Phantom Reflections

Next Couple Days Packed with Cool Stuff

This is a big big big big weekend folks. For me, I get to run another 10 mile race this weekend after doing a half marathon last weekend. Am I nuts? Hey, you read this blog so you should know. I just checked all the things coming up that hit high on my coolness meter, and here they are:

Tonight, Friday - The Premier of Season 3 of DR. WHO
I've been a huge fan of DR. WHO since John Pertwee manned the TARDIS. And let's be honest: if Russell T. Davies did a mini-series based on John Cage's 4' 33" I think we'd all watch. Check your local listings, but look for it between SARAH JANE and BSG.

Sunday April 20th - Women's Olympic Marathon Trials
A day before the Boston Marathon, beantown will be hosting the Olympic trials for the women runners. I get nervous just thinking about how nervous I would be.

Monday April 21st - The Boston Marathon
It's a tough race, and a lot of people say it's one of the toughest in the world. Maybe ... maybe not, but I know that it's damn hard to get in. Only uber fast runners need apply, unless you are a member of a sanctioned running club or something like that. Still, I don't think there is any runner on the planet who doesn't dream about running over Heartbreak Hill in Newton. All I can say is practice that speed work.

Monday April 21st - The Tour of Georgia
We can thank the Tour of Georgia for starting the trend of American cycling tours that has led to the Tour of Missouri and the Tour of California. The bad boys of Rock Racing are in and it should be a fun week.

Di Luca Cleared of Doping Charges

Link: VeloNews | Di Luca cleared | The Journal of Competitive Cycling.
Wow! Danilo Di Luca has been cleared:

The Italian Olympic Committee’s court of last instance acquitted defending Giro d’Italia champion Danilo Di Luca of doping charges on Wednesday.

Prosecutors representing the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) had been seeking a two-year suspension for Di Luca after he returned an “anomalous sample” following the 17th stage of last year's Giro in May. Had he been found guilty of a violation, his Giro title, too, would have been negated.

"Finally justice has been served," Di Luca said. "It's true I lost a year of my life but now I'm only thinking about riding and winning. Victories are the best cure for unhappiness.

"I have suffered a lot during the last year during which I have tried to avoid a lot of the criticism. Now I'm back in a happy mood. "

And on doping allegations, Di Luca added: "There was no proof and there could not have been any."

That's good news for cycling. I just wonder what will happen next, meaning will he bring any civil charges against anyone? This will hopefully make it easier for cyclists to get acquitted of trumped up charges. Now let's clear Floyd.

'The Sarah Jane Adventures' Rocks!

I have to say that I LOVED watching THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES premier on Friday night. It was light, fun, entertaining, and I enjoyed all the characters. I know it's aimed at kids, but since I stopped growing up around age seventeen it was right up my alley.

With TORCHWOOD, DR. WHO, and THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES, Russell T. Davies could be said to be the Gene Roddenberry of our generation.

'The Sarah Jane Adventures' Premiers Tonight on SciFi

If you were a youngster in the 1970s and a fan of DR. WHO, it was difficult not to have a crush on Elisabeth Sladen. She played Sarah Jane Smith, companion to the 3rd and 4th Doctors -- John Pertwee and Tom Baker. Her first spin-off K9 AND COMPANY didn't make it past the pilot, but now under the new regime of Russell T. Davies, Sarah Jane is back with a hit. And the best part is we finally get to see it over here in the colonies. No need to dump that tea in protest! The Sci-Fi Channel has seen fit to pick up the new series THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES, and it premiers tonight. Check your local listings, fire up the DVR, and get ready for some fun. Rose Tyler was a great companion, but Sarah Jane Smith will always be tops on my list.

When did SF fans lose their sense of fun?

I didn't ask the question. Dan Campora did over at SyFy Portal in his article SyFy 101: Are We Having Fun Yet? He ponders the current attitude of fans on the heels of the cancellation of FLASH GORDON.

The setting and costumes were garish. The plots were predictable. The villains somehow managed to be portrayed in an over-the-top fashion, yet still seem dull. It was void of any lofty ideals or hidden political agendas. And that is precisely why I watched it.

It makes me wonder, when did we get to be so serious?

He has a great point. Be sure to read his entire article [here] and give it some thought. In an age where everything needs to be dark, real, edgy, and heavy, maybe we have lost our sense of fun. At least it sounds like a great topic for a panel at a convention.

JERICHO Canceled for Good

Link: Jericho Gets Nuked - Slice of SciFi
This is a bummer, but I guess we all saw it coming:

No amount of fan letters, emails, phone calls or campaigns would make CBS execs listen this time around and give Jericho a full third season, so don’t expect a cliffhanger next week when the series ends its run on the eye network.

The excuse given by the honchos at CBS is the show simply couldn’t generate large enough ratings beyond its ambitious and energetic fanbase. In TV talk that’s no new viewers added to generate ad revenues.

I really enjoyed JERICHO and this past season has been fantastic, reminding me of 24 before Season 6. I still think that network television is changing, and shows like JOURNEYMAN, FIREFLY, and JERICHO really should have a home on a different channel -- CBS, NBC and ABC can stick to reality shlock. It would be nice if it could be the SciFi Channel, but it will be tough to cram intelligent programming between wrestling and Manicorasorus. With this being the last season of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA I wonder what SF TV will look like over the next few years. I guess it's time to hook my Mac Mini up to my home entertainment system.

B&N to acquire Borders?

Link: B&N Open to Possible Borders Purchase - 3/20/2008 8:57:00 AM - Publishers Weekly
Please, say it isn't so!

Asked during its year end conference call if Barnes & Noble has any interest in buying Borders, chief operating officer Mitchell Klipper said that while the company has not been approached by Borders’s investment bankers, B&N would look at the possibility of acquiring its chief rival.

B&N is coming off of a soft year in which net income fell 9.8% for the fiscal year ended February 2, 2008, to $135.8 million, while earnings in the fourth quarter declined 9.2%, to $115 million. Earlier this year, B&N reported that total revenue rose 2.8%, to $5.41 billion in the year, and fell 1.7%, to $1.88 billion in the quarter. Results in 2006 reflect 53 weeks, compared to 52 weeks last year.

What ever happened to the whole anti-trust thing? I don't see it conceivable that one company, namely B&N, can possibly own all the big bookstores in the country. Already B&N, along with Borders, has been decimating the independents, but if B&N is allowed to purchase Borders they will be in total control of the book retail business in the United States. This would be bad news for readers, publishers, writers, people who hang out and read magazines for free while drinking coffee, aliens searching for self help books, and just about anyone else who enjoys the printed page.

I'll be honest: Borders has always been my favorite of the mega-chain bookstores, but I'll choose to support an independent if I can find one close by. But just as Tower Records fell a few years ago, I feel that once an e-book standard is agreed upon so too will be the fate of B&N. It's only a matter of time. The book industry is the slowest to adapt to market conditions, so we can probably learn a lot of what's going to happen from a business perspective by examining the music industry in the late 90s.

Slipstream-Chipotle in the Tour de France

Link: VeloNews | Slipstream-Chipotle gets a Tour invite | The Journal of Competitive Cycling
Finally, some good news on the 2008 Tour de France:

Tour de France organiser ASO on Thursday named the 20 teams it has selected for this year's race.

The line-up includes the American team Slipstream-Chipotle.

Team director Jonathan Vaughters said the invitation was a relief.

"I found out about 5 minutes ago," Vaughters told VeloNews Thursday morning.

"I feel relieved after all the work we put in. We proved we are one of the better teams in the world right from the start all the way through Tirreno, but we had a mediocre Paris-Nice, of all the friggin' races to have go sideways on us!! So of course that worried me a bit. But anyway, the bigger picture has been A+ work for a new team, so I'm glad ASO agreed with that. Off we go."

This team deserves to be in the Tour, and even though they had a tough time in Paris-Nice I'm glad the ASO invited them. Make sure that you mark down that I actually said something nice about the ASO.

UCI will back Contador

Link: VeloNews | McQuaid to Contador: I've got your back | The Journal of Competitive Cycling
The ASO is acting like a band of fascists. The good news is that Pat McQuaid president of the UCI is now vowing to back last year's Tour de France winner in a legal fight with the ASO.

UCI chief pat McQuaid on Friday promised to back reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador should he decide to take legal action over his exclusion from this year's race.

The tour's organisers, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), ruled on February 13 that Contador's Astana team would be barred from competing in this year's race as a result of doping scandals over the past two years.

But International Cycling Union (UCI) president McQuaid said the decision is unfair.

"If Contador decides to take legal action in Spain or internationally myself and the UCI will give evidence in his favor and I will be a witness," McQuaid told the daily El Mundo.

Contador has no plans to sue anybody right now. He will focus on other races, but if the UCI is willing to back Contador does that go for Levi too? I can't believe that the ASO has effectively disallowed two podium finishers the chance to come back and compete in the 2008 edition of the Tour. It just furthers everybody's gut feeling that the ASO has been on a quest to attack American cyclists and cycling teams. Contador was on Team Discovery when he won last year and that was the worst thing he could do in the eyes of the ASO. He just should have sat up and let a Frenchman win. Then they'd be happy and he and Astana would have probably been invited back to the Tour.

Is there any doubt now that the smear campaign against Floyd Landis is anything but a farce? The ASO is associated with both L'Equipe and the French lab that was responsible for the testing. I think that when all is cleared up the UCI should definitely back Floyd Landis in a full frontal legal assault on the ASO.

What can you do? First, support Floyd Landis -- he was the first winner of the TDF to be victimized by the ASO. Second, go to LetLeviRide.com and sign the petition to allow Levi, Alberto, and the whole Astana squad to ride the Tour.

Trek XI to honor Roddenberry's Vision

Link: Slice of SciFi News Briefs - Slice of SciFi.
I found this today at Slice of SciFi:

Simon Pegg (”Shuan of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz”), who stars as the new Montgomery Scott for the J.J. Abrams prequel of “Star Trek,” said in a recent interview that there will definitely be sequels to the new “Star Trek” prequel film. Pegg says this prequel will take the original vision of Gene Roddenberry very seriously.

“It’s not at all ironic. It’s not a jokey take on the original series,” stated Pegg. “It’s a faithful and loving installment in the ongoing mythology of the show.”

That's the type of good news I like to hear.