Yesterday over on Facebook, I was tagged by Kelly — better known in these parts as Jaquandor — to do a meme about my life as a geek. I of course complied immediately, because, well, it’s a meme. I’m reposting the results here, with some tweaks to the formatting and a few comments that I’ve reconsidered:
As you all know, I’m no fan of Ron Moore’s reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. I honestly did try to appreciate it on its own terms, but it just never hooked me and I gave up on it midway through the first season. Still, I have followed some of the online commentary about the show over the years, and I was curious today to see how things wrapped up in the series finale last Friday night.
Apparently, aspects of the conclusion left a lot of people scratching their heads. From what I gather, the show ended with the ragtag fugitive fleet arriving at Earth — our Earth — some 150,000 years ago, and discovering the place inhabited by spear-carrying hunter-gatherers. The weary colonials ultimately decide to abandon their ships and technology and blend in with the primitives on the planet below. Some of the comments I’m seeing out there question this, as well as Starbuck’s ultimate fate and the revelation of, for lack of a better word, “angels” who were overseeing, and perhaps guiding, everything. A recurring sentiment seems to be “what the hell was that all about?”
Well, this aging fan of the much-disparaged 1978 version of BSG is chuckling his head off right now, because these elements are all right out of the original series. Recall the opening prologue from the original: “There are those who believe that life here began out there… far across the universe with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Toltecs… or the Mayans… or the Egyptians…” By “going native,” Ron Moore’s colonials are simply living up to the “ancient astronaut” underpinnings of Glen Larson’s Galactica.
The angels and Starbuck turning out to be some kind of spirit-being who knows the way to Earth have their precedents in the original, as well. In the original-series episode, “The War of the Gods,” the Dirk Benedict version of Starbuck, along with Apollo and Sheba, encounter the Ship of Light and the highly advanced beings who dwell within it, angels, for lack of a better word, who declare that they are watching out for their “younger brothers and sisters.” They seem especially interested in Starbuck, and tell him that, “as you are, we once were; as we are, you may one day become.” When he and his companions return to the Galactica, they bring with them subliminal impressions of Earth’s location. Sounds to me like Ron Moore was perhaps a little more faithful to the original series than I — and the young fans of the new version who’ve always been so nasty about the old one — really understood.
Now, as I said, I didn’t watch the new BSG, so it’s possible I’m completely misinterpreting what I’ve been reading about the finale. But I gotta tell you, I’m feeling some degree of vindication right now. I think I’m going to celebrate by cracking open a bottle of fine ambrosia and seeing if I can rustle up some mushies…
For all the thousands of movies that are available on DVD, there are many more that languish in the studio vaults, mostly forgotten or “smaller” films that are deemed too obscure to justify mass production. In other words, the studios don’t want to take the chance of getting stuck with a bunch of unsold discs because there wasn’t enough demand for a particular title. That’s business, and it’s completely understandable.
Still, it seems that just about every movie ever made has somebody who loves it, and it’s a real drag when something you love has been consigned to the Memory Hole because of brute economics. Bootlegging is an option, and I’ll admit to having occasionally resorted to it myself in certain cases. But I’ve always been somewhat less than comfortable with bootlegs, for various reasons. I’d prefer to have the real deal, i.e., a legitimate, professionally made DVD, if only one were available.
I’ve just learned that at least one movie studio has finally come up with a workable solution for this problem. Jaime over at Something Old, Nothing New has pointed me to The Warner Archive, a new service that allows you to special-order catalog films which are then manufactured on demand. There are more details here, but the bottom line is that for only $19.95 each, you can get these obscurities on a genuine, professionally made DVD with a presentation quality equal to any other Warner Bros. title.
Jaime notes that:
Most of the titles they have at the moment can be described as minor films of major stars: lots of not-yet-on-DVD movies by popular stars with huge filmographies, like Cary Grant, Norma Shearer, Clark Gable. There are a bunch of films that were released on VHS but never made it to DVD, and some real curios…
In other words, stuff that’s not likely to appeal to the average consumer. However, browsing through the 137 titles currently available (I understand there are more coming), I see at least four movies that I might be interested in owning: Countdown, a space-race drama starring a young James Caan; The Rain People, which was Francis Ford Coppola’s first movie; Oxford Blues, an early-80s Rob Lowe vehicle that was filmed on location in Oxford, England, and helped fuel my own interest in traveling to England; and Wisdom, another ’80s trifle with Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore. None of these are great movies (well, I haven’t seen The Rain People, but I’m guessing there’s a reason why it more widely known), but they do have their pleasures, and I’m delighted that they’re finally going to be available for psycho collectors like myself. I hope the other studios launch their own versions of this service as well…
The way the economy’s been lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if these end up being worth more than good old-fashioned dollars:
Starbuck by `diablo2003 on deviantART
They’re certainly cooler looking than U.S. greenbacks. The design was apparently created for a Star Wars convention that was held a couple years ago, according to the artist’s notes. I don’t know if it was ever actually printed in faux-currency form or not; if it was, I wouldn’t mind having a couple for my collection, so if anyone knows where I can get some, give a shout, okay?
Via Boing Boing, of course…
Courtesy of Lileks:
…neon is the most entrancing and civilized form of signage ever invented – and… the 30s and 40s style was adult and sophisticated in a way nothing has touched since. But for an adult culture, I suppose you need lots of – what’s the word? – adults.
Anyone care to discuss?
Here’s something fun for your St. Patty’s Day, a trio of ads for a New Zealand TV network’s upcoming airing of the execrable movie Alien vs. Predator (not to be confused with the excellent four-part comic-book miniseries Aliens versus Predator, which was published in the early ’90s). The movie stinks, but I love the clever ads, especially this one:
As always, click to embiggenate.
Via the Bad Astronomer, who dubbed the campaign “beyond awesome.” Total agreement here.
Like the title says, “Blarg.” I feel like I’ve been dragged sideways through an old-fashioned keyhole, then shaken out and tossed over the back of a chair like a pair of unwashed Levi’s. Which is my colorful way of saying that the past week has been unusually rough. I’m utterly drained, in just about every way you can think of: physically, intellectually, emotionally. Soon to be financially, too, thanks to that tax situation I mentioned a while back.
So what’s been going on that’s so terrible? Well, for one thing, there have been a couple of items in the news this week that have hit me like a solid fist to the belly; they’ll be getting their own blog entries when I get the chance to write them up. I’ve also had to contend with my semi-annual journey into the Black Hole of Depression; it hits every year around this time, probably as a result of the gloomy, final sputters of winter, as well as the usual annual reminders of things I prefer to keep to myself. Let’s just say that every so often, I notice I’m a long, long way from being the man I used to believe I was, and the life I used to think I was destined to live. I can’t help but imagine my 21-year-old self would be incredibly disappointed in my 39-year-old self, and that really gets me down.
The big problems this week, however, have been health-related. The Girlfriend and I have both been sicker than dogs, and, in her case, things got bad enough to require a trip to the emergency room.
“Oh, how I love the future. How else would I be able to relive my past?”
–Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer
You know, there’s something curiously satisfying about listening to dusty old CDs while you do long-neglected household chores…
Here’s one of my rediscoveries, Bonnie Raitt performing “Angel from Montgomery,” a beautiful, sad, authentic song I loved back around 1990 or so and then somehow forgot about until today:
It’s a huge cliche, of course, but they really don’t write ’em like this anymore. At least, not that I ever hear.
A health-related PSA seen on a placard on the train last night:
Breathe Easier
Get Screened
Their is a good chance it will save your life.
Their is a chance? I can’t tell you how much that hurts…