Monthly Archives: March 2006

Mar092006

Radio 390

This is kind of cool… remember a while back when I discovered those old British sea-forts left over from World War II? The ones that were used as pirate radio stations in the ’60s? Well, just this morning, a gentleman by the name of John Vincent left a comment on one of my entries about those forts. To make sure his comment gets noticed, I’m reproducing it here:

Just let you know that Radio 390 is back online at
http://radio390.co.uk.tt
http://radio390.uk.tt
http://radio390.org

Thanks for the info, John!

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Mar082006

Pioneer 10 Falls Silent

I’ve just read that the final attempt to contact the Pioneer 10 spaceprobe has failed. The probe actually hasn’t been heard from since the year 2000, but this month the Earth moved into a position more favorable for picking up a signal, if there was one, and the folks at JPL (the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which built and operated the Pioneer and Voyager probes) were hopeful. Their failure to detect anything indicates that the little ship either doesn’t have enough power left to run its transmitter, or its power systems have failed entirely. In any event, this was the last time any attempt at contact will be made.

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Mar082006

Brisco Cover Art Poll

You may recall that a couple of months back, I reported on the rumor that Warner Bros. was going to release the short-lived Bruce Campbell series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., on DVD. Well, Warner still hasn’t made any kind of official announcement confirming the release, but the Web site TVShowsOnDVD.com is currently running a poll to determine which cover fans would most like to see on their Brisco discs. According to the site, this poll is sanctioned by Warner and the results will be taken into account by the studio. In addition, the two possible cover designs are said to be the real deal, actual mock-ups that have been approved by Warner, Bruce Campbell, and Brisco‘s producer, Carlton Cuse.

If you care about this show at all, run on over to TVShowsOnDVD and cast your vote now. It’s a rare opportunity for consumers and fans to actually have a say in an upcoming product package, rather than just taking whatever stupid crap the marketing department comes up with. I think that’s pretty cool. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my preferred cover is the less goofy one…

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Mar072006

Catching Up with the Gang at CTU

Why is it that this season of 24, which is the most cartoonish, over the top, and amoral of the show’s entire run — I think it must be in Kiefer Sutherland’s contract that his character, the indestructible Jack Bauer, has to torture somebody at least once an episode — is also the most compelling and exciting the show has been in several years? Possibly since the first or second season? Seriously, last night’s double-episode “event” had me feeling something I’ve not experienced for a very long time while watching a TV show or movie, a tightness in my belly that was also kind of hollow and fluttery. Now what the heck do you suppose that could that have been? Oh, yeah, I remember what you call that feeling: suspense. Genuine, edge-of-your-seat suspense. And that’s not all. I felt other emotions, too, strong ones, including actual sorrow at the end of the night’s second episode. Enough to produce tears even. I’m amazed and a little bit baffled, considering I was ready to give up on this show only a couple weeks ago. Still, as effective as last night’s segments may have been, the show is definitely starting to creak…

[Warning: Spoilers follow. Don’t read on if you taped it and don’t what to know what happens.]

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Mar072006

My Sci-Fi Crew

It’s Internet quiz time again! This time we’re determining which science-fiction crew or ship I’d be best suited for. And here are my results:

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Mar062006

What Got the Best Picture?

So, in spite of my previous protest of indifference, I actually did end up watching the Oscars last night. Well, to be more precise, I had the show running in the background while I sorted books and various other tasks related to trying to put my basement back together. But I was paying some attention to the proceedings — I just can’t resist that whole Hollywood thing, I guess — and naturally I have a few thoughts:

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Mar052006

Harbinger of Spring

It was an absolutely beautiful day in the SLC today. An overnight storm had scoured the air until it seemed to sparkle, and the sky was tall and blue behind drifting rafts of silver clouds. The mountains always seem closer on days like this; a trick of the clean air, I imagine, some kind of optical lensing effect or something. They loomed close over my shoulder as I ran around the valley, gleaming white beneath their blankets of snow, and the temperatures were high enough that I could walk around without a jacket and drive with the windows down. Just beautiful.

One of my errands took me to Target, and there I impulse-bought a CD compilation of 80s-vintage guitar rock. Because this was the sort of day that called for a little Warrant on the car stereo.

I am such a dork…

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Mar042006

Oscar? Oscar Who?

Hm? What’s that you say? Oscar’s coming this weekend? How nice, where will he be staying? What? Oh, not Oscar like a person, the Oscars, the Academy Awards. Right, gotcha… yeah. Well, you see, I’ve been so busy at work and fretting over that whole flooded basement thing that I haven’t even thought about the Oscars this year.

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Mar032006

Jack Wild

Everyone once in a while, something makes me realize how very grateful I am to have grown up in the 1970s. People who were adults during that period may remember it as a hellish time of political scandal, long gas lines, runaway inflation, and impractically wide lapels — I believe Jimmy Carter described all of the above as “malaise,” which sums up the historical circumstances of that decade about as well as any other single word — but it was a great time to be a kid. It was before everyone got so paranoid, before anyone coined the term “play date,” before you had to armor up just to go ride your bike. We had real sugar in our Coke, Slurpees came in flavors that weren’t made by Coke, and candy cigarettes were actually called candy cigarettes and not candy sticks or whatever they’re called these days (can you even still get those things?). And to top it off, we had the live-action kid-vid television shows of Sid and Marty Krofft.

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Mar022006

Evaporation

Lileks articulates my greatest frustration… and fear:

I have a large project that needs to be done. It’s the novel…. Part of me wants to give in to the Elves of Self-Doubt, who show up by the score and bang me over the head with small hammers until I realize there’s no point to writing the damn thing, but I really like the idea. It’s a matter of finding the time. This is where “not winning the lottery” is a major impediment, because I cannot stroll back to the Writing Hut at the edge of the Manor and type uninterrupted. Everything else I can do with constant interruption, both external and internal — but it’s hard to get into the groove when something else is always nipping at my heels. No matter how good the idea is, enthusiasm is evanescent, and I worry that this one will just evaporate with time.

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