'American Ninja Warrior' to return for fourth season

Let me just say to start off with, could this show have a better title?

It's coming back for a fourth season, but most of America has probably never seen, or even heard of this classic reality show.

The reason for that is simple enough, the the first three seasons have aired only on   the G4 network.

G4 is a network that attempts to pull in the youth and gamer crowd, so most Americans don't see the few really good shows that the network does have.

Well starting with this season, NBC, the parent network to G4, will air weekly episodes in an attempt to gain popularity for the show (or more likely fill space cheaply on the 'big' network). Either way this is a win for the American people. NBC aired the season three finale last year and was impressed enough by the ratings to decide to make an order for a fourth season.

Episodes will run on NBC first, and then later the same week on G4. It is unclear now how many episodes the fourth season will be, or when the exact premiere date is, but expect it in the summer.

The premise is relatively simple, like most reality TV shows, a group of people compete on a Ninja themed obstacle course and eventually one of them is named the "Ninja Warrior" for the season.

What's better than being a ninja? Being an American Ninja Warrior that's what.

Machine Teen: Reviewed

Okay, so granted it didn't cost me anything to pick this one up as I grabbed it more as an afterthought while at the library.

I overpaid.

The book has a decent story but it's very predictable, it has absolutely nothing in terms of originality or creativity for that matter.

The world's greatest computer programmer figures out that he works for one bad dude, steals his own research and runs off into hiding.

He turns the artificial intelligence into a robot that he programs with memories and has masquerade as his son.
Hijinx ensue and he is found out eventually. Absolutely nothing that I haven't read or seen before. Zero thought went into this one. I had high hopes that it might be a cool book, but in the end it just falls flat.

Black Summer

Admittedly I hadn't heard of this book before a co-worker told me of it a few months ago, and that's a shame considering how good it is. Warren Ellis is top notch, as per his usual and the art from Juan Jose Ryp was nothing short of spectacular.

Set in modern day, the story opens with John Horus announcing to the press that he had just killed the President and all of his top advisers.

Horus had previously been the leader of a team of hero's called the Seven Guns that had developed enhancements and became vigilantes in a fight to clean up their city since the police could no longer handle the job.

The real identities of the Seven Guns are never revealed, though since it's a limited series there really isn't time or the need to develop the characters outside of the one aspect that the reader gets to know.

After Horus murders POTUS, the team is torn on whether it was a good idea or not, but you get to see the immense loyalty they have for each other as the six other members of the team, despite their differences band together to protect each other from the military and the rest of the country as a whole as they are repeatedly attacked and sought out in conjunction with Horus.

I won't go to far into details, but I must insist that you go out and pick this one up. I read, and then reread the entire run in the space of an afternoon, and all I want is to know when there might be more. I'd love to see a series about this team set up with how they came about and the fight they took on originally. Even if only done in another limited series. There is definitely an audience for it.

The book has been optioned for a movie, but no new news on when it may come out since late 2009.

What the heck is that on the bathroom wall?

 Some of you know that I recently moved, but most I'm betting do not since I haven't blogged about it. It's been 21 days as of this morning, though I'm still not unpacked, and haven't slept a single night in my bedroom, preferring the couch at the moment.

Moving into a new place is always a challenge, but you also always find things that are surprising, like this little doodle that I found on the bathroom wall in the main floor bathroom.

I'm not sure if it's a mural, or if someone (Mostly like one the the renter's kids that lived here last) simply drew on the wall, or if it was intended to be a decorative piece. It does however seem like someone took a black sharpie and scribbled all over it at some point. Had it not been for all those scribble marks. I may have decided to leave it. But I think I'll just have to either scrub the walls really well, or just simply paint in there.

I'm leaning towards painting as it will be easier. If I find any other interesting things here (Like say the hundreds of holes that she drilled in walls to burn incense in, grrrr.....) I'll be sure to blog about it and share it with you all. I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to share in the coming weeks, maybe I'll even tell you of the 65 inch TV that now sits in the living room.

FactsWithoutWikipedia (You Know your a Twitter fiend if you read that on the first try)

2012 Most anticipated films: February.

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace 3D (Feb.  10) — Two Jedi Knights uncover a wider conflict when they are sent as emissaries to the blockaded planet Naboo.

I’m not normally a big fan of the 3D craze, but any excuse to see the six Star Wars films in theater again is good enough for me. Yes this is the weakest of all the live action Star Wars flicks, but director/producer George Lucas has already said that the next film in the series will only get released if the previous one makes a decent haul at the box office. I hate him for that, but I’ll be forced to sit through the prequel trilogy to get to the three I really want to see.

The Woman in Black (Feb. 3) — A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.

Daniel Radcliffe’s first major film appearance since the end of the Harry Potter saga. Though I’m not normally a fan of the horror genre I am very intrigued to see if Radcliffe has any real acting chops or if he was a one character wonder. This appears to be more a thriller than a horror flick anyway.

Safe House (Feb. 10) — A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.

As a big fan of Denzel Washington and a fan of most of Ryan Reynolds work this action thriller is a must see on both accounts. Based on the trailer it is well scripted and it appears to be very thought provoking. My biggest concern is that Reynolds is getting a bit old to play a ‘young’ anything these days. A different choice, or at least a slightly different script may have been called for in this case. I probably won’t rush out to a theater for this one, but I’ll definitely see it on DVD.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Feb. 17.) — As Johnny Blaze hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.

Unlike many of my fellow comic book reading nerds, I didn’t hate the first Ghost Rider film. While it wasn’t great, it wasn’t terrible. A major overhaul on the production side of the film, including different writers and a new director have still cast this film into a new direction. Early buzz about this movie is that it is much more true to the comic book than the first and that Nick Cage is on his game this time instead of slightly off kilter like he was according to many in the first film.

More Blockbusters will close than previously expected.

OK faithful readers, it should be no surprise to you that I am a movie junkie. So the news that Dish Network is closing more Blockbuster stores than had been previously announced is devastating to me.

I buy a lot of DVD's, new and used, so losing more outlets of where I could buy them from is a killer. Back in August when they bought the video chain Dish Network execs said that they would leave more than 1,500 Blockbusters open across the nation. Now they say that more, but not a specific number will close. This makes me a sad panda. Almost makes me want to cancel my service with the parent company, but I get too many channels.