Great Googely Moogely

I just love saying that, cuz I'm a freak like that. So Hell's Kitchen wrapped up last night and I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy that Rock won it. He deserved it thoroughly and I think he'll make an awesome head chef at GVR in Vegas. I might make a trip there just so I can taste his handywork. The other thing I have to blog about, cuz I haven't in the past....

The 4400 - This is a Sci-Fi channel show that sadly, airs about a season late here in Canada on the Space Channel (which is just funny considering that it's shot in Vancouver). I rented seasons 1 and 2 on DVD and fell in love with it. The characters are pretty cool and fairly believable, and the story line has unique elements. The basic storyline is that 4400 people had been abducted throughout history up until 2002 by people from the future. In 2004, all these abductees are suddenly dropped in the middle of a lake in Seattle. None of them have any recollection of where they were and have no concept that time has passed since their abductions. More interestingly, all these ones who've returned now have various superhuman abilities. Now the US military and Homeland Security are charged with the responsibility of keeping track of these 'special' people and helping them remember why they were sent back.

A taste of the cast, you say? Why certainly! Okay, here's the main course of the show, there's an array of interesting side characters as well, but there's only so much blog space and time, ya know?

Maia (Rutledge) Skouris - played by Conchita Campbell

She is believed to be the first 4400 to be abducted back in like 1920 or something. She's supposed to be over 100 years old, her parents died decades ago, but she still remains a young girl. She seemed like your typical, sweet little girl - that is until she can fortell when your going to die and which cemetary you'll be buried in. Yep, she's got the power of clairvoyance, a pretty heavy responsibility for a tween. But she learned to keep her 'visions' (which she keeps written in a notebook she keeps under her pillow) mostly to herself and won the heart of NTAC agent and 4400 sympathetic Diana Skouris, who wound up being adopting her. Maia's character is still developing for the most part, but I have a feeling that once she enters her teens that her power and her wilingness to use it are going to change a lot.

Shawn Farrell - played by Patrick Fleuger

K first of, yum. Patrick is oh so tasty. But I digress... 2001, Shawn Farrell was just your typical teenager, hanging out at the cabin with his equally hot cousin Kyle, drinking some stolen beer. The worst he thought could happen was that a park ranger caught them imbibing. But no, fate had other plans. The sky opened up, and strange, tentacly light came down and tried to steal Kyle away. But Shawn wasn't having it. He pushed his cousin out of the way to save him, sacrificing himself instead. Fast forward two years, he's back, and his cousin has been in a coma since the night he disappeared - and his uncle blames him for it. Life has changed dramatically for poor Shawn, his little brother isn't so little anymore, the girl next door that used to bug him is now a full blown hottie, and he's now a 20 year old high school student. Oh yeah, and he has this new ability to heal people of just about anything. That is, until you piss him off, then he can do the reverse and suck the life out of you. Shawn uses his ability to pull Kyle out of a coma, but he still just can't seem to fit into the world thats passed him by. After a naughty incident of sleeping with his little bro's GF, he runs off to hide under Jordan Collier's coat tail - but we'll get to him later. All in all, Shawn seems to have one of the most influencial powers of all, but will he ever discover what he's really supposed to do with it?

Kyle Baldwin - played by Chad Faust

Woot! For hot Canuck actors. Chad is a tasty morsel, especially when he's all built like - ahem. Kyle. The story for he and Shawn's the same in the beginning, but his story went a bit weird after Shawn brought him back from comatown. He wasn't really back, that is, his body was awake and stuff, but the real Kyle was still sleeping as it were. It took a while, but the 'possessed' Kyle finally figured out how to get out of Kyle's head and back to the future. We find out that it really was Kyle that was meant to be abducted that night, but they took Shawn instead. But since the abducting process had been interrupted, the consciousness of some future dude had been stuck in Kyle. Confusing? You betcha. Anyhow, fast forward a year later, Kyle is again taken over by someone, this one wanting to take out Jordan Collier (I really am getting to him, I swear). He suceeds, and almost ends up serving a lifetime in prison - that is until the person he supposedly kills reappears. There seems to more to in store for Kyle that we can see, but for now, he's kinda just a whiny sidekick at the moment who needs a girlfriend already.

Diana Skouris - played by Jacqueline McKenzie

She's supabad with an NTAC badge and a gun! Well, she is now, she started out as a research buff but since the 4400 landed, she's been all about the action baby! Ahem... Indeed, Diana's life was a quiet one until the day the 4400 reappeard and she was partnered with Tom Baldwin, and MIA NTAC agent who suddenly returned to the force (watch the show for the ulterior motives here). There isn't a whole lot to say about Diana, she's a lady with brains, beauty and who's heart opened up to a 100 year old tween named Maia. I personally think that she and Tom Baldwin are gonna get freaky one day, but for now, she's all about keeping her daughter safe and being the best NTAC agent she can be.

Tom Baldwin - played by Joel Gretsch

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. Where to begin? Okay, short story, he was an NTAC agent who dropped off the radar when he suddenly lost his son to a coma. Suspicion flared when his nephew went missing at the same time. Enter 4400. Now he thinks his nephew tried to hurt his baby. After some time (and Shawn's healing hands fix Kyle) Tom decides to work for NTAC again to try and find out what happened that fateful night. He's ruff, he's tumble and he's smart. But most importantly, he's a dad. He may end up having very significant role to play in this whole story yet, but for now, he's our designated "Moulder" to Skouris' "Scully".

Lily (Moore) Tyler - played by Laura Allen

Soap star gone sci-fi? Never happens right? Oh, contraire. Lily Moore was abducted when her little daughter was just a year old. She's the spitting image of her deceased grandmother she's namesaked for. When she returns, she thinks she'll be able to return to her life as it had been 11 years earlier, with her husband and child, happily ever after. But she soon learns bitter truth, that her husband has long remarried and that her daughter believes her stepmother to be her real mother. Shattered by her ex husbands cold reception, she finds comfort in Richard, who has also lost all the family he had. Richard has slightly ulterior motives, though, as Lily reminds him of her grandmother - whom he'd been deeply in love with fourty years ealier. Then, as if life didn't suck enough, she finds out that she's pregnant - but more importantly, that she became so during her abduction. But luck steps in, and Richard decides that he'll shoulder the responsibility of being the baby's father and marries Lily. Things should have been ideal after all of this, but Lily soon discovers that this is no normal baby that she carries; that it contains powers that she'd never dreamed of. And once her new daughter is born (whom they named Isabelle), she realizes that the future gave her alot more than she bargained for. She was taken out of hte storyline early in season three, but I'm hoping that they'll figure out a way to bring her back.

Richard Tyler - played by Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (try saying that 3x fast)

1960's. One black soldier. A picture of he and his white girlfriend sharing a kiss. A practically all white red-neck base camp in Vietnam. Was being abducted all that bad? Not for Richard. His story began when he was nearly beaten senseless by his 'fellow' comrads when they discovered his unconventional relationship. When he reappeared nearly 40 years later, the world had changed more than he was ready to accept. His family now all gone, and the love of his life a distant memory, he figures he has nothing left. That is until he thinks he's seen his long, lost love again. Only its not her. Its her granddaughter who bears a creepy doppleganger resemblance and the same name as her grandmother - Lily. (Yeah, the writers didn't really get too imaginitive with this one) But he finds love again with his former love's grandkid (no matter how you say it, its just icky) and they soon find out that she's pregnant. Richard takes on the responsibility of fatherhood, and coincidentally, the kid turns out to be biracial, so its all good. But Richard gets far more than he bargained for with his little girl Isabelle. Richard doesn't seem to have any powers at first, but after spending some time away from NTAC - turns out they were giving him and many of the other 4400's drugs to inhibit their abilities - he discovers he's a telekinetic. He bowed out for a while after season three, but is now back and badder than ever. It will be interesting to see how it now fits into the story

Isabelle Tyler - played by Megalyn Echikunwoke

Ah, Isabelle. She so pwetty. She's a mystery indeed. Well lets see, Isabelle came onto the scene in season two, her parents (Lily & Richard Tyler), two 4400's that were on the run from NTAC (NTAC required that all 4400 register weekly, but they weren't having it). She seemed to be the perfect little baby until she destroyed a toy shoppe when a crazy backwoods bible thumper threatened her mother. Oh and then killed said thumper and his two inbred sons. All of that before the age of one. Not shabby. Well, all that killing made her realize that being all small and helpless just wouldn't do. By some weird voodoo, she grew up overnight - literally - somehow sucking the life out of her mother in the process. Suddenly, she was a twenty year old woman, with the emotional maturity of a baby. Sexy, huh? Speaking of sex, she decided to have it with Shawn (not that I blame her there, yummy) because it was on a list of things she felt she had to do to become an adult. Enter creepy advisor. Suddenly some assistant of Collier's is a personal advisor to Izzy, and he tells her that she was sent there to kill all the 4400's. Isabelle doesn't want to believe it, as this would mean killing her father and the new love of her life. So she kills said advisor, but this doesn't stop the naughty. Her powers are stronger than any of the 4400's, and she doesn't seem to be affected by any of the modern weapons. She tries to force Shawn to marry her, and he runs away. She then decides to take out any an all 4400's that tick her off... or just happen to be standing there. But things take a drastic turn for her at the end of season three, and it will be interesting to see how she copes.

Jordan Collier - played by Bill Campbell

This is a very interesting, multi-sided character. He starts out as a self absorbed, distant millionaire that abducted in his prime. He decides to use his money to create a haven for all 4400's that want it, with the ulterior motive of being able to control them. But then he gets greedy and tries to kidnap the Tyler's (in an effort to secure baby Isabelle for himself) and Isabelle cleans his clock from inside the womb. You'd think this would change him, but...Fast forward a year later. He's in the process of trying to steal Isabelles power when he's assassinated, kinda. He's shot, dies, abducted again, and returned. Except now he thinks he's some kind of Messiah. Its way complicated. He's just too complex to sum up here, you just need to watch the show.

The show's kind of like a cross between the X-Files and Smallville, but not nearly as campy. The cast is relatively unknown, with the exception of Billy Campbell, whose been in a host of TV shows and made-for-tv movies. But its good summer fun, since most of the other shows are a-goner till September. My life is now movies and WoW. Shut up, your jealous :-/

Oh, on a movie note - Saw Stardust on Friday, and it was amazing! I'll do a review later.

Alright, back to working - well focusing on it better anyways

~RP Out~

P.S. I don't own Sci-fi or anything associated with it, so please don't sue me.

I'm Baa-aaaaaaaaack

That's right. Its only been another hundred years or so. Too bad, I've been busy. New job, new digs, new look, its been alot of new. But all for the better though, so hope to be back here more often.

So back to the usual update of whats happened since I last blogged (other than another ice age):

1) Benjelle - Donny's engaged! I'm still not the biggest fan of her other half, but she seemed squee-di-lumptious about her affiancing, so I'm happy for her too. All the best, my lil dancing Diva! And as for Benji, he's pretty much stalking the SYTYCD studios between guest choreographing and cheering on his lil sis. God help us if another Schwimmer wins.

2) AI6 - Nikki won, which is pretty cool I guess, I still think that Melinda got shanked big time, but I think she's made enough of an impression to make it even bigger than AI ever could have. Don't get me wrong though, Nikki is a bucket of talent too and I wish her all the best...I'm just not going to buy her album if you know what I'm sezzin'

3) HELL'S KITCHEN - OMFG I love this show! I got hooked last season and this season has been just as great. Ramsay is on his usual warpath against inept, overconfident, spaghetti-burning wannabe chefs everywhere! My fave chef this season has got to be the timid but determined 'wafflehouse cook' Julia. She was so mature and good natured, and Gordon loved her. She was sent to the slaughter by her own team though, the giggle twins refused to be separated. But its all good, Julia's going to culinary school and Rock is gonna win it just cuz I want to shove Bonnie's face in the hot pan that she continues to set afire.

4) TRANSFORMERS - More than meets the eye! Robots in disguise!!! Oh. My. God. Seriously. Its the best movie I've seen in years. I loved every minute of it. I saw it three times. I loved it!! Shia Labeouf - I'm in love, ok? The plot was as believable as you can make it for a film of this kind, the special effects were so seamless that I found myself half expecting cars to get up and start breakdancing in front of me when I left the theatre. The acting was great, with the exception of the teen ditz queen they put in the movie, clearly for no other reason than to wash the cars in a bikini (and no, that doesn't actually happen in the movie, for those who haven't seen it) But I wholeheartedly give it 10/10, a must see this year whether it be in theatre or on DVD.

6) SHIA LABEOUF- He's just so damned cute that he deserves his own number *squee*

7) HARRY POTTER (Movie) - Wow. No really. Wow. I went to the theatre expecting the same kind of corny, teen soap we saw last movie, and was completely taken aback. This new director - must be kept. He's doing movie 6 and I can't wait. This movie still had the essential elements that make all things Potter magical, but he finally cut the umbilical cord of cheesiness that has nearly strangled the older movies. This film at last takes Harry and his friends out of the domain of 'children' and puts them where they should be, in the crazy, confusing, exciting, horrific and quite frequently frightening world of teenagers. I won't spoil it for the 5 people out there who have yet to see the film, but the ending fight scene is da shiznit.

8) HARRY POTTER 7 (book) - Wow squared. JKR knows how to end things with a bang, which this book certainly did. This is not a book for those who merely scan the pages or just glance. Many little tidbits that were dropped in earlier books that may have seemed insignificant at the time come to a head in this book, helping to shape the story and explain many a mystery. I was an action packed book, no chapters that simply lulled on about non important things. Every chapter, place, person, object and interaction mentioned in this book has deep and significant meaning, and this may make it the hardest to digest for the younger readers. But it was a feast for the imagination for us avid readers and in my opinion, well worth the wait. WTG Jo.

9) PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DMC & WE - Both were pretty good. A few anti-climactic moments, but on the whole, who can say that two hours with Johnny Depp isn't a good use of time? Side note - Emo Orlando is uber seksy.

10) Spiderman 3 - *sigh* I had such high hopes...and they were barely - nah, I can't pretend. It was crap. Not quite utter crap, but pretty damn close. Emo Peter Parker is an even bigger loser than nerdy Petey ever was. Mary Jane is more annoying than words can say. Venom - I can't even go into how disappointed I was on how they played that out. The only highlights in the two hours I forced myself to stay seated were James Franco, lookin' all cool and actually pulling off a decent performance, the dude who plays Mr. Jameson, cuz he's just funny, and the ever lovable Topher Grace, who though entertaining, wasn't the right pick for Eddie Brock. Its worth a looksie since the special effects are pretty sweet, but other than that, pass.

Geez, alots happened since I last blogged, guess time doesnt' stand still when I'm not here. Some really cool things to look forward to for the rest of the summer though, a few more cool movies, more warm weather and hopefully a line up of some cool new shows next season. I can't wait to see the new spin-off of Grey's, the preview was too cute and I love Addison. I may even stop watching Greys just to support it - yeh, riiiight.

Well, I guess that's it for now, gotta go do something, you know, productive