Halloween Update!
Howdy all!
Hope this week finds everyone well. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. It takes place in the usually chilly yet not too cold time of year, though this year we've had some weather in my region of the world recently that had me thinking how wrong it was that I had to wear short sleeves and sweat half to death in October. Still, yesterday was fairly chilly and it's finally starting to feel like fall.
(Reduce, Reuse, Recycle please, I don't want to have to sweat half to death on Halloween in years to come).
Halloween is great because it lacks the blatant commercialism of Christmas, the often imposing relatives of Thanksgiving, and the bizarre crossed pagan-christian imagery of Easter. Halloween is about the closest thing Americans have to a straight up pagan holiday which is purely about fun and the things that go bump in the night (read that as "more fun"). It's the only time of year that my normal style of dressing makes me look normal, and the only holiday I find pretty much free of stress.
Now that I've told you how I generally feel, I have to mention a certain horrible thing that happened last night. The lady and I went down to the local haunted hayride, figuring it would be a lot of fun seeing as though we live near the real Sleepy Hollow. Wow, were we wrong. 3 hours waiting in line for 30 minutes of stupidity. The only pluses were that it was in the actual Sleepy Hollow graveyard, and while the hay cart, which was attached to a pickup truck, was leaving a local resident with no makeup or costume ran up to it and started screaming -priceless and hilarious! Nothing worth 3 hours wasted time, though. That's an event I'll be avoiding in the future.
It's also becoming a tradition between the lady and I to go to Melting Pot on Halloween, so I'm very much looking forward to a nicely fattening dinner tonight!
Okay, on to the Sci-Fi!
First off, Stargate Universe.
Sighs all around for last episode.
I can't believe we're barely into season 2 (or 1.5 or whatever) and there's already a filler episode. Not only was the episode detached from any plot line they have going, but it was incredibly boring. Barely 15 minutes into it I was dying for the thing to end. It seems that the warning signs of shaky writing in earlier episodes are finally coming to fruition. I'm sad to see this show take such a nose dive. It's got tons of potential, whether or not you consider it a BSG or, as a friend recently pointed out, a ST: Voyager clone, it still had some very cool ideas. If they do any more of these stupid episodes, however, I'm going to have to give up on it completely. Likewise, if they don't start resolving things like Franklin's disappearance, or any of the other half-baked plot lines they just abandoned like this alien of the week crap, I'm going to have to quit on them.
If you missed last episode, leave it missed. You'll want your life back, trust me. The only part of it that connected to anything at all was the current story surrounding Chloe and her mysterious new abilities. They spent about 5 minutes on it, so you didn't miss much even on that point.
Hopefully, next week will be better.
Speaking of strange Syfy shows
Thanks to Facebook, I recently became aware of a web series called Riese. It is advertised as a "steam-punk series" narrated by Amanda Tapping (of Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary fame). I checked it out because of my desire to understand the steam-punk genre a bit better (I have a friend who writes in it, and a few who are into it, but with the exception of His Dark Materials -which was brilliant- I still find the popular genre a bit impenetrable).
My first impression of Riese is that it was a bit strange, and the actors wear the cog and glass devices of the genre as though they're jewelry instead of the functional devices I'm sure they're meant to be. Once scene had me wondering why the hell the guy was wearing a giant bronze and Fresnel lens monocle while another had me wonder why a steam-punk cyborg would be so stupid as to expose the gears of his machinery to the elements instead of guarding them under plates or armor. Bronze is a bit soft as metals go, just ask the Greeks how it was they got conquered by the Romans, so it didn't seem prudent to leave it exposed to corrosion and damage as he had, but like I said, I don't get the genre too well.
Amanda Tapping's narrative is more annoying than anything. I think the attempt is to fill in the history of the world as we watch the scenes during each short (10 minute) episode, but I found the information she added to just be, say it with me now, filler. I figured out that the show is about a princess on the run from an evil tyrant queen just from watching the scenes and listening to the actor's dialog, I didn't need to be hit over the head with it and neither will you.
On the plus side they have a "wolf" (probably a husky cross and not an actual wolf, I've been with actual wolves before and they're built bigger than the dog in this show) as a main character, which Amanda was good enough to tell me didn't speak the same language as the heroine right before said character gave an order to the wolf to "go hide in the woods" in perfect English which the wolf then followed... Wait, this may not be as much of a plus as I was hoping... But I digress.
If you want to check out Riese (both episodes are available online at syfy.com) you can find episode one here. Remember, you won't get back the next 8 or so minutes (the last 1.5 are credits). You've been warned. (Video courtesy syfy.com)
Some Quick, Last Notes
The Force Unleashed II: Awesome! Better than the first one, darker, and cooler. Definitely a must play for Star Wars TFU fans. My only complaint, as usual, is that it is over too quickly (beat it in 2 days).
Fable III looks good, though I haven't picked it up yet so stay tuned on that one.
I'm eagerly awaiting Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. That'll be my next "I shoulda spent the money on groceries or something useful" expense. Trailer is courtesy Gametrailers.com. Watch and enjoy!
I originally thought you were typing it "Scyfy" because you were trying to be funny/cute/sarcastic, but now I realize you have just been spelling it wrong. It's "Syfy" and the website is "syfy.com"
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Indeed, you are correct. Ack. I guess it's my subconscious trying to ameliorate what it should be with the farce of a channel it's becoming. Corrections forthcoming.
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