29 September 2009: Out in the country

This past weekend, Janice and I drove to western Massachusetts for the “Big E,” the Eastern States Exposition, which is the equivalent of a state fair for New England. We left work early on Friday, 25 September 2009, and visited the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside before checking into the nearby Holiday Inn. We had dinner at the upscale shopping mall, and among other things, I found another superhero costume for Halloween.

We then met Janice’s parents, her youngest sister Melinda, and Melinda’s family. After
Josh went for a swim with Janice and Melinda’s father Marvin, we played pool and
foosball, two of my favorite table games, with them and Gary and Amanda. After breakfast at Friendly’s the next morning, we went to the festival, which was crowded because of the nice early autumn weather.

We browsed through the craft square and numerous vendors’ booths, visited the state pavilions and historic buildings, petted some livestock, and of course, enjoyed fair food and refreshing birch beer. There was an impressive butter sculpture of a dairy farm. Although Janice and I didn’t get to this past weekend’s Phantom Gourmet food festival or the King Richard’s Faire Renaissance festival, we like going to such seasonal celebrations.

Our return to the Boston area went smoothly, but Janice’s folks weren’t so lucky — they got into a fender-bender on the way back to Upstate New York. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt. Given how infrequently our families come to Massachusetts, I hope that the incident doesn’t discourage them. Speaking of visitors, Damon F.P. and Dexter V.H. hope to visit in the next few weekends.

Work has continued to be demanding, but it should be easier this week with the return of my direct supervisor from her Italian vacation. My evenings have been filled with the usual games and the return of genre television, which I’m sure I’ll blog about more in the coming weeks. In the meantime, let me know what you think and if there’s anything you’d like to see here!

23 September 2009: Genre TV — summer of ’09

Looking
back for a moment, the counterprogramming by for-pay channels (in contrast to
the formerly broadcast but now also cable-transmitted networks) led to another
productive summer of television.

Psych's slacker sleuths on USA and
Leverage's do-gooder capers on TNT
continued to entertain, despite occasional story-pacing problems. Perhaps
that's the result of trying too hard to vary the mystery formula. Speaking of
mysteries, PBS's Masterpiece has
continued to bring the best of British TV to the U.S.

The Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries
and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead telemovie
couldn't be more different in tone, but it was fun to return to that fictional
universe. Other promising newcomers included BBC America's supernatural
ensemble drama Being Human and the
bumbling artifact collectors of SyFy's Warehouse
13.

The
pilot of Virtuality emphasized soap
opera character dynamics over a decent science fiction premise, so I wasn't
surprised when that and the similar Defying
Gravity were canceled. The Old Testament-inspired Kings had an intriguing premise, but a Sunday night time slot
ironically didn't help it get ratings. I don't subscribe to HBO, but what little I saw of
vampire potboiler True Blood looked
good.

The
two recent genre programs that I'll miss the most are the whimsical Pushing Daisies and The Middleman. It was nice to see Kristin Chenoweth acknowledged at
the Emmys this past weekend, but the surreal detectives on Pushing Daisies may have been too quirky for mainstream viewers. The Middleman alluded to obscure corners
of the science fiction fanboy community, which The Big Bang Theory has been more successful in mining for ratings.

As a
foodie, I enjoyed the Travel Channel's gourmand Adam Richman on Man vs. Food and erudite Anthony
Bourdain: No Reservations, as well as the Food Network's Chopped, even if it's part of a
regrettable trend toward competition over cuisine on that channel. As a music
fan, I'd recommend Live From Abbey Road, Spectacle
With Elvis Costello, Iconoclasts, and VH1 Classic's That Metal Show.

Coming
soon: New and returning favorites!

21 September 2009: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Friends,
I hope you had a good weekend. On Saturday, 19 September 2009, Janice and I
drove out to Framingham, Massachusetts, for some shopping and to meet Thomas K.Y. We screened Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, which we enjoyed more than we expected. Of course, since
spaghetti and meatballs is one of my favorite meals, I'm biased.

The
computer-animated movie (we didn't see the 3-D version) is a loose adaptation
of a children's book in which an inventor inadvertently overwhelms a town with
rain converted into common foods. The film adds and develops characters,
features numerous sight gags, and even sneaks in some social commentary about
consumerism and gluttony.

While
not necessarily at the level of Pixar's Up,
the animation was solid, and the writing quality was comparable to that of Monsters vs. Aliens. The celebrity voice cast, led by Bill Hader, Anna Faris, and James Caan, was also good without drawing
undue attention to itself. I'd give Cloudy
With a Chance of Meatballs, which was rated PG for cartoon violence, a 7 or
8 out of 10, or a B+.

Some
people have recently asked me why I'm so generous with movie ratings. Part of
the answer is that I try to avoid spending money on theatrical releases of
movies I don't think I'd like, including summer blockbusters such as Transformers 2, Wolverine Origins, and G.I. Joe. Some of my friends enjoyed
these flicks, but my time and funds are limited. None of the previews we saw this
weekend were particularly exciting, but I am curious about The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

After
the movie, we went to Red Pepper, a Chinese restaurant that Thomas had heard of
out on Route 9. The food was decent, and we're glad to have yet one more dining
option in that area. On Sunday, Janice and I drove down to the Walpole Mall but
found that the Five Guys' Burgers and Fries there wasn't open yet. We ate at
Chipotle and the cheap but reliable Papa Gino's.

Although
work, gaming, and travel have occupied much of my time lately, I am looking
forward to the new genre television season and several comic book titles, which
I'll try to review in the next week or so.

17 September 2009: Marvel Super Hero Squad initial review

As the autumn genre television season begins, I'll be posting occasional reviews of new shows as I see them. Note: This review originally
appeared on the message board of the "Dimensional Corps Online" Yahoo
club used by Steve M.R. and the City of Heroes supergroup.

Janice and I watched the premiere of Marvel Super Hero Squad the other night.
While I don't think you missed much, the television show wasn't as bad as I had
feared from the initial preview.

The animation and scripts are still shaky
("Squaddies assemble"?), and like some other Marvel adaptations,
people shouting at one another is mistaken for character development. The show
takes place in some mashup setting rather than New York City. The number of
fart jokes and the "super-deformed" style taken from anime also
suggest that "SHS" is intended for young audiences, say, under the
age of 10.

On the other hand, the costume designs
reflect current continuity, and it was nice to see numerous inhabitants of the
Marvel Universe. The dialogue so far and the voice cast are decent.
For example, Thor speaks with Shakespearean pomposity, Ms. Marvel is an uptight
military officer, and Silver Surfer talks a little like a surfer dude.

For those of you familiar with cartoons
based on DC Comics, I might compare this (not strongly) with the recent Teen Titans or Legion of Superheroes, not the more
adult ensembles and plots of Justice League Unlimited or Marvel's Wolverine and the X-Men. I think that the current Batman and
the Brave and the Bold and Spectacular Spider-Man both do a
better job of balancing Golden and Silver Age goofiness with modern action.

I'd give Super Hero Squad a 6 out of 10
or a C+ so far, but as Steve M.R. noted, it could be an OK introduction to Marvel's
heroes for young viewers. Cartoon Network will rebroadcast the premiere this
coming Saturday morning [19 September 2009], which I think may be its eventual time slot. As Stan
"the Man" Lee says, Excelsior! -Gene

Wednesday, 16 September 2009: Meaty weekends

Friends, I hope you’ve had a good fortnight. I’ve been busy with work during the past two weeks. I helped coordinate TT’s coverage of the annual VMworld conference in San Francisco, and I’ve been transitioning to my new role as an associate site editor, which
involves tracking editorial content from assignment to submission to posting on our Web sites.

For Labor Day weekend, Janice and I drove to Upstate New York to see her family. We spent most of our time at the home of Janice’s sister Melinda, her husband Gary, and their children Amanda and Joshua. Janice’s parents Marvin and Linda also joined us for good home-grilled meals.

Among other things, we rewatched Coraline, and I played Wii Motion Plus and Wii Sports Resort with Josh, Amanda, and Gary. We plan to meet Janice’s folks again at the “Big E,” or the Eastern States Exposition, in western Massachusetts in a few weeks. My own family went to the Delaware shore and will be in Europe in the coming month or so.

This past weekend, Janice and I went to the new Legacy Place shopping plaza in Dedham, Mass. Although the Showcase Deluxe cinemas and Borders Books aren’t open yet, several other shops are, including an impressive Whole Foods. I especially enjoyed checking out its fromagerie.

We also ate at Uno Chicago Bar & Grill as part of a charity event. Like another midrange casual restaurant, T.G.I.Friday’s, the food has improved in the years that we weren’t going there. Closer to home, Stone Hearth Pizza and Wild Willy’s (especially
its spicy Buffalo-style chicken) are still among our favorites.

Thomas K.Y., Beruk A., and I ended up not meeting for 9 because the postapocalyptic “stitchpunk” movie got mixed reviews, but we may meet for Cloudy With a Chance of
Meatballs or Surrogates in the coming weekends. I’ll blog more about the new genre television season once I’ve had a chance to watch more premieres.

The arrival of autumn also brings new comic books and role-playing games. In addition, the Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” and D&D4e “Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based
Initiative” groups have kept me busy, with the former being a classic pseudo-historical dungeon crawl and the latter featuring a recent battle against vampires. Can Halloween be far behind?