Saturday, January 30, 2010

Knights of The Guild and Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em Improv Party



UStream goodness tonight!
You all know that Kenny and Jenni on the Knights of The Guild podcast battle Guild Deficiency Syndrome ALL THE TIME. This week marks an awesome anniversary, because the Knights of the Guild podcast is ONE YEAR OLD! Amazing Guildies Kenny and Jenni have been delivering a brilliant mix of news, interviews, reviews and wonderful, wonderful behind-the-scenes insights you won't find anywhere else. To celebrate they will be holding an anniversary special of the podcast and you can see it and join in on UStream.

To find out how to do that simply follow @KnightsofGuild on Twitter for instructions.

There are going to be some special guests on the show, too - so far there will be @feliciaday, @micheleboyd, @seanbecker, @kimevey, @FernyChien @gregaronowitz....and more. I love the Knights of The Guild and I can't wait for tonight!

Two awesomes for the price of one!
Tonight (Saturday 30th January 2010) will also see another great Improv show from "Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em". This group includes many people familiar to readers of this blog: Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh and Jeff Lewis along with other great actors such as Tara Platt and Alex Albrecht. I'm not sure of the complete lineup tonight but it's going to be a great show. If you can't make it to LA to see it live, no worries, because that will be on UStream, too.

Monday, January 25, 2010

The Guild Season on DVD, iTunes news and Photo Shoot



Thought The Guild was lounging around doing nothing...

...while we suffered in silence with our Guild Deficiency Syndrome? Think again, bucko! As from today, The Guild goes iTunes-tastic with all three Seasons available! It works here in Canada, so hopefully it will work where you are, too. The Season 3 DVD release date has been announced and you can order that from Amazon.com right now. For full details and links to the releases, plus all the latest news from The Guild, check out WatchTheGuild.com.

Ever wondered what a professional photo shoot is like?

The Bui Brothers have again taken some magnificent pictures for The Guild Season 3 DVD (remember the awesome pictures of Felicia Day they did last year, too?). And, because they are cool dudes, they took some video of the shoot day. Enjoy this and then go and order Season 3!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Caprica! Tonight! Plus Set Tour!


(The view inside the Graystone's fridge. And no, we didn't test the food!)

NEED! MORE! EXCLAMATION! POINTS!!!!!
It's tonight, people - just a few hours away! I am seriously happy that the long wait is over and we can dig in for a delicious haul of TV goodness. Weeks of anticipation, joy and teeth-grinding are just  moments away. It's going to be like the good old days when BSG was being aired....YAYAYAY!


(Dr Graystone's desk in his not-so-secret lab. I love the fact they have disks!)

Oh - and if you want to hear about how I confused Dr Graystone (Eric Stoltz is so....warm, I think is the word) and played with a Cylon then you can read all about the Syfy Set Tour on PinkRaygun. It was a great day but made the waiting even harder! And even though I didn't actually see Jane Espenson that day, I'm still holding out for the day when I finally do. Good times....

P.S. I'm not the only one excited! Lots of excitement on Twitter including @kiala who has posted this heartfelt article today on Heartlessdoll.com SO SAY WE ALL!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Countdown to Caprica: only 1 day to go!


(Image from the front page of The Caprican, where you can keep up to date with all the news on Caprica)

Yes, I'm excited!
Tomorrow on Syfy (and Space here in Canada), CAPRICA, the brand new series set 58 years before Battlestar Galactica, airs. I was undecided about Caprica until I saw the pilot. Once I had watched it I couldn't wait to see the rest of the series - and it's been a long wait! You do NOT need to have seen BSG to enjoy Caprica (as @Kimevey has also pointed out). If you were a fan of BSG, though, there will be some nods to the future. I don't think anyone is going to be disappointed.

For the last 12 days I've been counting down on PinkRaygun.com with a series of articles and in case you missed any, here's a complete list:






Tomorrow my report from the Caprica Set Tour, including the Q&A with the cast, will be up on PinkRaygun, too. It was a great day and I hope I have the opportunity to go back there when they are filming Season 2.

With Dollhouse finishing next week, Caprica is my big hope for a new blockbuster series. Of course I'll still be watching Castle, too. Castle is the only other thing TV show I regularly watch at the moment, and I love it.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Don't forget to vote in The Streamys - every day until Jan 15th 2010




Remember how exciting The Streamys were last year?
How awesome it was to watch them LIVE on the Internet while tweeting with your friends from around the world? How magnificent all the stars looked and how gratifying it was to see the people who had worked so hard receive the recognition they deserved? It was a blockbuster of a night and the post I did after was a glimpse of the highlights I remembered.


Felicia Day makes my night
Along with the fact that The Guild and Felicia won so many awards (yay!), the stand-out memory for me was the speech that Felicia made. It was short, passionate and moving. And here it is:





When I've received rejection letters from agents I often think of this speech. It helps me send out the next batch of letters.


VOTE NOW!
I'm not going to lie to you. The voting system for The Streamys is not a quick-click-and-you're-done affair. I've just voted for all the people from The Guild and it took about 12 minutes. But once you get in your stride it's not too bad. And the organisers are going to look at the voting again for nest year. But for now you need to know that you can vote every day until Jan 15th and every vote counts towards making the People's Choice shortlists - so keep voting!

Who to vote for?
I'm not going to tell you that. I'm sure you have favourite series. If you are  Guild fan and you want to vote for everyone you can then a list of names is here. And @jennipowell has a whole set of suggestions on her blog. And Tubefilter always has lots of links and information about all kinds of webseries. So go on - vote!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Age of Caprica draws near, and life imitates art imitating life...


Roxxy and the Cylon prototype from Caprica (do I need to say which is which?)

12 days and counting...

I am counting the days until January 22nd, when CAPRICA debuts on Syfy (it's on Space in Canada). And by that I mean I am literally counting the days in a series on PinkRaygun.com that started today. 

How would YOU deal with the death of a loved one?

Imagine my surprise then, when today on Friendeed I saw an article about Roxxxy, the sex robot that has just been unveiled to "...adoring fans." Another Buffybot, perchance? Possibly, but it was the end of the article that really made me sit up:

"Inspiration for the sex robot sprang from the September 11, 2001 attacks, when planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and an empty field in Pennsylvania.
"I had a friend who passed away in 9/11," Hines said. "I promised myself I would create a program to store his personality, and that became the foundation for Roxxxy True Companion."
(Quoted from here)

Eek!

On Caprica a grieving father created a mechanical device to store the personality of his child who was killed in a terrorist attack, that goes on to become the beginning of the end of Caprica.

On Earth a grieving friend created a mechanical device to store the personality of his friend who was killed in a terrorist attack, that goes on to become...a sex slave?

I'm not even sure which one of these scenarios is worse. And I'm really trying not to think how the inventor went from wanting to store his friend's personality to a sexbot that is programmed so she "..loves what you love.." and has wi-fi so she can email you at work. And did I mention there are five models...?And that a male version is in the works?

So the next time one of your less-geeky friends tries to pooh-pooh your love of sci-fi, impress them with your knowledge of the REAL WORLD!

It's happened before and it will happen again.

Things I left out because I have standards:

  • wondering if it's protected from backdoor viruses
  • wondering what Kryton from Red Dwarf would make of Roxxxy
  • if she loves what you love isn't she likely to run off with another plastic sexbot? Or is this the reason they can't walk (yet)
  • the whole hygiene issue
  • something about handling 3.5" floppies



Friday, January 8, 2010

Seth Harwood makes me a winner!




It's true - I'm a winner!
I tweeted earlier this week that I was one of the winners in a competition that Seth Harwood is running. Seth is an accomplished and successful writer/podcaster of the gritty crime thriller "Jack Wakes Up" and a new short story collection "A Long Way from Disney". He has been an inspiration to me when I writing and  thinking about podcasting "Turning Left at Albuquerque". I've been quiet about it since because I've been doing some Very Serious Thinking and I wanted to choose the right prize.

A competition?
The competition is still running and is very simple - and the prizes are brilliant! From Seth's website:


"The Contest works like this:There are two giveaways--on Wednesday 1/9 and Weds 1/16.
Each week there will be two winners, who'll have the choice of three prizes:
1) signed Breakneck Books copy of JWU—the first printing! A collector’s item.
2) Original marked manuscript pages of JP2 or a short story by me.
Or 3) A consult on a short story or chapter of a novel you’re writing/working on.
To play: blog about the Disney Kindle release and chart rush to help spread the word. If you don’t have a blog, the equivalent of a blog post is deemed adding the info as a facebook or twitter status update for two days out of a given week. Be sure to put this link to Amazon into your post."

What to choose?
With a great selection of prizes I've been torn about which one to select. I'd love the signed book or manuscript pages because they would be prized possessions for me and a piece of writing history. BUT...the chance to have an experienced writer and teacher look at a chapter of my work is too good a chance to pass up.

After podcasting over three quarters of "Turning Left at Albuquerque", I know it needs to be restructured and edited. I love the story and characters but it's too long to have any chance of being published. I've got a really clear plan of what to do and with everything I've learned in the year since I started writing it, I think it's going to be fantastic. And now I get the chance to put my revised first chapter to the test.

Thank you, Seth, for this opportunity!

Why don't you see if you can be a winner, too? Then when you post a picture of you holding your signed copy of "Jack Wakes Up" I can tell you how jealous I am - but I'll still know I chose the right prize.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Browncoats: Redemption - new interview with Michael C Dougherty



Are you excited yet?
I surely am! It's only a few months before "Browncoats: Redemption"is released and I can't wait. Co-creator Michael C Dougherty took some time out of his hectic schedule to answer some questions for me, and the interview is up on PinkRaygun.com now. This fan-made film is shaping up to be a huge success and that's great news for Browncoats and the charities they support - because all the money made after production costs have been met is going to charity.

Steven Fisher, the other co-creator, left a comment on the article thanking me for the support I've shown for the project. I replied saying it was my pleasure because it truly is. As a Browncoat I want to see more tales from the 'Verse. I used to role-play in a Virtual Firefly because I love the world that Joss created.

Oh, and tonight I'll be recording my #iamabrowncoat video, so watch out for that! If you're doing one or have done one let me know :)