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Gadgetology Serious Stuff Television & Movies Toiling In The Pixel Mines

Still Trekkin’, still talkin’

1 min read

This past weekend was the third annual (annual!) TrekTalks telethon, benefitting the Hollywood Food Coalition, and once again I was pushing the buttons that made the whole thing happen. And man, did a whole thing happen – just look at the numbers (as of a couple of days later when I’m writing this):

TrekTalks total

I could be mistaken, but I think that’s the best total yet for any of these events. That’s a lot of meals. That’s a good reason to sweat the details and add another day of live TV to the CV. … Read more

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Serious Stuff

So, about the move…

1 min read

And sadly, this is not about the late ’60s British psychedelic rock group whose entire existence is often boiled down to a trivia question about the band that molted, shed its skin, and turned into ELO. I’ve been asked a lot lately about what the situation is with my seemingly permanently-imminent move. I thought I’d better try to explain it as concisely as possible and just have one place to point people to for an explanation. … Read more

Categories
Gadgetology Serious Stuff Television & Movies Toiling In The Pixel Mines

Trekkin’ and Talkin’ Times Two

2 min read

I’m still reeling a bit a day later, but this time yesterday as I write this, we were a little over halfway through the second annual TREKTalks event benefitting the Hollywood Food Coalition. HoFoCo is lucky to count among its membership John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox of Enterprise fame) and David Livingston (who has more Star Trek directorial credits than anyone else who’s directed Star Trek, and was also a producer on everything from The Next Generation forward). Add to the mix Bill Smith and Dan Davidson of the Trek Geeks Podcast, John Champion at Roddenberry Podcasts, and between all of these people you have this vast collective Rolodex of Star Trek actors and creatives, past and present. For year two, we added Yvette Blackmon of the Syfy Sistas both behind the scenes and as a panelist, and Bonnie Gordon (the voice of Star Trek: Prodigy’s ship’s computer) as co-host, and took what we learned from year one, and raised over $106,000 for a good cause.

I’m a really tiny part of this because, you know, if all these other folks don’t have the contacts and make the content that they do, I don’t have anyone to put on the screen for eight hours. My job is to make sure I don’t screw up any of their hard work, and to try to make it look like something. … Read more

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Serious Stuff

Due Diligence, 21st Century Edition

1 min read

I was laid off from my graphic design/website maintenance day job in mid-December. I still have podcast editing going on that’s keeping a roof over my head, and fortunately, this happened just a month before I serve as technical director for two livestream events, for which I also get paid. There’s no good time to lose a job, but as timing goes, this happened at a time when other things could keep me afloat. Obviously, I’ve already started looking for something to replace that job and that lost income, because the livestream events in January are a fortunately-timed outlier, not the norm. Since I have no working vehicle, and the nearest access point to public transportation is miles away, I’m also locked into looking for remote work.

This is where things get tricky. There are so many grifters out there running “work from home” scams that it’s unbelievable. Let’s meet one of them right now. … Read more

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And Beyond The Infinite Home Base Podcasting Serious Stuff

I just really like planets, okay? That’s the reason.

1 min read

Even the one that’s in Artemis 1’s rear view mirror up there, as much of a mess as it is – I even like that one. All my favorite people live there. And all my favorite cats. I’m particularly fond of the dogs, horses, and hippos there as well.

Speaking of either horses or water horses, I’m putting the cart before them and getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning. … Read more

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Serious Stuff

But please hold on the corned beef sandwich, thanks

1 min read

“You know it’s funny, I was thinking about what you said, ‘the preeminent truth of our age is you cannot fight the system’. But if, as you say, the truth is fluid, the truth is subjective, then maybe you can fight the system, as long as just one person refuses to be broken, refuses to bow down.”

“But can you win?”

“Every time I say ‘no’.”

Earl votedRead more

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Serious Stuff Television & Movies

Courting the vote of the midichlorian demographic

2 min read

All art is inherently political. If that statement makes you start to break out in a cold sweat, you should probably stop reading now.

I binge-watched the second season of The Mandalorian yesterday, because I was an episode behind even before the finale dropped, and because…well…I’ve got the time. I’m about half a week into the recommended two-week self-quarantine period because someone at my day job – to which I’m expected to report in person since the management is of the opinion that “if you’re not in the office, you’re not working” despite the fact that graphic design is an example of a job that could be done 100% remotely – started “feeling like crap” somewhere around Tuesday the 8th, kept coming to work (including an all-hands company Christmas dinner on the 11th, which was attended not only by employees but some of their family members as well, including one infant), and then notified us that they had tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday the 15th. In short: everyone’s been exposed. Including family members. Including that infant. Merry Christmas!

So I’ve got all kinds of time to binge-watch stuff now. Thanks? Anyway, rewatching the whole second season of The Mandalorian in one concentrated burst, and bearing in mind the sequel trilogy, I have thoughts. … Read more

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Serious Stuff Television & Movies

Not exactly the Federation news service, are you?

2 min read

“Am I getting the sense that you guys didn’t enjoy this episode?” – Amal
“Enjoyment…is a multi-level thing.” – Scott
“Like a car park!” – Liz

– from Down & Safe Podcast #24*

 
This is both related to the current political reality of tending toward unreality, and also unrelated. Let’s start with the latter.
 
The news today that The Orville is picking up production after Thanksgiving not only made me happy because I freakin’ love The Orville, but because it repudiates a lot of rumor-mongering that spring up in the spring and early summer months that the third season was never going to be finished, the show would never return, it had already been cancelled by [Disney/Hulu/20th Century Fox], blah blah blah. It’s kind of sad that it’ll be nearly a year before we see the fruits of this labor, but I’m just happy to have the rumors refuted definitively.
 
Now…where most of these rumors came from is this whole corner of YouTube that has sprung up since 2016 and early 2017, and has just grown louder and louder with each passing year – very Fox-News-styled “here’s the real news of what’s going on with [sci-fi or superhero property that has a sizeable following] with no spin!” And invariably, the “news” is just dead wrong. It’s baseless rumor or it’s just stuff someone wishes would happen. … Read more

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Home Base Podcasting Serious Stuff

Voices from the machine

1 min read

I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m a podcast fan.  Being an every-day podcast listener is a big part of what led me to become an every-day podcaster.  I listen to lots of stuff, I find the gaps that no one seems to be covering in either subject matter or format, and off I go, so excited about starting on a new show that I momentarily forget that it’s been nearly 30 years since I worked in radio, and somewhere in the vicinity of 15 years since my last TV voice-over.  Still…I know how to Put Shows Together, either by myself or for someone else, so I get behind my battered microphone and keep trying.… Read more