Life Retooling Life in Perpetual Beta

My Thoughts on the BSG Finale

I just finished watching the series finale of Battlestar Galactica.  Like everyone else with a blog and a passion for BSG, I thought I would put down my thoughts.  I'm not a writer, or a reviewer of any kind, but it's a big enough show that I thought I would take a stab at it.

First off, did the show come to a conclusion that felt planned out?  I think yes.  They had a goal to find Earth and they succeeded.  It wasn't what they planned on, but they found Earth.  What they did when they got there is a little far fetched.  Thousands of people all decided, "Sure, why not.  Let's give up all our tech and live off the land."  I can understand they were tired, and surrounded by their technology for years, but to not keep any of it?  I don't know.

And just how were they going to integrate themselves with the native culture?  If they had no language, how were they going to be able to carry on the human race without taking advantage of those who were there first?  I guess that is where we got out conquering spirit.

I think I'm of the camp that while the ending provided an ending, I'm not overly satisfied with it.

I had a big problem with how they ended Kara/Starbuck's story.  Poof, she is done here?  Did she just "know" how she came back and "knew" that she was done?  Was she a ghost all along when she came back from Earth the first?

I know there was a devine undertone throughout the series, so are we to believe that all this happened before nonsense was several incarnations of a reset button being pressed?

By the way, the first hour rocked!

Will You Commit Yourself to The Brink?

If you have been listening to podcasts and podcast novels, J.C. Hutchins is a household name.  He is one of the premier authors, and one of my favorites.  He is one of the elite.

And obscenely creative.  I am in awe of his creativity.  I am glad there are people like J.C. around to show the rest of us there is always another way to do things.

J.C. has a new project coming out in June, Personal Effects: Dark Arts:

Set in a mental institution for hopeless dead-enders, Personal Effects: Dark Art chronicles the life of Zach Taylor, a young and optimistic art therapist. Gifted at his job, he uses his patients’ personal effects — the personal items cataloged during their admission to the hospital — to help decipher the secrets of their mental problems.

But Zach is soon obsessed and overwhelmed when a new patient is admitted to the facility: a man who is a suspected serial killer. But how can this man have killed a dozen people when he’s blind? And how does he know how Zach will behave … before Zach himself does?

PE:DA will pull you into the story while pulling the story into your life.  There is more than just a book here, you will receive items with the book that leads to clues, in an ARG format.  At least, that's what I heard.

On J.C.'s site, you can "Commit Yourself to The Brink."  At this page, you can become one of Zach's patients.  Fill out the form, stating your name, when you were brought to Brinkvale, and a sample of your artwork.

Lastly, the first video promo for PE:DA is online.

I thin this is going to be an exciting ride.  I loved J.C.'s 7th Son series, and I'm going to pick up a copy of Personal Effects:Dark Arts.  I'm not one for the horror/suspense genre, but I believe this will be pure genius, and something I will not miss.

After watching the promo above, listen to or download the promo below.  And don't forget to commit yourself to The Brink.

[podcast]http://liferetooling.com/audio/CommitYourselfToTheBrink_Promo1.mp3[/podcast]

My Letter to Facebook

I just emailed to legal@facebook.com the following:
I know you are a business.

I know you need to make a buck.

However, just because someone adds something to your network, doesn't give you ownership.

Fortunately, I have not posted any links, or uploaded any content that I would consider my own private property. 3 photos I can deal with.

I'm am writing to you on behalf of the other thousands of people who promote their work. These people trusted Facebook would be a place that would respect peoples intellectual property, since the company was built originally for colleges and universities. Places where free thought is encouraged and not owned by those schools.

Look to your roots, Facebook, and take a chapter from the environment that gave you your start.

I hope you reconsider.

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It's short, sweet and to the point. I don't think I was too off base with my message. At least, I hope that I was correct enough in my assumption.

I was going to use Facebook as one of the places I was going to promote Life Retooling, once I had something to promote. Hopefully, I will be able to when the time comes. Right now, it doesn't look like it.

To those who have their IP in the hands of Facebook, my heart goes out to you. The only way that sites like Facebook have any value is when the people can trust that the site is not going to take advantage of them.