly, electronic versions of books aren’t proving to be any cheaper than hard copies in the short run. So much for parity with music. Maybe this will change with Amazon’s recent announcement regarding their electronic sales exceeding physical copies.

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Happy 16th Anniversary to Linda & Brian

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Steve

Let’s see, in the marriage department (of my life) they’re in fourth place with their 16th wedding anniversary today. I don’t count our parents because I wasn’t there nor did I have to bring a gift!

As for number 16’s gift, the consensus on the Internet is either jack squat or silver hollowware. Lame. Who needs the latter when you can get some nice plastic-based stuff at the Container Store, Ikea or Crate & Barrel.

I need to hunt down a card since I’m late again. Wish them well through here or directly if you know how to reach them.

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Bender wins! Take that chumps and chumpettes!

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Steve

It was announced yesterday on the site that Bender will be the extra token in the upcoming Futurama Monopoly game.

I know I did my part voting every day to put my favorite drinking, smoking robot on top.

Now to wait for the next poll before it’s released in October.

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Somara update

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Steve

Somara had her first post-op check up, hopefully the only one, probably not when it comes to doctors with this matter.

Initially, the surgery seemed like a push because she has still been experiencing pain in the same regions. It hasn’t been as nasty is about the only positive outcome I could say for the operation, yet it was supposed to stop.

Yesterday was when Somara got an explanation. The doctor chose to remove the whole ovary due to there being three cysts, not one, present. Therefore, the pain she felt was from this and it will dissipate in another four to six weeks.

Fear not, Somara will not grow a mustache or need expensive hormone shots. She has another functioning ovary which is enough according to the experts. I’m hoping the prediction is a worst-case scenario for our vacation will be occurring at the tail end of four weeks.

Thanks for your support and positive vibes you may have sent Somara’s way.

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My Name is Bruce

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Steve

An awesome Horror-Comedy in which life imitates art and then goes the other direction.

Bruce plays himself or more appropriately, a parody of himself because he really isn’t a jerk; he can be flippant but he’s usually entertaining the crowd, his cutting remarks aren’t meant at put-downs. When I had my brief face time with Bruce almost 10 years ago, the guy was very warm and he enjoys seeing fans.

Anyway…

Several teenagers from a small Oregon town have stupidly defiled a mass grave unleashing its murderous guardian. Since the threat is supernatural, the teen who caused the crisis believes that movie star Bruce Campbell can defeat this monster like he did in Army of Darkness and many other films.

Meanwhile, Bruce’s life is a disaster. He’s currently starring in an awful direct-to-DVD feature, his fans annoy him with derogatory comments, his ex-wife is squeezing him and his agent Mills keeps landing him crap projects. Now his birthday is coming up. It sucks to be Bruce Campbell.

After a rather trying shoot, Bruce meets Mills at a local strip club. They argue, Bruce threatens to fire Mills yet withdraws the threat because of a promised surprise. Bruce figures Mills remembered his birthday; maybe it’s a decent role to get off the D List. Enthused, he returns to his trailer to celebrate and gets kidnapped by the Oregonian teenager. Bruce initially fears the kid is an obsessed fan but upon arriving at the small town, he thinks this is stage one of Mills’ present…a starring role with all these small-town characters!

It’s pretty obvious what happens next since Bruce Campbell is involved.

I can’t help but love this gift to his fans. Bruce practically paid for it out of his own pocket by donating his property (it was shot at his house/yard) and time. He could’ve taken more lucrative jobs instead. His generosity extends to the cast for several roles are filled by past co-workers from the Evil Dead and Army of Darkness flicks. Ted Raimi also appears as three characters to crank up the humor, you have to pay attention carefully since one takes a little effort to notice.

The movie has some flaws yet they don’t matter. Bruce made the ultimate fan film as a thank-you present to everybody who has supported him. He’s a great guy who isn’t afraid to do anything nor feels any role is beneath him. For this, Bruce has convinced me to check out Cars 2 since he will be in it as Rod Redline. I’ve always loved his voice work.

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Truth in advertising?

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Steve

I couldn’t resist getting pictures of these real bottles of hand sanitizer. They must be reflecting what goes through peoples’ minds on why they have this stuff readily available. You can always count on Waterloo Records, Book People and other Austin-based businesses to have such fun products.

Why hasn't anybody used this name for hand sanitizer before?

Sometimes, just washing your hands after taking a leak isn't enough.

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Hipster Owl

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Steve

This species of annoying bird can be found in many inner cities: namely Austin, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and now Minneapolis. It survives primarily on a diet of Pabst Blue Ribbon, used vinyl and vegetarian cuisine.

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Thor

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Steve

Summer officially kicked off with the latest Marvel adaptation, making this at least the seventh time in 10 years if you start with Spider-man around 2002. Since they’re holding off on Captain America until Independence Day and the Hulk and Fantastic Four franchises keep needing to be ‘rebooted,’ the studios went with the next recognizable character. It is rather amazing how Marvel is on a roll in theaters while the general public is more familiar with DC’s roster of heroes and villains. To prove my point, ask your parents or some friends who don’t know squat about comic books these questions: Who are Batman’s enemies? Who are Iron Man’s enemies? I’m confident the latter will be a stumper. As for me, I really had to think hard about it.

To bring the character’s backstory into the 21st century, the writers synthesize the comic’s story arc from the early Sixties, Norse mythology and some Star Trek-Stargate-like explanations; the gods are really high-tech ‘aliens’ called Asgardians. Humans worshipped them due to the old argument surrounding magic really being technology we don’t understand. Back around 965 AD, the Mini-Ice Age was caused by the frost giants of Jotunheim (a dimension/reality/universe) as a kick off to their larger plan on conquering all nine realms. The Asgardians led by Odin came to Earth, defeated the giants and saved humanity from freezing to death. (Too bad they showed up early because most scientists agree on the Mini-Ice Age happening from 1150 to 1500 AD which coincides with the Plague years. Just nitpicking for fun.) Then Odin takes the war back to Jotunheim, kills the frost giant’s king and secures a truce from the survivors by taking away their Casket of Ancient Winters (a major power source). The losses for both sides were great which explains Odin’s impatience with anyone who fights first, thinks later. Thor and Loki missed out because they weren’t old enough to participate.

Fast forward to now.

Odin is about to make his number one son, Thor, King of Asgard when three frost giants try to recover their casket. Odin dismisses the incident as an isolated event. He doubts King Laufey (current ruler of Jotunheim) would be that stupid or bold. Thor begs to differ and leads a raid with his buddies and brother Loki in tow. Before it escalates into another full-blown war, Odin intervenes, chews Thor a new one. To appease Laufey and restore the truce, Thor is punished by losing his godhood and indefinitely exiled to Midgard (aka Earth). Meanwhile, Odin puts an Excalibur-esque condition on Mjolnir (Thor’s badass hammer) until his wayward son, or someone else more worthy,  learns his lesson.

Anything further is already covered by the trailer and commercials, mainly Thor having to interact in our world…humor ensues. Those who at least read the Cliff Notes on Greco-Norse mythology also realize Loki will be the main villain since he’s Thor’s step-brother. (We can all blame Disney and the Brothers Grimm for demonizing relatives established through marriage/adoption.) Being the god of Chaos, Trickery and Deception could be another clue.

Overall I liked it. Thor certainly had the potential to be pretty awful: a huge budget, a big-name director (Branagh), an Oscar®-winning actor (Anthony Hopkins) and it’s rather long for most audiences at 130 minutes. Yet once again, Marvel thumps DC in the transition to film by successfully making the hero’s journey part of the core plot. As much as I love Richard Donner’s Superman, you do have to sit tight for an hour before Lex Luthor appears. Long expositions are for TV series, books and comics, rarely movies. My favorite touch was the semi-realistic scientific explanations involving the Asgardians’ mythos without it delving into an uber-geekdom lecture on how the Marvel Universe ‘works.’ The easiest example was the Rainbow Bridge from Asgard to the other realms being an Einstein-Rosen Bridge or its more popular nickname, a wormhole. Its dramatic climax did seem a tad rushed, something akin to an after-school special but these films lack the luxury to emotionally develop a character as well as a comic/novel could through multiple books.

Worth Seeing? Absolutely. The 3-D element doesn’t add much beyond the Asgard or Jotunheim scenes, hence save the difference saved for Green Lantern in 3-D. Somara and I spent Alamo-level money on Thor because we wanted to see what the staff would show before the movie started. Snippets from the History Channel telling the real story behind the god, various cartoon incarnations including the one I grew up with (rushing home from school to catch it on Channel 44!), an Eighties Heavy Metal band video (you could tell by the hair/clothing), the heartstring-tugging moment from Adventures in Babysitting and it wouldn’t be complete without showing Thor brawling the Hulk in 1988’s craptacular The Incredible Hulk Returns.

As always, sit through the closing credits to catch the surprise. Quick hint, it’s a clue on which movie is next in the Marvel series.

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