Whatever: Random Blatherations

In light of me having nothing coherent to say I've decided to spell out some things that have been cycling around in my head the past few weeks. And I'll do it all using the magic of bullet points!

• East of Eden is one of the greatest American books ever written. Hands down. And yeah, it's better than Grapes of Wrath. Shut up, it is. Now don't get me wrong, Grapes of Wrath is certainly an outstanding book. And if we're talking road novels here, it just might just be one of the best American books ever written. That being said, however, Grapes of Wrath is a bit overrated, especially when viewed in in light of the full spectrum of Steinbeck's later work. Steinbeck billed East of Eden as his epic masterpiece. The capstone of his career, and, well, it is people. It's his best writing. It's his best story. And the dialogue and characters are simply unforgettable. Thou mayest want to check it out, I think you'll enjoy it.
• Battlestar Galactica's ending didn't suck. (Spoilers ahead.) This statement is mainly prompted by Brad Templeton's ranting essay in which he makes the case that BSG's conclusion was, in fact, "the worst ending in the history of on-screen science fiction." I'm assuming Templeton said that just to incite tempers, and that's fine. But I mean really Brad? Really? The worst ever? Did you see Transformers? (To be fair, I didn't.) What about Hancock? Newsflash: They sucked hard. A lot harder than BSG. I'll even put my neck on the block and say BSG's ending was, in fact, pretty damn good. Yeah, you have to block a few things from your memory -- namely, the "150,000 years later" bit and the closeup cameo of Ron Moore's head. But here's some advice to all the haters: erase those scenes from your memory (I know it's tough). I'll always remember the show as ending with the panoramic shot of Adama atop the mountain surveying his new home and finally getting that much sought after rest. If you remember it there you'll have fond memories of the ending as well. Heck, you might even tear up a bit.
• Another TV thought -- season three of Heroes isn't as bad as everyone says. Let's get some perspective here. It's a show about people flying, shooting fire from their hands and sawing open heads using telekinesis. Stop taking it so seriously. Sure, some of the dialogue is cheesy. And the whole "But wait! (S)he's not really dead!" trope is annoying. But I'm still pretty interested in most of the characters. Well, okay, I really only care about Hiro, Sylar and HRG, but whatever. It's still a cool show. I'm glad it got renewed and I'm (sorta) excited about what's in store for season four.
  
• This month's edition of Fantasy and Science Fiction is one of the best I've read in years. I won't spoil any of the stories (I've posted a few blurbs about them here), but there's a lot of good writing this issue. Check it out.
• Summarizing random ideas in bullet points is a lot easier than trying to graft out a coherent narrative. I will remember this. Because I am lazy.
  

Ascended Fanboys: Characters Who Say What the Audience Is Thinking

There's a great piece on this over at io9. Touches on several great sci-fi shows from Lost to Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. Check it out above, but here's a taste:

UP AND COMING: Schmoesknow

March was a good month for the two anonymous armchair critics at over at Schmoesknow.
Last week the hilarious movie buffs posted a four-part interview with Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) and the pair recently scored an interview with actress/model Kristen De Luca.
Yeah, so I'm officially jealous of these guys.
The Los Angeles-based team only joined YouTube in October, but in that short time their channel racked up nearly 1,000 subscribers.
I'm not terribly surprised. Heck, I subscribed after watching one video. The interviews are hilrarious and informative and the movie reviews aren't half bad either. Keep the hits coming ya schmoes!

BSG: A fitting end ... at the UN?

I'd be remiss if I didn't at least post a link to a story on BSG's visit yesterday to the United Nations.

As usual, Maureen Ryan has written a remarkable recap, which I encourage you all to check out. Ron Moore, David Eick, Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos were all on hand, in addition to four U.N. officials. Panelists talked about how BSG confronted real world issues such as terrorism and met with U.N. officials and the public in the hopes of forging a stronger link between representatives from the political world and the creative community.

I shot Mo a quick Twit yesterday to see if how Eddie Olmos (my favorite alongside Michael Hogan) was doing. Mo was firing off quotes throughout the whole event, but took a moment to respond to my inquiry saying:

"I didn't speak to him at UN but he was very forthright and very bold at panel. Very lively."

Marc Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly also has a nice writeup on the event, which details how he went into the event slightly amused by came out seeing how the whole panel "made perfect sense."

Here's an exerpt:

While the idea of the UN hosting a retrospective on Battlestar Galactica might sound a little odd, as the night went on it started to make perfect sense. From the very beginning, BSG has dealt with moral issues -- what it means to be human, the rule of law vs. the military might, the arguable merits of armed insurgency -- issues which find themselves on the UN's docket almost every day. As Robert Orr, the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning put it, "You've got people thinking about issues that we try and get people thinking about every day."

When one of the UN's representatives talked about how part of their mandate was to safeguard the human rights of everyone, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, and station, Olmos got a little heated. "You never should've invited me here," he said, before blasting the UN for continuing to use race as a term of separation, of division among peoples. His voice rose, steadily, as if years of social activism was coming to a head on this night. Then, directing his attention to the high schoolers: "Adults will never be able to stop using the word 'race' as a cultural determinant....There is only one race: the human race. SO SAY WE ALL!"

I swear to you, everyone in that chamber shouted it right back at him. Because the Admiral asked us to.

Frak that's really, really cool.

Update: Real Media Video for the event can be found here. (Link Courtesy Entertainment Weekly)

BSG: "HUSKER" goes commando

No, this isn't a debate over whether everyone's favorite "soft touch" commander Bill Adama wears undergarments or not (I'm assuming in the future no one does ...), but I must say the old man was pretty awesome (i.e. looney/obsessive) during Friday night's episode of Battlestar Galactica.

In all honesty, this show just manages to keep getting better and better ... this week's episode introduced some pretty big plot changes and the writers are managing to make the transitions smoothly and without introducing a dozen other questions for every character alteration. Take note LOST -- keep it simple for frak's sake!

The highlight of the episode for me was most certainly the appearance by Romo Lampkin (brilliantly portrayed by Mark Sheppard) who may or may not be a crazy cat guy, but still is, in my best estimation, a prime suspect for the mysterious "final cylon."

I'll admit that it's looking less and less likely with some of the odd behavior of our bigger characters, but I'm still going to stand by it ... there's something fishy about this cleptomaniac lawyer.

Consider how during his first appearance the guy comes out of virtually nowhere, lands an audience with the president defending Gaius Baltar-- who later becomes some sort of religious cult head after his acquittal -- all the while four of the final five "awaken" along with all the raiders, and Romo somehow manages to convince Lee to leave his job and enter into a career in politics.

Lo and behold Romo's back again Friday night and following some sharp double talk and a tense "stick em up" moment with Lee, everything gets shaken up again!

By the end of the show we've got an unhinged Adama floating in space with a book, a Cylon in command of the fleet and everyone's favorite boytoy Lee Adama as acting president!

Can we say puppetmaster anyone?

I guess time will tell...

BSG: Bald chief and an upcoming hybrid meet and greet!

A few things of note that stood out to me during tonight's episode:

1. I was so glad the writers finally gave Helo some latitude with his dialog! I always knew him going off on someone would be awesome ... and guess what, it totally was!

2. Anders' arms are getting out of control. Let me be the first to ask the uncomfortable question-- is he on the juice? Y/N/M????

3. How come whenever people go crazy on TV (i.e. TYROL) they shave their head?

4. Gaius just gets more and more awesome each episode, but was he was being sincere with the Chief?

5. The whole Kara/Leoben thing just gets better and better ...

6. Hybrid meet and greet next week!

Battlestar is famous for leaving us hanging, but this week is going to be torture!!!

Here's a one-minute recap of the episode:

Cool: BSG video for "Battlestar Sonatica"

Yeah, I like Bear McCreary's "All Along the Watchtower," just as much as the next guy, but there's something about the feel of this piece that is just perfect for the show I think.

Anyway, I thought this video was pretty cool, have a look...

Internets: Catch Up on Battlestar Galactica