Since Heroes People Don't Tweet

Bryan Fuller's left Heroes again. He's responsible for the good episodes. He came back halfway through the last season when Pushing Daisies was canned. He's generally credited with why the show got "better" halfway through.

So he's gone again, all hope is lost. Not that I had any to start with.

Never Could Get the Hang of Thursdays

What's going on with The Mookie this month? Hoy wins? Pauly wins? And now Al wins? I suppose this is all part of the nefarious plan to raise the awareness of the Wednesday ritual. Congrats to Al on a job well done. Way to end it in two consecutive hands with Broadway in both. This time around, we won't have to debate about giving a ToC seat to the organizer. Couldn't have happened to a better guy. Well, okay, it could have happened to ME, but I went out 37th without playing a single hand.

Still haven't seen the Heroes finale. It's sitting at home, waiting to be watched. Tonight! Maybe. If I don't fall asleep or get so wrapped up in chores that I end up cleaning my whole place. Is it sad I only want to watch it so I can rant about it? That I look more forward to bitching about however they messed it up again than actually watching them mess it up?

Where's some new Torchwood or Dr. Who when I need it?

They broke up the Tamil demonstration this morning. Commuters are rejoicing, and war continues in Sri Lanka.

Jays lost 11-3 last night, which means they won't win their 7th straight series. Best they can hope for is a tie. Brian Burres, the rookie who got spanked in the 6th on Saturday, gets the start this afternoon. No idea on the kid - he could be the type to bounce back and buckle down or he could be shaken up and get blown out early. Either way, after giving up 11 runs yesterday and only scoring 3, I expect the Jays to whack around the Royals a bit today.

Blackhawks at Canucks tonight. As I started yesterday, the media's picking up on Luongo vs Khabibulin. I give Luongo the edge here, but the Bulin Wall has a tendency to raise his game when needed. I think the goalie battle overshadows the mounds of talent both of these teams have though.

Now I should go submit LAST year's taxes and get the money the government owes me from then... then I'll work on this year's.

Jays, NHL, and the Rest

And the Jays potent offense took a break last night in a 7-1 loss to the vaunted Kansas City Royals. It's one game, there are 3 more in the series. I'm much happier they lost big in game 1 than game 2 or 3, because it SHOULD wake them up a bit that they can't take anybody lightly. This is a team that is, realistically, mediocre on paper. They have a lot of young talent, and some veterans that have been all-stars and should be far from washed up, but they still need to work hard game in and game out to be consistently winning.

I imagine Cito will chat with them, point out a few mistakes here and there, and generally put them at ease and let them have some fun. He knows they can beat the Royals, the Royals know it, and the team knows it. I expect them to bounce back tonight.

Round 1 of the NHL playoffs is over tonight. Two game sevens happening nearly simultaneously. Jersey vs Carolina and Washington vs The Rangers. Two games that look to be good, but I'd much prefer the Devils-Canes game. Except it's on TSN2 here, and Rogers doesn't carry it. Go figure. I'll probably tune into the Jays game and jump in and out of the Caps-Rangers game (also known as Ovechkin vs Lundqvist).

The west is already set up for Round 2, with Detroit vs Anaheim and Chicago vs Vancouver. I can't see the Wings going down to the Ducks. Sorry Anaheim, but Detroit is no San Jose - this is a team that KNOWS how to win in the playoffs, and your only hopes are Pronger and Scott Niedermeyer grabbing the team by the neck and dragging them to some wins.

As for Chicago and Vancouver, I'm naturally cheering for the remaining Canadian team, and I think they'll put up a hell of a fight. I still don't think the kids on the Hawks have the experience to win it all, but they've shown they've got some grit and determination in there and could be a challenge for the Canucks. Still, I think Vancouver pulls this one out.

I missed Heroes last night. Completely forgot the season finale was on. I'll grab it tonight and watch it, fully prepared to bitch about it tomorrow. I personally like Torontoist's prediction for it (having not watched it this season since it's sucked since season 1) - Monkey Sylar. Or maybe just have Sylar do a T2 homage and change between all the personas he's been while melting in a pool of molten steel. I think that's required to kill him now. Of course, not before Peter touches him and absorbs all his powers at once, and then shapeshifts into Sylar so the character can continue... or something lame like that.

Skillz Game tonight. Stud H/L. I imagine I'll be doing something else, as limit, hi/lo, and stud are all anathema to me. If I do go crazy and sign up though, expect me to be playing incredibly loose in an effort to suck out a win. Where's PLO8?

Heroes - I Am Sylar

So Sylar is having an identity crisis. This is a problem when you're a shapeshifter. As per usual here, lots of spoilers, this is your warning.






I just can't enjoy this show any more. I'm only watching it because the season is over with the next episode. After watching this episode, I can't believe there's only one episode left this season. The whole thing, once again, feels totally rushed. Everyone will soon be converging on building 26 via one method or another. Sylar and Danko are apparently rounding up everyone in one big sweep thanks to Micah's server being available to them. More on that later.

The Ando-Hiro distrust story is just tired and old. The line about Hiro and Superman both being fascists was great, but Hiro's stupidity power keeps kicking in so he won't listen to his whiney friend. I guess the once again resolved this by the end.

Of course, not before they tried to talk Parkman into helping them. Hey, remember when Parkman had the gift of painting the future? Yah, neither do the writers. Parkman goes back to his ex-wife to return the baby (because that's a safe move, since the agents know all about the baby), is surprised there are agents listening in (shocking!) and awkwardly tries to reconcile with wifey. Is it really his baby? Does maybe wifey have powers? They have a lot to talk about at the cottage... except he's not going because he realized he has to take down the bad government guys who are chasing him before he can have a happy family with his superpowered baby and boring ex-wife. She's such a Daphne rebound.

Sylar going all Norman Bates was a decent touch. It's a shame that his mother is/was one of the most annoying and milquetoast characters the show has ever seen. But it at least pushes him to full Psycho now, and will confuse the fuck out of his motivation (see: Micah).

Speaking of Rebel... Micah's supposedly a technological genius. He can talk to machines and is a teenager, so therefore is aware of all new technology instantly. He doesn't have a fully-charged laptop and a full UPS hooked up to his setup so if someone, say the the government agency that's hunting you, cuts the power to your block, you can still maintain a net connection and access to your vital systems long enough to create a distraction? He should have been able to send out copies of important data to offsite locations and delete the local copies instantly before creating a shitstorm of alarms and problems that would help him escape. Hell, the fact he had to PACK before running was idiotic, but I'll chalk that up to being a kid.

Sylar actually listening to Micah was an unexpected touch. Explaining it away as his mother's personality dominating him was a bit weak. Michah's look of "oh shit, this dude is way more fucked up than I thought" was excellent though. Sylar having the big fake tear running down his cheek was just cheesy. Although it did remind me of the tear running down Tracy's frozen face. Micah has such an effect on people.

So we spend all of last episode building the Petrelli-Bennett family unit. There's talk about a new co-operation of the family. And then... Nathan flies off to confront Sylar on his own? Nathan knows EXACTLY what Sylar is capable of, and Nathan's only power is to fly. What the fuck did he think he could do? He was even warned by everyone (I even think Princess Leia and Admiral Ackbar showed up to tell him) that IT'S A TRAP, and he just strolls into his office. Lucky for him Danko was there to taser his ass before Sylar found a faster means of transportation.

And then Sylar decides to tell Danko to fuck off, he wants to be President now. And turns his back on Danko? Sylar's obviously not thinking straight, and is certainly letting emotion get in the way of logic. Does he not know that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one? Anyway, he gets knifed in the back of the head (pretty kickass), and then GETS UP. Sooooooo... did Danko just miss the spot? Did it move in all the shapeshifting? Is this some sort of freaky side effect of something so that Sylar is now unkillable? I suppose decapitation could still work.

Next week is the finale, but this felt like a mid-season episode that has a whole whack of plot left to go. The preview implies death and mayhem next week... and also that Noah and Angela (at least) are free after being surrounded by bad guys at the end of the episode. I predict a clusterfuck of a finale that will just piss me off.

I mean, this wasn't a TERRIBLE episode, but the show on the whole is so aggravating that I'm done. I shall soldier on for one more episode though.

Heroes - 1961

It seems people are happy with the Tim Kring penned episode that aired last night. Ooo! It's flashbacky! Those are always good!

Sigh.

While I don't claim to be as witty as this guy, I seem to have become as cynical when it comes to Heroes. Two episodes left, and unless they wow me, I doubt I'll watch the next season.

I think part of the problem has become that the characters, the actors, and the stories have all been too far gone for too long. I just can't bring myself around to caring. Noah still shows some signs of being complex and interesting and smart, especially last week, but he's bounced around so much alliance-wise that it's just getting old. At leaat he's better at it than Nathan.

Anyway, the episode. Last week left us with the question "why are they digging?" This week answered it with, "no particular reason." Matrelli made some blahblahblah about needing proof her sister was dead and looking for a scrap of clothing or something.

50 years, unlimited resources, access to the most powerful people in the world, and you NEVER CHECKED IF YOUR SISTER WAS ALIVE? On top of that, you're getting your family to dig up every grave in the place to look for some evidence one of the bodies is your sister.

Ugh.

Anyway, it doesn't matter, because her sister can control the weather and a storm springs up and Angela discovers her dream is literal... like they've ALWAYS BEEN. I don't know where this bullshit about having to interpret them came from, but there's been no discussion of that in the past.

So, her sister has been stirring up dust storms at Coyote Flats for 50 years whenever she needs to go steal something. Smart move. Again, Angela never noticed the strange, localized weather patterns at the site of her sister's supposed death over the last half century? Give me a fucking break.

The one remotely cool part of that storyline was the explanation for why Angela stole those socks that one time last season or whenever it was. I wonder if Kring really had that part figured out then. I'll go with yes, because he's the creator of the series.

Everyone else's story is unimportant, Nathan, Peter, Noah, Claire, and Mohinder were essentially window dressing for the episode.

Then there's the flashbacks. Okay, the other flashback episodes were good because they involved actors and characters we already knew and filled in questions we already had. How did HRG joing the company? How did he get Claire? How did Claude become his partner? Where'd the Haitian come from? Hey! That's Eric Roberts! And then Eric Roberts shows up regularly. "Company Man" was one of the best episodes of ANYTHING on TV that season. "1961"? Not so much.

See, this flashback episode wasn't needed. It was created from the previous episode. Coyote Flats didn't exist before then. Everyone who was in the flashback except Angela was dead. The only thing that interested me was what Deveaux's power was... and it was nothing new - mind reading and control. Okay, so he was a Parkman? That's just lazy. In fact, the flashback changed the origin story of Linderman.

If you follow the online comics, you'll know that Linderman was a young conscript in Vietnam who met Arthur Patrelli (who had no powers) while part of his company, assigned to kill a girl in a village who could make plants grow really fast. He saved Patrelli's life with his ability and they became friends. This origin had already been ignored and discounte in the past, and now it was taken even further. Sure, you could claim the comics aren't canon, but they're written and published and endorsed by NBC and the creators of the program. This isn't fan-fic or some loosely controlled universe like Star Trek. They've bridged stories from the comics into the series (see: Wireless), and vice versa, but they seem to also conveniently ignore them when they change their minds.

I guess it provided motivation for Primatech, and possibly lays the groundwork for the next season - the Patrelli's start a new "Family" to oversee things. This keeps known characters around and allows the introduction of new ones I suppose.

And Alice had better damned well play a role in the next couple episodes, otherwise this whole episode is essentially useless. Her insansity and perhaps a quest for vengeance could be woven in quite nicely.

The ending, with Sylar as Nathan talking to the press was a nice touch. It easily puts Nathan back in play in DC and could set up a nice "who's who" bit of writing as Nathan and Sylar both try to get the ear of the President. Of course, the writers will make it more like an episode of Scooby-Doo and have them running through various doors in a long hallway instead.

At least the season is almost over. Not that I'm even the least bit curious how it ends (death of Danko, maybe Sylar "dies" for the 3rd straight season finale, and probably one less Patrelli are my guesses).

Oh, and if anyone doubts for a second that baby Matt Parkman will play a key role in shutting down Sylar's powers when all seems dire, you haven't been paying any attention to this show. Or maybe they'll put in the twist and have the baby turn off the good guys' powers! Or everybody's!

Of course, the Haitian could have done that easily, or is he still too busy in Haiti?

Heroes - Into Asylum

An episode that took us nowhere, but perhaps set up for bigger things. Oh, spoiler alert, blahblahblah.

I need to point out two Sylar powers that are being conveniently ignored.

1.- He has the ability to CHANGE THE PERCEPTION OF REALITY. Remember that fat chick from the first season? The one who saved him and brought him to the jungle? She could make people see her however she chose, could make their surroundings appear however she wanted, and generally confuse the fuck out of you. Why the hell would Sylar need to be a shapeshifter? Especially when it's obviously not a pleasant experience.

2.- He has the ability to tell people what to do and they'll do it. Not Parkman's mind trick, but that other girl's one from season 1 that hung around with HRG. He took her power of compulsion. So someone sticking a gun in his face is absolutely pointless, without even mentioning the telekenisis. The whole scene in the apartment was idiotic until the gun went down.

Okay, glad that's off my chest.

This was a setup episode. I can usually forgive setup episodes in series with large arcs... except it feels like most of the episodes in this chapter have been setup episodes. For what it was, it was decent.

Claire and Nathan are in Mexico, hiding out. Claire hawks her necklace and Nathan plans to drink it into more money. Nathan is not in the Navy any more (or Marines, or whatever the hell he was in) and gets schooled by a frat boy. Good thing Claire steps up with her magical can't-get-drunk-cuz-of-the-healing powers. Something about the liver regenerating. I'm pretty sure inebriation isn't caused by liver damage... but it is in fact, the other way around.

It appears the whole point of the trip to Mexico was for daughter and dad to bond... again. Also, it was to drive home that Nathan doesn't have any friends in Washington any more. Speaking of that... why the fuck do we only get 3 minutes of President Worf this whole season? Why bring in Michael Dorn and not have him involved in any way?

Okay, so Claire and Biodad are all coolio now that Nathan got drunk and apologized and bought Claire her necklace back by hawking his very nice watch that Claire didn't lose in a drinking game. Speaking of which, is it cool that NBC shows an 17 or 18 year-old girl going head-to-head with a frat boy in a tequila drinking contest. I don't have a problem with it, but think of the childrens.

Meanwhile the other two surviving Petrelli's are chillaxing in a big church. Were they in DC or NY? I thought it was that big church in DC at first, which had that awesome scene in The West Wing where President Martin Sheen went mano-a-deo with God... LOVE that monologue. Sadly, no Sheen here, and Peter's bitching at Jesus didn't quite work as well. Maybe it needed more Latin. The whole point of this portion? To let us know Matrelli has acute insomnia and hasn't "earned" sleep yet. Also, that HRG is going to get his ass handed to him down the road for letting them go, even if nobody supposedly knows. Oh yah, and also so Peter and mom can rebond as well and she can reveal that she was a terrible mother and has lots of secrets and manipulates people. Mom sleeps, has a vision we don't get to see, and they're off to gather up the rest of the Petrelli clan and then see her sister, who, thanks to the preview for next week, we know is long dead.

Which brings us to the main plot and the only really interesting thing in this episode - Sylar's partnership with crazy-eyes-in-charge-of-the-project guy. I'll say it here - if not for Zachary Quinto's Sylar, Heroes doesn't make it past season 2. Anyhoo, Sylar decides to use his mega-badassery to help the nutjob running the round-em-up project. Good move by Sylar, as it protect him, and will leave him all alone in the superpower club if he catches them all. My major problems with this plotline in this episode are above. The twist of the shapeshifter taking on Sylar's form actually surprised me, so good for them on that one - it's rare I don't guess these things. The fact the shapeshift seems permanent (unless actively changed back) could make things interesting down the line, but I'll guess is actually an out for the show shold Quinto decide to pursue movies (ie.- the next 12 Star Trek films). Have him shift to someone else, and get stuck, or not be able to switch back to himself... new actor, no problem, still Sylar. Does anybody really think HRG buys that Sylar is dead? In fact, I'd guess that seeing the body he figured out that Sylar is alive and working with whatshisname now. Fun times.

Okay, so next week the Petrellis should get together, exhume a body, rewrite the origin story a 3rd or 4th time, and Sylar should be badass and maybe not trustworthy while he corrupts this already corrupt department as HRG struggles to manipulate and plot its demise. Also, Hiro and Ando and baby Matt Parkman will likely meet up with Big Matt Parkman (see, no Daphe, but now he has a baby in his life), and Mohinder (btw - where's Molly again?) while Micah keeps rebelling it up.

In other words... standard.

Heroes Was Pretty

So I "watched" Heroes last night. I was paying more attention to the PPI/Riverchasers game on my laptop, which is problematic when Hiro and Ando are on screen. The writing is still sloppy and lazy, but at least they're going places again.

*SPOILER*

Hiro's got his expected neutered powers back. With the other occurences in the episode, it looks like flying is the only way to get anywhere quickly now. This is a good thing - Hiro controlling time = good. Hiro travelling through time = bad.

The method of achieving this restoration of power? Somewhat lame. But it does tie into season 1 again, as does the the completely expected revelation of Rebel. A shame that Micah had such a rude awakening to the truth about politics.

Anyway, some cool moments did exist, but the real strength was the visuals (with the exception of Matt & Daphne's scene, that was sub-basement level budget green screen there). The cold snap looked really cool, as did the shattering afterwards. The wink was fucking retarded.

So yah... umm... the DP can keep his job I guess.

So Far, So Mediocre

Two BBT4 games down for me so far. So far? Out on hands I play no differently any day of the week. But as always, I can't focus on individual hands for my ousting.

I've been playing far too weak-loose so far. Yesterday's Riverchaser's game was an exercise in doubling up and giving it away, only to double up again. I had almost no follow-up bets, folded far too much to any pressure, and basically played like I was against the bloggers from the first BBT, not the ones who have actually discovered c-bets, turn bluffs, re-raises, and storytelling. I'll have to step it up.

Or stop catching up on Heroes and Dollhouse (two incredibly mediocre items themselves) while playing.

Skillz tonight, but I doubt I'll make it. Mookie tomorrow, and I MIGHT show up for that, but I'll probably be late.

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Heroes - Haven't seen last night's episode yet, but the previous two were two hours of yawn. Hiro discovers he can be a hero without his powers? I think I wrote something about that once. Incredilame. And Mohinder stays behind to bitch at Parkman about stuff? I dunno, if your main objective is to run and hide from people trying to catch you, than maybe going to your home country, where there are over a billion other people and a terribly inefficient government and infrastructure might be an option you'd look at?

And of course, Parkman continues being a dolt. He probes Noah's mind and skips the part where Angela and him come up with a plan to undermine the entire operation? Or was that just Noah blocking it from him? No... Parkman's just a moron. And it should be a surprise to absolutely nobody that Daphne is still alive.

Bah. Lame.

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Dollhouse - I'm an episode behind on this one too. The second episode was better than the first, but was all kinds of uneven in terms of plotting and editing. There MAY be hope for this, but right now it feels far too scattershot to come together cohesively. I think Joss will have another early cancelation on this one, but without the huge DVD sales to save his hide.

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BSG - Well, this is still good TV at least. I seriously question how they can effectively wrap up all the loose ends with only a handful of epsiodes left. There could be some rushing here.

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Jimmy Fallon - One episode, especially when Robert DeNiro is your first guest, isn't enough to go by, but Jimmy better shape up fast or Chevy might get a run for his money on "shortest life of a talk show."

The opening was WEAK. It's like they took Weekend Update's rejected jokes and used them. Plus, Jimmy's eyes never left the cue cards, which was obvious to anyone who was looking in the general direction of the TV.

The stuff with Conan pre-monologue wasn't that bad though. Mostly due to Conan. "Jay isn't leaving." - classic.

Here's the thing, DeNiro and Fallon are obviously at least semi-friends from the handful of stuff they did together on SNL, but Fallon was reacting like he'd never spoken to the guy in his life. Yah, DeNiro is a terrible interview, but Jimmy was sweating buckets... you could almost see the audience in the reflection off his forehad. And the DeNiro "I'm Jimmy Fallon" impression was funny, but lifted directly from when he did it on SNL.

Then Justin Timberlake came on and proved once again that he's just cool. I don't like the guy's music, but if he decided to be a regular cast member on SNL or host his own talk show, I'd watch. He strolls in to the Barry Gibb Talk Show theme (go Roots), instantly puts Fallon at ease, jokes around easily, turns to "Bob DeNiro" and jokes briefly, gets the audience laughing, gets Jimmy being a bit more spontaneous, and generally has a great time and saves the show. If they make it Late Night with Justin Timberlake next week, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

I expect Jimmy will be equally at ease when Tina Fey is on, and maybe less nervous with the other A-minus and B-list celebs he's got this week. There may be hope for him, but he has to relax and find some spontaneity.

As I said on Twitter - not Chevy bad... maybe Sajak bad.

I imagine that Craig Ferguson could see a boost in his ratings.

Heroes - Hiro's Leaps In Logic

Consider this line your spoiler warning.

Okay, another not terrible episode of Heroes. They cleared up Peter's power situation. Does him telling Tracy cause problems in the future? Will she sell out his secret? Probably not... the writers aren't that bright. That said, Peter's alteration makes him more interesting I suppose. At least until Ando touches him I'd guess.

Mohinder gives Hiro the best advice yet - run. Hiro of course, refuses, because that's not what a hero does. Of course, he's dead weight for the time being.

Parkman can not only see the future, but has the African dude leading him to art supplies when necessary. That's some gift. Parkman will be the wild card this season, looking for revenge.

Benett is doing what he's doing to protect Claire and his family. Well, that's the opposite of novel. Naturally, he'll turn against Nathan and the government at some point. Probably shortly after Claire gets in trouble... again.

Nathan is realizing that maybe this whole sticking-people-in-camps thing wasn't such a good idea. Especially when those people have a variety of super powers that kick his air-Nathan ability's ass. Nice of his conscience to start coming forward after setting up the season.

And Mama Peterelli isn't too pleased with him. Well, maybe she should have thought about that before helping him out.

Peter is showing some surprising smarts again. That little "grab Nathan so he can fly away" bit at the end was clever. He's also become a bit of a rebel expert it seems, what with his estimation of cell phone tracking time, elimination of traceable assets, etc..

Speedy served her purpose. Does shot=dead? Who knows. Depends if they want Matt to go permanently nuts or not I suppose.

Sylar is still awesome. Now he has microwave-boy as his sidekick, which will likely result in a dead microwave-boy at some point. "And I let you live. Which is kind of a big deal for me." was the line of the show.

But Hiro... he sees a picture of himself protecting a girl in India and assumes that (a) she has a sword (huh?) and (b) this will get him his powers back (wha?). Man, I need one of those swords. Guess we're going to India! Which of course means that Mohinder is king shit for that part of the arc. I wonder if he's just as stupid in Hindi?

All-in-all, a decent episode 2 for moving things forward. The "look" continues to be better, especially the night scenes. It definitely had the feeling of all the pieces being moved to their appropriate places in this chess match. Now if the writers can show themselves to be more competent chess players than a drunken monkey, this could work for them.

Before I Get to the Goat...

Just opened this guy's Heroes recap, but figured I'd write up my thoughts before I read his.

So they've once again started a new chapter. When we last left our intrepid simpletons and morons, Nathan was talking to Worf about rounding up all the Mutants because they were dangerous, but Magneto remembered the Nazi camps and Jean Grey made an impassioned plea to congress in Roy Thomson Hall. Wait... I'm confusing things.

Okay, the first part about Nathan and Worf was right.

Hiro lost his powers to Arthur Petrelli, but Ando got powers from a magic needle, which allowed him to make Speedygirl go so fast she travelled through time because Parkman has an understanding of Relativity commensurate to the knowledge gleaned from a Hostess Cupcake comic book. This meant they could rescue Hiro, but he still ain't not got no powers. Peter can fly because he needled himself and was near Nathan at the time. He saved Nathan, and Nathan disowned him and made friends with President Worf. Mohinder was beat up in a fire, Arthur was shot by Sylar, Sylar was knocked out by Noah and Mama P and Claire before Claire's mom blowed up Primatech. I think I've covered most of it...

Here be spoilers. By spoilers, I mean a complete description and breakdown of the episode. Highlight to read.

Nikki, or whatever her name is now (Tracy? Yah, that sounds right) gets naked after talking to Tron (we assume) on the phone all sultry-like. Nathan is talking on TV (he's head of Homeland Security now) as she gets tagged and bagged by some black-clothed solider guys. Ali Larter getting naked isn't really a bad thing, but it is pointless here... so we'll call it even.

Peter is a paramedic, which I'm not sure where that places him in the medical hierarchy compared to nurse. He wants to help people, but can't help everyone as his Iranian partner tells him. Oh, his partner is Iranian so he can subtly point out that Nathan talking about a "clear and present" danger (the hero-types) is a parallel to the real-world fear of people of Middle-East ancestry.

Peter gets in a cab, and of all the cabs in New York City, it happens to be Mohinder's. Well, it's good to know that in these trying economic times, a brilliant Indian geneticist who has worked for two shadow corporations, and has the knowledge of how to create superheroes can stil get a job as a taxi driver. It turns out everyone is staying under the radar since that whole super-soldier business a couple months back. Especially since they all know what Nathan's talking about (it isn't sex).

Oh, Peter was in the cab because Claire warned him that Nathan and his mom were going to "take down" Parkman... and him too, but she didn't really mention that even though she knew it. Peter decided to talk to his mom about it... because Peter still gets stupid when the plot requires it.

Yes, so far, Claire and Mohinder have been the smart ones.

Mohinder gets carjacked by the dude who took Tracy, and is told to drive up to a black SUV. He escapes with his super strength and general enhanced abilities (no spidery stuff though), and gets rescued by Noah... but not really.

Here's the part where my brain stops screaming. Noah's a "bad" guy again? Sweet. Ma Petrelli's still on the bad side, and Nathan leads them all. Common link? They all want to keep Claire safe and let her have a normal life. This will undoubtedly come into play.

Oh, and Claire was all worried that Sylar was still alive earlier. Nobody believes her, but she can "feel it". She was right.

The attempted takedown of Sylar was possibly the show's high point. He's so badass, they don't even know. Sylar is once again searching for answers, but he's not conflicted. His god-complex is in full effect, and he demands your respect bitches. Also, he's looking for his real family. The scene with him and the watchmaker was also great.

Parkman is upset Speedy is using her powers to be a courier. Parkman is a whiny bitch who is a mall cop. Mall cops are huge, just ask Paul Blartt. Parkman is also seeing the African guy... complete with head.

Why? Because Parkman's the prophet now. Yes, it's apparently not a normal power, but one that is bestowed upon someone. So the African dude got it after Mendes died? I mean, we know Peter, Sylar, and Arthur all had it too, but that was part of their thing. Just as Parkman figures this out, Claire shows up and he gets tasered.

Then there's the Hiro storyline. The ONLY way to telegraph this more would be to put up captions that said "in 2 minutes, this is going to happen." We get it, they don't know Ando has powers, and they also don't know Hiro doesn't. Good thing Hiro tagged both Ando AND himself with GPS tags! Also good that Hiro gave Ando the most obvious clue in the world to the password to track him. Of course Hiro gets kidnapped and Ando doesn't. What a fucking second.. Hiro was in Japan! How the hell can Homeland Security take down someone in the middle of fucking Tokyo?

Whatever... everyone gets herded into a plane, Claire stows away (because Nathan let her go and she's too bad ass and cares too much to let that shit fly).

Now here's where they take a left turn. Peter's ability has been adjusted. Now, to get the powers of someone else, he has to TOUCH them. No more just absorbing through induction. Luckily, he was seated next to Mohinder and they could pinky-swear or something. He breaks free, then accidentally touches Tracy, which causes him great surprise when he freezes a hole into the plane wall! People start getting sucked out, including some random powered person whose face we don't see, so therefore they aren't important. Peter looks very scared about getting sucked out, even though he can fly. Mohinder grabs him just as he's about to be sucked out of the plane

Or can he? Maybe his powers have changed so that not only does he have to have physical contact, but that he can only have one ability at a time. Who knows? The writers are morons and will either not explain this or forget about it.

Meanwhile, Claire goes to the cockpit to tell them to land, but daddy Noah is the co-pilot (suprisingly, not Jesus), and he's surprised to see Claire. Then the plane crashes.

Next week - the Heroes learn about teamwork. Gag.

Okay, despite the sarcasm, I didn't mind this episode. A reboot was needed. Sylar as a bad-ass is the only way Sylar should be. Mohinder as not evil is better, since he was shitty bad guy. If they can keep Mohinder and Claire from being morons, then there may be hope for them. If they can stop people from getting temporary stupiditis, there's hope. If they make Hiro a liability since he has no powers, that could be cool, especially if they somehow need Ando and his help comes with the condition of Hiro staying around (Ando is still free, but tracking Hiro). Where's Speedy? She'll show up I'm sure. Kinda weak how they decided we still need a prophet to draw the future.

I would have LOVED for the plan crash to be fatal to 90% of the characters. I'd be happy with Noah and Sylar being the only major holdovers, everyone else is disposable. That's not going to happen though, but maybe having the heroes as fugitives, and all together finally could be good. The episode was fairly straightforward, had some strong performances, and was generally likeable. I'll give them some leeway on character changes and new directions for the sake of saving the show.

Monday, WTF?

Where the hell did you come from Monday? It was Friday, like, 2 minutes ago. No fucking way you're already here Monday. WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SATURDAY AND SUNDAY? Oh... right.

Friday - Beer and Robbie Burns and Haggis and Bagpipes and Scotch
Saturday - Venture Bros and Bourbon Sour and Jambalaya and Hangin' out
Sunday - Pants? I don't need no steenking pants! Who needs pants to win a few satellites to the Sunday 750k just for the T$? Oh, and Fajitas and Crème Brûlée ice cream (stage 1).

So, good weekend. Just too fast.

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BSG - Talk about trying to cram as much as they can in 10 episodes. This whole Gaeta thing isn't ringing true. I think the webisodes are key to understanding where this is coming from and where it's going to. Here's hoping the political plot gets resolved quickly or shoved to the background. I'm really quite curious how the whole thing is going to wrap up. Maybe everyone is a Cylon, and they'll all join hands and sing while a rainbow arcs overhead.

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Heroes is back next week with President Worf. So Nathan is now going to round up all the people with powers. Super. If they introduce a Jewish character to smack us over the head with how it's just like Nazi Germany, I might throw up a bit in my mouth. Unless they name him Magneto... then I'll hurl heavy objects at my TV. I mean, they have two Japanese characters on the show (even if only one has powers), so the parallel to WWII Japanese internment camps should be easy enough to draw.

But it does recall the online comic from season 1 or 2, where future Peter rescues Nikki from superhero prisons, that are staffed by people with powers to hold people with powers or something. You know, government-sanctioned Heroes in special forces units vs normal people who don't want to be Government lackeys.

Yah, let's see if they can keep the second half of the season straight. I'll leave most of the vivisection to Goat.

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Superbowl - Man, did I miss on my picks. Steelers vs Cardinals? Whatever. I'll pick the Steelers now, just because Roethlisberger is a fun name to say.

Let's see... Roethlisberger has 14 letters. Warner has 6. That's a difference of 8. So let's say Steelers by 8, in the lamest Superbowl of all-time. Unless I drink too much, in which case it will be the most awesomest Superbowl evah!

Poker and Heroes

Out 224th in the Stars blogger game yesterday... which started at 7pm for some reason instead of 5.

I'll say this - the play was better than I expected, but still pretty craptacular. I made at least one bad laydown, and possibly two, that cost me chips when I should have been committed. Weak poker on my part for sure. Of course, my starting table had CK 3 seats to my left, but I was moved about 3 or 4 times while the game went on.

I think I'll do some Christmas shopping tonight, especially since the Omaha Hi/Lo game that is tonight's event doesn't start until 10pm. I have no idea what to get my friends, so this might necessitate some mall shopping. Ugh.

Heroes. I haven't talked much about it here, but it HAS improved over the last while. Of course, this chapter ended this week, and doesn't return until February 2nd. Goat gives this week's episode a "meh-plus", and I agree.

Things that bug me - Nathan is written terribly. Peter has been proven right time and again and has SEEN THE FUCKING FUTURE about what Nathan's plan brings, but big brother refuses to listen. He found God at one point, but now is evilish? Hero concentration camps? Could we steal more directly from X-Men please? Maybe Adrian Pasdar just doesn't have the acting chops to pull this off convincingly, but I blame bad writing more.

Peter gets his powers back! I'll assume he's starting from scratch though, so he should be able to fly and make blue flames come from his hands, and maybe have Mohinder's strength too. Do they keep him from Claire? Or does he even have the power-absorbing ability?

Ando has powers, Hiro doesn't. I wonder if Ando's turbocharging ability can revive stolen powers? Maybe Arthur doesn't really take them so much as suppress them. Sadly, the writer's understanding of Einsteining physics is... a touch flawed, and a very weak plot point for rescuing Hiro.

Nice to see future painting Africa guy is still alive and non-decapitated.

Is Sylar really, truly dead this time? Please? I love Sylar, but if you're going to kill him, leave him that way.

Why couldn't Claire saved her mom? It's not like she hasn't been horribly burned before... she walked into a nuclear explosion once! I'll also assume bio-mom died from a building falling on her instead of the fire she's immune to.

And Hiro's destruction of the formula comes waaaaay too late. Mohinder's stil alive and no doubt knows the formula inside and out. Missing the catalyst is an issue, but knowing that it exists just means he has to rediscover it. I'm sure Tracy will do all she can ot facilitate that. I wonder if Bruce Boxleitner will be back.

President Worf! Awesome. Too bade Nathan's new plan is totally lame and will make the next chapter Heroes Prison Break or Heroes Fugitive or something. I wonder if they cast Michael Dorn after Obama won? Would it have been an old white guy if McCain did? Turnaround on a TV episode, especially a single scene in a limo, can be very quick. Anyway, that gives as a Dr. Who, Sulu, Worf, Captain Sheridan (Babylon 5), Malcolm (Enterprise), and Uhura so far from the Sci-Fi pantheon doing guest shots. At least they know their audience... now let's try and get Mr. Wheaton in there for some Blogger love.

A month and a half off, and then it competes with Battlestar Galactica. Man, if you think Heroes looks bad now, wait until you have a direct comparison with BSG's new and final episodes going.

I'll Leave it to the Goat

But what was the point of the last two episodes of Heroes? Talk about poorly-written filler.

Heroes Quickie

It's already Thursday, so I'm late on this week's Heroes. I liked it plenty. Goat is right about them hoping we forget some things, but it was a quick-moving episode that moved things along nicely and was generally enjoyable. Sylar and HRG still rock, and the "stupid moments" were actually believable this time. Plus, no Mohinder.

Let's Talk Heroes

But first - I played in the LPR game last night. I came in late as the 3rd player... why is nobody showing up? Is it because nobody knows it's actually at 10:00 ET? Anyway, I made short work of Tragedy and Osssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuu and took home my $28 in about 24 minutes. I rock.

Wait... math time. $10+1 entry. $2 KO bounty. 3 people... one place paid. $10-2=8. 8x3=24 (first place). I knock out 2 people for $4 in bounties. What the hell happened to MY $2? Since I don't get knocked out, should I get that back? So, in fact, shouldn't 1st place be $26? I do believe I got ripped off. Fuckers.

Okay, Heroes, season 3 started tonight. Just in case you didn't catch the 3000 ads being run on every NBC network for the past few weeks. I skipped the (I'm assuming) lame pre-show. This is a show that wowed me in the first season, and easily had the best hour of TV that year for the episode where Bennett flashes back to his early days in the Company. But it ended with one hell of a whimper and left me disappointed for the summer.

Season 2 was a disaster from the get go. Terrible new characters, the asinine idea of stripping all the cool characters of their powers so we could be reintroduced to them or something. LAMELY killing someone in flashback who they LAMELY saved at the end of the 1st season. Throw in possibly the worst romantic subplot ever written, and Season 2 is best forgotten.

So, after the creators apologized for season 2, would they finally rediscover the magic that made 90% of season 1 so great?

They certainly tried. The first 15 minutes once again felt like an hour of any other show... in a good way. The fact it was 2 hours long was boding well. They answered questions from season 2 immediately, without drawing out the "suspense". Everyone was still themselves, and even Sylar was getting back into form. They had some shocking moments, deaths, and some surprises. They even had a little bit of sexy. So far, so good.

But then Mohinder showed up.

I was one of the people that liked Suresh in the beginning. Great, they had a guy who DIDN'T have powers trying to discover the secrets of these people. He was naive, but brilliant. But he developed a stupid streak comparable to Claire's. He'd be moving right along and then do some brain-dead, makes-no-sense thing that derailed any momentum. He and Claire were the fall guys for "we need to move the plot along, so we'll sacrifice the character we've built for this implausibly stupid thing they need to do because we can't write ourselves out of this corner."

He still is. My GOD he's a tool. It took me out of the show with how stupid he was. Even Claire seemed relatively even-keeled this time, Suresh goes and does the moron-boy cliche thing.

And Hiro does something EVEN MORE idiotic... this is the best way the could move his story forward? He's shown naïvité in the past, but this was outright idiocy, followed up with paranoia.

There were also some pretty blatant rip-offs. I realize the mutant story is somewhat limited, but could your pyrokinetic maybe NOT have Liz Sherman-like blue flames? And a villain with control over magnetism? Well, Kring wanted that in season 1. And I get the feeling David Cronenberg could sue for one developing storyline.

Seeing Bruce Boxleitner and William Katt was cool though. Alan Bradley and The Greatest American Hero in the same show... awesome.

*spoiler*
Really? Did they think nobody saw The Fly? Mohinder has super-strength and agility, and can seemingly stick to walls. I was thinking direct Spider-Man rip-off until he started peeling skin from his back. Then it was obvious that Jeff Goldblum wasn't available.

The return of Lindermann was surprising for about 2 seconds, when I realized he wasn't really there, and very likely a figment of Nathan's psyche. Or he's being caused be someone else.

And Nikki's new character is kind of boring. But now that she's learning about her forgotten past, and has freezing abilities, she could grow. Although why'd she have to kill Katt??? WHY???

So in the end, there's a lot of promise here. They've got some villains (which I'm pretty sure will be a maguffin and wrapped up fairly soon). Some heroes in interesting positions (again, these will be wrapped up I think), and another end-of-the-world plotline. But there's still the HUGE problem of seemingly intelligent people doing completely out-of-left-field STUPID things, which if it continues, will turn me off this show permanently. Also, the totally unsubtle product placement is still grating... will Sprint be this season's Nissan Versa or Rogue?

For the plot and start of the season, it gets high marks. For originality and stupidity, it gets low ones. So I guess that puts it in the middle.

Turkey Overload

I had two turkey dinners over the weekend. The first, on Sunday, was brined the night before in a cooler and ended up being roasted perfectly. Juicy, flavourful meat, cooked just right, and fantastic roasted vegetables. A HUGE improvement over last year. TONS (okay, about 10lbs) of leftovers. Monday's involved going to the folks' and was also quite good, but wasn't brined. My mom roasts a good bird, not at all dry, and perfectly golden skin.

All-in-all, a very filling weekend. And 30 degrees on Thanksgiving to boot! Hottest it has EVER been (old record was 29.6 degrees in 1916).

Zero poker content due to minimal poker played. I even skipped the MATH last night in order to finish cleaning up after Sunday's dinner. It was so very nice to reclaim my kitchen from the pots, pans, and giant pot of soup on the stove. Of course, now my fridge is packed. Turkey and gravy sandwich for dinner tonight. Maybe some corn on the cob and fried mashed potatoes and stuffing (definitely stuffing). Next week will involved nothing but fruit and salads and exercise (yah, right).

Saturday was a friend's 30th (who had to have it on the long weekend thanks to me taking over last week's), which was a pleasant gathering. Before that was all the turkeyday shopping, including a stop at the farmer's market to restock on Elk and tasty veggies.

Some Heroes content though. The 3rd episode of the season was on last night, and it was the first that I truly enjoyed. This is a spoiler warning. I'm too lazy to change the colour today.

The Sylar scenes were great. His character really adds a lot to the show. I would have done things differently, but they may still be able to go in that direction. Just before Sylar clocked Candice, I figured it was ALL an illusion. His wounds, his loss of powers, all of it. That Candice was controlling him via illusions. It would have been brilliant. Instead, he kills her, and STILL can't use his powers (or hers). I did love that he bolts out of the shack and finds himself in the middle of an endless rainforest. Like I said though, this could STILL be part of a much larger illusion to control him.

Peter is mildly annoying. Let's drop the amnesia thing already. Plus, his reasoning to not open the box was weak. If he didn't like what he found, why go back to it? Just stick around in Cork and chill with the Irish.

DL died. Good. Not because I disliked the character, but because if he survived it would be a miracle of modern medicine.

Bennet will get shot in the eye? Claire will be there? I doubt it. It's the 8th painting in the series, which means it will happen at the end of the season. I imagine this will be the one that doesn't come true. Claire will be turned against her father, but at the last minute change her mind and save him. That or he'll have powers we don't know about.

Hiro - same ol' same ol'.

West and Claire - still lame. Nice Superman rip-off there.

Nice that Claire's Nissan Rogue (a proud sponsor of Heroes) has been found in Mexico and will make it back to America with the Wonder Twins.

Nichelle Nichols! They kill of Sulu and bring in Uhura! Let's see if Leonard Nimoy shows up next season, or more likely, Walter Koenig.

Anyway, not an action-packed episode, but it had some great moments and felt like a keystone episodes - where it did things that lay the groundwork for the story moving forward.

Jibba Jabba

Another melange of topics today, mostly Heroes and Hockey. You've been warned.

Bubbled 4th in The Hoy last night. I played okay, but mostly just played my cards, which has been an unfortunate trend of late. I think my shortstack play is still alright, but it's hard to win by staying short. I did a few REALLY weak things, and I think it hurt me in the long run. Frankly, I was surprised I got the action I did on my strong hands. Right now my cards are okay, but my play is generally sub-par. I need to pick that up.

Before that though, I watched Heroes. Warning: Here be spoilers (highlight to read):

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Okay? So the episode wasn't bad, but other than ONE moment, it was predictable and lacked any of that "awesome" factor that last season's episodes had. It felt like everyone was going through the motions.

The commercials gave it away, but Nathan and Peter are still very much alive. Nathan looks ridiculous with his "grieving my brother for 4 months and become a drunk who's family left him" beard. It looks completely pasted on. Peter has amnesia? Okay. The commercials showing him alive pretty much destroyed any surprise or drama that would have resulted from him appearing at the very end of the episode. Bravo NBC marketing department, you've fucked up once again with this show. No wonder nobody watches your network.

Parkman is a detective, yay Matt! It's about time he figured out how to leverage his power to his advantage. He was actually far less annoying than last season, and him being Molly's guardian just works. Of course, now he's divorced too. So that's two of the married Heroes that are now single. Guess NBC realized that having them save the world with families back home would be difficult to pull off. Once again, I can't help but think that the guys in charge when the show started could pull it off. The families make them different - they make them real. If everyone ends up single and alone, then you might as well make them full underwear perverts (look it up) like Marvel and DC heroes.

Molly is still adorable though, what a great actress.

Bennet and Mohinder are working to take down the company, eh? With Mohinder getting inside again. The guy who can changed metals into gold definitely has his uses. Where do they take this? I imagine they'll be caught before long, and it won't actually be a season-long subplot. Or maybe it will be with many twists and turns.

Speaking of the Bennets - Claire is still an idiot. "Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself." So she sticks her hand in a bunsen burner, and then does a flip off a tower and breaks her legs. Lucky for her she's only being figured out by that one guy so far.

The whole family is obviously miserable, but Noah had the one kick-ass scene of the whole show, when he takes down the most annoying manager character seen in a long time. Like he has time for that shit.

No Nikki/Jessica and family so far. That's okay.

They killed Sulu? We don't even know what his power was! Maybe it's to fake death.

So all the Company's founders have powers? Well we know that Nathan & Peter's dad didn't (read the comics), and we know what Linderman's was. What about Momma Petrelli? Eric Roberts' character? Shame they didn't let us in on that.

Maya and Alejandro could be an interesting dynamic. Which way do they go? What exactly is her power?

And finally, Hiro in the past. We knew Kensei was white from the casting, being British is kinda cool too. Being a mercenary coward drunk is pretty much par for the course, and now Hiro will maybe make him a hero? Who knows.

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All-in-all, an "eh" episode. I really wanted to like the premiere, and I really wanted it to suck me in again. Of course, last season started off weakly and picked up about 3 or 4 episodes in, so I'll give it a chance. The preview for the season managed to give us nothing to entice me, but let out a few more surprises that would have been so much better as, you know, SURPRISES.

I don't have a marketing or advertising degree, but here NBC, some free advice. FIRE YOUR FUCKING MARKETING DEPARTMENT. Heroes is a show that extends a story for an entire season. What kept people coming back last year were the "holy shit!" moments, when an actor appeared, or a character died, or some huge plot twist occurred, which kept us interested in next week. We knew New York wasn't going to explode (but we all kind of hoped), but the question was what ELSE would happen. Of course, the answer is "nothing." When you finish a season with 3 main characters possibly dead, the absolute most moronic thing you can do is SHOW THEIR FACES IN THE PREVIEWS. Are you so paranoid that nobody's going to watch that you decide to give away the farm in the previews to entice them? Guess what? It has the opposite effect. No wonder nobody watches your channel.

Oh, and Journeyman? Kinda sucked. It's a shame, because the lead seems decent. Quantum Leap did it far better 18 years ago. I don't think I've seen a cast I could care less about.

Where's my Battlestar Galactica? Oh yah, that's right.. not until 2008, and then after half a season we get to wait ANOTHER year for the 2nd half. Bravo Sci-Fi.... hey wait, isn't that part of NBC too? NBC Universal sucks balls. Keep it up and my TV schedule will be strictly the Stewart-Colbert double-bill every Monday-Thursday at 11 and the Leafs.

Hors D'Oeuvres are picked. Tonight I start putting together music and cleaning up.

And now, hockey! All you fantasy football junkies can bite me. Seriously, I couldn't care less... I watch the Superbowl, and that's about it. Yah, I'm that guy, wanna fight about it?

Hockey season kicks off next week. For us fans in Toronto (and the rest of the Leafs nation around the world) it's been a loooooong off-season, what with the Leafs sucking like a Hoover and missing the playoffs by one point. Spare me the crybaby story about New Jersey not trying against the Islanders, the Leafs win ONE more game and they're in the playoffs, but they didn't have the stones to pull it off.

And this season? They're gonna suck just as much. 11th place in the conference is my predicition. And I've been a fan since Brad Marsh and Gary Leeman were our big guys and Bester and Ing were letting pucks get past them. I almost miss the Brophy years. At least nobody pretended like the Leafs had a shot then.

Let's look at the off-season acquisitions: Jason Blake and Veska Toskala. I KNEW we'd get Blake. Why? Because he's an overpriced old guy who had a career year on a crappy team and we just HAD to overpay him for 5 years. No way he gets 40 goals again this season. I hope I'm wrong.

Toskala - best backup in the league last year. Should have been a starter apparently. Well, he'll get his chance. Especially since Pogge is still too young and Raycroft his showing his usual "brilliance" between the pipes. Guy's looked shakey so far.

So maybe Toskala is the next Sawchuck, Roy, Brodeur, or Hasek. Hell, I'd be happy with the next Khabibulin or Irbe. And maybe Blake gets 30-40 goals and works with Sundin and the Leafs get into the playoffs. I certainly hope so.

Or maybe 11th will be looking good. Fucking Leafs head office. Fire that no-talent loser of a GM Ferguson and while you're at it, kick Peddie to the curb with him. That guy has done more damage to the properties of MLSE than I thought possible. Look at the Raptors - as soon as they told him to get his fucking hands out of that cookie jar and they replaced his dumbass GM hire with the best GM in the league, the team turned around in ONE season. Do you think maybe 40 years of loyalty from your beleagured (and huge) fan base could warrant someone who knows WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE DOING in charge? Of course not, because Leafs fans are sheep who will keep paying hundreds of dollars for a seat despite not getting a sniff of the finals for 14 years. It could be worse, we could be in Chicago.... or Mets fans.

Go Leafs Go.



4 days left.