FAIR WARNING TO MY MORE SENSITIVE READERS: The following entry recounts something deeply unpleasant that happened to me a few nights ago. I posted a highly condensed form of this story already on my Facebook page, but it’s still bothering me, and I want to discuss it in more detail. And — here’s where the warning comes in — I’ve chosen to render it as accurately as my fallible, sleep-deprived, middle-aged human memory permits, which means I’m not going to pull any punches in the foul language department. I’m not talking the little four-letter swears we all learned in the third grade, either. No, this story involves the big two-dollar vulgarities, the kind that start fistfights (as, indeed, they were intended to here), as well as the unsavory spectacle of a couple of grown men acting like ten-year-olds. I’m not proud of my own role in this nastiness, even though I was just giving back what I got. The whole thing actually shook me pretty hard, which is why I’m still thinking about it three days later, and why I’m going to blog about it now. Anyhow, yeah… nasty words and poor behavior below the fold. Consider yourself warned.

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Elephant Rock Century 2010, originally uploaded by jackskitchen.

I should’ve mentioned this at least a week ago, but I’d still like to pass along the news that my buddy Jack will be riding tomorrow in the Lotoja Classic bicycling race, a 206-mile endurance course that runs up and down three mountain passes between Logan, Utah, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This is Jack’s third Lotoja, and once again he’s riding in support of cancer research at the University of Utah’s Hunstman Cancer Institute. He’s already made this year’s donation goal, but if anyone out there is feeling generous, I’m sure he’d be thrilled to have a little more added to the kitty. Click here to contribute.
I’ll be away from my computer for most of the day tomorrow, but I’ll post Jack’s results as soon as I can… Jack, if by some chance you’re reading this on one of your fancy wireless toys, may the wind be at your back, my friend!

I’m not a big fan of either animation or steampunk,* but I am intrigued by this:

That’s the poster for a straight-to-DVD film project currently in production and scheduled to be released in 2010. The premise is that 14 years after the events of H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds, the Martians try again. Only this time, humanity is ready for them, armed with weapons and fighting machines that were reverse-engineered from the alien technology left behind following the first invasion.

That all sounds amusing enough, but what really caught my eye was the cast and crew credits on that poster. It appears that War of the Worlds: Goliath is going to be something of a Highlander reunion! Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, Jim Byrnes, and Adrian Paul all starred on my favorite obsession of the mid-90s, Highlander: The Series, and the writer of this film, David Abramowitz, is a Highlander alum as well. (Credited as both Supervising Producer and Creative Consultant on the series, Abramowitz is widely held to be the guy who changed Highlander from a cheesy villain-of-the-week syndicated action show — think Lorenzo Lamas’ Renegade, only with swords and Quickenings — into something that actually asked questions about the human condition. I didn’t always like Abramowitz’s ideas, but the show definitely improved under his guidance.)

If the Highlander angle isn’t enough, Goliath‘s other listed star, Adam Baldwin (no relation to Alec, William, et. al.) played Jayne in the cult favorite Firefly, and executive producer Kevin Eastman is the dude who created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That’s a seriously geeky pedigree there!

I hope this turns out to be good. Adrian Paul, in particular, could use an artistic success, if (most likely) not a financial one. I find him a very appealing actor, but since Highlander wrapped, he’s unfortunately been trapped in a creative ghetto, churning out one low-budget crapfest after another (and yes, I count the last Highlander movie, The Suck, er, Source, among those). Interestingly, this isn’t Adrian’s first encounter with Wells’ Martians; he also starred in the second season of that War of the Worlds TV series way back in the late ’80s. Not that anybody remembers him from that… I don’t, except as a point of trivia.

Anyhow, if you’re interested in this at all, the official site for War of the Worlds: Goliath is here. It includes a production blog (which hasn’t been updated since April, hopefully not a bad sign), and a gallery of concept art. I particularly like the look the Martian tripod machine. Very creepy…

* Steampunk, if you don’t know the term, is a sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy that’s set in the Victorian Age or early 20th Century, but includes technology that’s somehow analogous to late-20th Century levels. It’s also a design aesthetic that seems to be very popular among DIYers and in certain corners of the InterWebs.

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