Reminder… this show is NOT safe for work… just like Game of Thrones.

We still haven’t recorded our feedback show. Use the contact info below to leave us a message, question, or comment for the feedback show!

EPISODE 6 – The Old Gods and the New

P.G. moderates this week’s panel discussion with Chooch, Vivid Muse, Christiana and Nutty. And it’s a biggun… almost 2 hours of discussion. Enjoy!

Hosts:
P.G. Holyfield (author of Murder at Avedon Hill and SFM Founder
Nuchtchas (Host of Nutty Bites Podcast)
Chooch (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host, and bassist of Ditched By Kate)
Vivid Muse (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host), Girls’ Rules Podcast Host)
Christiana Ellis (too many podcasts to list herebut you can check out all things Christiana at her site.

Contact Us:

Email: btw at specficmedia dot com
Phone: 6199-BTW-GoT (619-928-9468)
Comments: On the site

Contest for “Ep. 8″ – Fill out the survey here.

The Cabin in the Woods

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Anonymous

The Adventures of TinTin

Reminder… this show is NOT safe for work… just like Game of Thrones.

EPISODE 4 – GARDEN OF BONES

P.G. returns from the dead to moderate this week’s panel discussion with Chooch, Vivid Muse, Christiana and Nutty.

Note: Discussion of P.G.’s S&M tendencies was for entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

Hosts:
P.G. Holyfield (author of Murder at Avedon Hill and SFM Founder
Nuchtchas (Host of Nutty Bites Podcast)
Chooch (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host, and bassist of Ditched By Kate)
Vivid Muse (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host), Girls’ Rules Podcast Host)
Christiana Ellis (too many podcasts to list herebut you can check out all things Christiana at her site.

Contact Us:

Email: btw at specficmedia.com
Phone: 6199-BTW-GoT (619-928-9468)
Comments: On the site

Contest for “Ep. 3″ – Fill out the survey here.

Reminder… this show is NOT safe for work… just like Game of Thrones.

EPISODE 3 – WHAT IS DEAD MAY NEVER DIE

Chooch Schubert moderates this week’s panel discussion with Vivid Muse, Christiana and Nutty.

Hosts:
P.G. Holyfield (author of Murder at Avedon Hill and SFM Founder
Nuchtchas (Host of Nutty Bites Podcast)
Chooch (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host, and bassist of Ditched By Kate)
Vivid Muse (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host), Girls’ Rules Podcast Host)
Christiana Ellis (too many podcasts to list herebut you can check out all things Christiana at her site.

Contact Us:

Email: btw at specficmedia.com
Phone: 6199-BTW-GoT (619-928-9468)
Comments: On the site

Contest for “Ep. 3″ – Fill out the survey here.

Hosts:
P.G. Holyfield (author of Murder at Avedon Hill and SFM Founder
Nuchtchas (Host of Nutty Bites Podcast)
Chooch (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host, and bassist of Ditched By Kate)
Vivid Muse (Into the Blender Podcast Co-Host), Girls’ Rules Podcast Host)
Christiana Ellis (too many podcasts to list herebut you can check out all things Christiana at her site.

Contact Us:

Email: btw at specficmedia.com
Phone: 6199-BTW-GoT (619-928-9468)

64 – Network

63 – Cabaret

The Mass Effect Trilogy

The Playstation Vita and the state of portable gaming

Trying to change personal habits – Getting up earlier and competitive swimming

Some good TV Shows, including Luck, Downton Abbey, and The Life and Times of Tim.

By Ursula Pflug
Read by Christiana Ellis
Discuss on our forums. 
Originally appeared in Anthology Series: Tesseracts # 3, 1991
All stories by Ursula Pflug
All stories read by Christiana Ellis
Rated 13 and up for language

Check out the Google Docs Spreadsheet!

The Vita feels very natural in the hands, comfortable to hold, feels like a well-manufactured product. It’s not too heavy, the buttons feel good and responsive, and the two analog joysticks work great. It doesn’t disappear into the hands like a regular PS3 dualshock controller, but that’s not a big complaint given that we’ve got a really big beautiful screen in the middle of it. I know I’ll be echoing a lot of other online reviews when I say this, but you really have to see the screen in person to fully appreciate it. The picture is big and sharp, the colors are bright. It really pops. You see this thing in action, you want to see more, you want to hold it, to play with it. It’s really a well-designed little gadget.

Setup:

So let’s get this out of the way. Setting it up is a moderate pain. Kind of a Sony thing already, and I got the 3G model, so add AT&T into that mix. First, the Vita requires a day one firmware update. Fine. But a firmware update that actively prevents you from following the quick start guide that ships with the device? It produces a loop of error messages that can only be bypassed by doing things in a different order. Embarrassing. Then there’s the fact that, apparently, I can’t have my iPad 3G plan and my Vita 3G plan use the same email address. What?

I eventually got all that settled, and it’s working fine now, but this sort of stupid crap can really sour the new buyer’s experience, especially for someone who may have less experience with Sony and AT&T’s crap.

User Interface:

However! Once you do get it going, the new UI is actually pretty slick. Unlike the PS3’s XMB, the Vita uses icons that evoke bubbles, and sheets that you flip through like pages in a book using the touch screen. It’s very intuitive and fun to navigate. “Welcome Park” places itself front and center, bouncing up and down when you first start up, leading you to a collection of minigames that introduce several of the features of the vita, (touchscreen, camera, microphone, rear touchscreen, etc.) Nothing too meaty there, but it gets the job done. More substantive is “Near” which I think may only be on the 3G versions. It’s sort of a GPS-enabled social-networky sort of thing. It’s a little inscrutable without much in the way of tutorial, but it seems like it could be fun and I look forward to playing around with it a bit more.

Games:

Before I get into the specific games, I think it’s telling that I ended up getting way more games more quickly than I expected. Originally, I planned to just buy Uncharted and Super Stardust Delta, but the more I held it in my hands, I just wanted to try more and more. Not from feeling that either of those games was lacking, but just a feeling of “Whoa, cool! What else can it do?” Now, onto the games I got.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

This shows right away why the Vita’s dual analog sticks set it apart from other portables. An action game like Uncharted really demands it, and this is something that your iPhone or 3DS just can’t do. The game looks beautiful, almost on par with the first Uncharted on the PS3. I’m not that far into the game yet, but the action plays really well. I have to say the script isn’t quite up to the same standard I’ve come to expect from previous Uncharted games. That doesn’t make it bad, exactly, just ordinary. Still, this seems to me like one of the best games to really show off the system.

Super Stardust Delta

If you’ve tried the original Super Stardust on the PS3, then you pretty much know what to expect here, but it scales perfectly to the smaller screen and controls like a dream. Basically it’s a twin-stick arcade shooter, where you move around a planet with the left stick and fire in any direction with the right stick. You’re taking out asteroids and aliens and things get frenetic really quickly. No story really, but lots of fun.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony

I never played any of the other versions of Lumines, but I gather the basic game is the same. It’s a vaguely Tetris-y puzzle game with up-tempo electronic music and trance-inducing visuals. I don’t feel like I have a lot else to say about it except that every portable needs a solid puzzler and this’ll do just fine.

Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack

“Nothing moves the blob!” Well, except for you, of course. This is another sequel to a PSN game, but it it’s beautiful and fun and funny and cheap. You control a blob, and in revenge for all the experiments that have been performed on you, you are going to eat the world! Well, absorb it and add its mass to your own, anyway. It’s a challenging platformer with a delightfully funny aesthetic. Loved it. It’s not long, but it’s the first vita game I’ve beaten and it was definitely worth it.

Rayman Origins

This is a port of the game that’s already been on other consoles, but I almost feel like I like it better here. I tried the demo on the PS3 but it didn’t grab me for whatever reason. However, on the Vita, the bright colors and the short portable-friendly levels make it a great fit.

PSP Games:

One of the very nice things about the Vita for me is that it is backwards compatible with PSP games. (As long as they are purchased through the PSN, anyway. The UMD’s don’t work.) However, because I never had a PSP, now I have access to that library of games, and there are some good ones! These are the three I’ve picked up so far. (Since they’re not new, I’ll be brief)

Half-Minute Hero

Another perfect fit for a portable. Imagine a Super Nintento Final Fantasy spit into a blender and shredded into dozens of frantic thirty-second chunks! Now add in shooter bits, RTS bits, and all sorts of other stuff. It sounds crazy and it is, but fun too.

Corpse Party

Speaking of the SNES aesthetic, who would have thought you could make an ACTUALLY SCARY horror RPG with it? I wouldn’t have, but here you go.

Patapon 2

Rhythm Game + RPG + Hyper-cuteness = Patapon 2. Better play it with headphones or anyone else in the room will try to murder you. http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/03

Check out the Google Doc Spreadsheet!

Movies discussed include:

The Descendants

The Help

Tree of Life

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Bridesmaids

Rio

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Also check out “Survivor Talk with D and D“!

by Mike Allen

Click his name to visit his website, DESCENT INTO LIGHT. Mike is also editor of the critically acclaimed CLOCKWORK PHOENIX anthology series and the long-running poetry journal MYTHIC DELERIUM. This story first appeared in Penny Dreadful, and was reprinted in the anthology THE BIBLE OF HELL and Mike’s poetry collection STRANGE WISDOMS OF THE DEAD. He is planning a collection of his horror stories, including this tale and previous Pseudopod submissions “The Button Bin” and “The Blessed Days”.

Read by Christiana Ellis, who recently read “Plus Or Minus” for ESCAPE POD.

“A day will come when the sun’s pale yellow stare starts to fill with the taint of blood.

Among the confused and tremulous hordes of mankind, amidst the endless processions of grand towers forged from metal stolen from the moon, I will walk. One knowing face, one unique being traversing the rivers of humanity that flood this world.”

Check out the Google Doc Spreadsheet!

Movies discussed include:

The Artist, Hugo, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, War Horse, Kung Fu Panda 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

You can play along on our GoogleDoc Spreadsheet!

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66 – Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders – The Adaptation

Raiders Opening matched with Adventure Serials

65 – The African Queen

Here is the IGN interview we mention:

http://tv.ign.com/articles/121/1215237p1.html

68 – Unforgiven

67  - Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Yodeling Cat

Links:

Wikipedia entry on “Bath Stone”

DC’s “New 52″

Miles Morales is the new Ultimate Spiderman

Christiano Ronaldo: Tested to the Limit

Kindle Fire

70 – A Clockwork Orange

69 – Tootsie

In this episode, we talk about…

• Christiana is moving to Boston!
• Using Google Tasks or Evernote for personal organization
• Mike’s buying a bike
• Christiana reviews “The Magicians” and “The Magician King” by Lev Grossman

Unfortunately, Mike and I couldn’t find a time to record this week, but we plan to get caught up for episode 3. Thanks for listening, and our apologies for the delay.

Episode 10: Jet could be seen as a filler episode, in that no progress is made in the fight against Fire Lord Ozai. However, no episode of this show is ever wasted. Even when we aren’t advancing the main plot, the show spends its time developing the characters and themes that will ultimately drive the central conflict.

We begin with a bit of silliness with Momo, (though it also sets up the way Sokka ditches his captors later), and then the kids have a discussion about tactics and leadership. Sokka observes that, although flying on Appa is fast, it’s also very noticeable, and may well be why Zuko is always a step behind them. Sokka also argues that he is the leader of their little group, Katara questions whether they even need a leader. (It’s also worth pointing out that she says “Why do BOYS always think…”, which shows a little bit of reverse sexism on her part. Not a big deal, but interesting.)

Sarcasm abounds as the kids try walking for a change, and whoops! “Sokka’s instincts” lead them straight into the middle of a Fire Nation camp! It’s not looking good, but then the kids are saved by the arrival of Jet and his Merry Men! Together, the Jet Set and Team Avatar defeat the whole camp. Though Sokka’s getting good with his boomerang, he didn’t get to do anything in the fight, as Jet kept stealing his opponents. “Gotta be faster next time.”

It’s another indication of how well-thought-out this show is that we meet and learn about a half-dozen of Jet’s crew. We learn their names, we learn their reasons for fighting, they all have their own distinct look, and they each get a moment to shine in the battle. A lazier show would have given all the glory to Jet himself, and the rest would be generic spear-carriers.

Team Avatar follows them back to their hideout in Ewok Village, but while Katara is crushing hard on Jet, Sokka is suspicious. His “instincts” are warning him, but how much of that is just jealousy? Jet is pretty charming, and with his speech at dinner, we see why his crew follows him. Especially after Katara’s bout with envy in the last episode, it’s easy to imagine that it’s just Sokka’s turn.

Then things turn darker and more complex. On a scouting mission, Sokka watches in horror as Jet, Smellerbee and Pipsqueak bully and rob an old man. Sure, he’s from the Fire Nation, but is this the sort of thing these “Freedom Fighters” call a victory? When Sokka tries to tell Katara and Aang what happened, Jet claims that the man was an assassin with a knife and hidden poison. The episode places us in the same position as Sokka, where we’re suspicious, because we didn’t see any knife, but how can we prove it? Jet says the knife was concealed. Is it possible we were wrong? Katara is determined to believe the best in people, and sides with Jet. (“I made him this hat.”)

Sokka is not convinced, and so he follows when Jet leaves the hideout in the middle of the night. Turns out, they plan to blow up the dam, and flood the occupied Earth Kingdom village. The show then presents us with an interesting question of whether all really is fair in war. It’s a good topic for discussion on the face of it, but the show gives it an additional character twist.

It’s telling that Jet doesn’t try to defend this plan until he’s caught in his lies. If he genuinely respected Katara, Sokka and Aang, and wanted them on his side, he would tell them the truth and try to persuade them to take his side. Instead, he lies to them, manipulates them… He is USING them, to further his own desire for violence against the Fire Nation. We can be sympathetic to his motivations, but murdering an entire village is beyond the pale.

The show is clever and subtle with how it portrays Jet. It shows us how he uses flattery, insight and flat-out deception to get people to trust and follow him. When Sokka tries to get Smellerbee and Pipsqueak to question the plan, they confess to blind faith in Jet. “We do what he says, and everything turns out okay.” Then, when Aang and Katara discover the plan, Jet attempts to play on Katara’s infatuation, touching her cheek: “I want you to understand me.”

She’s not falling for it this time though, not with Sokka missing, and when his manipulations fail, Jet resorts to physical violence, fighting Aang to keep him from warning the village. We get a great fight sequence in the tree-tops, but it’s looking like Jet is going to win, when Katara Fire-hoses him into a tree, then freezes him to it. Though we’re glad that she’s no longer fooled by Jet’s superficial charm, it’s heartbreaking to see her feelings of betrayal and regret, especially because it’s now too late to stop Jet from blowing the dam.

Thankfully, we see that Sokka, instead of trying to stop the bomb, has gone to warn the villagers. So although the village has been flooded, the people have been saved. We see a cute little girl find her dolly just to drive home that not every citizen of the Fire Nation is a scary soldier.

The exchange near the end says it all. Jet shouts: “We could have freed the valley!” and Sokka replies: “Who would be free? Everyone would be dead.”

Additional Notes:

* A crate of blasting jelly and a crate of jelly candy. “Let’s not mix those up.”

* Katara’s canteen is a very clever source of water for bending, and flowing it back in like sheathing a sword is way cool.

“Stealing is wrong… unless it’s from pirates!”

Not exactly your typical children’s show morality.

Then again, they do have only a matter of months to save the world, AND the thing they stole would be legitimately helpful, AND the people they stole it from had themselves stolen it in the first place. That definitely puts it in “stealing bread to feed your starving family” territory, but it’s nonetheless a bit more complex than we usually get from cartoons.

As we begin, the Aang gang is still reeling from Avatar Roku’s message at the Fire Temple. Time is short, and they are still weeks away from the North Pole, (where they hope to find a water-bending master).  In the meantime, Katara volunteers to help teach Aang. She may not be a master yet, but maybe she can at least get him started.

Turns out, Aang is a natural, and within minutes, he has surpassed the techniques she has spent years learning. It’s not completely surprising, he IS the Avatar after all, and she was never officially trained in the first place. That said, it’s also very understandable that she would feel a little jealous. Being a water-bender has always been a big part of her self-identity, and she has had to work very hard to get where she’s gotten with it.  Seeing Aang pick it up so easily would have to be frustrating, even threatening. She has been thinking of her water-bending as her contribution to the group; if Aang learns how to do it too, what do they need her for? It’s irrational, but completely understandable, especially given her age.

Aang’s not exactly a water-bending master himself yet though, as evidenced by his accidentally washing their supplies away down the river. This show treats that sort of thing seriously. The kids have finite money and supplies, and when they lose stuff, that means something. They got by for a while on the money supplied by King Bumi and the supplies given to them by the village they saved from Hei Bai. Now all that is gone, and the show doesn’t forget that.

They head into town and Aang squanders one of their three copper pieces on an apparently-useless whistle. No extra points for guessing that it won’t actually be useless, however. When they investigate a ship selling “curios”, they discover a water-bending scroll, obtained through “High-risk trading”, AKA Piracy. The pirates are asking far more than the kids could ever hope to afford, (even given Aang’s top-notch haggling skills), and so Katara decides to steal it. This leads to a chase through the city, as the pirates try to recover their lost scroll. The kids escape unscathed, though the Cabbage Merchant’s wares are not so lucky.

The other kids are surprisingly non-judgemental about Katara’s theft. Aang doesn’t say anything about it directly, and Sokka’s objections are purely on the level of being angry that she put them at risk by angering the pirates. This concern is justified, as not only did they have to escape the pirates, but when Zuko and Iroh show up, the pirates are complaining about the little bald monk who stole a water-bending scroll.

When Katara and Aang resume training, this time with the scroll, she snaps, shouting at Aang in anger and jealousy. He is hurt, and she immediately regrets her outburst, promising not to be so competitive. But then, when the others are asleep, she takes the scroll again and leaves camp to practice. It’s not completely clear, but it’s quite possible that Zuko and the pirates would not have found their secluded camp unless they had spotted her out on the riverbank.

Zuko captures her, and sends the pirates after Aang and Sokka, who are also captured, but Sokka cleverly points out to the pirates that the Avatar is worth way more than their lost water-bending scroll, and then the kids are able to escape in the resulting kerfuffle. There’s some great teamwork between Aang and Katara as she recognizes the power they can wield when they water-bend together, instead of making it a competition. And in the end, Aang’s “useless” whistle saves the day, when it summons Appa for a last-second rescue.

Additional Notes:

* Pretty mountain scenery with the rivers and waterfalls

* While interrogating Katara, Zuko reveals that he has her mother’s necklace

* Air-bending not so good against nets

* Three cheers for Momo taking out the lizard-parrot thing

* Those of us re-watching the show will likely recognize the significance of Iroh’s lotus tile, and so we understand that his real errand in town was not exactly what he told Zuko it was, especially given, as he points out later, he really had the tile on him the whole time!

72 – The Shawshank Redemption

71 – Saving Private Ryan

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With this episode, the series-level threat has finally been established. Sozin’s comet is coming at Summer’s End (a matter of months!), and when it does, Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the war once and for all. It also helps explain how the war started in the first place. After all, a hundred years of consistent war seems like it would have been decided one way or the other by now. Instead, there was a devastating first attack leading to a lot of destruction and occupation, followed by lower level fighting over many years. It seems clear though, from Avatar Roku’s warning, that another dose of the comet might just get the job done.

We begin this episode with Aang making a noble, (but kinda lame), attempt to leave without Katara and Sokka, in the interest of keeping them safe. They are not convinced that this trip needs to be made anyway, given that they don’t have the benefit of Aang’s vision. If they can’t talk him out of it though, they’re determined to come along, and the race is on. Shortly after they leave the village, however, Zuko shows up and beats their destination out of the village elder. Chasing after Aang isn’t quite so simple for Zuko though, because, after all, he’s been banished! And Uncle Iroh warns that if they are captured in Fire Nation territory, there is nothing he’ll be able to do to protect him. Worse, the Fire Nation blockade is commanded by our old friend Captain Sideburns… er, I mean, Commander Zhao.

It’s the worst game of Red Rover ever, when Team Aang, (pursued by Zuko) have to run the blockade. Dodging giant fireballs is pretty harrowing. It did occur to me to wonder why they didn’t simply fly higher to avoid them, but then, they did try that at one point, and it wasn’t high enough, plus the clouds prevented them from seeing the projectiles coming. It also occurred to me that “FLYING BISON”, so I decided not to worry too much about it.

Zhao lets Zuko through the blockade with the intention of following him to the Avatar, and Zuko kind of implies that he has some secret plan which ultimately seems to amount to: “Lead Commander Zhao to the Avatar”. Later Zhao says “Your smokescreen didn’t work,” but it seems to me more like the smoke made them easier to follow. Whatever.

When Team Avatar arrives at the Fire Temple, it appears that the Fire Sages are now loyal to the Fire Lord. All but one, anyway, and he leads them to the sanctuary. It’s worth noting that the Sages lost their faith because the Avatar took so long to return. After a hundred years, it’s hard to really call them fickle. Just like the Air Temple had an air-bending lock, the Fire Temple has a fire-bending lock. Unfortunately, Aang’s not a fire-bender yet. Sokka has a pretty ingenious plan involving lamp-oil explosives, but alas, it doesn’t work. (Does this suggest that there is something more to fire-bending than simple flames?) Regardless, Katara’s follow-up plan to PRETEND it worked is inspired.

Zuko shows up out of nowhere and almost spoils the party, but Aang is able to break free and enter the sanctuary, but not without risk. After all, Katara and Sokka are still held prisoner outside! Then Zhao shows up to take EVERYBODY prisoner. Meanwhile, Aang is communing with Avatar Roku, and learning the deal about the comet. He states that it usually takes YEARS to master each element, but Aang needs to do it in about three months. Still, despite the incredible odds, Roku expresses optimism. “After all,” he says, “You’ve done it before.”

Then Roku helps Aang Avatar-out with some mad fire-bending skillz, yo, and brings down the whole Fire Temple. Zuko manages to escape from Zhao back to his own ship, and the kids leap on to Appa. The Fire Sages aren’t so lucky though, because if Zhao can’t have the prisoners he wanted, he’ll take what he can get.

This episode kicks the main plot back into gear. The show is too well-written to call any episode “filler”, but to be sure there are some episodes which are more focused on character and world-building than on the larger story. The last several episodes did that, but this one moves things forward more than any episode since the opening two-parter.

We start with some silliness involving clouds, though it’s kind of delightful how Aang is able to just throw himself off of Appa with impunity to check them out. When the kids discover a giant burned-out scar in the forest though, things turn a bit more serious. Katara and Sokka aren’t exactly happy about the destruction, but Aang takes it personally. As the Avatar, it’s supposed to be his job to protect the world from this sort of thing, but he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. The monks never taught him about being the Avatar, beyond the idea that his previous incarnation, Avatar Roku, would tell him what he needed to know.

Aang’s lack of teaching is brought home when the local village is threatened by an angry spirit. The Avatar is supposed to be the bridge between the living world and the spirit world, so in theory, Aang should be the perfect man for the job. Unfortunately, this spirit is unexpectedly huge and scary, and it doesn’t seem too interested in listening to a little kid. Even worse, the solstice is approaching, and every day, the spirit is getting stronger and angrier.

Given Sokka’s initial skepticism, it’s nice to see him leap into action to save Aang. It’s just like when he tried to defend the water tribe village, and just about as effective. When the spirit creature kidnaps him, Aang pursues, failing to recover Sokka but inadvertently entering the spirit world instead. It’s a nice touch to see that other avatars have animal companions as well. Aang has Appa, Roku apparently had his dragon, Fang. Fang shows Aang to a Fire Temple, where he learns that he will be able to speak to Roku on the day of the solstice. There are also flashes of a giant fireball in the sky, which isn’t at all ominous.

When Aang returns, he’s able to calm the spirit in the same way that Katara reassured him earlier. Acorns, as a promise of eventual re-growth. It’s a little bit easy, but kind of poetic and meaningful, so I’m willing to forgive the convenience factor. All in all, an exciting way for Aang to be introduced to the Spirit World, and gives Team Avatar a destination… in the Fire Nation. Yikes.

Meanwhile, we also get a nice story of Iroh and Zuko, continuing the show’s trend of making the villains more complex. After all, in this portion of the episode, Zuko and Iroh are the protagonists, and the Earth Kingdom soldiers are the antagonists. We get a lot more background on Iroh, and everything we learn just makes him that much more interesting. We see this laid-back, tea-loving guy, and learn he was once known as “The Great Dragon”, a general who laid siege on the Earth Kingdom Capital for 600 days, only to suddenly withdraw for heretofore unspecified reasons. We get the feeling that “My men were tired” is far from the end of that story.

He is also remarkably sneaky and badass, managing to leave a trail for Zuko to follow. It’s only a brief moment, but we also get a nice beat from Zuko where he chooses to continue following his uncle’s trail, rather than divert to go after the avatar. Then, at the end, it’s nice to see them fighting together to escape. (And then we remember: Wait, these are the bad guys!)

Additional Notes:

* “Yeah, we’re gonna get eaten by a spirit monster.”

* A boomerang in the butt is insufficient for the defeat of an enraged panda spirit.

* Apparently, air-bending doesn’t work when you are non-corporeal

* Did you catch how Iroh was able to see Aang in the spirit world?

* The Earth Kingdom Soldiers War-Ostrich-Horses are cool, but the animal of the episode has got to be Hei Bai

For starters, the episode begins with the kids literally scrounging for nuts (and rock-like nuts which may just be rocks) in the forest. After Kyoshi, they understand how it can be dangerous to stay in one place too long, but constant travel carries its own problems.

While the city of Omashu seemed far away from the war, in this episode we get a peek at what things look like under Fire Nation occupation. Though it’s an Earth Kingdom village,  the Fire Nation soldiers have been in charge for five years, forcing the villagers to work the local coal mines in order to feed the massive Fire Navy. All the Earth-benders (except for Haru), have been taken away to a place where they won’t be able to bend, but will still be able to work. The lazy corruption of the soldier asking for protection money is sickening. “You can keep the copper ones,” he says, dropping the coins on the floor.

It doesn’t speak well of the Fire Nation, of course, but the show never allows things to be quite that black-and-white. When Haru is arrested for bending, it is the Earth Kingdom miner that he saved who turned him in.

Katara, of course, feels responsible, so she is determined to rescue him. (They bonded! And she showed him her mother’s foreshadowing, er, I mean necklace!) And the only way to be sure that she would be taken to the same prison is to get arrested, not just for bending, but for earth bending! (After all, if they arrested her for water-bending, they probably would not send her to a floating mining rig. We get some nice humor with Katara and Sokka’s terrible acting during the plan, and it’s fun seeing how Katara’s bogus insults about Sokka’s ears seem to touch a nerve. Note also how the plan (blowing the rock using the ventilation shaft) sets up the eventual solution with the coal.

At the floating prison, we meet the warden, voiced by Sulu himself: George Takei. Despite his lovely voice, the warden himself is shown to be egotistical, vain, and borderline incompetent even from the start. He may be a big fish on the rig, but it’s kind of a crap job for any real Fire Navy officer. Still, he’s got his prisoners broken and he knows it. Katara is naive enough at first to believe a simple motivational speech will be enough to rally them, but she is mistaken. (Honestly, it would have been a bad move tactically as well. Until Aang provides the coal, they have no way to defend themselves against the fire-benders.) Note how unconcerned the warden is as she speaks.

Katara isn’t used to seeing people give up. After all, her mother was killed fighting the  fire nation, and her father, as well as the rest of her village’s warriors, are off fighting it now. She is determined not to abandon Haru and the earth-benders to their despair. When Sokka and Aang arrive on Appa, she refuses to leave, even against Sokka’s protests. They form a plan, but even once Aang provides the coal, the earth-benders are too afraid to fight. All but one, that is. Haru throws the coal at the warden, then his father saves him from the warden’s reprisal. Then it’s on.

The fire-benders aren’t used to this level of resistance, and they are quickly routed. You can see the joy the earth-benders have in using their skills again, especially in the service of fighting the enemy. (And I especially loved Aang’s air-coal tommy-gun!) The earth-benders seize the rig and the ships, and we last see them as they plan to take back their village. “And take back all our villages!” This victory, along with the Avatar’s return, has given them new hope.

We finish, however, with the reveal that Katara lost her mother’s necklace during the fighting, and that now Zuko has found it. I am shocked, SHOCKED, that the necklace turned out to be relevant! *Dramatic Music*

Additional Notes:

* Act Natural!

* “That lemur! It’s earth-bending”

* A nice little bit of bending rules: Earth-benders can’t bend metal, but can bend coal.

* “Well, was it a buffalo or a bison?” … “I’m not sure what the difference is, but that’s not really the point, is it, sir?”

This episode, on the other hand, has some brief moments of seriousness, but is otherwise pretty silly and fun. Especially from the perspective of the re-watch, when we know Bumi’s identity and understand that the kids are not in any real danger. On a first viewing, we’re given a few hints as to who the King might be, but we wouldn’t necessarily understand his real motivations. Even still, the rapid-fire jokes and silliness keep us from taking the threat very seriously.

The episode is also significant for giving us our first good look at an Earth Kingdom city and Earth-Benders. Kyoshi Island was, of course, named for Avatar Kyoshi, who was born an Earth-bender, but the village culture seemed to be a sort of hybrid between the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. (Interesting too, the complexity of having communities that don’t easily fit into any of the defined cultures.)

Omashu though, is a full-fledged Earth Kingdom city, and one that seems pretty distantly removed from the front lines of the war with the Fire Nation. The city bustles along, apparently content with the day-to-day routine. We are given a dramatic introduction to Earth-bending when the city guard lifts a boulder out of the ground to hold over Aang’s head. Then, the awesome bending-powered chute delivery system shows additional ways that the skills can be used. Then, of course, the climactic duel between Aang and Bumi shows us the moves of a really powerful bender.

I love that every culture in this world tends to have not only distinctive clothing and architecture, but even a unique color scheme in the animation! The land of the water tribes are all blue and white, the Fire Nations are red and black, The Air-nomads (shown in Aang’s clothing, and in the flashbacks) feature a lot of yellow and orange, and now, at last, the Earth Kingdom features lots of green and brown.

We get a bit of a lesson in lateral-thinking for Aang, but the episode’s real purpose in the narrative is to give us a mental picture of the Earth Kingdom, (We’ve now seen bits from all four of the world’s primary cultures). The rest is really just jokes, which is not to say that they aren’t plenty entertaining. Some of my particular favorites include:

* Aang’s disguise and phony name: “Bonzu Pippinpaddle-Oppsokopolis… the Third”

* “Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping!”

* “Take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!”

* “There are no take-backsies in my kingdom!”

* “Rocky! Because of all the rocks!” … “We’re going to keep trying, but that’s a good backup.”

The actual challenges also feature some pretty impressive action, especially the duel between Aang and Bumi, a fight which shows us a few new insights about how bending-combat works. For example, Aang can use air to deflect fireballs pretty easily, but it doesn’t work as well for a giant boulder. Likewise, Earth-bending can block air-blasts. Aang only fought Bumi to a draw when he used the air to send Bumi’s own attacks back at him.

Additional Notes:

* Bumi provides a bit more confirmation of Aang’s claim to have friends all over the world.

* Flopsy, the giant goat-rabbit-gorilla thing, is my animal of the episode.

* Who needs doors or gates when you can just Earth-bend an opening wherever you want?

* “Nooo! My cabbages!” (Newbies, we have not seen the last of the Cabbage Merchant)

This episode, more than any single episode so far, really encapsulates everything that I enjoy about the series: the humor, the character development, the world-building, and the epic drama.

As we begin, Zuko and Iroh discuss Aang’s mastery of evasive maneuvering, which when we rejoin Team Avatar, we learn is actually just erratic wandering. Even though the stakes could hardly be higher, Aang doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to reach the North Pole and learn water-bending. Even though, at the end of episode 2, he talks about finding exotic animals to ride, I think that we didn’t quite believe that he would really consider that important enough to delay his real mission.

One of the big themes of this episode is that, as Katara mentions in the opening, Aang really does have a lot to learn. He tries to blame their stop near Kyoshi on Appa being tired, but it’s really because he wants to ride the giant koi fish, and his show-off tendencies are on full display here, first for Katara, and later for the Kyoshi citizens. “I’m just a simple monk,” he says, while walking to the window to smile down at his screaming fans.

Speaking of fans, the female warriors of Kyoshi are yet another excellent example of this show’s attention to detail in depicting different fighting styles. The animation is fluid and every style has its own distinctive movements. Plus, they just look cool, don’t they? Their makeup is reminiscent of Geisha, as are the  fans, but their armor is more reminiscent of samurai than kimono, and as we learn, the various elements of the uniform actually carry meaning, meant to honor Aang’s previous incarnation, Avatar Kyoshi.

We also see them, not only in action, but also in training. This is something that is sometimes left out on the rare occasion that we see female warriors in fantasy. They are often depicted as inherently gifted, but we rarely see the hard work required to earn those skills.

The skilled female warriors also present an opportunity to give Sokka some needed depth. As in the first episode, Sokka is initially pretty sexist, first trotting out the old tropes about “women’s work” and “men’s work” and then refusing to believe that the Kyoshi warriors could have legitimately beaten him. However, after they humiliate him in the dojo, it only takes a short period of sulking before he admits his error and humbly asks if they will teach him. Think about the strength of character that requires, not only willing to admit he was wrong, but to ask for help, and even dress up in their “girly” uniform when they ask it of him. And of course, the chemistry between him and Suki is obvious right away. Even without the benefit of having watched the series before, I think no one is surprised that we see her again later.

And just like in the first episode, where the show has the courage to actually take a step beyond the cliche to actually use the word “sexist”, this episode brings another sophisticated twist. We’ve seen the “Girl’s can be warriors too” trope before, but when Sokka says: “I treated you like a girl, when I should have treated you like a warrior,” she reminds him: “I may be a warrior, but I’m a girl too.”

Aang’s arc in this episode also works on a couple of levels. I mentioned before how it shows that he still has a lot to learn, but he receives lessons on both a very personal, and epic scale. On the personal level, he recognizes that fame can be fickle, and that ignoring your real friends for the hangers-on just leaves you alone when the fad passes. Also, that showing off can get you into serious trouble. Fortunately for Aang, Katara is able to push past her own feelings of annoyance and jealousy, to do the right thing for her friend, even when he’s not been especially worthy.  Then, even beyond that valuable life-lesson, Aang sees just how serious it can be when he stays too long in any given place. The entire village of Kyoshi is nearly burned to the ground, simply because he decided to stay for a little while. This is a lesson that our  trio of heroes will not soon forget, nor should they.

We don’t get a whole lot from Zuko this time, beyond the point that he’s still after Aang, and a few gags with him and Iroh. (I love when Zuko learns about Aang, and storms away from the dinner table. Iroh asks “Are you going to eat that?” and Zuko grabs the plate: “I was going to save it for later!”) But it is, of course, only a half-hour episode, and there is plenty more character development to come.

So a great early episode, as the show continues to establish how large its world can be, how deep its characters can be, and laying the groundwork for the epic struggles still to come.

Additional Notes:

* The giant koi fish are cool, but the Super-Soaker Unagi definitely gets “Animal of the Episode”

* How cool was it when Katara water-bended the water out of Aang’s lungs? Even untrained, she shows a lot of promise.

* It’s nice that the show is interested in showing us that many of Aang’s previous incarnations are still remembered and honored.

So what did you think?

(One quick note – in my post for episode 2, I wonder if the thoroughness of my write-up discouraged discussion. So this post will be a little less detailed and hopefully a little more open-ended, allowing for conversation. Please let me know if you prefer the more in-depth style, and thanks for reading!)

With the Team Avatar thread: Aang can’t let reports of Air-bender extinction go un-investigated. He is pretty confident that the Air Temples are hard enough to reach that some Air Nomads may have survived, but Katara and Sokka are less optimistic, and try to prepare Aang for disappointment.

We see where Aang’s coming from, as the Temple really would be extremely difficult to get to without a flying bison, (or at least a flying SOMETHING), and the temple is beautiful… but deserted. Things aren’t looking good, but they continue to explore. Meanwhile, Katara and Sokka are trying to protect Aang’s feelings however they can: Katara hides the Fire Nation helmet, Sokka volunteers for an Air-ball demonstration.

We also get a bit more detail as to what Aang’s life was like before he was frozen. We see his friendship with Monk Gyatso, and learn that Aang was, for unspecified reasons, told that he was the Avatar four years earlier than is custom.

After investigating the Air Temple sanctuary (how cool was that air-bender door lock?), the kids find a “lemur”. There is a playful chase, as Aang wants to make friends, and Sokka wants food!

We get the feeling though that the lemur’s appearance is significant though, because it leads Aang straight to where he finds the body of his friend Gyatso, surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers, all long dead. The truth of what happened is now undeniable, and Aang, in his despair, goes all glowy-eyed again, and is only calmed when Katara tells him that he’s not alone, that he has a new family. The lemur, which Aang names Momo, now joins this new family, and it’s time for Team Avatar to move on.

Little do they know, however, that Aang’s outburst has sent shockwaves through every Air, Water, Earth and Fire temple in the world, meaning that everybody, even the Fire Lord, now knows that the cycle was NOT broken, and that the Avatar has returned.

Meanwhile, we spend nearly half the episode following Zuko and Iroh. Though he is still determined to capture Aang, Zuko is shown as a bit more sympathetic here. We learn that Zuko isn’t simply hunting the Avatar for kicks, he was actually banished by his own father for being “a failure”. What’s more, we see from Commander Zhao that he is considered, by many, to be a laughing-stock.

We don’t want Zuko to capture Aang and take him to the Fire Lord, and yet, we see that he is perhaps the lesser of many evils. To be sure, we like him more than the duplicitous and cowardly Commander Zhao. Zhao tricks Zuko and Iroh into joining him for tea while he has his men interrogate Zuko’s crew.

On the one hand, Zhao has a point that a threat as great as the Avatar should probably not be left to “one teenager”, but we see very quickly that Zhao is more interested in his own glory than he is about simply protecting the Fire Nation. And he has an entire fleet at his disposal.

Enraged, Zuko challenges Zhao to a Fire-bending duel, and we get suggestions that a previous duel is how Zuko got his scar. Now watching that duel, how can we not be cheering on Zuko? How many other kids cartoon’s would spend time making us root for the antagonist? With wisdom gained from his uncle’s teaching, Zuko is able to defeat Zhao, and then Iroh saves Zuko from Zhao’s attempt to sucker-burn him. Still, even in his defeat, we realize that Zhao is not going to stop his own pursuit of the Avatar.

Additional Notes:
* Many of the animals in this show are explicitly referred to as hybrids “Hog-monkeys” for example, but Appa is simply called a “flying bison”, and Momo a “lemur”. What do you think is the other animal for their respective hybrids?
* Interesting that Iroh is a “retired” general, and clearly a very skilled Fire-bender, so why is he accompanying his banished nephew?
* I like the attention to detail regarding the techniques of bending. For example, Iroh telling Zuko to “break [Zhao's] root”

In hindsight, it might have been better to go ahead and do these first two episodes together, since it really is only the combination of the two that really represents the series at large. Episode 1, though fun, is all wind-up and no pitch. Episode 2 gets to the action, but only works with the set-up established in the first episode. In fact, I believe the first two episodes were actually shown back-to-back when the show premiered.

No sense spending too much time lamenting the separation, however. Best to move forward!

The episode begins as Aang and Katara arrive back at camp, both fully aware how badly they’ve screwed up. To be sure, the specific trap was an accident, but of course, that’s exactly WHY exploring the ship was dangerous in the first place. Aang and Katara didn’t break some dishes. This is a potentially life-and-death mistake here.

Aang understands this, of course, which is why he doesn’t protest at all when Sokka and Gran-Gran decide to banish him. Katara, on the other hand, insists that Aang’s arrival has awakened something within the village that it was sorely lacking: Fun. (It’s important to consider, I think, that simply calling it “fun” is a bit of a childish term on Katara’s part. Though Aang has still not confirmed that he is the Avatar, I think we can guess that Katara is sensing some aspects of that, if only subconsciously, and that, in many ways, “Fun” is probably code for “Hope.”

Another interesting side-note is the exchange where Sokka insists “You can’t fight the Fire Nation with fun,” and Aang replies “You should try it sometime.” Though it is not apparent now, the idea of using “fun” as a weapon is returned to a few times, as a somewhat counter-intuitive tactic.

Katara, reluctant to lose Aang, initially decides to join him in exile. She doesn’t want Aang to have to go alone, and she wants to take him up on his offer to find her a water-bending master. It’s a noble instinct, but it’s also impulsive. Aang gently talks her out of it, not wanting to be responsible for her losing her home and her family.

So Aang leaves, but Prince Zuko’s ship is still coming. It’s very cool to see Sokka gearing up for battle, but kind of heart-breaking as well, because we know they haven’t got a chance of withstanding any kind of real attack. This is driven home by the giant steel ship literally crushing through the wall like it was nothing. Then, as Sokka attempts to attack Zuko, he is easily defeated. But it’s amazing, because Sokka does not give up. His bravery and determination are admirable, if ultimately ineffective, as he is repeatedly knocked aside by Zuko. (He does get in a good shot with the boomerang though!)

What might initially have been a straight-forward “He went that way” is complicated by the misunderstandings Zuko still carries about the Avatar. He assumes both that the village would have known they had the Avatar, and also that he would be a very old man. So the village is confused by Zuko’s demands, and Zuko is infuriated by what he sees as a refusal to cooperate. The situation begins to escalate, but then Aang returns to save the day, kinda. Sliding in on a penguin and temporarily humiliating Zuko.

We get our first taste of actual battle here, with Aang using his staff to spin away Zuko’s fire. Zuko recognizes that Aang must be the Avatar right away, and so reveals it to everyone else. I love the exchange: “You’re just a child!” “Yeah, well, you’re just a teenager.”

Aang is holding his own against Zuko, but after a close call with some of the village children, he recognizes that the battle is too dangerous for him to let it take place there in the village, and he surrenders himself to spare the village.

A noble gesture, though as we see later, not quite as dire a sacrifice as it initially appeared. Aang is not planning to stay locked up in a cell. (He even says: “Take care of Appa for me until I get back!”) Still, it already shows that, beneath his playful exterior, he does have some true wisdom. Sure, he MIGHT be able to take on Zuko individually, but probably not the entire ship, and certainly the battle would incur significant casualties in the Water Tribe village. To simply escape captivity, on the other hand, allows him to take on all the risk himself, rather than being responsible for any additional damage to the village. And escaping simply requires getting away, not having to defeat every person on the ship.

Aang is led away and the ship leaves, while the village is left to try and rebuild, but Katara has a speech. She has a lot to say about why Aang is important, and why she has to go after him, and if we didn’t like Sokka already, we finally do when he says: “Are you going to talk all day, or are you coming with me?” Then Gran-Gran blesses the mission as well, saying that their destinies are now intertwined with the Avatar’s. Then, just as they are discussing how they can never catch the ship in their canoe, it’s Appa! Happy feelings all around.

Though of course, Sokka can never abandon his sarcasm for long. “You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don’t you?” Still, it’s Sokka who remembers the proper phrase: “Yip-yip!” and it’s such fun to see him overjoyed by the miracle of flight. Even if he must once again resume his veneer of teenage apathy.

Back on board the Fire Nation ship, Aang seems awfully relaxed as his staff is confiscated and he’s been led to the cell. Then, we see why. “You guys have never fought an air-bender before, have you?’ Kid’s got skills! Of course, he can’t leave without his staff, so the search is on. We get a nice gag with Uncle Iroh sleeping through the whole thing, but Zuko is ready. He traps Aang in the chamber and it’s time for another duel. We see that both of these characters have significant skill, but ultimately, it’s a TKO by mattress, and Aang escapes to the main deck with his staff.

Getting on deck is not the same as escaping, unfortunately, as Zuko manages to leap onto Aang’s glider, and send them both crashing to the deck. Then, more fighting, but Aang is ultimately forced over the side, and we can’t help but be reminded of his dream, when he escaped the storm by freezing himself in the ice. As before, Aang’s eyes glow, but instead of freezing himself again, he rises out of the water, and defeats Zuko with a so-far unprecedented skill of water-bending. This is significant, because recall that he told Katara he could not teach her, because he was an air-bender, not a water-bender. He apparently has incredible power, but is, perhaps, not fully in control of himself when he exercises it, and it leaves him drained when he finishes.

Thankfully, Katara and Sokka have arrived on Appa. Sokka gets a nice moment when he’s recovering the staff, only to receive a horror-movie jump scare from Zuko. And yet, in payback for the earlier defeats, Sokka knocks Zuko back over the side and retains the staff. Katara, in her moment of need, discovers additional water-bending skill, freezing the fire nation soldiers (and Sokka) in ice. Katara, Sokka, and Aang escape on Appa and the day is saved.

We get one last moment with Zuko and Iroh, as they appraise the damage to their ship. Iroh says “Good news for the Fire Lord. The greatest threat to the Fire Nation is just a little kid.” (Yet, his tone is reserved, as though this is a test for Zuko, rather than his actual opinion.) If it was a test, Zuko passes. “That little kid did THIS,” he says. “I won’t underestimate him again.”

The last scene of the episode is pretty much: “Hey audience, here’s what the show is going to be about! Aang has to learn, in order, water bending, earth bending, and fire bending, so he can defeat the Fire Nation and save the world, but there will still be time for fun and riding exotic animals. “They don’t like people riding them, but that’s what makes it fun!” So with the conclusion of the two-parter, our story is officially under way. Hooray!

Additional Notes:
* Zuko intends to give Aang’s staff to his father, commenting to Aang: “You probably do not know of fathers, being raised by monks.” This is just a peek at the thoughtful Zuko, rather than the single-minded “I will catch the AVATAR!” Zuko. Also, his father issues are deep and plentiful.
* Aang confesses that he lied about being the Avatar because he “never wanted to be.” We’ll be seeing a lot more about that as well.

First, a brief word about spoilers. I’m going to do my best to avoid spoilers in these discussions, but I may occasionally mention general themes and concepts from later in the series. Please, in your comments, try not to spoil the fun for the people watching for the first time!

Just like the iceberg that kept Aang frozen, only the smallest portion of the story is visible in this first episode. We meet the principle characters, establish the setting, but there is so much more lurking beneath the surface!

If we were to judge the show only by this first episode, it would be easy to assume that it’s a pretty typical children’s adventure cartoon. Plenty of silliness and slapstick, and a story with clear good guys and bad guys. And yet, there’s already hints of more, suggestions that there is greatness, waiting to be discovered.

Consider the first scene with Sokka and Katara. It establishes several things right away: They are siblings, with the attendant rivalry. Katara can use water bending, and Sokka is a little bit resentful of her talents. Their parents aren’t around, and they have many responsibilities.

But then in their argument, Katara actually calls her brother “sexist” (among other things). I remember watching this scene for the first time and being surprised. While I’ve seen other cartoons take up the “Boys Vs. Girls” story trope, this show’s willingness to actually use the word “sexist” struck me as more sophisticated. It’s an indication that the show is prepared to explore some deeper issues, beyond the superficial “Good Vs. Evil” conflict.

Then, despite Aang’s dramatic entrance, his first words are: “Will you go penguin-sledding with me?” He is playful, impulsive, and a bit of a show-off, but ultimately friendly and earnest.

Another peek into hidden depths is the fact that Aang lies to Katara when she asks about the Avatar. Even if we hadn’t guessed that he was the Avatar by the fact that his face is on the DVD box, we saw him frozen in a giant magic iceberg, and then he woke up all glowy-eyed. Given what we learned in the intro, we can see that the Avatar’s disappearance is a big mystery to the whole world. Yet, despite his playful, extroverted nature, Aang chooses to lie.

We are also introduced to Prince Zuko and his Uncle Iroh. Zuko is established as the principal antagonist, simply through his desire to capture and “defeat” the Avatar. He is shown as determined, but impatient, and yet we wonder: How did he get his scars? Why is his honor dependent on completing what must have seemed like a century-old wild goose chase?

Even his frustration with his uncle’s refusal to teach him advanced fire-bending techniques is interesting. For the primary villain of a children’s show to openly acknowledge that he is not already all-powerful is unusual. His uncle’s laid-back attitude and fondness for tea is an unexpected blend with his skill at fire-bending. These things suggest that even the show’s antagonists are more than they may first appear.

We spend much of the first episode having fun, watching Aang show off his gliding skills, playing in the snow, laughing at Sokka’s Drill Sergeant routine. (“No potty breaks!”) And then there’s sneezing.

But after the penguin-sledding, we discover the derelict Fire Nation ship. Katara describes it as “a very bad memory for my people”. That, and the nasty-looking weapons inside, are ominous. Aang tells Katara: “If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear”, which introduces a theme which will resonate throughout all three seasons.

This leads to Aang’s discovery that he was frozen for a century, which is the first thing he seems to take seriously since his introduction.

But before it can be carefully discussed, the trip-wire alerts Zuko to their location, as well as the location of the Water Tribe’s village. This sets up the conflict to appear in episode 2.

Additional Notes:

* I love the show’s animals, nearly all of which are blends of traditional earth animals, like the otter-penguins and the tiger-seals.

* Sokka’s sarcasm is always welcome in my home. “And this is Katara, my flying sister.”

* Given how important they become later, it was a bit surprising to remember that characters like Toph and Azula don’t actually appear until later in the series.

* The Fire Nation’s coal-punk technology is cool.

* This is the only episode using this version of the opening. The more abbreviated opening that starts with episode 2 is less personal to Katara and more matter-of-fact.

Tor.com also did a re-watch of this show!

Also, check out this great Avatar Wiki!

So, what did YOU think?

You can leave comments here, but I’d also encourage you to check out my posts on Google Plus. An excellent place for discussion.

And be sure to come back on Tuesday for episode 2!

So starting this Friday, I am going to start a new twice-weekly series of blog posts to re-watch the show from the beginning. On Friday, I’ll watch and then write a post about the first episode. Then, every Tuesday and Friday, I’ll be discussing each subsequent episode, eventually making it through all three seasons.

But here’s the thing. What I would really like is for you to join me in re-watching, and then discussing the show! As with any fandom, discussing the show with like-minded fans is just as much fun as watching the show in the first place, and I think that this program is deep enough to support some really good discussions.

I will be posting each entry on my blog at christianaellis.com of course, but I will also be posting on my stream at Google Plus. If you’re on Google Plus, I would like to encourage you to participate in the discussion there. In the last couple weeks, I’ve found it to be a really good place for community-centric conversations. (If you’re not on Google Plus and need an invite, just say the word!)

So, here’s why you should participate.

First, the entire run of the show is on Netflix streaming, and the DVD sets are still relatively easy to find.

If you’ve already seen the show, then you know how awesome it is. Think how much fun it will be to revisit it and discuss with friends! Especially since the sequel series “The Legend of Korra” is coming next year!

If you saw the movie but not the cartoon, then imagine only the good parts of the movie, and add humor, warmth, depth, and heart.

If you’ve never seen either incarnation, then let me offer you a brief pitch. In my own personal opinion, Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the most satisfying television shows I have ever seen, and I don’t only mean animated shows. It is a masterpiece of serial storytelling, with a diverse cast of complex, interesting characters as well as incredible world-building.  It is funny, scary, touching, and fascinating, all the while staying family-friendly without sacrificing nuance.

The story takes place in a fantastical world of four nations, each representing and personifying one of the four elements: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Each nation has special individuals, skilled in “Bending”, a sort of elemental magic based on the element of their home nation. At least that’s how it used to be…

Slowly, but surely, the Fire Nation has been conquering the world. They have already wiped out the pacifistic Air Nomads, and have turned their eyes on the Water and Earth nations. This isn’t supposed to happen. The Avatar, a special chosen one with the ability to master all four disciplines of elemental bending, is supposed to keep the world in balance. But the Avatar disappeared over a hundred years ago, and no new Avatar came forward to take his place. Ever since, the world has been slowly sliding out of balance, leading to war and chaos.
Until now…

Please join me in watching the first episode:  “The Boy in the Iceberg”, and then come back on Friday for the discussion! Hope to see you there!

If you, after all these years, are still in category 3, then the odds are that you don’t care about the spoilers anyway, so do what you want.

The Harry Potter movies represent a truly amazing achievement in film-making. Eight feature films, all of them as faithful to the source material as they could possibly be, with a huge cast that has remained very consistent from movie 1 to movie 8, including protagonists that were CHILDREN at the start, and who have grown up right along with their characters and many of their fans. It’s incredible, and I don’t think that there has been anything else like it in cinema history.

So there’s that.

It’s clear to me now that splitting book seven into two parts for the movies was a very good idea, and to some extent, it allowed them to sacrifice part 1 for the benefit of part 2. Deathly Hallows Part 1 was not a bad movie, but to be sure, it contained all the slow, boring, depressing parts of the story, and did the best it could with them. However, those elements were important for the story, and now that Part 1 has dealt with them, Part 2 is freed up to be an intense, scary, exhilarating roller-coaster ride. Based on my first viewing, I think this last film is actually my favorite of all the Harry Potter movies, and is absolutely a fitting conclusion to the saga.

In many ways, I think I enjoyed the movie even more than the book for this installment. This may well be simply because I knew what was going to happen, and as such, was able to be much more in the moment. This movie is action-packed in a way that none of the other films has been so far. By getting part one out of the way, the movie is able to spend lots of time on the battle for Hogwarts, and it is truly intense. I am not kidding at all when I say that the movie is not for little kids. Anyone who has read the books knows this, but this movie is scary and violent in ways that surpass anything in the movies so far. There are moments where we hold our breaths in anticipation, shed tears for fallen friends, and share the joy when our characters are able to steal a moment of happiness in the midst of all the destruction.

And throughout, the movie is filled to the brim with cameos and lovely little nods to events and props and characters  from the previous films.

It’s a fitting conclusion, and one well-worth seeing in the theater.

Note: I actually saw it in IMAX 3D. The 3D is mostly pretty subtle and not distracting, though to that extent, I’m not sure it added anything either. The IMAX screen, on the other hand, was awesome.

This review will have no spoilers for book 5, but may mention points from earlier books. Also, I may discuss book 5 spoilers in the comments. Be warned!

So, I’ll begin with a brief concession to anyone who has not already read other books in the series or seen the HBO show: “A Game of Thrones”.

Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is, hands-down, one of the most absorbing set of books that I’ve ever read. Dark fantasy that ground its more supernatural elements in gritty detail and compelling characters. I am a relative new-comer to the series myself. I had heard many good things about the series, but it was only in anticipation of the HBO series that I decided to pick up the first book. Three months later, I finished the fourth book. And these are long books too. There are many novels that I enjoy, but these books occupied me in an exceptional way. I found myself wanting to just read them constantly. For example, I often had to resist the temptation to pull up the Kindle app on my phone while stopped at red-lights in my car. In short, I liked it, and was very fortunate that I only had to wait a few months for book five, rather than the six years required for fans who read book four when it was new.

So if you haven’t read the books, I do recommend them, and the only caveat at all is that Martin’s pattern has been to have long gaps between the books, and the series is not complete. So if you start now you may be stuck waiting with the rest of us. A valid concern, but in my opinion, waiting just deprives you of the pleasure of reading the existing books, and I’m glad I decided to go ahead and start.

Okay, so now lets move on to discussion of book five.

I don’t like to try and rank the different books in the series, but I can say that I found A Dance with Dragons to be more satisfying in the end than book four, if only because there are not quite so many cruel cliffhangers. (There are still a few.) A Feast for Crows had a lot in it that I really enjoyed, but some aspects of it were frustrating. More than half of the most-compelling characters were left out entirely, and those we did follow were, almost without exception, left in imminent peril. Martin explained in the afterword for AFfC that it and ADwD were originally one story, that he decided to split by characters rather than chronology. An interesting idea, but it just meant we had to wait that much longer to find out what happened to characters like Tyrion, Jon Snow, and Daenerys.

A Dance with Dragons spends its first two-thirds filling us in on what those characters were up to during the events of A Feast for Crows, (which I should say, actually made for interesting reading when we know some things that the characters don’t,) and then the last third brings back some of the rest, so that by the end of the book, we’ve heard from pretty much everyone.

Westeros has now learned of Daenerys’s exploits across the Narrow Sea, freeing the slaves of Astapor and Meereen, so now there are many parties seeking to meet her and enlist her name, heritage and army (and of course, let’s not forget the DRAGONS), in service of their own ends. Meanwhile, up at the Wall, Jon Snow now faces thousands of surrendered and starving Wildlings, as well as his uneasy alliance with King Stannis and his red witch Melisandre. We also catch up with Bran Stark who was last seen crossing under the Wall with the help of a mysterious figure named Coldhands, follow Tyrion as he flees King’s Landing and the ramifications of his patricide. Then we learn the fate of Davos Seaworth and another character, thought dead, gives us a peek at the actions of Ramsay and Roose Bolton.

As Martin does so well, there are plenty of surprises, lots of blood and death, dozens of characters, conspiracies, plots, battles, etc.

Like I mentioned above, I found A Feast for Crows to be very compelling reading and great continuation of the story, though where it left off was more than a little frustrating. A Dance with Dragons finishes with it’s fair share of cliffhangers (two big game-changers, in particular), but in the end, I felt like I can bear the wait for the next book a bit better. I want to know what happens next, but it doesn’t feel quite so much like Martin pulling the football away like Lucy for Charlie Brown. I loved it.

74 – The Silence of the Lambs

73 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Download the updated spreadsheet!

So I had an interesting thought at my local board game night tonight, when the subject of fan fiction came up.

I have nothing against fan fiction at all. I’ve read some, and like any type of amateur (or professional) fiction, some of it is bad, some of it is good, some of it is REALLY good. I have friends who are actively involved in fan fiction communities.

But it has never really been something I’ve found myself inspired to write. Though I have no rational objections to it in principle, the idea of slipping into someone else’s setting or especially, someone else’s characters, has always felt a bit like sneaking into their house and trying on their clothes. You may go to great lengths to take good care of their clothes, and take care to put everything back where you found it, but it’s still weird.

Note: I don’t mean to imply any moral judgement there, just a personal ooky feeling. Even that is not really all that severe. I have no doubt that I could get over it if motivated to do so. However, I’ve not so far had the motivation, because usually the stories I write just come to me without me having to pursue them. (Getting them on paper is a separate question.) And so far, no fan fiction stories have come to me.

The closest I’ve come are things like parodies  or shared universe-type sketches, and those were frequently not full-fledged stories anyway. Then, there is my story: “Death Traps”, which features Dr. Mercury, a character created by JR Blackwell. I wouldn’t call that story “Fan Fiction” exactly, though there is no question that the line is a little blurry there.

But the discussion tonight just got me thinking about writing exercises and challenges and such, wherein you actively set out to do something different from your normal routine. In that context, perhaps I ought to, just for fun, try my hand at a little bit of fan fiction. Who knows, it might even help my original projects. After all, the addition of Dr. Mercury took a bare-bones story idea I had and turned it into one of my favorite things I’ve ever written.

How to start though? What fandom do I choose from? I could easily rattle off a dozen different universes that I feel like I know well enough to get started.

And do I want to write something faithful to the original? Something subversive? Cross-over?

Any of you write both original and fan fiction? Any pointers?

Why do I love this show so much?

I have not read the novels by Charlaine Harris, so it certainly isn’t that. I am not especially a fan of vampires or werewolves or supernatural romance. I don’t find the characters to be intelligent or deep or even sympathetic.

And yet, somehow, I look forward to every new episode.

I enjoy it in ways very different than most television I watch. I think it is pretty much the epitome of a guilty pleasure.

What I like about it is that, because there is essentially no depth or nuance, the story is freed from the burdens of traditional characterization and narrative structure, allowing them to abandon entire plot lines the instant they get boring, and dwell on the characters that are fun and interesting, rather than keeping the focus on traditional protagonists.

I like it because it is unpredictable. It’s not always good. It frequently makes very little sense. But it keeps me entertained.

For THIS post, I thought I’d share the bit of flash fiction that I wrote at this year’s Balticon during the “Iron Writer” competition. Basically, each writer was given a randomized premise generated by this website. I had the great honor of participating alongside Mur Lafferty, Scott Sigler, and Paolo Bacigalupi. (Incidentally, I just read Paolo’s book “The Windup Girl” recently, and it was very good. I may do a longer review at some point.)

Here was my prompt:

“Title: The Metablades

In a shrill Outer Rim world, a young collector of oddities stumbles across an otherworldly portal which spurs him into conflict with forces that encourage conformity, with the help of a leather-clad female in shades and her and her condescending tone, culminating in the land restored to health.”

And here was my story:

The Metablades

The wind was worse than usual today, whistling through the canyon with unusual ferocity.
Evan pulled the collar of his jacket up to protect his face against the stinging alkali sand.
Despite his discomfort, sandstorms were the best day for artifact hunting. The wind could
uncover the ancient ruins that otherwise remained buried beneath the desert sands. With the
Traveling Dunes of this colony planet, the human settlements were forced to be nomadic, lest
they be buried beneath the desert like the alien cities of another age.

The wind though, sometimes revealed trinkets, sometimes treasures, so Evan spent his
downtime hunting for them.

He slowed his speeder to a crawl. His scanner had detected something, not only metal, but
with a power signature. Could he have found something still functional? He dared not hope,
but went to investigate.

He found the tip of the artifact that had triggered his sensors, and was shocked to discover
that with only a little bit of sand cleared away, a noticeable glow began to shine through
the remaining sand. He dug into his pack for the compressed air gun to blow the remaining
obstructions. After a few minutes, he had uncovered what looked like a doorway, but with a
glowing blue field where the door would be.

He started toward the device, but before he could take more than a single step, a man
emerged from the field. The man wore strange clothing, alost all in black, but with a white
under layer, and a long thin of dark fabric around his neck, tied in a complex knot. His hair
was neatly combed, and he wore a serene expression.

"Who- who are you?" asked Evan.

The man didn't answer right away, instead, simply looking him up and down with a concerned
expression.

Finally the man spoke.

"No. No, this will not do at all. Your hair is mussed, your clothing is entirely too individualized.
You are too short, and your teeth need straightening. I am afraid that we will have to issue
you a citation."

"A what?"

"This is a citation for failure to adopt mandatory aesthetic standards." The man handed him a
piece of paper. "You must pay the sum below within the next seven cycles or be subjected to
summary judgment and death by badgers."

"What are you talking about?"

"My guess is that you are not the only one failing to conform. Where are the rest of your
cellmates? I must issue their citations as well. I do have a quota to reach, and I'm only..."

His voice trailed off, and Evan noticed a trickle of blood from the side of the man's mouth.
Then he collapsed to the ground. A blade that seemed oddly unreal and representative of
knife-making more than actual knives stuck out of his back.

A woman wearing dark leather riding gear and dark sunglasses passed through the portal as
well, and said. "No problem, kid. I'm sure you had it under control, but just thought I'd save
your world for you. Don't sweat it, you can get the next one." Then she dragged the man's
body back through the portal.

The End.

I know several people who can speak about all the technical aspects more knowledgeably than I can, so here are some of them.

Dr. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer

Dr. Pamela Gay, host of The Astronomy Cast

Laura Burns

Anyway, I’m not especially qualified to educate anyone on the shuttle program, but I can say that it’s always been something that meant a lot to me. When I was a kid, we would often go down and visit my grandfather and uncle in Florida, and that’s why I was there when the Challenger blew up. I wasn’t there at Kennedy Space Center or anything, but Titusville, FL, where my grandfather lived, is not far away, and it was close enough to see the launch trail in the sky. Now, I was only seven years old at the time, and we weren’t close enough to really tell what had happened except for a sort of “That doesn’t look right” feeling.

Still though, the incident has always left me feeling like I have a personal connection to the program, if only a very small one.

The last shuttle mission is beautiful, but still sad.

It’s not that I think we should keep the shuttle going. Any space vehicle should have an expected operational lifetime, and unless we wanted to build NEW shuttles, it just makes good sense that the existing shuttles should be retired at some point. The sad part, of course, is that we don’t have some other program to replace it.

It’s great that several private companies are working hard to develop orbital launch vehicles, and I think that ultimately, this is probably the direction it all needs to go, if we are ever to move into space in a serious way. However, even though there are some really exciting developments coming out of companies like Space X, they are still a long ways out from having even an equivalent to the space shuttle, much less something that could take us to the moon, or to Mars.

It’s not fair to really blame the government or NASA for this, because it’s really the American people who have not collectively demanded further space exploration. Many argue that the money could be better spent here at home, rather than going “Out there”.

It’s definitely true that there is a lot of value in robotic rovers and probes and all that, but I think that manned exploration is a necessity. Some may argue that there is no practical benefit, but even if there isn’t, I think that human beings need something that raises our eyes from the every-day. We live our lives, work at our jobs, and focusing, as we should, on our immediate concerns. But without having anything else, something that elevates us as a species, we can start wondering what’s the point.

When we went to the moon, that is a task that rivals the mythical tasks of Hercules. We, as a people, decided to perform a great work, and then we followed through. Humanity needs great works in order to be great. Exploration is not something that can just be put on the back burner, or else we lose the drive. I don’t want that to happen.

Going to space is hard. But we can do it if we want it bad enough.

*ahem*

Today, I thought I’d talk a little bit about some good graphic novels that I picked up recently. I’ve not been in the habit of heading to the comic book shop very often, but twice in the last month or so, I’ve been to Chapel Hill Comics for book launches from friends. Those friends being Mur Lafferty and Angie Shearstone.

I was there to buy Heaven and Blood Dreams on each day, but while I was there, I picked up several other things as well. These are but a few of them.

Persepolis

This is an autobiographical graphic novel about an Iranian woman who grew up during the Islamic Revolution which occurred in that country. I had heard good things about the animated film based on the book , but had not seen it. The book is really wonderful. The story is told in an episodic fashion with a very simple but effective art style. It is at times very funny, at other times sad, sometimes scary, but always fascinating. Here in the US, if we think of Iran at all, it is usually in the context of wondering if we’re going to have to do something about how THEY don’t like us. But the truth, of course, is that many different kinds of people live there, and have hopes and dreams and feelings. However, the various anecdotes about roving “morality” squads, checkpoints, disappearances and war also serve as good reminders of how important our freedoms can be. I really enjoyed it, and have purchased the follow-up book as well, though I’ve not read that one yet.

Locke & Key

This is a supernatural horror/mystery series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. I’ve now read the first three collected volumes and it is truly great stuff. When the father of a family is murdered under strange circumstances, his wife and three children move back to his childhood home in “Lovecraft, MA”. There’s something unusual about this house. (I know, right?) Its many doors and keys have all sorts of powers: Powers of transformation, powers of healing, and let’s just say: “Powers of NOT-healing.” What could be a fairly ordinary premise is really made compelling by interesting characters, beautiful art, and a nicely twisted story, full of things that really only work in a graphic novel. There are things you will see on these pages which just wouldn’t work in any other medium.  Really looking forward to volume 4.

Sweet Tooth

I’ve now read the first two collections of this graphic novel. It stars Gus, a young man with antlers. He’s never known anything but his simple cabin in the woods, and never known anyone but his father. His father has told him that a horrible plague came to the world, to purge it of all sinners and to take the virtuous up to heaven. It also, apparently, caused many children to be born as human-animal hybrids. All of that remains the mysterious unknown, however, until his father finally succumbs to illness, and Gus decides to do what his father told him to never do: Leave the forest. What follows is an interesting take on the now-common post-apocalyptic survival genre. Gus himself is endearingly sweet, and pretty smart, despite his lack of education and knowledge of the outside world. I enjoyed this one, but don’t feel especially compelled to continue. I might pick up the next volume if I see it, but probably won’t seek it out.

So that’s all for this time, though I have a few more that I may review soon. Have any of you read any good  graphic novels lately?

I don’t mean anti-social, because that has a proactive connotation that isn’t really accurate. When I say non-social, I am suggesting a simple loss of momentum that can happen for all manner of reasons that aren’t really all that interesting. (At least not to me, but then, that may be because they lack any aspect of voyeuristic novelty.)

Anyway, what happens when I get into one of those phases is that I don’t make much effort to reach out or communicate with people, and this includes friends, family and of course, my fans.

And yet, my love of hearing my own voice, and my strong feeling that my opinions are compelling and fascinating to any who might hear them does not go away.

This causes, as you might expect, a certain cognitive dissonance that is not fun for me, nor does it particularly benefit anyone else. Plus, even Luna, my Welsh Corgi, gets bored of my stories when she’s the only one I have to talk to.

But! This blog post is not about my unique and fascinating collection of neuroses, it is about how I’m going to try doing a daily blog post!

What will it be about?

Basically, whatever I feel like. Sometimes I’ll talk about what I’ve been reading, movies I’ve seen, games I’ve played, etc. Sometimes it’ll be about what I’m working on creatively or even little snippets of fiction that don’t really belong anywhere else. Sometimes it’ll just be observations on the world or whatever I’m thinking about, sometimes serious, sometimes more in the vein of Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts.

I’m not going to over-think it.

At least, not tonight.

Anyway, the reason for the title is that I will almost certainly get in the habit of writing these blog posts in the evening, so for most readers, they will be seeing it on the day after the day that I’m writing about. Thus: “Yesterday’s News”.

I did a quick google search and the biggest hits for the name were for a brand of cat litter, which amused me enough that the name stuck.

Anyway, I’m out of practice, and I don’t want to overdo it with this first post, so I’ll leave it there for now.

Anyone have thoughts? Things you’d like to see me write about? Mocking comments at the huge cliche of setting a resolution to blog more? Go ahead and leave a comment! I’ll be back tomorrow.

Rated appropriate for older teens and up for sexual situations and violence.

Plus Or Minus

By James Patrick Kelly

Everything changed once Beep found out that Mariska’s mother was the famous Natalya Volochkova.   Mariska’s life aboard the Shining Legend went immediately from bad to awful.  Even before he singled her out, she had decided that there was no way she’d be spending the rest of her teen years crewing on an asteroid bucket.  Once Beep started persecuting her, she began counting down the remaining days of the run as if she were a prisoner.  She tried explaining that she had no use for Natalya Volochkova, who had never been much of a mother to her, but Beep wouldn’t hear it.  He didn’t care that Mariska had only signed on to the Shining Legend to get back at her mother for ruining her life.

Somehow that hadn’t worked out quite the way she had planned.

For example, there was crud duty.  With a twisting push Mariska sailed into the command module, caught herself on a handrail, and launched toward the starboard wall.  The racks of  instrument screens chirped and beeped and buzzed; command was one of the loudest mods on the ship.  She stuck her landing in front of navigation rack and her slippers caught on the deck burrs, anchoring her in the ship’s  .0006 gravity.   Sure enough, she could see new smears of mold growing from the crack where the nav screen fit into the wall.  This was Beep’s fault, although he would never admit it.  He kept the humidity jacked up in Command, said that dry air gave him nosebleeds.  Richard FiveFord claimed they came from all the drugs Beep sniffed but Mariska didn’t want to believe that.  Also Beep liked to sip his coffee from a cup instead sucking it out of a bag, even though he slopped all the time.  Fungi loved the sugary spatters.  She sniffed one particularly vile looking smear of mold.  It smelled faintly like the worms she used to grow back home on the Moon.  She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jersey and reached to the holster on her belt for her sponge. As she scrubbed, the bitter vinegar tang of disinfectant gel filled the mod.  Not for the first time, she told herself that this job stunk.

She felt the tingle of Richard FiveFord offering a mindfeed and opened her head.  =What?=

His feed made a pleasant fizz behind her eyes, distracting her. =You done any time soon?=  Distraction was Richard’s specialty

=No.=

=Didit is making a dream for us.=

76 - Forrest Gump

75 – In the Heat of the Night

and then Mike talks about his recent trip to Barcelona and Venice, including discussion of the under-construction La Familia cathedral.

78 – Modern Times

77 – All the President’s Men

.@Mainframe Well, wrapped up with a bow and arrow seems more likely. #

.@edgizmo Only if they drink hot sauce. I'm at work or I'd find you the picture. #

.@spiritualtramp IS everything okay? Because I know a lot of people who would be very relieved. #

@edgizmo Alas, no Pac-man on it (yet), though it does have asteroids. I think first though will be Centipede! #

@WintyrBourne Nothing wrong with that. Stuff needs to get places, right? #

@annacreech I've got a lot of other stuff on my mind already, (the universe, Earth, Pez, etc.) but I'll add your request to the list. #

Ah, but for almost every frustration at work, there are the good people who step up and pitch in. #

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It's important (but hard) to have a thick skin when putting your stuff out there, but the bad stuff makes me love my fans all the more! #

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Really glad I decided to take today off of work as well. #Balticon was glorious, but exhausting. #

@Mainframe Everything went great. Though I'll confess I get stressed out during party planning! #

@elizasea I believe he used this generator: http://bit.ly/jutRMd #

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Number 80: The Apartment
Number 79: The Wild Bunch

Was able to watch 10 min of the new ep before the stream cut out on me. @HBOGO having troubles, looks like. Great service generally, but #

@Nobilis @dsawyer Indeed, a chain. I definitely recall a few places that went in way different directions than I'd imagined. #

Finished watching Ep 7 of Game of Thrones on @HBOGo and it was awesome. #

@VividMuse Will definitely have them at Balticon! #

@geekacres Wanted to join you buy just too early. #

@indianajim Sorry to hear about that. I sympathize. #

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That's actually just a blog post, not a podcast. : The Space Casey Illustrated Script and Activity Book is here! http://bit.ly/m0dNlj #

@Gutshot I had not seen it, but it is stupendiculous. #

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Buy it now from Lulu! (Coming to Amazon soon!)

Available in print or PDF (though I recommend print for the coloringy-activity-y goodness!)

And so here we are. The Space Casey Illustrated Script and Activity Book! In addition to the full script of Space Casey, the book also contains 42 awesome illustrations and 10 original activities, just like those great coloring and activity books you got when you went with your mom to the grocery store and she wouldn’t buy you a toy, but a book, even a Transformers or My Little Pony activity book was maybe okay! Check out some shots!

My corgi Luna would really like you to buy one, and you wouldn’t want to disappoint Luna… would you?

Buy it now, so Luna won’t be sad.

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Number 82: Sunrise
Number 81: Spartacus

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Poor Luna has what looks like a bug bite or a bee sting on her snout. #

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