I am quite surprised at the love and acceptance for Scrappy. I can only assume that these viewers started with the series at Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo or later. For me and my friends, who started with the New Scooby movies, the reruns of Scooby-Doo, Where are You? and then the Scooby-Doo/Dyno-Mutt Hour and then Laff-a-Lympics, we were already fond of the standard formula.
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Video Buddy
Being born in the late 60s, we were teens in the 80s. Like most kids of this era, we grew up with video games. When we had kids, we were not adverse to exposing them to games as well.
A good bridge at the time was the Video Buddy system. Using a similar technology as the light guns, it had a console with colored buttons and a sensor that connected to the TV with a suction cup. It had a series of videos on VHS tapes. They would stop the show occasionally and ask a question and you would use the console to answer. The sensor would get the information from the sensor and would tell you if your answer was correct.
It was interesting enough but our kids weren’t super into it. We still have a bunch of the videos that haven’t even been watched. I checked with them to see how attached to it they were. My daughter wants to give them another try before we give them away.
In trying to streamline, my niece said that she would be glad to try them with her young child. I had to check with her to ensure that she had the requirements – a VCR and an old TV.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Your daughter can't be The Doctor - boo hoo
This gets into some of what people might consider spoilers - which is always the case when talking about a series that's been around for 50 years - some people may not have seen several years worth.
While I have watched the series since Tom Baker (and Leela) on late night PBS in the eighties, I don't consider myself an expert. I have friends who are though. I didn't follow the rest of the doctors as much but have seen episode from all the incarnations. I watched the American Doctor Who movie when it was on in 1996, and have followed the new series since they brought it back with "Rose" in 2005. I believe that, if you're not going to watch the entire series from the beginning, "Rose" is the best place to start.
It's been announced that the current actor, Matt Smith, is retiring as The Doctor on the long-lived British series Doctor Who. Some of the Internet seems to be upset that the new Doctor will not be played by a female actor. They want to know how they can tell their daughters that she can't be The Doctor but are relegated to being companions as they are female.
Well, if you have watched the series, they have had female Time Lords (Romana) and even male companions (Rory and Adric). "The Doctor" is not really a position but more of a name. It would be like saying you can have a woman be a Green Lantern but not a Hal Jordan.
People say that this answer is a cop out as, since the Time War, there are no more Time Lords. There were no more Daleks at one point due to the Time War - but that didn't last either. The Master, another Time Lord also has made appearances since then. It seems that the Time War wasn't quite as final as we were led to believe.
What to tell your daughter? How about telling her that she cannot become 'the Doctor' as she is already her own person and could no more become 'the Doctor' than she could be you or even her brother. Since neither she, nor you were (probably) born on Gallifrey, she cannot become a Time Lord as she is not already a Time Lord.
If she's more concerned about how she would like to play the Doctor, then she can, all she wants. That's what imagination is for. She could make her own videos and fanfic and be whatever doctor she wants - male or female. She can dress up as her favorite Doctor as much and go to conventions and be appreciated.
My son has dressed up as the Matt Smith Doctor and we have run into at least two other women dressed as the same Doctor, here at ComicCon and at ValleyCon. Besides Fez's being cool, Matt Smith's hair and features seem to lead itself moreso than Christopher Eccleston's did. Laurie Smith has also dressed up as a convincing Tom Baker version Doctor back in the pre-internet eighties.
If she's petulant enough to want to be The Offical Doctor on The Real TV series then you have more important issues to discuss with her - like how the world is inherently unfair and that it incredibly unlikely her, or even her brother will ever play a character that less than 20 professional actors out of a population of several billion have played.
While I have watched the series since Tom Baker (and Leela) on late night PBS in the eighties, I don't consider myself an expert. I have friends who are though. I didn't follow the rest of the doctors as much but have seen episode from all the incarnations. I watched the American Doctor Who movie when it was on in 1996, and have followed the new series since they brought it back with "Rose" in 2005. I believe that, if you're not going to watch the entire series from the beginning, "Rose" is the best place to start.
It's been announced that the current actor, Matt Smith, is retiring as The Doctor on the long-lived British series Doctor Who. Some of the Internet seems to be upset that the new Doctor will not be played by a female actor. They want to know how they can tell their daughters that she can't be The Doctor but are relegated to being companions as they are female.
Well, if you have watched the series, they have had female Time Lords (Romana) and even male companions (Rory and Adric). "The Doctor" is not really a position but more of a name. It would be like saying you can have a woman be a Green Lantern but not a Hal Jordan.
People say that this answer is a cop out as, since the Time War, there are no more Time Lords. There were no more Daleks at one point due to the Time War - but that didn't last either. The Master, another Time Lord also has made appearances since then. It seems that the Time War wasn't quite as final as we were led to believe.
What to tell your daughter? How about telling her that she cannot become 'the Doctor' as she is already her own person and could no more become 'the Doctor' than she could be you or even her brother. Since neither she, nor you were (probably) born on Gallifrey, she cannot become a Time Lord as she is not already a Time Lord.
If she's more concerned about how she would like to play the Doctor, then she can, all she wants. That's what imagination is for. She could make her own videos and fanfic and be whatever doctor she wants - male or female. She can dress up as her favorite Doctor as much and go to conventions and be appreciated.
My son has dressed up as the Matt Smith Doctor and we have run into at least two other women dressed as the same Doctor, here at ComicCon and at ValleyCon. Besides Fez's being cool, Matt Smith's hair and features seem to lead itself moreso than Christopher Eccleston's did. Laurie Smith has also dressed up as a convincing Tom Baker version Doctor back in the pre-internet eighties.
If she's petulant enough to want to be The Offical Doctor on The Real TV series then you have more important issues to discuss with her - like how the world is inherently unfair and that it incredibly unlikely her, or even her brother will ever play a character that less than 20 professional actors out of a population of several billion have played.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Too hot
I don’t handle the heat well. It’s probably left-over from when I was hyperthyroidial and it always felt about 10 degrees warmer to me. If the temperature starts to edge above 26 degrees Celsius then I’m not doing well. Above 32 degrees and I’m really tired and cranky.
With the warm weather that we’ve been having lately, I haven’t been getting much done beyond trying to clear down our PVR enough to upgrade to a larger model. We would have upgraded as soon as they became available but you lose anything recorded on the old PVR when the new model is added. We want to be switched over before the new season starts.
While not doing the major renovations, we are still looking at having some work done. We’re getting estimates for fixing the roof, the tub surround, and adding an air conditioner. As always, dealing with contractors is a varied experience – with some more reliable than others. It is proving to be an interesting time.
With the warm weather that we’ve been having lately, I haven’t been getting much done beyond trying to clear down our PVR enough to upgrade to a larger model. We would have upgraded as soon as they became available but you lose anything recorded on the old PVR when the new model is added. We want to be switched over before the new season starts.
While not doing the major renovations, we are still looking at having some work done. We’re getting estimates for fixing the roof, the tub surround, and adding an air conditioner. As always, dealing with contractors is a varied experience – with some more reliable than others. It is proving to be an interesting time.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
HDMI to RCA?
It’s been pretty wet and rainy lately. Which has meant that, except for cutting the
lawn twice, we haven’t had to do a lot of yardwork. This has allowed us a bit of time to try to
catch up on the shows recorded on the PVR.
Now we are no longer right at our buffer limit and we even watched the
rest of Boardwalk Empire.
I’m looking at connecting the laptop (which has an HDMI
output) to the TV (which has RCA connections in front). I don’t seem to be having any luck finding a
HDMI to RCA cable so I might have to check to see if the VCR/DVDR has a HDMI
input I can use. This way we can watch
Tabletop on the TV instead of having to crowd around the laptop. It will also make it easier to watch The
Guild as well.
Monday, November 28, 2011
The Monty Hall problem.
The set up is based on the old Let’s Make a Deal scenario. You are given a choice of three doors. Behind one door is a new car! Behind the other two are zonks – dummy ‘prizes’ – usually a goat or animal or a wrecked tractor.
You pick one of the three doors. The host (Monty Hall), who knows what is behind which door, then opens one of the doors to reveal a zonk. He then turns to you and offers you a chance to switch your pick to the unrevealed door.
The question is, should you change your pick?
As proposed on Mythbusters, in the movie 21, and in various YouTube videos, they say that you should.
The key thing is in the explanation - in picking originally you have a 67% chance of being wrong. After being shown the zonk door, in switching to the other door you now only have a 33% chance of being wrong (or if you don't believe the math, a 50% chance of being wrong). Both beat the original 67% chance you had.
I still believe that the assumption is wrong though. Once you open that extra door, why would your 1/3 odds still remain at 1/3? Once a door is shown, why would it not change to 1/2? Think of it this way, at the beginning, whether you have picked a zonk or a car, Monty will still show a zonk, leaving the other door either a zonk or a car. The fact that you only had a 1/3 of guessing the car right from the start does not change the fact that when he offers you the choice to switch you now have a 50% chance of the car being behind either unshown door – one of which you have already picked. The key point in this is that you can now not pick the one door that he has shown you not to be a zonk.
Another example is flipping an unbiased coin heads 3 times in a row. At the onset, you only have a 1/8 chance of success or ½ x ½ x ½. However, after already flipping heads twice your odds of the third flip also being heads doesn’t remain at 1/8 but now becomes 50%.
Since the internet seems determined about this think of it this way - Try reversing it - pick two doors at the start instead of one. This gives you a 33% of not picking the car. Monty then opens one of your doors and shows a zonk and offers you a chance to switch.
Since you haven't done anything to the other door that you originally picked you are now being offered a 50/50 chance again between the remaining two doors - one of which you had picked at the onset.
- - - - -
update
Nope - turns out they were right all the time.
After arguing on the Mythbuster forum I come to this:
You pick door 1 - you have a 1/3 chance of being right at the start and a 2/3 chance of picking a wrong door. Monty removes 1/3 of the doors - 100% of the wrong one and 0% of the right one, 0% of being the door you picked.
However, at the time of the choice, you now have two doors each of which was originally only 1/3 a chance of being the car.
If you had picked the car to start (1/3 of the time) and now switch you have 0% chance of winning. If you hadn't picked the car to start (2/3 the time) and switch you now have a 100% chance of winning.
That's what I get for questioning Mythbusters.
You pick one of the three doors. The host (Monty Hall), who knows what is behind which door, then opens one of the doors to reveal a zonk. He then turns to you and offers you a chance to switch your pick to the unrevealed door.
The question is, should you change your pick?
As proposed on Mythbusters, in the movie 21, and in various YouTube videos, they say that you should.
The key thing is in the explanation - in picking originally you have a 67% chance of being wrong. After being shown the zonk door, in switching to the other door you now only have a 33% chance of being wrong (or if you don't believe the math, a 50% chance of being wrong). Both beat the original 67% chance you had.
I still believe that the assumption is wrong though. Once you open that extra door, why would your 1/3 odds still remain at 1/3? Once a door is shown, why would it not change to 1/2? Think of it this way, at the beginning, whether you have picked a zonk or a car, Monty will still show a zonk, leaving the other door either a zonk or a car. The fact that you only had a 1/3 of guessing the car right from the start does not change the fact that when he offers you the choice to switch you now have a 50% chance of the car being behind either unshown door – one of which you have already picked. The key point in this is that you can now not pick the one door that he has shown you not to be a zonk.
Another example is flipping an unbiased coin heads 3 times in a row. At the onset, you only have a 1/8 chance of success or ½ x ½ x ½. However, after already flipping heads twice your odds of the third flip also being heads doesn’t remain at 1/8 but now becomes 50%.
Since the internet seems determined about this think of it this way - Try reversing it - pick two doors at the start instead of one. This gives you a 33% of not picking the car. Monty then opens one of your doors and shows a zonk and offers you a chance to switch.
Since you haven't done anything to the other door that you originally picked you are now being offered a 50/50 chance again between the remaining two doors - one of which you had picked at the onset.
- - - - -
update
Nope - turns out they were right all the time.
After arguing on the Mythbuster forum I come to this:
You pick door 1 - you have a 1/3 chance of being right at the start and a 2/3 chance of picking a wrong door. Monty removes 1/3 of the doors - 100% of the wrong one and 0% of the right one, 0% of being the door you picked.
However, at the time of the choice, you now have two doors each of which was originally only 1/3 a chance of being the car.
If you had picked the car to start (1/3 of the time) and now switch you have 0% chance of winning. If you hadn't picked the car to start (2/3 the time) and switch you now have a 100% chance of winning.
That's what I get for questioning Mythbusters.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
So we lost about 20
We watch a lot of TV. We’re willing to give a lot of shows a chance and we check out shows that contain people we like. Usually they don’t last but they have been more lenient about giving them a chance since the writer’s strike.
This year we watched and are losing:
Breaking In, The Cape, Chaos, The Defenders, The Event, The Good Guys, Hellcats, Human Target, Lie To Me, Life Unexpected, Mad Love, Medium, Mr. Sunshine, No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, Outsourced, $#*! My Dad Says, Smallville, Tudors and V.
Of these we’re really going to miss The Good Guys, Human Target, Off the Map, and Mr. Sunshine. Outsourced and Smallville were both good as well and Hellcats, Breaking In and Chaos were also fun newcomers.
For whatever reason, Desperate Housewives and One Tree Hill (both of which we watch grudgingly) both made the cut and are coming back – even though One Tree Hill had a great final episode that wrapped up all its loose ends and would have been a great ending to the show.
This year we watched and are losing:
Breaking In, The Cape, Chaos, The Defenders, The Event, The Good Guys, Hellcats, Human Target, Lie To Me, Life Unexpected, Mad Love, Medium, Mr. Sunshine, No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, Outsourced, $#*! My Dad Says, Smallville, Tudors and V.
Of these we’re really going to miss The Good Guys, Human Target, Off the Map, and Mr. Sunshine. Outsourced and Smallville were both good as well and Hellcats, Breaking In and Chaos were also fun newcomers.
For whatever reason, Desperate Housewives and One Tree Hill (both of which we watch grudgingly) both made the cut and are coming back – even though One Tree Hill had a great final episode that wrapped up all its loose ends and would have been a great ending to the show.
Monday, August 16, 2010
summer break - done
As expected, I didn’t really get everything accomplished on my week off.
I did clear down a bit of the ‘mess’ in the kitchen. I finally returned some empties - I had an empty twelve in the shed and another twelve in the kitchen. I went through a bunch of magazines that Shan had read the week before.
We popped into a Value Village and found a skirt and boots for Gee's costume. I need to dye the skirt but these were two of the big components that I was concerned about.
Then on the weekend, I found my square and cut a bunch of the bases for the western figures and glued the ones I was working on to the bases.
I started to assemble my Deff Dread bits. I don’t have all of the bits to complete one yet but got the torso assembled.
My son pulled out his figures and paints so I started to repaint his Space Wolves.
We even managed to finally watch 24 (2008-2009) off the tapes so now we can start watching 24 off of the DVR. We also finally watched Torchwood: Children of Earth.
I took some pictures with the camera, so will be able to update some of the pictures-to-follow labeled posts shortly.
All-in-all, I’m declaring it a productive week.
I did clear down a bit of the ‘mess’ in the kitchen. I finally returned some empties - I had an empty twelve in the shed and another twelve in the kitchen. I went through a bunch of magazines that Shan had read the week before.
We popped into a Value Village and found a skirt and boots for Gee's costume. I need to dye the skirt but these were two of the big components that I was concerned about.
Then on the weekend, I found my square and cut a bunch of the bases for the western figures and glued the ones I was working on to the bases.
I started to assemble my Deff Dread bits. I don’t have all of the bits to complete one yet but got the torso assembled.
My son pulled out his figures and paints so I started to repaint his Space Wolves.
We even managed to finally watch 24 (2008-2009) off the tapes so now we can start watching 24 off of the DVR. We also finally watched Torchwood: Children of Earth.
I took some pictures with the camera, so will be able to update some of the pictures-to-follow labeled posts shortly.
All-in-all, I’m declaring it a productive week.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Lost - I want my six years back
We've been watching Lost since the first season when they crashed on the island. We watched the finale. We watched the extra preshow, and even watched the Jimmy Kimmel Live afterwards.
We knew that they couldn’t wrap up all the questions they had created in a final two hours – since they hadn’t really answered most of them all season.
But to have what I consider a bad, St Elsewhere snowglobe / Dallas dream-in-a-shower ending was bad writing. Especially since the writers had already come out early in season 1 or 2 and said that the characters were not dead already.
Some people said the island was them trying to change and when they did they could die and move on. We would be willing to believe that – but then Sawyer had redeemed himself a few times – jumping out of the helicopter, time with Julia, etc and was still around. The writers just didn’t want to get rid of the character.
And if all the island stuff was real – how do you explain the smoke, the light, Richard not aging, Darma, etc? I’m still leaning towards bad writing.
See I think they had the idea have the characters die and move on but when it took off, then they realized that they had to pad out the stories. That’s why they kept introducing new characters – the tailies, the others, Darma, the islanders.
They knew 2 years ago that they had two years to wrap it up. This is what they did instead.
The writers always said ‘if we give away the secret it will ruin the story’. To me, that sounds like bad writing – if your story hinges on a secret twist, and can’t be enjoyed by knowing that twist, then it’s not that good a story. See Identity – you can figure out the twist in the opening credits if you pay attention. If not, they tell you 2/3s of the way in. Knowing either way doesn’t affect the story.
Memento had a twist – but the story itself is compelling even placed in proper order.
Watching The Village knowing when it takes place doesn’t affect the story.
Would people have watched Lost knowing all the characters were already dead – doubtful. If the characters were not already dead, then there are too many unexplained events about the island to make sense – and that have not been resolved.
We knew we were in trouble when they showed the recap show at the beginning of the season to bring those others up to speed for the final season, and then they didn’t even mention Michael or Walt, any of the Tailies, or Russo.
All of which were huge points during the seasons they were in.
So.
Not.
Impressed.
We knew that they couldn’t wrap up all the questions they had created in a final two hours – since they hadn’t really answered most of them all season.
But to have what I consider a bad, St Elsewhere snowglobe / Dallas dream-in-a-shower ending was bad writing. Especially since the writers had already come out early in season 1 or 2 and said that the characters were not dead already.
Some people said the island was them trying to change and when they did they could die and move on. We would be willing to believe that – but then Sawyer had redeemed himself a few times – jumping out of the helicopter, time with Julia, etc and was still around. The writers just didn’t want to get rid of the character.
And if all the island stuff was real – how do you explain the smoke, the light, Richard not aging, Darma, etc? I’m still leaning towards bad writing.
See I think they had the idea have the characters die and move on but when it took off, then they realized that they had to pad out the stories. That’s why they kept introducing new characters – the tailies, the others, Darma, the islanders.
They knew 2 years ago that they had two years to wrap it up. This is what they did instead.
The writers always said ‘if we give away the secret it will ruin the story’. To me, that sounds like bad writing – if your story hinges on a secret twist, and can’t be enjoyed by knowing that twist, then it’s not that good a story. See Identity – you can figure out the twist in the opening credits if you pay attention. If not, they tell you 2/3s of the way in. Knowing either way doesn’t affect the story.
Memento had a twist – but the story itself is compelling even placed in proper order.
Watching The Village knowing when it takes place doesn’t affect the story.
Would people have watched Lost knowing all the characters were already dead – doubtful. If the characters were not already dead, then there are too many unexplained events about the island to make sense – and that have not been resolved.
We knew we were in trouble when they showed the recap show at the beginning of the season to bring those others up to speed for the final season, and then they didn’t even mention Michael or Walt, any of the Tailies, or Russo.
All of which were huge points during the seasons they were in.
So.
Not.
Impressed.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Long Weekend - recap
The pool was filled, the filter hooked up, and salt added. We are switching from chlorine to salt this year and set up the connection.
No fire but barbequing done.
We saw friends at Keycon, visited the dealers’ room – I was the only one who managed to not buy anything.
We also managed to watch a lot of TV. We cleared up a bit of space on the PVR and maintained it over the weekend.
I didn’t do any work on the figures but did manage to read through most of the codices I had won.
It was a nice relaxing weekend. It felt very much like being on a holiday.
No fire but barbequing done.
We saw friends at Keycon, visited the dealers’ room – I was the only one who managed to not buy anything.
We also managed to watch a lot of TV. We cleared up a bit of space on the PVR and maintained it over the weekend.
I didn’t do any work on the figures but did manage to read through most of the codices I had won.
It was a nice relaxing weekend. It felt very much like being on a holiday.
Friday, May 21, 2010
May Long Weekend
It’s the long weekend up here. So far we have some plans but not too many. We’ve already started the yardwork – including spreading two yards of dirt and three yards of gravel. We’ve cleaned and set up the pool and have started filling it. We plan to pop into Keycon on Saturday to visit the dealers’ room and touch base with some friends. Depending on weather (which is forecasting rainy right now), we’ll barbeque and maybe have a fire.
Mostly we’ll try to catch up on our TV. We are hitting the buffer on our PVR and need to clean up a bit. Luckily, a lot of the shows are finishing their season.
I’m going to make a solid effort to either base those western figures to finish them, read the codices I got recently, or do some more work on the 40K models I’ve picked up.
Ideally, it should be a relaxing, but fruitful weekend. Hope yours is equally well.
Mostly we’ll try to catch up on our TV. We are hitting the buffer on our PVR and need to clean up a bit. Luckily, a lot of the shows are finishing their season.
I’m going to make a solid effort to either base those western figures to finish them, read the codices I got recently, or do some more work on the 40K models I’ve picked up.
Ideally, it should be a relaxing, but fruitful weekend. Hope yours is equally well.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Wincon 2009 - notably tiny
With Sherri moving we had lost our nice big space.
With the addition to the house up in the air, we don't really have any space. Plus the wife wasn't terribly keen on being involved.
I had toyed with the idea of just inviting over some friends and playing a few games. Instead, we took good advantage of the nice weather and the kids spent some last time in the pool and I worked away at making ships for Sky Galleons of Mars. We also made a good dent on our TV pile.
We did play some Elixer and some Guillotine - so probably our smallest Wincon yet. With luck, next year should be back to a (new) regular size. We will see.
With the addition to the house up in the air, we don't really have any space. Plus the wife wasn't terribly keen on being involved.
I had toyed with the idea of just inviting over some friends and playing a few games. Instead, we took good advantage of the nice weather and the kids spent some last time in the pool and I worked away at making ships for Sky Galleons of Mars. We also made a good dent on our TV pile.
We did play some Elixer and some Guillotine - so probably our smallest Wincon yet. With luck, next year should be back to a (new) regular size. We will see.
Friday, July 3, 2009
BSG - big fraking deal
Battlestar Galactica.
So we finally got around to watching the finale of Battlestar Galactica. We haven’t been impressed with the series and kept watching in the hopes that it would pay off. It didn’t.
The show had very little in the way of humor. I know war is supposed to be grim – but at least Space Above and Beyond had humor. The main things I wanted from this show – dog fights and cylons were few and far between. Now, when I say cylons I’m referring to the walking toasters or even their new upgraded version. The flesh-covered cylons, whining on about their goals, didn’t really impress me. I didn't like the dogfights and their garbled space communications. Shan pointed out that your two hotshot pilots, Starbuck and Apollo, did very little actual flying.
Part of what really hurt it was the glacially slow pace of the series. After the first two seasons they had just got to Cobol and they were heading towards Earth. This was the story from the original two hour pilot from the old series. They set up a colony which was destroyed – the resistance all being led by cylons.
That also might have been the issue – most of any characters that we actually cared about all ended up as Cylons. They made a big deal about the number of survivors – but we never really see any stories about any of the survivors. We didn’t care anything about Baltar – so any storyline with him was a waste for us.
The ending was pretty poor as well. After 6 episodes of nothing happening, they mention a singularity which automatically forshadows them being displaced to the past. A bit of a battle and then a poor version of Earth2.
This is definitely not a series we will pick up. As much as I like the CG toasters, I can’t justify the rest of the mess. I might get the movie Razor to get a simple taste of it and possibly the mini series, but the rest of the series is a wash. If the seasons were in the $10 bin I would still have to really think hard about if it was worth it.
Lots of people were raving about it being the best written sci-fi series though. I can’t help but wonder if, like Saving Private Ryan and Titanic, these people haven’t seen a lot of the genre. Your mileage may vary.
So we finally got around to watching the finale of Battlestar Galactica. We haven’t been impressed with the series and kept watching in the hopes that it would pay off. It didn’t.
The show had very little in the way of humor. I know war is supposed to be grim – but at least Space Above and Beyond had humor. The main things I wanted from this show – dog fights and cylons were few and far between. Now, when I say cylons I’m referring to the walking toasters or even their new upgraded version. The flesh-covered cylons, whining on about their goals, didn’t really impress me. I didn't like the dogfights and their garbled space communications. Shan pointed out that your two hotshot pilots, Starbuck and Apollo, did very little actual flying.
Part of what really hurt it was the glacially slow pace of the series. After the first two seasons they had just got to Cobol and they were heading towards Earth. This was the story from the original two hour pilot from the old series. They set up a colony which was destroyed – the resistance all being led by cylons.
That also might have been the issue – most of any characters that we actually cared about all ended up as Cylons. They made a big deal about the number of survivors – but we never really see any stories about any of the survivors. We didn’t care anything about Baltar – so any storyline with him was a waste for us.
The ending was pretty poor as well. After 6 episodes of nothing happening, they mention a singularity which automatically forshadows them being displaced to the past. A bit of a battle and then a poor version of Earth2.
This is definitely not a series we will pick up. As much as I like the CG toasters, I can’t justify the rest of the mess. I might get the movie Razor to get a simple taste of it and possibly the mini series, but the rest of the series is a wash. If the seasons were in the $10 bin I would still have to really think hard about if it was worth it.
Lots of people were raving about it being the best written sci-fi series though. I can’t help but wonder if, like Saving Private Ryan and Titanic, these people haven’t seen a lot of the genre. Your mileage may vary.
Monday, June 1, 2009
A bit behind
So, with most of the season finished, we're still a bit behind.
We currently have well over 100 hours to catch up with. We're currently about mid-February in viewing. I'm certainly willing to believe that we watch far too many TV programs. Luckily, natural selection has pared back a fair number of these for next year.
We currently have well over 100 hours to catch up with. We're currently about mid-February in viewing. I'm certainly willing to believe that we watch far too many TV programs. Luckily, natural selection has pared back a fair number of these for next year.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Being placed under abreast
As is common, there have been a bunch of new shows out with a female police/FBI/etc lead and a male analyst/outsider lead - Fringe, Eleventh Hour, The Mentalist, and now Castle. I’ve noticed a trend where the women aren’t dressing appropriate for a FBI agent or Police detective. Take a second look – most of them are running around with their shirts unbuttoned to their bra lines. I expect it would be hard enough to be taken seriously as a female officer without having your cleavage spilling out all the time.
I suppose a lot of them are trying to capture the X-files chemistry – but look back at the first three seasons – Scully (Gillian Anderson) was always dressed conservatively – pretty buttoned up and yet still remained a cutie. I find returning show Life is also handled well - Dani Reese, played by Sarah Shahi, can be incredibly attractive and yet dresses believably as a detective. Robin Tunney’s Teresa Libson from the Mentalist dresses appropriately but then has hair spilling down to the middle of her back. Amanda Righetti on the same show is an adorable redhead but is dressed believably and also has her hair tied back.
I'm liking all of these shows and would recommend them to others. The stories are pretty solid and the characters are good. The next time you watch, take a moment to notice apparel. Just saying is all.
I suppose a lot of them are trying to capture the X-files chemistry – but look back at the first three seasons – Scully (Gillian Anderson) was always dressed conservatively – pretty buttoned up and yet still remained a cutie. I find returning show Life is also handled well - Dani Reese, played by Sarah Shahi, can be incredibly attractive and yet dresses believably as a detective. Robin Tunney’s Teresa Libson from the Mentalist dresses appropriately but then has hair spilling down to the middle of her back. Amanda Righetti on the same show is an adorable redhead but is dressed believably and also has her hair tied back.
I'm liking all of these shows and would recommend them to others. The stories are pretty solid and the characters are good. The next time you watch, take a moment to notice apparel. Just saying is all.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Survivor - Tocantins
So, we're running the fun pool again with this one. Here are the rules again.
My picks this time are Joe, JT, Erinn, Jerry, and Sierra as my Wildcard.
Last time I wasn't sure about Bob - I changed him at the last minute for Dan. If I had kept him I would have had 338 and squeeked in at the top of our pool instead of the 261 points I had and the 12 out of 17 I ended up with. Our first place had 334 otherwise.
We'll see if I can do better this time.
My picks this time are Joe, JT, Erinn, Jerry, and Sierra as my Wildcard.
Last time I wasn't sure about Bob - I changed him at the last minute for Dan. If I had kept him I would have had 338 and squeeked in at the top of our pool instead of the 261 points I had and the 12 out of 17 I ended up with. Our first place had 334 otherwise.
We'll see if I can do better this time.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Speedcubing
I can solve a Rubik’s cube. It’s not as impressive as it sounds. I picked up a booklet back in the 80s when I got my first cube and learned the moves. I could consistently solve it in about 1 minute.
Like most things from high school, my cubes got packed in the moves and I didn’t really play with them again until a few years ago when I picked one up. Muscle memory kicks in - I was still able to solve it – taking a bit longer though.
The simple ability to solve a cube still impresses some people as most people never did learn how to do it.
I solve the top-down method most people who learned started with. Start with solving the top third, then the middle third, then the bottom corners and finish up with the bottom edges. While this does give you a sense of accomplishment when you are doing it, it is an inefficient way as you have to constantly mess up what you have done and then keep putting it back.
Recently though, I saw a documentary on speedcubing – where people were solving the cube between 14 and 20 seconds. They were solving from the bottom up, turning the sides with their fingers instead of their hands. I’ve found a few links – it may require looking into deeper.
Like most things from high school, my cubes got packed in the moves and I didn’t really play with them again until a few years ago when I picked one up. Muscle memory kicks in - I was still able to solve it – taking a bit longer though.
The simple ability to solve a cube still impresses some people as most people never did learn how to do it.
I solve the top-down method most people who learned started with. Start with solving the top third, then the middle third, then the bottom corners and finish up with the bottom edges. While this does give you a sense of accomplishment when you are doing it, it is an inefficient way as you have to constantly mess up what you have done and then keep putting it back.
Recently though, I saw a documentary on speedcubing – where people were solving the cube between 14 and 20 seconds. They were solving from the bottom up, turning the sides with their fingers instead of their hands. I’ve found a few links – it may require looking into deeper.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Poly-sci guys
I’m not a big political science person and yet a lot of the people I am in contact with are poly-sci guys. Christine, JP, Paul, and Shannon are all big poly sci people.
I’ve always been more interested in the personalities rather than the policies. That said, Shan flipped over to the leader’s debates after Survivor and I was hooked for the full two hours. I only saw the English one so I’m going by that. I hadn’t really seen anything from them before so my impressions are solely based on the debate – and my own bias of course.
The clear winners were Elizabeth May of the Green party and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois. Both came across as solid and confident. Elizabeth had her facts down cold. Gilles was a pleasant surprise with a fairly good grasp of English – and a funny way of pronouncing development – and not at all wing-nutty as you would be led to expect from the Bloc.
Stephane Dion of the Liberal (Red) party came across very poorly. If you read his transcript, he was clear and focused but he had came across very weak and sounded like he was having a lot of trouble with English. I have trouble seeing him standing up to whoever wins the election down south.
Stephan Harper of the Conservative (Blue) party came across very indifferent. He has a squinty look that makes it seem like he isn’t listening to what you have to say and doesn’t care about your opinion. He also seemed to deny some easily checked facts.
Jack Layton of the NDP (Orange) came across as a bit of a bully. I’ve been told that his people had told him He also kept saying his name – like the comedians doing impressions of Bob Dole. A good drinking game would have been to take a shot ever time he said “Jack Layton”. In this format, either because of the camera angle or because he kept leaning forward, he also appeared very bald.
The Canadian edition?
I’ve always been more interested in the personalities rather than the policies. That said, Shan flipped over to the leader’s debates after Survivor and I was hooked for the full two hours. I only saw the English one so I’m going by that. I hadn’t really seen anything from them before so my impressions are solely based on the debate – and my own bias of course.
The clear winners were Elizabeth May of the Green party and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois. Both came across as solid and confident. Elizabeth had her facts down cold. Gilles was a pleasant surprise with a fairly good grasp of English – and a funny way of pronouncing development – and not at all wing-nutty as you would be led to expect from the Bloc.
Stephane Dion of the Liberal (Red) party came across very poorly. If you read his transcript, he was clear and focused but he had came across very weak and sounded like he was having a lot of trouble with English. I have trouble seeing him standing up to whoever wins the election down south.
Stephan Harper of the Conservative (Blue) party came across very indifferent. He has a squinty look that makes it seem like he isn’t listening to what you have to say and doesn’t care about your opinion. He also seemed to deny some easily checked facts.
Jack Layton of the NDP (Orange) came across as a bit of a bully. I’ve been told that his people had told him He also kept saying his name – like the comedians doing impressions of Bob Dole. A good drinking game would have been to take a shot ever time he said “Jack Layton”. In this format, either because of the camera angle or because he kept leaning forward, he also appeared very bald.
The Canadian edition?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Broccoli, celery, . . .
VegiTales seems to have gone bankrupt. They are still pushing out movies though. The story seems a bit muddled but you can check these out:
http://www.philvischer.com/?p=38
http://www.philvischer.com/?p=72
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Idea_Productions
http://bigidea.com/index.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeggieTales
For those who haven’t heard of VeggieTales, they are a cartoon series touting ‘Sunday morning values, Saturday morning fun’. One of our friends had turned us on to them and we had picked up a bunch of them. Based on the list above, we’re missing a bunch still.
http://www.philvischer.com/?p=38
http://www.philvischer.com/?p=72
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Idea_Productions
http://bigidea.com/index.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeggieTales
For those who haven’t heard of VeggieTales, they are a cartoon series touting ‘Sunday morning values, Saturday morning fun’. One of our friends had turned us on to them and we had picked up a bunch of them. Based on the list above, we’re missing a bunch still.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Survivor - final
For those who were playing along with us on Survivor, the final points are as below:
Survivor Tribe Points
Pavrati - Dabu/Air/Mal 117 – Ultimate Survivor
Amanda - Dabu/Malakal 106 – 2nd place
Cirie - Dabu/Malakal 80 – voted out episode 14
Natalie - Dabu/Airai 80 – voted out episode 14
Erick - Dabu/Mal/Air 77 – voted out episode 13
Alexis - Dabu/Airai 73 – voted out episode 12
James - Dabu/Air/Mal 73 – removed episode 12 – medical reasons
Jason - Dabu/Airai 73 – voted out episode 11
Ozzy - Dabu/Malakal 62 – voted out episode 10
Eliza - Dabu/Air/Mal 58 – voted out episode 9
Kathy - Airai 46 – left episode 7
Ami - Malakal 44 – voted out episode 8
Jonathan - Airai/Malakal 36 – left episode 6 – medical reasons
Tracy - Malakal/Airai 36 – voted out episode 7
Chet - Malakal/Airai 30 – voted out episode 6
Joel - Airai 24 – voted out episode 5
Mikey - Airai 19 – voted out episode 4
Yau-Man - Malakal 17 – voted out episode 3
Mary - Airai 7 – voted out episode 2
Jonny Fairplay - Malakal - voted out 1st episode
The highest possible total would have been 460 for a perfect combination of Erick, Natalie, Cirie, Amanda, and Pavrati.
My team of Joel, Tracy, James, Pavrati, and Amanda was worth 356 so far. With the final votes, this pulled me up from eighth place to a third place finish. Second place was a close 361. Shan easily held on to first place with 391 points for her team of Erick, Jason, James, Ozzy, and Amanda.
We had hoped Amanda would win but she really doesn’t express herself well in the final Tribal Council.
Survivor Tribe Points
Pavrati - Dabu/Air/Mal 117 – Ultimate Survivor
Amanda - Dabu/Malakal 106 – 2nd place
Cirie - Dabu/Malakal 80 – voted out episode 14
Natalie - Dabu/Airai 80 – voted out episode 14
Erick - Dabu/Mal/Air 77 – voted out episode 13
Alexis - Dabu/Airai 73 – voted out episode 12
James - Dabu/Air/Mal 73 – removed episode 12 – medical reasons
Jason - Dabu/Airai 73 – voted out episode 11
Ozzy - Dabu/Malakal 62 – voted out episode 10
Eliza - Dabu/Air/Mal 58 – voted out episode 9
Kathy - Airai 46 – left episode 7
Ami - Malakal 44 – voted out episode 8
Jonathan - Airai/Malakal 36 – left episode 6 – medical reasons
Tracy - Malakal/Airai 36 – voted out episode 7
Chet - Malakal/Airai 30 – voted out episode 6
Joel - Airai 24 – voted out episode 5
Mikey - Airai 19 – voted out episode 4
Yau-Man - Malakal 17 – voted out episode 3
Mary - Airai 7 – voted out episode 2
Jonny Fairplay - Malakal - voted out 1st episode
The highest possible total would have been 460 for a perfect combination of Erick, Natalie, Cirie, Amanda, and Pavrati.
My team of Joel, Tracy, James, Pavrati, and Amanda was worth 356 so far. With the final votes, this pulled me up from eighth place to a third place finish. Second place was a close 361. Shan easily held on to first place with 391 points for her team of Erick, Jason, James, Ozzy, and Amanda.
We had hoped Amanda would win but she really doesn’t express herself well in the final Tribal Council.
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