Author Archives: The Babylon Lurker

A Bit About 2024 So Far.

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2024 has been a bit more active with sci-fi.

Conventions:

Sci-Fi-Con in Randers, Denmark.

Fedcon in Bonn, Germany.

Both of these are more media based, with actors and illustrators etc visiting, and a bit less literature based, and I like both of them.

Fantasticon 2024: Sci-Fi, Horror and Fantasy. A bit more literature based, and writers as main guests. Of course, we talk about everything.

This year’s theme was Immortality, and there were some good presentations, one was about the Films in the Highlander series.

TV and Film:

So far this year, I have watched the film Dune 2. I like it so far, and will watch both 1 and 2 together at some stage when I have more time.

I watched the series on Netflix: The Three Body Problem, based on the book series by Chinese author Liu Cixin, a book series I read about 5 years ago, so I am familiar with the source material.

I found the TV series quite good and entertaining, and no all too far from the source material.

A Look Back at 2023.

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Not too much activity that year.

Conventions:

Sci-Fi-Con in Randers, Denmark

Fedcon in Bonn, Germany

Fantasticon in Copenhagen

The big one:
I got an invitaton to get to the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), so I could get a chance to meet Babylon 5 creator, Sense8 co-creator, and much more, J.M. Straczynski.

What I did not know in Late February/Early March, was that in 2023 there would be a new Babylon 5 animated movie, The Road Home.

As it turns out, this movie got to have world premiere at SDCC, so I got to a world premiere of “Babylon 5; The Road Home” Quite an enjoyable experience, watching this with a bunch of other fans.

ESA Open Day is strictly speaking not a sci-fi convention, but it does cover space exploration with lots of good presentations and exhibits, and meeting people building and operating space craft, and deal with the results. All excellent fun.

On top of that, this year there was a sci-fi theme: Star Wars.

Film and TV:

Not much of watching TV or films, there should be a bit more in 2024.

A fair amount of reaction videos watched on Youtube, especially people watching Babylon 5. Some other film reactions are in my mix

The best were:

MedusaCascade. Finished in 2024

Babylon 5 for the First Time. Will finish in 2024

Grey 17 Podcast. Will likely finish in 2024

Shelley. Will likely finish in 2024

Mega Reacts. Finishing in 2024

Books and audio books:

I started a subscription to Audible, and I have a good amount of audio books and – plays to listen to by now. Re-listened to Lord of the Rings and a few other audio books, mostly when doing long drives to and from conventions.

In 2024 I expect a bit more sci-fi activity.

A Look Back at 2022.

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Here is a quick look at my 2022 activities:

Because the corona precautions have been relaxed, I did go to a few larger arrangements:

I went to the Fedcon in Bonn and enjoyed a good time with friends, old and new.

I went to the local Fantasticon again.

I went to the “Book Forum”, a national book fair. I had planned for spending all 3 days there, as Straczynski had been announced as a guest. He had to cancel, so I chose to go there for just one day.

Watching TV (series):

Seasons 4 and 5 of the Karate Kid spin-off Cobra Kai. Both great fun.

A rewatch of all seasons of the Fringe TV series. It holds up very well.

I finished The Expanse TV series. It is very good, I want more of the books adapted to TV.

A rewatch of one of my favourites: Sense8. Not the last time. I still wish I could get it on physical media.

Batwoman, season 5

Season 1 of The Man in the High Castle

House of the Dragon, season 1, I liked this one.

The Rings of Power (Prime) – it was OK for me.

The Flash, season 7

“1899” (Netflix) I liked this one very well all through the series. The conclusion was somewhat unexpected, but did make sense, given all the stuff throughout the series.

The Umbrella Academy, season 3

The first season of The Sandman (Netflix) was spectacular. 10 episodes in the series proper, and a bonus episode (11).

Season 3 of His Dark Materials is a very good conclusion to the story

Watching Movies:

The Netflix original scifi: Don’t Look Up!, a political satire around a comet hitting Earth.

A drama-documentary about Einstein and Eddington.

Audio Books:

I did a re-listen of the book series of The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey:

Main series story line:

  1. Dragonflight
  2. Dragonquest
  3. The White Dragon
  4. Renegases of Pern
  5. All the Weyrs of Pern
  6. Skies of Pern

Side stories:

  1. Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern.
  2. The Masterharper of Pern.
  3. Dragon’s Kin
  4. Dragon’s Fire

Most of the audio book listening has been done while driving

Books:

I started reading Leviathan Wakes, the first book of The Expanse saga. I may transition to doing it in audio book form, as it can be done while walking, resting or other non-focus requiring activities.

Other activities:

In other activities I started making arrangements for transitioning to solar power for parts of my house activities. More on that later.

In late spring my gas boiler stopped working. As I need some heating in the house I got a heat pump (air-to-air) mounted on the house, and it has lowered my (electric) power consumption compared to last year. Even as I had the gas boiler on, there were a bit of assistance from small electric radiators. I am actually surprised that it works as well as it does.

Yes, I have reduced the use of some electric/electronic equipment when the solar power got too low, and only the most necessary (wanted) equipment is in use now.

I did purchase a “toy car” (yes it is an EV) Why “Toy car” you might ask. Well it runs on batteries, and they are rechargeable. Some people referred to the EV with this term, and I found it good fun to use the expression myself. I got it in the beginning of November, so I have not driven long distances yet. I do see that in the winter the battery life is a bit low, but most of my driving will be in the summer half of the year, so I will do fine. Who knows, with my limited driving requirements I might be able to drive mostly on solar for 9 months of the year.

Yes, this requires a much larger solar power system, and this may take a while to build. We shall see how it goes.

Now it is time to make some plans for the activities in 2023. I have some ideas, some of them concerning generating more solar power. We shall see what I will do.

November: (Lack of) Scifi Activity.

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In November not much activity on the scifi front.

While driving I have been listening to “Dragon’s Fire” by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey.

Listening to audio books during driving makes for a much more pleasant “activity” than listening to the radio. The radio has too much noise and too much advertising nowadays.

In December there will be some watch/listen activity.

I am looking forward to watching the 3rd season of “His Dark Materials” on HBO Max. The first episode of this has just been released.

Further, I just started watching “1899” on Netflix, and the first episode was quite interesting.

There will be a bit of Christmas reading.

I do look forward to the winter solstice, then the very short days start getting longer.

Straczynski Had to Cancel His Visit to Copenhagen.

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A recent tweet from Straczynski told us that due to some deadlines moved too close, he had to call off the visit to Bogforum (Book Fair) in Copenhagen this year.

He also told us that this was in accord with the organizers of the book fair, and they will try to arrange for this another time.

So my plan of going to the book fair all three days  has changed. I will go there just one day this year.

This cancellation also opens the option of a second arrangement, so it is not all too bad.

Activity in September and October.

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I have some work to be done on the house, so have not watched etc. a large amount of scifi/fantasy.

 

A quick overview of my watcheing etc iSept/Oct 2022:

TV:

Finished “House of the Dragon (HBO), season 1, I quite like thins one, , 8/10

Finished “The Umbrella Academy”, season 3. 7/10

Finished Cobra Kai, season 5. I like it, 8/10

Finished “Rings of Power” (HBO), season 1. I do not hate it, and found it entertqaining enough 6/10

Finished “The Flash”, season 7. 7/10

 

Books(audio:

Finished “The Masterharper of Pern” by Anne McCaffrey. Love it, 8/10.

Started listening to “Dragon’s Kin” by Todd McCaffrey.

 

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. [Spoiler Free]

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As a long time fan of Tolkien’s work I have read the main books (The Hobbit and the three volume The Lord of the Rings) several times, and in recent years also listened to the audio books.

Of course I have seen the two movie trilogies, and I agree with many saying that The LotR films are superior to the Hobbit films.

It was with some trepidation that I started watching the first season of The Rings of Power.

The first few episodes felt a bit off, but through the series I did get to appreciate what they were doing. Being well aware that this is not directly material from the books, it is an imagining of things that have been hinted at in the books.

Through the episodes there are some clues laid out, and also some misdirection. My initial guess of one particular character turned out to be correct, but one other character I missed identifying until the season finale.

As a whole I enjoyed the season, and I may re-watch it before a (possible) second season arrives.

I will rate this as 7/10 on the Lurker’s scale.

A Wish Come True.

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As you may already know, when I found Babylon 5 I also found its creator J. Michael Straczynski.

I did get to meet him almost 10 years ago at Phoenix Comicon, at the 20th anniversary celebration for Babylon 5 (B5), where I attended the “Promise Panel”, where he told, for the first time in public, the background story of Michael O’Hare who played the lead, Commander Sinclair, in the first season, and his struggle with mental illness.

If you don’t know the story, and want to, just go on Youtube and search “straczynski promise panel”. Please be aware that this contains spoilers for the B5 series if you have not seen it.

Having followed him for quite a while, I know a bit about his writing career.

He has worked as a journalist, writing for much else:

  • animated TV, like The Real Ghostbusters long ago
  • Live TV, like Jeremiah and, of course his epic science fiction series Babylon 5. There is a new secret Babylon 5 related project, not known in which format, but it has been made and should  be presented at the San Diego Comicon next year. Then there is the possibility of a reboot series of Babylon 5, not a remake but a re-imagining. This could be very interesting if it is given the green light. Then there is the Neflix series Sense8 that he co-wrote with the Wachowskis
  • Comic books like Superman Earth One, Spiderman, and some originals of his own
  • Film, like the Clint Eastwood directed Changeling, a historical drama
  • Novels, both genre and more general
  • He also wrote an autobiography

I have had the wish to meet Straczynski in Europe after he was involved in Sense8, so I did not have to go to the US to do it.

I, and others, have suggested to invite him to Fedcon in Bonn, but for some reason unknown to me, it did not happen.

Today I saw an announcement from the Danish book fair (Bogforum) that they are going to have Straczynski as a guest at this year’s fair in Copenhagen in November this year. I also saw the announcement by Straczynski himself on his Twitter feed.

Now my wish comes true. Straczynski visiting, not just Europe, but within 20 minutes drive from my home.

I am excited.

Some Activity in August.

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Here is a bit about my activity in August.

I finished watching season 1 of “The Man in the High Castle”

This did not catch on strongly with me, but I may still do some more, but it is not high priority.

Rating 6/10.

On the recommendation from a participant of the Fantasticon this year, and another friend I watched season 1 (until now) of “Station Eleven”

While it was interesting enough to finish the season, it did not catch me as much as I have the impression from the recommendations. There was a lot of time jumping (not time travel), and it took some time to get used to.

Rating 7/10

Having liked “Game of Thrones” very well, I started watching the spin-off “House of Dragons”. The first two episodes aired in August, and I like it enough to continue watching. A rating will have to wait until the season is done.

 

Then there is “The Sandman” (season 1) on Netflix. This is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic/graphic novel of the same name.

I have not read the source material, but I have read some Neil Gaiman stuff (and liked it), and seen some TV with him involved in the writing, and I always liked it.

First of all, from the very beginning this feels very much like Neil’s writing. I love the acting and cinematography of this. Episode 6 is a solid highlight of the season.

I am definitely hoping for a continuation, but hopes are moderate, given the tendency of Netflix to cancel shows after a season or two.

Having said that, this first season stands very well on its own.

Rating 10/10

I finished re-listening to the audio book “Moreta, Dragon Lady of Pern” by Anne McCaffrey. I enjoyed it very well as late evening listening, as well as listening to it while driving.

Rating 8/10.

The progress in reading The Expanse novels is slow, as there are some other summer activities going on.

Non scifi activities:

Due to the heat wave I have not done a massive lot, but now it seems to cool down, and I should continue building my system for partial coverage of my electricity needs with solar power. More about this in another post.

Attack!

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As it looks like some unwanted people have found their way to the website, I have taken measures to increase security.

Password changed to an even more secure one than previously. The older one was quite secure, but I am not going to take the risk. Of course, no clues to what it might look like.

Other measures that I am not going to tell you about.

Thank you for your attention.