Open Invitation: 7:00-11:00

To those who want to watch the Sci-Fi shows tonight, Sarah Jane, Doctor Who, and Battlestar Galactica, you're welcome to come round.

Later!

Any and all who want to participate in the joy of Sarah Jane, Doctor Who, and Battlestar Galactica are welcome to come round to my place tonight.

Sci-Fi Friday
7:30-11:00

Later cool kids.

The Penultimate Truth
Philip K. Dick
Vintage Reprint ed., 2004
208 p., $12.95

Distopia is Philip K. Dick's favorite place to write about, and the Penultimate Truth is no exception to those journeys. In this post-nuclear war novel nearly the entire population of earth is living underground in overcrowded antiseptic tank communities (for whatever reason named after old hollywood film stars). However, above ground the reality of the situation is entirely different. The war has been over for nearly 20 years, the earth is regenerating her plant life and forests and brilliant politicians and military men have become feudal kings over vasts swaths of land tended by their teams of hundreds of robots. The men living above ground are engaged in the biggest, vastest conspiracy of lies ever told, and the people below swallow it whole. They say that the war still rages between the Western Democracies and Pacific People's Party, that entire cities are destroyed daily and that they have a protector, a civil leader named Talbot Yancy. But the war is long gone, the bombs are silent, the warrior robots that people build for the war effort are really just bodyguards and serfs to a feudal demesne, and that their brave protector is simply an animatronic robot sitting at a desk.

And all of those lies are about to come crashing down.

I think this was actually my favorite Phil Dick novel. I mean, I loved Valis, don't get me wrong, but Valis was a mindfuck of a read and that always is fun. This was just a damn good story with some bizarre twists and WOW it was good. The ending, as per usual, was very explain-y, but I don't think he can help that sometimes. The truth has to come out one way or another and sometimes just explaining one's actions and reasons and history is the only way to do it and get it over with quickly.

All in all, I loved it, but had some issues with how it was executed in places.

Grade: B+

I finally finished Marvel Civil War. The only thing I could think of was a T.S. Eliot rip-off

This is the way Civil War ends
This is the way Civil War ends
This is the way Civil War ends
Not with a bang...
But a whimper

Lame beyond Lame.

On the other hand, if you want to see the craziest fucking thing I've ever seen in a comic book ever, you should read Nextwave issue #11. I won't say what it was that blew my mind and made me laugh in hysterics, but it would so be worth buying that issue 6 times just to frame the whole thing. Oh, and the fact that one of the characters is holding a sign that says "Mark Millar Licks Goats" is even more reason to buy extra copies.

I checked out some urban fiction today. I got "In search of pretty young black men" which is a hustler story, as is implied, and "Afterburn" by Zane. I haven't cracked the first page of either of them, but reading the flap had me at least somewhat interested. I hear that Zane is one of the most popular authors of this genre, so we'll see. Though I did not pick up "Payback is a mutha" I was really tempted. I may get it later.

I'm currently trying to finish reading Philip K. Dick's "The Penultimate Truth," which is just loaded with all kinds of fucked up intrige and lies and the people who see through lies professionally because they craft them for the world in which they live and the people they suppress. It's a hell of a story. Honestly, better than Vulcan's Hammer and Minority Report. Probably the best Phil Dick novel I've read, at least so far. He always dials it up about 2/3rds in and I feel like I'm getting there, so I'm reading it practically non-stop.

And now for shows. New Doctor Who next week on BBC!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!! Only 7 days away!!!!! I'm just busting with anticipation.

I Finally got caught up with Rome. It feels like they've got their old writing back. I mean the clever plots and the verbal twists were just brilliant. Thank Dis Pullo killed who he did. That character deserved a worse death than that, but it wasn't half bad. Can't wait for the finale.

Battlestar has been dragging, but I think it's been intentional as a means of building up to the big reveal of the final 5 Cylons. Hearing a person's voice say "my god, we're all Cylons" was just haunting. But we knew this moment is coming. I wonder if Bodog has odds on who the final 5 are? I have my suspicions, and rwx has a theory that I think will be proven in the next episode.

And I don't care if the Dresden Files are predictable or derivative, I still like it. I like that since I have more than a passing fancy in the occult there are little things that I pick up on. Sure it's all very "Charmed" meets Sam Spade, but I still dig it.

Over the last few weeks I've watched the Doctor Who classic episodes "Black Orchid," "Earthshock," "Terror of the Zygons," and "Planet of Evil." Brief reviews.

Black Orchid: The fifth doctor travels back to the late Victorian era and finds out that an explorer was mutilated in the jungles of South America for stealing a sacred flower, and that his family tried to cover up his crippling injuries by locking him in a bell tower... I mean a secret priest hole. It was very "hunchback of Notre Dame" but in all the wrong ways. Terrible. Absolute rubbish. 1 Tardis Grind for you.

Earthshock: Through a clever and sad series of events the Cybermen are responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and Adric at the same time. So sad. Very well done though, and heartwrenching to the point of actually crying while looking at his mutilated math badge in silence for a whole minute. For raw emotion and the redemption of Adric: 5 Tardis Grinds.

Terror of the Zygons: It's the attack of the Loch Ness Monster! He just wants to get a little nookie from the device attached to your hand. But really it's more about the Zygons who want to turn Earth into a watery grave/spawning ground for their kind. Clever suckers! For some Harryhausen-esque-apades: 4 Tarids Grinds!

Planet of Evil: Is it man or Anti-Man? A scientist on a remote planet finds a new fuel to save his dying star, but really it's anti-matter from the parallel universe and it starts to eat away at his body and soul. For eyes slightly less scary than Rosemary's Baby and for the original scene of the Doctor jumping down a pit to uncertain doom: 3 Tardis Grinds.