Orphan Black Rewatch Curated by ME over on Tor.com

I can now officially announce that I'm the curator of the Orphan Black Rewatch over on Tor.com!  The intro post went live today in which I write about how much I enjoyed the series and why everybody should be watching it. I've been saying how great the show is for a while and would say it even if I wasn't doing the rewatch (BBC America is re-airing the show on a weekly basis beginning this coming Saturday the 14th) and recapping season two (which begins March 30, 2014).

Random TV thoughts, Under the Dome, Defiance, and Arrow

There’s been a relatively decent uptick in quality televised SFFH over the past few months, hell the past few years. Of course HBO is king right now with Game of Thrones, AMC has The Walking Dead, FX has American Horror Story, among other shows on other networks. Last year NBC’s Awake was an interesting and too-smart-and-ambitious-for-its-own good drama of a man’s life in two worlds, BBC America got into the mix with original programming this past year with the phenomenal Orphan Black, while the SyFy network has tried for years (with very mixed results at best), since Battlestar Galactica to get more serious-minded SF* on their channel, and every year the networks try and usually fail with shows not going more than one season, i.e. Terra Nova).

*Don't get me wrong, my wife and I adored Eureka and were very, very sad to see it leave the airwaves but that was a much lighter version of SF than BSG

This past Sunday, CBS’s latest effort is an adaptation of Stephen King’s massive novel Under the Dome (a novel met with a very lukewarm response upon publication). But they enlisted some folks with proven experience for this thing: Steven Spielberg as Executive Producer, Niels Arden Oplev (director of the Danish/original film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Brian K. Vaughn (writer of the Y: The Last Man one of the most acclaimed SF comics/graphic novels of the past decade, writer on Lost) and it features Dean Norris, a recognized and respected character actor most recently known as Hank Schraeder on Breaking Bad and character actor Jeff Fahey. So, with that pedigree it seems a shoe-in to succeed, right? I haven’t read the book, though the fine folks at Tor.com have indicated changes from the book (some spoilers in that article). After having watched the first episode, I will at the very least be tuning into the second episode. The first episode established the characters to a good enough extent that I want to learn more about most of them, the premise of the town trapped under the dome is well-established when it slices a cow in half, cuts off a woman’s arm, a truck crashes into it and the final scene of the episode showing helicopters flying above the dome. Right now, this thing is set for 13 episodes and they are off to a very good start.

Monday nights on SyFy has been their big night for original programming for a couple of years. Specifically, ever since they eschewed original programming on Friday nights for WWE SmackDown! SyFy is such a hit or miss (20% Hit/80% Miss if I’m being generous since I'm not a fan of reality programming), but their latest venture is quite impressive. Defiance is a multimedia experience, the television show and video game released nearly simultaneously and the game is supposedly going to affect the TV show. I’m not concerned about the game itself (which does look fun, I’ve got to admit) but the show itself. Basically, Earth is now refuge to a slew of alien races (collectively known as the Votans) and part of the Earth was changed when alien technology, during our war against those aliens upon initial discovery, accidentally terraformed the planet. War was halted and now these alien races and humans attempt to coexist on the world, specifically in St. Louis where the show takes place now known as Defiance.

One of the folks responsible for this show is Rockne S. O’Bannon, a name fans of genre TV should know – he wrote the film/TV show AlienNation, episodes of Amazing Stories and the first Twilight Zone revival in 1985 and perhaps my favorite SF show of all time FarScape. Long time Star Trek writer Michael Taylor is also involved. On the acting side of things, Grant Bowler (perhaps best known for a run on True Blood and a small stint on Lost), Oscar-nominated actor Graham Greene, and Julie Benz (Buffy, Angel, and Dexter) are probably the most prominent acotrs, with Bear McCreary providing the music. Again, good ingredients, but do they mix well together? 10 episodes in, I’d have to say yes, things are moving along pretty well.

The first couple of episodes felt familiar as the show blatantly exuded a Firefly vibe since the transformed Earth evoked a similar Frontier/Western setting. Of course, Firefly took place on colony planets and in space and included no alien life. In that respect, Defiance bears a more striking resemblance to FarScape with the variety of alien life and the fact that Earth is only barely recognizable. In our primary male protagonist, Joshua Nolan (portrayed by Grant Bowler), we’ve got a guy who is a fair enough melding of Malcolm Reynolds and John Crichton; he's a veteran of the war and has some rough edges. Nolan is appointed the lawman of Defiance in the first episode and his adopted alien daughter Irisa and becomes Nolan’s deputy. Julie Benz is the newly elected Mayor, and Graham Green plays Rafe McCawley (miner and one of the most prominent human characters).

Two things help to distinguish the plots and overall story of the show, from my perspective. The first is the setting. While Earth in the future, the city is St. Louis whereas these things often take place on either of the large Coastal Cities of NY or LA. The terraforming has transformed Earth enough that the creatures, races and landscape is alien enough for these characters to be wary when venturing to far outside of their familiar confines. The second is just how powerful, proactive, and prominent the female characters are. Julie Benz as Amanda Rosewater is the current mayor, who replaced previous mayor Nicolette "Nicky" Riordan (portrayed by genre mainstay Fionnula Flanagan). Although one of the prominent alien (the albino Castithan) families, the Tarr, is headed up by Datak and he’s the public face of the family, the one who is pulling the strings just as powerfully is his wife Stahma. Mayor Rosewater’s sister Kenya (Mia Kirshner) owns a brothel/bar has a significant role of power in Defiance.

As the series has progressed over the course of the first 10 episodes, the writers have made it easy to empathize with most of the characters and are not overloading the viewer with heavy sets of back-story. Rather, each episode reveals enough about the characters, the world-building/history of this future earth that a nice balance is struck. With each episode, it becomes clear that not all characters are safe even if not not exactly to GRRM levels of schadenfreude. 

In short, I'm hooked and the show is pretty much appointment-television for me right now.

The last show I’ll mention is Arrow, the CW’s latest modern interpretation of a DC Comics character. I've read some Green Arrow comics (specifically, the Kevin Smith relaunch of the character and the Andy Diggle/Jock Year One storyline which informs this show, as well as comics featuring GA like Justice League) over the years, the comic book series/character upon which the show is based so I don’t have a full allegiance to the minutia of the character’s mythology. After one season, I’m very hooked on this show. Sure there’s a formula that around the 45 minute mark of the show, the villain or plot is resolved. Through one season, though, the writers have managed to filter in enough of a second storyline detailing Oliver Queen’s time shipwrecked on an island where he was during a five year absence when he was presumed dead. The writers are mixing in nice bits of DC Comics mythology (Deathstroke the Terminator, sidekick Speedy, Ferris Aircraft of Green Lantern lore), twisting the hero’s mythology a bit (playing with arch-enemy Merlyn the archer) to make a fun weekly TV watching experience. I wasn’t familiar with Steven Amell, the actor portraying Oliver, but I did know Paul Blackthorne (who portrayed Harry Dresden on the SyFy series of the same name) as Detective Lance, a foil for the vigilante Oliver and John Barrowman* (Doctor Who and Torchwood) as Malcolm Merlyn the Big Bad of season one and father to Oliver’s best friend Tommy Merlyn, Alex Kingston (Doctor Who and ER) as Lance’s estranged wife, and even naming Oliver's bodyguard, security head Diggle in honor of writer Andy Diggle. 

The show has the hallmarks of a CW show in that the cast is a mostly Young Beautiful People and the aforementioned resolution of the villain of the week at the 43 minute mark. The first season was a lot of fun, and I kept saying it was a lot better than I thought it would be or had any right to be. I just hope it doesn’t pull a Smallville and crap all over itself before it goes away.

*My only real issue with the show is that while I like Barrowman, he seems far too young to have a son in his mid-twenties.

Orphan Black (BBC America) Season One

A young woman, Sarah, is waiting for a train on a train-station flat. She notices a well-dressed woman staring listlessly ahead as the new woman carefully places her briefcase on the ground and removes her shoes. When the silent woman’s face is revealed, Sarah is shocked to find her doppelgänger. Even more shocking is that this silent woman jumps in front of a train and commits suicide. Sarah eventually grabs the woman’s belongings and soon adopts the dead woman’s identity. Were the story to follow just the assumed identity scenario, it could be interesting enough. However, Orphan Black is about much more than that (cloning, secret organizations), though identity is a very big theme the series covers over the 10 well-written, greatly-acted, and smartly directed episodes of the first season.

What Sarah soon learns, in her attempt to secure a boat load of cash from her deceased look-alike in order to live with her daughter free of her sorted past, is that she is a clone. The woman’s whose identity she assumed, Beth Childs, was a police officer forcing the street punk Sarah to make a 180-degree turn from lawbreaker to law-enforcer. 

Orphan Black has a lot going for it, as I intimated in my opening paragraph, but perhaps the strongest thing on this smart show is the acting of Tatiana Maslany. Over the course of the 10 episodes, Maslany seamlessly slips into 7 different roles. Subtlety is the key to her success in pulling off the roles, from the British accented Sarah; to the German-accented Katja; to the Ukraine-accented Helena; to the uptight American/Canadian accented Alison, Beth, and Cosima. In each role Maslany adopts subtle physical traits that make each character unique: with Beth, she carries herself with a bit more relaxed confidence and more like a career-woman; as Helena, she adopts a herky-jerky seemingly un-rhythmic arm and head movement, almost like a caged animal let loose; with Alison, there’s an uptight sense of bottled control in the small steps she takes as she walks and talks.

Sarah is the lead character and the character Maslany seems most comfortable playing, though perhaps the strongest role is the soccer-mom Alison and that may be perhaps because her world is shaken the most. Sarah’s always been on the run adapting to situations as they arise whereas Alison lives in a suburban community with a superficially strong marriage and two adopted children. Cosima is a scientist at heart so she is intrigued by this great experiment and search for truth. In other words, Alison lives a seemingly comfortable, happy life. Meeting her clones and becoming involved in this new world of subterfuge, being watched, and unsure of who she is drives her to breaking points she would otherwise be miles away from encountering.

What’s just as impressive as the many roles Maslany plays is that over the course of the season, the clones try to impersonate each other; Sarah pretending to be Beth; Sarah pretending to be Alison; Alison pretending to be Sarah; and Helena pretending to be Sarah as well as Helena pretending to be Sarah pretending to be Beth.

While Maslany is outstanding, the supporting cast is equally impressive. As the first episode unfolds, we are introduced to characters who will comprise the primary support cast for Sarah. Felix, her flamboyant homosexual artist/prostitute foster-brother with whom Sarah lives; Mrs. S., foster-mother to both Felix and Sarah; Kira, Sarah’s daughter; Art, Beth’s partner in the police force; Paul, Beth’s live-in boyfriend whom Sarah quickly tries to convince she's actually Beth; and Vic, Sarah’s abusive, scumbag ex-boyfriend. The standout among these is Jordan Gavaris as Felix. Throughout the series, he is the person Sarah trusts the most and shares the most screen time with Maslany. The chemistry between these actors is very powerful and this can especially be seen in the scenes featuring only Felix (referred to as Fee by Sarah) and Alison. Paul is probably the character not played by Maslany who goes through the most changes, and logical, plausible changes at that.

As the show progresses, some familiar faces to genre-television watchers come into play: Daniel Kash (Dresden Files, Defiance, Aliens) plays Helena’s ‘handler;’ Eric Johnson (Criminal Minds, Smallville, the abomination that was SyFy’s Flash Gordon) plays one of Alison’s suburbanite friends; and genre mainstay Matt Frewer (The Stand, Max Headroom, Eureka, Watchmen, among many others) plays the popular scientist Aldous Leekie (think Lex Luthor meets Neil deGrasse Tyson).

Like the best science fiction, science is an essential element to the show but doesn’t overshadow the storytelling or characters in any way. Of course cloning is a common trope in SF, but at least in filmed SF, this might be the best and most logical treatment of the inherit problems with clones I've viewed. The clone of Cosima best exemplifies this in her quest throughout the season to learn more about the how and why of herself and her clone-sisters. She’s a university student who becomes involved with Dr. Leekie, one of the leading geneticist in the world. I’m not well-versed enough in the science the show makes so integral to the plot, but it comes across as plausible and well-reasoned. Related to that, the nature/nature argument does arise. We see Alison (prior to learning of her clone nature, becoming “self-aware”) as a normal, well-adjusted person. On the other hand, Sarah and especially Helena are far from well-adjusted functioning members of society. The show doesn’t explicitly say this is what happens when one is brought up in a well-adjusted home (Alison, Cosima because we don’t know much about their past), but the implications to ponder such questions are present. Great SF (and science for that matter) doesn’t always offer the answers, but gives people questions to consider.

Much of SF is male-centric, not so with Orphan Black. Each of the women Maslany portrays has a sense of power over herself, despite being manipulated from outside forces. Sarah and Alison have motherly instincts to protect the family they have, Sarah a drive for independence and making herself better; Cosima is a brilliant student-scientist; Beth was a successful police officer. These roles and their ‘base of power’ as characters does not come as reflection of the men in their lives. Perhaps the most domineering character outside of the clones is Mrs. S., Sarah and Felix’s foster mother. Partially due to Kira, Sarah’s daughter, being taken in by Mrs. S., does Sarah’s foster mother hold so much power. But as we learn more about Mrs. S., she becomes a greater presence in Sarah’s life as source of support and more.

The show takes place primarily in a large North American city and a little searching on the internet places the show in Toronto. The characters barely refer to the city name and the only location blatantly identified is the UK from whence Mrs. S., Felix and Sarah escaped.  Filming in Canada is said to be cheaper than filming in the States and I also think by keeping the Large City a bit generic (rather than not stating it is in Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York), it places the idea in the viewers mind that the story can take place in any large city.

BBC America is building a nice base for itself here in the United States of a variety of programs. Of course Doctor Who is their big SF franchise, but with shows like Copper, imports like Luther among others, the network is turning to a very dependable outlet for scripted dramatic television. Because of its low profile (it isn’t AMC, HBO or Showtime), chances may be slim for Tatiana Maslany to receive the great recognition she deserves for the great acting she’s done on the show. Most folks, including myself, who have watched and enjoyed the show (TV critic Alan Sepinwall, Comedian Patton Oswalt) think Maslany should at the very least receive Emmy and/or Golden Globe nominations for her acting. The show pushes the limits of what has been depicted on cable-network television, from the level of violence depicted to how graphic the sex scenes are to the willingness of the writers to simply not hold back in their story. In other words, Orphan Black likely would not have been able to be on networks like USA or even SyFy.

My wife, who tolerates much of the SF I consume took to this show very quickly, it was a show we both enjoyed. Me with my SFF obsessions and her with enjoying simply a good story.

Orphan Black will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD July 16 and is likely available through On Demand on local cable providers.

Highly recommended television.

So Say We All

Well, Battlestar Galactica came to a close after four seasons with many ups and downs. Actually, more downs than ups for the survivors of the Attack on New Caprica, but on the whole BSG was a moving show about humanity, toasters, and powers at play beyond human understanding.

Two very good write ups of the finale:
Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger

Adam Whitehead/The Wertzone - Adam does (and has been doing) a spectacular job of review/summaries of each episode, so I’ll mostly just be throwing down my reactions to the series.

FRAKKING SPOILERS

I’ve been back and forth with this show throughout its run, loving the miniseries and abandoning the series proper somewhere towards the end of the first season. I came back in the middle of the 2nd season and have enjoyed watching it throughout the remainder of its run, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff who really hates the show. The end of the New Caprica storyline was terrific, as was the reveal of four of the final five Cylons. Looking back at Galen Tyrol’s character arc for the series, he didn’t exactly have the best of events happen to him, but of all of the final five, I think his reveal as a Cylon works the best and Sam Anders works pretty well, too. Colonel Tigh’s reveal sort of works in that it shows how deep the Cylons were embedded in Caprica society. Tory was not much of a character throughout the show for me, and her reveal and turn as a sinister Cylon was just sort of there. However, I feel the revelation that Ellen Tigh was the final Cylon felt a bit forced and almost grasping at straws. Ronald D. Moore has stated on many occasions that the writers didn’t have an explicit plan for where they want to take things (the way the folks over at Lost do) and I think this is most evident in Ellen being a Cylon.


For the most part, I really liked the mythology/backstory of the show, the Exodus of Kobol 2 Millenia before the show began, which hints a more vast swath of humanity in the galaxy. I liked the resonant parallels between the Greek Gods and the Lords of Kobol – things like that really helped me to enjoy the series.

One of the questions I (and I assume many fans of the show) had over the course of the series was whether or not the events depicted in the series take place in a far future or distant past from the 21st Century. The name “Earth” was thrown around casually with mythological overtones as a place that could be either a past home from which people on Caprica descended or a future destination where the show would end. We are led to believe the Earth found at the midpoint cliffhanger of season four is indeed our Earth having been decimated thousands of years prior to the rediscovery of the planet. Here we are given to think the Battlestar Galactica universe is very much in our future.

The final reveal is perhaps one of the most divisive revelations in the entire series. Granted some of the details surrounding this reveal are suspect under closer scrutiny. 35,000+ people abandoning technology for a clean slate? Helo recovers from what seemed to be mortal bullet wounds pretty nicely, didn’t he? Even if it was a bit of a leap, I was glad for that, since I liked him as a character throughout the series. How did Romo just become ‘appointed’ president by Lee? Kara “Gandalf” Thrace just disappears? What is she, Batman? Everything was part of God’s plan? This last half of the last season saw Adama very easily accept the Cylons as part of the crew and society after such animosity towards them. I also thought the first part of the 3-hour finale felt strained and overwrought with the flashbacks. Maybe if I watched the all three parts of the finale in one sitting it would have worked better.

Other details that seem to rake the fans ire worked for me specifically because there exist an indefinite element to them – specifically, a higher power had been moving events and that Head Baltar and Head Caprica were “Angels.” Caprica-6 and Baltar shared moment of realization seeing their “Angels” and their really worked. I also really liked Baltar’s speech to Cavil about seeing the “Angels/”

The whole God’s plan works on another level, too with two instances of literal Deus Ex Machina –Racetrack’s hand hitting the button that fired the nukes, which in turn destroyed the Cylon Colony. This of course led Kara Thrace typing in the coordinates for their Final Destination – Earth. Coincidentally, both cases of a seemingly God driven hand moving events is the right hand, an extension of God’s power. Kara typing in the numbers worked, but the dead hand tapping the button to shoot the nukes was a little more hokey.


There’s an old adage in Science Fiction that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and the higher power and “Angels” could be seen as just that – supremely advanced beings that could be interpreted as God, but don’t necessarily have to be God. Iain M. Banks’s Culture universe, which includes supremely advanced Artificial Intelligences the size of planets is a parallel to this notion. I think the ending dialogue of the show pins this home even more when Six reveals that the way our society is depicted final scene of the scene of the series is part of God’s Plan.

"You know it doesn't like that name," Baltar says. Six only looks back in mild defiance. "Silly. Silly me," he replies as the two walk away into the metropolis

The sometimes disagreeable io9, echoes some of my thoughts here and it is another swerve from the writers. Is it God or some other higher power?

I thought the soundtrack/music, not The Music per say, was pitch perfect in the finale.

The final episode also echoes the theme and basis of the original series in that humanity is much older than what we believe it to be on Earth and that humans as they are today were, for lack of a better term, uplifted through the intervention of space travelers/gods – humans from Kobol and Caprica maybe. This argument was posed in the controversial book The Chariots of the Gods, which served as a major inspiration for the original series. Alan Sepinwall echoes something I very much agree with about the finale:

For that matter, the idea of the characters winding up on our Earth centuries ago pays homage to the original series, which posited that its characters' ancestors had started out on Earth in the distant past and had done things like build the great pyramids of Egypt.

Well, I know my little rant/review here does not cover everything about the finale and the series itself. Was it a perfect series? No, as I said above, I abandoned the series at one point so parts of it were less entertaining throughout. Was the ending perfect? I can’t really say that either, with the continual ending teases a la The Revenge of the Sith and The Return of the King. However, the episode still sticks with me and I wound up watching the finale again last night via On Demand and it worked just as well on the second viewing.

Lord Tophet & TV Wrap

This week’s review is of Gregory Frost’s Lord Tophet, the concluding volume in his Shadowbridge duology. On the whole, I think the two volumes form a strong single story and think they would have benefited from being published as such in one volume. While there’s a clear break between the two novels, it really is one story. I felt Shadowbridge was a stronger novel. Here's a cut from the review:

Much like its predecessor, Lord Tophet the novel concerns itself very much with the power, charm, and value of stories. Perhaps more so in this second volume in the sequence, the value of stories is emphasized. In order to get out of the dream-like higher reality, Leodora must tell more stories and mores stories, just one more story. The nebulous aura of the higher world has an affect on Loedora, making her and Diverus think they have only been there for a day.

On the genre TV end of things, Heroes was just sort of there for me this week. Again Sylar is the most interesting thing on the show, the Petrellis are still somewhat annoying, Hiro is just sort of floating around (though I like his “nemesis”) and Claire’s two mommies could be interesting. The show hasn’t annoyed me enough to completely abandon it. On the other hand, True Blood was solid once again. Now that Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are back, I’ll probably be skipping Sarah Connor for the foreseeable future. The Office returned in a bit way, showing more ways in which Michael Scott can be clueless. Ryan, the new/old temp, reminds me very much of an old friend so that little bit of poetic justice was spot on. Family Guy is still funny – specifically how they addressed the “who-can-understand-Stewie” debate. Much as I love the show, I don’t know how much more there is to it. Then again, the South Park guys still manage to really hit out of the park – I can’t wait to see what they do in terms of the whole election this year.

Snake Agent

Another Monday, another book review posted. This time, it's the first of Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen novels, Snake Agent. I liked to book a lot for many reasons; great pacing, interesting characters, a "fresh" (as in not often utilized) mythological backdrop. Williams hit a great chord with the book and it fits perfectly in the ever growing and popular subset of fantasy - the supernatural mystery. I've got more to say about this little subset, but that'll be for another post later in the week.

On another note, if somebody would have asked me before the show started whether or not I would keep tuning in every week to watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I would probably say no. It keeps drawing me back in every week though.

Just in time for Hallowe’en, I posted my review of the H.P. Lovecraft collection, The Horror in the Museum. Well, the stories are re-writes/ghost-writes/co-written by Lovecraft, but most were still pretty damned good. As I say in my review, my only other foray into Lovecraft’s writing was Black Seas of Infinity, which I thought was a superb collection edited by Andrew Wheeler.

The Yankees named Joe Girardi their new manager today after the unsurprising firing/non-acceptance of contract by Joe Torre. As much as Don Mattingly was my favorite player, I think Girardi is the right choice as manager. I liked him as a player and probably more as an announcer on YES. Granted, the way Joe Torre was not brought back was sloppy, I think Girardi is a step in the right direction. The best news out of Yankee-land is Alex Rodriguez opting out of his contract.

Somehow the fact that a film version of Stephen King’s The Mist is coming out in November slipped by me. I liked the story a lot when I first read it years ago. Even more so, I enjoyed the Cool Audio version of the story released more than a decade ago. On the good side, Frank Darabont wrote and directed it, who also had a hand in The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. On the other, Thomas Jane (who I thought was great as Mickey Mantle in 61*) was also in the King clunker, Dreamcatcher.

The more I watch Reaper, the bigger my crush grows on Missy Peregrym. I like the show and make sure I see it every week, it reminds me a little bit of Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters is one of my favorite, most quotable, and most quoted movies.

Bright Books and Crazy Day

My latest book review, Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon, went up at SFFWorld.com today. I enjoyed the book very much and have found yet another series I will be following. Such is the life of the FSF reader.

As many new books as I have on my “to read” pile, there are some books I have been wanting to re-read. Dune is one of them. I read the book twice, once in my college Science Fiction Literature course and again before the SciFi Channel Mini Series first aired. I loved it both times and I always wanted to follow through with the other books in the series; only those written by FRANK Herbert.

The other(s) is Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen. I read Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates about five years ago, right after returning from a business trip to Canada. At the time, Canada was the closest place I could get the books so I bought them and devoured them. When I found out Tor would be publishing them here in the States, I figured I could catch up again. Then time kept passing and six years later, Tor is almost caught up with the UK/Canadian releases.

On a side note, one of my biggest pet peeves in the SFFWorld forums (or any of the message boards I frequent) is when people constantly spell his name wrong, either Stephen or Erickson. Not only is it annoying because there is another author by the name of Steve Erickson, but know who you are talking about. Sorry, mini-rant over.

Some, OK, quite a few of the online FSF folks have been slagging Battlestar Galactica this past season/half season for the dip in quality of the show. I don't know that I can agree. I found myself being as drawn into the show each week, as much as just about any other time I was enjoying the series. Sure, maybe not as much as when the season kicked off and Adama returned to New Caprica, but I've been ejoying it nonetheless. I liked the season ender, and the build up to the last 15 minutes or so was really well-done. While not quite a cliff-hanger, I really can't wait to see what happens next.

As for the show that follows BSG, I'm really enjoying The Dresden Files. It is one of the few genre shows I can get Mrs. Blog 'o Stuff to watch, and enjoy watching it, with me. The first episode or two were a bit slow, but I keep coming back each week. Or at least TiVo does for me.

April Fool’s Day came and went with not so much as a whimper, though I thought it very clever how the Adult Swim folks “showed” the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, this Sunday The Sopranos begins its last half season. It will take quite a bit for the show to end on the high note with which it began.

There was a little craziness in my neck of the woods today, to say the least. I lived in a moderately sized city for over a year (New Brunswick) and I didn’t hear much insanity like this. Granted, I might have been a little insulated from the shadier parts of the city since I lived on the campus of Rutgers.

I think I've done enough stream of consciousness blogging for today.

Space Pirates, Wizards, and Honey

Over the past year or two through the good graces of Pyr, I’ve been introduced to Mike Resnick’s fiction. This is a good thing, because I've come to really enjoy his work. I’d known his name but never came across any of his stories or books. Well, the three books I’ve read by him have me wanting to read more. The latest Resnick book I read was Starship: Pirate, and I posted my review today.

I caught the Dresden Files in between the Football games yesterday, but found it difficult to stay with Dresden, at least the first showing, during the Pats/Colts classic. What an incredible game. Not only was it an incredible game, but the Patriots are out of it and Peyton finally gets to the big game. As for Dresden, the first episode did its job of keeping me interested enough to tune in for the next episode.

I was very happy to find Samuel Adams Honey Porter back on the shelves of liquor stores. It was one of my favorite brews from the Boston Beer company and I was sad to see it disappear from shelves years ago. I think it is a bit sweeter than I remember, but still very tasty. I’ve found that I enjoy the Sam Adams specialty beers much more than the Boston Lager or Boston Ale. In the summer, nothing, absolutely no beer is better than their Summer Ale.

First a Preacher, Now Comes Winter

First HBO announces they will be doing a Preacher Television show. Today the annoucement is made that HBO just picked up the rights for George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

As both of these properties are in only the early stages, speculation is bound to run rampant. I can't think of a better venue for either of these two over-reaching storylines to be shown.

Darkside

Tales from the Darkside is coming to the SciFi Channel. I have a lot of fond, terrible memories of this show from the 80s. It was an anthology, much like The Twilight Zone, except with a much darker tone, as evidenced by the opening voice-over:

Man lives in the sunlit world
of what he believes to be reality.
But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld,
a place that is just as real,
but not as brightly lit.....
A DARKSIDE.

Some of the episodes were kind of cheesy, and I don't know how they would all hold up today, but I liked them well enough back then. I'm surprised it took this long for SciFi to pick up the series.

I’ve seen this on the blogs/LJs and The Hornswaggler tagged me, so here goes.

1. One book that changed your life?
One? Only one? Don’t know if I can narrow it down all that much. A lot of books changed me in discreet ways I have only noticed years later.

2. One book you have read more than once?
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub – I traveled with Jack to the Territories about once a year in high school and was heartbroken each time I read of Wolf’s fate. I’ve read many books multiple times, but this was the first book I probably read more than once.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
“How to Survive on a Desert Island and Not Go Apeshit” Oh, a real book? Maybe some kind of survival guide I suppose.

4. One book that made you laugh?
Terry Pratchett's Small Gods

5. One book that made you cry?
Old Yeller when I was twelve.

6. One book you wish had been written?
Respect: How a Young Man from New Jersey Made It

7. One book you wish had never had been written?
I don’t know, maybe Mein Kampf?

8. One book you are currently reading?
Infoquake by David Louis Edleman during lunch breaks at work and The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 23rd Edition edited by Gardner Dozois at home.

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

10. Now tag five people.
I'm so late to this meme, I think most people have already done it. If you haven't I'm tagging you. YES, YOU!

I posted my review of Naomi Novik's Throne of Jade over the weekend, and for the most part I enjoyed the book. Novik continues to entertain me with this series after two books. My review of the third book should go up soon, as will my review of Greg Keyes' The Blood Knight. Wow. Keyes is continuing to impress me with this wonderful series, I just hope less time elapses between the 3rd and 4th book than the 2nd and 3rd. Still, if I was able to wait five years for one series, I suppose I can be patient for this one, too.

I spent the majority of Sunday outside enjoying the glorious heat. I worked on the yard for about half the day and barbequed and stayed in my pool the other half of the day. Speaking of the heat, anyone in the NJ/NY area can attest to the ridiculous taglines the local news channels tease us with during the evening - "How to stay alive in the the most oppressive heatwave of the season, tonight at 11!"

Back to the pirate story and watching the rest of Eureka.

The Devil is Done...for now

Well, things happened a bit quicker than I expected and the ending wrote itself. I can officially say I've completed the novel. At this point, I'm calling it Devil in the Barrens, although I don't know if that is final. I like the sound of it the more I repeat it to myself, but who knows. Maybe when I do the first edit/re-write something else may come to mind. Of course, I've only finished the first draft. The sucker needs to sit for a while untouched and stay away from me so I can look at it with fresh eyes, touch it up, and cut it apart with my editorial hands.

I also know the story continues in another novel, but I don't want to start that until I give the first book another re-read. I realized fairly early on in writing Devil I wanted to tell a story about these characters and the worlds they visit in more than one book.

Besides, I've got a couple of other unfinished novels I want to complete, perhaps one by the end of the year. I'm also going to work out some short stories I've been mentally throwing around for a while. All I know at this point is that I have a number of stories I need to tell.

The Sopranos ended with a family scene, like most of their season-ending episodes end. I wasn't too thrilled with this half of the last season. Sure there were some interesting points along the way, but I found myself more annoyed than entertained.

Lost Babies

Review of Kit Reed's The Baby Merchant and my interview with her are now posted at SFFWorld.

Well, that was two hours of intriguing television, especially the last five minutes. At first I thougt, "Convienent, they kill off a couple of characters, divide the camp, so naturally another plane will crash." However, the reveal that Pen (Desmond's girlfried) was funding the search for presumably Desmond throws another layer into the story. It also kill the theory I've seen that the rest of the world is gone. I also thought he guy on the phone with Pen looked a lot like Jack.

I didn't expect Pen to be on the other line, I thought it would have been one of the Others. I also thought the statue foot was an intriguing addition, too. Could the Others be the lost civilization of Atlantis? It would play on the word of Lost. At first, I thought Pen's was Hanso, it looked like the guy in the shadows of the Hanso commercial. (I keep wanting to call him S.R. Hadden from Sagan's Contact). However, I'd be willing to bet the two, or their respective companies, are connected.

I really hope Desmond isn't dead after just returning, although I think Echo and Locke are done.
Was Kelvin (Clancy Brown) sent to the hatch by the Others?

"Henry Gale" to Michael - "We are the good guys."

Un-Cataclysmic review

I posted my review for The Crooked Letter by Sean Williams yesterday. I thought Williams did a lot of cool things in this book and I'm looking forward to the next installment, The Blood Debt in October. I was reminded of works by Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, and China Mieville throughout the novel.

I'll not even mentioned what happened to the NJ Devils after they swept the Rangers.

Lost ends its season next week. The season had its ups and downs, but I still have enjoyed it more than anything else on TV.

The summer movie season is officially open, although I have no desire to see Cruise's latest. The only films that really interest me are the comic-book related films: X-Men: The Last Stand, Superman Returns and Clerks II. This wonderful looking gem not withstanding.

Review, TV Round-up, and PLAY BALL!

I posted my review of Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon last night, and started Savage Messiah by Robert Newcomb. Based upon the first 80 pages, this will be an interesting read, to put it kindly. But it doesn't bode well when I'm rewriting paragraphs, in my head, as I read them. I also finished up Ian McDonald's River of Gods on Friday. A bit scattered in places, but thought-proviking and very tight in others. My review should be up later in the week.

TV Round-up

Lost another good episode, but I think the Locke backstory episodes are always solid, even though in the present of the story I've been annoyed by him lately. The conclusion of the episode was one of the better ones of the entire series.

South Park standard stuff from them, good in spots, but still under the shadow of Darth Chef.

Smallville was its decent formulaic self. I wasn't paying too much attention to the story itself, but the elements for the greater story line of the season were good - particularly the 'return' of Braniac and Lex's continued scheming. This was what, the 87th time Clark and Lana ended their romance?

Dr. Who is still waiting on the TiVO, but I've really enjoyed the first three episodes, hopefully SciFi will bring the older episodes into some kind of viewing rotation.

Sopranos was probably the best episode of the season last night. With Tony talking, concious, and part of the family again, things were back on track. I'll be surprised if Paulie makes it to the end of this season.

The Devils have starting winning again and baseball has officially started, so it is a good time for sports in my life right now.

Words, Genes and Guns - A Family Returns

My interview with Keith Brooke and review of his novel, Genetopia, are now posted for your reading pleasure. Keith is a vet at this inter-web-sf-genre thingy and he had a lot of very good things to say in our interview.

So, after a ridiculous hiatus, The Sopranos returned last night. I thought the beginning muddled and confusing, but the show settled in pretty nicely after that. I saw one part of the ending coming from the start of the episode, but was surprised about the other portion of the ending. I'll have to watch my TiVO'd Family Guy tonight.

That is all for now.

Minor post & links

I decided to sign up with LiveJournal, if for nothing else to have an account with them.

Allan Heinberg will be writing the new Wonder Woman series when it launches. I thought the arc of JLA he co-wrote with Geoff Johns was OK and his Young Avengers series is pretty well received. Of course I'll give it a chance, but despite the last few issues of Rucka's run on WW being crap, Heinberg does have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Via Franklin and his new blog, I came across this very well thought-out article by the Bookslut, Jessa Crispin. For the most part I agree, as a reviewer for SFFWorld, and hearing what the other reviewers have said about vanity/self-published book titles, she pretty much nails the points.

I may be the last one to point this out, but ABC is starting up a Masters of Science Fiction anthology show. Sounds good to me.

Don't have time for more blogging now, until next time.

Now We Know Why Hurley Hasn't Lost Weight

Two weeks in a row with strong Lost episodes, that hasn't happened in a while. Of course, the f-tards at ABC are skipping next week. This is becoming quite annoying, just when they build up the show's momentum, ABC decides to wait two weeks to show a new episode, and this is the second or third time they've done this during the second season. However, I don't think they will pull any April Fool's jokes on their audience. As it was, there were a lot of things to like in last night's episode. Sayid is a pretty complex character, so anytime the focus is on him, I'm happy. When I saw Clancy Brown's name on the opening credits I admit it, I was excited to see where the Kurgan/Lex Luthor was going to pop up. As soon as Kate's father mentioned a superior with whom Sayid would be meeting, I figured it out. Jack was being unreasonable last night, I thought and I'm pretty sure the numbers flipped to Egyptian Hieroglyphics just before Locke entered the numbers.

I liked the Oz references, too, from Henry Gale to the Hot Air Baloon down to Sayid's quote about it "always being inside me," a reference to the Tin Man. I'll be surprised if none of the characters mention the Oz references, considering what a cultural icon the Oz film and stories have become over the years. I nearly forgot about Danielle still hanging around the island, so I had a bit of a WTF moment when she popped up again.

I think the resolution of the frog hunt also showed us how sick of bastard Sawyer is capable of being. Overall, a solid episode.

Lasty, for the first time in maybe 5-10 years, I bought an X-Men comic book.

Lost improvement

Lost was an enormous improvement over the previous Charlie-beat down episode. I thought the islanders were a bit unforgiving towards him, and that lead Charlie to doing what he did with the baby. This week's episode was just about a slam-dunk with some more good Sawyer stuff. He'd been too calm and reserved since he returned and it was good to see his character proverbially erupt. Ana-Lucia is still fairly annoying, but I hate to admit she is growing on me. It was good to see Sayid once again, I almost forgot he was on the show. As usual, the preview of the upcoming episode looks almost as good, if not better than the current week's episode itself.