As mentioned a while back, I was planning to donate to Child’s Play Charity 2006. Well, I did. Today I got an email from Gerard Long the eCommerce Manager for DStore who’re managing the Australian side of the wishlists.

Anyway, apparently all up, between the two childrens hospitals (Sydney Childrens Hospital, and Mater Childrens Hospital in Brisbane) over AUD$13,000 worth ot toys, books, games, and other related items were donated.  See the official word over on the dStore site.  Not a bad start for something which had only 4 weeks to run, and was mainly contributed to by the more net-aware folks.

Internationally though - over USD$760,000 (AUD$972k) has been raised so far - through money donations, sponsorships, auctions, and gift purchases through various wish list companies.

That truely is a phenominal amount of money we’re talking about.

There’s plenty of useless quizzes and things like that around, so what’s one more to add to the bunch? Hey, atleast I didn’t send it to you with “OMG. Send this on to all your friends - it’s SOOOOO funny”

I scored 40 on the foodie quiz. Apparently I’m

“a gastro-warrior, a culinary thrill -seeker with a palate that knows no barriers, no shame – and no frozen potato waffles and mass produced condiments.”

That’s good, right? 

(And no, this isn’t the “thing” I was referring to… I’m keeping you in suspence. Think of this as like a mid-break teaser. And no, it’s nothing to do with food.)

This probably comes as no suprise to you at all, but I’m a Sci-Fi fan.

Really, the entire genre is something that I really enjoy. From the classics from Isaac Asimov and George Orwell, through William Gibson (his cyber-punk/bridge-series is great) and Neal Stephenson (Cryptonomicon is my all-time favorite book). 

A few years back, someone (I forget who) directed me to a little site called “Sennadar” - which hosted a ramshackle web forum (which has since been upgraded), where a fellow by the name of James Galloway would release his stories.  I’m not talking about short stories here - I’m talking large novel-length stories.  The kind you’d expect from a professional author. It’s not just one, either. James is now writing the last book in a series of eight full-length books.

James’s stories have steadily been getting better and better, and his latest work in progress (outside of the Sennadar universe) is called “Subjugation“. If you’ve got some time, and can read books on a PC Screen, I suggest you check it out.  Sure, it could use the work of an editor or an english teacher - but for someone who only recieves messages of encouragement and thanks as payment - it’s fantastic.

In the TV/Film space, I havn’t had much exposure to the real “classics” (call it leading a sheltered life, if you will). When I was younger I used to obsessively rent out Star Trek TNG, DS9 and Voyager episodes. At one point, two neighbours were also just as obsessed (Hi Cath, Drew, Matt) - so I used to spend hours watching these videos. 

More recently I’ve enjoyed the Stargate series (both Atlantis and the original SG1). 
I still really love my Firefly - tragicly cut down in it’s prime by the evil Fox network - but I’ve taken to Battlestar Galactica with somewhat of a passion.

If you’re watching a TV series, as it airs - you’re slowed down to getting one episode per week.  For some reason, networks like to “shake things up a bit” and put several week long breaks in the middle of all the good shows. This is because of the way the US TV Season goes - they run the good stuff during the “Fall/Winter and early spring” - and this puts Christmas in the middle of the season. 

This brings me to my core theme tonight - Cliffhangers. For some reason, TV Shows put cliffhangers on the end of their seasons, and the mid-season breaks.  This means that for several months of the year, you’re left with a feeling like you’re missing something (yeah, the conclusion - smartass). A perfect example of this, from Battlestar Galactica would be Season 2 - Resurrection Ship, Part I  and Season 3 - The Eye of Jupiter

For me, I spend most of the last episode of a season (if not every damn week) looking at the “Time Left” counter going “please oh please oh please don’t stop yet”. Followed inevitably by the “Oh no, not yet you bastards!”.

Going back to the Subjugation story I mentioned above, for a moment. As James writes a chapter, he releases it on the forums. Sometimes it can be a week between chapters, but more often it’s a month or two, depending upon study, work and life demands.  I’ve noticed this same behavior has been happening more and more with me, as it does with the really good sci-fi.  James can be downright bastardly (such as with the latest chapter of Subjugation), and he’s getting better at leaving his audience clammoring for the next chapter to be finished.

All in all - I just wish I had a time machine (or some way to extract the entire finished TV show/book from the writer/author)

(PS: If you’re wondering why the sudden slack-off in posting rate over the last few days – it’s nothing major. I’m just trying to figure out how to write about something that happened the other day.)