Doctor Who & The Video Pirate (Pics/Video)

By Thomas Spychalski

 On November 22nd, 1987, a mysterious thing happened on the shrouded mist covered mass that was called Fang Rock, and it was not the attack on a group of stranded boaters and lighthouse workers by a glowing green Ruton. Rather it was one of most infamous cases of signal hijacking since Captain Midnight had hijacked HBO's signal in 1986.

It began at another station in Chicago WGN channel nine, a “Superstation” that was also available on some cable packages at the time. At about 9:10 P.M., a man wearing a Max Headroom mask (A mask of a science fiction TV show character that had recently been seen in the US on ABC television, and a popular Coca-Cola ad spokesperson.), interrupted sportscaster Dan Roahn, for about forty five seconds during the recap of that days Chicago Bears football game. The engineers at WGN television quickly changed the STL (Studio to Transmitter Link.), thwarting the hijackers attempt to further break into the signal. The Image had no sound at that time, and Roahn quickly apologized for the intrusion, although a bit distracted by the event, and went on with the rest of the newscast.

Book Review: Lemon

Bumbling.

A word that can instantly brings a smile to your lips as there is a tradition here in fiction for the reluctant hero as a main character, especially when it comes to detective and spy stories. Inspector Clouseau and Austin Powers have made a career of it, taking the courage but not the danger out of the narrative, while still giving us all of the excitement and tension. It might even be said that these kinds of creations have more courage and a better connection to the average person as they are more realistic as to how many of us might feel about being involved in such predicaments.

Lemon, the first novel by Barnaby Eaton Jones is one example of this sub genre of spy and detective fiction, it weaves and wobbles it's way through a fast paced adventure that is sure to please any fan of fiction of the James Bond variety. It's main protagonist, Spencer Tracy is the perfect bumbling English loveable loser who just so happens to find himself in both the wrong and in some cases the right places at the perfect time to keep the story flowing and give the book a sense of fun and laugh out loud humor seldom seen this side of Douglas Adams.