Geekery
Zen and the Art of Battlestar Galactica
Mar 21st
Successful science fiction invariably falls victim to a simple conflict: The mechanism that allows it to fuel imagination and break convention is also irrevocably tied to empiricism. Using science to generate fantasy is akin to using a metronome to generate music, where expanding creativity grates against the formality of the propagating structure.
This conflict might not be such a problem except that the people who tend to like science fiction also tend to demand consistency and transparency from things that don’t exist. Bonanza was a much more popular show than Star Trek in the late 1960’s, and both have generated their fair share of fan fiction and conventions … the hallmarks of any good franchise obsession. But it’s one thing to draft blueprints for the Ponderosa based on historical experience with similar structures, and quite another to dissect the validity of a future universe made up by a World War II pilot.
The latest spin on the sci-fi angst comes as the re-envisioned Battlestar Galactica winds down with the series finale. BSG has used the common trappings of spaceships and “bad robots” to provide uncommon insight into terrorism, spiritual awakening, social order, and human compassion. Yet while the show has gained enough credibility to win a Peabody Award and an audience with the United Nations, it still can’t avoid the inevitable scrutiny that has more to do with an OCD episode than critical thinking.
I’ve just finished watching the final two hours of BSG (not including the profit-reeking postscript coming in June) and there are plot elements that felt rushed, sloppy, or unsatisfying, at least partly due to the slow episodes that have been criticised for wasting time down the home stretch. I can understand how a passionate follower of the show would find fault with certain resolutions, or the lack thereof. Even now I’m slightly irritated that (spoiler #1) a driven sociopath like Cavil would spontaneously give up without a Khan-like gesture of destruction. And I expect further viewing will reveal Kara Thrace to be (spoiler #2) an incoherent deus ex machina who inexplicably finds the wrong Earth before she finds the right one and disappears in a cloud of revisionist flashbacking.
But really, so what? Fraying threads may ruin a potholder, but they go unnoticed at the edge of an exquisite tapestry. After following BSG for 5 years, I care far less about the hanging chads than I do the conflict and compassion that was earned through ambitious story arcs and character evolution. To some, the series is a fraud for not following a predestined path from start to finish, as if any story about Big Ideas should always know The Answer in advance. To those who require cozy symmetry from storytelling, I recommend the collected works of Chris Columbus, or multitudinous other films and TV shows through which the journey is predetermined or irrelevant. Ron Moore ultimately took us exactly where the BSG premise told us it would go, but by improvising so expertly along the way, the ending felt fresh and satisfying to a degree that I never could have expected.
After the original series ended in 1979 (we shall not speak of Galactica 1980), all I wanted was to fly a Viper like Starbuck and Apollo. Granted, I was in 4th grade, but the series didn’t offer much beyond that level of attention.
After Ron Moore’s BSG, I want so much more – to feel Apollo’s ambition, to have Baltar’s redemption, to share Adama’s grief, or even to walk with Tyrol in isolation. While the ending makes it an explicit part of the “canon,” this series has always revealed us in its characters. Now that those characters are gone I am left with a greater sense of my own being, and it didn’t require an inverse tachyon beam to find it. That’s great science fiction.
PS … but the (spoiler #3) “angels” pontificating in New York City? That was still pretty lame.
+2 mace of networking
Feb 15th
Collaboration has been the buzzword behind Internet-based productivity ever since Ph.D’s started swapping ASCII art over IP. But the explosion of information exchange afforded by technology has also created the additional hurdles of filtering meaningful information and identifying meaningful collaborators. Collaboration is great when you and the offshore consultant brainstorm on a virtual whiteboard; not so good when an intern overwrites your final report.
Fortunately, online gaming seems to provide a better solution than Lotus Notes ever did. That’s right, the 20-sided dice crowd are using the World of Warcraft as a platform for networking and collaboration while braining orcs and chatting up wood nymphs. And it’s not just sysadmins swapping Linux hacks; C|Net profiled a WoW guild filled with digirati like Joi Ito and Sean Bonner who use the gaming community as a sounding board, development resource, and rolodex.
Joi Ito and others have started calling WoW “the new golf,” presumably referencing the social networking opportunities rather than the tedium and frustration involved with both activities. But unlike golf, the Warcraft guilds are comparatively open, and membership is considerably cheaper than at Torrey Pines.
Gaming and geekery have come a long way from dark basements littered with TSR manuals. The subject matter is no different, but role-playing has gone from stigma to phenomenon because technology now enables a richer experience with a broader audience. Communities like Warcraft may seem an unlikely source of collaboration, but they are proof that common experience is one of the best ways to produce meaningful connections in an increasingly dense communications environment.
goodbye, you crotchety faux-scotsman
Jul 21st
James Doohan, of “beam me up, Scotty” fame, died yesterday. In a fitting, if grandiose gesture, his family will have his ashes lofted into orbit on a future space shuttle mission. Not bad for a guy who got typecast on a short-lived sci-fi show from the 60’s.
Members of the early Trek family have fallen on both sides of the fickle celebrity blade. In the 70’s, Doohan career was in the toilet; Star Trek was long gone, and he was relegated to guest appearances on Fantasy Island with the likes of Charo and Roddy McDowell. The stigma of shouting “I canna gi’ya much more, Cap’n” in an affected brogue had severely limited his acting opportunities. The success of the Trek movies brought a resurgence of popularity for Scotty and the other cast members, turning the typcasting into a profitable and welcome association.
The news coverage from CNN and BBC shows just how enduring the Trek actors have become. Not many B-list actors (and that’s being generous) generate such recognition upon passing. But the unapologetic hopefulness of the 60’s Trek, while campy and naive, has endured across decades, propelling its early stars to iconic status along the way.
When James Doohan died, a little piece of the Trek dream died with him. It seems just a touch less likely that any of us will be warping across the galaxy or beaming down to planets if ol’ Scotty himself didn’t make it. Hope will have to live on in re-runs and DVD, ready to inspire future generations to reach for the stars and live in peace when we get there.
911, no joke
Apr 18th
Within the last 6 months, Voice over IP (VoIP) has suddenly gone from a relatively obscure business-to-business service to a mainstream alternative for consumer telephone service. Since VoIP uses the Internet to transmit telephone voice signals, it is more flexible and economical than the traditional dedicated lines we’re all used to with the public telephone network. Digital carriers such as Time Warner Cable and Vonage are now pitching low-cost land line service (usually between $25 and $40), either as part of a broader TV / Internet package or as a stand-alone item.
I’ve been skeptical of VoIP for home service, based largely on unreliable connections during VoIP’s early days, but its time seems to be arriving quickly. I like the idea that your VoIP number follows your router (and IP address) rather than a physical address, and most plans have a nice array of services and calling options, probably because everything is computerized from the ground up.
It’s tempting, but the whole PC dependence doesn’t sit well with me. Foremost, it requires a constant Internet connection, meaning any broadband outage takes out the phone as well. And how useful is an IP phone during a blackout? Not much, unless you have a backup power source. Then there’s the whole problem with 911 access, which works best when the police can respond immediately to a known address. Ask me how I know …
Tonight the doorbell rang around 11pm, an APD officer performing the required follow-up to a 911 call from my house. Apparently Rachel had accidently dialed 911 while trying to return dial a 917 number. I had no idea that 911 “worked” when dialed in conjunction with a slew of other numbers, but apparently it’s a stubborn ol’ emergency line. Unlike Flavor Flav, we got immediate response, and a new appreciation for the consequences of sloppy dialing.
The Texas Attorney General (bless his heart) is currently suing Vonage for misrepresenting the 911 disconnect in their VoIP service. But after tonight’s encounter, I’m beginning to think this might be a benefit rather than a hindrance. I’m generally an analog guy, but this might be one aspect of my life that’s worth turning digital. Time to explore some options and find out.
may daze
Apr 11th
It looks like Sony and Microsoft are poised to launch their respective next-generation game consoles on May 16th. Three days later, the final (and simultaneously interim) chapter of the Star Wars saga blasts its way into theaters. Throw the E3 gaming and entertainment conference and expo into the mix, and you have a perfect storm of geek-centric events and distractions ready to destroy productivity among programmers and IT staff across the nation. I hope Alan Greenspan has factored this into the Federal Reserves’ latest economic forecasts.