Michael Hopcroft

OT (In Whoniverse): Adric can do Block Transfer Computations, the most powerful mathematical discipline in the Universe that can shape reality itself, in his head. Not even the most intelligent of Time Lords can do that. Matthew Waterhouse wouldn't want to hear it, as he pretty much gave up on acting, but a ticked-off Adric having gone to some random point in the universe and nursing a grudge against the beloved mentor who left him spiraling through time and space to die could make a good DWRPG adventure.

I thought the reason the manuscript cannot be deciphered is that there's nothing really there and the thing is a forgery concealed by its gobbledygook content. You can't find a coherent meaning because there isn't one. You might as well write a term paper on The King in Yellow.

Q: Describe the Russian legal system in five words or less. A: Of course I don't play dice with the universe, because the Universe always wins. Now, Roulette....

If it's being mentioned on a gaming site it can't be THAT secret...

Dune Part Two is -- something. It's not a movie for the casual viewer seeking escapism. This is a film that revolves almost entirely on very serious topics and addresses them as such -- topics like the nature of religion itself and its social effects and consequences. I would have had a better time seeing SpyxFamily, but won't get the chance due to my work schedule.

Q: Do we really need a particle accelerator to make a batch of super-cookies? A: As reasons to terminate-for-cause, I must admit that's one of the least likely.

Promptly asphyxiate in the atmosphere with far too much CO2 and not enough O2 in a biosphere that died a hundred years prior. NT: Subtle signs that you bought tickets to the wrong movie to share with a parent.

Last Tuesday night, so I can my phone bill on time. NT: Subtle signs the consultant making your retirement plan is out of their mind.

Q: What's tearing the Universe apart chunk by chunk at an ever-accelerating pace? A: Of course you feel terrible. You ate the chocolate!

"Mutiny. I thought that was a word for the Navy." "Meade will come in slowly, cautiously, new to command. They'll be on his back from Washington. Wires hot with messages. Attack! Attack! So he will set up a ring around these hills. And when Lee's army is nicely entrenched behind fat rocks on the high ground... Meade will finally attack, if he can coordinate the army. Straight up the hillside, out in the open... in that gorgeous field of fire. We will charge valiantly and be butchered valiantly. And afterward, men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chest and say what a brave charge it wa!"

It is refreshing to see that, with all the turmoil in baseball over uniforms and velocities and pitch clocks, that Bob Uecker is still -- Bob Uecker. "Mr. Baseball" is a true American original -- a mediocre ballplayer whose self-deprecating humor and love/knowledge of baseball enabled him to become of the best broadcasters in the game and a cultural icon (he had a great peripheral role in Major League and was one of the featured players in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere, and has done legendary ads for beer). With the New York Yankees' long-time play-by-play voice John Stirling retiring and Vin Scully's retirement a few years ago, an era of history is passing. Uecker is in his early nineties. He won' be in the booth much longer. So I am going to catch some Brewers home games on satellite radio (he doesn't travel with the Brewers anymore) and take in what I can of a sports era I nearly missed altogether.

I got a chance to see the first bit of a little-known animated series called Phantom 2040. The Phantom is a superhero from the jungles of -- somewhere -- called "The Ghost Who Walks" because he seems to exist everywhere in history. The reality is that the mantle of the phantom has been passed along the generations for centuries. And in this series, set in the then-distant future of 2040, the new Phantom emerges in a near-dystopian cyberpunk-style world. The newest son is a grad-school ecologist trying to save a global ecosystem that is rapidly disintegrating, which unknowingly pits him against a ruthless mega-billionairess and her psychotic son (who usually speaks as though he is conveying the wishes of his ever-present cat, especially when he is being excessively cruel -- in hi8s very first scene he murders his robot butler for no reason whatsoever). In this episode, I found the style of the animation quite interesting and so different from the superhero-cartoon aesthetic of its times that I had to wonder where I had seen it before -- until I put my finger on the source. Which was the legendary MTV adult cartoon Aeon Flux. Those of us who were old enough to watch it will probably never forget the angular, languid look of the series. And while Phantom 2040 was aimed at a younger audience, it shares many themes in common with its predecessor. But while Aeon embraced and even relished the decay in her world (and her eternal rivalry with the powerful Trevor Goodchild), the Phantom is trying to reverse the decay and restore hope to a planet that has precious little of it left.

Q" "Oooh, Archie! Show me that piston of yours and --- WOW, that's a huge drive shaft!" A: "Noweher wasn't always nowhere? I wonder what happened here. These structures have a story to tell."

"I always wanted a tail."

Q: How does Donatello find time to "do machines"? A: If you like it, then you should have put a ring on it.

Q: What does Q think he SHOULD have said after the Farpoint fiasco? A: Chaos. Death. And lots of spiky bits. Just the thing for the kindergarten project!

On one hand, I don't think Othtani would risk throwing away three-quarters of a billion dollars. On the other, he is going to have to bear the taint of these allegations the rest of his career, and we have seen ballplayers with gambling addictions who do really stupid things.

Given what we have learned about cancers over the last four decades, that isn't as tinfoil hat as you think. That said, I think the timing is an awkward and tragic coincidence.

"Who would ever want to be King?" -- Coldplay

Q: What was it like to be Freddie Mercury? A: I will follow your orders, but you have to earn the crew's respect and loyalty.

""O Lord, hear my plea. Destroy him. He maketh a blight upon the Land!" "Don't listen to him. He's Crazy" "Under the right circumstances, a producer could make more money with a flop than he could with a hit."

"Never gamble with a Sicilian when death is on the line!" "Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't believe they exist." "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"

Q: Why did you decide it was a good idea to stomp on this guy's feet again and again? A: I've an irritating chuckle, I've a celebrated sneer, I've an entertaining snigger, I've a fascinating leer!

"I've found the perfect new home! Wonderful climate, friendly inhabitants, truly advanced science and progress..." "Great! What's this planet called?" "Krypton!" "You realize that we are seeing it the way it was 3,000 years ago." "Maybe, but can it really change that much since then?"