Holy FARK!

As some of you may have noticed, my analysis post on the state of the gaming industry has been linked from FARK.

This has resulted in a large influx of comments…some of which are of the “U R LOSERS!!1!” variety. I’m pretty much ignoring the comments, and I’d suggest that regular readers of this journal do the same.

The funny thing, though…..because I mentioned (and linked) my work with Adamant in that analysis, I’ve also had a noticeable upsurge in orders over the past 24 hours. This makes me giggle, because I just know that whoever it was who Farked that post was hoping to aggravate me by bringing in the “U R LOSERS!!1!” crowd….but ended up making me some extra cash! Har har….I am teh winnar!

For those actually interested in the analysis: Ken Hite has also posted his take on the numbers, over in his Out of the Box column.

For regular readers of this journal: Friday Music will be posted in the next hour, and later today (as promised), I’ll be posting the first batch of pages from the novel I’m working on (since the Writing Group got a crack at it last night).

Doctor Who: new season starts in three weeks!

The latest news on the new season: Official launch date has been confirmed as Saturday April 15th — so, thanks to the joys of Bittorrent, I’ll have the episodes available for viewing by each Sunday following broadcast.

There will be another companion series of “Doctor Who Confidential” (which appear as the DVD extras in the series set, coming out in the US in July), and I’m sure I’ll be watching those as well.

Most interestingly, this year will also see the premiere of “TARDISodes” — One-minute mini-dramas, like little prequels to the episode playing that week. These will be available for download to mobile phones, and also available on the official website, a few days before the broadcast of each new episode. Kinda cool, that.

The BBC is taking the “Battlestar Galactica” route, by unveiling two hours of extra material on the website after each episode, including a full episode commentary for download, Tardisodes, trailers and video diaries by Doctor Who Confidential.

The rundown of the new season’s episodes:

  • 1: New Earth: The Doctor and Rose stumble upon a “plague farm” in the far future in the guise of a hospital run by evil cat people … and involving their old nemesis Cassandra, who’s still very much alive.
  • 2: Tooth and Claw: In Balmoral castle in historic Scotland, the Doctor must protect Queen Victoria from an alien onslaught: vicious werewolves that terrorize the countryside.
  • 3: School Reunion: The Doctor is reunited with old friends Sarah Jane Smith and K9 at a mysterious school overrun by the evil Krillitanes and their Headmaster.
  • 4: The Girl in the Fireplace: The Doctor peers through time to the court of Louis XIV… in a Doctor Who love story across time. Or is it?
  • 5: Rise of the Cybermen: (Part one of a two parter with Episode 6)
  • 6: The Age of Steel: The Doctor and Rose face the terrifying Cybermen on an alternate Earth doomed to disaster!
  • 7: The Idiot’s Lantern: England of the 1950’s is attacked by an alien intelligence that travels through the airwaves on television broadcasts, and it’s up to the Doctor to stop it.
  • 8: The Impossible Planet: (Part one of a two-parter with Episode 9)
  • 9: The Satan Pit: The Doctor and Rose visit a breathtaking alien world, a colony world where food and water is scarce… and where an old enemy awaits him, an enemy that looks like the Devil.
  • 10: Love & Monsters: The Doctor faces the Abzorbaloff, a creature created by a Blue Peter viewer (a UK childrens show which did a “Design a Monster” contest)… and the wrath of his admirers.
  • 11: Fear Her: The Doctor and Rose drop in on the 2012 Olympics in London.
  • 12: Army of Ghosts: (Part one of the season-ending two-parter)
  • 13: Doomsday: The Cybermen have awakened in our universe, and together with something from the Doctor’s past, the Earth isn’t safe…

Sounds brilliant…with the possible exception of episode 10….but then again it’s being written by Russel Davies, so I expect the unexpected. It could turn out to be the best episode of the season!

It’ll be great seeing Sarah Jane and K9…and the Cybermen. I’m wondering who the “enemy who looks like the Devil” is in Episode 8 & 9 — it could be the Daemons from the 1970s Pertwee episode….or, if you take the “looks like the Devil” less literally….could it be The Master? He has been often described as “satanic” in appearance….

Here’s a look at the first episode, in a wallpaper image released on the official website today: New Earth, the Doctor & Rose.