Thoughts on the arts, society, politics, and various geeky topics.
This is the blog of Janice Dawley. Why is it called “Central Cortex”? Well, the Cortex was the interplanetary equivalent of the internet in Firefly, a show I was totally into back in 2003 when I first created this blog, and I’ve never changed the name since then. Strangely enough, I’ve barely written anything about Firefly here, but I’ve written a LOT about other TV shows and movies, as well as literature, politics, various cultural topics, and my own life.
It wasn’t even a New Year’s resolution — I just felt like getting a gym membership. Our local YMCA is just up the street from my house and my employer offers a discount on the fees as a company benefit, so I decided to sign up there. The Y staff made it extremely difficult for me by misplacing my forms, giving me the wrong member card, and failing to call me back time and time...
We’re now at the midseason hiatus for Battlestar Galactica, so it seems like a good time to write up my thoughts on the episodes since “Collaborators”.
More below the “Read More” link for the spoiler-unwary.
Today I found myself thinking of a quote from a movie that has a lot of personal resonance lately.
“Life is a shit storm. And when it’s raining shit, the best umbrella you have is art.”
— Pedro Carmichael (Peter Falk) in Tune in Tomorrow
Yesterday I read about something that really warmed my heart. The TV show Firefly was cancelled just about four years ago. Since then, a very successful DVD release, a movie, and various related books, CDs and comic books have kept it alive in the minds of the fans. In addition, the show’s creator, Joss Whedon, and a number of actors and other associates have stayed in touch with the...
Wow, I really feel like an anthro major right now. I’m currently listening to “The Battlestar Roundtable“, a podcast available on the Battlestar Galactica web site, and sitting back amazed and delighted that such a window on the personalities and process of artistic creation has been opened to me. The voices of Jamie Bamber (Apollo), James Callis (Baltar), Tahmoh Penikett...
Now that I’ve gotten more than 20 books into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, I think it’s time for an overview of what’s what. For those who don’t know what Discworld is, I can sum it up as a long-running parody of the fantasy genre that is also well-written, psychologically apt, and quite deep at times. With puns. Lots of puns. I had seen references to the...
I just learned that Robert Altman, director of some of my favorite movies (The Player, Gosford Park), has died. He was 81. For a while in the previous century I kept a memorable quotes collection on my computer — things that struck me as profound or funny, mostly. One of them was an exchange between Altman and an interviewer from Newsweek: “Have you ever worked for a mogul whom you felt was...
Wow. What an amazing 24 hours it’s been. Yesterday I came home from work and sat down in front of my computer to monitor the election. Burlington blogger extraordinaire Bill Simmon recently set up a citizen forum called Exit Voices that I spent some time at. From there, I clicked over to our local community access news channel’s streaming video feed of election coverage. Not only did...
Yep, it’s another of those moments when the fate of the United States hangs in the balance… the night before a national election. Things are looking a little better for Democrats than they were two years ago, but I’m trying not to become too hopeful given how many times the Dems have had campaigns crash and burn at the last moment. Instead I’m focusing on Vermont politics...
I really don’t want this blog to become All Battlestar All The Time, but I can’t keep silent about the latest episode, Collaborators. It hurt to sit through it, but even so, I downloaded and watched it a second time this evening and came out thinking it’s a minor masterpiece. Further thoughts beyond the Read More link for those who aren’t afraid of spoilers.