Like everyone, I receive “word salad” spam. By “word salad,” I mean spam that uses words and phrases from other sources that go together and make sense to try and get past a Bayesian filter. I’ve just received a Star Trek word salad spam. This is a first. The subject line, as it arrived: PicardContinue reading “Boldly Going Where No Word Salad Has Gone Before”
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Artistically Beatles
It’s safe to say that I have more Beatles cover albums in my collection than official Beatles albums. (I have to make that distinction, as I have a nice sized collection of bootleg albums.) And over the years, I’ve bought some absolute junk. I have no idea when I picked up Vincent DiCola’s Artistically Beatles. Continue reading “Artistically Beatles”
The Dracula Finale
Last night NBC broadcast the finale of Dracula. It was not the definitive conclusion I had expected from the start, when the series was commissioned as a 10-part mini-series. Yet… If that’s where Dracula ends, I’m content. There are a number of balls still in the air, pieces are still in play on the chessboard,Continue reading “The Dracula Finale”
Snow On Snow
Yesterday we had another winter storm in Pennsylvania. I think it was the fifteenth or sixteenth just since Christmas. I exaggerate. But that’s how it feels. Snow on snow. Like from the song, “In the Bleak Midwinter.” Yesterday’s storm was another Polar Vortex, and unlike the first, which was merely bonechillingly cold, this one broughtContinue reading “Snow On Snow”
A Single-Disc White Album
Let’s talk about the Beatles’ White Album. Recording in 1968, after the Beatles went to India to study transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the White Album, thirty tracks long, is famously bloated. The band came back from India with a wealth of material and the intention to record it all. Then the recordingContinue reading “A Single-Disc White Album”
The AV Club Weighs In on the “Elementary vs. Sherlock” Question
The Onion‘s AV Club has posted an insightful and nuanced take on Elementary and Sherlock in comparison to each other. Though I try not to compare the two series (because they really are different things with different aims), I find myself in agreement with a lot of it, frankly; I keep wondering how Sherlock‘s castContinue reading “The AV Club Weighs In on the “Elementary vs. Sherlock” Question”
Introducing… The Misadventures Project
Four years ago today, I made an interesting discovery — the text of Ellery Queen’s lost lost 1944 Sherlock Holmes anthology, The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, was online. It had been posted sometime before that — the webpage says 2007 — but the day I downloaded the PDF, a scanned edition of the third printing,Continue reading “Introducing… The Misadventures Project”
Dracula: Nearing the End
With only one more episode of Dracula left, which aired in the UK a few nights ago, let’s catch up on my TrekBBS posts on the series. (For those catching up, previous posts on Dracula are here (episodes 1 and 2) and here (episodes 4 through 7). From January 11th, on episode 8, “Come toContinue reading “Dracula: Nearing the End”
Raffles in the World of Sherlock
Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat has said recently that Matt Smith, former Doctor Who star, could appear in Sherlock, if it were the “perfect part.” What could that “perfect part” be? My first thought was Stanley Hopkins, the best of the Scotland Yard inspectors and the one closest to Holmes in intellect. What if Sherlock hadContinue reading “Raffles in the World of Sherlock”
The GOP’s 2016 Straw Poll
I received an e-mail today from the Republican National Committee. They wanted my input — mine! — on who their 2016 nominee should be! Friend, You are one of a handful of conservatives whom I have selected to take the confidential 2016 Presidential Straw Poll. The battle for the White House has already begun. That’sContinue reading “The GOP’s 2016 Straw Poll”