I don’t consider myself to be a huge TV addict, but when it comes to Friday nights, just call me mister couch potato — time to lay out on the Castro Convertible, set myself up with a large soft drink, a plate of snacks, and my favorite object in the entire world, the TiVo remote.
People have asked me what TV shows I like to watch — for the most part, I watch educational type stuff. PBS, Discovery, The History Channel (or as my wife likes to call it, the Hitler Channel) and A&E. Despite my relationship to eGullet, I’m not much for cooking shows, although there are a scant few I am currently watching, like Daisy Cooks on PBS and Good Eats on the Food Network.
What I really like to watch, however, is Science Fiction TV and movies. Get a few hot looking chicks in tight jumpsuits (or better yet, naked ones) weilding ray guns, I’m so there. Friday night on the Sci Fi Channel is da bomb in that respect — Starting off with Stargate SG-1 (Samantha Carter, oh my god — is there a hotter object of geek affection or what?) then Stargate Atlantis (okay, not really as good a show as SG-1 and not a ton of material on the hot chick quotient, but the base commander isn’t at all difficult to look at and Teyla gets major points on the “chicks you wouldnt mind having your ass kicked by” scorecard) and then the truly amazing Battlestar Galactica (oh man, don’t get me started on Number Six, or Starbuck and Boomer for that matter. And even the president is pretty hot, actually). Sure, I can appreciate the plots and the writing, but if you got cool space battles and hot chicks in tight uniforms, you’ve got my attention for the evening.
On a more serious note, what I think my next major web project will be is a discussion site along the lines of eGullet, but dedicated to the exploration of the Sci Fi and Fantasy genre in popular media. I’ve done some investigation, and it appears that there’s a void that needs to be filled, in respect to intelligent discussion of SF and Fantasy in television, movies, and print media, and there’s no site where ameteurs/aspiring writers and avid consumers of SF can really have productive discourse with the professionals producing it — much of what exists now seems to be pretty fanboy-eque and not very well run, and I’d imagine many of the pros stay clear of those sites because of that. Surprisingly, there’s no equivalent to eGullet for Sci Fi and Fantasy, and I think I’d like to make one, bringing in my expertise in forming successful professionally moderated communities and leveraging my experience with the technology that drives sites like that. Unlike food, however, I don’t have a lot of contacts in that industry, so if some interested parties would like to join forces with me — subject matter experts and professionals in the business — to help bring a site like that to fruition, I’d like talk to you.
Speaking of SF and television, I just discovered this cool new web site, eVokeTV.com, which allows you to rate all your favorite TV shows, discuss them with likeminded people, and display all your favorite shows in your blog. If you click on the eVokeTV.com link in my Blogroll, you’ll see what I mean. If your blog software actually supports javascript, you can even have it display the shows you are currently watching and others who are watching the same show can talk to you. I haven’t gotten it working yet on WordPress.com but I’ll keep you guys up to date on it — apparently it works fine in Blogger and other hosted blogging services.
On the SF news front, some of you might not have heard that veteran character actor Andreas Katsulas passed away recently of lung cancer. Katsulas was best known for his role as “G’Kar”, the reptilian Narn ambassador on Babylon 5. He was also known for his portrayal of various aliens on Star Trek: The Next Generation, including the nefarious Romulan commander Tomalok. More details about his roles in film and television can be found on his official web site. Rest in Peach, Andreas. We’ll miss you.
Also, in the interest of gratuitous food porn, since this is still technically a food blog, I’m going to make a habit of posting a new food porn photo every day, if I can. So in keeping with today’s SF theme, here’s something that looks like it could be on a Klingonese menu:
Thats a fresh, still alive (and moving!) sea urchin, or Uni, from Sakura Bana restaurant in Ridgewood, NJ.
Posted by offthebroiler 
