[TV Saturday] To Galactica!

You had a good run, old girl.

Shit got a bit weird at the very end, but as always, there were the moments of absolute brilliance that made this show what it is. Anders' speech beautifully captured the spirit of the show itself.

It's all about these brief moments of perfection.

TL;DR Version

There must be some way out of there.

Though dancing robots ain't it.

[Random Sunday]

I have a terrible headache today, so I can't write to save my life. That's what you get when you sleep at 6AM only to be woken up at 9AM by somebody who has the wrong phone number. Fun fun fun.

So here's a really funny video from the Chappelle Show instead of my usual blocks of text:



TL;DR version:

Aspirins, I need aspirins! Give them to me!

[TV Saturday] House Season 5 trailer (Spoilers!)

Just a few days remaining until the fifth season of House M.D. begins, and only now did it occur to me that a trailer should be out. Better late than never, I guess.

Season four was probably my favorite one (though it was the first full season I watched, plus I'm totally biased towards Thirteen), and it left quite a few issues to be resolved in the fifth season. Unsurprisingly, this trailer touches upon those, so consider this a spoiler warning. This post will be spoiler-free though, relatively

The trailer itself is good, not as impressive as last year's, but intriguing enough. I'm just worried that they're really going to act on what a character implies at the very end of the trailer, and that's a bad idea. Without saying too much, when a character loses his foil, it's bad both for the character and the storyline. I really hope they don't do it, between this and Grissom leaving CSI, well, ugh! That sucks. You think people would have learned from that time when Duchovny left the X-Files.

Watch the trailer here:



TL;DR version:

Nooooo, Wilson, don't do it!

[Movie Saturday] The X-Files - Do YOU want to believe?

It's already been ten years since the first X-Files movie, Fight the Future. Excluding the fact that time flew by so disturbingly fast, only now have we finally managed to get a sequel to that movie, six whole years after the show's (insultingly bad) finale.

I got back from seeing the new movie, I Want to Believe, a little while ago. I really cannot be objective with this movie, as I was a huge fan of the TV show way back when (I never called my self an X-Phile though, thank the gods), so this movie was like a wish being fulfilled for me, than anything else.

Before I get into the movie itself, I feel the need to rant a little. You may skip the next three paragraphs if you're only interested in reading about the movie.

It's been an entire decade since the last X-Files movie. So many things have changed since. Back in '98, the show had just finished its fifth and most successful season ever, and it topped that with a movie that was a direct continuation of the season finale that used a better budget and longer length to really take its alien-invasion/government conspiracy storyline to new heights. It may have alienated the casual viewer, but to fans of the show like myself, it was a fantastic movie. Sadly, things only went downhill from there. The next two seasons were alright, but nowhere near the quality of their predecessors, and the last two were just plain bad, culminating to that insult of a finale that I mentioned earlier.

Furthermore, one thing I cannot overstate enough is how different decades the 90's and the 00's are. I'm not sure if it were just the result of lucky timing, or the creators of the X-Files really caught the spirit of the times. Things like alien abductions, the possibility of contact with an alien civilization, Roswell, conspiracy theories involving the government and possible cover-ups of evidence relating to all the above... Those things were huge during the last decade. Don't forget that about 2% of all Americans claimed to have been abducted by aliens in their life. Aliens and conspiracy theories were the hysteria of the decade.


This decade, however, is a lot darker and serious, our fears more mundane and realistic. Nobody cares about aliens anymore, we only fear terrorists and the fact that we might not be able to afford our next rent, or the ever-increasing price of oil, etc. Conspiracy theories seem outdated, as people don't care about Roswell anymore, everyday problems have a much bigger appeal, if you can call it that. Can the X-Files still be relevant at this time, when most people have outgrown their alien conspiracy theory phase?

(mild spoilers from here on, nothing too serious though)

These were the reservations I had with the movie prior to seeing it, and combined with the fact that early word of mouth was pretty discouraging, it made my expectations really, really low. Which, in retrospect, was probably a good thing. Because, and I'll get this out of the way now, I liked I Want to Believe, but I didn't love it, though I did try.



It was perhaps due to the limited appeal of aliens nowadays that the creators of IWtB decided to tackle a new, original story, along perhaps with the fact that it has been six whole years since the show ended and even fans of the show will have forgotten all the details. That, and also the fact that by the time the show ended, its mythology had become such a clusterfuck that nobody knew what was going on, and nobody would bother to remember. At any rate, the story of IWtB is a much more down to earth, tame kind of story.

Did it really have to be so tame, though? The mystery that Mulder and Scully face is pretty mundane, perhaps not even real X-Files material, despite the presence of gay Russian Cylons. If IWtB had aired like a two-part filler episode during the show's run, nobody would have noticed a difference, and most would have considered it rather forgettable as well. The action scenes are mediocre, and most suspensful scenes are far too predictable. There are several hints at something larger and deeper, as well as references to the show itself, but on the whole, the story feels lacking. Although the fact that the one piece of information that ultimately solves the case was taken from a real-life event (link - SPOILERS) was pretty neat.

One thing that I really liked though was the fact that the FBI had to turn to Mulder when they had run out of leads, undoubtedly a reference to the fact that, in his hayday, Mulder was the Bureau's finest profiler. It's an easy thing to forget about Mulder, given the emphasis on his "Spooky" persona, but he always was a brilliant detective and researcher.

Though, I have to ask, what the fuck was up with Scully doing research on stem cell surgery by googling the damn thing? She's supposed to be a brilliant scientist, if she doesn't have books on the subject, surely she knows what sites she should check, geebus. In my eyes, it felt like an attempt to appeal to the younger demographic, a way of saying "see, we still know how things are done!" that falls flat on its face and makes for some really poor storytelling. It's just one scene though, so I'll let it slide. Though the whole subplot with the sick kid did feel a bit uncessesary in general.

What makes this movie is its two iconic protagonists, Mulder and Scully. I can't imagine how someone who has never seen an episode of the series would ever pick up one tenth of what's going on between the two characters, which in a sense is rather strange for a movie that's trying to be stand-alone, but for a fan it's a real treat. The movie explores most familiar themes between the two, such as Mulder's belief (thus vindicating the title, despite the lack of aliens) and Scully's pragmatism, in a way that is both endearing and enjoyable. I'll be damned if Duchovny doesn't look much older than he used to, though.

I got carried away again, as if I were an English major or something, so I'll get right to the conclusion. Can an X-Files movie still be relevant today? Yes, somewhat. The fact that IWtB had a whole new plot behind it definitely helped, murder mysteries never get old after all. Add to that two characters that are really strong and deep, even by today's standards, and the foundation is there.

Sadly, the plot itself is weak and predictable, and the two protagonists will probably appeal the most only to seasoned viewers of the show. Which makes me wonder, if you're making a movie targetted mainly at fans of the show, why not relate it to the overall mythology, or at least hint to it? I don't get it. Hopefully, the next movie (if we ever get one) will provide that.

As a long-time fan of the show, I enjoyed it and I expect most other fans starving for some Fox&Dana goodness will feel the same, as long as you believe (haw haw) in it. You have to watch it as an X-Files fan, not as a casual observer. Though I can definitely understand those that will not like this movie, fans or otherwise.

My final rating is 73 out of 100 sunflower seeds.

TL;DR version:

Don't mind the fact that this movie isn't as good as it should have been after having to wait ten years for it, just watch it anyway. This way, we might actually get a real sequel to the series that deals with the inevitable alien invasion (spoilers OLOL) that the wretched episode called The Truth never got around to dealing with.

I also wanted to make a mean joke about that hospital that's being run by priests and nuns, but I'm drawing a blank. I'll get back to it.

Lastly, it sure feels weird watching a movie were snow has covered everything and it's like minus fuck-all degrees, when it's the middle of the summer in real life. Kind of like watching a rerun of a Christmas episode during Easter.

[TV Saturday] Veronica Mars is still awesome

Yep, I'm still talking about this show. It's just that good.

Since a local Greek channel decided to start showing VM again as part of its "Summer of Reruns ' 08" special, I thought this is a good opportunity to post some more videos of my favorite show ever. I won't start ranting about the show though, so rejoice.

For starters, a promo that I may or may not have posted in the past:



Secondly, a collection of some of the funniest moments in the show. Some don't work out of context, but eh.



And lastly some bloopers, because bloopers are always awesome:





TL;DR version:

"Seriously, why do birds suddenly appear every time you're near?"

[TV Saturday] Boston Legal

Not a lot of TV-related news this week (aside from a god-awful teaser for the third season of Heroes with which I won't bother), so I thought this was a good opportunity to post a Boston Legal video.

Boston Legal, a spin-off of The Practice, is a dramedy that premiered in 2004 and follows the lives of Alan Shore, Denny Crane and their co-workers at the law firm Crane, Poole and Schmidt, most of which are characters that first appeared in The Practice. The series emphasizes both on the court action, with several wacky cases in a lot of episodes, as well as the personal lives of the lawyers from Crane, Poole and Schmidt, and their interaction with each other.

I only started watching this show about three months ago, and I haven't even finished the second season yet, but so far I really like it. It has several rather obvious flaws, for example the supporting cast is largely forgettable and they don't tend to stick around for too long, the resolution of several cases is highly improbable, and several of the characters are very inconsistent as far as their morality is concerned. Even for lawyers. Hurr, hurr.

The heart of the show, however, is its two male protagonists, Alan Shore and Denny Crane, portrayed by James Spader and William "Cpt. Kirk" Shatner respectively. It's the relationship of these two remarkable yet also incredibly quirky men that makes the show so interesting to watch. From Crane scolding Shore for being a Democrat, to Shore bailing Crane from yet another of his fuck-ups, the bond between the two is really strong, and most importantly, it feels real. I'd go as far as to say that it's one of the best portrayals of male friendship I've seen in several years in a TV show.

It's not always as serious as the above paragraph may have you thinking, however. In fact, I'd say that the show is first and foremost a comedy, despite the fact that there are several "serious" moments in every episode.

Not to mention that I never thought I'd end up respecting, and even liking, William Shatner as an actor. He might be impersonating, well, himself (I wouldn't know, but that's my best guess) but he really does an astonishing job at bringing the character of Denny Crane to life. Surprisingly, he's at his best whenever Denny stops acting like an (adorable) asshat, and instead reflects on his life and what he has become. I really wasn't expecting such a performance from Shatner, but life is full of surprises, I guess.

Instead of an epilogue, I'll end this post with a video (now this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone). Sadly, I couldn't find a better Alan/Denny video, as this one is a bit tacky. But I guess it's not bad either.



TL;DR version:

"Denny Crane."

[TV Saturday] Daria

Since all the major TV shows have ended their run for this season, I figured I'd kick off the first TV Saturday with something a little older. Namely, MTV's Beavis and Butthead spin-off, Daria.

I'll openly admit that I hated this show when I first saw it, all the way back in 1997. I was 16 back then, visiting Athens (the only place in Greece back then that had MTV) on a short vacation and expecting to watch Beavis and Butthead, like the male teenager that I was. What I got instead was this show about a girl, with a sense of humor a lot more sophisticated than the one in Beavis and Butthead, and for that reason, a lot less interesting to my 16-year old self. When I decided to give it a second chance however (on the following day, no less), I found myself charmed by the misanthropic Miss Morgendorffer and her misadventures in teenage life.

In a sense, Daria was a defining part of the latter half of the 90's, with its strong, completely apathetic and unsocial female lead, the dry, sarcastic humor and its fairly realistic/negative depiction of school life. We may take several of these things for granted nowadays, but don't forget that back then it wasn't as common for a show to have a girl as a main character (one of the reasons it struck me as so odd the first time), and especially one as, shall we say... unusual? as Daria.

Naturally, things have moved on in the eleven years since Daria debuted, so the show doesn't have quite the same impact nowadays. In fact, it might feel a little too much by-the-numbers to a new viewer. For example, Daria is so incredibly apathetic that it might seem implausible to some, not to mention the fact that the supporting cast is for the most part made up from glorified stock characters, though this is most likely intended. After all, the show is all about its protagonist, and Daria doesn't care about them at all, why should the viewer?

More importantly, however, since Daria can seemingly never do anything wrong, it could be argued that the show overglorifies the "outsider" type of person, which has since become as much an annoying cliché as the sports jock. Not that Daria is responsible for the emo kids of today, not even remotely so. Daria is a witty misanthropist and a strong, invidivual character, and not a whiny kid overreacting about every little thing in life. I thought I should clear that up.

At any rate, Daria should be judged for what it is. A witty, inspired, just-plain-amusing cartoon back from the era when MTV wasn't afraid of promoting and supporting alternative music/shows/lifestyle in general, and less about sucking ass. While it may not have the same appeal to somebody going through their teenage years in the 00's, it's definitely worth watching for anyone who grew up in the 90's and still reminisces those years.

TL;DR version:

(Meh, I keep forgetting to add this part lately.)

Instead of reiterating what I said above, and especially for those of you who have never watched a single episode of this show, here's the first part of one of my favorite episodes from season 1, Cafe Disaffecto. See for yourselves why a show based on a misanthropist is always a good idea, and why the 90's kick the 00's('s?) sorry ass. You can find the rest in YouTube, as well.

An interlude

Why, hello there. Long time no see, etc.

I could talk about a lot of things; Obama winning the primaries after so long, the NBA finals and how a new Celtics Vs. Lakers feud could be the best thing to happen to the league since Jordan left, the new Indy movie (which is awesome, and if you didn't like it then you suck), the Lost season finale or the situation in the army and how utterly pathetic it is.

But I won't. Mainly because I don't wanna. But also because I still haven't seen the Lost season finale.

Instead, I'll do what I usually do: post a video. A video from the best episode of season 4 of Battlestar Galactica, an episode that firmly cemented BSG's place in my "Top-5 best TV shows ever" list. It's that fucking good. It's a video of a song that's playing throughout the episode, and its glum, waiful mood kinda works well with mine these days. Though I still have both my legs.

Gaeta's Lament (S04E07)
Uploaded by anna-molly

'Till later.

More Children of Men

David Eick (of Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman fame) is apparently working on a pilot for a proposed Children of Men TV series. He mentioned that its main influence will be the novel, which I sadly haven't read. The movie was really good though, and he seems competent enough so here's hoping.

I'll be gone for the weekend so no more updates until at least Monday. In the meantime, I want to post this Guitar Hero 3 video that blew my mind. Hell, I almost like that damn Dragonforce song now after watching it.

Things worth looking forward to

I'll start off today's post with a personal favorite of mine. Dreamfall, my favorite game of 2006, is going to become part of Xbox Live's "Xbox classics" line on March 24, i.e. this coming Monday. Great news, as this is a seriously underrated game, both by adventure game fans and people who don't care much about the genre. That's usually what happens when somebody tries to make something different, there's always the danger of alienating both fans and non-fans. Hi, season 3 of Veronica Mars!

Dreamfall definitely has its share of flaws, the worst offender being gameplay since there's too few puzzles in the game, and the ones that are there are very easy, for the most part. That's always a problem when you're trying to create an adventure game that contains puzzles that are brought about by the game's story, rather than just being there, arbitrarily. A sad fact that comes with the limitations of the genre, I guess. It has to be said though, others have done a much better job at it, the original two Monkey Island games come to mind.

Still, while not reaching the quality of the original game of the series, The Longest Journey, Dreamfall is nonetheless a great game. Beautifully designed graphics, even if they show their age nowadays, some of the best voice-acting in any videogame, and an excellent story, quite different than what gamers are used to seeing. Sadly, the storyline itself suffers from being the middle part in an apparent trilogy, but I for one was willing to oversee that.

Hopefully, with its release on the Live network for a price of 1200 Microsoft Points (about 15 euros) the game will manage to find a new audience. From what I've heard, it did quite well when it was released on Valve's Steam network, which is somewhat similar to Live, so here's hoping.

Even though I already own a copy of the game (the PC collector's edition in fact, thank you very much) I'd be tempted to buy one more, just for the heck of it. Turns out, Dreamfall will only be released on a few countries, which kind of sucks. For the whole story, including the list of countries, check this link.

In other news, there's only a few days left until the fourth, and final, season of Battlestar Galactica begins. Suffice to say, I am really hyped for it. I thought the season 3 finale was nothing short of epic, and I really want to see where the storyline will head after the positively cataclysmic revelations of that finale.

I understand that a lot of people weren't too keen on the previous season, but what I don't get is the hate for the latter part of season 3. I thought the early episodes were rather dull and took forever to go... nowhere, while most of the episodes near the end of the season were fast-paced and revealed a fuckton of lore/secret identities/prophecies/etc to us.

Oh, well. I'd like to think that even the most jaded of BSG viewers will at least like to know how the whole thing ends, even if it will be a while from now until we find out. I know I will.

And if stuff like finding out just who is that last member of the Original Five is doesn't appeal to you, here's ten more reasons why you should watch season 4 of BSG:



Ah, Tigh, you crack me up.

Lastly, this isn't something to look forward to, but it's funny nonetheless. Apparently, some dude got himself arrested for calling 911 over 27,000 times over the last 10 months. His excuse? "Because it's free."

See kids, if he had been playing videogames or watching TV shows, he'd probably wouldn't have enough free time to waste on stupid shit like that. If you're a parent, here's a reason for you to think twice before telling your kids videogames are a waste of time.

Υ.Γ.
Η ολυμπιακή φλόγα δεν αρχίζει το ταξίδι της τη Δευτέρα. Όχι, άρχισε το ταξίδι της από τον περασμένο Αύγουστο. Από δέντρο σε δέντρο... (κλεμμένο, από ακροατή του Supersport FM).

I'd like to borrow a time machine

Willing to pay for it.

Why? Well...



Need I say more? Alright, I will. I watched episodes 2 to 8 over the last two days (and got a headache in the process, but it was so worth it) and oh my gods, what a season it's been so far. So much for my "I'm not so hyped about this season" nonsense, I'm Lost's bitch oncemore. Season 4 is nothing short of astounding. Lots of answers, more questions, great use of flashbacks, flashforwards and uh, flashbetweens (!) all around. Lost is back, baby!

Glad to hear we'll be getting the whole season this year, too. It's going to be a painful wait until the break is over, but if the above preview is any indication, it's definitely going to be worth it.

On a different note, I planned to write a long, detailed post with my opinion on why Panathinaikos didn't make it to the Euroleague play-offs, but I decided I won't do it after all. Why? Because, well, I don't wanna.

Long-story short, you can't go far in the Euroleague championship with two of your Centers injured and out of commission for months. You just can't survive on that level of competition without your big guys. The same thing happened to us back in '03 and '04.

Could Jasikevicious's paycheck have been used to buy one or two sorta-good Centers? Quite possibly. Would that have made a big difference? I personally doubt it. Saras was one of the few players actually trying these last couple of months (I'm looking at you, Becirovic) and last year we won everything, despite having two players with huge wages (Tony Delk and Robertas Javtokas) that contributed very, very little all year long.

Shit happens, at the end of the day. That's all there is to it.

Dropouts and comebacks

So republican nominee Rudy "I mention 9/11 in everything I ever do" Giuliani has also dropped out of the race, thought it took me a while to pick it up. It's funny, I remember some of the polls from like... a year ago, in which Giuliani was supposedly winning the actual presidential election.

Goes to show why you shouldn't take such polls seriously, I guess. Giuliani might have had a more universal appeal, but as most people have said, he was too "left-wing" for a republican.

On the subject of comebacks, Lost is finally returning tonight, with the first of what will be a really short season. Eight episode long, to be exact, half of what it was supposed to be. I'm calling it now, there will be a heck of a lot of frustrated people screaming "ZAMG WAI NO ANSWERZZ!!!" once these eight episodes are over. People, get over it. That's how Lost is, it always raised more question than the ones it answered.

That being said, I find myself not being quite as hyped for this than I thought I'd be. I absolutely loved the finale of the third season, but that was in May 2007, feels almost like a lifetime ago, and I've sorta lost my Lost vibe since that. I'll remain cautiously pessimistic about tonight's episode. With any luck, the episode will catch me by surprise.

Lastly, after trying to give the 5 versus 5 arenas in World of Warcraft one last serious attempt, one word sums up my feelings perfectly...

LOL

So that's not exactly one word, more of an abbreviation of three ones, but whatever. The matchmaking system is an absolute joke, and this is painfully obvious after the sublime system in Halo 3.

My 1390-rated team had to wait for around five minutes on average for one game, and when we actually found a game, what were we up against? Teams with a rating of more than 2000, and as a result, their gear level was so much better than ours that there wasn't even a point in trying to fight back. Which we did, because we're stubborn like that, but the result was depressing.

I understand not everyone is familiar with the system implemented in WoW's arenas, so here's the deal: It's a rather simplified version of the Elo rating system, commonly used in chess.

What this means in WoW is that the higher rated team (which start at a 1500 rating, mine is lower than average therefore) will always have access to better gear. The problem is that while the matchmaking system is supposed to match rating as well as gear level, it gives me the impression that it's been programmed in such a way in which after the first two minutes, it goes all "Fuck it, I'll just randomly put two unbalanced groups together and piss both of them off." Fun fun fun.

One step closer to a permanently canceled account, yes sirree.

So Edwards dropped out.

John Edwards, that is. A few days before "Super Tuesday" too. Shame, as I liked him. It didn't really seem like he ever got a legitimate chance at winning, but I liked him more than Hillary, and even Obama at times.

It'll be interesting to see which remaining Democratic candidate his followers will turn to, seeing as Edwards will not officially endorse either of them. The easy answer would be Hillary because "lol she's white" but Obama has shown to be quite popular amongst the white population as well.

In other news, I need to stop posting at such late hours, and House was of course awesome last night. It was a bit strange to see an Xmas episode one month after the actual holiday, but the episode itself was wonderful. Fantastic dialog once more, and an ending with a surprise, sardonic, twist. Also, milk in the knee, what the Hell?

Because I said I would

Even thought it's been more than a month since I did. I did remember about it yesterday though, since these are the last days of the year and you tend to go on full "The Year in Retrospect" mode.

What am I talking about? The last few minutes of Veronica Mars, my favorite TV show of recent years. Many people hated the series finale (it was only designed as a season finale, after all) but for me it works wonderfully. It's a sad ending, but VM was never the most cheerful of shows to begin with, and it fits with the Noir-atmosphere of Season 1.

Nothing but spoilers from here on.

From the first moments of the series you get introduced to the main themes; life and loss go hand-to-hand, the people will love will eventually let you down, and yet you still cling to them regardless of that. Not because it's all instinct, but because we choose to do so.

All these ideas are so beautifully put together in the following scene. Veronica has let her dad down and vice-versa, and the future is mainly uncertain, except for the fact that Keith is not going to be re-elected. What happens from there on is not as important, as we now know that Veronica's bond with her father, one of -if not- the defining aspects of the show, is as strong as ever. Nothing else is writ on stone, anything is possible. After all, it even rains in California sometimes...



I'm fairly certain the music theme from the scene where the Mars family has dinner is the same as in the scene where Veronica first talks to the viewers about her mother, in the very first episode of season 1. A very nice reference, if so.

Lost Season 4 trailer

I was away for 4-5 days, as I paid a short visit to my hometown and saw some friends there. Also played a lot of Assassin's Creed and more Guitar Hero 3 than I ever thought I'd do. That is to say, I never thought I'd play any game of that series, at all.

But sometimes it just happens, you're sitting there, watching your friends play songs which you know but never could be bothered to try and play in a faux-guitar controller, and suddenly one of them unlocks Pearl Jam's Even Flow. After that, all you can think is "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S GOOD AND HOLY IN THIS WORLD, GIVE ME THAT DAMN GUITAR AND LET ME PLAY!"

It kind of goes downhill from there. But it's so fun you don't give a damn.

Anyway, the point of this post is the new Season 4 trailer of Lost. It's short, around 30 seconds of actual footage, but it's at least it's something! I'm really looking forward to seeing where they'll go after the complete mindfuck that was the Season 3 finale.



Was that Charlie..?

More on Facebook (and Heroes)

In an earlier post, I briefly talked about Facebook and its more shady sides. This is a few days old, but recently the New York Times had an article on another "interesting" new feature, namely a new advertising program.

What does this program do? It sends messages to users' friends about what they're buying on other websites. If that's not a violation of privacy, I don't know what is. Now all your friends will find out about that inflatable sex doll you just ordered!

*ahem* Anyway, I won't spend more time on this than I should. I generally don't jump on bandwagons, in this case the Facebook love/hate, but this felt important enough to note.

As for the TV show Heroes, it's really getting dangerously close to getting a second Notice, meaning it will become dead to me. Seriously, this second season is nothing short of a disaster. Horrible plots that seem to go nowhere, ridiculous characters, every single cliché in the book... Even when compared to comic books, it's become less Uncanny X-Men and more West Coast Avengers. Unoriginal, drab, dull, just plain bad.

The reason for this? Well, something comes to mind. Since the first ten episodes of season one or so, there was this rumor that there would be a whole new cast of heroes for season two, since the original bunch would have their storylines completed at the season finale. Which they did. But then the show started becoming more and more successful, and people started loving the characters. Why, I do not know. But that's besides the point, as the season progressed, we started hearing rumors than few, perhaps a lot, of the heroes would remain for season two as well.

Then season two came along, and we found out that all the characters had remained. Even Sylar, the main villain, who only survived thanks to the age-old cliché, "Why check the bad guy's dead body to make sure he's dead? That'd make too much sense!" Oh, except D.L. I guess, who never figured out how to phase through a bullet. I mean, seriously. Once, I'd understand it. But being shot twice?

At any rate, season two progressed, with most characters never really going anywhere. After all, they weren't really meant to, their stories were over. Their quests were finished.

And then people started resurrecting. If there's one thing you can do to make people lose interest, is killing characters and then bringing them back like it's no big deal. This isn't Dragonball Z, people. Not only it makes their deaths/sacrifices meaningless, it's also incredibly lazy. It's the easy way out of a tough situation for a character, and also the less interesting one.

I'm ranting, so the last thing I'd like to say is that if you thought the castaways of Lost act like morons sometimes, then the cast of Heroes must be really flippin' retarded. Honestly, you're about to make one of the biggest, most important, revelations in human history, you have not one but two mind-readers with you, and you fall right into a sniper's trap? Are you kidding me? Even if there will be an explanation for it (the killer could "cloak" himself) there's better ways to kill off Nathan Petrelli (Spoilers, hah!) than this. If he stays dead, nobody seems to do anyway.

Ah, nothing like letting loose of your frustration through blabbing mindlessly. It's oh so sweet.

Last thing for this post would be the following video, a good title for it would be "SUPRISE BUTTSECKS" and it's not really suitable for work. It's not really that funny, and I cannot imagine why the person filming didn't put down the camera to help... But if this happened to every snot-nosed kid that just won't shut his damn mouth when playing an online game, the internets would be a much better place.

A Song of Ice and Fire

Haven't really been inspired when it came to writing these past few days, rather I've been enjoying my job-less life again. I've also almost reached my goal of 15 blog posts for this month, so no need to rush either.

However, it's kinda frustrating that I've never really posted about my favorite fantasy literature series yet, A Song of Ice and Fire. What's so great about this series? I usually like to say how brutally realistic it is, if not for the (limited) fantasy elements, it could have been considered historical literature instead. Its scope is also something awe-inspiring, and it features some of the best characters I've ever come across.

Yet, unsurprisingly, the author of the series George R. R. Martin sums it up much better than me:

It's really irritating when you open a book, and 10 pages into it you know that the hero you met on page one or two is gonna come through unscathed, because he's the hero. This is completely unreal, and I don't like it. If I was a soldier going to war, I'd be pretty scared the night before a battle. It's a scary thing. And I want my readers to feel that fear as they turn the page. I want them to feel that no one is safe — that if my character is surrounded by three people with swords, he's in serious trouble, because he's only one guy against three.

It's so refreshing to read a story like this. How many times have you cringed when an important character survives an impossible situation just because he or she "has to"? No such thing in ASoIaF. It's what keeps you on your toes at all time while reading, it really is a scary thing. And most, if not all, characters are so wonderfully "gray", and the different perspectives you get on each one are really unique.

Speaking of perspectives, each chapter is narrated from one of the main characters, who gives a different view of things every time. A character that at first seemed a complete S.O.B. when seen through the eyes of one person may become a noble hero through the eyes of another. In other words, be prepared to be surprised by certain characters, and don't be too quick to judge them.

Entertainment Weekly recently had a Q&A session with George R. R. Martin, it's where that previous quote is from, and it's really interesting for fans of the series. No, there's no release date for the next chapter, A Dance with Dragons yet. Be patient.

A series of minatures based on characters from the series has also been released lately, if that's your thing. I really like the Jamie Lannister one, I think it captures the essence of his character nicely.

"How long have you known me?" - Still the best damn show on TV right now.

My bad

In a previous post, I mentioned that I'll be rooting for two teams in the NBA this year, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls. I also said that one of my favorite players in the championship at the moment is Gilbert Arenas.

Less than a month later, what do the standings tell us? The Bulls are at a 2-8 record, probably affected by all this talk about acquiring Kobe Bryant during the off-season, which at the end never happened. For some reason, most teams don't recover all that well from such a change. Or lack of a change. Or something along those lines, anyway.

The Wizards are at a 6-5, which is pretty decent, considering they started with a 0-5 (or was it 0-4?)

The thing is, Arenas was recently injured and will be out for two to three months. How will the Wizards fare without their superstar, especially now that another key player, Power Forward Antawn Jamison has been under-performing lately?

Man, talk about jinxing it, I feel kinda responsible. My apologies, kind gents.

That'll be all for today. Still too tired for a huge post.

It was Lupus!

Heroes, you're on notice.

I could go on ranting for a while on why I found the latest episode of Heroes to be such a disappointment, even though apparently most people loved it. Instead, I'll just say that the show is now officially On Notice.

Remember, that's one step away from being Dead To Me. Careful where you tread now, Heroes.

Veronica Mars in the FBI

I finally managed to see the oft-discussed about "pilot" of Veronica Mars' fourth season, which proves that this was indeed the direction that the show was heading to. That being Veronica becoming an FBI agent, with most (all?) of the regular cast being removed. Sadly, the "pilot" (putting this word inside quotation marks because it's only 12 minutes long) did not convince the people of the CW network, so the show was canceled for good.

I can see why this happened, though. There's a lot to like, of course, the new ambiance was really good, the more mature approach worked well, the cinematography was beautiful, and Veronica is the same character that made the show so endearing. But... Everything else feels so bland. The new characters are pretty uninspiring, the dialog seemed kind of forced at times, and well, I can't help but think that there was no big, significant, change from the school/college version of the show. It felt kind of samey, not quite school-girl-amongst-adults as some of the criticism stated, but not too far off either. Perhaps I was expecting something more CSI/X-Files-esque.

Of course, it's kind of unfair to criticize the entire effort on a mere 12 minutes of video, but when that's all the time you get in order to impress people (especially executives), you have to bring out the big guns, so to speak. Horrible, horrible expression, but it's the only one that comes to mind. *d''oh*

That being said, watching this pilot made me realize how much I miss this damn show. I watched the series finale again, and my gods is it ever beautiful. It doesn't matter if it weren't intended as a series finale, it works great for a show which always had loss as one of its main themes. I'm thinking of adding a link to it soon.

If you want to watch the pilot, take a look here and here for part 2.

In other news, according to this source, Firefox has apparently overtaken IE6 and IE7 as the leading web browser. This is somewhat of a false statement though, as if you were to combine the IE6 and IE7 percentages, they overtake Firefox. I can only assume that the IE6 users are casual, "OMG how did this end up in here I'm not good with computers" users, which is the only explanation why they haven't upgraded their browsers yet.

Still, that's quite an achievement for Firefox. Hopefully that won't mean that Firefox will have a lot of security leaks in the near future.