Ultranormal

  • Supernatural

    The Supernatural season premiere was awesome! Did you hear me squeeing last night? The best premiere of the year, and probably even the best of the past few years. I watched the season one finale right before the premiere, so the continuity, action, and emotional confrontations were muchly appreciated and enjoyed. I practically shouted “Hell yea!” a couple of times.\
    I must admit that I was a fool. I mean, the show wouldn’t. The show couldn’t. OMG, the show totally did. Noooooo! Man, Jeffrey Dean Morgan can’t catch a break! What is that, three times in the past three years? I am still in shock and denial. This is Supernatural, afterall.\
    Ted Nugent rocked, the guest stars were great, and Dean continued to deliver the humor. While part of the outcome was predictible, how they got there was a surprise. The fall-out from the finale was crafted much better than I was expecting, allowing Jensen, Jared, and Jeffrey to shine. So, two big enthusiastic thumbs up from me. Is it next Thursday yet?\
    Who else watched it?\
    ETA- A friend watched the show for the first time lastnight and didn’t quite see the awesomeness that I did. What is so great about this premiere is that it picked up directly from the finale. Without seeing the first season, this episode won’t seem as interesting. But next week the boys will start on a new adventure, so continue to watch, you hear?\
    Veronica Mars chose not to pick up from its finale, and instead is like a new show, trying to attract new viewers, but without the heavy exposition of a pilot. Different tactics for different shows. Supernatural’s choice was way more emotionally satisfying.

  • Rediscovering the Music Video

    It’s been a long time since I saw a video on American MTV. I think the last time I saw one on TV at all was on MTV Europe while in France at the W3C Plenary (I saw some great ones on MTV India… wow… twisted, but in a different way than German techno videos… avert your eyes – they can scar your retinas). But, recently, I downloaded the Democracy Player and discovered Telemusicvision. It’s just music videos you can download and watch through the player… I know, crazy. There’s one in particular that I’ve been watching over and over. Bright Eyes’ The Bottom of Everything is a haunting song about a plane crash, and the video gives it this happy sureal edge that’s completely engrossing.\
    The only problem I have with videos is that they taint songs forever. A song that I may have some deep emotional connection can be totally ruined by the video. It’s a risk, but hey, I get to watch music video again. Hooray, interweb! And the best part? They’re all independent artists.\
    OK, one last thing before I toddle off the bed. I’ve been thinking about this since coming back from Edinburgh with my UK Big Brother addiction. Don’t you think that DirecTV or someone gave us the best TV from all over the world? I had high hopes for BBC America, but the only current thing they show is BBC News. I want the best of British, Australian, New Zealand, and if they can do subtitles quick enough, the best of everyone else’s TV too. DirecTV has room for way more channels, and they already provide scores of Spanish, French, Chinese and Indian channels as unadvertised add-ons, why not a premium package of the best of the rest of the English-speaking world? I can understand licensing issues with networks like Channel4 replaying US shows, but there are ways around that (and about time, I would think). Right now, the only way to get really good reality TV (well, if insanely entertaining crazy people is “really good” – I think it is) is to download it “illegally” with bittorrent. If someone gave me another way to do it that was legal and easier, I’d totally do it. I’d pay as much as I do for HBO to get a package of UK and Australian networks, even if they blacked out replays of US shows. Come on DirecTV, gimme what I want!

  • Premiere Week

    Next column over, Kevin is writing about war and death and torture. And I am writing about tv. Heh.\
    I am saving my indepth post about Veronica Mars until it has aired, but know that I loved it and thought Kristen Bell looked hot and was cute and sassy as ever! I also thought it did a great job welcoming new viewers without weighty exposition (um, except for Cormac, but more on that later). This is definitely ‘do or die’ time for the show, so keep your fingers crossed. (You can watch it Tuesdays at 9pm EST on the CW). On to other premieres-\
    Supernatural is back! Yippee! Catch the season premiere on Thursday at 9pm EST on the CW. Oooo, I heard Linda Blair is going to be guest starring sometime this season. How cool is that? Plus there are one or two recurring characters I am excited to see. (Denny and Meg live! On Supernatural anyway, I hope. Yay!) For those of you not smooth enough to have already seen the first season, here is a 1 minute review or just watch it here:

    Lastnight was the first Gilmore Girls episode sans Amy Sherman-Palladino. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The episode had gotten mixed reviews, some saying it was a pale imitation of ASP’s classic style and others saying that the show was finally back on track after an abysmal last season. After watching it, I agree with both points of view for different parts of the show. Sookie’s whisking rant was spot-on, a perfect example of why I love (loved?) this show. Lorelia’s car analogy was a good attempt, but wasn’t quite up to GG greatness. Rumors have been floating around that ASP unofficially checked out of the show a long time ago and if I hadn’t known of her departure, I wouldn’t have noticed anything amiss while watching the season premiere. Last season really sucked, with its out-of-character and ridicules plotlines. After experiencing that though, this new guy seems heaven-sent. What are your thoughts?\
    I have seen two episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and while it is entertaining, it is not the savior of television it has been hyped as. Meh, I can’t even find the enuthusiasm to write a whole lot about the show except to say that Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry are great; I dislike Harriet, which isn’t to say the actress is doing a bad job; and the cold open should have been done off-screen.\
    I tried Vanished, Heroes, and Six Degrees but none of them could hold my interest. What shows have you tried? What shows stuck to you?

  • The Plague Continues

    I took the boys to the doctor today because they just weren’t getting over their colds and Brian added vomiting to his symptoms. Max has pneumonia and Brian still has a fever and was wheezing. We sat through a breathing treatment for Brian in the office, with him fighting me constantly for the 10 minutes it took. While we were at Wegman’s waiting for the prescriptions, Brian threw up again. The pediatrician told me more than once that I sounded really bad and needed to see my doctor too. Waaaaaaaa. I blame Kevin and feel the need to be compensated with chocolate, something sparkly, or something that will make me laugh. Even though it really isn’t Kevin’s fault.

  • Just A Thought

    Just a thought for a Wednesday morning. For all the Christians out there who support President Bush’s secret torture “program”, think about this: Jesus Christ was a victim of torture and was considered a “terrorist” by the government of his time. Our country has tortured, and knowingly sent to be tortured, at least dozens and possibly hundreds of innocent people. This is not a theoretical question.\
    Can you be a Christian and support torture? You can’t say, “I only support the torture of guilty people,” because we’ve already tortured innocents. We’ve already proven that the program is flawed: innocent people are being detained indefinitely and tortured by American citizens acting on behalf of our government with the approval of the President. It’s a binary thing. Either you support torture or you don’t.\
    What would Jesus do?

  • VM conference

    Someone cooler than me posted a recap of the Veronica Mars conference I participated in. Brownie points and bragging rights for the first person to identify my question!\
    Here is a quote from Rob: The first episode is Veronica Mars for beginners. The case is pretty straight ahead and used to largely introduce us to the new characters. I’ve tried to really front load the episodes with fun breezy banter, that would play nicely with the Gilmore Girls audience, sort of inviting them into the show. It starts feeling more like our show in the final five minutes. The second episode which ranks with some of our best ever, is Veronica Mars at its best.\
    See, he made it easy for you guys to catch up with Veronica Mars. And the episode does a great job of introducing characters to the new audience without long expositions. Thumbs up for Rob on that aspect.

  • Veronica Mars is Back!

    I watched the premiere early, and now you can too: Veronica Mars 3.1!

  • My Ode to Rob Thomas

    I love Rob Thomas. Not the guy from Matchbox Twenty. I am talking about the creator of Veronica Mars. He is funny, down-to-earth, and so frakkin’ accessible to his fans, that I want to smoosh him.\
    Ok, this was a small ode, but very heartfelt.\
    Remember when I complained about being off of the cool kids’ list? Well, I made it on the list, and got to participate in a telephone conference call with Rob himself. YAY! That makes me deliriously happy.\
    PS, I have already seen the season premiere. WHEEE. More info tomorrow. Kisses!

  • BOOOOOOOO!

    The end of the Arizona/St. Louis game had me booing the officials. BOOOOO! The ref asked St. Louis wether they wanted to accept the a penalty. They declined, which set up a free kick for Arizona. Realizing this, St Louis changed their mind and the officials let them. Hello? St. Louis was asked, and already gave an answer. THE FRAKKIN’ COACH SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THE RULES and should not be allowed to ‘change his mind.’ BOOOOOOOOO! That call totally sucked.

  • Bad Idea

    Can we agree now that the invasion of Iraq was a bad idea? Nothing that the Administration said would happen has happened:

    • There were no WMD.
    • Saddam had no ties to Al Qaeda.
    • We weren’t greeted as liberators.
    • Fighting them there hasn’t made us safer here.
    • Democracy hasn’t “flourished” in Iraq or been a good example to anyone.
    • We could fight the war on the “cheap”.
    • We could do it without losses. If you think the war is worth it, worth the sacrifice, read this, and think about it again.\
      On top of the things that the Administration got completely wrong, they’ve turned this country upside down. The United States of America has now admitted to torturing suspects. We’ve admitted to hiding prisoners in secret and illegal prisons scattered throughout the world. We’ve sent innocent people to other countries to be tortured for knowledge they didn’t have. We’ve let Osama bin Laden escape for 5 years. That’s five years of tough talk and inexcusable mistakes at all levels of government.\
      Whatever the President’s intentions, or the intentions of those who support him, he’s a complete and utter failure. And that’s not a “partisan” statement. Really think about it. Look at what he said would happen in Iraq, or after Katrina, or how we would find bin Laden. Nothing he has promised has happened. Nothing he has claimed has turned out to be true. He told us we don’t torture. He told us we followed the Geneva Conventions. He told us New Orleans would be rebuilt. He’s either a liar, or the most imcompetant leader in modern history… I’d bet on both.\
      Our government is a disgrace, a disgrace to its citizens, its history and its ideals. It’s time to do something to change it.\
      How? Vote. Vote in November and do what you can to kick out of office anyone who supports our incompetant president and his cronies, no matter what party they belong to. Yes, most of them happen to be Republicans, but the Democrats are still responsible for not standing up stridently enough. They could have stopped the Patriot Act. They could have done more to hold those responsible accountable for their actions. Some Democrats, like Joe Lieberman, actually support this Administrations ridiculous policies.\
      Vote for people who will hold them accountable, who will find the truth, and do something about it. If we don’t, we’re just as guilty as those who approved the torture, who ordered the bombs to be dropped, who have failed so completely to do the right thing.