(Minor Site Changes... 7/19/06)

Well, nobody's really been visiting my site...  So, I'm gonna try a bit of 'reaching out' to others...  Hopefully I can get established Slash sites to exchange links with me...  I've altered the sidebar of my pages to display links to some of the points of interest in the Slash community...  If you like my site, I hope you'll link to it or tell others about it...  Also, I've added more wallpapers to the BriStuff page...  They're actually all Rasmus wallpapers, though...  I'm starting to think that wallpapers may need to be in a separate section...  Also, I'd like to repeat my offer to host other peoples' material, if they're interested...  If you've written some Slash, made some wallpapers, etc., please feel free to ask me to host it...  Even if it's not Placebo-related...  I'd be happy to host Slash about Placebo, The Rasmus, Scissor Sisters, Lovedrug, DesDemona...  Or, for that matter, even non-musical artist Slash...  I'm sure it would be good to diversify the site's content... =)  Also, I've added a new installment of my "Give Me A Lift" fic.-DXM

(More New BriStuff!...  7/18/06)

Well, after years of not having a cell phone, while everyone around me sooner or later acquired one...  And several more years of only having a very old model, which didn't hold a charge hardly at all...  I now, finally, have not only a new cell phone -but one of the coolest available!

My new phone, if you hadn't already guessed from the title bar, is the Motorola SLVR with iTunes. =)  It cost a pretty penny, but I'm now stylin' with my new phone...  Soon, I'll have brain cancer just like everybody else!  lol!  Nah, I don't call all that many people... =)  Anyway, to celebrate my new phone I made -you guessed it!- more BriStuff! =)

What better way to make a good thing even better than to mix in a little bit o' Bri-Pie...  So, there's a brand new gift pack ready for download...  Which contains icons, wallpapers & MIDI files...  Check It Out!

Later! -DXM

(New Doctor Who Season 2 Finale... 7/12/06)

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Well, the Season 2 Finale of the New Doctor Who is over...  So, which is worse; assimilation or extermination?  I'm thinking it's pretty much a toss-up. =)  It was rather interesting to see the interaction between the Daleks and the Cybermen...  As Mickey said: "It's like Stephen Hawking meets the Speaking Clock." ;)  Though the idea of both of the Doctor's most famous enemies is certainly imaginative, the Daleks & the Cybermen themselves lack imagination...  They are logical and implacable, but the Doctor always wins; because despite the fact that they are incredibly dangerous & quite intelligent, neither the Daleks nor the Cybermen can truely match wits with the Doctor...

Last season, we saw the return of the Nestene -which I'm guessing is a favorite of New Doctor Who Producer Russell T. Davies.  (The character Vince from the original UK Queer As Folk series was a Doctor Who Fanatic, and made mention of the original Shop Window Dummies episode of Doctor Who.)  Also, the defeated Daleks came back in a multi-episode story arch...  This season saw the return of the Cybermen.  Are these two villainous races now gone for good?  ...I doubt it. =)  What Old Enemy could we see next season?  I'm not making any bets, but personally, I'd like to see the return of the Master.  The Daleks and the Cybermen may be powerful foes, but the Master was always the most cunning adversary the Doctor faced.

The New Doctor Who series (Yeah, yeah, for some reason the non-American English-speaking world calls each season a different series...  But I'll stick to American terminology. ;) shows a pattern that I, for one, rather like...  Certain TV shows, such as Star Trek(TOS, TNG, & to a certain extent VOY) have tended to simply have a large number of mostly non-connected episodes...  Others, such as Deep Space Nine & Angel, have adopted a series-long story arch...  In the case of Angel, it was established from the get-go that the long-term story was the battle against Wolfram & Hart...  In DS9, it took a while for the people in charge to decide that the War with the Dominion would become the long-term focus of the story...

Still others, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Mutant X, have used what is my favorite formula: the Seasonal Story Arch.  In the first season of Mutant X every episode was about the battle against Eckart & Genomex...  The second season at first looked like it was going to focus on the fight with Ashlock, but Ashlock was soon defeated & the rest of season 2 became very disconnected...  Season 3 was all about the Dominion, but the series was cancelled, leaving things unresolved...

Buffy is perhaps the best example of a properly-managed story line in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Television...  Joss Whedon & Company went about it in just the right way...  Every season, there was a new 'Big Bad' that had to be fought, this 'Big Bad' was usually established right away in the first few episodes, and the Seasonal Enemy showed up every few episodes or so, while the bulk of the season's episodes were about different things...  But, at the end of each season of Buffy, the Big Bad always showed up for the final battle...  Which was generally a big, action-packed, two-parter, which resolved the Seasonal Story Arch.  Buffy's season 1 big bad was The Master, in season 2 it was Spike & Drusilla/Angelus, in season 3: The Mayor, in season 4: The Initiative/Adam, in season 5: Glory...  Season 6 looked like it was the three geeks, but all the while it was building up to Willow becoming 'Dark Willow'...  And finally, in season 7 Buffy faced The First...

I was always pleased that Joss Whedon didn't go for the cheap-ass, bullshit, cliff-hanger crap that most shows do...  The 'cliff-hanger' is the classic way to end a season...  It's a cheap hook to use on viewers, to get them to tune-in next season for 'the exciting conclusion'...  But, more often than not, it always seems to be a bit of an anti-climax...  I think Joss Whedon, at least, realized it was far better to wrap-up the season with the biggest bang you could muster.  A good solid ending to a season makes me more interested in the next season than any cliff-hanger ever has...  Now, whether Russell T. Davies is a similarly brilliant man -or it just has to do with the way every season in British TV is a 'new series'- I'm still pleased to see that so far the New Doctor Who has been wrapping-up its seasons with a spectacular two-parter instead of cliff-hangers...  And, needless to say, I am looking forward to the Fall premiere of the new Doctor Who spin-off; Torchwood.  'Captain Jack' is pretty good looking =), as is the girl from the New Doctor Who's first season episode "The Unquiet Dead", who'll be joining Captain Jack on the Torchwood cast.  The only real complaint one can make about the New Doctor Who is that there are only 13 episodes per season, whereas the standard US season for a one-hour drama is 22 episodes...

As Rose said that she would be joining up with the Torchwood in 'Pete's World', they have a ready-made way for the character to return, if only for a one-episode guest spot...  Another question that seems good to ask is 'will there be another word/phrase that is seen in every episode of the next season?'  ...In the New Doctor Who's first season, the phrase 'Bad Wolf' appeared somewhere in every episode...  It was finally revealed in the season finale that Rose was the Bad Wolf...  This season, it was the word 'Torchwood' which continued to pop up everywhere...  Of course, it was made clear early on what Torchwood was...  Will there be yet another word/phrase scattered throughout Season 3?  Have we already been given a clue about the Season 3 Finale?  ...Might it have something to do with the secret the Face of Boe has said he will tell the Doctor when next they meet...?  Will it have anything to do with the bride that mysteriously appeared in the TARDIS just before they rolled the credits on the Season 2 Finale?  Only one thing is for sure...
It's going to be a long wait.... =)

Anyways, I give the Season 2 Finale of the New Doctor Who two thumbs up! =)
Laters! -DXM

(Tasting Notes...  3/29/06)

The second tasting of the evening...  Again, I'm not a drinker...  And alcohol just doesn't sit well with my stomach...  A fourth of a glass of beer, and a half of a glass of wine, and I'm going to be feeling the indigestion all night... =(  But, anyway...  The second taste of the evening was much more impressive than the first!  We tried Hogue's 2005 Late Harvest White Riesling, from Washington state...  Rieslings are of course known as often being sweeter wines, but very few wines are of interest to my tastebuds...  Hogue, however, is an exception...  The Hogue Late Harvest White had a pleasant, pale golden coloring and had a delicate citrus-like scent...  The taste was... Sweet, Clean, & Very Smooth...  It reminds me of Asti without the bubbles...  Have it over ice, at least once... & hold it up to the light, as the ice melts & mixes with the wine it makes beautiful swirling patterns! =)  Steve's qoute for this one: "Wow.  I like that...  I like that so much, it's actually a bad thing."

This wine came highly recommended by one of the wine salesmen, and while they often cannot be trusted, I like Greg better than most salesmen...  He was certainly right about this wine!  It is excellent...  Late Harvest implies that it is of better quality than an average Riesling...

The German "Qualitätswein mit Prädikat" or QmP for short, has five categories of ripeness into which wines are grouped...  In practice, these categories, or tiers, are a fair indicator of both quality & price.  The first tier is Kabinett, fully ripened light wine...  The second is Spätlese, late harvest wine which may or may not be sweeter than Kabinett...  The third category is Auslese, made from selected very ripe grapes, and usually sweet...  The fourth is Beerenauslese, made from individually selected overripe grapes which are often affected by noble rot...  The fifth and 'top' as it where category is Trockenbeerenauslese(German has some damn long words, doesn't it?), which is made from overripe shrivelled grapes often affected by noble rot, making extremely rich sweet wines...  In addition, there is the category "Eiswein"(Ice Wine), made from grapes that were naturally frozen on the vine, freezing the water & concentrating the sugars...  The finest Ice Wines are usually not affected by noble rot.

I have tried regular Schmitt Sohne Riesling, which I assume falls into the Kabinett category...  I couldn't say much for it...  I've also had Schmitt Sohne Riesling Spätlese, it was noticably better than the regular, but still nowhere near as good as the Hogue...  As for where the Hogue would go in the QmP, I don't know, since it's an American wine and not rated by any such system...  But, if Schmitt Sohne is a decent example of the first two categories, I'd have to say the Hogue belongs in the Auslese, at least... =)  It is not as high priced as the Spätlese, however this might be because it is not an import...

Ice Wine is considered by many to be the highest quality dessert wine...  I specially ordered myself a bottle of Inniskillin Riesling, one of the best known Ice Wines of Canada...  I haven't tried it yet...  I kinda don't want to open the bottle! =)  It was insanely expensive...  Nearly $55 US for a 375ml, which is only a half-bottle!  And that was wholesale.  I expect if I found it in a liquor store, it would retail for upwards of a hundred dollars!  I really want to save it for awhile, but I've read somewhere that Ice Wines are better if consumed sooner, rather than later...  I'll give ya a full report when I do open it! =) -DXM

(Tasting Notes...  3/29/06)

Wow!  My first featurette! =)  First off, a bit of a note...  I might not be the best sort of person to tell anybody about beer or wine...  After all, I don't actually drink...  But, it is sort of part of my job...  So, as long as I'm trying stuff out anyway, I thought I might as well write out my thoughts here...  So, here it goes...

The packaging is pretty spiffy, gotta love the green bottle...  Even if it doesn't guard against the harmful effects of light...  Heineken Premium Light has an eye-pleasing light golden color...  Not impressive to those who like "real" beer, perhaps, but nice looking to the average person...  HeinyLT, as you might expect, has very little head...  The delicate lacing was minor, but did perhaps cling better than that of some light beers...  As for taste...  It's beer. =)  Moreover, it's light beer...  Drinkers of "real" beer won't like it, but drinkers of light beers are likely to find it pleasing enough...  Keeping in mind that I'm not much of a drinker, my description of the flavor would be... Light, Crisp... & Smooth.  Easy on the palette...  (Not that it was easy on my stomache, but like I said, I'm not a drinker...  And I never will be.)

My friend, Steve, was on hand for tonight's tastings.  His quote on HeinyLT was: "Eh, I'd drink it...  But I wouldn't pay for it...  I'd rather drink Miller Lite."  As you might could tell, unlike myself, Steve is a bit of a drinker...  But, he's a 'light beer' drinker...  Drinkers of "real" beer consider the bitterness of beer a good thing, whereas most casual drinkers go for the less bitter light beers...  For me personally, I can't stomache much of any kind...  But I can stand the taste of light beers much better than I can the "real" beers...  -DXM