Battlestar in movies

Wow.

'Battlestar Galactica' of the Sci Fi Channel, in partnership with Microsoft, will unspool a special two-hour episode of "Battlestar Galactica" in movie theaters in eight major cities two weeks before it premieres on the network.
The episode, "Razor," kicks off the final 22-hour season of the series. The theater showings, which are free, take place Nov. 12 in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas and Seattle.

Since I only watch BSG on DVD, watching this would screw up the order for me. Still, knowing the opportunity to see it in a theater is there ...

Deadwood: Best TV show ever

I just tore through the third season.

The storylines -- completely unpredictable. The characters -- deeply flawed, honorable, allowed to stay in character by the plot lines. I'm still amazed by the writing -- Shakespearean, but in a way I enjoy it, and kinda sorta understand it.

It resonates especially well with me when I watch -- usually at about 3:30 a.m. and there's nothing else but me and Sam and Sam's bottle.

The sad thing is that HBO, in a tradition of ending series in ways to piss people off, ended this without bothering to resolve any of the driving story lines. Oh well. I'd been warned.

Still. Just like I can appreciate the one season of Firefly, I can appreciate three seasons of Deadwood.

I'd recommend it to anyone. Except maybe my parents, who might have trouble dealing with all the cussin', whorin' and over-the-top graphic violence.

Gettin' de bizness

I post this with nervous coughing and several throat clearings. Basically safe for work. Basically.

Found on Ace of Spades.

I get it. Tech sucks.

The thought hit me after seeing the Raiders of Red go down like a big thing going down against Colorado on Saturday.

Texas Tech football: Not good this year.

It's sad that it took seven games for this to get through to me, but it explains a lot.

Such as why everyone acted like beating an average A&M team was a huge upset -- Turns out, it was. It explains why the response after dropping games to Mizzou and Colorado was a big group hug as opposed to people yelling or hitting the panic button.

I'd be depressed, but, what the hell, it's already too late in the season to do anything about it.

Here are some comments I'll be making in the near future on Tech football:

• "Take that Baylor! Yeah, that's right. How do you like me now, Bears?"
• "That was an outstanding two minutes against Texas."
• "Shreveport! Awesome!"
• "I'd be more threatened by Kansas if coach Mangino's explosion wasn't immenent. I imagine half the reason they're winning is that opposing quarterbacks don't adjust to his gravitational tug when they throw the ball."*

*No, it has nothing to do with Tech, but I've been writing too much about football lately and am hereby declaring a self-imposed moratorium until December. So I wanted to get this in. And the guy makes me want to blow up my refrigerator just by looking at him.

Tech:Big Game as Hen:Laying egg

I feel like ...

Ah, what the hell. I feel like any number of fans of several thousand teams who believe that this season, things are going good, if only we can actually come through in a big game.

And then they (In my case, "they" is the Raiders of Red) fall flat on their backsides.

I don't mind losing so much in these contests as much as getting blown out. I was at the game in Oklahoma when Tech had a shot to win the Big 12 South and got trashed 98-7. Or something.

I've seen it happen year after year against Texas.

And, now, I'm apparently watching a Mizzou team that has our number.

At least if we'd make it close, we could leave these games with some measure of respectability.

Instead ...

I'd end this with "sigh", but I hate posts that have the word "sigh" anywhere in them, because it's used as often as the letter "A".

*For those not knowing what I'm talking about, the University of Missouri is trouncing Texas Tech in a football game. It's ugly. Britney-Spears-at-45 ugly.

Adios Lajitas

Lajitas was a village next door to Big Bend National Park, until some rich dude decided to buy it in 2000.

The guy, one Steve Smith, bought the place with the idea of turning it into his private hideaway. Then, as rich dudes do, he started getting ideas. About $100 million dollars worth.

He decided to go with the idea of a rich luxury resort, and he built one, along with a golf course (in an area that gets maybe 5 inches of rain a year) and stables and shopping and etc.

The project went belly up this fall.

I didn't really hate the idea of the place. It was just civilization's further encroachment on the last wild places in Texas. While I find it aesthically annoying, the rational part of my head just figures that's the way things go.

What interests me more here is the kind of messianic vision it would take for the guy to do this. When I first heard about Lajitas resort, my first reaction was, "That makes no sense*." And I'm some dumb schlub who has no plans at real estate development. Surely this guy had some one telling him the same thing.

The resort's golf course and demand for water would stretch the eco-system for the entire area. The place is ridiculously remote, and people out there like things rustic. A few weekend cabins might have worked, but a huge resort?

In the frontier days, various religious groups (or cults) would go to some to some place out in the middle of nowhere to build their utopia. Sometimes they'd create Utah. Most of the time they'd create a dramatic loss of fat and teeth in their possession, along with a side of massive amounts of death.

I suppose it still happens. You have that fundamentalist Mormon guy who built his compound near Eldorado (lovely little city, by the way).

I see that same urge in some people. People who are rich and have reached a point in their life where they want to do something big, but have no idea what it is. Then they go off pouring money into a desert.

*Interesting story. I had just spent the night in a public bathroom at Big Bend park, singing Klingon songs with Jeremy and trying not to freeze. A lot of things didn't make sense to me at that point.

*Different kind of post for this site. Bear with me, just trying things out.

Goose was speaking to me

I was caught Thursday in the most awesome traffic delay ever.

Driving up I-35W on the trip to work. I glanced up and noticed some dots in the air, going way up, then down, then way up again while shooting out smoke.

The Blue Angels* are in town this weekend for the Alliance Air Show. (Alliance Airport is Son of Ross Perot's moneymaker.)

And the planes were out Thursday afternoon rehearsing. Or involved in one massive commercial dedicated to near rush-hour traffic along I-35.

People were slowing down, pulling over at the Cabela's or just stopping along the shoulder to take a look. Idiots. I kept on nearly running into them as I divided my time between watching the planes and maintaining my slightly-above-legal speed.

Anyway, cool to watch. A lot of low-level flying in formation, splitting off, reforming. I could hear the jet engines in my car. And I could hear Van Halen playing in my head.

*The Blue Angels' web site, if you don't know what I'm yapping about. Commie.

I'm a little worried about the 'Friday Night Lights'

And a few other notes ...

(Warning, lots of spoilers. Also a warning that if you don't watch Friday Night Lights, this first part will be gibberish. Skip on down a ways.)

I spent a lot of time last year nitpicking the show to death pretty much for my own amusement. But I always came back because I liked the characters and found the story lines generally compelling. And because the number of shows located in West Texas will probably peak out at one in my lifetime.

I liked the first episode of this season. Things seemed to get off to a good start.

The thing that nagged me was the fact that nice-boy geek Landry HAULED OFF AND KILLED A GUY. Honestly, the killing was fine. The problem was what happened afterward. Hide the body and don't call the police?

The Sports Guy at ESPN.com definitely did not like this, saying Landry had essentially deserted his character. Eh. I'm always of the position that a boy can get talked into any kind of stupidity if the woman he luvs is the one talking.

So for me, it was more about Tyra losing it that surprised me. She's plenty nuts, but usually in a self-preserving way, and she's always had a strong streak of common sense. (Hence her decision to aim for Texas Tech).

So anyway, this plot 'twist' happens, and it overshadows everything else about the show:

Gee, Landry is having difficulty learning to work through his blockers. That's a shame on top of the fact THAT HE KILLED A GUY. Hmmm ... Landry's making his usual sensitive geek jokes with his buddy. It must not be as funny after HE FREAKIN' BASHED A DUDE'S SKULL IN. And then he and Tyra HAVE SEX. I'm not buying it.

Meanwhile, the coach's daughter Julie is driving me nuts.

Her mother's falling apart trying to deal with a new baby, and she can't be bothered to help. All that she can do is go out and be jail bait for some slacker musician who'll soon find himself sliding into prison.

Meanwhile -- now that they've broken the Totally Impossible Relationships barrier with Landry and Tyra -- every time a guy and a girl on the show meet I'm wondering just how many episodes before they get it on.

Matt and his grandmother's nurse? I'm giving it three episodes. He's bound to be going through some lonely times.

Coach's wife and geeky science teacher? God, I hope that doesn't happen.

Last year, it would slide into Friday Night Lights, 90210. This year, it's more like Friday Night Lights: Hookin' Up!

Schedule, schmedule
Reached a point this week where I just threw out every piece of advice regarding the boy. When he's hungry, I'll feed him. When he's asleep, I'll let him sleep.

He has no schedule. I recall the pediatrician's advice to put him to bed before he goes to sleep. The problem is he'll feed for two minutes. Then fall asleep. Then feed for a minute, then fall asleep for 30 seconds, and so on.

I give up. We'll just follow his lead until we reach that magical six-week point I've heard about when he settles into some kind of a discernable rhythm.

(On a slightly philosophic note, I kind of take this time as God's way of telling you that your kid is going to do what he wants to do, and is otherwise 75 percent out of your control.)

George Lucas planning Star Wars TV series. Damn.
I just wish he would allow someone who still cares about Star Wars to take control of the project, as opposed to himself.

Here's a quote from the story:

Lucas is confident he can find a home for his droids and Jedi, but he also knows the projects are unorthodox enough to give network executives pause.

"They are having a hard time," Lucas said. "They're saying, 'This doesn't fit into our little square boxes,' and I say, 'Well, yeah, but it's "Star Wars." And "Star Wars" doesn't fit into that box.' "

Actually, what most people are saying is that they'd like to put Star Wars into the little square box of "Things that do not suck."

Save for episodes 4 and 5 and parts of 3 and 6, George Lucas hasn't put much in that box lately.

And remember what happened the last time Lucas did Star Wars for TV.


Tired of Cowboys blather
From the gnashing of teeth on the local sports pages, you would've thought that Tony Romo did nothing on Sunday afternoon but torture golden retriever puppies on the sidelines. Sheesh. The season's not over. There's no reason to think the Cowboys couldn't win if they got another shot at the Patriots. I'd just like to see a victory in a freakin' playoff game.

(I had mixed feelings watching. Wes Welker went nuts all day. It was a pretty sweet sight for Tech fans. Also for myself. Before the season started, I was at a party in Oklahoma. The same guy who derided me for 'not knowing much about sports*' was also the one who said Wes Welker was overrated. Wish I had a phone number to text message "Suck this".)

*Which is true, by the way. I still don't like to hear it, tough guy.

Notes

About 15 days of posts in a handy condensed version.

It's 5 a.m., I'm just going to go through these until Sam wakes up or I finally pass out.


A special thanks to the wife

Who, thanks to pressures at work and the TV viewing habbits of her husband, has become literate in football. We watched the Cowboys game together on Monday and were both amazed. She stole "Friday Night Lights" from me when I was halfway through it and finished it in a couple of weeks.

And, most importantly, she knows the "Never-Tease-Husband-After-Tech-Loses" rule. Husband bends over backward to not dog anybody else when their team falls flat on their backsides, husband gets really annoyed really quick when people don't do the same for him.

And good job with the child-bearing thing.


Speaking of "Friday Night Lights"

Watched the premier episode and went away happy.

The show matured over the summer. The characters were all more at home with themselves, and most of my pet peeves were dealt with, like the first season's penchant for making high school relationships seem like husband/wife affairs.

This season, the first episode begins with a girl trying to cheat on her boyfriend solely out of boredom, and the boyfriend having no idea what to do with it. Then the girl gets humiliated. Yep, that's high school.

I'm slightly worried about the rumors of a Rosie O'Donnell appearance, but with any luck we'll be able to get through that together. Looking forward to the season.


Put the beer away, no cussin', and don't nobody say nothin' about no dirty movies

Hi Mom.


Maybe it's just me ...

But the Texas music I've heard lately mostly blows. All sounds the same. I realize that I'm not a bar scene kind of guy who keeps track of up-and-comers, but I'm usually able to find a couple of songs I like on 95.3 or 95.9 in Dallas.

But the last month or so, it's just been guys who are writing their 18th song about their disinterest in their love life or some dude posing to be Mr. Tough Guy and not fooling anyone. Too many songs with too much buildup and not enough substance.

The only thing I've heard lately that I've enjoyed has a pretty sick idea to it. Here's the chorus:

Well, I never kissed a girl,
Til I went to college.
She got drunk and cheated on me.

Well, I never kissed a boy,
Til I went to prison,
For murder in the first degree.

It's kind of catchy, clever, and straight out of a white trash nightmare. The fact that a joke song about this stuff is out there tells me that people are running out of ideas.


Note to the Aggies

Just wanted to say, I'll guarantee you that our stupid frat boys will always outstupid your stupid frat boys. Once it comes to being a stupid frat boy, you CANNOT BEAT a dude that brings in elements of racism and animal cruelty and puts it on a T-shirt with a graphic design that looks like it was drawn by an 8-year-old klansman bottlefed on a mixture of meth of ritalin.

You think your frat boys are stupidly offensive? Tech made the FREAKIN' DRUDGE REPORT over this.

So, in honor of the stupid frat boys of Texas Tech's Theta Chi chapter, I give them the disapproving image of O.J. Simpson*, who seems to be thinking, "You're on the verge of psychotic here, but it's missing a certain elegance ..."




And OK. My wife's alarm clock just went off. Y'all have a good day.

* Thanks to John.

Sam's first outdoor walk

Not that he actually did any walking. Mainly for him it was sleeping and using his diaper. Maybe I should call this, "Sam does everything he usually does in an outdoor location."

Anyway.

Meredith honestly had no idea the sign would be there until we opened the box and pulled down the shade.

"Oh my God! We're one of those people!"

I'm not sure who "those people" are -- Annoying people who stopped existing in the late '80s; or, people who have given up all claim to hipness with the arrival of child. I'll guess choice two.

We went to a park about half-a-mile away. It was the first time to break out the stroller. Nice day. A little too hot, a little too humid.

But I was a little bit too not remembering what the sun looked like.

Mom continues her recovery. This was her first time out and about since the ceasarian, so we took things easy.

But a nice hour in a nice park.

Some other photos:

The Grandparents. (Meredith's side)

A very bright Sam. Really, the contrast and color here is a bit much, but we haven't gotten a lot of close-ups with his eyes open. He's looking at where the sound comes from, but hasn't quite focused on it yet.

Quick pics

Haven't had much time to blog lately. Don't have time to post now, only Grandma's demands for more baby pics were starting to border on the physically threatening. But it's a little hard to blog at 2 a.m. when your mother-in-law is sleeping in the computer room. (Still, thank God she's here.)
Here's a shot of Sam in a duck costume from Aunt Mindy. I understand the second before this he didn't look nearly as angry.

And here's Mom and Dad looking over their newest grandbizaby.

And this last one I call "Bigger, Faster, Stronger, held by Shorter, Fatter, Balder."

Sam, I AM

Soon to be making his first Hico appearance: As we've been walking zombies for the past three days, I won't go on long here other than to say that Samuel John Hill Segrist has safely landed in Fort Worth. Thanks to everyone for their help and support.

Here's a quick illustration of why you should pack in advance of your wife telling you it's time to go to the hospital:

Waah! And it’s possible interpretations ...

Waah! Oh, pardon me. Would you terribly mind handing me to the woman?

Waah! I wouldn’t complain. Soon I’ll be adding odor.

Waah! Well, look at that – it’s 4:13:24 a.m.! ... Check it out – it’s 4:13:25 a.m.! ... Whaddya know – it’s 4:13:26 a.m.! ... Hey – it’s ...

Waah! Basic cable is the best they could do?

Waah! This injustice will not stand! I know who you are! You are going to be sorry you ever messed with ... zzzzzzzzzzz.

Please stand by ...

We'll be right back.

Until then, enjoy our selection of Bollywood.

The Great War -- Eh

Watched part two of the latest Ken Burns docu-epic "The Great War." Disappointed.

Didn't see the first episode on Sunday. The Cowboys were on and you have to have priorities.

Anyway. I didn't like Monday's show because of two things I don't expect to see from a Ken Burns documentary: Repetition and shallowness.

The personal stories people told were moving. But they were short. Then he'd go back to the stock war footage everyone has seen about a million times: Cannons firing, planes crashing, bodies emaciating. It's not that this stuff doesn't have an impact. It just doesn't have an impact the 29th time you see it.

I kept on reaching for the remote to turn down the volume of the bombs.

Burns then spends all of 15 seconds introducing Gen. Patton. The best American general in the last century, and we get a brief intro into how he had "New ideas that helped America turn the tide." That's it?

In the Civil War, Burns gave Shelby Foote eight minutes to describe General Lee stopping along the road to make water. And included a map. Patton gets 15 seconds?

I'm guessing that Burns was probably intimidated by the scope of the whole thing, along with time constraints. He talked to live people, probably didn't want to hurt their feelings by not including them. Such is the advantage on doing a documentary on the Civil War, as everybody is for the most part dead. So, he instead includes everybody and never gets really deep into the subject.

Whatever. It's one episode. I'm hoping it picks up steam.

Tech goes blegh

"Oklahoma State slipped away with a 49-45 shootout victory Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium, leaving Tech winless in its last three trips to Cowboys country and Red Raiders coach Mike Leach steaming."

For my own very lame two cents.

(Huh, I start writing this and learn it's already out of date. Tech's defensive coordinator is gone.)

Anyway, from now on, let's at least include one hard team before Big 12 play starts.

It was like a high school coach we quoted the other day said:

"You play the big, good schools because they'll challenge you and expose some things you might otherwise not see."

Things you might not see, like a defense that apparently thinks a good, solid
pointing at a running back will cause him to fall over softly like a baby lamb falling asleep.

If you spot this before conference play starts you might be able to make some adjustments before losing to a team you have no reason to lose to. Again. And Again.

Just slightly bitter. Some folks in Lubbock are calling for some heads, but that's silly at this point.

I don't make this statement from a point of expertise. I do make it knowing that no one reading this gives a crap.

Stay strong Aggies, stay strong

At least for the next week or so.



I understand the guy's an A&M grad attending law school at Tech. I can understand the mental state.

Cornerback season

Read newspapers enough and you'll begin to notice story patterns.

Such as, here we are in the fourth week of the college football season. Most college beat writers have already done a story on the quarterback, plus a story on the team's best running back or receiver. Followed by a feature on a star that has surprisingly emerged.

This week? The reporters ran out of ideas and just started going* with positions in alphabetical order.

So in today's Star-Telegram, you can read about Texas A&M cornerback Marquis Carpenter and how he's matured on the field this season.

Not interested? Then on the next page, try Jimmy Burch's column about Oklahoma State cornerback Martel Van Zant, who is deaf and a source of inspiration.

Don't care? Then try the story right next to it, about Texas Tech cornerback Chris Parker and how he's matured on the field this season (My personal favorite).

*Unless they cover the Longhorns, in which case they go directly to the Travis County prison. Ha!

The Ipod video and 80s silliness

It's the song on the little video Ipod commercial that has been playing every NFL commercial break.

It's about to drive Meredith insane, but for me, I've always been an easy mark for that smokey voiced sentimental thing. And it has a banjo.

Warning: Not safe for work. If you're a guy and don't want the other guys calling you "Fancy Pants."



It's by a group called Feist. I've never heard of Feist. I have no idea where Feist is today. I don't know if VH1 behind the music has done Feist.

A little reminder for me: There's a lot of good stuff going on out there that I don't know about. Good to know that it's out there, tho.

On the other end, VMarksTheSpot sent me this video. Apparently it's associated with the movie "Music & Lyrics," the Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore flop. (It's kind of unfair to call a movie a flop nowadays, isn't it? They're all losing money hand over fist.)

Anyway, it's a parody of an 80s music video and is just about perfect in doing what it tries to do.

Warning: See above warning.



It stars Grant and the dude who plays the paralyzed quarterback on "Friday Night Lights."

Yep, another example that "FNL" got good actors at the expense of getting people who looked like they'd been on a football field.

A call for a seriously geeky moment of silence

Found out last night that Robert Jordan died.

Chances are, if you thought "Lord of the Rings" was lame and can't handle any movies that feature dudes swinging their swords, you have no idea who he was.

And on second thought, even if you don't think those things, but you don't seriously think the opposite of those things I just mentioned, you probably have no idea.

Now, before I confuse myself even more, I'll just say that Jordan is the author of the "Wheel of Time" series, a fantastically complicated fantasy series that now apparently will have no ending.

How nerdy? I recall reading a story a couple of years ago on the Abilene spelling bee champ. He won the local bee on the word "Telemon." Which he said he knew because "Telemon" is also a character in the "Wheel" series.

How complicated? The last book I read, I believe No. 9, spent 300 pages simply warming up.

Warming up, as in, checking in to see how one character was doing, and then moving on to the next 25 or so main characters to see how they were doing. Then he spent another 50 pages introducing you to a whole new set of about seven characters, all with extensive backgrounds and different goals ... And he never freakin' mentioned these people again in the whole damn book.

Anyhow, book 9 was where I bailed. I looked at all the plots and counter-plots and just felt that the rewards of investment were no longer worth the price of my time. And I was tired of the description, "She folded her arms under her breasts." That happened once every five paragraphs. I also got tired of scenes of naked women getting spanked.

Such is not my thang.

But, while sitting here in criticism, I'll say the first five books or so were a lot of fun. And a mountainously complicated feat of work. I still might go back some day and read the two I never got to.

I also admired Jordan the man -- went to military school, did a lot of things with his life, and was able to support himself writing fiction. That's a rare enough thing for someone to do, especially someone who writes about men on horseback charging the castle and women shooting death rays out of their fingers.

RIP

Pet update

How are my animals? Glad you asked.

Ginger

I worry sometimes how much age is starting to affect the ole girl, who is now about 13. She stumbles around more, doesn't play much with the other dog and her eyes are clouding over. Still, she remains as independent as an old stray and is always the one finding new escape routes out of the backyard. Damn dog knows I love her more when she gets into trouble.

The Evil Cat

Still brooding, still planning. Though recently she's not the Evil Cat so much as the Evil Cat For Whom the Litter Box Is Only A Suggestion. Tho maybe that fits in with her plan. Hmmm ...

Jimbo

Good boy. Still showing flashes of brilliance. Still unable to grasp the completely obvious.*

*Yes, he is the one I emphathize the most with.