Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year: Good Bye 2013 Hello 2014


Yeah, yeah, yeah I've been using this same old picture every new years for the last hundred years even though technically it isn't from a New Years Party. It was a costume party I think during springtime circa 1995 or '96.

I am also posting this entry early evening on the thirty-first of December twenty-thirteen. I am doing it so some people will at least see it before the New Year begins. My first post of 2014 will be later on the First of January. It will be my annual "State O' The Blog" type post. I was going to post that one exactly at midnight, but I realized I hadn't attached my unofficial-official "Party" Pic (The Klingon thing up top)

This post is a sneaky way to up my December posting by one post, and really mess up my total for the year. Got to edit my "SOTB" post and the posting numbers.

Anyway Happy New Year Folks.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 51

"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."

LEARN CHINESE: Bus (gong) (gong) (qi) (che)

Lucky Numbers: 18, 19, 40, 7, 15, 27

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

Friday, December 13, 2013

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 50

"You are sociable and entertaining."

Lottery Numbers 6 9 5
Lotto Six #'s 20 34 37 36 11 26

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

Monday, November 18, 2013

Myka Monday: Myka Look Into My Eyes

Don't be scared Myka look into my eyes.
Image from episode 1.12 "MacPherson"

Monday, November 11, 2013

Myka Monday: What Are You Thinking Myka?

Hey Myka What are you thinking?
Image from Episode 1.12 "MacPherson"

Monday, November 04, 2013

Myka Monday: Myka Being Nerdy

Myka doing that sexy nerd in glasses thing.
Image from Episode 1.12 "MacPherson"

Monday, October 28, 2013

Myka Monday: Myka Found Something

Looks like Myka has found something.
Image from Episode 1.7 "Implosion".

Monday, October 21, 2013

Myka Monday: Look This Way Myka

Myka is making eyes at me and I love it.
Image from Episode 1.7 "Implosion".

Friday, October 18, 2013

Cable Television Rant and On-Demand

I just want to put in my .2¢ worth about Cable TV and in particular the "On-Demand" feature. I'm not talking about using Tivo or recording/viewing with a DVR. Nor am I talking about any Pay-Per-View stuff. Just the basic cable services and the On-Demand. I'm tempted to make this rant just a list of my complaints about the whole thing. So:
  •  First you are paying a heck of a lot of money, for the privilege of getting specialized programing from satellite TV stations/Networks. You even have to pay for the regular broadcast stations that were at one time FREE, but now with everything being broadcast digitally and mostly in High-Definition or from satellites anyway there is no such thing FREE broadcast TV anymore.
  • Even though there are hundreds or thousands of movies and television shows available with the On-Demand feature, there isn't much in the way of "on demand". Sure you can view them anytime you want (but within a 24 hour period before you have to look for that program again if you didn't watch it within that small window of time), HOWEVER, the selection isn't always great, and many programs are only available for a couple of months before they are removed from the listings. Then you have to wait who knows how many months before they bring them back. Some programs never make it to the On-Demand lists sometimes even very popular shows. Sometimes shows that used to be available On-Demand are no longer available. I'm talking shows that are still currently running not shows that were cancelled by their network. There does seem to be a limited amount of movies available for selection.
  • Many of the networks now are disabling some of the playback features in order to force you to watch the commercials, you are already paying for the programing and now they are forcing the commercials on you. More and more of these networks have the fast-forward feature disabled. It is very annoying and one of the things that annoys me the most about cable. Plus most of the time the programing is just a straight copy of whatever was originally broadcast commercials and all including those "coming up next" promos. I could get the same thing with my old VHS recorder, but at least with that I can fast forward through the promos and commercials. It used to be the On-Demand programing was just the program itself with no commercials in between. If that isn't bad enough sometimes the commercials they do have are from just one or two sponsors and every break they show the same two commercials (like Hulu and some of those TV online services do every FIVE minutes) which since they disabled the fast-forward you have to sit through again, at least the mute button usually works.
  • Oh and sometimes the playback for movies on demand and some of the broadcast shows for some reason block the closed captioning. So you have to rewind sometimes to catch dialogue you might not have heard or heard weird.
OK I think that is all for now. Just wanted to get some of that out.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Myka Monday: Myka's Mad At Me

Uh-OH Myka is Mad at me for missing last Monday.
Image from Episode 1.8 "Duped"

Friday, October 11, 2013

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 49

Been a while since I have done one of these:

"Find release from your cares. Have a good time."

Daily Numbers: 9 5 6
Lotto Six #'s: 3 38 33 22 42 25
 
*Fortunes and Lottery Numbers just posted for entertainment purposes only.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Myka Monday: Myka Reading Up On Me

Myka doing her homework. On Me?
Image from Episode 1.4 "Claudia"


Sunday, September 29, 2013

NCIS: New Orleans?

I recently saw an article that said CBS had green lighted a new JAG/NCIS spin-off series. This time instead of a roving team that the failed NCIS: Red was, this "series" will be centered around an NCIS team based in New Orleans. That immediately made me think of the Mel Odom "NCIS" book series which is UNRELATED to the shows. The books center around an NCIS team based in North Carolina (at Camp Lejeune) though, so my initial connection was way off. I was South but not the right South. The team in the books is mostly military people (Marines and Ex-Marines) so it is slightly different than a "typical" NCIS team which is usually all civilian or mostly civilian.

NCIS book series by Mel Odom
This new spin-off though is supposed to have it's "backdoor" pilot episode(s) on the Mother well oldest Sister series NCIS and if successful become the latest in the franchise. Filming will be in February with the episodes airing in the spring. I guess they are casting right now or will start soon. (Time to brush up dust off the Theatre Resume). The new series and team will be based in New Orleans that is about all that I know right now. Don't know what type of team. The DC team is mostly a regular response police type team. The LA team is an undercover detective team as was the roving Red team. Don't know what the new New Orleans team will be. The team in the unrelated books was an international response team similar to the DC team but also seemed to have some undercover aspects.

I don't know, I'm a huge NCIS fan, but with the main DC team show, and the Los Angeles show I don't think a third show is really needed. I thought that with the NCIS: Red series. It was a fun idea but I don't think it was the time. Is it time now? I don't know but I still don't really think so. NCIS is still strong as it goes into its 11th season that is one season more than the true Mother of the franchise JAG which went 10 seasons. Plus NCIS: Los Angeles is still going almost as strong with season 5.
Speaking of Mothers and NCIS - The super beautiful Daniela Ruah who plays Kensi Blye on NCIS: LA is expecting her first child, a baby boy, with her fiancé David Paul Olsen. Oh Boy the connection gets a bit creepier. David Olsen is the older brother of Daniela's co-star Eric Christian Olsen who plays Marty Deeks, plus David is the stunt double for lil' bro Eric. No wonder Kensi is a little freaked by Deeks. I didn't know all that connection, so um yeah creepy.

Related links:
NCIS Spinoff Set in New Orleans in the Works at CBS, Mark Harmon to Executive Produce- E Online
NCIS Planning New Orleans-Based Spinoff, Exec-Produced by Mark Harmon- TV Line
'NCIS' looks at potential spinoff set in New Orleans- USA Today
CBS Devloping New Orleans-Set 'NCIS' Spinoff- Variety
CBS Greenlights Backdoor Pilot for 'NCIS' New Orleans Spinoff- The Wrap

Monday, September 23, 2013

Myka Monday: What Is Myka Thinking?

Yes Myka I think you are on to something.
Image from Episode 1.3 "Magnatism"

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Rewind On Syfy

A few weeks back (now closer to a month) I stumbled upon a one-shot time travel sci-fi show. There was very little promo for it I only just found out about it because I was watching G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra on Sci-Fi Channel, and they had a few very brief "up next" promos. Apparently this practice of little or no pre-promotion is called "Burn Off" (see related links at end of this post) a practice that channel does that really really sucks. The quick promos I did see interested me because it looked like the plot was exclusively a version of Seven Days.

Rewind the "pilot" movie (possible regular series?) on Syfy. Pretty good, it was OK, not great but OK much of it has been done time and time again (pardon the semi-intentional pun). Initially the plot is like Seven Days a military (or ex-military) misfit is recruited for a secret Military funded time-travel program to help correct a horrible event (in this case New York gets nuked). The mix of Military and Non-Military is sort of like Quantum Leap and Stargate, as is the time travel devise/wormhole a "time-stream" where the "destinations" are random, or maybe it more like The Time Tunnel? Oh and the amount of time the "gate" or wormhole is open for varies and can only be estimated.
The cast included: Jeff Fahey as the "Mr. Fix-It" engineer character who developed some of the technology/equipment the team uses. The team of travelers includes Shane McRea as the main "misfit" who is recruited to fill out the team, Jennifer Ferrin the Doctor/Scientist in charge of the technical team and one of the driving forces of the project and Robbie Jones as an associate of McRea's character and one of the military members assigned to the project. One of the supporting characters was a historian/researcher who seemed to specialize in fashion history played by Keisha Castle-Hughes she was my favorite character.

I hope that sometime they release this onto DVD even though it was a failed series pilot episode.

Related links:
Lost vet, David Cronenberg join Syfy's time travel series Rewind - Blastr
Syfy's Rewind Pilot: We Saw It, Now What's Next?- KSiteTV
Syfy Drops Time-Travel Show Rewind - Sci-Fi Stream
Rewind - TV Rage (source of the screen shot images I used)

Thursday, September 19, 2013

NCIS: Ziva Replacement Bishop Cast

 With less than a week before the start of Season 11 for NCIS the producers have announced the casting of  Emily Wickersham as Bishop the potential permanent replacement for Ziva (Cote de Pablo). It has been previously stated that Cote will finish up Ziva's storyline in the first two episodes of Season 11. Before they introduce the character of Bishop, the potential permanent replacement for Ziva, a series of other characters will come and go. It reminds me of Murphy Brown and her line of personal secretaries.
Emily seems to be best known as appearing as the girlfriend of a character in The Sopranos, she was also in the 2011 movie I am Number Four . Bishop is scheduled to appear in three episodes starting in November. Wickersham has a three episode deal with the option to become a series regular.

Some fans are already moaning and groaning about Bishop being Ziva's Replacement before they even see her. Pushing the cart before the horse doesn't work folks, at least not in our world/universe.

Related articles:
'NCIS' Emily Wickersham Cast As Ziva's Successor, Bishop, In Season 11 - Huffington Post
NCIS Exclusive: Sopranos Alum Eyed as Ziva's Successor, Debut Set For November- Yahoo
'NCIS' Emily Wickersham cast in Season 11 as Cote de Pablo  replacement - Who is she?- Zap 2 It Blog

Monday, September 16, 2013

Myka Monday: Phoning It In

OK another real quickie.
Myka I'd love to chat with you right now but I really have to get one of these things posted.
"OK Lady I love ya bubye"
Image from Episode 1.1 "Pilot"

Monday, September 09, 2013

Myka Monday: Don't Give Me That Look

OK I was a bit lazy over the weekend and didn't have anything preset.
Myka don't give me that look.
Myka giving me the evil-eye for not preparing this late post earlier.
Image from Episode 4.13 "The Big Snag".


(actually posting at 1:00 PM is posting at 13:00 which fits in well with Warehouse 13)

Monday, September 02, 2013

Myka Monday: Myka Come On In

Myka come in take your coat off and stay awhile.
Image from Episode 1.4 "Claudia"

Monday, August 26, 2013

Myka Monday: For Pete's Sake

What's so hard about being a Woman?
Myka and Pete switch bodies in Episode 2.8 "Merge With Caution".

Thursday, August 22, 2013

YAY She's Back! For One Episode

Lookie who is going to return. Yep Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) is back in Vega$ Baby. The actress is going to appear in the big 300th episode of the Original CSI. Wow it's hard to believe that this show will soon be airing episode number Three Zero Zero. Marg left the show last season fortunately she left under good circumstances and they didn't kill her character off. Crime Drama TV shows have a tendency to kill off characters of actors who voluntarily leave a show before the end of its full run.

So far no real details have come out except to say that Catherine returns to help the CSI team solve a 14 year old cold case. So they close a case from before the series began in the fall of 2000.

Related Articles:
Marg Helgenberger to return for 'CSI' 300th episode - CBSNews
'CSI' 300th episode: Marg Helgenberger set to return - Entertainment Weekly
Helgenberger back for 300th 'CSI' episode - Chicago Sun-Times
Marg Helgenberger returns to 'CSI' for 300th episode - USA Today

Monday, August 19, 2013

Myka Monday: What Me Worry?

Don't worry Myka we still love you,
even if SyFy Channel doesn't.
Myka Worried from Episode 2.1 "Time Will Tell"

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Ziva's Replacement?

Well more details are being revealed about the upcoming 11th season for NCIS. As I sadly found out a few weeks ago Cote de Pablo who plays Ziva is leaving. She is scheduled to tie up her storyline in the first two episodes. It seems it wasn't about money, apparently she had been offered two significant raises to stay. Cote just wants to "move on" apparently.

It has just been announced that there will eventually be a replacement about half-way through the season around January. In the meantime between Ziva leaving and the arrival of her "replacement" there will be a few "fill-in" characters.

Ziva's permanent replacement will be a character named Bishop and is described as "bright, educated, athletic, attractive, fresh-faced, focused and somewhat socially awkward. She has a mysterious mixture of analytic brilliance, fierce determination and idealism. She’s traveled extensively, but only feels comfortable at home.” 

Oh Boy, they apparently are going to finalize the Tony (Michael Weatherly) + Ziva romance bit, and the "will they or won't they?" UGH I hope I hope I hope that they don't get them together. I am soooooooo glad that they decided not to Kill Ziva that she will move on to something else, I just hope that it isn't into Tony's arms.


Related Articles:
Cote De Pablo's Character Ziva Will Not Die On 'NCIS' - Huffington Post
'NCIS' Is Casting Ziva's Successor For Season 11: Bishop Will Join The Team After Cote De Pablo's Exit - Huffington Post

Monday, August 12, 2013

Myka Monday: OK So You're Stuck In A Novel

Yep the rent went up guys.
Myka and Pete from Episode 4.13 "The Big Snag"

Friday, August 09, 2013

Fryday Fourtoon: Numba 48

"The will of the people is the best law."

Daily Numbers 8 3 7
Lotto Six #'s 23 47 29 46 26 16

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

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Warehouse 13 Wednesday: Resonance

EPISODE 1.2 "Resonance"
Original Air Date: 14 July 2009
PETE: "Belski just got spanked.
So lets go strike while the butt is still hot."
Warning: This review may contain spoilers
OK so for this review I'm a little slow (as I am on most of my reviews dang) I'm not quite ahead in writing reviews as I had originally planned and I'm only 1 episode ahead in watching now. It is not as easy as it looks or sounds to do these reviews (and I'm probably the only one reading them). If I were to do this professionally I would have been fired long ago for doing what Douglas Adams did about deadlines by just listening to the whoosh sound they make passing by. ARGH! To paraphrase a common line from the show I need to view it, review it, and write it (then edit it and post it). 

This is the first regular episode of the series and the first one to show the opening title sequence, more on that sometime in a different post maybe.

After the standard "previously on Hill Street Blues" type recap, things start off with a bank robbery in Chicago, only it isn't a standard hold up. A van pulls up to the bank two people dressed in all black and wearing masks exit the van and enter the bank. One of them opens their coat and the view switches to the bank's CCT security system and interference blanks the screen.
Switch to deep inside the warehouse Pete is playing ping-pong vs. himself via Lewis Carrol's Looking Glass. A large mirror that allows the viewer to interact with their mirror image, in a later episode we will find out more about what the mirror is capable of. Meanwhile some electrical glitches show Artie that someone is trying to hack into the Warehouse's computer systems and they are good. Myka is outside the warehouse talking to her mom on her cell phone and almost pulls a Marsha Brady with the strange football artifact that circles the globe that was sort of introduced in the pilot. It may have some sort of satellite surveillance connection to help hide the warehouse, it is another artifact we will learn more about later in the series. Artie sends Pete and Myka to Chicago to investigate the bank robberies.
Pete and Myka get to Chicago and hit a little bit of a road block via the local FBI agent Bonnie Belski (Tricia Helfer Battlestar Galactica reboot). Seems agent Belski has done a background performance check on Pete and Myka's track record and thinks they are trouble. So she makes things difficult for them and takes everything they say with a grain of salt. The bank employees and customers have no recollection of the robbery.

The warehouse team learn that the robbers used an unreleased recording of a 1960s musician Eric Marsden (John Evans) to put people in a euphoric trance with the soothing song and then simply just ask for the money. This record is the main artifact of the episode. The recording's power is amplified and intensified with the right acoustic settings of the mason work of the bank buildings. The building acoustics were the reason why the banks were chosen.

Meanwhile Artie traces the hacker's trail to Washington DC and suspects Pete and Myka's old boss Daniel Dickenson of being the hacker as it is his computer the trace leads to. So Artie heads to DC to stop Dickenson. Artie gives Pete and Myka the address were Marsden is living and learn he is often in a semi-catatonic state, depressed and diagnosed with liver cancer with a life expectancy of only a year, the investigation leads to music company that holds the rights to Marsden's music who mentions the engineer who Marsden recorded with was last known to be a cab driver. Marsden's catalog being out of fashion with little to no demand conveniently attracts an anonymous buyer to make an offer to buy the entire catalog.

While in Dickenson's office Artie gets a Farnsworth call from Myka telling him about the acoustic nature of the banks that were robbed in an effort to figure out which bank(s) the robbers will hit next. Dickenson catches Artie "in the act" while he is doing something with the computer, I'm not sure exactly what Artie was doing with the computer (Erasing? Copying? Bugging?) but to hold Dickenson for a while he uses an artifact a "Dimensional Conversion Camera" that turns people into two dimensional cardboard cutouts until the camera is used on them again.
On the robber's next bank heist, thanks to Artie's research on the bank structures of the remaining banks that have not yet been robbed that fit the profile of the ones that were robbed Myka arrives on the scene as the robbers are exiting the bank. She gives chase and manages to catch the driver of the van who is Marsden's sound engineer Jed Fissel (Peter Graham). They take him into custody to the FBI offices, unfortunately Fissel's partners in crime spring him using the hypnotic recording system. Thanks to Pete's vibes and a heads up Myka is able to get partial protection from the effects by using ear plugs, but she only has time to get one in. She manages to slip her cellphone into the pockets of one of the crooks.

Artie restores Dickenson back to normal and discovers that he had been had by the hacker. Dickenson is not responsible for the hacking but his computer was used to make it appear he was, together they start a new attempt to find the real hacker.

To tie up loose ends and in an effort to minimize spoilers (or just open them all up) and shorten this review some, Pete and Myka locate her cell phone and discover the other robbers are Marsden's Nurse/Housekeeper/Partner? Jesslyn Henjik (Victoria Snow) and The Music Company's Receptionist/Marsden's Daughter Stephanie Goodison (Lindy Booth) are the anonymous buyer(s). Getting his music back helps Marsden to get his daughter back. Pete and Myka take the artifact recording and as Pete tells Myka the robberies are not their problem the recording is. Maybe Belski and The FBI will find the "robbers' maybe they won't that question is left in the air. I remember when I watched the episode the first time when it originally aired having mixed thoughts about letting the "robbers" go. The Warehouse team's concern is only in retrieving the artifacts, not all the police actions.

In trying to track the hacker further Artie experiences a shock that shows him some sort of mysterious vision/flashback.

This episode is the second of the series shown in sequence and Peta and Myka have clicked well as partners. I'm not really sure how much time has passed between the pilot episode and this one but it seems to have been enough for them to be comfortable relying on one another while on missions. It is interesting to note that in these early episodes Pete and Myka share one Farnswroth (apparently there are only three in existence the one they use, Artie's on one that Mrs. Frederic has) and one Tesla Gun an only prototype. There is a limited battery life for the power source of the Tesla so they have to use it cautiously.

I give this episode 3.5 Warehouse artifacts ***.5