John Zeitler

I have a big long spiel percolating about the Lost finale and how it’s effected an era of television sci-fi that’s unprecedented since the 70s.

It’s going to have to wait until after I get through spending 50% of my waking hours at work.

(Oh, and yes, I damn well did use the right “affect/effect” word there. To “effect” something as a verb means to spawn or to provide impetus for. If you effect a change on something, you have also affected it, and the net effect is not an affectation, but an effective act.)

There were a couple more games today, but out in Vancouver there are a few more important games going on. A lot of people are somewhat disillusioned by the concept of the games, and I can certainly understand why; the world climate right now isn’t like it was in 1980, when tensions ran high and the world held its breath for miracles on and off the ice. I, of course, never saw that particular event. Still, I think there’s something fascinating about the Olympics. While the world isn’t going on hold like it used to, and while there’s no longer the same feeling that the games are sacrosanct (Munich and Atlanta showed that adequately, so we need no further demonstrations), I’m willing to believe that the people competing truly believe that the games foster a sense of international community. I’d like to believe that the games still serve their intended purpose.

Plus it’s the only time I ever get to see curling on American television. So there’s that.

NCIS was good (though Netflix needs to get off its ass and enable the season for streaming). CSI is shaping up to be just as good.

This is gonna be a great year for TV.

In lieu of showing you the really gory meme related to Bionic Commando ReArmed, I have elected to show you something else exploding. Head down there to find out what.

You know, sometimes I remember bits and pieces of the past. Sometimes I have clear memories of something that was, at the time, completely mundane, to the point where its details could be fudged to anything. Usually, when that happens, it infuriates me when I can’t remember everything exactly… or, worse still, when the only way to get the memory off my mind is to replicate it– say, watching a television show that’s quite possibly as old as I am, disregarding that the odds are stupid excessively against me having seen it in the first place.

So if anyone does happen to know if a complete series box for The Raccoons exists, I would be mighty grateful.

I finished up watching Moon Phase last night and this morning. Overall I liked the series, but overall it had some serious problems with pacing and staying even-toned. The constant whiplash between comedy and terrifying situations– for example, pans dropping on peoples’ heads during one of the major fights near the end– made it difficult to pay too much attention to it. However, taken as a whole, the series has some great moments, and it’s acted very well by everyone involved. If you can take the back-and-forthing, it’s worth a look. As I’d mentioned before I unfortunately trailed off, Full Metal Panic is next on the list. There’s certainly some whiplash involved there, but overall it sounds pretty darn good.

I’m also considering, once I’m through more of the anime list, going through Babylon 5 again– I’ve been watching bits of it here and there since last summer, only getting me near the end of Season 2, but it’s been a good use of time regardless.

The Collection page needs a serious update… however, I’m probably going to hold off on that until I’ve got everything documented in Delicious Library. What worries me most is that I may need to, eventually, add a third shelf– which requires not just putting it together, but likely a complete re-layout of my living room. I’ve honestly been meaning to do that for a while anyway, but I’d expected that I’d be in a different apartment when laying it out again… Ah well.

Catch you folks tomorrow.

Netflix is going to murder my productivity yet. First I find out that the majority of Quantum Leap is on the instant streaming service; then I find that the rest of the CSI family (the ones that count) are also there… and now I discover that all of Heroes is available as well. Not being able to see it all in one shot at my leisure is what kept me from getting into it in the first place, so I may now finally find out how saving the cheerleader can, in fact, save the world.

But maybe I should leave that as a carrot until after I’ve finished the tech demo, hm?

I’m still getting caught up, bit by bit, on CSI since the cast changes. Laurence Fishburne is a capable actor by himself, so I think the writers’ holding up of many large metaphorical signs that say “LANGSTON IS NOT GRISSOM” was a bit unnecessary. Still, this change looks to be pretty good. Only time will tell if the writers can stop beating us over the head with his characterization enough to let the show evolve into something more akin to ER, where the cast was largely periphery to the setting.

One thing’s for sure, I’m gonna miss the classic Grissom One-Liners.

Yes, I know. Yes, I know. YES DAMMIT I KNOW WE WON SHUT UP ALREADY AND START TELEVISING MORE HOCKEY

Ahem. Anyway, last night had some interesting ads in between the game. The running commentary on Twitter and SMS made for some amusing asides as well, particularly during a moment we will consider a hypothetical. What if Bruce Springsteen’s (thankfully covered) groinal area had come at fifty hojillion television viewers at a velocity that could be described only as “alarming”? Since it didn’t happen, the world may never know.

Beyond that, folks, life is peachy.

Yesterday (or today, or something– the exact time in this case is kind of fuzzy), the BBC announced that David Tennant’s successor as The Doctor in the long-running television series Doctor Who will be the “relative unknown” actor Matt Smith. Now, the obvious gag aside, I took a look through some supplementary material surrounding the announcement and saw that there were odds tables on the various actors who were in the running. David Morrissey seemed to be the favorite with 20:1 odds, though I have to admit to a certain amount of disappointment that John Simm (59:1) wasn’t picked (he was just too good to not use more often). Billie Piper (21:1) as the first female Doctor would have been an interesting pick, even if it would have probably turned me off the series completely (GET THE FREAK OVER IT, SHE’S GONE). Though, after playing through LittleBigPlanet, I would have loved to see yet in no way considered seriously Stephen Fry (99:1) for the role. Ditto for Crank and Jason Statham (99:1… I wonder if that one got any serious bets). Interestingly enough, Mr. Smith wasn’t listed on the odds sheet. Ah well, looking forward to seeing how he does in the role. (I’ve yet to see Season Four, so if we’re going to discuss this, let’s keep some spoilers out of the comments, hm?)

Oh, and the time is fuzzy because I can never keep the time zones straight. What, you thought I was making some lame time-travel joke? Please.