Should I even bother...
In just about a month, February 13th to be exact, Joss Whedon's new show "Dollhouse" makes its premier on the FOX Time Slot of Death - 8 p.m. Friday nights. What I have to decide at some point is: Should I bother?
There are lots of things that bother me about this show. The premise seems weak. There's been all kinds of trouble in the development stage and Joss has had to go back and redo so much of it because the FOX people didn't like what he'd done. I really don't like Eliza Dusku.
But, the biggest thing is that I don't want to get sucked into a show that turns out to be great only to see it cancelled after a handful of episodes. Whedon's been up that road before with Firefly and, at least to me, the similarities between the two can't be ignored. Whedon had to cave into FOX executives because they didn't like the Firefly pilot. He got little to no support from the network and was, once again, stuck in the infamous Friday night black hole. It just seems like they're setting him up again.
I don't want to start a passionate relationship with another of Whedon's shows only to have it run out on me and toss me a "pity movie" a couple of years later.
I don't have a problem with Whedon and his ideas. Honestly, I didn't think a series based on the crappy movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" would amount to anything or be even remotely interesting. I now have all seven season sitting on my DVD shelf. I never thought David Boringass, er Borenaz could pull off an "Angel" series. He did and it sits right beside Buffy on the shelf. I thought the idea for "Firefly" wasn't the greatest and only was able to see one episode when it originally aired. I'm now watching the series once again and lamenting about its premature end.
Joss has a history, at least with me, of putting ideas that sound kind of lame out there and then blowing me away with the results. I hope, if I take the chance and actually watch "Dollhouse," he'll do the same again.
But, here's the biggest thing. FOX has a terrible record of canceling shows I like. Sure, 24 has stuck around for a good run and I'm looking forward to more gut-wrenching action this spring. But for that one show, there is a list of others they put the hatchet to which deserved a rich, full life. Here are a few:
Millennium - Remember this one? Lance Henricksen as a former FBI agent who tracked down serial killers and worked for the mysterious Millennium group? After the success of that series that never existed - The X-Files - FOX gave him another show and this was it. It was great, for two seasons. Then it got cancelled after the second season so they ended the world. Then it got uncancelled and they had to unend the world and they limped along for a third season.
Space: Above and Beyond - Starship Troopers as a weekly, big budget sci-fi series. Brought to us by two of the big names behind that show I mentioned earlier that doesn't exist. Maybe a bit cliched, especially in the beginning, but it grew into its own on. Then, after a season that just got better and better, it got zapped and ended with a maybe it's over, maybe it's not final episode.
Futurama - The show from Matt Groenig much more than The Simpson (love The Simpsons, though). They made four seasons. Fox stretched it into five. Revived thanks to Adult Swim and Comedy Central. But as all things revived, well, the sparkle just isn't there, though each movie has progressively gotten better.
Family Guy - Okay. Cancelled, revived and funnier than ever. But still cancelled. And in the first episode after it comes back there's a great opening where Peter lists off all the shows FOX has cancelled between the end of Family Guy's first run and its return. Freakin' hilarious.
The Tick - Just watched this again for the umpteenth time. I still laugh my ass off.
The Critic - Okay. Cancelled on both ABC and FOX, but FOX was the last one to cancel it.
As much as I hope against hope, I just have a bad feeling the "Dollhouse" is going to be added to this list of shows that I really got into and then had jerked away from me. It's not just FOX. In recent years other networks have teased me with shows like "Threshold" and "Surface" which lasted as much as half a season before they were taken away. They weren't great, but they were good. And they are the reason I've refused to watch any new sci-fi series on network television for the past several years. I've even skipped "Fringe" which I have heard is pretty good, but very iffy as to how much longer it's going to last.
So, Joss, let me apologize in advance. I may watch your new series. I may not. I may wait and pick up the entire 13 episode run in coming years and lament about its demise much in the same way I do "Firefly." I am going to hope for success for you, but, I mean, dude.... It's FOX.
Too many blogs, too much, er, I mean little time
I've got too many blogs floating around.
Some are unused, such as Live Journal, which I joined just basically so I could access some other people's blogs. Or Yahoo360 which... I can't really remember why I set that up....
Some, such as this one, were originally ended on purpose. I quit blogging on this particular blog in June 2004 after I ended my newspaper career. The Idle Ramblings name was one I'd used as a column title for most of my time in the newspaper business, so I felt it was time to do the same for the blog. I quickly started a new blog, which was basically the same thing, only under the title Taking A Nap.
Now, I have incorporated them into one blog, the original Idle Ramblings, which I'm starting up again.
In the meantime, there was MySpace, which offered a handy blogging feature which I have been using since summer 2006. At some point later, I moved into Facebook, where I was basically duplicating my posts on MySpace.
For some reason, today, I have decided that I'd really like all of my on-line efforts in one place, combined, and available for the world to ignore as a whole, rather than just having the world ignore little chunks of them all across the Internets. Unfortunately, I'm finding that's a lot easier said than done and, mayhap, be impossibly done.
I'm finding blogs don't like to talk to each other and, with the exception of merging one Blogger blog to another Blogger blog, it ain't easy to automatically merge them. Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I'm not blog savvy enough to know what I'm doing. I don't know.
So, regardless of all that, I have figured out how to at least feed this blog into my Facebook account and, for now, that's good enough. Maybe there's some voodoo which will get it into MySpace too so I don't have to continually copy stuff all over the place.
We'll see.
This is a test..... Is this thing on....?
As I'm prone to do, from time to time, I'm blowing the dust off my old blogs and seeing what's what. I'm currently trying to see if I can tie all of the various old blogs, scattered over cyberspace, together. So far, the Blogger blogs, Idle Ramblings and Taking A Nap, have been easy. Now I just want to see how well I can integrate them into Facebook and to also see if I can get the Facebook and MySpace blogs tied in as well.
We'll see.
This post is mainly a test to see how well Facebook picks up on new posts.
Damn modern technology....
How Ms. Pac-Man took my manhood
In my quest to bring those things that come with being in a relationship - romance, friendship, companionship and, yes, sex - back into my life, I can't say that I've been completely successful. Of course, I can't say I've really had my heart completely in it, but, that's for a different blog entry.
Since I don't have the romance, companionship, friendship and, especially the sex, at this time, I decided I needed to do something that would make me feel better about myself as a man. Some way I could prove my prowess. Something that would let me prove to myself that I was still viable and desirable as a male of the species. I needed to be something I was good at to boost my ego. I already have a new guitar and bass, so that was out. I've got a new computer, so there's another no. I'm not into cars, so no flashy new sports car. So, I decided there was only one thing left.
Video games.
You know those video game systems you can find nowadays? The ones that have half a dozen or so classic video games programed into the joystick controller? I decided to get one of those. And not just any one, the Ms. Pac-Man set since it had my two favorite games Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga. What better way to boost my ego and prove to myself that I was still a virile young man (I've decided to move middle age off to 50 since I'm about to turn 40). So, I grabbed my joystick, er, the joystick and began playing.
I spent many hours and many quarters in my youth perfecting my Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga games. I had the highest scores on the machines down at the Quick Stop plenty of times, so I was looking forward to getting my MoJo back.
So, I select Ms Pac-Man. It takes a while to get back into the swing of things, after all, it's been a while - a long, lonely, dry spell. But, I figure once I get started, it will all come back to me and I'll get into the rhythm of things. But, unfortunately, maybe a minute or so later, it was over and I was just sitting there holding my joystick, er, sorry again, I meant THE joystick. I was embarrassed. This had never happened to me before. I mean, it was over too quick. I guess it had just been so long....
Well, I figured the next time it would be better. So, once I was up to it again, I go back to her and try again. I'm eager now, and want to prove that the previous time was a one-time thing, but, it happens again and it's over before I know it.
At this point, I'm not feeling so good. I feel like she's just sitting there, laughing at me. I used to be able to make it last for so much longer. Hours, just going on and on with the excitement and the thrill of feeling like I was accomplishing something. But, I was beginning to feel like I'd lost the touch. And, now, every time I saw her, I just got nervous, feeling like I needed to try to do better. But, in the end, it's been over quick and very unsatisfying.
So, have your fun Ms. Pac-Man. Just keep laughing at me. I'll be back with a vengeance one day soon and we'll go all night long. Just get rested up.
Meanwhile, I've switched to Galaga. At least with it, I get to blow crap up.
Um..... Did they Listen to the whole song before using it?
Like every generation, I get a little miffed when I hear the important anthems of my youth used to sell things. Sure, it's an ago-old practice to use songs people know and instantly recognize as background music while companies hawk cars, burgers, computers, and whathaveyou, but sometimes, you really have to wonder if the advertising people who came up with the idea really got the meaning or the lyrics of the tune, or, if they even really listened to it.
It pissed me off when The Beatles "Revolution" was used to sell tennis shoes, but, even though I loved the tune, it wasn't one from MY generation. It was already around in my formative years and wasn't part of the soundtrack for my angst-ridden youth. So, I was pissed, but I didn't fully get it. Then, recently, Burger King decided to use Modern English's "I Melt With You" in their commercials. To me, one of the greatest songs from the decade. Something memorable. Something wonderful. Hearing it playing while burgers zip across the screen took something away from it.
But now, tonight as a matter of fact, I was kind of taken aback when I saw a new commercial for Wendy's and I realized what the song was they were using. I must say, when I think of hamburgers, "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes isn't really the first tune that comes to mind. Of course, they didn't actually use any of the lyrics, just the very recognizable guitar licks.
Would these lyrics make you think "gee, I'd really like a hamburger"?
When Im out walking I strut my stuff yeah Im so strung out
Im high as a kite I just might stop to check you out
Let me go on like I blister in the sun
Let me go on big hands I know your the one
Body and beats I stain my sheets I don't even know why
My girlfriend she's at the end she is starting to cry
Let me go on like I blister in the sun
Let me go on big hands I know your the one...
It's not that I'm completely against using these songs for commercials....well, actually I kind of am, but on the flip side, I'm glad some of these artists are once again making money off these songs. But, come on people, just because a song was popular to a generation, would it really be appropriate to use in a commercial.
Of course, the opening few bars of Prince's "Darling Nikki," before the vocals come in, would be perfect for a product advertised with a wink and a nod for "feminine personal dryness," or for a new fabric softener. Who do I talk to about getting that into a commercial.....
Un-Christmasing
I'm one of those people who, once Christmas is over, I like to have all reminders of the holiday down and put away as soon as possible. The "holiday cheer" has never really lasted too much beyond 3 or 4 p.m. on Christmas afternoon and is definitely gone by the time you have to go back to work.
The thing is, when you put up the decorations, there is all kind of festive holiday music to listen to. There are the traditional Christmas shows on TV you can have going on in the background (at least most years, refer to my earlier blog entry on that subject.) There's milk and cookies and the warmth of the roaring fire coming from the natural gas heater you have because it's much more energy efficient than the fireplace.
But what about when you take down the decorations. There should be something special for that too. After all, it's much more of a pain in the ass to take them down than to put them up. If for no other reason than everyone enjoys putting them up, but no one enjoys taking them down.
Maybe someone needs t come up with an album of post-Christmas music, designed especially for the days after that will help make the un-Christmasing time go much better. While I do love writing songs and making music, I fear I am not really up to the task due to my extreme laziness. But, I do have some suggestions for song ideas.
"Christmas time is over and all I have to say/is let's go out to Wal-Mart and spend out gift cards today"
or, "As this day comes to an end/I kneel down, my knees I bend/and I give thanks through this song/that the relatives are finally gone."
and of course "Take down the Christmas lights/before the neighbors laugh at us/take down the Christmas tree/I really don't want to have to fuss...."
And, yeah, I still have some of my decorations up, but they are slowly making their way into the closet and my tree will soon be planted in the back yard. But, like I said before, I'm lazy, so it may take me a while.
Can You Get Any More Stupid?
Being nearly 40-year old and having no children, I'm not necessarily up to date on all the latest stupid things "these kids today" are doing. Usually, I find out about them once kids start dying, being maimed, abducted, or chemically lobotomized and it starts making the news. Thus is the case of something called "Ghost Riding."
This one has got to be a contender for the Darwin Awards, because, honestly, anyone who would do this, doesn't need or deserve to have their genetic material passed on to the next generation. Basically, Ghost Riding, or, Ghost Riding the Whip as I believe it is properly called, is a dance style similar to break dancing. So far, not a problem. Break dancing is actually kind of cool. I've seen both "Breakin'' and "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo." Where the utter stupidity comes in is that this style of dancing is done on top of a moving vehicle.
It's apparently a West Coast hip hop trend (okay, I'm not down with all the latest terminology. I think hip hop is probably one of those outdated or, in this case, inaccurate terms, but I'm doing the best I can with the knowledge that a 39-year-old, white, male librarian in a small Southern town has about these things) and thanks to You Tube it has begun to spread around the country. There has apparently been plenty of broken bones and head trauma to go along with the fad and at least one death when someone whanged their head on a parked car as they were attempting a dance move while going down the street.
Now, I and my generation did plenty of stupid things when we were growing up. Some of them even dangerous. But the difference is, we knew that if we were injured while doing those stupid things, if we didn't have head trauma after the accident, we'd certainly have it once our parents got a hold of us. And, I'm pretty sure that even if we'd had the ability to video that kind of things, we'd have been smart enough not to. We knew better than to have evidence of our stupidity around, not to mention being smart enough to know better than to put that evidence on display for all the world to see.
And, yeah, I know every teenager things they are invincible and will never die or be seriously injured. Been there. But, come on. You've got to wonder if there's something else at work here. My theory is that these are some of the first kids of the "Barney" generation and that watching Barney somehow lead to some type of undiagnosed brain damage. It didn't turn them gay (that's the Telletubbies), and didn't have the positive effects that Sesame Street had on my generation. After all, who of us who grew up an Sesame Street can't count to 10 in Spanish. It could be that all those years of Barney gave an entire generation some type of subconscious death wish. "I love you. You love me" going through the deep, dark recesses of the young mind for a decade or so just makes them want to die.
Whatever is the brilliant idea behind this new trend, it still just floors me. But, then again, it just shows how easy it is now for something to spread like wildfire thanks to places like You Tube and MySpace. Maybe I should take a page out of L. Ron Hubbard's book and use this new technology to start my own religion. I've been outlining it for years, ever since college, kind of as a "get rich quick" scheme. Of course, I ought to just write a "How to" book about starting your own religion and sell it on late-night TV infomercials and get rich that way. It's slightly more ethical.
Or, maybe, I'll just break out the video camera, get a bunch of cool looking young people and start my own trend by posting it on You Tube. It would need to be something young, bored, middle class white males could do that was dangerous and would probably get them seriously maimed or killed and would piss off their parents and it has to be set to music. I'm thinking either head butting oncoming trains or joining the military.
Look for it on You Tube soon.
Netflix Frustration
I saw this article about fruntration among Netflix subscribers about the company's "throttling" service which was recenlty revealed. "Throttling" gives customers a lower priority on shipping out movies and on getting new movies, thus reducing the costs to the company. Many are crying foul, even though they still say they are getting a good deal from the service.
Up until last month, I was a Netflix subscriber, and for much of that time, I was fairly satisfied, especially in the beginning. I signed up about a year ago for the basic three-at-a-time service. They delivered as promised, and, I saw a lot of movies I wouldn't have normally seen because there was such a great variety. Rebecca and I are "fast watchers." When we get a movie, wether bought, rented or Netflixed, we usually sit down and watch it almost immediately. With the Netflix fare, we usually watched all three movies in the same day, especially on the weekends. So generally, we'd get them in the mail that morning, watch them that afternoon and evening, and send them back the next morning. And since Memphis is one of the distribution centers, we got them fairly quickly. Then, back in the fall, that began to change.
The first problem was we began receiving DVDs that were broken or scratched up so bad they didn't work. So basically what that meant is it took twice as long to get a watchable movie. In at least one case, it took three times to get the DVD because once the broken one was sent back, they sent a disc that was in the wrong envelope and that had to be straightened out.
Then, the shipments started slowing down. DVDs that were mailed on Monday weren't showing up as returned until Thursday or Friday and the next DVDs weren't shipped out until the following Monday - basically three a week. Still, a decent deal at less than $2 per DVD rented and the convenience of not having to go to the video store. Frustrating, but more or less acceptable.
Then came the month were we only receive, maybe four or five DVDs. We still watched them as soon as we got them and mailed them right back, but the next movies took a long time in coming. In one case, it was a week after the DVD was mailed that they acknowledged receiving it. It was another couple of days before they alerted me they had sent the next DVD and it was EIGHT DAYS before I received the DVD. So basically, it took more than two weeks to get my next movie. This kind of thing went on for a couple of months.
Then I heard about the lawsuit. I thought, great, maybe things will get better, and they did, slightly. Or at least they had gotten to the 9 to 12 movies a month level, not the 15 to 18 movies a month level it had been before. At this point I was frustrated - again, still not a bad deal, but not the one I signed up for - so I decided to keep going. Then, I heard about the "throttling" thing a few weeks ago and that was the last straw and I cancelled my membership.
Now, I'm not saying Netflix is a bad deal. And I'm not saying that at some point, I won't resubscribe, but for many people, it's not the deal they signed up for. Even with the changes they have made in their disclosure policies, I still think it's misleading at best. I think they promote the "perfect world" scenario and don't adequately let you know that heavy users will be shuffled to the bottom of the deck.
Netflix is a successful company, and will continue to be successful, at least in the near future because it offers a great convenience and a good selection of stuff that will never be in my local video store (the complete Space: 1999 series for one). But, I think they need to be more up front about their delivery policies, they need to play down or remove the "unlimited rentals" claim, and I think they need to offer the heavy users an option of upgrading their accounts, at a higher fee, which keeps them from being shuffled to the bottom of the deck.
There. That's my rant for the day.
Maybe We'll Finally Get Some Candy
At long last, the long awaited Strangers With Candy movie may actually be making its way to the big screen. Maybe. June or July. Maybe..... It seems that everytime a release is announced, it gets scrubbed. The movie has been floating around for about a year I think. If you haven't seen the series, watch for re-runs on Commedy Central. It's bizarre. Very funny. Made more so by Amy Sedaris (sister of David Sedaris) and Stephen Colbert, who has really come into his own with The Colbert Report on CC. Hell, if nothing else, it should at least be brought to CC's Late Night Stash.
What Was I Thinking?
I have recenlty been watching several DVDs of fairly recent movies and I noticed my opinion of these films changed from the time I went to see the movie to the time I watched the DVD. Four movies, in particular, stood out. Two I liked better on DVD, two I didn't like as much. Granted, I like all these movies. This is like the 180 I did with Independece Day where I really didn't like it when I saw it at the theater, but then liked it much better when I got the DVD.
Better
Serenity - This was actually one of my favorite movies from last year. I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon and started watching the series Firefly in the fall when it was brought to the Sc-Fi Channel. It was cool on the big screen. The story was good. If the series is truly over, it's a fitting ending. But I just watched it on DVD and it just seemed "better." Maybe it just seems more at home on the small screen.
The Fantastic Four - Sentimentality and good casting made this movie alright when I saw it this summer. A typical superhero origin story, it really didn't stretch the boundaries of the genre or of special effects. But it was the FF, which was always one of my favorite comics, and it didn't suck. After rewatching it, I found I liked it a little more. Maybe, since I already knew it was a decent product, I was more forgiving, but it did seem more enjoyable. And I see the cast has re-upped for a sequel, scheduled for 2007. I hope they go into the negative zone.
Worse
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - This one had everything going for it - Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, an favorite movie and story - but was a bit of a let down when I saw it on the big screen. The added story with Willy Wonka's story didn't work for mee (though the disappointment was softened by the fact his father was played by Christopher Lee), and the whole thing was kind of flat. Still, it was okay. Watching it again, however, sharpened those disappointments and highlighted minor ones, such as the somewhat lame nature of the Oompa Loompa songs (again, Danny Elfman, usually awesome. That's two movies he did last year where I was sorely disappoint in the music.). I though Deep Roy actually was one of the best parts of the movie. I'll stick with Gene Wilder.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Easy to understand. I was so relieved when I went to see this at the theater that it wasn't as terrible as I had heard. Again, not a bad movie, but watching it again heightened the disappoinments. The casting for the most part was good, but the additional material, even if it was originally written by Douglas Adams, just didn't work. Plus the whole Arthur ends up with Trillian thing was just counter to, well, who Arthur is throughout the series. Though it's cheezy, I'll stick to the BBC version.
New Music Monday
For anyone who may be interested, I have some new tunage posted at MacJams. Working Class Day is my latest. It is a lament about the state of the working person today.
Also, Politics, Religion and Football has been up a couple of weeks. It's an examination of the taboos surrounding discussion of those subjects. More notably, it's my most extensive attempt todate, to rip off the sound of Adam and the Ants.
TV or Not TV
As the television season begins to head into the home stretch, I find myself ambivalent about the renewal or non renewal of shows that, only a few months ago, I was crazy about. Most are new shows from this season, some are more veteran shows. Here we go:
New
Commander In Chief - Great premise. Started off with a bang. Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland - two great actors in their own rights - carry the show with ease and have a great chemistry together. The first half of the season was great. President Mackenzie not only had to deal with moving from vice president into the top job, but with the politics behind the scenes and the day to day job. I don't know exactly when Steven Bochco was brought into the production, but it was probably about the time all the episodes started being the same - some major crisis arises and President Mac uses her own brand of intellectual insightfulness to avoid disaster for both her politically and for the country. It's still doing okay int he ratings and Davis recently won one of the Much Ado About Nothing awards, so I think it stands a good chance of getting renewed, though, at this point, I'm not too concerned if it does or not. It will be on the schedule during the February sweeps, even though the number of episodes ordered for the season was cut from 22 to 18.
Surface - Of the four sci-fi/supernatural shows that debuted this season, this one was the best. Invasion was boring from the get-go, though the critics picked it as the best (and it did guest star Cirroc Lofton in one episode I watched), it just plodded along - and is still plodding along. Threshold started off with a great pilot and a couple of interesting episodes that followed, but quickly crashed and burned by Thanksgiving. Supernatural was just dumb. Surface was actually the one I thought would be the least interesting, but, through some fluke of nature, it was actually pretty good. I think part of that, at least for Rebecca and I, is a healthy leviathan fear. But, it also turned out that there was some decent plot and decent, if somewhat predictable at times writing. I will say that Lake Bell and Jay R. Ferguson will never win any acting awards. Ferguson is a tubby David Borenaz, without the talent, and Bell, well, it's a good thing she's pretty. But they fill the role they need to fill which is simply advancing the plot, which is actually the star of the show. The CGI monster are really good and the story line about the kid turning into the lizard king really helps out the show. The finale shows Monday, ending a 15 episode run. No decision has been made about its renewal and I don't know how well its done audience-wise, but I know the reruns have a pretty good spot on the Sci-Fi Channel, so there may be hope. I'm a little more interested in whether this one gets renewed or not, but I won't be devistated if it's not. I can't see it having more than a half, or one good season left in the premis without getting weird (in a bad way) or repetitive.
One show I am surprised that I want to see renewed is The Office. I'm a huge fan of the Ricky Gervais BBC series, and when I saw that NBC was going to produce an American version, I though about recent similar efforts such as "Coupling" and the John Laraquette vehicle based on Fawlty Towers. Surprisingly, however, The Office seems to have found it's own way. Same basic characters, same basic premise, but, in large part due to Steve Carell, who took Gervais' character and made it his own, it has succeeded. It's like the movie Office space on setroids. I think between decent ratings and decent success from iTunes downloads, this one will stick around.
Veteran shows
Lost - As much as I hate to say it, the show is beginning to become Lost to me. This season has been slow and fairly pointless so far. I don't care about any of the new characters from the tail section of the plane. The only thing that has really stuck with me this season is the reunion of the husband from the tail section and the wife who was with the main group - a very, very minor plot for the series. It's bogged down and I don't know if it will recover my interest. I know it will be renewed and I'll watch it throughout the reast of the season, but, it may not stay on the Tivo list next year.
24 - Next to The Shield, this is my favorite non-science fiction show on today. In the beginning, the premis was unique, and still is. The writing is good. Keiffer Sutherland is excellent in the role of Jack Bauer, who, for several years in a row, has had one 24-hour period that has just really sucked. This season started off with a bang and has just been rolling ever since. I'm disappointed, however, that several of my favorites from previous seasons were killed off in the opening few minutes of this season - especially Dennis Haysbert who portraid President Palmer in all the previous season. I don't want this series to be cancelled, but I wonder just how far the rollercoaster ride can go and still be fun. This is the fifth season. I would hate to see it start limping as series usually do in their final two seasons.
Shows I'm still enthusiastic about
The Shield
Boston Legal
Battlestar Galactica
Stargate SG1
Stargate Atlantis
We'll see what comes down the pike.
Manson in Wonderland
It might not seem like it at first, but if you think about it who better to writ, direct and star in a movie about "Alice in Wonderlan" creator Lewis Carroll than Marilyn Manson. It should definitely bring out Carroll's darker side, which, I think, we really don't see enough of.
What's Old is New Again
WARNING: Beyond here, thar be spoilers!!!!
I love the new Battlestar Galactica. It's not only one of the best sci-fi series ever, it's also one of the best dramas on TV today. But while I love all the new ground they are breaking with the series, I also love the nods they are making to the 1978-1980 series.
One case in point is the obvious recent reappearance of the Pegasus. Nice twist with Michelle Forbes as Admiral Kane - a cross between Captain Ahab, Captain Blye, Captain Crook and possibly Captain Crunch - I'm just not sure. It took an old idea from the series and molded to the new series quite well.
Another recent idea, which seemed to be taken right from the scripts of the original series was another recent episode. The one where Apollo is with the prostitute he's been seeing and the black marketeers break in beat him up, kidnap the woman and her daughter, threaten to kill the prostitute and they sell the daughter into a child sex slave ring. Apollo hunts down the head of the black market and then shoots him in the head. I mean, you don't get any more of a classic BSG plot line than that. I still remember Richard Hatch's riveting performance in the 1979 version of that episode. Good stuff!
