GET FIREFOX

NEW SHOWS, NEW SEASONS, Part 2

Ohh-kay! Sorry for this late post. Recently rediscovered my old addiction to Japanese animé, which has made me neglect keeping up with the hot new American shows. I'm reserving the animé for another post, so here's my take on the three shows I previously mentioned, based on what I've watched so far.

Dexter - A hugely underrated show. Everyone I've given a copy of Season 1 to has enjoyed it immensely. Plus, it has one of the best intros I've ever seen. The writing of this second season is as solid as the first and is based on Jeff Lindsay's second Dexter book, Dearly Devoted Dexter, with each episode carefully thought out and flawlessly executed.

Bionic Woman - I only have a vague memory of the '80s Bionic Woman, along with The Six Million Dollar Man, but I'm pretty sure this new one isn't as campy as the original. Not my most favorite show right now (the story's too simple and drags now and again, and again), but what keeps me going at it is that it a) has Battlestar Galactica actors in it, and b) bionic women are hot. Of course.

Reaper - Is a cross between Clerks and Dogma, and it's no surprise, since Kevin Smith directed and produced the first ep. Though Reaper is made up of predictable stand-alone episodes (which I hate), its characters are interesting and genuinely funny, and once in a while it's nice to see a show like this that doesn't take itself too seriously.

FINGER FRIDAYS

Pancho Villanueva:

NEW SHOWS, NEW SEASONS, Part 1

After months of drought (thank God for brilliant Brit shows like The IT Crowd, Doctor Who, Jekyll and Peep Show, which more than filled the gap), American TV is at it again. New seasons and tons of new shows—and I've trimmed mine down to a handful of what seems best for me.

Heroes - Of course, Heroes! I do believe that comic book aficionados appreciate Heroes more than it being just a good show. While the Hiro-in-the-past storyline is predictable and slow, we reel at the memories of dozens of Marvel/DC time travel arcs we've read as kids. And it feels like such a tribute to comics, and not a Hollywood mockery. And even though they killed off George Takei, they've made it up by giving us Uhura. W00t! Downside: attempt at making Claire's tale into Smallville just plain sucks.

House - Finally, House is breaking off from it's formulaic streak. Accepting fifty or so applicants to fill in the slots left by Cameron, Chase and the black guy is brilliant (of course by now they've been trimmed down to only about a dozen). These new guys have lovable personalities, and I can imagine the show's writers working overtime figuring out how to cram all of them and spotlight each of them in each episode.

The Office - Now twice as long, but I somehow prefer the twenty-minute episode lengths of the past three seasons. Perhaps too much of Michael can be exhausting, or maybe you start to see the thinking pattern of each character after a while, making what was supposed to be a zany remark not so surprising and funny anymore. In contrast, Cel and I laughed so much more at the short eps of this season's The IT Crowd. Hope The Office gets better. Update: Episode 3 ("Launch Party") rocks!

In a few days: Dexter, Bionic Woman, Reaper.

FINGER FRIDAYS

Easy (Israfel Fagela):

GROW

I was able to play the original Grow flash game about two years back, and was surprised to find that there's a new one in the series (so perhaps the one I first played wasn't the original, but also just another release).



It's a really simple game. Here you have to pick an order of technological advancements, and if you're on the right track, some really cool things will happen in the game. And if you pick the right, exact order, you max out the potential for each type of technology and win the game.



Googling, I found out there's an alternate UFO ending. As if the regular one isn't crazy enough!

WOW SINGAPORE

"Okay, kids, wacky pose time!"



This circulated around the Net a few months back, with a developed photo from film ending up on an online auction site and even had bids reaching up to S$53 (the auction was canceled when the school called up the site, though). I'd tell you where I got the news but I'm embarrassed to say, hehe.

I'M A WII, I'M A PS3

Spoof of the popular "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads.