The End of Y-100

It seems like every year, at least one of the Philadelphia rock stations changes format. They usually go to a jazz/R&B or rap format...like Philly doesn't have enough of these! But this usually isn't too bad, there are always at least a couple new rock stations floating out there.

For over 10 years, there have been three rock & roll standbys in the Philadelphia market:

93.3 WMMR - oldest and perhaps best in this market, over 25 years of classic and new rock.
94.1 WYSP - also very good, plus they've been simulcasting Howard Stern in the morning for over 15 years.
100.3 WPLY - known as Y-100, Philly's alternate rock station.

Now Y-100, an established part of the Philadelphia rock & roll firmament, has changed format. At midnight tonight it switches over to The Beat, which is moving from 103.9.

For anyone from the area, here is an article about the change and a link to an online petition (click link in step 1), which I've already signed.

One last bit, Preston and Steve (the morning guys from Y-100) are moving to WMMR in August. So if this cloud has a silver lining, it's that MMR will finally have a good morning show again!

World of Warcraft

First thing I have to say about this game is - HOLY CRAP!

John's been telling me how ultimate this game is for a couple of weeks. Basically he says this is Diablo with updated graphics, 3rd person perspective, and filled to the brim with other players.

He wasn't lying. Last night he showed me just what was up with this game. I was so impressed that I rushed out first thing this morning to buy it and have been playing nearly all day.

I've got a dark elf (they're good in this game) named Talamar, who's a thief. Then I've got a human warlock named Grimslayer - believe it or not, that name was available.

This evening John's character, a dwarven hunter named Baulgrinder (John does have a crude mannish sense of humor), he gave me a tour of the game areas. There's a city in this game that is so big that I would have gotten lost but for him. It had canals, a cathedral, and a subway that ran into a dwarven city with the biggest friggin' forge I've ever seen!

If any of you have a role playing bone left in your body, you've got to play this game! I can't begin to describe how cool it is to team up with friends or even total strangers, so you all can complete your quests. If anyone does join, just send a message to Talamar or Grimslayer and I'll help you out.

Klingons

This weeks episode of Enterpise started out normal enough when Dr. Flox was kidnapped. Turns out some other race nabbed him for the Klingons, who want him to work on some virus that's threatening the entire Klingon race.

Pretty tame so far, right?

It was, until a Bird of Prey attacked the Enterprise. A Klingon boarding party beamed aboard...and immediately stood out because they had normal foreheads!

Turns out this is the final link between the Klingons we've come to know and the old school guys from the original Desilu TV series. This is what Worf once described as something "We don't talk about".

The gist: the Klingons captures some augmented human DNA (human augments came up in a previous episode). They tried to make Klingon augments and were successful, until a normally nonfatal virus infected one of the augments and mutated.

So now the augmented and normal Klingons are in a race against time, to try and control or cure the virus until it wipes out the entire race. Episode to be continued next week...

Thank You All

Just a quick update on my job situation - Now I'm breathing easier. The panic has finally ebbed, I'm actually sleeping at night and my appetite has returned. I really should write the Stress Diet book, I lost close to 10 pounds and am eating less!

Anyway, as my friends John and Dorothy both pointed out, I've dallied and vacillated too long. I'd get digruntled or pissed off, then job search for an hour or maybe a week, then get comfortable again and blow it off for months at a time.

NO MORE! I'm hammering my job search, looking each and every day. My goal is to get out of this job as soon as possible, into something stable that will pay the bills. Then I will impliment "plan B" (which is getting my CDL) on my own time, so I have something to fall back on or try out.

To all my friends who've offered to help in one way or another, I can't thank each of you enough. I'm doing my very best to stand on my own two feet and do what I feel is right, the suggestions and added sense of safety you've each contributed is truly priceless.

Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Okay, before I even get started, I realize that some people are die hard purists who will never watch the new Battlestar Galactica - I understand.

I'm not trying to convince anybody that they should watch it or that it's better than the original movie/series. Let's face it, the old one (despite the occasional camp and a certain robotic pet) had a nice feel of family to it. It resembled a "wagon train to the stars" more than Trek ever did. Looking back, it's hard to believe that it only lasted for one season (13 or so episodes).

Anyway, I just rented the new SciFi channel movie, after hearing from several friends that it was not just good, but excellent. And after watching it, I couldn't agree more.

You've all heard about what's different: the story, the Cylons, Zak (Apollo's brother) is already dead, Boomer is an asian chick, and (most shocking of all) Starbuck is a cigar smoking woman! In the end, it was Starbuck that I had the hardest time getting over. Every time she got wild, grinned, yahooed, or smoked a cigar, I couldn't help but think of the original Starbuck. Let's face it, Starbuck made the original show.

The trick is to take what you know or remember from the original series, stuff all that in a mental closet, then check out the new one. You don't edit while you write, so you shouldn't critique while you watch.

By viewing it in this manner, not only was I able to overlook the differences very quickly (except for that chick smoking the cigar), but I could appreciate the effort that went into this. This is no Glactica 1980, the story (although very different from the original series) is well thought out and fairly tight. The characters are on one hand slightly familiar, but immediately interesting in their new form - flaws, cigars and all.

I haven't seen any of the new series episodes, but hear they're easilly as good or better than the pilot movie. This weekend or next I should get the chance to see one, so if you ask nicely I'll tell you what I think.

For someone who was a rabid fan of the original - hell, I used to tape the audio from each show (back in the days before my parent's first VCR) - this "revisioning" is ten times better and a lot easier to swallow than either Star Wars Episodes 1 or 2.