I just finished watching the final story of the 16th season of Doctor Who, aka 'The Key to Time' season (circa 1978) and felt the need to talk about how great it was.
Its funny how certain things hold a special place in a person's memory and this old BBC show is exactly that for me. I can remember watching this season when it was new (I was four) and in repeats for years afterwards and just loving it. Watching it again now does have its challenges: obvious production gaffes, ridiculous special effects and near-atrocious guest acting aren't exactly the items that might sell the show to newbs. But if you were one of the people that, like me, watched the show in the 70s and loved it all anyway, all that other stuff won't matter.
Tom Baker is by turns funny and deep as the quirky Doctor, and Mary Tamm is too good (and way too hot) of an actress to be on a show of this low quality. And on a side note, Tamm looks shockingly like Superwife before she cut her hair. I wonder how hard it would be to get a copy of Tamm's costume online, say in a size three?
Ahem. So even though the new Who series is much slicker and better produced, I think I will always prefer the campy 70s version to its modern counterpart; my love affair with Billie Piper notwithstanding of course. And The Key to Time season will always be at the top of the list. If you're a fan of the Tom Baker years, you definitely need to give it another watch.
Its funny how certain things hold a special place in a person's memory and this old BBC show is exactly that for me. I can remember watching this season when it was new (I was four) and in repeats for years afterwards and just loving it. Watching it again now does have its challenges: obvious production gaffes, ridiculous special effects and near-atrocious guest acting aren't exactly the items that might sell the show to newbs. But if you were one of the people that, like me, watched the show in the 70s and loved it all anyway, all that other stuff won't matter.
Tom Baker is by turns funny and deep as the quirky Doctor, and Mary Tamm is too good (and way too hot) of an actress to be on a show of this low quality. And on a side note, Tamm looks shockingly like Superwife before she cut her hair. I wonder how hard it would be to get a copy of Tamm's costume online, say in a size three?
Ahem. So even though the new Who series is much slicker and better produced, I think I will always prefer the campy 70s version to its modern counterpart; my love affair with Billie Piper notwithstanding of course. And The Key to Time season will always be at the top of the list. If you're a fan of the Tom Baker years, you definitely need to give it another watch.
Labels: scifi
I have always extolled the many virtues of being married to a technophobe, most of which have to do with not having to share my tech (the pc, the gaming console, the cell phone, the iPod, etc.) And it is nice knowing that as soon as I get free time, I can play with whatever I want, but I have found a small downside: Superwife may indeed be a super wife, but she is no gamer. Twice now in the last week I have left my Final Fantasy XII game on pause after slogging halfway through a dungeon with no save point in sight, only to have Superwife come along and use the same outlet to plug in the vacuum, thereby losing my game. ARGH!
And the worst part is that she doesn't comprehend the pain she's inflicting whilst wantonly destroying germs, dust and half-crushed cheerios. Simply mentioning it to her sends her into a little fit of laughter, as if to say that because it doesn't interest her or have any redeeming value whatsoever, its not important. But of course it is to me, null value and all.
But while she demonstrated that she thinks my diversions are unimportant to her at best, she also reminded me why I love her so much: I asked her why she didn't just tell me that the power went out during both recent game stoppages. She told me she wouldn't lie to me. Not even about something so unimportant.
So either the fear of technology goes hand in hand with the fear of lying, or she is still the best wife out there. I am leaning towards the latter.
And the worst part is that she doesn't comprehend the pain she's inflicting whilst wantonly destroying germs, dust and half-crushed cheerios. Simply mentioning it to her sends her into a little fit of laughter, as if to say that because it doesn't interest her or have any redeeming value whatsoever, its not important. But of course it is to me, null value and all.
But while she demonstrated that she thinks my diversions are unimportant to her at best, she also reminded me why I love her so much: I asked her why she didn't just tell me that the power went out during both recent game stoppages. She told me she wouldn't lie to me. Not even about something so unimportant.
So either the fear of technology goes hand in hand with the fear of lying, or she is still the best wife out there. I am leaning towards the latter.
Labels: gaming
If you live anywhere in Canada you know all about snow. Or at least you used to. This year in Southern Ontario we haven't seen very much of it yet and we're well into the season. I really miss it. I mean if its going to be cold enough that I can't wear shorts and sandals, there might as well be snow on the ground. The kind you make snowmen with.
[begin sarcasm] But thanks to Al Gore and His Damn Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, we no longer have any snow to speak of [/end sarcasm].
I did however, just come across this series of Calvin and Hobbes comics that offered some mild relief. In all of them Calvin is heeding his parent's directive to get outside and play in the snow and taking it to a dark place using his overactive imagination. Some of these are really funny. Probably funnier to me than some because I was just like Calvin when I was a kid.
In case the link isn't working, I've mirrored the comics here.
Labels: everything else, funny
Superwife and I finally got to see Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' the other night and it was an eye opener to say the least. I had already read the book, so very little of the content was new to me, but there's something to be said for the power of visuals: Seeing Al Gore get on a lift to demonstrate just how far off the charts that measure CO2 emissions we will be in 50 years was flabbergasting. That chart that we'll be off of for the first time, by the way, measures CO2 emissions for the last 650,000 years and it has never been as high as it is right now.
Its not like personal responsibility is something that Superwife and I hadn't already owned. We recycle, we are careful with our energy and fuel consumption, we even tried to buy a hybrid car when we turned in the 2-person-mobile when Trin came along. That last one was a problem because The Prius, if you can find one for sale, is so damn expensive relative to the corresponding gas only options. But we got talking after the movie about what else we could do to help, because obviously what we are doing collectively as a species is nowhere near enough. And its hard knowing that so many other people, both individually and corporately, just don't care enough to make this a priority.
And when I look at my daughter I wonder what she will have to say to me when her world is a wasteland. Will she blame me? Will she be able to accept greed and apathy as adequate reasons for ruining our biosphere?
Here are some links that I'm finding equal parts helpful and terrifying :
'An Inconvenient Truth' official site on Climate Crisis
Stephen Hawking becomes a doomsday prophet
Global Warming will actually be worse than most scientists previously thought
At least someone in the Canadian Government admits to the inconvenient truth
And the obligatory Wikipedia entry covers everything from Kyoto to mitigation
And the other thing that happens when watching Gore's movie; one can't help but wonder what our world would be like if he had'vewon that election been allowed to govern for the term he was lawfully voted in for. Would he still be the paragon of environmental assistance that he is now so well known for? Would the average North American look at the Kyoto numbers and laugh because they didn't reduce emissions enough? Would America lead the world in the effort to save the planet rather than languish in dead last?
With most things, I guess those questions fall under the category of things we'll never know.
Its not like personal responsibility is something that Superwife and I hadn't already owned. We recycle, we are careful with our energy and fuel consumption, we even tried to buy a hybrid car when we turned in the 2-person-mobile when Trin came along. That last one was a problem because The Prius, if you can find one for sale, is so damn expensive relative to the corresponding gas only options. But we got talking after the movie about what else we could do to help, because obviously what we are doing collectively as a species is nowhere near enough. And its hard knowing that so many other people, both individually and corporately, just don't care enough to make this a priority.
And when I look at my daughter I wonder what she will have to say to me when her world is a wasteland. Will she blame me? Will she be able to accept greed and apathy as adequate reasons for ruining our biosphere?
Here are some links that I'm finding equal parts helpful and terrifying :
'An Inconvenient Truth' official site on Climate Crisis
Stephen Hawking becomes a doomsday prophet
Global Warming will actually be worse than most scientists previously thought
At least someone in the Canadian Government admits to the inconvenient truth
And the obligatory Wikipedia entry covers everything from Kyoto to mitigation
And the other thing that happens when watching Gore's movie; one can't help but wonder what our world would be like if he had've
With most things, I guess those questions fall under the category of things we'll never know.
I've been cruising YouTube a bit tonight and have been rewatching some of my saved favourites. I tried to look at them at work the other night but it turns out that I can't look at them there because the site is blocked, and since I can't sleep right now with this damn cold, I might as well be doing something. So I decided not only to waste a few hours on online videos but to share them as well.
Why no one takes Wonder Woman seriously:
The folks at 'Scrubs' discuss how NOT to get a girl pregnant:
George Carlin on Religion - "There is no Humpty Dumpty and there is no God". Awesome bit:
Private space explorer responds to her blog commenters. From Space:
DEA Agent shoots own foot - You just can't make this kind of thing up:
Why no one takes Wonder Woman seriously:
The folks at 'Scrubs' discuss how NOT to get a girl pregnant:
George Carlin on Religion - "There is no Humpty Dumpty and there is no God". Awesome bit:
Private space explorer responds to her blog commenters. From Space:
DEA Agent shoots own foot - You just can't make this kind of thing up:
Labels: everything else
I was browsing through imdb.com just now to see if it is Phil Lamarr that voices Green Lantern on Justice League Unlimited (it is). While there I noticed a link to another project he's involved in, an animated film called Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.
That's when my mouth fell open. My colleague at work noticed and I just said that my cold was forcing me to breathe through my mouth (it wasn't).
How did I not know about this? I mean, I know that they've thrown the idea of a live action movie around since '95 or so, but that pretty much got buried for good by The Lord of the Rings movies. Guess there wasn't much point in trying to follow in those footsteps. But I completely missed any announcement about this new animated feature. I feel like I've totally fallen asleep at the switch on this one.
The Dragonlance saga is my favourite fantasy series ever, and if you know anything about it, you'll know that the name of this blog has to do with one of that story's main characters, Raistlin Majere (who will be voiced by fellow Canuck Kiefer Sutherland in the movie, btw).
Up until tonight, I thought that between the original books, the forthcoming Dragons of the Dwarven Depths
, and then the comics, lovingly retold by Devil's Due Publishing, that would be the last we'd hear of the companions' early adventures.But it turns out that, like me, fans of Krynn, D&D and fantasy in general can look forward to the movie Fall 2007.
Links:
I got back late yesterday morning from my trip to Vegas and Holy Shit was I tired. Know what happens when you go to not one, but two conventions in Las Vegas? You walk. A lot.
But going to the CES convention and the AVN Expo in the same week was a real treat. An online friend called me a Superdork for going to the conventions, and as labels fit, its not a bad one. But I don't know how I could have more fun in four days and still stay married. Here are the highlights:
Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets - Robots, completely net enabled houses, SlingMobile, IPTV, next gen mobile phones. These are just a few of the things I got to see at this year's CES. The only bad thing about seeing all these cool toys is that I now want to buy each and every single one of them.
Got my ass fragged by the best - The World Series of Gaming had a huge tent at the event, and I got to play Quake 4 against some of the world's best gamers. I actually didn't fare as badly as I would've thought, but since no one I knew saw me sneak in a few kills, there's only my word as proof of my geek cred.
3 Doors Down - The guys who I only knew from their songs Kryptonite and Loser put on a free acoustic concert the second day of the show, and it was really good. The funniest part was the ridiculous amount of handheld recording devices getting the concert on PDAs, mobiles, camera, camcorders. It was like a parody of an 80s Def Leopard concert using gadgets instead of lighters.
The Gay Discount - I must have been accidentally wearing my homosexual camouflage (homoflauge?) to the convention the one day, because as I was checking out in a lunch line, I found out about a special 'members only' discount. The guy working the counter was about to charge me for my $15.00 cheeseburger, fries and water, when he told me that he'd give me a special discount down to $4.50. I thanked him and offered to tip him, and that was when he looked me over and said 'Don't worry honey. We play on the same team, and we need all the money we can get.' I smiled, said nothing more, and accepted my discount. Hey, it was $10!
My what a big cell phone I have - I came across a booth for a new single use 'Cell Phone Condom', complete with bikini clad beauties eager to demo the device on any unsuspecting
Special preview of Spiderman 3 - At the Sony booth I got to see about 10 minutes of footage from the new Spidey flick that no one from the public had ever seen before. It was fucking awesome. Fun fact: There was more security in the theater to ensure no one was filming the footage than I'd ever seen in one room before.
Got a drink dumped on me in the World's Biggest Strip Club - My friend was being worked over by a rather nasty stripper at Sapphires, apparently the biggest strip club ever, and when he turned her down on going back to the VIP room with her, she not only dumped his drink all over him, she grabbed mine and hosed me down too, forcing us to cut out. I should probably thank her though, cause if she didn't do that, who knows how much more money I would've blown.
I got to meet The Porn Queen of MySpace - Not only did I get to meet Dana DeArmond, but she hugged me. Tight. I have the picture to prove that. I was the first person to show up for her fan signing at four o'clock, and she was very friendly, down to earth, and genuinely seemed to want to have a conversation with me. Superwife doesn't have to worry about competition, but if I were a weaker man...
Attack of the Geek (that would be me) - I got to meet Kevin Perreira and Olivia Munn of Attack of the Show fame. They were filming a bit for the show at the AVN Expo, and afterwards I marched on up to them and made a complete ass of myself expressing my fanboyism for the pair. Olivia even zinged me for the enormous bag of porn I was carting around.
I don't imagine that I'll bother going back next year for either convention. I can't see how I could have a better time.
Feel free to peruse the rest of my pics from the trip on my Flickr page.
Labels: everything else, gaming, porn, tech
A good friend of mine and I are heading to Las Vegas tomorrow for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), something I have been trying to get to with varying degrees of effort for years. It just happens that I am off for the exact 4 days of the conference, and Superwife, being the super wife that she is, convinced me that I should go now while I have the opportunity.
Needless to say I have been very excited for the last month or so about the whole thing. Looking forward to checking out all the new gadgets, phones, cameras, and computer hardware and peripherals that will be coming out, to say nothing of attending the World Series of Gaming.
To put it mildly I have been very happy as I have been getting ready for the event.
And then a friend of mine asked me if I was going to attend the porn convention that runs concurrently with CES.
To which I responded "Come again?"
After I picked my jaw up I Googled other conventions going on at the same time as CES, found out that yes, the world's largest adult entertainment conevention is in fact going on at the same time, and thanked my friend for saving me from possibly missing out on something that I would regret forever.
To paraphrase George Costanza, for the heterosexual male completely unaware that the trip he was taking to attend a tech convention just happens to run at the same time as the world's biggest congregation of porn stars, it was like discovering plutonium by accident.
So now I just have to figure out how to make Superwife okay with the signature of Nicole Sheridan I plan on coming home with on my ass. Think a snap of the next gen Blackberry will cut it?
Needless to say I have been very excited for the last month or so about the whole thing. Looking forward to checking out all the new gadgets, phones, cameras, and computer hardware and peripherals that will be coming out, to say nothing of attending the World Series of Gaming.
To put it mildly I have been very happy as I have been getting ready for the event.
And then a friend of mine asked me if I was going to attend the porn convention that runs concurrently with CES.
To which I responded "Come again?"
After I picked my jaw up I Googled other conventions going on at the same time as CES, found out that yes, the world's largest adult entertainment conevention is in fact going on at the same time, and thanked my friend for saving me from possibly missing out on something that I would regret forever.
To paraphrase George Costanza, for the heterosexual male completely unaware that the trip he was taking to attend a tech convention just happens to run at the same time as the world's biggest congregation of porn stars, it was like discovering plutonium by accident.
So now I just have to figure out how to make Superwife okay with the signature of Nicole Sheridan I plan on coming home with on my ass. Think a snap of the next gen Blackberry will cut it?
Labels: everything else, gaming, tech
Dear Trinity,
Your second christmas just passed, though this was the first year you had any idea what was going on. You really picked up on the whole thing; catching on to the idea of Santa, opening presents, knowing that all of the presents weren't solely for you, and happily handing over those to other people, albeit with the caveat that you help open them.
You got to spend this christmas at home, and besides being a big deal because you were involved, this year also marked the very first year that your Mom and I were actually at home for the holidays. Since we moved to Southern Ontario, every year has seen us dragging all of our presents, the dog, and a week or so's worth of clothes to stay with your Grandparents. Now finally, that treat is behind us. Don't get me wrong: I love your Mom's family. A lot. They have been infinitely more accepting and supportive of me than my own family ever was. (And that by the way, is the reason why you don't see my side of the family very much, in a nutshell.) But, the thing with being home is that I got away from enjoying the holidays because it involved travelling in bad weather, and not getting to relax at home.
And besides, we still went up to see them after christmas for the usual shenanigans.
So 18 months. I know how repetitive and cliched this sounds, but I really can't believe that you've been around for a year and a half. I so vividly remember the anticipation your Mom and I had while we waited for you to join us in our lives together. Its one of the very few instances that the real thing is actually so much better than you thought it would be. Most things go the other way every time, just so you know.
You have changed in this past month more than I've noticed in others I think. Your vocabulary is getting ridiculously large. We're hearing you string two word sentences together pretty easily now, and it is always a lot of fun to hear you making the connections that go along with different things. "Maya, cookie!" and "Mommy, up!" are two of my favourites lately.
You have also developed quite a taste for music now, particularly the kind that you make yourself. I think we may have a future drummer on our hands. I suppose there are worse things.
Another recent thing of yours is your decision to help out with the household chores. You have watched your Mom vaccuum so many, many times in your short life, that when someone got you a toy vaccuum for xmas, you knew exactly what to do with it and promptly started trying to clean under the closest chair.
You got spoiled rotten at christmas by the way. Not just by us, but by your Aunt Lisa, your Mommy's friend Joanne, your Aunt Beck and Uncle Dave, all your Grandparents. We could seriously upgrade to a bigger house just to properly accomodate all of the new toys in our lives. But you love playing with your stuff, so that's fun.
Here's a fun new thing you've discovered, one which I should make a huge deal out of, maybe along the lines of Columbus discovering America or something: TANTRUMS.
Yup, you've discovered them, and wow, do you go to town whilst having them. It seems that when you're asked to do something you don't like, or equally, are not given something you want immediatly, you opt now to flex your spine back like a cliff diver and scream at the top of your lungs. Which is staggeringly loud for one so very small. I haven't figured out the best way to deal with these, so I'm going with the time-honoured 'let it pass' philosophy, assuming that once you've cried yourself out about it, you might be more inclined to have another go. Reading this, you're probably old enough to have your therapist blame exactly that parental decision on any number of things that happened later in your life. Feel free to send me the bill.
You are one of the few Canadians that can say that they have seen snow this year. It snowed a little bit while you were up north with your grandparents. You were totally transfixed by it, and it was kind of too bad that it melted away by the next morning. Hopefully you'll get to see more sometime this winter so we can go out and redo my childhood make snowmen together.
One last fun thing: I am going away for my very first vacation away from you and your Mom next week. I expect you to know this by the time you can read this, (indeed, I kind of think you know already) but your Dad is a big geek. Plays with videogames, gadgets, computers. I am getting the chance to go to a big Expo for people like me this year in Las Vegas. But don't worry if you're upset that I'll be missing for a few days; I plan on stopping in at the Star Trek Gift Shop and I'll be sure to bring something back for you to wear that you will certainly hate me later for.
Love,
Daddy
Your second christmas just passed, though this was the first year you had any idea what was going on. You really picked up on the whole thing; catching on to the idea of Santa, opening presents, knowing that all of the presents weren't solely for you, and happily handing over those to other people, albeit with the caveat that you help open them.
You got to spend this christmas at home, and besides being a big deal because you were involved, this year also marked the very first year that your Mom and I were actually at home for the holidays. Since we moved to Southern Ontario, every year has seen us dragging all of our presents, the dog, and a week or so's worth of clothes to stay with your Grandparents. Now finally, that treat is behind us. Don't get me wrong: I love your Mom's family. A lot. They have been infinitely more accepting and supportive of me than my own family ever was. (And that by the way, is the reason why you don't see my side of the family very much, in a nutshell.) But, the thing with being home is that I got away from enjoying the holidays because it involved travelling in bad weather, and not getting to relax at home.
And besides, we still went up to see them after christmas for the usual shenanigans.
So 18 months. I know how repetitive and cliched this sounds, but I really can't believe that you've been around for a year and a half. I so vividly remember the anticipation your Mom and I had while we waited for you to join us in our lives together. Its one of the very few instances that the real thing is actually so much better than you thought it would be. Most things go the other way every time, just so you know.
You have changed in this past month more than I've noticed in others I think. Your vocabulary is getting ridiculously large. We're hearing you string two word sentences together pretty easily now, and it is always a lot of fun to hear you making the connections that go along with different things. "Maya, cookie!" and "Mommy, up!" are two of my favourites lately.
You have also developed quite a taste for music now, particularly the kind that you make yourself. I think we may have a future drummer on our hands. I suppose there are worse things.
Another recent thing of yours is your decision to help out with the household chores. You have watched your Mom vaccuum so many, many times in your short life, that when someone got you a toy vaccuum for xmas, you knew exactly what to do with it and promptly started trying to clean under the closest chair.
You got spoiled rotten at christmas by the way. Not just by us, but by your Aunt Lisa, your Mommy's friend Joanne, your Aunt Beck and Uncle Dave, all your Grandparents. We could seriously upgrade to a bigger house just to properly accomodate all of the new toys in our lives. But you love playing with your stuff, so that's fun.
Here's a fun new thing you've discovered, one which I should make a huge deal out of, maybe along the lines of Columbus discovering America or something: TANTRUMS.
Yup, you've discovered them, and wow, do you go to town whilst having them. It seems that when you're asked to do something you don't like, or equally, are not given something you want immediatly, you opt now to flex your spine back like a cliff diver and scream at the top of your lungs. Which is staggeringly loud for one so very small. I haven't figured out the best way to deal with these, so I'm going with the time-honoured 'let it pass' philosophy, assuming that once you've cried yourself out about it, you might be more inclined to have another go. Reading this, you're probably old enough to have your therapist blame exactly that parental decision on any number of things that happened later in your life. Feel free to send me the bill.
You are one of the few Canadians that can say that they have seen snow this year. It snowed a little bit while you were up north with your grandparents. You were totally transfixed by it, and it was kind of too bad that it melted away by the next morning. Hopefully you'll get to see more sometime this winter so we can go out and
One last fun thing: I am going away for my very first vacation away from you and your Mom next week. I expect you to know this by the time you can read this, (indeed, I kind of think you know already) but your Dad is a big geek. Plays with videogames, gadgets, computers. I am getting the chance to go to a big Expo for people like me this year in Las Vegas. But don't worry if you're upset that I'll be missing for a few days; I plan on stopping in at the Star Trek Gift Shop and I'll be sure to bring something back for you to wear that you will certainly hate me later for.
Love,
Daddy
Labels: trinity
