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The Magicians

2016-07-11T20:56:00.000-04:00

To start off, I have not read the books, no did I know anything about the story before going into this. That said, let’s look at The Magicians.

The story is simple, magic exists and the gifted are herded into specialized schools to help them develop their gifts. Along with the protagonists, we are thrown into a new ‘magical’ world, ripe with shocking acts and visuals, sex and gore, drinking and drugs, insanity and addictions, and all of the most deranged things the dark side of magic exploration has to offer.

Visually, it’s okay, Narratively, it has a few hiccups when it comes to world building and plot establishment. The series tries really hard to be clever, though it comes across more as hipster.

Verdict? Undefined. Personally not my cup of tea, but it’s definitely different. So check it out if you like stories that take a slightly different perspective on magic schools.

And now let’s turn to episode one and see what this new world has to offer.

The episode starts with the usual moping about, introducing the characters, their lives, their damage. We meet Julia, played by Stella Maeve, who is an ambitious young woman with a list of prestigious universities that she will most likely be accepted to. And Quentin, played by Jason Ralph, who is the outcast, the person with no aim or goal, possibly due to his obsession with children’s fairy tales about Fillary, which is ‘definitely not Narnia’. He too, has plans about his future, but the interviewer for the school he wants to apply to turns up dead. To make things worse, he has a fight with his best friend Julia, who promptly tells him to grow up and leave the fairy tales alone.

Not a very exciting beginning, even as it attempts to show the horrors of growing up and moving away from the fantasies of childhood. Could have been done shorter and more subtle with more focus on the things happening in the world around the characters. Also, I took an instant dislike to Quentin and that didn’t change as the series progressed. ‘He’s meant to be disliked’, comments on the show and books say, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable. My problem with him was his utter lack of agency. He’s not an active character by any means. He hardly reacts to the events around him and whenever something does happen, needs to be done, or a decision made, he is quick to let someone else handle it. Which, I suppose, was the point to him. A passive, unexceptional protagonist trying to earn his place as a hero and ultimately failing. Only, that makes the long stretches of time we follow him ever more grating.

In comparison, Julia’s part is endlessly more interesting, but we hardly spend any time on her ‘adventures’.

So 13 minutes into the first episode things pick up as our protagonists are transported to the magic school. Or, should I say, univeristy. The theme certainly fits the ‘Harry Potter’ demographics as they move from high school to university.

At the school, with little to no explanation, the two are urged into an exam and baffled by everything happening, they just go with it. Still, I expected a little more freaking out and a little less dull surprise.

This brings me to the second problem. The world. It just isn’t well fleshed out. We do see more of it as the episodes go on, but overall, the focus is too much on the characters and the wacky, scandalous things they do, than on the story and the world. Which, again, is fine, but I expect a little more world building out of my fantasy series.

Regrettably, Julia fails the exam, and Quentin succeeds. And then things start getting a little bit hectic as her memory is erased and she’s thrown back into her daily life, while Quentin is rushed into a multitude of new experienced and acquaintances at the magic school. We also meet the rest of the cast but they are too insignificant at this point for us to care. In short, we have the bad boy, the troubled girl, the perfect student and the glamorous campus duo.

Julia, however, remembers what happened despite the memory wipe. On her own, she reads up and practices really hard until she finds out how to conjure sparkles. She calls Quentin, showing him her signs of magic and begging him to talk to the school.

He declines.

For some reason, her best friend won’t support her. In fact, he discourages her, telling her to forget about magic. Later on, as we learn more about their relationship, we understand it. He’s jealous. She always gets everything, he never does. But at this point in the story, it just isn’t established and he comes off as a complete asshole. The scene of their confrontation makes me want to join Julia on the dark side and murder him and his new friends. And, spoilers, if that didn’t become obvious when a shifty member of a secret coven approaches her, it does happen.

Which brings us back to Julia. The series go through her struggles at being shown a whole new world and then rejected and left to simmer in the knowledge that there’s so much more and she can’t participate. Being the active part of the duo, she tries anyway, seeking out knowledge and spells and other practitioners, and ultimately getting herself in the worst kind of trouble.

But all that comes later. In this episode, we focus on Quentin’s gang as they perform a ritual meant to contact the spirits of the dead. Instead, they summon a baddie from another world. The episode ends as the man, with moths for a head, gauges a few eyeballs out. As terrifying as he is, his presence hardly registers through the series. He shows on and off to scatter a few moths and rush our characters toward the climax, but nothing else.

On the other hand, Julia gets in some real trouble with a more tangible antagonist, the leader of a coven of rogue witches. Their main goal is to steal from the vast knowledge held at the school which brings them at odds with the students. But that’s a story of another episode.

The idea behind the series aren’t bad, the execution, however, is twitchy at best. Sometimes we are showered in establishment and spelled out exposition, while other times given nothing at all. Time passes for the characters, weeks, maybe months, but we don’t see it, we don’t get a feel of it. Episodes drift in and out and the eventual reveal raises more question than it answers. Supposedly, there will be a second season, but so far the first only managed to show us the characters and hint at the greater world without going in any depths.

Is The Magicians any good? Well, it’s not terrible, and it does try, but there’s just something ajar about it.

Shadowhunters

2016-02-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

Yup.

We’re doing this.

Shadowhunters everyone. The TV series based on the Harry Potter fanfiction gone rogue known as the Mortal Instruments. Woo! Can you feel excitement in the air?

Yeah, I can’t either.

They could have at least gotten a better digital artist to do the poster. What’s that expression supposed to be anyway? Confusion or constipation?

But I digress.

Story is simple. Every single mythological creature you’ve ever heard of exists, and it lurks somewhere in the world. Just don’t hope to actually see anything other than the regular vampires, werewolves and shapeshifters. Oh and the occasional selkie… ahem elves I guess, according to the series. It’s mythology isn’t too fleshed out.

So to keep the world protected from the nasties, we have the shadowhunters, half angels who use glyphs to cast magic.

Our main heroine, Clarissa or Clary, discovers she’s a shadowhunter on her 18th birthday and after the subsequent disappearance of her mother, she embarks on a quest to retrieve her. A standard kind of plot. So where do the series go wrong other than the badly build (painted over) world?

Well it’s not made very well.

The acting is bad. Effects are passable. Choreography is non-existent, though battles are worth looking at just to see how our ladies run in heels. Dialogue is awkward, of course, and character relationships are not believable. Then again I didn’t expect better.

That said, it’s not as bad as I initially suspected. At the very least it has been licked to glossiness and the mannequins they’re trying to pass off as actors are dressed well. Leather clothing all around.

My general recommendation is a Pass. Unless you are the series most desperate fan and you see everything related to it through rose coloured glasses or want to have a good laugh, this will not entertain you.

But let’s go into detail and torture ourselves through episode one. Spoilers ahead.

We open on Justin Bieber Shadowhunter following an old asian man. The two of them briefly showcase their powers in a game of cat and mouse. One is a shapeshifter, and the other can move very fast and jump very high. Not bad, almost elegantly done to establish some of the rules of physics in the world. But that’s where the competence runs out.

One of the shadowhunter bumps into a girl and, surprise, she can see him. Shadowhunters glamour themselves invisible to muggle… I mean mundanes. And right off the bat we notice the plastic-doll acting. Luckily the title screen shows up to save us from that awkward disaster in the making.

We cut instead to eight hours earlier and the events leading up to the hunt and the encounter between our characters.

But rather than plunging into the exciting world of the hunters, we are glued to the doe-eyed lead as she scores an entry into an art college. And then we meet the friend-zone guy, the nerdy but hot best friend who will never get into those pants, ever.

The introductions don’t drag on and we’re swept to a crime scene where a woman is murdered. But no time to dwell on that either, it’s our girl’s birthday and she gets a very interesting gift from her mom. It’s essentially a magic wand. The fact they put a crystal on the top doesn’t change the fact it’s a magic wand.

Her mother also wants to tell her something important about their family, but young Clary is in a hurry and bounces off before she can say a word.

We flashback to it anyway. Ten years ago, her mother had her memory wiped to protect her from the monsters hunting them. But every time she tried to tell Clary, a random interruption stops her.

So now Clary is off to morally support her friend Simon at his music gig. Just about where the episode opened.

But right before we’re slammed with exposition when one of her friends underlines how “weird” it is not having any relatives other than her mom. I knew this was coming. The obligatory friends commenting on things that are none of their business. And yes, it feels forced and unnecessary.

We return to Bieber Shadowhunter and his band of merry friends, including Draco totally not Malfoy. But let’s pause for a moment and address an issue. What’s the deal with how they walk? It’s like prepubescent boys trying a tough guy walk but managing an ‘oh I just shat my pants.’ It’s weird and unnatural and I wish they’d cut it the hell out.

So we’re back to the encounter scene. Clary scolds him with her monotone, tiny voice and moves on, only to discover her friends didn’t actually see him and now think someone slipped something in her coffee.

Determined to find out what’s going on and prove to herself she’s not seeing things, Clary chases after him. Not a bad way to give her a motivation to follow actually.

Shortly after we are treated to a fight scene, and said scene is... kindly said, lacking. The choreography is minimal, the framing and cuts are boring, and there’s no dynamics or sense of urgency beyond a short lasso/hand to hand fight with the girl hunter. At some point Clary literally picks up a sword, holds it 90 degrees, and some random demon stabs himself on it. Yes, we’re down to that kind of choreography. And the room isn’t even crowded. It’s a large empty space. But look at me expecting the demons and hunters to actually know a thing or two about fighting.

So in the chaos, our damsel runs off home to her mom who tries to explain but yet again is interrupted. This time by a bunch of demons who followed Clary from the club. Her mother tells her to go to her cop boyfriend and pushes her into a portal.

The ensuing fight scene at the house is much better and the mum kicks all kinds of ass. But she knows she can’t win so she drinks some kind of a potion and falls into a deep slumber to keep the artefact everyone is looking for (the mortal cup) hidden.

We cut to Clary at the police station where she overhears a conversation that paints the cop in rather bad light. So she flees into the rain.

Meanwhile, our baddies teleport to Chernobyl, of all places, where the mastermind is raising an army of mutant demon things. Or at least trying to. He needs the cup to succeed. He’s also bald, though not lacking a nose so totally not Voldemort.

Without getting any help or calling the cops, Clary returns home and has a well deserved breakdown over the destruction of her house and the disappearance of her mother. But her crying doesn’t last long before she grabs a battle axe and goes to investigate. Yeah! Now we’re talking! You go girl!

But she’s ambushed by a shapeshifter and saved by our blandest of male leads. A supposedly romantic scene follows, though to me it seems more creepy and forced.

The two of them just don’t work, the acting is bad and the interactions feel off. Especially when he gets all close and personal for no reason. This kind of invasion of space is not natural among strangers. An instant out of nowhere forced “attraction,” with no buildup, no establishment, just bam and they are “interested” in each other. And this is where it all goes truly downhill.

She faints, he drags her to his cave… I mean the shadowhunter headquarters and explains what’s happening and who they are. None of it works narratively. It feels set up and badly acted. Also, if I were Clary and woke up to a guy burning sigils into my skin, I’d make sure to pick up one of those blades, hold it horizontally, and watch him stab himself on it.

So as the episode slowly slides into the mud, Simon finds her, sees Drako-not-Malfoy kill a guy, and we’re given an excellently symbolic scene with her in the middle and each guy offering a hand to pull her the opposite way. Cut to black, and this monstrosity is over. Finally.

Yeah, it’s bad, but honestly I thought it would be worse. Still a pass. It’s a waste of a budget and perfectly good leather pants.

Dark Matter

2016-02-14T17:47:00.002-05:00

This week I wanted to review something good, so if that’s all you wanted to know, yes Dark Matter is good, go watch it.

The acting is decent, the effects and props believable, and the story intriguing. The premise is simple, a crew wakes up on a ship with no memory. Trying to work around their differences, the crew embarks on a journey to rediscover their pasts. What will they find? Do they want to remember? What happened to wipe their memories? And many more questions arise with every new discovery.

I’m glad to give this show my recommend. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a good new proper sci fi. And that’s about all I can say without treading too heavily into spoiler territory.

The series open with a two parter Pilot. Because that seems to be a thing with sci fi.

We’re in space, naturally, and a dark ship drifts across the stars. An alarm blares, waking it from its slumber. Life support is fading, the message says, and the systems enter emergency mode, bringing the crew out of stasis to deal with the mess. The only problem is, no one remembers anything.

They are alone, on a crippled ship, and they can’t remember who they are or how they got there.

So they do the only logical thing, band up and explore the ship in search of a clue. One by one they start discovering their corners and roles, the ship’s pilot, a weapon master, a gunman, the techy, the black guy, the good guy, and of course the android. (Zoie Palmer, the good doctor freshly out of Lost Girl.) And so we get all the tradition sci fi characters. But are they really that close to their stereotypes?

The story moves on when the android is activated in attack mode and our crew works together to disable her and restore her programming. She is an integral part of the ship and can help them in repairs and the search for answers. If I have one complaint about the series, however, is how every single time something goes wrong, it starts with someone disabling the android. At some point it becomes laughable as people just walk up to her and poke her with a cattle prod. And bam, she’s down.

But moving on. The pilot/captain, played by Melissa O'Neil asks the android to access any possible data on the crew but the search comes out empty. Someone has deleted all information. Question is, was it one of them, or do they have a stowaway?

And so the game of doubt begins, and continues nearly through the series, do they all not remember, or is someone playing them? The main suspect at the moment is number One, the man who woke up first. But leaving suspicion aside, the next move is to check the living quarters and wait for the droid to restore the ship.

As they explore, everyone is drawn to their little corners by instincts.

Meanwhile, the android explains that the ship was hit by meteorites, causing most of the damage and the emergency wake up. Several electrical systems are fried, disabling weapons but not the engines.

And things don’t remain silent for long as a new ship enters the system and heads for our heroes. Before any contact can be made, the ship fires at them.

The android helps them escape through evasive maneuvers but tension rises among the crew. It is at this moment that the droid decides to share the data she has managed to salvage. She has recovered the original destination of the ship and sets them on the course. Estimated time of arrival 12 hours.

Again, things hardly manage to remain calm when the gunman, played by Anthony Lemke, decides to blast through a door that’s not meant to be opened. All he succeeds at is knocking himself out.

As there are ten hours to arrival, the captain orders them to pick a room and rest. And all the beds have shiny sheets and blankets. What’s up with sci fi shows and shiny blankets? At least the latex and fetishy costumes are kept to the bare minimum.

Soon they arrive at the destination, but no one on the planet responds to their hail. Down on the ground, they are met with some suspicion and very outdated weaponry. Turns out, it’s an independent colony that barely gets by on metal mining and now a big bad company wants to gobble them up. The settlers plan to defend their home, even if they know the evil henchmen leave no one alive. The gunman wishes them good luck, but One, who comes to represent the moral voice of the group, played by Marc Bendavid, had second thoughts about leaving them. Especially when he hears that they await a shipment of guns much like the ones they are ferrying.

The crew debates whether to help or not over lunch, and comes to a compromise decision to give them half the crates and keep the rest.

Before they can carry out the mission, the android recovers some shocking data. They are all criminals, and their ship, the Raza, is there to dispose of the settlements.

And thus ends episode one, and so far I must say this show… works for me. It’s well acted, well composed and well plotted. The settings and characters are believable and so is the technology.

The theme also works quite well and breaks up the initially established cliches and stereotypes. It makes us want to know more about the characters, what makes them different from their sci fi stereotypes. Most importantly it makes us question, are they the good guys? The bad guys? Who do they want to be, and if they could choose would they remember their criminal past or live a new life, starting from a blank page?

What is the value of a fresh start and will the universe let them have it?

Supergirl

2016-02-07T15:38:00.002-05:00

In their endless TV race with Marvel, DC pooped out yet another show this time featuring the beloved Comic Book heroine, Super Girl. If you were waiting to see a badass heroine fighting crime and being awesome, don’t bother with the show.

On the other hand, if you like silly dialogue, characters who act like teenagers and dull plot lines, all buried under a thick layer of melted cheese, give it a go.

The main plot is about Superman’s cousin, young Kara (played by Melissa Benoist) struggling to balance her ordinary life and the desire to better the world through her super powers. Problem is, she’s not very good at either, so a long journey awaits her on the path to being a true heroine.

The acting is okay to mediocre. They don’t overact as much as in other DC shows, though the actors can be quite plastic-doll like. Especially in the more emotional scenes. Visual effects are passable and just like in other DC shows, the sound is unleveled with quiet dialogue followed by exploding music and sound effects.

That about sums it up. Another lazy DC production that promises more sparkle and glitter than actual content. I’d give it a pass.

But let’s fly into spoiler territory and look at the Pilot episode.

It starts with a narration of the protagonist’s backstory.

And I’m already bored.

Though they did add some footage to make it more visual.

And we arrive at the first nitpick. Kara’s mother somehow knows that Earth’s sun would give her superpowers. How?

But no time to address that, the narration carries on. In this iteration of the story, Kara is sent to protect Kal-El. But things immediately go awry, her ship is knocked by a shockwave and she drifts into the phantom zone. For twenty years she remains frozen in time before finally crashing on Earth, where her cousin, now a grown up Superman, greets her.

Without explaining much, in fact we never see his face or hear him talk, he leaves her to some random folks and zooms off.

We jump several years into the future, where our ditzy character has an unspecified media job, bitchy and powerful boss, a friendzoned colleague and a potential love interest/the new guy at the company. And not to forget a sassy best friend/sister who shows up as Kara prepares for a date. We’ve never seen that set up before.

We are more told than shown that our protagonist is trying to blend in without using, or even understanding her powers. This constant denial frustrates her and she wants to use her powers, only she doesn’t.

Her date is a total jerk, asking her checklist questions and dumping her for a phone call. Because in this universe, no one wants to date gorgeous blondes.

But we don’t have time to dwell on it as the news conveniently show a plane experiencing troubles. It’s her sister’s, and Kara dashes to help.

She runs into the street where the plane conveniently passes over her, its engine on fire. Kara attempts to fly but she hasn’t done it for years so taking off isn’t smooth. For a whole two seconds anyway. Quite anticlimactic. She stumbles a few times and then flies perfectly.

Meanwhile, the plane’s engines are popping like popcorn. That must be the most unfortunate or ill maintained plane on the continent.

A very short action scene later, Kara safely lands the plane in the river. But, as usual, the media are divided and blame her for much of the destruction. Needlessly in this case considering the alternative: half a city on fire from a plane crash. I’ll put this reaction under ‘people being assholes for the sake of being assholes’.

Even though Kara just saved her life, her sister isn’t happy either. She quickly crosses the line between being worried and being ‘a bitch for the sake of being a bitch’ as she yells at her about exposing herself.

Despite the headlines, life continues as usual at Kara’s workplace.

With the added bonus of her boss obsessing with the new heroine. And then like no superhero ever, Kara tells her best friend the truth. Okay, points for that. Even if it’s for the selfish reason of needing a sidekick. Which he immediately agrees on, and even sews her a costume. And I feel that they should address the fact no one recognizes her without her glasses. Maybe? No? Okay. I’ll assume her face is so generic that people forget it two seconds after they see her.

Somewhere halfway in, we get our first bad guy: a man in a hat watching the TV report while digging a hole in the table with his nails. Turns out the plane was sabotaged to draw her out. Good on justifying that convenient breakdown though it raises the question of how they knew she was in that particular city. Or did they crash planes over every single city in the country until they got to hers?

So while the villains are organizing their forces and traveling to location, our girl takes on the city criminals with uplifting success.

She responds to yet another distress call but never makes it to location, as someone shoots her down with kryptonite darts. The bad guys have arrived.

Or have they?

Nope, it’s her sister. She brought the DEO, or Department of Extranormal Operations, an organization formed to monitor and protect from extraterrestrial threats. They carry Kara into their headquarters where the head Agent bursts into a narration about stupid aliens ruining everybody’s day.

So how do our humans react to the heroine finally growing into her cape when they are faced with dangerous alien threats beyond their skill and technology? With snarky scorn, telling her to get back to the kitchen- go serve them coffee.

Naturally, she isn’t happy about this treatment and storms off. They don’t stop her, even if the main agent guy keeps ranting about how dangerous she is.

Once again we’ve gone a full circle, it’s the next day and Kara goes to work as usual. Everything is calm until she hears she has been dubbed Supergirl. Why girl? Why not woman? This is obviously a grave offence that requires her to snap at her boss and nearly get herself fired.

Fortunately, the new guy/love interest saves her by crediting her a picture he took of Supergirl. So, are we going to address the whole no one recognizes her without her glasses thing now when they have a clear picture of her? No? Oookay.

Instead of thanking him for saving her job, Kara yells at him. Are all women, and most men, in this show PMSing?

Things pick up when she receives a sonic message from the bad guy and flies off to fight him. Ten seconds later, Supergirl gets her ass kicked.

She is saved by DEO and her sister who rather indiscriminately shoots missiles at the power plant where the aliens are fighting. Talk about possible collateral, the protector humans seem more destructive than the aliens.

And I need to address a minor issue. A few scenes ago her sister claimed to have been selected for her knowledge in molecular biology and alien physiology, so why is she in the field? Shouldn’t she be locked in a secure lab somewhere private? Who the hell gave her control of a military chopper? Does DEO personnel consisted of three agents, two of whom called in sick that day?

But let’s carry on.

In the aftermath of the battle, Kara contemplates on how she felt pain for the very first time in her life. Quite realistically, this makes her afraid. So our brave girl gives up, not surprising considering all the non-support she gets from everyone other than her boytoy. But her sister has a change of hearts and now insists that Kara fights. After a whole episode of bitching about using her powers, her sister’s sudden encouragement has no effect. For a whole three seconds before she hands Kara over an inspiring message from her mother.

She goes as far as to argue with her DEO boss. A debate that takes a whole thirty seconds until he agrees to work with Kara. An inspirational monologue later, the IT team conveniently gets a word of a bad guy attack.

How do they detect him you may ask? A satellite tracked the compound his axe is made of. Now I’m not sure science works quite like that but let’s assume they stole some miraculous tech from the aliens. Yet their weapons are limited to darts and chopper missiles.

Supergirl flies to confront the baddie and suddenly she can fight. Though someone could have taught her how to throw a real punch. She succeeds in destroying his axe and the fight is over. Even though he swept the floor with her without it earlier. Then, refusing to accept defeat, he kills himself. But not before foreshadowing a looming threat.

Kara returns with a victory, but the DEO director is back to grumbling about stupid aliens littering in his neighbourhood. Why can’t he just accept her for the asset she is?

But we’re not done with the episode yet. The next day at work, the new guy reveals he was sent by Superman to watch over her. Okay, now we’re done. And I must ask, how did she not get fired for skipping half a day of work? Does she really work beyond bringing her boss a coffee in the morning?

No matter, it’s over, and man was that boring.

Everything is a bit too convenient, too cookie cut out, it just doesn’t feel genuine or natural and the characters are hard to relate to beyond crappy everyday stuff. The personal conflicts are not well established either, and often characters react negatively for no good reason. Not even getting into the choreography of the fights and the believability of her punches...

So, as it’s often with DC, the show is pretty but shallow. The episode has ups and downs as it tries to do something decent, you can see the struggles for a clever and innovative story, but nevertheless always falls back to the well known cliches and lazy writing.

So if you like generic, comic book, pop series with the barest minimum of effort put in, give it a watch. For something better, and darker try Marvel’s Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or hell even Constantine.

Lucifer

2016-01-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

It’s a show about Lucifer running a nightclub in LA and passing the time by solving supernatural crimes, meanwhile saying ‘fuck you’ to both Heaven and Hell and all of their schemes. It’s elegant, it’s fun, and it’s smart. Go watch it.

Actors are competent, the lead (Tom Ellis) is amazingly entertaining, it is shot well and the story is good. There’s nothing more to be said, one of the two good DC series and a must watch for both comic and supernatural lovers.

So without further ado, let’s jump straight into the Pilot episode. Spoilers ahead.

We open with the premise. Lucifer got tired of ruling Hell so he took a vacation. And what better location for that purpose than the city of Los Angeles.

The true act begins as Lucy is speeding down the road to be hailed by a very grumpy cop. However, being the ruler of Hell, Lucifer not only pulls out a confession from the cop about his own desires, but also manages to bribe him and send him off with a smile.

So far, I’m in love with the character and the settings, and especially the whole self confident corrupting mortals for his entertainment theme.

And what a better way to do that than owning a nightclub. Said club is called Lux, oh all the irony, and even has a fellow demon as bartender. Unfortunately, poor Maze (played by Lesley-Ann Brandt) isn’t too happy with his nonchalant ways. And she is not the only one. An angel soon appears to gently remind Luci to get the hell back to Hell. The King’s answer is simple: “ain’t gonna happen.”

I do like how the angel uses his wings in this scene, the feathers like blades, and the ability to slow down time seems to be consistent for their kind in this universe. (Like we saw in Constantine.) And the fact Lucifer makes no attempt to hide adds to the confidence of the character. Unmoved by Amenadiel (played by D.B. Woodside) persuasions, he sends him off stating he cares not about the state of Hell and its dwellers.

The devil, however, turns out quite caring towards one of his stars, a performer by the name of Delilah whom he helped rise to fame. When she’s shot by an assailant right in front of the Devil, he promises there will be hell on earth until the guilty are punished.

Here we meet our second lead, detective Chloe Dancer (played by Lauren German) who is brought on the case of poor dead Delilah. A case which appears closed, singer shot, drug dealer crashes after the attack, all nicely wrapped up. And since the police won’t do its job, Lucifer is forced to do it for them.

He starts his investigation at the wedding of Delilah’s ex fiance. The man appears innocent but he won’t be getting married anytime soon it seems.

Next stop is the boyfriend. But he’s also a bust and sends Lucy on to the next person involved, the therapist who is said to know what rich married man Delilah slept with.

But before he can move on Detective/ex-actress shows up and cuffs him for threatening the boyfriend. Turns out she’s also investigating the case despite announcing it closed.

And looking at our cliche storytelling checklist, Chloe is revealed special because Lucy can’t influence her like other people. Boo for that but I guess it’s inevitable, she needs a quirk to make her stand out.

We put the investigation on pause as we turn instead to some character establishment and meet Chloe’s daughter and husband. A man, and a sort of colleague, with whom she doesn’t exactly get along.

After this short detour we finally arrive at the psychiatrist's office. With a light touch from Luci’s influence she spills the name of the next lead, but he too is a bust.

So we arrive at a dead end and our protagonists sorting what they know. In the background a convenient news report mentions the rocketing sales of Delilah’s album and suddenly it’s back to her producer, the ex-fiance. A short shooting ensues when they confront him and reveal him the culprit, and the matter is finally dealt with.

Though I need to ask how Lucifer didn’t know who the culprit was when he met him. He does admit to not reading minds, nor making people confess sins but rather desires, but still there is a feel that people are unable to lie to him. So how did he miss the guilt of the fiance at the wedding?

Lucifer is a show that plays with the concept of morality. Do we choose our own morality? Is it chosen for us by forces beyond us? Does it even exist beyond us, and can sin be a concept we created? In that case is the devil truly evil? Does he have a choice or is he also a player set on a stage and given a script? Must he conform to a play written by the creator and what will happen if he doesn’t? A lot of interesting themes that I can’t wait to see how they explore as the series progress.

Had Constantine not been canceled, the two shows would have made a nice pair. Dark settings, morally questionable protagonists with british accent and dry wit sprouting clever dialogues. Yeah, I’m definitely keeping this on my watch list. Too bad we won’t be seeing a crossover with Constantine, now that would have been amazing.

Regarding the attacks on New Years

2016-01-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

    On New Year's, in Cologne, Germany, and possibly a few other European cities (the media aren't too clear), organized groups of men conducted robberies and assaults on citizens, and particularly women.
    They intercepted party goers at the train stations, and set off fireworks and firecrackers at ground level to scatter the crowds and separate out their targets.
    The Police was not ready to respond to such a large number of accidents and contain all the assailants, leaving much of the public exposed to violence.
    The way this situation was and is being handled/reported on did not go well with many. Some medias are downplaying the issue, keeping it all hush, hush in attempt to keep the public calm. Others are biting onto the ethnic side of it, either to shun the culture or call for more dialogue as there is clearly a 'cultural misunderstanding' at hand. And whenever someone is talking about it, the highlight is that the men were of North African and Middle Eastern origins. Mostly though, people are too scared to kick up a shitstorm, approaching the issue with all the tools of political correctness by talking about it without saying much.
    Overall, the New Years assaults are being handled with much silent stupor and ramblings on cultural differences without any definite answers or actions, while radicals on the other side scream to have the borders closed and immigrants denied.

    While I tend to not speak publicly on such issues, I can't help but express my raging thoughts on the matter. And not because of the political aspect of it, but because it's 2016, and this kind of caveman behavior should have long been outgrown by humanity. People should be treated with respect no matter what, and attacking the weak, or the perceived defenseless, is an act of cowardice.
    I will try to be as objective as I can, but this is an emotional issue for me and I am knowingly reacting subjectively when expressing my thoughts.

    So what is the best course of action? Hell if I know. But I do think that ethnicity and background shouldn't be underlined in this case, and the issue shouldn't be conflated to some abstract world statistics of spike in sexual violence against women.
    Instead, I'd like to look at it from a slightly different perspective.
    Attacks against citizens are a crime, and they should be punished according to the law regardless of ethnicity and origins. The fact that the groups were made of Muslim men is an entirely different issue (which is still relevant and needs to be addressed, though elsewhere), and shouldn't be the highlight of how this particular situation is handled.

    The attitude, in my opinion, should be as follows: this is a civilized nation, these are our laws, and such are the punishment to those who break them. Attacking women and helpless civilians is not okay, mass organized attacks like this are not okay, punish those caught, be prepared to stop such accidents from happening again, no need to kick up dust about “clarifying cultural differences and teaching people not to rape.”

    For once, it's not entirely about culture, the attackers knew what they were doing, they knew it was a crime, and now they should face the consequences of their actions. Using culture as an excuse is a cheap way to escape it, in fact, they are using culture as a weapon, exploiting loop holes and western attitudes to wreak havoc.
    The media and the government response should instead focus on showing the law in action. No need to teach the attackers about cultural differences, they know, and don't care, the state must do what the state is meant to do, police its citizens without regard for their status, ethnicity or background. Justice is said to be blind.
    Or at least that's how it should be in an ideal world. In ours, we have yet much to learn, and I hope we learn it fast because this situation is starting to spiral out of control and innocent people are suffering on both fronts.

    A relevant and informative video on the subject of the attacks:
    https://youtu.be/WJCLSZm4-LA

    And on the matter of minority groups and their cultural identity:
    https://youtu.be/q2s_n6St1OI

Why do leaves turn yellow?

2015-09-28T18:41:00.000-04:00

With the last days of summer and the beginning of autumn, I’ve decided to talk about trees. In particular, why they change colour as winter creeps closer.

Leaves are green because they have chlorophyll, a pigment that helps them absorb sunlight and photosynthesize. But chlorophyll is not the only pigment in plants, they also contain carotenoids, which colour them yellow, orange or red.

Usually, chlorophylls is dominant, as it is the most efficient at absorbing the spectrum, but as winter approaches and the days grow shorter, photosynthesis is no longer as profitable. So to limit losses, plants stop producing chlorophyll and re-absorb that which is already in the leaves. As a result, for the short moment before they die and fall off, the carotenoids are revealed painting the trees red, orange and yellow.

References and additional reads:

Wonderopolis: Why Do Leaves Change Colour in Autumn?

WDNR: Why Do Leaves Change Colour?

ESF: Why Leaves Change Colour

USDA: Why Leaves Change Colour

Supernatural

2015-09-16T21:44:00.001-04:00

In honour of the start of its eleventh season, we take a look at one of the longest running modern fantasy series: Supernatural.

The story is simple. There are monsters in the world, Heaven and Hell are real, witches are evil and a handful number of humans take the mantle of hunters, for one reason or another, killing the beasts and saving humanity. In this particular case, we follow the adventures of Sam, played by Jared Padalecki, and Dean, played by Jensen Ackles, Winchester and a changing cast of support characters. After the death of their mother, their father took to investigate what killed her, dragging the boys along into a life of fighting.

The acting is okay and the effects and fight scenes believable.

Supernatural is one of those dark, gritty series where nothing ever goes in the protagonist’s favour and someone always dies. Yet it never felt too heavy because of the humour, satire and very charismatic leads. Or at least it was such in its youth.

Eventually it turned into Gary and Larry Sue wacky adventures and gradual descend into incoherent or inconsistent storytelling. It’s still good. It was okay up until season five. But you can just feel the writers struggling to produce even a shred of creativity and originality at this point.

Overall, Supernatural is decent, check it out, but it has long ceded to alzheimers and is now slowly wobbling around on a tennis ball padded walking aid with the subtle stench of sour pie wafting in the air.

But nevermind that, let’s turn back to when Supernatural was still a toddler and barely released its Pilot episode. Watch out for spoilers on the road ahead.

The episode begins 22 years ago in Kansas. It’s night, and a spooky tree casts a shadow on a small family house. Inside, a woman is putting her sons to bed, and all seems fine until she’s thrown to the ceiling by a supernatural power and then set on fire, along with the house.

Right off the bat, nice build up, nice spooky mood in that opening sequence and solid and swift establishment of the backstory.

We then cut to present day Stanford university where Sammy, one of the boys, is studying. Everything is going well for him, good grades, a promising law school interview, sexy girlfriend, friends and parties, at least until his brother shows up for a visit.

Sammy isn’t happy about seeing his bad/play boy of a brother, but Dean is there on family matters. Their father has gone missing, and he needs Sam to help find him. We also learn that for years their father has been dragging them around, hunting whatever killed their mother and meanwhile slaughtering all kinds of monsters, a life Sam ran away from.

But gingerly, he agrees to help Dean, family first after all, as long as they’re back ‘first thing Monday.’ And then they’re off to California, the place where their dad was working on a serial disappearances case.

We move to location and a man who is talking on the phone with his girlfriend while driving along, until he sees a woman in white drifting about the road. He stops to ask if she’s okay, and she asks him to ‘take her home.’ She then gives him the doe eyes and asks him to go home with her. And so he zooms off into the distance, the girlfriend be damned.

They arrive at destination, a dark abandoned house. The man is understandably perplexed, ‘Who would even live there?’ He turns to ask her the address again, but she’s gone. It’s halloween so naturally he concludes it’s a bad joke. Still, instead of doing the sensible thing and leaving, he enters the house.

Or at least he tries to until a frantic bird sends him scurrying back to his car and driving off. Once he has gained enough distance, he looks in the back mirror, and there she is. He skids to a stop on the bridge, a muffled scream and blood splattered windows. Classic horror.

The next day Sam and Dean come across the crime scene as they enter town. Time for action. Dean grabs a fake badge and heads to ask the cops a few quick question. He learns the man has a girlfriend and moves on to talk to her. She and her friend brief Sam and Dean on the local legend. A girl disappeared hitchhiking, presumed dead. A short look into the library archives provides a slightly different story, a record of a suicide on the bridge where the men are going missing.

They arrive on location and see a woman in white jump off the bridge, just before their car tries to murder them.

After surviving the attack, they check into a hotel, and the receptionist recognizes the card informing them that someone else checked in with similar. The first real hint of their father. But it doesn’t seem like anyone has been around for a while in his room though he did leave them an extensive amount of research on the case.

Before they can confront the husband, find the grave, and burn the body to get rid of the ghost, the local cops catch onto their fake cards and badges. They arrest Dean to question him about his father. After finding an extensive journal on supernatural things the cops suspect the Winchesters are a family of murdering psychopaths.

And while the cops are entertaining Dean, Sammy visits the husband, asking him about their marriage, his wife and her demise.

Meanwhile, Dean steals a paperclip and escapes the police station.

Now they know that they’re dealing with a ‘woman in white,’ a wife who was wronged, killed her children in her insanity, then killed herself, and now haunts unfaithful men. The brothers get a lead on their father too, he left coordinates in his journal.

But no time for that now, out on the road Sammy has a very close encounter with the woman in white. She gets into his car and demands he takes her home. He refuses. She isn’t happy, locking the doors and manipulating the car into driving by itself.

Once again it stops in front of the old house, the woman mumbles that she can never go home and jumps on Sam, determined to make him unfaithful. But before she can rip out his heart, Dean appears to the rescue.

Now freed, Sam takes her home by driving the car into the house. There, the ghosts of her children drag her down into hell.

The ghost is vanquished, the day is saved, and Sammy goes home just in time to prepare for the interview. He enters the apartment, goes to the bedroom, looks up and sees Jess, his girlfiend, pinned to the ceiling the same way his mother was at the start. She bursts into flames and nearly takes him too but Dean drags him away.

And so begin the road trip adventures of Sammy and Dean, as they fight monsters, dramatize about brotherhood and family and spew one liners and clever exchanges.

The atmosphere the series manages to build is still its best quality, alternating between spooky and action packed, dark and sometimes goofy. A definite must watch for lovers of paranormal stories.

Why do we have seasons?

2015-09-07T22:06:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered, as you watched the snow fall or basked in the summer sun, why is it that we have seasons? Why does water freeze into snowflakes at times while at others suffocates us with humid vapour.

What directs the drastic shifts in climate every spring or fall? No, it’s not because we revolve closer or further from the sun as many believe, the difference in the slightly elliptical orbit is not enough to cause heat changes.

We have seasons because our planet is tilted and at different times of the year the warm sunlight reaches the ground differently.

In the winter, not only are the days fleeting and short, but sunlight fall at an angle, failing to provide enough warmth to warm us up. Meanwhile, in the opposite hemisphere, light descends straight and the days are long and warm.

As for spring and fall, it is the time when the sun shines equally on both hemispheres, gifting us soft, temperate weather.

References and related reads:

SciJinks: Why does the Earth have seasons?

Woodland Junior School: Why do we have Seasons?

Nasa: What causes the seasons?

Everyday Mysteries: Why is it hot in summer and cold in winter?

Youtube: SciShow - Why do we have seasons?

Agents of S.H.E.L.D.

2015-09-02T22:25:00.000-04:00

With almost equal zeal to DC, Marvel have been chugging out TV series after TV series about their most favourite heroes and universes. Because they couldn’t only dominate in the cinema, they had to take over TV too. Not that I am complaining.

So without further ado The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The series meant to introduce the secret organization that keeps the world safe from superhuman terrestrial and extraterrestrial threats. And that’s the story, focusing around Coulson’s special team, the series follow Shield as it deals with a variety of threats usually revolving around getting, or retaking dangerous technology or dealing with unstable superpowered individuals.

I’ll say this from the start, I’m not a fan of the premise. The ideas behind some of the characters are not all that phenomenal either. The acting is alright though it can be awkward at times.

What really saves these series is the creators: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss, in particular, is well known for his strong female leads, complicated intercharacter relationships, good fight choreography and really solid story that aims to innovate and surprise. And here, he does just that. The effects and choreography are excellent, the dialogue is clever, and the story is well plotted.

The show is decent, usually not something I would watch, kind of tired of the government agency keeping the world safe premise. But I do watch it and it’s pretty high on my list.

A definite recommend, especially for fans of Marvel. Though be advised, you won’t be seeing any superheroes, at least not for now. The build up can be pretty slow though I found every episode pretty engaging and action packed.

But let’s move on to the Pilot and see how much promise the series shows in its opening. Needless to say, spoilers ahead.

We begin sometime after the events of The Avengers and the attack on New York with a woman narrating about how aware the world is now of heroes and monsters.

We then zoom in on a man buying a hotdog for his son. The kid isn’t too impressed with the food, he’s busy looking at action figures in the window of a store.

But no time for father-son bonding as the building next door explodes.

Well, at least we don’t have to beg for action.

The father leaves the son with a friend and rushes into the chaos to help. He hears a woman scream from a high window, and surprise, our character starts punching his way up the wall. He snatches the woman and jumps through the window. On the fifth floor.

Our superhero of the series you say… Nope, we don’t get to play with superpowered protagonists until way later on.

He doesn’t stick to answer any annoying questions or claim glory, but before he flees we meet our narrator and sort of protagonist Skye, played by Chloe Bennet, a young, expert hacker on a mission to expose all secrets the government hides.

The real action starts, however, with Agent Ward, played by Brett Dalton, who is on a mission in France to retrieve a mysterious package. He is promptly interrupted by “hostiles” and a short battle ensues. Naturally he wins and is whisked off in a helicopter.

The package, it turns out, is a piece of chitauri technology that he hands off to Avengers cameo Maria Hill, played of course by Cobie Smulders. And with this short sequence we are swiftly introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D. and its purpose: keep the world safe from threats and knowledge beyond people’s comprehension. And now after the grand alien exposure in New York and with information leaking networks such as The Rising Tide, a special team is formed under Agent Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, who is now mysteriously alive after his inspirational demise in Avengers. Ward is not too happy about him being assigned to said team, he’s a solo player, but it doesn’t appear that he has a choice.

No time to dwell on that, we return to our young hacker now stalking the hero from earlier to warn him about the scary government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and try to persuade him into taking up a hero’s mantle. Mike Peterson, played by J. August Richards, isn’t interested in her idea, nor happy about her pestering.

We move on to meeting member number three of the brigade, Agent Melinda May, played by Ming-Na Wen, now retired from field duty to push papers. She is rather reluctant about returning but Coulson works his awkward charm and promises he’s only taking her aboard as a pilot.

And oh look at the time, it’s the obligatory comic relief/tech nerd character introduction hour. In this case the Fitz/Simmons duo, played by Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge, a talented young engineer and his partner in science a biochem babe.

And then of course, the final member of the team: Lola, the flying car.

So with our team assembled the Shield plane departs on its first mission. Said mission being interrupting Skye from recording her next inspirational Rising Tide video. Bagged and tagged she’s brought on the plane for interrogation and while Ward and Coulson are playing good cop/bad cop the rest of the team is looking into the explosion.

Skye mockingly informs them about Centipede, a million dollar project no one at Shield seems to know about. Turns out that Mike Peterson is one of the test subject of said project where using alien technology they enhanced his strength in exchange of course for a really short temper. Great powers often come with great disadvantages.

The explosion, it turns out, destroyed a high tech lab working on Centipede.

Meanwhile, Mike argues with his ex-boss and loses control. After seeing the report about the savagely beaten man, Skye is finally convinced to share what she knows with Shield.

And again, surprise, surprise, Mike knows the woman he saved, she’s his doctor. She calmly explains to him that her bosses don’t like being exposed and that Mike Peterson needs to “disappear.”

Centipede, our protagonists meanwhile uncover, is a program aiming to create super soldiers, much like our beloved Captain America. And the first test subject raged so hard he exploded taking the whole lab floor with him.

After consulting with his doctor, Mike whisks off Skye from the scary men in black so she can make new identities for him and his son. Now convinced he needs help, she manages to hack into Shield’s network and broadcast her coordinates to Coulson.

His team moves to confront Mike and unsurprisingly negotiations don’t go smoothly. A short action chase scene ensues and in the end Mike is subdued by Fitz/Simmons new stun gun invention right before he explodes.

The day is saved, Mike is free from the explosive rage inducing contraption, he and his son are given a new home, and our special secret team is formed, now with a computer whiz on board.

Overall it was a stable beginning. The dynamic editing definitely helps the episode, keeping us on our toes with short spurs of action intertwined with brief introductions or exposition. The team itself can be quite clunky, but eventually the actors and their characters grow into their roles. Also, yes, I know, everyone hates Skye, but she does get better as the series progress.

The pop references can get quite old at times, but I do like the way they intertwined the series with the universe of the movies. I also found myself surprised or laughing in a good way more times than I expected.

So I’d give it a watch, premise wise it’s nothing really special, but the story gives it its zing.

Why do deserts form?

2015-08-31T19:43:00.000-04:00

Last week we spoke of sandy beaches along the vast seas… And today we take a look at a different kind of oceans, the endless expanse of dunes we know as desert.

Much like on the beach, in the desert sand due to erosion, inheriting the colour of the rocks and soil and varying in consistency according to the extent of weathering. Unlike our favourite summer destination, however, deserts are the last thing we want to spend our vacation in unless it’s to see the pyramids or the spring blooms.

Photo by Winfried Bruenken

Photo by Javier Rubilar

Deserts can be cold or hot and equally unfriendly to the majority of living beings, but how do they form and conquer so much land?

A variety of conditions and reasons lead to the formation of deserts but by far the most important are distance from the ocean and the presence of natural barriers such as mountains. The further we get from the seas, the dryer the air becomes as moisture is absorbed by the land and plants along the way leading to little or no rainfall in the inner areas. Mountains, like the Andes or the Himalayas, are also excellent shields against moisture, trapping clouds to one side and leaving the other dry.

Desertification also depends on the winds, dryer, hotter winds in the equatorial zones can slowly erode the land into finer and finer sand. These winds prevent the formation of clouds and the dryer the area becomes, the fewer the plants keeping the soil together. The more sand is formed due to erosion, the stronger the wind erosion becomes as sand is carried on, grinding down hills and suffocating plant life.

Or at least that’s the simple version. Deserts may be hot or cold, covered in sand, pebbled stone or even ice, they can have little to no vegetation or a cover of low grasses, what they all have in common is the aridity. Whether no rain falls, or the land and air are unable to preserve moisture, the lack of surface water leads to scarcity of plants and large empty planes of sand or ice dunes.

References and additional reads:

National Geographic Encyclopedia: Desert

Bright Hub: Learn How Deserts Came Into Existence

St. Mary College Media: How are deserts made?

Geology Class: The Geology of Deserts

Wikipedia: Desert

Vikings

2015-08-26T16:38:00.001-04:00

Today we depart for the frozen wastelands in the far north. To a treacherous landscape dotted with forests, beasts and danger that gives birth to the toughest of marauders and warriors: Vikings. A historical drama about, well Vikings.

The plot is relatively simple, it’s about Vikings, their society, laws, customs and beliefs. We follow Ragnar Lothbrok, played by Travis Fimmel who, tired of constant raids to the east, embarks on a trip west in search for richer lands and loot.

However historically accurate the show is, it’s engaging enough, though it can be too dramatic at times which can slow down the action quite a bit.

As expected and demanded from such series the props, make up and fight scenes are good, everything well made and choreographed. The acting is decent too, and the series is shot well and on location in Ireland.

Overall I’d give it a watch, especially if you like hardcore historic dramas about people struggling to make a living in a harsh world riddled with battles, political, social or actual.

Without further ado, Vikings episode one: Rites of Passage.

We open in the Eastern Baltic Sea, sometime early AD. Or so the caption tell us before panning to a tree being struck by a lightning and the face of a bloody viking, Ragnar. It’s the aftermath of a battle and the winners are culling the fields for any survivors. One of the victors looks over the land littered with corpses and perhaps it’s his fatigue playing tricks on him but he sees the figure of death strolling among the bodies accompanied by crows. He blinks and a vision of valkyries descend for the souls of the warriors.

Unspecified time later, in Scandinavia, two women are fishing in a shallow body of water. It’s Ragnar’s family, his wife and daughter fetching dinner while he trains his son with the sword. A perfect picture of normalcy.

The next day the father and his son depart for the annual gathering, and no sooner is he gone that two vile looking men invade his house. His wife offers them drinks or food if they’re in need, but they desire other things. However, viking women are no pushovers and Lagertha, played by Katheryn Winnick, shows them the right way to use a heated hearth poker.

Every summer the men are sent at sea to raid for resources in foreign lands. Usually, they’re sent east, but the people there are as poor as them so our protagonist intends to argue for sailing west. His confidence comes from a sundial/compass he received from a wanderer but the lord isn’t easily swayed by the offer, instead taking offence in his meddling.

We also see the viking court of law in action and the preciousness and political struggles for farmland, the lord rules, the people rule, and the criminals are punished.

After the refusal, Ragnar finds himself at a loss so he consults the oracle of the gods. But like any other prophet, he grants him a cryptic answer. With the oracle being no help, Ragnar goes to talk to Floki, played by Gustaf Skarsgård, a boat builder and a seer of sorts. But he does not seek advice, he has asked instead for a boat to sail without the need for his lord’s assistance.

While the stars are aligning, Ragnar returns home to discus the crew gathering with his brother in arms. Who for some unfathomable reason decides to mess with his wife. Not a smart idea considering she’s an ex shieldmaiden. So why would Ragnar’s self proclaimed brother try to seduce his wife?

Nevertheless, she promptly puts him in his place, her words as sharp as her sword.

Meanwhile as Ragnar is tying up the boats, he sees death again. He takes it as a sign that they are doing the right thing.

Soon the boat is ready, but Floki isn’t too confident in his craft. It was too fine an idea for him to pull off, he claims, but Ragnar believes it won’t sink.

The episode ends with a nice cliffhanger of the lord pouting upon hearing about the boat.

Overall not bad, anyone who likes character drama would find it engaging enough. Good acting, decent story and okay fighting whenever it happens. The episode was slow, but engaging, give the show a watch if you like historical reimaginings.

What determines the colour of sand?

2015-08-24T16:04:00.001-04:00

If there was one place we’d rather be on a hot summer day, other than a well air conditioned room, it’s the beach. Palm trees, clear skies, pristine waters, and golden sands as far as the eye can see.

Or maybe white sands, orange, or black, or red, or even green. Beaches come in many shades. So what determines their colour, and the colour of sand in general?

The short answer is the geology of the region.

Sand is composed of fine particles formed when rocks and minerals are weathered down and eroded. In Hawaii or Iceland we find black sands formed by lava rocks like basalt. In other places we see red beaches because of the high iron content in the soil. Beyond rocks and soils, common ingredients are shells, corals or minerals like quartz that give the sand a pink or even pristine white hue.

Usually sand is a mixture of different types of minerals and rocks that make it brown or tan in colour but when we have a dominant or single source of formation, we may get quite vivid colours.

References and related reads:

Wikipedia: Sand

Coastal Care: Beach Basics

Rock Cycle lab: Analyzing the Origin of Different Sands

Tourism on the Edge: World’s Most Beautiful Colorful Sand Beaches

Pictures: Spectacular Sand Beaches in a Rainbow of 10 Incredible Colors

Andromeda

2015-08-19T16:05:00.000-04:00

This week we take a look at Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. I wondered why in every ad, introduction or opening they kept underlining the name of the maker rather than the title. I mean how much more important can the screenwriter be than the series very title? And then I did a short google search and realized he was the maker 0f the original Star Trek. Ah, that’s what they tried to capitalize on. Though their insistence on his name in the title is somewhat deceiving because while the series are based on an archived idea of his, he was long dead to develop, observe or participate in the scriptwriting of the actual TV series.

So what exactly is Andromeda and how good is it compared to other sci-fi series?

The main plot is pretty simple. Once there was a strong and just systems confederation called the Commonwealth, one of its members rebelled and shattered the union. 300 hundred years in the future, people hardly remember the good times as their galaxy is ravaged by strife, lawlessness and poverty.

However, one of the best Commonwealth battleships is stranded on an event horizon along with its Captain Kevin Sorbo as Kevin Sorbo, I mean Dylan Hunt. And once he gets free, he embarks on a mission to restore the galactical communism, ahem Commonwealth, so that everyone can live better. He is joined by a diverse crew of aliens, who are mostly modified humans living on other planets and two actual aliens. The episodes are mostly stand alone as Andromeda, the ship, encounters different adventures, with some overarching character and story lines.

The acting is decent. At least the actors seem to have fun with the roles without making their characters too over the top or stereotypical. Most of the time anyway. Lexa Doig is also in the series though it’s not her finest performance with lots of eyebrow use to compensate. She does improve a as the series progresses.

Both the music and the dialogue can be quite cliche and obvious.

The CGI doesn’t look all that convincing even for its time. Love the ship design though. The art does improve as the series progresses and looks almost smooth by season three, but they never really get past repeated footage and low quality 3D images. The makeup and sets are pretty good though.

Andromeda is decent, though cheesy and unpolished at times. It could have been better, but it’s still fun. An okay watch for sci-fi fans.

But let’s take a look at episode one. Or should I say one and two because the series opens with a two parter. How bold. So here are Under the Night and An Affirming Flame, featuring Kevin Sorbo’s hair, Lexa Doig’s boobs and RatMan.

The episode opens with the starship Andromeda running a combat drill. Despite a few slowpokes, it all goes well. Until they get a distress signal from a supposedly small Nietzschean ship under attack.

The so called Nietzscheans are off world humans who are genetically engineered and socially and ideologically bred for perfection. Or at least for what they consider physical and mental perfection.

Andromeda responds to the call just to find itself in the middle of an invading fleet. Turns out, the Nietzschean systems decided to rebel and create their own empire. I mean what can you expect from people who call themselves Nietzscheans? Sit around and sip wine while discussing culture? Yeah, there’s a lot of that too. But mostly xenophobic, self-serving behaviour and philosophy. The concept of the Nietzscheans really plays on the idea of master and slave morality, but for anyone interested in that aspect go read Beyond Good and Evil or On the Genealogy of Morality. I do like how sci-fi plays with philosophy though.

The battle doesn’t go well for Andromeda and Dylan orders his crew to abandon ship. he then turns towards the nearby black hole hoping to take as much of the enemy fleet with him as possible.

His best friend, and second in command, is a Nietzschean who, gasp, betrays him. But it is not the villainesque ‘I got you’ kind of betrayal but more like the ‘sorry friend but I’m loyal to my people’. So rather than individuals, beliefs and systems of governance play the role of the real antagonist in the series.

The Officer kills the pilot, a fancy bug alien, too bad she didn’t stick around, and the two battle it off as the ship drifts towards the black hole. Dylan wins just as time dilation becomes so large time just stops. Not sure it works quite like that, but okay, I’ll buy it.

Side note: Dildo laser guns. Who came up with those things? Seriously? But they are handy since they not only shoot but also elongate into staffs.

While the beginning does establish the main conflict and characters it is a bit hard to follow. We don’t know why suddenly part of the confederation decides to rebel. It makes even less sense considering no one saw it coming or noticed them building an armada. The Nietzschean motivation is even iffier. They are gene modified and decide to destroy/enslave those inferior. Again, how did the rest fail to notice such discriminatory ideology? But let’s suspend our disbelief and imagine the conflict has been built off screen in the backstory.

Still we get a lot of name/species dropping and expository dialogue trying to cram in knowledge that we can’t relate to because the universe hasn’t been established yet. Classic example of telling rather than showing, lethal when we’re talking about TV series. It does get smoother as the series progresses, but we are swarmed with too much build up context too early.

But moving on.

We cut to 300 years later, when Beka Valentine, played by Lisa Ryder, and her crew of mongrels are hired by the Ratman, I mean Gerentex, played by John Tench, to do a transportation job. Pull out the Commonwealth starship from the black hole, bring to seller, profit.

Only they didn’t take into consideration that there might be someone on the ship who isn’t too inclined of surrendering it. Nor that the ship’s AI is complex enough to possess a personality and equally unhappy about surrendering herself.

But that’s okay because Ratman brought his own crew of mercenaries, led by a Nietzschean, Tyr Anasazi, played by Keith Hamilton Cobb who is considered by random pop magazines as one of the prettiest people alive.

So surprise, surprise, Ratman plans to double cross them once the ship is under control.

Beka’s crew is cornered between the angry Commonwealth captain and the treacherous Gerentex so they decide to ally Dylan, the more reliable character. They win, send the rat on its way, annex Tyr who is equally annoyed with him and impressed by Dylan, and then are gently coerced into becoming the Andromeda’s crew.

From there on, Dylan takes them on his crazy mission to restore the Commonwealth, meanwhile each character deals with their own personal issues and storylines.

If there’s one thing I love about this kind of shows are the characters. Mostly quirky, sometimes stereotypical, but nevertheless fun as the writers experiment with ideas and designs. The same can be said here, we get a rather varied and balanced crew, while still filling the necessary roles. The brilliant pilot, the quirky medic and plant lover, the spiritual quantum physicist (or something along those lines), the ship mechanic, the weapons and combat expert, topped with a justice frenzy, strategist of a captain. And lets not forget the AI that is slowly learning what is like to be a human.

So even with the flaws, Andromeda still grabs the attention and serves some decent action.

How does caffeine affect us?

2015-08-17T12:05:00.000-04:00

The sun is rising, the birds are singing, and traffic is starting to hum outside your window. It’s a brand new day and most of you probably won’t even crawl out of bed without a hot cup of coffee waiting in the kitchen.

Drinking coffee has not only become a daily routine for many, but also a ritual ingrained in culture and history. People gather to chat over coffee, drink it with breakfast or dessert. Some mythologies incorporate it, and many economies depend on it.

But why has coffee become such a big thing? What has made it into one of the primary substances consumed, almost on par with sugar?

Taste certainly has a part in it, but mostly coffee is favoured for its properties. In a busy world where you need to get up early and remain at your best through the day, it is irreplaceable. Coffee is considered a stimulant, keeping you awake, alert, and energetic.

How does this work exactly?

When the brain prepares to rest, a chemical called adenosine binds to specific receptors signaling you to feel tired, slowing down nerve impulses and gently guiding you to sleep. Caffeine has a very similar structure to adenosine, tricking the receptors into binding it instead. As caffeine intake reaches its peak, it outcompetes adenosine, preventing the brain from feeling fatigued. It also increases the heart rate and prepares the muscles for action, leaving you ready to face the day.

But for all the benefits, caffeine comes with an equal amount of drawbacks. Like any other drug, it can lead to addiction and withdrawal, even if weak, when consumption is interrupted. Some of the side effects include anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, upset stomach, irritability, and dizziness. And while coffee can alleviate headaches and migraines, habitual drinking can actually cause them.

You may feel energetic, but that feeling is a false one. Caffeine tricks the body into using up its energy reserves, which can leave you extra tired once it leaves the system.

Despite all, coffee is still the preferred morning beverage and drank reasonably in moderation can provide more good than harm.

References and related reads:

The Independent: Under the Microscope: How does caffeine work?

MedicalNewsToday: What is caffeine? How does it work?

mental_floss: How Does Caffeine Work?

howstuffworks: Why does caffeine keep you awake?

LifeHacker: What Caffeine Actually Does to Your Brain

Wikipedia: Coffee

Warehouse 13

2015-08-05T17:19:00.002-04:00

Today we delve into one of the stereotypical government agents hunt down wacky artefacts series. In this case, Warehouse 13.

And that’s pretty much it. Simple theme, simple execution. The show is mostly carried by its wackiness, the weird objects, their effects, and the stories surrounding them. The characters, two government agents and their allies, are quite stereotypical, with one overarching trait each. True, there’s some development as the series progress, but it’s never the characters that make it watchable. Except for H. G. Wells, played by Jaime Murray, she was quite enjoyable.

The acting itself is okay, and so is the CG, nothing exceptional, just okay. The music can be annoying at times, too whimsical, or too obvious, or too annoying, but it fits so that at least is okay.

The series is formulaic, but enjoyable. Nothing too absorbing or philosophical. Just harmless, nonsensical, wacky, fun.

So I guess that’s how I’d characterize it, wacky, give it a watch if you’re starved for a ‘government agency saves the world’ themed series and have nothing else to see.

So what about the pilot?

The episode opens in a museum in Washington, DC, where Agent Myka Bering, played by Joanne Kelly, is overseeing the preparation for an operation. With the comical music in the background promising whimsical, slapstick fun. None follows. For the moment.

Meanwhile, Agent Pete Lattimer, played by Eddie McClintock, gets up from a one night fling with a bimbo who can’t figure out his job by his badge. Ah, a stuck up female Agent, and a ladies man male Agent, classic.

Somewhere else, a random lab person is working on a creepy, round, stone mask. A ritual blood stone thingy, or so he clarifies. A minor accident occurs, he gets cut and ‘feeds’ it some blood. We know this won’t lead to anything good right from the start.

I’m not really a fan of fragmented introductions. I suppose they work, but I prefer more connected beginnings. They make a story feel smooth, well connected, and not just patched up. At least it establishes everything fast and painless, character, situation, and stereotypes.

But moving on. The bimbo works as a server at the reception in the museum. It’s an expensive, high profile exhibition of new artefacts and the secret services are there to supervise. We see the lab attendant again, gulping in a whole glass of champagne, sweating profusely and acting creepy. The music makes sure to drive home the ominous foreshadowing, of course, along with a bloody fingerprint he leaves on the glass.

Immediately after, we’re introduced to the character conflict, Myka’s stuck up, Pete’s trying to be a playboy, perhaps I mentioned that already, and they are having a little alpha contest about who’s in charge. In other words, were this real life, he’d be fired or demoted at best.

Apparently, he gets ‘vibes’ so he knows what’s the best position for him, regardless of what was assigned. But this is a supernatural-ish show, so lets let it slide.

Another mysterious character with grey hair, grey beard, round glasses and a vintage doctor’s bag shows up, and the lab guy, stares at the mask with bloodshot eyes. Then the mysterious character starts disabling agents with a weird electric gun. Is he our bad guy? Probably not, the music didn’t cue an ominous, dramatic note when he entered, instead we get whimsical action choir.

Pete sees the mask bleed and whisks it off, shouting he’s secret service. Now, I’m not sure it works quite like that. So why isn’t anyone calling security?

Myka sees the lab attendent, the blood he lets drip behind him, and the knife thing he pulls so she removes her heels, gathers up her dress, and jumps in pursuit. On a different museum level, Pete drops the mask and it rolls right to the mysterious character who is now sprouting weird protective goggles. The mask is neutralized, the creepy lab guy is subdued, and the exhibition is saved.

And we’re about ten minutes into the story. Not bad. Quite a lot of action in quite a little time without feeling rushed. Though from here on the story stalls.

First we get the obligatory, I know what I saw, versus we need urine sample to test you for drugs. Pete is suspended because his story is too crazy, but then Myka and he are transferred under the invitation of the mysterious Mrs Frederic, played by CCH Pounder. The two bicker, he fucked up but why is she taken along as well to a government facility in the middle of nowhere, and etc.

Some witty banter here and there, but overall its all cheese. Granted, not that bad cheese, but still cheese.

So the agents are introduced to the Warehouse and its wacky watcher Artie, or the mysterious character we saw earlier, played by Saul Rubinek. His character trait is that he’s smart and wacky.

Also there’s a cow in front of the warehouse, no one knows why, not what the poor thing eats as there’s no grass, but there’s a cow.

They spent the next twenty-ish minutes messing around, exploring the warehouse, and coming to terms with the fact wacky sciency, paranormal things exist and then getting in trouble by mistreating artefacts. That’s what the series are in a nutshell. They either need to find a misbehaving artefact or they start trouble on their own by messing with one already in the warehouse.

There’s also a lot of mumbo jumbo about energy, predisposition, alignments destiny and all that nonsense. I like to swipe that under the rug and never look at it again, else I get a headache trying to figure out what it all means.

In this episode the artefacts in question are Houdini’s wallet, which falls into Myka’s purse by accident, and Lucrezia Borgia’s comb. The comb induces rage in a young man forcing him to do bad things, makes a teacher set himself on fire, and other random accidents all incited by the a woman under its influence.

Luckily, our agents find the artefacts, neutralize it with the purple stuff, that’s what it’s called in the series, dispel whatever hold it had over the woman, the man, and the audience of a play and all is good and well until the next wacky adventure.

They do get in a car accident in the process, you know for action and stuff. The wallet, by the way, causes ghosts to appear, for some reason, in this case bringing visions of Sam, an agent Myka couldn’t save. It’s a minor story line that goes on for a while.

Overall, the episode is okay, it introduces the characters, the theme, the plot, but it meanders a lot and a slower, calmer lookover by the writers could easily yield a faster, shorter episode. Or at the very least something less than an hour and a half, which is how long the pilot episode is. Some shows may need such a long start, this one I’d ascribe to sloppiness in writing.

Why does the road appear wet when it's hot?

2015-08-03T21:45:00.000-04:00

There’s no better time for a road trip than summer. But while they always lead us to exciting destinations, the journey itself can be quite laborious and hot. For hours, you may be stuck in a car, mindlessly looking out of the window, dozing off, or even driving. Sometimes in the heat of the day, a shimmery haze appears on the horizon as if water or even oil have been spilled all over. Yet there’s not a single cloud in the sky, and once you approach and drive past, the highway is as dry as it has been and the puddle has moved on.

Everyone who has observed asphalt in the summer has seen this phenomenon. It is called heat haze, an inferior mirage since it appears under the real object.

But how exactly does it form?

Under the sun, asphalt is much akin to a stove top, radiating heat and even capable of frying eggs if necessary. It turns the air drifting over it into a nice warm blanket that clings to the ground.

Like any optical mirages, the vision is caused by the way light travels through substances. Different media, including different atmospheric conditions, allow and bend light differently.

When it hits this border between the hot air of the asphalt and the cooler air above, the rays are refracted. What we see is the sky lying on the road because of how light is bent and redirected but our brain interprets it as water. Due to this refraction we may also see cars as if reflected in the surface underneath strengthening the illusion of water.

This phenomenon is also why we see oases and mirages in the desert.

Resources and additional reads:

Wikipedia: Mirage

PhysLink: What is the mirage effect?

thePhysicsClassroom: Mirages

MentalFloss: Why Does the Road Look Wet on Hot Days?

Descend

2015-07-31T17:31:00.000-04:00

After resting for a moment in the shadows of the shrine we started on our way back, weaving down the rough gravel path that led around the hill and down to the fields. Between the trees something glinted, a kind of a shine, and as we approached saw golden figures sitting among the green.
A golden buddha preaching a sermon to his followers.

We didn’t linger long before proceeding, and soon the fields opened before us again. It was the very fringes of the temple, and one final shrine looking over the sea of grass. A shrine dedicated to the death of the buddha and his final words to his followers.

The Secret Circle

2015-07-29T14:26:00.001-04:00

The Secret Circle is a teen witch show, a series that try to ride the teen fantasy craze before it sizzled out. It is based on a young adult book series, because what wasn’t in 2011, but since I haven’t read any of the books I can’t tell you how faithful it is. The same author wrote the Vampire Diaries though so take from that what you will.

The show follows Cassie a young witch who after the loss of her mother in a mysterious fire, moves in with her grandmother and begins to discover her powers. She is quickly swept into the local teen coven, and shenanigans ensue as teenage hormones run rampant, and the elder coven, pretty much the parents, aren’t too happy about their kids leaning magic. They have all sworn off it, you see, after some horrible, horrible, mystery accident.

So Cassie embarks on a journey to understand herself, her past, and unravel a few mysteries and intrigues. Pretty straightforward I’d say if it wasn’t for the dozens of storylines interweaving into a mess of a bird’s nest in a pile of hay.

Personally, I do not recommend. I did not enjoy it, and though it had some nice concepts of magic and okay effects, it was all too glossy and too slow for my tastes.

Pass.

But, nevertheless, let’s examine the pilot episode.

It opens with a narration, rambling something about destiny, as our protagonist Cassie, played by Britt Robertson, is driving home on an empty road. The action doesn’t take long to kick in as another car comes out of nowhere and almost crashes into hers, and she pops a tire trying to swerve away. But said actions trickles dry just as fast, replaced by awkwardness as a car stops to observe and then flees like a creeper when Cassie asks for help.

She calls her mom instead to let her know of her tardiness, but things start magically going very wrong on that side. A water faucet explodes, the oven catches fire, all the while a creepy man loiters nearby, spilling a bottle and then flicking a lighter. We get some sense how magic works in that universe, so far so good on the build up part.

The creeper starts lighting matches and accordingly the house catches fire burning Cassie’s mother to a crisp.

My only problem here, is that they showed the killer’s face. They could have easily built more mystery and suspense if they hadn’t revealed the culprit right away.

We cut to one month later and teary eyed Cassie staring at some random lake in some random woods with some random pop song playing in the background. It’s here that the series begin trying too hard hitting on the way nearly every cliche in the book.

Cassie moves to a new town to live with her alienated grandmother, alienated because this is the first time the girl’s ever been to her house. Apparently her mother never went to visit her relatives, nor spoke about the past.

Reunion and trying to establish relationship with a relative, check. Mysterious past to investigate, check. Dead father she never knew, naturally. A hot boy neighbour who likes to stand in front of the window shirtless, of course. But that’s okay, they paint him as creepy. Despite the flowy blond hair and all the abs. And for some reason the show is stuck on a lullaby. The narration started with it, the opening title has it, Casie is humming it and the piano soundtrack mimics it. So a mysterious, creepy melody that her mum used to hum, check.

Like in any other teen show ever, Cassie is simply slumped by the fact she needs to start a new school, because school, just ugh. And the list continues, looking at dead mom’s pics before bed, check. All right already, we get it she misses her mom, move on.

So let’s see the new school, meet the president and talk some more about Cassie’s mother and how everyone knew and cherished her, and she was the queen and all, yet she would never talk about her life in her hometown. Spooky! I mean, foreshadowing!

But moving on to creepy-mac-abster, and his equally creepy friend as they whisper around about Cassie like total creepsters. The new guy then proceeds to creepily stare at her. Did I put that across as clear as the series did? And for those who still didn’t get it, it’s all very creepy. But wait, are you sure you got it? Here are two creepy chicks, commenting on how pretty she is in her face without blinking. Just in case you still didn’t, another girl approaches, who also seems to know everything about her, and invites her to hang out after school.

Of course, as a new girl trying to fit in, Cassie goes, and she can’t walk ten metres without someone stopping her to say how much she looks like her mother and how well they knew her. In this case, it’s the owner of the diner she was invited to. Oh look at that, he’s the father of the second creepster guy. Don’t forget to have him ramble about how much he loved her mother, but she chose another guy, but it’s okay, it was all written in the stars.

How long into the episode are we again? Twelve minutes… Holy, fucking, hell. I need a break. But I fear if I take one, I will spontaneously forget I was ever reviewing this thing.

So marching on.

We meet Adam, played by Thomas Dekker, and our most obvious FRI for the day. Remember folks, romantic interest equals long, creepy, silent stares and stuttering every time the creature tries to interact with our Sue.

And the two bitchy witches arrive to save us from the awkwardness. It is replaced, instead, by creepiness, as the newcomers start discussing Cassie’s life and past in front of her, commenting on how hot Adam is every now and then.

Our protagonist tries her best to act human, and reasonable, unlike everyone else, so she gets the fuck away the moment the head bitch blinks.

The two creepy girls proceed to watch her through the window discussing how she doesn’t seem to know, and then using magic mess with the engine, setting in on fire and then locking Cassie in the car. Clueless protagonist and evil witches, check.

It was all to determine if she had magical powers of course, no ill intent, besides Adam was there to save her by staring very hard at the fire to extinguish it.

But I don’t think we had had enough character conflict so far, so introducing Adam’s girlfriend, the girl that invited Cassie to the diner in the first place.

So while Adam and Cassie are cranking up the uncomfortable teen attraction levels, as much as two straw dolls can, the girlfriend decides to actually be useful and confronts the bitchy witch. That’s okay though, she’s only worried about exposure, because you see, they are on the same side. Bitchy witch reveals that it wasn’t her who sent the car on fire but Cassie because she’s strong and has potential and they want her in the club. The trick is, to have any sort of real magical power, a circle of witches is needed and Cassie is the last member. But a chasm forms between miss girlfriend and bitchy witch as one wants to take it slow, and the other not so much.

Around Cassie, things start getting freakier, and she begins to suspect something is off, just not what.

But that’s besides the point, time to walk ten more metres and meet someone else who recognises her and knows everything about her and her mom.

I’ll make it short from here. It continues like this, building up, weird people meeting, talking to her about her mother, the parent figures vaguely speaking about magic and past tragedies, you know to establish that mystery element and all, and girlfriend character deciding to reveal everything to Cassie and take her into their circle.

She does that by leading her into a creepy house to meet the rest of the creepy teenagers. Naturally, the girl freaks and runs the hell away. But that’s okay, captain Adam comes to the rescue and shows her the wonders of magic, but now without some forced romantic tension of course.

Cassie still leaves and the creepsters reconvene to plot some ritual they need to perform to put their power under control. Their group quickly falls apart as bitchy witch is being all bitchy and power hungry.

Meanwhile, our protagonist seeks an answer with Adam’s cryptic, crazy father, but just before he can reveal anything relevant he is interrupted by random street creepster number two that she met earlier in the day. Still he foreshadows the chance her father is alive. Alive and a “very, very bad man.”

But moving on to bitchy getting drunk on power, turning off random lights and starting thunderstorms. A storm, she can’t stop so we can have some tension and maybe action as Cassie rides to the rescue to help them.

Cassie then goes home, creepy parent elements are being creepy, Adams pops for a visit to force spike the tension, she finds a magic book and a mysterious letter from her mother, and that’s it, episode over.

I guess they managed to establish the story and the characters in one episode, kudos to that. But one thing I don’t get. There’s magic in the world, yet this story insists on keeping us locked in this humany, teeny drama as a bunch of adults try to control the use of magic while the kids rebel. While that’s an adequate plot idea, the scope is just too small and too pathetic, the writer could have done so much more if she had escaped the frames of family drama.

Overall, I am utterly unimpressed. The series is mediocre at best and treats its audience like a brain dead horse. And the build up drags on and on with its moody music and establishment scenes. The dialogue is just as obvious and dull, stating everything, all the time, leaving nothing to subtlety.

Though the biggest issue, which becomes obvious through the first few episodes, is that the story is too ambitious. It introduces a lot of trends, and characters, and relations, and mysteries, and themes, and conflicts, and everything, and very early on it becomes clear that it would be impossible to resolve all of it in a few seasons without botching up or rushing the plot.

That was my main problem with the show and the reason I dropped it, it was just overloaded with things doomed to never to be complete as the series got cancelled after one season.

Still, for any witch themes lovers, starved for some hands on magic, it’s something to play in the background on a boring day.

Where is our shadow on a cloudy day?

2015-07-27T21:54:00.001-04:00

Wherever we go, whatever we do, we’re always accompanied by a silent companion. Sometimes it’s quite dark and visible, and others it hides among its kind, but our shadow is forever bonded to us. Still, on certain overcast days, we may look around and notice that we are alone.

Where does our shadow go when the sky is cloudy grey?

Shadows are an optical effect caused by an object when it obscures the light source. And when there are many light sources, there can be many shadows.

A shadow such a common, everyday, thing that we may simply stop noticing it until it’s gone. Yet, it is also mysterious, so much so that we write and muse, and make metaphors out of it. In literature, some have written about the importance of a shadow, and how lacking it will make people shun and avoid you. And in art, shadows are essential, without them the picture may feel odd, unnerving, or simply lacking in some unfathomable way.

So what happens on a cloudy day? Light still streams from the sky, and we see our surroundings perfectly, so why are shadows faint or nonexistent?

Similar to how rainbows form after rain, the water droplets in the clouds diffuse most of the visible light, colouring the clouds white to darker and darker grey depending on their size and depth.

And as this mass of clouds scatters the sunrays, there simply isn’t a concentrated light source in the sky, and objects on the ground cast very faint or even no shadows. But while most of the sun’s radiation, and therefore visible light, are diffused or reflected, clouds don’t make UV rays any less dangerous and sunburn is still possible.

As for our constant companion, it return the moment a sunray touches the ground.

Resources and related reads:

Wikipedia: Shadows

University of Illinois: Scattering of Light

Hanover College: Shadow

American Scientist: Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

A small piece of Wilderness

2015-07-24T13:51:00.001-04:00

We passed the bell shrine and climbed up the hill. Slowly, the fields gave way to trees and a wooden staircase emerged before us. It seemed low, but every segment brought another, carrying us higher and higher into the trees.

As we ascended, the forest grew more unkempt, and at the very top, another small shrine awaited, struggling against the encroachment of nature.

No bells, nor chimes flowed through the wind here, replaced instead by birds and insects who had claimed domain of the high temple grounds.

Farscape

2015-07-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

Today we reach further back into the recent sci fi history, to the distant year of 1999 when the crazy rambled about the end of the world, the century was about to turn, and America collaborated with Australia to create Fascape.

Like Star Trek for many people, Farscape holds a special place in my heart as it entered my life somewhere around the beginning of my sci fi obsession. I’d go as far as to say it jump started it had I not seen Star Wars prior.

Farscape follows the adventures of John Crichton, played by Ben Browder, an astronaut testing a new gravity boosted way of space travel, only to collide with a wormhole and be sent lord knows where across the universe.

Fortunately for him, the universe seems to be quite populated because he hits one of the territories controlled by a number of alien species instead of showing up in the middle of nowhere and dying a cold, oxygen deprived death. In fact, he pops up right in the middle of a battle where his small shuttle is quickly swept into the fray.

Through the series, we follow him and the crew of an escaped prison ship Moya, as they struggle for survival and freedom while Crichton seeks a way back home. The characters are unique and interesting, and the story engaging. I have to admit there’s something missing, maybe in production, or because it was made for cable, or low budget, or I’m not really sure and it bugs me, but it’s still enjoyable to watch.

The CGI is somewhat dated, but pretty good for its time, smooth and blending well with the built sets though the sound design could use some work. The makeup is amazing too, though most of the aliens are too humanoid, given a crazy haircut and painted a different colour.

The actors are pretty good too, especially Browder who really sells his performance as Crichton and is a joy to watch.

So I give it a must watch, especially for sci fi fans. Farscape ran for four seasons, culminating in a TV movie, and got much less appreciation than I feel it deserved.

With full speed ahead, we plunge into episode one, otherwise called Premiere.

We begin with Crichton staring at the sunrise, in his Hawaiian shirt and the space shuttle launch pad on the horizon. The first bits of dialogue are some sciency mumbo-jumbo that let us know all conditions are good to go while in the background they are fitting Johny into his space suit. Some more mumbo-jumbo follows as the annoying friend reads through magazines, talking about the experiment they are about to perform. In layman terms, he’s going to ride the upper circles of the atmosphere, using momentum and gravity to catapult his little ship off into space.

The launch goes as planned, and soon Johnny is on the fringes of the planet ready to begin the experiment that will prove his theory right. Even sooner, trouble comes on the horizon as some electro magnetic anomaly messes with their system and communications. Homebase orders him to abort, but before he has the chance, Crichton crashes into the anomaly, ripping a wormhole through space.

John emerges on the other side uscathed and quickly realises he can’t contact base, in fact, he can’t tell where he is at all. Not a moment later, a few space fighters whooz past him, one of them hitting the tip of his shuttle wing and crashing into an asteroid. It’s momentary and seemingly insignificant, but comes to play a huge part in the plot.

As he exits from the asteroid field, a huge ship emerges before him. The fighters are attacking it, and free floating through space, John is caught in the battle and pulled into the ship.

A cat sized, bug of a robot crawls up his shuttle when he finally lands in the loading bay of the ship. It short circuits his electronics, which starts a fire, in attempt to get him out.

Crichton catapults the shuttle lid along with the robot, breaking one of its little antenna eyes in the process. He later duct tapes it, something that will mark the little critter as his pet through the series.

More of the robots swarm him when he attempts to go back into his ship, tazing him along to the control deck. Crichton blinks, unable to believe his eyes, as a blue woman and a crazy looking man with tentacle-like hair struggle to control the ship. The man easily picks him up, asking questions in a language John can’t comprehend. That is quickly mended when one of the small bots injects him with translator microbes that magically decipher any language.

They are asking about his ship, having brought him along because they’ve never seen one of its kind and wonder if it can help them escape.

We then see the pilot, a huge creature with pincer-like hands that controls the ship from its core. Said ship, Moya, is in fact alive, a creature that dwells in the emptiness of space, and the pilot is another alien that is inserted to control the leviathan after it has been adjusted to serve as a ship.

Another of the crew joins us on his levitating throne, Dominar Rygel XVI, voiced by Jonathan Hardy, a king in exile. Meanwhile, Crichton lays where they threw him, still trying to comprehend what is happening.

Hull integrity is critical and the blue alien, Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan, played by Virginia Hay, starts praying until Ka D’Argo, played by Anthony Simcoe, rips out the right cables and the controls are unlocked. The collar is off, and the ship can finally flee. But it’s not over yet, the main enemy force arrives and Moya needs to starburst the hell out of there.

We shift to the enemy main ship where a woman reports that Moya has escaped and there were two casualties. The commander, Bialar Crais, played by Lani Tupu, replies he cares not about casualties, but then the messenger mentions one of them is his brother. The fighter that hit Crichton’s ship. Things get personal.

We are fifteen minutes in and none of them are squandered. Swift, action packed, and easy to follow introduction to the premise, characters and conflict.

While the ship is trying to figure out where the hell it is, our crew exchanges names and stories. Zhaan is the leader of anarchist priests, Ka D’Argo killed a fellow soldier, and the toad man was too shitty a ruler.

Meanwhile, Crichton awakes naked on the floor of a cell, praying it was all a dream. The small robot with the broken eye chippers something nearby proving him wrong. He questions why he has been imprisoned, and Rygel answers because they can’t trust him and his new cellmate, Officer Aeryn Sun, played by Claudia Black, whose Prowler, one of the space fighters, was swept into the starburst.

Turns out, Crichton, and humans in general, look exactly like Peacekeepers, the aliens that are pursuing Moya. John approaches Aeryn to introduce himself and she promptly beats the crap out of him demanding his rank and identification.

On the control deck, Moya and its crew try to slip into the nether regions of obscurity, but because Johnny took down Crais’ brother, the leader sets out to take down the leviathan ship.

Sometime later, the escaped prisoners feed the new prisoners in hopes to get information of of them, but the crew’s relations quickly break down as they bicker and whine with Zhaan trying to restore piece. Something she will do throughout her presence in the series.

Moya stops by a planet to trade, replenish whatever mechanical components and fluids were lost, and are needed to restore normal flight speed. While in his cell, Crichton muses on how he got where he is, determining it must have been a wormhole so the only way to go back is wormhole as well. Problem is, where to find or how to create one?

Earlier Aeryn tried to sneak out a fork and failed, now when she snaps at Johnny, he shows her he stole one as well. The two flee the cell as she plans to sabotage the ship and contact her people. He talks her out of sabotaging and the two fly off on her ship and down to the planet.

The meeting with the Peacekeepers doesn’t go as planned, Crichton and Ka D’Argo are captured and Crais intends to fully dissect the human. Aeryn stands up for him and Crais orders her imprisonment as well.

They get away, of course, thanks to Crichton’s smart mouthness, and along with Officer Sun, return to Moya.

The enemy ships follow, and unable to star jump yet, Moya is limited to running. But Johnny gets a genious idea to use his theory, the one he was testing, and bounce the ship from the planet’s atmosphere. He proves his theory right, and they escape, plunging into uncharted territories and towards new adventures.

Overall, the episode was well paced and did a good job establishing the series with the variety of interesting characters. A good show to watch on a lazy evening.

How does heat affect us?

2015-07-20T18:59:00.000-04:00

You leisurely lounge at home on a summer afternoon, maybe the cooling is on, or a light breeze dances in the air but the heat still lingers, weighing you down. No matter what you do, where you turn, how many clothes you take off or cool drinks you chug, it always finds its way, wrapping you in a tight, warm blanket.

And when the heat becomes extreme, it can provoke quite radical physical reactions in the body, varying from flushing, sweating, dehydration, fatigue, nausea, headaches, cramps to even more serious illness and death.

Areas with high humidity make matters even worse because sweating and breathing are not as effective at cooling the body. In other words, as awesome as summer is, it should not be underestimated and precautions should be taken against the sneaky heat.

But what about some of the more subtle ways the sizzling summer days affect us? Heat makes our bodies unhappy and as a result, our mind isn’t at its perkiest either. First, our concentration suffers as it becomes increasingly difficult to focus on any brain related work beyond chanting ‘oh god its freaking hot’ in a loop. But not only do we feel extra lazy, but also more anxious and irritable, ready to snap at anything and anyone unless they come bearing gifts in the form of cool drinks or ice cream.

And the worst part is, there’s no escape this hellish nightmare other than sticking to air conditioned spaces, wearing as little clothing as possible, soaking in a pool, and making sure the soda on ice keeps coming.

References and additional reads:

National Weather Service: Health and Safety PDF

CBCNews: Too hot for your health, How heat affects the body

Scientific American: How Does a Heat Wave Affect the Human Body?

UoC, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources: How heat affects the body

Dominion

2015-07-15T16:47:00.000-04:00

I’m always up for angelic/demonic fiction so naturally Dominion caught my eye.

Even if it claims to be a descendant of Legion, a movie that didn’t leave me all too happy, I was ready to give Dominion a chance.

So, without further ado, SyFy’s Dominion. Snorts a laugh. Can you believe this poster?

Let me tell you, season two’s cover isn’t much better:

Which brings me to the first issue. The tone. The posters aren’t necessarily bad but establish up a much more ridiculous, over the top feel, while the actual series has a much more sombre, serious mood even if overly dramatic at times.

Dominion, in a nutshell, is a story about political games, romantic triangles, forbidden intra class love, personal struggles, angels dealing with internal issues, and a post apocalyptic society struggling to survive under the threat of Gabriel’s, the human exterminator, return.

It doesn’t look bad either. We get nice, if questionable, CGI, and artsy scene setup. Though at times it can seem a bit fake, more like a tacky art project, or out of place fashion magazine in an otherwise gritty environment.

My verdict is: hilarious in how seriously it takes itself. That doesn’t necessarily mean bad, the series can be fun at times, but I definitely wouldn’t call Dominion a masterpiece as it is often bogged down by unnecessary drama. It’s more about political games rather than action.

Oh yeah, and Anthony S. Head is in it. Playing the human villain. Kind of.

So let’s see what the pilot episode has to offer.

It opens with a “what happened before” narration. I cringe already, but at least the powerpoint looks pretty. Yada, yada, god fucked off, led by Gabriel, angels decided to destroy humanity, some refused to join, lesser spirits had no problem possessing humans left and right to serve as a cannon fodder. And, of course, one archangel, Michael, chooses to fight for humanity, because otherwise we wouldn’t have much of a story, poor Earth would be singed in minutes. Then prophecies, chosen ones, you know the drill. Not the most original story, well maybe not by now, and the worst part is the nice apocalyptic war happened in the shitty movie, and we’re stuck observing the aftermath. So forget anything you just heard about angel against human wars, and turn your eyes to the small flea infested refuge of Vega, former Las Vegas.

I do have to give them points for location though. The series was shot in South Africa, and we get some real nice scenery.

About minute and a half in, we meet the protagonist Alex, played by Christopher Egan, as he scavenges for supplies on his own. But fear not, he was not sent on a fool’s errand by an equally foolish authority, no he decided to sneak out on his own.

It was well shot though, and the reveal of the possessed humans was startling enough. If we can ignore all the cheese because a lot of the shots and developments drip with it.

The possessed do serve as a nice monster, a challenging enemy with creepy visuals and supernatural powers that is only outmatched by the angels themselves. Though a lot of that threat fades as angels are killed or drop dead left and right. Even our main stars, the archangels often struggle in their fights. Having it hard is nice and all, but there’s nothing quite like an enemy who can roll through hordes of humans without a scratch. And we don’t get much of that, we get gritty, physical fights, where even the angels often find themselves threatened or on the brink of extinction.

They are too earthy, too human, you just lack the mystery and threat of the supernatural. A monster is scary until you drag it into the light and showcase its weaknesses.

But moving on.

Naturally, Alex’s superiors are not too happy with his actions, sending him away for the Archangel to take care of.

The archangel himself, Michael, played by Tom Wisdom, poutingly stares through his windows from the highest tower of the city, after what appears to have been an orgy. I got to give it to them, the establishing scene with all the ladies was quite artsy though someone poured too much cooking oil on them.

Michael is upset, because all the ladies want him, and he’s too afraid to have a child, yet he indulges anyway. I find this whole theme/storyline laughable if not unnecessary. I guess they were trying to give him a conflict or a personality or something, but it just sticks out like a fragment that couldn’t quite blend but someone forgot to cut it out in the final version.

And of course, this scene could not end in any other way than Michal plunging out of the window and flying away.

The city itself, its layers and classes was an interesting idea that they tried and somewhat pulled off, introducing class problem, religious cults and the challenge to rule a post apocalyptic society and keep it from sliding into anarchy. As in any society, the poor are pretty fucked over, though what baffles me is why the army is held with such a low regard considering how necessary it is. If anything, the army should be above the petty aristocracy, considering it’s all that keeps the angels, and the possessed at bay. Granted, the first “ruler” is a general, but the rest of the council-thing are all civilians.

And we’re introduced to yet more intrigue. Alex, our lowly soldier, is having an affair with the ‘president’s’ daughter. Gasp! Which is problematic because the power families intend to join by marrying son of one to daughter of the other. One of the episode sub-plots is the lovebirds’ plan to fly away unless the big man lets them marry. That, will naturally be hindered by other events.

I’m kind of itching for fight scenes. Not that it drags, but I imagined more bloody battles between angels and the like and less human drama.

Actually, the series often has the feel of a family drama, which I’m not really a fan of, but I guess it does introduce tension and intrigue. The resolutions can be quite satisfying too when in the end you dump the whiny, useless character whose face you had to bear throughout, in the middle of the desert. Thought that means that he’s still alive and we’ll probably see more of him later. Ugh.

But it’s time to meet the damsel of the series, Claire, played by Roxanne McKee, who could not be more of a metaphor of the virgin mother. For heaven’s sake, in her first introduction she is in a white dress, with flowers in her hair, preaching to children under candle light about the chosen one.

We also see the orphan of the series, Bixby, played by Betsy Wilke. A pasty, thin blond girl with bags under her eyes who is dressed in rags and the protagonist feels personally responsible for looking after her. Yeah, she’s so dead.

A delegation from Helena, a neighbouring/rival city, arrives and the political games begin, each city trying to haggle something out of the other. The catch is Vega will soon have a nuclear reactor, and Helena, supposedly, has an air force. Again it was an interesting idea with the city relations and organisations, while Vega has a more cast like system, Helena seems to be a total tyrannical matriarchy.

A lot of things are introduced in the first episode themes, characters, plots, and at some point it begins feeling crowded. I just prefer more subtle or straightforward story lines. So I will speed-tell the rest so we don’t have to be here all day.

Alex’s father returns, drama ensues because he left without a word. Problems arise among the politicians because the delegation brought in angel infiltrators. All hell breaks loose. Oh and Alex is the chosen one. But the upper cast will cover up everything to keep the masses docile. The end.

The series are not bad, they bring a lot of ideas to the table, but I feel we can’t really focus on them all. A for effort, and if you do like overly complicated, intrigue clad dramas, give it a watch.

The Call of a Bell

2015-07-13T18:27:00.000-04:00

We left the building of the temple behind us, walking along the gravel pathways. Around us was the serenity of the forests and the well tended pools and gardens. In the distance, the pagoda of another structure emerged luring us with the golden shine of its top.

As we approached, the deep, resonating toll of a gong rang across the fields, fading in the wind. The clang repeated a few more times and as we turned a copse of trees we saw the shrine of its origins.

Before it, stood the statue of a priest, ready to cleanse all evil thoughts and spirits with the sound of the large bell.