http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Wed, 8 Dec 2004 23:43:37 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/08/234337.php Michael King"The Cylons were created by man. They rebelled. They evolved. They look And feel Human. Some are programmed to think they ARE human. There are many copies. And they have a Plan."--Prelude to episodes of "Battlestar Galactica"Flashback to 1977: President Carter was hosting Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at Camp David. And on ABC, the pilot movie of "Battlestar Galactica" premiered, riding the "Star Wars" wave into television history.The series starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch & Dirk Benedict, and told the story of mankind-turned-nomads of a "rag-tag fleet of ships led by the last battlestar, Galactica," on a quest for the fabled missing human colony: Earth.That "Galactica" was hokey at best. It included really bad acting, hokey scripts, and oddball concepts that were insanely expensive to produce.Flash forward to 2003.After multiple attempts to resurrect the franchise, The Sci-Fi Channel finally put together a new "Battlestar Galactica," in the form of a four-hour miniseries. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell headed up a cast of mostly unknown actors in a complete rewrite and rebuild of the story.Twelve human colonies have existed in peace for many years.Decades ago, a robotic race, called Cylons, were created to serve man. They rebelled and after a conflict, withdrew to another part of space.The Sci-Fi Channel miniseries shows the story behind the Cylons return and their destruction of humanity. Humanity is reduced to a flotilla of starships, led by the last military vessel, the battlestar Galactica.The Galactica is a true military vessel, and feels very much like an aircraft carrier, and is certainly far more gritty than the 70s version ever hoped to be.This new "Galactica" is far darker than anything else out there. The miniseries showed more in terms of scenes of the destruction of the human civilization, and even in the scenes not shown, you are feeling the pain and despair of the remaining humans.After the miniseries blew the top off of ratings records on Sci-Fi, a television series was inevitable, and with the help of the UK's Sky, the series went into production.The entire cast of the miniseries returned, with Olmos as Commander William Adama, who is at odds as often as not with the new President of the human alliance, Laura Roslin, played by Mary McDonnell. Roslyn had been the Secretary of Education, 43rd in the line of succession prior to the holocaust, and finds herself reluctantly taking on the presidential mantle over the dwindling remnants of humanity.The hokey names of the original "Galactica" have been turned into the call signs for the pilots of this version: Apollo is Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber), son of the Galactica's commanding officer; Starbuck is -- yes, a girl, Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sakhoff). Thrace is the "top gun" of the fighter pilots on the Galactica, and shares the predilection for cigars that Dirk Benedict portrayed as Starbuck in the original.Canadian character actor Michael Hogan plays the hard drinking, arrogant second-in-command, Colonel Paul Tigh. The easy-on-the-eyes Grace Park is Lieutenant Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, who is more than she seems.British actor James Callis plays Doctor Gaius Baltar, who's actions may have doomed humanity, and whose mind is plagued by the enigmatic Number Six, a Cylon who seduces Baltar's mind, and who has an as yet unknown agenda of her own. The opening credits start with views of the fighter battles and massive destruction that punctuated the miniseries underneath a haunting vocal meloday, sounding not unlike Enya. The music emphasizes the dire situation facing the remnants of humanity. The opening concludes with a tribal-sounding rapid fire drum beat over scenes from the present episode.The series opens up a week after the events of the miniseries, but no one has been able to sleep.Thirty-three minutes after the fleet arrives at a new location after a faster-than-light jump, the Cylons appear, attempting to destroy the fleet's ships. This leads to another FTL jump, followed by another agonizing thirty-three minutes, hence the name of the episode, "33 Minutes."The episode is tightly-knit with action which leaves you on the edge of your seat, and starts to play off of the events of the miniseries, providing multiple catalysts for episodes to follow. "Shakey, handheld-type" camera work, not unlike that seen in other dramas like "The Shield" or "Homicide" punctuate the series, and actually add to the dramatic feel of the show.Most of the other episodes aired to date certainly sit in that superior categoy, while one or two others fall short.Eight episodes have aired on Sky One in the UK over the past couple of months, under a part of their agreement with Sci-Fi. The Sci-Fi Channel's four-hour miniseries is being edited into a three-hour movie, set to run on NBC Saturday, January 8. Regular episodes begin on Sci-Fi Friday, January 14.The full four-hour miniseries goes on sale on DVD on December 28 at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and elsewhere.Take a look. This is not your father's Galactica.(Also posted on Ramblings' Journal) Video23082@blogcritics.org Wed, 8 Dec 2004 23:43:37 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/09/07/203843.php Michael KingAuthor Ronald Kessler's A Matter Of Character: Inside The White House Of George W. Bush looks at Bush, the man, not Bush the "cartoon character" that everyone from commentators to comedians have turned him into.NRO's Q&A with Kessler points out the continued contradictions behind the "comic book picture" that the left continues to paint regarding Bush.National Review Online: So President Bush isn't dumb, you say?Ronald Kessler: Most of what the public knows of Bush is filtered through the liberal bias of the media. He wears cowboy boots, so he's a hick. He has unconventional ways of dealing with the twin threats of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, so he must not know what he's doing. He says exactly what he thinks, so he must be unsophisticated.The caricatures are conflicting: Bush has a short attention span, yet from the day he took office he was obsessed with attacking Iraq. He is a puppet of Dick Cheney or Karl Rove, but he does not listen to anyone's advice. His decisions are made for him by warring factions within his administration, but he stubbornly clings to his own views. He graduated from Yale and Harvard Business School, but is a dimwit.What I found was that, contrary to the caricatures, Bush solicits differing views, then makes up his own mind.NRO: And he doesn't have dyslexia, contrary to some disingenuous reporting?Kessler: The claim that Bush has dyslexia was in a Vanity Fair article by Gail Sheehy, and she has since repeated that claim on TV. In fact, Nancy LaFevers, one of the two experts Sheehy quoted to support her conclusion, told me she told Sheehy that Bush was not dyslexic.NRO: What's the most persistent and damaging myth about President Bush?Kessler: That he is a Nazi because he deposed someone who killed 300,000 people. A large number of people actually believe that. Kessler admits that he voted for Al Gore in 2000 due to a perception, based on the debates, of Bush as a "less informed" individual.Kessler has changed that opinion as a result of his research for this book. He plans to vote for Bush in November. Politics19573@blogcritics.org Tue, 7 Sep 2004 20:38:43 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/25/071535.php Michael KingKwame Jackson, runner-up of the first season of NBC & Donald Trump's The Apprentice, has pieced together a deal that would make "The Donald" proud.With two other partners, Jackson has made a deal with officials in Prince George's County in Maryland to develop an 80 to 130 acre area into commercial and residential property.The deal is worth $3.8 billion and will provide over 32,000 jobs, Jackson said.Jackson's company, Legacy Holdings, is also making plans to release an executive menswear line and a television show.Season one of The Apprentice was released on video this week; season two premieres on NBC on Thursday, September 9.(Also posted at Ramblings' Journal) Video19043@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Aug 2004 07:15:35 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/24/215031.php Michael KingDetails magazine, in their September issue, is "outing" young Republicans in Hollywood.It just so happens that, in its September issue, Details magazine is outing Hollywood GOP sympathizers. The magazine claims that, in order to address the celebrity deficit that the GOP currently has, the Republican National Committee has unveiled a list of stars who veer toward the Republican side of the aisle.Some of the names, like Jessica Simpson and Shannen Doherty, are already known. But others are more unexpected, like Adam Sandler and Freddie Prinze Jr., although Prinze's wife Sarah Michelle Gellar has been known to lean right in the past.In a related article, Sony producer Mike DeLuca has stepped up and acknowledged his Republican affiliation, describing the reaction in Hollywood as the equivalent of being "exposed as a serial killer." DeLuca pointed out some lefty hypocrisy, saying, "They scream about the environment before they hop onto their private jets and blow 8,000 pounds of fuel getting to the Hamptons."One of the celebs named in the Details article has responded to the outing incident via her publicist and has done so in an entertaining and quasi-historical manner. The star is Mandy Moore, and the New York Post has reported the response as, "Mandy is not, nor has she ever been, a Republican."Sounds like Mandy is afraid of being "outed" as an "eeeeevil" Republican.Fascinating...(Also posted on Ramblings' Journal) Politics19027@blogcritics.org Tue, 24 Aug 2004 21:50:31 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/02/25/104439.php Michael King"Yomigaeru Iron Chef!"My culinary hero, Alton Brown (host of Food Network's Good Eats and author of I'm Just Here for the Food), is going to sit in the "Doc Hattori" chair for the new Food Network series of specials (which begin airing on April 23), Iron Chef America, filming next week in Los Angeles.The shows will feature original Iron Chefs Masaharu Morimoto and Hiroyuki Sakai going up against Food Network show hosts Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck. No word if William Shatner will be back in his dreadful role as "The Chairman" (though some liked the "camp factor" that Shatner brought to the table) from UPN's equally dredful Iron Chef USA, or if they'll go back to the source and get Japanese actor Takeshi Kaga to run Kitchen Stadium. Video13124@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Feb 2004 10:44:39 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/02/20/155353.php Michael KingThe End of Blackness? We Can All At The Least Hope For EnlightenmentDebra Dickerson's new book, The End of Blackness, must be worth the read, if only to see for yourself if the negative comments from the crab-in-the-barrel black folks on the Amazon.com reader review section of her book entry are upset because of seeing themselves in the mirror the book provides or if the book is poorly written. I'd be inclined toward the former, simply due to the type of rhetoric there -- the same type of brow-beating and carping that I see regularly in my own hatemail."Look at Dickerson's white fan club below! Including the one from Los Angeles POSING as a black person (January 19). And TWENTY-ONE white friends in his white club really LOVED it too! (Don't you guys think that you made yourself a little too heavy-handed and obvious, spamming positive book review votes for Dickerson? And, negatively, counterspamming book review votes against black reveiwers, some very well written or incisively pithy.)""Dickerson (and her supporters here) would have us drop "counterproductive" liberal efforts that "haven't worked." Like what? The resoundingly successful Head Start, breakfast programs, health screening, and the like? They also oppose "counterintuitive" liberal ideas -- quality schools with resources equal to the best white public schools, small classrooms with well-paid teachers, urban neighborhoods as well-maintained by cities as white neighborhoods, and police who actually live in and care about the urban communities they serve in. Why? All of those things (which have never been properly tried, thanks to opposition by conservatives) would cost money, when it's obvious that our national priority is funneling all of our resources into war and military spending -- and enriching the few and the well-connected. Better to blame Blacks for their own plight, then, and offer more "pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps" solutions that haven't led anywhere.""Do we really need another black neo-conservative to tell us how hypocritical black America is?"Anybody notice that in the minds of many of the Soul Patrol that all conservative blacks are coded "neo-cons" in order to dehumanize us and make it easier to make personal insults?And to answer that last person's question, obviously, America does. The hypocrites in black America continue to blame everyone outside themselves for their problems. They continue to insist (as the whining scribe just before notes) that self-empowerment doesn't work.Dickerson's earlier book, An American Story, engendered similar accusations of self-hatred and selling out. It too, is one that I'm going to see about looking at. I'd rather read the reasoned thoughts of someone who has taken the time for self-examination as opposed to attacking others simply for having views that are outside of the mainstream. Books12987@blogcritics.org Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:53:53 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/02/18/101131.php Michael KingRabid Star Trek fan that I am, I have railed on against the travesty that Star Trek: Enterprise has become over the past couple of years. Show runners Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have decimated the Trek franchise with poor plotting and a hollow disregard of continuity, and to many there's no hope of revival. To those that despair, I offer a glimmer of hope from the written page. Star Trek: The Lost Era is a six novel series, set in the 70 year gap between the presumed death of Captain James Kirk aboard the Enterprise-B and the launch of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's Enterprise-D. The stories include characters from both Classic Trek as well as "modern" Trek (TNG, DS9, Voyager), and provide much insight as to what happend during the time gap. "The Sundered" is a story of Captain Hikaru Sulu (yes, THAT Sulu), and his first officer, Commander Pavel Chekov (yes, THAT Chekov) aboard the USS Excelsior. Sulu and Chekov, along with their crew (peppered with familiar faces from both television and written Trek) are thrust into a conflict between the Tholians (a race not seen since Classic Trek) and the mysterious Neyel, who may have historic connections to humans and Earth itself. Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin's "The Sundered" has proven so popular that other novels featuring Sulu & Chekov's Excelsior crew have been commissioned, and will see print beginning in 2005. David R. George III's "Serpents Among The Ruins" tells the story of the Tomed Incident, hinted at in multiple stories of Star Trek: The Next Generation. "Serpents Among The Ruins" ties together a Machiavellian plot involving the Federation's cold war with the Romulans, and the involvement of the Enterprise-B's Captain John Harriman and his first officer, Commander Demora Sulu. "The Art of the Impossible" by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the undisputed chronicler of the Klingon Empire, tells the political saga of the Empire during the Lost Era timeframe, and details their path from being arch enemies of the Federation to becoming honorable allies. A great sidelight details the Khitomer attack that killed Worf's parents and the aftermath that brought him to Earth as a boy. DeCandido's knowledge of Klingon culture is second to none, and his Klingon chronicles continue in his wildly popular Star Trek: IKS Gorkon series. "Well of Souls" from Trek-newcomer Ilsa K. Bick looks at little known Enterprise-C Captain Rachel Garrett and details a struggle with organized crime rival organizations, the Asfar Qatala and the Orion Syndicate. A secondary story with Garrett's estranged family forces her into some heart-wrenching decisions as well. Bick's tale leaves you wanting more about Garrett and her "legendary" journeys before her ill-fated mission to Khitomer, chronicled in the highly-regarded TNG teleplay, "Yesterday's Enterprise." Jeff Mariotte's "Deny Thy Father" looks closer at the rift between then-Starfleet Cadet William Riker and his father, Kyle. The elder Riker is revealed to be as complex a man as his son will grow into as Captain Picard's first officer, and his pride shows. Margaret Wander Bonanno returns to the Trek-writing fold after an absence of many years with the final Lost Era tome, "Catalyst of Sorrows." Starfleet Intelligence head, Admiral Nyota Uhura (yes, THAT Uhura) has to put together a covert team of operatives (all of which are familiar names of Trek lore from "future years") to find and stop a seemingly incurable biological weapon before it can be released on worlds across Federation space. With eerie parallels to the terrorist plots of today, Uhura's team led by then-Lieutenant Ben Sisko journeys to the source of the contagion with orders to stop it. As far as I'm concerned, it wouldn't be a bad move for Paramount to turn over the Star Trek franchise to the authors and editors of the Star Trek book lines. The story lines are far more compelling and complex than anything that Berman and Braga have turned out for Enterprise or the poorly received Star Trek: Nemesis. Books12882@blogcritics.org Wed, 18 Feb 2004 10:11:31 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/30/000438.php Michael KingSunday nights, Americans close to the Canadian border have a secret gem on their hands.Nicholas Campbell stars as Vancouver Coroner Dominic DaVinci in the award-winning CBC crime drama, "DaVinci's Inquest." "DI" includes a talented ensemble cast of players who are, for the most part, unknown in the US. The show predates American forensic offerings like "CSI" and "Crossing Jordan," and has the awards to show for itself."DI" is loosely based on the life of former Vancouver Coroner (and current Vancouver Mayor) Larry Campbell. Campbell serves as consultant to the series. The show's first season (it's now in season six) is available on DVD north of the border, and can be had by American audiences through Amazon.ca.The show has spawned a jazzy soundtrack album, "DaVinci's Inquest: The Sessions" on Stony Plain Records (and distributed by Warner Canada). The CD straddles the line between "chillout" and light jazz ever so tightly. Bookended by the opening and closing themes to "DI" by Tim McCauley, "Sessions" includes softer, more cerebral pieces by George Blondheim ("French Piano" and "Variations on Carmen" stand out here), and robust clips by Simon Kendall ("Gina" and "Blu Idea" are both gritty and have an urban jazz feel to them).Other tunes by standouts like Maria Muldaur (here in a duet with Taj Mahal on "Soul of a Man"), Bocephus King & the Rigalattos and others round out the collection. It's a shame that "Sessions" was not released in the United States. If it had, I'm sure it would have added to the already growing cult appeal of "DI". If you are willing to go the extra step and check a Canadian site like Amazon.ca, you'll still be able to put "Sessions" into your music collection.Unfortunately, those of us in warmer climes have only the "Sessions" CD and the 1st season DVD to whet our appetites for "DI" - at least for now. Music12162@blogcritics.org Fri, 30 Jan 2004 00:04:38 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/09/16/181043.php Michael KingI'd be very hesitant to touch the stuff.Hip-hop artist Nelly is the head of the company that markets the new energy drink that BevNet.com's reviewers say tastes better than the more mediciney-tasting stuff out there.Where do we even begin? Created by a company where hip-hop star Nelly is the chairman, Pimp Juice uses one of the more unique energy drink formulations that we've tested. Made with apple juice, Pimp Juice is a non-carbonated energy drink that has a bright green color and a very sweet sour apple flavor. The taste tested pretty well in our test panels, mainly because of the lack of a medicinal flavor. As for the can, people seem to either love it or hate it -- in some cases finding the word "pimp" to be somewhat offensive. Regardless, the name is something that will both help and hurt the sales of this product. If nothing else, it's very original. Overall, we like the flavor of this product and the fact that they are trying something different.Green? Feh. I've sampled more vile-looking brews, but I've got an inherent problem with something that calls itself "PimpJuice." There's enough of a problem with music filled with mysogynistic lyrics that glorify calling women bitches and whores and other glorify treating them as such without products starting to show up that support that entire sub-culture. Apparently, I'm not the only one. According to an article on MTV.com, a loosely-organized boycott of the drink and any outlet that sells the drink is in the early stages.Chicago Tribune-syndicated columnist Clarence Page is also dismayed by the mindset that would give rise to the drink. Supposedly, it (the term "pimp juice") is an "innocent" term, according to those close to that culture. As far as I'm concerned, they can keep that term away from my innocent ears, and PimpJuice away from my innocent palate. Music8420@blogcritics.org Tue, 16 Sep 2003 18:10:43 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/17/231839.php Michael KingAl Sharpton's National Action Network has finally won a round in their intimidation game.Sirius Satellite Radio has agreed to carry The Word Network among it's offerings. Officials of Sirius' primary competitor, XM Radio, were quoted in an article on Broadcasting|Cable's website this afternoon..."We have informed NAN [the National Action Network] that we currently have a programming partnership with D.C.-area based Radio One, the nation's largest African-American-owned radio company, which programs five channels including Spirit, the first national 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week gospel channel, and The Power, the first national African-American talk channel, featuring Joe Madison, D.C.'s own 'Black Eagle,'" XM said in a statement.XM Radio continues to resist constant threats and attacks from Sharpton and company.Sharpton's group is also going after Dish Network, in an effort to force them to carry The Word's television signal. Culture651@blogcritics.org Tue, 17 Sep 2002 23:18:39 EDT