Saturday, March 31, 2007

BSG: The Baltarian Dialogues

3.20: "Crossroads part 2"

Here I present some transcribed email back-n-forth between myself and Zorknapp, aka Mike, on the season finale of BSG. Note that it doesn't quite read chronologically, as a conversation. Each of us was responding to points by the other over a couple days of email, so they're more like threads. An episode summary post is the seed of the discussion...

(Credit for the "Baltarian Dialogues" title goes to Zorky =)
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cabinboy: Felix lies to help convict the ex-Prez and his one-time idol. He's the guy who helped Baltar win the office of President when he uncovered the crooked voting.

ZORKNAPP: I actually thought that was interesting, that Felix would lie. To salve his own conscience? Do retroactively try to fix what he helped to do? Interesting trait on his part, that I hope just isn't dropped...

cabinboy: It's mean, but I really like that Gaeta's been brought low by association with Baltar, after idolizing him and then basically winning him his Presidency (or at least, not letting it be stolen by Roslyn). I think his motivation in perjuring himself is a good part guilt (he was ready to let himself be tubed for the things he couldn't stop, people he couldn't save, on New Caprica, even tho he *was* in fact instrumental in much of what the resistance accomplished), and another hefty chunk hatred of GB, cut with a hefty dose of self-hatred. By lying to convict Baltar, I'm sure on some level he wants to make up for being a party to his puppet administration and pimp and handler to the man.

ZORKNAPP: Very true. I hope that we see more of Gaeta as time goes on, perhaps with ramifications of his lie...
Baltar: It's no secret, the whole fleet knows this guy tried to stab me thru the neck... and YOU MISSED, butterfingers!

ZORKNAPP: Does the whole fleet know about whatever Baltar is talking about? I'm not even sure if I do...

cabinboy: I don't know that the attack Baltar refers to is common knowledge. I would've thought that it would've been kept under wraps by the authorities, but I'm sure Baltar and his lawyer would have made it public to help their cause, garner sympathy. I don't remember that explicitly happening, tho.

ZORKNAPP: I thought the phrase, "Stab me through the neck" was a bit too specific to just be a general throwaway line...

cabinboy: To clarify, yes, he *did* stab Baltar in the neck during an interview/interrogation, goaded by what Baltar said to him when he realized that Gaeta was sent to talk to him as "good cop" stooge, having spotted the not-so-hidden camera in the room. But we know that Gaeta was ready to do Baltar in before that, when he discovers Baltar performing a very low-tech Cylon detector test on himself... aka hanging himself in his cell.
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Judge: Like everything human, justice is imperfect, it's flawed. But it's those very imperfections that separate us from the machines, and maybe even makes us a species worth saving.

cabinboy: Speciesist judges, eh?

Not guilty.

ZORKNAPP: I do always find it interesting that the "humans" have to keep reminding themselves that they're better than the machines they themselves created. It's part of convincing themselves that they're worth saving.

By the way, the initial two seasons always had that "The Cylons were created by humans...and they have a plan..." prologue. Now, it's gone. Do the Cylons not have a plan anymore? And besides breeding a half Cylon-human baby, do we know what their plan was? And not a lot of God talk anymore...

cabinboy: Hrmm... I hadn't given the abridging of the opening all that much thought. Yeah, without having eyes/cameras in with the Cylons, we don't get anymore of that Gods vs God talk. Poly vs monotheist... Did I incorrectly infer that the Cylons were swinging towards monotheism? Is it only Baltar and his virtual Six who have referred to a single supreme being type, and the real skin jobs consistently refer to plural gods?

ZORKNAPP: My recollection is that all the Cylons are on the road to monotheism, with perhaps Brother Cattel's model being a bit ambivalent about the whole thing...

cabinboy: I wonder what religions we'll be treated to when the BSG and Cylon fleets reach Earth? Maybe they'll team up to pose as a threat that will unite all the Earthicans. They could keep sending Cylons to engage them and lose battles cuz they'll always resurrect. Maybe their presence will be responsible for peace in the Middle East.
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Lawyer Rommel(?): Well, your boundless confidence provided us with great solace throughout the proceedings.

ZORKNAPP: I liked the lawyer! I hope he comes back. I do wonder if he has some sort of connection to Baltar. Or, could he be a Cylon model?

cabinboy: Lawyer (I remember him as the pyrokinetic from an early early X-FILE) was excellent. I would very much like to see him come back, but hopefully not in a forced way. He was a great foil for Apollo, and a great switch-flipper for Baltar. The references to gramps Adama had me wondering if he was somehow connected in a very longshot Cylon way to him, resurrected in a younger body or something. Not a chance, really.

ZORKNAPP: I'm glad you're just calling him "Lawyer." I could never remember his name.

cabinboy: Yeah, several BSG character names regularly escape me. Lawyer, Starbuck's stalker Cylon, Preacher/Brother Cattel. Took me a while to remember Tyrol...

cabinboy: I don't see him as one of the five.

ZORKNAPP: Generally agreed. But, I do think there's *something* more to him...

cabinboy: I'm going to question it every once in a while, but I will continue to go along with the notion that there are twelve different skinjob Cylon models. I cannot remember now who revealed that when and to whom. I seem to remember a note that Adama unfolds and reads...? Was that in the miniseries pilot? Frack.

ZORKNAPP: Yes, in the miniseries pilot, there's a note left *in* Adama's office. Who could have left it, and who would have known? Tighe? The Pres?

cabinboy: Thanks for the refresher on that. That's bugged me for a while now.
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Baltar: Think about this for a second. Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? How am I going to survive?

Lawyer: As much as I hate to use a cat metaphor, doctor, I think you'll land on your feet.

ZORKNAPP: Meow!

cabinboy: Have we seen any space cats on the show?

ZORKNAPP: No pets at all that I can recall...

cabinboy: Ah, Muffy the Daggit...
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Apollo: Rommel, one thing, when you put me on the stand, did you know what was going to happen?

Rommel: I knew you were an honest man, Mr. Adama, much unlike your grandfather...

cabinboy: Unlike (did I hear that right?)... How well did he know gramps Adama? Does he know somehow that the Adama line carries a Cylon/earthican seed? And... He leaves the cane behind. Doesn't need it. Never needed it? Lawyering sympathy-garnering affectation?

ZORKNAPP: I'd have to see that episode, but I think Apollo would have reacted stronger to a slander against his grandfather (whether it's really true or not). I think that Rommel liked the senior Adama, but thought that he was hardass. Never questioned his honesty before... Although, if you did hear correctly, maybe that will go somewhere...

cabinboy: Yeah, UNlike doesn't seem right coming from Rommel, given the esteem he held gramps Adama in. But I could've sworn that was what I heard. That made me think that Rommel might've been closer to gramps than he let on. Some relationship that's stronger than professional respect. Something genetic, perhaps.

ZORKNAPP: Did you tape the show? Perhaps a replay could answer the question... You're really fixated on this genetic/reincarnation idea, aren't you? :)

cabinboy: I played that bit back again this evening and it really sounds like UNlike. Maybe lawyer was being sarcastic/ironic? I honestly couldn't say for sure given his character and delivery.

I am a bit fixated on the idea that Cylon skinbags are essentially human, and vice versa, with DNA and genes that determine their biological programming, and by creative license and extrapolation couldn't you pass information or bits of identity down thru generations thru that programming?

In my head, tho, I know it's probably too sophisticated and requires way too much exposition to pull off on a TV show. Still, I like the idea.
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Adama: Not guilty is not the same as innocent.

ZORKNAPP: We tend to forget that...
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cabinboy: The Ionian Nebula—unique radiation or other phenom is the trigger for the Five/Cylons?

ZORKNAPP: There were hints of the song in the last episode, it would have to be a pretty powerful signal to be associated with the Nebula. Not impossible, but I am curious as to what is causing this trigger....

cabinboy: Ha! Baltar continues to live the late night Cinemax life, as girlies save Baltar...

ZORKNAPP: Where could they be taking him off to? A room with a bed and a candleabra? And nothing else? Besides loungy piano music?
Baltar: where are you taking me?

Girl (with two girly friends): To your new life.

ZORKNAPP: Ooo Gah!

cabinboy: Baltar and Emmanuelle in Space!

cabinboy: That woman wanted him to bless her child. Where the F did that come from? Is he gonna put together his own Jonestown? A Manson family?
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cabinboy: Baltar, Six, and Hera in the opera house/council chamber... Five figures in the balcony... Whose projection/vision is this? Are the five a new school riff on the old school BSG space angels?

ZORKNAPP: I thought it was supposed to be the 5 unseen Cylon models... And their very bright robes flashed to black before Boomer/Pres/Six all awoke from the same dream... Interesting...

cabinboy: Yeah, I liked that black flash of the figures. And they're definitely The Five. I mentioned it in a ramble earlier this season and I'll repeat it. D'anna and Baltar, clued in by a Base Star Hybrid, are certain that The Five of the human prophecies and The Five unknown Cylons are five and the same. "Proof" that some form of Cylons have been with the humans even before humans created them. Or that those five humans are somehow responsible for creating/upgrading the toasters to skinjobs.

Or something...

ZORKNAPP: Ah, see, this is where my knowledge is a bit slim. What Five of what human prophesies are you talking about?

cabinboy: The temple on the algae planet was the Temple of the Five. The one that Tyrol discovered. Roslyn makes a comment at one point about how the Cylon Five might be the Five of the humans' Temple as well. And D'anna makes an observation when she's hanging w Baltar and the hybrid about how their Cylon gods might be connected to the humans' gods. If the Temple of the Five was built by the Earthicans/13th colony, and the Five are the mysterious Cylon models, then Cylons were with humans way back when, if not leading or guiding them, even.

cabinboy: The projection vision I describe above was different from the one where Roslyn, Athena, and Six meet each other. It didn't seem to be connected sensibly or obviously to any particular character in the real world. Given that it was only Baltar, Six, and Hera, I think it must've been Baltar and his Jiminy Six, and not the Caprica Six in the holding cell. I'll hafta review the episode again when I get a chance.

I wonder if Athena and Roslyn can see Caprica Six's Jiminy Baltar if they have another shared vision. This Kamala Root (+ cancer?) seems to be a way of unlocking the latent human projection ability, as well as somehow tuning into "native" Cylon telepathic frequencies (to share a vision/projection).

cabinboy: The singing ship... "All Along The Watchtower," by Bob Dylan? An intentional, local trigger? Or a "live" song from earth... A broadcast? Did any Dylan make it onto a Pioneer or Voyager recording or gold record? V'ger, only with the Cylons? Then they're in earth's future... our future... And so many light years away.

ZORKNAPP: "Send More Chuck Berry!" Where this whole song thing is going to go, I'm curious... I wish they had just used the song, without having the characters quote the lyrics.

cabinboy: Having the characters actually hear that song, from Earth, by Dylan, pretty definitively ties the series continuity to 20th century earth as we know it in the real world. That, I like.

ZORKNAPP: Or, the future... They didn't use the original version, and it's pretty wacky sounding. So, it could be Earth in the future, to go along with your Star Trek tie in idea... Maybe we can finally see what would win in a fight, a Battlestar or the Enterprise...

cabinboy: Yeah, a future that grows out of our history. Altho, I was really hoping for my other theory, that they arrive in our past and become the inspiration for Greek mythology (and Xena, and the Quantum Leap project =).

cabinboy: Three of the resistance leaders and Roslyn's aide... Cylons? Special Cylons. Earthican agents? Without orders, tho. They have their own, existing, current, wills and personalities. Will they form Voltron?

ZORKNAPP: I got a laugh from the Voltron line... I still don't think they're Cylons. Although, they did seem to accept the general idea easily enough. But, what of the Chief's baby? I think that there's an Earth connection somehow is MUCH more likely...

cabinboy: Assume they're not Cylon sleeper agents... Can you think of anything that is common to these four Cylon wannabes?

That each may have had congress with Cylons? A Cylon STD? Anders, if Starbuck's a Cylon. Tyrol, with Boomer. Tighe, with his wife, perhaps (is that how Six's Baltar knows Tighe lost/killed her?). Roslyn's aide, with... who knows?

But then, Helo's gotten it on with Athena, and Baltar and Caprica Six of course. We haven't seen or heard either of them mention the music. Maybe because those two ARE Cylons...?

Maybe you can become a Cylon by becoming infected somehow, with a techno-organic virus of some kind...?

Were they all exposed to some particular thing or event? Together at the same time? An explosion? Someone's touch? Hera? In the same confined space for a time? A raptor or other ship?

What's in Tighe's eye socket?

cabinboy: Yeah, there's definitely an Earth connection, but I don't think that and being a form of Cylon are mutually exclusive.

ZORKNAPP: Agreed. I think there is going to be some sort of robotic issue on Earth... The Cylons are just as interested in finding Earth, so I don't think they're there yet, or have any knowledge of where it might really be. But they are robots, and have plenty of time...

cabinboy: Humans and Cylons must join together to save the Earth from intelligent apes!

Or... hrmm....

Zombies!!!

cabinboy: Y'know... Zombie Cylons isn't all that hard a sell... or rather, CELL... heh. I was hoping for that when we saw that virus infested beacon wreck those base ships.

cabinboy: Starbuck's back! So, maybe she was wormholed to the Ionian Nebula from the eye of that storm? Oh, no, of course! She's been to earth, and she's going to take them all there. Sure, why not?

ZORKNAPP: Interesting that she shows up at the same time as a big Cylon fleet. It's a very convenient happening... Is Starbuck the 5th model? Would she have heard the music if she was still on the Galactica? Could the 5 models actually be humans from Earth?

cabinboy: I got the idea that Starbuck led the Cylons to the human fleet's location. I imagine a season premiere with Starbuck waking up in a resurrection tub. Or in the hold of a heavy raider, with whatzhishead, the stalker Cylon, driving, having rescued her from the eye of the storm that supposedly killed her. The episode would then be about her accepting her prophecied destiny. She hops into a captured viper that the Cylons have in storage and together w the Cylons, they jump to Earth. Maybe the Cylons get sick, tho, and can't stick around, so Starbuck convinces them they should go back to the human fleet, make nice, get innoculated, and together, go to Earth.

ZORKNAPP: Since they got sick from that old human artifact earlier in the season, that's right... I think that Starbuck might very well be the Fifth of the Five, with whatever the Five end up being...

cabinboy: Or Starbuck's w the Cylons, she goes to Earth on her own, comes back to the Cylons, tells them the Earth's in trouble and only the Cylons together w the humans can save it, so they jump to the human fleet in the hope of negotiating a team-up and then go to Earth all together.

Or something...

ZORKNAPP: But, what do the Cylons really want with the humans on Earth...

cabinboy :Hasselhoff.

cabinboy: What if humans are actually more perfect/developed Cylons (or rather, Cylons are imperfect humans), and when they die, they resurrect biologically, but without an artificial chamber. They resurrect in a newborn human child. And there are no spatial-distance limits to the broadcasting of a spirit/identity/persona. Maybe dying Colonials are reborn on earth...? And perhaps some Earthicans have been reborn in Colonies?

ZORKNAPP: Hmmm, seems interesting, but where do you go with this? I think it's perhaps more likely that there are Earth humans on the Galactica, and they may be behind the prosltizing to the Cylons. Just like humans, to go spreading their religion all over the Galaxy...

cabinboy: I'm dreaming up that when humans anywhere die, they resurrect, wherever humans are, regardless of distance, so it could be on Earth or in the Colonies (now the fleet), but their identities are submerged. So, maybe it's not true resurrection, but reincarnation, just a passing of certain data, experiences, flashes of memory, images, music... This could explain prophets among the humans.

ZORKNAPP: There's going to be a big leap in this show if it goes in that direction, which isn't bad, but I'm concerned that if they don't take it as just a "Okay, here are the rules of the game," they might get too stuck on trying to *explain* it all, and then we're on the road to technobabble...

cabinboy: Yeah, again, I know that some of my wishful thinking ideas are too different from what we've seen so far, the ground rules, such as they are. The strange human-Cylon culture straddling of The Five sort of opens the door to some third type of race, but explaining reincarnation might be too much and too new for the show.

cabinboy: When I first thought of the resurrecting humans I had a flash to how dying in the Colonies and being reborn on Earth, and vice versa, could explain ideas of an afterlife, and maybe a heaven and hell, for both cultures.

cabinboy: Random, dunno if I ever got around to publishing this in a post. Baltar's virtual Six, Adama's wedding anniversary visits from his wife, and Roslyn's and Starbuck's visions, they've got me thinking that all sentient skinbags in the BSG universe, whether Cylon or human, are capable of projection. And that gets me thinking that they may both have been "created" by some other power or race, that they are much more similar than they are different, that by artificially emulating humans, the Cylons have arrived at a humanity that has easier access to already existing human abilities (projection, perhaps shared consciousness and telepathy)...

ZORKNAPP: We've talked about this a bit. I think it's an interesting idea, but still not enough facts to really support it yet.

cabinboy: Sorta random... I'd like to learn more about what makes projection so great. What sort of real/practical advantages it gives Cylons over humans, if any.

Six's Jiminy Baltar tells her about Tighe's emotional issues and the death of his wife. Of course, he's not specific about it, but he's not exactly vague, and... he's right! He tells Six something that there's no way she could know. What's up with that? Is her Baltar an avatar for some latent telepathic or empathic Cylon ability?

cabinboy: Or, all humans who exhibit this sort of zaniness are in fact Cylons.

cabinboy: I've wondered since early on if the skinbags could be grown to different ages. Could Roslyn be an aged version of a Six? Could the Preacher be an older Baltar? Could Apollo be a younger Preacher?

I'm certain that would fly in the face of what's been established so far in the show, so rationally, I know it's not gonna happen (at least not with the 7 regular skinjobs).

ZORKNAPP: Agreed. I still don't think Baltar's a cylon, they could never make a robot that self-absorbed...

cabinboy: Ha, well said!

cabinboy: G1980... 27 years later... wack.

ZORKNAPP: No Dr. Z though...

cabinboy: "There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief..." Hopefully the creators' choice of song/lyrics doesn't reflect their sentiment regarding the situation they've written themselves into...

ZORKNAPP: Always a concern... I think they have ideas, but I hope the final ideas are strong enough to not disappoint...

ZORKNAPP: I have hopes that they know what they're doing, but they're throwing a lot at us now, and without a lot of clues as to where it's going. I'm enjoying the ride, but am hoping that they can balance the tightrope they've put themselves on...

cabinboy: A crossover with a STAR TREK franchise?

ZORKNAPP: Gods no....

cabinboy: *Was* Dylan included on any NASA probes? Gold records or beacon broadcasts? SETI Arecibo blasts?

ZORKNAPP: I don't believe so. Chuck Berry was, and some Mozart or Bach (or maybe it was a Mach piece).

cabinboy: I'm still processing. I'll probably need to sift thru this later this week, maybe with Zorky's help.

ZORKNAPP: Summoned, I appear...

cabinboy: CONTINUES IN 2008?! Bastards!

ZORKNAPP: Yes, it does seem a bit long... Hopefully, January 2008.

cabinboy: Look at all the synapses burnt out wondering about this frickin TV show...

*sigh*

ZORKNAPP: I have missed getting this into a TV show, since B5 went off the air...
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Thanks, Zorky, for the nerdy BSG jam session!

Keep on keepin on~

Monday, March 26, 2007

BSG: must be some way out of here...

3.20: "Crossroads part 2"

*Spoilery* notes and thoughts on tonight's episode...

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Felix lies to help convict the ex-Prez and his one-time idol. He's the guy who helped Baltar win the office of President when he uncovered the crooked voting.

Baltar: It's no secret, the whole fleet knows this guy tried to stab me thru the neck... and YOU MISSED, butterfingers!

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Judge: Like everything human, justice is imperfect, it's flawed. But it's those very imperfections that separate us from the machines, and maybe even makes us a species worth saving.

Speciesist judges, eh?

Not guilty.

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Lawyer Rommel(?): Well, your boundless confidence provided us with great solace throughout the proceedings.

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Baltar: Think about this for a second. Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? How am I going to survive?

Lawyer: As much as I hate to use a cat metaphor, doctor, I think you'll land on your feet.
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Apollo: Rommel, one thing, when you put me on the stand, did you know what was going to happen?

Rommel: I knew you were an honest man, Mr. Adama, much unlike your grandfather...

Unlike (did I hear that right?)... How well did he know gramps Adama? Does he know somehow that the Adama line carries a Cylon/earthican seed? And... He leaves the cane behind. Doesn't need it. Never needed it? Lawyering sympathy-garnering affectation?

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Adama: Not guilty is not the same as innocent.

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The Ionian Nebula—unique radiation or other phenom is the trigger for the Five/Cylons?

Ha! Baltar continues to live the late night Cinemax life, as girlies save Baltar...

Baltar: where are you taking me?

Girl (with two girly friends): To your new life.

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Baltar, Six, and Hera in the opera house/council chamber... Five figures in the balcony... Whose projection/vision is this? Are the five a new school riff on the old school BSG space angels?

The singing ship... "All Along The Watchtower," by Bob Dylan? An intentional, local trigger? Or a "live" song from earth... A broadcast? Did any Dylan make it onto a Pioneer or Voyager recording or gold record? V'ger, only with the Cylons? Then they're in earth's future... our future... And so many light years away.

Three of the resistance leaders and Roslyn's aide... Cylons? Special Cylons. Earthican agents? Without orders, tho. They have their own, existing, current, wills and personalities. Will they form Voltron?

Starbuck's back! So, maybe she was wormholed to the Ionian Nebula from the eye of that storm? Oh, no, of course! She's been to earth, and she's going to take them all there. Sure, why not?

What if humans are actually more perfect/developed Cylons (or rather, Cylons are imperfect humans), and when they die, they resurrect biologically, but without an artificial chamber. They resurrect in a newborn human child. And there are no spatial-distance limits to the broadcasting of a spirit/identity/persona. Maybe dying Colonials are reborn on earth...? And perhaps some Earthicans have been reborn in Colonies?

G1980... 27 years later... wack.

"There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief..." Hopefully the creators' choice of song/lyrics doesn't reflect their sentiment regarding the situation they've written themselves into...

A crossover with a STAR TREK franchise?

I'm still processing. I'll probably need to sift thru this later this week, maybe with Zorky's help.

CONTINUES IN 2008?! Bastards!

Keep on keepin on~

BSG: who's *not* a Cylon?

Before hunkering down to watch tonight's DVR'd episode of APOLLO McBEAL...

Tighe, Anders, Roslyn's aide, Starbuck, Roslyn, Chief Tyrol, Adama, and Baltar. So, I think they're Cylons. I know that's a few too many according to what we supposedly know. I'm still working things out.

Cylons, but not in the continuity-traditional sense. Not the Cylons that we've come to know and love. Special Cylons. Cylons who can age. Who resurrect without a resurrection ship or chamber. Perhaps they pass from death into a convenient human womb. Or pass into the closest living genetic relative. And they're not aware of their Cylon status/heritage. Maybe all humans are potential Cylons, and these five Cylon identities can jump from body to body as needed, or from generation to generation within a bloodline, as genetic sleeper agents.

Why do I choose these guys?

Some are able to hear the singing ship. Others have demonstrated forms of Cylon projection. Still others have been connected to prophecies or messages from the gods or the lost colony.

What are they supposed to do, these Cylons? A defense mechanism? An evolutionary failsafe? Seeds of a next step in human-Cylon evolution? A species-social-cultural course corrective mechanism is what I favor. Collectively, they act as a Watcher, from the Marvel Universe. Observing and collecting history as it happens among humanity. And when humanity is on the verge of taking a species-wide misstep, they are activated, and step in, Uatu-style, to illuminate and/or prevent, or repair damage, even genocide.

Keep on keepin on~

HOT FUZZ: Brattle on!

How freaking cool is the Brattle? *and* the Boston Underground Film Festival?


Fuckin A, damn straight! Eat it, megaplexes!

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. HOT FUZZ freakin rocks! =)

p.p.s. Apologies, directing genius Edgar Wright, I couldn't get a decent photo of you on stage from the floor. Where'd you go?

* March 27, 2007. In response to Zorky's comment question about autographs...

Yeah, booy-eeeeeee!~

Special thanks to In, Monette, and Camila for the legwork! =)

Sunday, March 25, 2007

overheard at Park Street...

A young 20something girl is talking to her girl friend...
Did I ever tell you about how I first learned about sex? It was from that movie, LOOK WHO'S TALKING! You remember, in the beginning, they show, like, the sperm and an egg? When I tell people about this, they're always like—Right, the sperm and the egg, yeah. But, see, I had no idea what they were! I mean, I thought they were just, like, weird little creatures... fish or something. So the movie finally starts up and I'm like, that was weird, but whatever, I guess that's important later. And the first scene, do you remember the first scene? She's at the doctor's, and the doctor's telling her, "Well, you *have* just turned thirty... These things happen..." And she's pregnant, right? So, what *I* thought was, if you don't get married or something by the time you're thirty, you're going to get pregnant! Like, automatically! Doesn't that suck? And that's what I believed for years!
Heh.

Keep on keepin on~

Saturday, March 24, 2007

THE HOST: not-so-secret origin

Wack! The origin story of the beastie in THE HOST (an f'd up military order to dump a load of chemicals into the Han River) is taken from a real world incident. Director Bong Joon-ho discusses it here. Remarkable and ingenious.

Thanks to an interesting political-minded kaiju-fan's WIRED review for the link to the Asia Times article.

Check out a slightly details-but-not-ultimate-ending spoilery discussion of the film between Zorky and myself at Zorknapp's Random Musings.

Keep on keepin on~

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Why March sucks.

Our condo was burgled last night. No one was home at the time, thank Buddha. Among the lost items are my sister's laptop, iPod, and some jewelery. Rowan and I haven't identified anything of ours as missing yet. The thief definitely went thru my stuff. In the computer room the only obvious thing amiss was a shifted lid on one of my comic book boxes. Guess jerkass was in a hurry, looked in the first box (out of a dozen or so), saw comic books, and let the rest go. In my bedroom, my desktop was a mess, papers and books flipped over and spread out, the drawers in my dresser had been opened and closed, and a couple of "cubbies" of books, toys, and collected day-to-day sediment in my Ikea cube case had been swept to the floor. My lightsaber had been handled and discarded on top of the futon. It has not yet been dusted for prints.

Given the usual state of my room, I'm surprised the guy didn't open the door, look around, and figure someone had already robbed me.

The fucker.

It must have happened sometime between 5.30, when my sister left our place to meet me and Rowan for dinner, and 11pm, when we got back from a movie in Harvard Square. In noticed something was amiss within a minute or so of stepping inside, when she saw that her laptop was not on her office desk. In and Rowan checked the rest of the upstairs, while I went downstairs, and we all found other signs of theft. A policeman arrived within a half hour of our calling it in. He checked out our place, agreed that it looked like the guy came in thru the back door, forcing-prying the outside backdoor open.

That fucking fuck.

There's a footprint on a plastic mat in the backyard, pointed toward the gate and the garbage can alley next to the building. No footprints in the snow that still covers the back half of the back yard. Seems like the guy came in and went out thru that alley, the outside back door, and then our inside back door. When we got home, the inside back door was unlocked, and the outside back door was ajar, and the gate, which is usually closed (cuz the other first floor residents have a dog that will romp in the back yard) was open.

Fuckity fuckin fuck.

For a couple hours In and Rowan and I paced and paced and talked a bit and my sister was alternately really angry and shocked and sad and pissed off and when we all sorta settled down, maybe 2am, she and Rowan turned in for the night. Me, I was still restless, and when I thought about trying to sleep, I couldn't get comfortable w the idea of sleeping in my bed after someone had gone mucking around in my stuff in my room.

So, I stripped my futon, pillows, and comforters and did a load of laundry (I'd need some of the stuff in the hamper for vball tonight anyhow), nuked up a late late hot dog dinner, watched LOST off the DVR, started to write a rambling blog post (which probably would've been this one, only with more "fuck") but decided to chop it down to "We were robbed," and eventually fell asleep in the living room. When I woke up this morning, I looked at the three little words and they didn't seem right to me somehow, so I completely removed the body of the post.

Because I'm me, I'll tell you that the movie we came home from was THE NAMESAKE. Originally In and I were going to meet up w Dan to see THE SUPER COPS at the Brattle, but the collector/source of the original print revealed that he actually had a TV-cut version, so it was cancelled, replaced by additional screenings of FRENCH CONNECTION and HARD BOILED. I was way disappointed at not being able to see it, and was still in the mood for a movie. We swung by the Harvard Square theater and the timing worked out for hitting THE NAMESAKE, which I'd been wanting to see. A fun and thoughtful film, probably a great date flick, particularly if one or both of the daters are the children of immigrants. A good little ethnic-American culture shocky rites of passage scrapbook of a film.

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. Except you, you thieving junkie piece of human garbage.

p.p.s. As awful as last night was, sad to say, the violation is only one of several events contributing to March's sucktacular standing. The other events are *not* nearly so vile, but I want it to be known that I'm not judging the entire month on the acts of one hobo addict on one particular fucked-up night.

* Minutes later. I just realized the guy took my old Titanium laptop. Idiot-fucker.

LOST: too much, magic box

Juliet throws like a girl.

I like Locke's take on Jack's situation, or at least the appearance of it.

Locke: It's Jack. The first time i saw him he was risking his life pulling people out of flaming airplane wreckage. He's shaking hands w the others, i'm sure he has a good reason.

Peter Talbot

Adam Seward - Sawyer? nope, Anthony Cooper

Locke: No solicitors... I have a sign.

Is Cooper the guy that Sawyer killed in Australia?

Jack and Juliet get to go home...?

Locke: You're wondering why it's not happening for you... You're not recovering as fast as you'd like. Now that i think about it, how'd you get sick in the first place?

Alex: How do you know my name?

Sahid: Because you look like your mother.

Alex: My mother's dead

Sahid: I'm sure that's what they told you

Clock on mantel reads 3.25.

Ben: Picture a box... Somewhere on this island, there's a very large box, and whatever you imagined, whatever you wanted to be in it, when you opened that box, there it would be...

Locke: I'd say i hope that box is big enough to imagine yourself up a new submarine... If you had any idea what this place really was, you wouldn't be putting chicken in your refridgerator...

Ben: What makes you think you know this island anty better than I do?

Sawyer: Because, you're in a wheelchair... and I'm not.

Nice shot of Locke opening the sub hatch. "Locke" and "hatch"—they do go together, don't they?

Where's "the man from Tallahassee?"

Ben: I'll let them go as soon as you've left the island...

Reminds me of the "home" thing. Gotta wonder about Ben and literal interpretations, promises, loopholes, y'know? Where "home" isn't necessarily Jack's home, the so-called real world, but Ben's home, which is the island, of course. Semantics and keeping one's word...

Ben's lieutenant? Dr. Richard Albert... right? The guy w the Egyptian mascara job from the Juliet backstory.

Locke: You're not gonna start talking about the magic box again, are you?

Ben: No. I'm going to show you what came out of it.

Ben: I wanted to know what it felt like when your own father tried to kill you.

Ha! Locke's dad came out of the magic box? Well, that's fun, innit? Hrmm... The island provides, yet again.

Is *he* "the man from Tallahassee?" Where the heck does he think he is, do you suppose? Regardless, this is slightly crazy, but certainly could be a lot of fun. Maybe the magic box will conjure up a scenario where Locke gets to repeatedly throw him out a plate glass window from 30 stories up? =)

Keep on keepin on~

March sucks.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

"This American Life" animated by Chris Ware

"This American Life" from NPR is now a television show! And, for some reason, it's on Showtime. Graphic novelist extraordinaire, Chris Ware, lends his talents to the televisional telling of a tale of media madness in the 5th grade...
Not necessarily pointful, or lesson teaching, but a wonderfully told and illustrated thing-that-happened. Very "This American Life," and very Warey. It's amazing how he can make circles, all simple geometric shapes, actually, look so lonely and dejected. Looking forward to more Ware-ian interpretations. I hope they end up online as well, as I do not have Showtime. Boo.

Don't know Chris Ware's work? Please to pick up a copy of JIMMY CORRIGAN: THE SMARTEST KID ON EARTH. It is beautiful.

Keep on keepin on~

another step closer to LOOKER...

Check out this video that features highlights of the capabilites of a morphable model of 3D faces, a model that can be used to re-create anyone's poseable, expressable, 3-d likeness from a 2-d image as a source.

Anyone remember the movie LOOKER? That's where I see the entertainment/media applications of this going, which will create new ripples in the area of rights litigation concerning control over one's likeness, and a market for them. A popular (or popular enough) model could license his/her likeness for use in commercials, films, and games, without ever actually having to show up on a set or even speak a line of dialogue.

Lucas must be loving this. Maybe Harrison Ford didn't need to hit the gym so hard for the past two years. They could just lift his younger self out of the other Indy flicks!

Of course, if they want to keep it a secret, well... Check out LOOKER. I'll hafta see about getting that onto my sister's Netflix queue.

Thanks to WIRED for the model headzup.

Keep on keepin on~

Monday, March 19, 2007

BSG: law & order

3.19: "Crossroads part 1"

*Spoilery* notes and thoughts on tonight's episode...

Roslyn's dream - also Athena's? also Six's?

5,197

Six's Jiminey Baltar!

Six: poor old soul, he lost someone close to him

Six: I know bout your loss - how?

Six believes her Baltar... and rightly so. Her Baltar actually *knows* things. At least, about drunken (Cylon?) Tighe...

They should take away Six's makeup.

Music - Tighe at the bar and in the courtroom.
- Anders in the bar. Number 3 apologizes to him...?
- Roslyn's assistant in the bar.

Poor Tigh.

Adama: 3 days out from the next clue on the road to Earth.

Tighe: I can't smell her... I can't smell her anymore, Bill... I kept her clothes... Her smell is gone now...

Roslyn's trippin on Kamala extract... because she needs it.

The weather's changing, felix, we need to be ready for it... there's a storm coming...—A revolution? Where's Zarak, I wonder...

Keep on keepin on~

Sunday, March 18, 2007

now playing: 2 movies that I love

THE HOST. trailer
A wonderful monster movie import from South Korea. Now playing in indie/wide release. Meaning, in Boston, it's playing at the Boston Common theater downtown and the Kendall Square theater in Cambridge.

In a nutshell, it's a creature feature with heart. That is, the movie has heart, not the monster. Although, I suppose it probably has *a* heart, but that's not important right now. When the beastie, a mutant aquatic creature from the Han river, begins terrorizing the citizens of Seoul, it abducts the youngest child of a dysfunctional family, and things get personal. While the government and the military attempt to contain the mutated threat, the family defies them and decides to hunt the sewer-dwelling monster on their own. In the clever and crafty hands of director Bong Joon-ho (MEMORIES OF MURDER), the movie is as much LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE as it is GODZILLA or the BLOB.

HARD BOILED. trailer
Playing Monday and Tuesday night (only 5.30 on Tuesday) at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. If you want to know what's right with buddy-cop action movies, you must see this film!

I first saw it back in 92 or 93, at the Brattle, and it changed my life (granted, if you're familiar w me and any of my life, you'll understand that that doesn't mean all that much =). It raised the bar for action and cop pictures and opened my eyes to a new wave of film coming from Hong Kong.

This is John Woo at his Hong Kong cops-vs-triads hyperkinetic cinematic bullet-ballet best, before his diluted, but still comparatively quality, Hollywood work. He directs some kickass HK talent—Chow Yun Fat (CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER), Tony Leung (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), and Anthony Wong (THE PAINTED VEIL), along with a host of excellent acrobatic bullet-eating HK stunt and supporting cast—to tell a definitive HK supercop/undercover cop detective story, full of archetypal cop and gangster motifs, themes, and codes, as well as the most amazing firefight sequences you'll see on the big screen. This film is probably the inspiration for half of all the memorable action movies and video games you've seen in the last decade or so (FIST OF LEGEND is probably the inspiration for the other half).

From the Brattle blurb...

"Hard to beat. To this day, and by some measure, HARD BOILED remains the benchmark for relentless, thrilling, visceral action. Still the most action packed 2 hours of celluloid in cinematic history. John Woo hits a delirious high in his Cantonese career with a fistful of amazing set pieces that put other directors' whole careers to shame. From the white-knuckle teahouse opener to the relentless hospital closer, the film has more showstoppers than an MGM musical."
—HOT FUZZ director Edgar Wright

The dilemma you'll have to face when walking out of the theater...

Great Action Movie, or... The Greatest Action Movie?

Note that HARD BOILED is playing at the Brattle as part of an ongoing 2-week series called the HOT FUZZtival, which features films selected by the makers the upcoming HOT FUZZ (the same brilliantly warped minds who brought us SHAUN OF THE DEAD) as inspirations for the new film. Already screened were THE FRENCH CONNECTION, DIRTY HARRY, and today, LETHAL WEAPON. Check out the Brattle site and schedule for the showtimes for more excellent buddy cop action (and one zombie =) films.

Keep on keepin on~

Friday, March 16, 2007

the best thing I ever heard...

Flashback. Two weeks ago. I was at the rehearsal dinner for my friend Brad's wedding in Jacksonville, Florida. Brad kindly seated me with the other Jersey suburbanites and their mates, a small contingent, really, composed of my sister and Rowan, Zorky and his Sue, and my dopey self. Anyhow, my sister and Rowan were getting around to filling us in on a Broadway show that they'd caught in NYC the previous weekend. As a Christmas present, they sprang for tix for both sets of parents and took them to the show and dinner. Just now, honestly, I don't remember a whole lot about the show, but I do remember a particular piece of dinner conversation that they shared.

Okay, so my sister and Rowan are sorta tag-teaming while telling this story. The party has sat down at the restaurant (I don't remember what one) and is perusing the menus. Someone comes across an odd little specialty and mentions it to the entire group... "Vegetarian Ribs...?"

My dad gives this just a moment's consideration before asking, "Isn't that just bones?"

I don't know exactly how that went over right then, in NYC at the table of parentals and Rowan and my sis, but re-told at the rehearsal dinner, it sent me into (I've never gotten to use this word before, but I think it's accurate here) paroxysms of laughter! It struck me as a perfect joke, hitting the sweet spot of my funny bone, inducing gut-aching fits of laughter and almost knocking me out of my chair.

Imagine it. A vegetarian chooses to dine at this restaurant, and intrigued by the idea of Vegetarian Ribs, orders them. Minutes later, what does the waiter reward him with? A platter of bones! And maybe a side of cole slaw. Probably expensive, too!

I think about my dad delivering this amazing line every now and then and it continues to make me laugh. Frickin hilarious! =)

Nice one, dad!

Keep on keepin on~

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

TRUE COLORS: Summer Rock Show for GLBT Equality

In a message from my sister...
Hello Friends:

Would you be interested in going to this show? It's months away, but tickets are already on sale and it's for a great cause.

Heralded by Cyndi Lauper and featuring the likes of Debbie Harry, Erasure, and the Indigo Girls, MC'd by Margaret Cho!

Check it out! If I wasn't such a lame lamey lamer, I'd definitely go. Do as I say, not as I don't. =)

Keep on keepin on~

Sunday, March 11, 2007

frack...

I chose the wrong weekend to agree to back-to-back Saturday and Sunday volleyball tournaments. Bad enough I gotta get myself up for playing on a Sunday morning, but as a bonus, we've got frickin frackin daylight savings!

Keep on sleepin on~

Monday, March 05, 2007

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER

site | trailer
Now playing at the Kendall (only thru Thursday). I haven't seen it yet, but it is awesome. How do I know? Don't be an idiot.

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. Hrmm... I wonder how tough it'll be for the Brattle to get hold of this in a few months...