Friday Night Videos

With Lone Star Con 3 now in full swing, it seems only appropriate that I feature some genre-themed video in observance of the spectacular concentration of science fiction in San Antonio. So, hey, how about "Paranoimia" by Art of Noise, featuring that iconic pop culture cyberpunk avatar from the 80s, Max Headroom?

Previously on Friday Night Videos... David Lee Roth.

Now Playing: Billy Joel Turnstiles
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Farscape: PK Tech Girl

I'm going to attempt to squeeze in another Farscape rewatch right quick before heading off to Worldcon, so pay attention, because "PK Tech Girl" is an important one, for reasons which will soon become clear.

The crew of Moya finds a battle-damaged derelict Peacekeeper warship in orbit around a planet in the Uncharted Territories. This turns out to be the Zelbinion, the bad-ass Peacekeeper flagship or something, and pretty much the toughest ship in the Peacekeeper fleet. Coincidentally, Rygel had been held captive on the ship for an extended period before being transferred to Moya, during which time he was tortured by the sadistic Captain Durka. Chronically low on supplies as always, Moya docks and the crew search the Zelbinion for anything worth salvaging (and also to try and figure out what happened to the warship). The ship has already been effectively stripped by scavengers, but they discover a Peacekeeper technician, Gilina, hiding on the ship. She's from Crais' ship, and was left behind with a tech crew to investigate the derelict. Unfortunately, once Crais moved on in his hunt for Moya, a dumpy, lizard-like alien race called the Sheyang moved in and killed the tech crew. Did I mention the Sheyang can breathe fire? Well, they can, which is why they killed the techs so easily. But Gilinia--not the warrior type--hid, and subsequently survived. But the Sheyang return, and their weapons can destroy Moya before the Leviathan could undock and starbust away. So, in an attempt to buy time, Zhaan broadcasts a raging D’Argo tantrum, which makes the Sheyang back off. Nobody wants to fight Luxans. But D'Argo is uncomfortable carrying on the deception because it is not honorable. Meanwhile, Crichton and Gilina attempt to repair and install a damaged shield generator from the Zelbinion onto Moya. Crichton and Gilina get mighty cozy whilst doing so, and Aeryn gets jealous. They manage to activate the shield just as the Sheyang see through D'Argo's bluff. The Sheyang then launch fighters to attempt to penetrate the incomplete shield. One makes it through, and Aeryn battles the boarding party as Crichton and Gilina attempt to complete installation of the shield generator on Moya. Once the boarding party is killed, the Moya crew transmit a distress signal to Crais, at which point the remaining Sheyang flee. Moya then departs, leaving Gilina behind for retrieval by Crais. Oh, and Rygel confronted the dead corpse of Captain Durka, getting some closure there and overcoming his bad case of PTSD.

Commentary: This is it. This is what started my Farscape obsession. I first saw this episode in late 1999 or early 2000 on a visit to my parents. Flipping through the channels that Saturday afternoon, I came across this weird science fiction show on the SciFi Channel. It looked like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was weird with these bizarre, fire-breathing aliens and what looked like Muppets--sophisticated animatronic Muppets to be sure, but Muppets nonetheless. I was all like, "What the hell is this?" I couldn't make heads nor tails of it. I could tell there was complex interpersonal relationships going on, but I couldn't sort everything out beyond this apparent love triangle between the astronaut guy (Crichton) and the pixie blonde and amazon brunette. This show became something of an obsession. I absolutely did not understand it, and I had no idea whether I liked it or not. Do you have any idea how annoying that is? It's like an itch you can't scratch. I ended up catching the final three episodes of the season, and things clicked. Far from confused, I grokked the show and understood exactly where it was coming from, and what it was trying to do. I approved. I was hooked at that point.

So, what about the episode itself? Well, it carried on the fine Farscape tradition of using throwaway, placeholder titles for the aired episode. And it also introduced probably the single most disruptive element of the entire series in Gilina. Coming to this episode without any understanding of the Farscape universe, I picked up an instant chemistry between Ben Browder (Crichton) and Alyssa-Jane Cook (Gilina). This is problematic because up until this point in the series (which I have gone back and watched, after all) it's clear the showrunners intend for Crichton and Aeryn to become an item, but their relationship has been prickly and standoffish, without any substantive hints of romance. There've been glimpses of friendship, maybe, and grudging respect, but romance? Nope. Couple that with the fact that Crichton and Gilina's interactions are overtly sexually charged--apart from kissing each other, Gilina makes a sly reference to Crichton having an erection, the implication being that she's got a place she'd be happy for him to put it. This is good for the series, in that Gilina serves as a catalyst to jump-start the Crichton/Aeryn romance, but I'm convinced it worked too well. Instead of Gilina being a one-off plot device, she lives beyond the end of the episode. Her continued existence means Aeryn has a serious rival for Crichton's love--more than serious, as Gilina, being essentially an engineer/scientist has much more in common with the engineer/scientist/theoretical physicist Crichton than does the decidedly tech-unsavvy warrior woman Aeryn. How the writers handle this issue in the future is... awkward, to say the least.

Other than that, the episode is a lot of fun. The whole Sheyang thing is like some drug-induced SFnal trip, something that might've shown up in John Carpenter's Dark Star had Carpenter actually had a budget to work with. Rygel's PTSD is a small part of the episode, but pays off well in future episodes. And adding the shield generators to Moya also has payoff later in the series. In fact, this is the episode where Farscape stops thinking of itself in terms of standalone episodes and starts laying the groundwork for more complex story arcs. Oh, sure they had bits about Crais hunting them and bits about Peacekeepers having a presence in the Uncharted territories, but with this episode the writers channeled their inner Chekov and started hanging guns over the mantlepiece willy-nilly. There's a clear vision shift in this episode--albeit viewed in hindsight--and the series is set to soar because of it.

Crichton Quote of the Episode:: "They spit fire? How come nobody tells me this stuff? How come nobody tells me they spit fire?"

Now Playing: Billy Joel Piano Man
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Worldcon programming change

I have received word that my Friday Worldcon panel, "A Brief History of Modern Steam Punk," has been axed from the schedule. I've no idea why, but am not suitably curious to bother to find out.

Instead, I've been added to "Steampunk: Trend or Genre?" 1 p.m. Friday. I think the premise inherent in the panel title is a little wonky, but hey, we'll make it work. See you there!

Now Playing: Earth, Wind & Fire The Eternal Dance
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Friday Night Videos

David Lee Roth was so gloriously crass back in the day, yet there was such a good-natured, effortless air about him that it was easy to tolerate his excess. Later on... not so much. But with his early solo efforts, he had a flawless instinct for picking the perfect songs to fit his oversized ego. Case in point: "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody," Roth's cover of Louis Prima's 1956 hit. If you've ever heard Prima's original, you'll know how closely Roth stuck to the original, but his over-the-top Dave persona cranks the action up to 11. And the video... wow. What is there to say about this video other than it couldn't possibly have come into existence for any artist other than Roth during the very heart of 1980s MTv pop culture. It makes me smile every time I see it.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Parliament Funkadelic.

Now Playing: Count Basie and his Orchestra The Atomic Mr. Basie
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Zumba: Guess who's not going to jail?

My ingrained disgust with hypocrisy--particularly regarding issues of sexuality and prostitution--have compelled me to keep up with the ongoing Zumba instructor prostitution case up in Maine. Those of you keeping score at home will recall earlier this summer how Alexis Wright was sentenced to 10 months in jail for accepting money for what she could otherwise legally give away for free. At the time, I predicted that since this obviously dangerous woman was now off the streets, the issue would quickly be forgotten and her many customers would not see any jail time (as is always the case in these high-profile prostitution scandals). You know, I hate being right all the time, but I suppose we all have our cross to bear:

Former Kennebunk High School hockey coach, Don Hill, who was charged with patronizing prostitute Alexis Wright, was acquitted after Justice Roland Cole banned prosecutors from showing jurors Wright’s business ledger — a central piece of evidence in the prosecution's case against Hill and eight other alleged johns.

....

The court did allow the prosecution to introduce photographs depicting the Hill visiting Wright, but because Wright would not be able to testify that the evidence was in fact her business ledger, Justice Cole deemed the evidence inadmissible in court.

Apparently, the acquittal comes down to the fact that Wright could not be compelled to testify that the business ledger was in fact a business ledger due to that pesky old 5th amendment. Which raises something of a logical conundrum: If the prosecution cannot prove Wright had any clients, how then did they prove she engaged in prostitution? The prosecution contends they will press forward with other cases, but a six-pack of Shiner Bock says they get zero convictions and eventually drop charges against any remaining "alleged" clients.

To add to the injustice, for patronizing a prostitute, Hill faced a single misdemeanor charge where, if convicted, he faced a fine that could amount to as much as $1,000. Think about that for a minute. Wright landed a 10-month jail sentence, and her clients avoid the equivalent of a speeding ticket. How's that justice for you? In his defense, Hill did have an airtight alibi: He thought he was dating Wright. Never mind the fact that Wright was married and Hill gave her cash up front to get naked and spread her legs--that's just how these crazy kids do things these days, right? Yeah, that's Hill picture to the right. Would you let this man coach your son's hockey team? He's either a disingenuous sleaze or the stupidest Y chromosome on the planet. Either way, he deserves his share of public shame.

Again, I'm not an advocate of prostitution. But prostitution laws in this country are as out of whack as drug laws, saddling the prostitutes with the lion's share of the blame (and jail time) whilst the men involved--the victimizers, or at best, enablers--tend to get off unscathed. This ingrained idea that men aren't responsible for their actions and are only led astray by temptresses dates back to Biblical times, but that doesn't make it any less wrongheaded. Something's got to change.

Now Playing: Billie Holiday Her Finest Studio Recordings
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Worldcon schedule

As everyone else in the known universe is posting their finalized schedules for Worldcon, aka LoneStarCon 3, I figure it's high time I do the same. I'll be pretty busy over the course of the convention, which is pretty generous considering I've been mostly absent from the genre publishing scene these past few years. Highlights include my serving as ringmaster for the Joe R. Lansdale show, and multiple pairings with Mark Finn, some or all of which will likely involve beers and ales of various sort. It should be a great weekend, and I recommend it highly!

A Brief History of Modern SteamPunk
Friday 16:00 - 17:00
Steampunk has become a huge movement, but when did it BECOME “SteamPunk”? At what point did “Fantasy” and “SciFi” which take place in the Victorian Era, become Something MORE than Victorian writers, writing “SciFi” and Fantasy”? Where did the phrase “SteamPunk” come from, in the first place? Come explore and discuss how we got from there to here.
Emilie P. Bush (M), Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Drew Heyen, David Boop

Adapting Bubba for Film and Other Tales
Friday 17:00 - 18:00
Joe tells all! Jayme will be asking Joe about making the film version of Bubba Ho-Tep, as well as his latest film adaptation project. Got a question for Joe? Saddle up and join us!
Jayme Lynn Blaschke (M), Joe Lansdale

Literary Beer: Mark Finn, Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Saturday 15:00 - 16:00
Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Mark Finn

Reading: Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Sunday 12:00 - 12:30
Jayme Lynn Blaschke

Autographing: Jayme Lynn Blaschke, David Brin, Joe Haldeman, Rick Klaw
Sunday 15:00 - 16:00
Jayme Lynn Blaschke, David Brin, Joe Haldeman, Rick Klaw

Comic Book Movies: From the Page to the Screen
Monday 10:00 - 11:00
There have been more comic book movies in the past decade than in the entire 20th century combined. How do they hold up? What are the best and the worst examples of a successful transition? Our panelists draw comparisons (and maybe even blood)!
Mark Finn (M), Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Lawrence Person, Weldon Adams, Paige E. Ewing

Now Playing: Dave Brubeck The Best of the Dave Brubeck Trio
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Friday Night Videos

I miss the Summit in Houston, before it was converted into yet another megachurch. I saw some great concerts there--Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Chicago--and even took in a few hockey games. It was a fun venue. Not the best acoustics, but good enough for an arena. Still, it kind of blows my mind to think of Parliament Funkadelic rockin' the house in H-Town like this. Wow. I was only 6 at the time, and it probably would've terrified me (I grew up listening to both kinds of music in my household: country and western) but if I could go back in time this would be a blast. Here's "Cosmic Slop" from their Mothership album.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Jim Croce.

Now Playing: Clannad Legend
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Friday Night Videos

If you somehow missed it, yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the closure of the Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas. To carry that theme over to today, obviously I considered featuring ZZ Tops' "La Grange" as today's song, as the album, Tres Hombres also celebrated its 40th anniversary this week. But I've featured "La Grange" before, and don't like to repeat myself. Likewise, songs from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas come to mind, but 1) that's a little too obvious and 2) I've already featured some of the best from the movie soundtrack. So instead, today we get a flashback to the no. 1 song from this week in 1973, and it's a good one: "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" by the legendary Jim Croce!

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Makem & Clancy.

Now Playing: Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band Nine Tonight
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