When I say extra sauce, I mean extra sauce

I've always said fast food workers were too stingy with giving out condiments and it appears one worker paid for it this time. Read all about it here. You know, none of this would have happened had the customer just asked for extra biscuits.

Let's get the Party started

So after a few delays and a lot of waiting on my end, Mario Party 8 finally was released; the first MP for the Wii. I picked up today along with another Wiimote. I only briefly explored it, since I don't want to be accused of mastering all the mini games by my friends when I play it with them when I return to Cleveland in a few weeks.

Anyways, based on an extremely brief playing of it, my feelings are mixed. For the most part, it's the same as it has been for the previous few iterations, which is a good thing. They've put in a few tweaks (goodbye orbs, hello candy) and added a few new characters just to keep things fresh. They also were able to transition the mini games into being Wii-compatible. I can't wait to try them out, but I have a feeling they'll have just scratched the surface with what they are capable of doing with their technology and these mini games.

There is one major detriment to this new version that I've discovered. The graphics are horrible. They look like absolute shit. For some bizarre reason, gameplay is done in 4:3 instead of the usual 16:9. If you didn't know any better, you would probably think this is a MP from the Nintendo 64 days. The good news is that we're usually good and drunk when playing MP, so we probably won't notice the crappy graphics that much.

RIP Charles Nelson Reilly

As a huge game show fan, I was saddened by the news of CNR's passing earlier today. Match Game is one of my favorite game shows, probably only second to Price is Right. In remembrance of him, here are a couple of his classic clips:

Taking over for Gene Rayburn for a round:


Charles and the gang having fun with a racy answer:


In one of his many "fights" with fellow panelist Brett Somers:

Suck on that Detroit

Just an awesome night for Cleveland sports as we got to use Detroit as our punching bag not once, but twice. First, the Indians won another from the Tigers and completed the sweep over them. That gives us a 2 1/2 lead over them right now in the Central. Everything was clicking for us in that series and the end result was three huge wins over a division rival. Now all we need is just one win over Boston to have a winning record on this road trip. Although, I have a feeling we'll get more than that.

Then to complete the double whammy, the Cavs got back into their series with the Pistons by winning Game 3. Lebron finally got going and it showed. The true test to see if this team is ready to take it to the next level is if we can win on the road, but for now, it's good to win a game that we should win. I'm on cloud 9 right now, so let's hope it doesn't end for a long time.

That's it for me. Have a great Memorial Day everyone! I'll be enjoying it on the "high seas", catching some rays and having fun. See you later this week.

New column posted

I haven't been writing much for the wrestling website Online Onslaught lately because of my busy schedule at school. But now that summer is here, I'm trying to get back on the wagon. I finally have a new column up on the site that you can all check out. It covers the 2001 wrestling event, No Mercy, which was a pretty decent card. Despite that coming in the middle of the bungling Invasion angle, this show managed to have three ****+ matches and marks the night that Jericho finally won the "big one". You can read all about it here.

Heroes Season 2 news

The season 1 finale just finished airing and already news of season 2 is pouring in. Below is some mild spoilery stuff of what we can look forward to when the show returns in the fall.

- The big, bad guy that Molly referred to in the finale will appear early next season and rumors have it that the character has already been cast.

- Both Petrellis will return next season, somehow. Grrrrr

- Casting has already begun for new characters that will debut next season. Included in this list are a boyfriend for Claire (double grrrr), a 28-year old African-American mother, an Irish mobster, and a Latina.

Finale fever

Sorry for the lack of posting the past few days. I just got tied up with a few things. So, here's some brief thoughts I've had on the big finales of the past few days.

Heroes: I have mixed feelings on the finale. I thought it did a nice job of having events connect with how the show began. I also think it set the stage for some interesting things for next season. But the actual action of the episode was fairly anti-climatic. This is why I had been saying the finale should have been two hrs. long. The showdown between Sylar and Peter wasn't nearly as exciting as it should have been. And I thought having Nathan fly Peter away wasn't the best way to avoid the bomb. Peter should have just flown away (for the reason why he didn't, click here.) or Claire should have just shot him.

But letdown on action aside, I'm extremely excited for where things are going. I think we're going to see a lot of history behind these characters, which should hopefully answer some questions. We also, thanks to Molly, have been set up with a new big bad guy for next season, who apparently can "see her". Sadly, it seems that the show killed off a lot of their cooler characters and left some of their weaker ones alive. Gone are Thompson and Linderman, yet Nikki/Jessica, DL, Parkman, and Mohinder all seemingly survived. Thank goodness HRG (ooops, I mean Noah!!!) escaped relatively unscathed and I can't wait to see what his plan is for Volume two!

24: I'm not sure who's more relieved that the day is over, Jack Bauer or the audience? The show tried to bring some excitement to its finale, but sadly, even blowing up and off-shore oil base couldn't salvage this show. The best thing I can say about the finale is that it seemed to wipe the slate clean so that when it returns next season, it can be taken into a different direction and retain the elements that fans loved about this show in the first place. Namely Jack being a bad ass. Like so many TV characters, I'll act like I've had amnesia and try to forgot this season took place.

House: Great finale! Oh wait, that's right, the finale hasn't taken place yet because those idiots at FOX wedged their crappy new reality show after Idol this week instead. It serves them right that the show only retained 38% of Idol's audience. Now that FUX has made me have to wait another week to see the season ender, I've become as cranky as Dr. House himself.

Lost: After such a struggling start to the season, they really got their act together and finished with a bang. So much going on in this episode, both from a good TV perspective and from a mythology perspective. The show has once again left us with a ton of questions that need to be answered and now we have to wait until Feb(!) to get them resolved. Namely:

- What is the narrative structure for next season? Will it all take place back home or have we just switched from flashbacks to flashforwards from now on?
- Who died and had no one but Jack attend their funeral? Locke? Sawyer? Ben? Michael?
- Who is the "he" that Kate had to return home to? Sawyer? Nathan Fillion? Parole officer?
- If that's not Penny's boat, then who does Naomi work for? Could Ben have been telling the truth for the first time in his life?

Aside from the puzzling questions, there was a ton of "Wow" moments that also made this episode awesome. Sayid snapping the guys neck. Hurley to the rescue with the VW bus. Sawyer shooting Mr. Friendly. WALT!! Rousseau reuniting with her daughter by tying up Ben. Locke shooting Naomi.

I should also give credit to Charlie who was the most likeable ever in this episode by messing with the two Looking Glass ladies' "good cop, bad cop routine". Of course, his awesome performance is rewarded with him being killed off. Some will say that there were plenty of ways he could have saved himself, but I think he knew he had to do it, if everything was going to be ok for everyone else. A nice farewell that capped off a fantastic episode.

Let the teasing begin...

Still over a year away, we are already beginning to get some teaser stuff for the next Batman film, The Dark Knight, due next summer. The first website, I Believe in Harvey Dent gives us the first image of Aaron Eckhart as the man who'll become Two Face. Then there is a similar site, I Believe in Harvey Dent Too, which shows the Harvey Dent poster vandalized, Joker-style. On that site you can also enter in your email. You'll receive pixel coordinates which you can enter to help reveal another image under the poster. That image being the first look at Heath Ledger as The Joker.

There is still plenty of good stuff to look forward to this summer, but seeing this gets me really pumped up for next summer. After Nolan did such a great job reinventing this franchise, I can't wait to see what he does in this follow-up.

Oh yeah, the Cavs

I've been so caught up in the Indians great start, that I've kinda forgotten about the Cavs, who have quietly (at least here) made it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 15 years. As happy as I am for them, they've simply won the games that they should have won. Now they face Detroit, the team that bounced them from the playoffs last year. This will be a true test of how good this team is and whether or not Lebron is that elite superstar that everyone believes he is. But for now, I'll just enjoy the victory. It's a great time to be a Cleveland sports fan, and we can't say that too often!

Thursday's finales

CSI: I'm torn on my feelings on this episode. On one hand, the Minature Killer was suitably crazy to commit those murders. But they also made her so crazy, that it seems difficult to believe that she would have the poise to create those minatures. Her psychosis also prevented her from having any sort of decent conversation with Gil. That was frustrating for a couple of reasons: 1) It obviously doesn't help him figure out where Sara is and 2) I really wanted to see them have an in-depth conversation so Gil could wrap his mind around the inner-workings of such a twisted artist like the MK. Grissom's profession of his love for Sara was done in a typical, backwards-way for him. Sadly, we got no follow up by any of the CSIs to respond to this announcement. And do you really think they would have let Gil in there alone with the MK, knowing now his personal investment in finding Sara? As for Sara, they did a nice job of leaving the door wide open for her fate. Depending on whether she resigns or not, the audience will easily buy the fact that she lived or died. Let's hope we get more of a sense of closure to the MK next season than we did in this episode.

The Office: Oh man, what a finish. I think I was tense the entire episode, unsure of what would happen. I'm going to need to watch it again, to actually appreciate all of the humor that was happening as well. I knew Jan's announcement would involve some change to herself, but I honestly thought she was going to go for a sex-change operation (an addadictomy, if you will). And really, after dating Michael, I wouldn't blame her. But she went in the complete opposite direction and got a "boob job". Ooops, I mean, "boob enhancement". Once Michael, saw that, he was a goner. Then we learned that the job Michael, Jim and Karen were interviewing for was Jan's job. Seeing Jan blow up upon learning this (I love Michael trying to tell David he didn't tell her) was both hilarious and scary at the same time.

Then you had Jim and Karen also applying for the job. All of the JAM people out there were probably aghast when Karen called Pam a bitch. Then she continues to lose points when she so quickly agrees to abandon Jim in favor of her friends while he waited to be interviewed. It was clear throughout the episode that this girl was meant for NY, while Jim, who might say otherwise, is destined for a life in Scranton. The capper was the wonderful note he found from Pam while he was interview that included the "gold medal" from the Office Olymipics episode (nice callback there). Fans of the show then got the moment they've been waiting for when Jim came back and asked Pam out on a date. If your heart didn't melt at least a little upon seeing Pam's face at that point, then your heart is made of stone.

Lest we not forget all of other wonderful Office workers. Dwight's short-lived reign as regional manager (while still acting as Assistant to the Regional manager) was fantastic. Loved the Schrute Bucks, his interview of (only) Andy for his #2, his lecture on soil, and his secret working relationship with Pam. Also, Stanley had some great comebacks for Dwight, Kevin's assessment of Pam vs. Karen was hilarious, and I loved Creed's "blog". BTW, there is now a real Creed blog that you can check out here.

Finally, we were in for one more shocker when we saw Ryan of all people get Jan's job and dump Kelly in one swooop. Now, does anyone else think this might not necessarily be true? What if David was talking to Karen about the job and then Karen called Ryan for the date? Remember two weeks ago when Ryan mentioned asking Karen out? Plus, David said that it would be nice to have another MBA around, and I'm not positive that Ryan actually got his yet. I can't wait until next season to find out!!!

Price is Right: Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful tribute they had for Bob Barker last night, celebrating his 50 years in television. They did a nice job of showing clips of his career, while also recognizing all that's he done. There were also a couple of nice cameos by CBS president Les Moonves and Adam Sandler (Happy!) They also managed to squeeze in a mini-version of the show and gave away a lot of loot to boot. All in all, a nice show that makes me a little sad, as we now have only about a month left of episodes until Bob says goodbye for good.

Tribe looking terrific

I haven't posted much about the Indians lately. First, it was because I was busy with school and then it was because they weren't playing that great. But after the terrible finish to the series with the A's, the Tribe has rebounded nicely with a sweep over the Twins. The first two games the bats came to life, which was great to see. Today, it was the awesome pitching performance by Fausto Carmona outdueling Johan Santana (the second time he's done that this season!) We now enter into a weekend series with the Reds (interleague play already?), and we usually beat them up, so I expect the same result this weekend. Also, with a Tigers loss today, we're back on top in the Central division. If after this weekend, we're in first after the first 40 games, that would be a real good sign for the rest of the season.

The big question right now for the Tribe is what to do when their injured get healthy. When Jake Westbrook comes back, what do you do with Carmona, who's just been fantastic. I hate to say it, but if Sowers doesn't shape up, he might be the one who loses his job. Then you have Andy Marte due to return soon as well. In his place, Casey has proved to be better defensively and lately has been producing on offense as well. Marte may just come off the DL and head straight to Buffalo, which wouldn't bother me one bit.

FOX and CW's fall schedules

Nothing much to report on this final day of upfronts. All of the shows that I watch on these channels (24, Simpsons, House, Friday Night Smackdown) all stay put. Nothing got cancelled that I'm upset over (although I'm sure the 12 people that watched Veronica Mars are mourning today). And none of the new shows stood out to me as anything special.

If you want a closer look, you can see their lineups here and here.

Charlie's Greatest Hits

Congratualations Lost, you finally made me care about Charlie for an episode. Nice job by the writers to give us upbeat flashbacks this week of Charlie's fondest memories as he prepares to die. And frankly, going out in a blaze of glory in the looking glass hatch (more Alice in Wonderland references!) is a much cooler way to die than simply drowning trying to save Clare. I actually thought Charlie was going to let Desmond go down for him, but props to the hobbit for finally accepting his fate.

Meanwhile, Jack's got his big plan all set to take out the Others. It looks sound, which means it will likely go oh so wrong. I'm not sure taking almost all of the beach people together on a trek is the best way to keep him safe but hey, who am I to question the all-knowing Jack Shepherd. Next week, of course looks to provide us with the showdown we've been waiting for. The previews indicate that everyone is going to get in on the action and many will probably not make it out alive. Plus, the promise of a "game-changing" moment has me intrigued as to what they could possibly do to make this show any more topsy-turvy.

BTW, hooray for the return of Rose and Bernard!!

CBS's fall schedule

CBS kept the status quo for the most part, which is fine by me. If it aint broke, don't fix it. The only change to any of their returning shows was that Without a Trace and Shark swapped timeslots, which I think is a better move, since Trace floundered on Sundays.

The best news was that How I Met Your Mother did get renewed (Hooray!!). It kicks off Monday nights, followed by The Big Bang Theory (new show), Two and Half Men, and Rules of Engagement.

New Adventures of Old Christine and The Amazing Race were renewed but won't return until midseason.

Shows cancelled included Jericho, The King of Queens, The Class, and Close to Home.

None of their new shows seemed particulary enticing, but I'll give them credit for thinking outside of the box as a lot of them don't seem like typical CBS shows. The one that was most interesting was a new reality show called Kid Nation, about a set of 8-15 year olds who are put are sent to a remote town in New Mexico to start a new world. There are no eliminations and the kids can leave whenever if they want. A cool concept that hopefully won't be tacky.

Full information on their schedule can be found here.

"I hate this kid"

House was back and focusing on the case again. Yes, the Foreman stuff was there but in a small, more tolerable dose. That subplot in fact, turned into an hour-long Shaggy video as everyone claimed "it wasn't me" when questioned whether they sabotaged Foreman's job interview. Again, we all know he's staying, so the question becomes in what capacity. Does he just stay in the same spot and suck it up, or does he take Cuddy's lucrative offer, which would make for some very interesting storylines in the future.

As for the actual case, I think the writers had fun coming up with nasty lines for someone other than House. You had to feel for the poor mother who had to take all of that abuse and had no father to knock some kindness into him. House's chess match with the kid was a cool curmudgeon showdown. In the end they found out what's wrong (natch), but couldn't solve the kid's attitude. Now the mother has to deal with that, plus tend to his condition as well. Some gals have all the luck.

By the way, you can add "urine turning to blood" as another thing I never want to see on a TV show again, along with last week's "brains exploding out the back of your head".

Lifetime's (errrr, I mean ABC) fall schedule

Wow, I really don't see myself watching anything on ABC come this fall. When Lost returns in January, I'll catch that. Otherwise, they are providing nothing appealing for me to watch. I was already pretty turned off by them with their inclusion of shows like Grey's, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and Brothers and Sisters, and Dancing with the Stars. I mean, seriously, what man would watch that lineup of shows?

Now, in addition to all of those shows coming back, their crop of new shows sounds like more of the same and nothing that appealing. Maybe I'll be proven wrong when I actually see previews for these shows, but for now, I'll say no thanks.

You can see for yourself the additions and changes they've made here.

Monday TV madness

How I Met Your Mother: A bittersweet finale from one of my favorite shows. It was a nice companion piece to last week's episode. That one nicely focused on Lily and Marshall, while this one looked at Robin and Ted. Sadly, it was not a happy ending for them as all their differences that they've been trying to ignore finally were accepted and they decided to break up. It's a shame that the writers put themselves into a corner by ruling out Robin as the mother as she works so well with Ted. If this is the series finale (which it better not be!), then kudos to the writers for providing closure on everything. But if it does return, then there should be some fun in store with Barney back as Ted's wingman. By the way, the season so needs to open with Barney saying "dary". We'll have been waiting for it all summer.

24: I'm not sure why I'm bothering to write anything about it, since I don't really have anything positive to say. I found it funny that a couple of lines said by VP Daniels seemed to echo a lot of fan's sentiment about this season. Things like, "this has been all for nothing" and "nothing seems to make sense". Let's hope the season closes with a bang and tries to give us closure on so many of the dangling storylines that they've left throughout the season.

Heroes: Speaking of things going out with a bang, Heroes is certainly doing their part. I cannot believe the death count from last night's episode. I expected that maybe in the finale, but not this week. Then again, some of them may not be dead (although some like Ted are a given). It's really a shame too who got axed as most of them were characters I liked!! Yet people like Mohinder, Parkman, Nikki and the Petrellis are all still living. Grrr. Hiro's duel with his dad was cool, but I don't get why Ando would be so quick to abandon Hiro and go at this alone. Me thinks there may be more to that than we saw. Also, I can't tell where Mr. Nakamura's allegiance lies. It seemed like he was the one who betrayed Linderman and the rest of that group, but I still don't get "good guy" vibes from him. I also can't believe that HRG would so quickly allow Claire to lead Peter and Ted out of NYC. Granted, he had a mission of his own, but that just seems like a bad idea. Let's hope everything turns out all right for him and Claire. By the way, is it wrong of me to want to see HRG cap Molly. To me, she seems like she'll be more trouble than she will be helpful. All in all, a great episode and I can't wait for the final showdown next week. We know it will be explosive.

NBC announces fall schedule

OK, so this is a big week for TV viewers as all the networks will be announcing their fall schedules. We learn what got cancelled, what will be new, and any potential scheduling changes for our returning favorites. Today, NBC announced their schedule.

All the details can be found here.

The key moves:
- Gone are Studio 60 and Crossing Jordan
- Friday Night Lights (and wisely gets moved to Fridays) and Law & Order survived
- Thursday's lineup is now Earl, 30 Rock, Office, and Scrubs
- The Office's season will have 5 hour long episoded and a total of 30 hrs. of new content.
- There will be 30 combined episodes of "Heroes" and "Heroes: Origins," an innovative new spin-off that each week will introduce a new character -- one of whom will be chosen by viewers through the "Heroes" website on NBC.com to become a cast regular the following season
- 8 new shows were picked up including 5 dramas, 1 sitcom, and two unscripted series

My thoughts:
- Of the new shows, Journeyman looks to be the best drama and could pair up nicely with Heroes. I look forward to The IT crowd too, but right now it doesn't have a place on the schedule. Most likely, it'll fill in for Scrubs at some point since they're only doing 18 episodes this year.
- I'm excited about Heroes bulking up on episodes and the Heroes: Origins spin-off sounds really cool. However, I hope the creators don't burn themselves out trying to come up with so much content.
- Ditto for The Office and Earl (who will also have 25 episodes next season). But I think this is still better than the proposed change to make The Office an hour-long permanently.
- Until we see what shows are placed against them, I can't say much about the timeslots of the shows, but it seems NBC didn't do anything to risky with their placement. Of all the networks, NBC, I feel, has made the most improvements as far as content goes over the past couple of years. I hope that starts to show in the ratings next year.

Survivor finale

Last night's finale was the most shocking and least shocking finale in it's history. Most people are still in disbelief that Dreamz reneged on his deal, but once it happened, Earl's victory was a foregone conclusion. I'm happy for Earl, as I thought he played a really smart game throughout and seemed to be a pretty nice guy (also props to him for playing the game so well given that he only learned he would be a contestant two days before filming). As for Yau, seeing him take the events in stride and actually putting the blame on himself for his ouster softens the blow...just a bit.

Highlights/lowlights of the episode:

- The maze challenge was really awesome and Yau just proved how awesome he is by smoking the course. Cassandra, of course, was doing her best Mr. Magoo act. Boy, was she pathetic.
- Boo was smart in trying to get Earl to vote out Dreamz (Yau would probably be getting his check right now had it happened), but unfortunately for Floz, the "brothers" decided to stick together.
- I also enjoyed the Chinese water torture final challenge, but it was pretty obvious that Dreamz was going to win that one. Frankly, I'm surprised Cassandra lasted as long as she did there.
- Thank God for Tivo so I could buzz past the fallen Survivors montage and the final three waxing nostalgic over the "accomplishments" over the past 39 days.
- The jury was surprisingly lively considering the final three really didn't do a lot to them to deserve their wrath. Lisi looked particularly embarassing considering none of them were involved in her boot. Alex's performance would have immediately earned him the title of "World's Worst Lawyer" had we not known already that the Amazing Race's Mirna was a lawyer. What was up with Boo pulling the Christian card? Dude seemed pretty mellow during his time on the island. I loved Edgardo asking Earl how he knew about the HII and Earl saying Dreamz, point-blank.
- The reunion show was pretty weak though. Too much time was spent on getting Dreamz to give a straight answer when we knew he wouldn't/couldn't. As annoying as Rocky was, I still believe he was in the right for trying to get Anthony to stand up for himself. That guy really needs to grow a pair. Gary's tattoo was strange. Michelle was still adorable as ever and really should have pointed out how screwed she got by the "we're merged, but it's a tribe voting you out" twist. I also think Stacy got a bum rap on the show as being a bitch. That was really only evident in those first few episodes, which is a shame for her.
- Finally, the reveal of China as the next location was no surprise since it had been leaked for weeks now. And since they haven't filmed anything yet, they couldn't tease us about the potential contestants or twists for next season. Still, the location should be a good one and I'm looking forward to it. Also, there has been a lot of strong rumors going around that after China will be another All-Star edition. Once I get confirmation, I'll let you know. In the meantime, free feel to speculate who should be the cast for that one.

Movie theater etiquette

With the summer movie season in full effect, I thought it would be appropriate to remind everyone out there of some hints and tips of what you should do at the theater to avoid ticking me off. Here then is a list of helpful dos and donts, courtesy of EW.com:

- No matter how bad the movie is, no one wants to hear you talk through it.

- If you go to the bathroom during the film, you are allowed one 5-second recap upon your return. If you can't hear it or don't "get it," sorry.

- Try not to laugh when a fellow audience member yells out something funny. You will only encourage him.

- If you show up after the previews have begun, you've forfeited your right to ask someone — especially an elderly person — to move seats so your six-person party can sit together.

- While we appreciate you leaving your seat to make that call on your cellphone, we can still hear you if you're standing inside the theater doors. Step outside.

- If you're one of only a few people in a theater, do not sit directly in front of one of them. Even in stadium seating.

- Do not spend five minutes looking through your bag for something after the movie starts. It's dark. You're not going to find it.

- Open the candy quickly. Yes, it will be loud, but only for a second. As opposed to what happens if you try to do it slowly. And you make noise anyway. And your friends feel the need to laugh at you.

And a couple more added by me:

- Children should not be admitted into any showing past 9pm. They will not stay in their seat and they will distract the audience. Parents, if you can't find a sitter, then you can't go out.

- Just because you're clever enough to get it past the attendants, does not give you the right to bring an entire 4 course dinner from KFC into the theater and eat it while the film is playing.

Feel free to add your own.

Thursday's terrific TV

My Name is Earl: This show continues to abuse sitcom cliches, yet still make them work in their sweet, twisted way. The season finale's cliffhanger saw Earl taking the fall for Joy and going to jail for her. As sad as those final images were (Joy and family praying for "old daddy", Randy all alone, Earl turning in his list), I have a feeling that it will lead to some funny material to kick off next season. Especially given that we saw Earl is bunking with old partner-in-crime Ralph. As has been lately, Joy provided the funniest moments of the episode (loved her inadvertantly turning herself in to Dog the Bounty Hunter). But, Joy's deaf lawyer's interpreter, Doug, has been increasingly hilarious as the season went on. Here's hoping they find a way to bring him back next season as well.

The Office: What makes this show so great was all evident in this episode. You had that wonderful mix of delightfully funny and awkwardly uncomfortable moments. How adorable was it seeing seeing the entire staff sing "The Gambler" in the bus? Then, we got an encore at the end with their rendition of The Flintstones. I loved seeing a motivated Stanley, even if it was only fleeting. They need to find more ways to get him excited. Once again, I have to say "Poor Toby". He gets left behind on Beach Day and he's stuck at the office missing out on Pam in her two-piece. I loved Dwight and Jim's Harry Potter banter, although I'm sure those jokes were lost on non-readers. Kelly's comparison of Bob Hope to Amanda Bynes and Michael's going along with it also had me in stiches.

But of course, the main thing about this episode is our little Pam Beasley finally growing a backbone, and all it took was a walk through hot coals. Man, she really unloaded there and I was not expecting that at all. She said everything that the Jammers have been wanting her to say for so long. And now what will be the fallout. Does her comments make Jim want to stay or try that much harder to get that corporate job? (He certainly wasn't interested in Michael's job, that's for sure). Can't wait for the finale. Is it next Thursday yet?

Survivor: As predicted, things got downright messy now that we are down to only the flimsy alliance of six. For as strong as they were to get there in tact, they sure are willing to throw away alliances in a heartbeat and that was seen again this week. Things got complicated once Yau won the car challenge and then gave it to Dreamz in return for his promise to give him immunity if they make it to the final four. Dreamz, in his usual act first, think way later mentality, realized after the fact that this was Yau using Jedi mind tricks to prevent him from making the top three. This caused Dreamz to start finding a way for Yau not to make it to the final four. All the while, the plan was still to eliminate Boo. That is, until he won immunity. Doh. Dreamz then convinced everyone but Earl to vote for Yau. Too bad Stacy lacked subtlety and basically tipped off Yau that he was going. Yau then cashed in his immunity necklack and it was Stacy who went instead in a proper kharmic send-off. We're now down to five and the finale is Sunday. My money is still on Earl to win, but really anything can happen. I've been very pleased with the turnaround this season has made and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

CSI: They don't do it often, but CSI was guilty of cheap stuntcasting this week. They played the Lady Heather card once again because they knew it would lure viewers, as well as stir the pot for all of Las Vegas favorites. The crimes were nothing special, but then again, they weren't meant to be. This one was about furthering Grissom's relationship with Heather and the impact it has on everyone else. Sara seemed to take it in stride, but you know she was doing a slow burn inside. And Catherine was right about Gil's hypocrisy when it comes to personal relationships and cases. Then again, Catherine's conflicts of interest usually come from her wanting some and making poor decisions, while Gil is always thinking three steps ahead and knows what he's doing. As is the theme this week, tonight's episode was merely a prelude to next week's finale. We finally learn who the minature killer is (could it be the women briefly mentioned by Greg at the beginning of the episode?) and we'll also learn if one of the CSIs actually bites the bullet. Dum Dum Dum

Zodiac

Squeezed in another film at the Blue Ridge today (God bless summer vacation!) and saw a fantastic one. The entire cast was top notch, even those who had smaller roles like Brian Cox and Anthony Edwards. It's a long movie (clocking in over 2 1/2 hours), but you easily become engrossed in everything and the film never really drags. I certainly would have liked some closure, but real life dictates otherwise. Despite the fact that the true killer was never confirmed, the film does a nice job of guiding you in a certain direction and giving you a person that likely committed the crimes. There were several questions I had while watching it (like why does it take so long for Jake Gyllenhaal's character to get involved in the case?), but I'm not sure it was the film's place to answer those questions. I guess one should just read more about the case if they want to know more. I think the most frustrating thing about the film is realizing how much easier it would be to determine the killer in today's day and age thanks to technology. Then again, maybe I'm spoiled by watching C.S.I. all the time.

Bottom line is that this was fantastic and a must-see recommendation from me. Most likely you'll have to wait until it comes out to video now, but when it does go rent it. A-

So that's Jacob?

Well after months of teasing, we supposedly finally got to see Jacob tonight. I've got mixed emotions on it as it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. I fully anticipate that we'll get more info on him in the weeks and years to come, but for now, consider me underwhelmed. There are some speculation on the Lost message boards that there is a connection between the island's volcanic gas and the hallucinations people have. My head starts to hurt if I try to think about that though. Also, there's already a screencap up of a brief glimpse of Jacob:



The rest of the episode was a mixed bag. We certainly got some answers about the Dharma Initiative and Ben's past. We also learned that Jack and Juliette have a plan to combat against the Others. And the previews seem to indicate that Rousseau's trip for dynamite last week may play into that. Then there was the shocking finish, which I won't say here in case someone hasn't seen the episode yet. But all I have to say about that is, "Oh my God".

And now some questions after last night's episode:
- What happened to Annie? Would Ben let her die along with the rest of the Dharma people?
- Was that really Richard that young Ben met in the jungle? If not, who?
- Is there any significance to the fact that Ben and Locke's mothers are both named Emily?
- How much more abuse can poor Mikhail take?
- And can we really trust Jack and Juliette?

Breach

I caught this at the Blue Ridge tonight and was fairly pleased. It's a decent espionage film with some really good performances. Chris Cooper in general gives me the creeps, so he was perfect for the role he was playing. Ryan Phillipe was fine as the plucky agent wannabe and Laura Linney was good, as always, in the role of the agent in charge of the case.

My only complaint is that there was nothing special about the film. It was a decent story, because it was true, but the filmmaker did nothing to make the film anything memorable. Perhaps it was done intentionally, so as not to glorify what Hanssen did. But I left the theater thinking what was the purpose of making the film. If it was just going to be a throw-away thriller, why do it on a true story. It seemed like there should have been some statement made and I didn't get what that was. Aside from that, though, it's a well-done film and one that was certainly worth my $1.50. B

Movie project news

Some interesting news on some films that are in various stages of production.

1. Director Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Grindhouse, Sin City) is currently trying to decide between two nostaligia films: Either a live-action version of the 1960s cartoon, The Jetsons or a movie based on the TV show, Land of the Lost. Will Ferrell has agreed to star in the LotL film, but The Jetsons movie already has a script. I'd rather he chose Land of the Lost, but The Jetsons seems like a project he would more likely do.

2. While conducting interviews for Shrek, Mike Myers said that he is in the planning stages right now to do a fourth Austin Powers movie and this one would be done completely from Dr. Evil's perspective. I really like the franchise, but I think Myers is seriously mis-guided if he thinks that's the best approach to this film. The Dr. Evil character really got played out in the third film. They would be better off making them more like Bond spoofs and have Austin battle a different villain in each one. Dr. Evil is supposed to be like Blofeld. He's the mastermind behind everything, but he doesn't actually commit the crimes.

3. After taking forever to pick a Friday, Michael Moore's latest documentary, Sicko, finally has an official release date: June 29. I really don't have anything to add, but I know some people have been waiting to hear when that film was finally going to get released.

"You drugged me?!?!"

I don't have much to say about last night's House. The dueling doping schemes between House and Wilson was another new twist in their bizarre, odd-couple relationship. I wish it would have been played out/explained better. I wasn't sure what Wilson's exact problem was and despite the patient noticing House was happy (I mean, hazy) I didn't think it was overly noticeable.

Beside that, there were a couple of major gross-out moments in the show. First the big needle in the eye and then the girl's brains exploding out of the back of her head. Yuck.

I'm interested to see where House's relationship with Honey goes. She seemingly is a good antidote for his boorish behavior, but I'm not sure it can last.

Finally, I won't bother commenting on Foreman's resignation since it's known that he'll be back next year and this is just a silly plot twist that won't have severe reprecussions.

Monday's TV musings

A rather meandering night of television as everybody seemed to be content staying in a holding pattern until their season finales.

How I Met Your Mother: A nice episode that finally saw Lily and Marshall tie the knot. As usual, they were able to put their creative spin on the sitcom cliche (in this case the sitcom wedding), but in the end there wasn't anything big about this episode. Nor was their anything that stood out as extraordinarily funny. Barney's con of getting people to do things "for the bride" was fun, as was Marshall's hair disaster. Overall, this one was meant to be more touching than funny. Can't wait to see what goes down during the wedding party next week.

Heroes: This week's episode was entitled "The Hard Part", which evidently refered to the difficulty in coming up with stories before the big finale. Too much of the focus was on uninteresting characters this week. Seeing the softer side of Sylar wasn't very fun at all. Mohinder's always a bore and I'm not quite sure how important Molly really is yet. After so much time spent on having Hiro search for the sword, the thing breaks not three episodes after finally getting it. Doh! About the only redeeming moment of the episode was the reunion of HRG with his Clarebear. Of course, that got sapped of its emotional value by having the focus shift to Peter's glowing hands. Those damn Petrellis! Clare needs to get away from all of them immediately. I can't believe she would even consider carrying a gun and going along with Peter's plan. Anyways, I fully expect things to kick back into high gear next week as we've only got two episodes left.

24: Sadly, not even a terrorist attack on CTU could liven things up on this show. It was fun seeing Jack go gun crazy on the Chinese, but sadly that didn't last very long. It seems like they're going to try and tie everything together by having Papa Bauer connected with the Chinese. They're really going to need to pull out the big guns if they have any chance of salvation for this season. BTW, it was nice to see Milo get capped. Good riddance to dead weight.

Monday Night RAW: I guess we'll call this a draw this week. All the damage done by actually going through with a Cena vs. Khali feud was remedied by having Edge win Money in the Bank. I totally marked out for that. I hate to see Kennedy go down with another unfortunate injury, but I think this move has a lot of potential. Shift Edge over to Smackdown and take the title off of the also injured Taker. Then you have a sweet main event scene on SD with Edge, Benoit, Kane, Batista and eventually a returning Rey Mysterio. Then Kennedy should be healthy enough to be back for WM where he can take on Edge in a feud that has already had seeds planted. The rest of the show was just there as they don't seem motivated to start any new feuds right now. With the Judgment Day card looking like a repeat of the last PPV, I think I'll save my $40.

Lost sets its end date

You can read here how the producers of Lost and ABC have come to terms with when the show will end. Basically, it'll run for three more season, each with only 16 episodes that will run consecutively ala 24.

Personally, I'm glad to see they've set the end date as it gives them a much better framework to deal with the entire story. I also like having the seasons run uninterrupted. But only 16 episodes each season? I think the show is strong enough to be able to do three more full seasons. Plus, I shudder to think what ABC will run in its timeslot when it's not on.

Race limps to the finish line

A thoroughly underwhelming finish to a season that struggled most of the way through. Given their performance throughout, Eric and Danielle were the least worthy of winning. They were yielded twice, marked for elimination once, seemingly were forever stranded at airports and never finished first in a leg until this episode. I mean, annoying as they are, at least the Schmirnas were skillful at finding early flights.

I was impressed with the physical challenge that they did (mile run on the beach and then kayak through rough waters), but it goes to show that this race is only designed for top atheletes. Could you imagine Teri and Ian completing that challenge?

As much as I liked the physical challenge, I loathed the safe-cracking one (Where was the Roadblock). It's a good thing the questions were about the other teams and not about your partner, or else Danielle would have been there forever. I think the final moments revealed where Eric's heart lie. We knew from their previous season that Eric and Jeremy were close, but that "I'm gonna give you some spankings" line, last night just confirmed it. I guess the show felt two gay couples was enough and asked Eric to find a beard.

Oh well. As a show, the Amazing Race is still solid and I have no doubt they'll rebound next time, as long as they have decent contestants.

Webbed Feat

Finally got to see Spiderman 3 tonight and it was...all right. Clearly a step down from #2, but really that one left the bar a little too high for anything to go over it.

The major problem I had with the film was that chemistry between Peter and Mary Jane seemingly vanished in this film. Part of what made 2 so great was because you truly felt the strong bond between them and you were vested in seeing what happened to them. This time, their love feels hollow and you're left uncaring about them being torn apart. Part of it I blame on Dunst, who seemed to phone it in here. Part of it, is on some uncharacteristic actions on both their parts early on that seem to be there to create problems in their relationship, yet the motivations behind them aren't explained. The most telling aspect of how I viewed Peter and MJ's relationship between this film and the last is through the female side characters. Characters like Ursula, Pete's neighbor, and Miss Brant, the newspaper secretary in 2 appear to me like threats to the relationship, whereas in this film they seem like appealing alternatives.

The relationship storyline unfortunately sacrifices screentime for the film's top-notch villians. And with three of them this time, their appearances are even more limited. When they are there, the film is great. There are a number of tremendous action sequences that appear to leap right out of the comic books. One interesting note, though, is that once again the villains are made sympathetic. We have yet to see a villian in the Spiderman series, who is just outright evil. That point, aside, Thomas Haden Church works well as the lumbering Sandman and his visual effects are just awesome. Topher Grace is just fantastic in the film and really deserved to have his character be more fleshed out.

On top of the great action, I was pleased to see some returning favorites. Of course, Aunt Mae, Jameson, Dr. Connors, and Ditkovitch are all back doing wonderful jobs in their small roles. But we also had cameos from Stan Lee (in a speaking role this time) and Bruce Campbell. Bruce's appearance is one of the highlights of the film. Perhaps, most important of all, Maker's Mark made it back for its third appearance. I was getting worried when there had been two scenes involving Harry and alcohol and it wasn't there. But it finally showed up in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameo.

Overall, a good start to the summer movie season, but there's certainly room for other films to top this one. B

EW's Heroes covers update

So I ended up getting to cover with Hiro and Nathan on the cover. I guess we'll call that a draw. Anyway, the story inside has some interesting previews/spoilers on the final three episodes and on Season 2. I won't mention them here, but if you're interested in knowing them yourself, you can read the story online here.

TV, TV, and...more TV

I'm backlogged on my TV thoughts again, so to prevent this post from being the entire blog, my thoughts will have to be abbreviated. Please feel free to chime in with your thoughts though and tell me what I forgot to mention.

House: Typically whenever the primary is a kid, the show usually portrays the parents negatively in some way. Tonight, was different and it was heartbreaking seeing them go through that emotional roller coaster over the fate of their two sons. But in usual House fashion, both made it out alive. Unfortunately, their lives came at the expense of Foreman, who decided to quit in fear of becoming too much like House (and who wouldn't be afraid of that). This might have been more shocking to me had it not already been spoiled to me (thank you very much TV Guide). Also, while the dog stuff was cute (gotta love it developing a limp), I would have much rather had more screen time for Chase, Cameron and Cutty.

Lost: Another stellar episode from them this week. While many had put two and two together and determined Locke's dad was Sawyer's con man, it was still fun to see that all play out. We once again some hints that they're not on an island, but rather dead, which isn't likely true but interesting nonetheless. Who's going to such lengths to keep this place hidden and why? Perhaps most interesting of all was the indication that Jack and Juliette have a secret that they're not sharing with the rest of the castways. The previews for next week seem to indicate we may find out what it is, along with some answers to the Dharma initiative as well. We're clearly setting up for a major showdown between the castaways and the Others, but it's unclear who's side everyone is playing on. Should be fun to see how it all plays out.

My Name is Earl: I feel foolish for not getting the Rudy reference sooner than I did. Nice stunt casting there. They always do a really good job of getting guest stars who are perfect in the roles they play and unlike a show like Will & Grace they don't bring them in and flaunt them around just to grab some extra ratings. The scratch and sniff stunt was a nice bonus, but kinda unnecessary. It didn't really add anything to the show. Hopefully, they won't do stuff like that in the future or else they will become like Will & Grace. Overall, another nice story this week with Earl finally landing a job. Someone wrote earlier this week that they felt Earl was becoming too nice of a show and was suffering as a result. I don't know if I fully agree, but seeing evil Earl more would be nice.

The Office: Not my favorite episode of the season, but certainly still possessed plenty of laughs. This episode, more than anything, sets up some key things that will come into play as the season closes. What will be the backlash of Michael's break-up with Jan? Will Michael's wish for Pam to gain courage come true and she'll finally admit her feelings to Jim?

And will anybody ever bring this man to justice?

Survivor: This was a pretty standard episode for this point in any season. There's always a strong alliance post-merge who picks off the outsiders one by one. When it gets down to that last person, they always try their darndest to make the outcome not look like a foregone conclusion. This time they tried making us belive that Yau could be a goner, but nobody was buying it. The challenges were pretty weak this week; I'm pretty sure we've seen that eating one before (or was that MXC?) and the immunity challenge wasn't nearly as intricate as it should have been for this late in the season. The highlight was probably Jeff browbeating the contestants for their lame digging skills during the immunity challenge (particularly Cassandra). I guess they weren't trying figuring they didn't need immunity this week. Now that the outsiders are gone, things should get downright nasty next week and I can't wait.

CSI: I always love whenever they explore the weirdos of the world and the suspects in tonight's show certainly fit the bill. I can't believe they had Enrico Colantoni as a guest star on an episode about aliens and they didn't make one Mars pun. As for the other Ally Sheedy, I was waiting for her to talk about Johnny 5 being alive. BTW, what is up with hand biting this week. She bites Greg on the hand and on Lost, Locke's dad inflicting the same kind of punishment on Locke. Weird. Anyway, the most bizarre thing about this episode was those final seconds. Are they trying to make us think that Gil is the minature killer? I'm sure this is just something where he's trying to get in the mind of the killer or set something up to bait the killer. Regardless, I can't wait to see the season finale. And after reading this story (WARNING: Spoiler alert!), I'm even more perplexed to see how it plays out.

License to Wed trailer

Believe it or not, Transformers isn't the only film coming out over 4th of July. There's a romantic comedy called License to Wed. Normally I wouldn't give a film like this the time of day, but given that it's got Jim from The Office and Mandy Moore, who is gorgeous, I decided to give the trailer a look. As it turns out, it looks like it might be funny. If you watch carefully you may also notice a brief appearance by Brian Baumgartner, who plays Kevin on The Office. So what do you think, worth the price of admission or waste of time?

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Heroes & EW: A winning combination

So I go over to EW.com today to read their review of last night's Lost (another awesome episode, which I'll talk more about later) and I see the coolest thing...this upcoming week's cover story is on Heroes!! Not only that, but they have five different covers featuring the various cast members. Not only that, but each cover contains clues/references to the last few episodes of the season.

I really wanted to post the cover photos here, but they're in flash format and I don't know how to put them on here. So you'll just have to settle for checking them out here

I hope I get the one with Claire and HRG. But knowing my mailman, I'll get stuck with the Nikki/Jessica and DL one. Bleech.

Big changes in store?

Within the past day, there has been news of some big changes to a couple of my favorite TV show. First, there was the article posted yesterday where the producers of 24 said they were "hurt" by the criticism they've received this year and that this may be the last season of 24 under its current structure. They wouldn't go into detail as to what changes may come, but it certainly is perplexing. In reality, the formula works (as proven by last season's awesomeness), it's a matter of getting and keeping strong characters. They've killed or arrested so many great characters that they were left with a hollow shell of themselves this season. So unless they have the power to bring people back from the dead, I don't know if structural changes are the answer.

Then there was this story which is primarily about NBC CEO, Jeff Zucker. However, there was an interesting nugget of information about the fact that they are considering expanding The Office to an hour permanently. My initial reaction was "yes, do it!". But I do have some reservations. While there have certainly been episodes that I felt were short-changed due to only having 21 minutes to tell a story, I worry that to continue to come up with stories each week that fill an hour may be a bit daunting. Then again, with the large cast that they have and the improv skills that they possess, maybe they could easily handle it. We should know for sure whether this will happen or not in a few weeks at the network upfronts.

Lastly, since we're talking about TV, I would figure that I would mention that I wrote a letter to TV Guide critic Matt Roush and he posted it in his Ask Matt column. You can read my question and his response here(It's the ninth question down).

New Fantastic Four trailer

After watching Heroes, I'm in a comic book frame of mind. Luckily, to help fill that need, I saw this trailer, which was just released on the net. Now the first FF left a lot to be desired, but based on what I've seen thus far, I feel this one will definitely be an upgrade. It has a more focused plot, the visuals look great and the actors seem more comfortable with their characters. This may not be as great as the current Spiderman or Batman films, but this could turn out to be a pleasant surprise this summer. (FYI, it comes out June 15)

Catching up on some TV

Only a few more days of school headaches and then I'll be back to regular posting...

Amazing Race: This All Star season is surely limping to a finish. If I wasn't a fan of the beauty queens, I might have been tempted to skip the rest of the season. For whatever reason, the challenges lately have really been lacking. I don't know if that's the result of the actual activities or the teams involved with them. I think it was a nice gesture to have the teams so involved with the military while in Guam, but it was sad to see the lack of respect they received. Although what do you expect when you have people so crazed to win a million dollars. I mean, we were lucky they took 30 seconds to pay their respects at Auschwitz earlier this season. Between the poor efforts during challenges and their lack of respect for the military, it's hard to root for anybody. As I said, I'm supporting the beauty queens, because they at least run a smart race. It's a shame that the Cha-Chas had to go, but they fell out of favor with me by the end of the episode when they said they were rooting for Charla and Mirna because they run an honest race. What race have they been watching? Let's hope they have something special planned for next week's finale, but I fear that's about as likely as Charla growing 3 feet overnight.

How I Met Your Mother: This show just continues to bring the awesome. I swear that the writers somehow get inside my head to help develop these characters. First, we had Ted's Cleveland connections. Now this week, an episode devoted to Barney's love of the Price is Right. Where are these people in real life and can I be their friend? The show was spot on in its representation of TPIR and also did a wonderful job in respecting Bob and giving him his first or many fond farewells. Seeing the Barrnacle just rock every aspect of Price is Right was simply legen...wait for it...DARY! The rest of the episode rocked as well with the sweet story of the origin of Ted's best man speech. I can't say enough good things about this show. And of course, because I like it, there are now rumors that the show may not be renewed next season. I don't know how many sitcom heartbreaks I can take. If you're not already, please watch this show!

24: There was nothing terrible about this week's show. It just feels like they're still spinning their wheels, which they shouldn't be at this point in the season. Usually by now, we have a pretty clear idea of what the end game will be. But because they changed direction so late in the season, I have no idea what the final resolution will be. It appears that the Chinese are planning some attack, but that could just as easilly be resolved by the end of next week. As for this week, we saw how much CTU suffered from the loss of Bill. Like everybody didn't see that coming. The White House mole wasn't a very surprising twist, but I did enjoy seeing Kari Machette in only her bra. Although, I'm completely thrown by her character's name; Lisa Miller. It always makes me think of Newsradio. Sigh. Another one of my sitcome heartbreaks.

Monday Night RAW: Because of so many things on at once, I only caught the second hour and it seems like I should have seen the first hour. While Hour #1 had some strong wrestling from Edge/Orton and RVD/Umaga, hour #2 ended with a major disappointment. They had a nice intriguing storyline going on with all of Cena's primary opponents being taken out backstage. The reveal of the culprit was the worst possible choice they could have made. It could have been a new and/or returning superstar who showed up to challenge Cena and create a fresh feud. Or it could have been Cena himself who did it, which would have started a much needed heel turn for him. No, instead, we get the Great Turd, I mean, Khali. This may be the worst idea for a main event feud yet. Sadly, Cena has turned off so many people by now, that fans might actually root for Khali. Perish the thought.

Heroes: I saved the best for last. There certainly was a lot to digest this week. Although I may not have to sort it all out if Hiro now succeeds in changing the future. My biggest sigh of relief though was seeing that HRG was still alive. I'm certainly concerned about his fate, but this seems to indicate that he has a future. Once again my heart goes out to poor Claire. She's been shipped all over the country in order to be protected. Are we to assume though that she was killed in this week's episode, or could she recover from something like that? That brings me to the big reveal of the week that Sylar is posing as Nathan in the future. A very scary thought indeed. We got to see another glimpse into a Sylar/Peter showdown and this one was even cooler than last weeks. I love the rivalry they have set up between them. Also, I guess Candace is dead in the future if Sylar has the ability to morph. The biggest surprise I think was that we saw nobody from The Company in the future. Do they still have power or were they wiped out? Like I said, a lot to get through in that hour, which means I'll probably watch the episode again. I'm such a nerd.