152 insights into my soul

TV commentary:

Torchwood- Hmm, is it me, or was the sex scene with Jack and the random bartender surprisingly graphic? I mean, I'm surprised TPTB weren't all "OMG, gay sex!" in general and cut it. I mean, I guess the British version of the episode does cut it. Which I find a little surprising that the Brits would do that when the Americans didn't. I mean, we're fine with wonton violence but I always thought America was a little more prudish than other countries when it came to sex on TV. Still, I'm kinda curious if they interspersed scenes of Mekhi Phifer screwing Hispanic doctor lady at the same time because they couldn't just show gay sex, they had to throw straightness in there so things wouldn't be too gay for the audience.

True Blood- How old is Sookie supposed to be?! It kinda weirds me out that she was all, "Oh, when I was a kid and was sick, I'd stay home and watch episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed!" Man, does that make me feel old then.

Also hilarious? Portia's attempts to get back with Bill giving like loads of evidence why them getting together is fine and incest isn't so bad and all that jazz. But Bill glamered her to stay away, so I guess we're done with her? But we weren't done with spy chick Bill had in the Wiccan circle? Alex Breckenridge was kinda hot when she was trying to be all glasses girl, but she also looks pretty cute in the security staff cap.

Other things. ( spoiler cut )

Interesting, at Comic Con, they unveiled a new DLC for Force Unleashed. I've mentioned this before, but I rather like this new model where they release new DLC for games to get more out of them rather than having to wait for them to develop and come out with a sequel. Anyhoo, from this trailer, looks like this new DLC contains new levels, following what would have happened if the Dark Side won out in the end of Force Unleashed and Starkiller became a Sith Lord. Looks like there's duels with Old Obi Wan (The Alec Guinness version!), Luke on Hoth, and even Boba Fett!

Heh, so clevemire was showing me a panel from this comic he was reading, "Black Summer" which was a gratuitous pic of these bad-ass chicks in leather with big guns. He was amused by the LCD-ness of it. Of course, I was sold. But the story sounds interesting enough, and its done by Warren Ellis. (Jeez, how many different titles does phatjoe's Second Life neighbor write?!)

TV Commentary:

Torchwood- ( spoiler cut )

I swear, sometimes the dream world can seem too real. Today, the comcast guy was coming over to install one of those DTA boxes so I can watch TV in my room again. So he rings the bell, and I get out of bed, but its an odd struggle to get to my bedroom door, and then I couldn't open it. Then I realized its because I'm still in bed and asleep, and the guy is still knocking. Fortunately, the second time I got up was for real, because apparently the guy is installing a bunch of those today and was kinda in a rush. In any case, its not the first time I thought I woke up and got up and actually didn't. cliffV('What's up with that?!') I mean, who dreams of waking up and doing something mundane?

One thing I keep forgetting to rant about:

Button Flys- Who thinks these are a good idea? Yeah, some people are all, "Its better than having a bunched of jagged metal teeth near your genitals", but they're so annoying to have to do and undo!

Cool, Dead Fantasy IV is up on gametrailers now:



Like DFIII, the main action stuff was already shown at Fanime 2009, and the new stuff was minimal.

So watching the second part of the Torchwood mini, I was getting frustrated that I had to keep rewinding it to understand some of what they were saying! Like it took me three times to parse that Gwen was saying "up the creek without a paddle", and I'm still not sure what the hell Rhys said in response. Aren't they supposed to be speaking English?! I wonder, do people in the UK ever have that problem with American shows, not understanding certain things because they're "American-accented"?

This is kinda an old article, 5 real life soldiers who would make Rambo look like a pussy. Heh, I did think the Jack Churchill write up was too outlandish to be true at first. I mean, who actually uses a claymore in modern warfare (the big-ass sword, not the mine)? It reminds me of that episode of Southpark when Ned and Jimbo are recounting their Vietnam exploits, and in the flashback Jimbo whips out a sword and hops upon a mighty steed and starts decapitating Cong left and right. I mean, the idea of someone successfully using not just a sword, but a friggin claymore in WWII sounds too hilarious to be actually true.

But then they talked about him playing the bagpipes, and I was all, this has got to be made up. So I wiki-ed him, and if the entry is to be believed, that stuff is true. Although the entry is even more of an amusing read, because not only does it have him getting a kill with a friggin' longbow (what's with the archaic weapons? But that does show a lot of style and panache), it also has him playing the bagpipe whilst charging the enemy. I mean, while the people on the list displayed impressive feats of bad-assery, you've got to admit, this guy's got style. I mean, its like the chopper scene in Apocalypse Now, but cooler, because he's just one guy, and I bet the enemy was equally as freaked at some crazy Scot charging at them while playing the bagpipes and tossing grenades as Charlie was at a bunch of Cobras and Hueys attacking with "Flight of the Bumblebee" playing on the loudspeakers.

The trailer for the new season of Torchwood starts out kinda creepy. I heard Martha Jones is joining the cast, but I wonder if they're getting any other replacements? I don't know how she plays into things, but just Captain Jack, Gwen, and Ianto doesn't seem right. Its supposed to be an ensemble cast type of show (although I guess Gwen and Captain Jack would be the "stars") and plot wise, a three or four person team would be too small for what they do.

The The e3 trailer for Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion looks interesting. Looks like the home version has a new co-op version of Tekken Force, which should be fun. Of the main 3-D non-weapon fighters (I always put Soul Calibur in a different category since its a weapons-based system), I always favored Tekken as the best. DOA looks good, but its technique is pretty lacking compared to Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Virtua Fighter on the other hand is a little too much technique. While it goes for techniques more grounded in the realm of reality (not counting some of the crazy flip and jump kicks some of the fighters have), the pace is a little slower. Tekken, I think has the same pace and feel of SF II or the other 2-d fighting games, but still has an insane amount of moves you can perform. Counters, multi-throws, juggles, okizeme, its more than just cheap button mashing, but at the same time it still moves at a nice arcade pace.

Is it me, or does the new Splinter Cell: Conviction trailer seem very Jason Bourne meets 24. Sam Fisher has a lot of Jack Bauer mannerisms here. The new gameplay mechanics seem to make for a more fun and exciting playing experience.

Halo 3: ODST looks pretty cool also. And now there's Halo: Reach, which is apparently prequel to the series. Which I guess means more Spartans?

TV commentary:

( Torchwood )

In SW2, played through Yoshimoto's story, so now I've played through everyone's. Actually, having maxed out Yoshimoto, he doesn't seems as bad as his WO incarnation. I mean, his moves seem the same, mebbe he has better stats in SW2? In any case, his story mode is a riot. Like Shingen's there's a lot of funny lines. I think my favorite one is when he's all, "I find the older ladies attractive" to No. Actually, his story mode is also kinda sad. Yeah, he's a buffoon, but he just wants to play a game of kemari, and even though he turns the tide of battle for several people and giving them victory, they still don't play with him. The poor guy!

Owel, all I have left is winning merc mode through the unification method, and to get everyone's 5th weapons. Most of them are crap, but some people's 5ths are actually better than their 4ths, like Kotaro's. Alternate 4ths are a better term for them then 5ths because though they look different, they have the same base attack. Of course, the stats and elements on the weapons don't really matter, since you can change them with orbs. So other than having a different looking weapon, the 5th weapons don't really give anything to you. Then again, some 4ths and 5ths have better beginning slots, so they'd cost less to modify into a better weapon. I've gotten all the new characters' 4ths and 5ths, since I don't have to do the whole load up SW2 thing to play their story modes. Of the old characters, got Nobunaga's, Tadakatsu's, Keiji's, Musashi's, and Kotaro's. So that's 5 down, a little over twenty to go?

Saturday night TV commentary:

( Torchwood )


And now for the possibly gheyist list I've ever posted, top 5 (well, 4 cause I can't think of a fifth right now) favorite poignant musical scenes from movies, in no particular order:

1) Mandy Moore singing "Only Hope" at the school play in A Walk to Remember:



Beautiful girl singing a beautiful song. slv('Nuff said!')

2) The end scene of Across the Universe, when Jude starts singing "All You Need is Love":



My favorite part? When Jude and Lucy see each other across the rooftops, and the background chorus is all "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

3) Tom Collins doing the reprise of "I'll Cover You" at Angel's funeral:



When Det. Green starts belting it out, and everyone joins in doing a kinda rendition of "Seasons of Love" for the background chorus? Awesome!

4) The "So Close" Enchanted ballroom scene:



What really sells it? The looks on Giselle's face as they dance, all conflicted emotions, particularly when Robert starts singing along to the song (and he never sings or dances!)

And now onto some SW2 talk. Started on Kojiro Sasaki's story mode, once I beat that, I can get his 4th weapon, which I'm hoping is ice element, since ice suits his move set well. His storyline is all about his rivalry with Musashi, and its interesting to play Sekigahara from his point of view. Storywise, he's like the evil psycho ultimate bad-ass working for the Tokugawa simply because Musashi aligned himself with the other side.

After playing Sasaki and Toshiee, gonna go with Gracia next. Her normal attacks are nothing to write home about, but her special attacks are ungodly, or so I here. I hear Katsuie is pretty good as well, they changed him to twin axes from the spear. I'm curious if his moveset is similar to Pang De's from DW5? Twin picks, twin axes, same diff. I'm not looking forwarded to playing that painted queen Yoshimoto. Damn me and wanting to get everything complete!

Just watching Brick while I type this. As I've said before, I still think this is an awesome movie. I hate describing it as 50s noir in a high school setting, because that actually makes it sound lame. Its just brilliant how they manage to adapt that Noir feel so well. Alas, if I were in such a setting, while I'd like to be the protagonist, I'd end up being a character similar to The Brain. After all, didn't I say before, when my friend D was working on a novel/screenplay whatever with characters based on people he knew, his version of me was practically the same character.

In any case, I like Nora Zehtner's hair in this movie, it makes her look mad cute. (and is it me, or does she look like a tinier version of Rachel Bilson, which, given how tiny Rachel Bilson is already, makes her even more tiny?) Its not as short as her 'do as Eden on Heroes. Mebbe it looks better because she's also wearing cute hats. And I've always has a thing for Emilie De Ravin since s1 Roswell. Sure, on Lost, she was outshined by Kate, Sun, and Shannon. But I liked her naughty smile. Alas, she didn't have her Aussie accent while on Roswell though. It kinda pissed me off the way they went with Tess at the end of S2. It was almost out of nowhere, like with Beaver in s2 VM. I mean, I had my suspicions about him, but it was a big surprise for many, particularly those who shipped him and Mac. Speaking of VM, is it me, or does Julie Gonzalo look hot as a short haired brunette on Eli Stone? As clevemire has said, since Parker had her head shaved, instead of giving her a blond wig, couldn't they have gone with the short hairdo she has on Eli Stone? That would've been so hot!

Saturday night TV commentary:

( Torchwood )

TV commentary:

( Torchwood )

Heh, looking through the entries in my dream journal, there are a couple I'm actually aghast at and won't put here. But here are some more entries:

The infamous DC meets space fiction dream where phatjoe hangs out with Dawson and clevemire loses his girl at cards: (comments in italics)

( Cut for length )

Here's an another insane dream that is proof that I watch too much TV and movies:

( Action! )

Though I've always heard good things about Dexter, only recently started watching eps since the roomie put it on his netflix queue. Its definitely an interesting show (I mean, how many shows are about a "good" serial killer?), I enjoy it. And is it wrong to find Dexter's sister's foul mouth kinda hot?

TV commentary:

( Torchwood )

Ah, caught the latest ep of Torchwood on BBC America since they started to show the second series. Is it me, or is it like the gayest sci-fi/action show ever? Geez, if those extreme fundies were so up in arms over Brokeback Mountain that they wanted to pick Heath Ledger's funeral (seriously, who are these ridiculous people who picket funerals of people they think are "un-Christian" or because they serve in the military? What are they hoping to accomplish, other than looking like a-holes and idiots?!), I wonder how they'd react if they turned it to BBC America and saw that ep. I mean, Captain Jack and Spike were like really getting into it! But ha, I'd almost forgotten the show's progressive "everyone is bi" stance. Anyways, Captain John is kinda cool. I mean, while his outfit is straight of Michael Jackson's bad video, props for the twin gun holsters AND a katana hanging off his hips! ( A few more spoilerish comments )

Saw Rambo tonight with the usual suspects. It was hilariously bad and AWESOME!! I mean, I think Stallone is considered a decent actor, and I didn't think Darla was a bad actress, but the whole scene where she tries to convince him to help her and Chappelle (not Dave, the guy from 24) and the other Missionaries? Ugh! Bad dialogue and bad acting all around!

I'm gonna be an a-hole and not do a spoiler cut, because you don't see a movie like this for plot anyways. There were parts that were hilariously prosaic, like the aforementioned scene where Darla's trying to convince Rambo to help them and she's all, "helps us bring food, medicine, and Christianity to the poor indigenous people" and he's stoic and hard ass at first, all "The world sucks and I'm a killing machine who scares you, deal with it!" But then he's "your youthful idealism and the fact that you're kinda cute has melted my icy heart, so I'll help you!" Then the whole peaceful missionaries being offended by Rambo's "killingness" when he kills river pirates to save their lives. Chappelle being all, "Killing is wrong, and there's never a right reason to do it!" but then when the bullets fly and it comes down to survival, he's willing to brutally bludgeon someone to death to save another life. And then he gets this look on his face like, "I'm a monster!" Ha!

Rambo is a ridiculously gory movie. Rambo gets non-cannon fodder mercs for this installment, so more good guys, more ways for the bad guys to die. Even though the ranges Schoolboy sniped at were well within normal 7.62 rifle ranges, he was packing a .50 for some reason (they're in a jungle, they're not gonna be doing any sniping from a mile away!), but I guess fifties do make better cinematic gore. Rambo was using a .50 cal heavy machine gun also, so the climatic action scene, you had exploding heads and limbs being blown off like crazy.

As I said, the acting and dialogue is meh, but the action is awesome! You get the always cool sequence where the special forces guys stalk through the enemy encampment, silent as death, killing bad guys with impunity and the evil scum being totally oblivious and dying much deserved deaths. (Although apparently Rambo only saves white girls from being violated by the baddies.) And you also get the balls out, bullets flying everywhere shootout as well, like something out of John Woo's "The Killer" or Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch". Enemies dropping by the dozens from withering automatic gunfire, necks getting snapped left and right, a good number of special forces-style knife kills. I find it interesting that I cringe and couldn't watch the bad guys massacre an innocent village, but I was cheering and ecstatic when it was the good guys massacring the evil soldiers. I mean, violence is violence, when its the good guys doing it, does that make it suddenly okay?

But I digress from such hippie thinking, I kinda liked it, it was a fun movie going experience!