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DoG Ep 05: Kate Mulgrew at Fan Expo 2012
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Note that the contact info given in the episode itself is no longer any good. If you want to find me, try Facebook, @writingdad on Twitter, or email: lance@lanceschonberg.com.
00:00 Episode ID
Days of Geek, Episode 5: with Kate Mulgrew at Fan Expo 2012.
00:06 Music
“Split In Synapse”, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com.
00:14 Intro
Where I quote Joss Whedon on strong female characters. And note that while there are people trying to get it right other than Whedon, there aren’t enough of them, and that goes for every character, not just those played by or written for women.
02:02 Main
A very quick intro to Kate Mulgrew’s Q&A from Fan Expo 2012.
03:23 Main
The Q&A.
Ms. Mulgrew’s preamble:
- Canada, and how she loves it here
- Accepting the role of Janeway
- Star Trek fandom
- On being the first woman ST captain, and the legacy it’s left her.
- Warehouse 13
- Somewhere Fun play in spring 2013 in NY
- 3 kids
- She’s writing a biography
The questions she got covered a lot of ground. Yes, many of them were Voyager related, but not all. Her answers were even wider ranging.
- Her favourite villains: the Borg Queen, species 8472, and the Vidians.
- Her feelings on being the first female captain and the pressures involved.
- The fact that there is a great deal of science grounding in Star Trek.
- Columbo
- Friendships made from Voyager and respect for science and women in science.
- “Controversial issue” not touched, that she feels ST has missed so far as Homosexuality. She feels like Hollywood is almost there in putting openly homosexual characters in positions of authority and points out how long it took to get a woman there on Star Trek.
- Her views on Janeway’s leadership style and some of the problems she had to face.
- NTSF:SD:SUV
- John DeLancie
- Dragon Age
- Mercy
- Sally Ride
54:10 News
Note that I’ve been officially talked into Frost Con, a 1-day convention in Toronto on the 14th of December. Also, we’ll be attending Quinte Mini Con this coming weekend. Close to home and the first con in the area. Should be awesome.
54:55 Media Consumption
The part of the show where I very briefly talk about the geeky media I’ve consumed since recording the last episode. Very briefly in this case, as I’m catching up through the gap between episodes 3 and 4.
Movies
Snow White and the Huntsman
Television
Star Trek TOS: “Mudd’s Women”, plus 6 other episodes of ST: TOS for Spocktoberfest.
Star Trek TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint”.
Fangasm episode 1.
I catch the Big Bang Theory when I can.
In a less family friendly vein, I’ve caught several episodes each of Archer, Sea Lab, and Fugget About It.
Books:
ST Titan: Synthesis
Finished Typhon Pact 01: Zero Sum Game
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
The Killer Thing by Kate Wilhelm
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
57:25 Star Trek TOS Re-Watch
Episode: “Mudd’s Women”
I play the original TV teaser and offer a brief (but maybe not brief enough) synopsis, give some thoughts comments the story, characters, and seriously sexist theme of this episode. A couple of interesting continuity notes follow
Overlooked Character/Actor: Lt. John Farrell played by Jim Goodwin.
Scoring:
Vulcan emotions: Spock seems to spend half of his screen time smirking. That brings us to two.
Best Line: during a conversation between Eve (one of Mudd’s Women) and Kirk. In Kirk’s quarters. (Tone really makes this exchange.)
Eve: All your men were looking at me, following me with their eyes.
Kirk: Yes, I’ll have to talk to them about that.
And finally, I give my opinion and recommendation. Spoiler: the opinion is really not that good, and the recommendation is that the makeup effects are pretty awesome, especially for the time, but the episode really doesn’t hold up.
67:04 Outro
In which I again offer contact info:
- show@daysofgeek.com
- @DaysOfGeek on Twitter
- Facebook Page
- com/5
Closing music—George Street Shuffle, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com
Creative Commons licensing info (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Un-ported License).
XX:XX Blooper. No blooper this week. Which is not to say I didn’t make any mistakes recording, because there were plenty, but none of them were funny. All just trips of the tongue and too many of those. Sorry.
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DoG Ep 04: Gaming With Your Kids
by Note that the contact info given in the episode itself is no longer any good. If you want to find me, try Facebook, @writingdad on Twitter, or email: lance@lanceschonberg.com.
00:00 Episode ID
Days of Geek, Episode 4: Gaming with your kids.
00:05 Music
“Split In Synapse”, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com.
00:13 Intro
I quote something I saw posted on Facebook. “How do you bond with your 9yo daughter?” and answer it by saying to play a game with her.
00:42 Main
I talk very briefly about games in our house, mention Will Wheaton (see Episode 1 at daysofgeek.com/1) and Table Top again, but expand from there before launching into our favourites.
03:08 The games.
Dividing things up a little, I talk about the three categories of games we really play: table top games, RPGs, and video games.
Table Top
- Munchkin
- Tsuro
- Get Bit
- Story Cubes
- Sentinels of the Multiverse
- We Didn’t Playtest this At All
- Apples to Apples
Miniatures and RPGs:
- Battletech
- Dungeons and Dragons
- LARP (Live action Role Playing, note Nero and the SCA)
Video Games (mostly just list current favourites)
- Plants vs Zombies
- Halo
- Super Mario Sunshine – which is hard to find even used anymore
- Lord of the Rings: War in the North
- Dungeon Siege III
- League of Legends
13:33 Ye Olde Bin O’ Dice
A strange and mystical thing I experienced at Fan Expo this year.
15:50 Media Consumption
The part of the show where I very briefly talk about the geeky media I’ve consumed since recording the last episode. This is hopelessly out of date, but was good when I recorded this segment.
Television
Star Trek TOS: “The Corbomite Maneuver”
The Community Marathon
Books:
Finished: Synthesis and started the first Typhon Pact book (which I’ve actually now finished).
And then I talk a little about how my reading methods have changed in the last couple of years.
17:46 Star Trek TOS Re-Watch
Episode: “The Corbomite Maneuver”
I play the original TV teaser and offer a brief synopsis (which seem to be getting less brief every episode), plus a few thoughts and notes.
Scoring:
Not much to score, but it’s a tension filled episode with lots of nervous people sweating.
I’m a doctor, not a _____: Moon Shuttle Conductor
Best Line:
McCoy, to himself: “If I jumped every time a light came on around here, I’d end up talking to myself.”
Overlooked Character/Actor:
Balok the kid, played by Clint Howard.
Recommendation:
Not a favourite, but mostly a fun episode. It’s fast, tense, has some good characterization, and stands well on its own.
25:36 Outro
In which I again offer contact info, plus a quick reminder of the Tanya Gough contest:
- show@daysofgeek.com
- @DaysOfGeek on Twitter
- Facebook Page
- com/4
Closing music—George Street Shuffle, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com
Creative Commons licensing info (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Un-ported License).
27:15 Blooper, sort of.
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DoG Ep 03: Geek Cinema of 1986
by Note that the contact info given in the episode itself is no longer any good. If you want to find me, try Facebook, @writingdad on Twitter, or email: lance@lanceschonberg.com.
00:00 Episode ID
Days of Geek, Episode 3: Geek Cinema, 1986.
00:05 Music
“Split In Synapse”, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com.
00:13 Intro
I give out the standard contact info:
- show@daysofgeek.com
- @DaysOfGeek on Twitter
- Facebook Page
- com/3
And then I don’t quote Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas on their expressed feelings about the end of the blockbuster movie age, but I do paraphrase a little just before admit to thinking they’re wrong.
01:16 Main
The Wayback Machine is taking us to 1986, an excellent year in the Decade of Geek Cinema. The opening bit of the sequence is a collection of sound bites for a few movies most people will remember:
- Star Trek IV – “They are not the hell your whales.”
- Highlander – “There can be only one.”
- Aliens – “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”
- Short Circuit – “Number 5 Alive!”
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – “You killed the car.”
Then I mention three movies a lot of people would rather forget:
- Invaders from Mars – “They’re huge, ugly, slimy, giant Mr. Potato Heads!”
- Star Crystal – “{insert quote via Youtube}”
- Solarbabies – “Cut your breath, before you betray your putrid thinking!”
02:58 The movies.
I pick 5 movies from 1986 that might not have made everyone’s radar or that you might have missed at the time. They’re all good movies, from my POV, but for different reasons and all have something different to offer.
For each of the five movies, I:
- Play the audio of the best trailer I could find on the Internet,
- Give a brief synopsis, and
- Provide some thoughts, opinions, and a recommendation.
You’ll probably guess that all of the recommendations are positive, but they’re all very different movies.
Five movies were almost too many, so I might pick only three for the next episode in this series. Yes, there will be more of this.
I then, very briefly, mention 5 movies that don’t fit into PG or less, but are worth checking out for an older audience.
- The Golden Child (PG-13)
- Peggy Sue Got Married (PG-13)
- Jumpin Jack Flash (R)
- Maximum Overdrive (R)
- F/X (R)
None of those last three deserve an R rating and wouldn’t get one today.
27:09 “Promo” for Now Playing
Now Playing is a movie review and discussion podcast covering a lot of ground and often in “series” of movies that may be all in one franchise or not, but are all related somehow. Episodes range from 75 minutes up to 2 hours, so you’re getting a lot of discussion and detail. They also have bonus episodes for those who donate to help keep them running.
27:48 Media Consumption
The part of the show where I very briefly talk about the geeky media I’ve consumed since recording the last episode.
Movies
You can probably gather movies I’ve re-watched in preparation for this episode, but I watched them over the course of the summer, along with a number of others, rather than in the past week, refreshing myself on some key stuff for each one. I should probably think about scheduling the movies I’m planning for the next round of this series.
Books:
I started reading Snuff by Terry Pratchett. (Amazon.ca link.)
And Star Trek Titan #6: Synthesis. (Amazon.ca link.)
Television
The episode of Star Trek TOS we talk about a little farther down the page, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.
XX:XX News
Removed a segment where I whined about wasting my time with a Surface RT. I wasn’t happy. It went back to the store. I’ll probably get a Nexus or iPad during Boxing Week sales after Christmas.
28:55 Star Trek TOS Re-Watch
Episode: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
I play a TV teaser and offer a brief synopsis.
Best Line: “You’re a talented thief, Kelso. Everything you sent up seems to be fittin’ in place.
Overlooked Character/Actor: Lt. Lee Kelso, played by Paul Carr.
Scoring:
Casualities
(R/G/B): 0/2/1 (9 dead in the background)
Emotionless Vulcan Displays Emotion: 1
Recommendation: A great episode. It doesn’t, quite, make my top 10, but it’s a fun ride that doesn’t slow down until the credits roll.
36:47 Outro
In which I again offer contact info:
- show@daysofgeek.com
- @DaysOfGeek on Twitter
- Facebook Page
- com/3
Closing music—George Street Shuffle, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com
Creative Commons licensing info (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Un-ported License).
38:05 Blooper
A little one this week. Maybe amusing, maybe not.
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DoG Ep 02: Interview with Tanya Gough
by Note that the contact info given in the episode itself is no longer any good. If you want to find me, try Facebook, @writingdad on Twitter, or email: lance@lanceschonberg.com.
00:00 Episode ID
Days of Geek, Episode 2: Interview with Tanya Gough and the Star Trek re-watch begins.
00:07 Music – “Split In Synapse”, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com.
00:14 Intro
I quote Frank Zappa on books (“So many books, so little time.”) and observe that while the publishing industry is changing, it’s probably going to get better for readers in the short and long term.
00:48 Main
In which I very briefly introduce the main segment of this episode, my interview with author Tanya Gough at Ad Astra 2013, and note a few things about Tanya herself and the podcast that never was.
02:40 The interview.
Took place in a hallway at the Ad Astra con hotel that wasn’t as quiet as I might have liked, but I think you can hear everything very well, in spite of the table or air conditioning gremlin. A very stripped down edition of the topics covered (I don’t want to spoil the interview, after all):
- In addition to being a middle grade Fantasy writer, Tanya admits to being born in Canada, living in the U.S. and Japan and having owned a CD & Video store in Stratford, Ontario.
- She gives a quick summation of the basis of Rootbound. (Kindle Edition. Amazon.ca link)
- A bit about her writing process
- Influences in Rootbound, Greek mythology and beyond.
- A series of books, each with its own focus element, and step in Emma’s development
- Chapter Titles are important and relevant
- Magical Monarch of Mo (Free on the Kindle right now! Amazon.ca only seems to have an illustrated HC.)
- The Indie Publishing Route
- The sequel will be called “Water Works”, may come by the end of the year and features a different mythological focus
Tanya’s contact info:
- Twitter: @Emmaseries
- Facebook: Emma and the Elementals
- Goodreads
- She blogs at blogspot.com
21:32 Contest info
I have two signed copies of Rootbound to give away. Rules: comment here or on Facebook by 1st November 2013 and your name goes into the draw, and it doesn’t matter where you happen to live; I’ll ship these anywhere in the world.
22:12 Media Consumption
The part of the show where I very briefly talk about the geeky media I’ve consumed since the last episode.
Books:
Finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. It started out hard not to draw comparisons to Bladerunner, but the further I got into the story, the more I forgot the movie. It’s not the same story. It is similar, and I can see how Bladerunner grew from it, but there’s a great deal more running through the book than you’ll find in the movie. It’s a short read by today’s standards, and a quick one, but don’t let that fool you. The themes run deep and dense.
Movies
MLP: Equestria Girls: Whatever definition you want to use, MLP qualifies as fantasy. It’s cute and fun and more or less predictable all the way through, but you’re watching it for the characters, messages, and themes, not the exciting plot twists.
The World’s End: My son and I took this in at the theatre on cheapskate day and really enjoyed it. Well, up until the very end. The movie was fun and ridiculous (it’s a Simon Pegg film, after all), right up to the climax. Excitement and explosions and everything important more or less resolved. And that’s where the movie should have ended, IMO. There were a couple of minutes more to the movie that were completely unnecessary and really just the set up for what amounts to a joke one-liner in the final seconds of the film. I recommend it, but I also recommend not watch those last couple of minutes. You’ll be more satisfied with the outcome.
The Emperor’s New Groove: found a copy on DVD for a mere $10, replacing the old VHS version we once had. Just as fun as I remembered, and one of my favourite Disney films of the modern era.
Television
I know I said last week that I’d eventually watch television. What I really meant is that I’d eventually watch things playing on my television. These are mostly going to be movies and video from a DVD, Netflix or a memory stick. I don’t really watch a lot of TV beyond some news and weather.
24:58 Star Trek TOS Re-Watch
“The Cage”
- I offer a 60-Second Synopsis of the episode which takes closer to 100.
- Brief thoughts on “what if” this first pilot had passed the network honchos
- Things I like or that stand out about the episode
- Basic Trek elements are pretty much all here: the sets are almost there, the music, the beginning of a multicultural crew, the big but personal story, and the episode format.
- A couple of things we lose, sadly: jackets to suit the climate of the planet, and female officers in pants.
- Which will work against the Early Anti-Sexism attempt of having a woman as a first officer.
- Spock’s genesis. He’s recognizable, but not the Vulcan we all know and love yet.
- Computer technology not really much more than 1960s high tech, with a few extra beeps and lights.
- The Talosians technological ineptness in the face of vast mental powers.
- Tracking Numbers
- Casualties: 0
- Advanced alien species who want nothing to do with us right now: 1
- Best Line: “As in all ship’s doctors are dirty old men.” – Pike
- Secondary Character: Yeoman Colt
- Played by Laurel Goodwin
- A short, unfortunately, acting career, but unlike most Hollywood folks, she’s had only one marriage and it’s lasted decades rather than months.
- General Opinions
- Coming down on the side of liking this episode.
- Recommended for Trekkies and SF fans who have seen enough of the series to enjoy an intro to the Star Trek that never was.
31:56 Outro
In which I again offer contact info:
- show@daysofgeek.com
- @DaysOfGeek on Twitter
- And hey, there’s a Facebook Page now
Closing music—George Street Shuffle, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com
Creative Commons licensing info (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Un-ported License).
XX:XX Blooper
There’s a lack of bloopers this week. Nothing I screwed up was particularly funny. Maybe next time.
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DoG Ep 01: Wil Wheaton at Montreal Comic Con 2012
by Note that the contact info given in the episode itself is no longer any good. If you want to find me, try Facebook, @writingdad on Twitter, or email: lance@lanceschonberg.com.
00:00 Episode ID
Days of Geek, Episode 1: Intro to the Main Geek, Fan Expo Recovery, and Wil Wheaton speaks.
00:06 Music – “Split In Synapse”, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com.
00:24 Intro
In which I offer up contact info before quoting Simon Pegg on being a geek.
“Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.”
Then I admit to being a huge geek myself and that I’m part of a geek family.
01:38 Main
In which I very briefly introduce the main segment of this episode, Will Wheaton speaking and taking questions at Montreal Comic Con 2012.
02:23 The recorded Q&A starts.
He covers a lot of ground in that session, talking about:
- Using Google Translate to fill a hovercraft with eels,
- Table Top (his web show on Geek and Sundry),
- Being a nerd and conventions,
- Gaming,
- Teenagers,
- Stand By Me,
- Cleaning out his garage & E-bay,
- Hockey,
- Returning Pants to HBC in Vancouver,
- Toy Soldiers,
- Sparks McGee,
- Star Trek TNG.
54:41 Promo for Table Top
The original promo for the show, giving you a taste of Wil’s humour and what you might expect from the show, available on Geek and Sundry or direct from You Tube
55:52 News: Fan Expo recovery
I recorded the my parts of this episode the day after getting home from Fan Expo, the biggest convention in Canada and the third biggest in North America. We spent far too much money, got less than an optimum amount of sleep, got autographs from George Takei, James Hong, Carrie Fisher, half the cast of Sailor Moon, and several voice actors from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
59:00 Media Consumption
The part of the show where I very briefly talk about the geeky media I’ve consumed since the last episode. Books, movies, TV, maybe even other podcasts (although that would get pretty extensive pretty quick).
This episode, I’m just picking what I’ve read or watched in the past week. And it’s mostly read.
I finished Oh Myyy by George Takei, a mildly autobiographic book mainly talking about his to fame on the internet.
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Interesting but irritating. Too many sets of events going on at the same time, all at different points in the main protagonist’s life. He’s unstuck in time and can experience any part of his life as now. (Amazon.ca link)
And I started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Hard not to compare it to Bladerunner. (Amazon.ca link)
Something I forgot to mention in the episode, but I went to a screening of the first episode of Star Trek Continues at Fan Expo. A fan produced series that picks up where the original Star Trek show left off. Fun, but it’s trying a little too hard to begin with. Worth checking out for fans of the show and I’m sure they’ll work the kinks out.
60:23 Star Trek is coming
And speaking of Star Trek, next week I’ll be starting a re-watch or the original Star Trek, going all the way back to the first pilot, “The Cage”. I’ll be watching the whole series in production run order and offering a few observations and a little score keeping for each one.
63:16 Outro
In which I again offer out of date contact info:
- show@daysofgeek.com
- @DaysOfGeek on Twitter
Closing music—George Street Shuffle, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com
Creative Commons licensing info (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Un-ported License).
64:42 Blooper
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