Motorcycle Journal: Ride to Live, Live to Ride

   There are no words really to describe The Ride. It's something you can really only understand for yourself once you've experienced it. It's something like waking up for the first time, and really seeing the world around you. It's breathtaking like a sunset or a sunrise, and powerful like the ocean. I suspect it's similar to what the cowboys felt in the old west when riding their steeds, or something like the Wright brothers or The Red Barron must have felt soaring with the eagles. It's something like Freedom.


   It's all these things really, but then again, it's something more and something all it's own. I've ridden since I was so young I don't remember a time before riding. But I know the difference between driving a car and riding my bike. Even a bicycle can't get close to touching it. Somehow it's the wind on your face, and the feel of the road passing just inches below your feet. It's the smell of the earth, and how the temperature changes from the bottom of the valley to the top of the hill. Even over the noise of the wind and the bike, it's the sounds of the world around you. It's leaning into the curves, and the wild power you've willingly placed yourself on top of. 


   I've grown used to non-riders never understanding. They go on about the danger, and how unsafe riding can be. They love to tell about someone they know who used to ride and now can't walk, or even talk. And you know what.... I feel sorry for your loss, and theirs, but it's worth all the risk. Everybody dies, but not everybody lives. And I'm not one to think avoiding the former is worth giving up the latter!!! 


   Maybe that's why it seems it's the risk takers who so often become Riders. Or those that wish they were more outwardly risk takers, the ones with the seed inside, that for what ever reason, never bloomed. The quite, mild, accountant who on weekends likes to ride all over the countryside on his chrome steed. In everyday life he may play the part of the mouse, but on his own time maybe he dreams of being the cat sometimes. It's not that riding makes you some kind of bad ass, but man or woman, you have to have some balls. A bike is somewhat like the sea. You have to not show your fear, be strong and confident, and treat it with respect or it's will consume you. It's also much like a wild animal, never quite tame, unpredictable. I can't tell you how many times a dog, cat, opossum, deer, or raccoon has been waiting right in my path as I round a corner at 50 MPH. Or sand, dirt, leaves, and crazy cage drivers have been laying in wait unexpectedly to send to me to the pavement. 


   Cool nerves, a level head, quick reflexes and a good amount of skill can save you in most cases. And sometimes you just have to clench your butt hole and ride it out. Even OVER the dog if you have too. And then sometimes nothing can save you. If your lucky you get some road rash and a bruised ego. And sometimes it's worse, but the cost is still worth the payoff.


   I've always felt there were non-riders, those that never had the urge and can never justify the dangers. Then there are riders, those that ride because they want to impress someone, maybe even themselves. Or they can't afford other transport, maybe they've done the math and are saving gas, or want to save the environment. But they are not riding to Ride, just to get from A to B, or to impress the guys, or see if it's true that a bike can be panty remover. Then there are The Riders. This group rides for the pure joy and freedom of the ride. For them it's the Journey, not the destination. It's not about getting there, but HOW you get there. It's about The Ride. And if someone is impressed, or panties happen to come off, all the better, but it's about The Ride first. Once you get where your going it's almost sad, because now your going to have to stop.


   The wife had never ridden a bike, and she's wasn't exactly happy when I bought this one. At least until I took her on her first Ride. She loved it, even told me it was OK that I had bought it now. SHE's the one who bugs me to go riding when we have someone to watch the baby. SHE's the one who bitches when I get to go somewhere on the bike without her. She's got a taste of The Ride, and she likes it!


  But I will admit, sometimes to truly enjoy the ride, you have to have the right equipment. For me I have to have some kind of eye protection. I don't know if it's because I wear glasses, or just the way my eyes are, but I have to wear goggles, I can't see at speed otherwise. I can see better WITHOUT my glasses at speed, but then I can't see anything because I don't have my glasses on. Also I've ridden in 20 degree weather, but I'll admit anything below 50 and you really need some good riding clothes. If your going to ride in below 40 degree weather, you needs some really good winter riding gear, or it's not going to be much fun. Wind chill at 50 mph is insane. But when it gets really cold, if your riding just to get somewhere close by it's easier just to drive a cage. Getting in and out of all that gear, and being comfortable when you get where your going takes a bit of effort and time. 


   Riding in the rain isn't so bad when it's warm, and isn't bad at all if you have the right equipment. The key here is the right equipment. Eye protection of some sort is really handy in the rain. And if you get to the point you can't see you have to be smart enough to pull over and wait it out a bit. You don't have windshield wipers and cages can't see you as well either. You also can't avoid as easy as on dry pavement. Riding in the rain is more about being smart then being good. Or tough. 


   And if it's icy out....forget it. Leave the bike at home, walk if you have too. This and the rain are both cases where balls can lead you into trouble. In fact, with ice, the bigger your balls get the smaller your brain. Even if  you can keep the bike under you on ice, cages are going to cream you for sure. Their brains seem to shrink around bikes anyway, and on ice they can't even stop hitting other cages. Ice and bikes on city streets just really don't mix. I've ridden in the snow, on the farm, but in the city I don't ride till they have the streets clear and ice free. Not just for me, but because of other people who can't drive worth a hoot on the stuff. 


   I love to ride, and will ride whenever I can. I wrote this so maybe some non-riders might understand where us Riders are coming from. And maybe one of them will one day become a Rider too. If you Ride, nothing I've said here will surprise you, and may even seem to be understating The Ride, but words just always seem to fall short. 


Ride safe, and keep the rubber parts on the ground!

Motorcycle Journal: A Personal History about Life on Two Wheels

I remember learning how to ride a little Honda 50 Minitrail minibike before really learning how to ride a regular bike. It's exactly like the bike from the picture above, color and all. I have fond memories of puttering around the neighborhood on that little three speed.

I then moved up to a Honda XR80 dirt bike. I rode that thing all over the farm. I think I spent whole summers with more time on the bike then off. It was the perfect bike for running around the farm and having fun on.


Other then the 80 I messed around on friends and a cousins 125s and doing a little motocross stuff. But I never owned a bike during this time myself. To be honest I guess my Dad owned the 50 and the 80.

My step Dad had bought a Yamaha Maxim 650, he planed on buying a Harley but hadn't ever ridden so bought this bike as a learner bike. It was pretty sweet, and he would let me ride it some. He even let me take my motorcycle license test on it.

The first bike I ever owned all on my own was a Yamaha SR250, "thumper". They called them thumpers because of the sound they made, they were a rather large singe cylinder bike. There was a kid in the neighborhood who had it, he was quite the wheeler dealer, and I don't remember exactly how it all turned out but I know over a year we traded a bunch of stuff back an forth for this bike. I think I bought a laptop from him for like $80, then he wanted it back and I traded the laptop to him for the bike. I fixed it up got some problem parts replaced and the next year had problems with it and traded it back for a Playstation 2 and 30 games plus some cash. Or maybe more stuff, he liked to trade stuff. In fact I think he ended up trading this and some more stuff for a Porsche 928 when he turned 16. It was a beater, but he was the only kid with a Porsche! LOL

My next bike was a 1979 Honda 10th Anniversary Limited Edition CB750L. What that meant was every dealership was only allowed 2, that was the Limited Edition part. At the time the CB750K was one of the most popular bikes going, and they had come out in 1969. So in 79 they made the CB750L version for the 10th Anniversary. Pretty much it was a K with custom 10th Anniversary badging and two tone coloring. It also had all chrome bolts and hardware as apposed to the other models. It later became the CB750C "Custom" in later models, mainly that meant all chrome goodies.


I bought that bike in parts for like $200, and put about $1200 into it (tires, chain, brakes, seat, random salvage parts, stator, cables, carb rebuild, etc.), it didn't even have a seat when I bought it. I ran great for awhile but I started having issues with the carbs again and since it was a 4 cylinder it had four very complicated carbs. Only one guy in my area would even touch them, and he retired after the first rebuild. I could mess around with them and get them working for a few months at a time, but they needed all new parts throughout and there was no manual or instructions for doing this on these bikes. So I let it sit...for years. One day I noticed it was gone, I figure the apartments I was living at had it towed, but I didn't bother even looking for it. Those carbs had defeated me. I figured it was a good project for someone with a garage and spare time. I didn't have a place in the apartment to work on it so maybe it went to a better home.


Flash forward about 8 years. I'm sitting at work one day and start thinking "I wonder how much I could save on gas just going to work if I bought another motorcycle?" Turns out if I rode it 8 months of the year (and not including the Saturdays I work sometimes) it came out to about 600-700 dollars a year. So I decided to see if I could find a bike again, one that I could make back the money within one year, or two at the most. So I jumped on Craig's List and.....

this is what I got. This is my actual current bike, a 1985 Yamaha Virago XV700N. 50 MPG and a v-twin. Love it. This is the best bike I've ever owned, and it's a joy to drive and ride. I've already done a lot of work on it, but there is still more to go. I've repainted the tank and the left side cover. The right side cover is missing as shown in the pic, I'll find one sometime. I need to repaint the fenders to match. I went with a more glossy finish, this one did strange things when it got gas on it, and it was somewhat chipped already. I also fixed a bad turn signal and starter relay. Otherwise I've done general tune up type stuff. Some day I'll go through and really restore it and fix it up, when funds allow.

Wheel of Time Jewelry? Is it sad I think this is cool?

Fantasy Jewelry outlet has a Wheel of Time collection, and for the life of me I can't figure out if it's just really sad I find this cool. They have just about everything you can think of from the books, except for the younglings towers. 


Want an Aes Sedai Great Serpent Ring? It's not what I had thought it would look like, but if you go by the description in the book I guess they got it right!

How about Lan's Ring?

Or Matt Cauthon's signet Ring?

Or maybe you want to wear a Dedicated Sword Pin on your collar? 

But what if your feeling your more of a full Asha'man instead of just a lowly Dedicated? How about a Asha'man Dragon Pin to show the world you a man who can channel at the highest levels, and you serve the Dragon Reborn!

Maybe you just want to show you serve the Ancient Aes Sedai before the breaking? How about a pendent of the Ancient Aes Sedai Symbol?

Oh, and don't forget, just in case there might be some Aes Sedai about, and you don't feel exactly respectful, you might want to get a Foxhead Ter'angreal just like Matt!!! It's even got the right eyes!!

You can also get the Flame of Tar Valon, and Dragon Fang pendents. Then you might want a Horn of Valere pendent, a Asha'man Dragon money clip, Dream Ter'angreal necklace, or Moiraine's Forehead pendent for ease dropping. 




Now, just how cool is all this??!??!


Yeah, I know, means nothing unless your a Wheel of Time fan......

Movie Night: Cars 2

Cast

	Larry the Cable Guy	...	Mater (voice)
	Owen Wilson	...	Lightning McQueen (voice)
	Michael Caine	...	Finn McMissile (voice)
	Emily Mortimer	...	Holley Shiftwell (voice)
	Eddie Izzard	...	Sir Miles Axlerod (voice)
	John Turturro	...	Francesco Bernoulli (voice)

I had read a blog or story once about Pixar, and how that of all their movies Cars was the one big disappointment. It was the authors opinion that all Pixar moves had a common theme. All their movies are at the core about humans encountering something non-human, or vise versa, and overcoming the prejudiced views both had to find a common ground. He also remarked Cars was the only Pixar movie to exist in a world without humans, or at the least to be set in a human world. I believe he also felt it was a bad movie as well. As for me, I liked Cars, I found it cute and entertaining.


Now we have Cars 2. The Cars hater who wrote that blog would be happy to know that ,at least in part, they have returned to their theme of exploring prejudices and overcoming them. But still there are no humans nor is it even a human world. To be honest I enjoy the movie as much or more then the first. It's cute, witty, good for kids and even has very mild adult themes in the background so the adults are not completely left out. But I have to report the wife couldn't really watch it at all. She likes Owen Wilson, but says she doesn't like him in these films. Once she pointed it out I had to agree, Owen is a strange casting choice, and once you start thinking about Lightning McQueen being Owen the character starts not fitting as well. It's funny how I didn't notice till  she pointed it out, and once she did I couldn't get over it for the rest of the movie.


The rest of the cast was great however, Larry the Cable Guy plays a perfect Mater. And Michael Caine does a perfect "James Bond" type British spy with Finn McMissile. Eddie Izzard however I still have a hard time seeing as anything but a cross-dressing stand-up comic. But even that aside it didn't bother me the way Owen Wilson did. Everything Eddie Izzard is in I always expect him to be in drag in the next scene, but I still think he's a fine actor and I enjoy his roles in all the movies and shows I've seen him in. I guess in all his roles there's a part of me who believes the character, whoever it is, must be a closet cross-dresser. I don't know how that works with a car, but there you go! LOL


I would just about agree with IMDB's raiting of 6.5 for this movie. It's ok, and if the kids like it, great. It's isn't bad enough to make it torture for any adult around either, and the story is good for kids, it has a solid moral. All in all it's a thumbs up.

Movie Night: Green Lantern

So I had heard terrible things about Green Lantern. But I'm a sucker for the superhero movies for some reason, so I rented this on the way out from work the other night. One of the perks in working in a building with 4,000 other people is a Redbox in the lobby! LOL I have to say, I don't get the bad reviews. It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but I would not have called it bad at all. 

I'm not one of those guys who was into comics as a child, or even an adult. I had a few fantastic four and some assorted others, but never got into that kind of stuff. So I can't say how much justice they did to the original story, but the idea for the movie wasn't too bad.

"In brightest day, in blackest night

No evil shall escape my sight

Let those who worship evil's might

Beware my power, Green Lantern's light."

In a nutshell, here's the story of the Green Lantern. There are these ugly immortal dudes who took it upon themselves to be the protectors of the universe. They harnessed the power of will (that happens to be green) and feed it into lanterns all over the universe, that in turn feeds it into the rings of the Green Lantern Corps. The guardians themselves are not Green Lanterns, just the creators of it. There are 3600 sectors in the universe, and each has a Green Lantern to protect it. The Green Lantern Corps is over 3 billion years old. Some stories say there are TWO Green Lanterns per sector, but the movie only shows one, and talks about there being around 3600 Green Lanterns total. So it seems they don't follow that convention for the movie.

"Tomar-Re: Actually, I'm a Xudarian. Our DNA does some what resemble your own ichthyological species. I am Tomar-Re, protector of Secter 2613 and home to...
Hal Jordan: 80,012 galaxies, 2.34 million sentient species. How do I know that?"

The sectors are BIG, that's a lot of ground for a single person, even a Green Lantern to cover, my guess is they only involve themselves in big, huge events. The action is pretty good, but character development is lacking. The movie moves pretty fast, but in do so skims over the heart of the story itself, it come off feeling like a light snack rather then a meal. But it was entertaining and I enjoyed the experience. There were several parts where the wife was a bit confused, so it didn't explain itself all that well, but even she enjoyed it. She blogged about it here.

One part I like is where the female lead, Carol played by Blake Lively, makes fun of the mask after she figures out it's really Hal Jordon in just a few moments after seeing him clearly as The Green Lantern.

"Carol Ferris: I've seen you naked! Of course I know who you are! A simple mask is not gonna hide anything!"

Ryan Reynolds, surprisingly, did a very good job. I wasn't hoping for much, but it turned out much better then I had hoped. Of all the characters, his was the most fully developed, but he was the star so that's not surprising. However I felt his back-story was somewhat awkward, as was the whole love interest thing with Blake Lively. They have her being a bit of every-woman. Hot, smart, geeky, business wise, daredevil pilot, unsure of herself, love sick and coy...kinda all at once. It's comes off ok, but she seems like an awkwardly developed character.

The other strange thing they did was the duel "bad guy" roles in the movie. There is one BIG bad guy, and a small bad guy. The role of the small bad guy is almost a total waste of script. The only reason I think the character existed in the movie was to menace the hotty, so Hal could be the knight in shining armor. This would have made much more sense if he hadn't already made up his mind to save the world before he even knew she was in danger from the little bad guy. They could have left him out and the movie would have been fine.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie and would watch it again.

Why Google+ might just take over the world!

  Google has had a spotty track record in the past with creating widely accepted applications. Google search, big hit. Google Calendar, big hit for those who use it. Blogger, big hit for those who blog. Gmail, big hit. Google Documents, super awesome, useful and free, but not so big hit. Google Reader, big hit is certain groups. Google news, big hit. Google Chrome, not much market share, but big hit with those who use it. Want to see just how much Google REALLY has, click here.
  There is a pattern here, if you USE the applications, you'll like them. But not many people use them overall. They are useful, if often stark. Function over fashion has always been Google's way. Their tools are powerful, flexible, but overlooked for the flashier, expensive, advertised applications. If fact, most people don't even know that most Google applications exist.
   One brilliant thing Google has done is run with their "cloud" idea. Computing in the cloud is in a nutshell a new and different way of looking at the web and computer applications. The idea is that computers, phones, tablets, whatever are really just portals to access the cloud. What you DO on them doesn't really exist on the device itself, but out in the "cloud" (internet). What that means is you start something on your computer, get up and pick up where you left off on your phone, continue working on it on your tablet on the bus, then switch to your work computer without missing a beat. Then on lunch you stop by your friends house and jump on his computer and all your stuff is right there for you. Just like it was on your computer, phone, tablet, and work computer. The only thing you need is a device and a internet connection. Since your stuff exist in the cloud not on the device, no matter where you are or what device your using all your stuff is there, and it's all the same on every device. And if you drop your phone in the toilet, or your computer gets stolen, lost or damaged you lose nothing. That's computing in the cloud.
   And that's been Google's whole business model pretty much. But so far the idea has been adopted by only a small part of the market. Android has helped move their market share up some, and more people are starting to take advantage of Google services, mostly because of integration with android. Or because of increased gmail useage due to Android. Gmail is a good launching point for discovering other Google services. And that brings me to my topic of the day. Why Google+ might just take over the world!
   One advantage of G+ (Google+) for a die hard Google fan like myself is the integration with many of the things I already use. It sync's up with my Android much better then Facebook, and if you download the G+ android app it also auto uploads any picture or video you take instantly in the background (if you set it up to do so). It doesn't share them, just uploads them to a private folder inside G+. So later if I want to share a picture I've taken all I have to do is go to the instant upload folder in G+ and share it. I don't have to upload it because it's already there, plus if I lose my phone or something happens all my pictures and videos are backed up. Until it's shared the only person who can see them are me, and I choose what to share on a picture to picture basis. I'm sure you can make is so it shares everything... but I can see how that could get awkward in certain situations.
   I also like the ideas of circles. Sure, you can do the same thing with Facebook and list, but G+ makes the idea a base for the whole platform, instead of a clunky addon idea or afterthought. You can't even share or start seeing post till you've set up circles. Of course some people will share everything with everyone all the time, like they do on Facebook. But there are things I would like my friends to know that maybe I don't want the boss to see. Or things I want friends to see, but the family may be better off not seeing. G+ makes it a part of everything you post to choose who see's what. It's a good idea. Plus you can add people to any number of your circles, so those family members who also might fit in the friends circle can see what your friends see, but mom can't. But if you want to share something with just the family, they can see that too, but the friends who aren't family can't. Very powerful.
   But if people ever really start using G+, and that will be the big test for Google with this, it's got the potential to become the center of most peoples online experience, in a way Facebook could never match. Why? Not because of G+ itself, but because of Google's HUGE library of applications that do just about everything you can think of. If G+ takes off, they will start doing what they do best, and integrate everything together. It would take a healthy market share to really get the ball rolling, but I could see a day where your whole internet experience could be through G+. You could do all you could ever want to do, and never really leave it. And the whole experience would be a unified, seamless flow.
   I don't know really if that would be a good thing, or a bad thing. But either way we might be finding out soon enough. Now we'll just see what the people have to say about it, and they will vote with their usage or non-usage. But it took 7 years to get grandma on Facebook, how long will it take to get her to switch???? And the question is, why should she and many other people bother? And who wants to go through years of trying to show them how to use something new again!! LOL.... I'm interested to see how Google fares up against the the seemingly impossible to unseat Facebook..... but if it manages to win the king-of-the-socialnetwork-hill contest, then it might just take over the world.....

Is Green the new Greed?

All in all no one can deny our American society, or at least the last 100-150 years or so, has been one motivated mainly by greed. Ever since the Railroads/Bankers (Robber Baron's) and Big Oil came into being, the government has been mostly supported by and governed for corporate America. If you want to try and deny that please read our own history and see the power these companies had/have/do wield/wielded at a Local, State, and even Federal level up to this day.


But you see, this isn't necessarily a BAD thing, you just have to get your mind around how to use this to our advantage as a disenfranchised American citizen. We all, as a society, have the most powerful weapon ever made to date, and we can use it to get our wishes granted. No it's not a gun, it's not the Vote....it's the almighty dollar. Where it goes the corporations follow, and then the money hungry congress and other elected officials are never far behind. We have the power to lead them all around by the nose, we can make them beg and do tricks. I bet we could even make them roll over, that's what the power the dollar has over those types.


So why  is that such a good thing? Because if we want a better world we can accomplish it much better by pointing our dollars in the right direction, much more so then even by our votes. Because the lobbiest control our government much more profoundly then our votes do. Why did we not have electric cars and 100 MPG fifty years ago? Because that wasn't where the money was going. Do you think Big Oil wanted those things to be available?? Heck no. And don't even try and say they just didn't have the technology! You will never be able to convince me the atomic bomb, and nuclear power, and going to the moon was simpler then an electric car or really good MPG. It's just not where the money was funneled. Big Oil wanted low MPG, and fossil fulled cars. And they had the money and lined the right pockets (we elected many of them, or their sons, or other oil people to run our country, so DUH!).


But thing are changing, I think the internet has much to do with that. Ideas can't be contained or limited nearly like they used to be. We can't be lead around by the nose or herded like sheep nearly as easily as we could Fifty years ago. Some still act like a mindless flock, but many people are waking up and thinking for themselves, and we are lucking out that money is not the underlaying factor of existence for many of the new generation, unlike is has been for the last several. But even so, Corporations will be corporations. And government will continue to be business, and the dollar will continue to point our way into the future, so lets point the right way!


So when I say Green is the new Greed, what I mean is the reasons we are seeing the Prius, the Volt, and solar and wind power, is because people are starting to buy into them, and so the people who can are following the dollars and making the stuff. In short, those that CAN now ARE because there is money there now. Money is the carrot, and it works oh so much better then the whip. Legislation is the whip, and it only works if all else fails. But as long as we apply the dollars correctly then we control our own destiny and our own fate.


BUY GREEN PEOPLE, I know that word has lost some of it's meaning, and it's hard to tell what's really "green" and what's just marketing mumbo jumbo, but I'm not talking about the stuff at Wal-mart. I don't mean green TV's or Green clothes or Green cleaning supplies. I mean green cars, green power. Once we get away from fossil fuels for power, every electric device will be green anyway. But do try and buy stuff made with green power! That encourages more and more companies to use it, and the more it's used the more dollars....and we known where that leads!


But we have to be SMART people. Let's take Sun Chips (Frito-lay, owned by Pepsi) for example. They use solar power to make their chips! WOOT!!! And recently they came out with a bio-degradable plant based bag!!! WOOT WOOT!!! But then people started complaining.....why???? BECAUSE THE BAGS RUSTLED TOO LOUD!!! WTH people???????????????????? So they have stopped making the bag for all their lines but one...... because the bag rustled a bit louder then the normal bag........ EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! But they had to do what they had to do to keep in business, so they went back to non-biodegradable bags just like everyone else. They had to follow the dollar, and in this case the dollar was very dumb and stupid.... makes me wanna slap some people. HARD!!!! This was one of the best things done by a major company in years for changing the way our throw-away society impacts...well.... just about everything. And we stomped it down....because the bag was a tad bit loud???? We have to STOP that type of stupid behavior.... So what if it was loud..... it was GREAT FOR THE PLANET you numskulls!!!!!!! That trumps a bit of noise by a huge margin. ARRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!! Get's my goat!!!!!


And if this project had gone well, and money had been given for it, not taken away, Frito-lay, owned by Pepsico would have listened. And as we know that's a lot of power for good right there. They no longer own Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut, and A&W. (spun off to what became YUM!, that owns them all now) but they still have lots of power and influence through lifetime exclusive rights agreements with all those YUM! companies except A&W. So what did the public tell Pepsi??? That we would much rather have quite bags than save the planet. And we told this to one of the largest and most powerful end user goods makers in the world.


So anyway, all I'm saying is let the greed do it's thing, and use it to change the word. Just try and point you dollars at the right things, and put up with loud bags if needed.

Torchwood vs. Doctor Who... Or maybe not quite verses...but...

Ok, so I'm a new Doctor Who junkie. I thought Doctor Who was a Bond villain until less then a year ago. Now I've seen every single episode of the "revived" series (2005-present) and I am starting on the 1963-1989 original series too. What do you call Doctor Who's fans anyway?? Star Trek Fans are Trekkies... so are they Whoies?

Anyway, so I just finally have seen every single episode of the "new" series, up to and including season 5, season 6 is just getting ready to start. But since I've spent at least 3-4 nights a week for the last 8 months watching Doctor Who, I have this hole in my late night TV schedule to fill...

So why not fill it with Torchwood I thought.... It is a Doctor Who spin off, and I liked Jack in Doctor Who, so what the heck! Turns out it wasn't a bad idea, Torchwood it pretty good, but this ISN'T your Doctor Who Capitan Jack Harkness. Well, it IS, same actor, same creator and all that. But this Jack seems much Darker.... Rose making him immortal and living for so many years now has changed him it seems, at least within the story.

But Torchwood is just a whole lot darker, sexier, and dirtier then the current Doctor Who's. Here in the US where Doctor Who is mostly considered G, with some slight PG-13 thrown in, Torchwood is SOLID PG-13, and bits, if not cut out, would get it a possible R. And it's not just that Jack's bi-sexual nature is explored here, where it was just hinted at in Doctor Who, but Gwen and Owen, well, mainly Owen, really spice up the tension... Where Doctor Who hints, Torchwood almost goes so far as to SHOW!! LOL

Well, this is not a complete write up by any means, I've only seen about 5 episodes of Season 3 of Torchwood, but once I've seen them all I'll come back and write more. Just putting some of my initial thoughts down, and if anyone happens to come across this and is a Doctor Who fan that is looking for something else British to watch, now you know a bit about Torchwood!!!