Not much to speak of this morning – my digestive system is still engaged in a lively debate with itself over whether or not the pork chops with stuffing my wife cooked for me are agreeing with it in any civilized way – so here are a couple of nifty links you might want to check out. The Beginner’s Guide To Doctor Who: Whether you’re only casually acquainted with the original series of Doctor Who, or only gave in to the Time Lord’s charms when the new series started, here’s a nifty little semi-interactive guide to the original show. It’s not a terribly deep survey of classic Who (and the “monsters” segment is little more than a target game minus the reward), but it’s a decent enough refresher course. There’s a focus on classic characters and enemies who have appeared in the new show (i.e. Sarah, K-9, the Daleks), though some of the other mentions are somewhat curious, and one wonders if they have any bearing on the upcoming finale of the second season… Mad props to Phlox: The Futon Critic is giving mad props to John Billingsley (formerly Enterprise’s Dr. Phlox) as the “breakout star” of ABC’s new fall drama series The Nine. (I’ve seen some preview stuff on the network feeds myself, and this review of the pilot only confirms for me that this is a show to keep an eye on later this year.) I’d find it riotously funny if DVD sales of Enterprise suddenly spiked because everyone wanted to see that show that Billingsley used to be on. Pre-owned games and the law: a fascinating essay from a legal perspective about the rumors that Sony has plans to squash the used video game market, and largely right on the money. Now here’s a wild idea: how about making games that are just so darned cool that we don’t want to ever get rid of them? (Novel thinking, I know.) Still counting down to the Red Star release to see if it fits that category. Back on track, it’d also help if the pricing was a little more realistic on new games. The last current-generation game I bought new was We Love Katamari; total outlay was $25. (Well, technically, total outlay was nothing – I got it with a Wal-Mart gift card I got at Christmas.) Quick check of the ol’ PS2/Gamecube shelf…I’ve bought more than 2/3 of my current-generation games used. (Curiously enough, the only ones I’ve gotten new have been both Katamari games, Taito Legends and Pac-Man Vs. for the ‘cube, though that latter game was packed in with a budget “greatest hits” re-release of the otherwise forgettable Pac-Man World 2. So, if you’ve got a cheap game from Japan, I guess I’m all yours.) In short, if Sony and its licensees weren’t pricing their new product into the stratosphere, and were producing stuff with real replay value, that’d go a long way toward solving this perceived “problem” of the used game market. (Or, if you want the statistics spun in a different direction: I’ve spent more on Odyssey2 games this year than I have on Playstation 2 games. But admittedly, that’s just me.)
And last but not least – a new Weird Al song for free! Weird Al Yankovic is apparently coming down the home stretch of a new album, and if that wasn’t good enough news for you, he’s unleashing a free song that didn’t make the cut, for – rough estimate here – zero dollars. (I also see Al has linked to Rob’s UHF pilgrimage on his links page!)
Hope you have a good weekend. The Mrs. is headed out of town for several days for a postal convention, or she’s going to go postal at a convention, or something like that – I really need to get some clarification there. So for a few days it’s me, Othello, Olivia and Xena. How much you wanna bet we’ll have the place completely trashed by Monday night?
The Beginner’s Guide To Doctor Who: Whether you’re only casually acquainted with the original series of Doctor Who, or only gave in to the Time Lord’s charms when the new series started, here’s a nifty little semi-interactive guide to the original show. It’s not a terribly deep survey of classic Who (and the “monsters” segment is little more than a target game minus the reward), but it’s a decent enough refresher course. There’s a focus on classic characters and enemies who have appeared in the new show (i.e. Sarah, K-9, the Daleks), though some of the other mentions are somewhat curious, and one wonders if they have any bearing on the upcoming finale of the second season…
Mad props to Phlox: The Futon Critic is giving mad props to John Billingsley (formerly Enterprise’s Dr. Phlox) as the “breakout star” of ABC’s new fall drama series The Nine. (I’ve seen some preview stuff on the network feeds myself, and this review of the pilot only confirms for me that this is a show to keep an eye on later this year.) I’d find it riotously funny if DVD sales of Enterprise suddenly spiked because everyone wanted to see that show that Billingsley used to be on.
Wierd Al has a link to Robs UHF pilgrimmage? That’s awesome!
I actually got an e-mail from John “Bermuda” Schwartz (Al’s drummer and webmaster) informing me that they had read it and loved it!