Happy New Year 2014 to 2015 Edition

Well it is that time of year again where we say goodbye to one year and hello to another.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm too lazy to do my year end post counting thing right now, not sure when I'll get around to it. The last 3 months or so I have been very lazy and very lackadaisical about my blogging.

Self appointed posting quota Obligatory November post

EEK! It is the last day of November and I haven't made a post on this blog until just now. UGH last month I missed posting on my Curly W Cards blog this would be two months in a row for that blog if I don't do something. My other card blog I had a contest that I haven't posted the results of yet. Double UGH and ACK!

Now if I don't come up with something to post in the next few hours I won't have anything for any of the blogs. Wait I have this post explaining my personal goal of posting at least one post per month here, and hopefully on my two card blogs.

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 66

"Beauty is its various forms appeals to you."

Dang another one with a misspelling. I think the "is" was supposed to be "in".

Lucky # 19, 30, 59, 22, 21, 9

Learn Chinese: TV, Dian-shi

 

*Fortunes and Lottery Numbers are posted for entertainment purposes only.

Myka Monday: Sorry Myka

Sorry it has been so long Myka.

Don't cry and don't be upset.

I said don't get upset.

Uhoh...OH CRAP!

Please Myka think it over...

[Continued?]

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 65

"A nice cake is waiting for you."

Daily Numbers: 4 6 8

Lotto Six #'s  23 55 65 7 89 1

*Fortunes and Lottery Numbers are posted for entertainment purposes only.

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 64

"You will always have good luck in your personal affairs."

Lucky # 13, 22, 7, 36, 21, 10
Learn Chinese: Language Yu-yan

*Fortunes and Lottery Numbers are posted for entertainment purposes only.

Cote de Pablo New Gig

For those who thought that Cote de Pablo had killed her acting career last year when she quit her gig as Ziva David in the highly successful NCIS well you ain't seen the last of her yet. The beautiful Cote has been cast as Shirah in "The Dovekeepers" a four-hour CBS miniseries to air next year 2015. Based on the 2011 historical novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman the project is being produced by husband and wife team of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. The story follows four extraordinary women  whose lives intersect in the fight for survival during the siege of Masada (around 70 AD). The character of Shirah is wise in the ways of magic and medicine is mysterious fiercely independent with uncanny insight and power.

Cote at the 2013 Latin Grammy Awards Viva La Ziva grrrrooowwl

Meanwhile Cote wrapped up filming earlier this year on a film that is in post-production titled "The 33". The movie is based on the real-life events of the 2010 Chilean mining disaster where 33 miners were trapped and originally thought to be dead and never found based purely on the history of the mine. Miraculously all 33 minors were rescued from the mine. Cote plays the wife of one of the minors trapped. According to the Wikipedia page for the movie it is a Chilean film spoken in Spanish. IMDB lists it as a USA made film but makes no mention about the spoken language. One of the chat board threads for the movie says it was shot in English for a wider international audience. Anyway it was filmed in Chile and Columbia between December 2013 and February 2014. Cote's role was filmed during the later Columbian filming in February.

For some reason all my posts about Cote de Pablo or NCIS get big views and are some of my most popular posts on this hardly read blog.

Related Articles:
Cote de Pablo to star in CBS' "The Dovekeepers" miniseries - CBS News
Cote De Pablo To Star In CBS Event Series "The Dovekeepers" From Mark Burnett, Roma Downey - Deadline.com
Cote de Pablo to star in CBS miniseries - Fox News
'NCIS' Cote de Pablo to Star in CBS Mini "The Dovekeepers"- The Hollywood Reporter
Cote de Pablo To Play "Witch of Moab" in "The Dovekeepers" - The Jewish Daily Forward
Cote de Pablo to return to CBS in "The Dovekeepers" mini - Newsday

Myka Monday: Listen Carefully

Myka listen carefully. Look deep into the Farnswerth...

Image from Season 2 Episode 1 "Time Will Tell".

NCIS: New Orleans: I Am So Psyched!

(Image from claimfame.com)

The latest show in the NCIS Franchise (Technically the JAG Franchise) NCIS: New Orleans kicks off this fall on Tuesday 23 Sept 2014 CBS 9:00 PM ET. The show will take the slot following the current mother show NCIS, which means that sister show NCIS: Los Angeles moves to Monday nights. I hope it does well. I plan on watching it and hoping it has a long run, even though I was not real big on the idea of having a third NCIS show when the other two were still super hot.

So far there have been some on-air promos telling that the show is coming. Images in the promo appear to only be stuff from the backdoor pilot that aired during season 11 of NCIS in the two episode Crescent City story (pt1, pt2)

Related Articles:
'NCIS' expands reach to New Orleans - USA Today
'NCIS: New Orleans' adds Rob Kerkovich to cast, plans 'NCIS' character crossovers - NOLA.com

Related Previous Posts:
Green Light for NCIS: New Orleans
Quantum NCIS Enterprise
NCIS: New Orleans?

Myka Monday: Myka Has A Plan

Myka is getting one of her ideas. She's got a vibe, wait it was Pete who got vibes. Whatever.

Image from Season 2 Episode 1 "Time Will Tell".

Myka Monday: Wait? What?

Myka Monday will be replaced next week with Marvel Medieval Maven Madeness. A new feature where I will show images of sexy characters from Marvel Comics... No No No I'm just kidding. Don't worry I will continue with Myka Monday for a while.

Image from Season 5 Episode 1 "Endless Terror".

Myka Monday: Don't Be Surprised.

Myka don't be surprised, but this episode is flying on automatic pilot.

Calm down I told you don't be surprised, and don't be scared. The blog will be OK it's just a little preplanned automatic posting. Everything will be back to normal soon.

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 63

"You need a new environment. Go on vacation."

Lucky # 1, 7, 38, 56, 39, 26
Learn Chinese: Fish, Yu

*Fortunes and Lottery Numbers are posted for entertainment purposes only.

Myka Monday: Whats So Interesting?

Myka, What is so interesting over there?

I guess we will never know.

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 62

"Simplicity and clarity should be your theme in dress."

Lucky # 02, 17, 18, 29, 33, 44
Learn Chinese: To speak, Shuo

*Fortunes and Lottery Numbers are posted for entertainment purposes only.

Myka Monday: More Motivation

Lately I haven't had too much motivation to do many updates to anything blog-wise. That means last week I missed doing a Myka Monday. UHOH! it looks I've ticked off Myka again. Now she's gonna let me have it.

 

Guess I'll have to add another picture to make her happy.

Oh good looks like I'm getting a "I forgive you" kiss. This time at least. Next time I miss an episode I might not be so lucky.

Both images from Episode 1 of Season 5 "Endless Terror".

Myka Monday: Myka Is Curious

This week's Myka Monday is a bit of a lazy one. Instead of finding a brand new image from one of the DVDs I grabbed a Myka image from an earlier saved pic. Actually I think it is a screen grab from one of the Season 1 discs, so it isn't too lazy. Sorry Pete I cropped you out of this one. Anyway Myka is curious as to how I am going to manage to keep this whole Myka Monday thing going. I am too.

Image from Season 1 Episode 7 "Implosion".

Warehouse 13 Wednesday: Magnetism

EPISODE 1.3 "Magnetism"

Original Air Date: 21 July 2009

MYKA: "I've been exposed to the artifact, I should stay locked up."

Warning: This review may contain spoilers

When I originally started this review, and this little Warehouse 13 episode review project of mine, I thought I would be most of the way through the series with a few episodes of Season Four left to review when Season Five came around. Since I had a lot of time I put things off and this review project got stalled. Then the Final Season Season Five started and I had barely started reviewing the first season. Well now Season Five is over and done and reviewed, and it had been a long long time since I had done anything about this pet project. I guess that is the "Pro" in procrastinate.  I rewatched Season 1 Disc 1 to keep everything fresh for this review and to get back into the habit of watching the series DVDs. OK on with the review/recap of this episode.

I find it interesting that in the beginning bit of Pete and Myka retrieving Marie Antoinette's Guillotine from the French Museum and replacing it with a replica, they seem to be a solid well working team as if they have been together for years, but during the bulk of the episode they still seem to be having a power struggle for "team leader".

In the Warehouse while putting the guillotine artifact away and even after Pete and Myka are arguing and shouting at each other. Myka is a bit ticked at Pete for not recharging the Tesla gun from whatever their last assignment was (forcing her to have a more physical fight with the Museum Guards), and about his not following the overall plan and ignoring organized protocol. They unknowingly are disturbing the zen balance of the Warehouse with their negative energy. Artie monitors some online news feeds seemingly while events are unfolding and discovers some possible artifact activity in Unionville, Colorado. He notices Pete and Myka arguing and tries getting their attention telling them to keep it down, but they keep on arguing. Artie is left with no choice he clicks a few computer keys and some levers and switches of other equipment and gives them a shower of purple neutralizing goo.

Back at the bread and breakfast, Pete and Myka have cleaned up and Artie briefs them on the goings on in Colorado. In separate one-on-one short discussions (Pete before the briefing and Myka after the brief) Artie mixes things up by telling each of them before they leave for the main mission of the episode that they are really the team leader in charge, but to let the other one think they are in charge because s/he is sensitive. Pete asks to borrow Artie's car since his truck is still where it was left apparently from a previous mission.

So what do an old lady, a teenager, and a nun all have in common beside freaking out and acting in bizarre ways that are totally against their normal nature? All three, and eventually a few others, were exposed to an artifact.What they came in contact with is what Pete and Myka need to figure out. Pete and Myka interview townsfolk and witness some further bizarre behavior. While consulting with Artie they conclude that the artifact must somehow affect the brain causing a chemical imbalance to whoever has recently touched it or been in contact with it. Pete follows some clues that lead him to an AA meeting and a psychiatrist who is the therapist for some of those affected, he finds a newly acquired pocket watch the therapist bought (he collects fine watches) that once belonged to a famous mentalist. Pete thinking he has made the score starts acting like the king of Warehouse 13 agents but since Myka had been affected by the artifact and was never with the therapist they are back to square one.

Meanwhile back at the Warehouse continuing power outages and electrical glitches that tell Artie the hacker is trying to figure out the power grid of the Warehouse. Leena asks him if he has had anymore success on tracking the hacker, but he tells her it is a pest he will ignore hoping it will just give up and go away.

Pete and Myka mentally retrace their steps trying to figure out what she came in contact with that he didn't, where had she been that he hadn't? As they are putting the pieces together they notice some of the town people including some of the artifact victims entering the town church. That is it Myka had interviewed the priest Father Braid (Phillip Craig) trying to figure out what had set off Sister Grace Ellen (Jennifer Vey) into making her think she could fly. They ask Father Braid if he had acquired anything new recently and find out he had received a chair that had once belonged to a famous ancestor of his James Braid a physician and surgeon who is known as the "Father of Modern Hypnotism". The springs of the chair act as a tuning fork when a descendant of Braid speaks near it, causing anyone who is sitting in the chair to release and act upon their subconscious desires.

Mack the Sheriff causes a commotion in the church sanctuary gun in hand wearing a bomb vest, ranting and raving. Myka confronts him to try to calm him down while in the priest's office Pete douses the chair with neutralizing goo. The goo doesn't work so Pete has to smash the chair with a fire ax. He runs out to check on Myka who is grappling with Mack who is still a bit psycho, he had set off her man issues with some sexist comment. The bombs timer on the vest is ticking away and in typical action drama show fashion gets almost down to zero. They manage to get the vest off of Mack and Pete runs out of the church tossing the vest with few microseconds left.

Back at the bread and breakfast, Pete and Myka report back to Artie filling him in on the artifact snag and giving him some bad news about his car. It seems Pete needed a small enclosed area to toss the bomb and well... It turns out to be just a psyche-out "gottcha" for misleading them about which one is in charge.

Later at the Warehouse the power fluctuations that Artie had been trying to ignore return, he goes to the electrical circuit power grid to fix things. He replaces a fuse, powers down then powers back up and the warning lights begin to flash spelling out "Knock, Knock" a few times. Artie realizes that the hacker has gotten completely into the system.

Series Regulars:
Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock)
Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly)
Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubenik)
Leena (Genelle Williams)

Guest Cast:
Sheriff MacKenna (Cornell Womack)
Ross (Ivan Sergei)
Luis (Pedro Miguel Arce)
Ellis (David Collins)
Father Braid (Phillip Craig)
Meg (Deborah Grover)
Dave (Bill Lake)
Tommy (Blake Pouliot)
Sister Grace Ellen (Jennifer Vey) Uncredited

I give this episode 3 Warehouse artifacts ***

Myka Monday: First And Last Looks

First and last looks at Myka

Since last Monday was the final new episode of Warehouse 13 there are now a very finite number of images of Myka to show. This does not mean that it is the end of Myka Monday. Since I still have Warehouse 13 episodes to review for my blog on Wednesdays I will still have Myka Monday. Even if I skip a week for a review I will still try to post a Myka Monday. So I thought for this week I would show the first appearance of Myka and the last Appearance.

Myka in the opening scene of "Pilot" Episode 1 of Season 1.

Myka smiling just before she completely fades out in the Final Episode of the Series.

"Endless" Season 5 Episode 6.

Yeah I finally got my copy of Season 5. Ordered it from Amazon and got it on Saturday. Tried to find it at Target on Wednesday but they didn't have it that is why I ordered it online.

Warehouse 13 Wednesday: Endless

EPISODE 5.6 "Endless"

Original Air Date: 19 May 2014

Mrs. Frederic: "Warehouse 13 is reaching the end of it's tenure"

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

First a technical thingy. For these "fresh" episodes I usually like to use screen-captures from one of the online sites so I can pick some unique pictures. Unfortunately while preparing this review there weren't any around or at least no full ones to be found. One of the sources I had used for the last few (otvseries.com) had a "Bones" episode in the link for this episode, maybe I was just trying too soon. I'm only talking the freebies not the Amazons where you have to pay just to see the dang thing, when it is on a ton of other places for free. So some images I wanted to use I couldn't find readily. The ones I am using are either part of some of the online previews and promos or stills from hot off the press reviews.

This final episode was a bitter/sweet pill to swallow as many series finales are. Part of the bitterness was that damn Pete/Myka shipping they just HAD to canonize that crap. I am not against having characters fall for each other but not main characters that have already established the fact that it is one of those tension friendships that started with one person "lusting" (for lack of a better word) after the other and the other not reciprocating at all. From day one it was obvious that Pete was attracted to Myka but she WAS NOT attracted to him. That is how things should have stayed. I know people can change over time but it is best not to change characters. The only people who enjoyed this matching up were the fangirls who have been requesting it since day one, most of the other fans have been saying NO FRACKING WAY! When she kissed him to show she "loved" him ooooohhh I got real pissed at the writers and producers for that. OK end of this portion of my shipping rant.

Other fans may not like the series finale because of the format of it's storytelling. One poster on the IMDb.com boards called it a "clip episode", meaning it was a lazy writers episode made up from clips of previous episodes. Except the "clips" were new footage as someone else pointed out. I liked the episode and the format even though I normally don't like that lazy style. It does make for a good format to use for a series wrap-up though.

We start things off by going Back to the Future to 1889 London during the reign of Warehouse 12. A street tart is screaming and being chased by a shadowy figure one Jack The Ripper. He corners her but she is not completely what she appears to be and not as helpless.  She reveals herself to be Warehouse Agent H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray) by turning Harriet Tubman's Thimble, she shoots Jack with a Tesla gun and takes his lantern which is another artifact. A proper Englishman comes from around a corner and congratulates H.G. on her work for the Warehouse. I didn't catch all the detail but he mentions the previous 11 Warehouses were not in England and they make a note that the Warehouse will "never" leave England. The scene fades as a video image being watched by the Warehouse 13 team seated around a large round stone table that looks like something that should come from the Stargate.

Mrs. Frederic explains that the table is the inspiration for King Arthur's Round Table and is a sort of time capsule that records the defining moment of a warehouse agent. As part of the ritual of the warehouse moving the current warehouse agents "record" their defining moment into the table's database. It is the table that decides what part of a warehouse agent's past is their "defining moment". That moment in their service to the warehouse that best describes them as an individual.

Mrs Frederic suggests that each of the members contribute. First up is Claudia whose moment is a very silly huge tap-dancing musical number that is brought on by Pete pushing a button on an artifact (of course) which is the Marquee of the original performance of 42nd Street which causes an army of dancing girls to force the victim to tap-dance until they die. The solution to stopping the Broadway disaster is the combination of alcohol from Busby Berkely's Flask poured onto the tin pan from Tin Pan Alley. The alcohol is attracted to anything showbiz/theater related and the pan when flung seeks out anything showbiz/theater related. Claudia has to do a showstopping tap-dance to distract the showgirl army so the alcohol soaked tin pan can do it's damage to the Marquee lights.

Pete not wanting the warehouse to move or their team to be broken up and retired doesn't want to have anything to do with the time capsule table. When it comes time for Myka's turn it reveals that she has true feelings for Pete (shipping UGH) after her suburban Ninja cat buglers adventure with Pete. I think this is where the character Maddie (Jennifer Gibson) comes in, not sure as I didn't catch much of the character names from this bit. The artifact of the adventure was a five-tailed fox statue that turns whoever touches the statue into a Ninja.

For Artie a time-travel adventure is featured from a memory that Artie chooses and Mrs Frederic warns that it could backfire, but he wants to relive/record it anyway. So sometime in the 80s or 90s Artie takes a newbie Agent Scott (Samm Levine) for a first assignment on a case Artie has been trying to solve for sometime. The catch is he only has a half-hour to try to find an artifact that is keeping a night club from New Years Eve 1941 in a time loop. Once a year the night club appears at 11:30 PM and Artie has a half hour to figure out what the artifact is to snag it. He is close to solving the case but isn't quite there yet he figures a set of new eyes would help and it does. The artifact is Thomas Wedgewood's Champagne Glass which has the power to keep a moment frozen in time. A newly wedded war bride has used it to keep her husband fresh and away from the war America has just entered. She hasn't yet told him that she is "in a family way".

Artie's moment ends with Scott calling Artie "Dad". This revelation gets Claudia a bit mad at Artie for keeping his son a secret and she storms off. At some point in the episode it is also revealed that at this time Claudia does not want to be the Warehouse caretaker even though she has often said how excited she is and can't wait to become the caretaker.

Meanwhile Steve doesn't quite feel like taking his turn because he has never really felt like he fits in and has some secret one-on-one time with Mrs. Frederic as she shows him some of her past, which is kept secret from the audience as we are shown side scenes of Pete wanting to find a way to keep the warehouse from moving and Artie getting mad at the warehouse for just using everybody who ends up getting caught up in it.

When it does come time for Steve's moment to share we are treated to a tribute to the movie Fantastic Voyage Warehouse 13 style. Apparently Artie has gotten some kind of artifact trapped inside of his heart that is going to kill him, by using some sort of miniaturization device of H.G.'s Claudia and Steve are shrunk down and ala the movie must navigate via submarine through Artie's body. It is while Steve is in the center of Artie's heart that he feels the awesomeness of it and has found something he is a part of or some such nonsense.

After the stupid canonizing of Myka giving in to the Pete Myka shipping and confronting Pete about HER feelings for HIM Pete is ready to contribute to the time capsule. His moment is the longest of all of them and doesn't have any one specific event. For him it is all just everything about the entire warehouse job and the family unit of the warehouse staff that becomes his moment. I think part of this is the often forgotten alcoholic past of his. I think this "everything is so wonderful" moment comes from that and is the warehouse's way of telling Pete he is needed. I think this happy moment confuses people a little in thinking that maybe Pete is going to be caretaker since Claudia doesn't want the job. That is just fan confusion.

There was a wonderful moment with Mrs. Frederic and Leena where Leena tells Mrs. Frederic that she knows she is destined to die IN the warehouse. Mrs Frederic says that she will do what she can to stop it but Leena tells her that is is something that must be and she can't stop it.

Series Regulars:
Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock)
Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly)
Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubenik)
Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti)
Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore)
Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder)

Helena "H.G." Wells (Jaime Murray)
Leena (Genelle Williams)

Guest Cast:
Scott (Samm Levine)
Maddie (Jennifer Gibson)
Jack (Jack Kenny) Series Producer (uncredited cameo as actor)

I mentioned other places that I love/hate this episode. For the most part I love it and about 90% of what is in it, the 5% or so of the Pete and Myka relationship crap I couldn't stand and was cursing too much during their "romantic" kiss. I am not alone in the thought that they forced the issue here. One person said that it was because of the shortened season that it seemed forced and that had they had a full season or more to tell things properly it wouldn't have been so forced and could live out naturally. Well that is a nice theory but for this series and these characters I think it was the WRONG WAY to go. A while back with another series I love Doctor Who they messed with some relationships and revealed that a character I loved was the daughter of two of the other more regular characters. That was another decision I thought was WRONG but I have since accepted that. I suppose sometime later I will accept this also, but I still won't LIKE it.

We the audience are treated to a glimpse of the future to "several decades later". To see Claudia is now the Warehouse caretaker with a different crew and that Warehouse 13 is still in the same place and hasn't moved yet. Series Producer Jack Kenny makes an acting cameo here. I wasn't quite sure of the significance until I saw some discussions online yesterday (Tuesday 20 May), I was thinking maybe the other two characters were also producers or writers even though I think I've seen the actress before.

I give this episode 4 Warehouse artifacts ****