Schwim’s Blog

Well it has been over 7 months since my last post. I just read it and decided at the very least to post a follow up. I did finish reading Wicked back in early January and it was crap. I had it at work and only read it when I brought my lunch. It took me almost 200 days to read it. I love the soundtrack to the musical, but the book was awful and I did actually finish it, unlike The Cell. Since then I’ve read 18 other books and will start the 19th (310th overall) tonight.

I read Double Cross by James Patterson in mid-December of last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is not one of the 18 I’ve read since Wicked since I finished it before I finished Wicked. Of the 18, Murder off Mike (Joyce Krieg) was not as good as the others. I randomly selected it from the library and thought it was just OK. The other book I randomly selected recently was The Cutout by Francine Matthews. This was actually pretty good, but not necessarily an author I’d read again. I also recently read John Lescroart’s latest, Betrayal, but I didn’t think it was nearly as good as his past works with Dismas Hardy as the main character.

For now I’m reading The Deadhouse by Linda Fairstein. This will be the fourth book of hers that I will be reading with Alexandra Cooper as the protagonist. To see other books I’ve read click here.

Sorry, it has been a long time since I started this post and I really don’t know where I was going. I recently finished watching the fourth season of Doctor Who and the 2-part finale was top notch!

SPOLIER ALERT!!!

Finally a two-part (or three?) that so far is worth spreading over more than one episode. The return of the Master was certainly not a surprise as we all knew the writers would find a way to bring him back, but how was absolutely amazing…

I started reading Stephen King’s book “Cell” several months ago and well, I had to stop. I’ve read this type of story before by King and this time I really wasn’t impressed. I found myself simply reading to finish so I could read something I really wanted to read. That’s no way to enjoy a good book or to spend my time so I gave up. I really hate doing that since I am such an avid reader, but this was really old hat for me. Perhaps my tastes are changing. I tried to read King’s Dark Tower series once I finally had all 7 of the books. I got through the first four, but I just couldn’t manage to finish the fifth book. I still don’t know how the series ends and I’m not so sure I care. Anyway, I will eventually finish “Wicked” which I started at the same time as “Cell”. Unfortunately, I’m not enjoying “Wicked” as much as I’d hoped. At least I just got James Patterson’s “Double Cross”. I can’t wait to start that one. I just wish the book was longer.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Wow! A three part story that was almost worth stretching into three separate weeks. I say almost because the climax of the finale (The Last of the Time Lords) was a bit anticlimactic. The return of the Master was outstanding, but I so wish that the actor who played his last regeneration had a black goatee that was such a signature of the Master. This actor was OK, but a bit too crazy for me. Everyone thinking “The Doctor” at the same time was a bit silly. Kind of like asking the world to sing Kum Bye Yah. Anyway, most of this last episode was fun to watch especially when the opened one of those nasty spheres. I was really ready for them to be some sort of Dalek offshoots. Episodes 11 and 12 leading up to this finale were very good and kept me on the edge of my seat. I really can’t wait to see what they’ll do next season. By the way, as soon as I finished watching the finale I searched for news about Martha Jones. She is returning next season but not until episode 6 or 7 and there will be a new companion that will be in all 13 episodes. As for the Xmas special, I’m guessing the new companion won’t be in it. Well I would say that Season 3 was a success with my only real disappointment being the 2-part episode ending with Family of Blood. So it would appear that even though the Doctor cremated the Master, he’ll be back somehow. I’m not sure who the woman was who picked up the ring near the end, but that will figure in next season I’m sure. But the biggest surprise for me was revealing Captain Jack’s future. To me, that was very, very cool. I orginally gave this 3-part season finale an A-, but after sleeping on it I find that this last part was not nearly as good as I hoped so I must revise my original rating and give it a B. They could have done so much more with this episode. Beating the Master should have been more exciting than everyone simply thinking the same thing at the same time.

I finally sat down and watched the season two premiere. I was very satisfied as to how the story has progressed. It was good that Kyle finally got to meet his “father”. Too bad the people at Zzyzx killed him off. I found it interesting that Kyle never called Adam, dad even though that is clearly what he is to Kyle. Interesting also that Adam found it so easy to call Kyle Kyle. Adam mentions that with his invention, there was no need for a biological mom, but where did the egg come from that Adam fertilized? Or did he manufacture those too? I have been completely fooled about Foss. And now I wonder why is Foss so dedicated? Call me sentimental, but I really liked when Kyle returned to the Tragers, but now I’m really curious as to what Kyle will tell the Tragers about his return and the Petersons? Even though Foss blew up the Zzyzx building, he obviously didn’t kill everyone or everything seeing the the female version of Kyle is out and about. Will be very interesting to see how she finds Kyle and how the react to each other. The show has real promise, but time will tell.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Oh. My. God. Where do I start? At the end of Season 3 everyone thought the series was over, but it was resurrected. Now in retrospect, it should have ended back then. I was really enthusiastic about this series when it began. I really like the movie and the book and I thought Anthony Michael Hall was a pretty good choice for John Smith. However, since the writers re-wrote the end of season 3 in order to make way for season 4, I have been disappointed. I have no problem that they decided to kill off Walt, he sucked as an actor. Killing off the evil Janus was good too. His character was irritating at best from the first time I saw him. And now that the Stillson-Armageddon mystery is over I ask myself, what is there left to watch? And my answer? Absolutely nothing. The Dead Zone has always been a cool concept to me, but this series has beaten it to death. I may watch the next few episodes out of sheer morbid curiosity, but that’s it. If it survives past this season I would be very surprised. Sorry to all of you who are die-hard Dead Zone fans, but this episode should have been the season premiere and the series finale all in one. Then I may have been a little bit satisfied. And I’m sure there’s a good reason why they couldn’t get the same kid to play JJ, but even if they did it wouldn’t have helped.

I watched these final two episodes almost back to back so I’m going to combine my comments in one entry…

Man, things are really getting interesting. All this time I thought Foss was the bad guy when in fact he’s been trying to help keep Kyle safe. I never saw that coming. It appears much more likely that Kyle isn’t an alien, but some kind of manufactured humanoid. Seems like Kyle has some sort of failsafe mechanism that prevents him from over-exerting his abilities. So much so that he winds up in the hospital after an apparent seizure. The mysterious people in the forbidden zone are now after Kyle (or 781227) once again, but they fail miserably thanks to Foss. Was I shocked when Kyle’s (or Noah’s) “real” parents showed up and then all of a sudden Kyle remembers his past? Yes, indeed! As the finale progressed, I started guessing that Kyle was simply leaving with the Petersons because of something Foss said. I was right, but it certainly wasn’t much of a stretch. So the season ends with Kyle finally meeting his look-a-like from 1985, Adam. His parents aren’t, Foss explains to Kyle that the reason he has no memory before that night in the forest is because he essentially has no past. And the best part? The mystery people inside the forbidden zone have created a new being, 781228. Will she (yes, the new being is a girl) be Kyle’s new assassin or will she end up being converted by Kyle? Kind of reminds me a bit of the movie Short Circuit with Ally Sheedy. Anyway, I digress. These last two episodes certainly had their slow parts, but all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed them and the season. I can’t wait to watch season two. I should be an interesting ride.

Now it’s really getting interesting. Who is Foss and who does he work for? Was Doctor Kern a good guy or bad guy. What’s really in the woods near the University? Who the hell was Adam? Is he related to Kyle or is Kyle somehow a clone of Adam? Interesting thought isn’t it? And who the hell were those men in the “forbidden zone”? And why were they so surprised that Kyle was still alive? So many questions… Again there were some slow parts, but it is still keeping me wanting to know more. Here’s another good question, if Mrs. Trager is so smart why couldn’t she figure out that Kyle’s gibberish was simply him talking at a fast speed? Seemed obvious to me. Lori and Declan’s relationship could be completely edited out and I wouldn’t care. Just two more episodes before the season finale. I sure hope the end isn’t a let down. Stay tuned…

Sorry I haven’t kept up my Kyle XY posts. I’m still enjoying the show although this episode wasn’t the greatest. It was very slow and plodding. The only interesting part for me was Kyle’s dream at the very end. I really can’t wait until Foss gets his rightful comeupance. The whole basketball thing was fine, but I fast-forwarded through a lot of it. It was just too obvious that Josh was going to get screwed with all the bets he placed on the Bisons. How he was going to get screwed was the only mystery. I’ve got a few more episodes to watch before I’m caught up and thanks to my TiVo, I’ve already have the first episode of season two recorded. Also, I caught a quick few seconds of the season two previews and what I heard changes a lot of what I assumed about the show. I’ve assumed up ’til now that Kyle was an alien, and he may still be, but the preview had Kyle saying, “Why did you make me” or something like that. So was he created or is he an alien. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

This season has run hot and cold for me, but the season finale wrapped things up nicely and set up the final season very well. Scheduling 90+ minutes for the finale didn’t hurt either. What did I like? In no particular order; Shane trying so hard to protect Vic’s family without giving himself away.  Vic walking away from his review that we’ve been waiting more than a season to see. Claudette firing Hyatt. Unexpected, but refreshing at the same time. The ending, with Vic and Aceveda teaming up to take down Cruz Pezuela. Getting Dutch and Danny together wasn’t bad either. I did kind of wish that Dutch had the opportunity to kick Billings’ ass for sending him to watch Tina and Hyatt bumping uglies. But all in all, a lot of action and a lot of answers (at least as far as I can remember).  My rating, an A-.