Live Blogging From the DVR: Smallville, Supernatural, Haven

Due to some time restraints and this damn cold or sinus thing that's hitting me, tonight's LBFD is instead just going to be some quick thoughts about the shows tonight.

First up, the 10th season premiere of Smallville.  I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see Clark in the suit tonight, but at least the suit was more than just a reflection in an eye tonight.  The cloned Lex's were sufficiently creepy, but the "bad one" wasn't really that bad at all.  I would have liked to see him stick around for at least another episode.  That being said, I did like the "You can't save them both" angle that the Lex clone presented.  This is a scenario that Clark/Superman has come up against in nearly all of his incarnations.  The theme of tonight's episode seems to be sacrifice.  One very creepy (at least to me) moment was with Tess (all healed up from her burns) and the young Lex clone, Alexander...just something really off about the way she brought Alexander that glass of milk.

On to the 6th season premiere of Supernatural.  I think ol' Grandpa Campbell has his own agenda that he hasn't told Sam about yet.  I'm not really sure that I trust him.  Sam seems to trust him, but can Sam be trusted?  I'm bummed that there was no Castiel in tonight's episode, but always glad to see Bobby.  It seems that since the apocalypse was averted last season, there are monsters everywhere and it's now up to Sam to convince Dean that hunting is his life.

Haven tonight was mostly another "flavor of the week" type episode, with a tiny bit of the mythology thrown in here and there.  Audrey's boss comes back to Haven to supposedly "debrief" her and try to get her to convince him that she should stay in Haven.  We later learn that the boss was wanting her to stay in Haven and help keep things in check, but as Chief Wuornos points out, Audrey isn't the type that can be told what to do...she has to believe the idea to stay comes from her.  We learn tonight that Chief and Audrey's boss have been in cahoots from the first episode.  No real forward movement on the tattoo people that are out to kill Duke...that was a disappointment.  Children of the Corn reference tonight as well as an X-Files reference.

That's it for me tonight...I've gotta go get some rest so that I can be well for Tuesday's Black Crowes concert!

Live Blogging From the DVR: Fringe Season 3 Premiere

Tonight brings us the season 3 premiere of one of my favorite shows, Fringe.

I'm sure by now that fans of the show are aware that we are going to have one episode that takes place in our world, and one episode that takes place "Over There" throughout the entire season.  So are we getting two seasons of Fringe for the price of one, or are we getting two halves of one season?  Either way, Fringe is back on Thursday nights on Fox television.  Now onto my "Live Blog From the DVR" about tonight's episode.

WARNING:  THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Episode begins "Over There".  Our Olivia (trapped in the alternate Universe) is undergoing some kind of therapy.  I've never noticed this before, but Anna Torv's eyes are asymmetrical...still doesn't detract from her hotness, though.

It amazes me what makeup can do...our Walter and Walternate look very different from each other.  In our Walter we see the face of a man that has been lost for so long, and is trying to find his way back from a tiring journey, while in the face of Walternate we see a man in charge that is used to having things go his way every time, all the time.

Okay we definitely need to get our Olivia out of that prison jumpsuit.  It looks like she's got a load in her pants.

Looks like Olivia may be planning some kind of escape as she was watching very closely as the military guy entered the code for the elevator.  It also looks like they've been trying this memory transference therapy quite a bit as there are numerous needle marks in Olivia's arm.

Nice syringe jab to the neck, Olivia...kicking ass and taking names!  She escapes (surprise surprise), gets outside and is pursued by many people with guns.  She comes up short at a sheer drop off into water...will she give up?  Of course not!  Olivia jumps into the water in her flimsy little hospital gown and the opening credits roll...red credit sequence is to let us know (as if we couldn't tell already) that the episode is taking place "Over There".

Looks like they have passenger flights to the moon "Over There".  Anyone else have dreams of going to the moon for vacation?  I know I would definitely buy a ticket.

I think that this cabbie is going to end up believing Olivia's story no matter how strange it seems.  I think he's seen some screwed up stuff in his life or something as he mentioned something about just getting his life back together, so he might be Olivia's main ally in the alternate universe.

Looks like Olivia is going to be stuck for a while.  I noticed on the topper of the cab there's an ad for "Dogs"...I'm guessing that's their version of "Cats".  I thought that was a little forced...was hoping the differences between our world and "over there" would be a little more subtle.  So was that amber that they encased the opera house in?  I'm guessing that's what the "Amber Response" truck was all about.  I'm guessing the protesters are against the Amber Response tactic.

So it looks like Charlie (now with hair), and the rest of the Department of Defense Fringe Division are all under the impression that their Olivia has some sort of amnesia and doesn't remember her life when in fact it isn't their Olivia at all.  Walternate is keeping secrets from his own team of people.  I'm sure we've all seen enough television shows to know that when you are keeping secrets, things usually don't turn out so well.

Before I go any further, I just have to say that I don't like the alt-world version of Astrid...the uniform is very unflattering and she just really creeps me out.

Olivia wants to head to Massive Dynamic, but Henry (the cab driver) needs to stop for gas first.  Olivia, being the smart cookie that she is, takes the car keys and heads to the bathroom.  Holy crap a gas station bathroom that you don't need a key attached to something silly and large to open the bathroom door!  It really is different "over there".  Olivia breaks down in the bathroom, Henry looks longingly at the picture of his wife and kid.  Olivia steps out of the bathroom and is greeted by burned up Fringe Agent (why can't I remember his name)...uh oh!

Olivia tells Lincoln (that's the burned up agent...thank you EW.com) that she's not who he thinks she is, she has him give up his weapon, she grabs him and tosses him into the bathroom and does the old "palette under the doorknob" trick to keep him in there.  In the meantime, other Fringe agents are coming onto the scene...Olivia starts shooting (it looks as if some of the transference therapy may have worked) some very well placed shots, hollers at Henry to get in the car and get moving.  Oh no!  There's Charlie standing in front of a big propane (I think) tank...it looks as if Olivia is going to shoot Charlie, but at the last minute seems to change her mind and she shoots the valve off the propane tank causing a rather nice boom.  Henry compliments her on her shooting, and Olivia seems surprised that somehow she has become such a good shot.  Looks as if Henry is completely on Olivia's side now as he yanks out the GPS tracker from the cab and throws it out the window so the Fringe Division won't be able to track them anymore...Yay Henry!

Oooh, I guess that alt-world Broyles is in on Walternate's little secret as well.  Now we have two people keeping secrets from the rest of Fringe Division...things are definitely not going to turn out well now.  One person keeping secrets is bad, but two people keeping secrets is usually catastrophic (okay that might be pushing it a bit...but I guess we'll soon see).

Henry and Olivia get to where MD is supposed to be, but it's not there.  It's never been built in the alt-world. Olivia is stuck (for now).  It also seems that the marksmanship isn't the only thing that Olivia seems to have inherited as a result of the transference therapy.  She remembered the address of a safe house that she shouldn't know the address for, and she totally forgot about Peter momentarily when Henry mentioned that "he must mean a lot to you"...she thought he was talking about alt-Olivia's boyfriend, Frank.  Speaking of Frank, it looks as if Charlie has some things to tell the boyfriend (still disappointed that it's not an alt-John Scott from season one, but I guess Mark Valley is busy his 'Human Target' obligations).

It's not a safe house, it's her mom's house (well the alt-world version of her mother as our Olivia's mother has been dead since Olivia was 14).  I really don't like the light blonde hair on Amy Madigan...looks very odd to me.  Bad news though...I think Frank let the cat out of the bag that Olivia's mother is back from France and that Liv would probably go there.

Oh crap!  It seems that Olivia has surrendered to the memory transference therapy and now believes that she is the alt-Olivia...this is not good.  Henry waited around after Olivia broke into her alt-Mom's house and sees Olivia leaving with Charlie...looks like he has his suspicions that something isn't quite right, but he doesn't follow Charlie's car.  I do hope that this isn't the last we've seen of Henry.  Broyles wants to know why it's so important to Walternate that our Olivia believes that she's their Olivia, but of course, Walternate doesn't tell him.  I  don't like alt-Mom calling Olivia "Olive"...the name just makes me think of Popeye.  I do like the existence of blimps as a mode of travel over in the alt-world instead of just something that you see floating above sports events.

Episode must be about over as we have now flipped back to our world.  Peter seems to be giving some sort of testimony in Washington D.C. about what happened while he was "Over There".  We go outside and find Walter and alt-Olivia sitting on some steps...Olivia is just fascinated by how different Walter is from Walternate.  Ewww Peter just kissed alt-Olivia.  And they take off to go have something to eat as Walter is starving.

Good set up for the rest of the season, and it looks as if the writers are going to stick with mythology episodes for the most part instead of mythology eps interspersed with stand-alone eps.

Next week's episode is set in our world, and we see just how evil alt-Olivia is.

Tomorrow night, I'll be back with my "Live Blogging From the DVR" twice...one entry for the season premiere of "Smallville" and one entry for the season premiere of "Supernatural".  Hopefully the entries won't come as late as they did tonight.

See ya tomorrow!

What Am I Doing?

Ugh, I feel as if I am coming down with a cold or some kind of sinus thing, so I'll keep this short.

This coming Tuesday I get to go experience The Black Crowes live in concert at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina.  I can't wait!  My cousin, Chris, is a big fan of the Crowes and I'm happy that he asked me to go along with him.  I look forward to a night of great music and a great time hanging out with my cousins.  It's been quite a while since I've been anywhere to listen to some live music, and now I get to go see a band that was called "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World".


Enjoy your week! 

An Apology

I know, I know.  It seems that I do a lot of apologizing on my blog.

I really need to set a schedule and stick to it.  I can only promise to try to write something more often on here.

Now on to the meaty stuff.

Last night, Kate Gosselin was eliminated from ABC's Dancing with the Stars.  I haven't watched at all this season, but it seems that the interwebs are abuzz with commentary both pro and con regarding Kate and her dancing ability.  I've even heard her dancing described as "prancing around the dance floor like a spastic giraffe".

I think most people can agree that she wasn't a very good dancer, but what I find more interesting is all the comments regarding her ability to be a good parent to her (and Jon's) 8 children.

Should we cut Kate some slack, or should she focus more on her kids instead of trying to be a celebrity?

Friday the 13th (2009) The Music

I finally got the chance to watch Friday the 13th (2009) tonight. This post will not be a review of the movie, as there's been tons of reviews done by people that are better writers than me. I will say one thing, though, before getting to the meat of my post. I loved it! The nudity quotient was quite high compared to some of the other recent horror remakes, and gratuitous nudity is a horror flick is always a good thing.

So now onto the point of this blog post. This is more a list for my purposes, but perhaps some of you will find something useful herein. Without further ado, here come the music credits from the movie.

Sister Christian-Night Ranger
Freak Ya Loneliness-Bumblebeez
Get Em Up-Classic
Post Millennium Extinction Blues-Living Things
She Does-Locksley
My Favorite Book-Stars
Tick Tick Boom-The Hives
Doin' Things-Three AM
I Like It, I Love It-Lyrics Born
Night Train-The Kills
No Way To Stop It-Jimmy Gresham
Shove It-Santogold

Enjoy everyone, and Namaste.
Horror Movie Remake Slasher

A Confession

Those of you who know me personally will already know this about me, but I decided to write it down anyway.

I'm not always happy. Just like everyone else on the planet, I have my good days and bad days. Thankfully the good outweighs the bad most of the time.

Keeping a positive attitude takes a lot of work, but it's well worth it. Try to stay positive as much as you can. Not only is a positive attitude good for you, it's also contagious.

Hope is Never a Bad Thing

As we all look on at the beginning of a new administration in the White House, I'm feeling more hopeful than I've felt in a long time. Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in to the office of President of the United States of America on January 20, 2009.

We all have a choice to make now. We can either look forward with hope or fear. I've lived with fear for long enough, so I choose to look to the future with hopeful eyes.

It's time to put away the pettiness and get down to the business of America. May we start to build a better future for our children.

Hope is never a bad thing.

My Youngest Son is a Chauvinist

Yesterday, my daughter came home from school with a home-made "Doctor Hat". When she told her brother what it was, he responded with "Don't you mean a Nurse hat?" I looked at him with surprise. Where did my son learn that from? We certainly didn't teach him that girls can only be nurses, did we? Rather than sit there and let him believe that, though, my wife and I explained that girls can be doctors and boys can be nurses too, if they want to be. He seemed to be satisfied with our explanation.

Trailer for GTA IV DLC

I've been playing a lot of GTA IV lately trying to finish the storyline and achieve 100% completion, so I'm pretty stoked that they released the trailer for the First DLC episode the other day.

For those of you that aren't GTA fans, or simply if you live under a rock, here's the trailer:


From GTA4.net:

The title of the content is going to be called "Lost and Damned". You will take on the role of Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost. This is what Dan Houser had to say on the new DLC for the Xbox 360 :-

"Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background," says Dan Houser, vice president of creative development for Rockstar Games. "I can't go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City."

The content is due to hit the XBL marketplace on 17th February 2009. You will naturally need the original GTA 4 and you will also need an xbox live membership (although no word on whether you just need silver membership). The pricing of this new content has not yet been released.

I can't wait until February 17th.

Global Warming My A$$

Yesterday, on what was the coldest day of the season so far, the heater in the house started acting wonky and not putting out as much heat as it should. This morning, Mrs. Bill called the gas company to have them come out and take a look at the heater to make sure we weren't going to go up in a big giant fireball, and they found that the burner had a very large amount of rust on it and in the jets, so they turned off the heater and told us to get ahold of a repair man ASAP.

Mrs. Bill called the landlord this morning and spoke to his wife about the situation, and we got a repair man out here with a quickness. "Handy Manny" cleaned out all the rust and soot out of the burner, and got things fired back up. Before the repair guy got here, it was 9º F outside and 50º F inside. Awfully hard to type with numb fingers. Right now, though, the temperature inside the house has risen to a balmy 52º F and the feeling is beginning to come back in my fingers.

Where's that global warming when you really need it?