R.I.P, Patrick McGoohan

Most people, as the subhead of this BBC News article declares, seem to remember him as the star of the excellent and weird TV show, The Prisoner. He was certainly excellent in that role, but he deserves far greater recognition.

In Danger Man (which aired in the U.S. in sometimes slightly different form and with the namesake song as Secret Agent), he starred in some of the finest television ever made. Check out these old episodes--you can buy the whole series on DVD--for brilliant examples of the exploration of morally tough decisions and no-win situations, as well as for beautifully understated writing.

I first watched him as a child in Disney's The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, which is only recently available on DVD. He was wonderful as Dr. Syn, and though I haven't seen this show in several decades, I still think fondly of it. I now must go watch it again soon.

McGoohan was even one of the very best foes Columbo ever faced.

I loved his work, and I am sad there will be no more of it.

Torchwood

We watched the first season of this British series on DVD, as we do most television, and it was interesting and amusing enough that I picked up the second season when it became available. My expectations were, however, rather low; I assumed we'd enjoy some amusing but generally rather unsubstantial episodes.

I was wrong. The second season of Torchwood is, to my taste, far stronger than the first, with explorations of tough themes, more character development than in the past, and several genuinely touching episodes. "Adrift," which we just finished viewing, is a complex and heartfelt show about loss and grief that I consider to be reason enough to buy the whole box set.

I definitely recommend this show.

Spoken word

A long time ago, usually on a panel with one or two others, I would do spoken-word/storytelling performances at cons. As I've written here before (I think), I plan to get back into spoken word more seriously. The good folks at Balticon, where I'm a guest, are talking about giving me a chance to do a performance there. So, if you're going to be at that con and they do allot me a panel slot for this odd endeavor, please come by and check me out.

Speaking of coming by, I'm doing a reading at Arisia this coming Friday night at 11:00. If enough folks turn out, and if they want the event to mutate from reading to spoken-word performance, I'll try to come prepared to do the latter. Who knows what might happen?

If you want an example of a spoken word performer whose work I admire, check out Henry Rollins' performances, some of which you can buy on DVD. I don't expect to be as good as he is, but I sure do want to give it a try.

The worst that can happen is that I embarrass myself in front of a bunch of people, and I can live with that. Heck, I've done it before. (My awful ninth grade dance experience comes to mind, but it's far from the only time I've done that.) As long as no one in the audience throws hard fruit--I can handle grapes and other squishy stuff--I should be fine.

On the road again: Las Vegas/CES, day 5

I'm safely home after a long day of travel. For the first time on a trip to Las Vegas, I did not gamble at all. I had hoped to spend some time at a poker table, but each night when I had to choose between poker and sleep, I opted for sleep. I hate that choice, but I'm determined to improve my health, and sleep is a vital part of that improvement.

I'm quite frustrated by the fact that I'm not ready yet to write Children No More, nor am I ready to start typing up an outline, but so it goes; I will get there.

Given the hour, the unpacking still to go, and my fatigue, I'm going to sign off early and get back to it.

On the road again: Las Vegas/CES, day 4

I'm going to skip the daily pattern, because it hasn't varied since I've been here.

The only netbook of note today was the Sony Vaio P series, which is very narrow when closed and has an odd, eight-inch-wide screen. It looks like you could fit it in a man's jacket pocket, and its 1.4-pound weight might even be bearable there.

Tonight's dinner was at Emeril's where, yes, I ate the banana cream pie again.

The highlight of the day, though, was seeing Cirque's Love, the show based on the music of the Beatles. It's pure magic for me, and I sit in childlike awe and strong emotion thoughout it. I love it. Even more than O, I wish I could show this one to every one of my friends, family, and loved ones.

At the end of the performance, as the entire cast is singing and dancing, little red paper flower petals--just cut pieces of thin paper, really, but at the time you know they're flower petals--rain from the ceiling all over the stage and the audience. As I did last time, I collected a bunch of the petals. When I post this entry, I'll put them in my leather jacket's pockets, as I did the last batch. When in the cold I put my hands in my pockets, I find the petals there and remember anew that there is magic in the world.

If you see me wearing that coat at a con (or anywhere else, for that matter), and you're having a tough day, tell me, and I'll give you a petal from Love. I don't mind sharing. There's always magic to be had.

On the road again: Las Vegas/CES, day 3

Today's rhythm was the same as yesterday's: work, CES, work, out, work. We hit the South Hall of LVCC today and saw a fair amount of cool stuff, though nothing that really blew us away. We hit our first netbooks, and our take is decidedly mixed. We tried multiple Asus offerings, and after typing on them for several seconds, we both concluded there was no way we'd personally want them. The HP Mini family, by contrast, was interesting, in large part due to its keyboard's larger size and more sensible layout. We also found the HP Media Server of interest.

Dinner tonight was flat-out great, courtesy of Robuchon, where we had the special tasting menu featuring black truffles. Every dish was a winner. Wow.

After the meal, we worked a bit and then headed to the Bellagio to see O. I've seen this Cirque du Soleil show five or six times now, and tonight, like every other time, it was magical.

I wish I could afford to take all my friends and loved ones to Vegas so they could eat this meal and see this show.

If in my books I can provide moments of magic anywhere near as powerful as those in O, I will have achieved a very great deal indeed.

On the road again: Las Vegas/CES, day two

Morning was work, then an early lunch, and then off to the Sands to see the exhibits that couldn't afford the main halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. We hit the Sands on the first day of the show because most people are at the main areas; avoiding crowds to the greatest degree reasonably possible is a good thing.

Two years ago, the Sands had many interesting tech products. Today, we saw very, very little of real interest. One of the oddest and most memorable products was a fairly old one: the Paro robotic therapeutic seal. Unlike this correspondent, we were not particularly charmed by this thing. When we heard the sales weasel proclaim its price tag in the U.S. was a hefty $6K, what little charm it had held for us evaporated quickly.

The most amusing thing I saw at the Sands was the set of AVN Adult Entertainment Expo information booths that the AVN show organizers had sprinkled right in the pathways of the CES attendees. The CES crowd thus had to walk by scantily clad women offering information about the AVN show. Great move by the AVN folks for their show, which is running concurrently with CES.

Late afternoon brought another work session, after which we headed to the Wynn to see La Reve, a show by former Cirque producer Dragone. This was my second time seeing this show, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it just isn't as magical as a Cirque production.

Afterward, I remembered that Bill is a fan of seafood, so we strolled over to Barolotta, a restaurant in the Wynn that just happens to be one of the best seafood places in the country. We were able to get a table immediately, and we then enjoyed a tasting menu whose highlight, for me, was an appetizer portion (just two bites) of mackerel that completely redefined for me how good that fish could taste.

We haven't hit the main CES hall yet, but so far everything I've seen reeks of a bad economy and a smaller CES than usual: casinos running at less than half their usual crowds, sparse attendance at the Sands part of CES, an instant table at a major restaurant, almost no cab lines, and so on. Not good signs for Sin City.