Geekmas 2018: Okay, maybe a little too happy.

To be honest, at $59.99 USD (plus shipping) it's a bit more money than I generally expect that people will spend on my seasonal gift, but at least it's not as expensive as the rifle version...and, honestly, she looks so HAPPY.

- Sid

"My god, it's full of stars..."

I took a picture of Jaq the Cat by the light of my iMac screen on Sunday morning, and something about the way it lit up his furry little face reminded me of David Bowman's enigmatic final words from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Coincidentally, Canadian actor Douglas Rain, who so perfectly provided the voice of the HAL 9000 computer in both 2001 and its undervalued sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, passed away on Remembrance Day this past weekend at the age of 90.  It must be interesting for an actor to be best known for a role in which his character doesn't even have a face, let alone having his own face be seen.

- Sid

lower case titling can be a thing if you want.

And now, a quick op ed piece from Chris: friend, old school World of Warcraft participant, zombie critic, and apparent fan of lower case titling:

the zombie apocalypse is making progress on all fronts

It has come to my attention that zombies are making inroads into World War One and Two across different media:

1. Video games:
https://www.cultofmac.com/94407/save-world-war-i-from-zombies-and-cthulhu-with-the-wasted-land-on-ios/

Pretty much everything goes in video games and this is better than any GTA version in terms of social message. This might be cool.

2. Board Games:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/246960/axis-allies-zombies

 

I remember playing the original version in high school so this is a bit of sacrilege. Granted Axis and Allies was a broad brush stroke game with dice being the main driver rather than strategy but still...

3. Movies:  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overlord_(2018_film)

I think this is especially poor taste for this zombie version of D-Day coming out so close to Remembrance Day. Imagine some poor nonagenarian going to see this not really reading the fine print...*

Something must be done about this zombie plague!

In other news, Blizzard™ killed Diablo by stopping development on the PC and only continuing it on smart phones. The auditorium at Blizzcon was underwhelmed to say the least....

- Chris

* This is quite a valid point, you'd never know if you just went by the title - Operation Overlord was the Allied code name for the plan to retake France during World War II.

 - Sid

 

Geekmas 2018: State of Contentment.

https://scottpark.carbonmade.com/

Well, it's finally happened: I have everything I need.

Okay, maybe not everything, but when I sat down to do this year's Geekmas gift suggestions, I found myself unexpectedly at a loss. I have a ridiculous backlog of unread books, I'm a bit gamed out at the moment after spending a LOT of Wasteland time in Fallout 4 over the last year, I'm well stocked in terms of geek t-shirts, my toy shelf is full, I'm good for physical media - what's a contented geek to do?

Regardless of my state of satisfaction, my workplace Secret Santa draw is on the horizon, not to mention people who know me personally who will be Christmas shopping, so I feel obliged to offer some kind of guidance. Let's see what the marketplace holds...

Books
Regardless of the state of my unread book inventory, there are still a couple of things that I'd like to add to the stack, starting with The Fifth Season, the first book in N.K. Jemisin's award winning The Broken Earth trilogy. (If you're feeling spendy, all three, but Amazon.ca™ shows them at a somewhat pricey twenty-two dollars each - trade paperbacks, I assume.   After her epic awards speech at this year's Hugos, I'm more than a little curious to read some of her work.

Luna: Wolf Moon, by Ian McDonald, is actually a sequel request in more ways than one: tt's the follow-up to the excellent Luna: New Moon which I requested - and received - a couple of years back. There's a third book coming (there's a longer conversation we can have about the odd prevalence of trilogies in science fiction) but it's not out until March of 2019, so we can save that one for next year.

Not meaning to be a nag, but Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch, and The Murders of Molly Southbourne, by Tade Thompson are still left on the list from last year.  And there's still that William Gibson book that isn't even supposed to released until December 25th this year...

Games

 

Let's see...there's a new Lovecraft-themed computer game out, Call of Cthulhu from Cyanide Studios, but the reviews have been pretty uniformly unfavourable.*  It's also not available on PC yet as far as I know, which takes it right off the list - sorry, not a console gamer.  I have much higher hopes for Frogwares' The Sinking City, scheduled to hit digital shelves in March of 2019 - it certainly has a much cooler trailer. It's apparently more of an open-world concept game that Call of Cthulhu, which critics describe as being more like the Chaosium™ tabletop RPG that inspired it - perhaps a little too much like it, based on the reviews.

None of which helps for Christmas 2018, unfortunately.  In anticipation of future purchases, perhaps a gift card for the Steam™ game distribution platform is the route to take for this category, although it looks like Steam™ wants you to set up an account before you can give someone a digital gift, which feels like a lot to ask - although it does go directly to the recipient's account, which is handy. The Steam website claims that Shopper's Drug Mart has physical gift cards, but the SDM web site only shows $50 options.  If that's a bit more than you wanted to spend, the easiest solution may be to just give me some cash with a little note that says BUY A GAME FROM STEAM WITH THIS.

Graphic Novels

Amazon.ca** - The Infinity Gauntlet, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Civil War, Jack Kirby's O.M.A.C.: One Man Army Corps, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising, Hellboy Omnibus Volume 1: Seed of Destruction.

(Drops mike, leaves stage.)

Blu-rays
Okay, fine, blu-rays, because they're relatively quick and easy, and generally not too pricey: Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, the original Westworld, the 1982 cult classic The Sword and the Sorcerer (if you can find it), 12 Monkeys, or The Time Bandits.


Merch
For something local, The Storm Crow*** must have some kind of merch: hats, socks, mugs, t-shirts, something - XL for both of those last two, please, I like large cups of tea and loose t-shirts.  They don't mention it on their web site, but they may sell something over the counter at one of the two Vancouver locations: 1619 Broadway or 1305 Commercial Drive. (This is speculation, by the way, please don't send me angry comments complaining that I sent you on a wild goose chase - although they are fun places to visit.)
Finally, if all else fails, surprise me!  I usually don't recommend that as an option, especially for books, but people have managed to successfully purchase me geek gifts that didn't appear on my wish list in the past.

 As a guideline, I'm pretty old school in my fandom. I tend to take this all pretty seriously, and I lean toward canon, so no "Come to the dark side, we have cookies" t-shirts, not my gig. Think classic - or even vintage. Caveats: as much as I'd love some classic SF movie posters, I have no wall space for the things that I already have, so maybe skip anything in that category.

Good luck!

- Sid

* What I really want is the fascinating 2005 game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth, which I played most of in a bootleg version many years ago but never finished - mostly because I didn't have any instructions on how the controls worked. (A little research reveals that an Amazon™ vendor would be happy to sell me the original game for $379.33. A little MORE research reveals that it's available on the Steam™ gaming store for $6.50 CAD - okay, never mind, I'll just download that sometime this weekend. Welp, so much for being gamed out...)


** Or, locally, on the second floor of Chapters Indigo at Broadway and Granville,  Golden Age Collectibles downtown on Granville, or The Comicshop on 4th Avenue in Kits - but that would have messed with my flow.


*** I see that they've opened a Storm Crow on Church Street in Toronto, the Storm Crow Manor.  My sincere congratulations to the owners - New York, you're next.
 

"Man of Tomorrow"

I don't normally discuss the scheduling of blog postings - this is a hobby, not a profession, it's not like I'm being forced to meet a quota - but I have to admit that I'm pleased to have caught up with myself in terms of retrograde updates.  Almost all of the Honeymoon series sat in draft while I got back in sync with Pacific Standard Time, attended plays from our two season's ticket theatre subscriptions, studied for (and wrote) a midterm exam for the BCIT continuing education Occupational Health and Safety course that I'm taking, started studying for the end of term exam on November 22nd, and completed the final assignment.  In other words, it's been a busy time.

Sadly, there were some casualties in the interests of moving forward:  I abandoned a couple of posts about Ireland, my Jodie Whittaker debut posting was a bit rushed, I didn't say anything about the Venom movie, there was no Hallowe'en posting, and a couple of other possible topics just fell by the wayside.

However, I'm finally back in sync with real time as opposed to cooking the books in terms of blog timestamps.  It's good to be back in the future - have I missed anything?  Cold fusion?  World peace?  Damn...I bet Trump's still President, isn't he...

- Sid

 

"I’ll be fine. In the end."

Jasmin: Hold on there, madam. I need you to do as I say. This could be a potential crime scene.
The Doctor: Why are you calling me “madam”?
Yasmin: Because… you’re a woman.
The Doctor: Am I? Does it suit me?
Yasmin: What?
The Doctor: Oh yeah! I remember. Sorry. Half an hour ago I was a white-haired Scotsman.

The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Doctor Who

On Sunday, October 7th, the long anticipated moment finally arrived: the debut of the new Doctor, as portrayed by Jodie Whittaker.

I wish I'd enjoyed it more.

It's a reaction that has very little to do with Ms. Whittaker's performance, but rather the material that she's given to work with. After all, this wasn't just her debut as the new Doctor, but also the first episode with Chris Chibnall at the helm as the new showrunner - and in this case, as scriptwriter.

 

And that's really my problem with the first episode, I just didn't like the script. The story is somewhat confusing and held together with the thinnest of plot threads, without ever really taking off as the adventure it's clearly supposed to be.  Admittedly, some of the regeneration episodes have had less than brilliant plots in the past: the new Doctor's first appearance is often more of a character study than a fully featured narrative, intended to showcase the changes caused by the Doctor's rebirth.

Previous first episodes for new Doctors have always given the new actor a definitive moment in which they establish themselves in their new role: Christopher Eccleston's speech about being able to feel the motion of the planet as it travels through the cosmos; David Tennant's rant about not knowing who he is, followed by an object lesson regarding the kind of person he has become; Matt Smith's decision to "put on a show" (one of the better regeneration episodes, in my opinion); and Peter Capaldi's musings about his regeneration and where the new faces come from - not to mention the poignant exchange at the end of the episode when he says to Clara, "You can't see me, can you. You look at me and you can't see me."

 

Unfortunately, Jodie Whittaker never really seems to get that moment.  Regardless, I'm impressed by her take on her new role. She's bold, sincere, confident, determined, and definitely in charge, in spite of her post-regeneration confusion - all good traits for the Doctor - but I felt that it was more her performance than the script that was driving my perception of the new Doctor.

The new companions provide adequate foils for the new Doctor's struggle to embrace her new self, although I'm curious to see how things work out for all of them in the long term.  As the first episode clearly demonstrates, it's not a safe lifestyle choice - collaborating with the Doctor can have fatal consequences.

All that said, I'm going to give the new creative team some rope, with the possibility that the Doctor's development will be a bit slower and more nuanced than past regenerations.  Really, I'm just going to trust the Doctor's explanation:

"Right now, I’m a stranger to myself. There’s echoes of who I was and a sort of call towards who I am. And I have to hold my nerve and trust all these new instincts. Shape myself towards them. I’ll be fine. In the end. Hopefully. I have to be. Because you guys need help. ‘Cause there’s one thing I’m certain of, when people need help, I never refuse.

"Right. This is going to be fun!"

Let's all hope so.

- Sid

P.S. The good news is that this was the most watched episode of Doctor Who since the first 2005 Christopher Eccleston reboot episode. It will be interesting to see if the momentum continues as the season moves onward, or whether it was just the curiousity value of the new female Doctor.  As per the standard joke, time will tell.
 

Honeymoon 11: Vignettes

And, to finish up the Honeymoon series, some random moments from the trip:

"I'm Batspud..."

Our tour bus mascot from Ireland:  Batspud - not the hero our tour needs, but the hero it deserves.

"The Cliffs of Insanity!"

Well, actually the Cliffs of Moher, located in Ireland's County Clare, but these are also the cliffs featured in The Princess Bride for the scenes where Westley, in his role as the Dread Pirate Roberts, is pursuing the kidnapped Buttercup, only to be faced by the deadly swordsman Inigo Montoya when he finally reaches the top.  Good thing that he's not left handed...

“Please look after this bear.”

As part of our time in London, Karli wanted to visit the Paddington Store at Paddington Station, in order to purchase - you guessed it - a Paddington Bear.  I was originally just along for the ride, but I fell prey to my own worst habits and picked up the first Paddington book for a read while Karli was comparing ursine price breaks.  As such, not only did I end up paying for her bear, but I also bought a copy of A Bear Called Paddington for myself:  not my usual thing, but call it a tribute to Fantasy's younger sibling, Make-Believe - and after all, to quote Mrs. Brown, “It's nice having a bear about the house.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve bought women’s clothes.”

Having been unable to find exactly my size when Doctor Who t-shirt shopping in London, we were pleased to see that our AirBnB was just across the river from the Dublin Forbidden Planet International location.  Which, as it turned out, had next to ZERO Doctor Who inventory - it's hard not to wonder if it's politically motivated, it was clearly evident over the course of our time there that the Republic of Ireland is a long way from forgetting its history with England. (But, really, who are they punishing here?)

“When in doubt, go to the library.”

The Long Room at the Trinity College Library in Dublin - in spite of rumours, not used as a set for any of the Harry Potter movies, but a magical place nonetheless if you're in any way a lover of the printed word.  

“Fhtagn?"

 

A somewhat Cthulhoid piece of art in Dingle.  EVERYTHING that I've read on the topic says that it's a bad idea to ask the inhabitants of an isolated seaside village about their enigmatic tentacle statue, especially if you're going to spend the night...

“Doctor Bruce Banner, changed by gamma rays..."

Dublin, Disney Store, Hulk.  Questions?

And, of course, books.

As always, I bought books whenever the opportunity allowed.  In addition to the purchases in Paris, London and Dublin that I've already mentioned, shout outs to Notting Hill Comics in the Portobello Market for Robert Holdstock's Eye Among the Blind, a battered copy of Willy Ley's classic 1958 book Satellites, Rockets and Outer Space, and Murray Leinster's The Brain Stealers, and to the Apple Bookstore in York, for A Storm of Wings by M. John Harrison.  (Which I thought I already owned - and do, as it turns out - but I couldn't take the chance of being wrong.)

- Sid

Honeymoon 10: Nod

'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'

 - Oscar Wilde

We were wandering around Dublin a bit this morning after breakfast, and stumbled across The Gutter Bookshop, a small independent book outlet located in the Old City near Temple Bar.  

As opposed to Forbidden Planet, its single-bookcase science fiction and fantasy section made for a quick browse. Nod just happened to catch my eye, and I ended up buying it - after all, it's hard not to be curious about a post-apocalyptic novel set in the city where you live.

 

- Sid

Honeymoon 9: The Charm of Making

 

We're in Ireland now for the second week of our trip - is it just me, or does even the most banal statement in Gaelic resonate with the sound of Merlin the magician summoning the great dragon?

- Sid