It's The End

So once again, it is season finale... season. I could probably have worded that differently. Anyway. It's that time of year when all of our favourite shows come to an end, some forever, and some just until the fall. It's a bittersweet time of year. Most shows seem to leave you on a cliffhanger begging for September. BUT. It's summer. And who really wants to spend the summer indoors watching TV?

I've managed to fall pretty behind on a lot of shows, so I don't even know what's going on, or how they've been left for the season. The few I've kept up with have been pretty interesting. Oh. SPOILERS AHEAD! You've been warned.

Let's start with Castle, since it's the first one I caught up on. I had about 4 episodes to watch this week so they've all pretty much just jumbled together, but the season finale left things very much on the verge of change. Not like when Kate got shot and the season ended with her dying on the ground, but still pretty crazy. Beckett gets a job offer that she really wants to take, but it means she has to leave New York. And of course that comes into conflict with her and Castle's romance. Neither is happy about it. So Castle proposes. End. I guess it's not THAT crazy, but if you're as invested in their relationship as I am, it's pretty intense.

Next: Grey's Anatomy. I know, I know. This one isn't even remotely nerdy. At least Castle has Nathan Fillion. This one is just all full of drama. I'm sorry, but I got caught up in this one and I just can't stop watching. Just let me have this one. Anyway. This one has been all full of drama all season. (Big surprise, right?) after the plane crash last year there's been so many changes, that by the time we get to the finale, which is another two parter disaster story, you start wondering who's gonna die this time. And they keep teasing it all the way through. Two of them nearly get staked by a tree flying through their living room. Another doctor is in critical condition after getting beaten nearly to death by another doctor, making you worry someone might end up in jail. Another doctor nearly gets blown up saving a little girl from a burning bus. Birth-related complications nearly kill another doctor. And none of them die. Until the very very end of the episode, Richard Webber is lying on the ground in the basement of the hospital, dead or dying of major electrical burns after getting the emergency generators running (after having saved the maintenance guy who had a heart attack while trying to get them fixed). So yeah. Never work at a hospital. If I've learned anything from this show, it's that hospitals are dangerous, and you're far more likely to die working there than being sent there in critical condition.

Didn't realize I had so much to say about that one. I hardly have time for Once Upon A Time. Oh how I love this show. This one I've actually kept up on all season, except I only JUST watched the finale last night. And boy howdy was it good. It's funny, at one point, Adria and I were both all, "Well that was anticlimactic." But then it just keeps going and you're back to being all enthralled. The end of the season has been leading up to this point where the town is in danger of destruction, but suddenly it's not, but then you learn new facts, and suddenly everyone is off on a rescue mission through a portal and the show takes another twist for the next season. PLUS someone thought dead is not, and he's found by two other characters we haven't seen in a while with someone ELSE thought dead. I dunno. I'm being a little vague, but if you've seen it you know what I mean. My Adria friend can attest, I was very very excited about this episode.

We also watched the season finale of How I Met Your Mother. And I am not gonna say anything else but... we FINALY meet the mother! I mean, the characters don't. But WE do! Yay! Other than that, I'm still behind. I've got a lot to catch up on. And tonight! Season finale of Doctor Who! Can't miss it! I'm excited. And sad, 'cause I don't wanna wait until November for more Doctor Who.

Well, I'm off to work. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. And a great long weekend!

Can't Think of a Good Title

Hey! So, apparently I took a weekend off from blogging. Sorry. I wish I could say it won't happen again, but if you look at my track record, it is almost guaranteed to happen again. And soon. But I was in Vancouver last weekend! This is my excuse. I never seem to blog when I'm away. I started one in the airport on my way back but I got bored... But now it's my usual before-work-on-a-Saturday coffee and blogging time, so here goes!

Since my last blog post, much has happened. And by that, I mean not much has happened, but I can still make something out of it. The super-awesome weekend of TV came and went. I could tell you how awesome Doctor Who and Game of Thrones were, but you watched them so you already know. DON'T YOU.

While I was away in Van I went with my good buddy Andrea to her meet-up group, Nerd HQ! It's this great group of nerds that get together every Friday evening (as well as various other times) to enjoy some form of nerdy culture. The focus starting last week has shifted to Doctor Who and GoT, so it was a great night. It's always held at La Fontana Caffe, a great little place at Boundary and Hastings, and the owner makes some really great food. Plus he's awesome. So it was pretty great to hang out with some fun nerdy people, eat some delicious food, and watch some great TV. Plus there was karaoke. OH! And this one guy sang a song while doing a perfect Gollum voice. SO GREAT.

What else is new? Jurassic Park 3D is in theatres right now. I saw that with Rob, Andrea, and some of the nerds. That movie will never stop being awesome. I could take or leave the 3D, but I was a kid when it came out originally so this was my first time seeing it on the big screen. The movie STILL makes me jump, even though I know what's coming.

Also on the subject of movies, I saw the Host last night with my Mom, and we both really enjoyed it. I've never read the book, but she has, and apparently they did a pretty decent job of sticking to the story. There's plenty cut for time, but it was done well. I might have to go read the book now, 'cause it was a really good story.

I FINALLY finished reading the Mark of Athena this week. It only took me several months. I still don't know why it took me so long 'cause I liked the book! I love the story, the characters, the writing. I'm just a bad reader I guess. Except that I started the Rise of Nine (third book of the Lorien Legacies series, think I Am Number Four) right after that, and I'm already just about halfway through. This is another series I've really been enjoying. The books themselves are really good, but they've also got mini-e-books that they release alongside the main story, usually delving into the past of characters just introduced or mentioned in the main series. It's a good way to keep interest in the story even when there's not a new full book in the series to read.

Anyway, it's time to head to work now, so this is it for this week. Maybe one day I'll actually find a real focus to this blog so it's not so all-over-the-place. But that's kind of how my mind works. Oh well. Happy Saturday! And happy new episode of Doctor Who day!

Great Week to be a Geek

It's a great week to be a geek. I mean, most weeks are good weeks to be geeks, you know, unless it's sports week in high school, but this one is particularly great.

Reason #1: New Doctor Who! TODAY! Seriously, guys. It does not get much better than that. It could be a terrible week otherwise, and it would STILL be a great time. It's been a few months since we've had our last dose of the Doctor, and I couldn't be more excited to have it back! After everything that's been happening in the show, I need to know what's next! And the 50th anniversary is coming up and THAT is looking like it's gonna be pretty fantastic.

Reason #2: New Game of Thrones! Season 3 starts TOMORROW! I managed to get myself all caught up for the new season, so bring it on! Now I can feel out with the best of 'em as the episodes air. I'm very interested in seeing what's gonna happen next. The season finale was pretty crazy.

Reason #3: The season finale of The Walking Dead! Also tomorrow! This one I'm not actually caught up on though, so I'll just have to assume it's super exciting. At least now I can watch the whole of season 3 all at once and not have to wait a week for a new one. But still, I need to make sure I'm caught up on this one for next season.

Sundays have been a pretty great TV night... Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Once Upon A Time. Plus Revenge, and while it lasted, 666 Park Avenue. Anyway...

Reason #4: Actually not TV-related, but this week was pretty awesome for comics too. Age of Ultron #3 was out this week, and I've been pretty unsure about that one so far, but the last page was somewhat shocking and has definitely got me hooked now. Uncanny Avengers has really brought up its game this week and I definitely recommend giving it a read, however it would help if you've read Remender's run on Uncanny X-Force prior to reading this. New characters and the beginnings of some really interesting plot points.

Astonishing X-Men brought the next chapter of the X-Termination crossover which I'll admit has me wanting to pick up the last few issues of X-Treme X-Men and Age of Apocalypse so I don't miss any of the story. Young Avengers is really kicking it up, and I'm enjoying it a lot. Uncanny X-Force seems interesting but also pretty jumbled. The different points really need to come together and make some sense or I might get bored. Wolverine and the X-Men is trying hard, but I'm struggling to stay interested. The current arc just isn't doing it for me. And Ultimate Comics: Wolverine is turning out to be a pretty interesting mini-series. I'm enjoying the story, and the artist is great. Even had a fun little cameo by some familiar scientists.

Anyway, those are the main points of geeky interest from my week. What made your week great and/or geeky? Have a great Saturday! And Happy Easter!

Do-you-think-he-saurus Rex

So, I'm not sure what's going on, but I seem to have a bit of a dinosaur obsession right now. Specifically with Jurassic Park. I've always really liked dinosaurs. Not enough to study them or know the difference between a brontosaurus and a brachiosaurus. But enough that I love the Jurassic Park movies, and I was devastated by the cancellation of Terra Nova.

For years now I've had the habit of occasionally doing a google search for Jurassic Park 4. And for years there have been little bits of news here and there that its coming, but never anything concrete. Just that there's a producer attached, and a writer is working on it, and then a new writer has taken over, and various bits of useless information.

But the wait is over! Sorta. There is finally a release date, and things are happening! June 13, 2014 is the date to remember. It's a ways off yet, and there's no director yet, but it's gonna happen! I'm seriously excited for this! I want to know what direction they'll take with it, which characters they'll bring back (if any), what dinosaurs will show up, where it'll take place, all that stuff!

I've also gotten somewhat obsessed with the Jurassic Park Builder app on the iPhone/iPad. It's one of those freemium games, where the app is free, and you don't HAVE to pay any money to use it, but to speed up building times and all that, you need to use you cash, which you can earn in game or buy for real money. Anyway! I've gotten obsessed with it. I keep expanding my park, and getting new dinosaurs, evolving them, levelling them up, and completing quests set forth by the characters from the movies. It's a very simple game, but it's a little bit addictive. I now split my time pretty evenly between that and DragonVale, my other favourite iOS app.

My other new obsession is Jurassic Park: The Game for Xbox 360. My friend Sylvie bought it for me the other day as my birthday present, and I've already played through most of it, but you know me! I'll have to play through again to try to unlock all of the achievements. It's a relatively simple game. You mostly just follow along the story, but it gives you options for dialogue and let's you search for what you have to do. And when action sequences come up you've got to hit various times commands to make it through the scene. Quite often these are dinosaur encounters, and I've already lost count on how many times I've missed commands and ended up dead. I'm starting to feel guilty at how many times I've had to listen to the characters cry over each other's deaths.

The game is pretty fun, and it gives a lot more backstory on the island, plus it follows up on the lost barbasol can with the dinosaur embryos hidden in it. None of the movie characters really appear, but there are plenty of references to the movie, and early on you come across a lot of familiar locations where the movie characters have clearly JUST vacated the scene.

So that's it, the past, present, and future of Jurassic Park (not necessarily in that order). I'm thinking after work today is going to involve some more escaping from dinosaurs. Oh! Last I played I had just gotten to a part with a giant underwater dinosaur! Gotta see what happens with that! Until then... work...

Winter Is Coming

The last few days here in the north have been pretty depressing. The sun has left us, clouds have swooped in, and I have been forced to layer. LAYER. It's August, and I am wearing two shirts and a hoodie. To say the least, I am displeased.

I'm hoping we still have a bit of good weather on the way, but we have had a pretty good summer so I can't complain too much. I was just hoping I'd have a chance to try to even out my tan. I've definitely got three different skin tones going on.

The one benefit to the cooler weather is that I'm more inclined to enjoy my nerdy hobbies. When it's sunny and beautiful out, I just can't justify sitting inside watching TV or playing video games. But if it's colder out, it's like a free pass to get my nerd on.

I have so much geeky stuff to catch up on too. I have I don't know how many video games to get through, plus I recently added two new ones to the list, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance and New Super Mario Bros. 2, both for the Nintendo 3DS. I've got a nice big list of books to read, and I just ordered two more online. And I have so many shows on DVD and iTunes to catch up on.

I took the ugly-weather-opportunity over the last couple days to watch a few episodes of Eureka (I'm on the second of five seasons, I've got my work cut out for me), and my fantastic roomie and I started a marathon of Glee season 3 yesterday. I picked it up on bluray the other day, and we managed to get through the first 7 episodes last night.

I'm hoping that this fall/winter I can catch up on a few other shows I've been meaning to watch. Game of Thrones. Breaking Bad. Torchwood. The Walking Dead. Just to name a few. However, there are definitely a few non-nerdy things I want to do this winter as well. I need to pick up my training for Tough Mudder next year, so I need to get to the gym more ofte this fall/winter. And I want to learn to snowboard this winter! I've been wanting to for years, and never gotten around to it. This is my year!

So even if the sun is leaving, it isn't the end of the world! There's plenty to look forward to! ...Are you convinced? I don't think I've convinced myself either. But good effort? What are you looking forward to this fall/winter? Any benefits to summer coming to a close? Leave me a comment below!

WE'RE the survivors of Oceanic flight 815!

Here we come to the second post in my Lost marathon series. I finished season two a few days ago, and I've been itching to start season 3, but I decided that I have to have this post done before I continue, so here we go!

One of the interesting things about Lost is the timeframe of the show. The entire first season took place in 44 days. The second season takes place in 33. This means there really wasn't a lot of downtime on the island. There's always something going on. It also makes things harder for filming and production. It's very hard to make sure people look the same through an entire year of filming. The most difficult example of this would be Walt, and I think that's why he disappears from the show. Kids grow like weeds and go through so many changes that it would be hard to insist that only a few months have gone by after several years of filming.

This season started off immediately after last season ended. We find Jack and Locke at the hatch, the survivors still terrified about the impending invasion by the others, and the rafties adrift in the ocean, struggling to stay afloat on the wreckage.

The hatch turns out to be just as strange and mysterious as we all anticipated, if not more so. A combination of ordinary (bunker fitted with all the amenities the 70s had to offer) and the strange (a button that has to be pressed every 108 minutes, using the ever mysterious numbers), the Swan station of the Dharma Initiative (as we now know it) provides quite a bit of mystery, and we're also introduced to a couple of other stations throughout the season.

New characters also show up. Desmond Hume is introduced as a madman living in the hatch until the Losties break in and take over. Also of note is the fact that Jack has met him before off the island. The survivors from the tail section of the plane (that were hinted at in season 1 right before Boone plunges to his death) also show up, although by the time they make it to the other side of the island, there are only 4 of them left. And finally there's Henry Gale. He seems like he's just a little creep, but we eventually learn that he is a much bigger creep than we thought. And at the end of the season we get a hint that he's much more than what we originally thought.

I enjoyed the various reunions featured in this season. There's the Losties and the tailies. Jin and Sun (again, my favorite couple), Rose and Bernard (who are just too cute a couple too), Hurley and Libby (although the former doesn't remember, and the latter we're never really sure on), the rafties and the Losties, Michael and Walt, Jack and Desmond, Jack and Ana-Lucia, and Shannon and Boone (sad face).

I'm still somewhat amazed at how poorly received Ana-Lucia was as a character. She was hated by the fans of the show, and I just don't get it. She was one of my favorite characters of the whole run of the show! Most fans were happy to see her killed off, but I was pretty sad to see her go. I was also really sad to see Libby get killed off with SO many unanswered questions about her character, but they needed a death that would have impact, and since no one liked Ana-Lucia, she had to go too.

This season was also the first time we get a good look at the "Others." at first it seems like they are just savages living on the island, but as the season goes on you find out all isn't as it seems. A flashback of Claire's shows Ethan and several more of the "Others" in doctors' garb, and there are fake beards and costume materials found in the same location later on, so there's something up with their appearances. "Henry" clearly knows more than he lets on, and Goodwyn is way too good at infiltrating the tail section survivors. And in the final episode, there are more hints to the fact that the "Others" have a lot more going on than just huts and teepees.

Overall, I really quite enjoyed this season. There's so much going on, new interesting characters, new locales, new mysteries, and just a few answers to make it feel like I'm learning a little more about what's going on (even if it's just false hope). The character growth and interactions are interesting and exciting, and the cast does such a great job at making these characters feel like people I need to know. And with that, I bring part two to an end. Part three, coming soon!

4 - 8 - 15 - 16 - 23 - 42

Today I am bringing you the first of a series of six posts that will show up periodically over the next few months. The theme? Lost! Or, a look back at Lost, to be more precise. I recently completed my Lost DVD collection, so I've begun a Lost "marathon" of sorts. Now, "marathon" would usually imply watching the entire series from start to end in one go, buuuut 6 seasons of Lost would take me almost a week to watch, and with work, sleep, and life in general to get in the way, it's more of a series of mini-marathons.

Anyway, to the point. I finished the first season of Lost today, and so, first post. It's really interesting going back and watching the first season again after seeing how the series ends. I really noticed a lot of hints of things to come, and also noticed a lot of the hints to mysteries that never get explained.

I still absolutely love the opening scene to Lost. Starting with the eye opening, and Jack waking up in the woods, finding his way to the beach and seeing the chaos that is the planewreck in the sand. It was just amazing. I think that scene is what really hooked me. Even without knowing anything about what was to come, I was completely taken in by that scene, and the rest of the episode just sealed the deal.

The format of the show is something very original, too. We meet all of these characters, not just on the island, but off the island too in a series of flashbacks that give us a little bit of insight into who they are that their fellow castaways don't get to see. It would be easy for these flashbacks to seem out of place, but there is always something specific in the flashback that ties to what is going on. We also see that a lot of the flashbacks show the specifics of what led these people to get on that plane.

One major think that came to mind today when I was watching the last few episodes was the tragic story of Jin and Sun. I won't get into it too much because that would be spoilers, but they are my very favourite couple of the show. They will definitely come up in future posts, but the end with their goodbye as Jin gets on the raft just breaks my heart, even though I know what comes next.

There are so many elements introduced in this first season that I would love to touch on, but I could go on all day. The "Adam and Eve" in the cave, the Frenchwoman and her seemingly crazy stories, the whispers, the smoke monster, the Black Rock, the numbers and Hurley's curse, Walt's abilities, the "others", the hatch, the snatching of the baby, the cord on the beach, the radio transmission, and the radio message Boone hears before he dies. All of these things are just little clues, or tips of icebergs, of what's to come.

With so many mysteries unfolding, the season ends in a cliffhanger with the hatch open (despite so many things pointing to leaving it alone), the mysterious "others" kidnapping Walt and blowing up the raft, leaving Jin, Michael, and Sawyer for dead, and the rest of the Oceanic survivors fearing some sort of attack. I know what's coming, but I can't wait to go through and watch for all of those things that I never noticed the first time through, or whose significance I just didn't quite get until the series came to a close.

Through the Stargate

Today, i would like to talk about the Stargate franchise, one of my favourite sci-fi series. Stargate is an epic story about the people of Earth who find their lives changed by a piece of, originally thought to be alien, but actually Earthly, technology. The Stargate itself is a great big metal ring with a second movable ring covered in different symbols. Each symbol represents a constellation of stars, and different combinations of these symbols create addresses to other Stargates out in the galaxy. When a correct address is entered, a wormhole is created, and people and objects can travel through the oneway path to a different planet in the galaxy. It is so much more complicated than that, but I really don't feel like writing on the function of the Stargate anymore.

Stargate SG-1 is the show that started it all (if you don't count the movie... which I don't). It centers around the titular team, SG-1, which is part of Stargate Command, a secret division of the US Military. The team originally consists of Colonel Jack O'Neill, Captain Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and an alien named Teal'c. The team roster changes later in the series, but to be honest, I haven't actually seen the whole series.

I originally started watching it with my Mom way back when the show first began airing. That was probabably 12-13 years ago? I'm not sure. It was one of those shows that we watched together, but at that point I was more interested in cartoons, so when Mom lost interest, so did I.

I have just recently begun watching the series again after having been re-hooked by the show's two spinoffs, Atlantis and Universe. So far I have picked up the first 4 seasons on DVD, and I'm nearly through with season 4. I think my favourite part of the show is The discovery process, as they learn new things about the gate and the Goa'uld and all that fun stuff. And the different alien races they meet along the way are all really interesting. The Asgard, the Replicators. The Nox.

Now, the real point of this whole post is that I am sad. I am sad because, once again, Stargate has been cancelled. This time, it is Stargate Universe that was cancelled after it's second season. The show was planned out for five, I think, but now we won't get to see what was supposed to happen with this group of characters. Between the three shows, there are 17 seasons of Stargate, and I'm just not satisfied apparently.

I think there is a campaign somewhere online to save Stargate. I should find the link and post it here. Perhaps there is a chance to save the show. So if you are a fan, or I've at least piqued your interest, look into it and consider using one or more of the methods mentioned on the following website to save the show! Thanks for reading!

http://www.savestargateuniverse.org/

Edit: I found the website I was originally looking for, which has been tweeted by one of the stars of the show. http://www.facebook.com/SGUnite