Ick

I'm headachey, tired, cold, slightly nauseous, and my brain feels like deep-fried lard.

And yet, I didn't go drinking last night. That seem fair to you?

This is me phoning in sick and uncreative. See y'all tomorrow.

Gorram!

I've received some very nice letters regarding my post about the Serenity blueprints.

Hee hee...little did I know that I was working on a holy relic. I must have been possessed by the divine spirit (Joss)...although I thought at the time it was a touch of indigestion.

Best, Geoff

In case you haven't checked your relic recently, Geoff Mandel is one of the people involved in making The Shiny. I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions, and he was nice enough to reply:

I basically drew the blueprints from scratch using the set designs created by Tim Earls, the set designer, and the CG model created by Zoic. The airlocks had to go where there were airlock doors on the CG model...that's why there are airlocks outside of the crew quarters. There's another hatch at the bottom of the bridge and above the dining room, so airlocks had to go there as well. I doubt the escape pods even work anymore...one of the SoCal Browncoats suggested that a family of raccoons may live in there. The shuttles were a real problem...they ride much too high on the CG model for the hatches on the catwalk of the cargo bay to work, and that's why I had to add that extra stairway and airlock. It's obviously more convenient to access the shuttles from the dining room than the cargo deck, but without drastically changing the outer appearance of Serenity by lowering the shuttles, there was little I could do. Originally, I had another crew head/shower off the dining room, but the shuttles take up so much room on that level, I barely managed to fit the dining room in as it is. The "Serenity Brain Trust"...fans Brian Wiser, Chris Bridges and Ben Mund...reviewed all my early drawings and made lots of helpful suggestions (for instance, putting in Kaylee's dress and hammock). You should have seen how complex the shuttle airlocks were before Chris and Ben weighed in!

Wow. Pretty heady stuff! And then I got another nice letter from Andy Gore, the Director of Marketing for Quantum Mechanix Inc:

Just wanted to drop you a note and say "thanks" for the wonderful post. We've gotten a lot of nice feedback from Browncoats, but I think yours is my personal favorite. In fact, I think yours may be the team favorite – it was Geoff Mandel who pointed me to your blog in the first place!

Team favorite? Oh my. *fans self* Ah do declare, ah feel a mite faint....

An open letter to Tim Minear

Dear Tim,

I'm very sorry to hear that you and Fox have broken up again. I'm sure you're in a lot of pain right now, and you really do have my sympathy for that, but really, you have no one but yourself to blame at this point.

I realize you don't want to hear this, but as your friend I have to say it: how many times must that little bitch dump you before you realize that you're too good for her? A whore is a whore, my friend, and you deserve far better than that.

I realize that you have a history with her, but you need to stop living in the past. How many of your shows must she murder before you finally see the light?

• Firefly
• Wonderfalls
• The Inside
• and now Drive.

Take a cue from your buddy Joss and cut ties with the little slut. She doesn't love you, she just wants to rape your ideas after sucking you dry of creativity. Let her go, I say, to wallow in the filth of cheap reality TV and animation that ceased being funny a decade ago. Oh sure, there are a few good shows left (but I wonder about 24 these days) but those are simply lures.

Lures, you ask? Let me tell you about the anglerfish:

Their most distinctive feature, worn only by females, is a piece of dorsal spine that protrudes above their mouths like a fishing pole—hence their name. Tipped with a lure of luminous flesh this built-in rod baits prey close enough to be snatched. Their mouths are so big and their bodies so pliable, they can actually swallow prey up to twice their own size.

Don't you see the resemblance, Tim? Can't you see that she's nothing but a skanky predator?

You need a nice girl, Tim. One that cares about her programming. How about HBO or FX? They aren't afraid to air quality, edgy programming, and I think your kind of writing would fit in nicely with the likes of Sex and the City, Big Love, The Sopranos, and Deadwood; or Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, The Riches, and The Shield.

Maybe you have your eye on another network? That's cool, too. Just please, please, please stay away from that skanky crack-whore Fox Network. I'm deeply worried for you, and if you go back to her again I'm staging an intervention.

Yours with deepest love and admiration,

Erin Palette

Fox Cancels Drive

Gasp.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that Fox would cancel a Tim Minear show without giving it time to find its feet.

Really, who here is surprised? If The X-Files had debuted now instead of in the 90s, I'm sure Fox would have cancelled it within 13 episodes, too.

Want to know something? I didn't watch Drive for precisely this reason. I knew they'd shitcan it.

Also, I refuse to watch anything Fox produces. I still haven't forgiven them for cancelling Firefly.

For those inclined, the daily Two Minutes Hate against Rupert Murdoch begins promptly at 2pm Eastern time.

Running on empty

I have material, just not the energy needed to make a well-written post. Maybe tomorrow, when I can work myself into a proper fit of righteous indignation.

On the plus side, there's nothing quite like the stunned silence on the other end of the phone when I tell a bill collector, and I quote, "I could give a fuck about my credit rating." Good times.

I would be remiss if I didn't wish my good friend La Fleur a Joyeux Anniversaire! Photos to phollow, hopephully.

*curls up and goes to sleep*

I <3 my TV ver. 2

Found several good clips for Dresden Files, and one for Jericho. They've been added to my previous post.

Go! Watch!

I Love My TeeVee

I remember when I saw the first promo for Heroes last summer. My immediate reaction was "Please, God, let it not suck," quickly followed by "And let it last at least a season." Imagine my delight when not only did it not suck -- in fact, it's incredible -- but it became the breakout hit of the season. Hiro is reason alone to watch it.

Heroes returned to TV last night, and there was much rejoicing across the land. You just gotta love a show that does an episode called "Six Months Ago" and then later that same season does anther called "Five Years In The Future" (next week's episode.)

If for some bizarre reason you haven't been watching the show -- I'm looking at you, Isabella -- then proceed immediately to this site where you can watch every single episode that's been shown. There are currently 19 of them, and the season will end with #22. If you are a comic book nerd, like science fiction/fantasy, or just enjoy good television, there is no reason for not watching this show.

Fortunately, it seems like most of America agrees with me on this (a fact which slightly disturbs me, truth be told), so I don't need to campaign on behalf of Heroes. However, there are other shows chock-full of geeky goodness that also deserve your attention.

Battlestar Galactica is the single best sci-fi show out there, point blank. If you aren't watching it you are an uncultured ruffian, and I spurn you as I would spurn a rabid dog. Luckily, you have all year to get caught up, as the new season doesn't start until 2008. *sobs quietly*

Included for your viewing pleasure are a series of clips taken from Episode 304. It's a "good parts" compilation of nothing but action, and is as close to sequential as I could find. If this doesn't excite your geeky heart, nothing will.








Hankering for something a bit more modern? Then try Jericho, a story about a small Kansas town cut off from civilization when no less than twenty-three American cities are destroyed by nuclear bombs. It's kind of "Lost" meets "The Day After", except that unlike Lost there is no mystical weirdness going on and there seems to be a payoff every few episodes. In fact, by the end of this season I expect we will know exactly who was responsible for the bombing.

I'm honestly not sure if this show will be renewed for another season or not. I urge you all to please give it a try, as it is one of the most intelligent TV shows out there. I don't have any video clips to show you (sorry about that), but if you go here you can watch, for free, every single episode currently aired. The show is at 8 pm on CBS, and new episodes are uploaded to the website the next day.

Edit: I found a clip. It's not the best in the world, but at least it's not a crappy music video.


Speaking of potentially doomed good shows, there's The Dresden Files. It's a show about Harry Dresden, a wizard, who is sort of a magical Private Investigator who also consults with the Chicago P.D. to help solve occult crimes. The entire show reminds me of a World of Darkness RPG, and I mean that as a compliment.

Now, I don't practice magic, but I am fairly well-read on occultism, and I can tell you that this show goes to great pains to make its magic "feel" believable. It's almost like someone read Isaac Bonewits' Laws of Magic before writing this series. I don't know if it was Jim Butcher, the man who writes the series of novels that Dresden Files is based off, or if it's just a really good team of scriptwriters, but either way, credit is due. The show is just fun to watch, and never talks down to its viewers.

Here are some of the promos which aired for the show in January:






This is the last scene of episode 4. A bit long, and spoileriffic if you haven't seen it already, but if gives you a good look at the methodology of the magic. In this instance, Harry is helping a young man who (sold his soul) to exorcise the demon-taint inside him.


This show is also potentially on the chopping block, so if you enjoy it I implore you to go to the Save Harry Dresden! webpage. Send an email to feedback@scifi.com, if you do nothing else. I mentioned that I would be buying the DVD set of the first season, and would happily buy more if they continue the series. Money talks, you see.

I can't seem to think of a good closing paragraph, so I guess I'll just end with cheese: Tune in tomorrow! Same Lurking time, same Rhythmic channel!