DVD Review: Banacek

There's an old Polish Proverb that says:

"Banacek Rocks!"!

What a treat to have found Season #1 of Banacek on DVD. Eight original episodes of the great Polish detective. Well, not exactly... Banacek is actually a Insurance Investigator. The best in the business. Initially that sounds a little boring compared to solving murder mysteries. But Banacek ends up on some amazingly difficult cases to crack. When valuable jewels, books, cash, experimental cars of future, paintings, and coins disappear - right under the noses of eye witnesses in heavily guarded rooms - it's Banacek the insurance companies come running to to solve the uncrackable cases and find the missing goods. All for a mere 10% of the insured value (usually millions >>> $$$!!!).

This DVD set includes the most memorable Banacek case of them all: the disappearance of a professional football player. A running back is tackled in a nationally televised live game, but when the players unpile... he's gone! At first I thought he might be hidden in a big rip in the astroturf... but no giant man sized bumps were found. Leave it to Banacek find solve what 80,000 stadium fans and 20 million TV viewers couldn't figure out.

Suave and debonair, Banacek also had a way with the ladies. Every episode features a 70's Hollywood starlet who falls under his charm. The Bana-Chicks in Season #1 included Stephanie Powers, Brenda Vaccaro, Jesseca Walters, and... Margot Kidder (?)!

And who can forget Banacek's famous tag line, "There's an Old Polish Proverb that says...". One of my favorites is: "... a wise man doesn't warm himself by a painting of a fire!". Which often induces the customary response from the guest star, "Can you explain that one?"

However, despite all this mirth and merriment there is a bit of a sad note. When I went back to purchase the Banacek Season #2 DVD set... they had all been bought already. <* sadness *>

DVD Rating: A+

McDoogle

PS. Your Challenge: Write an 'Olde Polish Proverb' of your own. Feel free to post it in the Comments section. Or just to amuse yourself. :-)

Book Review: Blood Rites

My cover looks different. But it is Book Six of the Dresden Files. After this book the publishing company did away with the numbering system which I disagree with. I enjoy reading the series in order. Relationships change. Characters grow. References to previous cases and stoylines make more sense.

As to this book in the Dresden series. It's not my favorite. Book 1 Storm Front was my favorite. I also enjoyed the previous book 5: Death Masks .

I liked how this novel started. Dresden is drawn into a bit of a magical murder mystery as a favor for his 'friend' Thomas - a vampire of the White Court and a snappy dresser. Women in life of Thomas' friend Arthro are dying is very bizarre unlikely ways. Who? Why? How? Dresden quickly determines that someone is throwing killer entropy curses. But who has it out the maverick film maker?

I thought this was a solid interesting plot and had enough steam to hold its own for the whole novel. But Butcher decides (once again) to add a second major stoyline, running simultaneously with Dresden's magic murder mystery. It's Marva the female vampire of Red Court gunning for Dresden with curses of her own. While Book 5 also had two major storylines running through the same timeline, I could handle that once. But twice? This is getting a little irritating. Everyone loves action packed stories, but planning one major battle for noon, and then assuming you'll survive that one, schedule another at dinnertime.... it's a bit much.

I enjoyed the revelations of Dresden's family tree, and the new branch that was added. learning more about Dresden's mother was an added bonus, since his abilities are obviously not from his showman father's side of the family.

Overall, it was a good book, but not one of Butcher's best efforts.

Grade: B-

McDoogle

PS. Your challenge: Find a branch in the backyard. Whittle it into a staff. Use it to scare the mailman on bill days.

Who is The Mole?

My favorite TV show is back on the air. The Mole! The original version. Not the crazy celebrity version. The real deal. 11 regular people trying to win money in a variety of team contests. And one mole - trying to sabotage the games, and purposely lose money for the players.

I love trying to figure out which of the players is actually the Mole. It's difficult, because some players are just naturally gumballs who blow the games unintentionally. Other sneaky players try to get the other players to think they are the Mole, to throw others off the scent and give themselves an advantage.

After Week #1 I think the Mole is Craig (Occupation: Graphic Artist, Age 30). I suspect him mainly because because he looks so un-mole-like. He's the type of fellow that if he causes the team to lose points you tend to overlook it because you figure he's an out of shape guy, no wonder he couldn't to the task successfully. Very sneaky!

My second suspect would be Liz (Occupation: Retiree, Age 60). I mean really... who's going to suspect an 60 year old lady? I would!

Will I be right?

After week #1, Marcie (housewife, mother) was sent packing, since she did the poorest on the 'Who is the Mole' quiz. Both my suspects are still alive. Next Monday, 10:00PM on ABC can't come soon enough.

McDoogle

PS. Your challenge: The Mole is at the airport. Find her!

Solaris!

Planet of mystery.

I finally managed to rent a DVD copy of the movie Solaris. The 2002 version with George Clooney. Based on the book of the same name by my all-time favorite SF writer: Stanislaw Lem.

Yes, the movie was a bit confusing, but overall, I kind of liked it. To me it made sense that the movie was confusing, since I read the book twice and still wasn't sure what was going on.

I thought George Clooney actually did a decent job in this movie as the space psycho-analyst Chris Kelvin send to out to save the Solaris mission.

But the best acting was from Jeremy Davies who portrayed Snow. The hand gestures, speech patterns, eye movements - all very odd, and perfect for his character.

Is Solaris really just a planet? Or a sentient being capable of reaching into your subconsious past and 'creating' visitors for you? Kelvin's wife Rheya had committed suicide. And now (after Kelvin wakes up from a nap)... here she is - living and breathing! But is she human, or alien sub-matter? And how human can someone culled from the limited memory of the sleeping dreamer be?

<* Spoiler Alert! *> We later find out that Snow is the 'visitor' who survived an attack from his original self soon after he is 'created'. In self defense the original Snow is killed and stuffed in a vent by the visitor Snow. But he's cool with it.

Overall I rate the movie: B+

McDoogle

PS. Your challenge: Discover a new planet of your own. Note any anomalies. Report back to base camp - ASAP!

Movie Review: Iron Man

I hesitate going to movies of comic book heroes I enjoyed as a youngster, because some of the movie adaptions have been just horrible. Case in point: the Batman movie with George Clooney. Ugh! And last few Christopher Reeves Superman's. Zzzz! Then one of my all time favorites... The ThunderBirds. What a disaster! So, with Iron Man being one of my all-time favorite characters (I had over 250 issues of Iron Man starting from #6), I was a bit worried about what Hollywood would do to Tony Stark's armor.

I've seen the Iron Man movie twice now. And it was just as good the second time around. In fact, Excellent! Great job of staying true to the original origins of Iron Man, yet updated to the issues and current world economy. Originally Tony Stark is injured in the Viet Nam war (in comic book land), and invents a chest plate to keep his heart beating. In the movie it's Afghanistan. And it's the original grey armor. Nice! Once back in the States, Tony perfects his design with the classic gold and scarlet titanium armor. With the villain of the piece, Obadiah Stane creating the massive 'War Monger' battle armor. Great storyline. Very realistic.

Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of the womanizing booze hound, yet electronic genius of Tony Stark was spot on. The quick witted humor and jabs were fast paced, and nonstop.

The flight scenes were amazing, and perfect for the big screen. I couldn 't get enough of them.

Gweneth Paltrow brought a softness to the character of Pepper, which in light of Tony's brashness was a good counterbalance.

The second time through I did stay past the credits to view the 20-30 second bonus clip, but wasn't sure if it was really worth it. I've never been a fan of Nick Fury, nor the Avenger's. This snippet appeared to be a teaser for an upcoming Avengers movie, which doesn't especially excite me. I'm anxiously waiting Iron Man II however!

Grade: A! I loved it!

McDoogle

PS. Your challenge: Get down in that basement tonight, and build a battery powered suit of armor. Include a searchlight, terrain following radar, and a Heads Up Display (HUD). Post pics of your creation in the Comments section.

Review of Anansi Boys

Enjoyed this Gaiman novel quite a bit. But not as much as 'American Gods', which I felt had more mystery and suspense. Both books have the same concept. You have a regular guy as your main character who discovers he's related to god-like beings. The novels revolve around those revelations and how the main characters adjust to their new founds 'roots'.

In Anansi Boys, Charlie discovers his father is actually the spider god - Anansi. Anansi who is a trickster, and whom all the other animal gods have found themselves as the butt of his devilish pranks from time to time. Anansi also owns all of the stories, due to weaving more creative upbeat yarns than Tiger, which creates conflict for Charlie further down the road. Anansi also enjoys singing and Karioke.

Alas! Anansi is no more. Charlie makes these discoveries after his father's funeral, at the home of some eldery old women still haunting Charlie's old neighborhood.

The crux of the story however is when they reveal to Charlie, that unbeknowst to him, he also has a brother - Spider, who apparently inheriated all of the Godlike genes of the family. Spider comes to pay his long lost brother a visit, and doesn't leave. Not only has Spider attached his monsterously large dream room to Charlie's closet for the long haul, but he's also stolen Charlie's fiance - Rosie (who can't tell the two apart).

It's a fun globel romp romp from there, as Charlie tries to put back the pieces of his former life.

One thing I liked about the ending <* spoiler alert - close your eyes! *> was that Charlie decided to remain his current self and not to merge back with Spider. Both 'Charlies' had grown in positive ways through the story and it was nice to see continue on in their separate ways.

Overall, I enjoyed the book.

Grade: B

Pirate Name?

My pirate name is:

Iron Sam Rackham

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
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Tennis anyone? Tennis... EVERYONE!

The weather has finally improved enough it start getting outdoors once in the while and smacking those fuzzy yellow spheres all over emerald concrete surfaces again!

Having played for a few years now as a middle aged person, that even at my age, I can still run, swing, hit, and score an ocassional point. It's healthy. Not too much wear and tear on the body. But the best part of all about tennis I have found is: Stress reduction!

Whacking those balls all over the court is a great relief. And a good way to work off all of those pent up frustrations. So give it a try.

McDoogle.

PS. Your challenge: Dig that dusty old racquet out of the closet and head for the court nearest to you today.

Review of 'Eldest'

Just finished reading 'Eldest' last night at 11:30 PM.


<* Spoiler Alert! Don't read if you plan on reading 'Eldest' in the future *>

My general opinion was that the book was a bit of a long and winding road. After some initial action packed storylines to start the novel, the plot really drags with descriptions galore as Eragon travels to the forest of Elves. It takes quite a while to arrive for Rider Training. I found the training intriguing and interesting however. And Eragon's affection for Ayra which always ends in frustration is also interesting. Why does she really spurn him? There's something more than age difference going on here. For a while I thought she was secretly related to Eragon perhaps. But we learn Eragon's ancestry later near the end.

I thought the introduction of the new Rider and new dragon Thorn interesting. But that Murtagh had switched allegiances and was now fighting for the Empire was disappointing and discouraging, and I felt, not true to the character. That he let Eragon go in the end does not make up for his betrayal to Empire when he was so set against the Empire in Book 1. Very poor.

I expected Eragon to fair better after all of that Rider training from the Elves also. Murtagh really handed it to him, with less time spent training and with less time with his dragon. The explanation that 'well Galbatorox is just such a skilled Rider - heads above everyone else in the land...' doesn't make up for how quickly Murtagh's skills could supercede Eragon's.

Still, looking forward to reading book III, 'Brisinger', which is scheduled for release Sept. 20, 2008. Hopefully Eragon will man up, and defeat the Empire in a courageous battle. Not some back handed default victory of some sort.

Grade: B-

McDoogle

~

PS. I thought the lines: "Barges? We don't need no stinkin' barges!" while slightly humorous were very unprofessional, as this was not a parody.

Start Up

Welcome to McDoogle's Doogles.

And may all your doogles be happy ones!

As you can immediately tell this blog will be a lot of random nonesense.

But that's OK - nobody's going to read this anyway!

Today is April 1st, and it is officially the first day of Spring! Today in Valley View we had our first sighting of... 'Sad Walking Man'. Last seen in December of '07. Although I heard a report of a sighting yesterday, it's not official until you see it for yourself. SWM is back! And better than ever! In a sad sort of way.

McDoogle.

PS. Your challenge: Write a short report on what you think of potato chips.