Posts Tagged ‘BSG’

23
May

Expect Fox to cancel it after 3 episodes

   Posted by: Fence   in TV

I’m not sure what to make of this:

Via Damien Mulley

On one hand the first two Terminator films were great, the third was a bit pants, and too self-referential and mocking. On one hand it has Summer Glau in it, and who doesn’t love Summer?, but on the other, it has Fievel Mousekewitz in it, and can a mouse really take on The Machines?

And then there is the fact that the trailer doesn’t look all that great, that Fox are making it, and, that it is a spin off of a spin off of a spin off. Milking the cash cow dry anyone? And then there is the fact that it is a TV show, and there aren’t really all that many good shows left any more.

  • Example the first: Lost pants pants pants.
  • Heroes I do like. But I don’t love. It has some interesting storylines and characters but nothing that really grips me. I haven’t taken advantage of the fact that I can watch ahead on d’internet after all. Which says it all
  • Veronica Mars cancelled. And while I adored the first season, the second really didn’t grab me. And while I will watch season 3, and I do hope for the best, I’ll admit to feeling a little meh over it.
  • BSG I really do love. But it annoys me so. It could be so great, and I love most, if not all of the characters, but, as I’ve said before, the writers flinch away from the big issues. Which wouldn’t be a terrible thing if they didn’t set themselves up for them in the first place. If you are going to introduce “big” issues, then you are obliged[1] to deal with them properly. Brushing them under the carpet and solving them with one liners achieves nothing, well, apart from annoying me.[2] There is also the sense that they don’t really know where they are going. Part of this isn’t there fault, it is down to the possibility of cancellation and the fact that they don’t know how long they are going to last.
  • Rome. Okay, this is my exception. Great TV. But[3] there has only been one season. Where is season two BBC?
  • Life On Mars - I loved the first season. It was new and funny and interesting. But season 2? I dunno, it just wasn’t as good. Still better than a lot of stuff out there, but I was disappointed. And I disliked the finale. The Gene Genie was excellent, but there was very little character development or any forward movement at all.
  • House I dunno. I really liked it at first. But then it became a little cliched, and when it clashes with something else I tend to watch the something else.
  • Medium I like. I like a lot, but it isn’t great tv. It is highly watchable. And likeable. And while it does have some nice touches it is predictable and has never been must see tv.
  • The Sopranos I love when it is on. But when it isn’t I don’t think about it.

The solution to my telly woes? Give Joss a tv show, I loved Buffy, thought Angel was even better. And Firefly? Best of them all.

Or am I being too hard in my old age? Is there some great tv that I’m missing out on?

Linknotes:
  1. in my world view ↩
  2. I could be Annie Wilkes here ↩
  3. there is always a but ↩
Tags: Angel, BSG, Firefly, Heroes, House, Life On Mars, Lost, Medium, Rome, Summer Glau, telly, The Sopranos, The Terminator, Veronica Mars

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11 Comments
30
Mar

Mornin’

   Posted by: Fence   in Shiny

It is Friday today. Aren’t you glad?

First of all, especially for the In Fact, Ah peoples we bring you Dinosaurs and their Biscuits. How cool is that?

And second of all, via Jayne’s World comes this vidjo and song, all about why new BSG is better than old BSG

Tags: BSG, links, randomness, vidjo

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5 Comments
13
Feb

Fun and danger

   Posted by: Fence   in Ramblings

Last night we had our first Wii related accident. The flatmate and her boyfriend bought a Wii a week ago or so. It has been over at his new place for most of the time, but came back on Friday. Course what with the rugby I haven’t had much time to play with it, but I’ve had a few goes, and it is fabtastic.

So after watching the return of Lost last night we had one quick game[1] of tennis before bed. But as it was late we decided not to bother standing up and playing properly, so we didn’t move the coffee table.
Can you tell where I’m headed yet?

Yup, attempting to get an ace the flatmate took an overenthusiastic swing, and bang, straight into her glass of wine which went flying in my direction.

Or should I saw the wine and shards of glass went flying. Luckily it all missed me, but the couch got a drenching. Didn’t stop us playing another game once we had cleaned it up.

Over at Metafilter they are discussing 24 and its impact on people’s willingness to accept torture. I’m not so sure that I’d go along with that, but that was one of the reasons I stopped watching the show. Ideological grounds ;)

Some of the articles mentioned: Orwellian ideology of 24 - 24’s heroes as Himmler - Pop Matters.

But in news of a much better TV show, Life on Mars is back tonight. Yay! Course it conflicts with Battlestar, but I’ve been recording BSG anyways, so no real worries.

Linknotes:
  1. yes, it turned into 4 matches, of 3 and five games ↩
Tags: 24, BSG, Life On Mars, Metafilter, torture, Wii

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3
May

And you ride the horse so well, hands light to the touch I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to

   Posted by: Fence   in Ramblings, TV

The flatmate bought a shiny new dvd-harddrive-recorder thingy recently, and I have discovered that it will play at least one of my “borrowed” episodes of Veronica Mars , which is great, because the laptop won’t. But now I can still rewatch, and on the big screen of a tv as opposed to a little Pavlovian screen. Its also good news because I’ve sort of decided to put off buying a new laptop for a couple of months. I do want a shiny new one, but, they[1] do say that patience is a virtue.

Anyways, as the flatmate was out last night I recorded Desperate Housewives and so was flicking around the stations after BSG when my attention was caught by a programme on RTE about the hunger strikes in Northern Ireland.

And I was going to post something about them, and how although you have to respect their strength of conviction, it is hard to think about them without thinking about the fact that they were paramilitaries who murdered and bombed people. But I’m not going to. It is such a grey, emotive issue. But I will say that the programme was very interesting and well made, and I’ll have to remember to tune in next week for the second part.

However, am doing a bit of research into the Black and Tans for B#5 at the moment, as he is thinking of doing his special topic for the leaving Cert on them. And you know that old saying about the past repeating itself? Well, its amazing to read some of the views of the likes of Lloyd George and his views on the IRA back then. And whatever anyone says, the IRA/Volunteers of the war of independence are not the same thing as the IRA of the seventies and of today, not even close. In one article David Leeson[2] says that

The insurgency was defined as a threat to law and order. The insurgents were characterised as criminals…law and order had broken down in Ireland, threatening the conditions of civilised society. The men responsible for this breakdown were murderers, not soldiers ‘The very fact that an attempt is made to describe murder by another name, and to make excuses for it as if it were political action, must demoralise the whole life of any country where such excuses can be made’ [quoting PM Andrew Bonar Law, August 1920]

How easy would it be to replace Ireland with Iraq[3] And can’t war be described as mass murder with a political reason?

Obviously the situation in Iraq is very different to that of Ireland in the 1920’s, but I doubt very many of the Iraqi insurgents would see themselves as nothing but criminals. This doesn’t make their actions and less terrible or horrific, but wouldn’t you think that people could look at history and see that you can’t fight ideals with nothing but violence.

Well, from Desperate Housewives to suicide bombers, interesting[4] how that all happened. Feel free to ignore any of the political ramblings. We’ll get back to more interesting things by bring up Battlestar Galtactica. I mean, whats going on back on Caprica? Will Show Spoilers ▼

Linknotes:
  1. these they people are so very smart ↩
  2. The Scum of London’s Underworld? British Recruits for the Royal Irish Constabulary, 1920-21 ↩
  3. this is not a statement saying I support the actions of those Iraqis bombing random targets. I do not. They are in the wrong. ↩
  4. or not ↩
Tags: 1970s, Black and Tans, BSG, history repeats, hunger strikes, insurgency, IRA, Iraq war, Ireland - 1920-21, irish history, Northern Ireland

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22 Comments
26
Apr

Why does my spell check think that im typing welsh

   Posted by: Fence   in TV

During the final ad break of last night’s BSG a promo for Sky’s 10 o’clock news came on. It had one headline. Do you know what that was?[1] The main news story was that Tom Cruise was going to…[2] shock horror, a film premiere. And not just any première, but one for Mission Impossible III, a film he starred in.

Now I can easily see that making the news, after all entertainment is news nowadays, but for it to be the headline event?

Was yesterday a slow news day? Couldn’t they have come up with anything better? A cat stuck up a tree’d make for a more interesting story if you ask me.

And, speaking of animal rescues[3] a new programme all about the various SPCAs started last night. And one of the people being investigated was this old fella living in the middle of Connemara. He was just a typical auld lad, turf fire, couple of dogs and cats, sheep farmer. These sorts of bachelor farmers were pretty much gone at this stage, but he was still there, “walking 5 mile upa mountain” every day. Yer wan from the Galway SPCA[ took two of his dogs off him. He wasn’t really abusing them or anything, just underfeeding them, one tin of dog food between two working sheep dogs and a puppy doesn’t go far. But she left him the puppy, on the understanding that it’d be fed properly.

Oh, and don’t get too used to the current theme, because I’m thinking of going red in support of Munster in the lead up to the final on May 20th. It may not happen, we’ll see.

And seeing as I mentioned BSG, I’m a bit undecided about this season. there is so much that’s really great about this show, but they have these annoying habits. First off there is the slightly over-done documentary style. They just seem to over use it a tad, and for no realy purpose. Then there is the flashbacks, again, over-used. And now they seem to be Show Spoilers ▼

but it seems like they find a way of doing something, a way that is sometimes excellent, and then over do it to death.

And while I’m talking about tv I may as well mention Lost. We had a good episode on Monday. I know. I’m shocked too. things happened. The story progressed. Yes there were flashbacks but not silly pointless ones. And Show Spoilers ▼

course they’ll probably ruin this by recapping and doing nothing for the next five weeks.

Linknotes:
  1. you probably do if you were watching, but how many of you were ↩
  2. dots are pronounced dun. Now, say it out loud. See ↩
  3. segue, segue ↩
Tags: BSG, Lost, Sky One

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7 Comments
12
Apr

The king of cups expects a picnic, but this is not his birthday.

   Posted by: Fence   in Ramblings

I have nothing to say. Well, this isn’t actually true. There are things on the tips of my fingers[1] but I don’t actually know what they are. So I find myself typing the start of a sentence. Stopping, rereading and going Huh. Don’t think I meant to say that. And deleting.

Other people can post on issues like god[2] , society, the nature of humanity[3] shopping[4] fun in Paris[5] I can’t even get a sentence out.

Obviously, I’m lying. Because look at all those sentences. But at the same time, its the truth, because they are all saying nothing. The noise to data ratio on this post would suggest that yes, empty vessels make most noise. And have you ever heard an empty delivery lorry[6] roll past? Noisy is an apt description.

Still, 4 day week, so its all good. Off on Friday, and Monday for Easter. And I’m taking the following Monday off cause I’ve got a christening to go to. So that is three whole 4-day-weeks. What could be better?[7] And I may even go take a peak at the whole Easter Rising commemorations, and to get in the mood I’ve just started reading On Another Man’s Wound[8] which doesn’t actually deal all that much with the Rising, but with the aftermath. And it is well writen too, which is always a bonus.

Oh yeah, and whats the deal with BSG and its frakkin flashbacks. This is, what the third? episode in a row to start near the end and then use the whole 92 hours earlier crap. Get over it. Just tell the story and stop fucking about. I mean, it’d be different if there was a reason, but there doesn’t seem to be one, apart from the fact that they think flashbacks and jumps in time are cool. And yes, they can be, but not when done for no reason. Don’t they know that trying to be cool means you aren’t. Oz never tried to be cool. He simply was. As Yoda once said, there is no try.[9]

Well now, for a post that started off the way this one did, there sure is a lot of words. And, while I checked my spelling[10] of Orthodox I discovered that there is such a thing as a Tea Glossery. People can devote entire websites to tea, but I can’t even think coherently enough to write a comment.

Linknotes:
  1. hardly my tongue, unless I have a very unorthodox typing style ↩
  2. Kelly ↩
  3. Forgotten Machine ↩
  4. just cause it aint a big issue don’t make it any the less entertaining ↩
  5. anne ↩
  6. lorry or truck, whats the difference? ↩
  7. Don’t say three weeks off ↩
  8. Amazon link ↩
  9. Unless you are Shane Horgan ↩
  10. no. I don’t check most of the time, and haven’t checked anything else. I just couldn’t decided if it was othodox or othadox ↩
Tags: BSG, flashbacks, flashbacks are annoying, randomness

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24
Sep

*yawn*

   Posted by: Fence   in Current Affairs

Okay, I do actually have stuff I want to write, but I’m tired, so not going to. Instead I’ll just leave you with a quote and a link, you get to write the connecting story yourself. Submissions in the comments section ;)

“There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.”

And the link: nice laptop, and this following link isn’t really related to anything, but, *shrug* (not pleasant viewing), this was the guardian centrefold on the 22nd. It is a pic from New Orleans

Tags: army, BSG, links, police

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