'24' Gets "Jacked"

Well, you could see this coming from as far away as just about any one of the plot twists of the past 3 seasons: 24 will come to an end at the conclusion of this, the eighth, season. Sort of. According to EW.com, a movie franchise is already in the works, which could be really interesting. Relieving Jack and Co. of the constraints that exist because of its "real-time" format could do a lot of good, and, according to Keifer Sutherland, this version of 24 will definitely not be held within those same confines. Can't say I blame them. As Keifer also states in the article, “The writers are producing the equivalent of 12 films a year, which is unheard of." Good point. Ironically, this season has done a much better job of keeping me on my toes than either of the past two. That is, until they pulled out the old "there's a double agent that's infiltrated CTU" plot twist again. Anyway, now that this has all been decided, maybe it will heighten anticipation a little bit as this season winds down. We shall see. I wonder what they're gonna do with the clock sequence at the end? Maybe it will explode or something...

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'24': Day 8 Premiere

I'll spare you the elaborate (and unnesessary) review of the "4:00pm-5:00pm" and "5:00-6:00pm" episodes of this brand new season of 24, and get down to the essentials.

Reasons Season 8 looks to be more of the same:

• Jack being so close to getting out of the game completely before being pulled back in at the worst possible moment.
• A plot to assassinate an important foreign leader
• The director of CTU is a stiff
• Someone in CTU has personal problems
• An office romance
• Chloe hacking into things
• Jack not playing by the rules
• Jack operating as some sort of rogue agent and directing government resources despite not actually being employed by said government.
• A noble president surrounded by people of questionable character
• Technology!
• Foreign Terrorists who have somehow managed to infiltrate the highest levels of government, and who undoubtedly have a plot so elaborate and sinister that no one will really have a handle on it until it's almost to late.
• Explosions!
• A "young Jack" character
• Jack's "intense" voice

Reasons not to Care it's more of the same:

• New York City
• Jack giving a baddy an axe to the chest within the first 30 minutes.
• A bazooka being used within city limits
• Kim Bauer not being an annoying drag so far
• Drones
• "Percy Wetmore" is one of the Bad Guys.
• The warden from Shawshank Redemption is still involved.
• This:

In short: Was the Season 8 premiere ground-breaking? Certainly not. But will I be tuning in again @ 8 tonight? Oh yes.

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New York Gets "Jacked"

Yeah, that's Fox's actual promo slogan for season 8. My expectations for 24 have regressed over the past 3 years, but there's always hope, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't kinda pumped for the 2 hour season premiere tonight (8 pm Central). The real question is whether this is going to be different (and changing the locale again isn't going to be enough) or if it's gonna be same formula, different day (literally). We'll see; either way it looks like they're gonna blow some stuff up real good...

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Fikaked: January!

My daughter turned 8 weeks old today; hard to believe...

Since we've got her home:

1. She's put on almost 3 pounds and 3 inches.
2. She can actually see things.
3. She looks more like her beautiful mom every day.
4. My wife has become addicted to Discovery (un)Health(y). That channel seriously airs some of the most disturbing (and depressing) programming I've ever seen.
5. She's actually slept through the entire night several times.
6. She's learned to like baths.
7. We figured out she likes to listen to Jay-Z.
8. Her mom has changed about 1,000 diapers (I've changed a few, too).
9. She's developed a kung fu grip.
10. She looks more like me everyday.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next few months, and all the months after that.

Some other observations from the past couple weeks:

1. The new Loney Dear album, Dear John is really good. I've absolutely been wearing it out. "Airport Surroundings" is my favorite song of 2009 so far.

2. Gran Torino was the first movie I've gone to the theater to watch since Hadley was born, and it was worth the wait. I thought the story was great, and Clint Eastwood is the man. There are a lot of young actors involved, and some of them aren't great, but it doesn't really matter because Eastwood just dominates the screen the entire time. Awesome movie.

3. Lost is finally back on. It's been a long wait, especially since last season was so good. I thought the 2 hour premier last Wednesday was pretty exciting, albeit confusing at times. Let's just hope the writers have been watching how complicated, ridiculous, and stupid Heroes has become over the past two seasons and that they do everything they can to steer clear of a mess like that...

4. After seeing those Geico commercials featuring their new mascot "Kash" about ten times, I realized that I was hooked on the background music for said commercials. I did some investigating and found out that it's actually a cover of an 80s song (no wonder it sounds so familiar). "Somebody's Watching Me" was originally recorded by r&b artist Rockwell, who happens to be the son of a Motown founder. Anyway, it's been remixed by a production group named Mysto and Pizzi. Evidently, they have done work with some real big-timers like R. Kelly and Justin Timberlake. You can get a free download of the track here. I can't stop listening to it.

5. As long as the wait for Lost was, the wait for my all-time favorite show, 24, seemed like an eternity. The strike prevented the show from airing any episodes last year, so the 7th season really has been a long time coming. It wasn't all bad, though. To be quite honest, season 6 sucked really hard, and the writers needed all 18 of those months to get their crap together. So far, it's paying off. The first 6 episodes have been intense, and just seem way more fresh than last season's. I'm keeping my fingers crossed everything stays on track.

6. As much as it hurts me to say this, Deerhunter's second album is the bomb. It's called Microcastles, and I really didn't want to like it. I certainly didn't like their first record, and the amount of hype it received (especially from these guys) got on my nerves, frankly. I'm sure there's a reason it got so much attention, but it sounded like a bunch of noise to me, and I just couldn't get into it. Luckily, my friend Kyle talked me into giving them another try. I don't plan on going back to Cryptograms anytime soon, but Microcastles is rocking my world right now.

7. Why can't NBC just leave Life in one friggin' time slot? It's literally been moved 5 or 6 times from Monday to Wednesday to Friday to Wednesday and back to Friday again. It's almost like they're pulling a prank or something. The only time they've ever left it at the same spot for an extended period of time, it did very well in the ratings. It's probably my favorite new show from the past two years, but it doesn't stand a chance of being renewed if NBC doesn't let viewers figure out when the hell it's going to be on.

8. I've gotta admit, sometimes I find my self uninterested in hearing a new band because I don't like their name. I don't know why, and no, I don't know what the formula is for a good name or anything like that. Whatever the reason, Animal Collective fell into that category, and, despite the buzz around them, I've avoided listening to them for a long time. When I finally gave in and listened to their new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, it was good enough to make me feel stupid for avoiding these guys for so long. If you've never heard them before, they've kinda got that retro 60s sound (heavy on the harmonies and reverb). Highly recommended. Besides that, look at the cover art. It looks like it's moving, doesn't it? Freaky...

9. American Idol has been more interesting so far this year. The new judge has had her share of stupid comments, but at least she's got some common sense.

10. History is in the making, people. The Big Red are in the Superbowl! I've spent my entire life rooting for the Cubs of the NFL. My dad's been following them for 20 years longer than I have. The last time they won a home playoff game and more than a single game in one post-season was 60 years and two cities ago.


Oh yeah, and that new guy moving into the White House is a pretty big deal, too.

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