The rise and fall of Kings...

This is another in my long list of television series executed too soon...  Firefly for it's edge of the universe style and brilliance, The Sarah Connor Chronicles for fun and twisted toying with the time space continuum that would give many fits, Journeyman for being the spiritual successor to Quantum Leap, Life for the excellent presentation of zen in it's everyday life of a cop.  But Kings has a very different distinction for me... It actively incorporated spirituality into its central storyline.  As King Silas says, "It's unpopular to talk about God..."  and I get the feeling that it is very true on the network landscape... thus leading to the shows ending.  The show was filled with fantastic performances of every stripe, Ian McShane as King Silas Benjamin in particular...but also Christopher Egan as Captain David Shepard.  Now if those names sound familiar, it's likely with good reason...the entire series was imagined as a retelling of the David tales.  You know, the young man vs. Goliath and the immense army, the Prophet Samuel telling him his destiny to come to the throne, all those great stories... too bad only a few of them got to be told.  The re imagining of these tales into a modern era is intriguing... especially with the concept of the Kingdoms holding sway in the invented world the characters inhabit.  The "crafting of the dynasty" is something that while not a frequent subject in the early episodes, becomes a big focus later in the series.  Another of the keystones of the series was the mysticism connected to faith in their world, but what impressed me most about it was how subtly it was incorporated into the show.  It was often small things, the passing breeze, a blown out candle, all covered with a excellent eye to photography.  There are many breathtaking little moments captured on film for this show.  it is sad to say it didn't reach nearly as much of an audience is actually out there, which may have fallen all over themselves for imaginative re-tellings of biblical stories.  Fortunately the series ended on decent point for a finale, though more stories would have been better.  And the series is available to interested parties who may be interested in it with its release on DVD.

A for amusing...

So, it may seem like a bit off my beaten track to say that I was HIGHLY entertained by Easy A.  It's a light comedy with a ton to recommend it, not the least being the slew of highly favorable reviews... all of which I can get behind.  Emma Stone has fantastic screen presence and a sense of dry wit that infuses her character in all the best ways.  And while I thought that she was exceptional, many of my favorite scene were stolen by the "Parents" of the feature.  Stanley Tucci, Thomas Hayden Church, and Patricia Clarkson are all hysterical and had me in stitches while sharing the screen with their youthful counterparts.  The thing that struck me most about them was how genuine all their interactions were.  They felt like a genuine family playing and having fun with each other, and it carried off the screen to the audience.  I'm not sure how much of those reactions were scripted and how much were improvised, but congratulations need to go to Will Gluck, and Bert V. Royal the director and writer respectively for getting such excellent performances from the cast.  For anyone who appreciates good genuine comedy, this film is very much recommended. 

The Golden Avenger....

With Iron Man 2 on it's way to homes all over, thoughts on the newest series focused on the Golden Avenger spring to mind.  Writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador LaRocca have been the driving forces behind the Invincible Iron Man title..And one of the best main stream teams out there for comics, definitely one of my favorites at the house of Marvel, just behind Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (who have been taking Marvel held B & C list heroes into cosmic scale events and crafting epic sagas around them).  There are a lot of brilliant ideas in The Invincible Iron Man, and one of my favorites is the way Fraction allows the readers into Tony Stark's head...his fears of falling back to his drinking, his fears about what happens if his Iron Man technology falls into the wrong hands... most particularly, his fear of the Iron Man tech becoming cheap and replaceable.  The hardcover collection of the first 19 books of Invincible Iron Man is particularly fine.  Beautifully illustrated and telling some of my favorite stories I've read in some time...Tony dealing with an opponent who manages terrible acts while staying practically a ghost, while being hunted by one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the Marvel Universe.  Still, my favorite story comes during the middle of the book, where Tony teams up with everyones' favorite neighborhood hero Spidey dealing with a major terrorist attack against Stark Industries, and a underground supertech pipeline.  Not the superhero bits that come through, but the way Peter Parker gets to the genuine feeling under Tony Stark while trying to comprehend the tragedy that's befallen the people who work for him and he protects.  Then there's the final story as Tony is on the run from Norman Osbourne and literally losing his mind.  It's a brilliant take on the ramifications of the Extremis storyline Warren Ellis wrote not too long ago, and it's fantastically put together.  This is a book I highly recommend to anybody who loves good story lines.  It helps to have Marvel Universe background info for details on what's going on, but it isn't particularly necessary since Fraction gives you most necessary info as the characters are presented.  

The Season begins...

So the new network season began (for the most part) last week.  As a mediaphile I feel an urge to jot down notes on the series that have either had my attention or caught it.  That being said, I'll begin with Sunday.  Boardwalk Empire: This is the new kid on the block, and it's catching peoples attention quickly.  With a period piece set in the Prohibition and Steve Buscemi, a fantastic character actor, leading the charge plus setting it on HBO this seems like the show that folks are going to be keeping their eyes on.  The characters are vibrant, the settings are fantastic, and the dialogue is terrific.  There's a lot of good here that hopefully will grow as the series continues.
Chuck:  One of my favorite series.  Season four looks like it'll be as much fun as the previous ones.  I'm looking forward to the CIA figuring out they have no idea how to run a big box store... and the development of Chuck and Sarah getting their relationship of equals on more even footing.  Plus there's Casey (the always fantastic Adam Baldwin), how's his life going to change now that his daughter is in the picture?  The first episode is adequate to set up the rest of the season, but it's going to be the rest of the series that lets us see how things go. 
Castle:  Ah, the modern Moonlighting, with the fun loving author and the driven police-woman.  It's a challenge for me to articulate the reasons that I enjoy these stories.  It's not just cause Nathan Fillon is one of my favorite actors on TV and has been for awhile, it's the sense of fun and joy in the macabre and strange he seems to bring to each case he works with the NY cops, then there's the home life with his hysterical actress mother and his terrific young daughter (in the show that is).  Having Castle as a suspect in the season opener thus leading to another amusing interrogation, is just gravy.  Still one of my favorite shows for this season.  
The Event:  Not sure what to think of this show yet.  Government conspiracies, and terrible events have it feeling a little bit like Lost, but with sci-fi overtones showing up late in the episode.  Going to save my judgment on this one til later in the season, when I've got a little more to think about it.
Undercovers:   JJ Abram's latest.  Fun little show.  Not a lot to it yet, but we'll likely see a lot of character development and history revealed as the series progresses.  Hoping the show will be more like the earliest ALIAS than the later seasons.  All I can say thus far is the first episode was entertaining.
Bones:  Another long running investigative show, focusing a little bit more on the science and the characters than many of the investigative series.  At 6 seasons, the long running tension between Booth and Brennan is getting a little weak.  The new season seems to be pushing that Booth is moving on, and Brennan is just now realizing how much her work with Booth and the FBI, made a difference to all the people around her.  It'll be interesting to see if these revelations have any kind of long term affect on the characters.
Fringe:  Back to the the series set in 2 different universes.  There's nothing about this show that I don't like.  The season opener has more mad science, lots of fun little reveals around the second universe, and just a glimpse of what is going back in our world.  Walternate is fun and scary, Olivia has a fantastic escape scene all in all one of the best openers yet this season.

Smallville:  The final season is barreling forward with out even LOOKING at their brakes.  There are a couple great reveals, though the conversations with Jor-El are getting weaker quickly.  Still, John Schnieder's return at the end of the episode, was heartfelt and touching.  Still, unless someone has been following the show since it's beginning and knows DC comics... it'd be difficult to follow all the storylines going through this show.
Supernatural:  Moments of brilliance with a majority of average.  The initial presentation of Dean's new life is fantastic, but the monster of the week this time around is weak   Bringing in new hunters this early in the show feels way too rushed.  Hopefully there will be some better material down the line, but the first episode while fun, isn't nearly so strong as stuff we've seen before.  I'm still looking forward to what else may show up through the season though.

MOG-World

So, Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw is now a published author in addition to the game design and web journalist credits to his name... As a fan of his web journalistic stylings I figured it'd be a fun time checking out his book.  I have to say it's an odd mix of styles... feeling at times, very similar to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series along with a great little send up on MMORPGer's (as the author calls them), going so far as thanking Blizzard Entertainment for three months he'll never get back.  Taking advantage of his general knowledge of the gaming development process, his natural knack for sarcasm, and the concept of progressively developed systems; Yahtzee's novel moves along at a brisk pace and kept this gamer giggling throughout.  With that in mind, Mogworld, is still in a very niche market for it's target audience.  Aiming for gamers and fantasy enthusiasts and taking advantage of Mr. Croshaw's reputation in the former community to contribute to 'buzz', the novel is definitely not going to be for everyone... it is, however, a fun time and a pretty quick read.  I hope to see more from Mr. Croshaw, but until then I'll just join the rest of his fan base over at the Escapist for his weekly gaming tirades.

Words of Warding...

A short time ago I found myself perusing the bookshelves of the local bookshop and came across The Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett (also known as The Painted Man in some other publication areas).  It's the first in a series of fantasy novels the author's calling the Demon Cycle and if the quality of his writing continues improving I'm sure they're going to be seriously good novels.  With a solidly building fan base, I have hopes that the series takes wing and is a HUGE success, since the quality of the characters, and the story development is excellent through the first work.  The Desert Spear, the second story in the series is out on the market now, with a 3rd hopefully under works.    From first appearances in the next novel the main concern I have is that there may be  a glut of characters throughout his novels, which can create problems with plot focus.  Said plot focus problems are the main reason I left behind the Wheel of Time series Robert Jordan wrote, which is being finished by another author with Mr. Jordans passing.  While a breadth of characters can create some great point of view moments to project the readers all around the world that the author has created... too many and a single novel can loose cohesion and the readers can get lost in the shuffle from place to place.  Still, The Warded Man is a fantastic first novel, and seems to me to have been an excellent exercise in world building.  The concepts and places in the story are fully-fleshed out and vivid...and the world filled with wonders and horrors at the same time.  While the story is fully focused in a fantasy setting, the quality and characters would well and truly make it an excellent read for just about anyone.

Reaching the end....

Halo: Reach is the culmination of almost a decades worth of gaming.  A series dedicated to using classic sci-fi and gaming tropes that has seen its true development in the growth of its multiplayer community.  Centered around a faceless figure known as Master Chief John-117, the games allowed the player to a great deal of association with their protagonist by keeping him helmeted throughout gameplay a concept further extended into the closing chapter (from Bungie, the company most responsible for the games development) in Reach.  Bungie has developed a deep and beautiful graphics engine for their games and as a gift to their fans, with the completion of the Forge engine, have created an almost infinitely customizable and craftable game that will see a great deal of play for a long time coming.  I enjoyed the game series, mostly through my eyes as a reader and someone who appreciates stories, and the crafting of Reach as an "initial" bookend for the story saw some great moments.  The fact that the series has a even deeper story when connected with the Forerunners tales in the game, and the Marathon series of games that Bungie created spoke well to me, even when it doesn't for some of my friends.  While I hope that the games that will likely come after this, will probably not see the same level of depth, the potential for the series to grow does exist, who knows what may come after this.  For many, the best results of the Halo series may be all the related media into which it's extended.  One of Halo's Machinima (digital puppetry) series Red vs. Blue, has seen enough growth and a lot of brilliant content that has extended into film and internet media that it's almost more well known than the series that spawned it.  And one of director Neill Blomkamp's most known pieces was a series of Live Action style Halo shorts, that saw a great deal of use just prior to his film District 9, and similarities can be seen in the two media styles that very positively affect each other.  My greatest hope is that we continue to see new growth in media and storytelling through the many platforms inspired by Bungie and their Halo series.