So, yeah, about that…
I haven’t posted in over a month, and after I purposely said that I was going to try to post more. I meant too, but Tech’s essentially free high-speed internet is somewhat intoxicating. Not really, but it is distracting.
I’m back at Tech now, and I should probably be studying. I may try to get my CS major roommate to help me with some of the blog stuff here, since I’m sure he knows something about cascading spreadsheets. Even though I wanted to keep my blog secret from my friends and anonymous from my readers (all 2 of them) he knows about it, mainly cause I had to ask for his help when I set it up. I’m not very computer savvy.
It’s almost pointless to blog, since I’ve had a hundred hits over the course of like ten posts in 4 or 5 months, and one comment, which I appreciated, but did not respond to. (I felt that I had answered that person’s question in the post he was talking about, but oh well). I’m gonna try a few things to get more people reading. I entered kitsune23@wordpress.com in the Slivers section of “The Technique”, the GT newspaper. (For anyone who doesn’t know, the Sliver section is essentially a column where anyone can log on to the ‘Nique’s website and enter a line of text to appear in the paper. It’s extremely random.) I did notice a few hits on the blog after I posted that sliver. I’ll try that again pretty soon, but doing it every week would probably be counter-productive, especially if I’m not doing a good job of updating.
As far as my life goes, nothing too amazing is happening. I’m trying to take part in more activities this semester. What else? I did get into a Chinese class, even though they had been full. That didn’t last long though, once people got a feel for the class. Anyway, that means that I’m now taking Japanese and Chinese. I’m either stupid or crazy. Probably both.
Watched the Avatar: The Last Airbender season premiere on Friday, that was pretty cool. Nothing mind-blowing, but it was a good start, and greatness in A:tLA is never really found in one episode. It’s the scope of the series all together that makes it truly excellent. I intend to write more on that in a soon-to-come entry, but I won’t make promises I might not keep. Also saw the Heroes premiere tonight, but I was distracted (looking for food) and will have to watch it again online tomorrow to catch it clearly. Disappointed cause Ali Larter wasn’t in this episode. 
I should probably try to avoid using emoticons in my posts.
I was also reading Snafu Comics at http://www.snafu-comics.com/ Sorta funny, but the cussing was a damper on the humor. If I sound like a prude, $&#% you. And you can quote me on that. (In fact, I may Sliver that right now).
Muffin-tops
kitsune23
Save the Cheerleader, Save NBC Primetime
Spoiler Warning: Don’t say I didn’t warn you, because you just read it.
I really don’t know how I can cover my thoughts on the entire, totally awesome first season of Heroes in one review, but I’ll do my best
I know that Heroes is perhaps the first show where I actually managed to see every episode of the entire first season in order, thanks to NBC.com’s rewind feature that allowed me to watch entire episodes.
NBC advertised Heroes fairly heavily coming into fall 2006, and they drew me in. Of course I quickly realized that it was meant as competition to Fox’s 24, which is another favorite. I’ll openly admit here, however, that I like Heroes better than 24. They both have their merits, but I finally realized that I don’t really care what happens to the characters in 24, whereas I do care about the heroes of Heroes. (The fact that I’m a major comic book geek played its part as well.)
To make this easier on myself, I’m going to use some lists:
Things I liked:
1. Jeph Loeb working as a producer. His writing for DC Comics, notably Batman: Hush and Batman: The Long Halloween was great, and I hope to see him contribute to the Dark Knight’s mythos again. Tim Sale’s artwork was nice too.
2. Twists. Hiro having accidentally transported to the future to see the bomb explode was ingenious. Nathan being Claire’s father. Niki’s alternate personality being the one that stole the money from D.L. Sylar becoming president in the future by impersonating Nathan. There were others, but these were my favorites.
3. Characters and characterization. Characterization is very important in any story (a fact I probably cover ad nauseum) because if people don’t care about the characters then they have little reason to continue following along.
I particularly like how the powers of the heroes tend to either complement the heroes or intensify their problems. A police officer wants to graduate to detective: suddenly he can read minds. A Japanese salaryman in cramped, time-managed Tokyo can suddenly manipulate space and time. The nurse becomes an empath, the prisoner can walk through walls, the lost little girl can find anyone, and the cheerleader they all have to save can heal from almost any wound.
My favorite characters and powers (not necessarily the same thing). Although definitions of power very, it is generally considered to be the extent to which one can effect change, influence, or manipulate. That said, my favorite powers on Heroes (not counting Peter’s ability to copy the powers of others) would be Sylar’s Telekinesis, Eden’s Compulsion, and Candace’s Illusion. Close runners-up would be Charlie’s Photographic Memory, Nathan’s Flight, and Matt’s Mind-reading. You might say I have control issues, but each of the powers on the show is ultimately a means of control.
As for favorite characters, I like Clair, Peter, Niki, Mr. Bennett, and Eden (who is much more interesting if you’ve read the mini-graphic novel for her on NBC.com. Sylar is cool too. Least favorites: I don’t like Mohinder or Isaac.
4. Ali Larter. Do I need to say more?
5. Shock value. Similar to, but not quite the same as a twist. The one that sticks out most in my mind was Clair waking up in the autopsy room with her torso laid open. Once you get a good look at it, it all looks pretty fake, but the initial half-second shot was amazing.
6. Japanese references: I’m currently studying Japanese, and any spoken Japanese I can listen to is helpful. Japan’s culture is also fascinating, so I always like to catch references to Japan. I’m pretty sure writers know that there are quiet a few Japanophiles (yes, I know that’s not a word) out there, because they seem to reference the country a lot, even when any country would do. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just imagining things.
Things I didn’t like (it’s a short list):
1. Eden dying. She was one of my favorite characters, even if her role was fairly minor. I admit always admire a writer’s willingness to kill off a character (you should check out George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire), but I can still dislike it when my favorites die.
2. Hiro and Ando being gay. While I’m not %100 sure that this is the case, it seems fairly likely. They just made too big a deal about saving each other and then Hiro got all dark and serious in the future because Ando had died. The only real argument against was Hiro falling for Charlie (if you missed out, Charlie is a girl, although, the fact that her name was masculine may be more evidence for Hiro’s homosexuality). Anyway, if they’re gay, I don’t like it.
For the record, I don’t hate gay people. The Bible teaches us to hate the sin, not the sinner, so when it comes to homosexuality, I believe that it’s evil. That doesn’t make a gay person any more evil than all the other sinners on the planet, me among them.
3. The season finale. I was pretty disappointed. It was okay, in and of itself, but it failed to live up to what they’d been building all season.
Notes on the season finale:
We obviously know that Peter’s not dead. After all, he was the one who blew up New York in few, and he survived that, so there’s no reason to think he won’t survive the finale, especially since he can regenerate. It would appear that Nathan wasn’t so lucky.
I’ve read that Tim Kring means to keep the individual seasons of Heroes limited to their own storylines, to avoid the neverending story of Lost. The problem is, with Sylar and Peter both still alive, there’s nothing to keep one of them from blowing up New York later. So, far, all of Isaac’s paintings have come true, so there still seems to be the threat of a nuclear explosion.
What I want to now:
- What is Peter and Nathan’s mother’s power? She mentioned that she was part of the same group as Linderman and Simone’s dad, so what can she do?
- Did Sylar get Eden’s power of compulsion or not? I thought she blew her on head off so he couldn’t get her brain, which was very cool, but then, much later in the season, his voice got all deep and imperative at one point. I think it was when he was talking to his mother. So what’s the deal?
That’s about it, so I’ll just say I can’t wait for Season 2!!
Burnin’ the House
Last night I watched “House” on Fox. It’s not the first time I’ve watched it, but I’ve probably seen it less than ten times. And it’s been exactly the same every time.
Don’t get me wrong, “House” has the makings of a good show, and it’s obviously popular. The problem is that the writing is extremely formulaic. Every episode sees some patient come in with a mysterious set of symptoms that eventually leads to House and his team to realize that said patient suffers from some bizarre condition that occurs once in every two or three million people. Often, to complicate things, the patient suffers from several such conditions or diseases that complicate the situation and produce conflicting symptoms, which make the source of the problems even harder to diagnose. The patient also, inevitably, has some sort of personality quirk or an issue with friends or family that either makes things more complex and sensitive or produces disagreements among House and his team, or both.
The show also lacks realism in that the team handles every type of medical condition imaginable, and, to my knowledge, doesn’t specialize at all. They actually perform brain surgery, for goodness sakes. Maybe I’m missing something, but no doctors have that kind of specialization in so many fields.
Finally, consider Houses methods for treatment. Last night he prescribed mushrooms for a boy, starved him, and conspired to get the boy’s mother out of the room so he could antagonize him. That’s in one episode. House would also have been sued more times than he could count at this point. There is no way he would have kept his medical license this long.
Now that I’ve totally ragged on the show, I can cover its positive points. The show’s saving grace, is, of course, characters. (I originally wrote “characterization” but to be honest, the characters are still pretty flat. They’re one dimensional, but that one dimension is usually well chosen). We put up with crappy storylines because we love to see House himself at work. His scathing wit and caustic comments, not to mention his intellect put my own to shame. Hugh Laurie plays his parts excellently. Almost as fun is watching House’s coworkers and subordinates deal with him from one episode to the next.
In short, House’s stories stink, but the characters are good. Let’s be honest though. No one watches “House” for something as deep as characterization. We just like to watch someone being a total jerk. (As I understand it, that’s the reason “American Idol” has so many viewers. I don’t know. I can honestly say that, as of May 21, 2007, I have never watched a single episode of “American Idol” and I have no wish to. Sue me)
House Rating: 6 Tails
