Battlestar Galactica - The Original Series

I'm not talking about the new fangled reimagining of Battlestar Galactica from a few years ago where Starbuck was a woman, Commander Cain was a lesbian and the ending was almost as bad as the finale to Lost.

I'm talking about the original show from the70's, the show I loved as a child ever since I first saw the cut down version of the pilot at the cinema and I love it still despite the fact it's a show that's very much of it's time with over the top and somewhat camp acting and honestly at times some very weak writing.

For the better part of the last week I've been rewatching the show on Blu-ray and it's been a lot of fun, the show looks and sounds better in High Definition, it's a shame no real restoration work was done on the episodes but overall it's an improvement on the DVD release from several years ago.

I know some people don't like this show or think it hasn't aged well for me this is the concentrated essence of my childhood, a much simpler and less cynical time and the show reflects that.

Rewatching the original version of Battlestar Galactica, is a little like catching up with old friends you haven't seen in years, sure they might not have aged well but it's still nice to see them now and again.

Grudge Match

So one day I'm browsing Blu-rays killing some time and I see a movie called Grudge Match, now I'd never heard of the movie but a boxing movie starring Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone is going to get my attention, this is after all the actors who played Rocky Balboa Jake LaMotta in the ring together.

Well I watched the movie and I have to say I was disappointed, it covered some of the same territory as the final Rocky movie but frankly I found the movie to be pretty dull and an overall disappointment.

Reading about the movie online afterwards I discovered the movie was supposed to be a comedy which was a shock to me, it certainly wasn't funny.

Ultimately Grudge Match was a waste of a decent idea that was played for laughs and couldn't even manage that, definitely one to avoid.

WTF ?

I'm fairly recently divorced and much happier for it which is something I once thought I'd never say, the reasons for my divorce are fairly simple, someone other than me cheated - A Lot !

Life goes on but twice in the last few days I've gotten phone calls from two women ( I assume it's two different women ) I don't know looking for another woman I've never heard from that apparently has the same phone number as me, they have been pleasant enough and when I tell them I don't know the person they are looking for they have thanked me for my time and hung up so there's no drama there.

Now the person who cheated had a bunch of online aliases and maybe this is all coincidental and has nothing to do with her but maybe it's her past nipping at her heels ?

Fright Night 2: The New Blood

Fright Night 2: The New Blood is a curious beast, it's a sequel in name only to the 2011 remake of Fright Night.

Essentially this move is a reboot of the series, now Charley Brewster, Evil Ed and Amy ( Charlie's girlfriend ) are in Romania as part of a student exchange program, here they meet Professor Gerri Dandridge who teaches Romanian culture and history who as Charley soon discovers is a vampire but not just any vampire she is in fact Elizabeth Báthory .

With the help of Peter Vincent the star of the Ghost Hunters style web-series Fright Night they must defeat Dandridge before she can complete a ritual that will allow her to have all the powers of a vampire but none of their weaknesses.

As far as movies go Fright Night 2: The New Blood is a bad one, the director breaks out every flashy trick his relatively low budget could afford but that just becomes irritating instead of clever after a while and the performances in the movie are uniformly bad.

This is a movie that's best avoided.

No Internet Blues.

It would seem I've been fooling myself, I'm one of those people who likes to believe they aren't totally dependant on modern technology, I don't have a smartphone of any type because I don't actually need one and I've been telling that to people for what seems like and probably has been years.

I have my toys, games consoles, big TV, home theatre equipment and of course the computer I'm typing this blog entry on.

Well today I had no internet access for around seven hours and it drove me crazy, it's not like I didn't have things I could or should do to occupy my time but I seemed to spend a lot of that time seeing if my internet connection was working again.

I guess I may not feel the need to be on the cutting edge when it comes to my toys but apparently not having internet access can just about drive me crazy, my bills were all paid and it's not as though I actually needed to do anything else online, I suppose I just wanted what I didn't have at the time.....except for a smartphone, I still have no need for one of those.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (Extended Edition)

Before I go to see the final film in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy I thought I should finally get around to watching the extended version of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug and I can confirm that the running time is longer, in fact at some points it seemed as though the movie would never end.

I'm not sure I would describe my self as a huge fan of Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy but I do enjoy the movies and having seen them a few times each I still enjoy them when I see them.

I've been entertained by the first two Hobbit films when I saw them in the cinema but when it comes to seeing the movies again on Blu-ray they just haven't been anywhere near as enjoyable for me, I guess I just haven't found the first two Hobbit films to be very rewatchable, they are certainly well crafted  and filled with stunning imagery but I find them to be a little lacking when it comes to a second viewing.

The extended version of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug contained a couple of interesting additions and I won't spoil those here for anyone who hasn't yet seen it but thank goodness for DVD and Blu-ray pause buttons because the movie is getting close to reaching a bladder bursting running time.

I suppose like the Star Wars prequels The Hobbit trilogy was going to have a hard time meeting audience expectations, I am looking forward to seeing the final film in the trilogy this week but I'm not sure I'm  looking forward to seeing it again when the it's extended edition is released at the end of the year.

For those who may be shocked that I have little positive to say about rewatching the movie please enjoy the picture of Bilbo and some butterflies.