The live chat is happening RIGHT NOW! The chat’s over now. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Here is the embedded stream. But if you go to UStream.tv you can join the chat room.

The last live chat was a lot of fun, and even though I’m still fooling around with the setup I figured I’d do another one. This time, I’m thinking 00:00 UT Sunday/Monday February 24/25 (today as most of you read this, no doubt).

So that’s 19:00 Eastern (US) time, if that helps any, or 5:00 p.m. my (Mountain) time. To make it easier, here is a countdown timer:

I’ll put up another blog post closer to the time of the chat with an embedded stream from my camera and all that. Stay tuned!

I just found out Catherine Tate — Donna on Doctor Who — interviewed David Tennant on BBC 4 radio, and it’s online.

I’m not sure this link will work but if you poke around the BBC 4 site for the show Chain Reaction you’ll find it.

The interview is pretty funny, as you’d expect. There’s a lot of Doctor in him, and a lot of him in the Doctor. She’s very funny, too. I’d love to hang out with the two of them for a while…

Oh! 19 minutes in they talk astrology. He’s the greatest man in the history of history.

So I just finished watching the 1998 "Godzilla" remake with The Little Astronomer. After seeing (and enjoying) "Cloverfield", it seemed the thing to do.

When it came out 10 years ago, I saw it in the theater. I thought it was great! Fun, silly, great effects, didn’t take itself seriously… yet it was almost universally panned. Everyone in the world seemed to hate it but me. So when I popped the disk into the player, I figured maybe this was another case of an old movie I liked that wouldn’t hold up.

I was wrong. I mean, I was right in the first place. This movie is great.

Here’s the deal: a lot of people hated it because they wanted a rubber-suit Godzilla movie. Too bad. Others hated it because they wanted an updated version more true to the actual original Japanese movie (which I need to see; the only version I saw of it was the terribly edited one with Raymond Burr jammed into it, who stuck out like a bug on a plate). Too bad. Some people thought it was too silly. Too bad.

It’s a monster movie, folks. The people who made it knew that, so they threw in lots of funny stuff, letting the viewer know the movie isn’t supposed to be taken too seriously. Completely unrealistic premise, ridiculous events, outrageously overdone chase scenes. But that’s the point! It’s a monster movie. It’s supposed to be fun. Three people from "The Simpsons" were in it, for Pete’s sake!

I think it was a lot of fun. TLA liked it too. The effects held up surprisingly well, too, which is a plus. Not perfect, but not bad. Also, having just seen "Cloverfield", it’s fun to compare them. There are plenty of parallels: both take place in NYC, there is an important scene with the Brooklyn Bridge in both, subways are critical, and so on.

All in all, I say if you want a popcorn movie (or in our case, hamburgers and fries and then bowls of chocolate fudge ice cream), this is a pretty good pick.

I am very sad to write that Barry Morse, a British/Canadian actor, has died.

He had a million roles in his long career, but readers of this blog no doubt remember him best as Professor Victor Bergman from "Space: 1999". He was the resident scientist of Moonbase Alpha in the show, and brought a wonderful warmth and humanity to the show.

This hits me for two reasons. One was that his character of the scientist was a huge role model for me when I was a young teenager. I was awkward, nerdy, and a major spazz. Bergman was thoughtful, generous, intelligent, and well-liked by the other characters. He was a major hero of mine.

And, in 2000, I met him, when I attended a Space:1999 convention in NYC as the guest scientist. I was thrilled to go, of course, since I was major fanboy. I got to sit on stage at the opening panel with the stars of the show!

That’s Barry on my right. At one point, I got to talk about how the show influenced me. Sitting next to Barry made me a little nervous, but I decided to tell him personally what a role model Bergman was for me. Especially since his character, when faced with something he didn’t understand, was never afraid to say "I don’t know". He was a true scientist!

I didn’t get much of a chance to talk with him, but as I rode down the escalator at one point he was going up the other side, and said "Oh, Phil, good! I want to talk to you later about something!" I’ll be honest: I have no clue what he wanted to say, as we didn’t get together after that. But just having him recognize me and call me by name made me feel like a teenager all over again. It made me want to do better science.

Goofy? Maybe. But that’s the way I felt, and I still recognize the ability of actors to play characters who can inspire us.

I know there are other scientists out there who were urged along in their studies by Victor Bergman. And so, to the man behind the Professor: Mr. Morse, I salute you. And I thank you.

I was just sitting here wondering when the new season (#4) of Doctor Who will air in England, and it appears that info is hard to find! The website sylvestermccoy.com seems to say the new series will start on March 22, but I can’t confirm that after searching the BBC site. Any Brits in whoblogland know anything?

Another thing: I’ve noticed that the BBC America versions being aired here in the US are very different than the ones aired in the UK. Whole lines of dialog are cut; in "The Runaway Bride", for example, the very important parts of the final scene where Donna admonishes the Doctor have been totally removed ("You need someone to pull you back"). I think that’s an aspect of the Doctor the new series is exploring quite well, and it’s a shame that BBC-A isn’t going that way. I don’t know if the SciFi channel is cutting those scenes or not; I’d rather eat my own head than watch that horrid channel. If I see one more ad for a made-for-SciFi channel movie about some monster they found in the dictionary I’ll shut my TV off forever and start, I dunno, reading or something.

Final Update, I should think (Feb 5): The story I outline below is almost certainly false. My source, Jonathan McDowell, who runs Jonathon’s Space Report, is a noted expert on satellites, orbits, and such, and he throws the flag on this one. Here is his complete email to me:

I agree with Jonathon. This is some sort of story being spread deliberately. Some people think it has to do with the movie Iron Man, but the characters name in that flick is different. So I’m not sure what this is all about, but I am pretty sure it’s not true.

Update: My source – an expert in these things — has called this story "complete nonsense". I am posting this now to try to stop this from getting bigger; but as yet I do not have permission to use my source’s name. When my source contacts me again, I’ll post more.

There is a rumor going around that an American billionaire has built his own rocket, launched himself into space, and has apparently been lost.

I know nothing beyond the info in that linked article. It sounds ridiculous, but years ago there was a guy who was planning on doing just such a thing (though he was not a billionaire). I have serious doubts, of course, but I have some friends who may know more about this, and I’ve sent out email. When I get more info, I’ll post it here. If any BABloggees have heard anything, let me know! Leave a comment here.

Edited to add: It occurs to me that the website linked has the URL of memes.org, so I wonder if this is a fake story designed to see how rumors spread. Well, I noted above that it sounds like baloney to me, and I have feelers out to track anything down. Maybe, if this is a joke, we can staunch it quickly.