Freaks and Geeks

Freaks and geeks was an hour-long show that aired in the '99-2000 season. However, it got the FOX treatment, as NBC canceled the show after 12 episodes. (18 were filmed.) It's the story of Lindsey, a former honor student who decided to start hanging out with the slackers; and her younger brother, Sam, a kid that everyone at my college sci-fi/fantasy club can relate to. They attend high school in 1982 Michigan. And that's the basic set-up.

009-1

009-1 is a 13-episode, alternate-history, sci-fi, spy/espionage anime based on the manga of the same name by influential manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. (Creator of such manga as Cyborg 009 [the title of this show is actually an allusion to Cyborg 009] and such TV shows as Kamen Rider). Think James Bond as an anime with a protagonist who’s a cross between 007 himself, Cate Archer from No One Lives Forever, and Cameron the “good” female terminator from The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The first thing you need to know about this series is that its artwork is a much older style, dating from the 60s or earlier. For some reason (and I asked around, I’m not the only person that gets this impression) this makes it seem like the show is for a much younger audience. IT IS NOT. This is most definitely a show for an older audience. I’ll get to that later, though. Just keep this in mind.

Moving

I am not a big fan of moving. I tend to not like change in the first place. I often tell people that I have the heart of a crotchety old man. So moving is a big deal, and I do not enjoy it one whit.

Puss in Boots

So my wife and I went to watch Puss in Boots the other day. She's a big Shrek fan and she simply adores cats, so this was a no-brainer in terms of the date department. I'm not so big on cats, but Shrek is a decent movie series, so I didn't mind going either.

We saw it in 3-D, not because either of us are huge 3-D movie buffs, but because that was the only showing that fit into our schedule. As far as that goes it really wasn't worth the extra dollar. I kind of wish Hollywood would stop with the 3-D gimmick. In the few 3-D movies I've seen it's been kinda cool, but it really didn't add anything to the movie, and sometimes detracted from the experience. But that's a review for a different time. (Though I'll probably never get to it, since I don't watch many 3-D movies.)

Anyway...

Gnomeo and Juliet

So, the CGI animated movie Gnomeo & Juliet came out to DVD fairly recently. I actually saw it in theaters with my wife. I really hadn't been expecting much from it. I had seen some trailers and it looked like nothing more than a cheesy kids cartoon that made use of stupid jokes and a public domain story. And I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Maybe I should lower my expectations for every movie I watch.

Anyway... Spoilers abound, but really there shouldn't be much to worry about, because I'm expecting you know the outline of the story, if nothing else.

Catching up.

Let me be frank here... Catching up sucks.

Hmmm... maybe I should specify. Procrastination sucks, because then you have to catch up. This is a big problem with me personally, mostly because I like keeping caught up, but once I get behind I have a hard time getting caught back up to where I should be. Then it spirals into a vicious cycle of wanting to do what I know I should but feeling too embarrassed about having fallen behind to catch up. It makes no sense, but I do it anyway. I'll often make token attempts at catching up, no matter what, but it usually takes me a bit longer than I want before I finally hold fast and actually catch up. Sometimes it's too late, but other times... It's... not.

Wow... that sounded a lot more pathetic than I meant it to.

Bottom Line: Catching up is no fun, but it is possible. Though it's always best not to fall behind in the first place. Moral of the story: Don't procrastinate!

The Smurfs promotional cereal.

So, even if you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard about the new Smurfs movie, what with all of the new promotion merchandise out there. Some of it is expected, like toys and whatnot; some of it is cool, like reprintings of the original comics; and some of it is... well, it's not uncommon merchandise for a kids movie, but I always scratch my head at it, like promotional cereal.