This is not Showtime Championship Boxing

Morena Baccarin

This is Morena Baccarin from Homeland.

That's all you need to know.

Okay, not really.

I've just now started watching this series via my AT&T Uverse OnDemand and/or Netflix. I think I'm around episode eight or nine in season two.

It's a good show although occasionally far-fetched in some situations. I mean it's good enough to keep my attention so I'll watch it until the end.

Spartacus: Vengeance (a Starz original series)

Spartacus: Vengeance. I just finished watching the final episode of this series and I feel empty. I feel like I want to continue the series now and not wait until whatever comes next!

Overall I think this chapter of the series was pretty good. I'm addicted to the complete series so far but sometimes I wish they were consistent with the "reality" of war. There were times where I was like "WTF?" and others when I was like "What BS!" A few things in particular irritated me.

First, I have no idea how Ashur is still alive after the first "Blood and Sand" since "Gods of the Arena" was technically a prequel. He was a sneaky, wounded weakling of the House of Batiatus' ludus in "Sand" and didn't do much fighting in or out of the colosseum during "Arena" as a gladiator or anything else. Then in "Vengeance," he become this force to be reckoned with in the art of fighting. How many times he had "almost died" moments and others when he was kicking ass and taking names of not only Roman soldiers but some of Spartacus' army. To that I say, "Bull-fucking-shit!" He's a mouse...keep him as such. [Spoiler alert!]: I'm glad Ashur finally got his head removed, literally, but it was too damn late to finally happen in episode 10.

Second, the consistency of how quickly someone is killed by a sword one time versus someone else another is lacking. I mean how many times have we seen Spartacus, Crixus or one of the other "free" slaves slice a Roman soldier through their armor through their gut and they are near dead or dead afterwards. But then certain characters last a little longer when the same style of slicing and dicing is used on them. For instance, Crixus was captured and was to fight for his life (and ultimate death) in the arena. He is sliced and looks like stabbed a few times where you think he is a goner but then Spartacus and his crew show up to rescue him. Crixus fights his way out of the arena on his own two feet...miraculously recovered/cured. There's another scene in episode 8 or 9 where there's this Egyptian hired hand working with the Romans who survives such a strike...twice. First, Oenomaus/Doctore is fighting the Egyptian and he slices and dices this guy pretty well. As he should, because he's a former gladiator and trainer of winning gladiators such as Gannicus, Crixus and Spartacus. All of a sudden the Egyptian fights back and stabs Oenomaus in the hand then follows through to push the knife to his eye. Oenomaus doesn't die but he is now wounded. A few weeks pass and we're in episode 10. The final all-out-attack on the Roman camp by Spartacus' army. Oenomaus and the Egyptian meet again. Oenomaus once again does well against the Egyptian. Some scenes later and the Egyptian impales Oenomaus in the gut with a sword. Gannicus rages. Gannicus slices the Egyptian in the abdomen, he's not wearing armor, and the Egyptian is still able to fight back strong enough. Again, this is not consistent with when they slice and dice the Roman soldiers through their armor and they are totally/mostly incapacitated. I'm just asking for some consistency.

Thirdly, more spoiler alerts: Mira is killed near the beginning of episode 10. She's impaled by a battle axe thrown by one of the Roman soldiers during a failed attempt by some not-so-smart members of Spartacus' merry men...and women. Before her death, she's learned to use a bow fairly well. The consistency falters when she can hit some guys in whatever place she choses in other scenes with no problem but then others she mishits in an arm or overshoots or some shit like that. She supposedly has fairly good eyesight because she's warned many of the army of people about to attack but somehow she missed the big, fucking battle axe that is thrown at Spartacus. Spartacus dodges out of the way just in time to see it impale Mira in the upper left chest to shoulder area. That's gotta suck!

Anyway, I obviously overlooked things like these because I watched the entire series and the other two. It's just, damn, I wish sometimes the content editors would do their freaking job!

For some reason, I feel like Liam McIntyre/Spartacus is not masculine/manly/battle-torn enough to come across as a true gladiator compared to Andy Whitfield/Spartacus. Maybe it's because Andy was first but who knows.

Anyhow, I recommend the series purely for the graphic nature of the storytelling.

Repo Games on Spike TV

While channel surfing, I saw a show advertised the other day called Repo Games on Spike TV. You can read the wiki here.

Without going into too much detail because you can click on the above links, the show is about two real-life repo men (pictured below) that go to repo vehicles but give the vehicle "owners" a chance to win their car back scott free if they answer 3 out of 5 trivia questions. From the one episode I watched, the questions aren't the hardest but the answers also aren't easily known to the type of dipshits that are getting their vehicles repossessed.

I thought the show looked interesting from the previews but when I watched an actual episode I felt like it was staged...very staged. Maybe the "contestants" truly are surprised, perplexed or whatever but I just got the feeling like I was being duped on the "reality" of it all. It is an interesting idea but I don't think it's going to last very long.

Before typing this, I did a Google for the show and it seems that it's more realistic than I thought or what is portrayed in the episodes (the one I saw anyway). An article here mentions how the cast was shot at while filming but it wasn't from the person whose vehicle they were repossessing.

I doubt that I will watch another episode as my TV-watching is already pretty full these days but I did give it a chance. That's just the way I am.

Why I don't pay for "premium" movie channels on satellite/cable

Because I've been such a great DirecTV customer, they have given me three months of Showtime for free. Now, I don't mind watching movies for free but going through my menu/guide on my DirecTV shows me why I refuse to pay for these "premium" channels.

HBO

• Chinatown (1974)
• McHale's Navy (1997)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

CINEMAX

• Men in Black II (2002)

STARZ

• Daddy Day Care (2003)

ENCORE

• The Great Outdoors (1988)
• Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
• Boyz N the Hood (1991)
• Fair Game (1995)
• The Sandlot (1993)

SHOWTIME

• The Rock (1996)
• Transsiberian (2008)

I think you get the point. These are the list of shows on the different channels of each "premium" channel at the exact time I was browsing.

Why would I want to pay $20, $10 or even $5 to watch movies that (1) I've probably already seen or (2) have no want to see in the first place when they came out 2-10 years or more ago!?

Shawn and Gus bobblehead

Saw this over at the USA Network Store.

I love Pysch. I've been TiVo-ing and watching it since the beginning. It stirs a lot of memories for me. I love the references to 80s music and times. Shawn and Gus must be close outside of the show because you can't fake that kind of bond no matter how good of an actor you may be.

I used to have a very good best friend like that. In fact, I had two. I miss that connection. It's fun to have someone to share wavelengths with.

Now, I share that with my wife. She's a pretty happening babe. It's not exactly like having a "dude" but she makes a great substitution as a "dudette." The only problem is that I occasionally have to filter what I say or share with her compared to a dude. Otherwise, she'd probably call 911 on me because she would know the "full extent of the power of the dark side" or just how demented my thoughts can be. Only a fellow dude could understand that but not just any dude. It has to be the long-time-best-friend dude.

Reeling back in from Randomland...

Fraggle Rock

This is a little, okay a lot, late but I have been very busy! In fact, I originally saw this for sale back on June 24^th.

Anyway, Fraggle Rock, are you old enough to remember it or were you young enough to watch it? I was probably around 10 or 11 years old. I remember seeing it on cable. You know, the cable back in the day (Storer Cable it was called) where you had a push-button type box that had a three rows of numbers (pic). I would see this show come on, randomly to me as I never paid attention the exact day and time it would broadcast, and I couldn't turn the channel. It's like I was being mind-melded to watch the show if I caught a glimpse of it.

I thought it was an entertaining show. It was a step up in a sense from Sesame Street. The character stand-outs to me were Red and then the Doozers. I recall a few others but they don't stick out as much as these characters.

What reminded me of the show back in June was I saw a deal for the series on DVD (for sale here). I saved the link to post about it and then things got hectic.

I'm not sure if this is a show my kids would like to see as they are a few years older now than I was when I first saw the show. It could go either way really but it's not worth a $70 experiment.

For others, it might be some good nostalgia to reflect upon one's childhood memory.

Jimmy Neutron / The Tick

I don't know if you have had the chance to watch this show but it is pretty funny, even for adults. "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" has a particularly funny character named Sheen. Sheen is a ditzy, clueless good friend of Jimmy. The things they write for him to say are pretty funny. I can't help but let my simple mind make me laugh.

There was also this one show that I loved about 5-10 years ago maybe? Anyway, it was called "The Tick." I think they have it running on cartoon network or something like that now but I'm not sure if it's reruns or new episodes. Loved it though!