Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

I am a Trekkie. I admit that readily, prepared to take whatever teasing and low-blow remarks naysayers might think to throw at me.

My husband, John, is more of a Star Wars fan, however, which would usually mean we were set for a death match. Somehow we still manage to love each other.

The rivalry between Star Trek and Star Wars has been around for as long as both fandoms have existed. Both are science fiction themed, set in outer space on starships and alien planets in some distant future, but their universes could not be more different, and they each have a very unique following of fans.

Allow me to give you a quick history.
 
 
 
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The Sci Fi Channel was launched September 24, 1992, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal cable programming. The name of the network was officially changed to the SyFy Channel on July 7, 2009.

And diehard fans cried.
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“I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.” — Gary Gygax, 1938-2008

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson—may they rest in peace in a land where skimpy chainmail really does protect better than full body armor on big-breasted women—created D&D and published its first book in 1974.

It was different from tabletop wargames in many ways, allowing for each player to essentially create and become a single character of their design to embark upon adventures in a fantasy setting. This was all guided by the Dungeons Master or DM.

Besides telling the story the players’ characters live through, the DM’s job is to try and kill the characters off. Hopefully, your DM wants you to succeed, but if they’re not throwing challenging monsters and puzzles your way that could potentially kill your character at every turn then they are not doing their job.
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Tattooing has been around almost as long as human beings, seen in many cultures throughout history for many varying reasons, usually for personal, cultural, or spiritual expression or identification.

In the previous century there was a time when tattooing was seen as something only for the hardcore, scary people like bikers and gang members, or sailors who got drunk one night on leave. In Japan it is still generally thought of as a sign that you are part of the yakuza, the native gangsters.

But these days nearly everyone you run across could potentially have at least one tattoo, even if that one is merely a typical ‘tramp stamp’ on the lower back.

The average person might only have something small and simple, like Woodstock on their hip or a flower on their ankle, but even the unexpected person might surprise you with a slew of tattoos hidden beneath their clothing.

Tattoos with a geeky origin are more common these days than you might realize. All three of mine fall under that category.
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The Movie

It all began in 1994 when James Spader was still hot and especially cute playing a good boy geek for the first time in his life, and Kurt Russell was still one of the go-to men for action flicks (other than being absolutely amazing in Tarantino’s Death Proof not too long ago). It was the first look we had at the universe of possibilities that would be Stargate. The movie was phenomenal, a unique sci fi story with enough possibilities to create over a decade of follow-ups.
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No, Joss Whedon isn’t dead, I just felt like ‘remembering’ him because he has been swept up in successes lately, and I don’t want to forget why I first fell in love with his work.

You see, I am a Whedonite. If Joss Whedon’s name is attached to it, chances are I am going to do everything in my power to at least give that something a chance. For those who may not know Joss well, most will best remember him for having created the movie and subsequent television show, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

I love Buffy, so I am fine with that being one of Joss’ main claims to fame, but he has done so much more than that. Allow me to take you through my remembrance of a great man’s current body of work.

Joss Whedon created, wrote, directed, or was in some way part of the screenplay processes for a lot more movies and television shows than many people realize, most notably:
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Vampires on TV do not begin and end with me, sadly, so I have not had the pleasure of seeing every single vampire television show ever to grace (or disgrace) the small screen.

I have, however, seen an impressive amount of the many that existed and will be discussing those that I watched, as well as my opinion on why certain vampire shows sucked so badly—pun intended—and why others were quite entertaining.

Okay, so in my opinion, any vampire television show is going to have some level of entertainment to it, even if that is only to make fun of it. Why else would I bother watching the series premiere of The Vampire Diaries last Thursday, a blatant attempt by The CW to bank off the Twilight phenomenon, unless I was expecting horrible, horrible entertainment out of it?

As for my first vampire series, it began its run in 1992.
 
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It was the summer of 2005. I was home on break from college, being a little lazy between shifts at the movie theater, and a preview for a new series starting that fall caught my attention on TV. It was going to be called Supernatural, about two brothers fighting evil across the country.

Having been a huge X-Files, Buffy, and Angel fan, I remember being very excited at something new finally coming along to fill that gap in my life. While I knew I probably wouldn’t get to watch the show right away, as I never had real access to television in college, my interest was immediately piqued.

Of course, there was one problem, I thought to myself, “if only they were cute”.

Yeah, I really thought that. I claim temporary insanity. Read the rest of this entry »

I talk during movies.

Yep, I admit it. I’m one of those people you hate. I’m the one AMC Theaters is talking to when they play that little PSA announcement after the previews:

Please don’t spoil the movie by adding your own soundtrack.

I laugh at that every time.

Oh, I remember well that episode of Firefly, Our Mrs. Reynolds, when Book said,

If you take sexual advantage of her, you’re going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

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This was a good summer for movies. This was a good year for movies. Was already, and it’s only half over with many more promising films to go. I think it is fair to say that before now we have been having quite a few years of crap movies, where only a passing few slipped by that were actually worth paying $10 to see. But this year has been remarkably different. I was finally excited to go to the movies again, and almost every new preview I come across increases that movie-lover joy just a little bit more.

But I have come to realize something as I have gotten older and been able to look at films with a more critical eye. While there are still original ideas out there, the films that are made most often, that Hollywood knows are going to sell, usually have an already existing basis: books, comics, older movies, real life stories, etc. There haven’t been too many first-edition Star Wars, if you catch my drift. And while the films that are being made can still be very good, there is almost always something, one little thing about an actor, a scene, the ending, that makes me go ‘oh, if only this had been different’.
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