TV review: True Blood

It seems that vampire are the new "in" thing for entertainment. HBO debuted their new vampire series, True Blood, Sunday night. It stars Anna Paquin as Sookie, a waitress in a backwater Louisiana town. The plot revolves around vampire wanting to be accepted in mainstream society. A synthetic blood, called Tru Blood, that satisfies vampires' dietary needs has been formulated so there is no longer a reason for them to feed on humans. Now they just want to be like everyone else. However, not everybody is willing to blindly accept bloodsuckers.

Sookie spends her nights waitressing at Merlotte's, a local watering hole. Unfortunately, she has the ability to hear other people's thoughts. Of course, her secret makes everyone think she is strange. One night, Bill, a vampire played by Stephen Moyer, stops into the diner. Sookie is immediately taken by the stranger since she has never seen a vampire before. Her best friend Tara, played by Rutina Wesley, and her boss Sam, played by Sam Trammel, both warn her to stay away from Bill but Sookie can't. After all, Bill is the only one that Sookie can't hear in her mind. At the same time, Bill is intrigued by the mortal girl.

I fully expected a crappy vampire show. It's not often that someone pulls off a really good vampire story. HBO found some amazing actors and writers. We're only one episode in and I'm already smitten.

New Site Stuff

I've decided that The Geek Within needed a new face-lift. You may notice a few wonky things over the next few days as I try to figure out exactly what I'd like the site to look like. The grey theme you are used to was supposed to be temporary but I got lazy. Now it's time to me to decide what I want the site to be and what I want to talk about. As such, you'll probably notice some new topics popping up. I'll still be talking about video games and jdoramas, just not as much as I have been. There will be a bit more music talk...and who knows what else I'll come up with. It'll be fun!

Best diet pills?

There must be people out there taking diet pills. I mean, they keep getting made so someone has to be buying them, right? Do people just buy them randomly or do they do research to find the best diet pills? The whole thing is so foreign to me. I've always heard about how terrible diet pills are so I've never honestly considered taking them. I don't understand why someone would take something that has the possibility for terrible side effects and addictions.

Game review: Yummy Drink Factory

In Yummy Drink Factory, you have been spirited away by a witch to a fairy tale land. You need to serve beverages to customers in five different villages. Each village brings you closer to a magical map that will help you get home. When I first downloaded the game, I thought it was going to be a very typical time management drink game. However, there is a little more to it. Instead of just serving pre-made drinks, you need to combine different ingredients to make special drinks for the customers. For example, you might need to make an Iced Mocha with cocoa, mocha flavoring and ice. You get more recipes as you go along, which makes it interesting. I had quite a bit of fun playing this one. It was a really nice change of pace.

Oxygen

Many years ago, before my grandmother passed away, she had a portable oxygen concentrator. The thing was heavy and difficult to move. From what I understand, these things now come in an easier-to-carry form. That would be awesome for the families of the people that need to use oxygen on a regular basis. I can't imagine how much easier traveling with my grandmother would have been if her equipment wasn't so difficult.

Game review: 10 Days Under The Sea

10 Days Under The Sea is an underwater hidden object game. Despite having a fairly difficult hidden object side, there was a more interesting side that involved taking pictures of fish. Unfortunately, that part is only interesting for a few minutes. Then it seems like it's the same fish swimming past. As for the hidden object side, it was semi-difficult because some of the objects are set into the background. This means that they aren't seen as easily as the objects in the forefront. The background objects have a bluish tinge to them, making them hard to see. Honestly, there are much better hidden object games I'd rather play.

JDorama review: Ikebukuro West Gate Park Special

Title: Ikebukuro West Gate Park Special Also known as: IWGP Sp Broadcast date: ?? Number of episodes: 1 Genre: drama Cast: Nagase Tomoya, Sato Ryuta Plot: Taking place three years after the series, Makoto and his mother are currently homeless. She is staying with various friends (like King's father's sauna) while Makoto sleeps in their now-traveling fruit stand truck. One day, a homeless man wakes Makoto to tell him about a rash of homeless beatings. Ken, the leader of the homeless, wants Makoto to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Makoto is feeling restless in Bukuro. What is good: The last half hour or so is pretty good. What is bad: Boring! Letter rating: F Overall: While I didn't particularly like the series, it was at least interesting on some point. The special is painstakingly boring. There's two full-length songs sung in concert form for no real reason. Yes, both of the musical acts are important to either the storyline or a character revelation but the songs weren't really necessary. Kubozuka Yosuke, who played King in the original, is absent for a majority of the show. In his absence, both of the major gangs from the series have set up ramen shops. There is a sub-plot about which gang makes the best ramen. Now I know why I put off watching this for so long.

Las Vegas hotels

I've never been to Las Vegas before but I have a couple of friends who live there. Some of the vegas hotels are absolutely gorgeous! They look more like resorts than hotels! Now that my husband has a new job that will pay him more, maybe we'll get the chance to travel more. That would definitely mean a trip to Vegas.