I just saw the 1st episode (”Rose”) of the new Doctor Who series… and it was good.

Christopher Eccleston has made a good show of his portrayal of the Doctor. I think he did well at maintaining the integrity of the character, but still managed to make it his own as a kind of cheery, happy-go-lucky-type. Sadly… last night, it was confirmed that Eccleston will NOT be returning for a second season of episodes. Apparently, he fears typecasting… smeg head. Ah well… but there is GOOD NEWS… another article I found informs us that a 2nd season of the new series is being planned!!! Talks are currently in progress to get David Tennant to take up the role of the Doctor.

Anyway… continuing on with my episode review… I must say that Billie Piper is a better actress than I expected her to be. Rose wasn’t exactly a brilliant character, but Billie did a good job portraying her. Finally, the combination of new special effects with the cheesy-goodness of extras in plastic-looking outfits made the whole experience just downright fun!

Many out there have reported that you did not enjoy it. I’m beting that these people are not big Doctor Who fans… and/or that they really don’t know what’s going on in the story.

The one downfall of this episode is that it returns us to the Doctor to continue a plotline that started in the early 1970’s. This is great for those of us who are familiar with the storyline… but has got to be rough on everyone else.

So… to get everyone up to speed, let me fill you in…

The Autons are creatures of animated plastic who’s representations are powered by the consciousness of the Nestene. The Nestene are aliens of pure thought or energy who have seek out to conquer new worlds upon arrival by secretly building plastic armies to unleash upon the unsuspecting planet. Earth is one such target which has (with the help of the Doctor) managed to hold out against the invasion for over 30 years.

If I remember correctly, there was a total of 8 other episodes (from the classic series) that featured the Autons. For those interested, here’s some TV homework for you to get up to speed on the whole Auton Invasion.

Doctor Who - Story # 51 - Spreadhead from Space - (1970, 4-episodes)

Plot: A big mess of meteorites has brought the Nestene to Earth. They impact our planet in Oxley Woods (conveniently, just as the Doctor arrives in the same location… but he collapses and is taken to a nearby hospital soon after arrival… why? Well… the Doctor has just regenerated… this is Jon Pertwee’s first appearance as the Doctor). Anyway, we soon learn that the Nestene have the ability to animate plastics, have taken over a plastics factory, and are working on building an army of plastic bodies to use in thier pursuit of world domination. The alien mannequins start killing off the local population like scythe in a wheat field… until the Doctor comes to the rescue.

Doctor Who - Story # 55 - Terror of the Autons - (1971, 4-episodes)

Plot: The “Master” (another Time Lord) has come to Earth with plans to assist in a 2nd Nestene invastion. The Doctor (our favorite Time Lord) has to match wits with a collection of animated plastic devices… including an evil troll doll and a deadly daffodil. The Doctor is in a race against time to stop the Master and prevent the Nestene from returning to Earth permanently.

Now you know… and knowing is half the battle.

Lots of people think my name is short for Chadwick.  Ummm… no, and until the other day I had never met a Chadwick in my life.

Ever wonder what your name in Japanese would look like?  This is "Chad" translated.

It is pronounced Chad-do.  Hehheh… I still like that much better than "Chadwick."

Well, I spent yesterday downloading all the ISOs for SuSE Linux, since it has been a while since I’ve worked with that distro. Last night I installed SLES 9, but today I wiped that out to just install the standard SuSE 9.2. Then I find out in about 2 weeks 9.3 comes out. Sheesh. Can’t win. Installing it in a Virtual PC window, which is working rather nicely.

In a few minutes we’re going out to see what exactly is open on Easter Sunday. We’ll at least have a beautiful day out to drive around in. For dinner, its turkey, stuffing, biscuits, and whatever else we scrounge up. Not doing a whole turkey, since it is just the two of us today, so it won’t take too long to cook when we get back.

And my install should be done by then!

By now most of you have heard about the guy who essentially stole 30 year old technology and is marketing it. He “created” a Fox News filter, which looks suspiciously like what the cable companies have been using forever to block HBO when it was analog. It is simply an RF filter that blocks a certain channel. Woo hoo, this is big news, someone created a notch filter.
From the Seattle News:

It’s not that Sam Kimery objects to the views expressed on Fox News Channel. The creator of the “Fox Blocker” contends the network is not news at all.
Kimery says he has sold about 100 of the little silver bits of metal that screw into the back of most televisions, allowing people to filter Fox News from their sets. The Tulsa, Okla., resident also has received thousands of e-mails, both angry and complimentary, as well as a few death threats since the device debuted in August.

What should be news is the following. The news reports almost can’t contain their glee about showing how “enlightened” this is. Blah blah blah, they all but say this guy is a national hero.
But a few years ago, a DVD player was released that let people who didn’t want smut and foul language on their TV filter it out. Just a scene here or there, not a whole fricking channel. Of course, the media was shocked at the dark ages mentality of those people who would want this. Ruin the artistic vision and all that crap.
Of course, now that the target is its competition, and it is more popular than the rest, suddenly it is OK for families to censor themselves.

Also covered by The Donovan, the Zebra Report, The Rottweiler
and The Pirate’s Cove.

The Carnation revolution in Portugal (Thought you forgot about that one, eh?)
Then comes the Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia.
A Singing Revolution in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Then the Orange revolution in the Ukraine.
Georgia’s Rose revolution.
Iraq’s Purple revolution.
The Cedar Revolution in Lebanon.
Now, it is the Tulip revolution in Kyrgyzstan.

Attention North Korea and Iran. We are running out of the cool names. If you do not hurry, you will be stuck with one of the following names from the list: Stinky revolution, Butthead revolution (Beavis revolution will most likely be taken by France), and the Breathmint revolution.

Mmmfmfmffmm… I mean, thanks Mom, just got the Easter basket in the mail. Reese’s peanut butter egg… perfect! All the chocolate is soooo good!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! Please remember this, before the lawyers and the government regulate our lives for our own good.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!

In my youth, my parents would constantly be revoking my TV privledges.  It was the all-purpose punishment for just about anything that went down.  Needless to say, I usually relied upon my books to keep me entertained.  So I read… I read ALOT.  From ages 7 to 10, I read Robert Louis Stevenson, Louisa May Alcott, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and whomever else I could get my hands on.  I got into Shakespeare when I was about 11… was bored stiff by Hemingway at 12… and took on the challenge of tackling Homer when I was 14.  However, there are only a few books that really stuck out in my mind as being "adventures that capture the imagination".

One such adventure that I read in my youth was "Little House on the Prairie" (the 3rd volume in the 9 book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder).  Yes… Little House.  It was good when I was a kid… and I look forward to reading it with my 3 daughters in a few years.  If you feel the need to start mocking… then most likely you haven’t read the book.  [Watching the 1970s TV series doesn't count... read the book(s).]

Don’t get me wrong.  Watching the ’70s series is fine… (even if it is named after the wrong novel.)  From time to time, I put it on for my 3 daughters (who refer to it simply as "The Farm Show").  I think Michael Landon (and everyone else associated with it) did a damn fine job of telling stories which taught eternal truths and moral family values, yet still managed to be entertaining.  (Many of my long time friends are probably now realizing that I might actually be a little deeper than I typically appear to be…. heheheh.)

And speaking of TV… that brings me to the purpose of this post.  Many of you are probably already aware of this, but just in case anyone out of the loop… the Wonderful World of Disney has re-made this story into a brand new mini-series.

"The Wonderful World of Disney: Little House on the Prairie" is a 6-hour mini-series which will be airing on ABC over the next 4 weeks.  The initial 2-hour installment will air on this Saturday (March 26th) at 8pm EST.  The subsequent 4 episodes will be 1 hour in length, and will be airing on April 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd.

Gillian Flynn (Entertainment Weekly) has detailed that it will stay truer to the book than the 1974-83 series.  She states that it "is unnerving, darker than its predecessor, yet sensibly sweet (but mush- and moppet-free)."  Wonderful!

Marilyn Moss (The Hollywood Reporter) asks "after Landon, do we really need another "Little House"?  To Ms. Moss… Yes, we do.  I look forward to seeing an honest portrayal of this novel.  The original series was good… and tried to stay somewhat true to the books in the beginning, but soon took a sharp turn and went off on one heck of a tangent.

I welcome this new depiction of an old classic… hardships and all.  It is my sincere hope that my children’s interest and imagination are sparked by it.

What do you get when you race a minivan vs. a v8 Mercedes? Who cares, because they only have a 70 second head start on a Formula 1 racer.
Check it out here. Makes your little sports car seem a little… inadequate.
Thanks Flea!

The AnarchAngel speaks truth to power… whatever the hell that means.

I know that the only path to freedom, and to real equality, is through equality of opportunity, the cornerstone of which is equality under the law. Setasides, quotas, preferences, minimums, maximums, incentives, extra credit, and eased standards are ALL WRONG.

I know that coerced diveristy is a completely llegitimate concept, exclusively designed to promote those wrong preferences in a more pallatable way. No matter how you clothe it, it is WRONG.

I know that western cuture is the greatest that earth has ever seen, and will continue to be so for the forseeable future; that in fact if we were forced to live in the other cultures being pushed on us by socialists, most of us would die, which I believe is what they want.

I know that the constitution says exactly what it says. It is not a living document. It doesn’t change to suit the needs of society every day.

I know that the constitution does not grant rights, it affirms them, and restricts government form infringing on them. I know that those rights our ours by nature, and cannot be taken or limited; but by force, or by willing consent.

I know that I, and only I, am responsible for myself, and for my actions. The government isnt responsible for me, my parents arent responsible for me, society is not responsible for me. If I fail it’s my fault, if I succeed it’s my achievment.

Read the rest, it’ll make you feel good!

Going to work at the new job tomorrow… and I can’t find either my Miskatonic University coffee mug, or my Captain Stern coffee mug.  Tomorrow might not be pretty…  It has been many many years where I have not had one of these two mugs with me at the office…

Yeah, here is the gun my wife wants. Sheesh…

OK… I missed an episode of the new Battlestar Galactica a few weeks ago.  So I hit my favorite peer to peer service to get a copy of it.  I also found two that haven’t been released in the US yet, but were shown in the UK which someone recorded.

So, I watched it.  And lets just feed the hype machine now… The next two episodes, Kobol’s Last Gleaming I & II are incredibly good.  With an unbelievable series of plot twists at the end…

Yeah, I liked it… liked it a lot!

Please keep in mind that some of this is taken out of context… which is probably why it struck me funny in the first place.

10.  You stay here, and I’ll go buy the beer.

9.  I’m not usually cheap and easy… but tonight is different.

8.  You could bounce a quarter off my a$$.  No really… go ahead and try it.

7.  Don’t let go of me… I’ll fall and go down… ’cause I’m drunk.

6.  I’ve been thinking of getting my breasts done.  Tell me what you think.

5.  Nice tent.

4.  She’s hot… let’s go meet her.

3.  I’ve always wanted a male-slut.

2.  Did we….<ummmm>… did we?

and the #1 favorite thing a woman has ever said to me…

1.  PUT IT BACK IN!!!

One of those posts that really makes you take a second, and then go… Duh…

Kim du Toit at the Daily Rant talks about environmentalism, specifically the melting icecap over Mount Kilamanjaro in Africa. 

The winner is this money quote:

You mean my F-150 and Suburban are not to blame for this? The ice may be melting because… Kilimanjaro is a f*cking volcano?

Once again, we’re all hanging around at around 2am in a parking lot just outside of town. 

Not causing any problems, although I did have my bar in the car.  It was a foot locker fitted with foam padding, and could store 5 fifths of booze, along with 10-12 pints, while also holding 6 glasses, shotglasses, assorted bar implements, a cordless drill fitted as a blender, and even a supply of the little umbrellas.

But we’re behaving ourselves, when in come the flashing lights.  The way the parking lot was, we had no where to run, so everyone just got in their cars, sat and waited.

The cop car pulled right behind Jason’s 280zx just as he was getting ready to get into the car.  "Jason!" comes blaring over the loudspeaker… "You know the position!"

First, flashback to the day before.

So Jason is coming back from college.  1700 miles away.  A 280zx is a very fast car.  Average speed for the entire trip, including taking a whiz, was about 80-85 mph.  He made good time.

Finally, he hits the state line.  Feeling that he has been lucky so far, he slows up to the exact speed limit.  A few minutes later, a police car pulls him over.  Not having done anything illegal in this state, he wondered what was going on.

The problems started when a second… and then a third car pulls up.  Jason starts to wonder if all that investment into martial arts and crafts will pay off when they do the full COPS treatment on him, get outta the car, hands up, face down, etc.

Seems a mass murderer or something was being sought by the fuzz, and since this guy drove a foreign car, well, a 280zx is durn well foreign ain’t it?

A few hours later, upon realizing that a black and gold 280zx is not the same as a blue civic, they let him go. 

Back to the next night.  Officer Mulvena had pulled into the parking lot, lights blazing, and pulled right up behind Jason’s car.  "Jason, you know the position!"

So Jason turned, looked and said, "Officer Mulvena!"  So he bent over and grabbed his ankles.

I grew up an east-coaster. Now I live in heaven, more often called Colorado..  (more…)

Is anyone following the current Michael Jackson ordeal (trial)?

Now I am not a Jackson fan in the least.. i did not like him when he was still a black man, he was a tad annoying and over popular which just drives me insane (instead at that time I was a Howard Jones fan). I liked him even less when he turned himself into a living Picasso painting, e-gad could he be anymore of a halloween mask?

Though in this case, I actually do feel for Jackson since the mother of the accuser might as well be my mother, a manipulative, hateful, disturbed person.. and has been cited for doing similar things.. it is just sad.

I have watched a couple of the reenactments, and it does seem to me that the transcripts of what the accuser is stating sounds very coached, and I do feel for the kid, all the kids of this mother.. I know what it is like to grow up under such a person. Your trust of others is thwarted. Many things you will try to achieve in life is more challenged due to self doubt that has been ingrained into your brain. 

So what do I think the verdict will be and is? I do think Michael Jackson is royally screwed up person, and I think he is capable of this. But I don’t this this case will hold up, mainly due to the mother!

Over the years i have known people who have said they would not have childern due to the current "times".

I hear people talking about the danger in schools, and the danger to children in their own yards…

These concerns and more are always valid concerns, but when they have to be compared to the past they are being terribly mismeasured.

Comparing kidnapping (and worse) that have happened to children over they years, look back to the 70’s to current day.. (more…)