Looks like Matt and Trey have released every episode to every season for South Park online.

Now I can watch All About the Mormons? whenever I want to.

Summer time is almost coming to an end. I’m not sure if I can remember when it started and now it’s already ending. You could say that it’s gone in a flash.

Speaking of flash, Sci-Fi channel’s new remake, Flash Gordon, is rumored to have gotten the axe. It’s not surprising considering that the show has been universally panned by fans and critics alike.

I was originally going to write a review on how horrible this show is, but when I read DBCooper’s review, I knew that I had nothing else to add.

Babylon 5, like any good book, needs to be revisited every once and a while. With this in mind, I’ve been dying to re-immerse myself in the B5 universe for about a year and my girlfriend gave me the perfect excuse . . . she’d never seen it.

While adding season 4, using a custom built interface to Amazon Web Services, to my “What I’m Watching List” I noticed something titled Babylon 5 – The Lost Tales with some packaging that I had never seen.

I thought that this might be a recompilation of some movies or interviews with some of the cast and crew about the B5 universe, but it’s not. It’s actually new material.

This is pretty exciting stuff. First new Babylon 5 material in years! The release date is set for July 31st 2007.

When I first heard about NBC’s Heroes series, I rolled my eyes thinking that it was at worst a weak attempt to cash in on the popularity of “the super hero craze” and at best a rip off of the excellent series The 4400.

Regardless of my initial impressions and because of my geek upbringing, I felt that I should at least give the show a chance. If I hated it, then I wouldn’t have to watch any more of it.

So I asked my girlfriend to set her DVR to record the show but unfortunately I asked her too late to record the premiere episode titled Genesis. I figured that I would download the first episode or something and we kept the timer in place.

With the geek community giving rave reviews about the series, I finally got around to downloading the first episode and I was somewhat irked by the episode.

Primarily, I was irked by the storyline of Niki Sanders. I know that it’s stereotypical to believe that single moms that strip or camwhore for a living all live in Las Vegas, but come on. Above and beyond that anyone that has actually lived in Las Vegas (as I have) cringed whenever they tried to pass off shots of suburban California as places in Las Vegas. Here’s a tip guys; Las Vegas is not that green no matter how many shots of the strip you Photoshop into it.

I realized that this was nitpicking so I gave the show another try and boy am I glad that I did.

The Niki Sanders’ plot line is still paper thin (she drives her son out to the middle of the desert, buries two guys and her son never wakes up. Please spare me.) and hopefully it’s going to make a change for the better or it’s discarded entirely, but where the series shines is with the other characters.

The story lines of Peter, Nathan, Isaac, and Mohinder are a joy to watch but the gem of the show is Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura. He absolutely shines as a geek with temporal and spatial manipulation powers. He’s also a true geek in real life as he works for ILM as a special effects programmer. Masi Oka is just plain cool.

I’m definitely going to continue watching the show and have high hopes for it.

It’s definitely something to watch if you’ve ever been interested in the whole super hero thing.

My girlfriend and I watched the 90 minute season two finale of Battlestar Galactica titled Lay Down Your Burdens [Part II].

If you haven’t seen it, don’t read the rest of this post as I’ll include spoilers all over the place.
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Still with me? Good. I’m not sure how I feel about the episode. In terms of acting, sets, and atmosphere, it was top notch as always.

Maybe I’m still adjusting to all of the changes, but I was completely caught off guard by the events that happened after Baltar won the election. It almost doesn’t feel like the same show anymore.

Things that I’m not sure that I like:

• Kara Thrace marrying Samuel Anders
• Lee Adama marrying Dualla (not sure if they are married, but I think that they are)
• Admiral Adama mustache
• Tent city on “New Caprica”
• The mothballing of the military

There are lot of questions that are left unanswered too. I’m sure Ronald Moore and gang will cover them all but the ones that come to mind are:

• After finding out that the Cylons ended their occupation on Caprica and then finding out that they weren’t going to follow the fleet anymore, did the fleet go looking for more humans on the other 11 colonies?
  
• Did “Abused Six” blow up use the nuke to create a signal?
• What happened to “Caprica Eight” (the Sharon that gave birth)?
• What happened to the Cylons played by Dean Stockwell?
• What happened to Roslyn’s aide?
• What happened to Tom Zarek?
• After all this time about preaching about the One True God, did they just abandon that and not believe anymore?

After watching the show, I wanted more information about it so I downloaded the podcast for the show. In the podcast, the writers for the show drop a huge bomb…I think. I can’t tell if they are trying to be funny or not, but I believe that they are serious. This is a major spoiler too, so you’ve been warned.
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About 25 minutes into the podcast, they say “…Eddie however won’t be [back next year]. We should point out at this point in the show. No Eddie won’t be with us. There will be no more Edward James Olmos.”

So there you have it. If it’s true, then Admiral Adama won’t be in season 3. If this is true, then the questions come to mind, what happens to him and why didn’t he chose to reprise his role?

Update: Most of the people on the message boards are saying that Olmos not returning is a joke. Bastards!

Come October, the new season will debut and I’ll be watching it as normal but instead of excitement to see what’s coming, I have more of a sense of dread.

I don’t know how the FX Network does it, but they are like the crack of TV stations to me. With the exception of one show (Battlestar Galactica), all of the other shows that I watch are on that station.

In the past two months they have made me a fan of three shows. I
consider this pretty hard to do considering that I think that most of
the stuff on TV is crap. First, they debuted Over There which is a gritty war drama set in Iraq. Tonight, I watched re-runs of two premiere episodes on the network; Starved and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
As comedies, I have to say, that both are funny and creative. This is
rare because I think that most sitcoms are oh so boring.

Next month, Nip / Tuck returns for their third season which brings the count of shows that I watch on FX up to five (Rescue Me being the fifth).

Unfortunately, I like doing other things besides watching TV and I hate
missing episodes of shows that I watch (especially dramas). It would be
nice to be able to record shows for playback later, however, I refuse
to bust out my VCR. Considering this, it might be
time to invest in a PVR/DVR. That reminds me, I downloaded a video segment
from two guys showing you how to put together an open source PVR/DVR
solution (MythTV – you’ll need Linux to run this). While the video is
informative, I think that there is a lot of information that is not
covered. I might have to test this and see how it stacks up to other
commercial solutions.

I’ve been watching re-runs of Nip/Tuck on FX as well as the second season of Rescue Me. During the commericals, there have been previews of a show called Over There that premiers on July 27th.

The series looks really good and intense but for some people that still
have loved ones in Iraq, this series might hit too close to home.

I watch about 6 or 7 TV shows regularly. Sometimes I’m too busy to
catch them when they air and I’ll miss them. So in order to stay caught
up with the season, I’ve been downloading the missed episodes using
BitTorrent. I’ll watch them and then delete them after I’m done with
them. Recently,
the MPAA started targeting (read: suing) TV download sites (BitTorrent
sites) in their war to control the visual digital medium.

This is absurd. I don’t download TV shows that are already on DVD,
although some do. I just want to watch the stuff that I have missed.
How is what I do differently from a friend recording a show and giving
it to me? Does it matter if my friend is one person or 10,000? This is
how people like me lose interest in TV shows and stop watching.
If I miss too many episodes of a TV show then I won’t bother to keep
watching the TV show. The MPAA is gonna have their asses handed to them
by their consumers if they can’t figure out how to get the content to
the techno-savvy masses out there. Here is a perfect example. I watch
the TV show Lost. It airs on ABC. If I miss an episode can I go
to ABC’s website and download it or stream it (with the commercials, I
really don’t care about that)? No, of course not. So what do I do?
Download it from BitTorrent. Until the season is over (and the DVDs go on
sale) viewers should be able to legally download this stuff. Until they
can, people will find a way to get it on their own, no matter how many
people the MPAA sues.

When I read stuff like this from the MPAA and the RIAA, I’m reminded of a quote from the first Star Wars movie. “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”

Natalie, what have you done
to yourself!? I guess if I made millions of dollars for a movie I would probably do
it too. My opinion, not so hot.

Speaking of hotness, I’ve been watching
my DVD set of Buck Rogers. OMG was Erin Gray smokin’ hawt!
I think I now know where my propensity for blondes comes from. Yes I
know she dyed it for the first season but her hair combined with her
eyes, that smile and those outfits…it does things to a 6 year old
(and no I’m not 6 now. I know I act like it sometimes, but that’s how
old I was when Buck Rogers first hit the air).

It’s raining again here in Portland. I didn’t get up until noon. It’s probably because my body can’t tell the difference between night time and the perpetually clouded skies of Portland. A few weeks ago, when it was unseasonably sunny I was waking up early, even before my alarm went off. I guess that’s what I get for living here.

Watched Part I of the season finale of the new Battlestar Galactica on the Sci Fi channel.  Now I have to wait an entire week before I can see Part II. {sigh} I can’t get over how good this show is. It continues to push the boundaries of sci fi television as we know it. I especially like how they don’t skirt away from sex in the show, they embrace it and use it to their advantage unlike the Star Treks and others. Besides great storytelling and great acting (Baltar (actor is James Callis) is the best character on the show, completely self-absorbed – I love it!) the reason that Battlestar Galactica is kicking ass and taking names in the sci fi community is because the creators of the show actively participate in the community. It’s something that J. Michael Straczynski did during Babylon 5. Battlestar’s new creator has a blog on the sci fi website which helps him maintain this camaraderie with his fans. Not to mention embracing technologies such as podcasting for episode commentaries and video featurettes.  Contrast this to Star Trek. The writers are untouchable, nameless faces. No wonder Enterprise died. If there is to be a next Star Trek, the creative team should definitely start a blog and actively participate in the sci fi community.

Let’s see what else do I have? Oh yeah, the PS2 game God of War is shit hot as Gabe says. Well, it looks shit hot to me, I don’t have a PS2, so I don’t know how the game actually plays but by looking at the videos of it I might just have to go out and get me a PS2. I love it when he smacks the Hydra’s head against the wall!

One more thing, Nine Inch Nails released their single The Hand that Feeds from their upcoming album With Teeth (scheduled to drop 5.3.05). It’s on iTunes for a buck — apparently it’s been on the radio since 3.16. What can I say, I NEVER listen to the radio.

I’ve been laid up with some kind of flu over the last few days. My time off has mostly consisted of me lying on the couch being addicted to Comcast’s OnDemand. I’ve watched all of the episodes of Carnivale using that OnDemand and I must say that it’s definitely one of my favorite shows. Unfortunately it’s only on HBO so a lot of people won’t see it until it comes out on DVD if it all (which by the way the first season is out on DVD for the ridiculous price of 99 bucks or 74 on Amazon).

The new Battlestar Galactica, which many say is the best Sci-Fi show on TV currently, has been picked up for a second season. It’s not too late to jump on this bandwagon. So get to downloadin’ the old shows.

One more thing, Ron Moore, the series creator and producer has a blog on Sci-Fi’s web site. Just in case you are interested in what he has to say.

I hate reality TV. I’m ready to watch the latest episode of 24 so I switched it on a few minutes before it started. Why oh why is shit like Wife Swap on TV? It’s amazing the crap that appeals to the American people.

One more thing that’s completely unrelated. The girl that plays Marni (Jennifer Finnigan) on NBC’s Committed is really really cute.

After hearing the hype, I decided to give this show a shot to see what the fuss was about. A friend of mine was able to download and burn to DVD the 7 episodes of the show (they are up to 8 as of this writing). My verdict? Besides spotty editing of the downloaded files this show is near flawless. If you aren’t watching this show, you owe it to yourself to download the episodes (get a BitTorrent client and start downloading) to see what the hype is about.

I did some research on this show and found some interesting stuff about it. The pilot was written by J.J. Abrams (among other co-writers) of Alias fame and also has world renowned comic and cartoon writer Paul Dini in its writer lineup. Also, Mira Furlan, from Babylon 5 is scheduled to make an appearance on the show.

The symbolism, mystery, and style of this show rates it as one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. Get it now!

I watched the season finale repeat of FX’s drama show Rescue Me last night. It’s an excellent ending to an excellent season. What I like most about this show is the realistic characters and situations. Watching Denis Leary’s character, Tommy Gavin, try to repair his failing marriage and seeing him get angry and make rash, snap judgements is something that I, and a lot of other men can probably identify with. There are spoilers below, so if you don’t want to know what happens in the episode I would stop reading here.

SPOILER ALERT
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At the end of the show, after the day just seems to shit on Gavin (again something I can completely identify with), he gets the final blow. He goes over to his wife’s house (they are separated) and finds the entire house empty; no furniture, no appliances, no kids (they have 3), nothing. While looking around in a state of disbelief, he opens a closet and finds a baseball bat and a photo of himself, his cousin (he died at 9/11) and his cousin’s widow (the one that Tommy is having an affair with) with scratch marks over Tommy and Sheila (his cousin’s widow). The reality of his loss sinks in and he starts bashing at the walls, lights, windows, etc. with the baseball bat as Rubyhorse‘s song Fell On Bad Days (from the CD Goodbye to All That) plays in the foreground. Powerful scene. You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to do that same exact thing after I’ve been pushed to the brink of frustration.

Apparently, the song from Rubyhorse has created quite a buzz on the Internet with people wanting to know where to get it. It’s not on iTunes so I had to get it from MSN’s music store (I’ll get into my experience with that later).

I’ve become addicted to FX’s drama shows Nip / Tuck and Rescue Me. I was lucky enough to catch Rescue Me on the first episode when it premiered and I’ve been hooked ever since. If you have FX take a peek at these shows.

I found another TV series that I really like on DVD. While at the video store I saw some entertaining box cover art, imagine grim reapers doing normal day-to-day activities, like clocking in at work playing golf etc. So I picked it up and read the back of the first disc, which is the pilot for the show. The back of the box reads: “When smart, cynical, 18-year-old George is crushed to death by an errant toilet seat from space, she joins the ranks of an undead group of grim reapers. As she clumsily learns to adjust to her new role in the afterlife, George haphazardly hurtles toward her first dreaded assignment: to collect the soul of a little girl”. After reading that, how could I say no?

So I picked up the pilot and disc 2 of season 1 which contains the first 5 episodes after the pilot movie. It’s one of the best shows that I have seen in a long time. However, this show is not for everyone. If you don’t like dark comedy, don’t get this because, well you won’t get it. What I don’t understand is why is Showtime hiding this great show? It’s received critical acclaim yet no one really knows about it.

Season 2 of Dead Like Me premieres on 7/25, 10 PM on Showtime. 

I watched TNT’s remake of Stephen King’s novel ’Salem’s Lot and I had to say that it was actually entertaining. I read some negative reviews about it on some blogs but it was an entertaining 4 hours and did what other horror movies haven’t done so far, it actually make me want to read some horror novels. Historically, that’s always been my sister’s gig and I stayed with sci-fi books, I never much got into the Dean Koontz, Stephen King, etc. type of books myself. Now I haven’t read the original book by King so this rendition is perhaps literary blasphemy, but I’m judging the TV show on its on merit not on contrast to the book. Perhaps I will start by reading the original and see how much this rendition deviated.

Looks like Season Two of the Clone Wars cartoon has started. Episode 11 is now online. I’ll have to say for a cartoon short it’s getting pretty good.

I’ve been devouring the Firefly episodes like a fat kid does to cake. Although I’m a bit depressed because I’m on the last DVD. Just when I was about to lose hope in the divine, it’s been reported (here and here) that the Firefly movie has been given the go ahead. Now if only Sci-Fi or some other network would give the go ahead to bring this show back.

Yesterday, I picked up that old server from work. Man was it heavy. The friend that helped me lift it up the stairs said that it weighed more than a refrigerator! It was back breaking work, but it was worth it. I’m surprised that the security guards at work were kick back about me taking a huge piece of equipment out of the basement (I was on the list though).
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Then I picked up Joss Whedon’s Firefly series on DVD and a CD at Best Buy. The total? 98 cents. Gotta love a Best Buy gift card. After the alarm clock fiasco, that was a good way to spend that card. To top it all off, I found the missing Cisco 2514 that I couldn’t account for at work. It was sitting in my trunk from my Roseburg trip. At the time, I didn’t realize that it was the one that I was looking for because the dual Ethernet ports are AUI ports and you need a TP MAU to convert them to using CAT5/RJ-45 cable. Soon, I’ll have my Cisco network put together.

The Sci Fi channel has re-made the classic Battlestar Galactica into a two part mini-series. Part one premiered last night at 9 PM PST with the second part airing tonight at the same time. Overall I thought it was quite good. Below are some of the things that I liked and didn’t like.


The Good

• I loved the ship to ship communications. Absolutely loved it. It sounded like the kind of stuff that you would hear nowadays in fighter to fighter communications. Gave it a real touch of class.
  
• All of the space fighter combat.
  
• When the pilot of the shuttle was fixing the ship she had to look at the plans.
  
• How the injured pilot shot the crazy dude that jumped on the shuttle. He blew him apart. It was very realistic. Very ballsy sci-fi.
  
• The crew chief and his rant about 45 seconds. Good stuff. I think that 45 seconds is going to haunt that character for a long time – as it should.
  
• When Commander Adama tells his son that he is taking orders from a school teacher. Good stuff!

The Bad

• Why do they have to play scenes of what happens before the commercial break? ARRRGHHH!
  
• It doesn’t really make sense as to why the Cylons, after 40 years, want to blow away humans? Maybe that is explained later.
  
• Not much else that I didn’t like.

24‘s new season debuted tonight. There are some interesting plot twists already and they take some of the main characters from their “invincible” status and bring them down to earth. Quite interesting really.


A couple of other things. I don’t know why Jack and Kate didn’t get along, but I think that she should give me a call. I’ll give her the lovin’ she needs. Second, the little display of techno-legerdermain by Kim seemed a bit odd, seeing as how horribly stupid the character was in season 1 and 2. That would be akin to my ex beating me at computer/system administration.

I’m almost through the 2nd disc of 24 Season 2 and I’m really annoyed with the character of Kim Bauer. Granted, when she is running around and her boobs are bouncing that’s great but the character is so colossally stupid that it boggles the mind and the whole rescuing Megan thing gets really annoying. Thank god for her boobs.

Cartoon Network has begun airing short films about the happenings between Attack of the Clones and the third prequel movie. There are six episodes out right now (out of 20) and each one can be viewed with or without director/animator commentary. You can view it in either RealPlayer or QuickTime.