Resonance

Gwen Verdon Does a Little Fosse

The original...

The dub...

Finales

Tonight was the season finale of Heroes, one of the few shows that I have actually bothered to tweak my schedule to watch. I made it to my pal's house in time for the show and as we stood in the kitchen while she made popcorn, we talked about what had happened and how we hoped the show would at least answer one of our questions. And we had many.

The primary questions I had for the show was how the interactions of Hiro with the future and past would impact the now of the season ender as well as how Peter would manage to use his talent to gain other's powers would be realized in the promised meeting with Sylar.

Neither of those questions were answered.

Hiro's impact on the future due to his presence in the past was not addressed. I guess it might be so that the next season still has something to focus on. After all, isn't that really the primary time-travel conundrum? If one can travel through time, how does that affect the future? Or does it create alternate universes where those changes play themselves out? Apparently, these aren't issues in the Heroes world. We were left with the Peter/Sylar showdown five years in the future. Sylar having gained the powers of the shape-shifter as well as Nathan and DL. Hiro future's trip into the past and Hiro past's trips into the future really didn't seem to impact anything at all. Shame, I would have liked to know how the folk who write for this show tried to tie up those loose ends. They did manage to bring Hiro past (present) into the past again. This time, he's stuck in 1600's Japan. At least, that's exactly how the season finale ended. The interesting thing is that this one image, something that has recurred throughout the season, made it's presence known again. This time, it's the standard of one of the two warring factions in ancient Japan.

Peter, who is the typical troubled hero, did not manage to gain the powers that Sylar had. Which continues to confuse me. As it doesn't really make sense that someone who has, in essence, Sylar's power, although not as life-threatening, can't use it on Sylar. Peter managed to grab Niki's powers in a heartbeat and use it effectively, but still failed to harness the nuclear capabilities of Ted. Nathan, in a sudden change of heart, flew him into the stratosphere to explode (or so we think) safely out of New York.

Finally, even though the writers managed to bring an even bigger evil into the game, they failed to actually finalize the deal with Sylar. Even though Sylar doesn't have the powers of regeneration, after Hiro managed to run a blade through his heart, he still seemed to drag his bleeding ass into a conveniently located sewer.

I'm really interested in this story because i'm fascinated not by the lack of action-packed comic-based fiction, i'm interested in how this will all work out. And, it seems, i'll have to wait. I just hope that they don't dig themselves into a hole so deep that they have to jump a shark to end the tale.

Save the cheerleader, save the world. Save the series, save my hope in regular television...

Hahaha!

Dammit! I simply fucking LOVE Penn and Teller! Shame that they aren't the first, but it's still pretty funny... Dihydrogen monoxide!

Heroes

I have to admit, although the series Heroes, on NBC, seemed at the outset like it was going to be a good series, I chose to heed the initial warnings that it was slow going and seemed to have no idea where it wanted to go story-wise. One night, not too long ago, a friend invited me to her place for some popcorn, wine and one episode of the show. Since it comes on at the same time that 24 does, I was initially a little hesitant. But, after some hemming and hawing (and knowing that I can always catch 24 later, online), I decided to head out to her place in Jamaica Plain for some prime-time science fiction.

I have to admit, even though I wasn't all that familiar with the story thus far, I was interested in the show. However, being the person I am, I let it go for a little while. Until we set up the Apple TV's in the store. There are trailers from the shows available on iTunes loaded into the little boxes and i kept getting little snippets of Hiro, the Japanese time-stopper/space-jumper stopping the world long enough to talk to Peter, the guy who can absorb other's powers, about saving some cheerleader. So, I finally downloaded all the episodes and began my Hero-a-thon yesterday. I finished today. Back-to-back episodes of some pretty interesting and surprisingly graphic television. Lots of blood. I like that in a show sometimes. Probably from my childhood addiction to Fangoria and the movies that made that magazine great.

Obviously, the premise is relatively X-Men-esque in that it assumes humans undergo an evolutionary modification that allows some of us to manifest certain special powers that allow pretty extraordinary results. And, like the X-Men, certain people are aware of these people. Unlike the X-Men, though, these others who are cognizant of these mutations don't want to kill them all, yet, as far as we know, but want to tag them with some radioactive isotope and maintain an awareness of their locations. Sort of like some odd variation of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with no sad sack of a second who gets to wrestle the alligators.

There is the ubiquitous bad guy, Sylar, a once-watchmaker turned murdering hacker, stealing powers from people by removing their brains and having a little alone time with said organs. He's on a mission to, it seems, find all the others who have powers and take them all. What he would do with all that, who knows. He's kind of like the Collector in reverse and with a penchant for melodramatic statements. And not in the good way.

The rest of the cast is pretty much all-too human, looking for answers and finding more questions, typical teenage angst playing out in mainly adult characters. However, that aside, it's an interesting show. I am looking forward to catching the first episode when the new shows start premiering on the 23rd. It just sucks that now I have to watch them and wait another week to find out what happens next.

At least I didn't have to wait however long everyone who watched it from the start did to find out what happens to Peter and Sylar, who have just met in Mohinder's (the son of a scientist who discovered these people and is currently hanging on by a thread and a thought on the ceiling of his father's New York apartment) staging ground.

I'm guessing, if Peter can absorb powers, he'd be able access all the powers that Sylar currently has in his arsenal. Plus, all the ones he already has. It should be an interesting little episode.

Now, if we could just get that damned Jessica character out of the way, she's a little annoying. Sybil is so played out.

First Comes Love?!

So, I finally happened upon the Logo Network. It's the Rainbow People Network. Yes, television for queers. So, I watched some lesbian comic and continued to watch as it transitioned into a music video program. (To be honest, the only reason I watched any of the video thing was because there was a video of Christina Aguilera's new song, "Candyman". She's hot, I admit it)

Before I wandered over to Adult Swim to watch "Futurama", I saw a commercial for this show they have called "First Comes Love". Apparently, it's sorta' like "Bridezillas" for all those denied rights to marry in most of the states in the Union.

If and when I get married, I want to be on this show. I want to have a wedding planner and a comedian involved in what should be the most romantic and special day of my life. And, I want them to help me have it in someplace exotic and beautiful, like Portugal. Or maybe someplace not-so-exotic, still beautiful and renowned for good wine and food, like Verona. Verona would be good because i've already been there once and enjoyed it. Not to mention the whole Shakespeare thing. It works for me. I'm an English major.

Then comes the obvious series of issues. Who would marry me being perhaps the first one to answer. I have no idea. I'm sure there's some lovely woman out there who might consider me fit for a walk down an aisle. What would I wear? I'm not really into dresses, but i'm not down with suits, either. I can't see me doing the entire cummerbund and bow-tie thing with anything related to aplomb. Jeans and a nice shirt, most likely. The food and drink would be easy. I'm a restaurant person, I know what I would want in that respect. The honeymoon, ahh, that is totally up for discussion, but I do have a friend who owns a place in South Africa that might be perfect. Sitting in a cafe sipping on a glass of Pinotage with Table Mountain in the background would be nice.

So, you fine folks at Logo, remember me if I send you a note.

If it happens, ya'll can see me on a hardly noticed cable network. Until then, at least I have Miss Aguilera.

Who Doesn't Want to Feel this Way?

Yeah, I feel GREAT!

My L Word

Yes, it's true, i'm a lesbian. I have been known to watch The L Word on occasion. However, I stopped after season two, as it started to become, to me, something along the lines of Lesbian Passions. I was waiting for the Witch and the Midget to show up. I didn't watch any of season three. So, when I was invited to the premiere party hosted by  at Avalon last night, I figured why not? So, I drove on down and met up with two gay male friends to catch the Showtime Original Series. 

We arrive, pay the 10$ "donation" at the door and enter. Lesbians all over the place. I know several, and we start talking, exchanging pleasantries and the like.

A decision was made to play the last episode of the last season, I guess to catch everyone up, and that's when I knew that regardless of how I felt about the show, that this was going to not be that great. The bar sound system is set for thumping bass, not dialog, and there was no way I could make out anything the girls were saying to each other. Now, if this were, say Queer as Folk, that might not have made a difference. But, we all know that lesbians like to talk more than anything else in the world, even in television dramas, and there was no hope for anyone at all interested in the show.

So, finally the damned thing begins. That horrendous theme music and the "oh, aren't we all so terribly sexy"  montage of all the ladies and the boys that signals the start of the show.

Disappointing. That's all I can say. I was hoping that somehow, my mind would be changed. Under ordinary circumstances, the first episode of a new season should be the best. It's the one that sets the theme for the coming episodes. I wanted to be impressed, I really did. Unfortunately, I wasn't.

I'll give it another try before I make a final decision. I'll even re-watch the first episode to see if it were more the place I was in that was making the difference. However, i'm not making any promises.

A Family Guy Christmas

Happy Whateveritisyoucelebrate, everyone.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Disappointed me last night. I was incredibly tired, and I knew that I could just go to sleep and watch the season finale of what has become one of my favorite shows, Dexter, later on. Odds are that it will be making many appearances on Showtime for the next little while. However, even though I was beyond tired, I stayed up to watch the show. I have to admit, the season finale wasn't as good as the almost season finale that was on last week.

Sure, we found out that Dexter had a brother. But instead of working that into the next season, they decided to take a page out of Japanese Cinema and basically kill every loose thread off. Similar to the ending of The Departed.

Personally, I like there to be some sense of closure, but more important to me is that the closure follow something more along the lines of a natural line. Yes, Virginia, even if the entire premise does require some suspension of disbelief.

If i'm not mistaken, the entire conceit of siblings or like-minded people making decisions about joining forces and to prove said desire killing off someone or thing of importance is a little done to death at this point (haha, done to death), not to mention the fake bod in the bed. I know, i'm not in the business of making compelling television, but I still think that Showtime took the path of least resistance. What could have been a very scary, intense and dark final episode became the end of a movie. One of the things that I like about the Saw movies is that they don't take the easy way out and every action has a consequence. (okay, that and the incredible tortures that they manage to come up with) This episode only brought out the possibility that Rita might start making some connections and that Doakes is more than ever convinced that Dex is not right. Either way, nothing exciting that would keep me waiting on pins and needles for the next season.

To be honest, though, i'm pretty certain that I will be right here, in front of the tube with a glass of bourbon when the next season starts. At the very least, in two weeks, Top Chef will be back on. I can't wait to find out if Marcel finally gets the "pack your knives and go."