Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Well this doesn't happen every day: the New York Times has a story on my alma mater's football program in today's edition.

I guess they deserve a little press before they open the season against the top ranked college team in the nation. I've a sneaking suspicion NIU is going to get spanked.

Of course, if the Huskies pull the upset, as they did a couple years back against Maryland, it'll be a night to remember.

And my adopted college team is starting the season ranked fifth! Pretty darn cool. Go Mountaineers!

Quite unexpectedly, my interest in college football is slowly but steadily on the rise. I don't see it coming close to my overwhelming love of the pro game anytime soon, but who knows? Maybe in few years I'll be looking forward to Saturdays more than Sundays each autumn.

Posted @ 7:11 AM

---

---

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Well, it's official: under the new definition agreed upon today by the International Astronomical Union, Pluto is no longer a planet.

In scientific terms, I think this was the right outcome. Speaking from a nostalgia standpoint, though, I'm gonna miss having the little guy in the planet club.

And I don't even want to think about the sheer amount of retconning that's going to have to be done on all the science fiction that's been written over the last 76 years.

Reached for comment about today's change to the nature of the solar system, the Sun said, "My Venerable Eight Minions Just Seem Unhappy Now."

Posted @ 1:08 PM

---

---

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

For those of you keeping score at home...

Adult-sized footie pajamas? Cool.

Armor of God pajamas? Not so much.

Posted @ 5:27 PM

---

---

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Being a multi-fandom geek, from time to time I notice connections between certain universes that may or may not have been done intentionally. Usually, I think these things are just coincidence. But I've got a little pet observation that, to my mind at least, makes too much sense not to be an elaborate web weaved over the years by several clever but unrelated creators.

It's all about analytical types and starts, unsurprisingly, with Dick Grayson. The former Robin and current Nightwing is my favorite comic book character, so anytime I see anything that could be even tangentially connected to him, it sticks with me.

We move on to Star Trek, and Spock. As we all know, Spock is half-human and his mother's name is Amanda. Most people don't know that her last name is Grayson. Don't believe me? Check it out.

Pretty cool, huh? We can entertain the idea that Dick Grayson is an ancestor of Spock. But wait, it gets better.

In Star Trek VI Spock says, "An ancestor of mine maintained that whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true."

Does that line sound familiar? It should. It's the guiding principle upon which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal character, Sherlock Holmes, bases his detective work.

Now, when I first heard Spock speak that line, I thought the screenwriters were hinting that Conan Doyle was Spock's progenitor. But as I thought more about it, my opinion shifted. It makes more sense, and is frankly much more fun, if we take the line to mean that Sherlock Holmes is part of Spock's family tree. [I'm not the first one to make this connection - for instance, here's a guy who takes the same idea and runs with it in a slightly different direction.]

So, at least in the fannish universe of my own mind, Sherlock Holmes, Nightwing, and Spock are all members of the same genealogical line. There's a rich vein of fanfic for somebody to tap.

Posted @ 5:05 PM

---

---

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Take the unspeakable lameness of American Idol. Mix in the unparalleled dreck that is Grease. Season to (lack of) taste, bake for 35 minutes in a 400 degree oven, then remove and allow to cool (despite the fact that it will never be cool).

That's the recipe for NBC's new mid-season replacement show, You're the One That I Want, a "talent competition series [that] will search for the next Sandy Dumbrowski and Danny Zuko to star in a June 2007 Broadway revival" of arguably the most over-rated musical of all time.

It's almost like they were trying to create a show I'd go out of my way to avoid.

Posted @ 6:22 PM

---

---

Saturday, August 05, 2006

I've been meaning to do a custom Motivator poster ever since my buddy Casey pointed me toward the site some time back. I tinkered with a few ideas, but I couldn't find an image that was really worthy of the treatment.

Until now.



::looks at three most recent entries:: Hmm... I'm rapidly turning into Image Posting Guy. Gonna have to actually, y'know, write something before too much longer.

Posted @ 11:34 AM

---

---