Scary Math

Naturally, when it was announced there was going to be a television series adaptation of the comic book The Walking Dead (the only book I continued reading when diminished resources forced me to drop comics altogether) I would be makingdamnsure I would be watching it. And naturally, given my love of the parent work, I would either love the show or hate it.

So far, I love the show though it does have some problems for me. One of these problems is the large cast of extra characters who didn't exist in the original. Some of them really feel like they were just thrown in to add filling to the episodes and this is so unnecessary when the original characters could all use a good bit more of on-screen development. I want to get to know TV-Glen, Andrea and Dale a bit more and have a lot less of the T-Dogs and Dixon brothers (though hurrah for a Boondock Saint in casting one of them) who never existed in the first place. There are too many new characters waiting to be introduced down the line for the viewers to be bogged down with a cast that shouldn't exist. My only hope is that all these extra characters exist so that there can be cannon fodder for some requisite producer-mandated zombie bloodbath.

I'm also finding myself very impatient. I've lived with these characters through about seven years now and they are so far past this stage in the story that, while I love revisiting them like this, I'm very antsy for them to get to future scenes and stories I love. Especially, ESPECIALLY with Carl. This actually leads to my first serious problem.

The Carl Problem.
Even if the six episode first season ends the way the six issue first storyline of the book ends, and I really hope it does. I am more eager than anything for that to happen and it would make damn good TV for the season to end on that particular event. Even if it ends there it still leaves us with the greater Carl Problem. In 77 issues of The Walking Dead barely a year has passed. There are far too many excellent stories and subplots of Carl's that just will NOT work if Carl ages too much. As this actor ages through the seasons he isn't going to be believable as the little kid he's portraying for too long and way too many of the best Carl moments will lose their poignancy if Carl gets too old season-to-season. What worries me is how this dilemma might be addressed by my second issue with the series.

The Frank Darabont Problem.
Honestly, Darabont has done a remarkable and stunning job adapting books to the screen. Books I love now movies I love. It's a rare gift and he does have it. But the motherfucker also changes shit and when he does it often really pisses me the fuck off (I'm done channeling Debra Morgan now). The man has shown a willingness to make dramatic changes that piss me the fuck off (I lied). Look no further than my archived review of The Mist for the most glaring example of this fuckery. Knowing this is Darabont means knowing that things are going to change. Not just because of the nature of television, but because it's the nature of Darabont to add/embellish/change shit up. I have a dark feeling that character who is destined to die very soon is not in fact going to die because the drama would be "better" with this character around. This is wrong; trust the source material. It's strong enough on its own. I have a darker feeling the answer to the Carl Problem will be 1. Assign future Carl moments to new young characters (no!), 2. Assign them to Carl regardless of how much he's grown (as stated, some of these issues would hold nowhere near the poignancy if this is the case), 3. Don't write them into the show (I'm going to go rogue here and say that Carl is the heart of the BOOK and doing this would be a horrible disservice).

The Carl Problem + The Frank Darabont Problem = Scares Me.

I will say this: they've done an excellent job making Lori the bitch she really grows to be.

Ass-Hat TV

OK, I'm at a loss on this one: what the fuck keeps making TV shows where basically the entire cast are total assholes, floor-mats or irredeemable pricks insanely popular?

I don't understand what is attracting so many people to these shows (and I am guilty of watching them too). First, I'm not talking about trashy reality television shows either. I don't even want to understand the mental imperative to watch a show like The Hills, Jersey Shore or anything on VH1 (remember when VH1 was the classy music channel?).

Good writing can only take us so far, and many of these shows do indeed have good writing, and good acting, but at what point do we have to say "wait a minute. This entire show is devoid of decency. I shouldn't waste my mind on this."

So, since I can't quite crack what makes me watch them, hopefully you can help me see the light here. What attracts you to fandom of ethically bereft television? What redeems Mad Men? Sons of Anarchy? Breaking Bad?

Dexterous

A good friend has repeatedly complained that because he's a "big name actor" John Lithgow's season four character in Dexter was allowed to live far too long than any logic would dictate being permissible. I will agree that as far as our logic goes, Lithgow was allowed to live too long. I'll come back to this, first I want to address a common trend in how 'guest appearances' work on tv shows.

TV shows have guest stars all the time and they almost always fill one of two functions: they are a very short-lived character (1-3 episodes TOPS, almost always just on sitcoms) added in as a gimmick or ratings stunt (see Brad Pitt on Friends, Matt Damon on 30 Rock, John Larroquette on Law & Order and Jenifer Aniston on Cougar Town), or they are a long-term guest star, almost always brought in for an entire season, almost always on hour long dramas, and almost always as the season's major antagonist (see Adam Arkin in Sons of Anarchy, John Lithgow, Jimmy Smits and Julia Stiles in Dexter, and Garret Dillahunt in Deadwood, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, The 4400, etc.) . Sometimes they're brought in for a different purpose, but then you can expect them to die. Often these season-length guest stars outlast the amount of time logic dictates they should.

This is so much the case in Dexter that I am going to go as far as to say that defiance of logic and sensibility is precisely a major character flaw of Dexter's. Dexter, because he sees traits in others that don't exist, but he desperately wants to exist because he wants those traits for himself lets characters live much longer than he really should. Dexter lets Miguel live too long because he mistakenly believes believes Miguel represents an idealized version of himself, and so he refuses to see the dangerous psychopath barely contained in Miguel until it is well and beyond too late. Trinity is allowed to live too long because Dexter is dumb and thinks he can learn how to be a good father and be a serial killer from Trinity when he should already know that Trinity is not him and can not model for him how he should operate his own life and livelihood. Lumen is going to be allowed to live too long as well. Like Miguel she is unhinged and Dexter is ignoring it. Why? Because he sees her rape revenge as an outlet for his own need to avenge Rita, even though he has already killed her killer.

In a nut shell, Dexter is a consistent idiot when it comes to not killing the right people when their time has come.

Thursday

Things have been equally stressful and pleasant the past week. Tv good. Kids great. Rael is doing so much better in school. Car is dying. Denise is consistent only in her defiance of every court ordered visitation stipulation she demanded in the first place. Money isn't tight; it's completely non-existent.

Actually, when things are quiet the darkness really pushes on me a lot harder than the light. I think I'm drowning.

Breaking Bad

As I mentioned a few posts back I'm going through a massive infusion of old tv shows; right now I'm rotating seasons on Skins and Breaking Bad. The former is a Brit TV teen drama I've watched before and love, the latter comes recommended by my friend Micah.

I'm going to say that, so far, I'm liking Breaking Bad but I can't quite put my finger on why. See, the lead character Walt White (ah alliterative names aren't just for comic books anymore), played by Brian Cranston is not at all sympathetic to me. Which is really odd since you would think a character ravaged by lung cancer and only concerned about seeing to his family would push all the right buttons for me (and if you have to ask why, well then you don't know me and have never read this blog; read the last five years' entries and then come back).

Walt isn't an overly prideful person in the pilot and yet it seems clear that his pride seems to be his only real driving motivation. I can totally get behind him becoming a drug manufacturer in order to provide funds for his family when it seemed like his only option for leaving them flush after his passing. He makes a big deal of his own moral dilemmas in the story and is clearly a man we're supposed to believe is weighed heavily upon by every immoral decision he has to make. I'm so very fine with this.

But then enter the Bill Gates level rich college buddy who not only wants to give him a high paying job, but knowing of his cancer also arranges for 100% health care coverage to be able to afford all of those experimental and unlikely to be successful treatments he so desperately needs. The man of morality should at this moment take the job, the insurance, stop making meth and go from there. Not Walt. Walt instead turns it down, goes on producing meth and lies to his family telling them he did take the offer.

But pride is a tricky bitch you say. It is all powerful and forces his decision. But if any of the rest of his personality and motivations are true, then I call bullshit on pride. If putting aside pride lets him stop the dangerous business of meth manufacture and allows him the treatment, and time with his family, that he needs then pride is nothing. The only real answer is that his family can't be anywhere near as important to him as he, and the creators, wants us to believe.

Pride is a sin I'm very proud to lay claim upon and while I was very fortunate to have 100% health coverage for my own lung cancer, if my best college buddy had ridden in on a white horse and an open checkbook you better fucking believe I would have set everything else I was doing aside in order to suck his coffers dry and make sure my children would always, always be taken care of fuck-all to my pride.

Sons of Anarchy has a drive toward nobility in some of the characters that redeems them for us as the viewer and frees us to invest ourselves in hoping for them that everything will somehow work out. Breaking Bad lacks this because everything the one character we're supposed to follow as the drive of the show is so absolutely flawed and self-interested that he's lost his redeeming qualities. I don't root for him. His family would be better off if he dies before he gets too involved with the dangerous criminal element, regardless of how much money they are left with. The writing is good, but the characters aren't (which is why I never liked Sopranos) and I don't know if good writing will be enough to get me through the second and third season. We'll see.

TV Minute

Early this summer, in order to cut costs down, I cut back our cable subscription to the barest minimum required to also keep cable internet. Bye bye real channels. Bye bye DVR. I've been doing a lot of watching full seasons and series of tv shows in my tv viewing free time.

I'm really over the whole anti-hero genre of entertainment, but I still found myself really enjoying the first two seasons of Sons of Anarchy. Maybe it's partly due to the male lead trying to bring his motorcycle club back from the darkness, and fucking up every step of the way. Maybe it's Kate Sagal smashing a younger girl's face in a jealous rage. I don't really know but after feeling just lukewarm about the first couple episodes (too much Drea de Matteo) I couldn't keep away from the story.

British tv bugs me because the seasons are too short (6-8 episodes), which irks me whenever I find a show I really come to be fond of. Case in point, the entire four seasons of the excellent series Coupling equal approximately the same number of episodes in one shitty season of Two and a Half Men. In the case of dramas like Skins and Survivors, they still somehow pack in so much story that it's a lot more bearable, but the rare sitcom gem like Peep Show falls all the shorter. It's all the more painful for me when one of these shows then gets canceled. With only two seasons of Survivors, I feel let down by all the possibilities hinted at in what was essentially no more than half a season of traditional US television, where if it had been over here for two seasons there would have been four times the episodes and a lot fewer questions. And don't even get me started on US remakes of British television shows. . .

The last big show I've immersed in so far this summer has been Justified. Terrified it would just be a modern day revision of Deadwood, I had a little trepidation. I will be honest, there were episodes where I found it too easy to stop paying attention and go do a chore while it ran in the background (mostly during the front end of the season). And I really dislike most of the cast (either the characters' portrayal, or just the actor portraying them), but I do love me some Timothy Olyphant, have since Scream 2, and I'm fond of the western, which this channels a bit. End result is that I found myself liking, but not loving, the series and I'll probably give it another look come season two.

Next up, Breaking Bad. . .

Tonight, Tonight

New Dollhouse tonight! Start watching.

Bullseye

The last year or so has seen me grow into a less enthusiastic or dedicated reader. Between life in general, paying more attention to kids spouse and friends, video games, wasting more time online, whatever. . .I'm just not setting down as much to give myself a good amount of reading time. Typically I now take 2-3 weeks to read a book I'd normally finish in 1-2 days, and that's for books I'm finding myself enjoying (this reminds me I need to ask Chris if he's done with that Gaiman book so I can forward it to Micah). Right now I find myself struggling through the morass that is Charlaine Harris' book series on her character Sookie Stackhouse (the basis for HBO's True Blood series); I'm midway through week three and barely a quarter in to the second book (I stopped reading the first book when I figured out the mystery/killer's identity on page 56 and skipped to book two) and it's just not doing it for me. . .but my OCD need to finish it is keeping me from starting anything else. Argh. I don't see what Denise, Chrissy and Lynn see in these books but if I ever can get through this, I need to remind myself not to start book three (unless, that is, my enjoyment skyrockets between now and the end of book two). I need to start that other Gaiman book and finish off the last two books of Laurell K Hamilton's that I've been avoiding starting.

I'm curious to hear--if you're a fan, what's the appeal for you? Something's missing the mark for me and I'm curious to see what makes it a bullseye for others.

Freckles

Jack has one under his right eye I'd never noticed before, ditto the one on Claire's left shoulder. Maybe it's the extra 600-odd pixels per inch, or just the larger physical size of the tv (I'm going with the pixels), but these are minor details I'd never noticed before. I never saw Kate's freckles, and it annoyed me to no end that her nickname from Sawyer was "Freckles" given I could never see them. My goodness, as much as I hate the character, she actually does have freckles, and they are purty. Charlie's tattoo says "Living is easy with eyes closed" which fits his character's story enough that I wonder if it's a fake tattoo like Jack's or if it's a real one of Dominic Monaghan's.

So if you haven't figured it out, I've been slowly re-watching Lost in Blu-Ray. I'm averaging about two episodes a week, which is actually a decent enough pace--at this rate I expect to just finish season 5 (not out yet) as season 6 begins to air. I'm enjoying the massive amount of foreshadowing. There are things in the pilot that foreshadow events & themes of the tail end of season 5. There are a couple other things though. . .inconsistencies? Some time between season one and season five, Jack starts shaving his chest. Maybe his focus in the love triangle (square?) is misplaced? And in episode five, the one that starts with the red shirt drowning who Jack fails to save--we learn, from Charlie, that Charlie can't swim. Charlie can't swim. So unless there's a "Charlie learns to swim" episode I've forgotten, there's a pretty big inconsistency between episode five Charlie and Charliein the last two episodes of season three.

I Called It.

Dollhouse is getting renewed for a second season. There is a Santa Claus. I am very happy about this. But enough giddy-ness, this post is called "I Called It" and that requires a good amount of pat-myself-on-the-back bragging so here goes:

Amy Acker's character, Dr. Saunders was a Doll: I called it (sure, I also wanted her to be Alpha, but ALL of my reasoning for her being a Doll proved out).

On Fringe, Pacey was really Mirror Universe Pacey: I called it.

Lost--John Locke's been dead all season and is still in-the-box: I called it.

More Lost--Juliet dies: Called it (knew she was headlining the V remake next year, which meant she would likely be toast).

Faraday's a Widmore: Called it.

Jack and Kate are royal douches: I didn't call that; those facts have always pretty much just been universal truths.

Setting off the bomb just sends them back to the future: you'll see in a year, I called that too.

I don't think it's just me, and sure I do have a history for calling it (Professor X is the traitor who kills Professor X in Bishop's future--I called that, ask Micah; Ed Norton is Tyler Durden during the first thirty seconds of Fight Club), I just think that a lot of this season's big twists were a bit too over-telegraphed to truly end up being surprises.

Starjammers

When I was a wee one, I was a big fan of Battlestar Galactica (that and Dukes of Hazzard were my main live action shows), so between my general disdain for remakes and some not-stellar initial reviews I had from trusted friends, I gave the BSG remake/next generation a big miss when it first came out. I'm not sure why, but now that it's finally over, now that I've other trusted friends who apparently liked it, I've begun putting it through the Netflix rotation and am about half-way through the season one/mini-series as I type this. I'm afraid my accursed Tyler Durden Detector has already gone off, which is going to bum me out a little, as I hate when my Tyler Durden Detector goes off too early, but something seems too convenient about the lady who gets to inherit the Presidency when everyone else died in the beginning. I'm resisting my urge to Google, but tell me, she isn't one of those "human" Cylons is she? And why the hell is Starbuck a person? Shame. Olmos seems an unnatural fit for sci fi to me; I am however finding him to be pretty decent at it. And hey, the guy who plays Agent Ballard on Dollhouse is a cast member, so that's cool. Not giving up just yet, but I hope my Tyler Durden Detector behaves itself a little better.

Dollhouse is the Most Intellectually Complex Show on Primetime Television

There, I said it.

I'm about to be lambasted by friends for this, especially those who are fans of Whedon's previous tv series, but I'm coming to the point where I think Dollhouse is his most ambitious show, and his best-crafted. This is where I duck Ian's flamethrower.

I don't even want to address the louder, less reasonable cross-section of feminists who haven't even really watched the show and have condemned it as an extreme objectification of women, but of course I have to. First they obviously aren't truly familiar with anything previously created by Joss Whedon and his stable of writers--as I challenge anyone to provide an example of a female character of theirs who isn't strong, capable, competent. . .who isn't either equal or superior to all of her male counterparts. These people have been providing us with powerful, intelligent, strong women to watch, enjoy and respect for years. To say that this show is just the masturbatory fantasy of every basement-dwelling socially awkward male out there is both a disservice to the show and its creators, but a clear indicator that someone really hasn't been watching the show.

The one thing this show doesn't do is hit its viewer over the head with a message. It doesn't shine a light on how skeezy someone is to pay for a programmable playtoy for the weekend; it doesn't spend all of itstime questioning whether it's appropriate to use a technology just because we have the ability to use it (though both instances do occur in the show, neither are dwelled upon to the point of preachiness). If there's a moral to take away from the show, part of its perfection is that we each have to come into it on our own, navigating the many layers of ethics and morality the show has put forth to come into our own understanding of what this show has to say about our society, about our humanity.

For me, the greatest joy in this show is the debate it brings me, internally and externally with fellow viewers (most particularly Denise). I think the show completely turns the idea of good and evil completely on its head--as I don't believe there's a single character in this show who could fit the definition of a good guy. There are no saints here, only varying degrees of sin, of immorality and amorality, of ethical complexity. Again, I welcome someone trying to proveto me otherwise, because from where I stand there are no good-guys on Dollhouse, only varying degress of better guys. I think the ethical discussion this show demands is the most intriguing, makes this show the most complex of Whedon's to date, and is perhaps destined to be its very downfall. Too many of us want our entertainment simple and to the point and absolutely brain dead. For every Arrested Development and Veronica Mars that falls, ten Big Bang Theories, Two and a Half Men and Tyra shows rise.

Manic Monday

So Wednesday I went to the cardiologist. Anyone who's read the fullness of this blog, or knows me in real life, knows that I'm a guy who has lost his faith in much of the medical profession. I mean how many doctors did I see, suffering from major breathing problems, over seven years and never get a chest x-ray. . .too many. So I see a cardiologist on Wednesday for the arrhythmia my regular and only trusted doc discovered. So what happens? The cardiologist listens and listens and listens and declares that he doesn't hear anything. He does pay attention to the EKG I had the week before though and decides that more testing should be done rather than just declaring me fine. This is going to be a busy week for me with the usual full work and kid chauffeuring week; I've an appointment with Lash tomorrow afternoon, the cardiologist is having me in for both an echo cardiogram and a treadmill stress test tomorrow morning and then a follow-up visit with him the next day for the results (either that or wait 4 weeks for him to come back from vacation--no thanks). I'm already weary.

As narcissistic as Twitter is, it taught me Blink 182 is back together this week and that makes me happy. I missed their bubblegum punk.

Anyone else give Better off Ted a try yet? I've really enjoyed the first couple episodes. Not just because it has Portia Di Rossi, but it feels reminiscent of Arrested Development to me comedically, like they might be not-quite-kissing cousins. I can already see the fan rally to save the show from cancellation being a torrent of creamer packets shipped to the studio.

Seriously folks, Dollhouse is dangerously close to being my second favorite Joss Whedon helmed show of all time (sorry Firefly, but at least I get to see River terminate pigeons on Sarah Conner the preceding hour). It is that good. And all the feminist rantings about it--clearly folks with no real long-term viewing of this or any other Joss show. Catch up with it on Hulu if you haven't been watching it, and then start watching it. I think this show would make George Orwell proud.

Pearl Jam re-released Ten this week. Why is a band that was once so anti-studio, record company, commercialism, etc. putting out 5 versions of re-release for the consumers (4 different packaging options on Amazon and other retailers plus the full album available for the Rock Band game. This is the version I want to think about getting.)? Seems a bit much. And they'll be doing it again and again over the next two years with the rest of their catalog.

You Got It

My earlier post "Unresolved" just got two spam comments, which I've deleted, from a user named, cleverly, "123," whom I've reported to Blogger as a spammer. I'm really hoping this isn't the start of another spamming spree. Maybe it's time to turn the word verification on again. . .I really don't want to go to having comments moderated & approved before posting, as I prefer true discourse, even when it disagrees with me. We'll see, I guess.

Season 8 of American Idol is off to it's usual start: truly decent slash good vocalists presented within an abyss of really exceptionally bad vocalists. It amazes me that after so many years we still see so many horrific singers show for these try-outs. See, I know I'm not a great singer, and have Rock Band as my outlet, where, at worst, I annoy my neighbours and not all of America. And I get the ones who obviously know they don't have it, but show up anyway for their 30 seconds of fame (really, who has time for fifteen minutes anymore?), but the rest, the awful ones who come off so devastated. . .are people really that non-self-aware? I cry.

Scrubs spoiled: J.D. and Eliot are together again. Surprise, surprise. Otherwise, it's been ok. Not the pure fantastic joy it once was, but better than the last two seasons. . .so far. I hold out hope. One of the new doctors is an extremely blunt and slightly cold no-nonsense type named Denise. I chuckle.

I Spit On Your Grave

So today a younger homeless couple came in to work, barely able to stand on their own two feet, ordered some food, ate 3/4 or so of said food before returning to complain the food was wrong and wanted it remade, then ate 3/4 of the remade food before returning it, saying it made them sick and they wanted their recourse, which I gave them in the form of the phone number to our local office. This earned me exactly one Getting Spit At.

How was your day?

I just finished watching last week's Pushing Daisies. I'm really looking forward to yesterday's episode, which crosses over with the other wonderful & canceled show Wonderfalls, so this post shall be all about brevity in order to allow me that luxury.

Peace be with you.

Being Around

Inane stuff to rant and rave about:

Tell me if I'm the only one who does this, my comic nerd friendlies: every now and again I'll see a movie that is quite assuredly not an adaptation of a comic book, but something about the finished package makes me leave the movie saying "golly, that would have been an awesome (insert superhero here) movie." I think this happens to me most frequently for movies that make me go "golly, that was an awesome Punisher movie." Actually, my favourite Punisher movie is the Boondock Saints (so what if it's two Punishers in that movie). Last week I netflixed the movie Next (the Nic Cage flic where he so believably beds Jessica Biel after one day and saves the world from nuclear terrorism) and actually found myself liking it more than I thought I would. I also found myself realizing that if I were to ever make a movie about Midnighter or Longshot, that take on the character's powers would be the perfect way to set them up (Longshot's luck power could easily be chalked up to an innate prescience). I found I liked this non-comic movie as a comic movie for Cage so much more than that last actual comic movie he made (though the kids and Denise did like that one).

TV time: Heroes is going at a very displeasing start for me this season. It isn't anywhere near as compelling for me yet and I hope it gets better again soon (i.e. when Kristen Bell arrives in two weeks). I'm really really hating the Wonder Twins (and if they're a diversity stunt, has the casting director actually seen an episode of the show? This is far the most diverse racial demographic on tv already without Zan and Jayna here, and I can so do without them. That rant aside, before I saw their awful and unexplained powers, when I read their powers would require each other, I was hoping HARD that they'd be an homage to Mas y Menos from Teen Titans. Now I just want them to die). Peter is reminding me why I didn't like him in season 1 and Claire is being a full-on idiot (though I did enjoy her power experimentation, but I was hoping Mr. Muggles would eat her toe).

TV on DVD: Simon Pegg used to be on a British sketch comedy show called Big Train. I've recently watched the first two (only two?) seasons and while it had definite funny moments, it had definite dull moments as well, and is one I wouldn't necessarily recommend to friends as a "must see."

Lash graduated from counseling this week, and we're all very proud of him and how well he's come from what was done to him.

Aside from what was written earlier, I'm having a very huge personality crisis regarding one of my friends and the way their handling new news in their life, so I may find myself withdrawing from friends for a little while as well.

I had McOrientation #1 yesterday (nothing new in ten years) and have McOrientation #2 to be McManagement at some point in the near future. I call for my McUniforms and get my McSchedule some time later this afternoon. Yippee.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Not a lot of great and interesting things to blog about (wait, no, there's lots and lots; don't want to suggest that y'all won't enjoy my ramblings); part of me is blogging at the moment because I want to shuffle that last post on off of the main page here (and I may just temporarily change my template settings to do so). Not that I regret saying any of it; I just don't want the drama overpowering the reading experience here at casa Peterson on the internets.

As for that last post, thanks for the responses, on and off line. Drama has increased as I expected it would.

A lot of energy on the job search this week (as much as can be had with Rael in tow). I've apps and resumes at jobs ranging from working in a funeral home, as a personal secretary and even a return to bad old Round Table Pizza. Brian mentioned trying to get his dad to hire me and I'm hoping that pans out actually, as I'll still have weekends and evenings free.

The kids are all doing fantastic. Did I ever blog about how I once ran into Lash's 2nd grade teacher (who was just done being his 2nd grade teacher as it was summer and shortly before my surgery) out at the bars and that it really disturbed me because it forced me to see and interact with him out of context? If I haven't I won't elaborate this time, but let me know and I will later. Anyway. Friday night I went out with Chrissy, Chris and Brian in order to further celebrate Chrissy's birthday with her and while we were at the Banshee, we ran into Lash's 2nd grade teacher, who is now one of Aeia's 2nd grade teacher's and that same uncomfortable teacher out of context feeling came out again. Chrissy, bless her, tried to save me by letting him know we had to go, and as we turned to leave he grabbed my arm and drew me back in. All he does in these run-ins is gush about how great my kids are, which is very nice to hear--I'd just rather not hear it at the Banshee.

Saturday we skipped HeroClix so that Denise and I could spend a little extra time together and then we spent more time with the Taylors than we usually do on Saturdays. I over-broke my new diet to eat two of the most fantastic burgers with swiss, mushrooms and alfalfa sprouts I've ever tasted. That night was Dark Tower Deadlands and I pulled off getting John's character killed (I actually didn't want to kill the character, as I enjoyed GMing it, and more so because right before the game I'd joked to John that I was going to kill his character because Chris had commented that Deadlands wasn't as deadly as he'd expected it would be).

We also played spoons, which is lame.

Today was Denise's D&D game. Chris had a new character because his last one got itself killed by Drew during his visit (grin) to California. Chris kept inadvertently shooting the party members with his bow instead of the monsters (blasted cover bonuses!), bringing them to near death many times (not me, as I do my best to refuse to engage in combat at all, even from the back of the group). Despite (or not?) all this, Chrissy's character got eaten by a frog (as she was going down she said I could eat her, so after helping kill the frog by beating it with a towel-wapped bar of soap I did just that and then made myself a pretty new halfling skin coat).

That's the extent, mostly, of the fun excitement for now. I got season one of Dexter in from Netflix thi week so I'm hoping to spend a few hours enjoying that over the coming week.

Standard Lines

Tomorrow, the kids return to school. Aeia is much more excited about starting 2nd grade than Lash is about starting 5th. I'm hoping a new teacher will prove more attentive and helpful to his recurring bully problems. Me, I'm looking forward to having a couple weeks of relative calm in the mornings while the kids are in school.

Denise and I have done some significant talking and things are better.

Nerdly updates: last weekend in Brian's Deadlands game, my harrowed Mormon blessed character reached the clearing at the end of the path when I miscalculated the blast radius on some dynamite I used to save the party from some Confederate tanks. Ah well, I did it for the lulz. My new character is going to be a blatant homage to Jake Chambers from Dark Tower. I haven't played a straight-up gunslinger in a while.

Yesterday was the end run on Denise's epic level campaign. We won, systems of government were restructured, oppressive slaving regimes were quashed, etc. and etc.

I've completed all of the main & faction quests in Elder Scrolls IV. Once I get in the video game mood again, I'll probably start exploring Gun and see if I can learn to love the 1st person shooter if it's set in the western genre. Cross them fingers.

Rael is becoming more and more kid and less and less baby. He's fun. Witness and participation in many kids' lightsaber duels now has him going up to people, lightly smacking them and squaking "die." When in the pool, if he can splash you, which he loves, he'll bop his head from side to side and let out a very teasing laugh-song.

I have three more months of DC comics to catch up on before I have to decide if I'm really going to wait until Denise recommences Drawing of the Three before I recommence Order of the Phoenix. Let's all devote a little energy to hoping she'll buckle before I have to consider going back on my resolve.

Is it weird that I'm really looking forward to the release of the straight-to-DVD White Noise 2, starring Nathan Fillion when I hated Keaton's White Noise 1 so very much? The sequel looks a lot better organized, and I greatly prefer Fillion's acting. Not that Keaton's bad, just not my preference. After watching all of Wonderfalls last week, I'm really jonesing for a big influx of writers, directors or actors I most love for their previous association with Joss Whedon projects.

Our dishwasher broke so Lash and I had some shared quality chore time today as I washed and he dried. Chores yippee. And I tackled some of the ever-encroaching clutter in the living room.

Chris returned from the Army last Thursday for the unforseeable future and Chrissy was nice enough to let us hang out with him early, Saturday past instead of Saturday next. I'm glad of it. Thanks Chrissy. It was nice to get to catch up and see him.

I need to decide what I want for my next tattoo in the next week. Probably something not too large or elaborate this time. I need to set myself up with an exercise schedule. I need to redouble job search efforts lest I end up a 33 year old crew member at McDonald's. I need to see about taking another leave of absence and hopefully saving enough moolah to get back to, and finish, my Master's Degree in the spring semester.

Surely I'm forgetting things, but I'm tired and you're forgiving.

Good

I am so bored right this minute. It will surely pass: I have a book, disk of comics, dvd and a film on laptop all vying for my attention. Just a bit worn out from grocery shopping followed by play-with-my-kids.

So far, while I canceled the cable on Friday and turned in all the equipment, they haven't physically turned it off yet which is nice for Rael because he gets to enjoy his morning cartoons a little longer.

Speaking of morning, I just realized I've forgotten to take my daily meds. Brb.

Denise reports that she woke up from a nightmare the other morning and I was laughing in my sleep. How dare my subconscious be happy without me? I feel like it's being unfaithful.

Having reduced myself to nearly nothing comic book-wise, I'm now selling portions of my original art collection (minus the beautiful Legion page Adj got me and will have to be pried from my cold dead fingers) and a few other goodies to gear up for a bit of bill assistance and the big July HeroClix tourney schedule.

Asshattery: our Sunday edition of Brian's Deadlands game was disturbed, and ruined, by the untimely arrival of his ex-roommate (who is still technically his roommate 'til the first, even though he's already completely moved his stuff and owes them lots of money) with a crowd of his peeps to throw a drunken party in his now empty bedroom. Normally, I'd say the guy's an ass but he's still paying for the room so whatever, but since he left without paying his bills, whatever Brian and his remaining roommate ended up doing to him, I'm certain he deserved. At any rate, it drastically shortened our Sunday night nerdgaming.

Yesterday was Rael's second birthday. We did cupcakes and presents (more to show the other kids that Rael is equally important to us; Rael still isn't really of an age where he gets anything out of having a party)., as the pics in my last post attest.


And while Claire Danes' pretty bum isn't the only reason I love Shopgirl, it definitely ranks in the top five reasons. Revisiting this film shortly after coming down with a terrible bout of heat stroke at HeroClix is about all I did with my Saturday this week.

Blame Canada

Ok, dear friends and strangers, I have this tendency to print spoilers here and completely forget to warn people that I'm spoiling things. For once, I have the foresight to remember to do so, and so if you have not yet watched the season finale of Lost and you don't want elements of it ruined for you, then stop reading this post.

I mean it people, if you keep reading onward you lose any right to righteously chastise me for spoiling things big and small about the end of Lost season three.

Also, note the image I use to mark this post, in the future, if you see that image, you can be assured I'm spoiling something (while that image will always mean I'm spoiling something, when I spoil something I won't always use that image).

Is it at all creepy that PBS continues to show children's shows with dead people? I know seeing Mr. ROgers every morning now creeps me out, ditto Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street.

Is this enough space now for you weak-willed spoiler afraid people?

Jordin Sparks is the new American Idol. I give my condolences to young Cameron; he and Lash were really wanting Blake Lewis to win.

So, Lost. . .

First, as I was invited to do so, I hereby lob a grenade at Canada for killing Charlie. Canada hates Charlie (as did Jason Adams, tsk) because once upon a time Charlie was a Hobbit. I bet if poor Charlie had been a King Arthur in previous incarnations (well, not that particular King Arthur; that was bad all around) Canada would have been singing a different tune. Buncha Hobbit drowning murderers. I bet they drown kittens too.

Sigh.

Charlie is definitely dead too, folks. Don't hold onto hope for cheesy comic book resurrections like the ones we'll see on Heroes next fall (please, Nathan Petrelli is as dead as my adoration of Natalie Portman). On the positive, Charlie's death was believably in-character, unlike the death of my dear Wesley, as he grew into a place where it made sense for him to make this sacrifice for the sake of his fellows (I only hope the end result isn't Naomi's boat being evil and that's all he died for was bringing in new badguys).

As for the rest:

Tom and the goons shooting the sand instead of Said, et al when Ben called for their murder didn't fit the characters and was addressed/explained very poorly. Hurley riding the VW Bus in to the rescue, and later taking all the credit for saving everybody, was absolutely perfect.

Locke's return was no surprise. As the sole person wanting to keep everyone on the island, I expect the island to keep resuscitating him through to the end in three seasons where he has to lead the Others in war against Jack once and for all.

Sawyer assassinating Tom. . .are we to start thinking that the killing of Locke's dad is the starting point for a far-too-comfortable-with-murder future for Sawyer? I hope not. I liked the idea of him becoming leader when Hurley shoved it on him earlier in the season (and Kate not knowing about the bet he lost questioning why he was calling her Kate instead of Freckles was priceless).

Hated it:

The M. Night Rmalamadingdong twists--
1. the flashback is really the future (the present? And all of the island stuff is now flashback? Whose flashback is it now? Was Hurley's season 2 flashback also a future flashback? Was Jack's dead dad supposedly being alive in the future for real or a delusion of Jack's? Why oh why do they have to kill all my hope that Jack and Kate will eventually die on the island by spoiling the future like this? What if this glimpse of the future isn't real, or is the further future person flashing back incorrectly? When is Cable going to show up and kill Stryfe?).

2. Naomi's a lying bitch and her boat isn't there to rescue people, at least not on Penny's orders.

Some new conclusions:
The Others have been the protagonists all along, they've just been suffering from letting themselves be infected by the evil that is/was Ben and more things will change more drastically with him out of the picture.

Whoever Naomi works for will prove mostly useless since we know there are still 48 episodes to go until series end.

And hey, it was nice to see the babysitter from Wes Craven's New Nightmare in something new.