C.K. Sample, III
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C.K. Sample, III, editor of TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog), is getting his Ph.D. in literature with some film theory on the side. Akira Kurosawa is his favorite director. His all time favorite movie is Jaws. He's a media addict who dreams of one day making a stop-motion animation film based on Kurosawa's work and a documentary about Southerners living in New York City. His personal blog is Sample the Web.
C.K. Sample, III
-
C.K. Sample, III, editor of TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog), is getting his Ph.D. in literature with some film theory on the side. Akira Kurosawa is his favorite director. His all time favorite movie is Jaws. He's a media addict who dreams of one day making a stop-motion animation film based on Kurosawa's work and a documentary about Southerners living in New York City. His personal blog is Sample the Web.
Posted May 25th 2006 6:24PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
So here it is: the absolute best screenshot I could get of last nights big green bird that shrieked like some sort of pterodactyl. I couldn't get anything good from my DVR. I had to purchase the iTMS copy of the show and open the file in Quicktime, so that I could step frame by frame through the section. Clearly, it was a moment of computer-generated green birdiness last night, but what type of bird? The green made me think of the eagle on American currency, but that seems a stretch, even for this bizarre show. I played with the image some in Photoshop. I'm no expert, by any means, but check after the jump for some more pictures...
Continue reading Forensic photography with the big green Lost bird
Posted May 25th 2006 1:34PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: ABC, Lost, Watercooler Talk
Despite the wishes of all you
Lost fanatics out there, the above pictured character from last night's
Lost episode is
not Jack aka Matthew Fox. He may look somewhat like him, but he sounds nothing like him, and if you take the time to read the credits at the end of the show, the actor's name is either
Alex Petrovitch and his character's name is Man #2 or
Len Cordova and his character's name is Man #1.
From the looks of the IMDb pictures, I'm leaning towards it being Len.
Posted May 25th 2006 10:11AM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, FOX, American Idol, Celebrities
(Check out the video after the break in this post...)Last night, I missed
American Idol, because of
Lost and also because I don't really watch
American Idol much past the initial round of horrible singers trying out. I did, however, record the finale on my DVR, because ... well ... Prince!
Anyway, I decided to FF to the end of the show to see who won, and I was happy it was the gray-haired fellow from Alabama. And then, the strangest thing happened. David Hasslehoff appeared in the audience and he was starting to tear up and clearly shocked that he was tearing up over the ending of
American Idol.
I understand, David. Although you are a veritable singing superstar over in Deutschland, you have long dreamed of the day when your own American people would embrace you as their
American Idol. You had long given up all hope of that ever happening. Seeing silver-maned Taylor Hicks winning last night, however, reignited that fire of hope in your aging heart.
Ausgezeichnet, my friend! Ausgezeichnet!Continue reading The last time I saw Hasselhoff tear up was when K.I.T.T. died... - VIDEO
Posted May 25th 2006 12:07AM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
(S02E23) Two hour season finale. Usually that means a slow-paced episode with tons of teaser bits to keep you stringing along with a few hard-hitters near the end to keep you excited for next season. The creators of Lost must have realized that a lot of the fans of the show were feeling like we weren't getting enough answers out of the story line, so they made a jam-packed finale. It was a great episode, and I'm somewhat at a loss where to begin in writing this review.
The episode begins where last week's episode ended: all the castaways on the beach attending the funeral for Ana Lucia and Libby notice a sailboat in the distance off the beach. Sawyer, Jack, and Sayid swim out to the boat to recover the vessel and see what's going on. Once they are aboard, they are greated by gunshots being fired from below deck. They dodge the bullets, then flip up the hatch only to discover a drunken Desmond below deck, recognizing Jack, saying "You," just before we go to the title screen.
Read more including plenty of spoilers after the break...
Continue reading Lost: Live Together, Die Alone (finale)
Posted May 17th 2006 11:01PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
(S02E22) Tonight's episode of
Lost titled "Three Minutes" begins 13 days in the past, when Michael first knocked out Locke, stole a gun, and locked Locke and Jack in the closet together. For the entire episode, we flash back and forth between Michael's side of the thirteen days he's been missing and the current actions on the island. This is only the third episode of
Lost to exclusively focus on flashbacks from the island with no look at someone's life off the island (the others being "The Other 48 Days" and the episode where Claire recovers her past memories from when she was abducted by the Others).
Continue reading after the jump for more...
Continue reading Lost: Three Minutes
Posted May 3rd 2006 10:54PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
(S02E20) Is it just me, or is it really
funny (in a meta-sort of way) that tonight's Ana Lucia-centric episode of
Lost is called
Two for the
Road? I mean, considering that Rodriguez was recently busted for drunk driving, the producers have to be busting
her chops with that setup. Maybe it was a clue of things to come in the episode...
If you missed the
episode, remember, ABC now offers the show for
free online
viewing (albeit ad-supported viewing). Watch it before you read too much further in this post, or you're sure to
encounter a spoiler or two.
As you might remember from
the last new episode we had, oh so many weeks ago, we left
with Jack and Kate seemingly about to kiss when Michael burst forth from the jungle and passed out. This episode begins
at the same point, and the Michael story line is balanced nicely against Ana Lucia's flashbacks and dealings with her
anger at Henry Gale, who at the beginning of the episode attempts to strangle her to death.
For more
details, continue reading after the jump...
Continue reading Lost: Two for the Road
Posted May 1st 2006 8:59PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, NBC, The Apprentice
So, last week, while I
was attending the
Milken Conference, I ran into Andrea Lake, the most
recently fired candidate from Donald Trump's show,
The Apprentice. Andrea was kind enough to not only
talk to us about
Milken, but she also gave us a five minute interview about what it was like being on
The Apprentice for TV
Squad.
Check it out.
Here's a direct link
to the video.
Duration: 5:30
File size: 28.9MBs
Video: Alexia Prichard
Hosted and edited by: C.K. Sample, III
Posted Apr 12th 2006 11:36PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: ABC, OpEd, Lost
(S02E19) Tonight's episode, S.O.S. (or as I like to call it: Couple's Night), centered around two
characters' back stories which we've all been longing to see (or at least Ryan has as he's mentioned it in nearly every
single one of our
Lost podcasts): Rose and Bernard. Rose and Bernard aren't just an interracial married couple
marooned on an island. They would seem to be symbolic of lots of the dichotomies going on in
Lost land. One of
them was a front-ender and the other a tail-ender, so to a certain degree they are the link that brings the two
non-Other "tribes" of the island together. In the opening scene, we also discover that they represent another
all-too-common dichotomy of the island: those who want to escape from the island and those who are satisfied to stay and
begin building a life on the island. Bernard very vocally notices to Rose that while his end of the plane were fighting
to survive, her end was busy building kitchens on the beach, and he claims that they've "given up on being
rescued."
More, with spoilers, after the break...
Continue reading Lost: S.O.S.
Posted Mar 1st 2006 11:20PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost, The Daily Best
Here's the backstory you need to know going into tonight's episode of
Lost: Claire is Australian. Claire was
preggers. She was kidnapped by Ethan, who we think was one of the Others and whom Charlie shot dead. Then she had a
baby. Then Charlie went a little nuts, she stopped hanging around him so much, preferring the company of Locke instead,
then Charlie tried to steal Aaron from her, and Locke punched him, but Claire still decided to heed Charlie's warning
and baptized her baby. Also, in the last episode,
One of
Them, the group caught one of the Others. (Yes, I know within the world of the show, it is still not clear whether
he is an Other or not, but since the name of the episode was
One of Them, I think that should be telling us
something).
Caught up? Good. Here we go. The episode begins with Aaron crying with a rash and fever in the
middle of the night, and Claire waking Locke to go get Jack. Danielle shows up saying, "You don't remember, do
you?" and Kate shows up yelling for Danielle to go away. She asks Claire what happened and Claire says that
Danielle said "there's something wrong with my baby." Cue
Lost intro graphics.
More
after the jump...Continue reading Lost: Maternity Leave
Posted Feb 15th 2006 10:56PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
Tonight's episode of
Lost focuses on Sayid's past, beginning in a flashback with Sayid being captured
by Americans during the Gulf War. I have to say from the previews, I was expecting a lot out of this episode, and
unfortunately, in comparison to all the other recent episodes, I was sorely let down. There was no mention of Sawyer's
coup from the last episode. No concern over his stockpile of guns. That entire story line was virtually dropped and we
were left with a comic relief subplot featuring Hurley and Sawyer as if they were in some weird buddy cop movie,
trekking through the woods of the island in search of a tree frog that had been keeping Sawyer awake at night. What's
the deal with Sawyer and animals? In the first season, he chases down that baby boar who steals his tarp and in this
episode he's pulling the same, "I'm going to track it down and kill it...
More (with spoilers and
more about the image accompanying this post) after the jump...Continue reading Lost: One of Them
Posted Feb 9th 2006 1:28PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost, Podcasts, Lost Podcast
Here it is. The long awaited
podcast from
last night's episode of Lost: The
Long Con. Queue up the podcast alongside the show that you recorded or downloaded, and listen along as Ryan j Budke
and I comment on all that is going on on the island.
You'll find the podcast enclosed in the feed of this
post, you can subscribe via our podcast feed (
link), and
here's a direct link
to the 20MB file
running just about 44 minutes in length. You can also subscribe to our podcast via the iTunes Music Store (
link).
Please let us
know what you think in the comments.
Posted Feb 8th 2006 11:27PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
On tonight's episode, Kanye West won... oh crap. Wrong
channel. Hold on... Okay. Tonight's episode of
Lost is called "The Long Con" and is a Sawyer-centric
episode focusing on flashbacks from his life. As always, this recap will be replete with spoilers, but I'm going to
save them all for after the jump.
We start with Locke and Jack discussing the combination to the guns and
drugs closet. Jack wants the combo, but John is concerned that his asking for the info isn't about trust, but about
backup in case something should happen to Locke. Locke says that Jack should consider locking medicine in there too.
Jack asks why and we cut to Sawyer walking out of the water to talk to Charlie, asking him how it feels to be the new
most hated person on the Island. Charlie retorts that he'd be more concerned with Jack rummaging through Sawyer's
tent. Sawyer runs over to find Jack taking pills back from Sawyer. Sawyer warns him not to do it and gives him a
"This is your last chance" option to leave without taking his stuff but Jack walks off with it and Sawyer
scowls at him as he walks away. First commercial break. More after the jump...
Continue reading Lost: The Long Con
Posted Jan 19th 2006 3:56PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost, Podcasts, Podcasting, Lost Podcast
Ryan and I finally,
after months, have been able to get together and put together a
Lost podcast [direct iTMS link]
hosted by
both of us. It should be enclosed with this post for your podcasting enjoyment, and if you run old
school, here's a
direct link to the
file [right-click and save to your computer].Thanks to the magic of
my new iMac and Garageband, this
podcast is enhanced with a few screen captures at the beginning of the podcast. Let us know if you like this new
format. If not, we'll avoid it. If you love it, we'll try to add more enhanced content in future episodes.
Also, I'd like to apologize for my pet parrot screeching in the middle of the podcast. It's like live TV, baby
(except for the whole recording it and serving it up to you after the fact part). Enjoy.
Posted Jan 18th 2006 11:59PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Lost
"The Hunting Party," tonight's episode of
Lost was again filled with new twists, turns, and revelations. The
character du jour of the show was Jack, and while we were shown more interactions between him and his father in the
show's flashbacks, the main story line of the backstory revolved around his relationship with his wife. As you'll
recall, in a previous episode we discovered that Jack's wife was the same woman who crashed her car into Shannon's
father, killing him. Jack married her after miraculously curing a back injury that should have left her paralyzed for
life.
We begin "The Hunting Party" in a flashback of a father and daughter talking to Jack and Jack's
father for assistance in removing a tumor in the father's spine. The surgery is too risky and Jack's father tells them
he's not willing to operate. We then discover that Jack has some fame as a miracle doctor after healing his wife, and
that they weren't interested in Jack's father's help, but rather came to seek Jack's help. Jack, partially to feed his
pride and partially to defy his father, agrees to the surgery.
More with spoilers after the break...
Continue reading Lost: The Hunting Party
Posted Jan 7th 2006 4:30PM by C.K. Sample, III
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Cable, Stargate
The
second-half of the season premiere of SG-1 aired last night, and I, for one, am dissatisfied with both this episode and
the
Stargate Atlantis episode that I will comment on in a post following this one. The
Stargate
series, to me, has always been a good episodic Sci-Fi series, in that they had a consistent big bad guy and each
episode is a nicely contained unit that I can watch at any given point in syndication and not feel left out if I hadn't
seen the previous or later episodes. Now, what bothers me about this season, is that they've eliminated all their
previous big bads in one fell swoop before this season began, so that we are left with a brand new big bad in the form
of the Ori, the evil twin siblings of the Ancients.
Continue reading Stargate SG-1: The Fourth Horseman, Part 2
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