From The Ritz To The Rubble

I can see I've alienated the majority of my gentle readers with my ice skating blatherings. You're terrified, aren't you? Lucky for you, the Olympics are over and the World Championships aren't even going to be televised on a real network. Although I have to say, the psychology behind skating is endlessly fascinating. And Amy, I couldn't be happier with the medals in Vancouver. And I hope that Mirai Nagasu keeps progressing because that girl has it, and it would be nice to see the American girls become prominent again!

My last word on skating, at least for the moment, will be to tell everyone to check out Johnny Weir's reality show on Sundance Channel. The documentary that spawned it is fantastic. It gives you a good idea of what goes into elite skating, and Johnny's amusing as well. His mindset is pretty much this: "I'm just an entertainer," "My federation hates me," I don't know what happened out there," "This year is my comeback and I'm going to show everyone." The last one happens every year, BTW. Johnny can't exist unless there's "me against the world" drama, even if he has to create it himself. Like I said: fascinating.

There. Now you are all safe from sports until the Zenyatta/Rachel Alexandra match-up that is theoretically going to happen in early April, unless That Bastard Jess Jackson kneecaps Zenyatta. I wouldn't put it past him. Tool.

But enough of that. Let's talk about my new favorite show --- "Caprica." Don't GROAN at me. Have you seen it? I talked about the look of it before. The world feels so real and authentic. And so does the V-world, especially once the show enters the New Cap City game. It's red-and-gray-drenched noir futurism. If Rick Deckard played a video game, it would be this one. A real bonus for geeks is the fantastically obvious "Tron" reference. The chip that enables Zoe's avatar to reside inside the Cylon is called a "meta-cognitive processor," which everyone refers to it as the MCP. So everytime they say it I think Master Control Program. In the New Cap City game, players de-res when their avatars get killed. And just like Flynn, there's a real-life person inside the game -- Joseph Adam's daughter, Tamara. She can't be killed and she can't de-res.

Beyond the look and "The Godfather" meets "Tron" storylines, I'm loving the duality of the show. This is the emergence of the "one true God" religion that makes the Cylons try to destroy humanity. The mother of all holy wars, I suppose. So you have the duality of the two religions but also the duality inside the one true God religion. Evil monk-like Barnabus wants to blow shit up. Sexy schoolteacher and randy polygamist Clarice sees everything slipping away. There's duality within the Adama family -- Sam is completely faithful to the Tauron race while Joseph finds himself torn between being Tauron and being Caprican. And in the latest episode, Daniel Graystone is confronted by Tomas Vergis, the Tauron who created the MCP chip that Graystone stole.

Zoe Graystone and Tamara Adama are opposites as well. Scared literally to death, Tamara is now a vengeance angel inside New Cap City. She's discovering abilities she has inside the game and she's convinced a poor hapless nerd to help her get word to her dad. Likewise, Zoe Graystone is going to use lovestruck Philo to do what she wants. I'm hoping this is going to lead to some kind of a confrontation between Zoe and Tamara. Is it going to be Tamara who rules the V-world, while Zoe finds herself drawn more and more to Philo and the real world while she's inside her Cylon body? The duality of metal and flesh is slowly developing.

If there was ever a show made just for me, "Caprica" is it.

It's pretty Goddam subtle, especially for the SciFi Channel. I hope they support it, but it's not exactly the laugh-riot SciFi seems to want.

Look at that. A short post. I achieve SO many wonderful goals.