Hey everyone,
Hope you all had a great Xmas holiday (whether you celebrate it or not). Short and sweet this week, here's the hot joints:
Music:
Ke$ha - Tik Tok
Ok so first off, this song isn't really new, you've probably already heard it on the radio. But you probably just never knew what it was. Now you do. Ke$ha (yes I realize she spells her name with a dollar sign instead of an S), sort of sounds like Amanda Blank (another artist I've chosen before as the music pick of the week). Her song Tik Tok even has that "in your face, hip-hoppish Fergie sound" that Amanda Blank has. I still prefer AB over Kesha and Fergie, but if you're looking for a change of pace from typical hip hop/pop, this is worth checking out. 3.5/5 Stars.
Movies:
Avatar
I'm sure I'm the last person to tell you about this movie, but I actually did watch it during the first week it was out, I just hadn't posted a review of it until just now. I saw the movie in 3D, which I was advised to do. On the whole, I thought the movie was really good. It didn't quite blow my mind as I had expected with such a big hype going into it, but it was definitely a good movie. Yes, it's long. Yes, it's predictable. But yet, somehow it still gives you a good sense of fulfillment. A definite must-see during this holiday season, as it's the best film I've seen since Thanksgiving. 4.5/5 Stars.
Restaurant:
Kyoto
90% of the time, my restaurant critique is centered on the DC Metropolitan Area. Occasionally (especially back when I was a student), I rated a restaurant near Virginia Tech. This week, I'm rating a restaurant at JMU. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of eating at Kyoto. Like other Japanese Steakhouses, the restaurant uses a hibachi grill and skilled chef to prepare traditional dishes such as filet mignon, shrimp, scallops, chicken and lobster with fried rice and veggies. As far as Japanese steakhouses go, this is probably the best one I've ever eaten at in terms of quality. The chef that served us, I believe was their head chef, because he was dressed differently from all the other chefs and because we had the largest group reservation of the night. If that's the case, he definitely showed why he was the top dog with his juggling and cooking utensil skills. While the dinner was pricy, I highly recommend anyone who's a fan of hibachi cooking to try this place out next time you're in the Harrisonburg area. 3.5/5 Stars.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
12/16/09
Hey peoples,
Hopefully as the inclement weather and temperatures of DC winter start to creep in, you aren't too discouraged from going out to eat, watch movies, and buy music. OK, I put that last one in there just for the purpose of being complete...no one actually goes out to stores to buy music anymore unless you really really want a CD. Everything is electronic nowadays...but you get my point. Here's the hot picks of the week:
Music:
Chris Brown feat. Eva Simons --- Pass Out
So, like I said last week, the new trend is to blend or mash-up hip hop/r&b with electronic music. Chris Breezy's new album is a good new blend of lots of music. Most of it is more clubbish than his hip-hop tracks historically. This track is a prime example of that. It samples the song "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz...which in turn sampled the song originally from the song "Valerie" by Steve Winwood. Irregardless of who is responsible, this electronic beat with an 80s groove to it is great, and Brown is able to put his vocal talents and dance-ish attitude to yet another hit single. Despite his problems and scandals within his personal life, it's clear it hasn't affected his music. 4/5 Nicky Long Stars.
Movies:
The Blindside
It's not exactly a new movie, in fact it's been out for a little while. But I just saw this movie this week, and it's great. For those of you who don't know, the movie is about the life of professional football player Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens and takes place during his high school years and stars Sandra Bullock as Michael's adopted mom. The story of Michael is he was born to a crack addict mom and taken away from her at a young age by the state child custody services. He bounced around from foster home to foster home and from school to school. Eventually, a man he is staying with, tries to get him into a Christian Private school along with the man's son. It is at this school that Michael meets Sandra Bullock's character, whom along with her husband, takes Michael into her home and gives him food, clothes, bed, etc. Over time, this relationship turns into an adopted family for Michael. And over time, Michael's skills as a football player in high school earn him a chance to go to college to play football and eventually the NFL as well. It's a great movie based on a true story, and might be one of Sandra Bullock's best movies. 4/5 Nicky Long Stars
Restaurants:
Aditi
Recently, a new restaurant opened in the Kingstowne Towne Center shopping center (where the Kingstowne 16 Cinemas is located). Directly across from the movie theatre is Aditi, an Indian restaurant. Now, having eaten my fair share of Indian restaurants, I think I am fairly educated on the difference between good and great Indian food. Aditi is GREAT. In terms of quality, the food is probably the best I've had...ranking on the same level as Jaipur in Fairfax (another Indian restaurant formerly recommended by this blog). The atmosphere in the restaurant was great as well. And the wait staff could not have been friendlier or more attentive. Overall, it was a great dining experience. Those of you familiar with traditional Indian cuisine will enjoy the authentic made from scratch samosas, the creamy large portioned saag paneer, and the large and tasty thali (thal to those of you famiiliar with Jaipur. Basically a large plate with 5 or 6 different samples of Indian entree cuisines with rice and bread---naan to enjoy. Available in either meat or vegetarian). 5/5 Nicky Long Stars.
Hopefully as the inclement weather and temperatures of DC winter start to creep in, you aren't too discouraged from going out to eat, watch movies, and buy music. OK, I put that last one in there just for the purpose of being complete...no one actually goes out to stores to buy music anymore unless you really really want a CD. Everything is electronic nowadays...but you get my point. Here's the hot picks of the week:
Music:
Chris Brown feat. Eva Simons --- Pass Out
So, like I said last week, the new trend is to blend or mash-up hip hop/r&b with electronic music. Chris Breezy's new album is a good new blend of lots of music. Most of it is more clubbish than his hip-hop tracks historically. This track is a prime example of that. It samples the song "Call on Me" by Eric Prydz...which in turn sampled the song originally from the song "Valerie" by Steve Winwood. Irregardless of who is responsible, this electronic beat with an 80s groove to it is great, and Brown is able to put his vocal talents and dance-ish attitude to yet another hit single. Despite his problems and scandals within his personal life, it's clear it hasn't affected his music. 4/5 Nicky Long Stars.
Movies:
The Blindside
It's not exactly a new movie, in fact it's been out for a little while. But I just saw this movie this week, and it's great. For those of you who don't know, the movie is about the life of professional football player Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens and takes place during his high school years and stars Sandra Bullock as Michael's adopted mom. The story of Michael is he was born to a crack addict mom and taken away from her at a young age by the state child custody services. He bounced around from foster home to foster home and from school to school. Eventually, a man he is staying with, tries to get him into a Christian Private school along with the man's son. It is at this school that Michael meets Sandra Bullock's character, whom along with her husband, takes Michael into her home and gives him food, clothes, bed, etc. Over time, this relationship turns into an adopted family for Michael. And over time, Michael's skills as a football player in high school earn him a chance to go to college to play football and eventually the NFL as well. It's a great movie based on a true story, and might be one of Sandra Bullock's best movies. 4/5 Nicky Long Stars
Restaurants:
Aditi
Recently, a new restaurant opened in the Kingstowne Towne Center shopping center (where the Kingstowne 16 Cinemas is located). Directly across from the movie theatre is Aditi, an Indian restaurant. Now, having eaten my fair share of Indian restaurants, I think I am fairly educated on the difference between good and great Indian food. Aditi is GREAT. In terms of quality, the food is probably the best I've had...ranking on the same level as Jaipur in Fairfax (another Indian restaurant formerly recommended by this blog). The atmosphere in the restaurant was great as well. And the wait staff could not have been friendlier or more attentive. Overall, it was a great dining experience. Those of you familiar with traditional Indian cuisine will enjoy the authentic made from scratch samosas, the creamy large portioned saag paneer, and the large and tasty thali (thal to those of you famiiliar with Jaipur. Basically a large plate with 5 or 6 different samples of Indian entree cuisines with rice and bread---naan to enjoy. Available in either meat or vegetarian). 5/5 Nicky Long Stars.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
BRAND NEW BLOG.
Wassup Peoples,
So those of you who have known me since my AIM days know that I keep a review in my profile of the weekly Hot Movies, Music, and Food in the DC Area. Since I don't ever log in to AIM anymore, except through GMAIL's gchat system, I've found it easy to forget to update my AIM profile. Thus, I am going to edit my profile info to link to this blog and simply update my reviews here from now on. So for those who have followed me in AIM in the past, continue doing so here. And for those of you who have never followed me on AIM before, please enjoy:
Hot Joints of the Week:
Music:
Three 6 Mafia feat. Tiesto, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida - Feel It
Lately, the trend has been for electronic artists (such as Tiesto and David Guetta) to continue creating their awesome electronic beats, but to feature hip hop and R&B artists as their vocals. It's like creating a new live mash-up as opposed to club djs who take two existing songs and mash them together. I still haven't made up my mind on whether I prefer this or regular all-electronic songs, but some of Guetta's new songs have been great. And this song, which I'm gonna call a Tiesto song even though it's listed as Three 6 featuring Tiesto, is HOT FIRE. Tiesto's beat has everything to do with it, and there are remixes out that are just the beat without the rappers. All in all though, this song in general is pretty awesome. 5/5 stars.
Movies:
Ninja Assassin
People will likely disagree with me due to Korean pop star "Rain"'s limited acting skill, but let's be honest, a great action movie isn't great because the actors are giving Oscar award winning performances. What DOES make this movie awesome is the special effects and unique cinematography. Action film enthusiasts may claim that this movie doesn't live up to its hype because too much action takes place in the dark....but I think that is exactly what MAKES this movie awesome. The concept of ninjas stealthily stalking their targets in the dark and killing them in vicious gory fashion without hardly being seen is why people go to see this movie in the first place. It reminded me of how I felt the first time I saw Kill Bill or 300. 4/5 Stars.
Restaurant:
Buffalo Wild Wings
OK, so for those of you who have never lived outside the DC metropolitan area, you may not have ever heard of a chicken wing chain called Buffalo Wild Wings (aka BW3's). This chain typically exists in college towns such as my alma mater Virginia Tech. BW3's (sometimes also called BDubs) is a great chicken wing restaurant that features some 15 or so different sauce flavors for their mighty chicken. You can even order the sauce on full size drumsticks as opposed to buffalo wings. And once a week, there's a wing night where wings are like $0.35 a piece. There's also a drumstick day where drumsticks are like $0.55 a piece. Either way, the chicken here is great, the sauces are delicious, and the atmosphere is great for watching sports, hanging out with friends, or just grabbing a bite to eat. For those of you with a gastronomical need for adventure, I recommend trying the "Blazing" wings. This is the hottest wing available at BW3's, and it's sure to bring a tear to your eyes. I also recommend not eating these until the end of your meal, so that you can enjoy the rest of it first. 5/5 Stars
So those of you who have known me since my AIM days know that I keep a review in my profile of the weekly Hot Movies, Music, and Food in the DC Area. Since I don't ever log in to AIM anymore, except through GMAIL's gchat system, I've found it easy to forget to update my AIM profile. Thus, I am going to edit my profile info to link to this blog and simply update my reviews here from now on. So for those who have followed me in AIM in the past, continue doing so here. And for those of you who have never followed me on AIM before, please enjoy:
Hot Joints of the Week:
Music:
Three 6 Mafia feat. Tiesto, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida - Feel It
Lately, the trend has been for electronic artists (such as Tiesto and David Guetta) to continue creating their awesome electronic beats, but to feature hip hop and R&B artists as their vocals. It's like creating a new live mash-up as opposed to club djs who take two existing songs and mash them together. I still haven't made up my mind on whether I prefer this or regular all-electronic songs, but some of Guetta's new songs have been great. And this song, which I'm gonna call a Tiesto song even though it's listed as Three 6 featuring Tiesto, is HOT FIRE. Tiesto's beat has everything to do with it, and there are remixes out that are just the beat without the rappers. All in all though, this song in general is pretty awesome. 5/5 stars.
Movies:
Ninja Assassin
People will likely disagree with me due to Korean pop star "Rain"'s limited acting skill, but let's be honest, a great action movie isn't great because the actors are giving Oscar award winning performances. What DOES make this movie awesome is the special effects and unique cinematography. Action film enthusiasts may claim that this movie doesn't live up to its hype because too much action takes place in the dark....but I think that is exactly what MAKES this movie awesome. The concept of ninjas stealthily stalking their targets in the dark and killing them in vicious gory fashion without hardly being seen is why people go to see this movie in the first place. It reminded me of how I felt the first time I saw Kill Bill or 300. 4/5 Stars.
Restaurant:
Buffalo Wild Wings
OK, so for those of you who have never lived outside the DC metropolitan area, you may not have ever heard of a chicken wing chain called Buffalo Wild Wings (aka BW3's). This chain typically exists in college towns such as my alma mater Virginia Tech. BW3's (sometimes also called BDubs) is a great chicken wing restaurant that features some 15 or so different sauce flavors for their mighty chicken. You can even order the sauce on full size drumsticks as opposed to buffalo wings. And once a week, there's a wing night where wings are like $0.35 a piece. There's also a drumstick day where drumsticks are like $0.55 a piece. Either way, the chicken here is great, the sauces are delicious, and the atmosphere is great for watching sports, hanging out with friends, or just grabbing a bite to eat. For those of you with a gastronomical need for adventure, I recommend trying the "Blazing" wings. This is the hottest wing available at BW3's, and it's sure to bring a tear to your eyes. I also recommend not eating these until the end of your meal, so that you can enjoy the rest of it first. 5/5 Stars
Thursday, June 25, 2009
RIP my idol...the legend....Michael Jackson
The title says it all. He defined my childhood. Through his ups and downs in his life, he remained my all time greatest idol. He has inspired and affected more lives than any athlete, world leader, or spokesperson in history. And he will always be missed.
R.I.P
The King of Pop
The Gloved One
MICHAEL JACKSON.
R.I.P
The King of Pop
The Gloved One
MICHAEL JACKSON.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Where the hell is Nicky Long?
Where, indeed. It has been very long since I blogged. Under any other circumstance, I'd chalk it up to typical laziness, but for once, I'm actually busy!
Work's work. While I do spend much of my day streaming television at work, I use two monitors, so I actually do work while I have something else streaming on another screen. Usually it's television I've missed or just plain music. Whatever the case, I've been relatively busy at work.
Grad school is tiring. You would think, that taking one class wouldn't be so bad...but the amount of reading and work that goes into the one class is so tiring. Couple that with a full time job and other activities I got going on outside of work, and I constantly feel like I'm grasping for free time.
Soccer. Soccer season is in full gallop. The two kids teams I coach occupy Mon-Thu evenings after work with practices. I'm typically not free until 7 PM every weeknight except for Friday. Then on Saturdays and Sundays, my mornings and middays are basically closed because of the kids' soccer games. Throw in my coed football team that I play on Saturdays occasionally with, and my coed VT alumni soccer team that I occasionally play on Sundays with...and my weekends are basically done.
On top of all that, my personal laptop has finally died. After 8 glorious years, the old man gave up. I'm currently shopping for a new one, and leaning towards a Dell XPS Studio 16. Until I get it though, don't expect to see me online except during working hours (which in my case happens to be 7 AM - 3:30 PM Mon-Fri).
Lastly, for those of you who have like 5-10 free minutes everyday, here's a neat online game that has been spreading amongst my friends like the plague. It's super easy to get started, and rather addicting once you get into it. Best part of the game is it only takes about 5-10 minutes of your day each day if you decide to be active in it.
You can sign up under my character as my "pupil" by fighting me here:
http://nickylong.mybrute.com
Work's work. While I do spend much of my day streaming television at work, I use two monitors, so I actually do work while I have something else streaming on another screen. Usually it's television I've missed or just plain music. Whatever the case, I've been relatively busy at work.
Grad school is tiring. You would think, that taking one class wouldn't be so bad...but the amount of reading and work that goes into the one class is so tiring. Couple that with a full time job and other activities I got going on outside of work, and I constantly feel like I'm grasping for free time.
Soccer. Soccer season is in full gallop. The two kids teams I coach occupy Mon-Thu evenings after work with practices. I'm typically not free until 7 PM every weeknight except for Friday. Then on Saturdays and Sundays, my mornings and middays are basically closed because of the kids' soccer games. Throw in my coed football team that I play on Saturdays occasionally with, and my coed VT alumni soccer team that I occasionally play on Sundays with...and my weekends are basically done.
On top of all that, my personal laptop has finally died. After 8 glorious years, the old man gave up. I'm currently shopping for a new one, and leaning towards a Dell XPS Studio 16. Until I get it though, don't expect to see me online except during working hours (which in my case happens to be 7 AM - 3:30 PM Mon-Fri).
Lastly, for those of you who have like 5-10 free minutes everyday, here's a neat online game that has been spreading amongst my friends like the plague. It's super easy to get started, and rather addicting once you get into it. Best part of the game is it only takes about 5-10 minutes of your day each day if you decide to be active in it.
You can sign up under my character as my "pupil" by fighting me here:
http://nickylong.mybrute.com
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Why people should stop watching Heroes on NBC.
I quickly mentioned at the end of my last blog entry that Heroes is whack. I'd like to further that comment after last night's terrible episode. Now before I thrash the show, let me explain that I too, was once a heroes fan. Season 1 was great! And at the time, it was clearly a great new show. But here we are 2 seasons later, and what have we accomplished from the show?
Well, our main villain (Sylar) started out evil. Then the heroes had a chance to kill him at end of season 1, but didn't. Nonetheless, they averted the catastrophe of NYC blowing up in a nuclear explosion (more on that later). So Sylar escapes, and soon we realize...maybe he's actually good. But then, NBC tell sus he's evil again. Then this season, again, he flip flops each week between good and evil and now he's basically a side character, and no longer the antagonist of our show (despite the fact that he is easily the strongest of all the superpowered people). Then let's talk about the Heroes plot. Sounds simple enough....a bunch of superpowered heroes out to save the world. But save it from what? Season 1: Big Explosion that will cause the future to be bleak for superpowered people. Evil Corporation hunting heroes. Conclusion: Big explosion averted...world saved. Season 2: Bad virus that will give powers to regular people and cause the future to be bleak for superpowered people. Conclusion: Virus destroyed. Evil Corporation destroyed. World saved. Season 3: Heroes and Villains each responsible for future to be bleak for superpowered people (sound familiar yet)because evil corporation (government) is on the hunt for them *cough cough X-MEN cough cough*. Conclusion: Not yet determined, but will have something to do with an explosion of big city (this sounds familiar too).
On top of the fact that the plot seems to be replaying like a broken record, at least the episodes are entertaining right? Wrong. Heroes will go 2 or 3 or 5 episodes in a row in which the plotline/story does not progress at all. Instead, these episodes are filled with "filler" content...usually in the form of flashback backstories. Now in any other show such as Prison Break, Lost, etc. these types of flashbacks are great...they give us insight as to why things are happening or will soon happen. They also usually happen one scene or one episode at a time before returning us to the regular story so we can understand how it all ties together. In heroes? Well, we'll go through 50-55 minutes of flashbacks every week to learn more detailed information about stuff we already knew....without moving forward at all. Then in the last 5 minutes of every episode, there will be some kind of teaser scene that hints at some major change in plot...which means nothing to us as viewers because a) we have no idea what the plot of heroes is because it never moves forward...and when it finally does, the show scraps the idea completely and restarts and b)any major change in plot means nothing to us because it's something we've already seen.
To prove my point, let's look at major themes of heroes over the past 2 seasons.
-Heroes are villains and villains are heroes. Sylar, he's bad, then he's good, then he's bad, now he's good again. All the while, he's barely used in the show despite the fact he's easily the most powerful of all the "heroes". HRG (horn-rimmed-glasses aka Claire's father) is also evil, then good, and now evil again. We could care less though, because the plot of heroes has jumped back and forth on these "villains" so many times, everyone is just waiting to see if the story will ever move forward.
-The evil corporation. Makes sense, it's the age old comics plot. A bunch of heroes (or mutants if you know what I mean) is battling an evil corporation (Primatech - The Company, Pinehearst, and now the Government) who wants to capture "special" people. Only problem here, is that we never get any resolution on this. Season 1 builds up to a confrontation between heroes. That was good. Season 2 led to take down of evil corporation. That was ok. Season 3, a new corporation pops up...and somehow the heroes take it down quickly again. Ok, a little repetitive, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. Halfway through season 3, 2 evil corps down, let's spawn a third one. Ok this is getting ridiculous, can we please stop repeating stuff and actually move forward with this show?
-Characters. Anyone else think the characters in this show suck? Peter and Sylar should be awesome...considering their abilities. We saw how awesome someone with that skill could be (Peter's father)...but what does the show do? It kills off the one cool guy who actually used his potential. Then we have this whole army of characters that we spend time developing and learning about...only to have the show drop them off completely (Nikki/Jessica/Tracy, Black Chick in New Orleans, Maya, Micah). Furthermore, there's this whole future-telling artist thing. First we have Isaac in season 1. He gets killed. No more predictions right? Wrong. Then we meet this African guy with the same powers. But he also gets killed. No more predictions now, right? Wrong. Now, Parkman (our mind-reader) somehow gets the ability to paint the future too (does that make sense to anyone) and he paints things. Make sense? No. Lame plot? Yes. And I'm not even gonna get started on Hiro Nakamura. Easily the most entertaining character in the show because of his jovial and naive personality...the writers of the show decided that in season 1, he should get lost in time. Then season 2, he should go back in time, and not have any impact on the plot whatsoever. When he finally returns with his idol, we are teased into the fact that he may be useful to the plot...only to find out that's not true because Adam Monroe (aka Takezo Kensei is killed). Season 3, they decide to just take Hiro's powers away all together.
All this being said, Heroes has lost all appeal to me. The show sucks, it's week after week of repetitive filler...with no plot development, no character development, and no exciting plot twists aside from the ones it keeps repeating. It is also responsible for Prison Break being cancelled cuz Fox was too stupid to put PB on at the same time as Heroes. PB was a much more exciting show, and even though it should've ended soon, its early cancellation is a terrible shame. I can't wait for Fox to air the 4 remaining episodes of Prison Break that have already been filmed, because even with no story resolution, I'm sure those 4 episodes will be vastly more entertaining than Heroes. I used to think Mondays were the best because of all the great television online...but now I have no desire to watch anymore. If it wasn't for How I Met Your Mother, I'd have to reason to watch any tv on Mondays anymore.
Heroes blows. Lost rules.
Well, our main villain (Sylar) started out evil. Then the heroes had a chance to kill him at end of season 1, but didn't. Nonetheless, they averted the catastrophe of NYC blowing up in a nuclear explosion (more on that later). So Sylar escapes, and soon we realize...maybe he's actually good. But then, NBC tell sus he's evil again. Then this season, again, he flip flops each week between good and evil and now he's basically a side character, and no longer the antagonist of our show (despite the fact that he is easily the strongest of all the superpowered people). Then let's talk about the Heroes plot. Sounds simple enough....a bunch of superpowered heroes out to save the world. But save it from what? Season 1: Big Explosion that will cause the future to be bleak for superpowered people. Evil Corporation hunting heroes. Conclusion: Big explosion averted...world saved. Season 2: Bad virus that will give powers to regular people and cause the future to be bleak for superpowered people. Conclusion: Virus destroyed. Evil Corporation destroyed. World saved. Season 3: Heroes and Villains each responsible for future to be bleak for superpowered people (sound familiar yet)because evil corporation (government) is on the hunt for them *cough cough X-MEN cough cough*. Conclusion: Not yet determined, but will have something to do with an explosion of big city (this sounds familiar too).
On top of the fact that the plot seems to be replaying like a broken record, at least the episodes are entertaining right? Wrong. Heroes will go 2 or 3 or 5 episodes in a row in which the plotline/story does not progress at all. Instead, these episodes are filled with "filler" content...usually in the form of flashback backstories. Now in any other show such as Prison Break, Lost, etc. these types of flashbacks are great...they give us insight as to why things are happening or will soon happen. They also usually happen one scene or one episode at a time before returning us to the regular story so we can understand how it all ties together. In heroes? Well, we'll go through 50-55 minutes of flashbacks every week to learn more detailed information about stuff we already knew....without moving forward at all. Then in the last 5 minutes of every episode, there will be some kind of teaser scene that hints at some major change in plot...which means nothing to us as viewers because a) we have no idea what the plot of heroes is because it never moves forward...and when it finally does, the show scraps the idea completely and restarts and b)any major change in plot means nothing to us because it's something we've already seen.
To prove my point, let's look at major themes of heroes over the past 2 seasons.
-Heroes are villains and villains are heroes. Sylar, he's bad, then he's good, then he's bad, now he's good again. All the while, he's barely used in the show despite the fact he's easily the most powerful of all the "heroes". HRG (horn-rimmed-glasses aka Claire's father) is also evil, then good, and now evil again. We could care less though, because the plot of heroes has jumped back and forth on these "villains" so many times, everyone is just waiting to see if the story will ever move forward.
-The evil corporation. Makes sense, it's the age old comics plot. A bunch of heroes (or mutants if you know what I mean) is battling an evil corporation (Primatech - The Company, Pinehearst, and now the Government) who wants to capture "special" people. Only problem here, is that we never get any resolution on this. Season 1 builds up to a confrontation between heroes. That was good. Season 2 led to take down of evil corporation. That was ok. Season 3, a new corporation pops up...and somehow the heroes take it down quickly again. Ok, a little repetitive, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. Halfway through season 3, 2 evil corps down, let's spawn a third one. Ok this is getting ridiculous, can we please stop repeating stuff and actually move forward with this show?
-Characters. Anyone else think the characters in this show suck? Peter and Sylar should be awesome...considering their abilities. We saw how awesome someone with that skill could be (Peter's father)...but what does the show do? It kills off the one cool guy who actually used his potential. Then we have this whole army of characters that we spend time developing and learning about...only to have the show drop them off completely (Nikki/Jessica/Tracy, Black Chick in New Orleans, Maya, Micah). Furthermore, there's this whole future-telling artist thing. First we have Isaac in season 1. He gets killed. No more predictions right? Wrong. Then we meet this African guy with the same powers. But he also gets killed. No more predictions now, right? Wrong. Now, Parkman (our mind-reader) somehow gets the ability to paint the future too (does that make sense to anyone) and he paints things. Make sense? No. Lame plot? Yes. And I'm not even gonna get started on Hiro Nakamura. Easily the most entertaining character in the show because of his jovial and naive personality...the writers of the show decided that in season 1, he should get lost in time. Then season 2, he should go back in time, and not have any impact on the plot whatsoever. When he finally returns with his idol, we are teased into the fact that he may be useful to the plot...only to find out that's not true because Adam Monroe (aka Takezo Kensei is killed). Season 3, they decide to just take Hiro's powers away all together.
All this being said, Heroes has lost all appeal to me. The show sucks, it's week after week of repetitive filler...with no plot development, no character development, and no exciting plot twists aside from the ones it keeps repeating. It is also responsible for Prison Break being cancelled cuz Fox was too stupid to put PB on at the same time as Heroes. PB was a much more exciting show, and even though it should've ended soon, its early cancellation is a terrible shame. I can't wait for Fox to air the 4 remaining episodes of Prison Break that have already been filmed, because even with no story resolution, I'm sure those 4 episodes will be vastly more entertaining than Heroes. I used to think Mondays were the best because of all the great television online...but now I have no desire to watch anymore. If it wasn't for How I Met Your Mother, I'd have to reason to watch any tv on Mondays anymore.
Heroes blows. Lost rules.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Revisions
It's always a coinflip when something you enjoy or love, is given a newer, upgraded look. Sometimes it's a complete failure: remaking a classic movie, or musicians trying to reinvent themselves by doing a new type of music. But every once in a while, the new mod is something fantastic.
Yesterday, I went out and bought Street Fighter IV for my PS3. Anyone who's over the age of 10 likely knows about the classic that is Street Fighter 2. It was the game that spawned a generation of arcade fighting games. I remember fondly going to arcades in shopping malls as a child (which are basically dead thanks to consoles and online gaming) and putting my quarter on the screen of my favorite arcade games to claim "I'm next to play." Street Fighter was one of those games that consistently had huddles of players every time a new version was released. Since purchasing the game yesterday, all I can say is that my thumb is very sore today.
But there are many other great remakes besides Street Fighter. Take Neil Patrick Harris for instance. For those of us who remember the 80's, he will always be remembered for his breakout role as Dr. Doogie Howser M.D. Younger generations will likely remember him for playing a male-chauvanistic version of himself in the Harold and Kumar movies. But those who are TRUE NPH fans likely appreciate him most in his role as Barney Stinson on the popular sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". This is one of my favorite sitcoms to watch on tv, and I owe all of that to NPH. He is AWESOME.
How I Met Your Mother: Mondays at 8:30 PM on CBS....right before the whack-ass Heroes.
Yesterday, I went out and bought Street Fighter IV for my PS3. Anyone who's over the age of 10 likely knows about the classic that is Street Fighter 2. It was the game that spawned a generation of arcade fighting games. I remember fondly going to arcades in shopping malls as a child (which are basically dead thanks to consoles and online gaming) and putting my quarter on the screen of my favorite arcade games to claim "I'm next to play." Street Fighter was one of those games that consistently had huddles of players every time a new version was released. Since purchasing the game yesterday, all I can say is that my thumb is very sore today.
But there are many other great remakes besides Street Fighter. Take Neil Patrick Harris for instance. For those of us who remember the 80's, he will always be remembered for his breakout role as Dr. Doogie Howser M.D. Younger generations will likely remember him for playing a male-chauvanistic version of himself in the Harold and Kumar movies. But those who are TRUE NPH fans likely appreciate him most in his role as Barney Stinson on the popular sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". This is one of my favorite sitcoms to watch on tv, and I owe all of that to NPH. He is AWESOME.
How I Met Your Mother: Mondays at 8:30 PM on CBS....right before the whack-ass Heroes.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
New Year
Merry belated Christmas and Happy Belated New Year everybody!!! It's a new year and with that comes new hopes and disappointments. So here's my rundown of things to look forward to in '09 and things you wish would've stayed in '08.
Hells Yea!!!
-My birthday on Jan 22. Snowboard Trip to Wisp to celebrate.
-Stella and Andy's wedding on Jan 17.
-Super Bowl on Feb 1. Possibility of two underdog teams that were favored 100-1 or worse prior to playoffs and now have a chance to make it to the big show.
-Payraise from work.
-Sister graduates from VT in May.
-Still half of snowboard season left to go.
-Sam Adams Winter (White) Ale is in season.
-End of mid-season hiatus for primetime television. Beginning of Lost Season 5.
-Biggest Inauguration in US History...and associated long weekend.
-new year = new annual guy's trip to Vegas
-new soccer team to coach. New kids, New leagues, New responsibilities. More money in my pocket.
-new coed football team. Currently 1-1 (should be 2-0).
Doh!
-Prison Break is getting cancelled. 4 episodes already filmed will air, after that, who knows...either way, conclusion of show and storyline will not be smooth nor as good as it should be. I'm especially pissed because I thought Prison Break was better than Heroes the last 2 seasons...Fox was just stupid for putting it at same timeslot and so lost all their viewers.
-New semester of graduate school starts soon. Means less free time for me.
-My neighbors who have lived nextdoor to me ever since I moved to Virginia at the age of 4 are moving out because of legal disputes with their other next-door neighbors.
-Two of my favorite restaurants are gone from '08: Lucky Three Dimsum buffet (closed), and Four Sisters vietnamese restaurant (who moved to Merrifield and changed their food/decor/service/quality).
-Didn't get the job as the Junior Varsity Soccer Coach at W.T. Woodson High School...high school coach job on hiatus 'till my next opportunity.
-Many many friends moved away in '08. Perhaps I will visit some of you in '09: Fifi, Rick, Kelley, Elaine, Delia, Adam (shipped to Iraq, but will be back in '09), Tina.
Hells Yea!!!
-My birthday on Jan 22. Snowboard Trip to Wisp to celebrate.
-Stella and Andy's wedding on Jan 17.
-Super Bowl on Feb 1. Possibility of two underdog teams that were favored 100-1 or worse prior to playoffs and now have a chance to make it to the big show.
-Payraise from work.
-Sister graduates from VT in May.
-Still half of snowboard season left to go.
-Sam Adams Winter (White) Ale is in season.
-End of mid-season hiatus for primetime television. Beginning of Lost Season 5.
-Biggest Inauguration in US History...and associated long weekend.
-new year = new annual guy's trip to Vegas
-new soccer team to coach. New kids, New leagues, New responsibilities. More money in my pocket.
-new coed football team. Currently 1-1 (should be 2-0).
Doh!
-Prison Break is getting cancelled. 4 episodes already filmed will air, after that, who knows...either way, conclusion of show and storyline will not be smooth nor as good as it should be. I'm especially pissed because I thought Prison Break was better than Heroes the last 2 seasons...Fox was just stupid for putting it at same timeslot and so lost all their viewers.
-New semester of graduate school starts soon. Means less free time for me.
-My neighbors who have lived nextdoor to me ever since I moved to Virginia at the age of 4 are moving out because of legal disputes with their other next-door neighbors.
-Two of my favorite restaurants are gone from '08: Lucky Three Dimsum buffet (closed), and Four Sisters vietnamese restaurant (who moved to Merrifield and changed their food/decor/service/quality).
-Didn't get the job as the Junior Varsity Soccer Coach at W.T. Woodson High School...high school coach job on hiatus 'till my next opportunity.
-Many many friends moved away in '08. Perhaps I will visit some of you in '09: Fifi, Rick, Kelley, Elaine, Delia, Adam (shipped to Iraq, but will be back in '09), Tina.
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