Roswell: TV Series

Ok, so why in the hell am I writing a post about a show that went off the air over 4 years ago?! Because I feel like it, that's why!

For whatever reason, I avoided and or missed the show when it was on the air. I think I may have avoided it because I was tired of the whole alien conspiracy thing from the X-Files. I stopped watching that show about a season or two after its production moved to Los Angeles to accommodate the star of that show David Duchovny. I think many will agree that that show went down in quality after moving to L.A. Thanks a lot David! Never mind the consideration of your other cast and crew members! I digress.

I caught a couple episodes of the last season of Roswell when it was still on the air by chance when I was in NY. Where I was staying at NY had very few station choices and it was during that time in the winter when everything was a repeat. I liked what I had seen, but unfortunately, shortly thereafter, the show ended and aside from those few episodes I saw in NY, I never got a chance to see it again.

I bought the season one DVD of the show a good while back. For some reason I put off watching it until recently. Being that this is the summer and most everything is a repeat I decided to FINALLY watch it.

Well, I was hooked! I quickly ordered the final two season on DVD and couldn't wait to watch them. I had developed a bit of a routine. I would watch an episode or two at dinner time (hey, I'm a bachelor living alone! Cut me some slack!) and then an episode or two right before I would fall asleep. It was one of those things that I looked forward to every evening.

And then it happened. That moment that I knew would happen but was hoping somehow it wouldn't. Yes, that's right. I watched the final episode. It happened a week ago today.

So why is it that it has me sad? Am I truly that pathetic??? Ok, don't answer that one! The show ended over four years ago, but for me it ended a week ago. And whenever I think about it, it makes me a little sad. I feel as though I lost a friend that I will never see again.

I really did enjoy the show and the characters' stories. It's not the best show ever, but it was a show that I could easily identify with. I guess I sympathize with the solitude and isolationism of those hybrid aliens and their cohorts. Watching the on-again, off-again relationship of Michael and Maria was fun and then the romantic side of me couldn't help but pray and hope that Max and Liz would eventually work things out and be together as they were destined to be.

The hopeful side of me is wishing a TV movie could be made so as to update the fans on the characters, however, the realistic side of me knows that after four years and absolutely no talks or rumors of such a thing happening that that will probably never be. If you haven't seen the show, I'd definitely recommend checking it out on DVD.

I have to say that one of the many great things about DVD is that TV shows that had short lives on TV or not long enough of a run to be syndicated can continue to live and be entertaining on the DVD format.

The Descent

I finally got a chance to see a movie today. I had every intention of seeing this movie last week, but I just couldn't get my lazy ass out of the house to go see it. This movie was definitely worth the wait.

I had reservations about seeing the movie until some of the word of mouth on the internet started pumping it up a bit. I thought it was going to be a retread of last year's The Cave. I will admit that I did not see that one. The reason was because the word of mouth on that one was nothing but negative.

The movie is very intense and had me twisting and turning in my seat throughout most of it. The three lead characters start off in a river rafting boat careening down some river. It's to set up that these girls are a bunch of thrill seekers. A tragedy takes place to the one character early on and then we jump ahead one year later.

The three main characters meet up again with three other women on the eve of a big cave descent somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains. After they arrive at the location they descend down to an entrance way. From there they find their way in to a larger cavern looking for the next entrance way. After they find the very narrow and tight entrance way, the lead character Sarah gets stuck. Her friend that is ahead of her turns around and helps her through. The next thing we know, this entrance way is collapsing. Now their way out is blocked. What to do?

Following this episode, gore, guts, blood, and mayhem ensue. All of the wonderful ingredients of a great horror film. I was literally turning away at many moments, but yet, I found myself HAVING to look. The tight moments in the film made me feel a bit claustrophobic and I am not.

The gore was definitely gruesome and intense. I have to say that the film made me think a lot about John Carpenter's The Thing. Instead of a bunch of guys in some isolated frozen tundra, we had women isolated in a deserted cave. And instead of some alien, shape shifting creature, we had these albino, blind mindless killer humanoids. These women were isolated and knew they had to depend on eachother. What happens to them is extremely disturbing and unsettling, but then again, I love movies like that.

If it's still playing in your area, you should definitely check it out. But be warned: it is indeed very intense and graphic.

Ok, so my last blog entry was kind of abrupt and open ended. Life doesn't suck, per se. It's just difficult. A couple weeks ago, I was finally starting to get excited about singing again. And then I had a lesson. It didn't help matters that I was having allergy problems and not singing my best for that lesson. In the meantime, my teacher completely bummed me out. She doesn't do it intentionally, but she can sometimes be a real downer for me.

My teacher and I are a lot a like. We're very demanding of ourselves and others and expect the best. Sometimes those expectations are reached. A lot of the time they are not. And when I can not meet those expectations, I really get distressed about it. My problem is that I have no clue how to relax. I'm a very intense person. I think anyone that knows me can attest to this. It doesn't matter what I am doing.

I certainly hope that I can learn to mellow with age. Unfortunately, singing is not so much about the intellectual as it is about kinesthesis. And sometimes I get myself so bound up mentally that it blocks any progress. That's what happened at that lesson.

It's funny. Everytime I think I have things figured out, somehow, someway, something throws me for a loop and then I'm back at square one. Is there any real way to figure these things out? I don't know. I still feel ambivalent towards singing and this so-called career of mine.

I was lounging around my apartment today and decided to do some singing. It felt good. I felt relaxed. When I get in my lesson environments, I get extremely tense. When it's just me taking it easy, I'm so much better at my singing. The funny thing is that I'm completely relaxed in a performance situation.

I will never forget my theatrical debut. I was 15 going on 16 and it was the part of Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! I was a nervous wreck the day of and before opening night. Mind you, nerves are a normal part of a performer's routine. Even the most seasoned performers get nervous for a performance. It's what you do about those nerves and how you manage them that separates the amateurs from the professionals.

Anyway, the nerves were mounting. And then the strangest, most bizarre thing happened to me. The second I stepped on stage in front of the public, my nerves went away completely. To this day, it still doesn't make any sense to me.

So my problem is not performing. It's the lessons and coachings, as well as the audition process that drives me insane. I wish I knew how to relax in those situations. Hell, maybe I should just get drunk before every lesson. Somehow I don't think that would be a very good idea.

The problem for me is that I over analyze everything. When I throw myself in to the music and the role, my singing completely changes. It's hard, however, to do that when your teacher is constantly stopping you and correcting you and then you add to the fact that I do the same thing to myself. Hey, that's what a teacher is there for. I've had teachers that basically told me how great I was and you do not learn anything from those situations.

The problem is basically mine. I have to learn to deal with it and accept it.

P.S. I wish I would write some movie reviews. I haven't had a chance in the last couple of weeks to see anything. But I did see Monster House, Pirates of the Caribbean, and You, Me, & Dupree. The last one is a clunker, but the other two are worth checking out.

Comic Book Movies

Let me first start off and say that I am not a comic book reader. I do not know all of the intimate details of the various characters and what not. So my analysis is not based on that at all. My analysis is just based on what little I do know and the overall quality of films.

I don't think anyone can talk about comic book movies and not mention the film that brought comics in to the modern era. Yes, Superman: The Movie. Richard Donner created a spectacle that promised viewers that we would believe Superman could fly. And that they did. Even to this day, the movie still looks remarkably modern with its special effects.

Special effects were really what prevented a serious telling of comic books for the big screen. As the technology and abilities of effects technicians and artists increased, so has the ability to bring these larger than life characters and stories to the silver screen.

Superman: The Movie had a solid story with a good cast, most notably the unknown at the time Christopher Reeve and a big boon for that production in snagging Marlon Brando to play Jor-El, Supes' father. In fact, that was the big reason for getting the money for that production. The studio was reluctant to put up the money with a bunch of unknowns. But the producers were able to get Brando as well as Gene Hackman.

Of course, as history shows us, Superman: The Movie was a box office success. The producers at the time were making both Superman: The Movie as well as Superman II at the same time. They had to temporarily suspend production on the rest of Supes II in order to finish Superman as they were running out of money. Unfortunately, the producers and Donner were not able to get along and ended up releasing him from his contract for the sequel. So what we got was a less than stellar sequel. Fortunately, Donner's cut of Superman II will be coming out to DVD later this month.

One might have thought at the time that this would have opened an opportunity for more comic books to be made in to movies. Unfortunately, we got three crappy Superman sequels. Spider-Man was in the works, but it got put in to development hell for nearly 25 years.

The next significant comic book film was Tim Burton's Batman. The studios were reluctant to make Batman because of the baggage that the campy 60s TV show that was attached to it. Fortunately, they came to their senses and allowed Burton to create a dark and serious portrayal of Batman. There was a bit of controversy at the time with Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight, and even I thought at the time that it was a bit strange. That was until I saw Keaton in the movie. He was very good and Burton knew what he was doing when he cast him in the role.

After that we got a not-so-great sequel of Batman Returns. It was much darker than the original and just wasn't as good as the first one. Tim Burton gave up the reigns and Joel Schumacher took over for Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. The former was a silly, fun romp. It wasn't as serious as the first one, but it was still an enjoyable escapist adventure. I wish I could say the same about the latter. One word describes it: AWFUL. Even Schumacher admits that he totally blew it on that one. If you watch some of the extras from the 2 disc special edition DVDs that came out last year you will see some of that refreshing honesty about that film.

And that last Batman pic came out 1997. Sure, we had a pathetic Judge Dredd with Sly Stallone and Rob Schneider as well as a pathetic Punisher with Dolph Lundgren. There was a B movie Captain America and a Fantastic Four that was never released and only made so as the studio could retain the film rights to the movie. There was also The Shadow with Alec Baldwin and The Phantom with Billy Zane. I'm sure there were others that I can't remember in that time period, but all of them amounted to nothing in terms of quality and actually making money.

It wasn't until 2002 that the current crop of modern comic book films really took off. That was the year that Spider-Man came out. The film makers made a brilliant teaser that came out a year before the film debuted that contained footage only intended for the teaser. That is the now infamous teaser with Spidey capturing the crooks' helicopter in a huge spider web in between the Twin Towers in Manhattan. This was before 9/11/01 and shortly thereafter the teaser was removed from online sources. It is still out there and definitely worth finding.

Spider-Man really got the ball rolling. It made HUGE money and totally eclipsed the Star Wars: Episode 2 at the box office. Sam Raimi, the director of such classic films as Dark Man (ah, another comic book film!) and Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, was a life long Spidey fan and brought his sensibilities and style to a movie that this geek had been waiting an entire lifetime for. It was not only a financial success, but it was also a creative success as well.

After the success of Spider-Man, it wasn't long before we got others. We got Daredevil, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Batman, Elektra, graphic novels such as V for Vendetta, Sin City, and a few others. Wait, did I say Batman? Oh yes, how could I forget Batman?


Christopher Nolan took over the franchise and what a refreshing take on the origins of Batman. He and David S. Goyer, writer of the Blade films, created a whole new back story and universe for Batman Begins. They ignored the previous four Batman films and as a fan, I was grateful for that. What I like most about Batman Begins is the realism that Nolan brought to the story. We see Batman/Bruce fail and make mistakes, particularly on his first outing in Gotham as his evolving alter ego. They also give us plausible explanations about how they created and produce a lot of his gadgets. Frankly, that was one of the things that was the least believable about a super hero with no actual super human abilities. Even as a kid, I never found it believable that Bruce Wayne and Alfred created all of those gadgets and did all of that scientific work themselves. How could 2 men have such immense knowledge and abilities amongst everything else they need and have to do?

I saw Batman Begins in the theater twice and have watched it a number of times since its DVD release last year. Everytime I watch it, I am in awe of the picture. For me, it's an almost perfect comic book film. The one negative about the film is the inclusion of Katie Holmes. Yes, it's probably because of her now famous relationship with Tom Cruise, but she is definitely a weak link in a really stellar cast. This film has Christian Bale, a very good actor in his own right, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, and Liam Neeson. It's actually remarkable that a comic book movie was able to get these quality actors in a Batman film. Kudos to the producers of Batman Begins by getting good actors to fill out the supporting roles.

Of all the comic book movies I have seen, Batman Begins is by far the best of them. Even better than Superman: The Movie, Spider-Man, or Spider-Man 2. I would be interested in reading what others think in regards to comic book films. I just think that Batman Begins has the best production values, story, and acting compared to any comic book films that have come out.

I know Heath Ledger does not seem like the most obvious choice for the Joker in the sequel, but I'm willing to wait and see. After recently seeing Nolan's The Prestige, as well as Batman Begins, I'm not going to rush to any premature judgement before I see The Dark Knight.

Short and to the point

Life sucks! That is all I have to say on that subject.