Be Seeing You

Tonight's entry is an ode to Patrick McGoohan, may he rest in peace.

I first remember being chilled by a movie he made for Disney, which I watched one Sunday night at Uncle J.W.'s house in the late 1960s/early 1970s as the grownups played canasta and talked. My memory of it is spotty at best, as I recall the story somehow being about a vigilante freedom-fighter in old England, but I've been reading descriptions of the movie, and it sounds very little like that. Anyway, it's called The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.



He was in lots of films: Ice Station Zebra, Braveheart, Silver Streak, and more. But I'll always remember him most fondly as the unnamed Number Six on The Prisoner. Never bending, never broken, always smarter and stronger of will than the bureaucrats and strongarm rulers who wanted to get his "information -- by hook or by crook." I may have seen the show as a child, though I don't recall watching it then. Initially only knew about it from reading Starlog magazine articles about it in the early 80s. I don't recall actually seeing the show until sometime in the late 1980s/early 90s, when CBS ran it as part of a late night mystery block that also included the first season of Forever Knight. It was surreal and cerebral for an adventure series, with layers of meaning, tiny clues throughout, and experimental storytelling techniques. Shows like Lost and Galactica owe it a great debt. I videotaped many of these episodes and watched them till the tapes wore out.

It's Today's Pick:



Imagine my delight, then, when I found a book at the local Goodwill store: The Prisoner Omnibus, a collection of three original novels based on the series, originally published in 1969 and 1970.

It's also Today's Pick:


Today's Word: How about a word from McGoohan, taken from a 1977 interview and posted at Wikipedia:

"…We're run by the Pentagon, we're run by Madison Avenue, we're run by television, and as long as we accept those things and don't revolt we'll have to go along with the stream to the eventual avalanche… As long as we go out and buy stuff, we're at their mercy. We're at the mercy of the advertiser and of course there are certain things that we need, but a lot of the stuff that is bought is not needed…"

"…We all live in a little Village… Your village may be different from other people's villages but we are all prisoners."

Peace.

Encyclopedia Galactica

... it was a fixture of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series. It was referenced in everything from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to Legion of Superheroes. So why isn't there one on board the Battlestar?

Today's Pick: Battlestar Galactica, which begins the final downhill run through its last episodes on Friday on the Sci-Fi Channel. This is not the same show you may recall from the 1970s. This is a tough, controversial, exciting, sexy, adventurous metaphor for modern America. You should be watching it. If you haven't, then here's a good place to start:



Today's Word: Frak. As demonstrated here.

Peace.

24

The following takes place between 7:58 p.m. and whatever time you see on the final post.

Yes, I've been watching 24. It's good for getting my heart rate up. Just about too good. In the latest episode, Jack Bauer has stopped a nuclear bomb from exploding by beating it up. He's just that tough.

So have you figured out yet who the mole is in the FBI? Me neither. But this looks to be a good season. It's Today's Pick.



Today's Word: Patriot.

Today's Story: Just a little something I picked up along the way. Did you know people are posting made-up stories as "reviews" on Amazon? This one's pretty funny.

Peace.

Taking a break from all your worries

... or at least a day off. Hope you had a good weekend.
Peace.

Saturday Night ... LIVE

As I write this, Neil Patrick Harris is hosting Saturday Night Live. Dr. Horrible himself. If you haven't seen this, created by Joss Whedon and costarring Nathan Fillian, then you've really missed something special. It's a musical. It's a comedy. It's a tragedy. You should see it. It's Today's Pick.



Today's Word: Pathos.

Today's Story: Life and Death in the Year of the Comet. If you've read my two most recent tales, then you know about the Comet. This is my new serialized tale at PCityLive, and I started it with two chapters in a row. Others will appear periodically as I figure out next steps in the storyline (with various freestanding flash fictions and poems in between).

Peace.

Sure Happy It's Friday Tonight

... Or whatever.

ANYway. Everyone at work seems to be in one stage or another of the creeping head/chest cold. Hope it's not Captain Trips. I'm looking forward to sleeping through the night at some point in the near future. 'Til then, let's talk about:

Today's Pick: Stargate Atlantis. That's right, one of the cheesiest sci-fi action shows on TV, but tonight marks its final episode. I generally DVR these and watch them in bursts; that is, I watch a minute, jump ahead a few minutes, watch a few minutes. That kind of thing. But then came the final season, and the crew decided to show us what they could really do. This season's shows have broken out of the formula, and even offered an alternate reality episode that was as stylish and action-packed as anything you ever saw on TV -- and actually had repercussions in the regular timeline. Start picking this one up.




Today's Story: Let me recommend a free online web comic. Freak Angels explores the idea of what would happen if the Midwich cuckoos had grown up and changed the world. Six new pages are published each Friday. It's by Warren Ellis, which means it's not for everyone, but if you're a grownup with an ounce of imagination, you ought to take a look. The first volume of the story is even available in book form:





Today's Word: Persevere. (Hint: He was the real Superman.)

Peace.

Back Inside the City Limits ...

... Which is my way of saying that the second volume of the Official Literary Anthology of the Panama City Centennial is now available for purchase.

This collection of fiction, poetry, memoirs, art, photography - and other stuff that's more difficult to categorize - features the talents of:

~Writers Peggy Willis-Aarnio, Emily Boyle, Anthony S. Buoni, S. Brady Calhoun, Louis J. Columbus, N.W. Garrett, Betty Wright Kearney, Bobbie Lowe, Jack Saunders, Nathan Simmons, Douglas R. Young, and editor Tony Simmons

~Artists Paul Brent and Bill Valle

~Photographers Debra Simmons and Ryan Yessman.

(Yes, there's a bit of a family connection in there, but I'll take quality submissions where ever I may find them.)

You can order the books directly from the printer using this handy-dandy button:



City Limits will also be available for purchase at Books Alive in February. (I won't have them in hand in time for next Friday's event at the Unitarian church.) I'll give more details on Books Alive in a later post.

That's it for today. It's got to be my Pick of the Day, and the word of the day is ... Finally.