Heroes, Season 3 Villains, Episode 6

Since I have new work email, I wasn't sure that I would be looped into this week's discussion, so I sent an email around. But, truly, Frank started this week's discussion... which I'll post as soon as I get the emails together.

Hey Matthew Sweet- Who Was That Drummer? (Oct 23, 2008)

I rushed back on Thursday, after waiting in La Guardia (maybe too long but you can never underestimate how long it will be for me to find my way back if I'm lost-which for someone with no sense of direction is highly likely). The sirens started going off for a while when I was waiting for my plane, which let me tell you, is creepy. I had the luck(?) of landing in the middle of rush hour. Luckily my cabbie and I conferred and agreed the fastest way to get home would be around the highway so we went back through Park Ridge to Peterson Avenue and down the city streets instead of down the highway.

I ended up getting in just in time to dump my bags, splash water on my face, have a Diet Mountain Dew and jump on the Clark Street #22 bus from Addision and Clark (across from Wrigley Field) down to the Armitage and Clark stop. From there, I met my pal Liz at Stanley's for a bite to eat and a beer and then met Tom and his pal Robert at Park West to see Matthew Sweet-a longtime favorite of mine. He is playing off of his new album, Sunshine Lies, which has been playing on repeat in my car for the last couple of weeks.

He played a lot of the songs from the new album, including the Room to Rock In... which is totally catchy and I really like, but somehow the Byrdgirl song has REALLY gotten under my skin so I was happy to hear that. Of course he (though he sounded pained doing it) sang Girlfriend. He did a few of my older faves, including Superdeformed but I felt like the show could have and should have been a little longer (though to be fair there were 3 single-song encores.) He seemed occasionally to be having fun (something missing from his shows recently)- last show I saw him in where he seemed to be having fun on stage was alone on stage with a bunch of Acoustic Guitars at Metro and then again playing with The Thorns before the Jayhawks at the Vic.

We left the show and scooted over to Gamekeepers for a couple of pitchers to watch the end of the Phillies game for Liz. They didn't do well that night but have picked it up since then.


I left the show wondering... who the hell was that playing the drums? He totally looked like he was wearing a disguise with the beard/hair/hat combo, all while having the bod of a much younger guy.

New Job WOO HOO!

So, I've been more quiet than normal, not having time to really get into the shows but I have been keeping up. Trust me.

I got a new job which totally spun my world around and I spent last week in New York trianing. Hopefully by the end of this week (or beginning of next week) I'll settle into a new schedule and be in good shape to continue to write here.

TV Shows, (Oct 19th- Oct. 25th)

True Blood: Show is good. I totally wasn't expecting the early departure of the four vamps.

Entourage: Eric becoming his own man is such a nice touch. The nice guy can make good even while the other guys are also making good at the same time. Interesting twist with Ari possibly leaving

Terminator, The Sarah Connors Chronicles: Still haven't caught up.

Life: Still have to check to make sure TiVo catches this.

Chuck: Nicole Richie isn't a great actress but I liked that they delved into Sarah Walker's past. Note they never said her real name. Agent Charles Carmichael is priceless.

Fringe- Still have to watch this one. Will update when I do.

ANTM, Cycle 11: So, Jocelyn is gone, saw that coming from a mile away... Marjorie is a disaster in front of a camera and Elina holds back? Who cares? They both take gorgeous pictures... the competition isn't for the next SUPERmodel... just next top model. Tyra needs to take a chill.

90210: Boring... I still have to remember to cancel this from recording when I go in to double check TiVo for Life.

Eli Stone I forgot that Katie Holmes could really sing when she was Joey on Dawson's Creek. She can sing. I like this potential love interest... I hope they email/text each other. Also, I think the journal as a "guidebook" for Nate is kind of a lame shortcut trick.

Numb3rs: Yay, Charlie is back in the FBI but who pulled the strings to get the boys reinstated? Should be interesting to find out.

I watched The Office is strong... the new HR female Michael is a nice twist. Earl is interesting... just when they bring the Godfather of Crime into the picture, they make him a joke. Awesome. ... This week is 30 Rock into the rotation and Reaper and Legend of the Seeker Still coming. Still excited for Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.
, come on already!

TV Shows (Oct 12th- 19th)

True Blood: Show is good, but once Sookie has sex with Mr. Compton... it may jump the shark. That's all I'm saying.

Entourage: Eh. The guy dying on the Golf Course to solve all the boys problems is kind of a lame short cut if you ask me.

Terminator, The Sarah Connors Chronicles: Still haven't caught up.

Life: Somehow I have to check to make sure TiVo catches this.

Chuck: Still a Guilty Pleasure.

Heroes, Season 3 Villains, Episode 5: We didn't really discuss this one. JJ was having a baby! YAY!

Fringe- The ex-boyfriend appearing and reappearing? Ugh. But I liked that the Observer came off of the elevator.

Project Runway, Season 5- Okay, so LeAnn wins... I totally thought Korto should have won. I thought her collection was much more diverse than LeAnn's. Though to be fair, Leanne's competing style worked for her. Glad there wasn't as much drama. Kenley? Jerrell would have been MUCH better...those ropes were hidious. Though I do admit the wedding dress still was pretty.

ANTM, Cycle 11: So, Lauren Brie gone... who will step up?

90210: Boring... I have to remember to cancel this from recording when I go in to double check TiVo for Life.

Eli Stone Eli decides to get his anneurism back. I really like the addition of the imaginary therapist and that this time he chose to be the prophet. The unlikely prophet I'm okay with, but the unlikely and unwilling? Seemed out of character for someone who was doing so much to save other people when he had it removed. I like the twist of the smarmy lawyer being with Taylor now and SORT OF being a good guy.

Numb3rs: This show never disappoints. The characters and writing are great.

I watched The Office and FF>> through Earl... Kath and Kim sucked (though I like the Actors) and I did delete that from my lineup. Maybe I'll add 30 Rock into the rotation at least until Reaper comes back. That show is bank. Also getting excited for Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.
. Waiting to see how Legend of the Seeker pans out, too.

SONG OF FIRE AND ICE on HBO!

Wow, I'm out of the loop. I just heard that George RR Martin's The Song of Fire and Ice series was optioned by HBO. This Variety Article confirms. This series is everything that an Epic Fantasy series should be. I first read this series and fell in love with it after reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time when I first started rereading fantasy as an adult (after reading the first two Harry Potter books that came out and not-so-patiently wanting to wait for the rest of them).

I'm very excited, not just because I love these books but also because I know HBO does such a fine job on all their series and I am guessing that the Terry Goodkind series that will be released by ABC, Legend of the Seeker, is going to be, well not that great. I'll watch, I'm a geek enough that I'll watch. But, the Goodkind books infuriated me with their right wing rants. I'm hoping Hollywood makes this series better. You know what I think of a book if I think the movie version has a strong possibility of being better than the written word. Hopefully Sam Raimi will bring a light to this series that right now is missing.

Heroes, Season 3 Villains, Episode 4

Frank started off this week's discussion:

Wow. What a great episode.

Lets go from best to worst, shall we?

Sylar, The Housewife...
What a bizarre scene. My first thought was "oh man, they've gone too far with this." But it played out perfectly and made sense. Zachary Quinto has really been tasked to do a lot of different things with this character, and he makes everything work. The entire scene at the Bennett household was awesome. Seems the fights are better this season - fighting how you would expect 'superheroes' to fight, powers and all. Remember back in Season 1, whenever there would be a fight, it would take 3 seconds and no powers would be used. When his son (do we know babymama?) was 'killed', I lost it. You don't see that kind of stuff on TV. Powerful scene, including the kabloom.

The future...
Last episode the future stuff was hit or miss - I think they've hit their stride in how they're going to use the future. Future Peter was mentioning that the line between Heroes and Villains is drawn by who was born with powers and whose powers were 'created'. Another question: Do we know if the ability to give people powers is from Suresh's stuff or the two-piece puzzle formula? I would guess its the two-piece puzzle - which leads to the next part...

Suresh's changes...
I liked the changes last episode, this episode was meh. I would think at the rate he's changing, in 4 years he would be an abomination. Every superhero story set around humanoids usually has one 'beast' type character. I would hoping Suresh would become this massive hairy monster of a character and would turn back around to being a hero.

Hiro and Ando...
Does Ando have a power? It's a stretch, but they spent quite some time with the two and the ceiling vent - could Ando's power be something along the lines of "he has the power to do something that others around him cannot do" or "...that others around him have failed at"? A stretch, I know, but something was up (maybe) with him being able to latch the vent - or maybe it was just a 'you need a partner, Hiro' type of message.

Frozen girl (wtf ever her name is now) and Nathan:
The scenes where she learned she was a triplet, or whatever, that seemed kind of forced. Again, her scenes seem so out of place - with everyone running around trying to figure out the future, or trying to find a forumla to save the world, she's... trying to kill herself? Ok, so 'i wanna die', 'nathan saves her life', 'she stays by his side while he becomes president', i get it. Moving on...

Parkman: painter, father...
Not sure I care much about this - interesting to see he's with Speedy, and that there's another daugther in the picture - his? theirs? another stolen child? Anyway, that was just ok.

Anyway, your thoughts?

TV Shows (Oct. 5- Oct.11th, 2008)

I forgot to add a couple of shows, I also watch Numbers and Life and Chuck and Reaper when it is on.

True Blood: Town starts to come around when it comes to Bill... can't wait to see what he does to the rednecks who brought the garlic press... I'm sure there is going to be some retribution there. Where is Erik, the Elder? You know he's coming for Sookie.

Entourage: Okay, this was funny, but my favorite park was Lloyd talking Ari down from tripping in the desert. Will Vince get the part? Can't wait to see what finagle they have to do to make that work.

Terminator, The Sarah Connors Chronicles: Still haven't caught up.

Life: Okay, ever since I saw this guy Damian Lewis in Band of Brothers and then in Dreamcatcher, I've liked him as an Actor. In Life, he plays Charlie Crews, who was set up for killing his Cop Partner's family and spent a couple years in the clink (cellmates of a white collar crime accountant played by Adam Arkin). Then he gets out and his wife has divorced him and remarried and the city has to pay him a HUGE settlement to account for the years he spent behind bars and they also have to promote him to detective.

He has one thing on his mind, finding out who killed his partner and best friend and figuring out who set him up for it. His partner, a sassy cop who has had a history of substance abuse is tied to him through her father- a career cop who is somehow involved in the setup. Adam Arkin is great as Ted Early (he lives above Charlie Crew's garage and manages his money). The best addition to this year's cast is Donal Logue as the smarmy captain.

What I like about this show is that Charlie Crews is a weird guy. He might seem all crazy (Turns out the other prisoners don't like cops in jail, so he had to learn a whole "zen" way of looking at the world that makes him come off as a kooky 3-dollar bill.) but his oddness and way of looking at the world helps him solve crimes.

Chuck: This show is a guilty pleasure. It makes me chuckle... that's the whole reason I watch it.


Fringe- Sadly, not on this week.

Project Runway, Season 5- Okay, this is the first time I've thought they chose correctly. I think that as much as Jerrell is over the top, he could/should have edited himself. It wouldn't have been that difficult. Plus, Kenley's wedding dress was to die for. That's what Bjork should have been wearing instead of the swan's head on top. I think right now LeAnn is looking the strongest. They may not like the simplicity of her palatte but they did with Chloe, right?

Lastly, my friend Cyndi sent me this article...Project Runway past stars... where are they now?

ANTM, Cycle 11: WOW... so Lauren Brie who was one of my top picks is gone... I still think that Elina and Marjorie will make it to the end. I guess I'm going to have to replace Lauren Brie with McKey.

90210: Yawn... WHY oh WHY do I keep watching. Maybe to see the Grandmother. She cracks me up... and Silver and Dixon are cute. BTW... I used to watch 21 Jump Street, I saw that student as a cop thing from a mile away.

Numb3rs: Cute show. I like the math angle, even though, mostly seems far-fetched. But it is a great cast and decent writing.

I do watch The Office and FF>> through Earl... but Kath and Kim should be good and I just don't have time to catch up with Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia or 30 Rock. Wahoowa Tina Fey! It is nice to see a fellow alum doing so well. Hard to believe we graduated from undergrad at the same time, both going to UVA as PA girls.

Beck: Phoning it in At the Aragon

So, Greg Kot describes Beck's performance as being businesslike on Thursday October 2nd. I saw him on Friday October 3rd at the Aragon and I thought he was kind of phoning it in. I enjoy his music and so I enjoyed the show. He's great. I'll see him when he comes to town. However, the theatrical Beck was missing in this show. In fact, it seemed like he wasn't getting into it at all. Maybe he gave all he could for Chicago on Thursday night.

I also think his other guitar player was annoying me a little bit. She seemed like a decent guitar player but I could tell her mic was turned down in a couple of places, because she was belting it out from where I was standing up front but the resultant sound didn't match when it came through the speakers. Then they had her shaking maracas and taking a couple of drum hits a little too seriously and it made me wonder why she was even there.

Love Beck... didn't love this show.

Greg Kot's review is here.

Review: Safety of the World on Her Shoulders-At Least the Sex is Good

I read Any Given Doomsday (The Phoenix Chronicles), by Lori Handeland on the bus on my way to and from work this week. The former cop turned bartender/P.I. is a psychic who is "called" to the crime scene where her foster mother has been murdered. Turns out the cops are looking for Elizabeth Phoenix's ex, Jimmy for the crime. Ruth has passed on her seer abilities to Elizabeth, who now needs to be trained up on leading the world of good against the world of evil that has been raging on the planet since the Nephilim (Fallen Angels not killed by the Great Flood which are all evil monsters bent on destroying humankind) fell from Heaven.

Despite that Lori Handeland clearly dislikes the Cubs... probably a Twins or Brewers fan? whatever... I give this one three of five stars, mostly because I think it is good, but not really good or great. It is a fun read. If you like those Laurell Hamilton vamp books or that genre then you'll like this. The steamy parts are good, the characters are good and interesting for the most part. I'm a sucker for the steamy parts and I think the empath and how she gets her powers is a clever way for the sexy parts to have to be included. There are just some things that don't get me from Point A to Point B and some dialogue I don't like too much. Lines like "Guess I'd just have to kill him and anyone else that gets in my way." doesn't really do it for me.

The characters do have me roped in and I'm curious what the next battle is and how this character grows. So, I'll keep reading unless I get more of the same. I'm guessing that some of the problems I have with this book are tied to the author setting up the world that Elizabeth is walking around in.

Heroes, Season 3 Villains, Episode 3

Julia started this week's discussion:

I am liking this season much better than last already…here are my quick thoughts:

Hiro/Ando/Daphne: not sure if like this one yet, although I did like how the Haitian had a run in with them and they are now on Level 5.

Mama Petrelli: she is SO evil…love it! What do you think, is she really Sylar’s mom?

Matt Parkman: yawn…wake me up when it is over.

Tracy (aka Niki/Jessica): not sure yet…although the idea of a genetically engineered group of clones may be interesting…we’ll see.

Peter: glad he’s finally out of the other villian’s body…what’s up with the future Peter? Not sure yet if I like this future storyline, since we’ve seen it twice before already

Claire: what is she going to be doing now? Chasing after the villains on her own? That’s just silly.

HRG: rocks, as usual