TV.com

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

I hadn't read much about Chuck and had no real intention of tuning into the show. I had seen Zachary Levi in 'Less Than Perfect' and wasn't sure that he would be able to pull off another, completely different, role.

I'm so glad I changed my mind and decided to give it a try! This show is quite possibly my new favourite - I've watched almost the whole season in the last three nights and I'm having to limit myself so that I don't blow through it too quickly!

The cast is brilliant. Sarah & Chuck play off each other really well, Casey makes me laugh every time with his sarcasm & Morgan is the perfect clingy best friend for Chuck. Captain Awesome is....awesome! He's a great addition for a laugh now and then! The only character I'm not so sure about is Chuck's sister as I keep thinking of 'Saved by the Bell' when I see her, but I'm sure that will pass in time!

I'm really glad that the writers have steered away from the usual "Nerds/Geeks are shy bumbling idiots when it comes to real life" with Chuck - his character is written well, the perfect combination of computer nerdiness combined with nervousness, but he's just a regular guy who interacts well with colleagues and family.

The storylines are fast paced and fun and there hasn't been a bad episode so far (and I'm up to episode 10 as I write this). Sure, you have to get past the whole "wait, hold up, he has a computer in his brain????" craziness, but the writers have pulled it off perfectly!!

Great show and I hope it keeps going for many, many more episodes!

The Bottom Line: "Great"

It's formed by mixing the primary colours red and blue in varying proportions, with possibly a very small quantity of the third primary colour for light or pigment.There is disagreement over exactly which shades can be described as purple, some people preferring more precise terms for particular shades - for example: Tyrian purple; Han purple; Royal purple; artists pigment purple; electric purple; orchid; heliotrope; psychedelic purple; mulberry; pansy purple; Tokyo purple; aubergine; maroon; lilac; lavendar. A difference in retinal sensitivity to red and blue light between individuals can cause further disagreement as to what constitutes purple.

And why am I telling you all this? Well, let me explain. This episode almost had me, at the beginning. I thought we were going to be treated to a visual explosion of the colour orange again, as our first dead body and the vehicle that almost ran over him were a marvelous shade of burnt orange. However, I soon noticed a trend developing toward the colour purple. The new ME in a lilac pinstripe blouse, a man in the crowd with the same colour tie, another couple of men in the crowd in different places wearing a pale purple shirt, a lady in a deep aubergine dress, various others - and all this just in the intro. There are still many shades of red-orange to be viewed, as well - Delko's shirt, Tripp's tie - but the prevalence of the purple is just overwhelming.

The story is actually quite a good one this week, and a heck of a season ender, considering the multitude of departures from the various CSI franchises, I just wish that I hadn't gotten so sidelined by the colour thing. One of our baddies of the week is also in a lovely lavendar shirt, which combined with the pretty boy looks made it hard for me to take him as seriously as I think I was supposed to. There's also the presence of Elizabeth Berkley again - Ms. Deer-caught-in-the-headlights - she just looks so stunned all the time. I have no feeling for this character, though there is supposed to be such a history between her and Horatio, and their son, who must have gone to the same acting school as Ms. Berkley. Both of them emote about as much as a block of oak. To be fair, I suppose if I'm bashing those two I really should include David Caruso's questionable acting skills as well, but somehow it's just not the same thing. With him it's more of a hammy, over-acting style, not a total lack of ability.

Calleigh's later meeting with ATF agent Evan Caldwell is also sporting a lovely royal purple shirt for her and pansy coloured tie for him - it's a beautiful tie, and how am I supposed to pay attention to what's going on when I'm looking at the patterning of the tie? Then when H goes to meet Ms. Stunned and the bad acting child at his school, of course the main colour of the uniforms is ... what else? More purple. Even Ryan Wolfe gets in on it with his lavendar shirt and tie while he and Calleigh are checking out the vehicle used in the drive by shooting of Brad Gower. Where does he go, later on, when they're questioning Colin Madison? Where is the bimbo going, when she tells the idiot son to stay in his room and not use the phone? Can someone tell me how said idiot child could be carrying a gun in his school bag? Do they not have security at high-priced purple prep schools for teenaged convicts?

The penultimate scene of Wolfe in front of the crime lab building, reading a message on his phone saying "It's done" is interesting - what is done, exactly? Of course we're supposed to assume it has everything to do with Horatio lying on the airfield with a bullet hole in him, staring through his broken sunglasses, but I don't always like to go with the obvious.

Having said all this, which upon re-reading does seem rather critical of a show I do happen to like quite a bit, I was at least somewhat surprised by the ending - always a good thing. Like I said, I don't always like to go with the obvious. I just wish, though, that whoever is in charge of wardrobe would stop running on colour themes, even if it does provide me with a chance to look up all the different names for shades of a colour group. ;)

Happy Birthday to Stu!!!!!

Stuuuuudawwwwwwg!!!! My loff!!!! You know you aren't getting away with this just because I'm not home...right? Riiiiiiightttt?? Yup, I got skills, I got talent, I got my ass outta bed especially early to blog for you! Whatta friend!!! I expect ya to read every single word, no speed reading, no skipping my work of art, lookie it's even purple...woot!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY STUUUDOOOGG, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUU!!

PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

*Sings* Shake shake shake....ahhhh.....shake shake shakkkkkke.....shake your booootyyy







I am so cute.

Anyywayy, on with the celebrations!!!



mmmm! Gimme!



Healthy pizza....I swear it's healthy...the website told me so!!



Whoopsie, how did that get in there?





Mmmm!! Oh wait, I said that already.

Anywayyyy, enough partying....gift time!!! Woohoo!! Close your eyes, spin around three times, open your eyes. What was the point of that? My amusement!!!

Here ya go chickita, your gifts from your special (yeah you know I'm special) newbie!!!!

Part One:

I gotted ya some special one of a kind, unique, just for my stu, you only, nobody else ( ) gift vouchers (certificates, cards, whatever you call 'em)...


(Yeah, I totally made this one before the redesign and it's like your own little piece of history...yeah okay, I admit it, I lost the "pimp my profile" font that I made and couldn't make a new voucher with the new site in the background I rock!)


mmmm stubiehuggles.


'Cause....you know you're gonna need these. Damn Vista...I know, I know.


Bud wallpaper? No problem!!

So, that's part one of your gift. 12 vouchers. Good number. Nice and even. Pretty when you type it out. Twelve. (What?? I'm sleep deprived...yeah I'm writing this the night before but still )

Part two requires a little journey with me.

Cast your mind back a few weeks. You're jonesing for salad, I'm like "you freak" (you loff me), you're telling me you need new recipes and I'm like "BADINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG IDEA" (you didn't know about the idea...)

Follow me to the second part of your gift...

Your very own Salad recipe book: Saladsforstu.blogspot.com

It's a work in progress....as we find more salads for you I'll add them so you have somewhere to go when you're all outta ideas...but I've started it off for you & you should have enough to last you a few days! Enjoy babe!!

Mwah!

Have a superduperduperwooperfluperduper Birthday! I'll be around later to make sure you're having the bestest birthday EVER!!

Oh and stu? Remember how I've been teasing you for a few days about asking staff to make a site blog for your birthday...

Well...

Yeah, I didn't really do it (I'm not ready to die yet) but if I had done, it woulda looked something like this (click to expand):



Much Loff!

Mwah!! Birthday kisses!

Have you been good?

Howday 'all

Have you been good? I hope so. I'm not just talking about your state of being "good" as it an alternative to being OK or terrible, but also in the sense of have you don good out there in the world...or has it been a good week for evil geniuses. Completely lost? Welcome to my crazy reality....

I have been OK (in the state of being sense) and good (in the getting my work done on time and behaving well kinda way). Hell, I am always a girl...but it's not always good to be a good girl - people tend to take advantage of you if you try to do the right thing by them. I hate those people. Let's go put out some negative karma towards them...no that'd probably backfire knowing my luck.

Putting the gibberish aside, things have been busy in the down under world I have been in recently. I have flown back and forward between Aussie and NZ about half a dozen times in the last two months. Barely spent more than 2 nights in a row in my own bed and chalked up about 60+ hours in the week working (not including flying time). Some people might say, "hey, that's not that much" but I say "hey, that's too much if you ever want to be lively, health and not emotionally isolated and stunted"...which just happens when you do this kind of work. Oh well at least I have good old reliable tv.com for stress relief outlet...

Hang on, has something changed around here? By Jove, I think it has. Somehow all of my profile images are now far too small for their spaces, and my profile image has been unflatteringly stretched (poor hippo, feels like I do when I look in the mirror). I think I like the change, apart from a few things which are a lot harder to see at a glance, like Queue numbers and new PMs. I would also have left in the full list of contibutors and tracked blogs if I had any input - alot of people may be upset by dropping off the contributor list for a show...

Speaking of TV, haven't watched anything for ages (haven't had any time ). Looking forward to Chuck and Heroes next Tuesday. I have really enjoyed the few episodes I've seen of the show, but am a little worried that it's going to fall into a hole pretty quickly in character development (i.e. Chuck + Sarah thing) but I am trying to stay optimistic. The trailer looks really good. Haven't seen anything for Heroes, but you know I'll watch it.

I enjoyed a lovely sunny day in Auckalnd today after the software release I made yesterday went well - all issues resolved ( ) I have another few busy days and back to wellington for a change of pace.

Wishing you all a better week than last week!

Huggles

Hippo