High Fantasy With a Twist: Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law

August 29, 2010
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Joe Abercrombie’s deliciously dark The First Law trilogy takes all of the classic High Fantasy tropes that have been populating similar novels since J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings first came on the scene and practically established the genre, and gives them all a savage twist.  By turns mercilessly satirical, stupendously grisly, [...]

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Eureka 4.08: “The Ex-Files”

August 28, 2010
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Note: The following review contains spoilers for all aired episodes of Eureka, including the most recent, “The Ex-Files.” “The Ex-Files” is an absolutely stellar episode of Eureka that brought with it one minor disappointment, but once I recovered from that momentary feeling of “Oh…huh,” it wasn’t difficult to acknowledge how intelligently this twist was set up [...]

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Private Dick: The Donald Strachey Mysteries

August 26, 2010
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The here! network is most known–among people who actually know of its existence–for producing what is basically gay softcore porn disguised as supernatural drama.  Dante’s Cove and The Lair are both incredibly fun shows, but they are so incredibly fun, because they are so (one would hope, deliberately) terrible, with often cringingly bad dialogue, acting, [...]

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Warehouse 13 2.08: “Merge With Caution”

August 25, 2010
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Note: The following review contains spoilers for all aired episodes of Warehouse 13, including the most recent, “Merge With Caution.” Warehouse 13 just keeps getting better and better.  The most recent episode, “Merge With Caution,” is an absolutely delightful episode that centers on relationships, romantic and otherwise.  In the first camp, we have Pete and his [...]

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True Blood 3.10: “I Smell A Rat”

August 23, 2010
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Note: The following review contains spoilers for all aired episodes of True Blood, including the most recent, “I Smell A Rat.” I have to confess that I’ve known the secret of Sookie’s origins for over a year now, thanks to a friend spoiling me on the books halfway through last season, so, no I didn’t experience [...]

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“Secrets and Lies”: Rowena Cory Daniells’ The King’s Bastard

August 22, 2010
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No point in beating around the bush.  Rowena Cory Daniells’ The King’s Bastard, the first volume in The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin trilogy (released by Solaris Books), is one of the best new high fantasy books I’ve read in ages.  Simultaneously intimate and epic, this gloriously entertaining first novel presents a richly realized world with [...]

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Everyday Heroes: No Ordinary Family

August 22, 2010
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The Powells were an ordinary American nuclear family, until one day they weren’t.  Up until their trip to Brazil, there wasn’t anything particularly distinctive about them as a unit.  Dad, Jim, a police station sketch artist played by Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic 4), was feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled in life.  Meanwhile, son, JJ, was having [...]

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Eureka 4.07: “Stoned”

August 21, 2010
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Note: The following review contains spoilers for all aired episodes of Eureka, including the most recent, “Stoned.” In a season that has redefined and even improved upon an already brilliant show to an extent that far exceeded even my wildest, highest expectations, Eureka has outdone itself yet again with “Stoned,” a phenomenal episode (directed by Joe [...]

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“Modern Family”: The Kids Are All Right

August 20, 2010
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The most revolutionary thing about The Kids Are All Right is how mundane it is.  That is not to say it’s boring or small or unimportant, but that the family at its center is just like any other “typical” American family–two parents and two kids (a boy and a girl) who laugh and love and [...]

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“The Long Con”: Lone Star

August 19, 2010
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Bob Allen, the protagonist of FOX’s upcoming fall drama series, Lone Star, is living a multitude of lives.  Raised to be a con man by his dad, John, Bob (or Robert, depending on where he is) has spent his entire life pretending to be other people in order to scam money away from the unfortunate and [...]

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