It kinda restores your faith in humanity -- or is that primanity -- doesn't it?
I think BONES had to take a sharp turn when the lead actress became pregnant in real-life and they had to rationalize it somehow in the series. It wasn't perfect, for sure.
Another show I like, coming to an end soon, is THE CLOSER. In that, the main character, Brenda, started a romantic relationship with Fritz, the FBI agent, and lo and behold they end up getting married, and all the tension comes from them having to work together. I thought that was an interesting take.
I like CASTLE, but I wonder how much longer they can keep it up. #observationdeck
Mrs. O and I were watching THE FINDER last night, the sorta spin-off of BONES, and it occurred to me that the writers had done something really interesting: the show starts out right off the bat with two of the main characters, Walter (the finder) and Isabel (the U. S. marshal) having a casual sexual relationship (friends with benefits). They just short circuited the whole "will they or won't they" dynamic. It will be interesting to see how that works out. #observationdeck
"Any beer that's in the refrigerator when the store is closed is good beer." -- Robert B. Parker
If this has an interesting hackable processor on the inside then this is going on my wish list. The AR.drone, the RC quadrotor toy, has an ARM microprocessor running Linux on the inside. You can totally telnet into it... while it is flying. It runs an FTP server as part of its firmware update mechanism, so you can think of it as a flying file server. This little device could be the land-based version.
Las Vegas just hasn't been nearly as much fun since they closed Quark's (along with all the rest of STAR TREK: THE EXPERIENCE) at the Las Vegas Hilton. And just when the Hilton got easier to get to, too, after they installed a monorail run from the strip. Damn it. Mrs. O and I go to Las Vegas every year or two for a long weekend, and we _always_ had lunch at Quark's and shopped at the DS9 promenade.
(I'm not pleased about the remodeling of the Desert Passage shops either. Loved the faux desert and Moorish interior design.)
Oh, crap, that's how I sound all the time! #observationdeck
Yes, and it made me happy when I saw it then, too!
Here's what freaks me out: these are the parasites that we know about that we have some idea are controlling our behavior. I'm more worried about the ones we don't know about, and/or have no means of treating. OTOH, there are a lot of things the affect our behavior: chemicals, ideas, etc. Many of these we "ingest" voluntarily and perhaps even eagerly.
That is, in fact, the theory.
Girl, you totally to do this. It's a moral imperative. #observationdeck
NIGHT OF THE LEPUS featured DeForest Kelley!
Isn't THE WHITE BUFFALO just MOBY DICK on the Great Plains?
WorldCons have been doing one day passes available at the door for some years now. #observationdeck
PM ping.
Yes, it was the whole "Anthony parading Cleopatra through the streets of Rome" thing, which I thought was kinda awesome, but it was lost on a lot of folks.
It was in Denver in 2008 so it's not likely to repeat there in the foreseeable future, a fact for which Mrs. O, who was a co-department head at Denvention, is grateful. For those who aren't familiar with how WorldCon works: members of the convention (like me,and you if you attend) vote for the next site two years in advance from among bids put forth by entirely volunteer fan-run bid committees. Although most WorldCons are held in North America simply because of fan density, international bids may compete at any time. Mrs. O and many of our friends have used the WorldCon as an excuse to travel all over the world, including Australia, Scotland, Japan, etc. as well as North America. You can join the convention at any time, including at the door, but the earlier you join the cheaper it is. I always join two years in advance as soon as the winning bid is announced the day after the voting closes at the WorldCon itself. The price may seem a little steep, but it's dirt cheap compared to professional conferences I've attended of similar scope. I've paid $700 to $1500 for professional conferences, which I consider astronomical and would only pay because it's a business expense, and at which I often learn less useful information than I do at the WorldCon. And I sure as hell have less fun. The WorldCon is five days long. Traditionally it's held across the Labor Day weekend in the U.S., although there's no requirement for that.
The 70th World Science Fiction Convention, a.k.a. Chicon 7, will be held in Chicago Illinois USA, August 30 through September 3, at the Hyatt Regency on Wacker Drive.
Rooms at the Hyatt are going fast. Although the rooms seem kinda pricey, some Googling around has revealed that they are competitive or even inexpensive relative to other similar and nearby downtown hotels.
Mrs. O and I will be there with our minions in tow, which are a pretty eclectic and interesting group, as I suspect will be the Bookwenches and the Evil Torties. It's not all media, although there is plenty of that. There are typically a lot of SF authors there (even more so in a location like Chicago), and a lot of science/technology-fact panels with participants of various and often impressive levels of expertise. For Mrs. O and me, it's a reunion of our extended family with whom we've travelled all over the world and have hung out with for decades. As I've said here in the past, SF cons in general and the WorldCon in particular are one of the few places that I, being a Myers-Briggs INTJ and a type-A personality, actually feel I can relax. I'm among my tribe, the people whose jokes I get and who get mine, who don't think I'm weird, in fact, on the rare occasion, kinda cool. Downtown Chicago is a great location, rife with great museums, fabulous architecture, and other entertainments, and the Hyatt on Wacker a great venue, covering two city blocks, connected above and below ground, and linked to the vast underground Illinois Center shopping and restaurant complex.
It is rumored that I've also been known to enjoy a fine adult beverage or two during such events.
#observationdeck
Mrs. O and I will be there with our minions in tow, which are themselves a pretty eclectic and interesting group, as I suspect will be the Bookwenches and the Evil Torties. Although I can be hardly said to know you or even your online persona, I'd hazard a guess that it might be right up your alley. It's not all media etc. There are typically a lot of SF authors there (even more so in a location like Chicago), and a lot of science/technology-fact panels with participants of various and often impressive levels of expertise. For Mrs. O and me, it's a reunion of our extended family with whom we've travelled all over the world and have hung out with for decades. As I've said in the past, SF cons in general and the WorldCon in particular are one of the few places that I, being a Myers-Briggs INTJ and a type-A personality, actually feel I can relax. I'm among my tribe, the people whose jokes I get and who get mine. Downtown Chicago is a great location, and the Hyatt on Wacker a great venue. I'm sure you'd be welcome among our crowd, but you'd also find more than enough to occupy you intellectually on your own.
I've also been known to enjoy a fine adult beverage or two during such events.
