You know, sometimes the TV networks get it right

Science fiction fans often have legitimate grievances against television networks (Fox, mostly) for smothering many potentially great series in their cribs. But sometimes, just sometimes, these speculative fiction infanticides are really better for everyone involved. Like with these sci-fi/fantasy shows, which deserved their quick deaths.

(Found via SFSignal.)

Career decisions

After roughly one week of hitting the jobhunt scene, I've got a few offers to consider, which is more than I expected this early. There's a mix of startup and agency work in there, with some intriguing combinations of risks and opportunities. In fact, the higher the risk, the greater the opportunity. The usual inversely proportional relationships, thrown at me at about Warp 8.5.

So here I am with a 15 month old daughter and wife who has taken the vow of poverty to be a social worker, wondering if I'm allowed or entitled to roll the dice on the really exciting job that could implode in 90 days. I'm also wondering how many of these opportunities will still be there if the high-risk option does implode. And I basically have the weekend to make these decisions.

One the one hand, I'm damn lucky to have so many options so fast. On the other, I'm a little freaked at having to make a call of this magnitude so fast.

Heh, and you people thought I'd be posting geek stuff today.

Predicting Battlestar Galactica, season 4

For those that need to catch up, here's Battlestar Galactica seasons 1-3 in 8 minutes. Now that we're all on the same page, here's my completely unfounded theory as to the outcome of BSG season 4.

Nobody's a Cylon, not even the Cylons.

That is to say, the division between "humans" and "Cylons" is a false one, because neither is any more or less human than the other.

Now, the whole "All Along the Watchtower" deal pretty much ended any speculation about who was a colony of who. Unless Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix was a Cylon--and possibly a time traveler--Earth preceded the Twelve Colonies. Whether Earth preceded Kobol is a matter of mild debate, but I don't think so.

Earth begat Kobol. Kobol begat the Colonies. The Colonies begat the Cylons. "All of this has happened before. All of it will happen again."

Now, this is pretty much consensus amongst BSG fandom. Where I fall into the wacko minority is in suggesting that nobody from Kobol, the Colonies, or the Cylon homeworld is human. Not in the descending-from-Earthlings sense. My theory:

Earth begat a race of artificial lifeforms, which warred against they're creators and set out for their own world, which they called Kobol. The so-called Lords of Kobol, inspired by Earth's Greek gods, thus made their own creations, who worshiped and served the Lords. These creations eventually despoiled paradise, setting off for their own worlds--the Twelve Colonies. Some, however, left for Earth, choosing to seek out their points of origin, and leaving signposts along the way (like the Eye of Jupiter and the plague probe).

The Colonists, of course created the Cylons, who rebelled, evolved, and found a plan. Along the way, they scoped out the repeating cycle of this generational drama, and are trying to "win" by exterminating their forebearers, either because that's how the script of past destiny says things must end--show me some living Lords of Kobol--or because that's the only way they can break the cycle and prevent their own successors from exterminating them.

Who succeeds the Cylons? Probably Hera, the hybrid child of Helo and Athena, though if Chief Tyrol is a Cylon and Callie isn't, that means their son is also of the Next Race.

Thus, nobody is a Cylon, because everybody is a Cylon. They're all post- and sub-human. If I'm right, when they reach Earth, they'll find a broken, abandoned place, filled at best with the Kobol refugees and pitiful survivors of the first exodus. It's not salvation, it's not paradise, it's a harsh dose of reality that both races are on their own.

Moreover, somewhere in the genetic imperative of all the children of Earth is this inherent need to return home. It's not just passed on from generation to generation, but from species to species. That's what "watchtower" represents, the (surprisingly catchy) siren call of Earth.

Oh, and since this is the last season, Roslin, Adama, and the Galactica all get 'sploded at some point, just to forbid any chance at a sequel (that's close to how show co-creator Ron Moore ended Deep Space Nine, with the band irrevocably broken up). And, so long as I'm making wild guesses, I'd say Lee becomes President, Kara becomes head of the military, and they still can never be together--by virtue of their duties.

Starting tonight, we'll begin to see if I'm right.

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So I'm going to be on the radio

Turns out one of my Geek Trivia readers is Michael Kastler, host of the TechTalk radio show on WRLR 98.3 FM in Chicago (Round Lake Heights, technically). Upon hearing of my recent unemployment, he offered to let me become a semi-regular guest on his program. The trial balloon of this little audio collaboration goes up on Saturday, April 5, around 10:30 Central time. They do the full live video streaming of the show (so you can watch me not be in the studio), as well as archives of the streams, so you don't have to be listening live and/or in Chicago to hear it.

I've actually wanted to do something like this for quite a while. It's somewhat ironic that it wasn't until Geek Trivia was canceled that it happened. I guess Zorg was right.

Irony, meet career

Well, now it gets interesting. That house I used to paint? They just offered me a side gig as an outsourced writer. Pay is decent for a part-time job, but I have to wonder how much bandwidth I want to devote to somebody else's writing franchise. I know the audience wants me back. I know the editorial staff I'd be working with, since a week ago we were co-employees. I have a lot of contacts through that old brand, and that brand has some decent reach--provided I can leverage that to help my own, personal brand--but I don't want to spend my life painting someone else's house. Something to think about.

On the bright side, I've got a lot of potential non-writing work prospects shaping up, mostly on the strength of my work developing online communities. That actually was my day job at the old employer, though I didn't get to do much of it because of resource constraints. I did the writing to fill the time and help the employer's brand. If I get a day job working with online communities, that means I'm using my spare time to write for this side gig, doing sci-fi blogs and trivia questions. That's a lot of fun, but makes me wonder when I'll have time to write fiction--or play with my daughter, watch any movies, attend to my marriage, or have a non-work life of any kind.

Decisions, decision. I told the guy we'd talk tomorrow. Let's see how I feel after my writer's group tonight.