Unfairly Unmentioned
It may have become obvious that I haven’t been writing much about things here. This, naturally, is because I’ve been too busy playing/watching/reading the things that I should be writing about. Thus, a quick catch up is in order, on some of the more interesting things that I should have been writing about recently…
Heroes
Heroes has just begun in Australia, but through the usual channels, I’ve been following the American broadcasts. At first, I must admit, it looks like it’ll be a snorefest a la LOST, but there’s one or two key differences that become apparent as time goes by…
For a start, most of the questions tend to get answered, and replaced with new questions. There’s none (or not much) of the ‘unanswered thread escalation’ that one gets in The X-Files and such. Most of the mysteries are simple “How did he get here?” sort of things that don’t stretch out irritatingly. The “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” arc actually finishes (to an extent) halfway through the series or thereabouts. Which is nice.
Also, because all the characters are split up and moving in different directions, if there is a plotline you don’t like, often it doesn’t stink up the rest of the show. Like, hypothetically, if the Nikki/Jessica plotline was really, really dull, you can kind of deal with it.
Wii
My brother got a Wii. Finally. I’d been playing me a bit of the old Wii tennis, and thought I’d put my Pro Tennis Mii onto the Wii remote and show him off to Andy. Irritatingly, it turns out your Wii Sports information is not kept in your Mii, or at least not the bits that come along when you put the Mii on a Wii remote. Unless I did something wrong.
That was a confusing paragraph. The Wii is fun though. A quick variation on the anecdote that everyone’s been telling; my Mum has been playing Wii Sports and loving it, despite almost never playing a game ever before. That’s how good Wii Sports is. Excite Truck is also good.
Stargate SG-1
Still patchy, this show. And it’s sneakily come back in other countries before Battlestar Galactica has finished. So you can’t expect Andy to start reviewing it again. After all, he’s busy not reviewing Battlestar. Maybe he’ll get to it later. Last week’s show, ‘Family Ties’, was particularly disappointing. I don’t know what it is about shitty character actors that so enthrals the makers of the show. It’s as if they see this actor mug for the camera, do an irritating voice, and completely fail to bring any sort of believability to the part and think “Yes. Yes. There’s a story about him. I can see it now. It’ll be completely unbelievable and irritating. How cool is that?”
The Fountain
Do you like overwrought emotion, long periods of silence and a general lack of drama? Then this film is for you. I can see how The Fountain could have been an awesome film. Bits of it are exciting, bits of it are beautiful. As a whole, though, the word “ponderous” comes to mind. I doubt I’ll review it, but someone else might.
An interesting point about The Fountain — the space backgrounds were done not with computer generated effects, but with particles in water being filmed in slow motion. An interesting point about going to see The Fountain — if you don’t know that, you assume it’s computer generated, and it goes completely over your head.
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Andrew
March 3rd, 2007 at 6:12 pm
That someone else who might review the Fountain is me, who has and will put it up soon. My take on it will be somewhat more enthusiastic than yours.
And what kind of weird mythical creature is an unfairy?
Tom
March 3rd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Ahem. Unfairly. That’s what I meant. It’s particularly embarassing misspelling the title of a blog and having to change the url for it. Ahem. Still, unfairy sounds cool. If I ever write some fantasy story I’ll slip them in.
I’ve been naming and shaming Andy recently but it seemed unfair to dob you in, Andrew. I look forward to your review. I’d much rather have your more enthusiastic review than the sort of blah one I’d write about the film. I’ve decided, of the three plots, I disliked one, liked one, and was indifferent to one, so the film comes out as a draw to me.
andy
March 4th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Did you know that an unfairy actually gets its power from people not believing in it? I saw a documentary about them on the Discovery Channel.
I like all the Heroes, except for Nikki whose hero status is debatable. One could skip all the Nikki scenes and not miss anything so far.
Tom
March 4th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Ali Larter (who plays Nikki) was abused by a rude convention attendee recently for being the worst character on the show. This makes me feel sorry for her but the Nikki plotline is definitely the poorest. That said, there’s an interesting bit in it mid-season, and if she became some sort of Mystique-ish evil person she could improve.
hayko
March 5th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Ah, Stargate.. Just three more episodes and they waste 42 minutes with this. It’s like knowning you are going to die and all you do is eat pizza. Not even that, spinage with liver.
The event horizon on Stargate used to be an aircraft turbine and water but apparently it got to expensive to do it every show. I wonder if the water space in The Fountain was cheaper…
PS: Unending better damn well be a good ending!
PPS: Have you still not fixed this annoying preview, Tom? ;)
andy
March 5th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
It doesn’t sound like the fan was abusive, just rude. She shouldn’t quit just because the writers gave her character crappy powers. Nikki has potential, possibly as a villain, if she gets better powers, and the multi-plot structure keeps her off the screen more than she’s on limiting the annoyance. I didn’t like Gaius Baltar until the end of the first season of BSG, so I’m not writing Nikki of yet.
PS: The preview asks you to re-read your comment for clarity. Could also ask people to check their grammar and punctuation?
Tom
March 5th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
These previews are hard-coded into the weblog software. I used to hack it out every time they updated the software but I got sick of it. Go over to a review and you’ll see sexy live javascript previews.
Calling someone who’s taken the time to talk to you a “so so” actress is pretty nasty but I suppose “abusive” is a bit too far. I’m glad he got booed down.
Did you omit a word in your comment about grammar correction on purpose?
I don’t see why you’re so dismissive of powers like Nikki’s super-strength that you’ve barely seen yet, especially given the time-escalating nature of many of the heroes’ abilities.
andy
March 7th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Pshaw! She’s had her powers for more than 6 months. They’re not getting any better.
Tom
March 7th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
You’ve barely even seen them in action! She’s never failed to do something. The trouble is, as a bounty hunter, she doesn’t need super-strength and reflexes — better than average is good enough. If she were a rogue construction worker things would be a lot clearer.
Tom
March 19th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
So, that SG-1 finale then. Cute stuff. And no irritating character actors. Yay!
hayko
March 23rd, 2007 at 1:33 pm
What’s the point of a preview when there is no Stargate SG-1 anymore.
hayko
March 29th, 2007 at 5:35 am
But there is always hope: A new team in town
andy
March 29th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Does Hiro meeting the dinosaur in the museum count as fulfilling that prophecy? Because the dinosaur in the painting looked alive.