From now on, my blog will be just made up of doofy videos that Rocky makes me watch...

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

...well, until the republicans do something that bothers me.  :-)

Samantha:  "Tense?  Me?  I'm not tense.  Am I?  When did you first notice?"

Jack:        "As. We. Met."

        - Carter and O'Neill, "Ascension" Stargate, SG-1

I have the Best. Students. Ever.  Tonight I got a Christmas present from one of my Kung fu families (the dad and two kids take the classes).

They gave me a gift card for a massage.

Like I said:  Best. Students. Ever.

UPDATE:  My, Christmas DID come early this year.  Pcomeau gave me a link to this Rodney video, which is Frickin'  PERFECT:

Random thought:  Putting Daniel, who is cutest when he is annoyed and uncomfortable together in an episode with Rodney, who is cutest when he is being annoying and discomforting was the most genius Atlantis-related idea ever.

Random Thought 2:  Is is bad that I also think that my husband is cutest when annoyed and uncomfortable?

So I was over a Pharyngula reading a very entertaining piece that handed Deepak Chopra, the rap master of woo, his butt.  (again)

I was reading the comments and enjoying the science-nerd pile-on when suddenly THIS lept out at me:

"Hmmm... Now I know where the really bad, sciency sounding dialog for the character Mohindar Suresh in Heroes comes from."

Dan misses some very important points in this comment:

1) Mohinder Suresh is smokin' hot (see exhibit "A"), and Deepak Chopra is NOT (see exhibit "B").

2)  Mohinder Suresh is a fictional character in a story that specifically suspends the laws of science so that the world can work very differently than it actually does...and to that end there is a need to supply enough technobabble to drum you into a state we call "suspension of disbelief"...whereas Deepak Copra is a real person that is creating a story that specifically suspends the laws of science so that the world can work very differently than it actually does, and to that end there is a need to supply enough technobabble to drum you into a state we call "suspension of disbelief". This will cause you to pay lots of money for him to tell you his pretty pretty story about how you can live forever and be healthy the whole time.

3)Until recently, Mohinder Suresh was a character of unfailing moral fortitude selflessly working to redeem his father's life-work, discover the truth, and benefit all of humanity...and Deepak Chopra writes lots and lots of stuff about what he thinks science doesn't know, and provides PZ Myers with many, many opportunities to point out that just because Mr. Chopra doesn't know how something happens, that doesn't mean that SCIENCE doesn't know how it happens.

4)  Mohinder Suresh's use of eyeliner is organic, subtle, and alluring.  Deepak Chopra's use of eyeliner is heavy, harsh and scary.

5) So, in summation:  LEAVE MOHINDER ALONE!  Thank you, and I rest my case.

Exhibit "A":

(Image from here)

Exhibit "B":

(image from this site)

I think the Ori have slipped one of their Priors undercover as a Democrat in the Oklahoma government...

Here's what she's up to...

But to be fair, that is probably a really bad picture, and she has now claimed that she was just woolgathering when she made the comments. And there's no evidence I can find of her preaching Origin...

[Update:  She says it was a joke.]

(Hat Tip: Erudite Redneck)

Apparently, the NARN have radio...and they are allies of the Ori.

Actually, it sort of figures.  The Narn always were overly religious and overly drawn to power.

What next?  The BORG?  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry...there's a whole lot of TV you'd have to watch in order to figure it out.)

So in other news...

Fashion tip:  The crazy "pisseth against a wall" preacher's wife disses Michelle Obama for wearing a sweats outfit.  Apparently, the Dems should spend $150,000 playing dress-up-Barbie like the Republicans...instead of trying to lead the country.

This from a lady who will marry and reproduce five times with a man who will yell the word "piss" from the pulpit...and who thinks God cares if your knees are bent or not when you pee...ooooh  THAT'S gotta burn.

Make a note people...the Ori do not like knit fabrics.

So today I went and waited in line to get signatures.  I don't usually do that, 'cause it just isn't my thing.

However.

I know that Bob would like a signed photo of Nathan Fillion, and my kids would like to get a picture of Alan Tudik.

So I stood in line and when I got to Nathan Fillion, he looked at the slip of paper which told him who to personalize it.  He asked "Where's Bob?"

I said:  "He's in Minneapolis Minnesota."

Nathan said "Why isn't BOB here?"

I said "He's got stuff to do."

Nathan:  "On a Sunday?"

Suffice to say that Nathan kept asking questions 'til he basically had a summary of Bob's life story as far as I know it.  He wishes you well, Bob.  And there's a nice signed photo of Nathan on it's way home to you.

I told Alan Tudic the story of how Grasshopper needed to take a few minutes alone in his room to collect himself after viewing Serenity.  He was really gracious and sweet.

I expected that they would be pleasant and polite but efficient and keep the line moving.  I never expected them to take extra time to draw someone out and have a real converseation.

It was nice.

This fanvid is for anyone who ever fell in love with someone who made them want to be a better person.

And, for that matter, for anyone whoever fell in love with someone who knocked them off their high horse, shook them out of their complacency, and completely robbed them of their equalibrium.

I give you:  Daniel and Vala.

Pssst...don't look now, but I may have somehow become a Daniel/Vala 'shipper without realizing it. It took me even longer than it took Daniel! LOL.

What can I say, if you really love something, you're willing to let it go.  :-)

Rocky bought "The Ark of Truth" and we watched it Friday night.  I enjoyed it very much.  I chuckled a wry chuckle over the idea of a box full of ancient technology containing the Truth that the Orii (whose religion is modeled on Calvanism) are false Gods...and referred to as an "ark".

I love that the ancient's misguided egalitarianism WAS their undoing, and the evil Morgan LaFey was right:  There is no "right" to force your destructive self-delusion upon others; and when it comes down to you being forced to worship false Gods, or force others to see the truth...you gotta do what you gotta do.  And I think that they did a good job of showing the conditions under which such force becomes necessary.  Also, I think it was clear from the narrative that there was a clear distiction between something being NECESSARY, and something being RIGHT. 

On the other side of the very fine line...

It showed the cost of believeing something enough to believe it is right to commit atrocities.  Belief that can over-ride all of the human instinct about what is right.

Teal'c's monologue to Tomin was extremely powerful:  You alone have to live with what you have done.  You can blame the false Gods and the false doctrine, but it's a lie.  When you were doing wrong, you KNEW it was wrong.  But you did it anyway.  You're never going to be able to excuse it.  The Gods who gave you dispensation for your sins were a lie, give up any desperate hope that you may have for dispensation in the future...it will only lead you into more error.  Now, the only thing you can do is face the truth, suck it up, be a mench, and go and sin no more. 

I don't like replicators, and I strenuously objected to their presence in this movie.  However. I have to admit, in retrospect, that it was the right thing to do.  Old enemies are never fully defeated.  Evil knowledge can never be erased.  There will always be some misguided Eddie-Haskell-esque putz trying to dredge them up for their own purposes.  Even if you win the big "final battle", you will always have to deal with those enemies going forward, and have to re-defeat them again and again.  It's just the way of reality.  Final solutions are not only immoral, they are impossible.

I have to say that is is a good thing that they released this directly to DVD.  As such, it was merely a special 2-hour episode, and the perfect thing for us fans to enjoy without trying to pander to the general population, or put it before them to have them mystified and frustrated by it.  I hope it makes enough money for there to be more of them.

If I had to choose a guy on Atlantis, it would be Mckay. 

But of course, my first choice would be celebacy because McKay is just a little too...uh well...McKay.

'nuff said.  Charming moments and a few endearing qualities do not a heartthrob make.

But he's growing on me.

(P.S. David Hewlette is an AWESOME actor.  It is difficult to portray a character that is so unlikable in a way that makes him sympathetic and gives you glimpses at the person he could be...and to carry the character development on into time, showing him becoming more and more his best self.)

And there's no denying it...Captin' Jack is just Hot.

Discuss.

A charming little tale full of whimsey and adventure.  Steamer-punk elements.  A little disjointed in parts, and with a tepid ending that screamed sequal.

In other words, a good story burdoned by it's condition as a movie adaptation of a novel.

Cool effects.  Some really good performances.

Skanky blond villian named "Coulter".

A certain scene I like to call "bowling for cossacks".

All-in-all, it was a nice little family outing.

Awaiting final verdict until after the sequal.

For those of you who do not believe that our great Republic benefits from the constant infusion of culture, language, and perspective of our alien residents, I offer a challenge to your closed-minded ways.

On December 8th, 2007; At 7:30 PM; for the mere pittance of $20 USD (effective price dropping daily) you can witness the charming and immortal tale; "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

But this isn't just ANY rendering in ordinary English.  No it is not!

Come to the University of MN Saint Paul campus

Student Center Theater

2017 Buford Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55108

There, you will witness the moralizing, liberal, whiney, orphan-hugger words of Charles Dickens transformed!

Commedia Beauregard will give that pallid old Englishman an infusion of Klingon-American honor, courage, and (I assume) bloodlust!

That's right "A Klingon Christmas Carol".

See it Dec. 8th at 7:30 PM  Tickets at:  www.ticketworks.com or (615)209-6689

Oh, did I mention that this is a fund-raiser?  Proceeds from this performance will assist in funding future productions, commissioning new translations of foreign-language plays, and helping to further the understanding of the world's cultures, and (I assume) other world's cultures.

Don't miss it! 

Oh, and...Q'aplah!

Some people are apparently a little confused about how I can reconcile my love for Daniel Jackson, and my loathing for Eric von Daniken.

Well, it's easy.

Eric von Daniken lives in THIS world, where the pyrmids were build by extraordinary human effort using advanced, but still ancient and very human, ingenuity, math, technology and skills.  All of which we can abundantly demonstrate that the humans of that time had.  Nevertheless, he believes that alien astronauts came to our planet and assembled the wonders of the ancient world with the magic laser beams.  Despite the inability to support these claims with equally extraordinary proof, he continues to promote his ideas as though they are established fact.

Daniel Jackson lives in a fictional world where the pyramids were ACTUALLY BUILT by extraordinary human effort using advanced ingenuity, math, technology and skills which were given them by ancient astronauts posing as gods in order to obtain hosts for their parasitic selves, as well as intelligent, adaptable and fast-breeding slave armies.  Unlike Daniken, when Dr. Jackson went looking for the alien astronauts, HE FOUND THEM.  Then, they pissed him off, and he tweaked their noses, kicked the asses, rolled them in tar and feathers, and kicked them out of his galaxy...with his brain.  He hardly had to flex those nicely proportional arm muscles at all.

Also, Eric von Daniken is a paunchy, dusty old crank who is technically old enough to be either my father or my grandfather, and he spouts enough unsupportable superstitious B.S. to be my pastor.  Anyone creeped out yet?

Daniel, though fictional, is only two years older than me (born THE DAY BEFORE ROCKY), is adorable, and works out on a regular basis.

So, there you have it.  Happy now?

I saw Michael Shanks  guesting on EUReKa...and that was alright.

But he wasn't Daniel.

I miss Daniel.

Sigh.

I think my favorite part of Convergence was our friend "Saveau's" "motivational" posters.  Here is a sample:

Unfortunatly, someone didn't get the jokes and left snarky post-it notes on the Battlestar Gallactica posters...but that's what Con is all about.  Fans getting together and getting their obnoxious on in a safe environment.

Well, that's ONE of the things that Con is all about.  Other's include seeing friends, and drinking and geeking out over stuff that would normally get you locked away in the real world...like the Great Luke Ski, for instance.

Adventure Boy came to Con for his second time, and Grasshopper joined us as a nubee.  Also joining us was Padewan...Adventure Boy's bestest friend in the whole world...who is moving to Montreal in just a couple of weeks.

The boys had cell phones, so we kept in contact with them and more-or-less let them roam the Con during the day.  They attended a surprising number of panels, and seemed to have every day scheduled tight as a drum.

Here are some of my other favorite posters:

argh.  shortbread cookies, with a chocolate layer on top.  I am powerless before them.

They are my Jadarite.

(Hat Tip:  A Blog Around the Clock)

Cool bit of writing from the team at Stargate SG-1

Ori Prior:  "The village will be destroyed."

Tobin:      "Why?"

Ori Prior:  "They have been touched by evil.  There is no salvation for them."

Tobin:      "But we eliminated all the unbelievers."

Ori Prior:   "Not all of them."

Tobin:       "I thought the village had capitulated.  If you'll allow me..."

Ori Prior:   (quoting Ori scripture) "Marcon walked away from the Ori to satisfy his hunger, but no matter how much he ate, he did not feel full.

               Realizing his mistake, he ran back to the Ori, but they denied his pleas, and struck down the village that welcomed him back."

Tobin:      "Forgive me, Prior, but I was reviewing that passage just this morning, and Marcon prayed for forgiveness and took the first

               step..."

Ori Prior:   (interrupting) "...and the hands of the Ori enveloped all those who welcomed him back.  The village was destroyed.  All those who

               stand by and accept transgressions must be punished."

Tobin:       "That is NOT the implication of the text, Prior.  The Ori granted forgiveness when Marcon reaslized his mistake, and blessed the

                village with their light for showing him the way back to the path."

Ori Prior:    (threateningly) "You dare question my judgement?"

Tobin:       "No, it's just...not how I was taught."

Ori Prior:    "There are many words, but only one truth."

How many of us have been there?  How many journeys to freedom of thought began with someone quoting scripture, and invoking Biblical authority for their own purposes?  How many of us set out to refute those who misrepresent scripture because of our belief in the goodness of our faith?  A belief that it was good, but just being twisted, so we picked at the loose thread, and it just kept unraveling until we realized that there was nothing there?

For me, it isn't anger at religion, or anger at God or faith.  Sometimes I have frustration for all the waste and misfortune, but in the end I just realized that the Bible means nothing by itself.  It's ALL subject to interpretation, and no matter which translation you use, no matter what school of thought, you are going to come up against something that's just WRONG.

And when you say "That's wrong", the faithful always answer "Oh, well, that's just a bad interpretation, you should read this book or this essay, and then you will understand how to interpret it correctly.

This expert has the correct interpretation of Sodom and Gomorrah, but he fails to adhere to Biblical truth on what "modesty" means in women.  Such-and-such translation is correct here, but fails there...well, if you go back to the GREEK it means...but in the Hebrew text...no, the Aramaic...

ugh.

By the time you get the human bias of the writing, the translation, the re-translation, the selection of what scriptures get picked to even be in the Bible, the different translations from there, and then the different ways you can interpret the translations, you have a document that has all the "authority" of a Bazooka Joe comic.

Mark Twain once said "Get your facts straight, then distort them however you'd like."

I realize that this can happen in science and reason, but the Biblical scholors can't even do that much.  And in the mean time, everything bad that happens is the fault of humans, everything good that happens is to God's credit, and anything bad that people do invoking "biblical authority" is due to "misinterpretation" and everything they do that is good, they couldn't have done without the Bible.

AND then people claim that bad things continue to happen because we don't give that logic enough authority and public sanction.

I have an idea.  How about if I respect and support your right to run your life by the Bible if you want to, and you refrain from insisting that you have a right to use it to run my life as well?

No more watching "Rome" and "Battlestar Galactica" in the same night.

I can't take that much of man's suffering and inhumanity to man (or Cylon) due to his petty, short-sighted, self-serving nature.

I was in and out of sleep with terrible dreams all night.  Between Adama on Galactica, and the prostitute/assasin boy on Rome (and what's become of Verinus), I was completely done for as far as a night of restful sleep.

...but I think there's a Cylon working at our local gas station.

One of those skin jobs, you know, not the big shiney kind.

Anonymously good-looking, blue eyes set just a little too wide apart, hair combed into a perfectly orderly non-style.

If he had no emotions at all, I wouldn't suspect him so much.  But he DOES have emotions.  He emits this sort of constant wave of low-grade background irritation, as if he has a pretense to keep up, but he's just waiting for the right moment to fulfill his evil mission.

Every social interaction is spare, cold, minimalist and completely devoid of any kind of human content.

A Cylon, I tell you.

The ancient Babylonian batteries have confused, and mystified archeologists for decades...those who don't outright reject their authenticity, that is.

For one thing, they don't appear to have served any useful purpose, as there have been no discoveries of ancient Babylonian motors, or ancient Babylonian wiring, or tablets full of ancient Babylonian building codes (other than the ones declairing that any house broken into have the body of the burgler sealed into the breach).

But I know what they were used for.

Don't tell anyone, but they were used to fuel the Stargate.

Thank you, thank you, ladies and gentlemen.  Yes, you may tell Dr. Jacksonthat I will gladly accept a position on his research team.  Late nights are not a problem.

That Mira Furlan is on LOST?

I was totally not interested in this show.  It sounded dumb, and I already had a enough TV to watch...but...this is Mira Furlan damnit.

Mr. Morden : What do YOU want?
Ambassador Vir Cotto: I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this.
[waves]
Ambassador Vir Cotto: Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?

Find this, and other good Bab 5 quotes HERE

I actually heard about this a couple of days ago, but haven't commented because I just didn't know what to say, or how to say it best.

Mr. Katsulas was a fine actor, and I can only imagine that he was a fine human being as well.

I can think of no other explination for his nuanced, sympathetic and honest portrayal of G'Kar, the vengeful revolutionary turned religious icon.  G'Kar was a character on Babylon Five.  He began as a petty, self-serving, bitter ideologue and ended as a symbol of reformation, hope, compassion and forgiveness.

Mr. Katsulas made you feel exactly how you were supposed to feel about G'Kar every step of the way.  He made the unsympathetic sympathetic, the unbelievable believeable, and the alien unmistakably human.  He did it with grace, wisdom, and a percieved ease that can only come from painstaking and unrelenting craftsmanship.

He died of lung cancer at the age of 59. 

 "There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain."

                                                  --G'Kar -Babylon Five