Spectrum is GREEN!

[annathepiper]

Dude, why didn't somebody TELL me they're remaking Captain Scarlet?! Wow, that trailer looks good. Even if they totally missed out on an opportunity to have it end with an ominous voice intoning, "THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS..."

But *whine*, no info yet on the site when this will be airing!

Comments

[annathepiper]

I think it's actually cooler that your and your mother's tastes don't coincide on everything--that way you get the surprise and interest factor of sometimes discovering something cool you might not otherwise have watched.

Yay, Iron Chef! And sometimes there's good stuff on A&E and the History Channel, indeed.

What we usually watch includes Battlestar Galactica, The Dead Zone, and Lost (Dara and I are still behind on this, we need to get caught up before the new season starts). Dara likes watching household shows like Changing Rooms and Ground Force. Sometimes we'll also check out Mythbusters and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. spazzkat likes Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go, of all things; our Tivo thinks we're a household full of SF nerds with children that watch anime, we think. It keeps throwing us cartoons. ;)

Though really, I think a lot of my TV watching over the next many months is going to be collecting DVDs of my favorite shows. I want to get the boxed sets for MacGyver (seasons 1 and 2 are out), Lois & Clark (season 1 is out, and that's the only season of that show I liked, but oh man Dean Cain was gorgeous), and, most importantly... Remington Steele. :D Mmmmm, Pierce Brosnan!

I also need to get more of Buffy; I've only got the first season so far on DVD. And I need to get the Firefly set as well, since I absolutely adore Firefly!

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

I had seen the long list of TV shows being released on DVD now. I usually don't collect those -- just movies -- but I love the variety, and at least I figure I can rent some of them from Netflix if I'd like *g*

With there being several of us working at night, we try to find things we all agree on, so Iron Chef goes over quite well, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force got big on our platoon for the oddest reason: one of my coworkers did these really awesome drawings of Frylock, Shake, Meatwad and Dr. Weird and we took the names of the ones we wanted. For some reason I'm Dr. Weird, probably because I play around back in the lab area a lot! LOL (But my hair looks better than his :-P). We also watch a lot of History Channel, Discovery Channel, A&E. Let's face it: it's nice when we can sit around and watch TV! *g* Considering how swamped we've been lately!

[annathepiper]

Netflix does seem to be fabulous for renting movies and TVs both, indeed. :)

Sounds like you and your platoon get in good TV watching indeed. :) I've seen some of your other posts about your job and gleaned that you work for the Louisville PD... is that right?

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

I was just getting ready to send you a nice reply...and we had a power surge and all my electricity shutdown for about 5 minutes. Not good, but I'm more blessed than the poor folks on the Gulf coast.

I was saying that the reason I was drawn to Netflix was the no deadlines and no late fees, and the convenience of dropping the DVD in the mail whenever you're done. With my schedule it's perfect. I also love the thousands of movies they have. There's no way I could walk into Blockbuster or Hollywood Video and find some obscure silent movie (Blockbuster might have 'Birth of a Nation,' 'Battleship Potemkin' and some Chaplin), or the 9 hour Soviet production of 'War and Peace' or Eisenstein's 'Ivan the Terrible parts 1 and 2.' I *might* find Kurosawa's 'The Seven Samurai' or 'Rashomon,' but I doubt they have the complete Zatoichi series or Lone Wolf and Cub.

The one thing I love about my job is that you never know from day to day what might happen! We can come in and do nothing all shift, and have plenty of time to watch Adult Swim, A&E, History Channel and Discover. Then there are the times when you walk in the door and are hit with a run and you don't stop until it's time to leave! (If then).

I work for what used to be called the Louisville P.D. In the BM days (That's Before Merger LOL). A few years ago Jefferson County government and Louisville government merged to make Louisville Metro, so of course that meant the police had to as well. It's been confusing. It'll probably be confusing for the next 10 years LOL The only thing our unit did was get more busy cause we have more territory to cover to get to scenes now (I'd never driven 25 miles ONE WAY to make the holdup of a McDonald's!!)

[annathepiper]

Yick, power surges!

RIGHT, I remember hearing about Louisville and Jefferson County merging into one entity.

And okay--so humor me here, since I'm slow on the uptake being Surgery Girl this week--you're a cop? Just trying to understand what you actually do. :) I've never chatted with anyone who works for a police department before. (Well, aside from the guy they had to come address Writer's Weekend in 2004... he worked for the Bellevue Police Department, and he's the guy they have go give interviews and such... he gave a nifty talk to us writers about various and sundry popular misconceptions about what police actually do. It was very cool. I don't know yet if it'll ever be useful to my writing since I don't plan to write anything where it would be pertinent, but one never knows what might come in handy!)

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

First off -- HELLO SURGERY GIRL AND BEST WISHES TO YOU. Get some rest; watch some movies (Do you have your Extended Edition of Gladiator yet? I'm a bit behind on the news myself).

Yep...Louisville and Jefferson County merged into one enormous entity (reminds me of an ep on South Park *eg*).

I'm not a cop. I'm a civilian, even though I wear -- as I always call it -- "an ugly blue uniform." *g* I don't carry a gun or a TASER (TASER would be cool though LOL); don't have arrest powers.

My job title is Civilian Evidence Technician, which is a Crime Scene Technician, and I've worked for the police department for 19 years and in the Evidence Technician Unit (ETU) for 16, and I've been a certified trainer for about 6 years now.

What usually happens is that we're called out to various crime scenes (murders, physical assaults that could be life threatening, police involved shootings, sexual assaults of adults and children, business robberies, burglaries, carjackings, etc.) and at the direction of a lead detective or police officer, we photograph the scenes, videotape them (if a murder), fingerprint if needed and collect, preserve and transport evidence from the scene. Sometimes the cops or detectives bring the evidence directly to us as there's really not a scene per se (an item to be fingerprinted such as a plastic wrapped bag of cocaine or pot; a victim's rape kit). But we're responsible for the chain of custody and writing reports that detail every single thing we did as part of the case (I've literally handwritten 10 page reports in one sitting). We also write the requests to have evidence submitted to the State Lab for analysis. If you're on daywork, you attend autopsies of cases we're working and also transport the evidence to and from the Lab. We testify in court as well. (Which is the subject of my current rantings LOL).

So unlike CSI where they never seem to take a note and recall everything from memory; the women dress like hookers and DNA results are back in 5 minutes or less or the pizza's free, I'm in the real thing...and I think CSI and all those other make-believe shows are HILARIOUS! I've worked 24 hours straight or spent an entire shift doing nothing. I've had perps nearly spit on me; a suspected rapist wink at me; a suspected murderer flirt with me, and gone home smelling of smoke from a house fire! Maggots are virtually indestructible and fingerprint powder may cause cancer....And the job is still one of the coolest around!

[annathepiper]

Cool, thanks for the description of your job! That does indeed sound fascinating. I've never watched CSI, but I can totally buy that they'd get it wrong.

And I've been getting a lot of rest indeed and watching amusing things on the TV, since I haven't had much attention span to do the reading I'd intended to do. Mostly it's been working my way through the DVDs of first season Remington Steele. I don't have the extended edition Gladiator yet--partly due to the same budgetary constraints I've been under all summer, partly due to my not being sure yet if I want it, though I do admit to curiosity about listening to Russell's first ever commentary track! :) Maybe I'll put that on my Christmas or birthday lists. :)

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

Most definitely put the Gladiator EE on your birthday or Christmas list. It's a must for your collection, and hearing Russell's voice for the first time on a commentary....All I can say is that I'd tie down both him and Ron Howard AND Paul Giamatti in a room together and make them do the commentary together for CM! Russell is a hoot and putting him with Ridley was a stroke of genius. I haven't had time to watch/hear the whole thing (my sister and my niece and nephew stayed with me last weekend and the kids are very precocious and curious about every movie).

You're most welcome about me describing my job. I think it helps me realize what it all entails because sometimes it becomes a downright muddle.

Haven't had a chance to post anything about my court date yesterday but it went well thank God. I always figure if I didn't hurt the case it's a good day! *g*

[annathepiper]

(Hrmm. I think my new journal layout is not conducive to formatting extremely long-running threads. But this is what I get for having so many extremely long-running threads on my journal. ;) )

Thanks for the recommend on the DVD! I figure any opportunity to listen to Russell talk is a pleasure all on its own, and I've known for ages that the man is hilarious!

Yay for court dates that went well! (Even if I'm ages behind on actually answering that. Stupid flu!)

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

Well if you think YOU'RE behind, you should see me! LOL I feel like I'm days and weeks behind and it's not helping that the countdown is on and I'm a nervous wreck:


(http://www.TickerFactory.com/)


Am I excited yet? Well, if my stomach doing flip-flops is any indication, I'll be a total mess in less than 2 weeks!

I did finally finish the Gladiator DVD commentary and just loved it! It does make me wonder about the two of them on the set of A Good Year! (I bought the book to have to take on my trip...for all those long layovers and the flights. Those and my travel journal should give me something to do when I'm in the mood to read or write). But back to Gladiator>. I haven't finished the bonus discs yet, but hope to while I'm on my 5-6 week vacation!

[annathepiper]

I have now read A Good Year. More on this in a forthcoming post. ^_^

Did you finish up the bonus materials for Gladiator yet?

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

Oh! I wonder if I've missed your posts about A Good Year...considering this just dropped into my box over 2 weeks after you wrote it! LOL

Still trying to finish the bonus material for Gladiator. I'd better hurry up or I'll have Cinderella Man and the DVD of the old version of King Kong in hand with all their bonus materials to watch!

[annathepiper]

Here is my post about A Good Year. Whee, LJ comment delay! But at least these old mails are finally starting to come through.

I just got me a new contract, so maybe I'll have to splurge and get myself an early Christmas present by way of celebration. Maybe I'll have to get Gladiator or Cinderella Man. Whee! And the King Kong DVD sounds fun too.

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

I know what I forgot to mention: yes, you're right -- it is nice that my mother and I have varying tastes sometimes when it comes to movies. I was so tickled the other day when she actually asked me if I had added any Toshiro Mifune movies to my queue and I told her about one -- I think it's 'Samurai Assasin' and she said she might watch it sometime.

Wait until you read my thread about her getting me to watch 'Alexander' on her behalf though. She owes me SO BIG TIME for that! LOL

[annathepiper]

Give me a pointer to the Alexander post? I have totally spaced on it, thanks to being surgery girl. :) Was that as awful a movie as I have been led to believe?

Cool about Samurai Assassin, though!

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

I'll have to go through my tags and see if I can find Alexander. If I do, I'll pass it on.

Yes, it was as bad as they said it was. No director should be given that much money, allowed to make a movie that awful and then permitted to keep his DGA membership! LOL Okay...it wasn't "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (but then again, what is?) but it was just so damn pretentious. Even "Gladiator" had a few light moments. I think if anyone had smiled in "Alexander" their faces would have cracked...well, outside the sneaky smile of Angelina Jolie with her Natasha Fatale accent. (I think I joked that I kept waiting for her to say "Alexander...Moose and Squirrel must have hidden the Upsadasium somewhere.").

Oh -- found it: http://www.livejournal.com/users/ii2none59/186217.html and http://www.livejournal.com/users/ii2none59/185928.html. Knew it was around here. That'll cover a lot of it.

It was just muddled to me. Stone uses Anthony Hopkins in some attempt as a Greek Chorus to fill in the blanks and offer commentary. Val Kilmer -- I'm not sure why he was there. Actually, I would have liked to have seen more about his Philip of Macedonia than Farrell's weak performance as Alexander.

Anyway, read on and you'll see. I know one thing. Whereas men would follow Maximus Decimus Meridias to hell and back, Alexander as played by Farrell would be lucky to get his men to go around the block, let alone conquer the known world!

"Samurai Assasin" -- much better *g* It was nice to see a movie that actually told me something of the history of Japan and this particular assasination that started the downfall of the Samurai class. I didn't like "The Last Samurai." It's probably because I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, but I kept thinking 'there's a good movie in here...I just wish I could find it.' "Samurai Assasin" is talky; it's not filled with loads of sword fights, but I thought the political intrigue was fascinating, especially since -- if I understood it all correctly -- the samurai who conspire to assasinate this one official don't realize that his death will lead to the end of what they prize. (And no Tommy Cruise incarnations showed up either *g*).

[annathepiper]

There are worse movies than Plan 9, mind you. Ever seen Manos: The Hands of Fate, or On Deadly Ground? ;)

Whereas men would follow Maximus Decimus Meridias to hell and back, Alexander as played by Farrell would be lucky to get his men to go around the block, let alone conquer the known world!

LOL! That about sums it up, right there.

*reads links*

Good gracious, that sounds like an awful movie. And I see that you must surely have seen Manos, since you mention MST3K!

I don't dislike Tom Cruise as an actor (though lately, I've had severe doubts about him as a person ;) ), but I don't go out of my way to see him in anything. So I missed The Last Samurai. But your take on it sounds in keeping with what I've heard from others.

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

If you're talking about the On Deadly Ground with Steven Seagal, then you're right -- that was definitely at the top of Worst of All Time (haven't seen the Manos movie). I remember getting free passes to see ODG with my sisters and brother. We had sort of enjoyed Seagal in his other flicks (you know what you're getting so you put your mind on hold and go for it), but ODG was dreadful. Half the audience walked out. The other half sat there in stunned silence. My siblings and I filled the theater with laughter! Since it was free, I don't know why to this day we just kept sitting there, but I think we were having so much fun making fun of the whole thing -- for free -- that we couldn't resist.

Oh my gosh! If Manos was a MST3K then you're right! I probably have seen it! Wonder if it's on DVD in the MST3K edition?

I think I'm sort of like you when considering Tom Cruise. I don't hate him, but I won't go out of my way to see a flick of his either. Most of them I've caught on DVD and I've been disappointed in the end. I think I've only actually gone to see a movie of his once or twice...and was disappointed. I think I should just steer clear of his stuff.

[annathepiper]

That's the On Deadly Ground I was talking about, yeah. ;) spazzkat says that that movie was so bad it was sucking quality out of movies in surrounding screens at the theaters it played!

And I do believe that the MST3K version of Manos IS on DVD! I'm pretty certain I've seen it. :)

And as long as we're harshing on Tom Cruise, I've heard varying reviews of this past summer's War of the Worlds, too. I never made it to that flick, either.

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

You know...I never thought I'd be discussing On Deadly Ground ever again! LOL Thanks for bringing back the memories *cringe* LOL

Will check on Manos when I'm in the mood for MST3K.

On my flight to London, someone near my seat was watching WotW on their entertainment center and I would just glance over at it now and then to see what was up. I never did bother switching onto the channel showing it LOL I figure at this stage, I'll just pass on Tom Cruise movies and leave it at that. Just heard last night that he wrapped up MI-3. I won't be lining up for that one either. When I saw MI-2 I was so bored at one point I was doing my grocery list in my head! :-(

[annathepiper]

The only thing I really liked about MI-2 was that Thandie Newton struck me as the perfect actress to play one of my own characters in the mental casting I have for one of my books. I wasn't quite as bored as you with that one, but it's certainly unlikely I'll bother with an MI-3!

And there'll be plenty of potential movie goodness next year anyway, between A Good Year, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, and the third X-Men movie. (BOY, I'm hoping those latter two don't suck.)

You will definitely have to do the MST3K version of Manos. It's possible to get it un-MSTed, but you don't want it that way. Trust me on this. ;)

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

I saw the trailer for the PotC sequel when I went to see Narnia. It looked okay, but then you can't often tell from trailers, can you?

Thandie Newton is quite beautiful...and did you see her in Crash by any chance?

This is going to scare the crap out of you, but On Deadly Ground was on a local TV station...but not just last night! They repeated it again TONIGHT! We must have talked about it so much it came back from the dead! YIKES! LOL

Will check Netflix for Manos! *g*

[annathepiper]

Yeah, trailers don't often tell one much. I watched the trailer on the Net... and I kind of got this vibe off it that it was trying a tiny bit too hard, and perhaps trying to play up the popularity of Jack Sparrow a bit too much. But it's hard to say, indeed. I'll definitely go see it, unless advance reviews say it really sucks.

I did not see Crash, though I have heard tell of it, just by way of doing image searches for her.

And eeek, On Deadly Ground on TV! ;) KILL IT BEFORE IT BREEDS!

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! You know what? One of my greatest fears is that sequels will not just suck, but that they try so hard it falls flat (which I wonder is what happened with the Zorro sequel -- never heard a totally BAD review of it but seemed like it was too much). I remember watching the PotC II trailer and thinking pretty much this: "Okay...does this feel too over the top? Does this feel like the original tripled and quadrupled because they're hitting me over the head with a sledgehammer?" I'm with you -- I might go see it, but it'll be on my list of Will Catch if I Get a Chance but Not a Priority.

Right now I have only ONE priority for 2006...and that's savoring a fine wine while I watch Mr. Crowe in the vineyards of Provence *sigh*

[ii2none59.livejournal.com]

And I forgot to say that you are way too right about On Deadly Ground! Thankfully it hasn't been on local TV again so I'm hoping someone drove a stake through its' heart!!!