Drink up me 'earties, yo ho!

Finally got to see Pirates 3 tonight and I'm left feeling very similar to how I felt coming out of Spider-Man 3. I think the producers shot for the moon and flew right over it. Some things worked, but overall too much of it felt unnecessary.

Now having seen how 2 and 3 played out, I'm convinced more than ever that doing them together was a mistake. You had two decent plot stories and that got drawn out too long and then rushed to have them conclude. #2 should have focused on Davy Jones, his chest and trying to defeat him. You could have Barbosa come back in that one and help Jack defeat Jones. In the end, you have Barbosa stab Jones' heart and have him taking over the Dutchman. Then #3 should have been the pirate lords banding together to take on the East India Company. Beckett demise in this one, although visually cool, was rather anticlimatic.

As it was, the beginning of this film, while it didn't drag seemed to be a lot of unnecessary events. Too many changing alliances without enough payoff for them. I also wasn't crazy about the multiple Jacks. That concept might sound ok, but didn't play out well. The film is almost redeemed by the heart-pounding battle between the Pearl and the Dutchman. Initially I thought it was going to be lousy what with Elizabeth's Braveheart speech and just a flurry of bodies and gunfire that is a cliche of any war film. But then they did a nice job of focusing on the individual fights which is what I wanted to see. And yes, as ridiculous as it was, I enjoyed the mid-battle marriage.

Ulimately, At World's End and Dead Man's Chest abandoned a lot of what was so charming about the original. The action was simple swordfighting between combatants and done with a sly wink so as not to take it too serious. That balance between action and humor presented in a genre that audiences hadn't seen in a while made it a winning combination. I think the reason why the second one was so successful (besides there not being a lot of competition) was that it had a lot of cartoonish action that the kids could appreciate (I still don't like the scenes with Jack and the savages). This third one won't earn as much because the kids will be bored by all the backstabbing.

I could go on, but I'll leave it at that. If you've seen the first two, you owe it to yourself to see Captain Jack one more time. There's enough humor and action to keep you pleased (I loved Jack's "telescope envy"), but probably doesn't have the repeat viewing appeal that the first did, which allowed this to be such a successful franchise in the first place.

Grade: B

Screw Transformers, I'm already buying my tickets for this

Thundercats Hooooooo!

At least we let the Tigers win

I'm still in disbelief over the Cavs victory tonight and the fact that they are headed to the NBA finals for the first time ever. And we did it tonight without Lebron having a monster game. That's a scary thought. Now it's a dream matchup (for me) as the Cavs will be taking on the San Antonio Spurs, my favorite basketball team when I was a kid. Before this Pistons series, I thought that if they somehow got past Detroit, they would have no chance against the Spurs. But after seeing their performance, they are making me a believer. This should be a very interesting series. And best of all, I'll be back up in Cleveland for Games 3, 4, and 5 at the Q. Could this finally be the year a major sports title comes to Cleveland? I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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.