Quote of the week - 6/30/08
"It is the confession – not the priest – who gives us absolution."
-- Oscar Wilde
-- Oscar Wilde
June 30, 2008
June 27, 2008
And Justice for All
With the help of a friend, I recently began collecting Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic books. These are very nicely written, beautifully illustrated and follow the Buffyverse canon. But to me, these are not really comic books. Superman, Action, and Batman are the real comics.
When I was a kid, my Mom’s sister who lived in America long ahead of us, returned to Ireland to visit. She came bearing gifts for all -- clothes, perfume, jewelry. But smart woman that she was, she brought me a box of comics and chewing gum. And after returning home, every few months I would receive a box the size of the Manhattan phone book filled with comics and packs of gum. My friends were the most Americanized kids in Ireland; chewing gum at all of the inappropriate times and places. But the comics, which also included Archie and Betty and Veronica, I hoarded.
Eventually, I was stupid enough to write my Aunt and say I really wasn’t interested in comics anymore and the care packages stopped. However, when we moved to America, those I had were carefully packaged and brought with me despite my parents' complaints about the extra costs.
Now flash forward to me setting up house with my new husband and the boxes of comics again come to light. He, who had never been a nascent geek, looked at the boxes and said, “boy, these would make some kid really happy.” And me, blinded by love or brain-baked due to our lack of air conditioning in July, agreed. But, I kept a careful list of all the issues we gave away to reminisce one in a while.
Over time, my husband would read articles about the rising value of comics – especially the ones we’d given away. He would gulp, and cough, but I never said a word. About five years later, my husband bought himself a brand-new car. Soon after, coming home at night, I slid down our icy driveway in my own car, and smashed the entire driver’s side of his new car. He was apoplectic. But the next morning, I quietly put my carefully folded comic book list beside his coffee. Snap! Once again, Batman, Superman and the Justice League of America saved the day.
I suppose I'm coming full circle now as I look forward to Comic-Con next month – my geeky nirvana.
June 26, 2008
Ain't it Cool?
Read today in Ain’t It Cool News that Roman Polanski’s next film is an adaptation of Robert Harris’s The Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage, Pierce Bronsan and Tilda Swinton. Sounds great!
June 23, 2008
Quote of the week - 6/23/08
“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”
-- Stephen Hawking
-- Stephen Hawking
June 21, 2008
Still Wireless
When I was a kid in Ireland, I lived in Dublin proper, so there were myriad options for entertainment – besides the obvious of just hanging around with your pals.
There were libraries, museums, theaters (especially at Christmas for Panto) and lots and lots of cinema. Oh, and of course there was TV, but to quote my father, “not in my house until there is something on that silly box worthy of the eye strain.” So, my window to the outside world was radio.
Our radio choices were limited. We had RTE, Irish radio with lots of music and cultural shows (boringggg), AFN (Armed Forces Network) the go-to place for rock and roll, and the BBC with lots of drama, soap operas and news.
Now I have cable television with channels I haven’t even tried yet, AM/FM radio where I can get my rock fix on at least ten local channels, DVDs, iPods, etc., etc.
If you told me years ago I would tune into RTE by choice, I would have said you were daft. But I do listen now to keep up with the home ground, and I listen quite often to the BBC for world news and their shows; each day there is an afternoon play with short dramas of all types.
There’s a point to all of this: One of the BBC Radio plays this summer will feature Torchwood and all its usual suspects. The story will revolve around the opening of the world’s biggest particle accelerator in Cerne, Switzerland. What a fabulous way to bring science and sci-if together. As well as my memories of daily radio show, and love of Torchwood.
June 18, 2008
Basil Fawlty and Jack Harkness
In America we are used to a "Prime-Time Season" which guarantees twenty or so episodes of our favorite shows. In past years this would have been up to thirty, but the seasons are getting shorter even as I write. But I digress.
The first series of Torchwood was thirteen episodes, and ditto the second. This dearth of content left many people asking, "What the hay??" After waiting many moons, we get a press release from the Beep that next season will comprise five – count them – five episodes which will be shown over a one-week period.
Written by John Cleese and Claire Booth, Fawlty Towers is one of the funniest shows ever written. The series ran for a total of twelve episodes, six in series one and four years later, six episodes in series two. And the show taught me an important lesson – I prefer quality over quantity.
Whatever the reasons for a 5-episode Torchwood series, budgetary or pre-commitment of the players, judging by the shows already presented, I am willing to wait and see how this goes. And in case of serious withdrawal symptoms, there are always the existing episodes on ITunes , the Torchwood magazine, and for the truly geeky, (such as myself ), the trading cards.
June 16, 2008
Quote of the week - 6/17/08
“Quotation is a serviceable substitution for wit.”
-- Oscar Wilde
-- Oscar Wilde
June 15, 2008
The Queen's Birthday List
Russell T. Davies was honored with the Order of the British Empire, O.B.E., for his service to the field of drama.
Mr. Davies is the gentleman we need to thank for the latest incarnation of Doctor Who, for which he serves as lead writer and executive producer, and its spinoffs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
June 12, 2008
Not So Conventional
Oh the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things; Of shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings – and conventions.
Most of my adult life I have been attending conventions and annual meetings for one reason or another. When my daughter was school aged, it was P.T.A and Girl Scouts which segued into business gatherings and for the last ten or twelve years, political conventions.
All of these gatherings required study and preparation to gain awareness of the issues involved. Truth be told, political conventions were probably the only events that provided any entertainment (intentional or not).
I now find myself actually eagerly awaiting a convention -- Comic-Con in San Diego. The name of the blog indicates my genre of choice, and of late I find myself enjoying all things Torchwood. Planning to attend, my daughter read that John Barrowman would be attending and had one of those eureka moments, what a great birthday gift for Mom!
As we live on the East Coast this is a costly venture, What if he doesn't show up, you ask? Have you looked at the guest list? Where else would you have consolation prizes of people such as Ray Bradbury, whose Fahrenheit 451 is one of my all time favorites? or Dean Koontz and his Odd series, or cartoonists Al Jaffe and Sergio Aragones? Or Jim Butcher of the Dresden Files?
It will be very nice if Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd are there, but if they don't show, my only problem will be deciding whom among the other fabulous guests to line up for first.
June 10, 2008
A Thrilling Filmmaker
Toss the name Roman Polanski out to a group of film buffs and they’ll behave like kids choosing sides for dodge ball: A mix of anger, apologies and sorrow, but no uninterested parties.
No matter, there would be very few arguments about his prowess as a filmmaker as some of the greatest of all time are in his filmography,
The short list includes Rosemary’s Baby, with Polanski serving as both writer and director. Mia Farrow, a weak husband, and devil worship made the horror genre accessible to a mainstream audience.
Polanski directed Jack Nicolson in Chinatown as a noir detective with nose problems, and Faye Dunaway with daddy problems.
He served as writer and director for Tess, a visually stunning tragic romance, and again years later with The Ninth Gate. While the latter may not have been up to previous standards, the movie featured books, sex, demon worship and Johnny Depp. What more need I say?
However, my favorite Polanski film is from 1965, Repulsion. I saw the movie in a small, dark theater, pre-cell phones, with stadium seating and wall and aisle lighting that cast a bright hue.
The story of the mental breakdown of a girl left alone in an apartment while her sister went on vacation is not a horror film, but the creeping pervasive sense of dread was more horrible than any beastie could conjure. Had a pin dropped or someone coughed, screaming would have broken out all over the theater.
Great stuff, and a harbinger of things to come from a great filmmaker.
June 09, 2008
Quote of the week - 6/9/08
"I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then."
-- Lewis Carroll
-- Lewis Carroll
June 08, 2008
The missing Frankenstein
One of my favorite current authors is Dean Koontz, especially the Odd Thomas series. I’m an even bigger fan of the Frankenstein series which started with The Prodigal Son which introduced a new take on the mythology.
The end of the second book, City of Night, promised a third chapter, but Koontz has yet to deliver.
I was prepared to write a note to his online spokesdog, Trixie, but discovered on the Koontz website that she passed away last summer. Trixie lives on through the Website but sending her a faux-angry note about a yet-unpublished book now seems wrong.
So with that I reach out to you directly, Dean Koontz. When can we expect the next book in the enjoyable Frankenstein saga? Please get it done and published so we can all move on.
I may still reach out to Trixie via Totos, but only to offer her a scratch behind the ears and to ask her to look out for our treasured family samoyed-sheppard mix, Spike, who passed away several years ago.
June 06, 2008
You'll shoot your eye out!
Remember the ads for BB guns in the back of D.C. Comics? They were removed by suggestion from Harlan Ellison that they were "inappropriate for children.”
Scripted by Harlan
Two of the best science fiction scripts of the sixties were written by Mr. Ellison, the Star Trek episode called City on the Edge of Forever won a Hugo award. McCoy is accidentally sent back in time where he meets Edith Keeler a forward-thinking social worker. He saves her life and thus changes the course of history. Needless to say Kirk and Spock follow him through the same time portal and when they are reunited Kirk prevents McCoy’s action and history spins out as it should. The second script was for The Outer Limits called Demon With a Glass Hand. The hero of this story is an amnesiac with a glass left hand which is a complex talking computer missing three fingers. The other fingers are in the abandoned office building he finds himself in and will provide the answers he needs. His quest is made more difficult by evil, time traveling aliens and the knowledge that 1000 years into the future all humans are missing.
Both stories are complex, relatable to the human experience, and offer no easy solutions. The You Tube clip I mented yesterday is from a new documentary called Dreams with Sharp Teeth from Grizzly Man producer, Erik Nelson. It is being released in New York the first week in June.
June 05, 2008
Harlan Ellison: Alive and Definitely Kicking
Last night when I was looking for a clip on You Tube I came across a video of Harlan Ellison called Dreams With Sharp Teeth. Harlan was expounding on the subject of writers valuing their work enough to demand payment. It was Harlan alright, bigger than life, abrasive and brilliant.I was immediately caught in a time warp back to the 60s when I was avidly reading speculative fiction and Ellison was one of my favorite writers. His Nebula-winning story, A Boy and His Dog, introduced me to the term "novella" and each month’s fantasy and science fiction magazines were searched for one of his short stories.
June 03, 2008
Torchwood Series 3?
Found this on the IMDB boards. They reference the moderator at the Doctor Who forum as the source. At least we have a hint of context for the abbreviated series 3. Now we need an official statement from the BBC.
"Perhaps I can clarify something. The reason for the 5 episode Series 3 of Torchwood is basically budgetary. In January 2007 the BBC failed miserably to get the licence fee settlement it requested and planned for. Budget cuts have been made all over the place, and inevitably one of these is Upper Boat.
During the financial year 2007-8 there were 2 production teams working full time. This roughly equated to 9 months filming Doctor Who, 9 months filming Torchwood and 6 months filming SJA. For the financial year 2008-9 there will be just one team which will produce SJA (April - August), Torchwood (September - December) and Doctor Who (January - March).
The plan for 2009-10 is to go back to 2 teams, with a full Series 5 of Who and a full Series 4 of Torchwood, hopefully as well as SJA Series 3.
Owing to the enormous amount of spin-off merchandise etc, what the BBC have had to do is ensure that the programmes get made, whilst at the same time making more out of less. Therefore both Torchwood Series 3 and the Doctor Who 2009 Specials will be marketed as *event television*.""
June 02, 2008
Yummy.
John Barrowman is Number 2. What??
June 01, 2008
Welcome!
Thank you for stopping by. SciFifty will be launching soon!
Thanks to my daughter for her help setting this up. And fixing the typos. Now if she'd just send me an occasional e mail.
Submitted to Blog Catalog, June 9.
