The Muppets Are My Favorite So Far
The Muppets
With all my reservations about how this new take on the beloved Muppets was going to play out, I was entertained by the pilot episode. I'm not enamored with the breakup between Ms. Piggy and Kermit, but after watching this episode, I can kinda see what the writers are trying to do, and I really liked how they made the breakup emotionally tangible and touching. I'm not on board with Kermit's new girlfriend though.
On the whole, I think this show can work if the writers keep focused and continue the interplay between the vaudevillian muppets of yesteryear and the more modern adult themed late night show they are portraying here. My main hope is they steer clear of politics and religion as I would really hate to see that tarnish thrown at the beloved Muppets, but as far as this one episode goes, I can deal with a little bit of adult themes. So far, this has been my favorite new show of the season.
Limitless
I don't recall seeing this movie, but the concept seems decent, and it figures that today's society would embrace a pill that gives a person super intelligence and capabilities, but I'm not entirely sold on the show. This really seems like it may devolve into a “buddy” cop / X-files type show, but I'm willing to give it a chance. I think of all the new “alternative” cop shows that I've seen so far this season, this one leaves the most up in the air after the pilot. One thing that bothered me was the whole subway scene – there really was no reason he had to stand in front of the train to show how he brilliantly calculated where it would stop – that was just silly, and the whole chess/guitar riffing scene was as well.
Blindspot
This is another “alternative” cop show, though I suppose cops are no longer in fashion – it's the FBI. Of course there is a twist – one “buddy” has amnesia and a bunch of tattoos all over her body. This show seems to have some promise but I rally can't stand how much of an asshole the FBI guy is portraying. One thing each of these police dramas have is the first 5 minutes really trying to capture your attention. This one is pretty interesting with Jane Doe in Times Square in a duffle bag, but I don't think they built up from that enough. Along with the others, I'll continue to give this show a chance but so far, none of the cop dramas grab my attention enough that I'm dying to see the next episode.
League of Legends
I think I am reaching the end of my efforts in LoL for this season. Ever since the server move to Chicago, I have consistently had to deal with pings ranging from 200-500ms. My attempt at a fix by purchasing a new cable modem has done nothing to resolve the problem, and other than trying to learn new champs that can deal with the lag (that are less reliant on skill shots and can survive half a second of not knowing what's going on), I'm not sure my appreciation of the game supersedes my frustrations at this point. In addition to my personal lag issues, I am pretty sure this is a problem many are seeing since while I'm not 100% sure, it seems like I have an AFK in 75% of the games I've played in the past week. Now this is not always on my team nor is it always due to the servers disconnecting someone, but trying to enjoy a game where 3 outta 4 games are decided by which team keeps the most players is just becoming tiring. Sure, I've won a few of the games when down 4 to 5, but that usually requires extraordinary effort (or somehow we've got a smurf or 2) on our team or some really bad decisions by the opposing team.
The sad part is that I don't see things improving. In the past, I've seen lag for a day or two, but things got better. I've seen many games with AFKs and disconnects, but not with this consistency for a long period of time. Perhaps I should give it a bit more time, but I am really close to calling it quits at least for the rest of the season. I've already given up on trying to make any headway on getting outta bronze this season – there's just no time and with AFKs and lag, I've actually fallen down to Bronze 3 after being in promos for Silver.
Oh well, there are other MOBAs out there – I'll have to check to see if they have the same lag/AFK/toxicity problems League has.