Number6's Journal

Pick your five favourite TV shows (in no particular order) and answer the following questions. Don’t cheat by looking at the questions before you pick!

(Just as a note, I'm not claiming these are my 'top 5'. They're just 5 that I do like and happen to choose for the purpose of this meme, since I've probably done it before with my actual top 5).

1. Survivors (BBC)
2. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
3. Avatar: The Last Airbender
4. Stargate (SG1's probably my favorite of them, but I'll restrict this one to SGU unless one of the question demands another answer)
5. Firefly

( Read more... )

Like I did for the midseason, here's my thoughts of the second half of the TV season, stretching roughly from the new year, up until now. I'll generally not be commenting on the whole season, just the second half (excepting of course shows that only debuted in the new year, etc). My criteria for inclusion is if I watched it with most of my attention, most of the time (either now, or up until the midseason point... there've been some dropoffs). There WILL be spoilers, but I'll break each show into a cut.

Prison Break: In short: Well, it's over, and ended up okay, but I still think it should have ended over half a season earlier. ( Read more... )

Heroes: You know how a guy being tortured to death might look over to another guy being tortured to death, but by a window, and say, "Hey, at least you have a nice view."? Well, that's sort of what the second half of S3 is like from the perspective of the first half. It's still a cluster$!@$, but it's the tiniest bit better. ( Read more... )

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (cancelled, sadly): Short version: Second half of the season started very very poorly, but got kickass at the end. I'll miss it. ( Read more... )

Lost: Complete season ran in this half, so let's discuss it. Short version: Quite liked it. One of the few cases of a show that's picked up from a couple bad seasons and has gotten better, and, what's more, gone from a show that started with limited SF influence (a couple hints here and there in the first season), to one that is definately all out SF. ( Read more... )

Dollhouse (new show): Short version: Started poorly, and still probably Whedon's weakest show, but it did pick up. ( Read more... )

House: This is kinda episodic, so there's not much to say. Short version: The big development shortly after the midseason started, although full of emotional play that made for a good few episodes surrounding it, can't help but lower my interest for the show. ( Read more... )

Criminal Minds: (cut and pasted from the midseason review since it still applies) Another episodic show. I don't even know why I like it, especially since the awesome Inigo Montoya (that's his name for me from now on) left, but I still mildly enjoy it. No spoilers, no cut. Still enjoying it, maybe because it's my only real 'serial killer crime' show I watch.

Bones: Another show I watch more by circumstances than choice - it's on, nothing else is, and I like it enough to watch it regularly so long as nothing conflicts. I kind of like the way they use rotating assistants, which allows for a variety of different fun characters they use again. Otherwise, the show's okay.

Supernatural: Short version: Mixed, not feeling the arc so much but still enjoy the series. Don't really like a lot of the big developments this year and don't expect that'll change next year.
( Read more... )


The Office: Not much to say here. Why? Because I stopped watching it. Not a deliberate act, but it conflicted with Supernatural and somewhere along the way I just stopped bothering to look for episodes online. It was my last half hour comedy show, and now it's gone. Since half the fun of watching it is the ongoing plotlines that don't mean much in isolation, I don't even know if it's worth watching reruns,since they'll skip episodes. *shrug*.

Stargate Atlantis (ended): There were only two episodes left at the end of my midseason review, so it still technically qualifies for this. And those last two episodes were pretty good. Not great, but enjoyable. Still I'm more looking forward to Stargate Universe than I am to an Atlantis movie. They had a good run, but if it ended there I'd be okay with it. (Whereas SG1, I'd still be very disappointed if we never got anymore)

Doctor Who (Planet of the Dead only): I don't have a lot to say about it, I think I already did a post about it. In retrospect, a decent stand-alone episode. Not great, not horribly bad and full of stupid, but almost completely forgettable. In fact, aside from the companion and the general thrust of the plot, I'm having trouble remembering anything about it at all. Can't wait till RTD's gone.

Doctor Who (classic): I finished my run on Sarah Jane Smith some time ago, and just recently finished the Leela run. Short: I quite liked Leela. But the Doctor's a bit of a jerk. ( Read more... )

Wolverine and the X-Men: Short version: Still pretty enjoyable. Not up to Evolution enjoyability yet, and too much focus on Wolvie, but fun. ( Read more... )

Spectacular Spider-Man: Watched S2 in this midseason arc, and you know... I think I'm going to call it. This is now the best of the Spider-Man cartoons ever. ( Read more... )

Battlestar Galactica: All I have to say about this I've said before. It jumped the shark with the final five. Sure, they did a couple cool things with it, but on the whole it's left me a little cold this year, and a very poor ending.

The Listener (new show): There's very little new SF out there, so I wanted to give a new one a chance. This is a Canadian show picked up in the US during the writer's strike. And, you can tell it's Canadian... because it's crap! Okay, not really, but it's a little lame, overearnest, and not all that great. ( Read more... ). I officially gave it a chance and I am done with it.

I think that's about it. If there are any other shows you know I watch (or wonder if I watch) that I left out, feel free to comment and I'll let you know what I think.

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.

No comic day of course, as it seems I only pick up comics every other week.

Work was okay.

In other news, today was the day. It comes once a year. Children around the world look forward to it. Well, okay, not the last one, unless my life is a lot weirder than I expected. It's... Haircut Day. Yes, I got my annual haircut (I like my hair longish during the winter for warmth, short during the summer for coolness). No pictures though, you'll just have to imagine.

In other other news, remember way back when my old new computer died and I had to get a new one? Well, left wondering all that time was the status of my data, which existed on a HD that was dying and possibly precipitated the total death of the computer. Anyway, I finally got an IDE External HDD enclosure (late B-Day gift), so I could connect that drive to my new computer through USB. It's very slow, chiefly because, every once in a while, the drive decides it'll go to sleep for an hour or two and not transmit any data at all (when it's working well it's a little slow but a respectable speed). And sometimes it just doesn't recognize it at all. But I eventually got the most critical stuff copied over, and am now slowly copying over the non-essentials (the "yeah, I could probably download this again but it'd be a pain to find it all and remember what I had and why" stuff), and then I will perform an autopsy, reclaim the vital internal organs, and give the HD its final rest. Technically even if I couldn't recover data off it it wasn't that big a deal, I'd already backed up the essential stuff some months back, on my old old computer. About what I would have lost is something like 5 months worth of the writing I did on the old new computer (but I do most of my writing on my old old computer so that wasn't much), and maybe a couple passwords.

However, my new computer came close to getting me evicted! Well, and my own stupidity. See, yesterday we got a notice from the landlord company, basically saying the rent cheque bounced and we had 24 hours to give them a money order or they'd start eviction proceedings. As it turned out, I'd forgotten to deposit my paycheck at the end of the last month (actually, my last two). I thought I had enough money to cover it regardless, but as it turned out, I had just _slightly_ less. As in, 'much less than the cost of my computer', so if I didn't have to buy one of those a couple months back, it really would have been fine. Embarassing, but, ah well, one rushed trip to the bank later and it got sorted out.

And, Book Foo. 3-for-1 special! Or technically 4-4-1 special.

Finished: Chasm City, by Alastair Reynolds
Started: Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan (Reread)

So I didn't much care for Revelation Space, the first novel by Alastair Reynolds. But I figured, it was his first novel, maybe I'll give him another chance. Short version: Not bad. Wouldn't be one of my favorites, but I liked it enough that I'm more willing to try more books by him. I don't really have much in the way of long or spoilery comments, though.

Finished: Shadow and Claw, The First Half of the Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

This actually counts as two books, "Shadow of the Torturer" and "Claw of the Concilliator", which were, I believe, originally published separately. However, it's also clear that they're all intended to be part of one book. Still, I'm counting it as two, mostly because I didn't much care for it. I can see skill there, but it falls into that category of "Not My Thing". (Minor spoilers beyond, mostly just furthur thoughts) ( Read more... ) Anyway, Claw of the Conciliator part was a Nebula Award winner which means I had to read it eventually. I probably won't finish it though, unless I happen to find the next parts really cheap.

Started and Finished: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Started: Lady of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder (reread)

We all know the plot of PaPaZ, at least in broad strokes. It's mostly Pride and Prejudice, but with zombies. And 'mostly Pride and Prejudice' is, for good or ill, truly what it was. I think after reading this I can satisfy myself that Jane Austen also falls into the category of "not my thing". I can certainly see how other people, people who are not me, can really dig it, but it leaves me cold. Zombies were the only thing that could have gotten me to read it at all. I will be talking more specifically about how they managed the introduction of that element, and so that may count as spoilers, behind the cut, but for my 'short version', I will only need two lines. The first of which is exactly the same as what my review would probably be for Pride and Prejudice. The other is likely not. The two line review: "Needed more zombies. Also, (and I cannot believe I am typing this) needed fewer ninjas." ( Read more... ) So although I didn't much enjoy reading it, I did get it for free and am kinda happy I own it, as a conversation piece if nothing else, if I was the type who had conversations with people or indeed had people over at all. Actually, one of the best parts of the book were the tongue-in-cheek "discussion questions" at the end, which might be perfect if your book club wound up choosing it, locker_monster. ;)

And finally, most of the TV rumor mills are saying Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is dead. I'll wait until official word from somebody involved before losing all my hope, but if its true, I can't say it was unexpected, although it really is too bad. It had a weak middle of the season, but it picked up significantly and I really wanted to see where they'd go from where they left off. It'll probably the show I miss most of this year's cancellations (including likely or even possible cancellations). You know, sooner or later, somebody's going to move a series from TV, and, upon cancellation, take the risk and become a DVD-only TV series. Not a series of DVD movies like Stargate, but an actual series with different episodes. Somebody's gotta be the first. And it'll probably be a SF series that does it. I wish it would be this one, but I doubt it. Oh well, if it does end up here, at least it frees up Summer Glau to play Ninja Ballerina (shut up, I live in my own little fantasy world, the rent's cheap and I have an in with the landlord).

I don't even really blame Fox this time around, because, for whatever reason (and again, I can't blame Fox), the ratings just sunk after a phenomenal premiere. I guess it just wasn't everybody's tastes in a Terminator series. We were lucky to get a full second season at all.

Happy Easter to all of you that celebrate it. I don't celebrate it religiously (that is, as a religious event), but I do enjoy the familyness... however, for me, Easter is _next_ weekend, the awesomeness that is Greek Easter, and so this weekend I didn't do much different than what I normally do, and so this is a fairly normal update.

So, today I finished Fallout 3. Mildly fun, althoguh I was somehow expecting more from the reviews I'd heard and hype about it being the best game of the year. (minor spoilers behind the cut, but mostly just discussions of specific issues, and good points)
( Read more... )

TV. Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead was on last night, and... ehh, it was okay. Felt like an average episode (and really, with normal episodes being something like 50 minutes, and this one being a whopping 58, lets stop calling these 'extra long specials'. It barely qualifies. When they said instead of a full season we were getting 4 extra long specials I would have hoped that they were at least 1.5 times a regular ep), and nothing really all that special. On the other hand, it didn't make me want to throw things at the screen, so for a RTD-written episode, that's a success. (Minor spoilery comments behind cut) ( Read more... )

And the other big TV is the last 2nd season episode of Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronciles, and possibly the end of the series entirely. And if the last part is true, then DAMN YOU. DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL. I so want to see where they go from here. Good ep, and giving me a lot of what I wanted to see when the series was announced. (spoilers) ( Read more... )

Dollhouse was also pretty good. Only other thing I've been watching lately besides Heroes (which is still lame, but getting a _tiny_ bit better at least in the general writing category) and a few "whatever's on" shows is Lost, and it's pretty good this season but I don't find myself with a need to talk about episodes in my updates. I dunno why. *shrug*. So that's it for TV.

Finally, a meme, several installments worth. I've put off these for a long time, usually because I didn't want to post _just_ them, or a post I was already posting just got too long. But, it's about time, so here we go...

Interview Me Meme
1) Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
2) I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3) You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. And thus the endless cycle of the meme goes on and on and on and on...


Btw, if I asked for questions from you and you gave them but they're not here, it might have been one of those instances where LJ didn't send me the comment notification. If you're really interested you'll have to reply to this and either ask them again or link to them. So, here we go...

From thebitterguy...

1. Were there any comics of note in the '90s? I mean, was the entire decade not a wasteland of graphic novel mediocrity? ( Read more... )
2. If I shot Ben Browder in the face, would you cry? ( Read more... )
3. Do you consciously not use tags on your LJ? Or is it just something you never got around to doing? ( Read more... )
4. I see you just re-read the Wild Cards books. Have they aged well? ( Read more... )
5. Is runaways readable in floppies? I've only read the first run as hardcovers, and got the Whedon series as floppies. I found the Whedon's not very engaging until I read them as a single story. ( Read more... )
From soleta_nf...

1. What do you love about Toronto? ( Read more... )
2. What do you dislike about Toronto? ( Read more... )
3. Is the current economic situation affecting you personally very much? ( Read more... )
4. What's your favourite comic book movie? ( Read more... )
5. Who is the next Canadian Barack Obama? ( Read more... )

From calliopes_pen...
1. If you had the chance to travel with the Doctor, which Doctor would you want to travel with? And where would you want to go first? ( Read more... )
2. Are you superstitious at all? If so, about what, in particular? ( Read more... )
3. If vampires were real, what would you do? ( Read more... )
4. What is the one job you would never want to have? ( Read more... )
5. If you were trapped on a deserted island, what one book would you want
to have with you? ( Read more... )

And that's it. See you all out there in Post-Apocalyptica, people.

Edit: Oh, and this seems to have exploded everywhere since I originally posted this post, but I figure it deserves spreading even more since I'm against censorship and bigotry and this has elements of both: Amazon.com is censoring it rankings and search results, specifically targetting non-pornographic GBLT books as 'adult' content (while leaving things like Playboy fully searchable).

I'll start with TV. SCC was pretty good this week. I'm going to miss the series when it's gone, as I'm feeling is likely (but not officially confirmed yet, so I hope I'm wrong), despite the big, sudden events in this ep. Dollhouse has also been getting better. It's still nowhere near as good as any of Whedon's other shows, but I find myself watching it as opposed to leaving it on in the background while I do something else.

And found another episode of Prisoners of Gravity. I know none of you care but I do, helps me if I want to find a particular interview later.

This one's on Children in SF & Fantasy.

Part 1: General introduction, John Clute on stories about children and adolescents in general in SF and the SF as 'right of passage' (and the actual book by that title). Kristine-Kathryn Rusch on why SF has so few child characters compared to fantasy, the host lists some examples of kids in SF.
Part 2: (mostly) Kids in Fantasy. Mercedes Lackey on how much she draws on her own childhood to write kids, and the life of kids in medieval times. Robert Holdstock (the Bone Forest) on why he likes writing from the child's perspective, Jane Yolen on the difference between writing about children vs writing for children, and rules for writing for kids. Nancy Kress back on the topic of the lack of children in SF.
Part 3: Nancy Kress again on how having kids affected her view of the world. Other SF writers on how kids have affected their writing careers (Gwyneth Jones, Esther Friesner, Pat Cadigan). More general interview with Monica Hughes (of the Isis Trilogy): how she started writing SF for children, inspiration for the Isis Trilogy, and whether she feels she's competing with the more commercialized entertainment for children.

Speaking of children in SF/Fantasy, writing update. Really, it's mostly been slogging it again. I haven't felt particularly inspired about anything recently. However, while I was exhausted of writing one of the things I was writing on last, I still had words to write for the week and went to an old story, one of my longer unfinished novel-like works. ( Read more... )

Anyay, I think the reason I still have the lack of writing-excitedness is I'm still in my winter depression, despite the fact that it's spring. I don't really feel much like _anything_ except the occasional fancy that strikes me. You're supposed to go away now, thanks! Oh well, at least I seem to have shaken that cold (or series of colds) that've been dogging me for months.

And since this post is going to be using the canadiana tag anyway, just for an idle bit of fun. A number of my friends have mentioned the Law and Order: UK series. So, as is my wont, I began to think about Law and Order: Canada. So a Canadiana Challenge for any Canadians on my flist who want to participate (either in comments or your own journal). Cast a Law and Order Canada. The rules:
( Read more... )

Finally, I think I'll talk about the biggest of my recent timesinks lately. As you may remember, I got a new new computer recently. Now, my old new computer was rather old, and so I couldn't really play much in the way of games on it (I still have my old old computer, but it's pretty much just for web browsing my favorite sites, writing, and e-mail). I think the newest (non flash or simple puzzle) game I played on it was Planescape Torment. Or maybe Black and White. Whichever was newest. But now I can actually play new games. And, as it turned out, my brother had a copy of Fallout 3. So, I've been playing that. It's a post apocalyptic semi-RPG, semi-shooter. And it's reasonably fun. I think I'm about halfway through the main quest, but there are so many side quests I keep getting distracted with. I'm playing Good, because, well, I find it hard to play evil. I even started a new character to play evil for a while and whenever I tried to choose the evil conversation options I thought, "I don't want to say that, that's mean!". Not to mention things like blowing up a whole town.
Anyway, the game is fun but there are some annoyances, like characters who you just finished talking to a few seconds ago, asking you if you're back from the assignment they _just_ sent you on. And unrealistic things like where you see something happening, go away, do something else for a few days of game time, come back, and the people you left are all pretty much doing the exact same thing, as though no time had passed for them. Which got me thinking. What if you made a game that made use of that failing as a game mechanic, much like Planescape: Torment did with dying and respawning. And continued thinking and came up with a general plot sketch:
( Read more... ) In conclusion, I should totally write for video games!! Anyway, given that games play with time a lot, and how little I'm 'plugged in' to gaming news, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody already did something much like that. But it amused me anyway.

In comics, Marvel's announced Dark X-Men with a lineup of mostly people not usually in X-books, and continuing Marvel beating the adjective Dark into the ground. Personally, I'm waiting for Dark Runaways, with a returned Alex leading Topher (brought back to life for Dracula's war effort), Excavator, Penance/Hollow, and an alternate universe Squirrel Girl where she's a master thief who stole Doctor Doom's universe-travelling gear, her killer giant mutant squirrel Monkey Joe, and Mordred the Magician who's astrally inhabiting the body of Lotus, who accidentally summoned him. Or not. Anyway, although the lineup (of Dark X-Men) is kinda-sorta interesting in parts, I'm not bothering and can't wait until Marvel unDarks everything.

I think that's it for today. I do have a few memes saved up I need to get to but this is getting a bit long so I'll save them for a bit later.

Edit: Weird, while I was looking up the link to my review of Planescape: Torment, I stumbled on this post, from 2006, where (among other things), I relate a dream, that seems to be the general concept of (the most recent) New Warriors, combined with the title of Young X-Men. Marvel, are you reading my journal and stealing my ideas and making them crappier? Or reading my dreams?

So yeah, big BSG finale this weekend. Figured I might as well do a solo post. Spoilers will be behind the cut, non-spoilers before it.

Okay, as usual, generally well acted and directed. Maybe a bit of iffy bits, and a little too dark at times to tell for sure what was happening (at least for me).

However, as a finale, it didn't really satisfy me, and in fact has confirmed my feeling that the show seriously jumped the shark with the final 5 revelation. As I've become fond of saying, "The Cylons had A Plan. It would have been nice if the writers did too." The series is generally well written as far as individual episodes go, but, as a whole, it fails to hang together - plotline that I felt were important get dropped and characters occasionally seem to change suddenly because of it. Because of this, I doubt I'll watch the series, as a whole, again. I may watch individual episodes if I happen to catch them and I'm in the mood and like that one, but because they failed I won't be able to watch, say, daily reruns. Kinda like X-Files.

A few specific points ( Read more... )

Good Terminator episode that night though, I think it's finally got its groove back, and a better showing than there's been so far with Dollhouse.

Meh. Can't do laundry because roommates left the Smartcard in their room (or hid it somewhere unusual) and are sleeping. I like doing it in the morning because there's usually no competition. If when they wake up all the machines are full, killing spree time. Well, probably not. But there'll be a frowning to remember!

Anyway, let's get to the Book Foo...

Finished: Queen of Candesce (Book 2 of Virga), by Karl Schroeder
Started: The First Half of the Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe (technically two books)

I don't really have many extended comments on this one. I liked it, but not as much as the first in the series. Some of the setups of Spyre and the different kingdoms seemed a little artificial (in terms of setup, of course they were artificial in origin). Still, I'm going to get the third (and probably fourth) eventually.

Finished: Nocturne for a Dangerous Man, by Marc Matz
Started: Chasm City, by Alastair Reynolds

Comments behind the cut, short version: Meh, not my cup of tea. (no real spoilers except for concept and characters)
( Read more... )

Finished watching the first season of Wolverine and the X-Men (because the UK jumped past us, playing it every day instead of weekly). Rather good, overall. Could be better. (some spoilers for end of season coming)( Read more... )

Also lately been enjoying the second season of Spectacular Spider-Man. It's nice to have good cartoons again, finally.

TVwise, Terminator wasn't bad, BSG was... kinda a waste for a second last episode, but we'll see how they end off.

Edit: Oh, and I finally saw Watchmen. My thoughts, spoilers behind the cut both for the movie and the GN. Short version: Liked it, a bit soulless in parts, but I'll probably buy the extended DVD. ( Read more... )

This week I got two books:

Captain Britain and MI13 #11 (quite good, really enjoying the arc)

Full reviews as usual at my comic reviews site for anyone interested.

Also picked up at the used bookstore:

Book of the New Sun, the First Half of, by Gene Wolfe (since one half of the first half is a Nebula winner I haven't read)

and

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds

Wasn't too thrilled with Revelation Space by Reynolds, but this was cheap and I'm running low on new reading material so I figured what the heck, I'll give him another chance.

Work was okay, showed up only a few minutes after I did and decent load. And of course, since I had comics to get and the weather was fairly nice, I got some good reading time in. The weather was fairly nice, as I just said, but very windy. Which did make it a bit challenging to read at times, but I managed, except at a few points (like going under a train bridge that seemed to become like a wind tunnel.

What else? Some quick TV thoughts... BSG's moving slow and with what, only a couple eps left, I really don't have confidence that they're going to end on a satisfactory note. I happened to see a little preview for Caprica that looked good, though, looking forward to that when it comes, even if I'll probably have to treat it as a completely separate entity from BSG. Lost's been enjoyable (but what? Not on tonight?). Terminator _finally_ came through with a pretty good ep after a few weeks of stinkers (I mean seriously, how many times do we need people to be hallucinating/dreaming major parts of the episode, or for there to be fear that that's going on?). Dollhouse continues to, uhm... 'be', I guess.

Morena Baccarin is cast in the V remake. You know, I almost think the only way to approach the series would be to... not even Battlestar Galactica it, because BSG remained pretty close, plotwise, just modernizing it and making one major change (adding secret human cylons). For V, I think the best way to do it would be to also reimagine it, but go one step furthur... just use the title V, and the premise of aliens landing and becoming public to the world, and forget the lame (I'll cut for spoilers just in case you never saw any of the original) ( Read more... ). Reimagine not just the plot but the whole nature of the aliens, make the threat (if there even is one) a new one. Anyway, we'll see, Morena Baccarin in it might make me at least give it a look. Aw, who am I fooling, I'm a sci-fi geek, I'd probably give it a look regardless.

Been having a fair number of 'back in high school' dreams, or 'meet somebody from high school' dreams lately. And they usually involve rather random people, people I wasn't particularly close with (or negative with), just people who's name/face I happen to remember. Shrug.

Depressed of course (tis the season), and not really feeling inspired to do writing (though I've been meeting my quotas, it's been fairly joyless). And I'm still very lightly sick. Can't seem to shake it. So, meh all around.

So, the computer's still doing well. Haven't got an IDE enclosure yet to attempt to restore my old data, but I'm making slow progress on getting my other stuff up to speed or better than up to speed. For example, now I don't need to watch TV, sitting in my uncomfortable chair with dollar store earphones in my ears! My old PC had an internal speaker that was good for watching, this one doesn't. Luckily my brother had recently upgraded his speakers (he's one of you 'tunie' freaks who listens to 'music' for 'pleasure', and so the quality matters to him... weirdos) and still had the old ones around. With some kajiggering that left me completely soundless for a while (oops), I managed to get 'em up and working.

So, what have I been watching lately? Well, the Dead Like Me direct to DVD sequel-movie "Life After Death", for one. (some spoilers)( Read more... )

Wolverine and the X-Men wasn't bad this week, though a bit low on the funny. And a NM cameo!

Terminator... From what I understand, the show has slipped severely in the ratings its first week out on the Friday Death Slot, so I'm not optomistic about it surviving another year. And judging by the last couple eps, I'm not as broken up as I would. I dunno, the writing seems to be getting more and more stilted (spoilers ahoy) ( Read more... )

And speaking of Friday night deathslots, Dollhouse. Dollhouse, Dollhouse, Dollhouse. I'm not feeling it. It's slightly enjoyable. I mean, I think I could really dig a hypothetical third season where (slight spoilers and longer discussion of the show ahead)( Read more... ) So I'm thinking this is a slight misfire for Joss. I _almost_ wish it gets cancelled so that he can move on to doing something else awesome. But I won't add any bad wishes to it. I'll still watch but I don't think it'll be must-see for me anymore.

BSG I'm still worried has lost the plot. They're at the stage where people seem to be changing their minds and allegiences suddenly for no good reason, and (spoilers for most recent) ( Read more... )

Lost has been fairly enjoyable... not super exciting, but good.

What's up other than TV? Not a whole lot. My Dad, who's been out of work about two months or so, got a new job that pays much more than his previous ones, + benefits, so that's nice.

Writing-wise I should be on a writing cycle this week, but since I lost my last weekend trying to sort out my computer and otherwise not being able to enjoy myself much until I got the new one, I'm taking this one off, from my normal metered writing at least. I find I need a certain amount of unproductiveness and I lost that. However, I'm not abandoning writing entirely, I've just decided to work on unproductive writing and dipping my toe into fanfic for the first time in quite a while. Specifically, Runaways fanfic (well, sorta a crossover), set between the Secret Invasion mini and the 1st issue of vol 3. I may not actually get past the outlining stage (since for some reason I can't write comic fanfic as prose, I have to structure it as though I'm actually writing a comic script), but at least unlike my other Runaways ideas (like the What I'd Do With one, even though my ideas have moved far beyond what I have in that one entry) it's unlikely my ideas can become incompatible with the real storylines, I can actually work on it slowly without the fear that I should chuck it all into the 'why bother, it's not even theoretically possible anymore' bin. Shrug.