Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I can say, without hesitation, that this show has become one of my favorite television shows. When this show first came on, I had heard of the movie (which I dismissed) and figured the TV show was sort of like the movie. By that I mean I thought it to be harmless, somewhat vapid and cheesy. Nothing could be further from the truth. I watch the current show "How I Met Your Mother" occasionally, and on that show, I was drawn to Alyson Hannigan, who is cute as a button. Of course, I IMDB'd her, and found she was also on BTVS. I did a little bit of reading, and found articles about Buffy that said this was an intelligent, well-written show with a wicked sense of humor. That was enough to catch a couple of the episodes when they were on TNT or whatever. Well. Even though I knew nothing of the story arc, this brief exposure was enough to lead me to invest in the DVD series, called "The Chosen Collection". As an aside, I throw my change every day in a big jar. When it is full, I take it to Coinstar. This is an automated coin-counting and redemption machine at grocery stores like Albertson's. At first, I thought it was a ripoff because if you redeem your coins for cash, they take about nine cents for every dollar. But, further research revealed that if you get an Amazon gift card, or other gift cards they offer, then you get 100% of your money. As Amazon is one of my favorite sites, I can always use their gift card, so Coinstar works well for me. Anyway, my full jar of coins generally gets me around $200 - $220. This was enough to get the Buffy DVD collection. What a wonderful set. I started from the beginning, and now am just into the last season, Season 7. This show, created and nursed by Joss Whedon is amazing. Never has a series roped me in and tapped my emotions for the characters and storyline like this one. The sad thing is, when I'm finished with it, I'm going to turn around and start from the beginning, this time making use of the commentary and other features on the discs. The show is that good.

In that months have passed . . .

and I have not written. It's not like the months have been filled with event after event. Well, we did have this little hurricane. It blew through here and caused a great deal of damage. I got off lucky. I had an awning torn off and my back screen porch kinda got wrecked, but nothing too bad. A lot of people had it worse. I fully expected the power to be off for days, but it was on two days after the storm. Later, I heard that I am on the same "grid" as the sewer plant, so that is a priority and I get to catch the wave of good fortune here. It took a couple of months to get really back to normal. Hopefully we won't have one for, well, forever.

My LSU Tigers are out of the SEC race. Young quarterback, mistakes, underachieving defense. Mercy.

A couple of weeks ago we had a bat'leth tournament in east Texas - hosted by the Melota. I didn't fight, but it was very cool. The highlight was me getting drunk as shit on bloodwine and, later, throwing my guts up. God, why did I do that? Well, I should be the talk of the tournament for next year.

Doing things a little bit different for Christmas. My brother is coming down the week before, so I'm going up to Bossier City to see my mom then - an early Christmas. That's great, though, because now I'll have the long weekend here to do whatever.

Hopefully, I'll be a little more diligent here.

BabelCon '08

Myself and my Klingon crewmates eagerly awaited BabelCon '08. Sometime in the spring, the BabelCon folks told us that if we were able to pay the $1,000 appearance fee, we would be able to have none other than J.G. Hertzler, General Martok of Deep Space 9, at our con. If we could swing this, then not only would we have General Martok, but us Klingons would be his escorts, runners, etc., for the times other than his required con appearances. BabelCon kept their word.

I rented a minivan to pick up the General. The other passengers were Commander Ri'par, Alan Chafin of BabelCon and Amie, Commander Ri'par's friend from Monroe. We left in plenty of time to meet him when he arrived around 2:30. The best laid plans . . . a wreck on the Bonne Carre stopped us dead for around an hour. We were able to reach J.G. and let him know we were going to be late. He said that was okay, he'd find the airport bar. We finally got to him and what a nice guy. Not just the trip back, but all through the con, he couldn't have been better. We had a wonderful time chatting as we drove back to B.R. J.G. asked about the area, the hurricane, etc. We reached the hotel and got him checked in. After giving him a while to get settled in, Ri'par brought him a bottle of home-brewed bloodwine. He liked that a bunch. We broke out glasses and had a drink in his room. We escorted him to Ninfa's for dinner. Again, couldn't have been nicer. He asked about us, what we did, etc., patiently answered our questions, and told us a bunch of Star Trek and related stories.

After dinner, the con had a "meet and greet" with the guests. We met Suzie Plakson, who played K'helyr, Bob May, the Lost in Space robot, who was a third time returning guest and honarary emcee. Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica was there as well. Everyone was nice and we all had a good time.

The next day was the con. They had over 700 people, many in costume. Star Wars and feddies abounded. There were folks from Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, midieval characters and Lord of The Rings, plus many more. I went to hear the guests speak, sat in on a couple of panels, and intimidated the feddies. The main beef is that there was too much scheduled.

After the General's appearances, but before the Orion slave girls, we went to get food at Chilis. This was sort of a "Good Day to Dine", where we went in Klingon uniform. I think the staff and patrons got a kick out of that. Then, back to the con for the slave girls and costume contest. Ri'par entered and he is the best Klingon I have ever seen.

Yet, he lost to two girls and a guy dressed in sort of buckskin stuff from Firefly. I have to confess, I have a major crush on one of those girls. In the hall, she took my picture and I wish I had taken hers. Hopefully, i can find out who she is so I can do nothing. I put up a notice in Craigslist, but I guess she doesn't read it. Hell, she's probably married for all I know. There was an auction for the McMains Childrens Center at Baton Rouge General Hospital. I bid for a signed bottle of bloodwine, but dropped out when it got too expensive. I did, however, win a signed picture of one of my favorite actors, Malcom McDowell.

Anyway, as the con winded down on Saturday, Shane and me found J.G. and we all adjourned to the bar. We were joined by George, Alan and some other guy. A few beers were downed, stories told, and a wonderful time was had by all. J.G. wanted to sit in on a continuation of a lecture on global warming. I was too tired and went home.

Sunday, we were not in uniform. I listed to the WAFB weatherman, Jay Grimes, give a very interesting talk on Louisiana climate and hurricanes. Richard Hatch and J.G. talked about their upcoming projects. J.G. left, having to be at the airport at 3. Bar'tok drove him in his 'vette. Shane, George and Amie also left. It was sad to say goodbye, but nice to see my friends. Richard Hatch had an acting class, but only FOUR people signed up for it. I felt so bad, but he went on with it anyway. He told us about characters, and concentration and feeling the part. We did some improv exercises, which were fun. He was really a good guy.

In short, BabelCon was a great, great con. I look forward to going next year.

Summer Update

Dead time if you are a college sports fan. CWS is over and done. LSU breezed through the regional, beating Texas Southern and So. Mississippi twice. Super regional had University of California-Irvine coming to town. They were a pretty consistent top 20 team, and I was not surprised when they won their regional at Lincoln, Nebraska. LSU lost the first game to a first-round MLB pick. They made a super comeback in the second game after being down 7-3 in the 8th inning. LSU win 9-7. The third game wasn't even close, as UC-Irvine obviously left everything on the field in the second game. LSU won 21-7. This put them in the CWS, where they had a first round game with #2 seed North Carolina. LSU lost, which put them in the elimination bracket with Rice. After being down 5-0, LSU once again came back to win 6-5. Most importantly, this broke the "0-for-Smoke" record, or the 0-4 record we had in the CWS under Smoke. Well, that put us playing against UNC again, who lost to Fresno State, who, incidentally, was the first #4 seed in their regional to make it to the CWS. The equivalent would be a #16 seed in basketball making it to the final four. Anyway, LSU lost again to UNC, who lost eventually to Fresno. Fresno played Georgia in the final round, and after dropping the first game, beat Georgia two straight to win it all. Who woulda thunk it?

Roger Ebert and Superbad

I value the opinion of Roger Ebert. I have read his columns for a long time. He is a good writer and, most of the time, when he puts a film on his great movies list, I tend to go see it.

Now, when Superbad came out, I was of the opinion that this was another teenage sex comedy. However, review after review, including Roger Ebert, praised it for its intelligence and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" view into the inner workings of high school angst. Well, I was impressed as well. One reviewer commented on the intelligent use of profanity, such that it would make David Mamet stand up and salute. I agree. The whole film works.

I did observe, though, that if, in the movie, the fat guy gets the girl, Roger Ebert tends to like it. I can only prove this theory with two films, Angus and Superbad, but that link is there.

CWS time again. LSU, top eight seed. Tough regional, what with UNO and So. Mississippi. Early favorite: Florida State.

Venom Wars 5

On March 28-30, the IKV Bayou Serpent, a proud Klingon warship of which I am a member, held Venom Wars 5, a paintball weekend at K'Allen's house/land in North Louisiana. This was the first time I ever did paintball, and hoo-boy it is a blast! I got there late afternoon Friday and after pitching camp and getting a few supplies, it was time for beer and fellowship and bed. Saturday morning was cool, almost jacket weather. We started the first game, with two pails with items of different value points at each base. The idea was to capture as many of the opposing team's pails while defending yours. The dense brush required stealth and guile to get as close as possible to the enemy before tagging them. Yes, paintballs do hurt when you get hit. The team I was not on successfully captured a pail and won the contest. The next competition was called "speedball". Two persons start at a base about fifty yards apart. Between them are various drums, boxes and cover. The players start out with no ammo. Various pods containing ten paintballs each were placed on the drums and boxes. The idea is to advance, using cover to get to the paintballs. First player that gets shot in the torso loses. I didn't play because of bracket logistics, but it was a blast to watch. The afternoon got hot, hot, hot! Some of us went to play in semi-formal games of predator and ambush. I went for a little bit, but the heat just took it out of me. K'Allen's wife, Torsha, made a wonderful chili for dinner and everyone ate a bunch. As night fell, we held ceremonies involving opening and consuming bloodwine, recognition of the five ships represented (IKV Bayou Serpent, IKV Melota, IKV Qin Vagh, IKV Deliverance, and the IKV K'Vette), plus the paintball group from Dallas/Fort Worth known as the Ghostwalkers. There was a death howl for those that departed us and pins for participants and ten-year anniversary of the Bayou Serpent. The next morning we broke camp, packed our gear and said goodbyes, until next time. What a blast!

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze has one of the most evil types of cancer, pancreatic cancer, for which the survival time is usually measured in months. Soon, very likely, he will be gone. The familiar memories of the various things he did - the classic SNL Chippendales skit, the movie roles (Red Dawn - wolverine!), the MST3K incorporation. My prayers are there, brave one.

Politics are different this year

I've noticed this difference between Democrats and Republicans, at least this year. In 1980, it was thought among the Dems that it was Walter Mondale's "turn" to run for president. In 1996 it was Bob Dole's "turn". In 2000 it was Gore's "turn". By this I mean that when there seems a generally accepted party consensus that the senior or otherwise perceived most experienced party member's turn to run for President, there seemed to be little opposition. Not so this year. By all accounts it was Hillary's "turn". If this race followed the pattern of previous races, then she should have coasted. Instead, Obama is stealing all of the thunder. What an interesting change in public politics and political race perception among the public.

Dies the Fire/We'll miss you Cloudy.

I've been reading a new book my brother recommended. It is by S.M.Stirling and it is called "Dies the Fire". The plot is that suddenly and without warning, all higher technology, engines, electricity, explosives and firearms stops working. Modern day America is, for all intents and purposes, thrown back to the middle ages. The story follows a bush pilot ferrying a family over Idaho who crashes when "the change" (what the characters call the incident) occurs; a bohemian/wiccan singer and musician in Oregon; and a professor of history in Portland who fancies himself as a king of sorts and recruits all sorts of former gangs, thugs, etc., to establish his own little fiefdom. It is interesting reading how these people tap into the history of mankind and starting living with horses, bows, chain-mail, swords and the like. I guess you have to overlook the little things. For instance, electricity doesn't work. Does this mean nothing happens when you spin a magnet inside a coil of wire? For that matter, do magnets and magnetism work anymore? What about your bodies' electrical impulses? Why do they work? In this new world, steam pressure doesn't work to operate a steam engine. But, air pressure works to keep bicycle tires inflated. There are many questions and problems, but it is like me to ignore them and enjoy they story. And it is a good story.

Just learned Roy Scheider died. How sad. He was one of my favorite actors. Most people remember him from Jaws, but my favorite roles were The French Connection and Marathon Man. A classy professional and will be missed. Goodbye, Cloudy.

Republican Debate

If I were to vote Republican, I would have to vote for Ron Paul. My God, what a bunch of petulant assholes other than Paul and Huckaby. This means McCain and Romney. Goddam, I can't believe these are the frontrunners. I wouldn't vote for either of them just because of the shit-eating grins each sported when we watched them listen to Paul or Huckaby. My opinion is that the Republican elite-those that REALLY control the party-are shitting their pants at the possibility Romney wins. I think he is a weird motherfucker, apart from the fact that he's Mormon. Not that they are nice people. Hell, I had a flirting with that crew with a subversive purpose of seeing if I could hook up with a Mormon chick. Their beliefs, though, are a little bit weird for me. From the talk I'm hearing, the "traditional" Republican machine is lining up behind McCain, while all of the batshit talk show crew, like Limbaugh, Savage and Hannity are lining up behind Romney. All in all, it should be an interesting race, both for the Democrats and Republicans.

Cloverfield and the savage human

Just saw Cloverfield. Liked it a lot. It reminded me,in a sort of wierd way, of the Jimmy Stewart as the ordinary man in his films. The guys in Cloverfield are as ordinary as it gets. The power of the film is its chronicle of these ordinary folks as they try to simply, stay the fuck alive. I liked the "Jaws" angle where we get a glimpse here and a flash there of the monster. I found myself craning my neck in the theater, trying to see what the buildings were blocking.

Another part of the film addresses itself to an interesting theory on the idea of a person's desire to stay alive. I have always believed that when faced with a situation where they could be killed, a person - any person, not just some ultimate fighter or survivalist, turns into a fucking neanderthal and Incredible Hulk combined. By this I mean that when a person has to fight something that is going to very likely kill them, they transform into a savage human animal that will fight like the most savage wolf or tiger and find the superhuman strength to stay alive. This is evident in the scene in the subway tunnel when the small monsters attack our people. The girl, in particular, shows this savage, powerful human instinct. She uses whatever weapon at hand, in this case a pipe, and beats the crap out of the monsters until they can escape. Scared, cornered humans would act like any other animal - do anything, fight anything, be as savage as necessary to live.

No Sharing This Time

LSU is the national football champions. No sharing with USC this time. They did it with superior talent and coaching, as well as being battle tested, week after week, in the SEC. When they fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, there was no panic, no worry. For three years now we have seen what a Les Miles coached football team can do when they have four weeks to prepare. Even though the score was sort of close, it was only because of a late, meaningless touchdown. LSU dominated with speed, but also with strength and execution. Ricky Jean Francois absolutely abused the OSU offensive linemen. Also, the value of Tommy Moffett, the LSU strength and conditioning coach, cannot be stated enough. All through the season we saw how much better conditioned LSU was, and it showed again against OSU. It is a good time to be a LSU football fan.