Kind of sucked.
Hard.
The opening was potentially the silliest waste of time. I think I understand what they were going for with rambling on for endless minutes, but it failed. A couple of minutes at the most of that schtick and it may have been tolerable - but 10 minutes or more - was just...dumb. Why would the decision be made to waste so much time on a bit that clearly wasn't working, should have been clear for the outset that it wouldn't work, even one of the hosts later on mentioned that Jimmy Kimmel told them it wouldn't work but they went ahead with it anyway?
Why have reality hosts be in charge of the most important night in the television industry anyway? They're the joke of the industry - "Let's give them full reign on the most important night of the year!"
I watched reality programming in the beginning - the first season of Survivor, Big Brother and the Amazing Race, but then I grew out of it, too much repitition too much crap - but the public at large haven't. I get it, I understand that this isn't the fad that everyone thought it would be and I accept it. I just don't think that reality shows should play a larger role in the broadcast of the Emmys.
If they have to, hand out the Emmys for best Reality program (been around for a few years now) and now best Reality host (new this year) but don't try and gather some kind of respect for the genre - in the TV industry and amounst the actors etc. it won't happen. Plus, when they handed out the award for best host - they trotted the nominees ( ie all the hosts) out on stage and played it like a real reality show - complete with taking a commercial break right before announcing who wins the award!
Ratings for the show were the worst ever or close to it - I don't think that was the hosts' fault entirely. The fact that the most nominated shows Mad Men came from a small cable channel called AMC and 30 Rock got the most nominations with 17 is on NBC, but the ratings are terrible. People didn't have a show to route for, and didn't have a host that they cared about.
As usual, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were funny - each winning an award as well. Don Rickles was the only person that seemed to go off script and say anything that he wanted to - kind of his thing I understand - he was a stand out. The best bit of the night went to Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell. Gervais wanting his Emmy back from Carell after he was 'given' Gervais' Emmy from last year by Stewart and Colbert was great.
Also liked Neil Patrick Harris taking a quick shot at the hosts for taking up so much time that their bit was cut.
Should really look into watching Mad Men, that's what I learned from last night's Emmys. That and I really have no need to start watching any more reality shows.
Tom.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Pull List for Sept 17/08
Ok, here's what I grabbed.
Astounding Wolf-Man #8 - I want to like this book, but it's still on the edge of being dropped for me.
Captain Britain #5 - Put this on my list after hearing so much about it, but may drop it due to budgetary concerns - plus I'm thinking of adding a few more titles to the list - something has to give, good book, but I don't need to keep up with it.
Guardians of the Galaxy #5
Mighty Avengers #18 - Kind of glad Bendis is leaving the book in a couple of issues, never really got into the book - this one will be dropped.
Walking Dead #52
War Heroes #2
X-Factor #35
Action Comics #869 - Damn Geoff Johns, not only is he getting me to read DC Comics, but he's got me adding 3 DC books to my Pull List. Action, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.
Zombie Tales #5
Spike: After the Fall #2 & 3
Watching the Emmy's now, maybe a review tomorrow, maybe not - nobody reads this thing anyway.
Tom.
Astounding Wolf-Man #8 - I want to like this book, but it's still on the edge of being dropped for me.
Captain Britain #5 - Put this on my list after hearing so much about it, but may drop it due to budgetary concerns - plus I'm thinking of adding a few more titles to the list - something has to give, good book, but I don't need to keep up with it.
Guardians of the Galaxy #5
Mighty Avengers #18 - Kind of glad Bendis is leaving the book in a couple of issues, never really got into the book - this one will be dropped.
Walking Dead #52
War Heroes #2
X-Factor #35
Action Comics #869 - Damn Geoff Johns, not only is he getting me to read DC Comics, but he's got me adding 3 DC books to my Pull List. Action, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.
Zombie Tales #5
Spike: After the Fall #2 & 3
Watching the Emmy's now, maybe a review tomorrow, maybe not - nobody reads this thing anyway.
Tom.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Pull List for Sept 10
Better late than never and it was a small week too!
Criminal #5 - took a look at the new Solicits for Dec and Brubaker and Phillips have a new Icon book to go along with Criminal called Villians, have to add that to my list now too.
Secret Invasion #6 - Only 2 issues of this series left and I am underwhelmed, I say this pretty much every time, but this may be my last big crossover. The problem is, with Universe spanning crossovers, they always spill over into all the other books that I read.
Ult. Origins #4 - I think I may be done with automatically buying whatever Bendis puts out, and with this Dark Avengers and Dark Reign stuff - it would save some money.
Ex Machina #38 - good title from what I remember, it's been about 6 or 7 issues since I last read one.
Amazing Spider-Man #571 - Read the first part of the New Ways to Die story - and it wasn't horrible - waiting for it all to come out to finish it up.
Deadpool #1 - Yes! Book of the Week for me, I love this character so much, and am so glad that he gets another chance at a solo book - even though the last 10 or so issues of Cable/Deadpool was essentially just a Deadpool book.
Mini TV review - Trueblood - not that great.
Tom.
Edit: Of course by Villians, I meant the new book by Brubaker and Phillips is called Incognito.
Criminal #5 - took a look at the new Solicits for Dec and Brubaker and Phillips have a new Icon book to go along with Criminal called Villians, have to add that to my list now too.
Secret Invasion #6 - Only 2 issues of this series left and I am underwhelmed, I say this pretty much every time, but this may be my last big crossover. The problem is, with Universe spanning crossovers, they always spill over into all the other books that I read.
Ult. Origins #4 - I think I may be done with automatically buying whatever Bendis puts out, and with this Dark Avengers and Dark Reign stuff - it would save some money.
Ex Machina #38 - good title from what I remember, it's been about 6 or 7 issues since I last read one.
Amazing Spider-Man #571 - Read the first part of the New Ways to Die story - and it wasn't horrible - waiting for it all to come out to finish it up.
Deadpool #1 - Yes! Book of the Week for me, I love this character so much, and am so glad that he gets another chance at a solo book - even though the last 10 or so issues of Cable/Deadpool was essentially just a Deadpool book.
Mini TV review - Trueblood - not that great.
Tom.
Edit: Of course by Villians, I meant the new book by Brubaker and Phillips is called Incognito.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Media Consumption
With the new Televisions season here, it becomes a race for me to get everything done/watched.
My PVR rapidly fills up and I have a hard time getting through it all. I knock down a few hours worth of TV and then that night it fills right back up again. The problem compounds when taking into account the other things I want to do as well.
Comics, reading - novels, video games, movies. There isn't enough time for it all.
It gets frustrating and the thought of dropping shows or comics pops into my mind, but there are always more and more to take over the spots of the fallen. So I see my PVR fill up, see the stacks of comics and books pile up, see video games being neglected and all I can do is think that I'll get to them tomorrow or the next day.
Gotta have a life too right? Something outside the nerdly realms of geek culture?
How to balance it all is the question. Not sure if there's a proper answer either. I can't help the fact that I'm attracted to so many different aspects of pop culture and want to try and enjoy the most I can.
Sometimes I think it's too much, but good luck trying to quit. I've already given up. I'm Pop Culture's Bitch!
Tom.
My PVR rapidly fills up and I have a hard time getting through it all. I knock down a few hours worth of TV and then that night it fills right back up again. The problem compounds when taking into account the other things I want to do as well.
Comics, reading - novels, video games, movies. There isn't enough time for it all.
It gets frustrating and the thought of dropping shows or comics pops into my mind, but there are always more and more to take over the spots of the fallen. So I see my PVR fill up, see the stacks of comics and books pile up, see video games being neglected and all I can do is think that I'll get to them tomorrow or the next day.
Gotta have a life too right? Something outside the nerdly realms of geek culture?
How to balance it all is the question. Not sure if there's a proper answer either. I can't help the fact that I'm attracted to so many different aspects of pop culture and want to try and enjoy the most I can.
Sometimes I think it's too much, but good luck trying to quit. I've already given up. I'm Pop Culture's Bitch!
Tom.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Pull List for Sept 3/08
Here's what I picked up on Saturday:
Amazing Spider-man #570 - hope this 'New ways to die' storyline lives up to the hype.
The Boys #22 - I'm really falling behind on this book. Not a condemnation of it, just a reminder for myself to get reading it.
Buffy #18 - Liking this more than Angel.
End League #4 - falling behind on this one as well, but it's on a bi-monthly schedule - hopefully that changes so I read them as they come in.
Invincible Iron Man #5 - Only bought this because I was on a high from the movie - but 5 issues in and I'm still reading a book starring Iron Man - who knew?
Zombie Tales #3 &4 - backordered because my LCS missed them the first time around. Anything zombie is fine by me.
Angel #12 - Haven't read an issue since #5 I think, but still get it because I was such a fan of the show. I have hope.
Dead of Night: Devil Slayer - Don't know anything about the character, but it's written by Brian Keene, writer of The Rising - a kick ass zombie novel. And anything zombie is fine by me.
Tom.
Amazing Spider-man #570 - hope this 'New ways to die' storyline lives up to the hype.
The Boys #22 - I'm really falling behind on this book. Not a condemnation of it, just a reminder for myself to get reading it.
Buffy #18 - Liking this more than Angel.
End League #4 - falling behind on this one as well, but it's on a bi-monthly schedule - hopefully that changes so I read them as they come in.
Invincible Iron Man #5 - Only bought this because I was on a high from the movie - but 5 issues in and I'm still reading a book starring Iron Man - who knew?
Zombie Tales #3 &4 - backordered because my LCS missed them the first time around. Anything zombie is fine by me.
Angel #12 - Haven't read an issue since #5 I think, but still get it because I was such a fan of the show. I have hope.
Dead of Night: Devil Slayer - Don't know anything about the character, but it's written by Brian Keene, writer of The Rising - a kick ass zombie novel. And anything zombie is fine by me.
Tom.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
New TV Season
The new television season is here and this easily has to be one of my favourite times of the year. With the returning show I follow back on the air and even the curiosity that comes with checking out the new stuff.
Prison Break was the first show back on the air, and I just had a chance to watch the season 4 premiere last night - and...it had it's moments of good and bad. Mostly bad now that I think of it.
I was a huge fan of this show for the first season, most of the second season, most of the 3rd season as well. The second season ended poorly for me, but the Sona storyline kept up my interest until the final episode of season 3. Season 1 has been the only season of the show thus far that has been great in my opinion from start to finish. Every season after it has seen my interest wane towards the end of the season resulting in mini marathons of Prison Break so I can clear up some space on my PVR, Not usually a good sign, but I keep coming back for more. I've come this far.
Now with Season 4 starting - and it may be the last after seeing how many people actually tuned in to the premiere - the plot is even more convoluted than I thought it could ever become, there was a resurrection of sorts and lastly Cannibalism
The plot for this year is to take down the Company, to do so, Micheal and crew have to work together to obtain a set of electronic documents - 6 in total. In return for this the US government has promised no jail time for anyone - and everyone involved is looking at 15 years on the light side if they don't help.
The simple fact that the government is running a black ops style mission with known criminals is a little weird to me - and sounds like it was done before, wasn't the MOD squad about criminals trying to work off their sentence (I'm too lazy for research). This season's plots seem to me like a blatant attempt to keep the show going. Michael and his crew have broken out of 2 prisons, now, once they find the six pieces of electronics that they are looking for, they have to break into a Company building (they don't now where it is at the moment) and the downfall of the evil Company can start from there I guess. This season will have nothing to do with breaking out of prisons. If this show - by some miracle - lasts another few seasons, Michael and his crew will be trying to break into car after locking the keys inside. That will be 22 episodes of excitement.
Resurrections are something I'm used to as a comic book fan - a character never seems to stay dead for more than a few years at the absolute most. So, when the character of Sarah was brought back to the land of the living - it smacked of "what the hell? we saw her head in a box in season 3!" The writer's clever way around this was to say that it wasn't really her, it was just some corpse that the Company had found as a way to motivate Michael and his brother Lincoln into doing their bidding.
Just some random corpse huh? A random corpse that looks exactly like the character they supposedly killed. In the flashbacks, they did the clever editing job of never actually showing the head in the box, but I distinctly remember seeing it in Season 3, back when the actress playing the character of Sarah didn't want to come back - for whatever reason. Now she's back, so it was just some random head in a box that coincidentally looked like Sarah's twin and nobody ever saw confirmation that it was actually Sarah's head in the box. Excellent job of retconing that whole scene.
I also had issue with once scene in which Michael is getting his tattoos removed. Michael, from seeing Season 1 you'll now was covered from the neck down in tattoos. It was his way of smuggling in his plans for escape from the first prison. Season 4 sees him seemingly have his tattoos removed in a single session with a laser. I may have missed something here, but I don't think that's possible. With editing, it made it seem like Michael had his tattoos removed, at least an arms worth (a sleeve I think it's called) in less than a day. Or course we never see Michael in short sleeves so it's hard to tell, but the editing makes it seem that way. That would be one gigantic leap in logic, but I suppose the whole show is a giant leap in logic.
Lastly, Cannibalism. T-bag, stranded in the desert with a Mexican travel partner are robbed and left for dead. The Mexican travel partner snaps after days without food or water, takes a swing ant T-bag and falls killing himself on a rock. T-bag thinks long and hard for a second then builds himself a fire and eats the guy!
WTF?
Then, T-bag continues his travels, finally runs into some people that will help him get out of the desert. Before the travel start, he kind of retches at the thought of what he just had to do. The one would be savior asks "Are you ok? What'd you do have some bad Mexican?"
To which T-bag replies "Something like that"
Seriously!
Bad enough that they had Cannibalism in the first place, but they had to throw in such a bad joke to top it all off?
If this was my first episode of Prison Break, it would have been my last. But I've been here since the beginning and I'll stick it out. They're running out of ideas and if Cannibalism sounds like a good one to the writers/producers of the show I'm forced to stick around til the end.
Tom.
Prison Break was the first show back on the air, and I just had a chance to watch the season 4 premiere last night - and...it had it's moments of good and bad. Mostly bad now that I think of it.
I was a huge fan of this show for the first season, most of the second season, most of the 3rd season as well. The second season ended poorly for me, but the Sona storyline kept up my interest until the final episode of season 3. Season 1 has been the only season of the show thus far that has been great in my opinion from start to finish. Every season after it has seen my interest wane towards the end of the season resulting in mini marathons of Prison Break so I can clear up some space on my PVR, Not usually a good sign, but I keep coming back for more. I've come this far.
Now with Season 4 starting - and it may be the last after seeing how many people actually tuned in to the premiere - the plot is even more convoluted than I thought it could ever become, there was a resurrection of sorts and lastly Cannibalism
The plot for this year is to take down the Company, to do so, Micheal and crew have to work together to obtain a set of electronic documents - 6 in total. In return for this the US government has promised no jail time for anyone - and everyone involved is looking at 15 years on the light side if they don't help.
The simple fact that the government is running a black ops style mission with known criminals is a little weird to me - and sounds like it was done before, wasn't the MOD squad about criminals trying to work off their sentence (I'm too lazy for research). This season's plots seem to me like a blatant attempt to keep the show going. Michael and his crew have broken out of 2 prisons, now, once they find the six pieces of electronics that they are looking for, they have to break into a Company building (they don't now where it is at the moment) and the downfall of the evil Company can start from there I guess. This season will have nothing to do with breaking out of prisons. If this show - by some miracle - lasts another few seasons, Michael and his crew will be trying to break into car after locking the keys inside. That will be 22 episodes of excitement.
Resurrections are something I'm used to as a comic book fan - a character never seems to stay dead for more than a few years at the absolute most. So, when the character of Sarah was brought back to the land of the living - it smacked of "what the hell? we saw her head in a box in season 3!" The writer's clever way around this was to say that it wasn't really her, it was just some corpse that the Company had found as a way to motivate Michael and his brother Lincoln into doing their bidding.
Just some random corpse huh? A random corpse that looks exactly like the character they supposedly killed. In the flashbacks, they did the clever editing job of never actually showing the head in the box, but I distinctly remember seeing it in Season 3, back when the actress playing the character of Sarah didn't want to come back - for whatever reason. Now she's back, so it was just some random head in a box that coincidentally looked like Sarah's twin and nobody ever saw confirmation that it was actually Sarah's head in the box. Excellent job of retconing that whole scene.
I also had issue with once scene in which Michael is getting his tattoos removed. Michael, from seeing Season 1 you'll now was covered from the neck down in tattoos. It was his way of smuggling in his plans for escape from the first prison. Season 4 sees him seemingly have his tattoos removed in a single session with a laser. I may have missed something here, but I don't think that's possible. With editing, it made it seem like Michael had his tattoos removed, at least an arms worth (a sleeve I think it's called) in less than a day. Or course we never see Michael in short sleeves so it's hard to tell, but the editing makes it seem that way. That would be one gigantic leap in logic, but I suppose the whole show is a giant leap in logic.
Lastly, Cannibalism. T-bag, stranded in the desert with a Mexican travel partner are robbed and left for dead. The Mexican travel partner snaps after days without food or water, takes a swing ant T-bag and falls killing himself on a rock. T-bag thinks long and hard for a second then builds himself a fire and eats the guy!
WTF?
Then, T-bag continues his travels, finally runs into some people that will help him get out of the desert. Before the travel start, he kind of retches at the thought of what he just had to do. The one would be savior asks "Are you ok? What'd you do have some bad Mexican?"
To which T-bag replies "Something like that"
Seriously!
Bad enough that they had Cannibalism in the first place, but they had to throw in such a bad joke to top it all off?
If this was my first episode of Prison Break, it would have been my last. But I've been here since the beginning and I'll stick it out. They're running out of ideas and if Cannibalism sounds like a good one to the writers/producers of the show I'm forced to stick around til the end.
Tom.
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