Tremors 2: Aftershocks

A few years have passed since the graboid incident in Perfection, Nevada. Earl Bassett's fifteen minutes of fame have come and gone and he finds himself back where he started, no better off. Earl's second chance comes in the form of an ambitious cab driver named Grady and an executive from an oil field in Mexico. Graboids have killed several workers and forced the oil field to close. The executive offers Earl and Grady a lot of money to hunt down and kill the graboids. The job proves to be more than two people can handle, so they eventually enlist the services of gun enthusiast and fellow graboid survivor, Burt Gummer. To their horror, the trio soon discover that the graboids have evolved into smaller, bipedal creatures that hunt using infrared. These new creatures, dubbed shriekers, replicate quickly and before long the oil field is overrun. As far as direct to video sequels go, Tremors 2 is actually pretty good. There's some dodgy CGI in places, but they still use plenty of practical special effects in the movie. It's a bit of a retread of the original but it's entertaining enough on its own merits.

Rating: 65%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Terror of the Zygons

The Doctor is summoned to Scotland, where UNIT is investigating the destruction of some oil rigs in the North Sea. The evidence suggests that the platforms were destroyed by a gigantic sea creature, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Harry gets captured by shape-shifting aliens, the Brigadier gets gassed and Sarah is nearly suffocated. The Zygons have begun their conquest of Earth and only the Doctor stands in their way. Terror of the Zygons definitely shares some DNA with serials like Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Sea Devils but it still manages to be an entertaining adventure. The Zygons are well designed and their use of organic technology is both clever and gross. At the end of the serial, Sarah and the Doctor leave Scotland in the TARDIS while Harry chooses to stay behind on Earth, ending his time as one of the Doctor's companions.

 

Rating: Sounds like the Brigadier%

Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Skin Of Evil"

A talking oil slick who eats negative emotions kills Tasha Yar, one of the most interesting main characters in the first season.

RATING: 56%

A Month of Boring Things - Day One: Pumping Gas

Wake me when it's over!












Rating: 33.33% Repeating, of course

Boston's Subway System

Now that I actually live in the city of Boston proper, I've spent a bunch of time on the subway (heretofore called "The T", because that's what people call it here), and I think it's a pretty good subway system. It's pretty clean, it runs pretty quickly (even though the train at my stop has TONS of little stops), and I haven't seen a whole lot of crazy people on it yet.

I'm not sure how expensive subway tickets are in other big cities, but any ride on the T here is about two dollars, slightly less with the aforementioned ubiquitous CharlieCard. That seems like a lot to me, but hey, it's better than giving the money to BIG OIL (which is so big it gets capitalized).

Also, the T isn't terribly complicated (New York, Tokyo...I'm looking at you) and consists of five lines, one of which is split into four more lines, and each of the five major lines is color-coded, which is good for both kindergardeners and myself.

RATING: 80%

(image courtesy of freefoto.com)