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November 16th, 2008
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition
Well, it's been a very hard two weeks for me, which is why I haven't posted anything in that time. I have to admit that life is still tough at this point, but I need to just write something to keep my mind off of things, even if just for a minute. Well, this week's DVD post is one that is a long time in the coming, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition. I have finally finished all the LOTR movies, both theatrical and extended cuts. Expect more wrestling DVD's in the weeks to come, finishing off what I did during the summer and right now I am currently working on the Futurama DVD.
Today was not a good day for SJU sports, as both the men's soccer and women's volleyball teams fell. The men's soccer team lost to USF in the Big East Tournament Finals, but that wasn't surprising having watched the game. USF really controlled things the final half and the overtime. Hopefully the SJU team can rebound and make a good showing in the NCAA Tourney. Meanwhile, the volleyball, fresh off a 3-2 win against Notre Dame to secure at least a tie as Big East Regular Season Champs, fell to DePaul (a 3-10 team no less) in 4 sets, creating a tie with Cincinnatti as Regular Season Champs. Oh well, hopefully they can fare better in the Big East Tourney. Oh well, in better news it looks like both my fantasy teams will be winning this week. Go me.
November 17th, 2008
Last Two Weeks of TV
It's been two weeks since I posted on here, so I have two episodes each of Heroes, Family Guy and American Dad to post on here.
Family Guy 11/09/08
Episode 5: “Man With Two Brians”
Brian is getting old and it is never more evident than when Peter and the gang imitate Jackass, Peter drowns, and Brian can’t save him. So Peter replaces Brian with a new Brian. The new Brian is great at first, even forcing Brian out of the house. Of course, when Stewie can’t stand new Brian anymore, he craves the old Brian back. The conclusion to how Brian comes back (with Stewie killing New Brian after NB told him he humped Rupert for two hours) is great. There were some silly call-backs (Cool WH-ip), it was light on cutaways thanks to the strength of the story. The Jackass rip-off missed the mark, but the last two acts were incredibly funny (Quagmire’s girlfriend) and saved the show. B+.
Family Guy 11/16/08
Episode 6: “Tales of Third Grade Nothing”
Peter is looking for a promotion at work but can’t when they realize he hasn’t passed the third grade! So he has to go back to third grade and win the spelling bee to pass third grade. That storyline didn’t really lead anywhere, but the fun stuff happened before (having the piano dropped on him, and blowing up a children’s hospital). Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr. open a club that gets no customers so Stewie revamps it to a hoppin’ club that makes tons of money, until Andy Dick shows up. When the cutaway scenes provide the funniest laughs (Michael Jackson assaulting his groin, and a callback to Cleveland having his house destroyed while he’s in the tub) shows that the main stories had no legs. It was okay, but not much better than that. B.
American Dad 11/09/08
Episode 5: “Escape from Pearl Bailey”
This is gonna be a classic AD episode. When Steve’s girlfriend decides to run for class president, Steve is all over it. Until the cheerleader and her popular group start slinging mud. Janet loses the election and Steve wants revenge, Kill Bill style. He gets his revenge but soon he’s discovered as the culprit. The school is after him and he must join with his nerd friends, who actually set up Janet, to escape from Pearl Bailey, a great homage to Escape From New York. The Smith family appeared for one scene and this was all Steve’s story. It had great storytelling, while using the themes of two great movies, and it stayed funny and entertaining while keeping an inherent originality that made this the best episode of the season. A+.
American Dad 11/16/08
Episode 6: “Pulling Double Booty”
Stan learns that Jeff broke up with Haley, and he rushes to tell Jeff that Haley goes bezerk when she’s dumped. So Stan has to approve of Haley’s new boyfriends. Stan (and Roger) gets a job seperating male and female chickens in Chinatown. Of course, things get REALLY FUCKING WEIRD when Haley starts seeing Stan’s body double. Things get even weirder when Stan’s body double starts hitting on Francine! So Stan gets rid of him and must try and get Hayley to break up with his body double so she doesn’t go mad. This was just a crazy episode, with a lot of themes that probably don’t belong on network TV. Just weird. C+.
Heroes 11/10/08
Episode 8: Villains
This has a lot different opening, showing the usual eclipse but with the Kensei sign. That was cool. This is a flashback episode, showing how the super-powered people become villains. We look into the Petrelli story, with Arthur ordering his son, Nathan, to be killed when he looks too much into Linderman’s companies. Angela hears this and that’s what causes the rift between them. Meredith and her brother, the blue-flame guy, are captured and Meredith becomes an agent. Noah Bennet and Elle investigate Sylar back before he murdered a whole bunch of people. I thought this was a dull episode, setting things up that we really already knew already. Ok we know the history of Elle and Sylar now, we know what caused the Petrelli rift, and it ties together very well in the end, but I just thought it was a little dull. The final ending sees Hiro come back from his spirit walk, the man who lead it being beheaded, and Artur Petrelli showing up to take Hiro’s powers.
Heroes 11/17/08
Episode 9: It’s Coming
Arthur Petrelli tries to take Hiro's powers but stops. Instead, it seems he's reverted his mind to 10 years old. Arthur returns home and tells Sylar he has something for him. He did have something, Elle chained up. Elle seems to vaporize Sylar with her powers, the two chat and Sylar tells Elle she needs to forgive herself. Two of the villains show up where Claire and Peter are hiding, Claire runs interference then jumps out the window. They both escape into a sewer. Peter tells Claire he doesn't want her to become a killer. The villains finally catch up and Claire makes a crucial mistake, the villains weren't after Peter, they were after her. Arthur checks in on a Mohinder experiment and the big theme is the solar eclipse that occurred in Season One. Mohinder says he's missing a catalyst and Arthur mentions Kaito Nakamura, Hiro's father. Parkman and Daphne find a comatose Angela Petrelli, and Daphne says she will find help and runs to Arthur. Matt goes inside of Angela’s mind only to be stabbed in there by Daphne, and now Matt is bleeding in reall-life, too. Nathan talks to his father, but the Rangers game was in overtime and I missed most of it. It seems that Arthur wants Nathan to run the country with everyone having super-powers. The catalyst that everyone was speaking of, the one that Arthur needs, it may be Claire. Interesting episode, bringing together a lot of plot lines and merging them into one. That's what was great about season one, all these plot lines coming together at the end after diverging for so long. This season has done a better job of that than Season 2 has.
November 23rd, 2008
Juno
Well, another week has come and gone. I was very busy this weekend working on my school's yearbook. I fell way behind but it looks like things have finally caught up. I still have a little work left to do tonight dealing with my Grad Classes and making some quizzes, but that shouldn't take more than an hour to complete. I just can't wait for the Thanksgiving break. Anyway, this week's review is the classic film, Juno. I saw it in the theater with my wife and we fell in love with it. It had a certain charm to it I can't quite describe.
In sporting news, the SJU Women's Volleyball team fell to Notre Dame in the Big East Tournament Semi-Finals, a disappointing end to a decent season. They lost against two crap teams in the regular season and they just weren't the team they were last year. The Metrostars also lost, though I don't think anyone favored them to win. I was rooting for them, though, and I did watch the game. The Jets had a huge win in football, but I don't really watch football unless the NY teams are in the playoffs. That's really it from over here. See ya next week.
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