Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con
SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION SET PHASERS ON FUN!
In my life I was not witness to very many Science Fiction Opportunities. I saw all the Star Wars movies when I was very young. A boy that I once dated had an affection for Chewbacca. Other than that I was a Science Fiction Virgin. Fast forward to present day. I may have mentioned before that I date a geek. Part of upholding the title is you must view or read about 4500 hours of science fiction per year. My boyfriend tries to go a little beyond so the geek gods will look on him with favor. I try to support these interests in any way that I can. For example, every Friday night a show called Battlestar Galactica comes on at 10 o'clock. I manage to fall asleep early every Friday night so that when my boyfriend returns home from work he is able to watch what the "fleet" is doing. Someone has also gotten him into the complete series of Firefly. I'm not entirely sure what this show is or is about except that it is described as "a western that takes place in outer space" when asked "Isn't Star Wars a western in outer space?" the reply (after the look of disgust) was "well this is a little more obvious. " "Oh." In supporting his interest in this show I found a sale on the DVD at Target today and took him to purchase it. The science fiction that I most support of course is Star Wars (mainly because I enjoy the movies myself(aside from episode 1)). I have watched many movies, purchased merchandise, including the Chocolate Empire set from M&Ms along with keeping any Jar Jar humor to a minimum. Also one of my favorite links is a Star Wars
link .
Other things supported include: "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" (fell asleep), a variety of zombie movies and I'm sure many others. Things not supported: Star Trek, and things with robots after a little incident i like to call "iRobot, dieRobot". There have been some benefits to the expansion of my horizons, such as understanding certain jokes on television shows and a deeper appreciation for those who are not of the earth kind.
(Photo taken from
www.doggienews.com/)
What Would Claire Do?
I have based my life on one principle alone. What would Mrs. Huxtable say or do in this situation? I figure that she must have a great base for knowledge. She started out the Cosby show with four children and another child appeared somewhere between the first and second seasons. A child who happened to be the eldest who was "away at college." A Claire formed miracle? I think so. Claire Huxtable has fought racism and sexism and then has time to come home and boss her children around. One episode of the Cosby Show has Claire battling against men twice her age on a politically charged debate show where she was just told that she was asked because she would reach a new demographic, not because of her superior knowledge which by the shows end she proved to have. She also has shown Sondra's boyfriend a thing or two about the female roles of the mid 1980s. She even had the boy making a dinner for her. Score one for Claire.
Another one of the classicly Claire episodes involved middle daughter Vanessa. Vanessa had decided to go to her concert with her friends. Innocent right? WRONG. She did not bother to mention that "THE WRETCHED" were playing in Baltimore, Maryland just a few hours from New York City. When her friends reached Delaware they had their car stolen. They did not report the car missing because they did not want to get held up by the cops on their way to the
concert. When they got to the concert they had their tickets and money stolen and finally someone gave them money for bus fare home. All's well that ends well? Right? WRONG!! The Huxtables had seen that the Wretched had been playing in Maryland. When they called the parents of Vanessas friends they were told that the Delaware police had found the car but no one had reported it. Needless to say Clare was not happy. She expressed this to Vanessa in a way that only Clare could. By going on a tyrate while flailing arms and a silent Cliff watched.
Clare has seen her kitchen transformed by her husband, her son conquer dislexia, her daughter quit college and secretly get married, all while inviting her second cousin Pam to live with her family. So thank you Clare for teaching me your peaceful and not so peaceful ways of dealing with family, jerks and of course your husband.
Ode to the Simpsons
Oh Homer, there with so little hair
Marge so true, with hair of blue
Maggie and Lisa, what could be sweeta
then Bart with Australia ready to sue
Everythings coming up Millhouse
as Martin studies hard,
Jimbos punch cuts through
Nelsons laugh like a card
The Power Plant sits on the hill
with Monty Burns and Smithers,
Lennys got pudding in his eye,
as Carls nuclear knowledge withers
Oh! Moe! The swill is fine today
as Barney gobbles it up,
Perhaps the Chile Peppers will play
and U2 will clean up
Grandpa talks of Bee head nickels
as Patty, Selma and Jub Jub all hiss
in praise of McGyver and Mr McClure
and Comic Book guy reads Hi and Lois
Mayor Quimby, Seymour Skinner and Mrs Krabapple
keep things quite neat with Chief Wiggum
who holds it still in his heart
when Sideshow Bob called him Piggum.
Snowball II rules the roost
as Santas Helper jests
the the only one who could compete
is an elephant from a radio contest
Of Course there is Krusty
Kent Brockman and Sideshow Mel
Itchy and Scratchy's show might have been ruined
by Poochies awful smell.
and Finally the Holy Rollers
The Flanders Rod and Todd
Reverend and Mrs Lovejoy
are helped by Ned and God
Oh Simpsons I love thee
they have brought me laughter and song
from the Monorail to the Burlesque house
to Marge's Many wrongs.
Weapons of Mass Detention
Today was an interesting day.
"You used to be cool", a child said as he is dismantling a weapon he has constructed with 3 pencils stacked on top of each other and paper clips sticking out of the erasers so as to resemble a Midieval Spiked Battle Flail.
The Dream Team
As we know from our fantasy football leagues and online baseball interactions there is one thing that we can count on. Role Playing. Yes jocks, you all participate in it. Its your form of Dungeons and Dragons. You get to pick the team that,based on rankings, have some sort of fake game like things.
As you may have guessed I am not into Fantasy Football. Nor am I into Dungeons and Dragons. However there is a small piece of mental role playing that I participate in quite frequently. The Law and Order Dream Team.
I love Law and Order. I only began to watch the show about five years ago because the show came on at the same time as my lunch break. I fell in love though. Each episode brought new wonder that was (almost) always tied up in one hour. One of the best parts of Law and Order is the way that the characters interact with one another. This has led to my invention of the Law and Order Dream Team. A Law and Order Dream Team is composed of 6 people who have played on the original Law and Order. The original Law and Order was chosen because in this Law and Order there are the most possible options. We cannot allow cross breeding (mixing cops and district attorneys from Law and Order:SVU or Criminal Intent or even Trial by Jury, if you can name one character on that one, keeping in mind that "Lilith" is not a character).
On a dream team you must have 2 detectives. You must also have one captain/leitenent. You must have one Assistant District Attorney, one Executive District Attorney and one District Attorney. At this point you may be asking what your choices are. In which case I give you "the list"
DetectivesGeorge Dzundza - Max GreeveyPaul Sorvino - Phil Cerreta
Chris Noth - Mike LoganJerry Orbach - Lenny Briscoe
Benjamin Bratt - Ray Curtis Jesse L. Martin - Ed Green
Dennis Farina - Joe Fontana
Captain/Lieutenant Dann Florek- Donald Cragen
S. Epatha Merkerson- Anita Van Buren
ADA'sRichard Brooks - Paul Robinette
Jill Hennessy - Claire KincaidCarey Lowell - Jamie Ross
Angie Harmon - Abbie CarmichaelElisabeth Röhm - Serena SoutherlynAnnie Parisse - Alexandra Borgia
Executive ADA'sMichael Moriarty - Benjamin Stone
Sam Waterston - Jack McCoy
District Attorneys Steven Hill - Adam Schiff
Dianne Wiest - Nora Lewin
Fred Dalton Thompson - Arthur Branch
Those are your choices. Stock your dream team well. I will now give everyone a sneak peak of my dream team.
Lenny Briscoe- Lenny made Law and Order because deep down he was a bitter cop and thats what we need more of on television. He was weary of the system he worked for but believed if he was doing what he was supposed to everything else would fall into place.
Mike Logan- I have chose Mike because he has the same bitterness but he wants to change things in the justice system and he punched out that politician. I have also put him with Lenny because all of his other partners were shot so there must be some magic there.
Donald Cragen- This one was tough. While I do enjoy Anita Van Buren, Cragen's chemistry with Lenny and any other cop for that matter is magical. Cragen runs his force with a "dont screw me over attitude" which encourages trust and bonding between him and the detectives. He could also hold his own on SVU as well as on regular Law and Order.
Jamie Ross- This was a toss-up. Abbie Carmichael was a close runner up. Jamie was not afraid to stand up to anybody. She knew she was in a old boys club and she was willing to play the game. However there are few if any times that she did what she believed was wrong. I think that working in a fictional DA's office this is very important. Who knows what others are up to?
Jack McCoy- Who else could be the executive DA with such vigor. Jack loses his head frequently and has quite a few contempt charges. He plays games with whoever he can and is a ladies man at that. What can you say about the man whos slept with almost all of the ADAs?
Adam Schiff- This guy is pissed constantly. He seemed to encourage quite a bit of in office driniking in his office. And last but not least hes not wishy washy Nora. (Arthur Branch can be his tag team partner in full out combat if needed)
I feel that this team of justice can serve the fake United States better than any other law team in the country. Just try to mess with my team. Bring your team up against mine anyday.
(much information was borrowed from
Wikipedia)
My Pseudonym...Finally
I have decided to adopt an alternative name. A pseudonym. I feel that maybe I am being held back by my current name. For example, would we be enjoying the tales of Charles Dodgson as much as we enjoy going through the looking glass with Lewis Carroll. If a certain cowboy had been known as Marion Morrison would we admire him as much as we do John Wayne. Would we remember someone with an impossibly long name as well as we remember someone just going by Madonna or Cher? I just cant see it.
Here are some things that I need to first consider. First I need to decide if my pseudonym should be a real name or a brief description of myself. I'm thinking brief description of myself. I will take the old Dirty Bastard route on this one folks. Lets see three words to describe me:
Hungry Hungry Hippo. Wait, already been taken. Alright how about Funky Cold Medina. Wait once again already been taken.
Perhaps now it is the time to think back to the slew of Spanish names that I chose in high school. Catalina (no, I believe I was hungry when I picked this one) Cecilia (no I only chose this one only having conned my friend into picking the name Bibiana on the promise that I would pick something equally as attractive...I chickened out last minute) There was one more...oh yes Enriquetta (EN REEK A TAH) It still rolls off my tongue like the first time that I heard it. I picked it after learning that it was the Spanish version of Henrietta. Never had I heard such a beautiful name. However not everyone could understand the beauty of the name Enriquetta. My Spanish teacher could not look at me while saying it for she would burst into peels of laughter.
I was reminded of a similar situation. It took place in a book starring a little girl named Ramona who thought that Chevrolet was the most beautiful name in the whole world and her whole family (one of whom was named Beezus, I might add) could not understand her attraction to the name. Now I understand, Ramona. Ramona Quimby.
I now know the jelly to the peanut butter of the name Enriquetta. Quimby. Enriquetta Quimby. Never has a more fitting name surfaced from this nation. Yes now I too can be with the likes of
Allen Stewart Konigsberg....or Woody Allen
William Michael Albert Broad...or Billy Idol
Chaim Witz.......or Gene Simmons
Yes, now I too have a pseudonym of which to rule the world with. Finally!
Being the Nosiest Girl Alive and Other Truly Tragic Tales
I grew up in a small town. (Obviously) There was always something to talk about and if there’s one thing that I love and hate is everyone knows everything. I always loved to hear what was going on with everyone but hated people to know what I was doing. I was always up on all of the gossip. I was friends with people in different groups and always had the scoop. I remember a good friend of mine after every sorted story that I told saying “WHERE DID YOU HEAR THIS?”
Fast forward to college. I went to a small college where everyone knew everything to a slightly lesser extent. I was always talking to everyone trying to find out about everything. I needed to know. It almost gave me strength and comfort to hear the whyfores and whosits of my new environment. I always liked to be “in the know”. In my senior year I was introduced to
the facebook, an online gossip directory meant for college students.
The facebook lists everyone who chooses to be listed complete with pictures, dating trivia, jobs, classes they were taking and who their friends were or were not. At first I resisted the facebook. However it called to me, when I found out that when my roommates told a story I could now look up to see who they were talking about I was in heaven. I joined and spent hours on this. I was just so curious. Who’s dating who? The facebook says their in a relationship but I thought they were just friends, this must be their way to come out and announce their relationship to the whole world. Who has a job? Where are they living after graduation? I thought they were good friends but they aren’t even friends on facebook. The potential for fake friendships increased greatly. This person asked me to be their friend. I’ve said two words to them in real life but in order to look at their profile I need to be their friend. OK. Yes instant friendship.
I graduated and became bored with the facebook. I became so bored in fact that I needed to branch out into the world outside of college. It was my graduation of nosiness. I joined
myspace.com. This is another way to extend my nosiness. I could now tell what was going on in town, where people were now and what they were doing. I had a whole new army of fake friends. One that I could rule the world with (if to rule the world you need about 36 people) I can see what people are doing, when they are online and other interesting tidbits.
Myspace and Facebook comparisons
Myspace allows you to have music…this is annoying in my opinion…if I wanted to listen to the newest Franz Ferdinand song I would have hopped in my jeep wrangler ready to trade in my Dave Matthews at the Newbury Comics.
Facebook tells people who you are in a relationship with and what kind of relationship. For example Jane Doe is in an open relationship with Bob Smith. Ok I feel informed now.
Myspace allows you to use HTML to edit your page. This can be delightful or aggravating. If you like puppies and sparkly things then I want to see it. I am trying to pry through your life anonymously and I need to be able to read clearly. However I do enjoy the fact that the profiles are almost always different unlike thefacebook.
Thefacebook gives you the bare facts. This is what you need to know. This is why. This is it. This is helpful.
Myspace gives you the means to fill out surveys, post bulletins and other equally irritating things, which only serve to waste time and lives slowly but surely. Do I really care when the last time that you ate a whole pack of Oreos by yourself was? The answer is no.
Myspace can serve as an aide to young musicians. Musicians often seek out friends. When you are invited to be someone’s friend and you see they are a musician the idea is that you would listen to their music, enjoy it and then hopefully add them to your friends list so that when someone else is pawing through your profile they too will listen to your musical friends free tracks.
The verdict: Overall myspace wins. There are many annoyances however I think it is the personal irresponsibility of the myspace clients who are responsible for silly backgrounds, stupid surveys and blinking lights. The rest of the program is user friendly and has much more information to be filled out and found.
