Number6's Journal

Just a roundup of some recent-ish TV-related thoughts I've been saving up.

Walking Dead ended... it was pretty good, but (major spoilers ahoy if you haven't seen it) ( Read more... )

Game of Thrones started... not much to say on it, but still really enjoying it.

Supernatural's still in the hack writing mockworthy stage, but I have to especially mock something in the latest new episode (spoilers... it's the Sam's second "trial" one) ( Read more... )

Doctor Who... I don't know. I like Clara so far, although I wish we got one of the other versions we saw rather than the one we did. First episode was okay, second started great but they blew the ending (more later), and third episode I mostly liked.

My main problem right now is with the writing for the character itself. And it's not a new problem, it's been going for a long time, it's just starting to grate on me more and more the more they continue it.

1) The Doctor as know-it-all tour guide.
I love that he's a smart character.

But a thousand years old is not enough to see a whole universe, particularly when you've got not just all of time, but time and space. Which means that for him to know everything about every race he comes across... he's gotta be revisiting the places he knows well a lot. And that bears it up, I looked up past episodes, and was hard pressed to find one where the Doctor and his companions visit somewhere he's never been, just for the hell of it. There were a few times where circumstances, accidents or distress calls have dragged them to places they've never been before (but usually with a familiar threat), but most of the time, they're trying to get to places he knows. There might have been two-three cases in the entire New Who era where he's got a goal other than that. They're always visiting places he's either been at some other time, or heard a lot about, and so the Doctor can point out all the alien races and know their particular quirks. And of course, Earth, but that's part of the show and you're never going to get rid of that, but I'd like the episodes where they're away from Earth to break that mold. That's my problem, the doctor is no longer an EXPLORER. He's a tour guide.

I want a companion, when asked where they want to go, to say, "I want to go someplace you've never been, a place you've barely even heard of, where you don't already know everything about what's going on." But mostly I want the Doctor to WANT to go to new places. Because as it is, he doesn't so much have to rely on being clever, he has to rely on already knowing the right thing. He doesn't have to figure out what an alien creature's motives and desires are, he just has to know that particular alien race so he can point it out to the audience and companion and explain what they want. And that's easier to write, because it's the LAZY way to do it.

This attitude seems to creep into writing in other ways, a sort of laziness I noticed, which brings me to Episode 2 of the new half-series, the Rings of Akhenaten. It started out okay, except of course, Doctor was playing know-it-all tour guide AGAIN, but the ending combined two of my least favorite and laziest endings. Spoilers, ahoy, both for it and "The Cold War", which I use to contrast. ( Read more... )

Anyway, that's enough of that, let's move on...

And the newest of the SF series to debut is "Defiance", created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, who was behind Farscape. And you can see some Farscape influences here... made-up swear words, a set of well-designed alien races, as humanoid ones go, anyway, (except the white haired ones look a little too much like bad costumes), a female heroine who isn't particularly "nice" and "approachable".. it's almost like they were trying to catch lightning in a bottle and create "Farscape set on a future Earth". And I do like the alien races (and the alien Doctor is kind of my favorite character so far, despite only having a handful of lines). But the whole thing feels a little... the word that keeps jumping to mind is "stilted". Awkward, artificial... it doesn't feel like a real world, like Farscape usually managed, it feel like... well, it feels like a video game world brought to life, which in some ways it is. Too many plot points I called in advance and dialogue that I too often cringed at. But, pilots are sometimes pretty weak, often the weakest outings of the series, and I'll give it a little time to find its legs. Right now, though, I'm not confident.

Syfy did announce recently a slate of new SF series, some of which sound like they have potential, but, with that channel, I don't have my expectations that high. (They also announced minis based on Ringworld and Childhood's End, which I'd love to see but have little confidence in)

Cartoons... now that Young Justice is cancelled, nothing really to look forward to until Korra S2 premieres, I guess. Are there any other good cartoons on that I'm missing?

Oh, and Continuum S2 starts this Sunday, so I guess that's worth a look.

After a fairly long dry spell of meh, it's actually a good time to be watching TV again for me, so let's do a TV post!

First, the last couple weeks I've been engaging in something I actually do fairly rarely... marathoning TV shows I've already watched. Two in particular, because (in one case) the new season and (in the other) a new sequel series are starting. Those are Game of Thrones, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Aside from both being awesome, they have other things in common as well:

Birds used as messengers
Lots of Ice
Mostly-extinct dragons
Characters who are underestimated because a physical disability/difference but who are in fact among the most awesome characters.

Watching these both at the same time (I did about 2/3 of Avatar, then switched to GoT the weekend before season 2 of GoT, then back to Avatar), it's only natural to consider mashing them up, but let me assure you, there's NO WAY TO DO IT THAT IS NOT TOTALLY !@$@!ED UP. But occasionally hilariously-so, even if you really can't map them directly, you'd have to consider it a fusion world where some characters are combined, others exist side by side, and others have totally new roles. Like, Winterfell might be the waterbenders, making Katara and Sokka Starks. That would naturally put the Fire Nation as Lannisters, despite Daenerys being more connected to fire and dragons (she could be the last airbender, though!). Tyrion/Iroh might be a fusion character, providing both the voice of reason and all the awesome. But there's no way to make it work, trust me (and yet, why can't I keep myself from trying? Oh well, I'm sure it'll pass)

Anyway, let's separate them (which is probably for the best), and give some thoughts on the rewatch, followed by my thoughts on the new stuff:

Avatar: I was worried it wouldn't hold up, but it really did. Oh, sure, it's a kids cartoon, and there are all sorts of little flaws if you look for them (Earthbenders using their powers in totally awesome ways in some episodes, but completely ignoring ways to be awesome when surrounded by stone buildings in others being one off the top of my head... same for Waterbending sometimes), but it's probably one of the best cartoons I've seen. It's the type of cartoon that if I worked on it, I'd be extremely proud of... in fact, I sort of 'play' with franchises as a secondary stream of enjoyment... thinking of ways that I'd make it better if I had my way and was in control, but with Avatar, it's one of the few cartoons where I almost wouldn't change anything except trivial things. It's got a long continuing storyline that actually wraps up, and virtually every episode actually makes progress towards that goal (I was particularly surprised how tight the first season was... I expected there to be a fair amount of throwaway episodes, but there weren't... season 3 had a couple more where I think they tried to pad things out), the heroes occasionally totally lose, people die (not many, and certainly not as many as in a real war, but it is a kid's cartoon), and, of course, there are some awesome characters.

Particularly Toph (I love the running joke of the team forgetting she's blind, or of her playing with it by talking about things she couldn't possibly know), and Sokka (badass normal and comic relief character rolled into one), but many of the characters are great.

It was great we-watching it again, but it wasn't just for fun, it was because starting soon (and the first two episodes are already available) is The Legend of Korra!. I'll get to some minor spoilery comments after the cut, but first, general thoughts: I really enjoyed it! I was worried that after all the build up, they wouldn't be able to deliver, but the action was good, the animation and character designs awesome, and I loved the overall look, a sort of 1920s vibe crossed with Steampunk (and of course, the obvious asian influence). Best of all, it really does feel like a WORLD, one that actually could exist somewhere... too many cartoons fail on that. The only non-spoilery thing, in seeing the first two episodes, that I have to complain about are that, right now, I don't have as many awesome characters to latch on to as Avatar did. I like Kora, Bolin might be fun, Mako hasn't had much time to develop (and many, just hearing his voice I never would have guessed he's voiced by David Faustino... Bud Bundy of all those years ago), the kids are kids, not even as relatable as the Avatar kids (but of course, they're younger as well), and everyone else, so far, seems to be an authority-figure-type. However, it's only two episodes in, and it took a whole season before ATLA got Toph and a half season before Zuko became much more than a angry antagonist.

A few more thoughts with a few more spoilers (nothing big) behind the cut: ( Read more... ) All in all, a very good start.

Game of Thrones: Season 1 (which just earned a Hugo nomination for best Long Form dramatic presentation) really benefits from a second watch. The first time through, I had a lot of trouble telling people apart and didn't pick up on connections between characters because of it, so on the second time, things I missed or didn't know were important early one stood out. Still liked the same characters most: Jon Snow, Tyrion, and Arya (not in that order), but there are plenty of awesome ones.

Still think the sex and nudity gets a little too... gratuitous, sometimes as though they had a contract that there had to be one sex scene or a certain number of bare breasts per episode (and I seriously hope the Ros character has some major role in the later books/seasons, because otherwise her scenes could be eliminated entirely and probably improve the whole)

Season 2 is already started, only two episodes in, and watching it on the tail of a rewatch of the first season, it feels like a direct continuation... that is, if you hadn't told me where the season breaks were, I wouldn't have known a new season started (and if you'd told me one had, I'd have placed it probably a few episodes before season 1 ended). That's good, but at the same time, leaves me without much to say... the characters I liked, I continue to like, and there are great scenes throughout. Of the new stuff (minor spoilers)( Read more... )

Anyway, Korra and Games of Throne will keep me looking forward to TV for the forseeable future... and when GoT ends, Falling Skies (which is enjoyable, but not great) should be starting up.

Now, on to some other shows, either starting up again or starting to wind down, that I feel compelled to offer some thoughts on...

Ultimate Spider-Man: No... no, no, no, no, no. Why? We had such a GOOD cartoon with Spectacular Spider-Man, and I can understand the (stupid) corporate reasons it had to go, and could have forgiven it if it was replaced with something awesome, but.... this? This?

The animation's good, I guess. And I actually like the idea of (minor spoilers)( Read more... )

But no.... it's not the idea... it's the presentation of everything else. Like the constant cut-away gags... what is this, Family Guy? And the last episode where they literally made it like a video game fighting game two different times in the episode, complete with an announcer and score. Or having Peter constantly break away to give a bio on every villain or supporting character they encounter, instead of having their details explained through the action and dialog. What, have kids attention spans dropped THAT much since I was one?

But worst of all is crap like ( Read more... ) Bah. I guess I'll continue to watch, but... man, disappointed.

In slightly better news, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes started up again, and while I'll never love it the way I do a few other shows, it's at least solidly enjoyable on a regular basis. I also need to catch up on Young Justice and Generator Rex (which I believe is, sadly, ending).

Moving away from cartoons, we have other shows that are either ended, continuing, relatively new that I've given a chance to but haven't commented on, and just in general I have a few thoughts on.

House: This is supposedly the last season. Is it really too much to ask that instead of constantly pulling the "Shocking development! Oh, no, wait, it turns out House is just messing with everybody to prove some obscure point!" card, they actually make some big developments that lead to wrapping up? Seriously, I can't take them seriously anymore. Ehh, really I only still watch this because there's not much else on Mondays at that time.

Speaking of...

Alcatraz: I wanted to like it. I like the leads. Unfortunately, it seems to be exactly as I feared... it's just a series of one-shot criminal-chasing stories with the 'twist' that the criminals are all from the past... which might be cool enough, except that they never ONCE seem to ACT like they're from the past in any way. They seem to be able to slip into the modern world with no trouble, even getting jobs without existing in any database. When they're holding someone hostage, they remember to get the cell phone, too! I simply can't buy the premise, because they're not selling it... and when I can't buy the premise, the mystery about it doesn't thrill me. I have no confidence I'll be able to believe whatever backstory they come up to explain it, because they can't even get the simplest part of their story believable. I was already expecting a crappy LOST style ending just because of the creators, but now I'm expecting that they couldn't possibly do anything BUT one. If it survives at all, I'll continue to watch if nothing good is up against it, but it's not good enough to download.

Fringe: Have been going a little cold on the series this year. There were a few standout eps (like the Astrid ep), but mostly... it all just feels like a waste. And this last episode really solidified something for me (spoilers, both for the season as a whole and the most recent Lincoln ep): I'm thinking more and more that this season should have completely abandoned the storyline about ( Read more... )

Once Upon A Time: Yes, surprisingly, I'm still watching this, but I don't really care all that much. Aside from too many characters having cartoonish morality, which I guess is kind of expected, my main problem is the lack of... momentum. I'm sick to death of shows that tease that there's going to be some big change, the bad guy's going to get exposed, only to 'surprise twist' at the end and the bad guy saw it coming and was able to cover up. Or the character who knows the truth and might convince Emma/the world about it dies. It's gotten beyond predictable, and there's no tension whatsoever, you know that nothing big's going to change until the season finale, and even then, they're probably planning to stretch
it out for years.

I really want a show that actually DOES things, that doesn't HAVE a status quo that must remain intact until the end (or at least, when it has a status quo, doesn't insult our intelligence by constantly trying to fool us into thinking that they might be changing it)

(And seriously, Rumplestiltzkin? ( Read more... )

Supernatural: I just don't care any more ever since ( Read more... ) I watch mostly to mock. The show is really just hackwork now... remember how I praised Avatar for being a world that feels like a real world, that most cartoons don't manage that? Supernatural doesn't manage it either. It doesn't make sense by its own rules. Whatever the writers think is a good idea at any given moment is what they'll do, there's no cohesive whole like it had in the first couple seasons.

These aren't the only shows I watch, but they're the only ones I feel the need to comment on at the moment.

So it's been a while since I posted anything substantive.

Quick life roundup... not much very interesting, but some isolated thoughts that didn't really deserve their own post.


Weekend before last weekend (I believe) we had a big storm which knocked out the power for about 6-7 hours here. Not fun. And, of course, the moment I sent my brother out to pick up some stuff for us to eat at the nearest still-powered food place (I paid, so he went to pick it up), not five minutes after he was gone the power started up again. Burger wasn't bad, had their Flamethrower one so it was a little spicy.

I felt the recent Earthquake, just a mild shaking in my bed as I took a nap.

My fan finally gave up the ghost and died on me. Luckily, it's almost the end of summer. Unluckily, it's looking like we're getting at least one last blast of heat and humidity before fall starts.

Yesterday I did the comic/bookstore trek, and also went to see my Grandmother again. She gave me some chili and also made an egg and cheese sandwich for me, which is always nice. :). And of course, wandered around the garden, eating a few cherry tomatoes and green beans.

It was a bit of a weird day, though, otherwise, in that people seemed to randomly talk to me for no reason. First, while I was waiting for the bookstore to open, this guy approached me and made some joke about me being the one who brought the clouds, and then kept talking and talking about places he used to live (in Toronto, not all around the world, which might have been interesting in a vague, out of context sort of way). And I pretty much didn't ask him about it at all. Anyway, then, later, as I was walking from the mall where the nearest subway let out to my Grandmother's house, an old woman started talking to me in Greek or Macedonian (I speak a very little of the later, but I had no idea what she was saying), and I just sort of shrugged. And finally, while I was walking back from my Grandmother's, to that same mall, on the way I cut through a schoolyard. School wasn't in session or anything, but there were a couple kids on the little playground area, and one of them shouted, "Hello teacher!" as I passed by. I said I wasn't a teacher, and he/she said "Oh, sorry, I thought you were a teacher." So, apparently I look like a teacher to 7-9 year olds. Anyway, just struck me as a little odd cause normally random people don't talk to me.


And since it was a new comic day, the traditional New Comic Day roundup:

I got:
New Mutants #30 (Fear Itself tie in, liked the stuff both in Hel and Hell, and Roberto proves himself smarter than Spider-Man)

At the used bookstores, I picked up Century Rain, by Alastair Reynolds, and Spin State, by Chris Moriarty. The latter is one of those books I was a little aware of but hadn't quite reached the point of picking up the book and checking out the description on the back, I always saved it for another time. But a thread on Charles Stross' blog talking about the most important novels of the last decade (and a second post restricting it to women authors) revealed both that the novel was Hard SF, and that Chris Moriarty's a woman, and the combination of both (which is rare, in part apparently because women who WANT to write hard SF are pushed away from it by editors) made me decide to give it a look. The description on the back sounded pretty cool, so I'd figured I'd give it a try.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Rant time! You might remember last time I mentioned I saw a new book in a regular bookstore, that really interested me, except it was in Hardcover. Okay, so I was annoyed enough about that. But, since I was in the same bookstore, I looked at it again, and noticed another fact... the price sticker said $31 and change... but on the inside flap, the price was $24.95 US, and $24.00 Canadian.

Now, our dollar's been pretty good against the US dollar recently, and when it started one of the complaints was that even though the dollar was good, ( Read more... )

So now, officially, &@&@ you big chain brick and mortar bookstores. I was already pissed at you for (not entirely your fault) having only hardcovers and oversized, overpriced trade paperback versions of books for months or years before releasing the paperback. But now you pull this $#!+? I may still buy bargain bin books from you... but beyond that, I'm not buying from you ever again, I'm just using you to browse. Might as well order online and just get them delivered directly to me. In fact, I think I can get both The Clockwork Rocket (the book that started this), and Vinge's upcoming Children of the Sky, for only about $10 more than you'd charge for the Clockwork Rocket alone. I'd have to get a reloadable visa card I think. Or I could probably get a gift card for Indigo at a store and use that to buy online, but then I'd still be supporting the guys who pull the !%!% that got me to rant in the first place. Oh well.

Anyway.

Moving on.

I've read a number of books recently and not talked about them yet, so let's do a Book Foo! As usual, minor spoilers only behind cuts unless I warn specifically about something big. The theme of this one seems to be "based on past expectations", as everything is either a sequel to another work that I wasn't too thrilled with, or a second try at an author I'm still getting to know.


Finished: The Jennifer Morgue, by Charles Stross

This is the second book in Stross' "Laundry" series, a sort of combination comedic Lovecraftian horror and spy novel, about a member of a secret agency devoted to keeping occult threats under wraps, and doing it with computer science and magic.

The first one, I wasn't all that thrilled with. I liked it, but not as much as I hoped, considering Stross' other work. I've said it before, but I don't think Stross plays to his strengths when going for laughs and I didn't find all the "bureaucratic nightmare" stuff all that funny, and maybe just my own experience with Lovecraft stuff wanted something a little darker in tone. (His short story "A Colder War" is fantastic for this though).

This one, though, either because he was toning down the comedy, or because I was more used to it, or maybe in part because he was doing it in a different 'style' (apparently in each book he's doing in a bit of a homage to a different spy novelist), I liked a lot better. They played a nice twist with the premise that I wasn't expecting, and generally the action and characters were interesting and relatable. So even though I'd still like a less comedic tone for Lovecraftian stuff in general, I'm glad I gave the series a second chance, and I'll probably read the third.

Finished: Cosmonaut Keep, by Ken Macleod

This intertwines two stories, one in the near future, with a bit of spy hijinks and first contact, and one set in the far future.

My previous experience with Macleod, Newton's Wake, I thought some really cool stuff at first, but it sort of fell apart towards the end. Here, it was almost the opposite, at first I was a little iffy on it, but it really started to come together towards the end (although I totally guessed wrong about one particular revelation about how the two stories were connected). I'm still not blown away, but I'm interested in the rest of the series.

Finished: Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds

Revelation Space, the first book in this series, very nearly became one of those books you throw across the wall because "I don't care about any of these characters". There were cool ideas, but I hated the characters AND found them boring (the double whammy). But I thought maybe I was too harsh on him, and hey, first novel, so I gave him a second chance with Chasm City, a prequel in the same universe. Some of the same flaws, but to a much lesser degree, and I even enjoyed it. So, now we move on to Redemption Ark, the direct sequel to Revelation Space.

Here it's really starting to come together. There were a number of compelling characters that I either liked and found interesting or disliked and found interesting, and a bunch of cool ideas. Even a couple of the characters I didn't much like in the first book get a little better. It's not perfect, though... ( Read more... )

Finished: Helix, by Eric Brown

Not part of a series, but is my second try at Eric Brown's work. The first, "Engineman", I liked, with reservations (didn't much care for the main character). This one deals with an attempt to set up one last
colony off a dying Earth, and them discovering a huge structure in space, a Helix wound around a star giving the land area of tens of thousands of Earths. An awesome "big structure in space" idea.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really live up to it. It was... well, I wouldn't say bad, mildly diverting, but mediocre's probably fair. (No major plot-busting spoilers but I will be going into a bit of specific detail, so, be warned) ( Read more... ) After Engineman I was willing to read more Eric Brown. After Helix I'll be thinking very carefully about that. Maybe if it's used and in the $1 bin.

Finished: Final Impact, by John Birmingham (Book 3 of the Axis of Time trilogy)

This is the conclusion to the Axis of Time trilogy, about a 2029 multinational military force sent back in time to WWII, stranded there, and the effects of their presence there on the rest of the world. First book had a cool premise but the characters were a bit thin. Second was a little better, mostly due to some cool explorations of how all the future information might affect society... third is somewhere in between, but probably closer to the first.

Mostly, though, it just didn't satisfy. Sure, much of the war aspects probably did to those who like that sort of thing (I'm not a big fan myself), but in terms of characters... I don't know, there were some odd choices (some spoilers). ( Read more... )

Supposedly, there's a new series starting except he's releasing it as ebook only, no actual book... I might read it if I could buy the book, but I just don't care enough to read it in that way.


Okay, that's the end of book foo, except of course..
Started: A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (Reread)
Started: Under the Dome, by Stephen King

So, let's move on to TV. Talked about Who last time, but I don't think I mentioned my complete thoughts on Falling Skies, so, let's start there. I liked it. Not the greatest SF show, and a few big flaws, but also had a few genuine surprises. So, I liked it and will continue to watch.

Upcoming TV will be kicking into gear with the new fall season, but not really a lot to look forward to. I'll probably be checking out Terra Nova, Person of Interest, Grimm, and, well, that's all I can really think of at the moment.

Speaking of TV, Canada finally had its Digital TV switchover, where all our analog stations turn to digital. Have all the channels I used to, a few in much higher quality than before (since either they weren't broadcasting in digital or were broadcasting at weaker power and not showing up on my dial). Also I discovered that my TV CAN add individual new digital channels without doing the 'scan for channels' (which erases any channel you're not currently receiving). You just have to put in the actual, analog number for the channel you want (like, for example, City-TV is 57.1, but it's ACTUALLY broadcasting on channel 44, they just use digital trickery to change it), and if you currently get it, it gets added. That's so much more convenient, but before it never worked because I was turning directly to (in that example, even though it doesn't actually apply) 57 to try to get it to tune in.

Finally, moving on to movies, I also finally saw Thor. The movie, not the god. And I liked it. Particularly I liked how they attempted to give Loki a little more depth than a typical movie villain. I didn't like some of the ways they played fast and loose with canon, and although Asgard looked cool I'd have liked some more natural landscapes as part of it, instead of just a 'city in space', but I thought it was a fairly decent movie.

But, of course, it goes without saying I still would have preferred my own proposed Thor movie. Cause I'm egotistical like that.

Pretty soon I'll get a chance to see X-Men: First Class finally.

Oh, and just a note... I've apparently been having Deep Ones on the mind lately, and I don't think it's because of Charles Stross since I read his book a month or two ago. But in the past week I've had two dreams involving Deep Ones and Deep One Hybrids. One had a couple of people going to investigate ancient ruins underneath power plants and encountering two runaway girls who were hiding from monsters... they hid out in a train, which started moving, and it turns out one of the guys going to the power plants was a Deep One agent operating undercover to recover the girls. The other I can't recall too well, I think it was 'infiltrating a small town full of Deep One Hybrids'.

So, I finally got around to watching "The Last Airbender", the movie 'adaptation' of the animated series.

Since I'm a positive guy, let's talk about the positives first.

1) Locations/Set/Costumes, the whole Visual side of productions: Quite well done, really evoked the world. Lovely.

2) Effects: More or less, looked pretty cool. How they chose to have some of the effect-causing elements to work in plot maybe not as much, but what they had was good. And it was nice to see creatures like Appa and Momo, even if the latter was barely in it and the former looked a little too CGI-y.

3) Multicultural Casting: I mean, look how diverse everything was. There were loads of Asians, all over the place. And talk about minorities! Why, Katara/Sohka's family were practically the ONLY white family in the whole Southern Water Tribe, just like Ong was the only White Airbender! And, in a triumph of diversity, somehow, the whole movie CENTERED ON THOSE MINORITIES. The white people! Awesome, isn't it?

You may have guessed that there was a snarky tone underlying that last paragraph, and that we've thereby left the positive portion of the review. But even aside from the Racefail, the movie was just plain BAD. ( Read more... )

I really don't think I'm saying this just as a disappointed fan, that they didn't do it justice and therefore I hate it. I think it is actually, dramatically, BAD.

Oh, and, uh, spoilers above, if anyone cares.

Okay, so, Lost. Big spoilers. But my main reaction is "WHAT TOTAL CRAP"

You had at least 3 years where you knew when the show was ending, 3 years to craft and ending, and THAT'S what you came up with?
( Read more... )

Let's start with the biggest, most recent (except Heroes which has gone dumb again)...

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars.

It was... okay. Started out a little lame (the monsters were not terribly entertaining, but then they didn't have to be, they were just a sideline to the main thrust of the plot). Started to get good towards the end. And then, RTD drops the ball again. (Spoilery thoughts ahoy) ( Read more... )

What else? Heroes? Not the greatest, more "out of nowhere" stuff in the last episode, but I've lost interest. Most of the time I half watch while reading on the net, now.

V, I should apologize for: After making my post about how it seemed "too" like the original, I went and looked up a plot outline of the original, and it seemed that my memories were a little muddled, and they have made some substantial changes, probably about the same amount as BSG did. I still wish they'd gone FARTHER, but I can't fault them for not changing it up at all. It's mildly enjoyable, but still falls a little short of where it should be.

Stargate Universe had a little milestone in its last episode (spoilers): ( Read more... )

My other shows I'm still watching, but don't really feel the need to comment on.

Edit: oh, and the "First Lines" meme in one of my last entries is feeling neglected. Of the 10 books who's first line I posted, only one was guessed. Come on, I know some of them are pretty obscure, but I know there are some SF readers on my list and some of them should be pretty easy to guess for them (and one or two, even for non-SF readers)!

Damn, just heard that the local Tori Stafford case was solved and, well, it's the worst case scenario. Man. I was kinda hoping, since it was presumed that a woman led her away, that it was one of those freaky, "I want my own kid" situations, which is good in the sense that the kid may be treated okay or maybe even a ransom. But no. Some messed up people in the world.

Anyway, no comics today, but work was okay. Came on time and not too heavy, so I got out pretty early. A bit warm though, and hungry now.

Oh, and I am amused by small and immature things sometimes. At the local large chain grocery store, I was checking out the flyer to see if they had any good deals. One of the advertised special, was those little dried-soup-in-a-cup, selected varieties. Except, the sample picture of it proudly proclaimed C*CK FLAVOUR (no censoring, and of course, meaning chicken). Now, since there are presumably multiple varieties, somebody had to have said specifically, "Okay, for the sample pick, we're going to use this variety." It gave me a giggle, anyway.

And just a brief rant. Now, I generally don't agree with the Conservative Party (of Canada, which is still usually less conservative than the US one) on issues. But there's one thing that inspires my rage in them like nothing else - their ads. Specifically, their negative campaign ads. THERE'S NOT EVEN A $#!!ING ELECTION SCHEDULED. STOP PLAYING YOUR ADS SLAMMING THE LIBERAL LEADER REPEATEDLY. We get enough of that crap during an election. You might have had a fair point had you played them then, but now all I get when I see the ads is more hatred for you.

And while I'm on a rant, is it just me, or have the standards of Lucky Charms fallen in recent years? Before, the rainbow mushroom actually looked a little like a rainbow, like it does on the box. Now, it's just a rainbow shaped marshmallow with either random splatterings of cover, or with horizontal bands of color rather than arcs, so it doesn't really look like a rainbow at all. Is a little pride and craftsmanship in the field of mass-produced tiny consumer marshmallows too much to ask?

On to TV and other entertainment media. Since it's nearing the end of the season, I've been saving my thoughts on show episodes for my big 'end of year wrapup'. So I'll just talk about Renewals and Cancellations. Old news to most, but I haven't posted about it.
The good news: Dollhouse is renewed. A bit surprising, actually, but good on them. I hope, if nothing else, this will cause the kneejerk FOX-haters to reconsider their "I will never watch anything on FOX because they don't support good genre shows" (they follow the money, and approve more genre shows than most, and in some cases, like this, where the ratings do not support renewal, they STILL give it another shot? What more do you ask? Especially when you won't watch the shows they put out.). It has gotten a lot better since the first ep, although I don't think it'll ever be a favorite.

A couple other renewals of course, but nothing I personally care about all that much that wasn't already pretty well certain.

Now the bad news. In comics, Captain Britain and MI13 is coming to an end, which will bring my monthly list back down to 2 (it went up to three when New Mutants started. Runaways is the other one). That's sad, it was a pretty fun comic. How can you not like a comic with Dracula living on the moon and launching an assault on Britain using ships that shoot vampires?! Bah, people have no taste.
Also cancelled, officially although most of us knew it was coming, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Damnit. I say again, Damnit. Seriously, I would have traded Dollhouse for Sarah Connor in the cancellation stakes in a heartbeat. I also would have traded all those shows I don't watch that were bubbled and saved. Sorry, fans of those shows for my hypothetical callousness. Anyway, Dollhouse would likely have been the only theoretical 'if only one could be saved' situation might have existed. Dollhouse, I enjoyed, and would have liked to see where it went, but I really WANTED to see how SCC would have dealt with their cliffhanger, and of course more Cameron and all the issues there. But at the same time I can't entirely blame Fox, based on the ratings. Frankly, I'm surprised they got the back end of Season 2 pickup, and I'm thankful for that, because at least they ended strongly (albeit on a cliffhanger) than on the weak stretch of eps that made up mid-S2. And of course I won't hold the cancellation against Dollhouse. How could I?

Oh, and speaking (a ways back) of Runaways, I had a Runaways-related dream. All I could remember was a) We were running cross country, I think in something like the Steinbus instead of the much cooler Leapfrog.
b) Chase had a girlfriend who was rather cool but not really connected to the Runaways, and he broke up with her on the way and we left her behind.
c) Klara was running a three-card-monte style game (can't remember the specifics, but it was some sort of gambling-related 'cheat the unsuspecting') to help earn money, but was secretly thinking of leaving the group and not meeting at the rendezvous we'd set up.
d) The only actually Runaways to appear were Chase, Klara, and Molly, with the dream 'set' sometime in the future after the rest had been rotated out, I think. Which is odd because if I was going to rotate out, Klara would be an early choice.

I guess Runaways dreams will happen when you have Runaways plot-bunnies running through your thoughts regularly. Seriously, it's getting out of hand. In my idle times I've been noodling around a sort of 'what I'd do with if I took over the book after Whedon's run/the Secret Invasion crossover' (I ignored Moore's and beyond, not only because I'm not all that happy with it but because I need a specific break or I never get anywhere beyond updating my plans because of whatever happens in the book). I've got decently fleshed out 3 arcs with loose plans for something like 6 or 7 beyond that, creating subplots, new supporting characters/recurring and/or one-shot villains/initiative members, and long term character arcs for everybody. Bah. The world will never know the genius of MONOK (Mental Organism Now Opposed To Killing), an attempt by an AIM offshoot to recreate MODOK, thwarted when he converted to the Mormon faith and joined the Utah initiative! (The Runaways have to pass through Utah on their way back since when we left off they were still in New York). And that's only one of many ideas! Okay, it's silly, but I have fun with such things.

So, yeah, I saw it.

And, on some levels, it was okay. It was a mildly fun popcorn movie with some nice moments and a decent idea or two in it, but some serious flaws. But the more I think about it, and perhaps especially the more I see the love thrown around about it in other reviews, the more I see the flaws, and that the good things were almost incidental. It also contains liberal appearances of my old nemesis. So, I have to do a rant on all the ways it failed, I'm afraid.

Major spoilers, of course.
( Read more... )

In other news, I've got a cousin's wedding to go to today. Wish me luck. Well, not that I really need luck, but wish me luck in it not being a boring, awkward experience. I'm happy for my cousin, and at least there'll be food, but weddings are not my thing.

First, Happy Birthday geomant!

Secondly, I just want to rant a bit on Heroes, season finale last night. Major spoilers behind cut.

( Read more... )

At the moment, it's looking like in my efforts to get the new HD and such to work, even temporarily as a fix, I somehow damaged my motherboard or something.

I was trying to boot up a version of linux to get some temporary functionality, maybe if I was lucky even enough to watch BSG, but the disc I was using was screwed up or (more likely) autorun configured wrong for my system, and it got to a state where the computer wouldn't turn off either with the usual key commands, or with the power button. So, after waiting a while to see if it would sort itself out, I did what I usually do in such cases, pulled the plug out and tried again. In retrospect, probably a mistake, but a dead computer isn't that much less useless to me than a living computer that is stuck in some endless loop and won't do anything unless I do what might kill it.

When I put it back in, something was screwed up, where the power would only stay on while the button was pushed - as soon as you let go, it would turn off. Suspecting a loose connection, I pushed some things gently, and that problem seemed to be fixed... only to be presented with another.

Now when it turns on, there is a loud series of beeps, and no signal reaches the monitor so I can't even get an idea of what the beeps might mean. Oddly, the no-signal thing happened earlier today (but without the beeps). How did I fix it, you ask? I have no f$!@ing idea, I fiddled around a little and it started to work. I've fiddled as much as I can this time and nothing's happening.

Looks like I have to buy a f@$!ing new computer. Even if I somehow manage to get it working, there's no guarantee I can either get things running in a reasonable time, or that something else inexplicable won't go wrong when I jiggle it the right way. I'm not exactly making the big bucks, but I've had some money set aside. But now I have to go through the painful process of finding one.

In the meantime, very limited TV (and wouldn't you know it, it happens right before I lose most of the US channels to the digital switchover). No BSG, Lost, Wolverine and the X-Men, and probably Terminator until I can DL/watch streaming again.

And goodbye dreams of making an XBox360 my luxury purchase of the year, unless something unexpectedly nice (or even unexpectedly _not bad_, in a particular case) happens, which I doubt. :P

Valentine's Day Weekend _usually_ sucks for me (the whole, 'the rest of my life is doomed to be a bleak, lonely existence' thing I usually try to ignore), but this time it sucked for way more than the usual reasons. Sometimes I think the universe and I are in a game of chicken. It tries to see how close to unbearable it can push me without me going over the line. :P Of course, that would be anthropomorphizing it to an unwarranted degree. Events are cowards, they didn't occur singly, but instead they run in packs and leap out at you all at once. Also anthropomophism, but it's a Gaiman paraphrase. I expect next up will be the announcement of C.B. Cebulski as the next Runaways writer, ruining one more thing I get pleasure out of. Or maybe the HD on _this_ computer will blow up and leave me not only computerless and out of what little human conversation I get outside the immediate family, but also having lost all of the writing I've done over the last few years. :P.

Also, Sunday morning TV, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really sucks without cable. I mean, pretty much nothing but religious crap and one newsish channel.

This whinefest brought to you by the color out of space, the number e, and Valenzetti equation. Sorry. I'll try to be back to more-or-less stoicism next time I post, but I needed to blow off some steam.