monstrous humanoid

TV power rankings - Fall 2008 wrap up

2009-02-03T20:59:00.005-10:00

on this list: i wrap up the shows that made my Fall 2008. if you read my last power rankings, you'll have a pretty good idea where shows ended up, but there was SOME movement.

without further ado, the TV power rankings wrapping up Fall 2008.

1) The Shield
last ranked: 1

a great show that had an excellent ending. seriously. when the curtain fell on the series i was like "there was no other way they could have ended the show." almost brought a tear to my eye. it was so, so good. even though seasons 3 and 5 weren't really my cup of tea, The Shield stands as one of my favorite shows OF ALL TIME. godspeed Vic Mackey.

2) Sons of Anarchy
last ranked: 3

i said last time that this show kept creeping up and up the rankings, that it almost deserved to be #2 behind The Shield. well, with the season finale, it jumped to #2. with this show around next year (hopefully), i won't miss The Shield as much. WATCH IT.

3) House
last ranked: 2

fell to #3 for two reasons. first, i needed to make room for Sons of Anarchy. second, the whole concept is wearing a little (just a little) thin after almost 2 years straight of watching House. that said, i'm still interested enough in House and his supporting cast as characters to keep this show at #3.

4) Life
last ranked: 4

still too many relationships, but it's getting better. take out the relationships and this would be #3. still, it's one of the only things i still watch on my once-favorite network (oh NBC, how you have fallen).

5) Chuck
last ranked: 6

this is a show like House - very formulaic in the layout of their single episodes. and the only reason i haven't tired of the formula yet is because of the overarching story, the character arcs. they throw me for a loop every few episodes and introduce a new dynamic to the Chuck/Sara story and it's like "wow, where did that come from?" it's a funny show, sure, but it's also got some good writing going on behind the scenes.

6) 90210
last ranked: 7

i should NOT like this show. that said, i LOVE it. it's my guilty pleasure. moving on.

7) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
last ranked: 5

fell down the list because Chuck and 90210 have been doing better in my opinion. i'm not really liking how crazy Sarah is getting looking for the pattern of the 3 dots, how stupid John is being about Reilly, etc. that said, i still like the show - i just wish it would go in a different direction sometimes.

8) South Park
last ranked: 8

had a good half-season. not a great half-season, but a good half-season. i patiently await its return this March.

9) Fringe
last ranked: 9

still bugged by all the overarching stuff. you know, it's weird. i like shows like House and Chuck for the overarching stories, their character arcs, but then Fringe all i want is the single episodes. i could care less about her family or The Pattern. give me single episodes about weird stuff that remind me of what i REALLY want to be watching, The X-Files. hmm, maybe i should just watch The X-Files if i want to watch The X-Files.

10) Law & Order
last ranked: new

it's Law & Order. i've been watching it on and off my entire life. it has no right being as high as it is on the list, but hey, it's actually been pretty good this season. maybe i like the new cast.

11) Law & Order: SVU
last ranked: 12

funny enough SVU is showing its age more than the original is (maybe because they have mostly the same cast and can only do shows about special cases?), but i still look forward to SVU almost as much as the original every week.

12) Life on Mars
last ranked: 10

well, after several episodes i'm taking the American version of Life on Mars on its own merits - the only problem is, it's not very good on its own merits. ABC extended its life through the Spring, so i'm going to keep watching to see if it comes into its own. i mean there's some good acting, and the stories are ok. but it just doesn't have the LIFE that the original did, the charm, the reality. like i said above about Fringe, if i want to watch Life on Mars, maybe i should just watch the original. we'll see.

13) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
last ranked: 11

a good comedy that used to be great. still hope there's another season or two for these guys. see you next fall?

14) Heroes
last ranked: 11

so if you've been following the power rankings, you'll know that Heroes has been a roller coaster for me this year. i mean it's always pretty much been at the bottom of the list, but it's been up and down like "should i keep watching or not?" well after watching the majority of the fall season (i still haven't seen the final 2 episodes), i think i've settled on "not." i saw some previews during the Super Bowl and at first i muted the TV because i didn't want anything ruined for me - and then i was like "you know what? i really don't care." so i don't know, if i find myself some Sunday afternoon with nothing to watch and some time to kill, maybe i'll catch up on Heroes. otherwise this is goodbye. never did a show show so much promise and fall so hard. godspeed Heroes.

well that's it for the Fall 2008 wrap up. stay tuned for the first power rankings of 2009. will anything be better than The Shield's final season? hint: probably not. but there are a few contenders to overtake House and Life.

-k

Fallout 3 - to kill or not to kill

2008-11-03T22:50:00.002-10:00

i know, i know. i've been talking a lot about TV lately. where's the movie reviews? where's the funny websites? where's the food reviews? well tonight i hope to get back on track with stuff that's not just TV. and i'm kicking things off with video games.

i started playing this post-apocalyptic first-person shooter / role-playing game (whew, what a mouthful) called Fallout 3, and within the first two hours of playing i came upon a decision wholly unlike any other i've ever had in a video game before.

to kill, or not to kill.

now, almost all video games present the player with the option to kill a major character, but they do so with blaring trumpets - they present it on a platter. press this button and the guy lives. press this button and the guy dies. and more often than not it's a matter of self defense.

nothing like this happened in Fallout 3. the guy was just standing in front of me and it was up to me to kill him or to let him live.

ok, let me back up. you play as someone trying to escape this "prison." you're trying to escape because your father (an important doctor in this prison) is missing and security thinks you know where he went.

in trying to find out where he went, security interrogates and kills one of his good friends. this good friend just happened to be a sort of uncle to you. now, you don't SEE the murder, but you hear about it and later see his dead body.

the man ultimately responsible for all this is the "warden" of this prison, the Overseer. to complicate matters, the Overseer has a daughter. she is your best friend. she aids you in your escape.

as you near the home stretch, you come upon a scene. the Overseer is interrogating his daughter with the help of a security guard. they want to know where you are. things are getting physical.

ok, first thing is first. the game actually allows you to just sneak past this scene and continue on with your escape (an amazing choice in its own right). of course, i was too emotionally invested in these characters to just sneak on past so i broke up the interrogation. i killed the guard (self defense) and my friend ran for it.

i was left face to face with the Overseer.

the option came up to talk to him, so i did. the only thing he was somewhat remorseful about was the death of my uncle. i questioned him about the interrogation of his own daughter. he basically said the needs of the many outweigh the few - even if the few are family. then he said i had to turn myself in. there was no way i was going to do that, so he started calling for the guards.

conversation over.

now i was left standing in front of him, unable to start another dialogue. i ran around checking for the guards he was calling for, but none appeared. then i checked on my best friend. she was ok but physically and emotionally shaken by the actions of her own father. i exhausted the dialogue tree and moved on, getting closer and closer to the exit.

then it hit me.

what happens to my best friend when i leave the prison? what is the Overseer - her own father - going to do to her if he was already interrogating her as he had been?

i had to go see what i could do.

i went back to the Overseer, but i still couldn't start another dialogue with him. he just kept yelling for the guards. then i pulled out my gun and aimed at him.

the game wasn't stopping me from killing him.

i put the gun down and went back to my best friend to see if she had anything else to say. unfortunately, she didn't. these were my choices:

1) kill the Overseer
+ prevent him from hurting his daughter/my best friend
+ small amount of revenge for killing my uncle
- best friend might hate me in the long run (she still loves her dad after all)

2) let the Overseer live
+ best friend won't hate me for killing him (though she could hate me for NOT killing him if he ends up ruining her life later)
- leaves my best friend in danger
- no revenge for the death of my uncle

i went back to the Overseer one more time just to make sure that the game really was letting me kill the guy if i wanted to. it was. unbelievable.

i thought the decision might be too big to make on my own. i mean what if this one action defines the rest of the game, or the end of the game when i eventually come back home? so i went online to see what other people did and do you know what i found out?

not only is the decision seemingly a minor one, no one else on the forums was talking about it like it was a major decision to be made! i was having my own crisis of conscience on a minor event in the game.

and that's what's so amazing.

there i was, not 2 hours into this 60+ hour game, and i am SO drawn into the world, so emotionally invested - by the dialogue, by the story, by the way the game presents itself - that i'm questioning whether or not to kill someone that ultimately may have no bearing on the game (or very little bearing).

i've never experienced anything else like it in a video game.

so many video games nowadays try and have choices that the player can make - Mass Effect, Fable II, KOTOR - but they usually end up boiling down to very black-and-white, scripted events. not Fallout 3.

and to think. if an event like this happened in the first 2 hours of the game, how many more events will there be like this in the next 58 hours?

if you couldn't tell by now, i am absolutely enthralled by this game.

-k

TV power rankings - going into the week of 10/27/08

2008-10-24T11:58:00.005-10:00

on this list: some shows rise causing others to fall. others fall because, well, they haven't been up to snuff these past few weeks. and we've got 3 newcomers: South Park, the Life on Mars remake, and Crusoe. how did they fair? well, you won't be seeing one of them on the next list.

without further ado, the TV power rankings going into the week of 10/27/08.

1) The Shield
last ranked: 2

the last 2 weeks have set the stage for the final 5 episodes - and possibly set the stage for the best ending to a TV series ever. seriously, things happened that you would NEVER see in another show - things that just raised the quality of season 7 to almost season 6 quality. it's that good.

2) House
last ranked: 4

just like The Shield, the last 2 episodes have vaulted House to the top of the list, and it's mostly due to the House/Wilson dynamic - one of the most interesting friendships in all of television.

3) Sons of Anarchy
last ranked: 5

with each week this show creeps up the list a little more. with last week's episode, it almost deserves to be #2 below The Shield. it's really, really good.

4) Life
last ranked: 1

only reason this fell is because the shows now above it have stepped up their game in the past few weeks. Life hasn't gotten any worse; those shows just got a lot better. the one MINOR gripe i have with Life is that it seems to think that every week they need to focus on a relationship or two. Charlie and his ex wife. Charlie's roommate and Olivia. Charlie's partner and the new head of the department. it's too relationship-y. they especially took it too far with his partner and the head of the department. no way would that have happened.

5) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
last ranked: 3

this fell for pretty much the same reason Life did. only small problem i have this year: everyone is really, really moody. i like that the once-inseparable mother-son combo of John and Sarah Connor has some tension now, but damn do those two know how to scowl and be moody.

6) Chuck
last ranked: 7

you know what? i've always looked at this show as just a fun distraction until two weeks ago. it was then that i realized it actually had pretty good writing. last year it was about Chuck pining over the unattainable Sarah. this year she's pining for him but they both know they can't take their relationship any further while he remains her mission. it's pretty cool stuff. it's got better writing than, say, Heroes. WAY better.

7) 90210
last ranked: 8

do you know what else has better writing than Heroes this year? this show. no, it's still not that good of a show. yes, it's still totally a guilty pleasure. but you know what? the last episode i watched had genuinely funny moments in its writing and acting. oh, and apparently it's not going to be canceled this year. the network has ordered a full season's worth of episodes. i guess it's doing well. wow. who woulda thunk it.

8) South Park
last ranked: new

started with a bang 3 weeks ago with the Indy rape episode. then it aired two episodes that were just par for the course - the latest being part 1 of at least a two-parter (and i'm not usually a fan of multi-part South Park episodes, as they tend to be too drawn out). with the ups and downs so far, i'm still interested to see where this season goes - just not maybe as excited as i was after the first episode this season.

9) Fringe
last ranked: 6

this was higher on the list until two weeks ago when they aired an episode that was all about "the pattern" or whatever the hell they call it. i like this show when it's about the wacky cases and the quirky father/son duo. when it devotes an entire episode to furthering the ridiculous overarching story of "the pattern" - that's when i'm not a fan. the show is too serious for its own good. i enjoy it when it's fun, not when it's bogged down in laughable conspiracy theories. oh, and for those that think the main chick is interesting? come on. she's either a horrible actress or they're giving her horrible material. scowl a little more will ya? scowl must = serious. she'd fit right in on Terminator.

10) Life on Mars
last ranked: new

it's taken me 3 weeks, but i'm finally starting to take this show on its own merits and trying to forget the near-perfect British show that it's based off of. i like the main character and the supporting women characters. i hate - HATE - Harvey Keitel (sp?) as the captain. he just plays his normal self. he's no Gene Hunt. but he never will be. like i said, i'm trying to forget the original and enjoy this new version - because i'm pretty sure it won't be around for long. as it is though, it doesn't hold a candle to the original.

11) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
last ranked: 9

each episode is getting more and more absurd. as i said before, absurdity for absurdity's sake isn't always funny. however, the only reason it slipped down the list is because of the new shows above it.

12) Law & Order: SVU
last ranked: 10

had to make room for the new shows, so this slipped too. i still love you SVU, but why do you feel the need to constantly focus on the main characters' lives instead of just focusing on the cases? that show 2 weeks ago that focused on Elliot's family was cringe-worthy.

13) Heroes
last ranked: 11

i just don't know what to write about this show anymore. after this week i think i'm starting to take season 3 on its own merits, but there's still way too much going on that's just rehashing of season 1 and season 2. Peter losing his powers? check. Claire hating her dad? check. Parkman being totally useless when he could be written so much better? check. the writers not remembering which heroes have what powers and writing scenes that make absolutely no sense given the powers of those involved in the scenes? check. i'm still watching, but it's more out of a morbid curiosity now than anything. that, and like i said - season 3 is sort of coming into its own, which is good... i just don't like what it's becoming.

14) Crusoe
last ranked: new

yes, there is currently something worse than Heroes. tried watching this show on a whim. it's just NBC trying to cash in on the Pirates of the Caribbean fad. it's a weird mix of humor and drama that just doesn't mesh well together. will not watch again.

what are you all watching? what should i be watching that i'm not? where did i go wrong on my list?

-k

TV Power Rankings - going into the week of 10/6/08

2008-10-02T12:12:00.004-10:00

for some reason i'm a big fan of power rankings. i have no idea why. maybe i just like ranked lists. anyway, i thought i'd rank the TV shows i'm currently watching. i might not do this every week, but we'll see.

rankings are not necessarily based on how i feel about a show on the whole, but how i feel the show is currently doing - how i liked the previous episode, how it's been doing overall for the season, and how much i'm looking forward to the next episode. for example, Heroes is a pretty good show (and i will always think it's a good show overall) that has had a horrible start (in my opinion) this season. that's why it's at the bottom of this week's list.

without further ado, the TV power rankings going into the week of 10/6/08.

1) Life

this show started its second season out with 2 of the most original episodes in the police drama setting that i've ever seen. the writing is just so... fresh. Life has yet to disappoint. my only worry is that with NBC pumping out 4 episodes in 2 weeks and then pushing it to Friday nights, Life doesn't have much longer to live.

2) The Shield

halfway through the final season and i am not disappointed in the least. is it as good as the start of the sixth season? of course not - nothing ever will be. but it's on the right track to ending with a bang (in more than one sense).

3) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

a second season gives the show a chance to flesh out backstories. that's exactly what Chronicles is doing. and it's pretty entertaining to say the least.

4) House

a show that never plays it safe. last year he lost his team, this year he loses his only friend. say what you want about the weekly cases, it's the drama between House and the rest of his team is what is so compelling. my only worry for this year: the new private eye House is paying for is a being written a little too quirky, too cute. oh, and a relationship with Cuddy is completely unnecessary.

5) Sons of Anarchy

good start to this fledgling series. i could see this going a few seasons if the writing is able to stay fresh. i'm a fan.

6) Fringe

this was higher on the list until this past week, when they aired an episode that was all about "the pattern" or whatever the hell they call it. i like this show when it's about the wacky cases and the quirky father/son duo. when it devotes an entire episode to furthering the ridiculous overarching story of "the pattern" - that's when i'm not a fan. show is too serious for its own good. i enjoy it when it's fun, not when it's bogged down in laughable conspiracy theories.

7) Chuck

a good, fun show. while i can see myself getting tired of the formula in another year or two, it's a good distraction for now.

8) 90210

a guilty pleasure. started watching it because of the ties it had to the old 90210, but now i'm a full-fledged fan. is it a good show? no, not really. but it's fun. and it's neat seeing some of the old gang around - even though it seems like they might be getting phased out. i'll continue to watch it until it inevitably gets canceled later this year.

9) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

still continues to be funny despite its downward spiral from its golden first season. i'm a fan of the absurd, what can i say?

10) Law & Order: SVU

it's Law & Order. how can i not watch it? is the show good anymore? that's tough to say. i still have a good time watching, but i'll be the first to admit it's a mere shadow of what it used to be 4-5 seasons ago.

11) Heroes

once one of my favorite shows, Heroes has taken a mighty fall. all they're doing this year is rehashing stories from previous seasons (mostly season 1) and coming up with ridiculous and ludicrous team-ups. and i'm not a fan. there are still a few original, interesting things happening, so i'm going to stick around a few more weeks to see how those develop, but if they wither and die instead of blossoming, i'm done. oh how the mighty have fallen.

yet to be ranked: Life on Mars, South Park (both coming next week), and Crusoe (2 weeks).

-k

TV - Fall 2008

2008-09-22T18:08:00.002-10:00

so i didn't think there was going to be a lot to watch this year, what with NBC canceling excellent shows like Journeyman and putting in its place Knight Rider 2008 and My Own Worst Enemy. then i sat down and figured out what i want to watch and you know what? there's enough.

Mondays
7PM
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Fox; second season already in progress
WILL WATCH

2 weeks in and this show is already kicking ass like it did when it premiered last year. sleeper hit of the year last year (maybe because of the writer's strike) has now become one of my favorite shows.

Chuck
NBC; second season premieres September 29
WILL WATCH

funny show. first season ended abruptly and with no real wrap-up because of the writer's strike, so i'm interested to see where it goes from there.

8PM
Heroes
NBC; third season premieres September 22
60-minute clip show precedes episode;
show moves to 8:00 on September 29
WILL CHECK OUT

they really, REALLY lost me with how crappy season 2 turned out to be. if they don't hook me again in the first few episodes of season 3, i'm out.

9PM
Life
NBC; second season premieres September 29
Special preview; show moves to Fridays on October 10
WILL WATCH

EXCELLENT show. fills my "wacky detective" television show quota for the fall. however, it's main night is going to be Fridays, so i don't expect it to be around long (thanks a lot NBC).

Tuesdays
7PM
90210
The CW; first season already in progress
WILL CHECK OUT

i was a fan of the original (god knows why) so i have to check out the remake. it can't be that bad, can it?

House
Fox; fifth season already in progress
WILL WATCH

the end of the first episode of this season was AMAZING. this is a show that's not afraid to take risks with it's main cast members. and i like that.

8PM
Fringe
Fox; first season already in progress
WILL CHECK OUT

it's X-Files for the new generation. if i were to watch this show seriously i would laugh at the absurdities (in the cases and, moreover, in the writing) - so it's nowhere near as good as X-Files - BUT for some reason it's fun to watch. it's just cheesy goodness. oh and the main actress is hot.

9PM
The Shield
FX; seventh season already in progress
WILL WATCH

not as good as the start of last season (some of the best television i've ever seen EVER was the start of the sixth season) but still great. only 7 more episodes left until it's all over. :(

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
NBC; 10th season premieres September 23
WILL WATCH

i'm a fan, come hell or high water. what can i say? it'll be interesting this year because at least 2 of the main characters left. see who they got to replace them.

Wednesdays
9PM
Sons of Anarchy
FX; first season already in progress
WILL CHECK OUT

after 3 episodes, this is turning out to be a pretty good show about a biker gang that is in it's final days (sort of like The Shield is all about the final days of the Strike Team). sure you could put the plot onto any "gang" situation - mafia, yakuza, Bloods/Crypts - but it's still an interesting show. oh and the mom from Married with Children is a BADASS and Ron Pearlman is awesome like usual.

Thursdays
7PM
My Name is Earl
NBC; fourth season premieres September 25
Special one-hour episode
MIGHT WATCH

if i happen to be home with nothing to watch.

7:30PM
Kath & Kim
NBC; premieres October 9
WILL CHECK OUT

if i happen to be home with nothing to watch.

8PM
The Office
NBC; fifth season premieres September 25
Special one-hour episode
MIGHT WATCH

if i happen to be home with nothing to watch.

8:30PM
30 Rock
NBC; third season premieres October 30
MIGHT WATCH

if i happen to be home with nothing to watch.

9PM
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
FX; fourth season already in progress
WILL WATCH

i still think their first season was comedic gold and everything after that has been good but not great (absurdity for absurdity's sake isn't always funny) - however, it's still an wholly original comedy that's just my sense of humor.

Life on Mars
ABC; premieres October 9
WILL CHECK OUT

a remake of one of my favorite shows of all time? oh you know i've got to check it out. i'm worried, however, that it won't translate well, that putting it on Thursdays at 9PM is a death sentence (that the show will never have a chance), and that if they HAPPEN to make it past the first half-season, the premise is going to get old. the original only had 16 episodes TOTAL. oh, and the ending? there's NO WAY they could pull that off on American television. no. way.

Fridays
7PM
Crusoe
NBC; premieres October 17
Special two-hour episode
WILL CHECK OUT

mildly interested. seems like something fresh and different, so i'll check it out.

9PM
Life
NBC; moves to Fridays on October 10
WILL WATCH

damn you NBC for renewing Life only to put it in one of the worst time slots EVER. this - along with your canceling of Journeyman, your Knight Rider remake, and your My Own Worst Enemy show - makes me think you lost your mind around the time of the writer's strike. if Heroes ends up sucking, i may just be done with you.

-k

Vegas 2008 - or how i spent my Labor Day weekend saying goodbye to The Experience

2008-09-03T01:14:00.004-10:00

as many of you probably know, i am a Star Trek fan. i'm a fan of the movies, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. the only reason i'm not a fan of the original series and Enterprise is because i haven't had the time to sit down and watch them yet (i'm sure i'd like them if i watched them).

as many of you probably know, i am also a Las Vegas fan. for the past several years it's been my mission to (boldly?) go to Vegas at least once a year. after last year's Thanksgiving Vegas trip, i thought we might be taking a year off this year. and we did - well, 2/3 of the usual crew did. but once i heard that Star Trek: The Experience in the Las Vegas Hilton was closing its doors after almost 11 years of operation, i had to say goodbye (see the first paragraph).

so i wrangled up my good buddy (and inside guy to The Experience) Todd and the two of us headed out to Vegas this Labor Day Weekend, 2008.

highlights of the trip:

- meeting up with so many of Todd's Trek friends, many of whom i had met before but am by no means friends with myself (though i'd like to hope we're all acquaintances now at least). they went out of their way to make me feel welcome, like part of the crew. it was great hanging out with Paul, Barry, Todd (the other Todd), Bev, and Mary (to name a few). not only were they a fun bunch, they all had worked (or still did work) at Star Trek: The Experience and offered up lots of great stories. it was great getting the inside scoop, experiencing the closing of The Experience from other points of view.

- getting to visit the gift shop in its final days and see what kinds of things even fans of Star Trek won't buy. among my favorites were a beardless William Riker figure sitting in what was described as the "commander's chair" even though it obviously was the captain's chair, and a disembodied Diana Troy holographic head postcard of which they still had hundreds of.

- getting to meet/be reintroduced to so many of the fine actors and actresses that played the parts of the aliens that made The Experience come alive. it was one thing to have them come up to us in character and chat with us like that, but it was something else entirely to see them out of makeup being toasted by their peers during one of the many after parties. the passion many of these actors/actresses put into years of work was evident. one summed it up saying "Star Trek is my life."

- being present at Quark's to hear the "official" story as to what was happening with the time station (The Experience) from the mouth of one of the Andorians (as he stood atop the bar). the temporal rift that formed, allowing the station to come to our present, was closing, but at the same time it was returning in a way back to when it started (1998) so that we all could relive the past 10 years - relive the happy times - over and over again. i can't do the speech justice, but out of all the stories and speeches that nearly brought me to tears, this was the best.

- getting to see, meet, and hear the stories about all the "superfans." these were the fans that would visit The Experience month after month, the fans that were vying for who rode the ride the most, the fans for whom it made everything worthwhile. the great thing was, the majority of them weren't crazy or out of their gourds or anything - they just loved Star Trek. and really, what's wrong with that.

- being there for the decommissioning ceremony. as with every ship or station, there is a commissioning ceremony upon its completion, and a decommissioning ceremony upon its destruction. this decommissioning ceremony was held right outside the entrance to The Experience and had about 200-300 fans in attendance. the names of all the employees currently working there were read, they all came down and received recognition, speeches were given, and finally a chord was released and a huge gold curtain that hung from the ceiling came down and covered the entrance. Star Trek: The Experience was no more.

- getting to hit the strip at least once. unlike many of my visits to Vegas, this one we stayed pretty much off the strip (and in The Experience). however, Todd and i did take the monorail one afternoon from the Hilton to the strip and walked down a little ways to Casino Royale, my now-favorite casino on the strip. why? because beer there is $1-2 a bottle when everywhere else it's at least $4-6. yay cheap beer! so we got to see the strip and good news, it's still alive and kicking.

- getting to do off-strip stuff. last November was the first time i was introduced to off-strip Vegas goodness - of which there is a lot of. the German beer hall, the plethora of awesome local bars, the local comic book shop, the great local place to eat breakfast... this time we were lucky enough to have Mary drive our dumb asses around one afternoon and hit up the breakfast spot, an antique store, the comic shop, and two other magnificent places. first was a pinball arcade. yes, nestled in an unassuming strip mall was a pinball machine arcade. it was almost like a museum (for us video game fans) because they had machines ranging from the late 1950s all the way to the 1990s. i played Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles, Super Mario World, and Nugent. yes, there was a Ted Nugent pinball machine from the late 70s. it was amazing. second, we visited the Liberace museum. it too was in a strip mall and oh man it was unbelievable. i had no idea who Liberace was before going into the museum (i was just along for the ride at this point), but man it was still fun going around in there and just being like "am i really in a museum dedicated to this flamboyantly gay musician in a Las Vegas strip mall?" yes, yes i was.

so that was pretty much Vegas 2008. it was a much different Vegas trip than what i've grown accustomed to the past few years, but it was a much more personal one - yes somewhat for me (like i said, i did tear up a few times), but more for those that had worked there, that still worked there until the very end. it was amazing seeing the end through their eyes. The Experience really meant a lot to a lot of different people. other than the Star Trek convention, it was one of the last mainstream things keeping the Star Trek Universe alive (until the movie and the online game come out sometime next year). and now it's gone.

thank you to all of the actors and workers that made it all happen. 10 years isn't a bad run, especially in today's Vegas. you should all be proud of yourselves. you brought a lot of smiles to fans and superfans alike. as the Andorian said, we'll be seeing each other again, for the first time, on and on, forever and ever. Star Trek will never truly die.

-k

the dark knight review

2008-08-05T22:32:00.003-10:00

it may have taken me almost a week to see what was THE most anticipated movie of my entire life - i was getting psyched for this thing the minute Batman Begins ended and every single bit of publicity and rumor i heard and saw about it over the course of the next few years did nothing but psyche me up even further - but i saw it. The Dark Knight.

and it was good.

the thing about hyped movies for me is that the more hyped they are, the more excited i get. the more excited i get, the more chance there is that i'm going to be let down. that's why i try to not let myself get too psyched up for a flick - i know that i'll most likely be let down. so i was SO psyched going in to The Dark Knight that i was SCARED. thankfully, it was good.

every bit as good as 2+ years of hype had led me to believe. and that's unbelievable.

this year has sure had some pure crap movies, and i maintain that 90% of what hollywood is shoveling out these days is crap, but The Dark Knight... wow. pure genius. the fact that it's making bank and breaking records - that America sees it for what it is: a GREAT FREAKING MOVIE - almost makes up for the fact that Meet the Spartans was the #1 movie the week it came out. ALMOST.

in this "review" i won't be spoiling too much (i'll be talking about wider strokes, not really too many specifics), but still, if you want to go in not knowing specifics, skip the next few paragraphs.

most of the following are excerpts from an email i sent to a friend a week after seeing the film:

***MINOR SPOILERS***

first minor complaint: there were so many characters to focus on, i think Bruce Wayne didn't get enough face time. i mean his story was that he might finally get to give up being Batman if Harvey Dent could become the white knight everyone wanted... but it just seemed a little thin. there could have been another scene or two just focusing on him.

second minor complaint: after the opening bank robbery scene (one of the best i've ever seen), the movie took a little bit for me to get into it. the "recap" (where they let us know what's been going on since we last saw these characters) was just a little too quick and neat for me. it was almost too tightly written, too sparse on details. however, it didn't last long and then soon i was dragged right into the world. i understand that the recap couldn't drag on too long because there was just so much more movie to come AFTER it, but it could have lingered a little longer.

...and that's pretty much it.

from the excellent portrayal of the Joker (maybe even the best, with Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns portrayal coming in second) to the story of Batman (the dark knight) and Harvey Dent/Two Face (the white knight) and the ending setting up the next movie - it just solidified what a good Batman story can be. and if they're out there, i want to read them now.

***END SPOILERS***

honestly, this was one of the most well written, acted, and directed movies i've ever seen. each scene topped the next one! i read in an interview that Nolan had SUCH a vision for the film that they only edited out like 10 minutes of footage. they didn't waste a drop! he knew what he wanted and he went for it. and it was near-perfect. maybe even perfect.

it's definitely my favorite superhero movie now (passing up Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins) and yeah, i'm a little scared at how freaking good it was. i mean how can you pass it up - be it with Batman 3 or even any OTHER superhero movie to come? i guess you just try and realize that nothing will be as good as it and just go with it. some might think Spider-Man's morality stories are "silly" in comparison now, but Spider-Man 2 is still my second-favorite superhero movie - they're just different movies, by different crews. i guess that's how i have to approach superhero movies from now on. "to each their own."

speaking to this point, i watched the trailer from comic con for the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie and of COURSE it's going to be silly compared to The Dark Knight - however, it looked REALLY good (and i'm not a fan of Wolverine when he's on his own). so i guess i'm not too worried about comic book movies to come. i can take them on their own merits.

Batman 3 however has something to live up to. :)

i knew just how good DK was when i was sitting there watching the thing and said to myself "now i want to read the comics." seriously, this was the perfect Batman story.

the acting was SO good all around - Oldman, Caine, Ledger, Eckhart - that i think Bale got outshined, which was fine. and Heath Ledger. wow, what an actor. he truly embodied what the Joker really should be all about - chaos. and his X-rated portrayal in a PG-13 movie was unbelievable. he WAS the Joker. and it's just so sad we'll never get to see him again, in this or any other movie.

there's so much more i could say about the movie, but i think that's enough for now.

side note: why do you think the movie is making so much? i mean Batman Begins barely broke $150 mil at the box office. was it word of mouth after seeing Batman Begins? after seeing The Dark Knight? was it the advertising? did most people only see Begins on DVD? i think that could account for some of the popularity, but honestly it's got to be the fact that this is Heath Ledger's last performance. i swear, if it wasn't, the movie would probably be sitting at $50-100 mil less right now. i want to believe it's a testament to his great skills as an actor and not some morbid curiosity the public has to see his last performance. oh well. rant over.

The Dark Knight
4 stars out of 4

- best movie of 2008
- my favorite superhero movie so far
- one of my favorite movies of all time, period

it truly is a work of art.

-k

San Diego Comic Con - the reality

2008-07-31T00:40:00.007-10:00

here we are, a week removed from the start of the 2008 San Diego Comic Con and it's time to put down in words what i experienced. to sum it up in two words, the San Diego Comic Con was crazy fun. crazy because of all the people and the countless things to do in a span of just 3 days. fun because it's nerd heaven and i got to hang out with some of my bestest of friends.

let's break down what has easily become one of my favorite extended weekends of my entire life.

Wednesday, 9:45pm

i depart for San Diego via Salt Lake City. why in the world Delta has me flying all the way to Salt Lake City first and THEN returning to San Diego i'll never know. all i know is that it was the cheapest flight i could get.

Thursday, 10:45am

i arrive in San Diego and meet up with Bill (my good friend from Phoenix) and Dave (one of my good friends i met in Vancouver). i quickly learn that Todd (another good friend from Vancouver) has not arrived yet (he should have arrived first). we end up waiting for him for over an hour. at the point when his plane finally lands we are hungry and hearing the call of nerd prom (the con).

noon-ish

we arrive at the hotel, drop our shit off, and head out to find some sustenance. as luck would have it, there is an excellent, EXCELLENT Mexican restaurant across the street. we eat up and head off for the trolly. see, since we booked our hotel sort of late in the game, we couldn't stay near the convention center, so we had to settle for a hotel a few miles away but right near the trolly that would take us to the con.

2pm

we finally arrive at the con. it is wonderous. there are people everywhere and it is only Thursday. the most packed days are to come. we hit the main exhibition hall floor and just walk around in a stupor. Bill and i manage to buy some toy exclusives (available only at this year's con), but otherwise we just sort of wander around.

3pm

Diego (the third and final friend from Vancouver) calls us and lets us know that he's arrived. we meet up with him and Outsourced Games (+ Bill) is reunited for the first time in a year and a half. it's great seeing everyone. if i were a girl i would have cried.

3:30-7pm

we all wander around the main floor - sometimes together, sometimes by ourselves - and just get lost in the nerdiness. no panels were attended. oh, and Dave showed off Saints Row 2 (there were surprisingly a lot of video game publishers showing off their wares at the con - probably because E3 was the week previous and was just up in LA).

the main floor is divided into several areas. first are the big companies giving away free stuff and showing off their wares. next are the artists and creators that aren't necessarily affiliated with any big company showing off their wares. and finally there's the retailers selling a bunch of shit. at the Chicago Comic Con (the only other one i've been to) the space was pretty evenly divided. this time around it seemed like more room was given to the big companies, followed by the small companies, and then the retailers. i was actually expecting a few more retailers. oh well.

7pm

we all 5 leave the con and grab a bite to eat in San Diego's Gaslamp District (right across the street from the convention center). the place reminded me of Vancouver sort of, but with even more bars and a little more upscale. we find a hole in the wall bar and get some bar food.

8pm

at this point Dave, Bill and i are pretty much done. our legs are tired from all the walking and we just want to head back to the room. Todd and Diego however want to head back to the con for some nighttime entertainment - there were a few panels they wanted to see. so we go our separate ways. Dave, Bill and i catch a cab back (too tired to walk the 10+ blocks back to the trolly station), grab a case of beer from a nearby liquor store, and drink, talk, and watch TV.

12-1pm

Todd and Diego return. we call it a night. Day 1 is a wrap.

Friday, 8:30am

we all get up and get ready for the day.

10am

we head across the street for some Mexican breakfast. and a beef taco. oh man is it good.

11:30-noon

we arrive at the con. we walk around for a while, trying to decide what to do. we finally split up, with Dave and i checking out the line for the Spaced panel. surprise surprise, the line is long.

now it's time to take a time out and explain something about the panels at SDCC that i didn't know going in. ok, so at SDCC you can attend one panel early in the day and then squat in the room until the panel you want to see comes up. you never have to leave the room! it's unbelievable. on top of that, they scheduled some of the MAJOR panels in the smallest of rooms! i wasn't able to see Spaced, MST3K, or JMS because of this screw up! so next year i'll know NOT to plan to see any big panels in small rooms and learn to squat in a room earlier in the day if there's an awesome panel i want to see later.

12:30-1:30pm

ok, so we got screwed out of seeing Spaced. that's fine, because there's ALWAYS another panel to see. so Dave, Bill (he met up with us) and i went to see the Spectacular Spider-Man panel (even though they'd never really seen the show). it was great. a lot of the voice actors were there and the creators were there too. it was a great panel with a good balance of questions from the moderator and from the audience. got to see a bit from season 2 and learned it won't be on until next year! oh well. i still love you Spectacular Spider-Man.

1:30-4:45pm

Dave, Bill and i hit the main floor and again got pretty lost in it all. to be honest, i can't exactly remember what happened. we probably hung out for a while, then split up, then got back together again. i know we took a look at some of the retailer booths. got another exclusive toy. Bill went off to meet up with some other friends for the rest of the day.

4:45-6:30pm

i split off on my own to check out the 24 panel. it started at 5:30, so i knew to arrive early and stand in line. i got up there (2nd floor, almost all the panels were on the 2nd floor) and there was already a pretty long line. no big deal i thought, the room was plenty big.

well, i barely got in. i'd say that at least HALF the people in this huge room (the third largest at the con) didn't leave from the panel before. damn squatters. anyway, maybe 50 people after me were let in and that was it. there was AT LEAST 300 more people after that that didn't make it in. that's nuts.

anyway, i got in and it was a great panel. Kiefer was there - along with the guy that plays Tony Almada and a bunch of the writers and producers - and they showed off clips from the season 7 prequel movie (airing in November) and talked about the upcoming season. basically they got me all excited for 24 again. i really think the year off did them some good. at least it sounds like it. oh and man was Kiefer awesome. he said it was his first time at the con. glad i got to see it.

6:30-7:30pm

met up with Dave, Diego, and Todd. we decide to take off and get some supper. after a lot of walking around and not finding what we wanted, we decide to grab a pair of bike taxis to take us to a fish market that's a little ways away. now, these are guys that have a cart for 2-3 people that they pull behind them on a bike. it's sort of like a modern-day rickshaw. so we get a price estimate on it and we all hear the guy say "two ninety-five." everyone but me thinks we're only paying $2.95 a person, but i'm worried that's WAY not enough and that he's going to charge us $295 for the 4 of us. so the entire ride there i'm completely nervous. we get there and he wants $25 per cab (so $50 total). we argue but i guess when we all heard "two ninety-five" what it really was was "twenty five." haha. whatever. at least it wasn't $295.

7:30-9:15pm

we eat at this really great fish market place right on the water. i've never been a seafood guy, but ever since Vancouver i've been a lot more willing to try foods, and being back with my Vancouver crew i felt it only appropriate to try something new - so i ordered the swordfish. freshly caught by the restaurant that morning. $30. oh my GOD was it good. also tried for the first time clam chowder (holy shit was it creamy) and boiled peel-and-eat shrimp. not a big fan of the shrimp. but the rest was excellent. even the creme brulee.

9:15-10:20pm

Todd was going to leave us to hang out with some Vegas friends in town for the con, so Diego, Dave and i had to decide what we wanted to do with the rest of the night. well, none of us had seen The Dark Knight yet, so we decided that's what we'd do.

oh what an adventure it was.

we all 4 grab a cab back to the Gas Light District. we tell the cabby to take us to the movie theater in the Gas Light District. he drops us off pointing a block away saying that the theater is there. ok, so Dave, Diego and i split off from Todd and go check it out. nope, no theater there. we walk around a bit more and finally ask someone. they tell us the theater is 5 blocks up, not even close to where the cabby told us it would be. ok, so we begrudgingly walk the 5 blocks and come to a theater. in the ticket window is a sign that says:

sorry, we're not showing The Dark Knight. try the so-and-so theater a few blocks up.

we ask the guy at the ticket counter where the theater is and he says it's only 2 blocks up, 1 block over. so off we go. in retrospect, we should have asked WHY they weren't showing the #1 movie in the country, but oh well. we get to the theater, get our tickets for the 10:20 showing (next showing was an hour later - at least we lucked out at something that night) and got ready for The Dark Knight. FINALLY!

10:20pm-1am

Dave, Diego and i watch what is:

- the best movie of this year
- my favorite comic book movie of all time
- one of my favorite movies all around

The Dark Knight does not disappoint. but that's for another post altogether.

we grab a cab back to the hotel (the trolly shut down at midnight, and besides, it was at least 20 blocks away from where we were at that point) and are greeted by Todd and Bill when we get back. we all talk a bit and then turn in for the night. end Day 2.

Saturday, 9-11am

we get ready for the day and head down for a free breakfast at the hotel. then we hit the trolly and head to the con.

11:45am-3:15pm

we arrive at the con and all head into the Dean Koontz panel. Dean Koontz used to be my favorite writer in high school, so to hear him speak in person was really awesome. half the panel was a prepared speech which consisted of personal stories that were rather humorous and the other half was questions from the audience that were pretty good. overall it was a blast. i really should start reading his stuff again.

then Todd, Dave and i became the very thing we hated: squatters. see, the Battlestar Galactica panel was in the very same room only an hour away, and if we were to leave, we'd have to get in a no-doubt HUGE line to get back in, so we stayed. we saw the Dollhouse panel with Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, and Hilo from Battlestar. the Dollhouse is a show coming out on FOX this January and, well, the panel made me a believer. i'll check it out.

FINALLY the Battlestar panel started and wow, a ton of the stars/creators were there:

- Ronald D. Moore, the creator/writer
- the main producer
- Tricia Helfer/Six
- Gaius Baltar
- Starbuck
- Starbuck's husband
- Lee Adama (wasn't scheduled to be there)
- Hilo (wasn't scheduled to be there)

oh, and it was moderated by Kevin Smith.

anyway, it was really great seeing all of them and hearing them talk about Battlestar - especially since it just wrapped up shooting a few weeks ago. unfortunately there were too many stars on the panel and not enough time. i think the moderator should have kicked it to the audience sooner because there was hardly any Q&A with the audience. panel should have been 2 hours instead of 1. oh well. got to see a longer teaser for season 4.5 (not coming out until 2009) and a trailer for Caprica, the prequel series. looking good! and Eric Stoltz to boot!

3:15-4:30pm

well, it was time to hit the main floor finally for the first time that day and pick up some more toy exclusives. Dave and Todd were with me, and we eventually met up with Bill. now, Bill was leaving us at 6pm to head back to Phoenix so i decided to grab a bite to eat with him, Todd and Dave before he left. i missed the JMS panel for this, but it's no big deal. JMS was in one of the small rooms. i'm sure i wouldn't have gotten in.

4:30-6pm

Todd, Dave, Bill and i grab a bite to eat at a Mexi-American bar a few blocks from the convention center. food was ok, beer was good. we had a good last meal with Bill. we said our goodbyes and Todd, Dave and i were off to the con for my last hour there.

6-7pm

i hit the floor one last time by myself and look around for any last minute purchases. i find one last exclusive toy that had alluded me up until then. finally, it's time to say goodbye to the con.

7pm-1am?

Todd, Dave and i head off in search of a bar to hang out for the rest of the night in. we happen upon Jolt N Joes (or something like that) and it's just perfect. we spend a good chunk of the night at the bar, then Diego joins us, and so do a few of Todd's Vegas friends, and we head upstairs to hang out. we have some more drinks and i do some drunk texting to Bill. ah, good times. it's a great blowout to end San Diego 2008.

2am?

we're back at our hotel. i promptly pass out.

Sunday, 8:30-9:30am

i somehow get up and ready for my flight at 11:30. i say my goodbyes to Dave, Diego, and Todd, have the hotel call me a cab and i'm off.

goodbye San Diego.

Epilogue

we've been talking since we've been back and everyone wants to make this a yearly thing. so watch out San Diego! come next year, we'll be back with a vengeance! and maybe we'll know what we're doing this time. like maybe we'll grab a hotel that's right there next to the convention center. oh! and we'll know all about squatting.

CRAZY FUN!!!

-k

ps - those that know me, watch out for pics. and i might do a post on the toys i got... though i don't want to seem too nerdy.

TOO LATE.

San Diego Comic Con - the panels wish list

2008-07-22T00:01:00.005-10:00

the San Diego Comic Con is but a few days away. it's my first year attending. i don't think i've been this excited for an event in a long time. here are the panels that, if i had all the time in the world, i would like to see while there:

- spotlight on Steve Purcell, creator of Sam & Max, now part of the creative braintrust at Pixar.

- a few panels on science fiction writing (if you've been reading the blog, i've been on a sci fi kick the past several months).

- Halo Wars and the Halo Universe. what can i say, i'm a Halo fanboy. also, with the ball being dropped by Microsoft last week at E3, maybe something will slip out this week about the new Halo game Bungie's working on.

- Entertainment Weekly is sponsoring a few panels that feature "creative visionaries" in fields such as comics and movies. the comics one is going to have Mignola, Kirkman, and Morrison. the movies one is going to have Kevin Smith, Apatow, Frank Miller, and Zack Snyder.

- bunch of Star Trek panels.

- Episodic Games: Rewriting the Adventure Game. a panel about a rather new trend in video games. i'm interested because of the talent at the panel.

- a bunch of Marvel Comics panels, though not as many as i would have been interested in attending in the past. i'm just not reading that many mainstream comics nowadays.

- a bunch of television show panels that will feature some/all of the cast and creators/producers. shows include: The Big Bang Theory, 24 (with Kiefer!), Heroes, Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Office, Battlestar Galactica, and Chuck.

- spotlight on Max Brooks, author of World War Z (perhaps my favorite work of zombie fiction).

- one on one with Terry Moore, author of Strangers in Paradise, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Echo, and Runaways. SiP has been over for a year now, but maybe he'll talk about it a little... however, i'm really going just to get some news on Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

- Watchmen (the movie) with the director and a bunch of the movie's stars. i'm psyched for this movie, since the director did 300 before this.

- a Spaced reunion, with the creators/cast. Spaced is one of my favorite shows of all time. from the guys that made Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. as good as those movies are, Spaced is 10 times better.

- a Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon panel with a lot of the voice actors and a few producers of the show. this is at the same time as the Spaced panel, so we'll have to see which one has the shorter line to get in. i want season 2 details!!!

- Ghostbusters: The Video Game panel, with Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson. if by some stroke of god Ramis and Murray show up, i will die a happy man (IF i'm there to see it).

- The Spirit panel, with director Frank Miller and cast members SAMUEL L. JACKSON and Eva Mendes. movie looks like the spiritual successor to Sin City. looks good.

- a Family Guy panel. even though i don't really like Family Guy anymore (the formula wore thin on me after the third season), i have to admit, it'd be pretty cool to hear Seth MacFarlane and Seth Green talk about the show.

- an Image and Vertigo panel. more comic panels. mainly interested in them because each panel has a few of my favorite writers/creators on them (Kirkman, Larsen, Buckingham, Morrison, Wood).

- a Venture Bros. panel with the creator and some of the cast. great, underrated cartoon airing on adult swim.

- a Robot Chicken panel with the creators and a few of the cast members. another adult swim program. would mainly go to see Seth Green talk.

- a Futurama panel with a bunch of the cast and crew. always been a casual fan of the show, would be neat to see the cast.

- Sam & Max, Strong Bad, and the Secrets Behind Turning Comics into Games. interesting because, well, i'm in the games business.

- spotlight on Dean Koontz! those that know me well know that i grew up on Koontz novels, reading them all through high school. his latest novels haven't interested me much - maybe my tastes just evolved - but he is still the writer of one of my favorite books of all time, Lightning. even though he'll be talking about his new books and new comic deal with Marvel (i.e. stuff i won't care about) it'll still be cool to see one of my former idols.

- Xbox Creators' Showcase: Gears of War 2 and Fable 2. 2 great games coming out this fall, both being shown off by their semi-famous creators. would be neat to see. hey, maybe i'll have my own panel at SDCC 10 years from now! ah, but as a game designer, or as a writer? hmm...

- spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski. one of my current writing idols. still can't believe that he was at a Chicago comic con back 10 years ago when B5 was in its hayday and i didn't see him (hell, i didn't even know who he was, or what B5 was). this time, i won't miss him. this is the panel i'm probably most excited to see.

- a panel on the creation of the upcoming survival horror game, Dead Space.

- A STARSHIP TROOPERS 3 PANEL! FEATURING NONE OTHER THAN THE STAR OF THE SERIES, CASPER VAN DIEN!!!

- a panel on the creation of the upcoming Bionic Commando and Bionic Commando Rearmed.

nighttime programming:

- Comedy Central's TV Funhouse with Robert Smigel. some of you may have heard of Smigel - he does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Conan and Saturday TV Funhouse on SNL - but i know him best for this short-lived, wonder of a show called TV Funhouse. it's a reunion of sorts. should be a blast (whether or not i choose to go).

- Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Reunion. with the creator, producer, and i believe the entire f'in cast/crew! and Patton Oswalt is the host!! ENOUGH SAID!!!

- Spaced screening. the cast is back to screen their favorite episodes. if i don't make it to the earlier panel, i'm definitely hitting this one up.

...and that's it! whew! now, that's all the panels that i WANT to see. i would be surprised if i actually make it to 1/4 of those.

i mean, first off, this is my first year at SDCC, so i'm sure a lot of time will be just figuring the whole thing out. i also need at least a day to just walk the floor and buy stuff/get a bunch of free shit. next, the lines for some of these panels i'm sure will be INSANE. some i'll be willing to wait for, most i won't. oh, and a lot of the above panels are happening at the same time - like i think the worst is there are 4 panels i want to see that overlap in a 2-hour period. so i can only go to 1 of those 4 panels, if that. and finally, i'm going to be meeting up with a bunch of friends i haven't seen in a while, so i'm sure i won't want to spend the majority of my time in panels (or in line for panels).

however, there are those that i'll do everything in my power to make. i need to see JMS, Dean Koontz, MST3K, Spaced, Terry Moore, Max Brooks, and maybe Spectacular Spider-Man. oh, and it'd be great to attend a few of those TV show panels - specifically 24, Battlestar, and Heros - but i imagine the line for those will be crazy long. crazy crazy long.

i'll let you know how it all went on the flip side. wish me luck!

-k

E3 2008

2008-07-17T23:32:00.004-10:00

E3 has become a shadow of its former self the past couple of years, but with all the great games coming out, it was pretty hard to tell this year. here's some of my thoughts on E3 2008.

- Microsoft shocked everyone when they announced Final Fantasy XIII was headed to their platform as well as PS3. this is the second major game Sony lost exclusivity on from last gen to this gen (the other being Grand Theft Auto) and i've gotta admit, i feel bad for Sony. i'm not mad at Square for pimping out their product (this generation, it's hard to stay exclusive to a console with the high costs of production), i'm just sort of upset at Sony for letting Final Fantasy slip through their fingers. oh well. good game Microsoft.

- Bungie (makers of Halo, one of my favorite franchises) had been set to announce something at E3 for MONTHS. then, at the last minute, Microsoft decided to pull the plug saying that they had already shown off enough and they wanted to save the Bungie announcement. supposedly it's another game taking place in the Halo universe, but whatever it is, Microsoft totally dropped the ball. Bungie had been planning this, the fans (who are pretty rabid when it comes to Bungie) had been gearing up for it, and then POOF - nothing. stupid Microsoft. we're still with you Bungie!

- the Xbox 360 updated dashboard is looking pretty sweet. sort of a mix of CD cover shuffle on the ipod, Microsoft Vista windows, and the old dashboard.

- NOT liking how Microsoft is copying Nintendo with their avatars (blatant ripoffs of Miis) and worried that they're trying to reach out to everyone at once and will end up not reaching anyone.

- Microsoft and Netflix partner up to offer movies on your 360 for free (if you have a Netflix account). might be time to get a Netflix account. something about having a queue of movies that i don't have to wait for to come in the mail intrigues me.

- Nintendo starts to disappoint even their most hardcore fans! FINALLY! first they announce the Wii MotionPlus add-on for the Wii Remote (at a $30 value) that basically makes the Wiimote do WHAT IT WAS ORIGINALLY ADVERTISED TO DO! wow. then, at their press conference, they completely snubbed their core fans in favor of their new casual fans. WiiMusic? are you serious? that's not a game, that's play - further proving my point that the Nintendo Wii is nothing more than a toy. hey, if a toy is what you want, that's fine. to each his own. me, i'm just glad i jumped off Nintendo's bandwagon a few years back, otherwise this E3 would have KILLED me.

- Sony had a pretty good showing this year (i'm very excited to see where their first-party titles and PlayStation Network titles are going), but most the third party titles showing up on 360 and PS3 decided to show their wares at Microsoft's press conference instead of Sony's. that, and the fact that Sony lost exclusivity on FFXIII, made their showing a little sad. they keep asking us to wait just a little longer for the games to come out. well, i'm waiting.

- never played the originals, but Fallout 3 looks AMAZING.

- Mirror's Edge looks like it might give me motion sickness, but i think it'll be worth it for the amazing, original experience it seems like it's going to offer.

- might get Ghostbusters: The Video Game simply for the fact that Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the script (from what was to be the third, never-made movie) and that all 4 Ghostbuters are back lending their voices to the game.

- both a James Bond movie AND video game look great? what is this, 1996? i'm pretty psyched to see the new Bond movie Quantum of Solace (after the last one kicked so much ass), but even moreso looking forward to the game that will have the first and second movie all wrapped up into one - using the Call of Duty 4 game engine. seriously, a Bond game hasn't looked this good since Goldeneye.

- other amazing single-player games: inFamous, flower, PixelJunk Eden, Dragon Age: Origins, Naruto 2, Killzone 2.

- games that just look like pure fun: This is Vegas, Wheelman, Mega Man 9, Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Lips.

- role-playing games i must have: The Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Final Fantasy XIII.

- psyched that co-op is making such a comeback! Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Resident Evil 5, Left 4 Dead, and Borderlands are all must-haves for me. now, if i can only get another friend or two to pick them up...

- excited to see more of: I Am Alive, Darksiders: Wrath of War, Velvet Assassin, Bionic Commando, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Hydrophobia, The Agency, Damnation.

- looking forward to these games on the go for the PSP: Loco Roco 2, Patapon 2, Super Stardust Portable, Star Ocean: First Departure, Star Ocean: Second Evolution.

- Yakuza 2! early September! finally!!!

- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO is finally confirmed. while i would have rather liked an announcement for III, i have to admit that an MMO set in the KOTOR universe may be enough to get me to play an MMO.

- the new Prince of Persia is beautiful - not only in its art direction, but also in its gameplay. this is my most anticipated game of Fall/Winter 2008.

- and finally, this is BY FAR the best trailer to come out of E3 2008. may i present to you, the trailer for Duke Nukem Trilogy. at 4 minutes in length, it's like someone just discovered After Effects on their computer and just couldn't stop himself. 4 MINUTES!!!

so there you have it. most shocking was that FFXIII is headed to 360. most laughable was Nintendo's press conference and continued snubbing of their core fans. most stupid was Microsoft denying Bungie their announcement. and most impressive was:

Prince of Persia

runners up: Fallout 3, Mirror's Edge, Gears of War 2, Resident Evil 5, Left 4 Dead, Quantum of Solace, and Borderlands.

seriously, this Fall/Winter (when most of these games are slated to be released) looks to be as good - if not better than - last year. and last year was UNBELIEVABLE.

video games. gotta love 'em.

-k

ps - i could go on in great length about almost all the video games mentioned above, but i just don't have the time to go into them all right now. if you want to know how i feel about a specific video game above, you'll have to hit me up in the comments.

a tv-less summer

2008-07-10T23:21:00.002-10:00

those of you that know me know that i fill my nights with two things: television and video games. what happens when one of the worst seasons of television (summer or otherwise) comes upon us, bringing with it retreads of reality shows copied from other stations or stolen from other countries? no, i don't play more video games (though i really should, my pile of games is becoming increasingly unmanageable) - i download and watch my own television series.

so here's what i've been watching this summer. the stuff on tv, and the stuff off my computer.

- Battlestar Galactica finished out its first half of its final (fourth) season, and it ended with a bang. seriously, the final episode was SO good (minus the out-of-place fast pacing - seriously, they took material that would normally have been maybe 3 episodes and packed it into 1) i can almost forgive the show for the rest of the season. almost. however, season 4 so far for me has had many more lows than highs. here's hoping the last half of the season (not on until next year sometime) is better. much better.

- Spectacular Spider-Man finished its first 13-episode season and it was, well, spectacular. it was a great blend of stuff for the kids and stuff for the adults. the stories were mostly based on classic Spidey, but with their own modern-day twist. there was one twist on a super villain that i liked, and i love classic Mary Jane (the one that's a free spirit, doesn't want to be tied down to anybody). and the action scenes - oh man. best action scenes in a cartoon, hands down. this is by far the best Spider-Man cartoon that has ever been - possibly even the best superhero cartoon that has ever been. well, besides The Tick. its reported that it will have a second season, but when is anybody's guess.

- stopped watching The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles - or maybe i'm just taking a break from it, i don't know. all i know is that i couldn't take "cute" Indiana anymore. if i were to start watching the series again, maybe i'd just skip ahead to when he's a bit older. as it is, i made it through only 4 of the 22 "chapters" (each 1 1/2 hours, with 2 stories a piece).

- started watching the X-Men cartoon series from the 90s. i'm about halfway through season 2 of 5. each season has around 15 episodes, with a grand total of something like 75 episodes. what's amazing is how much i remember of the show (i watched it when i was little). i'm not sure how much of it is nostalgia and how much of it is it being a good show, but i like it quite a bit. sure it's got its problems, but what 90s cartoon doesn't? the stories are condensed versions of comic stories, so that's cool. oh, and surprisingly it has an overarching story that takes you through an entire season - something i wouldn't have thought a 90s kids cartoon would have had (well planned-out plot points). probably the funniest thing is that Wolverine, arguably the strongest mutant on the team, continuously gets his ass kicked the second he joins a fight. he's damn near useless. oh, and Jean Grey is pretty useless too - though maybe this is before she's really learned what her powers can do. anyway, it's good fun.

- Hell's Kitchen Season 4 is over and all i have to say is this: Petrozza should have won. i don't know if FOX told Ramsay that this year a cute girl had to win, or if he had a sweet spot (i.e. the hots) for her, but Petrozza. should. have. won.

- been watching this new show on NBC called Fear Itself. each week is a new mini horror movie. the first episode was a sort of "cabin in the woods" tale, while the next week was about a haunting. as long as you go into it knowing what to expect - a pretty cheesy B-horror movie that is guaranteed to have a twist - it's sort of fun. actually, the last 2 weeks were pretty good because i didn't see the endings coming. next week is zombies. yay zombies!

- ok, so this past weekend i downloaded and watched the RoboCop movie trilogy. first movie, a masterpiece. second movie, a mess. third movie, a piece of... well, the furthest thing from a masterpiece (i actually almost stopped watching it after the first half hour). however, i love the world and character(s) SO much that i decided to download and watch the television series. yes, for those of you that don't remember, RoboCop had a tv series in the early 90s. it lasted only one season, so i don't blame you if you don't remember. so i've watched the first 4 episodes and you know what? it's still far from the masterpiece the first movie is, but it's WAY better than the movie sequels - if only because the writing is at least cohesive. it may not always be good, but it's cohesive. and it introduces ideas such as religion and cyborgs, cyborgs and humanity, etc. it may not always follow THROUGH on those ideas, but it at least brings them up and explores them a little. oh, and just like Wolverine in the X-Men cartoon, RoboCop gets his ass handed to him the minute he enters a fight (well that sort of happened in the movies too). and it's always in the stupidest ways too. learn how to fight Robo! then maybe you can be of some use for the majority of the episode instead of just sitting there being fixed/waiting to be fixed. still, i'm a fan.

- and finally, what prompted me to write this blog - Burn Notice Season 2 is upon us. how was the first episode? spot-on. it was everything i expected it to be. i was a little sad that things are basically back to the way they were at the start of last season (after some characters had grown over the course of last season) but it was expected. you can't really have your characters grow in a comedy/drama. so Michael is back in Miami, doing the same types of jobs he did last year (except with a steady stream of them this time supplied by a new boss), still trying to learn who burned him and - more importantly this season - why. and i'm fine with it. it's a great ride.

what's next? after RoboCop and X-Men i think i'll tackle either Time Trax (another 90s sci fi show most people don't remember) or maybe Deadwood. however, lately i've been on a huge sci fi kick, so it'll probably be Time Trax. and the fall season isn't that far away. FOX starts airing new episodes around Labor Day, with NBC following later in September. can't wait for Sarah Connor, House, and yes, even Heroes - though if they start doing stupid stuff, i'm done. DONE. oh, and later in the year - 24: the tv movie. hell. yes.

- k

quick tidbit

2008-06-24T17:27:00.002-10:00

i'm currently trying to get back into blogging and commenting, but i find the longer i let it go, the more there is to blog about and comment on. it's for people like me that the following website was created:

twitter.com/kawitchate

here i'll post brief thoughts and links to cool stuff IN REAL TIME (hopefully). this is sort of combining the small stuff that's too small to blog about and my "around the web" feature i gave up on all in one. it's pretty neat because it forces you to be short and concise in your posts by only allowing 140 characters per post. now, i've been known to ramble, so this is pretty cool.

-k

what i've been up to - may edition

2008-06-10T03:39:00.002-10:00

i'm in the process of updating my blog. tonight i posted on what television i watched in the month of May, what interesting things i read in the month of May, and what movies i saw in the month of May. stay tuned for what video games i played in the month of May, as well as an Arizona wrap up, and what's coming up this month.

-k

what i've been up to - may movie edition

2008-06-10T01:52:00.003-10:00

so wow. may's over. what movies did i see?

way more movies than usual, that's for sure. saw the bulk of them while on vacation in Arizona.

- INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK - INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM - INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE -

i watched the original Indiana Jones trilogy in preparation for the new movie. what's funny is that i don't think i've ever sat down and watched the trilogy in a row like this. whenever i've watched it in the past, it's been one at a time, and sometimes not even all the way through (catching it in the middle of a showing on TV). sitting down and watching them all back-to-back, i have a few comments.

- Temple, which used to be my favorite as a kid (for some reason - maybe because of the beating heart scene, or the mine cart ride), is now my least favorite of the three. i don't hate it (like a lot of Indy purists do) - hell, i LOVE Short Round, while lots of people hate him - but it's clearly the odd man out, and the weakest of the three. it is an interesting ride though. and DARK. man is it dark.

- Raiders and Crusade have almost the exact same plot outline, right down to both having to do with the search for a religious relic. i think that Crusade was modeled so closely after Raiders because of the backlash the dark Temple caused. maybe. i don't know. anyway, it's not a bad thing. it's hard to pick a favorite of the two (since they're so similar) but i think Crusade was the one that was fleshed out the best and had the best pacing. and it's got Sean Connery. come on!

Raiders of the Lost Ark
4 stars out of 4

Temple of Doom
3 1/2 stars out of 4

The Last Crusade
4 stars out of 4

- INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL -

well, looking back, i'm surprised i liked it as much as i did. i got an email from a friend in which he expressed his utter hatred for the movie (i guess he was done with it in the first 5 minutes) and i could see where he was coming from with almost all of his points - in fact, the cynic in me (which usually comes out when watching a movie) almost totally agrees with a lot of his points - but in spite of myself, i actually liked the film. maybe it's because i didn't have really high expectations.

problem points for me (minor/vague spoilers ahead):

- Indy never really seemed in trouble. any trouble spots he (or any of the other characters) got himself into just felt, i don't know, safe, like no harm could ever come to him.

- Harrison Ford is old, and it showed. not all the time, but sometimes. some of the lines he delivered... man, he just sounded tired.

- there were a few scenes that were a little far-fetched, even for an adventure movie like Indiana Jones. however, somehow i managed to look past them. barely.

- i have NO idea what the hell was with the CGI animals, ESPECIALLY the monkeys (if you've seen it, you know what i'm taking about - if not, i didn't ruin anything don't worry). in fact, the scene where a certain someone was playing Tarzan with the monkeys was, by far, the worst of the movie. i blame Lucas. damn you Lucas.

- any archaeological puzzles Indy came across were solved waaay too easily. i mean i know he's good (see the library scene in The Last Crusade), but that good? and there were like, hardly any booby traps.

- the prevailing theme that ran throughout the movie really bothered me in that it was way too literal. i would have liked it if we never saw any physical manifestations of the theme. i would have liked it more if the movie left it open to interpretation, let the viewer decide "well, was it real or not." but no, Lucas HAD to screw it up (i blame everything bad in this movie on Lucas).

- the epilogue bothered me a little in that none of the other movies HAD an epilogue to that degree (Raiders was the closest thing i guess). i know that this is probably the end of Harrison Ford as Indy so that's why they did it, but i would have liked it more if they rode off into the sunset like at the end of Last Crusade. left it a little more open. oh well.

wow, reading all that it sounds like i hated the movie. but i didn't i swear! there were a lot of things - both big and small - that i liked about it. there was a lot of clever dialogue, a lot of neat nods to characters (his dad, Marcus), it was a great ride from start to finish...

3 stars out of 4

- IRON MAN -

perhaps the movie was built up by my friends too much (some said it was up there with Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2). perhaps i placed my own high expectations on it (kick-ass previews had been all over the internet for 9 months). perhaps i just don't care that much about a reformed billionaire and his rogue gallery (never been a big Iron Man fan). at any rate, the movie was a bit of a letdown, but i didn't dislike it by any means. my two main problems: i'm just not a huge Iron Man fan, and the plot was damn predictable - though you can't really fault the movie for that, since they were just following the comics. i loved, LOVED Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. i loved Iron Man in action. Iron Man sneaks into my top 5 comic book movie adaptations - but it's by no means a Batman Begins or a Spider-Man 2.

oh, and i fully expect it to get bumped down to #6 after i see The Dark Knight later this summer. ;)

3 1/2 stars out of 4

- THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM -

a bit of background: i hated the first movie when i first saw it. i'm not sure why. maybe i couldn't see Matt Damon as the next action star. maybe it was the material. maybe it was the director. at any rate, i saw the second movie in the theaters and was BLOWN AWAY by it. maybe i was in a different mindset. i'd like to think it was the change in directors. so i became a Bourne fan. i was eagerly anticipating the third chapter. did it let me down? ...a little. but only because there was no breathing room, no time for character development, and the quest he's on, well, he doesn't really complete it. he was supposed to find out who he was. he finds out his name, and how he signed up for the program... but he doesn't track down his old life or anything. i was expecting a bit more. oh, and the plot outline - higher ups want to shut down Bourne for some reason or another, which reveals yet another top Treadstone guy, blah blah blah... yeah it's getting a little old at this point. that said, it was an AWESOME ride. Damon and the director have said they're doing a fourth, so here's to another great ride. just try and change the outline just a bit. maybe our government doesn't have to be after him for once.

3 1/2 stars out of 4

- JUNO -

going into this one was weird. i wanted to see Juno when it first came out, and of course i didn't, and then the internet latched onto the pretentious dialogue and indie music in the film and started making fun of it, and i wasn't sure if i wanted to see it or not anymore. well, i watched it, and boy am i glad i did. if you can look past the pretentious dialogue (which is at its worst in the first 10 minutes) and indie music, it's actually a pretty great story. only complaint (other than the pretentious dialogue/music) is that they should have focused a bit more on the boy/girl relationship in the fall/winter months, since it became so important later. it's a real treat. acting is pretty good all around too.

3 stars out of 4

- DAN IN REAL LIFE -

i love comedians in dramatic roles. Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Will Ferrell in Stranger than Fiction. Robin Williams in his countless dramatic roles. so suffice to say, i was excited to see Steve Carell out of his element (or maybe in it?). well... the movie was a bit of a letdown, but only because of the predictable plot. if the film would have taken a few more chances, it could have been a lot better. that said, Carell was pretty good, and a lot of his supporting cast played their part. it was a very familiar movie (both in terms of family get-togethers - a good thing - and in terms of the plot - a bad thing). it was a good film, not a great film.

2 1/2 stars out of 4

- JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER -

an animated, straight-to-DVD, feature-length film based on a comic book series of the same name. i'm not a huge fan of the Justice League (DC Comics collection of its power hitters, like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), so the film had to do a lot to win me over. while it never really won me over completely, i did like it. the main problems: the movie was rushed and the plot was all over the place, not giving all the players enough face time. however, it gets points for the setting - post-WWII, at the start of the Cold War. THAT was really intriguing. i'm a sucker for putting superheroes in different settings, especially historical settings. if anything, the movie made me want to go out and read the comics.

2 stars out of 4

- STARDUST -

any movie that's a fantasy nowadays suffers from "post-Lord of the Rings" syndrome in my mind. the movie may be good in its own right, but i'm going to dock it points right off the bat for being a fantasy that's post-Rings. so you've got a lot of ground to make up if you're a fantasy movie nowadays. sadly, Stardust never made up an inch. it's an utterly predictable story that's mired by pretty bad acting and characters that i never really cared about. that said, i can find beauty in almost anything, so what's good about the film? some of the fantastical elements were pretty cool, and the love story was a little different from your average film. that said, i have no desire to ever see this again. however, it was based on a graphic novel of the same name, so i may check that out one day.

1 1/2 stars out of 4

- BATMAN BEGINS -

last movie i saw on my trip. in preparation for The Dark Knight next month. what a great film. i'm going to have to watch Spider-Man 2 again to make sure that it's #1 and not Batman Begins, because Batman sure puts up a good fight for the top spot. it's just... it's just a damn-near perfect superhero origin movie. and it's BATMAN - a flawed billionaire with no real super powers. a character i can get behind. a MUCH more interesting billionaire than Tony Stark.

4 stars out of 4

that's it for the May movie wrap up. what's on for June? well i've already watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (again), Vanilla Sky (again), and Solaris... who knows what's next? and will i get out to a theater to see one of my most anticipated movies of the summer, Wall-E? stay tuned.

-k

what i've been up to - may reading edition

2008-06-10T01:48:00.003-10:00

so wow. may's over. what did i read?

...

NOTHING!

huh. i should really read something in June other than blogs and gamer mags. something of substance maybe.

-k

what i've been up to - may television edition

2008-06-10T01:18:00.003-10:00

so wow. may's over. what did i watch?

- House, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order were back for several episodes, and now they're gone again. each show was pretty good in its own right - especially House - even SVU, which has been pretty lackluster the past few seasons.

- now we've entered a pretty bleak summer in terms of television. i'm currently watching mostly reality stuff - Hell's Kitchen, Last Comic Standing... even So You Think You Can Dance during commercials - and of course i'm still watching Battlestar season 4 and the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. the reality stuff is just filler stuff to watch, but Battlestar and Spider-Man are my bread and butter. but Battlestar... oh man it's letting me down this season. but not Spidey! Spider-Man continues to be GREAT. i urge everyone to track it down. the sad news? Battlestar and Spider-Man are on hiatus starting next week! and after that, Hell's Kitchen will be over at the end of the month! not really much to look forward to either except for Burn Notice and Mad Men, which both return July/August sometime. oh well. no television means i can focus on catching up on series of the past and/or video games.

- finished watching Freaks and Geeks at the start of May. had they been able to have a four-year production plan in place and been able to pace things out better, the show could have been one of the best. ever. as it was, the show was a little rushed and muddled, yet somehow it started to get repetitive in the final few episodes (of only 18). it sort of had an ending, so at least there's that. it's a great show that could have been even greater.

- watched the first season of the BBC show Ashes to Ashes. it's a spin-off of one of my favorite shows of all time, Life on Mars (which, funny enough, is itself being adapted for American television this fall on ABC - might be worth checking out). Ashes didn't hold a candle to Life at the start of the series, but by the end of the eighth and final episode of the season, it certainly came into its own. it had 2-3 plot twists in the final episode that i did NOT see coming - in a good way. great writing. now if only the rest of the season had been as good. oh well. the best part is just seeing the gang back in action, even if it's in the 80s instead of the 70s. supposedly there's 2 more seasons planned, so here's hoping for some more Ashes goodness next year.

- well, in my last post i said i was going to move on to Deadwood after Ashes. well, i didn't. what happened? Indiana Jones fever struck. with the movie coming out, i devoted a weekend to watching the original trilogy. then i saw the new movie. and it wasn't enough. then i remembered that there was a television show that revolved around Indy as a young lad. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. so i downloaded it and i've been slowly making my way through it. why slowly you ask? ...well, it's not very good. ok, the series might pick up when Indy is older, but right now i'm watching the episodes where he's a little kid (like 10-12) and he's sort of annoying! that, and the thin plots are stretched to their breaking point at 45 minutes length. that said, the show does have a certain innocent charm to it, and it's neat seeing all of Europe and Africa (each episode it seems they're filming in a new exotic location - how many shows have the budget for that?) - oh, and it's cool how he meets all these famous people along the way, like Picasso, Tolstoy, Freud, Teddy Roosevelt, etc. so i'm making my way through the show, but it's taking longer than i'd like.

and that's what i've been watching. i suspect June will see me abandoning broadcast television altogether (until Burn Notice and Mad Men start up) and maybe, just maybe i'll make my way through The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

-k

what i've been up to - april edition

2008-04-29T00:49:00.004-10:00

so wow. april's over. what happened?

i'll tell you what happened:

- finished off the seventh and final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. i watched the entire series in just 3 months. wow. and i was giving myself until summer! it's a great show that really hits its stride in the third season and never slows down after that (well, it does a little in the sixth season). i could go on forever about it - and maybe i will later - but just know that it's a great show that any self-respecting sci-fi geek has to watch.

- immediately after finishing Star Trek i hopped on Battlestar Galactica and got caught up on the entire series - 60+ episodes (including the movies) - in under 2 weeks. there were nights after work when i was watching 6-7 episodes before succumbing to exhaustion. needless to say, it's a great, GREAT show (or else i wouldn't have been so obsessed as to watch 7 episodes a night). it's not without its faults - in fact, the current season (starting with the season 3 ender) is probably the weakest stuff in my opinion - but it's a very dark, very religious (i was surprised just how religious) sci-fi that stands up there with Star Trek: TNG and Babylon 5.

- all my March/April shows are over. New Amsterdam pretty much sucked but i watched it anyway (hey, nothing else was on). if it comes back for another season (doubtful) i probably won't watch. Bizarre Foods was good, but it always is. and South Park - oh South Park. great, great stuff. a few of the episodes felt a little "been there, done that," but not so much as to bog them down. 12 1/2 seasons and they're still going strong.

- now i'm watching House (back for 4 episodes starting tonight), Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, and Hell's Kitchen. these should take me to the end of the month, at which point i'm not sure WHAT i'll be watching. i'm not even sure if any of my summer shows are returning this year or not - what with the writer's strike and all. might be able to catch up on all those OTHER shows i've always been meaning to watch (like Star Trek and Battlestar) this summer.

- in fact, after finishing Battlestar i moved on to Freaks and Geeks. started it this past weekend and i'll be finishing up the series tomorrow probably (there's only 18 episodes). it's a great high school comedy/drama with just the right jokes. it's some of Judd Apatow's first work (guy that did 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, along with another favorite of mine, Undeclared) and his influence definitely shines through.

- i'm reading my first manga series (that's a japanese graphic novel, for those not in the know). it's called Yotsuba&! and it's a really light, funny series about how happiness can be found all around us. i bought and read the first 5 volumes and am patiently awaiting more (volume 6 is out but that's it right now).

- also read the latest Ultimate Spider-Man trade paperback. it was... ok. it seemed rushed, like it should have been at least another issue or two to deal with all the problems that were brought up. but no, it ended rather abruptly and sloppily. whenever Bendis isn't on his game with Ult. Spidey i just chalk it up to him being too focused on his other work (he's got like 10 projects going at once). i just hope it doesn't continue.

- finishing up reading my Spider-Girl trades. i learned about halfway through that they don't collect the whole series - in fact, they only collect half of it. so if i want to continue the Spider-Girl story i'll have to either wait or go out and buy the single issues. i think i'm going to wait. it's a good, fun series that hearkens back to comics of old, but it's by no means groundbreaking or anything like that.

- Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon continues to ROCK. seriously, they're hitting all the right notes. my only complaint would be that the stories tend to be rushed as they try and pack too much in. oh, and they introduced Mary Jane earlier than i thought they would... and their interpretation of her seems to be based off the one in the original comics - where she's this party girl, a real flirt. maybe it won't turn out that way, but if they do go that route, good on them for staying true to the roots. every other portrayal of MJ nowadays is that of a good girl.

- saw 2 movies in april: 300 and I Am Legend. 300 is a masterpiece. i'm calling it best movie of 2007 without having seen ANY of the Oscar contenders. it was just... brilliant. it was the beauty of Sin City combined with a story that actually had a message. awesome stuff. I Am Legend on the other hand... it was just ok. everything is cool until the monsters attack and you realize that they move EXACTLY like the robots in I Robot (another Will Smith movie). it was more action movie than horror movie. oh, and it didn't know how to end. i saw 2 endings and neither one was very good. now, could i have done any better? i don't know. all i know is that both of those endings sucked. got me interested in checking out the book though, maybe even the other 2 movies that were made about it before I Am Legend. someday.

- after playing Star Wars: KOTOR i decided to take a step back from role-playing games and just knock off as many action games as i could before Grand Theft Auto IV came out (which is tomorrow, by the way). well, it was a good plan, but Battlestar screwed with it. i was able to beat Heavenly Sword, play a little of Folklore before giving up on it, and beat the career mode in DiRT. this was all while playing more Halo than i had been the previous month - new downloadable content came out that my friends and i just had to have, so we've been playing Halo on and off again. oh, and Call of Duty 4. i hope to get a review up of Heavenly Sword one of these days. if not, i'll just say this: it's a beautiful looking, beautifully acted, beautifully crafted story that's way, WAY too short (we're talking 4-5 hours if you're taking your time).

and that's about it. what will May bring?

- i'm going to start watching Ashes to Ashes (the sequel to one of my favorite sci-fi shows of late, Life on Mars) after Freaks and Geeks. then it's on to Deadwood.

- i'm going to be playing Grand Theft Auto IV every night starting Wednesday. it's going to be good. damn well better be - i've been waiting years for it.

- i'll be watching my TV shows until the new episodes run dry.

- i'll still play Halo here and there.

- i'll be on vacation for a week and a half May 16th - 26th down in good-ol' Phoenix, AZ.

- i'll keep on keeping on.

you stay classy.
-k

i beat it! - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

2008-04-01T02:21:00.003-10:00

Star Wars: KOTOR. it was one of the few games that almost swayed me to buy an original Xbox back in the day, but alas, it wasn't enough. i had tried a friend's copy of the game and found the battle system too hands-off and out of my control for my taste. so i never continued playing it.

when i purchased my Xbox 360 over a year ago, KOTOR was still a must-buy for me because it had many critics and fans raving... that, and since it'd been out for a number of years, i could pick it up for under $10 (and i do love my cheap games). well, next-gen games got in the way and i thought i wouldn't get around to playing KOTOR for a long time.

then i played Mass Effect and everything changed.

see, Mass Effect was created by the same developers that did KOTOR over 5 years ago. since i really liked Mass Effect - and since i'm on a huge sci-fi kick right now with Mass Effect, Star Trek: TNG, Babylon 5, etc. - i thought now would be the time to try KOTOR once again.

dear god why did i wait so long?

now, i've got quite a few "favorite games." if you scroll down a ways and look at my side bar, you'll see that there's over a dozen of 'em. however, among those games, very few of them are what i'd consider "near-perfect" - it's just that they are my favorites.

KOTOR is a near-perfect game - from its dialogue to its quest system to combat and story, it is just a damn well-designed game. perhaps the last time i felt this way about a game was after playing God of War, or maybe Ico.

the whole experience was just seamless. a marvel of game design. it allowed the player to make meaningful choices that affected how the game played out. these choices were not always black and white like in Mass Effect - i sometimes found myself using dark-side tactics to get what i wanted because i saw no other way.

what compounded these light/dark decisions was the wonder of a story. it's difficult to talk about it because talking about it would give away too much, but let's just say that many of the characters have things happen to them that bring into question both the goodness of the light and the badness of the dark. i played through the game as a Jedi, but after going through much of the game i started questioning whether or not i made the right decision - or rather, who would it hurt if i just played it a little more dangerous, a little more dark.

it was unbelievable. never has a video game affected me in such a way. BioWare found a way to set up a dialogue system, quest system, and overall story that made me question the light side.

oh, and the twist! now, since the game is 5 years old i had heard people talk, and i knew there was going to be a twist. i also knew in what vein the twist was going to be. however, when it happened, it caught even me off guard. what great storytelling. this twist was part of the reason i started to question the light side. amazing.

something i haven't even touched on yet is the combat and leveling up systems! when i first played the game a few years ago, i felt that it was too hands-off and out of my control. however, i think playing FFXII actually got me used to what type of combat system KOTOR has to offer. your characters basically go through the motions of what you tell them to do, but it happens rather rapidly. you can pause the action to take stock of what's going on and issue new commands, but really its meant to just be pretty much hands-off. what its doing is computing all these numbers and factors that are ripped straight out of Dungeons and Dragons and playing it out before your eyes. see, the combat and leveling up systems work so well because they borrow HEAVILY from D&D - a tried and true game.

playing KOTOR i could see how heavily they borrowed from it to form the basis of Mass Effect. however, i think in the process of trying to evolve with Mass Effect, they actually took a couple of steps back. it was too easy to identify the good and bad ways of doing things in Mass Effect, the D&D in action combat system was abandoned for a third-person shooter to no doubt appeal to a wider audience (but to its determent), and the story wasn't nearly as thought-provoking and twist-filled as KOTOR. however, i still like Mass Effect - it's just that i love KOTOR.

this is as close to a perfectly-designed game (specifically, a western-style role playing game) that i've ever had the honor of playing. it is perhaps the best game of the last 5 years.

score:

9.95 out of 10

-k

i beat it! - Mass Effect

2008-03-19T11:43:00.004-10:00

just beat the Xbox 360 game Mass Effect last night. it's a third-person shooter / RPG that has this sci-fi epic story that centers around the human race being accepted by the galactic community. i've been playing it almost every day for the past few weeks. ended up clocking in at about 35 hours of gameplay.

overall the game was good. really good. the main story was well written and it had a pretty damn satisfying ending. however, they should have peppered the villain in a bit more... just seeing what's up from his perspective (behind the scenes sorta) would have been nice once in a while - as it was, in the way i played the game, i saw him at the start and then again at the end. that's it.

the game is broken up into main missions and side missions. you pretty much decide what main missions you tackle when, when you do the side missions, etc. story-wise, the way things were revealed, i think there's a better way to play through the main missions than i did, but oh well.

the leveling-up system is a little broke, though i was playing on normal (maybe it'd be tougher on hard). you're kinda underpowered at the start of the game, and then get pretty damn strong pretty fast. i stopped using the cover system in most encounters after the first 1/4 of the game.

same goes for money. kinda broke system. you're hurting for it at the start, then in the latter half of the game you rake it in to the point where i was maxed out at 9999999 for the last 1/4 of the game. oh, and you really don't need to buy that much if you keep decrypting crates and lockers when you find them.

the controls suck. first, let me preface this by saying there are secondary force-like powers called "biotics" that many of the characters have in the game. they're cool, but i hardly ever used them. the reason i never/rarely used biotics is because you need to pause the action by holding down the right bumper and bringing down a menu. well yeah, who wants to constantly do that?!? you have the option to map ONE of your biotic powers (out of approximately 8) to the right bumper, but that's it. on the other hand, you've got wasted face buttons. X brings out your gun, but so does the right/left trigger. B puts your gun away. all Y does is replenish your health. WHY AREN'T THESE MAPPED TO THE D-PAD?!? that would free up 3 freaking buttons to map biotic powers to!!! it's sad really, because i wanted to use the powers and just didn't because it was too much of a hassle (especially when shooting things kills them pretty easily anyway). oh, and what the HELL are grenades doing mapped to the back button??? NOBODY uses the back button! as a result i used maybe 15 grenades total in the game (and most of them came from a mission where i had to use them).

the dialogue system was not all it was promised to be. in previews for the game the development team had talked about this robust system where you could change the tide of a conversation with a look on your face and you never knew what response would lead to what reaction. however, in the game, 99.9% of the time the "good boy" answer is at the top, the neutral answer is in the middle, and the "bad boy" answer is at the bottom. oh, and there's no interrupting people or turning the conversation with a look. also, some dialogue branches were obvious where they were leading you (i won't say more than that). at any rate, they promised a lot and didn't deliver. that said, the dialogue was still good, and so were the voice actors.

side missions were fun at first but ended up becoming repetitive and rather boring. they followed a pretty typical pattern: 1) go to a rather-bland cookie-cutter planet, 2) explore and survey the planet, 3) defeat the bad guys on the planet. these bad guys were holed up in 1 of 4 standard base types. there were at least 15 side missions like this.

there were other minor frustrations with the story that i won't go into here... one of them involves what one of the main mysteries ends up being. it's... not what you think it is. and it's a lot less... epic... than i thought it would be. that's all i'll say. it was a bit of a letdown.

the ending, however, was epic. honestly, if more of the main missions had felt like the ending did... wow. the main missions, as they were, were good, but not great.

there was a TON of texture popping and framerate issues. these are all technical issues that lessened the experience and took me out of the game a few times. it's unfortunate that the game couldn't have went through a bit more polish before being released.

the soundtrack is amazing.

when/if i play again, i'll be a class that nets me a sniper rifle, i'll play it "bad boy" style, and try it out on the hard difficulty setting. i'll also take 2 different people in my party. as it was i kept the same 2 people in my party for the majority of the game.

it may sound like i hated the game, but really it had a lot going for it. i guess i just tend to focus on the negative more than the positive. mainly i was pulled into the world by the great story, backstory, and characters. it was a very cinematic game. it's a pretty great game that lived up to my rather high expectations. if they can correct even half the things i listed above for the inevitable sequel, i'll be extremely happy.

score:

9.0 out of 10 (+/- .25)

-k

Spectacular Spider-Man is, well, pretty spectacular

2008-03-17T00:51:00.003-10:00

i love Spider-Man. i think you all know that. so when a new Spider-Man project is announced, i'm always cautiously optimistic. that, and i watch it like a hawk, finding out as much as i can about it.

well, there's a new Spider-Man project that just started last week. it's an animated series. Spectacular Spider-Man. it's on Kids WB on Saturday mornings, which means i download it later in the day and watch it off my computer (there's no way i'm waking up that early). it's had 3 episodes so far.

what was tough for me going in is that there was little-to-no information about this show leading up to its premiere. all i knew was the premise and the art style. oh, and i knew that a former producer of the Gargoyles cartoon was going to be on it.

the story focuses on a young Peter Parker about a year after getting his spider powers. he's entering his junior year of high school after just having the summer of his life playing Spider-Man. however, now he's got to balance school, Aunt May's bills, friends, and his life as Spider-Man. oh, and super villains are starting to show up on the scene. it's a great premise and a great starting point to a new series.

the art is similar to a lot of today's animated shows - shows such as The Batman, Kim Possible, and Teen Titans. it's a highly stylized, exaggerated style that looks to be influenced by anime - very different from the more realistic style of 90s cartoons. it can work in some instances, but in others it can be too cute, too cartoony. here, thankfully, it works.

so, knowing what i knew, i was excited. and the show didn't let me down. not one bit.

the main characters (so far) are Peter, Gwen Stacey, Harry Osborne, Eddie Brock, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, J. Jonah Jamison, and Aunt May. the Connors may also play a pretty big role (as they were in the first 3 episodes) but Doc Connors was turned into the Lizard in the third episode, so they may go away for a while. here's my thoughts on some of the characters:

- Peter is perfect so far. the writer's really nailed the tone and the actor really portrays him pretty well. oh, and the quips Spidey whips out in battle are great.

- Gwen is Peter's close friend (along with Harry), but that's it. there was a hint in one of the episodes that she wants to be more than just friends, so i'm sure we'll see them hooking up later.

- Harry is being portrayed as sort of a wimp. the voice actor they got for him really gives Harry this wimpy quality. it's an interesting take on the character - usually he's handsome, charismatic, and pretty popular. not here.

- Eddie is Pete, Gwen, and Harry's older friend. he's a freshman in college. of course in the comics and movie Eddie is a photojournalist that doesn't meet Peter until they're older, but this portrayal of a younger Eddie meeting a younger Pete has been in a few of the latest Spider-Man projects (Ultimate Spider-Man for instance). i have no problem with it, as long as he becomes Venom like he should.

- Liz Allen. now, she's just a secondary character, but they did something to her that really bothers me. what did they do? they made her Latina, no doubt for the sake of political correctness. she's supposed to be a spoiled white girl. instead she's a street-talking Latina. sigh. oh well.

what's interesting to note is that they went with Gwen instead of Mary Jane. of course, in the comics Gwen came first, and was Peter's first love, but modern day audiences only know of Mary Jane (i mean they went with Mary Jane in the movies and demoted Gwen to a pretty crappy cameo in the third movie). it's an interesting choice, and i give them kudos for doing it, but i miss Mary Jane. what will probably happen is Gwen and Peter will hook up (or almost hook up) and THEN they'll introduce Mary Jane into the mix. i can't wait!

the first 3 episodes introduced us to The Vulture, Electro, The Lizard, and The Enforcers (with The Kingpin behind the scenes). they were all pretty good episodes in their own right, with only the Lizard one feeling a little weak. usually with The Lizard/Doc Connors, Peter reveals his identity and the 2 of them share the secret of who the other is. that didn't happen here. however, something else happened at the end of the episode that i was like "no way." suffice to say, it distanced Peter from his friends even more. it really showed how being Spider-Man conflicts with being Peter Parker. it was great.

one last thing to note - the battles are amazing. the animation is fluid and visceral. and Spider-Man gets the CRAP beat outta him. being a kids show i was worried they wouldn't show this aspect, but they do. one of my favorite things about Spider-Man is that he's pretty much a normal guy (with somewhat superhuman strength, sure) going against super villains that are usually stronger or have some advantage over Spidey at least. Spidey usually gets his ass handed to him before he can figure out how to beat the villain. it reinforces the "average Joe with not-so-average powers" thing i love so much.

in conclusion, you should check this series out. it's got 13 episodes in the can, and i believe 13 more are going to be ordered. i hope so at least. because it's a great series so far.

-k

a weekend by any other name

2008-03-17T00:22:00.003-10:00

been a while... what's up? oh, nothing much:

- just finished season 5 of Star Trek: TNG. you could say i'm moving at a considerable pace, seeing that i just wrote about finishing season 3 a little over 2 weeks ago. as i said then, i'm able to watch so much because there's absolutely nothing else on regular TV, so sometimes i get in 3-4 episodes a night. seasons 4 and 5 were great seasons. seasons 1 and 2 set things up, then the show starts to get its bearings in season 3, and really hits its stride in 4 and 5. there's only 2 seasons left (6 and 7) so i'm wondering if they keep on rolling or if there's a reason they stopped at 7 (if it got old). we'll see.

- started watching New Amsterdam, Bizarre Foods w/ Andrew Zimmern, South Park, and Spectacular Spider-Man. New Amsterdam is... ok. it's only 6 episodes (so far) and with nothing else on, i'm willing to make room for it. Bizarre Foods this past week was in Iceland and it was a BEAUTIFUL episode. Iceland has suddenly and unexpectedly made it on my list of places to visit before i die. South Park's first episode of its 12th season was pretty good. i'm definitely psyched for the new season - moreso than i've been for the past few years. and Spectacular Spider-Man... well, it's so good it needs its own post (above).

- finished World War Z a couple of weeks ago. really should get around to posting about it, as it deserves its own post. anyway, great read. one of my favorite books. it could have went on for 100-200 more pages and it would have been perfect. oh, and if there were some hard numbers in terms of how many died, etc. oh well. still a great book.

- currently reading Spider-Girl. i'm on volume 4 of the trades (issue 20 or so) and i've got several more to read. it's a good series that's starting to come into its own the more i read.

- learned the new Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed, has been pushed back AGAIN - this time to August. while i'm saddened that i have to wait even longer to play it, i'm kinda glad too. there's just too much coming out in April (when it was supposed to come out) - Grand Theft Auto IV, Persona 3: FES, Arcana Heart, Baroque...

- i finished that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game i said i was playing. in fact, i think i finished it a day or two after posting about it. the game was short (maybe 6 hours) and basically had you reenact the movie/book (though there were probably sub-plots missing) and discover things around Hogwarts. the real joy of course came from walking around a virtual Hogwarts and mimicking wand movements with the joystick. however, it wasn't enough to keep this from being a pretty mediocre game.

6.0 out of 10

- currently playing Mass Effect for the 360. it's a sci-fi third-person shooter/RPG hybrid. i've got my complaints, but overall it's a pretty great game. i'm about 30 hours in and will probably beat it in another 5-10 (so, this week sometime). after that, i expect to write a review.

- haven't touched Halo 3 since my work buddy and i stopped playing it. at first it was weird not playing, but now it's not even an afterthought. i'm sure the Halo bug will bite me one of these days and i'll start playing it again, but for now i'm actually glad to have the time to be able to beat other games like Naruto, Harry Potter, and Mass Effect.

- i'm headed to Phoenix in a couple of months. i'm headed there for a little over a week in the middle of May, the week before Memorial Day. i'll be visiting all my AZ buddies, a couple of friends coming down from WI (they are seeing if they want to move down there), and my parents! it'll be quite the trip. looking forward to it!

- and finally, i'm excited about writing again. for the past year or so, i haven't really been doing any writing on the side because i've got to be pretty creative at work and it drains me. well, now i've got an idea that's got me excited about writing again. it's a sci-fi story - my first actually. with all the sci-fi i've been surrounded by lately - Babylon 5, Star Trek, Mass Effect - it's actually surprising it took me so long to come up with my own idea. it's just... any idea i would have always seemed like a "been there, done that" sort of thing. but this idea... i don't think it's been done before. i hope. at any rate, i'm pretty private when it comes to my personal writings, so you might have to bug me to find out more... but just know that i'm writing again. and it's fun.

have a good week all! Happy St. Patrick's Day today and Happy Easter this coming weekend!

-k

around the web - been a while edition

2008-03-07T19:50:00.003-10:00

it's Friday, time to drink:
17 of the worst shots ever created
malt liquor commercials through the years

didn't know about most of these:
7 insane conspiracies that actually happened

my obsession with Garfield continues...
Garfield minus Garfield

dear god, kill me now:
hops shortage spiking beer prices

well if Johnny Rico is back...
trailer for Starship Troopers 3: Straight to DVD

i've died and gone to heaven:
"We are the World" sung by Japanese impersonators

interesting Flickr photo sets:
KitKats of the world
stick figures in peril

1960s credit sequence for Star Wars
swingin' Star Wars

the end of this high school football game is nothing short of amazing. team with the ball is down 41-17 with 3 minutes to go. can they come back?
ridiculous football finish

Where's Waldo + The Bourne Ultimatum =
The Waldo Ultimatum

is this a promo video for the park? is this competition the park's claim to fame? rightfully so i guess... look at how many people turned out!
belly flop competition

and finally, a personal story on how i found this link. i clicked on this link because the title was "Hero Humiliates Horny Man" only to be greeted by Mike Jacob's face - the local news anchor in Milwaukee. yes, this story is straight outta Oconomowoc; 10 minutes away from where i grew up.
sword-wielding man stops "rape"

-k

new to my stomach - chocolate mix skittles

2008-03-04T18:53:00.003-10:00

a couple of months ago, nestled between the Smoothie Skittles and regular Skittles at my local 7-11 was an oddity. an affront to god.

it was a bag of Chocolate Mix Skittles.

i was wary, but being someone that is always looking for the next good thing, i gave it a shot.

the taste? well, if you grab a handful and just throw 'em in your mouth, more often than not it will just taste like Tootsie Rolls. that's right - Tootsie Rolls, with a hard candy shell. if you separate the 5 flavors and try one each individually, that's when you can taste the differences. i'll pretty much defer to the link above for their take on the 5 individual flavors (as it mirrors my own reactions, except for the brownie batter - i found that to be fine).

so, hard candy shelled Tootsie Rolls. doesn't sound so bad right? in theory, it's not. in practice, it is. see, my problem with this candy is purely a mental one.

Skittles are supposed to be fruity. their slogan is "taste the rainbow." so you rip open this Skittles-shaped bag, pour these these round candies with an S on them into your hand, pop them in your mouth, and you expect FRUIT FLAVORS.

why do i refer to it as an affront to god? because Skittles shouldn't taste like this.

VERDICT: try it if you think you can get over the mental block AND if you can find it (since the initial shipment, my local 7-11 hasn't had any in - of course, i live on an island, so who knows). otherwise just go buy a bag of Tootsie Pops.

oh, and Skittles? yeah, i'm talkin' to you.

stick to fruit flavors.

-k

i beat it! - Call of Duty 4 campaign

2008-03-03T02:34:00.007-10:00

i just finished off the CoD4 single-player campaign and i've gotta say - i understand what people were talking about now. it is an EXCELLENT game. heck, me feeling the need to post about it right after beating it is a testament to how good it is. quick notes:

- the trademark CoD way of showing the war from a number of different perspectives was in full force in CoD4, and even added a new trick to the bag - your characters could die at any moment. that's right, your characters could die during a cutscene and you couldn't do anything to stop it. it changed my perspective on first-person shooters. it was excellent. i do wish that there were one more perspective (you pretty much follow 2 people, i wish there would have been a third), but as there were only British and Americans on the side of "good" in this one, i guess that's all they could show.

- the reason i have good in quotes above is because this is the first CoD game to be set in modern times (with previous games being set in WWII), and we all know how modern war isn't exactly black-and-white, good vs evil. the war depicted is the Iraq War - well, it is and it isn't. really it feels more like an episode of 24, with 2 terrorist groups working together and grabbing a bunch of nukes. it really felt like something out of the 80s, painting the Muslims as evil terrorists - and i wish it DIDN'T do that. i wish it actually set the war in Iraq and took advantage of the storytelling tools (first-person multiple perspectives) to show just how gray modern warfare really is. i mean could you imagine putting us in the shoes of a Muslim? they'd never do that, as the developers would get too much flak from the media - but still, with the game the way it is now, it's almost doing more harm than anything. ignorant people playing it could come away thinking that all Muslims are terrorists. some may even call CoD4 wartime propaganda. read this article. i agree with almost everything the author says about the game. it's a great game that's a fun ride, but it's disappointing thinking about how much more it could have accomplished.

- game could have been a little longer. i started playing it Thursday or Friday and beat it tonight (Sunday), so at about 2-3 hours of playing each night... i'd say it was about 8 hours long. the game seemed to take its time getting started, jumping around a bit, and then all of the sudden rushed to its conclusion. could have had another perspective, as i said above, or maybe another flashback level (see below).

- one of the levels is a flashback level. you're a sniper on an assassination mission in Chernobyl 15 years ago. that's right - this is after the Chernobyl disaster. you're running around in a dilapidated nuclear wasteland of a town... a modern-day ghost town. just this level alone was worth the price of admission.

i love CoD4 for what it is, but it could have been so much more. it was a beautifully told story that really got you caring about the characters BUT is there really that much to care about when there's no substance behind it? they really should have set it in the Iraq War, and they really should have had another perspective. it also could have been a little longer. all that said, this is still an excellent, EXCELLENT game.

CoD4 campaign
9.5 out of 10

CoD4 overall (campaign, multiplayer, arcade mode)
9.75 out of 10

-k

what i've been up to - mid-week edition

2008-02-27T22:09:00.003-10:00

- finished season 3 of Star Trek: TNG and have moved on to the fourth. let me just say this: the first few episodes of season 4 have been among some of the best, with the second episode (entitled "Family") just very well may be my favorite so far.

- why am i able to watch so much Star Trek? well it's because i'm hardly watching any real tv at all. right now it's just Sarah Connor Chronicles, No Reservations, and Law & Order. however, next week is the season (probably series) finale of Sarah Connor, and i think Law & Order is taking a break after next week as well, coming back when the rest of the shows do at the end of April. here's what i'll be watching starting next week:

- New Amsterdam
- Bizarre Foods w/ Andrew Zimmern
- South Park (starting March 12th)

those should tide me over until the old shows return. can't wait for House to come back... CAN'T WAIT!

- still reading World War Z. still loving it. the whole time i've been reading it i was wondering "what happened to Hawaii?" and i've finally got my answer. it actually surprised me. thought we'd be one of the first places overrun by the living dead. oh, and there was a chapter on what happened to someone from Waukesha, WI. not pretty. let's just say it involved cannibalism. it's actually one of my favorite chapters.

- learned the new Indiana Jones game isn't going to be coming out for another year. it got pushed back because they needed more people to work on the new Star Wars game. now, i'm all for a new Star Wars game (this next one looks super-cool), but the fact that Indy had to suffer for it makes me sad. i guess the LEGO Indiana Jones game coming out this summer will have to tide me over.

- PERSONA 3: FES IS COMING!!! (see last post)

- i finished a video game this past weekend. Naruto: Rise of a Ninja. i'll try and give it a writeup later, but let's just say the game did not disappoint. it was a good, fun game that took me about 15 hours to beat - just the right amount of time. in case i don't write it up, here's my score:

8.25 out of 10 (+/-.25)

- i'm now working on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the 360. never read any of the books, only seen the movies - and this is the first Harry Potter game i've ever bought. the reason i bought it? it looked like it pretty faithfully created a Hogwarts that you can freely run around. also, i thought it would be like Bully - a game where you have to manage your time between quests and going to school. i was right about the faithful recreation of the school (well i don't know HOW faithful since i haven't read the books, but it looks like the movies to me) BUT it's nothing like Bully. in fact, the best way i can put it is that you're pretty much reenacting the movie while searching for hidden thing all around Hogwarts. i'm liking it, not loving it.

- finally, i'm going to have to end this on a sad note. this week my coworker Halo buddy and i decided to stop playing Halo 3 so religiously. for those that didn't know, i've been playing that damn game almost every single day since it came out back on September 25th of last year. that's almost 5 months. we're now only going to plan to play Friday and Saturday nights... at least until the new downloadable maps come out later this spring. :)

-k

good week, and here's why

2008-02-27T18:36:00.002-10:00

i'm having a wonderful week this week and here's why:

- Persona 3: FES is coming state-side! this is an alternate version of Persona 3 that includes an additional 30+ hours of gameplay with more story and more unlockables. at just $30, i'm gonna have to buy it. Persona 3 was probably my favorite game of 2007. it ought to be - i logged over 100 hours into it.

- one of my favorite authors, J. Michael Straczynski, is moving from Marvel to DC Comics. why is this good? well, he's stated that now at DC he's hoping to do some Babylon 5 graphic novels. YES!!!

- one of my favorite comic book series of all time, DEMO, is coming back this fall! slated for a 6-issue mini-series, the series will focus on everyday people discovering extraordinary powers. it's a more-real world X-Men. even though the series REALLY got good in the later issues that stared focusing less on powers and more on love and life, i'm still glad this series is coming back in some form.

-k

around the web - garfield edition

2008-02-22T20:22:00.003-10:00

if you remember, a few weeks ago i was obsessed with Lasagna Cat. the folks at Fatal Farm put a great spin on some absurdly unfunny Garfield cartoons (which is the majority of them).

now, i used to actually be a fan of Garfield - i have like 20 of his collections. in fact, i still think some of the early Garfield strips are pretty good. but damn, Garfield hasn't aged well. i think nostalgia - mixed with just how absurd the Lasagna Cat takes on Garfield are - is why i find them so damn funny.

so it started with Lasagna Cat a few weeks ago...

and then just yesterday i found this picture on a forum that had nothing to do with Garfield (it was part of someone's signature)... and it both cracked me up and freaked me out at the same time (i mean, just look at Jon's face at the end there).

i just had to find where it was from.

so i googled "Garfield" and "real cat" (i think) and came across THE funniest thing from this week:

the "what if Garfield was a real cat" forum.

on this wonderful, WONDERFUL forum i found others like me that found making fun of Garfield to be, well, funny. it was on this forum i found:

- Realfield
- Arbuckle: Garfield through Jon's eyes
- The Garfield Randomizer (make your own Garfield strip!)

and much, much more (like the originals from the funny/freaky picture that started my search in the first place).

it was the first time in a while that i was actually brought to tears from laughing so much and so hard. that forum had my eyes watering and my sides splitting!

i have no idea if any of you will find this as funny as i do, but that's fine. nobody at work really found it as funny as i did, so you won't hurt my feelings.

now if you'll excuse me, i've got some Garfield strips to randomize. AHAHAHA!!! THAT DARN CAT!

-k

around the web - 2/19/08

2008-02-19T18:41:00.003-10:00

stumbled upon this site when another site featured their Oscars cards today. i just love the company's motto - "when you care enough to hit send." reminds me of Despair, Inc. and their demotivational posters:
someecards.com

computer stuff:
actual customer service call ("i gotta have speakers")
man makes music with just Windows sounds

ninja stuff:
ninjas on rollerskates (high-speed ninja/car chase)
best ninja movie ever (it's got the Miami Vice theme and swearing - lots of swearing)

do you like Star Wars?
not as much as this guy does

and finally, hilarious school science projects. sometimes they're funny because of the name. sometimes they're funny because of the quality of the presentation. and sometimes they're funny because of the kid presenting them. i just wish i could read a few excerpts from some of these projects:
41 hilarious science fair experiments

-k

god bless american presidents

2008-02-18T22:52:00.002-10:00

normally i'm only aware of secondary holidays like President's Day because places like Best Buy and car manufacturers decide to have sales. this year, however, i'm more than aware, as i got the day off. yay for presidents! yay for 3-day weekends!

that said, i'm writing this in the middle of working... so it's a working holiday. at least i didn't have to put in a full 8-hour day.

random things that have been going on in my life and/or stuff that i've been meaning to talk about for a while:

- the writer's strike is over! from everything i've read the writer's are pretty happy with the deal they got, but i think they had to give a few things up they were asking for. hope it was still a fair deal. anyway, half-hour comedies like The Office and 30 Rock and established, episodic dramas like House and Law & Order SVU will be coming back mid-April and air about 6 episodes a piece to try and salvage each of their respective seasons. newer shows like Chuck and Life and dramas that take longer to play out like Heroes and 24 will be returning next year. nowhere have i read how the strike is affecting summer shows like Burn Notice. i'm happy the strike is over, but hope the writer's got a good deal.

- finished reading the first trade paperback of Spider-Girl (DeFalco/Olliffe) this weekend. the editor of Marvel Comics told Spider-Man fans to buy books like Spider-Girl and Ultimate Spider-Man if they were unhappy with what's happening to mainstream Spider-Man lately - so that's what i did. Spider-Girl takes place in an alternate universe where Peter and Mary Jane got married and had a kid. this kid - May Parker - finds out she has the same powers as her now-retired father. she becomes Spider-Girl. it's a fun book that's total fan service. it's told in the 80s/90s style of writing where a lot happens in a single issue (as opposed to today's style where something may take 6 issues to develop), which i'm not a huge fan of, but it's still good. i'd still suggest reading Ultimate Spider-Man or Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane over this any day, but this is a nice alternative to mainstream Spider-Man right now.

- still watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. still not sure whether or not i like it. scratch that - i LIKE the show... i'm just not sure if i LOVE it. it's weird. the first episode was really great, and every episode after that has been a little worse. i'm just not sure if i like how much it's playing with established history. i wish it would just come up with all new characters not related to anyone in the movies, have the series stand on its own. oh, and it better not turn into a love story like Bionic Woman did. ugh. what's wrong with an powerful, independent woman that's single? anyway, there's enough here to like, but not to love. i can't help but feel that if the strike didn't happen and there were other things for me to watch, i probably would have dropped this.

- still making my way through Star Trek: The Next Generation. i'm about 1/2 of the way through season 3 already. each season gets a little better, but there are still episodes here and there that are pretty ho-hum. and again, i can't stress enough that this show would not be greenlit for television today. that said, i still like it.

- i'm buying figures (not toys dammit!) again. actually, i started late last year. haven't collected for a good 3 years now. it's something i really hate getting into because it can get expensive FAST. last time i spent probably $200-300 in just a couple of months before i quit. so far this time i've kept it to a minimum, only spending around $100 in 5 months, but i'm dangerously close to going all-out again. one thing stopping me? i don't have much more room! haha. anyway, i'll post about what i'm collecting right now later.

- finally, i started reading the novel World War Z (Max Brooks) this weekend. i'm only 60-some pages in and i can already say that it's one of my favorite books of all time. it is the fictional telling of the war with the zombies some ten years after it happened. it's told from a number of different perspectives (so far none of which have been revisited, so i think there will probably be over 100 one-shots when its all said and done) from around the globe and it's VERY grounded in reality. the manner in which the zombies come about and destroy the earth is just so well written. for instance, one of the outbreaks happens in China, but no one outside of China knows about it because they cover it up by threatening World War III and diverting attention. could happen. one of the reasons the zombies spread so far is because of the smugglers in Eastern Asia that smuggled infected out to Europe and America where they thought there was a cure. could happen. another reason it spread was infected black market organs that came from third world countries. could happen. one of the reasons it takes America by surprise is because we were sold a "wonder drug" that would vaccinate us against it (in truth, it was a placebo) and thus we weren't worried. could happen. IT COULD ALL ACTUALLY HAPPEN. in fact, sometimes i forget i'm reading a zombie book and am just thinking of the plague as a new virus that wipes us all out, a new AIDS or whatever. it's scary - not because there's zombies, but because the future described in it could be a very real one. not a future with zombies, but a future with death and destruction nonetheless.

now, back to work.

-k

around the web - 2/11/08 to 2/14/08

2008-02-14T18:19:00.003-10:00

first Indy 4 trailer. comes out May 22! i'm trying to keep my expectations low, but this trailer raised them just a little...
Indiana Jones and the Teaser Trailer

The Onion asks the tough question "do we really want another black president?"
given what's happened when Morgan Freeman and the Allstate guy were president

so that's how Hollywood works:
5 ways Hollywood tricks you into seeing bad movies

i love craigslist. on it you can find some winners and some losers. here, my friend, is a winner just trying to sell some cement blocks for $1:
"you want the blocks? come get the blocks"

they've got candles, we've got MANDLES:
now available in "duct tape" and "Micky Mantle"

THE funniest thing i've read all week. it's a rip on how artsy and pretentious movies like "Garden State" and "Juno" are (don't get me wrong, i like those types of movies, but i know the formula and know how to laugh at it):
fake screenplay from the creator of "Juno"

finally, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
cupid's arrows (video)
cupid's arrows (comic)

-k

new to my stomach - reese's peanut butter & banana creme cups

2008-02-11T18:26:00.001-10:00

*** NEW FEATURE *** NEW FEATURE ***

there's a 7-11 near where i work, and me and the engineers head over there maybe 2-3 times a week. well, going to 7-11 and getting the same thing all the time can get a little boring. so, when we see a new food stuff, we buy it.

this new post type will be where i document the new food stuffs i try. strap in, because it's time for the first installment of "new to my stomach."

what's new to my stomach today?

reese's peanut butter & banana creme cups

actually, this was new to my stomach a few months ago, but we're cheating a bit for this first post.

let me start off by saying i'm not a huge fan of reese's peanut butter cups. the only time i've been known to eat them is if i got them while trick or treating or as candy from Christmas or Easter. they're good, but not great. i prefer reese's pieces better, but even those i'm not a huge fan of.

all that said, reese's peanut butter & banana creme cups are TO DIE FOR. they're so damn rich and creamy, with just the perfect blend of peanut butter and banana. warning: you will probably only be able to eat 2 of these cups at a time, and even that's pushing it.

VERDICT: seek it out and devour it. now. i'm not sure if it's a limited-time variant on the classic peanut butter cup, but all i can tell you is that the local 7-11 hasn't had them in stock for a while now. and i'm sad because of it.

-k

around the web - 2/5/08 to 2/8/08

2008-02-11T01:28:00.000-10:00

since i didn't have time to post at work - and since there really wasn't that much funny - here's the best of last week, all wrapped up in one post.

Japan loves to bring over Hollywood stars and have them star in outrageous commercials. found a website devoted to cataloging all of them. make sure to check out the Kiefer Sutherland, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tommy Lee Jones ones:
japander.com brings the funny

David Spade did something funny? and it's not 1996?
There Will be Oscars (parody of There Will be Blood)

stop doing drugs!
10 funniest anti-drug ads

Indy 4 is coming out in a few months. this guy is ready.
Indy theme performed on an organ

what's sad is i could only identify half the people on this list:
Muppets for President

and, in honor of the Grammys tonight (just one of the many award shows that i don't watch), here's the 7 most unbelievable / unforgivable Grammy snubs of all time. every single one is unbelievable EXCEPT for #3. Christopher Cross for the win!
greatest Grammy snubs

let's hope this week brings back the funny. maybe Valentine's Day will inspire some humorous videos or articles.

-k

thoughts from a busy week

2008-02-08T00:47:00.000-10:00

haven't been writing/commenting because i'm really busy at work this week. that and not much is going on - either in my life or on the internet (no really interesting links). i'll try and put together a "best of the week" tomorrow after work. here's what's on my mind:

- added a shit-ton of pictures to my blog earlier this week, and it wasn't an easy task either. i was scouring the internet for hours for just the right pictures, at just the right sizes. i'm glad it's over for now, as it turned from something to do into an obsession rather quickly. in retrospect, i may have gone overboard just a bit, but it pretties up my blog and for that i'm happy.

- bought 2 new games last week that arrived in the mail this week. they are Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for the 360 and Civilization IV: Gold Edition for the PC. Naruto i picked up for $38 (list price is $60) and Civ IV for $20 (list price is $50). i was actually going to wait to pick up Naruto when it was a little lower, but i was buying Civ IV from amazon and needed to buy something else in order to get the free shipping - and Naruto was on sale, so i bit. why did i buy these 2 games? Naruto - never been a fan of the anime, but the game intrigued me with its blend of open world and fighting. it's like a mix of Grand Theft Auto and Dead or Alive. add that to the fact that the game follows the anime somewhat from start to where it is now and well i'll get most of the story. oh, and it's a beautiful looking game. Civ IV - always felt i should try a Civ game, and at the price point it was finally worth picking it up. we'll see when i have time to play it. Naruto i MADE time for. just finished Assassin's Creed, so i had a slot open. it was either Naruto, Heavenly Sword, or Harry Potter. i went with Naruto.

- halfway through season 2 of Star Trek: TNG. i can't stress enough that this is a show that simply would not make it on television today - there's just not enough going on in each episode to satisfy today's audience! i kinda like it, but maybe it's a nostalgia thing. season 2 is better than the first season, but it still has its faults. oh, and they sure are focusing on Data a lot. if he's not the main character of an episode i'd say he's the secondary focus in probably 9 of the 12 episodes so far of season 2. it's almost overkill. there ARE other characters to focus on.

hope you're all having a good week, especially all you in Wisconsin. damn that's a lot of snow you guys got!!! all i've got to complain about this week is the humidity from the rain - and it's not even that bad!

-k

no reservations: new orleans

2008-02-04T22:06:00.001-10:00

i didn't really think i'd find myself writing about another episode of No Reservations, but here i am, writing about the New Orleans episode i just watched.

Vancouver i wrote about because the episode really hit home for me. i thought it summed up nicely what Vancouver is and why i love it and miss it so much. this New Orleans, well, it was a real reminder. a real eye-opener.

that place, more than 2 years after Katrina, is still in shambles. every place Bourdain went to eat in this episode told another story of the tragedy, another story of the rebuilding and healing. it was a poignant episode of a show that i never really thought could be poignant.

i urge you all to see it. the scenery is unbelievable, the stories unheard of, and the anguish, pain, and suffering still all very much in the faces of everyone. i was almost brought to tears a few times during the show. powerful stuff.

-k

around the web - 2/4/08

2008-02-04T18:47:00.000-10:00

i missed the Super Bowl (didn't tune in because i figured the Patriots would win like they always do - boy am i mad i missed it now!) which means i missed the commercials. after some web surfing, i found a few lists that brought most of the best together. as a whole, they sucked. big time. however, there were still a few good ones. i liked the Bridgestone Tires commercials, Bud Light "Fire Breath," Tide "The Talking Stain," FedEx "Carrier Pigeons," and - i don't know why - the Tmobile "My Fave 5" with Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade. oh, the Planters Peanuts one is kinda funny too:
a blog that has a bunch of the ads
FHM's 10 funniest ads (some repeats from first link)
the racist Super Bowl ad

Superman had a musical in 1966 that lasted for 4 measly months on Broadway. then ABC decided to film and air a reproduction of it in 1975. here is the story:
It's A Bird... It's A Plane... It's Superman
a scene from the musical
original soundtrack now available on Amazon!

i wrote last week that Cheeseburger in a Can was the greatest invention since Water Joe. i may have been too hasty in my claim, because we've got a new contender:
Bacon Salt - the salt that tastes like bacon

finally, something about video games. a list of 7 adver-games - advertisements thinly disguised as video games. let me just say that Cool Spot and Yo Noid! were the SHIT! Yo Noid! just because how ridiculous its premise was, but Cool Spot because it was actually a good game:
7 advertisement video games (thanks Jess)

-k

i beat it! - Assassin's Creed

2008-02-04T01:06:00.000-10:00

i did the unbelievable this weekend. i beat not one, but two games. Halo 3 Campaign (see the post below) i had been working on beating for a couple of months now, and Assassin's Creed i played in November and December (until Christmas break), then didn't touch it until yesterday, at which time i played for 2-3 more hours and beat it. i guess i was close to the end. you can read what i thought about Halo 3 in the post below. here's what i thought of Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed. i had been waiting to play the game ever since it was first announced that it was being worked on by the same team that did Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (an all-time favorite game of mine). then it came out, and reviews were mixed. i would have bought my own copy after a fashion, but ended up receiving it for my birthday. even though i had tons of other games to play that i bought before it, and even though the mixed reviews were getting to me, i couldn't wait to play it.

in the game you play as a man abducted by a big corporation because you have an ancestor that knew the whereabouts of an ancient treasure. how do they get the information out of you? well they have something called the Animus that they strap you into and you "relive" the life of your ancestor in a digital world. so there's story on 2 fronts - what's happening in the past to your ancestor, and what's happening to you in the future.

it's a pretty well fleshed out story (in the past moreso than in the present), albeit a bit confusing at times because of all the names and places being thrown around. what i didn't like is that it ends on a big-ol' cliffhanger in the present. the story in the past has one too, but it had more of a conclusion than the story in the present. i mean, of course there's going to be a sequel (like you can expect with almost every game nowadays), but couldn't there have been a little more closure?

the gameplay is a MUCH more simplified version of Prince of Persia - in fact, i'd go so far as to say that the controls are TOO simple. they're fluid, intuitive, but simple. it's hard to describe here, but one thing that bugged me is that there's no jump button - you simply run to the edge of a building and the jump happens automatically (think of 3D Zelda games). this means you're almost guaranteed to make the jump unless it's far too long. now, i don't mind the mechanic in some games, but in a game where jumping is KEY... to make it so EASY... i don't know.

the structure of the game was the other thing that bugged me. it got too repetitive too quickly. here's how it breaks down: you get your target, go to the assassin's guild to verify, go around town and find out about your target, return to the guild to say you're ready to strike, go assassinate the guy, then escape back to the guild. rinse and repeat. 9 times total. it got to where i couldn't play the game for more than an hour or two because i'd get bored. i think the total length of the game was around 12-15 hours.

for all my complaints, i did like how beautiful the game was. sure there were graphical hiccups (it could have stood to have another 3 months of QA done on it to polish it even more) but it was gorgeous walking around ancient Jerusalem, Acre, etc. oh, and the animation in the game was so... fluid. it was amazing. absolutely beautiful. i also liked how detailed the game was in its history. a lot of work was put into making history come alive.

so while the game disappointed in some ways, it delivered in others. overall i liked the game a lot, but didn't love it. if it's any measure, i'm sure i'll be getting the sequel.

8.75 out of 10

-k

i beat it! - Halo 3

2008-02-04T00:51:00.000-10:00

Halo. the video game series i've played the most of (by far). i've been playing Halo 3 multiplayer almost every single day since it came out last September, and before that i played hours upon hours of Halo 2 and Halo multiplayer. however, there is also a single-player portion of the game - well, it's not single-player per se, since up to 4 people can play... it's called Campaign mode. it continues and wraps up the story of the Halo trilogy. we all know the multiplayer is good (or i wouldn't be playing it as much), but how is the Campaign?

first off, let me start by saying i beat the original Halo with my friend Jake, but skipped playing through the Campaign in Halo 2 (or i played through some of it, but never beat it). to be honest, i've never been a huge fan of the story - it's a space opera where you're playing as Earth's super soldier, protecting it against 2 main enemies. pretty standard stuff.

so Halo 3 continues with the events that happened in 2 (in fact, 2 could be looked at as "Halo 2: Part 1" and Halo 3 could be "Halo 2: Part 2" in my opinion), wraps the trilogy up rather nicely, and leaves us with an impression of what Halo 4 might be like.

the gameplay was pretty solid for a first-person shooter. i played with my friend Jake again, and we played it on the highest difficulty setting. there were a few parts that had us dying again and again, but overall it was pretty easy. whole game took us maybe 12-15 hours.

no real complaints, but then again, no real commendations either. it was a solid experience that delivered but didn't astound.

my rating for Halo 3 Campaign:
8.75 out of 10 (+/- .25)

my rating for Halo 3 overall (Campaign, multiplayer, map editing toolset, video sharing):
9.75 out of 10

-k

movie review - Transformers

2008-02-02T22:45:00.000-10:00

well, i finally got around to watching the July 4th summer blockbuster movie of 2007. i missed my opportunity to see it for free when i was on vacation in Arizona last year and my work decided to take an afternoon off and go see it without me. bastards. however, i still didn't have to pay to see it, as my roommate purchased it and i just watched his copy.

boy am i glad i didn't pay money to see it.

let me start off by saying that my expectations of this movie were LOW. about as low as they can get short of me going into a movie and not hearing one word about it. i had heard that if you went in with an open mind and just went along for the ride, it was a fun movie. and hey, i've gone into other Michael Bay movies with an open mind, just along for the ride, and i ended up liking them ok (well, not all of them - i'm looking at you The Island). so i figured i'd be ok. also, as i was never a HUGE fan of the Transformers (short of having some of their toys), i wasn't worried about the movie raping my childhood memories.

all that said, this movie was an abomination.

they basically took the plot of Independence Day and added in aliens that were on our side. there are so many problems with this movie that i can't even begin to describe them here. and i'm not talking logistical problems, or problems like "why don't the bad robots just smash the tiny humans, why do they insist on shooting at them like it's a fair fight?" or "why did they feel the need to sex up the movie with the young, hot Australian blond that's some sort of communications expert?" (though there are plenty of those problems) - i'm talking about writing problems, pacing problems... just PROBLEMS. all i can tell you is what i liked:

- seeing and hearing the Transformers come to life
- seeing the battles between the Autobots and the Decepticons
- the out-of-place humorous sequences in the movie that actually made me laugh despite how ludicrous they were (like the scene at his parents house with the Autobots in the backyard)

everything else i hated.

i almost turned the movie off several times along the way, including as early as about 10 minutes into it and as late as an hour and a half into it. i hardly EVER dislike a movie so much that i want to turn it off, especially when i've devoted an hour and a half to it.

what continues to amaze me is that i went in with an open mind and STILL hated it. if Ghost Rider didn't come out last year, Transformers would have easily been the worst movie i saw of 2007.

all that said, the movie was still an exhilarating ride. i might not say no to watching it again if i absolutely had to.

1/2 star out of 4

-k

around the web - 2/1/08

2008-02-01T18:37:00.000-10:00

follow-up to Cheeseburger in a Can:
man purchases and eats Cheeseburger in a Can (it's in a forum, so scroll up to see the first pictures)

my favorites are #11 and #10:
the 11 most pointless celebrity products

first Seinfeld-inspired scientific study i've heard of:
you dipped - and then you dipped again (thanks Jake)

a novel, albeit somewhat confusing idea (i'd be on board if there weren't so many different lines and symbols to learn):
Visuwords - the online graphical dictionary

and finally, perhaps my favorite link this week. i have an affinity for poorly produced rap songs by sports teams. here are 6 by NFL teams, with the Rams song being the most unbelievable:
there are worse songs than the Super Bowl Shuffle

have a good weekend all.
-k

around the web - 1/29/08

2008-01-29T18:51:00.000-10:00

greatest invention since Water Joe:
cheeseburger in a can? YES PLEASE!

stuck at work with no time to exercise? want to constantly feel like you're on the teacups ride at Disneyland?
then you need the Hawaii Chair! (yes i'm ashamed this is named after the state i live in)

funniest thing from last week (that i forgot to link):
dos and don'ts with babies (funniest thing is his face when he's at the table playing chess and gossiping with his mom)

funny to me, maybe not to you:
David Lee Roth "Runnin' with the Devil" vocal track only

-k

movie review - 28 Weeks Later

2008-01-28T02:29:00.000-10:00

watched the movie 28 Weeks Later Saturday night. now, i'm a big fan of 28 Days Later, so i've been looking forward to seeing the sequel for a long time. how was it? let's just say i was let down.

it's a good movie that has its moments, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original. the worst part is that there are SO MANY times you'll find yourself saying "well that's stupid, that wouldn't happen - nobody is THAT stupid!" someone on the message boards called them logical fallacies. now, i'm one for suspending disbelief in order to have a good time, but the number of things you would have had to look past was just staggering. and it sort of ruins the movie.

if you can look past all the stupid writing (there's a lot of it, but i managed to look past some of it), the movie is STILL not the best. it just didn't take the 28 Days Later world in a direction i wish it would have.

i liked that it advanced the overall story (not necessarily where it advanced it to, but just that it did), and that this one was more personal (basically dealing with this family of 4), but damn everyone involved was STUPID! oh, and i don't know if it was on purpose but the writers made the US Army seem like the dumbest bunch of mother f*ers in the world. wow.

2 stars out of 4.

-k

ps - it looked gorgeous on blu-ray

i beat it! - Eternal Sonata

2008-01-28T02:17:00.000-10:00

i finished a video game this weekend! as most of you know, that's quite the rare occurrence for me. what did i beat? how did i like it? read on, dear reader!

i beat the RPG Eternal Sonata for the 360. started the game a little before Christmas and have been playing it for about an hour a night since then (well, not over Christmas break). clocked in at a little under 30 hours of game time, which is a little short for your typical RPG, but felt just about right for this game.

the basic plot of the game is that the composer Chopin is on his deathbed and he arrives in this (dream?) world. he meets up with a ragtag group that is going to the capitol city (think Wizard of Oz) and it goes from there. themes dealt with are life and death, alienation, love, and believe it or not, environmentalism.

while i loved the art direction and the story, the battle system became repetitive after only a few hours (more repetitive than other RPGs, and the game didn't do anything really about alleviating the repetition later) and the WAY the story was told and the characters developed (or not developed) really bothered me.

in terms of the way the story was told, there would be a bit where you'd be running around fighting or exploring (usually lasting about an hour), then there'd be 15 minutes of cutscenes - rinse and repeat. they could have cut the cutscenes up a bit and peppered them throughout the fighting/exploration bit.

in terms of character development, there were a lot of missed opportunities between characters, and declarations of love that came out of nowhere (with one that WENT absolutely nowhere). lots of underdeveloped characters. lots of underdeveloped and dropped plotlines.

oh, and even though i liked the overall length of 30 hours, to its determent the game rushed to its conclusion. suddenly i found myself fighting the main enemy of the game, then there was a bit more to finish up, and that was it. very anticlimactic. reminded me a bit of Radiata Stories.

however, when all was said and done, the story was quite whimsical and the game was absolutely gorgeous. the story let you fill in a lot of the blanks (maybe too many), but after reading some of the message boards and getting other people's thoughts, i think i've formed my own opinion now, and i liked the story overall. and as far as the art direction of the game goes, it was refreshing to see such a colorful and vibrant video game in the middle of all the browns and grays of modern gaming.

Eternal Sonata has its faults, but it has something that a lot of video games lack nowadays: charm. beauty. at under 30 hours (rather short for an RPG), it's worth a playthrough.

8 out of 10 (+/- .25)

-k

28 weekends later

2008-01-28T00:33:00.000-10:00

notes from the weekend:

- rocked out with some Rock Band with coworkers Friday after work. actually almost lost my voice. not my best session. still a good time was had by all.

- cut the Halo time down this weekend, only playing about 4 hours Friday, 4 hours Saturday, and 2 hours Sunday. did not play well at all. i'm either reaching a level where the other players are just plain better than me and the only reason i'm ranked so high is because my teammates do well and win for us, or i'm just getting a little sick of the game - which is weird, because i still LIKE the game. might have to cut back some more.

- continued watching Star Trek: The Next Generation this weekend. about 2/3 of the way through Season 1. still liking it, but still can't believe it ever aired - it's way too slow by today's standards. still on track to finish it sometime this summer.

- watched the movie 28 Weeks Later Saturday night. see the above post for more.

- i finished a video game! Eternal Sonata for the 360. see the above post for more.

i read this weekend. A LOT.

- read the first volume of the Scott Pilgrim series, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley. this author/artist previously wrote/drew one of my favorite graphic novels, Lost At Sea, a real soul-searcher. this new Scott Pilgrim series is a complete 180 from Lost At Sea. it's a comedy/drama with lots of nerd humor. follows the life of 23 year old Scott Pilgrim and his trials and tribulations with his band and his love life. it's a good read, and there's 3 more out currently that i'm thinking of picking up - but i gotta say, i really wish O'Malley would have done another soul-searching graphic novel. oh well. OH! almost forgot - Scott Pilgrim is being turned into a movie, directed by Edgar Wright - the creator of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. right up his alley.

- read the first volume of a comic called DMZ. this first trade is called DMZ: On the Ground, written by Brian Wood and drawn by Riccardo Burchielli. reason i picked it up is because Brian Wood is the author of another one of my favorite series, Demo. anyway, DMZ is set in a not-too-distant future where the US is suffering from another civil war and New York is the current battleground. the island of Manhattan is the DMZ. series follows a photojournalist straight out of college that is thrust into the DMZ and decides to make the best of a bad situation and report on how people live there. the series so far reminds me of Y: The Last Man and The Walking Dead - series that both deal with a dystopian future. it surprised me how much i liked DMZ (i thought it might be too preachy, too anti-American policy, too political - but it's not really, it just tells it how it is, or would be) and am going to pick up the next volume ASAP.

- read the 3-volume series The Waiting Place written and created by Sean McKeever with art by Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim, and Mike Norton. reason i picked this up is because McKeever is the author of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (you all know how i feel about that one) and another series i liked, Sentinel. oh, and he's from Wisconsin, and The Waiting Place deals with life in a small fictional town in Wisconsin. never before have i read such a real portrayal of small-town life. it also had one of the most real portrayals of high schoolers i've read in a while. the series deals with an ensemble cast of about 20 characters, most of them high schoolers, and all their different problems. it's about the trappings of small-town life. it's about hook-ups and break ups, friendships formed and friendships lost. it's about life. my only complaint is that there were a few too many loose ends when it concluded, but the author explained that away with a speech he gave one of his characters at the end. it's New Year's Eve and the character has this to say about New Year's: "Everyone thinks, like, when the clock strikes midnight you've suddenly entered this new chapter in your life, but it's nothing like that, you know? You still have the same bills to pay, you still have to go to the same job. You still have to look at the same you in the mirror. Life isn't made of nice, neat little chapters. Not really." to drive the point home, another character checks his watch and notices it's 12:42 - well past midnight. they didn't notice because, well, another chapter HADN'T started. it's the same chapter. same everything. still... just out of sheer reader's curiosity, i wish a few more plotlines would have been wrapped up.

what did you do this weekend?

-k

around the web - 1/25/08

2008-01-25T19:17:00.000-10:00

point /
counterpoint:
scientists create the world's blackest material /
Wesley Snipes is still the blackest thing on the planet

in honor of Rambo IV coming out today:
why John Rambo is the baddest of the bad asses

no better time waster than these websites:
10 pointless (but irresistible) websites

finally, true next-gen gaming is here:
tech demo for the new Star Wars game (featuring the marriage of 3 separate physics engines)

i knew the Wii was good for something:
head tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wiimote and Sensor Bar (in english: it makes your TV project in 3D)

have a good weekend all!

-k

around the web - 1/23/08

2008-01-23T18:53:00.000-10:00

i know the Chuck Norris craze is pretty much over (you could probably cite the Mountain Dew commercial as being the nail in the coffin) but still, Walker Texas Ranger had some crazy-ass moments in it. here Chuck takes on nature:
note how he wins by STARING IT DOWN

perhaps a Russian knockoff of Hot Fuzz?
one bad-ass cop with the serious skillz

as if i weren't geeked up enough for the new Rambo:
see the charted progression of death in the series

a great actor is cut down in his prime and this is your reaction?
Best Buy is a sensitive corporation

some extremely talented people make homemade video games on their own time. this is the funniest homebrew game i've seen in a long time. let me have the developers set the stage for you:

The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041, a day so painful to some that it is referred to only as the "B-Ballnacht". Thousands upon thousands of the world's greatest ballers were massacred in a swath of violence and sports bigotry as the game was outlawed worldwide. The reason: the Chaos Dunk, a jam so powerful its mere existence threatens the balance of chaos and order. Among the few ballers and fans that survived the basketball genocide was Charles Barkley, the man capable of performing the "Verboten Jam"...

Flash forward 12 years to the post-cyberpocalyptic ruins of Neo New York, 2053. A Chaos Dunk rocks the island of Manhattan, killing 15 million. When the finger is put on the aging Charles Barkley, he must evade the capture of the B-Ball Removal Department, led by former friend and baller Michael Jordan, and disappear into the dangerous underground of the post-cyberpocalypse to clear his name and find out the mysterious truth behind the Chaos Dunk. Joined by allies along the way, including his son Hoopz, Barkley must face the dangers of a life he thought he gave up a long time ago and discover the secrets behind the terrorist organization B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S.

that's right. it's an role-playing game ala Final Fantasy where you play as Charles Barkley in a post-apocalyptic world. the name of the game?
Charles Barkley: Shut up and Jam: Gaiden

-k

no reservations: vancouver

2008-01-22T01:02:00.000-10:00

i just got done watching the most recent episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel. tonight he visited Vancouver.

why was i so compelled to write? well because i think he did a good job of showing and explaining why Vancouver is such a wonderful place to live. sure he missed some stuff (and i, apparently, missed some stuff too), but the message he hit right on the head.

Vancouver is a wonderful urban melting pot that's got one of the densest populations on earth in the downtown core but yet manages to keep nature all around you. it has wonderful food, friends, and work (if you can get it).

so check it out on reruns if you can. see why i love the city of Vancouver so much. it doesn't cover everything, but it covers enough. oh, and i recognized some of the places and streets they were filming. at one point they were about 2 blocks away from where i used to live - right in front of where i used to grocery shop.

Vancouver. the best place on earth that i've been to.

i will return.

-k

of all the weekends i have encountered in my travels, this was the most... human

2008-01-21T22:18:00.000-10:00

*bonus points to anyone that knows what movie quote i'm referencing in my blog title. hint: it's extra dorky (as if anything i quote would be any less).

yes, the weekend. mine was good, how was yours? here's what i did:

- jammed with some coworkers Friday night. real instruments? no. we played a little Rock Band. the game is simply amazing. top 5 pick for me for 2007. now, there's no way i would have shelled out the money to buy the thing (it's like $180), but that's why i'm glad i work at a video game company. they buy stuff for us. since the game came out last November, we've been playing it quite a bit - though it has trailed off a bit since Christmas. what once used to be a daily after work routine has become a Friday night jam session. this week we played for about 3 hours - not bad, but we've gone for 4 or 5 before. Rock Band. great game.

- the question answered this weekend? "can one play too much Halo?" the answer - in my case at least - is "yes." over the course of Saturday i played over 8 hours of it. first i played some multiplayer online with a friend, then we later met up and played some co-op online, and finally i topped the night off with even more multiplayer with a different friend. now, i didn't play 8 hours straight - that would be murder. no, i took a couple of breaks, but they weren't enough. by the time i was playing with my other friend later at night, i was sucking pretty bad. hey, i was on my 6th - 7th - 8th hour of Halo for the day! give a guy a break. there IS such a thing as too much Halo.

- watched the Packer game Sunday. watched them stumble and throw away all they worked so hard for this season. Giants shut down their running game, Packers panicked like usual and put the game on Brett's shoulders, Brett couldn't handle it this time. what bothered me the most is that he didn't look distraught over how badly he was doing either. oh, and our pass defense was pretty abysmal. it doesn't matter anyway - nobody can beat the Patriots. good luck Giants.

- read the graphic novel Good as Lily this weekend by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm. i picked it up on a whim at a 50% off sale a few weeks back. it's about a teenage girl that is visited by her 6-year-old self, 29-year-old self, and 70-year-old self - all at the same time. well, you know me and time travel... i had to give it a shot. i'm glad i did. it's pretty cleverly written, with each of them coming to terms with problems at the points in their lives, with the main character (teenage one) having the biggest revelation of them all - and they don't go and try explaining the whole time travel thing, it just happens. sort of like Big. and i liked that. it was a good read.

- also reread 2 novels this weekend. wow, 2 whole novels in just a weekend?!? ok, they're "young adult" novels. inspired by the Ultimate Spider-Man universe, these tell the tale of a younger Spider-Man ensemble cast from the eyes of Mary Jane. the books are Mary Jane and Mary Jane 2 by Judith O'Brien. while they're "inspired" by the Ultimate comic, they don't quite have the same story. the novels are actually more like another favorite comic of mine, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane... but the stories in each differ as well. anyway, i've been pretty upset with what Marvel is doing with mainstream Spider-Man (they split Peter and Mary up and are acting, for the moment, as if they weren't married for the last 20-some years), so i go to the more obscure tales and find solace in them. these novels aren't great by any stretch of the imagination, but they're good reads if you're a young Spider-Man fan (i mean young as in Spider-Man is young, not the fan is young, but it's good for them too - i guess maybe i'm young at heart when it comes to Spidey). what can i say? i love my Spider-Man, and i love my Mary Jane.

- 2 of my friends are in a band called Spiral Trance. they played out Saturday night for the first time in a while. since i'm thousands of miles away, i was unable to attend. (and even if i was back home, i'm sure i would have been too busy playing Halo.) i hear the show was a bit rusty, but nobody noticed, and the place was packed, so i'll let it slide. next time i expect perfection. unfortunately i won't be able to make that show either, but someone will tell me how you guys did. i've got my sources. (it's Paul.)

-k

around the web - 1/21/08

2008-01-21T18:54:00.000-10:00

it's that time of year again. the Oscars? no. it's time to take notice of the worst that Hollywood has to offer:
the 2008 RAZZIES are upon us (thanks Matt)

actually wouldn't mind playing a few of these - you know, i am a game designer after all. it'd be research:
the world's most controversial board games

from Fatal Farm, the guys behind Lasagna Cat:
Infinite Solutions on youtube (fake how-to videos)

and because i can't get enough of Lasagna Cat (and missed posting one last time), here's two more to take us home:
11/01/2007
10/26/2007

-k

around the web - 1/17/08

2008-01-17T19:07:00.000-10:00

this is exactly why i don't listen to most of what's considered "today's music" on the radio today:
Nickelback is really, really original (thanks Matt)

drunk on a lawn mower:
stick around for the end - it's great

god i love the Japanese:
Super Terrific Japanese Pizza Time!

remember the game Guess Who? well here's how you win in one move. it's horrible, but oh so funny. why did i never think of this move???
Guess Who('s Coming to Dinner)

-k

around the web - 1/15/08

2008-01-15T18:51:00.001-10:00

an interview with Todd Holland:
director of perhaps the best adver-movie ever - The Wizard

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - Uwe Boll's latest monstrosity of a movie - made a measly $3 million at the box office. it's budget? $70 million. what does this mean:
Uwe Boll is ejected from the big-budget ring - huzzah!

the 80s were a simpler time, with unassuming advertising. wait, what do you mean the ad is slightly racist? i'm a tall, gangly man. aren't all us white folk?
banned sony ad

and, because i fear it didn't get enough attention yesterday, i'm going to be posting a Lasagna Cat clip every "around the web" post until i run out. here is your Lasagna Cat for the day:
04/08/1998

-k

around the web - 1/14/08

2008-01-15T01:14:00.000-10:00

the name of the show: Cinematic Titanic. the premise: watch a movie and tape yourself make funny comments while watching it. sounds familiar right? maybe like a little show called Mystery Science Theater 3000? well, Cinematic Titanic stars all the original players of MST3000. their first DVD is out. here is the trailer:
Cinematic Titanic: The Oozing Skull

i have to admit, the first few of these i watched i didn't really get it. but after a few, you start to laugh your ass off. a team of guys (Fatal Farm) decided to take "unfunny" Garfield cartoon strips and act them out. then after doing that they set what they just did to music. the unfunny brought to life is hilarious, and then the songs they choose and what they decide to do with them? priceless. some of the best are 05/22/1980 and 08/18/1978. here's the rest:
Lasagna Cat on youtube

i never knew ignorance and bigotry could be so god-damn funny! (oh, and i'm not anti-religion - far from it. i'm just anti-ignorance and anti-bigotry):
the 100 greatest quotes from fundamentalist Christian chatrooms

finally, with almost all the movie production houses moving over to blu-ray, it looks like the next-gen format war might be over. and Hitler ain't happy:
the downfall of HD-DVD

-k

my weekend - let me show it to you

2008-01-15T00:57:00.000-10:00

notes from my oh-so-glorious weekend:

- purchased 3 games over the course of the weekend. first off was Eye of Judgment for the PS3. it comes with the PS3 camera and it's a card game that you play using the camera. for $45, it was quite the steal (the camera alone is $40 retail). then i also bought 2 more RPGs for the PS2 - Steambot Chronicles and Digital Devil Saga 2. the first i bought after reading about it on destructoid (my gaming news site) and the second i bought because it's by the makers of Persona 3, and i LOVED Persona 3. both were steals again at only $15 a piece. now, when will i have TIME to play these games? who knows.

- watched the latter half of the Packers/Seahawks game Saturday and wow - color me impressed! with the Cowboys loss on Sunday, i'd say we've got a pretty good chance of making it to the Super Bowl! here's hoping we mop the floor with the Giants. GO PACK!

- read the graphic novel series Love as a Foreign Language. i'll dedicate a post to it later this week, but overall it was pretty good. the first 4 books were a lot better written and paced than the last 2 (ESPECIALLY the last one). but i still liked it.

- watched the premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX. the first episode was ACTION PACKED! the only time you had to catch your breath was really during the commercials. again, i'll dedicate a post to my thoughts on the show so far (also watched the 2nd episode tonight), but overall i'm liking it. a lot.

- decided with the writer's strike on i'm going to try and tackle some of the series i've been downloading over the past year (like i did with Babylon 5 this past summer). first up? Star Trek: The Next Generation. watched the first 4 episodes last night and hope to watch at least an episode a day until i'm finished - sometime this summer. the series is LONG!

- played lots and lots of Halo 3. Sunday-Thursday nights i play for about 2 hours a night, but on the weekends i sometimes play for 4-6 hours a night. it's unbelievable. i don't know why i don't tire of the game, but i don't. it's seriously impeding my making progress on any other games. damn you Halo 3.

- finally, it was my friend John's birthday on Saturday. i heard there was a party. unfortunately, i wasn't able to attend. hopefully you guys made do without me. miss ya buddy. have a happy 26th year of your life! i know i'm sure living it up!

-k

around the web - 1/11/08

2008-01-11T19:27:00.000-10:00

everybody loves game shows. i especially like #2 and #1:
the 6 most insane game shows from around the world

yet another great exclusive TV offer... wait, where do you put the reel? read the comments for extra laughs:
the amazing fishing rod pen

great political attack ad - and hey, he's from Wisconsin:
Paul R. Nelson won't spend your money on sex

-k

around the web - 1/10/08

2008-01-10T19:09:00.000-10:00

ah, the hero's journey. Joseph Campbell would be so proud:
the trailer for "harry potter and the chronicles of the lord of the golden compass of the jedi"

i've heard of touched-up photos in magazines but... wow:
a little photoshop magic

the "whore of the year" awards are not what they sound like. they are given out to movie critics that wrote rave reviews about crappy movies, most likely for money (hence the "whore" thing). i love the last guy - every movie is "the most _____ movie/film of the year!" ah, to be a critic:
four stars for the whore of the year awards

-k

around the web - 1/9/08

2008-01-09T19:24:00.000-10:00

DC Comics started this All-Star line of comics a couple of years ago that would bring in top writing talent to tell tales of the big superheroes (Batman and Superman) that weren't necessarily part of continuity. Batman got Frank Miller - writer of 300 and Sin City. i was actually thinking of picking up the series one day:
needless to say, i don't think i'm going to anymore
part 2 of the worst Batman story to ever be told

from the freaky to the just plain weird:
current genetic experiments most likely to destroy humanity

a fake children's book explaining the wonders of home servers. be sure to read the forward and then check out the author's bio on the back. impressive stuff:
mommy, where do servers come from?

-k

around the web - 1/8/08

2008-01-08T18:23:00.000-10:00

normally i'm not one for top __ lists from the previous year, but this one by the BBC had a lot of factoids in it AND links to the individual stories the factoids are pulled from:
100 things we didn't know last year

cartoons today have NOTHING on the cartoons from my childhood - case in point:
the absolute worst (best?) episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3

nothing like proclaiming to the world that you're an idiot:
signs with spelling mistakes

i actually saw the sign about ninjas up in Vancouver (though i don't remember if that's the guy - does that make me a bad person that i saw the sign and not the face? aw who cares):
homeless people i'd give money to

-k

the writer's strike and late night Comedy Central - plus, No Reservations: Singapore

2008-01-08T01:49:00.000-10:00

the final two late night shows returned tonight - The Daily Show and The Colbert Report - both sans writers. how did they do?

Jon Stewart on The Daily Show "winged it" a little more than Colbert did (or he gave the impression that he was winging it a bit more at least, maybe to subtly show that they need writers - like Conan), but he was still good. they both were in their own ways.

both he and Colbert covered a little bit of politics but then devoted most their time to the writer's strike, doing rather funny bits in regards to the whole situation. then, Jon's guest for the night was an expert on strikes, and Colbert's guest was an expert on unions. it was actually pretty bold, and i'm surprised Comedy Central let them get away with all of it.

i learned that the WGA is granting more and more smaller companies leave from the strike (like Letterman's company, which i talked about last week) and that hopefully that will light fires under the larger companies to the point where they say "look, we need to get our writer's back - they've got theirs back!" interesting tactic.

i also learned that now that talks have broken down (they did before the holidays), it will take a LONG time before they talk again, because whichever side approaches the other first will look like the "weaker" side, as if they caved to the pressure. so expect the strike to go on for a few more months (i was predicting it would be over in April, but we'll see).

i've said it over and over again - this whole thing simply fascinates me. i'm going to try and tune in to a couple more episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report this week to see how things are going, but we'll see how long i can keep it up - i've already missed 2 nights of Conan and Leno (last Friday and then tonight).

- kawitchate

PS: the new season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations started tonight on the Travel Channel with an episode on Singapore. i had a particular interest in it because some video game companies look to Singapore for outsourcing. heck, George Lucas set up a branch of his company there to work on animation and video games!

there was very little i knew about Singapore going in: that it's hot and humid there, it has very strict laws that keep crime down to a minimum, and that they cane people there in extreme cases. what i DIDN'T know is what a cultural melting pot it is! one of the people on the show said that you should head there to get a crash course in Asia 101. there's Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian - plus it's being Westernized, so a lot of people speak English there. anyway, where cultures meet, so do their foods. and wow did the food look good. yum.

i may have to add Singapore to my list of places to see. for now, it's still way down on the list - somewhere below Korea and England.

weekend notes

2008-01-07T00:58:00.000-10:00

- caught the latter half of Jurassic Park on cable this weekend and i've got to say, i forgot just how much fun that movie is. is it a GREAT movie? well, i don't know. there is some great camera work, and they try to work in some deeper issues, but honestly it still is just a popcorn summer blockbuster that pales in comparison to the book. however, it's great FUN.

- as many of you know, i haven't been to the beach yet since i've been here. 10 months and counting. first i just never went, and now it's like "well let's see if i can live here in Hawaii without ever going to the beach." well, my aunt and uncle are in town for the week and tonight we were walking around Waikiki (the Disneyland of Hawaii) and we ended up on the beach. now, i'm not going to count it as "going to the beach" because 1) it was night, so i wasn't soaking up any sun, and 2) i didn't go in the water. for me to "go to the beach," it would have to be during the day either to soak up some rays or to go swimming (or both). what i did tonight, that was just a stroll on the beach. :)

- anyone else think the NFL playoff games this weekend were rather lackluster? granted, i was only able to catch one of them in full (the rest i caught highlights of on ESPN), but they just lacked a certain something. even the Pittsburgh/Jacksonville game (the one i watched), where Pittsburgh came back only to lose in the end... it almost felt like it was all staged, fixed. i don't know. well, go Packers next weekend. they got a tough game ahead of them, facing the red-hot veteran Seahawks.

- k

i love me some well-written Spider-Man - a review of Spider-Man: Reign

2008-01-05T22:21:00.000-10:00

so mainstream Spider-Man hasn't been treated the best lately.

first there was the questionable Spider-Man 3 movie (which i still loved, but saw many of the flaws that everyone else did - i just chose to look past them and enjoy the overall experience). if you want my lengthy remarks on the movie, check for my post from a few months ago.

then there's the debacle that is Amazing Spider-Man the comic book. ever since "The Other" storyline 2 years ago, it's been tainted by what i'd call "editorial mandates" - meaning maybe the writer (the wonderful J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame) wanted to do something with the character but the editors of the books had ol' Spidey fitting in to their plans in a different way. first Spidey moved in and joined the Avengers and Tony Stark/Iron Man became his mentor/father figure. not so bad, so whatever. THEN they had Spidey do something quite uncharacteristic in Civil War (it made national headlines it was so out-of-character). and NOW... well let's just say that the editorial machine that is Marvel has lost a faithful reader with their latest mainstream Spidey decision. i am done collecting Amazing Spider-Man for the foreseeable future.

however, there ARE creators out there still writing great Spider-Man stories. two of my ongoing favorites are Ultimate Spider-Man (which focuses on a younger Peter Parker and isn't bogged down by 40 years of history) and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (which is more like a high school drama, focusing on the friendships of Mary Jane, Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, and Spider-Man).

and then there are the mini-series.

Spider-Man: Reign was a 4-issue mini-series that got collected in a hardcover trade that came out last year i believe. it's written and drawn by Kaare Andrews - someone i had never heard of up until this series.

you know Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller? came out in the 80s, was a dark, gritty look at Batman's future... yeah, well Spider-Man: Reign is the dark, gritty look at Spider-Man's future. and while it's probably not going to be the classic that Dark Knight is, it certainly was a great read.

set 30-some years after Peter has hung up the costume, the city of New York needs him again. it is being turned into a totalitarian state, and by a familiar foe. however, Peter doesn't go rushing to the rescue. see, he stopped being Spider-Man for a whopper of a reason and it takes a few familiar faces to make him don his costume once again.

ok, since the cover gives it away i'll tell you the reason. Mary Jane is dead, and he feels responsible. he feels responsible for ALL the deaths of those close to him - Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and Mary Jane. let me tell you - once you find out HOW Mary Jane died... wow. it's pretty shocking. i'm surprised it got past Marvel's editorial staff.

anyway, it's fairly obvious that Andrews pulled from Dark Knight for inspiration, as the art style, storytelling, and even story mirror it quite a bit. it's a very dark, brutal, and unforgiving story. speaking of the storytelling, it's written from a few points of view, and the dialogue early on is kept intentionally vague - so it can be a bit confusing at first (like "who's that guy?" or "why are these people speaking so cryptically?") but the story is better for it. all will be revealed, don't worry.

the only faults are that 1) it almost mirrors Dark Knight (and other future stories like V for Vendetta) a little too much with the whole totalitarian state thing, and 2) the main villain, while a good fit, just doesn't have the emotional punch that it should. see, Batman has his Joker (the villain in Dark Knight) but Spider-Man doesn't have a Joker. the closest foe would probably be the Green Goblin, but he's been dead for a while. as it is, they did the best they could with the villain, but it just lacked a certain something.

Spider-Man: Reign. read it if you can.

- kawitchate

around the web - 1/5/08

2008-01-05T22:17:00.000-10:00

wasn't really any good finds yesterday, and that's what it'll usually mean when i don't post any links - either that or i'm too busy at work (or too lazy at home) to post anything.

i DID however find a gem today. it's a SNL TV Funhouse cartoon that is a parody of Dora the Explorer. and it's hilarious:
Maraka (and her cat friend, Mittens)

- k

RIP SiP: 1993-2007

2008-01-04T02:44:00.000-10:00

i haven't talked much about comics on this here site yet, but i am to change that - starting tonight with the end of a long-running favorite of mine, Strangers in Paradise.

the series started way back in 1993, and, while i had heard of it when i first collected comics in the late 90s, i didn't start reading it until the second time around, starting in 2002 i think. i picked up some of the early trade paperbacks (collections of the single issues) from an ebay auction, loved what i read, then picked up a collection of single issues from another ebay auction after that to continue the story and get me up to speed. after that i collected the singles each month as they came out for a year or two, then moved back to the trade paperbacks when i made the overall move from single issues to trades (stopped getting singles 2-3 years ago).

the final trade came out late last year (that's 2007 - remember, it's 2008 now), and i just finished reading it tonight (after receiving it as a present for Christmas).

107 issues. collected in 19 trade paperbacks. 14 years in the making. written/drawn/published by just one man - Terry Moore.

it's the story of 3 friends - Francine, Katchoo, and David. David wants Katchoo, Katchoo wants Francine, and Francine doesn't know what she wants. this is the basic framework, but the tapestry woven by Moore is so rich and multi-layered that it's truly fantastic to behold. there's crime drama elements, sordid pasts, a ruthless shadow organization, extremely dark moments, and a large supporting cast - and yet the core of the book is never lost.

it's the story of 3 friends. it's a love story - a story about the power of love.

oh, and the HUMOR! the man can write the most wonderful humorous real-life situations. granted, as the book went on there were fewer and fewer of these moments, but they would always pop up and remind you that laughter is truly the best medicine (besides love, and being loved).

there are a few questions i had after finishing off the series, so i tracked down a number of interviews and blog posts he did around the time the final issues came out last year. yeah, that's me - uber-nerd. of note:

- he was thinking of starting to wrap up the series in 2001 when 9/11 happened. after that, he decided to continue a little longer on it and change the end he had in mind - which would have been darker and more depressing - to an uplifting one full of hope and love. i'm SO glad he did this. most times i'd vote for the dark/depressing ending (like in movies), but this series shouldn't have ended on that note. it should have ended just as it did. wonderful job.

- because the series deals with lesbians (remember, Katchoo loves Francine, and Francine thinks maybe she loves Katchoo), Moore was eventually asked to leave his church. simply amazing the close-mindedness of organized religion. it's not a book about lesbians - it's a book about LOVE. people, in love. it just so happens that the two people are women. to be honest, Moore handles it so well i often found myself saying "oh yeah, i guess they could be considered lesbians."

- there is a flash forward to the future midway through the series that i remember being simply amazing at the time i read it. however, reaching the end now, it seems that the flash forward didn't exactly get incorporated just right. it might have had to do with Moore changing his ending from dark and depressing to uplifting and of hope, i don't know. all i know is i REALLY want to go back and reread that spot to make sure i'm not crazy. too bad the rest of my collection of SiP is thousands of miles away.

actually, after reading the finale, i immediately wanted to go back and reread the ENTIRE series. he sort of invites you to with some writing tricks in the final issues. he certainly did a good job bringing things full-circle.

Strangers in Paradise. an excellent series. can't recommend it enough. if you can, pick up the pocket book versions that have come out. they are a little cheaper than the trades and collect all the issues in 6 rather thick pocket books.

what's Moore up to next? oh, only WRITING MY FAVORITE COMIC RIGHT NOW, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane!!! the original writer of the series jumped ship from Marvel and Moore's taking over sometime this spring. they couldn't have picked a better successor. he's also got another independent coming out called Echo, and taking over writing duties on Runaways, also for Marvel.

- kawitchate

the writer's strike and my subsequent television watching - Thursday edition

2008-01-04T02:37:00.000-10:00

well, the third night of basic cable channel-hopping with the writer's strike in full force and i'm starting to see a pattern emerge - one that i basically fell into when all my shows ended last year. i watch reruns of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Without a Trace. tonight it was SVU and Without a Trace... oh, with a rerun of South Park and Drawn Together thrown in for good measure.

also tuned into the opening segments of both Leno and Conan. both still gave ample time to the issue of the writer's strike - even incorporating it into their bits/jokes more - and it was pretty good. Leno's monologue is spot-on. he must have written the majority of that himself to begin with. it's the segment after that where we see Leno "wing it," and it's really interesting seeing such a seasoned veteran wing it... same with Conan. good stuff so far.

- kawitchate

around the web - 1/3/08

2008-01-03T17:07:00.000-10:00

not that much funny or interesting today.

this one should keep you busy for a while, as it's a top 10 list with writing AND youtube videos! yay multimedia!
products you didn't know you can't live without

i love local news clips:
weather girl getting jiggy with it

i really hope this becomes a series of webisodes:
drunk history starring Michael Cera

- k

the writer's strike and late night television

2008-01-03T01:21:00.000-10:00

so i've been looking forward to tonight for a few weeks now. you see, i learned back then that the late night mainstays - Leno, O'Brien, Letterman, Ferguson, Kimmel - were all going back on the air tonight after most of them had been off the air since the writer's strike started 2 months ago (most of them being members of the guild). how would the show be without writers? what would be said? would they pull it off? well i tuned in to Leno and Conan and, well, it was interesting.

Leno did the better job of the two in terms of pulling off a pretty normal show without writers, but that figures because the guy is a workhorse! in the midst of doing the Tonight Show he's still doing his own stand-up acts regularly and writing a good chunk of the monologue of every show. so he had his normal monologue, went to the audience for unscripted questions for the bit after the monologue (where you could really tell it was unscripted, as Leno was stumbling and/or rambling a bit with his answers, which was kind of nice to see - a natural, human reaction), and then moved on to the usual 3 guests.

Conan skipped his monologue, did bits on his new beard, what he's been up to for the past 2 months, and a wedding ring spinning contest, then had his usual 3 guests. he was pretty uncomfortable at times, way more so than Leno. with his uncomfortable moments and the obvious time-killer of the wedding ring spin, i'm wondering if Conan was trying to send a message to everyone that yeah, i'm back on the air, but i'm nothing without my writers. get them back or this is all you'll get out of me.

both guys gave ample time at the start of their shows to explain their situations - that they're members of the WGA but could not go on not working. they each have a staff of 50+ that AREN'T writers, and those people needed to work. of course, i'm sure that NBC was also breathing down their necks, but whatever. the sad thing is, the WGA is now picketing both of them.

i'm going to try and tune in to at least the start of each program to see how things are progressing over the next few days/weeks, because it's kind of interesting. hour-long late night television unscripted. these guys aren't particularly loved now by either side (the companies that employ them or their writer's guild). we'll see what happens.

on the flip side of things, i heard that Letterman and Ferguson both got their writers back due to some loophole. i guess CBS doesn't actually "own" the two shows, but rather Letterman's company Worldwide Pants does... so the WGA made a separate deal with Worldwide Pants that allowed the writers of those shows to go back to work.

cheaters.

kudos to Leno and Conan for returning on the air with no writers. good luck to both of them. now the next thing to watch out for is the return of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which are both apparently coming back next Monday - sans writers.

- kawitchate

the writer's strike and my subsequent television watching

2008-01-03T00:59:00.000-10:00

a funny thing is happening. the majority of shows i was interested in are now over - with some probably over forever - and i'm starting to watch the most curious of shows.

see, after a 8-9 hour day of sitting in front of a computer, the last thing i want to do when i get home (at least immediately) is get on the computer here, or even play video games. i usually veg in front of the TV for a couple two three hours. if there's "nothing on," i search until i FIND something on.

tonight started off with 2 hours of Law & Order. yes, an old favorite of mine is back for its 18th season (holy crap!) and, while i normally wouldn't watch it (haven't watched the original for a few years now, save for the episode here and there), there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE ON! so i gave it a shot, and it wasn't half bad.

in the midst of watching Law & Order i continued my basic cable channel-hopping hoping to learn which channel is what number. well, i happened upon the Travel Channel and the Food Network tonight (the History Channel was busy with shows on bunkers and WWII, no lie) and i rediscovered shows i had stumbled upon in the past.

first was Dinner: Impossible on the Food Network. this is a show that's got this uber-chef that goes into "impossible" (or improbable) cooking situations and has to work with the staff at hand to make this huge, delicious meal to feed sometimes hundreds of people. it's fun to see the interesting dishes he prepares and of course HOW he prepares them. tonight he had to work in a school cafeteria and in the famous ice hotel (that was pretty interesting).

next was Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel. he's a chef and author. think of the chef on Hell's Kitchen, but this guy is a little more reserved. anyway, what he does is travel to a city or region and partake in their food and culture. his observations are always a little off the wall (and blunt) which is why i like it so much. tonight he was in Osaka, Japan and it was just amazing. i have to get to Japan. oh, and i had actually heard of most the dishes he tried and had actually eaten a few myself!

last was Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. he's a food writer, dining critic, radio talk-show host, TV personality, chef and teacher (got that bit from the official website). this guy is really nice, quite the opposite from the guy above. he also travels to a region of the world and takes in their food and culture, but some of the foods tend to be a little more on the "interesting" side (read: bugs, fermented things, etc). tonight he was in Taiwan and wow... every little restaurant he visited was amazing, especially the one where everything is made/prepared with tea leaves in some way or another. now i'm thinking i might have to make it to Taiwan too! gotta try that stinky tofu!

it'll be interesting to see what i find to watch tomorrow night, as there's not one single show on network television that i want to see.

good thing i have basic cable.

- kawitchate

around the web - 1/2/08

2008-01-02T15:09:00.000-10:00

i've been told that i should share my daily internet finds with more people. instead of emailing a bunch of you, i just figured i'd post it to my blog, since i want to post more anyway. here they'll be archived too. win win.

so, without further ado, here's the funny and/or interesting stuff from around the interweb today. enjoy.

better than all of last year's Skittles commercials combined:
finally, comfort in your car

*and yes, it looks to be a real product:
though they could stand to hire themselves a website designer

a little post-Christmas Christmas cheer:
everyone wants a holiday sweater!

bootleg edition of Star Wars Ep. III: The Backstroke of the West:
bad Chinese subtitles make for a better Episode III

want to play games? have no money?
best freeware games of '07

- k

basic cable channel-hopping

2008-01-02T00:48:00.000-10:00

my roommate recently downgraded us from digital cable (comparable to satellite in terms of number of channels) to basic cable. without telling me. initially i was upset, but then he explained that we've still got 70+ channels and that most of the main ones were still there. i was skeptical, but upon inspection, he is right. however, now all the numbering is wrong and i have to discover which channel is what number all over again.

while i was basic cable channel-hopping tonight, i happened upon the History Channel. now, i've never been one to really watch the channel - in my mind it's always been the "WWII channel," with tonight's episode focusing on the tanks of WWII - so imagine my surprise when there was a show about space on there. and not some history lesson on space - oh no. this was like Discovery Channel-type stuff.

it was a program called Universe, or The Universe. and the episodes i caught were on cosmic holes, the moon, the Milky Way, and a bit of the episode on asteroids.

cosmic holes and the Milky Way episodes were by far my favorites, as they dealt with things that i've never really grasped - wormholes, time travel, white holes, black holes, solar systems, galaxies, the universe, and how they're all connected. it really reminded me of just how wonderful and vast a place space really is.

and i just read two graphic novels about space - Orbiter and Ocean. both are by Warren Ellis and both are pretty good reads (Orbiter being the better of the two). maybe i'm on a space kick. who knows.

check out Universe on the History Channel if you can, paying special attention to the episodes on cosmic holes and the Milky Way. great stuff.

- kawitchate

ps. i'm back from a week-and-a-half-long vacation home for Christmas and ready to pay more attention to the blog in the new year. it became a little Heroes-centric there for a while... but with the writer's strike, i won't be writing about TV much for a while (unless it's to say how bad it is)!

i knew it - Heroes edition

2007-12-07T01:48:00.000-10:00

in this day and age of the internet, you think it would be easier to come by information on shows - how many episodes have been ordered, how are they doing in the ratings, etc. etc. i'm REALLY trying to get info lately because of this damn writer's strike. however, in general, i've found info on TV shows really hard to come by.

in my recent hunt for information, i found out that Chuck and Life (both new shows that i enjoy thoroughly) were greenlit for full seasons (i guess they originally only had 11-13 episodes each). cool beans. i ALSO found out that NBC may not have time in their schedule to air the last episode of Journeyman (which has NOT been picked up for a full season yet). next week is the 11th episode, and then there's a 12th out there that's been filmed and everything that wraps up the story just in case no more episodes are ordered but NBC might not have a time slot to air it in. oh, and it's part 2 of what happens in episode 11. wow. nice one NBC.

all that's fine and dandy, but here's the real reason for this post: Heroes and their sloppy, sloppy finish to season 2 (or season 2 part 1 if the writer's strike ends in time). quoted from an article on tv.com from a month ago:

NBC's Heroes is preparing for the worst. According to TVGuide.com, the superhero drama is reshooting the final episode of the season's first half--also known as Volume One or "Generations."

Originally scheduled for multiple volumes, the second season of the drama may be halved, and the reshooting of the December 3 episode is designed to wrap things up nicely...by transforming the episode into a potential season finale rather than a midseason cliffhanger. The strike was allegedly also the cause of the indefinite postponement of the Heroes: Origins spin-off.

so there you go. damn writer's strike.

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 11

2007-12-04T00:53:00.000-10:00

so i bet you all think you know what i'm going to say.

and you're probably right. at least partially.

here's how it went. i was ENGROSSED up until the commercial break at 8:35 - i mean i was on the EDGE OF MY SEAT the writing was so good. i was loving it.

then i started to realize... there's no way they can cover everything i want them to (or better yet, everything they should) in the time left. and then the scenes with characters started getting shorter and shorter (Claire reunited with her dad was WAY too short of a scene, same with Peter and Adam storming the compound, Hiro and Adam facing off, Nathan and his hastily called press conference, etc. etc. etc). and then it was over.

what happened? i HAVE to think the writer's strike (or the impending writer's strike at the time of writing the second season) meant they needed a quick finish to the half-season (season?). for Heroes to drag on for 6-8 episodes (at a slow, but steady pace - better than what came after it) and then quickly (and somewhat sloppily) wrap up in 3-4 just plain sucked.

what should have happened? i think there were about 2 episodes missing - one dealing mostly with Nathan (as we saw VERY little of him this season, more on that below) and another dealing with what happened 30 years ago with the old heroes (when Nathan and Parkman were talking to Mrs. Petrelli and she was like "It happened 30 years ago..." close up on her face and everything... you KNOW that was begging for a flashback episode).

if i could have more episodes, i would have liked one that showed what happened to the OTHER characters 4 months ago (see my post from a few weeks ago) and maybe yet another dealing with more of the aftermath of Claire's dad being "dead." but if i can't have those, we SHOULD have had at least the 2 i described above.

and we didn't. and the season suffered horribly for it.

notes:

- all in all, for an episode that had almost every (every?) hero in it, the pacing and face-time for each hero wasn't all that bad. as i said, i was really loving it up until i realized that this was it, there was no more time to cover everything that needed to be covered. it's just too bad that we didn't get the 2 episodes i described above that were needed to make this REALLY good.

- virus was stopped, but what was the aftermath of it? where's Peter's Irish lass? was that future really avoided? the whole virus storyline sort of just stopped once Peter incinerated the vile. so... is everything cool then? hello?

- Elle maturing is still a fun ride. when she went to face Sylar on her own i was worried they'd kill her off, but i'm glad they didn't. in fact, it was really neat how she smiled when Sylar said that she saved their lives, was their hero.

- the Company using Claire's dad to quiet her was pretty cool, but felt rushed (again, that's why i wish there was another episode with Claire dealing with her father's death). i wish he would have stayed "dead" longer... however, he isn't going to get to BE with his family for a while, so i guess that's interesting.

- i really liked the Nikki/Micah moments between the two of them in the car, but otherwise that ENTIRE storyline was dumb and boring. and now she's "dead" and honestly i couldn't care less. i really haven't liked what they did to her character (and her family for that matter, killing DL the way they did) all season long.

- the Suresh/Sylar/South American chick/Molly storyline was pretty tight. i'm surprised Sylar showed his true self so early to the South American chick, but whatever. oh, and i was kinda sad that she didn't die since i find her pretty annoying - HOWEVER, now that she's on the good side and knows what Sylar did, i think she's going to play a big part in bringing him down. let's just hope she's less annoying.

- yes, Sylar got his powers back, and i guess it was about time. the next "chapter" is called Villains, and as much as i'd like to see Sylar and Adam team up, i think what is more likely is that the Villains are going to be Sylar and the Company... although Sylar knows that the Company was the one that took away his powers, so he's going to be after them as well. very interesting. oh, and they'd BETTER start off next season by showing us what happened to Sylar 4 months ago, how the Company got him, and all that happened to him down in Mexico up until the twins came upon him in the middle of nowhere.

- i liked everything that went down at Primatech Paper with Adam and Peter and Nathan and Parkman and Hiro, but it just should have been LONGER. show Adam and Peter storming the place. show the face-off between Adam and Hiro as Hiro takes him in time and leaves him there. show some more of what's in the vault. and for god's sake did they rush into that press conference thing - where the hell did that come from?!? which leads to my next point...

- they shouldn't have killed Nathan. i mean sure, dead doesn't necessarily mean dead - especially with Claire's blood everywhere now, but for some reason i think they're going to make this one stick. the writer's think it'll serve to strengthen Peter's resolve, that Nathan was just an ends to a means for Peter's character (and Peter is EVERYONE'S favorite, right?). i mean the signs are there - Nathan doesn't have his family anymore, he was a broken man, a drunk, a destitute... they were getting him ready to die. and i HATE them for it. Nathan has always been one of my favorite characters and they SHAT ALL OVER HIM this season (both literally, by making his life hell, and figuratively, by not giving him enough face time on the show). this once-proud Congressman with a family suddenly had NOTHING, and that doesn't make for interesting TV? where was the Nathan-centric episode this season?!? hell, where was he in ANY of the episodes?!?!? and now you have the audacity to kill him?!? you give him a few brotherly lines in this episode and show his quick turnaround back into the man he once was by calling the press conference and you think it's enough? well it's not. if you can't tell, i'm actually livid. if this death sticks, i am seriously going to think about dropping this show.

and that about sums it up. it was a fun ride taken by itself, but the season was missing 2 key episodes (ideally 4) that would have made the package whole. as it said at the end, Heroes returns "in 2008," but with the writer's strike, does that mean it will return for the second half of season 2, or will we have to wait until the Fall for season 3?

i'm willing to give the sloppy pacing and writing a break because of the writer's strike, but if Nathan truly is dead, that's going to be something hard to forgive. if they would have given him his dues this season, i wouldn't mind as much.

but they didn't.

and i do.

damn you Heroes for being so good last season and sloppy - yet still a blast in its own right - this season. and damn you for Nathan's death.

i still love you... but you're on thin ice.

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 10

2007-11-28T22:26:00.000-10:00

oh my. the first Heroes impressions post that's not on written the same day as Heroes! well, i wasn't quite home yet from Vegas Monday when Heroes first aired, so i had to download it and watch it last night. reason i didn't post THEN is because i was busy catching up on Journeyman and Chuck (yes i watch Chuck now, it's a guilty nerdy pleasure).

so here it is. hope i remember all my thoughts from last night.

- things seemed to move like molasses the first 8-or-so episodes this season and all of the sudden things are rushing to a conclusion starting this week (and presumably into next). did it feel rushed to any of you guys? like this red-headed woman has been a mystery for a while and Peter and Adam decide to track her down AND find her ALL IN ONE EPISODE?!? and Sylar and the twins took FOREVER to get through Mexico and now they're all of the sudden in New York?!? SLOW DOWN.

- really think they're missing out on telling stories about Nathan's recovery (i mean come on, the guy just learned his brother is alive and... what? what is he up to? is he trying to find him or what?) and Parkman. Parkman especially this week. Parkman last week went into Peter's mom's head (we're led to believe) to get the location of the red-haired older woman hero, so shouldn't we have had a scene with him either meeting up with Peter and Adam at her place or maybe him arriving after she was dead? AND WHAT IS NATHAN UP TO??? my suggestion: skip the New Orleans story and deal with people we really care about.

- tired of the twin chick falling so easily for Sylar and his tricks. i could see maybe, MAYBE her telling her brother to leave, that she didn't need him anymore, but now all of the sudden she's so blindly in love with him that she'll enter Suresh's apartment where this little girl is sleeping (Molly) and basically hold her hostage so that Suresh will show up? no way. oh, and they shouldn't have killed the brother, not yet... but Heroes has a tendency to kill people too fast.

- ok, after all that hate, a little love. i love that Claire's dad is alive and being held by the Company. i ALSO love that Claire is mad as hell and isn't going to run anymore... though the declaration came out of left field, i can't wait to see where it leads.

- you can see Elle starting to doubt her father and the Company. very cool, as long as she doesn't lose that spark that makes her her.

- will the outbreak of the virus be from this super-strain being held in Texas (that we just learned about this very episode by the way - RUSHED) or will it instead be from what Nikki is infected with? that would be more interesting (and a nice case of misdirection) - we think it's in Texas, and that one gets saved, but then because Suresh couldn't get to Nikki in time because Sylar was knocking at his door... Nikki is the alpha case.

- just as i'm tired of Sylar manipulating the twin chick so easily, i'm even more tired of Peter being so easily manipulated ESPECIALLY now that he has his memory back. i know they're trying to say that he cares about this new girlfriend of his more than anything and that's why he's trying to help Adam "stop" the virus, but COME ON! you can't tell me that once he got his memories back he wouldn't have rushed to see his brother and mother!!!

- they are SLOWLY revealing things that the old heroes did in the past, but it's not nearly enough ESPECIALLY now that the writers are killing them all off. i mean come on! we don't even know what half of them can do! what was Hiro's father's power? how about the red-haired older woman? clue us in will ya!

i think that's about it. i didn't see the preview for next week but was told that some of the heroes converge on Texas and have a stand-off against Peter and Adam. i don't know... we'll see how it plays out. oh, and i heard that "2 heroes will die!" - what?!? it better not be anybody important / that i like. well, if they "die," they've always got Claire's blood now to bring them back.

to sum up: writing that was once keeping me happy and on a pretty good (but slow) pace has suddenly turned frantic and hectic. storylines are being neglected and others are being told needlessly. it's sloppy and rushed. i don't know if the impending writer's strike (impending at the time, now it's an actuality) had anything to do with the sudden change, but all i know is that this could be the last Heroes we get for 9 months (if the strike continues) and i just want it to continue to be GOOD while we've got it.

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 9

2007-11-19T22:53:00.000-10:00

forgive and forget. i was pretty mad at Heroes last week, only showing us half the stories i wanted to see, but i'm over it now... mostly because i think they WILL show us the rest of the stories (especially Sylar's story - they HAVE to), it's just a matter of when.

Heroes is back on track this week and it was pretty darn good.

notes:

- really liked how this was like a "theme" episode with everyone involved dealing with father issues. i know that Heroes tries to do the whole theme thing (with the Suresh voice over at the start of the episode and at the end tying things together) but never before has it felt so... cohesive. Parkman dealing with potentially becoming his father, Claire and her dad, Elle and Bob, Hiro letting his father go (or rather, accepting his departure from THIS world)... all very cool.

- Parkman's new power is AWESOME... and the way he's got to struggle with not becoming his father now has some real potential. since it's such a powerful power, i hope it doesn't get overused like that reality-bending power got overused in the latter half of last season (the girl that worked for the company and was watching over a kidnapped Micah).

- speaking of powers that could potentially become overused, how about Claire's blood? we saw what it did to her dad... does this mean dead doesn't necessarily mean dead anymore? will anybody really die? i liked it more when the lives of characters were on the line last season, how Mendez died and stayed dead... well, we'll see what happens.

- speaking of what happened to Claire's dad, what a great story. the painting made you (and him) believe it would be Claire and her new boyfriend that would kill him - but it was Suresh and the Company. and of COURSE he wasn't going to stay dead (i'm just surprised they showed him alive again this episode - thought they'd save it for later), but what are the ramifications? does the Company have him now? will they make him work for them, threatening they'll go after his family if he doesn't? could be some interesting stuff to come out of this new storyline.

- Suresh has some issues to deal with as well after betraying the trust of Noah and sticking with the Company (oh, and murdering someone).

- Elle couldn't get any more cool. however, i'm worried that what Noah told her this week will set her on a path that will make her the Company's lap dog no more (and to an inevitable confrontation with her father)... and while that's cool for character progression, i think i'll miss the Elle that was. we'll see.

- Hiro finding out that Adam is the one murdering the old heroes was cool. it's interesting trying to piece together what exactly Adam is up to. he's telling Peter they've got to save the world (from the virus supposedly, at least that's what Peter thinks) and then he's going around murdering the old heroes. maybe his definition of "saving the world" isn't what Peter thinks it is - maybe it's to rid the world of heroes.

2 more episodes before the end of the Fall season, perhaps the end of the ENTIRE season if the writer's strike goes on too much longer. i really doubt they can wrap up all the open storylines in 2 episodes and save the world but... we'll see. that's what all the ads say is going to happen. what do i think? there'll be a cliffhanger and we'll be left hanging until next Fall when the writers have time to catch up on writing after the strike is over sometime next Spring.

preview for next Monday's episode looked good. most interested in Claire and Elle's confrontation and Sylar and Suresh's confrontation - and if Sylar is there... where are the twins?

- kawitchate

i watched some movies!

2007-11-19T03:19:00.000-10:00

what used to be a weekly - if not daily - occurrence has now become a monthly or bi-monthly pasttime. watching movies. i seem to only see them on airplanes or on vacation recently, but in the past 2 weeks i've seen 3 movies worth blogging about. and here they are:

- TMNT -

it probably comes as no surprise that i was a HUGE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan growing up. that said, i didn't have too high of expectations going into TMNT, the new revitalization of the Turtles movies. how did it turn out? very well i may say.

it wasn't trying to be completely new, which i liked (i kind of put it in the same ballpark as Superman Returns, with it acknowledging the other movies happened, but not being stuck in the rut of their history and style). in fact, i liked it a LOT. it REALLY captured the family that is the turtles, and the overall storyline wasn't too shabby either, with the bad guy having his own twist. it managed to give time to Casey and April, which was neat, and showed the Raph/Leo conflict perfectly. the CGI was spectacular, and the fights were great.

my only gripes are that it could have been longer, could have focused even MORE on Casey and April, and ESPECIALLY more on Mikey and Don (they were, sadly, underdeveloped in the movie). oh, and we could have had more of the Foot, but at least they were in there.

really hope there's a sequel.

- Syriana -

this movie is to the oil industry as The Insider is to big tobacco. it's not anti-American, not anti-Capitalism, not anti-ANYTHING. it just IS.

and that's why i ended up liking it so much.

we get to see a bunch of different people's perspectives on the merger of 2 big oil companies and how it affects everyone involved - from those that run the oil companies to the government that has to approve the merger, the CIA agent put in charge of doing dirty business in the Middle East to those lowly employees put out of a job. i don't think i've seen a more HONEST movie since The Insider.

it's amazing seeing millions upon millions of dollars trading hands in one scene, and then oil workers struggling to eat in the next. Clooney and Damon both put forth excellent - REAL - performances. everyone involved was top-notch.

i can't recommend this movie enough.

- The Departed -

maybe it's because i just saw Syriana the night previous, but i've got to say... i was let down by The Departed a little.

don't get me wrong, The Departed is a wonderfully crafted ride, filled with tons of stomach-churning scenes (from being nervous for the characters involved) and HOLY SHIT moments... but you pretty much knew where the ride was going to end. directing and editing definitely had a style to them, which was cool... and the acting was good, but not as great as in Syriana.

what was cool is that we got to see a little of a lot of characters, but i wish we could have seen even MORE of LESS characters - like the 2 main characters. there weren't enough quiet moments with them. they both had a hell of a ride when it was done, and it would have been interesting to see them experiencing it quietly a bit more - especially Leo.

oh, and while i knew what was going to happen at the end, i'm still not sure i liked it. all i'll say is that i wish one of the people that dies at the end didn't die. i think it would have been more interesting had he lived and no one knew who he was, what he had done.

really makes me want to see Infernal Affairs (the Japanese movie The Departed was a remake of).

OVERALL (out of ****)

TMNT: ***
Syriana: ****
The Departed: *** 1/2

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 8

2007-11-13T00:44:00.000-10:00

well, here it is. the episode in which we were promised we'd find out what happened to everyone 4 months ago after the blast. i hadn't been this excited for an episode of Heroes since the season 2 premiere.

i haven't been this let down by an episode of Heroes since the season 2 premiere.

why? i think it's because they both promised things they didn't keep - or rather there's just so much more that they COULD have been. as they were, they were disappointing. they both were half-episodes, only revealing parts, only focusing on a few of the characters - and i'd be fine with this episode if next week were part 2... but it's not. next week we're back to the present. and it sucks.

notes:

- we were promised we'd find out what happened after the blast. well, we found out what happened TO SOME HEROES, not all of them. what happened to Claire and her family? what happened to the cop that caused him to break up with his wife and move in with Molly and Suresh? how did Claire's dad, the cop, and Suresh team up to take down The Company? how did Ando cope with Hiro being gone? and, most disappointing of all - WHAT HAPPENED TO SYLAR??? of the stories we were told, they were pretty cool, but i wanted to hear them ALL. and don't tell me they didn't have the time - Nikki's story didn't need to be as long (or told at all if it meant telling another story in its place), Peter's ran a bit long as well, and i don't know if we needed the twins' backstory at all.

- LOVED finding out what happened to Nathan (burnt to a crisp) and Peter (guilt-ridden per usual) post-blast. cool to see Peter blow up, then fly back and save his brother. also really cool to see the exchange between Nathan's wife and mother (so the mother is the one that broke them up essentially?) - actually would have liked to see MORE of Nathan's story. oh, and how Nathan got back to looking normal? nice.

- i'm not sure how i'm liking how gullible Peter is, first being convinced to join the program to control his powers and now being Adam's puppet to "save the world." it seemed Peter was finally becoming his own man at the end of last season, but now here he is, just as guilt-ridden and gullible as usual.

- MORE KRISTIN BELL PLEASE!!! man her character rocks.

- LESS TWINS PLEASE!!! while their powers are interesting, the constant "i killed people, cry cry cry" "it's ok, it'll be ok, i'll fix it" back and forth between the two is getting a little annoying.

- bringing D.L. back from the dead only to kill him IN THE SAME MANNER (gunshot) was a bit lame, but i did like the story (of her trying to go straight with the pills, then trying it on her own, failing, and him dying sort of as a result). another reason i didn't like it? i think i would have liked it if the 3 of them were doing super-hero stuff like the kid suggested (like the Fantastic 4 - er, 3). it was cool to see him save that girl in the fire... won't get to see that again now that he's dead (for good i'm assuming).

so, i liked what stories we were given, but was pissed that we didn't get them ALL (and that it doesn't look like we will - or won't for a while). the preview said there are 3 episodes left until the first part of the season is over - and after that who knows if we'll get a second half, what with the writer's strike and all - and i'm liking where things are going.

i just didn't like their incomplete telling tonight of where things were... 4 months ago.

- kawitchate

the rainy season

2007-11-06T01:37:00.000-10:00

random notes from paradise:

- it's officially the rainy season here and MAN can you tell the difference. this past Sunday was the first day i can remember where the sun didn't come out ONCE during the whole day - it was gray and rainy just like Wisconsin autumns/springs. and the rain? it's not like it was before (where it would drizzle/shower for a few minutes, then clear up - like Florida). now it pours, and it pours for a while. we'll keep you posted as to how the rainy season affects my moped riding and my MOOD.

- parents visited for a week and a half about a week and a half ago. was really nice seeing them. however, when they left it reminded me of just how lonely things can be out here in the middle of the Pacific. oh well. on my days off we did touristy stuff and at night we sat and watched our television shows. the last weekend they were here we went to the Big Island hoping to see some lava flows but came away only seeing the crater/cauldron and some steam and sulfur vents. oh, and there was the most awesome highway in the U.S. it was a pretty awesome trip - such an alien landscape there. definitely have to go again. next time they come out.

- my birthday was last week. thanks to all that wished me a happy one (and for those that didn't, don't worry - i don't care much when it comes to happy birthdays). i'm 26 now, which actually took me a while to figure out. when i first sat down and thought "how old am i turning again?" i had myself CONVINCED that i was already 26 and that i was turning 27. just goes to show you that once you're old enough to drink and drive rental cars, nothing much matters after that. ok, maybe 30. and then 40. after that the stress of being a game designer will probably have killed me.

- i've got lots on the back burner that i've been meaning to write about - finished television shows, video games reviews/news, movie reviews, album reviews, etc. - but i've been busy. one of these days.

laterz.

-kawitchate

Heroes - week 7

2007-11-06T01:15:00.000-10:00

another good episode where things (sort of unexpectedly) came to a head for some of the characters, new (surprising) allegiances were formed, we found out what will wipe out New York this time (and it's pretty cool) - and our villain was finally revealed. surprises all around.

notes:

- Hiro's story came to a satisfying conclusion, though the sword battle between him and Takensei could have been more epic... who knows though, that might not be the battle that was in the painting (they may fight again).

- i'm a little disappointed that the allegiance that Suresh and Claire's dad formed to take down The Company has already dissolved. i really would have liked to see that happen - instead Claire's dad is obsessing over this painting of his daughter killing him and Suresh, like usual, doesn't know what to do... so he turns to The Company and spills the beans (which, admittedly, was pretty surprising and cool).

- why doesn't Claire's dad just show her the damn painting and get it over with already?!? oh wait, i know, because otherwise there wouldn't be a story there. duh. it's all going a little over-the-top (especially with him now saying they have to move), BUT, the saving grace could be that The Company is now after Claire to find an antidote to the mutated virus.

- SPEAKING of the mutated virus, it's awesome that that's what wipes out New York (and most of the world from what i heard) in less than a year. very nice tie-in. it was cool how Peter learned about it (as well as you the audience) at the same time as it was happening in the past (with Nikki injecting herself). nice writing.

- Parkman coming into his own and saving the day was pretty cool, though i wish the battle would have been a little more epic between him and his father. ha - that's the 2nd time i've said i wished a battle were more epic in this episode... i don't know, they're HEROES, they have POWERS... i want to see them go all-out!

- Nathan learning his brother was alive and Peter remembering who he is (or at least who his mother is, which is a start) was pretty cool. however, speaking of Peter...

- Adam. my friend guessed correctly as to his identity (honestly i didn't put two and two together, but it makes so much sense), and man is it AWESOME. what does Adam want with Peter? will he have enough sway over Peter if his memory's not back yet? could we actually see the two of them team up and be the bad guys for part of the season?

if the previews are anything to go by, these questions and more MAY be answered next week, as we finally get to see what happened in the 4 months since the Heroes came together last and saved New York (in last season's finale). HELL YES.

this week's Heroes was great, but i think next week's will be even BETTER (and usually i hate the flashback episodes, but not when it's actually telling me something i MISSED).

oh, and again, if you're not watching Journeyman right after Heroes, you should be. week after week i finish watching Heroes and i'm like "ok, man was that good" and then Journeyman comes on and... wow. it always beats Heroes out. no matter how good the Heroes, Journeyman just steps it up a notch. but then again, i like time travel and personal drama.

- kawitchate

Fall 2007 - week 4 & 5 quick review!

2007-10-30T00:58:00.000-10:00

Journeyman - continues to be not only my favorite NEW show of the year, but also my favorite show of the year overall. for all my complaints about it moving too fast, it keeps coming up with more personal stuff to pile on, and so i'm alright with it (especially since who knows how long it'll be on the air). every episode has him finding out a bit more about what might be going on, and a lot of personal (but very real-life) stuff in his small web of friends and family. there is at least one VERY personal/dramatic scene each episode, and they are perfectly written, acted, and staged. oh, and we found out in episode 4 Sam Beckett our hero is not (with the planting of the gun and the "do anything it takes" attitude). there's more to say but i'll just say this - i love this show.

House - his team is pretty much 6 people now, and they're all pretty cool. it's really cool watching them play off one another since they're all totally different. however, Foreman is returning this week so we might see the return of the old team sooner than i would have liked. oh well.

Damages - had its season finale last week and i have to say... good stuff. this show was one of the best new shows of the summer. it's only faults are that it stretched a little long (13 episodes, should have been 8-10) and sometimes was a little twist-happy (too many twists). however, the perfect acting and near-perfect story more than make up for it. i could go on about it but will save it for its own post (if i ever have the time). i'll end with this: it's supposedly coming back for another season, but i don't know if i'll tune in. this season wrapped up pretty neatly and next season there's a black-and-white in place (one character is good, the other is bad) that wasn't there for part of this season... and this show is at its best when it operates in those shades of gray.

South Park - its in the midst of a 3-part story right now about terrorists hijacking our imaginations and it's PURE GENIUS. i think they could have probably done the whole thing in just 2 episodes instead of 3, but oh well. this new half-season of South Park is GOOD.

Bionic Woman - was really good 2 weeks ago, but last week it lost me a bit. they're introducing a love interest and i don't think she needs one at all - in fact, i think it goes against her trying to be an independent, strong, BIONIC woman, raising her sister on her own, saving the world on her own... and now she needs a man. ugh. and i'd be fine with it too if she just ran into him once in a while, but the preview for this week's episode shows him in it AGAIN. not cool.

Life - if you're not watching it, watch it. i'm afraid it might get canceled and IT CANNOT GET CANCELED. there's enough in place for a 5+ year storyline and i want it to be told!

The Office - missed the final hour-long episode 2 weeks ago, but saw the first 30-minute episode of the season this past week and it was pretty solid. in fact, what's funny is that after seeing all the hour-longs it felt like the 30 minute episode could have been longer!

all settled in to the new season of television. Damages is done... so is Mad Men (my favorite new show of this past summer) but i missed the final 4 episodes of that, so i'll have to post my feelings on it later. also keep forgetting to download Prison Break (i'm a few weeks behind on that), so more on that later as well. what i'm catching on TV, i'm liking.

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 6

2007-10-30T00:35:00.000-10:00

another week, another good Heroes. feel the same way about this week's Heroes as i did last week's - the stories march on, one or two things are revealed, and many more questions arise.

notes:

- Claire's dad being a total bad ass and stepping over a line in this episode had to be my favorite part this week (maybe of the entire season). he's back to being a tough guy, but he's doing it for completely different reasons this time.

- The Company changing their ways seems to be a new theme (as it was brought up numerous times in this episode). is it true? could they really be under new management?

- i liked Suresh's storyline this episode, where he refused to inject the girl with the mutated virus. Nikki showing up to be his bodyguard/spy for the company however... not so much. i thought it was going to be someone that could read minds or something (which would make more sense if The Company wants to keep an eye on Suresh).

- thought: if the mutated virus is supposed to suppress powers (or get rid of them completely), is that what happened to Sylar? did The Company get him, inject him with the stuff, and then leave him on his own to see how it works?

- pretty bored with Claire's storyline this week. was pretty bored with Hiro's as well until the very end where we find out he may have screwed up things in the past. most of you know, i'm a sucker for time travel stories... mainly for all the things that could go wrong (or be put right) from time traveling.

- got to see a glimpse of the remaining paintings but couldn't really tell what was going on in them other than Hiro facing off with Takense. the others? pure speculation, but one of them had a hand that looked to be holding a test tube (maybe of the mutated virus?)... another looked like Nikki trying to break out of a window... and another was some haggard-looking dude with a gun (my guess is it's Peter or Alejandro).

- finally, we get to see where this season is headed: another freakin' large-scale problem in New York City just around the time the season's over. now, i've been pretty quiet about how this season is pretty much a rehash of last season in terms of storytelling and pacing... but this just takes the cake. COME ON! the only thing worse they could have done is had "save the _____, save the world" again. i'll give it a chance, but i'm not liking it right now.

- there IS a plus. there's a new, unseen character: Adam. the bald guy working for The Company had a file with his name on it in this episode, and he's the one that left a note for Peter in Montreal (hell, he might be the guy that gave Peter and his girlfriend the vision of New York). could he be Adam as in "Adam and Eve," the first hero??? whoever he is, i'm intrigued.

missed the preview for next week, so i'm completely in the dark as to what's coming. and i'm still pretty excited.

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 5

2007-10-23T01:24:00.000-10:00

not much to say about this week's Heroes other than the stories keep marching on. there were a few twists and a new character, but all in all a pretty run-of-the-mill episode. not disappointing, not surprisingly great... a good, solid episode.

notes:

- i like the new girl (chick from Veronica Mars). she was such a goody goody on her last show it's nice to see a complete 180. i also like that she's working for "daddy." and who IS daddy? my guess is the bald guy that's the face of The Company this season... either that, or she's Parkman's half-sister.

- Hiro's story was unnecessary this week. should have either told more (and finished it off) or kept it out.

- Peter's story is getting better. what's up with Montreal? why is he getting pulled/being led there? has there ever been a mention of that city before?

- really cool twist was when Suresh showed up at the "copycat's" door. be interesting to see where it leads.

- Nathan and Parkman going to confront Parkman's dad, getting duped by him, and then facing their nightmares and battling each other was pretty cool... though i actually saw that exact same setup (2 friends battling each other thinking they were in a nightmare) on an anime recently. weird.

- again i ask: who or what does the "burnt Nathan" represent? was that how Peter looked as he blew up? was that how Nathan looked after the blast and someone healed him (maybe his mother, whose power we still don't know)? or is it just a personification of the guilt inside him?

- so glad we got a break from Claire this week.

- where did it look like Claire's dad and the Nigerian man were? somewhere in Europe? Russia maybe? very interesting.

very solid episode that wasn't TOO heavy-hitting, but not really lacking either.

- kawitchate

Fall 2007 - week 3 quick review!

2007-10-16T01:50:00.000-10:00

- Journeyman was good, but again i'm worried that they're going too personal, too soon. in a perfect world i would have had the wife not even believing he time-traveled until like mid-first season, and THEN you start in on the problems with the web of characters. i guess it's good i'm worried about the longevity of the show because that means it's good enough that i want it to LAST! :)

- House was again good. he gambled with the life of a patient and lost. oh, and House died and didn't see the white light. pretty interesting. also, the team of candidates is still entertaining. however, one of his former team members got fired from their job SO i'm guessing they'll be back sooner than i expected/wanted.

- Damages was EXCELLENT. i believe we're finally 2 episodes away from the finale (it's been a long time coming - my only complaint about the show) and WOW what a twist. just when you think you know something, the rug is pulled out from under you and it turns out you were completely wrong... and they're not all cheap twists either, twists for the sake of twists. these are genuine twists. great show.

- this week's South Park was probably the best of season 11 so far! the entire thing was full of double meanings (the episodes that have double meanings are the best, have the most to say about society as a whole). and maybe it also hit home with me because i really hate Bono of U2. the whole thing was genius - from the Emmy message that kept popping up on the screen to Bono answering the phone "Hello Hello!" it was all priceless. totally looking forward to the rest of the season now!

- Bionic Woman moved from the run-of-the-mill episode of last week to one that really mattered, that fit in with the overall story. alliances were formed, enemies were made... it was really well done. if Bionic Woman can keep the formula fresh - run-of-the-mill missions mixed with overarching story that matters - i'll be a happy camper.

- Life continued with its formula of "cases that aren't that interesting and are wrapped up in one episode, but characters that are rich and deep enough to sustain seasons of the show" this week. really liking this show.

- The Office had its funniest episode of the season. it seems like they're going to run with the theme of bringing Dunder Mifflin into the 21st century and on to the world wide web, and that's kinda cool. in past seasons there wasn't much of an overarching story, but it could work this season, especially since things are getting a little stale and Jim and Pam are together... of course, another thing they did to make it more interesting in the relationship category is break up Dwight and Angela, which is pretty interesting in itself.

pretty good week of television. here's to hoping for a repeat!

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 4

2007-10-16T01:29:00.000-10:00

all i can say is hopefully this will be the episode i point to a little later down the line as to when the season REALLY got going.

this. episode. ROCKED. and it was a different kind of rock... it was a lot darker than Heroes usually is, and i liked that.

notes:

- gone were Hiro and Peter, and i've got to say thank god. their stories were getting old, running 3 weeks straight. i'm glad the show seems to be back to focusing on half the heroes one week, and half the next (hopefully).

- i hope they explain how this happened later (he was in a jungle and 3 days later he's in the desert???), but Sylar joining up with the South American twins was pure GENIUS on the part of the writing staff. the power the 2 of them have seem like something that Sylar would LOVE to get his hands on.

- something's bugging me with Sylar however (other than his sudden appearance in the middle of the desert). last episode he seemed to remember WHO he was, it's just that he didn't have his powers. this episode he was acting more like he's got memory loss - calling himself Gabriel and looking at his watch (with "Sylar" written on it) as if he recognized it, but didn't know what it meant... and then the tic-tic-tic that came later seemed more instinctual than anything, as if he was surprised by it. i don't know. it was also the first time i remember that he heard the ticking on a normal human before he killed them...

- they promised that we'd learn more about the original 12 and we DID! not only that, but we know who the nightmare hero is! way to deliver on a promise!

- i like semi-cleaned-up Nathan trying to get his life back. very nice. oh, and the face he saw in the mirror... what do you think? i think it's either what he saw happen to Peter OR Nathan's got healing powers (given to him somehow by Peter?)...

- making Parkman (the cop) more important to the story - AND explaining a bit more what happened between him and his wife in between seasons - was awesome. i like the actor and also the character.

- i could do without the New Orleans story simply for the fact that it seems like they're abusing the Katrina catastrophe instead of just setting a story there and letting post-Katrina New Orleans be the backdrop (like K-Ville is doing... even though i don't like K-Ville for other reasons). also i'm not that invested in the girl or her story yet, but we'll see.

- still not liking Claire's story (with her new boyfriend and how he's going to turn her against her father) BUT it was a little more tolerable this week. i just don't understand why the father wouldn't come right out to Claire and show her the painting... the 2 of them seemed closer than ever when the season started. also, he knows that the painting is the last in a series, and the first painting just happened a few days (a week?) ago, so he should have some time before the 8th painting comes to fruition - so he should nip it in the bud while he can! ...oh well.

and that's it! overall a lot less complaints about this episode and lots more questions than previous weeks.

all that said and i STILL liked Journeyman just a bit more (it really stepped it up this week too). do yourself a favor - if you're not watching Journeyman, start.

- kawitchate

a good time to be a fan of (my kind of) music

2007-10-15T01:25:00.000-10:00

i can't tell you the last album i was excited about. there's been a few here and there that i discovered and liked a lot - disasterpeace, The Action Design - but none that i had been really looking forward (i couldn't be excited for disasterpeace or The Action Design because i didn't know the bands existed, thus i couldn't be excited for something i didn't know was out there).

and all of the sudden there's 3 i'm excited for.

Dethklok - The Dethalbum. came out a few weeks ago, and man was i excited for its release. it's an album by the guys that created the cartoon Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. since the cartoon is about a death metal band, they decided to create a full-length album and put it out under the name of that fictitious band.

and wow does it kick ass.

i was actually expecting it to be a little more death metal, but it's surprisingly accessible (more metal than death metal - well, maybe "death metal lite"). some of the riffs you can tell came from other songs they did for the show, but all in all, pretty good effort from guys that created a cartoon.

then this week Thrice's new album is finally coming out. for those that don't know, Thrice is one of my favorite bands - some might call them screamo, i call them awesome.

i guess the new one is a concept album about the elements (earth, wind, fire, water) on 4 discs - something like that. i'm expecting it to fluctuate between melodic and hardcore even more than they did on their last album. here's to hoping the concept works.

and finally, next week Coheed and Cambria's new album comes out! this band is another favorite of mine, but i was a little let down with their last album because it sounded the same as their older stuff. so i'm excited for the new one, but cautiously so.

yay for new music!

- kawitchate

yes i read my comments

2007-10-15T01:23:00.000-10:00

for those of you NOT commenting on my blog because you wonder if i even read the comments - and for Ben who WAS commenting and wondering if i even read them - yes i do. and i'll do my best from now on to respond to them ASAP.

Ben, check the posts you commented on - i responded! wow!!!

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 3

2007-10-08T23:43:00.000-10:00

- good to see Nikki and Micah back, but their scenes were a little melodramatic and stilted. also, Micah's father is dead? damn, didn't see that coming (though i'm not particularly broken up about it). be interesting to see what comes of Nikki going to the Company.

- speaking of melodramatic and stilted, is it just me or have there been a large number of these types of scenes so far this season? Nikki and Micah, Peter and that Irish chick, Hiro and that girl, Claire and her new boyfriend... i don't remember there being so many scenes like this last year, and when there WAS a melodramatic scene, it was better written/acted than they have been this year so far.

- also good to see Sylar back, and i'm glad that at least something is preventing him from getting back to his old tricks again so soon (what that something is, i have no idea). who saved him? the girl mentioned something about employers, or the people she worked for... the Company?

- Hiro ALMOST came back to the present and i was ALMOST happy. then he stayed in the past. and i was sad. that story had better get a lot more interesting, and fast.

- Peter staying with the Irish folk on his own free will? god it's almost a worse plot device keeping him from moving forward as a character than the memory loss! ugh. that said, every time he uses his powers... super-cool.

- that brother and sister better get out of Mexico and into the states soon, because i'm losing interest in their story as well (since it's followed the same pattern of "oh, roadblock, how do we pass it?" "oh, there goes my powers... people are dead..." "it's ok, i'm here to take it away, let's keep going" every episode so far).

- NOT liking the direction the Claire/Claire's father relationship is headed. she HAD to have known that he did some pretty nasty stuff in the past, and now she's letting some new boy in her life manipulate her, pitting her against her father (well he hasn't started yet but you know he's going to)? she's stronger than that. it just doesn't fit. and i don't like it. that said, if it turns out that this boy knew all along who her father was and is turning her against him on purpose, trying to get closer to the one that hurt him (the father)... then it might be cool enough to pass. we'll see.

- one old Star Trek crew member leaves the cast and another joins. cool.

- next week we find out more about the First Ones, the one hunting them down, and the man from that little girl's nightmares. and clean-cut Nathan is back. let's do this.

overall, another good episode that wasn't great... par for this season so far.

- kawitchate

Fall 2007 - week 2 quick review!

2007-10-08T23:26:00.000-10:00

just to let you all know, i don't plan on writing paragraph after paragraph about EVERY show i watch - that first week was just special is all, being the week where most of the shows i watch premiered. i'll dive in and write more on a show when i get the itch to, have the time to, or have something more to say about it (good OR bad).

that all said, i'm still going to try and write longer reviews of Heroes (since i sorta started that last year with a few of you via email)... and i'm also going to try and do these quick reviews. if i don't have anything to say about a show i watched, i won't say anything.

so here we go. Fall 2007 - week 2 quick review!

- Prison Break was par for the course. lots of stuff happened - more than i think should be happening if they want to have something interesting to show in a few weeks (the show moves too fast for its own good in my opinion) - and there was a twist at the end. what's in the box? if they killed off...

- House i liked that he's got like 20 people he's picking from to create a new team, and they all have their own personalities and histories (well, maybe like 6 of them do so far). what i didn't like is that they're bringing back his old team too quickly. they should have stayed out of the picture just a bit longer and let House be about House. my guess? they'll be back together for November sweeps.

- Damages continues to twist and turn and there's STILL no end in sight. my guess is that there's maybe 2-3 episodes left - 2-3 episodes longer than the show really needed to go. still good though!

- South Park came back with the first episode of the second half of season 11. while it was funny, i still have that sinking feeling that the show is growing old on me (felt that way all last season). still, it was one of the better episodes of season 11.

- Bionic Woman got into the groove of things, having her join the team and go on her first mission. there's a nice blend of light comedy along with the dark drama that keeps it from going too dark. liked it quite a bit.

- Life also got into the groove of things, but faltered a bit. the case that the detectives worked on was a little lame, but the characters themselves... wow. the main story of this guy trying to figure out who set him up - along with the side story of his self-destructive partner - is just amazing. i fear that the cases that they have week to week won't be so amazing. liked it.

- The Office had its second hour-long episode in a row (and i think there's 2 more to go) but unlike last week, this one had enough material for the entire hour. this episode really should have been the season opener - it was a lot stronger than the first episode and had more stuff happen in the lives of the characters than usual. very weird. still a little worried that it's getting a little old, but this episode in particular was great.

that does it for me.

- kawitchate

you got your Heroes in my Journeyman

2007-10-01T23:48:00.000-10:00

yes, unfortunately, the header pretty much sums it up - Heroes was like a prelude this week to something better, an appetizer to the main course. maybe it's because Journeyman is still brand new and Heroes is suffering a bit from the sophomore slump, maybe the writing is slipping on Heroes, or maybe i'm just a sucker for time travel stories. at any rate, i liked Journeyman this week a lot - and Heroes?

- Heroes -

now granted, i missed the first couple minutes of the show because i was late in getting home from work, but i seriously doubt i missed anything SO pivotal as to change my mind about the episode as a whole.

notes:

- last year i think they did a good job juggling tons of characters, only showing the stories of maybe half of them (or less) each week. THIS year they've decided to focus on the same handful of heroes now for 2 straight episodes. it's weird, and i don't like it. granted, next week we saw that Jessica and Sylar are back, so that's a change, but still... weird.

- they're focusing WAY too much on Claire (probably because she's one of the more popular heroes and they're trying to get the younger crowd in), but it's just BORING. and, i hate to say it, but i feel the same way about Hiro's story. things only JUST got interesting with the white samurai turning out to have healing powers of his own... but damn did it take long.

- it all feels like stall tactics, like everything that happened in the last 2 episodes could have been done in one.

- as much as i don't really like Peter's memory loss story, i do have to admit - it was really, really cool seeing him unleash his powers on those bad guys and being like "what the... ?" that's what i really like about the show: heroes discovering their powers. we need more of that this year.

- i know i just said i like seeing heroes discovering their powers, and the Guatemalan (Mexican? where the hell are they?) twins are interesting... but the writers are taking too long with revelations there. again, it's just too slow... stall tactics.

- the Haitian is back. i seriously thought they were going to make the mistake of killing him off just to show how powerful this virus thing is. man am i glad they didn't, especially since he's teamed up again with Claire's dad.

- the scene between Claire's dad and her mother was really cool. no secrets between them anymore. i like the change.

so i guess it boils down to this: there's a lot going on underneath the surface, but the writers are focusing too much on the wrong characters and neglecting others. also, they're not revealing enough, and i was actually getting bored watching parts this week... but next week looks to change that. i hope at least.

- Journeyman -

tonight we got a better idea of what the formula of the show looks to be, and here it is in a nutshell: guy travels back in time 3-4 times crossing the path of one person's life, and changing it a little bit each time (or at least learning something that will help him ultimately change it). however, he can't control when he leaves, so this causes problems at home. ALSO causing problems is the fact that he keeps running into himself and his web of friends back in the past, stirring up old feelings. oh, and his supposedly dead fiance is also a time traveler... or something... so you get a few clues as to what's going on there each episode as well.

it's a formula that i think will work as long as some episodes stay away from all the personal stuff and just tackle the case he's on, the person he's supposed to save. otherwise things could get old quick, like the wife saying "where were you?!?" for the 30th time, when she KNOWS where he was, and what he was doing.

it's a formula that worked wonderfully tonight.

the one minor problem? a time travel one. ok, so the guy traveled back and went to his old apartment to charge his old cell phone that he brought with him from the future (so he could use it when he travels back in the 90s - he had the phone not the charger). however, his younger self came in and interrupted so he stole the cell phone charger.

now, if the writers would have added a line like "so that's where my charger went!" when he stole it, that would have been smart writing... because, you know, you think you'd remember the theft of something like a cell phone charger (i mean this thing was huge, not like today's chargers). but nope, they missed it, and i caught it.

oh well, maybe the guy's got a bad memory.

- kawitchate

my Thursdays - Fall 2007

2007-09-27T23:12:00.000-10:00

Thursday nights are in disarray for the first few weeks of the season - what with my half-hour comedy shows all having hour-long special episodes, my favorite show of the summer still finishing up its season, and another favorite comedy of mine just starting their oddly-paced season - so i honestly have no idea what my Thursdays will end up being.

however, these are shows that i watch that are on Thursdays... right now.

Mad Men
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The Office
My Name is Earl
30 Rock
Scrubs

- Mad Men -

my favorite show of the summer is wrapping up the latter third of its season and it's still one helluva show. ad men in the 60s, bringing to light issues today by showing them in the past? come on, you remember it. i'll do a longer post when it's all done.

- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia -

the first season of this show was comic genius. it was made up of the kind of stuff that comedians write and rewrite for years and years and finally someone with enough gumption comes along to finance it. it was their baby, the best of them.

season 2 suffered from the sophomore slump. the laughs were cut almost in half, the episodes weren't all as tightly written, and the shock jokes that worked in season 1 were just there for the shock in season 2. that said, it was still funnier than a lot of "comedies" out there.

needless to say, i had hoped the crew would be able to get over their sophomore jinx and go back to the drawing board with season 3.

SO FAR... it's been more of season 2. it's like season 2 part 2.

the show is funny, but i'm starting to wonder if it'll ever reach that level of comedic genius that it started on way back in season 1.

verdict? watching these idiotic friends do idiotic things with/to each other is still FUNNY, so i'll stick around. it just hurts knowing it could be so much better.

- The Office -

now entering its fourth season, the American version of The Office has managed to squeeze somewhere around 50 episodes out of a series that only lasted 14... well, that's not completely fair. our The Office found its own footing somewhere in the second season and became it's own beast. now, however, the series is starting to feel tired again - not from rehashing the British series, but from rehashing itself.

tonight's hour-long premiere was good, but not great. i still laughed out loud heartily at many of the jokes, but looking beyond that... i could feel that it's a little played, that the formula is wearing thin.

so, i'll just try to appreciate it "in the now" as i watch and laugh my ass off, not worrying about its shelf life - not for America (they love it), but for me - and hope that they can keep it rolling another season or two (again, for me, not America).

verdict? i've loved this series since it found its own, and i'll be around until they decide to call it quits (which i believe, and hope, will be at the end of season 5).

- My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Scrubs -

nothing much to say about these shows because i really only watch them when i've got the time and/or when i'm waiting for The Office to start... though i did see Seinfeld is going to be on 30 Rock's premiere next week. might have to check that out.

- kawitchate

my Wednesdays - Fall 2007

2007-09-27T22:49:00.000-10:00

South Park at 7pm (starting next week)
Bionic Woman at 8
Life at 9

- Bionic Woman -

you know, when i first heard they were doing a remake of an old 70s show i laughed. then three things happened. 1) i saw some of the previews, and they looked good. 2) i heard some of the people involved with it are also involved with the new Battlestar Galactica. 3) i realized there was nothing else to watch on Wednesdays.

so, i decided to give it a shot, even started getting a little excited to check it out. and i've got to say... i'm pleasantly surprised.

the show is a mix of Dark Angel and the new Battlestar i guess. i'd put it under the category of dramatic action, but it looks like next episode (when she starts to help people out), it might delve into light-hearted fun a bit - which is fine, as long as they keep up the drama and action.

some parts of the story were a bit cheesy, some of the pacing was off, and some of the acting was just ok... but they've weaved enough rich characters and backstory into it that i can see it going for years - which is like the opposite of Journeyman, which i'm worried will run out of stories to tell - and her awakening to her powers and dealing with it on a personal level looks to be another cool focus of the show as well.

verdict? it's doing more things right than wrong, so i'm on board. i mean come on - what else am i going to watch?

- Life -

if i was surprised by how much i liked Bionic Woman, i was SLAPPED IN THE FACE with how much i ended up liking Life.

low expectations for the win?

every new year brings a new show or two about quirky detectives. these shows are usually quickly canned because it's a tired formula that wraps up everything neat by the end of each episode and has a lack of supporting characters. the last show i attempted to watch like this was Raines last year (same network as Life), and, while i liked it, i know why it got canceled.

whereas every new quirky detective show gets it wrong, Life somehow managed to get it right.

the guy is quirky, yes, but it's more than that. he's hiding things to the point where we the audience don't even know 1) what exactly he's up to, 2) if he's really that good a guy anymore, and 3) if he's even sane (well, i'm pretty sure he is, but he sure skates the edge from time to time).

throw in a partner with an interesting history and a self-destructive nature that she keeps bottled up, a lawyer friend that wants to be more with the main character (again, seemed like there's a deep history there), an accountant that's living out of the guy's garage (he's the comedic sidekick), and a lieutenant that has something up her sleeve and you've got yourself a supporting cast!

i'm not saying the show doesn't have its flaws... the "quirky" nature of the main character isn't always that funny, or even necessary... and the main actor takes some warming up to... but damn if this didn't have good writing (i mean the scene with his partner and her lieutenant in her office talking about past things without having to spell it out to the audience - i.e. not writing to the lowest common denominator?!? awesome!), a great supporting cast with lots of history, HUMOR sprinkled in somehow, and overarching stories that don't need to be tied up nicely at the end of an episode (although it had a story that was self-contained, and it sorta sucked... but we'll let that slide for now).

like Bionic Woman, i was surprised by the quality of Life (haha). and, like Bionic Woman, it isn't without its flaws. however, the good outweighs the bad.

verdict? you don't have me for "life," but i'll stick around, see how things turn out. or until you're canceled (which i'm sure will happen first).

- kawitchate

my Tuesdays - Fall 2007

2007-09-25T23:46:00.000-10:00

House at 8pm
Law and Order SVU at 9
*Damages at 10

*show from the summer that is still going - looks to have at least 2 more episodes to go, but that's what i've been thinking for the past few weeks, so what do i know? maybe it's running until mid-season.

- House -

i've always only been a casual viewer of House, catching it on reruns, a few first-run episodes here and there, and on friends DVDs. last season i decided to tune in for the last several first-run episodes because nothing else was on and when it got to the season finale, i knew i had to return this season.

sure House has a formula (i've seen a few parodies by various comedy troupes, all spot-on and hilarious), but if you can get past that, i really like the character of Dr. House... he's an interesting guy - especially his relationship with Wilson and Cutty (Cuddy? i have no idea).

what made things even MORE interesting was when his staff left him at the end of last season. that's right - House, which had a main cast of 6 for three seasons, had half its cast depart.

ballsy move.

now, did they go back on that move like most shows would have done? i'm happy to report that no, they have not. not yet at least.

this first episode had House trying to deal with life without his team. it had no cameos from those that are supposedly gone, and no hints that they might be coming back - in fact at the end of the episode House looks like he's recruiting for a new team.

i love it.

even if they DO bring back the team (and i'm pretty sure they will eventually), kudos for those behind the show to actually be going in this direction - i mean think of Friends without Ross, Joey, and Monica... or Seinfeld without Elaine and George. the creators are showing us that this is a show about HOUSE - a tragically flawed brilliant doctor that cares about the case but not the patient.

verdict? you've got yourself a new fan - until you pull some stunt like that cop that investigated House last season, or the rich guy that bought the hospital the season before.

- Law and Order SVU -

first thought? wow the cast looks old and tired... which can be a good thing for the show, don't get me wrong. it's showing what this line of work can do to people. it was kinda cool.

the story was pretty average, but then again most of the stories the past year or two have been pretty average at best. what i'm hoping they stay away from this year is all the personal drama - last year they had WAY too much of it. i'm fine when we get to see bits and pieces, but i don't want episodes upon episodes based on their personal lives - make it about the case. that's what Law and Order has always been about.

verdict? you know you already have a fan for life, but please don't let me down.

- Damages -

i'll probably write a longer post on this series when its over, but let's just say that i'm still enjoying it quite immensely. it does suffer a little from TOO many twists, and there are episodes where you know you've been taken on a ride but when its done you've moved like 5 feet... but it's still a great ride.

but perhaps the best part is the incredible acting.

verdict? i'm with you 'til the end, but i do hope the end is near... as it's seemed like the end has been quite near for a few weeks now.

tomorrow night: Bionic Woman and Life

because there's nothing else on.

- kawitchate

my Mondays - Fall 2007

2007-09-24T23:29:00.000-10:00

the REAL start of the Fall 2007 TV season has arrived, and thankfully it's a bang and not a whimper (like last week's unofficial start).

Prison Break at 7pm
Heroes at 8
Journeyman at 9

this will be my Monday nights for the next few months (barring any cancellations). funny enough, that just so happens to be my level of excitement for each show after this week - starting with luke-warm (Prison Break) and ending with HOLY SHIT (Journeyman).

- Prison Break -

after last week's shaky start that seemed to be both a restart to the series and a rehashing of the first season (he's back in prison after all), things were much better this week. maybe i've just accepted the new digs, new cast, and new plot - i dunno. it just felt better.

i do feel that it's moving way too fast and that they'll run out of things to do by episode 10 of the season, but i've always felt that way while watching Prison Break and they manage to find something new (and sometimes surprising) to do.

however, this season might still be my last, as the next logical step after another prison break would be to go on the lamb again/take revenge on those that were controlling you - and that's basically what the second season did. so it would be another rehash.

verdict? i'll stick around, and i'm mildly excited about doing so.

- Heroes -

ah, the show i was probably looking forward to the most this fall has had its first episode of its sophomore season. what did i think? overall i liked it just about as much as normal, but here are some random notes:

- what disease spreading through the 'heroes' population was Suresh talking about at the start, and why was it just kinda thrown out there (he mentioned it right away, then later in the episode, but that was it - no explanation). bad writing for something that's probably going to be a major plot point this season.

- i am not going to like Claire having a boyfriend, especially him. he practically stalked her at school and knew all the right things to say (maybe just bad writing). AND he's got powers too? come on, what are the chances? unless he turns out to be evil or something, i'm not going to like this part of the story.

- REALLY didn't like how they pulled the "4 months later" crap. i wanted to see the immediate aftermath of Peter exploding, of them all coming together. hell, i was really wishing that, once together, more of them would decide to STAY together. as it is, it's going to be the same setup this season as last - everybody is spread across the globe trying to get to one place all at one time and they'll finally come together again in the end. REHASH. all that said, at least the cop, Suresh, and Claire's dad are still working together to bring down the company. THAT'S cool.

- didn't like the sloppy "explanatory" writing of the cop suddenly being divorced and living in NY with Suresh and Molly. and come on - isn't it a little creepy nowadays for a grown man like that to divorce his wife and then immediately turn to living with a little girl? it's just weird.

- don't like that they're already starting with killing off characters, albeit secondary ones. that's one of the ways shows like 24 and Prison Break went stale so fast.

- REALLY am not going to like Peter not knowing who he is. come on, memory loss? that's the best you've got?!? and yeah, maybe it'd be cool with the right story to go along with it, but to take a tale as stupid as guys using him as the ultimate weapon, constantly dangling the carrot of "don't you want to know who you really are?" in front of his face? PLAYED OUT. stall tactics at its worst.

it sounds like i really hated the show, but i didn't - honest. i really like Hiro in the past (and how it looks like he himself is going to be his own childhood hero - weird), Nathan the drunk (which is cool because it's a total 180 degrees for his character), Suresh, the cop, and Claire's dad infiltrating the company, hearing about "the nine" heroes of old (and what might be going on with them that one of their own is killing the others off), Molly's dream of the coming shadow, the 2 new brother and sister heroes, and the Bennet family trying to start over and lead a normal life.

i guess that's one theme i kinda liked that ran throughout - the heroes are trying to fit in again, to be normal. i like that Claire doesn't want to fit in anymore now that she knows who she is and who she ought to be.

even though i like the theme of them trying to lay low, i can't wait until the heroes come out and play again, when they stop trying to fit in... and maybe a bit of my disappointment comes from the fact that i thought this season we would see that - a formation of a team or something. i guess that would be moving too fast. oh well.

verdict? i'm hooked, just like last season.

- Journeyman -

i'm going to preface this by saying maybe i like this show a little more than i should simply for the fact that it's got time travel and an interesting web of characters. that said, the show really is basically Quantum Leap, but instead of never returning home, our hero goes home quite often - and he's got a wife and kid waiting for him.

this episode was all about setting up the backstory of the characters, and it did a good job while weaving in his first time travel experiences. what i liked is that they didn't try to explain the time travel itself at all... that would have been too much. he time travels, he comes to accept it - even embrace it at the end.

this episode got out of the way the whole "where have you been? are you on drugs? are you crazy? we're worried about you!" thing with his friends and family and after struggling with trying to convince his wife he's time traveling he finally figures out a way to do it. while it would have been cool for the hero to be estranged from his wife for longer than just an episode, i'm glad he's got at least someone on his side.

besides, the whole "dead/not dead fiance" thing throws enough possibilities in for estrangement from his wife for future episodes.

what do i think is limiting in this show that might lead to cancellation?

- why he's time traveling will have to eventually be revealed (based on a strange hint we were given this episode at least), and then there goes that mystery.

- while the web of characters is intricate, it's rather small. now Quantum Leap managed to pull it off with just Sam and Al, but there was no "web of characters" in that show. each episode was a new story. something tells me this show is going to dip into that tangled web of characters quite often - probably more often than it should - and not let each episode tell a story itself.

- Quantum Leap had the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s to play with, and each of those decades were VASTLY different from one another, leading to tons of rich stories. from what i can tell, it looks like this show won't be going any further back in time than the 70s, which is too bad since the 80s, 90s, and 00s are all rather similar when compared to the 50s-80s.

- Quantum Leap had Sam leaping all across the country. from what i can tell Journeyman will have the hero leaping back just in his home town of San Francisco, which will get old after a while.

until this show is canceled, they've got a fan in me. the pilot met and even exceeded my expectations.

verdict? i'm looking forward to this show just a little more than Heroes.

at least for this week. we'll see what next week brings.

tomorrow night: House and Law & Order SVU.

- kawitchate

the fall 2007 TV season has arrived

2007-09-17T23:39:00.000-10:00

i'm coming off perhaps my busiest work week EVER - 10+ hour days, 2-3 hours of work when i got home at night, and 6-8 hours of work this past weekend - so i REALLY needed something to relax to this week.

lucky for me, the fall season has arrived.

now, the majority of the shows don't start until next week, but this week Fox decided to start early and premiere Prison Break Season 3 and a new show called K-Ville. you can look at an earlier post i wrote to get my thoughts on these series, but let's just say i was pretty excited to see them.

how do i feel now?

well, both shows were a bit of a letdown. let's start with Prison Break.

Season 1 was all about the escape. Season 2 was them on the run. Season 3... well, it looks to be a grittier rehash of Season 1... and i'm fine with that if the writing were any good. there was just something missing in this first episode.

first off, there was NO recap for new viewers - me being an old viewer, i was even hoping for one, since i couldn't remember exactly what happened 4 months ago.

then, everyone just seemed to be going through the paces... not the actors, but maybe the writer. i don't know, it was weird.

also, there's a lot less friendly faces - like where the hell is Sarah? we got a shot of her back, and then the previews mentioned her but didn't show her face... could they not get the actress back for this season? that would be a real bummer, as she was important to the show.

i was worried about the show last season when i learned that they had broken out (i mean for gods sake, the name of the show is Prison Break and you've had them escape?) but them on the lamb managed to make for some good episodes. now that we're back to square 1 but with less friendly faces? i don't know.

it's sort of had the same thing happen to it as 24 - they kill off way too many characters, try to go way too quick, then run out of new stories to tell and start to rely on the formula too much. 24 is still a good show, but not a great show. Prison Break was never really a "great" show (maybe a "really good" show at its best), so this season it might just be so-so. i'll continue to watch, since there's nothing else in the time slot on, but i'm not holding out TOO high a hopes.

now, on to K-Ville.

when i first heard about the series i wasn't sure if it was bordering on exploitation of the damage the hurricane left behind or trying to bring it to light through a gritty cop show. after seeing the first episode i'm STILL not sure.

ok, take The Shield, water it down for network television, and add formulaic stories that can be solved in one episode's time (instead of sprawling season-long stories). that's K-Ville. the pacing of the whole thing was off, the stories were cliche, the acting was over-the-top...

the setting of a post-Katrina New Orleans, however, is almost worth the admission.

it's easy to forget that the city is still in shambles 2 years after the storm. i HOPE the series isn't exploiting it and rather is using the show as a vehicle to remind us of the work that needs to be done there... but i don't know. maybe it's a little of both.

my expectations were above average for this show, and now sadly they've plummeted. since it's going to be on at the same time as Heroes, you can guess which show i'm going to be watching... BUT, i'm a sucker for pain, so i think i'm going to download the episodes for a few weeks to see if it grows into its own... or until it's canceled (sad to say it, but it had "cancel me" written all over it).

ok, NEXT week the fall 2007 officially starts. i don't want to count this fizzle-of-a-night as the first night. :)

- kawitchate

on being burnless

2007-09-11T02:32:00.000-10:00

for those that know me, you know i don't often change my appearance. after my radical transformation from a hippy caterpillar into a lovely, more socially-acceptable butterfly five years back i haven't done much with myself.

since then i've let my facial hair grow to a semi-full beard before shaving sometimes, and even let my hair grow out for a few months before cutting it... then there was that "experiment" that i let grow on my chin for over a year that had mixed results (i liked it, others didn't really)...

but the one thing that stayed pretty much constant? my sideburns.

sure they would grow and shrink in size depending on how i shaved them for the week, but they have always been with me in one shape or form for over five years now.

and now? they are gone.

i'm burnless.

fret not. since i'm scared of too much change, i'm not completely hairless. i've got a stubble beard. yes, for those of you in the know, i've pretty much been keeping a short beard while in Hawaii - letting it grow for a week, then trimming it down pretty low. so all is almost as it was, except now i'm burnless.

how does it look? surprisingly not bad. i wish my hair were a little shorter to match (been about a month since my last haircut, and she screwed up and didn't clip it short enough, so i'm about due in another month) but yeah... i'm already used to it! weird.

how does it feel? i feel a little bit of a difference. not bad. cooler.

next up? i keep telling myself i'm going to do something different with my hair, but every time i go in for a haircut i chicken out... maybe because i have no idea WHAT i would do (i think i'd just ask for it really short). either that or i'm deciding on what to do next with my facial hair - might be a more controlled version of what i grew up in Vancouver... might be a full-on goatee... might be a fuller beard...

stay tuned!

- kawitchate

on The Kill Point - Season 1

2007-08-29T23:16:00.000-10:00

the second of my five summer shows had its season finale this past Sunday and i just caught the episode tonight. did it finish as good as it started, or did it fizzle and die like John from Cincinnati?

i'm happy to report that, while it might not have finished as strong as it started, it did have a pretty satisfying ending.

to refresh your memories, this is the show about a bank robbery turned hostage situation. most episodes dealt with the robbers trying out a new plan to get out of the bank. when the planning or negotiations weren't happening, the show got quiet and would focus on the hostages, the robbers, or the police - without getting too melodramatic. it was a pretty good blend of action and drama.

the length was pretty perfect as well. with a show about a botched bank robbery they knew they couldn't stretch it out too long or they would simply run out of things to write about, so they kept it to 8 episodes. you know, if anything the last episode felt a little rushed... i wouldn't have minded if they took it to 10. BUT, a tad too short is better than way, way too long (Mr. Cincinnati).

the story of the robbers is also pretty good. it's a platoon of men following their sarge in because they feel their country owes them. however, not all is well with the platoon and once the hostage situation begins the team starts to unravel. it reminded me a bit of The Shield actually - you're watching these men that do mostly bad things, and you should really probably hate them, but you can't because they also do good things. in fact, when bad things happen to them you feel bad for them. however, you have to keep reminding yourself that they are both shows about the unraveling of a team. for Vic it started with the act he did at the end of the first episode. for the robbers here it happened when they stepped foot into that bank. excellent scenarios. i like my writing with shades of gray.

HOWEVER, one spot the show faltered is in how they painted the characters. everyone should have shades of gray, but unfortunately only the robbers did. the robbers and hostages were all painted in a rather sympathetic light, but then the SWAT team and negotiators were painted in a negative light. they TRIED to keep it impartial but in the end they just couldn't help it. maybe the actors didn't help either, as i really disliked the main SWAT lady, the SWAT member that was waiting to breech, and the sniper. i think it was partially the lines given to them but also their bad acting.

another spot where the show would falter is in the technicalities. it suffered from some sloppy writing. without going into too much detail my least favorite mistake the writers made is to overuse a bug SWAT planted in the bank and then mistakenly have it work OUTSIDE THE RANGE THEY PREVIOUSLY SAID IT WOULD WORK. what, you didn't think we'd remember?

as you can see by the title of this post, this was the end of what the creators are saying is Season 1. without giving too much away, i'll just say that another season of The Kill Point wouldn't sit well with me. the hostage situation was resolved, and so either you focus on the robbers in a new season, or you focus on the police team who are brought into another hostage situation. both situations pose a problem. these actors/characters worked pretty well together, but apart they wouldn't be as interesting - especially the police team. i guess you could focus on the hostages but wow the show would be way different.

so i think i'm going to take my Season 1 of The Kill Point and just enjoy that. it had a great blend of action and drama, pretty good acting (robbers yes, police no), a great story about a team unraveling, and some pretty cool twists and turns that kept you guessing.

i'd say it's worth a viewing.

- kawitchate

on The Hoax

2007-08-29T01:01:00.000-10:00

saw 2 movies on the flights to and from Wisconsin. one was Spider-Man 3, which i previously saw when it first came out. i'm happy to report that it holds up to a second viewing... in fact, i was even more forgiving of the end sequence than i was initially (probably because i knew what was coming). Spider-Man 3 - a great movie.

the other movie i saw was The Hoax. it came out last year, stars Richard Gere as the author in the 70s that tried to claim he was writing the autobiography of Howard Hughes - with Howard's help of course. the whole thing turns out to be, well, a hoax of course, but even though you know the end it's still quite a trip.

Richard Gere's acting was magnificent, and i'm not normally a fan. however, Alfred Molina as his comedic sidekick stole the show. everyone else did pretty good as well.

the movie is directed by Lasse Hallstrom - who directed other great movies like What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Cider House Rules, Chocolate, and The Shipping News - and it shows. under the direction of almost anyone else this movie would have taken a "dark" turn (think A Beautiful Mind) later in the movie... and it might have been interesting to SEE what someone else would have done with the source material... but i think it's even MORE interesting to see what Lasse did, because he took the road less traveled.

The Hoax. if you're a fan of Lasse Hallstrom's work, it's definitely worth a viewing. if you have no idea WHO Lasse Hallstrom is, it's still worth a viewing. it's not your typical Hallstrom movie but you can feel his presence, no doubt.

- kawitchate

on shipping issues

2007-08-29T00:50:00.000-10:00

living on an island has its ups and downs. up - the weather is always almost near-perfect and the lifestyle here is a little more laid back. down - there isn't always things that i want that are easily accessible here so i need to buy them online and have them shipped here.

now, i've had quite a few things shipped to me since i've been here - quite a few video games, my repaired Xbox 360, my new PS3, etc. - but lately my luck with shipping has not been so good.

case #1: i ordered an HDMI cable for my PS3 at the end of July. it shipped no problem, and actually made it to my island (according to online tracking) - however, it was never delivered because the post office claims that they couldn't find my address. so they returned it to sender. then THEY took their sweet ass time sending it BACK and so they shipped it sometime last week and i'm STILL waiting to get it. and this time the online tracking isn't working, so who knows what's up.

case #2: i preordered a video game - BioShock - a couple of months ago and it just was released last week Tuesday. the tracking says it shipped out Wednesday, but there has been NO update to the tracking of the package online since. again, it's being sent via USPS like the cable above, so maybe the USPS has a problem. at any rate, i'm really itching to get this game, as everyone is talking about how good it is.

case #3: ordered some contacts a month back, they arrived promptly later that week. fast forward a few weeks and i take a closer look at what they sent me - wrong prescription. now, this isn't EXACTLY a shipping issue except for the fact that i now have to sort this out with the people on the other side of the transaction and THEN have to wait for them to ship me out new ones... when i really need them NOW!

island life. a blessing. a curse.

i blame the USPS.

- kawitchate

back from hiatus

2007-08-29T00:44:00.000-10:00

hello. it's been a while.

main reason: i was away on a business trip that doubled as a personal trip (seeing as the business i had was in my home state, Wisconsin). we had day-long pow-wows all week long last week trying to hammer out some writing issues in the game. good news? i think the trip was successful - and even if it turns out it wasn't, it was sure successful on a personal level. it was really nice seeing friends and family again, if only for a little while.

however, i have been back since Saturday and still i waited to post until tonight. why? simply put, i haven't really had much to say! but if i start letting these postings slip i'll get so far behind i'll never want to start up again. so - it's posting time!

again, thanks to all my friends and family that welcomed me home with open arms. i hope my next visit is non-work related (and yet is paid by my company again somehow - that part was nice).

- kawitchate

on the Fall 2007 schedule

2007-08-17T00:22:00.000-10:00

well, most my summer shows are still going strong, but i'm already being teased with my fall shows... and, while it seems like only yesterday that they went on hiatus, the majority of them start in just a little over a month. here's what i'll be watching:

Mondays:
- Prison Break Season 3
- Heroes Season 2
- K-Ville Season 1
- Journeyman Season 1

Tuesdays:
- House Season 4
- Law and Order: SVU Season... uh... 100?

Wednesdays:
- South Park Season 11 Part 2
- Life Season 1

Thursdays:
- My Name is Earl Season 3
- 30 Rock Season 2
- The Office Season 4
- Scrubs Season... 6?
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 3
- Drawn Together Season 4

Fridays:
---

Saturdays:
---

Sundays:
- Family Guy Season... 5?
- American Dad Season... 4?
- Curb Your Enthusiasm Season... 6?

and coming Mid-season:
- 24 Season 7
- New Amsterdam Season 1
- The Shield Season 7
- Ashes to Ashes Season 1

as you see, there are quite a few Season 1s that i'm checking out. most of these i could drop at anytime if i don't like them, but from the previews i've seen, i'm interested enough to check them out. here's why:

- K-Ville is about a cop duo down in New Orleans after Katrina trying to keep the peace. it looks a little like The Shield but tamer, and with a different setting. what really got me was the main black actor - he was on The Shield Season 4, and he was AWESOME. what might ruin it? i don't like the white actor, and the storytelling could get a little melodramatic.

- Journeyman is about a dude supposedly time traveling. that's all i know and that's all i NEED to know. you simply mention "time travel" and i'm on board.

- Life is about a detective wrongly accused and goes to jail for a crime he didn't commit. well, things get turned around and now he's out, and back to being a detective. i took a look at the talent involved in front of and behind the camera and i figured it was worth a look.

- New Amsterdam is about a detective in New York that doesn't age? that premise alone has me intrigued. however, Fox pushed it back to mid-season when it was supposed to air this fall, so i wonder if there's something wrong with it, like maybe it didn't test well...

- Ashes to Ashes is the spinoff series from Life on Mars, which is one of my favorite shows of all time. it's supposed to be a little more hammy, but i just HAVE to see the gang from the 70s make the transition to the 80s.

what shows am i most looking forward to? Prison Break, Heroes, Journeyman, House, The Office, 24, The Shield, and Ashes to Ashes.

here's to a great Fall 07 (and Winter/Spring 08).

- kawitchate

on preorders

2007-08-15T22:50:00.000-10:00

you may have noticed on my looooooong sidebar that i have a section for preordered video games. these are games i've already paid for so that when they come out i'm shipped a copy. you may also notice that the list has been growing.

now, those of you that know me know that i'm usually a spendthrift when it comes to buying anything, especially entertainment - DVDs, CDs, video games, etc. oh sure i'll buy stuff, but i'll usually wait to find it used or on sale. why then have i changed my habits?

well, i haven't really. every game up there i've saved at least $5-15 on, so i'm still getting my deals. and as to why i'm buying them now, when i have so much to play already? well, i want to lock in my deal, but also i've decided that i want to buy first-hand video games to support the developers and producers as much as i can from this point forward. since i'm a developer now it seems only appropriate.

secondhand, or used, video games aren't making the developers or producers any money, just the store that bought it back from someone and is reselling it. i was fine with this when i was supporting my local store back in my hometown, but now that my only main outlet for used video games is Gamestop, i'd much rather throw my support the developer's way.

but man am i going to have a lot to play in the coming months...

- kawitchate

from hurricanes to earthquakes to tropical storms to tsunamis

2007-08-15T22:19:00.000-10:00

living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean sure has been a trip this week!

first there was news Sunday that a hurricane was headed our way and that it was looking to be a pretty bad one. it wouldn't hit us directly but it would bring with it strong 100mph winds and torrential rain. it was said to hit Wednesday.

then there was news that an earthquake had hit miles off the coast of the big island of Hawaii Tuesday morning. magnitude of 5-something. the last earthquake to hit around that area was a 6-something magnitude and it managed to take out the power here on Oahu for over a day back in November. guess i lucked out, i didn't even feel this new one.

then the hurricane got downgraded to a tropical storm and headed more south of us than anticipated Wednesday. it turned out to be not that big of a deal, and we have had pretty much normal weather outside of a few gusty times during the past few days and a little chillier weather at night. 100mph winds and torrential rain my ass. our "hurricane" got so weak it actually got pushed off the front page for the newer, more hip hurricane/storm in the gulf headed toward Texas. ah well, fame is fleeting.

and NOW we've got a tsunami advisory (not a warning). this is in response to the 7.5 mag earthquake that struck Peru earlier today. i guess being stuck out in the middle of the Pacific like this we could get pretty much any aftershocks that come from any coastline. yay us. the tsunami advisory isn't really that serious, but it's just icing on the cake after this week.

- kawitchate

state of the human(oid)

2007-08-14T00:29:00.000-10:00

i wrote last week on how i try to avoid recap posts but now i'm starting one. from time to time, when i don't have a lot to say about one thing but i've got enough little things to say i'll post it in a "state of the human(oid)" post, letting you all know what's what.

from last week:

- cell phone is still fine, but i haven't taken the kiddy gloves off yet when handling it. i treat it like a delicate princess.

- the cut on my finger is healed over, but now there's a chunk of skin missing. it's pretty cool actually, i wonder if it's going to leave a scar. neato!

- no update on the status of my missing USPS package with my HDMI cable inside. if i don't get it before i take off next week i'll be pretty upset.

- no update on my ticket. what can i say, i'm lazy. i plan to write a letter denying my guilt and sending it along before i take off next week.

new news:

- there's a freakin' HURRICANE coming my way! never thought i'd be saying that... but yes, i'm now living somewhere where a hurricane is a possibility, albeit a small one - everyone here keeps telling me they haven't had one in 10 years. anyway, it's not passing OVER us, but it is passing pretty close south of us, so we're due for heavy-duty winds and rain Wednesday. needless to say, i'm a bit worried about me on a moped, but i've been assured that if we have work, someone can give me a ride. actually, i'm worried about tomorrow as well - the winds and weather have already changed somewhat, and, while i can handle gusts on my moped, i don't like it (and i don't know how strong these'll be). and the funny thing about all this - i didn't even know we were going to get hit by a hurricane until my parents told me. my parents - in the midwest.

- if our island is still here next week, and if the airport is still fully operational, i am headed back home to Wisconsin - for work! i'll be there Tuesday AM until Saturday AM, hoping to hang with some WI fools one or two nights while i'm there. should be busy - but good - times.

- this week i'm trying to finish things. at work i'm trying to get a bunch of stuff done before i take off next week. at home i'm trying to finish off a few video games - Scarface for the PS2 and Fable for Xbox - before the onslaught of video games hits later this month. BioShock, Heavenly Sword, Eternal Sonata, and Halo 3 - all in the span of a month. i'm going to be bu-sy. oh, and i'm STILL trying to finish Babylon 5. i'm now on Season 5, Episode 3.

- not helping with my "trying to finish things" mentality, i've started playing a racing game. that's right, a racing game. Forza Motorsport 2 for the Xbox 360. it's... addicting. the last racing game i played was Colin McRae for the PSOne, and that was only casually. the last racing game i played heavily was probably Top Gear Rally for the N64 (now that's old school). what's so cool about Forza? the cars you win, the amount you can customize... i honestly don't know. all i know is i'm having fun.

this has been the state of the human(oid).

- kawitchate

on John from Cincinnati Season 1

2007-08-14T00:00:00.000-10:00

so, the season/series (maybe) finale of John from Cincinnati aired last night, episode 10, and i thought i'd try and write a bit about it.

i've written about the show before. it's main focus is a family - and the people around them - in trouble and a mysterious man that enters their lives in what i think is an attempt to turn things around (or at least that's a byproduct of his presence).

the show was filled with vagaries, vagueness, religious overtones, alien undertones, technological babble, and anything and everything in between. the way people talked and acted, it was almost like listening to and watching a play - an over-the-top melodramatic play at that. it was thought provoking, conversation starting, and a journey at its best - pseudo-intellectual boring trite crap at its worst.

where did i fall? well i wavered from week to week, but in general the series started off strong and then petered out, bringing in and focusing on too many side characters and drawing out the main story way, way too long. if the show had been 6 or 8 episodes instead of 10, i think it would have been better for it - i mean there were entire episodes where NOTHING happened. and the season/series finale, where you think maybe a few things would be revealed? nothing. nada. zip. zilch.

so what is my final verdict?

...

i don't know.

this is one of the first times i've finished watching a show and not known what to feel. it's why i didn't jump online and write about it last night, why i'm struggling to write about it tonight. i've visited a few message boards out there trying to get some answers and the general consensus is that there ARE no answers, and i don't know how i feel about that. some say that it's because the writer was setting up for a second season (which now might be canceled i hear due to lackluster reviews and number of viewers) but my feeling is nothing would have been revealed anyway, because the show isn't about the reveal - it's about provoking thoughts, starting conversations... it's about the journey, not the destination. and i would be fine with that if they hadn't had those filler episodes where nothing happened, and if they would have at least thrown us a bone or two in the finale. SOMETHING.

what do i think happened? well it's funny because i think there's enough evidence the writers threw in there that could support almost any theory - Second Coming, alien invasion, robots and technology... my gut tells me it was about the Second Coming however. there were more religious overtones than anything.

John was Jesus/God come down to prepare for His Second Coming. He (or possibly Butchie, who would be Joseph here) impregnated Kai (Mary) and she will be the "mother of God" (as the very last line of the series stated), mother of the Second Coming. but then Sean figures into it somehow, as he was the main focus of most of the show - he died and rose again (fell for the first time), was missing and was found at Sea World (fell for the second time), and was taken by John and brought back (fell for the third time). if it comes in threes, it's got to be religion, right? John's message will be brought to the world through Cass's camera and also the new brand he brought to Stinkweed for the Yost family.

...or i might be way off.

if i had to do over again, i don't think i would have watched this show - by myself. this is a show that you need to watch with someone else, to bounce ideas off of one another, to communicate, to share thoughts, to journey together. as it was, i had a pretty good journey by myself, but it could have been much, much more.

- kawitchate