Although it would cause problems with the spinoffs.

I download episodes of Doctor Who as they are broadcast in England, which gives me a two week lead over people here who are watching the 11th Doctor's adventures on the Space channel.  I find this two-week lead amusing - it's a bit like being a time traveller.

This week, the BBC broadcast the penultimate episode of the season.  At the end, the Doctor has been placed in inescapable captivity for all eternity, his companion Amy lies dead amidst the menhirs of Stonehenge, and the TARDIS is about to explode and destroy the fabric of time and space.  In the final shot, we see Earth from space, and all around it the stars are flaring up and then going out like candles in a storm as Time itself ceases to be.

The BBC, in its infinite wisdom, must have felt that the members of its viewing audience needed some reassurance, and as such ended the episode with a polite "TO BE CONTINUED" text slate.  Ah, thank you, BBC.  How good of you to take into account that there might be people watching who would think that you were just going to stop there.  Don't rule that out, though, it certainly would be a comprehensive conclusion to the series - difficult to think of anything more complete than destroying everything and everyone for all time so that nothing had every existed at all.  Take THAT, Lost.

- Sid

With sincere apologies to Matthew Broderick.

We've recently added a new administrative assistant at my workplace, and last week she asked if I'd seen the Sex and the City sequel.  I responded that I had in fact missed that one, and explained for the most part I only see movies that contain aliens or explosions.  (There's a rider on the rule that allows elves to substitute for aliens when necessary.)  There have been some exceptions over time, but for the most part, it's a pretty good guide to my viewing habits, and I more or less took it on faith that SATC2 didn't make the cut.

Then I had a look at the poster for the movie, and you know, it's possible that I've missed the boat on this one.  The longer I look at Sarah Jessica Parker, the more likely it seems that she's not originally from this planet...

- Sid

P.S. For the trivia fans in the crowd, the font used for Ms. Parker's name on the poster is called Aurebesh, it's the typeface used for displays and signage in the Star Wars universe. (And now everyone reading this pauses for a moment and thinks, "Hold on...can I remember any printing in the Star Wars movies...?")

"Fhtagn!!"

As I've previously indicated, I don't generally keep a close watch on currents events - again, if I found real life to be all that interesting, I probably wouldn't read science fiction and fantasy.  However, the larger an event, the more likely that sheer osmosis will bring it to my attention, and the current problem with BP and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is getting the sort of massive coverage that makes it impossible to miss.

Presumably BP is exploring every possible avenue in their attempts to resolve this problem as quickly as possible, but just in case they need some more motivation, perhaps they should consider what you might call the bigger picture...

- Sid

P.S. Today's cartoon is from one of the more unusual webcomics:  Goomi's Unspeakable Vault of Doom.  UVOD, written and illustrated by French artist Francois Launet, draws upon the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft for inspiration.  If you're familiar with the Mythos, it's funny - if you're not...well, as the author suggests, perhaps you should just go to Dilbert.com instead.