Hell is other people and robots

[danceswithwords]

My DirecTiVO receiver developed the annoying habit of rebooting every 40 minutes or so just in time for last night's TV-fest, so I want to admit up-front that I might have missed a few important things in the five minutes or so that it took to come up every time after it did that.

Comments

[tzikeh]

I went to the battlestar wiki (which is pretty damned comprehensive) and they do not have a name for Kara's dad. All we know is that he was a pianist. They do have her mother's name (Socrata). However, it does seem that a lot of people think (and I do too) that the one Daniel who survived is Kara's dad. ETA Because yes, I am that psychotic, I went and looked at the three episodes in which Kara's dad's name might have been mentioned -- the one where she and Helo go to her old apartment (Valley of Darkness), the one where Simon talks about how she was likely abused by a parent (The Farm), and the one where we see flashbacks to her mother (Maelstrom). No mention of dad's name at all. (Also I'm vastly amused that, after last night's episode, the Battlestar Wiki is getting hit so hard that its server keeps going down.

it would have been easier to follow if they'd just given Michael Trucco a whiteboard to stand in front of so that he could diagram it out as he talked.Ooooh, Cylon Pictionary! "It's... a bowl? Is it a bowl? That's a comb

[pellucid]

The confusion about Kara's dad seems to be coming from a possibly (or possibly not) extraordinarily prescient fic that beccatoria wrote just before 4.5 started airing. In it she names Kara's dad "Daniel" (and also happens to cast him in the role of Final Cylon), but she swears she just made that up. Yet because there are a number of characters whose names are not made explicit in the show but nevertheless have names assigned to them (Gina, Natalie, etc.), I think a number of people have assumed that beccatoria used a name that had been assigned in some capacity by TPTB for Kara's father. But no--she just invented one.

If for some reason this lost Cylon actually does end up being Kara's father (which thematically is not out of the question, I think, given the way he was introduced and the whole artist thing, but which is in no way a sure thing), well, Becka is a freakishly good guesser! But in the meantime her story is accidentally spreading all manner of misinformation around the internet. :)

[danceswithwords]

Aha, so it's not canon that that was Kara's father's name, but it fits so well otherwise that it's easy to assume.

Also, I would totally watch Cylon pictionary!

[laurashapiro]

Thanks for your thoughts on BSG and bodies; you've helped bring it all together for me, yet again.

Interesting how that plays against what Dollhouse is saying about bodies. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates the way those promos worked with/against the show itself and made the whole thing even more icky. ::shudder::

[danceswithwords]

I don't think I would have had such a strong sense of actual skin-crawliness without the promos, so I wonder how much they colored my own reaction. There was enough about the show itself that was problematic, but the promos were using the problematic elements to sell the show without any irony or complication.

[laurashapiro]

Yeah. And while I know that the show's writers have nothing to do with the promos, it still really colors my experience of the whole thing.

Indoor things

[laurashapiro]

If she's into food at all, the Ferry Building Marketplace is a treasure, and she'll be able to sample a lot of Californian culture there.

Would she like the Exploratorium?

If she's a shopper, the Tall Mall (Westfield Centre downtown) is pretty impressive.

Re: Indoor things

[danceswithwords]

Part of the issue is that she's a co-worker, not my BFF, so I really don't know what she likes, and she won't tell me because she doesn't want to offend me. Another part of the issue is that between the salary differentials and the exchange rate and my company's stingy per diem policy, I think everything here is quite expensive for her, and so much of SF tourism is built around the gourmet/designer shopping experience. *flails*

The Ferry Building is definitely a strong possibility, though, as is the Exploratorium. Thanks for the suggestions!

Re: Indoor things

[laurashapiro]

Yeah, it's pretty hard to have a good time in SF without much money.

Hope you're managing to have fun this weekend despite the rain!

Re: Indoor things

[danceswithwords]

We've actually ended up deciding to do it tomorrow instead of today. One thing she really wanted to do was see the Golden Gate, and today? Hahahahaha! I have some good suggestions, so I think we'll be able to entertain ourselves, and parking should be easier on a weekday.

[toysdream]

I think laurashapiro already covered most of our recommendations. There's also the aquarium at Pier 39, which is very cute. Speaking of which, the remodeled Academy of Sciences, although kind of pricey, has some pretty cool un-museum-y features such as an aquarium, a rainforest exhibit, a planetarium, and a pretty cool "green architecture" concept that's actually been getting a lot of international press coverage - that might be something to brag about to the folks back home in Bangalore.

[danceswithwords]

I had thought about Pier 39, at least, because I do think hitting the famous tourist spots is the way to go for this particular venture. I myself would love to go to the Academy of Sciences, but I thought it's impossible to get tickets on weekends unless you get there before opening? Or has it slowed down since it opened?

[toysdream]

I don't know what the outlook would be for the Academy of Sciences - we haven't been there since the free opening day, which was relatively easy since we only had to line up for tickets for about two hours. :-)

Well, I guess there's always Pier 39, though. The aquarium is very cute, and I'm sure the sea lions won't be fazed by a little rain.

[toysdream]

Oh, and BTW, you can buy Academy of Science tickets online over here. It looks like tickets for Sunday are still available...

[asta77]

it would have been easier to follow if they'd just given Michael Trucco a whiteboard to stand in front of so that he could diagram it out as he talked.

::dies::

And it would have saved me from having to keep jumping back as I rewtached the ep to note what they were saying and devoting half of my write up to a history lesson.

Boomer has never been particularly interested me before and I have to say that has changed after watching this episode. Even though I'm sure a lot of the story was a retcon, her past choices suddenly made sense to me. As does her desire to go back to her fleet. I don't know how they happened to have a raptor on board the baseship, but it makes sense she'd use that to return to the fleet. Not just as an added level of protection, but she'believes she can get her life back, the one she's always wanted.

I may have misspoke about Daniel being Kara's father's name. Beccatoria used it in her way too similar fic and I thought it had actually been referenced somewhere, whether on screen or in an interview or podcast

[danceswithwords]

I really liked what you said in your post about Boomer's realization about the life she could have.

Still, I don't think Ellen talking about the Seven being artistic is just a coincidence. And there is the fact that Seven seems to have disappeared, like her father.

It seems like several people have independently come to that conclusion, some of whom haven't read that story, so it seems like it's plausible enough to have caught hold as a theory. But I'm sure a well-liked story would have put the idea out there more. How incredibly cool if she guessed right!