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After a . . . ahem . . . brief hiatus . . .

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:51:11 -0600

I'm back.

Yes, I could have done that totally cool thing that all the best and most successful bloggers do . . . have someone blog in their stead so that things don't dry up. But hey, I'm not one of those guys.

That didn't really come out as expected.

Ah, what the hell. Anyway, I'm back with no content whatsoever to guide me in the following days.

In case you haven't noticed there is now content that didn't exist before. I gave my other blog to my wife. What she plans on doing with it, I have no idea. But I certainly discovered I am a one blog guy. Trying to do both this blog, another one, be married, have kids and a real job just got the better of me.

So it's on to the next thing.

Cha$e on Sci-Fi

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:00:59 -0600

Tuesday night I caught an episode of Cha$e, a new series on Sci-Fi.

The end result . . . eh, ok I guess. Something new, something different.

In a nutshell, Cha$e is a reality series in which a group of runners ( contestants ) are placed into an environment like a warehouse district or a theme park and must evade capture from a group of Hunters in while completing a number of tasks in order to win the grand prize up to $50K. Along the way it is possible to find additional prizes of $1000.

They aren't hunted and killed ( which might actually make the series more eventful ), rather the Hunters must chase and tag them - in which case the Runner is eliminated from the competition.

Along the way, when they complete certain tasks, they are rewarded with special devices that may help them elude capture. For example, they may get a "deflector" which will instantly repel one of the Hunters should they come too close to getting tagged or invisibility glasses which make the Runners invisible to the Hunters.

Of course part of the strategy comes in the form of humorous behavior by the contestants as they attempt to elude the Hunters or sacrifice other players. Still, this really doesn't do much for me. While I can't quite put my finger on it, I can't help but feel the show needs something else.

What do you think it needs? Or is it just fine the way it is?

Trial by Fire

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:47:58 -0600

The concept is simple: I have one week to attempt to learn what is usually learned over 5-20 years. I either crash and burn -- or survive by the skin of my teeth -- in a final test (trial by fire) each time.

That's it. It's really that simple. And you, readers and television viewers, can make this show become a series according to Tim Ferriss on his blog.

Personally, I think a show like this would be quite interesting. The first episode takes place in Tokyo where Tim attempts to learn an ancient form of Japanese horseback archery. From the description:

full gallop, no hands, no safety gear, with wooden poles lining the track on either side of the horse. Please don't do this at home.

I think it's safe to assume there's a risk of danger involved. Watch the clip below ( or at YouTube ) and then tune in Tonight at 10 PM CST to the History Channel and watch the full episode.

The Ultimate Fighter : It's about time

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:29:33 -0600

I'm not sure how many people might have been caught off guard by the fact that Spike TV played two new episodes of The Ultimate Fighter last night back-to-back. All of the semi-finals fights are now finished. I wasn't aware they were going to do this - that is until I checked to make sure the episode I expected was set to be recorded and I noticed that both episodes were scheduled on the same night.

Regardless of the fact that this is contrary to what normally happens, the episodes will most certainly be replayed again before the finale which is is scheduled for December 13th.

I had predicted that Marshall would win over Bader and Nover over Roop.

I had hoped that my predictions would prove to be correct, but Eliot let me down. I don't hold this against him, but I do wish he would have shown a little more heart. While I can't know what it is like to take on a light heavyweight with Bader's wrestling experience, I expected the fight to go to the ground and Eliot would be able to pull off some kind of submission.

On the other hand, Nover came out fighting like Roop had insulted his mother right before the fight. That match was pretty freakin' awesome. I had doubts about Nover managing that kimura when I saw him going for it, but once he had it I was surprised it took Roop that long to tap. Awesome fight and pretty much what I expected.

So far I'm 1 for 1.

Like I said, some people may not have known that the seond helping of semi-finals was broadcast directly after the first. Krzysztof Soszynski faced off with Vinny and Junie fought Efrain. It was kind of up in the air if Junie was going to fight at all. Junie was going off on one of his hillbilly angst mental tirades and threw a coffee cup at Shane Primm. Afterwards he got up and took a couple swings at the guy. Dana was called in, he put it up to a vote by the other guys who decided it was better to kick his ass and send him home packing instead of allow him to go home and talk a bunch of trash about how "it could have been."

A few weeks back I already made a few predictions about these fights. And as I expected, Vinny made pretty short work of Krzysztof with an arm-bar.

As for the lightweights . . . Efrain made Junie look like the punk he is. He showed considerably more skill and ability than Junie could deal with as I thought he would. He threw off Junie's timing, he got in his head and Junie lost to Efrain due to a choke in the second round. As expected, in humiliation he left the octagon pouting like a little two-year-old. On camera he had to insult Efrain with comments like, "If Efrain can beat me I shouldn't be in the UFC."

So that makes me 3 and 1. My predictions for the finals are:

Magalhaes and Escudero as the champs.

Bader will not be able to handle Vinny the way he did Eliot. Bader did virtually nothing once he had Eliot on the ground. He wasn't successful at pulling off any ground-and-pound, he obviously didn't have any submissions to use and instead of trying to knock out Eliot, he opted for what he knew - takedowns. Vinny, who has an arsenal of submissions and the skill to use them quickly and efficiently, will use this to his advantage and submit Bader.

The fight between Nover and Escudero is the tough one here. Both of these guys have shown good hand skills and an ability to take it to the ground and get submissions. So with these two it could be pure luck - whoever gets the best punch in at the right time. Or, it could come down to who has the most heart and conditioning. Personally, I'm going to pick Escudero based on his fighting record and say that his 10-0 record is going to give him the experience factor versus Nover's 5-0-1 record.

Who are your picks?

The Ultimate Fighter Semi-finals

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:49:44 -0600

After a two-week hiatus The Ultimate Fighter is back tonight with the first installment of the semi-final matchups.

Out of the two matches I expect tonight, the fight between Ryan Bader and Eliot Marshall is to be the one to watch.

The fight between George Roop and Phillipe Nover will probably be good, but I expect a better fight from the light-heavyweights.

While scanning various websites, blogs and comments on the Internet, the overwhelming prediction for tonight is that Nover will win the lightweight bout. However, I see a lot of mixed opinions regarding Bader vs Marshall.

Here's my prediction . . . I think Marshall will win. While Bader's size ( and most likely strength ) and wrestling background are certainly worthy of respect, I believe that Marshall will have the better mix of MMA disciplines it takes to win in this sport. However it should be interesting to see what kind of takedown defense Marshall has against Bader's world class wrestling skills. I expect that his defense will be adequate, but should Bader be able to shoot in and get a slam takedown, Marshall may be in trouble. I expect that, most likely, this fight will end up on the ground with Marshall managing some type of submission in the second round.

I don't expect the lightweight fight will be as significant as the light-heavyweight bout. Roop's a pretty good scrapper and I'm sure he'll have his fists and feet flying in every direction. But let's face it, against Polakowski they weren't that effective and he has a much better opponent this time around. While Roop might try to take the fight to the ground to counter Nover's power, I imagine that this technique might not be enough. Nover's punching power will be too much to handle by the end of the first round.

True Blood season comes to an end - is it summer yet?

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:26:38 -0600

HBO's season finale of True Blood came too soon. As you might expect there's questions to be answered.

Is Sookie done with Bill?

Who's killing all the fangbangers? Was it Jason? Is it Rene?

Will Sam turn into a hamster and let Sookie take him home and feed him lettuce?

Is Tara gonna take up residence in that big, awesome estate with that strange woman?

As you know, I'm quite interested in who the killer turns out to be.

The opening of the season finale seems to really want to deepen the suspicion in Rene's direction. He much too comfortable rationalizing the girls' deaths with the fact that they were just fangbangers and had it coming to them as he visits Jason in Jail. Sookie shows up and tells Jason she knows who the killer probably is but needs more proof. Of course Rene is also there. He's interested, but skeptical.

Tara wakes up to breakfast in style. She has a talk with Maryann who seems convincing when she says she only wants to help Tara and expects noting in return. I must admit . . . I'm just a bit skeptical. But it would seem that Tara's ok with this situation. She manages to take the time to go swimming in the pool. Later she meets a guy by the name of Eggs ( Mechad Brooks ). He's just staying till he gets on his feet, but he does sing the praises of Maryanne.

Sookie tries to go to work. But, between Detective Bellefleur bragging up his arrest of Jason and the thoughts of the patrons flooding her mind, she has difficulty coping. She decides to take the day off and drive around for a while. However, this plan falls through because her car won't start. Luckily for her Rene, who'd come into Merlotte's for lunch, sees her leave and gladly steps up to help the poor damsel in distress. He offers to take her back to her place and stay till Sam gets off work. Closing the hood of the car it's hard to help not to notice that the cables to the distributor cap have been cut. Later Sam realizes ( through his keen sense of smell ) that Sookie is in trouble and goes rushing out of the bar.

Remember way back when, when there was this bald, crazy vampire with all the tatoos. You remember that tape of him and the first woman who turned up dead doing the nasty with her tied up? Arlene walks in on her kids while they're watching a video tape of it. Of course she turns it off and asks where they could possibly have gotten the tape. "It was Rene's," they tell her and show her a box of the stuff. In it is an audiotape entitled, "Cajun dialect for actors."

At Sookies house, Rene can't hide his thoughts any longer. Sookie picks up the fact that he killed Gran when he went to Sookie's looking to kill Sookie but found Gran instead. Sookie runs out the living room, grabs a shotgun only to find that Rene has already removed the shotgun shells. She clubs him with it instead and runs from the house to Bill's house, ending up in the graveyard near Bill's house.

Sookie's screams awaken Bill. But there's just one problem - it's daylight. She tries hiding in a fresh grave. Rene finds her and starts strangling her until Sam shows up in the form of a dog and attacks Rene. Rene fights him off and knocks Sam unconscious. Sam turns back into Sam - which totally freaks out Rene, but Rene just keeps kicking Sam. Meanwhile Bill is struggling to get to Sookie as he's being roasted by the sunlight. He falls to his knees and Sookie somehow finds renewed vim and vigor, grabs a nearby shovel and whacks Rene in the head. He isn't toally down for the count so Sookie decides to end it all by driving the business end of the shovel into his neck. Sookie, upon seeing Bill's charring flesh is grief-stricken. Sam helps Sookie get Bill out of the light by throwing him into the grave and filling it up with dirt.

Later Sookie credits Sam with saving her life. She is pretty upset over Bill, however, she doesn't expect that he'll be ok. However Bill does show up - intact. Sookie invites him back in.

Much to Detective Bellefleur's dismay, the DA is dropping all the charges against Jason. The marks on the victims' necks matched Rene's belt. Did I mention Detective Bellefleur is pissed? He's not too happy when he let's Jason out his jail cell.

The cliffhangers seem to be:

What is the relationship between Maryann and Sam. Obviously they know each other. Is she a former nudist . . .er, I mean shape-shifter too?

Who was after Lafayette while he was taking out the trash? Did it have anything to do with Eddie or was it just coincidence? Or does it have to do with politics? Is he just missing? Dead? Was that Lafayette's leg hanging out of Detective Bellefleur's car?

Bill's back. He showed up on Sookie's porch. Did he feed on Lafayette?

Will Bill and Sookie get married?

Has Jason really turned over a new leaf now that he's joined the Fellowship of the Sun?

Pam and Eric stop by with Jessica. Evidently she has proven to be too much so they're giving her back to Bill. One has to wonder how Sookie's going to feel about this new arrangement. Maybe Sookie will introduce Jessica to Hoyt?

So how are you going to make until Summer? No more episoeds until then? Ouch!

Dad's Review of Twilight

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:00:10 -0600

As I promised to my daughter a few months ago, as incentive for her to tackle tougher reading ( she's 10 ), I took her and one of her friends to see the movie Twilight today.

I could write some sarcastic review that ensures my man card won't be revoked, but I'm going to write an honest review.

Right off the bat, I feel that I should tell you that I did read the novel about a year or so ago. I saw a news story proclaiming that Stephenie Meyer, who wrote the novel, was the next J. K. Rowling. Personally, I didn't think the novel was any literary masterpiece. It was a good story. I entirely understand the appeal to the market that seems to be consuming every book in the series.

The only reason I mention that is because I want it understood that I have no emotional ties to the story or the series. I have only read the first book in the series and have no intention of reading any more of them. Now my daughter . . . after reading the first she continued and finished the entire series. She has even finished the final book that was only available on Stephenie's website. That particular book is a re-write of Twilight from Edward's perspective as opposed to Bella's.

If you're not familiar with the story, in a nutshell, it goes something like this. A seventeen year-old girl, Bella ( Kristen Stewart ), from Phoenix, AZ decides to move in with her father in Forks, WA after her mother remarries to a baseball player who travels a lot. While there she falls in love with a guy, Edward ( Robert Pattinson ), who happens to be a vampire. Edward would very much like to bite her and it takes considerable discipline not to. While Bella is not afraid after finding out he's a vampire, Edward struggles with the thought that he may eventually lose control. Along comes some bad vampires of which one decides to go after Bella. Edward must save her - and he does.

Pretty simple story. Nothing too fancy. Girl meets boy, girl falls in love, girl finds out the boy's a vampire, they live happily ever after.

The movie is also as simple. It, for the most part, follows the story of the book. A few scenes from the book are not in the movie. A few scenes are rearranged, shortened or otherwise adapted for the big screen to fit into the 2 hour movie. But overall, the story is left intact. The special effects aren't that bad, but nothing that really requires you to see it on the big screen. The movie would be just as good visually if you watched it on your tv.

I've read some other reviews that heavily criticized Pattinson's make-up and accent. Personally, I didn't really see that as much as others must have. I read the reviews before seeing the movie and I even paid attention to it. The only criticism I have is that the movie really is a two character movie - Bella and Edward. You really don't learn much about any other characters. Sometimes they do things that seem to come from out of left field. For example, one character who really has a crush on Bella asks her to the prom. If you had read the book it would make sense. In the movie it didn't because we hardly knew anything about the character.

Quite simply if you did enjoy the book, you will like the movie. There were obviously quite a few fans of the series in the packed theater I, my daughter and her friend were in. The fact that the theater was packed isn't much of a surprise - the film grossed 37.5 million on opening night. We arrived just after the previews started and it was very difficult finding three seats together, So, if you are planning on going make sure you arrive early for the best seats. Our showing was 1:15 PM on Saturday. Luckily I bought the tickets in advance at Fandango.

Long story short . . . it wasn't a waste of money. I was entertained and the girls had a great time seeing the story they had read brought to life on the big screen. So if two real fans were happy with what they saw - and they were - I'm fine with that.

True Blood Season Finale is coming

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:31:03 -0600

The season finale of HBO's True Blood is looming over us leaving no doubt that it will be packed with quite a punch. Word is that the series is attracting followers faster than HBO's previous hit, The Sopranos. I imagine it has quite a bit to do with the current Vampire fascination. I'm well aware of this since my daughter has read the Twilight series and I'll be taking her and one of her friends to see it tomorrow. However, True Blood is a force all by itself if you ask me. It has an intriguing storyline with twists and turns, a setting that just about anyone can relate to and a hallmark of HBO creativity - character development that goes above and beyond - which is why HBO series attract watchers like myself.

As much as I'd love to elaborate on why True Blood is the most kick ass show on TV right now, I wanted to pay a little more attention to what ( I hope ) will be revealed in the finale. Someone's been running amok killing girls who have a taste for a little sex with guys with fangs. But who is doing it? Is it Jason? Sam? Last episode it was strongly suggested it was Rene. Let's dig a little deeper and see if we can figure it out.

The Ultimate Fighter : Polakowski vs Roop

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:44:12 -0600

Never let it be said that I'm unwilling to confess when I'm wrong.

Polakowski let me down. Contrary to what some of the other fighters said, I really don't think the match between Polakowski and Roop was all that good. As far as I'm concerned Roop won both rounds. So, the judges got it right. There was no need for a third round.

Let's face it, even though Polakowski got in a couple good shots before Roop was able to take him down again in the second round, he wasn't able to do anything with it. That's not really saying much about Roop who really couldn't do anything with his right hand or his kicks. But in the end, it doesn't really matter because Roop won't be going past the finals. Based on what I saw Polakowski wouldn't have gone there either. So in the end, the fight wasn't really anything of any significance anyway.

Of course my predictions for the semi-finals got all screwed up as well.

The light-heavyweights ended up looking like this:

Bader vs Marshall
Magalhaes vs Soszynski

The ligtweights look like this:

Nover vs Roop
Browning vs Escudero

With that in mind I think the lightweights are a lot easier to predict. Roop showed a bit of a weak chin in his fight with Polakowski. Knowing that Nover packs a pretty good punch, I'm going to pick Nover as the winner of that match. Browning, in my opinion, isn't really much more than a brawler with weak cardio. After Browning burns himself out, Escudero will win that match leaving us with a pretty good lightweight fight in the final against Nover.

The light heavy-weights . . . that's a tough one. Bader's a fantastic wrestler, but I'm going to go with Eliot. I think Eliot's a well rounded fighter that will have the advantage over Bader's wrestling. Magalhaes has already demonstrated what his ground skills are like, but can he take Soszynski's stand-up skills? I'm going out on a limb and saying yes. Magalhaes definitely has better jui-jitsu than Soszynski. And Soszynski's arm bar was a bit weak, even though he managed to get it. That should leave a fantastic bout in the final between Marshall and Magalhaes.

Thaink I've got it all wrong? Tell me about it . . .

The Ultimate Fighter : Predictions

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:08:49 -0600

Tonight on Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter, the final preliminary bout is scheduled to be between John Polakowski ( 3-1 ) and George Roop ( 7-3 ).

My pick for tonight's fight is John. While he has an inferior record, I am counting as his training with Liddell's team, Pit Fighter, for five years to be the deciding factor.

Since this is the final prelim, I think I'm going to go ahead and share who I think will be the match-ups going into the finals:

In the Light Heavyweight Division I see the Match-ups like this:

In the Lightweight Division I see the match-ups like this:

Junie Browning vs Efrain Escudero
Phillipe Nover vs John Polakowski

I'm going to save my predictions at this point. I've already got my predictions past the finals, but Dana may pick different fights and then my predictions would be all screwed up.

Disagree with me? Weigh in . . .

True Blood - One step closer to who is killing the girls

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:18:55 -0600

Which is more liberating?

Having a vampire bite you so that you may live on Earth without the bounds of human mortality or having a vampire bite you and keep you from the hell of having everything that ever loved you recoil from you until the end of humanity?

Bill buries the young girl he is forced to turn into a vampire, Jessica ( Deborah Ann Woll ), supervised by Pam ( Kristen Bauer ). Later, as anticipated, she rises from her grave obviously tormented. Bill tries to explain to her what he has done, that it was his fault and she was just unlucky. Amazingly, when she finds out that there will be no more clarinet, homeschooling, etc . . . she is ecstatic.

However, after finding out that Bill is supposed to be her teacher, and that Bill wants to teach her to be a "mainstreaming" vampire, she dubs him the title of "worst maker ever." She would rather go and kill than drink True Blood and learn the rules. Anybody else see the possibilities of an addition to the cast? Bill talks Eric into taking her off his hands.

Tara swears there was a naked lady and a big ol' Paul Bunyan, mf-ing pig in the road when she wrecked her car, despite the fact that she's been drinking. She calls her mom for bail money. Momma comes to bail out Tara - or at least Tara thinks. Mom isn't going to do it though. She'll pray for her instead. Tara's pissed . . . after all she's done for her mom. She has choice words for her mom. Why's it gotta go this way for Tara? A woman by the name of Maryann Forrester ( Michelle Forbes ) stops in to pay her bail. Evidently she helps out wayward people and invites her to stay with her in her spacious estate. She bears a striking resemblance to the woman in the road, don't you think? Contrary to what I expected from Tara, she doesn't seem to recognize when things are maybe too good to be true?

Jason and Amy, held together by Amy's unwavering constitution and rationalization, clean up the mess left by Amy driving a stake through Eddie's heart in the basement. Seems that Amy's done this kind of stuff before - she desperately tries to salvage any of the leftovers into V. However, Jason's done with it all and tells Amy to hit the road. However, Amy has other plans. She prepares a nice dinner and the two of them make ammends - that is until Amy shows him the V she saved. He flips, but decides to do the V with her - one last time.

Sometime during Jason and Amy's dreamy, euphoric stupor that consisted of an underwear-clad romp through a rainy park, someone dressed in work boots and a hoodie sneaks in and strangles Amy with his belt. Jason calls the cops and surrenders himself into their custody He's convinced he did it.

I have a theory. Earlier, during a discussion between Hoyt ( Jim Parrack ) and Rene ( Michael Raymond-James ) at the job site, Jason confided in the other two that Amy was particularly fond of V. Rene also asked if she slept with vampires. I suppose it makes a little sense to ask, but still, it felt odd. Keep in mind that up until now the women murdered were those who slept with vampires. Could it be Rene? I think the possibility exists? Oh, and just to bolster my argument we see that Rene may not be Rene. His name just might be Drew Marshall.

Sookie and Sam search for a girl named Cindy. She believes it may somehow help her find the person who tried to attack her at Sam's club. They find out that she is dead - murdered, possibly by her brother Drew Marshall. Evidently she used to run with vampires and ended up getting the life choked out her. In trying to track down information, she finds law enforcement less than helpful but manages to wrangle it from the cop thanks to her special abilities. The time together gives Sookie and Sam a chance to talk. Sam professes that he isn't really sure if he is able to love Tara, however Sookie does love Bill. She doesn't want to compete with the vampire politics though. The whole thing is really starting to spark some chemistry between the two until Bill shows up. A fight erupts and Sookie's awfully pissed at Bill - she rescinds his invitation to come into her home. Is it finally over between Bill and Sookie?

Want to be happy? Stop watching television

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:41:41 -0600

The news came out Saturday . . . unhappy people watch more television than happy people.

Of course you can draw your own assertions since the study only suggests correlation rather than inferring causation. Are people who watch more tv prone to being unhappy? Do they watch more tv because they have no other life, no friends or no family?

I think there are other negatives to this study. For example, 30,000 Americans? Over a period of 31 years? I really don't believe that this study warrants much faith with such a small sample.

I think I'll go ahead and keep watching tv. How about you?

ER Reunion : Dr. Green Returns

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:16:55 -0600

As leaked a few times early this week, remaining episodes of ER are possible to include appearances from some of the original cast members. Tonight's episode featured Dr. Green ( Anthony Edwards ).

I haven't watched ER in so long I didn't even recognize any of the cast anymore.

Of course we all know that Dr. Green died from a brain tumor on a sandy beach somewhere. So, he obviously can't rise from the dead and suddenly burst into Trauma 1 demanding a liter of Type O with type and cross and a hemocrit and chem 7 . . . STAT!!

Luckily the entire episode was written with Dr. Banfield ( Angela Bassett ) and Dr Green in mind. Dr. Banfield used to have a son. Unbeknownst to her and her husband the boy had leukemia. Although he had suffered from seizures from time to time, he has a severe one. She, as a doctor feels she is in control of the situation and ignores her husband's demand to go the ER. When the boy recovers consciousness he vomits blood and they take him immediately.

Dr Green is the doctor who treats her son. The whole episode is done in flashback sequences as she faces the ordeal of trying to revive a young girl who has fallen into Lake Michigan and brought to the ER uncoscious and hypothermic. During the treatment the girl's mother is by Dr. Banfield's side questioning her every move as Dr. Banfield questioned Dr. Green's.

She is able to save the young girl only after remembering the fact that Dr. Green questioned whether or not her son could have gotten a hold of some prescription medications since he wasn't responding to the ER treatment. Evidently the girl did and Dr. Banfield is able to save her, unlike Dr. Green who was not able to save her son despite blowing off his chemo treatment much to the chagrin of Dr. Weaver ( Laura Innes ) and Dr. Romano ( Paul McCrane ) who also have cameo appearances. Dr. Banfield feels responsible for her son's death and has never really recovered from that fact.

It was a pretty touching episode and I must admit, episodes like this are what originally drew me to the series back in 1994. I look forward to more episodes provided they do feature some of the original cast.

Who would you like to see in the next episode of ER?

Ultimate Fighter: Soszynski vs Kingsbury

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:32:12 -0600

On Spike TV's, The Ultimate Fighter, Dave Kaplan shows us the best thing to do after a humiliating defeat is get drunk and have a guy weighing 205 lbs knock you out. No matter what Kaplan says, he was knocked out - granted he was drunk, but he was knocked out no matter how you look at it.

Soszynski finally has a prank pulled on him. All his bedding ( including the bed ) is stuffed into the closet along with a generous supply of toilet paper. Then, his room was packed full of anything in the house that wasn't nailed down. He gets revenge by putting all the kitchen supplies outside by the pool.

Wow! Those guys are so full of the hijinks.

Finally we actually get to the fight between Soszynski ( 16-8-1 ) and Kingsbury ( 7-1-1 ). My pick going into the fight was Soszynski, primarily because of his fight experience. And I was right, in a round that initally started with a few questionable knees from Kingsbury, with 2:24 remaining in the first round Soszynski won with an arm bar.

True Blood - I'm a shaper-shifter, don't call me a werewolf

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:53:24 -0600

So tonight on True Blood we find out that Sam isn't a werewolf per-se. He's a shaper-shifter who can turn into any animal he chooses, except a human. This totally pisses Sookie off, even though Sam expects that of all people she'd understand. Do you understand?

Tara goes to the Hoodoo woman ( Ms Jeanette ) and begins her exorcism. Supposedly she frees herself by stabbing an apparition. Pretty calm compared to her mom's exorcism - that was much better if you ask me. Regardless, Tara is happy and her mom is proud. The two of them find new happiness hanging together - that is until she meets Ms Jeanette working in the local drug store and calls her out as a fake. I think she should have thumped the Hoodoo woman - just for good measure. How about you?

Amy thinks that she and Jason should make their hostage vampire ( Eddy ) succumb to Stockholm's Syndrome and keep him like a pet. Ultimately giving them a chance to try out their entrepreneurial spirit by selling his blood and eventually save up enough to climb the Himalayan Mountains. Meanwhile Lafayette is beginning to wonder where Eddy is. After Lafayette confronts Jason at Arlene's party, it appears Jason's conscience is getting to him. As he's trying to release Eddy back at his place, Amy drives a stake through Eddy's heart.

Back at Merlotte's the staff is getting ready for Arlene's wedding party. Sam however, has flashbacks to his childhood. We're able to see how he grew up turning into a beagle. Detective Bellefleur shows up with more unanswered questions for Sam. The fact that there's really no records at all for Sam really bothers the detective. Luckily Tara shows up to take Sam into his office - but it doesn't go anywhere. Sookie goes into the bar to get more ice for the party. She's attacked but escapes from an unknown attacker. Meanwhile, having stormed out of Sam's office, Tara crashes her car. In the road is a girl, but who knows who she may be. What's happening here?

At the vampire tribunal we witness the legal wrath of the undead, bloodsucking kind. A vampire, having fed on another's human has his fangs ripped out. Bill is brought before the judge? Murdering vampires for the sake of lower lifeforms ( humans ) is unacceptable. The magistrate is lenient towards Bill. He decides Bill owes the vampire community a life. He's forced to take the life of a young woman in front of the group.

Only two more episodes left in this season. What's going to happen next?