2010 in Moving Images
TV has taken my life over like an imperialistic regime, let’s just say I spent at least 8 hours in a week catching up on TV shows. Let’s see some of my personal favorites of this year.
1) How I Met Your Mother – This comedy is like a huge mystery to us fans – WHO IS TED’S WIFE ?! This season has its basic humor and a little surrealism to elevate it above the past seasons. New schticks and the usual awesome Barneyism. Looking forward to the end to find out (I) who is the wife ? (II) will Robin and Barney end up together eventually ? (III) Will Lily and Marshall have tons of kids? – but not quite looking forward to the last episode as well since this is apparently the last season.
2) The Big Bang Theory – Needless to say, these 4 brainiacs are as adorable as ever since the past 3 seasons. Interesting addition to the group is Amy Farrah Fowler, a girl who is a friend, but not Sheldon’s ‘girlfriend’. I love how she’s the female version of Sheldon. Sadly I find that Leonard’s story is dying down alil but always good to see Raj and Howard getting more lines. Will be interesting to see how Amy and Sheldon gets into a relationship and whether Leonard and Penny will get back together.
3) The Walking Dead – Rise of the zombies ! For those of you who have yet to read the comics (Neither have I, but soon!) will most likely to find it convincing, both visually and emotionally. I love how realistic and established the scenes were and it is definitely one of the most intriguing shows this season. Looking forward to more brains, guts, hearts and the undead.
4) Lie To Me – Tim Roth is really magnetic and charming as Cal Lightman, the soul of the story. I enjoy the acting of the cast but not quite the plot which tends to digress into not-so-important details. It is still fascinating to watch how the Lightman group solves these crimes nonetheless.
5) Community – Meta-sitcom structure aside, Community has wonderfully drawn characters and remarkable cast. I totally love Abed and Troy, they never fail to bring a blast to the end of the show which happens to be the best last few minutes of each episode. Not sure how long can they last in college but will be looking forward to more.
6) Raising Hope – Very similar to ‘My Name Is Earl’ as they are both created by Greg Garcia. I like how it is built around the working class and how ‘screwed up’ life can be. Likable characters (The grandma character is hilarious), fun plot and you really can’t resist the charm of the baby. A simple yet very homely off-beat comedy.
7) Running Wilde - Slapstick humor, another way to describe the style would be ‘Arrested Development’ as it is co-created by its producers. There are flaws but some episodes get the humor. I like Kerri Russel enough to watch the show and I’m still amused by how shiny and ‘plastic’ Will Arnett’s forehead is.
8) The Office – This season has been funny so far and probably it’s all thanks to a good cast. Steve Carell has his ways when it comes to ‘mockumentary’ – of course, clever writing helps. I am still lovin’ it.
9) Nikita – After Alias, I think this gotta be the best female kickass show on screen after a long time. Maggie Q is ever so hot and seductive in her character and I’m glad the plot gets better. A fair balance between sub-plots and action, what more can I ask for ?
10) The Vampire Diaries – Guilty pleasure. I really think Damon (on the right) is the hottest vampire around, who really gives a damn about sparkling Edward. Plot aside, gorgeous cast and excellent OST.
Not forgetting I’m always a fan of Saturday Night Live, Family Guy, singing from Glee (not so for the plot), Tower Prep (I know, it’s aired on Cartoon Network and I’m way overage for that..but Drew Van Acker is too cute to resist and anything with supernatural powers is pretty awesome to watch). Hellcats is another guilty pleasure as the story really sucks but the cast is worth watching, based on looks that is. Criminal Minds and NCIS have been interesting but it gets just alil boring after episodes and episodes of similar predictable endings. I catch a glimpse of Parenthood once in awhile but it gets too sappy for me. Not forgetting the ‘to-catch-up-on’ list of Modern Family,Weed, Futurama and Mad Men.
Oh boy, I sure need more time for TV in 2011. Looking forward to Jan when all my shows return !
PC Show 2009 Hype
Despite the economic downturn AND H1N1 saga, PC Show 2009 at Suntec was flooded by people. You practically have to squeeze and push (or in my case,being pushed) your way through the human jam. I guess the fact that I went there on the last day explains the crowd as well. However it didn’t take me long to notice that the down-escalators were packed with quite an amount of people who left empty-handed.
Question for all consumers out there : Why do you go down for PC Show ?
If you wanted to do market research, online is probably the best place to do so I believe. The entire price list is being uploaded and the leaflets were even scanned by kind souls out there. The price won’t be much of a huge difference on the spot as well, so isn’t it easier to find your “potential” buys before heading down for an aimless stroll with the smelly crowd in that stuffy hall ?
Another thing worth mentioning is the amount of leaflet littered on the floor – do these companies even need to print these leaflet outs ? I appreciate the people who shared the information online and taking the trouble to scan them in. I did my own research with those digital leaflets before heading down, that saves me alot of time and the hassle to go through the papers on the spot. Eventually these leaflets are of no use and it just contributes to the big hoohaa about “recycling” and “global warming” issues.
IF employment is the key factor here, then why not hire those part timers and train them properly to promote your products instead of getting them to stand around to hand out paper that are to be thrown on the floor after a few steps ? Kudos to this promoter at the S-brand booth for sharing his insights about the ext.hdd that I was planning to get. He was so sincere and honest about how their competitor ext.hdd is probably a more suitable choice for my usage instead of desperately trying to con me into buying their item. I actually felt like I’ll buy the ext.hdd from him instead if I’m less practical/logical ! I almost had a sorethroat from the “yelling” conversations because of the various sound setups. (haha)
My dad was complaining about how they should hold the PC Show at EXPO instead of Suntec after enduring the not-enough-parking-issue,the human traffic madness and poor air ventilation of the halls. From an event organizer’s point of view, I guess a centralized location matters most. However, I do agree on the poor air ventilation issue especially with the H1N1 paranoia, I was actually surprised to see no signs of any mask-wearers !
I guess it just annoys me alil when there are people who are there just for the sake for “yes,i’ve been to the PC show” or er…”experience the PC show hype” when they are not there to buy anything or without the intention to ? It causes people who really wanted to buy things alot of inconvenience and the crowd may not be necessary if not for these random aunties/kids/window-shoppers. In addition, after comparing prices online, I believe that Simlim or Funan provides the same offer etc. In fact, we got our webcam at the creative shop itself instead of PC Show which was pretty empty and better service provided.
Can you imagine if just 1 or 2 people were H1N1 carriers ? Sheesh. PANIC SINGAPORE, PANIC !!!
but of course I didn’t go there just for a “site visit” and I didn’t do my online research for nothing. (hur)
Loots : Seagate 1TB ext.hdd xtreme , creative live webcam , 2 HP printer ink
picture source : square75@blogspot
