Ramblings of a 20-Something
James Knows…DVDs
CSI: Case of the Week vs. Character Development
Aug 25th
Monica and I just finished up seasons 2 and 3 of CSI. We had watched the first season some time ago and liked the show enough to continue it. After plowing through these two seasons though, it has become evident that the writers of the show are not interested in character development at all. Each episode is the perfect example of the “Case of the Week” type of show. This plagued the first seasons of shows like Smallville
Case in point, the last episode of the second season introduced the idea that Grissom (William Peterson) had a genetic disease that would result in the eventual loss of hearing. This wouldn’t have been that bad but it came completely out of nowhere without a hint of anything like this. It was like the writers realized this was the season finale and needed to do something to actually grow the characters so they tossed in this thing with Grissom. The episode starts and he’s at a doctor’s office like he’s been there a dozen times before.
This continues into the third season only their attempts are a little better. They have a handful of scenes where Grissom has a hard time hearing someone throughout the episodes. Then at the end of the season, completely out of the blue, Sara (Jorja Fox) asks Grissom out on a date like she had her eye on him since she showed up THREE YEARS AGO. Also, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) finds out some guy is her dad in a horribly acted scene? Sure. Just go with it. They need to stuff a whole season of character development in a single episode.
I think that CSI is the one show that can get away with doing the “Case of the Week” type of show with minimal or just no character development. The show works. It’s entertaining and the lack of an overlying arc doesn’t make the show boring at all. I wonder if this is why the show has done so well in the ratings for so long.
Teaching Kids to Read & Write…From the Dead
Feb 27th
I used to watch a lot of TV when I was a kid. I watched a ton of stuff. Granted, that hasn’t changed too much. Now I just watch DVDs instead of TV as it airs. As a result of this childhood hobby, I have fond memories of shows that were either short-lived or just not watched by a lot of people. These end up popping up in conversation from time to time and a wave of nostalgia flows over me. The shows in question range from C.O.P.S.
Now when you put my childhood love of watching Television together with my current love of watching DVDs, you get my current excitement when one of these shows come out on DVD. That time has come again in the form of Ghostwriter
I used to try to watch Ghostwriter all the time. Unfortunately I didn’t have a concept of time slots back then so I never knew when the show was on. I’d feverishly check the TV Guide channel for when it would come on but more often than not, I’d miss it. As a result, I’d catch episodes sporadically, never really getting the full mystery. Now I’ve got a chance to catch up. I’m worried that the show won’t hold up over time though. I’ve run into a few shows lately where the nostalgia isn’t enough to cover up the dated crap shoot that the show actually was (Fantastic Four
This Sucks (HAR HAR! GET IT?) [True Blood: Season 1]
Feb 14th
I heard a lot about HBO’s True Blood as the show was airing but as I’m not a subscriber to the premium cable channel I was unable to watch it. I did however pick up the first season on DVD when it went on sale at Target a few weeks ago. With Monica recovering from the removal of some wisdom teeth, we flew through the episodes in a few days. I have to say that it’s pretty good.
Vampires are real. They can live right next to you and you wouldn’t notice…unless they stepped out into the sunlight. True Blood takes the idea of vampires and casts them as second class citizens. They’re in the place that African Americans were back in the 50s. People are suggesting segregation or outright murder and there’s a Vampire Registration Act floating around Congress. This presents an interesting idea that I’ve only seen once before (Fox’s brilliant, but canceled Greg the Bunny
Set in a small town in Louisiana, True Blood takes us into the life of Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) who can read minds. So right off the bat we’ve got vampires and physics. There’s more but I won’t get into it here. She meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) a vampire that’s been around since the Civil War. He saunters into her life with his southern drawl and the two become enamored with each other, almost to Twilight
Don’t judge the show by my cynical description. It’s actually really damn good. It’s a great serial with each episode flowing seamlessly into the next. Actually, each episode ends in what feels like the middle of a scene, appropriately enough right after something big or exciting happens which brings me right back for the next episode.
My only actual problem with the show is the DVD packaging. In typical HBO fashion, the package is bulky and a pain in the ass. While not as frustrating as some of their others (ie: The Sopranos
Anyway, I think it’s saying something that my only complaint about a show is its packaging. True Blood is pretty damn good. The features on the DVDs (with the exception of the commentaries which I haven’t listened to yet) immerse you in the world of the show with vampire PSAs and commercials as well as an In Focus look at Vampires in America. All good stuff but I would have liked to have some more info about the behind-the-scenes, special effects and how they adapted the books
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James Knows…DVDs: How I Met Your Mother – Season 3 (2007)
Jan 2nd
There are only a handful of really funny shows on TV right now in my opinion. These include, but are not limited to the likes of 30 Rock, Glee, and How I Met Your Mother. That being said, HIMYM is not a show that I watch as it airs. That’s because I’m still behind and I’m just now getting the opportunity to catch up on previous episodes through the wonders of DVD. I don’t remember how I got into the show, but Monica and I plowed through the first two seasons on DVD so we were eager to check out the next DVDs. We went through the third season in less than a week.
How I Met Your Mother is a very funny show but with a couple major flaws. The whole premise of the show is that in 2030 this guy is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. Sounds OK, right? Well, it is except that the entire show should theoretically end when he meets the woman that will eventually give birth to his kids. The show isn’t called How I Met and Fell in Love With Your Mother, Got Married and Had You Kids. That title is just far too long. So, with this logic in place, any relationship that Ted (the main character) gets into is doomed to fail because we already know based on the show’s title and premise that he doesn’t end up with any of these girls. As a result, I don’t give a crap about any of his relationships. I just can’t bring myself to do so.
Another big problem with the show is that I hate Ted. Seriously, he’s one of the most annoying and stupid characters I’ve seen on Television. Plus he makes some of the absolute worst decisions I’ve ever seen. What really doesn’t help Ted is his friends, most notably the legendary Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) who steals every single scene he’s in. When Barney is through, Marshall (Jason Segal) is taking what’s left leaving Ted with little to nothing to work with. It’s actually a little sad.
Anyway, despite these two huge problems, this show is hilarious, not to mention incredibly well-written. The writing is very smart and each episode has a unique quirk to it with pieces falling together almost seamlessly. Sometimes it’s little things like a framed newspaper headline in a scene in the future in Marshall’s office that reads “NYC Lawyer Discovers Nessie” which ties in to a previous storyline. Other times though, it’s the shape of an entire episode as was the case with “The Platinum Rule” where 4 stories are told almost simultaneously that each exist a year apart. That’s just impressive.
This season’s episodes were pretty damn funny and this DVD is pretty good as well. There are commentaries, deleted scenes, and a personal favorite: an unrated gag real. There’s also a music video for both “Sandcastles in the Sand” the follow-up to Robin Sparkles Canadian Hit “Let’s Go to the Mall” as well as a video for Marshall’s “You Just Got Slapped” which is a song that’s been stuck in my head for days.
If I can catch up on this season of How I Met Your Mother, I’d consider watching the episodes as they air. I can’t guarantee that because of how I’ve viewed the show already. I think it would be tough to make that transition. I’d go from plowing through an entire season, watching episodes back-to-back-to-back to watching one every week with commercials. That just doesn’t seem that fun. If the show continues to be this consistently funny I’d at least give it a try on-air. Every episode of this season had me literally laughing out loud.
Rating:
What the Hell Happens With These Stephen King Movies?
Oct 11th
I’ll be the first to admit that there’s plenty in this world that I don’t understand. These things include but are not limited to: Why girls fart, Why I can’t seem to grow a beard, and Why movies based on great books by Stephen King tend to suck hard. Somehow though, despite my previous strike-outs (I’m looking at you, The Stand), I still had some hope left in me. Then I got hit by a double whammy. I checked out 1408
I don’t really know what happened with 1408. I remember seeing the trailer awhile ago and thinking “Wow, that looks awesome.” Then I read the story and still wanted to check out the movie. I had heard that the theatrical cut wasn’t great but that the director’s cut was better so I went straight to that one…and was promptly disappointed. What looked to be a great psychological thriller that should scare the crap out of me ended up being an hour and a half of John Cusack throwing a fit in a hotel room. Even the awesomeness of Samuel L. Jackson couldn’t save this one. I can’t comment much on the comparison from the book to the movie because I can’t remember much about the story. Let’s move on though. More >
James Knows…DVDs: M*A*S*H – The Martinis & Medicine Collection
Sep 13th
In my quest to consume as many aspects of pop culture as I can in my lifetime, I was led to M*A*S*H, an 11 season long series about doctors in the Korean War. Before diving into this massive box set my only exposure to the show was a scene from a rerun here and there when a show or event was postponed on TV. I quickly changed the channel. If I see an episode on TV now though I’ll probably check it out.
M*A*S*H seems to have a lot of history as it was the show on Television for awhile. The series finale still holds the record for highest rated show of all time. According to the booklet included in this DVD set, about 125 million Americans watched the show’s finale which was about half of the population of the country at the time. That’s insane.
Watching this show now was a bit of a challenge because I saw many aspects of it that felt like they were being copied from other shows. That wasn’t the case though because in many examples, M*A*S*H was the first to do it. These shows that I may have seen first came years later and looked to M*A*S*H for inspiration. The show that I’d compare it to the most would be Scrubs
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James Knows…DVDs: Rush Hour 3 (2007)
Aug 11th
I’ll admit that at first I didn’t see what most people had to complain about Brett Ratner. I mean, I dug Rush Hour
How can I describe this mess? Picture a large pot in your mind. Now fill that pot with every stupid buddy cop cliche you can think of. Mix in a heaping helping of as many stereotypes for black and Asian people as you can think of, the ignorant, the better. Then find a few crappy email forwards that your wacky uncle or grandma sent you and toss those in too. Mix it altogether over a fire made with the corpse of Jackie Chan’s career while Chris Tucker jumps around like a jackass for 90 minutes and then ask Brett Ratner to take a dump on top. Congratulations! You just made Rush Hour 3!
Seriously, this movie was terrible. I’m actually glad that this version of the DVD had no special features outside of the trailer for the film. I can’t imagine what kind of horrors await those that pick up the 2 disc version
Rating: 
Devil in a Blu Dress
Aug 3rd
It took some time, but I did it. I, James Ferguson, have made the jump to Blu Ray. I’ve gone HD. About a year ago, I purchased my OPPO
Anyway, I understand that OPPO
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James Knows…DVDs: Speed Racer (2008)
Jun 16th
I’ve had a longstanding fascination with Speed Racer dating back years, but something always bothered me about it. Regardless of this, I was excited when I heard about the film adaptation of the kooky Anime series from the 1960s. I mean, what could go wrong? It was being handled by the guys that did The Matrix
Then the movie came out and tanked and despite my childlike urging, I couldn’t get Monica to come see it with me. She kept saying something about having a seizure while watching the trailer. So needless to say, she didn’t watch this with me when I finally got the DVD. After a viewing though, I can see why it failed in the theaters. It just didn’t translate well. Remember back in 2003 when Ang Lee’s Hulk
Goodbye Crappy DVDs
Jun 2nd
With our upcoming move, I knew I needed to get rid of some shit. I made plans to do away with my comics (although I haven’t done anything with them after I took pictures of the books), and there’s still a few other things that I don’t need that I can get rid of before I’m forced to relocate them to a different closet. Clothes can be given away to the local Goodwill Store along with books. Then there’s DVDs. Now, I’m not getting rid of my DVD collection. No way in hell. However there are a few clunkers in there that I know I’ll never ever watch again. So what to do with them?
That’s where the Internet comes in! I’ve been an active trader on Bullet Point Review, but that’s a small group so I’ve sort of run out of trading to do. I could sell them on a site like SecondSpin or ebay, but I’d make next to nothing on each DVD. Then I tried out SwapADVD.com. I signed up for this site some time last year, but I thought it was a bit of a scam. It just seemed a little off, you know? That doesn’t seem to be the case.
The way the site works is like a big marketplace. I put up DVDs that I don’t want anymore. Then someone else sees them and asks for one of them. They request it through the site and then I agree to send it over to them. The site creates a wrapper that I can print up and put the DVD in. So there’s no need to gather boxes or anything like that because everything’s taken care of between two sheets of printer paper. I ship the DVD out and once it’s received, I get a credit (one per disc) which I can then use to order a DVD from anyone else on the site. And the saga continues. More >
