Blackmoor Vituperative

Fun fact: in the Star Trek animated series, where the Orion pirates first appeared, their name is pronounced “OR-ee-on”. Even the Orion pirates themselves pronounce it this way. And all of these years, I’d thought it was pronounced “or-EYE-on”. Live and learn.

I dreamed last night that I was in a Glee type universe where my best friend Susan was being heartlessly verbally abused by a bitch played by Kristin Chenoweth, until I put my foot down and told Kristin Chenoweth that she was going to stop or I would stop her. At which point Kristin Chenoweth attacked me with her deadly kung fu death strike, because SURPRISE she was secretly a deadly kung fu master. But then DOUBLE SURPRISE I casually blocked her death strike with ridiculous ease because I was also a deadly kung fu master. After trying and embarrassingly failing to kill me several times, Kristin Chenoweth and her clique walked away in a huff.

Here are some Christmas songs from the Monarch and his merry band.

Jon Stewart asks, “When did Ron Paul become the thirteenth floor of a hotel?” The answer is simple: he isn’t part of the play. In the theatre of the absurd that is American politics, every actor has his part. As long as they say the right lines, stand on their mark, and respond on cue, the show goes on, and they get their moment in the spotlight.

For people who haven’t been invited to perform — or worse, who demand to write their own lines — there is no star on the door, no spotlight, and no media coverage.

The thing about the sneetches is that they know they are all the same. The trick is to make us (and by “us”, I mean you) think they are different, and that the conflict on stage has any meaning other than something to distract us and keep us in our seats. While the simpletons in the audience cheer for the star-bellies or revile the plain-bellies, the ticket counter stays open, and the sneetches are all happy.

What I am listening to while I work, at the moment: a podcast from Paul Gilmartin (one of the hosts from Dinner and a Movie), having a conversation with Frank Conniff (most well-known for his work on Mystery Science Theater 3000).

Paul: “Frank, how’re you doing?”
Frank: “Other than my crippling depression, I’m doing great.”

I am going to post a photo of a coffee mug every day in August, and talk a little bit about where we got it and why I like it.

This mug has a photo of Joel and the bots. That’s Crow T. Robot on the left, and Tom Servo on the right. I bought this mug back in the mid-1990s. This is actually the second mug I bought with Joel on it: I dropped the first one, and broke it. You can’t buy these anymore.

Joel, Crow, and Tom are characters from a show that ran in the 1990s called Mystery Science Theater 3000. Susan introduced me to the show, after reading about it in a magazine. I fell in love with it instantly. I have every episode (commercial versions where they are available; Digital Archive Project versions where commercial versions do not yet exist), and I watch them regularly, typically in bed as I am going to sleep. It’s gotten so that I find it more difficult to go to sleep without it playing.

This cup has faded over time. I wash it by hand, and rarely use it, but time is unkind of photo-printed ceramic cups. But as long as this cup lasts, Joel and the bots are immortal.

Watched “I Am Number Four” with Susan last night instead of going out to see Green Lantern. It was much better than I expected. It’s the first movie-adaptation of a 1980s television show that I’ve seen that’s actually better than the show it was based on (“The Powers Of Matthew Star”).

Personally, I am done with Game Of Thrones. I gave it a fair shot, I think. The only part of the show I actually like is the opening credits. I made it to the eighth or ninth episode before I gave up on the show. I kept thinking, “it has to get better”. Apparently, it doesn’t. If I wanted to watch people I dislike doing things I dislike, I would watch the news. In fact, it reminds me a great deal of Desperate Housewives (although the scenery in Game Of Thrones is obviously much better).

Eh. It’s easy to be a critic. Game Of Thrones is a well made show, I will definitely give it that. Top marks for production, and the actors are genuinely talented across the board. That’s why I watched it as long as I did.

I know that abuses of power happened in the good old days. I know that rights were trampeled, people were railroaded, and that race or social connections meant more than evidence of guilt or innocence. Still, it’s worthwhile to recall that there was a time when people knew right from wrong, even if they didn’t live up their own ideals.

I’m not sure how much weight to give a silly television show’s version of what the United States used to be about. And I know there were no “good old days”. Still, it’s enough to make me wonder if maybe one or two things used to be better than they are now.

Well, it turns out that Adrianne Palicki will not, in fact, play Wonder Woman in a new TV reboot of the classic Linda Carter series.

David E. Kelley’s “Wonder Woman” television series has failed to find a network pickup at NBC, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter.

The series was planned as a reinvention of the iconic DC Comics title in which Wonder Woman (Adrianne Palicki) is both a vigilante crime fighter in Los Angeles, a successful corporate executive (as her alter ego, Diana Prince) and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.

The pilot was written by Kelley and directed by Jeffrey Reiner (“The Event”) and also featured Elizabeth Hurley, Pedro Pascal, Tracie Thoms and Cary Elwes in the cast.

With NBC declining to give the go-ahead, it is unlikely that the comic book adaptation will see the light of day as a series.

(from SuperHeroHype, NBC Passes on Wonder Woman)

Not much I can add to that. Sorry, Adrianne. Better luck with your next project.