I have just submitted five stories to Whedonopolis, including a one-on-one talk with Ed Brubaker, and press conferences with Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Josh Freidman and Shirley Manson. Those stories, and pictures, are on my website. It's still under construction. I still have to add two more stories, but that should be done by Wednesday
This year's edition was much better for one reason: they used the Esplanade ballroom again as its Hall H. Putting the big events in the basement was a terrible idea, and using the Esplanade should be a given every year. I still say that one day, they will have to use the entire convention area for the event. It will get that big.
My only disappointment, as I had said before, was the guys at Watchmen who didn't want press to see the midnight screening. Hey, I just wanted to see how it would look. I still haven't read the whole thing. In any case, I will wait patiently for Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, the Comedian and the rest to play on my local Imax theater. Thing is, I had heard it may not happen until the summer. Well, there's still the Imax at the CityWalk. Maybe I can go there.
That is in my future because I got tickets to the two events I wanted to see at the Paley Festival in April. I got tickets to Dollhouse, which I hope will still happen, on April 15th, and the Pushing Daisies screening on the 19th. So far,none of the panels have sold out except Swingtown, which closes the festival. However, the Pushing Daisies screening was sold out only because it's only slightly more expensive that going to the El Capitan and see 3-D Jonas Brothers. Or maybe, just maybe, people would be willing to pay 15 bucks to see something they are afraid will never air on TV. Bryan Fuller will be there to introduce the episodes, but maybe we can hope some cast members may drop by, then have a piece of pie to remember it by. Of course, this is bound to change very quickly, but at least I was this lucky.
Anyway, the website should have all the stories that I am blogging elsewhere. I am happy to get the Wondercon section updated after two years.
Showing posts with label Terminator. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terminator. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday, October 20, 2008
TV Time
World Series: Phillies in five games
After I got a little behind in my TV watching, I caught up on both Mad Men and Pushing Daisies. Both are taking very interesting paths as one is just getting started, while another is about to wrap things up.
First, Mad Men: who would have guessed a man fearing for his job would set off a series of events where his company, Sterling Cooper, now merges with another ad agency. That's what Duck did, exploiting Roger Sterling's future alimony and health problems to help himself. Meanwhile, the fall of Joan Holloway continues as we see her get date raped by her fiance, Dr. Greg Harris, and she can't fight back. What she does to endure it is heart-breaking, and yet she claims she'll marry him by Christmas. Peggy, meanwhile, pulls off a great presentation for Popsicle by borrowing a bit of religion, and gets rewarded wit her own office. I wonder if, after the merger, she keeps that position. As we will see, a lot of people at Sterling Cooper will be worried about their jobs...except for Duck.
What about Don? He has apparently tuned of and dropped out even before Timothy Leary. Tempted by a bunch of Bohemians into running away to Palm Springs, he decides to go to San Pedro to look up Anna Draper, the wife of them man whose identity he "stole". They get along now. In fact, he acts happier being Dick than he does being Don. Too bad that means forgetting about his family back home. Betty is doing the best she can, especially when she catches her daughter nearly smoking. It also means forgetting Sterling Cooper, which is nearly no more. It should be interesting where things will stand when we see the finale next week. Will Don come back? Will the staff be cut and/or reshuffled at Sterling Cooper? Will Peggy be damned by Father Tom Hanks Jr. because she won't admit she's a sinner and a single mom? Come to think of it, where is her kid? Will Joan get dumped by "Dr. Rape?" Better yet, will Betty dump Don? That is really going to change things. I mean, consider who she is, and what Don is throwing away in favor for the wife of a comic and a careless heiress.
Second: the Whedonistas are happy that Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles will get a full season, mainly because it's part of the re-launch of the Terminator movie franchise with Christian Bale. On the other hand, they are wondering if Dollhouse will premiere in January as the show before 24. Some are hoping it will happen, and TSCC will be shown on another night. Considering American Idol will practically dominate the week, as it always does, the options are limited...and no one wants to be shown on Fridays.
Finally...Pushing Daisies is as bright and cheery as it always is, but with a bit of the dark side, too. Chuck understands how Ned accidentally killed her dad with his Magic Touch, but he still feels bad about it. The cases have been out there, from fatal bee stings, death in a convent, and dead clowns in a circus. The main issue is Lily's big secret that Chuck is her daughter, not her niece, in an explanation that actually sounds like Soapdish. What's more surprising is that Chuck is told, and she's all right with this. Still, I am sure she's thinking about how she can pretend to be a zombie and have a nice long talk with "Aunt" Lily. Olive, of course, was told first last December, and had a real tough time trying not to reveal it. Lily "helped" her by sending her to a convent, and actually it did. She even got a new friend...named Pigby. I'm guessing both will move in with Chuck, or have.
If issues with family are going to be discussed further, they will involve Ned and Emerson more likely than Chuck. Emerson is hoping his daughter will find him through a "Li'l Gumshoe" pop-up book, while there is some suggestion Ned's dad may be alive. Does this mean dad's other family will run into Ned? There's a lot of abandonment issues that will be coming to the surface faster than daisies.
One more thing...I wrote this in TV Without Pity. I was noticing Apple's new TV ads are basically attack ads against Microsoft...
They've released the latest Apple vs. PC ads Sunday. For the first time, they're essentially negative ads against Windows. In one, PC has a buzzer so that people won't say the word "Vista" and get mad because it reminds them Vista's terrible. The other had PC with a pile of money used to advertise "I'm a PC" and a smaller amount to fix Vista. When Mac asks if the smaller pile is enough to fix Vista, PC decides to use all the money for advertising.
It's come to this: the new Apple ads don't promote their own features, but rather tell you Microsoft, Vista and Bill Gates are bad. It's almost as bad as the presidential campaign. The new Apple ads should end with "I'm Steve Jobs, and I approved this message."
Response from that I said has been mixed. I just think Apple should make ads that show how great they are, such as new notebooks that are less than a thousand dollars. Thirty seconds of "Microsoft sucks" doesn't equal "we're a better computer."
After I got a little behind in my TV watching, I caught up on both Mad Men and Pushing Daisies. Both are taking very interesting paths as one is just getting started, while another is about to wrap things up.
First, Mad Men: who would have guessed a man fearing for his job would set off a series of events where his company, Sterling Cooper, now merges with another ad agency. That's what Duck did, exploiting Roger Sterling's future alimony and health problems to help himself. Meanwhile, the fall of Joan Holloway continues as we see her get date raped by her fiance, Dr. Greg Harris, and she can't fight back. What she does to endure it is heart-breaking, and yet she claims she'll marry him by Christmas. Peggy, meanwhile, pulls off a great presentation for Popsicle by borrowing a bit of religion, and gets rewarded wit her own office. I wonder if, after the merger, she keeps that position. As we will see, a lot of people at Sterling Cooper will be worried about their jobs...except for Duck.
What about Don? He has apparently tuned of and dropped out even before Timothy Leary. Tempted by a bunch of Bohemians into running away to Palm Springs, he decides to go to San Pedro to look up Anna Draper, the wife of them man whose identity he "stole". They get along now. In fact, he acts happier being Dick than he does being Don. Too bad that means forgetting about his family back home. Betty is doing the best she can, especially when she catches her daughter nearly smoking. It also means forgetting Sterling Cooper, which is nearly no more. It should be interesting where things will stand when we see the finale next week. Will Don come back? Will the staff be cut and/or reshuffled at Sterling Cooper? Will Peggy be damned by Father Tom Hanks Jr. because she won't admit she's a sinner and a single mom? Come to think of it, where is her kid? Will Joan get dumped by "Dr. Rape?" Better yet, will Betty dump Don? That is really going to change things. I mean, consider who she is, and what Don is throwing away in favor for the wife of a comic and a careless heiress.
Second: the Whedonistas are happy that Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles will get a full season, mainly because it's part of the re-launch of the Terminator movie franchise with Christian Bale. On the other hand, they are wondering if Dollhouse will premiere in January as the show before 24. Some are hoping it will happen, and TSCC will be shown on another night. Considering American Idol will practically dominate the week, as it always does, the options are limited...and no one wants to be shown on Fridays.
Finally...Pushing Daisies is as bright and cheery as it always is, but with a bit of the dark side, too. Chuck understands how Ned accidentally killed her dad with his Magic Touch, but he still feels bad about it. The cases have been out there, from fatal bee stings, death in a convent, and dead clowns in a circus. The main issue is Lily's big secret that Chuck is her daughter, not her niece, in an explanation that actually sounds like Soapdish. What's more surprising is that Chuck is told, and she's all right with this. Still, I am sure she's thinking about how she can pretend to be a zombie and have a nice long talk with "Aunt" Lily. Olive, of course, was told first last December, and had a real tough time trying not to reveal it. Lily "helped" her by sending her to a convent, and actually it did. She even got a new friend...named Pigby. I'm guessing both will move in with Chuck, or have.
If issues with family are going to be discussed further, they will involve Ned and Emerson more likely than Chuck. Emerson is hoping his daughter will find him through a "Li'l Gumshoe" pop-up book, while there is some suggestion Ned's dad may be alive. Does this mean dad's other family will run into Ned? There's a lot of abandonment issues that will be coming to the surface faster than daisies.
One more thing...I wrote this in TV Without Pity. I was noticing Apple's new TV ads are basically attack ads against Microsoft...
They've released the latest Apple vs. PC ads Sunday. For the first time, they're essentially negative ads against Windows. In one, PC has a buzzer so that people won't say the word "Vista" and get mad because it reminds them Vista's terrible. The other had PC with a pile of money used to advertise "I'm a PC" and a smaller amount to fix Vista. When Mac asks if the smaller pile is enough to fix Vista, PC decides to use all the money for advertising.
It's come to this: the new Apple ads don't promote their own features, but rather tell you Microsoft, Vista and Bill Gates are bad. It's almost as bad as the presidential campaign. The new Apple ads should end with "I'm Steve Jobs, and I approved this message."
Response from that I said has been mixed. I just think Apple should make ads that show how great they are, such as new notebooks that are less than a thousand dollars. Thirty seconds of "Microsoft sucks" doesn't equal "we're a better computer."
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Everyone Dies For You
That's the last line from the latest episode of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, where Team Connor has to protect Martin Bedell, a student at a military school who's destined to help John fight the Terminators in the future. That line is said by Derek, who tells John that Martin is destined to rescue Future John in a suicide mission. After all, protecting John, especially when he grows up to be Christian Bale, is job one. Job two is getting more viewers away from Chuck.
The show is really picking up the pace as far as the battle against the Machines is concerned. John is coming into his own as a future warrior, especially this past week. He dared to change a T-888 model to save Martin in an "exercise" that was all too real.
Meanwhile, Sarah and Cameron had to protect a kid with the same name as Martin from the T-888, and also help him with a book report he has to finish. Never mind the crazy robot; he's worried about his teacher asking where his book report is. Sarah helped him by showing him The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a favorite of John's. It's no coincidence that Little Martin reading the climax of the book was juxtaposed with John's battle with the T-888.
The week before, Summer Glau had a chance to shine when Cameron suddenly lost her memory by looking at a mylar balloon. While she tries to remember, we learn something interesting about her....she is based on a human from the future named Alison Young. Not only that, apparently Alison was a friend of Future John, and maybe more. It was quite a trip seeing Alison being questioned by the Terminator that would replace her...in more ways than one. The whole episode looks at identity, and the stories we tell to "define" who we are. When Cameron finds her way into a halfway house, she is asked about her past by a counselor. She recalls a birthday party that would be her last before the Terminators took over. Of course, that's not Cameron's memory. It's from the girl she interrogated in the future, and now assumes later on. That's just one example. We'll get to an evil example later.
It does bring up something: remember the season opener, when John is about to put Cameron down because her chip was broken, and she said "I love you, John, and you love me." Now, if Cameron was able to join John in the future by pretending to be Alison, and he figured it out, what kind of relationship did they have after that? Did he love Cameron because she could be Alison, and does that chance now that she's been sent to the past to help 2008 John? How's that for a psychological paper?
Now, while Team Connor battles the Terminators they do know, they are still unaware of the T-1001, also known as scary businesswoman Catherine Weaver. She's been able to recruit Ellison in her plans, whatever that may be. We know, at least, that she wants to find another Terminator, even if it's a lesser model than herself. She also thinks she has Ellison fooled, especially by her story about how she lost her husband in a helicopter crash. That's part of her human illusion, which will make him do "the Devil's work". She even throws in a "daughter", possibly four years old. Any question about whether she's a real girl, not a T-1001.5, will be resolved in due course. There's been some speculation that the T-1000 Weaver is impersonating the real Catherine Weaver who died in the crash. Considering who Cameron is, and how she came up with her persona, that makes sense.
Anyway, she also tells Ellison to investigate the meltdown at the Serrano nuclear power plant, and he finds a lot of inconsistencies. He also learns the plant manager is asking questions, which could stop plans to have the plant automated with, naturally, done with something that will eventually be SkyNet. Weaver solves this problem by disguising herself as a sleazier version of herself, and killing the manager in a way that's a little less sleazy than how she killed another guy a few weeks earlier. However, Ellison also knows that Sarah was around when the power plant broke down. After all this time, shouldn't these two people meet? Maybe he'll finally admit she was right about evil robots and all that, and come up with a way to take care of Weaver. There is word that day is coming, and about time!
There is some concern about whether season two will last longer than 13 episodes. At the very least, we should get a showdown between Cameron and Weaver. Let's hope that Fox will keep this show going long enough to finish its story, and somehow connect it to the Terminator movies that are coming next year.
The show is really picking up the pace as far as the battle against the Machines is concerned. John is coming into his own as a future warrior, especially this past week. He dared to change a T-888 model to save Martin in an "exercise" that was all too real.
Meanwhile, Sarah and Cameron had to protect a kid with the same name as Martin from the T-888, and also help him with a book report he has to finish. Never mind the crazy robot; he's worried about his teacher asking where his book report is. Sarah helped him by showing him The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a favorite of John's. It's no coincidence that Little Martin reading the climax of the book was juxtaposed with John's battle with the T-888.
The week before, Summer Glau had a chance to shine when Cameron suddenly lost her memory by looking at a mylar balloon. While she tries to remember, we learn something interesting about her....she is based on a human from the future named Alison Young. Not only that, apparently Alison was a friend of Future John, and maybe more. It was quite a trip seeing Alison being questioned by the Terminator that would replace her...in more ways than one. The whole episode looks at identity, and the stories we tell to "define" who we are. When Cameron finds her way into a halfway house, she is asked about her past by a counselor. She recalls a birthday party that would be her last before the Terminators took over. Of course, that's not Cameron's memory. It's from the girl she interrogated in the future, and now assumes later on. That's just one example. We'll get to an evil example later.
It does bring up something: remember the season opener, when John is about to put Cameron down because her chip was broken, and she said "I love you, John, and you love me." Now, if Cameron was able to join John in the future by pretending to be Alison, and he figured it out, what kind of relationship did they have after that? Did he love Cameron because she could be Alison, and does that chance now that she's been sent to the past to help 2008 John? How's that for a psychological paper?
Now, while Team Connor battles the Terminators they do know, they are still unaware of the T-1001, also known as scary businesswoman Catherine Weaver. She's been able to recruit Ellison in her plans, whatever that may be. We know, at least, that she wants to find another Terminator, even if it's a lesser model than herself. She also thinks she has Ellison fooled, especially by her story about how she lost her husband in a helicopter crash. That's part of her human illusion, which will make him do "the Devil's work". She even throws in a "daughter", possibly four years old. Any question about whether she's a real girl, not a T-1001.5, will be resolved in due course. There's been some speculation that the T-1000 Weaver is impersonating the real Catherine Weaver who died in the crash. Considering who Cameron is, and how she came up with her persona, that makes sense.
Anyway, she also tells Ellison to investigate the meltdown at the Serrano nuclear power plant, and he finds a lot of inconsistencies. He also learns the plant manager is asking questions, which could stop plans to have the plant automated with, naturally, done with something that will eventually be SkyNet. Weaver solves this problem by disguising herself as a sleazier version of herself, and killing the manager in a way that's a little less sleazy than how she killed another guy a few weeks earlier. However, Ellison also knows that Sarah was around when the power plant broke down. After all this time, shouldn't these two people meet? Maybe he'll finally admit she was right about evil robots and all that, and come up with a way to take care of Weaver. There is word that day is coming, and about time!
There is some concern about whether season two will last longer than 13 episodes. At the very least, we should get a showdown between Cameron and Weaver. Let's hope that Fox will keep this show going long enough to finish its story, and somehow connect it to the Terminator movies that are coming next year.
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