Short Attention Span Review: "Dollhouse" 2/27

Wow. I actually quit watching this episode before it really got going. I stopped about the time Echo auditioned as a backup singer for a pop star.

I just wanted a cameo from Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell.

Randy: "I don't know, man, that was just a little pitchy for me, y'know? It was just all right. Keep working it!"

Simon: "Horrid."

And then Echo beats the crap out of them. But then I snapped out of the dream about the show I *wanted* to see and switched off the show I was watching.

Rumor has it the episodes aren't worth watching again until No. 6.

Short Attention Span Review: "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" 2/27

One word pretty much sums up my feelings about this episode: Filler.

Interesting filler, but filler just the same. It was a noble attempt at a mind-screwing storyline that really fell flat for me.

I expect better from this show.

Short Attention Span Review: "LOST" 2/25

An episode that's all about Locke? WHY THE HELL NOT?! These are almost always the best episodes.

It was cool seeing Locke and Widmore together. It was great to see Locke try (and fail) to convince Jack, Kate, and especially Hurley to come back to the island.

Loved the twist with wacko Ben and Locke's demise.

The only thing I really didn't care for: The encounter with Walt. "Seen my Dad?" "Yeah, he was on a boat near the island." And then Walt just sorta lets it drop and goes away. Whatever. Waste of valuable screen time!

Lots of Earths?

We probably aren't alone! But will we like the neighbors?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/02/25/galaxy.planets.kepler/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Yes, maybe we can?

President Barack Obama's not-quite-State of the Union speech before the joint session of Congress last night was masterfully done. It addressed some hard truths, it sought to bring both major political parties together for a common cause, and it mostly contained rallying points that politicians on both sides of the aisle had little choice but to cheer for.

Is it a tonic for making a better pitch for the promise of the stimulus package? Not really, but that ship already sailed. It does lay the groundwork for more ambitious (and probably expensive) programs. But the most important thing the speech did, really, is got the president back in the public eye, cheerleading us onward through what is likely to be some hard slogging in the months (and maybe years) ahead.

Short Attention Span Review: "24" 2/23

WOO! Car crash!

SHOCK! Another mole! *BANG!* Okay, one less mole.

I'm glad they've wrapped up this particular crisis. It now looks like they really amp things up starting next week as Agent Freckles continues her voyage of depth-plunging with Jack Bauer.

Short Attention Span Review: "Heroes" 2/23

They called this episode "Cold Wars." They really should have called it "Long Day's Journey into Exposition" or "How Matt Parkman Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Brain Drain."

Meh. Filler. Filler. Blahblahblah. Daphne. Filler. Filler. Blahblah. HRG's on this side; HRG's on that side; HRG's on both sides; HRG's not on ANY sides; HRG likes sides with his burger.

Is it over yet?

Short Attention Span Review: "House" 2/23

Now THAT felt like the old House episodes I knew and loved.

Enjoyed the patient of the week. Liked the interplay between House's minions. Thought it was cool, watching his friends theorize that he was on heroin.

Interesting that House *needs* his pain to do his job.

Short Attention Span Review: "There Will Be Blood"

Here's me, still catching up on last year's Oscar contenders the night before the 2009 Academy Awards show.

GO ME!

So, I missed Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as Daniel Plainview when it first came out. I've been watching it in 20-minute increments during the past week or so. It is a painful thing to watch - not because the performance is bad (it's not), but the character is such an irredeemable, murderous, unapologetic asshole.

The music is a rumbling cacophony most of the time, sonically depicting the madness in this guy's warped mind. The cinematography is brilliant. All that said, I guess I appreciated it as a work of art, if not for any sympathy I might have had for the character.

Short Attention Span Review: "Battlestar Galactica" 2/20

Oh, my God, that was a talky episode.

Don't get me wrong, I love dialogue. But this was mostly just talkiness. And when it wasn't being talky, it was showing pictures of Bill Adama and various Sixes checking out the new Cylon goop being slathered on the superstructure of Galactica.

I did enjoy seeing Gaius deal with the little power struggle in his cult, though.

Short Attention Span Review: "Dollhouse" 2/20

This should have been the first episode.

It's got more action, more interesting backstory, it makes it clear that Dollhouse isn't just hot chicks doing judo, it's also the beefcake bad-assery too. In fact, Echo's got a predecessor, named Alpha, who's a pretty heinous customer.

Enjoyed the "Most Dangerous Game" chase through the woods. Really liked the revelations through flashback that reminded me of the Firefly episode about how Mal and the crew got together.

Well done!

Short Attention Span Review: "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" 2/20

Wow, Ellison just *wants* to get a quicksilver skewer through his bald head.

I'm not sure what's up with Sarah and the gang trying to "fit in" with the see-no-evil neighborhood.

It was all very X-Files.

Meh.

IGDA: Fallen Earth presentation! (Raleigh)

We were at the Ess Lounge in downtown Raleigh tonight to show off Fallen Earth, which is now in closed beta. The crowd was big, enthusiastic, and apparently really interested in the game.

Next week, we're off to Baltimore to make a similar presentation to another IGDA crowd. I'm really looking forward to it!

Short Attention Span Review: "LOST" 2/18

So, I think *Desmond* happened to Ben's face.

Creepy Mrs. Hawking was great. Loved the visit to the Lamp Post.

Enjoyed seeing Flyin' Frank again! But, boy, did he look bummed about his passenger manifest.

Can't wait until next week's episode!

American Idol results - 2/18

Danny made it through. Tattiana didn't.

'Nuff said.

Short Attention Span Review: "24" 2/16

Well, the most excitement this episode came from Jack and Agent Freckles sharing their Facebook photo album of horrors with the bad guy's clueless waitress girlfriend. Other than that, it was a shell game, moving pieces around on the board for the NEXT episode, which seems to include a bit of car-flipping-through-the-air-ness.

And the mole revelation? Not a big surprise at all. I've hated that guy ever since he totally ruined Medellin!

Stuff's afoot on OtherSpace

We've run into a bit of a lull during the past few weeks on OtherSpace (jointhesaga.com 1790), but I think that's about to change.

1) Okaskatitch, the B'hiri ambassador, has arrived on Comorro Station and, after talking to several refugees, has come up with an idea to use the Harrower to travel back to normalspace to prevent the course of events that leads to the Kretonians invading the Orion Arm.

2) The crew of the Zero Gravitas went on a salvage mission to Rigor Strand. In the process, they pissed off the Medlidikke (bloodthirsty Hekayti pirates) and came away with a shadowy hitchhiker. From the pirate side of things, this incident sparked the creation of Vard Bokren, a cruel and ruthless leader of the Medlidikke who I'm hoping will become the new OtherSpace's answer to villains like Colin Neidermeyer and Majordomo Grim. (If you've ever watched Farscape, I'm looking to bring a Scorpius-like vibe to Vard.)

3) I'm trying - and I've encouraged other staffers - to schedule specific times on the +calendar when we'll have our characters on the grid and available for RP.

Short Attention Span Review: "House" 2/16

Interesting episode tonight. I enjoyed the symmetry of the man of medicine/man of faith struggling to find something to believe in. However, the whole "Will House go to the Jewish baby naming ceremony or won't he?" drama was a bit pathetic.

Amusing, though, that Thirteen and Foreman appear to have beaten House at his little relationship-wrecking game.

Short Attention Span Review: "Heroes" 2/16

Not a bad episode, all in all.

I actually mostly enjoyed the Sylar/Fire-Kid road trip, especially those crazy antics in the diner.

And Claire saves a comic book geek from her Dad! Marital friction ensues.

I didn't care much for Ando getting to be a hero, only to have to be saved by Hiro. For a brief and shining moment, it seemed like the show runners were letting the sidekick take center stage. In the end, no, they made it all about Hiro. Meh.

I hear it's only going to keep getting better from here.

Introducing: The MUDdy Hobo

I've grown tired of people talking about how text-based games are dead. They're not. They just don't have the same audience size as graphical MMORPGs. World of Warcraft is so loud that it can drown out the games that made its success possible in the first place.

So, I've started a new blog, called The MUDdy Hobo. I'll review text-based games, interview their developers, and do whatever else I can to help raise awareness about these projects.

Hop aboard and become a hobo with me!

Short Attention Span Review: "Battlestar Galactica" 2/13

A lot going on this episode, including Ellen's return to binge-drinking booze, with a side order of messiah. It's good to see her back. Loved her scenes with Cavel - sorry, John.

And, hey, speaking of John, John Hodgeman makes a cameo this episode. Guess this means all the computers in sickbay are PCs?

The plan to create a quorum based on the fleet, rather than humanity's dead worlds, seems long overdue, but awesome.

Poor Galactica. Apparently she needs a special Cylon-only exfoliating scrub or all of Caprica Six's Botox or something.

Short Attention Span Review: "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" 2/13

The main impressions I came away with from this episode:

* I've seen Kyle Reese, Jonathan Jackson. And you, sir, are no Kyle Reese. Get Mom's pan scrubbers off your cheeks and leave terminating Terminators to the big boys.
* Connor Trineer looks an awful lot like George W. Bush. Sounds like him too. Let's sign him up for the inevitable HBO miniseries!
* Shirley Manson, giving justice to her murderous last name. SNIKT! *Splat!* SNIKT-SNIKT! *Splat-splat!*
* John Henry, now the ultimate Internet stalker.

Short Attention Span Review: "Dollhouse" 2/13

Joss Whedon returns to TV with a series that seems to be a cross between Alias, The Bourne Identity, and The Stepford Wives. Eliza Dushku is Echo, one of several women, known as "actives," who are kept in a place called Dollhouse. They are reprogrammable for any task. After each assignment, they get a mindwipe and go back to their boxes. It seems pretty misogynistic at first glance, but we've got characters acknowledging that this is wrong, it needs to be stopped, Helo from Battlestar Galactica is hunting them down to put a stop to it, and Echo starts having problems with wipes actually working. As she notes in the show's opening, no matter how you try to wipe the slate clean, you can often see what was written there before.

It promises to be very interesting - but this is Joss, this is FOX, and I've gotten attached to that pairing before with Firefly and all I got out of that was 11 episodes.

Here's to hoping they don't screw this one up.

Short Attention Span Review: "Lost" 2/11

So, there was a whole lot of WTF! and smoke monster tug-of-war (the arm lost!) and Ben trying to get the band back together. I fully expected Jake and Elwood to show up in the church to visit with sweet old creepy Mrs. Hawking, but I'll settle for Jack and Desmond. Also: Watch that first step, John Locke - it's a doozy!

Short Attention Span Review: "Fringe" 2/10

Another fine episode, with (as usual) a solid performance by Jared Harris as the Hannibal Lector-esque teleporting nutjob who has become obsessed with Agent Dunham. And don't blink or you might miss another appearance by the Observer. Good stuff. Now I can't wait until the new episodes return in April.

Short Attention Span Review: "24" 2/9

Jack and Agent Freckles team up to try and rescue Colm Feore from the clutches of evil. This doesn't exactly go according to plan. Sorry, Colm. But, hey, at least no silent clock and - YES, there he is in the previews for next week. Enjoyed the posedown between Jack and Agent Freckles' boyfriend/boss.

Short Attention Span Review: "Heroes" 2/9

Well, that was a time-waster of an episode, except for the bit where Parkman totally fails to save Daphne from getting shot.

Three Words: New monthly writing contest!

We've got a new monthly writing competition at Jointhesaga.com. Take three words and turn them into a story of at least 1,000 words in the genre of your choosing.

Forum readers will vote for a winner. The winners gets a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate and the option of picking the three words that will be used in the next month's contest.

No entry fee!

http://www.jointhesaga.com/ovforums/index.php?topic=617.0

Short Attention Span Review: "Battlestar Galactica" 2/6

Even the revolution of Tom Zarek and Felix Gaeta doesn't have a happy ending. I saw the Quorum's slaughter coming from about 60 parsecs away. It was fun seeing Tyrol play Die Hard through Galactica's ducts, but WHAT THE HELL with the marks on the bulkhead? Also: Remind me never to get on Roslin's bad side: SHE WILL END YOU. (And bring a Cylon basestar to do the job.)

Short Attention Span Review: "Coraline"

A brilliant work of stop-motion movie-making from Henry Selick. As a cohesive story, courtesy of Neil Gaiman, it's much better than A Nightmare Before Christmas (although I really love the musical numbers in that movie).

Pepperoni, with a side of candor?

CNN classifies this as a "gaffe." Personally, I thought it was a refreshingly honest statement:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/diet.fitness/02/06/papa.johns.pizza.obesity/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

After all: You can't just order Papa John's pizza by the frickin' slice. You can buy a whole pizza. Saying that it's better to eat one or two slices in a serving isn't a gaffe - it's actually good economic advice in these lean times.

Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?

Holy crap, this thing was HUGE:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/02/05/giant.snake.colombia/index.html

Short Attention Span Review: "Lost" 2/4

A couple of interesting twists in this episode: Someone from the exploding freighter floated into the past and got rescued by Rousseau, and Sayid can't even get basic medical care for five minutes without having to dart an !orderly. Least surprising twist: Ben hired the lawyer to go after Aaron.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Short Attention Span Review: "Guitar Hero World Tour"

So, yesterday I got my copy of Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii. Right now, I've only got the guitar controller, so I haven't tried playing with anything else. Based on my first impressions of playing through the starting songs: Dude, this is more fun and challenging on Medium than Rock Band. Plus, I like the selection of music a lot more. They're not all gems (I'm looking at YOU, Paramore) but there's a lot of good material that I like.

Short Attention Span Review: "Heroes" 2/2

By and large, this reboot of the Heroes franchise was great. What I liked:

* HRG: Once a Company man, always a Company man, even if it's a different Company.
* Nathan: Bringing the creepy confidence in a good way.
* Sylar: Wow. Loved how he dealt with the capture team. And the scene with the watchmaker? Pretty cool.
* Mohinder: Remind me never to stiff him on a cab fare.
* Angela: I don't think she let Claire overhear that call on accident. That woman never does stuff on accident.
* Claire: Smarter and more resourceful than her Uncle Pete.
* Ando: I like the twist of the unwilling hero - and he's a pretty unlikely one.
* Hiro: It's nice that he can be a catalyst for Ando's rise as a hero.
* HOLYCRAPPLANECRASH: All the major Heroes and HRG are aboard a cargo plane that's going down. WHO WILL SURVIVE?

That brings us to what I didn't like:

* Peter: Could he please die in this plane crash? Chances are, no. "I should have been stronger." No, you should have been less emo and more intelligent.
* Parkman: So now he's the new Isaac? Bleh.
* Nikki/Tracy/Whatever: I was rooting for the bad guys when they darted her. I'm SORRY. This makes me a bad person, I suppose.

Short Attention Span Review: "24" 2/2

Talk about tying up loose ends: They blew up Phlox! I liked the smaller hero story about the chemical plant manager who saves the day while Jack and his co-heroes start tearing up the bad guy's corporate hideout. What happened to the good old days of villains on volcanic islands? Are property managers so hard up for tenants that they'll lease space to every run-of-the-mill thug? Next week: Jack meets the new Prez! Fun times.

Short Attention Span Review: "House" 2/2

Not too shabby. The patient's actually a doctor and practically becomes a member of the team, which is good, since half the team is off breaking medical ethics and/or going blind. Liked Cuddy abusing House for her own amusement. Glad to see Wilson's getting out of his rut.

Short Attention Span Review: "Super Bowl XLIII"

It was an entertaining football game and the commercials didn't all suck. The two commercials I enjoyed most: Alec Baldwin's Hulu.com piece and Careerbuilder.com's "You might need a new job." I can do without another lame GoDaddy.com commercial the rest of my life.

And now for something completely local...

...My appearance on the News 14 community news broadcast from the Global Game Jam.

Can I get a "w00t-w00t"?

http://news14.com/content/top_stories/604359/game-designers-converge-on-cary/Default.aspx