Tonight was the series finale of Angel. Going into the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, everyone... read more »

A couple of blog entries that really made me laugh this week: Kevin McHenry has the true tale of a student who will probably be called "very bright" only when she manages to set herself on fire. Jan's Liahona has the true tale of the teacher who knew what Mozart was thinking.

The Phobos website has finally be updated to show the winners of the 2003 contest. Here's some interesting information about the winners that isn't on the website: The twelve winners live in ten different states (listed in order of population): California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Utah. Twenty-five percent of the winners in... read more »

Contrary to the implications made over at Times and Seasons, I am neither a Gorn nor a shapeshifting lizard. And I have photographic evidence to prove it! First, I have this picture of me about to be attacked by a Gorn: Is there any confusion in your mind as to which of the two beings is the Gorn and which... read more »

I've been thinking about songs from movie soundtracks. Not songs from movie musicals, nor songs that characters in the movie sing. (Yes, I think there's a slight difference there. In musicals, the characters sing their feelings in situations where real people would not actually sing. In movies about singers, however, the character will sing in situations where a singer would... read more »

Thanks to Netflix.com, the Sci-Fi Channel, and a couple of large internet downloads, over the past year I have managed to watch seven seasons of Stargate SG-1, so I have now caught up to the broadcasts. The eighth season starts in a couple of months. SG-1 has its flaws, mostly of the type common to SF TV shows in general.... read more »

I saw Van Helsing last night. I was surprised at its tone; from the previews I hadn't expected something quite so tongue-in-cheek. It's an enjoyable movie, and not as predictable as I thought it was going to be. The special effects are well done, and there's plenty of action and humor. Verdict: It's not as good as The Mummy, but... read more »

Stan Schmidt, the editor of Analog, sent me a personal rejection letter explaining why he was going to pass on the story I sent him in March, but that he was looking forward to my next. So tomorrow I mail him my next.

I don't recall having heard of him until I ran across this web page. Apparently he was a playwright in the 1500's who wrote some plays with which I am unfamiliar. But he was also an epigramist, and he wrote a book of proverbs. Many of them, of course, may have been common sayings at the time, but his rendition... read more »

On the way back from San Diego, I stopped off in Las Vegas to go to Star Trek: The Experience and, um, experience their new attraction: Borg Invasion 4-D. ("The fourth dimension is interaction!") While it was enjoyable, it was a bit of a disappointment. When I first went to their Klingon Encounter attraction several years ago, I was grinning... read more »