Kimputer's Weblog

Another crime show on the CBS line-up, and after only 2 show, you kinda have the whole concept figured out. Every episode revolves around an old unsolved case, circa 20 years or so. Then comes in a witness or a victim, trying to push the case. And so the investigation begins. One small clue is enough to get the whole gang started, all witnesses are miraculously still in town and easy to find. They also prove to have excellent crystal clear memories. All have some kinda intricate detail they didn’t mention 20 years earlier, and conveniently decide to spill it after all this time. Crosscut a few young and a few old actors to get the whole feeling right, and put on some happy eighties rock tunes (even though the cases are mostly about murders) on, and all you have is a show with no promise.

Starting the album with White Flag was a smart choice, as it’s the only positive thing to say. While the Dido signature (slow high fades to slow low fade) drips from most songs, there are even a few unexpected, yet unexciting turns. An uptempo dance beat song called Stoned, a folklore inspired Don’t Leave Home, keeps you interested, but only for a few minutes. In the end, this whole experience will be forgotten in just a few days.

This time, it’s Smallville’s Lana Lang. It’s not that it took me more than 2 years to find out, it’s that I just found out she’s half Dutch, half Chinese. Could there be a more perfect match for me ? *cough* *cough*
Anywayz, take a look at Kristin Kreuk here (English pronounciation sounds a bit like “cruck”). More pictures here.

Ending last season with quite a cliff-hanger, it needed 2 episodes to resolve it all to a more normal state. While most characters are more elevated to the extreme side, the subtlety, which has given this drama series its flair, is still there. With the drama so overpowering, one can easily overlook the details that are not thoroughly worked out, and nitpickers will have a joy finding them again, but the lack hereof is not really distracting, as the writers keep you engaged.
While previous seasons lacked strong written episodes in the middle of the season, the ending and beginning made up a whole lot. Let’s hope this season keeps its high quality throughout the whole run.

Quentin Tarantino’s 4th movie, Kill Bill: Volume 1 (opens here 20 Nov), slaughtered the box office with a $22.2 million opener. Quite a feat for the usually mellow October month. Jack Black proves he can make a lot of people laugh with second week’s School of Rock, down 22% from last week, $15.4 million is good for nr. 2. Intolerable Cruelty seems not so intolerable at the number 3 spot with a $13 million opening.

Rate 1 (FR#^&% MESS !) to 5 (how very tidy !). Only rate the latest picture, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 901 out of 249 votes > Average is: 3.618

That brown thing on the left magically appeared in my freezer, and it’s supposedly some kinda water ice, but in hard plastic. Usually, it’s in soft foily plastic, making consuming the water much easier. WHO INVENTED THIS NEW KIND (I can kill him, even if I didn’t pay for it) ????

Also a CBS show, advertised as Emmy Award winner starrer, Joe Pantoliano (which he did for The Sopranos), plays a very busy FBI agent. Training rookies, keeping contacts with a few undercover agent, and all that in a day, without breaking a sweat. Not only a bit far fetched, but the perfect good cop routine is so cliche, it’s not interesting anymore, even if played by an Emmy Award winning actor.

Another new show from the CBS, which already have around 10 shows running on various law enforcement issues. A spin-off from JAG, if focuses on anything with Navy and Marine, and while that seems very limiting, the stories have so far been interesting (and with the same focus, JAG is already in its ninth season too), with enough variety so they won’t feel like last week’s episode. Mark Harmon as the lead character, is a no brainer, as he has always been a good TV actor. Other characters around him get some screen time too, although with a lot less depth. This is at least a point the show can improve on. Not overly serious, there’s room for humor to give the show a lighter feeling. There’s even a few mysterious traits left to be discovered for the Mark Harmon’s character. Propaganda or not, for now it’s fun.

A new show from ABC with an eighties feeling to it. Karen Cisco, a tough US Marshall, is a very standard heroine type of girl, and it shows. There not much new to learn about her. While the show is setup to be focused on her, and not too much to the case, which should be a good sign, I still have no feeling of what’s really going on, beyond all the cliches, that is. The babbling with her father, the small talk in the office, nothing adds up to a good show. All fingers point to a character driven show, but somehow, in the execution, something must’ve gone awry, coz in the end, it’s pretty boring.

Starting a new season with a two parter, the story is still strong, and the character, while familiar, are still interesting. While other shows keep the focus on the weekly cases, CSI still leaves enough room left for the characters, and that keeps it head and shoulders above even its own spin-off CSI:Miami. While it lacked exactly this during the third season, we can only hope that the production team of CSI and CSI:Miami (which needed the start up period) are seperated enough to work indepedently now.

A new series from UPN, focusing on a not so hero type nerd, who gets superhuman powers by accident in an NSA lab. Episodes are a mix of spy type mysteries and personal development, as the nerd must cope with his new powers, his previous failures with women and his new job as an NSA agent. The whole nerd-hero thing still works, as does the shaky experiences with women, but the future will show if that’s enough to keep a show running.

A new ABC series, focused on terrorism. A team of special agents, each with a specific task, hunts them down. The sensitivity on this issue makes the show a streamlined, cut to the chase type of show, with an over the top stern and serious look. Not only does catching a terrorist week in, week out, make it a bit unbelievable, this whole setup leaves no room for other aspects, such as humor, character development or anything else. The standard hero type is so empty, it’s not interesting at all. As a propagande machine it even tops series like JAG or NCIS. I would give this show a second chance, but hey, it probably makes the US citizens sleep better, so expect a few more season.

Wired News reports that already 3 Nokia phones have blown up. All victims suffering from burns. Last case is Vietnam, with 2 previous back here in Holland.
Don’t worry just yet though (coz I know just about 40% of you readers are using a Nokia), current investigations show in the previous 2 cases, counterfeit batteries werre used. Nokia assures us this will NOT happen with the original (much more expensive) batteries, as a safety mechanism prevent it from heating up after a short-circuit (from a drop to the ground, for instance) (assuming that the safety mechanism still works, that is {:) ).
So, just continue using it, and _when_ it blows up _with_ the original battery, THEN you can sue Nokia’s ass off. Howzdat ?

Right from the start you get into the flowing dialogue of Will and Martin, like nothing really changed since the first part. As a team they’re still strong, and it shows well on the screen. And so the action begins. And the funny dialogue. And the suspense. And the car chases. All the way through the full two and a half hours. Michael Bay, seemingly a standard action director, pulls off some nice inventive shots too. As an homage to the late Don Simpson it’s produced under the Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Productions banner, and Jerry made sure we got a LOT of bang for the normal ticket price.8.

Oh yeah, no surprise there. He got to be governor till at least 2006 (the rest of the term Davis was originally to be serving). Polls were showing nearly 40% in favor of Arnold before the vote, so it was as exciting as seeing some metal revealed in any random Terminator movie. I would have believed his political ambitions more so if only he didn’t utter his acceptance speech like he was acting.
So, what’s next ? Probably a book entitled “How to become a governor in just 2 months”.