Happy Birthday, Naomi!
You are seven months old today! Have a little red doggie ear for a snack.
One Blonde Leads to Another
Looks like I was mistaken about the identity of Colonel Tai’s ex-wife on Battlestar Galactica. I just watched episode 9 and saw that she wasn’t one of the Number 6 Cylons, but just a tall brassy blonde in her own right.
Of course, she could still end up being a Cylon…just a different model.
Finally, a Sunny Weekend
Friday kicked off with a bang when Dina picked me up at the office on her way home from the park with the kids. Not our park across the street – that park is being refurbished by the city with new playground equipment – but a park nearby in the neighborhood that just far enough away to warrant the use of the car.
So, when park time was over and Ben was covered in sand, Dina offered to pick me up at the office. Ben told me all about his time at the park, and started singing songs. That was a great drive home.
After getting the kids cleaned up and fed, Dina headed out for yoga class. The kids were still bursting with energy, despite the great time at the park, so it took them a while before they finally fell asleep. Once they did, I popped in Rock & Rule and settled in to watch yet another film my early adolescence.
No, of course, it wasn’t as good as I remembered. For one, I now recognize performers like Cheap Trick, Lou Reed and Debbie Harry; for another, I can see where the animators ripped off ideas from Chuck Jones commercials (though, if you’re going to swipe, swipe from the icon of the industry). The weirdest moment came during Mok’s famous “My Name is Mok. Thanks a Lot.” song – I remembered the deep, menacing voice of the main actor singing the tune on the broadcast, but it was the wispy, whiny voice of Lou Reed on the DVD.
Of course, it could have always been Lou Reed, but I didn’t recognize it . I had also attributed lines from Phantom of the Opera to the climactic sequence of the film, so my memory is a flawed and amusing thing.
Still, I enjoyed watching the movie. Parts of it still hold up as an entertaining bit of animation.
Dina came home from yoga just as I started watching the movie, but she didn’t hang around to watch it with me. She just chuckled and fussed with her camera. I can’t say that I blame her.
On Saturday, I finally took the plastic sheeting off the windows. We definitely needed to air out the apartment. I’ll have to think about hauling up the air conditioners soon, once the nights start getting warmer.
It was a warm but cloudy day. The forecast promised humidity, heat and rain. Ben and I went for a walk before lunch, and then I went to my afternoon More Than Words. Afterwards, the whole family went grocery shopping. We placed both kids in the shopping cart, and they played together marvelously. Naomi tried to grab Ben’s hat, and Ben would occasionally give his sister a kiss. They’re so darn cute together!
After dinner and storytime, Dina and I watched episodes 6 and 7 of the first season of Battlestar Galactica, and we spotted what we think is a pretty continuity error: A Number Six Cylon appears on the Galactica as a scientist denouncing Gaius. Gaius is, naturally, surprised that she’s not just a fantasy/hallucination of his, and that the other crew can see her.
Even the X-O can see her, which is the problem: in the mini-series, we learned that he became an alcoholic after his wife left him. We see a picture of the wife, and see that she’s a Number 6 Cylon. So why wasn’t the X-O surprised to see the spitting image of his wife on the Galactica bridge?
Because of that detail, I spent most of the episode believing that the entire sequence of events was an elaborate hallucination projected directly into Gaius’ mind. Except that it wasn’t. Then Dina had a theory that the X-O was in cahoots with the Cylons somehow, or was controlled somehow, but there’s no evidence one way or the other.
I wonder if that point’s resolved at some point in the series? (If you know the answer, just say “Yes” or “No” – I don’t want any spoilers.)
Sunday was bright and gorgeous. In the morning, we drove out to the mall to pick up some spring clothes and sneakers for me, and some shorts for the kids.
After lunch, I started the afternoon-long process of making pizza for dinner. While the dough was rising, I took a break to run some errands and then chat with Dave, who was painting the downstairs apartment before the move-in date for his new tenants. Now that weekly game nights are a thing of the past, we don’t get around to hanging out as much as before. Such is life.
After dinner, we drove the kids to the park across the street from Ben’s daycare. Dina wanted him to practice climbing the apparatus and slides which, for reasons that remain unfathomable, do not include stairs. There are ladders and rubberized chain-link spider webs and fake wall-climbing handholds, but nothing easy for kids to handle. So, he practiced.
I’d place his stuffed hippo near the slide and then guided Ben up the climbing wall. After a couple of attempts, I’d limit myself to spotting him, which worked pretty well. For a couple of approaches, Ben just hung on to me or leaned on to me rather than hanging on to the ladder. Dina had the great idea of taking over the spotting at that point, because Ben knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold him the way I could. Lo and behold, it worked, and he scampered up the apparatus and to the top of the slide.
Both sets of apparatus featured a large steering wheel. The first thing Ben would do when he got up there was grab the wheel and shout “It’s a boat!” and then steer it into shore. Funny!
We returned home just as the sky started to turn dark. The kids went into their baths and pretty much straight to bed, which worked out well. Dina and I watched a new episode of From the Ground Up, which left us both a bit mystified by the “reality show” element of what could have been an interesting documentary series on teaching people how to build a house.
The relentless insistence on trying to overwork and overwhelm the participants just so Debbie Travis can say “Look, they’re slackers after all!” is getting really annoying. Plus, the criteria by which participants stay on the project or are ejected is mysterious – it’s supposed to be this nebulous concept called “passion for the trades” rather than something so mundane as “talent” or “competence” – but I don’t see that in evidence anywhere. And the running commentary by Debbie and the master tradespeople on the quality of the participants’ work is irrelevant – at the end of the series, the viewers get to vote on who wins the prize. Their opinion just doesn’t matter.
As far as reality shows go, From the Ground Up is a mess. Even by the standard of Debbie’s other DIY/construction secrets shows, it’s a mess. Still it’s Canadian, and Debbie Travis is a Montrealer, so I’ll support the show. It’s just too bad that she ordinarily does much better television work.
Bosses and Blogging
Here’s an interesting question I hadn’t thought much about before: Should you read your boss’ blog/website?
It’s odd that I haven’t thought of this before, because I do read blogs written by people who are bosses. They just aren’t my bosses.
We all know the problems that can arise when bosses read the blogs of their employees, but imagine what kind of trouble can result from the reverse. Would this lead to undue familiarity, thanks to the democratizing effect of the blogosphere, that is unwelcome in the more structured environment of the office?
I remember surprising one boss with my knowledge of his blog’s existence, but that wasn’t due to any specific searching on my part. We happened to be commenting on the same blog, and I put two and two together. Just because I knew the blog existed didn’t mean that I added it to my blogroll (that just seemed…weird…and sycophantic). Only after I stopped working directly with that boss did I feel that I could leave a couple of comments.
I’ve only had a boss of mine post a comment on my blog once. This was after I posted an announcement about the end of a job. (I think he was making sure I wasn’t ranting about the company.)
Sunday Morning Links
Somebody on Wikipedia quoted me in an entry of the Harbinger series by Valiant. Blogging can make a difference! [grin]
If Space Ghost can have a show, Skeletor can have a show.
An old Usenet post on persistent science fiction cliches. Still holds true.
Sci-fi cliches
I love cover tunes as much as the next guy, but there are too many Stairways to Heaven.
A suite of applications you can run off a good-sized Flash drive. Cool!
Mary Godolphin rewrote Robinson Crusoe in words of one syllable, back in the 1800s.
Mary Godolphin One-Syllable Classics
Here’s an appealing alternate reality: Al Gore as second-term US President (from Saturday Night Live):
A Presidential Address by Al Gore
Not all music from kids’ TV shows is cloying and annoying. I dare you to watch Yeti Stomp and keep the tune out of your head.
Backyardigans Videos
Yeti Stomp
A Pirate Says Yar
Comic Book Companies
For future reference.
Boom! Studios
Dark Horse Comics
DC Comics
Image Comics
Marvel Comics
The Milestone Rave (fan site)
Oni Press
Slave Labour Graphics
Valiant Comics (fan site)
Valiant Entertainment (official site)
Come Sail Away With Me
As with my Doomtown CCG collection, I’ve started selling parts of my 7th Sea CCG collection on eBay. Once again, storage space is the premium.
The two big ticket items – the Reaper’s Fee expansion and the Iron Shadow revised base set sold first – but the other sets didn’t sell at all, though they did garner a lot of watchers (people who are tracking the item without necessarily bidding on it). So, to given them another chance, I’ve relisted the sets.
The promotional foil Captains, Ships and Figureheads are selling better, than the entire sets.
I’m not selling everything, of course. I’m still keeping my playing cards, the Broadsides base set and the first three expansions … the Black Sails fixed set because it contains zombie pirates. You cannot go wrong with zombie pirates!
I’ll be putting up other card sets for sale over the next month or so: the two Netrunner expansions, the later Middle-Earth CCG expansions and maybe, just maybe (can you tell I’m torn about this?) the Awakenings base set from the Legend of the Burning Sands game. But I’ll be hoping for stronger prices for these sets.
Two More Trades for the Shelf
100 Bullets TPB #9: Strychnine Lives
An uneven collection of stories. The Minutemen are as divided as the families of the Trust. The thoroughly evil and needlessly explicit Lono offers his services as warlord to the Medici family, while Benito Medici, Wylie and a reporter all search for Dizzy. What’s so special about that girl, anyway?
Dr. Cyborg TPB #1: Outpatient
Dr. Syberg is released from a mental institution after ten years. He claims to remember a family that doesn’t exist. He also claims to be a cyborg working for the government. Travelling to the future seems to support that claim. Sci-fi conspiracy theory hokum featuring early Michael von Oeming art
Mother’s Day Photos
Click the pictures to view the photo albums from our Mother’s Day Weekend adventures:
In Ottawa:
Family Dinner:
PSP Update
Thanks to the USB Connect command and PSP Video Express, my PSP is now a fully functional multimedia device. I have pictures and videos of my kids on board, and an MP3 ready to play. (Complete photo and music albums will follow when I have the time.)
Wireless internet is still an issue, though. The PSP doesn’t like my 26-digit WEP encryption key. I’ll continue the research.
Oh, and Tokobot is a fun little game.