Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Television Guilty Pleasures This Summer

Ice Road Truckers - This show is still about driving over unsafe roads with heavy loads and huge hillbilly egos. I hate Hugh this year because he's all talk and he can't LEARN and he passes blame for his failures on others. He has responsibilities as an owner to his truckers. I like that Lisa is back. And for once I think a trucker they feature will go through the ice and they will have the footage. It's the only way it could and should end. Strangely this reality show tells a better story than most dramas out there. It's interesting and fun to follow a season of trucking in Northern Canada by this band of insane characters. I do like watching the big trucks go down the road - especially ice roads.

Real Housewives Of Anywhere - I don't know why I can't resist these bitches and their manufactured drama. Again I think it has to do with ego and hubris and how I love to see the clash of the two. These people are so ridiculous that no mental patients, at their least lucid could ever create.

Under The Dome - the show where I hate every stupid character and I want to air to run out and I want them to be overtaken by carbon dioxide that they and their cattle are creating. Not enough green to compensate by my math. Of course they will all die long before this after the food and prescription drugs run out and they murder each other down to the last person and scrap of food.

Personally I am glad I don't smoke because can you imagine everyone running out of smokes at the same time while trapped under the dome? That is a bitch of an enforced non-smoking policy. And what about the houses? What kind of toxins are they putting into the air through the chimneys and furnace? Why is the Dome still clear. It would fill with dust, smoke and other dark toxins that would blacken the inside and prevent plant growth. I would be like nuclear winter without the radiation. Lose the Sun. Lose it all.

See, when I am rewriting shows in my head, it's time for this one to dish out some answers or lose me. I just have to know how this all works itself out. Don't do another LOST on me where five years from now you are still trapped in your bubble like Gilligan was trapped on that island.

Catfish The TV Show - Again, damaged people who get caught with in their lies by the guy who coined the term 'catfishing' which is a term for people who make up fake profiles on the internet and have fake/real relationships with other people from across the country. But the people who want the relationships to be real are partly to blame because they ignore tons of red flags that would let them know that the person they love online is NOT who they say they are.

Strike Back - It's no Luther or Sherlock but it is from Britain it's as close to real world military operation on the front lines of the world's hotspots. One season it's the search for a terrorist, the next it's a case of missile triggers. And this isn't done at your local mall. No, this is fighting on the ground in some of your finer shitholes like Afghanistan or Kenya or Somalia or Pakistan.

It's about using the intel of the moment to affect the war on the ground. I like the two man team and their relationship. How they get themselves out of all the life and death scrapes they do is right out of Call of Duty. This show would be popular with fans of the video game. I am surprised there isn't a game based on the show already. For a wartime show it's got one character having a lot of sex with whichever woman he comes across. Does the stink of combat really the ultimate aphrodisiac?

Strike Back also has one of the funkiest theme songs I have heard in awhile. I like that they just don't shortchange me on something that always puts me in the mood for the adventure that is to come. I think it's one of the strongest theme songs in TV history and will argue that with anyone.

If I Find This 'CROD' Cosplay Attractive Is There Something Wrong With Me?

Is This Child Abuse Or Genius Parenting?

I can't decide. You gotta wash him at the end of the day anyways.

Gorgeous Roman Legionary Tiberius

I Know For A FACT That This Machine Isn't Safe

And if you don't believe me, ask Brundel Fly in about a week.

The Wolverine (2013)

I have a special history with comic books. I did my reading alone, wherever I happened to be. It was a stress relief thing and I just like the stories. It also helped me connect with people. I have fond memories of the Marvel Universe at the time the comic mini series that inspired The Wolverine was being released. It was a huge event. These mini-series could only be bought in comic book stores. So for many of us it was the first comic we hunted for. Logan was on a solo adventure, in Japan, involving ninjas and honor and all the cool things about the 'Ronin' genre of stories. How could we resist? You have to also remember this was also when Wolverine wasn't in every second Marvel comic they put out.

The movie I watched today had many great touches and just enough change to make a modern tale of a man of honor who does what right even if it means he has to kill. He is Samurai in his heart. Hugh Jackman nailed the character for me as he has in six other appearances. I suffered along with his Logan just like I suffered with him as Jean Valjean (but for entirely different reasons). Seeing Logan's legendary healing factor break down is frustrating to watch.

But then there are moments in this movie where Logan is at his prime and he is fighting dozens of arrow shooting ninjas and the punishment he takes before he goes down shows how amazing a mutant hero Wolverine truly is when he's at his prime - Adamantium Claws and Instantaneous Healing Factor working in harmony to become an unstoppable force of nature. That scenes may feel to some that is was unnecessary but it was a wink to old fans like me that they GOT THIS and they understand what makes Wolverine so cool to begin with. It's always more than just the claws.

The movie had many cool fight scenes and maybe a bit to many sad Logan scenes but when it get's going it's a fun ride. The Viper was a great and risky choice for the female villain but Svetlana Khodchenkova pulls it off nicely. She was worthy to lead an evil organization like maybe Hydra in any future installments. It was nice to see a mutant super villain who has her own agenda and isn't leading some evil team.

I can't believe I didn't get the secret of the Silver Samurai because it's so obvious what's going on. I am embarrassed I missed it. And I was paying attention. TO THE BUTTERFLY IN THE ROOM!

There was a lot of good to see here and I liked the big fight pieces. Again, in 3D it looks like everything is filmed and shown in the dark and I am starting to hate that. But the story is solid. The creators didn't feel the need to bring in any other hero to save the day. This was Logan's battle to win or lose.

I have always been a fan of the little mini teasers that show up at the end of Marvel movies. This one is very cool and was worth the wait. I see big potential in next years Days of Future Past. Get used to me talking about it after The Wolverine got me primed for another Logan adventure, but this time a time travelling one where he get's to trash some Sentinels and save both the mutant and human race.

Tumblr Girls Of The Week

Damn Nazis Destroyed Alot of Klimt

Pictured above: "Schubert at the Piano" (1899).

Gustav Klimt was a prominent Austrian symbolist painter whose work often focused on the female form. Serena Lederer was a wealthy Viennese art patron who collected fourteen of Klimt's paintings. Lederer sent her collection to the Schloss Immendorf museum for safe keeping in 1943. Nevertheless, the collection was lost when the retreating Nazi party set Schloss Immendorf on fire in 1945.

http://www.iklimt.com/work.html

Works ranging from 1898's "Musik II" to 1917's "Gastein," as well as the famed Vienna Ceiling Paintings, were destroyed in the fire.