March 31, 2009

Andy Hallett Is Dead

Andy Hallett, best known as Lorne on the Angel TV series, has died at the age of 33 from congestive heart failure.

What a damn shame.

Link.

March 30, 2009

Late Dollhouse

Back from a long weekend, so what'd you guys think of the new Dollhouse? There's certainly a change from the first five episodes, that's for sure.

March 21, 2009

BSG Finale

Haven't watched it yet, but I figure I should get this post up ASAP. How'd it all end? Were you satisfied? Enough questions answered? Did everyone turn out to be part of a dream of a disabled kid?

Dollhouse: Episode 6

Haven't had a chance to watch it yet. What's the verdict? Is this where Joss Whedon get a freer hand and turns the show up to 11?

March 17, 2009

Oops

Sorry I forgot the weekend posts, ladies and germs. Consider this an open thread for both Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica.

Well, one (double length) episode left of BSG. I still can't shake the feeling that though I'm liking these last episodes they're leaving too much mystery for my taste. I mean, now you've got the Galactica going on a mission for a very important person, but they don't even really know what the person's significance is.

Dollhouse continues to truck along with good-but-not-great episodes, which doesn't bode well for a show that was already probably going to be a cult show and is airing on Friday night. The rumor is that either starting with the sixth episode or after the sixth episode the network stepped back from the show a bit and let Joss Whedon do more of what he wanted, so hopefully the next couple episodes will be great. I will say that "man reaction" was pretty good stuff.

March 12, 2009

Argh!

Marvel moved Thor, Cap, and The Avengers back a year! On the other hand, now Spidey 4 is announced to be released in 2011, making 2011 the Summer of Marvel. Link.

Resident Evil 5...Again

Man, just when I think we're going to break through the idiocy on the Resident Evil 5 debate it runs right back to the same stupid ground it's run over since the beginning. The article makes a few good points, but I think a lot of that is undercut at the end when their supposed "expert" starts ranting about the "cult of political correctness." And Heaven help you if you wade into the comments...the stupid, stupid comments.

March 11, 2009

Joking On The Square

With the Kindle 2 now released, discussion about whether old technology can survive has resurfaced. Now, I'm not saying everyone has to go out and buy a Kindle. Personally, I don't think the technology is where I'd like it to be before I take the plunge (I'd like to see it get cheaper and with a color screen that can display pictures). In these types of debates, however, you see a lot of personal preference or opinion passed off as an intrinsic property of the subjects of the debate. Plenty of people make arguments about the pleasurable qualities of holding a book, when really that's just their preference because it's what they're used to.

The thing that irks the shit out of me, however, is when people try to argue that books would be considered great or even superior technology if they were introduced after digital products. It's not just Penny Arcade, I've seen this all over TV and the internet, always made by people who love paper based books and who are usually older. I know that mostly it's played as a joke, as it is in PA, but Al Franken had an apropos phrase in one of his books that he used to describe the way conservatives get away with saying some of the ridiculous things they say. He said that they were "joking on the square," by which he meant that they were phrasing their statement as a joke, and they may even think it's funny, but that they also believe that there's a grain of truth in there as well. You also get this a lot, and it annoys me just as much, on any cold day. Somene says, "Boy, I thought we were supposed to be getting into global warming or something, eh?" This person is almost always either a Republican, a global warming skeptic, or both. Of course, that's not how global warming works, and technology progression doesn't work such that books would be considered superior to digital media if they were introduced today.

March 08, 2009

Watching The Watchmen Reviews

The Watchmen comic is among my favorite works of fiction, so obviously I've been watching the development with alternating joy and horror. This is a comic that has gone through at least four attempts at being adapted for film that ended up collapsing under either legal or creative difficulties. It's a dense, complex work that has defied simplification into a two hour story by just about everyone that's touched it.

Now that it *has* been adapted, and now finally *has* been released, the question is, did they succeed? I haven't seen it yet, and the reviews are almost as tough to parse as the film itself. There's not universal support or condemnation, which raises all kinds of questions. Did the reviewer read the comic, or did they see the film fresh? Did the reviewer expect light super-hero fair and therefore didn't like what is supposedly still a pretty complex narrative in the film? Watchmen looks to be almost as difficult to review as it was to get made, and in these situations you can either go with people whose opinion you trust or just take the plunge and see it, reviews be damned.

Dollhouse: Episode 4

And now thoughts on the latest Dollhouse? Watch out for spoilers. Boy, that Topher guy is creepy.

BSG

Thoughts on the latest episode? Spoilers on folks.

March 06, 2009

Coming This Saturday

I kinds wish the theme song was catchier, but there's very little to dislike about this. Link.

March 01, 2009

Dollhouse: Episode 3

Spoilerific thoughts on the latest? According to Drew, Eliza Dushku says that Joss Whedon had a much freer hand in producing the show after episode 6. It's been pretty good so far, but I'm hoping for a jump in interesting-ocity then.

BSG

Any thoughts on the latest episode? Be forewarned if you're not caught up, there will be no policing of spoilers.