TV review: Being Human

I watched a lot of BBC America this past week. This includes the Sunday night season premiere of Being Human. The commercials had me interested from the get-go so I greedily tuned in.

The show itself is a little weird. Basically, a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost end up as roommates. The werewolf (George) and the vampire (Mitchell) had an established friendship before the show begins. Anna the ghost, however, already occupies the house they are going to rent. It is where she died. George and Mitchell also work together at the local hospital. The hospital had an isolation room where George could spend his "time of the month" and, well, we all know why vampires like hospitals. Though Mitchell is more of the 'I don't drink human blood' type of vampire so he tries to keep the blood-sucking type away from the patients.

While I think the show has a good premise and has potential, the first episode had a bit too much information shoved into it. Instead of taking the time to introduce our main characters and their quirks, they felt the need to introduce all of the side characters up-front. For example, Lauren (another vampire) could have waited an episode or two before coming into the fold. I understand why the writers wanted to shove as much information at us as possible. After all, you never really know how long your show will last. But too much information at once isn't good either. Let the story unfold on its own. If the show gets canceled before everything is revealed, then perhaps it wasn't a very good story to begin with. However, I think this IS a good story and could use the sprinkling of information well.

1 vs 100 on Xbox Live

My husband and I have been playing 1 vs 100 on the Xbox 360. Despite a lot of people saying it was awesome, I was skeptical. I expected the typical online gamers to ruin it. Luckily, I was completely wrong. The game is awesome. For those of you that don't know what 1 vs 100 is, it's basically a trivia game. On certain "live primetime" days, you can win prizes. From what I understand, the prizes are mostly Xbox Live credits, but the last time we played, they were giving away copies of Braid. Anyway, on the live days, you have the opportunity to either be "The One" or in "The Mob." The One tries to outlive The Mob, If you answer a question wrong, you're out. Whoever is left (The One or however many Mob members) wins.

During non-live days, you can still play. There just aren't any prizes. But you do rack up points that the game uses to determine who will be The One and who will be in The Mob. So playing on non-live days is really beneficial. We're not playing much this week due to the Torchwood mini-series, but we'll be back next week!

Game review: Diner Town Tycoon

I really wanted to get the memory of Mr. Biscuits out of my head. So I downloaded Diner Town Tycoon. Diner Dash has rarely let me down. And this is no different. Well, I lie. The gameplay is completely different, but it's much more enjoyable! Instead of waiting on tables, you are trying to stop the evil Grub Burger from taking over your town. You start off with one restaurant, where you control what dishes are being served and how much they cost. It is your job to make sure you have enough ingredients for each dish so you can feed the hungry hoards that populate your town. As you try to keep your restaurant afloat, there are daily goals for you to accomplish. With each goal reached, Grub Burger loses their hold on the people.

I found myself completely mesmerized by Diner Dash Tycoon. I expected the traditional 'run around serving tables' game, but was surprised by how different and innovative this version was. There was a little bit of Diner Dash (each customer has specific tastes) mixed with a little bit of the 'Tycoon' games (the game view looks over the town as a whole instead of focusing on one business). If only I had more thumbs to put up for it!

Game review: Mr. Biscuits: The Case of the Ocean Pearl

It's been quite some time since I've played a hidden object game. I really was hoping that the time away from them would refresh my mind and save me from the tedious task the developers continue to present. Unfortunately, Mr. Biscuits: The Case of the Ocean Pearl is truly an awful game. The actual hidden object part isn't too bad. However, in order to progress the storyline, you need to find a mini Mr. Biscuits (a dog) in each scene. If you don't find him, you don't get the next clue to solve the murder of the dog's owner. It truly is annoying. I had hoped that the dog would be a cute little Scooby-Doo-type addition. Sadly, it is not. You can just skip right past this one.

TV review: Michael & Michael Have Issues

Last night was the debut of Michael & Michael Have Issues on Comedy Central. I am a huge fan of Michael Ian Black and I have been since he was on The State way back in 1993. So I was definitely looking forward to the new show.

There is no real plot to the show other than Michael Ian Black ("Black") and Michael Showalter ("Sho") butt heads at every opportunity they get. If Sho says something is awesome, Black has to say it sucks. This first episode had the Michaels fighting over an article in a high school newspaper that Greg the Intern was writing. Black didn't want to be interviewed but Sho did. Sho went behind Black's back and...let's just say it devolved into a bare-chested pseudo-fight on the front lawn of Black's house. Absolutely hysterical. I can't wait until next week's episode.

Warehouse 13

Last night was the premiere of Warehouse 13, the first new show on the new SyFy network. (Yes, that name still makes me gag.) The two-hour premiere started off slow, as most premieres do. Myka, the lead female, was annoyingly brash in the beginning, but, of course, she lightened up by the end. And Peter, the lead male, was pretty awesome throughout the whole thing. It'll be interesting to see where the show goes. At this point, the show could go either way. It could be cheesily awesome, like Eureka, or just plain terrible. I hope it's awesome.

Jdorama review: Ace wo Nerae!

Title: Ace wo Nerae! Translation: Aim for the Ace! Broadcast dates: 1/15/04 - 3/11/04 Number of episodes: 9 Genre: Sports Cast: Ueto Aya, Yoshizawa Hisashi, Matsumoto Rio, Uchino Masaaki Plot: Hiromi Oka (Ueto) has decided to join the tennis team at her new high school. Despite being her first time playing, she has caught the eye of the new tennis coach. What is good: You get really caught up in the last half of the series. What is bad: The beginning is very slow and the outcome is rather predictable. Letter rating: B- Overall: I generally don't watch a lot of sports series. I'm just not a big sports fan. However, once we got through the "Hiromi sucks at tennis!" theme that looms over the first half of the series, I found myself excited for the next episode. Unfortunately, since the series is so short, it is filled with predictable outcomes. Even when something surprising happens, it gets 'fixed' so that you end up with what you knew would happen. As a whole, it's not an awful show. It would just be nice if it was a little longer so things could be shaken up once in awhile.

JDorama review: Kamikaze Girls

Title: Shimotsuma Monogatari Also known as: Kamikaze Girls Release date: 2004 Genre: Slice of life Cast: Fukada Kyoko, Anna Tsuchiya Plot: Momoko (Fukada) is a Lolita girl. Ichiko (Tsuchiya) is a delinquent. This is the story of their friendship. What is good: The cinematography is beautiful. What is bad: Tsuchicya's acting seems very forced and fake. Letter rating: C Overall: As a general rule, I'm excited to see live action Japanese movies get licensed in the United States. Unfortunately, for every Death Note, there's a Kamikaze Girls. The movie isn't completely awful. I did manage to get through it entirely. However, it is dragged out and dull. While you would like the characters to better themselves, you don't really care about them and, for the most part, you'd prefer if they just left each other alone for once. The ending is very sweet...it just seems to take forever to get there.

JDorama review: Mop Girl

Title: Mop Girl Broadcast dates: 10/12/07 - 12/14/07 Number of episodes: 10 Genre: Mystery Comedy Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Tanihara Shosuke Plot: Momoko (Kitagawa) starts her new job at a small funeral services company. She soon finds that she has the ability to go back in time when she touches a precious object of someone who was wrongly killed. What is good: The interaction between the characters was pretty cute. What is bad: The ending felt unfinished. Letter rating: C+ Overall: I started watching this because Kitagawa played my favorite senshi, Sailor Mars, in the live action Sailor Moon series, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. She's not a fabulous actress but she is definitely getting better as time goes on. Unfortunately, the role of Momoko is dull. She's klutzy and beyond dumb. There are many times when she could have solved a problem on her own. Instead, she ran to Otomo (Tanihara). Then, at the end, when they show the surprise relationship between Momoko and Otomo, the story doesn't go anywhere with it. It actually gets ignored completely. On one hand, I'd like to have a special episode to tie everything up. On other hand, the story isn't really worthy of an extra episode.

JDorama review: Zettai Kareshi Special

Title: Zettai Kareshi Also Known As: Absolute Boyfriend Broadcast date: 3/24/09 Genre: Romantic comedy Cast: Hayami Mokomichi, Mizushima Hiro, Aibu Saki Plot: Shortly after Riiko (Aibu) and Soshi (Mizushima) get called back from Paris to open a new store, Riiko finds that Night has been resurrected by a new Kronos Heaven employee. Will Night destroy the couple's engagement? What is good: It's nice seeing these characters come to life again. What is bad: The story was completely unnecessary. Letter rating: B- Overall: When the series ended, I felt like I needed more closure to the story. This isn't what the audience needed. While it felt like Night's character had more to him, he was used throughout the entire special. It was wonderful seeing the characters on screen and interacting again. However, it's akin to taking that last extra bite of cake. Yeah, it was tasty but now you feel nauseous.