Wherein I go on and on about "A Song of Ice and Fire" - slash - "Game of Thrones"

I saw it first on io9. George R.R. Martin is doing a "coffee table book" about the world of "A Song of Ice and Fire".

Because clearly he does not have enough on his plate.

*inhales sharply*

*exhales slowly*

Mr. Martin. I realize that you are not my bitch. Neil Gaiman said so. I get that. Frankly, were I to have a "bitch", you would not be my first choice. You wouldn't make it into the long list, frankly. That said, WOULD YOU PLEASE FOCUS ON FUCKING WRITING THE REST OF THE GODDAMN SERIES AND STOP GETTING DISTRACTED BY THESE RIDICULOUS SIDE-PROJECTS????

You're not getting any younger and HBO is filming faster than you're writing. This series is clearly your opus or whatever. It would be lovely if you'd get the goddamn story done. Preferrably without going off on weird tangents with characters nobody gives a shit about (*cough* Theon *cough*).

There. That felt good. Okay, so HBO's "Game of Thrones". You know, I mostly don't comment on this show 'cause I don't have HBO. I've got the DVDs and watch them when I need a good distraction of crazy shit or just watching Peter Dinklege play Tyrion Lannister owning the screen.

I've felt that the staff for the series have done an absolutely-brilliant job with the casting. My only sense of wariness came from the casting of Kit Harington as Jon Snow, but I have to admit Harington has won me over. Snow is a pretty boring character, all-said, and Harington actually does a pretty awesome job handling that.

What really surprises me is how well the FX department does with Dany's dragons. Damn but they've done a great job making those little (and growing) bastards look realistic.

My only remaining bit of whining is how the Others are portrayed. They just don't have that weird, otherworldly-beauty that Martin describes in the series. I pictured them as cold, homicidal ice-elves, but they look more like pale, prune-skinned cavemen. Kinda weak.

Damn good series. Gives me hope that television can continue to produce good stuff, if they pay attention.

Okay George, back to work. Bitch. *WHIP CRACK!*

Review: Best Made Light Waxed Cruiser

I bought the Best Made Company Light Waxed Cruiser in a moment of insanity to distract myself from life stuff.

I do that a lot. It's a bad habit, but it's gotten me some really interesting things.

This is one of them.

The Cruiser is a lightweight coat that's perfect for Spring or Autumn weather but also is remarkably useful in a San Francisco summer. It breathes nicely and has a good fit.

And the pockets. Sweet FSM, the pockets! I can cram nearly everything I normally carry in the two snap pockets. There's hand-warmer pockets on the chest, which is a bit awkward, but works out okay and fits small things (like a pack of gum or whatever). And then there's the vast interior space.

The jacket as two deep interior pockets that ultimately connect to the big game pocket in back. Just in case you want to smuggle most of your belongings with you for some reason.

I've easily crammed in a big book with nary a bulge in the coat.

The coat's construction is really solid. Lots of reinforced snaps and good material. It also comes with a small tin of wax. Y'know, for the "waxed" part of the "Light Waxed Cruiser" description.

It's my first purchase from Best Made Company and I have to say I'm really impressed. The coat isn't cheap, but I have not felt even a moment of buyer's remorse. I'm glad I got it and now resent the warm weather a bit, as it's not currently comfortable weather for such a coat.

Aaaaaaaah...

Four days off and I'm back at the salt mines.

Damn but that was a nice little break. Just what I needed and when I most needed it.

Slept in every day as late as my noisy neighbors would let me.

Lounged around like a lazy slob. Did a little light housecleaning but otherwise finished off the case of homebrew I bought earlier in the month and watched my DVDs of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, "Game of Thrones" as well as "Person of Interest". Mixed in The Two Towers just for shits and giggles.

Painted some miniatures I'd had laying around for ages. I'm amazed I still have good paint.

Read more of "Under Heaven" (which inspired me to re-watch Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon).

When I left my apartment at all, it was for groceries, to buy some miniatures (for the aforementioned painting), or to hit a bar-slash-brewery.

Actually, as I look back on this, I wonder how the hell I fit all this in over four days given all the sleeping I did.

Time to get back on the wagon and start exercising again. It was nice to be a lazy blob, but can't slip back into horrible habits too much.

I could totally adapt to living a life of leisure.

To boldly go

Saw Star Trek: Into Darkness. I can't really write a review 'cause to say anything spoils it. It's not original by any means and there's the normal Abrams-Lindeloff plot holes, but overall it was a fun ride. Good popcorn movie. I'm leaning towards liking Iron Man 3 a smidge more, but it's close. Certainly I thought it was matinee money well-spent.

Review: The Ridge Front Pocket Wallet

One of the myriad Kickstarters I backed was one of those RFID-blocking wallet concepts known as "The Ridge".

Mine arrived the other day.

I'm a sucker for a nice wallet concept and I have to admit the aesthetics of The Ridge appealed to me.

The pictures don't quite do it justice, however.

The Ridge is a small thing, barely larger than my cards, giving it a very slim profile in my pocket. I'm barely aware the thing is there, truth be told. Though comparing against the beast of a wallet I usually carry is an unfair comparison.

It's a pair of metal plates (I opted for Titanium) (I'm a crackhead... I got aluminum) held together by integrated elastic strips that seem quite sturdy. You can opt for a money-clip on the side.

The little bugger has some serious capacity. I crammed all my cards into it as a test run and it handled it fine. This may be my "fancy outings" wallet, when there's a need.

The Kickstarter is, of course, over and funded. The makers have a site now: www.ridgewallet.com. I recommend perusing and seeing if there's a style that appeals. It's a nice wallet for folks who want to keep their cards and travel light.

Thoughts on the Doctor - 2

This gets spoilery. Adding line breaks for hand-held readers (if such exist) then deprecated font tags to obscure text in browsers, 'cause I don't know how else to consistently hide text behind a layer.


















































You were warned:


So there's much speculation as to who this "not-Doctor" incarnation is. From what I can gather from various websites, the main theory is that this incarnation of the Time Lord known as "The Doctor" is actually the one who fought in the Time War and wound up obliterating Gallifrey and the Daleks.

If that's the case, the entire "mystery" of this incarnation gets weirdly hollow and feels like a cheat. We already know from the angst of the PTSD 9th Doctor (played by the brilliant Christopher Eccleston) that the Doctor wiped out both Gallifrey and the Daleks (or tried to in the latter case). The 9th Doctor and 10th Doctor both own up to this, so it seems to me that the Doctor is willing to accept that he (in whatever incarnation) is responsible for that act.

I suppose this comes down to the question of sequence. Is this "not-Doctor" the first incarnation (as I think fits best) or is he between the 8th Doctor (played by Paul McGann) and the 9th Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston) - which could work, but is kind of a cop-out, or is he a future incarnation? If he's a post-11th incarnation, how would the 11th Doctor have recognized him and speak of him in past-tense?

No, for this to work, the "not-Doctor" has to be an incarnation that precedes Smith's 11th Doctor.

So where does the "not-Doctor" lie in the sequence?

Well, I expect that will be the plot of the 50th anniversary episode in November. I'm kind of hoping they go with having John Hurt's "not-Doctor" be the original. I kind of like the concept of the original Time Lord being a misguided soul who commits such a terrible crime that he becomes "the Doctor" (the one who "makes people better", as John Simm's version of the Master sneered) to try to atone for his crimes.

Actually, what I think would make things utterly-brilliant would be something like this: the original incarnation of the Time Lord later known as "the Doctor" sets out to accomplish some sort of great good. He follows that road of intentions that invariably leads to a hot place and becomes a monster. His family tries to stop him. His wife and children attempt to bring him back from the brink. They fail and all die, either at his hands or due to some inattention on his part. The only family left behind is his grand-daughter (and, if you want to believe "The Woman" from the "End of Time" was the Doctor's mother, then she survives too...). The Time Lord who will become the Doctor is overcome by this and stops whatever it is that he's doing. This causes him to regenerate. He returns to Gallifrey and is somehow able to get back into the fold as the First Doctor. He retrieves his grand-daughter and they steal a TARDIS from a maintenance area or museum (depending on how the story is told). They journey across time-and-space until arriving at Earth where she takes the name Susan and a legend is born.

Thematically, this works. It gives a great motivation for the Doctor's actions and it colors his origins with darkness, which has been a recurring theme since even the McCoy era.

I doubt this is what Moffatt has in mind, but I can dream the dream.

Now I wonder if there are plans to bring Susan back into the story. She's been gone for a long, long time. As far as any indications lie in the series, she was presumably a Time Lady when she ran off with a mere-mortal human in "The Dalek Invasion of the Earth", so she should still be alive. Even if she underwent a Chameleon Arch transformation, she could have always had a way to restore herself and regenerate when old age got to be too much. It's not unreasonable to bring her back into the story at some point.

Okay, at this point, I'm just spinning.

Because I haven't rambled enough

So I'm starting a new book: "Under Heaven" by Guy Gavriel Kay (whose parents must have been hard-core Arthurian legends fans or something).

Set in a not-quite-ancient-China, it's got me hooked thus far. A buddy of mine told me there's a second book set in this world I should get it on order before I finish this one.

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I really should go on the wagon this week. Last week was brutal. I wonder how long I'll maintain my resolve on this little idea? I give myself ten minutes. Max.

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Cops everywhere this morning. Wonder if they're looking for someone or if it's quota day?