IS THAT A LEPRECHAUN IN YR PANTS OR ARE YOU JUST PLEASED TO SEE ME?

The closest thing you’ll get to a St Patrick’s Day post on this blog:

Context here (as if you really need it).

NOTE: Possibly NSFW, depending on yr office policy on cleavage and leprechauns bursting out of men's trousers.

Let it out,

This is dF

THE FEMA SHADOW GOVT CONSPIRACY: THIS YEAR’S MODEL

ITEM: Glenn Beck reports on Fox And Friends that he has conducted "research" on concentration camps being built by the Obama admin as part of a conspiracy to establish totalitarian rule in America.

Video is available.

While Beck claims he is not 100% certain that the camps exist, he has proclaimed repeatedly that the Obama administration's economic policies are pushing the country into "totalitarianism' and that he "cannot debunk" the existence of the camps, which are supposedly being set up under the auspice of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), but which Beck claims will be used soon for mass imprisonment of American citizens with right-leaning political views.

Which, by the wildest coincidence, was the plot of the first X Files movie.

By an even wilder coincidence, George W Bush had the EXACT SAME PLAN.

Oh, and so did Bill Clinton.

Conclusion: the voices in Glenn Beck’s head need new material.

Get on yr jackboots (hey hey hey),

This is dF

GREAT MOMENTS IN MARKETING: THIS IS TEH SYENCE FYCTION, BYTCHES!

I realize I’m probably the last person on the LJs to post something on the whole “Syfy is the new Sci Fi” scandal. There’s a couple of reasons for that: (1) I’ve been a little busy these last couple of days, and (2) we don’t get the Sci Fi Channel all the way out here in Hong Kong, so it’s not like I feel I have any personal stake in it.

Anyway ...

Much of the ire has been focused on Tim Brooks’ remark about the term “sci-fi” being too closely linked with “geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games”. I can’t add too much to what’s already been said, and while I appreciate the “I’m geek and proud of it” sentiment, I also think it’s beside the point – at least for me.

As I’ve typed elsewhere on this blog, I do find genre terms limiting. Books are the best example – you never find Burroughs, Vonnegut or even Crichton in the SF section. Meanwhile, the Romance section is full of vampires, and Ian Rankin has argued that the Harry Potter books are really whodunnits dressed up in wizard robes. Films and TV have similar crossover appeal these days, so I can see why the Sci Fi Channel wants to break free of the term.

( Blah blah blah blah blah blah ... )

 

The upshot for me is that the Sci Fi Channel just missed the chance of a lifetime. Until this week, it was in as good a position as anyone to rewrite the definition of “sci fi” as both a genre and a demo. Instead, they opted to respell it.

As the geeks and fanboys say, EPIC FAIL.

Brand republic,

This is dF