Forgery League

I’ve been paying a good deal of attention to the revival of Doctor Who and its various spinoffs. It hasn’t all been brilliant - some has been downright terrible, in fact - but I keep on watching just to see how it develops. I guess I look at it as kind of a controlled study: seeing what happens to the show under different production teams (it’s been through lots, over its almost thirty seasons), what happens when they go for a completely different tone and audience (as with Torchwood, its supposedly more “adult” spinoff), and how they face other challenges along their way. So here are some of my impressions so far, drawn from the big jumbled stack in my brain.

Part one: the TV series proper. Spoilers ahoy!

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Upcoming Flickershow shows: Friday 25 November at the Renaissance, and Thursday 8 December at the Cameron. Details at the site.

Upcoming Some of the Parts show: Saturday 3 December at the Renaissance.

Also, work work work.

Speaking of work: met a local SF/fantasy author in unexpected circumstances. She was fab, and so were the rest of her cohorts. Funnest client meeting ever.

Speaking of the fantastic: Roommates have hooked us on Buffy, starting from the very beginning. The way Willow talks totally reminds me of a friend of ours. It’s kind of adorable.

Speaking of fab: inspiring talk tonight by one of these wonderful crazies from Portland, Oregon. Taking back intersections! Building beautifully sculpted benches on donated lawn space! Tea houses on wheels!

And now to bed.

Betcha didn’t know that Avis, the car rental agency, has a big department devoted to predicting future geopolitical scenarios. According to this startling map from their web site, the Canada of 2012 will be quite a different place, wracked by climate change and international and interregional tension.

First, and most obvious: the entire lower half of British Columbia will fall into the Pacific along with California (and Oregon and Washington). Also, much of the Great Lakes dry up.

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn’t nearly enough to satisfy skyrocketing US demands for oil in the US, and Alaska annexes part of Yukon, who in turn take over the old Northwest Territories, who in turn take over Nunavut.

A new Quebec referendum on separation finally results in a “Yes” vote. Frantic negotiations result in a new partnership, with Quebec remaining within Confederation, as long as it can have all of Eastern Ontario, inexplicably including Ottawa and Toronto. They want Mississauga too, but nonagenarian mayor Hazel McCallion scares them off.

Rising sea levels will claim Prince Edward Island, whose residents will move to Cape Breton and claim it as their own. In retaliation, Nova Scotia cuts itself off from the mainland by means of the new Fundy Canal.

A chilling glimpse into a future that might just happen…

On second thought, a more plausible explanation is that Earth is stuck by an asteroid, causing the the entire country to be jettisoned into space.