“The thing about crazy people, Asa, it’s very funny. Once they prove they are right, they are suddenly great people.”

Something to think about.

Ironically, in order to make this post, I had to request my password three times because I kept missing the instruction telling me to check my email for it.

Must finish whitepaper.

Well, thank you, James Cameron. Avatar has proved that it’s possible to do it right, apparently, and while some films just shouldn’t be made in 3D — Step Up 3D? Really? — there are some that are just begging for it.

So I was thrilled when my wife woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me that Lucasfilm has announced that all six Star Wars films would be converted to 3D and shown in theaters starting in 2012. I mumbled that that was great, and that I’d of course have to buy them again, to add to my collection. All I could think of was Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black holding up a mini-disc and saying “Of course that means I’ll have to by The White Album again.”

She reminded me of what I’d said when the Special Edition was first announced: “Now you know that some geek is going to sit there with two DVD players and two TVs and compare the two of them to see what the differences are. My only question is, ‘Where can I get another DVD player?’”

Now, I am really happy about the decision when it comes to the prequels. They’re mostly CGI anyway, so converting them should be pretty straightforward. And of course the chase scenes just BEG for it.

The originals, however … not so much. First off, since they weren’t originally CGI (forget the Special Edition here) they’ll have to be retrofitted, and that scares me for two reasons. Yes, the space battles could do with some great 3D effects, but … well, let’s face it. Star Wars (the original) was, by today’s standards, pretty sedate.

The second reason? Four words: Clash of the Titans. I mean, I’d like to think that retrofitting isn’t always bad. That Lucas, of all people, would take his time and do it right.

But even the new ones will be a challenge, because if the first film out is The Phantom Menace Lucas is already starting out in a deep, deep hole.

Hey, maybe he’ll take this opportunity to “strategically excise” the midichlorians. Hey, a guy can hope!

“I’m still like — wow, it’s sunny today … let’s go out with the dog and make excuses to the clients.

The trouble with working super-hard for years is that when you slack, the urge is to slack to a pathological degree because you have zero guilt built up.

I’m like — remember those all-nighters in 1997? Screw work!

It’s like I have an infinite psychoemotional credit account to draw down against. 10 million all-nighters, 20 family vacations ruined, 4476 arguments with wives and girlfriends about workaholism, a stretch in rehab due to work-stress-self-medication, etc.

The trouble is, clients and employers’ memories only stretch to last week.”

Funny how that works.

There’s a talented blues artist by the name of Manitobal Hal Brolund who’s putting together a new album, Huckster. He’s also trying something new. In order to raise the money for producing the finished CD — $2500 — Hal has gone to Rocketub, a “crowdsourcing” site that enables regular people like you and me to contribute to artistic endeavors. You aren’t getting a stake or anything, but if you donate, say, $20, you get an autographed copy of the CD when it comes out. (As little as $5 gets your name in the liner notes.) If you really want to splurge, $500 gets you a personal concert for you and up to 20 of your friends. Also, if the project doesn’t get fully funded, everybody gets their money back, so there’s no risk to anybody.

Now, full disclosure means I should tell you that Hal is a good friend of mine. But I should also tell you that we got to be friends because Sarah and I loved his music so much when he was performing in Second Life (as Forsythe Whitfield) that we attended so many of his concerts that it was probably inevitable. So here are a few of my favorite Manitobal Hal Brolund songs so you know what you’re getting into.

(More after the break)

And a rare solo ukulele track I guess he’s putting on Huckster (but I don’t know if this is the actual final recording or not) …

So I highly recommend Hal’s music, and suggest that you head on over to Rockethub and support this project, or any of the other artistic endeavors over there.

I’ll save you from trying to find it on YouTube:

Sorry, Ianto, but it's all about story arc.

I really intended today’s post to be about something other than the Doctor Who universe, but sometimes life just hands you things you can’t ignore. Airlock Alpha posted an article about an interview with John Fay, who’s writing for Torchwood: The New World, the fourth season of Torchwood. The basic contention is that Ianto had to die for two reasons: first, it reminded us that nobody is safe on Torchwood, even the main characters — well, except for Jack, but even he was dead for a while there — and second, it reminds us about the curse of immortality, and how every time Jack falls in love with someone, it’s with the full knowledge that he’s absolutely going to lose them eventually. Lots of fanfic shows Jack off moping about it, but frankly, I think that’s normal. (And it something you see a lot in Doctor Who, as well, with the Doctor being, for all practical purposes, immortal.)

The complete interview also refuses to answer the question of whether Ianto will be resurrected. As a fan, there’s a little part of me that hopes he is, because I really liked Ianto. On the other hand, as a writer, I will be seriously pissed if he is, because it will completely destroy the power of … well, a lot, and not just Ianto’s death scene (which I thought was fantastic).

In the meantime, I’m still trying to solve some Torchwood mysteries of my own. I have only seen seasons one and three, and 2-3 eps at the end of season 2, and I’ve been doling them out to myself as slowly as possible to make it last. I got season one and two for Father’s Day, and I’m down to the last disc on season one, watching all the Torchwood Declassifieds. (Interestingly, they were WAY less expensive on Amazon.UK, even after shipping. Just make sure you get a version that will play in your country. For the US, I think that’s Region 1, or region free.)

So here are the two things that confuse me: first, I know there’s an episode in season two where Jack asks Ianto out on a date, and in season three, Ianto seems to be dealing with this idea that he’s in a relationship with Jack. But season one implies pretty strongly that they’re already sleeping together. Did I miss something?

Second, there’s this notion that I’ve seen around that Jack is actually a clone, and that’s supported by a throwaway line in an episode of Doctor Who. But I haven’t seen it documented anywhere. Anybody know where I can find a reference to that? Or am I completely misreading something?

I won’t bore you with what the last four years have been like. Suffice to say I’ve moved three times (or is it four) and I’m happy to say we’re no longer in hiding. I think. I still look over my shoulder occasionally. (Shudder.)

But on to lighter things! Sarah and I have started writing again, and I’m absolutely thrilled about it. These days we’re mostly writing Doctor Who fanfic, but we did do a huge epic involving some characters we created back when we first got together, which was a blast. Today we’re debating whether we could ever do a sequel to Little Girl, Big Magic. The original was just such a kick-butt piece that we’re afraid we won’t do it justice in a sequel.

And I am pleased to report that I’ve actually spent an entire day just updating this blog and my professional blog, Nick Chase, Private Programmer. Basically, I took the old Chaos Magnet posts and split them between the two sites, so I don’t have to worry about cluttering up the pro site with posts like this, and I don’t have to worry about boring people who came for fun with technical discussions.

In other words, this baby is all for me. If you want to come along for the ride, great to have you!