Thursday, December 21, 2006

Deathly Title

Not sure if it is a bad sign but Harry Potter book seven is entitled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What is a hallow? To me, it sounds like a place but it is actually a verb. From the American Heritage Dictionary:

hal·low (hăl'ō)
transitive verb

  1. To make or set apart as holy.
  2. To respect or honor greatly; revere.
No release date as yet.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

How much fun is this?

Okay, I was not a big fan. I had a few of the major characters and had fun crashing them around. But my brother loved them. This looks pretty impressive.

Trailer

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

2006 Midseason TV

Ala Matt Roush's Top 10, I decided to subject others to my own commentary. I agree with a lot of what Matt said but 5 out the 10 shows I do not watch. Mine are in no particular order.

24: Old news as season 6 starts in one month.

Heroes: My new favorite show. Intrigue, comic book-like format, people with amazing powers, sex, drugs, and Hiro, this show has it all. The only problem is that it moves too slow. I need all these people to be together and fast. I like that the writers are not afraid of killing heroes but I wish they would kill off Niki. Her story line is so detached from the others. Finally, Hiro, the genuine, time warping, all-believing poster boy. He is probably the coolest thing about this show. The minute he gets that sword and slays the dragon, I am going to jump for joy.

Prison Break: Not my favorite show but certainly an entertaining one. Plus, Wentworth Miller is very hot. I like that this show went in a different direction this season and that Scofield loses it several times. The new bad guys are a plus too. I just wish the story would center around Michael's intelligence a little more and not creep me out as much with T-Bag. Killing off a lot of the escapee's has kept my interest piqued to see what happens next.

Supernatural: Speaking of brotherly love, this show holds near to my heart. Any show revolving around the metaphysical and family reminds me of the Joss Whedon Buffy and Angel days. The relationship of Dean and Sammy is heart wrenching at times and touching at others. The death of their father has taken its toll and they are still after the big baddie, whoever he is. This show also has a very cool relationship with classic rock and a chevy impala. The bad boy image works oh so well.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: This show does not grab you but sort of eases you into its characters. It has taken a while to warm up to most of them and they finally stopped spouting political garb enough to have some fun episodes. The writing has only become better as it has matured and finally I question what will happen next.

Grey's Anatomy: I still tell myself I am a sap for watching this type of show. It has no real production value and I can not say the acting is anything special. It is mostly just eye candy on a dramatic scale. Still I can not help but cheer for Izzie and feel for George. I do not really like Meredith and only tolerate Cristina. It is just so interesting to watch the relationships grow and die on every new episode. It is hard to believe it is the third season.

Lost: Even though I have been frustrated to no end with this show, I still come back for more. They never answer any of our questions and this season they decided to separate the main characters. This is a recipe for disaster if you ask me. But major changes are in the making and hopefully we will have our castaways together again.

Ugly Betty: How can one not like this show. Betty probably represents a little of all of us, struggling to find herself in a world full of perfect people only to find out they are certainly not so perfect on the inside. Maybe it is the colors but it is a bright spot in my week when Betty shows up.

House: I told my mom that this show makes me uncomfortable and that is why I like it which is strange because I hate feeling uncomfortable. The only problem I have is that most of the characters are contradictory and inconsistent. It makes for a lot of drama but difficult to watch most of the time. It was harsh to see House so vulnerable in the last episode this year but from the premieres he looks like he will be back in top form after the break.

Veronica Mars: It satisfied with its sophomore season and now moves on to be a more mature series when Ronnie enters college. The format has changed slightly in that it is separated into three major crimes to solve and Veronica is up to the challenge. Now that she has suffered through uncovering the rapist she moves on to the murder of the dean. Let us hope she has help from Mr. Mars because they make a splendid team. Let us also hope Logan gets back to his snarky self.

Battlestar Galactica: I heard rumors that NBC was going to air this show rather than its sister network in the conglomerate, SciFi channel. But it seems that this was truly a rumor because this show is back on its parent channel in full force. Like Lost, it took the separation route putting half of our crew on the ground. Starbuck was a prisoner and Apollo grew fat. It was an interesting plan but was resolved more quickly and much more satisfying than Lost. Now we are all back together again, searching for food and fighting amongst ourselves. Here's hoping there is a big ass cylon battle soon. With production values through the roof, it is easily the best show on television.

Honorable Mention - The Nine: Prematurely canceled, this show had me enraptured from the very beginning. It is too bad it could not garner the ratings to help further quality television.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

All his thoughts are bent on it

Turner Network Television (TNT) is concluding its very expensive purchase of The Lord of the Rings franchise this month. This weekend, they played The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. I must applaud TNT for broadcasting in true HD, even the commercials. It gives me so much joy watching such brilliant film making in glorious 1080i. Even my DVD player does not get that. I guess I need to upgrade one of these days. Next week they premiere Return of the King. How great would it be to play the trilogy at that time.

update: TNT is playing the entire trilogy next Sunday, December 17 starting at 12:30PM EST/11:30AM CST.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

"Enter our hearts and make us fly...

My family has several holiday traditions. From food to gifts, on Christmas eve and Christmas day. It is a wondrous time full of family and memories. However, I have several personal holiday traditions too. Of course, they involve movies and music. Each season, I watch a list of movies with White Christmas the first and foremost. Then it is Miracle on 34th Street (black and white version only) and The Muppet Christmas Carol. On the animation side of things, I have to watch Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is actually a combination of claymation and digital animation and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, a silly little cartoon about a mouse and a clock tower and I watch it mostly for its ending song.

Along with the usual spout of Christmas music, I have to listen to "The Nutcracker" a couple of times and cassette version of The Cabbage Patch Kid Christmas, something you can not find in stores anymore. Then it is on to The Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack and John Williams' glorious score to Home Alone. In this score riddled with holiday favorites, Williams makes my year every year with "Star of Bethlehem", a lovely song with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and sung by a children's chorus. To me, Christmas is not Christmas without repeating this song several times over and feeling the special emotions it evokes in me.

Lyrics to "Star of Bethlehem"

Friday, December 01, 2006

I must be a geek

I sort of want to go to this. Prophecy 2007

Beyond Shirley

Shirley Walker, film and TV score composer, died today. She was 61. I love her score to "Batman Beyond" and "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker". In fact, I was listening to this very score this morning during my cardio workout. RIP, Shirley. You will be sorely missed.

http://www.soundtrack.net/news/article/?id=872