Review Day

There are no spoilers in these reviews.

Burn Notice: Season One
This show is kind of like Alias-light. Michael Westin is a spy who has been burned by his agency and dumped in Miami with no explanation. Over the season, he tracks down the people who burned him while solving odd jobs on the side. The main plot progresses slowly but steadily, and you can easily miss a couple episodes without getting confused -- the plot really just sets the stage for "cases of the week", fun spy stuff, and Macguyveresque lessons about how you can fashion a bomb from a drinking straw and a gecko.

Because this is a USA show (like The 4400), it is over-the-top cheesy, but that adds to its charm. From the retro 80s theme song to the gratuitous camera tricks uselessly spliced into the aerial shots of Miami, it's supposed to be campy. The main actor seems to be constantly channeling Guy Pearce (which works well), and every other segue features random and plotless shots of Miami women in bikinis. We went out and bought the second season as soon as we'd finished this.

Final Grade: A-

Half Life 2: Episode 1:
I suppose that if you want to write a sequel to a game but don't want to go up a full version number, this kind of expansion pack naming scheme suffices, but it's still annoying that Episode 1 is the second part of Half-Life 2. A similar problem can be seen in the title, New Super Mario Brothers, which will be exacerbated in November with the release of New Super Mario Brothers Wii. Overall, this expansion pack is just more of the same. It's quite short, there's nothing really new to experience, and you spend half of the game running through an unlit underground parking garage. Your off-again-on-again sidekick is back, permanently this time, and cracks stupid jokes throughout.

On another note, it feels strange to be playing so many games that aren't World of Warcraft. This must be what dating after divorce feels like.

Final Grade: C

About a Boy:
Movies where Hugh Grant can be unlikeable and snarky are fun. In this one, he concocts an imaginary kid so he can pick up woman at a single parents' club and unintentionally bonds with someone's son, with sexy amusing results. The soundtrack is a complete set of Badly Drawn Boy songs (the group that thwarted many people in one of my Name That Tune contests).

Final Grade: B

Goodbye Blues by The Hush Sound:
In old reviews, I said that The Hush Sound showed promise, and their sound is definitely unique and cohesive here. There are quite a few catchy numbers on this CD, although I think I enjoyed Like Vines a little more. The one problem here is the female lead's voice -- she seems to have taken vocal lessons because the timid, wispy sound from previous albums is replaced with a rich, strong tone. However, though the tone is vibrant, it's marred by a distracting quiver throughout the CD (think Michael Ball in Aspects of Love, or the palpitations of a caffeine addict if you think musicals are lame). You can hear samples here.

Final Grade: B