Tuesday, May 25, 2010

This Season

This is quite a big season of television (at least for me). I don't remember the last time I followed so many different television series at any given time. Contains a lot of spoilers.

Smallville Season 9 (CW11)

This series has been going downhill ever since Kristin Kreuk and Michael Rosenbaum left the show back in season 7. Why the hell do I still watch it? Probably to see how much they can mess up the show even more. The problem with series like these is that the longer the show goes on, the more ridiculous the story lines become. The producers have to deal with actor's contracts and other changes and thus the story line must be altered to meet those needs.

What happened this season? Tess Mercer (who?) released a bunch of Kandorians (Kryptonians) from an orb and they threatened to take over the Earth. Everything leads to an epic finale where our hero Clark must clash against a ton of other super powered Kryptonians but what happens? Spoiler: not too much. It was such a bad ending to the story arc.


Supernatural Season 5 (CW11)

I absolutely love this series. Even though season 1 was definitely the best season, I still follow this one every week as it airs on Thursdays. What the hell do you watch this show for, there aren't even any hot female leads! That's true--however being a horror fan, this show has been quite captivating. Not only is it action packed, but there's a lot of comical moments here and there.

Season 5 is about how Sam and Dean goes about fixing the Apocalypse. They released Lucifer from hell and go around trying to how to fix the current situation. In the season finale, the inevitable fight between Michael and Lucifer looks like it was going to happen, but only to be foiled by the two brothers. The legendary fight was stopped and the planet is saved, but only at the cost of one brother. I have to say the season finale was disappointing to say the very least. I was expecting a lot more action and special effects but I guess that was too much to ask for in 45 minutes.

How I Met Your Mother Season 5 (CBS)

Although this series is in season 5, I've only really begun to start watching this series this season. A bunch of my friends told me it is a great show and indeed it is. Even though the story sidetracks often, most viewers prefer it that way because the show would be over once it gets to the part when Ted finally reveals who the mother is. I can't really compare this season with the others because I haven't watched the earlier ones yet. Season 5 was pretty good and provided a lot of laughs.



Lost (ABC)

Funny thing about this show is that when it came out I didn't watch the first season (from what I heard was the best season). I started watching it sometime during season 2 and stopped watching it further because the show shifted to 10 PM for season 3 (I used to sleep early back then).

So whats up with season 6, the final season? Well I caught the retrospective episode before season 6 began and they pretty much summed up all of the important parts of the plot in 2 hours. So with my knowledge of season 2 and 2 hours of summary, I caught up. Season 6 was very exciting. Every episode built more tension and kept me wanting for more. Although the writers are good at creating cliffhangers, they definitely are not good at creating an ending. The ending was very disappointing because it left too many questions unsolved. After watching the 2.5 hour series finale I was still confused and did not know what happened. Hell, not even the actors really know what happened. So what is Lost? Don't expect to really understand anything. The show is just a really cool joyride but lacks explanations.

New Series

Community (NBC)

This show is spectacular. There are seven main characters and the story revolves around the lives of seven community college students. The show makes fun of community colleges in general and how the characters behave. I can't really explain the style of the comedy. You just need to watch it to get it. I highly recommend this series!






Modern Family (ABC)

Another new comedy series, this one is on ABC. The cast is even bigger than Community; seems like the new trend is to include as many characters as possible. It follows the lives of three typical families: a straight couple with 3 kids, a gay couple with an adopted child, and a hot mom married to a rich old guy. I haven't watched the entire season as of yet, I've only seen a couple of episodes here and there. I don't think it is as funny as Community but I'll give it a shot.






V (ABC)

V is an annoying name for a TV series. It's so difficult to search for images because V is so short. As I was watching Lost, the premier of this show caught my eye and I downloaded all of the episodes. I did not have the chance to watch it yet but it looks like a good series.




The Vampire Diaries (CW11)

I am by no means a fan of the recent trend of vampire shows/movies. Hell, I didn't even watch the Twilight movies. So why the hell am I watching this? It just so happens that this show is on the same night as Supernatural, just preceding the show. So I decided to give it a shot. The show is alright I suppose, it's pretty complicated and stuff. But in short, it's main story is about how two brothers compete for the love of this one girl. Thank goodness the cast is good looking or else I wouldn't even bother watching this.






I haven't seen any of the previous seasons but when I saw the lineup for this season, I decided to watch it. A lot of eye candy on this season :Q. Nicole Scherzinger, Pamela Anderson, Erin Andrews, etc. From the beginning of the season, I've already knew who was going to win it all. Nicole Scherzinger, the Pussycat Doll, won this season. She is an amazing performer and dancing probably comes naturally to her. There were also some really bad people on this season. They had Buzz Aldrin, the 80 year old retired astronaut on the show. Why bother getting him on the show? They also had Kate Gosslin (who?) and she was just plain bad. But this season was worth watching just because of Nicole Scherzinger. Yep.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

US Census Bureau 2010


Last year [2009] I filled out a really long form for the US Census. We were called by "people" who kept telling us we have to fill out the census for the government. The form looked very legit, except it was tediously long. I filled it out anyway.

That was last year, and now I realized I have fallen into some scam artists' trap. The US Census is THIS YEAR. Since we filled one out last year, we decided not to do it again this year. A US Census representative knocked on my door today. According to them, they don't have our information in the system. The guy showed me the questions and I had to answer him. Who was legit? I have to say this is more legit. Last year was definitely a scam. How the ___ did they get my phone number? The form seemed legit, the address seemed legit, the phone call seemed legit, but why was it in 2009? I should've been more cautious and look up the form online. Because now... knowing all my information is in the hands of scam artists...

Good grief.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Cove



During speech class, this girl gave the most heart touching speech about dolphins. Her topic was on the 2009 award winning documentary called "The Cove," and her speech not only informed but moved the audience (and if not, at least I was moved, and that's something).


According to her, dolphins are lured into this cove somewhere in Japan to be either captured or made into fish meat. Those "fortunate enough" are hand picked to live a life in captivity and forced to perform in water shows. Those who aren't, are simply slaughtered. The documentary gives a lot of bloody disgusting imagery, no pun intended. One of the most famous dolphin trainers, Ric O'Barry, described how one of his Flippers committed suicide on him. Dolphins are incredibly intelligent creatures, whom some scientists say have brains more developed than humans. Dolphins must constantly breathe in survive and one of Barry's most stressed out dolphins decided to end her life in front of him.

Dolphins in captivity are stressed out by their trainers for performance. They developed such high levels of stress that they develop stomach ulcers that need to be treated with drugs. It's no wonder that one of Barry's dolphins pulled the plug on herself. After that, Barry decided to dedicate his life to freeing dolphins instead of training them. Yearly, dolphins are slaughtered in a bloodbath, literally a bloodbath, in this cove. No this is not photoshopped. Predators lure hundreds of dolphins to this area and butcher them. The irony of this is that dolphins are not safe to eat. They have high levels of mercury which can lead to mercury poisoning in humans. I haven't watched it yet but I feel if I do, I'll be very depressed.

Youtube trailer of the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KRD8e20fBo