August 20, 2008
I swear, if the SciFi channel would spend half their “original movies” budget on making more quality shows like the new “Battlestar Galactica” series, or even syndicating older quality sci-fi shows, the world would be a better place.
I have to hand it to them, the names that they come up with are hilarious. But seriously, how many movies do we need like…
Flu Bird Horror!
Monster Ark!
Anonymous Rex!
Kaw!
Supergator!
and, my all time favorite:
Mansquito!
Category Sci-fi, TV | Tags: | No Comments
February 26, 2008
Luke has to learn how to do his little light up sword and try to block the little pokey ball. Meanwhile, the shiny guy always worries!
Category Movies, Sci-fi | Tags: | 1 Comment
July 2, 2007
Now that you’ve spent entirely too much money on your fancy sudden motion sensor equipped Mac laptop, I predict you’ll soon be swinging it around like a loon.
Introducing MacSaber. Using your Mac’s sudden motion sensor, this software turns your computer into a Jedi weapon almost worthy of taking on the real thing by making authentic lightsaber sound effects. It senses speed for the lightsaber movement sounds and acceleration for different levels of striking sounds.
This beta is not yet compatible with the motion sensors in older Mac laptops, but I understand you can move the window around to get the idea.
Category Apple, Movies, Sci-fi, Technology | Tags: | No Comments
November 5, 2006
Last night I dreamed that I lived in a little apartment in a New York style apartment building, in a row of nearly identical apartment buildings that was completely enclosed in a shell from the outside world. In the center of the neighborhood was an expanse of green space, a little park about the same footprint as an apartment building, and one end of it opened to a dock and the sea beyond, with a big industrial garage door that would open and close.
Everyone was in a panic and in the process of evacuating because we had been invaded by aliens, although we never actually saw the aliens themselves and there was nowhere to evacuate to. They had landed on the rooftops of our buildings and were slowly taking over. Even though we couldn’t see them, we knew their paths because wherever they went, everything turned dark and crumbly and dead. Walls, plants, furniture. And people who’d been “infected” or whatever began to look like zombies, with tattered clothing and purple circles around their dark dead-looking eyes. I was one of the unofficial leaders trying to get the remaining people to safety, and I was lucky in that even though I was running around everywhere, through infected areas, I hadn’t been turned into a zombie yet. I wasn’t sure where we were going to take people anymore, because the park had been taken over by the aliens. I thought that maybe it was possible for us all to gather on the roofs, since the park wasn’t safe anymore and we had nowhere else to go, but then remembered that the roofs were probably where all the aliens were gathered.
I noticed that Bob and someone else were up on the 3rd floor of one of the buildings, and they needed help. I found another leader, who radioed to someone out on a boat that she was “Missy” from the health department and she needed two life jackets. I guess they were only giving supplies to the actual people in charge, so we had to pretend to be those people in order to get anything done. Then she told me that I had to go pretend to be this fictional Missy and get those life jackets to (somehow) rescue Bob. I ran down to the dock and realized that Missy from the health department WAS actually there looking for life preservers, and that I’d probably be caught if I tried to pretend to be her. Somehow, I got them anyway. I ran back to Bob’s building and tried to toss an orange life preserver through the open window. It took several tries, but I got one through. Then I bent down to pick up the green one to toss it in, but in that few second interval, his apartment had been taken over, and the window was shut and dark. I was too late.
Back at the park, I looked into a first floor room of one of the buildings and saw a classroom full of little purple-eyed zombie children, staring straight ahead at the zombie teacher with rapt attention. Moments before, it had been a regular classroom full of regular children, and it scared me how instantaneous the transformation was.
Then I found myself sitting with several other people at a picnic bench in the park, cooking. I had a little kerosene burner on the table in front of me, and a frying pan full of oil. Everyone was looking to me to feed them. Next to the pan was an arrangement of ingredients, and I wasn’t really sure we should eat any of them because most of them were vegetables that had been taken over by the aliens. I guess if alien stir-fry is all you have to eat, though, that’s what you eat.
I cut several slices from an alien zucchini, and there were dark sad faces in the zucchini. You know those tubes of holiday sugar-cookie dough you can buy that have designs in the middle, so when you cut them into slices, each one has a Christmas tree, or a bunny, or a pumpkin design in the middle? That’s what these zucchini were like, only they had dark unhappy human-looking faces as their designs. But the minute I put them into the hot oil, the slices grew to giant proportions, taking up almost the entire pan, and the dark sad faces turned bright and happy and sunshiny. That is when we realized the answer: the alien menace could be eradicated through heat! I woke up before we got a chance to test whether it was just plain old heat that would do it, or if everything had to be purified in hot oil.
Category Dreams, Family, Sci-fi | Tags: | No Comments
September 12, 2006
A friend sent me this brilliant link.
Category Music, Sci-fi | Tags: | 1 Comment
August 22, 2006
I’m actually surprised that Stargate lasted as long as it did. I thought that it was kind of running out of steam by season 7, and had definitely lost its way by season 8. The 200th episode, which aired last Friday, however, was absolutely fantastic. So many inside jokes, so much poking fun at themselves.
SCI FI Channel confirmed that it will not renew its record-breaking original series Stargate SG-1 for another season, but will pick up its spinoff series Stargate Atlantis for a fourth year. SG-1 aired its 200th episode on Aug. 18, and the SF series is the longest-running SF show on American television.SCI FI issued the following statement on Aug. 21: “SCI FI Channel is proud to be the network that brought Stargate SG-1 to its record-breaking 10th season. Ten seasons and 215 episodes is an astounding, Guinness World Record-setting accomplishment. Stargate is a worldwide phenomenon. Having achieved so much over the course of the past 10 years, SCI FI believes that the time is right to make this season their last on the channel. SCI FI is honored to have been part of the Stargate legacy for five years, and we look forward to continuing to explore the Stargate universe with our partners at MGM through a new season of Stargate Atlantis.”
Stargate SG-1, developed for television by executive producers Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate. SG-1, which originally starred Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge, began on Showtime, then moved to SCI FI after five seasons. The current cast includes Tapping, Shanks and Judge and newcomers Ben Browder, Claudia Black and Beau Bridges. It airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Category Sci-fi, TV | Tags: | No Comments
July 29, 2006
Yes, I know I spelled the title wrong. It’s phoenetic. Go with me here.
Prepare for hilarity to ensue when Captain Kirk and his Knights of the Round Table sing about that silly place known as Camelot!
Category Music, Sci-fi, TV | Tags: | No Comments
October 25, 2005
one of my favorite sci-fi authors, david brin, is writing these great essays on his blog, wondering about the notion that we might actually be living in someone’s star trek holodeck scenario. that this fucked up insanely unrealistic world that we’re living in, and by extension, us, aren’t real at all; we’re just figments of the combined imagination of some computer and some lucky person living in the future. but WHO?
…let me weigh in on what I consider to be the worst possible catastrophe of them all. One that would explain every stupidity in the world today. That we are living in a very poor simulation….
All right, then, folks. Can YOU see anybody around you whose life we must clearly all be revolving around, in his personal holodeck program?
All right, some of you guessed… (and some had heard it before).
I think Bill Maher had it right. “The real exit strategy for the US in Iraq has already begun. Not because the war is won. But because W has begun to get bored with his latest Fantasy Job.”
And what that implies may be the scariest possibility of all.
Come on! A youth spent in unbelievable frat boy party-stupor mode, with plenty of geeks to write your term papers while you get to torment em unmercifully.
Then… jet pilot! Wearing a snappy uniform and silk scarf while screeching over the Gulf, taking free flying lessons as you bravely defend your land from… Fidel! And each evening sipping margaritas by the beach, while a million other sons go off to battle Charlie in Nam…
…till that got boring. So then there came a series of other fantasy jobs: political operative, cowboy, oil man… oh!… and then baseball team owner! (The fantasy can’t be baseball player, since that’s real work.)
…then governor of the great Lone Star State of Texas. Yee haw! (Especially the way it starts, by putting down that Ann Richards bitty, who said all those mean things about people who are born with a silver foot-in-the-mouth. Here’s my silver foot, Annie. Yeah!)
All right, so each of these jobs palled after a while. So each time you move on to something else, it means that you leave a train wreck behind you? A trail of steaming failures for others to clean up? Isn’t that what nerds are for?
Category Politics, Sci-fi, Writing | Tags: | No Comments
July 24, 2005
looks like they remade logan’s run, except this time logan is called “lincoln six echo” and carousel is referred to as “the island.” clones on the run!
“the island” is quite pretty (thanks to ewan and scarlett, and oh, that beautiful cinematography too) and flashy (hello, epileptic seizures, anyone?), and it’s been, as doc said when referring to the new battlestar galactica series, “surgically de-cheesed” from the original. i do realize there’s only so many movie plots in the world and thing get recycled with new skins and new details all the time, but this was remarkably transparent as a remake.
logan: logan 5 and jessica 6.
island: lincoln 6 echo and jordan 2 delta.
logan: horrible catastrophe/contamination in the real world forces remainder of humanity to live in a contained society underground.
island: horrible made-up catastrophe/contamination in the real world forces remainder of humanity to live in a contained society underground.
logan: smart sandman comes to realize that there is life beyond the society he lives in, and takes a beautiful girl on the run with him to reach the outside world, which he finds has been safe for a very long time.
island: smart clone comes to realize that there is life beyond the society he lives in, and takes a beautiful girl on the run with him to reach the outside world, which he finds actually exists and was never contaminated.
logan: all members of society must go through carousel ritual when they turn 30. they believe it is a wonderful experience of rebirth and renewal, but in reality they die.
island: some members of society go through lottery ritual. they believe they are going to the utopian paradise of the island, but in reality they die.
logan: logan returns to destroy the master computer system that runs the society.
island: lincoln returns to destroy the master system that produces the clones.
see my point?
i mean, it was a fun movie and i’m glad i saw it, but they should’ve just called it “logan’s matrix 1138.”
Category Movies, Sci-fi | Tags: | 2 Comments
July 2, 2005
you must learn the ways of the farm, young jedi, and join the organic rebellion.
Category Links, Sci-fi | Tags: | No Comments
April 20, 2005
meet joe. joe flanigan plays major john sheppard on stargate atlantis, one of the best shows on television. i really like his character, in part because he’s very “jack o’neill” in his self-deprecating humor. plus, he can raise one eyebrow and that’s always cool.
i’m really glad that atlantis is turning out well. i was worried that they were going to cancel sg-1, and atlantis would be its replacement, but it looks like there is a 9th season of sg-1 starting in june. however, the teasers worry me: “meet the new team.” i don’t want a new team! i like jack, sam, daniel, and teal’c! i never even warmed up to jonas during those 2 seasons he replaced daniel. anyway, i did a little research and it seems like they’re bringing in a new head of the sgc, and jack is going to head up homeworld security for the u.s. government… or something like that. which sucks, because i really love his character and will hate to see him playing a lesser role. he already has been this past season (and general hammond is almost completely phased out).
god, my geekiness is totally showing with this post. oh well, most of you know this about me already.
Category Sci-fi, TV | Tags: | No Comments
April 2, 2003
I sure wish I had something profound to say. Nothing’s coming to mind, though. It may shock you to learn that not all my thoughts are deep and meaningful. :) But I will have you know that I can be just as shallow as the next person when I try. For instance: “Hey, that’s what credit cards are for!” or “You’re right, that UPS guy IS hot!”
Okay, I guess that was pretty lame.
Oh, I forgot about this; it’s kind of interesting. Doc and I went to see a movie last weekend, Dreamcatcher, and I thought that it was pretty lame. In fact, I said it was a waste of $5.50 and 2 hours of my life. I also said that the book (which I have but have not read yet) was bound to be a zillion times better than the movie, as almost all Stephen King books are, with the notable exception of The Shining (one of the greatest movies of all time), thus implying that I planned to read it. So he said, “You plan to spend, what, 20 hours or so reading that book? When you’ve already seen the movie, and know the story, and didn’t like it?”
Through subsequent discussion, we discovered that he feels about books the same way that I feel about movies (and vice versa): I feel that it’s hardly ever a waste of time to read a book, even a bad book, but if I see a bad movie I resent having those 2 hours of my life taken away from me. Doc, on the other hand (and probably the wiser hand, really), feels that it’s hardly ever a waste of time to see a movie, even a bad movie, but why in the world would you want to devote 20 hours of your life to a bad book, or even just a so-so book? He would resent the time he took to read that book.
So unless a movie is just awesome and completely blows me away (which a good number do, thank you very much), I tend to wish I had that time back. And he feels the same way about books: unless it’s totally brilliant he is not going to spend the time and effort to read it.
I, of course, make the argument that there’s pretty much no way a movie can accurately interpret and portray everything that goes on in a book — it would have to be 20 hours long to do that. So movies based on books give you the Reader’s Digest version, which annoys me. I like books because, if they’re well written, you can so completely lose yourself inside the characters that it’s almost like being someone else for a while. I know that good movies do that too, but I guess the point is that I don’t see it as a waste of time to spend hours and hours on a book when you can get the same thing in a 2-hour movie.
Otherwise, I would never ever have read Tad William’s Otherland series, one of the most brilliant sci-fi-technology-fantasy-adventures I’ve ever read. And by far the longest (3,270 pages). Not to mention that I started the series when there were two books already out. I finished them right about the time book #3 hit the stores, and I tore through that in about a week. Then it was more than a year, maybe even two, before the final volume was released, and of course I’d read a bunch of other books in the meantime and so had forgotten some key elements and plotlines of the Otherland series, so… I had to go back and read the first three volumes before I could begin on the fourth.
Yeah, crazy, I know. But I loved these books so much that I wanted to be completely immersed in the characters when I started #4. I didn’t want to forget any details that might be important to what happens in the finale.
["Tad Williams' Otherland is a complete universe co-existent with the real world, incorporating elements of the Arabian Nights, the Alice and Oz books, the Neanderthal Age, the Trojan War, Roman history, monstrous insects, and numerous nursery rhymes and fables."]
Seriously, you need to read these books. Tad Williams is one of my favorite authors, ever. He makes you want more, so badly! I was so incredibly sad (quite literally) for a few days after I finished the series, because I knew that was the end and there would never be any more adventures with these characters that I’d grown to love.
In brighter news, he’s got a new book out in May, right around the time that my book is released (must throw in a plug for the book!)
Category Books, Sci-fi | Tags: | No Comments
Copyright © 2012 Something Shiny Disorder
