places like hogwarts, the bayou, rome and wal-mart
Now Playing: kevin & bean on KROQ

been a few days, so i'll get on with the boringness:

• harry potter and the goblet of fire take one - before i get to the movie, i'll whine, cause all that money it made and selling out audiences and whatnot cost me the chance to see the film on friday night. one theater was telling everyone there might be seats in the front row (which if i'd been alone would have been fine, but i had two of my kids with me), the theater a block away was sold out. so, we got out of the parking lot within the free first half hour and went home to watch the film the next day
• and went home to watch willie wonka and the chocolate factory - certainly not as visual as the remake but still holds up quite well. plus, it was nice, me and sarah defending the film to the kids who were, like all modern children, bored by parts of the film (cause if there isn't hilarity and fantastic visuals every damn minute, then why are we bothering watching it, right?)
• then came masters of horror - "jenifer" - a predictable but horribly fun little hour with classic showtime style--that is, plenty of sex and nudity to balance out the gore, violence and deformity. it was like the hunger was on again--and that show was more consistently good, so that sort of comparison is a good thing in my mind. i should mention that this episode might have played better if i hadn't noticed that steven weber wrote it (or adapted it anyway). seems a bit narcissistic writing your own role in a sex filled romp, at least when not in the porn business... not that porn isn't narcissistic for those involved, of course
• then saturday we got to harry potter and it was a damn fine film, not just the best potter film but one of the better films i've seen, with only a couple editing flaws (one of them a bit annoying, the other only barely so):
  1. at the yule ball, there's a brief spat tween hermione and ron, but cut to after the ball, she's angry at him for ruining everything, when we've seen nothing of her everything being ruined. as far as we can tell before that, she had a fine time with krum. it seems like something's missing
  2. at the end, we get dumbledore telling the students (and us) that, while he's announcing that voldemort is back, the powers that be at the ministry don't want them to know that (setting up the plot for the next film), a fact that would have come off better if, say, fudge had taken a moment to tell dumbledore that they can't announce that sort of thing without some evidence. not necessarily an editing problem but more of a lack of content. we get the information but not in the best way
  but, all in all, the film works and works well, with some great dark, scary bits, some nice adventure and wonderful real life relationship type stuff, the main characters problems getting dates to the ball and ron and hermione's budding relationship and all the related parts
• and saturday night was time for skeleton key, a film that should have been so much better. i mean, peter sarsgaard is in it; how can it be bad? the plot is ok, but the dialogue is attrocious and the direction is horrible--for example, main girl (played by kate hudson, who won an award for acting before right? so what the hell happened?) runs to get out of the secret room in the attic before old lady gets upstairs to the attic, big tense scene, will she make it, will she get caught and all that, then what was it--a whole scene later?--she admits to having been up there, making all the tension a stupid display for the audience. and, for that matter, why does lawyer guy act like a lawyer guy at all? main girl doesn't know him from adam (as they say), so why is he playing a part that keeps him away from the house so much? SPOILER AHEAD OF COURSE: i mean, if he's the old black guy, why is he posing as a character that main girl hasn't even met and throwing out characterization like mad to make us care (or trying to, anyway)? who cares who he is, as long as he isn't acting like an old black guy? and, did main girl's friend suck at reading her lines, or was that just me? i swear i fell asleep during the damn climax, it was so boring. but, i'll recommend the film to everyone i hate
• and so there was sunday, a trip downtown, some time at a sports bar watching some steelers and a brief trip to the galleria and the lego store to get meself an advent calendar (which i proceeded to open completely upon getting home, of course), then came the simpsons, a funny episode--i remember laughing a lot--but i can't recall much specific about it.
• then, while recording family guy and american dad, i watched me some rome finale, ie some damn fine television, with the expected death of caesar coming off particularly violent, gruesome and tragic, veranus' bit with his wife pulling at the emotions like pullo's bit with the arena last week, and a strangely happy ending for pullo and eirene
• then was grey's anatomy, with a quite funny thansgiving episode, but still with the tragedy (even if it was a bit predictable with the coma guy dying). unlike tv guide, i didn't think it was particularly notable that bartender friend was gay... or maybe i did, since i just noted it. fuck
• and then i finally got to last week's alias, a nice little hour reminiscent of classic season one episodes. it was great to have sloane acknowledge his blackmail then act on it anyway in the end, having his cake and eating it too
• prison break - the escape looms and everything's going nicely, pudgy fbi guy even finally turns against his own plot (which you just know is going to lead to his death), then abruzzi gets cut and a little bad timing gets lincoln dragged away and to be continued in next week's "fall finale"
• and i recored house and threshold while off with sarah to see wal-mart: the high cost of low price. a nice enough documentary, a bit too much editing in a few places (as many a documentary these days is wont to do), but it gets its point across. and, one of the editors and one of the researchers were there after to answer questions
• then home to nip/tuck, with the kimber/christian wedding coming and matt hooking up with a cute little nazi (played by brittany snow, and i'd just like to point out to the folks behind this show that's she's over 18, unlike her character here and here characters on american dreams, so more skin would be fine) to match his haircut, and quentin IS NOT AT THE WEDDING PEOPLE, so of course he's the carver when it's blatantly not sean who comes to kimber's dressing room... but i get ahead of myself. kimber and christian dance around the julia issue and some wedding jitters--personal note: drive off to vegas without much planning and there aren't too many jitters (and no carver interruptions), trust me--and there's talk of the homogenization of humanity as a bad thing (a deliberately racist notion that still makes some intriguing points about plastic surgery and dovetails nicely into the carver's return. not that we get to see him return, mind you. but, we all know it's him (or her, if you think it's it liz, as many, including myself, have been thinking). but, QUENTIN WASN'T AT THE WEDDING, PEOPLE! HOW CLEAR DO THE WRITERS HAVE TO MAKE IT?! plus, quentin has good reason to be angry with christian, hence dragging out this carver attack, adding abduction and that letter ruse with kimber from next week's promo. unless the carver is kit, of course. made a huge thing of accusing christian then gets herself cut just to rule herself out as a suspect. toying with the audience, she was, methinks. all around, a fun episode. can't believe the season is almost over already
• and today is the day before genocide day, and that means it's baking day for some. me--i'll be making a birthday cake oddly enough, to be consumed at the family thanksgiving gettogether tomorrow
• and i am wondering if i can fit rent into today's schedule


Posted by ca4/muaddib at 9:28 AM PST
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cancellation schmancellation
Now Playing: dada - puzzle
so, here's the thing: night stalker got cancelled, right, and i figured that wouldn't bode well for alias. now, cynopsis has this announcement today:

ABC is expected to slot Alias in the Wednesday 10p time period as of December 7th for a two week play, airing the final two episodes of the previous season. The show will then return with originals in midseason. Invasion will return to Wednesday nights on December 21.

so, here's how i see it going: night stalker's gone so the thursday block on abc is screwed. i mean, what used to be nbc's night is now cbs' night, with nbc getting an easy second and abc pulling sloppy thirds--and that not even in a great demo, as the good demo not already watching cbs or nbc is watching the oc and 20 year crapfest (aka reunion). oh, and wb falls somewhere in there as well, and upn--with programming i mostly don't care to watch but with a great way of running things--settles for last. but, still, abc keeps trying to raise the ratings for that night, cause having a handful of the highest rated shows (ie lost, desperate housewives, grey's anatomy and commander in chief) just isn't good enough. to be fair, the networks would never bother with anything at all good or interesting if they weren't in constant competition with one another, but at some point i say settling for third place should be fine. but, anyway, the thing for abc thursday is alias on its own isn't as easy a sell (or audience grab) as alias partnered with another show. to be fair, primetime live is an ok show, but it can't do for 2 hours every week, and really, it doesn't quite cover the same audience as alias--not that i haven't ended up watching primetime live a few times of late simply cause i don't do er or without a trace and the fx comedies are off for now, and that show's good and all, but not fitting to be with alias (or vice versa), though it's worth noting that those nazi twins were cute... and, i'm allowed to think that, right, even though they're underage, since they're also nazis and all. doesn't that cancel out the age thing, like with the olsen twins--they're so morally rephrensible that it's ok to think about them however you like, that they're hot or that they're not (for the record, the olsen twins are not) or even that they should rule the world (via wal-mart takeover) or be murdered in their sleep... i mean, i'm not perfect, but i'm certainly less morally repugnant than nazi singers, right? except maybe here or here or here or... oh, you get the point

where was i?

right, so, with night stalker gone, alias has to move. so, they stick it with lost again, like last season. but, then, the move will screw with some fans but still likely improve the ratings for a couple weeks. of course, then there are two problems:

1. what do the higher ups think when back in its thursday slot (assuming that will happen) alias drops again in the ratings and seems like such a disappointment? will the notion that this seems to be the final season mean they will keep it going just to end it properly? or will the drop in ratings screw the show for good, and the fact that it's nearly over anyway will just make it that much easier to kill?
2. what happens to invasion, now that it's getting some momentum going storywise, finding its audience in the lost leavings, and then, oh now, where'd it go for two weeks? will they even bother to put it back? and, if they do, what if its ratings aren't as good as a) alias in that slot or b) its own previous ratings in that slot?

i've learned in recent years that despite my own attention to schedule changes, most people have no fucking idea when even their favorites shows are on sometimes, and when shows get switched (for sweeps (ie the invasion/close to home switch) or post sweeps fuckarounds (this alias/invasion thing) they get lost (pun unintended). executives have to know this, so we can assume switching is done only in desperation, and though it has had its successes (but don't ask me to name any, besides maybe the x-files moving to sunday), it fails more often than not, and it hurts both shows involved and it pisses off the audience members who pay attention (like me) and confuses the audience members who don't, then good shows get cancelled before they have their chance to shine (not to beat a few of my personal dead horses, but i'd cite wonderfalls, firefly and ez streets for a few examples), or just before they get to go out in a proper blaze of glory, like alias really should... maybe bringing back rambaldi and introducing the latest villain in a cliffhanger: alvar honso*

* if you don't get that reference, too bad for you**

** or congratulations on not being a total tv nerd

when is a glass eye not a glass eye?
Now Playing: crash test dummies - god shuffled his feet
on LOST:

• knew goodwin wasn't peace corps (for sure) when ana lucia suggested that if THEY took the strong ones first, they'd have taken him, and he just mulled that over--and clearly agreed he was strong--then made his own countersuggestion. real peace corps for life kinda guy would've been more humble, maybe thanked her for suggesting he was strong enough to be a threat then move on... at least i hope that kind of subtlety is something of which the writers are capable
• i wonder if nathan's company retreat was on that trip locke got left out of
• so, did bernard sit down in the nearest empty seat when the shaking started or were he and rose not sitting together (certainly a possibility)?
• funny that ana lucia turned off the radio cause she was so paranoid by then, but if she hadn't maybe the two groups of survivors could have gotten together a week (and a few deaths) earlier
• that collective consciousness and faked crash theory kinda got screwed by the opening shot
• mistereko seemed to be right there with the tailies from the start, so was the announcement about his character when he was cast a ruse or is there still more to learn about him? like, is he a priest, doing that 40 days of penance thing, focusing intensely on that bible--and was he carving a cross for a grave or marking off days on his own stick? and, if he is a priest, couldn't he still be from that other plane with the heroin?
• and, it's nice that the pilot, who knew the plane was off course, was apparently killed and cindy, who also knew the plane was off course, disappeared. of course, she got to spread that information a little better than he did
• glass eye=symbolic? or is it left behind by someone who used that bunker, or left behind by someone adopted by THEM, what with having no tags in their clothes, no IDs, no anything... maybe they don't like modern amenities like glass eyes either
• and, unrelated to this episode, but connecting to that collective consciousness theory, weren't shannon and boone supposed to be in first class but got bumped cause they were late or something? cause, then it's interesting that they are the two from the midsection to have died already. wonder who that drowning girl (way back when) was and why the collective consciousness wanted her dead

on HARRY POTTER:

• seems watching the three films on consecutive days makes the formula of the adaptations a bit obvious. introduce plot in london (just like in the book) but simplify it, get to school in amusingly magic way, meet new teachers, throw in a quidditch game (but don't bother talking about how the season is going or anything outside the plot, unlike in the books) but only as it directly relates to harry's problems fucking it all up, have harry use magic cloak or maruader's map (or both) to overhear the exact bit of information that will drive the rest of the plot, then in the alfonso cuaron version, get on with it and have some damn fun with the convoluted climax, in the columbus versions, keep the pace slow but sorta hint that a climax is coming, then in one scene finish it all, then denouement in the great hall and all is well.
• i know the plots of the novels tend to ward a formula as well, specifically because each one is supposed to cover the schoolyear from beginning to end (and the adaptations can't handle the plot going so slowly very well). but, with the books getting more and more detailed and rambly, the formula gets harder to recognize each time (though it IS still there)
• too bad about some subplots left out of the films... though it hasn't amounted to much yet--keep in mind, i've yet to get my hands on a copy of book 6--hermione's elf organization seems like something that is going to end up being quite important in the end
• knowing the big spoiler bit from book 6, i found it interesting that in the first film (and possible in the book as well, though it's been a few years so i can't be sure), it is said that as long as dumbledore is around, harry is safe. book 7 ought to be fun

on INVASION:

• the plots advance, and a new twist is inserted in that girl who knows what's going on and has a whole different attitude about it. plus confirmation that old bodies are left behind, new ones in their place, but why was the sheriff shocked so much at the sight of mariel's body? didn't he know how it works? or is it bigger than even he knows?

on THE COLBERT REPORT:

• damn funny bit with the lists. and the show as a whole, and the Daily Show before it, was funny of course
  
  Posted by ca4/muaddib at 1:30 PM PST
  Updated: Thursday, 17 November 2005 1:32 PM PST
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british kids are so british
Now Playing: collective soul - dosage

• the lion the witch and the wardrobe - the bbc version. the effects are easily forgivable, even some of the worst of them, but damn it if they didn't add a hell of a lot of dialogue to the book--why did they have to have a three hour movie when the book could probably be boiled down to one if one really put some effort into it. i still say--about the story, that is, not this incarnation in particular--that it's a crap story and aslan, just like jesus, is a bit of a cheater. i mean, who the hell wouldn't die if it meant you get to go be a god and everyone will worship you forever... or that you'll wake up the morning and all will be fine? and, i can't decided if the casting on lucy was brilliant or horrific; i mean, the girl, with her blatantly british looks, big teeth and extra weight, captured that arrogant annoying devout bitch lucy quite well, almost too well. sorry, lucy's annoying
• harry potter and the chamber of secrets - not as good a plot as any of the other books, but this one works well as a movie. saw it a few times already, of course, but reviewing for goblet of fire this weekend. one thing worth noting on this one and the other two (and what will probably be the case with the fourth)--the casting is brilliant
• house - "spin" - not the best episode of house, but also not the worst
• nip/tuck - "hannah tedesco" - less heavyhanded with the metaphor, and that's shocking since the main surgery was extra graphic and extended--hell, the two facial surgery bits could be the reason this episode was 20 minutes long--and speaking of being long, did anything announce that? odd twist at the end of sean's bit in this one, but at least he's still around, and the wedding next week should go down in flames quite well... or surprise us all by being absolutely normal in the end
• recorded but not watched yet: boston legal, the daily show, the colbert report

nothing much with which to bore you
made a new tee shirt:

available at the lemming drops studio store

watched harry potter and the sorcerer's stone, rewatching to gear up for the new one this weekend (and cause i told kieran he could go with hayley and i to see goblet of fire if he watches the other three this week). having watched prisoner of azkaban a few days ago, it was remarkable how different the direction is (and how much better actors the leads have become)

after wandering about the extras disc of harry potter, watched two and a half men, picked up sarah from class then watched prison break before the daily show and the colbert report. a few nice touches:

• he of the broken finger left the sandpaper fella at the bottom of the well to die
• stupid prisoners can't put aside their differences long enough to escape
• group's getting bloated and they're making that a plot point--my vote is get rid of the mob guy as wasn't his usefulness the ability to get a plane after the escape, and now with his higher ups out of the way, does he even have the clout or money or anything to get that done? but, i'm sure all 7 will go, making the escape that much harder and tense

and, as for running through my cds in order (sampling at least a couple songs per "band", i'm finished through cold and coldplay is next. today had some clapton, cheap trick, chalk farm and the aforementioned cold

and, alas, night stalker was cancelled (and production stopped, with three episodes more already completed)

the weak end
Now Playing: the calling - camino palmero

three movies saturday:

• charlie and the chocolate factory - pretty damn funny and good. i've never read the book, but i'd say this film definitely improved on the old one, though of course i wouldn't dare speak ill of gene wilder or his take on wonka. i tend to enjoy tim burton films, appreciative of the weirdness as i am
• ed wood - another tim burton film, which sarah was seeing for the first time and apparently didn't enjoy so much--her take was "why make a bad movie about a guy who made bad movies?"--but i still loved it. the character of ed, however fictionalized he might be, is amazing, making such crap but enjoying the hell out of it and not caring what people think (hence burton's interest, for sure, and my own)
• the devil's rejects - now, i'm one who didn't care for house of 1000 corpses, finding it to be a shallow ripoff of texas chainsaw massacre but without originality or plot, but this sequel, while remaining just as shallow and barely managing much originality, plays numerous times better, probably just because here zombie focuses on the bad people, which seems to be what he was dying to do all along, the first film just an excuse to get to this one. as i've mentioned before, i like my horror films--not that this strictly is one, more bordering somewhere between a 70s style exploitation film and a crime spree/road picture (a la natural born killers or the first half of from dusk til dawn--to have graphic violence and gore if they're not going to bother with old school depth, so i actually liked this one

sunday, i tried to go see shopgirl, but a street fair thing screwed with parking and i ended up too late to bother, and wandered ikea in search of storage containers instead

and, i returned home early to clean the kitchen and mop the floors

for dinner, there was salmon, quite good. then, there was recording the simpsons, family guy and american dad, which i still haven't watched

and just after sarah's steeler game ended, i watched me some rome--a great episode, with great performances from brutus, veranus and pullo--that death by arena scene especially was a great mix of violence and emotion (especially since i wasn't sure how it worked, whether pullo got to go free if he survived or if attackers would just keep coming until he was dead). this is not going to end well, what with caesar's death coming and whatever the fallout from veranus' actions will be

then came grey's anatomy, tying together various plots about the same theme. a good episode, though i almost wish the husband hadn't showed up in the end for his wife's surgery. the show had done enough to cover both sides of the issue around her choice, so it didn't need to water down one of those sides, but all in all, it still worked

and i was feeling sick, and went straight to bed as soon after grey's anatomy as i could... throat's still bugging me a bit

and i should do some fiction writing today

friday night frights
keeping it simple today:

• night stalker - "the source" - (watched on tape) a good one, barely involving supernatural stuff (or seemingly, anyway), but did they just use kolchak's house and pool again as if they weren't distinctive and could just be anybody's? cool thing was, not paying attention to the time, i didn't expect a cliffhanger
• threshold - "progeny" - i knew this show was switching to tuesday temporarily in a couple weeks, but i wasn't aware it would be off friday already, damn it. i was looking forward to this show. instead, i caught a few minutes of killer instinct, with some seriously bad line reading
• masters of horror - "dance of the dead" - boring, aimless tripe, this episode was. it started out interesting, setting up a mysterious post-apocalyptic sorta thing, then just didn't bother to take it anywhere, but it's an anthology show so next week could be brilliant... or we could hope so, anyway

oh, and i watched thursday's alias ("solo") and rather enjoyed it. it's great how they are taking the style of season one and rearranging it slightly to remake this show once again

what's this life for
Now Playing: creed - my own prison
caught up on invasion and veronica mars last night, then got behind on alias and night stalker by watching garden state instead

invasion - "fish story" - what would have been a pathetic setup to screw with larkin's understanding of what's going on turned into something seriously fucked up, what with risking her life over a little timing and convincing her under the circumstances a hell of a lot more than if she hadn't wrecked her car (or had her car wrecked, rather)

veronica mars - "rat saw god" - advancing the ongoing plot while bringing up last year's for the primary mystery in this episode plus in the side story, getting aaron and logan together; making the lawyer (can't think of his name) and the security guy from kane software into more interesting (and useful) characters; and ending the sheriff election already, after only a couple episodes? nicely done

garden state - still me likes

and, as for me listening to creed right now, i've been grabbing some cds to which i don't listen much anymore and deliberately sampling them, just for the hell of it

might see shopgirl for free this weekend (maybe this evening), and tonight there's some threshold and masters of horror, and there's charlie and the chocolate factory and the devil's rejects rented and waiting to be watched

Posted by ca4/muaddib at 1:54 PM PST
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an intelligent design would not include you
Now Playing: death cab for cutie - transatlanticism
power outage leads to cable off leads to cable modem resetting leads to me not getting online yesterday to write any blog entries, so, here's a quick rundown of the past couple days:

• jeopardy
• the simpsons x 2
• family guy - "ptv" - i've said it before and i'll say it again, since coming back from being cancelled, the folks at family guy can get away with anything, and i for one am glad about that
• american dad - "stan of arabia" - this show has gotten much better but this week got overshadowed by a brilliant family guy episode
• house - "daddy's boy" - great ending, great bits throughout, but finally seeing house's parents wasn't all that revealing, which might have been the point
• nip/tuck - "tommy bolton" - only bugged a little by issues with reality this episode. with all the directions this season is going, i still contend there's no chance there will be another season after this one
• the daily show x 2
• the colbert report x 2
• boston legal - "truly, madly, deeply" - remained surprisingly serious in dealing with the bestiality, and played denny's case nicely. some of the new characters already seem extraneous, though
• extras - (patrick stewart) - stewart's obsession with nudity was hilarious and gervais' style with the uncomfortable bits being the funniest is making for a great show. can't wait for the second season
• lost - "abandoned" - odd thing, until about 10 seconds before shannon was killed, she was about the only possibility for death--since the folks behind popular tv never have the guts to kill off major characters who still have important things to do... part of why i killed off some characters at the end of my lion horse tree, to get off on a tangent--i was trying too hard to try to guarantee one character in particular and a couple others sorta would survive, so i deliberately put them in a situation they could not survive... anyway, great episode, advancing numerous subplots and possibly being the only episode not to include jack (except in that brief shot in the hospital hallway, letting the audience know of a connection the characters will never know) or kate. and, interesting detail, sixth episode last season was the one in which locke helped charlie get off the heroine. this episode, the sixth of this season, brought charlie's acquisition of some heroine to locke's attention. looking forward to "the other 48 days" next week
• recorded veronica mars and invasion, haven't watched them yet
• designed a new shirt (hence the blog title today)
• wrote some on my horror-ish gardea short story
• got to thinking about wannabeheroes again, maybe doing even more detailed research on some so-called revolutionary groups (sla, weathermen, etcetera) and simplifying even more the character designs to make it easier to keep up the drawing--a page a day would get the book out quite regularly--and i'm still thinking on the project as a half hour drama tv thing, not that i've got the clout to get anyone to try to make it
• gotta go to the post office to send out part of lion horse tree
• and, should consider sending hindsight (after a quick edit) to a magazine or two

and, that's that, no against the world blog today, as it seems the governor's pet project propositions didn't get much support and i don't feel like rambling about iraq or bush today

monday bloody monday
didn't feel too great yesterday, but went to work anyway, did my part time data entry bit, picked up saer from my mom's work, walked to get kieran from school, put together lunch for the three of us, got online for a short bit, checking around delphi and writing the weekend BUD, wrote 7 pages of a new gardea short story (not sure on the title of this one, which is odd for me, but it's effectively a horror story involving organized crime, giant turtles and hemophiliacs, but set in the fantasy world of gardea (or rather the neighboring caram)), read through one of sarah's homework papers, stopped by blockbuster and whole foods--passed nicole deboer a few times in the aisles, neglected to mention how good cube was and how not so great the dead zone has become--on the way to get sarah from work, and then while sarah had class, three kids and i had some sitcom time, two episodes of the simpsons (including sunday's new one), two episodes of arrested development, one of two and a half men, while i also built a spaceship out of lego blocks, then there was prison break, the daily show and the colbert report. all in all, a normal day