It’s taken five years, but someone is finally calling Lady Mary out on her shit. Yes! Mary is called out by her mother for being a bully! #DowntonAbbey — Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) January 18, 2016 The proximate cause? The wedding of Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes. Last week’s drama revolved, in part, over where theirContinue reading “Downton Abbey: The Comeuppance of Mary Crawley”
Author Archives: Allyn
Cosmic Death and Rebirth: The Discovery of Supernova ASASSN-15lh
Let’s talk today’s big science news! I remember — or I think I remember — Carl Sagan saying in the original Cosmos, “We are made of starstuff.” That’s true. We are. The Big Bang produced a lot of plasma and a lot of hydrogren. The hydrogen came together and formed the first stars. As starsContinue reading “Cosmic Death and Rebirth: The Discovery of Supernova ASASSN-15lh”
T Minus One Month to Farpoint
Hard to believe we’re a month away from Farpoint. Farpoint is a convention held annually outside Baltimore in mid-February, usually right around Valentine’s Day. This year will be my eleventh Farpoint; I’ve been attending since 2006. The headlining guests this year are novelist David Gerrold (writer of Star Trek‘s “The Trouble with Tribbles”), Sean MaherContinue reading “T Minus One Month to Farpoint”
Downton Abbey: The Politics of Pig Farming
Downton Abbey vacillates between two extremes — measured costume drama and out-and-out soap opera. Last night’s episode, the second of the sixth and final season, was the latter, not the former. The episode’s main plot — an autumn farm festival — was the springboard for a number of smaller plots, but then there were otherContinue reading “Downton Abbey: The Politics of Pig Farming”
Alternate Beatles
Recently I’ve seen the traffic spike on some of my Beatles writings, specifically on alt-history Beatles, so I’m going to assemble a guide to things I written on the subject over the years. Post-Abbey Road Albums It’s an interesting game to imagine what the Beatles might’ve done had they soldiered on into 1970. There’s interestingContinue reading “Alternate Beatles”
Lottery Fever
There’s an occasional lottery pool at work. It’s biweekly (coinciding with the pay periods), and it’s for the Mega Millions. In the last two weeks, it’s been focused instead, on the growing PowerBall jackpot. I think we did drawings for last Saturday (not a pay period) and again on Wednesday (also not a pay period)Continue reading “Lottery Fever”
Star Wars Monopoly and the Merchandising of Rey
Over the past twenty-four hours, I’ve seen a number of people, some friends, some not, outraged by Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens Monopoly set because it doesn’t include a player token for Rey. For background on the story, see this article in The Guardian. For an example of the outrage, see this Gizmodo article.Continue reading “Star Wars Monopoly and the Merchandising of Rey”
Downton Abbey: An Auspicious Beginning to the Final Season
Downton Abbey was returning. It was impossible to avoid on PBS in recent weeks. There were ad spots between shows. “The Final Season,” we were reminded again and again. PBS’s biggest show ever, winner of Golden Globes and Primetime Emmy Awards. It all got to be a bit too much. Friday night, following the SherlockContinue reading “Downton Abbey: An Auspicious Beginning to the Final Season”
The Plan
This weekend I sat down and did something I never do — I wrote out New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve never been the resolution-y type. I’d occasionally make a list, and it would be a vague list — write more, exercise more. This time, I sat down and asked myself, “What am I trying to accomplish?Continue reading “The Plan”
Moriarty’s Identity and the Sherlock Christmas Special
Last night, PBS’s Masterpiece Theater aired the Sherlock Christmas special, “The Abominable Bride.” That was well-made nonsense. If you ever thought the biggest problem with the Canon was that it wasn’t phildickian enough, Moffat and Gatiss wanted to reassure you that, yes, Sherlock Holmes can indeed mess with your mind. “The Abominable Bride” wasn’t whatContinue reading “Moriarty’s Identity and the Sherlock Christmas Special”