Month: April 2004

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I finally get around to downloading Mandrake Linux 10 Community Edition, and they release the “Official” edition.

(Mandrake has moved to a release model where they release a download-only “community” version, refine it and fix bugs for a couple of months, and then release the “official” version to put on CDs and sell in boxes. Essentially, it’s recognizing the fact that new bugs are always found shortly after release of any software, because the average user and average beta tester are not the same, and a lot more people will install the “final” version of a product than will beta test it.)

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Last week, Sci Fi Wire announced casting for Earthsea*, a 4-hour miniseries to air in December. This was promptly lost amid all the cries of “Why the frell is Sci Fi picking up the Farscape miniseries?”

(Trying to keep this spoiler-free for those who haven’t read the books…)

As I understand it, they are only adapting the first two books. This in itself is odd, as the original trilogy is essentially one work about Ged’s life – youth, adulthood, and age – and key events in his life’s quest. Additionally, the books serve as a travelogue, and by the end of the trilogy you’ve seen nearly every part of the Archipelago. When originally announced (three years ago!) in May 2001, they planned to adapt all three novels*, and announced it as a 6-hour mini when Philippa Boyens was attached to the project* in August of that year. Well, we’re only getting 4 hours, and there’s been no mention of Boyens at all in the last two press releases. (I imagine if she were still on board, they’d be shouting about the Oscar-winning screenwriter.)

Presumably someone declared they were only getting 4 hours, and they decided it would be better to give full time to two books than chop up all three.

Casting includes Shawn Ashmore (Bobby/Iceman in X-Men) as the young wizard Sparrowhawk, Danny Glover as his master Ogion (from book one, A Wizard of Earthsea, and Kristin Kreuk as his opponent/ally Tenar (from book two, The Tombs of Atuan).

Glover sounds like a good choice, and Ashmore should do well at least as the younger Ged. I’ve never actually watched Smallville, so I’m not familiar with Kreuk’s acting.

What’s interesting about this casting is that they’ve (sort of) reversed the races of Tenar and Ged. Earthsea is set in an island archipelago not unlike the South Pacific, and the people tend to look like Pacific Islanders, with skin ranging from light brown or red to dark brown. Tenar’s people are considered unusual for having very light skin (and sometimes blond hair, though Tenar’s is black). When she becomes known outside her homeland, they call her the White Lady. Ged is often described as having red skin. It’s probably a business decision to maximize viewership, since there is a prevalent notion that films with minority leads are geared toward that minority. [Edit: I regret that this didn’t make me angrier at the time, rather than just reacting as “huh, that’s weird.”]

Anyway, I’m straddling the line between cautiously-optimistic and cynical. Hey, if nothing else, knowing the series was finally on its way prompted me to pick up the books again.

Look in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section for Ursula Le Guin.

*In 2009, when SciFi changed their name to SyFy, they dropped all their old news articles. Fortunately, archive.org has most of them.

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CNET posted an article today, Concern grows over browser security, about the rise in browser-based attacks (mostly spoofed sites for phishing, but also attempts to install viruses and other malware through web browser security holes).

What’s interesting about the article is that nowhere does it mention Mozilla, Opera or Safari.

Could it be that attacks through these browsers are less common than attacks through Internet Explorer, even adjusted for market share? (Sure, IE has more than 90%, but there are a lot of people using the others.)

Or could it be that the author has succumbed to the “Web Browser = MSIE” belief?

If nothing else, you’d think that their statistics would have a bit more information, but it’s a single number for “browser” attacks. Nothing more detailed than that.

To be fair, the press release doesn’t provide any better numbers. In fact, it mentions no browser by name at all. (One can hope their data is a bit more detailed, but the purpose of the study appears to have been to identify trends in types of attacks, not in the software targeted.) And yet IE is the only browser CNET mentions, despite the alternatives’ better security records.

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While driving home from work today, I glanced down at the odometer and saw it read 111,110. So I drove around the parking lot a bit, then stopped to snap a photo at 111,111:

Picture of odometer reading 111111

OK, this isn’t exactly fascinating photojournalism, but really, how often are you going to see all odometer digits the same? Your car probably has a few miles on it when you drive it off the lot, so you never see 000000. And what are the chances that you’ll still be driving the same car after 222,222 miles?

(In case you’re wondering about the trip odometer, it didn’t roll over at exactly the same time. I zeroed it because I figured it would make a better picture – all 1’s on one row and all 0’s on the next.)

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The mystery of where the Farscape miniseries will air has been answered! From Sci-Fi Wire [archive.org]:

SCI FI announced it will be bringing back Farscape with an all-new miniseries — called Farscape: Peacekeeper War — slated to air in the fourth quarter of this year.

WTF? OK, it’s not the last place I’d expect – that would be Fox, or maybe Lifetime – but the Sci Fi Channel has spent the last year and a half distancing itself from Farscape, and a good chunk of that trying to move away from actual science fiction. I guess Dune must have done better than Scare Tactics.

Hmm, it might be worth getting cable again.

Further reading: Save Farscape, in particular Sci Fi Picks up the Mini [archive.org].

Congratulations to the Farscape cast and crew! We’ll be watching!