What Did You Watch? 2017-04-12 (Wednesday)

[Obveeus]

On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
work that long) I watched:

SURVIVOR: First, there is a Reward Challenge in which the winning tribe
gets 10 large pizzas. Yes, these all-star editions always over-feed the
players. That being said, it looked like *really bad* pizza. Then,
there was an Immunity Challenge where players ultimately had to decode
the word 'metamorphosis' (decide shortly if this is a 'product
placement'). I have a hunch this challenge was intentionally thrown,
but who knows. Then, at the Tribal Council, Jeff Varner 'attacked' Zeke
because Zeke had chosen to align himself with Ozzy instead of Varner.
The events seems so over the top that this felt like the most scripted
episode of Survivor ever. First, Varner declared that Zeke was
transgender and therefore should be voted out for lying about it. Then,
the whole tribe reacted in 'shock and horror' to the point of tears that
Varner could do something so irrelevant to the game and personal to the
players. Then we got speeches about how vile it is to out someone on
national television...as if this show is live TV and as if the 'outing'
is occurring in any way by anything other than the Survivor
producers/editors. Then we got a speech from a Sarah, representing
Middle America and declaring that they don't have gay people (2 of the
guys on this tribe) or transgender people (another of the guys on the
tribe) where she lives, but she loves and respects and accepts everyone
just like Middle America should. The only thing that saves this from
being clearly scripted is the simple fact that it requires Jeff Varner
to make himself the biggest dirtbag in SURVIVOR history and specifically
ostracizes himself from much of his LGBT community. Still, it all felt
very orchestrated.

THE MAGICIANS: Alice is back in one piece, but not very happy about it.
I have no idea what happened to the creature that was inhabiting her
body; maybe it was killed? Quentin and Eliot had a great scene where
they brought each other up to speed on their various life events.
Fillory got a new ruler and it is revealed that the whole place is an
intentional joke...which is a scary thought given how much power this
other world has over Earth. Meanwhile, the only way to see the fairies
(and their captives) is to get high. We had a character commit suicide
after their closest loved one is killed by another relative. We find out
what the relationship between Reynard and Persephone (Garcelle Beauvais
of FRANKLIN & BASH) is as Julia finally gets the chance to kill him.
Penny makes it to the aptly named 'poison room' and gets the book. We
find out some major event is coming...but Penny didn't even pause for a
moment to consider that raiding The Poison Room might be what sets the
event in motion. Finally, Quentin and Eliot find the missing creator of
Fillory. Next week is the season finale.

THE EXPANSE: Chrisjen, Sadovir, and Mao play advanced political games
over the control of the proto-molecule as a bio-weapon...and lots of
people get killed (nice monkey with a stick reference to 2001: A SPACE
ODYSSEY). Captain Jim becomes dangerously obsessed (risking the ship
and all on board) with killing Protoman while the idiotic father
continues to risk all of mankind for the possibility that Protoman might
be his daughter. Alex's massive amount of time in simulation testing
pays off as he shoots a rocket right out of space with his machine gun
turret. Naomi tries to rescue the civilian masses, but in a plotline
that didn't quite make sense she decides to let most of them die because
she cannot rely on her boyfriend (Captain Jim) to show up later and lend
her some air. Next week is the season finale.

Saved for later, the very special episode of UNDERGROUND starring Aisha
Hinds as Harriet Tubman.

What did you watch?

[Arthur Lipscomb]

On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:
> On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
> work that long) I watched:
>

Just the other month a bit of nostalgia hit me hard and I decided to
pull out my old NES. After decades of reliable (usually) performance I
couldn't get it to turn on (My SNES and Wii still worked). I found a
generic NES for about $15 bucks on amazon. Ordered it up. Tested it
out and promptly put it away to never think about again for another 5 or
so years when I'm hit with nostalgia again...

This episode was pure background noise. But I perked up during the
council when I noticed something was going on. Scripted or not, that
was a good (for lack of a better word) council meeting.

> THE MAGICIANS: Alice is back in one piece, but not very happy about it.
> I have no idea what happened to the creature that was inhabiting her
> body; maybe it was killed? Quentin and Eliot had a great scene where
> they brought each other up to speed on their various life events.
> Fillory got a new ruler and it is revealed that the whole place is an
> intentional joke...which is a scary thought given how much power this
> other world has over Earth. Meanwhile, the only way to see the fairies
> (and their captives) is to get high. We had a character commit suicide
> after their closest loved one is killed by another relative. We find out
> what the relationship between Reynard and Persephone (Garcelle Beauvais
> of FRANKLIN & BASH) is as Julia finally gets the chance to kill him.
> Penny makes it to the aptly named 'poison room' and gets the book. We
> find out some major event is coming...but Penny didn't even pause for a
> moment to consider that raiding The Poison Room might be what sets the
> event in motion. Finally, Quentin and Eliot find the missing creator of
> Fillory. Next week is the season finale.
>

This was an OK episode.

> THE EXPANSE: Chrisjen, Sadovir, and Mao play advanced political games
> over the control of the proto-molecule as a bio-weapon...and lots of
> people get killed (nice monkey with a stick reference to 2001: A SPACE
> ODYSSEY). Captain Jim becomes dangerously obsessed (risking the ship
> and all on board) with killing Protoman while the idiotic father
> continues to risk all of mankind for the possibility that Protoman might
> be his daughter. Alex's massive amount of time in simulation testing
> pays off as he shoots a rocket right out of space with his machine gun
> turret. Naomi tries to rescue the civilian masses, but in a plotline
> that didn't quite make sense she decides to let most of them die because
> she cannot rely on her boyfriend (Captain Jim) to show up later and lend
> her some air. Next week is the season finale.
>
> Saved for later, the very special episode of UNDERGROUND starring Aisha
> Hinds as Harriet Tubman.
>

What is "Underground." I don't think I've seen it referenced before.

> What did you watch?

I'll do a multi-day catch up tomorrow.

[Obveeus]

On 4/13/2017 8:52 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
> On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>> On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
>> work that long) I watched:
>>
> Just the other month a bit of nostalgia hit me hard and I decided to
> pull out my old NES. After decades of reliable (usually) performance I
> couldn't get it to turn on (My SNES and Wii still worked). I found a
> generic NES for about $15 bucks on amazon. Ordered it up. Tested it
> out and promptly put it away to never think about again for another 5 or
> so years when I'm hit with nostalgia again...

I've thought off and on about buying one of the new arcade style stand
up machines that has been upgrades to hold 100+ traditional arcade
games...but ultimately I know it would just be a dust collector. I'd
love to own a pinball machine (ideally THE MACHINE: BRIDE OF PINBOT),
but it would probably just collect dust as well..especially given the
difficulty in keeping pinball machines running.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB5mVpXElko


>> SURVIVOR:

>> Then, at the Tribal Council, Jeff Varner
>> 'attacked' Zeke because Zeke had chosen to align himself with Ozzy
>> instead of Varner. The events seems so over the top that this felt
>> like the most scripted episode of Survivor ever. First, Varner
>> declared that Zeke was transgender and therefore should be voted out
>> for lying about it.

> This episode was pure background noise. But I perked up during the
> council when I noticed something was going on. Scripted or not, that
> was a good (for lack of a better word) council meeting.

It will definitely be remembered as one of the biggest SURVIVOR moments
ever.

>> Saved for later, the very special episode of UNDERGROUND starring
>> Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman.
>>
>
> What is "Underground." I don't think I've seen it referenced before.

It is a WGHNAmerica scripted series on the Underground Railroad.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4522400/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
It is pretty good, though not to everyone's taste as it combines racial
issues with modern music with standard soapy drama.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <ocnont$cv7$1...@dont-email.me>, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com>
wrote:

> What did you watch?

I watched enough of THE AWFUL ARROW to ascertain that Alexa Doig wasn't
in it this week and erased the rest unwatched. Seriously, who cares if
Ollie loses his job as Mayor? It's like watching Super-President.

I found a beautiful new HD transfer of MUTANT X in 16:9 which
unfortunately looks like they hard matted it, but what's left of the
image looks great. But ... it's the same stupid sloppy mess I
remembered. All these people doing Peter Pan wire work in empty
shopping malls. They don't seem to be supposed to have hovering
capabilities, so why are they floating into the air to kick people?
Lauren Lee Smith isn't even cute in retrospect, and I can't believe
Victor Garbor was ever that young. Sending an electric bolt into the
ignition keyhole will *not* start the car. If it does start it won't
keep running. If it does keep running, it sure as Hell won't work
normally for the next guy with an actual key. I'd forgotten the bad guy
was Andy Warhol with a removable face, and of course the good guy is Lex
Luthor. Created by Avi Arad who presided over a decade of horrible
Marvel crap before they finally got rid of hims and *bam* just like
that, the product turned good. Hard to imagine that that was a
coincidence. Now he does horrible stuff like The Netflix Tarzan and
Jane. Anyway this is as bad as I remembered. Maybe I'll skip ahead to
season 3 when it finally got good. Oh, and there are extras with stuff
like an interview with the lady producer who sure knows her buzzwords ...

Rafterhouse
A new show on HGTV that's about doing bad remodels on homes in the area
around my mom's house where I went to high school. Two incredibly
annoying couples modernize homes destroying all the charm and making you
wonder why they didn't just tear it down. They have signature stuff
they claim they do to every house like a junk area to throw your keys
and winter outerwear as if these people lived in New England. Their
floorplan added a huge master closet, with no way to get into it.
There's (presumably) false drama like the idiot husbands realize the big
kitchen island they built won't go through the front door or the back
door (since it goes in the front room just considering bringing it in
the rear makes no sense) and of course it goes through the front door
just fine, they just needed two more guys to help carry it first, and
the idiot wives decide the 'drop your junk here' area probably isn't
best presented in the entertainment area of the home, so they stick it
in the laundry that everybody has to pass through coming in from the
outside, except YOU DON'T - you don't pass through the laundry AT ALL
coming in from any direction. The purpose of this is so the couple can
move in with the husband's grandfather, but they completely remake the
place so much that his house is gone forever, and he doesn't even get
back what used to be his room, they've effectively evicted him
(seriously, I have no idea where he even sleeps now). They never even
show enough of the area to have it matter where they shoot it.

In the second ep, the morons do a flip, and rip down the front of the
house before checking to see if there are rafters in the attic - by
ripping out the ceiling - to find out if they even can take out the
walls they need to (um, did it ever occur to anyone to just stick their
head in the attic access and SEE if there were rafters first?). Then
there's about 16 hours of footage of the idiot wives and their
astoundingly annoying children driving around yelling RAFTERHOUSE
RAFTERHOUSE apparently at random and muttering a bunch of
incomprehensible baby talk before we go back to the idiot husbands
finding out they need to redo the electric box (we'll have to charge
more) which OF COURSE YOU WILL and being stunned to see for the very
first time the tile in the bathroom because apparently they didn't even
walk through this place before tearing down the front of it. They add
ugly run down unrefurbished school lockers for the 'drop zone' right in
the main entry, because that's what the idiot wives like, even though
they decided that was a terrible idea in the last episode. They decide
to steal one of the idiot wives' dresser to put in the house and she's
shocked because she doesn't notice, you know, the film crew or anything,
and they just throw all her stuff on the floor. Of course there's a lot
of fake drama because they scheduled the open house before they started
remodeling and CAN THEY POSSIBLY MEET THE DEADLINE OR WILL THEIR ENTIRE
HOUSE OF CARDS COLLAPSE?!?!!? One idiot wie does a terrible job
brushing ugly green mint paint on a door while saying it's her favorite
color and everything should be mint. The other idiot wife directs the
idiot workers carrying in furniture and of course they crash it into the
house. Now the kids come by and the CC people can't understand them so
the screen is full of CHILDREN SPEAK INDISTINCTLY which I find amusing.
It's all like some horrible home movies that only relatives could enjoy
but they whip out to torture company with anyway. In the open house the
visitors badly read obviously scripted stuff about how much they like
all the bad features. The people that buy it pay twice what I would
have. I'd link ya'll to it, but the URL on their signs ... is wrong.
Gotta love it.

Two and done for me.

--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/

[Obveeus]

On 4/13/2017 10:23 AM, anim8rfsk wrote:

> Rafterhouse
> A new show on HGTV that's about doing bad remodels on homes in the area
> around my mom's house where I went to high school. Two incredibly
> annoying couples modernize homes destroying all the charm and making you
> wonder why they didn't just tear it down.

Tear it down...except for one wall. You always have to leave one wall
so you can deny that it is a new build.

Snip of lots of horror HGTV show stuff.

> In the open house the
> visitors badly read obviously scripted stuff about how much they like
> all the bad features.

That is another hallmark of these home makeover shows.

The people that buy it pay twice what I would
> have. I'd link ya'll to it, but the URL on their signs ... is wrong.
> Gotta love it.
>
> Two and done for me.

Fun to read even if not to watch.

[Ian J. Ball]

On 2017-04-13 11:54:25 +0000, Obveeus said:

> What did you watch?

Almost nothing:

Imposters (recorded) - "Always Forward, Never Back". This was a mix of
good and bad. On the one hand, I like elements of this - e.g. how the
team screwed over the Feds was pretty good; and Maddie's internet
message to Patrick was good in reminding the audience that Maddie is
truly hatable. I also like Maddie screwing over Max (who had it coming).
But, overall, I was very disappointed in the (non-)resolution of
this. They did nothing about the Doctor or Lenny Cohen. And are the
threesome just continue to grift and con - they're not just going to
return to their lives? If so, that's disappointing. And now the Feds,
and the Doctor, will be after all of them.
In short, they left so that they could continue a season #2 right
where they left off, but honestly that's not where I wanted this show
to go, and this ending probably makes it less likely, not more, that
I'd watch a season #2 of this... :/

I then watched a pointess rerun of "Arrow" as background noise.

I then watched two pointless episodes of "Criminal Minds: Beyond
Borders" as background noise - the first episode in Singapore seemed
like parts of it were almost interesting. I don't even remember what
the second episode was about.


Recorded for later: We're down to just "The Magicians" and "The
Expanse" for Wednesdays - I think we're in the TV doldrums again... :(


--
"His compassion killed him." - Dr. Sabine Lommers, in
"A Kingdom Divided Against Itself" (ep. #9), "Containment" (06-21-2016)

[anim8rfsk]

In article <oco5nv$q5q$1...@dont-email.me>, Obveeus <Obv...@aol.com>
wrote:

:)

[Obveeus]

On 4/13/2017 11:46 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

> Recorded for later: We're down to just "The Magicians" and "The Expanse"
> for Wednesdays - I think we're in the TV doldrums again... :(

...and after next week's season finales, both of those shows will be gone.

[icebreaker]

The Magicians (syfy) -- covered by Obv.

Major Crimes (TNT) -- The season ender finsihed with a loud bang.
Sharon gets promoted to Commander. I have no idea what that means
except that it's a 2-star uniform. The new chief says he has major
plans to make the unit even better whatever that mean.

Brockmire (IFC) -- A lockeroom kangaroo court between doubleheader
games goes off the rails. Jules learns she's being undermined by the
oil company. Backstory on how Brockmire got his solo booth career.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

[Arthur Lipscomb]

On 4/13/2017 6:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>
> On 4/13/2017 8:52 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>> On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>> On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
>>> work that long) I watched:
>>>
>> Just the other month a bit of nostalgia hit me hard and I decided to
>> pull out my old NES. After decades of reliable (usually) performance I
>> couldn't get it to turn on (My SNES and Wii still worked). I found a
>> generic NES for about $15 bucks on amazon. Ordered it up. Tested it
>> out and promptly put it away to never think about again for another 5 or
>> so years when I'm hit with nostalgia again...
>
> I've thought off and on about buying one of the new arcade style stand
> up machines that has been upgrades to hold 100+ traditional arcade
> games...but ultimately I know it would just be a dust collector. I'd
> love to own a pinball machine (ideally THE MACHINE: BRIDE OF PINBOT),
> but it would probably just collect dust as well..especially given the
> difficulty in keeping pinball machines running.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB5mVpXElko
>

That's the sort of thing I'd like to own but wouldn't actually play.

>
>>> SURVIVOR:
>
>>> Then, at the Tribal Council, Jeff Varner
>>> 'attacked' Zeke because Zeke had chosen to align himself with Ozzy
>>> instead of Varner. The events seems so over the top that this felt
>>> like the most scripted episode of Survivor ever. First, Varner
>>> declared that Zeke was transgender and therefore should be voted out
>>> for lying about it.
>
>> This episode was pure background noise. But I perked up during the
>> council when I noticed something was going on. Scripted or not, that
>> was a good (for lack of a better word) council meeting.
>
> It will definitely be remembered as one of the biggest SURVIVOR moments
> ever.
>
>>> Saved for later, the very special episode of UNDERGROUND starring
>>> Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman.
>>>
>>
>> What is "Underground." I don't think I've seen it referenced before.
>
> It is a WGHNAmerica scripted series on the Underground Railroad.
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4522400/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
> It is pretty good, though not to everyone's taste as it combines racial
> issues with modern music with standard soapy drama.

I should sample it but I probably won't.

Speaking of modern music in nontraditional venues, I mentioned the other
week I saw Hamilton. Since watching it, I have become increasingly
obsessed with the music! I've now listened to then entire soundtrack
multiple times. It just keeps getting better and better. It's hard to
explain outside of context. You can listen to a random track and might
like it or not. I had heard several random tracks prior to sitting
through the musical and none of them stood out as particularly good and
definitely not great. But now that I've sat through the entire show, I
love them all with some in particular I just like listening to over and
over again.

[Mason Barge]

Right. If Varner "outed" the guy by saying it, what did Survivor do, exactly, by
airing it? The show is simply showing aggressive Political Correctness.
It reminded me of a carefully-orchestrated Communist show trial.

> THE MAGICIANS: Alice is back in one piece, but not very happy about it.
> I have no idea what happened to the creature that was inhabiting her
> body; maybe it was killed?

I thought she *became* a type of creature, as opposed to being possessed.

> Quentin and Eliot had a great scene where
> they brought each other up to speed on their various life events.
> Fillory got a new ruler and it is revealed that the whole place is an
> intentional joke...which is a scary thought given how much power this
> other world has over Earth.

Well, Umber did after all say that he was creating a new world. (Called "Cuba" which I thought was pretty funny!) That after asking how they liked the idea of riding around on the back of a turtle, which I think is a Native American myth.

It seems to be headed into a very distinctive polytheistic theology. On the other hand, the Underworld did mention "hell" (in the flyer that said, "Don't worry, there is almost no chance you are going to hell." Which I also thought was pretty funny.)

> Meanwhile, the only way to see the fairies
> (and their captives) is to get high. We had a character commit suicide
> after their closest loved one is killed by another relative. We find out
> what the relationship between Reynard and Persephone (Garcelle Beauvais
> of FRANKLIN & BASH) is as Julia finally gets the chance to kill him.
> Penny makes it to the aptly named 'poison room' and gets the book. We
> find out some major event is coming...but Penny didn't even pause for a
> moment to consider that raiding The Poison Room might be what sets the
> event in motion. Finally, Quentin and Eliot find the missing creator of
> Fillory. Next week is the season finale.

Too bad about Sylvia. She was well on her way to contending for the tight race
for "most irritating character". Her dismissal puts Kady in the lead, although
death does not necessarily mean disappearance on this show -- reminds me of
someone dying on Buffy.

I have to say, this show has gone from a fun snarkfest for the cynical to quite good in parts, on occasion.

> What did you watch?

[Mason Barge]

I think The Magicians has already been renewed.

[Obveeus]

I don't know about 'political correctness', but they sure tried hard to
pretend that they were not part of the 'outing'. Meanwhile, there isn't
a snowballs chance in hell that Zeke was cast on this show for any other
reason than the potential for this reveal to come along.

>> THE MAGICIANS: Alice is back in one piece, but not very happy about it.
>> I have no idea what happened to the creature that was inhabiting her
>> body; maybe it was killed?
>
> I thought she *became* a type of creature, as opposed to being possessed.

True...sort of. They talked about trying to be able to expel the
Niffin, though, which means there must be a way to separate the consumed
magician from its former self. Some way other than what they eventually
achieved which didn't make a lot of sense as I couldn't tell what they
did with the spells other than reintroduce the shade.

>> Quentin and Eliot had a great scene where
>> they brought each other up to speed on their various life events.
>> Fillory got a new ruler and it is revealed that the whole place is an
>> intentional joke...which is a scary thought given how much power this
>> other world has over Earth.
>
> Well, Umber did after all say that he was creating a new world. (Called "Cuba" which I thought was pretty funny!) That after asking how they liked the idea of riding around on the back of a turtle, which I think is a Native American myth.

They might have got it from China. Also, if they knew the world was
just atop the back of a turtle shell then they were at least more
accurate that the people who thought the Earth was flat.

> It seems to be headed into a very distinctive polytheistic theology. On the other hand, the Underworld did mention "hell" (in the flyer that said, "Don't worry, there is almost no chance you are going to hell." Which I also thought was pretty funny.)

The Underworld seemed a lot more like Purgatory than anything close to
Hell and aside from the tedious level of bureaucracy, it didn;t seem too
bad.

[Obveeus]

Yes, but the shows will be gone for 6 months or so.

[David Barnett]

In article <ocnont$cv7$1...@dont-email.me>, Obv...@aol.com
says...

>
> On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
> work that long) I watched:

> What did you watch?

On Wed Apr 12 I watched:

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D: Hot Potato Soup
I found this episode a little confusing:
Are they humans or robots?

--
David Barnett

[Adam H. Kerman]

David Barnett <dbar...@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>Obv...@aol.com says...
>
>>On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
>>work that long) I watched:
>>What did you watch?

>On Wed Apr 12 I watched:

>AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D: Hot Potato Soup
>I found this episode a little confusing:
>Are they humans or robots?

I think everyone but Gemma was a robot at that point.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <od12fm$cb2$2...@dont-email.me>,

Gemma Chan?

[Adam H. Kerman]

anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
>"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:
>>David Barnett <dbar...@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>>>Obv...@aol.com says...

>>>>On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
>>>>work that long) I watched:
>>>>What did you watch?

>>>On Wed Apr 12 I watched:

>>>AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D: Hot Potato Soup
>>>I found this episode a little confusing:
>>>Are they humans or robots?

>>I think everyone but Gemma was a robot at that point.

>Gemma Chan?

Alas, no. Jemma

[bruce2...@gmail.com]

On 4/13/2017 6:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>

> On 4/13/2017 8:52 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>> On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>>> On day 3,001 for my WiiFit (yes, the thing has actually continued to
>>> work that long) I watched:
>>>
>> Just the other month a bit of nostalgia hit me hard and I decided to
>> pull out my old NES. After decades of reliable (usually) performance I
>> couldn't get it to turn on (My SNES and Wii still worked). I found a
>> generic NES for about $15 bucks on amazon. Ordered it up. Tested it
>> out and promptly put it away to never think about again for another 5 or
>> so years when I'm hit with nostalgia again...
>
> I've thought off and on about buying one of the new arcade style stand
> up machines that has been upgrades to hold 100+ traditional arcade
> games...but ultimately I know it would just be a dust collector. I'd
> love to own a pinball machine (ideally THE MACHINE: BRIDE OF PINBOT),
> but it would probably just collect dust as well..especially given the
> difficulty in keeping pinball machines running.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB5mVpXElko

And computerized imitations don't really pass the test, right?

[Obveeus]

I suppose that depends on who you mean by 'they'. In the episode,
Patton Oswalt plays multiple characters ( I think we are up to three
identical brothers now). There was an earlier hint that they might have
all been robots (Life Model Decoys), but it turns out to just be
identical triplets...who also have a sister. There is a second group,
built by Dr. Radcliff (John Hannah from THE MUMMY movie franchise) which
starts with a Life Model Decoy (Robot) named Aida who works as his
sentient assistant...and expends out to multiple other Life Model Decoys
who are inserted into SHIELD as replacements for various SHIELD main
characters as they are captured by Aida/Radcliff. Apparently, the big
problem here is that Aida read the Darkhold book and in doing so learned
enough abut being human that she became just as dangerous as humans.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <od1ocs$amc$2...@news.albasani.net>,

Rats

[Ubiquitous]

In article <ocnont$cv7$1...@dont-email.me>, Obv...@aol.com wrote:

>What did you watch?

GREEN ACRES:
Oliver and Lisa find a diary from the previous occupants.

POLICE STORY:
Cops hunting Billy Boy, a kid who robs corner liquor stores and
shoots people. I could've sworn this show starred Angie Dickenson, or
perhaps she appears in a later season?

THE UNTOUCHABLES:
I don't remember the story, but why did this show about Feds enforcing
prohibition was ever popular or made it to the small screen...

PANIC IN YEAR ZERO:
The bomb drops while a family is on a camping trip. Hey, it's Frankie
Avolon! The whole thing was ridiculous! You'd have thought all the store
clerks would have learned the ol punch-em-the-face-when-they-settle-
the-bill trick at some point and the nuclear war lasted about 2 weeks
with no discernable damage.

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE:
Dax experiences strange personality shifts and hallucinations. I don't
know if I forgot or am conflating this with B5 or if the ep was poorly
edited (there's a scene where the host's brother mentions the "terrible
things he did" but there is no follow up to it), but I could have sworn
the Trilled tried to cover this up was b/c the host was their version
of Jack the Ripper, not just b/c they chose a bad host, which reminds
me; The entire concept of the Trill makes no sense if you give it any
thought.

--
Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:

>POLICE STORY:
>Cops hunting Billy Boy, a kid who robs corner liquor stores and
>shoots people. I could've sworn this show starred Angie Dickenson, or
>perhaps she appears in a later season?

She was in "The Gamble", which I always assumed was how she got cast
as Pepper Anderson. Note that it's the same screenwriter.

She was in a post-series "The Freeway Killings", which I don't recall.

I'm sure I saw the episode you watched but I don't remember it.

>THE UNTOUCHABLES:
>I don't remember the story, but why did this show about Feds enforcing
>prohibition was ever popular or made it to the small screen...

Great theme song and a Quinn Martin production! (first season)

It was perpetually syndicated when I was a kid, but a lot of episodes
bored me.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <od6jss$7un$1...@dont-email.me>,

"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

It got me to read The Untouchables book which they had in our college
library, which would later get me to hate The Untouchables movie which
had no basis in reality, and, more importantly, the reality was much
more interesting.

[Ubiquitous]

In article <od6jss$7un$1...@dont-email.me>, a...@chinet.com wrote:
>Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:

>>POLICE STORY:
>>Cops hunting Billy Boy, a kid who robs corner liquor stores and
>>shoots people. I could've sworn this show starred Angie Dickenson, or
>>perhaps she appears in a later season?
>
>She was in "The Gamble", which I always assumed was how she got cast
>as Pepper Anderson. Note that it's the same screenwriter.
>
>She was in a post-series "The Freeway Killings", which I don't recall.
>
>I'm sure I saw the episode you watched but I don't remember it.

Yeah, it wasn't particuarly interesting.

[Ubiquitous]

anim...@cox.net wrote:

>I watched enough of THE AWFUL ARROW to ascertain that Alexa Doig wasn't
>in it this week and erased the rest unwatched. Seriously, who cares if
>Ollie loses his job as Mayor? It's like watching Super-President.

Heh.
That sounds like an improvement!

>I found a beautiful new HD transfer of MUTANT X in 16:9 which
>unfortunately looks like they hard matted it, but what's left of the
>image looks great. But ... it's the same stupid sloppy mess I
>remembered. All these people doing Peter Pan wire work in empty
>shopping malls. They don't seem to be supposed to have hovering
>capabilities, so why are they floating into the air to kick people?
>Lauren Lee Smith isn't even cute in retrospect, and I can't believe
>Victor Garbor was ever that young. Sending an electric bolt into the
>ignition keyhole will *not* start the car. If it does start it won't
>keep running. If it does keep running, it sure as Hell won't work
>normally for the next guy with an actual key. I'd forgotten the bad guy
>was Andy Warhol with a removable face, and of course the good guy is Lex
>Luthor. Created by Avi Arad who presided over a decade of horrible
>Marvel crap before they finally got rid of hims and *bam* just like
>that, the product turned good. Hard to imagine that that was a
>coincidence. Now he does horrible stuff like The Netflix Tarzan and
>Jane. Anyway this is as bad as I remembered. Maybe I'll skip ahead to
>season 3 when it finally got good. Oh, and there are extras with stuff
>like an interview with the lady producer who sure knows her buzzwords ...

I used to like that show, as cheesy as it was.
If memory serves, the flying bits was the style at the time, like on Hercules
and Xena. Was it inspired and copied from "Crouching Dragon, Floating Tiger"?

[anim8rfsk]

In article <od5pq0$57k$5...@dont-email.me>,

Dunno. This was *way* more overt than Hercules and Xena. These people
were just levitating, and the guys on the ground should have taken a
couple steps back and easily avoided them ...

[Micky DuPree]

Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:

> On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:

>> THE MAGICIANS: Alice is back in one piece, but not very happy about
>> it.
>> I have no idea what happened to the creature that was inhabiting
>> her body; maybe it was killed?

I never had a good handle on where it came from in the first place. My
memory is that it's what happens when you channel too much energy: the
energy ends up channeling you instead. So when they reunited the form
of Alice with Alice's shade, the energy just got dissipated back into
the universe?

>> Quentin and Eliot had a great scene where they brought each other up
>> to speed on their various life events. Fillory got a new ruler and
>> it is revealed that the whole place is an intentional joke...

Or at least designed to be ungovernable.

>> ...which is a scary thought given how much power this other world has

>> over Earth. Meanwhile, the only way to see the fairies (and their

>> captives) is to get high. We had a character commit suicide after
>> their closest loved one is killed by another relative. We find out
>> what the relationship between Reynard and Persephone (Garcelle
>> Beauvais of FRANKLIN & BASH) is as Julia finally gets the chance to
>> kill him.

Without getting so much as a reassurance from Persephone that she could
and would control Reynard, it was irresponsible of Julia not to kill
him. He's going to go on doing what he's always done, and there isn't
exactly a court she can take him to or a prison that can hold him.

>> Penny makes it to the aptly named 'poison room' and gets the book.
>> We find out some major event is coming...but Penny didn't even pause
>> for a moment to consider that raiding The Poison Room might be what
>> sets the event in motion.

Yeah, but a person could scare themselves into absolute inactivity with
that kind of thinking.

>> Finally, Quentin and Eliot find the missing creator of Fillory. Next
>> week is the season finale.
>

> This was an OK episode.

I liked it a lot. Some of the young magicians stood up to the old
Russian and the trifling creator of Fillory. It's like they're the only
ones on both worlds willing to take responsibility for anything.


>> THE EXPANSE:
>> [....]
>> Naomi tries to rescue the civilian masses, but in a plotline that
>> didn't quite make sense she decides to let most of them die because
>> she cannot rely on her boyfriend (Captain Jim) to show up later and
>> lend her some air.

She had kind of cut him loose before, so no, she didn't count on him
returning. Even if his intentions were to return, it's not like any of
them could count on making it back in one piece in that kind of chaotic
environment. I was surprised, though, that once they reestablished
contact, she didn't at least ask the _Rocinante_ to take on some
refugees too.

>> Saved for later, the very special episode of UNDERGROUND starring
>> Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman.

Trying to catch up on this. This season is more psychologically complex
than the first, what with the escapees contemplating the extra (and
sometimes bitter) choices that come with freedom, and the abolitionists
starting to contemplate violence.

-Micky

[Micky DuPree]

Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:

> On 4/13/2017 6:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:

>> On 4/13/2017 8:52 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:

>>> On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:

>>>> Saved for later, the very special episode of UNDERGROUND starring
>>>> Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman.
>>>
>>> What is "Underground." I don't think I've seen it referenced
>>> before.
>>
>> It is a WGHNAmerica scripted series on the Underground Railroad.
>> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4522400/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
>> It is pretty good, though not to everyone's taste as it combines
>> racial issues with modern music with standard soapy drama.
>
> I should sample it but I probably won't.

It's better than anything currently on a broadcast network, and better
than a lot of the shows on cable. The first season kind of revolved
around a Georgia plantation. One of its slaves (Aldis Hodge, who
played Hardison on _Leverage_) plotted to escape and recruited help.
The brother (Marc Blucas) of the plantation owner (Reed Diamond) was an
abolitionist who got involved with the Underground Railroad.
Christopher Meloni played a slave catcher who was barely keeping
everything in his life together.

The anachronistic soundtrack doesn't bother me. It's not "sourced
music" (i.e., the 19th century characters aren't the ones doing the
rapping), and this is far from the first historical drama to do it.
Ennio Morricone used electric guitar in the Clint Eastwood spaghetti
westerns, if memory serves. No one complained then.

-Micky

[Obveeus]

On 4/26/2017 2:47 AM, Micky DuPree wrote:
> Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:
>
>> On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>>> THE MAGICIANS: Alice is back in one piece, but not very happy about
>>> it.
>>> I have no idea what happened to the creature that was inhabiting
>>> her body; maybe it was killed?
>
> I never had a good handle on where it came from in the first place. My
> memory is that it's what happens when you channel too much energy: the
> energy ends up channeling you instead. So when they reunited the form
> of Alice with Alice's shade, the energy just got dissipated back into
> the universe?

I think the logistics of it all don't hold up under scrutiny, especially
with Julia operating at a much closer to normal mode when she also was
without her shade.

>>> ...which is a scary thought given how much power this other world has
>>> over Earth. Meanwhile, the only way to see the fairies (and their
>>> captives) is to get high. We had a character commit suicide after
>>> their closest loved one is killed by another relative. We find out
>>> what the relationship between Reynard and Persephone (Garcelle
>>> Beauvais of FRANKLIN & BASH) is as Julia finally gets the chance to
>>> kill him.
>
> Without getting so much as a reassurance from Persephone that she could
> and would control Reynard, it was irresponsible of Julia not to kill
> him. He's going to go on doing what he's always done, and there isn't
> exactly a court she can take him to or a prison that can hold him.

I agree. He should have been killed. This bit of the episode very much
reminded me of the original STAR TREK episode The Squire of Gothos.

>>> THE EXPANSE:
>>> [....]
>>> Naomi tries to rescue the civilian masses, but in a plotline that
>>> didn't quite make sense she decides to let most of them die because
>>> she cannot rely on her boyfriend (Captain Jim) to show up later and
>>> lend her some air.
>
> She had kind of cut him loose before, so no, she didn't count on him
> returning. Even if his intentions were to return, it's not like any of
> them could count on making it back in one piece in that kind of chaotic
> environment.

Still, the choice is:
1. Believe he will/might return and save all (800 or so) of the colonists.
2. Believe he won't/can't return and kill 750 or so of the colonists up
front in order to avoid the possibility of all 800 or so of them dying
at a later date.

I found it rather un-heroic / un-human, etc... that they went with
choice #2 right of the bat.

> I was surprised, though, that once they reestablished
> contact, she didn't at least ask the _Rocinante_ to take on some
> refugees too.

By then they were up in space and a return trip to the surface would
have likely coaxed further actions from one or both of the armadas
preparing for war.

[Obveeus]

On 4/26/2017 3:19 AM, Micky DuPree wrote:
> Arthur Lipscomb <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:
>
>> On 4/13/2017 6:01 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>>> On 4/13/2017 8:52 AM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
>
>>>> On 4/13/2017 4:54 AM, Obveeus wrote:
>
>>>>> Saved for later, the very special episode of UNDERGROUND starring
>>>>> Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman.
>>>>
>>>> What is "Underground." I don't think I've seen it referenced
>>>> before.
>>>
>>> It is a WGHNAmerica scripted series on the Underground Railroad.
>>> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4522400/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
>>> It is pretty good, though not to everyone's taste as it combines
>>> racial issues with modern music with standard soapy drama.
>>
>> I should sample it but I probably won't.
>
> It's better than anything currently on a broadcast network, and better
> than a lot of the shows on cable.

...and yet OUTSIDERS is a much better show on WGNAmerica.

> The first season kind of revolved
> around a Georgia plantation. One of its slaves (Aldis Hodge, who
> played Hardison on _Leverage_) plotted to escape and recruited help.
> The brother (Marc Blucas) of the plantation owner (Reed Diamond) was an
> abolitionist who got involved with the Underground Railroad.
> Christopher Meloni played a slave catcher who was barely keeping
> everything in his life together.

I think the second season was much improved by the death of a certain
character, even if that has imploded the ratings.