8.15.2009
Psych is the greatest show ever.
The newest season, 4th, started on Aug. 7th and I have already missed the first two episodes, which is what prompted me to put this post up. I am very much at a loss without cable to view this great show with. Luckily I have seasons 1 through 3 to watch repeatedly.
The show is about a guy named Shawn Spencer who has an uncanny ability to notice and remember immense amounts of tiny details with little effort. His lifetime of slackery and reliance on his gift get him into potential trouble with the police and he pretends to be a psychic to get out of trouble.
It works fabulously, and leads to him working his way into team playing with the police in the form of his new detective agency Psych. He works in tandem with his longtime friend Burton "Gus" Guster, who is more of a by-the-books level-headed guy.
The comedic duo are a great pair. Their ludicrous antics work even better when they are tag-teaming up on, or with, secondary characters like Shawn's father Henry(a former police officer that loves telling Shawn how stupid he is), and the dectectives Carl Lassiter and Juliet O'Hara. A great cast of well rounded personalities that work suprisingly well together even when the characters are butting heads.
Throughout the series they solve many mysteries of a variety of crimes with as much humor as possible. Tons of 80's references abound, and a bunch of previous-episode "in-jokes" done in a subtle but hilarious manner. So if you haven't seen the previous show, the joke still makes sense, but is THAT much more meaningful if you have.
A nice touch to the show is many episodes have themes throughout such as season 2's "Lights, Camera...Homicidio". Large parts of the it are done like a mexican day-time soap opera with a poor camera and cheesy dramatic acting. Another very notable, absurdly amazing episode is season 3's "Disco Didn't Die. It Was Murdered!" riffing off of 70's shows. The swanky music, their undercover 70's clothes, crazy jive dialog, and even a ridiculous suburban car chase scene. At one point Gus has a 70's swaggering walk caused by a faulty seat in an old car, and Shawn comments on about how sweet the tire-squealing spinning-car parking job by Gus would have been if it was done on purpose, not because the power steering was out.
There is also a horror camp movie episode, a high school reunion episode, and an American Idol-esque reality show episode! They take old preconceived silly cliches and stereotypical storylines and make them fresh and fun. Outrageous laughs even after multiple viewings because you may pick up on something small someone says, or some strange thing going on in the background that may have been missed earlier.
Also every episode has a pineapple somewhere in it. A fun small game to play while watching the show.
I absolutely LOVE this show and highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.
7.15.2009
Ancient Classics
Come on people, how hilarious would that be? The voice of Homer Simpson reading the books, and adding his own little commentary and strange noises.
Epic battles, stories of runaway love, tales of old gods feuding, and mysterious fabled lands told in a way that only Mr. Simpson can. With all his own odd additions- drooling noises and Doh's would be absolutely necessary. Then again the series would end up being like 20 hours long... but TOTALLY worth it!
If it sold well someone could try to market a Peter Griffen reads the Eddas or the Bible or something.
6.18.2009
Post Workout Shake
I ordered a Rhaspberry/Mango Shake, it having the most protein, at 40grams.
What I got was something like a tangy red-orange cup of tidal-washed beach sand.
So, with my keen detective skills and highly developed taste buds, I will provide what may very well be, the recipe for the nourishing "drink" I had.
1 powdered mango
8 powdered rhaspberries
1 packet of protein shake mix
2 cups skim milk
as much sand that you can possibly put in the cup without it overflowing
Yum.
6.07.2009
A small post about a new blender
Oh. My. Gawd!
It was only on level 3. Of the low setting! For like only 2 seconds!
In all seriousness, I am very tempted to see what it can do to some more substantial materials. Perhaps a block of concrete or some gravel?
5.09.2009
Heroes: An Invisible Thread
Danko stabs Sylar in the spot, but it doesn't work because he moved the killswitch somewhere else with internally working shapeshifting. Sylar then frames Danko by shapeshifting into him and killing some officers, then turning into Taub and "catching" him. Big suprise that Sylar screwed over Danko.
Noah splits up with Claire and Angela after seeing a fake construction crew. They are being looked for. Claire and Angela head to New York, Claire to find Nathan, Angela to find Parkman. Apparently, Angela had a dream where Parkman is the only person that can save Nathan.
Claire meets up with Sylar(posing as Nathan). Sylar couldn't wake Nathan up to suck out memories, so he makes due with cuff links and Claire's necklace. But it's Claire's fault for not seeing LEGS ON THE FLOOR OF THE BATHROOM! Come on the door was open, right in front of her. Although later she does notice that Nathan isn't a lefty when Sylar signs a paper.
Hiro and Ando sneak into Building 26 and replace the special prisoners with the officers/workers from the around the building. Right before the time freeze Noah and Danko kind of make up. Noah says that he would be in exactly in Danko's position if he didn't have Claire. Danko remarks that Noah IS in exactly the same position. Captured.
Anyway, Hiro gets some more nosebleeding. Mohinder tells him that his body is rejecting the power. If he keeps using the power he could die. Nice that this is happening now. Great. Hiro is being pushed into normalcy again. Thanks for not giving Hiro a boost Ando.
Noah and Danko get out and Noah realizes Hiro is messing with time. Right after having a moment, Danko goes to inject Noah with a super sedative. Hiro stops him by freezing time then gets a bloody eye. At least he helped Noah, which in turn eventually saves most of the others(He helps with Peter making a plan to take Sylar down).
Noah calls Claire to see if everything is hunky-dory, but Sylar is pretending to be Claire and lets Noah know that Sylar is in possession of his daughter. Sylar makes a big move and proposes marriage because neither of them will die. He is also using what looks to be the puppetmaster power, but is probably just telekinesis, to make her pour wine and drink. Way to get to a girl's heart, telekinetically force her to drink with you. Smooth.
Nathan and Peter arrive at the hotel in search of Sylar. Nathan reveals that he is "one of them/us" to the security men and asks for a 5 minute head start to take Sylar down, as no normals can do it.
The Petrellis arrive at the room as Claire flys out of the suite doors, and the brothers fly in. Claire watches throught the crack of the door. Yet another battle they fail to show. What a massive let-down. When are they going to start showing this stuff? Sylar and Nathan fly out the window, and Peter now cannot fly- he has Sylar's ability(ies). Noah meets up with Peter and Claire and they head out.
Nathan flys into a room, and Sylar looks to be telekinetically lowering himself in. He pushes Nathan over and cuts his throat. He makes the quip that "Claire is going to be SO mad." He turns into Nathan and leaves.
Angela picks Parkman up at a bus stop, and heads over to the hotel. Once up in the room, they find Nathan's dead body, and Angela flips because Matt was supposed to save Nathan.
Sylar as Nathan meets up with the secret service guys following the president. He takes one of the main guards(Samuels? he was the guy Nathan revealed himself to) that fell back and shapeshifts into him. He then gets into the Limo with the President and tries to get his DNA by shaking hands. Something goes wrong and his shifts all over- then falls back to himself. The President then shifts into Peter and he says, "Bet you didn't think I took that one?" He then injects Sylar with the super sedative. Well Played, I really liked how that played out.
Noah sends Claire and Peter off to find Nathan. Noah, Angela and Parkman take Sylar's body and Parkman telepathically forces Sylar to forget himself and become Nathan, as Nathan is the only one who can convince the President to eliminate the Building 26 project. Angela thinks the memory-touch power will fill in the gaps. What the hell people- Matt needs to do BIGGER THINGS!(see my last post) While making one person into another takes a whole lot of power, he can do so much more.
Noah, Claire , Angela, Nathan(Sylar), Peter, Hiro, Ando, Parkman and Mohinder are at a cremation of Sylar's body. The body is the original shapeshifter guy's that was stored in Building 26. Nathan says that the President has shut down B26, and now they can start up a new project.
Volume 5 opener:
A Building 26 guard returns to his home to an overflowing sink. The water gathers together into a naked Tracy. She kills him and says that's number 4. Yay for vengeance. Perhaps she may be contained in a large glass bottle? When is the 3rd of the triplets going to show up?
Nathan(Sylar) is in his office and Angela comes in. She hasn't heard from him in weeks, he replies, "I haven't been feeling like myself." He is bothered by the clock on the shelf being like a minute and a half ahead. Already the replacement Nathan plan is NOT working. For multiple reasons: First is Sylar's "hunger". It is a naturally occurring function working subconsciously. It isn't repressable unless he knows about it. So it isn't going stopping, the hunger is an active issue that Noah and Angela overlooked. The second problem is he is a HEALER! Adam and Peter broke through memory repression through healing. On a low grade level it may take a while, especially without Parkman giving him multiple reinforcement telepathy sessions, but it is starting to show already. Nathan/Sylar fixes the clock and goes on his business. Angela looks worried.
I don't get why they went this route, besides the writers trying to keep Sylar alive. Peter now has Sylar's powers so he could both replace Nathan and/or fall prey to the hunger and become the next Sylar. Which also makes me wonder if Peter knows about ALL of Sylar's powers. Considering it was an understanding ability, could he automatically know them all, or would some lay in a state of dormancy? Forgotten like Samson Gray forgot most of his. Well, Peter can always break away from the group with some trusty memory-touch power used in conjunction with the truth-hearing.
I want to see more Samson Gray. Why can't he excise his cancer himself. He should be able to work out how the system functions and shut it off/fix it. Maybe just put it into stasis, a temporary hold, so he can find some more useful powers.
I'm done with Heroes for a while. Look for some silly news posts soon. I have a bunch of great drafts ready for everyone's amusement.
4.24.2009
Heroes: I am Sylar
At the end of the episode he gets a nosebleed from attempting to stop time. Is it too much strain? Parkman got one from trying to read through the Haitian's power, the Haitian got one from trying to suppress Arthur Petrelli, Angela got one from resisting telepathy, and I believe Peter got one when attempting to tear off a vault door with telekinesis(he should have just walked through it with intangibility).
Or it could it be he is scarring his brain? Like when people have too much brain tampering/memory erasure.
We see Ando continue to be a good friend even now. Consoling him and giving him tissue to help with the bleeding.
Micah the Rebel. He is let go by Sylar, avoiding capture by Danko's men. He says he knows who Sylar is(on a higher level? meaning more than just a name) and what his problem is. Sylar is losing himself, forgotten who he is. Can Micah read the electrical impulses in the brain? Brains are complex machines, so one might think that is a possibility. Micah catches Sylar talking to himself(as his mother). Very awkward. Like walking in on your parents.
Sylar:
In this episode he displays a few odd things that seem odd for his character. The first is that he wakes up shapeshifted as Agent Taub. He also has generated an extra tooth. (the tooth thing makes me wonder how much extra substance can he create, extra organs, limbs, bodies?) He seems to be losing his grasp on himself, and Danko tells him he needs to find an anchor to keep his self grounded. Something to remind him of himself. Danko's is a watch that Sylar immediately listens to and diagnoses as being off by some amount.
Later Sylar spares Micah because he's just a kid. Micah tells Sylar that all the specials are connected and Sylar in particular can save them all. This seems to tie in nicely with what Future Peter told Present- Peter that the key to saving the world is Sylar's ability. Is it that with his power of understanding systems he may be able to pinpoint specific things to change, in an attempt to bring harmony to the whole(saving everyone). Finding the problems on a massive scale- Sylar has yet to turn his power on himself, which would put his pretend selves into perspective. People forget he was a watch-MAKER, a creator of systems. One watch he spent years working on. Focusing on and perfecting it. Micah tells him he should turn into someone to do good, someone with authority. He needs to turn the "Hunger" for knowledge into a useful urge. Looking at more than just stockpiling powers, looking at the world as a whole. Maybe a solution resides in that, Sylar going outside the bounds of personal growth towards global growth.
Notes on Sylar's Intuitive Aptitude, the power of inherently knowing systems- he knew how Knox's worked after witnessing it, he got Elle's originally without lopping off her skull, and the Shapeshifter's power was retrieved in this fashion as well. Is he listening to their brains like when he listens to watches? If so, his understanding doesn't necessitate brain-diving induced murder. Why does he need to keep killing everyone?
Also I want to know how he is breaking through other people's powers. He broke through Hiro's time-stop in season 1, the puppetmaster's control from chapter 3, and most recently he came out of his Samson's, sedation-whistle. Is the understanding by witnessing it possibly giving him a knowledge of how to thwart others' abilities? Or did he pick up something unnamed?
Is anyone even still reading this??? Blah blah blah, wordy-word-words...
Random Thoughts/Predictions:
- Will Sylar kill Nathan and Parkman moosh Nathan's mind into Sylar's body and create Gabri-than Gray-trelli?
- Will Sylar Atomize, or snap-shatter someone? That is hard to come back from, even with a jug of Claire's blood.
- The finale's title is "An Invisible Thread"- is Claude going to be hanging around? Or Monica, Luke, Alice, West, Fish-guy, Samson, or the third Nikki/Tracy woman(Barbra I think)
- Is Arthur for sure dead?
- Can Parkman override Sylar's Lie-detector power?
- Will Sylar forget powers like Samson did(he mentioned forgeting most of the ones he took)(Sylar still has the Gold power and the Sonic Scream). And after Samson ridiculed Sylar for hunting prey that was too easy, will Samson return to kick some ass?
- Will Claire be set on the path to Dark Future Claire? Or how about Future Ando shocking Hiro?
- I have a strange notion/idea that baby Matt activiates a dormant power in Noah and de-ages him to a little boy, so the potential Future Sylar's child wasn't Sylar+Elle's child, or Sylar+Claire's child, but an accidentally youthful Mr. Bennett.
- Parkman's turtle and Mr. Muggles are still behind it all.
- I know Nathan was born powerless, but did Simone have a secret power? Her dad was Mr. Deveaux(telepathic).
- Will we get to see the Body Swapping power that Future Peter used on present Peter, placing him in Sonic scream man's body.(Jesse)
4.20.2009
Quick pre-Heroes post
Jokingly I thought to myself how funny it would be if Parkman was holding Baby Matt, and had to change him, then handed him off to Sylar saying, "Here hold this!"
As soon as Baby Matt got into Sylar's hands, toddler touch-and-go would start crying and power Sylar off. Then Sylar would be like, "Ewwwwww..."
End of my stupid mental daydream episode.
But, in all actuality, I want to see Parkman cranked to the max by Ando. He could get to Sylar, in theory, anywhere on planet, by finding his thoughts. Once inside Sylar's head he could have Sylar use telekinesis to excise that microscopic part of his brain that enables healing and kill him from afar. Or use the power to torture him, from WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY over there. Or even shut down Sylar's powers considering they reside in the brain/mind.
I was also thinking he can't just mind wipe him because Sylar could heal it like Adam(Kensei) and Peter did.
But... What if Parkman swapped his own mind with Sylar's, then killed Sylar in his old body before he could get used to the new mind powers? Then Parkman would have all Sylar's abilities(he could even look like himself with the shapeshifting), and Sylar would be no more.
Speaking of Peter, what the hell? Once a heavy hitter and now he is brought low, and now he is a nobody. Although, he could touch Sylar and empathetically absorb all the stolen abilities. Thus be back to awesome level. But, he is Peter... So that probably won't happen.
I do wonder how the Petrelli Mafia start up will go. Considering the last 2 companies went under, the difference is this is a "family", not a company. Lame.
Still wondering where all the missing Heroes went??? Molly? Claude? West? The Fish-boy? Rebel(Micah)? The Haitian?
4.16.2009
Heroes: 1961
Angela, Peter, Nathan, Claire, Mohinder and Noah all meet up in Coyote Sands. Peter, Nathan and Claire all dig constantly to find bodies, while Angela neglects to help.
She is to busy reminiscing about the past. Falling into daydreams/memories taking place in 1961, she arrives at a camp for special people with her family. They get to stay a while and get tested, it shows more of her dream ability and using the recall to make it appear like she can read the Zener cards(the name is a nice tidbit of info i retained from years ago). She questions Chandra Suresh about the testing because she doesn't trust him. A good thing because she can dream the future. I also would like to note the creepy guys filming in the background. No wonder it seemed so strange.
Chandra is collecting data on all these specials and would explain his knowledge of abilities and there specific locations in season 1. But why would he have only supposed it in the book, and not just brought forth all the previous data, of which someone had to have copies somewhere.
Well Angela ends up meeting future partners of "The Company" Mr. Bishop(Elle's Dad), Mr. Linderman, and Mr. Deveaux(Simone's dad, Peter's patient from season 1). We finally get to see him use an ability in an obvious way. He displays what appears to be a fairly high level of telepathy-making many others ignore that he and Angela are dancing in a racist diner. This may also explain how he knew when Future/Ghostly Peter was watching him in season 1. Could it also be how Arthur got the power? Maybe not taking all of it from him?
Angela learns her sister(Alice) can control the weather, and later her father displays a power that seems similar to Havok from X-men.
Angela sneaks out with Deveaux, Linderman, and Bishop to go to a Diner and talk about the going ons in the camp. While they are out Dr. Suresh tests Alice and she becomes extremely frightened by his GIANT 1960's syringe filled with what may be assumed to be all manner of strange chemicals. She freaks out and starts shifting the weather into ultra windy sandstorm with lightning. The soldiers start freaking out and shooting, many deaths ensue.
In the present Nathan and Peter work on fraternal bonding. So while Mama Petrelli is in LALA land they are attempting to forgive each other and reconcile differences for the greater good. By the greater good, I mean becoming a family again. Albeit a very disorganized, loosely knit family.
Angela finds her possibly mentally deficient sister has been living in an abandoned bunker for 50 years. Stealing to survive when necessary, very like season 1 Angela. Alice listened to Angela when she said she had a dream, and she'll be "safe here"(a lie). So, unlike any sane person, she took it to the most outrageous end- Stay here always means safe ALWAYS, instead of LEAVING and finding Angela when the dust settled(both literally and figuratively). Which of course would have been approximately the next day when all the action calmed.
Angela lets her in on the little secret that she lied and Alice wanders up out of the bunker and disappears. Wow. I feel so fulfilled with that family reunion. Hey, I have a crazy living sister, and... (ten minutes later)... now she's gone. Again.
Noah and Mohinder and Claire come to realize that good things may be done while under the guise of wrong. Chandra may not have been doing bad things even though evidence may be to the contrary. Much like Noah working for Primatech. As ever, looks can be deceiving, and good or evil is very much blurred in a gray world.Gray world? Yes, I made a stupid joke to segway into this portion of the blog. Gabriel Gray, aka Sylar's world. I said it a bunch before, and I'll keep saying it, Sylar is heading towards his "5 Years Gone" self. The end of the episode of course confirmed this, as he was posing as Nathan on the television. Was it just me or did Angela have a creepy ass smile during it? Maybe her age-defying tricks have permanently forced her face into that atrocious smirk. That could be why she never helps to do any work(digging), it's because she's afraid of splitting at the seams and letting all the dust out.
Peter and the gang(sans Mohinder, who is off doing some soul searching) decide there needs to be a new company. A new way to hide from the world the fact some people may have extraordinary abilities. This time they want to do it in a good way. A family type of way.
Even though it didn't work in the past, this time will be different.(that last part was said with 25% hopefulness, 25% excitement, and 50% sarcasm)
How cool would it be if Peter became the next Arthur? Highly doubtful, but it could be neat, IF he regained his old power. If not he will probably die very shortly.
With Sylar now so powerful there needs to be a group attack on multiple levels-find him via Molly, Parkman(amped by Ando) on the mental plain, he could even be in another city(Ala the "Nightmare Man"), while a possibly Ando-ed up Peter siphoning his power on the physical level. Of course the Haitian would need to be around as a precautionary measure.
Yeah, the Haitian. You know, that guy that vanished way back when.
Whatever. I'm done for now.
4.11.2009
Heroes: Turn and Face the Strange
Sylar starts destroying Noah's life. Not killing him, but just making him seem crazy in the eyes of all his peers. Systematic disassembling of his life, great use of your power Mr. Gray.
Angela, Peter, Claire, Nathan, an Noah meet up then dig some bodies out of the ground in an abandoned desert place called Coyote Sands. Yay for family reunions and the buried skeletons that come up with them!
4.03.2009
Heroes: Into Asylum
Nathan gets Claire's hopes p with some drunken promises, and true to politician archetype, reconsiders in the morning. Then slightly later re-reconsiders. They head for America, on foot.
Angela and Peter wind up at a cathedral looking for answers. She needs sleep to dream, and it is ever evasive. The dreaming sleep she needs must be earned. No drugs, no cheating to get things. It eventually comes and she points to an angel picture and says something about needing to bring the family together and then finding her sister.
Some agents show up and Angela and Peter hide in the confessional. Noah gives the all-clear and saves their asses. I find it somewhat hilarious that Noah is playing a saving role in the great rains, a biblical reference anyone?
Sylar and Danko. Sylar teams up with him so they both will get what they want: Danko=death of specials, and Sylar=more power.
I am really getting disturbed by Danko's unexplained past and current hatred. I find some interest in Sylar's comment that Danko is a shapeshifter. Nothing that says anything about him in his apartment. It's also worth a note that he is deliberately hiding his own past. An avoidance of something?
Well, the two work together to find an actual shapeshifter who is hungry for power. At least in an effort to get girls. They go to a club and track him down while he is disguised as Danko. They catch him and Danko lets Sylar have him, but he wants him to do it without lopping off the skull. Which shows Sylar doesn't have to cut them open. It's been previously shown he can empathetically take powers, but can he now leave specials alive while also groping around their brain pans?
Sylar has a shapeshifting ability and is one step closer to his "Five Years Gone" self. Could this be a return to that kind of future? It also renders Danko unnecessary. Sylar could just watch him for a while, learn his mannerisms, some important facts and then just assume his identity.
Anyway, Noah shows up and is sort of flabbergasted that Danko "got Sylar". Noah seems to know something is amiss, like it was too easy. No struggle means something is not right. It appears that he will gear up for some precautionary measures to take on Danko(and Sylar), with some very careful observations. Watching very, very closely.
Oooooohhhh... exciting times coming in the Heroes universe.