Monthly Archives: July 2008

World’s Greatest Detective

(This isn’t really a spoiler:) The Dark Knight has a useless, throw-away scene where Batman extracts a brick from a wall with a bullet-hole in it, takes it back to his Bat Lab and does a bunch of ridiculous CSI bullshit where he re-assembles the shattered bullet with computer imagery so he can glean a fingerprint from when the shooter pushed the round into the clip.

This is a stupid waste of time, of course, but then I thought about it and realized that it is one of the few things in any of the Batman movies that establishes Batman as “The World’s Greatest Detective.” ‘Cuz mostly he just punches people.

It got me wondering, though, if Batman had any serious competitors for World’s Greatest Detective nowadays. So I went on Google and came up with a list:

  • Sherlock Holmes (of course, although he might be disqualified by being dead).
  • Batman
  • L from Death Note

Those three win pretty handily in the Google estimation. There are some other contenders for the title:

…and I could go on…

“We’re gonna make it better”

The Record interviewed a Lake Erie fisherman about what he does, about the lake and about the industry. What I liked particularly was his quote at the end, talking about pollution in the lake:

I don’t think I’ve ever had that thought in my lifetime, that this is getting bad and it’s going to get worse. We’re gonna make it better. We’re just simply gonna make it better. We’re gonna do what we have to do to make it better. ‘Cuz it’s going to get better.

You can never think that it’s going to get worse, or you’re liable to let it happen then.

Polaris Wrap-up

Sunday was quite a bit less action-packed than Saturday. Everybody was pretty tired, me included. You’ll notice the Saturday post went up after 3am. I tried to get to sleep earlier but failed utterly. One of the things they tell you to do to fight insomnia is to get up and do something and then try again, so I got up and wrote a blog post. :P

I got up in time to see Gareth David-Lloyd’s encoure, though. I actually asked a few questions this time. He didn’t offer any amazingly revealing insights, but he was lots of fun as a guest and was good with the crowd. When the other Darcy (the dog, who made her debut at Ad Astra) got up to the microphone with her handler, he was all “OMG, is that a tiny dog?!” and of course, Darcy ended up in his lap.

Not a whole lot happened otherwise. I floated around between hanging out with people and going to a couple panels, none of which were particularly notable. I saw a bit of a talk with a guy (from one of the Stargates) named Rainbow. He was pretty fun too. And I spend way, way too much money in the dealer’s room on Doctor Who toys. The prices were okay and there was no shipping so I decided to avail myself of the opportunity to start a collection.

When Sunday ended, I wasn’t terribly excited about going to Kelsey’s again, even if it meant hanging out with fun con people. Instead, I went over to Rin’s place because she was sick and unable to attend Sunday. So I ended up going out to dinner with Rin and Kyle and Xio and Eric and Alex and P-chan, which was very nice, like old times. We went back, played with toys for a bit and then I drove home, very tired but satisfied.

I really like Polaris. Toronto Trek was my first con–I went to Toronto Trek III when I was 14. I think–for con stuff–anyway, it’s the best con I go to in the year. (This might be because it’s the only con with a Doctor Who track, who knows?) The major downside being not that many people end up going. It’s a bit expensive. This year was different, though–I knew tonnes of people, so that was fantastic. I had a great time.

Before I go, I will leave you with pictures.

Polaris Day 2

…in bullet form, as I am rather tired…

  • Got up early to make it out to Gareth David-Lloyd’s guest Q&A. Not that I’m that big on Torchwood, but it’s Doctor Who-related. He was fun, though. Apparently he has a band.
  • I went to a bunch of Doctor Who panels throughout the day, most of which were kinda meh. I’ve always been a bit of a solitary fan, and it kinda weirds me out a little that all these other people like my show now too. I’m not sure what to make of them.
  • The Doctor Who cosplay group, though, was pretty awesome. I have pictures! I think the fact that someone (a girl, no less!) chose not only to dress up as Colin Baker, but also to make a fantastic coat for it, is just beyond awesome.
  • I went to Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens’ reading. A work in progress, and if the book has a title, I got there too late to hear it. It’s all like ancient mysteries and espionage and secret societies, so that was fun.
  • Rachel Luttrell was really sweet on stage. I’m kinda sorry I don’t watch her show.
  • Terry Farrel was really amusing. She’s retired from acting to raise a family, and she was all “OMG, babies!” I thought it was cute.
  • I went to the Constellation Awards (Rick Green hosting!) but skipped the masq.
  • There was much hanging out with people, which was of course very good. You know who you are!

Polaris, Day 1

I’m here in Toronto for Polaris, the convention formerly known as Toronto Trek. This is actually the first time I’ve been here for the whole weekend. Usually I’ve only ever driven down for the Saturday.

The highlight of the day for me was stumbling across Rick Green in the dealer’s room and hearing about Hoverboy, possibly the 137th greatest superhero ever! I went to his panel, and it really stirred up old memories. I remember when I was a kid, getting up at 5am Sunday mornings in my footie pyjamas and watching that old Hoverboy cartoon with Kasey Kasem and Vincent Price. You know, the one with Hoverboy before they brought in Hoverdog and it started to suck.

Anyway, apparently, they’re bringing Hoverboy back! Ty Templton won the rights in a poker game and is working with Marcus Moore to put out a new comic series! Not only that, a Hoverboy documentary is in the works. (I might be in it, since I attended the panel. It’s all very exciting!)

Anyway, there’s some Doctor Who stuff tomorrow that I really ought to be awake for. Hopefully I’ll find out about more exciting Hoverboy news as well.