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| XO XO XO XO XO XO |
You'll have to forgive me: I'm rewatching all of Battlestar Galactica with two friends who haven't seen it before (we've got just two episodes left in season one), so I have BSG on the mind.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Showing posts with label Battlestar Galactica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Battlestar Galactica. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day!
You'll have to forgive me: I'm rewatching all of Battlestar Galactica with two friends who haven't seen it before (we've got just two episodes left in season one), so I have BSG on the mind.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
What's up for 2011: TV shows
What new TV shows am I looking forward to in 2011? Well, there aren't many, yet, because most new shows start in the fall, and those shows have yet to be decided. But there are a few shows this winter/spring that I'll be checking out.
The Cape
Premieres January 9 on NBC
Mondays 9/8c
The Cape is about a cop who gets framed for a crime he didn't commit, fakes his death (at least, lets people think he's dead), then gets trained by circus performers to do neat little tricks to help him become a masked hero. He takes the name The Cape from a comic book series his son loves, then proceeds to clean up the city of its crime and corruption. This one already premiered, and I haven't exactly heard great things about it. It's too bad, too, because it has Summer Glau, and I like her a lot. I'll at least check out the pilot, then decide whether to keep watching.
Camelot
Premieres April 1 on Starz
Fridays 10/9c
"Camelot" is a gritty, more "real" retelling of Arthurian legend. It has an impressive cast, including Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green, and Claire Forlani. I do enjoy Arthurian legend (I like watching "Merlin", which I guess one could say is the kiddie version of what "Camelot" will be), so I'll definitely check this one out.
Game of Thrones
Premieres April 17 on HBO
I've talked about this one before here. George R. R. Martin' A Song of Ice and Fire series is one of the most respected fantasy series out there, and this adaptation looks great from what footage and photos I've seen. HBO has been doing some pretty awesome stuff lately (Boardwalk Empire, True Blood), and I can't think of a better network for this series. Don't watch the show if you're looking for something to lighten your mood. This is a dark fantasy tale of murder, politics, intrigue, and tragedy. But it's a really great, engrossing story. It's going to be good.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome
Some time? on SyFy
I'm not actually sure when this one is coming out, but I assume it's some time this year. Anyway, "Blood & Chrome" will focus on a 20-something William Adama as a fighter pilot in the First Cylon War. After Caprica's unfortunate cancellation, SyFy is hoping that more people will tune into a more space battle-y Battlestar Galactica prequel. First SyFy will air a two-hour Blood & Chrome movie, much like Razor and The Plan. Assuming it's successful, there's a whole series hoping to follow. I miss "Caprica" a lot, but I'm willing to give "Blood & Chrome" a try, too. I hope it lives up to its promise.
See more fantasy and sci-fi shows (including returning shows) here:
http://io9.com/5726730/ultimate-guide-to-science-fiction-and-fantasy-television-in-2011
The Cape
Premieres January 9 on NBC
Mondays 9/8c
The Cape is about a cop who gets framed for a crime he didn't commit, fakes his death (at least, lets people think he's dead), then gets trained by circus performers to do neat little tricks to help him become a masked hero. He takes the name The Cape from a comic book series his son loves, then proceeds to clean up the city of its crime and corruption. This one already premiered, and I haven't exactly heard great things about it. It's too bad, too, because it has Summer Glau, and I like her a lot. I'll at least check out the pilot, then decide whether to keep watching.
Camelot
Premieres April 1 on Starz
Fridays 10/9c
"Camelot" is a gritty, more "real" retelling of Arthurian legend. It has an impressive cast, including Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green, and Claire Forlani. I do enjoy Arthurian legend (I like watching "Merlin", which I guess one could say is the kiddie version of what "Camelot" will be), so I'll definitely check this one out.
Game of Thrones
Premieres April 17 on HBO
I've talked about this one before here. George R. R. Martin' A Song of Ice and Fire series is one of the most respected fantasy series out there, and this adaptation looks great from what footage and photos I've seen. HBO has been doing some pretty awesome stuff lately (Boardwalk Empire, True Blood), and I can't think of a better network for this series. Don't watch the show if you're looking for something to lighten your mood. This is a dark fantasy tale of murder, politics, intrigue, and tragedy. But it's a really great, engrossing story. It's going to be good.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome
Some time? on SyFy
I'm not actually sure when this one is coming out, but I assume it's some time this year. Anyway, "Blood & Chrome" will focus on a 20-something William Adama as a fighter pilot in the First Cylon War. After Caprica's unfortunate cancellation, SyFy is hoping that more people will tune into a more space battle-y Battlestar Galactica prequel. First SyFy will air a two-hour Blood & Chrome movie, much like Razor and The Plan. Assuming it's successful, there's a whole series hoping to follow. I miss "Caprica" a lot, but I'm willing to give "Blood & Chrome" a try, too. I hope it lives up to its promise.
See more fantasy and sci-fi shows (including returning shows) here:
http://io9.com/5726730/ultimate-guide-to-science-fiction-and-fantasy-television-in-2011
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Caprica canceled
SyFy just announced that it will not be renewing Caprica for a second season (Variety, EOnline). The remaining five unaired episodes will be pulled from the schedule, to be aired in the spring. In spite of its ties to the popular Battlestar Galactica, Caprica was not able to gain a large enough audience for SyFy to want to renew it.
I'm very upset to learn of this cancellation. I was just watching the most recent episode, enjoying the character development and the many interesting plot lines going on. There are so many questions in that show, things left up in the air that I'm anxious to see resolved. Will Daniel be able to write an AI program as good as Zoe's? Will Clarice get her hands on Zoe's backup (assuming that the thing exists)? Will Amanda be able to get any information from Clarice's family? Will Daniel be able to pull himself together after all that he's done? What is Joseph Adama getting himself into? What will happen to Lacy when she's shipped off world? What will the Zoe and Tamara "deadwalkers" do in V-world? Will the world ever know that it wasn't Zoe who blew up the train? And, of course, the big question that's always underlying everything: How do these events ultimately lead to the Cylons we know and love--the Cylons that start the war with the humans? That is, who are the first Cylons?
I was looking forward to many seasons of Caprica to answer some of these questions. Hopefully the remaining episodes will offer some answers, maybe a little closure, but the big questions intended for multiple seasons will remain unanswered. There's definitely a lot of missed opportunity here. This was a smart, challenging, intricate show--sci-fi that speaks to our own society, even though it is set in a different world. They told a lot of story in the few episodes they got. It deserved better than this early cancellation. I'm sorry to see it go, and I'll miss it a lot.
RIP Caprica
I'm very upset to learn of this cancellation. I was just watching the most recent episode, enjoying the character development and the many interesting plot lines going on. There are so many questions in that show, things left up in the air that I'm anxious to see resolved. Will Daniel be able to write an AI program as good as Zoe's? Will Clarice get her hands on Zoe's backup (assuming that the thing exists)? Will Amanda be able to get any information from Clarice's family? Will Daniel be able to pull himself together after all that he's done? What is Joseph Adama getting himself into? What will happen to Lacy when she's shipped off world? What will the Zoe and Tamara "deadwalkers" do in V-world? Will the world ever know that it wasn't Zoe who blew up the train? And, of course, the big question that's always underlying everything: How do these events ultimately lead to the Cylons we know and love--the Cylons that start the war with the humans? That is, who are the first Cylons?
I was looking forward to many seasons of Caprica to answer some of these questions. Hopefully the remaining episodes will offer some answers, maybe a little closure, but the big questions intended for multiple seasons will remain unanswered. There's definitely a lot of missed opportunity here. This was a smart, challenging, intricate show--sci-fi that speaks to our own society, even though it is set in a different world. They told a lot of story in the few episodes they got. It deserved better than this early cancellation. I'm sorry to see it go, and I'll miss it a lot.
RIP Caprica
Friday, October 1, 2010
New hope for my sci-fi fantasies
As a sci-fi fan, I am elated at some recent astronomy news.
Aliens are an important part of science fiction. Obviously not all science fiction has to do with outer space (Blade Runner, The Matrix, etc.), and not all science fiction that takes place in outer space is focused on alien life (Firefly, Battlestar Galactica). Still, aliens are an important part of many sci-fi universes (Star Wars, Star Trek, to name a couple biggies). For centuries, humans have asked the question Are we alone? and then imagined What would happen if we aren't? Aliens are our gateway to new and amazing technology; their discovery will bind humanity together and bring peace; they will give diversity and tolerance a new meaning... Or they'll try to kill or conquer us all. That's always a possibility (a likely possibility according to Stephen Hawking, of course).
But in order for any of these sci-fi dreams (and nightmares) to come true, there has to be life outside of our tiny blue planet. For a long time, people have said that the conditions on Earth which make it habitable are so incredibly unlikely that the chance of there being another planet similarly suitable for life is infinitesimally small. Others, myself included, have believed that with so many planets in the galaxy (in the universe!) even something with a small chance could happen many times. Not that we'd necessarily ever find another one of these habitable planets--it's just likely that one's out there somewhere. Right?
Well, my sci-fi dreams just got one huge step closer to maybe being true. Astronomers have found a planet that may be suitable for life! (See the abstract submitted to the for the Astrophysical Journal here, and various reports from CNN and Associated Press.) Enter the beautiful Gliese 581g. Not exactly the sexiest name; its sun is called Gliese 581, and as the sixth planet discovered in the solar system, it gets the "g" designation (because the sun itself is "a"). We can't get too excited yet, since we don't know if the planet actually has water (necessary for life...as we know it, at least), but it does have temperatures that would allow liquid water, it's the right size and distance from Gliese 581 to have an atmosphere without being an ice giant, and it's rocky. A lot of astronomers are very excited about this; they say there have been false alarms before regarding the discovery of habitable planets, but this one looks like it may be the real deal.
So what do we know about Gliese 581g? It's a little larger than the Earth in diameter and about three or four times the Earth's mass. It is closer to its sun than we are to ours; it takes only 36.6 Earth days to complete its orbit. Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star about one third the strength of our sun, which I guess is why Little G (Can I call it that? Uh, maybe not.) can be closer to it than Earth is to our sun while still being habitable. The planet rotates slowly and is actually tidally locked to Gliese 581, meaning that one side always faces the sun and one side faces away (like how the same side of the moon always faces the Earth). Temperatures on the planet range from -25 to 160 degrees (the article I got this from didn't mention which scale, but I'm going to go with Fahrenheit), presumably on the "night" hemisphere and the "day" hemisphere, respectively, but the terminator--the "twilight zone" of eternal sunrise/sunset--is quite comfy, described as "shirt-sleeve weather" by article co-author Steven Vogt of UC Santa Cruz.
Reading the descriptions of Gliese 581g definitely reminded me of Mass Effect. Both Mass Effect 1 and 2 had dozens upon dozens of planets, and even if you couldn't land on most of them, you could always get a short description of them, often including surprising, funny, or informative details. Heck, it's how I knew to use the term "tidally locked" to describe Gliese 581g. Take the planet Chasca from ME1:
Chasca is tidally-
locked to Matano. The same side always faces the sun, resulting in a scorching day side and a frozen night side. In the temperate areas around the terminator, temperatures average around 30 Celsius. Combined with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, this slender band of habitable terrain allows limited colonization by humans.
In fact, I counted 10
planets from ME1 alone that were described as tidally locked. See, video games can be fun and educational. Gliese 581g could totally be one of the planets described in Mass Effect. And that makes my geeky little self very happy.
Gliese 581 is dim enough that you can't see it from Earth without a telescope, but if you have one, it can apparently be found in the area of the constellation Libra. The star is about 120 trillion miles away, which sounds like a lot for us Earth-bound folks, but on the scale of our galaxy, it's right in our neighborhood. 20 light years away! We can observe from the Earth what the planet looked like just 20 years ago. My mind is totally blown. A possibly habitable planet. Just 20 light years away. The astronomers connected with the article seem to think it is highly likely that the planet could have life (though, granted, they are understandably even more psyched about it all than I am), and they've done some calculations to estimate that as many as 10-20% of stars may have Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone. I'll take that with a grain of salt, though, since I don't want to get my hopes up too high.
So it's rocky and likely has an atmosphere and a band of nice temperatures for habitation. But what are the chances it actually has life? Vogt has high hopes for the presence of water due to there being right temperatures for liquid water, and since we've found life wherever we've found water on Earth, he thinks there's a good chance something is living there. The fact that Gliese 581 is a dwarf star, which will last longer than our own sun, gives the planet more time to develop life, as well. And, as Vogt says, "It's pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions." And we're not expecting little green men or sexy blue ladies. Extraterrestrial mold, algae, or bacteria would even be beyond remarkable. Though sexy, intelligent, and benevolent aliens would certainly be appreciated. Either way, it's all pretty frakking amazing.
Let the new sci-fi stories begin.
Update 7/20/12: See follow-up post here. Also, this planet is apparently nicknamed "Zarmina".
Aliens are an important part of science fiction. Obviously not all science fiction has to do with outer space (Blade Runner, The Matrix, etc.), and not all science fiction that takes place in outer space is focused on alien life (Firefly, Battlestar Galactica). Still, aliens are an important part of many sci-fi universes (Star Wars, Star Trek, to name a couple biggies). For centuries, humans have asked the question Are we alone? and then imagined What would happen if we aren't? Aliens are our gateway to new and amazing technology; their discovery will bind humanity together and bring peace; they will give diversity and tolerance a new meaning... Or they'll try to kill or conquer us all. That's always a possibility (a likely possibility according to Stephen Hawking, of course).
But in order for any of these sci-fi dreams (and nightmares) to come true, there has to be life outside of our tiny blue planet. For a long time, people have said that the conditions on Earth which make it habitable are so incredibly unlikely that the chance of there being another planet similarly suitable for life is infinitesimally small. Others, myself included, have believed that with so many planets in the galaxy (in the universe!) even something with a small chance could happen many times. Not that we'd necessarily ever find another one of these habitable planets--it's just likely that one's out there somewhere. Right?
Well, my sci-fi dreams just got one huge step closer to maybe being true. Astronomers have found a planet that may be suitable for life! (See the abstract submitted to the for the Astrophysical Journal here, and various reports from CNN and Associated Press.) Enter the beautiful Gliese 581g. Not exactly the sexiest name; its sun is called Gliese 581, and as the sixth planet discovered in the solar system, it gets the "g" designation (because the sun itself is "a"). We can't get too excited yet, since we don't know if the planet actually has water (necessary for life...as we know it, at least), but it does have temperatures that would allow liquid water, it's the right size and distance from Gliese 581 to have an atmosphere without being an ice giant, and it's rocky. A lot of astronomers are very excited about this; they say there have been false alarms before regarding the discovery of habitable planets, but this one looks like it may be the real deal.
So what do we know about Gliese 581g? It's a little larger than the Earth in diameter and about three or four times the Earth's mass. It is closer to its sun than we are to ours; it takes only 36.6 Earth days to complete its orbit. Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star about one third the strength of our sun, which I guess is why Little G (Can I call it that? Uh, maybe not.) can be closer to it than Earth is to our sun while still being habitable. The planet rotates slowly and is actually tidally locked to Gliese 581, meaning that one side always faces the sun and one side faces away (like how the same side of the moon always faces the Earth). Temperatures on the planet range from -25 to 160 degrees (the article I got this from didn't mention which scale, but I'm going to go with Fahrenheit), presumably on the "night" hemisphere and the "day" hemisphere, respectively, but the terminator--the "twilight zone" of eternal sunrise/sunset--is quite comfy, described as "shirt-sleeve weather" by article co-author Steven Vogt of UC Santa Cruz.
Reading the descriptions of Gliese 581g definitely reminded me of Mass Effect. Both Mass Effect 1 and 2 had dozens upon dozens of planets, and even if you couldn't land on most of them, you could always get a short description of them, often including surprising, funny, or informative details. Heck, it's how I knew to use the term "tidally locked" to describe Gliese 581g. Take the planet Chasca from ME1:
Chasca is tidally-
locked to Matano. The same side always faces the sun, resulting in a scorching day side and a frozen night side. In the temperate areas around the terminator, temperatures average around 30 Celsius. Combined with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, this slender band of habitable terrain allows limited colonization by humans.In fact, I counted 10
planets from ME1 alone that were described as tidally locked. See, video games can be fun and educational. Gliese 581g could totally be one of the planets described in Mass Effect. And that makes my geeky little self very happy.Gliese 581 is dim enough that you can't see it from Earth without a telescope, but if you have one, it can apparently be found in the area of the constellation Libra. The star is about 120 trillion miles away, which sounds like a lot for us Earth-bound folks, but on the scale of our galaxy, it's right in our neighborhood. 20 light years away! We can observe from the Earth what the planet looked like just 20 years ago. My mind is totally blown. A possibly habitable planet. Just 20 light years away. The astronomers connected with the article seem to think it is highly likely that the planet could have life (though, granted, they are understandably even more psyched about it all than I am), and they've done some calculations to estimate that as many as 10-20% of stars may have Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone. I'll take that with a grain of salt, though, since I don't want to get my hopes up too high.
So it's rocky and likely has an atmosphere and a band of nice temperatures for habitation. But what are the chances it actually has life? Vogt has high hopes for the presence of water due to there being right temperatures for liquid water, and since we've found life wherever we've found water on Earth, he thinks there's a good chance something is living there. The fact that Gliese 581 is a dwarf star, which will last longer than our own sun, gives the planet more time to develop life, as well. And, as Vogt says, "It's pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions." And we're not expecting little green men or sexy blue ladies. Extraterrestrial mold, algae, or bacteria would even be beyond remarkable. Though sexy, intelligent, and benevolent aliens would certainly be appreciated. Either way, it's all pretty frakking amazing.
Let the new sci-fi stories begin.
Update 7/20/12: See follow-up post here. Also, this planet is apparently nicknamed "Zarmina".
Monday, August 17, 2009
Spidey troubles, WoT MMO, new BSG and more
Some tidbits of recent entertainment news that caught my attention...
Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, who in this past year's Oscar ceremony turned Frost/Nixon into a romantic musical number (Jackman as Frost, Hathaway as Nixon), will re-team for a movie musical called "The Greatest Showman on Earth", about circus showman PT Barnum (IMDb). Jackman has proven himself in musicals, winning a Tony for best leading actor in a musical. All I've seen of Hathaway doing song and dance is that Frost/Nixon number. But she is a very talented young lady. This project is still "in development", so we'll see what becomes of it.
Having gently poked fun at the concept ever since I first heard about the project a year ago (various posts), I am sorry to report that there may be production troubles surrounding Spider-Man: The Musical (formally known as Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark). There have been a whole series of articles about it, reporting on various rumors that it's been scrapped or put on hold followed by producers insisting that it will debut as scheduled. It seems that the technically demanding show has run into monetary issues, perhaps not for lack of money but because there have been issues mobilizing the money that has been raised. Production is on hold until the cash starts flowing again, but people involved with the show are convinced that will be soon and they will be able to stick to the schedule, with previews starting on February 25 followed by a March opening (Variety, IMDb). There are rumors that cast and crew have been released from their contracts (IMDb), and Evan Rachel Wood, who was cast as Mary Jane, is looking to win back some movie offers she had passed up because of the musical (IMDb). After everything, I think I would be sad if this project fell apart. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more news.
Warner Bros. is planning to make a Lego movie (IMDb). The film will not use real Legos, but will be live-action/CG. No word on the plot, but the studio says the movie will be suitable for children but will also hopefully appeal to adults.
Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer-actor, has been cast as Kato alongside Seth Rogan in The Green Hornet (Variety). He replaces Stephen Chow, who was originally also supposed to direct until he stepped down from that role to be replaced by Michel Gondry. I don't really know Chow or Chou, so I'm kind of indifferent to the recasting, other than it's a bit sad that someone originally planning to direct and star has been completely ousted. I don't know the story behind all this, but I guess that's the business.
Channing Tatum, the star of G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra as well as the Step Up movies, is apparently writing what he describes as a "fantastical dance-ical" (IMDb). This is apparently a dance musical with a fantasy theme, a la Alice in Wonderland. He's just working on it; the project is a long way off. Fantastical.
This bit of news isn't particularly interesting to me, though it does have a nice example of "artistic differences": the author of novel The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer wants Mickey Rourke for the lead role in the adaptation, while the director wanted Channing Tatum (IMDb). But the article made me laugh because of the line that labels someone as "the brains behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra". Haha. "Brains."
Chris Morgan, who was a screenwriter for Wanted, Cellular, and Fast and Furious, has signed on with Red Eagle Games as the story director for the Wheel of Time video games that Electronic Arts will publish for all major gaming platforms (Variety blog). Red Eagle is also planning to make an MMO based on the WoT world. A WoT FPS came out in 1999, but was not a hit. As a gamer and WoT reader, I am intrigued that they are making a new video game based on the series, and an MMO. I'll have to see how they come out; even though I'm a fan of the series, I won't play the game unless it's supposed to be good.
Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-Men movies and The Usual Suspects, has signed on to direct and produce a movie version of Battlestar Galactica (Variety blog). It will be a complete re-imagination of the BSG story (yes, another one). As a fan of the very recent BSG series on Sci-Fi, I find the fact that they're making the movie now to be very odd. It's too soon. We finished a very long, difficult journey just this past spring, and now they're going to do it all over again? And as a movie? Bryan Singer is pretty good, so I guess I'll wait to see where he takes this.
And last, Sony has hooked James Vanderbilt, the first writer of Spider-Man 4, to write the screenplays for the Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6 movies (Variety). Yes, while they're planning to begin production on Spider-Man 4 early next year, they are already getting two more sequels into motion. At this stage, we don't know if director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst would be back for 5 and 6 (they will all be back for #4). If not, then the new Vanderbilt scripts may become "reboots" for the franchise. Oy. If you must continue, just make them good, please.
Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, who in this past year's Oscar ceremony turned Frost/Nixon into a romantic musical number (Jackman as Frost, Hathaway as Nixon), will re-team for a movie musical called "The Greatest Showman on Earth", about circus showman PT Barnum (IMDb). Jackman has proven himself in musicals, winning a Tony for best leading actor in a musical. All I've seen of Hathaway doing song and dance is that Frost/Nixon number. But she is a very talented young lady. This project is still "in development", so we'll see what becomes of it.
Having gently poked fun at the concept ever since I first heard about the project a year ago (various posts), I am sorry to report that there may be production troubles surrounding Spider-Man: The Musical (formally known as Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark). There have been a whole series of articles about it, reporting on various rumors that it's been scrapped or put on hold followed by producers insisting that it will debut as scheduled. It seems that the technically demanding show has run into monetary issues, perhaps not for lack of money but because there have been issues mobilizing the money that has been raised. Production is on hold until the cash starts flowing again, but people involved with the show are convinced that will be soon and they will be able to stick to the schedule, with previews starting on February 25 followed by a March opening (Variety, IMDb). There are rumors that cast and crew have been released from their contracts (IMDb), and Evan Rachel Wood, who was cast as Mary Jane, is looking to win back some movie offers she had passed up because of the musical (IMDb). After everything, I think I would be sad if this project fell apart. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more news.
Warner Bros. is planning to make a Lego movie (IMDb). The film will not use real Legos, but will be live-action/CG. No word on the plot, but the studio says the movie will be suitable for children but will also hopefully appeal to adults.
Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer-actor, has been cast as Kato alongside Seth Rogan in The Green Hornet (Variety). He replaces Stephen Chow, who was originally also supposed to direct until he stepped down from that role to be replaced by Michel Gondry. I don't really know Chow or Chou, so I'm kind of indifferent to the recasting, other than it's a bit sad that someone originally planning to direct and star has been completely ousted. I don't know the story behind all this, but I guess that's the business.
Channing Tatum, the star of G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra as well as the Step Up movies, is apparently writing what he describes as a "fantastical dance-ical" (IMDb). This is apparently a dance musical with a fantasy theme, a la Alice in Wonderland. He's just working on it; the project is a long way off. Fantastical.
This bit of news isn't particularly interesting to me, though it does have a nice example of "artistic differences": the author of novel The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer wants Mickey Rourke for the lead role in the adaptation, while the director wanted Channing Tatum (IMDb). But the article made me laugh because of the line that labels someone as "the brains behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra". Haha. "Brains."
Chris Morgan, who was a screenwriter for Wanted, Cellular, and Fast and Furious, has signed on with Red Eagle Games as the story director for the Wheel of Time video games that Electronic Arts will publish for all major gaming platforms (Variety blog). Red Eagle is also planning to make an MMO based on the WoT world. A WoT FPS came out in 1999, but was not a hit. As a gamer and WoT reader, I am intrigued that they are making a new video game based on the series, and an MMO. I'll have to see how they come out; even though I'm a fan of the series, I won't play the game unless it's supposed to be good.
Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-Men movies and The Usual Suspects, has signed on to direct and produce a movie version of Battlestar Galactica (Variety blog). It will be a complete re-imagination of the BSG story (yes, another one). As a fan of the very recent BSG series on Sci-Fi, I find the fact that they're making the movie now to be very odd. It's too soon. We finished a very long, difficult journey just this past spring, and now they're going to do it all over again? And as a movie? Bryan Singer is pretty good, so I guess I'll wait to see where he takes this.
And last, Sony has hooked James Vanderbilt, the first writer of Spider-Man 4, to write the screenplays for the Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6 movies (Variety). Yes, while they're planning to begin production on Spider-Man 4 early next year, they are already getting two more sequels into motion. At this stage, we don't know if director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst would be back for 5 and 6 (they will all be back for #4). If not, then the new Vanderbilt scripts may become "reboots" for the franchise. Oy. If you must continue, just make them good, please.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Metaphysics geek dream week
Warning: Major geeking out ahead (metaphysics and sci-fi!!!). Also, MAJOR HEROES SPOILERS from the 4/27/09 episode.
Last night's Heroes totally one-upped last Friday's episode of Dollhouse!
In the April 24 episode of Dollhouse, a murdered Dollhouse client named Margaret Bashford was temporarily resurrected when her mind (which had been copied a few weeks prior to her death) was downloaded into Echo's body. The resurrection was only temporary because at the end of the episode Echo/Margaret's mind was wiped. Then in the April 27 episode of Heroes, Nathan Petrelli, who had just had his throat slit by Sylar, was resurrected when psychic Matt Parkman made Sylar believe that he (Sylar) was Nathan; Sylar's power to know the complete history of any object (or person, I guess) that he touches allowed him to fill in his memory. Heroes went even further than Dollhouse, though, because Sylar's power to shapeshift allowed him to look exactly like Nathan.
We definitely have a theme going on here. Making copies of people's brains to grant them life after death. This is a fascinating plot device because it raises fundamental questions of identity. Is Margaret Bashford still alive? She knows everything that Margaret knew (up until three weeks before her death), thinks like Margaret thinks, and believes she is Margaret, but she is in Echo's body. And who is the man left standing at the end of the Heroes episode? He thinks he is Nathan, and he looks like Nathan, but is he Sylar? The tiny teaser at the end of the episode showed Nathan obsessing over a clock (something very Sylar, if I can turn him into an adjective), hinting that a bit of Sylar remains underneath. But if the transformation had been complete (without any remaining vestiges of Sylar), would he then actually be Nathan Petrelli?
I love thinking about these kinds of dilemmas. Even though I was an engineering major, I managed to fit two philosophy courses in metaphysics into my schedule. And identity was always one of my favorite topics, due in part perhaps to its frequently sci-fi nature. Some people can't stand discussing the issue: "What does it matter? We can't really scan in brains and download them into other people! This is pointless!" But these theoritical scenarios raise questions of how we define ourselves. Am I a certain cluster of molecules? Am I this body, which is allowed small, gradual changes? Or am I this specific set of memories and thoughts and feelings and natural disposition? What makes me me? To the uninitiated, I will attempt an introduction to these sorts of dilemmas (to those who have studied this before, I don't think I present anything new).
One simple explanation of one's identity is one's body. This independent form that looks like me and has all these parts exactly like my parts is me. But this is not a satisfactory explanation by any means. After all, I do not look very much like how I looked when I was three years old. My body may not even have any of the same molecules that it had when I was three. Cells die and I eat food and make new cells. If the completely same body is required for a person to be me, then we are constantly changing identities as we shed cells and make new ones. One could say, "Well, I'm not the same person that I was when I was three," but on the level of identity that I am talking about, that is absurd. If we are constantly changing identities, then I haven't met any of the people in my family, and they haven't met me either. The friends I grew up with are gone. I am a new person, I did not graduate from college, and thus my grad school application was a lie, but I can't be punished for it because I wasn't the one who submitted it. Okay, so the completely same body must not be a requirement for identity. We must allow a gradual change in body in the maintenance of identity. My body is not completely different moment to moment, so as long as it proceeds to change bit by bit, I will still be me.
Another definition of identity is my brain. Not my physical brain, since that is a part of my body, but my memories, tendencies, way of thinking, etc., which I will refer to collectively as my "psychology". This also changes constantly but, like with the body, it is a gradual change; the same defense of this definition of identity may be used.
So which am I, the body or the psychology? Are both required, or just one? Which one is more important? Consider death. P1 is alive at t1, but dies at t2. The psychology is gone, but the body remains (at first... though unless cremated it will continue to change gradually). The neighbor hears the gunshot and comes in to find a body, P2, dead on the floor. Is P2 the same entity as P1 (does P1=P2)? To those who say no, consider a case of sudden brain death. The body P2 is still alive, but the psychology is totally gone. In this case, does P2=P1? If P2 is not P1, then who is he?
Now, what if P1 knew that he was going to go brain dead at t2, so at t2 he arranged to have his entire psychology scanned into another body, P3. The plan works, so now we're left with P2, a brain-dead empty shell, and P3, who in spite of a new body feels quite like his old P1 self. Which of these is P1? The body P2, which is molecularly the same as P1, or P3, whose psychology is the same? They can't both be P1; if P2=P1, and P3=P1, then P3=P2, which is definitely not true (the brain-dead person has neither body nor psychology in common with P3; they are not the same person). So which is it? Consider the reactions of the family members. Assuming they get over the shock of having their loved one talking out of the body of P3, they would probably embrace P3, who knows them and loves them, and leave the brain-dead P2. This is similar to the Margaret Bashford case, except that in her case P2 is actually dead, not just brain dead, and P3's psychology is a continuation not of P1, but of a P0 who had her brain scanned three weeks before her death at t2. Does this make a difference in the question of identity? Does the body of P3 matter? If P3's body once belonged to a different person, does that make us less likely to accept that P3=P1 than if the body were a synthetic Cylon skin job type of construct (which looks like a human). If the body of P3 looked exactly the same as the body of P1, would that help confirm that P1=P3? This is similar to the Sylar/Nathan case.
Are you still with me, or have you ready to haul me to the loony bin? I'm going to switch gears slightly to one of my favorite examples: the Star Trek transporter. Now, I am not entirely certain of how transporters are supposed to work in Star Trek; I am totally psyched about the upcoming movie, but I am not a Trekker. However, this is a thought experiment, so whether or not this explanation is true to the Star Trek world doesn't matter.
Captain Kirk steps onto the transporter and says, "Beam me down, Scotty." Scotty presses the button, and the transporter scans in all the information that is Captain Kirk, vaporizes his body on the ship, then reassembles Kirk on the planet using the molecules on the planet into exactly the same configuration that Kirk was in on the ship. Kirk down on the planet brushes himself off and commences to explore the planet. Is the Kirk on the planet the same person as Kirk on the spaceship? The people in the Star Trek universe certainly believe so. The other option is that Kirk died in the vaporization, and this man on the planet is an imposter who has no right to the title of "captain". In the world of Star Trek, transportation is not murder, but a convenient way to get from here to there. They believe that K2, Kirk on the planet = K1, Kirk on the ship.
Now, let's say that the transporter is not working properly. K1 steps onto the transporter and says "Beam me down, Scotty," and the transporter scans him in and reassembles K2 down on the planet as in the previous case. The only problem is, the vaporization didn't work, so now we have K3 still standing in the transporter saying, "Scotty, what went wrong? Why am I not on the planet?" while K2 is happily exploring the planet without knowing that anything went wrong. It is clear that K2 does not equal K3, since one is on the planet and the other on the ship, but then which one is the same person as K1? In the previous example, we, and the denizens of the Star Trek universe, had decided that K2 was the same person as K1, but now it is hard to imagine that K3 is not K1. K3, after all, has the advantage of being continuous in both psychology and body to K1. But K2 has the advantage of intention: K2 is the one who is supposed to exist; K3 is a mistake. Imagine the epic showdown between Kirk2 and Kirk3: It's a fight to the death, winner takes all!!!
It is probably clear by now that I could go on and on about this topic. I hope you don't think I'm entirely insane. Hopefully you appreciate the relevance of this issue (no, it's not as immediately important as what you're going to eat for lunch today, but it still is a sort of fundamental question about our lives). And maybe you find it interesting and will now spend some time thinking through these questions and coming up with scenarios of your own. If that is the case, then welcome to my world.
There's a new episode of Fringe tonight. As a show about the fringe sciences, this scenario is right up their alley. I've got my fingers crossed...
Last night's Heroes totally one-upped last Friday's episode of Dollhouse!
In the April 24 episode of Dollhouse, a murdered Dollhouse client named Margaret Bashford was temporarily resurrected when her mind (which had been copied a few weeks prior to her death) was downloaded into Echo's body. The resurrection was only temporary because at the end of the episode Echo/Margaret's mind was wiped. Then in the April 27 episode of Heroes, Nathan Petrelli, who had just had his throat slit by Sylar, was resurrected when psychic Matt Parkman made Sylar believe that he (Sylar) was Nathan; Sylar's power to know the complete history of any object (or person, I guess) that he touches allowed him to fill in his memory. Heroes went even further than Dollhouse, though, because Sylar's power to shapeshift allowed him to look exactly like Nathan.
We definitely have a theme going on here. Making copies of people's brains to grant them life after death. This is a fascinating plot device because it raises fundamental questions of identity. Is Margaret Bashford still alive? She knows everything that Margaret knew (up until three weeks before her death), thinks like Margaret thinks, and believes she is Margaret, but she is in Echo's body. And who is the man left standing at the end of the Heroes episode? He thinks he is Nathan, and he looks like Nathan, but is he Sylar? The tiny teaser at the end of the episode showed Nathan obsessing over a clock (something very Sylar, if I can turn him into an adjective), hinting that a bit of Sylar remains underneath. But if the transformation had been complete (without any remaining vestiges of Sylar), would he then actually be Nathan Petrelli?
I love thinking about these kinds of dilemmas. Even though I was an engineering major, I managed to fit two philosophy courses in metaphysics into my schedule. And identity was always one of my favorite topics, due in part perhaps to its frequently sci-fi nature. Some people can't stand discussing the issue: "What does it matter? We can't really scan in brains and download them into other people! This is pointless!" But these theoritical scenarios raise questions of how we define ourselves. Am I a certain cluster of molecules? Am I this body, which is allowed small, gradual changes? Or am I this specific set of memories and thoughts and feelings and natural disposition? What makes me me? To the uninitiated, I will attempt an introduction to these sorts of dilemmas (to those who have studied this before, I don't think I present anything new).
One simple explanation of one's identity is one's body. This independent form that looks like me and has all these parts exactly like my parts is me. But this is not a satisfactory explanation by any means. After all, I do not look very much like how I looked when I was three years old. My body may not even have any of the same molecules that it had when I was three. Cells die and I eat food and make new cells. If the completely same body is required for a person to be me, then we are constantly changing identities as we shed cells and make new ones. One could say, "Well, I'm not the same person that I was when I was three," but on the level of identity that I am talking about, that is absurd. If we are constantly changing identities, then I haven't met any of the people in my family, and they haven't met me either. The friends I grew up with are gone. I am a new person, I did not graduate from college, and thus my grad school application was a lie, but I can't be punished for it because I wasn't the one who submitted it. Okay, so the completely same body must not be a requirement for identity. We must allow a gradual change in body in the maintenance of identity. My body is not completely different moment to moment, so as long as it proceeds to change bit by bit, I will still be me.
Another definition of identity is my brain. Not my physical brain, since that is a part of my body, but my memories, tendencies, way of thinking, etc., which I will refer to collectively as my "psychology". This also changes constantly but, like with the body, it is a gradual change; the same defense of this definition of identity may be used.
So which am I, the body or the psychology? Are both required, or just one? Which one is more important? Consider death. P1 is alive at t1, but dies at t2. The psychology is gone, but the body remains (at first... though unless cremated it will continue to change gradually). The neighbor hears the gunshot and comes in to find a body, P2, dead on the floor. Is P2 the same entity as P1 (does P1=P2)? To those who say no, consider a case of sudden brain death. The body P2 is still alive, but the psychology is totally gone. In this case, does P2=P1? If P2 is not P1, then who is he?
Now, what if P1 knew that he was going to go brain dead at t2, so at t2 he arranged to have his entire psychology scanned into another body, P3. The plan works, so now we're left with P2, a brain-dead empty shell, and P3, who in spite of a new body feels quite like his old P1 self. Which of these is P1? The body P2, which is molecularly the same as P1, or P3, whose psychology is the same? They can't both be P1; if P2=P1, and P3=P1, then P3=P2, which is definitely not true (the brain-dead person has neither body nor psychology in common with P3; they are not the same person). So which is it? Consider the reactions of the family members. Assuming they get over the shock of having their loved one talking out of the body of P3, they would probably embrace P3, who knows them and loves them, and leave the brain-dead P2. This is similar to the Margaret Bashford case, except that in her case P2 is actually dead, not just brain dead, and P3's psychology is a continuation not of P1, but of a P0 who had her brain scanned three weeks before her death at t2. Does this make a difference in the question of identity? Does the body of P3 matter? If P3's body once belonged to a different person, does that make us less likely to accept that P3=P1 than if the body were a synthetic Cylon skin job type of construct (which looks like a human). If the body of P3 looked exactly the same as the body of P1, would that help confirm that P1=P3? This is similar to the Sylar/Nathan case.
Are you still with me, or have you ready to haul me to the loony bin? I'm going to switch gears slightly to one of my favorite examples: the Star Trek transporter. Now, I am not entirely certain of how transporters are supposed to work in Star Trek; I am totally psyched about the upcoming movie, but I am not a Trekker. However, this is a thought experiment, so whether or not this explanation is true to the Star Trek world doesn't matter.
Captain Kirk steps onto the transporter and says, "Beam me down, Scotty." Scotty presses the button, and the transporter scans in all the information that is Captain Kirk, vaporizes his body on the ship, then reassembles Kirk on the planet using the molecules on the planet into exactly the same configuration that Kirk was in on the ship. Kirk down on the planet brushes himself off and commences to explore the planet. Is the Kirk on the planet the same person as Kirk on the spaceship? The people in the Star Trek universe certainly believe so. The other option is that Kirk died in the vaporization, and this man on the planet is an imposter who has no right to the title of "captain". In the world of Star Trek, transportation is not murder, but a convenient way to get from here to there. They believe that K2, Kirk on the planet = K1, Kirk on the ship.
Now, let's say that the transporter is not working properly. K1 steps onto the transporter and says "Beam me down, Scotty," and the transporter scans him in and reassembles K2 down on the planet as in the previous case. The only problem is, the vaporization didn't work, so now we have K3 still standing in the transporter saying, "Scotty, what went wrong? Why am I not on the planet?" while K2 is happily exploring the planet without knowing that anything went wrong. It is clear that K2 does not equal K3, since one is on the planet and the other on the ship, but then which one is the same person as K1? In the previous example, we, and the denizens of the Star Trek universe, had decided that K2 was the same person as K1, but now it is hard to imagine that K3 is not K1. K3, after all, has the advantage of being continuous in both psychology and body to K1. But K2 has the advantage of intention: K2 is the one who is supposed to exist; K3 is a mistake. Imagine the epic showdown between Kirk2 and Kirk3: It's a fight to the death, winner takes all!!!
It is probably clear by now that I could go on and on about this topic. I hope you don't think I'm entirely insane. Hopefully you appreciate the relevance of this issue (no, it's not as immediately important as what you're going to eat for lunch today, but it still is a sort of fundamental question about our lives). And maybe you find it interesting and will now spend some time thinking through these questions and coming up with scenarios of your own. If that is the case, then welcome to my world.
There's a new episode of Fringe tonight. As a show about the fringe sciences, this scenario is right up their alley. I've got my fingers crossed...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
My TV shows from the 2008-2009 season
I made a post last fall about the various TV shows that I thought I might end up watching this season. Now that this season has happened, I feel I should report on what I actually ended up watching. So here are the shows that kept me busy this past year, and what I think of them. There are a few other shows, like House, that I watch on occasion, but these are the ones I've followed faithfully. "My shows", as I call them.
The Big Bang Theory - Yes, the four nerds are pretty outrageous, but they are all lovable in their own way. Sheldon is especially epic. I think being a nerd helps one enjoy this show, since nothing beats hearing Sheldon go on a rant and realizing, "That actually kind of makes sense!"
How I Met Your Mother - Best comedy on TV, in my humble opinion. The characters are all fun, the storytelling is fast paced and wild, and the plot lines can be pretty sweet. Neil Patrick Harris is just awesome.
Chuck - This one I catch the next day on Hulu because it conflicts with BBT and HIMYM and our TV gets CBS better than it gets NBC. Chuck's three Buy More friends are getting increasingly annoying (Morgan is okay, but Lester and Jeff just seem to be two geeky creeps without redeeming qualities), but the main storyline is staying interesting and amusing enough for me to keep tuning in.
Heroes - I'm hanging in there with Heroes. I think it might be getting back on track, but it's been a shaky ride ever since the great first season. Most episodes still go by with at least one "That really makes no sense" moment, but at least I'm starting to care again.
Castle - ABC's new procedural with the wonderful Nathan Fillion. I hope it stays around--that guy deserves a hit. The two leads (Stana Katic plays a good tough cop opposite Fillion's childish writer) are charismatic enough to keep me interested. It's an honestly funny procedural, which I'll take over David Caruso's stupid sunglasses any day.
Fringe - Every few weeks or so, they pull out something really disgusting (most recently, maggots bursting out of the stomach of a corpse, threatening to do the same from a live person's belly), but mostly the show is just creepy and riveting. They try to keep the show episodic so the non-faithful can follow, but it's best when addressing the big picture plot threads.
Pushing Daisies - Tragic casualty of the writers strike and poor scheduling decisions by ABC. This was a bright, funny, and unique show that I absolutely loved throughout. Occasional singing by Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene made it even better. I can't wait to see the final three episodes when ABC airs them this summer, and I'll definitely be getting the full DVD set of Daisies' two brief seasons.
Lost - After so-so seasons two and three, Lost came back strong last year, and this year's season five has kept up the momentum, which I don't expect to break at all before the series finale next year. Season five has delved even deeper into the mysteries of the Island, reveling in the show's true sci-fi nature. Some fans might complain that it jumped the shark with the time traveling, but I think the smoke monster, ghosts, and future-seeing Desmond should have tipped them off a little earlier that this wasn't going to be a totally realistic series.
Eli Stone - Another mid-season cancellation. It was a legal show with heart... and musical numbers. Pretty delightful. ABC will air the final episodes this summer.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - It may not have always made sense, but it was always fun to watch, with appealing stars and exciting action. The season two finale, which has become the series finale since the show wasn't picked up for a third season, was a fitting end. It gave a great answer to the big mystery of season 2--what "Mrs. Weaver" was up to--and stepped into a new wild stage in its story. I think it's for the best that it got canceled, though, since maintaining main characters in two different times would have been too difficult not to mess up.
Dollhouse - It took a little while to hit its stride, but lately it's been pretty great. I hope they can keep up the mystery, since too many "regular mission" episodes could get old. I hope they also keep up the humor that's finally starting to come out.
Battlestar Galactica - They ended it on their own terms with an amazing final season that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The series finale was intense, wrapping up so many threads in surprising and clever ways. Its absence has left me feeling a little empty inside. I can't wait for The Plan, an upcoming TV movie, and I'll definitely check out the planned prequel series Caprica.
Desperate Housewives - Not as good as last season when I started watching this show (last year had Nathan Fillion, and Dana Delaney's Katherine was new and interesting, whereas this year she's been kind of sidelined). But it's still entertaining, and the characters have grown on me. And what else do I do on Sunday evenings?
Other shows I follow:
Jeopardy - It airs when I like to eat dinner. It's how my schedule works out.
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report - I started watching these during the fall election coverage. Now it's a habit. I still find them both entertaining; there's still material, even with out the elections.
I shouldn't have, but I just added it all up. Now, some of these shows never overlapped because some are new and some are over, but in recent weeks, I've apparently watched as many as 16.5 hours of TV in a week. Not very healthy. I don't know if I can maintain that next year when I become a student again. But it's been fun!
The Big Bang Theory - Yes, the four nerds are pretty outrageous, but they are all lovable in their own way. Sheldon is especially epic. I think being a nerd helps one enjoy this show, since nothing beats hearing Sheldon go on a rant and realizing, "That actually kind of makes sense!"
How I Met Your Mother - Best comedy on TV, in my humble opinion. The characters are all fun, the storytelling is fast paced and wild, and the plot lines can be pretty sweet. Neil Patrick Harris is just awesome.
Chuck - This one I catch the next day on Hulu because it conflicts with BBT and HIMYM and our TV gets CBS better than it gets NBC. Chuck's three Buy More friends are getting increasingly annoying (Morgan is okay, but Lester and Jeff just seem to be two geeky creeps without redeeming qualities), but the main storyline is staying interesting and amusing enough for me to keep tuning in.
Heroes - I'm hanging in there with Heroes. I think it might be getting back on track, but it's been a shaky ride ever since the great first season. Most episodes still go by with at least one "That really makes no sense" moment, but at least I'm starting to care again.
Castle - ABC's new procedural with the wonderful Nathan Fillion. I hope it stays around--that guy deserves a hit. The two leads (Stana Katic plays a good tough cop opposite Fillion's childish writer) are charismatic enough to keep me interested. It's an honestly funny procedural, which I'll take over David Caruso's stupid sunglasses any day.
Fringe - Every few weeks or so, they pull out something really disgusting (most recently, maggots bursting out of the stomach of a corpse, threatening to do the same from a live person's belly), but mostly the show is just creepy and riveting. They try to keep the show episodic so the non-faithful can follow, but it's best when addressing the big picture plot threads.
Pushing Daisies - Tragic casualty of the writers strike and poor scheduling decisions by ABC. This was a bright, funny, and unique show that I absolutely loved throughout. Occasional singing by Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene made it even better. I can't wait to see the final three episodes when ABC airs them this summer, and I'll definitely be getting the full DVD set of Daisies' two brief seasons.
Lost - After so-so seasons two and three, Lost came back strong last year, and this year's season five has kept up the momentum, which I don't expect to break at all before the series finale next year. Season five has delved even deeper into the mysteries of the Island, reveling in the show's true sci-fi nature. Some fans might complain that it jumped the shark with the time traveling, but I think the smoke monster, ghosts, and future-seeing Desmond should have tipped them off a little earlier that this wasn't going to be a totally realistic series.
Eli Stone - Another mid-season cancellation. It was a legal show with heart... and musical numbers. Pretty delightful. ABC will air the final episodes this summer.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - It may not have always made sense, but it was always fun to watch, with appealing stars and exciting action. The season two finale, which has become the series finale since the show wasn't picked up for a third season, was a fitting end. It gave a great answer to the big mystery of season 2--what "Mrs. Weaver" was up to--and stepped into a new wild stage in its story. I think it's for the best that it got canceled, though, since maintaining main characters in two different times would have been too difficult not to mess up.
Dollhouse - It took a little while to hit its stride, but lately it's been pretty great. I hope they can keep up the mystery, since too many "regular mission" episodes could get old. I hope they also keep up the humor that's finally starting to come out.
Battlestar Galactica - They ended it on their own terms with an amazing final season that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The series finale was intense, wrapping up so many threads in surprising and clever ways. Its absence has left me feeling a little empty inside. I can't wait for The Plan, an upcoming TV movie, and I'll definitely check out the planned prequel series Caprica.
Desperate Housewives - Not as good as last season when I started watching this show (last year had Nathan Fillion, and Dana Delaney's Katherine was new and interesting, whereas this year she's been kind of sidelined). But it's still entertaining, and the characters have grown on me. And what else do I do on Sunday evenings?
Other shows I follow:
Jeopardy - It airs when I like to eat dinner. It's how my schedule works out.
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report - I started watching these during the fall election coverage. Now it's a habit. I still find them both entertaining; there's still material, even with out the elections.
I shouldn't have, but I just added it all up. Now, some of these shows never overlapped because some are new and some are over, but in recent weeks, I've apparently watched as many as 16.5 hours of TV in a week. Not very healthy. I don't know if I can maintain that next year when I become a student again. But it's been fun!
Friday, April 3, 2009
New Star Trek, Peabody for Lost, and more
Let's see what we've got in entertainment news this week...
Writers, assemble! Marvel, which has been excitedly greenlighting movie adaptations of its franchises (including Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers) after last year's encouraging Iron Man success, is hiring a bunch of writers to develop its properties into films (Variety). Each year, it will ask up to five writers to work on various plots, characters, or future films, providing the writers with specific pitches. These projects may involve some of Marvel's lesser known properties, such as Black Panther, Cable, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Nighthawk and Vision.
Even though the new Star Trek reboot movie is still more than a month away from bowing in theaters, Paramount has smelled its upcoming success and gone ahead and hired writers for a sequel movie (Variety, IMDb). The script will be written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who wrote the script for the new Star Trek film, along with Damon Lindelof, who co-developed TV show Lost with J.J. Abrams, the director and producer of the new Star Trek film. J.J. Abrams will be a producer on the sequel, though there's no word yet on whether he will be directing again. Paramount bosses are reportedly hoping to get William Shatner, who does not appear in the new film, to make a cameo in the sequel (IMDb). They've really hyped this upcoming reboot, and J.J. has done well in the past. I hope the movie delivers. Just wait for May 8.
Inception, Christopher Nolan's planned contemporary sci-fi actioner, has added to its cast. Leonardo DiCaprio is already set to star, but Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, and Cillian Murphy are in talks to join the project (Variety). Page and Cotillard were both 2008 Academy Award stars, nominated for Juno and La Vie en Rose, respectively; Cotillard won the award. Murphy has worked with Nolan before as Scarecrow in Batman begins (with a small role in Dark Knight).
I've sort of been following the development of Spider-Man: The Musical (officially named Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). Apparently, director Julie Taymor has dismissed the rumors that Evan Rachel Wood, who starred in Taymor's movie Across the Universe, is set to play Mary Jane in the musical (IMDb). Taymor is holding auditions across the country to find her leads, apparently looking to cast unknowns in the starring roles.
Now for some exciting news for Lost fans: Lost has won a Peabody Award! (IMDb). The Peabody Award website says of Lost:
"Breezily mixing metaphysics, quantum physics, romance and cliffhanger action, the genre-bending series about a group of air-crash survivors on a mysterious island has rewritten the rules of television fiction."
Well, at least they've rewritten rules of nature. Battlestar Galactica won a 2005 Peabody Award, and I am excited to see yet another one of my TV shows win this prestigious award. After a couple rocky seasons, last year Lost got back on track, and now it has been rightfully awarded for its excellence. Congrats!
Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, I would like to end this post with a bit of fake news from The Onion that amused me greatly:
Barack Obama depressed, distant since "Battlestar Galactica" series finale
It speaks for itself.
Writers, assemble! Marvel, which has been excitedly greenlighting movie adaptations of its franchises (including Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers) after last year's encouraging Iron Man success, is hiring a bunch of writers to develop its properties into films (Variety). Each year, it will ask up to five writers to work on various plots, characters, or future films, providing the writers with specific pitches. These projects may involve some of Marvel's lesser known properties, such as Black Panther, Cable, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Nighthawk and Vision.
Even though the new Star Trek reboot movie is still more than a month away from bowing in theaters, Paramount has smelled its upcoming success and gone ahead and hired writers for a sequel movie (Variety, IMDb). The script will be written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who wrote the script for the new Star Trek film, along with Damon Lindelof, who co-developed TV show Lost with J.J. Abrams, the director and producer of the new Star Trek film. J.J. Abrams will be a producer on the sequel, though there's no word yet on whether he will be directing again. Paramount bosses are reportedly hoping to get William Shatner, who does not appear in the new film, to make a cameo in the sequel (IMDb). They've really hyped this upcoming reboot, and J.J. has done well in the past. I hope the movie delivers. Just wait for May 8.
Inception, Christopher Nolan's planned contemporary sci-fi actioner, has added to its cast. Leonardo DiCaprio is already set to star, but Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, and Cillian Murphy are in talks to join the project (Variety). Page and Cotillard were both 2008 Academy Award stars, nominated for Juno and La Vie en Rose, respectively; Cotillard won the award. Murphy has worked with Nolan before as Scarecrow in Batman begins (with a small role in Dark Knight).
I've sort of been following the development of Spider-Man: The Musical (officially named Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). Apparently, director Julie Taymor has dismissed the rumors that Evan Rachel Wood, who starred in Taymor's movie Across the Universe, is set to play Mary Jane in the musical (IMDb). Taymor is holding auditions across the country to find her leads, apparently looking to cast unknowns in the starring roles.
Now for some exciting news for Lost fans: Lost has won a Peabody Award! (IMDb). The Peabody Award website says of Lost:
"Breezily mixing metaphysics, quantum physics, romance and cliffhanger action, the genre-bending series about a group of air-crash survivors on a mysterious island has rewritten the rules of television fiction."
Well, at least they've rewritten rules of nature. Battlestar Galactica won a 2005 Peabody Award, and I am excited to see yet another one of my TV shows win this prestigious award. After a couple rocky seasons, last year Lost got back on track, and now it has been rightfully awarded for its excellence. Congrats!
Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, I would like to end this post with a bit of fake news from The Onion that amused me greatly:
Barack Obama depressed, distant since "Battlestar Galactica" series finale
It speaks for itself.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Farewell to Battlestar Galactica
Holy. Frak.
After waiting eight days for it to show up on Hulu, I have finally seen the series finale of Battlestar Galactica. I don't know what anyone else thought about it (now that I've seen it, I can finally go talk to people and read commentaries, etc.), but I loved it. Loved it. I've loved this show all along, and while I'm kind of on a series finale high right now, there's a sadness about it being over that's starting to creep in on the edges.
Now for an embarrassing peek into my mind: Sometime a year or two ago, in a situation that really wasn't life threatening at all but my mind was just running and being totally over dramatic, I remember thinking that if I were to die that day, my greatest regret would be that I would never see how Battlestar Galactica ends. Pretty sad, I know, but you know how random thoughts sometimes flit across your brain and then seconds later you go, Why on Earth did I think that? Anyway... Yeah, I guess I'm clear now. Do your worst. Nothing left to regret. Just kidding. Mostly. Gods, I can't believe I just said that.
Watching the finale, there were definitely some tears in my eyes. Sure at the end when it's wrapping up everyone's storylines, but also when all the stations were checking in before the big assault. Somehow seeing all those familiar faces full of resolve and ready to meet their end got me all choked up. And that wasn't the worst of it. I was really glad I was watching alone, because it would have been very unpleasant to watch it with me. During the battle sequence, I kept talking at the screen, much like sports fans do when watching a game, blurting out things like, "Hurry up!" and "Get out of there!!!" But mostly, all I could manage was a whimper. Yes, I was actually whimpering throughout the battle scenes. I could hardly bear to watch. As it turns out, the important person death count was not nearly as bad as it could have been, but of course, I didn't know that at the time.
I was satisfied with how they tied everything up. Given a little more time to think about it, I might come up with any number of things to be bitter about in terms of how they handled various storylines and characters, but for the moment I'm happy with it all. Particularly with Baltar and Caprica--and uh, Head Six and Head Baltar; I thought that ending scene with the blatant Ron Moore cameo was pretty crazy. In a good way. The only thing I thought was a bit of a stretch was what the fleet society chose to do at the end there, but I'm willing to go with it. Because the way the show worked out was all just so cool.
Sorry that this post isn't totally coherent or insightful or anything. I'm kind of beside myself right now. All jittery. I don't know what to think. I need to go eat lunch and regain my right mind. But for now, all I've got is
That was pretty frakkin' sweet.
After waiting eight days for it to show up on Hulu, I have finally seen the series finale of Battlestar Galactica. I don't know what anyone else thought about it (now that I've seen it, I can finally go talk to people and read commentaries, etc.), but I loved it. Loved it. I've loved this show all along, and while I'm kind of on a series finale high right now, there's a sadness about it being over that's starting to creep in on the edges.
Now for an embarrassing peek into my mind: Sometime a year or two ago, in a situation that really wasn't life threatening at all but my mind was just running and being totally over dramatic, I remember thinking that if I were to die that day, my greatest regret would be that I would never see how Battlestar Galactica ends. Pretty sad, I know, but you know how random thoughts sometimes flit across your brain and then seconds later you go, Why on Earth did I think that? Anyway... Yeah, I guess I'm clear now. Do your worst. Nothing left to regret. Just kidding. Mostly. Gods, I can't believe I just said that.
Watching the finale, there were definitely some tears in my eyes. Sure at the end when it's wrapping up everyone's storylines, but also when all the stations were checking in before the big assault. Somehow seeing all those familiar faces full of resolve and ready to meet their end got me all choked up. And that wasn't the worst of it. I was really glad I was watching alone, because it would have been very unpleasant to watch it with me. During the battle sequence, I kept talking at the screen, much like sports fans do when watching a game, blurting out things like, "Hurry up!" and "Get out of there!!!" But mostly, all I could manage was a whimper. Yes, I was actually whimpering throughout the battle scenes. I could hardly bear to watch. As it turns out, the important person death count was not nearly as bad as it could have been, but of course, I didn't know that at the time.
I was satisfied with how they tied everything up. Given a little more time to think about it, I might come up with any number of things to be bitter about in terms of how they handled various storylines and characters, but for the moment I'm happy with it all. Particularly with Baltar and Caprica--and uh, Head Six and Head Baltar; I thought that ending scene with the blatant Ron Moore cameo was pretty crazy. In a good way. The only thing I thought was a bit of a stretch was what the fleet society chose to do at the end there, but I'm willing to go with it. Because the way the show worked out was all just so cool.
Sorry that this post isn't totally coherent or insightful or anything. I'm kind of beside myself right now. All jittery. I don't know what to think. I need to go eat lunch and regain my right mind. But for now, all I've got is
That was pretty frakkin' sweet.
Friday, March 6, 2009
TGIF?
So far... not a very good Friday. This morning I was insulted by a rude stranger, and while I shouldn't have let it bother me, I got very upset over it. Then this afternoon, I got my rejection letter from MIT. The latter I was prepared for, kind of expecting, and a part of me was even slightly hoping for it, since it makes my decision that much simpler. Screw you, Massholes, I'm going to Hawai'i! The former has left a bitter taste in my mouth. Not like coffee--more like lye.*
I need something to get my spirits up. I mean, it's Friday! After last Sunday's snowstorm, tomorrow is supposed to be 68 F and sunny. Next week it will be 50 and raining, but I'll be off to Hawaii. Another episode of Dollhouse is on tonight (though Eliza Dushku herself says that the show won't get really good until episode 6), and tomorrow I get to watch last week's Battlestar Galactica (the 8-day delay is excruciating--darn waiting for it to show up online legally!). Oh yeah, and
Watchmen premieres today! At long last. I guess there were lots of midnight showings, so many fans have already seen it. I will likely go to a Sunday matinee with my friend who finished reading the graphic novel just two weeks ago. While I cannot take credit for convincing her to read the book--she has a couple other friends who have been telling her to read it for a while--I was the one who thrust the book into her hands with a "Movie premieres March 6." The reviews have been decidedly mixed; some critics have said the movie adaptation is dumb, convoluted, and/or boring, while others have praised it for being rich and powerful. In any case, I will see it for myself. And even if it is not a great film, I will probably enjoy it.
* Disclaimer: I have never actually tasted lye (thank goodness). But I can imagine.
I need something to get my spirits up. I mean, it's Friday! After last Sunday's snowstorm, tomorrow is supposed to be 68 F and sunny. Next week it will be 50 and raining, but I'll be off to Hawaii. Another episode of Dollhouse is on tonight (though Eliza Dushku herself says that the show won't get really good until episode 6), and tomorrow I get to watch last week's Battlestar Galactica (the 8-day delay is excruciating--darn waiting for it to show up online legally!). Oh yeah, and
Watchmen premieres today! At long last. I guess there were lots of midnight showings, so many fans have already seen it. I will likely go to a Sunday matinee with my friend who finished reading the graphic novel just two weeks ago. While I cannot take credit for convincing her to read the book--she has a couple other friends who have been telling her to read it for a while--I was the one who thrust the book into her hands with a "Movie premieres March 6." The reviews have been decidedly mixed; some critics have said the movie adaptation is dumb, convoluted, and/or boring, while others have praised it for being rich and powerful. In any case, I will see it for myself. And even if it is not a great film, I will probably enjoy it.
* Disclaimer: I have never actually tasted lye (thank goodness). But I can imagine.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Best and Worst 8 of 2008
As we reach the end of 2008, I'd like to look back and reflect on what I consider the Top 08 Best and Worst Stories of '08. While not personal stories (e.g., the saga of our well water), they are my personal take on what counts as the "Top" stories; that is, they may or may not be that important to the Real World, but they were all notable to me personally. Also, I kind of had some order in my mind as I wrote them, but I didn't really intend for the order they are listed to be important (note: I didn't number them), so don't read too much into it.
The Best
The Election
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were at the top of their respective games this fall, with the election providing them with all the material they could have hoped for. Even SNL, with Tina Fey's brilliant Sarah Palin impression, rose to heights it hadn't reached in a long time. Thanks to these folks, the election was hilarious and fun. Though the icing on the cake for me was definitely the Real-World side of it: Barack Obama won. I don't really want to get into a discussion of politics, but whatever your political leanings, it is at least historical that after 42 white people at the head of the country, we finally are starting to show our true colors.
The Dark Knight
This summer, The Dark Knight swept the nation and the world to reap the second highest box office take of all time (disregarding inflation), after Titanic. But not only was it successful, it was also really good. With some brilliant performances, tough moral dilemmas, and overall topnotch storytelling, Dark Knight earned significant critical notice. Heath Ledger is poised to earn an Oscar nomination, perhaps even the award, for his portrayal of the Joker, and who knows, The Dark Knight might become a dark horse and earn some Oscar recognition itself.
LOST is good again!
After a disenchanting second and third season, Lost got back on track in Season 4, bringing mind-bending flash-forwards, touching drama, and new mysteries with each question it answered. And in the season finale, they frickin' moved the Island! I am awaiting Lost's return in its penultimate season most anxiously.
Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0
Speaking of huge cliffhangers, in BSG, they found Earth! It's frakkin' there! And it's... not as we remember it. BSG's last season was split in half by the writers' strike last year, so the final ten episodes will be showing this winter/spring. This show keeps me on the edge of my seat even more than Lost, so I really can't wait for this one to come back.
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Joss Whedon (and his brothers). Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day. Singing. About an evil super-villain. The concept is both utterly wacky and perfectly brilliant at the same time. The three-installment movie came out hilarious and touching and catchy, and they put it up online free of charge this past summer. And then they made a DVD with great extras including Commentary: The Musical with more varied, catchy, and insightful songs. Dr. Horrible is further proof that unorthodox business models can be successful. Never before have horses seemed so frightening, nor has taking over the world seemed like such a sweet gesture.
Mass Effect on PC
So I guess Mass Effect first came out in 2007, but it wasn't on PC until 2008, so it didn't enter my radar until this year. And what a great game it is. BioWare knows how to make a good game, and this one had a strong main storyline, interesting side quests, lots of tough and important choices, fun characters, impressive acting--from both the voice actors and the animated characters--good combat, and a brilliantly imagined sci-fi world (well, galaxy). The most smooth and enjoyable game I'd played in a while. I hope the planned movie version won't tarnish its image (unlikely, but we won't have to worry about it for several years at least).
Wall-E
Adorable, innovative, moving, challenging. Pixar, which has consistently delivered great animated films, outdid even itself with this masterpiece. People had questioned whether kids would be able to make it through the long period at the beginning which had practically no dialogue and only a lonely, dirty robot in a world junkyard, but as someone who took three young boys (one of whom has ADD) to see the movie, I can attest to the fact that even the kiddies were riveted throughout the film. A beautiful movie that deserves every award it gets.
Diablo III, SW:TOR MMORPG announced
This summer brought two computer game announcements that made me squirm in my seat with excitement. Blizzard would finally be coming out with a sequel to Diablo II, and BioWare is making a sort of sequel to its Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game. We've been fed selected footage of Diablo III, and it looks pretty cool. TOR is said to have more story content than all of BioWare's previous games combined (that's a lot!), but it has yet to reach a stage to have much to show. I am excited for these two games, though without a release date for either, I think they will both be a long time coming.
The Worst
Heroes sucks
The characters in Heroes act out of character, the plot contradicts itself, very little makes actual sense within the world they've created, and every week the point of the show's existence becomes less and less clear. Its first season was good, making a superhero TV show water-cooler gossip worthy. The second season was considerably worse, but we were promised that the third season would redeem it. They didn't deliver. Still, there's hope yet, as first season collaborator Bryan Fuller returns now that he's free of other commitments because
Pushing Daisies is canceled
Oh, ABC. I know you tried. Still, I am bitter that you canceled one of the few truly unique shows on network TV. It is whimsical, adorable, bright, clever, funny, and sweet, with a great cast, great creative team, and great production. It is just so tragic that it had to go. I guess we can blame it mostly on
The WGA strike
The writers' strike began in 2007, but it carried over into 2008 enough to really screw things up for TV shows. The spring was full of reality shows and reruns and--actually, I'm not sure what it was full of, since I mostly wasn't watching because I knew there wasn't anything worth watching. Even when the strike was over, most of the networks decided not to bring back their shows until the fall, feeling that coming back for four or five shows in the spring would seem disjointed and not be worth it. CBS, which did bring its shows back for a few spring episodes, got to feel all smug in the fall, when its shows regained their audiences and the other networks' shows didn't. This was the death of Pushing Daisies, which had been a modest success with audiences and a critical darling. Other shows I watch, such as Chuck and Heroes, also took serious hits to their audiences. It is unclear if they will ever regain their pre-strike numbers. And with a SAG strike looming, who knows which shows will be able to survive 2009?
Watchmen litigation
In February 2008, after filming of Warner Bros.' movie adaptation of the famous graphic novel Watchmen was complete and the film was in post-production, 20th Century Fox filed a suit against Warner Bros. alleging that Fox actually had the copyright to the Watchmen movie. On Christmas Eve, a federal judge ruled that Fox indeed had the right to distribute the movie. Worst case scenario is that Fox will prevent the movie from ever being released. Hopefully, they'll settle to take a chunk of the profits from a movie they hadn't shown any interest in making since maybe the early '90s.
The Death of Flagship Studios
I've been sort of silent on this matter, saddened and perhaps embarrassed that I let myself get hooked on a doomed game, but I am a fan of Hellgate: London, and this summer's news that its fledgling producer had folded was unwelcome news indeed. Flagship was started by a handful of the people who had been major players in the development of Diablo II, and Hellgate: London was designed to have all the appeal of the Diablo games with the absorbing action of a first person shooter. Furthermore, while HG:L would function completely as a single-player game offline, users could play multi-player online for free (though a monthly fee would give you considerable bonus content). My brothers and I enjoyed hours of "sibling bonding time" chatting about random stuff while slaying countless demons. The game wasn't perfect, with lots of bugs and scenery that could get a little monotonous, but they were continually fixing bugs and adding new scenes and content. And, in my humble opinion, the action was considerably more entertaining than that of Diablo II. Unfortunately, bad luck and bad business did the company in. The servers will be shut down on January 31, 2009, and my brothers and I, and all the others who have come to love this game, will have to find something else like HG:L. Unfortunately, there is not at present anything quite like it.
Sarah Palin
Sure, we owe her for the memorable and hilarious Tina Fey impression, and it's not cool to beat up on the loser, but please, Sarah Palin, go away. I really don't think we've seen the last of her, and that seriously worries me.
Heath Ledger's death
Lots of people died this year, of course, and you can't really compare tragedies, so singling out one death for my Worst list is somewhat unfair. But I really liked Heath Ledger. The fact that he was one of the most respected actors of my generation made me feel somehow invested in his career, and his death on January 22, 2008 was heartbreaking. By age 28, he had already racked up more varied and notable performances than some stars do in a lifetime, earning an Oscar nod for his performance in Brokeback Mountain and giving another Oscar-worthy performance in The Dark Knight. But his career was just beginning, and in addition to promising more and even better future performances as he matured, he was looking into directing and taking part in other aspects of the creative process. He was adorable and charming, with a beautiful little daughter that he loved. He was a movie star but a serious actor who was not as much of a tabloid topic as he might have been; he managed to avoid a lot of the pitfalls that catch many other young stars. Basically, he was one of the ones who had it together. And boy was he talented. But his shocking accidental death cut it all off. It was devastating and tragic.
The economy
And all the other crap going on in the world--you know, wars and things that really matter. I'd like to think that it can't get any worse, but it could. Hopefully 2009 will make most things better. But either way, we'll have Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert finding ways to make us laugh through--and even about--our troubles. Here's to 2008!
The Best
The Election
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were at the top of their respective games this fall, with the election providing them with all the material they could have hoped for. Even SNL, with Tina Fey's brilliant Sarah Palin impression, rose to heights it hadn't reached in a long time. Thanks to these folks, the election was hilarious and fun. Though the icing on the cake for me was definitely the Real-World side of it: Barack Obama won. I don't really want to get into a discussion of politics, but whatever your political leanings, it is at least historical that after 42 white people at the head of the country, we finally are starting to show our true colors.
The Dark Knight
This summer, The Dark Knight swept the nation and the world to reap the second highest box office take of all time (disregarding inflation), after Titanic. But not only was it successful, it was also really good. With some brilliant performances, tough moral dilemmas, and overall topnotch storytelling, Dark Knight earned significant critical notice. Heath Ledger is poised to earn an Oscar nomination, perhaps even the award, for his portrayal of the Joker, and who knows, The Dark Knight might become a dark horse and earn some Oscar recognition itself.
LOST is good again!
After a disenchanting second and third season, Lost got back on track in Season 4, bringing mind-bending flash-forwards, touching drama, and new mysteries with each question it answered. And in the season finale, they frickin' moved the Island! I am awaiting Lost's return in its penultimate season most anxiously.
Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0
Speaking of huge cliffhangers, in BSG, they found Earth! It's frakkin' there! And it's... not as we remember it. BSG's last season was split in half by the writers' strike last year, so the final ten episodes will be showing this winter/spring. This show keeps me on the edge of my seat even more than Lost, so I really can't wait for this one to come back.
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Joss Whedon (and his brothers). Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day. Singing. About an evil super-villain. The concept is both utterly wacky and perfectly brilliant at the same time. The three-installment movie came out hilarious and touching and catchy, and they put it up online free of charge this past summer. And then they made a DVD with great extras including Commentary: The Musical with more varied, catchy, and insightful songs. Dr. Horrible is further proof that unorthodox business models can be successful. Never before have horses seemed so frightening, nor has taking over the world seemed like such a sweet gesture.
Mass Effect on PC
So I guess Mass Effect first came out in 2007, but it wasn't on PC until 2008, so it didn't enter my radar until this year. And what a great game it is. BioWare knows how to make a good game, and this one had a strong main storyline, interesting side quests, lots of tough and important choices, fun characters, impressive acting--from both the voice actors and the animated characters--good combat, and a brilliantly imagined sci-fi world (well, galaxy). The most smooth and enjoyable game I'd played in a while. I hope the planned movie version won't tarnish its image (unlikely, but we won't have to worry about it for several years at least).
Wall-E
Adorable, innovative, moving, challenging. Pixar, which has consistently delivered great animated films, outdid even itself with this masterpiece. People had questioned whether kids would be able to make it through the long period at the beginning which had practically no dialogue and only a lonely, dirty robot in a world junkyard, but as someone who took three young boys (one of whom has ADD) to see the movie, I can attest to the fact that even the kiddies were riveted throughout the film. A beautiful movie that deserves every award it gets.
Diablo III, SW:TOR MMORPG announced
This summer brought two computer game announcements that made me squirm in my seat with excitement. Blizzard would finally be coming out with a sequel to Diablo II, and BioWare is making a sort of sequel to its Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game. We've been fed selected footage of Diablo III, and it looks pretty cool. TOR is said to have more story content than all of BioWare's previous games combined (that's a lot!), but it has yet to reach a stage to have much to show. I am excited for these two games, though without a release date for either, I think they will both be a long time coming.
The Worst
Heroes sucks
The characters in Heroes act out of character, the plot contradicts itself, very little makes actual sense within the world they've created, and every week the point of the show's existence becomes less and less clear. Its first season was good, making a superhero TV show water-cooler gossip worthy. The second season was considerably worse, but we were promised that the third season would redeem it. They didn't deliver. Still, there's hope yet, as first season collaborator Bryan Fuller returns now that he's free of other commitments because
Pushing Daisies is canceled
Oh, ABC. I know you tried. Still, I am bitter that you canceled one of the few truly unique shows on network TV. It is whimsical, adorable, bright, clever, funny, and sweet, with a great cast, great creative team, and great production. It is just so tragic that it had to go. I guess we can blame it mostly on
The WGA strike
The writers' strike began in 2007, but it carried over into 2008 enough to really screw things up for TV shows. The spring was full of reality shows and reruns and--actually, I'm not sure what it was full of, since I mostly wasn't watching because I knew there wasn't anything worth watching. Even when the strike was over, most of the networks decided not to bring back their shows until the fall, feeling that coming back for four or five shows in the spring would seem disjointed and not be worth it. CBS, which did bring its shows back for a few spring episodes, got to feel all smug in the fall, when its shows regained their audiences and the other networks' shows didn't. This was the death of Pushing Daisies, which had been a modest success with audiences and a critical darling. Other shows I watch, such as Chuck and Heroes, also took serious hits to their audiences. It is unclear if they will ever regain their pre-strike numbers. And with a SAG strike looming, who knows which shows will be able to survive 2009?
Watchmen litigation
In February 2008, after filming of Warner Bros.' movie adaptation of the famous graphic novel Watchmen was complete and the film was in post-production, 20th Century Fox filed a suit against Warner Bros. alleging that Fox actually had the copyright to the Watchmen movie. On Christmas Eve, a federal judge ruled that Fox indeed had the right to distribute the movie. Worst case scenario is that Fox will prevent the movie from ever being released. Hopefully, they'll settle to take a chunk of the profits from a movie they hadn't shown any interest in making since maybe the early '90s.
The Death of Flagship Studios
I've been sort of silent on this matter, saddened and perhaps embarrassed that I let myself get hooked on a doomed game, but I am a fan of Hellgate: London, and this summer's news that its fledgling producer had folded was unwelcome news indeed. Flagship was started by a handful of the people who had been major players in the development of Diablo II, and Hellgate: London was designed to have all the appeal of the Diablo games with the absorbing action of a first person shooter. Furthermore, while HG:L would function completely as a single-player game offline, users could play multi-player online for free (though a monthly fee would give you considerable bonus content). My brothers and I enjoyed hours of "sibling bonding time" chatting about random stuff while slaying countless demons. The game wasn't perfect, with lots of bugs and scenery that could get a little monotonous, but they were continually fixing bugs and adding new scenes and content. And, in my humble opinion, the action was considerably more entertaining than that of Diablo II. Unfortunately, bad luck and bad business did the company in. The servers will be shut down on January 31, 2009, and my brothers and I, and all the others who have come to love this game, will have to find something else like HG:L. Unfortunately, there is not at present anything quite like it.
Sarah Palin
Sure, we owe her for the memorable and hilarious Tina Fey impression, and it's not cool to beat up on the loser, but please, Sarah Palin, go away. I really don't think we've seen the last of her, and that seriously worries me.
Heath Ledger's death
Lots of people died this year, of course, and you can't really compare tragedies, so singling out one death for my Worst list is somewhat unfair. But I really liked Heath Ledger. The fact that he was one of the most respected actors of my generation made me feel somehow invested in his career, and his death on January 22, 2008 was heartbreaking. By age 28, he had already racked up more varied and notable performances than some stars do in a lifetime, earning an Oscar nod for his performance in Brokeback Mountain and giving another Oscar-worthy performance in The Dark Knight. But his career was just beginning, and in addition to promising more and even better future performances as he matured, he was looking into directing and taking part in other aspects of the creative process. He was adorable and charming, with a beautiful little daughter that he loved. He was a movie star but a serious actor who was not as much of a tabloid topic as he might have been; he managed to avoid a lot of the pitfalls that catch many other young stars. Basically, he was one of the ones who had it together. And boy was he talented. But his shocking accidental death cut it all off. It was devastating and tragic.
The economy
And all the other crap going on in the world--you know, wars and things that really matter. I'd like to think that it can't get any worse, but it could. Hopefully 2009 will make most things better. But either way, we'll have Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert finding ways to make us laugh through--and even about--our troubles. Here's to 2008!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Caprica is greenlit
Sci Fi Channel has now officially greenlit Battlestar Galactica prequel series "Caprica" with a full season order, set to premiere in early 2010 (Variety). Caprica takes place 50 years before the events of BSG at a time when humans were beginning to face the serious moral dilemmas brought by the creation of artificial intelligence. The series focuses on two rival families, the Adamas and the Graystones, on the planet of Caprica, a world not unlike how we might envision our own near future. Esai Morales stars as Joseph Adama, a lawyer and father of future Admiral William Adama. Eric Stoltz stars as Daniel Graystone, a wealthy computer genius who seems destined to make great breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. The two will inevitably clash as Graystone insists on making intelligent robots despite Adama's dire warnings. Expect character-driven drama, tough moral issues with no clear right or wrong, and frightening parallels to events in the real world.
I'd just like to put this little issue out there in the hopes that someone can clear it up for me. My understanding of the timeline is that the Cylon War lasted twelve and a half years and was followed by 40 years of no Cylon contact prior to the massive attack that marked the beginning of the Battlestar Galactica series. By my calculations, this would put Caprica, which is supposed to be 50 years before that attack, around about the third year of the Cylon War. Not exactly the time that I would expect them to be just getting around to inventing artificial intelligence. I guess that at least some of my facts here are incorrect, and all will be made clear when the show actually starts.
Now that's out of the way, I must say that I am very excited for this show. BSG is probably my favorite show on right now, and I will be so sad (though possibly also relieved--as I've said before, it stresses me out!) when it ends this spring. The thought of the story continuing, even if the continuation is in a prequel where we already know to some extent where they're going to end up (i.e. genocide), makes me very happy*. Still, I have some considerable apprehension. The many characters of BSG are a crucial part of its greatness--I love every one of them, in one way or another. There isn't a single "good guy" on the show that I haven't been furious with at some point, because like real people they all sometimes act rashly or selfishly and make mistakes, but this in some ways only makes me love them more. And the villains are equally fascinating and flawed. Caprica may be set in the same universe as BSG, but it will not feature the same characters--in that regard, it starts from scratch. The creators better not mess up their new characters.
Sci Fi Channel hopes that Caprica will be accessible to a general audience by being set not on a space ship but on an Earth-like planet. It seems, though, that they have agreed to a serial story arc rather than an episodic setup, which means it will likely have trouble picking up new viewers once the story gets going. But as long as it delivers as compelling characters, thought-provoking issues, and captivating drama as the Battlestar Galactica series, I will be there.
For your convenience (and mine), the Battlestar Galactica schedule:
January 16, 2009 - Premiere of the second half of the final season of BSG
March 20, 2009 - BSG series finale
Early summer, 2009 - Two-hour movie "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan"
Early 2010 - Premiere of Caprica
* Glancing quickly over this sentence, it looks a bit like I've just said, "genocide makes me very happy." Please do not quote me on that one.
I'd just like to put this little issue out there in the hopes that someone can clear it up for me. My understanding of the timeline is that the Cylon War lasted twelve and a half years and was followed by 40 years of no Cylon contact prior to the massive attack that marked the beginning of the Battlestar Galactica series. By my calculations, this would put Caprica, which is supposed to be 50 years before that attack, around about the third year of the Cylon War. Not exactly the time that I would expect them to be just getting around to inventing artificial intelligence. I guess that at least some of my facts here are incorrect, and all will be made clear when the show actually starts.
Now that's out of the way, I must say that I am very excited for this show. BSG is probably my favorite show on right now, and I will be so sad (though possibly also relieved--as I've said before, it stresses me out!) when it ends this spring. The thought of the story continuing, even if the continuation is in a prequel where we already know to some extent where they're going to end up (i.e. genocide), makes me very happy*. Still, I have some considerable apprehension. The many characters of BSG are a crucial part of its greatness--I love every one of them, in one way or another. There isn't a single "good guy" on the show that I haven't been furious with at some point, because like real people they all sometimes act rashly or selfishly and make mistakes, but this in some ways only makes me love them more. And the villains are equally fascinating and flawed. Caprica may be set in the same universe as BSG, but it will not feature the same characters--in that regard, it starts from scratch. The creators better not mess up their new characters.
Sci Fi Channel hopes that Caprica will be accessible to a general audience by being set not on a space ship but on an Earth-like planet. It seems, though, that they have agreed to a serial story arc rather than an episodic setup, which means it will likely have trouble picking up new viewers once the story gets going. But as long as it delivers as compelling characters, thought-provoking issues, and captivating drama as the Battlestar Galactica series, I will be there.
For your convenience (and mine), the Battlestar Galactica schedule:
January 16, 2009 - Premiere of the second half of the final season of BSG
March 20, 2009 - BSG series finale
Early summer, 2009 - Two-hour movie "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan"
Early 2010 - Premiere of Caprica
* Glancing quickly over this sentence, it looks a bit like I've just said, "genocide makes me very happy." Please do not quote me on that one.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
BSG auction, Klingon opera, and Batman, Turkey
And now for my thoughts on various recent entertainment news items.
About a week ago, there was a serious shakeup in the powers that control Heroes. Co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were fired (Variety) and creator and executive producer Tim Kring has promised to focus his time on the story and tone of the show, rather than on post-production special effects and such (Variety). Alexander and Loeb were around for the show's first season success, but under their watch the second and third seasons have increasingly lost fan and critic support and audience numbers. Kring plans to heed the fans' complaints and turn the show around in the hopes of returning Heroes to its former glory. It is unclear whether it'll work, but Season 4 of Lost (Heroes' older sibling) helped it earn back a lot of the respect it had lost in Seasons 2 and 3. I've got to say it's about time they turn things around in Heroes. I adored the show in Season 1, up until the season finale. That finale and Season 2 were disappointments, and I was led to believe that Season 3 would be the turn-around. But this season has been full of weak plots, contradictions in mythology, and lots of characters acting out of character (usually being unbelievably stupid). Save the show! My eyes are getting sore from all the eye-rolling.
It's moments like these that prove just how much of a geek I am: I'm sitting in my office reading about an auction--yes, an upcoming live auction--with a buffoonish ear-to-ear grin on my face. It's just so awesome, I can't contain myself. Now that filming has wrapped for Battlestar Galactica, they are auctioning off numerous costumes, props, and set pieces (press release). Boy, wouldn't I love to have Starbuck's flight suit! Or the arrow of Apollo! Or the frakkin' full-sized Blackbird! And I sure wish I could fit into Six's red dress. Given my budget, though, I could probably only afford some little paper prop (with corners cut off, naturally). Unfortunately, the live auction is in Pasadena, California, a long way away. I'll have to see what they put up on eBay. The auction is in January.
An artist by the name of Floris Schönfeld is writing a Klingon opera called " 'u' " (NY Times). Obviously, I have serious doubts about whether this work will turn out well and how it will be received by the general public. Italian is ideally suited for opera-style singing because of its use of round tones and open vowels. Klingon, in contrast, is a harsh-sounding language; its rough consonants would make operatic Klingon singing unpleasing to the ear (well, to the human ear, at least). I just don't know if an opera in such a rough-sounding language will have long-lasting success.
Ridley Scott has signed on to make the movie based on the boardgame Monopoly (IMDb). Apparently, he intends to give the Monopoly film a futuristic edge (what this entails, I do not know). Pamela Pettler (Corpse Bride) will be creating the storyline for the movie. Good luck to her. The Monopoly movie is just one of a series of movies Universal Studios has agreed to make based on Hasbro properties. Battleship and Ouija Board are also being adapted into their own features; the latter has Michael Bay signed on to produce. I remember reading about this Universal - Hasbro deal back when they made it. While I am slightly horrified that these projects are in the works, I am mostly relieved that, since the speculation around the time of the initial deal, I have heard no mention of a Stretch Armstrong movie adaptation.
The greatest news of the day, though, is that the Mayor of Batman, Turkey is suing Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from "The Dark Knight", accusing them of using the city's name without permission (Variety, IMDb). I think it's pretty safe to say that this is a lost cause for Mayor Kalkan, since he is unlikely to convince anyone that Batman (the comic hero) stole his name from the city because 1) "Batman" is a simple compound of English words "bat" and "man", which is fitting for a male superhero who dresses as a bat and 2) well, has any American even heard of Batman, Turkey before? I can understand the Batman citizens' complaints about it being hard for them to be taken seriously abroad, but I personally would think it was awesome to live in a town called Batman. Seriously, how sweet would that be? I'm fairly certain this must be some type of publicity stunt (hey, it's working!). While they're at it, they should sue turkeys for stealing the name of their country (it does make it difficult for English-speaking school children to take the country seriously, I have to admit). Rough month for turkeys.
About a week ago, there was a serious shakeup in the powers that control Heroes. Co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were fired (Variety) and creator and executive producer Tim Kring has promised to focus his time on the story and tone of the show, rather than on post-production special effects and such (Variety). Alexander and Loeb were around for the show's first season success, but under their watch the second and third seasons have increasingly lost fan and critic support and audience numbers. Kring plans to heed the fans' complaints and turn the show around in the hopes of returning Heroes to its former glory. It is unclear whether it'll work, but Season 4 of Lost (Heroes' older sibling) helped it earn back a lot of the respect it had lost in Seasons 2 and 3. I've got to say it's about time they turn things around in Heroes. I adored the show in Season 1, up until the season finale. That finale and Season 2 were disappointments, and I was led to believe that Season 3 would be the turn-around. But this season has been full of weak plots, contradictions in mythology, and lots of characters acting out of character (usually being unbelievably stupid). Save the show! My eyes are getting sore from all the eye-rolling.
It's moments like these that prove just how much of a geek I am: I'm sitting in my office reading about an auction--yes, an upcoming live auction--with a buffoonish ear-to-ear grin on my face. It's just so awesome, I can't contain myself. Now that filming has wrapped for Battlestar Galactica, they are auctioning off numerous costumes, props, and set pieces (press release). Boy, wouldn't I love to have Starbuck's flight suit! Or the arrow of Apollo! Or the frakkin' full-sized Blackbird! And I sure wish I could fit into Six's red dress. Given my budget, though, I could probably only afford some little paper prop (with corners cut off, naturally). Unfortunately, the live auction is in Pasadena, California, a long way away. I'll have to see what they put up on eBay. The auction is in January.
An artist by the name of Floris Schönfeld is writing a Klingon opera called " 'u' " (NY Times). Obviously, I have serious doubts about whether this work will turn out well and how it will be received by the general public. Italian is ideally suited for opera-style singing because of its use of round tones and open vowels. Klingon, in contrast, is a harsh-sounding language; its rough consonants would make operatic Klingon singing unpleasing to the ear (well, to the human ear, at least). I just don't know if an opera in such a rough-sounding language will have long-lasting success.
Ridley Scott has signed on to make the movie based on the boardgame Monopoly (IMDb). Apparently, he intends to give the Monopoly film a futuristic edge (what this entails, I do not know). Pamela Pettler (Corpse Bride) will be creating the storyline for the movie. Good luck to her. The Monopoly movie is just one of a series of movies Universal Studios has agreed to make based on Hasbro properties. Battleship and Ouija Board are also being adapted into their own features; the latter has Michael Bay signed on to produce. I remember reading about this Universal - Hasbro deal back when they made it. While I am slightly horrified that these projects are in the works, I am mostly relieved that, since the speculation around the time of the initial deal, I have heard no mention of a Stretch Armstrong movie adaptation.
The greatest news of the day, though, is that the Mayor of Batman, Turkey is suing Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from "The Dark Knight", accusing them of using the city's name without permission (Variety, IMDb). I think it's pretty safe to say that this is a lost cause for Mayor Kalkan, since he is unlikely to convince anyone that Batman (the comic hero) stole his name from the city because 1) "Batman" is a simple compound of English words "bat" and "man", which is fitting for a male superhero who dresses as a bat and 2) well, has any American even heard of Batman, Turkey before? I can understand the Batman citizens' complaints about it being hard for them to be taken seriously abroad, but I personally would think it was awesome to live in a town called Batman. Seriously, how sweet would that be? I'm fairly certain this must be some type of publicity stunt (hey, it's working!). While they're at it, they should sue turkeys for stealing the name of their country (it does make it difficult for English-speaking school children to take the country seriously, I have to admit). Rough month for turkeys.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
BSG, Wicked, Iron Man, and Vote Pushing Daisies!
Well, the weather is finally starting to act like fall where I am; I broke out the fleece jacket this morning. The wind and chill only heighten already high tensions, with the roller coaster stock market, impending election, and the World Series delayed by the rain! Really, I couldn't care less about the World Series, but it is in my interest to make sure the folks at FOX are happy rather than worried about how the delayed games could potentially disrupt their schedule, since stressed executives could make rash decisions they'll later regret to ax weak sci-fi performers off their Monday schedules... Anyway, here are my thoughts on a number of entertainment-related news items.
Big news first: We have a date.
10 pm on Friday, January 16, 2009
The second half of the final season of Battlestar Galactica will finally premiere, with the series finale likely falling on March 20 (Ausiello files). They sure know how to make a cliff hanger at BSG, more than basically any other show I know (The island moved? So what?), so I cannot wait for it to come back. Seriously, though, this show kind of stresses me out, so while I love it dearly and will be devastated when it comes to a close, I think in some ways it'll be a relief when the final episode is over. If you're not watching it, you should be (Catch up with the DVDs--you have two and a half months. Go!). It doesn't matter if you hate spaceships on principle (well, it does matter to me... I'm not sure we can be friends... What's wrong with space travel?), since I can personally confirm that there are people who are not sci-fi fans who still love this show. Battlestar Galactica is simply one of the most, if not the most, intense, harrowing, personal, and profound dramas on TV. Yeah, it's that good.
I'd like to give a shout out to Wicked, one of my absolute favorite musicals. Universal recently reported that Wicked's worldwide grosses have reached $1.2 billion, putting it in the ranks of top-grossing feature films, a practically unheard of feat for a stage show (Variety). I was lucky enough to see Wicked on Broadway when Tony winner Idina Menzel was still playing the (not really so) Wicked Witch of the West, though sadly Kristin Chenoweth had already left. (As a side note, Tom Cruise was in the audience with us, and as much as I'd like to think I'm a practical person who understands that famous people are still just humans, I was totally excited, particularly because this was before his summer of couch-jumping and anti-depressant-bashing bad publicity and subsequent popularity drop). Wicked is a great show, with humor, spectacular scenes and scenery, a wonderful score, quirky characters, and a touching story. It lost the best musical Tony, though, to Avenue Q, which really did deserve it just as much. I maintain that if Wicked had only come out the following year, it would have easily trumped Spamalot for the Tony (sorry Monty Python, but Wicked was just better). I wonder if they'll ever try to make a movie version of Wicked (making it perhaps the first movie based on a musical based on a book based on a movie based on a book). I'm not sure it would be a great idea; movie adaptations of stage musicals have had some great successes (Hairspray) but also some notable disappointments (The Producers). But if they are going to do it, they'd better get a move on it, or as Kristin Chenoweth said, she'll be playing Madame Morrible. I mean, original Broadway cast members returning 10 years later to movie roles that they are now really too old for? Idina Menzel's been there, done that (see: Rent). But anyway, Wicked's worldwide success makes me very happy.
The wildly popular Jonas Brothers have signed on to star in a 20th Century Fox feature entitled
"Walter the Farting Dog"
(Variety) Need I say more? Probably not, but I'll keep talking anyway. I don't really understand the appeal of the Jonas Brothers. Maybe if I were ten years younger I would, though it's unlikely, since I never was one to obsess over singers or bands. But still, I thought these guys were successful and wholesome. I would not have expected them to attach themselves to a movie about a farting dog. I wouldn't have expected there to be a movie about a farting dog at all (though the rumor that the Farrelly brothers may direct surprises me less). Maybe this movie will somehow turn out to be a clever, humorous, deep, and heart-warming story for the whole family, but... no, I don't think so. Talk about people being put off by the word "porno" in upcoming Zack and Miri Make a Porno--I am disgusted by the idea that "farting" would be important enough to a storyline to feature it in the title. But maybe I'm just becoming an old fart.
Some exciting new news: Robert Downey Jr. has signed on with Marvel to star in Iron Man 3 as well as Iron Man 2 (for which director Jon Favreau has been confirmed as well), and also in The Avengers (Variety). The Avengers is expected to be released in July 2011 and will feature Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk along with Iron Man. I loved the Iron Man movie, particularly Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Iron Man was overshadowed by the success of The Dark Knight, but it was very different--brighter, shinier, funnier, and Marveler--and holds its own in the world of superhero movies. I'm looking forward to future Iron Man features, as long as they are careful not to go the way of Spider-Man 3.
And lastly, I'd like to discuss an issue of actual, real-world importance. Very soon, citizens across America will have to make a choice between Obama and... Pushing Daisies! Three of the four major networks--CBS, NBC, and FOX--will be airing a half hour Obama special on Wednesday (10/29) night at 8. ABC, on the other hand, will be airing its regular new episode of Pushing Daisies (Variety). Hopefully this will give my favorite ratings-challenged show a boost as the only major network non-infomercial at that time. So don't watch Obama. You don't need to. Are any of the candidates really going to say anything new at this point? And who hasn't made up their minds already? Seriously. After all, the biggest danger facing our country right now is the very real possibility of Pushing Daisies getting canceled. It doesn't matter who wins the election if Pushing Daisies is gone (*wipes tear of fervor*). So on Wednesday,
Vote Daisies!
Big news first: We have a date.
10 pm on Friday, January 16, 2009
The second half of the final season of Battlestar Galactica will finally premiere, with the series finale likely falling on March 20 (Ausiello files). They sure know how to make a cliff hanger at BSG, more than basically any other show I know (The island moved? So what?), so I cannot wait for it to come back. Seriously, though, this show kind of stresses me out, so while I love it dearly and will be devastated when it comes to a close, I think in some ways it'll be a relief when the final episode is over. If you're not watching it, you should be (Catch up with the DVDs--you have two and a half months. Go!). It doesn't matter if you hate spaceships on principle (well, it does matter to me... I'm not sure we can be friends... What's wrong with space travel?), since I can personally confirm that there are people who are not sci-fi fans who still love this show. Battlestar Galactica is simply one of the most, if not the most, intense, harrowing, personal, and profound dramas on TV. Yeah, it's that good.
I'd like to give a shout out to Wicked, one of my absolute favorite musicals. Universal recently reported that Wicked's worldwide grosses have reached $1.2 billion, putting it in the ranks of top-grossing feature films, a practically unheard of feat for a stage show (Variety). I was lucky enough to see Wicked on Broadway when Tony winner Idina Menzel was still playing the (not really so) Wicked Witch of the West, though sadly Kristin Chenoweth had already left. (As a side note, Tom Cruise was in the audience with us, and as much as I'd like to think I'm a practical person who understands that famous people are still just humans, I was totally excited, particularly because this was before his summer of couch-jumping and anti-depressant-bashing bad publicity and subsequent popularity drop). Wicked is a great show, with humor, spectacular scenes and scenery, a wonderful score, quirky characters, and a touching story. It lost the best musical Tony, though, to Avenue Q, which really did deserve it just as much. I maintain that if Wicked had only come out the following year, it would have easily trumped Spamalot for the Tony (sorry Monty Python, but Wicked was just better). I wonder if they'll ever try to make a movie version of Wicked (making it perhaps the first movie based on a musical based on a book based on a movie based on a book). I'm not sure it would be a great idea; movie adaptations of stage musicals have had some great successes (Hairspray) but also some notable disappointments (The Producers). But if they are going to do it, they'd better get a move on it, or as Kristin Chenoweth said, she'll be playing Madame Morrible. I mean, original Broadway cast members returning 10 years later to movie roles that they are now really too old for? Idina Menzel's been there, done that (see: Rent). But anyway, Wicked's worldwide success makes me very happy.
The wildly popular Jonas Brothers have signed on to star in a 20th Century Fox feature entitled
"Walter the Farting Dog"
(Variety) Need I say more? Probably not, but I'll keep talking anyway. I don't really understand the appeal of the Jonas Brothers. Maybe if I were ten years younger I would, though it's unlikely, since I never was one to obsess over singers or bands. But still, I thought these guys were successful and wholesome. I would not have expected them to attach themselves to a movie about a farting dog. I wouldn't have expected there to be a movie about a farting dog at all (though the rumor that the Farrelly brothers may direct surprises me less). Maybe this movie will somehow turn out to be a clever, humorous, deep, and heart-warming story for the whole family, but... no, I don't think so. Talk about people being put off by the word "porno" in upcoming Zack and Miri Make a Porno--I am disgusted by the idea that "farting" would be important enough to a storyline to feature it in the title. But maybe I'm just becoming an old fart.
Some exciting new news: Robert Downey Jr. has signed on with Marvel to star in Iron Man 3 as well as Iron Man 2 (for which director Jon Favreau has been confirmed as well), and also in The Avengers (Variety). The Avengers is expected to be released in July 2011 and will feature Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk along with Iron Man. I loved the Iron Man movie, particularly Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Iron Man was overshadowed by the success of The Dark Knight, but it was very different--brighter, shinier, funnier, and Marveler--and holds its own in the world of superhero movies. I'm looking forward to future Iron Man features, as long as they are careful not to go the way of Spider-Man 3.
And lastly, I'd like to discuss an issue of actual, real-world importance. Very soon, citizens across America will have to make a choice between Obama and... Pushing Daisies! Three of the four major networks--CBS, NBC, and FOX--will be airing a half hour Obama special on Wednesday (10/29) night at 8. ABC, on the other hand, will be airing its regular new episode of Pushing Daisies (Variety). Hopefully this will give my favorite ratings-challenged show a boost as the only major network non-infomercial at that time. So don't watch Obama. You don't need to. Are any of the candidates really going to say anything new at this point? And who hasn't made up their minds already? Seriously. After all, the biggest danger facing our country right now is the very real possibility of Pushing Daisies getting canceled. It doesn't matter who wins the election if Pushing Daisies is gone (*wipes tear of fervor*). So on Wednesday,
Vote Daisies!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Heroes Season 3 Premiere
SPOILER ALERT
Well, they sure dove right back into it. I'd barely changed the channel from Sarah Connor Chronicles, and already future-Peter is coming back in time to shoot Nathan in the shocking scene from the Season 2 finale. The two episode premiere cut hurriedly between its many characters and plot lines, seemingly checking off a laundry list of New Mysteries:
-Whom is this speedy Daphne working for?
-What is Parkman doing in Africa? Who is this guy who found him in the desert?
-Why can't Clair feel pain anymore?
-Why is Ali Larter Tracy now, and why can she ice cube* people?
-How is present-Peter stuck inside one of the scary escaped Heroes? I mean, obviously future-Peter put him there, but where is his real body and what happened to the other guy's mind? This is definitely an odd situation.
-How is Linderman back? Why can only Nathan see him? Does he have any relation to Number Six?
-Just what is the deal with Mrs. Petrelli? What are her motives?
Unfortunately, the episode raised a few skeptic's questions as well. Obviously, I'm a big fan of this genre and am willing to suspend a lot of disbelief, but there are some things that make me either roll my eyes or purse my lips. In most cases I'm willing to put up with them, but inconsistencies, weak explanations, and dumb character actions can erode the quality of a show and its wide fan base. And occasionally, a weak, nonsensical plot device will influence the story in an unfavorable way (say, when a villain survives a situation that he never should have survived and lives on for multiple seasons to continue to kill), and that really ticks me off. Here are some questions I had for the premiere:
-When Hiro took a peek into his future, how did he manage to find such a crucial point in the future (i.e. Ando killing him with Sith powers) and--correct me if I'm wrong about this, but--how did it happen to be on the same block that he had been standing on in the present?
-If they're emphasizing the profound butterfly effect future-Peter has had by coming back, how did Hiro's previous forays into the past avoid screwing up the world so much?
-How has genius scientist Mohinder gone from dumb to dumber?
-If the type of power someone has is determined by their unique blood chemistry, why are there so many repeats in powers?
-Is Maya ever going to be able to justify her existence on this show? (The season opener did not give me much hope.)
-What, exactly, is the stuff that the speedster leaves behind when she runs? We know that it takes on her colors and it's something that Hiro can run his fingers through when he "freezes" time. That seems a little weird to me.
Well, in spite of all this, I really enjoyed most of the show. My favorite moment was when Elle kicked Sylar's a%s. As I have already implied, I am not a huge fan of Sylar--or at least the Sylar of the present. First season, he was an awesome, creepy love-to-hate-him bad guy, but the only reason he's still alive is the disappointingly clumsy, botched Season 1 finale. While he was one of the highlights of Season 1, since his should-have-been death, he has, like Maya, yet to justify his presence. Still, it looks like he is poised to get interesting again.
I have high hopes that the Heroes team can bring the show back to its former glory. Sadly, it looks like it may not be able to recover its first season audience. It was one of the biggest freshman shows of the 2006-07 season, with frequent "Save the Network, Save the TV Season" jokes, but like many serials it has had trouble gaining new viewers, and the relatively weak Season 2 lost a significant number of followers; the Season 3 premiere had 20% fewer viewers than the Season 2 premiere. While the numbers are still solid and the show is not in danger of cancellation, it may be falling from the water cooler gossip status it enjoyed two years ago. But I can hope. As a strong proponent for mainstream geekdom, I'm sure rooting for Heroes.
*I have deemed "ice cube" a legitimate transitive verb since my days as a Diablo II sorceress enthusiast.
Well, they sure dove right back into it. I'd barely changed the channel from Sarah Connor Chronicles, and already future-Peter is coming back in time to shoot Nathan in the shocking scene from the Season 2 finale. The two episode premiere cut hurriedly between its many characters and plot lines, seemingly checking off a laundry list of New Mysteries:
-Whom is this speedy Daphne working for?
-What is Parkman doing in Africa? Who is this guy who found him in the desert?
-Why can't Clair feel pain anymore?
-Why is Ali Larter Tracy now, and why can she ice cube* people?
-How is present-Peter stuck inside one of the scary escaped Heroes? I mean, obviously future-Peter put him there, but where is his real body and what happened to the other guy's mind? This is definitely an odd situation.
-How is Linderman back? Why can only Nathan see him? Does he have any relation to Number Six?
-Just what is the deal with Mrs. Petrelli? What are her motives?
Unfortunately, the episode raised a few skeptic's questions as well. Obviously, I'm a big fan of this genre and am willing to suspend a lot of disbelief, but there are some things that make me either roll my eyes or purse my lips. In most cases I'm willing to put up with them, but inconsistencies, weak explanations, and dumb character actions can erode the quality of a show and its wide fan base. And occasionally, a weak, nonsensical plot device will influence the story in an unfavorable way (say, when a villain survives a situation that he never should have survived and lives on for multiple seasons to continue to kill), and that really ticks me off. Here are some questions I had for the premiere:
-When Hiro took a peek into his future, how did he manage to find such a crucial point in the future (i.e. Ando killing him with Sith powers) and--correct me if I'm wrong about this, but--how did it happen to be on the same block that he had been standing on in the present?
-If they're emphasizing the profound butterfly effect future-Peter has had by coming back, how did Hiro's previous forays into the past avoid screwing up the world so much?
-How has genius scientist Mohinder gone from dumb to dumber?
-If the type of power someone has is determined by their unique blood chemistry, why are there so many repeats in powers?
-Is Maya ever going to be able to justify her existence on this show? (The season opener did not give me much hope.)
-What, exactly, is the stuff that the speedster leaves behind when she runs? We know that it takes on her colors and it's something that Hiro can run his fingers through when he "freezes" time. That seems a little weird to me.
Well, in spite of all this, I really enjoyed most of the show. My favorite moment was when Elle kicked Sylar's a%s. As I have already implied, I am not a huge fan of Sylar--or at least the Sylar of the present. First season, he was an awesome, creepy love-to-hate-him bad guy, but the only reason he's still alive is the disappointingly clumsy, botched Season 1 finale. While he was one of the highlights of Season 1, since his should-have-been death, he has, like Maya, yet to justify his presence. Still, it looks like he is poised to get interesting again.
I have high hopes that the Heroes team can bring the show back to its former glory. Sadly, it looks like it may not be able to recover its first season audience. It was one of the biggest freshman shows of the 2006-07 season, with frequent "Save the Network, Save the TV Season" jokes, but like many serials it has had trouble gaining new viewers, and the relatively weak Season 2 lost a significant number of followers; the Season 3 premiere had 20% fewer viewers than the Season 2 premiere. While the numbers are still solid and the show is not in danger of cancellation, it may be falling from the water cooler gossip status it enjoyed two years ago. But I can hope. As a strong proponent for mainstream geekdom, I'm sure rooting for Heroes.
*I have deemed "ice cube" a legitimate transitive verb since my days as a Diablo II sorceress enthusiast.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Fall 2008 TV Season
It may not be fall by astronomical standards, but it's fall on FOX, as the new TV season is off on an early start. I suppose a number of CW shows have also premiered, but I haven't gotten hooked into any of them, so I don't much care. I do, however, have two FOX shows on my schedule, and I watched their premieres the last two nights.
I watched the first season of Sarah Connor Chronicles in the spring and got hooked. I mean, it's Summer Glau, and she's awesome. The funny thing is that I have somehow never seen any of the Terminator movies. I mean, obviously I like that genre, and they're famous enough that even people who don't particularly like the genre have seen them, so I don't know how I've managed to unintentionally avoid them, but I have. Anyway, while I may miss certain nods to the movies, like the "Come with me if you want to live" line and all, it's not like the TV show doesn't make sense without the movies, so I still enjoy the show. It has yet to prove itself to be particularly intelligent or profound--I guess there's already a brilliant show that explores the condition of synthetic being--and any story with people traveling back in time starts creating confusing paradoxes, but it is a lot of fun.
Last night I saw the Fringe series premiere. I'll have to get used to Joshua Jackson. Even though it's been years and I never even watched Dawson's Creek on a regular basis, I still see him as Pacey. And then of course there's Dr. Denethor. John Noble seems to have cornered the market on bad-fathers-gone-insane. Anyway, I liked the show. The premise is cool, the characters are fun, the action is entertaining, the mystery potentially intriguing... I'll definitely tune in next week. J.J. Abrams, who created the show but who I understand didn't have much to do with the making of the pilot because he was busy with Star Trek, said that the episodes following the pilot are better than the pilot, so that certainly sounds promising.
And there is much more to come, including some frustrating time conflicts. Thank goodness for online shows (I don't have DVR). Anyway, here are the premieres of the shows I'm planning on tuning in for - my personal fall schedule:
Monday, Sept. 8
8pm - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
Sarah Connor protects her son John, destined to lead mankind's resistance against a future robot takeover, from robots sent from the future to kill him.
Tuesday, Sept. 9
8pm premiere, 9pm regular time slot - Fringe (FOX)
FBI agent Olivia Dunham is tapped for a special division that investigates crimes, disasters, and other phenomena related to the fringe sciences.
Monday, Sept. 22
8pm - Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
BBT: Nerds Leonard and Sheldon and their new "normal girl" neighbor Penny learn that they can learn from each other. Hilarity ensues.
HIMYM: Ted tells his two kids the long, meandering story of how he met their mother. Legendary hilarity ensues.
I've seen only one episode of BBT--twice (funny how you always manage to tune in to the same rerun over and over--don't they ever show a different rerun?)--but I thought it was pretty funny, so I'd give it a shot. My brother is a huge HIMYM fan, and the dozen or so episodes I've seen were hilarious. I don't know if I can come in after missing so many seasons, though; it's not a serial, but it does refer to itself a lot, so I wouldn't get as much out of it as someone who has been following it all along. I may not actually watch any of these shows, since the time slot is already crowded.
9pm - Heroes (NBC)
If you don't know what this one is about, get out of your box.
Last season was a little disappointing, since the first had been so good (except for the relatively weak first season finale). Let's hope this one picks it back up again.
Tuesday, Sept. 23
9pm - The Mentalist (CBS)
Patrick Jane, an abnormally observational, intuitive man who previously passed himself off as a psychic, works as a consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation.
Not sure about this one, but I'll give it a shot and see how it is. It does conflict with Fringe, so this would probably be the one I'd catch online.
Sunday, Sept. 28
9pm - Desperate Housewives (ABC)
The housewives of Wisteria Lane struggle through their stressful, scandalous, tragic, sensational, hectic, quirky lives with differing grace, clumsiness, tenacity, grief, joy, and humor.
Even if Nathan Fillion isn't on it anymore (I'm not sure actually if he will be returning for his guest role), I thought last season was pretty funny. I'll give this season a try (what else do I do on Sunday nights?), but with the season finale "five years later..." cliffhanger (kind of like the BSG season 2 finale, but not quite) it seems there have been some major changes on Wisteria Lane. Hopefully, they'll be good changes, or at least entertaining ones.
Monday, Sept. 29
8 pm - Chuck (NBC)
Having accidentally downloaded all of the FBI, NSA, and CIA's secrets into his brain before the computer containing these secrets crashed, Buy More sales employee Chuck is a valued government commodity who must help the agencies while maintaining the appearance of his normal life.
This will be my major time conflict as Adam Baldwin goes head-to-head with Summer Glau. With Chuck's first season cut short by the writer's strike and Sarah Connor Chronicles premiering mid-season, I didn't have this scheduling conflict last year. But I'm hooked on both. Which I watch on TV will depend on which I find to be more reliable online. But I love Chuck, and I'm interested to see where they'll take it this next season.
10pm - Life (NBC)
Released after serving years of a life sentence for a crime he didn't commit, LAPD detective Charlie Crews returns to the job with a new partner and a new view on life.
I did not watch Life last season, but my dad did and he seemed to really like it. I may give it a shot. Whether I stick with it will depend on how much I like the characters.
Wednesday, Oct. 1
8pm - Pushing Daisies (ABC)
With a single touch, Ned can bring the dead back to life, but there are two caveats: 1) a second touch will kill the revived--permanently and 2) if he does not re-kill the revived with a second touch within one minute of the revival, another roughly equivalent being (a flower for a strawberry, a squirrel for a dog, a human for a human) will die in its place. Emerson Cod, a PI with a penchant for knitting, teams with Ned to solve murder cases by heading down to the morgue, bringing the victim back for a 60-second interview and then returning him or her to death. Complications arise when Ned finds himself "interviewing" his recently murdered childhood sweetheart, whom he cannot bring himself to allow to die again.
My favorite new show last year, I'm definitely looking forward to the new season. I can't believe they've made us wait since last December for new episodes. Hopefully they'll be able to get right back into the groove and keep up the delightful tone, quirky plots, charming characters, and outrageous situations that made the first season so utterly delectable. And there should be more spontaneous singing. Get on that, Kristin.
9pm - Private Practice (ABC)
Having left Seattle Grace hospital (of Grey's Anatomy), Dr. Addison Montgomery practices her neonatal surgery at a small private practice in sunshiny L.A. amidst much drama.
Okay, give me a break. It was there. It was on after Pushing Daisies, and it's so cheery and goes down easy. I'm not a Grey's fan or anything, so I don't really know why I started watching this show. I just remember getting totally choked up and teary watching one of the early episodes where at the end the mothers have to switch the babies they've been raising as their own. *Sniffle.* Anyway, I somehow got hooked. Not really my normal fare, but neither is Desperate Housewives, and I am a girl, after all.
Monday, Oct. 13
10pm - My Own Worst Enemy (NBC)
Family man Henry Spivey is blissfully unaware of his super spy alter ego Edward Albright, thanks to a brain implant. But when the implant malfunctions, Henry starts cluing in on his dangerous double life.
I saw the promos during the Olympics but wasn't interested. But after reading an article about it in Entertainment Weekly, I'm at least willing to give it a go.
Tuesday, Oct. 14
10pm - Eli Stone (ABC)
Hotshot lawyer Eli Stone starts having vivid hallucinations, gets a brain scan and finds he has a basically inoperable brain aneurysm. But these hallucinations (which are usually in the form of a flashy song and dance number, sometimes starring George Michael) seem to be sending him messages, guiding him towards important cases and clients in need. While these visions wreak havoc on his personal and professional life, he's starting to think he may be doing significant good in the world.
Oh, Eli. I don't really watch many legal dramas, but this one's so adorable. And then there's the singing. I love musicals, so every time the characters burst into choreographed numbers in Eli's head, I fall in love with this show all over again.
Well, that's about it for this fall. I'll have to wait for mid-season for Lost, Dollhouse, Reaper, and Castle. But these should be enough to occupy me for the time being. Happy TV Fall!
I watched the first season of Sarah Connor Chronicles in the spring and got hooked. I mean, it's Summer Glau, and she's awesome. The funny thing is that I have somehow never seen any of the Terminator movies. I mean, obviously I like that genre, and they're famous enough that even people who don't particularly like the genre have seen them, so I don't know how I've managed to unintentionally avoid them, but I have. Anyway, while I may miss certain nods to the movies, like the "Come with me if you want to live" line and all, it's not like the TV show doesn't make sense without the movies, so I still enjoy the show. It has yet to prove itself to be particularly intelligent or profound--I guess there's already a brilliant show that explores the condition of synthetic being--and any story with people traveling back in time starts creating confusing paradoxes, but it is a lot of fun.
Last night I saw the Fringe series premiere. I'll have to get used to Joshua Jackson. Even though it's been years and I never even watched Dawson's Creek on a regular basis, I still see him as Pacey. And then of course there's Dr. Denethor. John Noble seems to have cornered the market on bad-fathers-gone-insane. Anyway, I liked the show. The premise is cool, the characters are fun, the action is entertaining, the mystery potentially intriguing... I'll definitely tune in next week. J.J. Abrams, who created the show but who I understand didn't have much to do with the making of the pilot because he was busy with Star Trek, said that the episodes following the pilot are better than the pilot, so that certainly sounds promising.
And there is much more to come, including some frustrating time conflicts. Thank goodness for online shows (I don't have DVR). Anyway, here are the premieres of the shows I'm planning on tuning in for - my personal fall schedule:
Monday, Sept. 8
8pm - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
Sarah Connor protects her son John, destined to lead mankind's resistance against a future robot takeover, from robots sent from the future to kill him.
Tuesday, Sept. 9
8pm premiere, 9pm regular time slot - Fringe (FOX)
FBI agent Olivia Dunham is tapped for a special division that investigates crimes, disasters, and other phenomena related to the fringe sciences.
Monday, Sept. 22
8pm - Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
BBT: Nerds Leonard and Sheldon and their new "normal girl" neighbor Penny learn that they can learn from each other. Hilarity ensues.
HIMYM: Ted tells his two kids the long, meandering story of how he met their mother. Legendary hilarity ensues.
I've seen only one episode of BBT--twice (funny how you always manage to tune in to the same rerun over and over--don't they ever show a different rerun?)--but I thought it was pretty funny, so I'd give it a shot. My brother is a huge HIMYM fan, and the dozen or so episodes I've seen were hilarious. I don't know if I can come in after missing so many seasons, though; it's not a serial, but it does refer to itself a lot, so I wouldn't get as much out of it as someone who has been following it all along. I may not actually watch any of these shows, since the time slot is already crowded.
9pm - Heroes (NBC)
If you don't know what this one is about, get out of your box.
Last season was a little disappointing, since the first had been so good (except for the relatively weak first season finale). Let's hope this one picks it back up again.
Tuesday, Sept. 23
9pm - The Mentalist (CBS)
Patrick Jane, an abnormally observational, intuitive man who previously passed himself off as a psychic, works as a consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation.
Not sure about this one, but I'll give it a shot and see how it is. It does conflict with Fringe, so this would probably be the one I'd catch online.
Sunday, Sept. 28
9pm - Desperate Housewives (ABC)
The housewives of Wisteria Lane struggle through their stressful, scandalous, tragic, sensational, hectic, quirky lives with differing grace, clumsiness, tenacity, grief, joy, and humor.
Even if Nathan Fillion isn't on it anymore (I'm not sure actually if he will be returning for his guest role), I thought last season was pretty funny. I'll give this season a try (what else do I do on Sunday nights?), but with the season finale "five years later..." cliffhanger (kind of like the BSG season 2 finale, but not quite) it seems there have been some major changes on Wisteria Lane. Hopefully, they'll be good changes, or at least entertaining ones.
Monday, Sept. 29
8 pm - Chuck (NBC)
Having accidentally downloaded all of the FBI, NSA, and CIA's secrets into his brain before the computer containing these secrets crashed, Buy More sales employee Chuck is a valued government commodity who must help the agencies while maintaining the appearance of his normal life.
This will be my major time conflict as Adam Baldwin goes head-to-head with Summer Glau. With Chuck's first season cut short by the writer's strike and Sarah Connor Chronicles premiering mid-season, I didn't have this scheduling conflict last year. But I'm hooked on both. Which I watch on TV will depend on which I find to be more reliable online. But I love Chuck, and I'm interested to see where they'll take it this next season.
10pm - Life (NBC)
Released after serving years of a life sentence for a crime he didn't commit, LAPD detective Charlie Crews returns to the job with a new partner and a new view on life.
I did not watch Life last season, but my dad did and he seemed to really like it. I may give it a shot. Whether I stick with it will depend on how much I like the characters.
Wednesday, Oct. 1
8pm - Pushing Daisies (ABC)
With a single touch, Ned can bring the dead back to life, but there are two caveats: 1) a second touch will kill the revived--permanently and 2) if he does not re-kill the revived with a second touch within one minute of the revival, another roughly equivalent being (a flower for a strawberry, a squirrel for a dog, a human for a human) will die in its place. Emerson Cod, a PI with a penchant for knitting, teams with Ned to solve murder cases by heading down to the morgue, bringing the victim back for a 60-second interview and then returning him or her to death. Complications arise when Ned finds himself "interviewing" his recently murdered childhood sweetheart, whom he cannot bring himself to allow to die again.
My favorite new show last year, I'm definitely looking forward to the new season. I can't believe they've made us wait since last December for new episodes. Hopefully they'll be able to get right back into the groove and keep up the delightful tone, quirky plots, charming characters, and outrageous situations that made the first season so utterly delectable. And there should be more spontaneous singing. Get on that, Kristin.
9pm - Private Practice (ABC)
Having left Seattle Grace hospital (of Grey's Anatomy), Dr. Addison Montgomery practices her neonatal surgery at a small private practice in sunshiny L.A. amidst much drama.
Okay, give me a break. It was there. It was on after Pushing Daisies, and it's so cheery and goes down easy. I'm not a Grey's fan or anything, so I don't really know why I started watching this show. I just remember getting totally choked up and teary watching one of the early episodes where at the end the mothers have to switch the babies they've been raising as their own. *Sniffle.* Anyway, I somehow got hooked. Not really my normal fare, but neither is Desperate Housewives, and I am a girl, after all.
Monday, Oct. 13
10pm - My Own Worst Enemy (NBC)
Family man Henry Spivey is blissfully unaware of his super spy alter ego Edward Albright, thanks to a brain implant. But when the implant malfunctions, Henry starts cluing in on his dangerous double life.
I saw the promos during the Olympics but wasn't interested. But after reading an article about it in Entertainment Weekly, I'm at least willing to give it a go.
Tuesday, Oct. 14
10pm - Eli Stone (ABC)
Hotshot lawyer Eli Stone starts having vivid hallucinations, gets a brain scan and finds he has a basically inoperable brain aneurysm. But these hallucinations (which are usually in the form of a flashy song and dance number, sometimes starring George Michael) seem to be sending him messages, guiding him towards important cases and clients in need. While these visions wreak havoc on his personal and professional life, he's starting to think he may be doing significant good in the world.
Oh, Eli. I don't really watch many legal dramas, but this one's so adorable. And then there's the singing. I love musicals, so every time the characters burst into choreographed numbers in Eli's head, I fall in love with this show all over again.
Well, that's about it for this fall. I'll have to wait for mid-season for Lost, Dollhouse, Reaper, and Castle. But these should be enough to occupy me for the time being. Happy TV Fall!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
My Favorite Things
It may be our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities, but as far as this blog is concerned, my interests are what define me. So here are a few of my favorite things.
******
BOOKS
Lord of the Rings (ah, the classics)
Harry Potter (Rowling is amazing, pulling kids of all ages away from their TV and computer screens and making them actually read a book)
His Dark Materials (I wish The Golden Compass movie had done better, since I think the other two could make better movies... though notice that it was a huge hit on the international markets)
Wheel of Time (at least the early ones... what's going to happen now?)
Shannara ("Sword" is a total LotR ripoff, but a couple others had some more original story lines)
Redwall (my tweenage introduction to the world of fantasy... I owe it so much)
Watchmen (I don't have much experience with graphic novels but holy crap, this one's amazing)
TV
Firefly (tragically short)
Battlestar Galactica (the new series, naturally... nothing puts me on edge like a good BSG episode)
LOST (back on its game in Season 4)
Heroes (please make Season 3 good again)
Pushing Daisies (Kristin Chenowith bursts into song--what more do I need to fall in love with a show?)
Sarah Connor Chronicles (yay, Summer Glau!)
Chuck (yay, Adam Baldwin!)
I also started watching Desperate Housewives last season, which was kind of out of the blue (okay, it was because I saw Nathan Fillion)
MOVIES
This is actually kind of difficult. It's not like TV shows or book series where I choose a few stories to follow and devote significant time to them. I see so many movies (I have over 200 rated on my IMDb account, and these are just the ones that I took the time to grade), and because I spend so much of my free time doing things other than re-watching movies (see the final category), I love lots of movies that I don't necessarily own or view over and over again. Also, this category is definitely the least restricted by genre. Below are a few notable favorites, though the list is hardly exhaustive.
Lord of the Rings (all three without a doubt, my favorite movies of all time)
Star Wars (I'll even watch the new ones--I don't care if they're bad)
Serenity (naturally)
Pirates of the Caribbean (mainly the first one... it was such a surprise when it turned out to be good)
The Matrix (definitely just the first one)
Batman Begins (a revelation compared to the previous installments)
The Dark Knight (a dark masterpiece)
Iron Man (I knew Robert Downey Jr. was awesome ever since seeing...)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
X-Men (particularly the first two)
Garden State
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
COMPUTER GAMES
Baldur's Gate (especially Shadows of Amn, though as a complete saga it is unparalleled)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (I loved both 1 and 2, though the first holds a special place in my heart)
Neverwinter Nights (I played the original and its two expansions; all three were a bit disappointing in terms of story, but I liked them anyway)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (I really liked how Mask of the Betrayer worked out; the original campaign was pretty good)
Diablo II (though I was really just a sorceress enthusiast; I couldn't get into any of the others)
Morrowind (I enjoyed it, but I haven't exactly snatched up Oblivion)
Hellgate: London (I used to play with my brothers online, but now the servers have been shut down. Very sad.)
Mass Effect (awesome. just... awesome)
I mostly don't do console games these days (since I'm kind of lacking in the console department), though I did grow up with a Sega Genesis (I was a master at Streets of Rage 2). The following two games deserve a mention on the list, since I did spend a long time completing them:
Final Fantasy Tactics (on my little brother's PlayStation)
Pokémon (when I was your age, there were only 150 Pokémon... and I caught them all)
So for the most part, I do RPGs and action RPGs (and in middle school I did whatever Pokémon counts as). I've dabbled in RTS and TBS (emphasis on "dabbled"... but I did a few missions here and there in Warcraft 2 and 3 and Heroes of Might and Magic 3, for instance, back in the day), but I've never gotten into a good FPS. And I've definitely never done an MMORPG. That is intentional; I'd like to keep my soul for now, thank you very much. (Note: to anyone who doesn't know what these abbreviations mean, look them up--it's good for you. I was kind enough to write out full computer game titles, at least.)
******
While some may say that it is not who we are underneath but what we do that defines us, knowing which movies and books I like and which games I've played can give a person a good look inside my head. These favorites may not show who I am, but they show who I want to be. They show what my daydreams are, and what is more our own--more ourselves--than our dreams?
All right, I'm getting a little cheesy-philosophical (on a totally unrelated note, I tried to explain to a visiting Japanese woman yesterday what "cheesy" meant... it was very difficult, especially when I tried to compare it to "corny"--big mistake), and I now seem to be digressing extensively. It's time for bed. Eleni out.
******
BOOKS
Lord of the Rings (ah, the classics)
Harry Potter (Rowling is amazing, pulling kids of all ages away from their TV and computer screens and making them actually read a book)
His Dark Materials (I wish The Golden Compass movie had done better, since I think the other two could make better movies... though notice that it was a huge hit on the international markets)
Wheel of Time (at least the early ones... what's going to happen now?)
Shannara ("Sword" is a total LotR ripoff, but a couple others had some more original story lines)
Redwall (my tweenage introduction to the world of fantasy... I owe it so much)
Watchmen (I don't have much experience with graphic novels but holy crap, this one's amazing)
TV
Firefly (tragically short)
Battlestar Galactica (the new series, naturally... nothing puts me on edge like a good BSG episode)
LOST (back on its game in Season 4)
Heroes (please make Season 3 good again)
Pushing Daisies (Kristin Chenowith bursts into song--what more do I need to fall in love with a show?)
Sarah Connor Chronicles (yay, Summer Glau!)
Chuck (yay, Adam Baldwin!)
I also started watching Desperate Housewives last season, which was kind of out of the blue (okay, it was because I saw Nathan Fillion)
MOVIES
This is actually kind of difficult. It's not like TV shows or book series where I choose a few stories to follow and devote significant time to them. I see so many movies (I have over 200 rated on my IMDb account, and these are just the ones that I took the time to grade), and because I spend so much of my free time doing things other than re-watching movies (see the final category), I love lots of movies that I don't necessarily own or view over and over again. Also, this category is definitely the least restricted by genre. Below are a few notable favorites, though the list is hardly exhaustive.
Lord of the Rings (all three without a doubt, my favorite movies of all time)
Star Wars (I'll even watch the new ones--I don't care if they're bad)
Serenity (naturally)
Pirates of the Caribbean (mainly the first one... it was such a surprise when it turned out to be good)
The Matrix (definitely just the first one)
Batman Begins (a revelation compared to the previous installments)
The Dark Knight (a dark masterpiece)
Iron Man (I knew Robert Downey Jr. was awesome ever since seeing...)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
X-Men (particularly the first two)
Garden State
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
COMPUTER GAMES
Baldur's Gate (especially Shadows of Amn, though as a complete saga it is unparalleled)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (I loved both 1 and 2, though the first holds a special place in my heart)
Neverwinter Nights (I played the original and its two expansions; all three were a bit disappointing in terms of story, but I liked them anyway)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (I really liked how Mask of the Betrayer worked out; the original campaign was pretty good)
Diablo II (though I was really just a sorceress enthusiast; I couldn't get into any of the others)
Morrowind (I enjoyed it, but I haven't exactly snatched up Oblivion)
Hellgate: London (I used to play with my brothers online, but now the servers have been shut down. Very sad.)
Mass Effect (awesome. just... awesome)
I mostly don't do console games these days (since I'm kind of lacking in the console department), though I did grow up with a Sega Genesis (I was a master at Streets of Rage 2). The following two games deserve a mention on the list, since I did spend a long time completing them:
Final Fantasy Tactics (on my little brother's PlayStation)
Pokémon (when I was your age, there were only 150 Pokémon... and I caught them all)
So for the most part, I do RPGs and action RPGs (and in middle school I did whatever Pokémon counts as). I've dabbled in RTS and TBS (emphasis on "dabbled"... but I did a few missions here and there in Warcraft 2 and 3 and Heroes of Might and Magic 3, for instance, back in the day), but I've never gotten into a good FPS. And I've definitely never done an MMORPG. That is intentional; I'd like to keep my soul for now, thank you very much. (Note: to anyone who doesn't know what these abbreviations mean, look them up--it's good for you. I was kind enough to write out full computer game titles, at least.)
******
While some may say that it is not who we are underneath but what we do that defines us, knowing which movies and books I like and which games I've played can give a person a good look inside my head. These favorites may not show who I am, but they show who I want to be. They show what my daydreams are, and what is more our own--more ourselves--than our dreams?
All right, I'm getting a little cheesy-philosophical (on a totally unrelated note, I tried to explain to a visiting Japanese woman yesterday what "cheesy" meant... it was very difficult, especially when I tried to compare it to "corny"--big mistake), and I now seem to be digressing extensively. It's time for bed. Eleni out.
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