Pillars are Just Crutches

Ok, I’ve had my iPod touch since November and I’ve had lots of time to explore what’s out there for apps. So this is a list of my favorite iPod touch apps.

Bible/Holy Bible – I have two. One is by lifechurch.tv and lets me get NASB with a wifi connection over the net. The other is by Paul Avery and it’s the only ipod bible app I’ve seen that has original languages. So it’s a draw, and I use both …

Comiczeal – This is the best comic viewer on the touch. It’s not perfect and requires some effort to get your own comic collection on it (2 extra downloads on your computer are needed) but if you need your comics on the go it’s the best thing out there!

Flixster – a great movie app. I use it constantly to find out what movies are playing in our local theaters. Has a favorite theater function and access to trailers and reviews! A great little app when deciding if there is anything worth seeing.

Wikipanion – The best looking wikipedia app, IMO. They’re almost all about even but I find this one slightly easier to use.

Shakespell – Like boggle. It’s the most polished game I’ve seen done for free. Integration with Facebook is nice and games are easy to start with other players.

Subway – A very smart, original puzzle game. I love it. Currently on level 38 of 91.

Rolando – A great game. Period.

Cambio – The best free unit converter I have seen so far. Very simple, very easy to use. Has currency conversion as well.

Facebook – I rarely go on to Facebook any other way now.

Stanza – Not only is this a great e-reader but it also has the options to download a wide variety of free books from a variety of sources! I even found Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton!

These are just the apps I’ve used, which apps are your favorite?

I think it’s fair to say that most people like a good mystery story, particularly a murder mystery. That’s way CSI was (is?) such a big hit in it’s hay-day (although it wasn’t really a murder mystery, per say.) and why crime solving shows have been the forte (or perhaps even the crutch) of network television over the last number of years. It’s probably also the reason why the new hit show The Mentalist is #1 in the TV charts right now.

Although CSI may not be a pure murder mystery show (in that sometimes the cases don’t end and sometimes the killer isn’t even seen till the end), the Mentalist is, through and through! The killer is always introduced somewhere throughout the show and (as far as the episodes I’ve seen) is always caught (with a nice confession). Being able to guess who the murderer is could be a fun way to watch the show, and lets face it, we all watch these types of shows to take a stab at it. So what goes wrong?

To say it simply: There is no mystery in these murders!! Well, for long at least!

I’ve watched 6 episodes total and I have correctly guessed the murderer (and accomplice) 4 times well before the end of the episode.

In such few episodes the show has already reached a system in how it all plays out, making each episode more predictable than the next! In one episode I picked out the murderer after he spoke his very first line! The show is so predictable that even the curve balls can be seen from a mile away. In one instance, from the last episode I watched, Jane is interviewing two cops and one of them says to the other, “No, no, you had nothing to do with this, let me deal with these guys”. Immediately I knew the guy he was talking to was involved, and low and behold, I was right! – Guessing the murderer wasn’t even a stretch after that!

Murder mysteries are good … but only when it’s a mystery! The premise is great, but the way it is now, Jane (the Mentalist) ends up being just a gimmick that is a little smarter than the not-so-smart cops he helps.

I’m not going to lie to you I like the sci-fi genre when it comes to tv and movies as much as I like the country genre when it comes to music. And if the title hasn’t clued you in yet, I don’t like country music in the slightest.

So, like any good trekkie hater (yes I said it), when the news broke out that Battlestar Galactica’s fouth season would be it’s last, I paid no attention. And when I heard that people (presumably the sci-fi nuts) were upset about it’s cancellation, I still paid no attention.

Then I noticed that it wasn’t (only) the people who watch the Space channel exclusively who were disappointed about it’s cancellation, it was the press.

Now I don’t believe everything the press tells me, but in my experience they’ve been pretty spot on in regards to tv. And let’s face it, we need all the help we can get to find good tv shows! Case in point, if it wasn’t for the press singing the praises of ‘The Wire’ I would not have been able to enjoy one of the best tv shows I’ve ever seen! (I’m still holding out for a season 6 even though I know it won’t happen – but I’ll probably watch the series again soon). Which goes to show that popular opinion doesn’t cut it! (That’s right, I’m looking at you ‘The Mentalist’!)

So we come to Battlestar Galactica and after noticing this odd lament I decide that I’m open-minded enough to give it a try. It was a big leap of faith, but I took it, and as of the middle of season 2, I’m glad I did!!

So here are the 5 major things that sets Battlestar Galactica apart from other sci-fi tv shows.

1) Minimal made up techie jargon.

That’s right, you won’t hear anything about anti-matter, warp-drive thrusters, or phasers that can be ’set to kill’. The most techie term so far is “faster than light drive” (called FTL) but the title is self explanatory which makes it much more bearable.

2) No spandex uniforms

Everyone does not where the exact same thing all the time! Civilians dress like civilians, military dress like military, pilots dress like pilots etc.

3) Great story-telling

I wonder if anyone can tell me the plot line for Star Trek: The Next Generation? I’m sure someone could give me the concept but every tv show was an entities unto itself. It’s not necessarily bad but it left for no overall story, they just floated around space.

I’m not going to ruin anything for people who have yet to watch it (so this will be extremely vague) but there is a good story here that actually raises some interesting scenarios that forces the audience to think about what’s taking place.

If you watch you’re going to have to decide for yourself what you think is right and wrong because the show is not going to decide for you! They’ve managed to construct a world where the line of right and wrong is often blurred. People get away with what some would consider murder and others just insubordination.

4) No Aliens

Aliens aren’t all bad, but leaving them out is a good thing. Let’s face it, tv sci-fi aliens are just humans with an extra large human appendage somewhere on their face. Vulcans had big ears, kilgons had that thing on their heads and Romuluns … well, we won’t go there …

There are robots, but they are done well!

5) Good acting

The acting is good. In some cases it’s great. Of course there are the exceptions, but they are few and far between.

So there you have it. I would encourage anyone not usually prone to the sci-fi genre to check out this show! Right now it’s among my favorites, while my former favorites are all quite disappointing now… (that’s you Heroes!)

I have a class coming up that is in modular format. Meaning the whole course is lectured on in a week.

The problem is I have 3 books to read and they all say the EXACT same thing, and now looking at the week outline of the course it looks like the topics discussed in the books are going to be lectured on as well (they actually give the chapters of what book the lecture pertains to … sigh).

I’m in for a long week!