Don't eat my cookies!

As promised here is tonight’s recap on Grimm.

Well, a lot happened in this episode, first off, let’s just say “Awwww,” for Monroe who finally has a girl that he likes and isn’t going to take him hunting in the forest to have sexual intercourse like a dog and kill bunnies for food…that was a creepy episode, let me tell yeah, and that poor, poor rabbit never had the chance. But this new girl she’s not a Blutbaden but she’s something close, she’s a Fuchsbau…whatever that is; but she’s nice and Monroe is totally sprung over her. Her name is Julia.

Speaking of sprung, the Captain and the Hexenbiest that works for him finally put their play into action by attacking Nick’s partner, Hank. So far all season long I’ve been wondering how the Captain plays into this and now out of the wood work he seems to be making big changes. He already has proven he is of some sort of royal line by being able to control the Reapers, but until then he’s been able to conceal what he is to Nick and keep playing his cards. A similar trait to the other shows the creators of Grimm have worked on. David Greenwalt, Jim Kouf, and Stephen Carpenter all have worked on and created great shows such as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel. In both cult classic shows the villain of the season most of the time stays in hiding until just the right moment when we think our hero is never going to figure it out, then it comes back to bite them in the butt and somehow they prevail over them in the finale. The problem is, Nick has already shown he’s more into being a Cop than a Grimm, so when it comes down to taking out the Captain when he finally shows his true face I don’t know if Nick will be able to do what needs to be done if locking him up won’t solve the problem.

This episode “Island of Dreams” while Nick and Monroe track down the murders of the shop owner from “Orange Grinder” who also happens to be Julia’s brother, Hank gets some very…okay, I can’t even say ‘tasty’ as a joke, they’re just groddy, cookies. The Hexenbiest made some sort of special mixture of cookies mixed with Hank’s blood and her blood that’s supposed to make him be completely obsessed with her and it’s already started. He’s seen her in his shower when she’s not there, walking down the stairs in some random building the druggies of the episode were in, and now he’s dreaming about her petting his head as he sleeps. But as he was sleeping he was shaking and sweating something fierce. She’s getting a hold on him, but I believe that it may not hold because Hank didn’t eat all the cookies.

Nope, Sergeant Wu ate the last one that Hank had brought to work and accidently left on his desk. Wu ate it and as a result almost died, but luckily Julia was in the apothecary business thanks to her family and was able to save his life…but he starts eating the stuffing of his couch pillows at the ending of the episode, so I don’t know what’s going on there or if he’s really okay. Clearly not but we learned something tonight didn’t we Wu? DON’T. EAT. MY. COOKIES!

I definitely believe that Hank was supposed to eat all those cookies because she told them not to share them with anyone because, “I made them just for you.” I don’t think she really cares if someone dies out of eating those cookies, but she would care if the spell didn’t hold so she was trying in a sly/seductive way to make sure he ate all the cookies; but he didn’t so the spell that the Hexenbiest cooked up may not hold now. I guess we’ll have to see. It was just a weird episode especially with the Mausehertz constantly showing up to help out and give gifts to Nick and his creepy eyed girlfriend. Oh don’t tell me I’m the only one who sees miss Bug Eyed. And to top off the weirdness in this episode, her eyes weren’t just bugged out tonight; no those suckers were straight up looking in different directions. Please tell me my wife and I weren’t the only one to see that.

Honestly this episode really didn’t have much to go off even though a lot happened, it was all separate in its own way and it really doesn’t seem like it will build, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I am looking forward to seeing how the Captain and his little blonde servant are going to mess with Hank, though. Well, until tomorrow when I cap the awesome and never dull Once Upon A Time, According to Michael III, it’s always the brother that goes first.

"Its so powerful it sells itself in other peoples commercials!"

So because of a change of plans I'm not able to go ahead and give you the "Grimm" recap just yet. Also because I'm doing this from my phone it will probably have a lot of issues and titles won't be italicize. Oh well, I got to make do with what I have, and what I have is what could possibly be the funniest Old Spice commercial ever.

Right now Old Spice is running its 2012 campaign "Smell is Power" featuring the hilarious Terry Crews as the recent Old Spice man. Crews brings hilarious comedy that is of itself compared to recent the recent Old Spice man, "The man you could smell like," Isaiah Mustafa. Both men have gained ultimate success for their roles thanks to their fantastic acting and the great writers behind the jokes they tell. But this new Old Spice commercial had me laughing so hard I started crying. This commercial was an absolute genius as it takes on a new perspective that I don't believe has been done yet. Selling itself against another product. Now commercials like that have been done with the Mac and PC commercials but not like this. This new commercial actually made me believe it was a totally different commercial before Terry Crews comes busting through the house on a jet ski.
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvYP_d2S1Pg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Please tell me that made you bust up laughing even if you have already seen that commercial!? To me it's just perfect, If anything they are definitely showing the "power" Old Spice apparently has. Crews body adds to the effect since this man is so muscular he can move his chest at his command, and the sound effects and the Bounce lady's reaction is just priceless. The whole point of commercials is to get you to pay attention and be hooked to the point you go out and buy their product. It's supposed to make you say, "Eh, why not?" With each new Old Spice commercial they make me want to go buy a can just to support them so they can keep making commercials like that. Other commercials that play the funny very well are of course the Mayhem commercials by All State played by Dean Winters and E Trade's "Insufferable Brat" with comedian Peter Holmes as the voice. Commercials like these just show with perfect timing and great writing, and men who look like they did their fair share of steroids back in the day, you can make commercials that can become iconic and make people laugh for years to come. As it is they constantly play older Mayhem commercials on TV, same with E Trade and they have been using the same baby for a few years now. Only a matter of time before Old Spice starts replaying some favorites as well. But until I can finally get to "Grimm" or repost something else, According to Michael III, the Old Spice commercials are so "powerful" they made me write about them!
--Michael III

P.S.
Here are some of my favorite Mayhem and Insufferable Brat commercials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0GsNhLt9Ds&feature=youtube_gdata_player "You know I wanted a bird."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqVBKO_QM3o&feature=youtube_gdata_player "Oh wow, you didn't win? I wanna show you something, it's my shocked face...oooowwaaaa!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZXM_g3mqew&feature=youtube_gdata_player "TURN RIGHT NOW! (Car crash and information). Recalculating!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJK1yYXhg_A&feature=youtube_gdata_player "I'm all, 'OMG, Becky's not even hot!'"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osPQhrnzNYk&feature=youtube_gdata_player "You're good. (Car crash, woman screams and Mayhem laughs in slow motion)."

This is why in my opinion you should always look over your shoulder! Anyways enjoy!
--Michael III

What is David Robert Jones Up too? A "Fringe" Recap (SPOILER ALERT!)

I just finished watching tonight's Fringe episode and that's the question that is on my mind as of right now. For those of you up to date on what people are calling possibly the last season of Fringe, this season was originally asking the question how does Peter bishop get back home after being "erased" from time in the season three finale. Well if you watched the episode before they're month long hiatus, "The End of All Things," Olivia Denim suddenly remembered everything about Peter as the Observer, September, shows up on his death bed. For someone like me, a writer, I kind of figured that Peter was in the same time line this whole entire season and it just seemed like since he did vanished, all their memories of him did too and the question really was how is he supposed to make them remember him. But he was so quick to give up on that idea and started believing that he must be in a different timeline. Yeah, I guess that makes sense but then again it doesn’t. It makes sense because like he said, there are two universes so why wouldn’t there be different timelines? But in my opinion adding two timelines to a show that already had two universes would just make it messy and Fox probably would cancel them if they did so I figured that wouldn’t be the case. But how it doesn’t make sense is why would you be ripped out of one timeline just to be thrown into another, especially when you find out that the Observers were the ones who wiped you in the first place? And the only way he got back was because Olivia though there was something familiar about him and kept that guy from obliterating him in the episode “Subject 9”. Then it gets better because when he was in September's head, September was pretty much telling Peter that he was in the same timeline by saying he was supposed to be with Olivia and that she would need him. But no! I had a wait a freaking month for September to just flat out say it! “You are home,” he says in his monotone “I’m a scientist from the future” voice. Seriously!? My gosh! You couldn’t have said that a month ago!? At least Olivia and Peter are back together, now it’s just a matter of time before the "love" September talked about in last weeks "A Short Story about Love" catches up to the rest of them and they all remember who Peter is and how much they care about him.

But now the question I want to know is: what is David Robert Jones up to? For those of you that don't know him, he was the big baddie in season one where this fantastic show all started and where Jones in a different “timeline” was killed by Peter who closed Jones' makeshift portal to the "Otherside" while Jones was halfway through slicing this creepy and evil dude in half.

BUT, thanks to the Observers messing with crap, that technically never happened so four years later Jones is now walking around causing problems in our universe and on the Otherside: creating a new breed of shape-shifters, mining some dangerous material that can merge the two universes into one spot, forcing Olivia to activate her powers, and now creating a horde of recently evolved humans. What the hell is Jones' game? I mean seriously, with only six episodes left before the season finale, and hopefully not the series, the data against David keeps piling up and all I'm trying to do is just figure out where this is going.

Even now as I write this, next week’s episode deals with a shape-shifter going out and killing bad guys...or is he doing something more? The two universes must stop this freak with a serious case of mistaken identity and put a stop to him before he can really put into motion whatever Jones' has planned. Anyway I'm signing off for the night, I'll watch Grimm and recap it tomorrow before I head off to work. But until that article, According to Michael III, whatever the writers of Fringe have Jones' doing may actually save the show. Hey it's possible! They already did a good thing with putting Peter and Olivia back together and not messing with their relationship anymore, so here's to hoping!

—Michael III

P.S

Best line of the show tonight

“I work in Fringe Division, ‘weird’ is a matter of degrees.” —Agent Olivia Denim

—Michael III

Can't go anywhere?: "Grimm" should be thanking "Fringe" and hoping their creators did some research.

Everyone can agree that as of right now the entertainment biz is getting hooked on the Fairytale craze. We are in the midst of possibly seeing a transition between a focus on heroes such as Batman and Spider-Man, to those of folk tales like Sleeping Beauty and Snow white. Honestly I believe this craze started thanks to Disney who handn’t released a princess movie since 1998 with Mulan (Sequels don't count people). But with the sudden releases of The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, Disney added two new Princesses to an already long list of girls who defeat the odds and still get their princes. Both of those movies introduced Princess Tiana in 2009 and Rapunzel in 2010 and then had gorgeous soundtracks to go along with it. To little girls this just seems like another Princess movie that lights their eyes up like stars and a full moon in the woods, but to the trained entertainment eye, this is the beginning of a craze!

Suddenly out of the wood work companies are finding writers to create stories playing in the Fairytale genre such as Disney/Pixar's upcoming film Brave or having writers recreate stories like Roth Studios Snow white and the Huntsman starring christen Stewart (The Twilight Saga) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor and The Avengers).

But what I want to focus on are the TV shows that are making a huge splash with their own personal twist on not just one Fairytale but ALL the fairytales known and unknown. NBC's "Grimm" created by the fantastic David Greenwalt—Buffy the Vanpire Slayer and Angel—Stephen carpenter—Ocean’s Eleven­­—and Jim Kouf—Angel, National Treasure, Ghost Whisperer; and also ABC’s Once Upon A Time. If you don’t know what either of those shows are about, look them up yourselves or wait until later this weekend when I recap their new episodes.

But for those of you who do know, both of these shows are fantastic and creatively written. Grimm keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next while Once Upon A Time shocks you every episode and has you impatiently waiting for next week’s installment. But what shocked me was when these shows first started I remember my mother saying that they wouldn’t go anywhere, which is also one of the reasons she hasn’t been watching with serious vigor as I have. And honestly, I started to believe her as I kept wondering how and when Emma is going to realize what her son Henry says is true and if Nick is ever going to figure out whom his police chief really is and if he’s going to get serious about his duty as a Grimm. It began to seem that these stories are just dragging out and I’m left wanting a little more but each and every episode still delivers enough to come back. But as NBC began speculating whether or not they wanted to pull the plug on Grimm something amazing happened. A coincidence happened; Grimm was finally renewed for a second season with twenty-two episodes being the first NBC show to receive a returning spot (Screenrant.com). “Grimm has turned out to be quite the bright spot for NBC, blossoming to a solid 5.4 million viewers overall, plus a boost when DVR recorded viewing is factored in. With the swift cancellations of The Playboy Club, The Firm and other freshman series, Grimm has done well for the network in its Friday timeslot” (Screenrant.com). That made me very happy. I honestly think that if it wasn’t for Fringe going on a month long hiatus Grimm may have fallen through the cracks. As it was in the first week Fringe was gone Grimm ratings jumped up thirteen percent (EW.com). So Fringe may have screwed us over by making us wait but they sure helped Grimm along.

But that’s not all, what made it a coincidence was what happened to me a few days later. I’m at my in-laws and my mother-in-law has the first volume of the Grimm’s Fairytales…it was just volume one and it continued 212 stories in it. That’s just volume one, there is at least seven original volumes, and in the seventh original volume the book held 211 stories (Wikipedia.com). When I saw that I laughed at my mom even though she wasn’t there and showed my wife and said, “‘Can’t go anywhere?’ Yeah, right, if they did their research they could go on forever!” Then it went even further as my sister read through all the titles and out of all 212, there were only nine she had heard of.

This honestly made my day because both shows are great and use the tales of the Grimm’s to help them move their stories along. I don’t know where they are going to go from here, but it’s clear to see that although they have a limit, it’s so far away I’m expecting a few season out of these shows. Until next time, According to Michael III, research is the key to unlocking their creative minds.

"I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!": Young Korra makes an Impression on the White Lotus

Where is it going to go from here!? Anyone else but me excited for the next Avatar? And I don’t mean James Cameron’s ugly and pointless blue people, I mean the master of all four elements. According to Nickelodeon, I mean it is their show BTW, Avatar: The Legend of Korra will be coming out Saturday April 14^th.

Korra is the next reincarnation of the Avatar, 70 years after the original series and the ending of the Hundred Years War. There is peace brought on by Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko. Korra is from the Southern Water Tribe and according to the creators of the show Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konieztko, she’s loosely based off of Avatar Kyoshi who was a favorite of the original series. Korra is already master of Water, Fire, and Earthbending, and has yet to learn Airbending. In the show she’ll end up learning Airbending from Aang and Katara’s son Tenzin, the youngest of Aang and Katara’s three kids and the only one that ended up being an Airbender. But don’t freak out though, Tenzin has three kids himself who are all Airbenders with a fourth child on the way. As the young “headstrong and rebellious girl” sets out to fulfill one of her duties as the Avatar conflict begins to brew in Republic City: A “metropolis inhabited by benders and non-benders of all nations and founded by Aang and Zuko after the One Hundred year war (Wikipedia). A group called the “Equalist” are starting a revolution between the benders and non-benders. As the story develops the creators kept the story focused all in one city to avoid repeating Aang’s adventures. We’ll see some ties to the original series as the comedy and action continues with the next installment of the Avatar; possibly even a little more with characters such as Chief Lin Beifong who is “Toph’s daughter and head of the Republic City Police who use Metalbenindg to subdue their criminals.” Let’s not also forget that sometimes the Avatar can communicate with their past lives to get some insight on how to solve their problems so expect to see an older, but not much older Aang in spirit. Then there is also the fact that KATARA IS STILL ALIVE EVERYONE……AND…

She’s Korra’s Waterbending master.

I would have more to give you on the show, but thanks to the poor planning, when they decided to release the first two episodes of the first season this weekend they only kept it up this weekend so by the time I tried to look yesterday they were down already. Let’s not forget by poor planning I mean they released the preview on the same damn weekend as The Hunger Games. Who does that without thinking!?

But I’m sitting here with my wife trying to get her caught up on The Last Airbender before the next segment arrives in three weeks so she doesn’t ask me questions when The Legend of Korra makes references, and I kept help but wait to see how big this new Avatar will be, and once they end Korra’s story, where will they go from there. Personally, I would like to see a story that explains how the Avatar got started in the first place, why there was a need for one. How the first Avatar realized their destiny. How the reincarnation cycle was established. Anyone else agree? Either way, set your Calendars to April 14^th everyone! And remember, According to Michael III, Avatar Korra is going to make one big splash! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

—Michael III

P.S.

But what I can give you is a couple of looks at the new series! Here you go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmsT63BgFPw

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/legend-of-korra-trailer-a-new-hope-rises.html

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/legend-of-korra-101-the-next-avatar-clip.html

This last one is my favorite; she’s such a little prodigy! That’s cool she taught herself though…which begs a new question how strong will she really be? But this is the clip that gave me the title so check them all out or just the last one if you like.

—Michael III