Arrow - The Episode where Slade kills Moira

Sorry if you googled this and I spoiled it for you, but the episode is 3 days old, and I have some questions about this whole plot stream. While the flashbacks throughout this series have allowed for what seems to be displayed insight so far, this latest episode seemed thrown together, and I sniffed some continuity issues.

Now, I'm really not one of those fans that pays close attention to each detail and harps over it, I don't have time for that, and can suspend disbelief pretty well. I have written about this before though. Sometimes, the writers will completely disregard any precedents set. I'm wondering if Arrow didn't get close to that this last week.

It was a good episode all around, with Roy going ballistic because of the mirakuru, and Slade now making his next move to continue destroying Oliver. Within the episode, Oliver's mom begins making 180 degree turns, she wants to drop out of the mayoral race to try and bring back Thea, then doesn't after Oliver talks to her and explains that maybe if she showed that she was ready to do good, Thea would come back. They also show flashbacks about Oliver getting some anonymous girl pregnant, and how Moira gave her $2 million to go away and tell Oliver that she lost the baby. (Yes, watch out for 7 year old baby Oliver to appear soon).

She also tells Oliver that she knows his secret, never really laid out, but truly implying that she knew he was the Arrow. He asked her when she knew, and she said something like, "For some time now, I think I knew.."

But hey, did she know when Diggle kidnapped her as the Arrow and threatened to kill Oliver if she didn't reveal her plans with Malcom? That wasn't too long ago, and that was a big plot swing.

This is the continuity of which I speak. It could have all been wrapped up with a line, " I was even willing to play along with your charade with diggle..", but of course there was no time for that, because by the end of the show, she gets skewered by Slade.

I can let it all go, it's fine. Her character had sort of run her course, but it wreaks of desperate on-the-ratings-bubble plot twists. In one episode, a main character flips, dies, and a phantom child is revealed. AS far as I know, this is a safely renewed, and supported, show.

Battlestar Galactica Cannot End Like This

Image via WikipediaIf you haven't seen the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica, and care, don't read this.

Otherwise, can you believe what they've gone and done?
Found earth? It's a husk, I'm guessing those remnants of buildings in the frozen foggy distance are New York and Manhattan. For a second, I thought that was the end, but then, thankfully, previews of a next episode.

The fact that the next episode does not air until next year, and that they called this latest episode a "mid-season" finale, does not in any way detract from how good it was. From the other column link, ti seems like everyone that follows this show is sued to the long layoffs between episodes, and the dysfunctional way of airing them that SciFi has.

This show, which I two years ago decided to catch up on with DVD's and start following week to week, continues to be riveting. I was prepared to be strung out for the entire season, as one by one, the final five were revealed, and then maybe, as the show ends, they set foot on earth, epic music plays to the cast stargazing to where they'd been from where they were always searching for.

But, NOPE. And I have no clue who the final Cylon is. I'm very impressed with this series and glad that I got on board to watch it crash land into it's final episodes, even if it will take them two or three years. Whatever happens, it won't be predictable.

This cast and writer's have earned the right to go out in style, but if there is not another season of this show, I can't see how they can end it anytime soon, in episode time, not actual time, which has already been extended. At least a spin-off is in order, or maybe a full-feature movie.

It's Summer, Time for Trash TV

Image via WikipediaWe already sat through the bad television of the writer's strike, but that doesn't mean that the summer course of garbage still won't be served. Looking to put up long hours of cheap programming for the dwindling summer eyeballs, the usual course of game shows and second tier reality shows.

Yes, I said Second Tier reality shows, coined that just now, all by myself, or from somewhere in my reading that I am unable to conjure. Until I hear different, that's my term. "America's Got Talent" defines second tier reality shows. This truly is the revived Gong Show. So bad, the girlfriend could watch it topless and I'm not going to be there.

Nearly as bad, Last Comic Standing, an at least decent premise as reality shows go, but so poorly handled that it's near unwatchable. They spend more time doing the obligational waiting line shots, something called the comedy booth, and backstage shots than they do with the stand up. And, they cut far too deep too fast, using celebrity judges that usually get it wrong.

In the same category as "America's Got Talent", "So You Think You Can Dance," is so bad I have to leave the immediate area if it is on. For some reason, the g/f can't get enough of the three judge, people backstabbing, formula. I get used up with it pretty quick.

I'm just happy that I have Rescue Me, a few more episodes of Battlestar Galactica, and Cubs Games to watch.

Book Review: XML Weekend Crash Course

I have spent a lot of money on Programming books, even since graduating from school. They are one of my favorite hobbies. Very often, for various reasons I don't finish or get a lot out of them, BUT I've never had an experience that made me want to write a negative review of one, until now. I am so disgusted with this book that I decided to at least get the word out.

XML Weekend Crash Course is a book that will surely make anyone that makes the mistake of buying it, as I have, crazy. I picked it up because a long time ago I got a Java Weekend Crash Course book that wasn't too bad. After I finished it I knew enough Java to be dangerous, well, almost enough. Unfortunately, the age of this book and bad or lazy planning by the authors makes it more than obsolete, it is a waste of time.

I realize that this book was published in 2001, I know they could not foresee everything about this programming language, but you do not set up more than half your book based on one piece of software. Of course there are other ways to go further with XML without the Instant Saxon software they tout and insist you must use. It is included on the disk, but doesn't work and is not supported(the web site they send you to is vague and the downloads you may use there are confusing and not helpful). Now I will be looking elsewhere for that information when I bought this book for that reason, and all of the fragments of code they have had me updating, waste. The SUPPORT Web Site is non-existent, and the disk harder to access than a 1999 magazine demo disk.

It starts out pretty good, but then they begin doing more complicated code that apparently needs to use an application called Instant Saxon, for reasons which I now do not know. Of course, I might have known if only they had stayed with the 'program'. As somewhat of an experienced reader of these types of books, I realize that this type of work is quickly being replaced by well-thought out, creative franchises like Head First and Pragmatic Books, but this one kind of stung.

I mean, it's like they set me up. 233 pages in and they drop the ball like that. In even a couple more days retrospect since my initial writing of this, I have decided that I was most angry because it was moving so good a the time, not at all like a poorly, lazily written work, then WHAM. It's like getting kicked out of the car at midnight, when you've already gotten to third base.

Biggest Loser, the Drinking Game

I watch the Biggest Loser, yayaya, get over it I know I'm lame and so are the other thirty million people watching it to justify the two hour episodes and lengthened season. It's fun sometimes, it's light watching, and every once in a while, it gets me to work out.

But I found another reason to watch the damn show, it makes for an excellent drinking game. In the tradition of "Hi Bob," from the Bob Newhart show, and *S*M*A*S*H* , both fine drinking games with full rules at the links, and joined by so many more you won't believe it at The Webtender , which I found with a simple google search and appreciate and have bookmarked myself. We always did want to know the rules to "Asshole" and "President".

Still, watching the Biggest Loser this season, okay, Biggest Loser "Couples", I have noticed far more than the allowed amount of man-crying. These guys start tearing up every time they talk. It's annoying, but it's funny, and it's a drink if you're watching with beer and playing the brand new Biggest Loser Drinking Game.

Maybe making drinking games out of television shows is also lame, but that is what I thought of as I watched this show tonight, fortunately on DVR to push past all of the fluff, and in this show, there is a lot. Past seasons, I have always gotten disgusted with the competitors, because they can be the very most vile of all the reality show competitors. This season, at least the "Couples" portion, they have been much more likable, probably at least partially thru editing, but more likable. There is still the required amount of whining and sniping, but it's toned down.

What there is is an uncomfortable amount of man-crying, so, drink again and laugh at them, because they aren't going to stop any time soon.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Yawnfest

After gushing over "Breaking Bad," I think it's time to weigh in on another show, but instead of being tucked away on a low exposure cable channel and receiving no real publicity, this show received the hype befitting one of Fox's can't miss supershows.

It mostly missed.
Not a Bionic Woman miss, but it started off bad enough, at a time when it had no viable competition and American Gladiators was ruling the world, that they are still waiting to hear if they are going to get renewed for next season.

Terminator's entire season consisted of only 9 shows, but they weren't utilized the wasy that "Breaking Bad" utilized their own. (And with this, I have made my last "Breaking Nad reference). Still, I thought that towards the end of the season, this show was starting to take form, and that it had gotten over the hump that most new shows, especially sci-fi based ones, need to get past to be able to continue. There just seems to be a point where the characters and storyline either demonstrate that there is enough to keep going, or not.

I can think of one good example, from years ago, "Nowhere Man," a show that I surely would have blogged about wholeheartedly if I was any more connected then than my AOL dial in and didn't spend all my time writing on Amazing Instant Stories. That show came out of the box much better than Terminator, but the writer's hit a wall, and about seven episodes in you knew it wasn't going to last. Then it was gone.

Terminator's run this year has been a little different, it didn't start off that well, despite the hype, the first few episodes were too predictaqble, and similar, as if they thought that they could get by trotting out the same parade of special effects every week and people would keep coming back.

Slowly, and in full stride by the season finale, they began to build back story, and develop some character, if only microscopically compared to ..,. well, you know. The teenage girl robot, Cameron, that was sent back to protect John Connor, is interesting if predictable, and provides most of the good possibilities for storylines coming up. They teased about her turning on everyone in then finale, but it didn't happen. If there is a next season I am sure that she will figure in prominently.

I have to admit, I slept through half the first few episodes, but really didn't miss anything, it was only the last two or three that started to get interesting enough to pay attention. Sorry Fox, thats just the truth. It was partially the addition of Brian Austin Green as another freedom fighter from the future joining the family, and partially character change and development, that brought me into the fold, if reluctantly. Along with others, according to the ratings

This show might simply have debuted under too harsh a spotlight. Battlestar Galactica took some time to find itself and it's audience, and maybe this show will too, next year.

Breaking Bad - Easily the Best of 2008

This has been a weird season of television, yes, mostly thanks to the writer's strike and the lack of selection of quality new programming, or just entertaining new programming. Still, I don't know the whole deal but this season seemed to break good for "Breaking Bad," though I have to believe that the writer's strike is responsible for the short, seven episode season.

Seven excellent episodes.
This picture, of the two partners in the last episode of the season, could easily be them surveying the distant competition in the television world.

It seems like I just discovered this series, and actually, it was not that long ago that I dove into it on my DVR hard rive and since then it has been a fast, fun, drive. Bryan Cranston has gone from a familiar curiosity to an actor that keeps me riveted for his performances as Walt Myers. His co-star, Aaron Paul, playing Jesse Pinkman, Walt's former student and new business partner
is keeping up, as are the rest of them, both with their performances and the writer's handling of them.

This is when television is good, every episode of this series has aimed high and hit the mark, and each character has evolved a little bit, in what is relatively a short period of time for a television. Yes, character development in a televison series that is not on HBO. They have dragged Dexter off of Showtime because of the dearth of programming, maybe this show should be next. This show outshines Dexter in it's uncensored Showtime version, I won't even watch the network television replay.

The show is entirely recapped on AMC's website, they have taken down the two first episodes, but are planning to replay the entire series almost immediately. I'm under the impression that it has caught fire, that maybe I'm not the only one to recognize how good it is.

Five Reasons to watch Dirt

Most of what I've read about Dirt has been bad, condemning it as a shallow, glitzy, grungy example of what it is ultimately trying to parody, and that is not all wrong. They aren't reinventing the prime-time drama here, or even the FX brand type, but it is worth at least a little storage space on your DVR hard drive.

1. First, and most, Don Konkey(Ian Hart), Lucy Spiller's(Courtney Cox) schizophrenic photographer. At first, I didn't want to buy into this whole plot device, but the performance sells it. He's so pathetic, and yet ruthless and funny, and dances around one hamburger of a line after another, getting the best of them. I'd like to hold this one out as the last nail in the coffin, but he is just too good. The guy's filmography reads like that of two or three different people, Dr. Watson, Lord Voltemort, John Lennon?
   
2. Girls, do you ever tire of watching smug, weak, arrogant men get emasculated? Well, Dirt has the character for you, sometimes the show seems like his personal dunking booth. Underage sex, inter-office dumping, and admitting his own humbling as stand-in editor in the season two opener, Brent Barrow(Jeffrey Nording) is a ready made whipping boy, just for you.
3. Gratuitous cleavage, could you expect anything less. Courtney Cox and ensemble do little jigs on the other side of the line that NYPD Blue long ago blurred and FX predecessors obliterated. A Courtney Cox masturbation scene and over the top tease during Jennifer Aniston's appearance as lesbian friend?? cemented the fact that the producers(Courtney and husband David Arquette) know where their bread is buttered. One revelation while researching this, Disney/ABC is the overseas distributor for this show.
   
4. Gaping. Just tune in to watch them skewer the latest celebutante calamity, breaking it down to what it really is, and expose the scavenging and manipulation. It's not poetry or pulitzer, but it can be fun.
5. Lucy Spiller, the heartless witch editor with a dysfunctional past and family to rival anyone, and a penchant for the weak, to exploit, and care for. Her new personal assistant, a panic attack inclined, nervous man who fired himself before Lucy hired him, illustrates the point. Yeah, well, "overstates" is a better description, but that is what this show does, and that is part of what makes it fun.
   

SNL - Two in a row was too much to expect

Last week's Saturday Night Live was good, good enough that I was almost eager for this week, a band, Wilco, that has always intrigued me, and young Ellen Page from Juno, I was optimistic. Saturday Night Live on a good run is like a Cubs winning streak, rare but not impossible, and something to behold. This week even started out with a bang, Hillary Clinton in a trademark brown pant suit, matching the one Amy Pohler had just worn in a skit, as Hillary.

It was one of the few moments of the broadcast, a huge let down from last week. I'm disappointed but I have figured out why.

The strike was good for them. Is it a coincidence that the first week back from a long layoff had skits full of bad television icons. Donald Trump, the creepy Jon Benet Ramsey guy, and the late night Riddler knockoff from the infomercials? This show was the fruit of a bunch of writers that had sat home and dredged the depths of popular culture, the foundation of Saturday Night Live's best production. That show was the product of writer's that rediscovered what got them their jobs that they were sitting out of. They came in with fresh ideas and bitter sarcasm, and pushed them through, then they spent a week on set, and had actors and producers in their faces, and they wrote skits like "Virginiaca."

The show wasn't a total disaster, but it was a significant downgrade. "The Obama Files," parts of weekend update, and an appearance by Rudy Guiliani all rose above the usual terrible fodder SNL has put out in recent years. In two weeks, there has been the equivalent of a year end compilation show. But honestly, half this show was about the elections, and most of the other half stank. Cheap laughs at the expense of media icons is good for a handful of material at best, after that, you can squeeze some laughs out of recycled former stars, like Tina Fey the first week, and lampooning your guest.

This week, Ellen Page, star of "Juno," which I haven't seen, fell far short. Yes, she's a teen age girl, but her Miley Cyrus impersonation was even annoying her partner in the skit. The little girl was a little over her head. Then again, that happens.

The regular cast has no excuse for putting out an episode that I am glad that I DVR'd so that I could skip through the bad stuff. I'm not a huge fan of political skits, but those were easily the best here. I'm hoping this week the writer's went home and watched some bad TV, read a lot of cheesy magazines, and ignored the voices all around them at the studio.

SNL - Feb 23 with Tina Fey

SNL isn't what it used to be, but I think our view of what it used to be is skewed. Despite the constantly playing archives on cable and satellite television, nobody remembers the really bad shows, hell, entire seasons. Even the golden era, with Akroyd, Belushi, Jane Curtin, and Gilda Radner, had it's clunkers and skits that you had to work to laugh at, really, who got the coneheads?

SNL is rarely all good, but it has a few skits or moments that strike a chord, and make us laugh, but they have never done it consistently. This years bunch, fresh off the writer's strike, had a lot of good moments Saturday night.

Starting off with a mock Obama/Clinton debate, we get a quick view of their latest version of the presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton's character was almost flattering, and Obama's very close. Reminding me of when Bush was new and they hadn't decided what about him to make fun of. Tina Fey was the hosst, making me think, "Did she leave the show?" And almost in answer, they bring the king of those, "Part of the show?/hosting the show?" quandaries, Steve Martin, in a quick skit during her monologue.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the rest of the show went. The first fake commercial, about a birth control that limits periods to once a year, was as funny as any I remember, followed by decent skits and a good weekend update. Until the late skits, "I Drink Your Milkshake," and "Lady Business," this was running like one of the prime-time SNL compilation shows that makes you wonder where all the good skits came from over the last year. Usually, this show starts getting tired before the first musical break, this week, it stayed strong until the end. Even the bad skits could possibly hit a chord with someone, someone else.

It's nice to see SNL back.

Knight Rider - Back Until the End of the Writer Strike

I don't think they planned it that way, but the writer's strike was the only reason I watched the season premiere of "The Knight Rider," and the only reason I am here to scream into the electronic void, "WHY!!!!?????"

Really, I was around for the first run, in the demographic, and the odd collection of tribute blogs aside, this was bad television. David Hasselhoff was as cheesy as it gets, and Kit was the campy cool car book end to Herbie the Love Bug, but there was no reason to bring this story back.

Herbie got his own, bad, theatrical movie, but Kit just came back with a TV movie/pilot. I was assuming this was a pilot, but looking over web listings, it is billed as the Knight Rider Movie. I know I won't watch it anymore. One lap around this track was enough, clearly put to bed by Hasselhoff's cameo at the end. The car, now a Mustang, looked good. The show, on it's best merits, was an extended commercial.

Vista - Joining the Chorus

I've tried Linux, and liked it, but on my new laptop, I just had to go with the system the store(and HP) had installed, Windows Vista, as well as on my desktop PC that is running XP. As usual, there has been an adjustment period, but I'm not being quick to make judgement, Vista sucks.

For my part, I actually had good luck with XP. It runs nicely on my old desktop and has handled every upgrade and install I threw at it nicely, too nicely, because elsewhere things aren't quite as smooth. On my laptop, Vista is a nightmare, beyond what I can accept as normal adjustment to a "new" operating system. This thing has the bugs of a BETA, at full price, and nobody supports it. WTF???

First off, there is the handling of periphery devices like my camcorder and MP3 players. My not that old Sony Handycam won't interface with Vista, after a bit of digging on the Sony support site, I find that the USB interface no longer works and I will have to purchase a different cable. BS. Hey MS, ever hear of backwards compatibility?

And the MP3 player, one a Sansa that was flaky before, but now can't even be recognized, no matter how many updated drivers I download. They don't make the damn thing work, but they sure leave tracks all over my new HD. Sansa's player is nice, and the right price, but the support stinks. Sansa e250, on XP, it only works with Windows Media Player 9. Aside from being a massive pain in the ass to maintain, I like the thing, but my laptop and Vista hate it.

So I bought another MP3 Player, Creative Labs, no, I don't want to pony up the extra money for an Ipod and let Apple worm it's way into my life. Well, Creative Labs has a better driver system, with it's own managers and lots of extra footprints on my desktop to wipe off. But it works. Because I liked the interface best with Windows Media Player, I use it on the laptop too, but there I have Windows Media Player 11, not an upgrade for the same reasons Vista is not. It just looks different, doesn't work better.

The Vista Explorer views and options are fancied up but depowered, and navigation is needlessly complicated.

And, nobody supports this. Instant Rails for Ruby runs headlong into a wall when using this as does Open Laszlo and every other application I want to work on. Thats why i am writing instead of working with new applications.

Breaking Bad is good...

Benefitting from the writer's strike, and the extra chance at viewership afforded as one of the few new scripted shows, the new AMC show, Breaking Bad, is taking advantage. Bryan Cranston, former third banana on "Malcom and the Middle," as Walter White, is becoming my favorite new character on my favorite new show this year.

I have to admit that I may not have found this show if not for the lack of new shows on, or even gotten to it on my DVR Hard drive. I recorded it as a curiosity, and logged two episodes before we started watching. The last episode we watched right away, because this story, and these characters, especially Bryan Cranston as the school teacher gone wrong , are mesmerizing.

Bryan Cranston plays Walter White, who in the first episode, founds out he has terminal lung cancer and takes up cooking meth as a side business. His journey from beleaguered, over-whelmed everyman to meth-cooker is intriguing,
and not without consequences.

This story reminds me most of FX offerings like the Shield, and Rescue Me, there are no limits to where this story can go, already established in four episodes. No story line is safe, and there is no comfort bubble for the viewer to watch from.

The show avoids being predictable. In episode 3, Walter encounters an annoying lout at the bank after a particularly stressed exchange with his wife. All is in place for Walter to go off on this guy, as he had on a group of young punks in a department store in a previous episode, but he keeps cool. Still, you see him fuming beneath.

The whole scene is not left to be a red herring, because later in the show, after things have gotten even stickier, Walter re-encounters the jerk at a gas station. After the guy goes inside, he opens the hood of the expensive convertible the guy was driving, shorts out the battery with the handle of a window washer, at least it looked like that, and closes the hood. Momentarily, the car catches fire and blows up. This may not hold up on Mythbusters, but it was different enough, and not outside the curtain of believability.

This show is not easy watching, because as likable as Walter is, he is dismantling his life. The cast of supporting characters are far ranging, with vast potential for plot development. Walter's wife is constantly suspicious and nosy, with an enormous martyr His brother-in-law is a DEA agent, not coincidentally in charge of tracking down meth labs and dealers. His sister-in-law is a busy-body, sure to cluck her tongue at anything Walter does. and steadily judgemental.

The three of them hold court after the revelation of Walter's terminal illness as if he weren't even there and his wife begins her crusade for his cure without regard for Walter at all.

This is good writing, and acting, worth searching for on AMC.

• Breaking Bad Wiki
• TV Guide - Review
• AMC Main Site
  

Summer Movies and the Mummy 3: Tomb of inconsistence

I recently found a Youtube video of Summer movies, by a guy that calls himself the Irate Gamer, who puts together quality work and offers a valid point of view. I don't agree with his list, but I respect it, and am happy to put a couple links to him if that can help at all. Of course I'm giving my own view as well, but overall, great job.

1. Dragonballz - Who? What? That really bad anime toon? Well, if he says so, but I didn't even know about this movie and won't be going to see it, or rent it, and will probably change the channel in six months when it is on cycle for all the cable channels.
   
2. Batman 2 - I'm excited about this too, it brings out the not so dormant dork in me and I will surely wade into a sea of children to watch this one at the theater. Heath Ledger as the Joker will be even more interesting now, as they say he was drained from playing the part.
   
3. Indiana Jones 4- I may cut in front of you in line for this one, long time coming. One thing, he says that Louis Stephens is in it, what about Shia Lebouf?
   
4. Mummy 3 - Is this really #3, I always thought that #2 passed off the baton to the Rock and went on to the Scorpion King. Hahaha, of course that movie made the old Jason and the Argonauts look realistic and well acted. At least they realized that Brendan Fraser and cast was driving the Mummy franchise, and are backtracking.
5. Hancock - A comedy starring Will Smith as a superhero, that I have never heard of, but that's why I keep looking for stuff.
   
6. Iron Man - Robert Downey as Tony Stark, it looks good, but could also just be a repository of Power Ranger Moments I hope I'm wrong.
7. Hellboy 2 - I am looking forward to this too. I watched the movie, missing all of the comic books, and enjoyed it. Since then, I have watched the animated movies, which are okay, but this new movie should be fun. He reminds me of the old Ben Grimm, back when he just sid, "It's Clobberin' time!" all the time.
   
8. The Hulk - I have many times tried to watch the first attempt at this storyline as a feature film. It's not terrible, but the graphics are just terrible, making me laugh and change the channel. According to the gamer, it is being completely redone, with Ed Norton as Rex? Banner. I'm hoping he meant Bruce, not that they have thrown another ccurve into the Hulk mythos(it should be Bruce Banner).
9. Harold and Kumar 2
   
10. X-Files 2 - I am also intrigued by this, and saddened that the once proud and aspiring stars, Duchovny and Anderson, have had to slog back to doing this.
    

• movies I will Absolutely see at the theater - 1st day
  
• movies I will see at the theater
• movies I will watch on video
• movies I will watch on TV
• 'movies I will avoid
  

Smallville has some Power Ranger Moments

When Smallville first came out, I didn't look into it enough to even know it was about Superman, truly, they didn't promote it like that in the beginning, but in handling it that way the show has been able to evolve, along with it's cast, into a mythology of it's own. As a teen soap opera it has succeeded, and as a TV show trying to capitalize on the success of comic-based movies, it has had moments. In the last couple of years, I know it has ascended from free-time fodder to schedule making viewing.

The last few years, they have slowly introduced other superheroes, the Flash, Cyborg, Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Black Canary, for starters. This last season they even had references to the Justice League, with the posed shot of them walking into the camera right from the cartoon's opening theme.

This last week was the return of Green Arrow and appearance of Black Canary. Maybe they were trying to geet out the big guns for the new show push, but it was reaching a little bit. The opening sequence, where Black Canary appears and faces off with Green Arrow, with some very hacked up CGI flying/cable descension, had some Power Ranger moments. It made my girlfriend laugh when she happened to walk into the room.

Suspension of disbelief and ridiculous aside, the slip seemed to be out of laziness, a little more care to take the special effects to the current level would have fixed most of it, but Black Canaries powers never translated to paper very well either.

I can respect that this show relies on straddling a few demographics, teenagers, comic book fans, and cartoon watching kids, and still enjoy it. In fact, I think the plot string it is following might be a lot more interesting than any the original Superman comic came up with. The handling of Bizarro Superman was very vanilla, but watchable, and if they are careful, the Justice League and DC comic character universe could be a well for the writers to continue to taste from, I'll keep watching.

Comic Obsession - introduction

I have a little bit of a comic problem, I can't quite let them go. I'm not "Comic Book Guy", never was, but I've always gone back to the rack and bought comics, even after managing to kick them for a while.

I am talking about them like an addictive substance, maybe that's a little bit of other parts of my life coming through but it's mostly because the shoe fits. One of the things that irritates me about comics most is the way they constantly mix metaphors. Ha Ha. read the rest ..

Devil in the White City - Erik Larson

I am, at times, a voracious reader. I gobble up everything I can, sometimes with nearly no regard as to quality or genre, but I usually stick in my favorite areas; Sci-fi, Horror, and thriller fiction.

I am always on the lookout for a standout piece of work that I haven't read, and shoot outside of my comfort zones on occasion. So, I heard some guys talking about a book, and got the name of it, Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. I noted the name, and based on a very generic recommendation, I stopped them before they gave me more details, and read the book.

Let me preface this by also saying that as I had a beer with a buddy, telling him about the book I'd just started reading, someone at the bar spoke up to tell me how good it was, and I had to stop them from going on and maybe ruining it for me. Well, that's what I said, I actually just didn't feel like talking to them.

So anyway, on to the book. Devil in the White City is one of those historical drama type of books that have become popular, and usually elicit no interest from me whatsoever. It was solely the person that initially recommended it to me and a few details that got me to read it. Still, the book came highly recommended on all levels.

Read the rest of this review

Tin Man on Sci-FI - is Bad, not Wicked

I had high hopes for the recently released mini-series, " Tin Man," on the Sci-Fi channel. The promo's looked good, and I, if not the rest of the world, was ready, if not eager, for another remake of "The Wizard of Oz."

And so I juggled Time zones and negotiated a compromise in regards to "Project Runway," which seems to always be on record and apparently getting watched by my girlfriend, and managed to watch it. The first episode, like spring training and opening day in baseball, was promising and enjoyable.

Dorothy, cleverly veiled as DG, is a disenchanted teenage girl/waitress that gets pulled away to the land of the O.Z.(outer zone, they are so clever) for an adventure. As with the names I have exampled, the linking to the old story is tenuous and sometimes tedious.

The visuals and style are remarkable, and some wrinkles in the new story are intriguing. DG goes to the O.Z, where she finds that she was raised by robots and that her mother is really the true Queen of the O.Z. . She assembles her crew, the scarecrow is known as glitch, and his brain has been taken, with a big zipper on the top of his head to close the cavity.

The Tin Man, as a character is most interesting. As in the original, he is found early on, a flesh and bone human, trapped in a metal suit, where he was locked and left to die after watching his wife and children hurt and taken away. He is called a "Tin Man' as a nickname for sheriff in the O.Z., and played well by Neal McDonough. This may be the only tie-in that doesn't seem forced.

Glitch, the scarecrow character, stands on his own, the tie-in only holds him back. The cowardly lion is brought in most recognizably, as a human type wolverine, 'feeler'(empath), and doesn't add much to the story. Toto is almost laughable, making a late appearance as DG's childhood, shapeshifting 'tutor' that she called "Toto".

All of these are long reaches to tie the old story to the new story, where the wicked witch possessed DG's older sister as a child, and killed her to be resurrected and sent away by her mother the queen. Still, they are not what makes this series bad, if not a complete waste of time. The story isn't what knocks this series down a notch.

It's the acting.
Zooey Deschanel, who plays DG, mails this whole performance in as if she were sleepwalking. Understated is one thing, reading your lines out loud is another. The good production values, supporting cast, and juicy national time slot should have suggested to this girl that this isn't your old Sci-Fi movie, it's not Anaconda 5, or Vampires in Malibu. They're actually trying to do something quality here and the girl looks like she's bored to death.

It was bad to the point of being hilarious, but not intentionally. Looking over her filmography, she's had some good roles, "Almost Famous," "Big Trouble", and was passable and seemed interested in "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". She mailed this in, plain and simple, taking away any chance this series had of breaking through the pall that keeps Sci-Fi channel movies down.

She had several "Elizabeth Rohm" moments. Rohm, who walked through three or four seasons of "Law and Order" the same way, might've shaken her head at some of the lines they got out of this girl. By the end of the third part I was laughing out loud, mentally putting her in the place of several other famous female leads.

• Imagine her as Scarlet in GWTW, "uh, Red, can ya just take me back.."
• I'm not sure anyone would have known Sybil had extra personalities..
• Erin Brockovich- "They're like called boobs..uh..those things down there..uh, Ed"

Let's not make this all negative though. According t0 Reuters, viewers approved, at least in giving the channel it's biggest rating ever.

"Tin Man," a six-hour special that debuted Sunday to a network record of 6.3 million total viewers, fell 31% with Monday's Part 2 to 4.4 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. However, the second of its three installments aired opposite ESPN's telecast of the undefeated New England Patriots' last-minute victory over the Baltimore Ravens, which set cable viewership records by drawing 17.5 million viewers.

But "Tin Man," a new take on L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," got a boost in its final installment, averaging 5.1 million viewers from 9-11 p.m. Tuesday.

Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN058802220071206

I'd give it a 7/10, it only seem to be getting long at the end. I was disappointed that things seemed to get so sloppy, but it was solid entertainment. I can recommend it for anyone to watch, and if your kids like it, there's nothing too adult for them here. It unintentionally gave me some serous belly laughs, which brings me to my last point.

This is one of those things you might not even notice, but you have to watch it to get this one. Right in the beginning of the third part, as DG comes out of a vision of her mother and her fate, looks at the camera and says: "Who's a homo?" Ya ya, I know she really said," Who is Ahamo(a-Hah-mo), but really, it sounded like Homo in her deadpanned performance.

The teenager that I will never lose snorted after that every time I heard some say that name. Really, some of the lines that followed, whether they pronounced it right or not, like this one especially, " ...every time someone comes here looking for a homo, they go to the seeker."
It could easily devolve into a drinking game.

Maybe I'm insensitive, or just weird, but that was funny, and things like that got me through the last parts. After a while, you just take what you get, I expected a little more out of this after a promising start, but in the end it was just good entertainment.

American Pie 5 - the Naked Mile - Lowering the Bar

Okay, lets have a show of hands here; Who watches any of the American Pie movies for the plot, writing, or acting? You arean idiot, or liar.

Let's face it, nobody watches them for anything but the gratuitous nudity, if you have any other ideas, you will be disappointed. I luckily missed out on most of the franchise,but rather enjoyedthe first one, thinking that every generation should have it's own version of "Porky's". Sadly,those movies too lost whatever charm they had after only a couple installments.

"The Naked Mile," starring this generation of "B"actors, ranks right down there with Porky's 4 or maybe even that old late night HBO standard, "H.O.T.S." Yes, I am bringing up that movie, one so bad that even eighteen year old boys talked about how bad it sucked, and never missed it when it came around on rotation.Everyone didn't have a DVD playeror even a VCR so you had to count on HBO recycling those old classics. It is one of those movies that follows a theme I've mentioned before, really bad movies that you still end up watching.

Maybe I have finally passed the stage where I can like these movies, but I doubt it. The movie is just lame, contrived, with plotting and jokes backing things up worse than straight to video soft-core porn. Seriously, Ron Jeremy has a better laugh track. If you're just coming to this movie for the obligational nudity, it's also lame,like watching those twilight Girls Gone Wild info-mercials without the little black dots. There's a lot of it, but it's all brief, and scattered.

Guest writing on Moviesnooneshouldsee

I appeared now for a second time on the site Movies No One Should See reviewing the movie Grindhouse , as a guest writer. I even have my own header!