The View From Drew

 kradical and I were at Shore Leave this past weekend and we recorded a panel discussion on the new Trek movie with author Greg Cox and fan Karen Mitchell Carothers.  It was a lot of fun and I learned a few things in doing remote recording that I hope to take with me to my next convention.  Here's the link to the episode, take a listen, and then stop by the Rift website and let us know what you thought of it.

Joel McHale puts things in perspective when it comes to the whole media explosion over the death of Michael Jackson.

 We've actually been on Facebook for some time with a fan page, but this is an actual page that looks like a regular entry and everytime we post something everyone will get the notice on their feeds, so we don't have to spend time with messaging people or creating events to get attention.  If you are a fan of the show already, please friend us at the new page.  I can't adjust the URL to be more manageable until we get 100 fans.  You can find the new page here - http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Chronic-Rift/125872935099?ref=nf

You can expect a new episode this Monday as the "Summer of the Rift" continues.  Rockne O'Bannon, creator of Farscape, Alien Nation, and seaQuest, sits down with Orenthal and myself to discuss the Farscape comic series and his upcoming pilot projects.  Also, we'll be releasing the Rift sampler episode that was submitted to the Parsec Award committee.  It's actually a nice little ten minute piece that gives new listeners an idea of what we are.

 The Chronic Rift has been nominated for a 2009 Parsec Award for Best Infotainment Program!  To say I am stoked is an understatement.  The show is less than a year old and it's being recognized by its podcasting peers.  Sweet!  If you haven't listened to an episode yet, check out what all the fuss is about at chronicrift.com.  The winners will be announced at Dragon Con this September.  Looks like I have to book a flight. 

Whatever does happen, I want to thank Keith DeCandido, Orenthal Hawkins, Andrea Lipinski, Judy Furnari, David Finnerty, Jay Smith, David Alexander McDonald, Derrick Ferguson, Rhymephile, and Dan Persons for their time and effort in getting the show to this point.  We're going to be wrapping up our first year in August and we look forward to bringing the best in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic art for year two in September.

Farrah Fawcet has died at aged 62.  RIP, Angel.

 While it didn't come out quite the way the LJ-less Lipchick and I envisioned it, we still managed to put together a pretty good look at recent young adult novels available for your teens to read this summer.  You can find the episode on the website - http://www.chronicrift.com - or on iTunes.

Or you could simply follow this link - http://thechronicrift.podomatic.com/player/web/2009-06-22T17_35_59-07_00

 Happy Father's Day to all my fellow Livejournal members.  I recently lost my grandfather at the age of 94.  He was my last living grandparent.  I was lucky enough to see him one last time two years ago and the boys had a chance to meet him.  He sat there and marvelled at how eneergetic they were.  (Too energetic in Mikey's case.  My grandfather got very nervous as the one-and-half year old started doing tumbles on Grandpa's hard wood floor.)  I never had great-grandparents and I never got to meet my father's mother, so this was very special to me.

Happy Father's Day, Pa!

In the photo is my aunt, Sister Joan; my niece, Katelyn; my mother, Phyllis; and my grandfather, Patrick.

 
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Here's another opportunity to see what all the fuss is about.  If you haven't subscribed yet to the feed, you can do so by clicking on the link to Podomatic or by finding us and subscribing through iTunes.

Want to tell us exactly how you're feeling about the show, but don't like the idea of an email because it's not personal enough?  How about calling us?  You can leave a message with your thoughts on anything we do on The Chronic Riftby dialing  - 1-206-338-0801 - and we may just use your comments on a future episode.

• Season sets of Scrubs are less than $20 at the BJ's Warehouses in the New York area.
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• Anyone ever been to the Eveready Diner?  We had one open up just five minutes away from my home.  I may have found my new home away from home.
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• Two new episodes of the Rift are now available.  There's a review episode where we grok about Spock and Star Trek in general, and there's a music episode featuring music from those who are geekily inclined.  Check them out at the Rift website - http://www.chronicrift.com.  Take a moment to sign up and hang out in the forums.
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• Have a happy Memorial Day weekend, those of you who celebrate!

Thanks toalex7000  for pointing this out to me.  Wordle.net

 Dollhouse gets a second season! - http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2009/05/16/dollhouse-renewed/

I know most people here aren't impressed with the show.  I like it.  I think I get it and I hope my faith pays off for me and for Fox when the second season comes along.  Fox was impressed by Whedon's pitch for the second season and by the DVR numbers to give it another chance.  They also don't have a strong season of new series, so they need to build on anything that has some potential.  With that thinking though, I'm surprised they didn't renew Sarah Conner as from what I can see, that had more of a fanbase than Dollhouse has.  I didn't watch it as I got bored after the sixth episode, but I hear more about it than Dollhouse.

We'll see.  I'm just a happy camper though this morning.

Been under the radar again.  Popping up to let you know about the recent episodes of The Chronic Rift.  Let's see, I've interviewed Ellen Datlow (ellen_datlow ), talked about the upcoming summer movie season with Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastique Online, and discussed James Bond with Bond author Raymond Benson and Better in the Darkhost Thomas Deja (ny_wisdom ).  Hear for yourself with the embedded player.


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It was one year ago today that four adventurers became embroiled in the affairs of the citizens of Caldor Major in the realm_of_correu .  We played our 19th session last night which saw the death of O'Van Hauk as he was consumed by a Bag of Devouring after the party battled and nearly lost to a vampire.  It's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to another year as the players move to new levels and the inhabitants of the realm must unite to battle for their survival. 

Been out of the loop here.  I've been following and commenting as best I can, but I haven't had much to say myself.  I just wanted to take a moment to thank mikescomics for the fast shipping and ease in getting a TARDIS Playset and a Sonic Screwdriver for Mikey's third birthday which is coming up in nine days. I placed the order officially on Tuesday (We had been talking about all the options by email over the weekend.) and here it is Friday and I have it. If only all transactions could be this simple. (I mean with other businesses.)

 Sci-Fi Channel gets rebranded as SyFy.  Yeesh.

I haven't been able to get into the groove of things since last week.  I think Daylight Savings has me wiped.  The sad part is, I went to bed early last Saturday and slept in on Sunday.  Despite this, the week was very difficult to get through and last night I was out late at a mini reunion with a fair number of my high school classmates.  This morning, I was up early and out to Queens for the first of several classes on Smartboard usage.  I'm going to lie down now and hopefully, a nap might help.