Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Look at me keeping my promise to update on other media as well as television. And this one has a television connection anyway, so really, it would be wrong of me not to mention my impressions.

Living Dead in Dallas is the second book of the Southern Vampire Chronicles, the book series about Sookie Stackhouse on which True Blood is based. And book 2 is what season 2 was based on.

There are, of course, some major differences between the books and the TV series, and these differences promise to continue to grow as the seasons go on. And so far, I definitely prefer the TV series, for reasons I am about to get into, but that does not mean the books aren't worth a gander...well maybe the first one isn't (it was some bizarre, over-campy, badly-written stuff), but in the second one, the writing improved drastically.

The books are told in the first person, with Sookie relating things exactly as she sees and experiences them. Which means that Tara, Sam, and Jason get only brief mentions as they cross Sookie's path while she helps Bill and Eric deal with vampire politics. And boy do I miss them. Reading the books feels like people are missing, mostly because they are. The other characters are present to fill out Sookie's world, but the world itself is not full. In the show, you follow the adventures of the people of Bon Temps, not just of one sexy, vampire-loving, telepathic waitress.

And yet it is fascinating to read the books and see where the ideas in the show came from. The maenad is such a small character in the book, she shows up where people are having a party and takes them all as tribute to herself before she goes on. Her connection to Sookie is much more important than to Tara, and she is not searching for hearts or a particular supernatural being, just violence, sex, and drunkenness.

Plus, there are things that we haven't got yet in the series, and may never get. Like the fact that Bill is actually Andy Bellefleur's great great (somewhere in there) grandfather. Or the idea of Eric wearing multicoloured Lycra tights. Or that Sookie can occasionally hear a thought from a vampire (I wonder if that will ever appear in the series). And in Dallas, it was shape shifters who helped Sookie escape from the Fellowship of the Sun, rather than Jason. But the seeds for most of the story are already in the books, taken and elaborated upon, with the writers asking themselves how they can involve the characters we know rather than simply focusing on exactly what Sookie's got going on.

My advice? Read the books and watch the series. The order will not matter that much to you, and the differences, while noticeable are acceptable in both cases. Just to demonstrate, in the book, Lafayette dies, but you don't really care too much cause you hardly knew him. In the series, he lives, which is awesome because he's SO great.

Have you read the books?

White Collar - Threads, S01E02

Though this second episode lacked some of the panache and spark of the pilot, I am still convinced it is one of the best new shows out there.

The structure is that of a procedural, with a new crime to solve, a new criminal to catch every week. Never fear, the ongoing mystery of Kate's disappearance as well as the developing bond between our heroes, Caffrey (Matthew Bomer) and Burke (Time DeKay), will make missing an episode out of the question albeit possible.

This week, a criminal went from espionage to murder, but was unfortunately overhears by a model. She claimed she'd never forget his voice, and so Caffrey convinced the FBI to hold a party, organized by Burke's lovely wife, Ellis (Tiffani Theissen), the which the ghost, as the criminal was called, would be certain to attend.

In the end, Burke helped recover the model from the ghost, who had kidnapped her, as well as keep important government secrets out of the hands of the enemy, by following Caffrey's advice - don't have a plan when they expect you to have a plan. Just go with in.

The most amusing aspect of this segment was that as the ghost threatened to use his phone to blow the girl up if anyone came after her, Caffrey encouraged the FBI to jam his phone by continually calling him until he was apprehended. It worked, and the only people who died in the episode were those who had been working for the ghost in the first place.

The thing missing was all the witty repartee between Caffrey and Burke, which was not particularly in evidence. It almost felt as though we ought to have been far later in the season, with the relationship of our two heroes better established than it is at this point.

Really, the exciting part of the whole thing was that Kate left Caffrey a message the last day she was him - B O T T L E. But we'll have to wait for next week to find out exactly what she meant.

Are you still excited about this show and the next episode?

Stargate Universe - Water, S01E06

This week on Stargate Universe, the water levels on Destiny were being depleted rapidly and for no discernible reason. Again it seemed as though either the ship itself was the enemy of the crew, or the unruly passengers were.

While Col Young (Justin Louis) and Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith) went in search of drinkable water on a planet resembling Hoth - Empire Strikes Back - Star Wars - I'm not going to say episode 5 - TJ (Alaina Huffman) was left in charge and had to deal with problems aboard ship. The specific problem? Weird alien bugs, likely those that had befriended Scott in the desert in Air part 3, were on the Destiny, drinking the water supply dry at an alarming rate.

They also became violent when provoked...not unlike those spots of light SG1 encountered while giving young spitfire Hailey a chance to see the wonders of the Stargate. Another member of the crew died as a result.

TJ and Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) didn't agree on how to solve the problem. TJ thought of more useful methods, while Greer defaulted to violence, as always. In the end, TJ lured the bugs into a canister of water, which was then thrown through the stargate onto the ice planet. The crisis averted.

Young and Scott had their own set of problems on the planet. Dealing with poisonous air and freezing conditions, they wore space suits as they dragged ice from a waterfall back to the gate. There was no fear about leaving them behind when the Destiny returned to FLT because they'd run out of air before that happened. And then Scott fell in a crevice and got stuck. Young refused to leave him, and waiting just long enough, a tremor freed Scott from the crushing conditions that had torn his suit and Young was able to get him, as well as the ice, back to the ship.

The water crisis is not completely over, with the ice only replacing a fraction of what the bugs drank, but the situation is no longer dire. What crisis will have to be averted next week? I don't know, but the episode title is Earth.

Are you loving the new Stargate?

Supernatural - The Curious Case of Dean Winchester, S05E07

When compared with any and all other episodes of Supernatural, including the one with the depressed-alcoholic-living teddy bear, this episode is rock bottom. Which means, it hits average for every other show out there.

The plot had a witch playing poker for years, instead of money. An old man could suddenly become young again, and a young man could die of old age as a result. Bobby (Jim Beaver), hating himself for being relegated to a wheelchair, lost 25 years to the witch, Patrick, and Dean (Jensen Ackles, trying to recover them, gave 25 years to Bobby and lost another 25 himself. So he aged 50 years, and Sam (Jared Padalecki) had to save him.

The biggest problem with the episode was that old Dean was played by Chad Everett, and not Jensen Ackles. I do not understand this choice - presumably Ackles was given a few days off rather than play his older self - because it is not that hard or expensive anymore to age an adult 50 years. And Everett, regardless of how talented he might be, just wasn't Dean.

The moments he shared with Bobby, with both contemplating their age and misery, had far less impact because it was not our Dean who observed. And that was unfortunate since Bobby's misery and Sam and Dean's need of him in their lives was the important point.

In the end, Sam managed to beat Patrick, taking back the 50 years Dean had lost. Dean was restored and we got a hilarious little dance for him to rejoice. Then, in a bizarre side line, Patrick released his lady-love from the curse of eternal youth, because she could not stand living now that her own daughter had died from old age.

So the villain did not die, and you kind of didn't want him to because he was very sympathetic, but while he could be generous, mostly he still stole years from young men and would continue to do so for some time.

But next week, we get the channel changing episode, where Dean and Sam will visit game shows, procedurals and hospital dramas. It looks amazing. What do you think?

FlashForward - Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, S01E06

Funny to think that in a world where over 20 million people just died and countless billions of dollars of damage was caused that Hallowe'en would continue as normal. I suppose, if it was possible, the first things that anyone, any government, would try would be an attempt at normalcy. And I guess that must mean that despite the devastation and the terror, it's not that bad. I mean, 20 million people out of 6 billion...compared to the Black Death, that's nothing...even if it was all in one day.

But life goes on, trains continue to run, and we finally get to meet Simon (Dominic Monaghan) good and proper. He is on a train, in the dinner cart, flirting with a beautiful woman (non other than Ashley Jones; Daphne from True Blood). He explains to her the idea of Schroedinger's cat and how that applies to the flashforward. That the cat is both dead and alive is true until the result has been observed. Now that the population of the world has observed those 2minutes and 17seconds, they are true, and cannot be undone. Which just leads me to hope that Cho is in a coma, and the FBI released that he'd been murdered...though it still does not explain who exactly his fiancee was marrying at the time.

Simon was deliciously evil, seducing Camille into his bed, and while entangled he told her his flashforward - he had murdered someone with his bare hands. He also had a flare for the dramatic, showing up in the back of Lloyd (Jack Davenport)'s car wearing a Hallowe'en mask, to talk to the man who had helped him with the devastating experiment.

It is interesting to note that both Simon and Lloyd had flashforwards, despite having caused the incident in the first place, so who was the man who was not rendered unconscious by the experiment and did he have anything to do with Simon and Lloyd or is it something else altogether?

Other events included Janis (Christine Woods) surviving the operations, with very little chance of getting pregnant because of the damage. But not no chance. The question remains, when will she decide that she wants to try to get knocked up artificially, or will something strange occur that will have her sleeping with a man and therefore pregnant. I really want to know how exactly that is going to come together.

Demetri (John Cho) and Al (Lee Thompson Young) followed the clue of the blue hand from Mark (Joseph Fiennes)'s flashforward to discover what will become the Rutherford case, which Al will be discussing in April.

The most important event was the crack in Mark and Olivia (Sonya Walger)'s wedding. Dylan, Lloyd's little boy, remembered Mark and Olivia's house as his house. He escaped from the hospital and went there. Soon, Lloyd was in the house, thanking Mark for finding his son and being quite confused about his familiarity with the living room. Then Olivia comes home and everything fits into place. Suddenly, the husband, the wife, and the future lover are all aware of the future situation, and no one is particularly comfortable. Mark asks Lloyd to leave with his son and never to trouble his family again. The men part of a very awkward but polite handshake.

Unfortunately, all is not well for Mark and Olivia. Despite have said earlier that they ought to live in the moment, and cherish the time that is now, Olivia cannot deal with the lack of trust she has for Mark who has seen himself drinking, and Mark believes so easily that Olivia will leave him. They end the episode with their marriage in rubble.

Again, we learned something important. Charlie, Mark and Olivia's daughter, was at home with Olivia, Dylan and Lloyd in her flashforward, so how does she know about the bad man who caused all this. I thought for sure she'd been kidnapped, and that Nicole had had something to do with it - which was why she was being drown. But her flashforward told her nothing of the kind.

What questions did this episode raise for you? Do you think the flashforwards cannot be undone?

The Mentalist - Red Scare, S02E05

This episode may not be the geekiest or best our of television ever, like Castle's Hallowe'en ep., but The Mentalist still gave us a nicely spooky and entertaining watch.

An architect working in a creepy old house is found thrown out a window, though the house's alarm was active and not disturbed. Rumor has it, the house is haunted, and so perhaps the murderer was a ghost?

Right...like Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) would ever buy that! But he still insists that Cho (Tim Kang) and everyone else ask about the ghost while questioning the suspects.

And what a list of suspects. Jane repeatedly asks Deputy Nick Fisher (Matthew John Armstrong) if he killed the victim, and he denies it every time, spluttering. The dead man's wife (Christina Chang) was seen spying on the house hours before her husband's death, and she suspected him of adultery because it had happened before. Jeb Haas (General Hospital's Derk Cheetwood*) stole hundreds of dollars worth of power tools from the victim the night he died. Philip Raimey (Ron Canada) knew a whole lot about the history of the house, including the potential of secret passageways? And Victoria Abner (Frances Fisher*) and her nephew Drew (Michael McMillian*) had been the previous owners of the house, and seekers of its rumored treasure.

From the moment I saw Drew, I recognized him, with images of a seemingly nice man who'd gone a little psychotic and violent. I actually had to check, and, of course, Michael McMillian plays Rev. Steve Newlin on True Blood. Doesn't matter how subdued this guy looks, he's a killer.

But that's hardly the point.

Jane discovered that the old man who built the house was not only a bootlegger, with a myriad of secret passages throughout the house and into the garden, but also that he was into the occult and had rigged the house to appear haunted, with pipes transmitting sounds in the halls, flickering lights, and even a glass pane to show the ethereal image of a man. So we learned how the murderer got in without tripping the alarm, and why the architect had thought that perhaps the house was indeed haunted.

When Victoria revealed that a clue existed to the whereabouts of the secret treasure, which Philip Raimey had shared with the Abner family alone for a cut of the treasure, Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) created an elaborate treasure hunt with all parties present to lure the killer back at night. It worked, and of course the nephew was the killer. Always a little unhinged that one.

But what was the treasure, you ask. Wine. Lots and lots of wine, some of which was indeed still good. Yummy.

And so the crime was solved and the episode entertaining, and then comes to the best part. That's right, the part about Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Grace (Amanda Righetti). Rigsby finally did it! He told Grace he loved her, he said screw the CBI, screw the rules, he'd loved her since the day they met. And though she hesitated, he told her he was going to kiss her unless she stopped him. Which was the moment Jane interrupted the whole thing. Grrr Jane!

So Rigsby told Cho what had happened, and asked what he should do now. "Tell her again," Cho told him. Duh! Hehehe. But for a moment there, it looked like the opportunity had passed, but at the end of the episode, it was Grace who pulled Rigsby in the other room for some lip-locking and then told him to meet her at her apartment when they left work that night.

And so the affair has begun! I am SO happy.

Are you happy? Did you love this episode? Because of the cool haunting murder or just cause of the love story?

Trick r' Treat and Scream

I have been so busy watching TV that I haven't seen a lot of movies lately. And those I have seen, I haven't commented on. Same with the books and even the plays, though I've seen terribly few of those.

That is going to change. I will find time to post on the things I watch as frequently as I watch them, all in the hopes that these will convince you either to take a look or to avoid at all cost.

Last night was Hallowe'en, and after a fun day in costume at work, I came home to watch some scary movies. The selections? Trick r' Treat and Scream.

For those of you who have not heard of Trick r' Treat, despite the mass advertising it's been getting lately at being a little known gem on websites like EW, I cannot say for sure whether or not you are missing out.

It's not terribly frightening, so if that's why you are into scary movies you might want to pass, but it is very interesting. 5 different plot lines interconnect on Hallowe'en night in the country. The overall theme is that Hallowe'en is sacred and ought to be hallowed and not mocked. Disrespecting traditions is certain to get you killed, as is assaulting the wrong person. Oh, and it is never a good idea to make out with a masked stranger deep in an alley.

Anna Paquin and Tahmoh Penikett are the most recognizable faces, playing a sweet virgin looking for a man and a Hallowe'en loving boyfriend respectively (not her boyfriend). One gets what he/she wants, and the other does not.

It was the perfect movie to watch on Hallowe'en though, as kids for whom I had no candy repeatedly rang my doorbell or knocked loudly. I was quite afraid by the end of it that someone or something was going to come and demand revenge that I was not abiding by the traditions of my favourite holiday.

Scream, on the other hand, is a classic. If you have somehow managed to miss seeing this and you like scary movies even a little bit, then stop reading my post and go and watch it this minute. The brilliance that Kevin Williamson created, which is looking to have a fourth chapter sometime in the next year, deserves all its acclaim. It takes a master to craft a slasher flick in which the most unrealistic or stupid part is that a psycho killer would emerge in a small town.

This movie makes fun of slasher flicks and indeed the whole horror genre while remaining a very scary movie. Even though I knew exactly when the killer would jump out, I still hid behind my blanket. But even while cowering, I was still laughing.

Have you seen Trick r' Treat? Do you love Scream? What is your favourite scary movie? And what did you do last night for Hallowe'en?