Since I haven't been posting regularly, some of you may think I've run out of material. That is not the case.
I am just working on a few things that are taking up a little more time than a normal post and I thought I'd give you all a preview of some of the things I am working on.
-If I wrote... The Matrix Sequels. I have some ideas but I have to watch them again to make sure I am not missing anything.
-Remembering Streets of Fire. This has been on the backburner longer than my recent Remembering Commando piece, but I think now is the right time for it.
-Digital Distribution. I was very much against digital distribution of media and I was quite vocal about that, and I plan on explaining my change of heart.
And maybe, maybe I'll do a retrospective about a TV series like Samuraifrog has been doing with the various Star Trek series.
So it is basically longer stuff which requires a bit more planning.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Get Off The Rock [New T-Shirt | Creative Commons Download]
I'm a big supporter of science and technology, especially teaching both at a young age. There are plenty of good general reasons to pursue science, but I think the ultimate goal should be space colonization. To put it bluntly: Get off the rock.
Get as many humans off the planet as possible, as long as possible, as soon as possible. Take a look at this time-lapse video of the milky way. It breaks my heart how much closer those stars could be now.
Sadly, I'm not going to go to space any time soon, but here's my tiny attempt at promoting space travel – Four simple words to keep it on top of mind. Clearly, I'm not as tactful as Neil deGrasse Tyson or Carl Sagan. :P
UPDATE: Want to use this graphic in your own stuff? Good news! It's released to the Creative Commons. Download the vector EPS below...
» Get off the rock (CC-BY-NC)
Syndies: Wheel slips, Millionaire gains
Wheel of Fortune 7.4 - down three ticks but still leads all syndies for the week
Jeopardy 6.4 - flat
Family Feud 3.2 - flat
Millionaire 2.7 - up a tick to tie season high
TV by the Numbers unleashes its top 25 syndie list in a hurry. The viewership averages: Wheel of Fortune 11.9 million (weekend repeat 5.9 million), Jeopardy 10.0 million, Family Feud 4.7 million, Millionaire 3.8 million. After weeks of just missing, Meredith finally made the list!
Sure, the demos may skew ancient. But these total viewer numbers look really good compared to a lot of broadcast prime time shows.
Wet Snow and the Mt. Rainier Convergence Zone
Many of you have noticed some wet snow mixed with the rain--even down to sea level. However, the heaviest accumulations occurred where the models suggested: southeast of the Olympic Mountains from Shelton to Silverdale to Quilcene. The reason: temperatures are marginal for snow and only places with heavy precipitation rates allow the snow level to fall to near sea level. More precipitation means more melting, which cools the atmosphere--allowing the freezing and snow levels to descend (keep in mind the freezing level is typically about 1000 ft above the snow level (the level at which all the snow is melted)).
Here are a few nice pics of the snow: one at Dale Ireland's home in Silverdale and the other one provded by Sarah Kirkegaard of Quilcene.
And those of you at higher elevations (say above 1000 ft) saw some snow...here is a picture at Peter Benda's home at 1200 ft in Bellevue:
Here is the 24-h snowfall ending about 7 AM this morning from the Cocorahs network (click to enlarge). Some folks on the Kitsap Peninsula and eastern Jefferson county got 2-7 inches of snow.
Today there was a good example of something we don't see everyday...a Mt. Rainier convergence zone. You know about the Puget Sound convergence zone....air passing around the Olympic barrier and converging on the eastern side...giving a line of clouds and precipitation. Well, Mt. Rainier is big enough to do the same thing....and today the radar indicated a line of precipitation NE of Rainier from the downstream convergence. The band stretches SE to NW and cross I90 between Snoqualmie Pass and Cle Elum.
Thanks to Colby Neuman of the National Weather Service for pointing this out. Mt. Rainier produces a lot of its own weather...including a rain shadow.
Here are a few nice pics of the snow: one at Dale Ireland's home in Silverdale and the other one provded by Sarah Kirkegaard of Quilcene.
Here is the 24-h snowfall ending about 7 AM this morning from the Cocorahs network (click to enlarge). Some folks on the Kitsap Peninsula and eastern Jefferson county got 2-7 inches of snow.
Today there was a good example of something we don't see everyday...a Mt. Rainier convergence zone. You know about the Puget Sound convergence zone....air passing around the Olympic barrier and converging on the eastern side...giving a line of clouds and precipitation. Well, Mt. Rainier is big enough to do the same thing....and today the radar indicated a line of precipitation NE of Rainier from the downstream convergence. The band stretches SE to NW and cross I90 between Snoqualmie Pass and Cle Elum.
Thanks to Colby Neuman of the National Weather Service for pointing this out. Mt. Rainier produces a lot of its own weather...including a rain shadow.
Bachelor Fantasy Suite Recap: Learning the Levels of Love Language
By GTOG Staff
As with all great episodes of The Bachelor, last night's 2-hour show opens with an ample dose of montages and heavily edited voice-overs. If it wasn't for the shameless editing, it would simply be impossible to pretend that Ben had any feelings whatsoever for Nicki other than, "It'd be cool if you were my sister because then we could hang out a lot and because you aren't that hot, I wouldn't have to worry about you hooking up with my friends." But even with clever editing, Nicki's downfall is predictable from the get-go, as Ben pins her with the dreaded "darkhorse" label and says that there are "moments" when he pictures himself with Nicki, although presumably those moments quickly pass and he resumes touching himself to thoughts of Courtney.
The same negative signs are there with Lindzi as well, so long as you are seasoned enough to pick up on them. "I think I might be falling in love with Lindzi," Ben declares, which sounds nice on the surface but is as good as an outright dumping in reality. This man is supposedly a week away from proposing to Lindzi and he "thinks" that he "might" be "falling in love" with her. Translation: give me credit for trying to be nice, but I'd much prefer to sleep with Courtney.
If you're not a pro at this, here's the GTOG Levels of Love Language. All of them can sound romantic in a voiceover, but if you aren't consistently securing language in the top-3, you aren't going anywhere.
A full recap of Fantasy Suite night after the jump...
The action picks up with our hero speculating about what Fantasy Suite night means. For Ben, it affords him the opportunity to ask the women the questions he hasn't been able to ask before, such as, "will you have sex with me?" and "Wow. I'm thirsty now. I'm going to get a glass of water...do you want anything?" Then, just in case you are dissatisfied in the bathroom, ABC prepares you for Tuesday morning with our favorite commercial, "Real Women Taking Real Shits."
It's ok, Nicki. Ben can still imagine a scenario where he starts to have thoughts about beginning the process of starting to fall in love with someone who has a lot of the same qualities that you do. And that means the world.
As with all great episodes of The Bachelor, last night's 2-hour show opens with an ample dose of montages and heavily edited voice-overs. If it wasn't for the shameless editing, it would simply be impossible to pretend that Ben had any feelings whatsoever for Nicki other than, "It'd be cool if you were my sister because then we could hang out a lot and because you aren't that hot, I wouldn't have to worry about you hooking up with my friends." But even with clever editing, Nicki's downfall is predictable from the get-go, as Ben pins her with the dreaded "darkhorse" label and says that there are "moments" when he pictures himself with Nicki, although presumably those moments quickly pass and he resumes touching himself to thoughts of Courtney.
 |
| "Bin, you have no idea what I'm capable of." |
If you're not a pro at this, here's the GTOG Levels of Love Language. All of them can sound romantic in a voiceover, but if you aren't consistently securing language in the top-3, you aren't going anywhere.
- I love you
- I am in love with you
- I have fallen in love with you
- I am falling in love with you
- I am starting to fall in love with you
- I am starting the process of falling in love with you
- I think I'm starting to fall in love with you
- I can see myself being in love with you
- I can see myself falling in love with you
- I can see myself starting to fall in love with you
- Those feelings -- those feelings of love -- are there
- I can see myself being in love with someone like you
- I can see myself falling in love with someone like you
- I can see myself starting to fall in love with someone like you
- I imagine a scenario where I'm falling in love with someone who bears a resemblance to you
A full recap of Fantasy Suite night after the jump...
The action picks up with our hero speculating about what Fantasy Suite night means. For Ben, it affords him the opportunity to ask the women the questions he hasn't been able to ask before, such as, "will you have sex with me?" and "Wow. I'm thirsty now. I'm going to get a glass of water...do you want anything?" Then, just in case you are dissatisfied in the bathroom, ABC prepares you for Tuesday morning with our favorite commercial, "Real Women Taking Real Shits."
Nicki gets the first date and they walk to their destination. LOL, JK!!! That would be so not magical, special, or super romantic, and it would not lend itself at all to helicopter/love metaphors.
"My relationship with Nicki is getting to new heights, but at the same time, it's grounded," Ben observes. This is straight from the "How to Say Everything While Saying Nothing" playbook, co-authored by the founders of J-Date and every person who has ever had a J-Date profile. Other possibilities here include:
At dinner, Nicki lays it on thick. She wants to know how many kids Bin wants, she wants Bin to know that she thinks about having Bin's babies, and she wants Bin to know that she will give him everything he deserves -- EVERYTHING -- in the fantasy suite. Nicki believes that she and Ben will be gin-u-in-ly happy together, forever, obviously. She then accepts Chris Harrison's invitation to perform sexual acts upon Bin
Next up are Ben and Lindzi and they go repelling for the 4th time this season. Before they descend, Ben wonders if this experience overcoming their fears again will bring them closer together again and.....wait for it......wait for it....IT DID! To celebrate, they get in a bubbleless hot tub where Lindzi tells Ben at least three dozen times that she had her heart broken last year. What the f**k happened that was so bad? Did her ex sleep with her entire family? Did he kill her? Again, these are not rhetorical questions, because we have the answers. Lindzi's ex disrespected Harry Cox, and you don't disrespect Harry Cox.
Ben then hands her the Overnight Card prepared by Chris Harrison. Artistry will be spending this weekend writing up similar cards for Finesse to hand out at the top of the Metro next to the people in Greenpeace windbreakers.
While setting the modern record with her sixth picnic with Ben in only two weeks, Courtney gets her comeuppance. Ben tells her that it is "messed up" the way she acts with the other women. Courtney blames her behavior on trust issues that she has with "not just men, but also women." She then steals Mitt Romney's campaign slogan, and declares to Ben that there is "more good than bad."
When it's time for Chris Harrison's Sleep-With-Me Card, Ben throws convention out the window. Rather than convincing her to have sex with him the way most guys would -- hey it's not a big deal let's just have some fun no expectations seriously like I won't bother you afterwards no I won't tell my friends what we do we don't talk about that kind of stuff -- he decides to go full in-love mode, warning her that sleeping with him is a big step, which probably means he is one of those guys who will cry before, during, or after the act, if not all three.
The sneak peek of Emily Maynard's upcoming season as the Bachelorette hits like Janet Jackson's nip-slip in Super Bowl XXXVIII: It was a "holy shit" moment that completely overshadowed the rest of the night.
Kacie B. returns to demand answers from Ben about why he broke up with her. In sum, Ben tells her that her parents are insane and that he was really concerned about the lack of premarital sex they would be having. Then in the last gasp of a desperate woman, Kacie B. warns Ben that Courtney is wrong for him and that she is in it to win it.
Kacie's visit throws Ben way off his game until he gets to sit down with Chris Harrison to discuss what happened. Among Chris's questions:
"What's going on?"
"I can see you're conflicted tonight"
"Right"
"Mmmhmmm"
"Yeah"
"I respect that"
"Yeah"
"Yeah"
"Mmmk"
"Right"
"As you head into this Rose Ceremony tonight, where's your head?"
"Yeah"
Then the Rose Ceremony happens, and as always, it's worth the wait.
 |
| "Look at all those people walking and how stupid they are!" |
"I love to go out to bars and restaurants, but I'm just as happy staying in."Nicki then continues to harp on not just how in love she is with Bin, but how happy she is that she told Bin that she is so in love with him. As any man would do in such a scenario, Ben deflects by telling her, "You remind me of my dad." After a dramatic dip by the helicopter, Nicki voices over that Bin makes her feel safe in any scenario. What exactly was Ben going to do to protect her if the helicopter started spinning out of control? That's not a rhetorical question. Ben would have grabbed Nicki, he would have used his hair as a parachute, and they would have glided to safety.
"I love to meet new people, but I also like to surround myself with great friends."
"I'm a vegetarian, but I also love a good piece of steak."
"I'm really extroverted, but at the same time I'm introverted."
"I'm Caucasian, but I'm also African-American, and at times I'm Hispanic.
 |
| "Nothing can happen to you up here, Nicki." |
 |
| "Bin, I am pripeered to do whatever it takes to git you, Bin." |
 |
| It's Harry Cox's world. And we're all just living in it. |
To Whom it May Concern: You've come a long way on your journey up that escalator, and if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to go a little bit further. Here is a key to Finesse's apartment, should you choose to spend the night with him as a couple. Keep in mind, however, that the lock was just replaced on the building entrance, so you'll have to call his cell phone when you get to the door and he will come let you in. -Artistry.Ben then goes on a date with Courtney that involves buying Swiss cheese. We expect analogies about how love is like Swiss cheese -- there are holes, but the holes are what makes the love unique --but instead Courtney comes off appearing, well, normal. It also appears that they've traveled back in time, as there is not another soul in the city, and there are herds of goats wandering aimlessly down the street.
While setting the modern record with her sixth picnic with Ben in only two weeks, Courtney gets her comeuppance. Ben tells her that it is "messed up" the way she acts with the other women. Courtney blames her behavior on trust issues that she has with "not just men, but also women." She then steals Mitt Romney's campaign slogan, and declares to Ben that there is "more good than bad."
 |
| "Vote Adequate!" |
The sneak peek of Emily Maynard's upcoming season as the Bachelorette hits like Janet Jackson's nip-slip in Super Bowl XXXVIII: It was a "holy shit" moment that completely overshadowed the rest of the night.
 |
| Holding hands to show solidarity with victims of tragedies. |
 |
| Hating, verb. The act of traveling thousands of miles to discredit someone; a desperate cry for attention; not even offering time in the Fantasy Suite to prove that you are there for the right reasons like Nicki would have. |
"What's going on?"
"I can see you're conflicted tonight"
"Right"
"Mmmhmmm"
"Yeah"
"I respect that"
"Yeah"
"Yeah"
"Mmmk"
"Right"
"As you head into this Rose Ceremony tonight, where's your head?"
"Yeah"
Then the Rose Ceremony happens, and as always, it's worth the wait.
It's ok, Nicki. Ben can still imagine a scenario where he starts to have thoughts about beginning the process of starting to fall in love with someone who has a lot of the same qualities that you do. And that means the world.
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