Review - NotDoppler Games

After having gone through two depressing and stressful months, and spending hours on NotDoppler.com, I've decided to gain something from all my "lost time."  I'll review the games I've been playing!

Click on the pictures below if you want to play.

Into Space: In this game, you are tasked to build a rocket to go into space.  On the first day, you start off with a dinky rocket, which crashes after twenty puny seconds of flight.  But you earn money from your achievements, and you can build on to your rocket: add better fins, boosters, fuel tanks, etc.  Once you hit space, you win.  The goal is to reach space in as few days as possible.  I've done it in 16 days.  Today I almost did it in 14.

I give this game high marks.  It makes sense.  The controls are accurate.  The physics are passable.  The whole thing of earning money and building better ships is fun, too.  When you're more experienced, you start to develop a strategy--deciding what you don't need to buy, and how to time everything to your advantage.  A full game could last less than an hour.

Isoball X1:  This is a very satisfying puzzle game.  The goal is to lead a ball through a grid to it's goals.  You can use ramps, arrows, bridges, energy bridges, elevators, and triggers.  There are 36 levels that begin with "easy" and work up to "difficult."  I strongly recommend this geometrical logic puzzle game.

Solarmax:  This is a poor-man's StarCraft.  The concept is simple.  You colonize planets.  Once they're yours, they produce ships.  When you attack enemies, the side with the larger numbers wins.  Then you can neutralize and colonize those planets for yourself.  This game also includes warp stations, space stations, lasers, and motherships.  This game is addictive, and it's fun to try and get the lowest time possible.  The only drawback is that there are only eighteen levels.  Also, the AI isn't the best and is easy to beat once you learn how it works.  I would love to see a Solarmax II with more levels and more advanced AI.  Still: high marks for this version.

Bubble Shooter: This game is fun to beat, but I've also found it to be irritating in many ways.  The goal is to shoot your bubble such that you get three or more of a color in a row.  If you achieve that, those bubbles disappear.  Also, if you orphan any bubbles (not attached to any other bubbles or the very top), those bubbles will disappear as well.  Once you remove all bubbles of one color, that color disappears forever.  If you don't get three in a row, you get a strike against you.  In the picture above, you have four strikes left.  Once you run out of strikes, the bubbles come down on you: 1 row if you have all your colors; 2 if you eliminated 1 color; 3 if you eliminated 2, etc.

At first, the game is fun, and it's really satisfying to clear out the whole grid.  And then the game ends.  But the more and more I played, the more I got annoyed with this game, and now I just don't play this game anymore.  These are the annoying points:

#1) The colors are sometimes hard to distinguish.  Red is close to purple, and green is close to light blue.

#2) Though the physics is pretty good, there's a little inconsistency as to whether the bubble passes through a gap or whether it gets stuck.

#3) When the bubbles come down on you, they shift, disturbing the order of the colors.  Sometimes bubbles disappear without apparent reason (of course you won't complain about the latter--take your gift horses when they come).

#4) The number of strikes is random.  This is very irritating when you've eliminated two colors and you get one strike four times in a row.

#5) When you die, the game claps--the same as if you clear the field.

#6) The most annoying of all: the scoring doesn't make sense.  If you clear the field quickly, there should be a bigger bonus than if it takes you over an hour to do so.  If you're trying to maximize score, you don't want to clear the field, but rather keep missing that last bubble until you get some infinite score.  Boring!

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So, there you have it.  Four games from NotDoppler that'll keep you busy while you work through your own stress and depression.  Go beat these games, and have fun!

Review - War Horse

This most recent installment from war horses Steven Spielberg and John Williams entertains while following the life of Joey the horse.  If you love horses, you will love this movie.  Even if you don't love horses, you may find yourself overlooking all the cliches and enjoying the masterful story telling.  Either way, the two and a half hour movie flies by quickly and leaves you wanting for more.

The movie begins with Joey's birth.  The colt is quickly separated from his mother and ends up on a farm.  The boy trains the horse to save the farm.  And, so it continues until the horse ends up participating in World War I.  Along the way, we see different vignettes about people the horse meets.

A lot of the movie looks familiar, as it's full of cliches.  Or more precisely, it's full of Spielberg techniques you've seen in other of his movies.  But it all fits together well.  Spielberg sticks with what he knows works.  Though, his use of coincidences to drive the story gets a little annoying.

The John Williams score is really good in spots, but in my opinion a little lazy in others.  Decades of success shouldn't give a license to overuse parallel fifths (a technique usually reserved for Americana, which the film isn't, or for inexperienced composers).  As the film progressed, I realized the parallel fifths persisted mainly during the farm scenes, something I still don't understand, but hey - Williams made up for it in later scenes.

The acting was good.  Perhaps some new talent will arise from this movie.

Be warned that there are some violent scenes when you get to the war, so I would not recommend this for young children, even those who really love horses.

My advice: go see this movie with your date, especially if you love horses, or even if you just like good story telling.

Mel's Year in Review: 2011

2011 has come to an end.  Looking over my writing goals for 2011, I see that I made great strides in some areas and fell short in others.  I'm still unpublished, but yet it was a productive year.

• Novel Writing
• I revised the first three chapters of Escape From the Planet Justice, and submitted to an agent.  I was rejected instantly.  Then I realized the book could use a different angle.  First person and more back story may make the book more exciting.  (Though I'm told by some the book is fine as-is.)
• I extracted a short story from the first chapter of The Silver Lining.
• In general, I came to realize that I need to build up some short story credits, so I began setting aside novel writing temporarily in order to devote more time into short stories.
• Short Stories - I worked on several stories, submitted 10 entries and received 9 rejections.
• "A Turn-screw tlhImqaH": I submitted this more before realizing it is probably considered to be already published, as I had entered it into the Actuarial Speculative Fiction Contest in 2009.  If you search on the title, you can find a pdf file with the story included.  I submitted it again to a publisher that does reprints, but only got a semi-warm rejection.
• "When Time Flows West": I finished and submitted this story and got two rejections.
• "Actuarial Weeding": I completed the final version in January and submitted to the Actuarial Speculative Fiction Contest in 2011.  It placed 4th out of 23 in the contest.  I submitted it three times to magazines before realizing it's probably "already published."  Since the story was well received in the contest, I'm considering expanding it to a 20,000-word novella.
• "Depths of Inner Space": After several revisions and condensing, this story is ready to go.  I've submitted it once and it's been rejected.
• "Cat Scratch": This new story about a cat gone wrong is in its second draft.
• "Gamma Base: Mars": My first horror story set on the planet Mars is in its first draft.
• "The Long Hall" is an excerpt from the middle of Escape From the Planet Justice.  It's in its third draft.  I'm trying to do this in first person.  If well received, I may rewrite the whole novel in first person.
• Silver Lining - Chapter 1: I submitted this extract back in March, but have yet to hear back.  I'm concerned the 13,000 word length may be too large, so I may end up condensing and submitting to another Mormon publication.
  
• Mighty Kid - Episode 1: After revising and condensing the first chapter of this superhero genesis story, I submitted and was rejected.  I'm learning that there aren't very many paying markets for superhero stories.
• Time Sleuths - Recruit: Another Chapter 1 extract from my upcoming novel Time Sleuths is in its fourth draft.  I'm still struggling to find the right voice in that story, but I feel like I'm close.
• I joined my first writing group: the Press 53 Center for Creative Writing.  I attended several monthly meetings, attended book author events, took a class, and joined a critique group.  It was fun and useful until Press 53 closed down the Center in October due to the economy and other issues.  More details of my milestones:
• It was my first time attending monthly meetings where writers talked about anything and everything on the subject of getting published.  It was very enlightening.
• My first author reading event was Marjorie Hudson at Barnhill's.
• I also attended the Press 53 Author Dinner event in August.
• I took my first writing class.  (Review yet to be written...)  It helped me realize the direction I need to go next.
• I joined my first in-person critique group.  But it died out shortly after the Center closed.
• I joined my first writer's forum: AbsoluteWrite.  On these messages boards, I submitted three short works for critique, and I critiqued four works of others.
• I attended my second writer's conference, and met Ed Schubert, the editor of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.
• I created my Facebook fan page.  Be sure to visit and "Like" the page.  I need 12 more Likes to reach 50.
• I continued posting in this blog.  I...
• Wrote some 105+ blog entries, averaging about 2 a week.  I learned that my incoming views are proportional to the frequency of my posts.  I hit my biggest fame with 720 views in July when I wrote 23 posts.
• Reviewed 7 books, 25 movies, several TV shows, and a couple of restaurants, and a few other things.
• Created a new blog: The Econo-Mel and I repeated two blog posts from this blog.  (So many ideas and not enough time!)
• Made several improvements to this blog, including a new title (The Word of Mel), a new look, a new Site Map and a page for News & Reviews.
• My personal favorite posts of the year:
• This Time Only Comes Once
• Father's Day Humor
• Joplin: Analysis of a Disaster
• VOCE: Christmas Concert 2011 

And that's about it.  What did you accomplish in 2011?  I hope you also had an enjoyable writing year.

VOCE: Christmas Concert 2011

As an aspiring writer, you learn how to occupy your time with other things while you're busy not getting published.  For me, music is a big outlet.  A couple of months ago, I joined VOCE, a singing group based in Mt. Airy, NC.  I'm often asked why I travel 70 miles round trip to practice with this group.  My answer: my free time is short, and if I'm going to sing, it should be something I've never sung before.  VOCE is one of those groups that dares to try new things.

My first concert with them was a week ago: "Christmas Blessings" performed in Mt. Airy's Central United Methodist Church.  To be honest, I expected no more than five rows to be filled, all of whom would be family members of the singers.  We were all surprised to see the whole sanctuary filled.  The only open spots were a couple of rows reserved for the camera.

I suppose it helped to have local special guests Melva Houston (jazz and blues legend) and Doug Reeves (country singer & writer of "Christmas in Mayberry").  In the audience, we also had Betty Lynn (actress who played Barney's heartthrob, Thelma Lou), but she was too frail to come up front.  I also halfway expected Andy Griffith to make a surprise appearance, and that he'd come shake our hand after the concert, but alas; I was told he lives out in California and no longer lives in Mt. Airy.  Dang!

My claim to fame is that I got to be a backup singer for Melva when she sang "Elijah Rock."  You can watch it for yourself in this video.  Start it at about 6:00.  (Though, Doug Reeves' "Andy's Mayberry Christmas Card List," which comes first, is very entertaining.)



VOCE is directed by uprising conductor and composer, Mark Daniel Merritt.  Three of his pieces were featured in this concert: "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day", "Deo Gratias", and "Precious Little One."  The last of these pieces was my favorite.

With Melva's gospel singing, Doug's Mayberry songs, the brass and organ, the choir's singing, and the standing ovation at the end, it was all an enjoyable experience.  I'm proud to be part of this organization and look forward to future concerts.  I may not be published, but at least I'll be happy until I get there!

Here's our whole concert minus the congregation sing-along in the middle.  Enjoy!



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Review - Cinder by Will Wright

Cinder, written by uprising author Will Wright, is an epic fantasy filled with dragons, wizards, archers, sailors, cats, dogs, and a few surprises. 

The title character, Cinder, is a young dragon who loses her parents to an unknown force.  The wizard Tig (short for Tigris), protects Cinder and embarks on a quest to learn what killed her parents.  For a disguise, Tig transforms her into a human girl--the girl you see on the book's cover.  The result is a fun-filled journey as Cinder learns to cope with humanity while helping to save her fellow dragons.

The book's biggest strength is its vast array of colorful characters.  Each member of the cast is distinct and well formed, and each one acts on its own.  Half of the characters are human, and the rest are dragons and other magical animals.  My favorite happens to be Mank, the cat.  You won't find any halflings (that is, elves, dwarves, hobbits, Elvis, or any of those Star Trek aliens that look like humans with fancy makeup thrown on), which some people see as a plus.

The many characters are also the book's main weakness.  It takes a while to introduce the cast, which is okay until you realize that some characters cannot be fully explored.  There just aren't enough pages to cover everyone.  I found myself caring for half of the main characters, while others would meet their demises without a sniffle from me.  Same as with the first book in the Harry Potter series, most of Cinder's energy is spent in introductions and worldbuilding.

A lot of these concerns could be alleviated with sequels and/or prequels.

The book is well-edited, family-friendly, entertaining, and recommended for anyone who loves epic fantasy.

Finally, a disclaimer: you might find my name in the acknowledgements (included in the free sample).  I helped to critique the first draft, but I received no favors to write this review.  I'm happy to see he took some of my suggestions, though.  :)

Thanksgiving at the Golden Corral

This Thanksgiving, my mother announced that we would be going to the Golden Corral for our big dinner.  What a change in pace!  I had been used to reserving space at a church or a gym, and having the traditional meal complete with turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, and sometimes ham (everyone bringing their own dish).  But this year was going to be something new.

On hearing the announcement, two things immediately came to mind.

#1) That scene from "A Christmas Story" where they went to the Chinese place for Christmas, and they sang "Fa ra ra ra ra."  Would we be the only ones at the Golden Corral while everyone else stayed at home eating their traditional dinners, napping it off, and watching football?

#2) When would the Golden Corral employees go home to their families?  I know that some people say: "Don't worry about the employees.  Golden Corral is open and even advertises their Thanksgiving dinner.  The employees are there on their own free will."  But this is faulty reasoning in a lame attempt to make oneself feel better.  I know a lady who works at Golden Corral and is unable to attend church because they won't let her take Sundays off.  (And you know somebody has to feed all those hungry Protestants who grab brunch after church on their "day of rest.")

But then, I understood my mother's decision.  Consider all the pros: no cooking; no washing dishes; no leftovers; eat all you want and what you want; big enough to fit a large party.

There are also the cons: the food is not homemade; no turkey-salad sandwiches over the next week; other strangers will be there with you; could be more expensive.

Then the big day came.  We all met at the Golden Corral and Holy Moly!  The line went out the door!  I couldn't believe it.  All visions of "fa ra ra ra ra" vanished.  I never knew that people actually did something different than the traditional dinner at home!

It took us fifteen minutes just to get to where you pick up your drinks.  We paid for our own dinners, and wouldn't you know it?  Golden Corral charged the special Thanksgiving rate.  I heard Mister Krabs of Spongebob fame back in the kitchen.  "Ka ching!  Arghh argk argk argk argk argk!"

There we were--all twenty of us holding our drinks--waiting to be seated.  The waitresses started putting together a section in one of those glass rooms.  After about five minutes, they told us that someone else grabbed those tables.  We were standing there with our drinks for over twenty minutes!  (Well, my wife came up with the awesome idea of resting the drink trays on a ledge.)  Yet, it was hard to get angry because of concern #2 above.

It was noisy all over the restaurant, but luckily, inside the glass room, it was quiet enough to where we could all have pleasant conversations.  There was always someone up getting more food (which I suppose is true in most Thanksgiving dinners).

I started with a soup and salad, while my brother-in-law got a taco bowl.  Then I went for my "Thanksgiving" plate.  Wouldn't you know it?  There was a line for the turkey and fixings!  The turkey was okay, but nothing like how my wife cooks it (nice and dry - yum!).  The dressing, mashed potato, cranberry sauce, and rolls were good.  They always have good rolls.  Desserts were okay.  I didn't even try the chocolate fountain, though it seemed everyone else did.

We were there for over two hours, and it was all fun.  It was good to see family again.  There was a lot of laughing and the usual pouting kids and the poopy diaper.  What Thanksgiving dinner would be complete without those?

When we left, the line to go in was still going out the door.  It was all over for us.  We had survived, and it wasn't all that bad.  Though, I really wanted to hear somebody sing "Fa ra ra ra ra."

The Many Discouragements of Being an Aspiring Writer

Yes, I realize I risk sounding like Luke Skywalker on one of his whinging binges, but I've had a really hard couple of months in the writing world.  I started this blog to detail the steps in becoming an "established writer," and no honest account would be complete without a big complaint-filled post.  So, here goes nothing...

Life sucks!  I am this close to giving up (I'm holding up my thumb and index finger).  When you're only an aspiring writer, you're nothing but big in your own head.  Nobody wants to publish you.  Nobody wants to read your stories.  You might as well stick with your day job and be a work zombie till the day you die.

• Rejections everywhere:  This is one area where I excel.  I can see the first readers shaking their head when they see my name.  "Oh no, not again.  Come on, Melvyn.  Is this the best you can give us?  Say hello to our form letter rejection."  If only I knew where I was failing to connect!
• It takes so long, and no results:  I could easily spend an hour writing one of these blog posts.  After putting together what I think is a useful article, I check the stats the next day and see: "4 views."  That's all?  When I ask for comments, going for more reader participation, I might get one or two responses.  Whooo!
• The world doesn't need another writer:  Look at all the books at our disposal.  Name any random topic, and chances are you'll find a book that fits that need.  My stuff?  Whenever I describe my two finished books, I get something like: "Oh, that sounds like 'Face Off' in space," or "That's 'Touched by an Angel."  In other words, my drivel has already been written.
• Life is so busy:  First, there's the day job.  It eats up 40 hours of my precious time every week.  45 if you count the lunches, and 50 if you also include commuting time.  There's also church and family and community.  With all these responsibilities, if I did everything I was "supposed to do," I'd get no sleep.  And then I'd still have no time to write.  Sometimes when I do have free time, I'm exhausted to do anything except relax.  NaNoWriMo?  Eesh!  Not this year!
• Depression loves writers:  I don't know why, but depression seeks out writers like tornadoes love trailer parks.  Maybe it's all the rejection letters we get.  Or perhaps that brain defect that makes us want to write and write and write also makes us depressed.  Do you know why they don't hold writers' conferences next to cliffs?  Because it would only take one writer, and then you'd have lemmings!
• I don't have enough money to break into the business:  The NCWN held their big annual conference this past weekend.  I didn't go, because I just can't afford it right now.  I've even had to temporarily stop my movie review trips.  Today's economy is stressful and makes it much harder to spend money on conferences, books and the like.  I know they say you don't really need to pay a dime to get published, but I don't believe it.  You pay to enter conferences where you might meet an agent.  You can sometimes pay extra to force an agent to sit with you for a 20-minute session.  You can pay for classes that might increase your chances of getting published in a particular magazine.  You can pay an editor when you self-publish a book that might get your book cleaned up enough to sell millions.  In other words, no money = "don't even think about it."
• Other writers are better than me:  I was reading one of my fellow aspiring writer's blog, and he was celebrating a relatively big short story sale.  He stated that it was after some 20 rejections.  At first I thought, "Wow!  I'm not up to that many on any of my individual stories.  I just have to keep submitting."  But then I kept reading.  He gave some excerpts from his rejection letters, which were all "warm" rejections like: "We really like your style, but this doesn't fit our magazine.  Send us something else."  Well, good for him.  I've only received one non-form-letter short story rejection, and it was a "cold" one.  In other words: my stories plain suck.
• It would be so much easier to give up:  I love video games and puzzles and math problems and rainbows and reading books and watching movies and TV.  If I just removed the stress of having to write and get published, I could still live out a fulfilling life.  Of course, no one would know who I am, but is that really so important?  I bet other aspiring writers wouldn't mind if I gave up.

Yes, if you are like me--an aspiring writer who has nearly zero credits--then you have most likely experienced one of the above.  It sucks, and it's so easy to come to a grinding halt and not push forward.

I wish I could say I'm in a position where I could say, "This is how I came out of it and became an established writer," but alas, I'm still in it.  So, I'll just pretend I'm an established writer and try to give this advice:

• If you're nobody, then nobody cares what you do.  Think about it.  If nobody knows who you are, you have no deadlines.  You don't have busy book signing schedules and all those other things established writers have to worry about.  If you fall flat on your face, who's going to laugh at you?  You'll just die one of those lonely deaths where no one hears a tree land on your grave.  So, you might as well give it your all, right?  Go corner that agent in the elevator!
• You really think you're going to stop writing?  Face it.  We aspiring writers have that brain defect I mentioned earlier.  We have so many stories and ideas floating around in our heads, and if we don't stop writing our heads will explode (followed by a lonely death--remember that tree on your grave?).
• The day job isn't all that bad.  It pays the bills.  If you're happy with your job, it can actually free up time.  Since you're not constantly chasing dollars, you can relax and write.  Whoa!  What's that on the floor?  A dollar!  Oh, yeah!
• So what if no one's reading your blogs?  When you become famous, all your devoted fans will go back to ALL your wonderful past blog entries and read every word.  Don't think of it as attracting attention now, but rather that you're setting up the stage to give your fans a ton of free stuff to read when the time is right.
• Depression?  It comes in cycles.  Since you're a nobody, it's okay to take a break when the chips are down.  Go play some video games or whatever you do best when you can't do anything else.
• Those other established writers?  Jealousy gets you nowhere.  If someone else is doing better than you, figure out what he's doing right.  Get into his head and leave nothing behind.
• Giving up isn't permanent.  As long as you're still alive, you can still write.  Has it been years since you touched a keyboard?  Perfect!  That means that all those magazine editors that you've been bothering have either moved on to bigger gigs or are dead by now.  Green blood!  These new guys don't know what's about to hit them, do they?

Well, I hope that helps.  Feel free to comment and add your own whingings.  Let it all out!

2011 TV Fall - The Second Wave

The second wave of Fall shows are now upon us, and now all shows have been presented.  Some have already been cancelled:  "Charlie's Angels", "How To Be a Gentleman", "Free Agents", "The Playboy Club."

Some are in danger of being cancelled soon, but luckily, it appears that all ten shows that I've chosen to watch are still looking strong and will last at least through the end of the year.  This also means that my DVR is going to fill up fast and it'll take me forever to catch up.  Dang!

At the beginning of the month, I gave a report on the five shows that came in the first wave.  Now, here's what I think about the next five shows...

Once Upon a Time:  Only one episode in, the jury's still out.  This show could either be awesome or stupid, but it's too early to tell.  Just like in "Tron," the underlying premise is idiotic.  The evil queen puts a spell on everyone so that they all end up in a horrible place and nobody remembers who they are.  And where is this "horrible" place?  It's in our world--a city called Storybrooke, Maine.  Yes, it sounds like the punchline to a funny joke, but can you build a series on it?

Why did I bring up "Tron"?  Because, I love both of the movies.  They're cool once you get over the idiotic underlying premise.  This means that "Once Upon a Time" has a chance.  Already they've shown a few fun interactions between the characters.  If they can keep that up, then I'll keep watching.

It looks like this could be a family show, but it's hard to tell with shows this day.  How many times have you watched a show on the "Family" Channel (affiliated with ABC) with your kids and then ... whoa ... where did this mushy sex stuff come from?  I don't remember the Pilot having anything too harsh for kids, but I feel the potential for some hanky panky down the road.

Grimm:  NBC decided to delay the premiere of this show one week (as well as "Chuck") to get it closer to Halloween, and I have to say it was a good choice.  I ended up liking this show more than I expected.  Though, for once I'd like to see cops follow due process for a change.

Nick Burckhardt is a cop who also happens to be one of the few remaining descendants of the Brothers Grimm.  He has inherited the gift of seeing monsters for what they really are.  We normal folk see these monsters as regular people.

In this first episode, he's tracking down a big bad wolf who's eating girls that wear red hooded jackets.  Despite having a couple of "why did they do that" moments, it turned out to be funny, suspenseful, and intriguing.

My main concern is that this show might become another "Smallville" with the creep of the week.  Ask yourself this.  In the Pilot of "Grimm," a wolf is killing these girls.  The big bad wolf has been around for who knows how long, and the cops are just now learning about it?  That was the problem with the early seasons of "Smallville," where the bad guys came one at a time as if they were fighting Bruce Lee.  In real life, all these crimes would be happening at the same time.

Nevertheless, it appears that "Grimm" has an overlying story arc that promises to keep the energy running in the show.  Some bad guys are after him, but who are they?  I'll keep watching.

Chuck:  The season opener began with a funny energy-filled first five minutes.  Chuck no longer has his superpowers.  Instead, Morgan is the star, though Morgan has retained his ... well ... his Morgan-ess.  Now that Chuck and friends are kicked out of working for the government, Chuck is now trying to lead his ragtag compatriots through his new private spy contracting business, "Carmichael Industries."  Now, that's funny!

I look forward to the rest of the season.  I hope we get a full set of episodes, and then see a satisfying close to the series at the end.

Psych:  It's in its sixth season, and it's still funny?  How do they do that?  We're a couple of episodes in, and I can't wait to see what happens next.  It looks like they're concentrating a little more on Carlton, and there's a lot more of the mortuary dude.  Keep it up, writers.  It's always good to develop all the characters.

The Walking Dead:  I saved the best for last.  This is now my favorite show, and I never knew zombies could be fun.  Well, I don't really like zombies, but I love a good apocalyptic story.  If they only had one zombie attack every other week, that would be fine by me.

Though in the first episode, there was a lot more zombie attacks than usual.  It's almost as if they took an episode off of developing story just to give us more action and let us remember where we left off last year.  I think that was an appropriate decision.  The second episode gave us more story and introduced some new characters.

This show promises a lot of story down the road.  My comic-reading friends tell me they know "what's in the barn."  I have no idea what they're talking about, but they say it's going to be cool.  I'm racking my brain as to what could be so cool in that barn.  Maybe they'll show us tonight.

What makes this show so great?  How the writers focus on the people instead of the zombies.  They develop characters and make us care.  (Just keep that in mind next time you write something.)

Now to get ready for November sweeps...

After the Lot: Sam Friedlander

Sam Friedlander placed 4th in the 2007 show "On The Lot."  Click here to see my overview of his films for that show.

Four years later, Sam is still pushing ahead in his career.  He is an associate producer of the show "Royal Pains" on the USA Network. 

He has also teamed up with his "On The Lot" 3rd place compatriot, Adam Stein (blurb coming soon), and "Royal Pains" actor, Mark Feuerstein in creating Supdawg Productions.  In 2009, Supdawg put out the web series "The Hustler," an over-the-top dark comedy featuring an unrealistically awesome on-the-edge dude.  Sam co-produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the thirteen episodes.  Below is first episode, and you can catch the rest on Crackle.  (And yes - the Hustler is that "Royal Pains" doctor.)

I look forward to more Sam Friedlander productions.

2011 TV Fall - The First Wave

The first wave of shows has infiltrated our homes.  Some shows delivered, and others have already tanked.  One of the worst, "The Playboy Club," is already in danger of being cancelled after only two episodes.

For once, so far I am happy with my choices in shows to watch: 4 new shows and 6 returning.

Person of Interest: A decent show.  After watching the first two episodes, I'm going to keep on watching.  The whole premise is cool: a supercomputer predicts when a major crime is about to happen, but all they have access to is a social security number.  They have to work quickly to fill in the blanks, and stop the crime before it occurs.  Of course, everything they're doing is dangerous and illegal.  So, they get beat up, and you wonder how much longer they can keep it up.  This is all cool.

There are still a few problems with execution.  In one scene, Reese says, "Don't try to find me, we'll meet on my time," and then they're together in the very next scene.  In another scene (or was it in the opening credits?), they say, "no one can find us," but there they are walking on the sidewalk in plain sight.  We can see them.  But who cares?  I'm enjoying watching this show.  You can catch the first two episodes on cbs.com.

Terra Nova: Now my favorite show, as long as they can keep it up.  After watching the pilot, I just said, "Wow."  The special effects are beyond awesome.  The story grabbed me and didn't let go.  It's clear that they spared no expense.

Set 150 years in the future, it appears we don't have long before we become overpopulated, with oxygen depleting and no moon or stars in the sky.  But then after discovering a rip in space-time that opens to a place millions of years in the past, they start sending "pilgrimages" to colonize and grab a second chance on life.  The show starts with the tenth pilgrimage.

And get this (this is very important).  They go back in time to a different parallel universe.  Without this, the show's premise falls apart.  Just their being on ancient Earth with all that technology would destroy the "original" human species' chance of evolving.  But it's okay in a parallel universe.  It nicely avoids those timey-wimey paradoxes.

After watching an hour, and they finally arrived at the camp, I thought: "Okay, here we are in Jurassic Park.  It was fun getting here, but now what are we going to do for a season?  It's not like we need any more dinosaurs.  We already have three movies, plus the rumor of a fourth."  But they delivered in the last hour.  You can always count on human nature to provide an interesting story.

The sixth pilgrimage was corrupted.  They somehow fixed the Lottery and they have an unknown agenda.  They no longer live inside the camp.  The leader lost his son in the second pilgrimage, but he's still alive somewhere.

I'll keep watching.  Ratings were a little low for the premiere, which is always concerning.  If you haven't watched already, check out the Pilot on hulu.com.

The Office: This show might just survive without Michael Scott.  The remaining characters have their chance to shine now.  My favorite character is Kevin.  He very funny.  My least favorite is (and I have to look up her name) Angela.  Her constant ribbing of Pam is getting on my nerves.  James Spader is a fun addition.  That whole genius thing is funny.  I don't know about his idea to raise prices to attract customers, though.  Who wants a pyramid?

Fringe: The first episode was decent.  Though, I'm a little concerned that these zombie shape-shifters may dominate this season.  I really like the "new guy".  He's new because the timeline has been rewritten and he's no longer part of Fringe Division.  But now he's back in a different capacity.  I wonder if he's still a leader-type in the alternate universe.  I would assume not, as they would have met him already.  How long is it going to take for Peter to come back?  Oh, please make it interesting!  It already feels like, "I can't believe we made it this far."

Simpsons: The first episode had its funny moments, but the magic of the earlier seasons is pretty much gone.  Keifer was funny in his guest role.  I'll keep watching, because every now and then they hit gold.

Still waiting for the second wave of shows in October: Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Psych, The Walking Dead, Chuck.