Fringe: Where Science Meets JJ Abrams

Fox's much-hyped show Fringe hit the airwaves last night, a multi-million dollar pilot episode that combines some of the more interesting elements of CSI, Alias and the X-Files. The show is to be about an FBI team (and consultants) who investigate odd happenings around the world, fringe science.

The pilot is certainly one to catch attention - on a flight to Logan International, a man is panicky, injects himself with something and within moments, the passengers have been killed, their connective tissue and muscles turning to gel and oozing off, leaving skin and skeletons. Thus, the some of the key characters are brought in to investigate - Agent Olivia Dunham, who tracks down a warehouse with her partner and lover, John Scott. They come across the man responsible, but Scott is infected in the process. Dunham pulls in Peter Bishop to get his father, Walter Bishop, to help, as he seems to have been an expert in the field of fringe science. There's some shooting, some weird techno babble talk and a car chase later, and we find the truth - someone is a double agent, and that there are things in this world that you're better off not knowing, but while the band's together, we might as well investigate.

This was a good pilot - not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but interesting, intriguing, entertaining and fun. I'm a bit of a JJ Abrams fanboy with his work in the creation of Alias, Lost, Cloverfield and even Mission Impossible III. As a creator, he has a knack for putting things together from really well known elements. Alias is a spy show, Mission Impossible is more spies in an established franchise, Cloverfield is a fantastic take on the Godzilla/monster-trashes-city genre and LOST... LOST is a bad example there, but you know what I mean. One of the things that I like about Abrams is the way that his shows and films are quirky, with odd dialogue, characters that are somewhat offbeat. In LOST, one of my favorite moments is right in the beginning, when we first see Jack - he's a man in a suit in the middle of a jungle. It has a certain offbeat flavor that is very appealing. Fringe does this pretty well - throughout the pilot, we are teased with little elements and mentions of things that are sure to really make up much of the mythology later on. There's conspiracy theories, especially around a major corporation, the improbably named Massive Dynamics, which shares connections to the elder Bishop, one of the guys behind the attack on the airplane, and some of the main characters. Scott turns out to have been threatening the terrorist already, and seems to have been in league with the company, if the order to question him five hours after his death turns out to mean anything.

Fringe science fits perfectly with this type of show, and has been touched upon a little in various other Abrams shows - Alias had its share of paranormal elements with Rambaldi and random doomsday scientists trying to do something. LOST is all crazy science stuff at most points, Cloverfield has its monster, and MI3 has the Rabbit's Foot, an unknown pathogen or something. With things like mind-control, sheep circles, earthquakes, people waking up from a coma and writing nothing but numbers and children vanishing then reappearing later on, un-aged, fit right in with Abrams and his style, and the way that the pilot works, and presumably, the rest of the show, it should be a fascinating and interesting ride.

Most of all, I'm interested to see what will happen with Massive Dynamics - one of their employees is a cyborg (robotic arm), and they seem to have a lot of knowledge of the Fringe science area, as questioning someone who has been dead for 5 hours seems to be a pretty easy thing to do. The name drop of the Pattern is very typical of Abrams, and I suspect that they'll have something to do with it.

There are some flaws here. A couple of the characters are pretty flat, most notably Peter Bishop, who has 'daddy problems' and is a little too typical of some of the aforementioned projects. He's brilliant, attractive and annoying, but comes around in the end and agrees to help Agent Dunham. Dunham herself is almost a background character, but far from a bad one - she's just overshadowed by some of the others in the show. Duhnam's boss, Phillip Broyles comes on very strong and flat, but evens out a little towards the end. The best character is easily Walter Bishop, the mad scientist, with a bunch of fun quotes and a crazy drive.

One of my main complaints with the show is that some of this stuff isn't new or breaking the mold with the other shows. Alias and LOST both have characters that are similar with ones here in this show. They're brilliant, attractive, have problems with their parents, etc. A little variation here would be nice, and I'll be annoyed if we're back to square one with Walter and his son every episode. Similarly, the show begins with problems on an airplane. Where have we seen that before?

This show isn’t any of the other ones already mentioned – there’s certainly enough between them that they aren’t copies, and although there are influences, Fringe stands well on its own two feet with the setup of this pilot. We have the beginnings of a large, overarching mythology that involves weird things and corporations, and a set of characters that shows some real promise. This also isn’t X-Files, despite the numerous comparisons, and I think that a huge amount of credit goes to the writers for making this show its own thing, not an X-Files copy.

All in all, it's a solid start to what is one of the more promising shows of this season. I can't wait to see the next episode. One word of warning, - don’t eat before watching. Next week’s episode is apparently about a woman who gets pregnant and gives birth in a matter of hours, and the child ages very quickly – 80 years in minutes. Sounds very, very interesting. If anything, it looks like it's going to be far better than CBS's own Science show, the Eleventh Hour, based off of a UK drama by the same name.

Review - The Alchemy of Stone

This was a surprise in my mail earlier yesterday - I've been trying to get a hold of this book, The Alchemy of Stone, for a little while now, and had some problems. This third book by Ekaterina Sedia was one that I was really looking forwards to reading, and it was a fun book to read - While I waited for my computer to restart, I finished the last 150 pages in about an hour.

The story follows Mattie, an intelligent automation in a world that is very steampunkish. Mattie is an alchemist, trying to discover a way to prevent the gargoyles in the city from turning to stone and dying out. They seem to predate the human inhabitants of the city, and are responsible for its construction and character. At the point in the story, the city is overcrowded, and divided. There’s a political rivalry between the Alchemists and machinists, which spills over into violence with the Duke of the city and his family is attacked and killed, culminating in civil war between classes. Mattie is at the center of this, as an Alchemist, but her creator, whom she is bound to, is a fairly cruel machinist who will not let her stray too far from needing him.

This was a fun read, but not as good as I'd hoped it would be. It felt like a quick look into a vastly complex and interesting world and I didn't get the depth that I would have liked, and that easily could have been there. That being said, what I got was still a very good, engaging read. Where the story is somewhat lacking, it is made up for with the character of Mattie and the various struggles that she comes across in the story. Where most people would think of a robotic being as fairly robust and durable – watching any sort of movie about robots will tell you this – Mattie is weak, timid, and fragile, both physically and mentally. At several points, she is easily broken after being attacked, and must be rewound by her creator in order to function. She is shy, and eager to please her master, Loharri, while at the same time despising him and yearning to be completely free from his grasp, which is not possible, as he literally owns the key to her heart.

There are many themes which run through this book that all intersect with Mattie, but the dominant one can be considered one of transitions. The city is changing, physically as there is a boom in construction and the machinists are taking over, building new things daily, which precipitate in a sort of political change. Between the Machinists and the Alchemists, there is a duel nature to Mattie as well, who was built by a machinist, but rejected that way in life, instead focusing on life. While the exact roles of the machinists and alchemists in this society aren’t entirely clear, they do bring up another duality, one of life and death, or fulfillment vs. automation, role vs. job and emotions vs. logic. There is a class system, we see, as angry coal workers, forced off their fields by robots, are tasked with mining coal, while the machinists are content to blindly follow another sentient automation, the calculator.

This, to me, is an interesting theme, as it relates to themes that went on during the Renaissance period, a period of much change, but without the magic and fantasy elements. To some extent, the book has several issues that are still highly relevant today, if not more so. To what extent is a culture vibrant and full of life when it overwhelmingly utilizes machines and devices? At one point, a character that Mattie befriends, Naobi, an outsider, notes that the people of this city aren’t happy or content, they just exist. When reading that, I had to wonder how much of that was a sort of social commentary on today’s society, where the television, computers, mobile phones, MP3 players are the dominant forms of entertainment and recreation, rather than something that might be more fulfilling. It’s certainly something that I have thought about often.

Another dominant theme that the book approaches is the city’s response to the death of their Duke, where foreigners were rounded up, harassed and at times, had their souls removed or were threatened as such if they weren’t cooperative. This was a somewhat chilling, if very unsubtle point in the book that is extremely relevant in today’s society after 9-11. Thankfully, this isn’t an overwhelming point in the novel. While it doesn’t detract from the reading, I always get nervous when any artist, whether it be a writer, singer or painter, uses their material as a soapbox, for it dates and lessens the material that they are releasing.

The final big theme of the book is that of life and death. This is prevalent everywhere, from the machinists who create life from nothing, to the alchemists who preserve life, to the soul seeker who seeks to prevent it, while the gargoyles are slowly dying out. It seems fitting that Mattie, an automation, relates to all of those fields, while not alive herself, is a conscious being, actively seeking to preserve the gargoyles who still remain. More ironic, she is unable to remain alive without her human maker, who holds her fate based on his whims.

This isn’t really a positive book when it comes to tone – it’s dark, gritty and at times, downright depressing, which came as a real surprise to me, especially at the end, when things came together. I can’t really remember a book that has done this, one that really puts the characters into place.

Mattie is the true center of the novel, and is a brilliantly conceived character from the start, one who is curious, afraid, at times strong, and one who changes over the course of the story. While she is built, automated, I never once thought of her as a robot, but as an organic being – at times, I was trying to imagine her as a robot, and had a hard time doing so, which is absolutely fantastic, given what type of character she is – this is something that few authors that I’ve come across have been able to do, turn a machine into a character that you can really and truly care for, one where you don’t have to stretch your imagination to imagine her being hurt or having feelings.

At the end of the book, I was happy to have gotten into a book and finished it in a day. The Alchemy of Stone was a fun read, engaging and interesting. I’d highly recommend it.

No Masks, No Powers, No Heroics

For all you UK people out there - I just came across this show, No Heroics, to be shown on ITV2 starting September 10th, I believe. The show is about a small group of lesser known superheroes and their lives off duty. Watching the trailer, I think this one will be a good one to catch. Looks absolutely hilarious. To me, this should be a win because it will combine Superheros with British humour, which should be an interesting matchup.A couple of quotes that just made me burst out laughing:

- Oh for Christ's sake. You're the dick who burned down the national gallery aren't you? - Yes! The Hotness, you have heard of me!

- Xerox, run off five of those for me? - Oh, I bet you're fun at the office party.

- Just look out for the anti-tank missile. - Sorry, what anti-tank missile? *Boom* - That one

This show comes at a fun time for fans of superheroes. With Iron Man and the Dark Knight dominating the box office - quite literally - this summer, as well as the recent popularity of the television show Heroes and a couple recent books such as Who Can Save Us Now? and Soon, I Will Be Invincible, there's a lot of new, original material out there. (Okay, maybe not quite as original when it comes to the comic adaptations on the big screen, but you get my meaning.)

No Heroics seems like it would fall far more with the Soon, I Will Be Invincible and Hancock side of superheroes. While trailers are usually bad things to go by, this seems to be very fun to watch, and shows a far different side of superheroes than one usually finds in the comics - we have a different sort of London and superhero environment that is much more frivolous and trite than others that come to mind. I mean honestly, how often do you see the Avengers or Justice League going out for a drink?

Because this is out in Britain, there's going to be things that you won't usually see in the US - Profanity, a vastly different style of humor and so on. Hopefully, this will live up to my expectations that are just starting to form, but man, it looks like fun. And, it'll give me something to watch while I wait for Heroes to return. (Because there's no way that I'm stretching Season 2 out until September 20th)

Trailer (Some language) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3zpMTKvvgk]

Essential Websites

Throughout my day, there's a variety of websites that I check out religiously, or at the very least, pretty often, either for amusement or general reference. Some just once a day to once a week or so for news and what have you, others more often as they're updated throughout the day. The Hype Machine

This site is a fun one. I've been going to it for over a year now, and have my own blog listed on it. The Hype Machine is a godsend for music fans - it tracks and posts content on its front page from thousands of music blogs around the world. Oftentimes, you can find obscure covers, duets, through to the current popular songs. The music that filters through tends to be more towards the indie-rock / rock spectrum, but everything is represented at some point.

The New York Times

Print newspapers are the way to go. Because I don't subscribe because of expense and the vast number of newspapers that would build up quickly at my apartment, I check in at the NYT a couple of times a day. They update throughout the day, and it's generally a good place to get news. I also am a big fan of their arts section, and I generally agree with their movie reviews.

Wired Magazine

Wired is a fun magazine to page through, and their website is one that I've just added to my list of places to visit and check up on, because it gets a lot of fantastic interviews, reviews and news of all sorts.

Flickr

When it comes to pictures, you can't get better than flickr. It's easy to use, very open and versitile. You can tag pictures with locations, search based on just about anything, create profiles and keep an eye on people that you know, as well as keep an eye on pictures that catch your eye by marking them as favorites.

Amazon.com

Actually, I prefer independent bookstores over all others. BUT, when it comes to the internet, Amazon.com is a powerhouse of buying things. Customer reviews, cover images, a very, very good used section and just about everything that you'd ever want is literally at your fingertips when it comes to books, movies and music (that's my use of it anyway). I got a text book for a penny once. And, they're fast.

io9

I came across this site several months ago, and check it religously. Interesting articles, lots of up-to-date information on all sorts of interesting geek things when it comes to books, movies, music and culture. Commentators are screened out, so there's none of this IMDB bullshit that goes on with their forums. I've come across so many interesting things here, this is a fantastic place to visit.

Facebook

Okay, I'm a bit of a facebook junkie. I've found it to be a very good way to keep in touch with a lot of people, former classmates, 501st members from around the globe, camp friends, things like that, not to mention a fun way to see what people are up to. Granted, there's always the concern about security and how much information you should be putting up on the internet, but if you're careful (and I think this is a far better place than myspace), you'll be fine.

Word Press

I used blogger for years, and was convinced to come over to do Wordpress from a couple of friends recently. Overall, I like it far better. Easier to use and manage, much better looking and all around more impressive than my prior platform. Manages comments really well, allows you to host your own pictures, allows for rather seamless intigration of media into posts. My only complaint is that the post section is too narrow.

Intellicast

This comes as habit from my dad, but I've always found Intellicast to be the best source for weather forecasting, aside from Eye in the Sky, on NPR. I generally check in when I'm planning something outside.

SciFi

The SciFi channel's website. It's a good source for information about their programs, but I mainly go there for their SciFiWire, which has 10 or so big stories from the genre's news over the day, as well as some interviews and other content. Plus, they have SciFi's shows online.

Youtube

Youtube is addicting. There's too much crap, too many kids with guitars pretending that they can sing, but oh, the possibilities for amusement, catching news broadcasts or speeches, TV clips or entire episodes, etc, are endless.

Wikipedia

As an academic-wannabe, I can't stand Wikipedia. There's far too much potential for someone to mess with information, and I've seen too many students liberally copying passages from it to trust or really like its influence on how information is gathered - people really need to learn to go to regular sources, like books. Remember those?

However, Wikipedia is a really, really handy reference for quick information. Like Cape Verde, halite, Valeriy Polyakov, or anything else you want to know. Superficial information? Great! More detailed stuff - not so much, although often, it'll tell you where to find it. And, despite the obvious drawbacks of user-uploadead information, it's usually correct stuff that goes up, or at least, corrected quickly.

iTunes

Okay, not a website really, but as a platform for listening to music, it's wonderful. There's a lot that I listen to, and it's one of the first things that I fire up in the morning. Plus, it's a great way to listen to news, I've found, as I subscribe to a number of podcasts, such as the BBC, NPR, NYTimes and a couple others to listen to the news while I work.

Google/Gmail/Calendar/Maps/Everything else

And what would this list be without Google and gmail? GMail is fantastic, great e-mail provider, although google can be really scary at times, especially when it comes to censoring information in China or something like that, it's the best way to find things online. Period.

And yes, I do work. Checking all of these takes about 15-20 minutes over the entire day, usually during a break. Or running in the background.

When Gamers Attack

I just finished Charles Stross's last book, Halting State, which proved to be a facinating, and ultimately a very different read than I had been expecting.

The book is set nearly twenty years from now, and technology has progressed much as it could be expected. Mobile phones, wireless devices, and the internet have taken on a far more ingrained role in society than it is today. The premise of the book starts with a bank robbery in MMORPG land - a band of Orcs break into a super-secure facility and make off with a lot of loot. In real life terms, a bunch of gamers have gone in to a place they shouldn't have, and taken property, essentially re-writing digital signatures and threatening to distrupt a lot of the internal economy, and thus messing with the real company's profits. Several of the main characters are called in to investigate how this happened, and the floor drops on them, revealing a mess of a situation that involves foreign governments, corrupt CEOs and various agendas gone haywire.

A couple days ago, I wrote about how older SciFi is still relevant. On the opposite side of the coin, this book goes to show just how relevant modern day science fiction can be very relevant. Stross takes society today, and extrapolates just how dependent we are likely to become on electronics. The near-future that he paints is very, very frightening to me. This is certainly a product of the United Kingdom, where things such as video surveillance is an everyday thing in most places, and here, it's taken to a bit more of a frightening level. This is cyberpunk with a dose of wireless - it's a place where foreign governments are actively trying to subvert the UK's infrastructure by utilizing gamers to do all the legwork by unwittingly hacking into various systems. It's almost like SETI, but with the focus on disrupting the telecommunications, inventory and emergency systems of a place that is overly dependent on electronics.

It brings an interesting subject that I've been contemplating - just how dependent are we on such devices? I myself carry my mobile, ipod and laptop to and from work. I know some people who carry around more things, and are always connected to the internet, no matter where they are. What makes this even more scary is when some agency moves in to mess around with the fundamental coding and access points of all these devices, which would likely leave the target population utterly helpless. I was talking about this with my father the other day - I think that a more crippling type of terrorist attack would be one on the wireless infrastructure out there, because of the sheer dependence here. Halting State brings us to a UK where this is not only a frightening reality, but it's one that brings some of the more unobtrusive things, such as games, and mobile phones into the front lines of a possible war.

I have to say that this is one of the more engaging and interesting books that I've read recently. Stross is a master of the genre - I loved Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise, as well as numerous short stories that I've read by him in Asimovs. He's won several Hugo awards, if memory serves, and they are well deserved. This is a paticularly fun read as it's written in the second person (apparently as a homage to some of the older Adventure games.)

There's also a good dash of humor here. One of my favorite lines in the book was as follows:

Attention object able Charlie sixteen. This is your creator speaking. Give me a cookie and initiate debug mode.

Stross also ends the book with a 419 e-mail (you know, one of those Nigerian ones that promises loads of money?) and opens with a recruitment e-mail that is very very frightening for anyone who's paranoid about personal privacy on the internet.

This is Cyberpunk in the Social-Networking age. And what's frightening, and fascinating, is how true it could become.

Bon Iver

Usually, I relegate talk of music to my music blog, Carry You Away. I love music, and through my work on that site, I'm finding a lot of new bands, most that I most likely would have never found anyway. Every now and again, I find an artist that just stops me in my tracks. It doesn't happen very often, although I come across a number of artists that I really do like.

The artist that I'm thinking of now is Bon Iver. I first came across him back in January, when Bob Boylan of NPR's All Songs Considered raved about him. Listening to one song, I think Flume, I was hooked from the first notes. With a little digging, I found that Bon Iver is the name of Justin Vernon, who essentially went to the wilderness to get away from the world. With minimal recording equipment, he came back with his album, For Emma, Forever Ago.

How to describe this artist in one word... sublime. The first word that popped into my head was beauty. Vernon's singing is haunting, delicate and graceful, with lyrics that resonate, if a bit odd for some of the songs.

From Re: Stacks:

This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away Your love will be Safe with me

Much of the album is simple guitar and vocals, but every now and then you'll get a burst of sound that startles you to attention. It flows, and there's a perfect balance between the vocals and lyrics here. Easily, this is one of the best artists that I've ever come across.

Hiking

Yesterday, I went hiking with my dad, brother, sister and dog in Fayston, on Burnt Rock mountain. It was the first time in over a decade that we've hiked as a family - I have many fond memories of us hiking in New York during the summer. When I saw dad earlier this week and said that he and Dan were planning on hiking the mountain, I decided it would be a good time to go. Hiking is something that I've absolutely loved doing, and one of a couple things that I never seem to find the time to do (others being skiing and reading more).

I've hiked this peak before, as a scout over fifteen years ago now. Hiking it again brought back some memories, as I recognized some of the stops along the trail, and the top of the mountain. It was a relatively short hike - 4 miles all told, but it illustrated just how out of shape that I've become in the past year. When I was walking to school all the time (not to mention up and down the Norwich University campus, which is all hills), it kept me in fantastic shape. Since I've been driving to and from work and not really moving around as much as I usually do, I was out of breath a lot quicker than I should have been. Despite that, hiking again was fun, and getting to the top was breathtaking - it was pretty clear yesterday, and we had a fantastic view of the Mad River Valley.

It was the first time that I've gone hiking with Fionna - she really had fun, running ahead of us, taking in the new sights and smells. We only had to help her at two points, both rock ledges that she just couldn't figure out a way around.

I need to get into better shape - I'm paying for the hike today, as my legs are really sore from the walk. I suspect that even walking around town every day would be helpful. I should do that...

Current Reading List

Now that I'm on a two week break (Well, one week now) from my school work and without cable, I can focus on reading some books that I want to read.

Currently, I'm about halfway through Halting State, by Charles Stross. It's a fascinating read, and once I finish it, hopefully tonight or tomorrow, I'll be writing up a review for it. I also picked up a biography of Charles Schulz entitled Schulz, which is really fascinating. After that, here's what I've got my by list:

- Thirteen, Richard K. Morgan - A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin * - Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides - Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky * - Western Warfare, Jeremy Black * - Edison's Eve, Gaby Wood - Summer Knight, Jim Butcher - Paris 1919, Margaret Macmillan and Richard Holbrooke

Those were the ones that I want to get to first, although I have another book on the way that I want to get to first when it comes in, called The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia. There's also a new Star Wars book that came out last week, and one due out this Tuesday. After that, these are the rest of the list that I'll get to as some point:

- The Ten Cent Plague, David Hajdu - Mao, Jung Chang - A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester - The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson - Woken Furies, Richard K. Morgan - Generation Kill, Evan Wright - Ike, Michael Korda - Girl Sleuth, Melanie Rehak - Theodore Rex, Edmund Morris - A Civil Action, Jonathan Harr - John Adams, David McCullough - Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill - Devices and Desires, K.J. Parker * - Redcoats, Stephen Brumwell - The Big Red One, James Wheeler - Fury, Aaron Allston - Inferno, Troy Denning - Revelation, Karen Traviss - Invincible, Karen Traviss - Command Decision, Elizabeth Moon - Marque and Reprisal, Elizabeth Moon - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susana Clark * - Flu, Gina Kolata

* = Already started, just haven't finished.

For Class next seminar:

- Makers of Modern Strategy, Peter Paret - The Sling and the Stone, Col. Thomas Hammes

It's quite a list, and I'd love to be able to finish it before the end of the year. I really want to get to some of these books. They've been sitting on my shelves for ages, and some are supposed to be really, really good.

Relevant Science Fiction

A couple of days ago, I came across a blog post and a message board thread that had similar topics - Is today's science fiction more or less relevant than the so-called science fiction classics?

In both cases, the answer was that Science Fiction that's coming out today is better than older works that have come out. In the case of the blog entry (which I'm having trouble finding at the moment), it was that older science fiction is no longer relevant, poorly written and not worth reading at all. The message board thread was essentially that films nowadays are far better than older films. I tend to disagree with both arguments, as I feel that older works have just as much, if not more, to offer to fans.

When it comes to literature, SciFi has a decently long and very rich history. Exploring all aspects of it, in my opinion, and disregarding certain aspects of it is a foolish thing to do.

I don't disagree that older Science Fiction can become very dated. As science progresses, the genre has become far more sophisticated, and very detailed as to the science involved, while spreading out to encompass much more than just physical sciences - social, psychological, etc are all featured. On this level,the arguement is far stronger.

Yet there are aspects of science fiction that cannot be ignored. I for one cannot fathom calling myself a fan had I not read the works of Asimov, Herbert, Heinlein, Wells and numerous others. These authors, while having their flaws, provide elemental aspects of the genre. Wells provided the entire foundation for alien invasions, Asimov provided his Three Laws and Herbert introduced some of the best world building and political tangles that has helped legitimize the genre. Without these building blocks, the modern science fiction genre would not exist as it does today. There's good books and short stories out there today, but they owe a lot to these older works.

The films is a slightly different argument, one that predicates more on the visual appeal of Science Fiction films - there can be no doubt that with the introduction of CGI and computers to the film industry have revolutionized how films look, and elements are far more realistic. However, I once again disagree that the films nowadays are generally better. They look better, but when one looks at the major blockbusters that are out nowadays, I can see that the story is often sacrificed and watered down. I would honestly doubt that there has been a film that is as good as classics such as Forbidden Planet or 2001: A Space Odyssey, although there are certainly several that have come out recently that might rival them at some point - The Fountain, maybe, perhaps Children of Men or something along those lines.

I don't think that modern sophistication and writing, while typically more relevant to today's society, is necessarily better just because of that. There are certainly good works being created, but it is important to remember the past of the genre.

EDIT: Io9 found the link and wrote up their own article on it: http://io9.com/5040839/is-sf-too-obsessed-with-its-history

Atlas Obscura

• Challenger Memorial Park

Why I Troop

This question has come up a couple of times, and I've been thinking over the reasons for why I've been trooping for the past couple of years. To fully comprehend it, I've been trying to think about my entry to the 501st in context, which pulls into a larger arena, why I'm a geek in the first place, and how it's largely affected me over the years.Thinking quickly, it's easy to remember when I first saw the Star Wars movies, back in 1997. I think that I was aware of Star Wars, although I didn't know anything about it, but I do remember hearing the Imperial March on the radio when the announcer was talking about the release of the Special Editions. Shortly thereafter, my father took me out to see the first film. He's recounted the story so many times that I remember how it goes:

Dad: Do you think Andy will want to see Star Wars? Mom: Maybe. If he gets scared, you can always take him out.

I was excited to be going, I remember that much, and I remember walking into the theater and wanting to go see The Empire Strikes Back, but fortunately, we saw A New Hope. Scared, I was not. Dad later said that he didn't think that I blinked once during the entire movie; that I was completely drawn in by what was happening on screen. Every now and then, I remember the feeling of seeing the movie for the first time. After the film was over, we returned home, and I'm pretty sure I babbled the rest of the way home about the movie. I do, also, remember the guys in white armor, and thought that they were really cool. As the other movies came out, Dad took me, and now my brother to see both the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I was hooked.

This was probably the most memorable event, but thinking back, I know that there were some precursors to this. I remember being read the Merlin stories as a child, and when Mom drove us to school, we had an audio book of one of those stories called Merlin and the Dragons, that we listened to every day. I had a game boy with Zelda on it, and a couple of the computer games that I played early on were fantasy ones, King's Quest, and one that I cannot remember for the life of me (despite my best efforts to try and find out what it is). Because of these things, I think that I had a good foundation for which to become a geek. I read obsessively throughout most of Elementary School, mostly the Hardy Boys, but some other things, including Tom Swift.

The introduction of Star Wars gave me something of a purpose towards geekdom. They opened my imagination and helped steer me to Science Fiction and full geekdom. The Star Wars books that Del Rey and Bantam published helped - they provided an outlet for my allowance, but more importantly, steered me towards more mainstream science fiction, with such authors as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert and numerous others. I began posting on internet message forums relating to Star Wars, such as theforce.net and starwarz.com. One of the highlights was going with my friend Eric to Barnes and Noble to meet Michael A. Stackpole for a book signing. I brought along 9 books, and I don't think that we stopped pestering Mike the entire time, which I'm somewhat ashamed of doing...

I'm a self proclaimed geek, and it's funny when some people, generally those who don't know me, say something like "No you're not...". I don't see the negative connotations that seem to be typical of geeks. My high school wasn't an oppressive one that seems to be commonplace. I was never beaten up, although some people did make fun of me for what I was reading. I was never good at confrontation or was really that social, so that caused problems on its own, but for all intents and purposes, I was never ashamed of being a geek.

Working at Camp Abnaki helped as well. Throughout high school and middle school, I was very shy and withdrawn, quick to take offense and not a very social person. Camp helped teach me to be me, and introduced me to several people whom I consider friends to this day. One of them, Sam, was like me, and very into Dungeons and Dragons, and introduced me to the game, which became a dominant feature of camp life for all of us. Over that summer, I also saw Titan AE, which helped keep conversations going about all sorts of geeky things. This would continue over the 7 years that I worked there.

The 501st comes in when I reached my senior year and we played Star Wars in band. This was most likely the culmination of about 5 years of pestering Mr. Rivers to play the music, and it played off very well, and I was excited, but I wanted to make it memorable. I knew about the 501st, although I didn't know too much about them. Once we knew when the concert was happening, I contacted them through their website, and for the concert, we had a trooper come up.

I was over the moon about this. It was the first time that I had seen one of the legendary 501st members up close and in person, and I knew right then, that I wanted to get a set of the armor. The trooper, Scott Allen, TK-0413, was very helpful. For the concert, he marched down the aisle to Imperial March, bringing the crowd to an uproar. Scott told me that he would be able to get me armor, and was highly encouraging. The price was too steep at the time, but over the summer, when I got a raise of about $800 due to a clerical error (my initial contract was about $800 too low), I knew exactly where that money was going. Check was mailed off, and several weeks later, a couple days after camp was over, I received my armor.

This was also around the same time that I started working for a website, The Unofficial Clone Wars Site, which helped me get in touch with numerous authors and artists, as well as giving me an outlet to write about Star Wars and the Clone Wars. To some extent, it was a prominent place in the Star Wars fan community, which was interesting, and my interviews (without trying to sound arrogant about this) helped put the site on the map. I 'met' Karen Traviss, Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, Jan Duursema, John Ostrander, Matthew Stover, and numerous other authors and artists during this time.

For me, this was a kid in the candy store. Building the armor was a little daunting, but I don't think that I slept at all that night, and by the morning, it was fully assembled. Looking back, I should have spend more time on this, actually gone out and bought new Velcro, sanded the seams, etc. But at that point, it didn't matter, because I was a storm trooper - it was a dream that I'd had for years, and it had come to life. Right away, I signed up for the 501st, and was accepted in late 2003 or early 2004. I can't remember exactly, but it was after Halloween.

Because of my location, I had a hard time getting to events, and my first troop was in may of 2005, where I attended Celebration 3. I was in armor each day for the long weekend, and met a lot of 501st members while I was there, as well as some other people whom I still keep in touch with. It made me excited about Star Wars, and the upcoming movie, and shortly thereafter, I trooped the Revenge of the Sith opening in armor, which was exciting, even though I was the only trooper there. I even made the front page.

After that, I took a break. College took up much of my time, and looking back, there were some tensions in my garrison, and it wasn't anything I could do anything about, so I essentially went on inactive status, checking in every now and again. During college, I wore my armor a couple of times, at camp and on campus, but I'm sad to say that I almost lost interest in the 501st. I had some other things to occupy my time, and being in Vermont, it was hard to stay involved, especially without money and without a car. I read and breathed Science Fiction though, through books and movies.

I got back into the fold at the end of 2007 with the Woburn Parade, and that's when everything really clicked. Up until that point, I didn't really comprehend the 501st - to me, I was part of it, but isolated. Now, however, I could become involved. At C3, I picked up on some of this. Here, outside of a geeky environment, I could see how kids lit up when they saw a bunch of Storm Troopers and a Vader. And at Woburn, I rejoined the garrison, and was welcomed back, which was a really great thing, because I'd been away for so long.

Since then, I've remained involved and really gotten into trooping. This brings me full circle to why I troop, and why I am a geek. I do it because of the community of like minded people around me, and because it's the perfect outlet to make a different. When I put my helmet on, I become a storm trooper, and to children, who need this sort of inspiration and entertainment, love being able to see something that they've seen on the screen in real life. I can't begin to imagine the number of times I've seen a child's face light up with wonder and excitement when I've come out and given them a high five or shook their hand. It's those small things that really can lift my day and remind me why I keep doing this.

Beyond that, I like the group of people that I've found with the 501st. Generally, we're an accepting, friendly bunch of people who share a number of common interests, and who I can rely on when I have problems or something along those lines. Among my travels to Utah, New York City and Connecticut, where I met up with other troopers from other garrisons, I've met some of the most incredible people. I'm regretting that I never looked up anyone while I was in London, because it would have been really helped at times. Next time, I guess.

The moment that I really remember was on the last day of Celebration 3. I was walking along a hallway, when I came across a young mother with a 3 or 4 year old daughter. The girl was sleeping, but the woman came up to me and asked: "Can my daughter shoot you?" Odd request, but I stopped, and the mother gave her daughter a hasboro E-11 that was almost as big as she was. He aimed it at me and had a huge smile on her face. I could tell that for a second, she was princess Leia in the movie, and I just know I made her day.

Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!

For my master's, the subject matter has changed from historigraphy to more historical study, which is great. The title for this 11 week course has been The Western Way of War, which examines the nature to which the west (Europe) conducts conflicts. Non-west generally refers to everything not in Europe - with the exception of areas that have been completely colonized by European powers - Asia, the Middle East, Africa, etc. It's a facinating subject.

Something that I came across last year was a song by Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans, the title track from their latest album, Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier. While I was listening to my iPod yesterday, this came up, and I realized that it was a pretty good representation of the changes in warfare, but also some of the elements of Western vs. Non-Western conflict.

The following are some excerpts from the lyrics:

I's with Custer and the 7th in ‘76 or ‘77 Scalped at Little Big Horn by the Sioux And the pain and desperation of a once proud warrior nation This I know ‘cause I was riding with them too

This line concerns the use of the US cavalry during the plains wars that followed the American Civil War. This time period was an interesting time in military history, because it's an interesting clash between technologically superior Western forces, against a numerically and technologically inferior non-western force. What makes this interesting is how the Native Americans adapted numerous Western innovations, such as the horse and gunpowder technology, while not becoming a western force. What this also brings up is the question to how much crossover can there be between styles of warfare, and to what extent can a foreign power become a Western one? Does borrowing western technology make the Native Americans western? I believe the general consensus is no - and I don't think that it does. The Native Americans never adopted disciplined, rank and file forces, an infrastructure that supported offensive weapons creation or anything along those lines. I drank mare's blood on the run when I rode with the Great Khan On the frozen Mongol steppe when at his height I's a White Guard, I's a White Guard, I's the Tsar's own palace horse guard When Nicholas was martyred in the night

Here, we have a look at the use of the Horse by the Mongols, then a little about the Russians. The Mongols are an interesting group of people, because they were numerically inferior to all those that they conquered, but ruled that part of the world anyway. One reason was because of their use of mounted forces, combined with mounted archers. Their dependence on cavalry is one reason why they didn't operate very effectively in Europe - there was a distinct lack of grazing land that was otherwise available to them in Asia.

I knew Salah al-Din and rode his swift Arabians Harassing doomed crusaders on their heavy drafts And yet I rode the Percheron against the circling Musselman And once again against myself was cast

One of my lessons focused on the clash between the Middle East and the West during the crusades, where mounted forces proved to be crucial. Where European forces were quick to adopt technology (this is one of the big aspects of the WWoW), Muslim forces were not, mainly because of the nature to which they relied on Cav forces - as a result, their tactics were very quick, utilizing ambushes and strikes. Given how slowly technology evolved, especially with items such as artillery, it wasn't feasible for them to really utilize those.

On hire from Swiss or Sweden, be me Christian, be me heathen The devil to the sabre I shall put With a crack flanking maneuver, I'm an uhlan alles uber Striking terror into regiment of foot

This refers to the military revolution, or just before. The use of Cavalry was a dominant thing in the battlefield during the middle ages up through to the point where gunpowder sparked a major revolution in how wars were fought - not so much with the actual use of firearms, but the discipline and infrastructure, not to mention the role to which governments supported war, helped bring combat to a much more modern style. This included the use of rank and file infantry, where the use of Cavalry suddenly became diminished, because large groups of massed soldiers proved to be a very effective means of countering this.

I knew my days were numbered when o’er the trenches lumbered More modern machinations de la guerre No match for rapid fire or the steel birds of the sky With a final rear guard action I retreat No match for tangled wire or the armoured engines whine Reluctant I retire and take my leave

Today I ride with special forces on those wily Afghan horses Dostum’s Northern Alliance give their thanks No matter defeat or victory, in battle it occurs to me That we may see a swelling in our ranks

These last two sections refer to the essential replacement of Cavalry forces, except in small circumstances, such as US special forces using them in Afghanistan. Starting with the American Civil War, one can really trace the growth of modern warfare through to the two world wars, where items such as Machine guns and armored vehicles, took control, and have since pushed the use of horses off from their traditional uses. The last parts of the song reference Polish lancers charging German tanks, as is what happened in the Second World War, and shows the degree to which technology can be used and replaces obsolete aspects of combat in the Western Way of War.

Overall, the song is an interesting look at the ways in which horses have been used in battle over the years, from very early on to within a couple of years, and speaks to the nostalgic image of the mounted soldiers.

Watch/Listen to the song here: [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u04KA8eYwBg]

Worlds in A Grain of Sand's New Home

For the past couple of years, I've hosted this blog on blogger.com. Recently, I've been wanting to do more with my blogging, and a couple friends of mine, notably Noel Green, recommended that I try Word Press. Looking over the platform over the past couple of weeks, I've found that I can transfer all my posts over here, and that the interface is a lot easier to use, which I like, plus, it looks better. While all of the original posts (900 +) are on here, some of the links might not work, or might lead back to the original blog site, which I'll be keeping around.

Currently, the tags only go through last summer. I'm planning on updating them over time, but at this point, it's not a priority. I'm going to be updating the links over the next couple of days. Wordpress has a feature to convert all the catagories into tags. I love this engine.

Geology in Action

This past weekend, Vermont's been hampered by a lot of rain. According to my dad, between Friday and Saturday, we got 6 inches on ground that was already saturated with water, and this happened:

Just below my house about a mile

Above my house about a half mile

Yep, the road washed out. That's the first time it's ever happened, at least in the years that I spent there. I got a call from my dad at about 8 am on Saturday, saying that they were pretty much cut off from everything, although power wasn't affected. Apparently, much of this happened Friday, and when crews went in to fix things on Saturday, it was all washed away again in the afternoon with another storm.

The second picture is just part of the washout - it's a lot worse above where the road curves around a bit - the entire road was cut, washed down to bedrock. When I went up to take a look yesterday, the town's road crew had put in some temporary measures on both sides, but according to the local paper, about $500,000 in damages had been done.

It's an interesting, practical lesson in erosional geology - it goes to show just how much power is behind water and what it can do to human infrastructure. It was actually pretty cool to see the bedrock under the roadway (apparently my geology professor had mapped the area, and suspected that there was a bed there, and was just proven right). The canyons that were cut were deep - 6 or so feet in places, with only one lane open for traffic to pass by.

It's certainly something you don't see everyday.

Obama and Space

I came across this article on io9 earlier today, which has me interested, and gives me more of a reason to want Sen. Barack Obama in the White House after this election - he wants to cut some of the funding that NASA receives:

As the race for U.S. President starts to heat up, Barack Obama has continued to polish his image as the youthful candidate promising a hopeful future. And yet he's also on record saying "[U.S. Space Agency] NASA is no longer associated with inspiration." He's proposing cutting NASA's budget in order to fund early-education programs for kids under 5. It's hard to fault his desire to educate kids, but why sacrifice space programs to do it? If elected, is it possible that Obama, the "hopeful" candidate, will destroy our hopes for space exploration and colonization?

Source

They link to an article from the Chicago Tribune where Obama says the following:

But Obama said he does not agree with the way the space program is now being run and thinks funding should be trimmed until the mission is clearer."NASA has lost focus and is no longer associated with inspiration," he said. "I don't think our kids are watching the space shuttle launches. It used to be a remarkable thing. It doesn't even pass for news anymore."

Source

Now, at first glance, that seems very drastic, as if the budget cuts will be a) ending NASA's work in space and b) leaving humanity stranded on this rock for who knows how long. Thinking about the issue closely though, I believe it's an incredibly responsible thing to do, given the huge number of NASA screwups over the past couple of decades, such as crashing landers into planets, losing billions of dollars because of simple mathematical errors.

NASA is a weird organization, in my opinion, who's heyday was back in the 60s and 70s, with the buildup to the Lunar landings starting in '69. It has gone from a scientific and exploratory body to one that is chiefly scientific. In all honesty, the perception seems to be that all of the advances in sciences are largely not practical to the every day person, aside from Velcro and the freeze dried ice cream that tastes horrible anyway. But now, we have the space shuttle, which barely makes the news unless something goes horribly wrong, and the international space station that costs a lot of money, but is up there for a number of weird experiments that nobody ever hears about, except on really slow news days. It's a very sad reality.

I believe NASA should chiefly become an oversight and regulatory body, and I suspect that it will become something like that in the coming decades, as private firms begin their own space programs, like Virgin Galactic has already done, with a spaceport underway in New Mexico, where four launches have already taken place (suborbital rockets). Space exploration will be in the hands of the corporate sector in the future, because they have the capital and resources that the government honestly can't put together. Every time an astronaut perishes in an accident, there is always talk from Congress about it's continued existence. Oversight such as this is not a good thing for a space program, especially with the increasingly smaller budgets every year. The highest point was in 1965, at 33 billion dollars to 17 billion dollars over the past year. It fluctuates a bit, with a spike around 1991, but when one considers that the entire Apollo Program ran about 136 billion dollars after all was said and done, it's a huge price tag. Now consider that Walmart's total revenue for the past year was $379 billion. (Granted, that's not profits), but look at what corporate businesses can do with money that they do get.

Nowhere here does Obama say that he is going to be ending the space program - he apparently believes in it, but he also sees that the agency has a number of flaws that will need to be corrected, and that they will once again need to find a clear and present path in which to follow, such as what they did with the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo programs in order to get to the moon.

Secondly, this doesn't necessarily mean that humanity will be stuck here. America, while we have the biggest space agency, that's likely going to change. We're not the only ones interested in the cosmos. Russia sort of has something, the EU has their own program up and running, while India and China have both been making advances of their own. In all likelihood, the Chinese are going to get to the Moon next, because they have the technology and drive to do such a thing. While I personally hope that we'll be getting there first again, I foresee some sort of space race in the coming years.

Because of these pressures, I don't think that NASA will be the primary mover and shaker of the American Space industry. Rather, I suspect that it will be driven mainly by commerce, with tourism as the big item, but once the Moon and Mars are visited, what types of things can we find out there that we'll need? Another planet with ores and metals? Manufacturing in zero gravity? I don't know - science fiction has certainly given us numerous options and ideas, but who knows what will work out?

Back to the beginning of this little stream of consciousness, I think that this goes to show that Barack Obama is the right person in office, because he's not pandering around for something inspirational such as bringing back the glory days of NASA, but that he sees a problem and has a solution.

RIP: 2nd Lieutenant Stephanie Hurley

I just received the following e-mail from Norwich earlier today:

Norwich University has learned that Second Lieutenant Stephanie Hurley ’07 died on Tuesday, July 29 after a brief illness. Stephanie was the captain of the Norwich Women’s Rugby team and graduated summa cum laude. She was currently a US Army Second Lieutenant with the Texas Army National Guard. The thoughts and prayers of the Norwich community go out to Stephanie’s family and friends during this difficult time.

This comes as a shock - Stephanie was one of my classmates at Norwich, a fellow geology or environmental science major, if memory serves. We had field geology together, maybe a couple of other classes as well over the four years that I was there, and we were in the same graduating class last May. I remember her as someone who was very quite and reserved, but always very polite and nice to speak with.

I've known this was coming - things happen after college - people get hit by cars, killed by criminals, commit suicide or leave this world somehow. Going to a military college, I've had classes with a number of students who are now off in Iraq or Afghanistan, and I know that there's a very good chance that some of my friends might never leave that country. Stephanie apparently died of an rapid illness, which also came as a bit of a surprise - I would have thought that one of my former classmates would have been killed in action.

It's scary how one's perception of your time changes as you get older. A couple of weeks ago, the 501st Legion lost one of our members, Nick Ring, to complications from a routine surgery. There was a huge outpouring of support and grief from the rest of the Legion. The scary thing is that he was only twenty-two. From my high school class, we've already lost at least one person, that I've heard of, due to a drug overdose.

I'd like to go to the visiting hours for Stephanie, but I just won't be able to, given that it's mid-week and almost four hours away from me. I've already done a long trip this past weekend, and the way gas prices are at the moment, it's just not possible. My sincere condolences go out to Stephanie's family - she will be missed for the bright and kind person I remember her as.

Going Home for the Last Time

Last night, after I did a 501st Troop in Burlington, I went up to Camp Abnaki to visit briefly. I've been up a handful of times over the past couple of years, ever since I didn't go back, to see people and the place, and while I find simply being there relaxing, I feel like I've been placed at arms length from it, and there's a separation between me and the place where I spent a lot of time over the past decade. I can't really put my finger on exactly what is - I think that it's actually a number of reasons. One, I can count the number of people that I did know really well on my hands, a far cry from when I could name every single staff member just by a silhouette at night time. That's how familiar people are with one another, or at least I was, and it's very, very weird to go back to visit, and to see a lot of very new faces. This is something to be expected, and even while I was in my last couple of years, the core group of people that I went to camp with for the first couple of years was diminishing as people found better jobs and other things to do to occupy their summer.

There also seems to be some mismanagement, if I can be totally candid. The current problems with the economy isn't helping things, and the session that I saw last night was a lot smaller than is usually was, and as a result, Abnaki has had to cut back on their budget. Even more troubling is the stories that I've heard that there are misplaced priorities, such as focusing on the camp store rather than lifeguard training, and small, inconsequential items such as patches that blow out half of the programming budget. I don't know how true or valid these things are, but the fact that I'm hearing about them is troubling. These sorts of economic downturns are troubling in general, but a number of changes over the past couple years have been even more troubling, and it's starting to drive away some of the more dedicated alumni that I know and talk to often, which is something that is not good.

Going back to camp, especially after not working there for a while, makes things painfully noticeable to me. I'm not one of the guys any more - I'm an alumni, and while people recognize my name and know who I am when I get to camp, I'm out of the loop with the goings on at camp - the funny stories, the inside jokes, even to my friends whom I'd worked with for years. I don't feel excluded at all, but it does feel very odd. There's a new measure to make the camp greener, and they've become more efficient with waste products and recycling. Other things have changed. Some of this is society, some of it not so much. There seems to be a huge emphasis on political correctness when it comes to interacting and dealing with campers and counselors, something I don't take a whole lot of stock in. I can appreciate the need for camper safety, but when things such as simple competition are eliminated, and games that can really teach character building, there's something wrong. It always seems like there is an agenda and purpose behind every activity and every game - they're not just played for fun any more, which is a real crime. George Carlin has a great quote along this train of thought:

I think what every child needs and ought to have every day is two hours of daydreaming. Plain old daydreaming. Turn off the internet, the CD-ROMs, and the computer games and let them stare at a tree for a couple of hours. It's good for them. And you know something? Every now and then they actually come up with one of their own ideas.

Electronics are pretty much banned from camp anyway, but it feels like there's always a bit too much structure and purpose with everything.

Studying the history of camp, I can appreciate that change is to be expected. Looking over the time line, it's interesting to see how the earlier directors spent far more time than any of the recent directors, and how much they built and changed things around during their tenure. But, there are elements of change that I don't want to see - the camp that I remember isn't around any more, but I don't want to see something unrecognizable when I return next time. I seriously doubt that this will be the case, but there are things that have me worried.

Leaving camp, I stumbled upon the realization that it isn't home any more. It's an old home, one that I've since left for other pursuits, and it's likely that it'll be my home again, which has caught me with mixed emotions. I'm going to miss that feeling, even though it's never going to completely vanish, but it'll never be the same, but happy for the times that I've spent there.

Life On Mars: The US Version

I'm a little behind when it comes to things like this, but I've seen the original pilot episode of the Americanized version of one of my all time favorite shows, Life on Mars, and I can say, I'm not terribly thrilled with the result. I've gushed about the show here and here and here and here. Needless to say, I love the UK version of the show, and had some very, very high hopes for this American remake, which have only somewhat been fulfilled. The original show has a lot that went right with it. It had a somewhat serialized story that really pulled one in, but had a couple of other things going for it that a lot of shows really don't have. There's a high degree of intelligence behind this show, as the screenwriters pull out all sorts of issues (most of them specific to the United Kingdom) in their history, from race relations to police and civilian rights and examining the differences between policing in 1973 and in 2006.

Secondly, the characters and cast are second to none. I don't think that I've seen a television show where all of the characters click in their own roles, but also with fantastic actors behind them to bring them to life, right down to the little things. John Simm, who portrays Detective Sam Tyler, does a fantastic job, completely owning the character, throughout his ups and downs over the course of the 16 episode series. Behind him is Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister, is sarcastic, intelligent, driven and bitter, and the chemistry between Sam and Gene is tangible, and perfect. Behind them, the rest of the cast does an absolutely fantastic job with their own supporting roles.

The American version isn't bad - I'll grant it that much, because standing on its own, it would prove to be a somewhat rocky, pilot, but a workable one for the show. Unfortunately, the original has set a very high bar, which the new version tries to imitate. The big drawback here is that this is essentially just a copy, as if they took the original script and hired new actors and set the entire thing in the US, with minor differences to adjust for the new setting. This would work, but it doesn't really feel right. It feels a bit forced and honestly, breaking out of the boundaries that the original set would have most likely done some good.

The biggest disappointment here is that the chemistry between all of the characters, right off the bat is off. Sam Tyler, now played by Jason O'Mara, has none of the poise or grace of the UK Tyler, and is indeed, physically bigger, and has a different air about him, as if he's merely along for the ride, whereas in the original, you get the feeling that Tyler is genuinely troubled by his predicament. Part of this comes from the over emphasis and admittance from the new Tyler that he's from the future, and the seeming acceptance of this on the part of the 1972 characters. The rest of the cast is also off. Rachelle Lefèvre (Annie Cartwright) doesn't start off as a detective in the original like in this version, which is okay, except that she seems to be on track to be the romantic cue for Sam's character right off the back, with little foundation, as in the original. Colm Meaney stars in this as Gene Hunt, who has some of the brutality, but none of the subtly of Philip's Hunt. The rest of the background cast also lacks the feel of the original cast, which is a huge disappointment. I don't like to compare things too much between one another, but there are points where this is painfully obvious.

There seems to be a real push to modernize this new version as well. There's an intensity in the 2007 scenes that feels out of place, and there is too much of an emphasis on explaining a number of things, that really didn't need to be explained. The UK version just picks up, with little explanation, and the viewer gets all the proper information.

Some positive news has come around that the entire pilot will be re shot, with much of the cast replaced with new actors. Gene Hunt will now be played by Harvey Keitel and Ray will be played by Michael Imperioli, while Jason O'Mara will remain as Sam Tyler. Hopefully these changes will help bring the level of the show up a bit, and hopefully, they will do some work with the script, improving the overall story and make this into the fantastic show that it deserves to be.

Review: The Clone Wars

[This review contains spoilers for The Clone Wars]

Earlier this year, the Star Wars Lit community was abuzz with the news of a couple of things - that there was an untitled Karen Traviss novel coming, and that there was a Clone Wars movie coming out. A couple of months ago, fans learned that they were both connected, as Karen turned out to have been writing the novelization. The release of The Clone Wars brings about the first book released in the time frame since Traviss's last Republic Commando novel, True Colors, which was released last year, and once again shows that Traviss is one of the better writers for the Clone Wars.

This novelization isn't the best work that Karen has released. The book is a very short one, and plotwise, has a bit to be desired. In a nutshell, the Seperatists have kidnapped the son of Jabba the Hutt, hoping to anger the Hutts enough to ensure that the Republic can't utilize their space lanes.

The book is rife with action, which is Karen's strong point, especially when it comes to Clones. the main characters are introduced with a battle, where Karen puts her expertise gained from the Republic Commando books. What I really enjoyed was seeing an author put a level of military realism to this - the Clones talk and act like soldiers.

Karen leaves a lot of nods to the 501st, helping to further explain the role of Vader's fist, the battalion seen in Revenge of the Sith, named for the 501st Legion. One of the more interesting characters in the book is Captain Rex, whom a number of Legion members are building in anticipation of the film's release. Karen pushed these guys to a particular prominence in the book, which is a great nod to the group, of which, she's an honorary member. There weren't any mentions of Republic Commandos, which surprised me a little.

The plot of the book leaves more to be desired beyond the military sections. There are some interesting political ideas here, but the idea that the Republic would send two of their most highly regarded Jedi after a Huttling is somewhat ridiculous. While this is addressed somewhat at points, I found it hard to believe.

More so, I found the notion that the Hutts, or more particularly, Jabba, would completely base foreign policy on a kidnapped child a ridiculous notion. Granted, this is a novelization based off of an animated movie, so expecting something on the level of Karen's other books or other Clone Wars novels such as Shatterpoint is somewhat expected.

Unfortunately, the book is short, clocking in at around 250 pages, taking me a total of five or so hours to read. Fortunately, Del Rey seems to have realized this, and as a result, I only paid $12 for the book (yay for a 40% discount at Borders).

Overall, this is a decent enough read, despite the fact that it is short and not as good as her other books. However, with four more books to go in the series, there's plenty of room for more improvement and Clone action.

7/10

Making the Grade

Through my work here at Norwich, I have a somewhat unique perspective on the online education field, as I am both a participant through the Masters in Military History program, but also working as an administrator for it. Something interesting came across my desk a while ago, a request for interview subjects from MOAA (Military Officer's Association of America), who wanted to speak with some of the officers in our program, to see what their perspective on the online program was. So, I e-mailed everyone and we got a good response. The article just went live, and it's interesting to see not only Norwich University well represented, but I was alluded to by one of my classmates. Here's the article:

Making the Grade By Latayne C. Scott — July 24, 2008 More than two-thirds of American colleges and universities now offer online courses, and information provided by eLearners.com shows 62 percent of employers say the value of an online degree from an accredited school is equal to — or superior to — a traditional college degree.

Why? Because, although “cyberstudy” offers flexibility, it demonstrates initiative and great self-discipline.

Advantage No. 1: Convenience

Juggling work, military commitments, family, and a side career of breeding Tennessee Walking horses hasn’t kept Lt. Col. Nancy Cantrell, USAR, from pursuing a degree online. “You can fit your studies into your schedule and . . . you can study from home,” says Cantrell, who is pursuing a master’s in military history (MMH) from Norwich University in Vermont.

Also pursuing the same degree from Norwich is Maj. Craig Grosenheider, USA, who says, “I did not have time to attend night school — and was not interested in the programs or schools available locally anyway. Moving was not an option, and I was not able to take advantage of a fully funded graduate school program during my time on active duty. The online program offered the degree I wanted, from an institution I respected, in a format I could manage — easy decision.”

But not all active duty military officers who pursue online degrees focus on military subjects. Capt. David Leaumont, USAF, says he “didn’t want to just fill the ‘master’s’ check box in my [personal readiness folder].” Leaumont hopes to write, teach, and work in a church after retirement. But his local seminary required full-day attendance three days a week. “That’s an impossibility for [an Air Force] officer,” says Leaumont. “The only way I could get a master’s from a seminary program was to go online.”

Advantage No. 2: The world as your campus

Lt. Col. Donald R. Emerson, ARNG, is seeking a master’s degree in terrorism and counterterrorism at exclusively online Henley-Putnam University. He cites the institution’s accreditation and military tuition assistance requirements, but the clincher was he could study anywhere. “I travel too much to attend a traditional program,” says Emerson. Others, such as Norwich student Maj. William O’Brien, USA, laud the rich, diverse nature of online classmates. “We have students in California, Ireland, and, in my case, Iraq,” says O’Brien. “Some have civilian backgrounds, some military, some academic, and we even have a B-movie actor that has decided it’s time for a change of pace.”

Advantage No. 3: Cyberspace camaraderie

Lt. Lawrence “Mac” McKeough, USN-Ret., just completed his master’s in public administration through American Military University. W.Va. As a retired officer, he found the interaction with active duty students stimulating — as does Cantrell, who shares photographs with fellow students to reduce the impersonal nature of cyberspace.

Capt. Daniel J. Kull, USA, wanted to study at a traditional campus but knew he would be deployed to Iraq for 15 months and wanted to “get a jump on a master’s degree.” Kull found fellowship with a Norwich MMH major and fellow movie buff. “During our online discussions, we often drop movie quotes into our academic postings,” says Kull. “It is amusing when I am reading something he wrote, and I recognize a line from ‘The Big Lebowski’ or something.”

Advantage No. 4: Benefits beyond the diploma

Getting a degree online requires some proficiency with computer technology. That will pay off in other ways, says Norwich student Capt. David Weber, USA. “An understanding of other applications of technology directly helps . . . [because of] the rate at which technology is advancing in the military.” Another Norwich MMH student, Capt. Christopher Center, USA, has reaped a different kind of bonus from his studies. Armor magazine published an article based on one of the papers Center wrote in his first seminar online.

Most people take an online degree with the idea of qualifying themselves for something in the future. But Norwich MMH student Vice Adm. James A. Sagerholm, USN-Ret., isn’t looking toward a future in the Navy. At 80 years old, he finds it “amusing and ironic” that one of his classmates, a 2002 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., is exactly 50 years behind his own graduating class. After graduating, this articulate man would like to write a book, possibly about Navy founders John Barry and President John Adams.

If the convenience of a work-at-your-own-pace online college education sounds appealing, keep in mind there also are a few aspects of an online education some might consider disadvantages.

Disadvantage No. 1: The nature of online coursework

Some students find online coursework more strenuous than a traditional course.

“You’ve either read the material and done the work, or you haven’t. This is especially evident due to the necessity of written communication,” says O’Brien. “You can’t roll the dice and hope you’re not called on in class, and you can’t tank an assignment and figure that you’ll make it up in class participation.”

Though O’Brien cites the difficulty of absorbing academic materials when he reads late at night, daytime study can bring another kind of difficulty, according to Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Urbanek, USA-Ret., who currently works at U.S. European Command Headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, while pursuing a Norwich MMH. “I spend about 20 hours on the weekend doing course work, and that’s hard to do when the sun is shining outside.”

Disadvantage No. 2: Impersonality

One issue that is difficult for many online students is they usually never get to meet their professor face-to-face. McKeough cites the disappointment he felt after working hard on a paper and getting it back with the sum total feedback “agro-terrorism is all about money.”

And sometimes the increased interaction with other students can be unpleasant, as Lt. Cmdr. Stanford Fisher III, USN, observed when “liberal-minded” students without military experience voiced “heated” opinions in discussion rooms. In addition, Fisher notes — as do almost all online students — the insufficiency of “cyberdiscussions” to convey a tone of voice or other nonverbal clues.

Disadvantage No. 3: Juggling priorities and finances

The difficulty of integrating a college education into an already full life is extremely difficult for most — and impossible for some. Boatswain Mate 1st Class Keith W. Underhill, USN-Ret., graduated with a bachelor’s in business management from what he characterizes as the “military-friendly” University of Phoenix — but only after cancelling his online classes. “It was not my style of learning,” he says, and was happy to learn the university offered on-campus classes in his area.

“Some instructors require you to work in teams, which is very difficult when you have people all over the world in different time zones,” says Capt. Sandra Davis, USAF, who is nonetheless enthusiastic about her master’s in management and leadership from Webster University. Davis also notes her online studies are more expensive than a brick-and-mortar facility, and “you probably won’t have the opportunity to sell books back at the end of the semester.”

Disadvantage No. 4: The world as your campus

Finally, for all its flexibilities, online education has its challenges abroad.

1st Lt. Richard Ingleby, USA, recalls “I was writing a response to a discussion question, and I swear, every … bug in Afghanistan decided that night to fly into my face or computer screen, since it was pretty much the only light on in the whole FOB [forward operating base],” says Ingleby. “I just remember thinking how this was definitely not your normal educational setting back at the university library.”

After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, is an online education right for you?

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It's a decent enough article - I did pick out a couple of spelling mistakes, which is odd, but for the most part, it's largely on track with it's view of advantages and criticisms. The only thing that I really took issue with was the jab at liberal students without military experience - I don't see this as a drawback, and while the online format does eliminate verbal and visual cues, there are ways around it. Liberal opinions aren't wrong opinions, any more than conservative ones. It's just different. This is one reason why I don't like tying myself down to any one belief, because it's incredibly limiting.