Weeds: Season 5

Perhaps I've been a bit too hard on Weeds. When it pulled an overhaul between Seasons 3 and 4, I was complaining about how much worse the show became. But then, I've criticized plenty of other series for not mixing things up enough and becoming stagnant. I told myself (and this blog, I think) that Season 5 was going to be Weeds' shot at redemption for me. Not that that means much - as a completionist, I'm bound to purchase every season of this show until it gets canceled. Anyway, the good news is that I liked it. I didn't love it, but then, I've never really loved a season of Weeds. My biggest problem with the show remains the main character of Nancy Botwin, soccer mom turned weed dealer turned druglord's baby mama. Her actions and attitudes are entirely selfish and non-motherly throughout most of the series. Above all, she is immature and childish. Fortunately, she actually seemed to shape up a little bit by the end of this season. Not before making plenty more horrendous decisions, of course, but still, enough for me to notice that she wasn't going out of her way to act thirteen anymore. Most of the supporting cast is fantastic and remained so this season. I'm still not on board with the Mexican infusion the series received in Season 4 and hasn't shaken yet, but this season seemed to find a bit of a happy medium between the charm of the first three seasons and the setting and tone of the fourth. Ultimately, Weeds isn't a show I'd recommend heavily to anyone. There are plenty of better shows out there on the premium channels. Still, most of its episodes make for an enjoyable (and often morbid) half hour of television. This season ended with a good mixture of plot resolutions and cliffhangers. While I have no lack of patience for Season 6 to air (or come out on DVD, which is when I'll likely watch it), I'm still looking forward to it. Rumor has it, it could be Weeds' last season. And it probably should be. It's hard to imagine an abundance of new places to go with a show that is, ostensibly, about dealing drugs, especially when full scale smuggling jobs and gang wars have already taken place.

The Boomer Bible

I can't remember how exactly I found out about R.F. Laird's The Boomer Bible- I feel like Maddox's website was involved somehow- but when I read about it it sounded pretty good and thus picked it up a few years ago. Surprise surprise, I didn't even crack the book open to the first page until last week. Fellow blogger Stan has given it high praise for being a cynical look at history and religion, so I was excited to give this one a shot. It should be noted however that the book is written in the style of The Bible and as such comes with a tremendous length, so I feared it might get pretty boring. For the most part, this wasn't true- the whole book was a delight to read and I have few criticisms, most of which came up because I'm not the target audience of the book- the baby boomer generation. The Boomer Bible was published in 1991, and as such covers topics which were a bit more specific to society twenty years ago. Anyway, to give you an idea as to how the book works, I figured I'd give a brief description of some of the many sub-books of The Boomer Bible. The book begins with an introduction from two men who have discovered the Bible as if it was some long-forgotten artifact, a relic of a punk movement in Philadelphia. One believes that the book should be read with an open mind, the other claims that no attention at all should be paid to anything in there. After this, the book jumps into its most daring section- the Past Testament. The Past Testament begins with a few books dedicated to the Big Bang, the evolution of man, and some ancient history- the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. From here on, Laird gives a cynical history of the world in terms of which country is most important for brief periods of time. He does this in the most offensive way possible, highlighting how stupid pretty much everyone in history has been, and using racial slurs aplenty. After this, Laird parodies the Psalms of The Bible with the books Psongs, Psayings, Psomethings, Pnotes, and Pspecialties. The Past Testament then ends with fictional anecdotes of some of history's most influential thinkers- "Ziggy" (Sigmeund Freud), "Carl" (Karl Marx), and "Chuck" (Charles Darwin). While most of these were pretty poignant, some references fell flat- for instance, the book on television with a man named "Ed" was not about Ed Sullivan, but some guy named Edgar Bergen- a reference that was lost on both Stan and myself. Then Laird has a 30 page diatribe about how awful and predictable television has been and will remain; I disagree and think that while there are always going to be terrible shows, t.v. has produced some great ones as well. Anyway, that about wraps up the Past Testament, in which the historical figures are all told that one day someone will come to make sense of everything. He finally does in the Present Testament, which details the meteoric rise of possible Anti-Christ Harry and his religion of selfishness. Harry gains twelve followers at Harvard (apostles?) and teaches them his way, which includes a few golden rules- never think about anything, there are no contradictions, and the important trio of desire, certainty and blame. Harry even has a last supper in which Consolation (cocaine) is served, resulting in his arrest (crucifixion) and subsequent escape (resurrection) to Rio (heaven). The rest of the Present Testament details the growth of Harry-ism and how it really doesn't change anything, because we were all followers of Harry anyway, but just thought too much. Following the Present Testament comes the Book of Harrier Brayer, basically a long list of prayers and songs that parody Christianity. The book then wrap up with A Punk Testament, in which it is revealed that a small band of punks in Philadelphia have been able to and will continue to resist the Harry movement. This part felt really tacked on- the punks don't actually put an end to Harry-ism, and their arguments against it hardly seem as strong as the arguments for it. In a way, The Boomer Bible kind of reminded me of the movies Fight Club and American History X- in the former, it seems many people got the opposite message from what the movie was trying to convey, and the latter had many passionate pro-racist arguments that made the ensuing anti-racism ones seem pretty weak in comparison. At least, my assumption was that the Punk Testament was meant to be a way to show how wrong Harry's ideas were, but it really didn't do a very good job. Perhaps that's what Laird wanted all along. Either way, the book is definitely a thought-provoking one that will have you question a good portion of your everyday life- from religion and materialism down to literature and movies. It's a big investment of your time, but in the end I think a great one as well.

Braveheart

I only own one movie that I have not seen in some capacity. However, I own a bunch of movies on blu-ray that I have yet to experience in high definition. As such, I've decided to post about the 20 or so that I still need to watch. Braveheart is one of my favorite movies (I watch it every Christmas Eve). Because of that, I could not wait to own it on blu. Still, that did not stop me from waiting multiple months between purchasing and viewing. I don't really feel like getting into the plot other than saying that I think Murron sucks and that William Wallace could do better in a mate. He was probably better off with her dying. Princess Isabelle wasn't too worthy of Wallace either.

Anyways, this disc has a surprisingly impressive transfer given the fact that it is over a decade old. Here's to sharing Christmas Eve with Mel one more time.

God of War Collection

Both games in this collection are remastered in high definition. That might not sound like a big deal, but I am an HD whore. Furthermore, I like my 720p nice and shiny. This game really delivers on shininess and the graphical upgrade is certainly noticeable. However, the cutscenes were apparently not given the upgrade, and as such, look like dog shit (especially GOW1). Still, that should not detract from what is otherwise an awesome experience.

God of War

Ever since it was released in 2005, I always had the intention of playing this game. Somehow, with the advent of Xbox 360, I never got around to it. So let me tell you that when I opened this baby up on Christmas morning 2009 I was freaking ecstatic. God of War follows Kratos as he attempts to kill Aries (the god of war) in order to free himself from a lifetime of servitude. Although the cutscenes look like shit, they are extremely well-narrated and the story is pretty fucking interesting. If you are at all interested in greek mythology or at least don't hate it, this game won't disappoint. Great story aside, this game is really all about action. At first glance, God of War seems like a button-masher that gets by on pretty graphics and satisfying violence, I found it to be much more than that due mostly to the sheer variety of weapons and spells that Kratos has at his disposal. Furthermore, these weapons and spells can be upgraded through experience you collect in the form of red orbs, which in turn unlocks more and more combinations, special moves, and abilities. Just thinking about the many ways to dispatch a baddie (from impaling him on his own sword to ripping him in two) makes me want to play this game through over again. Oh, and there are some nice puzzles to round out the experience. In my mind, this game was almost perfect.

God of War 2

Like its predecessor, this game was a whole lot of fun. I have very few gripes with it. If you like God of War, there is no reason to dislike God of War 2. Still, it almost feels like there is just too much going on. Most like this game more because it feels a bit grander. The scope is certainly larger. Which is a good thing. However, I am not a fan of a lot of the additions to the game. I don't like the Kratos stole wings from Icarus and can now glide (he looks really stupid with wings and it forced me to limit my double jumping). I don't like that Kratos now has a hammer and a spear (two pretty useless, tacked-on weapons if you ask me). I don't like that they took his best move from the first game (jump + L1 + circle) and made it a parry attack. I don't like that he can now slow time in selected areas (this feature was used far too often in the otherwise clever puzzles). I don't like that there are like 10 times as many boss battles compared to the first game (yet it's really hard to differentiate one battle from another). Still, you get to control Kratos and you get to decapitate a whole lot of monsters. There's not much more you can ask for out of a video game. For that reason, this game was great. It just didn't feel nearly as perfect as the original.

Despite my complaints about God of War 2, I cannot wait to play 3. I put my pre-order in today. Just ask Shiang-Huan.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

Another one bites the dust. Soon, my Newbery winners and nominees will be done and gone forever. This one really wasn't so bad. As you may be able to deduce just by the cover and title, it's a story about a black family that heads eastbound and down to Birmingham, Alabama in the midst of some racial turmoil. But while I expected the family's road trip to be the central part of the story, it took place in just one of the fifteen chapters. The first hundred pages of the book set up the story and introduce us to the family. They live in Flint, Michigan, and halfway through the book decide to go visit Grandma in Birmingham. The story and literary skills displayed here were more or less par for the Newbery course. All in all, I'd call it an average to above average Newbery read, or in other words, a four out of ten. Fine, a five. At least in this book there was a historical lesson about racial problems in the American South; it wasn't just about some 19th century New Hampshire girl babbling about her mundane life or some Appalachian hick cousins who learn to deal with their shitty parents leaving them. One more thing of note - Wikipedia says that The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 has already been made into a movie and that it will be released (straight to DVD?) later this year. Weird timing, no? The book is from 1996, and it took this long both for me to read it and for anyone to adapt it into a screenplay. Of course, Wikipedia has been wrong before, and I just have this feeling that an article about a 1996 Newbery also-ran is one where errors may in fact go unchecked and unnoticed.

Seinfeld: Season 5

Man. March has started out just like February did on Back-Blogged; a huge first of the month, and then nothing for several days. Here's hoping my latest finished item can break the seal, so to speak. Anyway, I know I've said this with every new Seinfeld DVD set I log, but this season was the greatest one yet. The show was definitely in full stride for this entire season. It featured a number of fantastic and well-structured episodes such as "The Mango," "The Puffy Shirt," "The Marine Biologist," and "The Hamptons." One thing that really surprised me was all of the callbacks to previous Seinfeld moments that were scattered throughout the season. I guess I never thought of Seinfeld as story-arcing or serial in any way. After all, it's been described by its own creators as a show where nobody learns any lessons, nobody changes, and nothing happens. I may have just been imagining it, but this season seemed to have more picture clarity than the previous ones. I'm sure that helped make it feel less dated (even though Schindler's List was a plot point in one episode) and, in general, aided in my overall enjoyment of the season. I'm looking forward to Season 6, but I think I need to take a break from Seinfeld for now. Call it an "indefinite hiatus." It's not that I'm growing tired of the show. Instead, I just think I should stop racing through a season every week. After all, I wouldn't want to jam eight years' worth of sitcom gold into a two month stretch. I've completed four of eight DVD volumes, and this halfway point seems like a perfect place for an intermission. Next up? A shot at redemption for Weeds.

Slaughterhouse-Five

It is a rare and splendid thing to head blindly into a book already knowing full well that you will enjoy every page of it. I've considered buying (or at least reading) this book for years now, and only two days ago did I decide to make the plunge. This was my first Vonnegut novel, although I have read and enjoyed a number of his short stories in the past. Fellow logger Sweeney, a Vonnegut veteran, has told me that this is probably Vonnegut's most bizarre and science-fictional book. With aliens and time travel in play, it was certainly at least a little bit surreal. But the time travel at hand here was not of the "we have to go back and change the past!" style; instead, it simply offered a nonlinear narrative as the protagonist, Billy, is "unstuck in time," perpetually living through and experiencing fragments of his life from birth until death. I liked that a lot. Not only did it allow Vonnegut to abandon chronological order much like Joseph Heller had done in Catch-22 years earlier, but it gave Billy an unnatural and inhuman sense of calmness. He knows everything that will happen to him, having already endured his own death a number of times, and as such, he is never anxious or excited in the least. His apathy feels entirely out of place and yet strangely appropriate when he is a prisoner of war, when he is abducted by aliens, and when he endures a plane crash, for example. Ultimately, Billy comes to realize after his time spent with the aliens, nothing is worth worrying about because everything that will happen has always happened. While reading, I couldn't help but think of Season 5 of Lost, in which the old "fate vs. free will" debate comes to a head as certain characters struggle to change the past. It seems Lost owes a lot of its ideas about this issue to Slaughterhouse-Five, even going so far as to borrow Vonnegut's phrase, "unstuck in time." The book offers an outlook on life and death that is both bleak and satisfying. By treating time as a fourth dimension, we can surmise that nobody who is dead is ever really permanently dead; they are alive and well, forever, at certain points in time. It's an interesting take. The whole thing also reminded me of Braid, the video game I played recently in which you must manipulate the flow of time to undo or correct all of your mistakes. Whenever Tim (Braid's protagonist) dies, you can simply reverse time in order to bring him back to life. And that seems to be what Vonnegut's aliens are saying too. In addition to all of the science fiction aspects of the book I've summarized so far, Vonnegut also makes clear his stance on war: what a waste. It was in this book that Vonnegut coined what is arguably his most famous phrase: "So it goes." Whenever a character dies, whether it be from battle, accident, or natural causes, Vonnegut adds in these three little words. In a book set largely during World War II, he ends up saying these words quite often. In fact, I grew sick of it almost immediately. But maybe that was Vonnegut's intent: make me annoyed by all the death by getting me to be annoyed by the words that follow. Classical conditioning, you know? Then again, probably not. Regardless, humor is prevalent in Slaughterhouse-Five, often occurring in the most random or inappropriate of places. At one point, for instance, Billy coughs, and Vonnegut explains that while doing so he shits his pants, due to Newton's law that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction, a law that is useful in rocketry. Later, as the American prisoners of war are stripped and made to clean themselves in a cold, communal shower, it is pointed out to the reader that all of the balls and penises in the room are shriveled because reproduction is not the main business of the evening. All in all, the book was a fantastic pleasure to read, which is just what I always knew it would be. I certainly look forward to more Vonnegut novels in my future. For now I should get back to the task at hand: not buying and reading new books, but instead, killing off every last book that I already own. So it goes.

The Unnameable

Here it is, folks, the last of Sam Beckett's Three Novels collection, The Unnameable. You may remeber my criticisms of the first two, Molloy and Malone Dies- I thought they were far too vague plot-wise and really just to difficult to make any sense of. Well guess what, The Unnameable makes those two look like Dan Brown novels as Beckett has now moved in my mind from "Not for me" to "Oh Jesus get it away from me." My first and easiest criticism is that there is zero plot whatsoever. I mean, you might hear someone say about some book "It was so boring! It's just a guy walking and thinking about his life!" or "That was a chore- nothing but dialog the whole time- where's the action?" But I have never read a book more deserving of the "no plot" criticism than the Unnameable. While at the start of the book it appeared that the unnamed protagonist may be an elderly man on his deathbed like Molloy and Malone, the plot spirals off into God-only-knows rambling where not only is the narrator unreliable to you, but to himself as well. He seems unsure about what the hell anything is, goes off on Descartes-ian tangents, may or may not take classes from a man named Basil who inexplicably has his name changed to Mahood, and then the last 50 pages was unintelligible. I admit at this point I started skimming more than reading, but I also got the impression at different points that the narrator was a meteor, or maybe a fish. Yep. Brief mentions of Molloy and Malone had me thinking that maybe Unnameable would make some sense of the previous two novels, but it just never did. I've read that this novel was an important work of existentialism, but something doesn't have to be unreadable to be existentialist- see Camus' The Stranger, which was actually pretty good. Well, at least reading The Unnameable has given me a greater appreciation for Beckett's previous works- in retrospect, Molloy feels like a pleasure read. There are still some more books I bought to challenge myself left though- Naked Lunch and Ulysses will get their entries soon enough.

The Mother-in-Law

Terence's The Mother-in-Law finishes up the Plautus and Terence collection, and while it wasn't the worst, it was probably the least memorable. At 50 pages, it's fairly short, and there's not much of a story to speak of- the setup is that a young man has been forced into marriage with the girl next door, and eventually does learn to love her, which is complicated by the fact that she's been hiding a pregnancy from 2 months before they were wed. Most of the play deals with the families of the two assigning blame to pretty much everyone, which boils down to a lot of name-calling and whining. Thr truth is, not one of the characters was sympathetic throughout the play, even the clever slave, a character who usually appears to be "above it all." The jokes worked adaquately, but even though I only read this two days ago I honestly can't recall any of them. This means there's really not much to say about The Mother-in-Law that I haven't already said about the rest of the works of Plautus and Terence, which has me thinking that I could be going about logging these collections of plays all wrong- I think for the rest of them I will just read an entire book at once and adress 3 or 4 plays in a mega-post. But until that mega-post comes, I've got more logging to do.

February 2010 Recap

Two more people popped their Back-Blogged cherry this month, and we've got a respectable force six-strong at this point. After seven months, the project is not only alive, but kicking more than ever. After a six day hiatus early on in the shortest month of the year, it looked as if we might not have hit 20 loggings this month. Instead, we reached 34. Not too shabby.

My own progress was nothing to write home about. Despite beating three games, watching six DVDs, and reading five books, I'm only five items lower than I was at the end of January. This is because I went on a bit of a purchasing spree at the end of the month. My New Year's resolutions still hold true, as I've logged two items for every one I've added and finished the month ahead in all three categories, but I can't pretend it was a great month for me. Here's looking forward to a stronger March.