"The west won't work if every country is Canada, and every leader is Trudeau. The only thing that enables Belgium to be Belgium, and Norway to be Norway, and Britain to be Britain, is the fact that America is America."
- Mark Steyn
The Spectator, "The Brutal Cuban Winter"
January 26, 2002
Andreas Katsulas died February 13th of lung cancer, according to the above article. That makes two regular "Babylon 5" cast members who we'll never see again, including Richard Biggs. It's a shame to think that we'll never see anything new from G'Kar, who has without a doubt become one of the series' most popular characters. It's easy to see why when watching the show, as G'Kar and his opposite, Londo, were written with much more interesting personal stories to tell, and Katsulas told them well. It's ironic that despite the thick layers of makeup that Katsulas was required to cover himself with, he managed to turn in some of the most emotional and thought-provoking performances of the entire series.
He will certainly be missed.
I've changed some of the links on the side bar, mainly getting rid of Space.com and replacing Trek Today with GateWorld. I don't know what it is about Space.com, but I just don't like their site, and always find myself going to Space Flight Now. It's the design and the layout, it reminds me too much of IGN. Trek Today is an obvious choice to replace since Star Trek isn't on any more and news about the franchise is sparse beyond guest actors' Birthdays. At least GateWorld is devoted to a franchise which seems to be alive and well.
Speaking of IGN, that link is gone as well, replaced with Games Industry, a UK based gaming news site that has a good run of editorial content going. I guess it's sort of like gaming news for adults, with lots of corporate reports and industry trends articles. Some pretty interesting stuff at times.
Recent news and a more relaxed schedule at work has compelled me to pay attention to geopolitics again, though I doubt it will last. Pieces like the above by Mark Steyn, with it's depressingly plausible predictions, make it far too easy to bury one's head in the sand. This is, of course, exactly what we must not do. Still, I can only write or be interested in the end of our civilization as we know it for so long before boredom sinks in. When all is said and done, work, hockey, martial arts and other real life tangibles are far more interesting.
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I'd like to think it is, seeing as in the past, almost everyone who's ever made a career out of screaming about the end of the world just ended up wasting their time. We're still here. I don't feel a huge need to do anything on a large scale. I'll just keep voting Conservative, or for whoever else I believe has a grasp of what's really going on, and try to have at least a couple of kids. If everyone does the same, we'll be just fine.
What the Muslim world needs are more people like this guy. Of course, it's a good thing he doesn't publish under his real name, of he'd probably end up with a slit throat and a knife in his back.
"A dangerous, savage, child race."
- Q
Embassies torched in cartoon fury
Danish consulate in Beirut ablaze