TV Review: True Detective, Season Two.

So this is a long time coming, True Detective's second season has been over for several months now. A bit of background is in order. The first season of the show was airing just as I moved to STL and I watched the first few episodes in that weird limbo of finishing packing just as the movers took everything away and living out of a duffle bag for a week before actually flying out here for good. Even with just a few episodes I was hooked and once I got cable here my bundle included a free year of HBO so it was presented to me on a silver platter. And I LOVE that first season. It's filled with Lovecraft Mythos styled mysteries, like the Yellow King and Carcosa. The script and cast are amazing. It's full of tension and dread.

So what the fuck happened in the second season to make it so disappointing? I can't blame the cast directly, they all turned in some solid performances with what they had to work with. Colin Farrell is great and despicable, but with just a glimmer of possible redemption. Vince Vaughn's "reformed" gangster slowly sliding back into the world he struggles to leave behind. And Rachel McAdams's turn as a haunted police detective to round it out.

The big problem is the script. The big story, the main mystery, is just unengaging. By halfway through the season I'd forgotten what it even was, but I kept watching for the personal drama of the main cast. And then it just runs out of steam just past halfway through the season even though it tries to stoke the fires and bring it back. At least the ending was satisfying, even if the last third of the seasons wasn't.

Should you watch it? Well, there's much worse ways to spend 8 hour-long episodes, but I wouldn't run out to see it. Instead, watch the first season again. Because time is a flat circle.

The Martian

About a year ago one of the guys in my office stopped by my cube while I was working late to tell me about this great new audiobook he's listening to. Turns out it got made into a feature film.

Last week I powered through the audiobook myself while at my desk. In fact, I finished it on Friday just in time for the movie to hit theatres that day.

How was the book? Pretty damn good although it does fall into a couple of traps. First, at times it derails into a lot of science talk. I'm perfectly good with that; I'm an engineer. But that's a double edged sword - while I an appreciate the science talk I know a good chunk of it already and don't want to sit through it again.

The second fault is one of the problems with a story like this. So Mark Whatney is trapped on Mars all by himself and his daily existence is fighting to survive, It's essential to the story. This type of narrative needs adversity, in this case Man vs Nature. Well, Man vs Mars. But there gets to a point where one most thing goes wrong for Whatney and I reach a fatigue where I become numb to Mars just shitting on Whatney again and again.

Otherwise it's a great story, one worth reading. The science is (mostly) sound, the writing snappy, and Whatney is full of great monologue in the form of his mission logs, which are the bulk of the book. He's funny, nerdy, and full of pop culture. In short, he's super relatable for the target audience.

So how's the movie? Matt Damon is perfect for the role of Whatney. The cinematography is fantastic and does an amazing job of showing the fantastic Martian landscapes while evoking Whatney's loneliness. He is the only man on the planet, after all.

But the biggest thing here is Ridley Scott. When he's on, he's on and here HE IS ON. This film actually makes up for PROMETHEUS (but only just). THE MARTIAN really showcases Scott's  ability as a director and his ability to share his vision.

Sadly, the movie's not entirely perfect, especially compared to the book. Most of the book is on the screen. All the major beats and incidents are there except one, which would have ruined the pacing and made the movie way too long. The other big difference is the ending. I don't want to go into details, but I liked the book ending much better even if the movie's ending works better as a film.

Overall the biggest praise I can give this film is that it's in the league of 2001 for really showcasing hard science fiction and media like STAR TREK for being inspirational. Not just that, but somewhere this is a 12 year old girl that will see this movie and decide she wants to go to Mars. And she will.

Movie Review: Terminator Genisys

One of the neat things about my new home is that I live near a second run theatre. That's right, the "dollar cinema" where movies that aren't on the bigger screens are only a dollar. It's a bit run down but IT'S A DOLLAR. I remember going to the dollar show as a kid and getting to watch two or three movies.

Anyway, I got to see TERMINATOR GENISYS and only paid a dollar. I got my money's worth.

TERMINATOR GENISYS feels like a couple of movie executives were in a dim room doing a ton of blow and one says to the other, "Dude, what if Kyle Reese goes back in time and Sarah Connor tell him 'Come with me if you want to live'!"*

If you haven't seen the trailer that spoils the movie's big reveal, don't worry, I'm not going to mention it. Instead, here's a brief summary of this movie's attempt at a plot/

This time around a terminator is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor when she was young, so she winds up growing up to be a warrior by the time of the first TERMINATOR movie. And she keeps her terminator around like a pet, calling him Pops. This is such a horrible, radical shift in characterization for Sarah. Her original arc is from a scared, helpless girl to a capable, tough as nails woman, training her son to be a leader. Now she's just supposed to be a badass out of the gate and to be honest it doesn't play well.

Kyle shows up and pretty much  it's T2, only this time around Kyle is Sarah, Sarah is John, and the terminator is still a terminator. Kyle doesn't trust it, Sarah does and it's programmed to obey her, oh and there's a T-1000 around here somewhere hunting them. It's like Hollywood has decided that every franchise needs the same reboot framework as STAR TREK. The original timeline is gone, welcome to the future, baby! Or past. Or...whatever.

And then they time travel to 2017 to stop Skynet from coming on line at the last minute. That's fucking stupid. YOU HAVE A TIME MACHINE WHY ARE YOU JUMPING TO JUST BEFORE IT COMES ONLINE? Or just not time travel and take care of things in the passing years. You know, like the "Sarah Connor Chronicles" was doing a great job of. But that Sarah is gone, shit.

However, if you turn off your brain and remember that you only paid a dollar it's a spectacle of lights and noise. And a little fun, in that summer blockbuster way. Now I'm not recommending you rush out and see it. Or even watch it on purpose. But if it's raining outside and it's GENISYS or some Z-Grade Mockbuster knock-off on Netflix, try GENISYS.

But don't pay more than $1.


* Yes, Birth.Movies.Death. came to the same conclusion I did, but I promise I didn't rip them off. This time.

Movie review: Dracula Untold

Ever wanted to see a movie that takes a classic, iconic monster and makes him a noble hero fighting for his people? No, me neither.

The best thing I can say about DRACULA UNTOLD is that it's better than I, FRANKENSTEIN. While I actually liked THE WOLFMAN redux, if this how Universal is going to try to update their classic monsters I'm really, really disappointed. I guess it wouldn't be as bad if Dracula as still an anti-hero but he's a straight up hero now, even as a murdering, blood sucking vampire.

Speaking of vampires, I really want to cry seeing Charles Dance reduced to this. I mean, a paycheck might be a paycheck but I'd expect he'd be rolling in that Game of Thrones money. Throw in some really weird makeup choices and I'm not sure what's up with him.

I'd like to go into the plot a little but it's completely forgettable. Like I should have taken notes on this. So many reviews compare this to MALEFICIENT, but I managed to avoid that one. I wish I had avoided this one. Since it's horribly unimaginative I'll just leave some great pull quotes from reviews.

"Might be worth seeing solely for the moment when Dracula says, "I'm worth 1,000 boys and you know it." - Scott Weinberg, TheHorrorShow

"It's just a bunch of nonexistent people getting knocked over by nonexistent bats." - Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

Pebble Time Steel

I love gadgets. If I had the budget I'd be an early adopter for almost anything. I love having new tech, even with bugs and getting to experience it before it hits that critical mass and possibly changes how we interact with the world. Is a smart watch that kind of gadget? I think it just might be.

I missed the original Kickstarter for Pebble, an early smart watch the big advantage for Pebble was a long battery life (measured in days, not hours) from using an e-ink display instead of LCD. Pebble was followed by Pebble Steel, a version with a metal body. Pebble isn't the only smart watch in the game, others like Samsung and LG have their versions...and there's Apple, of course.

Back in March there was a Kickstarter for Pebble Time, the next generation of Pebble watches. How could I resist? Not only that, but they also opened up the pledges for Pebble Time Steel, in three colors (black, gold, and silver), complete with matching metal bands. I eagerly pledged for a black Pebble Time Steel in March and thus began the waiting game.

Come late August my shiny new smart watch had arrived although due to trouble with the supplier the metal band would be delayed. No problem, it's part of the things that happen when you deal with Kickstarter. Besides, I got a slick matching leather band. For reference, the Pebble Time Steel comes with the leather band in retail and the official metal band is extra. I decided to purchase an aftermarket metal band from Truffol, which works because Pebble Time (and Steel) use any standard 28mm watch band.

So, is it worth the money? YES.

I quickly found myself playing with programmable watch faces and apps. There's an entire store interface for finding them and Pebble Time supports all the old Pebble software as well although it's black and white. The alerts that appear on my phone also appear on my watch, although that's entirely selectable which ones you want to see. In a noisy place where you'll probably miss the buzz and bleep of a text message on your phone in your pocket? Now it's on your wrist with a gentle buzz.

The apps allow my watch to become an activity and sleep tracker as well. It measures my steps and my sleep patterns. It has smart alarms that wake me when I'm stirring around my wake up time. Oh yeah, that's a big benefit. I don't need the audible, loud alarm on my phone any more so my sweetheart next to me can stay asleep a few more hours before she has to get up. Instead the alarm is a vibration on my wrist, and yes it's capable of waking you up.

Is having a smart watch supremely life changing? No, but it is pretty damn cool. I could go on for pages on the tricks it can do and we'll all get what we want out of it which differs from person to person. If you rely on your phone for everything (and who doesn't?) you may want to give a smart watch a try and you can do a lot worse than Pebble Time.

The Civil Life

St. Louis has a fantastic beer culture, including tons of small breweries and tap rooms. One of those is The Civil Life.

It's small, about the size I usually expect from a microbrewery although STL has some with big facilities that have spoiled me (Urban Chestnut, I'm looking at you). Basically a small building with a bar and a couple of tables along with maybe two dozen bench tables on a patio outside. Nothing fancy, just a relaxed environment to drink some good beer. They also have a small kitchen with a rotating menu of typical brewery items: pretzels, sandwiches, a charcuterie plate, etc. The food I had (a charcuterie) was fantastic, including fresh meats and killer house picked veg.

But the reason to visit is the beer. And the beer is good. Particularly I like their English IPA, the Scottish "Wee Heavy", and the Angel and the Sword. All of the beers I've sampled were great examples of their styles. Like most breweries I've visited in the area a tasting flight was not offered, which is disappointing, but they do offer a taste of whatever you want and pours come in pints and half pints.

The only drawback to The Civil Life is that it's cash only. I really don't see any legitimate reason these days to not take a credit card. Of course, there's an ATM in the building but that means the dreaded processing fees that will quickly pile up when all you want is another $10 for a pint or two. It's a small annoyance, not enough to stop me from visiting again.

"K10", or Yes, I know it's been ten years since Hurricane Katrina

Earlier this week I marked 18 months living here in St. Charles as well as the first time I've actually been glad that I'm not in Nola. Why would I ever think such a thing? Because I don't think I can handle the media bombardment of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

For many people Hurricane Katrina is still a wound, even ten years later, and we don't want to pick at it. I was incredibly fortunate, I left Nola early for evacuation and my house was barely touched, although my office was destroyed and my job gone. But in the first days and weeks, when those of us who had evacuated were watching the incredible destruction and following havoc, before anyone was allowed to go back and see what was left...those days and nights were agony as I watched my hometown turn into a wasteland, not knowing what was left of everything I knew.

Even with all that I can't imagine what it was like for those that stayed, those that huddled in shelters of last resort or worse, dealt with the rising water in their homes. I can't imagine what it was like to see water rise an inch every hour once the storm had passed and see it slowly consume whatever was spared nature's fury. And now to have media bombard residents with articles praising recovery and reminding us of the destruction or the insult of the disaster tours that took tourists through destroyed neighborhoods.

People seem to think that the private pain of everyone who lived through Katrina is public property.

Yes, I got off easy this time. I didn't lose my possessions, my home, my family, or my life. What I did lose, what so many of us lost, can be intangible. Our memories of places that were will fade with time. Lives are now divided into two parts, before the storm and after. Even ten years later we qualify things with such and such business did it this way or some place used to be open until x time "before the storm".  Evidence of entire childhoods wiped away, from having mementos and pictures lost to the flooding to places and things that have never returned or recovered.

And there's the rapid change to New Orleans culture. The recovery brought new people from all over. Before I moved I found myself in an interesting place socially where I was almost always the only native at the table when out with friends. That's not a bad thing, mind you. Cultures change and grow over time. The thing here is seeing it happen so fast, so compressed. The entire dialect of New Orleans is changing. Cultural aspect that took generations to change now seem to mutate in just a few years. Gentrification has always been an issue, but now is even more important for people that fear to lose their heritage to this fast moving tide.

I will admit not everything about Katrina was wailing and rending of garments. If that storm hadn't hit there are people I never would have met in Houston. I probably wouldn't have gone back to school full time, certainly not when I did, so I'd miss out on all the classmates with whom I went through the program. So many more friendships never would have happened because they wouldn't have moved here, drawn by the recovery. Ten years is a lot of time to think about what would have been, but that's not as satisfying as what is, warts and all.

So, do I want or need to hear about all this K10 media coverage? No, I'm good. I feel for all those dealing with their demons that have been stirred up by the reminder. I'll probably pour myself a Sazerac.