Ubalblog

[  Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding My Son ]

233 years – looking good!

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to My neighbours sing “Roxanne” ]
142 years young!

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Watching My son play with my mother ]
Alan Rock, the president of the University of Ottawa was on the CBC yesterday discussing a new program that will offer free tuition to the children of Canadian military personnel killed in the line of duty.

I love this idea. My husband and I have already started drafting a letter to our alma mater, Carleton University, asking them to participate in this program.

But why stop there? I think all post-secondary institutions should do this. Colleges, Universities, Apprenticeship programs. If your parent was in the military and made the ultimate sacrifice, you should get a free pass to post-secondary. You’ve already given up enough.

We ask the men and women of the Canadian military to do superhuman things on a regular basis, and they do it. They have jumped out of planes into raging blizzards to save us. We have sent them around the world to fight for us. They are routinely asked to sacrifice time with their families in order to save the day. And they do so willingly and with pride. So when one of them pays the price of this with their lives, we owe them and their families.

This measure is the least we can do.

In fact, I think this program should be extended to the children of police, fire and ambulance workers who are killed in the line of duty. Again, for the reasons above.

But small steps first. Get my alma mater on board, then the rest of the institutions in Ottawa, then Ontario, then Canada.

Who’s with me?

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Watching So You Think You Can Dance ]
So I did leave someone out of my look back at the TV show seaQuest and someone was very quick to point that out to me.

seaQuest – Where Are They Now? – DVD Extras

Darwin the Dolphin

Darwin was Captain Bridger’s companion. More of a best friend than a pet, Darwin travelled through the water tubes that were specifically designed to allow a dolphin acces to all parts of the sub. He was also given a voice by the vocoder designed by boy genius Lucas.

Darwin was played by an animatronic puppet, not a real dolphin. This meant that when the show ended, so did Darwin. Despite my best efforts, I could not find out what had happened to the puppets (there was more than one). Best guess from the experts was that they were sold off as part of the end of the season auction along with the costumes and sets.

Next time: Small Wonder: Where Are They Now?

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Watching The Colbert Report ]
So, dear readers, we come to the sorry end of this on-going series. This time we are looking at season 3 saw yet another re-tooling. The sub, which had been trapped on an alien world at the end of season 2, mysteriously reappered in a corn-field ten years after it left. It’s crew appeared all over the world not a day older than when they left.

This sounds like it might be an excellent episode of the X-Files, but instead of exploring the idea of how the crew could re-integrate themselves into society, the show tried to turn into dark military sf. Think of it as an underwater Battlestar Galactica but written, in part, by the people who brought you Diagnosis Murder a few years later.

The third season saw the removal of fan fave Miguel Ortiz as well as fan pariah Wendy Smith who died on the alien planet. Captain Bridger also left to raise the grandson of his dead son, although the fact that his son was dead and then alive and then dead stretched the suspension of disbelief a wee bit. And that’s saying a lot given what seaQuest had already asked fans to believe.

They were replaced by the talented actors below in . . .

seaQuest – Where Are They Now? – The End Is Near

Michael Ironside
Micheal Ironside came to seaQuest with an impressive Sci-Fi pedigree. He took on the role of Captain Oliver Hudson, a military hard-ass who seemed to take pleasure in riding the crew of the sub. I know, that was such a departure from the rest of his work.

Since seaQuest, Ironside has continued to be one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood. When you think hardass, guess who you call? Witness the recentTerminator Salvation, where he gets to play the hard-ass leader of the resistance who is tired of John "the Savior" Connor.

Elise Neal
The role of sub-fighter pilot Lt. J.J. Fredricks proved to be a breakout role for Neal, who came to seaQuest from a series of guest spots. Fredericks was also a "chippie", meaning she had a computer chip in her brain to control her emotions. This meant that there was not a lot of range given to her. And given that she was killed off in the final episode, the producers clearly felt that she had outlived her usefulness.

Since seaQuest, Neal has done well for herself. She moved on to starring roles in The Hughleys, All of Us and K-Ville. In fact, one could argue she has had the best post seaQuest best career of all.

Next time: Manimal – Where are they now? (Tee hee)

[  Mood: Silly ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC ]
It’s been a while since I posted one of these.

Sky Alphabet
Very cool set of photos.

Polar Opposites
Learn what is directly opposite where you live. HINT: It is most likely water.

Self-Supporting Lego Bridge
Just cool.

Proud non-reader
Irony: He is a proud non-reader, but he wants you to buy his book. I think if you look up stupid in the dictionary, you would find Kanye’s pic.

Crawling Zombie Torso Gelatin Mold
For your next Hallowe’en party.

Star Trek Meerkat Bones McCoy Original Series
Yes it sold out, but come on! It’s a knitted Bones!

Top 50 Text Acronyms Parents Should Know
I am printing this off for work.

Star Wars Bathroom
Without getting into what the moisture will do to the toys, not the most obvious decor for a bathroom.

Monorail Modeling – Puppy Mover Monorail
Good that we are expanding the puppy transportation network. Criminal how its been neglected.

Cat in China grows a pair of wings
Wings.

Bacon shoes!!
Declare your love.

A Cute Yoshi Nursery
Cute!

Dice-O-Matic
When the radom number generator is not random enough. And yes, I know that it really isn’t. I am married to a computer programmer. I have had this told to me more than once.

Dead Bananas
A photoblog of discarded peels and squashed bananas.

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC ]
So I have decided to return to my on-going series on where I look at what has happened to the actors form the late, great seaQuest.

This time around, I am looking at the women who were added to sex-up the second season. Even more than the men, these two women came to symbolize what had gone wrong with the show. This meant that they recieved more than their fair share of derision and hate from the fans. It didn’t help that they had, replaced two beloved, but older, characters. Rumours swirled on how they got their jobs, their relationships, their intelligence, etc. It was quite nasty.

seaQuest – Where Are They Now? – So Sexy It Hurts

Kathy Evison
Evison had a few guest spots on shows such as 90210 before getting cast as Lieutenant (j.g.) Lonnie Henderson on seaQuest. Initially a helmsman, she morphed into an engineer later in the series. Given that Henderson was the only female available as a romantic interest for the crew (see below for the fate of the other female character), she became a convenient love interest for season 2. In season 3, Henderson was paired with the XO Commander Ford, raising the hackles of fans who had already christened her "The Ho of the High Seas".

Evinson has done some guest spots since seaQuest, most notibly three different roles in three different episodes of Diagnosis Murder. The last of these was supposed to be a pilot for a TV series called Whistlers, starring her and Zoe McLelland. She has done loads of commercials, including a recent one for dog food that was one of the two inspirations for this series.

Rosalind Allen
Allen came to seaQuest from a series of guest spots, most notibly an episode of Sienfeld and a reoccuring role in All My Children. She took on the role of Dr. Wendy Smith, the new chief medical officer of the sub. The character was also psychic and was supposed to be a love interest for Captain Bridger. The bumping aside of Westphalen for an ingenue irked many fans, causing them to vent their rage on many a Usenet group. Allen’s character would not survive the second big purge at the end of season 2.

Since seaQuest, Allen continued to work in TV for a while, doing guest spots and commercials. She continues to do commercials but is now including teaching and directing in her work.

Next Time: Season 3! That’s right Ironside!

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Watching My son playing ]
So I recently finished the second book of the Honor Harrington series and found that it was an enjoyable book.

This installment finds Honor in charge of a new H.M.S. Fearless, now a heavy cruiser, as well as a whole taskforce. She is the military lead for a diplomatic mission to Grayson, a planet whose attitudes towards women can only be described as backwards.

Honor must fight against the inherant sexism in the star system, while helping negotiate a treaty and fight off the Havenite threat.

A good book, with the usual attention to detail that Webber is good at. Honor develops more as a character in this book. Making mystakes and having to pay the price for it.

I have already order book three from the library.

[  Mood: Happy ]
Urban fantasy has exploded in recent years with everybody and their mother (literally) writing books full of magic in the modern world. Some, like Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison and Rachel Caine do a very good job of it. Others botch it big time.

Into this world enters Ilona Andrews with the Kate Daniels series. Magic Burns is the second in the series, and it finds Kate settling into her new role as the liaison between The Order of Merciful Aid and the Mercenary Guild. In addition, she has been hired by the Pack to find a missing set of maps. Kate also ends up looking for a missing witch who seems to be connected in some way to missing maps. This leads Kate into a much bigger mess than she anticipated or wants.

This is an exciting, quick paced story with a very likable female main character. The world Kate inhabits is well thought our and in many ways original. This is one of the urban fantasies worth picking up.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son. ]
I actually made it outside today for one whole hour. That gave me the time to pick up a bunch of deadfall sticks from around our poplar. These I have kept because I can use them to protect my pea and bean sprouts from the pigeons who like to eat the tender shoots.

I also got two of our rainbarrells set up and ready to go. Ready to collect all the liquid goodness.

Finally I got part of a row of sugar snaps and snow peas each planted. Given that they can survive the cold better than most plants, this is a good thing. Next weekend I will plant some more to stagger the crop.

Oh! How I love getting my hands dirty.