Aggravated Subarborial Giftery.

Last week at work I was discussing Christmas traditions with one of my co-workers, and I innocently mentioned that my family had always fallen back on its British roots for the holiday season.  

"Oh, that's nice," she commented.

"Yeah, I have wonderful memories of putting up the big holiday menhir, listening to the local druid invoking the tree spirits, putting someone inside the big wicker man and then setting it on fire...ah, nothing like a good old-fashioned holiday..."

All joking aside, the whole Santa Claus/birthday of Christ thing is just a thin overlay over a tradition that must go back as far as the roots of civilization, if not intelligence.  What we're really celebrating is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, the deepest point of our descent into cold and dark - but also the end of that descent.  From here on it gets brighter and warmer, and every day there's a little more sunlight, and a little less night.

It's interesting that virtually every society and religion in the northern hemisphere has acknowledged this dividing line between dark and light, between cold and warmth, between the end and the beginning, and chosen to commemorate it in some fashion.  The current Christian holiday is the end of a millennium-long process of amalgamation and consolidation which combined the birth of the Saviour with the Slavic Karachun, the Sarmation festival of Kaleda, the Welsh Lá an Dreoilín, the pagan Yule, the Norse Jól, and a score of other celebrations that marked the turning of the year. 

The sad part is that, as often tends to be the case, it's left to science fiction to point out the inevitable "what if" of the situation.  It took a thousand years for the celebration of Christ's Mass to gain ascendancy; less than a hundred years for the religious aspects of the holiday to be lost under the commercial ones; what does logic suggest will happen next?

Well, obviously, as with any unregulated profit centre, someone will want to take complete control...

...it was a peach of a prize.  An invitation to a special, licensed Christmas™ party in the centre of London, run by YuleCo itself.

When I read the letter I was shaking.  This was YuleCo, so it would be the real deal.  There'd be Santa™, and Rudolph™, and Mistletoe™, and Mince Pies™, and a Christmas Tree™, with presents underneath it.

That last was what I couldn't get over.  It felt so forlorn, putting my newspaper-wrapped presents next to the aspidistra, but ever since YuleCo bought the rights to coloured paper and under-tree storage, the inspectors had clamped down on Aggravated Subarborial Giftery.

China Miéville, 'Tis The Season

And a happy Meán Geimhridh to all - half way out of the dark, my friends.

- Sid

It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!

INTERIOR: MOS EISLEY SPACEPORT -- DOCKING BAY 94

Chewbacca leads the group into a giant dirt pit that is Docking Bay 94. Resting in the middle of the huge hole is a large, round, beat-up, pieced-together hunk of junk that could only loosely be called a starship.

LUKE: What a piece of junk.

Script for Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope (4th draft)

My job sometimes makes me privy to information that doesn't reach the general population.  As an example, I suspect that most people weren't aware that the Port of Metro Vancouver was playing host to a certain Corellian freighter this week.  Yes, the Millennium Falcon is in town, which to me means that there's bound to be some sort of trouble.

So, a word to the wise:  if you're in any of the local cantinas over the next few days, keep an cautious eye open for bearded old men with lightsabres, eight foot tall first mates covered entirely in hair, or groups of Imperial stormtroopers looking for droids.  And if you see any bounty hunters?  Shoot first.

- Sid

I bet Amy Pond says that all the time.

"Doctor Who has been played by eleven people - kind of like Cher."

Craig Ferguson, The Late Late Show

Today we celebrate the 47th anniversary of Doctor Who, science fiction fandom's answer to Coronation Street - at least in terms of longevity* if not marital infidelity and pints of lager.  Admittedly, we don't celebrate it hugely, I think that Doctor Who's 50th anniversary in 2013 will garner much more attention, but a birthday's a birthday and deserves some recognition.

For a program whose early attempts at propmaking seemed to rely heavily on cardboard and tape, the long term success of Doctor Who is a testament to the strength of the basic concept of the series, and to the excellent work done with that concept by literally generations of writers, and the various actors who have manned the controls of the TARDIS over the years.

As far as I could tell, the November 16th appearance by current TARDIS pilot Matt Smith on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show had no connection with the anniversary, or at least no mention was made of it.  However, given Ferguson's cheerful indifference to any sort of organized interview structure, it's difficult to say for certain.

Astonishingly, Smith seems to dress for real life very much like his TV alter ego, and the dancing horse and harmonica playing were certainly unexpected.  But in my opinion, the high point (for want of a better description) of the show was when Ferguson asked Smith if being the Doctor had led to greater success with the opposite sex. Fellow guest and apparent Whovian Chris Hardwick chipped in with the unexpected falsetto comment:

"Oooh, you're the Doctor - hey, I'm bigger on the inside..."

- Sid

P.S. The Simpsons-themed Doctors are from Springfield Punx, a web site which showcases the work of fellow Canadian Dean Fraser.

* In the interests of accuracy, I have to admit that Coronation Street will commence its 50th year of broadcast on December 9th, giving it a clear lead in the age competition, and it didn't have a six-year hiatus, either.