Adorkable Moment

Psych - Season 4, Episode 13 - Death Is In The Air

There’s a lot to love about this show; the ever-present pineapple, references to movies, music, pop culture, the 80’s, and so on.

But it’s the things I catch, and my wife doesn’t, that bring out my ‘adorkable’ moments.

When Shawn and Gus start talking about “Mister Dobalena, Mister Bob Dobalena” in this episode, I lost it laughing and she just stared at me. I had to explain.




It comes from the first line of a Monkees song off of their Headquarters album, (which I happened to own - on vinyl - as a kid, and probably still have around here somewhere) called Zilch. It is a beautiful, acapella song, and I thought I was the only person in the world who remembered it.

Plus, the album has extra-special, yummy, adorkable, geeky musical significance.

What’s the significance of this album you may ask? Well…

The Monkees had complete creative control - for the first time - on this album. They wrote most of the songs themselves, played their own instruments, decided which session musicians to include, and who they wanted to help them produce it. It was so good; when it was released on May 22, 1967, it was the number one album in this country…for one week.

Why only one week? Some fools calling themselves the Beatles released their next album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which stayed at #1 for the next eleven weeks.

That’s okay though, because Headquarters stayed at #2 for the same number of weeks.

Character Spotlight: Elektra

Every character deserves a Spotlight. A moment of appreciation, reflection, discussion…and in some cases rejection.

ELEKTRA

First of all, there’s something important many people have overlooked.

Elektra is the poster lady of the Retcon.

Frank Miller had her on the back burner, waiting for the opportunity to write her into Matt Murdock’s life, which was Daredevil #168 when Miller took over writing duties.

How did he do it? He brought her in as a professional assassin with a backstory where she and Matt met in college. Matt became totally infatuated with her and they had a great time until tragedy struck - her father was accidentally killed on campus during a political skirmish. She was so distraught over her father’s death that she decided to leave America. Matt begged her not to go, but she went anyway. Back in the present, Matt realizes what she’s become, and his greatest love is now the opposite of everything he stands for both as Daredevil, and as Matt Murdock Attorney At Law.

Retcons work when they add to a story or further a character’s development. Miller succeeded here. We learned more about Matt’s post-accident/pre-Daredevil days, and saw how deeply Elektra affected him. (Having been in a similar relationship myself, I completely buy the idea of losing oneself when around another person.) Miller made their relationship even stronger by connecting her to Stick, another important person in Matt’s life.

Elektra became all the more interesting when Miller killed her off after only thirteen mainstream appearances (including Bizarre Adventures #28).

Thirteen Appearances.

That was it. By Daredevil #181, she was dead. It was confirmed in #182 after Miller played with us the whole issue. We saw her corpse. Matt touched it. In What If? #35 (which Miller also wrote), Uatu even showed Matt what his life could have been like had Elektra lived.

But this is comics we’re talking about, and she was too good a character to leave dead.

Miller hadn’t planned on bringing her back, but thanks to fans asking for more, he did in Daredevil #190.

Do the math. She stayed dead fewer issues than she was alive.

The way she was brought back, though, was well within the scope of Elektra’s world. It wasn’t a dream, an alien (although that does happens later), or an alternate reality/timeline version of herself that wound up on Earth-616. The Hand resurrected Elektra to be their assassin, and Matt’s love and purity of heart cleansed her soul, allowing her to be ‘reborn’ (an overused word lately, but applicable here) with a new outlook on life. The last page showed her at peace, dressed in a white version of her red outfit; pure, strong, ready for what’s next.

What did happen next was a bunch of hooey.

Miller must not have known what to do with her, because outside of the occasional reference, we didn’t see her again until Elektra: Assassin…three years later.

With Elektra’s reappearance, I first noticed the visuals. I love Bill Sienkiewicz’s work and thought he should have stayed on New Mutants forever, but we had only seen Elektra as Miller drew her up to this point, and visually, a new look signifies a new direction for the character. That, in and of itself, is fine but…

…I was hoping for a great story involving Matt and Elektra reuniting and an epic battle against the Hand. Matt would realize that he wasn’t complete without her and Elektra would thank him for bringing her back. Instead, it was a story about government corruption, mind control, new powers - and no sign of Daredevil whatsoever.

Elektra: Assassin was a shark moment that I could have easily jumped over and not given a second thought to.

But Elektra went missing for three more years until Elektra Lives Again.

Being put off by Assassin I wasn’t about to try again. Elektra has been living on top of that mountain, and Matt has moved on with his life within the pages of Daredevil.

That’s good enough for me.

Human Target - Episode 3: Embassy Row

There are people out there complaining about Chance’s ability to speak several languages fluently. Mark Valley’s accents are off; the words spoken don’t make sense, yadda yadda yadda.

This is a television show based on a comic book, people. Yes, there should be some expected level of accuracy when it comes to plot and technology, languages and skills. But with any given form of weekly entertainment, sacrifices must be made in order to meet the weekly deadlines. It happens. Deal with it. Moving on…

Aaron and Danny are two brothers. One’s a journalist, the other a covert agent. Danny (the agent) is dying from a poison, and gives Aaron a number to call. It reaches Chance, who knew Danny, and knows Aaron is in trouble.

Chance learns that Danny was poisoned by Raven, a spy Danny was tracking. Danny knew Raven was going to attend a party at the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C., and had planned to go himself before he died.

The Problem:
Aaron has contracted the same poison that killed his brother, and Chance is his only hope of getting the antidote from Raven. Then it gets worse, because Chance is infected too…

The Target:
Danny (who’s already dead I know, but still…)

The Threat:
Raven

The Cover:
C. C. Baxter, Danny’s intended cover for this operation (which Christopher Chance just happened to help build)

The Plan:
Identify and capture Raven, get the antidote in time for Aaron and Chance.

What surprised me about this episode?
Again, it is technology. The idea that something could be auctioned in a room full of strangers via cyberspace is pretty cool.

Big Adorkification Moment:
Two things -
1) I liked ‘the girl in the jumpsuit from Buck Rogers’ too. The actor’s name is Erin Gray, and her character was Wilma Deering.
2) Seeing Doctor Simon Tam asking Rorschach about a defibrillator.

Here’s what we learn this episode:
1) Chance knew Danny was a Spy Hunter, but didn’t say they worked together. Could Danny have once hunted Chance? Or vice versa?
2) Chance and his partners have caused some sort of international incident in the past.
3) Chance and Danny fought together in Kosovo. Danny saved Chance’s life there, along with someone named Pristina while under fire.
4) Chance did something for Fred Galvis, The Secretary of Defense, involving Galvis’ boat, house…and horse, and called in the favor here.
5) Chance understands Russian
6) Looks like Chance’s operation is stationed in San Francisco.
7) Chance can take a woman’s earring off with his mouth - Skills!
8) Chance can speak Russian.
9) Chance can ride a motorcycle
10) The FBI database has Chance’s fingerprints under the name John Doe with lots of aliases, including Christopher Chance.
11) Chance keeps Aaron as a potential contact for future use.
12) Winston has a way of knowing when the FBI scans for Chance’s prints.

Human Target - Episode 2: Rewind

Say a guy comes to you with a key. Says this key will open any safe anywhere. Money, jewels, all the secrets in this world would suddenly be at your fingertips.

Do you take it?

That’s what happens here.

Phil Tennant is a cyber security businessman, a developer of the latest and greatest firewalls. Casper is a freelance hacker hired by Tennant to test his company’s security defenses. Casper’s attack accidentally exposes a flaw in the Internet itself, capable of cracking any code, allowing access to things like bank information, FBI and CIA databases, White House secrets, missile codes, you name it.

Casper is on a flight to Tennant’s headquarters to deliver the key and help patch the flaw that allows it to work.

But Tennant’s office was broken into. And the only information the thief got was Tennant’s correspondence with Casper, along with Casper’s flight information. Tennant can’t contact Casper because he has no idea who Casper is. The only way to save Casper and protect the key from being stolen is for Chance to get on the same plane.

The Problem:
Chance has no idea what Casper looks like, or who maybe after him.

The Target:
Casper

The Threat:
Unknown

The Cover:
Martin Gill, an insurance salesman for Quality Mutual Insurance.

The Plan:
Talk to other passengers in order to identify both the target and the threat.

What surprised me about this episode? Three words: In Medias Res. I love it when a story starts in the middle. It pulls me in, and now I have to figure out who’s who, what’s what, and how everything got to where they are right now.

Big Comic Book Moment: The hacker’s name is Casper, as in The Friendly Ghost, which most hackers are. Ghosts I mean, not necessarily friendly.

Here’s what we learn this episode:
1) Winston (played by McBride and Chance’s means of getting false IDs) did something that would cause him to go to jail for either being on a plane…or for pretending to be a flight attendant.
2) Chance has a friend at TSA, which stands for Transportation Security Administration, and is part of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security.
3) Chance knows how to fly a plane, just not one this big.
4) Chance hated his old job, feeling that he had more potential.
5) Chance has had access to a flight simulator in the past.
6) Chance is always looking to hire more help, even offering the assassin a (wait for it) chance.
7) Chance said that he was once in the same boat as the assassin. Maybe he was a former assassin himself?
8) Guerrero (played by Haley and worth every dime) has lots of connections with bad guys.
9) It is unclear where Chance’s headquarters is. We’re assuming somewhere in California.
10) Winston was with Chance from the beginning of what they’re doing now.
11) It’s possible that either Chance, Winston, or both of them are Jewish.

It’s Official…

I’m very excited about this. I missed the first one Wizard hosted in Boston several years ago, and regretted it ever since because they never had a second one.

It’s for the first weekend in October, 2010 - the 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and will be at the Hynes Convention Center.

Tickets are on sale now for $45 for all three days, or $25 per day, and are available here.

See how I was able to test my ability to hyperlink?

My issues now are how to get there and where to stay, but I have time to plan it out. I have no idea who’ll be there, and I don’t care. I’m not missing out again.

So a big Thanks to all the people of Wizard for doing this, and here’s hoping they’ll be able to do it again next year.

ALIENS WALK AMONG US!

Here's an entry I made for Topless Robot's TR Contest: Wishful Headlines for last Friday, Feb. 12th.

I didn't win.

Partly because all he wanted was a headline, and I gave a full article. Others did that too, they didn't win either. Also because others were funnier.

I still like it though...

It has been revealed that George Lucas was replaced by an alien life form some time ago.

According to sources, not long after his divorce settlement in 1987, George Lucas was visited by an alien race that had received transmissions of his famous Star Wars trilogy and wanted to meet the creator. They offered Mr. Lucas the opportunity to travel with them and see far away galaxies. In return, these visitors would provide a double. A look-alike that would take his place here, and provide fantastic technological advances revolutionizing the movie making process in both picture and sound for the next two decades. Mr. Lucas agreed, and a member of the alien crew shifted form into a splitting image of the director.

Apparently it wasn’t until 2006 that Mr. Lucas returned. He was so taken with his adventures in space that the damage done to his beloved movie franchise was barely noticed.

Mr. Lucas did, however, manage to replace his duplicate in time to save his second famous movie property; Indiana Jones.

His time in space had a profound effect on him. As documented elsewhere, Mr. Lucas was responsible for working aliens into the script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. “I tried to stop him,” friend and film collaborator Steven Spielberg said, “but he kept going on and on about it. I finally said ‘okay’ and threw up my hands.”

Others involved with the project took a more passive role. Harrison Ford, star of the film, was quoted as saying “It was just another day at the office for me.”

The extraterrestrials involved were described as being tall, skinny, with green skin, pointed ears and vertical wrinkles running between the lower lip and the chin. Their home is purported to be somewhere in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Get it? Skrulls took over Lucas' ranch. Just like they took over the Marvel Universe?

Remember?

Yeah. Okay...

Human Target - Episode 1: Pilot

Thus we are thrown into an interesting new series on Fox based on a comic book.

Christopher Chance, Human Target, was created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino, and first appeared in Action Comics #419 (DC comics, December, 1972).

This is network television’s second attempt to develop a series based on this character. The first was on ABC in 1992, starring Rick Springfield. The major difference between this new series and that one is that here, the show focuses on Chance blending into the background, keeping him close to the target. The 1992 series had Chance assume the target’s identity himself (which is what he does the comics). This significant change is established during the teaser, where Chance narrates the skills and risks involved with blending in.

The opening credits remind me of those of the Tom Jane Punisher movie, with a little Steranko mixed in.

This new series stars Jim Valley, Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley. Valley I’m not familiar with. McBride I remember from Pushing Daisies. Haley was Rorschach. The characters played by McBride and Haley were created for the series. Valley and McBride are good, but Haley steals it, much like he did in Watchmen.

What surprised me most about this episode? The plot isn’t made-up bullshit. There really are plans to build a high-speed train in California. Maybe it’s already been built. I’m not sure. I live on the opposite coast.

Big Comic Book Moment: Chance has a pet dog named Carmine. Nice Touch!

The big draw for me with this show is that Chance’s history is kept hidden.

Here’s what we learn about him this episode:
1) Can fight.
2) Doesn’t kill unless he has to.
3) Speaks fluent Japanese.
4) Lies a lot.
5) Master pickpocket.
6) Very observant.
7) Smart enough to believe in bulletproof vests.
8) Can take a beating.
9) Very smart.
10) Knows when to back away from a woman.
11) Knows about regret.
12) Isn’t in this for the money.
13) Has a pet dog.

Saints 31, Colts 17

I love football. Not the sport the rest of the world calls it. American Football.

I live in Maine, so the Patriots are my team.

They didn’t make it to the Super Bowl this year though.

The Colts did.

I hate the Colts.

Not just hate.

Despise.

Detest.

With the burning intensity of a thousand suns is how much I hate, despise and detest the Colts.

To me, they are what the Yankees are to Red Sox fans.

Any team that plays against them is who I root for.

I had to work last night, so of course I miss the game.

When I woke up this morning, I had to see the final score. And with one eye closed, ready for the dread of yet another Colts Super Bowl victory, I looked it up online.

Saints 31, Colts 17

This is going to be a great day.

Check this out!

This is a great video homemade by a genius at lougoproductions. I hope he makes more of these in the future!

...What...Where...When...Why...How

One of my roommates from college, who is my best and dearest friend and Best Man at my wedding, was a real Anglophile. Lover of all things British. He was also a fellow comic book geek and movie fan. And while I do hold him responsible for hooking me into Monty Python, he ailed to get me into Doctor Who.

Not for lack of trying, but I was not a lover of British things, and felt that if I did open that door, the geek in me would have taken over. I knew myself well enough that I would want to know everything there was to know about everything related to The Doctor. And he told me enough about the premise behind the character to know that it would be a lifelong pursuit.

So I smiled, nodded, and stuck my head back into the sand of Marvel comics and ST:TNG.

This was back in '89 - '93.

Set the WABAC (or TARDIS) machine ahead to 1996.

There's a TV movie named Doctor Who, and my wife and I decide to see what the fuss was about.

Not bad, but I couldn't get my head around much of it, in pretty much the same way I first experienced Monty Python: Entertaining, But No Big Deal.

Now it's 2005.

I watched the Sci-Fi channel religiously, and they aired "Rose", the first episode of the "New" Doctor Who series. I saw some of it, but couldn't finish it. It made references to British things I didn't get, and my four year old daughter was simply more fascinating to me. I did remember the creepy mannequins though. I tried once more with an episode where people in 1940's England are turning into gas mask wearing zombies, constantly asking "Are you my mummy?" It is so weird, I change the channel.

Now it's 2010.

Through the magic of Hulu and Netflix, my family and I can watch all the television we want. My daughter's hooked on Harry Potter video clips on Youtube, and my wife and I look for new things to watch at night...

Oh look - Doctor Who Series One is available...

I know that The Doctor has been around for decades, and decide to do some online research. You know...to prep. Turns out this new Doctor is now an old Doctor, the ninth, and the actor playing Doctor #10 has just finished his last series and Doctor #11 is coming out later this year. British fans and Doctor fans all over are raving about how glad they are that The Doctor's back.

I tell myself that in order to truly appreciate The Doctor, we'd have to start at the beginning. Nothing would make sense otherwise. So I put the disc in the Netflix cue, and watch things like Wire In The Blood (excellent by the way). My wife then tells me "Let's try it." I say "okay".

Now I'm hooked.

I'm hooked to the point where I'm re-watching Series One with my daughter and halfway through Series Two with my wife. The TARDIS, the concept of Time Lords, the ability to travel through time and space - all of that - invade my mind while at work. I'm reading all this info online about novels and comics and the stories that exist.

The difference is that the me I am now is not obsessing about owning all this. Or even reading it necessarily. Just acknowledging that it's all out there.

Guess I'm finally starting to grow up.

I'm hooked on The Doctor, will see all the episodes (eventually) and maybe...just maybe...I'll buy the series...eventually. Just don't tell my wife.