Tuesday 29 September 2009

FlashForward - Pilot


So, there was new show on TV that debuted this week. FlashForward seems to be the show that ABC is clearly designed to be the next Lost, and from the first episode it looks like it may well be. Big unexplained things happen, there is a large ensemble cast with secrets, mysterious figures are seemingly controlling things, unexplained things are explained with more questions. And since Lost is ending next spring, I am perfectly happy to have a new show ready to fill that void.

First of all, the premise. On one normal day, everyone on Earth blacks out. Everyone passes out. This is a bad thing; planes fall from the sky, cars crash, and jugglers drop whatever was being juggled. As people react to these events, they start to remember that while they blacked out they all saw visions. Visions that agree with other people's visions - people they have never met. They all see what they will be doing exactly six months down the line. The FBI sets up an inter-agency taskforce to find patterns and links between people's flashforwards, led by our main protagonist.

Of course, as soon as you start to get into predicting the future in a sci-fi show, you encounter all kinds of problems. If I saw myself in the future wearing a hat, I could just use my "free will" thing to just not wear a hat, surely? Are people who saw their future now unkillable? And all these people who saw sports results... are you telling me that all those sportsmen are just going to let those results come true? And does seeing the future make it the future? If I saw myself in the future writing a book, would not that spur me on to write a book that I would not have bothered starting otherwise? Then can I just tell my publisher, "don't worry, I saw it was a bestseller, no need to edit it." If you are going to open a big can of worms like time-travel, things are goin' to get very complicated very quickly.

Because of course, this is the big one. If I got a flash forwards into a generic point in six months time, I would most likely be doing somethin' of almost no importance. Sleeping, eating, or thinking about eating or slepping most likely. But once I have seen the future, that moment takes on a huge importance, and I would put up a banner and balloons and stuff to welcome past me's consciousness. Do you follow? Seeing the future changes the future. And seeing a specific moment in the furute definitely changes that moment.

Can.... open. Worms.... everywhere.

And, taking more lessons from Lost, as people come around there is a random unexplained animal just wandering about. Not a polar bear, or a horse, but a kangaroo. I do hope this kanagroo was of importance.


That ensemble cast seems to be acceptable. So far they just seemed to be a bunch of random stereotypes, but then, hey, so did Lost's, and look how god damned awesome they turned out. It seems far too early to start talking about these guys yet tho'. Except for Demetri, who was clearly lying about something big. Maybe he is in on the plot and wasn’t unconscious with everyone else. That explains why when Mark woke up, Demetri had gone from the car. And who was that dude at the baseball game?

So, what I guess I am trying to say is that was a pretty damn awesome start to a show, that gave me almost no clue as to whether it will end up as a good show or not. Awesome!

Monday 28 September 2009

My Day

Good thing about this week is I get to wake up slowly. I had time to watch an episode of House with my cheerios, and there was no huge hurry to have my shower. Then I tidied up the publicity posters, an' stuff, for History Society; we want a big push to get freshers in for the Prague Trip in January. After this I realised I was hungry again, and that it was lunchtime. I went downstairs and was goin' to do myself some sausages, when I realised I don't know how to work our gas oven!

See, tho' I have been here in my new house for a week now, I have not had to cook any meals in my own gas oven. Friends' house has an oven, and I would more often cook and eat over there. They also have a gas oven, but they have a button that clicks an' makes a spark (I assume) which lights the gas. Our gas rings are lit by one of those lighters with a long neck, an' I figured the oven was lit in the same way, by putting the lighter-flame to the gas at the back... but then I decided I couldn't be bothered with sausages and so had a sandwich instead.

I had bought an unsliced half-loaf, and had some of that. I didn't find the need to slice my own bread quite so barbaric as expected. Anyhow, once bread had met ham, cheese and pickle, that was that. I also took a swig from some orange juice (no bits means easier washing up) and it was then back to my laptop to take the His Soc posters up to campus for printing.

Thursday 24 September 2009

I ♥ The Poseidon remake

"Now we're not sure exactly what happened here, but our best guess is that we were struck by what is known as a rogue wave. They are rare, they are unpredictable, and they are lethal."


"Thank you, gorgeous!"
"My name.... is Valentine."
"I love that name."


"Conor! How did you get in there?"
"I don't know but the water's really high!"


"You were mayor? You know, I forgot. Big hero. Rescued all those women and children from the fires. Got elected. Man of the people. But you're not the boss anymore. Hm? You quit. Couldn't hack it. If I recall correctly, you couldn't even hang onto your wife. Come on."


[walks to poker table] "We're going downstairs now."
"Ok, have fun... Hey Jen..."
[looks down at her cleavage] "The twins? Dad..."
"Just one more button."

Monday 21 September 2009

Now Back in Exeter

So, I am now back in Exeter.

Thursday 10 September 2009

Holiday Books

So, anyhow, while on Holiday in Italy I read a bunch o’ books.

World War Z

My God, this is brilliant. This is the fictitious account of the Zombie Uprising, told as an oral history. Recorded as a series of interviews from after the Zombie War, we hear first hand stories of how real people dealt with what was occurring, and damn is it spectacular. Because we hear from so many different people, there is a real feeling of how this apocalypse affected individuals, and how societies responded. It is really amazing.

Artemis Fowl VI

Artemis Fowl was one of my favourite books growing up. The basic premise is that a criminal mastermind, who also happens to be a teenager, discovers the existence of fairies, and captures one to hold her to ransom. And it was so very awesome! And so, over the years that one book has become a series of books, the sixth of which came out recently. And so I picked it up for holiday reading. Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox is its full name, the plot of which involves Artemis travelling back in time a few years to rescue the last of a, now extinct, animal. In doing so he competes against a past version of himself, and has a fast paced, humourous adventure along the way. This is great fun. The Artemis Fowl books have always been brilliant to read, tho’ they do suffer sometimes, now for and older me, from being children’s books. That can be forgiven, but I am just not sure that the idea of a time plot was such a great way to go. The way it isolated our heroes, Artemis and Captain Short, meant that the majority of the brilliantly wonderful characters in the series were excluded; seriously, why would they make an Artemis Fowl book with almost no time given for Foaly or Butler!? I was also kinda annoyed that the two big revelations from the last book where swept aside as Artemis travels to the past, and then bringing a villain back from a past book was decidedly underwhelming. Still, it is new Artemis Fowl, and I loved every page of it.

Scott Pilgrim III

Scott Pilgrim is an incredible comic book series, the third of which is still brilliant. In Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness, Scott must continue his mission to defeat the seven evil ex-boyfriends of his new girlfriend Ramona, in order to keep dating her. Whilst not as good as the first book in the series, the characters continue to develop, leading to a thrilling conclusion, which made me exited to read the next instalment. Oh, and it is still hilarious.

Mort

There is something wonderful about Terry Pratchet, and the way he has created the Discworld. In that world, one of the most interesting characters is DEATH, who turns up for wonderful scenes in moments of extreme peril. So giving an entire book over to DEATH seems like a wonderful idea. Except that developing DEATH does not work quite as well as it should. He may be scene-stealingly brilliant, but as a character he is hard to work with. The story of his apprentice, Mort, while it starts strongly, becomes sadly forgettable by the end. And yet I would still say that the first half of the book is one of Pratchet’s best, just for how incredibly it is written.

Azincourt

OK, so I am only about half way through, but this seems really to be a collection of four short stories by Bernard Cornwell along the same campaign, so it was a decent place to stop for a while. Introducing us to Nick Hook, a man who ends up as a mercenary archer, it has been good so far, really immersive into the world, and giving me a far greater respect for archery, and a great thanks that I live in the modern age, and don’t have to worry about my home town being under siege.