2705
10

My first Glee

Posted by under *dislike, Music, Television | Join The Discussion |

There was a ton of hype around Glee when it first started.  I think I wanted to watch it in the beginning.  Maybe we had recordings that conflicted.  Either way, I didn’t.  I think maybe we tried to watch once, but didn’t make it through the episode.  It’s been officially picked up for a 3rd season by Fox, and I just watched my first full episode.

My viewing was inspired by the inclusion of Lady Gaga.  Well, the inclusion of her music.  Gossip Girl had THE Lady Gaga.  Just saying, Glee, just saying….  So I watched.  A whole episode.  Not impressed.  The singing was not believable.  Over produced?  Under-produced?  I’m not sure which one.  But it seemed like a really bad music video to me where the music just doesn’t match the mouth quite right.  I’m sure the story of the characters pulls plenty of people in, and there was enough in one random episode that I sort of got the gist of things, but this will probably be my only episode.

What can I say?  Acapella groups and 12 year old’s on YouTube are more entertaining/impressive for Lady Gaga covers than this was.

2605
10

Our Latest Distraction: LOST, the finale

Posted by under *mixed, Television | Join The Discussion |

The series finale of ABC’s Lost aired Sunday night and this is one of the rare places where our interests here at MLD all converge. Seems poetic given the nature of the conclusion. Please feel free to share your reactions with us as well. So the question that gets it all rolling: what’s your verdict?

Read more of this article »

2505
10

Wave of cancellation

Posted by under *mixed, Comics, Television | Leave a Comment |

Well, maybe cancellation isn’t the right word. Marvel’s Siege miniseries ended this month and has ushered in the new Heroic Age for the company. As a result, the current line of Avengers books: New AvengersMighty AvengersDark AvengersAvengers Initiative, are all ending. All four are being replaced with: AvengersSecret Avengers, a relaunched New Avengers, and Avengers Academy. While the sum total of Avengers books is remaining the same, it’s strange to see all of these high selling books stop publication. I suppose after all the events they’ve spawned or been spawned by, they’ve run their course.

In the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe, the ends of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy weren’t even announced.  These books lead directly into the upcoming Thanos Imperative mini-series and there’s no word on whether they’ll return in some form or another once that series wraps up. In a way, I’m kind of glad they ended, as I was thinking of not continuing with each of them anyway.

It’s odd for so many books to end in the same month, but the endings are not limited to comics. The last few weeks saw the cancellation of a number of television shows including Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Flash Forward, Law and Order, and Heroes. Combined with the ends of 24 and Lost, the line ups this Fall look to be changing quite a bit. While I understand that they couldn’t last forever, it is both disappointing and somehow comforting that 24 and Law and Order were having their strongest seasons yet. It’s not all cancellations though as Chuck, Human Target, and Lie to Me (all shows I enjoy) have all been picked up for another season.

The last few years have produced a lot of TV and comics that I’ve really enjoyed. I can’t help but think that what takes its place just won’t hold my attention at all. It was kind of an aberration that there was so much going on that I followed to begin with.

2405
10

My apology to the New Jersey Nets

Posted by under *mixed, Sports | Leave a Comment |

I spent some time this season criticizing the performance of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. I was told I owed them an apology, but I’m not sure that’s entirely true.

The Nets were terrible this year. They broke the all time loss record to start a season at 0-18, and were on pace to break the Philadelphia 76ers all-time worst season record of 9-73. They avoided that particular distinction by winning 12 and losing only 70. This is bad, but really is it any different from the Sixers miserable record of 27-55 this year? I don’t think so, both teams lost a lot and their seasons ended right along with everyone else that didn’t make the playoffs.

Considering the way the NBA Draft Lottery works, there was some cynical speculation that the Nets may have aimed for the worst record in the league (but not the worst of all time) in order to pick first. I don’t believe this is the case. I don’t want to think any team would ever really try for this by tanking the entire season. Regardless, that’s not what happened as The Nets will pick 3rd in the Draft. Ironically, the Sixers will choose 2nd just behind the Washington Wizards on June 24th.

2305
10

Lost: Getting in some last words

Posted by under *like, Television | Leave a Comment |

With the Lost finale beginning in a few short hours, this is the last chance for any of this speculation to mean anything. Like most fans, I’m wondering about a lot of things, but here are 5 big points of interest for me. Please feel free to share your thoughts here as well.

“Desmond is the failsafe”

All along it’s been clear that Desmond is the key to everything. When I originally sat down to write this, he had just run over Locke in the parallel universe and it became very clear that he was trying to push everyone together. Locke encountered Jack again in the following episode, and now we see a similar dynamic to the one they had on the island. Desmond’s jail break is clearly another step to getting everyone together. This could be that if the people on the island are with him, he could maybe bounce their consciousnesses to the parallel universe and “save” them, or it could have something to do with….

Parallel universe smoke monster

If the island is at the bottom of the ocean, where does this leave the monster? It makes sense that maybe he escaped and is out there in that world and this is what Desmond is trying to get everyone together for.

The smoke monster is not Jacob’s brother

The fact that Jacob finds his brother’s body has me thinking there’s a chance the smoke monster may not actually be the brother. The monster was released when the brother entered the well and took his form.

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do”

It’s also be indicated the the smoke monster taking someone’s form may not be simply cosmetic. The monster takes on some aspects of the “form’s” personality as seen in the last episode about Locke. The monster was reacting and saying things Locke would say, but he has no connection to Locke other than it being a dead guy he could imitate.

Those damned kids

Everyone seems to have one and early on children seemed really important to the story. It’s also interesting that a lot of the candidates even have a child out there that bears their name (David Shepherd, Aaron Austen, Clementine Ford, Ji Yeon Kwan). I can’t help but think we may be seeing them in the finale, and with the way time works on the show they may even be shown as adults returning to the island.

It’s over tonight, so we’ll see what’s important and what isn’t soon enough. Enjoy all six hours that ABC is bringing your way starting at 7PM.