Potpourri (Part 1)

Subjects: V- the television series; Doctor Who; Coarseness of Internet Communication

Here's the first of possibly many installments of something I like to call "Potpourri," or "stuff too short to become blog posts." You may get some of these on days where I have a few coherent thoughts about random things, but nothing that really seems to call for a big blog post.

The way things are going, these may become more common than they should be. But who knows?
1) The ABC television series "V" is coming back to our screens on Tuesday, March 30, and I can't wait!  I really enjoyed the first episodes, which could almost be considered a mini-series, when it was on back in November. I hope they manage to maintain the quality as the series goes on.

Gone is the kitsch of the 80's television series; instead, the show has a darker tone, at least so far.  There's already a Visitor 5th column on Earth, and many of them have been here for years.  I'm hoping that they explore some of that, too.  The idea that the Visitors have been hiding here on Earth for that long, sowing the seeds of their coming invasion, is quite intriguing.

Also gone is the overacting of Jane Badler as the evil Visitor leader Diana (though I did love her in the role, so that's certainly not an insult in this case).  Instead, Morena Baccarin plays Anna, the liaison between the Visitors and humanity.  This show couldn't come back soon enough.

Of course, the mini-series is famous for seeming to take a lot of shots at Obama and his policies (though the producers deny any intention of doing this), so I'm also interested in seeing if that continues in the rest of the series.

Also, David Richmond-Peck, one of the leads of the show, is on Twitter and actually responded to a couple of my tweets!  So I like the show even a bit more now.

2) Along the same lines, Doctor Who is coming back to the airwaves on April 3!  Just over a week until the first Matt Smith episode!  I loved David Tennant in the role, and Smith will have some huge shoes to fill.  Here's hoping that he will be able to do that.  With the great Stephen Moffat as the new producers, I have faith the show is in capable hands.

We'll know in a little bit!

Also, it will be on in the US two weeks later, I believe, maybe three.  Soon.  Remember the days when we had to wait over a year for new episodes to come over the ocean?

Not fun.

3) I know this is pretty much like saying that rain is wet, but it's really annoying to see people on the Internet get loud and abrasive when you know they wouldn't be like that in "real" life.  People who wouldn't even think of calling somebody a "fucking asshole" in real life have no qualms about doing so behind the anonymity of the computer screen.  This is the attitude that is kind of behind what I posted yesterday about the criticism of video games, but it goes way beyond that.  You see arguments on web forums or on Usenet between people, arguments that get so heated that a lot of times they descend into name-calling of the worst kind.  People leave comments on blogs that are blatantly sexist, homophobic, racist, or whatever.

Sure some people are assholes in real life too, but I would be willing to bet that the majority of those who are like that on the Net would be too timid to be like that in real life.  It does make you wonder what they're like deep inside, though, doesn't it?

Yes, sometimes that same anonymity results in good things.  While I would in no way get like I describe above, I am more willing to say things on the Net that I wouldn't say to somebody's face.  However, for me that just means I move from "extremely shy and soft-spoken" to "able to say something a normal person would say."

So there you have it.  The first "Potpourri" post.  We'll see if these become a pattern, but I hope not.  They probably will get a lot shorter, though, no matter what happens.

Let me know what you think!