Love 'em or hate 'em, 'tis the season for Rankin / Bass holiday specials. The website frightens me.

And in case you're wondering (speaking of holiday specials), I have very vague memories of seeing a certain Star Wars holiday special when it originally aired . . . and liking it. Well, I liked the bits with the wookies. But then I was a) very very young and b) Star Wars obsessed. Did I mention I was very very young?

Everybody seems to be talking about it (okay, just three of the few sites I frequent so it seems like a lot: salon.com, lileks.com, and teevee.org). I somehow blocked out the parts with Bea Arthur (good for me, eh?).

Mighty Big TV recaps the first part of the Sci-Fi channel's Dune miniseries (with parts 2 and 3 still to come):

Oh. My. God. Now I see what he meant by "different vision," if by "different vision" you mean a bad CGI acid trip rendered on an old Apple IIe.

And this may be my favorite quote from the first page (but then I'm TV-obsessed):

Duke Sleepo tells them that the family apartments are in the west wing. Unfortunately, the scripts are in the ER.

Bry of re-run speaks the truth:

The Internet is not separate from "real life." It is not a different form of life, or living, or lifestyle. It is a very real part of the real life of everyone on this planet. Because it was invented, and because its main component are invisible bits of data, does not negate its existence. It is a part of the space-time continuum and the delicate balance of economic, psychic, spiritual, and natural elements of the Earth.

People that you speak to online are no less real than they are down the hall. Music that you download is no less real than the CD in your hand. Do you see what I'm trying to say here? There are certain advantages and disadvantages to spending time online, but there are also similar advantages and disadvantages to spending time hanging out in front of 7-11. It's simply a choice you make.

[This was in response to the idiotic story with the headline Millions log off Net to join the real world.]

Yikes! Fairvue Central's "We Didn't Start the Weblogs" is pretty funny. I feel so out of it, it mentions plenty of weblogs and folks that I don't know (clearly I need to catch up). I'm flattered by the shoutout to "Windowseat and Television". Woo!

Yes, I'm slowly stumbling around the net, looking at weblogs I haven't looked at in ages and some I've never looked at before. Wow, Fairvue Central's design is impressive! Aha! Nikolai is also responsible for the fabulous spacemonkeys.net. Slowly I put the pieces together. [A not-completely-unrelated aside: People at work keep bugging me about my Rhesus 2 and Spydor action figures because they apparently don't know from Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys. I pity the fools . . . ].

If you have a website and/or weblog or journal, do tell me about it so I can pay a visit sometime.

Oh-oh, another soon-to-be-released DVD that I need. It's When Harry Met Sally (one of my favorite romantic comedies), with commentary track by Rob Reiner, some extra footage, a behind the scenes thingie, etc.

John M. Ford's new novel The Last Hot Time is finally available in stores. Yay! Ford is one of my favorite writers. Want a taste of the book before buying it? Check out the sample chapter.

Will Shetterly also has a newish novel out, that I somehow hadn't noticed 'til now (bad on me), it's called Chimera.

And so does Caroline Stevermer, hers is When The King Comes Home.

Meanwhile, word on the street is that Steven Brust is moving to Vegas. Bad Steve, no donut. I'd think it'd be too close to California for [his] peace of mind . . . You can pre-order Issola, but it's release date isn't until March 2001.

If you're one of the many people out there who has long been searching for a used paperback of Steve's To Reign In Hell, I hope you've noticed that it's been reissued as a trade paperback. It's a truly fine book, I'm happy it's back in print.

The "discuss" links at the end of each of my posts are new as I just finally checked out the cool Blog Voices tool. So far I'm impressed with it.

So if you feel like commenting on any of my posts, feel free to click on the "discuss" link and have at it. (You can tell which recent posts have comments because there'll be a number indicating how many remarks in parenthesis after the "discuss" link).

(Or you could email me, but you knew that . . . that's not a new option).

Woohoo! Glory, one of my favorite movies is finally scheduled to be released as a special edition DVD. Release date is January 30, 2001 (pre-order now to save some $). Extras include a commentary track by Edward Zwick, deleted scenes, trailers, and the feature Voices of Glory. I can't wait!

Last year I had a great time at the Minn-stf New Year's party . . . I'm not sure what my plans are for this New Year's yet, nor does anyone know who is hosting the Minn-stf party (or I suppose if there'll be one). But I imagine if there is one, we'll have to repeat one thing we did last year.

We'll have to gather around a piano or some folks with guitars and sing "The Twentieth Century is Almost Over" at least once.

But will we do like we did last year and call people we know who live in timezones west of us, to tell them about The Future? (We left a lot of strange long voice mail messages last year where we rambled about flying cars and jetpacks . . . ).

Maybe you had to be there. Maybe I have strange friends (they're the best kind, after all).

Darnit, one of my favorite weblogs is ceasing to be. So long to cluttered and big thanks to P.J. for the fine weblog. And for his kind words about this little weblog and his links and stuff.

One of the things I forgot to say in my anniversary Thank You was how much it's meant to me when folks who produce really cool weblogs cite this little weblog as an inspiration. It means more than I can say.

Today I wanted to shout "yes!" repeatedly as a read Jason Snell's piece on the subject, he nails all the points I've wanted to make, better than I could've.

You should read the whole piece, it's all good, but I'll quote a bit just 'cuz:

We live in an anti-intellectual society. Smart kids are mocked at school, and try to blend in -- code talk for act dumb -- so they don't get singled out. Smart people are eggheads, people without lives. And yet we are still a country full of smart people. Granted, some of us are not so bright -- Two Guys and a Girl is still on the air, to name just one case against the American mind. But lots of us have a few brain cells to rub together.

And yet, when Dennis Miller arrives, he's attacked on two fronts. First, football fans are a bunch of ignorant hayseeds. Uh-huh. Second, Miller's too smart -- and worse yet, he shows off his knowledge by actually making references to cultural and historical events that every seventh grader should know. (Not to get off on a rant, but it's not like Dennis Miller is some kind of freakin' Einstein. A lot of his references don't, to be honest, hit dead center. Sometimes he knows a name but not the nuance; sometimes he's just plain wrong.)

Yes!

Yes! From Tammie Hall's article @ salon.com: Thin Like Me:

While no one has ever explained to me what it is about thin people that makes it seem acceptable for others to publicly pass judgment, it isn't hard to see where those who do are taking their cues from. The mania surrounding our preoccupation with physical beauty is like a raw wound, and has morphed into a cloud of damning hostility toward anyone who has attained an aspect of "the physical ideal." This, along with the ever-present specter of eating disorders, seems to justify the vilification of anyone not carrying a few extra pounds. If you're not thin, it's tres chic to be repulsed by anyone who is. The media bandies the word "anorexic" about like a volleyball, attaching it to all those without matronly upper arms (thus trivializing a serious and complex mental disorder).

In these politically correct times I'm often shocked by how openly thin people are ridiculed and made fun of. I think it's rude and even sometimes cruel to speculate openly on whether someone has an eating disorder, to tell 'em to "eat a cookie," to rail about such stuff.

Folks used to do these things to me, when I was a kid, when I was a teenager, when I was in my early twenties. I'd've thought that by now it'd come to an end. But I hear this kind of talk more and more and it always pisses me off.

My favorite headline of the day: Anchorage Besieged by Bunnies.

If you enjoy science fiction (especially sf TV shows and movies) and you don't read The 11th Hour, you're missing one smashing webzine. It's pretty great. I love it. I look forward to each issue.

Check out some past issues, read the November issue, and be sure to watch for the December issue which should hit the web on December 11th.

I used to be on the mailing list for the Order of the Blessed Saint Scully the Enigmatic, but I got overwhelmed by all the email traffic and had to unsubscribe. I still enjoy regular visits to the Order's webpage, though. And I always look forward to their newsletters.

If your a fan of The X-Files, it's worth checking out the November issue of the OBSSE newsletter if you haven't yet. I love love love the articles about how manly John Doggett is supposed to be (per the FOX/X-Files PR machine). This issue of the newsletter was written before the season premiere.

Have you checked out my TV Picks lately? They're actually updated almost every day (unlike some other pages around here).

Last week I uploaded a totally overhauled version of my TV links/portal page . . . it was a lot of work (I can't stress that enough) and I'm pretty darn proud of it. I hope it's useful to you as it's surely useful to me (mostly when I'm putting my picks together).

Humor me and have a look, even if you aren't big on TV. :)

ebay is dangerous.

I'm currently broke (we're talking eating ramen noodle soup for a lot of meals-broke) which is my own fault so I don't expect pity or anything. But I've also started poking around ebay again. I love searching for stuff.

In a way maybe it's best to haunt ebay when one has very little (if any) money to spare. This way I can only really bid up to $5 on things, maybe $10, and that's all she wrote. And only if I really really want something and am willing to, well, eat more ramen. The temptation to bid, bid, bid has to be gone. This way I'm hunting for bargains. Bidding, gambling, crossing my fingers that no one else will bid. It's often unrealistic, but it's all the more cooler if I actually win an auction for something that costs less than $5. It's like winning the jackpot.

I'm still mourning the loss of X-Review which stopped being updated sometime in the middle of last season of The X-Files. So if you're craving reviews of the show and don't want to wade into any of the newsgroups, you might want to go straight to reviews by some of the reviewers who used to be featured at X-Review:

- Autumn Tysko
- Paula Graves
- Kevin Patterson
- Claudia Cauchon
- Pam

I really enjoy some of the summaries at Mighty Big TV. The best ones summarize the shows well, while also being truly hilarious. And skewering all that's wrong with a given series. In some cases the summaries may be better than the shows themselves.

I'm particularly fond of the summaries for ER, The X-Files, Third Watch, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I know there are plenty of other good ones, too (if only I had time to read more of 'em).

John Wesley Harding is on tour right now. Check out the tourdates and catch him if he's in your neighborhood. I've been enjoying his tour diary, too.