Locus Awards Winners

Locus Awards Winners have been announced. A good bunch of winners. I like pretty much everyone on it. I'm particlarly pleased with the Link win. Here are the novel category winners:

Best SF: The Baroque Cycle: The Confusion; The System of the World by Neal Stephenson

Best Fantasy: Iron Council by China Mieville

Best First Novel: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Best Young Adult: A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Music Meme - take 2

Rules here

1. Sir Hand, or is it Ma'am? - Red Fish knew it was Snail Shell by They Might Be Giants
2. You Say you want a revolution? - Joe knew it was the Beatles' Revolution.
3. Shyness is nice, and - Joe knew this was Ask by The Smiths.
4. Remember Rio and get down
Like some other DJ, it's another town
5. So I ran faster - Joe got this. Precious Things by Tori Amos.
6. Well it happened years ago
when you lived on stanhope road.
7. Step on up, enjoy the show
The Colosseum's packed and we're ready to go
8. I saw a newspaper picture
from the political campaign
9. He said something before you left
Something I was not to forget
10. You are the latest contender - Joe got this. Darts of Pleasure by Franz Ferdinand
11. When the disappearing begins
The ghosts we kept within
12. I'm no barbie doll
I'm not your baby girl
13. He said you're just as boring as everyone else
When you tut and you moan
14. Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee - Lee by Tenacious D. Joe got this as well.
15. I don't want to get over you
I guess I could take a sleeping pill and sleep at will
16. Wild is the wind that strips away our sins
Yours is the night, but you don't know where to begin
17. What do we do for our freedom, oh, what do we do for our corn?
Poor Big Boss Jones and his bully boys came here last Sunday morn.
18. I still love the light on, baby
It keeps me awake, but I don't mind
19. I know, cause I've seen it
It was great and I want it
20. She had an horror of rooms she was tired you can't hide beat - Scary Monsters by David Bowie. Joe scores again.
21. You have never been in love
Until you've seen the stars,
22. Rosemary, Heaven restores you in life
You're coming with me
23. And this I knew
His teeth as white as snow
24. I've been having a bad, bad day
Come on won't you put that pad away
25. If God had long hair - Joe got the name. It's What if God Smoked Cannabis. Sung By Joan Osborne, parodying her own song.

Stranger Things Happen available as a free download

Stranger Things Happen was Kelly Link's first short story collection. It was friggin' brilliant.

Now, Link has a new collection out (which I'll be buying at worldcon), and is offering the previous one as a free download under a Creative Commons License.

Everyone should get it. And read it. And then buy it. And then buy the new one.

Link via Boing Boing

Mirrormask clip - Creepy Makeover

With robots singing the Carpenters, Mirrormask heroine Helena is transformed.

Me want watch movie!

When the Slush God is right...

He's really, really right.

Complaint letter generator

Go on. Use it. You know you want to.

Link via The Great Curve

People seem to be posting their worldcon schedules

So hey, I'll post mine (yes, I'm actually on the programme):

Thursday 7:00pm How do You get to a Book Cover
Didi Chanoch
Simon R Green
John Picacio
Karen Traviss (M)
Artists and art directors from different countries/industries
discuss the differences in their markets. What unconscious cultural
preferences exist? What makes a good book cover?

May seem like a strange choice, as I'm neither an artist nor a an art director. But for my series in Modan, I DO serve as a de facto art director, working with the cover designers to get the best cover for the books.

I'm landing in Glasgow at 17:30, so it should be a mad dash to the hotel and from there to the con. Thank GOD I'm staying at the Moat House, which is right next to the SECC.

First King Kong trailer

Looks fricking awesome.

Gabe's baaaaack

Gabriel Chouinard, one of the most interesting critics in SF, has a new blog, and he seems to be motivated again. Good. At most points in its history, SF has needed a good kick upside the head. It needs it now.

Kick, Gabe, kick.

Hey, I just went to the site again and found this in the sidebar: "gabe chouinard believes literature needs to be dragged screaming into the streets and given a good ass-kicking." I swear I didn't read it before writing the above.

Lou Anders on Batman and Batman Begins

Great, great post, recounting the history and development of The Dark Knight in comics, TV, and film. It culminates with an analysis of the new film as it compares with the mythos. And it compares very favorably indeed.

Link via Emerald City blog

Two wonderful (and too short) seasons end

Season 27 of Dr. Who was my first season of the show. It won't be the last. The Doctor said it best in the brilliant finale "The Parting of the Ways" when he said:

"Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I"

Absolutely. I will sorely miss Eccleston. He was fantastic. A great actor doing a great character on a great show. Fortunately, we still have Billie Piper, wonderful, fantastic, amazing Billie Piper. I'm still schocked that a former teen idol singer can act this well. I shouldn't be. Lost has taught us that models can act. But still. Amazing performance.

I don't want to spoil the show, so I won't discuss the episodes in any depth. But it was a terrific season of science fiction. Clever and silly and dramatic all at the same time. It had genuine emotional depth, and how often do you see that, really?

Season 4 of JLA, which was also season 1 of JLU, was also very good. I wasn't crazy about the overall at parts, but in the end, it worked. The penultimate episode (and real finale, as far as the season's story is concerned), "Divided We Fall", was excellent, and reached a terrific climax. Finally, one of my favorite characters got some well deserved RESPECT. The last episode wasn't really a JLU episode. It was a Batman Beyond episode. Not that that's a bad thing, and it WAS a good episode. And hey, I like Batman, so what the hell.

The Slush God interviews Kelly Link

What more is there to say? She is Kelly Link, writer of wonderfully wonderful stories of wonder. And she is interviewed. Go read.

Dark Cabals

Also in the spirit of reality (or some people's perception of same) being creepy as hell, Jeff Vandemeer lists all the current dark cabals.

If you attended Bidyon and thought we talked about some creepy conspiracies... well, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Scientists have created WHAT?

Science headlines often seem ripped from the pages of science fiction books. But in this case, they seem to come straight from a bad horror novel.

Scientists have created zombie dogs. Repeat: Created (as in, raised from the fricking dead) ZOMBIE DOGS.

The fuck?

Link via Warren Ellis

Bryan Singer's Superman Vlog

A vlog is a video blog. Bryan Singer's got one, in which he chronicles the making of Superman Returns. Check it out.

Link via The Great Curve.

Survey says

Do it. Do it for the children. Well, ok. No children are involved. But science is, so if you blog, and have the time, take the survey.

Music Meme

Taken from many places.

1. Put your playlist on shuffle.
2. Post the first lines to the first 25 songs to come up (along with these instructions).
3. Have people guess the songs and artists in comments to the post.
4. A couple of days later, post the answers to the ones people guessed correctly. Post the first two lines of the ones no one got and get people to guess again.
5. Repeat, adding the next line to the unguessed songs each time, until they're all guessed/you've posted the whole song/you've gotten bored/no one's going to get the damn thing if you don't tell them.

1. Sir Hand, or is it ma'am?
2. You Say you want a revolution?
3. Shyness is nice, and
4. Remember Rio and get down
5. So I ran faster
6. Well it happened years ago
7. Step on up, enjoy the show
8. I saw a newspaper picture
9. He said something before you left
10. You are the latest contender
11. When the disappearing begins
12. I'm no barbie doll
13. He said you're just as boring as everyone else
14. Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee
15. I don't want to get over you
16. Wild is the wind that strips away our sins
17. What do we do for our freedom, oh, what do we do for our corn?
18. I still love the light on, baby
19. I know, cause I've seen it
20. She had an horror of rooms she was tired you can't hide beat
21. You have never been in love
22. Rosemary, Heaven restores you in life
23. And this I knew
24. I've been having a bad, bad day
25. If God had long hair

Great olds!

Well, it isn't news, as it's over three weeks old. But I've been busy, and neglected my rss feeds and stuff (and this blog). Tonight I moved all of my rss feeds to bloglines (which seems to be awesome), and noticed this bit of news. Peter David's previously cancelled series Fallen Angel is being resurrected at IDW. It's been rumored for a long time, but now it's confirmed. This is awesome, as the same sales which were considered meager by DC, will be excellent for IDW. Also, the series is one of the best on the market.

David also has a sample of the series' new artist(JK Woodward)'s work, and it is awesome.

I'm well pleased.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

This film was all looks and almost no substance. But it was FUN. Not really worth going to the cinema for (unless you're craving two hours of sitting in a dark room and enjoying yourself without having to think. At ALL), but a really fun movie to watch at home on DVD.

Howl's Moving Castle

Watched it last week. Wonderful movie. Heart warming and beautiful and lovely. Not the visionary masterpiece Spirited Away was, but still a great, great, great movie.

Miyazaki really should stop talking about quitting directing and start making more movies. His last three were all knocked out of the park.

Probably the best movie I've seen in 2005.

NBA finals - final thoughts

The better team won. Duncan was great in the last game but didn't deserve the finals MVP. Manu or Horry should have gotten it.

Someone needs to start drilling into Tayshaun Prince that he is a superstar. He's got all the athletic gifts, but lacks the drive and the belief in himself. Dude needs to score 25 points a game and take over games on a regular basis. Maybe a new coach will help in that regard.

One more thought about the Israeli broadcast - Oded Kattash is insane. Whenever he spoke about defense, I had to laugh. When he spoke about the offense, it was as if he isn't aware that there IS a defense. When he said Pini Gershon would revolutionize basketball in the NBA, I shook my head. And when he said he'd rather have Anthony Parker and Sharras over Tony Parker and Manu... well... ahhh... have I mentioned he's insane?

Batman Begins - brief thoughts

Watched Batman Begins the other week. Thought it was very good, as well as the first Batman film to actually be about Batman as comics readers know him. A dark film, which dealt with fear and with icons, and was well written overall. R'as' dialogue was terrible, however. But then, R'as is a difficult character to portray in live action. Too bombastic and self important. Also, he never called Batman "Detective", which was justified as Batman hadn't become the detective he will become, but still disappointing.

Still, a good film. Not as good a film as Batman Returns, but better than any of the others, and much truer to the origins than BR.

Bydion

This year's Bydion (fiction) con was held this last Thursday. It was the second of what I hope will be many Bydions.

The con was small. Nay, tiny. One room, a strip of programming, including two panels. I was on the first one, which dealt with conspiracies, and spoke about Tim Powers.

Some of the other speakers were excellent. I was particularly impressed with Gali Golan, who moderated the second panel (on apocalypses). Joe Brown was excellent as usual, but had to brief as one of the speakers on his panel hogged the stage for way, way, way, waaaaaay too long.

Other than that, it was all very good. I had a good time talking with Mike, Vered, Joe, and several others. Here are some pictures of the mini con.

I hope next year's con will be bigger, and better advertized.

The Biggest Winner

For some time, in conversations with friends, I've been saying Robert Horry should be a hall of famer.

A few days ago, Sports Guy Bill Simmons wrote that there should be a special category for players like Horry in the hall. I disagree. And last night, Horry gave me the ammunition.

"Role player" and "spot shooter" Robert Horry took over the game. When nearly everybody else in the team was quaking in their sneakers, Horry just scored, scored, and scored again. 21 points in the second half and OT. He now has more threes in the finals than Michael Jordan, and if the Spurs win the series, he'll have as many championships.

Robert Horry may not have great stats. He may not be a great player in the regular season. But the playoffs, and especially the finals, are the true testing ground of the greats. And Robert Horry is great.

He should be a hall of famer. First ballot. Straight up. No special exceptions needed.

NBA Playoffs - Divisional thoughts, finals prediction

San Antonio/Phoenix
I've already said that I shifted my support to the Spurs midway through the series, and I think they merited that. This was supposed to be the series of offence versus defense, and it ended up as the series of offense versus the complete package. If Joe Johnson were healthy for the whole series, this would be a six of seven game series, but the Spurs still would have won. They're just a better team, and they have playoffs experience on their side. And they've become fun to watch.

Miami/Detroit
In the end, the Pistons made it a war, and they won. I have no idea how this series would have played out with a healthy Shaq and Wade, however.

And now, the finals. Let's break it down.

Point Guard
Billups v. Parker
Chauncy is stronger, and a better shooter in the clutch. Tony is faster, and has a more reliable mid range jumper. But really, in a strange way, they're kinda the same player - mercurial, up and down, and as they go, the team goes. This would be the most important matchup of the series, but I think they kinda balance each other out. Still, if Chauncy can somehow dominate Parker, it gives the Pistons a much better shot in the series. I call it: Even.

Shooting Guard
Rip v. Manu
This matchup is gonna be fun to watch. Both are incredible athletes. Rip does everything within the team scheme, whereas Manu sometimes breaks everything down. But hey, he can do that, as he's more talented. I really like Rip, and he's proven that he can hang with players who are more athletically gifted than he his. But it's a cruel fate to have to play two straight series against players who are just ascending to greatness. I call it: Manu.

Small Forward
Prince v. Bowen
In last years finals, I predicted Prince would be the difference maker, and he was. In order for Detroit to have a shot, he's probably going to spend much of his time guarding Manu, but his matchup against Bowen is also an interesting one. Both are defensive prodigies, and both are role players on offense. But Tayshaun CAN be much more than that. If Bowen goes over to guard Rip, Prince must ABUSE Manu on offense. Of course, Manu is pretty good defensively as well. Still, I think Prince's talent and proven ability to come up big in big series prevails. I call it: Tayshaun.

Power Forward
Duncan v. Sheed
This is another interesting case. Physically, Rasheed is one of the very few players in the league who CAN matchup well against Duncan. He's almost as big, and is as fast and as athletic. Still, Sheed is only very, very good, whereas Tim-be-dunkin is great. This matchup needs to be close for the Pistons to have a shot. It may be fairly close. But still... I call it: Duncan.

Center
Big Ben v. Nazr
I've been going on about Pistons players who NEED to excel for the team to have a shot. This is the one matchup that goes the other way. Nazr needs to be a viable offensive threat in order to keep Wallace from terrorizing everyone else in the paint. He also needs to help on D on Sheed. The disparity here may be the biggest of all the matchups. I call it: Wallace.

Bench
Both benches are fairly deep, and both are filled with players who know their roles and do them well. Really, this comes down to Horry v. Dice as the best forwards off the bench, and Barry v. Lindsey/Arroyo at the guard. Barry is better than anything Detroit has on the bench, and I don't like to bet against Horry in the playoffs. So this is a fairly simple call. I call it: Spurs Bench.

Coach
Pop v. Larry
The two best coaches in the league square off. Larry is supposed to be the greatest coach in the league, and he's certainly the best at moulding a team. Pop has shown his greatness in the one area he was supposed to be lacking: Flexibility. By allowing Many freedom to operate, he made this team much more unpredictable, and much more dangerous. I think Larry should have done the same with Prince, but Prince's character may not have allowed it. Either way this goes, it'll be a great, great matchup. I call it: Even.

Intangibles
Experience v. Experience
Both teams are as healthy as can be expected at this point. Both have been there before. Pistons brought back nearly all of last year's championship teams, and most of the Spurs' key players have rings as well. If the Spurs have an edge, it's in the brains department. But the Pistons may have the bigger heart. Who the hell knows. I've started talking in cliches. Fuck it. I call it: Even.

Prediction
This absulutely will be a war. Once again, the Pistons face a team that will have the two best players on the series. But this is a much more balanced team the Miami, and a much smarter one. Detroit needs to play a perfect game every game, and it's damn hard to do against the only defense in the league that's as good as theirs. I call it: Spurs in Six.

Lost - those damn numbers

So, how many times do those numbers appear on the show? More than you might think. Warning, only click on the link if you've seen the entire season.

Some NBA conference finals thoughts

How good are the Spurs, huh? Damn. We knew they had the defense, but that offense has become a joy to watch. Fuck it, I'm switching my allegiance in this series. The Suns aren't the total basketball team, San Antonio is. If they win, I think the fate of Basketball is gonna be just fine. And I love, love, love Manu Ginobili's game. And I want Horry in the hall of fame.

What the hell happened to the Pistons in the Miami series? Sure, Miami's D and Wade's greatness played a part in Detroit's woes of the last two games, but it's more than that. They've made some very bad decisions, and the way they're shooting free throws is ridicolous. Still, I belive in Brown and in this team. I say they regroup and win the next one. After that? We'll see. I'm hoping they win, because they're a better TEAM, and I like good teams in what it still a team sport. Still, with all my problems with Miami (I really don't like much of their roster, and have the whole "I'm a Knicks fan" thing against them), my love for Dwayne Wade is growing with every single game. What a player. WHAT a player. I can't wait for Cleveland to build a better team so Wade and LeBron can duke it out in the playoffs every year. That'll be awesome.

Some thoughts on season finales

First up - Lost. Many have complained about the episode for its lack of answers. Fuck that. This is a show driven by questions, not answers. We got some answers, but not too many. With Lost, I KNOW the next season will be excellent. With Veronica Mars, which had a more satisfying finale in terms of answers, I have no idea. What do they do next year? Also, Lost remains the best acted and shot series on TV, and one of the best written.

The Contender. Great finale. I was very happy about the winner, who I thought was genuinely the best boxer in the competition. And once again, the show managed to be both genuinely touching and unintentionally hilarious at the same time. Hope Burnett finds it a new home for next season.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Well, the finale was the epitome of what the show was about, both for good and for ill. EMHE basically has two kinds of episodes - the hero episodes (great deserving person who needs help) and the pity episodes (poor sick/impoverished person (or family)who needs saving). I much prefer the hero eps, as the pity eps tend to degenerate into pity porn. The finale was a little bit of both, really, but focused more on the good, and the mother was just an amazing woman, so I was happy about that. Was using Jessica Lynch a ratings grab? Absolutely. Is the Sears infomercial aspect of the show getting a bit old? Hell, yeah. But still and all, they did a good thing, and they did it well.

Feast for Crows is... done?

Martin is finally done. Sort of.

Frankly, I don't care what exactly went in there. I want the damn book. Even if Martin's solution means no Arya and Tyrion and Dany in the this one.

And if it means Dance of Dragons is now half done, he'd better fricking produce that one post haste. Some of us ASOIF junkies need our fix, dammit.

And for the record, I've been saying Parris is right and GRRM is wrong for years now. It was destined to be a seven book series. Hell, doesn't the man read his own books? It HAD to be seven.

NBA Playoffs - second round thoughts, conference finals predictions

What a second round that was. This playoffs season has been so much better than last year's.

I picked the winners in all 4 series, though really, that wasn't all that hard. Here's how it broke down:

Miami/Washington: I knew the Heat would steamroll the Wizards. I just didn't think they'd do it in four games, and mostly without Shaq. Wade is the breakout star of this year's playoffs. He is just unbelievable. Now, let's see what he does against a team that's both very physical and very good defensively.

Detroit/Indiana: What a war. That one went exactly as it was supposed to. War. Pacers scare the hell out of the Pistons, and Pistons win. Reggie Miller went out in style, and ended his career with a great game.

San Antonio/Seattle: Ok. I should start giving Seattle some respect. They gave the Spurs fits, and were a much tougher out than I thought they'd be. Even without the injured Lewis, they were tough. If they can keep the team together next year, they're a legit contender.

Phoenix/Dallas: What a series. This one had everything AND the kitchen sink. League MVP Nash going against his old team and playing amazingly, an overtime win in the last game, terrific offense. This was the series that had to restore many people's faith in the NBA. Just terrific. Phoenix won despite losing Joe Johnson to injury, which is amazing in itself. Also, I watched the final game. And I wonder if Mati, who argued with me over Shawn Marion, watched it. Marion was just awesome. 38 points, 16 rebounds, great defense, and the clinching free throws.

And on to my conference finals predictions:

Miami/Detroit: Shaq's health will be key, but also crucial will be Wade's ability to cope with Detroit's defense. Expect to see Prince on him at times, and that should be interesting. This series will go one of two ways - either Miami destroys the Pistons, or the Pistons make it a war. In a war, Detroit wins. I think a war is what we'll get. Pistons in 7.

Phoenix/San Antonio: It's the battle of offense versus defense. And it should be one for the ages. Amare versus Duncan should be amazing. I think this series also goes to seven. Predicting a winner here is damn hard, but I'm going to go with playoffs experience and the superior defense. Spurs in 7.

Survivor and Apprentice finales

Well, it seems we have a new trend - worthy winners of reality shows! I don't want to spoil the winners for the Israeli viewers, but in both cases, the winners were, in fact, the people who deserved to win.

The winner of The Apprentice was so much better than the runner up, they clearly worked hard to try and make it a balanced show, to maintain some semblence of suspense. Didn't really work.

The winner of Survivor... well, there may have been a couple of people I'd rather see winning, and there quite was a bit of luck (also known as "another person making a really dumb move, and then another dumb move, and then an incredibly dumb move). But when you have a winner who was great mentally and physically, and actually seems like a good person... you can't ask for more.

Add that to the winners of The Amazing Race (who were helped by either huge luck or production interference, but were awesome, awesome people), and this has really been the feel good reality season.

If you fear spoilers, don't enter the comments, y'all. I'm gonna put some extra thoughts there, and they WILL be spoilerific

Worldcon participants

I recently spoke to a friend who isn't coming to worldcon. She claimed that no author she knows or cares about is coming to worldcon. Which... well, no.

So I figured I'd do another list of worldcon participants, this time highlighting authors who are well known in Israel, rather than people I personally am excited to meet (although, to be sure, there are some well known authors I'd very much like to meet/see/listen to). The list includes the reason why Israeli readers will have heard of/read the works of the guest.

GoH:
Robert Sheckley (several translated novels)
Christopher Priest (several translated novels)
Alan Lee (Lord of the Rings art)

Programme participants:
Greg Bear (several translated novels)
Carol Berg (one translated novel, two more on the way)
Sozanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell)
Joe Haldeman (Forever War)
Robin Hobb (several translated novels)
George RR Martin (several translated novels)
China Mieville (Perdido Street Station)
Larry Niven (is Larry Niven)
Terry Pratchett (is Terry Pratchett)
Kim Stanley Robinson (Mars series)
Geoff Ryman (253)
Robert Silverberg (is Robert Silverberg)
Connie Willis (is Connie Willis)

The complete list of Interaction programme participants is available here, and includes some wonderful short story authors (Kelly Link, Jeffrey Ford, Andy Duncan, Charles Stross and several others) and some prominent editors (Ellen Datlow, Teresa ans Patrick Nielsen Hayden, David Hartwell).

It's a pretty big list, so I'm sure I missed some important and great people. But the point is - lots of cool people are coming to worldcon. Why aren't you?

Veronica Mars season 1 is over

Rob Thomas is a cruel, brilliant, evil television GOD. I'll have more to say in a about a month and a half or so, when the season ends in Israel. There's too much to say to use spoiler tags.

Thank GOD this show got a second season.

My second comics review at Walla

I hesitate to call it a review, as it is really an overview of Grant Morrison's career in US comics, as well as an introduction to his Seven Soldiers project. For non Hebrew readers, I can sum it up as follows: He rules, he's weird, Seven Soldiers will rock, so read it.

Also in "Didi in the media," this weekend should see the publication of my second film review for Maariv, an ambiguous review of the new Hitchhiker's Guide movie. I can sum that up as: Director sucks, it isn't so much a movie as a series of sketches, but the cast is good, and some of the jokes are really funny. I was on Cable news on Monday, along with some other HHGTTG fans, talking about the movie. It was a fairly brief panel discussion, so if you blinked, you might have missed me. Which wouldn't have been so bad, as I came off a bit pompous in the brutally edited segment. Also, I looked like crap.

NBA Playoffs - first round thoughts, second round predictions

So, I got six out of 8 series winners, which isn't bad.

The Washington/Bulls series went almost as I predicted. Tough series, could have gone either way. Washington won in 7. They would have probably lost if Chicago had Deng and Curry, though. The Bulls are going to be very good next year.

Most people picked Boston to beat Indiana. I picked Indy, and even though it took more games than I predicted, it ended in a seventh game rout for Indy. Yay me. And Yay Indy. That's a very dangerous team.

Detroit/Philly series went exactly as I thought it would. Iverson was incredible, but the Pistons won easily in five games.

Miami/Jersey was a series where I called the winner, but not the nature of the series. I thought it was going to be a tough series. Turns out Wade is even better than I thought (and I thought he was pretty awesome), and the Heat destroyed the nets in 4 games, only one of which was close. Wow.

I knew Dallas/Houston was a tough series to call, and it turned out to be a great, crazy series, with an anti-climactic ending. Hated to see Houston go. Dallas KILLED them in the seventh game. Tracy McGrady was amazing, and I hope what he takes with him is the first six games, and not his so-so performance in the last game, in which only he and Yao came to play, and the supporting cast pretty much watched on defense and sucked on offense. I didn't call the winner, but I did call the close series.

Things turned out very different than I thought they would in the Seattle-Sacramento series. I put too much emphasis on Seattle's lack of inside defense, and forgot that the Kings don't seem to have a defense at ALL. Ouch.

San Antonio/Denver was a good test for the Spurs. Denver is a good team. Spurs killed them in five after dropping the first game. Manu Ginobili is really good, y'all.

Phoenix annihilated Memphis in four games. Even I thought it would take 5, and I'm a big Suns believer. This team is really, really scary.

Second Round Predictions:

Miami v. Washington
Miami is the better team, and they got some much needed rest. I say they steamroll the Wizards in 5.

Detroit v. Indiana
This'll be a war. The champs are a much better team, but these teams hate each other, and both will pull out all the stops to win. I say Indy scares the living daylights out of the pistons before losing in... say... six. On the other hand, on sheer ability, the Pistons should KILL them. I don't know about this series, but I'll stick with Detroit in 6.

Dallas v. Phoenix. Nash versus his old team is the juicy story. Amare vs. Dirk will be the real story. Or maybe the perfection of the Phoenix starting five vs. Dallas' superior bench. Doesn't matter. Will be a great series, with fun games. And Phoenix win in 5 or 6.

San Antonio v. Seattle. I gave Seattle no respect in the first round, and they prove me wrong. Let's see if they can do it again. I think San Antonio KILLS THEM DEAD. They'll probably have one game where they shoot lights out and win. Maybe even win big. But that's only going to piss Duncan off, and the Spurs win in 5.

Olamot day 3

This should have been up days ago, but, well, better late than never, right?

The third day of Olamot was the one in which I actually attended lectures. Three of them. Plus a filksing!

I arrived at 15:00 (missing Guy Wiener's lecture, as predicted), and sat around for an hour with some friends before going to Joe Brown's lecture about the mythology of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It was a fascinating lecture, with only one drawback - it was too short. Joe barely got a head of steam before the one hour alotted to it ended. This lecture needs a rerun at a later con, with a two hour slot. It was quite well attended, so I don't foresee any problem getting this done.

From Joe's lecture, I immediately moved to Gili Bar Hillel's lecture about the international translations of the Harry Potter books. As the Israeli translator, and someone who's been in contact with over 20 other transators from around the world, Gili had much to say, and as she is an excellent lecturer, it was both informative and funny. But, much like Joe's lecture, it was TOO SHORT. Again, it was a well attended lecture, so I hope to see a version of it at a later con with a longer time slot.

After that, I sojourned to my first con filking in Israel. I was at a filksing at Noreascon 3, all those years ago, and I've written an article and given a lecture about it, which helped kickstart the whole Israeli filk scene, but I've never had the time to attend one of the filksings at the cons. I did this time, and it was fun, until I got drained of singing. Also, there were absolutely no Ookla The Mok songs. This was not a good thing, as Ookla is of the good. And of the funny. I loves me some Ookla, and have recently bought their latest album off of Emusic.

I then did my usual meandering about, talking to people, messing in the politics of the Israeli Society for SF & F... the usual routine. I got it in my head that a certain person should be in the board. Said person was befuddled by this notion. We reached the compromise that she will not nominate herself, but if elected, she WILL serve. Good enough.

Then it was time for Hagit Lev's science-meets-myth lecture about the arguments in the scientific community regarding a possible Black Sea flood being a possible source of the Noah's flood myth. In case you're wondering, there's no definitive answer, and don't believe anyone that tells you differently, or Hagit WILL clobber you on the head. Really. She will. Interesting and educational lecture, though above my by then very, very tired head.

I then did more of the hanging about thing, and the talking to people thing. And it was good.

And then I left, and the con ended for me. And after meeting some friends, I went home and sank into a weekend long work binge to make up for time lost during the con. A binge from the effects of which I am only now emerging.

Olamot day 3 recs

There are three things I really hope to get to at tomorrow's last day of Olamot. At 14:00, Guy Wiener talks about "From Gods to Elves in Irish Myth", which is right up my alley right now, as I'm translating a book with the Sidhe. Following that at 15:00 is Joe Brown talking about Myth in Gaiman's Sandman. At 16:00, Harry Potter translator (and all around great person) Gili Bar Hillel's lecture about the difficulties in translating Harry Potter. Should all be good, even though Guy's talk is probably too early in the day for me.

Olamot day 2 - OMWF was AWESOME

Well, actually, it was Twice More With Feeling, as this was an unplanned encore performance, due to large demand. And boy, do I feel stupid for missing all of the previous performances.

This was awesome. It was funny as hell, extremely well cast overall, and really creative. The cast's Buffy, while dark haired, matched the onscreen Buffy perfectly, in facial expressions and physical mimicry. Also outstanding was the Angry Bunny (yeah, there was an angry bunny. There were three bunnies, and all were great, but the angry one ruled), Anya, and the romantic duo of Angel and Spike.

Most of the afternoon leading up to the show was spent getting tickets for everyone who needed tickets. Mission accomplished, of course, and thanks to everyone who was kind enough to sell, give, and help get tickets for me and my friends.

The evening was wrapped up with a long conversation with Rani and Mike.

It was a fairly short day, but it was a fun one.

I was going to take more pictures of the Buffy Musical show, but I was having too much fun, and was too busy laughing to take any. Seen in the picture is their Angel (yup, THIS version of Once More With Feeling had an Angel) plus a bunny and two witches. 

Nir Yaniv, bane of trekkies, has a friendly conversation with Dubi Zolti, former chairman of Starbase 972, the Israeli Star Trek Fan Club. Is the messiah on the way? 

Olamot day 2 recs

So, what looks good on day 2?

At 20:00, there's an encore performance of the live, Rocky Horror style, screening of Once More With Feeling. Tickets ran out early for the first showing, and I was shut out, amongst others. I was promised I WILL have a ticket tomorrow.

At 14:00, there's a screening of the Farscape ep Out Of Their Minds, as well as Farscape bloopers. Should be funny. At 15:00, Lior G talks about what myths are. At 20:00, there's The Return of Saurun, a humorous original production, and at 22:00, the society's premier speaker Ilan Eshkoli talks about Hebrew myth. Should be both funny and educational.

Society chair Erez, Bidyon 2004 con chair and Bidyon 2005 head of programming Yael Abadi, plus one (whose name, sadly, escapes my tired brain. Sorry). 

Tamar, looking good as usual. Where's her clique shirt? 

Ilan, modeling another one of those shirts, and looking dead tired.  

Vered, wearing one of her specially made "I'm a member of the corrupt clique" shirts. I got one too. (Thanks, Vered) 

Olamot day 1

Well, the first day of Olamot was kinda fun, but mostly uneventful. I only entered two events, one of which was my own lecture, and the other the "Meet The Society Board" event.

I think my lecture went ok. It wasn't heavily attended, but people seemed to be interested in hearing about Powers, and I got a few laughs.

The Board event was lively, and quite interesting.

Along the way, I met, sat with, and talked to a whole bunch of people. I won't list them, because I'm sure to forget someone, and don't want anyone to feel slighted.

Sadly, I only remembered my camera towards the end, and only some of the few pics I took turned out ok. I'll be posting those next.

Hopefully, tomorrow's report will be a bit more detailed, and have more pictures, but I didn't get a great night's sleep last night, and I'm a bit hazy right now...

Olamot 2005 - reminder and day 1 recs

In case any Israeli reader of this blog is unaware, tomorrow is the first day of Olamot 2005. Olamot is in it's first year, taking over for both competing Passover cons - Fantasy.con and Stardust. It takes its place as the second major annual Israeli SF con alongside Icon.

This year's theme is myth, and Olamot has a great programme - which I had nothing to do with creating, so I can hype it without fear of blowing my own horn. Although, of course, I am ON the programme, with a lecture about Icon 2005's GoH Tim Powers. I'm speaking tomorrow (Tuesday) at 16:00, so come check it out.

Other Tuesday highlights include the active screening of BTVS' Once More With Feeling, Itamar Faran's lecture on myth in Zelazny's work, Aliza Ben Mocha's lecture about The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and a screening of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of The Valley of Wind, the original manga version of which I've had on loan forever and still haven't gotten to yet (and I'll take this opportunity to thank Raz for not killing me for that).

I'll probably have my usual first day report online tomorrow, as well as some pictures, and recs for Wednesday's stuff.

NBA Playoffs - first round predictions

Well, OK. It's time for the games that matter to begin!

Let's start off in the East.

Chicago v. Washington
Chicago has home court advantage. I think Washington is going to win. But it isn't going to be easy. Washington in 6.

Boston v. Indiana
With Jermaine O'Neal back in uniform for Indy, no. 3 seed Boston will go down in 5.

Detroit v. Philadelphia
Iverson's good, but he's not good enough to win more than a game against the champs with nothing more than a bunch of kids and a gimpy Webber by his side. Detroit in 5. Maybe 4.

Miami v. New Jersey
This'll be tougher than most expect, I think. Miami still win, but it may take 6 games to do it. And those won't be easy games. NJ may only have Carter and Kidd, but those two are really, really good.

And on to the the West:
Dallas v. Houston
Really hard to call. Should be a great series either way. I'm going with my guy TMac and predicting Houston in 6.

Sacramento v. Seattle
Seattle will pay the price for playoffs inexperience and having no inside scoring ability. You can't win in the playoffs that way. Sacramento gets a huge boost from having Bobby Jackson back, and take this series in 6 at most.

San Antonio v. Denver
I like Denver. I think they're a nice team. That said, San Antonio is too good, to experienced, too error free. And George Carl isn't as good a coach as they think he is. Spurs in 5. Maybe 4.

Phoenix v. Memphis
Memphis is supposed to be a tough matchup for the Suns. I don't care. Amare, Nash, and Marion would each be the best player in Memphis, so they win in 5.

America vs. Didi

You know, I'm generally a pretty big fan of many things American. Much of the literature I read, the TV and films I watch, and the Sports I follow comes from the US.

But at this point, I'm beginning to question that. Benching my guys and causing me to lose my fantasy title, voting off Anwar and keeping Scott in AGAIN. This has not been a good 24 hours for us, America, and I.

Oh, well. At least the NBA playoffs are starting. Predictions and stuff to follow.

NBA fantasy final Day 9 - The End

Fuckity fuck.

TMac didn't play. Shawn Marion had a terrible first half and didn't play in the second. Somehow, I got 3.5 points from my two best players COMBINED.

Nightly score: 54:183.75
Final score: 900.75: 907.75

Congratulations to Bney Sukar for their victory. They are the Beantown Madness NBA Fantasy League Champs.

NBA fantasy final Day 9 - games in progress

Ok. Now I'm actually scared. My insurmountable lead? It has shrunk mightily. TMac is taking the night off, Bosh sucked throughout most of his game, and LeBron? Is a freakish monster from hades.

LBJ has, midway through the fourth, 27 points, 14 assists, and 14 rebounds. That's freakishly scary.

Here's my problem. My top guys, TMac and Marion, are in the playoffs and their team's position will not be changed by tonight's games. So TMac is resting, and I can only hope Shawn is playing. LBJ's team is fighting for their last chance to make it to the playoffs, so you can bet your ass they're playing their hearts out.

Still think I'm winning, but... scared now.

NBA fantasy final Day 8

That was a pretty good night, folks.

We each had 4 players, but Bney Sukar had their strongest player, and three other players who were all supposed to be pretty damn strong, whereas I had my third, fourth, fifth, and seventh best players. And we basically tied. I'm a happy camper.

LeBron James was awesome with 55.25 points. Kid is an awesome monster of rock. Everyone else were blah, as Drew Gooden, Ricky Davis, and Damon Stoudamire had 19.75, 11.25, and 13.25, respectively.

On my team, no one exploded, but three guys were ok. Prince was the star with 33 fantasy points, and Dan Gadzuric continued to be a rock with 29. Bosh had a dissapointing 23.25, but will have a chance to make up for it tonight. And Shareef was ejected early in the third quarter, and only got 8.25.

Nightly score: 93.5:99.5
Current score: 845.75:724

Tonight, Bney Sukar's entire lineup plays, whereas my team has six players. And, well, unless his guys explode, and my guys suck, I'm winning this sucker. It's not in the bank, but it looks good. Damn good.

Ratzinger is the new pope

Crap.

They went with the ultra conservative grand inquisitor.

My favorite comment about this was made by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, in Making Light's comments, on Ratzinger's choice to take the name Benedict XVI:
Benedict, hell. Look at the guy--he's Palpatine I.

This is rather disturbing

I'm not sure what I think about postsecret.blogspot.com. Except that it is both disturbing and evocative.

Link via carrolblog.

Veronica Mars gets second season!

The rejoicing? It is great.

NBA fantasy final Day 7

Well, that was an interesting day.

I had three guys, he had two (Andersen and Peja didn't play). He had Baron Davis and Shaun Livingston, who both played as well as can be expected. David had a monster game with 48.25 fantasy points, whereas Livingston had a decent game with 28.25 fps. Livingston would have probably had a better game, but he sat for much of the second half, due to the fact that his team was being routed.

On my side, TMac who was on the team doing the routing, also sat out most of the second half, and ended up with 31.75 points. As TMac is primarily a fourth quarter monster, sitting out the end of the game hurt his stats significantly. Shawn Marion was very solid with 42.5 points, but, again, who knows what he would have done had Denver bothered to put up a fight and caused him to play more than 31 minutes.

My third player was Dan Gadzuric. Gadzuric team was also routed, but they were playing without their power forward, thus putting Gadzuric's main substitute Zaza Pachulia in the lineup. Even with the rout, he played 32 minutes, and used those minutes for a MONSTER game. 48.25 points, which included 20 rebounds, 21 points, a block and two steals. Wow. Gadzuric was undrafted this year, and I picked him up off of the free agent lists. For him to have such a performance was a huge boost for the team.

Nightly score: 125.25:76.5
Current score: 753.25:624.5

I have a nice lead, and we have the same number of players in the last two nights (10 each). Cleveland plays twice, so LBJ has two games. Houston and Phoenix have one game each. This is the first time, however, that I can actually say I think I've got a legitimate shot here. 130 points is a fairly large gap to close over two nights and 10 games. Can I lose? Absolutely. He's got a better lineup in these last days. But I could definitely win. And man, a title, especially after losing in the semi-finals of the fantasy football league, would be SWEET.

NBA fantasy final Days 5+6

Saturday and Sunday were to feature 6 of Bney Sukar's players and 7 of mine. In reality, they featured 5 of his and 6 of mine, with one of his players getting injured and giving negligible stats. Overall, these two days were very good for my team.

I'll just do the highlights, if no one minds (and since no one comments on these posts, it seem no one minds. Or cares). LeBron and Damon were the stars on Bney Sukar, with 48 and 44.25 points respectively. Drew Gooden got injured and contributed 0.75 fps. Gooden's status for the rest of the contest is unclear. I'll know better after tonight's game, I guess.

On my team, Tmac was awesome with 46 points, and Bosh, Abdur-Rahim and Tayshaun were all very solid with 43.75, 36.25, and 35.75, respectively. Their stellar showing managed to overcome Peja's sitting out the game (and, sadly, the rest of the NBA regular season, ie. the fantasy playoffs).

Double nightly score: 217.25:127.25
Current score: 628:548

I've got a nice lead going. If Peja wasn't hurt, I'd be quite optimistic. As it is... I just don't know. Tonight, TMac and Marion join up with Gadzuric (while Peja watches from the bench, as he was scheduled to play) versus Baron Davis and Shaun Livingston, with Chris Andersen questionable to play. Should hopefully be a day in which I expand my lead. Hopefully that lead will be enough.

So now I'm a comics reviewer

I've been trying to expand my writing resume (and revenue sources) recently, and the second result of this effort is now online (in Hebrew).

It's my first comics review for Walla, one of Israel's largest portals. I wrote about two original Israeli comics - Nimrod Reshef's painfully mediocre Eddie Balagan and Nir Molad's hilarious Zlilei Hamousaka (the sounds of mousaka).

NBA fantasy final Day 4 - day of badness

Well, it was bound to happen. I wan't supposed to win this final, and my guys were doing so well, disaster was sure to strike... and it DID.

Let's start with the breakdown. As previously mentioned, Bney Sukar's entire lineup was scheduled to play, and Chris Andersen missed yet another game. LeBron was his usual monstrous self with 45.75 points. Damon Stoudamire got out of his slump with 39.75, which was also Baron Davis' score. Gooden and Ricky Davis were both mediocre with 25.5 and 25.25, respectively, and Shaun Livingston wasn't very good with 19.75.

On my side, things started out eh, with Bosh and Prince getting 25.5 apiece. Gadzuric was benched for most of the second half due to the fact that the Bucks got routed, and ended up with 17.25. Marion was sub par for him with 32, and Shareef was solid with 35 fps.

When the Sacramento-LA game started, things looked very, very good, as Peja got 18 fantasy points in 7 minutes. He was hot from the field, and was 4 from 4 from beyond the arc. And then... he pulled his groin. He was out of the game and won't play tonight either, which is a damn shame, because I could have maintained my slim lead. This may be all she wrote for the Dark Establishment team, but we'll soldier on, and hope we get Peja back soon.

Nightly score: 153:195.75
Current score: 410.75:420.75

Tonight was supposed to be my best shot to take the lead for good. I should still end up with a nice lead, but it doesn't look like it'll be a lead I can hang on to. I've got superstuds TMac and Marion, along with Gadzuric and the sidelined Peja Stojakovic. Bney Sukar have Livingston and maybe injured Chris Andersen.

NBA fantasy final Day 3

Well, waddaya know! Somehow, my guys are still in the lead. Let's break it down.

Bney Sukar had three players last night, including the awe inspiring LeBron James. LBJ was scary good, with 52.25 fantasy points, and that was on a day when he shot the ball BADLY. Drew Gooden, thankfully, was not so good, with 24 points, and Damon Stoudamire continued the blessedly weak play with 21.75 fps.

On my side, Shareef Abdur-Rahim played quite ably, tallying 36.5 points. Love him, and hope he gets a nice contract with a good team next year.

Nightly score: 36.5:98
Current score: 257.75:252

My lead has shrunk, and should evaporate tonight. Bney Sukar should have their entire lineup in play (possibly without Andersen, who's their weakest player), whereas Tracy McGrady's Houston Rockets are idle tonight. The goal tonight is to escape with the smallest possible deficit.

Survivor - the awesomeness of Stephenie LaGrossa

Ok, Israeli Survivor fans waiting for the TV airing, this is a spoilerific post, spoiling anything and everything up to and including the merge episode. Continue at your peril.

What can one say about Stephenie? Possibly the most amazing Survivor competitor ever, formerly sole cool person on a tribe of incompetents, and now, suddenly, a legitimite threat to win the game!

No one in the history of the game faced the situation Steph faced. All alone, her entire tribe eliminated, she showed the kind of grit you usually only see in movies, where it often doesn't seem believable. And later, she made what turned out to be a SMART decision to give up on immunity, in a way that showed that she respects and trusts Tom, while getting to eat half a pizza (a huge thing in a food deficient game like this). As the game progressed to where it is, she showed repeatedly that she is an incredibly strong competitor, and every morning before a challenge, she somehow mustered the belief that THIS time, Ulong may win. Sure, it was a bit deluded, but it was also awesome.

If she doesn't win this game, she's already got a career waiting for her as a motivational speaker. Just an awesome, awesome person.

And the Coby elimination? Sweet, sweet justice. Somewhere in sequesterville, Angie is saying, "hey, fuck you Coby, and thank you Steph."

Along with Tom and Ian (who are also pretty damn awesome), Steph has made this the funnest season of Survivor ever. If one of these guys win, this'll also be the most satisfying win ever, completely obliterating Ethan's win in Africa.

What did I SAY?

Damn, America (or, in deference to Shunra, those rather large parts of America who watch AI), you let Scott slide by AGAIN? And voting out Nadia? Are you a nation of deaf, dumb and blind people? WTF? Huh? WTF? Nadia should have gone to the final, with Bo (who was also in the bottom three this week. Again, WTF?). Now she's out, and the show is automatically more boring, and less FUN. Arrrgh. Please, America, in the name of all which does not suck, let Scott go already. And Anthony too.

NBA fantasy final Day 2

The second night of fantasy finals action has just ended, and it was a very good night for the forces of good!

Bney Sukar had 3 players, but Andersen didn't play again, which reduced his daily roster to 2. Both Davis boys were thankfully mediocre, with Ricky having 20.5 and Baron giving 21.

Of my guys, Dan Gadzuric played as well as can be hoped, with 37 fantasy points. Tayshaun Prince was sub par with 14.5, due mostly to massive bench minutes in Detroit's rout of Orlando (ended with only a 9 point margin, but Detroit had subs in for a massive portion of the second half. Hell, even Darko got to play). And Tracy McGrady was Tracy McGrady, with 48 fps and a near triple double.

So, nightly score: 99.5:41.5
Current finals score: 221.25:127

Things look good so far, but tomorrow night... (cue ominous music) LeBron James takes the court. Second scariest player in fantasy basketball, and he's actually close enough to Garnette as to make it interesting, which hasn't been the case in a while. With three players (LBJ, Gooden, and Damon Stoudamire) vs. Shareef, I can only hope I still have a lead when tomorrow's games are done. Keep your fingers crossed, there's only 7 nights to go in this 9 night war for a fairly meaningless title that still means the world to me.

NBA fantasy final Day 1

Well, things started out pretty well on day 1. My opponent had 4 players, of which Chris Andersen didn't play, Ricky Davis played well with 34.5 points, Shaun Livingston played very well with 36.5 points, and Damon Stoudamire played poorly with 14.75 points. I had three guys playing: Chris Bosh was excellent with 47.5 points, Shawn Marion was about on par with 46 points (and he had such a monster game on the boards and on defense, that only a poor shooting effort and turnovers prevented a truly magnificent performance) and Shareef Abdur-Rahim had an ok 28.5 points.

Right now, the score is 121.75:85.5. Tonight, the first of my opponents big guns takes the stage, as Baron Davis joins Ricky Davis and (maybe, hopefully not) Chris Andersen play for Bney Sukar (The Sons of Sugar). My team will also feature a superstud, as Tracy McGrady takes the court alongside Dan Gadzuric and Tayshaun Prince. A great deal depends on how well Baron plays this week. If he performs as well as he did last week, I'm probably toast. If Golden State aims for a better spot in the lottery for next season's draft, and decide to play him less, I may have a chance.

What and How in television production

Television shows (and many, many, many other things, but I'm talking about TV just now) are judged on two separate scales.

One is the "What" scale. What is the show doing/trying to do? Is that thing new, exciting, original, interesting in and of itself. Is the concept itself a great thing? If the concept is great, than the show itself has the potential to be great. Not very good, but actually great. Lost is a good example of this.

The other is the "How" scale. How well does the show execute its concept/grand idea. Since most shows don't have a great or original concept, most shows are judged on the "How" more than anything else. A show CAN be great by execution alone. Homicide: Life on the Street had a concept that was basically quite similar to many shows before and since, but the execution was so astounding, that it achieved greatness.

After three episodes, Grey's Anatomy isn't great. It has a fairly basic concept ("like Scrubs, but not a comedy", or "like ER, but with surgery interns and residents"). But it does have very, very good execution. It has some of the funny, it has a really good cast, the writing is good, and manages to avoid going over the top when that's a danger. It has a superb lead in Ellen Pompeo, a really nice ensemble cast highlighted by Sandra Oh and Patrick Dempsey (yes, THAT Patrick Dempsey. he's returned from the Eighties, and now he can act), and it looks pretty good.

I stopped watching ER after a season or two, because they went too hard for the high drama. I'm hoping Grey's Anatomy doesn't go that route. It had a solid start (and is doing real well in the ratings), so there's hope.

NBA fantasy blogging

There's one more night remaining in the semi finals of my leagues playoffs. My guys are up by nearly 90 points, and both teams have 5 players playing tonight. In other words, there's a pretty good chance that the Dark Establishment fantasy team is going to the finals. It isn't a lock by any means. Steve Nash can go off for a gazillion points, and Marion and TMac may suck, and it can all come crashing down.

But it's a good shot. I've got Bosh, Marion, Tay Prince, Jason Hart, and TMac. He's got Jeff Foster, Donyell Marshal, Anthony Johnson, Chucky Atkins, and Nash. Hart has been ill and/or unproductive all week. Marshal is injured and probably won't play (he hasn't all week). Anthony Johnson has been a monster, and went off for over 50 fantasy points last night. But things are looking pretty good. Of course, if my opponents hadn't lost Jermaine O'Neal and Brad Miller to injuries, I probably lose by a bunch, but sadly for him, he has.

That means that next week, I'm probably meeting the team that's currently up by over 100 points in the other semi finals. This team has LeBron and Baron Davis (who's playing out of his MIND), as well as Gooden and Ricky Davis. Scary ass team, whose score for this week has been nearly 200 points more than mine. Still, this week they had five games for LeBron and Gooden, who only play 3 next week, so, again, there's a chance.

Fuglesse oblige

As a straight man who isn't really into fashion (and has all the fashion sense of, well, a geek), some would say I'm not supposed to enjoy The Fug. But damn, the Fug Girls are funny. And the line It's like Charles just accepted a trophy for Excellence in Using The Public's Love of Weddings As A Way of Waving Off The Stench of Public Scandal, in reference to the hideous thing on Prince Charles new bride's head, is pure genius.

The new Doctor

I'd never seen an episode of Dr. Who until this past weekend, when I watched the first three episodes of the new season. And, well... it wasn't so bad. The second episode was really rather good, in fact. Superficially, it's rather silly stuff. But there seems to be depth there (well, there had BETTER be, with 26 seasons of back story).

Billie Piper is remarkably fallinlovable as Rose Tyler, the everywoman sidekick drafted by The Doctor in the first ep. There's a certain charm about her, that makes Rose an instantly likable character. Good to know some teen popstars (which I didn't even know she was before I checked IMDB) can actually find a second career they're good at.

Christopher Eccleston is remarkably giddy as The Doctor. I've no frame of reference when it comes to comparing him to previous doctors, but he seems to do a decent job of it.

Whenever I review a TV show, especially a genre show, I tend to go on about production values. Historically, this has been a missing element in British SF&F. Shows and miniseries such as Red Dwarf and Neverwhere have been brilliantly written, and sometimes very well acted, but looked like crap. From what little I've seen of the old Dr. Who shows, the show pretty much epitomized crappy looking SF. On that note, this show is a marked improvement. It looks ok. It isn't as brilliantly realised as I like, but that seems to mostly be a budget issue rather than a creativity issue.

I've mentioned that the second episode was very good. This is both a blessing and a potential curse. It's a blessing, because it hooks you on the show very early on (something Big Story SF often has problems with). It may be a curse because it sets a rather high standard. If I watch five more episodes, and they're all on par with the third epidoe, I may drop the series. But if they give me another episode or two as good as The End of the World, I'm along for the ride, at least to the end of this season.

The Amazing Adventures of Lethem and Chabon

It's short, it's funny. Read it.

Link via Making Light (I told you it was a good thing those two are posting regularly again).

Finally! A Jihad for the rest of us!

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, it's funny because it's true.

And for those of you ready to take arms of politeness and niceness and non-fanaticism, get your Unitarian Jihad name here. Of the ones I got through the wonder of the refresh button, my favorite is Brother Katana of Desirable Mindfulness.

Both links via Elektrolite, and I should also mention that both Nielsen Haydens are posting regularly again. And that is definitely a good thing.

West Wing season 6 Finale

Well, since this blog has Israeli readers who are watching the fifth season on TV, I'll make this as general and unsploilerific as possible.

The main plot of this episode had a tough task - finding an exciting and realistic way of getting to a foregone, but a bit farfetched, conclusion. It did that brilliantly. On the strength of the main plot alone, I'd say this was the best ep in about two seasons.

The secondary plot was teh suck. It was unnecesary (both for the episode and in the grand scheme of things), all kinds of stupid, and just... bad. But it WAS very secondary, and the very, very, very good conclusion of the main plot, and of the season's story, far outweighs it in my mind. This episode gave me a great deal of hope for the next season, even if they do need to fix quite a few things (better overall writing and directorial consistency are much needed). The West Wing still has a pulse, and that's really quite heartening, as it seemed to be dying a slow death, and it was sad to see a formerly excellent show going down that road.

Israeli IRS... rocks?

When I was a child, my father used to say, "Haikar Habriut... Vemas Hachnasa," which literally means "The important thing is health... and the IRS." Basically, it means the two things you need to fear are problems with your health, and with the IRS. And... well... those oft repeated lines left me with a bit of a phobia of the internal revenue service.

When I grew up, and became a freelancer, all of my early dealings with the IRS were filled with dread. It caused me to be late in payments (self fulfilling prophecy if there ever was one), and to generally not be very good in my dealings with them. But as one grows a bit older, one learns to just DEAL. Which I did.

Recently, I started writing for Maariv (well, "started writing" is a big statement, considering I wrote all of one film review, but still, they seem to want more reviews, so that's a good). This week, they sent me my freelancer contract, which included a request for my deduction of tax at source certificate. Without it, they would have to deduct 49 percent, which would suck. The certificate I had was valid until last week. But I thought, "hey, I have the internet, the IRS has a website, maybe I can find something there." And I logged on and had a look. What I found was this page, where employers/clients can get the deduction certificate of their employees/contracters. I entered my ID number, and lo and behold, I found that the IRS renewed my certificate, which includes a full deduction exemption, until 2007. That's awesome. So I informed the nice woman at Maariv where she can get my certificate, and didn't have to go to the IRS offices. Thus, my phobia was again proven to be unfounded, while at the same time I didn't have to face my silly fears and go to their offices (which, btw, are ridiculously close to out apartment).

Yay, IRS.

ps. Yes, I'm trying out actually "blogging" on my blog, rather than linking or reviewing or informing or essaying or whatnot. Hope someone out there likes it. If you do, and if you don't, please say so in the comments. Comments are important, folks. Hits in the counter are nice, but comments are so much nicer.

Under (hot water) pressure

Today, I got to have a decent shower in my own home for the first time in a loooong time, and let me tell you, that's a joy to experience.

Lemme back up. When we first bought this apartment, about two and a half years ago, the water pressure wasn't very good. It wasn't horrific, but we could enjoy our showers. Over time, the hot water pressure got weaker, and weaker and weaker. It was a gradual thing, so we almost didn't notice it until we went to greece last year and stayed in a hotel that had GREAT water pressure.

Since then, we've been biding our time, and waiting for the right moment to fix it. The right moment being a time when we're both solvent and can afford it. Since Tammy's been under a new contract for some months now, and I just got paid for a MASSIVE book, the right time was right now. I called a few plumbers this Sunday, and found out that the basic fix for our problem would cost about 1000NIS (that's about $230). That was actually less than we thought it would be. If we knew that's what it cost, we would have done it ages ago. So I chose one of the plumbers (the same guys who fixed our solar water heater last year, who were both good and honest), and they came over today, worked for a couple of hours, and voila - decent hot water pressure. It isn't amazing pressure by any means. To achieve that, we'd have to replace the half of our plumbing that we didn't replace when we moved in. We'd also have to replace the water heater (which is oooold. They replaced the solar receptors last time, but the actual heater is still working but... well... old). But hell, there's an actual stream of hot water, rather than a sad, sad drizzle.

The whole thing cost us 1050 NIS incl. tax. Oh, so worth it.

Shaolin Soccer

After watching (and love, love, loving) Kung Fu Hustle, I was eager to watch director/star Stephen Chow's previous film, Shaolin Soccer. I finally did. It was a fun movie, but nowhere near as good as KFH.

The plot, which centers around a poor, young, apparently homeless man's quest to make Kung Fu more popular, which coincides with an former football player's desire for redemption, is silly, of couse. But then, silly appears to be Chow's stock and trade. This is by no means a bad thing. KFH was silly, and it was also sublime. But Shaolin Soccer isn't as beautiful a film, and certainly isn't nearly as funny. Even the romance isn't nearly as touching.

The film has some brilliant moments, and a kickass ending, though. It may be that I should have seen it before watching Chow's later, and much better film. It was fun, that's for sure. Decent flick. Check it out on TV or rent it if you want some harmless fun, with Kung Fu, sports, and laughs. But don't forget to check out Kung Fu Hustle when it hits American screens on the 22nd, and Israel (when and if it ever does).

The NBA All-Freak team

A few weeks ago, Eric Neel wrote a column for ESPN's Page 2, which I heartily recommended. It was about Shawn Marion and Manu Ginobily, two of the NBA's freaks. Freaks are players you can't really explain, guys other players can't aspire to emulate, because they're a freakish collection of athletic gifts and skills in a package that does not really conform to an established basketball position.

I've done some thinking about it, as freaks are some of my favorite NBA players, and I've come up with five guys that make the All-Freak team, plus a couple who may be freaks once they figure out what to do with their gifts. Only two of these guys are the marquee players on their team, and one of those that teams has faced playoffs futility for some years, while the other made the finals once. I think this isn't an accident. Freaks make amazing complementary players (Scottie Pippen is a freak hall of famer), but they aren't as reliable as go to guys in the playoffs, when play slows down and the game becomes more physical. That's when the big, the steady, the sharp shooting, and the smart often beat the frekish. Some players aren't freaks, they're the apotheosis of their positions. Such was MJ. Such is Shaq. Those guys get more titles.

With that said, lets bring on YOUR NBA All-Freaks.

At guard, from the San Antonio Spurs, give a big hand of applause for Manu Ginobily!
Manu is an anomaly. He's the white guy who can jump to the moon, and seems to do so every game. He's the Spur who plays with reckless abandon, breaking up as many of his own team's plays as he does the opponent's. But the guy wins games. He OWNED the olympics last summer, getting Argentina the gold. On quite a few nights, he's the best player on his team, and that team has Tim Duncan on the roster. And every single game, he'll make a move that'll have you falling out of your seat.

At guard, from the Philadelphia 76ers, give it UP for Allen Iverson!
AI is the fastest man to ever play ball. He also may be the gutsiest. See him go to the rim against Shaq, and you've seen the definition of courage in sports. See him make a move and blow his defender away. Before you know it, he's at the basket, or he's stolen someone's ball. He can't be big enough, or strong enough to do the things he does. But he's just as big and as strong as he needs to be. And he's also got a freakish heart.

At forward from the Detroit Pistons, show some lovin' to Tayshaun Prince!
What a wingspan! Sometimes, he looks a bit gawky. But then he extends those freakishly long arms and gets a rebound, or a steal, or a block, or makes a three, and you can only marvel. Many players have vied for the title of "Kobe Killer," in recent years. Last year, in the NBA finals, Tay Prince took that mantle, as he stopped Kobe COLD. A body that gangly, that thin, shouldn't be the body of an NBA star forward. But Prince is a star. He was the Pistons X-factor in the finals, and take a look, he's getting double doubles more often than not these days. No doubt about it, that boy's a superfreak.

At forward, from the Phoenix Suns, bow down before Shawn Marion! How can a guy who's 6 foot 7 get over 11 boards a game? How does this happen? Freakish ability is the answer. He just jumps higher, gets to the ball faster. Suns almost never run plays for him? Doesn't matter, he'll get nearly 20 points a game from thin air. He also gets a couple of steals, a couple of assists, and a block and a half. In the roto category system of fantasy sports, he's the BEST fantasy player in basketball. In the weighted points per stats system my league uses, he's currently ranked 6th. And he's the THIRD option on his team on a good day. If Q and Joe Johnson are shooting well, he's the freaking fifth option. That's freakish.

At forward (Centers are generally too big and slow to be freaks, though Hakeem certainly was a king freak, and a two time champ to boot), from the Minnesota Timeberwolves, please welcome the king of all freaks, Kevin Garnette!
What can you say about KG? He may be the most athletically gifted man ever to play ball. He's fast, he's slim, he's damn tall. He scores, rebounds, passes, steals, blocks. He's the best fantasy player in the universe. He's intense as hell. And what position does he even play? He's not wide bodied enough to play center or power forward (though PF is his nominal position), he's too tall and capable of scoring inside to play swingman. And he's not fast enough to play point guard (though for a seven footer, he's got speed to burn). So his position, as far as I'm concerned, is Basketball Monster. If Shaq is the ultimate center, and MJ is the ultimate shooting guard, and Jason Kidd or John Stockton is the ultimate point guard, KG is the ultimate freak.

Potential freaks:

Eddie Griffin. Eddie's a headcase with a criminal record for assault and a history of bouncing from team to team in his short career. TWolves management has a hard time finding playing time for him, as he's not considered strong enough for center, and plays pretty much on the same spots as KG, but not as well. But hell, this is a 6-10 guy who can shoot threes. He's an AWESOME blocker and rebounder. If he gets his act together, the guy's a freak waiting to happen.

Chris Andersen. A seven foot white guy who can jump. Really high. Last year, Bill Walton wrote that Andersen is one of the best 25 players in the league, he just hasn't figured it out yet. Some nights, he dominates on the boards and blocks. Some nights, he's completely lost. Sadly, he was completely lost in this year's dunking contest. I'm positive he can make all those dunks he missed so badly. But the head is still holding the body back. If he ever learns to use that combination of size, hops, and speed, look out.

Dear America,

You voted Jessica Sierra off American Idol and kept Scott Savol and Anthony Federov. Are you a nation of deaf people? WTF? I'm not even gonna talk about the fact that Nadia was in the bottom three, AGAIN. But voting off Jessica? She hasn't had a performance that was less than excellent in at least a MONTH. Jeez.

Veronica Mars is back, and the world is shinier

Verily, VM kicks all kinds of ass, and it doth rule.

Episode 16, "Betty and Veronica" ruled in all sorts of ways, answered all sorts of questions, and was generally very good. The run-up to season' end has begun.

NBA fantasy blogging - 1st playoffs edition

It's the first week of my league's playoffs. I'm the seventh seed, so I'm playing the second seed. My team's pretty deep, and quite good, whereas his is basically a two man team with some glorified ballast. Sadly, those two men are Kevin Garnett and Dwayne Wade. Yup, I'm playing the guy who had the first pick in our draft, in our first year as a keeper league (meaning he'll get to keep two players). Plus, as the higher seed, he's got a 33 point factor working in his favor, which pretty much equals an extra game.

My guys really came on strong last week, with Marion, TMac, Bosh, and Peja all playing very well indeed. If they can all do that again this week (minus the injury that cost TMac one game), I can win this, and eliminate the scariest player in fantasy basketball. If I lose... well, I lost to KG. There's no shame in that.

Veronica Mars and Lost - season's end run

This, television's two best dramas return for their season ending runs. VM has seven eps left, starting with tomorrow night's Betty and Veronica, whereas Lost has four episodes remaining, starting with Wednesday's Deus Ex Machina.

Expectations are, understandably, high.

On a side note, my attempt to watch the first episode of the new Kojak series lasted about 15 minutes. It is not of the good.

Sin City Reviews start piling up

Rotten Tomatoes already has 12 reviews for Sin City, 11 of which are positive, for 92% freshness. And the negative reviewer's big beef seems to be the morality of the film, to which I say, Dude, it's called SIN CITY. Also, he calls Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, and Michael Madsen "no-talent thugs", thus invalidating any claim to sanity he might have had.

I can't remember the last time I had such high expectations for a film. Maybe the first LoTR film, which met my expectations quite ably. Now it just needs an Israeli release date and a scheduled press screening.

Hugo award nominees announced

The nominees for this year's Hugo awards have been announced, and its a clean sweep for the brits in the Best Novel category.

Looks like a great list all around. I'm reading two of the nominated novels right now, and hope to read the other three by the time voting closes. I'm definitely going to try and read all the nominated short fiction, as I want to make an informed decision when I vote.

I was happy to see a Kelly Link story in the Best Novelette category, as that probably means it'll be available online, and free Link stories online are a blessing unto all mankind. Also happy to see Lost and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the dramatic presentation categories. And nice to see Whedon getting his props one last time for the Buffyverse. He missed getting his hugo for the Buffy finale, due to competition with one of the LoTR films. This year, with the dramatic presentation category split, I hope he gets his due.

Expect more talk of the nominees after I read them...

See? This is what you get!

On Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers played against Toronto. In that game, Cavs coach Paul Silas benched Jeff McInnis, a member of the Dark Establishment basketball fantasy team, for the entire game.

On Monday, Silas was fired.

Now, McInnis wasn't even in my starting roster for the week, so the bencing was meaningless for me in the short term. However, Cleveland plays more games during our fantasy playoffs than any other NBA team, so McInnis may be a key player for me down the stretch.

Of course, regardless of my own team's woes (3 game losing streak, limping into the playoffs, and that's only if we WIN this week), this firing, along with Don Nelson's decision to quit earlier in the month, is a pretty big deal. Paul Silas was a great coach when it came to teaching and mentoring his players, but a pretty crappy game coach. I think that, assuming the Cavs hire a good coach (current top candidate Flip Saunders is essentially the same coach as Silas), this will be a good move for a team the boasts the best young player in the NBA in LeBron James. These guys need to aim for championships, and they need a great coach for that, as well as a better, deeper roster.

If this move was the first in a series of moves aimed at a title, it was a great move. If it was just a firing to "shake things up" and hire Saunders, I'm not really down with that.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition screws up

I just watched last week's episode of EMHE, which was, as usual, moving and touching and all of that. The story of Kassandra, the little eight year old who beat cancer once, and wanted the team to help renovate her hospital ward was great.

However, the episode hit a very sour note for me when they decided to get help from one of the most repellent people in American politics and law enforcement, Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

I don't have any problem with the show using celebrities, and I usually don't have any problem with it when they dragoon military or law enforcement organizations to help out. But this is no ordinary celebrity or law enforement officer. The mere fact that he IS both should be the warning signal, but if that's not enough, organizations such as Mothers Against Arpaio, and the current attempt to recall his recent re-election should make it clear that this is, at the very least, a polarizing public figure.

Personally, I think Arpaio is a man who has abused his power, been shown numerous times to be corrupt, and a man who's record of mistreating prisoners is horrific.

I do not understand ABC's decision to put this man on a prime time, "feel good" type of show. It is, in my opinion, a very political move, and a move that has no place on a show like this. With EMHE and Lost, ABC has won a great deal of love from me this year, but this time, they screwed up.

Everything you wanted to know about Veronica Mars

So you've heard about this show, Veronica Mars. People say it's pretty good. But over two thirds of the season have gone by, and you don't know if you can catch up?

Or

You're a VM fan, and you're trying to convince your friends to watch the show because, well, you want what's best for your friends, don't you? But they have the same problem mentioned in the first paragraph.

Or

You have no idea what Veronica Mars is, but you just realized you don't really like House, and want a new show to watch in that very same timeslot?

Well there is a site for all of you. It's Mars Investigations, A Beginner's Guide to Veronica Mars. It is NOT recommended for people who watch the show on Israeli TV, as it WILL spoil a bunch of stuff for you. But it is certainly recommended for American viewers, who (even if they don't know it yet) NEED to watch this show.

Eonline Save One Show votes are in

Remember when I said Vote for VM, or don't vote at all? Well...

686,323 people voted, and a whopping 56% voted for Veronica Mars! That's about 384340 people, which is just unbelievable. Thank you for everyone who voted who might have gotten to the poll from here (though I no that's just a tiny, tiny fraction of the massive support VM got).

This had better help. VM is the second best show on TV, and the best one is doing just fine in the ratings.

The Bourne Supremacy

When your partner is in another continent, you find yourself with some spare time. So I did something I've been meaning to do for a while, and watched The Bourne Supremacy.

I quite liked The Bourne Identity. It was a very competent thriller which didn't try to be anything other than it was, and worked.

The sequel fits the exact same mold, and is a better film. It is a very competently made film. Matt Damon was an odd casting in the first film, as I certainly never imagined him as an action hero, but he was quite good. He's even better here. Joan Allen is a supreb actress, so it's no surprise that she did a fine job here, as did everyone surrounding her. I will say, in regards to the cast, that it was weird as hell seeing Eomer with short, black hair.

The directing and editing were occasionaly a bit too hectic, with unnecessary jump cuts and a shaky, shaky camera, but that did not really take away from my enjoinment. The action was excellent, with economic motion, nothing flashy, but all quite effective. In that sense, the film is a mirror of it's lethal protagonist, uber killer turned amnesiac guy-on-the-lam Jason Bourne.

The reason I really wanted to watch the film, other than the fact that it was a well reviewed sequel to a film I liked, was director Paul Greengrass, a man whose next project is a much, much, much more ambitious adaptation - Alan Moore's Watchmen. Judging from TBS, at least I know he isn't incompetent. I'll maintain my usual cautios optimism regarding films in which neither Akiva Goldsman nor Paul WS Anderson is involved, and await the casting.

Survivor 10-05

This week's ep was awesomely awesome. There was scheming, plotting, a couple of bad errors, and some brilliant wrenches thrown in by the evil, evil production. In the end TWO people went home. One was the right person, the other? Not so much.

Still, while I'll miss Angie,the process by which the elimination was reached was great. After last season's weakness (I enjoyed it more than most, but it was a BIG letdown following All Stars), this season has been excellent.

Second Sin City trailer - now in Quicktime

And it is even more kickass in this bigger, less pixelated version. This film needs an Israeli release date. Pronto.

Whedon. Wonder Woman. Yay.

Rumor time is over, folks. Joss Whedon WILL write and direct the film adaptation of Wonder Woman.

I'm a big WW fan, and obviously, a huge Whedon fan. I think this film can be all kinds of awesome. Heidi said it best in three images, right here. For the casting, I hope to see a woman who can portray a character that is powerful, physically and mentally. Current thoughts - Alexa Davalos, Evangeline Lily.

Also, I'd like to see the current continuity version of WW, with the mythology and the embassy, rather than Diana Prince from the silver age and the tv series.

Link via Fisheye.

Home alone

Early this morning, Tammy took a plane to NYC, for a weekend of debauchery. Well, actually it was for a one-day seminar followed by a weekend of meeting friends. As fate would have it, several of her best friends live in the area, so she'll be meeting up with them.

As for me, I'm home alone for an extended weekend. It's strange. Tammy works outside the house, where as I work at home, so I'm used to passing the afternoon or evening alone at home. But at some point, I know she's coming back. Now, she's still coming back, but on Monday.

Being home alone I naturally started the weekend by spending an ginormous amount of money. That's what guys do when left to their own devices. Of course, it was spent on my ticket to Worldcon, which will be combined with a vacation with Tammy, so that's ok. As tickets from Israel to Glasgow are rather expensive (due to the fact that no airline flyes directly from here to there), I didn't actually buy a ticket to Glasgow. I bought a ticket to Prague, where I'll take a plane with one of europe's many, many, many discount airlines and fly to Glasgow. It comes out cheaper that way, and I also gain a morning in Prague, which is one of my favorite cities on the planet. I should be able to squeeze in a quick stroll and lunch at Mala Strana. That should be an excellent start to my 11 day, continent spanning journey (Prague, Glasgow for worldcon, Barcelona with Tammy).

Huzzah!

I see Christopher's Barzak's EEEE!!! And raise by a Whoooo! Kelly Link has a new collection coming out in May. There shall be much rejoicing all throughout the land.

The plan? Get it at Worldcon, and get Link to sign it there. Possibly get two and get the other one signed for for a friend who'd appreciate it. Although, knowing the friend, she'll be much more interested in the stories than in any signature, and rightly so.

Tiny Linkdump

Tammy has a new regular column at a new women's portal/webzine thingie called "Asimon". In her second column, she slams me for being a helpful boyfriend. Oy. (link in Hebrew)

Batman meets Lego meets CGI, starring Adam West and Mark Hamill, and the result is geekastrophic (BIG ass mov file).

Two worldcon links - Hugo award MC's announced, as well as more programme participants, including the afore mentioned MC's (natch).

Finishing a job

When you're a translators, one thing is certain - all books are not created equal. And By equal, I mean equally hard to translate.

Some books are difficult for all translators. Terry Pratchett and Tim Powers, for instance, clearly hate all translators with a great passion. Possibly a translator stole their lunch money at school, I don't know.

Some books are hard for some translators, and easier for others. I have a hard time with books that are heavy on the descriptions. I think I do good work, but it takes longer, as it does not come naturally to me. I know some translators would have a hard time with Steven Brust's Vlad novels, as getting quips to "pop" in Hebrew as they do in English can be difficult. For me, Brust is easy. I couldn't come up with most of the quips and clever bits in his books, but translating them comes naturally.

I just finished a book that is quite description heavy. It was a very good book, and one which I mostly enjoyed translating, but it took a long time and a lot of work. I also had a really long flu in the middle, which completely threw me off my groove.

So it's good to be done with it. And as it was a pretty big book, it'll be damn good to get paid for it :)

Now, a day or two of rest, and it's back to those salty, salty mines.

Amazing Race blogging

Here's the scorecard, folks:
Rob and Amber - smart, funny, can only be prevented from winning this thing by sheer bad luck and bunching. Really nice and loving to one another, while Rob continues to be a dick to most other players. Which I don't mind at all, as it is a RACE. As long as racers are nice to their partners, I don't mind if they lie, cheat and steal (whithin the rules of the GAME) to everybody else. Unless they do it someone I like, and the non R&A competitors? I don't like so much.

Everybody else: Not as smart. Or as funny. Or as interesting. Or as nice to one another. I don't hate the brothers, who ARE funny, and I don't hate the gay guys or Debbie and Bianca, even though they are mui bitchy. At least they aren't complete morons.

I hate Ray and Deanna, who shouldn't even be in the same state, let alone in a relationship.

All the rest are meh at this point.

Idol blogging

Yes. I'm blogging about American Idol. Again. Don't look at me like that. Seriously. Stop. I've taken enough crap about watching it from some of my friends. I don't need it from imaginary readers who haven't even said anything.

So, before the results show, some thoughts...

On the guys side, this week's show simply cemented my position that Bo and Anwar are very good, and everybody else is either meh or bleh. Bo showed versatility, which will help him later on. Also, his band has a website, with some samples. Travis is mega-bleh, and Constantine is the fakest rocker in the history of fake rockers.

On the girl's side, Nadia continues to be a cut above the rest. Great voice, great performance. Jessica won me over this week, and Mikhala was terrible in a song that completely didn't suit her. She took Simon's advice about not being so annoying way too seriously. I hope she doesn't get voted off, and can come back with that personality she used to display. Janay continues to be far and away the worst of the bunch. But then, she was the worst in the last two weeks as well, and still made it. She needs to go, although that would make the show go on longer for me, as I will no longer be able to skip ahead to the end of her song.

Simon was on the money this week in both his compliments and his insults. The other two are blind, deaf, and dumb. No, not mute (sadly). Dumb.