Well, after over three months of absence from this weblog, I can hardly expect to still have readers, now, can I? However, I am back, at least for a little while, and thought that I would put up a post just to let everyone know that, as well as whatever other information I decide to put forward. However, first to address the questions that I know everyone (hah) will have.
First, where have I been for this length of time? Well, to be honest, I cannot tell you that. No, big, beefy men wearing black suits, sunglasses, and very large holsters (containing equally large firearms) will not come hunt me down if I tell you where I have been… Perhaps the more appropriate comment is that I do not feel comfortable telling you where I have been. In the past, I have discovered that revealing personal information about myself online is a surefire way to either have that information misused, or to get myself in trouble, and, personally, I would like to avoid both.
Second, why have I not been posting all of this time? Well, the places I have been have provided me internet, but I would never go so far as to describe it as "fast" or "reliable". Owing to my limited amount of bandwidth, limited amount of spare time, and limited amount of patience, I decided to just forego posting for the time being, and that was that. I am sure my sizeable readerbase will forgive me that small amount of self-indulgence.
Third, do I have any interesting stories to tell from my absence? Well, unfortunately, this falls under the same category as the first question. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you. Or something.
Fourth, and possibly most importantly, where are the cookies? I ate them.
Regardless, suffice it to say that I am back, and I may resume a relatively regular schedule of posting. I say "may" because, throughout my short time back at home, my wife will also be visiting me, which is very much a welcome occurrence, believe you me. And while I know that some of you will not fully comprehend this decision, she definitely takes priority over me scribbling my mindless thoughts on some webpage somewhere. I know, I know, I really should reconsider my priorities sometime… but do not count on it being any time soon 
.
So, what else is there to tell? On the somewhat good side, at least for me, I was finally able to catch up on all of my Battlestar Galactica viewing… I had to cut that back in the weeks before I left this blog and my apartment due to other time expenditures, and I missed out on quite a few good episodes. Not that I mind – that time loss was also due to my wife, and while the BSG episodes were positively outstanding, I would rather spend the time with her. At any rate, I will get around to doing my episode-by-episode review of them at some point later, but it will happen… these were simply too good to pass up. It does warm the cockles of my very heart to see such an enjoyable and believable science fiction series again gracing the boob-tube, especially with how emotionally-charged this one can be at times. However, speaking of outstanding science fiction television series, I also had the opportunity to re-watch my collection of Firefly, as well as the associated movie Serenity. This is probably my fifth or sixth time doing the former, and third or fourth time doing the latter, and they are still as equally good as the first time I laid eyes upon them. Of course, the viewing only served to strengthen my belief that the Fox executives of the time should be relegated to the coldest, darkest depths of hell for cancelling the show, but, unfortunately, that is not my call to make.
Why, you are probably asking yourself, was Firefly so great? I have expounded upon this in the past, but this recent re-viewing of it opened up a new aspect to me, that I will now impart to you. Firefly was so great because it was believable. It sucked you right into the storyline, made you feel like part of the crew, and made it real. It was not all high-fallutin’ and aseptically clean like Star Trek, or grand and epic like Babylon 5 (a very good series, do not get me wrong, just good in a different manner), but rather it was earthy, it was dirty, and it was viscerally real. All of the little things… the pilot playing with toy dinosaurs, the ship being strung together by bailing wire, duct tape, and hope, the almost-familial bond developed by the characters, if not the actors themselves, the inclusion of equipment breaking (on a realistically frequent, and often disastrous scale), the flower-pattern detailing throughout the common room of Serenity, the rough and tumble feel of life out "in the black"… All of that made Firefly feel like a storyline you could simply step into and live in. Sure, Star Trek was effectively the first of its kind, spanned years and years of both real-time and story-time, and presented such a grand view of the galaxy that it will have followers for years to come. But it is the sanitized, high-brow, sunshine-and-butterflies version of the future. Granted, I desperately wanted to be Wesley Crusher as a kid (mostly to be able to fly the Enterprise around), and the latter half of the DS9 series did get rather dark, with the Dominion War, but it was still to… neat, too clean, too orderly. Babylon 5… no series will ever be able to live up to the storyline that Babylon 5 created, and the way it was executed. Battlestar Galactica is coming close, granted, but it still has a ways to go. Star Wars… well, Star Wars is its own category, especially with how badly Lucas fraked up the prequels. However, Firefly provides the only science fiction universe in which I not only desire to live, but also feel like I could actually live in.
I am probably failing to adequately put across the distinction… I always wanted to be in whatever universe of whatever science fiction series I was watching at the time. Being the complete and utter nerde I am, that goes without saying. But almost every one of those universes is sufficiently different from the one that I currently occupy, it was more a matter of desiring to be in those universes to learn more about them, rather than to live in them. Firefly, on the other hand, definitely falls under the latter category. Sure, there are some marked differences between its universe and our current one (something about Earth being abandoned, interplanetary travel being the norm, city-sized space ships… little things like that), but it is something that someone like me, born and bred of our current universe, could be dropped into and get around in with relative ease. I mean, for Heaven’s sake, pistols still use bullets, and people still ride off into sunsets on horses! Sure, those same people can also ride off into the sun in their own personal space ship, but that is a small detail to quibble over .
At any rate, I must depart to retreive my better half from the airport… I Will see what I can do about posting on here occasionally, but I make absolutely no promises whatsoever. Once I actualy catch up on all of the news that has transpired in my absence (funny how the world keeps spinning even without me), I might be prompted to write… something… Dunno. Catch you later.
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