Amnesia

As if I didn’t have enough to do, I’ve revisited www.travian.com. It’s a webbased browser game in which you build a city from the ground up. Think Simcity but with less micromanaging. It’s quite addictive, and sometimes very frustrating as established cities try and raid you. I learned the hard way that it’s probably not a good idea to build troops in the early stages until you’ve upgraded your cranny. Also, joining an alliance is very helpful as they watch your back and will send reinforcements should you be attacked in your beginning stages.

Regardless, check it out. It’s free and it’s fun. Just keep your resource level under your cranny level in the beginning and you should do fine!

I think I managed to forget to post the podcast from last tuesday, so you get a two-fer! Enjoy and as always, comments are appreciated.

The Alchemist: William Part Two

November 27th, 2007

A young man makes a decision that changes the course of an Empire.

“The Alchemist: William - Part Two”
Story by Peter Hodges
Dramatic Reading by Kate Baker
Music: “Forgotten Lore” by Elliott Goldenthal, “The Black Gate is Closed” by Howard Shore, “Mausoleum” by Howard Shore, “Amon Hen” by Howard Shore, “Death Camp” from The X-Men Soundtrack.

The Alchemist:Dominic - Part Two

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

After a lengthy voyage by sea, Dominic Grenault sets foot at the shores of Landcaster lands. Meeting with Chloe Montagne at the insistence of her very powerful sister, Dominic assumes command as future ruler of the Lancaster people.
“The Alchemist: Dominic - Part Two”
Story by Peter Hodges
Dramatic Reading by Kate Baker
Music: Various Pieces from Elliott Goldenthal

One of the better news blooper reels I’ve seen. I actually had tears in my eyes at the last one.

Fair warning: This does contain spoilers. While it’s usually my policy not to discuss plot elements in my reviews, there is just too much in Ron Moore’s creation that I need to digest!  

The updated Battlestar Galactica is like a lover you haven’t spoken to in awhile. You used to hang out together, discussing the vagaries of life and politics, making love, having fun and drowning in passion. Just when you’re hungering for more, confident that you’re about to take the ‘next step’ in your relationship, they suddenly disappear leaving you disappointed and hurt.

Finally, when the memories of your times together begin to fade and you’ve decided to move on, the familiar phone number flashes across your caller ID and your swept back up in the whirlwind.

This is exactly what happened last night only with one of my favorite TV shows. Sure, we had some ups and downs in our relationship over the years. Who doesn’t? For example, I didn’t care for BSG’s taste in music in the final episode of last season. “Along the Watchtower” by Jimmy Hendrix is a distinctly Terran song. By introducing popular Earthen culture into a show that for multiple seasons strove to avoid it, it felt strange and odd as if they were trying too hard to make a point, or felt their core audience was too stupid to understand coming implications. One of the main reasons I fell in love with the show, was their ability to make you think about hot topic issues without directly referencing them.

The most recent 2 hour special, “Battlestar Galactica - Razor” almost seemed to be something that tried to clean up an ever-growing mess. We follow the crew of the Battlestar Pegasus as we flip forward and back through time in what to first time viewers must have been utterly confusing. For those of you who don’t know, half way through the journey to find Earth, we learn that another ship survived the initial Cylon slaughter. After a few side plot lines, the Pegasus is ultimately destroyed when Commander Lee Adama sacrifices it to rescue people off of New Caprica.

In this most recent flashback, we meet Lt. Kendra Shaw, a drug addicted survivor of Admiral Cain’s legacy. I guess every Battlestar needs its own Starbuck. Having just been promoted to Commander of the Pegasus by his father, Lee Adama pegs the mouthy insubordinate for his XO, hoping to send a message that Cain’s influence is not lost under the new management.

Uh, what the frak?

We also find out how Gina (a number six) is captured aboard the Pegasus. While I originally thought she was brutally tortured because she was just a toaster, you learn that there was a very personal vendetta against the manipulating vixen. While the sexy bucket of bolts was secretly securing the ship’s computers for the enemy, she was concurrently bedding the Lady Cain. That model of Cylon certainly seems to get around! Aside from being a wood-inducing notion for most of the male population, it makes a lot of sense in how we see the Admiral progress throughout the 2 hours. We see the proud warrior progress from a militaristic yet notably human woman, into the very calculating machine she is hell bent on destroying.

In a pivotal scene, the Admiral commends Kendra Shaw after a fatal encounter with human refugees. Cain in a rather interesting interpretation of the biblical story, orders for the newly found ships to be raided for their parts, cargo and useful men and women, while the rest of the manifest is left to rot in the cold of space, utterly defenseless. Following orders to kill families of commandeered talent who resist transfer, the young soldier fires the first shot after the passengers rebel, killing 10 innocent fellow humans. 

Cain ultimately explains away the situation as a necessity, overcoming basic human morality for the survival of the species. Using the ultra-sharp razor knife as a metaphor, only then do you realize she is as cold and as calculating as the machine who is locked in her brig. There is no hope for Cain at that point, even though she insists her deeds are so that the human race can live.

In another plot line twist, we find out that during the first Cylon war, the older Adama crash landed in enemy territory and came upon the experimental labs that we’re lead to believe held the first hybrid model. It was very hard for me to swallow that a man of his intelligence couldn’t put together the facts of his unscheduled visit. When you see a lab filled with butchered human parts in various stages of bonding with machine parts, my first guess wouldn’t be that they were building some sort of super weapon. I’d be ripping off people’s faces to find the chrome beneath the skin, or at least be wary that it was even a possibility. It didn’t even seem to dawn on Adama that it was plausible until his first encounter with Leoben. Then, as if some huge light goes off in his head, he finally puts two and two together only after the damage has been done.

We also find out in one of the final scenes that atop everything Kendra Shaw had to endure under Cain, she had her own part to play in destiny. In another moment of, ‘doh, the nuke remote won’t start, we’ll have to manually detonate’ a wounded Major Shaw pulls a Bruce Willis in “Armageddon” and defies orders to leave Kara “Starbuck” Thrace to an honorable death. She instead learns in her final moments from the elderly hybrid that Kara should really be changing her call sign to ‘Harbinger of Death’, but ain’t it a pity that communications just happen to scrambled again before the base star goes boom. It seems that Kara Thrace will indeed lead the human race to their destruction. We even got to see some hints of this plotline in the trailer for the new season.

While I may sound harsh in my criticisms and hole poking, I did love the show. I stared at my lover across the table with eager eyes and wonder, as if he had never left. Ultimately ending the evening between the sheets, I caught my breath for the first time, only to realize that as quickly as he appeared, he was gone, promising to call me in another four months.

I’ll be waiting. Pathetic or not.

My cousin Sarah introduced me to the French band Wax Tailor and I figured I’d pass it on. There is something about the song that I really like, I just can’t put my finger on it.

I hope you all had a wonderful turkey day. While I managed to stay away from a lot of desserts, I found myself eating a big share of the usual staples.

Usually the day after Thanksgiving, I put up my Christmas tree. However since our move is just three weeks away, I will not have the opportunity to do so. Instead of sulking, I changed the blog theme for the season. This is my favorite so far, but I might change it up abit as we count down the days to the new year. Let me know what you think!

I’m kinda proud but at the same time utterly freaked out that my parenting experience spans over a decade now, so you can imagine that I’ve seen my share of children’s TV shows. We’re obviously big fans of NickJr, PBS and Noggin in this house all of which mostly produce quality product.

There have been quite a few shows over the years that have been major winners. Staples like “Sesame Street”, “Reading Rainbow” and “Mr. Rogers” have been joined by the stars of children’s television such as “Blues Clues”, “Dora the Explorer”, “Lazy Town” and “The Wiggles.”

While “Oswald” may be cute, Fred Savage can’t sing. His speaking voice is calming and sweet, but his vocals really detract from the superb yet simple animation and short stories. They should really pull a “Disney” and get someone to do it for him.

Moose A. Moose, the host of Noggin seems to be tone deaf as well. If I hear “And I don’t like Candy Corn” in flat repeating notes one more time, I will seriously throw a Wii remote through my TV, on purpose. The same thing with the “Backyardagains.” Although I’ll find myself occasionally humming along with a catchy tune, the kids they got to voice the computer animated characters hit an off note every once and awhile.

Singing aside, there have been shows that I just can’t stand. “Barney and Friends” is still the number one hated show in my book. To this day, I maintain the fact that children should not look like they belong in Stepford. There is a point when overly happy and smiling faces creep me out. Luckily, my kids never really liked the big purple dinosaur that much, so I was spared the insanity.

Yet, this brings me to a relatively newer show on Nick Jr, called “Yo Gabba Gabba”. The first time I saw it, I seriously wanted to throw up. It’s not cute. It’s not endearing. It’s not really anything but a colorful, overly repetitive marketing gimmick. For those of you who have seen the show, don’t you find it odd that when they cut to the ‘real’ kids, they’re wearing nothing but Gabba Gabba garb?

Yes, I understand that they’re trying for an early 80’s children’s television show feel, but it doesn’t work. The host is too plastic with facial expressions and lipsyncing/acting that can be done better on a high school level.

The toys that come to life out of a boombox are neat concepts, I’ll give them that, but the sugary, unoriginal stories and 3 sentence songs in the 30 minute episode are just too much.

The only endearing quality happens to be the guest star Biz Markie, who teaches kids “Biz’s Beat of the Day.” I can’t help but smile at the beat box instruction, as it’s the only original and tolerable bit of the whole program. Although Biz seems like a novice with a camera, he’s atleast genuine. If they revamped the music, put Biz as host, I’d give the show another try. Right now, I try to avoid at all costs.

Hell, since Donald Faison is going to be out of work with the ending of “Scrubs”, I’d love to see him host that show. He shows more character in 10 seconds than the current host of Gabba Gabba does in any episode.

Scalzi’s Monday Photo Shoot: Show something you’re thankful for this year. It doesn’t have to be the thing you’re most thankful for; even the little things count. But of course, picture whatever you’d like.

I’ve been extremely busy with projects, packing for the new house while being horrible sick with pneumonia so I have slacked on the assignments of late. However due to the importance of this one, I figured I’d make the time to participate.

Ultimately, while there are a lot of things I’m thankful for, (i.e. my luck in being a mom x3, my job, and my creature comforts) there is one thing that stands out in my book this year. 

I’m thankful that my father is still around. It’s been a particularly awful year medically and there were a few times back in June/July that I thought I’d be spending the holidays without him. He’s a recovering alcoholic and while his body still seems to betray him for all the abuse throughout the years, he’s now stronger than ever.

Like it was yesterday, I remember the 3 a.m. call from the hospital telling me that during a routine blood clot surgery, he’d most likely had a heart attack and was on life support. Two days later, he was awake, off the breathing tube and confused from the medically sustained coma, but the whirlwind continued as we hurridly prepared for open heart surgery to repair the damage from the attack.

I had so much trouble saying goodbye before his major surgery. Saying “I love you” to someone and knowing that there is a very real possibility that it may be the last time they hear it, stuns you to the very core. I drove home from the hospital that night numb from the overly emotional impact of that moment. It’s not something that I will ever forget. When faced with your own or a loved one’s mortality like that, it tends to leave a lasting impact.

Nearly four months later, he’s doing wonderfully well. He’s quit smoking, we’ve reduced his medicines by almost 70 percent and he’s as excited to spend the holidays with me and his grand kids as we are with him.

Well, it’s sorta sticking but it is supposed to change to rain later today. By Thanksgiving, the temps are supposed to climb back up to the groovin 60’s, so I thought I’d share this pretty glimpse into winter while it lasts.

Enjoy the silence of white. The view is going to be better when we get the house. Right now, my backyard is parking lot. Gotta love apartment living.

Can you feel it too? Every nerve ending in my body is waiting for something major to happen in the next year. Its sort of like a dog who can sense an earthquake, or horses going stir crazy when the pressure drops signalling a tornado.

I don’t know if its going to be another major terrorist attack or if the war with Iran will actually happen, but the famed biblical four horsemen are certainly saddling their horses. I really don’t like being a harbinger of doom, but if you look at all the strife happening about this entire world right now, the only thing missing is the sheer panic of an impending apocalypse. The western world is too busy gawking at their plasma screen TVs while the poorer countries are scrimping enough food together in light of the odd weather. My son came home from church this morning talking of the end of the world.

With the decline of the dollar, the current economic downtrend, inflation, the price of oil, the ongoing expensive cost of the war in Iraq, the earthquakes, the floods, the fighting, and the strife plaguing the globe, I’m surprised more people aren’t building bomb shelters in their backyards. At this point, I’d welcome an alien invasion. It might be the only thing that keeps the human race from destroying itself.

It’s almost as if apathy is going to be our biggest downfall. We’ll argue until we’re blue in the face that global warming does or doesn’t exist, and in that time we could have planted a few trees.

We cringe at the price of gas, and yet we still seem to need our full size SUVs.

Governments continue to send in their troops to an untenable war and as long as we have Starbucks and McDonalds, we’re content to debate instead of actually doing anything.

So in an effort to make you feel slightly guilty and kick your ass into action, here is what I did the last few days (while sick mind you.)

I gave my umbrella to a woman carrying a child in heavy rain. Four people watched as she stood at the bus stop carrying a 4 month old little girl with nothing but a drenched blanket to cover them both. The bystanders all had large umbrellas and I was the only person who offered my dry bright red sanctuary. Seeing that she’d have to walk further, I gave her my umbrella to keep.

I donated a turkey to a hungry family for this Thanksgiving this weekend. I sent an f-ton of books and toys and video games to the Boston Children’s Hospital via Child’s Play, so that kids who may have to spend the holidays in a hospital bed will have something to do by themselves or with their families.

I donated money to a bake sale for the food share program in my community. I even played the word game that donates rice to under-developed countries for every word definition you correctly select.

No, I’m not saying these things because I want to be recognized for my selflessness, I’m basically saying this to make you go out and do something. In fact, why are you still reading this? Stave off an impending apocalypse of apathy by helping someone, planting something or being an overall generous person today.

Please, because between you and me, I’d rather not hear the sound of approaching hooves.