What are your favorite science fiction TV shows, books and movies?  Lately I’ve become addicted to some BBC sci-fi shows, thanks to Max’s recommendations. I burned through three  seasons (or series as they’re known in England) of Primeval and I eagerly await the fourth, which isn’t even in production yet.  I’m also watching Torchwood which I like a lot, though its not quite as good as Primeval. I’ll probably move on to the new Dr. Who eventually, since Torchwood is a spinoff of that franchise. I got bored with the drama queens and kings on BG after the first season. Is there any reason to watch Caprica if you didn’t finish all of BG?

As I sit here writing this at 7:15 pm Eastern Standard Time, less than two hours remain until the start of the Battlestar Galactica series finale. It promises to be eventful, with so many loose ends waiting to be tied up. After all, the remnants of the human race are still adrift in space, running out of food and basic necessities, and no closer to finding a permanent home than when they started; the vast majority of the Cylons are still actively seeking to destroy them; the Galactica is falling apart at the seams; the child Hera, who holds the key to their salvation, is in enemy hands; and we still don’t know whether Kara Thrace is a human, Cylon, half-Cylon, or some other species as yet undetermined.

Plus, lots of people are a-gonna die. Here are my best guesses, which will no doubt be proven wildly wrong:

Will Die:

Laura Roslyn. Yeah, I know this is an easy one, because she’s dying of cancer already.
Bill Adama. He has seemed old and tired this entire season, and he wouldn’t want to go on living without Laura, anyway.
Lee Adama. I think the scene with the bird in last week’s episode was a foreshadow. Doves (and a pigeon is a type of dove) are often associated with death. Besides, every fan of the show wants he and Kara to finally end up together, which is more than enough reason for this show’s fiendish writers to do precisely the opposite.
Galen Tyrol. He will sacrifice himself to save Hera and atone for his part in letting her get captured by the Cylons.
Sharon Valeri (aka “Boomer.”) She’s switched sides in this conflict so many times that pretty much everybody on either side wants her dead, anyway. Hopefully she goes out heroically, saving Hera.

Won’t Die

Gaius Baltar. If there is one thing I am positively certain of, it’s this: Gaius will live. His one defining character trait over the past four years has been his selfishness and ability to survive anything. He always looks out for #1, right up until last week, when he desperately wanted to do the right thing and join the rescue mission, but just…couldn’t…force himself to do it. No one needs redemption more than Gaius, and that redemption will be earned by leading the remnants of humanity to safety after most of the other main characters die.
Kara Thrace. C’mon, she’s already died once! That’s enough.
Karl Agathon. He’s the most morally incorruptible character in the entire show, and he’ll need to be around to take care of his daughter after Athena dies. Unless she lives, in which case he dies.
Saul Tighe. Someone has to lead the military after both Adamas perish.

No Frakkin’ Idea if They WIll Die

Umm…all the other major characters.

Your thoughts? Theories?

Hard boiled web series from comic book writer Ed Brubaker. Check it out here.

Not much more to this post than this:  http://poobala.com/crossoverlist.html

Which I thought was really, really cool.

In the same spirit as Chris’s post below, I watched Obama’s response earlier today. I knew it reminded me of something…

Hey, I guess that English degree was good for something after all!

NETFLIX gave me some odd recommendations today.

Obviously because I enjoyed Brian Regan: Standing Up & Jackass: The Movie I will therefore thoroughly enjoy Ultimate Fighting Championship 69: Shootout & Ultimate Fighting Championship 49: Unfinished Business.

I don’t pay attention to the recommendations as I don’t have a problem finding titles to stuff in my queue, I just happened to look in there today.  Anybody else get strange recommendations off of  NETFLIX?

via Flickr and http://www.evilmadscientist.com

toaster - pejorative term used by Humans to describe Cylon centurions.

I recall fond, fond memories.

Long, long ago I blogged here about Everything Bad is Good for You; a book that discusses the value of TV watching, video game playing, etc. I am not a big TV watcher. The box is often turned on, but it’s usually tuned to a movie or being used as a radio. My favorite television shows of all time are Little House on the Prairie, Northern Exposure, and Party of Five. I do not think that list gives me street cred. In the book, the author discusses how watching complex new shows like 24 increases people’s mental capacity for making connections. I probably have not developed that capacity and should not be reviewing TV shows, but for some reason, I keep doing just that on this site. Here I go again….

I’m losing interest in Weeds. It’s kind of driving me crazy. The main character’s life is a spiraling mess and it’s stressful to watch. Even the addition of Michelle from Full House to this week’s episode did not revive my interest. But. There’s another show that I am drawn to like a moth to the flame and that is Rock of Love. Rock God Bret Michaels, lead singer of Poison, is searching for the love of his life and he’s decided to do it on a reality show.

Oodles of really beautiful (in a pink-hair rock and roll babe kind of way) women perform challenges, hoping to qualify for time with Bret. During the first few episodes I watched, I could not stop wondering why they would want to win this prize. But, as I watched last night (we’re down to the final two), I realized that I have been totally sucked in and felt happy when the mean woman got kicked to the curb. I do not think watching this show is increasing my ability to make mental connections, but it is making me want to try a temporary pink hair color.

I don’t know why but I just want to take Britney home with me. Last night at the VMA’s I sat there watching her “big comeback” and thought, either she is completely drugged up and is afraid of falling over or she is terrified and out of practice. Either way, I can do a better job falling out of bed in the morning than she did lip syncing and awkwardly standing on stage. It’s unanimous, her “comeback” actually put her back a little further. It was painfully sad.

I think the best quote of the evening was when Sarah Silverman said it was amazing to think that at this age Britney “has already accomplished everything she is going to accomplish in her life.” This will be true if someone doesn’t wake her up. And that’s why I want to take her home. Educate her. Snap her out of this crap. Not that I think she has any talent, but she is a money-making commercial queen that only has to get her shit together, sound a little more intelligent, and pump out pop music to stay successful. For someone whose idol is Madonna, she sure isn’t catching on to the queen of pop’s brilliance and business sense.

The other sad bit though was that MTV was touting this amazing new format for the VMA’s and was promoting it like it was the new breakthrough of the decade. But in actuality it felt sloppy and commercial, gasp! What’s even more laughable is that they are a music industry, thereby specializing in audio and video, yes? So why did it seem every time you turned around the microphones weren’t on and the videos were hiccuping? Sick. My high school video yearbook was better produced.

Update: I figured out what they thought was their “new format.”  Much like TRL has ruined MTV by only showing bits of videos and then letting people scream “shout-outs” in the middle of the snippets, the VMA’s only showed clips of live perfomrances happening at multiple Vegas parties and then when the stage performances were going on, they would advertise and talk over them.  MTV has officially ruined every aspect of music and videos.  At least our very lovely and multi-talented Justin Timberlake (won the Quadruple Threat award) gave an acceptance speech that said something to the effect of “I’m calling out to MTV to play more videos!”