Here is our video coverage of San Diego Comic-Con International 2006:
Con-goers strut their stuff in fabulous costumes.
Cable-DSL / 56k


You don't need an elaborate costume to express yourself, says costumer Jerry Brawner.
Cable-DSL / 56k

Established and aspiring artists show their work at Comic-Con
Cable-DSL / 56k

The DC Comics superheroes stamps are unveiled.
Cable-DSL / 56k<

Mayor Jerry Sanders welcomes Comic-Con to San Diego.
Cable-DSL / 56k

Opening night preview at Comic-Con International 2006.
Cable-DSL / 56k

It's true, I haven't been blogging for a couple of months. Things have been a bit slow in the sci-fi department and I'm spending the time I used to use for blogging on improving my Flash skills.

See you at Comic-Con!

It's the sort of news a confirmed Trekkie can love to hate -- or hate to love.

J.J. Abrams, the creator of "Lost" and "Alias," has reportedly agreed to bring a new 'Star Trek' film to the big screen. (I'll skip the obvious joke about this being 'Lost' in space...)

What's to hate about this? Did you see the last trek movie, "Star Trek: Nemesis," that tired and twisted retread of the "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" plotline? Or the dreary revisionist prequel "Enterprise?"

The other day This American Life touched on superheroes and super powers and one segment asked the immortal question, “Flight or invisibility.”
That is, if you could have either of the two super powers, which would you choose?
Though I’m still mulling the question, I’m leaning toward flight, but apparently that’s what most guys say, flight being more macho and heroic and all that.

"They're just so... alien. The aliens are so alien. You look at them and... they're alien." "Good think I didn't take you to the deep south."

An exchange between Rose Tyler and The Doctor

The developers at Haystack have put together a quiz on the names of Star Wars characters and certain new web firms to illustrate how detached those firms' names are from reality:

How silly is the Web 2.0 hype getting? You tell us! Here's a quick quiz...we looked in 30Boxes and analyzed 37Signals that led us to come up with the 43Things below. So without further ado, can you decide...

My score: 39 out of 43, earning the result: "As your doctor, I recommend moving out of your parents' basement."

What's Web 2.0, you might ask. Wikipedia says it refers to "what some people describe as a second phase of architecture and application development for the World Wide Web.... The term may include blogs and wikis. To some extent Web 2.0 has become a buzzword, incorporating whatever is newly popular on the Web (such as tags and podcasts)."

Thanks to Wired News for the link.

I can just imagine the cries of confusion and dismay that arose from the nation’s geeks during the season finale of “Battlestar Galactica” as they learned that a) Gaius Baltar was indeed elected president of the Colonies, b) the bulk of humanity had “permanently” settled on a planet, New Caprica, and c) after the story jumps forward 12 months, the Cylons find New Caprica and occupy it.

What a difference a year makes.

“Galactica” switches from being about the ragtag fleet *fleeing* the Cylon tyranny to being about a planet-bound populace *resisting* the Cylon tyranny. That’s a shock to the system for those who’ve just seen the show as being about wandering around in space, but in his podcast for part one of “Lay Down Your Burdens,” executive producer Ronald Moore talks about the need to change things up and “roll a hard 6,” in craps terms.

Unfortunately we’ll have to wait seven months for “Galactica” to return to the Sci Fi Channel October, but until then we actually have a lot of material to chew on:

Maybe its the role-playing gamer in me, but when I see a resource-poor character on a television show pass up something useful it irks me.

Take Wednesday night’s Claire-focused episode of “Lost.” When Claire’s incessantly crying baby – enough already! – gets sick, she suddenly remembers she was stuck in another bunker during the two weeks she disappeared. Long story short, Claire, Kate and Rousseau track down the dark and foreboding bunker – and Kate finds a stash of fully charged Dharma flashlights to light the way.

Now, maybe it's the Sawyer in me talking, but if I’m on a remote island – even if I have my own retro-tech bunker – I’m going to stock up wherever I can, and that means grabbing all the flashlights.

Science fiction and fantasy author Christopher Stasheff and fantasy artist Theresa Mather will be guests of honor at this weekend's ConDor XIII science fiction and fantasy convention at the Handlery Hotel in San Diego's Mission Valley.

Ronald B. Moore, visual effects supervisor for "Star Trek: The Next Generation: and "Star Trek: Generations" will be a special guest for the event.

Two other sci-fi authors also are noted guests: David Brin and Vernor Vinge.

Events include a variety of panel discussions, musical and dance performances, gaming, viewing of anime, a Stargate fan club event featuring props, costumes and viewing of episodes, parties, a masquerade, a LEGO contest, a writers' workshop and a dealer area for vending all sorts of sci-fi and related goodies. For a full schedule and other details, see the con program (in PDF format).

After a string of episodes that even the producers admitted were pedestrian at best, it was beginning to look like "Battlestar Galactica"'s star was fading. "Black Market" was just too meandering; "Scar" seemed like a retread of an old "Space: Above and Beyond" episode; and the hostage-scenario "Sacrifices" just came across as contrived.

Not to mention the dramatic changes in pace: Earlier episodes took place within days of each other and now we're skipping a month or more, just to reach the nine-month date for the baby to be born this episode.

But Friday night's episode, "Downloaded," refreshingly succeeds on so many levels as we head into the season finale. It's a story told largely from a Cylon point of view, following the lives of Baltar's No. 6 and the "original" Sharon Valeri after they are resurrected.