Sam Brady Writes A Book About 24

My new 24 article is up at TTNMC. I guess you can call it an article. John calls it a book. It's a long one, that's for sure. Then again, a lot went on. Here's the link. Enjoy!

24 5.06, 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.

The Boob Tube

You may recall (if you don't recall, just scroll down; you'll see it down there in the old posts somewhere) that I was recapping invasion over at TTNMC.com earlier this year and it was so bad, I bailed on recapping it and haven't come near it since. Better TV shows are on now, fortunately, so I'm back at work at TTNMC, writing recaps for 24, which I feel is neck-and-neck with Battlestar Galactica as the best show on television today. Neither approaches the brilliance that was Buffy at its peak (third season, in my opinion), but they're close, and are fine examples of what television can accomplish when a competent group of people get together and create a vision.

24 is in its fifth season, and picks up 18 months after the end of Season Four. For those of you who don't know the gimmick of 24, each season is 24 episodes long and takes place in "real-time" over the course of a single day, and usually involve Kiefer Sutherland, as Jack Bauer, having to overcome a terorist threat (or threats) to the United States. Each episode takes place over an hour of that single day. The first four episodes of this season aired on Sunday and Monday nights, two weeks ago, and Episode Five aired last Monday. Over the last few days my recaps of those first five episodes have been posted at TTNMC. I've been lazy about posting links to them, but here they are now:

Episode 1 (7:00 a.m.-8:00 a.m.)
Episode 2 (8:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.)
Episode 3 (9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.)
Episode 4 (10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.)
Episode 5 (11:00 a.m.-12:00 a.m.)

Episode Six aired last night. I will watch it tonight and will have an recap posted (I hope) before the weekend. I'll post the link here, certainly, when that goes up, and each week after that as well as new articles get written.

For what it's worth, while I'm here, I'll go ahead and tell you what other shows I watch, just so you can see that I'm not necessarily a "good TV" snob. Certainly I watch 24 and Battlestar Galactica, but I also watch American Idol, so clearly I have wide-ranging tastes. I also enjoy the reality fare of Survivor, The Amazing Race, and The Apprentice. I had been watching Lost, but for some reason I haven't watched the last couple of episodes, and haven't really missed it, so apparently I'm bailing on Lost without actually having intended to do so. It's just been sort of "enh" this year, anyway. Steven has gotten me back into watching rasslin' a little bit, and, thanks to Ben I found out about the incomparable MXC on Spike, which might be the funniest show on television. MXC is worth a post of its own, actually, so I won't go further into that at this time.

It seems like I'm leaving a show out somewhere, but I have no idea where. Hm. No matter. You're not interested in this anyway. Thanks for stopping by.



Aw, I can't leave without one last round of shameless plugs--that's what this post was all about to begin with, after all: click on my links! Read my articles! Poke around and check out everything else TTNMC has to offer: John Shea reviews Battlestar Galactica and offers up movie news and reviews! Matt Baker gets Lost! Steven Dougherty, when he chooses to review something, is bitter and tends to cuss! It's a fun site. Go there now!

Invasion 1.04, "Alpha Male"

My analysis of Episode Four of Invasion/indictment of the series as a whole is up at TTNMC. It might be the best review I've ever written of a show I didn't even watch. It will also be the last article I write about this particular series. I'm bailing on Invasion. Read this and find out why. Here's a hint: the show just isn't good.

Invasion 1.03, "Watershed"

My recap/review of Episode Three of Invasion has been posted at TTNMC. Check it out!

Invasion 1.02, "Lights Out"

My recap/review of Episode Two of Invasion has been posted at TTNMC. Check it out!

Invasion 1.01, "Pilot"

My recap/review of Episode One of Invasion has been posted at TTNMC. Check it out!

There goes the neighborhood...

Well, well, so this is Blogspot. Nice to be here. I used to have a blog over at LiveJournal, but lately I have seen a few folks who have put their thoughts on the web here at Blogspot and thought it was darn snazzy, so I decided to switch my allegiance.

I don't do much. My life isn't going to be fodder for blogging all that often, but perhaps I can come up with some thoughts to put out here for consumption from time to time. If I don't, I'm sure Ben will get on my case and let me know.

I occasionally post articles on the web at TTNMC, which is a TV/movie news website. Right now I have a recap of the first episode of Invasion in the queue to be published. Hopefully it will be up soon, and I'll be continuing to recap that show. Once 24 premieres in January I'll be trying to keep that one recapped as well. As I post new articles there, I'll put an announcement here so everyone can click frantically over and read it. You should check out the other articles on the site, too. There are some pretty good writers over there.

I guess that's it for now. Survivor is about to come on OLN, so I need to go watch. If you want to know more about me, check out the old LiveJournal, then come back here to see if anything is going on worth talking about. Probably won't be, but you never know. Hope to see you soon.

What a week!

This entry was originally posted on my old blog.

Gr, dudes.

I just got off the phone with Darlene. She's working tonight, managing third shift up in Fayettenam. She'll be down here to visit in a couple of weeks. I need to see her again. It's only been two weeks since we last got to spend time together, but it feels like it's been a lot longer than that. Part of the reason for that, though, is that work has been crazy lately. It's been month-end, and I've been helping out on some stuff that I don't generally do. It's nice to know how to perform a few extra tasks. It makes me more valuable as an employee, and I think my boss is starting to get a good feeling about my abilities and my reliability. Always a plus!

Today was a pretty good day outside the office as well. Work continues on the balcony and woodwork at the ranch, so that's all good. Walter came over for a Cave Night^tm, but it didn't last very long. We were settling nicely into Season 5, Disc 2 of Angel when his sweetie called. She had just gotten home from a Florida trip, so of course he dropped me like the other shoe as soon as he could and went home to hear all about her adventures in Orlando. I can't begrudge him the time, though; I know what it's like to be away from the one you love. Besides, she passed along greetings to me when she called, so she can't be all that bad. Just kidding, Lynn. Hope you had a good trip. Oh, and the Braves won tonight, "B-Mac" Brian McCann getting the game-winner in the 8th. Chop chop, I say.

Not much else going on right now. It's gonna be a nice, lazy weekend. I figured out that this will be the first weekend in the last eight that I've been able to really sleep in on Saturday. The last seven weekends have either seen my daughter visiting, Darlene visiting, or me going to visit her, and those have all included early starts on Saturday. I'm sleeping in tomorrow, then I have four hours of taped TV shows from this week to watch (which doesn't include Battlestar Galactica, dammit. I forgot to tape that tonight. Have to watch for the rebroadcast). Anyway, I'll get caught up on my shows and write a review of invasion for ttnmc, then it's nothing but football till I go to bed Sunday night (hunker down just one more time). Aw yeh. Gonna be a good weekend.

I'm going to bed. Good night.