Subeta and Other Site Updates

I play a site called Subeta and I have been doing so for around seven years now. It has enough to attract me and pull me back when I haven't gone on the site for awhile. Since I have been with the site for so long I am used to encountering problems on the site.

There was a big thing a few years back in which items were lost and the site was down for a little bit. In times like those there are fellow Subetans to help figure things out. To figure out what the problem is and if it is just you. And with Facebook and Twitter there are ways for the staff to announce updates while the site is down.

So when I couldn't log on yesterday it was annoying, but nothing new. However, I did encounter a problem that annoys me on other sites.

That is the lack of updates.

Whenever I find a problem I like to see if it is just me or if I'm the odd one out. If I'm the odd one out I try to figure things out on my own. It's very useful if the staff has alerted users to this problem saying not to panic and that they're taking care of it.

It's highly annoying when I have to spend forever just to find someone saying that they're encountering the same problem. And then staff doesn't respond and so all I see is that people are having a problem with no fix in sight.

If you're wondering, when I was able to get on Subeta today I found a board about my problem. It was no use to me yesterday since I couldn't find it (you can view the boards when you aren't signed in to the site).

This isn't a problem just Subeta has, but a lot of sites I've been on in the past: I need to know something and then current information on a problem is damn near impossible to find.

I really wish sites would update their members on current problems better.

My aStore

Helix "Pilot" and "Vector" Reviews

I have been waiting a long time for this series. What attracted me to this series was the fact that it seemed to deal with the dangers of crossing the line. In science you can do so much but that doesn't mean you should. Plus the location would be remote which meant one of my favorite horror aspects (being too far away from help like in the movie The Thing) and SyFy wouldn't have to spend too much money on sets.

When the two part premiere aired I was glad that SyFy repeated it. This is since I am taking care of revrezner who is currently bedridden (but is doing so much better than before) and I had to take care of him during the premiere.

The series revolves around this team that gets called to investigate an outbreak. But the people in charge might not have the best of intentions.

Let's get the good things of the series out of the way first:

The fact that the location is far removed from anything helps allows SyFy to be cheap without any real impact on the show itself. Yes there were a couple of bad CG moments, but the majority of the episodes were full of creepy good special effects.

A simple moment when they unzip a body bag is gross. Just...ew! And the fact that how Peter swallows in the beginning is simple but oh so effective.

The remote location also makes all the tense moments even more tense. There's even a part of the Pilot where the helicopter goes away, but there is reassurance that it can come back at any time. However, a man is trying to escape on a faulty snowmobile and is murdered. So help might not even be possible if those in charge decide so.

While the fact that those in charge are corrupt without a doubt and those running the faculty work for some nameless organization/people, the reasons for doing the experiments aren't known. So there is still a mystery.

Doctor Boyle is one of my favorite characters so far. I can't really explain why at the moment except she makes me smile whenever she's around. And that mean she's going to die soon.

The thing that bugs me about this series so far is that the main dude has an ex that's on the team but he seems to want to start things up with another lady on the team and yet still likes his ex and the crazy guy in the beginning is his brother and banged the ex previously.

Luckily the show is managing to keep that part in the open and yet it isn't annoying me to the point of me wanting to turn the show off.

Alan and Peter are both sons to an abusive alcoholic father and that could be annoying. However, whenever Alan brings up his dad it's used to further the plot in a good fashion. So it hasn't gotten on my nerves yet.

I will be keeping up with this series and I hope I don't regret this decision. This will be the second show on SyFy that I keep up with.

Other SyFy Shows

Elementary "All in the Family" Review

I stick with this show because of the relationship between Watson and Holmes. How they learn and grow from each other. And, especially, what weird thing of the week Sherlock will end up doing. The latter one this week seems to me, at least, to be Sherlock testing out bombs in the apartment.

Marcus Bell and Sherlock Holmes' relationship is the real emotional core to this episode. A few episodes back Holmes' actions got Bell shot. Though, in all fairness, it wasn't to the extent that Bell and others seem to think.

Bell ends up working with the man that is the 'big bad' of the episode. This gives many instances of Watson trying to control Sherlock and Sherlock not following the script. In a few instances Sherlock tells Bell to stop being a pussy and man up since there's a point of mourning and that Bell has more than passed that point.

This is one of the few times I've watched it with my fiance (revrezner) and so I was distracted by him a little bit near the beginning. However, I was able to focus on enough of the scene to understand the scene.

I really enjoy this show but there's not a lot to talk about for the majority of the episodes. This is because not a lot happens between the characters and I'm not a big mystery person. But I wouldn't suggest passing this episode since it does deal with the plot point of Marcus and Sherlock learning to deal with each other after Marcus got shot.

Want to watch the First Season? Go HERE =D

American Horror Story "The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks" Review

I have been meaning to review this season for so long, but things keep happening to stop me. It's almost like there's a curse on this season for me. At least in the sense that things keep popping up so I can't review episodes from this season.

But now I can review this episode and I am happy.

In this episode we get to see Stevie Nicks. What's so great about that? It's the fact that Misty has been shown to be obsessed with the singer, believes she's a witch, and so we've been hearing about Nicks all season long.

So I was very happy about her appearance this season.

We also get to have it revealed how Marie has been able to achieve immortality and that she's 300 years old. She made a deal with Philip Broyles...er...Papa Legba to do a favor for him each year so she will not die. In this episode she has to offer/kill a baby/an innocent soul, so many have concluded that it's the same thing every year.

Marie states in the episode that the offers become worse every year so she might not always have had to kill babies.

Whatever the case is, I think it's clear that Marie is no saint. However, that's true of every character on the show. Most people in the show will reach a point in which they will cross a line they never thought they would in the past.

Marie, at any time, could have said no to the deal and suffered the consequences. But she didn't and that makes her a bad character.

A big thing this season is who the next Supreme is. Who will take over once Fiona is out of the picture, in other words. The only real hint I remember hearing about it is that it's someone no one suspects. This week I'm going with Myrtle and I have seen a few others point out why that could work.

The thing against Myrtle being the Supreme before was that she's in the same generation as Fiona and the next Supreme would have to be from the next generation. However, Myrtle has risen up from the dead and there have been lines about how young she looks now.

So I take that to mean Myrtle could very well be the next Supreme.

Madison has been a bitch throughout this season. But it's always bordered on funny and why am I laughing. But this episode she's taken a real dark turn. She is obsessed with being the Supreme now and attempts to kill Misty.

I think Madison knows that she won't be able to kill Misty (what with the witch having brought herself back to life once), so she puts her into a situation that will be hard to get out of.

Nan, who has been innocent so far, murders a woman in cold blood in this episode. In all honesty the 'bitch had it coming' since the woman killed her son during the previous episode, killed the son's father before the season began, and made the son's life a living Hell. What set Nan into killing was the fact that the mother cremated her son so the witches wouldn't be able to resurrect him.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Nan was in love with the son.

This was a great start to the second half of this season. Hopefully it has as good of a finale as Asylum!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "The Magical Place" Review

This show's hiatus was one of the most painful. Why? Because of that killer cliffhanger at the end of last episode. Coulson was captured and it seemed we were finally going to get answers in this episode.

Now I've seen enough to know that when an episode seems to promise the answers to all things that it won't happen. All you can hope for in those episodes are some parts of the major questions being answered. And in this episode we do find out that Coulson is not a Life Model Decoy.

I knew that wouldn't be the case, but I was still saddened. I'd have loved to have a Robot Coulson.

However, we do find out that Coulson was dead for a few days and Nick Fury couldn't let him die. From the end of the episode it seems that whatever happened in the procedures wasn't something you talk about in polite conversation. So Fury must have really wanted Coulson alive as he doesn't seem to be one to go to the Dark Side quickly.

Skye is given a real chance to shine. She's not guided by anyone, that much, and she is able to complete her mission. When she pretends to be May she looks extremely good in that outfit. Not only physically, but she looks good because there was this badassness that was in every inch of her.

May is shown to care about about the team. She may have a rigid exterior and you can hardly tell what she's thinking, but she cares about the group. Maybe not the whole group, but Coulson himself for sure. As she toys with a fellow agent to allow Skye the ability to work as best as she can so Coulson can be found.

If you're wondering: I do ship Skye and Coulson but the idea of May and Coulson is seeming pretty good right now.

Fitz and Simmons have some good moments in the episode. Including one where Simmons badly hides that a bag doesn't contain a sandwich and Skye tells Simmons that she isn't a good liar.

The scene where Coulson finally remembers his operation is cringe worthy. Not in a bad way but because the scene is so emotional that you can't help but feel something. And that swell of emotion makes you cringe because there's not much else you can do to let your feelings out.

Okay, I might have squealed and yelled at the tv if no one else was around. But that wasn't an option for me tonight.

So while we got a few questions answered, there are more out there: How did they manage to have Coulson dead and bring him back to life? Was the reason for changing Coulson's memory the reason stated in the episode?

I wonder about who this Clairvoyant is and what powers he or she actually has. Maybe if Coulson's story is fully revealed then the Clairvoyant will be the next big mystery to be solved.

TV Shows

DOOM: A Failed Adaptation

Movie adaptations are always a tricky thing to do. You have fans that hate any minor change and will loathe the movie if it even fails slightly. Even to the non-picky watcher, there is hardly a good movie adaptation of a book. Video game movie adaptations have a much higher fail rate than books do.

So when I saw DOOM (released in 2005) for the first time all I was asking for was a good time. A space marine going into Hell and battling demons. The games (of which I and II are a big part of my childhood) didn't have a plot. Everything in the game was an excuse to have to kill things.

So the adaptation having a plot wasn't something that I needed. But it would be a good bonus.

The movie failed at the basic premise of DOOM. While the location was Mars, there were gates that took you between worlds, and there were space marines: there was not much of the game in the movie other than that.

The plot didn't involve demons but, instead, an extra chromosome turning people into either super powerful good guys or deformed super powerful bad guys. The science being wrong didn't bother me as I sort of like science mumbojumbo in my sci-fi movies. What bothered me was that it meant there were no demons.

Part of the movie being on Mars wouldn't be a big deal as seeing how the Space Marine got into Hell isn't a problem. It's not like that backstory would destroy a movie adaptation of the game. But having it all take place on Mars means it takes away from the location of the games!

Yes, the show Elementary takes the location from London to New York but it is one of many updates that manages to still keep the show true to the original stories. Such as the main character is STILL Sherlock Holmes who is STILL a genius detective and STILL has trouble forming relationships with other people.

So Elementary changes the location while still paying respects to the heart of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories (and even has one episode where Sherlock and Watson go to London) but the DOOM movie changes location and it just adds to its not understanding the game series.

Even though the DOOM movie is a horrible adaptation, I enjoy it. If it wasn't supposed to be an adaptation of the game series I wouldn't complain. It has the cheesiness that I love.

Plus, it introduced me to an actor I now love: Karl Urban!

Doom (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

Almost Human "Simon Says" Review

I am doing this episode review as a written review since, at the moment, filming a vlog would be a little difficult.

Hiatuses are always a little difficult to deal with. Especially when they're for a show you love or that the hiatuses just come out of nowhere. The Almost Human hiatus wasn't that bad as there wasn't a cliffhanger unlike Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hannibal.

Nevertheless, I couldn't wait until the next episode of Almost Human finally came on.

This episode, more than any other, made me cringe. It made me afraid of what would happen to the characters. Even when John Kennex had a collar put around his neck and I knew he'd survive, I was still afraid. I think that particular scene was tense because during the entire episode Dorian didn't have enough of a charge and so he was weaker, among other things.

This episode title comes from the game 'Simon Says' where a person tells others what to do. If you don't follow the instructions exactly, you lose. In this episode, though, you lose your life.

The episode reminded me highly of the movie Untraceable starring Diane Lane and released in 2008. In the episode, like in the movie, the killer shows the deaths online. In both you see how disgusting and terrifying people can be. How badly people want to see others die.

It turns out the killer in the episode is killing people who have wronged him in some way shape or form. He kills someone that worked at a bank because the man denied him a loan. He then goes after a woman who didn't return his affections. Finally he goes after John Kennex who embarrassed him to his online followers.

Karl Urban does a wonderful job as John Kennex. He gives his character wit when faced with death. Urban played Judge Dredd in the remake of the film (which I still have to see and don't know why I haven't seen it since it also stars Lena Headey) and so I was saying "I am the law!" during at least once during the episode.

Michael Ealy does a good job as the neurotic Dorian. It turns out that there is a problem with how much energy can be spared to charge robots. This seems to be more of a "we wants this, but can't really explain why it happened".

All in all this was another good episode and I can't wait for next episode.