I get why 'Enterprise' tanked

I have always liked Star Trek. I am not some crazy Klingon costume wearing freak that still lives in my parents' basement, but I enjoy all of the shows based on origional series. I like the old shows, even though the acting is kinda bad and the effects worse. I really liked TNG and the Star Trek galaxy really hit it's stride with Voyager and DS-9. The latest (last?) installment of the Star Trek saga was Enterprise. I really like the direction they initially took with this show, taking us back to the infancy days of Star Fleet and the first deep space exploration mission. Of course, the ship is called Enterprise. The first chink in the armor is that Scott Bakula was the captain. I really liked him in Quantum Leap, but would have rathered a no-name to fill the role. I feel that there are only a few actors that can play multi-characters on different shows. (I still don't get why Mal sold Serenity and is now in a road race on Old Earth.) Anyway, The best part of the cast was Jolene Blalock (HOTT!!). They seemed to play up her hottness by putting her in a tight-tight outfit and then creating scenarios to get her out of the outfit.

To the point, Enterprise never seemed to get the fan base that the other series created. I started watching when the show aired, but kinda lost interest. I think that something else was on at the same time and this was before the days of me having DVR. I started watching the show on Sci-Fi. They have been airing re-runs on Mondays and I have been recording them. It is certainly entertaining, but there are some flaws:

First, they are portraying Enterprise as a ship that isn't really ready for deep soace exploration. The ship and engines are solid, but the scanners, shields and weapons are far behind those of the hostiles they start running into. And yet, they keep getting out of scrape after scrape. Even if they are outnumbered and their enemy could wipe them out with one more shot, they survive.

Next, they focus on time travel too much. I think this bugged me because all of the Trek shows farther into the future never really focused on time travel too much. Yet Enterprise threw in a time travel episode almost every week, encluding an episode where the whole crew (and the ship) go back in time to WW II.

Third, the writers totally recycled stories. There is a series of episodes where Archer becomes possessed by a Vulcan spirit and discovers an artifact that will unite the Vulcan people again, much like when Worf found the sword of Kayless and untied the Klingons. And the possession is definately similar to Cysco becoming the B'Joran Emmisary.

Finally, the thing that bugs me the most is that the writers of Enterprise paint the Vulcans as shady, skeemers that are sometimes more emotional than the humans are. Vulcans are supposed to be all logical. I guess the current episodes that aired this week have to do with a group of Vulcans that are trying to change the government into a more pacifistic body. Whatever. To make a long story short, I think that they have just miked the Star Trek cash cow for all it's worth. There may be another movie here and there, but I dought that there will be any future TV series.

Updates

So, nothing really new going on lately. Today is Alydia's birthday. She is officially two. She is SOOO cute. I can hardly take how cute she is sometimes. I'll add more pictures of her brithday party to my Flickr page soon.

I think I am going to take a long break from cash poker games. I have been on a bad streak lately. I may play in a tournament here and there, but I am done for cash games. I will also be able to get my poker fix when I play on my Xbox. It's not the same as playing in real life, but still pretty fun. I found out last night that you can play for achievement chips on Xbox Live. It's not money, but it adds a bit of a risk factor to the game. Plus, you usually get more serious players that way.

Speaking of the Xbox, I unwrapped Dead Rising for the first time earlier this week. I didn't play much, but I TOTALLY get why Woody is into it so much. You are a photo journalist that get stuck in a zombie-filled town. I found it very funnd that therre was a disclaimer on the package stating that the game was not based on George Romero's movie Dawn of the Dead. Sure, it isn't (sense the sarcasm). Stuck in a mall surrounded by zombies? Anyone ever see the movie. Since Woody used to be in journalism, and he likes Amry of Darkness-type movies (the character looks like Bruce Campbell), I totally see why he likes this game. I think I am probably going to finish Crack Down before I really get into Dead Rising.

My garden is pretty much taken care of now. I have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, herbs and green beans in so far. I still need to put in zuccini and lettuce. I want to get a few more plants for the yard. A butterfly bush and rose bush that I had died and I want to replace them. Here are some pictures of different pretty flowers that I have blooming at the moment.

Happy Almost Birthday Alydia!

We had a party for Alydia's second birthday yesterday. It wasn't all that exciting, just some family and friends. Alydia seemed to have fun though. She was happy with all the attention and pleased with her gifts. Her favorite was a little stroller for her babies. She's been pushing it around almost non stop. She also got some cute outfits and a few other toys. It seems harder to buy stuff for girls. Boys seem to have all sorts of cool toys to buy, but with girls it's just dolls and doll excessories. I think I may go buy her a 'boy' toy to expand her playing perameters.

I Hate This Time of Year

'Tis the season for all of the good TV shows to wrap up their seasons. I should put wrap up in quotes because these days, TV seasons end in cliff hangers and leave you with more questions than answers. I have already complained about BSG and the major cliff hangers and shockers of the season finale. Last night was the Greys Anatomy season finale. There were some suprises and twists and turns. It was an hour and fifteen minutes long, which is another reason why DVR is GREAT. It looks like there are going to be some changes. My guess is that the red head(Dr Montgomery) is going to be leaving. There was an episode a while back where she went to a clinic in LA where a bunch of her friends worked. There were too namy big actors in the clinic for it to be a one time deal. And last night she had a conversation about how she wasn't happy. It also seems like George may be taking a smaller roll (he is the gay actor that Isaiah Washington called queer or a fag or something ignorant). I like the show, but I won't cry over some changes. As long as Katherine Heigl is still on the show, I don't care. She's HOT.

Desparate Housewives is coming to a close too. One character is getting married, another has cancer, and is returning after her 'honeymoon' (she was preggers in real life and took a break from the show. ) So is Lost, ER, and most of the other big shows that I am into. As the good shows come to a close, it will be time for the reality TV shows to flood into the prime time TV slots. All in all they are mostly trash, but there are a few that I kinda like.

Hell's Kitchen is pretty good. If you haven't watched it, there are wannabe chefs that go on the show to learn and be abused by Gordon Ramsey, a pretty popular chef. They vie for a chance to win a restaurant to make their own. They have to go through competitions and also serve customers in Hell's Kitchen and each night one is eliminated. Really, it is one of the only reality shows I can stomach. Probably because it doesn't envolve pretty people trying to get laid. Oh, I usually get several seasons of shows on DVD to watch when there is so much garbage on TV.

So, what do you do when good tV is gone for the summer?

I'm SUCH a follower

I usually don't follow the pack when it comes to buying things. I like to form my own opinions and make my own choices. Sure, there are sometimes that I follow the masses, but only after being stubborn for a very long time. For example, I never watched Lost until this past winter. Honestly, the concept looked silly to me. People surviving a plane crash on an island? Wasn't that a Tom Hanks and Wilson movie? Well, after running out of things to watch through NetFlix, I caved and am now hooked to the TV show that America loves to get frustrated by. Everytime you think you figure something out, something happens that throws you for a loop. An invisible leader named Jacob? Come on!! well, I guess it can't be any weirder than the black smoke moster. Anyway, what I'm getting at is, OK, maybe I AM a follower. I just take my time and follow at my own pace.

My stubbornness only goes so far however. Actually, it usually lasts until I find a good deal at Best Buy. Like I mentioned before, I found seasons 1 and 2 of Lost for $20 a pop! Oh, and I also bought Firefly when I saw it for $20 at Target. That's another post though. This past week, I followed Woody. I know, I know....pretty stupid, right? What I mean is, I went out and bought Dead Rising for my Xbox 360. With as much as he posts about the game, it must be good, right? Well, let me tell you......I have no idea yet. I just bought the game Tuesday and haven't had the chance to kill me some zombies. I've been too busy slaughtering gang members and innocent by-standers in CrackDown. I had considered getting Dead Rising before Crackdown, but was drawn in by the Halo 3 demo, which still isn't out by the way. As you can see by my Xbox Blog, WSOP: TOC and NCAA Football 07 are still my top two, but that is only because I don't like playing games rated M in from of the kiddies. The Xbox blog really cracks me up sometimes. Like how is posted that my Xbox was 'dumbing down the AI' so that I would be encouraged to play more. The 5/16/07 post is funny too because I stopped because my link to Xbox Live kept going down on me. It's hard to play poker online when you can't get online. So, I guess it really did make me stop.

Back to the point, I am following again. However, the following only occured because DeadRising went from $59.99 to $39.99. I am SUCH a whore for a good deal!

A Few Updates

1. I found a few wrinkles in watching TV shows through NetFlix. First, not all of the episodes are included. I started watching a new TV series I wanted to try and realized that I was missing an episode here and there. I don't know why it would be like that. I guess they want you to go ahead and rent the DVDs. Second, you don't get to watch unlimited DVDs online. I tried to watch an old Dr. Who episode and got a message that my online rentals had reached their limit until the next billing date. I guess I will just need to pace myself.

2. The TV show I mentioned above is called Dead Like Me. It's actually pretty funny. It's about an 18 year old girl that is killed when a toilet seat from a space station hits her. She gets recruited as a Grip Reaper and starts collecting souls with several other Reapers. It's funny because the Reapers are all pretty odd and depraved. One is a drunk theif, the other is a whorey ex-actress, and another is an angry meter maid. They work for the division of Reapers that take care of weird accidental deaths (like a butterfly effect type thing. Someone slips on a banana, knocks over a chair, causing someone else to trip and fall on a knife, for example). There are other divisions, like reapers that take care of animals, old age, etc. All in all it is a very entertaining show. Pretty funny. I may need to get the DVDs just so that I can catch all of the episodes I missed. Plus, I think Jessica will like it.

3. Alydia is almost two! Her birthday is the 25th, but we are having a gathering this Saturday. Nothing big, just a few friends and family. I can't believe that she is going to be two already. She realyl is such a sweet little girl. Sure, she has her moments, but not nearly as bad as Gabriel was when he was the 'terrible twos'. Maybe she is just waiting until she reaches two exactly until she adds the 'terrible' to her temper.

4. Jessica and I had a night out on Friday. We went with my friend Barb and her husband to get some Mexican and then bowling. We drank much and had a really good time. We don't get to go out nearly as much as I would like. We had issues with out sitter though. She never showed up, so Jessica called her brother and he came over to watch the kids. I guess our sitter fell alseep or something. Her mom called us to let us know that it would " NEVER happen again." It had better not. As far as I'm concerned, she is getting moved to the bottom of our lists of sitters. Not that we have many options, but I would rather try someone else that may be more reliable.

Crackdown, revisited

I mentioned a while back that I bought Crackdown for my Xbox 360. I don't remember when I posted about it, but my opinion was low at first. I found it hard to get into the game because the controls were akward and I was having trouble getting into the story. Well, I cracked it open again (no pun intended) and I think I need to revise my opinion. I finally decided that I was tired of getting my ass kicked in NCAA 07 football and I am getting tired of poker (more like losing in Poker in real life, but that's another post) and to be honest, I just wanted to shoot some stuff. What makes Crackdown is that there is more to it than just shooting. It's like a combination between a shooter and an adventure game (like Fable). Yes, you go around shooting crooks, but you can also develop you character by going through car races, foot races, and by finding these orb things that give you points towards your next level up. There are agility orns that make you jump super high, which is fun. Also, depending on how you kill the crooks, your character develops differently. If you run them over, you get points towards driving skills. If you shoot them, you get points towards you weapons skills. If you beat them or throw somthing at them, you get strenght points. It's a neat twist to the shooting game. So far, the hardest thing for me to do in the game is drive. The cars are pretty fact and hard to handle. Plus, the pedestrians are all over the place and it is really easy to run them over (which is frowned upon). The best part about the game is that I will get access to the Halo 3 beta test (if/when it comes out). Still, in the mean time Crackdown is a pretty game. I am enjoying it.

Make sure to take you biniculars to the strip club

I'm not sure if anyone is aware, but there is a bill that may be passed in Ohio that will basically destroy the 'gentlemen's club' industry. Now, before I go further, yes, I have been to a strip club. My guess is that a large percentage of straight men and some women have gone to a strip club at least once in their life. The reasons vary, I'm sure, but people go. In my opinion, it's not a big deal to go to a strip club. You get to look at and flirt with pretty girls in an environment that is controlled. Now, the law that may be passed will put a six foot restriction on the girls and the clubs will need to close by midnight. So basically, it will be like going to a zoo and looking at the lions. It will basically end the entire reason why guys go to strip clubs: no more getting close to and having conversations with hot women. Sure, you could go to a bar and have a conversation with a hot girl, but the expectations are different:

At the strip clubs, you go, have a drink, maybe buy a girl a drink, enjoy her company, and then you go home.

At the bar, you go, have a drink, maybe buy a girl a drink, enjoy her company, and then explain to her that you are married and just wanted to do some fun flirting. Then she throws the rest of her drink in you face, it burns your eyes, you wipe your eyes off leaving your crotch exposed, she hits you in the crotch, and you need to go home to explain to your wife why you are wet, your eyes are red, and your balls are throbbing. I've seen it a thousand times.

Ok, I get why some people are against strip clubs, but the bottom line is, if the restrictions are put into place, the strip club industry will go under, thousands of girls will be put out of work, and prostitution will probably increase. Not to mention the fact that the government would be taking away yet another one of our choices. Right now, we can't listen to certain things, we can't watch certain things (talking about censorship), and gay people have no rights. What's next? Aren't we supposed to be living in a free country? Man! We really need to get the Republicans out of power.

A Cool NetFlix Function

So, I was looking at my NetFlix queue and I noticed a neat function. There was a tab that says 'Watch Now'. Apparently, there are a bunch of free movies that you can watch over the internet. Now, these movies aren't the new releases, or even what I would consider as movies that I would watch normally, but there are some pretty good choices. For example: Evil Dead, Soylent Green, some Hitchcock films, and some other classic ovies that everyone should watch. I'm watching Soylent Green right now. It is coming over pretty well over the internet. I haven't seen any slow frames or skipping at all. I already know the secret of the movie, but I've wanted to see it anyway. It isn't bad for an older movie. Cheesey effects and bad acting, but the story if pretty good. If you didn't know, the Earth is over populated and there is no ore food. The Soylent company created a food source that they say is a product of plankton from the ocean. I think that everyone knows the famous line "Soylent Green is made from people." That's right, they recycle dead people and feed them to the public. Iew. Makes me glad I know hoe to grow my own food in the back yard.

Best Buy Likes to Tease

So, I've had an on again off again relationship with Best buy. A while back I boycotted them because of some customer relations issues, but after a long while and hating shopping at other places for my electronics needs, I've decided that I like Best Buy again. I bought my Xboxes there and they replaced two of them when I had issues and I've bought several other high dollar electronics (computer, camera, phones, IPods, etc.). I also love going to a place that has all sorts of games, movies, and music all in the same place. Yes, you can find other stores like that, but not with the same wide selection. Anyway, I go to Best Buy about once a month. I check their ad every week to see if there are any good deals. Once they had Lost DVDs for $20 a season, for example. Anyway, I just bought a new computer for the kids to use. I have a Reward Zone card, so I earn points when I buy things and they send me gift cards when I reach a certain number of points. Why I say Best Buy is a tease, is because right after I bought the computer, I received a 'special offer' in the mail affering triple points on one item bought and another offering a discount for a high dollar purchase. Where were these offers right before I bought a computer? Well, I guess I can't complain. Just for being a Reward Zone member I get the coupons and I get paid for shopping. It's a nice encentive, but has bad timing.

Snakes and Arrows

Yup, Bryan called it. Time to talk about Rush's new album, Snakes and Arrows. As you may know, Rush is my all time favorite band. I have all of their original music albums (maybe not the imports). I guess they did a cover album a while ago, but I don't like covers of other people's songs. Anyway, I've given Snakes and arrows a few listens, and it is pretty solid. Farcry, the first song they released from the album, is pretty kick ass. There are a few songs on Snakes and Arrows that I could do without. I don't know all the names, but there is one song that has repeating lyrics. I know, all songs have lyrics that repeat, it's called a chorus, but I mean excessively so. Musically, all of the songs are good. There are certainly two different Rush styles. Their early work has a hard edge and the newer stuff is more mellow. Snakes and Arrows definately has a more mellow feel. If you have heard Counterparts or Test for Echo, then you know what I mean. In case you don't know what I mean, my mom likes newer Rush music too. Not that she has bad tastes in music, I just wanted to better explain my meaning.

Well, I am not really going to get into this much more. If you like Rush, you will like Snakes and Arrows. There's really only so much you can say about an album. I am already getting psyched about the concert in September. I got pretty good seats, in the lower pavillion towards the middle. Not front row, but I should be able to see pretty well. I just hope that my family will be able to put up with me listening to Rush the majority of the time leading up to the show.

Gettin' Caught Up on 24

As I have mentioned, I am cathing up on the show, 24. I can't find the previous posting, sorry. Basically, I just said that I thought Kim was hot, but irritating. She got herself into bad situation after bad situation. Now, I have finished season 4 and am getting into season 5. After watching season four, I have come to some conclusions:

1. The 'parimeter teams' used by CTU couldn't stop a baby. Marwan escaped parimeter teams at least four times when he was surrounded. How you ask? He basically just walked away each time. Sure, there was some confusion each time, but you'd think that they would be able to contain a little better.

2. Jack is the only government agent that know anything about anything. He was able to see what's going on and made the right calls throughout the entire season. Everyone else was wrong or three steps behind him.

3. Kim, while irritating, was definately some eye candy that I missed. I know, I know. I'm a male pig. Deal with it.

4. China has terrible security. One guy was able to get in and kidnap a person from their embassy (from the 2nd floor no less) and got out almost scott free. Of course, it was Jack that went in and out of the embassy, so maximum security wouldn't have helped their cause.

Well, that's about all. I could go on about how national security sucked in allowing terroristst to gain access to nuclear power plants, the Secretary of Defense, and a nuclear weapon, but I think that goes without saying. I am starting season five right now, and I have to say that it has certainly grabbed my attention. Three major chatacters hit in the first hour!?!?!? Wow.