Tags: cats, malcolm

In shocking news today I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was indicted for (among other things) perjury in the Plame Affair. One can only hope Karl “teflon” Rove’s liability shield (which I’m sure is extensive) will crumble under the newly expanded inquiry and pummellings by the oh so observent media.

On the positive side at least Scooter had the good sense to resign when caught red-handed, unlike the other felons in waiting he hangs with…

In other news of victories for the non-evil and unstupids - Harriet “the most qualified candidate ever” Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court amidst waning (non-existant?) support from the left AND the right.

I always chuckle when the right starts eating its own. When the Republicans are on their game they are legion - over-zealous, unbearably self-rightous and quite unstoppable. That is until one of their patriarchs puts his halfwit son on the throne and bones the lot of us for an indeterminant (and likely LOOOOOOONG) stretch of our collective future.

The Democratic party is an apathetic mish-mash of ideals that only half the people believe half of the time. “We” nominate the lowest common denominator among us under the false hope that if we pick someone so mediocre that he could actually get elected.

Fuck that noise.

I want a candidate who will fight, tooth and bloody nail, for everything he believes in irrespective of how it “plays in the ‘burbs”. Energize the public! Don’t pander to some subsection. Don’t whore out your beliefs, your very soul, for a polling bump. Represent the best in all of us. Please.

It’d be nice to go vote and not feel like I need a shower afterwards…

Tags: mediocrity, politics, scooter libby

Drove over to the west si-eede Saturday for an UltraScreen presentation of Serenity.

“Wow.”

Let that be synonymous with whatever over-the-top expletive that tickeles your particular fancy. “Damn” is also acceptable.

I won’t spoil anything in the plot, but I will say that the movie picks up a few months after the last episode of Firefly. Needless exposition is kept at the bare minimum, if you haven’t seen the show it shouldn’t be much of an issue. Except for the fact that your a complete gibbering idiot and should be lanced from the gene pool like an unsightly mole.

The writing is pure Whedon, for better and worse. If you don’t read at the 11th grade level at the very least you probably won’t get some of the humor and may confuse that with an in-joke. You’d be wrong, of course, but you can refer to the mole initiative described above. Don’t misunderstand, there are some in-jokes, but that’s staple Whedon and quite frankly the fans and cast deserve at least SOME self-referential funnies. Screw the rest of you bastards.

I’m not ashamed to say that more than once I was genuinely shocked, saddened and elated by this movie. Again, staple Whedon. When you write story and dialog with actual emotion in it you will evoke actual human emotion in your viewer. I know, crazy.

Anywho, it’s currently sitting at a very solid 80% on Rotten Tomatoes with the entirety of the negative reviews being ridiculous in their stupidity. “It’s a TV show, ZOMG SUX!” … idiot. The other portion of the negative reviews cut out the middle-man and go straight for the “it’s a movie that GEEKS like” and therefore must suck. Yeah, keep spankin’ the monkey to mindless garbage like Desperate Housewives you mass-market douchebag.

Bitter, table for me? Yeah, I suppose so. Serenity should never have existed. It should have been the second season of Firefly. Such is the curse of shows that expect the audience to be smarter than the average brook trout, or 3x smarter than the average Fox programming executive.

update: 2nd place for the weekend, 10m vs Flight Plan’s 15. It showed on 1300 fewer theateres though, take that with a grain of salt. I’ll see it again next weekend, probably won’t drive back across town though. Stupid ghetto east-side

Tags: firefly, joss whedon, marcus theaters, movies, serenity, ultrascreen

So time has like, passed and whatnot…

My Name is Earl is off the DVR schedule. Sorry.
Bones is on the bubble. Zooey Deschanel is so cute, but her sister really bothers me for some reason.
How I Met Your Mother is as well. It’s funny, but it’s not Arrested Development or Scrubs.
The West Wing … I want to say “wow”, but at some point the bar has to be raised for a show. The season premiere, compared to other “shows”? Awesome. Compared to what I expect from WW? Average.
Supernatural continues to impress, it’s a nice little genre show - WATCH ME!
E-Ring is the new JAG, I wager I’ll follow the same pattern as with its predecessor. Watch until it jumps the shark and then bid it adeu. Kelly Rutherford though. God she’s still ridiculously hot. Nabbing that IMDB link reminded me of 2003’s Threat Matrix, in which she also starred. sadf^2.

Upcoming — Smallville starts tonight, Alias soon. huzzah, etc.

Oh, and SERENITY.

Tags: bones, e-ring, emily deschanel, how i met your mother, kelly rutherford, my name is earl, supernatural, television, the west wing, threat matrix, zooey deschanel

I’ve survived the opening slavos of fall premieres and damnation if there isn’t a crop of actual good shows! I can hardly believe it myself.

How I Met Your Mother (new)
pros: mostly funny, “fresh” talent, Doogie!
cons: mostly funny, “fresh” talent, Doogie.
verdict? It’s still on the DVR record schedule, time will tell.

Bones (new)
pros: David Boreanaz
cons: Fox, yet another forensic procedural, Fox.
verdict? Angel is playing a role he’s perfect for, he’s just got it down cold. I already can’t stand Emily Deschanel though. I guess you’re only allowed to hit the genetic lottery once per family? Again, it’ll keep being DVR’d until it bothers me enough to delete it.

Supernatural (new)
pros: genre show, good premise
cons: bad dialog
verdict? I can’t stress how bad the dialog in the premiere was. It was just plain ugly. I have no +/- feelings with the cast, both faces are familiar from solid runs on Smallville and Gilmore Girls so the acting part seems fine. I actually bumped the priority of this up on the DVR as I enjoyed the premiere quite a bit. But that dialog… oy. I’ll watch the second episode tomorrow sometime, hopefully it will improve.

Threshold (new)
pros: genre show in HD, Carla Gugino, Brent Spiner
cons: Weak scripting, bad pacing.
verdict: It’s in HD. I can’t tell you how much nicer the world is in HD. The premise of the show is solid, the acting is good and the production values are there, unfortunately even in the 2-hour premiere they spent so much time in bland exposition that it might as well came with an accompanying book report. Even WITH that they dropped the ball in some pretty sizable areas. It adds up to a lot of wasted screen time and a very akward flow. This will stay on the DVR until it forces me to remove it. HD mang. HD!

Prison Break (new)
pros: Dominic Purcell, great premise
cons: It’s dumb.
verdict: The one and only new show that I deleted from the DVR queue so far. I removed it after watching the 2nd episode but taped the 3rd just in case. Nope, still dumb. It’s a shame too, Dominc Purcell has some great acting chops. Maybe if Fox wouldn’t have fucked over John Doe… *sigh*

Gilmore Girls (returning)
pros: You’re kidding, right?
cons: None. Move along, jackass.
verdict? Is my girly side showing? I could give a damn. It’s hard enough finding shows that don’t treat the viewer like a slack-jawed simpleton, I’m not about to not watch this one because it revolves around the ladies. This is the show Sex and the City wished it could have someday been, but never came remotely close. Ever. Last season was phenomenal, truly exceptional television. This season is continuing on with those arcs and seems to have lost none of the luster. It’s smart, it’s witty and you should be watching it.

Arrested Development (returning)
pros: … fuck it, we’re going straight to verdict. The premiere was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. The comedy is fresh and smart and the acting is top-notch. Even the pre-premiere bumps were inspired comedy. WATCH THIS SHOW.

Family Guy (returning)
I honestly didn’t enjoy last season much. I may have even missed a few episodes. Not so with this season. It’s back to what it was in the beginning and possibly even moreso.

American Dad (returning)
I saw maybe 4 episodes of this last season. Never struck me as all that great. After taking the first two hits from this season I can admit that I may have been … in error.

Battlestar Galactica (returning)
Season 2 doesn’t seem as “good” as season 1. Don’t know what it is. It’s still an exceptionally well-written, acted, produced and scored show. It’s just not ZOMG ZOMG BSG IS ON ZOMG! right now. Faith manages and all that.

Stargate SG-1 (returning)
Ben & Claudia, together again: Love it. I never gave the two of them enough credit in Farscape. I can see that now. The plot-lines this year have been clean and the writing has been good. I enjoy seeing an aging franchise use it’s history as a vehicle to tell stories and explore issues that a fledgling show would get beaten up over. Maybe I read too much into the current arcs because I’m a fan. It’s entirely possible I see subtle subtext and depth where none intentionally exists. Oh, and the rest of the cast is, you know, awesome too…even without Jack (two “l”s)

I’m heading back to the nest for a DU dinner shortly so I’ll cut this off here. West Wing, CSI and a host of other premieres should hit between now and my next ramble. Enjoy!

Tags: american dad, arrested development, battlestar galactica, bones, family guy, gilmore girls, how i met your mother, prison break, smallville, stargate, supernatural, television, threshold

It was too hot to do anything this weekend, so I cranked up the AC and watched the telly. Then I cranked up the AC in the car, sat in the glorious AC of the theater and watched a movie there. Back to the homestead, AC and more movies.

Chuck and the Chocolate Factory was a fine summer movie. I doubt it’ll find a place on my DVD wall of hugeness. It is far, FAR less creepy than the hype would have you believe and quite frankly I don’t find that to be a good thing. The production was high-quality througout and Roald Dahl gave this movie his complete support. I’ve never read the book, so take that for what it’s worth… Shocker, Johnny Depp does a good job playing an eccentric, larger-than-life lunatic.

On to the actual marathon…

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Tags: charlie and the chocolate factory, doogie howser, garden state, harold and kumar, johnny depp, movies, natalie portman, roald dahl, television, zack braff

Short version: zomgwtfbbq.

Long version: zomgwtfbbq (times infinity)

In all seriousness, great flic. I walked in with zero expectations or even hopes for the movie. But wow.

I’ve never been a big FF fan, with the X4 mini and Ultimate FF runs being the only recent exceptions. The FF origin story was expertly told with very little meddling with canon. The cast melded perfectly and everyone played their roles with precision. Julian McMahon shows some serious acting chops as Doc Doom and Michael Chiklis captured the broody Thing persona as if he had lived the role his entire life. The article about him in a recent Maxim lends me to believe the nightmarish make-up ordeal he had to go through every morning for the part gave him no end of inspiration. They spared no expense making Sue Storm into a sexpot, but with Jessica Alba playing the part it’d be hard not to. Relative newcomer Chris Evans did a good job playing the Torch, the relationship between he and the Thing was executed well. Interesting how the two strongest performances came from the folks who have their own shows on FX… plug: Watch the Shield and nip/tuck or your life will indeed be forfeit.

The movie is pretty predictable, but then again all comic movies should be given that they’re usually not original works to begin with. It’s not as if you didn’t know how Spider-Man would end. Marvel has definately set up another strong franchise. If they can figure out a way to bring FF-class baddies into a good story in the next movie remains to be seen, there’s only so many times you can dip into the Doom well, and I don’t think Galactus translates well to Joe Average.

The movie is ridiculously funny, I can’t count how many times the entire theater burst into laughter at honest to goodness funny moments. Not *groan* how lame, or kick-in-the-nuts schlock either - Actual humor. Kudos to the writing staff and the actors for acing the execution.

Oh, before I forget: They’re making a sequel to The Transporter… I’m not exactly sure what to make of that. Personally I enjoyed the first one, but I’m infamous for collecting shitty movies. The screenplay was written by Luc Beson. Which gives me hope as he did the original as well. Again - I liked the 5th Element too, so take that all with a heaping large grain of salt.

Tags: fantastic four, marvel comics, movies

Is it just me or is Anna Nalick Sarah McLachlan: The Next Generation?

I heard most of the album over the weekend, it’s quite good. Reminds me a lot of some of Sarah’s work in the 90’s. That’s a good thing for those of you keeping score at home. I have high hopes for this one, maybe she’ll succeed in not being a soulless corporate zombie longer than 1 whole album. She even looks sort of like Sarah. Eerie, but in a good way methinks. The first single is hitting the video channels now with a good reception, should start hearing it on ClearChannel the radio anytime now given that she’s on Columbia. Time will tell…

Funny sidebar, whilst googling for the link to Michelle Branch above I came to the conclusion that she must have got bonked pretty hard from the entirely lackluster sophomore “effort” of hers last year. I get doing things for money and all that, but jebus girl, you actually have talent - you don’t NEED to go a-whoring. She’s now in a duo called The Wreckers with some blonde girl I’ve never heard of. Apropo title for certain, in a year they can change it to past-tense.

Anywho, pick this one up if you can. It’s worth the 11$ or pir-8 liability if you are so inclined.

postscript: I actually BOUGHT this CD. I know, how fucked up is that? The RIAA can thank Columbia and BestBuy, 9.99 for a DRM-free CD was cheaper than buying 11 tracks at .99 from iTunes and suffering through AAC bullshit.

I’m playing the original CD in my car, it occupies slot number 4 in the changer. I am also playing the mp3’s from my desk right this second. Suck it. Suck it down.

(i rule you)

Tags: anna nalick, michelle branch, music, radio monopoly, sarah mclachlan

Alias was, bar-none, the best show on television this season. Disagree if you must, but that would make you an idiot. So don’t do it. Ass.

The entire season, from start to finish, was an amazing arc with superior acting and writing. I just watched my DVR’d copy of the season finale and I’m still a bit hopped up.

Lena Olin: You will guest star more often next season. Don’t question it woman, just do it.

Without rehashing the last 5 hours of the show I will jsut say this: Next season is going to be amazing.

Don’t change anything. I mean it, asswipes. CHANGE NOTHING.

Tags: abc, alias, television

Enterprise has come and gone with narry a whimper, let alone a bang. Why a cast of that quality (regardless of fame) bothered to even make that show past season two is beyond me. Manny Coto and Mike Sussman should have been given full control a long time ago. In A Mirrior, Darkly was the best Trek I’ve seen since DS9. Empress Sato. EMPRESS FRICKING SATO. ‘nuf said, no? Note: Call me Linda, I <3 u.

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Tags: enterprise, linda park, manny coto, star trek, television, upn