Off to Palm Springs

For VD, I am headed to Palm Springs. The weather there is much nicer than it is in Chicago. I only hope that it doesn't snow here, because if it does, there is going to be no one to shovel.

It will be nice to spend some real solid quality time with M and Max.

Perfect Haircut

After a not so great haircut last time (with a different barber than my usual one) I got a new haircut. And this one of the best haircuts I have ever done.

Of course, I decided to take snapshots to document the moment. If I can keep this haircut the better - so it maybe if I bring in pictures the next time it will help him replicate it.

Farscape, err. Firefly coming my way.

As is the curse of all cool sci-fi, it is underappreciated in its day, but grows better with age and eventually gets the respect it should long after anything can be done about it.

Case in point: Blade Runner, (and for that matter Philip K. Dick stories in general) Blade Runner did poorly when they came out, and only later do they gain the respect it should. I watched it again this weekend, and it amazes me to see how much influence the movie had on our collective vision of the future.

You also see this in sci-fi TV shows: Buffy got some critical chops but was dismissed probably due to the combo of subject matter, teen actors and network location. Farscape has its share of rabid (and I mean rabid) fans, but it didn't save it from a pre-mature death (although 4 seasons is pretty respectable). So when Joss Whedon's other baby Firefly got the axe it made me sad. While I don't find it as brilliant as my friend Patrick, I did think it clever and original. The DVDs are now out and they include the three episodes shot, edited and ready to air, but for some reason Fox decided re-runs of Joe Millionare or something would be a better ratings pull.

Charlotte is a big, big fan and she is lobbying people to support good sci-fi with their pocket books - if you buy it, they will come. So, she has purchased it twice for people, and I decided to fork over the dough, partly for the last episodes, and partly because I want to reward good sci-fi, and partly because Patrick used that horrible-yet-persuasive "share the love" feature at Amazon. I care more about Farscape, but there aren't any purchases that I want to make -- I don't feel like spending several hundred dollars to build the collection. Heck, I don't even do that for Buffy.

Goodness knows there is enough bad sci-fi: Jake 2.0, Invisible man (I watched it anyway), Knight Rider, and Misfits of Science (which holds a true warm spot in my heart for schlocky science fiction.)

My childhood is filled with the warm fuzzy memories of blipverts, water stealing lizard aliens, and the Greatest American Heroes.