Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
X-Files - 2 Episodes In
Thoughts so far:
So, it's pretty straightforward so far. The X-Files premiered in Sept. 1993. Two episodes in it's holding up OK, except for the music, which is heavy on keyboards and dated, at least so far.
Plot lines so far:
Mulder believes his sister was abducted by aliens and Scully's been hired to keep track of Mulder's investigations.
Smoking Man has made at least one appearance but, has said nothing so far.
Deep Throat has reached out to Mulder and told him that "they have been here for a long, long time," of course referring to extra-terrestrials. Deep Throat also tells a lackey of his that the reason he keeps Mulder in the FBI and feeds him information is because it's smart to keep you friends close and enemies closer.
Mulder and Scully have investigated some kids that were abducted by aliens and had implants placed in the heads ("Pilot" Ep1) as well as some pilots that Mulder thinks have been affected by flying aircraft reverse engineered from alien tech ("Deep Throat" Ep 2).
Guest star(s) of note: Seth Green ("Deep Throat" Ep 2), with long hair, same height, looked pretty much the same as he does now.
So, it's pretty straightforward so far. The X-Files premiered in Sept. 1993. Two episodes in it's holding up OK, except for the music, which is heavy on keyboards and dated, at least so far.
Plot lines so far:
Mulder believes his sister was abducted by aliens and Scully's been hired to keep track of Mulder's investigations.
Smoking Man has made at least one appearance but, has said nothing so far.
Deep Throat has reached out to Mulder and told him that "they have been here for a long, long time," of course referring to extra-terrestrials. Deep Throat also tells a lackey of his that the reason he keeps Mulder in the FBI and feeds him information is because it's smart to keep you friends close and enemies closer.
Mulder and Scully have investigated some kids that were abducted by aliens and had implants placed in the heads ("Pilot" Ep1) as well as some pilots that Mulder thinks have been affected by flying aircraft reverse engineered from alien tech ("Deep Throat" Ep 2).
Guest star(s) of note: Seth Green ("Deep Throat" Ep 2), with long hair, same height, looked pretty much the same as he does now.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
As Far From Politics As I Can Get? I'm Starting the X-Files From Episode 1
I'll let you know how it goes...
Friday, September 7, 2012
Aggies Get Pranked, Not Like That's Hard or Something...
Someone put up the below billboard in Gainsville, FL, the home of the Texas A&M's opponent on the gridiron this weekend the Florida Gators:
Of course the Aggies are saying they didn't buy the billboard. This reminds me of the time that a UT student stole A&M's mascot Reveille in the 1990's as prank. Maybe a Longhorn bought the above billboard just to mess with the Aggies...
Of course the Aggies are saying they didn't buy the billboard. This reminds me of the time that a UT student stole A&M's mascot Reveille in the 1990's as prank. Maybe a Longhorn bought the above billboard just to mess with the Aggies...
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
"Prometheus" vs. "Alien vs. Predator (AvP)"
So I had never seen the "Alien vs. Predator" (2004) movie until today. Basically, a rich billionaire, Charles Weyland, has found an ancient pyramid thousands of feet under the ice in Antarctica and finances a team to go with him on an expensive expedition to check it out. Turns out this ancient pyramid is one of the Predator race's hang outs here on earth and oh, by the way their pets are the Aliens. And oh yeah, the Predator race taught us humans how to build pyramids all over the place and we worshiped them as space gods. The Predators circle back around to Earth every so often, use sacrificial humans to hatch Aliens and then the Predators would hunt their pet Aliens.
No, I know it's not exactly like Prometheus. But, Ridley Scott apparently laughed off a question about whether he'd seen Alien vs. Predator and said he'd never seen it. And I'm not saying Prometheus is a bad movie (even though it does have some big plot holes in it). I am suggesting that maybe Scott should have watched Alien vs. Predator, especially since on at least a superficial level the plots aren't all that different, in fact their pretty darn similar (aliens, Predators/Engineers, visit earth and are worshiped as space gods by us humans since ancient pre-history and the Predators/Engineers are the makers/masters of the Aliens; then billionaire Weyland wants to check it all out and finances an expensive expedition to do so and dies in process).
Let me put it more simply, because they share many of the same over-arching plot elements Prometheus is essentially the same movie as Alien vs. Predator. OK, that's an overstatement but, you could argue that Prometheus is a "re-imagining" of Alien vs. Predator. The only big differences are who the alien gods are (Predator vs Engineer), the time period during which the movies take place (present day vs. near future), and the location of the story (desolate isolated Antarctica vs. desolate isolated planet), and the directors' "vision" of the movies (Scott vs. Paul W.S. Anderson).
Or how about this, if Ridley Scott had watched Alien vs. Predator and not just laughed off such a silly notion (according to him at least) then, maybe Scott could have have avoided some of the huge plot pitfalls Prometheus landed in.
Here's the funny Red Letter Media video re Prometheus' plot holes:
No, I know it's not exactly like Prometheus. But, Ridley Scott apparently laughed off a question about whether he'd seen Alien vs. Predator and said he'd never seen it. And I'm not saying Prometheus is a bad movie (even though it does have some big plot holes in it). I am suggesting that maybe Scott should have watched Alien vs. Predator, especially since on at least a superficial level the plots aren't all that different, in fact their pretty darn similar (aliens, Predators/Engineers, visit earth and are worshiped as space gods by us humans since ancient pre-history and the Predators/Engineers are the makers/masters of the Aliens; then billionaire Weyland wants to check it all out and finances an expensive expedition to do so and dies in process).
Let me put it more simply, because they share many of the same over-arching plot elements Prometheus is essentially the same movie as Alien vs. Predator. OK, that's an overstatement but, you could argue that Prometheus is a "re-imagining" of Alien vs. Predator. The only big differences are who the alien gods are (Predator vs Engineer), the time period during which the movies take place (present day vs. near future), and the location of the story (desolate isolated Antarctica vs. desolate isolated planet), and the directors' "vision" of the movies (Scott vs. Paul W.S. Anderson).
Or how about this, if Ridley Scott had watched Alien vs. Predator and not just laughed off such a silly notion (according to him at least) then, maybe Scott could have have avoided some of the huge plot pitfalls Prometheus landed in.
Here's the funny Red Letter Media video re Prometheus' plot holes:
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Yeah, I Got Olympic Fever
That's why I'm watching the bronze medal match in archery and waiting for USA vs. Italy in archery coming up here in a second. Yup, that's right, I'm completely enthralled by archery.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Prez Starting to Take Gloves Off In Campaign Ad
President Obama has begun to unleash some of the ammunition his campaign has to combat Romney in November. Get ready, it's starting to feel a little like campaign season and this is just the tip of the iceberg. By that I mean, I think the President's campaign has more where this came from and is going to sit on it and roll it out piecemeal. By the way, the statements in this advertisement are all fair game, in my opinion. Let's see what Romney counters with.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Guess I Called That One Wrong
I really thought OKC would win it all. Guess I was wrong. Oh well.
But, thanks to the Heat winning we got to see Cuban take Skip Bayless down a notch or two or 53.
Alternate lead in to this clip:
annual salary of a sports blowhard talking head: way more than the average American makes.
approximate net worth of Mark Cuban: 2.3 billion USD.
watching Cubes verbally kick Bayless in the jimmy: priceless
But, thanks to the Heat winning we got to see Cuban take Skip Bayless down a notch or two or 53.
Alternate lead in to this clip:
annual salary of a sports blowhard talking head: way more than the average American makes.
approximate net worth of Mark Cuban: 2.3 billion USD.
watching Cubes verbally kick Bayless in the jimmy: priceless
Monday, June 18, 2012
Does David Stern and the NBA Think We Are Idiots?
I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm a Spurs fan. If anything I should be pulling against OKC. But, game 3 was tough to watch. I'm into lists now I guess (see my post regarding the movie Prometheus for another recent list). Here's what I took away from game 3 that makes me wonder if the NBA thinks their fans are stupid:
1. How does Kevin Durant have 5 fouls at the end of the game and 4 fouls in the 3rd quarter - he's not exactly known for his aggressive D is he?
2. Hardin and Collison end the game with 4 fouls each.
3. LaBron James had 1 foul in the game.
4. Joey Crawford was a referee.
5. The Heat shot 11 more free throws than OKC.
6. OKC shot 43% from the field, not too good right?
7. But the Heat shot a miserable 39% from the field.
8. Oh but the Heat shot 89% from the free throw line, 31-35.
9. That's right, 31 points from the charity stripe for the Heat, that should sound familiar to Dallas Mavericks fans from '06.
10. Only the Heat's big 3 were in double digits, and Bosh barely with 10 points but, guess what, they still won, I wonder how? See numbers 8 & 9 for the answer.
All that said, OKC only shot 22% from behind the three-point line and lost 91-85. The Heat are up 2-1 in the series meaning OKC really needs to win the next game (no, it's not a "must-win" game, a "must-win" game only occurs when, if a team loses, their season is over, talk to the Boston Red Sox from 2004). Essentially, if OKC gets even close to a fair shake from the refs and if they can shoot a half decent percentage from the field/three point land I still think OKC wins the series in 6.
1. How does Kevin Durant have 5 fouls at the end of the game and 4 fouls in the 3rd quarter - he's not exactly known for his aggressive D is he?
2. Hardin and Collison end the game with 4 fouls each.
3. LaBron James had 1 foul in the game.
4. Joey Crawford was a referee.
5. The Heat shot 11 more free throws than OKC.
6. OKC shot 43% from the field, not too good right?
7. But the Heat shot a miserable 39% from the field.
8. Oh but the Heat shot 89% from the free throw line, 31-35.
9. That's right, 31 points from the charity stripe for the Heat, that should sound familiar to Dallas Mavericks fans from '06.
10. Only the Heat's big 3 were in double digits, and Bosh barely with 10 points but, guess what, they still won, I wonder how? See numbers 8 & 9 for the answer.
All that said, OKC only shot 22% from behind the three-point line and lost 91-85. The Heat are up 2-1 in the series meaning OKC really needs to win the next game (no, it's not a "must-win" game, a "must-win" game only occurs when, if a team loses, their season is over, talk to the Boston Red Sox from 2004). Essentially, if OKC gets even close to a fair shake from the refs and if they can shoot a half decent percentage from the field/three point land I still think OKC wins the series in 6.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
I Saw Prometheus: I Liked It But...
(spoiler alert, kinda)
I'm already looking forward to the sequel (I hope they make one). I liked Prometheus but, wasn't necessarily blown away by it - character development was a little lacking (but, wasn't that lacking in Alien too?). However, it leaves open enough questions that I'm already looking forward to the sequel and expect that if it's made it'll be better than this movie precisely because it will diverge even more from the Alien mythology and develop a mythos all its own.
Questions I have after watching Prometheus:
1. Why does the tech look so much more advanced than the tech in Alien? (explanation could be that Prometheus is a scientific research vessel and the craft in Alien is a mining ship.)
2. Was the Engineer in the beginning a rebel who seeded a planet (Earth?) he wasn't supposed to?
3. Why did the Engineers make the decision to eliminate all us humans?
4. And aren't the "bio-weapons" (Aliens) a little bit of overkill to eliminate all us humans?
5. If we have the same DNA as the Engineers why are they 10 feet tall?
6. How does the Alien end up on the planet where Ripley runs into it?
7. Is there any way the captain of the Prometheus survived that collision? (I like the character and Idris Elba is a pretty darn good actor, while we're at it let's see if Charlize Theron couldn't have survived too.)
8. Do the Engineers know the Predator-race? (do I hear a clamoring for a Predator vs. Alien vs. Engineer movie?)
9. Will Winona Ryder end up in Prometheus 4?
10. If a Prometheus sequel happens, will Ridley Scott make a Blade Runner sequel after that, please?
I'm already looking forward to the sequel (I hope they make one). I liked Prometheus but, wasn't necessarily blown away by it - character development was a little lacking (but, wasn't that lacking in Alien too?). However, it leaves open enough questions that I'm already looking forward to the sequel and expect that if it's made it'll be better than this movie precisely because it will diverge even more from the Alien mythology and develop a mythos all its own.
Questions I have after watching Prometheus:
1. Why does the tech look so much more advanced than the tech in Alien? (explanation could be that Prometheus is a scientific research vessel and the craft in Alien is a mining ship.)
2. Was the Engineer in the beginning a rebel who seeded a planet (Earth?) he wasn't supposed to?
3. Why did the Engineers make the decision to eliminate all us humans?
4. And aren't the "bio-weapons" (Aliens) a little bit of overkill to eliminate all us humans?
5. If we have the same DNA as the Engineers why are they 10 feet tall?
6. How does the Alien end up on the planet where Ripley runs into it?
7. Is there any way the captain of the Prometheus survived that collision? (I like the character and Idris Elba is a pretty darn good actor, while we're at it let's see if Charlize Theron couldn't have survived too.)
8. Do the Engineers know the Predator-race? (do I hear a clamoring for a Predator vs. Alien vs. Engineer movie?)
9. Will Winona Ryder end up in Prometheus 4?
10. If a Prometheus sequel happens, will Ridley Scott make a Blade Runner sequel after that, please?
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