The new NFL season kicked off last week. The current Superbowl champions, the New York Giants, defeated the Washington Redskins in the opener and all 32 teams played through Sunday and Monday.
My team is the Seattle Seahawks. Some people ask me why, I say why not? I have no other affiliation with any other NFL team. I've never lived in the US nor do I have any strong ties to any particular state or city, but the year I started following NFL regularly, the Seahawks played really well and made the Superbowl (the Steelers screwed them over on that day, but that's another matter) so I started following them. Why not?
Based on the strength of their showing on Sunday, they won't make another Bowl soon! They lost 34-10 to the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo. Of all teams in the NFL to lose to, that's a disgrace. To be fair to the Bills, they had a really good punt return, a very good special teams trick play and recovered a stupid fumble. But Seattle need to pick themselves up after this.
The third episode of Prison Break season 4 (see below) was actually quite good. I think it will be very like Mission: Impossible this season. Each week they'll have a building to break into, or someone to get to talk, or some really tricky mission like that. Could be promising!!!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Prison Break: Season 4
The new series of Prison Break started over here on Tuesday. Amazingly, the US only shows the episodes on the Monday, not even 24 hours before hand! I remember, not too long ago, when we’d be whole series behind and someone who was smart enough (and rich enough) to be able to download all the episodes was revered as some form of TV God!
The thing is, I’m not as excited about Prison Break as I maybe once was. For those who haven’t been following the escaped of Michael Schofield and Co., the first series was one of the freshest things to hit our TV screens in quite a while. It dispensed with many of our TV conventions and had a very linear plot with a very linear storyline and a defined ending. Schofield got himself arrested and sent to a Maximum Security Prison where, with the aid of a bunch of impressive tattoos, he aimed to break his brother Lincoln, who was on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, out. It sounds a little stupid (and to be honest, it was) but it seemed high concept: A defined end to a show in this day and age? Surely not!
Of course not! Season 2 began with Schofield, his brother and all the people they escaped with on the run from the law. Somehow Schofield had predicted his plan failing and he had a series of new tattoos to guide him to new destinations. Some men lived, some men died (in a nice touch, one guy and his family got away with it scot-free) but Schofield and his brother seemed set to get away with it for good.
No chance. Obviously this TV show was a big money spinner. There were even talks of a spin off set in a women’s prison but it never got off the ground. So, for season 3, they decided to go back to the shows original concept: Breaking out of prison. This time, it was a hard ass prison with no guards deep in Panama. Turns out, the guys who set Lincoln up wanted some guy broken out of this new prison and, because Schofield had broken out of prison once before, they figured he could do it again. In order to persuade Schofield to do this, they killed his girlfriend and dumped her head with Linc. Suitably pissed off, Schofield broke out and the season ended with him in the mood to kick some Company ass.
Season 4 started, however, with the guy they broke out getting shot in the head, the guys they left behind in the Panama prison just suddenly out and Sarah, the decapitated girlfriend, suddenly alive again. “Yeah, we didn’t really kill her” was the explanation we were supposed to just swallow.
At the end of season 3, some of Schofield’s friends had been captured and placed in Sona, the Panamanian prison. This could have led to some interesting developments; especially considering the fact that one of Schofield’s enemies was running the prison now. But no. During the off-season, the prison burnt to the ground in a riot and everyone escaped. Convenient much?
Also, for some inexplicable reason, Schofield got all his tattoos lasered off at the start of season 4, presumably so that Wentworth Miller didn’t have to sit in the make up chair for 3 hours a day getting them applied.
Frankly, I was disappointed with the start of season 4. I nearly turned it off at several points. If the lazy writing doesn’t stop, I’ll have to stop watching it. That will leave me with just 24, Lost, Ugly Betty and Heroes to watch.
And we can’t be having that.
Peace out,
Sexy Irish Leprechaun
The thing is, I’m not as excited about Prison Break as I maybe once was. For those who haven’t been following the escaped of Michael Schofield and Co., the first series was one of the freshest things to hit our TV screens in quite a while. It dispensed with many of our TV conventions and had a very linear plot with a very linear storyline and a defined ending. Schofield got himself arrested and sent to a Maximum Security Prison where, with the aid of a bunch of impressive tattoos, he aimed to break his brother Lincoln, who was on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, out. It sounds a little stupid (and to be honest, it was) but it seemed high concept: A defined end to a show in this day and age? Surely not!
Of course not! Season 2 began with Schofield, his brother and all the people they escaped with on the run from the law. Somehow Schofield had predicted his plan failing and he had a series of new tattoos to guide him to new destinations. Some men lived, some men died (in a nice touch, one guy and his family got away with it scot-free) but Schofield and his brother seemed set to get away with it for good.
No chance. Obviously this TV show was a big money spinner. There were even talks of a spin off set in a women’s prison but it never got off the ground. So, for season 3, they decided to go back to the shows original concept: Breaking out of prison. This time, it was a hard ass prison with no guards deep in Panama. Turns out, the guys who set Lincoln up wanted some guy broken out of this new prison and, because Schofield had broken out of prison once before, they figured he could do it again. In order to persuade Schofield to do this, they killed his girlfriend and dumped her head with Linc. Suitably pissed off, Schofield broke out and the season ended with him in the mood to kick some Company ass.
Season 4 started, however, with the guy they broke out getting shot in the head, the guys they left behind in the Panama prison just suddenly out and Sarah, the decapitated girlfriend, suddenly alive again. “Yeah, we didn’t really kill her” was the explanation we were supposed to just swallow.
At the end of season 3, some of Schofield’s friends had been captured and placed in Sona, the Panamanian prison. This could have led to some interesting developments; especially considering the fact that one of Schofield’s enemies was running the prison now. But no. During the off-season, the prison burnt to the ground in a riot and everyone escaped. Convenient much?
Also, for some inexplicable reason, Schofield got all his tattoos lasered off at the start of season 4, presumably so that Wentworth Miller didn’t have to sit in the make up chair for 3 hours a day getting them applied.
Frankly, I was disappointed with the start of season 4. I nearly turned it off at several points. If the lazy writing doesn’t stop, I’ll have to stop watching it. That will leave me with just 24, Lost, Ugly Betty and Heroes to watch.
And we can’t be having that.
Peace out,
Sexy Irish Leprechaun
Monday, September 1, 2008
Movies and stuff
As mentioned previously, I like my movies. I try and go to the cinema at least once a week. I know it costs a lot, but it’s a treat I afford myself. I usually get a hot dog and a bottle of water (and maybe a bag of sweets) so it’s not too bad for me either. In blogs to come, I will likely be posting up movie reviews, some good and some bad. Rarely, however, have I seen a movie and thought “What a waste of time that was!” I feel that every movie has something to tell me, whether it’s good information or bad information is another matter entirely.
Take The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for instance. It taught me that bringing the whole crew back for “one more movie” (Rachel Weisz excluded) isn’t necessarily a good thing. Movies with Yeti in it aren’t automatically hits. Don’t judge a movie by it’s trailer. Even if Jet Li is in it. Speaking of Jet Li, when did he become one of those actors who barely exists in a movie but is credited with a full role? Keifer Sutherland was the same in the movie Taking Lives, he was only in the damn movie for about 5 minutes!
Get Smart showed me some things as well. It showed me that Steve Carell is one of the funniest actors in Hollywood. Not funniest men, because he can act seriously and be considered in serious roles as well (to wit, Dan In Real Life), but when he plays funny in a movie, he’s believable. Anne Hathaway is smoking hot. The Rock is still super cool. Masi Oka (Hiro from Heroes) will always be a nerd in his roles.
The Strangers is a little weird. Many of the things to be learned from it have already been learned from other films. People in masks are scary. A creepy house in the middle of the woods is never a safe place to be stranded. For God’s sake, don’t leave your phone in the car! ZOMFG IT’S BEHIND YOU! But perhaps the most important thing to take from this movie, in my own humble opinion, is the way they were put together. Rather then bore us with pointless back-story and nonsensical characterisation, the movie pretty much jumps right in. You know something creepy is going to happen but you never know when. Indeed, it’s nearly twenty minutes of ratcheting up the tension before the first ominous, loud bang happens. What follows is a nerve jangling, tension filled movie, interspersing loud bangs with quiet shadows and people in creepy masks (including one guy that looks like he’s an extra from Batman Begins!) sneaking up on people. Not a master class by any means, but certainly worth watching, especially if you like horror movies and being scared!
Until next time,
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