Music Retropspective: Michael Jackson - Conclusion

Well, it’s been a while, but it’s finally time to end this. Here are my top 30 songs by Michael Jackson. I knew I couldn’t stop at ten or twenty, so I have to go all out for this. Now, if you’re wondering why songs like “ABC” and “I Want You Back” aren’t here, there’s a simple reason for that. I’m only including solo or duet songs here. Including Jackson 5 songs would make this list even tougher to do and I don’t want to do that to myself. Besides, I do have a little something for the family on down the line.

It’s weird that I started to work on this around the anniversary of Jackson’s death. I actually remember where I was when I heard the news. I was taking my sister home in my old Toyota Camry when my mom called her. We then turned on the radio and heard the unfortunate news. I guess I was discouraged about it. I never knew the guy, but I always liked the music. My sister got some memorabilia afterwards. I’d say she’s the bigger fan, but she didn’t devote some of a blog to talking about his albums.

Before I get there, I might as well talk about my favorite Jackson album. It’s kind of tough to say, but I’ll have to go with the obvious: Thriller. It was what made me a fan of Michael Jackson. While some of his later albums are probably better on a technical level, I just love this album. All of the songs are pretty good even if a couple of are a bit forgettable. Bad would easily be my second favorite album. After that, I’d actually have to think about it. By the way, these are my favorites, so don’t be shocked if you don’t see some popular ones on here. I’ll say a little something about the songs but if you want a more in-depth description, just look at my retrospectives.

TV Talk - seaQuest 2032 Season 3

Well, I’ve finally finished Season Three of seaQuest DSV… or should I say seaQuest 2032? That’s right, folks. Changes came once again. I vaguely remember seeing promos for the show back in the day stating that stuff would change. I also remember seeing that some balding guy was the new captain. Little did I know that this was Michael Ironside, a well-known actor and the voices of Splinter Cell’s Sam Fisher and Darkseid from DC's Animated Series. So, you might be wondering what I might probably was wondering back then: What Happened?

To put it nicely, Season Two wasn’t well received. As you saw last time, I thought it was pretty subpar as a whole. Apparently, Roy Schieder (Captain Bridger) was dissatisfied with that season to the point that he wanted to leave. He was able to get out of his contract but he had to make a few guest appearances because of that. Rosalind Allen (Dr. Smith) and Marco Sanchez (Lt. Ortiz) were also let go for the third season. While I didn’t really care about Dr. Smith, it does suck that Bridger and Ortiz were gone.

There weren’t many additions to the cast. Of course, Michael Ironside (Capt. Oliver Hudson) became the new captain on the show. Elise Neal (Lt. JJ Fredricks) joined the show as the seaQuest’s sub-fighter pilot. The biggest change was the premise of the show. It was decided to bring back some of the political and reality-based elements of the first season and mix in the action of the second season. The really weird stuff from the second season was gotten rid of for the most part. There are still some sci-fi things left. The show also takes place a decade later hence the new title, seaQuest 2032.

In Season Two’s finale, the seaQuest was transported to another planet to fight in a civil war. They succeeded but lives were lost. At the start of Season Three, the aliens transported them back to Earth but a decade had passed since they were gone. When the ship went missing, the world basically went to hell with corporations gaining more power and a new faction called the Macronesian Alliance making plays to conquer the seas. The UEO does its best to keep a world war from coming to pass. Capt. Hudson spent the decade trying to find out what happened to the sub when it’s eventually found. Capt. Bridger decides to retire (his son is still alive) and Hudson takes command of the seaQuest in order to bring hope back.

Random Thoughts #37 - It's Hot!

Hey there. So, summer has officially started and my central air conditioner is on the fritz. The fan went out in it sometime ago, so all I have is a random house fan and an air conditioner in another room. “Yay me,” I sarcastically said. It’s not too bad though. I think it’s time for some random thoughts.

“Taking it Easy… Easy like Sunday morning…”

Yes, I just quoted the Commodores since they did do more songs than “Brick House.” I’m going to take it easy this summer. After May, I think it was time for a small break. I’ll still be posting things but not a lot of stuff. Maybe I’ll go all in in September or something. For now, I’ll just do a few posts over the next few months.

Dragon Age: Origins… Man, I was wrong about this game!

For the last couple of weeks, I have been playing Dragon Age: Origins on my PS3. It’s funny because I’ve had this game for about two years and haven’t started to play it heavily till now. I got it in a bargin bin and played some of it for a bit and then put it down for a few months. I then did the same thing a couple of months ago. Last week, I decided to play it for the heck of it since I had nothing better to do. Somehow, it sucked me in with the story, the characters, and the gameplay. Bioware created it so I think I’m beginning to become a Bioware junkie. That’s probably a good thing since Bioware actually puts good games out. Now, I want to check out some game called Knights of the Old Republic. Does someone have a remedy?

Women
Hmm... I got nothing. I guess I can say that women are cool individuals. Some are cooler than others. Remember that, men and I include myself in that.

Movies

It looks like it’s been a nice time for movies. I’ve enjoyed all of the ones I’ve seen in theatres. I already talked about Avengers: Age of Ultron last month, so you should know what I thought about that. Mad Max: Fury Road was a blast. I saw Jurassic World with my sister and cousin a couple of weeks ago and that was fun as well. I going to try to see the next Terminator, Ant-Man (doubt anyone would go with me on that), Fantastic Four, and probably a few others. For some reason, there is a part of me that wants to rent Jupiter’s Ascending, a movie that I have heard many mixed things about. 

Well, I'm outta here. Peace, God Bless, and be safe out there. Remember to laugh every once in a while.

TV Talk - seaQuest DSV Season 2

Season Two of seaQuest DSV… where do I begin? I guess I’ll start at the beginning and not in the biblical sense. This season started in the fall of' '94. I don’t remember seeing much of this season before my re-watch on Netflix. I might have seen a couple of episodes but I’m not sure. In doing a little research for the season, I noticed that this season isn’t well regarded. So, I came to this season with some trepidation. Was it warranted? I’ll get to that later.

After the first season of the show ended, a lot of changes were made and I mean a lot. First, production was moved from California to Florida. This move made Stacey Haiduk (Lt. Hitchcock) and Stephanie Beechem (Dr. Westphalen) leave the show. Next, Royce Applegate (Chief Crocker) and John D’Aquino (Lt. Krieg) were let go in order to bring in a younger cast. Hearing that Hitchcock, Westphalen, and even Krieg were gone was a bit of a bummer since I liked those characters.

We got a few new faces in the cast. First up is Rosalind Allen as Dr. Wendy Smith, the ship’s new doctor who’s also a telepath. Next is Michael DeLuise as Tony Piccolo, an ex-con whose part of a program to serve on the ship. By the way, he’s got implanted gills. Next up is Edward Kerr as Lt. James Brody, the new weapons officer. Then, we have Peter DeLuise as Dagwood, a GELF (Genectically-Engineered Life Form) with the mind of a child who serves as the sub’s custodian. Finally, we have Kathy Evison as Lt. Lonnie Henderson, the sub’s new helmswoman.

As you can tell by most of those new folk, the show began to insert more sci-fi and fantasy elements. Gone were the days of somewhat grounded sci-fi. This was the show’s biggest change outside of its new cast and new location. We get more aliens, monsters, ghosts, and even killer plants this time. It also became more action-oriented than the last season was. The season starts off about a year later (I think) after the events of last season. A new seaQuest had to be built since the other one was destroyed. A situation with some imprisoned GELFs gets the boat back into action. Afterwards, they end up facing the weirdness of the oceans, space, and everything in between.

Favorites - Ten Favorite Prequels

Prequels tend to get a bad rep, don’t they? I guess I can’t blame folk for not liking prequels. There are some that are pretty bad. They tend to be of low quality and not capture what the original was all about. I guess I can say the same thing about reboots, but that’s a list for another time. Today, I’ll be talking about my ten favorite prequels. Why ten? Well, there aren't that many good ones out there.  I won’t be including reboots like Batman Begins and Casino Royale on here simply because they aren’t prequels. I’ve see some lists include them and that’s pretty annoying. Now, there are some I’ll include that are sort of reboots, but they are meant to be prequels.

10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 

ToD is probably my least favorite of the Indiana Jones Foursome. It’s down there with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. While it’s not my favorite, it has its moments. Of course, Harrison Ford rules any role he’s in. Short Pack was cool. It also had some nice quotes (“You betrayed Shiva!”)

9. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 

Yes, I know. It’s a general fact that the Star Wars prequels suck. Luckily, I’m not a general person. There were good things and bad things in those movies. ROTS was the best of the three prequels. It helped set up things in the original trilogy and isn’t a bad movie in of itself. It’s far from perfect but I do like it more than the other two prequels. I will say that the Clone War TV series (I’ll get to it later) did more to expand the universe than the prequels did.