April 2003 Archives
Eff tells a tale of his geek homeboys coming to town, playing some games and nearly killing each other at the Spaghetti Works.
Mike and Brian sat through the entire episode oddly passive and now seemed disappointed. They were undoubtedly expecting a big haul. When geeks fight, the ground around them is littered with coins. I once made $47 collecting coins after two of these Urkels went at it because one of their characters died in a game.
High-larious. Not something I run into much, since my geek friends all live close and can release pent-up geek pressure at each other at least bi-weekly. Lemme tell you: when it's been awhile since we've all gotten together, things get a little wild, so I can't IMAGINE...
I mean... imagine Rey if the only time he could really cut loose was about once every six months or so. Hell, imagine ME. Crowds would gather.
Joss Whedon lists his 10 favorite episodes.
Not a one I disagree with, though I might rank them differently. His reasons 'why' just kill me.
7. Becoming, Part II (May 19, 1998)(via Jules)
The second-season finale, as Buffy rushes to stop the soul-free Angel from destroying the world. Willow does restore Angel's soul, but not before he opens a vortex that will suck the world into hell. The only way for Buffy to close the vortex is to kill the man she loves — which she does.
Why does he like it? "Buffy loses everything. Also, it had a sword fight. I love sword fights."
Joss Whedon's often said that one of the things he wanted to accomplish with Buffy was to seep into Pop Culture like a virus. It's worked, in far more ways than this article lists, but certainly in these as well:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a type of literature. Buffy is a text that people care about. The language used in the show is eloquent, it expresses things very precisely.
One example of precise expression is Xander’s “Does anyone else here feel Keyser Soze’d?” Adams described this morphing from noun to verb as “brilliant,” and it is in its sharp, concise description of being hoodwinked in the most elaborate of ways. It’s a pop-culture reference that turns grammar on its ear in a poetic way. It sort of coaches the audience to then use other references in the same sort of way.
I've done that -- hell, I did that recently when I described someone with a lot of combat training as being able to "Trinity" a room (been watching Animatrix stuff a lot). My long-time favorites, however will always be words like "Wiggins", which aren't mentioned in the article.
Take the Zire frame, give it the same processor, hi-res screen, one-handed navigation tool, and memory capacity as the Tungsten, add a built-in digital camera and MP3 playback...
Then sell it for a hundred bucks less.
I missed "Order" at one word yesterday, but here's today's entry.
Roger Ebert doesn't screw up too often -- as a reveiwer, he's the sort of guy that generally seems to 'get it' in the same way that I and the rest of my heathens (tip of the hat to JillMatrix for that phrase) get it -- so if a genre anime or adaptation movie hits the screen and seems to be getting panned by every critic that ever pulled free of the pond muck, I check out Ebert's take over at the Chicago Sun Times, looking to see if it's a dissenting voice or a unanimous vote of "suck". He's the guy that's going to say "this is a hell of a fun movie" when everyone else is saying "Why did anyone think Tank Girl was a good idea?"
Sadly, it looks like Bulletproof Monk isn't going to live up to it's previews -- there's too many people saying 'what the hell were they thinking' for it to be a good sign.
Raise your hand if you are NOT IN ANY WAY having problems telling Caleb and Mal Reynolds apart.
Another Murphy's Rule: someone you just met and want to make a good impression with will drop in to chat right when you're fiften seconds into doing today's one word
Hell yes I'm still rooting for the show. Here's some info:
Firefly abroad
The UK Sci-Fi channel has now added the series to their listing for May. According the listings they have it on Sundays at 7pm starting with the first part of Serenity on May 18th. In their forums they have also confirmed they'll be showing the unaired episodes.
Anyone know someone in England? Anyone get the British sci-fi channels on satelite?
From the 4/11 USA Today Life section:
Firefly may be grounded, but it's not quite ready to be scrapped.
Created by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel), this Western-in-space spectacular was canceled by Fox this winter after a mere half-season's run. Whedon, however, remains committed to the show's possibilities - and hurt by it's quick demise.
"I still haven't given up on Firefly," he says, "which may seem strange since it's been off the air for months. If I can find a new home for Firefly, TV, or movies or any damn thing, it will soften the blow."
[snip stuff about Gina on Angel and Nathan on Buffy]
Whedon also may have found a home for Firefly on DVD. Fox is planning to release the show on disc in widescreen format, possibly in December. Whedon is expected to provide commentary, as he did for Buffy and Angel.
"I don't know if it's really what I'm looking for."
"Joe," he slapped me on the back. "This is exactly what you're looking for."
I circled the thing. "Explain what it's supposed to do again..."
"It's a heart-breaking machine," he said, smiling and never losing his patience. "Let's try the demo..."
oneword's word for today.
I feel I need to specifically draw attention to Randy's comment regarding Skip's final moments:
My first thought was that Wesley gets to do all the cool stuff. Then I remembered that Wesley's been communing with his dead, evil girlfriend while Gunn was introducing Gwen Raiden to touching and sex.
Yeah, if you're the guy writing the story, you pretty much have to feel bad and give Wesley the pity-kill. :)
that a recurring role on Angel is not in the cards for Skip :)
Skip the Demon is back on Angel this week.
