Exploring Stuff That Makes Life Great
Sometimes you can hate College Humor, other times you can love them. This is definitely a love moment. Due to the writer’s strike, College Humor is airing the unaired pilot from 1994 of Fox’s hit series 24.
Man did life suck in 1994…
Check out the video here.
Season two continues where the first season left off, showing the heading for more dangerous missions around the world. In the case that you are unfamiliar with the show, The Unit follows the lives of both in the field and at home of a group of elite US special forces soldiers. Starring Dennis Haysbert (24) as Jonas Blane the team leader, you get to see the not so advertised missions he has to lead his team through for the US government. Also starring in The Unit are Regina Taylor, Abby Brammell, Michael Irby, Scott Foley, Max Martini, Demore Barnes, Audrey Marie Anderson and Robert Patrick (Terminator 2). The first season of the show was very hit and miss as the characters needed to be introduced.
In Season 2, now we know about the characters plus the psychological and financial issues they are facing, so it’s all about their finding solutions. It can be said that The Unit has something for everyone. Although not at the same time. While a male audience will love he heavy action sequences provided by seeing the missions take place, they will find the at home soap opera moments dull. These, however, would be of more interest to the female audience than the mindless action, if you assume the usual stereotypes.
The season includes such great episodes as Extreme Rendition, Sub Conscious and Dark of the Moon. In Extreme Rendition, a former member of the unit is in a Bulgarian prison and Jonas with his team must go and help him escape to get information on an arms dealer. Sub Conscious has the team on a mission to take control of a South Korean submarine to help a North Korean Scientist defect. Dark of the Moon is easily the best episode of the show so far with nothing but 40 minutes of action in Pakistan as the team help defend a US base from attackers wanting to break out a number of recently taken suspected terrorist prisoners. The last episode of the season, Paradise Lost is where The Unit is under investigation by the Government for their past actions and gives a great cliff hanger ending to the season.
In addition to the boxsets, 23 episodes on 6 discs, there are 10 commentary tracks by members of the cast and crew, such as the actors Dennis Haysbert, Demore Barnes, Regina Taylor, Abby Brammell, Scott Foley and Michael Irby. Also included in the commentary tracks are the writers and executive producers, with around 3-4 people per commentary track. The tracks are informative but some are much better than others.
The set also includes a number of making-of documentaries which manage to keep your attention. Paradise Lost: The making of the season 2 finale (32mins 48sec) focuses on the production process from start to finish. Mission: The making of Sub Conscious (11min 31sec) shows the technical aspects of shooting the episode and since shooting fake submarine shots is such a technical and interesting topic, you would hope for it to be longer. Finally, there is Dark of the Moon: Working with Weapons (19min 11sec). If you are looking for something each member of the family will enjoy bits of, then The Unit: Season 2 is worth serious consideration.
Ted Stokes
Rating: +
It is now official. After months of speculation about who would play the role of the Scotsman it has been announced that comedian Simon Pegg is to take the role.
Pegg is famous for his projects in the United Kingdom including the movies Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. He is also known for the Channel 4 comedy series Spaced. Casting Pegg in Star Trek is a courageous move by J.J. Abrams as the fan favorite for the role was Stargate Atlantis’ own fake Scottish accent actor Paul McGillion who played Dr. Carson Beckett in the show.
The worrying aspect about this particular bit of casting comes from two fronts.
1) Could they be casting actors now who are more bankable due to negative remarks about the previously cast unknown actors?
2) Could J.J. Abrams decision to cast Simon Pegg not be based on his fitting the role but due to the Director/Producer’s own personal emotions on Pegg?
The reason the second question has come up is because of his previous decisions to cast actors he has worked with before instead of new faces. A few examples are below.
Mentioned he had wanted to work with Ricky Gervais and Simon Pegg publicly due to liking their comedy. Simon Pegg was then brought in to play a role in Mission Impossible 3 after Gervais dropped out and now he is in Star Trek. J.J. Abrams also used actors from Alias in Lost such as the airplane’s pilot in the Lost pilot episode.
It could be he has a good eye for talent or there could be another reason. Speculation aside it is safe to say that he knows more about Simon Pegg’s abilities than us as he has seen Pegg’s Scotty casting audition and we have not.
Let’s hope it all goes well and a good movie is made for the fans of the original series.
For Windows Vista users that have Media Center, Microsoft has released a new addition called Internet TV. This new section includes tons of TV shows, news, trailers and so much more. It’s great because it’s relatively high quality and it’s all free! Watching entertaining ads for 5-10 seconds and having the video load almost instantaneously is amazing.
Now another cool feature with this is the ability to sync with a Media Extender such as your Xbox 360. You can now watch TV shows on your Xbox 360 without paying for them.
I’ve talked about IPTV previously and as I said it totally rocks.
Today marks The Office and My Name Is Earl season premieres! If you need a reason to watch them, here are some clips from their upcoming episodes.
Fun times indeed…
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IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is the wave of the future. On January 7, 2007 Bill Gates announced how Microsoft will bring Television to Xbox 360 users, not through downloads but through live feeds. The Microsoft TV IPTV Edition is set to be available this holiday season and will give users an alternative route to watching TV.
Imagine being able to throw away your DVR/cable box, not paying for your Cable TV service, and seeing every channel in digital format as well as high-definition. That’s the promise that IPTV brings. While Microsoft isn’t the only company working on IPTV technology, Microsoft is well ahead of the pack because it’s install base for Xbox 360 users is already over 10 million worldwide!
While it isn’t clear how Microsoft will distribute this service, if it’s a free download on the Xbox 360 – why wouldn’t you use it? As a suggestion for Xbox 360 owners who want IPTV, you might want to purchase Xbox 360 Messenger Kit. Isn’t it easier to search for a show by literally typing it in rather than selecting the on screen text?
IPTV is only one part of Microsoft’s overall vision of creating the “Mediaroom.” Microsoft’s Mediaroom will bridge the gap between home computers and the living room Television, expanding upon the current Windows Media Center software.
The only company that’s close to bringing IPTV to the home is Apple. Similar to the Xbox 360, the Apple TV can grab photos and videos. So far though the Apple TV hasn’t been that great of a success. Right now there’s no major advantage to owning the Apple TV simply because it doesn’t do anything outrageously unique.
Rumors have surfaced saying that Apple will release its IPTV product/software sometime in 2008. As with any product, Apple tries to be as innovative as possible. But how can you innovate in a sector that has yet to be widely tested?
Every electronic manufacturer realizes that the future of the technology industry is convergence. Hopefully these software giants know that consumers want their content no matter the platform it was purchased or added onto. The service that’s going to succeed is the service that provides it all, in an easy to use system.
Videos about this beautiful world, where machines serve man without frustration can all be found below:
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