My table in the vendor's room at the Phoenix Comicon was right next to Aaron Douglas. Aaron is a good friend, and he knows that I'm a huge fan of his show and admirer of his work. He also knows that I'm way behind on BSG (near the end of season 3) so he's made this heroic effort to protect me from spoilers.
On the second day of the con, Gil Gerard walked over to Aaron and, with a huge smile on his face, very excitedly said, "Hey, Aaron! [GIANT FUCKING BSG SPOILER] man! Cool!"
I clamped my hands over my ears as fast as I could, but it was too late. When Gil walked away Aaron looked over at me with tremendous compassion behind his massive beard and said, "Sorry about that."
"It's my own fault," I said, "and it's actually pretty incredible that I've known you this long and been at cons with you without that happening."
I let a solitary tear fall from my eye and splash onto my table. "I'll be okay."
I guess if you're going to be spoiled, you should at least get a cool story out of it, and I bet there aren't a lot of people who can say, "Oh yeah, Gil Gerard totally spoiled Battlestar for me."
Goddamn my life is weird sometimes.
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Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I missed the first half of season 3, the whole New Caprica resistance storyline. Haven’t had a chance to borrow the DVDs.
You just reminded me of when I discovered my dentist is a scifi geek too. He’s been watching BSG on DVD, so he’s always half a season or more behind me. I despise spoilers with a fiery passion, so I’m always careful about what I say to him, but I wish he’d catch the frak up already! 😉
Until I read your blog entry I never remembered that Ensign Ro and Admiral Cain were played by the same actress. That Bajoran makeup threw me off.
Today(shortly after I posted my comment, and thanks for your response–makes me feel special!), I got a call from my mother, she had read something about “THE Singularity,” a time theorized to be around 2050 when computers will be so sophisticated that they will be able to design better versions of themselves. At that point the complexity of computers will only be limited by the physics and economics of building them.
Mom was blaming the current economic crisis on the fact that so much of our Economy had come to revolve around computer models of how the Economy is supposed to behave. It was supposed to limit risk, but if all the banks think that they KNOW the system and start GAMING the system based on that knowledge, then the system will invariably collapse. My mother blames the computers. I blame the people trying to game the system, who thought they could get their Money for Nothing and get their chicks for free. Don’t they know we’ve got to install microwave ovens and make custom kitchen deliveries. We’ve got to move these refrigerators. And in this stalled economy … not much is moving.
Yes, your DVR is a Cylon! So is mine! Mine just crashed just two weeks ago. I lost “A Colbert Christmas,” which I was planning to rewatch in July!
I haven’t watched any of the new BSG yet. But I’m planning to eventually. Spoiler Alert: I hear the Cylons are the bad guys!
Interesting. This is something that’s been examined by SF writers for decades. Here’s what I believe: Computers can only do what they’re programmed to do, so ultimately, it is humans who are responsible for their consequences.
It hadn’t occurred to me either until he brought it up. That conversation was a lovely mix of scifi references.
Wil said: “Here’s what I believe: Computers can only do what they’re programmed to do, so ultimately, it is humans who are responsible for their consequences.”
You are right. I’m not frightened by the “Frankenstein’s Monster” aspect of “THE Singularity.” Computers aren’t going to start thinking for themselves and working towards making us obsolete. There will be no SkyNet (isn’t that in “The Terminator”?) or Matrix (isn’t that from “The Marix”?). But…you did program your DVR to save BSG for you. And that system only worked until something went wrong with the system. Now you’re SNAFU or FUBAR, you decide.
So as computer systems get more complex and we rely on them more and more, I fear a day when a minor error creates major havoc. “For want of a nail…” Maybe we’ve already reached that point.
Dude. “For Want of a Nail” is a GREAT title for a SF short story about … well, something about computers doing something unexpected and how the people who have become so reliant on them to survive have to figure a way to solve it.
Um. Can I write that story and take your title? Do you mind if I do that? Because now I *really* want to write that story.
Dude! “For Want of a Nail..” is a classic proverb. Ben Franklin used it. That’s public domain stuff.
I’ll warn you, Todd Rundgren had a minor hit with “The Want of a Nail” in 1989. Here’s a YouTube video of him singing it on Letterman:
AND searching YouTube, I came across a Star Trek Fan Video titled “Starship Farragut – For Want of a Nail.”
So somebody got there first. But, you can’t copyright a Title! So, go ahead, write your story. The Starship Farragut folks will think your story is a tribute to them! And I am very flattered that you took inspiration from me!
I’ve been amusing before. But I can’t remember ever being a Muse!
BTW, I’m really enjoying this commentary conversation. I’m going to FOLLOW you on Twitter!
Just wait until 4.5 starts. You’re gonna scream at your DVR when find out that Starbuck [SPOILER] lubed-up [SPOILER] toothpaste in her [SPOILER] while Saul [SPOILER] on a cherry [SPOILER] Episcopalian [SPOILER] extension cord [SPOILER] wetness [SPOILER] with a parking ticket. I didn’t see that coming at all
The story is by Isaac Asimov, and is entitled “The Feeling of Power”. 🙂
Wil, everyone here winced at the reason why you’re not all caught up. Sorry to hear about your Cylon DVR – should have known better than to get one from Cavil & Conoy Electronics, I guess…
Yep. That tops a six year old spoiling AVP for me.
When a kindegardener has seen an R-rated movie before his teacher? That’s just not FAIR.
“Goddamn my life is weird sometimes.”
You mean like whenever you walk out the front door?!
um, Mary Sue(The Orginal)? You can’t spoil something that SUCKS!! That’s just called kindness… Maybe if AVP wasn’t such a BAG OF BOILED CRAP ON A STICK W/CINNAMON ON TOP, you could consider it spoiled… And AVP: Requiem? EVEN WORSE!
As for BSG, this is when it would be nice to have the soapbox back… (hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge… Wheaton X is coming? Yes? PLEASE? WW9 is OLD!) Then you could have different forums for different viewing levels, and spoilage warnings, enter-at-own risks discussions, etc…
Otherwise, trying to talk about new ep’s looks like this (****= REDACTED SPOILER):
I just can’t believe that **** is the ****… that is lamer than **** being thrown out of the airlock by ****. It’s worse than when **** shot **** in the head after we discovered that Earth is ****. The real question is, though, what the frak is ****? We just saw **** bury **** own **** on ****, right? What the FRAK!!! About the only good thing was seeing **** and **** get **** after the ****, and hearing the **** get on the **** after her **** and tell the **** that she was coming after them when she though that they had killed ****.
I just watched the youtube video of you at a con commenting on this spoiler. I felt so bad for you! I have nearly done that same spoiler twice, once with my husband and once with my sister (who have yet to start 4). Then to top it off I nearly spoiled the spoiler I ran into when watching the stinking marathon (trying to catch up since I skipped 3 and 4.0) while seeing ‘on the next BSG’ commercials. That one sucked as well, but I won’t mention it here since you haven’t caught up. I can’t believe this is it. Now I’m regretting skipping 3, my friend is going to loan it to me once she’s finished watching it. She’s watching both 3 and 4 simultaneously. Enjoy it while you can, it’s going to be over before you know it.
(insert long sigh, sniffle, and tears)
PS The spoiler you’re referring to broke my heart. ‘You know who’ is my favorite (and has been since the beginning) and it was so rough wrapping my mind around that one. But, the writers made good on a great twist, and no matter my feelings on the topic, it works. I still love him, no matter what.