Episode 9

After a thorough analysis of last week's show, it was decided that it was just too serious. By way of remedy this week, much silliness ensues.

Wrong, wrong, wrong...but funny.

Episode 8

This week we discuss whether being a SciFi fan makes one more or less prone to believe in the unbelievable. Plus another peek into PandoRo's Box, and a field report from Alice,in Australia.

Starbase 66

Twitter Ate My Life!

So, yeah, I disappeared again. I have a good excuse this time...sort of...well...not really, but I do have an excuse. twitter. No, I didn't forget my English lessons, twitter does not get a capital T. How does one explain twitter? Imagine a chat room that never closes, and has dozens of people in it, but you can only post in 140 character increments. A few weeks ago one of the Simply Syndicated forum members, and I cannot for the life of me remember who, invited me to join twitter. This is the same way I joined MySpace and Facebook, and the several other now-forgotten social networking sites. I never seek these things out, someone invites me to something I've never heard of, and out of courtesy I sign up, and wait for it to fall out of fashion so I can delete it. But twitter is the spawn of Satan, or the breath of the angels, or digital crack, or something. At first I couldn't imagine what I'd do with a twitter account. What did I have to say all day in little bursts. Well, as the list of people following me grew, and the list of people I was following grew slightly less quickly, I discovered just what a time-suck twitter is. Some people 'tweet' rather pedestrian things, 'I just had pancakes for breakfast', while others share a little too much, 'sugar puffs make your wee smell', but mostly it's like an ongoing conversation that you may take part in, but there is no obligation to. And unlike a chat room, everything tweeted gets saved, so most twitter users have pages of tweets to read when they...ok, I get out of bed, or get home from work, or pretty much any activity that keeps me from the computer for any length of time. There are also a lot of celebrities on twitter, but I found pretty quickly that following someone who has thousands of followers doesn't give you any better access to them than mailing a fan letter does. Your attempt to contact them is as lost in the sea of tweets as if you were shouting at them from across a crowded mall. Now the only celeb on my list is George Takei, and he hasn't said anything in a couple of weeks.

The news is unrelentingly boring lately. This whole economic crisis is massively uninteresting, especially when you realize that none of the people in charge seem to have a clue what needs to be done. Everyone has a theory on how to pull us out of recession, and everyone seems to think that everyone else's idea is crap. On the up side, at least NPR has stopped doing stories on how much it sucks to live in China.

Battlstar Galactica and The Sarah Connor Chronicles are continuing to kick ass, in my opinion. I fear for the latter show, though. Fox has moved it to the Friday night Time-Slot-Of-Death. I just hope that in this age of the DVR and TiVo that time slots no longer have much meaning. At the very least I hope that if the show gets canceled they get enough warning to wrap things up, and not leave us hanging.

And in my celebrity news, Dr. Laurence Krauss, author of numerous books including this one:

has agreed to let me interview him for Starbase 66. We haven't arranged a time yet, as he is extremely busy, but I'll keep you all posted. I am both excited and terrified. This will be my first 'real' celebrity interview, and I am a bit...no, make that really nervous. :-)

And that's all from chilly Florida(there's ice on my neighbor's car this morning). I'll be back soon with more irrelevant blather.

Peace,
Marius

For My Techie Peeps

I've always said the Shure SM58 microphone is the toughest little mic around, and this video proves me to not be indulging in hyperbole.(with thanks to Weathereye for posting this on his blog)

Post VD Meme Thingy

Since creativity and originality are so last century, here's a little 'couple's quiz' I swiped from Mdme. Stinkypaw. Feel free to steal it from me, should you wish.


What are your middle names? Ozzy and Harriet(and I ain't telling who's who)

How long have you been together? 7 years or so.

How long did you know each other before you started dating? Before we started dating, a few weeks. That's why I asked her out, to get to know her.

Who asked who out? Please refer to the previous answer, already in progress.

Whose siblings do you see the most? It's pretty even, since they both live in other states, but I guess we see her brother just a bit more than mine.

Do you have any children together? Not yet, but her daughter keeps us plenty busy.

What about pets? Artemis and Starbuck, the two Kitties-O-The-Apocalypse(tm)

Did you go to the same school? Yes, actually. We met at FAU.

Who is the most sensitive? Her, I suppose. Neither of us are particularly emotional.

Where do you eat out most as a couple? Taco Bell(sad, yes I know).

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Savannah, GA.

Who has the craziest exes? Well, with the exception of those of you who grace me with your visits here, me. (Sometimes I think the term 'bat-shit crazy' was invented by someone who followed my love life a little too closely)

Who has the worst temper? Alas, that would be me.

Who does the cooking? Up until last week it was mostly me, but after an...um...intense debate she now handles dinner, while I handle breakfast and lunch.

Who is more social? We are both kinda hermitlike, but I'm more active online, so I guess me.

Who is the neat freak? Those of you who know me in person will find this statement terrifying...I'm the neat one.

Who is the most stubborn? While I don't put any stock in astrology, I can be quite the stereotypical Taurus.

Who hogs the bed? Oddly enough we both tend to stay on our sides of the bed.

Who wakes up earlier? For work...her. On days off...me.

Where was your first date? I took her to an Irish pub in Delray Beach, then we went to the beach and hung out(actually made out) until the wee small hours.

Who has the bigger family? She comes from a Southern Baptist family. There are at least a million of them.

Do you get flowers often? Once, I think.

How long did it take to get serious? I'm not sure, it was kind of a gradual thing.

Who eats more? Bo shuda!

Who sings better? I do, I think. She doesn't sing much so it's hard to tell.

Who does the laundry? Currently, since we only have the one car and she can't drive mine(it's a stick) me.

Who’s better with the computer? Definitely me. I've taught her how to turn it on, and how to change her wallpaper, but beyond that she gets lost.

Who drives when you are together? Mostly me.

Who picks where you go to dinner? It's a joint decision.

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? We're both pretty good about that kind of thing, once it's proven.

Who wears the pants in the relationship? Mostly me(though I'm told I look ok in a kilt).

Who has more tattoos? Me.

Who eats more sweets? She wins this one.

So yesterday was actually rather nice. I surprised Mrs. Marius with tickets to Spamalot! and she gave me season three of Stargate: SG1. We're hopeless romantics, what can I say. Then we went to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant in town. The food was adequate, if a bit pricey, and the busboy who brought us our entrees screwed up and swapped our order and the table's next to us. In his defense we had both ordered fajitas and enchiladas, but ours were supposed to be steak and chicken, not chicken and cheese. But our server, and the manager, were very apologetic and fixed it right away, and then comped us dessert. The flan was like a slice of Heaven, and even if I had been upset at the screw up, it would have made things all better. Then we went home and watched Battlestar Galactica(damn, this show is awesome) then went to bed at the same time...and that was the real special thing for the holiday. We almost never go to bed together.

What did you do for Valentine's day?

Marius

Episode 7

This week we are joined by Mindy from The Devil and Miss Mindy podcast to talk about The X-Files. Do you want to believe?

Starbase 66

I've Been Interviewed

The lovely and talented Ms. flurrious has sent me some interview questions that I am to answer. And here they be:

1. I recently confessed elsewhere that I used to have a crush on Peter DeLuise of 21 Jump Street, despite the fact that also appearing on 21 Jump Street was Johnny Depp, about whom my reaction has always been: meh. So my question is, who is your most embarrassing celebrity crush and why did you like him or her? Please be excruciatingly specific. When I was twelve or thirteen I had a dream that I was married to Marie Osmond. That was the spark that ignited an all-consuming passion for the lady that lasted for at least a year or two. I carried a picture of her in my wallet, and never missed an episode of The Donny and Marie Show. I was sure she was singing to me, and even though she did not know me I knew that we were perfect for each other. It's a good thing there was no internet at the time so the extent of my stalking was to send her a fan letter that garnered no reply. Even today, when I see her on the tabloid or selling dolls on HSN I feel the faintest of wistful pangs in my gut.

2. You have six weeks to do with what you will. All of your work and family responsibilities will be handled by someone else (not me), and you have an unlimited expense account for your six-week break. The catch is that whatever you do, you have to do it by yourself -- no friends or family can accompany you. What will you do?I would spend a week in England, Egypt, and Greece, then two weeks diving the Great Barrier Reef, and finish up with a week in Vegas.

3. If you could have dinner with one person, living or dead, who would it be, what would you talk about, and what would you have for dinner? That's a toughie. Dinner itself would be steak with grilled mushrooms and onions, baked potatoes, steamed Brussels sprouts, and cheesecake for desert. As for who...I think William Shakespeare. I'd love to find out just how full of shit most Shakespearean scholars are when it comes to what he 'really' meant.

4. If you had it to do over again, would you choose the same career path? And do you see yourself in the same career forever, or do you have secret aspirations which you have never told anyone because you don't want them to laugh at you or tell you that you can't, and if so, would you please divulge your secret career aspirations now to the internet at large? Okay, thanks. I probably wouldn't change my career, but I might like to change the way I went about doing it. Like maybe getting my BFA in less than 8 years. As for super-secret aspirations, I'm afraid I'm not that interesting. I've always wanted to be a Marine Biologist, but I haven't the math skills.

5. I would like to poke [name of person other than me] in the eye, for the following reason(s):
Bill O'Reiley, because he's such a sanctimonious, self-righteous, hypocritical, ignorant spewer of half-truths and outright lies all wrapped up in the bogusness of "No Spin". At least Republitards like Hannity and Limbaugh don't pretend to be non-partisan. There's at least a little bit of honesty in them. Hey, can I use Anne Coulter to poke him?

And there you have it. Not very interesting, I'm afraid, but I'm pretty tired right now. If you want to put what you'd rather I said in that's cool. In fact, that would probably be a hell of a lot more entertaining. ;-)

Marius the Boring

Don't Forget to Bring Your Soul

Make your own church sign here, then tell me where to find it. :-)

Errata

If you have listened to the latest Starbase 66 you will have heard our roughest show yet. We recorded on the Thursday night before the Superbowl, instead of our usual Sunday night, due to the aforementioned game. We were all tired, and Kennedy's connection kept going out so he often could not hear Karen and me. There were several factual gaffes made that I thought I caught in my editing, but Duke just pointed out to me that during one of my tirades I actually said Greedo shot first. Let me be perfectly clear on this point...



Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled life, already in progress.

Episode 6

In which we discuss Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas.

Starbase 66

Varmintally Speaking

Hi, Folkses!
We haven't heard from the Kitties-O-The-Apocalypse lately...well, to be honest I hear from them daily(usually well before breakfast time)...but you haven't, so here are some of their latest antics.

One night, as all was quiet and I was happily surfing the interwebz, I heard a sound that could only be Fatass squeezing himself into the only basket in the house that he had yet to sit in.





And this is why it takes me so long to edit my podcast! Both Artemis and Starbuck have figured out that they can demand more attention by parking themselves next to, and sometimes on, the keyboards. And when that doesn't work, they just give me a face full of kitty butt! :-(




Here they try to get me to read a Shannara book. Sorry, you guys are cute, but not that cute.


Not much is going on news-wise around here. Unless you count the struggle against the latest Cold From Hell(tm) as news. Actually, now that the coffee is kicking in, and my RAM is beginning to function, the fam and I spent a lovely couple of hours with our dear friend, and former student, Z yesterday. Due to her being in the midst of her senior year in high school we have had trouble finding time to get together, but the planets aligned just right and we were able to go to the local Borders and sip lattes and chat. She even graciously granted me an interview for the podcast. :-) Otherwise all is quiet on the Southern front.

How about you?

Marius

You Have Got To Be Kidding

I was just sent a link, via Twitter, to this site. I didn't go beyond the front page, where you can find even more pictures like those above. I know that the dogs aren't being harmed, but this just seems so very, very wrong to me, but I can't really put my finger on why. I guess if you want to have a pet chicken, or camel, or peacock go buy one. DON'T PAINT YOUR PETS!!!


Jim Morrison was right. People are strange.

Marius the Weirded-Out

Back From The Dead

Ugh! I asked the doctor yesterday if I'm just getting older, or are the bugs getting meaner. She woefully confirmed the latter.(and tactfully avoided the former.) Friday evening the missus and I planned to go check out the new Chinese take-out that opened down the street. As I was getting dressed her mom called(rarely a short conversation)and I settled in before the 'puter to surf. As the minutes ticked by I felt crappier, and crappier, til finally I vetoed the journey, opting for frozen pizza instead. The weekend was spent in mortal combat with billions of little armored rhinoviruses, and my forces seemed vastly outnumbered. Alas, no enjoyment of the Superbowl could be found(not that I really cared who won)but no beer was consumed either! Then, on Monday, I went to work. I thought, maybe, I might be getting better, but these crafty little bastards in my sinuses were just lying in wait. Monday night was a sweaty, yet fever-less ordeal of wakefulness and misery. Tuesday we had a meeting, so I girded my loins, and risked popping a vessel or two by taking some cold medicine(not a good thing for the ole' blood pressure) and went to work. By noon, at the insistence of my coworkers, I was homeward bound. I went to bed somewhere around 1pm, got up for dinner, and returned thence and stayed there til morning. I called the daktari and was seen yesterday afternoon(I did not go to work). Alas, as most of you know, there is little modern medicine can do against viruses, but she did give me the best thing available...ambien. I went to bed at 8:30 last night, and though there is still a helium balloon in my head, and Play-Doh in my sinuses, I feel much better. Never underestimate the healing properties of sleep.

In amongst all that this device, whose brain dump I have forestalled many times, finally gave up and needed a full re-format. It is such a pain, but I popped in the Season One of the X-Files that my Puddy gave me for Christmas, and the time flew by. I am nowhere near done reloading all the programs I need, but at least the intertubes are working properly again, and I can open Firefox. For the last few days only Internet Explorer would open, and I had forgotten how much I hate IE. If you haven't made the switch, Firefox is awesome.

On the podcasting front, the Starbase is getting rave reviews, and I thank all of you who have given us feedback. This is proving to be one of the most rewarding endeavors of my life, and I'm thrilled you like it. Please keep the suggestions and comments coming. You may have noticed the poll above about the background sound effects on the podcast. Please vote. Also, if you would like to join us on the show let me know what you'd like to talk about. We love having guests on the show, or at the Admiral's Table.

Ok, time to get the COA out of bed and into the launch tube.

Later, y'all!
Marius the Reborn

Episode 5, Guilty Pleasures

This week we discuss the movies and TV shows that we hate ourselves for loving.

Starbase 66