- It’s old school week! Here’s an interview with the old school Starbuck (i.e., Dirk Benedict).  It’s a very manly interview.

- Here’s another blog post by Mr. Benedict. And yet another. Suffice to say, he’s not happy with the new school.

- Recall that back in the early 1990s, Richard Hatch wanted to revive the franchise.  Out of his own pocket, and with generous fan support and lots of free sfx work from friendly pros, he created a trailer called “the second coming” that he used to shop the idea around. Go watch it here.  But be nice.  Remember it was the 90s, and it was done on less than a shoe string budget.  Considering all that, it’s actually quite impressive, though clearly very dated.  And it’s always nice to see the original Baltar.

- In new school BSG news, the composer for the series is now engaged.

On to tonight’s episode (spoilers below the fold):

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No post tonight. Sorry. My day job has taken me on the road the last few days, and I haven’t even had a chance to watch this week’s episode yet. I’ll try to put up the usual post tomorrow night (or soon thereafter). For now, feel free to use the comments section of this post as an open discussion thread about “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.”

UPDATE: Here’s my usual post.

This was a strong, dark episode, but to be perfectly honest, as good as these last two hours have been, I’m anxious to get back to the island. For that reason, I’m kind of glad this part of the story is over. Lots of significant things happened here, and the episodes continued its trend of piecing together elements from all four previous seasons, so it’s fair to say that the show is rewarding close watching and the devotion of its more obsessive fans.

Spoilers from this episode, and a bunch of other stuff, after the break.
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Designing fonts is exciting, you bastard! I’m sure that singing on American Idol is great, but you don’t have to make up words describing the noble pursuit of designing the letters you use to make words.

Fontist.

I think it’s pretty good. It has potential to get a lot better. I don’t think Eliza Dushku is all that great at the role, but she’s not sinking the ship, like that woman in Fringe. (And yeah, Walter is keeping that boat afloat.)
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Well, last week has prompted a flurry of attempts to explain last weeks explanations.

- “Hercules” at AICN tries to make it all make sense here. He doesn’t quite succeed, but it’s a valiant effort.

- However, the BSG writers and crew actually explain most of it here. This Q&A makes more sense than last week’s episode – if you want to know, go there.  Perhaps they should just have Ron Moore read the Writer’s Bible or whatever for the last hour of the finale.

- The composer of BSG, instead of posting a score analysis on his blog as usual, interviewed the final five, with interesting results.  Check it out here.

Spoilers below the fold.

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I found this list of films that allegedly have conservative philosophies or agendas behind them quite interesting. (more…)

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This episode managed to be compelling despite having very little screen time for the island and lots of screen time for Jack. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Spoilers from tonight’s episode after the jump.

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A good friend that knows my peculiarities sent me the good news. Pepsi will be selling versions of Pepsi and Mnt Dew with actual sugar. This usually only happens in saner countries, around Passover (if you are on the East Coast) or in the early 1980s. One can only hope that Coke will follow suit, especially if they issue Cherry Coke and Vanilla coke with cane sugar. Of course you can already buy Mexican Coke at Costco, and you can order Dublin Dr Pepper online, but if this starts a trend the world will be that much better.

- Yes, it’s a political website, but over at NRO’s The Corner, Jonah Goldberg is the resident sci-fi geek, and he’s a BSG fan.  He has two interesting posts that almost perfectly summarize my feelings about this half of the season so far (Except for the parts about Zarek).  Here’s the first one. Here’s the second.

- It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who finds Zarek’s actions out of character. (ht:  Goldberg above)

- Mark Verheiden, one of the writers of BSG, admits they really had no long term plan and that they really have been making it all up as they go, and if you think that’s hurt the show, you’re bizarre.  While I agree with his main point that you have to leave room for creativity and course corrections, he’s attacking a straw man.  No one is saying they should have planned every beat out in advance.  We’re just concerned because it’s clear that what’s happened these last two seasons has almost no connection with what happened the first two seasons.  A lot of the early promise vanished when it became clear they radically changed the game plan halfway through.  It’s like we started off playing football (soccer) and ended playing football (of the American variety), and the referees are pretending it was the same game the whole time because it has the same name.

Spoilers below the fold and all that.

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I wholeheartedly endorse a DVD that I have not viewed: Tom and Jerry’s Greatest Chases.

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The Damnwells have been out of the spotlight for a while.  Since their last album, the stunning breakthrough Air Stereo, the band went on a grueling tour, had their van break down and was unceremoniously dropped by their label (not to name names, but it was Epic–feel free to send hate mail). (more…)

Things are really moving now, both on and off the island.

Spoilers from tonight’s episode after the break.
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This winter, I discovered the wonders of Abuelita. It’s a Mexican chocolate with a strong cinnamon flavor that can be used to make really great hot chocolate. It’s pretty easy to find at most grocery stores if you look for it. Sometimes it’s where you’d expect to find cocoa, and sometimes it’s with the Hispanic foods.

Yesterday, I adapted one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes using Abuelita instead of semi-sweet baking chocolate, and it turned out great, so I thought I’d share.

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Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” won best rock album tonight at the Grammys.

Explain, people.

First, the stuff and nonsense, flotsam and jetsam, etc.:

- In a not so surprising move, the pilot movie for BSG prequel Caprica will be available on DVD this April (in an uncut version) before the series starts sometime in 2010.

- There’s a comic book series out about the Cylon Wars that occurred in the time frame between Caprica and BSG.  I’ve read the first issue.  It’s okay, but while it may be “authroized” I doubt it’s canon.  The BSG comics seem more like the Star Trek comics (everything is apocraphyl) instead of the Star Wars comics (where LucasFilm makes a concerted effort to make it all fit, even if George himself decides to ignore it).

- Go here and scroll down a bit and then work your way up for some geeky details (from a guy who worked on the new series’s CGI effects) on a virtual v. a “real” Viper (mild language warning).

Now, the serious stuff (spoilers, etc.):

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So Lost and Battlestar Galactica get all the love. Got other shows you watch? Want to talk about them? Here’s your chance.

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I don’t actually have a lot of spare time, but I have decided to take what little of it I have and give myself an education in film history (it helps that I work at a library with an amazing film collection).  The purpose of this feature is to provide new reviews to movies that were first released at least thirty years ago.  Why?  Because I am cheap and don’t want to pay for first run movies, but also because I am interested to see how well many of these “classics” hold up.  These reviews will focus primarily on the movies themselves (I don’t plan on reviewing DVD features (because I don’t usually care enough to watch them)). (more…)

This was a Kate-and-Aaron-centric episode. Sort of. Both the off-island and on-island plots are progressing.

Spoilers from tonight’s episode, and a bunch of other stuff, after the break.
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I was going to make this a LOTD, but it has nothing to do with Watchmen so here you go:

Match the first line of a song to its title and band.

1. “Lovin’ you isn’t the right thing to do”
2. “Looking down on empty streets, all she can see”
3. “Dig if you will a picture of you and I engaged in a kiss”
4. “We’ll be fighting in the streets with our children at our feet”
5. “It’s been a mystery and still they try to see”
6. “Come up to meet you, tell you I’m sorry”
7. “I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour”
8. “Shot like an arrow going through my heart”
9. “I’ve been roaming around, always looking down at all I see”
10. “I got up feeling so down”
11. “Hello, I’ve waited here for you”
12. “There’s a destination a little up the road”

If you want to guess without the band and song titles, go ahead, but they’re listed after the jump.
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