urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith hannibalsmith hannibalsmith 2007-02-23T06:29:21Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:37347 2007-02-23T06:29:21Z 2007-02-23T06:29:21Z <a name="cutid1"></a><br />damn the locket. tears starting to form<br /><br />the bagelcutter...<br /><br />"should we hug?" "pffff"<br /><br />Marissa!<br /><br />"hey kid, need any help?"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />:'-( urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:36927 2007-02-19T21:12:54Z 2007-02-19T21:12:54Z Thanks to Kitzzy for giving me a nudge/wink thingy to remind me to update all my readers on what's up with me these days.<br /><br />I took a week off for the first time since I started at my employer's, for what we call "wintersport". I went to the <a href="http://www.spindleruv-mlyn.com/en/">Czech Republic</a> with 5 friends, to better learn to ski. Luckily for us, a week before we went, 80cm of snow fell, so there was actual skiing to be done.<br /><br />I had a great time, did not spend a whole lot of money, but we went out for dinner for all evenings anyway. Stuff is really cheap over there, and snow is snow :-)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.jortmentink.com/privategallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&amp;g2_itemId=1727&amp;g2_serialNumber=2" /><br /><br />As you can see, we were above the clouds, and it was kind of pretty there (except for the day it was raining quite hard, but oh well).<br /><br />On to next year! urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:36663 2006-08-24T21:00:09Z 2006-08-24T21:00:09Z Type: hour drama<br />will air wednesdays from 9/8c<br /><br />People:<br /><br />* Victor Garber<br />* Kerr Smith<br />* Eamonn Walker<br />* Rebecca Mader<br /><br />Plot:<br />Team of lawyers do high-profile cases. While I like to see Victor Garber, this show just doesn't do much to me, the overall tone is too condescending. The only good bit was at the very end. They can have some fun with that. For the rest, this stuff has been done a million times over, and better too in some cases. <br /><br />One season, tops. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:36440 2006-08-06T20:10:40Z 2006-08-06T20:10:40Z Type: hour drama<br /><br />People:<br /><br />* Angie Harmon<br />* John Terry<br />* Denise Richards<br />* Nikki Griffin<br />* Sean Patrick Flannery<br /><br /><br />Plot:<br />Star Reporter (Harmon) returns to small hometown after one twin girl is found dead and the other is missing. Everybody in the town seems to know more than they let on, and a lot of them have motives. A lot of faces you'd know if you watch a lot of tv (Dr. Christian Sheppard from Lost, Jess from the OC and so on), but somehow it's not really working...<br /><br />yawn. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:36332 2006-08-06T09:01:52Z 2006-08-06T09:01:52Z Type: hour drama<br />Wedenesday 10/9c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><br />* Dana Delany (China Beach --&gt; w00t!)<br />* Delroy Lindo<br />* Jeremy Sisto<br />* Timothy Hutton<br />* Mykelti Williamson<br /><br /><br />Plot:<br />The son of a very wealthy New York family is kidnapped, despite him having a bodyguard. His parents can't call the police, so they hire an expert. (Jeremy Sisto, who we meet when he saves Tommy's daughter from FX's Rescue Me from her kidnappers).<br />The story has some nice twists and turns that keep you wondering how they're going to handle it. Of course there's the by-the-book asshole cop who goes against everyone's wishes.<br /><br />Dana Delany almost always plays mentally tortured women, as here it's no different. She does it so well. Hmm, another face from Rescue Me just turned up as one of the bad guys. Weird.<br /><br />Conclusion: Not a bad pilot at all! Not sure if I'll watch because my schedule is pretty full as it is, but if I can find the time, I'll tune in. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:36081 2006-08-03T21:48:17Z 2006-08-03T21:48:17Z Type: half-hour sitcom<br />Tuesday 9/8c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><br />* Donal Logue (Grounded for life)<br />* Sofia Vergara<br />* Lenny Venito<br />* Maz Jobrani<br /><br /><br />Plot:<br />The show formerly known as "let's rob Mick Jagger". At first, I though this was going to be YADLMC: Yet Another Donal Logue Mediocre Comedy. After I finished watching though, I'm actually wondering what will be in the next episodes.<br /><br />The assemble quite a weird crew to do the actual robbing, so I think it'll be fun to see how and if they can pull it off. Mick Jagger cameo's as himself, seeming to have a lot of fun doing that. Maz Jobrani is as funny as anything he appears in on tv. Lenny Venito is you standard New Yorker type. And Sofia Vergara is hot.<br /><br />Strangely enough, that could be a winning combination... urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:35756 2006-07-30T10:07:59Z 2006-07-30T10:08:52Z Type: hour drama<br />Tuesday 8/7c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><br />* Kyle Chandler (Early Edition, Grey's Anatomy)<br />* Connie Britton (Spin City, 24)<br />* bunch of kids<br /><br /><br />Plot:<br />First off: I have not seen the movie on which this series is based. I might have to though. <br /><br />This show revolves around a culture that is unknown around these here parts (Europe): (American) Football. I think it is a fascinating look into Football and its surroundings in High School. Star of the show (and rightly so) is Kyle Chandler as the coach who has to take his team to the State Championship. The kids and their cheerleaders/girlfriends aren't really jumping out to me as likable for some reason. Just a bunch of snotty Americans who think they are the ruler of all with the help of God, like most Europeans think about Americans in general (I'm not trying to be offensive or anything, that's just how most Europeans see Americans. I don't.). <br /><br />Of course there is a loner type guy who saves the day in the end. A problem with this show is too little Connie Britton. <br /><br />I think this can work out just fine for NBC, it seems they have some fine shows lined up for the coming season. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:35565 2006-07-29T21:52:13Z 2006-07-29T21:52:13Z Type: hour drama<br />Wednesday 8/7c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><br />* Skeet Ulrich (into the west)<br />* Gerald McRaney (major dad)<br />* Kenneth Mitchell (miracle)<br />* Ashley Scott (birds of prey)<br />* Sprague Grayden (Over There)<br />* Michael Gaston (Prison Break)<br /><br /><br /><br />Plot:<br />Black sheep of the family returns to hometown after five years away. Drives of again after a day there, but gets in a car accident when watching a mushroom cloud on the horizon. The people in town are wondering whether there was an accident or if they are under attack. Bit by bit everybody falls apart.<br /><br />All in all an intriguing concept, and if the writers can keep this level up, I smell a hit. Acting is solid across the board, and especially Gerald McRaney does not disappoint (as he never does, at least to me). urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:35265 2006-07-29T20:55:20Z 2006-07-29T20:55:20Z Type: hour dramedy<br />Mondays 10/9c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><br /> * Matthew Perry<br /> * Bradley Whitford<br /> * Amanda Peet<br /> * Sarah Paulson<br /> * Steven Weber<br /> * Timothy Busfield<br /> * Nathan Corddry<br />(indeed, I'm not even listing previous projects, just not necessary)<br /><br /><br />Plot and so on:<br />Aaron Sorkin. Thomas Schlamme. So yes, the dialogue sparkles of the screen. I didn't fins it as funny as I was expecting/hoping, but then again, I'm not sure what I was expecting. It's not a comedy per se, more of a drama about a comedy show. Which works well too.<br /><br />The cast are all great, and they just click. There's a lot of chemistry there. Now they'll just need to get the story up and running properly, as this was merely a prelude to what the show will be about. (see what I did there ;-) )<br /><br />Most characters are likeable enough to enjoy watching them, and there are possibilities for some very funny things that can happen. And listen to Judd Hirsch' rant, that's Sorkin channeled. Hee.<br /><br />The fact that the old guys are returning to lead the show (which is what the pilot is about), works well enough to leave me wanting more. It's just not completely what I expected. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:34834 2006-07-19T18:22:43Z 2006-07-19T18:22:43Z Type: half-hour sitcom<br /><br /><br />People:<br /><ul><br /><li>Maria Pitillo</li><br /><li>Mitch Rouse</li><br /><li>Richard Kind</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br />Plot:<br />A stay-at-home husband gets pretty angry at other people's incosiderate behaviour. His wife is away for work a lot. With and without the kids, he hangs out with his friend played by the (at least to me) very funny Richard Kind. The intro was more or less copied from 'Weeds".<br />All in all, not bad for an average sitcom, byt by no means a new hit. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:34711 2006-07-16T20:49:31Z 2006-07-19T18:09:50Z Type: half-hour sitcom<br />Monday 8.30/7.30c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><ul><br /><li>Andrea Anders (Joey)</li><br /><li>Jason Ritter (Joan of Arcadia)</li><br /><li>Sean Maguire (Off Centre, Eve)</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br />Plot:<br />A group of people who were in 3rd grade together get together 20 years later, as one of them invites them to a party for his girlfriend. Turns out they remember each other in very different ways. Mildly amusing. Which is weird, beacuse it is made by David Crane and James Burrows, who have some pretty big hits between them.<br />The cast and their acting is decent, no more than that. <br />The length of this summary says volumes. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:34460 2006-07-14T10:13:32Z 2006-07-14T10:13:32Z Type: hour drama<br />wednesday 10/9c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><ul><br /><li>Kim Raver (24, third watch)</li><br /><li>Chi McBride (Boston Public)</li><br /><li>John Billingsley (Enterprise, Prison Break)</li><br /><li>Scott Wolff (Everwood, Pof5)</li><br /><li>Tim Daly (Eyes, Wings)</li><br /><li>Susan Sullivan (Falcon Crest, Dharma & Greg)</li><br /></ul><br />and on and on. This is a show with almost only recognizable faces.<br /><br />Plot:<br />A diverse group of people is held hostage in a bank during a robbery. Most of them didn't know each other before that happened. After the robbery is over, they struggle to get back to thier lives. This show will be big on depth of character, and I love that. The setup to that is just excellent, lots of secrets and things to talk about in the next episodes. There is music in the scenes in prison that remind of Prison Break, and the character things are a bit (but not a lot) like Lost.<br /><br />The cast is just excellent, and their performance is top notch. Production values are great too, from what can be seen from this pilot. I'd say: breakout show of the new season, but I'll hold off on that judgment until I have seen more new shows. In any case, ABC must have a new hit on their hands. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:34100 2006-07-09T10:33:21Z 2006-07-09T10:35:31Z Type: hour drama<br />Mondays 9/8c starting Fall<br /><br />People:<br /><ul><br /><li>Donnie Wahlberg (Boomtown, Band of Brothers)</li><br /><li>Leslie Hope (24, Line of Fire, Everwood, CiC)</li><br /><li>Chris Potter (Silk Stalkings) as a guest?</li><br /><li>Dustin Milligan</li><br /><li>Sarah Ramos (American Dreams)</li><br /><li>Benz Antoine</li><br /></ul><br />That's a lot of Canadians :-)<br /><br />Plot:<br />A lot like The Pretender, but with a normal family instead of one brilliant guy. The family has to run as the dad is accused of a crime he didn't commit. These men promptly escaped into the Los Angeles underground... ehhh... Oh, that's another show. The US Marshalls are on their tail, so they have to be very careful about their cover stories and run-ins with the law. <br /><br />Acting is all ok, the three kids do well enough and have some likeable traits. Hope and Wahlberg turn in their normal fine performances. The story is something else: I don't see this going very far. Then again, I said that about Prison Break last year and look where they are now :). urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:34015 2006-06-06T11:20:24Z 2006-06-06T11:20:24Z You were so great. Fools at CW for cancelling this. How can anyone with a heart do that? Perhaps that's the reason...<br /><br />At least they got to close up the storylines.<br /><br />The song under the Amy-Ephram montage was great, I already listened to it a lot of times because Ausiello had it for download, but seeing it with the images together made it even better.<br /><br />(sorry Izzy, I had to post about this one) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:33643 2006-06-02T19:53:29Z 2006-06-02T19:53:29Z Type: hour drama<br />not on the schedule (yet)<br /><br />People:<br /><ul><br /><li>taylor handley (oliver trask on "the o.c.")</li><br /><li>sharon lawrence (maisy gibbons on "desperate housewives")</li><br /><li>gail o'grady (ava summerlin on "hot properties")</li><br /><li>michael cassidy (zach stevens on "the o.c.")</li><br /></ul><br /><br />Plot:<br />Desperate Housewives + The O.C. + some other crap. It has some unexpected (and dark) twists, which could work.<br />Some weird stuff that doesn't really add up. They replaced gabrielle with an Asian chick, but the redhead, the blonde and the secretly crazy one are all there. Also, Beverly Leslie ehh, Leslie Jordan (Will&Grace) guests as a crossdresser. Weird.<br />All in all, I think too many plotlines are being introduced too fast. Makes for a confusing pilot. I can see people liking this though.<br />Obligatory Coldplay, Jack Johnson and Dido tracks included. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:33312 2006-06-02T18:47:39Z 2006-06-02T18:47:39Z hmm, doesn't feel any different compared to yesterday. Still no grey hairs. woohoo.<br />Got some good gifts though, all to be used in my new apartment (more on that to follow). urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:33054 2006-06-02T18:41:36Z 2006-06-03T06:01:39Z Type: half-hour comedy<br />not on the schedule (yet)<br /><br />People:<br /><ul><br /><li>paulo costanzo (michael tribbiani on "joey")</li><br /><li>patrick warburton (jeb denton on "less than perfect")</li><br /><li>megyn price (claudia finnerty on "grounded for life")</li><br /><li>kathleen rose perkins</li><br /></ul><br /><br />Plot:<br />A couple that just moved in together and plans to get married hangs out with a couple who have been married for over ten years. They have different views on what marriage is like, and this is where Patrick Warburton shines: he tries to 'enlighten' Paulo Constanzo's character on what he's getting himself into. All in all, compared to most comedies on tv right now (you all know the few really good ones out there), this wasn't bad at all. I do wonder how long they can keep it up, and keep it interesting. There's also a single friend who is really shallow (per usual recipe for these kinds of shows). The acting is pretty solid, and all the people in it look nice enough, and normal enough to be believable.<br />Standout: Patrick Warburton (but that may be just me, I loved him since his Johnny Johnson on Newsradio, but also on Seinfeld and his voice on Family Guy) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:32811 2006-06-02T18:28:58Z 2006-06-02T18:28:58Z Yes, once again we will review TV pilots for the 2006-2007 season as they become available to us over the next few weeks. No guarantee what and how many we'll review here, but we'll try to do as many as possible. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:32643 2006-04-11T22:18:06Z 2006-04-11T22:18:06Z How hot is Hannah these days? The new glasses really do work! (not that she wasn't hot already, but now even more so) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:32498 2006-04-11T20:45:05Z 2006-04-11T20:45:05Z The number of the safe deposit box in the bank on 24 last night?<br />23. Coincidence? I think not. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:32115 2006-03-02T20:19:25Z 2006-03-02T20:19:42Z I could write them myself, but Alan Sepinwall from the NJ Ledger already wrote up my thoughts.<br />Go read:<br /><a href="http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/03/bada-bing-bang-boom.html">http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/03/bada-bing-bang-boom.html</a> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:31962 2006-02-23T21:05:12Z 2006-02-23T21:05:12Z So I have returned from my week-long skiing trip last Saturday, and fell right back in to work and stuff.<br />Of course I had a weeks worth of shows to catch up on (did most ofthat on Sunday, while doing laundry and cleaning up general crap from a weeklong trip) and, not to be underestimated: my news, feeds and websites. SFB had 1879 unread waiting for me, so that took a little while to read. Only thing still left are 2 Stargate SG-1s. Those are the shows that have the least newsworthiness, so I wont read too much about them while scanning entertainment news and feeds.<br />About the skiing: We went to the Czech Republic and I had enormous fun! It was my first time skiing, and I had lessons all week from Simona, the 24-year-old Czech Ski-instructress (?): yum. (and the other personnel from the ski school werent too bad to look at either ;-) )<br />I stayed on blue slopes, which was challenging enough for me, but towards the end of the week I gained confidence, and thus, speed. Only fell a few times, and it wasnt really that bad. We had lessons every day from 10-12 am and then from 2-4 pm. Which provided us with ample time to rest and have lunch. We were with 6 people all together, and we rented a house about 1 mile from the ski center. The house was excellent, but the walk to the ski center, which was very much uphill, was a bit of a warming up every morning. We had 3 bedrooms, 3 showers, 5 toilets, a kitchen with oven, microwave and stoves, and a living room with satellite tv. All that for about 100 per person for the whole week. Compared to where I live, everything was very cheap. Half a liter of beer for 1. Copious dinner for 6 for 120. Being the Dutchies that we are, we liked the prices a lot :-)<br />While we were in a village that has had tourists for a long time, the contrast with Western Europe is still very much noticeable. The supermarket does have an optical scanner, but the whole store is the size of a closet. Quite a few people speak enough German or English to be understood, but certainly not all. <br />Anyhow, I can see myself doing this again next year and I didnt break anything, so it was a success! urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:31569 2006-02-03T21:58:53Z 2006-02-03T22:00:28Z All wednesday was spent in the library, doing research on economic topics. Also read some older reports to see what I'm expected to produce, in terms of structure, length and quality. <br /><br />Thursday was another day at the office, from 7:45am till 5:00pm. More reading of company documents, and I started to write out some theory stuff from the books I took from the library. Everybody is quite nice to me, my neighbor lady and I have a schedule worked out for getting coffee and tea outside the regular breaks. Nice!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.femblog.nl/2005/11/03/lichtbak-kroket.jpg" title="kroket" align="right" border="0" />Friday again 7:45am till 5:00pm. One perk today, lunch was not the normal bread everybody takes with them to work, but apparently they order out every friday. Of course I joined with some fries and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquet_(food)">kroket.</a> During the afternoon I went into the production hall and looked at the construction work they're doing on the prototype. Gave a sitrep to my immediate boss/counsellor. <br /><br />That was my first week of being a deskjockey! I do need to go to bed earlier than after 1am though, now that I have to get up at 6:30am. I can manage with little sleep, but in order to not fall asleep at my desk, a little more time spent sleaping should help a bit. Also, I need to learn to turn off my surroundings. Radio, telephones, other computers, printers, people walking by. Right now I notice everything, which is not really productive. Oh well, all in good time.<br />Weekend: time to catch up on my shows and my feeds! urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:31457 2006-01-31T23:22:42Z 2006-01-31T23:22:42Z Today was a day of yet more reading, and thinking about how to approach the problems at hand. And I had my first lunch with the crew (yesterday I rushed out to find a supermarket, because I didnt bring any food). The cafetaria here only has an assortment of coffees and tea, and a soda-machine. The lunch itself was nothing special. Just a bunch of guys eating and talking about soccer. People from the workfloor and the office sat at their own respective tables.<br />Wrote some generic pages already, after creating an outline for the structure of the 25-page report I have to produce while here. Also creating lists of questions, for different people in different positions. This should help me get the information I want for the overview of the current state of the company. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:hannibalsmith:31055 2006-01-30T17:44:21Z 2006-01-30T17:44:21Z Right, so this morning I started my internship. (it's not really an internship I think, it's the final assignment of my Bachelor in Business Administration, for which I have to do research and write a paper, in the coming 12 weeks. Of course, after two weeks I have my week-long skiing trip planned, so that breaks the rhythm nicely ;-)<br /><br />I was expecting to sign the contracts this morning, and start somewhere this week, but they said, "hey, why don't you stay and get settled". So they gave me a desk with a computer (windows 98, this thing is at least from 2001 :s) and wished me good luck. All I really did today was ask questions and read stuff. And type out what I'm doing with my day.<br /> They're even gonna pay me a tiny amount of money for the 40 hours a week I'll be pulling here.