UPPER EAST SIDE — Why is this night different from all other nights?
Because it's frakking Passover!
Upper East Side Democratic City Council candidate Ben Kallos — a shoo-in to take office after next month's general election — once made a website for how to host a "Battlestar Galactica"-themed Passover seder.
"Yeah, I'm a nerd," joked Kallos, who is Jewish, when DNAinfo New York reporter spoke to him after learning about the site, Battlestarseder.org. "I'm a policy wonk, and I like science fiction."
The website — which was disabled several minutes after Kallos spoke to a reporter Friday morning but later restored — features an image of characters from the SyFy Network's 2004 hit show, which was a remake of a 1978 classic about a post-apocalyptic world that pits humans against human-looking machines called cylons.
Kallos' site features a sultry cylon No. Six, in her trademark red cutout dress, posing in the center, over the word Haggadah written in "Battlestar-" style font.
The website also includes a detailed do-it-yourself guide to hosting a "Battlestar" Pesach, including a spin on the seder plate.
Traditionally, the symbolic Passover foods include bitter herbs, charoset, karpas (celery or parsely dipped in salt water), bone and boiled egg.
According to an illustration on the site for the "Battlestar" Seder approach, this would include Starbuck's Ovummm, (a nod to the renegade woman pilot), tiillium (a spelling variant of Tylium, energy used in the BSG universe), "Cylon metal mysteriously evolved into bone" and "algal slop."
The BSG-based prayers also take a page from the sci-fi world's religious system, which includes multiple Gods named the "Lords of Kobol," while maintaining the tone outlined in the traditional Hagaddah, the guide to holding a seder.
The prayer begins: "Now in the presence of loved ones and friends, before us the emblems of festive rejoicing, we gather for our sacred celebration with the households of the Lords of Kobol."
Kallos acknowledged he also particpated in "Battlestar" passover proceedings several years ago.
"It was a bunch of friends hanging out and having a Passover seder, and it involved probably what was on the website," he said.
Kallos — who touted his tech background during his campaign — said he builds lots of websites both for government and community agencies. These include a site for Community Board 8, cb8m.com, and eatfresh.org, which sends healthy recipes to food stamp recipients via text.
Kallos explained that the "Battlestar" seder, an idea kicked around with some friends several years ago, keeps with his belief of finding ways to make important information accessible — be it nutritional guidance or religious tradition.
In turn, Kallos wishes this and similar projects foster appreciation of people's preferences and differences.
"I'm hoping to be part of a future where everyone is accepted," he said.
