As expected, my bracket was pretty bad.
Despite that, I still had 7 of 8 teams in the Elite Eight (only missed Memphis).
I now have 0 of 4 teams in the Final Four.
Even with my history of bad picks, I don't think I've ever gone 0 for the Final Four.
The jinx continues, taking down four teams in one fell swoop.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/22 - 03/28
Well, my bracket's pretty much shot. Memphis and Pittsburgh are both out, which means half of my Final Four is already wrong. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see Louisville and Oklahoma both go down today to make me a perfect 0-4.
-Kings, Sunday: I’m starting to really like this show. I like all the depth and history they are giving the characters. Like what’s up with the King’s daughter, Michelle? What vow did she make years ago that would keep her from being with David? Has she been betrothed to someone else? Or is it something entirely different? And what about the King’s son, Jack? King Silas implied that Jack’s got some secrets that could be a hindrance to him someday being king;l what cold that be? And the Kng himself, with a mistress and bastard son; will that information ever come to light (I'm sure it will at some point)? I REALLY liked Brian Cox’s turn as the displaced king that Silas overthrew and who everyone thinks is dead. I hope they bring him back for more, and that he wasn’t just a way for Silas to replenish the treasury after his brother-in-law pulled all the gold. And speaking of the King’s brother-in-law, what’s the back story to his son being banished from court? Is that the reason why he hold a grudge against Silas? Or does the hatred run deeper? I really hope the show lasts long enough to explore all these stories because its setting up to be a real good character drama.
-Heroes, Monday: Look at that, a not-sucky episode of Heroes. Welcome back to the show, Bryan Fuller. So Micah's Rebel; not a major revelation, since everyone watching the show called it from the start, but its good to have him back in the fold. One major question- why is Danko keeping his prisoners sedated? He's no longer under Nathan's watch, so why doesn't he just kill them all? He clearly has no conscience about doing so, and has suggested more than once that would be his preference, so it doesn't make any sense from a character perspective why he's keeping them alive (obviously, from a storytelling perspective, you want your character's alive). And as to killing characters, I don't think we've seen the last of Ali Larter on the show. Either they bring back Tracey by having her reform herself T2 style or she comes back as Barbara, the as-yet-to-be-seen third sister. As much as I wanted to hate the Hiro-Ando-baby storyline, it actually redeemed itself in this episode. One, we learned the baby's power (he can turn things on and off with his touch, from electronics to latent superpowers), and it gave Hiro partial use of his power again. Much like they did with Peter, I think the scaled down version is much better because they were just too powerful. Teleportation and time-travel is really just too much; leaving Hiro with just freezing time (when he's holding Baby Parkman) is a good thing. Secondly, we saw Ando shoot the red Force lightning, which doesn't make a whole lot sense except for the fact than we saw him do it in the future. Clearly, it incapacitates people without powers, but what if he hit someone with powers with his Force lightning? Would it knock them out, too, or would it supercharge their powers to the point they lost control of them? And finally, Parkman and Daphne. So they bring Daphne back just to let her die. I admit, it was faked out Parkman's projection at first, but the flying as a bit of a give away. Although, they already inexplicably gave him the ability to draw the future, so what's another for him? Anyway, I wonder what this will do to Matt; I'd like to see this send him on a psychic rampage, but with him inevitably meeting up with Hiro and Ando (and his son), I don't think that's going to happen. Which is too bad, because Parkman could do some serious damage.
-24, Monday: This week, we got to see the growth of Jack Bauer. Old Jack would have left that dock guard to get shot and not thought anymore of it. But New Jack stepped in and saved him, and potential risked securing the bio-weapon. Of course, he gets it anyway, but Tony is taken hostage in the process. And of course, the bad guys take the bio-weapon back, but not before Jack enters the container to shut off the container which is spewing toxic gas into the air. Think Jack makes it? Well, Keifer Sutherland's signed on for Season 8 next year, so, spoiler alert. Back at the White House, Ethan as decided to resign, which brings a smile to Olivia's face. Naturally, she was the leak the whole time, and waited a full 8 seconds after Ethan left his office to call her TV producer friend and throw Ethan under the bus. My prediction for Olivia- she replaces Ethan as her mother's Chief of Staff, does something wildly illegal that she justifies as being for the good mother's presidency, gets fired by the President, and is replaced by Ethan. All in the final nine hours of the day. We also got some more Jonas Hodge backstory this episode, but we still don't know what his motivation is for these attacks. We know that Starkwood is under investigation and that he's at odds with the Starkwood board of directors as to how to handle the situation. Is he planning these attacks to that Starkwood can swoop in and save the day, thus proving their neccessity to America's security and ending the investigations? I think that's possible, but not likely. I think his motivation is far more sinister than that.
-Lost, Wednesday: Another solid episode. I liked the flashbacks filling in the gaps in Sayid's timeline off island. Nothing Earth-shatteringly new was revealed, but the story's more complete. And now its a certainity (in my mind, anyway) that we'll soon get Kate and Hurley flashback episodes, filling in the gaps in their story and completing the O6 story arc. I really thought that the Dharma folks would actually torture Sayid, but then I remembered that they're just a bunch of hippies, and a drug-induced interrogation is much more their style. I also love how they believe everything Sayid says, even the stuff that he couldn't possibly know, like the details of the Swan station, but as soon as he says he's from the future, they thinks he's nuts. You can believe that he has intimate knowledge of your operation on a island filled with mystical and unexplained properties, but you can't believe he came from the future; seriously, how far of a leap is that? Anyway, I liked the scene with Sayid, Young Ben, and Roger. You know who and what Ben grows up to be, and yet you feel sympathy for him as you see his father knock him around. And given what they showed about Sayid's father at the start of the episode, I really thought he might reach through the bars and step in on Young Ben's behalf. Which brings up to the last scene, where Young Ben distracts the camp with a burning Dharma bus so he can spring Sayid from his cell and run off with him to join the Hostiles. Too bad Sayid's plan is to kill Young Ben when gets the chance. Luckly for Sayid, Jin shows up to give him just that chance. Clearly, Young Ben isn't dead. I think Jin wakes up and rushes Young Ben back to camp to be saved. What I think will be interesting will be who step up to save him. I can see Jack saying no and being content to letting him die (afterall, he's already done it once). I think Juliet ends up saving him, which is the origin of Ben's obsession with her, which we saw in the future. I also like the idea that Ben was complicit in his own attempted murder; Ben knows that Sayid is supposed to shot him in 1977, so when he encounters Sayid in the future, he cultivates his killer instinct so when Sayid goes back in time, he shoots Ben for making him a killer, just like he was supposed to. As Faraday said, whatever happened, happened, and I think Ben is keenly aware of this, more so than anyone else on the island.
-Dollhouse, Friday: Okay, now this show is getting really good. I am officially excited to see where they take this series, especially after the promo for next week. But first, this episode. Great scenes with everyone effected by the drug, especially betten Topher and Ms. DeWitt. I really liked the dichotomy of how the drug made regular people giddy and silly, but it made the Actives remember parts from their pasts, which weren't all that pleseant, which is why they became Actives in the place. I also liked the mirror between Echo/Caroline's recruitment and this Sam guy's recruitment. I think it'd be cool we just see him in the background somewhere down the line, just walking around the Dollhouse, but I don't that'll happen. But next week, The Awakening! They're having the Actives remember who they are (or at least just Echo, Victor, and Sierra). It doesn't look like everyone in the Dollhouse will be "awoken", so I wonder if they're going to tie these three "waking up" to the drug they came in contact with in this episode. It sure seems that way, unless they have some other ingenius way explaining why only some of the Actives become self-aware and some don't. Can't wait to see where this show goes next.
-College Lacrosse, Virginia vs. Maryland, Saturday: One word- EPIC. Just a phenomenal game, possibly in the top 10 all-time games I've ever seen. A defensive battle in the first half, Maryland dominates the 3rd quarter, then Virginia rallies back in the 4th to send the game into overtime tied at 9. Then right off the bat, Maryland's potential game winning goal is erased by an "inadvertent whistle." The refs thought Maryland coach Dave Cottle had called timeout, but he denied ever doing so (my thought- someone on Maryland's sideline not Cottle did call timeout, and then didn't own up to it after the goal was taken off the board). Play resumed and Maryland promptly pinged the iron with a shot. At least a dozen shots either hit the post or went just wide, and the ones that didn't were stopped dead by the goalies. Even Virginia's backup goalie, who had to come into the game cold after our starter took a necessary foul to prevent Maryland from scoring the game winner (in lacrosse, goalies serve they penalties), made a great save to preserve the game for the 'Hoos and send it into another overtime. And in the longest game in NCAA lacrosse history, about a minute into the 7th overtime, UVA scored and sent those God-damn Terrapins back to College Park loser. The Terps rank #2 on my list of most hated schools (top 5- VT, Maryland, UNC, Duke, West Virginia, in that order), so its always great to beat them. And its even sweeter when its in a game as great as this one was. Fuck the Terrapins. Go Hoos!
-Kings, Sunday: I’m starting to really like this show. I like all the depth and history they are giving the characters. Like what’s up with the King’s daughter, Michelle? What vow did she make years ago that would keep her from being with David? Has she been betrothed to someone else? Or is it something entirely different? And what about the King’s son, Jack? King Silas implied that Jack’s got some secrets that could be a hindrance to him someday being king;l what cold that be? And the Kng himself, with a mistress and bastard son; will that information ever come to light (I'm sure it will at some point)? I REALLY liked Brian Cox’s turn as the displaced king that Silas overthrew and who everyone thinks is dead. I hope they bring him back for more, and that he wasn’t just a way for Silas to replenish the treasury after his brother-in-law pulled all the gold. And speaking of the King’s brother-in-law, what’s the back story to his son being banished from court? Is that the reason why he hold a grudge against Silas? Or does the hatred run deeper? I really hope the show lasts long enough to explore all these stories because its setting up to be a real good character drama.
-Heroes, Monday: Look at that, a not-sucky episode of Heroes. Welcome back to the show, Bryan Fuller. So Micah's Rebel; not a major revelation, since everyone watching the show called it from the start, but its good to have him back in the fold. One major question- why is Danko keeping his prisoners sedated? He's no longer under Nathan's watch, so why doesn't he just kill them all? He clearly has no conscience about doing so, and has suggested more than once that would be his preference, so it doesn't make any sense from a character perspective why he's keeping them alive (obviously, from a storytelling perspective, you want your character's alive). And as to killing characters, I don't think we've seen the last of Ali Larter on the show. Either they bring back Tracey by having her reform herself T2 style or she comes back as Barbara, the as-yet-to-be-seen third sister. As much as I wanted to hate the Hiro-Ando-baby storyline, it actually redeemed itself in this episode. One, we learned the baby's power (he can turn things on and off with his touch, from electronics to latent superpowers), and it gave Hiro partial use of his power again. Much like they did with Peter, I think the scaled down version is much better because they were just too powerful. Teleportation and time-travel is really just too much; leaving Hiro with just freezing time (when he's holding Baby Parkman) is a good thing. Secondly, we saw Ando shoot the red Force lightning, which doesn't make a whole lot sense except for the fact than we saw him do it in the future. Clearly, it incapacitates people without powers, but what if he hit someone with powers with his Force lightning? Would it knock them out, too, or would it supercharge their powers to the point they lost control of them? And finally, Parkman and Daphne. So they bring Daphne back just to let her die. I admit, it was faked out Parkman's projection at first, but the flying as a bit of a give away. Although, they already inexplicably gave him the ability to draw the future, so what's another for him? Anyway, I wonder what this will do to Matt; I'd like to see this send him on a psychic rampage, but with him inevitably meeting up with Hiro and Ando (and his son), I don't think that's going to happen. Which is too bad, because Parkman could do some serious damage.
-24, Monday: This week, we got to see the growth of Jack Bauer. Old Jack would have left that dock guard to get shot and not thought anymore of it. But New Jack stepped in and saved him, and potential risked securing the bio-weapon. Of course, he gets it anyway, but Tony is taken hostage in the process. And of course, the bad guys take the bio-weapon back, but not before Jack enters the container to shut off the container which is spewing toxic gas into the air. Think Jack makes it? Well, Keifer Sutherland's signed on for Season 8 next year, so, spoiler alert. Back at the White House, Ethan as decided to resign, which brings a smile to Olivia's face. Naturally, she was the leak the whole time, and waited a full 8 seconds after Ethan left his office to call her TV producer friend and throw Ethan under the bus. My prediction for Olivia- she replaces Ethan as her mother's Chief of Staff, does something wildly illegal that she justifies as being for the good mother's presidency, gets fired by the President, and is replaced by Ethan. All in the final nine hours of the day. We also got some more Jonas Hodge backstory this episode, but we still don't know what his motivation is for these attacks. We know that Starkwood is under investigation and that he's at odds with the Starkwood board of directors as to how to handle the situation. Is he planning these attacks to that Starkwood can swoop in and save the day, thus proving their neccessity to America's security and ending the investigations? I think that's possible, but not likely. I think his motivation is far more sinister than that.
-Lost, Wednesday: Another solid episode. I liked the flashbacks filling in the gaps in Sayid's timeline off island. Nothing Earth-shatteringly new was revealed, but the story's more complete. And now its a certainity (in my mind, anyway) that we'll soon get Kate and Hurley flashback episodes, filling in the gaps in their story and completing the O6 story arc. I really thought that the Dharma folks would actually torture Sayid, but then I remembered that they're just a bunch of hippies, and a drug-induced interrogation is much more their style. I also love how they believe everything Sayid says, even the stuff that he couldn't possibly know, like the details of the Swan station, but as soon as he says he's from the future, they thinks he's nuts. You can believe that he has intimate knowledge of your operation on a island filled with mystical and unexplained properties, but you can't believe he came from the future; seriously, how far of a leap is that? Anyway, I liked the scene with Sayid, Young Ben, and Roger. You know who and what Ben grows up to be, and yet you feel sympathy for him as you see his father knock him around. And given what they showed about Sayid's father at the start of the episode, I really thought he might reach through the bars and step in on Young Ben's behalf. Which brings up to the last scene, where Young Ben distracts the camp with a burning Dharma bus so he can spring Sayid from his cell and run off with him to join the Hostiles. Too bad Sayid's plan is to kill Young Ben when gets the chance. Luckly for Sayid, Jin shows up to give him just that chance. Clearly, Young Ben isn't dead. I think Jin wakes up and rushes Young Ben back to camp to be saved. What I think will be interesting will be who step up to save him. I can see Jack saying no and being content to letting him die (afterall, he's already done it once). I think Juliet ends up saving him, which is the origin of Ben's obsession with her, which we saw in the future. I also like the idea that Ben was complicit in his own attempted murder; Ben knows that Sayid is supposed to shot him in 1977, so when he encounters Sayid in the future, he cultivates his killer instinct so when Sayid goes back in time, he shoots Ben for making him a killer, just like he was supposed to. As Faraday said, whatever happened, happened, and I think Ben is keenly aware of this, more so than anyone else on the island.
-Dollhouse, Friday: Okay, now this show is getting really good. I am officially excited to see where they take this series, especially after the promo for next week. But first, this episode. Great scenes with everyone effected by the drug, especially betten Topher and Ms. DeWitt. I really liked the dichotomy of how the drug made regular people giddy and silly, but it made the Actives remember parts from their pasts, which weren't all that pleseant, which is why they became Actives in the place. I also liked the mirror between Echo/Caroline's recruitment and this Sam guy's recruitment. I think it'd be cool we just see him in the background somewhere down the line, just walking around the Dollhouse, but I don't that'll happen. But next week, The Awakening! They're having the Actives remember who they are (or at least just Echo, Victor, and Sierra). It doesn't look like everyone in the Dollhouse will be "awoken", so I wonder if they're going to tie these three "waking up" to the drug they came in contact with in this episode. It sure seems that way, unless they have some other ingenius way explaining why only some of the Actives become self-aware and some don't. Can't wait to see where this show goes next.
-College Lacrosse, Virginia vs. Maryland, Saturday: One word- EPIC. Just a phenomenal game, possibly in the top 10 all-time games I've ever seen. A defensive battle in the first half, Maryland dominates the 3rd quarter, then Virginia rallies back in the 4th to send the game into overtime tied at 9. Then right off the bat, Maryland's potential game winning goal is erased by an "inadvertent whistle." The refs thought Maryland coach Dave Cottle had called timeout, but he denied ever doing so (my thought- someone on Maryland's sideline not Cottle did call timeout, and then didn't own up to it after the goal was taken off the board). Play resumed and Maryland promptly pinged the iron with a shot. At least a dozen shots either hit the post or went just wide, and the ones that didn't were stopped dead by the goalies. Even Virginia's backup goalie, who had to come into the game cold after our starter took a necessary foul to prevent Maryland from scoring the game winner (in lacrosse, goalies serve they penalties), made a great save to preserve the game for the 'Hoos and send it into another overtime. And in the longest game in NCAA lacrosse history, about a minute into the 7th overtime, UVA scored and sent those God-damn Terrapins back to College Park loser. The Terps rank #2 on my list of most hated schools (top 5- VT, Maryland, UNC, Duke, West Virginia, in that order), so its always great to beat them. And its even sweeter when its in a game as great as this one was. Fuck the Terrapins. Go Hoos!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Time To 'Fess Up
Okay, guilty pleasure admission time: I'm watching MTV's Taking The Stage.
I will now try and rationalize why. If don't think I'll be successful in this task, go ahead and jump to the comments and tell me why I'm a loser.
If you don't know, Taking The Stage is a reality show that follows five students who attend Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA). Its a Hills-style show that's produced by Nick Lachey (former SCPA student). Despite that, there are two main reasons why I find this show tolerable:
-It makes Cincinnati look really good. I mean, REALLY good. All the exterior shots of the city make our town look great. Its conceivable that someone who's never been to Cincinnati would watch the show and say, "Damn, that's a good looking city." Specifically, it makes Over-the-Rhine (where SCPA is located) look really good. And of course, they'd be wrong. Cincinnati's nice, but its not nearly as clean and pretty as its portrayed. If you've ever been through Over-the-Rhine and you watch the show, you'll see what I mean.
-The kids are really talented. The show is shot and produced like The Hills, but unlike The Hills, the stars of this show can actually contribute something worthwhile to society. Now, I don't care one bit about all the teen relationship drama; that crap drags the show down (though, I guess that's what drives the show for its target audience). Who cares if that one guy is dating the one girl but kissed the other girl? I want to see this kids perform! Singing, dancing, whatever, the show shines whenever the stars get a chance to use their talents. Whether they're rehearsing, doing an actual performance, or participating in a clearly-staged Fame-style impromptu lunchtime dance off, its fun to watch. The five stars are great (3 dancers, 1 dancer/singer/actress, 1 singer/songwriter) and natrually they keep the focus on them, but some of the peripheral kids are interesting as well (especially this piano playing/roller dancing/composer kid; I want to see more of him). Of course, this could give the impression that Cincinnati is just filled to the brim with talented kids, which may or may not be the case. But regardless, the five students they picked for the show are far better talent ambassadors for Cincinnati than Nick Lachey is (which is probably why Lachey is throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day and the singer/songwriter girl from the show is performing the National Anthem).
So there it is. I don't watch reality television, but I'm watching this show. I watched The Amazing Race when the Linz family was on because they were from Cincinnati and I went to high school with one of them. I watched Beauty and the Geek when another guy I went to high school with (and the younger brother of one my friends) was on. I even watched some of Clash of the Chiors because there was a choir from Cincinnati. And now I'm watching Taking The Stage because its set here in Cincinnati. I'm sensing a pattern here.
I will now try and rationalize why. If don't think I'll be successful in this task, go ahead and jump to the comments and tell me why I'm a loser.
If you don't know, Taking The Stage is a reality show that follows five students who attend Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA). Its a Hills-style show that's produced by Nick Lachey (former SCPA student). Despite that, there are two main reasons why I find this show tolerable:
-It makes Cincinnati look really good. I mean, REALLY good. All the exterior shots of the city make our town look great. Its conceivable that someone who's never been to Cincinnati would watch the show and say, "Damn, that's a good looking city." Specifically, it makes Over-the-Rhine (where SCPA is located) look really good. And of course, they'd be wrong. Cincinnati's nice, but its not nearly as clean and pretty as its portrayed. If you've ever been through Over-the-Rhine and you watch the show, you'll see what I mean.
-The kids are really talented. The show is shot and produced like The Hills, but unlike The Hills, the stars of this show can actually contribute something worthwhile to society. Now, I don't care one bit about all the teen relationship drama; that crap drags the show down (though, I guess that's what drives the show for its target audience). Who cares if that one guy is dating the one girl but kissed the other girl? I want to see this kids perform! Singing, dancing, whatever, the show shines whenever the stars get a chance to use their talents. Whether they're rehearsing, doing an actual performance, or participating in a clearly-staged Fame-style impromptu lunchtime dance off, its fun to watch. The five stars are great (3 dancers, 1 dancer/singer/actress, 1 singer/songwriter) and natrually they keep the focus on them, but some of the peripheral kids are interesting as well (especially this piano playing/roller dancing/composer kid; I want to see more of him). Of course, this could give the impression that Cincinnati is just filled to the brim with talented kids, which may or may not be the case. But regardless, the five students they picked for the show are far better talent ambassadors for Cincinnati than Nick Lachey is (which is probably why Lachey is throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day and the singer/songwriter girl from the show is performing the National Anthem).
So there it is. I don't watch reality television, but I'm watching this show. I watched The Amazing Race when the Linz family was on because they were from Cincinnati and I went to high school with one of them. I watched Beauty and the Geek when another guy I went to high school with (and the younger brother of one my friends) was on. I even watched some of Clash of the Chiors because there was a choir from Cincinnati. And now I'm watching Taking The Stage because its set here in Cincinnati. I'm sensing a pattern here.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/15 - 03/21
A very busy TV week. A couple of shows took a week off, but a couple more had their season premieres, plus there was a ton of basketball to watch (and a little lacrosse, too).
-Kings, Sunday: One of the shows that premiered last week. All the reviews I read pretty much said the same thing- you'll either love right away or hate right away. After watching the two-hour pilot, I guess you can put me in the "love right away" column. It wasn't perfect, but I appreciate the attempt at such a high-concept show. What's it like? Start with the story of King David (on which the show is loosely modeled), add in the political intrigue of The West Wing, the story complexity of Battlestar Galactica, and the character relationships of Gossip Girl, and mix it with alternate-reality mysticism of Lost or Alias, and you've kind of got what Kings is all about. If they can deftly manuve among all these facets and keep it all in balance, the show could be great. If they can't, it'll fail horribly.
-24, Monday: When in doubt, make your enemy a private security firm that's overstepped its boundaries. It worked on Jericho with Ravenwood. It worked in real life with Blackwater. And now on 24, its Starkwood. But what is Jonas Hodges's end game? He bringing in some sort of bio-weapon to target a bunch of cities in the mid-Atlantic region, but he doesn't want to use it unless he has to. So what could he want from the Presient? Guess we'll just find out later. Now to Jack- why does everyone find it so hard to trust this man? Sure, you may disagree with his methods at times, but when has he ever done anything where the absolute end game wasn't in the best interest of America? I liked the mini series recap that Jack gave when he was talking with Senator Mayer. I wonder if its apparent to anyone in the show that ever time Jack's been tasked to save the world, its taken him 24 hours to do so. Hmm. I was really hoping that the Jack-Senator Mayer partnership would last for a few episodes, so I wasn't expecting Mayer to get gunned down right then and there. I'm starting to like ths showdown between Ethan and Olivia. It puts President Taylor in the middle and should make for some good drama.
-Better Off Ted, Wednesday: The second premiere of the week. Who would've thought that taking The Office and setting it in Fringe's Massive Dynamic corporation would work so well? Its a completely off-the-wall show that is paired perfectly with Scrubs. Both shows include narration from the main character (in this case, Ted breaks the fourth wall and just talks to the audience directly), and both have a cast of supporting characters that may be more entertaining than the show leads. The two lab guys are hysterical, and Portia de Rossi's deadpan delivery is a perfect representation for the souless corporation they work for. And its always funny when the little kid is the smartest person in the room. Its a nutty show that hopefully isn't too nutty for TV.
Lost, Wednesday: Welcome back, Lost. Good to see that the Ajira plane did in fact land on the runway that Kate and Sawyer helped build over on the Hydra island. And its also good to see that Lapidus really is a kick ass pilot. I am dying to know why Sun wasn't teleported back to 1977 with the rest of hte O6 (and Ben, Locke, and Lapidus, for that matter). Based on what Christian told Sun at the end of the episode, it looks like she (and probably a few other people) will be going back in time, instead of the others travelling back to 2007. So back in 1977, I liked the reunion scene, where everyone got to drop some knowledge on each other. Jack tells Sawyer and Jin that Locke's dead, Sawyer tells Jack, Kate, and Hurley that they're in 1977; I think Sawyer wins in the shock value category. I really enjoyed watching Sawyer work the con, trying to keep everyone's cover intact. And its a good thing Sayid was smart enough to pick up on Sawyer's game on the fly. I think Jack is honestly trying to defer to Sawyer's leadership; I think he really wants to be able to let things go and not be a control freak. He's starting to accept the idea of fate and destiny, but its still hard for him. I think he want to see Sawyer about Sayid not because he wanted to take charge, but because he feels responsible for the O6 being back on the island, and just wanted to make sure Sayid was going to be okay. Of course, that lead to Sawyer's awesome smack down of Jack's leadership style and the great quip about Winston Churchill. A couple other things, I hope the fact that Amy's baby was revealed to be Ethan has greater significance than "Hey, her baby's Ethan!" I hope that means somehting more and important for Ethan's character. Also, I wonder when we'll get some answers about Faraday. According to Sawyer, he's not with them anymore, so where did he go? Is he still on the island somewhere, or did he leave altogether? We know he worked (at one point) on the construction of the Orchid station, but when was that? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
-Dollhouse, Friday: Everyone was saying that this episode, Episode 6, was turning point for the series, and I think it was. Now, they've really set up the overall story of Agent Ballard trying to bring down the Dollhouse by establishing that there is someone on the inside that also wants the Dollhouse gone. Yes, it was a little predictable that Millie turned out to be an Active, but it was still a nice twist. The Dollhouse knows that Agent Ballard is after them, but the don't know there's someone inside who'll be helping him. And there's still Alpha out there to worry about. I can't wait to see him brought into the fold.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So here it is, the series finale. First off, I loved the finale. Some people out there hated it, but they're wrong. Sure, I thought there might be a little more bloodshed and death, but after seeing it, I'm glad there wasn't. The attack on the Cylon colony was awesome, from Anders taking control of the other hybrids, to the Raptors jumping away from the museum wing, to Galactica just ramming into the colony. It was action packed and very satisfying. Boomer got a little redemption by saving Hera, and still got her due when Athena shot her. I glad that they decided that the head characters (Six and Baltar) were actual ouside entities and not just some mental manifestation. I also loved how they paid off the Opera House vision, where it wasn't symbolic of anything, it was actually happening. If that was the plan all along, I salute the writers. If not, I still salute them for making it work. I glad that Tryol got some vengance for Callie's death; he deserved that closure. And in the end, the fleet ends up at the planet WE call Earth, and decide to settle on it. And after 150,000 years, here we are, all children of Hera (aka mitochondrial Eve), meaning we are all decentants of Cylon model 8, which really isn't a bad thing at all. I think this the proper way for the show to go it. The survivors desereved to find a home, deserved to find some peace. The show was about humaniy's fight to survive, and in the end, they got to. And as for Starbuck? Her just disappearing and Lee not being freaked out by it was the perfect way to go out. Her destiny was to lead the people to Earth. She died in the process, so she was allowed to come back and fulfill that destiny. And when she did, she was gone. All in all, the perfect ending for a near perfect show.
-College Lacrosse, Virginia vs. Johns Hopkins, Saturday: Finally, I get to watch Virginia lacrosse on TV (the first of 4 consectutive games on either ESPN2 or ESPNU). All this basketball just reminds me of how bad UVA is at hoops, so its nice to watch a sport where we're the best in the country. I'm glad they're finally on TV so I can distract myself from the pain of Virginia basketball.
-NCAA Tournament: As always, the first two rounds of the tournament provide plenty of upsets. The odd thing about this year is that most of them came on Friday night, after a day and a half of mostly chalk. Its pretty rare to see the 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 seeded teams in one region all make it to the second round, but that's exactly what happened in the Midwest region. There's nothing like the first two rounds of the tourney; my bracket's shot to hell and I don't care. I love the upsets and am always rooting for the higher seeds.
-Kings, Sunday: One of the shows that premiered last week. All the reviews I read pretty much said the same thing- you'll either love right away or hate right away. After watching the two-hour pilot, I guess you can put me in the "love right away" column. It wasn't perfect, but I appreciate the attempt at such a high-concept show. What's it like? Start with the story of King David (on which the show is loosely modeled), add in the political intrigue of The West Wing, the story complexity of Battlestar Galactica, and the character relationships of Gossip Girl, and mix it with alternate-reality mysticism of Lost or Alias, and you've kind of got what Kings is all about. If they can deftly manuve among all these facets and keep it all in balance, the show could be great. If they can't, it'll fail horribly.
-24, Monday: When in doubt, make your enemy a private security firm that's overstepped its boundaries. It worked on Jericho with Ravenwood. It worked in real life with Blackwater. And now on 24, its Starkwood. But what is Jonas Hodges's end game? He bringing in some sort of bio-weapon to target a bunch of cities in the mid-Atlantic region, but he doesn't want to use it unless he has to. So what could he want from the Presient? Guess we'll just find out later. Now to Jack- why does everyone find it so hard to trust this man? Sure, you may disagree with his methods at times, but when has he ever done anything where the absolute end game wasn't in the best interest of America? I liked the mini series recap that Jack gave when he was talking with Senator Mayer. I wonder if its apparent to anyone in the show that ever time Jack's been tasked to save the world, its taken him 24 hours to do so. Hmm. I was really hoping that the Jack-Senator Mayer partnership would last for a few episodes, so I wasn't expecting Mayer to get gunned down right then and there. I'm starting to like ths showdown between Ethan and Olivia. It puts President Taylor in the middle and should make for some good drama.
-Better Off Ted, Wednesday: The second premiere of the week. Who would've thought that taking The Office and setting it in Fringe's Massive Dynamic corporation would work so well? Its a completely off-the-wall show that is paired perfectly with Scrubs. Both shows include narration from the main character (in this case, Ted breaks the fourth wall and just talks to the audience directly), and both have a cast of supporting characters that may be more entertaining than the show leads. The two lab guys are hysterical, and Portia de Rossi's deadpan delivery is a perfect representation for the souless corporation they work for. And its always funny when the little kid is the smartest person in the room. Its a nutty show that hopefully isn't too nutty for TV.
Lost, Wednesday: Welcome back, Lost. Good to see that the Ajira plane did in fact land on the runway that Kate and Sawyer helped build over on the Hydra island. And its also good to see that Lapidus really is a kick ass pilot. I am dying to know why Sun wasn't teleported back to 1977 with the rest of hte O6 (and Ben, Locke, and Lapidus, for that matter). Based on what Christian told Sun at the end of the episode, it looks like she (and probably a few other people) will be going back in time, instead of the others travelling back to 2007. So back in 1977, I liked the reunion scene, where everyone got to drop some knowledge on each other. Jack tells Sawyer and Jin that Locke's dead, Sawyer tells Jack, Kate, and Hurley that they're in 1977; I think Sawyer wins in the shock value category. I really enjoyed watching Sawyer work the con, trying to keep everyone's cover intact. And its a good thing Sayid was smart enough to pick up on Sawyer's game on the fly. I think Jack is honestly trying to defer to Sawyer's leadership; I think he really wants to be able to let things go and not be a control freak. He's starting to accept the idea of fate and destiny, but its still hard for him. I think he want to see Sawyer about Sayid not because he wanted to take charge, but because he feels responsible for the O6 being back on the island, and just wanted to make sure Sayid was going to be okay. Of course, that lead to Sawyer's awesome smack down of Jack's leadership style and the great quip about Winston Churchill. A couple other things, I hope the fact that Amy's baby was revealed to be Ethan has greater significance than "Hey, her baby's Ethan!" I hope that means somehting more and important for Ethan's character. Also, I wonder when we'll get some answers about Faraday. According to Sawyer, he's not with them anymore, so where did he go? Is he still on the island somewhere, or did he leave altogether? We know he worked (at one point) on the construction of the Orchid station, but when was that? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
-Dollhouse, Friday: Everyone was saying that this episode, Episode 6, was turning point for the series, and I think it was. Now, they've really set up the overall story of Agent Ballard trying to bring down the Dollhouse by establishing that there is someone on the inside that also wants the Dollhouse gone. Yes, it was a little predictable that Millie turned out to be an Active, but it was still a nice twist. The Dollhouse knows that Agent Ballard is after them, but the don't know there's someone inside who'll be helping him. And there's still Alpha out there to worry about. I can't wait to see him brought into the fold.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So here it is, the series finale. First off, I loved the finale. Some people out there hated it, but they're wrong. Sure, I thought there might be a little more bloodshed and death, but after seeing it, I'm glad there wasn't. The attack on the Cylon colony was awesome, from Anders taking control of the other hybrids, to the Raptors jumping away from the museum wing, to Galactica just ramming into the colony. It was action packed and very satisfying. Boomer got a little redemption by saving Hera, and still got her due when Athena shot her. I glad that they decided that the head characters (Six and Baltar) were actual ouside entities and not just some mental manifestation. I also loved how they paid off the Opera House vision, where it wasn't symbolic of anything, it was actually happening. If that was the plan all along, I salute the writers. If not, I still salute them for making it work. I glad that Tryol got some vengance for Callie's death; he deserved that closure. And in the end, the fleet ends up at the planet WE call Earth, and decide to settle on it. And after 150,000 years, here we are, all children of Hera (aka mitochondrial Eve), meaning we are all decentants of Cylon model 8, which really isn't a bad thing at all. I think this the proper way for the show to go it. The survivors desereved to find a home, deserved to find some peace. The show was about humaniy's fight to survive, and in the end, they got to. And as for Starbuck? Her just disappearing and Lee not being freaked out by it was the perfect way to go out. Her destiny was to lead the people to Earth. She died in the process, so she was allowed to come back and fulfill that destiny. And when she did, she was gone. All in all, the perfect ending for a near perfect show.
-College Lacrosse, Virginia vs. Johns Hopkins, Saturday: Finally, I get to watch Virginia lacrosse on TV (the first of 4 consectutive games on either ESPN2 or ESPNU). All this basketball just reminds me of how bad UVA is at hoops, so its nice to watch a sport where we're the best in the country. I'm glad they're finally on TV so I can distract myself from the pain of Virginia basketball.
-NCAA Tournament: As always, the first two rounds of the tournament provide plenty of upsets. The odd thing about this year is that most of them came on Friday night, after a day and a half of mostly chalk. Its pretty rare to see the 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 seeded teams in one region all make it to the second round, but that's exactly what happened in the Midwest region. There's nothing like the first two rounds of the tourney; my bracket's shot to hell and I don't care. I love the upsets and am always rooting for the higher seeds.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Bracket, Take Two
Okay, I've had a few days to digest the bracket, and I've come to my final picks, which I've entered in a number of ESPN.com groups (Around The Horn, PTI, and Mike & Mike's Sheets of Integrity) and the one pool I've entered for money. I tend to fill out a number of brackets, but there's always one bracket I consider my "official" bracket, and that's this one. Based on history, this bracket is guaranteed to be no more than 60% correct, and won't be anywhere near the top of any leaderboard. How do I know this? Since I started following college basketball (which was around 1990 or 1991), I've picked exactly ONE decent bracket (1995, I finished second in my pool; if it had been UNC to lose to UCLA instead of Arkansas, I would've won). So I expect these picks to follow the trend I've already set and fail miserably.
Midwest: Round 1 winners- Louisville, Ohio State, Utah, Wake, Dayton, Kansas, USC, Michigan State. I really wanted to pick Cleveland State over Wake and North Dakota State over Kansas, but I couldn't; too much of a wuss. I don't think USC over BC is much of an upset given how hot USC's been lately, and I like Dayton over West Virginia because I don't like West Virginia (and let's face it, they don't like me either). In the Sweet 16 I've got Louisville, Utah, Kansas, and Michigan State. Louisville and Michigan State in the Elite 8, and Louisville in the Final Four.
West: Round 1 winners- UConn, BYU, Purdue, Mississippi State, Utah State, Missouri, Maryland, Memphis. Despite me thinking that Maryland doesn't even belong in the tournament, I think they'll beat Cal. I like Mississippi State to ride their hot streak past Washington (I'm not real big on Pac-10 teams) and all the way to the Sweet 16 (getting past Purdue in the process, which is tough because I really like this Purdue team). Marquette without Dominic James isn't Marquette, so I fully expect Utah State to pull the upset. Joining Mississippi State in the Sweet 16 is UConn, Missouri, and Memphis. I would love to see Mississippi State continue the run, but I think they fall to UConn, and Memphis beats Missouri. Then I've got Memphis advancing to the Final Four over UConn. They'll be able to play the disrespect card all the way through the tournament, and that'll give them the edge of UConn in the regional final.
East: Round 1 winners- Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Florida State, Xavier, VCU, Villanova, Texas, Duke. I really, REALLY wanted to take Portland State over Xavier because XU has struggled down the stretch, but I couldn't; I think they can win one game before getting crushed by Florida State (really like this Seminole team). VCU is a homer pick- I used to live in Richmond, VA- and again, I don't think very much of the Pac-10. They also have two stud players (in Maynor and Sanders) that can more and hold their own against Collison and Shipp. But as much as I love me some VCU, they don't get past Villanova. 'Nova is the under-the-radar Big East team that not enough people are paying attention to. Pitt, FSU, 'Nova, and Duke in the Sweet 16, with Pitt and 'Nova in the Elite 8. I know Pitt is prone to choking in these situations, but I think this is the year they finally make the Final Four.
South: Round 1 winners- UNC, Butler, Western Kentucky, Gonzaga, Arizona State, Syacuse, Clemson, Oklahoma. As I said in my initial thoughts on the bracket, Illinois is vulnerable without Chester Frazier running the point. If he can't go in Round 1 (or even if he's out there at less than 100%), I think the Hilltoppers bounce the Illini. I see the rest of this bracket holding to seed, with Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse, and Oklahoma in the Sweet 16, and Carolina and Oklahoma in the Elite 8. I went back and forth on this one, Carolina or Oklahoma, and in the end, decided to stay with the Sooners. And I recognize that could be purely out of my hatred for all things Carolina. And I'm okay with that.
Final Four: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma- pretty much what I picked on Sunday. I like Louisville over Memphis and Oklahoma over Pittsburgh (man, how great would it be to see Griffin-Hansbrough one weekend, then Griffin-Blair the next?) with Louisville as your 2009 National Champion.
But what do I know. As soon as the ball goes up tomorrow, I'll be rooting for all the upsets, hoping and praying that my, and everyone else's, bracket gets shot to hell by Friday night. Its why Thursday and Friday are the best two days in sports all year.
And a bonus- check out President Obama making his picks:
I think he picked Carolina simply because he played a pick up game with them during the campaign.
Midwest: Round 1 winners- Louisville, Ohio State, Utah, Wake, Dayton, Kansas, USC, Michigan State. I really wanted to pick Cleveland State over Wake and North Dakota State over Kansas, but I couldn't; too much of a wuss. I don't think USC over BC is much of an upset given how hot USC's been lately, and I like Dayton over West Virginia because I don't like West Virginia (and let's face it, they don't like me either). In the Sweet 16 I've got Louisville, Utah, Kansas, and Michigan State. Louisville and Michigan State in the Elite 8, and Louisville in the Final Four.
West: Round 1 winners- UConn, BYU, Purdue, Mississippi State, Utah State, Missouri, Maryland, Memphis. Despite me thinking that Maryland doesn't even belong in the tournament, I think they'll beat Cal. I like Mississippi State to ride their hot streak past Washington (I'm not real big on Pac-10 teams) and all the way to the Sweet 16 (getting past Purdue in the process, which is tough because I really like this Purdue team). Marquette without Dominic James isn't Marquette, so I fully expect Utah State to pull the upset. Joining Mississippi State in the Sweet 16 is UConn, Missouri, and Memphis. I would love to see Mississippi State continue the run, but I think they fall to UConn, and Memphis beats Missouri. Then I've got Memphis advancing to the Final Four over UConn. They'll be able to play the disrespect card all the way through the tournament, and that'll give them the edge of UConn in the regional final.
East: Round 1 winners- Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Florida State, Xavier, VCU, Villanova, Texas, Duke. I really, REALLY wanted to take Portland State over Xavier because XU has struggled down the stretch, but I couldn't; I think they can win one game before getting crushed by Florida State (really like this Seminole team). VCU is a homer pick- I used to live in Richmond, VA- and again, I don't think very much of the Pac-10. They also have two stud players (in Maynor and Sanders) that can more and hold their own against Collison and Shipp. But as much as I love me some VCU, they don't get past Villanova. 'Nova is the under-the-radar Big East team that not enough people are paying attention to. Pitt, FSU, 'Nova, and Duke in the Sweet 16, with Pitt and 'Nova in the Elite 8. I know Pitt is prone to choking in these situations, but I think this is the year they finally make the Final Four.
South: Round 1 winners- UNC, Butler, Western Kentucky, Gonzaga, Arizona State, Syacuse, Clemson, Oklahoma. As I said in my initial thoughts on the bracket, Illinois is vulnerable without Chester Frazier running the point. If he can't go in Round 1 (or even if he's out there at less than 100%), I think the Hilltoppers bounce the Illini. I see the rest of this bracket holding to seed, with Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse, and Oklahoma in the Sweet 16, and Carolina and Oklahoma in the Elite 8. I went back and forth on this one, Carolina or Oklahoma, and in the end, decided to stay with the Sooners. And I recognize that could be purely out of my hatred for all things Carolina. And I'm okay with that.
Final Four: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma- pretty much what I picked on Sunday. I like Louisville over Memphis and Oklahoma over Pittsburgh (man, how great would it be to see Griffin-Hansbrough one weekend, then Griffin-Blair the next?) with Louisville as your 2009 National Champion.
But what do I know. As soon as the ball goes up tomorrow, I'll be rooting for all the upsets, hoping and praying that my, and everyone else's, bracket gets shot to hell by Friday night. Its why Thursday and Friday are the best two days in sports all year.
And a bonus- check out President Obama making his picks:
I think he picked Carolina simply because he played a pick up game with them during the campaign.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Bracket, Take One
Okay, the NCAA Tournament Bracket is out, time for some knee-jerk reactions (subject to change as the week goes on).
Overall: No complaints about the #1 seeds, and Louisville deserves the overall #1 seed after winning the Big East tournament (and with the other candidates losing). I don't get how Maryland made the field, especially at a #10 seed. I really don't get how Arizona made it at a #12. Where's the love for Creighton or St. Mary's? Thirty-four at-large bids, 30 to major (BCS) conference schools, 4 to mid-majors. I know the tournament committee doesn't take conference affiliation into account, but that ratio is unacceptable in my mind. But those teams were really the only ones I had a beef with. And speaking of conference affiliation, I believe I got another bold 2009 prediction wrong. I said that 10 Big East would make the tournament; they got 7. Well, I didn't count on Notre Dame and Georgetown tanking like they did, and UC had a shot until the folded late in the year. I also said that no Big East team would make the Final Four; that one's most certainly going to be proven wrong (more on this later).
Midwest: I like Louisville in this region. In fact, I think this region will mostly hold to the seeds, with only a few upsets. USC over Boston College could be it. I'd love to see Dayton over West Virginia and Cleveland State over Wake, but those are probably long shots. Normally I would take Siena over Ohio State, but the game's in Dayton, so I think its the Buckeyes. Michigan State v. Kansas in the Sweet 16 would be a great matchup. In the end, again, I'm going with Louisville.
West: Did Memphis deserve the #1 seed here over UConn? Does it really matter? Purdue's playing pretty well right now, now that they're healthy again. I think they could give UConn a good run in the Sweet 16, but they wouldn't have an answer for Thabeet down low. I like Mississippi State, hot off their SEC tournament win, to upset Washington in the first round. I think Marquette's vulnerable because of Dominic James's injur; Utah State could pull the upset there, too. It looks like a pretty clear path for a UConn-Memphis showdown, but I think Missouri could sneak up in there and surprise some people. Not sure who I like out of this region yet.
East: This is a tough region. Florida State's playing well right now, and could knock off Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16 and have a rematch with Duke in the Elite 8. That is, if Duke can get past VCU (who I think will make the Sweet 16). The Rams knocked off Duke 2 years again, then lost to Pittsburgh. If VCU can get to a matchup with Duke and get past them, Pittsburgh could again be on the other side (assuming they get past the Seminoles). Of course, that could all go to hell if Villanova gets hot and makes a run, which is more than possible. Right now, I'm taking Pittsburgh out of the East.
South: How great would a Hansbrough-Griffin matchup be in the Elite 8? I don't see either one getting upset, so I think it happens. And if it does, I like Oklahoma and Blake Griffin to advance to the Final Four. I don't see a lot of upsets in this region, outside of Western Kentucky over Illinois (sorry, bro). You need a 12-5 upset, and with Illinois's starting point guard out with a wrist injury, I think this is the most likely candidate.
Final Four: So I've got Louisville, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, and a team to be named later in my Final Four right now. Does UConn make it and give the Big East 3 teams in? Very, very possible (hello, 1985 Final Four). And what about Syracuse in the West? They are more than capable of coming out of there as the #3 seed, which could give the Big East all four teams in the Final Four. Its never happened, four teams from the same conference, but up until last year, all four #1 seeds had never all made the Final Four, either. And if its ever going to happen, its got to be this year with the Big East, since I predicted that zero Big East teams would make the Final Four. If that happens, it would just be rubbing salt in the wound that is the curse of this blog. So I think there's a good chance it does.
As always, these predictions are subject to change throughout the week. I'll revisit the bracket either Tuesday or Wednesday with updated thoughts and predictions that are sure to be wrong.
Overall: No complaints about the #1 seeds, and Louisville deserves the overall #1 seed after winning the Big East tournament (and with the other candidates losing). I don't get how Maryland made the field, especially at a #10 seed. I really don't get how Arizona made it at a #12. Where's the love for Creighton or St. Mary's? Thirty-four at-large bids, 30 to major (BCS) conference schools, 4 to mid-majors. I know the tournament committee doesn't take conference affiliation into account, but that ratio is unacceptable in my mind. But those teams were really the only ones I had a beef with. And speaking of conference affiliation, I believe I got another bold 2009 prediction wrong. I said that 10 Big East would make the tournament; they got 7. Well, I didn't count on Notre Dame and Georgetown tanking like they did, and UC had a shot until the folded late in the year. I also said that no Big East team would make the Final Four; that one's most certainly going to be proven wrong (more on this later).
Midwest: I like Louisville in this region. In fact, I think this region will mostly hold to the seeds, with only a few upsets. USC over Boston College could be it. I'd love to see Dayton over West Virginia and Cleveland State over Wake, but those are probably long shots. Normally I would take Siena over Ohio State, but the game's in Dayton, so I think its the Buckeyes. Michigan State v. Kansas in the Sweet 16 would be a great matchup. In the end, again, I'm going with Louisville.
West: Did Memphis deserve the #1 seed here over UConn? Does it really matter? Purdue's playing pretty well right now, now that they're healthy again. I think they could give UConn a good run in the Sweet 16, but they wouldn't have an answer for Thabeet down low. I like Mississippi State, hot off their SEC tournament win, to upset Washington in the first round. I think Marquette's vulnerable because of Dominic James's injur; Utah State could pull the upset there, too. It looks like a pretty clear path for a UConn-Memphis showdown, but I think Missouri could sneak up in there and surprise some people. Not sure who I like out of this region yet.
East: This is a tough region. Florida State's playing well right now, and could knock off Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16 and have a rematch with Duke in the Elite 8. That is, if Duke can get past VCU (who I think will make the Sweet 16). The Rams knocked off Duke 2 years again, then lost to Pittsburgh. If VCU can get to a matchup with Duke and get past them, Pittsburgh could again be on the other side (assuming they get past the Seminoles). Of course, that could all go to hell if Villanova gets hot and makes a run, which is more than possible. Right now, I'm taking Pittsburgh out of the East.
South: How great would a Hansbrough-Griffin matchup be in the Elite 8? I don't see either one getting upset, so I think it happens. And if it does, I like Oklahoma and Blake Griffin to advance to the Final Four. I don't see a lot of upsets in this region, outside of Western Kentucky over Illinois (sorry, bro). You need a 12-5 upset, and with Illinois's starting point guard out with a wrist injury, I think this is the most likely candidate.
Final Four: So I've got Louisville, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, and a team to be named later in my Final Four right now. Does UConn make it and give the Big East 3 teams in? Very, very possible (hello, 1985 Final Four). And what about Syracuse in the West? They are more than capable of coming out of there as the #3 seed, which could give the Big East all four teams in the Final Four. Its never happened, four teams from the same conference, but up until last year, all four #1 seeds had never all made the Final Four, either. And if its ever going to happen, its got to be this year with the Big East, since I predicted that zero Big East teams would make the Final Four. If that happens, it would just be rubbing salt in the wound that is the curse of this blog. So I think there's a good chance it does.
As always, these predictions are subject to change throughout the week. I'll revisit the bracket either Tuesday or Wednesday with updated thoughts and predictions that are sure to be wrong.
Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/08 - 03/14
No Lost this past week, which made for a lighter television week. Thankfully, Championship Week was in full swing. Usually I avoid the major conference championships and just focus on the one-bid leagues, but all the tournaments have been incredible this year. Six overtimes for Syracuse and UConn? Then Syracuse plays another overtime the next night against West Virginia? Amazing. And I love seeing all these top potential top seeds lose early going into the Big Dance (except for Lousiville, who's looking tough to beat). I'll have more thoughts on college basketball later tonight, once the brackets are announced (Selection Sunday, one of the best days of the year). Who knows, it might go down as a live blog.
And on top of all the college basketball that's been on, the World Baseball Classic's been playing as well. I know a lot of people are down on the WBC, but I think for the most part, its alright. The USA-Canada game was phenomenal, and the Dutch coming out of nowhere to upset the Dominican Republic twice? No one saw that coming. And as to how this effects players come the regular season, I'm thinking it'll effect pitchers more than position players. Which is why I'm glad the Dominican team has been eliminated, so Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto are done and back at Spring Training.
Okay, now the scripted shows of the week:
-Heroes, Monday: I don't know what the hell is going on with this show. The Sylar's dad storyline was just stupid. He spent part of the episode STUFFING A FUCKING RABBIT. And what did he learn? That he'll he never be fullfilled just collecting powers, so he should direct his murderous nature toward something more meaningful; didn't he already come to this once before? The only redeeming part of that scene was Sylar going back and taking the rabbit when he left his dad's and placed in in Denko's apartment. Sylar vs. Denko so should be good, so I'm at least glad for that. Adding to the ricidulousness is Hiro and Ando, who have been charged with protecting Matt Parkman's son, Matt Parkman. We haven't heard from Parkman's family since Season 1 (I think), and now they just suddenly reappear? Please. This story better last less time than the stupid India trip. So what was good about this episode? Denko finally learning the Nathan can fly. Denko's meeting with Angela. Any time Denko and HRG face off. Now that Sylar's been reintroduced and Nathan's been outed, I really think this storyline gets interesting. Hopefully the Rebel storyline continues to advance this story, and not the other ones. Speaking of Rebel, what was the point of sending Claire to help Doyle when it was Rebel that did all the work of getting him a new ID? Was it just to shoot the scene of her in the comic shop? And if Rebel can penetrate Denko's computer system and take over, why doesn't he just shut the whole thing down? Oh well. According to Greg Grunberg's Twitter feed, the entire cast is together in the same scene later in the season (Episode 20, perhaps, which Grunberg says is awesome). We'll have to see. Heroes if off next week, and when it comes back, it'll the first episode with Bryan Fuller back on staff, so hopefully the series starts getting better.
-24, Monday: I have to admit, I didn't expect Bill to be the one to die (I read a lot spoiler sites, so I knew a death was coming). And I didn't expect it to happen right at the top of the episode, though when I think about it, its passe to end an episode with a tragic death, so mixing it up and doing right away was a nice change of pace. Its kind of amazing how much a dick Larry Moss is. I mean, on one hand, he's fully capable of defying the Vice President and storming to take back the White House, and on the other, he's 100% resitant to everything Jack says. So maybe its just Jack that he hates. He didn't bat an eye at suspending Renee for going over his head and talking to Ethan, so I guess this frees up Renee to join Jack on the rogue agent trail. And speaking of Ethan, I'm glad we got some backstory between him and Olivia. He bit the bullet and asked Olivia to join the administration (at the behest of the President) after being fired from the campaign, and she just bites his head off. I'm starting to think she's not a traitor, but that she will still be a problem because she's going to go digging to find out who in her mother's administration was responsible for all this and that's not going to go well for her. And that brings me to Jon Voight's villian, Jonas Hodges. He seems completely crazy, and that's awesome, and we also got a little insight into this master plan. He's got a cache of weapons on the way toward the States and a list of cities as targets. We don't know what he wants, but he did indicate that he didn't want to go through with the attacks if he didn't have to. I wonder what his end game is.
-Castle,Monday: A new series that debuted on Monday staring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic. Its a character-driven procedural cop drama/comedy with a Moonlighting twist. Basically, its Bones with a little more silliness (thanks to Nathan Fillion). I'm bit fan of Bones, and Nathan Fillion, so I'll be watching this show, even if its not very good. Fillion should be a big(ger) star, and the fact that he's not is a crime, so I hope this show does well.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: And the end is closing in fast. Part I of the series finale, and I thought the episode was great. I liked the flashbacks, showing life on the colonies well before the Cylon attack. You have to think that these flashbacks will become more important/will be explained in the second part of the episode airing this Friday. Funny parts- Baltar telling Caprica Six that he'd forgetten her name (nice little nod to the fan there, myself included, who constantly wonder why she doesn't have a name), and finding out that Anders was the Dan Marino of Pyramid players. Highly talented, no championships, constantly rebuilding team. Back on Galactica, I really liked the scene between Lee and Baltar, setting up Baltar to have one last chance at redemption down the line. And it was a foregone conclusion that Adama would be leading one last charge to save Hera and destroy the evil Cylon faction. I like how he literally drew a line that you had to cross AND made everyone declare their intentions in person, leaving no doubt in their minds about the slim possibility of survival. Did we see Athena in that scene? Helo was there, but last we saw Athena, she was a wreak, seemingly unable to leave her bunk. And although we didn't see Baltar cross the line in this episode, I'm positive he'll be with Adama before its all said and done. And it all sets up the final, suicide mission against the baseship this week. So who lives and who dies? I think Lee's going make it. Starbuck, too. Roslin will obviously die. Tigh, I'm a little uncertain. But whatever happens to him, live or die, the same will happen to Ellen. Hera lives, because you can't kill kids, even on Battlestar Galactica. And since Hera lives, I'm saying that Helo lives as well. I think Anders is stuck as the hybrid for Galactica, so I'm not sure if that qualifies and living or dying. Tory and Tyrol are interesting cases; do they survive simply because they're part of the Final Five, or do they die and experience resurrection? Don't know. I think Baltar lives, even after he finally commits a truely selfless act, and I think Boomer dies, but not before she helps Hera escape. There are a number for whom killing Boomer would be a fitting end (Adama, Tyrol, Helo, Athena), and I think it'll be one of them that ultimately does her in. Which leaves Adama. Clearly, this is Galactica's last mission, and Roslin isn't going to make it much longer. So he's on the verge of losing the two things he loves the most; does that set him up to die as well? I think it does. If anyone's in position to make a grand sacrificing jesture to save all of humanity, its Adama. If that happens with Adama, it would be a little cheesey, but I'd be okay with it. Can't wait to see how this all ends.
Thursday and Friday of this week are two of the greatest sports days of the year, which will put a little hitch in the TV viewing schedule. But that's why God created DVR. March Madness it here! Time to go print out some brackets and get ready.
And on top of all the college basketball that's been on, the World Baseball Classic's been playing as well. I know a lot of people are down on the WBC, but I think for the most part, its alright. The USA-Canada game was phenomenal, and the Dutch coming out of nowhere to upset the Dominican Republic twice? No one saw that coming. And as to how this effects players come the regular season, I'm thinking it'll effect pitchers more than position players. Which is why I'm glad the Dominican team has been eliminated, so Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto are done and back at Spring Training.
Okay, now the scripted shows of the week:
-Heroes, Monday: I don't know what the hell is going on with this show. The Sylar's dad storyline was just stupid. He spent part of the episode STUFFING A FUCKING RABBIT. And what did he learn? That he'll he never be fullfilled just collecting powers, so he should direct his murderous nature toward something more meaningful; didn't he already come to this once before? The only redeeming part of that scene was Sylar going back and taking the rabbit when he left his dad's and placed in in Denko's apartment. Sylar vs. Denko so should be good, so I'm at least glad for that. Adding to the ricidulousness is Hiro and Ando, who have been charged with protecting Matt Parkman's son, Matt Parkman. We haven't heard from Parkman's family since Season 1 (I think), and now they just suddenly reappear? Please. This story better last less time than the stupid India trip. So what was good about this episode? Denko finally learning the Nathan can fly. Denko's meeting with Angela. Any time Denko and HRG face off. Now that Sylar's been reintroduced and Nathan's been outed, I really think this storyline gets interesting. Hopefully the Rebel storyline continues to advance this story, and not the other ones. Speaking of Rebel, what was the point of sending Claire to help Doyle when it was Rebel that did all the work of getting him a new ID? Was it just to shoot the scene of her in the comic shop? And if Rebel can penetrate Denko's computer system and take over, why doesn't he just shut the whole thing down? Oh well. According to Greg Grunberg's Twitter feed, the entire cast is together in the same scene later in the season (Episode 20, perhaps, which Grunberg says is awesome). We'll have to see. Heroes if off next week, and when it comes back, it'll the first episode with Bryan Fuller back on staff, so hopefully the series starts getting better.
-24, Monday: I have to admit, I didn't expect Bill to be the one to die (I read a lot spoiler sites, so I knew a death was coming). And I didn't expect it to happen right at the top of the episode, though when I think about it, its passe to end an episode with a tragic death, so mixing it up and doing right away was a nice change of pace. Its kind of amazing how much a dick Larry Moss is. I mean, on one hand, he's fully capable of defying the Vice President and storming to take back the White House, and on the other, he's 100% resitant to everything Jack says. So maybe its just Jack that he hates. He didn't bat an eye at suspending Renee for going over his head and talking to Ethan, so I guess this frees up Renee to join Jack on the rogue agent trail. And speaking of Ethan, I'm glad we got some backstory between him and Olivia. He bit the bullet and asked Olivia to join the administration (at the behest of the President) after being fired from the campaign, and she just bites his head off. I'm starting to think she's not a traitor, but that she will still be a problem because she's going to go digging to find out who in her mother's administration was responsible for all this and that's not going to go well for her. And that brings me to Jon Voight's villian, Jonas Hodges. He seems completely crazy, and that's awesome, and we also got a little insight into this master plan. He's got a cache of weapons on the way toward the States and a list of cities as targets. We don't know what he wants, but he did indicate that he didn't want to go through with the attacks if he didn't have to. I wonder what his end game is.
-Castle,Monday: A new series that debuted on Monday staring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic. Its a character-driven procedural cop drama/comedy with a Moonlighting twist. Basically, its Bones with a little more silliness (thanks to Nathan Fillion). I'm bit fan of Bones, and Nathan Fillion, so I'll be watching this show, even if its not very good. Fillion should be a big(ger) star, and the fact that he's not is a crime, so I hope this show does well.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: And the end is closing in fast. Part I of the series finale, and I thought the episode was great. I liked the flashbacks, showing life on the colonies well before the Cylon attack. You have to think that these flashbacks will become more important/will be explained in the second part of the episode airing this Friday. Funny parts- Baltar telling Caprica Six that he'd forgetten her name (nice little nod to the fan there, myself included, who constantly wonder why she doesn't have a name), and finding out that Anders was the Dan Marino of Pyramid players. Highly talented, no championships, constantly rebuilding team. Back on Galactica, I really liked the scene between Lee and Baltar, setting up Baltar to have one last chance at redemption down the line. And it was a foregone conclusion that Adama would be leading one last charge to save Hera and destroy the evil Cylon faction. I like how he literally drew a line that you had to cross AND made everyone declare their intentions in person, leaving no doubt in their minds about the slim possibility of survival. Did we see Athena in that scene? Helo was there, but last we saw Athena, she was a wreak, seemingly unable to leave her bunk. And although we didn't see Baltar cross the line in this episode, I'm positive he'll be with Adama before its all said and done. And it all sets up the final, suicide mission against the baseship this week. So who lives and who dies? I think Lee's going make it. Starbuck, too. Roslin will obviously die. Tigh, I'm a little uncertain. But whatever happens to him, live or die, the same will happen to Ellen. Hera lives, because you can't kill kids, even on Battlestar Galactica. And since Hera lives, I'm saying that Helo lives as well. I think Anders is stuck as the hybrid for Galactica, so I'm not sure if that qualifies and living or dying. Tory and Tyrol are interesting cases; do they survive simply because they're part of the Final Five, or do they die and experience resurrection? Don't know. I think Baltar lives, even after he finally commits a truely selfless act, and I think Boomer dies, but not before she helps Hera escape. There are a number for whom killing Boomer would be a fitting end (Adama, Tyrol, Helo, Athena), and I think it'll be one of them that ultimately does her in. Which leaves Adama. Clearly, this is Galactica's last mission, and Roslin isn't going to make it much longer. So he's on the verge of losing the two things he loves the most; does that set him up to die as well? I think it does. If anyone's in position to make a grand sacrificing jesture to save all of humanity, its Adama. If that happens with Adama, it would be a little cheesey, but I'd be okay with it. Can't wait to see how this all ends.
Thursday and Friday of this week are two of the greatest sports days of the year, which will put a little hitch in the TV viewing schedule. But that's why God created DVR. March Madness it here! Time to go print out some brackets and get ready.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
In Preparation For March Madness
There's a new commercial for Vitamin Water starring Christian Laettner and Rick Pitino. I think its hysterical, especially Pitino's bit at the end. He's still probably wondering why both they guys he put on Laettner were standing behind him.
And THAT got me remembering this outstanding ESPN college basketball commercial from back in the day:
R.I.P. Chris Farley.
And THAT got me remembering this outstanding ESPN college basketball commercial from back in the day:
R.I.P. Chris Farley.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/01 - 03/07
I saw 2 movies in the theater this week; can't recall the last time I did that. First was Fanboys, which I recommend for big-time Star Wars fans (or big time Kristen Bell fans). The second was Watchmen, which I discussed (briefly) here.
-Heroes, Monday: The Rebel storyline only works if it actually unites all the characters together. If its just a mechanism to loosely tie all the stories to one common point (like it is now), the show's not going to get any better. But if they can tighten up the story and get everyone working together, the show's got some hope. I'm glad they finally had Parkman use his mind-control powers deliberately to achieve an end and not while he was under stress to save his life. He's ridiculously powerful; why don't they use him more? And how does strapping a bomb to Parkman help The Hunter reach his goal? People would have to know that a)people with abilities exist and that b)Parkman is one of them for it to be an effective stunt. Peter exposed the operation of rounding up US citizens to the public, but not the specifics as to why; people with powers are still unknown. The Claire-Alex storyline was only good because it gave Claire's mom, Sandra, something constructive to do. And Sylar's storyline? Just stupid. So his dad has TK and he sliced open his mom's head. Whatever. That toy car sparked his memory; did he call it Rosebud? That story needs to be finished.
-24, Monday: Who knew that it was that easy to take control of the White House? Just dive underwater, drill up beneath the subsurface, and with the help of a single man in the inside, you too can take the President of the United State hostage. It had a real James Bond-ish plan feel to it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm glad to finally see Jon Voight on the show; I think he's going to be an awesome villian. I'm also getting the traitor vibe from the President's daughter, Olivia. I didn't think that before, but now, it seems like it makes sense. Its the kind of left-field twist 24 is always good for. I'm also really enjoying Agent Walker's transformation from a by-the-book FBI agent to a do-what-is-necessary Jack Bauer clone. The ongoing struggle betwen her and Agent Moss is good to. Moss and Bauer and polar opposites and Renee is moving in between then. This episode also had my favorite 24 scene device- when a character has vital information that needs to be heard, so they tell a random person to call someone in charge so they know what's going on, but before that person can make the call, they're shoot and killed and the information remains unrelayed. Happens all the time in 24.
-Lost, Wednesday: I've read some review from people that didn't like this episode; I loved it. I loved the "Three years eariler/Three years later" construciton, filling in the gaps on the island between when Locke reset the wheel and when the O6 got back to the island. So we learn how Sawyer and company become a part of the Dharma Initiative. Sawyer, Jin, and Miles all work security; makes sense. Juliet works in the motorpool; not so much. But where is Faraday? We saw him a the beginning of the season working on the Orchid station; is he still in contact with everyone else, or is he off doing his own thing? Charlotte's death seem to send him off the deep end (if that was even possible), so its possible he his disassociated himself from everyone. My favorite scene was the conversation between Sawyer and Richard Alpert; what must be going through Richard's head at this point? He doesn't age, which one would assume he's aware of, so he had to know that the island has some special time properties associated with it. But what about all the time-travel? He seemed not to understand it when Locke talked with him in the 50's, and he seemed non-reactive when talking to Sawyer, like he didn't want to let on that he knew more than he was letting on. I'm starting to think that the reason Richard doesn't age is because he died and the island brought him back to life. There a lot of talk about an Egyptian connection to the island (the hieroglyphics, the ankh necklace, the statue); I think it would be awesome if Richard was part of the first settlement on the island, thousands of years ago, and he's been the same age ever since (because he's dead and doesn't age). And finally, new girl Amy's baby boy; he's going to be important. Why? Because the actress playing Amy said in an interview that she knows who her baby is and isn't allowed to say. That just screams important. The the child was born in 1977, putting him in his late-20's at the time of the Oceanic plane crash, and about 30 when the Ajira plane landed. So who could it be? Still pondering that one.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Starbuck confesses her death to Baltar and Baltar rewards her by outing her secret to everyone. Well done, Gaius. I like the open, shared knowledge about how Starbuck, Hera, and the Final Five all experienced "All Along The Watchtower." One of my favorite parts about using this song has been how they've worked in lyrics into the dialogue. And in this episode, the dying Eight that requested seeing Tigh quoted a line herself ("Too much confusion"). First time a non-Final Five quoted a line. Important? Dont' know, but was a nice touch. I think its interesting that Sam is now plugged into Galactica hybrid-style; I hope they keep playing this angle before they abandon Galactica (which appears inevitable). While Boomer appears to be evil, it doesn't like she's completely evil. She obivously bonded with Hera and it looks likes she's going to save Hera from Cavil's experiments and return her to the fleet, at the cost of her own life. And we still need some answers to Starbuck. The longer they delay those answers, the more it looks like her answers are the answers to everyone and everything.
And finally, this weekend was the real start of March Madness. Or, the Mayhem Before the Madness, as the ESPN promos would tell us. Championship Week is just as good as the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament (which, let's face it, is the best part of the tournament). Little mid-major schools playing for a chance to be Cinderella, where you're only way in is to win because there is no bubble. The elation when a team wins and earns a ticket to the Big Dance, the agony of coming so close and losing. That emotion is why college basketball is lightyears ahead of the NBA.
-Heroes, Monday: The Rebel storyline only works if it actually unites all the characters together. If its just a mechanism to loosely tie all the stories to one common point (like it is now), the show's not going to get any better. But if they can tighten up the story and get everyone working together, the show's got some hope. I'm glad they finally had Parkman use his mind-control powers deliberately to achieve an end and not while he was under stress to save his life. He's ridiculously powerful; why don't they use him more? And how does strapping a bomb to Parkman help The Hunter reach his goal? People would have to know that a)people with abilities exist and that b)Parkman is one of them for it to be an effective stunt. Peter exposed the operation of rounding up US citizens to the public, but not the specifics as to why; people with powers are still unknown. The Claire-Alex storyline was only good because it gave Claire's mom, Sandra, something constructive to do. And Sylar's storyline? Just stupid. So his dad has TK and he sliced open his mom's head. Whatever. That toy car sparked his memory; did he call it Rosebud? That story needs to be finished.
-24, Monday: Who knew that it was that easy to take control of the White House? Just dive underwater, drill up beneath the subsurface, and with the help of a single man in the inside, you too can take the President of the United State hostage. It had a real James Bond-ish plan feel to it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm glad to finally see Jon Voight on the show; I think he's going to be an awesome villian. I'm also getting the traitor vibe from the President's daughter, Olivia. I didn't think that before, but now, it seems like it makes sense. Its the kind of left-field twist 24 is always good for. I'm also really enjoying Agent Walker's transformation from a by-the-book FBI agent to a do-what-is-necessary Jack Bauer clone. The ongoing struggle betwen her and Agent Moss is good to. Moss and Bauer and polar opposites and Renee is moving in between then. This episode also had my favorite 24 scene device- when a character has vital information that needs to be heard, so they tell a random person to call someone in charge so they know what's going on, but before that person can make the call, they're shoot and killed and the information remains unrelayed. Happens all the time in 24.
-Lost, Wednesday: I've read some review from people that didn't like this episode; I loved it. I loved the "Three years eariler/Three years later" construciton, filling in the gaps on the island between when Locke reset the wheel and when the O6 got back to the island. So we learn how Sawyer and company become a part of the Dharma Initiative. Sawyer, Jin, and Miles all work security; makes sense. Juliet works in the motorpool; not so much. But where is Faraday? We saw him a the beginning of the season working on the Orchid station; is he still in contact with everyone else, or is he off doing his own thing? Charlotte's death seem to send him off the deep end (if that was even possible), so its possible he his disassociated himself from everyone. My favorite scene was the conversation between Sawyer and Richard Alpert; what must be going through Richard's head at this point? He doesn't age, which one would assume he's aware of, so he had to know that the island has some special time properties associated with it. But what about all the time-travel? He seemed not to understand it when Locke talked with him in the 50's, and he seemed non-reactive when talking to Sawyer, like he didn't want to let on that he knew more than he was letting on. I'm starting to think that the reason Richard doesn't age is because he died and the island brought him back to life. There a lot of talk about an Egyptian connection to the island (the hieroglyphics, the ankh necklace, the statue); I think it would be awesome if Richard was part of the first settlement on the island, thousands of years ago, and he's been the same age ever since (because he's dead and doesn't age). And finally, new girl Amy's baby boy; he's going to be important. Why? Because the actress playing Amy said in an interview that she knows who her baby is and isn't allowed to say. That just screams important. The the child was born in 1977, putting him in his late-20's at the time of the Oceanic plane crash, and about 30 when the Ajira plane landed. So who could it be? Still pondering that one.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Starbuck confesses her death to Baltar and Baltar rewards her by outing her secret to everyone. Well done, Gaius. I like the open, shared knowledge about how Starbuck, Hera, and the Final Five all experienced "All Along The Watchtower." One of my favorite parts about using this song has been how they've worked in lyrics into the dialogue. And in this episode, the dying Eight that requested seeing Tigh quoted a line herself ("Too much confusion"). First time a non-Final Five quoted a line. Important? Dont' know, but was a nice touch. I think its interesting that Sam is now plugged into Galactica hybrid-style; I hope they keep playing this angle before they abandon Galactica (which appears inevitable). While Boomer appears to be evil, it doesn't like she's completely evil. She obivously bonded with Hera and it looks likes she's going to save Hera from Cavil's experiments and return her to the fleet, at the cost of her own life. And we still need some answers to Starbuck. The longer they delay those answers, the more it looks like her answers are the answers to everyone and everything.
And finally, this weekend was the real start of March Madness. Or, the Mayhem Before the Madness, as the ESPN promos would tell us. Championship Week is just as good as the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament (which, let's face it, is the best part of the tournament). Little mid-major schools playing for a chance to be Cinderella, where you're only way in is to win because there is no bubble. The elation when a team wins and earns a ticket to the Big Dance, the agony of coming so close and losing. That emotion is why college basketball is lightyears ahead of the NBA.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Watch Watchmen
Watchmen was fucking awesome. Plain and simple, go see it (don't worry, no spoilers in this post). Do you have to be a fan of the comic (or know the comic) to enjoy it? I don't think so, but its hard for me to say since I am. Just know going in that there is a lot of graphic violence and sex and that the movie is very dark. Very dark. And very graphic, especially with the violence. The sex is actually pretty tame when compared to the violence. That is, unless you count all the time you see a blue-CGI'ed penis, which is quite a few (seriously). But I can't stress the violence enough; if you can't stand violence, Watchmen might not be for you. Based on the audible gasps and the fact that a few people walked out part of the way through the movie, I'm guessing some people in the theater didn't quite know what they were getting into. Oh well. I thought it was incredible, and my complaints (few as they are) have to do with visual style and casting and nothing to do with the story or how it was told.
Complaint #1- all the damn slow motion. We get it, Zack Snyder, it looks cool when you slow down time and then speed it up real quick to catch up; we all saw 300. Watchmen is a long movie (2:43, I believe), and I swear it could have been a half hour shorter if all the slo-mo had been dropped. Okay, so there's not that much slo-mo, but there's a lot. Its used in pretty much every action sequence. I get that its just a director's visual style, but its been done to death (see: Bay, Michael).
Complaint #2- Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias. A lot of reviews I read pegged Malin Akerman as the weak casting link, but I think it was Goode. And its not that he's a weak actor, I just think he was miscast. You don't believe for a second that he's the "smartest man in the world", and if you do believe that, you certainly don't believe that he physically capabable to do what he does in the movie. And then there's this odd accent that comes and goes with him. The first time we see Adrian Veidt, he's got this strange, indecernable accent, but later in the movie, he's got nothing at all. It was a little distracting. Aside for Ozymandias, I thought the rest of the movie was cast well, especially Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson.
There's a lot of talk about the movie altering the climactic ending from that in the comic; don't worry about it. I don't think the original ending would have worked on screen. They cut elements from the story that tie into the original ending (and they were right in doing that), so without those story points, the original ending wouldn't have made any sense. What they changed it to works better in the context of the story and achieves the exact same intended outcome. In fact, I dare say that the movie's ending achieves that outcome in a more complete and all-encompassing way than the comic.
So all-in-all, I loved Watchmen. Its totally worth seeing again in the theater, and I might do just that before the weekend's over.
Complaint #1- all the damn slow motion. We get it, Zack Snyder, it looks cool when you slow down time and then speed it up real quick to catch up; we all saw 300. Watchmen is a long movie (2:43, I believe), and I swear it could have been a half hour shorter if all the slo-mo had been dropped. Okay, so there's not that much slo-mo, but there's a lot. Its used in pretty much every action sequence. I get that its just a director's visual style, but its been done to death (see: Bay, Michael).
Complaint #2- Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias. A lot of reviews I read pegged Malin Akerman as the weak casting link, but I think it was Goode. And its not that he's a weak actor, I just think he was miscast. You don't believe for a second that he's the "smartest man in the world", and if you do believe that, you certainly don't believe that he physically capabable to do what he does in the movie. And then there's this odd accent that comes and goes with him. The first time we see Adrian Veidt, he's got this strange, indecernable accent, but later in the movie, he's got nothing at all. It was a little distracting. Aside for Ozymandias, I thought the rest of the movie was cast well, especially Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson.
There's a lot of talk about the movie altering the climactic ending from that in the comic; don't worry about it. I don't think the original ending would have worked on screen. They cut elements from the story that tie into the original ending (and they were right in doing that), so without those story points, the original ending wouldn't have made any sense. What they changed it to works better in the context of the story and achieves the exact same intended outcome. In fact, I dare say that the movie's ending achieves that outcome in a more complete and all-encompassing way than the comic.
So all-in-all, I loved Watchmen. Its totally worth seeing again in the theater, and I might do just that before the weekend's over.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
This Is Just Weird
I'm in full-on Watchmen mode right now. I would love to see this guy take on scenes from the graphic novel in the same Saturday-morning cartoon style.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Just An Excuse To Post This Video
So last night against the Magic, Shaquille O'Neal did something that he's been complaining about on other players ever since he entered the league. He flopped.
That was a flop that would have made Vlade Divac proud. Shaq's seen enough guys flop on him in his career, so it no wonder that when he finally decided to do it, he did it like a champ. But as the title of this post suggests, I only bring up Shaq's flop so I show this video, the most egregious flop in the history of basketball (sorry for the laugh track):
How bad is that flop? European soccer players find it offensive, that's how bad. It's why so many people hate Duke (and why they specifically hate Greg Paulus).
That was a flop that would have made Vlade Divac proud. Shaq's seen enough guys flop on him in his career, so it no wonder that when he finally decided to do it, he did it like a champ. But as the title of this post suggests, I only bring up Shaq's flop so I show this video, the most egregious flop in the history of basketball (sorry for the laugh track):
How bad is that flop? European soccer players find it offensive, that's how bad. It's why so many people hate Duke (and why they specifically hate Greg Paulus).
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Weekly TV Thoughts: 02/22 - 02/28
TNT is showing The Lord of the Rings right now, which is surefire way for me to waste away an entire day. Its right up there with Band of Brothers on History.
-Heroes, Monday: While I don't plan to abandon this show anytime soon, my patience is wearing thin with Heroes. This episode wasn't that bad; there was a lot of good exposition and the black-and-white flashback scene were a nice call back to Company Man, easily one of the best episodes to date. But I don't think we learned anything Earth-shatteringly new. HRG is a double (or is it triple) agent, working his own agenda while working with The Hunter. Shocker. They need to reassemble all the characters and get them fighting toward a single goal. Of course, that goal now appears to be saving New York, err... Washington, D.C. from annihilation. Good thing no one's currently occupying Isaac's loft, otherwise where else would Parkman use his as-of-yet-unexplained new ability to paint the future? It does sadden me, however, that they can't seem to come up with a better storyline than "save a city from destruction." I'll keep watching, but I really don't know why.
-24, Monday: See, I told you the blonde FBI chick was a mole. I just didn't think she'd be a mole in tandem with Hillinger. Too bad she fell for Sean's shoot-the-girl-than-shoot-yourself-in-the-arm act. That one fools them every time. I really thought for a second there that Hillinger would get away, at least for an episode or two. But I didn't count one the extent of Chloe's digital kung fu. Hillinger is in custody, Dubaku is dead, all the names everyone working with Dubaku is exposed, and the coup in Sangala is being quelled. Looks like a short day for Jack Bauer and company, if it weren't for the imminant attack being planned on Washington right now. Looks like General Juma is going to go after the White House next, which should keep Jack busy for the next 14 hours or so. I also get the sense that they've introduced the President's daughter for the sole purpose of her getting kidnapped somewhere down the line. I can see it going down something like this: Juma threatens the White House, everyone is evacuated, the attack is averted, Juma then captures the First Daughter because she defies her mother's orders and goes off and does something on her own without any Secret Service protection. I'd like to think that they could use her for more than that, but I'm not banking on it.
-Lost, Wednesday: First, what's happening on the the island. We now have names for the two other people who were sitting in business class with the O6 and Ben- Caesar and Ilana. And while it looks like everyone else on the plane survived (clearly, Lapidus IS a really good pilot), these two are obviously going to be important. From the looks of it, they landed on the small satellite island, by the Hydra station. Did Lapidus manage to land the plane on the "runway" that Kate and Sawyer were forced to work on? Was the runway being built because the Others knew that the Ajira flight would eventually have to land there? The woman that left with Lapidus on the outrigger has to be Sun. I mean, who else would a)have something or someone to look for and b)even know that there IS something or someone else to look for? They head toward the main island, carrying some Ajira bottle waters, and land on the beach, looking for the old camp. But if that's the case, why wasn't Sun with Jack, Hurley, and Kate? Why was she left on the plane? And where's Sayid? According to Caesar, some people disappeared in the flash, while other didn't; who stayed and who was flashed away? This begs another question- the flash of light is associated with time travel; so have Jack, Hurley, and Kate been transported back in time while the rest of the plane, including Lapidus, Ben, and what looks like Sun, crashed on the island in "real time"? I have no idea. Oh, and the least surprising part of the episode- Locke's alive again. Or, at least he's not dead. He can interact with everyone and can eat food, so let's just assume that he's actually alive again. Okay, so now to off the island, when Locke turned the wheel and was sent to the Tunisian desert. We do we learn? We learn that Charles Widmore wants to help Locke because Locke is special and destined to lead the people on the island. This is odd, because Ben claims to want to do the exact same thing for the exact same reason, except that he and Widmore are also working against each other. It makes Locke seems like nothing more than a pawn in a much, much larger game. Nothing all that exciting in Locke's meeting with each of the O6 (though Hurley assuming that Locke was dead was funny). None of them want to go back, and they make that very clear to Locke (especially Jack and Kate; they REALLY cut down Locke). We do get some good info, like how Jack gets sent off the rails (Locke tells him that his father says, "hi"). We also see that Locke wanted to kill himself, but doesn't because Ben stops him. And then Ben kills Locke anyway, and makes it look like a suicide. I wonder whether killing Locke was his plan all along, or if he decided to do so only after hearing Locke's plan to go visit Ms. Hawking. Now that I've had some time to think about it, I think it's the latter. Why? Because Ms. Hawking thinks Locke committed suicide. Ben's working with Ms. Hawking, trying to bring the O6 back to the island, because that's what Locke was supposed to do. He got Locke to divulge his mission so HE could carry it out and get himself back to the island (since he wouldn't have been included if Locke was running the show). It was only after he assumed Locke's role that he learned that he needed to bring Locke's body back with them. He clearly didn't realize the implications of doing so (ie- that Locke would come back to life on the island), otherwise he might not have murdered him. That should make for an interesting meeting once Ben awakes on the island.
-Hackers, Thursday: I can't believe I watched this movie. Again. It was made in 1994, released in 1995. Is that really how people thought computers worked 15 years ago (man, I feel like I've made this observation before). I think War Games, made back in 1983, gave a more accurate depiciton of computers than Hackers did. That said, check out the cast list to this movie; there are a ton of actors that you'd recognize now from other, less crappy, work, outside of just Angelina Jolie.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So, I thought we'd actually get some answers about Starbuck in this episode. Turns out, we didn't. At least, not on the surface. While nothing specific was revealed about Starbuck, the implications were very heavy. The popular interwebs theory is that Starbuck is a hybrid, and that her father is Daniel, the missing 7th Cylon model that Cavil destoryed. Ellen said that Daniel was an artist, and from what we saw in this episode, Starbuck's father was a piano player (it was pretty clear that all the piano scenes were just in Starbuck's head). Also, Hera, a known hybrid, drew the melody to All Along the Watchtower, which happens to be the song Starbuck played as a kid, taught to her by her dad, and the song that triggered the Final Five (err, Four) to realize who they really were. So I think Starbuck's a hybrid, the first hybrid, and that when we get the specific answers about her, we'll get specific answers about humanity as a whole (ie- the end of the series). Speaking of Hera, its good to see that Boomer is just straight up evil. Clearly, it was the plan all along for her to "escape" with Ellen, rejoin the fleet, exploit her relationship with Tyrol, disguise herself as Athena, kidnap Hera, steal a raptor, and return to Cavil's baseship. It seems that Roslin's health is tied to her proximity to Hera; I don't think she's long for this world anyway. It will also be interesting to see what happens to Tyrol, since he was responsible for Sharon getting out of the brig and thus complicit in the kidnapping of Hera. It will also be interesting to see what happens to Galactica itself. Clearly its falling apart and it won't last much longer, but what happens when they do have to abandon Galactica? Roslin's going to die, and Galactica is on its last legs; can Adama go on without his two loves? With only 4 hours of the show left, I have no idea how they'll cram everything they need to say into the final episodes. But I can't wait to see it.
Okay, back to The Lord of the Rings.
-Heroes, Monday: While I don't plan to abandon this show anytime soon, my patience is wearing thin with Heroes. This episode wasn't that bad; there was a lot of good exposition and the black-and-white flashback scene were a nice call back to Company Man, easily one of the best episodes to date. But I don't think we learned anything Earth-shatteringly new. HRG is a double (or is it triple) agent, working his own agenda while working with The Hunter. Shocker. They need to reassemble all the characters and get them fighting toward a single goal. Of course, that goal now appears to be saving New York, err... Washington, D.C. from annihilation. Good thing no one's currently occupying Isaac's loft, otherwise where else would Parkman use his as-of-yet-unexplained new ability to paint the future? It does sadden me, however, that they can't seem to come up with a better storyline than "save a city from destruction." I'll keep watching, but I really don't know why.
-24, Monday: See, I told you the blonde FBI chick was a mole. I just didn't think she'd be a mole in tandem with Hillinger. Too bad she fell for Sean's shoot-the-girl-than-shoot-yourself-in-the-arm act. That one fools them every time. I really thought for a second there that Hillinger would get away, at least for an episode or two. But I didn't count one the extent of Chloe's digital kung fu. Hillinger is in custody, Dubaku is dead, all the names everyone working with Dubaku is exposed, and the coup in Sangala is being quelled. Looks like a short day for Jack Bauer and company, if it weren't for the imminant attack being planned on Washington right now. Looks like General Juma is going to go after the White House next, which should keep Jack busy for the next 14 hours or so. I also get the sense that they've introduced the President's daughter for the sole purpose of her getting kidnapped somewhere down the line. I can see it going down something like this: Juma threatens the White House, everyone is evacuated, the attack is averted, Juma then captures the First Daughter because she defies her mother's orders and goes off and does something on her own without any Secret Service protection. I'd like to think that they could use her for more than that, but I'm not banking on it.
-Lost, Wednesday: First, what's happening on the the island. We now have names for the two other people who were sitting in business class with the O6 and Ben- Caesar and Ilana. And while it looks like everyone else on the plane survived (clearly, Lapidus IS a really good pilot), these two are obviously going to be important. From the looks of it, they landed on the small satellite island, by the Hydra station. Did Lapidus manage to land the plane on the "runway" that Kate and Sawyer were forced to work on? Was the runway being built because the Others knew that the Ajira flight would eventually have to land there? The woman that left with Lapidus on the outrigger has to be Sun. I mean, who else would a)have something or someone to look for and b)even know that there IS something or someone else to look for? They head toward the main island, carrying some Ajira bottle waters, and land on the beach, looking for the old camp. But if that's the case, why wasn't Sun with Jack, Hurley, and Kate? Why was she left on the plane? And where's Sayid? According to Caesar, some people disappeared in the flash, while other didn't; who stayed and who was flashed away? This begs another question- the flash of light is associated with time travel; so have Jack, Hurley, and Kate been transported back in time while the rest of the plane, including Lapidus, Ben, and what looks like Sun, crashed on the island in "real time"? I have no idea. Oh, and the least surprising part of the episode- Locke's alive again. Or, at least he's not dead. He can interact with everyone and can eat food, so let's just assume that he's actually alive again. Okay, so now to off the island, when Locke turned the wheel and was sent to the Tunisian desert. We do we learn? We learn that Charles Widmore wants to help Locke because Locke is special and destined to lead the people on the island. This is odd, because Ben claims to want to do the exact same thing for the exact same reason, except that he and Widmore are also working against each other. It makes Locke seems like nothing more than a pawn in a much, much larger game. Nothing all that exciting in Locke's meeting with each of the O6 (though Hurley assuming that Locke was dead was funny). None of them want to go back, and they make that very clear to Locke (especially Jack and Kate; they REALLY cut down Locke). We do get some good info, like how Jack gets sent off the rails (Locke tells him that his father says, "hi"). We also see that Locke wanted to kill himself, but doesn't because Ben stops him. And then Ben kills Locke anyway, and makes it look like a suicide. I wonder whether killing Locke was his plan all along, or if he decided to do so only after hearing Locke's plan to go visit Ms. Hawking. Now that I've had some time to think about it, I think it's the latter. Why? Because Ms. Hawking thinks Locke committed suicide. Ben's working with Ms. Hawking, trying to bring the O6 back to the island, because that's what Locke was supposed to do. He got Locke to divulge his mission so HE could carry it out and get himself back to the island (since he wouldn't have been included if Locke was running the show). It was only after he assumed Locke's role that he learned that he needed to bring Locke's body back with them. He clearly didn't realize the implications of doing so (ie- that Locke would come back to life on the island), otherwise he might not have murdered him. That should make for an interesting meeting once Ben awakes on the island.
-Hackers, Thursday: I can't believe I watched this movie. Again. It was made in 1994, released in 1995. Is that really how people thought computers worked 15 years ago (man, I feel like I've made this observation before). I think War Games, made back in 1983, gave a more accurate depiciton of computers than Hackers did. That said, check out the cast list to this movie; there are a ton of actors that you'd recognize now from other, less crappy, work, outside of just Angelina Jolie.
-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: So, I thought we'd actually get some answers about Starbuck in this episode. Turns out, we didn't. At least, not on the surface. While nothing specific was revealed about Starbuck, the implications were very heavy. The popular interwebs theory is that Starbuck is a hybrid, and that her father is Daniel, the missing 7th Cylon model that Cavil destoryed. Ellen said that Daniel was an artist, and from what we saw in this episode, Starbuck's father was a piano player (it was pretty clear that all the piano scenes were just in Starbuck's head). Also, Hera, a known hybrid, drew the melody to All Along the Watchtower, which happens to be the song Starbuck played as a kid, taught to her by her dad, and the song that triggered the Final Five (err, Four) to realize who they really were. So I think Starbuck's a hybrid, the first hybrid, and that when we get the specific answers about her, we'll get specific answers about humanity as a whole (ie- the end of the series). Speaking of Hera, its good to see that Boomer is just straight up evil. Clearly, it was the plan all along for her to "escape" with Ellen, rejoin the fleet, exploit her relationship with Tyrol, disguise herself as Athena, kidnap Hera, steal a raptor, and return to Cavil's baseship. It seems that Roslin's health is tied to her proximity to Hera; I don't think she's long for this world anyway. It will also be interesting to see what happens to Tyrol, since he was responsible for Sharon getting out of the brig and thus complicit in the kidnapping of Hera. It will also be interesting to see what happens to Galactica itself. Clearly its falling apart and it won't last much longer, but what happens when they do have to abandon Galactica? Roslin's going to die, and Galactica is on its last legs; can Adama go on without his two loves? With only 4 hours of the show left, I have no idea how they'll cram everything they need to say into the final episodes. But I can't wait to see it.
Okay, back to The Lord of the Rings.
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