Horizon Zero

Obama Chooses Biden; Dems in Denver

The Democratic National Convention starts today, as Dems gather to officially nominate their Chosen One. Tonight, as I understand it, features addresses by Former President Jimmy Carter, Senator Kennedy and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, topped off by the reintroduction of Michelle Obama to the nation at large.

So what do I make of Obama's selection of Senator Biden to be his running mate? Honestly, I'm a little baffled by it.

All throughout the primary, Obama's chief criticism of Hillary Clinton was that as a pro-war voting Washington insider she was unfit to be the standard bearer of progressive Democrats. And now, now that Obama has safely done away with his greatest rival, he selects as his partner... a pro-war voting Washington insider.

Beyond that, it's hard to see exactly what Biden brings to the ticket. He's a Senator from Delaware - a state that is almost a lock for Obama already, and holds only three electoral votes in any case. Biden's stance on guns is sure to infuriate those voters that might have been willing to take a chance on Obama's more nuanced position. Biden's initial support for the war in Iraq, coupled with his partition strategy - which would have made for an increased presence and meant dealing with three separate post-Iraqi governments - would seem to be the exact opposite of what Obama's earliest netroots supporters want.

There's some suggestion that he polls well in Florida, and that his origins in Scranton will help lock down Pennsylvania, but those are some mighty slim positives.

Overall, there doesn't appear to have been much of a bounce from the announcement, although I don't think anyone was really expecting much of one. The bounce - if it comes - will occur later this week at Obama's rock concert... er, acceptance speech.

Sinking Atlantis and Unleashing the Force

The SciFi channel has decided not to renew Stargate Atlantis after the show ends its fifth season. A variety of reasons have been proffered at the various places on the interweb where opinions are usually proferred. The favorites are declining ratings, continuing cast shakeups and SciFi Execs' bizarre desire to 'move away from science fiction in order to appeal to a broader demographic"...

Which, as one astute associate of mine put it, means daytime soaps. Along with Eureka, Wrestling and 79 plus hours of Lost reruns, I guess.

Atlantis is apparently not completely gone, however. As with the also cancelled Stargate SG-1, Atlantis will be transitioning to the realm of Direct to DVD features, with the first planned movie to wrap up the cliffhanger that ends season five. Beyond that, who can say?

Truth be told, Atlantis was starting to get a little stale - no disrespect intended towards the cast. But many of the stand alone episodes had begun to feel like SG-1 episodes from nine years ago with the serial numbers filed off and the long term plot was hampered by a character that wore out his welcome two seasons ago. And it was something of a retread itself.

While I think the 'series reboot' concept has been overused the last few years (Reimagined Knight Riders and Bionic Women? Really?) I'd be willing to make an exception for the Stargate universe. It occupies a unique niche in modern science fiction television, and I'd like to see a production that maybe goes in for less of an 'adventure romp' atmosphere. The fate of the galaxy doesn't have to be at stake every season.

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In game news, the 360 demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed became available today. It's pretty short, and the controls might take a while to get used to (I kept missing with my Force Levitated blunt objects of death) but it's certainly pretty.

I'm not sure how thrilled I am with this uber-powerful Secret Apprentice, though. All the previews have featured reassurances from the developers about how the Apprentice totally fits into existing lore and how George Lucas provided tons of advice about how to tell the story of the Force Unleashed.

Which doesn't really inspire as much confidence as it used to, actually.

Gencon 2008 After Action Report

I'm back from a successful trip to Indy. My promised photos unfortunately did not pan out - I only had my cel phone and the collection of snapshots I took essentially boils down to a group of bright blurry objects and another group of not so bright blurry objects. Ah, well.

Since I was only there for the one day, I didn't get to see everything, but I had an enjoyable time. Wandered the main hall and spent far too much money on books. Attended 3 hours worth of panels, took a lot of notes, and spent a few hurried minutes eating over priced fast food. (Downtown Indy has one of the best choices of dining experiences I've encountered, and yet I still gravitate to the McDonalds and pizza-by-the-slice joint. Go figure.)

Of course, the main reason I went was the annual Battletech Iron Writers' competition. The rules are simple enough - you're given a topic, keyword, or closing sentence and have one hour to write a story. Easy to contemplate, sometimes harder to actually do. Last year I was down to the last second and clocked in with about 600 words or so - super short even for flash fiction. This year, I had the essentials done in 45 minutes, and had four solid pages of text. I don't expect to win - there were 16 entries and half the professional novel writing team was participating - but I'm pleased that I had an easier time of it this year, and I hope to do better when I participate again next year.

So, all in all, a good trip. Maybe next year I'll actually play a game.

Fourth Genesis

Yeah, I know.

In my defense, there are some really interesting things going on that I'm still not able to talk about just yet, but that are definately coming closer to fruition.

So why the update if I can't talk about the good stuff? Because it's GenCon time, and despite my own fear of being too busy to go I've nonetheless managed to work in a quick two day, "there and  back again" jaunt to Indy.

Just made it into town a few hours ago, so no pictures or floor reports until tomorrow night.