July Recap

August is already here -- I really don't know how the time manages to fly by so very quickly. Fortunately some solid reading got done in July and I managed to finish four books:

1. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
2. The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett
3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
4. Poison by Sara Poole

Without any doubt, my favorite book this month was The House on Durrow Street. It came just at the time when I was in a mood for such a book and I would say it was even better than the first book in the series.

In addition to good reading, I am also watching the latest season of Torchwood. Torchwood is a British show that spin-off from Dr. Who. However, unlike the characters in Dr. Who whom I don't really like, Torchwood has many awesome characters and somehow hits just the right intersection of sci-fi, action, and complete silliness. If you haven't seen any, I would recommend watching from start because the show is so good. However, in terms of plot one could easily start at this season since it's quite self-contained. The premise of the season is simple: what would happen if one day people just stopped dying? You can't die no matter what -- not from age, not from poison, not even by being exploded into pieces by a bomb. And of course Torchwood is in the middle of things investigating. Good times :)

Dollhouse Update

A while back, I mentioned how much I was looking forward to watching Dollhouse. So we are about half-way through the first season (it's a short first season, only 13 episodes) and I am not regretting spending my time on this show.

Dollhouse received a lot of mixed feedback in the media. I've heard people complaining about it being hard to connect to, and unfeminist. And I've heard people praise it for going into new territory.

There were two episodes in the series that particularly stood out for me so far. The first was episode 3 that starts out feeling a little cliche, but ends up being very much worth it because of the twist at the very end. It was completely unexpected and opened a lot of possibilities.

The second episode, that was even better, is the latest aired episode, "Man on the Street". There are a number of plot lines going on there and the drama gets pretty intricate in a true Whedon fashion. We get to see the first interaction between Paul Ballard and Echo, we see Mellie in a completely new light, Boyd's character is developed, and we learn a whole lot about Dollhouse politics.

In addition, the episode intermittently shows excerpts of a documentary capturing different reactions to the idea of Dollhouse. The documentary format strongly reminded me of Ted Chiang's short story Liking What You See: A Documentary which does something similar. I haven't seen this done successfully very often, but it works for both Chiang and Whedon quite well.

All in all, the show is shaping up and I am very much looking forward to watching the rest of the season.

Neil Gaiman on The Colbert Report

Carrying over with the Neil Gaiman theme from last weekend, here's a funny video of Neil Gaiman on The Colbert Report.

I found it funny that the very first sentiment aired about The Graveyard Book is the very first thing my mom brought up when I got her to try the book. The start of the book is quite dark, but I see plenty of 10-14 year olds watching horror movies, or forget horror, any action movie these days has plenty of killing and blood in it.

I agree, this is not a book to be read to a 6 year old child before bed, but I am sure that a slightly older audience has probably seen more violence in the video games they play. So the dark beginning of the book being brought up all the time is somewhat surprising.

There were certainly some good responses from Neil Gaiman on the show. I really hope to catch him doing a live talk in these parts sometime. And I still haven't gotten to listening him read his books, but I am planning to.

Dollhouse

I have to say I am a huge fan of Joss Whedon. I've watched all of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly at least twice from start to finish. You will not be surprised to find out that I've been looking forward to Joss Whedon's new show Dollhouse for quite some time now. And of course I had to watch the premier on Friday when it came out.

I've really enjoyed the first episode. Not to say that it's without flaws, but I feel the show has a lot potential for character development and interesting plots. In the first episode we meet Echo (Eliza Dushku) who is an "active". An active is a person whose personality may be overwritten to create a personality for hire by those who can pay. I did have some trouble not thinking Faith when I was watching Echo, but I guess it's to be expected.

The plot seemed fairly fun too. We watched Echo in her personality as kidnapping negotiator attempt to save a little girl. The fact that her personality had its own flaws and weaknesses made things more interesting. The show certainly had no trouble holding my attention.

There were a couple of other familiar faces on the show. Tahmoh Penikett (Helo on Battlestar Galactica) plays a cop who is searching for Dollhouse, but is getting a lot of heat for pursuing a case many don't believe even exists. Amy Acker is also on the show as one of the doctor of Dollhouse (she used to play Fred in Angel).

Other reviews for the show seem to be mixed, but I really hope that we will get to see where the show is going. It's going to be very disappointing if Fox cancels the show in the style of Firefly. So I am definitely watching the second episode next Friday.

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4

Yesterday was Martin Luther King day in the U.S. Since it was a holiday, I took it as a chance to catch up with Battlestar Galactica episodes which I saved up. I started watching from the first episode of season 4 and continued through episode 10. It was quite a marathon, but I really enjoy watching episodes back to back. This way you can totally submerge into the world and everything is fresh in your mind.

I have to say that the series is excellent. If you haven't yet watched any, buy the DVDs for season 1 and try it out, it's totally worth it. It's a drama, it's gritty, it's full of action, and the actors are amazing. And what's really good is that even by Season 4 the series has not deteriorated. It's still sharp and moving and the plot continues to evolve without becoming ridiculous **cough**Lost**cough**.

The preview above gives a good idea on what major plot points are going to be evolving. In addition, these 10 episodes had everything. From completely depressing situations, to enraging death of one major character, to hope and inspiration. I don't really want to give much away, so watching it is the best way. I will be picking up the second part of the season now which started last week. Here's the trailer: