Puntabulous

So I finished the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer last night. Man is it sooo good! My favorite episodes of the season were The Wish and Doppelgangland for the sole fact that there was evil vampire Willow. (“I’m so evil and skanky… and I think I’m kinda gay.”) Other favorite moments were the Christmas episode where it started snowing, the end music montage at the end of Lovers Walk when everyone broke up, and the Prom episode where Buffy got the Class Protector award. Tear!

I also enjoyed the Faith and Mayor season arcs. I’m glad Faith remained ambiguous through the end. It left me feeling that she was genuinely a good person, just conflicted, without hitting me over the head with an over the top redemption scene. And the germaphobic Mayor was just genius. And boy do they really know how to pull out the stops for the season finale unlike some other shows I know! (coughHeroescough) The fight scene between Buffy and Faith was so exciting and well choreographed. You can tell they really want to make the finale special, rather than just making it another fight scene. And the students banding together at the graduation was really fun too.

I thought I’d be more upset about Angel leaving, but I’m actually pretty okay with it. Go start your own show Angel! Your services are no longer required. I used to switch TV shows between seasons, but I’ve changed that philosophy and have decided to concentrate on Buffy this summer. With any luck I’ll be done with the series in a month or so!

*No money was made during the making of this taste test.

In the great tradition of Battlestar Galactica (One, Two, Three) and Star Trek LOL Cats I gladly present Torchwood LOL Cats!

It’s awkward talking about dating with Mom, but I have to give her props for taking an interest and being the one to initiate the conversations, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. After three recent dating failures of varying degrees of fail, Mom just couldn’t wrap her mind around people not wanting to date me. I tried to tell her it’s because I’m pretty boring, which she was not willing to accept. Aw, shucks Mom! “But you have a great job!” she exclaimed. Which is funny because it’s just so telling what moms look for in potential suitors for their children. As if to say “You didn’t bring up your 401K on your date? Why not?!”

But besides a few good one liners, I’m not the most exciting date in town. I’m the Cyclops to other guys Wolverine. Minus the cool mutant powers, which makes me even more boring than Cyclops and I bet you didn’t even think that was possible. I’m the Richard to their Superman. The Lon to their Noah. (Geez, poor James Marsden.) My point is, I like to be in bed early during the week, I enjoy playing Scrabble with my parents, and I look terrible in spandex. Thrilling my life is not.

After I was able to convince Mom that I was possibly not the most exciting guy around, she said that maybe I’d make a good second husband. Like, after they marry the exciting boys and get divorced (obviously, because exciting boys will always let you down. I mean, you saw the Wolverine spin-off movie, didn’t you?) they will be more willing to accept the boring guy who likes to get into his pajamas the minute he gets home from work. So basically what I’m trying to tell you, is that you need to get married, have your heart broken, and allow me to swoop in and pick up the pieces of your shattered self. Is that too much to ask? And make it snappy cause I’m not getting any younger.

So I finished Star Trek: Countdown in a day. It was a short breezy graphic novel that connects the dots between Star Trek: Nemesis and the new Star Trek movie. While not a terrible read, it wasn’t particularly good either, and certainly not worth the $17.99 asking price. It was fun to see members of The Next Generation crew again, but we didn’t learn anything we didn’t already know, besides one or two “Anakin built C-3PO” moments that were a bit too far fetched for my taste, and only appeared to be done because it would be cool, rather than feasible or add to the story. The artwork was flat and uninteresting and there was hardly any action whatsoever. Honestly the best part of the book, and the only one that got an emotional response from me was the afterward, written by the new Star Trek screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who also created the story for this graphic novel:

The notion that we’d be called to serve Star Trek is something we never dared dream. This book has had particular meaning to us in that we fell in love with Star Trek through the characters of The Next Generation. The longest summer of our lives was waiting to find out how Captain Riker and the amazing crew of the Enterprise were going to defeat their former Captain, Jean-Luc Picard after his transformation into Locutus of Borg.

We don’t expect to ever feel the same level of anticipation again, but perhaps we can create some for new fans. That is the intention of this book… to take a ride with a beloved crew that no one believed would ever match the original and to pay homage to their stewardship of a thing called Star Trek. Their journey now takes us back to the beginning.

I think it affected me so much since I hope to someday get called into action in a similar fashion. Perhaps to reboot the Star Wars franchise from the dark wretched depths of awfulness? Of course that would depend on whether or not I’m too busy building my own franchise with Super Viagra and Vagina Girl.

For more Adventures of Super Viagra and Vagina Girl CLICK HERE!

So I finished Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast Aaron Allston today. While not the flat out disappointment that the last few have been, it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been. I mean, the premise for a great book was all there. The Galactic (I originally wrote Galactica, oh BSG how I miss you!) Alliance holds the Jedi Order responsible for the turning of Jacen Solo and all the destruction he caused, so Luke Skywalker is exiled and each of the Jedi are now shadowed by government officials. Interesting! Luke and Ben Skywalker use their exiled time to track down the places Jacen visited for the five years he went exploring before turning to the Dark Side. Also interesting!

But did all of this amount to an interesting read? Heck no. Luke and Ben spend most of their time on the boringest planet imaginable, investigating a mystery that I couldn’t care less about, that leads up to absolutely nothing. Han and Leia are given the most obscure (and boring!) side story for the sole reason of having nothing else for them to do. Hey writers, if you have nothing for your characters to do, don’t include them! Your readers could handle a Star Wars book without Han and Leia. They haven’t been interesting since the Yuuzhan Vong invasion anyway! The only interesting storyline (which was only interesting because it was the only one that included some action) was about Jaina and Jag (the only two interesting characters left in the series since they insist on killing off all the good ones for emotional impact) trying to break out a prisoner from Galactic Alliance custody.

The problem that I’m having with the Star Wars Expanded Universe lately is that the writers are so insistent upon giving Luke, Han, and Leia starring roles. And while as a non-reader, you may think that statement is blasphemous, if you read The New Jedi Order series, you would know how right I was. It was the NEW JEDI ORDER series. It passed the Star Wars torch onto a new generation of interesting and exciting characters. But with the Legacy of the Force series, they reverted back to the same characters who have run their course. They need to leave the older generation back at the Jedi Temple and let the new characters grow and expand the way they did in The New Jedi Order. Otherwise they’re gonna end up with a series full of stale 80 year old characters, and no readers.

Next up is the graphic novel Star Trek: Countdown, which connects the events of Star Trek: Nemesis with the latest Star Trek movie.

What is Oscar buzz? Where does it come from? Who is to decide who gets it and who doesn’t? Every summer there is inevitably a summer blockbuster movie that garners Oscar buzz even though it is far from the typical Oscar fare. People thought Christopher Nolan would get nominated for Best Director, or that Wall-E would get nominated for Best Picture. But these nominations didn’t happen. Oh yes, some of the blockbusters manage to get a token nomination. Heath Ledger had Oscar buzz even before he passed away and The Dark Knight came out in theaters. But these incidences are few and far between.

So far, none of the Summer movies this year have generated any false hope Oscar buzz. Well maybe Up, but it’s pretty much a given that it won’t be nominated for Best Picture, but will win Best Animated Feature. I mean, how could Wolverine not be generating Best Picture buzz? It’s a travesty! I kid, I kid. But let’s face it, Oscar buzz comes out of nowhere. It’s like this made up thing that the studios create to collect even more buzz for their movie. But they don’t really care about the nomination itself, they just want the buzz to boost ticket sales.

Well screw them!

I say we should grab the bull by the horns and create some buzz ourselves. The person I elect to generate Oscar buzz for is Leonard Nimoy. Did you hear they’re already talking about nominating him for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Spock in Star Trek? No? That’s because they’re not. I’ve searched the internet high and low and nowhere has anyone even dared mention that he should get nominated for an Oscar. Is it because he’s undeserving? Or is it because the Hollywood media hasn’t told us there was buzz for him?

So what we need to do is start putting this idea out into the world. If you have a blog, do a post about it. If you’re talking about movies with your friends, throw in the possibility of Leonard Nimoy getting an Oscar nomination. If people don’t believe you, you can tell them you heard about it on a big time Hollywood website. I mean, if Hollywood says it’s buzz, it’s buzz, right?

But I’m not just doing this to make some statement against Hollywood or the buzz creating machine. I really do think Leonard Nimoy should get nominated and if we build up enough buzz, the thought may enter the social atmosphere and the minds of those ridiculous Academy voters. Here are some reasons why I think an Oscar nomination is not only deserving, but possible:

Leonard Nimoy IS Star Trek: He may never have had first billing, but Leonard Nimoy is the epitome of Star Trek. The hand salute that he devised himself has become a symbol of the franchise to the point where the entire cast of Star Trek gives the salute at red carpet events, regardless of never playing Spock themselves:

Shouldn’t the man responsible for creating and carrying the franchise trademark all these years get the most Academy recognition when it comes roaring back to life on the big screen? Everyone I talked to is ecstatic about Leonard’s involvement and performance in the latest Star Trek movie. Of anyone they could have brought back, Leonard Nimoy was the man for the job. And who’s favorite line isn’t: “Since my customary farewell would appear oddly self-serving, I shall simply say good luck.”

A Short and Sweet Performance: The Academy loves these types of performances! The shortest performance time to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar was for Anthony Quinn for about nine minutes as Paul Gaugin in Lust for Life. Judi Dench won an Academy Award for about ten minutes of screen time as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love. Hell, Anthony Hopkins won Best (NOT SUPPORTING) Actor for his role as Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs with a mere sixteen minutes on screen. And you can’t tell me Leonard Nimoy’s performance wasn’t as good as Alan Arkin’s in Little Miss Sunshine. I mean, did Alan win just because grandpa was a heroin addict and that’s supposedly edgy? Come on! Just like these previous winners, Leonard Nimoy made the most out his limited screen time and gave us all the wise Vulcan we’ve known and loved all these years, but in a way that is relevant and exciting in this new generation.

You may just say that those nominations only happened because these people were highly regarded in Hollywood and in the Academy. So that’s why I present the following point:

Street Credibility: Everyone knows the Academy likes to stick with the same usual suspects. James Spader, anyone? How about anything directed by Clint Eastwood? Well did you know that Leonard Nimoy was nominated for an Emmy every season of the original Star Trek series? The Academy loves him! They just haven’t had enough reason to nominate him for something lately. Now’s their chance!

The Sentimental Nomination: And lastly, I pull out my final card. It’s a bit of a last resort sucker punch, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Was The Departed really Martin Scorsese’s best job directing? Or was it just because the poor man was let down so many times in the past? Let’s face it, Leonard Nimoy is 78 years old. How incredible would it be to give him his first Oscar nomination so far into his career? It’s exactly the type of stories Hollywood loves! I know I’d need a tissue box on Oscar night!

So what do you think? It can totally happen, right? Well I can’t make this buzz strong enough on my own though. I need your help to put the word out there. Start blogging about the possibility and get the word out there, and together we can make this happen.

For more Adventures of Super Viagra and Vagina Girl CLICK HERE!

Okay, so you would have gotten the next installment of Super Viagra and Vagina Girl today (I had over 20 of the panels competed!) but Dad got a margarita maker for Father’s Day, and you know how that goes. So instead you have a review of the movie me and Michelle saw this weekend — Up. It was so good! But man, oh man, was it heavy! I was pretty much crying the entire time starting from the amazing and adorable pre-movie short Partly Cloudy, to the end credits. Michelle compared it to The Notebook and I couldn’t agree more!

What are they trying to do to us? More importantly, what are they trying to do this generation of kids! The girl behind us was hysterical crying for about 75% of the movie before her Mom (finally!) took her out of the theater. You know how kids movies have scary moments that last for about 30 seconds before they start throwing pies in faces again? Well these scary moments were lasting for 15 minute stretches! But just because it was sad doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, silly, and adventurous just like other Pixar movies because it certainly was.

But have I mentioned how sad it was?

I was trying to think of other tragic movie moments in children’s movies (the cliché being Bambi’s mom) and I have to say, I think the most tragic for me was the Swamps of Sadness scene in The Neverending Story. “Come on Artax! Don’t let the swamps get you down boy! Artax! Artaaaax!” Seriously, that was ridiculously sad. Or maybe it was when they killed Optimus Prime. I still haven’t gotten over that one. Now I know it was just to sell more toys, but that doesn’t ease the pain, in fact, it might even make it worse. What’s your saddest children’s movie memory?

Oh, and as a final note, this is the first post written on my shiny new 13″ MacBook Pro. Yup, that’s right, I’m a Mac user now! It’s a good thing I’m so superficial because right now I absolutely love it — solely for the fact that it’s so shiny and pretty — even though I have no idea how to use it. It took me about 20 minutes to make the top header you see there. And why does my delete key think it’s a backspace? This is gonna take some serious getting used to.