Entry tags:

bonekickers, livejournal, san diego comicon, spam

Kicking bones and banning spam

The San Diego Comicon is next week, and Team Williams (me and the wife, who keeps me from chatting on about the last episode of Doctor Who or who I'd like to see play Machine Man in a Nextwave movie) will be there! We're in the guide under "Adventure Retail, LTD," and we'll be in an island comprised of booths 5023, 5112, 5114, 5116, 5118, 5120, and 5122. Cristi and I will try to spend most of our free time signing and greeting everyone there, and a signing schedule for definite presence by us will be posted at the booth. We'll even have a small supply of the ps238 Role-Playing Game, so get it while it's hot!

Work continues apace on ps238 #32, which I will send to press this week (the computer going splat last week did NOT help in the least), and I've already got #33 and #34 written and ready to draw! I've also got a little story planned for the future involving a detour from "heavy plot land" into "creative writing class," which I think will be a hoot, as readers will finally get to see what they've been craving: crayon drawings by Zodon. I'm serious.

Anyway, last week I was warned to skip "Bonekickers," a new show that just aired its second episode in the UK. Much like how I've often defied things that say "requires adult supervision," I took a look at it. I've watched me some bad TV in my day, and this... Here's the thing: I can see where there was almost a good idea here, combining the supernatural with archaeology. However, it wound up being the product of the worst mix of Indiana Jones, CSI, Tomb Raider, and, at least in the first episode, Highlander. The acting is something I usually ignore with most new series, at least in the beginning, since (1) I want the story hook to be the strongest part and (2) I know it takes the actors and writers a while to figure out what the characters are about. In this case, we've got a site in England being excavated where some Templar Knights were killed, and they've got a bit of what could be the True Cross. We also have a religious fanatic who wants to start a crusade against Muslims (our main baddie for this first show. The fanatic, not the Muslims), and a lot of followers of said fanatic that go so far as to wear overcoats to hide their broadswords (Doesn't everyone in Britain have one? Isn't it a law or something?) and shirts with Templar crosses on them. Of course they get wind of the dig and the clues there that might lead to the True Cross itself, buried somewhere nearby. The final set piece just screams "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but by then you've kind of decided to forget about the plot and wait for the closing credits. They also have what I assume is going to be the "mystery" that arcs through the first season, involving the leader of the team who has some connection to finding a mystic sword (if I guess it's Excalibur, do I win something if I'm right?). Between "Bonekickers," "Primeval," and "Torchwood," I think we've got quite enough wacky teams doing things to save the world from CGI effects for a while. :)

Additional: I just saw the second episode. Add "National Treasure" to the source material for "Bonekickers."

I know LiveJournal has had a lot of drama in its past over various topics, but I've noticed something new that seems troublesome, and wondered if anyone else out there has: Spammers with actual LJ accounts. As I understand it, a lot of forums and places where comments can be left are being spammed initially by seemingly innocent short comments, usually of light praise, like "great site, keep up the good work." The reports then say after these are left alone or become somehow "trusted," the spamming starts with the usual links to junk you don't want, don't need, or don't like to see.

In the past, these were anonymous postings with gobbldegook screen names, but now they are actual accounts with LJ's made up of semi-gibberish that read like a bad translation of Japanese news items or something (the yellow template on that link is also pretty common among the ones I've found thus far). The comments, while pretty easy to catch (they often make little sense) seem to operate on an algorithm that scans what they're replying to and tries to match text strings to the topic. Replying to a reader comment about the "Primeval" TV series, one suspect LJ post read, "He says with great spirit, "As it's my first drama series I'd like to have fun acting in it but, because it's such a special setting, it looks like I may turn stoic in my daily life too (laughs)."

I can only guess that these are dummy accounts that will someday be used to perpetuate link-spam or some other clutter. While I've caught every one (they also often show up on REALLY old posts), I've had to delete and ban about 10 accounts today alone. I mark each comment as spam, and hope LiveJournal can do something about it, as I can see this being a really big problem for some of the more active journals who can't police their archives and stay sane.

Diversion is the key to sanity, mostly, so here goes:

- Let's start with a puzzle game: Open Doors. 30 levels of figuring out how to get past increasingly difficult passageways to the exit.
- What hit movie franchise is heading to Broadway? Here's a hint: it does whatever a spider can. I wonder if that classic ditty will be the overture?
- One of the internet's funniest animated felines is back! Simon's Cat: TV Dinner is live. And Simon really needs a DVR.
- I have yet to meet my cat quota. Some might remember the classic flash-loop Catdrums, but he might lose his kitty-bongo crown, for a challenger has appeared!
- There are cosplay costumes that are unique, some that are dumbfounding in effort, and others that you have to be very brave to wear. This knitted Wonder Woman costume is all three, and will be seen around the San Diego Comicon!
- I got 10 out of 10, but I did guess on two questions when I took this MST3K quiz.
- And for those toy collectors headed to SDCC, here's a pretty comprehensive list of the goodies available if your action figure collection feels "unfinished." I kind of dig the Red Baron TIE Fighter.
- Fans of "Worms" will get a kick out of Sling Wars, where you pick a conquering civilzation and take over the world by picking stuff up and hurling it at your opponent!
- And Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog has posted its first act! Thanks to frequent poster Codeguyj for the head's up!