Television on the “tube” give me more!

Lately I have discovered that networks are putting entire TV shows on youtube. For example, CBS’ audience network has a whole collection of original Star Trek shows online in their entirety! How sweet is that? You have to have ads which is always annoying, but it’s a small price to pay to watch a masterpiece such as Mirror Mirror or Space Seed on your computer anytime you want. I suppose if you have a DVD player on ur machine (I do) or a blue ray disc player you can bypass the ads, but that costs money.
Take a look!

R.I.P. Khan

Yesterday I was saddened to hear that the fine actor of Mexican heritage (pictured here) Ricardo Montalban passed away at age 88. When I told some people about it at work, some remarked they were too young to know who he was, but actually even if you never saw him in the role he is best remembered by in the TV show Fantasy Island, (the plane! the plane!) some will always remember him for his role as genetic superman Khan Noonien Singh from the Star Trek episode “Space Seed.”

Montalban was also in several of the Planet of the Apes movies but he reprised his roles as Khan in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan which many sci fi aficionados (including myself) consider the best Star Trek movie and one of the finest (if not the very best) sci fi flick of all time.

It’s hard to imagine the Trek franchise without recalling what a fantastic job Montalban did as Khan in both the TV show and especially the movie. His tactical battle against Admiral James T. Kirk (he was promoted to Admiral by the time this movie was made but demoted again to the rank of Captain later) and some of the best dialogue in the film make this a memorable experience, not to mention the fact it was also Kirstie Allie’s cinematic debut.

What’s not to love? Kirstie Allie as a Vulcan starfleet officer, (“You go right on quoting regulations”), the Genesis device, and the death of Spock. This movie has it all including some of the very best action in all the Star Trek movie sequels.

By the way here’s my favorite scene of the entire film:

Wizard World L.A. cancelled!

Our sagging economy has claimed yet another victim. I got an email late last week saying that Wizard World L.A. had been postponed and Wizard World Texas was going to be cancelled. I have been attending the L.A. show for three years now, although a few years back it was held in Long Beach.

I was pretty disappointed to hear the L.A. show had been postponed. What does this mean anyway? Will they hold it later in the year? It was originally scheduled for March 13-15 and like I said I had been looking forward to it until I read the press release.

No indication was given why both shows were cancelled on the email but the Wizard website makes it known that it was “due to the current economic climate.” I had noticed that last year’s show seemed smaller in terms of attendees than previous years, but I attributed it to the change in venue and other factors.

Thanks a lot George W. Bush for ruining the economy and getting rid of Wizard World!
Maybe if things are financially stable for me by summer, I may make a trip to Chicago and attend Wizard World Chicago which is highly popular and is going on as planned.

Happy 2009: Go Chargers!!

Sorry that there were few posts in the past couple of weeks, honestly my plan was to post the best of 2008 list but a trip to San Francisco to visit friends and family in Pacifica limited computer time. Now that I am back, I would like to point out that the San Diego Chargers were one of the best sports stories of 2008. The Chargers had a very underwhelming and terrible season as they began the 2008 campaign without their best defensive player Shawn Merriman who had to be operated on both knees. Without Merriman who contributed 33.5 sacks last year and is a monster on the defensive end position, SD lost most of its pass rush and defensive cordinator Ted Cotrell was fired mid season.

After losing too many close games to count, SD found itself outside looking into the playoffs with an abyssmal 4-8 record and an outside shot of making the playoffs. Just when it looked like the Denver Broncos would run away with the western division, they fell flat losing all their December games and the Chargers caught fire winning all of theirs. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a better team in December games than the Chargers who have won 14 straight dating back to 2005. San Diego took their momentum into the playoffs and won last Saturday’s Wild Card game against the heavily favored Indianapolis Colts in thrilling fashion, an overtime touchdown run by Darren Sproles who had over 300 all purpose yards led to a second round fight with Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. Nobody gives the Chargers a chance against the Steeelrs but I am going to tell you why they have a chance to win:

1. The Chargers are on a roll, the Steelers are not necessarily on one, even though they are tough to beat at home

2. Pittsburgh QB Ben Rothlisberger is injured, absorbing a big hit in last week’s game. He may not be 100 percent

3. The Chargers’ defense has come to life under new coordinator Ron Rivera and gave up only one big play vs. Payton Manning and the Colts

4. Darren Sproles! Go Bolts!!!