Stephen King’s UR

Stephen King’s UR

Finally I have read a sampling of the king of horror. It is a very small sample, but it is a start. I am going to keep it brief but I want to give my impressions as I read through the novella by Stephen King which is called UR. First, the basic idea of UR is that Wesley has recently broken up with his girlfriend who is coach of the women’s basketball team at the college where he is a Literature professor. To spite her, he decides to put on a charade that he is becoming “new school” by purchasing a Kindle, yes… a Kindle by name because this novella was a Kindle store exclusive. (It should be noted that most smartphones can download a free Kindle app so you don’t necessarily have to own a Kindle to read UR.) I’ll be honest, after 20% (apparently this is the new measurement of e-readers, instead of pages) of the novella I was feeling as though I only truly knew what could be told in a single paragraph and what could be told well in 3 or 4 paragraphs. I was also feeling as though this read was nothing more than a love letter to the Kindle… not that I could blame King, he has said this work only took him 3 days and he made $80,000. Soon after that 20% mark however, the story started taking shape, Wesley had found that according to a special function on his Kindle Ernest Hemingway had an intriguing book called Cortland’s Dogs… but it had been published after Hemingway’s death and Wesley had never heard of it. Surely he would have heard of it. Now the novella was a writer’s homage to his favorite (and a not-so-favorite) authors, and that I found to be very captivating. I wanted to wander a world of lost Hemingway, Twain and Poe works. Alas, this was only a novella so we had to move on. Eventually an additional special function which had previously been overlooked leads Wesley to a shocking discovery and he and a student are forced to take swift action. This action defies logic at times and I take minor points off for that, but after the slow start this novella was very solid. I must say the end is a bit of a surprise but unexpected is good. I enjoyed UR and look forward to reading more of King’s work. For those who know me… I still prefer Koontz, but I can read both right?

Is History Channel’s ‘The Bible’ a Sunday Mass or a Sunday Snooze?

Can the History Channel Do a Better Job Than James Earl Jones?

by Bob-O-F’n-Mac

From the subtitle on this article, you might think this writer/reviewer isn’t taking this article serious, but the truth is that when Darth Vader reads the bible it is kind of a big deal. However this review isn’t about Darth Vader but rather about how the History Channel has decided to use the bible as platform to tell a story of the most prolific book of all time. History Channel’s ‘The Bible’ had me sucked in until I actually watched it, and by the end of it I felt as if I was at a boring church sermon.

Now do not get me wrong, I am not knocking the actual bible, as a matter of fact, I love the good book, and maybe that is where the problem lies for me. I feel as if the History Channel had a whole bunch of people who really didn’t care about the stories, and instead hired a whole bunch of writers and actors who looked up the information on Wikipedia. At first I was into it, and the powerful images of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, and the opening with Noah were very sound and exciting. However, it was at this point where the acting and story of Abraham bring about a sound theme of snoozing and mind wandering. Granted I understand that Abraham isn’t the most exciting person in the bible, but he is very important and made this viewer care less about him. One highlight was seeing Lot’s wife turn into salt. Anytime a person turns to salt is cool in my book.

One of my biggest gripes is the fact that the mystery and incest found in Lots cave was never explored. I guess its one of those topics that History Channel just doesn’t want parents to explain to their kids about. Maybe I am just a sucker for holding true to a story, but I think it would have at least created an even stronger buzz for the show. If nothing else it would have helped take away from the pain of the horrible acting. I mean I understand that most of the acting budget went into Vikings, but maybe they could have pawned a few things to Rick Harris to get better actors.

I will say this though, the Moses story of the series was done really well. It is a very hard story to pull of considering how much Hollywood has put into films about this subject. The acting was much better (minus young Moses and Pharaoh) but the effects were done decent and the story seemed to be pretty solid here. I will always have a soft spot for this story in the bible because of the awesome details and amazing story that it is.

Overall though, the first episode left me a little letdown. The stories I feel could have been done way better, but I am hoping part two will suck me in. The History Channel could have done some amazing things here, but instead decided to play it safe and not up to par with a lot of the other shows they have done. For reviewing purposes I will stick this sinking ship out, but trust me when I say put a montage of Darth Vader clips while listening to James Earl Jones read the bible is more exciting any day of the week,

Thunderstruck! Supernatural’s Latest Offering to the TV Gods

Season 8 Episode 16- ‘Remember the Titans’
By BobOFnMac

Being honest, having the ancient Greek Gods being a focus point for this episode had me less than enthused for Supernatural last night. After watching the episode, I have to say that the cast and crew of this show did something that really worked. Is it the best episode of Supernatural? No, but what it does do is move the story along a little more and comes across as a decent episode.

At this stage in the game, Supernatural does something in the world of TV that does amaze me. It takes the formula of the show and continues to build on it and make otherwise less than stellar ideas work on the small screen. Eight seasons are exhausting for any show, and given how a show like Supernatural has both Dean and Sam Winchester battle monsters every week, last night’s episode makes a tough subject like Greek God’s work. The point I am trying to make is that last night’s episode worked for me when I thought it wouldn’t.

To do a quick summary, Prometheus is alive and kicking and Sam and Dean work on helping him out in order to stop Zeus from tormenting Prometheus and his family. Sounds crazy right? Give the episode a try and I promise you will either roll your eyes or enjoy it for what it is. Also if you have yet to come crawling out of the rock you have been under, sign up for Netflix and watch the past seven seasons of Supernatural today. Until next time don’t touch that dial (unless you have to go pee pee) and see you all in TV Land again soon.