January 22 (TJIB #4)
 

<p>For more than half our time online, 5M.net has had no better friend than <a href="http://www.triphammered.com">TripHammered</a>. So I'm sorry to have to report (belatedly) that evay will no longer be making regular updates. Why? Well, that part's simple: she won. <a href="../thisjustin/b4.html">TJI Brief #4: Trip hammered into submission</a> will fill you in.
<p>Seriously though, evay's explained her reasons, and I can definitely relate to them. <i>Enterprise</i> has been off the air for nearly two years, and when something ends, the internet moves on very quickly. I love B5 and Farscape, but I hardly ever visit sites about those shows anymore. Forums about the MegaMan Battle Network series went from hubs of activity to ghost towns within a few months of the final game's release. This isn't necessarily something bad about online fandom; it's just a part of the equation. We can complain about it, but it's no more productive than yelling into the wind.
<p>evay and I have fought to stay relevant. I eventually decided to de-specialize, going from Five-Minute Voyager to FiveMinute.net (something I probably should have done sooner). evay couldn't really do that. She added BSG content, but the heart of TripHammered is its gloriously specific theme. When ENT ended, TripHammered's mission -- to recount the etc. of Charles Tucker -- ended with it. That didn't mean evay had to stop, and indeed she kept going in top form for over a year. But it did mean staying relevant would be an uphill battle.
<p>So as much as I'll miss TripHammered, I completely understand evay's decision. This problem is on my mind just as much. Don't worry -- 5M.net isn't ending, and my procrastination is a far greater threat than loss of relevance anyway. But I have ideas for keeping us moving, and this is one more reminder that I need to put them into action.
<p>There are no true endings online. evay can bring back TripHammered or start a new site any time she wants, and I'll be there. But for now, here's a fond farewell to my favourite ENT-exclusive site. Ave atque mallet.

Farscape is over? Then what are they showing after Stargate (bumping Atlantis to late-night purgatory in my area, by the way)?

"It's going to take a while to adjust. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like Trip, you know?"

A classic gag that hasn't been hammered into the ground at ALL yet. (Withers from glares from the other residents of the virtual cubical farm. A few revolver are cocked back, shattering the stillness) Totally worth it.

I don't know about you guys, but I think on Space it's BSG. After Atlantis (which is on everywhere everywhen here) on Sundays is a new sci-fi series, The Dresden Files. Which looks totally awesome.

I'll miss TripHammered. It was one of the few ENT-exclusive sites I visited ever...well, the only one. I can understand why this, though.

Oh, right, sorry. I only get local TV, and I think I'm the only Twin Cityite around here.

I never really visited TripHammered, so I don't know whether it's a tragedy or not. It does strike me as odd, though, that after only two years the subject material has been declared out-of-date and such. I mean, the rest of you guys are still talking Classic Who nine ways to Sunday, right?

I'm really going to miss TripHammered. The BSG reviews were always insightful, and let's not forget Get Me Rewrite!...

Gatac

I'm almost a Twin Cityitie.... just the other side of the river. ;)

*snerf* :D

Snicker. Cityitie. Sounds like a species of Pokemon, or maybe the Tellytubby that the others killed and buried under that absurd rabbithole years ago. :)

Hey, it's hardly the first time one of us has turned an innocent typo into a joke!

Which river? I assume you mean you're from Wisconsin. If we've covered this territory before, forgive me for forgetting.

If they mean the twin cities I think they mean, it's Minniapolis-St. Paul, Minnisota, home of Garrison Kiellor(sp). Hey, I never said I could spell...

Yep, i used to work in Hudson, which is on the St Croix river (just north of where the St. Croix and the Mississippi join, so which river depends on which bridge i use to get over to MN ;) ) I'm a little further away now but we still get all your tv. ;)

"If they mean the Twin Cities I think they mean..."

I think that although there are a lot of "twin cities" pairs, only Minneapolis-St. Paul uses "Twin Cities." Other groupings are the Tricities, the Quad Cities, the Grand Cities, and so on.

"If we've covered this territory before..."

I completely did not notice the hidden joke in there. If we(Katy Jane and I)'ve covered this territory (the Upper Midwest) before... Ha ha, I made a funny.

You get my TV? So that's where it went! :)

Thank you, Zeke, for kindly coming to praise TripHammered and not to bury it. ;) Seriously, you've always been TripHammered's biggest cheerleader, and I truly appreciate it. Thanks to all of you for your kind words.

Now I'm going to have to work on using "Ave atque mallet" on a regular basis.

Thanks for the chuckle, evay. "coming to praise TripHammered and not to bury it," brought to mind an old gag from the Reduced Shakespeare Company. In about a minute the troupe covered the plays Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.

Austin (as Brutus): Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your rears! I've come to bury Caesar, so let's bury him and get on to my play...
Austin and Adam: Antony and Cleopatra!
Adam (as Cleopatra): Is this an asp I see before me? Ouch, oh, I've been bitten by a snake! Beargh!

I have to yet again give full props to the Reduced Shakespeare Company for their role in furthering the popularity growth of the "humor through condensation" genre.

Very true. They do excellent work.

Are you absolutely certain it wasn't a trope?

There was a king sitting in his garden when his brother in his ear poured a vial full of hemling.
Stole his crown, and his money, and his widow,
But the dead king came down from heaven
to haunt his son, and said "Hey, kiddo."
I'm your father and it's your duty to avenge my death on Claudius.
Kill him quick and clean and tell the nation what a fraud he was."
The kid said "Well, I'll do it, but I'll have to play it crafty,
But so no-one will suspect me I'll let on that I'm a dafty."

Excerpt from Five Minute Hamlet, starring me (mutely) as all the male roles, Summer 2000.

You guys are never going to let me live that one down, are you?

Oh, and hemling/heaven and Claudius/he was, are absolutely awful rhymes. Just horrible. Almost as bad as ... as ... get back to me on that one, okay?

I didn't actually write them, and strictly speaking the rhyme is Claudius/fraud he was

That helps the rhyme scheme a little, but not much. Oh, and is ABABCCDD an accepted rhyme scheme in the first place?

What "accepted"? You think someone made up the schemes first, and only then allowed everyone to start writing verse to fit?


"Shyeah, that'll work." http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...on_mrgreen.gif