Category Archives: Editorials
Obama Isn’t A Gay Angel
No doubt by now you’ve seen or at least heard of Time Magazine’s latest attempt to shock us into buying their wares. In the off chance you haven’t, here it is:
I'll bet this kid just can't wait till mom shows all potential dates his "childhood pics".
The article itself wasn’t so much a hard hitting editorial on the benefits of breast feeding as it was how some people go to extremes over “attachment parenting”. I guess someone in the Time newsroom decided it was a slow issue, so why not make it the cover story. Best way to do that? Well, let’s make it shocking! Sure, why not? It’s not like they haven’t done that before.
But what does any of that have to with President Obama?
The Animated Adventures of Firefly
If you consider yourself any sort of sci-fi geek at all, then you are surely familiar with the amazingly epic, yet poorly abused, mistreated, and canceled television show Firefly. If not, you can just throw that geek card away right now and go cry silently in the corner. (Minus 500 geek cred for you!) For those who are not familiar with Firefly, let me catch you up to speed.
Set in the year 2517, Firefly is a space western created by writer and director Joss Whedon. (You may know him from such awesomeness as The Avengers and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.) The show follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a “Firefly-class” spaceship and explores the lives of some people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and others who now make a living on the outskirts of society. In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures. The series premiered in 2002 but received poor ratings which I attribute to Fox’s airing the episodes out of order and general mistreatment of the show. The series was canceled after only 11 of the 14 episodes had aired which gave rise to the Browncoats, fans of the series who wanted to see the show continue.
Flash forward to today and we see that many of the stars of Firefly have gone on to have great careers. However, their careers may have moved on, yet Firefly remains. There has been talk of the show being resurrected by Netflix. Nathan Fillion, who played Captain Malcolm Reynolds, has even talked about buying the rights to the show, making it on his own, and distributing it on the Internet. YES PLEASE!
Anyways, to get to my point… It’s obvious that fans want this show to continue. We got a movie that wrapped up the series, but the holes in our hearts were just too big for Serenity to fill. What will it take to get our Firefly fix? Who will step in and get this done in a manner that will please the fans? Unfortunately, I don’t have those answers but I know how it can be done in a way that will work with the actors’ schedules and not put the studios at a ton of risk financially: animation. (This idea actually came out during our most recent podcast.) Seriously. Why not do an animated Firefly television series? How awesome would that be? Answer: very.
While I’m not hopeful that something like this could ever happen because Hollywood is too stupid for something so smart, it makes perfect sense to me to make Firefly into an animated series. Think about it. You’ve already got a loyal fan base so you know that there will be viewers. The cast could do voice-over work when it’s convenient with their schedules. You have a story with characters that could go on and on, unless Joss Whedon kills the rest of them. And you have the ability to distribute the show via network TV, the Internet, or Netflix. What’s not to love? Why is this not being made now?
What are your thoughts? Do you think that Firefly would work as an animated series?
[The artwork is courtesy of OtisFrampton's deviantART page. You can check it out here.]
A Soldier’s View
In our most recent podcast, we discussed the ramifications of our military using more and more UAV’s and other such “mechanical soldiers” in different operations. In order to try and get a better viewpoint, I reached out to a friend of mine in the military and see if he had anything to add. He was gracious enough to answer a few questions (even during his guild’s raid, what a gentleman) and provide them here.
Special thanks to Sergeant Chilcott of the 65th Fires Brigade, Riverton, Utah. Additional thanks to all other men and women in our armed services, both active and reserve.
Nokia to Europe: U Mad Bro?
Nokia has had some trying times recently, to say the least; they got a new CEO in Stephen Elop who had less than stellar things to say, they dropped their long running mobile OS Symbian, and killed MeeGo before it even launched. When all seemed to be on the brink, they launched their new flagship phone (the Lumia 900) in the United States . . . only to find there’s a software bug in it.
That’s not to say nothing good has been happening, however. That aforementioned bug was fixed in record time, and everyone who had purchased the Lumia got a $100 credit sent directly to them (whether they had the error or not). The Lumia itself has had rave reviews and AT&T can’t seem to keep it in stores with how quickly it’s selling and even the retail powerhouse that is Amazon Mobile is having issues keeping enough in stock.
So why is Nokia still sinking?
Star Trek Ships Are Wrong part 4
These little editorials/rants seem to be getting some more attention than I expected, so I had better speed them up!
The Details
Bear with me, as this section does seem rather broad. We will be jumping around a tad, but for the most part we will be centering on the hull.
Media Companies & The Generation Gap
In our last podcast episode, we asked the question as to why so many media companies refuse to get with the times and continue to embrace a business model that’s over 80 years old. I was suddenly inspired to write my thoughts on that . . . so now I am.
Before I go any further I should probably explain what this “ancient business model” even is. In ye olden days, a single company would own the rights to certain properties. Sometimes these properties would be songs, sometimes movies, sometimes newspapers, and sometimes people. Yes, in the history of entertainment industry artists were considered property or assets. If a radio star wanted to release ANYTHING, from a song to an interview, it went through the studio. Things have changed in some areas of the industry, but for the most part the overall idea is much the same.
SD#43.5 The SOPA Special
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:43 — 32.5MB) | Embed
Whoa?! A special episode? That’s so babies!
Don’t Tread On Me. Virtually Or Otherwise
Schmidty and I threw together this little mock flag in observance of the current climate this week. As Dr Squishy pointed out on our Facebook, I don’t really know what the original was supposed to mean either. However, it is a sort of historical reminder that we, as Americans, have this slight tendency to oppose powers that might try and censor/oppress us. And tax our salt & tea, but that’s for another discussion.
The fact remains is that what “our” Congress is trying to do now is actually very similar to what has happened before (i.e. a ruling body, so out of touch with a group of the public, bows to the demands of someone wanting more money, tries to enact a law, and gets whomped for it).
If history tells us anything, it’s that it doesn’t typically end well.
Why SOPA And PIPA Are Bad
If you tried to visit our site yesterday, you may have noticed that we were not our normal, cheery selves. Like a lot of the Internet, we chose to protest legislation that is currently being kicked around Congress. Remember that nice pop-up the first time you visited the site? Yeah, that’s what that was about. If you hadn’t heard of SOPA or PIPA before yesterday, hopefully you have heard of them now. These laws will basically break the Internet as we know it and take us back to 1994. I’m all for time travel, but not like this.
This is important because it affects everyone. Yes, I’m talking to you, and you, and you. Do you like visiting our site? Too bad. If either of these laws pass, there is a good chance that this very site will be taken down. Do you like visiting any site on the Internet? Yeah, they’ll probably be gone too. See what I’m talking about? Big-time bad… Under this law, if you post video of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video on the Web, you can go to prison for five years. That’s longer than the guy who killed him will be locked up for.
If you listen to our podcast, then you’ve heard me say that the Internet is like the Wild West. Imagine if there were no Wild West in American history. Just think of all of the John Wayne movies that would have never been made. No tales of Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, or Wyatt Earp. But more importantly, think of all of the innovation that would have never happened. Would we have a trans-continental railroad? Possibly not since there would be nothing west of the Mississippi River. Would we have discovered the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone? Who knows?
If you are still in the dark about what SOPA and PIPA are and what their effects on your life will be, here are some articles that I strongly suggest you take the time to read. The people who wrote the articles are far more eloquent that I am and have a much better understanding of these laws than I do so take a minute and click on the links.
- Why SOPA Is Dangerous
- SOPA Will Take Us Back to the Dark Ages
- Today the US Senate is considering legislation that would destroy the free and open Internet.
And since I understand that sometimes it’s easier to watch the movie than it is to read the book, here is a very well done cinematic production courtesy of YouTube. (Which, I should mention, would be destroyed should SOPA or PIPA become law.)
If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to call call those who allegedly represent you in Washington and let them know that you oppose what they are trying to do. Unless, of course, you hate free speech and innovation. Then, by all means, continue to do nothing as your rights are stripped away by greedy politicians.
