Friday, January 30, 2009

Battlestar Galactica Mutiny

Sick.  Battlestar Galactica was so good tonight.  It's becoming a trend.  It's just sad that these are the last episodes.  I guess it wouldn't be that good if I thought that the show was going to continue indefinitely.

There's a mutiny on Galactica and you get to see Starbuck back to kicking ass and Lee gets to hold a gun again.  I was always peeved (not pissed, that's reserved for other things) that Lee became a politician.  His character became boring.  I liked it better when he was an ace viper pilot and he had daddy issues.  Instead, now he just goes on and on about principles and democracy.  Meh.  Well no more.  This episode flipped the characters on their heads and made them bring out their true colors.

Like how Gaeta is the ass-hole I always knew he was.  I really hate him so bad.  Not just because now he's a frakkin' racist, but because he's always had this whole air of arrogance.  Even though he was at one point loyal to Galactica, I started hating him when he let Baltar out to dry during his trials.  Gaeta never had his back.  Sure, Baltar was a crooked guy and he sorta did get the whole human race in this predicament, but if you were being held hostage to the demands of the toasters, wouldn't you lean on the side of self-preservation?  Had Baltar just let refused to work with the Cylons on New Caprica, then they would've just killed him and the Cylons would've gotten their way with a different president anyway.

Gaeta always held that against Baltar as if he would have done differently.  Yeah, okay I'll give Gaeta the respect for leaking info to Tyrol, but his douchiness afterwards made me sick.

Anyway, back to this episode.  So Gaeta is running the whole mutiny thing along with Zarek.  Chaos all over the ship.  Great stuff.  But the best is seeing the two elder-statesmen, the admiral and the colonel.  Boy.  I have always been indifferent about Adama at worst or have enjoyed his fierceness when he's at his best.  In this episode you get to see him be tough along with the newly-revealed Cylon, Colonel Tigh take out the big guns and stand their ground.  Did you see how the admiral still had his shooting chops.  I can't wait to see if Tigh (one of my favorites) kick some traitorous assess.  I love that dude.  Even though he's a Cylon his patriotism and loyalty and friendship are strong enough to overcome his "blood".  As far as I'm concerned, he's one of the good guys.

But I'm just a little scared that the what the previous for next week are saying is true-- that Tigh has been killed (it seems that way).  He can't die like that.  There needs to be some fight to the last blood is dropped.  And if Colonel Tigh sees the end next episode, boy will it be emotional.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Lost was Okay.

The season five premiere of Lost was good, but I wasn't blown away.  Maybe I'm still reeling (?) from the great second-half premiere of Battlestar Galactica (new eppy tonight!), or maybe this season's Lost is so hyped up, but I wouldn't remember much from the two brand new Lost episodes were it not that I am such a huge fan.

The Oceanic six are off the island of course and are trying to go back because something happened (is happening?  Who knows with all this time traveling shite).  So basically the show has devolved to a 24 episode, where instead of Jack Bauer trying to escape, you have Hugo and Sayid running form the police because of some murder at a safe house.  Then you have this weird time-traveling element.  Instead of flashing forward or backwards, now the folks in the island are stuck on a skipping time loop if you will.  But of course, there are rules and even if they bounce around time, the people can't change the outcome of things (Then what the hell is the point?).

You have to suspend belief even more-so now that Lost using time travel alot.  But I still liked the premiere.  Seeing Dr. Haliwax/Chang was Owhsome (in sing-songy voice).  He was very bad-ass with his ordering around.  And I definitely want to see what makes Desmond exempt from the rules.  Of course, how will the six get back to the island and what is the relationship of that Richard dude to Locke.  (I actually remembered the whole compass thing from last season and liked how it was brought back in this episode.  It helped to watch the short season before this premiere.

I hope that Lost utilizes Miles and Faraday more this season too.  More-so Miles because I feel that Faraday will be useful this season.  I'm just a new fan of Ken Leung because there aren't that many Asian Hollywood actors that are fairly unknown but so versatile.  Big-ups to Kenny.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

BSG > LOST (Maybe)

Fuck 24.

Hehe, just kidding. It's just that I'm more excited for Battlestar Galactica's final episodes than for Jack Bauer's escapades. Plus, as big a crap of a show Heroes is, I will watch that over 24 once it returns for what's probably going to be a goofier volume. But I digress, Battlestar Galactica was so good this past Friday. It's premiere was so good.

I have to give the showrunners props for revealing the 12th cylon right away in these final episodes. They definitely avoided the show from devolving to being primarily about the 12th cylon. Sure, it is a big deal. It is. But, by revealing it early, the show won't let down any fans. This is a problem that Lost may have in its final season next year. All anyone wants to know is what the frak is up with the island.

Will the creators just save the reveal for the last episode? Or will they find away to make the show conclude even with an early reveal? Can it even be revealed?

So, Ron Moore definitely did a good job with the BSG this past night. What's even interesting is the fact that the show was filmed right before the WGA strike (writers strike) of 2007.

What made this eppy so good? Well, it was mainly about despair-- the lost of hope of the human race for the human race. The last members of humanity had just found Earth, which they all believed would be their salvation since their previous planets/colonies were destroyed. Now imagine coming to an nuclear devastated planet, instead. How would you react?

Would you blow your brains out if you felt hopeless? I actually give props to Lt. Dualla for this episode. Not because she died, but because I felt her character became more human to me. I could never relate to her before. She always seemed dull and emotionless, which was why I never got the pairing of her and Lee (I was a Billy fan). But in this episode you really felt her despair, when she cried on Earth when she saw the toys on the ground. You knew she felt lost, but you didn't realize it until she tried to have just an ounce of happiness right before she blew her brains out. God, I did not see that coming and for a few seconds I didn't understand what was happening on screen. Just seconds before that, I thought, "Oh, here we go again with this stupid Lee and Dee, crap", then I realized after her blood blasted on ther locker door why she tried to be happy again

To Dee, there was no hope left.

Such a good episode.

Now the reveal that the 12th cylon was Ellen Tigh. It didn't make sense to me at first, also. I didn't like her character much. I just thought she was on the show to enhance Col. Tigh's character, who is one of my favorites. But this realization that Ellen and Tigh were both Cylons all along and that they were together thousands of years ago is absolutely romantic and wreaks of destiny. Love and destiny and purpose. They were always together and will always be together.

Now I can't wait to see how the show developes this "cosmic love".

This post is too long already, but I just have to say that Starbuck's storyline is also another thing to look out for. I thought the show just forgot to explain how she survived the previous incident, or I thought that I was not paying attention. But this will definitely be interesting.

Battlestar Galactica > Lost. Almost.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

24 is back

24 kicked balls tonight. Maybe I've come to accept the unrealistic nature of 24 or maybe I'm just comparing it to a horrible Heroes season, but the first two hours of this new season of 24 (sa wakas!) were absolutely exciting. Some may say that it's more of the same: Bauer is here to save the day through torture and just being plane lucky, but dammit if you're not hooked with wondering how all the different plots will converge into one. Of course, that's not to say that the writers may fuck up and just drop the ball. They may not tie loose ends up or they may give a character horrible powers, like a truth bell that rings when someone lies, that may lazily tie up plot holes, like how viewers will find out whether a bad guy is the father of another bad guy.

Hey, I guess I'm still angry about Heroes. Won't stop me from watching and bitching though. Plus, Lost is coming back soon so I say "Huzzah"! And for the record, my money is on Tony Almeida still being a good guy. He's just undercover. Is it wrong that I care more about Tony (who we haven't seen in ages) than I do about Peter Petrelli? I had so much hope for Peter, but Heroes hasn't recovered.

Jack Bauer has powers though. He can take on any of the Heroes gang single-handedly.

Friday, January 09, 2009

It's the End of the World

I keed, I keed. We're just a little closer to being genetically engineered and/or taken over by robots. According to this news article, the first genetically selected baby was born in the UK. The human (maybe she's not human, gasp!) was selected to not have the faulty genes that MAY lead to breast cancer. That's different from being genetically-engineered. At least from what I understand, the embryos were not altered to have a specific code. Instead, the science folks took a chance in growing several embryos and checked to see which embryo did not have the genes that would predispose the individual to having breast cancer. I also imagine that the other embryos were "discarded". Yeah, they weren't good enough. Obviously, if an individual may have the possibility of developing cancer, they don't deserve to live.

I'm writing this off the top of my head and I'm surprised at how disturbed I am about the possibility that this may be used in the future. Sure, there other ways of screening or selecting. For example, some Jewish families have matchmakers who search through the genes of individuals to see if their becoming a couple and procreating would lead to a child who had some hereditary disease that predominantly occurs in the Jewish race. No embryos are made and screened in the process.

It's one thing to make embryos for science, which I'm still iffy about, but it's another to screen and then let the rest die or whatever. It's like going to an orphanage with all the kiddies lined up and then choosing the one you like the best. Shouldn't some things be left up to luck or fate? This is not even a religious issue. What's to prevent the screening of other "diseases". Yes, cancer is a disease, but what about being something like screening for genes predisposing one to being short? Alcoholic? Gay?

This is a very slippery slope. This individual who was born doesn't even have a zero percent chance of getting breast cancer. According to the article, "faulty genes are responsible for between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the 44,000 cases of breast cancer that occur in the UK each year". This means that 90% or more are cases where the gene has no affect at all. (I'm lazy and am not looking up if this is actually true, I'm just basing this on mathematics and reading comprehension of the article). This girl could have been born normally and been perfectly fine. Also, early detection could give her a healthy life if she did get breast cancer.

I don't know. This is some scary stuff. I can't imagine rejecting embryos while keeping some. To me, that's life. This is life. You take what you got and make the best of it. You can't make it perfect, but you can still enjoy what you get from it even if it's a daughter with a chance to have breast cancer.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Press Secretary

Dana Perino is hot. I'm actually watching her appearance on The Daily Show and she's wearing this red dress that is boasting some slight cleavage. She's probably the best thing about this administration, and I'm a little sad that she'll be leaving soon. Boo. I bet she's only in her 30's-- I would even say that she's only in her mid 30's, 41 at most. Dana Perino was President Bush's best decision. Maybe it was not Bush's decision because the press secretary position had a revolving door during President Bush's eight years, but at least it's ending on an attractive note. Well, at least with respect to the press secretary position.

Okay, to be fair, let me filter myself a little. I am being a little sexist. Secretary Perino seems to be on top of her game. Tonight Jon Stewart cornered her on some issues, but she didn't get flustered and fought back. Very professional. But she's still hot and I'm jealous that she's married.

Is she blonde?

Just a little note to myself, I should definitely see the following movies soon: Gran Torino, The Wrestler, and The Slumdog Millionaire. I can't wait until all the crappy movies in theaters start leaving. Thank God for NetFlix.