Leaf

Beyond the Gates of Antares

I'm not much for wargames but I am a sucker for science fiction so a science fiction wargame can grab my imagination. The people making this game want to build a community by having people report on what happens every time they play the game. The mythology of the game will develop from what happens in battles people have. I think it's a cool idea. Click here to help fund this project.

What Movies Are You Looking Forward To This Month?

It's a whole new year and a whole new crop of movies are coming out. Here are a couple of trailers that caught my eye this month:

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters



John Dies a the End

Happy Holidays

Life is Short

Today I learned that a friend of mine, Molly, was killed in a head on collision a few weeks ago. I had noticed that she wasn't on Facebook but I thought that with five kids and the holidays she just didn't have time. I can't express how sad knowing she will never be back makes me.

We didn't have much in common. Molly lived in California. I live in Canada. She was a stay at home mom of five. I've never had kids. She had a strong Christian faith. I'm pagan. I suspect she was a Republican while I'm decidedly on the left of the political spectrum.

We met online. We both loved a show called Endgame which was canceled after the first season.  We got to know each other hanging out in a chat room, sharing virtual strawberry margaritas and a lot of laughs. She had a quirky, sometimes naughty, sense of humor. She was kind and thoughtful. The kind of person you wanted to be friends with.

Molly died because someone else was in a hurry. He tried to pass another car and moved into Molly's lane. He struck her car head on at 100 mph. Molly died instantly. The miracle is that her two young daughters survived.

Life is short people. Try not to hurry through it.

Flashpoint Rant

I love a show called Flashpoint. It is currently in its last season. I've been strangely reluctant to watch the episodes. I don't want to think that there are only X number of shows left then I'll have to buy the complete series box set of DVDs. I finally watched this week's episode ("Sons of the Father") last night. Since I'm writing this, I guess something about it pissed me off.


SPOILERS AHEAD


If you haven't watched the first episode of season 5 ("Broken Peace") my main point won't make any sense.

Early in of "Sons of the Father", Greg Parker (Enrico Colantoni) tells Ed Lane (Hugh Dillon) that he has to meet with the mother of the young woman he had to kill in "Broken Peace". I spent the rest of the episode worrying about that meeting - yes, I'm oddly protective of Eddie. The idea that he is being forced to meet this woman bugs me. You cannot make someone deal with their emotions. You can help them through the process but you can't force them. Nothing about this meeting was for Ed even though Greg was playing it that way. My fixation of the upcoming meeting distracted me from being too engaged with the rest of the action. To be honest, I wasn't interested in this week's episode. If I want serial killers I'll watch Criminal Minds.

A man named Colin Hunter abducts a nurse from a hospital staff parking lot. He jumps her outside her car and forces her to open the door and get in. Personally, I would have thrown the car keys over the railing to the street below. I must have shaken my head about that for 10 minutes. If he managed to get me in the car I would have driven his side of the car into a lamppost or something, especially when I saw he was making me drive out of town.

Here's the first plot thing that had be saying, "What?" Colin makes the nurse drive out to the middle of nowhere, throws her keys away (which made me laugh way too much) after that he torches her car. Then he puts her in his car and drives back into town to his hideout in an abandoned theater. Talk about a convoluted plan.

While Ed, Greg and the rest of the team try to find Colin and the nurse, they find out he has a brother and that they are the sons of a serial killer. The brother has not seen Colin in a long time. Someone shows him a picture and he recognizes him instantly and without a doubt. I haven't seen my brother in years. Someone showed me a picture of him a couple of weeks ago and I did not recognize him at all. Whatever.

The brother, whose name I do not remember and I'm too lazy to look up, might not have been keeping track of Colin but Colin was obviously keeping track him despite his having changed his name. Even though he's a drifter without a known address, Colin managed to find out that his brother was the real estate agent handling the sale of an abandoned theater. He also managed to find out where his brother lived and then to break into his house and steal only the key to the theater even though it wasn't marked in any way. I guess I'll just have to suspend my belief over that one.

Another suspension of belief happens when the team triggers a booby trap in Colin's home. A giant burst of fire comes out the window of a small room filled with flammable objects but a few seconds later the fire is mysteriously gone. I guess reality would have taken too long.

Needless to say, the heroes save the nurse and then it's time for Ed's meeting. The woman tells Ed she forgives him. My reaction was that he doesn't need her forgiveness because he did nothing wrong. That just proved to me that the meeting was not for Ed but to make the mother feel better. She should have just written a letter. Just because the woman "forgives" him, Ed is not going to forgive himself. He's not ready to yet. He doesn't really need forgiveness but he might feel he can never be forgiven for what he had to do. I fear where Eddie's emotional ride will end. I hope the series doesn't end up with him quitting or retiring.

Geekwashing

I think I've stumbled upon the first example of geekwashing. You've probably heard about pinkwashing or greenwashing. Think about KFC selling "pink" buckets during October (breast cancer awareness month) or any number of products that suddenly have the words "natural" or "eco-friendly" on them. In reality the labels mean nothing and very little money goes to support any cause.

Being geeky or nerdy is trendy right now. Who'da thunk it? A lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon. Some really shouldn't be there. Check out this episode of "Domestic Geek".



I've watched a few of the episodes and they're pretty much the same. Great tips but not geeky. I left a comment asking what makes this "geek" and she replied that it was the "science" that made it geeky. I was really insulted. Geek is not about putting on glasses and spouting some factoids. I timed the "science" in this episode. It lasts for 19 seconds. That's longer than what's in most of the other episodes.

I'm not one of those geeks who likes to point fingers at others and say, "You're not a real geek." I guess i just expect "geeky" things to have more substance. This just feels like jumping on a bandwagon.