Monthly Archive for February, 2009

Tonight, a serious question: Brad Pitt or Ryan Reynolds, Episode 21

Chuck and Jason kick off this just legal podcast with tales of Jason’s intimidating presence. LOST is back and in big way and Jason and Chuck weigh in on the total excellence that is the new season and offer their theories of what’s going on. The Superbowl movie trailers and how they completely kicked ass is up next with anticipation (or not) for GI Joe, Transformers 2, Star Trek, Fast and the Furious, Year One, Land of the Lost,  Angels and Demons, and Race to Witch Mountain. The podcast concludes with Chuck’s thoughts on Benjamin Button and Jason lays down the newest DVDs.

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icon for podpress  Episode 21 [52:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (218)

Charles Widmore is Alvar Hanso.

OK, so we’ve been given a TON of info in the episode. I love the pendulum, very cool :) . Dharma doesn’t seem to be a mystery now (to me at least). I guess they are (were) a scientific organization working on the island doing experiments with biology and electromagnetism. The one thing that I am confused about though, is are they still around? In season 1, there was a Dharma supplies drop, so they must be still around and still think they have functioning operatives on the island (at least until Keamey shows up). But they haven’t been in the story line for a while…or have they?

So here’s my theory…Widmore is Hanso. The Dharma Inititive is his company that he set up to exploit the island in his quest for power. This is why Richard and the Other-Others battled against Dharma in the past and recruited Ben to help them wipe Dharma out on the island. They want Widmore to stop the exploitation of the island. I think that after that Widmore, at some point, was banished from ever returning to the island, which is why he needed the Initiative to get back to it. I think he dedicated his life and resources to finding that Island again, and when he did (using the pendulum)

This theory also explains a little bit more about the confrontation with Ben and the we-can’t kill-each-other pact they have. Ben clearly made a deal with Widmore after Richard assisted him in destroying the Dharma Initiative on the island. What tht deal is, is still a secret, but I am sure we’ll find out.

Think about it, Widmore protects his interests in the island by masquerading as Alvar Hanso. That way he can keep his legitimate enterprises going, while he keeps the more clandestined “Island” business going.

Thoughts?

Sony releases it’s next, great product and it’s a real POS.

OK, so if you have have young kids nearby do NOT play this it is riddled with explitives, seriously… EXPLICIT.

I really can’t believe that Sony has actually come out with this. It’s seems par for the course for them, but not sure if now is the right time for this. Well…you be the judge.


Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn’t Fucking Work

BSG, I got my eye on you.

Too soon? Sorry for the groaner :P

So, I have this love/hate relationship with BSG. I’ve been a fan since the old days and I even watched Galactica 1985 as well (The Starbuck/Cylon episode…none better). I’ve enjoyed the new show with a couple slips in which I just stopped watching altogether. I never put it together until last night, when I was watching this Friday’s episode (on TiVo) and was just starting to get that uncomfortable feeling again. The one where I think “I just don’t want to watch this” it’s too much.

Too much blood, too much anger, too many machinations. It just felt like it went off the track.

But then I realized, I’m uncomfortable because, while this is SF and fantasy, the themes are real – almost too real. I was thrown by Gaeta’s mutiny at first, but then I realized that it wasn’t a shark-jump. Gaeta was always a man of conviction when he felt he was doing the right thing. Even when he was working for the Cylon shadow gov’t on New Caprica – he fed the resistance info. He was always about anti-cylonism.

So if Gaeta’s motivations where sound, then maybe, just maybe the show wasn’t off track as I originally felt. It’s no secret that BSG is actually a very powerful drama wrapped in a SF package and I guess I had to come to grips with that more. BSG is an incredibly layered show with some of the best writing in any SciFi show. Once I realized that I wasn’t getting my escapism from BSG (far from it, BSG makes you think), I gave in.

The fervor I had for the show in previous seasons is back. And just like LOST, I’m excited to see where it goes.

I’ll end with a salute to Saul Tigh (played by Michael Hogan). He started as my least favorite chracter, but he’s steadily become my favorite. Hogan’s raspy growl and colorful language brings an emotionality to the Adama/Tigh pairing that (until recently) was required to balance Adama’s stoicness. He makes the eye patch work (especially as he compensates with the rifle scope – genius!) and his loyalty should be an example to the entire crew. I’m along for the ride with this mother frakker, All hail the XO.

The Jin is back!

Yes that’s right! Unfortunately he’s stuck back when Russo crashed on the island so this is going to be interesting. It’s funny though how he always gets into situations where language plays a part. All of his main storylines revolve around it (especially Sun’s sneaking around and learning english). I’m excited to see him back and I’m intrigued about this. So is Jin now at the same time as Sawyer, Locke and crew? Has he been shifting the whole time, just out of it?

Also, as pointed out by Doug in a previous comment, Miles is indeed the baby son of the Dharma Initiative instructional film guy (what IS his name?). This was clinched this episode with Faraday’s comment about length of time on the island affecting the neuro-disorder with the time jumps.

I saw Ben being the catalyst for the blood sample debacle a mile away, it seemed like a logical way to get Kate to WANT to leave and go back to the island. Still curious about Ben’s end-game though.

It is also clear now that Jack is back to his old tricks. He told Kate that he “could fix this.” This of course goign back to Jack’s need to fix anything broken. He now has a purpose and that singularity that he exhibits to confront this purpose is back in full swing.

Best line this episode: “Who was that?” asks Syaid…”My lawyer.” says Ben, in a matter-of-fact tone that was perfect.

Good episode.