SOA Premiere: Out

Last night's season premiere pretty much kicked ass.  Obviously it was no where near the level of the premiere of season two, but still very good.  It started out 14 months after last season with some of the members getting out of jail.  They are free and there are plenty of changes happening in Charming. 

There is a new sheriff in town, as Mayor Hale has gotten rid of the Charming Police and put them under the jurisdiction of the county police.  The new guy is a bit of a dick and he will not be bought off by Clay.  Hale is trying to develop Charming into a place for rich, white people.

It appears that SAMCRO made a deal with the Russians while they were in jail.  Apparently, Jax got shanked and they needed to stop the violence or else they would all end up dead.  Now that they are out, the Russian's basically have the guns that SAMCRO is supposed to be getting from the IRA.  Clay negotiates a deal with the Russians that should make everyone happy.

There is an assistant US attorney in Charming, who is trying to bring down all the gangs together.  He has a man inside the Russian gang and he believes he can take down SAMCRO, the Russians, and the IRA all with the same law used by Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.  This new AUSA is a weird individual.

Everyone goes to Opie and Lyla's wedding and this was actually an excuse for some of the guys to leave for a booze run and actually visit the Russians and pick up the guns.  SAMCRO kills the Russians and take the guns.  Clay, Jax, and Opie go out in the woods to try out the new pistol that the Russian boss gave to Opie.  Clay turns and shoots the two goons and Opie grabs the boss.  Jax then sticks a knife in him.  We see the guys dumping the bodies out in the future site of Hale's luxury homes.

Here are some of the other cool things happening:

-I loved when Clay rolled off of Gemma and he made the comment about that being too quick and Gemma says that he must gotten used to those quickies with Juice in a dark corner and Clay responds with something like "Do not turn what Juice and I had into something dirty and torrid!"  That cracked me up.

-Awe, Jax proposes to Tara.  Actually he just puts a ring on her finger and says that he loves her.  He never really asks anything.  He also informs her that his father was weak, and could not leave the club, but Jax is not weak.  He will leave the club once he has enough bank that they can live comfortably since he has no real skills.

-This is Jax biggest mistake:  he underestimates Gemma.  I do not know how far she is willing to go to keep her family together. 

-Jax and Opie should open their own porn studio.  Get Lyla and her friends, boom!  Instant money again.

-Judging from the previews for upcoming episodes, Clay will not go down without a fight and he will take the club into some very dangerous territory.

-Otto killing the Russian by stabbing him in the ear was pretty awesome/gruesome.  Not the way I want to be killed while in prison.

Fall Television

What shows do I plan on watching this fall?  Well let us have a look.

Boardwalk Empire
Once True Blood ends, we actually get a good show on HBO on Sunday.  I am excited to see how Nucky responds with the world completely against him as opposed to the beginning of last season when everything was going his way.

House
I showed the preview last week and honestly, I hope this season is good.  I can pretty much tell you what will happen in the first episode:  House will make enemies in jail (also he will make plenty of jokes), then he will diagnose some prisoner (or guard)'s mysterious illness and save their life.  He will be out of jail in two episodes.

Supernatural
Last season ended with Castiel declaring himself as God.  I guess this season they will have to stop him from taking over the universe or something.  I wonder if it will end with the actual god returning and setting everything right...that would be lame.

Hung
I have no idea how I feel about this one.  I will watch it.  Who knows if it will be good though.

Sons of Anarchy
This is the show I am really looking forward to this season.  Where did we leave off?  Jax got his kid back, they faked out Agent Stahl and then murdered the bitch, and Jax accepts that Clay is the king and his father was foolish.  Judging by the previews, this will not last very long.

The Walking Dead
I am pretty sure it will still be good, even after all the off-season troubles.  As long as we see plenty of zombies and lots of death, I will be happy.

New Shows I Will Try
-Terra Nova
-American Horror Story
-Pan Am/Playboy Club
-Hell on Wheels

Old Shows That I Will Watch
-Always Sunny
-The League
-Archer (even if it is only 3 episodes)
-

SOA Season 4

Tell me this does not get you pumped up for September? 

The Heroes

I finished the newest Joe Abercrombie novel in three days (interesting is that the majority of the book takes place over a three day period).  It was absolutely fantastic.  Abercrombie definitely keeps getting better as a writer.  Instead of everything being dark and depressing at the end, there were at least a few bright spots at the end of the day.  The story takes place up north as the Union fight against Black Dow and the rest of the North.

The book focuses on characters from both sides and mainly how they are not really heroes.  During the main battle, Abercrombie does something I really enjoyed.  He takes the POV of a character from one side of the battle, and then as he is killed, he switches to the POV of the person doing the killing, and then when that person gets killed, he switches to that killer.  He did this before (at least I think so), but he did it for a much longer section this time.  Anyways, like the last two movies, I will be doing a casting call for my own movie version.  There will probably be spoilers from here on out.

Curnden Craw
He is a Named Man on Black Dow's side.  He is considered a straight-edge, a guy who always does the right thing.  The funny thing is, once he retires, his second (Wonderful) decides that doing the right thing generally means not getting paid.  It is funny how they all fight for him, yet they were sick and tired of doing things his way.  Unfortunately, retirement does not stick and when Hardbread asks him to join Scale's side, he gives up carpentry and picks his sword back up.

I picture him as Robert Duvall.  He is older, constantly bitching about wanting to retire, but also he keeps saying things about how you have to do the right thing and stand by your chief.   Duvall just looks like he could pick up a sword and be a bad-ass, but always would keep his warped sense of honor.

Prince Calder
The youngest son of Bethod, the former King of the North.  He believes that peace is the North's best shot.  He is a known coward and everyone makes fun of him.  After his brother (Scale) is apparently killed, he must lead his men in the battle.  He does so and earns their respect, but not before mentioning to Craw that they need to kill Black Dow.  Because of Craw believing in doing the right thing, he tells Dow everything.  Black Dow wants to kill Calder.  Calder cleverly challenges Black Dow to fight in the circle.

I actually saw this going one of three ways:  Calder somehow finds a berserker rage (much like the Bloody-Nine) and kills Dow.  Black Dow savagely kills Calder and we learn the lesson that the little guy never rises up to beat the bad guy.  Or my third option was that Logen would show up and offer to fight in the circle for Calder.  I still do not believe Logen is dead, I am guessing he will show up in the next series.  Anyways, Shivers steps up and helps Calder out, which was pretty much a shock.  It also reaffirmed my choice for Shivers from the last time. 

By the end of the book, Calder is the new King of the North, but then Bayaz tells him that he was the reason Calder is where he is.  Bayaz also tells him that Scale is alive, which leaves Calder with a tough decision:  kill his brother or let him be king.  He chooses the second option, which was pretty cool.  So who has the stones to play the smirking, smug bastard?  How about Michael Fassbender?  Just look at that smirk...plus he is a good actor.  Do you remember how smug and cocky he was in 300? 

Bremer dan Gorst
He is probably one of the greatest swordsmen in the world.  No joking on that one.  He pretty much takes on many of the Northmen on his own.  Unfortunately after the last book, he disgraced himself and got sent to the North as an observer.  He went back to his former training (running for miles in full armor, fencing for hours each morning...) and is now back at peak performance.

He battles Scale on the bridge and cuts him down.  He beats the crap out of Glama Golden.  He also kills Whirrun of Bligh.  He scares half the Northmen just by strolling through the battlefield.  He is just an absolute bad-ass.  His letters to the king are quite funny.  At the end, during negotiations, he almost attacks Shivers because he thinks he recognizes him (events from Best Served Cold).  Again, this is why my previous choice for Shivers was perfect.  As Gorst grabs him and asks if he was ever at Cardotti's, Shivers leans close and says "never heard of it." 

The biggest problem with Gorst is that his voice is very high and that is why everyone makes fun of him.  I figure Manu Bennett from Spartacus:  Blood and Sand would be perfect.  He pretty much has no neck and looks like he would scare the shit out of everyone.  Just need to work on the voice.

Beck
Beck is one of the few happy stories in this book.  He is just a young kid, he joins the Northmen trying to earn his name.  He used to daydream about being a fearless warrior just like his father.  During his first battle, he pisses his pants, hides in a cupboard, and then stabs one of his fellow soldiers.   No one knows this though and he earns the name Red Beck because everyone thinks he killed four Union soldiers.

He later joins up with Craw's men and during one of the major battles he heeds Craw's advice:  stand by your chief.  When Gorst kills Whirrun and is about to kill Craw, Beck hits him in the back of the head with the flat end of his sword, knocking Gorst out.

After the battle, Beck refuses his payment from Wonderful because he does not feel it is right that they did not help Black Dow even though they stood for him.  He leaves the group and goes back home to his mom and brothers.  He is happy to finally be back on the farm and decides he never wants to be like his father.  Who else could play this kid other than Aaron Johnson from Kick-Ass?  He is a bigger kid, but he still looks young and naive enough. 

Black Dow

This is the guy who used to fight alongside Logen and is considered an even more savage killer than him.  He supposedly killed Logen, but I honestly do not believe it (as I already said).  He ends up dead from Shivers, who tells him that he is no one's dog.  I loved it.  Again, this is why Alexander Skarsgard is perfect as shivers.  But, who could play Black Dow?

There has only been one choice this entire time.  From about page 44 on, I kept picturing Ian McShane and his awesomeness as Al Swearengen from Deadwood.  It was the exchange with Stranger-Come-Knocking that did it for me.  As Stranger goes on about the different men he killed, Black Down just keeps tossing out funny little comments.  "I crushed a man's skull in my hand."  Dow:  "Messy."  "I was pierced with many arrows during a battle."  Dow:  "You should get a shield." 

And then at the end when he says he has given Calder every chance, he just reminded me so much of Swearengen.  It is an absolutely perfect fit.  He just might have to hit the gym before the filming.

Corporal Tunny
A Union soldier who has served for many years.  He pretty much seems like the Union's version of Calder.  He jokes about not actually doing any fighting and all he really wants is to make money in numerous ways.  He seems to be a jerk to the new recruits.

When his one moment comes though and they attack a wall (which Calder set up as a decoy), he is the first over the wall and ready to fight.  He also writes letters to the families of the men who died under his command, yet does not want anyone to see it.  I am sure he will pop up again in the next series when the army heads to Styria (maybe he will end up joining sides with Cosca, they would be like best friends...or did Cosca die at the end of Best Served Cold, I cannot remember.)

I keep thinking of Dean Winters for the role.  He was awesome as O'Reily on Oz and he is great in those Allstate commercials.

Whirrun of Bligh
He is pretty much crazy.  He believes some witch who told him when he would die and apparently he does not think it will be the day that he actually dies.  He carries a sword called The Father of Swords, and when he unsheathes it, the rule is that it must be blooded.

During the last battle, he shows up wearing no shirt because he does not believe he will die that day.  Everyone is scared of him because he is such a nut-job (his nickname is Cracknut).  He reminds me of Tig from Sons of Anarchy.  Tig is a little nuts and pretty funny.  Kim Coates would be perfect (especially if you ever saw Waterworld and his crazy character in that movie).

I loved how as he was dying, he gives his sword to Craw and tells him to bury it with him, that way it's curse can end with him.  I also enjoyed how he says that he has never actually been to Bligh, but he must have received the name since most Northmen only know one place up in neck of the woods (I think he was from the Crinna, like Stranger).

Stranger-Come-Knocking
He is described as a giant, but with a somewhat soft voice.  He is also obsessed with making the people of his land more civilized.  He did not have a large role in the book, but when he shows up, he is great.  I am guessing that he will have to be mostly CGI or something.  Plus, whoever plays him will have to be able to have a great exchange with Black Dow and then become all soft when talking to Calder or Finree.  How about Jared Padalecki?  He is already a big dude, and in Supernatural, he goes from a nice, soft-voiced guy, to an all out bad-ass pretty quickly.   Plus, he usually has some funny exchanges with Jensen Ackles.

Finree dan Brock

The wife of Colonel Brock, whose father was considered a traitor against King Jezal.  She is also the daughter of Lord Marshall Kroy.  She is ambitious and very knowledgeable about the military.  She is captured by Stranger, but later turned over to Black Dow in order to discuss a peace agreement.

Gorst is in love with her and at the end of the book he makes a fool of himself by telling her how great of a warrior he is, which she pretty much tears him apart.  She will pretty much do anything to get ahead in life.  By the end, Bayaz has made her husband the Lord Governor of Angland (it borders the North), which is basically what she wanted.  She has dark hair and is very hot.  Hmm, so many women to choose from.

I like Sienna Miller.  She is hot (she even looks hot with dark hair, which she will need for the role) and if you remember her in Stardust, she was a perfect manipulative bitch. 

Aliz dan Brint
She is the wife of Brint (a character from the first series) and the only friend of Finree.  She is very naive and a bit of a twit.  I am guessing she is pretty hot though, since Jezel and Brint are friends, and she probably has been in the company of the queen.   She is the blond one and her story does not end well.  Whereas Finree gets to leave Stranger's company, she does not.  I am guessing she got banged by a giant.  Why even bother mentioning her?  I wanted to post another picture of a girl, I ain't gay (not that there is anything wrong with that.)  How about Hilary Duff?  She is hot and young...

Wonderful

She is Craw's second and a pretty tough lady.  I am guessing she must not be all that hot or she would have probably gotten raped awhile ago.  I am guessing that since she has been with Craw for awhile now, she must be a littler older.  I figured Linda Hamilton would be good.  I could believe her holding up a sword and fighting against Northmen.

Although, I have seen some pictures of her where she looks older than Robert Duvall.  Whatever, she was ripped in T2.

Obviously this is not all the characters.  If you want my choices for other characters from previous books, go here and here.  I also had another prediction during the book:  the character Red-Hat, the second to the Dogman, was going to actually be either Logen or Major West (he must have been promoted to Lord Marshall at some point, since he got a passing mention).  It appears that I was wrong though.  Anyways, let me know what you think.

2010 In Review

Instead of recapping the entire year, which is never any kind of fun, I will just go over some of the highlights of 2010.  It was a pretty damn good year.

-I finally bought a laptop, which has pretty much been the best investment ever.  Sitting on the couch while writing these posts is much better than sitting at a desk.  Speaking of posts, 2010 was my busiest year with over 300 posts.  That is kind of exciting (or lame depending on your POV).

-I went to a bunch of sporting events this year.  A few in Pittsburgh, a couple in Altoona, and one over at State College.  I also got to enjoy tailgating for the Blue/White game and the Temple game.  I even made a trip to Washington D.C. to see the Nationals and Pirates play.  Speaking of awesome sporting events, I experienced two firsts:  my first Pens game and my first regular season Steelers game.  I also got to see Stephen Strasburg make his minor league debut against the Curve.

-This was also a very sad year since two of my favorite TV shows ended:  Lost and 24.  I actually did a couple of special things to commemorate such great shows (even though 24 constantly pissed me off with some of its stupid story lines).  My Best of 24 was pretty cool (at least I thought so), yet none of you jerks commented on it.  Also, I was so impressed with my Lost GOTW and the amount of work I put into it, and again, no one really noticed.  I think it caused me to die a little inside that no one said how awesome it was...

I will post it again for your enjoyment, only in a slightly smaller version.  Do not strain your eyes too much trying to enjoy all the hotties.

-There were plenty of great TV shows in 2010.  In fact, this year was a much better television than movie year.  Mad Men, Always Sunny, Justified, Boardwalk Empire, Treme, True Blood, Sons of Anarchy, Archer, The Walking Dead, and The League.  Also there were plenty of enjoyable shows like Warehouse 13, Eureka, White Collar, Human Target, and Supernatural.  I am sure I am forgetting some.

-Speaking of movies, what all did I see this year?  Iron Man 2, Inception, Kick-Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Social Network, The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sherlock Holmes, The Chronicles of Narnia:  Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Daybreakers. I really feel like I went to the movies more than this, but I guess I did not.  I think there were a few movies I saw that were just crappy and I did not care about.

-I will not list all the books I read over 2010.  It was not nearly as many as years past, I think my total was only thirteen.  Granted, five of those books were around 1000 pages each, so it was probably about the same amount of reading as previous years.

-The biggest thing to happen in 2010 though was the changes in my life.  I met Lindsey and we moved in together up here in New Germany.  She makes me incredibly happy and I feel like a better person because of her.  If she is reading up to this point, I hope she knows how much I love her.  Sorry to the rest of you for having to read a little personal stuff.

-Now on to the best of list...

Best Movie:  This is a tough one, it comes down to Kick-Ass and Inception.  Many people will say The Social Network was the best movie, and I definitely thought it was good, but I look at it from the stand point of which movie will I watch more than once?  Which of those movies will I stop when I see they are on HBO and watch them from wherever they are in the film.  I would have to say that award goes to Kick-Ass.

Best TV Show:  All those great shows listed above, yet it comes down to two:  Mad Men and Sons of Anarchy.  I could not wait every week to watch these two shows.  And I usually watched the episodes again during their reshowing.  SOA was great, but did not compare to last season and at times I felt like the Tara storyline was dragging on.  MM does not have the action, but it just holds you in it's thrall each week.  It is hard to explain to people why it is such a good show.  Anyways, that was the best show in my opinion.

Best Book:  Only three of the books I read this year actually came out in 2010.  I think the best one of that small group was Are We Winning?  It was a great book and I pretty much recommend it to any baseball fan.

Best Comic Book:  I will not lie, I have not read many comics this year.  In fact, I stopped getting individual issues and decided just to get trades.  Of everything I read, I would say that The Walking Dead is still the best on-going series I read.  Maybe 2011 will be a better year.

Anyways, that is my thoughts on 2010.  Who knows what 2011 will hold for me...

Sons of Anarchy Finale

As the season started I kept thinking that it would end with Jax getting Abel back and the MC killing Jimmy.  Then it threw me a curveball and Jax gets Abel early.  Also, Jax was making deals with Stahl about giving up Jimmy.  It seemed so out of character.  I mean, wouldn't Jax want to kill Jimmy for what he did?

Then, as the season went on, I started to understand Jax's decision.  I mean, this was the best move for the club.  I did not understand why Jax would not just explain the situation to the club and let them put it to a vote.  The rest of the guys would have to understand what he was doing, right?

As soon as Stahl double-crossed Jax and sold him out to the club, I knew they were all in on it.  I loved how they all reacted and did not want to speak to Jax.  I loved how Unser put his gun and badge on the desk and grabbed his personal revolver.  You just knew something crazy was up (but then it was Clay's comment to him that really gave it all away).

When the bus pulls up and Opie grabs Stahl and makes her put her hands on the wheel.  That was one of the best moments ever.  Her begging for her life was one of the best moments of the entire season.  Watching that bitch get what she deserved made me unbelievably happy.

The episode ended with Gemma reading the letter from Jax explaining the whole situation, which mirrored the letter that Tara found from John to Maureen saying that he was sure Gemma and Clay would be the cause of his death someday.  Jax also says in his letter that he is not his father.


I only wish that next season would start right now.  Will the Russians become the new antagonists for next season?  Or will Clay offer some kind of payback money once they get their hands on the IRA guns?  Come on season four, get here already.

Previously on Sons of Anarchy

I know most of you are dying to know what I have thought about the last few weeks of Sons of Anarchy.  The season has been mostly awesome, minus a few parts.  Everything about the group being in Ireland has been cool, most of the stuff dealing with Tara sucks.

Remember how I said that Jax almost had sex with his half Irish sister?  Well they came ever closer, luckily Maureen and Gemma walked in on them.  Gemma then delivered the great line of "unless we want a three headed grandchild, we better share some family history."  Jax seemed to take it well.  In fact, last night Trinity says that she is embarrassed because she almost shagged her brother and Jax responds with "and you say that like it's a bad thing."  What?  Is Jax more turned on now that he knows Trinity is his sister?  Weird.

Yet again, Jax will stray from his father's manuscript.  He had that moment where he thought maybe this lifestyle was wrong, but then the gay family that adopted Abel ends up dead and Jax comes back to reality.  Jax and Clay will have their confrontation, but it is not time yet.

I thought she was hotter on Mad Men...

Back in Charming, Tig and Lem (I cannot remember his name, so I will call him Lem because that was his character on The Shield) continue their pissing match and act like the village idiots when it comes to running the MC.  Lumpy:  dead.  Tara:  missing.  Alvarez:  almost breaks the truce.  Christ, Clay is going to be pissed when he gets home.

Speaking of idiot Tara...she has been a worthless story all season.  Whining and crying about Jax.  Debating about an abortion.  I knew she would not get one, that would have been something interesting for Jax to deal with.  Instead she is kidnapped by Salazar and now that Jax is home, he will have to deal with him.

Judging from the previews, it sounds like Clay is going to find out that Jax made a deal with Stahl.  I do not understand why the deal was a bad thing?  She gets Jimmy and Gemma stays out of jail, as does the club.  Yeah, that would be terrible.  I guess it would mean that Jax would be putting the kibosh on Clay's new IRA gun running operation. 

I am guessing that Jax will have to intercept Jimmy before he makes it to the Russians.  Then, instead of killing him, he will give him to Stahl, but he will tell the rest of the club that he is going to kill him, but he wants to do it alone.  Unfortunately, Gemma will do something stupid, like pull a gun on Stahl (saw that in the previews) and probably end up going to jail anyways.  Jimmy will claim that SAMCRO is the actual mastermind behind everything and the whole thing will backfire.  Okay, probably not.

I would like to see Jax arrive to save Tara too late.  Salazar just killed her and Jax kills Salazar.  It will be a moment where Jax will either realize that his father was right or that he cannot be saved and his life is too wrapped up in violence...

Awkward Television Moments

This week's television featured a few very awkward moments.  To the point that I was sick to my stomach or laughing my ass off.

Boardwalk Empire
The creepy government agent looking at Mrs. Schroeder's photo became very creepy.  He lays out the towel, pushes his wife's picture down so she can not "look" at him, and then gets out the belt.  I naturally assume he will partake in a little autoerotic asphyxiation.  Am I the only one who thought that?  Screw you guys.  Instead he punishes himself for having impure thoughts.  Stupid religion.

Worth masturbating to, not worth beating yourself with a belt...

Aside from that the episode was pretty awesome.  Jimmy hatches a plan to get back at the Irish.  And then Al insults him at a party, but Jimmy rolls with it and throws out his own insults.  Apparently Al Capone does not like that too much (I wonder how historical some of this is?).

Sons of Anarchy
SAMCRO heads to Ireland to get Jax's son back.  First though they have to get drunk and party with SAMBEL.  Jax meets Trinity and there are some instant sparks.  Jax does a bare-knuckle fight with Liam.  Trinity wants to wrap his hands and she is definitely giving him the fuck-me eyes.  After the fight she leads him to a shower, where someone makes the joke that she needs to scrub his back.  Normally this would just be another normal day for someone in the club, except in this instance, Trinity is Jax's half-sister.

Fortunately, Father Kellan came to the rescue.  He wanted to talk to Jax about his son.  Crisis averted.  Score one point for religion.






Always Sunny

Obviously this one was just meant to be funny.  The whole episode was hilarious, as the gang tries to recreate what happened at the Halloween party that ended up with Dee getting pregnant by one of them.  After everything is settled, they think it was actually Dennis who slept with Dee, which causes Dennis to vomit.  Dee then reveals that it was none of them and she just said it to screw with them and prove that they did care who the father was.  The gang then insults her and leaves without waiting to hear who the daddy actually is.  

TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV

This was a fantastic week of television.  Let us start with Mad Men.

Mad Men
SCDP is failing.  Without Lucky Strike, they only have a few months before they cannot pay the employees.  They have to start downsizing.  Then they get a break.  Phillip Morris wants to create a new cigarette for women and they want a meeting with SCDP.  Unfortunately it turns out that they just want other agencies to think that and they used SCDP.

This pisses Don Draper off.  He goes home and writes a letter to the New York Times saying why he is quitting tobacco.  He writes how the tobacco companies are killing people and he was part of that.  He says that he is glad to be out of that business.  He also recommends other agencies that would be suitable to do ad work for tobacco companies.

Needless to say the rest of the partners are not too happy with Don.  They feel like he has destroyed the company.  In fact, Bert leaves.  Peggy comes into Don's office and he asks her what she thought of it.  She says "I thought you didn't like those kind of shenanigans."  Which causes Don to smile.  Peggy remembered something Don taught her.

The reason this episode was great was because of the way it felt like Don truly is happy.  His letter was an ad for the agency, yet at the same time, I truly believe he feels good about the direction his agency is going.  Also, it was cool to see Midge again.  Not cool that she is now an addict trying to use Don for money.  I guess she should have taken that trip to Paris...

Roger's great line of the episode:  "I need to go learn people's names before I fire them."  Haha, oh Roger, we will always love you.

I also loved how Pete was so upset about the money he was supposed to pay and then Lane informs him that Don paid his portion.  He sees Don in a whole new way.  I was sure that he was going to throw Don's false identity back at him since they lost the North American Aviation contract.

Sons of Anarchy
Jax is the man.  He threatens Jimmy's right hand man by saying that if they are lying about Abel he is going to kill him and then let Chibs cut Jimmy from ear-to-ear.  SAMCRO threatening the IRA?  That is why SAMCRO is badass.

Agent Stahl decides to screw with Gemma.  She takes the deal off the table unless she cooperates against everyone.  Jax does not like this and after he finds out that Jimmy was lying he pays the number one a visit.  We assume that he is going to shoot him.  Then he goes to Stahl's house, which scares her a bit.  I am sure everyone thought he was going to do something insane like kill her or something.  He throws us for a loop by wanting a deal.  He says that if she drops the case against Gemma, he will give her the IRA.  He then shows her Jimmy's number one with a whole assload of guns.

At least we now know how Gemma is going to get out of this mess.  I am also extremely excited about the idea of SAMCRO in Belfast going into battle against the IRA.  Things are about to get insane.

Boardwalk Empire
So far this has not been a show with a whole lot to talk about.  I mean, it is a fantastic show, but it is slow building.  This is not a bad thing at all.  Sometimes you have to move a little slower to really make it engaging.  The best part of the episode was Chalky telling the story about his father and then pulling out the tools.  I don't know about you, but I enjoy watching a KKK member shit his pants with the threat of torture.  Or lost a finger.

I cannot take Tommy from Snatch seriously as Al Capone.  Maybe it is because of the way Peter F. Hamilton used Capone in the Night's Dawn Trilogy.  Plus, I want Jimmy to be like "what's that in your trousers Tommy?  Protection from what? Ze Germans?"  Sorry.

The part where the Irish guy cut the hooker was pretty intense.  It made me cringe.  I wanted Clint to walk in later and say "you must be that whore they cut up."  Yes, that is right, a Snatch and an Unforgiven reference in one post.

Also, Gretchen Mol is pretty hot.  I always thought she was attractive in Rounders, but she is a pretty hot grandmother.

The League
-Jenny tries to join Russell's league, but Kevin is upset because Russell is a sex addict.  She goes over to his place and he says that she does nothing for him.  Everything else does, including Raffi.  Luckily, this ends Raffi in the league and Jenny is free to take his team.

-I loved how Andre kept saying he was a doctor and they would make fun of him.  Especially when Kevin is like "I am not a doctor Taco and I would have said the same thing."  Andre is just so ridiculous and fun to mock.  We all have that friend.

-Raffi's great line when Pete and Andre are about to fight "Bite each other's dicks off!"  What a freak.  He was like the insane Taco.

Super TV Week

What a kick-ass week of television.  Without delay, here we go.

Sons of Anarchy

The season premiere kicked off with a bang.  Jax is depressed about Abel being kidnapped and it is starting to wear on the club.  At Half-Sack's viewing, Clay tells him to man up.  Either accept that Abel is dead and seek vengeance or believe he is alive and tear the world apart looking for him.  A rival club thinks that SAMCRO is weak and decides to start shooting at them during the the viewing (was it the Mayans?).  Jax looks around and sees people shot and bleeding, he sees officer Hale run down and killed.  He snaps.  He runs after one of the members who the cops apprehend.  He tosses them out of the way and smashes the guys head off the ground, repeatedly.

I am guessing the season will focus on the town's reaction to the shooting.  I bet they will start to turn on SAMCRO.  Also, is Jax going to snap and go on a face smashing spree?  That would be awesome. 

True Blood
The season finale was pretty sweet.  Sookie saves Eric, who sees Godric and decides to save Russell.  They chain a very charred Russell to a stripper pole and everyone goes to sleep.  Russell tries to bargain with Sookie.  It does not work and she ends up dumping Talbot's remains down the garbage disposal.

Eric decides to dump Russell into a hole and cover him with concrete.  They figure that should hold him for about a hundred years (along with the silver chains).  Bill then pushes Eric into the hole as well.  Fortunately, Pam avoids the assassin that is sent after him and rescues Eric.

Bill tries to explain himself to Sookie, but then Eric shows up.  He tells her that Bill allowed her to be attacked and almost beaten to death in order to give her his blood.  He was supposed to give her to the queen.  Bill does not deny this and Sookie kicks them both out.

The show ends with Tara leaving (best part of the episode), Sam maybe shooting his brother, Sookie going to Fairyland (I wonder if that is close to Fairywood?), and Bill squaring off with the queen.  Lafayette's boyfriend is a witch.  Jason's girlfriend gets taken by her brother, who is addicted to V.  Jason breaks up the drug bust and I guess he is in charge of the little meth town...

Mad Men
Don may have a drinking problem.  At least he writes about it.  He also starts swimming.  Does he realize how he is destroying his body?  I liked how he watches everyone taking a drink and when he finally takes one he zones everything out...

-Poor Peggy, she can never do anything right when it comes to Joan.  At least she got rid of Joey.  He was irritating.

From bathtub handjobs to taxicab blowjobs...classy

-Don takes out Bethany (was that her name) and she gives him a blowjob in the car.  She really likes him and I almost feel bad for her.  As she gets out of the car, she says to him that this is to be continued.  Don writes later that she probably practiced that line all day.

-Don then overhears Faye breaking up with a boyfriend and asks her out to dinner.  They go out and on the way home, they kiss in the car.  She asks where Don lives, but he says that he is having her dropped at home because that is all the further he can go at the moment.  Very mature for Don.

-The best thing was watching Betty fall apart when she saw Don on his date.  Also, the way Henry told her to shut up was great.  She is such a terrible human being.

-Speaking of Henry;  he tries to be all badass by running his car into a bunch of boxes labeled Draper.  He then calls Don at work and says that he is planning on buying a boat and needs the garage space and that Don should come get the boxes or he will put them in storage and just deduct it from the rent.  Don says he will stop over.

Don comes over Saturday, and the boxes are stacked on the curb.  You know that Henry felt pretty good about it, but as always Don was a few steps ahead.  He takes the boxes and tosses them in a dumpster.  I bet those boxes were empty, Don just left them in the garage to see how long Henry would tolerate them.

-Don then decides to go against everyone's wishes and he shows up for Gene's birthday party.  Way to go Don, keep sticking it to Henry and Betty.

Louie
The season finale was pretty damn impressive.  I know that many of you do not watch this show, but you really should.  It is so depressingly funny.  And yet at the end of the day, it just comes off as real.  Louie's babysitter forces him to go out because she thinks he is kind of pathetic.  He tries to go out with some black comedians, but they are much cooler than him.  He then leaves and stops at one of the comedy clubs where he does a quick set.  He comes to the realization that he is good at two things:  comedy and raising his kids.  He leaves the club and goes home.  His girls wake up and he takes them for breakfast.  It was actually pretty cool.  As always though, his stand-up is just hilarious.  Just watch the show.

Fall Television Shows

Can you believe that it is time for the TV shows to come back on?  That is actually kind of depressing.  Summer went by way too fast.  I have not done a preview of what I will be watching in awhile (2 years), but it seems like a good idea since so many good shows ended last year.  Okay actually just Lost and 24, but you get the point.

Sons of Anarchy
Oh god yes!  Thank you for coming back.  Do you realize how tough it was waiting for this season?  Granted, I finally watched season one during the summer, and it was absolutely awesome.  Anyways, Jax will have to go after Cameron, who kidnapped his son.  I am sure that Jax and Clay will put aside their issues for the time being (like they did in order to deal with Gemma's rape) and reign fire down upon Ireland.  Good. 

House
Last season ended with House and Cuddy finally hooking up.  How will this change our favorite doctor?  Honestly, it is a good thing that the show is funny because the plot is generally pretty weak.  Anyways, it always makes me laugh, and really, what else is there to watch on a Monday?

Supernatural
Sam and Dean defeated the devil and the rest of the dickbag angels.  Dean survived and decides to settle down with Lisa.  As the show ends we see that Sam has indeed survived and is happy to see Dean moving on.  I am sure they will be reunited somehow and they will go back to killing things.  As I say all the time, hopefully they will head down to Louisiana to take out some vampires, werewolves, werepanthers, fairies, and shifters...

Other Shows I Will Be Watching
The League
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Human Target
V
Destination Truth
Terriers
The Event
Boardwalk Empire
The Walking Dead

You might be asking why I would punish myself by watching V again.  I honestly have no idea why I will watch it.  It might have something to do with the hot girls...and the shitty story.

So, what shows will you be watching? 

Best of 2009

It's that time of year, the end (in case you wondered), where I tell you the best of whatever I feel like.

Best Movie: This came down to three choices for me: District 9, Watchmen, or The Hangover. In the end though, I had to go with District 9. It was a very cool movie.

Best Book: Since I cannot count books that came out before this year, I have to choose Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold.

Best TV Show: Sons of Anarchy. No contest.

Best Comic Book: I honestly do not remember anything from this past year that really stuck with me. I guess the best superhero series would have to be umm, ahhh, hmmm...Batman and Robin? Seriously, was anything even remotely good this year?

Non-superhero series? Walking Dead. Continues to amaze me.

In all honesty though, I felt like this was a down year for comics, or maybe I am just imagining that.

Let me know what your choices would be...

A Whole Lotta Nothin'

It is five minutes until five p.m. I just woke up. For the past six days I have worked second shift and every night I get home at close to midnight. Unfortunately I am all hopped up on Mountain Dew, which causes me to sit up and watch TV or read until about 5 a.m. I usually wake up around 12 and get ready to do it again. Needless to say, my body has not enjoyed this. Apparently it just shut down on me and decided to choose when to wake up.

Anyways, here are some odds and ends that have been going on. Not enough to fill up a post, but some interesting stuff.

Court Date
Steve and I have our court date Wednesday the 16th of this month. This should be it, no more postponements. About damn time, sick of waiting. Apparently the guy who jumped us is really serious about fighting it instead of taking a plea bargain. That means we will have to testify and be part of a real court case...

Speaking of getting jumped...a guy I work with got jumped the other night. They almost killed him and pretty much made his face a complete mess. He needs multiple surgeries I think to repair his eye socket and jaw bone. Or maybe one massive surgery. He came into work the other night and I thought he was a zombie from Dawn of the Dead.

I only bring this up because there are people at work who keep saying it is funny and he probably deserved it. Let me explain something, even if he did get into a fight and lost, he would not look like this after. His face is the result of being knocked and someone kicked his face repeatedly. That is something no one deserves.

Baseball
All sorts of exciting news regarding the Pirates. Or not. I mean, Rick Ankiel, JJ Putz, Noah Lowery, Justin Duchscherer. Actually these are not bad players to be looking at, but they all have similar problems: injuries. I understand the Pirates are not likely to go out and sign John Lackey or even Rich Harden, but it would be fun to pretend, right?

For those of you who hate baseball stats and want better explanations of them, please head over to WHYGAVS and check out his glossary.

Sons of Anarchy
Did anyone watch the season finale? It was insane. Talk about a twist you did not see coming, that ATF chick is a bitch. Framing Peg Bundy for murder, causing Jax's kid to be kidnapped by the Irish. I do think that with Jax and Clay on the same page, they will be a pretty much unstoppable force.

Previews For New Shows
-There is another season of 24, dear god, why?
-Human Target is based on a comic, which I have never read. I bet it will either be really good or really shitty.
-I think the new FX show is called Justified, but I am not sure. I have no clue what it is about, but it has Tim Olyphant and it is on FX, probably be decent.
-Lost is almost here...getting excited.

Support Ribbons
Let me tell you about something I hate: ribbons. You know the ones, breast cancer, AIDS awareness, blah blah blah. Okay, actually, I do not mind those ones. I just wanted to piss everyone off. I prefer the yellow ones that support the troops, but the others for disease are fine. The ones I am talking about are the ones designed to show support for a sports team.

Yesterday I was driving to work behind an SUV with a yellow ribbon and a black ribbon. I knew the yellow one was for the troops, but could not figure out what the black one was. Support death? As I neared the vehicle, I realized it had gold trim and said "Support the Steelers!"

Does that seem like a slap in the face to all the soldiers risking their lives? "Hey, I support the troops, as long as it does not interfere with football!" These ribbon companies should be bombed. Although, if anyone ever finds a black ribbon that says "I Support Death." Please buy it for me.

Christmas
That time of year is almost upon us and I need to start shopping for a few people. This year I want nothing. That should make it easy on all you bastards out there who never get me anything. I am looking right at you Ryan. Just kidding, the usual stuff works this year. Prostitutes.

DVR Madness

Who doesn't love DVR? I mean, how great is it to come home and know that your favorite shows are waiting for you, and you can watch them without commercials. I know I sure love it. I have tried watching shows online, but they still have commercials, which annoy me.

Currently I record the following shows: House, Lie to Me, V, Sons of Anarchy, The League, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Flashforward, White Collar, and Supernatural. For some unknown reason though, my DVR decided not to record V this week, so I will have to watch it online this weekend (that is when ABC puts up the new episode).

I have one complaint about DVR though, well actually about the way networks edit shows. They need to help us DVR-folks out. When you are fast forwarding through commercials, they need to have something to indicate the show is coming back on. For example, the FX shows bring up the TV Rating screen. White Collar (and the other USA shows) usually start with a scene of the city and some music (Burn Notice or Royal Pains usually does a shot of the beach).

Sadly House and Lie to Me do not have that kind of cool cut screen and I usually fast forward past something and then have to rewind. I cannot be wasting valuable seconds doing this, I am a busy man. House might be the most frustrating, they will show a shot of the hospital, yet House will be talking.

So, for all you network execs out there reading this (I think that could be my largest demographic), please figure out a way to accommodate my life.

What's Going On

I know that 92% of you are always dying to know what is going on in my life. So I figured today was a good day for a quick update.

Seminar
As I have said before, last week I went to a work seminar, which we have two each year (luckily my first vacation almost always falls on the first one). I hate going to them, mainly because sitting there for eight hours listening to people talk makes my ass and brain hurt.

This year was no exception (except that I got to see a few friends from Pittsburgh). It was long, it was boring, but most of all, it seems redundant. They had a guest speaker who told us things we should all know (at least I think we should, maybe there were some people in the audience who are morons and needed to hear some guy spout off simple things...)

I will not complain too much though, it is a day of work, plus I get paid for my drive down.

Books
I recently finished a book, The Singing, which is the fourth book in Allison Croggon's series about Pellinor. It was decent. The ending left a lot to be desired though.

Fortunately I have started rereading Wolves of the Calla, the fifth book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Ever since Offord let me borrow the series (say thankee-sai), I have been slowly buying and rereading them again. In fact, I have reread The Gunslinger twice as well as Wizards and Glass.

The great thing is that I can focus on some of the little things, especially now that I know how it all ends, it is fun to really nitpick at it.

Sports
I have yet to watch a Penn State game this year. Kind of annoying, but since I go on vacation this week, I will get to see the Iowa game and the game after that (I am too lazy to look at a schedule). Anyone have any plans for the game Saturday? Where should I watch it, with whom?

TV Shows
Since I worked daylights all week, I usually go to bed pretty early, but I have become better at setting my DVR to watch shows. This week I watched the new House, which was okay, but nothing spectacular. He was in an asylum, he gets help, he goes home. Wow, great. Does that mean he will be a different person now, will we have to see him go to a shrink once a week? I hope not.

Sons of Anarchy is one of the coolest shows out there. I want to check out season one because so far season two has been awesome.

My Birthday
My birthday is coming up. Friday October 2nd. I am giving you all time to buy me nice gifts. Or send me money/gift cards to Best Buy/Comic Swap. Also, if anyone wants to take me out Friday or Saturday night, just let me know. I would like a birthday dinner/lots of birthday drinks (IT'S GONNA BE A BLACKOUT!-name that band)/birthday threesome. In that order.

Here is a list of things you can buy me to make me happy:
Burn Notice Season 2
Mad Men Seasons 1&2
Sons of Anarchy Season 1
Tickets to Las Vegas next summer
A broadsword
342 cases of Mountain Dew
A midget
OMG TICKETS TO SEE NEW MOON!!!! Just kidding, I would rather gouge out my eyes with said broadsword (or the midgets fingers).





















And last, but not least: Shyla Stylez. If you get me her for my birthday, I will be a happy camper; even if for just one hourseven minutes.