"Going Postal," the second half. It's good!
"Going Postal" is now tied for my favorite Discworld televised adaptation along with "Hogfather." My only true complaint is that they didn't include B.S. Johnson's mail sorting machine, which meant they didn't include Tiddles the cat, either. At first, I thought they probably wanted to avoid working with trained animals, but given that the character is an ancient feline that has a schedule so ingrained that it would walk against a door indefinitely until it opened, what better role for animatronics? Anyway, it's a small part of Discworld lore that gives those who decide to pick up the book a little extra pleasure. I also think they may have skipped some developments about the people of Ankh-Morpork using stamps as currency, though that might have been from "Making Money." I would have also liked a bit more detail about what made the villain villainous (in the book, his business practices were even more Machiavellian while cloaking themselves in rather familiar-sounding political buzzwords), but again, this is a televised adaptation which is a study in editing and compression. It was a pleasure to watch, and I hope this eventually leads to the rumored ongoing series based on the "Night Watch" books I keep hearing about.
On a somewhat related note, the actor who plays Lord Vetinari was also in a sci-fi short called Chrono-Perambulator, which, while a bit predictable, has some good performances and a bit of a punchline at the end.
Alert reader Kimberly alerted me to this fanfiction contest to create a short literary work about the accompanying image. I think I might actually give this one a try, though I'm not sure if the fact they included Wil Wheaton's clown sweater is going to help or hinder my efforts. I'm also going into this knowing little about John Scalzi, but he works on "Stargate Universe," so I suppose I should treat him kindly, or at least, as unfairly as I treat Wil. :) When I get something pounded out that I think is moderately worthy, I'll post it for all to see, in spite of the risk to everyone's sanity and well-being. In the meantime, I'm wondering if that image will be a T-shirt; if it looks good on black velvet, why not black cotton?
I'm also happy to report that I've got eight chapters written on one possible novel project, and five on another (I tend to hop between projects during the day, including the work I do on ps238 and FFN). At the very least, assuming I can't get much interest in them from those who sell e-readers or bricks of wood pulp slices, I may release them in a podcast of some kind. One is a dark fantasy by way of a world much like our own, and the other is about vampires, though not portrayed in a manner I've seen previously. Assuming I don't write myself into a hole the plot can't escape from, I hope to have something to report about these undertakings late summer/early fall. Failing that, I'll have some kind of "progress report of shame" or something. :)
In "site" news, I re-ordered the recent Nodwick comics so that today's strip is "new," or rather, isn't part of a flashback I culled from the original web strips for one of the printed issues. I believe that's the only time we'll hit that stumbling block, but I could be mistaken. If the comics appear out of order, feel free to give me a virtual dope-slap in the comments.
And speaking of virtual dope-slaps:
- Just in case you need to attempt to survive an encounter between Aliens and Predators, here's some information, but I'm not sure if it's terribly helpful.
- Japan wants to try generating power for homes on Earth with an energy beam from a solar-powered satellite.
- Here's a tongue-in-cheek look at what the movie 'Jaws' would be like if it were made today. At least... I think it's meant to be funny...
- It's another 'go the farthest with upgrades' game, but it's got lots of satisfying chaos: Destructo-Truck has you, well, destroying things with your truck. Couldn't be simpler.
- Time Magazine lists their picks for the 50 worst inventions, though I can't figure out how Breakeys didn't make the list.
- Because I know there's a sizable "Mythbusters" fan base in the hizzouse, here's something that you'll never see on the Discovery Channel (warning: contains graphic descriptions of mouse demise) as described by Adam Savage.
- Alert reader Taria sends us these Star Wars pancake molds. She also notes that they could probably double as cookie-cutters (with an application of appropriate... wait for it... "force").
- Some "demolition pr0n" for everyone who enjoys a good 'splosion: A nuclear cooling tower in South Carolina gets taken down. Scroll to the bottom for the YouTube video (including the explosion in slow-mo). Fast forward to about 1:00 for when the fun begins.
- I know everyone's been waiting for a game where you play a slug, so here's The Slob. Dodge enemies, get bonus stuff, don't get cut into bits, and watch your pH level!