New Roads

At this point even bad news is better then no news; at least we could make definitive plans. Yet, as it stands, I have heard naught but two demoralizing and echoing nos. So we wait. So we pine. So we dig to an unknown end. Taking steps in the dark hoping not to step on discarded nails. Stopping starting stopping starting repeated until the end of it. Packing and moving to Colorado for work or school or a time or eternity. There is a brief/lucrative job awaiting that will immensely alleviate any and all financial obligations. At least that brings a modicum of light to the future...that's good. Still, I feel I am returning to the equilateral mother land just to continue treading water.

If my age weren't as lofty a digit as it is I would consider a new path; if I continue to get lambasted after another year of trying that may just be what I have to do. The problem is, I don't have the slightest inkling of what that newness might be.

Vexing.

"And yet, and yet, this New Road will some day be the Old Road, too..."-- a quote I found inscribed on cobblestone in Edinburgh by Neil Monro

Sci-Finest

After one year and one month my time has come: at last Battlestar Galactica has started it's new and final season last Friday. I just peed a little with excitement, like a wee dog.

I will wait for the mocking to subside before I pontificate over the shows many virtues.








Ahem








Now then. I have said on this web log before that this show is one of the best on television, but it was merely a cursory praising. I will now attempt to convince all you folks who don't watch why you should.

I recognize that there are some inherent problems that have tainted the genera of science fiction: often it is too campy and kitsch ridden. This is a very valid reason to be skeptical. Not everyone has the ability, or desire, to suspend disbelief and swallow stories that take place in the naught of space. Although I have been known to be overly apologetic to all things spacey and lasery, I will be among the first to agree that plenty of Sci-Fi is a hackneyed mess.

This series does take place in space, there are killer robots hunting humans, there is faster then light travel, there are no right angles on papers or in the ship's design, but in spite of that meaty nerd stew, the show still is an immensely compelling human drama in a post apocalyptic setting that just happens to be set in space.

Here are some reasons to put aside any sci-fi angst against the show:

• There are no odd looking aliens, or aliens period.
• It is a realistic lived-in future.
• There are bullets in guns, not lasers.
• There are no corners cut in the special effects; nothing looks campy.
• The acting is amazing; Starbuck's affected laugh aside.
• Watching how a civilization that is down to some odd 40,000 people from a few billion cope with trying to create normalcy and keep civil liberties, democracy, and justice intact while running for their lives.
• Not one character is perfect, or are meant to be. Flaws abound.
• The story is loosely based on Mormon doctrines.
• The story.
• It's not just for the men, two of the show's strongest characters are iron willed women.
• The music.
  

Mostly, if my wife, hater of everything science fiction got caught up in it and looked forward to each episode, that should be reason enough to gander at the show.

So don't pigeonhole the show and gander.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Ba dum dum.