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.