BSG Season 3.0 Ranked & Reviewed

Wrote this on a message board, figured I'd post it here too:
(scattered spoilers, including a big one for "The Passage")

1. "Exodus Pt2" (A++++++) As hyperbolic as it sounds, this episode honestly changed the way I look at television. I can't remember the last time I felt an adrenaline rush like that from any movie/TV show... maybe LOTR3 in the theatre for the first time, but that's it. 43 minutes of pure, nonstop badassery the likes of which they'll never top (though I thought the same thing about "Pegasus", and they topped that just 2 eps later) The only weak moment was that awful opening scene between Lee & Dee, but it's easily forgivable. That devastating semi-last shot of Tigh slumping away, broken, while Adama is lifted up on everyone's shoulders will be burned in my memory forever.

2. "Occupation/Precipice" (A+) Another of BSG's finest (2)hours yet, for largely the same reasons (except "disturbing" instead of "badass".) Probably the darkest episode they'll ever do to. Sidenote: this one just got nominated for the "Best Dramatic Episode" WGA (writer's guild) award, yay!!

3. "Unfinished Business" (A) I was one of the people who adored this one. The way it protrayed New Caprica as a tease of the normal life they'll never get back struck a chord with me, and though I'm not the biggest romance fan, Lee/Starbuck worked really well here. They're boxing hug was one of my favorite character moments of the season, along with Adama's "Chief, get your fat ass up here."

4. "Torn" (A) Lots of great moments here too. The Cylon basestar storyline had not yet outstayed its welcome, and was still very cool & fascinating, and the end sequence of Starbuck redeeming herself while Tigh falls deeper into an abyss again really struck a chord here. One person sucks it up and rises above their demons, the other simply can't take it and lets himself go... the different ways people can deal with tragedy. Powerful stuff.

5. "The Passage" (A-) The "mysterious friend from the past miraculously showing up" schtick bugs the hell out of me, but it was handled better here than in "Hero." Never liked Kat, so I was happy she died, but the end was as moving as it possibly could have been. Adama's "Oh, I'm staying..." was a gem. The main food shortage plot was nicely reminiscent of "33" & "Water."

6. "Collaborators" (B+) Well done, lots of nice moments (particularly w/Zarek), and rightfully respected around here, I just found it a bit on the predictable side. (didn't once buy that Gaeta would die)

7. "The Eye of Jupiter" (B) For a BSG caliber mid-season finale, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The Lee/Starbuck stuff didn't work as well here as it did in "Unifnished Business", and just felt like a distraction from the really interesting stuff happening on Galactica. Likewise for the Baltar/basestar storyline, which I think has finally started to get on my nerves (in a "I don't know what's going on here and I'm sick of trying to find out" sort of way.) That said, the rest of the episode, between Sharon finding out about Hera, Adama's reaction to it, Tyrol & the temple, and everything that comes out of Cavil's mouth was quite good. It just got muddled a bit with the episode's lesser parts.

8. "Exodus Pt1" (B) Average, well done, but unremarkable setup with no payoff. Truth be told this is probably a very good episode, but it's sandwiched between two of my favorite television episodes of all time, so it seems worse to me than it probably actually is.

9. "Hero" (C+) Filler filler filler. On another show I would've let it pass, but BSG should know better. Bulldog's escape, even if deliberately allowed by the Cylons, was way too hard to swallow and pretty much killed the rest for me. Some good Tigh/Adama stuff though.

10. "A Measure of Salvation" (C-) More a massive anticlimactic disappointment on every level than an actually crappily-made episode (for true crap, see "Epiphanies" & "Black Market"), taking every one of "Torn"'s cool epic ideas, like the virus & dead basestar, and systematically fizzling them all. The virus turns out to be the fault of a $#@&ing sneeze, Sharon is conveniently immune, the basestar & probe are conveniently destroyed, etc etc. The worst offense for me was the way Adama dismissed Helo's treachery at the end. If that comes back to haunt him, I will gladly eat crow, but for now it reeks of a very sloppy reset button.

The season as a whole: I'd give it an "A", maybe an A-. It reminded me alot of DS9 S6, with an incredible opening stretch that ends on a sloppy reset (in DS9's case, "You Are Cordially Invited") that gives way to some really weak stuff. Thankfully the weak period was short lived (and no where near as disasterous as early S2.5), with a beautiful return to form in "Unfinished Business", but I'm not sure they've completely recovered yet. ...or if they ever will, since the New Caprica arc will be very hard act to top. On that same note, though I'm not at all in the camp who thinks there's been a substantial nosedive in quality, I can't help but feel that the best has come and gone. Hopefully I'm wrong, and there's a good chance I will be. A great season overall, with some rough patches.

The Emmys

Woke up yesterday to the warm, suprising sound of "Charles, wanna come to the Emmys?" Turned out Andrew's TV class got invited to go, and everyone got to bring one guest, and I was Andrew's guest. Ahh, the perks of rooming with Andrew. Anyways, it was SO $#@&ing AWESOME! After jumping through a few hoops with the ultra tight security (who mistakingly thought we worked for Al Qaeda), we crossed through a wall of bushes and entered The Red Carpet. If I hadn't been so overwhelmed by the "wtf am I doing here?" vibe, I'd've pretended to be a celebrity and waved to the crowd. Our seats inside where some of the suckiest in the house (2nd-to-top row) but who cares, it was the Emmys, me was in heaven... though no one I wanted to win won (cept The Office at the end). On the way out we passed within 3 feet of Steve Colbert; that was most divine. Tracy Morgan, JJ Abrams, Dennis Leary, Black Guy from ER, and random peeps whose faces I knew but names I didn't were also sited. Twas a night of glory, to be sure. Tancks McNally! :-D WEE!

Shimmy leaves for Israel today, bwuh bye Shwimmy :-(

Eurotrip: Whatever Day It Is Part 2

As I was saying, we got to the Cinque Terre (5 tinsy villages in the Italian riviera, which is an older, cuter version of Southern CA) the next morning a few hours behind schedule, which forced us to skip the epic 6 hour hike along the cliffs between the towns (which is the main thing to do there), but still got to poke around the actual villages and such. It was a bit more touristy then I expected (everything I read said it was one of those hidden gem places), but still quite lovely. Swimming in the meditteranean (teehee :-) was also a welcome change from stuffy sweltering city stuff. From here, we went to Florence (again with a train screw up), yay...

Now I'm tired, more tomorrow (hopefully) Incase not, here's the quick version of what tis be in the next post:

• Florence: Not much into the renaissance stuff, but enjoyable. Expensive as hell, $5 for a bottle of Pepsi.
• Lucerne: Swiss heaven. If Rivendell existed in real life and not just in Tolkienland, it would be this place. A lake that was crystal clear straight down to the bottom despite being in the center of a big city, a fountain in the middle of it, white medieval castles straight of out storybook perched on the hills above, swans swimming in the river... ahh bliss.
• Gimmelwald: Got to see the setting of the 007 film On her Majesty's Secret Service in person. Nuff said there. Facebook pic coming soon.
• Bern: There was nothing to do here, but it looked really cool.
• Brugge: Belgian version of Venice, but without the expensiveness. Thumbs up, more details coming soon.
• Brussels: Got to stay in a 5 star Marriot with gorumet breakfast buffet included for $18 a night. Long story. Most glorious. Oh, and waffles and chocolate. Lots and lots of waffles and chocolate. it's 1am now, gotta go, sorry.

To be continued...

Eurotrip: Whatever Day It Is

I'm so far behind in this, drat. So much for travel journalness, but don't worry Trusty McNally, you will get the full account in person, yay.

Rome: Absolutely incredible, easily the highlight so far (Amsterdam migth surpass it, but we'll see.) One cool bt to kinda show why: we were walking down this random unspectacular narrow cobblestone street, turned the corner, and plop! There's the Colosseum at the end of the next road. The %$#@ing colosseum, where Russel Crowe kicked Commodus's arse! Like, the actual thing! It was actually a bit smaller than it looks in the pictures, but still... THE COLOSSEUM! (or however its spelled) I had a similar "I'm actually here! What the hell am I doing here?" fluffy-numbness in front of the Eiffel Tower & in the Swiss Alps too, but it was definately at its strongest in Rome. Oh, and gelato! Oooh you must have gelato. Gelato is my new best friend, and will become Sky's best friend when he goes to Florence. It's basically this unbelievably rich (and cheap; $3 for 3 gigantic scoops on the greatest waffle cone you've ever known) creamy soft fruity gourmet Italian ice cream that has to be the greatest dessert mankind has ever invented. More on that when I come back and can gloat about it in person. On top of the whole capital-of-western-civilization-thing that already made Rome magical was the whole world cup fnal thing. Out of pure luck, we happened to be in Rome for the finals, and got to watch the whole game on this big screen set up in the ruins of the Circus Maximus (where Ben-Hur did his chariot race in the days of old) along with 500,000 nutty Italian soccer hooligans. Italy won (old news yesh), and within seconds the entire city errupted into complete chaos, with a million people crownding the streets in an area maybe 4 blocks big... even the cops where partying, I've never seen anything like that before (and prolly never will again.) Imagine USC after beating Notre Dame or UCLA, but instead of just a college campus, it's an entire capital city acting like that. Craziness I tell you, craziness. Though weaving Mika's wheelchair (cause of the foot thing) out of that crowd was no fun at all. Ahhhh the glory of Rome.

Amalfi: Our train getting here ran 3 hours late (the Italian train system thingy was horrible, no concept of the word "schedule"), so we basically only had time to eat dinner here and then had to hightail it out. Looked really pretty, wish I coulda seen it during the day though. From here we took an overnight train (which also ran absurdly late) to the Cinque Terre, now i have to pee, gonna post this jsut incase someone hijacks the internet while i'm indisposed.

Eurotrip: 7/03 - 7/18

Hello again me friends! Free internet is a lovely thing. Since the last psot, weve been to Venice, Pisa, Rome, Amalfi, Cinque Terre, Florence, Lucerne, and are now in lovely Gimmelwald, a small hamlet deep in the Swiss Alps thats possibly the most perfectly heavenly place Ive ever been to. www.mountainhostel.com, which tis where we're staying, has pictures thatll get the general idea across, heehee. Anyways, on with the news:

Venice: I was kinda split on it. On the one hand, it was gorgeous and had all these cool alleyways between the canals that were fun to get lost in, and all the pigeons in the St Marks Square place were glorious. When I say alot of pidgeons, we're talking a whole sea of black blanketing the ground there. Most fun. On the other hand though, pidgeons aside there was pretty much nothing to do there except shop and eat out at overpriced (but quite yummy) restaurants. So meh for Venice. Oh, and I got to hear a genuine Italian accent for the first time. The funniness about it is that you'd think they wouldn't actually talk like they do in cartoons and such, in the same way that most Australians dont actually sound like Crocodile Dundee, but not so for Italy... When we were on the train and the conductor was announcing the stops, it was like Mario of Nintendo was the driver, I couldnt stop laughing, heehee*

Pisa: The leaning tower leaned more than I thought it would. See facebook for the picture. Nothing else there cept the tower.

Rome: World cup final amyingness, im being kicked off now, more tomorrow buh bye

Eurotrip: 6/22 - 7/02

Looks like getting onto the internet twill be a bit harder (more expensive) here than I thought it would be, so I think I'll only be able to post here once every week or so, harumf. Anyways, we're done with Berlin, Fussen, Salzburg, and are in Vienna right now. Innsbruck & Melk had to be skipped do to Mika slicing his foot open on a broken glass jar of peanut butter (more on that later.) I retract my "Berlin is really gritty, whee!" schtick, it was only the East Side that was like that. West Berlin was utterly spotless, to the point that it was actually kinda dull... no different from an American city aside from the language and the fact they had a shiteload of trains in the place of highways. Oh, and I got to draw Monkey Boy (a bunch of them) on the Berlin wall!!!!! How badarse tis that? YAY!!!!!! He hath gone global now, mwuhahaha. 7/10 for Berlin I'd say, and East Berlin tis way cooler than the west, in a Tim Burton kind of way.

Fussen was a snazzy little small town in the countryside around Munich where we saw the castle that Disney based Cinderella's castle-thing off of, most glorious. I also ate an insanely amazing pair of waffles there, yum yum, got a picture of it too though I haven't the slightest idea hwo to upload it.

My internet time tis running low now, ack, so I'lll keep the rest really short. Salzburg was very pretty, Vienna is FUCKING INCREDIBLE, it's shear beauty almost moved me to tears. On Mika's foot: While in Salzburg, he stepped on broken glass, the hospital was barbaric, gave him 3 bad stictches for a gash 3 inches long, sent him out without crutches or a wheelchair, openly mocked him for being an American, and claimed it was illegal for them to prescribe him painkillers. It was a nightmarish experience, will post more details next time maybe, wheneverr next time is. 2 minutes left, gotta go. 3 days left in Vienna, then we go to Venice. Foot injury aside, this tis looking to be the the bestest summer ever... though poor mika had one of the worst experiences of his life (tis getting betternow though, he just has to stay in bed for a few days), ack BYE!

Eurtrip: Berlin Day 1

The airplane ride was as boring and miserable as expected, and there was a wee delay on one of the flights that caused me to miss the next, which was crappiness and made me get here & meet Mika & Female a couple hours late, but all was well in the end. Berlin itself be alot grittier than I was expecting, in a good way... lots of old, dusty semi-bombed-out buildings, at least in the east side, which tis where we äre (silly germän keyböärdßs) staying. There's also lots, and I mean LOTS of grafitti, teehee, always a good thing. Now I must go, for me on a time limit, tootles. Will try to make mr. blogs longer in the future, gah must go buh bye!

Real Content

Well, it's just about zero hour now. I'd take a picture of my fully loaded super-hiking-backpack, but I lack a digital camera. How lacking of me. That said, a strange feeling is beginning to take hold... not excitement, more like that "your life's about to change!" schtick you're supposed to feel during HS graduation, but don't actually because ceremonies are sucky and boring, especially when wrapped in a stuffy, itchy faux-medieval silk gown thing. Turnips are purple and round and white, yum yum. Speaking of boring, I will be stuck in a cramped airplane seat all alone with no one to talk to for the next 17 hours (Mika & Female Mika are on a different flight.) Pray for the survival of my sanity, harumf. Mmm turnips.

ACK! I really gotta go now. First stop: Berlin, Germany... it's gonna be f%cking insane there with the World Cup! Excitement, excitement. See you on the other side! Char-Char out.

Charles's Star Trek Rankings

Two more days till the trip!!! (and till I'll have some real content to post here! hee) In the mean time, here's my Star Trek rankings:

TV:
Glorious:
1. Deep Space Nine (to quote mr. tv guide: "the best written, acted, and all together finest trek show")
2. The Original Series (simply classic, probably deserves to be #1, or at least tied there, I'm just more loyal to DS9 due to growing up w/it)
Nicely Nice:
3. The Next Generation (a tad bland, dated, and overrated, but well made all the same... and it has Picard)
Meh:
4. Enterprise (Voyager-style crap for its first two seasons, half blah/half lovely for its third, & the fourth was a triumphant return to TNG-caliber form, then it got cancelled, oh well)
Shit:
5. Voyager (pure, grade-A dork-poo across the board; everything bad about Trek dumped into one show)

Movies:
Glorious:
1. The Wrath of Khan (the movie that defined "glorious" for me, heehee, arguably one of the greatest scifi films of all time even)
Lovely:
None
Nicely Nice:
2. The Voyage Home (aka the funny one with the whales; very funny & clever, nothing more, nothing less, which is more than sufficient in this case; ingenius storyidea too)
3. The Search for Spock (again, nothing special, but gets the job done well; and the entire 40-or-so-minutes from Kirk hijacking the Enterprise to Mr. Evil Klingon's death is almost Khan quality. I think I'm the only one who likes it that much though.)
4. First Contact (thought it was one of the most kick-arse things I'd ever seen when it came out in '96; has lost its charm over the years, but is still one of the better Trek flicks)
5. The Undiscovered Country (it's *superb* for the first 20min and the last 10, but drags hard between the two; also everyone seems a bit too bitchy & out of character for me tastes)
Meh:
6. The Motion Picture (has my favorite musical score of all time, it's gorgeous to look at, and I appreciate the ridiculous effort that went in to its making, but when all is said and done tis really just less a Trek movie and more a boring, horribly acted knock-off of 2001: A Space Odyssey, sawwy. But as Num-Nums pointed out, it does have that lovely "out.. THATTAWAY!" line, heehee)
Bleh:
7. Generations (blah)
8. Insurrection (blah)
Shit, But I Love It Anyway:
9. The Final Frontier (Shatner's troubled directorial debut... has that amazing campfire scene ("row row row your boat!" bwahaha), and you get to see Kirk fight God... and win! What's not to love?)
ARG!
10. Nemesis (TNG deserved a better sendoff than whatever unpleasantness this was that I wiped from my memory. Just as moronic and bad as "Die Another Day" & for exactly the same reasons)

Charles's Favorite 007 Movies

I'm still in a Top 10ish mood, so here's my top 10's for everything Bond:

Best Bond:
1. Sean Connery (perfecto)
2. Pierce Brosnan (deserved better movies)
3. Timothy Dalton (points off for no-funniness,
otherwise glorious)
4. George Lazenby (best of them all at the physical
action stuff, kinda falls apart as soon as he opens his
mouth, but whatever)
5. Roger Moore (blah. nothing wrong w/him, just not
much gloriously right either)

Best Film:
Glorious:
1. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
2. From Russia w/Love
3. Goldfinger
Lovely:
5. You Only Live Twice
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
7. The Living Daylights
8. GoldenEye
Nicely Nice:
9. Thunderball
8. For Your Eyes Only
9. The Man w/the Golden Gun
Okeeday:
10. Dr No
11. License to Kill
Meh:
12. Live And Let Die
13. Octopussy
14. The World Is Not Enough
Bleh:
15. Tomorrow Never Dies
16. Diamonds Are Forever
Shit:
17. Moonraker
18. Die Another Day
19. A View To A Kill

Best Title Song:
Glorious:
1. Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney)
2. Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon) (The Spy Who Loved Me)
3. Goldfingaaaaaah (Shirley Bassey)
4. We Have All Dah Time Een Dee Wuhld (Louis Armstrong) (OHMSS)
Lovely:
5. Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
6. The World Is Not Enough (Garbage)
7. The Living Daylights (a-Ha)
Nicely Nice:
8. A View To A Kill (Duran Duran)
9. You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)
10. Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow)
Meh:
11. GoldenEye (Tina Turner)
12. Moonraker (Shirley Bassey)
13. Thunderball (Forgot Who)
14. The Man w/the Golden Gun (Forgot Who)
Bleh:
15. License to Kill (Forgot Who)
16. From Russia With Love (Random Frank Sinatra Sound-Alike)
17. All Time High (No One Important) (Octopussy)
ARG!
18. Die Another Day (F%$@ing MADONNA ARG)
Shit, But I Love It Anyway:
(Unrankable) For Your Eyes Only (Random 80's Pop Singer)

Top 5 Musical Scores:
1. OHMSS
2. Goldfinger
3. From Russia w/Love
4. The Living Daylights
5. You Only Live Twice
(all of them by John Barry)

Top 10 Villains:
0. Blofeld's White Cat
1. Donald Pleasance Blofeld (You Only Live Twice)
2. Goldfinger
3. Dr. No
4. Telly Savalas Blofeld (OHMSS)
5. Christopher Lee (The Man w/GoldGun)
6. Old Russian Bitch (From Russia w/Love)
7. Sean Bean (GoldenEye)
8. Christopher Walken (A View to a Kill)
9. Freaky Cuban Drug Dealer (License to Kill)
10. Funny French Guy (Octopussy)

Top 10 Henchman:
1. Jaws
2. Oddjob
3. Red Grant (blond guy from FRWL)
4. Freaky German Bitch (OHMSS)
5. Famke Janssen (GoldenEye)
6. Nick-Nack (funny French midget) (the man w/golden
gun)
7. Slick-haired guy with the cool song and killer milk
bottles (The Living Daylights)
8. Guy With Freaky Bwahahaha Laugh (Live And Let Die)
9. Creepy Guy With Big Glasses (For Your Eyes Only)
10. Benicio Del Toro (License to Kill)

Charles's Favorite Music

Me blurb down there about drinking songs gave me the urg to post my top 10 favorite music tuff, so here it is:

Favorite Singers/Bands/Whatever:
1. The Beatles (naturally)
2. Aretha Franklin
3. Creadance Clearwater Revival
4. Simon & Garfunkel
5. Otis Redding
6. The Guess Who
7. Ravi Shankar
8. Jefferson Airplane
9. Philip Glass
10. Earth Wind & Fire

Favorite Songs:
1. "The Sound of Silence" (Simon & Garfunkel)
2. "Sittin on the Dock of the Bay" (Otis Redding)
3. "Glass Onion" (The Beatles)
4. "Chain of Fools" (Aretha Franklin)
5. "Hard Day's Night" (The Beatles)
6. "Rainbow Connection" (Kermit the Frog)
7. "Whatever" (Oasis)
8. "Whiskey in the Jar" (lovely Irish peeps)
9. "Shining Star" (EW&F)
10. "Try a Little Tenderness" (Otis Redding) & "I'll Be There" (The Four Tops)

Nibble nibble.

The Coming Storm

Miss Megan asked what happens on the 20th. In answering of said query, here be me schedule for the rest of the summer from June 20th onward, mwuaha:

June 20: Depart San Diego for Berlin
June 21: Berlin, Germany
June 22: Berlin, Germany
June 23: Berlin, Germany
June 24: Berlin, Germany
June 25: Fussen, Germany (Neuschwanstein Castle)
June 26: The Austrian Alps
June 27: Salzburg, Austria
June 28: Salzburg, Austria
June 29: Hallstatt, Austria
June 30: Melk, Austria
July 01: Vienna, Austria
July 02: Vienna, Austria
July 03: Vienna, Austria
July 04: Vienna, Austria
July 05: Venice, Italy
July 06: Venice, Italy
July 07: Pisa & Rome, Italy
July 08: Rome, Italy
July 09: Rome, Italy
July 10: Rome, Italy
July 11: Rome, Italy
July 12: Pompeii & Amalfi, Italy
July 13: Portofino & Cinque Terre, Italy
July 14: Florence, Italy
July 15: Florence, Italy
July 16: Florence, Italy
July 17: Lucerne, Switzerland
July 18: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
July 19: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
July 20: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
July 21: Bern, Switzerland
July 22: Brugge, Belgium
July 23: Brugge & Brussels, Belgium
July 24: Brussels, Belgium
July 25: Brussels & Antwerp, Belgium
July 26: Versailles & Paris, France
July 27: Paris, France
July 28: Paris, France
July 29: The Luberon, France
July 30: Paris, France
July 31: Budapest, Hungary
Aug 01: Budapest, Hungary
Aug 02: Budapest, Hungary
Aug 03: Budapest, Hungary
Aug 04: Munich & Dachau (concentration camp), Germany
Aug 05: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug 06: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug 07: Dutch Countryside
Aug 08: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug 09: Return Flight to San Diego
Aug 10-15: Sleep
Aug 16: USC!

Yesh, backpacking through Europe I go, w/Mika & Female Mika. A huge hit my wallet will take, but it t'will be surely worth it. I shall use this bloggy as a travel-journal thingy, so keep checking back for Europeness news, whee!