I typed all this into Buzz for the other Ziggurati, then realized that a mere Buzz could not contain my nerd love/rage (depending on the series).
SG-1 is fun, delightfully meta, and has seven or eight good seasons. That said, if you’ve only watched seven or eight seasons, skip ahead to the tenth season episode “200″, which is totally worth it. I enjoyed all ten seasons, but most of seasons nine and ten are kind of tacked on filler (except for the aforementioned “200″). Because I love SG-1 so much, though, my nerd love does support the last two seasons okay. Season 10 was better than Season 9.
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Someone did up Dr. Horrible as if it were an NES game. With 8-bit renditions of the songs and everything (which you can download even for the songs not in the video!). It is awesome.
I knew I was in trouble when I saw what the puzzle in the xkcd book worked out to: A longitude and latitude plus date and time.
Yet again, Randall Munroe has given us a time and place in the future and left us to our own devices. The last time this happened, ChibiDan, Post, Brooke, Diven and I ended up in a park with hundreds of other people from all over the world, and we had a blast. This one’s in Golden Gate Park, on June 26.
Anyone interested?
Many of you probably haven’t seen this new video by hip-hop artist Timbaland, featuring “One Republic”, about it being “Too late to Apologize”.
…but this is not what I came here to talk about today. I came to talk to you about the video “Too Late to Apologize” by King George. Yes, that one. Featuring Thomas Fucking Jefferson.
The internet tells me that someone is filming a TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “A Game of Thrones”. You who know more about these things: is it really going to happen or is this old news; does this make you excited or just disappointed that it’s not Erikson?
AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGHHH!
I would love to see someone make this into a controller. Nintendo, I’m looking at you.
You need to turn this mutha up real real loud…by which I mean watch Human Target.
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I wasn’t planning on watching Caprica, since these kinds of spin-offs are almost always very contrived and/or watered-down. People were making noises though, so I gave it a go. Caprica doesn’t particularly suck. Some things about it are very good. It is definitely not a show, as I think Rhad can attest, that one will want to jump in on mid-stream. This is partly because the show doesn’t spend sufficient time explaining everything that’s going on; it feels like it really wants to have 60 minute episodes. The acting and production are good, and the plot is potentially very William Gibson, which I obviously find appealing, though I have my doubts as to the show’s ability to follow through on this. For a science fiction fan, Caprica is probably worth following, for now.
As for Japanland, I haven’t been watching much anime of note in the past while, except for some good remakes. I caught the first to episodes of Sora No Woto. I don’t know about the story yet (interesting world at least: post-apocalyptic, kind of Haibane Renmei esque but less opaque), however this show is gorgeous in HD. Absolutely gorgeous.
Some spoilery critiques of Caprica below…
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Burn Notice has the easiest set-up in the world for awesome television: badass ex-spy with hot trigger happy ex-girlfriend tries to survive contactless and resourceless in Florida. It has no excuse to be bad, but it is. It’s sloppy directing: the pacing blows and their attempt to create a laid-back Florida atmosphere in their action show undercuts its tension. The dialogue is delivered like nobody really cares what’s going on.
Castle has the most generic TV show plot I can think of: homicide detective solves murders. But it’s really good. The dialogue is snappy at the right times to cut the tension, and serious when the tension needs to build. It’s funny, well-paced, good scoring. Characters have the right amount of screen-time. The minor mystery aspect of the murders is in the right place: you can figure out what’s going on before the characters, but won’t all the time: it’s a common mistake to make “mysteries” either intractable or trivial to the viewer/reader.
Castle also has some fun role reversal going on: Beckett is the strong female detective (but not in an annoyingly smug way), and Castle (Nathan Fillion) is a prissy writer who shadows her for story ideas and, usually futilely, attempts to help. This show only clocks in at 1 or 2 Mulder-Scullys, unlike Bones which seems to be maintaining something absurd like 7 or 8 (more like Boners, amirite?).
It is ten dollars on Steam. I just bought it.
This message brought to you by people who believe Psychonauts was a pretty great game.
Pretty much everyone at this point, iwht the possible exception of George Lucas, admits that the Star Wars prequels were crap. This guy, Mike from Milwaukee, illustrates exactly why. And when I say exactly, I mean 7 10-minute videos each illustrating a point.
Devastating: he asks people to describe the characters from the original series, without describing looks, just characterization, to people who have never seen star wars. They do it. He asks them to describe characters from the new series…. they just laugh. They can’t do it.
Add to the short list of things worth doing in Cleveland: The Velvet Tango Room. Just make sure you come early or get reservations; it’s gotten a bunch of Top 10 Bars In The Country reviews so it’s a bit popular. Right off the W 25th stop on the red line.
Dollhoose is officially canned, and no surprise. It was a show that had some great moments, but also had some serious flaws.
However, the CW is taking a second crack at Warren Ellis’s Global Frequency (confirmed by Ellis here), which is pretty cool. The first pilot, made back in 2005, was fantastic. There will be a new pilot by a new writer, so we’ll see how it goes.
Dollhouse ekes out another lease on life, as Fox confirms that they will air all 13 episodes already ordered. That’s roughly approximate to saying “We’re not going to shoot your dog… at least not while you’re looking.”
back pain relief
Apparently its broadcast ratings suck hideously, but it’s doing very strong on non-broadcast channels like Hulu and DVR viewings.
It’s sort of surprisingly nice to see a TV exec giving it a chance.
If only he weren’t the same puppy-kicking, kitten-eating bastard that canceled Terminator. Jerk.
Let “Stargate Universe” henceforth be forever known as “Battlestar Sliderstrekscape”, to stand alongside the original Sliderstrekscape and its spin-off, Sliderstrekscape: DSV.
Seriously. They weren’t trying hard before, but now they’re just giving up. Even the camera work and soundtrack seem suspiciously familiar.
(Yes, I’ve been watching a lot of the other two series lately as well. I plead boredom.)
Many of you enjoyed the movie Boondock Saints.
How many of you would enjoy another one?
This could be awesome. Or terrible. Or terribly awesome. I think I’ll have to get back you all on this in early November.
High School Musical. I saw like twenty minutes near the end of it. They shot the songs like music videos instead of scenes in a musical, including some horrible green-screening. Ugh.
Also saw most of My Super Ex Girlfriend, which earned maybe two snorts and a chuckle on the comedy scale. The real point of this movie? Uma Thurman is hot, ya?
This (Cable Surfing Commando) might be an ongoing series, as I continue to explore cable TV (we only had poor people TV when I was a kid). More likely I’ll forget about this idea within the week…
Since rationalism already means rationalism, what do you call a prejudiced attitude toward the rational?
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