Right as rainy

CSI Las Vegas, the original and (as far as I am concerned) only true CSI series, has gone into its 9th season a short while ago. And some rather unexpected events that happened during and at the end of Season 8, have led to the exit of three of the most prominent characters. Sara was the first to go after her ordeal as a target of the miniature killer. Then Warrick got killed because he was getting close to uncovering a connection between the PD and organized crime – too close for comfort. Now Grissom has taken the exit as well.

In a few interviews, William Petersen, actor as well as executive producer, has revealed that he was tired, that he needed a change from nine years of playing one and the same character. It is fathomable, especially for an artist, to not be able to do the same thing over and over for years. And let’s face it, Grissom’s character, while interesting and defining for the series, was rather rigid and allowed for very little development over the years. (continue reading…)

So LOST has gone into its fifth season. And as if the intricacies of Season 4 weren’t enough, it’s getting even more complex. New characters and sidestories are popping up all over the place, and instead of flashbacks and flashforwards, people are now timetraveling themselves. So it is rather hard now to determine who is where, and especially, who is when.

I am not sure I like the direction the series is taking. It’s becoming very difficult to follow the weekly release format, with so much happening. I am also not sure if the creators actually have worked it out until the ending of season 6, which is supposed to end the series, or if they’re just trying to fill the time until that happens. Because if they do, they should rather take a shortcut to whatever ending they thought of, and write it in now, because few things are worse than a series dragged out just for the sake of dragging it out. I will most likely follow the series up until the end anyway, but if they lose the plot completely, that might change.

On a sidenote, if you haven’t played the LOST videogame yet, think of giving it a skip altogether. It’s a classic case of wasted potential. The game tells a nice story which ties into LOST quite well, and could have been a part of the series. The cinematics and direction are a 1:1 carbon copy of the series format. But the gameplay is a different story. It lacks consistency, tries to incorporate too many elements from different genres, and is at times sorely frustrating. Overall the game makes an unfinished and rushed impression, as if it had to come out no matter what, and noone really took the time to playtest it. Try it on your own risk, and don’t say you haven’t been warned.

So the question asked itself a while ago – how to build a home entertainment system on a budget? The project took about half a year to be finished, but now the setup is pretty complete. A 3Ghz DualCore PC running Vista Ultimate supplies Media Center functionality – Videos, DVDs, the works. The XBox compliments it on the gaming side, and a Samsung T260 takes care of the visuals. The last missing component was a decent sound system, i.e. one that can do an acceptable job for an acceptable price.

Now I am neither too much of an audiophile nor overly knowledgeable when it comes to Hi-Fi and all those things. I know that there’s people out there who would balk at even the notion of spending less than a month’s salary on a sound system, but that’s beside the point. I have to go with what’s affordable to me at the time. That being said, I laid my eyes on the Divoom Comet A1 some time back, and just before Christmas I finally took the plunge. The A1 is a 5.1 system, coming with 4 satellites, one center speaker and an 18 inch sub woofer/amplifier. What sold it for me was the fact that the system has got discrete audio, both optical and coaxial – which was extremely suitable because both my systems have got discrete outputs. (continue reading…)