Speak Stiltedly and Wear a Yellow Shirt

I’m ignoring the “Threads” threads, but not the SamAndJack Fanfiction Awards. I have one month to read and vote, and then maybe I’ll skim some ASC categories. Or not.

iPod of the day: an armored iPod

I went to the Apple Store after work today (it’s within walking distance) and lusted over the iPod Shuffles. They were out of the $100 version, or I might have achieved infinite coolness right then and there. I can’t see paying $150 for something smaller than a pack of gum, though.

Instead I got the boxed version of CandyBar 2, because the only thing prettier than a Mac is a prettier Mac.

This one is so very Boston I have to blog it: /. on how to take over a train station wirelessly–namely, South Station.

iPod of the day: The iPod Stereoscope.

The management apologizes for the lack of blog. I haven’t been up to anything exciting–just fending off the latest rage of trackback spam. It’s all 0n1ine p0ker stuff so far, but because of the way trackback works, the Amazing Anti-Spam Checkbox isn’t stopping it. Instead it goes straight into moderation and I get umpteen notices about it.

Sigh.

Update: Phil Ringnalda is ready to give up on TrackBack altogether.

Via GeekPress: experiments show that moss grows funny in space.

Thanks to Rocky for sparing me the effort I might have made if I still cared enough to write a post-mortem on Trek. I agree with her and disagree with Kelly Chambliss on most of their points. Since disagreements are always more interesting, I’ll run through those:

The alleged external problems:

1. UPN was no worse for VOY and ENT than syndication was for TNG and DS9.
2. Stargate, Atlantis, and BSG have all run on Friday nights without suffering any. Friday is no longer the kiss of death for a show, except by way of heavy competition.
3. Yes, there are too many choices, but the problem for ENT wasn’t the range of sci-fi per se, but that there were too many better choices.
4. For a company that doesn’t know its traditional audience, Paramount has certainly managed to recycle the traditional material often enough. The little ratings ploys (Seven Huge Hooters Save the Franchise and her Slinky Vulcan Successor) haven’t done that much to damage the ratings. ENT wasn’t so much misdirected as boring.

The alleged internal problems:

1. It’s hard for me to comment on a show that proved too boring to watch, but ENT was never enough of a throwback to TOS for me. The humans were whiny and oppressed, not God’s gift to the universe like Kirk or Picard.
2. Yes, the characters were bland, predictable, and unmemorable, but that doesn’t distinguish ENT from the more memorable TNG.
3. VOY and SG have thrived on throwback sexuality–I’m thinking J/C and Sam/Jack, especially, but the overall nothing-happens approach to sex works just fine for sf shows. As in #4 above, I don’t think the attempt to add sexual tension hurt (or helped) ENT to any significant degree.

The allegedly good stuff:

1. Season-long arcs are a bad idea. If anyone had been interested in the occasional ENT episode, this (and the rumor of Nazis) was sure to scare them off. DS9 was a great show, but it was not popular as Trek series go; going the way of DS9 was not going to save ENT, not without writers to support an entirely different approach to plotting. And anyway, it was too late to go from an episodic show to a more arc-based show–they’d just disappoint the fans who’d stuck around without convincing the rest of us who’d fled screaming to come back.
2. Again, it was too little, too late for ENT to go for continuity. The people who cared were too turned off by the character assassination of the entire Vulcan race. Technically, the last-season push was one to cash in on canon references, rather than to bring ENT in line with Trek continuity. Only the Big Reset Button in the Sky could fix ENT continuity at this stage.

Well, that went on a bit longer than expected. I hope it doesn’t fool anyone into thinking I care…

Blog of the day: A show that has its own blog has to be hip.

The management apologizes for not blogging yesterday. The management was watching the Battlestar Galactica miniseries when the management should have been blogging, answering email, and sleeping. The parties responsible are aware of their nefarious influence on the management and are cackling merrily in their Evil Overlord Castle.

I did see the miniseries when it first came out and I meant to blog about it, really I did, but the best-laid plans of mice and bloggers gang aft agley. Way back when, I was put off by the Hot Cylon Babes in Leather, but as with LotR character assassination it’s not so shocking when you know it’s coming.

I was never into the original BSG, but Veronica was so I had to watch lots of it. The new version is a massive improvement. (If only we could say that about the late ENT over TOS…) The characters are interesting and the camerawork is great. But then, I love it when planets full of people get wiped out by Borg-like critters, so the miniseries was right up my alley. I’m not sure I’ll be nearly as entertained by the day-to-day character stuff of the series.

…you go an entire year without posting to ASC. Last year at this time I was posting some last-minute filk, though my Trek output was otherwise restricted to a few drabbles and a Stargate crossover. This year I posted nothing. At least this means I can sit out the ASC Awards guilt-free (though I probably will vote in any categories involving either Khan or filk).

On the other side of the gate, the SJFA awards are coming up soon, and the SG-1 Awards sometime after that.

Via Lori: a metafilter story about the new Eye of Argon. Atlanta Nights [PDF] by “Travis Tea” is badfic with a vengeance and a higher purpose–exposing POD publishers for the scam artists they are. TNH has more of the story.

/. Quote of the Day: When I used to teach a course on MS Office (pauses while PTSD-style flashbacks ease off a bit) I used to explain it like this. “Office is like having a big, friendly, eager-to-please giant with an IQ of 80 standing helpfully between you and your work.”
Don’t worry, I’ll capitalize that for you. When do I get to pat the rabbits, George? –Lonesome Squash

Buffyology is a cool Buffy resource, with transcripts.