Groonkly Bits

It’s happened before.

It’ll happen again.

Gods help you if you’re not watching the final episodes of Battlestar Galactica. I hear random factions of The Internet may be unsatisfied with what they’re getting. I disagree with The Internet. With the exception of one episode, I’ve enjoyed the frak out of the final archival tapes.

If you’re more than a year behind, I can’t help you. If you, like me, wait with bated breath for the end of season four, the 21st century answer to missed shows has your backs. Hulu will beam BSG love into your personal computing devices.

But enough about that. Let’s talk splash pages. I won’t bore you with the back story on how long it took me to settle on an angle for this theme. I’ll only say that the minute the comics angle entered my brain, everything fell into place.

view The Bucket in full glory

This splash will have only a few days showing in it’s full HTML glory. A certain movie release has asked to temporarily bump any small screen admiration off its pedestal for a short time.

No Comments | In: Branding, Television | tags: battlestar galatica, Comics, frak, graphics, splash, tv inspired. | #

This is part of the beginning sequence of Battlestar Galactica. Most sources say it’s the Gayatri mantra taken from Rigveda.

“OM bhür bhuvah svah tat savitur varënyam bhargö dëvasya dhïmahi dhiyö yö nah pracödayät”

Which, I’m “told“, loosely translates to:

“May we attain that excellent glory of Savitri the Goddess / so May she stimulate our prayers.”

Are you watching the 3rd season of Galactica? If you aren’t and are reading this, gods, you damn well should be.

This is from someone who once hated the show for completely superflous reasons. I got over that. And I’m so much better for it.

No Comments | In: Quotes, Television | tags: Add new tag, battlestar galatica. | #

not exactly my best work but…it’ll do for now (1680×1050)

Battlestar Galactica starts in a few hours. I hear tell there are Frak Parties in the offing around the nation globe. I’m not invited to any but that’s ok. Shows like this I can’t watch amongst a mob of people. It’s just too fucking distracting.

What I do have is a DVR, a bit of free time, and a beer. It’s the simple things really.

Don’t forget, there should be instant commentary after the 3rd season premiere is over.

» Ronald D Moore commentary podcast

But before that…

Rose Tyler and the freshily bodied 10th Doctor take on werewolves and a feisty, none amused, Queen Victoria. Also, the Torchwood institute gets a purpose.

The Doctor is Dramatic

No Comments | In: My Desktop, Television | tags: battlestar galatica. | #

It happened to me about two years ago. A hard lesson in forgiveness. No. Strike that. A hard lesson in second chances. I was denied mine. I decided to not deny others of theirs.

That has not been an easy road. It is still a road. And it’s best to start any journey with small steps. So I started mine with the easiest of all…TV:

Battlestar Galactica: Not at all Frakked-up

I watched the Battlestar Galactica miniseries and was unimpressed. It probably didn’t help that when I saw it I was pissed that scifi would greenlight that show while dropping Farscape, Legend of the Rangers and other good stuff by the wayside. Or that the acting in the miniseries was not engaging and the writing stunted. It definitely didn’t help that they “borrowed” the documentary style filming from the Fox cancelled, beyond awesome Firefly. I was also pissy about some real world issues. I was just full of piss. I swore to all that’s unholy to never watch the thing. There was dancing and blood rituals and everything.

Then a chance viewing of Galactica tugged heavily on my ear. That’s when it whispered this novel idea. The Cylons believe in one God. The Galactica-verse humans believe in many gods. The Cylons interplanetary act of genocide had God on their side. The humans were hapless(so far anyway) victims. It’s a war of ideology.

Sumbitch.

Wars of ideology, no matter how terrible, have a certain draw to them. They always catch my interest in films… in books…in reality. The acting improved tenfold. The writing finally spoke to me. The cinematography issue became an “homage”. Now I’m fully on the “Galactica is pretty darn good” bandwagon. I sold my hate. I ate some crow. I watch the show.

» Ronald D Moore does commentary podcast for each week’s episode. No DVD wait here, kids.
» David Eick has a behind the scenes video blog. It’s season 2 spoiler-icious!

Number two on the second chance list:

Veronica Mars: A Short Time Ago…

Buffy and Angel and Firefly were gone. The Whedon-verse recoiled and sobbed silently in a corner.

“Veronica Mars is the next Buffy!,” they said.

What?

“Veronica Mars. It’s hip! It’s smart!”

Bullshit!

There’s no way in the 7 hells that’s right. All you kids need an enema. Who could dare match the god-Whedon level of wit and charm. Who would dare boast this idea to the hill people and not expect to be crunched. Where was my Dark Willow?

Let me watch this noise so that I can mock it mercilessly among my friends. Friends who would later talk amongst themselves about my lifeless and sloth some ways.

And so I watched. I… was impressed.

Ah, hell.

No Comments | In: Television | tags: battlestar galatica. | #

I dropped my Starz movie package and switched to Comcast DVR. This turned out to be one mother of an upgrade. It?s as if a red carpet was laid before me. Folding out in a straight line at first and then drastically diverging into a myriad of similar red carpets all meant to serve my digital TV needs.

The velvet ropes have parted. All the doormen know my name. DVR is a wonder, no, a revolution held secret by the gods of dramas and sitcoms. It was a secret stolen by some bright, young titan who then distributed it amongst us commoners, where it spread like a wildfire in California.

It is The Shit?.

Before the Revolution
In the absence of Farscape, Stargate SG-1 has filled my need for space science fiction. Since my interest in Battlestar Galactica has grown to monstrous proportions equals my interest in volunteering for exploratory root canal performed by articulate talking bunnies, SG-1 has taken second chair. will have to do.*

(*update: What changed my mind? Read if you dare care.)

On SG-1 I was please to find that Claudia Black had returned to my TV. Not only did she return, she found her funny-bone and displayed it proudly for all to see. Good on you, Ms Black.

Justice League Unlimited had a brief and welcomed cameo by Green Lantern Hal Jordan last Saturday. JLU also had young Batman and Old Batman playing bad cop worse cop for my fanboy enjoyment.

Carnivale?s Ben Hawkins needs to use his wondrous, mysterious world-saving power and kill every last member of his inbred family. This is my belief.

After the Revolution
M*A*S*H is my new TV diet. I can?t get enough of that show. Who couldn?t love a program set during the Korean War that focuses on a lecherous, drunken surgeon, an ex-cross-dressing corporal, a cantankerous country-doctor colonel, and Hot Lips? Thanks to the Hallmark channel, I can tape four M*A*S*H?s a day and watch at my leisure.

Thank you, Hallmark. You bloody bastards.

Live TV is now my bitch.

I watched, re-watched, and watched yet again Barbarella exclaim, ?Oh! What is this thing!? as she experienced the pleasuring torture of Durand Durand?s Excessive Machine.

I paused and now know all the censored words on the Adult Swim boards. The Swim bumps also taught the fundamentals of time.

I could go on, but why bother? Thanks to DVR, the airwaves are mine to control. I command the vertical. I fold the horizontal.

I?ll never get anything done.

No Comments | In: Too Many Thoughts | tags: battlestar galatica. | #