Nunchux Wishing You and Yours a Very Merry Christmas

Review - Avatar

Spoiler Danger Low

So, on Saturday, I watched Avatar in theaters. I must admit that I wasn't particularly excited about the movie prior to its release. I was put off by the early trailers that spoke highly of the effects but didn't hint at any sort of depth to the story or characters. But, a couple of weeks ago, a real trailer was released, and that's when I started to get excited.

So, anyway, I was supposed to see the movie at the Thursday night/Friday morning midnight showing, but the theater sold out before I had the chance to purchase tickets. Instead, I went on Saturday with my best friend, his girlfriend, and a slew of her friends. Drama ensued as the other group purchased tickets separately, and they ended up purchasing tickets to the 7:30 showing instead of the 7:00 showing they told me we were going to. After much hubbub, we did finally end up in the same showing. And what a show it was.

Avatar, in a phrase, kicks ass.

Iron Man 2 Trailer #1 Now Showing

Last year, we were treated to the surprise breakout superhero hit movie in Iron Man. Next year, we will be treated to the follow up. The first trailer has been posted online, it's spreading like wildfire! Back is all the witty and egotistical humor of Tony Stark - as played by the fantastic Robert Downey Jr (I maintain that he was born to play this role, given his real life parallels). Plus, the cast has seriously been bolstered for the second iteration. Mickey Rourke plays the new villain Whiplash. You may remember Mickey from that little film called The Wrestler. I have a genuine soft spot for that movie (much like my soft spot for pretty much every movie Darren Aronofsky has ever touched). Plus Gweneth Paltrow returns as the lovely Pepper Potts. Additionally, we get Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell (starred solo in Moon - great movie, btw), and Samuel L. Jackson (that's Samuel L. Fucking Jackson!!!).

Plus you also get a bonus appearance: Stan Lee as (wait for it...) Larry King. ROFLcopter

What more could you ask for?

Oh, you could ask for the actual trailer instead of my talking about it. Well, it's not up on the YouTube yet, and therefore not embeddable, but mash on over to Apple's website for a look-see. It does require Quicktime though.

SGU Renewed for Season 2

OK, so I should be in bed right now, but my phone has been going crazy with people telling me that Stargate Universe was renewed for a second season! Now, I've long suspected that it would be renewed. Aside from the fact that it's a great show - the best on TV currently - it pulls in some great ratings. In fact, I've seen rumors online that the strong ratings from both SGU and Sanctuary have propelled SyFy to the 4th highest rated basic cable network. Pretty impressive.

Avatar Next Weekend

OK, so now I want to see this movie. This trailer has convinced me. Previously, there were complaints that the trailers weren't showing any depth of character or story (both thtings that James Cameron is known for), but this trailer rectifies that. That, and the fact that I've been looking forward to seeing Sam Worthington in a movie that wasn't trash (ahem, Terminator). Behold, the revelatory trailer inside.

Stargate Universe - Justice

Welcome to my first ever episode writeup for Stargate Universe. I'm very excited about this, especially since this episode was so damned good. And we will get to that in a second. First and foremost, SGU is now on hiatus for a very long time. Until April-ish in fact, which is almost 5 months away. This is rather distressing, as the ending to this one definitely left me wanting - no, needing - to see what else is in store.

But, fear not, the Hiatus Project is here. For the next few months, every Friday night, we'll be meeting up for a group chat during regular SGU time (9:00 EST). Hang out with cool people, learn the SGU drinking game from the queen of the game, maybe even a few special guests. If you're interested, head over to Colonel_Ez's blog for full details.

Onto the show. I'll try to keep the spoilers to an absolute minimum.

Heroes Vol 5 Ep11 - The Fifth Stage

I'll keep this one brief. I have more important things to get to. Namely, Stargate Universe. I'm merely passing time until midnight when Hulu posts the new episode.

Sorry for the delay on the review. Heroes has kind of taken a back seat to all the other, better shows on TV right now. House, Lie to Me, Cougar Town... SGU (of course). Pretty much everything else I watch. I dunno what it is exactly, but the show is losing me. While watching, I'm quite excited about the events going on, but in between episodes, I couldn't care less. Perhaps it's because I spend so much time thinking about SGU and contributing to its online community via Twitter and the upcoming hiatus project in as many ways as I can find.

Wait, wait, I'm here for Heroes.

This About Sums it Up...

In lieu of actually blogging about politics today, I will share this graph instead. Enjoy.


see more Funny Graphs

Heroes Vol 5 Ep 10 - Thanksgiving

I'd like to start this out by saying that next week, I am going to start doing a weekly write-up of SGU in addition to my usual Heroes shindig every week. SGU is by far better, and I feel it's about time to give it even more space on this blog.

Perhaps at some point today I will write a blog entry that does not in some way involve SGU... but then again, probably not.

Anyway, back to Heroes.

New Episode of SGU Next Week "Justice"

Alrighty, folks. With the first part of Why I Love SGU out of the way, I'm going to dive into some previews. Like I said in that post, SGU will not be on tomorrow. :-( <-- sad panda face

Next week we pick up with the mid season finale, called "Justice." Somebody is murdered on board the ship. I'm pumped up about this episode already. Can't freaking wait. Check out SyFy's cool trailer below. Make sure you tune in next Friday on SyFy, 9/8c - this is going to be a can't miss episode.

Why I Love SGU, Part 1 - The Characters

I just finished watching "Time" the best so far of the young SGU series, a series that seems to get better and better with each passing week. I believe that at this point I anticipate Friday night SGU more than I even anticipate Mondays with Heroes and Lie to Me and House. This show is that good.

Better even than October Road? ... Yeah, I think so.

There are so very many things the show does right, it's hard to name them all. But let me try for a while here. I intend for this to be an absolute doozy of a read, so hang in there!

Why Do People Like Sarah Palin Again?

It seems like a legit question to me. Why do you like or support Sarah Palin? It doesn't seem like she's done much in the way of actual notable political anything. She has no foreign policy experience, and quite frankly, she seems more likely to talk about her kids and her makeup than anything of political relevance. So, why would you even start to think she'd make a good President of the United States?

Twilight Conquers The Dark Knight

I couldn't believe it when I read it. The newest episode of the Twilight Saga - New Moon - had the largest opening day gross ever. Better even than one of the greatest movies ever in The Dark Knight. How did this happen???

TV Shows in Limbo

All over the web, articles are popping up talking about suspended production on all manner of TV shows, including some shows that I happen to like a lot - funny enough, all the shows of which I think highly enough to write about in this list are all on one channel.

ABC.

Word of advice to ABC. Don't get all NBC on me and start canceling good shows. Don't do it. That would make you idiots. I promise.

Yes, This is AOL's New Logo... No, Seriously

What, you think I'm joking? I wish. For reals people, this is the new AOL logo... or perhaps I should say "Aol." With a period. Lowercase "ol." Puke.

So, on December 10th, Aol will be spun off from parent company Time Warner, and this is the result of the rebranding effort that was undertaken to coincide with the spin off.

Hilarious... and slightly disgusting.

Global Warming - A Big Fat Scam?

The big news from over the weekend was that the email systems for the University of East Anglia's Hadley Climate Research Unit were hacked. The hacker released about 61MB worth of data on the Internet - hundreds of files that detail some startling things about the global warming movement.

The file itself has spent the weekend roaring across the Internet as folks all over the world check out the content of the hundreds of leaked files.

New Moon (Yes, it's Infecting This Blog Too)

I can write about this only because everybody in my office area at work has been talking about this movie for months. It's only picked up in intensity over the last few weeks as we've approached... tonight. Well, last night actually. Last night at midnight, fans swarmed into movie theaters to witness the release of the second movie in Stephanie Meyer's ridiculously popular Twilight Saga. My thoughts...

Calling all Blog Readers - I Need Help!

Good evening, everybody.

Yes, yes, I am still working on my SGU writeup, but life has been getting in the way of sitting down to work on it. I'd like to sit down Saturday morning and watch "Life" and complete my writeup prior to heading up to the mountain country (read: BFE) to celebrate my birthday/thanksgiving with my parents. Here's my crossed fingers.

Anyway, the point of this blog is simple. Tonight on Twitter, I was introduced to a movie called Johnny Got His Gun, and I simply must watch this movie. You see, it's one of those thinking pieces, and we all know how madly in love with thinking movies I am. It also stars one Ben McKenzie of Southland fame, and we all know how great an actor he is. Problem is, I can't find this movie anywhere. Amazon, torrents, ebay, nada. It's pissing me the frick off.

So, if anybody owns a copy or knows where to obtain one, I'm all ears. Shoot me an email or drop it in the comments. Thanks ahead of time!

NOTE: There were two versions of this film made, one in 1971, and one in 2008. I'm looking for the latter.

A Quickie About SGU

Ok, folks, for reals this time. I just finished watching the newest episode of SGU, called "Time." I believe it is probably the best episode of anything ever. As one guy on Twitter put it: "All right, I'm converted- this latest SGU? Rocked my socks off, blew my mind & possibly cured cancer- it was that brilliant"

It really was that brilliant.

Anybody even remotely interested in anything Sci-Fi needs to watch this show. It's already great, it's getting better, and it's very quickly becoming my favorite show on TV.

I'm working on a write-up of SGU thusfar, which I hope to have published later this weekend. Check back, it's gonna be a long one.

Water on the Moon?

It's true, it's true. NASA has confirmed that they have found good ol' H2O on the moon. What does this mean for the future of space exploration? Probably nothing, at least for a good, long while... but, you know, it's there.

An LOL For Your Day

Today, I am bored. As a remedy for anybody else who shares in my boredom, I give you this:


see more Lol Celebs

Clash of the Titans Remake Coming 2010

The next movie up in the Hollywood remake-athon is Clash of the Titans. This only crosses my radar because I happen to be a sucker for Greek mythology, and this is squarely in line with that. the tale follows the myth of Perseus, who is on a typically Greek-epic quest to save Princess Andromeda. Along the way, he must battle the likes of Medusa and the Kraken. Should be a fittingly explosive effects bonanza.

But who to play the lead role of Perseus?

Wait, is that...?

Why, yes it is! That's Sam Worthington, man of both Avatar and Terminator fame. Given that he was the only reason Terminator wasn't a complete waste of time, I'm excited to see he's got the lead role in this one (and doesn't spend all his time playing a CGI blue dude).

Count me in. Check out the trailer!

Southland, Ahoy!

Thanks to Twitter, I've discovered that there's an entire community that has been in existence fighting to save the coolest cop show around. It's kind of refreshing to know that I wasn't the only one on the planet who thought the show was TV equivalent of a double-decker sundae topped with yummy strawberries. And whipped cream. On a hot day in the dead of summer. Now I'm just making myself hungry.

In any case, Ben McKenzie, the man behind Ben Sherman (my favorite character from the show), did an interview with Twitter's @TVShowGirl where he discusses what it was like transitioning between stations, what's coming up in future episodes, and even dressing up like Jay Leno for Halloween (no, really... it even includes a bloody hands joke!).

Check it out. Good stuff (and mostly hilarious too).

Stargate Universe Revisited

As I mentioned in my last post, I have recently become quite addicted to the shows in the world of Stargate. I still have yet to test the waters in Atlantis, but I'm making strong headway into the original SG-1, and I've completely caught myself up on the current episodes from SG-U. I must say, as much as I love SG-1, There is something remarkable about SG-U that has me quite literally hopping up and down in anticipation of the next episode.

Here's why: We can officially add this to the very short list of shows with characters I truly love. Very few times can I say that I was sitting here watching the show shouting at the screen (it's like what most people do with football) or that I had to get up and pace because the show was making me nervous.

Though I still have a little over 7 seasons to go in SG-1, I do feel pretty comfortable saying that I'm going to like SG-U better... much better. See, while there are some pretty awesome characters in SG-1, a truly memorable lot, SG-U seems to be almost entirely focused on the characters. We get back stories, we get relationships, rivalries, and camaraderie.

All this on the backdrop of being stuck on a spaceship that seems capable of taking care of the people on the ship without allowing them to leave or get home. And this is where the show succeeds in my opinion - the stuff about the Stargates is really just a backdrop for the characters and their interactions. It reminds me of The Mist, in that the people can survive, so the story becomes one about the people and their natures. My favorite kind of story.

In any case, my favorite character of the bunch remains Lt. Scott. His arc even in the first 6 episodes is just fascinating and a pleasure to watch. The character has a lot of back story that can be built upon and expanded, and I positively can't wait. Also, Dr. Rush continues to get ever more complicated. His motives are questionable, but his ends seems to work for the benefit of everybody on the crew. Like Scott, I cannot wait to see how his character evolves.

One character that I didn't mention in my first post on the show was Colonel Young, and shame on me, because he is the gravity and the maturity that really keeps the show level. He's obviously a seasoned soldier, and the weight he lends the pieces of the story on board the ship really makes it all seem so... plausible. His back story, though, is what really got me on his bandwagon. It's kind of heartbreaking, and they really dig into it in the episode entitled "Earth." This also happens to be the basis for the biggest OMG moment I've had watching TV in quite a while. It was the cliffhanger ending of the show, and it had me staring slack-jawed at the screen for many a minute after the credits had concluded.

In any case, This show has definitely been added to the weekly must-watch list - right up there with House, Heroes, Cougar Town, and V (and Southland in January :-). Check it out if you get the chance.

Southland Coming in January

Some positive news for your evening.

We're slowly getting details about Southland's return on TNT. Here's what I know so far.

Southland will be returning in January on TNT. They will be airing the entire series so far (season 1, which we saw on NBC, and the episodes that were filmed for season 2 prior to the cancellation) before moving into new episodes. So, for those of you who are new to the show, tune in and find out why it's easily the best cop show on TV. One of the best shows in general, actually.

Mark it down folks, Tuesday January 12, 10/9c. And while you're at it, check out TNT's new website for the show. There's nothing up quite yet, but I bet there'll be some cool stuff soon.

And, there's a fan club too for you to feast your eyes on. Slash on over.

Health Care Reform Passes in House

I know I've written a couple of times about how the Obama administration with majorities in both the House and Senate has accomplished nothing... but I rather liked it that way. I disagree with pretty much everything that's come out of that man's mouth, from his policy rhetoric to his ego-inflating "self-deprecating" humor. It was a private source of amusement for me that nothing was getting done, but I was quite hoping that nothing would continue to get done.

Then, low and behold, the House has passed it's version of the health care reform bill. The sarcasm of my excitement would know no bounds were I to bother writing about it, but frankly, I'm too pissed to bother at the moment.

Consumerist has a nifty breakdown of what this version of the bill means for us common folk, so click on over there to get some details written in non-political verbiage.

EDIT: Check out this fascinating article I found over on The Knight Shift this evening for even more information on this "wonderful" new bill. Hip-hip hooray for our idiotic government. This outlines how the new bill "provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax."

How about this one:

If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…

Criminal penalties

Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.

What's more, according to said article, the Congressional Budget Office has said that the lowest cost family plan under this bill will cost $15,000 in 2016. I don't know about you, but I don't have an extra 15 grand just layin' around.

Oh boy, let me tell you how positively exciting this news is. Pay us more money because paying the health care tax is mandatory, and keeping an acceptable level of health insurance is mandatory and if you don't, we'll slap you with outrageous fines and send you to prison. Because the Constitution says we can do that. Um... yeah.

Socialism much?

Remember, Remember

Happy November 5th, everybody. It's not an official holiday, per se, but it is a day that reminds me of one of my favorite principles, something that is true now, perhaps more than ever.

Remember, remember the 5th of November
the gunpowder treason and plot.
I see no reason the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

A few years ago, a movie came out called V for Vendetta. It was a movie about one man who stood up to a corrupt and overly powerful government in the name of individual liberty and freedom. It has come and gone from the popular culture, but it's message rings with a particular truth.



So, remember the 5th of November as a day where can remind ourselves that people should not be afraid of their government, a government should be afraid of its people.

Bonus! I've been looking for an excuse to post a Tool video here, so here we go. On the think for yourself theme, I present a song that is the very definition of how I try to live my life. Enjoy!



Happy 5th everybody!

Heroes Vol 5 Ep 7 - Once Upon a Time in Texas

Welcome back to Texas. When we last left Hiro two episodes ago, he had gone back in time to save the one person he'd found in the world to love: Charlie, the girl from the diner with the encyclopedic fountain of knowledge in her head - which turned out to be a power. If you recall, she was killed by Sylar once he figured out she had a power.

In this episode, we pick up with Hiro as he arrives just in time to see Sylar enter the diner. He ends up saving her from Sylar only to have her start to succumb to her aneurysm. He makes a deal with Sylar - save Charlie, and Hiro will tell Sylar all about how he dies. Sylar saves Charlie by removing the aneurysm and Hiro tells Sylar that he will kill many people, but he will ultimately die alone; no one will mourn his passing.

So, Charlie is saved, but she's mad because she thinks it was selfish of Hiro to save her and risk the lives of thousands of other people.

I should mention that along the way, he meets both his past-self and Ando (it was nice to see Ando again). Both humorously commented upon his lack of a sword, a great throwback to those of us who've been watching since season 1.

The other big story was involving Noah. At this point in season 1's arc, he was investigating the future-painter who had drawn pictures of Claire's murder. We all know that part of the story, but what we didn't know was that during his investigation, he was being tempted by his partner. She was in love with him and wanted him to have an affair. We see him struggle throughout the episode with his devotion to his family and his obvious care for his partner - the biggest factor of that was that he didn't have to lie to her the same way he did with his family. In the end, he does the noble thing and declines her offer. Out of respect to his decision, she has the Hatian wipe the feelings and memories from her mind. This tale was particularly poignant in that we know what ultimately happens to Noah's family, and his blind hope that they can have a normal life here is uncomfortably sad.

I know that many people will disagree with me, but I thought this was a great episode - really well thought-out. The way the stories of Hiro and Noah parallel each other (and even intersect briefly) was fascinating, and the stories were, in their own ways, heartbreaking. I know it wasn't a balls-to-the-wall episode like we've seen in the last few weeks, but this was a welcome rest with some truly great character development.

But... where would I be without mention of Samuel??? The pieces of his plan are very slowly starting to come together, and we are starting to see why he is this season's very bad dude.

Back in the second episode of this season, he convinced Hiro that he needed to go back in time to fix all of his mistakes. Hence this whole save Charlie thing. Samuel uses Arnold, the almost dead time-traveler who works at the carnival, to send him back in time to monitor Hiro's progress. Which leads us right to... the cliffhanger ending!!

Charlie meets Hiro at the bar (where Hiro has just had a conversation with Noah) and says she's ready to travel the world with him. She disappears outside, Hiro following moments later.... only to find Samuel standing there. He confesses to having kidnapped Charlie, angering Hiro who travels back to present day. Samuel is impressed that Hiro has regained control of his powers, but all Hiro cares about is finding Charlie. In the process of looking for her, he finds Arnold, dead. Samuel confesses to working him to death. Arnold had the same brain tumor that afflicts Hiro, and Samuel's finally caused him to give in. His last act, according to Samuel, was to trap Charlie somewhere in time. The only way Samuel will tell Hiro where to look is if Hiro helps him undo a mistake he made eight weeks ago.

We see Samuel, apologizing to somebody. The camera turns, and we who I thought might have been Samuel's dead brother Jacob. But no, that's not it. It's actually the dead body of Mohinder. And suddenly, the question is answered as to why he has yet to be in the show.

Ka-BOOM. The show just got amazing. Maybe some more answers next week?

Anyway, best and worst time.
Best: Samuel killed Mohinder?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Hey, hey hey goo-ood bye!
Worst: Where is Ando? I kinda miss that dude!
Best Line: "The course of true love never did run smooth. It's a messy business, friend" -Noah, to Hiro

Where is Southland?

So, readers of this blog may remember that last year, I was thoroughly enjoying myself watching NBC's Southland - a real and gritty show about Los Angeles cops, a show about people with little fluff to speak of. In any case, the show was supposed to have its season 2 premiere in late September. NBC decided to push the premiere back to October 23, citing wanting to not get the show lost amidst the umpteen hundred other shows coming out in September. That seemed all well and good, but October 23 came and went, and I still have not seen the premiere for my favotire damned cop show. Dammit.

Nobody seems to have any news about a new proposed start date, at least not that I can find.

EDIT - Well, I found it. Please forgive me while I jump up and down and throw a tantrum. NBC has axed the show.

Insert tantrum throwing here along with many, many very bad words directed at the IDIOTS in charge at NBC. IDIOTS! $%@$#%$@^@%^@%^@#$%@#$%@#$^^%&@#$%&#$%@#$!$%.

I am mad beyond words at the moment, so truly mad. I hate, hate, HATE it when I get emotionally invested in a show then it is canceled. Southland, Arrested Development, October Road, and countless others over the years. This is why I stopped watching TV in the first place. They can leave senseless drivel like Law and Order on the air, but theyfinally come out with a real cop show with real characters... and they ditch it after giving it a small go. Pardon my French, but FUCK THAT.

It is slightly heartening to see that NBC appears to be shopping the show around to some cable networks, so maybe we'll get to see the show on a network with the cajones to make it work. In the meantime, fuck NBC. I knew there was a reason that I stopped watching shows on that network a looooooong time ago.

So, on the off chance that somebody from the show happens upon this blog, I'm rooting for ya.
If somebody from another network happens to read this, pick this show up - it's gold!
If somebody from NBC sees this, eat shit.

That is all.

EDIT - We will get to continue watching Southland, as TNT has picked up the broadcast rights from the dingbats over at NBC. Look for it to come back sometime in January. Thanks to Jason for finding that for me!

A Bit About Stargate

My friend Randy has been devoting time recently to introducing me to this TV show called Stargate SG-1. I had decided prior to sitting down and watching my first episode that it wasn't going to be particularly good and therefore a waste of time. Lo and behold, It took about half of that first episode for me to be completely engrossed. The show is smart, it's funny, and it's got some great story. It's been almost a week since the last time I watched it, and I think I'm going into withdrawal.

I was browsing Hulu today, and I happened upon the newest of the Stargate series called SG-U... or Stargate Universe. The first episode was a 2-parter, an hour and a half long, and damn is it fascinating. I haven't caught myself up on the 10+ years of SG-1, nor have I even started my venture to Atlantis, but Randy has filled me in on enough of the story to have a pretty good idea of what's going on. I fell right into this new story and these new characters, and I now have a new weekly must-watch show. Can't wait to get back to it and jump into the second episode.

I'm not sure what it is about the Stargate series, but they seem to always find some really good actors to fill the required roles. The acting in the newest iteration is sharp and intelligent, the folks really bring the on-screen personas to life. Of particular note are Brian J. Smith as Lt. Matthew Scott (and I say that for more than just the fact that he shares my name - coolest name ever!! :-) and Robert Carlyle as Dr. Nicholas Rush. Just from the first episode, I can tell that there is a lot more to these two than meets the eye, and I'm quite excited to see what happens with them. In particular, the dynamic between the two characters is fascinating,and I find myself hoping the show devotes plenty of time to exploring it.

Storyline-wise, so far as I can tell, this is a natural evolution from what I know of the past storylines, and it's ridiculously fascinating to put the missing pieces together in my head.

So, anyway, there's my two cents on the matter. I highly recommend it to anybody who is looking for an entertaining watch.

Coyote Hit by Car Going 75mph, Taken along for the 600 Mile Ride, and Lives!

In lighter, non-Heroes fare, we have the story of one very lucky coyote who was hit by a car that was going 75 miles an hour. He somehow ended up stuck in the engine compartment near the radiator and went along for the 600 mile trip. Upon arriving, the car's occupants took a looksee to find out what kind of damage hitting the critter did to their car. They found, instead, the coyote alive.

Don't believe me? Slash on over here to check out all the details for yourself.

And if that wasn't enough for ya, the wily little bugger - nicknamed Tricky during the rescue effort - escaped the place he was taken to recover. Now this is one awesome coyote!

Heroes Volume 5 Ep 6 - Strange Attractors

First off, my apologies for skipping out on the summary of last week's episode, but I've been oddly busy the last several days.

In any case, I haven't been this excited about Heroes since season 1. This season is really starting to turn up the tension, and that hasn't been more evident than in this most recent episode.

My initial liking of the episode came from Sylar, as we once again (finally) were treated to more of his torturing Matt Parkman. God, this story line is GREAT, and it just keeps getting better. For example, Sylar's first line in the episode was, ahem, "Forbidden fruit.... my favorite kind." In context, Sylar had taken over control of Parkman's body and had sex with his wife. This was shortly followed by Sylar and Parkman arguing, during which time, this line came up: "That is the second Parkman I've made scream today." Comic gold. Sylar is at his insidious best in this story, and I demand that they keep it up.

In other stories, Claire and Gretchen as well as two other stereotypical girls (the terrified blonde and the pseudo-strong black chick) are "kidnapped" by the heads of their sorority and put to a scavenger hunt in a very Saw-esque creepy slaughterhouse. During this time, the head of the sorority, who we had found out a couple of weeks ago was working with Samuel in his carnival and who can also turn herself invisible, was trying to kill Gretchen. You see, Samuel wants Claire to join his family at the carnival, and to accomplish this, he wants little invisible woman to make Claire isolated, which means killing off her best friend/lesbian lover Gretchen (blech). I was almost hoping that invisible girl would succeed if only so I didn't have to put up with Gretchen, whose lack of acting talent still drives me batty. Alas, Claire was too smart, and she foiled the murderous plans and exposed the head of the sorority as the invisible chick. In the process she was stabbed with a metal rod, and she ended up healing herself right in front of the stereotype twins. Uh oh, the secret's out. I guess she can kiss her normal life goodbye.

Speaking of Samuel...

In the last episode, we were introduced to Jeremy, who had the power to heal, and the power to kill. He can give life and take it away. Anyway, in the previous episode, he blows Peter's chest out with a shotgun then ends up healing him. Noah, who had previously had the kid's mind wiped by the Hatian, takes pity on the kid and decides to help him out. You see, the kid killed his parents, and Noah wants to make sure he can hide the kid away. The cops have other ideas, though, as they know he killed his parents and want him to pay. Noah calls in Tracy (lovely Tracy). He gets some fake papers to show that she is his aunt, she makes a connection with him via the fact that they both misused their powers, and he ends up going free. As they are walking to Noah's car from the jail, there is a crowd of angry townsfolk who don't agree with his release. One of said protesters charges Jeremy and ends up dying for it. Suffice it to say, they march him right back into the jail. Except... not.

One of the deputies gets the brilliant idea to get some justice, vigilante style. This deputy and his friend tie Jeremy to the bumper of his friend's truck via a chain... you can picture the rest. It was a horrifying scene, memorable because it was emotional and really hit home. The writers deserve some serious kudos for this one. This is powerful TV here folks.

Now where was I? Oh, right, Samuel. Did I mention that Samuel came to Tracy before she sprang the kid? Well, he did. He implored her to bring the kid to the carnival (using his seeming powers of teleportation to take them both from the dusty town to the carnival) where he could feel at home, be among people who loved him. He told Tracy that she was welcome there as well, and gave her a compass she could use to find her way back.

Noah and Tracy end up finding Jeremy's body later that night, battered and bloody, a truly heart-wrenching scene. All I could think of was how scummy those cops were...

Tracy, on the other hand, gets angry with Noah and demands that he never call her again. I felt awful for Noah here, as he is finally doing something good with his life, helping people instead of bagging and tagging... and it blew up straight in his face. Anyway, Tracy ends up alone in her car contemplating the compass.

With that, we finally get to the end, and they certainly didn't disappoint in the cliffhanger department. Here we go:

• Parkman gets drunk and blacks out. He gets drunk because he believes it is a way to banish Sylar. Silly boy. While he is blacked out, Sylar "slips in" and takes permanent control of Parkman's body, leaving the real Parkman in the "you are just a hallucination" role. Truly a brilliant twist, and they used some neat camera tricks here. This was a very tasty way to escalate the Parkman vs Sylar story.
• In the final scene, we see Samuel, angry and vengeful, walk up to the bloody patch on the road where Tracy and Noah found Jeremy's dead body. It's within view of the police station. We watch the deputy and his friend walk into the station, then watch as Samuel brings the entire building down on their heads before turning and walking away. It was a profound moment, one that hits home on many different levels. We have yet to figure out what Samuel's ulterior motives are, but here he is exacting sweet revenge on those that murdered a Hero. And boy oh boy, was it sweet.

We'll see where all this goes next week. Until then...

The best: Samuel bringing down the house
The worst: The death of Jeremy. But that's the worst part in a good way. In a not-so-good way, they teased us with Gretchen's death but didn't actually kill her. Damn them all!
Line of the Week: "That is the second Parkman I've made scream today." -Sylar, to Matt Parkman

Government Threatens to Control the Internet

I find myself yet again drawn to write about the political goings on in this country that I detest so much. I today's idiotic government news, Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) has put S. 773 on the table, titled "The Cybersecurity Act of 2009".

I received an email about this today, and it sounded completely crazy. "Congress is giving the President control over the Internet," and other such radical-sounding quotes abounded, and I was quite skeptical. But, I decided to poke around some more.

It didn't take long before I found that the the person who mailed me was not being radical or crazy or really even exaggerating. It's true, all of it. Head on over to OpenCongress to check out the proposal in its entirety. For your reading convenience, I am including the OpenCongress summary right here (emphasis mine):

This is comprehensive legislation designed to address our nation's vulnerabilities to cyber crime, global cyber espionage, and cyber attacks. It would establish a new Cybersecurity Advisory Panel within the White House and stream-line the cybersecurity effort through all levels of government. The bill also calls on the Department of Commerce to establish and maintain a clearinghouse on information related to cybsecurity threat and vulnerability information to public and private infrastructure deemed "critical" by the President. The Secretary of Commerce would be given access to this information "without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access." The bill would also give the President new authority to "declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and from any compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network."

Let's take a peek at this summary for a moment to figure out what it is, exactly, that's got people all up in arms. First of all, this bill gives the Secretary of Commerce access to what essentially boils down to all the traffic, browsing habits, emails, IMs, forum posts, etc. of everybody in the United States. No longer is this just a conspiracy theory perpetuated by folks wearing aluminum hats, this is the real deal. Of particular concern in the quote "without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access." This means that the government won't need to obtain a subpoena or anything to get a hold of your information - they won't have to follow the processes that are in place to protect our privacy and our rights.

They just get to circumvent the whole damn thing.

From the actual bill:

SEC. 14. PUBLIC-PRIVATE CLEARINGHOUSE.

(a) DESIGNATION- The Department of Commerce shall serve as the clearinghouse of cybersecurity threat and vulnerability information to Federal Government and private sector owned critical infrastructure information systems and networks.

(b) FUNCTIONS- The Secretary of Commerce--

(1) shall have access to all relevant data concerning such networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access;

(2) shall manage the sharing of Federal Government and other critical infrastructure threat and vulnerability information between the Federal Government and the persons primarily responsible for the operation and maintenance of the networks concerned; and

(3) shall report regularly to the Congress on threat information held by the Federal Government that is not shared with the persons primarily responsible for the operation and maintenance of the networks concerned.

The blatant disregard for our rights aside, its striking that the bill makes no real effort to define terms such as "critical infrastructure" or "relevant data." Because this isn't strictly defined in the bill, it gives the President the power to determine and change what qualifies.

The bill gives a very loose definition of the term "critical infrastructure: "(A) Federal Government information systems and networks; and (B) State, local, and nongovernmental information systems and networks in the United States designated by the President as critical infrastructure information systems and networks."

That basically means "anything we want to include." To give you an idea of what can qualify, the bill defines "cyber" as: "(1) any process, program, or protocol relating to the use of the Internet or an intranet, automatic data processing or transmission, or telecommunication via the Internet or an intranet; and (2) any matter relating to, or involving the use of, computers or computer networks."

This gives the President power to define "critical infrastructure" as pretty much anything he damn well pleases. This might include:

• Your home network (2 computers and a router, for example)
  
• A business' internal support network (intranet)
• The entire Interne

There is no definition at all for "relevant data," but the Patriot Act has shown us that we can define "relevant data" in the loosest possible terms.

So, essentially, Section 14 of this bill creates a place (clearinghouse, as it were) where the Secretary of Commerce stores information and can access it at any time. Think of the credit bureaus, but with even more information. This information can and likely will include who you are, what your browsing habits are, your social networking site updates and posts, your emails, IM conversations, usernames, passwords, and anything else that could possibly be used to link you to terrorist activity.

Does that scare anybody else here? I don't know about you, but I honestly can't think of any line in the Constitution that gives our government the right to spy on its citizens. Because that's essentially what this is.

The summary also mentions that this bill gives the President the power to "declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and from any compromised Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network." In real-people speak, that means that the President can order all Internet providers across the country to shut down all Internet access to all citizens of the United States if the President feels it is necessary.

Once again, we lack true definitions of things like "cybersecurity emergency" and "critical infrastructure". Yet again, we are left under the President's prerogative and he is free to define critical infrastructure as pretty much anything. As for "cybersecurity emergency," this is as easy to fabricate as a threat from a terrorist group. Ample evidence exists to suggest the Bush administration used the raising of the threat level during election periods to divert media attention from big Democrat news. We should be expecting similar shenanigans if the government is given the power to turn the Internet on and off.

For example, say there's a big Republican (or Independent, or Libertarian, or whatever) webcast taking place tomorrow. Oh, look at that, we just overheard a terrorist cell which was planning on hacking networks X and Y. We're declaring cybersecurity emergency and shutting down the Internet until we catch the terrorists. Sorry, Republicans.

More concerning is the fact that the bill gives the President the authority to not only shut down the entire Internet in this country, but also put limitations on such traffic. In real-person speak, this would allow the President to shut down certain websites by blocking all traffic to those sites.

In case that doesn't concern you, let's go back to our hypothetical Republican webcast. The day of, we happen to overhear terrorist threats, so we're going to block all traffic to that site.

Never mind the worst case scenario I just illustrated, but think for a moment of the ramifications. This essentially allows the g-men to control the flow of information across the Internet, to control what we read, what videos we can watch, what podcasts we can subscribe to...

But wait, we're not through yet! The bill also creates a Cybersecurity Advisory Panel - which will be comprised of President-appointed (yet another government office where the citizens have no say over who will represent them) officials who will determine and advise the President of cybersecurity threats and courses of action. They will oversee the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which will "establish measurable and auditable cybersecurity standards for all Federal Government, government contractor, or grantee critical infrastructure information systems and networks [...]". This Institute will have authority over such things as (again, emphasis mine):

• SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION SPECIFICATION LANGUAGE- The Institute shall, establish standard computer-readable language for completely specifying the configuration of software on computer systems widely used in the Federal Government, by government contractors and grantees, and in private sector owned critical infrastructure information systems and networks. -this allows the government to see what software you have installed on your computer and across your network, as well as how you're using it.
  
• STANDARD SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION- The Institute shall establish standard configurations consisting of security settings for operating system software and software utilities widely used in the Federal Government, by government contractors and grantees, and in private sector owned critical infrastructure information systems and networks. -this allows the government to potentially do things such as dictate what operating systems you can use, require a "back door" or tracking bug be coded into all OS programs so they can monitor your activity, or determine the level of encryption you can use over the Internet.

And if you thought that was all... The bill also calls for the creation of regional centers which will be able to dictate to privately owned companies the software they can install on their workplace computers.

PURPOSE- The purpose of the Centers is to enhance the cybersecurity of small and medium sized businesses in United States through--

(1) the transfer of cybersecurity standards, processes, technology, and techniques developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology to Centers and, through them, to small- and medium-sized companies throughout the United States [...]

So, not only does the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 give the government power over what you can view on the Internet, whether you can access the Internet or not, what security features come in software (including operating systems), the power to look at your specific computer and determine how you are using your programs, but it also gives them the power to dictate what businesses are doing with their computers as well.

What's more, this bill was introduced very quietly in the Senate. This is likely because the g-men feel they have overused the "It's for your own good" thing. Now they're just going to quietly try to pass a bill that takes away even more of our rights. It's really nothing more than a sneaky power grab by the folks in office. As such, it needs to be quashed, and quashed now. For the sake of our rights as citizens of the United states, this things should never be allowed to pass into law.

In that vein, Campaign for Liberty is hosting a petition against this bill. I urge you to stand up for your rights and add your name to this very important petition.

Heroes Volume 5 Ep 4 - Hysterical Blindness

Last week we left off with Sylar diggin out of Nathan Petrelli's shallow grave, and this week we pick up with him wandering dazedly down the road, bloodied, and we soon see him arrested. His story revolves mostly around him trying to figure out who he is. On the other side of the table, we have the sympathetic therapist and the asshole cop. The therapist tries to work with Sylar to discover who he really is... then hardass detective comes back with a fingerprint match that ties this lost Sylar to his former life as Gabriel Gray, and tells the cops that he killed his mother. Queue Sylar using powers instinctively without understanding what is happening. The acting here was absurdly brilliant.

The whole journey was really quite entertaining. It was interesting watching Quinto play Sylar as a broken husk of a man, and it was fascinating watching as Sylar struggled to remember who he is. This blank slate Sylar is more awesome than both the evil Sylar and the confused pseudo-good-guy Sylar, and that's a great thing for his character. I'm not sure yet how he stands up to taunting-Parkman Sylar, but we'll just have to wait and see.

The episode also puts us back into touch with Emma and Peter with a particularly fascinating comparison between the two characters. First we have Peter who is trying to get back in touch with his mother, who is busy worrying about the fate of the now (presumably) dead Nathan. On the other hand, we have Emma who is trying to shrug off her mother's concerns about her mental stability. Peter ends up saving Emma from being run over by a bus and in turn, gains her power to "see" sounds. They have a touching bonding moment at a piano with both of them seeing the vibrant colors of the music in what amounts to a trippy acid experience. Cool, but it lasted a bit long for my tastes.

Moving on, we had Claire who has an invite to join the sorority of which her mother was a part. Of course, she brings along the horrible actress who plays the horrid Gretchen. Stuff happens, then Claire ends up joining the sorority with Gretchen. The happenings between Gretchen and Claire during the episode end up with them kissing, which was an underwhelming moment, given all the hype for it. Perhaps part of it is that Gretchen is fugly as hell...

On the more interesting side of things, Samuel promises that Jacob's seat at the table will be filled by the end of the day. Little do we realize who that seat will be filled by...

Heroes this season is trademarking ridiculously awesome cliffhanger endings. There were several of them this week. Here we go!

• We learn that Rebecca, the head of Claire's new sorority is working for Samuel. She has been responsible for all the goings-on in Claire's life including her old room mate's "suicide"and the mysteriously appearing suicide note, her stumbling upon evidence that Gretchen was stalking her (it turns out that Gretchen was "crushing"... hence the kiss), and was responsible for making it look like Gretchen was trying to kill other people to whom Claire would talk. Epic. Maybe Rebecca will kill Gretchen sometime soon. that would be lovely.
  
• Emma finds she can use her power to destroy things.
• Hiro appears in Peter's apartment and promptly collapses.
  
• Sylar ends up escaping from jail, his therapist driving him out into the back woods, where he ends up getting shot. She allows him to run away after seeing that he healed himself, and he stumbles over a hill and beholds... the Sullivan Brothers Carnival. Holy shit. Samuel welcomes him inside, and as the cops chase Sylar over that same hill, the carnival is gone. this begs the question... how the f*** did Samuel pull that stunt? and how did he know exactly where to find Sylar?

Anyhoo, the show is picking up some serious steam. The story pacing is great, most of the stories are fascinating and are moving forward, and I'm super-excited to see what Peter's going to do with Emma's power. More than enough to keep me coming back for some more next week.

Until then...

Worst Part
Gretchen and Claire kissing. Nasty and completely unnecessary.

Best Part
Sylar stumbling into the Sullivan Brother's Carnival.

Line of the Week
"Of course, the chocolate milk is great too!" Claire, to Gretchen.

More on Politics - Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize, Wants to Extend School Year

I was doing soooooo good at avoiding politics here, but now I find myself with a need to vent.

For those of you that haven't heard yet, our esteemed President has won himself a Nobel Peace Prize.




There's a strong outpouring of venom in regards to this topic across the intertubes. My facebook newsfeed is alight with people wondering "WTF?" and "Bullshit" and other such disbelieving sentiments. Twitter is buzzing with people both congratulating the decision and stoning it.

Me, I think the decision is ludicrous. Yay, we have an American who won the award. Go-go American pride. That's all well and good, but I must pose the question: What has Obama done to promote peace since he's become President... or ever for that matter?

Sure, he runs around trying to curry favor with foreign governments (which includes declining to meet with the Dalai Lama in favor of placating the Chinese government), but that hasn't done much in the way of promoting peace... especially considering that the award nomination had to be submitted just 12 days into his Presidency. In the first 12 days, he accomplished... nothing.

Not that this has changed in any way since those initial 12 days. First, the wars that G-Dub started during his miserable 8-year term are not over, and are looking to get far worse before they get better - issues are escalating in Afghanistan, and there's been no notable improvement in Iraq since Obama took office. The news has been speaking recently of Venezuela, North Korea with their nuclear threats, and China becoming quite powerful. and yet, even 10 months into his Presidency, we're supposed to think he's done enough to promote peace to deserve this award?

So far, all we've heard from Barack Obama is bold and empty promises, a lot of rhetoric and hyperbole, with a few Superman jokes thrown in for good reference. He has failed to deliver on even the simplest of promises, including (but not limited to): getting rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," ending the war in Iraq, nationalizing health care (not that I want that to go through, but still), or saving the economy (or even making the economy his first priority). And, mind you, that's with a Democrat-controlled House and Senate. Fail, fail, fail.

One thing that he is pushing for is a solution to the fact that America keeps dropping in the ranks of most educated population. His solution.... Make the school year longer.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

That helps how? The only way to educate successfully, in my most humble of opinions, is to motivate. Extending the school year, cutting into the one time of year every school kid looks forward to, is NOT going to motivate anybody. I know I wouldn't be motivated, and I used to love school.

Let me throw a suggestion out there for the masses. Let's start teaching the kids instead of teaching the test. I loathe standardized tests, I think they're idiotic. You cannot teach every kid when you are teaching to a standardized test. You will fail in teaching, because the people you are teaching are NOT standardized. The idea that schools get paid more based on how well their students do on tests is a big fat failure. We all get that schools need more money, but parsing out that money based on test results is insane. Teachers need to be given the freedom to actually TEACH kids again instead of spending their time teaching kids how to fill out bubbles and how to answer the specific types of questions to be found on a test. This does not prepare students for the "real world" in any way, shape, or form.

If Obama would like to improve our education system, start out by getting rid of this standardized testing bull crap. That's my thought on one way to improve the state of our education system. Sure, it probably won't fix everything wrong with it, but it's a bigger step in the right direction than extending the school year will ever be.

Heroes Volume 5 Ep 3 - Acceptance

Wow. Just wow.

This week's episode continued the wonderful trend of telling only a couple of stories per episode. This is a great move for Heroes, as it allows us to more deeply connect with each strand of the story. In Acceptance, we focused on Hiro and Ando, Bennett and Claire, and Angela and Nathan. The unfortunate part of this episode was that the carnies we've all come to love were almost entirely absent, with Samuel, tattoo lady, and Slicey McSlice'Em making only the briefest of appearances.

Claire came to Noah's house (an apartment he rents right above a Japanese restaurant, really) to try to convince him to get out of the depression he finds himself in without a family or a job to keep him going. This was an interesting role reversal with Claire ultimately playing the part of the parent. In any case, she eventually convinces him that he needs to go back to his old job. That wasn't her intention, mind you, but that's what came of it. I'm smelling a bit of the "Heroes' Reset Button" here, but I'm glad to see Noah back at it. We see him at the end of the episode trying to figure out what's up with the compass.

As an aside, Peter came to him to tell him of the compass tattoo he discovered on his forearm at the end of episode 2, and Noah waves him away. This was well before Noah came to the conclusion that he wasn't done hunting the baddies with the powers yet.

Anyway...

Tracy made brief appearances in this episode, as she tried to put her life back together the way it was before all this started. She soon discovers, with the help of Noah, that she wants to do more with her life, to help people. Dramatic turn for her character. I'm quite excited about it. Expect her to help Noah and Peter out as they hunt for the meaning behind the compass.

Hiro tries over and over to save a guy who is committing suicide. The guy is committing suicide because he was fired from his job (at the company Hiro's sister runs), and he was fired because he made a copy of his rear end at a holiday party. Hiro goes back in time to prevent this from happening, only to find the dude back on the roof, as he had made a copy of his behind at some other point in time instead. The point being, no matter how many times Hiro prevented the guy from copying his ass, the guy did it anyway and was always on the roof. Eventually, Hiro figures out that you can't necessarily change the future just by changing events in the past (which leaves us to wonder what that does to Samuel's plans for Hiro). Then he confesses to his sister that he's dying and disappears.

And, best for last....

Nathan and Angela!!! Whoo hoo! This might be a first. I've never been excited about Nathan... ever. But, he has discovered he has the power to absorb memories from objects - a power Sylar acquired near the end of Volume 4. Angela brings him some effects from his past, and he ends up touching a baseball cap, which shows hima memory of one of his teenage girlfriends laying face down in a pool, blood floating eerily on the surface. The folks behind the scenes with Heroes did this shot exceptionally well. Everything is black and white in these memories, except for the blood. Very Schindler's List-esque. Anyway, if you haven't seen the episode yet, stop here. Major spoiler ahead.

As Nathan investigates, he discovers that he was responsible for her death (caused and accident... he didn't murder her), which he confesses to both Angela and his ex-girlfriend's mother. Now, his EGF's mother hires a assassin to kill Nathan, which the assassin does, then buries Nathan, all while the EGF's mother has dinner with Angela. Now, for those us us who understand Sylar's powers, it was pretty obvious that Nathan would come back to life and "rise from the grave." Well, as it were, Sylar rose from the grave (yes, that would be Zachary Quinto, not the dude who plays Nathan). We end the show with Sylar, dirtied and angry, staring out from the earth.

What an amazing ending to this episode. Consider me completely hooked at this point. Thi show is back on track. Let's hope it stays that way.

Acceptance's worst parts:
5. Not enough Peter! We need more Peter now that he's not quite so emo.
4. Ray Park (Slicey McSlice'Em) needs more lines, dammit!
3. Too much overly-dramatic Angela. Booo.
2. Not enough Samuel. Hello!! He's awesome!
1. The woman who played Nathan's EGF's mom. She kept looking like she'd just been hit with a shovel, right in the gut. Made me want to really do it.

Acceptance's best parts:
5. Bennett's back on the job! No more depression!
4. Moving storylines! Say goodbye to the circle!
3. Less characters per episode! 8 instead of 20
2. No more Nathan (???)! Please, please, please, please! Pretty please with cherries???
1. No stupid, whiny-face Gretchen in this episode!!!

New Resident Evil Movie

Yes, it has been confirmed, there is another Resident Evil movie on the horizon. Hip hip hooray!

Resident Evil: Afterlife will once again star Milla Jovovich as Alice and Ali Larter (also of Heroes fame) as Claire Redfield. But, for the first time, we also get treated to Claire's brother, Chris, who will be played by none other than Wentworth Miller.

Who's that, you may be asking. Well, aside from Robert Knepper, Miller (who played Michael Scofield) was the only reason Prison Break (the first season) was any good. I am quite excited to see him in something other than the Prison Break franchise, so count me in for the new Resident Evil movie. Woot!

One notable downside of the movie is that it is being shot in 3D. As is every movie ever nowadays. I find the whole idea of a 3D movie to be ridiculous and unnecessary. It's a stupid gimmick to get people to pay extra to see what amounts to the same damn movie. I saw Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (I will write a review for that one... it was bad) in 3D and it was ridiculous thta I paid an extra $2.50 to see it that way.

Anyway, Resident Evil: Afterlife is on its way. Wentworth Miller is the bomb, so it has the potential to be the best RE movie to date.

Heroes Volume 5 Ep 2 - Ink

The hooks are sinking in...

This episode treated us to very few things that annoy me and a whole lot of things that rocked my world. And this comes after watching the far superior House...

For starters, we have Sylar and Parkman in what is easily the coolest damned thing Sylar's ever done. The taunting continued and escalated. We were shown that Sylar can use Parkmans own powers against him to get what he wants out of Parkman. This turn is executed perfectly, and I am giddy with the prospect of what's to come. I hope it takes a good long time before Sylar is reunited with his body.

That is, of course, not to say that all was hunky dory in the land of superheroes. We were treated to more of Gretchen, who I am beginning to seriously dislike. We take an interesting story between Noah and Claire and we throw her into the mix and I just want to turn the damn thing off. Granted, this is the same storyline we saw between Noah and Claire the last 2 seasons, but it actually seems to be moving forward now. Thank god. Noah played the less cool than usual role of father rather than normal guy vs super dudes, so I'm hoping they kick him back into gear next week and we see some more of Tracy (who was oddly completely missing from this episode).

We were introduced to Emma, a deaf woman who suddenly starts seeing noise. She ends up playing a wonderful piece on the cello, and she plays it by seeing colors instead of hearing noise. It seems like that's her only gift (other than making very comical impressions of people's uncaring faces)... so I'm wondering where they're taking her.

As always, best for last. We finally see the true extent of Samuel's powers, as he levels the house he grew up in. No joke. "A sinkhole" they call it. The buildup to this moment was all quite spectacular and was very reminiscent of our beloved Chapter 1. On his way, he introduces himself to Peter, who he thinks could take the place of his brother Joseph at the Carnival. Samuel works some of his ink magic to create a tattoo of a compass on Peter's forearm when they shake hands. He also breaks into Peter's house to make Peter believe that he is who Peter thinks he is - a victim Peter rescued from a crash. We as the audience know this is untrue, but poor Peter does not.

Speaking of Peter, his rescuing ways come back to haunt him in the form of a lawsuit and the rumors around the hospital that he is a "glory seeker" and causes all those accidents himself. I'd go off on some tirade about how people can't just be grateful, but this serves to push Peter out of his rut and start being a person again. I most certainly applaud that. I can now get back into thinking Peter is awesome, just the way I like it.

So, the show ended with Peter seeing he's got a spinning compass on his arm while he and his partner are at the scene where three people were killed by Samuel's sinkhole. Where do we go from here?

I would like to suggest that they clear up a glaring plot hole that has come to light. When does Peter realize he has telekinetic powers? He obviously has them now... he and Samuel shook hands, and physical contact is what allows Peter to absorb powers. Once he realizes he has telekinetic powers, surely he'll realize that the man he met is not who he claims to be. Right?

Anyway, this season is dazzling so far in a way this show hasn't done in a very long time. I can't wait to see what happens next week.

House Season 6 Premiere

I thought I'd take a small piece of time out of my busy Tuesday evening Hulu watching to write a little something about this show. I don't blog about it often, but one of my all-time favorite shows is House. I spent all weekend a couple of weeks ago watching season 5 of House trying to catch up in preparation for season 6, which premiered last Monday. Unfortunately, Hulu runs a week behind on episodes, so I was not able to watch the season premiere until tonight.

About House in general, the show is great for one reason: the characters. Sure there are medical mysteries, crooked cops, and some graphic surgery scenes, but it's the characters that really make the show work. It's been an absolute pleasure watching them grow and evolve over the past 5 seasons. It's one of the rare shows that continues to get better as time goes on, and season 6 looks to continue that trend.

So, in regards to the premiere. I have only one thing to say about it.

That was the best episode of television that I have ever watched.

That is all.

Review - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Yes, I have finally watched a movie called Perfume.

It started out with a text message conversation. My friend wanted to hang out and watch a movie tonight.
I thought: Cool!

He said he had a movie in mind that he thought I'd like.
I thought: Cool!

He said it was called Perfume.
I thought: ........ummmmmm......

He said it was my type of movie and he is seldom wrong when he says that, so we watched it.

Wow!

I went into this movie with the expectation that it would be only decent enough to warrant the "you'll like it" comment from my friend. I came out utterly blown away with this intensely marvelous movie.

I'll say it again. Wow!

And something else: Brilliant.

The story of this movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before - a boy is born with an unusually strong sense of smell. He smells, it seems, much as a dog would smell, and he sees the world through the vibrant colors of olfactory. The story traces his life as he strives to create the ultimate scent. I take that back, it's not really the creation of the ultimate scent. He is working to capture wonderful scents so they never fade, which leads him down the path that is, for lack of a better term, dark.

I know, I know, it sounds silly. Downright stupid even. I get it. I thought the same thing. But trust me, it is anything but brainless. The story is dark, a little twisted, sometimes downright humorous, and has one hell of an ending. The ending, in fact, struck me as completely strange until I sat down and thought about it for a bit. It suddenly all made sense... It fit with the movie's themes and was a cute little jab at human nature to boot. Brilliant.

Easily the best thing about the movie was Ben Whishaw. I'm not familiar with him from any of his other work, though a quick IMDB search reveals that he seems to stick mostly to period pieces (this movie takes place in France in the 18th century). I wish he was in more, as we can definitely add him to the list of actors and actresses that I'd pay to see in a movie. Whishaw plays the central character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Let me take a moment to say that I don't think even more well-known character actors like Johnny Depp or Russell Crowe could create a more believable, richer, or deeper character than Whishaw portrayed with Grenouille. Grenouille has twitches and ticks and mannerisms, a distinctive speech pattern, quirks in the way he moves, and a vast array of subtle facial expressions. Not one expression or movement is out of character, not one word or breath. The movie gave me plenty of time to find fault, as there were many, many moments in the movie where the camera would just sit on Grenouille, and I got to watch his reaction to other things that were happening or being said off screen. Whishaw pulls each moment off fantastically.

Also of note, both Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman are in the movie, and both are superb as well. I should say that Hoffman's accent grated on me a little, but that is a trifling concern when held up against everything else in the movie.

The score felt overdone in some places, but on the whole, it was a pleasure to listen to.

I wish I could say more, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything for those of you who haven't seen it yet and may want to. If you haven't seen it yet, I implore you to go rent it and give it a shot. It's 2.5 hours very well spent.

Oh, one final thing that really stuck out to me in this movie was the camera work. The crew had the unenviable task of taking a story that is all about smell and making audiences feel that with only video. The camera does a wonderful job of visually connecting us to what Grenouille is smelling. The shots are up close and personal, you can see the little details, the textures, and the colors explode off the screen. Throughout I was thinking to myself that this must be how he sees the world, all the detail. It was pleasantly surprising.

Anyway, enough rambling before I start to give things away. Go watch this movie... NOW!

Score: 9.8/10.0

Heroes Volume 5 Season Premiere Reaction

So, let's get straight to the point. Is Heroes back on track?

I'm not sure yet... but things are definitely looking up.

Heroes Volume 5 (season 4) kicked off last night with a 2 hour season premiere, and it was good, old fashioned, power-wielding fun. We had our old characters, we had some new ones introduced by way of the the Sullivan Carnival, which is headed up by the wonderful Richard Knepper, and his gang of bad, bad heroes.

I'm going to jump right in here and say that his motives, thus far not revealed, will keep me coming back for more. Knepper's character, Samuel Sullivan, is deliciously... dark. I had high expectations for Knepper in this villain role, and if the first episode is any indication, we are all in for one hell of a treat. I'll get back to him - best for last, after all.

As is the usual Heroes way, we find ourselves presented with several different storylines that will eventually intersect with each other. Yet, we have a strange and exciting mix of stories not yet seen in the world of Heroes.

First and perhaps most exciting - of the original characters anyway - would be that Matt Parkman has Sylar in his head. The idea of this is that when Matt Parkman was in Sylar's head making him believe that he was actually Nathan, part of Sylar's mind slipped into Parkman's. Now, Sylar comes out, hallucination-style, and quite literally taunts Parkman. This is a fantastic twist on Sylar's character, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens here. Sylar's ultimate goal is to reunite his mind (the part that's stuck in Parkman) with his body (currently in the form of Nathan Patrelli). His goal for this episode was to get Parkman to reneg on his promise to his wife that he would no longer use his mind control powers. He succeeds admirably and entertainingly. I imagine that Sylar will ultimately find his way back into his body, but until then, the ride should be entertaining and one of the show's high points this season.

We also have Noah Bennett, who is involved with Peter and Tracy. Put simply, Bennett is almost murdered by Tracy (recall that Tracy is back as the vengeance-seeking thing made of water). Things happen, and magically, I think, Bennett and Tracy are falling for each other. Talk about a one eighty. Anyway, romantic subplots aside, Bennett is working with Angela to put the company back together, but doesn't seem motivated. Claire is in college and his wife is seeing other guys. Oh, and Danko dies, which leads Bennett on a short scavenger hunt for a compass, which is soon stolen from him (leaving him almost dead) by a guy with super speed and a penchant for slicing people to ribbons.

Peter is a sissy as ever. I'm utterly bored with his I don't wanna do anything attitude. If I knew him, I'd punch him in the face. He's back to his paramedic ways, using his speed and strength powers to help people. Boring. Sure it's cool that a hero is actually using his powers to help people, but he whined about doing it enough last season that it really just irks me now. He goes with Bennett to find the compass, absorbs Speedy McSlice-Em's powers, and a cool knife fight ensues. He refuses to help Noah further, however, citing the reason for coming along as "speed will help me save people" yada yada. Punch in the face.

Anyway, Hiro is dying. Remember the nose bleeds from the last season? Well, it turns out to be something that is killing him, I'm thinking brain tumor. Anyway, he and Ando are running a Dial a Hero service, which ends up with them amusingly rescuing a cat from high places. Hiro stops time, then when he restarts it, he is frozen... something, something, they haven't explained it yet, moving on. Anyway, he ends up traveling back in time to the Sullivan Carnival when it visited Tokyo, Japan 14 years ago. There he meets Samuel (who also traveled back in time specifically to meet Hiro), who convinces him its a great idea to use his powers to go back and fix his previous mistakes. He does this by forcing Hiro to prevent the event that causes Hiro's sister to hate Ando. Upon returning to the current time, Ando and his sister are going out, making Hiro feel like a... well, hero, and making it clear that Samuel's logic is, in fact, bottled wisdom.

Nathan had a tiny role in the show, which is awesome because I'd like to hit him in the face with a shovel. He's easily one of the most infuriating fictional characters in the history of fictional characters. His role this week was blessedly short, boiling down to very little more than whipping out some Sylar-esque powers with confused expressions on his face.

Moving on.

Claire is in college, her room mate is almost as infuriating as Nathan, then her room mate dies by jumping (supposedly) out of their second story window. Police find a suicide note on teh pillow, which we as astute viewers will note wasn't there when Claire walked into the room and discovered the suicide. Claire also notes this and decides that her annoying room mate was murdered. Enter (somewhere along the way) Claire's new friend whose name I didn't bother to remember and who will only be noteworthy for the rumored lesbian relationship coming up between the two. Rock on. Oh, and at the end of the episode, Claire decides to fall out of her window to see if it is possible that her ex-room mate jumped, was pushed, or fell... and for some strange reason, her new found friend decides that this is the perfect time (so late at night that nobody on a college campus is wandering the streets and no lights are on in any dorm room, but for some reason this girl feels like just wandering into the room of a girl she, quite frankly, barely knows) to wander into Claire's room and see her misguided investigation techniques. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that this chick (ah, Gretchen is her name.... who names their kids that any more???) obviously has ulterior motives.

Moving on... to the Sullivan Carnival. This is what is going to make or break the show this year. Yes, Sylar's story with Parkman is interesting, yes I like Noah's character, but I doubt even these things will be enough to stave off the axe if the carnival characters flop. First and most certainly foremost is Robert Knepper's Samuel Sullivan character. The show opens with him giving a eulogy for his brother, the dead (and likely murdered) Jacob Sullivan. His speech serves as a diving board to launch us back into the story and the characters, yet it is him to whom we gravitate. His character is dark, undoubtedly evil, and is just a pleasure to watch. We know he seeks vengeance, presumably for the murder of his brother, but the hows and deatils of why haven't been revealed, and this is why I will tune in again next week. I'm curious as to his powers, however, because he seems to be able to do numerous things. He's obviously a telepath, as he covered his brother's casket by moving the dirt with his mind. Yet, he also seems to be able to do other things. His tattoo stick (henceforth, "the stick") delivers ink into the skin that does... things. It forms pictures on tattoo lady's back, and, in one part, it forms a hand around the neck of another carnival hero (actually, Speedy McSlice'Em) and almost strangles him. Fascinating. I definitely want to see where his powers take him in the show.

We've also been introduced to several of the carnival's other misfits. Wee meet tattoo lady who can give details about the faces Samuel makes appear with his ink (delivered with The Stick). We meet Speedy McSlice'Em and get to see him kill Danko (for shame, I liked Danko). We also meet an older gentleman who can time travel much like Hiro. Samuel uses this man to send him back 14 years to meet Hiro at the Carnival when he goes back in time.

It's clear that there are many things going on in Volume 5. And pretty much all of it hinges on how well the creative team delivers with the carnival misfits, and Samuels grand plan. One thing that was highly disappointing was the fact that I don't think Samuel had enough time in the show. I hope this is corrected later on.

Anyway, while not up to the standards set by Volume 1, the first episode of Volume 5 piqued enough of my interest to keep me coming back for more. There was moer story progression in this one episode than we saw all year long with Volume 4, and there were also more powers in this episode than the entirety of the last 2 volumes.

So, let's buckle up and see where this takes us.