Warehouse 13: "MacPherson" Review

This episode was absolutely. bloody. brilliant.  I have no idea how on Earth I am going to survive waiting MONTHS for Season 2!!  (Watching shows on DVD has spoiled me, I'm afraid).

Some comments . . .

• I was right all along.  Leena was the mole!  I knew it couldn't have been Claudia!  Truth be told, I thought there was something odd with Leena way back in "Duped", when she a) couln't tell that there was a different consciousness inhabiting Myka's body and b) couldn't tell that the Myka in the mirror was alive.  I excused the second one because I wasn't sure completely how the mirror worked, but the first part is bugging me even more now.
• I really want to know why Leena decided to work for MacPherson.  Or even if she's doing it voluntarily.
• Warehouse security sucks.  Majorly.  If the Bronze Vault houses the worst of the worst, why is there a huge "reverse" button right next to the machine?  Trust me, you're not going to put someone in there by mistake.  Ahhh, plot devices, we love you.
• The Phoenix is one of the most interesting items in the Warehouse so far.  I'm so glad that this is a storyline that will be getting some attention, because I'm loving the moral/ethical issues that are being raised here.  I think W13 is finally gaining some of the maturity it needs to handle these issues, and I can't wait to see where it leads!
• So, um, someone hid about 1000 stairs pretty darn well, or the Warehouse is bigger/weirder than I had thought.  Either that, or there's another warehouse that's been hiding in someone's back pocket for a bit.
• The psychedelic glasses are so cool!  It's totally awesome how Myka's the only one to be able to see the clues with them.  Although I do wonder if they ever considered they might be walking into a trap?
• "Children . . . I'm working with children . . ."  'nough said =)
• Claudia needs to come back!  I can't wait to see how that is wrapped up.  I think Mrs. Frederic should go looking for her.  She sooo owes her an apology.
• That thimble . . . I'm so curious as to how it works!  I really don't get it.  I mean, if it can make you look like whoever you want . . . then . . . um . . . I dont know!  I can't even properly explain what I don't like about it!  Maybe it has something to do with how it can possibly make the huge muscular bodyguard look like short, fat Artie.  What happens to all that body mass?  And how did it fool the DNA/retina scanners on the different artifacts?  Just a tad too convenient for my tastes, although super-cool.
• MacPherson backstory!  Yay!
• Since Mrs. Frederic had that necklace on the whole time . . . could that possibly mean that she has that chemical in her blood, too?  If so, what did she do to deserve that?  If not, why does she have the necklace?  Curious . . .

Okay, that's all for now.  Im sure there's more that I've missed, but right now I'm too excited (plus I have about 30 thousand fanfic ideas in my brain that I need to sort through).  So check for fic/art later on, and I can't wait for season 2!!

Things Wrong With the World

Call me insane, call me sleep-deprived, call me over-sensitive, but this stuff just shouldn't be happening.

I saw a ten year old reading New Moon at the feis this weekend.  Absolutely disgusting and entirely not appropriate.

Obama dropped his demand that Israel cease building settlements in the Occupied Territories.  Excuse me?  Haven't those been declared illegal by pretty much everyone who matters?  The settlements are one of the true roadblocks to Middle Eastern peace, and it's sad that Obama is willing to bend to pressure from the Israelis (because Prime Minister Netanyahu is the one being unreasonable here.  Did anyone read his conditions for a Palestinian state that came out earlier this year?)

Iranian police are starting to order shopkeepers that any mannequins they have in their store windows be wearing proper hijab.  This is how ridiculous this is:  It showed up as a headline in the LA Times Twitter feed I have in my Google reader, and I thought I had accidentally hit the Onion's Twitter feed.  So I started laughing.  Until I realized it was real.  Stuff like this leaves me speachless with shock over how badly women are treated, and how unable we are to put a stop to it.

Speaking of Iran, President Ahmadinijad has been denying the Holocaust.  Again.  How blind to you have to be to stare all that evidence in the face and say it's faked?  Such hatred and such stupidity.

An off-duty police officer was driving drunk in NYC and killed a woman.  How can you not know better?

Stuff like this makes me want to curl up in a corner with my eyes shut tight, waiting for things to improve.  But if this is ever going to change . . . we have to get out there and make it change!

Rationalizations (Spoilers/Guesses for Warehouse 13's finale)

I know the finale was last week for those of us in the States, and YES I watched it and YES it was amazing, but this is something I wrote up before and never got around to posting ('cause this is me, after all).  So, for all of you who don't want to be spoiled for the finale . . . don't read any farther.

Anybody who's like me (aka a spoiler hound) knows that there's a mole in the Warehouse (Allison Scagliotti said so on an interview . . . that I don't have the link for anymore >.<)  A lot of the discussion seemed to suggest Claudia was the mole, but I really can't see that.  And before you ask, I'm not doing this just because she's my favorite character (but she is) but because I honestly can't see her being evil.  This is my list.

• Claudia loves the warehouse.  Totally and absolutely.  I have a very hard time seeing her wanting to leave.
• More than that, she loves the people in the warehouse.  She finally has a family besides Joshua: Artie is her dad, Pete's her big brother, Myka's her big sister/best friend.  She would never hurt them.
• When would MacPherson have contacted her?  Between psych wards, foster homes, and searching for Joshua, she's been pretty hard to reach.
  

So who is the mole then?  If you want my opinion, I think it's Leena.  Why?  Well, I just went through the reasons it wasn't Claudia.  It's not Myka . . . not after MacPherson went after her parents in "Nevermore".  It's not Pete . . . he is, for all his flaws, too good and loyal to switch sides.  It's not Artie . . . MacPherson's been his nemesis for far too long.  It's not Dickinson . . . he's been in three episodes and is too much a DC beaurocrat to get involved with strange things.  It's not Mrs. Frederic . . . mysterious she may be, but she wants to catch MacPherson as much as Artie does.  So that leaves Leena.  Quiet, unassuming, very close to Artie, came to the Warehouse semi-recently (after MacPherson and Artie split up).  She's been under-used this whole season, and although I like her, making her a mole will vastly expand her character and let her hold my interest for more than two minutes at a time.

Warehouse 13: "Nevermore" Review

Well, I really didn't expect much of this from the previews.  I was happily surprised.  Although I don't have time to write a full review, I'll try to hit the most interesting points in a list (I should do this for all my reviews.  It makes them so much easier!)

• I totally expected more on Myka's family.  Everything went from "I hate you" to "It's all good" really quickly.  And I thought that was rather abrupt.  What we did see was brilliantly acted on both sides.  Joanne Kelly never ceases to amaze me, and Michael Hogan is always brilliant (though I'm not used to seeing him with two eyes, after watching him on BSG for years).
• Claudia gets to go out into the field!  This is what I want to see more of . . . the Myka + Claudia + Pete, or even just . . . anything that's not just Myka and Pete.  Because we know a lot about their relationship already, I want to see some other pairs working together.
• Pete could've Tesla's MacPherson and have been done with it.  He was standing right there, fifteen feet away, with his Tesla out and a clear shot.  I know it would have made for a far more boring story, but it still reflects poorly on Pete's character.  In my opinion.
• Mrs. Frederic appearing and disappearing will never cease to make me jump.  And smile.  And be very curious at the same time.
• Myka's dad's bookstore is my idea of heaven.  I could seriously live there.
• I love when Pete and Claudia opened that locker and then jumped out of the way really quickly.  And then nothing happened.
• I've said this before, but it should be said again: Joanne Kelly is bloody brilliant.
• All of the kids attending the school in "Oregon" are so . . . bland.  And boring.  And unlikable.  And . . . the school takes the idea of being old-fashioned/creepy close to the point of being unrealistic.  I mean, I suppose schools like that do exist, I just found it . . . odd.  (It made so much more sense when I watched one of Allison Scagliotti's video blogs and saw it was actually the University of Toronto.  See, a college should look like that . . . not a high school)
• Although it does show in quite a sinister way exactly what artifacts can do to unsuspecting people.  This episode is, I think, unique in that the character(s) affected by the artifact know that the object gives them power, but they don't know it's really an artifact.  It makes for a much more interesting story.
• The pendulum.  Was a supremely amazing effect.  I love how it just . . . disintegrated afterward.  Although I wonder why it freed Claudia, and then Pete.
• I actually quite liked that old English teacher.  I wonder how you survive being buried alive inside a brick wall.
• The first five minutes and the last five minutes are by far the best, writing-wise, but the directing is fantastic all the way through.  Lovely set up on the location shots, especially in the bookstore.  It makes it feel warm and home-y, while still managing to show that, from Myka's point of view, she still feels like an outsider.
• Susan Hogan is utterly forgettable.  Pity.
• MacPherson is so. creepy.  I can't wait for the finale now!!

P.S.: The guy in this comic was SO using Edgar Allen Poe's pen.  xD

Obama, Healthcare, and Stuff You Really Shouldn't Say During Congress

It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, if you love you president or hate your president, if you are a member of Congress, and the president is addressing a joint session on a televised broadcast, you do not jump out of your seat and yell "You lie!" at the president.  Especially if he's well, not actually lying.  And yes, Joe Wilson, I'm talking about you.

Now, I'll be the first person to tell you that I haven't been keeping too close of tabs on the whole healthcare debate.  I am far and away more interested in international relations and foreign policy than domestic issues.  But I do know a few things.

The current healthcare system is broken.  Even most of the Republicans know that, even if they won't admit it.  We need a new plan, and right now, Obama's is the best one out there.  It provides coverage for the millions of Americans who can't afford insurance, and, after all, healthcare should be a right, not a privelege.  For all of you who complain that Obama's a socialist, guess what: he's not.  For all of you who think this plan covers illegal immigrants (*cough*joewilson*cough*), guess what: it doesn't.  For all of you who bitch and moan about the increased taxes, try thinking beyond yourself for once.  You might want to try reading and understanding something before you criticize it.

Now, on to the actual outburst.  Grown peoples' ability to act like schoolchildren never ceases to amaze me, and apparently even congressmen aren't exempted from this.  Basic manners say you don't talk while other people are talking.  Don't you remember learning that in kindergarten?  And while caning people on the Senate floor may have been perfectly normal in the 1800s, neither that nor its verbal equivalent is acceptable today.  I agree with the House's decision to formally reprimand Wilson just as much as I roll my eyes at his "apology" and "resoning" behind the outburst.  When even people from your own party join in condemming you, you've crossed a line.

Congress is supposed to represent what's best about America.  Checks and balances, the people's elected representatives making laws, and all that.  And no matter who currently occupies the position, the office of President of the United States should command some dignity and respect (there are those very few cases who make such a mockery of the office that I just throw my hands up in disbelief).  Civil debate is what Congress is all about.  This healthcare speech was a chance for Obama to explain his plan, to try to reach out to Republicans.  Joe Wilson, therefore, made not only himself but the whole House look stupid.  How is anyone supposed to take seriously a body that doesn't even afford the president the simple courtesy of silent attentiveness during a speech?  Honestly.

Hopefully, this was a (relatively) unbiased look at this one issue.  This is one case where my reaction would have been the same no matter who yelled at Obama.  And now . . . off to bed!

This one's for you, Ash!  Thanks for the idea =)

Warehouse 13: "Breakdown" Review

So I finally realized that no matter how much I loved loved loved this episode, I would never have time to sit down and write a proper review.  Instead, I'm going to list a few (a lot) of may favorite bits (and one or two not-so-favorites).

• There's a manual for the warehouse.  That Claudia and Myka have read.  And that they will never stop teasing Pete about.
• Myka picks probably the only non-artifact in the warehouse to save Pete from the typewriter: a broom.
• The original B&B in the warehouse, and the painting.  I wonder if it really was "Leena's" back then, since she hasn't been with the warehouse as long as Artie has.
• The bedazzler.  End. Of. Story. ^_^
  
• Mrs. Frederic counting down 'till the destruction of the warehouse ("her voice gets really annoying when she's counting down seconds one at a time!")
• The Baylor dodgeballs.  Probably one of my favorite artifacts, not counting the Studio 54 disco ball.  I especially like Myka's plan: "I run away and you get pummeled".  Pete under the mountain of dodgeballs was absolutely hilarious
• Claudia and Myka save the Warehouse.  Now, they're going off to learn how to hack the grid (Myka) or learn kickass secret agent moves (Claudia).  I soooo want to see this happen!  I love the sister-relationship they have going on, now we just need MORE of it.  And Myka still owes Claudia a hug from "Duped".
• Claudia, Myka, and Pete pretending to throw Artie a "welcome home" party to disguise the fact that they almost blew up the warehouse.
• The auto-vac and the zipline.  A very bad combination if you are Claudia.
• Silly string.  I always knew there had to be something odd about it . . . seriously.  Silly string is EVIL.
• Mrs. Frederic.  She's always awesome, but even more so when she's advocating . . . ehm, shall we say bending the rules a bit.
• Okay, the Regents in the cafe is a bit too much like Oma Desala's cafe for all the ascended people in Stargate SG-1, down to the whole more-powerful-than-meets-the-eye waitress.  It's a good idea . . . but it's been done before, and better.

So, there're the main points I want to hit.  Overall, a very very good ep, that provides team bonding, danger, and foreshadowing in equal amounts :)

Warehouse 13: "Regrets" Review

"Regrets" is the first dip in W13's pattern of wonderful episodes, but it still provides an hour of chaos, character development, and downright spookiness. I mean, I was jumping at little sounds for a good half hour after I turned the TV off.

Yeah, so, I started the review after I finished the episode, and (of course) I'm not posting until. . . the eleventh?  Sorry!  This episode just did not stick in my head at all.

It's not the best and it's not the worst, and it definitely has its share of moments.  By far the best part of this was the end, when Myka and Pete finally had to face their demons.  We got to see Myka's human side, and finally find out what happened in Denver . . . I was really expecting something huge, and then Sam's death was pretty anticlimactic.  But I'm not really complaining, because Joanne Kelly's acting makes it ten times better.  She plays the tortured agent so well . . . but still manages to hit the perfect combination of vulnerabilty and hard-ass that defines Myka so much.  We finally get to see a more mature side to Pete, although his scenes with his dad had less impact on me, I think because Pete has had, what, thirty years to accept his father's death, while Myka's had months to accept Sam's.  In any case, the whole episode shows the growing trust and friendship that's been developing between Myka and Pete, and that makes me happy.


Although.  This is as good of a time as any to say that I will be extremely disappointed if that friendship turns into romance.  I can't imagine the two of them together, at all.  It would be awful in my opinion . . . and way cliche.  I threatened to stop watching the show if that happened . . . I don't think I'll do that now, but I'll be really upset, in any case.


Apart from that, there's not too much to make "Regrets" stand out in my mind.  For once, the artifact was the solution instead of the problem, which was a cool twist.  Revered Hill was poorly underused, although the motif of the Orouborus was fascinating and, in my mind, connected to Myka's and Pete's constant vicious circles of guilt.  The prison-in-lightning-storm idea was a it cliche, but definitely effective.  And . . . what else . . . oh, Claudia-the-magnet in Alessandro Volta's lab coat was a lot of fun.  And any solution involving crossbows and inflatable mattresses is, well, interesting, but apparently very effective.  I almost felt sorry for Claudia by the end, having to rewrite "I must obey Artie" over again, this time, "like she means it".  But Artie should really know better than to think that will stop her.  I bet next week she'll be back making trouble again.


One thing that "Regrets" does that I absolutely love (and some other episodes have done this too) is throw in references to things that are actually happening.  "Tropical Storm Jimena" is obviously a real hurricane that was going on about the time this episode aired.  And earlier on, "Implosion" contained a dig at the economy ("Cash only.  American credit's not what it used to be") that made me laugh probably more than any normal person would (then again I've never claimed to be normal).

Overall, good but not great.  Definitely not on the same scale as "Implosion" or "Duped", but much better than some of the early episodes.  It's not bad, but it's also not memorable.

iTunes 9 Is Love (Or It Should Be)

Apple's September conference always has me running home from school a bit earlier than usual to read the news and see what new updates have come out.  And I love most of the new updates this year.  Emphasis on most.

I won't spend too much time on analyzing all the new iPod updates, since you can read those pretty much anywhere.  Quick summary though: a new 64GB Touch, price cuts for the 8GB & 32GB Touches and the shuffle, video camera for the nano.  What I really want to focus on (read: rant about) is iTunes 9.

So iTunes 9 is a wonderful update, I'm not disputing that.  The new features are excellent.  It looks pretty, it runs faster.  And everything I've read about the re-designed iTunes store makes me excited.

Except.  You need Safari 4 to use the iTunes store.  And, well, me being me (tell me if I have anybody else who does this), I go back and forth between Opera and Firefox and never actually use Safari.  So I don't have Safari 4, 'cause, hey, what's the point?  And I can't actually download the update because (as usual) I've been lazy and haven't updated my OS recently, so I'm still running 10.5.2, while you need 10.5.7 to get Safari 4.

Now, really.  I need two updates before I can use half of what makes iTunes so great.  I know I partly have myself to blame, but seriously.  The Safari download could be easier/still availible to us who don't have time to update to 10.5.x every month.  Or . . . just . . . i dunno, make iTunes work with earlier versions of Safari?

The upshot of all this is, I'm very happy with almost everything new.  Just that pesky iTunes store stops me from enjoying everything like I should.

My Pretties! (Warehouse 13: "Duped" Artwork)

I love love love love the Warehouse 13 episode "Duped". Aaaand it just so happens that I took 261 screencaps while I was watching it on hulu (I blame Joanne Kelly. She's just too darn photogenic, whenever she comes on screen I just want to take a picture of her!). And if you've been to my website, you know I do a ton of graphic arts related to TV shows and movies that I like. But I haven't done any W13 artwork, mostly 'cause I'm lazy and screencapping from hulu is a pain (I take a snapshot of my desktop, hope the character wasn't moving too much, then go through all the pics, rename them from "Picture 12" or whatever, and crop out just the part that has the W13 bit.) and I hadn't actually had any pictures to work with 'till now.

What's this all leading up to? Lovely lovely new Warehouse 13 artwork, all based on 'caps from "Duped".

Summary: 1 animated icon (150 x 150px), 5 regular icons (100 x 100px), 2 banners (728 x 90px and 500 x 100px), 1 wallpaper (1280 x 800px).





You are more than welcome to download these for your own use, but please, please credit Anya Prynn and link back to either my website or this blog.