Scum of the Week – Princess Beatrice’s Hat

Far be it from me to speak out against those above my station, but I’ve discovered an atrocity this week having to do with Princess Beatrice of York, what with all of the Royal Wedding nonsense going on. Basically this atrocity is the ridiculous f–king hat she wore to the wedding. Take a gander at this scourge of the underworld that grabbed my attention:

Upon seeing this hat I couldn’t decide whether I should choke myself to death, gouge my eyes out or laugh until I threw up. I ended up doing neither and directed my energy into making it our latest scum of the week. I initially thought I would have Princess Beatrice named scum of the week, but I am instead calling this hat out! And I have also named the hat Lucifer.

So thanks a lot Lucifer the Ugly Hat, you not only ruined a person of royalty by sitting atop her head, but you managed to ruin the twenty minutes of my life spent typing this article! I’ll let you be the judge if it’s Lucifer the Ugly Hat is to blame or Beatrice, because there’s a plethora of ugly hat wearing going on in her life.

 

AMC’s ‘The Killing’: Episode 6 – “What You Have Left”

The sixth episode of The Killing starts as we prepare for the funeral of Rosie Larsen. This is a reminder of how little time has passed on the show. Despite this already being the sixth episode, Rosie’s body isn’t yet in the ground. We see Richmond’s campaign is trying to get back on track with the return of Jamie, but there is still friction with Gwen concerning trust issues. And Linden’s investigation just keeps pointing towards Bennett.

Now some people may say the show is moving slowly, but I actually appreciate the pacing. They are taking their time to play all the angles and producing a true ‘who-done-it’. So, what happened tonight?

Episode 6 focused mainly on Bennett and the evidence seemed to just continue to pile up, only now it seems perhaps it wasn’t Bennett who killed her, but rather Chrissy Seaver Mrs. Ahmed who may have committed the crime.

Belko’s source called in with Bennett’s name, which was delivered to Stan. As the episode came to a close, it did so with Stan giving Bennett “a ride home”…something that does not bode well for Bennett. Especially since in this episode we learned a little more about Stan’s past. Before Rosie was born, Stan was muscle for the Polish Mob. And though he has no record, it seems like killing Bennett wouldn’t be a stretch for Stan.

Linden and Holder know Stan has Bennett and are desperately trying to find them. Bennett is also having a major effect on the Richmond campaign without even knowing it. Darren assuming Bennett’s innocence has refused to distance himself from the teacher in fear of ruining an innocent man. The mayor is using this against Richmond obviously and his longshot to become Mayor just got a little longer…


Not an overly eventful episode outside the funeral, but the plot progressed nicely. This was my favorite episode yet, expertly crafted – 4.5 Bears. Boom. I’m quite excited for next week.

2011 NHL PLayoffs: ‘Canucks vs Predators’ – After 2 Games…

The only reason why this series is tied 1-1 is due to the amazing play of Pekka Rinne. In game two the dude flat-out robbed Vancouver with some spectacular sprawling Hasek-Style saves, denying several would be goals, two of them in overtime.

After two games it’s quite clear that the Canucks is the far superior team. Nashville’s offense has been anemic at best, while their power play has been down right awful. Every Nashville pass and entrance into the offensive zone was more painful to watch than an episode of Scrubs… That’s right I said it. I f–king hate that show. “Oh look I’m an awkward doctor just trying make sense of this life I’ve chosen…” Blah blah blah – Who cares.

Anyways, going forward I think Nashville can possibly steal one more game on the back of Rinne at best, but it’s doubtful. I fully expect Vancouver to come out in game 3 and finally flex their regular season muscle.

Still saying Canucks in 5 (or 6).

Grizzly Review: ‘Dylan Dog – Dead of Night’

Dylan Dog has long been an Italian comic book mainstay, selling over a millions issues a month. For 25 years he has been investigating the undead and wooing his female clients. The famous PI is now for the first time, being introduced to an American audience in a different medium. Dylan Dog: Dead of Night opened this weekend and stared Superman Brandon Routh as the detective. His comic book sidekick Groucho has been replaced however, as it was apparently not feasible to obtain the likeness rights from the Groucho Marx estate. Instead we see Detroit Rock City star Sam Huntington playing a recently Zombiefied sidekick named ‘Marcus’.

Dylan and Marcus get called onto a case to look into a murder (aka ‘Death by Werewolf) and Dylan see himself sucked back into a life he thought he’d left behind. The first half of the movie is like old school noir (with a supernatural twist obviously) film, complete with a narration from our protagonist. It was like an old Phillip Marlowe movie, our run down detective, convinced the world is going to Hell in a hand basket, and adverse to evolving. In other words, my kind of guy. So here we have a mystery and a focus. And this last for maybe 40 minutes. Then Hollywood kicks in and that focus gets a little lost. We trade in  our narration and mystery for run of the mill Action/Comedy.

Granted the mystery is fairly easy to solve (especially for anyone who’s ever seen any old Detective movies), but it doesn’t matter since you’ve forgotten what the point is anyhow as you’re not wrapped up in the comedic parts. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Sam Huntington’s struggles with his recent death and the problematic existence of being a zombie, but it just didn’t seem to fit the tone of the movie. It kind of reminded me of A.I. and how you could tell exactly where Kubrick left off and Spielberg picked up.

Now going in I had heard the movie compared to an extra long episode of Buffy, and I can see where those comparisons were drawn, but I don’t think it should be used as a knock. It was like Buffy in 2 ways…

1. In that people seemed oblivious to the existence of the supernatural around them, and that is was such second nature to Dylan. New Orleans in here is much like Sunnydale.

2. It felt like a TV show. Or rather that they were setting it up to be a TV show. It seems tailor-made to be a “Monster of the Week” type show. And one that I have to admit – I’d watch.

So the premise I really liked anyhow, but the execution…lacking. I like Brandon Routh, but this was not his best performance by any means. I’d be willing to overlook that however because he is likable, and he and Sam Huntington seem to play off each other well. I could watch a TV show based off of this, or even a sequel provided that they both return.

Kurt Angle and Peter Stormare both play werewolves, and Taye Diggs is a vampire. Angle’s werewolf looked like a mix between a Halloween mask and Teen-Wolf. Peter Stormare as always was over the top, but also not really in a good way. It wasn’t the strongest performance of his career. I blame the director and the screen writer though. The script needed the characters to keep telling us things that should’ve been clear, but weren’t. And the director seemed to rush all the non-action sequences…perhaps he should stick to video games. He certainly didn’t get the maximum out of his cast.

And the post production team – did you run out of money? It’s funny how you really only notice sound mixing when its bad. There were parts of the movie that actually looked VHS quality, and one scene wasn’t even the correct Aspect Ratio. The picture was all stretched out, like trying to watch a Full Screen DVD on a Wide-screen TV. My guess is they ran out of cash and had to just some footage they didn’t want to use as they couldn’t do re-shoots.

Now I know I’m doing a lot of complaining and nitpicking, but I’m just trying to be honest. All that said, I did actually enjoy the movie. Not great, but entertaining. And if they make a sequel (which I doubt as there were only 8 people in out theater) I’d watch it.  The characters, though a little cliché, are enjoyable and could carry more stories if just carried out right.

Anyhow, over all – I’d give it 3 Bears based on the characters and premise alone. I recommend a DVD or Netflix watch on this bad boy…

Camelot Review: Episode 5 – Justice

After a week of being MIA, I was ready to jump back into the world of Camelot. This week’s episode was properly titled ‘Justice’ because quite frankly that’s what it was all about. It was another episode where not much moves along in terms of action until the end, but we at least get to see Arthur not be a total little bitch. He actually passed for a man and a good King in this episode, even though it cost him a lot of enemies.

"Seriously bro, you need to kick it up a notch with the whole king thing."

Continue reading Camelot Review: Episode 5 – Justice