StillPaisleyCat

We picked up some good deals from the promotion this week.

Several Star Trek licensed games are on Steam, now at a significantly discounted price for the annual Star Trek Day celebration.

These include the MMP Star Trek Online, but also single player games Star Trek Bridge Crew and Star Trek Resurgence (a choose your own path role play game).

We’d waited until Resurgence came to Steam, because we did want to buy it from Epic, but decided to be even more patient and wait for a sale so we could get it for our teens as well. I’ve been playing in parallel with one of our teens and debating the impacts of our very different choices.

I have had Bridge Crew since 2022, but we got copies for the teens yesterday. One is into it. It requires running an Ubisoft account synched to Steam which can be annoying, but otherwise G2G.

More departures of former Viacom senior executives from Paramount Global in the wake of Baklish’s firing.

Interesting extract from a longer /Film interview with in-demand director Roxann Dawson.

I appreciate how she speaks with respect for the shows of the new era.

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/1026553

Here’s something to fill some gaps in your viewing schedule. While not science fiction, this show could appeal to SNW fans and deserves a bigger audience.

SurrealEstate is a Canadian live-action supernatural drama with a light leavening of horror, produced for CTV Sci-Fi Channel, and picked up Syfy. The first season also ran on Hulu in the US after its linear run. It was canceled by Syfy US, then uncanceled when it got picked up by the Syfy channels in Europe.

It’s quirky, full of gentle ironic humour, in the way Canadian shows can be. Tim Rozon of Wynonna Earp stars along with Sarah Levy of Schitt’s Creek. Melanie Srofano (Captain Betel in SNW) directed two episodes in the first season and was reportedly back to do more.

Similar to SNW, SurrealEstate mainly episodic with light serialization coming from character arcs. It has a generally positive vibe, with a team of intriguing and diverse characters solving mysteries and clearing houses of supernatural detractions so that they can ‘achieve their true market value.’

From the season one promotional listing:

Real estate agent Luke Roman is the owner of The Roman Agency, a boutique residential real estate brokerage specializing in "metaphysically engaged" properties, also known as haunted houses. Luke has a special connection to the spiritual realm; he can not only sense the presence that might inhabit a client's house, he can often communicate and negotiate with it. Along with his team, Luke takes on the houses nobody else can or will.

If you haven’t seen season one, I firmly recommend catching it on demand on CTV (which is offering it currently offering it free to non-subscribers), on the Syfy app or on Hulu.

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/504533

The markers of the strikes’ impacts are beginning to appear.

CTV Sci-Fi Channel/Syfy’s SurrealEstate may not have been on your radar, but it’s one of the first cable announcements pushing back a premiere date (from ‘summer’ to late October). It’s a quirky and fun show that deserves the profile of a peak fall run.

We’ve also seen announcements of Canadian network shows (e.g., Kids Ruin Everything) being picked up by CW and other US linear platforms as they try to fill their schedules. Much the same happened when COVID stopped production, and shows from Canada and elsewhere were given a chance to break into American markets.

Ok Raptors fam here…are we having trouble keeping a conversation going because it’s midsummer or because we’re not getting reason to hope for an interesting season ahead?

Personally, I’m seriously wondering if there’s any point to keeping our SN and TSN subscriptions.

Will I really be willing to invest my viewing time in a season that promises to be no better than last and without the exciting of seeing a crop of new players develop? Seriously, a couple of seasons ago I was more invested in watching Banton and the others in 905 games. I just feel weary thinking about taking in the main team in the fall.

How are others feeling?

Take a break from the Siakam trade rumour pile-on and checkout some behind the scenes at Summer League.

While rumours, speculations and ‘expert’ grading of trade rumours reach a fever pitch around Pascal Siakam, Sports Illustrated is bringing the conversation back around to OG Anunoby with citing a Bleacher Report of report of a possible trade to the Orlando Magic.

Chris Walder’s quippy tweet in reaction to some OG trade scenarios floating about says “Thanks for making the Toronto Raptors infinitely worse.”

Thoughts?

Not sure I agree, but it’s a helpful article in its attempts to lay out the +s and -s of a largely unchanged roster.

I can’t say the prospect is making me want to keep my TSN and Sportsnet subscriptions.

Here’s the con that I just can’t see being avoided even with a new head coach.

The Raptors had players in radically different stages of their careers and they did not have a clear offensive hierarchy, which led to selfish play and frustration throughout the lineup.

Plus, there have been reports dating back several seasons that O.G. Anunoby wants a bigger offensive role, while Barnes is entering his third year and likely wants the same. Bringing back the same roster doesn’t exactly create a clear path for either of those two things to happen.

The Raptors can hope Rajakovic and his .5-second offensive system predicated on unselfish play and ball movement will lead to wins and keep everyone happy, but that is asking a lot of a first-time NBA head coach. After all, players now have certain financial incentives tied to making All-NBA teams and other accolades, giving them legitimate reasons to want to have the ball in their hands more and to take more shots.

Running it back with the same roster along with adding another offensive weapon in Dick does not seem like a good way to turn around the Raptors’ lacklustre chemistry and vibes from last season.

What are people here thinking?

After a raft of reports a week or two ago that the Raptors front office was exasperating other teams with their trade efforts in the lead up to the draft, a makeover of the coaching staff, strong messages about a pivot back to an emphasis on development etc., were now hearing ‘nah, we’re good.’

The Raptors appear to be moving slightly closer towards “running it back,” a philosophy that is bent on the notion that the 48-win team from a year ago is in this roster somewhere. To further that end, Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster have largely been shutting trade talk down despite ravenous interest in their heavy hitters around the league.

Is the Raptors front office so invested in Siakam that they are satisfied to attempt to cruise with what they had + Gradey Dick?