American Idol

The tryouts are easily the most entertaining part of this show. My suggestion: go play Rock Band or Singstar. Singing is fun, but please don't think you have talent just because you score well in karaoke. American Idol cruelty is fun. Girls who have had record deals and are trying again is not fun.

On Finishing Games

It's good to finish a game. I've said it before, but there's a good sense of accomplishment when you complete a single player adventure. When I was a kid, most games were too hard and there are plenty of 8-bit classics that I have never finished. Over the last few months, in the deluge of game releases, I have done my best to get the most out of my game purchases. Why buy it if I'm not going to complete it? So, over the last few months I've finished Mirror's Edge, Tomb Raider Underworld, Quantum of Solace, Dead Space, Half Life 2, Half Life 2 Episode 2 and just about finished Gears of War. That last boss is just too much. So, I'll call it.

When I look at my backlog, I see half finished games that I either need to churn through or give up on. I'm definitely into the buy-it-play-it-until-done thing. Still, that said, there's too much good stuff out there to waste time on something that's not fun. It's a matter of balance, but when I was young I have a limited library, now that I can afford any game I want, I don't want to buy too much. I have to get my money's worth. That's a challenge for sure. I'm going to crank through Half Life 2 Episode 2, go back and finish Fable 2, Too Human and hopefully Far Cry 2 and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. And probably God of War 2 before I retire my PS2 for good.

January TV

How did the month of January become the real start of the TV season? I'm finishing up the last few episodes of Stargate Atlantis, enjoying the final stretch of Battlestar Galactica and finding myself overwhelmed by too much stuff. There's the American Idol auditions. There's 24 season 7. More Fringe. My Wire backlog. 24 season 1, which I'm working through at the same time as season 7. And Lost. Fuck. Too much good stuff all at once. And that doesn't even get into my podcast backlog. Good stuff for sure. At least I have a four day weekend to crank through a few seasons and a few films that are waiting for me, like Man on Wire, Benjamin Button and more.

But, I like this problem of too much TV.  I haven't had this many regular rotation shows since I was a kid.

The Final Cylon

Battlestar Galactica is back, and while the premier was great, it wasn't enough. I want all ten of the final episodes right now. Sure, the episode did a lot, but not everything. I both want the series to hurry up and get to the end and not hurry up because this is all that we'll ever get. The reveal of the final cylon was so obvious and so perfect when you think about it. Yes, it's not one of the major characters, but it isn't someone obscure. Honestly, we should all kick ourselves for not realizing it during the last episode last year. D'anna says that it's someone not in the fleet. Now do you know? It's a great choice too, but I think some of the backlash will be that it's the last one revealed, not the most important. And fans might be mad about this. It's not the great leader or anything. The last cylon is not the most important cylon, and really, the mystery about this is not the biggest mystery. The biggest mysteries are what the frak happened to earth and how the hell was a certain object found in a certain field on earth. Oh, and there was one HUGE reveal about the nature of earth. If that planet is ours, then things are really fraked up. Didn't expect that surprise. Finally, I'll mention the most shocking moment, which has nothing to do with cylons, was one of the best jaw dropping moments I've ever seen. Well played for sure. Another excellent episode and I need more.