Why I'm not bothering to review Spider-Man 3

Because it's pure awesome, that's why. Go see it, you'll love it.

On a related note, go here to see funny videos like this one:

Where there's smoke, there's worry

The next few days might get a little bit interesting for me, dear ones. And I mean "interesting" in that classic Chinese sense.

Sometime last Thursday, a nasty fire started near where I live. By Saturday, the word "wildfire" was being used to describe it, and other blazes across the state, in this newspaper article. As of 8 pm last night, the fire looked like this:


Now, to give you the sense of urgency I feel, let me show you on Google Earth where I live in relation to these fires:


The red polygons roughly represent the area of the fires. My house is the dot of high-contrast magenta in the top center of the map. That's about 8.5 miles from the leading edge of the fire to the front door of my house.

Some of you may say, "Palette, it's nearly ten miles away, don't you think you're overreacting?" Well, no. Back in 1998, we had a fire season that was so bad, every county in the state was on fire (with the exception of the Keys). Our county was surrounded by fire on three sides -- North, West, and South -- and so we had to evacuate across the Intracoastal Waterway. Everyone said, "The fire can't possibly cross the Intracoastal." But you know what? By that time, the blaze had become a firestorm, meaning that the combustion was creating its own wind. Wind strong enough to blow flaming embers across the Intracoastal Waterway.

So, yeah. I'm just a tad concerned. I'm keeping tabs on FlaglerEmergency.com. Let's all pray for rain, because having my house burn down would really ruin my day.

An entry of no interest to anyone whatsoever

There is absolutely zero reason for you to go to this website and click on the word "Medium."

On an utterly unrelated note, I'm rather fond of the software to be found here.

*whistles innocently*

Rogue River

Oh my dear little blog, how I have been neglecting thee! Things have been rather crazy at Château de Palette recently, and I might be forced into a thrice-weekly schedule until they settle down.

Loyal readers, centuria that ye be, are no doubt aware of my love for the post-apocalyptic TV show known as Jericho. I am, however, not completely convinced that all of you have actually taken the time to watch this little gem of a program. Normally the punishment for such a transgression would be fifty strokes with a silken lash, but I suspect you'd enjoy that too much for the lesson to properly take. Thus, I shall forgo your corporal punishment -- this time -- in lieu of you taking 45 minutes out of your life to watch a single episode with me.

Go to the CBS website here and select Episode 8: "Rogue River". While it's loading I'll give you a brief synopsis of what the heck is going on.

Jericho is a small Kansas farm town, the kind of place you would expect Superman to have grown up in. It is also, conveniently enough, outside of the fallout zones for all major cities in Kansas and Colorado. That fluke of geography, as well as access to a salt mine and uncontaminated water table, allow it to survive being cut off from the rest of the world when twenty-three major American cities are simultaneously destroyed by nuclear bombs.

There are three plots that occur in this episode.

1. Major Plot: Jake and Eric Green must leave Jericho in search of antibiotic for their father (and mayor of Jericho) Johnston Green, who has gone into septic shock as a result of the flu. They take Jake's car because its 1970s-era guts weren't toasted by the EMP.
   
2. Minor Plot: Gray Anderson, the man who wants to be mayor, decides he doesn't know enough about some of the new people in town. He drops in unannounced at the Hawkins residence and starts asking very undelicate questions of people who don't want such questions asked...
   
3. "C" plot: Heather, a friend of Jake, tries to make ice to cool Johnston's fever. Without electricity, this becomes difficult.
   

And there you go. That's a typical episode of Jericho: Adventure in the unsafe lands beyond home; rampant paranoia; once-easy necessities of life becoming a struggle to produce. The "previously" bit that begins the show should reinforce what I already told you and give you enough of a feel for the characters and the setting that you'll be able to pick up what's going on with to trouble. This particular episode doesn't depend on any specialized knowledge of prior episodes, and (in my opinion) is exciting and well-paced.

Go! Watch!

Finished? Good! I hope you enjoyed it. If not, I respect your opinion (even if it's, y'know, wrong) and I thank you for taking the time to give it a chance.

Now, for one last thing: Did you notice how the title sequence had a morse code message? Well, that changes with each episode. The message encoded in "Rogue River" ....





















... "Rob not FBI."

Radion Accelerator Corps: Whitefall

All right, my little Browncoats, I've made you wait long enough.

Whitefall, the legendary artist who has created some of the most beloved Serenity-inspired derivative works, has been quietly recruited by Quantum Mechanix to help develop several new officially-licensed Serenity prop replicas. Expect an announcement to that effect in the none-too-distant future, along with details on the first prop to come from this collaboration.

"Lah dee dah," I hear you all saying. "Why should I give a feh feh pi goh about this?"

Here's why:

Here's a close-up of that upper-left corner:

Impressed? Whitefall made that. He's a fan who's crazy in love with Firefly/Serenity and makes awesome things like, say, Mal's Discharge Papers and Maps of Serenity Valley. You can find more his work here.

Now, if he can do incredible stuff like this on his own time, as a fan, can you imagine what kind of gao guhn he'll come up with now that he's working with QMx?

I cannot yet state with authority what he is working on-- deadlines are malleable things, and production delays occur -- but I assure you that it will be shiny.

The very femtosecond I know anything for certain, I will let you know.

Radion Accelerator Corps

You may not know it, but Auntie Palette is connected.

I have the inside dope on certain things. Certain very shiny things. I am the only outsider who knows them.

And if you are very, very good, I'll share my gao guhn information with you.

Some of you won't believe me at first. That's fine. When what I say starts coming true, I expect much bowing and scraping and begging forgiveness at my feet. Alternately, you may mollify me with offerings of plum wine and dark chocolate.

I have, among my legion of faithful readers (all one hundred of you -- I check my daily averages), at least one -- perhaps more (I am being vague to protect his/her/their identity) -- who work for Quantum Mechanix. I have dubbed this shadowy group my Radion Accelerator Corps, and if you don't get the pun you should be deeply ashamed of yourself.

"Mid-bulk Transport. Standard Radion Accelerator core. Class code 03-K64--Firefly." -- River Tam, "The Train Job"

Are you ready to hear what I know? Are you salivating yet? Crying to know more?

Mmm.... not today, I think. Perhaps tomorrow. I want you to be white-knuckled, ready to fall on your knees from anticipation.

EDIT: No, Firefly hasn't been picked up by another network. (I wish!) No, I mentioned Quantum Mechanix, and they make neat props and collectibles. That's what I have the scoop on.

Some thoughts on Heroes

1. Heroes is not a comic book on television. Having characters with superpowers does not mean it is a superhero show. I think it's far more accurate to say it's televised manga.

2. As much as I love Hiro, I think I love Peter even more. He totally rocked that Matrix look and owned every single fight scene.

3. I kind of feel cheated by the final scene, but I understand why they did it that way. Still, they need to provide a badass Peter vs. Sylar fight scene soon, because I haven't stopped geeking out about it.