Submitted by GuyGG on Sun, 01/18/2009 - 2:59am
- Sorry for the full two weeks of down time without a post. I'm happy to say that the project that has been eating much of my time for a number of months now is finally 100% complete, and I have started handing out copies of it to folks as particularly late Christmas gifts. If you are somebody who knows me in, you know, the real world, and you haven't gotten one yet, just remind me and I'll hopefully have a copy on my to give you. I'm gonna try to keep at least a couple copies with me wherever I go for a little while. So, without further ado, I'll get back to these posts and try to get some of the many other projects I've left hanging back into gear. There will be plenty of stuff I'll be catching up on in these posts over the next few days.
- RIP: Ricardo Montalban
- RIP: Patrick McGoohan
- So, did y'all love yesterday's Battlestar episode? It was the LONG awaited return of the series, and the first of the final 10 episodes of the series. I was amused that even with this first one, Sci-Fi is already giving them extra air time (3.5 minutes this time). I thought this was an utterly fantastic episode (one of the best of the series), and one of the darkest episodes of television ever aired. Listening to Ron Moore's podcast commentary for it, he reveals that the network was actually quite supportive of the episode. Frankly speaking, that's an amazing thing. If Sci-Fi really was completely behind this episode, they are truly comitted to this final run of the series, and letting them do whatever they think best for the story. This was a staggeringly grim episode of TV, which is the kind of thing a network would reflexively be against. So, thank you, Sci-Fi Channel. I must also single out composer Bear McCreary for praise, and not just for his subtle and great work in the episode. Over the past few years, Bear has been posting blog posts detailing his scoring of the episodes, and the posts have gotten more and more detailed over time. He'd already stated that he'd be doing some really detailed write-ups for these last 10 episodes, and he wasn't kidding. His post for this episode is incredibly detailed. In it we get some interesting details, such as the following: "Even though you’ll only catch a couple lines in the show, we actually recorded a complete performance of “All Along the Watchtower” for this episode, complete with all three verses, set in this trippy, ambient style. Perhaps it’ll end up on a soundtrack album one day? :)" And then there are statements that just warm my heart, like: "The low strings perform a driving bassline in multiple octaves that almost sounds a bit rock and roll, inspired shamelessly by the energetic string phrases in my favorite Jerry Goldsmith scores." (I'm a huge Jerry Goldsmith fan) Then there's his amusing closing tease: "PS: Somewhere in the score to this episode I’ve hidden a clue about the end of the series. Good hunting. :)" I sure hope Bear gets all this stuff into a book once Battlestar has finished up. And yes, I actually read the entirety of all his posts. Not that I follow all the technical music stuff, but it's always a great read anyway.
- Holy cow! Awesome casting news for the fantastic and hilarious series Chuck. First, Scott Bakula has been cast as Chuck's father. And if that isn't cool enough, none-other-than Chevy Chase is going to be doing a three episode arc.
- Hmmm, a Jericho feature film is in the works? I'll believe it when I see it, but I hope they can pull it off.
- For you fellow Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone fans, here's some sad news. As if having the shows cancelled wasn't bad enough, ABC has now decided to delay airing the last episodes of the shows until the SUMMER! With a delay like that, I'll be surprised if ABC even bothers airing them at all. Frankly, I'm hoping they see a DVD release by or before then. And as the article points out, the truly sad news is to see what the crap they've chosen in stead has gotten in comparative ratings. I weep for the human race when I look at TV ratings. What is WRONG with you average idiot TV viewers? Seriously, what the @#%* is wrong with you people?
- Speaking of canceled series, Prison Break has bitten the big one. I'm way behind on the show, having only seen up to the first half dozen season 2 episodes. I'll catch up with them on Blu-Ray at some point.
- The first four episodes of The Clone Wars animated series are headed to Blu-Ray (and DVD, of course). I must admit to liking the series much more than I thought I would, and look forward to checking out the BD release.
- So the Watchmen legal fight is over. Good to hear.
- The excellent Gina Trapani bids farewell to Lifehacker.com. I'll miss having her many great posts to the site, but will continue to read and enjoy the great site.
- I suppose that'll do for now. I've got tons more stuff to post, so I'll try and pace myself. Look for my list of 2008 top movie picks in all the usual categories to be posted by next weekend. I've still got a few 2008 movies to catch before I finalize the lists and get them compiled and posted. I caught Slumdog Millionaire a second time tonight. Great film.
