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A Quick Note on the New Site Design
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I was never fully happy with how the site looked previously - I tried to stick with greys and it simply didn't work (I still think the title logo was nice though). To try and rectify the problems with the old design (namely that i'd painted myself into a corner with the colour scheme), I've decided to go for something completely different. Right now it looks a little... corporate, but it should liven up as I get a feel for the new colours.
I've been taking a lot of pointers from design website Abduzeedo, and I highly recommend anyone looking for a little inspiration go there right now - they have some amazing and beautiful stuff new every day.
More Site Changes
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I'm playing with CSS again... sorry. Another week or so, and I reckon I'll be happy with it. Let me know if you see something you like, 'cause I'll probably just rush through and miss stuff that works well.
Prepare Your Child for a Lifetime of SF
Monday, May 04, 2009
So I'll assume that after reading my previous article “How to Get Your Girlfriend to Want to WANT to Watch SciFi” you've already conquered that hurdle, and are now moving on with your family. Next up for SF assimilation is your unwitting offspring – they'll thank you for it when they're older.
There's only one thing you need to bear in mind when choosing TV for your spawn to watch:
Sound.
Wait, I'll say it again:
SOUND.
No matter how developed the urchin is, he or she will be instantly attracted by good sound design and great theme songs. To this end, here's three ways to get things off to a good start, catering for the most 'antsy-in-the-pantsy' child you could present:
1. Star Wars
You should probably stick to the first one (IV: A New Hope), as the other 'episodes' have a lot more graphic stuff, that you might not like your beautiful young person imitating – notably, Salacious Crumb happily picking away at C3PO's eyes... I still wake up at night, terrified that my son will have found his way into our room, cackling quietly... Of course, if your child is a little older, you can provide some more of Ben Burtt's (Star Wars sound designer) work in the Indiana Jones films and Willow. On a side note, it can be fun to stand by the TV and read the 'crawler' whilst pointing to the words – gotta get that literacy education in where you can.
2. Haim Saban & Shuki Levy
These guys are the unsung legends of eighties and nineties kids TV, moving between writing music and producing shows. Depending on your taste, and quite how much violence you're prepared for your child to see, there's a lot to choose from:
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (the animated series, not the weird Troma film)
Dino-Riders
He-Man
Inspector Gadget
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
MASK
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (and its spin-offs)
Samurai Pizza Cats
Ulysses 31
The Real Ghostbusters
StarCom
Mysterious Cities of Gold
Saban has made himself a bona fide, honest-to-god BILLIONAIRE from these and other shows, and as much as it's popular to hate on big business... well, I think he deserves most of that cash. Many of these are available cheaply on DVD – go get 'em.
3. Transformers: The Movie
No, silly! Not Michael Bay's boring 2007 Transformers – the awesome eighties Transformers, complete with ecological messages, Frank Welker and Stadium Rock soundtrack! Nothing will bring a tear to your eye quite like hearing your kid sing along to Lion's version of the theme song:
“TRANSFORMERRRRRRRRS!
[in robot voice] ROBOTS IN DISGUISE!”
...yes. My two year old boy does the robot voice. Envy me.
Site Updates
Friday, March 27, 2009
As you may or may not have noticed, the site's going through a flurry of change. This is likely to continue for the next week or so, as I figure out how best to have the site look; for now (as of this post), it looks pretty rough, but it should get much better looking in the coming week.
Bear with me - it'll settle down soon.
Shall we watch some Star Trek?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
This is the enviable question I was asked the other day by my fiancé. From previous experience, I know it's very hard to convert the 'non-believers', but she is eating up the Trek like no tomorrow.
Now I know the stereotype of us all being cellar-dwelling fat losers, who'd rather play World of Warcraft than interact with the real world, but I also know that's false. So for those of you with partners, here's how I got my girlfriend to “want to WANT to watch Star Trek”.
First off, you need a plan. Don't do anything until you have a plan. It will likely change during execution, but that's where the fun is. Look at it like a game of Chess. I knew from the outset that she had relatively good taste in TV and Film (High School Musical notwithstanding...), but Amy (for that is her name) simply wasn't interested in Trek, so I needed to find an 'in'. A way to make her see Trek differently. This was provided by Babylon 5.
Here are my tips for sharing the SF passion:
- Be prepared for it to take some time before you get to where you want to be. Also, be prepared to watch a lot of 'America's Next Top Model' in return for your partner submitting to boring old SF.
- If they are totally against the idea of Trek, or whichever show you really would like to share with them – I mean if they absolutely hate it – start somewhere else. Hammering away at them to watch your show will only annoy them, and make your job harder.
- Pay attention to the shows he or she likes. If your fella likes watching Football on a Sunday afternoon, make a mental list of 'sporty' episodes – come on, you've got every episode memorised anyway, haven't you?
- If your significant other is a fan of a particular actor, that's a great way to start. Most SF shows have guest appearances, and whilst it may mean they see episodes out of order, who cares? At least they're watching, right?
- Make it easy. If you have the DVDs, keep them as close to the TV as you can, so that when there's a free 45 minutes, you can suggest “Hey – you wanna watch that one with (insert actor name) in?” The best way is to have a media-centre setup, so that you don't even need to get the DVDs out – if it's always on tap, they're much more likely to have a bash.
- Don't be offended if they develop the hots for one of the actors. My girlfriend is going through her 'Riker phase' right now, after enjoying an 18 month relationship with Sheridan, Sinclair and Garibaldi, a brief fling with Fox Mulder, and a one-night-stand with young Obi Wan Kenobi. As I write this, she yells “More Riker! More beardless Riker!!” from the next room. Honestly.
I'd love to hear about your successes (and failures – call it morbid fascination), so drop me a line in the comments below.
Coming Soon: How to indoctrinate your two year old into Science Fiction!