Yay! Showgirls is #1 at something!

Well, it's official.* Showgirls has the #1 Worst Sex Scene Ever. Awesome. I don't think I could describe it any better than The Register has. Read on here.

Linky

*According to Empire magazine.

Just to clarify

I watched the season premieres of Alias, Smallville and Everwood, and a relatively boring episode of The O.C. and also Joey. I love my Tee-Faux.

A couple words about Alias. First, Why is there now another Rambaldi-esque manuscript that is the freakin' McGuffin? Second, nobody is ever dead (except Lauren, but that's 'cause she's all frozen up). Third, the parachute FX shot was totally fake looking (in HD at least). Fourth, do they only show us how to get into APO at the beginning of the season, because they don't feel like putting together that set all the time? Fifth, there was no credits sequence, not even a little 2 second boom-chicka boom-chicka. Overall, I thought the episode was decent, but ultimately rang a little hollow.

B

Quickie riff on Smallville

I was so excited when at one point in tonight's Smallville episode, Lois almost dies. I was then sorely disappointed when she didn't. Also, Lex is eeeevil, with extra e's and there's lots of lame Clark/Lana B.S.

P.S. When did lower back tattoos get so cool? Cause all the hot alien ladies are sporting them this year.

TV Series Premieres Part V (Five, the last, maybe)

Well, this is the last of my series premiere reviews, unless there's something else I feel like watching and writing about. Whew. That was a lot of work.

ABC

Commander in Chief
(Tuesday at 9:00)

Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis; Beetlejuice) is the Vice-President of the USA, an independent, and a woman. This becomes a problem when the Republican President has a stroke and later dies. She is asked to resign by both the President before he dies and by the Speaker of the House, Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland; Animal House) who would then step in as President. Templeton believes that Mac was only given the running mate slot as a campaign gimmick to increase support from women voters, and that her policies would not concur with the former president's. She is about to hand in her resignation when she get a speech from Templeton telling her that it's best that she resign because women just wouldn't be able to do the job. This basically convinces her to take over as President, and sets up the major conflict between her and Templeton.
It seems that this will be underlying plot, with Templeton trying to undermine her authority and prove that she is not capable of handling the responsibility and power that comes with being President. There are also other smaller conflicts with her children and husband. I thought the show was pretty good, though heavy-handed at times with it's agenda. Geena Davis is as usual, good, and Donald Sutherland plays the duplicitous Templeton with appropriate evilness. I wasn't immediately struck with a sense of "this is really good" but it did draw me in and make me want to continue watching. It has a lot of room to explore much of the same territory as The West Wing, but with a different perspective. I like it.

A-

Geeks unite!

Really, really, really cool interview from Time Magazine, of Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman. Very good read.

Linky

From Slashdot

-The Geek

Fall TV Series Premieres Part 4 (IV, Four)

All I’ve got to say is “Suit Up!”

I still have to write up a review of Commander In Chief, which I should have done as soon as I get a chance to watch it.

CBS

How I Met Your Mother
(Monday at 8:30)

How I Met Your Mother is a story told through flashback of Ted (Josh Radnor) and how he met his wife. Ted is an architect who lives with his newly-engaged friend Marshall (Jason Segel; Freaks and Geeks) and Marshall’s fiancée, Lily (Alyson Hannigan; BtVS). He is spurred to find a mate by the engagement and receives sometimes unwanted dating help from Barney (Neil Patrick Harris; Doogie Houser, MD), although it is because of Barney’s prodding that he meets Robin (Cobie Smulders; Veritas). Ted instantly falls for her, but she is reluctant to return his affections because of her own insecurities.
So far, the show has been pretty funny, and especially, Barney gets the most outrageous lines. Robin is the girl you’d fall in love with at first sight, and Ted is your basic “Ross”-type. I like Alyson Hannigan (*tiny* BtVS obsession), but both her and Jason Segel are a bit underutilized, although I’m sure their characters can be fleshed out a bit more as the series goes on.

B+

Out of Practice
(Monday at 9:30)

Ben (Christopher Gorham; Popular) is a marriage counselor, who’s own marriage has just imploded, and he has to deal with his meddling mother (doctor [Stockard Channing]), wacky father (doctor [Henry Winkler]), pompous brother (plastic surgeon [Ty Burrell]) and a lesbian sister (ER doctor [Paula Marshall]). It’s your basic family sitcom, and it’s good. Henry Winkler is great, and I’m not sure if she’s just a recurring character or what, but look for Jennifer Tilly as his secretary/girlfriend. I’ve enjoyed the 2 episodes I’ve seen so far.

A-

Threshold
(Friday at 9:00 before NUMB3RS)

Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey (Carla Gugino; Spy Kids, Karen Sisco) specializes in creating plans for “worst-case scenarios.” Unfortunately for her, one of her scenarios has become reality, one involving possible alien first-contact. She’s called in to investigate, pulling together a team of a biologist (Brent Spiner; ST:NG), a “rocket scientist” (Robert Patrick Benedict; Felicity) and a linguist (Peter Dinklage; “an angry elf”: Elf). She also has crew of black ops military personnel to assist with “problems.” They head out to a ship that was in the area that the alien spacecraft landed and find that almost all of the crew is either missing or dead. There, they discover that there are aliens, and that they’re almost certainly hostile. Also the transmissions from the spacecraft were somehow able to mutate the DNA of any life in the area. It was even able to affect Dr. Caffrey, the aero-engineer and the head of the security team who watched a videotape of the spacecraft. It also seems that everyone affected by the spacecraft are now linked somehow. Creepy. I thought the show was pretty creepy, it had some humor (especially from the “civilians” in the team), and has a compelling mystery. It’s unfortunate it’s in a Friday night “death slot” because it had some excellent X-Files-style sci-fi goodness.
Recommended (for those that mourn the good-ole days of the X-Files)

A

[Soapbox]: I find it unfortunate that even though some sci-fi shows have arguably better writing, acting and direction than "regular" TV they tend to be overlooked because they have the sci-fi element. True, a lot of sci-fi TV tends to be crap, but so does a lot of regular TV. Do we really need 64535342 C.S.I.s and 45242523 Law & Orders? [/Soapbox]

*For British Eyes Only*

Last night's Arrested Development had me cracking up almost the entire time. George Sr., Lucille and Lindsay all doing their chicken dances... I was dying. Wee Britain... Rolling on the floor. So funny. I think I'll have to watch it again.

Weekend of weariness

A bit of a recaplet of this weekend.

Friday after work I went to Big Buck with co-workers as someone else was leaving the company. As usual I drank maybe one too many, but when you are getting others to buy your beers, a free beer is a beer I'm going to drink. After that, Jim (another former co-worker) and I headed into Pontiac for some food. We went to a place called Jalapenos, and had some very tasty Mexican food. They had some very interesting dips for the chips there. The tamales were good, and everything else I had was good to. After that I just went home and watched TV, and fell asleep fairly early.

Saturday, after watching some more TV, I went to my parents house to help install the laminate floor they had gotten for the kitchen remodel. We got about halfway done and as my dad was getting tired, we stopped for the night.
I went home after that and tried calling people to see if they were going to Tiki, I didn't get any answers until later, but as I was heading in my house, my next door neighbor calls me over to tell me the neighbor across the street was having a party, and I was invited. I had seen a bunch of cars, so I figured something was going on. I showered and whatnot and then headed over to Karla's to party. I brought some beer from my fridge. There were a couple people watching the UofM game, so I caught the end of it. Pathetic. Bah.
After that I started to drink more heavily. In the backyard they had set up "the luge" which is a chunk of ice with grooves cut in it down which you pour liqour, cooling it on the way to your mouth. That was awesome. I chatted with lots of Karla's friends and co-workers and had a good time.
I think I left sometime just before 2 as I was tired and I had to help my dad with the rest of the floor in the morning.

Sunday, I went over to my parent's house and we finished the floor. We had to finish it because the new appliances were being delivered today, and then the counter people can come in and finish things up in there.
I watched the seaon premieres of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, although I was interrupted in the middle of Grey's Anatomy by a call from Dan in the City, but I didn't mind as we hadn't talked in a bit and as such were catching up on things.

So, that's about it for my weekend. Not that it matters. Cool.

-The Geek

P.S. I don't know why I've never been to a party where they have an ice luge... supposedly they're huge at colleges... must not have known the right people.

Fall TV Series Premieres Pt. 3

Here's part 3 of my TV premieres reviews. I just saw that Head Cases has already been canceled, so I can see that there is still plenty of time for others to canceled. I'm also working on writeups for CBS shows, and I will hopefully have those a bit later.


WB

Supernatural
(Tuesday at 9:00 after Gilmore Girls)

Supernatural is the story of two brothers, 1* (Jensen Ackles; Smallville) and 2** (Jared Padalecki; Gilmore Girls), trying to track down their father who’s disappeared. Their father’s pursuit has been the “demon” that killed their mother when they were boys, and they have often joined him on these quests, fighting other spirits and monsters over the years. However, this time he’s gone alone and hasn’t checked in for a while, and 1 needs help. 2 gave up chasing ghosts to live a normal life, is about to go to law school, and lives with a serious girlfriend. 1 convinces 2 to join him for just this one time, and after that 2 can get back in time for his law school interview. They investigate the last case their father was working on, solving it’s mystery while tangling with the local law enforcement and nearly getting killed like 3 times. They also find a clue their father has left, coordinates (“an old Marine trick”), and set back to fulfill the promise of 2’s impending interview. When 2 gets home, he can not find serious girlfriend, and to his horror, finds she has been killed by the same demon that killed his mother. This steels his resolve to find his father and help him defeat the demon.

I really didn’t want to like this show, I thought it was going to be really gimmicky and cheesy, but instead, it was genuinely scary, and had a pretty decent plot. The acting is good by WB standards, and the effects are really cool.

B+

Twins
(Friday at 8:30 after What I Like About You)
Mitchee (Sara Gilbert;Roseanne) and Farrah (Molly Stanton) are “twins” who are taking over as Co-Presidents the company their parents, Cousin Larry, er, Alan (Mark Linn-Baker; Perfect Strangers) and Lee (Melanie Griffith) founded. Their parents are retiring, but that doesn’t mean they can’t interfere. And even thought they’re twins, the girls couldn’t be more different, Farrah, blond, pretty and shallow; Mitchee, smart and “not-pretty”. Haha! Not. It’s just not that funny, I like Sara Gilbert, but neither her nor Cousin Larry can save the show from the lame plot, unfunny jokes, and generally sloppy, lazy and just bad writing.

D+ (plus for Sara Gilbert)

Just Legal
(Monday at 9:00 after The Show That Shall Not Be Named Because On It If You Have Premarital Sex You Will Get Pregnant)

David “Skip” Ross (Jay Baruchel; Undeclared) is a prodigy who at 18 has just graduated law school and passed the bar. He cannot find a job at any law firms because he is so young. Drunky McDrunkard aka Grant Cooper (Don Johnson; Miami Vice, Nash Bridges) is a former hot-shot defense attorney who now works as a public defender and also works insurance cases that the “friendly” local police force passes along to him. He is cynical and jaded. Skip is naïve and idealistic. Drunky lets Skip do some work with him, and even lets him try a case in court, but only because the judge forced him to bring along someone else. Meanwhile, the defendant says she’s not guilty, and Skip enters this plea, against the wishes of Drunky, forcing them to investigate the case and find evidence to prove her innocence. There’s a lot of blah-blah, but in the end, the girl gets acquitted and Drunky realizes the error of his ways and rediscovers his idealism. Skip will continue to work with Grant and we’re left with Grant putting on his sunglasses on the boardwalk outside their hip, beachfront office in a shot reminiscent of Nash Bridges. Generally the show is pretty decent, I like Jay Baruchel, the writing is good, but I think there’s only so far they can take the 2-dimensional-ness of the characters before it gets stale. I’m going to keep watching, and hopefully it develops into something even better.

B-

*Haven’t bothered yet to look up the character’s name
**Ditto above, plus it’s easier to write. And funnier.

Ooo ooo aaah aaah!

You Are A: Monkey!

Monkeys are intelligent and agile, well-adapted for jungle life as they swing happily from tree to tree. As a monkey, you are a social animal who prefers a warm climate, eats a wide range of food and is quick to learn new things. A monkey's tiny primate features are irresistable, as is his gregarious personality!

You were almost a: Bear Cub or a Lamb
You are least like a: Squirrel or a BunnyDiscover What Cute Animal You Are!

Chip on my shoulder, chip in my windshield

Well,it's happened again. On my way to work this morning, I got another chip in my windshield. The only good thing is that's it's not nearly as big as the previous chip nor is it in a view-obscuring position, thus not necessitating a new windshield. It's still annoying though. I guess I'm not following close enough for the rocks to go completely over or far enough back where they fall harmlessly to the ground.

See this post for details of the first windshield cracking.

More TV for your reading pleasure

OK. Here are a few more new series reviews. Also, I realized I was somewhat incorrect in my assertion that there at 18 hours of primetime network TV on every night, when in fact there are only 15. Fox, WB and UPN each only have 2 hours of programming.

NBC

My Name Is Earl
(Tuesday at 9:00 before The Office)

My Name Is Earl stars Jason Lee (Mallrats, Chasing Amy) as Earl, a white-trash loser with an unfaithful wife (Jaime Pressley), and a drunk of a brother (Ethan Suplee; Mallrats). Earl wins a $100,000 Lotto scratch-off and in the process of celebrating gets hit by a car. In a morphine-induced haze at the hospital, he takes note of Carson Daly talking about Karma and has an epiphany of sorts. This you might have all gotten from the promos, but what doesn’t come through is how likable a loser Earl is. As awful a person as he is, you get the feeling he means well. So, Earl begins to make up for all the bad things he’s done, and we’re along for the ride. The characters are quirky, but believable, the dialogue is witty and the voiceover never gets in the way or annoying. I, of course, have liked Jason Lee since Mallrats, but here he seems to have room to really stretch out and just go for it. Jaime Pressley is great as the stereotypical W-T gum-snapping, hot-pant-wearing, super-big-haired, cheating, ex-wife. Very funny.
Recommended.

A

ABC

Invasion
(Wednesday at 10:00 after Lost)

Here’s how it breaks down. There’s a hurricane coming and everyone is getting ready for it, including Blah (Russell), a park ranger in the Everglades, his kids, Rose and Blah-Jr.(Jesse). Blah’s new wife, Larkin (huh?) is a TV reporter and also pregnant. Her brother, Dave (Tyler Labine) is a conspiracy theorist, and irresponsible. Blah’s ex-wife, Mariel is a control-freak doctor and married to the town’s sheriff, Sheriff (Tom) Underlay (William Fichtner; Go, Black Hawk Down). Sheriff Tom, also has a daughter, Kira. This hurricane wreaks havoc in the town, and somehow Mariel ends up lost and is found naked in the swamp, alive but somehow different. Sheriff Tom puts the town under quarantine for no particular reason. Rose, who ran off to look for the McGuffin, I mean, her cat, saw lights in the sky land in the water when the hurricane was happening all around her and she tells this to Dave, who has to investigate as all conspiracy nuts must. He finds something mysterious, and things just get more mysterious. Unfortunately, these must be the dumbest aliens ever, as even a 5-year-old, Rose, can tell that something’s amiss. Good thing for the aliens that the townspeople are even dumber than a 5-year-old. It’s all very Pod-people-y. I don’t think I’ll watch it regularly.

D

Lost for words

Well, the Lost premiere was not what I expected. It was creepy and weird, and there's stuff that doesn't make sense and of course it plays up the dichotomy of Jack and Locke's philosophies even a bit more than before. It was a very Jack-centric episode, and the flashbacks of him are kind of funny because of the wig they put him in makes him look like Greg from Dharma and Greg. I'm just glad they had the review episode before though, because it definately helped get me caught back up. Ok. That's probably almost too much if you haven't seen the episode yet. Sorry. Back to your normal activities.

-The Geek

Mike’s Fall TV New Series Reviews

For those not able to watch all 18 hours of primetime television that are on every night, I’m doing a public service, taking the bullet and watching as much as I can and letting you guys know what’s good and what’s crap. Some things I decided were crap and haven’t even bothered with, but what I’ve watched so far of new series, I’ll give you the scoop. (This may be several parts)

FOX

Reunion
(Thursday at 9 after The OC)

Reunion is about six close friends and their stories from 20 years in the past when they graduated high school up to the present where one of them is murdered and one of the others did it. Each episode is supposed to be a year, so it starts back in 1986 with a party. I basically got bored and annoyed by the predictable plot after 10 minutes and turned to something else.

C-

Kitchen Confidential
(Monday at 8:30 after Arrested Development which you should be watching anyways)

Jack Bourdain (Bradley Cooper; Will on Alias) was a hotshot chef who let women, drugs and booze ruin his career. We catch up with him when he’s working at an Olive-Garden-type restaurant. He then gets a call from the owner of an upscale restaurant that recently fired the head chef. He takes the job and has to assemble a stereotypically motley crew of assistants. There’s the Seafood Specialist (John Cho; Harold of Harold and Kumar), the Pastry Genius (Nicholas Brendon; Xander from BtVS), the wild Sous Chef (Owain Yeoman) and the incompetent newbie (John F. Daley of Freaks and Geeks). Then there’s the front of house staff, the girl that put the ho’ in hostess (Jaime King), and the house manager (Bonnie Somerville; lawyer Rachel from The OC). Despite the tension and disorder of the opening night, the crew manage to get a good review of the restaurant and it seems that Jack is back on his way up, at least as far as his career is concerned. The same cannot be said for his person life, as his reputation precedes him and causes many comic misunderstandings. That’s not to say the show is slapstick or stupid. Actually it’s well written, and very genuinely funny. The ensemble cast all fulfills their roles well, and Jack is very likable and sympathetic. I really enjoyed it and was almost immediately thinking that it was a really great show, as opposed to having to warm up to it.

Highly recommended.

A


Head Cases
(Wednesday at 9:00)

Jason Payne (Chris O’Donnell) is a high-priced lawyer, who ignores his family and when he gets kicked out of his house, the stress of his job and the pressures of family finally get to him and he has a breakdown, one where the TV talks to him. (My TV talks to me, but I don’t usually answer back) After spending 2 months in a “wellness center” he is declared ready to reenter society, but his doc makes him have a buddy, kind of like a sponsor in AA. Unfortunately his buddy Shultz is also a lawyer, and one with a “small anger management” problem (described as Explosive Disorder). Shultz also is the stereotypical bottom feeder type of lawyer whose typical clientele consist of prostitutes and anyone else that nobody would defend. Jason loses his job at the high-power firm, is still not able to be back with his family, and ends up having to work with Shultz. They help each other with their cases, in typical buddy-comedy fashion. Adam Goldberg keeps it just shy of annoying, and there is enough chemistry between him and Chris O’Donnell to make it interesting. I’m going to keep watching, but hopefully this doesn’t turn into an Ally-McBeal-parade of goofy clients.

B-

Bones
(Tuesday at 8:00)

Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) is a forensic anthropologist and not a people person. Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz of Angel) is an FBI agent and detractor of science. See, comedy gold of the "Odd Couple" variety. Grudgingly Brennan (a.k.a the titularily nicknamed "Bones") works with Booth to solve crimes when ever they find bodies that need explaining. To help discover the identities of victims Bones and her (once again) motley crew of scientists and computer geniuses use "sophisticated" computerized scanners and other science-y stuff to recreate in a C.S.I.-like holographic chamber the victims and methods of their demises. I seriously think the writers just wrote "science stuff" in the script wherever they needed explanations and let researchers fill it in. There was even a montage of Bones hard at work, reassembling the skull of a victim. ‘Cause science is hard. In the end, both Bones and Booth find that they need each others strengths to solve cases. The first episode was a bit cheesy, and the dialogue is kind of lame at times (no need to be so self-referential as to refer to yourselves as "Mulder and Scully") but I think the show can and should improve.

B

More pirate-y-ness

My pirate name is:

Dirty William Bonney

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Arrr. This post be full of puns.

Arrr. Know me not that this be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Avast me hearties, blow the man down, hang 'em from the yardarm, run out the mizzen, walk the plank, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. Aye. Me thinks this be not discouraging thee from lookin' fer pirate jokes here. X marks the spot. I be drivin' me favorite car, the Subaru W-Arrr-X. My favorite subject in school, if I went, be Arrrrt. Heave to, and check it out. Arrr.

"Professor, what's another name for pirate treasure?"
"Why, that would be booty."

I am a celebrity-news ho'

I don't even know why I'm bothering, but I'm going to mention it for those 2 people in the jungle of French Guiana who have probably not heard it yet, but Britney and professional sperm donor K-Fed finally had their kid. Preston. Preston? Ugh.
That and Rene Zellweger and Kenny Chesney are getting an annulment. What I heard on the radio this morning was that there had been no consumation of the marriage. Kenny must like wearing chaps for reasons other than he sings country music if you know what I mean.
I also saw something about the Olsen twins and how they're getting the kids that played the kid in Big Daddy to be a 'tween boys brand, similar to the Olsen twins for 'tween girls. Ridiculous.
Oh, and if there had been any Paris Hilton news I probably would have included that too. I am so ashamed of myself.

I did not know that.

Interesting post about what The Chief Justice of the United States actually is responsible for. I don't remember how I came across this blog, but I read it on and off.

What does the Chief Justice do anyways?

Dancing days are here again...

"...I told your mama I get you home, but I didn't say I got no car..."

It's on the radio right now, so I felt like including in this.

Anyways, nothing really important to report, weekend was fun, Friday Coronado came over and we watched TV, Iron Chef was Battle Crayfish, and that was amusing. Saturday was Austin's housewarming, and I had some leftovers from his family dinner, which were pretty tasty. Chris2 showed up and we had to explain the concept of 'blogging to him because of some reason or another. Also Saturday, I bought the first season of Lost. Suanday, I watched BSG, and some other stuff and then went to dinner at this good Mexican restaurant in Westland with Austin and Coronado. Then we went to see Red Eye at the Livonia 20. It was a fun movie, Cillian Murphy was appropriately creepy. Rachel McAdams was also really good. Haha! She was in Mean Girls. *Happy Dance of trivial superiority*

Ok, I guess that's all I feel like writing about now. Must return to actual work. Blah.

My heart is filled with lust...

Technolust! Behold, my precious, my beauteous, the loveliest, the iPod Nano. Mmmmm. Droooool.

I so want one. But that is silly. I already have an iPod. But I want this one too! Oh, the humanity!

Not about me...

Came across this article this morning about Burning Man. Pretty interesting. OK, that's it.

Read Me!

Guess I should post something...

Geez. I feel like I haven't done anything this weekend, but it was still busy. I have to go back to work tomorrow, but hmmm, it will already be Wednesday! Excellent. I will post more maybe tomorrow, as I have wanted to do little but catch up on TV all weekend. And there's still more to go. And season premieres coming also. Oy!

Jessica'd love this place

DSC00616.JPG
Originally uploaded by M Kawamoto.

Well, finally getting a picture up from my trek to NYC with Dan. This picture I took when we were wandering around the East Village. We walked past some place serving brunch, saw the sign, and thought of Jessica. See, there are things to like about New York.