Happy Town Episode 3

Polly Wants a Crack at Her

Dave and Tommy end up going out to where Jerry Friddle said the bodies were buried, turns out that there are no bodies buried out there and we pick up with Henley after her car crash where she meets a mysterious new man, named Aidan.    The Stiviletto brothers also want to file a complaint against T.C. over what he did in the last episode because of what T.C. thought they did to Georgia.

The Thaw Fest is still getting underway as Rachel and Emma Conway meet Merritt Grieves.   I like Merritt because he loves Cinema and movies and everything involving around them.  I do not believe that he is the Magic Man, it’s too obvious pushing him out as being the Magic Man.   Its hard at this time to say who the Magic Man is, but I know that we’ll eventually get our answers as to who the Magic Man is.     A strange Hawk is hanging around the episode for some reason.  Special Agent Dan Farmer continues the investigation into who killed Friddle revealing how it was done and that a man with enough force could have shoved the railroad spike through his head with a hammer.   It’s obvious that Farmer wants to solve the case, but if he is the Magic Man then he wants to solve it to find out who is looking for him.

Aidan brought Henley to a vet instead of a real hospital, which is mildly funny.   Andrew Haplin uses the fact that his car was destroyed to go and try to beat up Georgia’s father but instead he gets taken down by the man who is a much more dangerous man than I thought he would be.   We know why Andrew did this, he did it because he believes that Carl Bravin (Georgia’s father).    Brain is brought into the police station no doubt because he was reported on by one of the other kids or even Andrew himself.

Dan quickly finds out about the tires by doing a mold of them and its been sent out so that they can find out which cars might have tires like that and they can start inspecting them.   Rachel and Emma visit Merritt’s cinema shop which is full of wonderful cinema things from the past.   Georgia talks with Rachel over the phone and by talking with her she basically reveals to her that she is dating Andrew though she doesn’t come right out and say it.   Hobbs believes that Greggy (the Stiviletto brother who is in jail) is getting his brothers to seek his revenge for him by filing charges against T.C.

Carl believes that he saw the Magic Man once and he wore a blue top hat and limped with glowing eyes, all of this sounds like Carl was high on something that night.    More than likely Carl never saw anyone that night or any other night that could have been the magic man.  Aidan convinces Henley that he will take her back to Haplin and it appears as if the two of them might be getting to know one another a lot better…yeah uhh it definitely does…they pretty much do it!

T.C. talks with Andrew at the Haplin house to try to figure out what happened.   Turns out of course that Carl didn’t smash the car up because he was sleeping according to Georgia.  Also turns out that Aidan is hiding something, he’s got a gun with him and he’s doing everything he can to distract her I think.   Andrew’s grandmother knows the truth about what happened and she sees a future for Andrew and she wants him to keep his options open as she knows about Georgia and actually in a way approves but not fully.    There is something going on with Peggy Haplin (the grandmother) that goes beyond what we already know.   She is perhaps along with Henley and Merritt one of the most interesting characters in the show.

Despite everything Tommy still is protecting Dave and doesn’t want him to go to jail.   I can understand where this is coming from the two of them grew up together, even so he doesn’t want Dave hanging around his house.    The mysterious Aidan parks with Henley in front of the house she is staying at, and the older women in that house know the man she is in the car with, I wonder if we’re going to find out the history behind him as well.    Tommy goes back to where the car was totalled and finds some things realizing the truth of what his wife told him, he goes back to Andrew.

The Stiviletto’s drop their charges and Georgia shows up at the police station so Dan makes a quick exit at the end because he doesn’t want him to see her.   Georgia and Andrew had it out at the end of the episode over what really happened and its obvious that the two of them really do care for one another and do want to be together.    I like how at the end Rachel taps the book and thinks that the magic will work.   Henley is still talking with someone on the phone and looking through her bag for the item she aqiuire dand its missing, Aidan of course took it and the reveal is that Aidan is actually Aidan Gregory Stiviletto, the last of the Stiviletto brothers.

At the end of the episode Emma comes up to her dad and the two of them go searching for Rachel who has gone missing….the conclusion of course is that she was taken by the Magic Man….or was it Aidan Stiviletto…or was it Merritt Grieves?   Who is the Magic Man, I guess we’ll find out in June when the show returns.

In the end we learn that the mystery man Aidan is in fact Greggy the fifth and smartest Stiviletto brother.    Did Aidan steal the item that Henley needed?   Or did someone else?    Merritt, what is he hiding?  Same goes for Dan Farmer?

Quotes:

“By himself all four of you?”  “He caught us off guards!”  -Hobbs and the Stiviletto brothers.

“Well this is like fishing for trout and reeling in a rolls-royce.  I’ll tell you what Andrew, next time you see your stinkin dad…tell him Carl Bravin sends his hosannas.”   -I just thought it was cool way to introduce an a$$hole character.

“Hmm who chopped off their hand and made you king?” -John Haplin to Tommy

Tidbits:

–Who is Aidan and where did he come from.

-Carl Bravin looks more dangerous than he was hinted at being.

-They are really pushing Merritt as the Magic Man, he does a magic trick with a book and then gives the book to Emma.

-53rd??  Why not pick an even number?

Lie to Me Season 2-Ep.8

Secret Santa

Two groups attack one another in Afghanistan and one surrenders to the american group saying that he is american and he knows what they are looking for.   We  move from there over to Lightman and his daugther along with Foster where we meet Emily’s new boyfriend briefly before LIghtman is interrupted by the deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs who has something that she needs Lightman to see.

Lightman is sent to Afghanistan in order to determine if a former american who is now in the Taliban perhaps is telling the truth about to captured marines.   We learn that Emily is throwing a christmas party at the group and thus the episode is called Secret Santa.  Lightman is brought the American compound where they are keeping the prisoner so that he can interview him.    They shaved and cleaned the man up so that he once again looks American.  Lightman accuses the man of being in the Taliban and that he hates america to try to get him in order to make the man reveal the truth about his life.

The more Lightman interviews the guy the more he starts to get the sense that he’s lying about what is going on and is sending the team into an ambush.   Lightman decides to try some things to determine the truth of who he is and what he might be hiding.  Its interesting that he could be a spy for our side who has been out there too long and flipped sides, it’s also interesting that he might still be on our side and no one knows who he is because he has to stay undercover.

LIghtman convinces him to reveal where the men really were by talking with him.  Torres spills a drink on Gillian on accident but really for a reason so that the two of them can get alone together.  Komisky knows Franko and the two of them have some kind of a history.   Foster and Torres still try to keep things from Emily only now she knows that something is going on that her dad didn’t want to tell her.   At the same time this is happening it turns out that the group going in to rescue the marines were led into an ambush after all by Franko.   Turns out that Franko and Komisky know one another after all.

As this is happening Emily finds out what is going on and is shocked by what is going on because she is now aware that her father is in danger.    The bunker that Lightman is in is now under attack and they have 17 minutes until they have to escape out of another door.    In Bosnia Lightman was in intelligence probably for the English not for America.    Turns out that he was responsible for a man getting killed who was telling the truth.   Franko was trained to go into special ops but it wasn’t a real operation just one that Komisky was doing on his own.

We learn pretty quickly that Franko’s aunt is not really his aunt at all but part of his cover.   Meanwhile Lightman pulls out the tracking device that the US government was using to track where he was.   The tracking device was dead and LIghtman gives Franko the ability to redeem himself and also finds out where he was really from so that he can use it all in the man’s story.    Lightman goes to Glen’s (Franko) parents house along with Komisky and they tell the parents what really happened to their son.

At the end we get to see the christmas party that Emily wanted to hold, to which LIghtman doesn’t make it to on time but he still makes it to the party.   Their relationship is a good one for both of them. Turns out that Lightman got Loker and got him a snowflake from the army camp earlier in the show.  That was truly chuckle worthy!

Quotes:

“No, If you think you’re going to send me to Afghanistan…You do think you’re going to send me to Afghanistan, don’t you? And there was I dreaming of a white christmas.” -Lightman

“But what you’ve got in common with these guys is that it’s all about living to fight tomorrow, right in the hope that someday soon you get to go home.  If that’s not on the cards, then all that remains is the last fight you fight.”  -Lightman

Tidbits:

–We meet Emily’s boyfriend who may or may not become a semi-recurring character

-Cal was in a war?  Did I miss this in a former episode?  Nope, he was in Bosnia in 94 and he sort of got hooked on the high of war.

Downloading to Download (Or the fight against buying Used)

I understand believe me EA, I get where you’re coming from, I get where 2K is coming from as well and Ubisoft while I don’t like your methods I get what you’re trying to achieve.   There is a growing concern among publishers out there, a concern regarding used games and a company called GameStop.   Are they afraid of GameStop, not really because the retailer does sell a lot of new games for them nearly 41% of GameStop’s sales last year were from new games alone, that does not equal GameStop’s profit margins on the same titles as they make significantly less when selling a new game than they do a used one.

The truth of the matter is GameStop is in the New Game selling market for the forseeable future because 41% of all of their sales are new games, now do they make the most profit from new games of course not.   GameStop’s main profit getter is used games and used hardware and they push this on the consumer when they are in the store.   Get an Edge card, get savings, be one of the cool ones buying used games and we’ll also give you a pretty decent although paid off magazine called Game Informer and you can enjoy that along with your 10% savings discount on used games.

Publishers are not stupid, they are well aware of what GameStop is doing and ten years ago it was hardly a threat to them and their bottom lines, but now the game is different.   Games like Modern Warfare II or Final Fantasy XIII cost in the millions to make and if you don’t sell a certain amount of them then you end up loosing money instead of gaining it.   I can see where the publishers are coming from and I can see where those that play only used games are coming from as well.    It’s a fine line to walk, one that is going to take time to figure out.  Meanwhile the publishers have to do something to stop the bleeding on the games, there has to be a place where they draw the line and frankly so far I think some of them are trying to play it smart.

Ubisoft is making the most mistakes especially with its PC games, the whole you have to be online to play the game is a horrible idea and it should not be repeated by anyone.   Imagine being in the middle of your game and all the sudden it shuts off because you lose your internet connection.   Or the server from Ubisoft goes down.   There have been numerous articles on this fact in the past so I’m not really going to dig into it for now.

EA on the other hand is doing something different with its console games.  I actually like EA’s approach and I know a lot of you are going to say that I am insane or that its stupid or whatever.  I disagree for the most part, there is a new approach that EA is trying with its sports games this year that seems horrible but I’ll get into that later.   Up first is Project 10 Dollars itself.  The project is designed in such a way that when you purchase a new game you get an online code that gives you access to free downloadable content or even a network that will provide free downloads in the future.  In Mass Effect 2 it was called the Cerberus Network, and since that’s the only game I’ve seen it on in action I can use it in context for this article.

The basis of the Cerberus Network is that you get the network and any content released on it for free when you purchase the game at full retail price as a NEW copy.   Now if you decided that you weren’t a big enough of a fan of the original Mass Effect-by the way what’s wrong with you?-and you wait till the second one is at 40 bucks used lets say and you go into GameStop and buy it used guess what?  Yup that’s right if you want all of that free Cerberus Network DLC you have to pony up 10 bucks to EA in order to get access to the network and download the extra content.

Some will say that this is a horrendous system, that it makes those that buy used games feel as if they are being cheated.  Are you really being cheated?  A study done by GameStop themselves not too long ago proved that most people who buy used games do it to save money, or they buy them because they weren’t interested in them enough when they were full price and new.   EA sees these same things as well, and they figure if GameStop is going to make 100% or more profit on a game when they sale it used shouldn’t EA see some of that money to help with their own software costs on the same game?   Its $10 is that really a lot of money?  If you want the cool DLC that was provided for FREE to those that purchased the full $60 dollar game then you’re going to have to pay that 10 extra dollars and get the content.   I think EA is being smart about this.

Lets say EA releases a game that costs $50 million to make which means they have to sell around 85,000 copies just to break even on the cost of the game.   Oh but wait it’s not a popular game, in fact EA took a risk on a new franchise with it and it only sells 60,00o copies new but it has some really cool DLC and word of mouth starts to spread and people start buying it used instead of new because the price has gotten so low on the used one because it doesn’t sell but it was traded in like crazy.    So Gamestop sells another 30,000 copies of the game Used at $30 dollars and EA sees none of that money at all with the old system Gamestop just made $900,000 and EA made zero dollars.  With EA’s new idea of $10 dollars we’ll say that Game stop sells those same 30,000 games and 20,000 0f  them decide hey I want that DLC that everyone’s talking about, so they pay the $10 dollars to EA which gives EA $200,000 dollars more off of a game that they had written off already.

This of course is magnified if the game is a bigger game with more sales on it and even better great reviews.   It helps EA make some more money off of the game to help re-coup the losses from those that only buy used.    EA is in the business of entertaining us, the gamers but in order for them to do that they have to make money on the goods that they provide.  EA actually lost money last year as compared to the year before and they sold more product which in the end also cost more to produce.    If there was no used game market like in Japan the sales would have been even larger and EA wouldn’t be trying out things like the $10 plan.

On the other side of the EA $10 plan is the bad flip, EA is planning this year with Tiger Woods and Madden Football to make it where if you purchase the games brand new you get a subscription code so that you can play online for free.   If you buy the game used you have to pay $10 to get the same pass that is included for free with the new copy of the game.    Some lament that this is bad practice, in the end because of the high turn over for sports games.   I am hesitant because some people will probably comment down below on this, but I think EA is actually doing a good thing here again.

From Gamasutra:

In an aim to incentivize players to buy its games new rather than used, Electronic Arts says it will offer one-time codes for online content with each of its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sports titles bought new at retail.

The “Online Pass” for EA Sports titles will let users enter in a code for “premium” features and content — but those who purchase an EA Sports title second-hand will need to pay $10 to purchase the Pass for the same content.

The pass comes free for those who buy a new copy of EA sports games, which lets be honest here MOST Madden purchases are new because they have to have it on release date, its one of the biggest selling titles all year long!  So you don’t have to pay the $10 because you got the game new.

EA is also being good to those that buy the game used:

EA will offer 10-day trials of Pass content so that users can see what they would be getting. So far, EA seems to be limiting the premium add-on experiment to its sports portfolio.

Giving you a free 10 day trial of the premium server package for the games.    I don’t see why people don’t like this idea, except of course I know the people who don’t…those that buy it used who are doing so to try and save a buck.   In the end all I can say is this is how its going to go down.  EA is already experiencing Success with the program and will continue to do it.  Others will see this and start doing it as well, hell the BioShock II developers already have as the game came with DLC already packaged on the disk that you had to enter a code for that came only with the new release of the game and could only be used once.    There was a comment in the Gamasutra article about how the programmers don’t care if the game is bought new or used….I disagree I think most programmers do care and I’d like to see him come up with the proof because if your game is bought  new 50,000 times and then bought used 50,000 times its already too late because the game was a flop and you might never get to make a sequel to it or even another game.   Used is Gamestop’s world New is the publisher and programmers world because Gamestop doesn’t pay either the publisher or the programmers a dime.

Gamestop though has come out to say that they like where EA is heading:

According to the retailer, encouraging premium content add-ons still benefits GameStop, since it sells PlayStation Network and Microsoft Points cards. It praised EA’s Online Pass as “forward-thinking.”

In the end this isn’t going to go away, EA and other publishers like them need to find a way to make money in order to keep making games and selling games to those that like to play games.   If charging an extra $10 to a person who buys the game used in order to get all of the games content helps them make money to keep making games then I for one cannot fault them for doing it.   In the end I play more New titles in a year than I do used ones and that’s a preference thing having nothing to do with DLC as I buy very little DLC or even play with very little DLC.

We can argue about it until the end of time, some people will always say it’s a bad idea and some will always say its a good idea.  Me I’m still not sure if its good or bad, but there is one thing about it that I can say for sure: its here to stay.

Television News for 5/12/2010

Tim Roth will continue to study our lies

Coming from Michael Ausiello over at EW (entertainment weekly) we get news that Lie to Me has been renewed for a third season with an order of 13 episodes.    This is great news for me as I have just started reviewing the second season and am almost caught up to the tenth episode right before the new episodes begin airing this June.    Lie to Me is the story of Doctor Cal Lightman and his team of experts who are hired to discover the truth in what others are saying.    They can do jobs from the mundane and simple to complex ones with unexpected outcomes.   There is no revelation of when the third season will begin airing, but if  I had to guess I would put it somewhere in the mid-season area, not in the fall.   Fox also renewed Human Target for a second season, I’m not a huge fan, it is interesting to note thought that Matthew Miller is coming on to the show as a show-runner…could this mean that he already knows the future of Chuck?

In other Fox news while I am there, they also announced new shows for the fall lineup:  RideAlong about cops who are trying to clean up the city of Chicago, sounds like a been there done that kind of a deal.  Also for Fox Midland a dramatic soap about an oil con-man in Texas, yes sounds like a winner to me.  Fox also picked up two half hour comedies Keep Hope Alive a comedy about a single parent and Traffic Light a show about male relationships.      It sounds like Fox is going to be busy this fall trying to bring in more people, which leaves me wondering where Lie To Me will end up in the mid-season..and what about the new X-Factor show isn’t that Fox as well?  Color me confused.

Lost Finale News

No I am not posting any spoilers on that I promise!  This is just a short video interview from The Hollywood Reporter with Matthew Fox about the final episode, it gives NOTHING away just Matthew Fox’s thoughts on the end of the series and how amazing it has been for the past six seasons. Matthew Fox Interview.

In related news of a sort, V was up last night by 14% over the week before which gives the show a chance at renewal though I’m not going to be holding my breath.   For now we’re waiting to see next week if V gets renewed for a second season or not.  Just like I’ve said before with Chuck I’m not going to be betting on this show returning because it’s a good way to get my hopes up.   I also featured V prominently in an article that I wrote recently about the future of science fiction on television, in that article I pretty much beat up on V and what is wrong with it despite me loving the show there are some major flaws in it that they might be able to fix if they get a second season.

More later if there is more!  Slow news day all around

Movie News for 5/12/2010

Its a slow Movie News day…..

First Trailer: The Adjustment Bureau

Coming out September 17th is a movie that I had heard nothing about until today called The Adjustment Bureau , the movie stars Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), and Terrance Stamp (Kal-El’s dad in Smallville, oh and Zod in Superman II).   The movie is based loosely on the short story The Adjustment Team from Phillip K. Dick and the premise is interesting.  It’s the story of a politician (Damon) who meets a ballerina (Blunt) by accident and the two of them begin a relationship together, so far it sounds like a mildly entertaining romance story.   This is where things get crazy, you see he wasn’t supposed to be in a relationship with her, instead the two of them were supposed to cross paths once and that’s it.

Behind the scenes is a group of men known as the Adjustment Bureau who watch the world and make things happen as they are supposed to happen.   Basically its kind of like Dark City if you’ve ever seen it.  These men seem to have some kind of power over the world that is outside of our own, another way to compare them is to the men in black with bald heads in Fringe who watch important events as they happen to ensure that they happen as they are supposed to.    The movie has an interesting premise but I can see why it was pushed from July to September after viewing the trailer…another Dark City this is not…

Monsterpocalypse Burton Style

Rumors are flying around the net about the Dreamworks movie Monsterpocalypse, from AICN to SlashFilm and JoBlo they’re all talking about the coming Monster style Apocalypse and I could care less, but I’ll post the story anyways because of two reasons: first its a slow slow news day for movies, and secondly Tim Burton is at least in talks to work on the movie.   In my humble opinion Burton’s style has always been classic and great to watch but lately it’s been the same thing over and over again almost as if Burton himself is afraid to try something different because no one will go to see it.   He almost always casts Johnny Depp and a few other people in every movie that he does and it’s always the same thing from beginning to end…frankly its getting old.   There is a chance though that Monsterpocalypse could be a change for Burton.

The movie would be based off of the miniatures game of the same name which frankly until today I had never heard of because really whose playing with miniatures these days?    It seems as if board games are the one untapped market now for Hollywood so why not let’s make some miniature games movies, some milton bradly games movies, hell let’s go all out for it and make a movie based on the game Hungry Hungry Hippos!!!   Uh wait…umm please if anyone in Hollywood or who inspires to be a Hollywood writer read this…I am joking don’t do it!!!

Final Dead Note

It appears as if George A. Romero wants to make two more Zombie movies before you know the whole Zombie thing fades away again for another ten years or so.      Slashfilm has the entire article about it if you want to take a look personally I am tired of Zombie movies from Romero as most all of them have overly bad acting….and little plot other than See Zombie Kill it!  I much prefer movies like ZombieLand or the 28 Days Later series where there is some real story telling going on along with zombie killing.