Category Archives: TV

Idiot box! Pander to me!

My BSG Reboot Rewatch

My BSG Reboot Rewatch

Before we begin, I’d like to point out that this will contain unmarked spoilers for the Battlestar Galactica reboot series. Proceed at your own risk if you haven’t seen the show.

A few minutes ago, I finished my rewatch of the Battlestar Galactica reboot and it just about fucked me up. I watched the show when it first aired, and despite my misgivings about it (since I was a fan of the original), I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a well done show, with great writing, acting, production values, and most importantly, story. There is one exception to that. The story, which I did just call out for being great, does have a pretty big weakness to it. The writers seemed to have a significant over reliance on falling back to… well… magic to explain things. This is supposed to be a sci-fi show, but a lot of major plot developments end up being driven by God. Literally. The early seasons of the show have a line in the opening credits about the Cylons having a plan, but it quickly becomes apparent that it’s actually the writers’ interpretation of The One True God™ that actually has a plan.

This is… less than thrilling to me.

It would be one thing for this to be the case in some run of the mill drama or some specifically religious show, but it’s sci-fi. Science Fiction. SCIENCE Fiction. The key, defining feature of science fiction vs other forms of fiction is the science. It should be the science or things resulting from that science that frame the show, not magic or religion or mysticism or anything in that vein. It’s completely out of place and really damages my enjoyment of the show.

But you know what? I’ve mostly made my peace with that during the first run of the show. That’s not even what’s fucking me up about this.

The way it ended… man. It was kind of the capstone on this dread that I felt building the farther into the rewatch I got. While I still don’t like the direction they went with in the ending, they at least did it with their usual high quality. What fucked me up was just… all the loss. The entire human civilization gone, not once but twice. First on Kobol and then on the 12 colonies. Thirteen total planets filled with human life, all gone. And on a smaller scale, there were so many heroic deeds, people, ships even that helped save the remnants of humanity throughout the show and I feel like the way it ended, they’re all just gone and forgotten. It’s bothering me. A lot of stuff was wrapped up, but too much was left to the whole… “And they rode off into the sunset” sort of thing.

Let’s look at each group and how we got fucked out of an ending for each:

  • The Final Five – So these are the remnants of the Thirteenth Tribe of man. I wasn’t too clear on if they were a tribe of Cylons created by the 12 tribes of humans on Kobol, or if they were themselves human. There’s a scene where the rebel Cylon scientists talk about how the organic and machine remains somehow tested the same, meaning they were all Cylon. However that didn’t quite make sense to me because in none of the Final Five’s flashbacks do we see any Cylons, even after the revelation that that’s what they all were. Not only that, but why’d there be a scattering of Centurion-type Cylons mixed in with a world of Skinjobs? Did the Thirteenth Tribe decide to do their own AI research, forgetting about what happened on Kobol (I suspect hostilities between them and the other tribes led to the events that destroyed Kobol and split their tribe from the other 12, but who the fuck knows because maybe God did it), or was it that they just kept making a small number of Centurions to do the manual labor and… well no, that would basically be the same as the first thing I was thinking. Basically, the original Earth in this show is destroyed in what seems to be a Cylon uprising, but the inhabitants of the original Earth are all Cylons so who are the Cylons rebelling against? I’m down another rabbit hole here and this isn’t even the point I was trying to explore. The Final Five! OK, so these guys are the last survivors of Earth that was. They have their own arc and end up on Earth that is (those that survive, anyway). And… now what? They’re a distinct group of humans with literally thousands of years of history and they’re just gonna settle down in a nice animal skin tent by the woods? WTF? I mean, one of them even goes off to be a hermit. This is how the last of the Thirteenth Tribe, who fought so hard and so long (for thousands of years!) to survive and make sure humanity doesn’t repeat the same mistakes (which again, were they originally human or not? Like WTF.) goes out? This is how they meet their end? Shit.
  • Colonial Cylons – I guess by blowing up their home base, that means they’re all dead? What’s stopping all the rest of the Cylons who, you know… weren’t home when home blew up, from seeking revenge? Granted it seems they pulled out of their occupation of the 12 Colonies, but was the massive structure in the finale really all of the Colonial Cylons? There was that splinter group of Guardians mentioned in Season 2 or 3 that were guarding the first hybrid. They haven’t been destroyed and are there no other groups like that, or even fleets on patrol? What about the Cylons at New Caprica? Are they still there oppressing any humans that didn’t make the evacuation?
  • Rebel Cylons – So the rebel skinjobs are just gonna live out their lives on this new Earth, which is fine, but are they breeding with the humans, both Colonial and terrestrial? If so, how? They basically act like Hera is a miracle, which hey, with all the religious stuff in the show she probably is exactly that. The thing is, if she’s not magic, then why can’t there be other hybrid babies born? Since they seem to say that Hera was the mitochondrial Eve, did not a single other Skinjob fall in love with a single other human? So a Base Ship full of Skinjobs just lived out their natural lives and died, happy to have helped out? What? And what of the Centurions? They got the Base Ship and almost literally rode off into the sunset. No mention of them in the future/present day scene?
  • The fucking magic angels or whatever the fuck – Head Six and Head Baltar… What the shit was that? No explanation of who/what they actually are or who sent them. I mean, it’s probably God, but Head Baltar got all SUPER creepy and was all “HE DOESN’T LIKE THAT NAME!” when Head Six called him that, so is it God or some other shit? And maybe it’s just me, but I sort of got the sense that maybe Head Baltar was the she’s God or whatever, based on that last scene with him and Head Six. I could be and probably am wrong, but something about the way she talked to him and him getting his back up over the name “God” made me think that. While we’re at it, I’ll throw Starbuck the White in here as well. WTF was this shit? None of her arc made any goddamn sense. She blows up in a storm in a gas giant’s atmosphere and her remains and ship’s wreckage end up light years away on Earth that was? How? And Leoben doesn’t feel the need to tell anyone about Starbuck the White finding Starbuck they Gray’s body? WTF? Srsly, WTF! Beyond that, where did she actually come from? Who sent her? (God, obvs.) How did the first Hybrid in Razor know about her upcoming shenanigans since she hadn’t done her Gandalf thing yet? How did she just disappear if she was corporeal? I get Head Twins vanishing because they’re ghosts or angels or whatever, but Starbuck the White seemed to be more physical. So what’s up with that? She fulfills her literally God given destiny and just poof?

Plus, the main group of humanity’s survivors… You see what happens in their future and… Well, part of it ends up being a big fuck you, which I always hated, but part of it is they went so hard on the weird religious angle that the closing scene seems almost about the mysticism more so than the future of the people you spent 4 seasons giving a shit about. And if you’re going to go that route, THEN FOR FUCKS SAKE EXPLAIN WTF ALL THE GODDAMN WOO WOO MUMBO JUMBO SHIT WAS AND WHERE IT CAME FROM! Going beyond that, I just feel like the human sacrifice and the blood and hardship of these people will never be known and in the end, it was all for nothing, because humanity always falls into the same old patterns. The names of Galactica and Pegasus will never be known. Starbuck, Apollo, Admiral Adama, Colonel Tighe, Helo, Athena, Hot Dog, Kat, and so many other big damn heroes are just… forgotten. The Adama maneuver on New Caprica, the fight against Scar, Kat’s Radiation Rescue… It’s not all for nothing because all of these ships and people and acts of heroism helped save humanity but goddamn you’d think when they were throwing out all human progress because robots or whatever, they’d have at least kept fucking writing so they could tell the stories of these places and people and deeds. For fuck’s sake, if Pythia hadn’t recorded the account of the 13 tribes leaving Kobol, you fuckers would all be dead! Not one of you thought, “Hey, maybe we should keep good records just in case shit goes bad, our descendants will know what to do and maybe these records can even help them avoid the type of mistakes that led to all this. You know, kind of like what Pythia should have done instead of writing in bullshit metaphor and not actually mentioning the minor detail THAT IT WAS AN AI REBELLION THAT LEAD TO THE EXODUS FROM KOBOL SO HEY MAYBE TRY NOT TO MAKE ANY MORE AIS.” Granted, at least Pythia wrote some shit down, which did help, but a lot of trouble could have been avoided if she was better at her job. That aside, you’d think someone would want to be a Pythia analogue to maybe help out the future generations.

So humanity goes boldly into the future by literally forgetting it’s entire history so that they don’t make the same mistakes. The idea behind this being that if they leave behind all the trappings of their millennia long civilization, they won’t fuck up in the same old ways. See, the thing is, there’s that old saying we have about not learning from history and doomed to repeat mistakes and the like. Seems like this was actually exactly the wrong thing to do. I do think they also dishonor the memory of those who gave their lives to get humanity to this point by throwing away their past, which is a big part of what’s bothering me. All that knowledge, lost. All the stories of those people, lost. The ships, lost. Tales of heroism, lost. Why? Just so they don’t build murderbots again. Meanwhile, they could just try to rebuild civilization and make it their highest law not to build murderbots. Literally every person in their new civilization would know how bad it can be if you build murderbots, so they won’t do it. And if they teach this value properly to their kids and pass this cultural facet down to future generations, they’ll hold it in high enough regard not to build murderbots. To just throw everything away… goddamn.

That scene in… Daybreak I think it was, where Hot Dog is taking all the pictures of pilots off the memorial wall for safe keeping, that scene really fucked me up. Partly because of all those they’d lost, but also because of what he said about the other pictures being left behind. There was no one left who knew who they were. That’s heartbreaking. These were all someone’s loved ones. They’re gone and so are the people who survived the genocide and held them in loving memory. That scene left a deep ache in my chest. All of that knowledge and history lost. No family or friends to keep the memories alive on a small scale, and the collective output of a dozen worlds of civilization also gone. The Galactica was dying and could never be replaced, as was all the knowledge and history they’d left behind and as was now happening to all those people in the pictures. It really gave me pause. And then the finale, in which they go on a suicide mission to rescue the magic baby so that Starbuck could realize she had the jump coordinates to the new Earth… So much waste and loss and for what? I feel like there had to have been a smarter way to do this. Even though this is all fiction, the idea of the loss of that much knowledge, culture, history, and such hurts me as someone who’s scientist-trained and values knowledge and history quite highly.

The really fucked up part is that I think they were going for a hopeful note to the ending, but that’s not what I got from it at all. Especially with the montage of our own early forays into AI and robotic tech. As they said on the show, all this has happened before and all this will happen again.

New Year’s TV Catch Up

New Year’s TV Catch Up

Before I begin, let me just say that I am REALLY bad at keeping up with things. As you can see, I totally whiffed on that schedule above. I take some small solace in knowing that I’ve been able to make semi regular updates to Ask the Fatty. So what have I been up to? Catching up on the large number of TV shows that I fell behind on because of my move to CA and loss of access to a decent Internet connection and a reasonable way to watch things. What follows is a list of what I’ve caught up on as of today.

A word of warning! Spoilers follow! While some of what I’m talking about is from last year, I’m sure I’m not the only one not watching during the original broadcast, so a word of warning if you haven’t seen Homeland, Black Sails, or Da Vinci’s Demons. There will be spoilers for these shows!

  • Homeland – I just finished watching this a couple of hours ago. Season 5 was absolutely fantastic! I’m not sure if I would say it was the best season so far, but that’s only because the show as a whole has been so outstanding and consistent in quality. That makes it difficult to single out a specific season. I really liked how this season seemed to be inspired by the Snowden leaks. It was a great story line with a really good payoff. I was sad to see Quinn go (because I’m pretty sure Carrie mercy kills him after the fade to black), but what a performance to go out on. He really knocked it out of the park this season. And I’m glad Allison caught a few dozen bullets at the end! What a fucking dirtbag!
  • Black Sails – GODDAMN, SON! That 2nd season finale was amazing. And the start of the third was excellent as well! Season 2 was even better than season 1! Gotta say that I don’t like that one character who’s name I always forget… the current madame of the brothel and business/sex partner of Jack Rackem and Anne Bonny. I feel like she’s just waiting for an opportunity to turn on them. While the others seem to want to make Nassau a self sufficient, free state, she seems like she’s ready to cut and run at the first sign of trouble and damn anyone who gets screwed by that. You know who else I don’t like? That fucking militia corporal that shot Miranda in the head. I sure am glad he took a cannonball to the face. Speaking of which, the shelling of the Carolina colony was excellent. That whole escape sequence was epic. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this season unfolds. It’s off to a great start so far!
  • Last Week Tonight – Not a whole lot to say here, other than I think its great how it manages to be hilarious while still presenting you with serious news. I also love all of the social movements they try to start, the best of which was that ridiculous and completely legal church. Too bad people kept sending them semen and they had to close it. 🙁 It would have been great to see how far they would have taken that.
  • Da Vinci’s Demons – This was, from start to finish, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. So well written and such a phenomenally acted show. Even though this was canceled before its time, I’m glad they were able to wrap up pretty much everything in the final episode and bring the series to a satisfying conclusion. I suspect that they actually edited the final episode to remove some scenes because of the cancellation. From what I understand, they got the cancellation notice after the episodes already started filming, so it was too late to make any significant changes. The last episode ended up being around 5 minutes shorter than even the shortest episode of the series to date, so I think what they did was go in and take out any scene that would have set the stage for the fourth season. While it means we got less actual show, we didn’t get screwed with a never-to-be-resolved cliffhanger, so I’m OK with that. It was a pretty satisfying ending to the series. Also, the woman who played Leo’s sister is super cute.

I’m now gonna catch up on Bates Motel, followed by Penny Dreadful, followed by the back half of Mad Men. Let’s see how much I can watch before I get tired and go to sleep tonight!

Spartacus: Blood and Sand Season 1

Spartacus: Blood and Sand Season 1

My update frequency has not been quite up to my goal as of late, however I think I’ve at least come reasonably close.  Much of my time these last few days has been given over to two things:  Listening to albums for potential purchase from Google Music’s current sale (currently listening to Lily Allen‘s It’s Not Me, It’s You) and watching season 1 of Spartacus:  Blood and Sand, which has apparently been renamed Spartcacus:  Vengeance.

I’ve been meaning to watch Spartacus for some time now, but never got around to it.  Netflix has had it available for streaming for a while, and it’s been sitting in my queue.  What prompted me to finally sit down and watch it was discovering that it was set to expire at the end of the month.  As much as I hate when Netflix pulls movies and shows from their streaming catalog, sometimes I feel like I’d never watch anything that wasn’t about to expire.  I should correct that.  Maybe next week though, because there are several other things I have to watch before they expire.  :\  Shenanigans, I tell you!

Spartacus has been pretty great, but its not without its faults.  The CGI is sometimes laughably silly.  Often times wounds shake a bit and move around on the body and occasionally it looks like its a vinyl sticker with poor adhesive.  The dialog of the Medicus character is just plain awful, sometimes bearing no relation to what people speaking directly to him are saying.  And the phrases “I give no shit!” and “Jupiter’s cock!” flow freely from the lips of every character as if they were purging themselves of some foul thing eaten by mistake.

Despite all this it really is a pretty good show.  If you like action, with a healthy dose of 300 style gore, you’ll definitely find it here.  (Side note:  Lily Allen’s Go Back to the Start is rocking my socks right now.)  The story is good, as is the overall characterization.  Almost no one is completely good or evil, and you’ll find yourself cheering for one character’s machinations coming to fruition in one scene while hoping for their violent death in another.  The first few episodes were a bit frustrating as Spartacus went from elite soldier to bumbling buffoon who’s apparently never held a sword for no reason other than it served as a convenient plot device, but once that hurdle is cleared, the show really takes off.  There are a lot of edge of your seat moments both in and out of the arena.   They really highlight the decadent nature of ancient Rome, though I’m sure stylistic liberties were taken to a degree.  It almost feels like 300: The TV Series!, which I suppose is intentional, and not really a bad thing.

I’m looking forward to the new season starting up, but before that, I’ve got to get my hands on the prequel miniseries they did due to Andy Whitfield‘s unfortunately failing health.  I can’t wait to see where the story plays out from here and quite frankly, I can’t wait to see more of Lucy Lawless‘ breasts.

Did I not mention that part?  There’s a lot of exposed flesh of all kinds in this show.  Good times!

World Cup 2010 Day 5

World Cup 2010 Day 5

This is going to be an early and short update due to my wacky work schedule.

Today’s first game, New Zealand vs Slovakia had a totally epic finish. It was made all the more epic by the fact that New Zealand l, the team responsible for the epicness, was also responsible for a lot of the dullness in the game. Much like their neighbors Australia, they appeared pretty stiff and somewhat uncoordinated. To their credit, this game was the first time they didn’t allow a goal in the first half. They did give one up in the second half, and with their poor offense, it looked as if they were going to lose the match. Then came he epicness. In he last minute of stoppage time, minute 93, Winston Reid scored what I believe was his first World Cup goal to tie it up. I don’t think New Zealand was really expected to do well, but they surprised everyone with that in at the death goal.

I’m watching the Portugal vs Ivory Coast game now and so far its been OK. Neither team has made much progress yet, but he real story thus far has been Ronaldo. He had a blazing shot at goal that just barely missed and he also had some… colorful moments. He’s gone down a bunch, sometimes without even being hit! Granted, he is a target for obvious reasons but some of those falls were a bit mug. The confrontations hat they’ve produced win the other team has gotten him a yellow card along with yellow cards for two Ivory Coast players. Fun fact: it seems whenever they had a close up of any of the player’s faces, it seemed as if they were yelling “fuck off!” Its pretty hilarious. 😀 I fully expected Portugal to dominate this game, so I hope they can generate some real offense during the second half because aside from Ronaldo’s one shot on goal, hey really haven’t pressed the Ivory Coast much.

And now I sign off until tomorrow evening. I’m working till 8:30 tonight and then have to be back there at 5 AM tomorrow, so I wont get to catch up on the games until I get home around 2 PM. At least I have Thursday off. :

World Cup 2010 Day 4 Part 2

World Cup 2010 Day 4 Part 2

Let’s start things off on a non World Cup note. I am so freaking tired. I’m gonna be working 7 straight days, then I get a single day off, then back to work. I had expected to have Wednesday and Thursday off, but now I’m working Wednesday @ 5 AM. BLARP! I’m already pretty tired, so if the next two days aren’t quiet, I don’t know how I’m gonna make it through. Its thrown a kink into my World Cup viewing schedule, which brings me to…

Japan vs Cameroon! At first, I thought that Cameroon would be able to shut down Japan, but after the first few mins it was as if the life went out of them. They were stiff and listless and Japan made them pay. They scored a goal off of a nice breakaway and Cameroon never really recovered. They would send an occasional shot at the goal, but only one or two were scorchers. Cameroon didn’t seem to come back to life until the last ten minutes or so, but it was too little, too late.

I’m watching the Italy vs Paraguay game now, and its pretty good. Paraguay scored a surprising early goal that stunned both he crowd and Italy. Italy managed to recover quickly and picked up a nice goal of heir own. 78 mind in and the game is tense. Both teams are playing well and taking some nice shots on goal. I can’t wait to see how his game ends.

Not only because its exciting, but because I want to sleep!

World Cup 2010 Day 4 Part 1

World Cup 2010 Day 4 Part 1

A quickie post for part 1 with two notable… notes? First, last night after I posted about AUS saying that they might be able to recover, apparently I was full of it. AUS went on to be brutalized 0-4. Like the other two losing teams that day, they also lost a player to a red card, except they lost theirs early in the 2nd half, not in the closing minutes. It was painful to watch. I really expected more from a seasoned team like them.

The other note of interest is in the first game today, NED vs DEN. A hilarious own goal scored by Poulsen has put DEN up by a goal. The game isn’t over yet and both teams are gtting some good looks at goal, so its still anyone’s game, but I just had to note that own goal. I don’t care who you are, that’s some funny shit right there.

Well, I suppose if you’re the NED goalie, you’re probably not amused. He sure didn’t look all that amused when he was glaring at Poulsen. 😉

World Cup 2010 Day 3

World Cup 2010 Day 3

Wow.

It just keeps getting better.

Today’s goals were probably the most exciting goals of the game. Algeria vs Slovenia was a tight game all the way through and remained scoreless until the 79th minute when Slovenia scored a huge goal to take the lead and make some history: it was their World Cup win. Both teams had some great shots at goal and kept the pressure up throughout the game, but it was all over after that. It’s an important win for Slovenia because it gives them three very important points in their group; a group they share with the US and England. Slovenia and Algeria are both not expected to make it out of their group, so this win really shakes things up for the group since it England and the US ended up in a draw. Of course, Slovenia could get beat by both of those teams when they play them, but at least they had this impressive first win.

The second game, Serbia vs Ghana was also pretty good. Both teams were doing pretty well: trading shots, maintaining a tight defense and the like, but Serbia gave up an epic penalty kick goal and that gives Ghana an important win and a leg up in the group. What a freaking goal it was! Idiot Serbian player Kuzmanovic had an unbelievably foolish and unnecessary handball IN THE PENALTY ZONE giving Ghana a free kick on goal. Gyan lined up for the shot, took a run at the ball, faked the goalie out and kicked the ball in one direction while the goalie dove in the other. Beautiful. I have to say, I really do feel bad for Kuzmanovic despite his foolishness. He looked like he was going to be sick to his stomach when he realized what he’d done and what it would cost his team. I don’t imagine it was a very pleasant post-game discussion in the locker room today.

Fun fact, both of the above games had a player from the loosing team get ejected for collecting two yellow cards and trading em in for a red card. Nice work, guys!

I’m now watching the Germany and Australia game and the hits just don’t stop coming! I’m a little ways into the second half and let me tell you, it’s like Germany picked up right where they left off in 2006. Granted, they were knocked out by France, but they played amazingly throughout that tournament and this game was no different. Klose has an awesome header 7 minutes in, followed by a later goal by another German player who’s name I forget. Australia is getting schooled. I know they have a young team, but I didn’t think they’d be giving up goals that quickly or often, especially when you consider that in the World Cup qualifiers, they didn’t give up more than a single goal in any game. Not sure how this one is going to end, but my guess is that if you’re Australia, its gonna end in tears. I doubt they can come back, but you never know. Off I go to watch the rest of the game!

PS: Fun Fact about Klose: 7 of his 11 World Cup goals have been headers. Ouch!

World Cup 2010 Day 2

World Cup 2010 Day 2

Wow, some fantastic games today! South Korea ran rings around Greece. I don’t know where Greece thought they were, but it wasn’t the World Cup. I wouldn’t have thought that South Korea would have fared so well considering their ranking, but they schooled the Greeks. South Korea really has to watch their defense though. There were several moments where if the Greeks had brought their A game, South Korea would have given up some really easy goals.

The second game, Argentina vs Nigeria, was mug more of a nail-biter. Both teams played great, but Argentina proved themselves to be quite dangerous. Both teams had some great shots on goal, but Argentina’s goal keeper didn’t let anything by him. Meanwhile, their offense was relentless. It was too much for Nigeria, but not for lack of trying. They played a hell of a game and will also be ones to watch.

I’m watching the second half of the US vs England game now and its been pretty exciting so far. We gave up our typical stupid early goal, which was no surprise. I figured us to lose this game 2 – 0, but its tied up at this point in my DVR recording. I’m certainly startled by this, but in all fairness we should not have gotten that goal. That was a total screw up by the English goalkeeper. I don’t think anyone expected that shot to go in, but the goalie just didn’t maintain controlled of the ball and it went rolling right into the net. He’s gotta be kicking himself for that because its definitely been a morale hosted for the US team. I can’t wait to see how the rest of this turns out, so I’m gonna head back to the game.

BTW, sorry for any typos, my Droid’s autocorrect feature is fairly aggressive and sometimes throws junk in the place of perfectly cromulent words.

World Cup 2010 Day 1

World Cup 2010 Day 1

So the World Cup started today and when I woke up, I had completely forgotten. This is because I am a genius. I managed to tune in just as the first game started and what a game it was. South Africa, the host team, against Mexico. South Africa had a fantastic goal early in the 2nd half and they had been doing a great job keeping Mexico at bay. It looked like they were going to take it but Mexico scored a stunning goal around 79 mins in and tied it up. That’s not counting an almost goal they didn’t get credit for due to an offsides call. Of course I had to rush to work during the last 10 mins of the game, but it was so worth it. At least I didn’t miss any goals or anything epic. I’m watching the second game now on my DVR (France vs Uruguay) and its scoreless at the half. Man, watching the World Cup was way easier back when I worked nights. After this game, I’m going to bed. I’m planning on waking up at 7 am so I can catch tomorrow morning’s games before work. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to watch as many games as last time, especially with the games that are on at the same time. One thing is for sure, my normal shows are totally going to take a huge hit. But OMG so excited!

Fun fact: this post written entirely on my Droid.

Unidentified Shiny Objects

Unidentified Shiny Objects

So… yeah… I was looking for something to put on the TV as background noise while I worked on the Ask the Fatty reviews and I came across some show on History International about UFOs and then it was 2 hours later. Oops. I also kinda wanted to consolidate my RSS feeds into Google Reader instead of my Google homepage so that I could read this endless stream of tomfoolery on the go via Newsrob. I might do that after I do some review work. Or I might do that first. Stupid Shiny Syndrome™, it always sidetracks me into all kinds of irrelevant stuff. Right now they’re recreating dogfights between UFOs and military pilots who’ve encountered them. They’re going to use an EMP pulse generated via a Tesla coil to blow out a computer to see if it would reboot after the pulse. Apparently you can. And a UFO neutralized some pilot’s avionics during an engagement and they weren’t sure how at the time the dogfight occurred in the 70s.

Right.

So yeah, I’m gonna go play around with my RSS feeds. Speaking of which, hey Cat! Tell me if the askthefatty.com RSS link I sent you worked right. I’M DYING TO KNOW SO I MAY INCORPORATE IT DIRECTLY ON THE SITE. NO PRESSURE! 😉