Welcome to the Hellmouth

It's been several years since Buffy (with a big assist from Spike and the rest of the gang) closed the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. There have been stories of another Hellmouth opening up in Cleveland, but those have been mostly unsubstantiated.

Now it looks like a new Hellmouth has opened in Guatemala City.

This photo looks so fake that I hard a hard time believing it wasn't photo-shopped.  But it's not.  There are plenty of other photos out there on the web of this giant sinkhole that opened up after a tropical storm hit Guatemala a few days ago, but this one is the most impressive.  And although it looks like it goes straight to Hell (and it might), it's "only" around 200 feet deep.

These sinkholes are a not-so-rare occurrence given the topography and poor construction/city planning in that area. Thankfully, no one was hurt when this particular sinkhole/Hellmouth opened up, but there have been fatalities in that city due to sinkholes in the past. Most recently in 2007.

And since no one was hurt in this particular one, all I can say is...how fucking cool is that?

___________________________________________________

Note: Remember to play the Badgerdaddy Trivia Challenge every day. "From beneath you, it devours."

I Give Thanks

To Buffy!

That's right. This year, I am feeling thankful for Joss Whedon's icon of female empowerment. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not the movie. That was merely okay. Nope...I'm talking about the television series. THE television series, as I like to refer to it as. Wow, that was a clunky sentence. Fuck it! I'm not re-writing it.

Anywho. I've decided that "Happy Thanksgiving" doesn't cut it for me anymore. From now on I will wish people a "Buffy Thanksgiving". That doesn't sound gay at all.

So have a Buffy Thanksgiving everyone! Go forth and pound a stake through the heart of the undead because that's what the Pilgrims would have wanted you to do.

Oh, and hey. You know who is a good egg? Adam Avitable. He's giving away an uber-cool Buffy DVD set for free. This one.

Looks pretty sweet, eh? So go visit his site here and enter his free contest if you so choose. Or you can ignore it as not to decrease my odds of winning. If you really love me, you'll know what to do. Wink.

___________________________________________________

Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Even the Undead are doing it.

TV is only 20 years old!

Or so it seems by a poll from Empire Online - a film and television review site.

They featured the 50 Greatest Television Shows of All-Time the other day, and it was truly a fanboy''s delight. Just about everything on the list was from the last two decades with most from the past few years.

It's almost like the list was prepared by my inner 12-year old. Lost, The West Wing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer were 3 out of the top 5 shows of all time. Now they are probably 3 of my top 5 shows of all time, but c'mon... Oh, and Firefly, all 10 episodes that they aired, was number 14. Once again, I loved it. But #14?

I know that TV, especially production-wise, has definitely gotten better over the years, but are they trying to tell us that the only television worthy of the list from the 60's and 70's were the original Star Trek and Monty Python's Flying Circus? Even their "old" shows are classic fanboy fare.

Who voted on this list? A million Slyde clones? Wow...a million Slyde clones. That's a scary thought.

Last post of 2007

No talk of resolutions. No year-end recap of the prior 12 months. Nothing but The West Wing.
I love/loved that show! It's funny because my two all-time favorite television shows have to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The West Wing. The funny part is that I largely ignored them both when they were first aired I became a fan of both shows in syndication.

Buffy became a part of my life after it was all said and done. The series had been cancelled and it was airing in syndication on the FX Network a couple of times a day. I happened upon an episode one day and got hooked. Then I found out that the entire 7 seasons were going to run in sequence starting that very week. At the time I was DVR-less, so I ran out to the store and bought a whole shitload of videotapes. I would spend a few minutes each week programming my VCR to tape the entire series in order for some reason or another. Still got those tapes too! Just ask Slyde. He borrowed my bag o' Buffy, as I like to call the shopping bag that I keep all the tapes in, a little over a year ago and he enjoyed some low-def hi-quality TV over the next few months.

It was a similar story with The West Wing. I didn't actually keep all the tapes, but I would record the 5 or 10 (I can't remember) episodes that Bravo would air during the week for pure weekend viewing pleasure. I got into this one during Season 5 of 7, so I wasn't able to watch the entire series as quickly as I did with Buffy, but it was close.

Honestly, I think I may have loved The West Wing even more than, gasp, Buffy. Sacrilege, I know. But I really got into the former in a weird way. I've watched episodes over and over in replays and I just love them each and every time. The writing is incredible, especially in the Aaron Sorkin years. And the story arch over the seven years was just fantastic. Made me want to work at the White House. Well, not the current White House.

Anyway, I bring this up because I was talking to Gia about this show just last week. She was interested in seeing it, so we rented the first season from NetFlix. Tonight we sat down and watched the entire first DVD which contains the first 8 episodes from the first season. ALL IN A ROW!

It was awesome! Gia is hooked. I can't wait for the next DVD to come in the mail. I'm becoming a fan all over again! Good times.

That being said, I want to wish all of you out there a Very Happy New Year! Enjoy!

Joss Whedon is the shit!

I was having trouble sleeping last night so I turned on the old boob (hehe) tube to see what was on. Lo and behold, one of my favorite films in the past few years was just starting. It's Serenity, and if you haven't seen it, then well...I don't like you very much!

For those of you not in the know, I am a huge fan of all things that are Joss Whedon. Well, I don't like men the way he does, but that's beside the point. I was first turned on (hmmm?) to Whedon with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The TV series, not the film. Well, he wrote the film too, but the producers changed the tone of his original script and it came out like crap. Not nearly as good as the TV series. It's spinoff, "Angel", was created by Whedon as well. I'm a huge "Buffy" fan (as I've mentioned a few times), but I had no idea that the Fox-TV series "Firefly" was created by the same genius as well. Fox didn't give "Firefly" a chance, but Whedon got to make a sequel for the big screen. Thus Serenity.

So if you haven't seen this little screen gem, do yourself a favor and add it to your NetFlix queue. I'll leave you with a little post I wrote for Slyde's blog back when Serenity first came out. He loves it when I do shit like this!

“SERENITY” NOW!!!
By B.E. Earl
10/06/2005 6:27 PM EST

Hey kids! It’s Earl again as Slyde is apparently way too lazy/busy to contribute to his own site. I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts about the new film Serenity which opened up last weekend to so-so business here in the ‘ole U.S. of A. Serenity is a sequel, of sorts, of the late, great Fox television series “Firefly” created by Joss Whedon. Now one thing you have to know is that I am a late convert to the cult of Whedon, but a cultist nonetheless so I may not be the most objective kid in the sandbox. I’m actually not going to give you my review of the film (which I thought was fantastic), so hopefully my objectivity, or lack thereof, won’t come into play. No sir, my intent is to give you some background info on the television show so that you might be better prepared when you go see the film. AND YOU WILL GO SEE THE FILM! Sorry, got taken over by Satan there for a moment. I’ll try not to let it happen again.

The Setting
“Firefly” is set roughly 500 years in the future. The human race has moved on from the “Earth that was” or the planet that we currently call home. You see, our numbers had swelled so vastly that we needed to colonize other worlds and solar systems. The last remaining great economic powers of old Earth were the United States and China. Just about everyone speaks both English and Chinese, although it seems that they only slip into Chinese when yelling at each other or cursing (maybe to slip past the old Fox censors, eh?). The main governing body of the galaxy is the Alliance.

The Alliance runs the central planets in the system with a closed fist, but the outlying planets govern themselves mostly in a fairly straightforward metaphor for the United States during the time of the Old West. In fact, “Firefly” is as much of a Western as it is a piece of Science Fiction. The territories are hard places to live, but they do have a sense of independence from the Alliance. The Alliance does not appear to be the obvious evil that the Empire was in Star Wars, however, there is something dodgy about it. So dodgy that a group of planets fought a war against the Alliance in order to guarantee their own independence. It didn’t work as the Alliance won, and the freedom fighters suffered enormous casualties.

The Ship
Serenity is not only the name of the film, it is also the name of the Firefly-class spaceship that many of the characters of the show and film call home. It’s a fairly cool-looking hunk o’ junk that is used mostly as a cargo ship by the crew, although it is that cargo that often gets them into trouble. You see, the crew of the Serenity works a bit outside of the law. They’ll handle smuggling jobs, illicit transport, and even outright robbery to make a living. We’ll talk about that in a bit. The boat (as they refer to Serenity) is also named after a famous battle in the previously mentioned war. It was the battle that finally broke the backs of the freedom fighters leading to an overwhelming victory by the Alliance.

The Crew
Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) – Mal is a former soldier with the losing side of the war with the Alliance. He, in fact, was one of the survivors of the battle of Serenity Valley along with his second-in-command, Zoe. Mal has got a lot of issues. He’s obviously not happy with the Alliance and he is constantly being tormented by his inner demons. His choice to turn to a life of smuggling is just another way of thumbing his nose at the oppressive Alliance. However, he appears to be a good man with a heard of gold, ding! He’s also quite in love with Inara, a prostitute who lives on one of the shuttles of the Serenity. Secretly, of course.

Zoe (Gina Torres) – Zoe, as previously mentioned, is a former soldier who followed Mal into a life of smuggling. She is the consummate warrior woman, clearly not someone whom you would want to mess with. She is unwaveringly loyal to Mal and she wears her leather outfit quite nicely, thank you.

Hoban “Wash” Washburn (Alan Tudyk) – Wash is the pilot of the Serenity, and the husband of Zoe. He’s mainly there for comic relief. We don’t know much about his past, but it doesn’t appear to matter that much. He wears Hawaiian shirts and has plastic dinosaurs about his console, and that is about as much as we need to know.

Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite) – Kaylee is the resident mechanic on board the ship. She’s a bit of a spitfire whose mechanical skills appear to be more intuitive than learned through any formal education. She is the wide-eyed innocent of the crew, even while possessing a more-than healthy sexual appetite. Kaylee is fun.

Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin) – Jayne is the muscle on the crew. Although he doesn’t really have a title, he was jokingly referred to as the public relations officer. He’s simple and downright mean, but you want to have him on your side in a firefight. He also has, on more than one occasion, shown an inclination towards turning on his fellow crewmembers, and he can be bribed to switch sides if the money is right.

Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin) – Inara is a prostitute who rents out one of the two shuttles on board Serenity in a mutually beneficial agreement between Mal and her. You see, prostitutes are a bit different in this world then they are in ours. Companions, as they prefer to be called, are treated with incredible respect by the civilized worlds. They go through a tremendous amount of training to become a companion, and they are incredibly bright and knowledgeable in many areas. Having a resident companion on board is beneficial to crew for her contacts and the doors that those contacts can open. She also lends an air of respectability to the otherwise rag-tag group of travelers. She is also quite in love with Mal, secretly of course.

Shepherd Book (Ron Glass) – Damn it was nice to see Ron Glass working regularly again. The well-named Book is hard to read by his cover. He is a man of religion, but he has admitted that Book is not even his real name. His mysterious past has something to do with either a military, political or consular post within the Alliance. He is Mal’s conscience on the ship.

Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Mahar) – Simon and his sister, River, are fugitives from the Alliance. Simon came aboard Serenity with his sister as his cargo. He was eventually found out by Mal the rest of the crew, although Mal agreed to keep him and his sister on board as crew. Simon is a brilliant doctor who gave up a great career to save the life of his sister. He’s also kind of boring.

River Tam (Summer Glau) – River is a gifted teenager who was taken by the Alliance at a young age and manipulated into a tool that they could use for a number of reasons. She has some psychic abilities and she is quite the talented fighter. She is also an absolute mental mess. In whatever procedures the Alliance used to enhance her abilities, they also managed to strip out some of her brains ability to operate in a so-called normal manner. She is highly sought after by the Alliance because of her abilities and the secrets that she may have stumbled onto. Secrets that could hurt the Alliance at its very core.

Okay. Now you are ready to go out and see Serenity. It has been rumored that if this film grosses more than $80 million worldwide, there will be a sequel or two. Joss Whedon had apparently scripted out 5 seasons of “Firefly” and he still has stories to tell. So go see it. You don’t want me to use my Satan voice again, do you?

Goddammit!!!

Missed it again.

The "it" I'm referring to is a sing-a-long to the musical episode ("Once More With Feeling") of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This is the second time in the past year that they have played it at our local artsy-fartsy theater and it is the second time that I found out about it on the night it played...AFTER IT PLAYED!

Now, honestly, I don't know if I would have actually sang along. It's a great episode, and it was really well done with a bunch of actors who, for the most part, can't sing. But singing along? I can say that I would have enjoyed watching everyone else. And Slyde was really looking forward to it as well. Don't pretend that you weren't!

Anyway, it looks like a fun night out. They have rounds of Buffy-oke (Buffy-themed karaoke), Buffy trivia and other games before the showing of the episode. During the episode, the crowd is asked to participate much in the same way they would during a Rocky Horror show.

I found the Buffy Sing-a-long website and you can check it out here, if you so desire. Now that I know what I'm looking for, I promise not to miss it next time it comes to town. Or I can just check out one of their monthly NYC shows at the IFC Center.

DO NOT MAKE FUN OF ME!!!