Flash Forward Flahes Lost & Other Season Premieres

Hi

I thought it appropriate with today's weather to write about last week's Fall TV season premieres. Overall, I have to say that I'm quite pleased.

Flash Forward
Great start. I think most people I've talked to have taken an instant liking to this show, but one of the aspects that's really roping in people to the show are the Lost references. Consider the billboard in the background of this shot (link courtesy of Farooq). Not only this reference to Oceanic Airlines (and a comedic one if you squint your eyes to read it), but some sites out there (http://the-odi.blogspot.com/) are drawing comparisons to the numbers mentioned in Lost. Now, this obviously cannot be chalked to mere coincidence. It has to be one of the following reasons: (1) Great marketing to get Lost fans into a new show considering that this will be Lost's last season. I can imagine producers of the show sitting at their brainstorm sessions saying, "Ok, now that we've mind F'd these people into drawing parallels between the show [that may or may not exist], what can we do to keep them coming?" "I know!" chimes another producer, "Let's slowly sneak the entire cast of Lost into the show." And so enters Dominic Monaghan, the actor that plays Charlie in Lost, into the promo for the next show. And then there's Penny from Lost (actress Sonya Walger) who plays Olivia Benford. But, who knows, with the expiration of Lost, these actors may simply be well-liked to the network and are trying to capitalize on it. Alternatively, we might get into the second reason: (2) The Lost World and FF World are in fact the same "universe" and there are intentional crossover, overlapping stories. How ridiculous would that be?! Ridiculous in a possibly phenom sense, that is. That, for example, the worldwide blackout is related to the time traveling from the island or when Ben initially made the island disappear or... Well, for FF-Lost conspiracy theories, I'm sure you can find tons on the WWW. Regardless, even as a standalone product, Flash Forward is extremely interesting. The baseball footage where they showed some random person awake was eerily cool and intriguing. It makes you think of the many possibilities of what happened: a new natural phenomena? Aliens? Something that will always remain unknown? An act of God (azubillah; but I'm sure that will be a small theme)? A government conspiracy? Guess I'll have to stay tuned..

Heroes
Two-hour premieres are always good. This show started off Season 1 unbelievable. It was on its way to becoming one of my favorites shows of all time. I could probably watch Season 1's season finale 100x. Subsequent seasons, however, were lacking. I'm not sure what creator/producer Tim Kring was thinking. It was like he was taking a football team to the promised land, but inexplicably decides to bench his starters in favor of the third stringers. The last two seasons strayed away from the great ideas and themes of the first season; namely, the battle between good and evil (Peter: the embodiment of good, the reluctant hero; Hiro the eternal optimist; Sylar: the embodiment of evil). Actually, I think I still kept watching because of Sylar. He was always entertaining. Anyway, this season seems like its trying to return to what captivated us fans in the first place. Peter is back to his original job helping people out. He had a radio (reminiscent of Peter Parker in one of the Spider-Man movies) to listen to crimes and stop them -- using his Superman-esque (not quite, but you know what I mean) powers for good. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the duality of Nathan's character with him battling his inner Sylar and with Sylar getting in Parkman's head. I also like the mysterious new presumably evil character who is apparently on some mission of redemption, though you can tell he has some sort of grand plan. (What's his power btw?!) Also, for those that didn't know, the guy with the knives who moves really fast is the same guy who played Darth Maul in the fourth installment of Star Wars. Let's hope Heroes can keep the momentum. I'm not sure if I can take anymore disappointment...

Smallville
Phenom! Clark is finally trying to embrace his Kryptonian side and become who he is destined to be (that would be Superman -- i.e. a lesser version of myself). I like the costume. It's nothing fancy, but the S symbol is what's good to finally see. I also like the introduction of Zod (currently only a Major and not a General) and I'm intrigued as to why they don't have any of their powers. Seeing Zod interact with Tess will -- hopefully -- also prove to be an interesting development. Admittedly, though, I am really disappointed with how they simply killed off Doomsday from the prior season. He's the guy that kills Superman in the comics. There should have been an EPIC fight scene either last season or the start of this season. Anyway, the producers and writers can make it up to me by making Clark embrace his inner "It's a bird, It's a plane, It's Superman" by FLYING! C'mon! Ok, they did at least elude to it the premiere and successfully teased us by showing him jumping off the Statue of Liberty but then cut to another scene. Next episode with Metallo should be a good one...I hope.

Community
Hysterical pilot episode. This show had me at the trailer I saw when the character Abed (played by Chicago native Danny Pudi) replay a scene from classic Breakfast Club. I was dying. I really like the dialogue; it's witty, funny, and even charming. So while it may remind you of me, instead of solely checking me out, you should check this out, too.

Anyway, that's it for now. A few of my other regular shows haven't premiered as yet (i.e. Legend of the Seeker [a guilty pleasure], Lost, and my beloved Chuck), but I'll critique at that point.


Cheers

An Ode to Michael Jordan

Hi

Yesterday, the greatest basketball player to date and of all time was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

It was arguably one of the greatest HOF class inductions. You had David Robinson (The Admiral), John Stockton, Coach Vivian Stringer, Jerry Sloan, and His Airness, Michael Jordan.

The speeches for the most part were interesting and like Jordan mentioned (he was of course the last to speak) in his speech, you learned a little bit about the others that you probably didn't know before. Jordan's speech, though, was clearly the best. Of course I am biased as all heck, but the night definitely belonged to him. Even Stockton joked around how his family and friends came so far more so to see Jordan than him.

Now, if you don't understand who MJ was, then you probably would think his speech wasn't as memorable or significant as it should have been. This is clearly the opinion of Adrian Wojnarowski from Yahoo! Sports. In fact, the title of his article is "Jordan's night to remember turns petty." The article had some points to it. Yes, Jordan was definitely getting back at people -- Jeff Van Gundy, Bryon Russell, etc. And, yes, he did in almost narcissistic fashion tell his kids that he wouldn't want to be them (note: if you didn't watch it, first, shame on you, but second, know that he said it laughingly). But if you think somehow that this made his speech -- his moment to shine -- somehow less than expected, or uneventful, or "petty," then you probably have no clue who MJ really is. At least to his countless fans.

You cannot blame the guy for his comments if you really want to think about it. Let's consider ALL the attention he's received to date and will likely continue to receive for years to come: For starters, and to make my job here easier, why don't you YouTube Jordan and see all the various homages he has out there? There are videos that people have on him where you can tell they took a lot of time to put together (example 1 out of thousands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtU0ifvVPV8&channel=hoopsencyclopedia). ESPN created a phenom link on their website capturing his top 23 moments leading up to yesterday's commencement. And what about his marketing genius that came as a result of his play? I've blogged this before, but here's another one. I also noticed yesterday on Facebook that my die hard Kobe Bryant and LA Lakers fan of a cousin posted an interview with Mike Wilbon and Jordan with a caption underneath stating, "simply the greatest ever." He put the Chicago Bulls on the map...and internationally, too. I have personally experienced this during my travels to Europe. I recall one cab driver in Madrid, who didn't speak much English, say "Chicago Bulls!" with a big a smile when I told him I was from Chicago. This guy mattered that much to the NBA. To basketball.

So, tell me, how can you fault him for telling us what's on his mind? For getting back at others not simply because he can (and should in my opinion!), but also to show just how competitive he is. Even now. And it's not like Jordan was completely self-absorbed. Adrian Wojnarowski forgets to mention that Jordan mentioned his ex-wife to his kids to recognize her contributions. He talked at length about his competitive drive stemming from his brothers and sisters. About how his mom still keeps him at check despite being 46 years old.

Jordan is the greatest ever. He created a dynasty and one of the most dominant teams in sports history. He was right last night. It's the players who go out there and play. And it was Jordan who would find ways to win.

Last night was Jordan being himself...cocky & competitive to the end. I loved it!

Congratulations, Michael Jordan. We miss you!


But here's looking to seeing you in uniform at 50. Like you said, "...limits, like fears, are often just an illusion."

Bears Season '09-'10

Hi

The season fast approaches and I am so excited. A rejuvenated
Urlacher? Jay Cutler? Forte repeating (hopefully exceeding) last
year? Devin Hester proving he's a legit #1?

So many questions.

My life can finally resume with football and Da Bears back in the
picture!!!

Bear Down!

FYI: pic here is from the first ever game I attended last season.
Bears won in OT against fudge packers. One of the coldest games ever,
too! Jzk, Meraj/Taha for the hookup!

iPhone: The Hummer of Phones

Hi

This is a good article on how exactly the iPhone is the "Hummer" of phones (i.e. data guzzler). (Link courtesy of Ali.) But it also points out how it's not just an iPhone or AT&T issue, but as smartphones are used more and more, all wireless providers will have to step up their network coverage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/technology/companies/03att.html

I wonder what'll happen when 4G comes out here?!

What will be annoying (but good money-making for Apple or other cell phone makers/providers) is that Apple will then introduce an iPhone 4G. Then a year or so later, an iPhone 4Gs. And I'm sure they'll add on extra features like an HD camera (which I'm sure they already have). Heck, I'm sure these corporations are already thinking in some lab somewhere about 5G speed and phones that will handle them. I wish we could exploit them for all the technology they have!

I know there are pros and cons of increasingly relying on technology, but I'm strictly talking about the "Wow!" factor here. I liked to be Wow-ed, folks. I think it's a constitutional right and should be mandated in a Declaration of Technology, if you will:

We hold these truths to be self-evident that not all technological platforms were created equal, that they are endowed by Apple/Google/Microsoft/Nokia/[insert technology company] with certain phenom features, that among these are Life (App Store), Liberty (Free Apps), and the pursuit of Happiness (paying a lot for awesome technology on your credit card and worrying about the costs later).

Can I get a John Hancock at the end of this, please?! Or I guess a "Steve Jobs" instead?


Cheers

Dude from Wisconsin Speaks Urdu

Hi

This is pretty awesome:



It's good to see in this global age someone taking such an active interest in learning about another culture and absorbing it into one's life. Of course, I say this so easily when it's someone taking interest in Pakistani culture & language!

But, man, I feel like a punk for not learning Urdu as good as he has learned it. Really impressive. He should now just revert! He's obviously smart, too, since he went to UofC. Come to think of it, I remember Umar mentioned that they had classes in Urdu when he was still a student there. Clearly, he should've taken them!

Watching videos like this makes me feel proud but also a bit embarassed. For a culture and country I love so much, should I not also take the initiative to speak better Urdu? I know my Urdu is vastly superior than my brothers (don't let Umar's love of poetry fool you and if Ali says otherwise, just ask him about the flying fish story...), but regardless I still mess up on conjugating words. And it's so clear when I speak that I speak it in an Americanized way. In fact, yo creo que me espanol es mejor! Ideally, the languages I'd like to inshaAllah learn to speak, read, and write fluently are Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, and then brush up on Spanish, too. Make dua for a brother.

Side note: At the end of the day, though, I go to sleep fine knowing that at least my Urdu isn't Hydro Urdu. We might as well call Hyderabadi Urdu Chinese for practical purposes...


Allah hafiz