Really Sad News For Trek Fans

Mr. Scott is no longer with us.

Sad to say, but it's taken a death in the Star Trek family to get me to post my first log entry in two and a half months (more about that at a later date).

About this time last year, I posted a log entry commenting on James Doohan being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  I was bummed then, and I'm even more bummed now, because he's gone to that "Great Engineering Deck In The Sky".  Like I said then, Scotty was one of my favorite Trek characters.

Doohan becomes the second member of the TOS regular cast to get "beamed up to heaven".  Last month marked the sixth anniversary of the death of DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.  Let's raise a glass of Saurian brandy to them both.

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Don’t Panic!  Hollywood Didn’t Piss On Adams’s Grave Like It Did Asimov.

Monday night I went to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Wasn't bad.  Better than I expected.  Not entirely faithful to the book, but what Hollywood movie ever is?  (At least they didn't completely ignore the intentions of the author, like in I, Robot.)  I saw the movie with a friend who is neither familiar with the books, nor the BBC radio or TV productions, and she really liked it.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (referred heretofore as H2G2) first appeared in 1978 as a BBC radio series written by Douglas Adams.  So successful was this series, that Adams novelized the story, with the first book being published the following year.  Adams changed some of the plot points from the radio version, and expanded the story when he wrote the book.  Three more books in the series followed in the early 1980s: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.  A fifth and final book, Mostly Harmless (referring to The Guide's entry concerning Earth) was published in 1992.  In addition, a BBC-TV mini-series of H2G2 was produced, and first aired in Britain in 1981.

It was through the television version that I was first exposed to H2G2.  Here in the U.S., it was broadcast on PBS, and it was there where I first saw it, while I was in high school.  I went to Bronx High School of Science, which had no shortage of sci-fi geeks.  It was one of these sci-fi geeks who informed me that were was a series of H2G2 books, which I promptly went out and read (well the first four, at least — the fifth book came out after I was done with school, and to this day, I've never gotten around to reading it).  They were far more enjoyable than the boring fare I was forced to read for English class.

Fast forward twenty years or so to the present day.  When I first learned Hollywood was making a H2G2 movie, I had mixed feelings.  On one hand there was the recent adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I also originally read while I was in high school.  While the LOTR movies took liberties in altering the story here and there, as well as leaving some things out (Tom Bombadil, we hardly knew ye), they were respectful to Tolkien's vision, and were, for the most part, very good films.  On the other hand, there was last year's so-called adaptation of I, Robot, which was a slap in the face of one of my favorite sci-fi authors, Isaac Asimov, and all of his fans.  When I learned that Adams has had a hand in the screenplay prior to his death, I felt a little bit better, but I still was worried.  After all, once Adams was gone, what was to stop the filmmakers from screwing thing up?  Even after seeing the movie trailer a month-and-a-half ago, I still wasn't sure if the final product would be any good or not.

Unlike I had done with the LOTR trilogy, I did not get a chance to re-read the the books before the H2G2 movie came out, so my memory of it is a bit foggy; though, a few weeks ago, I did get a chance to download and listen to the original BBC radio play, so the bulk of my memories going into the theater was based more on that.  It was obvious to me, however, they added some addition plotlines to the story, and changed others, and played up the romance between the principle character, Arthur Dent, and Zaphod Beeblebrox's girlfriend Trillian.  Such a love triangle really didn't exist in the original.  In the original, it is merely mentioned that Arthur had tried to pick up Trillian at a party back on Earth, but Zaphod muscled in on his action, and ran off with the girl before Arthur could close the deal.  While Arthur was obviously annoyed by this, he didn't spend the rest of the story pining over her, as he does in the movie.  But you know Hollywood.  They won't make a film, no matter what the subject matter may be, without some sort of love story.

H2G2 isn't what you might call a "great film", but it's enjoyable and entertaining.  It does have it's faults, though.  Putting aside changes in the story from the radio and book versions (this is to be expected), there are several plot elements from the original that are introduced, but never explained; thus leaving those unfamiliar with the radio or book versions scratching their heads.  (The LOTR films had this same problem in some places, but for the most part such things are explained in the extended DVD versions.)  For example, Arthur's extra-terrestrial buddy, Ford Prefect, runs around stressing the importance of carrying a towel, but it's never explained in the film just why it's important to do so.  (The Guide gives several reasons for this, which I won't go into here.)  Also, if you cough, you'll miss mention that Ford is a writer for The Guide, and had been on Earth doing field research.  And we never are told just what Ford's report to The Guide concerning Earth will be ("Mostly Harmless"). The Guide's entry on Earth is important because it points out one of Adams's main messages: just how insignificant we are in the universe.

Despite its faults, I'd still recommend the film to anyone who is a fan of H2G2's previous incarnations, as well as to anyone who is a fan a science fiction, or just a fan of quirky humor.  As long as you don't go into the theater with great expectations, you should have a good time.  I'm sure they could have made a better movie, but they also could have made a worse one.

(OK, so it's not the greatest movie review, as far as movie reviews go; but I'm not a movie reviewer.  I'm just a fan with some free writing time on his hands.  You want a REAL movie review?  Then surf the web for what the shmos — er, I mean pros — think.)

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Don’t Panic!  I’ll Have A Review Soon.

I didn't get chance to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this weekend, so obviously, I can't give you my review.  (Despite popular opinion, I'm not psychic.)  I had wanted to go see it Saturday evening, but after getting all wet from sitting in the rain at the Yankee game that afternoon, I was in no mood to sit in a air conditioned movie theater, and catch pneumonia.  Sunday I was just too tired.

Hopefully, I'll have seen it before the close of next weekend.  Of course, by then you will have probably read forty other reviews of the movie, and mine will just be another loudmouth opinion on the web.  And you know what they say: Opinions are like ass-holes.  Everybody's got one; and and everybody thinks everyone else's stinks.

Speaking of stink, I'm current working on my oh so eloquent tirade against Bill "B.O." Gates.  Wait.  Hold on.  Strike that!

Hup!  Just as I was in the middle of typing up this log entry, my phone rang.  A friend of mine just called me, and she wants to go see the movie tonight.  Well ain't that a coincidence.  Expect my review tomorrow (or possibly Wednesday, if I'm too busy).

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Sorry For The Layoff

I realize I've been neglecting the site lately.  I have a few excuses as to why, but I won't bore you with them now.  I'll bore you with them next week.

I have a backlog of log entries, articles, and some other good stuff, which hopefully (the operative word is "hopefully") will be posted up during the next week.  This will include some thoughts on the new baseball season, my review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (assuming I get a chance to see it this weekend), and tirades against Brazilian spammers, Jimmy Carter, and the geek everyone loves to hate, the smelly Bill Gates.

Tune in next week to Riptania for loads of fun you won't find anywhere else.

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The Return Of The Flying Leprechaun

Just in time for St. Patty's Day, the original artwork is posted up.  Check it out at Working for the Military Industrial Complex.  Hopefully, you'll be sober enough to work your computer.

Erin Go Braless!!!

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Browsing Back To Where I’ve Been

Hey, there were no log entries last week!  Didja notice?  Last week was the first week that I didn't enter a log entry since last spring.  Why the week off?

Well for one thing, thanks to Gate's Goons, and one of their critical update patches has screwed up the Design Mode on the program I use to write my HTML pages.  The Design Mode was an integral part of the template I created to make the code for the log entries.  Now I have to make log entry code the old fashioned way, by hand; a time consuming, and tedious process.

I've also been busy recoding the pages on this site to be cleaner and more compliant.  I'm also recoding the style sheets to give the site a more uniform look; as well as trying to get everything to work right with the various browsers out there, which requires knowledge of browser hacks.  I decided ignore all but most common and recent browsers.  That means if you are using Explorer 3 or 4, Netscape 3 or 4, an old version of Opera, or <gulp> Mosaic, these pages may just look screwy.  Sorry, but it's too much work and worry to accommodate browsers that only a hand full of people are still using for one reason or another.  Besides, using one of those ancient, buggy pieces of junk to surf the modern web is like watching a modern telecast on old 12″ black and white Zenith with rotary dials and a rabbit ear antenna (actually, I have one of those in my kitchen).  As for the rare browser like Safari, and Konquerer, I don't know anybody who uses them, so I'm not bothering with those for now, either.

Instead, I've decided to accommodate only IE5+, NS6+, Mozilla 1.0 (or 5.0?), O7 and compatible browsers.  Right now, I only have IE6sp2, NS 7.2, Mozilla 1.7.2 installed to test web pages, but I plan to install a few others soon.  As for those of you who are on Mac, or other platforms, I've only got WinXP to test on, but I'll try to keep y'all in my mind.

PS. While we're on the subject of browsers, Netscape made a new version 8 Beta browser available this week; in case anybody cares.

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The Rantings Of A Star Trek Nerd

As many of you may have already heard, those mamzers at Paramount (a subsidiary of that dastardly conglomerate, Viacom) have announced the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, the prequel to the original series.  This has really got me pissed off.  I don't watch many current network television shows nowadays, and this is one of the very few that I actually look forward to tuning into each week.

What really kills me about all this is just how good the show has gotten this season.  In recent episodes, we've seen the seeds of the United Federation of Planets planted, as well as foreshadowing of the First Romulan War, which was referred to in one of my favorite TOS episodes, "Balance Of Terror" (see the original NBC preview here).  Upcoming episodes will deal with the Klingons, and the mystery of those disappearing/reappearing brow ridges; as well as the parallel universe that Kirk, Bones, Scotty, and Uhura visited in another one of my all-time faves, "Mirror, Mirror".

I've always contended that nothing beats the original show (I've been watching the reruns over and over again like a mental patient for the last 30 years or so — since I was a wee laddie), but among all the Trek spin offs, I've got to say that Enterprise is probably my favorite.  Next Generation was hit or miss a lot of time, DS9 didn't really start getting good until the last few seasons, and Voyager just bored the hell out of me.  Enterprise, on the other hand, had me hooked since the first season.  It's got action, adventure, retrotech, a cool captain, and one hot Vulcan babe, the lovely and talented Jolene "Hubba Hubba" Blalock.

In light of the news of the show's cancellation, there's already a campaign to Save Enterprise.  I'm all for it.  I think this is a show worth saving; especially when you consider all the other drek that's on network TV these days.  Friends ran for ten insufferable seasons, and I never watched a single episode.  I don't think I could get through five minutes of that insipid, unfunny garbage without puking.  Yet that got renewed year after because an army of brain dead dopes tuned in for some unfathomable reason.  Threes Company had more intellectual stimulation (as well as the great Don Knotts).  Meanwhile, the paskudnyaks at Viacom, who also own CBS, keep bringing us season after season of Survivor, another show which I wish would just go away.  If all the morons on that island dropped dead of slow starvation, or just murdered each other, maybe I'd just think about tuning in.  Gilligan was a friggin' Rhodes Scholar compared to these clowns, even though he screwed up every attempt to get off the Island.  I like to see one of these Survivor idiots try to make bicycle-pedal generator (or a radio out of coconuts) like the Professor did.  Susan Hawk is no Mary Ann Summers.  But I digress.

When NBC (the same people who kept renewing Friends) cancelled the original Star Trek, back in 1969, I was still in my mother's womb.  However, if I had been alive back then, and able to put pen to paper, I would have written a letter to those suits at 30 Rock, and told them what a mistake they were making (even if Fred Freiberger was running the show into the ground during the last season).  Well, now I'm long out of the womb, and I'm gonna give the powers-that-be a piece of mind, and if you are a fan of Enterprise, you should too.  Just go to saveenterprise.com, and find out how.

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Riptania Halftime Show Posted Up Sunday

Yeah, I know that today is Tuesday, but I was so exhausted working hours on end to get the "Sunday In Ward 8 Halftime Show" up and running before the big game, and I wound up feeling like hell yesterday, that I didn't get around until posting a log entry about it until now.  As usual, I was late.  Turns out I didn't get the Halftime Show up until the about the two-minute warning of the first half…just in the nick o' time.  As a result, I was forced to listen to most of the first half on the radio (there's only one TV here in the Sky-Palace, and its in a different room than the computer).  Of course, in order to get it done on time, I had to blow off all Super Bowl Parties, and sports bar get-togethers.  You see all the sacrifices in my social life that I make for you people?

Next up?  Who the hell knows?  I guess I'll finish recoding the pages on the site, like I started to do when the year started.

My next planned komyc project is a little feature for Passover, which begins in late April this year.  Plenty of time to procrastinate until I get it done.  I might start up a regular web komyc feature before then, however.  We'll see.

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Riptania Halftime Show Planned For Tomorrow

I originally wanted to do a Flash version of "Sunday In Ward 8" to coincide with this year's Super Bowl.  However, due to time constraints, and some technical problems, I'll have to hold off on that project until next year.  But don't fret.  I've still got something new and fun planned for you all, tomorrow.

I decided, instead, to do a special Flash Halftime Show.  I'm still working on the finishing touches now.  If all goes as planned, it should be up by Sunday afternoon (E.S.T.)…even if it means I have to work late into the wee hours of the morning, and skip a meal or two.

Yes, I'm willing to go without sleep, and food, for you, my adoring public; just to keep you entertained.

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The Only Good Mouse Is A Deadmouse

OK, maybe Mickey, Jerry, Pixie, and Dixie ain't so bad. either.

Anyway, since I got DSL, I'm catching up on reading some web comics that I sort of forgot about, because I didn't have the patience to download all these images on dial-up.  One of them is Ballad, and its sequel Cakes For Tea, by Deadmouse.  I forgot just how sick, and surreal this story is.  I love the art style, too.  The black and white crosshatching fits the Gothic horror theme perfectly.  Check it out…if you've got the nerve.

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The Snow Falls Hard And Don’t You Know…

The snow is coming down here in New York, and so and I'm trapped here in the Sky-Palace.  Plenty of time to work on Riptania…if I put my mind to it.  Time to start working on the Flash version of "Sunday In Ward 8".

The problem I had, until now, was that I didn't have possession of the original Photoshop master files I had made for the komyc.  Around this time, last year, my old PC was in a mess, and I couldn't run Photoshop from it.  However, I wanted to get my scan of "SunW8" cleaned, and colored by Super Bowl time; and I couldn't do that without Photoshop.  Thus, I was forced to spend a week or so across the Hudson, at my parent's house, and work on the project on their desktop computer, which had Photoshop running.  The trouble was that my parents didn't have a CD burner, and the files were simply too large to e-mail back to myself.  And so my Photoshop masters for "SunW8" lingered on my parent's hard drive, with me having no access to them, unless I paid them a visit.

That all changed this week.  Ma and Pa Tanion bought themselves a new PC, and I spend the better part of the week at their house helping them set it up, installing all the needed programs, and migrating data and documents from the old machine. Ain't I such a good son?  Anyway, once I was done, I returned here to the Sky-Palace, with their old PC in hand…or should I say "in arms".

In addition to having another old, antiquated PC in storage here, I now am able to pull all the "SunW8" master files, and migrate them to the new PC I bought this past summer.  Now it's just a race against the clock…or should I say the calendar.  I'll have about two weeks (less than that when you think about it) to complete a Flash version before Super Sunday.  I hope I can get it done with time to spare—for your enjoyment, and my sanity.

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Movin’ On Up And Out Of The Dial‑up Ghetto

After a month and a half of feet-dragging by the phone company, I've finally got my DSL connection up and running.  What does that mean to you, oh loyal visitor to RIPTANIA?  Well I guess it means that this site will grow faster than before; but don't hold me to that.

Right now I'm recoding the pages I have put up, de-bugging them, and making them cleaner and standardized.  I'm doing my best to accommodate various browsers, and screen settings.  Please be patient.

I'm also contemplating the worth of making a Flash version of Sunday In Ward 8, in time for the Super Bowl.  If I do, I might even include a half-time breast…or two.  They usually come in pairs.

GO STEELERS!!!

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The Creator Of The Spirit Goes Up To The Spirit In The Sky

Sad news in the world of comics.  Will Eisner, one of the true masters, died on Monday, following "complications from quadruple bypass surgery."  Eisner was probably best known as the creator of The Spirit, which ran in newspapers primarily during the 1940s.  However, he later became a pioneer in the field of graphic novels.

Eisner was a superior draftsman, but he was also one of the greatest storytellers in comics.  He even wrote two books on the subject of comic storytelling, and panel layout.  I own them both, and I highly recommend them to anyone who is interested in drawing, or writing comics and sequential art.

And so another great New York Jew passes from the Earth.  Last week it was Jerry Orbach.  This week it was Will.  This New York Jew will miss them both.

If you want to read more about Eisner, or his passing, here are some links.

• Will Eisner's Web Site
• Dennis Kitchen's Bio and Obit of Will Eisner
• CNN's Eisner Obit

Google also has a couple of pages of article links here and here.

Will Eisner may be gone, but his work will live on.  If you want to enjoy what this master had to offer, here is Amazon's complete list of his available books.

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