So I've Been Meaning to Write This for a While

I've been thinking I should have written about this ages ago, but the script got nominated for a Hugo, and I just heard that the same writer got a script in the next season so now's as good a time as any.

I really, really liked the Doctor Who episode "Blink." You can read all about it here - easier than retyping the whole thing. It's a really well done, very tight time travel paradox story. Usually paradox stories don't work out logically - it's like someone got it in their head that they don't have to work that that's the paradox. That's a total cop out, they do have to work, they have to work better. A really tight paradox story is a lovely thing indeed and this is one of them.

There's also a cool alien: the "weeping angels." And as a Doctor Who episode it's unique because the Doctor is basically not in the episode. I guess they do "Doctor-lite" episodes so they can do parallel filming schedules. So mostly the Doctor is in this episode as a series of "easter eggs" on commercial DVDs that another character sees. Actually there's an artifact like that on each and every DVD she owns - and only those. They form the basis for a scripted conversation across timelines, a really cool concept, and even original science fiction I think (also really very rare).

The coolest part of the conversation device is that you wind up saying "Hang on a minute!" because it is logically falling apart, and then pretty much just at that moment, the moment you are doubting that the story is as tight as you thought it was, they fix it. Too cool.

So I am blathering, but I think it's likely that Scifi will rerun last season before the new season comes on. So if you get a chance to see "Blink" you shouldn't miss it.

Read Science Fiction? Help me out?

I would like to try to compile a list of artists and artforms from future fiction. Fictional people doing things considered in the story to be art but as far as we are concerned are science fiction. Off the top of my head I can think of:

• Phil Fry and the Holophoner from Futurama
• Waldo and the Zero Gee Ballet from Heinlein’s “Waldo”
• Bobby Chumbo (I think) from Gibson’s “Spook Country” – he does “locational meta-tagging” as visual art
• I guess the band “Disaster Area” and the planet building Magratheans from Adams “Hitchhiker’s Guide” also qualify

That’s the sort of thing I am after.

If you can come up with anything, put it in the comments or send me an email.

kthxbi

I'm With McCain?

Seems like this week everyone running for president had something to say about the credit crisis. Billions here, billions there, re-write mortgages, forgive debt... I never thought I would say it, but I think I'm with John McCain. It isn't the responsibility of the government to step in and save the fortunes of people that made bad investments.

Once again businessmen made bad decisions in an effort to enrich themselves, they failed rather catastrophically and at that moment they get religion, turning to a government they loudly protest ought not be involved in their business and taking all the money they can get telling us the best thing for them is in this particular case also the best thing for us.

I think not.

McCain made his position public this year: they made their bed, now they should have to sleep in it. You'd think the Republicans would be ecstatic, if it weren't so many of their friends who made the bad choices to begin with.

And maybe I don't agree completely either. But if we're forgiving mortgages don't think there's a single homeowner that wouldn't be saying "hey, line forms here!" So if there is going to be some kind of bailout we ought to keep our collective eyes on the ball.

I buy the idea that we can't let the financial institutions collapse. With the interconnected nature of all the world's finances and the lemming nature of today's markets it makes sense to help the companies stay intact. But... There's no reason why anyone involved in the inking of the deals, or in the conceptualization of the troubled financial instruments ought to keep their jobs. These people made crappy decisions that effect everyone. They should be fired. And really, not only should they be fired, but if they have anything substantive in the way of assets they should be seized and used to finance the bailout. No job, and no parachute. We can save the companies, but you greedy jerks who got us here, you need a new line of work, in a new place.

So, ok, bail out Bear Stearns. Just make sure you do everything possible to protect us from "next time."

And I buy the idea of helping homeowners with their ridiculous mortgages, I guess. When we were buying our house (amidst this hoopla) I did at one point find myself talking to a broker with a no money down, 1.5%, 3 year adjustable rate, 30 year mortgage. And we were like "too good to be true?" And after a little, really a tiny little bit of reading I discovered that the mortgage could adjust quarterly and that there was no cap, and that the payments didn't increase but if you didn't pay the full computed payment the balance would be added onto the principal - you'd owe your soul to the company store. These are the loans that many people are trapped under now. I've got sympathy, but not much sympathy.

Still a blizzard of mortgage defaults are good for anyone so I guess a bailout is in order here too. But again, we need to stay focused. So people with one of these crazy mortgages on their primary residence, they can have a publicly funded mortgage refinance. Developers, brokers, investors, flippers - they all should have known better. These greedy jerks also ought to lose their gigs, and any substantive assets they have should also be seized to help finance the bailout.

We can help homeowners from winding up on the street or losing their nest eggs, we can keep banks and markets from going down and dragging all of us with them, but our money doesn't need to find its way into the pockets of anyone that helped create the problem in the first place. So I guess I have a little Obama, or a little Clinton strategy in my head, but there's quite a bit of Mr. McCain's "you're on your own" in there too.

Oh, and one other thing, for our present administration who just the other day woke up and decided that the regulatory structure needs restructuring: please, please do nothing. It was your regulatory posture that lead to this fiasco - markets followed toys, food, water, air; why would we be surprised. People know there's a problem now, and thankfully the financial world will not implode if we wait until next January, and a new outlook to fix the problem. We don't need any of your repairs.

Oops

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Biofuels are a Scam: The New Conventional Wisdom at Long Last: "One groundbreaking new study in Science concluded that when this deforestation effect is taken into account, corn ethanol and soy biodiesel produce about twice the emissions of gasoline. Sugarcane ethanol is much cleaner, and biofuels created from waste products that don't gobble up land have real potential, but even cellulosic ethanol increases overall emissions when its plant source is grown on good cropland."

Then Why am I So Tired?

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Plan Ahead

The payoff for plug-in hybrids: 95 years? | Green Tech blog - CNET News.com: "Plug-ins, in fact, only cut gas consumption by about 88 gallons a year over regular Priuses in urban driving. That comes to an annual savings of $158 to $250 (when you factor in the cost of electricity too). With the conversion running around $15,000, the payoff would take decades."

Yeah, Right

Same-sex ceremony leads to an Unhappy Valley: "'Such unions really violate the plan and purpose of God,' he said. 'They're built upon a sinful basis rather than the purpose of righteousness.'"

Ellipses...

The snot, thankfully, is gone... I was going to do a post about all the things I am worried about, but I am worried people wouldn't like it... LOL Politicians are funnier than LOL Vouge, but LOL Cats are still the best... I have yet another contact with Cirque, I wonder if this is the one that will actually get my kids a gig... If someone says "we'll call back to make arrangements" they ought to call back I think... I always forget just how dismal the weather in Pittsburgh in the spring can be... Not sure if I should do the precollege thing this year... Obama tried not to parse this morning, so the pundits did it before the speech was even over... USITT was cool, even if I was in more sessions than I attended... Really, what happened to air travel in this country? It used to be cosmopolitan even... I think I can never go back to TV without a DVR... I downloaded Firefox 3 in beta, I think it is cocking up everything... It was nice to see the President show some gumption last week and veto that bill so we can torture with impunity, not... I am thinking about putting adsense ads on the green page... Before Houston I ran out to Vegas quickly, that Bette Midler is not getting any help from the rest of the creative team... Next week there's no Drama classes; students=playground, staff & faculty=spring break II... I am giving a test for the eigth time tomorrow. I think it might be time to write a new test... The Commedia gig is just going to be what it is going to be, might just be time to sit up and embrace the pain... I bought too many lanyards... It was on the radio today, the price of gas is about speculators and not about supply and demand. Fucking speculators... The nachos at the Hard Rock Cafe are bad, like send them back bad... Top Chef is back. It feels too soon... I gained 8 pounds. My doctor admonished me. Admonishment has never been much of a motivator in my life... There should be more Skittles... I forgot to clean the catbox again, Mrs. TANBI is going to be cross... One week to BSG - Woohoo...

Canceled

Blog canceled on account of snot.

Finally, Some Pics

So here's the picture from today's session to go with the slides I uploaded last night:

(Shannon, Joel, Jean, David)

The session went pretty well. There were a good number of people there and most of them stayed for the whole thing. We filled all the time and didn't stammer much, and at the end there were questions - so I guess there was genuine interest. It was much better than my Louisville session, and that alone makes it worthwhile.

Here's a picture I really don't belong in:


That's me, David Conte from Clark Transfer, John Lee Beatty of Broadway fame, and Tom Sullivan from Hudson Scenic. David chaired this panel on touring and asked me to sit in as the voice of education and training. I didn't have much to say in the grand scheme but I said yes anyway. Even without me it was a great session. Tom had pictures and drawings from The Color Purple Broadway set and touring set and we got to go through them and listen to John Lee talk us through the changes. Pretty neat. Also I got a real nice jacket from Clark Transfer as SWAG.

Home tomorrow. Cross you traveling fingers for me.