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It's all about the prep this week. And Sai not having any feelings. And Sai questioning Naruto's manhood again. And Yamato demonstrating his sweet wood-style ninjutsu to make a spacious house for the crew.

That was a fun romp . . . at least when all the pieces were fitted together. Basically, the Doctor guilt-trips a woman into reuniting two Tellers (for lack of a better term), and he lathers up in layers of ignorance to make it work. Once you see the end, the means are justified. By the way, is it obvious that I'm not into mysteries at all? And of course the Doctor would figure out he's the Architect, because the Architect is so irritating. The gong? Was the cherry on top. Better execution from Stephen Thompson this time, probably because Moffat was guiding him. Next week looks to be fun as well, as Clara's part-time companioning takes a toll. Even the title -- "The Caretaker" -- with the Doctor slumming as help shows promise. ETA: Soup-brains effect was too eerie. Ew ew ewwwwww.

I finally got around to watching "Planet Of The Daleks," which I got for free years ago. It was okay . . . you can see how the Pertwee Dalek stories suffer in comparison to the older material and "Genesis Of The Daleks." On the other hand, I didn't remember that the third episode had to be restored until I watched the documentary on it. So far, my favorite documentary material of the DVD set has to be the call for the missing Daleks on Blue Peter, complete with pleading from a Dalek to find his mates. Also interesting to see how the dogs reacted with them moving around.

I don't talk like a pirate. I do watch One Piece on Toonami, which is an insanely fun pirate-based anime.

Stupid question: given real-life events, would ISIS undergo a name change? For the record, I'd want Pam to live, if only to see an episode on the Poovey family dairy. I hope to find out more when I try to hit the Archer panel at NYCC. I managed to get in last year to see the first episode of the "Vice" season. Oh, and I got an ARCHER wool hat, which (sadly) didn't fit me.

I saw the preview special "On Demand" on the TV Guide Channel. It was interesting . . . turns out they brought in the press (including Pavarti) to beta-test a game, as opposed to just running it. The contestants seemed pretty fresh, despite the inclusion of John Rocker. And I found out Probst keeps all of the flame-snuffers, which . . . I don't like the guy, but can you blame him? ETA: It also sounded like they were going to force players to fight loved ones for Reward and/or Exile Island. I wasn't totally clear on that, but it actually sounds sadistically fun.

Yeah . . . Kunonchi. All I really remember was one female (I want to say Ayako Miyake) winning three seasons in a row, and the hapless Lady Sumo that always had to be dragged out of the water after she failed. But I don't think TBS in Japan has ran that in years.

For the record, this is Starhawk. And holy crap, I would not have recognized Stephen playing Prince Hawkcat. I know that Comic-Con is a big happening, but I gotta annoy people who attended about whether or not they saw Stephen's non-permit-having self in hero drag. And I was impressed by the cosplay going on with the others, particularly the new hip Ms. Marvel. Here's hoping Stephen bankrupts himself with another unknown property in time for New York Comic Con. ETA: I gotta echo Victor the Crab . . . whatever happened to Tek Jansen of Alpha Squad 7? I liked the cartoons back in the day.

Damn, there's way too many seasons to go through. Why do I like Sandra? Because she spent 78 days in the game, 77 of them with two of the bigger pieces of garbage the show has ever cast: Jon Dalton and Russell Hantz. The fact that she didn't murder either of them is a testament to how awesome she is, not to mention the double win and the snark factor. Tom Westman may have burnt Ian like an innocent marshmallow, but I think he played the ultimate game. I don't think any other alpha has ever gotten by on immunity wins like he did, and he didn't have a single vote cast against him. I liked Ian as well, but watching Tom play was like witnessing the Kool-Aid Man go through a brick wall. OH YEAH!!! That makes S20 hard to watch, because he got voted off in favor of gimpy James. I have other faves, but I think that I hate more than I love. Like fuggin' Special Agent Phillip, who was a general nutjob in both his seasons, pushed Brandon Hantz over the edge, and worshipped at the feet of Rob Mariano. It's okay to believe in a god, but "Boston Rob"? Who else . . . Russell for wrecking the game. Colton for being the Boy Queen of Samoa (though I do buy him getting hurt the first time, plus I'd probably lay off after Caleb got killed). Crystal for sucking in every sense of the game. Naonka for being a bitch. Rupert for being petty once you get past the beard and tie-dye (though he did outplay Russell in S20, which was funny). And I feel that if Tyson didn't more or less vote himself out of S20, the Rob vs. Russell/"Redemption Island" situation never happens, and Rob doesn't get his million bucks against Phillip and a buttload of overmatched players. So, yeah, Tyson winning last year rubbed me the wrong way. And I still think Rob is the most overrated player in the history of the game. Get back to me in a few weeks . . . I can probably dislodge more memories. And I think it's okay to preemptively hate John Rocker before S29 starts. What a pantload that guy is.

Society of Super-Heroes came out today. Interesting Golden Age-tinged battle between Earths 20 and 40 . . . lots of familiar names with strange faces, particularly Abin Sur, who was on last issue's cover. You can read the first four pages here, as well as check out the variant covers. Next month: Earth-16, aka "Earth-Me." ETA for anybody who's interested: annotations from ComicsAlliance.

I know, I should let it slide. But there's some stuff you can't let go, no matter how much Elsa sings at you. And I just came up with "Bob" off the top of my head, as opposed to using the guy's real name. Speaking of Survivor, I watched the preview special on TVGN. Rocker aside, it's an interesting cast. Should be interesting to see how it'll let us down. The behind-the-scenes stuff was also pretty choice.

Once again, Animal Planet isn't saying what the 8:30 episode is about, but at least they have this up for 8:

Getting this blog entry off my chest. I know I'm not alone, but I wanted to put a little context to my feelings, as well as shit-talk about somebody whom I felt did me wrong years ago.

Wow . . . that's a longer trip than me going from New York to San Diego. Have you ever been to New York before, Valerie? And will you be going to all four days of NYCC?

Trailer for Season Six, Voyage Two. ETA: Just found this on Cheezburger . . . Franky Cola! SUPER!

Topless Robot writer blogs for twelve hours on the DVD. I don't think he was too impressed, but it is a fun read through the first half of the second season.

Anybody else want to put an asterisk to Team Europe's win? Sure, they won fair and square, but they needed a Canadian living in France to pull it off. I think the story has to be Japan's failure to score a single point, even though two of their own finished the third stage. That's pretty sad, especially when at least one guy got cut short, footage-wise, while failing the second stage. Runner-up has to be Brian Arnold exorcising his demons and finishing the third stage, becoming the first American to finish there, and forcing the Stage Four climb-off. Good thing the announcers were shot from the waist up, because it would've be grisly otherwise. I don't think it would've been messy as Kacy finishing the first stage, but it might have been embarrassing. One way Japan has a leg up on us . . . they do Sasuke twice a year. Meanwhile, we'll wind up forgetting Brian Arnold, Joe Moravsky, Kacy, and the rest of the gang until nine months from now. Couldn't NBC prop up Midoriyama and do away with the preliminaries, inviting 100 competitors to run the course? Even if a brash show-off winds up winning the million bucks, it would still be an exhilarating 4-5 weeks of coverage. Or at least have the Americans and Europeans run the Sasuke course in Japan, and see if the locals can win on their own turf.

Just went through "Talking About Regeneration" on "The War Games." Anybody else feel sorry for Sylvester McCoy? They showed his Doctor getting shot and falling over six times. It was hilarious, but it was such a shitty way to go. Not nearly as shitty as Sylvester as "Colin Baker" (quotation marks from the documentary, not me), but pretty shitty. What did you think the best regeneration was? I'd lean towards the Eccleston-to-Tennant change, because RTD didn't drag that out the way he did with Tennant-to-Smith, which lasted for-freakin'-ever. And I liked how sudden Smith-to-Capaldi was. Somebody compared it to a British Christmas "cracker," where we don't know if we get a treat or a joke.

This just in from Bleeding Cool . . . panel schedule for NYCC. I'm probably going to need to print it out and study it, but a few catch my eye already. I just have to be aware that I can't be out late at night, because I'd have to go home to recharge my batteries for the following day. Is anybody else going?

Anybody else tickled that LWT and The Daily Show go to the same place for stock photos of haggis? And great of John to make the issue of Scottish independence interesting . . . or more interesting, as it turns out.

Starchild . . . Four/Adric and Five/Turlough. And both were supposed to be boys (hard for me to think of Turlough as a schoolboy).

I haven't been motivated lately. Let's change that. The Amazing Race (and @Midnight, where I got the concept idea) Survivor (and Rupert "Danny" Pink of Doctor Who)

Anybody else see the commercial with John Rocker? Nice way to turn off some people on the show, CBS. Or maybe me being a Mets fan (lapsed that I am) colors the perception.

Just caught the Browns coming from behind to beat the Saints. So much for Carl going 2-0 to start the season. In other news, the Giants are 0-2, and I'm half-expecting Tom Coughlin to strangle some of his charges. Or for Carl to go back to the hospital like last year.

Man, there was a lot of tears this episode. And snot. And false advertising, what with Luffy and Blueno getting shoved towards the end. I think that the giants of Elbaf were explained nicely for those who missed that arc. They really did make an impression on Usopp, who resolved to be a man after meeting the two giants on Little Drum Island. And his meeting with the guardians of Enies Lobby means that things are going to shift dramatically against the World Government. Serves 'em right for gunning down Sodom like that. ETA: One trope was on display . . . supporting characters having their own distinctive laugh. That's how Usopp was able to identify the giants to their comrades.