Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Personal Scifi Update

So my wife and I finished the first season of Battlestar Galactica and oh man was it good. I don't know if you are like this though, but the ending made me hate the show. Hate in the way that it was so good and it ended in so much suspense that I'm absolutely frustrated that I watched it to begin with, while still loving that I did watch. I know, very paradoxical. Though I suppose the silver lining is that we don't have to wait a summer to see the next season ;).


The second thing I wanted to mention was a pretty nifty internet radio station that exclusivly plays scifi and fantasy movie and tv show soundtracks. It's pretty much all I listen to at work now, if only I could get the music on my pandora ><. Oh well the site is ScifiRadio.net and though I only had to download the play list that auto launched my iTunes to listen the first time, after that I had to register with live365.com :/. Hope if you are looking for something new to kill the hours with, this will be something for you. And if you know of some other internet scifi radio post a comment below.

When I came across ScifiRadio.net, I was in the middle of looking for a station that played old or new scifi radio shows. Why you might ask? The Leviathan Chronicles, that's why. Oh you never heard of it? Its a contemporary science fiction podcast that plays like an classic radio show but with with modern voice acting and sound effects. As of this post there are only 2 hour long shows posted with apparently 2 more episodes on the way before you will have to start paying to listen to the rest of the series. Its really hard to summarize it unfortunately so here are the elements I come away with from the audio trailer and episodes so far: submarines, immortals, and government conspiracies. Here is, oddly enough, a promotional video for LvC.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Scifi Your Life – Cool Scifi Products You Can Buy

Have some time here so I thought I would make a compilation off all the computer peripherals that look like they came out of Star Trek. Enjoy :).

  1. The Saitek Cyborg Keyboard looks like it can handle the job of any weapons officer needing to simaltaneously launch a phaser, photon, plasma, laser, and nuclear salvo at multiple targets. "I call her Vehra."




  2. If you will be shopping for your Fleet Commander this holiday season the Independent ITX21-5003 is a great choice. This highly functional time piece with its sophisticated design will show will garner attention from humans and cylons alike.



  3. When your wooing your lover on the romantic moon of Kylacka, the Globalight champagne cooler/carrier is sure to impress. Not only will it keep your Arcturian Fizz chilled, but it also emits a pink light sure to set the mood for your amorous outing.


  4. For transportation of the future today, the Tesla Motors' Roadster offers the speed and amenities valued by a tomorrow that wants it all without hurting New Earth. Sign me up to get one of these once this blog takes off and I'm a millionaire ;).

Well thats all for today. If you have any more products please comment with them below, or to just let me know how you liked the post. Later.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

First Impressions of Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Ok I am soooooo late to this game.
A few weeks ago I was keeping my wife awake with my snoring so I decided to go out to the living room and watch some TV online. I had been going back and forth with starting Battlestar Galactica for some time. Everything I heard about it was good, but not having cable/dish, let alone not having Tivo, I didn't have the ability nor the time to sit down and watch it. But this early morning time gave me the perfect opportunity to try out Battlestar (courtesy of surfthechannel.com).

A music video that acts as a good preview of the types of things you will see in BSG.

Though I made the mistake of watching episode 1 of season 1, "33", unaware that there was a miniseries setting up the reguar TV series, I was still blown away by the episode. I realized I had to figure out a way to see the miniseries. Fortunatly a friend at work had the first season, which includes the miniseries, and he let me borrow it (thanks James). My wife and I both watched 3-hour first disc and were born BSG fans then and there. Fortunatly, or unfortunatly, she can't sit for too long watching show after show, so we are pacing ourselves through the series. If had been left to my own devices I probably would have watched the whole thing the day I borrowed it and been much the worse for ware, for it.

With deep and authentic characters, a mission of survival, and intense space combat scenes done by some of the same people that worked on Joss Wheadon's Firefly, BSG is and amazing work of science fiction goodness. My only nitpick at the moment is the radar used by the ships. Why would highly advanced digital radar require the iconic radar sweep visual. It doesn't seem to serve any purpose, becasue the targets on the display continue to move reardless of the sweeps position. Does anyone else notice this or is there a logical explanation for it?

So if you have seen BSG, what do you think of it (and please no spoilers ;))? If you haven't and you at least enjoy scifi to some extent, you should really check it out.