Tuesdays with Muerte

Have you seen the 1965 film The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews ? There's a song lyric from "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" that I've misheard my entire life. I thought Rolf sang, "Timid and shy and scared are you of things beyond your kin (as in family)." But I recently learned while reading How To Know A Person by the wordsmith David Brooks that the lyric is not kin, but ken . I had to look up the full lyrics to confirm. Sure enough, ken . So what does ken mean? Turns out, it's a nautical term.  Merriam-Webster has this to say: Ken appeared on the English horizon in the 16th century as a term of measurement of the distance bounding the range of ordinary vision at sea—about 20 miles. British author John Lyly used that sense in 1580 when he wrote, "They are safely come within a ken of Dover." Other 16th-century writers used ken to mean " range of vision " ("Out of ken we were ere the Countesse came from the feast....

TL;DR It's the Botox. For the past 3 months, my wife, Stacia, and I have been watching  Good Witch  (via Netflix and Amazon Prime). Stacia adores winding down to "Hallmark-y shows." We can rely on Good Witch episodes to always resolve happily. The episodes are never too intense. The height of conflict revolves around things like someone's inability to locate the perfect spot to snap a romantic photo for a new tourism brochure. I consider my time watching these shows spouse bonding time , and emotional training. My favorite thing about watching feel-good shows with Stacia is getting to observe her facial reactions to the on-screen drama. When two people lean in for a long-anticipated kiss, Stacia tucks her knees into her chest and frowns with her forehead while lifting her chin and bottom lip. While I'm typically unable to suspend my disbelief, Stacia seems completely entranced by the various characters' emotions. Wishing I could join her in being swept aw...

Synopsis The six-person crew of a derelict spaceship awakens from stasis in the farthest reaches of space. Their memories wiped clean, they have no recollection of who they are or how they got on board. The only clue to their identities is a cargo bay full of weaponry and a destination: a remote mining colony that is about to become a war zone. With no idea whose side they are on, they face a deadly decision. Will these amnesiacs turn their backs on history, or will their pasts catch up with them? ( IMDB ) Backstory Produced in Canada,  DARK MATTER was  syndicated by the U.S. Syfy channel, June 15th, 2015, and was made available on Netflix just 2 days ago. September 28. The show has quickly accrued more than a cult following. Wikipedia reports 1.28 million views of the pilot, just in the U.S. Its popularity is no surprise since the script was written by the same folks who did Stargate. Personal Review While lacking the blockbuster budget, effects, and drama of Ba...

Raffle Winner Goes AWOL one is my personal favorite.  Still not sure how he did it. I'm totally using Wireless Watering as a conversation starter in my technology class. Milking Almonds  was poignant.  This poor woman bit so hard, she was ready to quit her job and become a professional almond milker. Health Store Cannoli  was endearing.  The mark was the nicest man you'll ever meet. Over Grooming  is for Stef and Scott. "We need drinks after this one." Check out the entire playlist of Michael's videos on TruTV's YouTube Channel .

I often blog about anticipated shows.  But I was so impressed with the latest television episode of CBS's Elementary  ( S03E04, Bella ) I had to highlight it.  The whole series so far has an  IMDB rating  of 8/10. Elementary  has been getting better with each season.  When the show first aired,  I felt compelled to compare it to the BBC's Sherlock , whose first two seasons I had already adoringly watched and re-watched.  For a time, I inhibited myself from enjoying Elementary because of my ever-present concern, "how can the US create something to rival what is arguably the greatest television series of our generation?"  But once I let go of the need to compare the two, and simply appreciate  Elementary  for what it is, I began to see its unique brilliance. Epic Moment Between Sherlock and his brother Mycroft in Season 2 I won't go into detail about this week's episode, Bella —involving artificial intelligence...

Warning: Only read this post if you are a DW nerd and/or enjoy thematic analysis   The Writing is Objectively *Good* Feelings for the BBC sensation,  Doctor Who , are pretty segregated. For most viewers, they seem to either love the show or think it's cheesy. No one can really HATE the show—at worst, viewers might criticize the British comedy for being low-budget and childish. But regardless of your feelings towards the show's execution, the writing is inarguably BRILLIANT! Let me introduce the two head writers since 2005: Russell T. Davies  (Headwriter & showrunner:  2005 - 2010) Steven Moffat  (Headwriter & showrunner:  2010 - CURRENT) including classic episodes like Blink , Silence in the Library , and Let's Kill Hilter  during his predecessor's tenure.  Moffat is also the headwriter for the BBC success, Sherlock (starring  Benedict Cumberbatch  & Martin Freeman ) These men are two of tel...

Review Update Here's a review from January 2014 after seeing these five shows: I loved Legend of Korra . I watched them all online the week they aired. It was the only one of the five that I followed regularly. Sleepy Hollow and S.H.I.E.L.D. were both charming stories—the next most entertaining shows after Korra.  However, neither story had enough substance, or character relate-ability, to hold my attention after the first three episodes.  I might try again later. Person of Interest could have been cool.  Maybe I didn't give it a fair chance, but I quit watching after the season premiere.  I think I wanted it to slow down a little bit and show us more character development. The trope of having Jim Caviezel strut around New York, shooting everyone, and saving the day is becoming a little stale for me. Dragons: Defenders/Riders of Berk is already in its second season! And I haven't seen it yet.  Not one else I know watches it, so I wouldn't ...

Bravest Warriors (#Animated #Web) What's it about:  Bravest Warriors is like a mashup of  Adventure Time  and  Slugterra .  This futuristic, animated web series follows four teens who employ the power of their emotions to save the universe, whilst searching for their dimensionally-displaced parents.  The first 10-episode season is available online.   Episode one begins here : My Impressions:  If you are looking for a childish, 10-minute escape from the mundane, I highly recommend checking out Bravest Warriors; you can watch the entire season in under 2 hours.  Thanks to the overly-active imagination of  Pendleton Ward , this YouTube-exclusive show gushes with creativity.  FYI, CatBug is my new favorite animated character of all-time.  You may find an image of him in episode 10 or next to the word "cute" in the dictionary. Video Game High School (#YouTube #Gamers) What's it about:  "The story is about a down o...

Sword Art Online (#Anime #Fantasy #MMORPG) What's it about:  "The year is 2022, and gamers have lined up on launch day for Sword Art Online, a hotly-anticipated MMORPG that lets players connect to an immersive virtual reality world with special helmets called Nerve Gear. Kirito is one such gamer who's eager to jump back into action, having spent a great deal of time as a beta tester, and quickly becomes friends with newbie warrior Klein. But soon, Sword Art Online's 10,000 players discover that not only are they unable to log out, the only way they can return to their physical bodies is by beating the 100-level tower's final boss - death in the game means death in the real world. Now, with no one else to turn to, Kirito and the other participants must survive the game as best they can ( IMDB )." First Impressions:  This was my first anime of this genre.  And se puede decir que me gustó.  I marathoned all 25 episodes over 2 days on  CrunchyRoll . ...

I'm not super impressed with any of the new shows this fall .  I may not end up watching more than the pilot episodes of each, but I will limit myself to watching the full season of one TV show per genre.  Here are my results: Ben and Kate (maybe) Vegas (tremendous potential) Maybe others (depending on school) Comedy—Ben And Kate (FOX, Tuesday 8:30-9pm) Kate (Dakota Johnson, ‘The Social Network’) is a single mother with two children in her life: her daughter, and her older brother Ben (Nat Faxon, ‘Zookeeper’). When Ben gets a call from his ex-girlfriend he immediately goes to his sister for advise. When he discovers his ex is getting married he thinks of an elaborate plan to stop the wedding. When he finds out the man his sister has been dating is seeing someone else as well, he sacrifices his plan however, so he can prevent his sister from making a huge mistake. After this, he decides to stay with Kate and help her raise her daughter.   Tu...

I love all of these shows. I own Life and Pushing Daisies  already.  The others are equally good enough to own in my opinion: Life  (season 1) - $6 Jerico - $20 The Office - $10 Perfect Strangers  (Seasons 1 and 2) - $10 Pushing Daisies - $9 Family Matters - $12 Full House - $12 Psych - $13 LOUIS L'AMOUR'S: THE SACKETTS - $7 My Blue Heaven - $6 Pride and Prejudice - $5 Man from Snowy River - $6 Sometimes I post things I want and their prices, so at least others (with money) have the option of enjoying them.

Think about it.  What are the best TV shows of the last decade?  (Consult graphic below.)  Now realize that all those writers all collaborated TOGETHER on Buffy back in the 90s!  Pretty mind blowing, isn't it?  Kinda makes you want to go back and watch a few episodes. When Scott (my brother-in-law) wrote for the BYU Daily Universe, he interviewed a Film professor who argued that Joss Whedon's Buffy had the greatest script writing of all time. Look at what his writers went on to create! Although the content may be hokey, the script is what makes Buffy worth watching.

Download pilot from my Dropbox for a limited time (Right-click; save as link). Continuum is a one-hour police drama centered on Kiera Cameron, a regular cop from 65 years in the future who finds herself trapped in present day Vancouver. She is alone, a stranger in a strange land, and has eight of the most ruthless criminals from the future, known as Liber8, loose in the city. Lucky for Kiera, through the use of her CMR (cellular memory recall), a futuristic liquid chip technology implanted in her brain, she connects with Alec Sadler, a seventeen-year-old tech genius. When Kiera calls and Alec answers, a very unique partnership begins. Kiera’s first desire is to get "home". But until she figures out a way to do that, she must survive in our time period and use all the resources available to her to track and capture the terrorists before they alter history enough to change the course of the future. After all, what’s the point of going back if the future isn’t the one you ...

Upon my mom's recommendation, I decided to watch the pilot of ABC's Spring release, Missing , last night.  She said that all the girls in the family loved it.  I had plenty of reasons not to check it out, the least of which is that I can't relate to the protagonist in the least.  However, I did want to make an effort to connect with my mom and sisters.  So, not wanting to miss out (like I did with Monk and Psych) I set aside my reservations and downloaded it. The premise was good. The series follows “Becca” Winstone (Ashley Judd), a widow and retired CIA agent with an 18-year-old son, Michael (Nick Eversman). In 2001, when Becca and her husband Paul Winstone (Sean Bean) were active CIA agents, he was killed in a car bombing witnessed by their son. In the pilot, Michael informs his mother that he has been accepted to an architecture program in Rome. Becca, who now lives an ordinary life running a florist shop, is hesitant to let him go but gives in. Af...