TV. heroes

it has been quite interesting to watch as the show 'heroes' begins to resemble the story of the 'watchmen' comic book. watchmen, if you are unaware, is considered to be one of the greatest comic book stories ever written. and now heroes is ripping it off.
here is the basic story of watchmen: a bunch of heroes are not appreciated by the public. there is one hero who used to fight crime, but got disenfranchised by the whole thing because he felt like they werent making a difference. he wanted to get to the root cause of the crime and criminals: hatred. so he left the superhero business and entered into the business world. he amassed a fortune. the whole time though, he has been working on getting rid of the root problem. when his plan is revealed it turns out that he wants to destroy new york city, the reason being is that if there were a big enough catastrophe it would bring everyone together and force them to work through their hatred and instead show love for those around them. in the comic ozymandias is the mastermind behind the whole thing, and now we have found out that the mastermind behind the exact same plot on 'heroes' is the mysterious figure of linderman (played by malcom mcdowell).
i wonder what allen moore, the writer of watchmen, thinks of all this plagiarism...

GAMES. ssx blur

one of my favorite games on the gamecube is the ssx series. i first got into it on the second edition, ssx tricky. i really loved it and then ssx3 came out. still my favorite edition so far. when ssx: on tour came out i was a bit disappointed. the game play had taken a bit of a backslide since the 3rd one.
now, this series makes its triumphal entry onto the wii. i wasnt sure what to expect- i knew the controls were going to be all different due to the motion sensitive remote. i was worried that they might follow the lazy controls of tony hawks downhill jam, which just slightly used the motion capabilites. happily, they came through with a very different and inventive control system. all the turning and speed are handled by the nunchuck, and all the tricks and jumps are done with the remote. it is a totall blast to play. in order to achive bonus power and cooler jumps you have to form shapes, or follow patterns of movement with both parts of the controller. i am not good at physical dexterity, so when i try to perform these huge power jumps i look like a rave dancer having a seizure! after i landed my first jump i had to pause the game: i was laughing so hard because i knew how silly i looked doing these controls! i double checked to make sure my blinds were closed, and then i jumped back into it! through out the rest of the night i hit the slopes, giggling at my self all the way!

TV. fact, not opinion

funniest man on television. period.

DVD. the amazing screw-on head

ah, what a wonderful surprise! i had never heard of this particular creation before. i am a huge fan of mike mignola and all things hellboy, but i was unaware of his short story about an amazing screw-on head. i went to buy the animated hellboy dvd when it came out and this dvd happened to catch my eye.
now, be warned, its not really a movie. its actually an animated pilot designed to show to different networks to try and get some interest in producing a full season. so, in essence, its only a 22 minute episode. but, my oh my, what an episode it is!
heres the premise: a head that can screw onto different bodies is hired by the president to fight monsters and other mythical creatures to keep america safe. and as a cool twist: it takes place in the 1850s, so lincoln is the president! the bad guy is emperor zombie, there are vampires, werewolves, mythical demigods, and a machine gun carrying monkey with a crown. needless to say its a bit over the top. but thats what makes it so silly and fun. the voices are fantastic and and to the crazy feeling of the animation.
though its only 22 minutes long, there are a few extras on it that pump up its replay value- there is a 20 minute making of feature as well as a commentary with the guys responsible. if, by some strange event, you have the chance to see it- i promise you will not be disappointed. confussed, but not disappointed...

TV. dave on aots

for the past 10 years or so, ive had one movie guy that i read on the internet. i find that i usually agree with his movie reviews and have enjoyed reading all of this opinions and stuff. with out his i might not have discovered such gems as 'the rundown', 'solaris', and many others that i enjoy. he used to be on tnt 'rough cuts' when there used to be such a thing (maybe around 1998 or so...), then he struck out on his own and created 'the hot button'. soon after though, he started his own hollywood news hub called 'movie city news'. i read these often, as well has his more candid (and more interesting) 'hot blog'.

when i got directv at my house i began to look around the dial and check out some of the stranger, more niche channels they had to offer. one such channel was called 'tech tv'. i started to enjoy some of their shows, among them 'screen savers' which was all about computer stuff, and rad things you could do with photoshop and stuff. also they had 'x play' which is a video game reviewing show. soon after i discovered this channel they were bought out by 'g4 tv', and screen savers was eventually revamped as 'attack of the show'. today, this show is my favorite show on tv (aside from 'the office', because nothing can beat that). they have a feature called 'the loop' on the show everyday where kevin pereira (the host) talks with a couple specialists about a different topic each day.

imagine my surprise earlier this week when these two favorite things suddenly and unexpectedly collide! the guy i read online appeared on 'aots' to talk with kevin during 'the loop'!!! it was like some sort of alternate reality where everything i love comes together for just one amazing cosmic moment!!! i half expected joy electric to show up and play the theme song! it was just so strange to see kevin and david bantering back and forth. i had to rewind it and watch it a few more times...

GAMES. wii remote straps

there has been a whole lot of talk about he problems with the wii remote straps. i have never experience any problem at all. i think the real problem with all these people breaking stuff and hurting themselves has more to do with their stupidity than it does about a faulty product. i have played my wii a lot and have never had any sort of problem with anything getting broken (expect when aaron swung before looking and sent his drinking cup flying to the floor). i think it just boils down to people getting way too excited and going crazy with their motions. all the games ive played can actually be simplified into wrist actions, there really is no reason to flail ones body about (but it does kind of amp up the silliness and fun factor when in a group).
even with this fact, nintendo has decided to offer free replacement straps to anyone who would like them. being a sucker for anything that says nintendo on it, i decided to take them up on that offer. last week i filled out the form to get new straps for my wii remotes. pictured above is a photo of the original and the new straps side by side. the difference is not huge, but the new ones are quite a bit thicker and stronger (the photo doesnt quite capture the difference). also, the new straps are about a half inch longer as well.
ill use the new straps on the two wii remotes i have, but i think im going to use one of the other straps on my ds, cause i think thats cool!

TV. nightmares and dreamscapes

a while ago TNT had a mini series based on the short stories of steven king in 'nightmares and dreamscapes'. i had never read any of the short stories, but i saw the cast of people who signed up to do this thing and figured id tune in to see what it was all about. it turned out to be 8 short stories, each adapted into a one hour drama/mystery. some of them were really bad (the ones with claire forlani, tom berenger, jeremy sisto, and steven webber), some of them were kind of interesting (the ones with william h macy and william hurt), and then there was one called "the end of the whole mess" with ron livingston and henry thomas which was mind-blowing! i had to watch it a second and third time just to totally appreciate the story and its implications. in fact, among my friends, it actually was a turning point in our discussions and understanding of goals and the future. 'true north' is now a standard part of our vocabulary.

i believe the whole mini series is out on dvd now. if you get the chance, track down that one episode. it is truly amazing.

TV. sci fi channel

lately the sci fi channel has been doing some pretty good stuff. i keep hearing from all the critics that battlestar galactica is really good, but im still not going to watch it. dont know why, just dont want to. but some of the other stuff on the network has blown me away.

first off, for some reason that i cannot explain, i have recently begun to really enjoy 'stargate sg1'. im not entirely sure why i have been enjoying it- perhaps its the empty spot in my heart now that all the star trek shows are off the air, or maybe its a love for macgyver that just never went away. im not sure why, but ive been watching episodes every once in a while and just totally impressed and surprised by the creative plots and the great sense of humor the caracters share.
another awesome show that was on this summer is called 'eureka'. i didnt put much stock in it at first. the premise is this: a down on his luck shariff stumbles upon a town that is home to the smarted people in america. they are all working for the government creating crazy new inventions like invisibility. sounds kind of silly to me. but it is done really well. the guy who plays the shariff (colin ferguson) is hilarious and plays it just right. all the crazy people and all the people of the town are ernest about their work, but the show is perfectly ballanced in that it doesnt take them too seriously. i hear that it will be back for another season in the spring. i look forward to it!

the latest mini series that they showed was called "the lost room" and it was really good. the story is about a guy who finds a key that can open any door, and on the other side is a hotel room. after in the room he can go anywhere he wants. he begins to be drawn into a group of people who are collecting all the different 'items' that were once in that hotel room. sounds wierd, but it was really cool. the main actor is peter krause (whom i have loved ever since he was casey on sports night) and he does a great job as a detective who loses his daughter in the hotel room and now must do what ever he can to get her back. i was impressed with the way they were able to draw me in and give me significant answers that actually made me care more (something 'lost' should learn from...) some of the ideas and directions of the story were so thought-provolking, that two weeks later im still caught up in the story. the ending was smaller than i expected, but it hit just the right notes to say that this story is over, but the room isnt done yet. i hope this is something that can turn into an ongoing series, or at least another mini series or two.

GAMES. wii!!!

finally!!! the wait is over, i am the proud owner of brand new nintendo wii!!! i would have posted about it earlier, but ive been too busy playing it!!!
first of all, i must start by saying that i am a total nintendo fanboy. secondly, i must tell you the kind of gamer i am: i love to play video games, but on my own i usually play for about a half hour, and then im ready to move onto something else. im not into the games that take a ton of time to play and involve a huge 20 hour long storyline. i want pick it up, play for a bit, then be on my way. and with that, let me tell you about the wii:
wow!!! i totally love it. when i first hooked it up i was greeted with a screen of different 'channels' to choose from. i first selected (by the way, just the fact that you can point the screen with the controller and a little pointy hand shows up that you can move around a rotate, was one of the coolest things ever!) the 'mii' channel where i could go through and create a cartoony little version of me to play around with. jeffry lee and rex helped me pick the features offered that looked most like me. once we had my little guy made, we went back and selected 'wii sports'. this is the game that comes with the system. its five different sport games specifically created to show some of the functions of the motion sensitive controller.
i started out with boxing. yikes! i didnt suspect that i would be building up a sweat and getting a work out while i played video games! after a fight in boxing my shoulders were actually aching! next i tried golf. the controller is held like a golf club and you have to swing it to get a hit. i was really impressed with this one. i swung once, but it was too light, so i tried again but felt like it was too hard- and the swing chart on screen said that it was too hard! wow, who ever developed this did a great job of getting the swings right! as i was playing this i thought 'even my dad would love this game!' tennis, baseball, and bowling were also a blast. each of the five games are very simple, but it seems that this game is more designed to teach us the basics of what the wii can do.
the game i bought it is 'excite truck' and it is really cool too! this one isnt so motion sensitive, rather, its tilt sensitive. the buttons are for gas, brake, and turbo, but the stearing is totally based on tilting the controller the way you want to go. its kind of like the first time you ever picked up a video game controller and with out thinking you would lift up your controller when you wanted to make mario jump, except that you are supossed to in this game! the learning curve on all these games is so easy that it only takes about 30 seconds to get to the point where it feels perfectly natural.
it is a totally awesome system, and a totally awesome next step in gaming. i think i will be playing more than 30 minutes a day for the next few months...

TV. studio 60 on the sunset strip

i finally caught up with the show. i watched the first two episodes when they were first on, and really loved them. but since then ive been saving them up for just the right time. it seems that this week was that time!
this show is written by aaron sorkin, who also wrote 'west wing', and 'sports night' (which if you know anything about me, you know that i am totally obsessed with that show!) and he writes in a very unique style. his characters are fast talking and the pacing on the conversations does not stop! the characters love to walk and talk, usually through the sets quickly. also, they always seem to wait until the most stressful moments of the day to talk about their personal stuff. the writing is very witty and always takes three to four seemingly unrelated subplots and ties them with a strong theme that he wraps together at the end of the episode is a way that you probably never saw coming. very unique, and completely amazing!
with this show he does it again. its no sports night, but the seeds of greatness are there. sometimes the stories dont come together quite as strongly as they did on previous shows, but the characters are interesting, and the relationships are growing more and more fun to see unfold. and really, who doesnt love matthew perry?

GAMES. wii countdown

only one week left. seven more days. a whole week. dang, i am loosing my patience- i want it now! (im as bad as cartman...)
far too much of my thoughts lately have been taken up with the wii. i even made a special trip to target this week because i heard they had some wii related merch. they did, they had a bunch of wii magnets, so i bought them. (i am such a fanboy...) i am planning on standing in line saturday night to get it, but i didnt preorder it, so we will see how well that goes...
all this past week i have been plotting and planning what exactly im going to get with the system. it comes with wii sports, which has generic versions of tennis, golf, baseball, boxing, and golf. so, i know there will be tons of fun just playing with that, but i would like to get another game right away too. almost everyone will be anticipating the new zelda and picking it up, but i dont really care for those games. the last zelda game i really got into was the first one. almost twenty years ago. i am thinking instead of of getting exite truck. its a racing game, and those usually keep their replay value. and the idea of moving the controller like its a steering wheel sounds totally cool!
something that i just saw today in the newspaper ad for meijers showed that they are going to have a good deal on buying a second controller and getting the nunchuck attachment for free (worth 20 bucks), so i think if we can buy the system there, then i will get that second controller too.
how much time till it comes out now? shoot. still seven days. dang.

TV. lost

lately ive gotten into the habit of not watching shows for a few weeks, and then all in one night binging on all the latest episodes i have saved in one sitting. last night i did just that with lost. i hadnt seen any episodes since the season premiere this year.
now that im all caught up i have just one question: why should i still care?!? ive been watching this show since its first episode, but im starting to wonder why. the first season was really great, i loved the mystery, the questions, the cool flashbacks (especially the one with locke). last season i still enjoyed it, but it seemed like they lost their way a bit with the story. they have fallen into the habit of asking new questions and beginning new mysteries, but they kind of forget to finish up the last one, or answer any questions. at all.
and now this season they seemed to have just plain given up! they probably said to themselves 'so, heres what weve got so far: where did the polar bear come from? what huge thing ate someone in the plane wreckage? what was that crazy black smoke monster? whats with those numbers anyway? why do they have to keep pushing the button? whats that whole dharma thing about? why cant anyone leave the island? whats with the four toed statue? how come everyone seems to have interacted with each other before they got to the island?' and after asking all those questions, i assume they answered with 'screw it, lets just ignore all that and instead introduce 10 more main characters to our show. im sure no one will mind.'
this show quickly went from 'must see', to 'dont really care'. pretty sad because it was such a cool set-up.

TV. the exodus decoded

about a month ago the history channel had a new special on about the exodus. when i saw an ad i figured 'oh great, another documentary trying to explain away God. ive seen a lot of these types of specials and they allthink that they have come up with a new way to explain what happened and then they dismiss God because theyve figured out how it could have been done naturally.
this one was different though. it actually made the point, several times, that all of these explinations they are sharing instead prove just how God made it happen. the narrator makes the point "God does not work in spite of nature, rather He works with nature to achieve His ends." wow! i was quite surprised that they were giving God credit instead of trying to rip it way from Him. knowing that, i took the rest of the documentary more seriously instead of dismissing it they way they often dismiss God.
the guy behind this show takes the idea that a huge volcanic explosion in greece at the mountain of santarini was actually the cause of the plagues. he went through and showed a passage in egyptian hyrogliphs that talks about the gods fighting and destruction, which could be an account from their perspective. he uses an example of a lake in northern africa that actually turned red and eventually killed all the animals and some of the people. and this is a well documented event- it happened back in the 1980s. after going through those explinations, he then goes on to figure out where the real mount sinai is located, and also he claims to have an actual engraving of the ark of the covenant! all of it is really well done, they didnt skimp out on the special effects or anything- its even presented by james camron!
if you get the chance to see this on repeats or anything, i would strongly recommend it! i think im going to purchase it from the history channel website so i can use bits of it in class.

TV. random summer stuff

due to the fact that i havent been posting for a couple months, i just wanted to write a few things about summer stuff, please indulge me.
over the summer i did a bit of tv watching, and since most of the shows i like to watch are not new at this time, i have to be creative and find new things to watch. some of them are as follows:

last comic standing- i was glad to see it back, i really liked this show last time it was on. its kind of an american idol type show, except its better because you dont have to see mediocre singers sing karioke of old songs. instead, you get to hear some funny jokes and actually be entertained! some of the comics were really funny, but i was quite disappointed with the final winner. the guy who won suffered from some spinal problem that affected the use of his limbs. sure, he was pretty funny, but it really felt like a pitty win. the other two guys were funnier, and didnt just rely on the one note joke 'look at me, im crippled, isnt that funny!' like he did.

rockstar: supernova- ya, i know, this one pretty much is mediocre singers singing karioke of old songs, but its at least a bit more rockin. i really dug this show last year and looked forward to what this year would hold. it turns out that it didnt hold much. there were a couple stand-out singers, but the band decided on one of the worst to be their new lead singer. oh well. i guess thats a good thing, because the really talented singers wont be trapped down by a contract to have to play with these has-beens.

blade- wow! i really liked some of the movies (as expressed here), and was very interested to see what spike tv would do with an ongoing series. the character is cool, the background for his world is cool, i guess i figured they would screw it up royally. looks like i was wrong! the whole season was really great- the story was gripping, the twists were unexpected (in a good way), and the effects were top notch. i was very very surprised that it had the quality it did. this could have been a quick cash-in on the character, but it actually turned out to be an incredibly interesting journey into the world of blade and his mission to kill all vampires. i am really hoping that they renew this show for another season!

TV. its always sunny in philadelphia

i cant remember why i decided to give this show a shot. it was probably because its summer and there arent that many new episodes of my favorite shows. maybe i felt compelled to watch it after i heard how it came into being (a bunch of friends got together and made a pilot and brought it to the president of the fx channel, and he liked it so much he bought it and have them a quarter million to make a whole season. how cool is that?).
im not sure why, but im glad i did give it a try. this show is hilarious! its about three guys, a sister and dad, and all the crazy situations they get themselves in. now, i should warn you, this show is not for the faint of heart. they drop swear words like its going out of style, and the decisions they make are very bad and stupid.
what makes it funny though is that they go for it. if the characters come up with an idea, no matter how bad it is, they justify it and do it. for example: they want to get free money on wellfare, so they decide to become crack addicts. or, they pretend to be disabled to try and get chicks. absurd stuff, but thats part of the fun. also, no matter how much trouble they get into, the next episode has them all back to normal, cartoon style!
the actors are great too. the three friends are so mean with each other, they are actually more like brothers who like to annoy each other, actually. and some how they actually got danny da vito to play the father!
if you dont mind being offended, this show is really funny.

ps. dordt people: doesnt the guy on the far left totally look like ben visser?