Poking My Head In

I know, it's been ridiculously silent around here lately, and I never got around to posting those pictures from Brazil (I might yet, if it doesn't seem absurdly late to do so). In my defense, I have been writing--it's just that most of it is for other venues and is leaving me with very little free time to consume books or films or TV, much less write about them. That'll change, hopefully, in the near future.

In the meantime, a few thoughts and links:

  • I'm glad the Danish kidney donor show turned out to be a hoax, but I haven't exactly regained my faith in humanity in the wake of this revelation. Most of the reactions I read over the last week assumed the show was in earnest. Maybe I just hang around a particularly gullible corner of the internet, or maybe we've reached the point where we no longer believe there are any depths to which people won't sink in the pursuit of fame and fortune. More importantly, the people who tuned into that show probably did believe that they were going to see a dying woman force sick people to dance around for a chance at survival. These are the same people, the show's creators are now hoping, who possess enough compassion and decency to register, not only as organ donors, but as potential live organ donors. Am I the only one seeing a flaw in this chain of reasoning?


  • Dan Hartland on Veronica Mars and the fannish experience.


  • The SciFi Channel confirms that Battlestar Galactica's fourth season will be its last. "This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and, finally, an end," quoth David Eick and Ronald D. Moore. Good luck trying to cram all three into a single season.

    But seriously, folks. I'm intrigued by both the show-runners' and the SciFi Channel's willingness to kill off what must be a very lucrative cash cow. It seems to run so contrary to the attitudes I've come to expect from TV executives--the SciFi Channel's being no exception. (Link via Iain)


  • Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 is not about censorship, it's about television. Even leaving aside the whole 'the author is dead' debate, it seems awfully late in the game to be coming out with these kinds of declarations.


  • I am genuinely excited at the thought of watching last night's Doctor Who. This is the first time this season I've been able to make this claim (and next week: Steven Moffat!).

Comments

Mike Taylor said…
Oh boy, Family of Blood. My wife and I watched it last night. When it was finished we say it total silence for sixty seconds before either of us felt ready to re-enter the real world. I know it's bad form to say "best episode ever" whenever a good one crops up, and I've already said it about Father's Day and The Empty Child/Doctor Dances, but I think this is it.
June 03, 2007 12:14 PM
Anonymous said…
Is the Dan Hartland link working?
June 03, 2007 7:19 PM
Abigail Nussbaum said…
I hadn't noticed that Dan's essay was friends-locked. He was kind enough to unlock it, however, so you should be able to read it now.
June 03, 2007 11:07 PM

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