Anomalous Musings

What up, LHC?

2009-11-17T11:58:00.005-06:00

Hi, I'm Sue! Particle physics gives me a hadron, and I am an Anomaly. (Read it again. Funny, not dirty. No letters, please.) But, really, I want to talk about the LHC today, and get a little sciency. I have a [educational] background in astronomy and math, and I tend to lose people when I wax scientific, but I'm gonna try to keep things basic (I don't claim to understand the details of particle physics whatsoever), stick to the "why"s and try to avoid the "how"s, and do some explaining for things that may not be general knowledge. If you're familiar with some the explanations, just skip 'em. Settle in - this looks to be a long one.

So, I'm sure that by now, everyone's heard of the Large Hadron Collider, which will smash particles together, create a black hole that will swallow up Switzerland, rip through the fabric of space-time, and destroy the universe, right? Um, sure. But what's supposed to happen? Very basically (because I don't really understand much more), the LHC will shoot beams of protons and ions at each other at velocities approaching the speed of light, so that these particles (or hadrons) will collide. And then they sit back and see what happens. Also, the LHC is the world's largest machine. Therefore: Large Hadron Collider. Not too creative with naming, those scientist types.

Okay, so what's the point? Well, first, let's go over some cosmology. Scientists have a "standard model" of our universe, detailing how it works and it's actual structure. But there are some holes and unproven aspects because, well, they made it up. So, there are 4 forces in the universe: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. The "standard model" currently only accounts for 3 of the 4 forces - gravity is the odd one out. Another gaping hole in the model is the lack of a GUT or "Grand Unifying Theory." Einstein's Theory of Relativity tells us how extremely large things work, and quantum mechanics tells us how extremely small things work, but there's no theory that unifies the two. There are some unproven aspects of the standard model that may help astronomers and physicists move closer to a GUT and incorporate gravity into this model. Here're three biggies:

The Higgs boson particle. This is a hypothetical particle which they expect to have a corresponding mediating force that would explain why some particles have mass and others don't (such as neutrinos).
Antimatter. "In the beginning", when matter and energy separated, particles of matter and antimatter destroyed each other. So, it turns out, there was more matter than antimatter, fortunately for us, and particle physicists want to know why.
Dark Matter and Dark Energy. The matter that astronomers can detect in the universe only accounts for about 4% of what's actually there, according to relatively. At best estimate, 75% of what's out there is thought to be dark energy, which is a hypothetical force which contributes to the expansion of the universe. The other 21% being dark matter, which would be matter we can't detect. Since we can't see it, we call it "dark" (yet another creative name).

So by smashing these hadrons together, physicists think that they'll be mimicking conditions of matter and energy at the "start" of the universe. They're basically going to turn the thing on (eventually, but we'll get to that later) and see what happens. They hope to see some evidence of the Higgs boson particle; actually creating and observing its behavior would be a major breakthrough. They also hope to create and observe antimatter during the events created by the LHC, and determine what might account for that minuscule difference in the amounts of matter and antimatter when the universe began. As for the dark stuff, they're looking for evidence of supersymmetry. Supersymmetry posits that particles don't come in pairs of particle/anti-particle (electron/positron), but in that each particle also has a "superpartner" which has it's own counterpart; thus making particles come in families of four. Potentially, these superpartners and their counterparts could explain dark matter, and maybe even help fit gravity into the standard model of the universe (don't ask me how on that one).

And then there's the other stuff that could happen. Other stuff? Well, for example, some think/hope that the events of the LHC will provide evidence for other dimensions (not alternate, but additional). We're used to three spatial dimensions and one temporal, but one version of string theory only works if there are at least ELEVEN dimensions to account for. Yeah, eleven. String theory says, basically, that the fundamental building block of the universe is a string, not a particle, and the way these strings vibrate makes them do different things. String theory is one candidate for a GUT, but there is no evidence that these strings actually exist and no way to test for them... yet.

But really, no one knows what will happen when they start up the LHC, because there's never been a particle accelerator that has come close to what it can do. But, as they say on The Big Bang Theory, "contrary results are still results". And contrary results can be just as exciting, or even more exciting, than getting the results you expected (see: Mythbusters).

Okay, cool. So when will this thing get going? Well, there have been a few setbacks. CERN first tried to bring the LHC online in March 2007, aaaand a magnet failed. When this magnet was designed, the enormous stresses of the LHC were not taken into account, but it was made as thin as possible for insulation purposes. In September 2008, an electrical fault between the magnets caused an arc, which compromised the integrity of the liquid helium containment, thus causing a leak of 6 tons of liquid helium which flooded the surrounding vacuum layer and filled the particle tubes with soot. In July 2009, two vacuum leaks were identified, which further delayed the start of operations to this month, November 2009. And just over a week ago, someone mistook the LCH for a toaster. Yep, a small piece of baguette was dropped into the LCH causing it to overheat.

Believe it or not, a couple prominent physicists have suggested that the LCH is is sabotaging itself from the future. I'm. Not. Kidding. According to the New York Times, these guys (Holger Bech Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya) are claiming that the Higgs boson particle is "abhorrent to nature", meaning that if it were to be created in the future, it would start a reverse temporal loop (I'm not explaining that one - we all watch Star Trek) that would stop it from being created in the first place. For serious, dudes?

At any rate, just yesterday, CERN released a bulletin which stated that, "if all goes well" (insert snicker here), the particle beams should be circulating in their respective tubes just over a week from now, and the first low-energy collisions should follow soon after. phew.

Want to know more? Well, there's the LHC page at CERN but I find it confusing and a little hard to navigate, you could always do a Google news search but that's a lot of sifting, and don't really trust Wikipedia when it comes to science. I highly recommend HowStuffWorks.com. They were an excellent resource for me in writing this, along with my vague memories of AS202 and MA471. They have so much more information over there - especially information on the LHC itself and, well, how it works. Check them out.

And, finally, I leave you with the Large Hadron Rap, performed by physicists at CERN:

Sue

Anomaly Staff Writer

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Yo Joe!

2009-11-11T17:11:00.013-06:00

Hello. Jen here. Remember me? That chick who co-hosts Anomaly with the really funny girl? :) Sorry I haven't posted here in a while...I dropped the ball. I didn't even post the show notes for our last episode. I've been pretty busy working, costuming, working on a forum for our podcast as well as writing scripts for a side project and doing NaNoWrimo...oh, and I recorded another episode of Anomaly with Angela a few days ago. I will edit that this weekend. Should be up next week. The main topic will be the Texas Renaissance Festival, which has been an annual episode. Visit our gallery for the Renfest 09 photos. See image on the left for an example...Angela's the beer wench. I'm the elf and our friend Mark (from the Big Fraking BSG Finale episode of Anomaly) is the man on the left in his awesome pirate costume. Please note that the gallery has a controller to pause the images and a drop down menu to navigate through our host of photo albums. Look for Renfest 09 for the latest images.

But that's not the reason for my blog post today. I'm posting today to introduce the first dude to join our staff of writers. Joe has been an Anomaly listener from day one and has consistently entertained Angela and I with his funny feedback, after almost every cast. You may remember that I read his comments regarding our Of The Rings episode, on our most recent installment

Joe is witty and smart and I think he has a lot to offer our little community. Please welcome him by adding comments to his first post (it will follow this one).

That's all for now. I will announce the forum in the next episode of Anomaly. I hope you all will join the community there as well.

Oh, I almost forgot, I also added an Anomaly Google voice line. Please call and leave your feedback. (432) 363-4742 We'd love to hear you...get it? Hear? Never mind.

If you haven't rated our show on iTunes please take some time to leave us a comment and rating there. We haven't had one of those in a while. Thank you to those who have already given us ratings (did you know you could write more than one?). We're excited to let you know that we have been a "featured podcast" under the Television and Film category in the podcast section of the iTunes store, because of you all! Thanks so much, and thank you for subscribing to our blog and our show. We do this for fun, but talking with you and getting your thoughts on our topics makes all the hard work worth while.

Peace out!
Jen
Anomaly Co-host
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The Anomaly of.....Joe

2009-11-11T17:06:00.008-06:00

My name is Joe and I have been asked to be the first male blogger for an all female podcast site and I AM an Anomaly….or a glutton for punishment. You can tell me which by the end of this blog.

So I get an e-mail from Jen yesterday asking if I would be interested in blogging here and there for the Anomaly website. Well, the more I thought about it, the more some ideas for an introductory blog began clanking around in the normally vapid gap between my ears. WARNING: Everyone is familiar (hopefully) with Shakespeare’s quote “Brevity is the soul of wit”? I am too. I just typically ignore it, so buckle up.

I’m Joe, but for the purposes of this and future blogs, you can call me….well….Joe, it is my name after all. I live in Eastern Washington (State…yes there’s a state…you’d be surprised) in an area of the Northwest, along with several other small towns and cities around here known collectively as The Inland EMPIRE (cue John Williams)….seriously…I know…cool, right? I am a civil engineering designer by trade as well as a nerd, geek, anomaly, rabid sports fan, metalhead and all around general wiseass. All of that rolled up into one big, svelte 6’-2” well muscled, blond haired, blue eyed frame. OK, OK, OK, so I’m really 6 feet tall, somewhat overweight and have hair and eyes that are a shade that can only be described as UPS brown. But hey, this is the internet, a kid can dream right (WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?!) I have been a geek since childhood. I waited in line for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, when they first came out. I cried in the theater when Spock died in The Wrath of Khan. I love cartoons (especially those from the 1980’s), some gaming, MOST Sci-Fi in general (I mean c’mon…Solaris? Really? That was the Best 2 hours sleep I have EVER had) especially Star Trek and Star Wars, all 6 of them (That’s right, I said ALL SIX) and I think that Firefly, BSG, and Mystery Science Theater 3000 is some of the greatest Sci-Fi ever to grace the small screen.

Sadly, there are limits to my geekiness. I cannot name Star Trek episodes off the top of my head as many of my compadres do. I do not own any costumes or props and I have never been to a Con of any kind. I feel shame…wait no I don’t, cuz if I had the opportunity or the money, I sure as heck would have a full Jedi costume and worn it to a Convention. Plus I don’t need any of that to know I am geek.

First and foremost, however, I am a husband and a father. My wonderful (and patient) wife, Marilyn, whom I will refer to henceforth as Marilyn, is also a geek. She loves all things Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Especially, with regards to LOTR, if that thing is named Orlando Bloom. She is not a huge Trek fan, though she did enjoy the new movie….ah well, nobody is perfect, but she’s as close as they come. My kids…..ahh, my children…where to start. Well, I have four of them…yes 4….girls…ALL of them. The ladies, in no particular order, are, from oldest to youngest: Sammi (16), Katie(10), Miranda(8) and Madeline(3), to whom Daddy usually refers to as Punk, Red, Blondie and Shorty respectively. The youngest three are geeks in training and I couldn’t be more proud. They love watching the Clone Wars, fight (literally) over which one will get to color in the Star Wars coloring book and love watching Ghost Hunters, Ghost Lab and Destination Truth with me. The oldest kinda went the other way…somewhat Goth, loves horror movies and may be the truest geek of us all…in that it would surprise me not a bit if she suddenly came downstairs and bit the head off of a live chicken. Yep, I am surrounded folks. A day to day battle to tread water and dog paddle through life in the Estrogen Sea. Ya know what... I wouldn’t trade it for the world. They are my life…Even the teenager, whom I love very much, although I’m sure she wouldn’t believe it at the moment (can you say GROUNDED).

So now you know a bit more about me (and knowing is half the battle). You now know that being the only guy amongst a bunch of ladies is nothing new for me really. Just another day in the life of the Anomaly known as Joe (sorry, no more third person…Joe promises). If you haven’t fallen asleep by now, I swear my next blog will be shorter and less self centered…well, less self centered anyway. I hope you will come back and check out my next one, whenever that may be and if you don’t and you choose just to ignore it altogether…well, being the only boy in my house, I can’t say that I won’t have been there before either.

Till next time, L8R SK8Rs.

Joe (I’m sorry, were you talking?) R.
Self Proclaimed Emperor of the Inland Empire (and cue The Imperial March yet again)
Anomaly Staff Writer
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So Many Podcasts, So Little Time...

2009-10-31T21:56:00.005-06:00

It all started so innocently. I got my first iPod in early 2007. Shortly thereafter, I discovered these things called "podcasts." And now, less than 3 years later, I'm subscribed to 51 podcasts, have over 1100 "new" casts to listen to, and wound up as a guest on one 'cast and a staff writer for the blog of another. ;) I assume that most of you who would be reading this have a similar story. Or, at least, a similar beginning to your story. Anyway, we're all familiar with the 'casts that have been promo'd on Anomaly, but I'd like to share some of my other favorite podcasts with y'all. I have a feeling that this may become a series (if you seem to like it, anyway). This go round, I'm taking an 'artistic' theme: literature, music, and theater.

First, there's Escape Artists Inc., which is the parent organization of three fiction podcast magazines: EscapePod for science fiction, PodCastle for fantasy, and PseudoPod for horror. A new episode (full length story) each is released each week on each 'cast, along with the occasional minicast. EscapePod has been around the longest (episode 222 was released at the end of October), and is my favorite. PseudoPod came along next and is at 166 episodes, PodCastle clocks in at 75. I stumbled across EscapePod when it was an iTunes staff pick, and found PodCastle from there. I'll admit that I haven't [yet] subscribed to PseudoPod, as I'm not all that into horror stories, but the Escape Artists editors will be the first to admit that many of their stories cross genre lines. The stories and voicework on these 'casts are fantastic, and I've been moved to tears and/or left pondering life's great questions by more than one story. Plus, each year, EscapePod will bring you readings of the Hugo nominees. If all of this wasn't enough reason to check out the Escape Artists podcasts, I recently found out that our very own Jen may be doing some voicework for PodCastle in the near future.

Next up, IndieFeed. Humans, not robots or computer programs, search out great independent music, and then share what they've found with you. For free. And, in a world of 20-30 second samples, IndieFeed gives you the entire track, along with information about the artist, and where to find more. A 'cast is released every week on each of 6 channels (each is a separate podcast feed): Alt Rock, Indie Pop, Hip Hop, Electronica, Dance, and Blues. There used to also be a Folk channel, and old episodes can be found in the Indie Pop feed. My brother turned me on to IndieFeed, and it's greatly increased my music library, and helped me find some new favorite artists. And with a mission statement that includes "create and equitable promotion model that grants bargaining and financial power to artists, and gives control and meaningful choice to consumers"... well, how can you resist?

And, finally, I point you towards the Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast. I'd like to hope that most of you are familiar with the RSC, but if you're not, you should be. They are are three-man comedy troupe "known for taking long, serious subjects and reducing them into short, sharp comedies." An example? Okay, how about the Othello Rap:
Here's a story 'bout a brother by the name of Othello
You know, he liked white women and he liked green Jell-O
And a punk named Iago who made himself a menace
'Cause he didn't like Othello, the Moor of Venice.
But, you really don't need to be all that familiar with the RSC stage shows to enjoy the podcast (However, if you get the change to see a stage show - DO IT!). They're not performing for you or putting on any front, but just being themselves. Sharing what it's like to tour, audition, write... and also discussing whatever comes to mind. It's really a great listen, about 20 minutes per week, released on Mondays. Don't believe me? Give them a go - I suggest you start with Episode 66 "Kirk or Picard."

Well, it's time for me to replace yet another pair of earbuds... I go through those things like water. Happy listening!

Sue
Anomaly Staff Writer
Subscribe to Anomaly via iTunes

Revenge of the Newb: Our Story Begins...

2009-10-19T09:25:00.007-05:00

Many stories begin with "once upon a time." My story begins with a power switch and a start button.

When I was much younger, I was an avid video game player. If I wasn't watching cartoons, I was playing Super Mario World, The Lion King, Mario Kart, or one of the few other games that we had for the Super Nintendo. I didn't realize what a geek was back then, I didn't know that there were sects of geeks separated by interests or gender. I was just a little girl who liked her video games.

I would be envious of my family members who owned a Sega Genesis, and I would play the demo pack or Sonic the Hedgehog whenever the Sega made an appearance. Years later, I received a Playstation for my 12th or 13th birthday. And while I couldn't afford a lot of video games, I played what I could every second that I could. And other members in my family got to enjoy the benefits of the Playstation as well. Let me tell you, there's no memory that more endearing to me than watching my father play the Top Gun video game from the hallway. It was awesome and then some.

There was just one itsy bitsy issue with the video game playing. You see, I got a little bit... what's a good word for this? Oh yes, "angry." I was just a step below my older sister, who was grounded for throwing the Super Nintendo controller sharply onto the floor when she did not win a game. I would never do that, but I did get extremely frustrated. When school became more intense in terms of work, that frustration level also increased. And then one day, my beloved Super Nintendo died. After that, I just stopped playing video games. From afar, I watched the evolution of game systems and the graphics within the game. Nintendo 64's, Playstation 2's and 3's, X-Boxes, Wiis, internet MMOs. Nevertheless, with one lone exception, I didn't touch a game controller, I didn't yell at the player to jump or run away, I didn't do a thing except watch.

Ten years have passed since I last picked up a controller. And I have no doubt in my mind that I not only did I miss out on a lot in terms of learning new techniques, but my own 1990's knowledge of gaming has devolved as well. No matter. I am determined to make up for lost time and pick up the old habit again. Who knows? Maybe I'll transition into a gaming geek after all... it'll just require me to watch my character die multiple times before I reach that point.

Thus begins my quest as a non-gamer into the realm of the gaming geek.

Star Trek got it right... kinda

2009-09-29T15:21:00.003-05:00

Hi! I'm Sue. And when I was 13 and put those glow in the dark stars on my ceiling, I used a star chart for reference to make sure I got it right, and I am an Anomaly.

Just a quick minipost, as I'd like to share an observation made by a friend of mine (known as trexphile on teh interwebs), who is currently re-watching season 3 of TNG. She says:

This is how big a nerd I am.

During "Booby Trap," Data states that the Enterprise is moving at 135 meters per second. Riker has already said that the inertial dampeners are in manual mode, whatever that means, which tells me that it's possible that the crew will be subjected to the effects of sudden acceleration -- in other words, becoming "chunky salsa on the walls," as I've heard it said.

So, being a nerd, I wanted to know exactly how fast 135 meters per second is, and being American, I had to convert that 135 meters per second into terms that I could understand. So after visiting a conversion website and doing some rudimentary arithmetic, I concluded that the Enterprise was traveling at 288 miles per hour. Which means that the writers of the episode had probably paid attention to the math and hadn't just thrown an arbitrary number out there.

And I felt this self-satisfied contentment. Until I realized just how nerdy that really was.

Yep, she's an anomaly, too. I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog-reading.

Sue
Anomaly Staff Writer
Subscribe to Anomaly via iTunes

A Deconstruction of Dollhouse

2009-09-24T21:29:00.005-05:00

Hello! I'm KC, and in the world of emoticons, I'm the colon, capital D. :D And I am an Anomaly.

So a new episode of one of my favorite shows, Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse," airs tomorrow night on Fox. And in honor of the fact that the show is entering its second season, I wanted to write a two posts that kind of sum up what happened in the last season. In a kind of parody style. Because I do that.

Be aware. As funny as this may turn out to be, this post will be a little bit spoilery.

Dollhouse
A Deconstruction, Part I

(FOX NETWORK EXEC and JOSS WHEDON sit at a table.)

FOX: Welcome back to the network, Joss. I hope you still aren't bitter about the whole Firefly thing.

JOSS: Well--

FOX: Excellent. We have to be honest, we weren't expecting to have you back after that whole fiasco. I mean, what a complete and utter failure, huh?

JOSS: But the DVD sales--

FOX: But you know what? We told Eliza she could have her own show, she wanted you, so we figured, "Hey, we can't stop her, right? It *is* in her contract!"

JOSS: Um, awesome. Did you see the Dollhouse pilot we shot?

FOX: Yeeeeeah, about that, we want you to re-write and re-shoot that.

JOSS: Wait, what?

FOX: And this whole arc thing? Not sure that the general audience is going to get it. We need more of a "case of the week" thing.

JOSS: But this is a sci-fi show. It's supposed to be all arc-y.

FOX: Yeah, but no one really knows who you are. I mean, maybe if you wrote a vampire TV series. Those are really popular. Would you be able to write a good vampire love story?

JOSS: ... excuse me?

FOX: Mmmm, I thought not. But I guess we can't all be as original as that Twilight chick. Man, that book was such a groundbreaking piece of literature. Who knew that a romantic story about a vampire and a human girl could be that endearing! Anyway, get back to us when you make a new episode of Valley of the Dolls, or A Doll's House, or whatever you call it.

JOSS: ...
___________________________________________

(Cut to Eliza Dushku as ECHO, clad in yoga gear, shaking a bit in a disturbing yet comfy looking chair. It props up and we see whiz kid TOPHER standing over her and her Watcher, er, I mean Handler BOYD standing next to him.)

ECHO: Did I fall asleep?

TOPHER: For a little while.

ECHO: Shall I go now?

TOPHER: If you like.

(Echo walks out.)

BOYD: Are all of the episodes going to begin like this?

TOPHER: Eh, give or take.

BOYD: Anyway, I'm uncomfortable with the assignments that Echo has been going on.

TOPHER: Listen, I know that you're following this whole formula of the "unrelated paternal figure" that certain writers like to use, but as a genius and egotistical Andrew-Cordelia-Xander hybrid, you really need to cool it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put this personality imprint VHS tape over here where the other ones go.

(Topher picks up the imprint VHS with thumb and forefinger and rushes off. The viewers can hear, "Hot, hot, hot, burning..." Boyd merely looks on.

Downstairs, in a spaceous room that looks like the swankiest day spa you've ever been to, Echo runs into SIERRA, another doll.)

SIERRA: Hello.

ECHO: Hello. Even though we do not have personalities, will you subconsciously be my best friend?

SIERRA: Okay.

(Enter VICTOR, a male doll. He stands next to Sierra.)

VICTOR: Hello.

SIERRA: Hello.

(Pause. The following moment can only be summed up with emoticons.)

VICTOR: <3

SIERRA: <3

(Cut to the office of ADELLE, a sophisticated, stand-offish British woman who runs the semi-underground organization in Los Angeles, CA. She is with AGENT DOMINIC, Dollhouse head of security.)

AGENT DOMINIC: Adelle, the doll Echo freaks me out. We should get rid of her like that other guy doll that developed a consciousness and went ape-crazy.

ADELLE: Well I'm a sophisticated, stand-offish British woman running a semi-underground organization based in Los Angeles, CA, and I say no. We can't afford to lose Echo.

AGENT DOMINIC: Why is she so important?

ADELLE: ... because I'm a sophisticated, stand-offish British woman?...

AGENT DOMINIC: Is that all you got?

ADELLE: Do you know how hard it is to be subtle about it?!

(Cut to FBI headquarters. A random FBI GUY and HELO FROM BATTLESTAR GALACTICA sit across from each other at an office table.)

FBI GUY: Okay Det. Helo... wait, that's not right. What's your name again?

DET. HELO: Detective Paul Ballard, FBI.

FBI GUY: Ermmmm... not digging it. You're Det. Helo.

DET. HELO: But--

FBI GUY: Now listen up, Det. Helo, this whole Dollhouse search is not cool in our book. We get that you're trying to find a bunch of mind-controlled sexy people doing awesome illegal things, which is a disturbing concept but could draw attention from the curious mainstream audience, but the ugly criminals need attention too. And when I mean ugly, I mean as much as television will allow.

DET. HELO: But the Dollhouse is real! It's real, I tell you! REAL!!!

FBI GUY: Prove it.

DET. HELO: ...

FBI GUY: That's what I thought. Now why don't you go home and pout over this at your apartment while you go over your conspiracy theories. Again.

DET. HELO: (through tears) Maybe I will.

(Det. Helo runs off, sobbing.

Cut to Det. Helo arriving at his apartment. The door to the room across from his opens and reveals MELLIE, who is too cute for words.)

MELLIE: Hi!

DET. HELO: Hello?

MELLIE: I'm your adorable next door neighbor who's trying to seem cool and collected even though she obviously has a big crush on you and your six pack abs. Would you like some leftovers?

(Mellie proceeds to hand him an freshly cooked lasagna, garlic bread, chocolate cake, and an unopened bottle of wine.)

DET. HELO: Um... thank you.

MELLIE: I love you too!

DET. HELO: Wait, what?

MELLIE: What?

DET. HELO: Did you say something?

MELLIE: No, that's silly. I'm going to be adorable and sad inside my apartment because I don't think you could ever like me. Goodbye!

(Mellie rushes into her apartment, leaving Det. Helo standing in the middle of the hallway with one-fifth of a hobbit feast.

For the next five episodes we see the following: Echo goes on a task, gets wiped. Topher quips. Boyd shows fatherly concern for Echo. Det. Helo scowls and looks sexy as he investigates the Dollhouse. Adelle shows no emotion and we get occasional looks at creepy-killer-male-doll ALPHA that show him as a threat, but will remain a mystery until the end of season one. Rinse repeat.)

JOSS: Can I have more of an arc now?

FOX: Hmmm... eh, we're probably going to cancel you anyway. Go right ahead.

JOSS: Awesome! Come, Tim Minear, let us away!

(Joss and TIM MINEAR run off faux superhero style. Ad-libbed "whoosh-ing" sounds come from them both.)

To Be Continued...

CBS and Pepsi Introduce Video in Print Advertising

2009-09-15T20:24:00.002-05:00

You know, we like to joke about how one day in the future we would be entertained by video embedded magazine and newspaper ads. Well, it looks like that day is getting closer.

I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

2009-09-14T09:15:00.000-05:00

OR: An Anomalous Gift Guide

Hi, I'm Sue. I would convert to scientology for Tomme Crayeuse, and I am an Anomaly.

There are only a few months left in 2009, and with the holiday season just around the corner, there are still some pretty great items that will be hitting the market. There are four items, in particular, that I'm am super-stoked about, and I think you should be stoked about, too. You can also consider this your Anomaly Gift Guide for the special geek girl in your life. After all, Christmas is only 101 days away! But if the geek girl in your life is anything like me, she already has these items on preorder.

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
US Release Date: October 6, 2009
UK Release Date: October 1, 2009

Back-Cover-Blurb: Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork - not the old fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go going when you drop them. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they're in the mood for trying everything else. The prospect of the Big Match draws in a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman, who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been, and the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt, which worries him, too. As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed for ever. Because the thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football. Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!

My Comments: If you aren't familiar with Sir Terry Pratchett... well, check with Margaret about your punishment. What you may not be aware of, however, is that Mr. Pratchett was diagnosed with "a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's" in late 2007, just as he was beginning to plan Unseen Academicals, the 37th Discworld novel. In May 2008, he admitted that this disease was beginning to affect his work. He has stated many times that he will continue to write for as long as his brain allows. I've loved the Discworld since I first picked up Wyrd Sisters way back in the day, and knowing that the Discworld stories may come to an end sooner than anyone intended has made me love it more. Furthermore, I've been to numerous signings and appearances, and Terry Pratchett is a very genuine and kind person, and cares very much for the charities he's involved with. So, if you haven't yet, go pick up a Terry Pratchett book, and get to reading. (Personally, I order my hardbacks from the UK. It takes a little longer and costs a little more, but I prefer Paul Kidby's cover art [pictured] to what we Americans come up with.)

The Farscape Complete Series Megaset
Release Date: November 17, 2009

From the Press Release: Never before available in one package, A&E Home Entertainment brings together all four out-of-this-world seasons with countless hours of absorbing bonus programming featuring multiple commentaries, interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes featurettes and much more! Single season collector’s sets will also be released, offering genre fans of all walks the opportunity to sample this superlative sci-fi classic.

My Comments: I came to Farscape late. Very late. Within the last year. All things considered, I'm glad it was then and not just a bit earlier, because all 4 seasons were available on iTunes. For a long time before that, you couldn't get Farscape anywhere unless you wanted to pay way too much for the DVDs. So, I've only every seen Chriton on my teeny iPod screen. So I was thrilled with The Henson Company's press release on July 1. There's loads of extra content - documentaries, commentaries, bloopers - the only thing missing is the miniseries, The Peacekeeper Wars, and I've heard it has something to do with licensing - go figure. The MSRP is $149.95, which really isn't too bad for 4 season of a scifi show ($37.50 per season), but with Amazon's "pre-order price guarantee", you get the lowest list price between the date of your order and the release date. Right now, it's already down to $104.99.

Star Trek (2009)
Release Date: November 17, 2009
Press Release (It's too long, go read it for yourself!)

From the UGO Movie Blog by Jordan Hoffman (Movies Editor):
Few filmmakers have so boldly placed their necks upon the chopping block of radical, fanatical nerddom. Maybe Peter Jackson did when he bit off all three Lord of the Rings movies at once, but that franchise, adorned binders aside, had no agreed upon visual and aural blueprint. The words Star Trek instantly conjure 726 hours of episodic television, ten feature films, crates of comics and some halfway decent video games. You've got to have nacelles of steel to think you can come in and make "not your Father's Star Trek" without burning down the house you are trying to construct. J.J. Abrams, much like James T. Kirk, doesn't believe in the no-win situation. His Star Trek is a triumph. It is truly the dawn of a new era - multiple films, tv shows and books could and should spawn from this new, "the early years" iteration. Any sane person will love this flick and only those most hardcore of convention-going Trekkies (of which I am one) will find even a hint of something negative to say about the movie.

I have nothing to add.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Release Date: December 29, 2009

Back-Cover-Blurb: Part social satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, Shades of Grey tells of a battle against overwhelming odds. In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means. Eddie’s world wasn’t always like this. There’s evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion. Eddie, who works for the Color Control Agency, might well have lived out his rose-tinted life without a hitch. But that changes when he becomes smitten with Jane, a Grey Nightseer from the dark, unlit side of the village. She shows Eddie that all is not well with the world he thinks is just and good. Together, they engage in dangerous revolutionary talk.

My Comments: Jasper Fforde is the author of the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series. Take sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, classic lit, and kid's lit and throw them all in a blender with ice - delicious. I recommend both series - and both are fairly new, so there's not that much catching up to do. FYI: the sixth Thursday Next book is scheduled to be released in July 2010 and is tentatively titled One of our Thursdays is Missing, and the third and final installment of the Nursery Crime series, The Last Great Tortoise Race, is due in 2011 or 2012 depending on the publisher's schedule. But this novel is a departure for Fforde in that it's not metafiction. This novel is the first in a new three-part series that will be much darker than Fforde's previous work. On his website, Fforde says, "Don't worry, it will sill be pretty silly."

Happy shopping!

Sue
Anomaly Staff Writer
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My Anti-Social GameFly Experiment

2009-09-04T17:54:00.001-05:00

Hi, I'm Sue. I'm on a Ahab-like hunt for a coelecanth, and I am an Anomaly.

I recently finished a 15-day free trial with GameFly, and thought I would share my findings with all of you. The purpose was threefold: to test some games I was thinking about buying, to test the GameFly service itself, and to have a topic for another post. I've come to call this my "anti-social" experiment because one of the games I tested was Animal Crossing: City Folk and, well, I'm completely addicted (My friend code is 4082-4437-4246... come visit!) For example, last Saturday, I played it for 14.5 hours. I've been getting up early to play before work, and coming home and playing into the night (once the Yankees game if over, of course). It's becoming a problem. There might be cause for a Wiintervention. At any rate...

First, a little background: I am no stranger to internet rentals - I've been a Netflix member since June 2004 - they've followed me through 5 or 6 different residences. I'm under the impression that I have been spoiled by Netflix with their fast shipping times and excellent selection and availability (in my experience). In that time, I'd read both positive and negative things regarding GameFly. Since Netflix has no plans to rent games in the near future, I decided to give it a go for myself.

My immediate observations upon visiting the GameFly website?
1. The standard trial period is 10 days. 10 DAYS! A little short, methinks. Netflix and Blockbuster both have 2 week trial periods, and have promo codes readily available to extend that to a month. I could find a GameFly promo code, so I signed up anyway. I found one later... which was the cause for my contact with customer service, mentioned below.
2. GameFly is expensive! I have the standard 3-DVD plan from Netflix for $16.99 per month. GameFly's standard plan is 2 games at a time for $22.95 per month. Ba-zing. I know that games are generally more expensive than DVDs, but come on.

So, here's how it went down:
Day 01: Signed up, added games to MyGameQ. You do have to give a CC so they can auto-renew you if you don't cancel in time.
Day 02: GameFly shipped 2 games (1:09pm, 4:14pm). Via Twitter, found promo code for 15 day trial, emailed customer service (6:32pm) to see if it could still be applied.
Day 03: Hadn't heard back from Customer Service. So I located the CS Chat function, and they applied the promo code for a 15 day trial.
Day 04: Both games arrived.
Day 05: One of the games crashed my Wii! (Sunday - no mail)
Day 06: ...
Day 07: Returned a game, dropped in the mailbox at 11:45am.
Day 08: ...
Day 09: ...
Day 10: GameFly's received the game mailed on Day 7, shipped the next game in MyGameQ (1:49pm)
Day 11: ...
Day 12: ... (Sunday - no mail)
Day 13: Next game arrives.
Day 14: ...
Day 15: Canceled the service and dropped both games in the mail at 5:15pm.
(Day 17: Both games received by GameFly - they needed to be returned within 7 days or they'd charge the membership fee)

Incidentally, I ordered AC: City Folk from Amazon on Day 7, the same day I returned a game. It arrived one day before the replacement from GameFly. Way to be awesome, Amazon.

The PROs:
*You can add game systems to your profile. If you then attempt to add a game to your GameQ that's not on a platform you own, there an "Are you sure?" message. I assume it can get annoying, but just add all your systems, and I think it would be rather useful.
*The customer service chat feature. It's actually a person, not a bot, who's there to help you. And, when you've ending the chat, they email you a transcript for your records.
*The "Keep" feature. If you really like a game, you can log into your account, view your GameQ, and choose "keep." They charge your credit card on file for an amount shown (they seem to be pretty reasonable in terms of pre-played game prices), you keep the disc you already have, and they ship you the case and instruction manual, and the next game in your GameQ. I didn't use it, but I think it's pretty neat.
*The twitterfeed, @GameFlyInc. They use it as another customer service outlet. Again, an actual person you can contact who will help you out.

The CONs:
*I couldn't figure out how to consistently access the customer service chat. It doesn't seem to have a standard location on the website, and I couldn't find it via search, either. It would just occasionally appear in the side bar.

*Lack of response from an email to customer service.
*The price, as discussed above. There are "better" deals (4- and 5-game plans) available to those who are long time subscribers, but it doesn't seem to get much more cost effective.
*There are only 4 distribution centers: Pittsburgh (my closest), Tampa, Austin, and Los Angeles. Which means longer shipping times. There is a "FastReturn" program, in which USPS scans GameFly returns, reports back, and GameFly immediately sends the next game in your GameQ. But, it appears very few post offices actually have the equipment to do this.
*Popular and new games have extremely limited availability. Almost nothing in my GameQ was "available now", and I wanted to try games that were released last Christmas.

Untested Features:
*Trade In - only renting members with at least three membership charges. But, depending on the value you get for your pre-played games, this could be a nice feature.
*Gamefly Rewards - "You'll earn benefits for every 3 consecutive months that you rent from GameFly, including GameFly Dollars and percent-off discounts that you can use to save on Buys and Keeps of pre-played games."
*Friends Referral Program - Refer a friend with your referral code. If they stay with GameFly for at least two monthly membership charges, you get a $20 gift card. So they have to spend $46 for you to get $20? Just give me the $46. ;)

Conclusions:
My goal as a member of GameFly would be to try different games to see if I felt they were worth buying. Based on my experiences recently, I estimate that I would play games for 5-6 days to get a feel for them and form an opinion, and then return them. If I staggered playing time between games, played every day, and factored in shipping, I could probably try 5-6 games per month, max. But I don't necessarily play every day (except Animal Crossing, apparently). And I'm also not the type, generally, who will play a game incessantly until I've beaten it. I put things done and come back to them, sometimes weeks later - I haven't gone on tour in Rock Band for months...

So, I've determined that GameFly is not for me. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is the combination of price and shipping time. As I said before, games are much more expensive than DVDs, so there's a higher cost to their inventory. I get that. However, I'll bet they're making a pretty penny off trade-ins and "keep"s. And, I live pretty close to Pittsburgh, my distribution center. I wonder how long it takes games to arrive for people in Missouri... or wherever the midpoint is between PA, TX, FL, and CA. Assuming that an increase in distribution centers in not plausible with the current economic climate, maybe they should rethink their pricing. If it were 3 games at a time for $22.95 - or even 2 games at a time for $19.95 - I think the general public would think it a much better value. I think that I might. And I might have just continued the service. I'm no economist, but my friend Alexis (who is) agrees that they'd probably be making much more money from the casual gamer if they lowered their prices just a smidge.

However: if you are not a casual gamer, but a serious, avid video gamer, GameFly might be for you. If you can play one game for a week, beat it, and move on, this could save you some serious cash, spending $23 per month instead of $50 per game. (Although, after a few months, most games can be found for $20-30 on Amazon.)

Of course, don't just take my word for it. If you want to try it for yourself, you can get the 15-day trial by going to gamefly.com/promo and entering the code 1TWITTER5. (Twitter's awesome.) Just remember to cancel on time and get those games back within a week!

Personally, I'm glad I tried it out, but I think I'm going to stick to the old-school Blockbuster pay-per-rental way of trying new games. I still have my poorly laminated 1998-issue Blockbuster card in my wallet... Wait, they still rent that way, right?

Sue
Anomaly Staff Writer
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KC's Top Five Frightening Figures

2009-09-02T10:26:00.004-05:00

I'm KC, and there's nothing that combines my two loves more than a Star Wars-themed episode of "Ace of Cakes." And I'm an Anomaly.

Now, I know a lot of you have seen District 9, and everyone has been saying it's the best movie of the summer and that I must see it ASAP. And I believe you. I really, really do. But there is a strong reason why I haven't seen it yet. It may be a silly reason, but it is a strong one, and it is this:

The aliens seen in the trailer frighten me.

I can hear you giggling. And many of you who have already seen the movie have told me that they are "creatures you pity" or "they're sympathetic." That's great, but that doesn't change the fact that they look like bugs, which also frighten me. That, and I'm strongly suspicious of aliens that are deemed as good. Even E.T. is an outerspace being that I have issue with... (I don't care how innocent he looks when he's pointing and saying his cute classic lines, he's up to something.)

That doesn't mean that I don't want to see District 9 and other movies like it, I do. It's just that it is quite difficult to be a sci-fi fan and not be able to expose yourself to quintessential movies like Alien because you have had the same tolerance for what are universally called "scary movies" since you were five-year-old. But there have been some times when I go to a movie which I do not discover until thirty minutes in that there is a fright factor. Wait, scratch the "some times," revise as "many, many times."

Here are some of the top five creatures/people/monsters that frighten the frak out of me, in no specific order.

The Pale Man (Pan's Labyrinth)
Now, there were a lot of characters in Pan's Labyrinth that gave me the willies. The Faun was particularly creeptastic, and Captain Vidal is by far one of the more lecherous villains I have seen in film. However, I think we can all agree when I say that the Pale Man trumps them all in the "Most Likely to Give Viewers Nightmares" category. I mean, c'mon. He eats children and his eyes are in his hands! And leave it to mastermind Doug Jones to create the smooth movement of a true monster, which he has also done for various characters in the Hellboy movies. Oh and he also played one of the Gentlemen in the Buffy episode "Hush." So, yeah, Pale Man. No. Just no. No, no, no, no, no.

The Joker (The Dark Knight)
I don't know about you, but none of the Batman villains ever scared me. I knew that they were crazy, but they never seemed truly threatening. Even arch-nemesis, the Joker, seemed to lack this serious feel. Then Christopher Nolan revived the Batman film franchise, hired Heath Ledger, and all of a sudden you've got one of the most unforgettable and disturbing cinematic performances in history. I'm still trying to muster up the courage to watch The Dark Knight again, simply because it scared me that much.

Frank the Bunny (Donnie Darko)
To this day, I still freak out whenever I see a rabbit mask of any sort. I don't know if I can describe why Frank scares me so, mostly because Donnie Darko is worth seeing and I don't wish to spoil a thing. I can't even think of a logical reason of why this character scares me except for the fact that his costume is downright freaky. However, I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever want to see anybody in this costume on Halloween night.Ever.

The Orcs (The Lord of the Rings trilogy)
...'nuff said.

Ewoks (Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
You laugh, but these creatures are terrifying. To the eye, they look like hobbit-sized teddy bears. But these little furry devils are a primal civilization that can mess you up. And people tend to forget that they almost ate Han and Luke. Like, for lunch! If Luke hadn't used the force when he did, he and Mr. Solo would have ended up as soylent green for the Ewok diet. So look into those beady little eyes and tell me that they're cute now.

So there you have it. Those are currently my top five freaky nightmare-inducing characters. Silly to you, maybe. But to me? They must be dealt with. Hardcore.

Anomaly Miniskirt Robo Debate

2009-08-28T13:34:00.014-05:00

This week Angela and I chatted over lunch about corpse eating robots. Yeah...over lunch. Yum. :)

This point counterpoint debate tied the Firefly: Shindig topic in our listener poll, so we decided to do an episode on both and we had a ball doing so.

The stances that we took in this miniskirt episode don't necessarily reflect our actual view points, but we had fun making up reasons to either support or oppose the manufacturing of autonomous killing machines.

My position was that Science Fiction has warned the dangers of robot armies. Most of the time, said robots turn on their masters. Ummm, hello??? Hasn't anyone watched The Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, THX1148, I-Robot, 2001, A Space Odyssey, Westworld or Star Trek The Motion Picture (V-Ger)?

Angela's opinion in this episode, is that these machines are being created to save human lives and that as long as there are humans making the decisions, rather than the robots thinking for themselves, everything should be rainbows and lollipops. ;)

It was a short and sweet debate followed by an awesome song called: The Humans Are Dead. You should rush out and buy every song Flight Of The Conchords has recorded/filmed...oh, and be wary of robots that eat organic.

Listen online

Promos played this week:
Appy Times
Here Goes Nothing
The Age Of The Zombies
Waffle On
Take Him With You
Treks In Sci Fi
Knights Of The Guild
The Adventures Of Indiana Jim
Star Wars Fan Works

Jen
Co-host of Anomaly
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The Line Must Be Drawn HEYAH!

2009-08-20T14:15:00.007-05:00

Hi, I'm Sue. I am more conversational in Klingon than in Spanish. I am not a fangirl, but I am an Anomaly.

Okay, this whole thing started on August 11, when Jen (@Sevryll) tweeted the following:
Got this Google Alert with a heading to an article at the top: "Are You a Fanboy? 19 Signs to Look For". Like it's a disease or something!
The article got some discussion throughout the day on Twitter from the usual crowd, but it got me thinking about the word "fanboy." And - because of the Word Nerds, A Way With Words and Podictionary podcasts - when I think about '"slang" words, I head to UrbanDictionary and Wikipedia to see how words are used, rather than how they're supposed to be used.

UrbanDictionary defines "fanboy" as "a passionate fan of various elements of geek culture (e.g. sci-fi, comics, Star Wars, video games, anime, hobbits, Magic: The Gathering, etc.), but who lets his passion override social graces." This definition has a very high approval rating - 1180 up, 214 down. For me, the keyword here is "passionate." As for that passion overriding social graces, that's case-by-case in my opinion. And then I pulled up the Wikipedia article on "fan," which states, "Fanboys are often experts on minor details regarding their hobbies, such as continuity in fictional universes, and they take these details extremely seriously."

Okay, well, what about "fangirl"?

Here are three popular definitions of "fangirl" from UrbanDictionary:

*A rabid breed of human female who is obsessed with either a fictional character or an actor. Similar to the breed of fanboy. Fangirls congregate at anime conventions and livejournal. Have been known to glomp, grope, and tackle when encountering said obesessions. (1146 up, 72 down)

* A female who has overstepped the line between healthy fandom and indecent obsession (663 up, 112 down)

* (derogatory) A female fan, obsessed with something (or someone) to a frightening or sickening degree. Often considered ditzy, annoying and shallow. (308 up, 31 down)

No "passion" there. Only "obsession."

And from Wikipedia:
"Fangirl behavior can vary in intensity. On one end of the scale are those that, while harboring a crush on a particular actor or character, are perfectly capable of understanding that the fulfilment of the crush is never going to happen. On the other end are the girls who are said to be obsessive in their claims on a fictional character, even fighting with other fangirls over who 'owns' the character in question."

I have witnessed the far-end-of-the-spectrum behavior described above, and it's extremely disturbing. I remove myself from that company immediately (usually that company is comprised of girls 13-16 years old, so I didn't want to be there in the first place), whether it be online or in person.

Now, I won't deny that I have a bit of a crush on Dr. Daniel Jackson or that I'm a Picard/Crusher 'shipper. (Yes, there is fanfic in my past. No, you may not read it.) I have met both Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden, as well as other sci-fi actors, and did not "glomp", "grope", or "tackle." And while a shirtless Michael Shanks might be a nice plus to an episode of SG1, it is not my reason for watching. But most importantly, it seems, I have the ability to recognize fiction as different and separate from reality.

So, why does "fangirl" carry this stigma while "fanboy" has been adopted by the geek community as a term of status? Well, as is too often the case, it seems that the loudest and most extreme subset of a social group, although it may be [and is usually] the smallest, determines how the entire group is perceived. It would be nice if the difference between "fanboy" and "fangirl" was simply a case of gender. Maybe it'll get there some day.

Until then, please don't call me a fangirl.

Sue
Anomaly Staff Writer
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Recommendations for Nerdlets: 10 Anomaly-Worthy Authors for the Child of Your Loins

2009-08-14T09:58:00.003-05:00

Subtitle: Books You Will Be Happy to Read With/Before/After/Instead of Your Kids

Second Subtitle: This Will Be a Long One

Hi, I’m Margaret. I choose my purses based on how many books they can hold, and I am an Anomaly. I let some people preview my introduction post, and there have been a lot of requests for this topic, so here goes. This is a bit weird to write about because I have no kids, but I figure the more “younguns” turned to the ways of literacy and imagination NOW (ya know, the Dark Side), the more good books there will be for the rest of us read in our old ages—muahahah! I’m not going to give age estimates, because some kids read earlier than others. If you’d like your kid to be a reader, I do recommend a children’s book club from a very young age (I recently found Pickles the Fire Cat is still in publication, which I remember fondly from my own book club an unspecified number of years later) and a subscription to a kids’ magazine such as Ranger Rick. Be sure to vet magazines first—a lot of the ones I’ve looked at recently in bookstores are mostly ads.

If you have any geek-cred at all, you’re going to be well aware of the classics: Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series (a little dated but great for budding Arthurians); Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave et al.; C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe series (if your kids want to watch the movies, PLEASE have them read the books first); Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series (These were some of my favorite books as a new “double-digit” [I was traumatized by the thought of never being a single digit again], not least because I shared a name with the first book’s main character. Actually, I haven’t read these in years—bookstore trip!); Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (I’m making an exception to my no-books-to-movies rule to gush about Tim Burton [one of my favorite directors] and Helena Bonham Carter [one of my favorite actresses—she has THE most interesting face ever] making this movie adaptation.).

1. Terry Pratchett: Tiffany Aching series Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith
Featuring the Nac Mac Feegles. Set in the Discworld, which is a place we ALL need to visit. If you (the adult) haven’t read Pratchett, please proceed to the nearest library or bookstore and enroll in remedial literary education now! Der kin onlie be one tousand!

2. Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The first book is The Lightning Thief.
The first one was amazing. Rick Riordan also writes mysteries set in San Antonio, so I was familiar with the name. But these are a wonderful surprise—I will definitely be buying and reading the rest.

3. Neil Gaiman: The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (picture book), Coraline, and The Graveyard Book

Gaiman is also one of my personal favorites. Coraline is a bit dark, as is The Graveyard Book, but Gaiman’s adult books, including Stardust, Neverwhere, American Gods, and Good Omens (the latter in collaboration with Terry Pratchett) run the gamut from steampunk-esque to fairies to Norse gods to the Apocalypse. Stardust also turned into a fairly decent movie.

4. Garth Nix: Keys to the Kingdom series. Mister Monday is the first one (and the only one I’ve read so far.)

For some reason these remind me a lot of the Tuesday Next books by Jasper Fforde. Not as good as Rick Riordan imo, but still worthwhile.

5. Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (picture books): The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Science Verse, Math Curse
My cousin was the Queen of the Children’s Book Section at her bookstore (no kidding—I think she had a tiara!), and she turned me on to these. The first two are skewed versions of classic nursery stories and the last two are introductions to math and science. Anything from these two is guaranteed high-larious.

6. Lloyd Alexander: Chronicles of Prydain series: Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, Castle Llyr, Taran Wanderer, The High King

These deserve to be with the classics, but not a lot of people seem to have heard of them. Kids who have read Harry Potter and/or seen the Peter Jackson LotR movies will definitely see parallels. Gurgi was SOOOOO my favorite character—munchings and crunchings? Black Cauldron was also made into a cartoon that is pretty dark and scary from what I remember.

7. Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer: The Phantom Tollbooth

One of the few I did not read as a child. Still a damn good read for a 30-mumble.

8. Maurice Sendak: (picture books) Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There

Really anything by Sendak is worthwhile, although I am EXTREMELY dubious about this live-action WtWTA movie that I’ve seen trailers for. Can’t help thinking it’s going to be Bad and Wrong. And oddly, I just read that the movie Labyrinth (which is a favorite) is based on Outside Over There. I particularly remember this book b/c it’s one of the few Sendak books with a female protagonist, and I wanted a baby sister to rescue.

9. The Dark Crystal (movie)

Okay okay not a book (though it can be found in book version), although Jim Henson and Frank Oz deserve their own hall of fame for the ignition of my generation’s imagination. But this is such a wonderful movie for all ages. I was talking to a teenage friend in WoW recently and told her to go watch this. She came back the next week and was ranting “How did I miss this when I was little? My parents are so fired!”

10. Richard Peck: Ghosts I Have Been, The Ghost Belonged to Me, The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp

I loved these as a kid, especially the feisty female protagonist.

(Honorable Mention)Florence Engel Randall: The Watcher in the Woods

Please do not confuse this with the Liparulo books. Sadly, I’ve read that this is now out of print.
(Honorable Mention)Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl series

The first and second ones are a fun mix of fairies and tech, with an evil boy genius criminal mastermind. I’ve heard that the series slacks off a bit later on.

Margaret
Anomaly Staff Writer
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Thanks to Weslea, Anne, and Harriet for additional suggestions, even if I haven’t used them.

Best. Opera. Ever.

2009-08-12T17:54:00.001-05:00

Le Wrath di Khan from [adult swim].

That's all for now.

Sue
Anomaly Staff Writer
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What's Up, Anoma-llamas?

2009-08-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

Hello, I'm KC. I know the answer to life, the universe, and everything... and it is 42. And I am an Anomaly.

I will have to make an admission here and now: I was not always the geek that I am now. Like Darth Vader, I was on a path to the dark side, but nothing truly caught my attention. Sadly, not even my beloved "Firefly" could bring me to this point--I still thought of it as an awesome show that did not deserve to get canceled, but it did not manage to make me acknowledge my geeky half. Luckily, in January 2008, I encountered what finally brought me out of this repression of nerdiness. This entity, my fellow anomalies, was a little show called "Doctor Who" featuring David Tennant as the 10th Doctor. And I have never looked back.

Since then, I have been catching up on what I have missed out on in geekdom, such as all Joss Whedon's ventures in television, Star Trek: TNG, completing the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning Harry Potter, etc. I have begun to enjoy reading again after a long recess, and I'm currently working my way through the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. However, I do not read as fast as Margaret does, so that may take me a while. There are some things that I have not been able to master (namely video games), or popular crazes that I don't completely understand (i.e. manga and Twilight), but I do try.

I've been a personal friend of Angela's for a few years and met Jen through her. I also guest hosted with Gerald on "The Anomaly of the Star Wars Holiday Special" during which we all busted out some Queen and attempted to translate the Wookie dialect. I have my own blog at KC Geek Chic, where I post monthly--or at least I try to--about silly, geeky things such as reviews, random thoughts on geek culture, the occasional blogcast, and anything else that I can muster to think of.

For Anomalous Musings, you can expect some of the following articles from me:

Revenge of the Newb: The Quests of a Non-Gaming Geek

Master Class: Profiles on the Works of Accomplished Genre Actors and Actresses

Fan-Made: Favorite Pieces of Fiction, Art, Music, and Videos Made by Fans for Fans

You might also esee some book reviews (a popular choice here at AM) and film/television commentary (also an irristable topic). I tend to be very random and silly in terms of writing, so I hope that you enjoy that aspect of it. Think of my blogs as you would while reading a Monty Python or Joss Whedon script. You know, minus parrots and likeable characters dying.

KC
Anomaly Staff Writer
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Margaret Joins The Fray

2009-08-10T10:24:00.004-05:00

Hi, I’m Margaret. I spell-check my 1337-5p34k, and I am an Anomaly.
So this is my first-ever experience with blogging, and the Anomaly folks wanted me to introduce myself and give some credentials. I’m an omnivorous reader of everything from hard sci-fi to epic fantasy to space opera to mainstream fiction to romance novels (/blush) to mysteries to travel books to… well anything. I read about 5–6 books a week, although the downside is the need to read something at least twice before I REALLY absorb it. What I’ve read this past week in no particular order: James Blaylock: The Paper Grail, Lisa Jackson: Absolute Fear, Alastair Reynolds: Chasm City, Jacqueline Carey: Santa Olivia and Kushiel's Mercy, Carol O’Connell: Crime School, and Christopher Moore: You Suck.

I’ve been a rabid World of Warcraft player since shortly after the game came out (you may have heard me being uh… rabid on an Anomaly episode); a costume-wearing, no-bath-taking, Loki-drinking RenFaire geek; a huge Sims 3 fan (and Aarin fangirl); can and will quote extensively from Kids in the Hall; obsessed with nonograms and logic puzzles; an emotional hedgehog; and think Stephanie Meyer should be forcibly introduced to Mr. Pointy for making vampires sparkly.

So, future blogs from me may be on anything including:

*Experiences of an Old-School WoW Player in the Not-So-Brave New World of Warcraft

*Weird Little Games and Websites: What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

*What is Margaret Reading Now and Why Should We Care?

*Recommendations for Nerdlets: 10 Anomaly-Worthy Books for the Child of your Loins

*Movies I Think are Underrated/Overrated and Why I Love/Hate Them

My husband and I will also be attending DragonCon this year in Atlanta. This will be my first “con” aside from BlizzCon, so I’m very excited! You can anticipate (or dread) a loooooong post about that in the future!

So, that’s me. IRL and in-text I tend to make a lot of obscure and internally-referenced jokes, so please let me know if you don’t get one, although my explanations usually seem to make people MORE confused rather than less. =)

Margaret
Anomaly Staff Writer
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P.S. I *just* finished watching the special edition of the first season of Joss Whedon’s/Eliza Dushku’s new series Dollhouse, and it is bloody FABULOUS! Makes me wish I had functional television. I can’t track down when the regular DVD is coming out (a friend got the special edition at Comicon and let me borrow it), but you can bet I’ll be buying a copy for myself.

Hi everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick!)

2009-08-10T08:45:00.003-05:00

Hi, I'm Sue. I've made a mii for each of the senior staff on Star Trek TNG, and I am an Anomaly.

I'm also rather honored to be invited to be a contributor to the Anomalous Musings blog - exciting! But I'm supposed to introduce myself. Well, my BA is in Mathematical Chaos Theory, and I work in Arts Administration, where the most complicated math I do is multiplication. I still love math, and I try to keep up with what's going on my field of study, because it's still a growing field and one that's only existed since the 1980s. I owe a lot of my geekiness to my older brother, who actually makes a living as a mathematician, and started exposing me to Star Wars, Star Trek, and sci-fi lit at a very early age (5-6 weeks!). And we'll likely be attending WorldCon 2011 together (as we did WordCon 2004/Noreascon 4). What's WorldCon? The World Science Fiction Convention!

My first geek-love is Star Trek, everything else follows from that. I'm loving the geek-comedy craze - Big Bang Theory, Futurama - that seems to be happening now. Somehow I missed a lot of great sci-fi television over the last few years. In the past year, I've discovered Farscape and Stargate, and I completely missed the BSG bandwagon (don't worry, the DVDs are in the Netflix queue). Of course, by watching DVDs, I don't watch current television. And now that it's baseball season, I'm not watching anything else until [hopefully] late October.

I love baseball. And theater. And books. And video games. And learning. And food. And silliness. I truly believe that you can be a geek about anything, it's more of a level of interest and excited about a topic than a personality trait. It follows that I subscribe to over 40 podcasts, with nearly 700 unheard episodes. I love to read, but my podcasts have recently been encroaching on my reading time. Maybe I needed to reevaluate...

Anyway, the type of posts you can expect from me...
*old tv series I've just discovered, not necessarily sci-fi but definitely geeky
*other podcasts and why I love them
*books! (Jen's been trying to get me to write book reviews for months)
*the rare convention that I attend
*geek viral videos that everyone needs to see
*games, both video and board
*math! (no, I won't post my senior research paper)
*other: _____________________

And, finally, I tend to type as I talk when blogging. It doesn't always translate to the written word. If I don't make sense, please tell me, and I'll edit. I also tend to forget to capitalize - forgive me. So, I guess it's off to the races. Any suggestions as to what my first non-introduction post should be about?

Sue
Anomaly Staff Writer
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I've Go Strength... I've Got Streeeennnnnggggth...

2009-08-02T15:22:00.023-05:00

Anomaly is growing! We've added three new writers to our blog. Please welcome our friends and fellow Anomalies (socially functional fan girls): Kasey, Margaret and Sue to the Anomalous Musing writing staff.

Sue (AKA spaltor) is a blogger, friend and valued listener who has sent us great feedback in the past. Margaret is a personal friend and fellow Renfester. She has appeared as a guest on "Anomaly Of Renfest Round -Tables". Kasey is also a personal friend, blogger, valued listener and guest host. She joined us on the episode: "Anomaly Of The Star Wars Holiday Special". Look for their articles in the next few weeks and don't forget to welcome them aboard!

Our 'not so mini MiniSkirt Cast' is now in the feed: Anomaly MiniSkirt In The Shadows featuring an interview with Dany Pepin, writer and director of the upcoming audio drama: Star Wars In The Shadows. See the Show notes in the blog post below. Swing by our web site in the next day or so, we are adding a podcast player to our Archive page for those of you who don't want to subscribe. Bare in mind our podcast subscription is free—we are only paid in listener emails and iTunes ratings. :D

Talk to you soon,

Jen
Co-host of Anomaly
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Not So Mini, MiniSkirt Ep: In The Shadows

2009-08-02T10:46:00.016-05:00

This week's edition of Anomaly features an interview with Dany Pepin. I hosted this "not so mini MiniSkirt cast" alone, but never fear your favorite Anomaly co-host will return later this month for our next 'fully loaded' episode. Don't forget to vote for that show's main topic! So far, Firefly: Shindig is winning by a landslide! There's a poll on the right within this blog. Just select the topic that interests you the most and your vote will be tallied. Easy peezy. ;)

Now to discuss the interview... Dany Pepin is the co-host of Star Wars en Direct and writer, director and producer of the audio dramas Star Wars: Omega Squad Targets and Star Wars: In The Shadows. Dany is a fan who decided to try his hand at his own Star Wars story and the above mentioned audio dramas are the result of his hard work. Creating something like this, no matter one's skill set, is a labor of love and the only payment is the fun had while making it. Dany is working to complete the series by the fall of this year. You can keep up with the production updates by following him on Twitter or subscribing to his web site.

In addition to my interview with Dany, I have included a segment recorded by Nathan P. Butler of the Butlernerverse and Chronoradio podcasts, The Star Wars Timeline Gold , co-author of Star Wars Tales #21 Equals and Opposites and founder of the Star Wars Fanworks web site (the network that Anomaly is apart of). Nathan was kind enough to provide an Expanded Universe background on the two characters who appear in this drama, Guri (played by me) and Xizor (played by Jim Perry). You can find a plethora of great Star Wars audio dramas at Starwarsfanworks.com. Give them a listen! Star Wars Fanworks also has a great community that Anomaly is apart of. Check it out at galacticsenate.com and while your at it, sign up for the other community Angela and I frequent at Treksinscifi.com

Dany did me a favor and sent one of the completed scenes that Guri appears in. The scene is a bit out of context, but you'll be able to hear the quality work he put into this project and get a taste of what's to come.

Let Dany and Nathan know you heard them on our show! Check out the links I provided above and tell them what you thought. :)

Listen on line now

Jen
Co-host of Anomaly
Subscribe to Anomaly Via iTunes

Anomaly Of LOTR Fellowship Of The Ring

2009-07-18T12:24:00.017-05:00

A new episode is up in the Anomaly feed: "Anomaly Of Lord Of The Rings, Fellowship Of the Ring". We had some technical difficulties with my microphone that day, but we decided in the end not to rerecord because we could never duplicate the conversation.

Angela and I talked about the story, symbolism, cinematography, who our favorite characters are in FOTR and... who we think is the 'hottest'. It's a snack that we plan to turn into a full meal in a later episode.

Click here to stream this episode.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Please vote for us on iTunes, if you haven't already. We haven't had a vote there for months.

Also, there's a new poll up in this blog for the next full-size Anomaly episode. Please vote.

The next miniskirt cast will be an interview with Dany Pepin, the former co-host of Star Wars En Direct and writer/director/producer of the upcoming Star Wars audio drama: "Star Wars In The Shadows." We will play a scene from the first part and talk about the Expanded Universe, the work that goes into producing a fan-made audio drama and the project itself.

Our friend "Meds:, from Waffle On, and I both have roles in this drama. I'm playing the part of "Guri" and Meds is playing the role of an imperial officer and an interrogator and does a mighty fine job if I do say so myself. It was so much fun and we're both very proud to be apart of it. Listen to Waffle On to hear another scene from the drama.

Finally, follow us on Twitter and youtube! Angela's Twitter name is "Archangela23". Jen's Twitter name is "Sevryll". If you do follow us, drop us a line to let us know you're a listener...if you don't we may accidentally block you.

Jen
Co-host of Anomaly
Subscribe to Anomaly Via iTunes

Taylor Swift: Rap'n, Hard Hit'n, Vulcan

2009-06-17T12:45:00.008-05:00

I thought this video was hi-larious! I may actually listen to a Taylor Swift song now...

If it won't play for you check it out here.

Jen
Co-host of Anomaly
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Man Vs Machine

2009-06-04T10:43:00.015-05:00

On the Anomaly Podcast, Angela and I often discuss the underlying themes of our favorite Science Fiction television shows and movies in a lighthearted, hopefully entertaining fashion. One of the things we enjoy the most about this genre, is its ability to deliver a message on a level that people, no matter their background or viewpoint, are able to digest and learn from.

A common theme in Science Fiction is man verses machine. Sometimes the machine is just that, a machine, and sometimes it’s an oppressive government. There are many examples of this topic in novels, comics and movies. A few that come to mind are: 1984, Brave New World, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek (The Borg and Cardassian occupation for ex), The Terminator, Blade Runner, Firefly, Chronicles of Riddick, Dune, The Matrix, Planet Of The Apes, Independence Day and yes...even Galaxy Quest. I’ll stop there, but the list is pretty darn long.

Though the plots in the above novels, movies and television shows differ from one another, the themes are analogous. At their core, they each address the fight for freedom and they are inspired by real world struggles. As a citizen of a free nation, I can list at least seven battles for freedom that are directly related to my country and state: the American Revolution, the Battle Of The Alamo, the Civil War, World War I, Women’s Suffrage, War II and the Civil Rights movement. If you’re not an American, and you’re reading this blog, chances are you are enjoying the freedom that you or your countrymen earned. Where am I going with this? Let me elaborate...

Today is the twentieth anniversary of another battle for freedom; one that, like the Battle Of The Alamo, ended without victory yet the sacrifice made during that ‘conflict’ inspired a people. I’m referring to the Tiananmen Square Protest/Massacre that occurred in Beijing, China on June 4, 1989; the one that the Chinese refer to as ‘the June 4th Incident’.

As a high school freshman I watched news footage of a single, unarmed man, stepping before a line of massive war machines that were advancing toward Tiananmen Square. The war machines I’m speaking of were tanks belonging to another machine known as the People’s Republic Of China—the tyrannical entity that inspired the protests. The people gathered in the square consisted of students and other intellectuals who were disillusioned by the Communist Party and calling for democratic and economic reformation. They congregated in the square and all over China, but their protests were peaceful. The response from their government resulted in the injury and death of many Chinese citizens. No one knows for sure exactly how many casualties resulted from the military action, because the “machine” that the people dared to stand against, buried the information. The nameless man who has become a symbol, by momentarily stopping the machine, died for the cause he believed in...the cause of freedom. There is no record of his death, but I have no doubt the Communist government believed that his defiance demanded it, and they carried it out like cowards in the shadows of their oppressive rule. Ironically, in contrast to the government's dark deeds, the nameless man demonstrated the boldness of his fellow citizens before the eyes of the world. I remember the goosebumps forming as I witnessed his bravery. I still get them every time I watch the old videos of that event. See the video I've posted below if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Today, the People’s Republic of China is taking no chances. They have surrounded Tiananmen Square in an attempt to prevent a reoccurrence and silence the voices of those who would denounce the tyranny they suffer under, and demand the freedom they deserve. Unfortunately, this cold reality belongs to many people who share our planet. And it is a common story communicated through the apparatus of Science Fiction: man against machine.

The People of China are not free to sample the ideas that you and I share via the books and movies I've mentioned or the internet...but if I could relay one thing to them through this blog post, it would be this: “never give up...never surrender!” It was a comedian who said that line in “Galaxy Quest”, but I believe the sentence is worthy of an impassioned cry.

My message to you, fellow sci-fi fans, is don’t take your freedom for granted. Don’t forget the sacrifices that were made for you. Try to analyze the themes of these Science Fiction books, television shows and movies that I’ve mentioned. Don’t graze the surface—take from them the deeper meanings and be inspired by them.

Finally, and most importantly, be inspired by the nameless man who stopped the machine for a few minutes twenty years ago. On this day, as his government is working to silence his countrymen, honor the nameless man’s audacity. Remember his bravery and apply it to your own life. If you’re a person of faith then pray for the freedom of the Chinese people. If you’re not a believer in any higher power, hope for freedom for the people of China because they are not allowed to pray or hope for it themselves. Never give up... Never surrender!

Jen
Co-host of Anomaly
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Tiananmen Square Massacre - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Angela’s Star Trek (XI) Movie Thoughts

2009-05-13T09:32:00.006-05:00

To the Star Trek fan:

My name is Angela, I am an Anomaly and I approve this version of Star Trek. Most of us Trek people :) will be divided into people who enjoy this new incarnation, and those who will be picky toward the movie for certain choices. I have to admit that being a hard and fast TNG fan, the artistic license with TOS characters does not affect me as viscerally as it probably could. As for the movie: the special effects were awesome and the film in general was fun to watch. I really liked the casting, but felt Uhura could have been “healthier” if you know what I mean. And though the actors playing Bones and Scotty could have been caricatures, I really felt like they captured the essences of the characters we love while putting a “mirror” spin on it. When I say "mirror" that doesn’t mean it has to be all goatees and bare midriffs. Like the episode, Parallels from TNG season 7 shows us, the differences in universes can be as simple as a chocolate instead of white cake or that the Borg take over and we are all about to die. Also they got us because we, as Star Trek fans, are pre-disposed to believe in things like parallel universes. In fact the History Channel conveniently ran an episode of The Universe on parallel universes on the same day they resurrected the Star Trek auction documentary and “How William Shatner Changed the World”. I don’t think that this was by chance. To that end, if we accept the principle of parallel universes we open ourselves up to so many story-telling opportunities. Now should Star Trek become Sliders in space…um…no! But as a well used plot device, I am completely willing to accept this. And to end this section, one little anecdote… Star Trek (XI) is not a regular Star Trek film, I will not dispute that. In fact I have decided it is the football team of Star Trek films. But to this I propose that schools with good football teams also have stronger arts programs because the football team brings attention and money to the school. So if this Star Trek is not exactly what you like, please know that it is opening up the world of Star Trek to be bigger and better than ever for us in the AV club. I love you guys and live long and prosper.

To the non-geek:
This is action packed and the actors are beautiful. I think you will like it and please tell your friends.

To the Dyed-in-the-wool Star Wars fan:
Look there is nothing that says you cannot like both Star Trek and Star Wars. I think that this film could help you become a fan of both. So for 2 hours put down your light saber and pick up a phaser. You will be glad you did.

Angela
Co-host of Anomaly
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Anomaly of the Vampyre: Featuring Twilight

2009-05-12T20:23:00.016-05:00

This installment of Anomaly features a discussion on the vampires of Twilight and how they compare to Buffy and other vampire series. We'll let you know what we thought of the movie and our guest, Holly, will fill you in on the novel series and how it differs from the film. If you're anti-spoiler, I recommend you watch the film before you listen to our latest episode.

If you don't care about the spoilers, I think you might want to check out the movie and/or novels after hearing our thoughts on the series. I personally had absolutely no interest in Twilight...until I watched the film. It was enjoyable and the soundtrack totally rocked!

If you hate vampires, this series might interest you. It's a gentler/milder version of a blood sucking Romeo and Juliet. It's a romantic series written for young adults, but it's still enjoyable for old fogies like me.

If you're a vampire fan, but dislike the thought 'defanging' your favorite monsters, give it a chance. This series offers a different perspective on the vamp genre. It's unique and should be allowed into the fold despite the changes.

Listen Now:
Click on "Listen" located under the "Actions" menu, on our Podcast Alley page.

Music featured on this podcast is available on the Twilight Soundtrack found on iTunes, Amazon and other music retailers. Supermassive Black Hole and Bella's Lullaby

Featured promos: The 23rd, Knights Of The Guild, Waffle On, Take Him With You, Treks In Sci-Fi, Indiana Jim, Star Wars Fanworks

Special thanks to Sarah Gilbertson for sending us "Battlestar Galactaca: The Official Companion". We very much appreciate your generosity, Sarah.

Anomaly is an interactive show. The more feedback we receive from our listeners, the better our episodes will be. Please send us email, comment here and rate our show on iTunes or Podcast Alley so that we know there are people who actually listen and enjoy to our diatribes. Feedback encourages us to continue producing this podcast. Let us know that you're downloading. :)

Follow us on Twitter and youtube! Angela's Twitter name is "Archangela23". Jen's Twitter name is "Sevryll". If you do follow us, drop us a line to let us know you're a listener...if you don't we may accidentally block you.

Jen
Co-host of Anomaly
Subscribe to Anomaly Via iTunes