A breaking point of sorts

It's no secret to anyone that has ever spoken with me, or read this blog (although everyone that reads this blog has spoken to me, so...) that I love TV. I get so excited to go home and watch a new episode of these shows that I have grown to love. And there is actually a great deal of good TV on at the moment, as well as several shows that aren't so great, but that I've watched for the last 3,4,5 years and watch despite their lacklusterness.

And this has turned into a problem for me, because there just aren't enough hours in the week. I leave home at 8 in the morning, sit in traffic for an hour, work from 9ish until 6ish (and lately 6ish means 6:30/7), and then I get home and I have to figure out dinner, and make time to get my mom changed. So in the end I have about two/three hours a night to watch TV. The recent realization that I need at least 7 hours of sleep a night to function also puts a damper on TV Time. Weekends are largely up in the air depending on how busy I am, and if Brian happens to be in town.

The problem here is that there are a ton of shows I want to watch simply because I do not have the time anymore. Right now the best I can do is stay current on a handful of shows, and put off another several to catch up on some random empty weekend. I make time every week for How I Met your Mother and Big Bang Theory, Housewives, Betty, 30 Rock, Lost, and Dollhouse. I used to make time for BSG and Kyle XY, but both of those are gone for good (thoughts in another post). Kings just started, which I am in love with and now reviewing in an online blog. Greek is starting up again soon and I want to watch that. And then I'm so far behind on Chuck, Damages, and Gossip Girl, not to mention Mad Men and Dexter, which I didn't even get to this season.

And then there are things like Heroes, and Grey's Anatomy. I've watched both of these shows for a long time, and I actually do have a lot of brain power invested in them, but I just don't have the time for lackluster shows. I can't sit and watch Heroes thinking "Maybe this week it will get better" because every shitty episode has literally become an hour of my life I'll never get back. I sit here thinking "I just saw through 40 minutes (60 if I watch it live) of complete shit, when I could have been watching *insert better show here*" And as I get more tired with life, the more shows I just give up on. Grey's has been the latest casualty, although I think my interest in Sarah Connor has also waned. Heroes I think is the most upsetting to me, becasue I really want to like the show. I was trying to hold out for until Brian Fuller came back (which would have been this week's episode) but it was next to impossible. All the characters are painful to watch anymore, and it's very upsetting that the plot isn't living up to the potential that I see for it. I sit there thinking "well, this would be awesome if they had changed this one part" or "Wow, this would be so cool if all these actors didn't suck horribly." It's disappointing, which is worse than just bad. When a show isn't even fun to bitch about, you know it's time to stop watching it. Especially when there is such a plethora of good TV.

So that's kind of where I'm at. As a TV lover I feel a little guilty, but also relieved. I may not be able to comment on The Mentalist, or Castle, but I also won't have stress because my hard drive is becoming over-full. My goal is to catch up on Chuck next, and then once I do that I have to watch me some Buffy and Angel, because those discs have been sitting on my bookshelf for two months now. I'll get around to the other shows eventually, if I can.

Oh, and of course my World of Warcraft addiction has started up again. Nothing like giving myself MORE shit to do.

Do you tattoo?

So, I'm thinking of getting a tattoo. I don't really know why all of a sudden this is a thought, but this week I've become very interested in the idea. I spent today looking online for different designs I could get.

I've always loved dragons, so I was thinking about either a Celtic or a Tribal dragon:

I like the sort of simple-yet-complex designs of these a lot, and I always thought if I got a tattoo I get something like this. I'd put it on my shoulder blade, I think.

The other, slightly more recent option I've considered is the wing logo from Tsubasa chronicle. I'm trying to decide (if I get this one) if I should get the full wings, or just one wing:

Again, I think I would put these on my shoulder blade. I think the single wing on my shoulder would be really cool, but I'm undecided about it. And I'd just get just the black wing, not all that writing on top of it. I just couldn't find a picture without the words.

The last option is to get a little mokona on my hip. I have this pin of white Mokona holding a pear (which I can't find a picture of online), and Brian has a pin of black Mokona holding a strawberry, so we could get matching. I think it would be really cute, but I'm concerned I might get very tired of Mokona very quickly.

I don't know what I'll do. I want one, but also I worry I want one only to piss off my father, which is a ridiculously stupid reason. Of course so is not getting one out of fear of him. They just seem so permanent. Yes, you can have them lasered off later in life, but if that's your plan why get one in the first place? That's a bit like having children thinking if they don't work out you can sell them into child prostitution in Thailand. At least with piercings, if I get tired of them I can have them just close up.

Decisions, decisions.

Since I haven't figured out ReTweeting...

http://www.thecriticalcondition.com/2009/03/23/heroes/

This sums up my feelings very well. I have a blog post coming about it all. Eventually.

Kings Review!

http://www.givememyremote.com/remote/kings-a-mission-to-save-the-kingdom/

http://www.givememyremote.com/remote/kings-prosperity/ Wooooot!

Too bad the show is doing really, really crappy in the ratings.

Kings!!

So I have decided to make an official push to keep Kings on the air. I'm not sure how official it can be seeing as I have absolutely no clout whatsoever, but this is a show that I think needs to be allowed to develop for awhile longer.

For those of you that haven't watched it (which, given the ratings, would be a large majority) the story is set in the fictional kingdom of Shiloh. King Silas rules by divine right (bestowed upon him by a crown of butterflies, allegedly) and the country is currently at war with Gaff. Or Gath, I'm not entirely sure, since the sound on my TV sucks. The basic plot of the first two hours is that some soldiers get captured, and this young soldier goes to rescue them, and in the process becomes a national hero.

What's great about this show though is that the basic plot is by far not the only plot. Subplots include an illegitimate heir to the thrown, a crown prince with a secret, and a plot by the King's Brother-in-law to stay in power whatever the cost. Each plot is interwoven together, and I think the actors are doing a great job with the material they are given. I especially thought Jack did a great job with his storyline. *Spoiler Warning* I knew there was a gay character in the series that was unveiled in an "interesting" way, so I was kind of looking for it, but even if I hadn't been there is very little doubt after the first scene of Jack in the club where he stands. I think he and Ian McShane did a terrific job on the steps. You could see in his eyes this terror and hatred and agony when the King tells him what he knows. A lot of people are claiming Jack is this stereotypical character, and I don't believe he is. He's clearly fucked up in the head given his position and feelings, and it is expected that that would drive him to act out, but I don't think he's going to be the stereotypical villain. That title goes to the brother-in-law.

And Ian McShane did a terrific job the whole episode. That man can give a look that stops you in your tracks. See: when that chancellor stood up before his King.

Which leads me to my only complaint with this series: Some of the story elements are not handled with the most subtlety. The scene in the first ten minutes, when the religious guy (priest? cleric?) shows up at the David's farm and seemingly anoints him. That was just a little weird for me. And I don't even want to get started on the final scene of the second hour. I know they are trying to drive home a point that David is actually the destined King, but I would have appreciated something a little subtler that was left open to interpretation. I'm willing to forgive some of these things as necessary to set up the series. Like, they had to beat you over the head with the fact that David is destined so that they can be more subtle with his arc later on.

Also, I found a few of the plot points to be slightly obvious (namely who was responsible for the ambush. As soon as Jack came back and said "We had support" I knew where that story was headed). Again I'm willing to forgive some of these things as they set the stage. If they continue though, I'll get a little annoyed.

I think really, I came away from the episode not knocked off my feet with how amazing it was (a la Alias) but very, very intrigued to see where it goes next. My crusade to save the show is driven more by the fact that I don't want it to be cancelled prematurely. I hate when something new and original and entertaining gets dumped in favor of Extreme Makeover Home Edition and the Simpsons. Personally I think NBC should scrap Heroes and play Kings in its timeslot. The fantasy/sci-fi angle would match up sort of well with Chuck, and honestly Heroes is past its prime, but that's a whole other post waiting to happen.

In short, PLEASE WATCH.

Watchmen

Having read the book, I was expecting a long, pretentious, slow-moving storyline, and I was pleasantly surprised that the movie managed to avoid two of the three. Clocking in at almost 3 hours, Watchmen is anything but short, especially when one drinks a whole soda and has to pee for the second half of it. But I thought the movie managed to move faster, and be more interesting, than the book was. I don't know if it was the Black Freighter sections in the book that made the whole thing drag, or if it was the weird monster plot of the end, or if I just didn't like the art, but I walked away from the book kind of meh about the whole thing. The amount of hype that the book had going into it also didn't help. Nothing is that super fantastic coolness remarkable, especially if you hear from a hundred different places that it is that super fantastic coolness remarkable. Maybe I read it too long after the anti-super-hero had already become commonplace, who knows.

But overall I really enjoyed the movie. The action scenes were great (although the first one I found to be annoying as it more than a little indicated who the killer was. It was awesome, but kind of erased any doubt). The rest of the film moved along pretty well. I liked that they changed the ending, because I found the ending in the book to be kind of odd. I also liked how close to the book the movie was. Which sounds like a contradiction since I just said how much I disliked the book, but I like when movies are more literal interpretations of books, but with wiggle room for a widespread, public audience (this is why I hated Harry Potter 3 and 5). I found Dr.Manhattan to be less annoying in the movie, also. He never seemed so aloof to me in the book as belligerent, but Billy Cudrup did a great job of showing ever facial tic. I also liked Rorschach a lot more in the movie than the book. All in all the characters seemed much better developed, probably because the development of the story requires a degree of emotion that Moore's words did not capture for me. So in the end, I enjoyed the movie. It's probably the best movie I've seen this year (although Slumdog and Milk were both excellent. Sidenote: I hated the Wrestler).

Trailer Round-up: Seth Rogan as a mall cop? No thank you. Terminator? I'll see it, but not opening weekend. Star Trek? I don't want to like it, but I'll be there opening weekend. Wolverine? Same story as Star Trek.

WTF Episode 1

So I'm sitting here, watching Heroes (we'll let that slide for a second) and I get this phone call, that went exactly like this:

Me: Hello?
Woman: *slurring as if drunk* Is Matthew Baker there?
Me: Speaking
Woman: Matthew, I'm calling today to talk to you about lowering your credit interest rates.
Me: Thank you, but I'm ok.
Woman: *Offput, pauses* Well, are you still in credit card debt Mr.Baker?
Me: That's none of your concern, but thank you.
Woman: It is my concern. It's why I get up in the morning, and it's why I'll call you back tomorrow *Hangs up*

Uhm, what?

The best part of the whole phone conversation is that she was slurring the ENTIRE time.