Regarding Pay-TV, over whatever transport mechanism

A blog I follow posted about the number of subscription choices that would be required to watch SF&F shows that are behind paywalls. I felt compelled to respond, as I disagreed with some of his underlying assumptions. I've written about this more than once. The increase in monetization comes about only because consumers cooperate. If …

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Tomorrowland — Fifty Years Ago, Mankind Walked the Moon

Hope Eyrie Fifty years since we landed at Tranquility Base. Fifty years. I grew up during the space race. I was sitting in front of a tiny little black & white television watching Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. I collected big 8 x 10 prints at the supermarket every week, with NASA photos, …

Review: Rome, Ancient — HBO and BRP

I recently watched the two seasons of HBO's Rome series from back in 2005. See how that works? If something interesting comes out, I can wait for the opportunity to see it – in this case, waiting meant I finally got to see it without getting HBO. Delayed gratification doesn't seem to be much of …

Two Famous Birthdays this Weekend

Yesterday May 25th marks the birthday of Dave Hargrave. Tomorrow May 27th would be the birthday of Harlan Ellison. Dave Hargrave was one of the first gamers who wrote and published materials related to the then-new Dungeons and Dragons game back in the day. While the midwest's Bob Bledsaw (Judges Guild) began publishing in 1976, Hargrave's …

Review: Stargate for Farscape Fans

I broke down and binge-watched the Farscape series recently. It was a lot of fun, and like many fans I wished there was more. And then I learned that Ben Browder and Claudia Black had both moved on to the Stargate SG-1 series after Farscape folded. I'd never watched any of the Stargate series, although …

A Reaction to Farscape

I didn't see Farscape when it originally aired, because I didn't have access to the SyFy Channel. I barely remember seeing a few stills; the impression I recall was of a Muppet in the center of a room, in a scene with a human. It looked a little silly, so I shrugged my shoulders and …

Goodbye, Ralphs

I was shopping at the Ralphs supermarket on Cloverfield Ave in Santa Monica, CA this morning at 8am. As has been the case for the past few weeks, employees are busily re-arranging where things are. I'll take this opportunity to point out that is extremely frustrating, and pointless. When I shop I want to be …

Ruminations on Endless “Re-Imagining”

This is a topic I've given a lot of thought to over the years. It applies to Hollywood, but it also applies to the game industry (role-playing games and so on). It even applies to software developers, including the wonks that work on our operating systems. Let's start with Hollywood. If I'm a fan of …

Review: My Poor Quality Mouse from Razer. And the replacement. And its replacement.

I bought a Razer Mamba mouse from Amazon in June, 2016. I spent a lot on it, but I wanted a smile while working on my computer. It was wireless, and it had little light strips that you could program. It really was fun, so when I needed to replace my keyboard, I bought that …

Traffic, Human Nature, and The Social Contract

I read an article posted online about the bad traffic in my town, Santa Monica. I thought they missed the point, so I wrote this reply. I don't think they posted it, so I'll go ahead and post an expanded version here. The social contract is only a part of it. We're taught as children …