Great post. I caught "Catching Hell" on ESPN the other night and thought it was very well done. I'm a lifelong Astros fan myself.

My wife and I first saw Aaron Douglas 2-3 years ago on his first visit to Dragon*Con. If you get the chance, get him to tell the story about his first day filming on the miniseries with Edward James Olmos. I still tell that one to other people, it's so damn funny.

Wil, if you really want to get your geek on -- and see some of the freakiest, most entertaining costumes ever (Jack Sparrow dressed as Slave Leia, anyone?) -- you really should make the effort to attend Dragon*Con at least once. I know how awesome a con PAX is and that they tend to conflict, but hop the red eye to Atlanta for next labor day and you won't be disappointed. Trust me. Hope to see you there, I'd love to partake in one of your live readings someday.

"...a 2008 survey of professional historians said that 98% thought the Bush Presidency was a failure, and 60% thought it was the worst in the history of the country." I'm shocked, SHOCKED to discover socialists working in academia.

I've kind of had good and bad experiences meeting folks over the years. I seem to do pretty well meeting B5 actors, for some reason. I remember in '99 or '00 when Andreas Katsulas came to Dragon*Con. G'Kar is flat out one of the best things about B5, and from all accounts from the set Andreas was the big reason for that. I was standing there while he signed some stuff for me, and I seemed to recall that he was a Shakespearean actor before doing TV and film. It prompted me to ask him what his favorite Shakespeare was. He paused to consider it for a moment, looked up, and said only: "Lear." I mentioned I had never read it. "You should," he said. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I do have a copy on my shelf. I was very sad when he passed away a few years back. At the opposite end of the spectrum, of course, is meeting Tricia Helfer. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous, she's TALL. I'm 6' 1", and she's a little taller than I am! When she stood up from behind the table to get a picture with me, I felt like the guy in The Fifth Element meeting the diva for the first time: looking up, trying not to drool, stammering something about how tall she was. It was like meeting an Amazon.

You can't spell "hopeyness" and "changitude" without "capitulation". http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=12786 Anyone who's shocked by this hasn't been paying attention to politicians in this country for the last 150 years. It's entirely about saying whatever it takes to get into power, then squandering your ability to enact meaningful change by focusing all your energies on retaining that power and getting re-elected.

I thought the press had learned their lesson with the run-up to the Iraq War. It's sad to see that there's not a journalist in America willing to ask any of the candidates tough questions about anything. What a great year to be a fiscal conservative voter! Our choices are a socialist, a communist, and a liberal. Well, just a socialist and a liberal now that Hillary's out, I suppose.