By the the way, this is a shade off topic, but has anybody else seen the British TV series MI5? I added a PS3 to my collection of electronic toys recently and one of the cool things about it is that Netflix will send you a disc that allows you to use the PS3 to pick up the free instant programing they have. I had taken advantage of a small amount that on my computer, but much more enjoyable on the big screen TV. So I have really gotten into this series over the past couple of weeks and will no doubt end up buying the discs. Somewhat similar to the "24" series here in the states, spooks going after the bad guys. But is it well written and way above the normal James Bond fare, which they have poked fun of a couple of times. Just curious if anyone else has seen it and what your thoughts might be. I am midway though the second season at this point. It has been running since 2002 so I have a ways to go, but I am really hooked on this show.

Dave, I remember A&E promoting a series called MI5 several years ago (around 2002-03), but I think they dropped it.

I caught a piece of an episode but passed on it. The thing that stands out to me is that during the commercials for it, they played that 3 Doors Down song, When I'm Gone. Even today, when I hear that song, I think of the British chick whining to her guy, "I don't KNOW what you do."
I didn't realize they were still making new episodes until you mentioned it. I wonder if it's a case of BBC continuing to air it but U.S. cable channels (at least those available on my system) have dropped it.

On Saturday night I went to see Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It was way better than I thought it would be. My son, of course, loved it. And Uma Thurman as Medusa was terrific!

I had not heard of the MI5 series myself until recently. By the way in England I understand the title of the show is "Spooks" and for what ever reason was changed for our audience. The comment you mentioned I think is what keeps me interested in it up to this point. Of course there is always the main story line of going after the bad guys, but there is an underlying story line around the fact of how do people in this business lead a normal life? They are left to play all these parts as part of their work and it is not the kind of thing you can bring home and talk about.

There is a line in one of the second season shows where our lead spy has fallen for this young female doctor. While out on a date of sorts he turns to her and says "by the way my real name is.... and I work for MI5 and I can tell you that because they have checked you out and you passed" Not excatly the kind of opening line that would work on most women. So now I am curious as how this all unfolds. I was raised on James Bond who of course is a far cry from the real kind of peoson out there doing that kind of work. This seems to be a far less glamorized approach to the subject of the people we have come to call "Spooks".

Been on a movie watching spree here this weekend. Took in "Law Abiding Citizen" with Jamie Fox & Gerard Butler. I really liked this one. I thought at first it was going to be similar to a Jodie Foster film of a few years ago called The Brave One. Average citizen gets wronged by the low life of society and shunned by the criminal system and then decides to take the law into their own hands and seek some form of revenge. This is similar and revenge is a partial motive, but they have added some new twists to the story. Butler's the good guy gone bad afteer wife and daughter are murdered and Fox the D.A. who tries the case. Not satisified with the justice given out in the case he decides to take matters into his own hands. For those who have not seen it I will leave it at that. But I thought it was a good story that says something about our system of justice. Give a grade of A.

The second film was Whiteout with Kate Beckinsale. She is a U.S. Marshall in of all places the Antartic. A real dead end job for a law man, when a dead body shows up on the ice that turns out to be a murder. The investagation is made difficult by the onset of winter at the south pole making weather worse then the mormal -50 below zero. Not a bad story, though it did have some loose ends about how some of the characters became involved in it all, but I liked the idea of using the Antartic as a back drop. Films opens with the crash of Russian plane carrying a strange cargo back in 1957 when a gun battle opens up (who is really dump enough to fire guns on a plane anyway) plane crashes noone lives and we fast forward to a totally useless secee of Beckinsale in the shower. Well OK not totaly useless, but it really had nothing to do with the story. Not a bad thriller give it a grade of B.

Third one I got from my local redbox on lark. The film is called Pandorum. I had never heard of it, but it stars Dennis Quaid whom I have come to like in all of his films so figured what the heck. Story is about a long term space flight to a new planet with 60,000 new settlers coming from a dying earth. Think Earth 2 from back in the eightiers. But on the way something goes dreadfully wrong and as I our two stars, Quaid and Ben Foster wake up from deep sleep it seems they are all alone....or are they. The films title Pandorum is a condition at is given for the what is believed can happen to someone after long term deep sleep on one of these type of missions. As they awaken they have little memory of who they are or where they are. Little by little it returns as they find other survivors as well as a ship full of zombie like creatures bent on eathing them all. This was actually better then I though it would be when I first saw the creatures appear. The real threat is in the minds of the surviors. Ended up actually liking this one, not great but not bad either. Grade it a B

Watched Paranormal Activity over the weekend! Hmmm....interesting! And even more interesting ending! I saw Law Abiding Citizen! Really good! Crazy ending! Pandorum is next on my list. May I suggest "The Beacon" Cheaply made horror movie but I still thought it was decent!

Didn't watch Pandorum yet but saw The Informant! Ok...uhhh.....what was this about??

Saw 'From Paris With Love' starring John Travolta! JT is real good at playing bad guys and crazy guys! He's found his nitche! A lot of action but I would have liked a little bit more intrigue! I can see this movie having a sequel or 2.

Rented 2012 this week. Yet another end of the world epic. While filmed well, Rolland Emerich has a knack at doing these, I am always puzzled by the fact of who gets chosen to survive. It always seems to be either all the smart people which makes some sense, or a random lottery which makes no sense. They threw in a funny bit this time by adding a bunch of rich guys (after all had to pay for it all). But if there is hope of surviving after the effect, would you not want some farmers....some laborers...just some common folk to rebuild the world? Instead we get PhD's and fat rich cat's. Now I may be missing something but who do they expect to dig the ditches and build the buildings? But hey it is Hollywood after all.

Oh yeah, I really did like the film a lot.

Good question, Dave. My first stab at writing a novel was supposed to be a prelude to a serial about a post-apocalyptic world. And the selection process for a group of people who would rebuild took that into account. It's been a long time since I've even looked at it, but I don't remember anyone buying their way into the program, although I did leave room for some rich people who wanted themselves frozen to be able to do so - separate from my survival group.