Well, I just finished another one of my marathon TV series watching sessions. This time it was for the much hyped It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as I was tired of people asking me why me, their friend who watches more TV than anyone they know who actually makes money, doesn’t watch it. I didn’t really have a reason, I haven’t been so much a fan of other FX shows like The Shield and Rescue Me, so I didn’t really think so much of giving an FX comedy a try.

But after two weeks and four and half seasons (right up until last night’s episode), I’ve busted out the entire series thus far, and I have to say, I am most impressed.
I’m told that the creators of the show (and subsequently the actors) set out to create a Curb Your Enthusiasm type pilot, and though that’s what they did at first. They took Curb, ringed out the awkwardness and amped up the crazy into a show that’s much, much more enjoyable to watch.

Continue Reading »

Read journals #1 and #2 here and here.

At long last (and I do mean long) my time with Borderlands has finally come to an end. Over the past two weeks, it’s become something of an obsession with my friends and I, with them coming over to put in a few solid hours worth of playing time every day, and me sneaking away from writing to play by myself with no one around.

I’ve sunk I’d say about 60 to 80 hours into the game over the past two weeks, and in my opinion, any game that holds my attention for over 30 is a success. So by that definition, yes Borderlands succeeds in being a good game, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t without a heaping helping of problems., some of which I’ve discussed in past journals, and some which are still to come.

Continue Reading »

South Park, perhaps more than any other show on television, is current, topical, and presents social issues in a humorous light just about every week.  Some have complained that the show has been running out of ideas, but with South Park in its 13th season, that’s to be expected.  Trey Parker and Matt Stone are known for pushing the envelope - sometimes maybe too far - and for making their opinions on a topic known.  The show is unapologetic when it comes to opinion, and most of the time, it’s dead on.  I don’t think anyone is going to argue, for example, that Kanye West isn’t a douchebag.  With last night’s episode “The F-Word,” however, I think South Park may have missed the point.

Continue Reading »

Having just finished my DVRing of the V premiere, I have to say, I’m stunned. Not merely because I enjoyed myself, and am hopeful for the first time about a new show this season, but because of the sheer AMOUNT of stuff that happened in the span of forty minutes.

I went into pilot expecting an intro episode, with about 35 minutes of character development and ten minutes of actual aliens showing up. This was not the case at all, and I have to credit V for one of the best “hook” pilots I’ve ever seen.

The episode opened with a trio of questions: Where were you during JFK’s assassination? (Not born) Where were you during 9/11? (Mrs. Horling’s 10th grade English class) and where were you this morning (Twittering about Kim Kardashian’s Halloween costume). The last question refers to where you would have been had the show’s alien arrival taken place, and thankfully, there’s no long winded set up of where each character was. There’s simply an earthquake, some giant ships and a smiling alien leader named Anna (Inara from Firefly) talking about how she brings peace and good tidings.

Continue Reading »

A magical fairy recently came to my door and gave me the opportunity to finally watch Moon, which disappeared from theaters months ago almost as soon as it opened, and has danced around a DVD release date ever since. Madison already wrote a review about the film back when it actually opened, but I just had a few thoughts of my own about the film I thought I’d share.

First of all, Moon is an excellent film, and is currently battling it out with Star Trek and District 9 for my favorite of the year (man, what a year for sci-fi huh?). But unlike either of those two, Moon is a quiet, introspective look at space life, and ultimately and surprisingly ends up being one of the saddest films I’ve ever seen.

Continue Reading »

When we left off last week, Hiro had traveled back in time once again to save Charlie, the diner waitress from Texas who was murdered by Sylar.  This week’s episode of Heroes - “Once Upon a Time in Texas” - featured time travel, a precarious concept that Heroes has done well but more often than not screws up.  For the first time in a while, though, it worked, and Heroes has now (according to me) been pretty good for three episodes in a row, with “Once Upon a Time in Texas” perhaps being the best of the three.  Keep reading for the full review.

Read last week’s review HERE.

Continue Reading »

After last week’s episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I decided to give a chance to FX’s newest comedy, The League.  The concept of the League is simple enough - a group of guys try to balance their lives with an ultra-competitive fantasy football league - and as a fantasy footballer myself, I thought it had a lot of potential.  Hopefully, I thought, The League wouldn’t be a series of Bud Light commercials passing as a series of vignettes passing as a television comedy.  As it turns out, The League really wasn’t very funny, but the show failed on a much more fundamental level.  Keep reading for the full review.

Continue Reading »

If it’s Halloween, it’s Saw. That’s not my opening for this review, it’s the official tagline of the Saw series now, as they understand that they’ve successfully created a brand synonymous with the year’s most fun holiday. Not bad for a few drums of fake blood and a dump truck full of scrap metal.

Is there really any point in complaining that this series is still going? There’s no stopping it. It’s like bitching at the tornado whirling down your street. Instead of talking about how lame it is that it’s there, just head to your basement and wait until it’s over.

But some of us are tornado chasers, and every year we turn out to see just what madness this year’s installment will bring. Even though we usually know what to expect, the constant question of “where the hell do they go from here?” is just too pressing for us to ignore.

Continue Reading »