Male Objectification Monday- Shemar Moore

My recent nonstop bunge on Criminal Minds has definitely left me with a fixation for this hottie.

Granted, I haven’t seen this model turned actor flex his thespian chops in much else, he catches all my attention in Criminal Minds. Look at those abs.

Anyway, seems like most Criminals Minds fans have a softspot for Mr. Matthew Gray Gubler, and he’s not ugly either:

And he’s an easy crush, slim, awkward, oddly handsome, wacky hairdo, storylines that make you want to give him a big ole hug (from his early seasons struggles with his upbringing, with relating more to the unsubs than his coworkers, with not being able to pass the firearms test, to his PTSD/repressed memories in Las Vegas, his abandonment issues, SO MANY ISSUES) he’s always the one who has to talk the unstable off the ledge and if I was there I’d give him a big hug and cry my eyes out on the jet home. But I have a Whovian crush who fits that bill.

Derek Morgan gets to knock out brutes and steps up to lead the team when Hotch can’t. He also flirts with Penelope Garcia… a lot. He has some emotional plotlines as well but not with multiple episode story arcs like MGG, Prentiss, Elle, Rossi and Hotch. (Maybe he does in later seasons, let me know if I’m speaking too soon, I only catch the first run here and there)

BONUS: comic book connection

Shemar Moore voiced Cyborg in Justice League War …put him in the JLA movie, DC. he definitely spruces up the place.

Nerd News-day Tuesday

I would like to introduce you to my nerd-news round up lazy blogger process. 

Step one: Haunt Gail Simone’s twitter. Remember that Tomb Raider  #1 come out tomorrow. Find an indiegogo for a She Walks in Shadows, an all female HP Lovecraft inspired anthology. If you throwdown $500 you get (among other things) a ukulele fit for an Elder God. Bitchin’.  

Step two: Check on Brian Wood. Find some sneak peeks of next issue (which I’m super excited for even though I chewed the last one a bit).. it’s one of Mann’s pages (the people involved don’t make sense to me in continuity with the last one. Whatever. I’m letting it go)

 

Step 3: Wish that Amanda Conner used her twitter more.

Step 4: See what’s going on on flipboard. Find an article about men using chivalry to emasculate each other, 4b; realize you “don’t understand men,” 4c; realize you flipped the big tire at crossfit to show off to another woman. 4d; remember that gender roles are bullshit.

HOLY SHIT A CAR THAT RUNS ON AIR (mostly)

RunDisney announces an Avengers themed Half-Marathon. So dust off your kicks, your GPS watch, your purple sweats and your green body paint and get ready to SMASH the finish line! Registration opens March 25th!

Hollywood lost writer and actor Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters 3 is still on. Well, probably. 

In the TV world: Almost Human and Agents of SHIELD still not officially renewed or cancelled. No official news about Dracula. Almost Human and Dracula need another season. I’m not fully on board with Agents of SHIELD, I keep watching, but they’re lucky Ziva left NCIS or I wouldn’t have. CW is where you want to be if you’re a supe, Supernatural, Arrow, Vampire Diaries and the Originals AND (probably) Beauty and the Beast are renewed.

Under the Dome will be back June 30th, new teasers came out already, hinting at “an unexpected romance” and the death of two favorites in the season premiere. I hope it’s Junior. 

And for no reason, a pic of Jessica Alba looking like Drew Barrymore in Scream:

Ooooh, and a really rad article about a Siberian mummy and her 2500 year old tattoos. Who says tattoos will look ugly when you’re older? 

For those of us Fiercely missing Agents of SHIELD

14 long long days until a new episode, TAHITI , where Coulson finds out more about his past and presumably saves Skye. Bill Paxton guest stars on that one, as does BJ Britt (who has guest starred on Vampire Diaries, Grimm and Sons of Anarchy as well as the Wonder Woman TV movie and the flick Vampires Suck).

Of course, you probably don’t care as much about those guest stars as you do about the March 11th episode that features Lady Sif. Jaimie Alexander appears as the awesomely armor-clad Asgaardian in the (hopefully season and not series) finale “Yes Men”

It’s these kind of nerd cookies and side characters and tie-ins to the Marvel Universe that have really been keeping fans entertained. An IGN blogger compiled a list of who they would like to see make a cameo to keep the hype going. I agree, either She-Hulk would be optimal -but Jennifer Walters is a small time character *snort* please. But it seems like everyone from Jezebel to Stan Lee himself has ideas on how to fix the show and keep viewers excited. Is Jaimie Alexander’s appearance getting you hyped? Anyone you’d like to see hit the SHIELD set?

The series debuted with record numbers, but since 6 million less have tuned in.

No news of being officially canceled or renewed yet. But as a belated Valentine’s Day gift: A look at Skye’s -I mean Chloe Wang’s -I mean, Chloe Bennet’s music career debut.

I’m optimistic about where they could go with SHIELD, who they could bring in and how they will use who they’ve got. The second half of the season has brought depth to Agent May’s no-nonsense persona, Skye’s backstory plotline has wrapped itself up and now we have established characters working through their quirks without relying heavily on being cliche archetypes -everyone’s stretching out of their established comfort zone. And that’s good.

Agents of SHIELD Episode 13

Our favorite comic book secret agents are back after too long.

Skye and Coulson are bound and determined to track down Quinn and get revenge for torturing Coulson/find out what’s going on after all. They plan an elaborate scheme on a train to track him down.The pair ups get shaken as Coulson and Ward get ejected and see the train vanish, badass woman Agent May goes it alone, Gemma gets left behind and Skye and Fitz get their action hero on. 

This episode got pretty innovative, showing the events from multiple view points before meeting back up so we see whats happening rather than dialog and lengthy explanations. The agents are striken by an airborne gas version of “the night night gun” which leaves them with different concepts and timelines.

While every one is spending time with someone unusual things get rough. The beginning of the op begins with Simmons concocting a soap operatic cover story for her and “dad” Coulson which gets crashed by Stan Lee dressed like Hugh Hefner with a babe on each arm (who scolds him for having too many hos). Later Ward tells Coulson it’s “just sex” between him and May (but even more immaturely, not in those words), Coulson patches up May after she’s stabbed in interrogation by a European operative who’s sold them out, while Ward looks on he seems… jealous? suspicious? Gemma gets knocked out after taking one for the team so Fitz and Skye leave her behind well armed and take off  after Quinn themselves. Skye goes in, Fitz is left to disable the vehicles. Skye finds Mike Peterson -complete with cyborg leg -Deathlok confirmed, he ignores Skye. She also finds Quinn.. who shoots her. Twice. 

I know, right? The rest of the team arrives on the scene. They hear a struggle (Deathlok fighting Cybertek for leading SHIELD directly to them under the orders of the Clairvoyant). Mike leaves before anyone else sees him after getting a message (in his eye) not to engage SHIELD. They throw down, Ward goes in guns blazing, Coulson beats down Quinn, then he finds Skye shot. Simmons gives orders for them to put her in a cryo-chamber (Mike had been in it) but nothing happens.. yet… 

And I thought she was gonna go all 084 and show off her alien powers. Damn.

Ward gets pissed about what’s happened to Skye, seems to blame Fitz, but it was Skye’s call. He’d do better to be mad at Coulson, she went after Quinn for him, after all… Ward’s kind of a jerk. May could do better. Skye’s the only one who saw Mike, so no one knows what has happened to him and she didn’t get to tell anyone, now she’s on ice fighting for her life.

And we all get to hang in stasis like Skye until March 4 when SHIELD returns. 

Check out this cute pic of Chloe Bennet and Brett Dalton live tweeting on set 🙂

 

After some iffy epsodes this show has really hit its stride.. too bad it is an eternity between episodes. But with J August Richards back, and relationships getting closer and tense without being bogged down by angst, nerd cookies from all around the Marvel universe and some genuine giggles (Brett Dalton using the holotable? awesome.) it’s worth the wait. For the record, i think Ward’s gonna drop May for Skye… I’m not going to like it, but I think with her near death he’s going to have SO MANY FEELINGS and May gave him that “I said ready the plane!” in that voice that said clearly *this is grown woman business* ..I could actually care less about Ward’s relationship status but I like May and Coulson. Just me. How about you? Anyone ship Skitz?

Agents of SHIELD- episode 11

The team is now being led by Agent Hand since Coulson was kidnapped. And they are in pursuit of someone, but not just to lock him up. They need him to get closer to Coulson

Hand kicks Skye off the op. “You’re a distraction and you’re gone.”

Ward steps up. May says Skye will be of no use. 

Coulson is still dreaming of Tahiti. But he starts telling his kidnappers that we was dreaming of Michael Jordan and a game winning dunk. The man holding him says that he knows that Coulson went cold. A telepathic associate told him so. But now he is different. He can’t get a read on him anymore. 

Skye tries to hack in from a cafe. No luck. So she steals an SUV and crashes it. Mr. Rafman comes home where Skye has had the car towed. As an intimidation: she impersonates Agent May. Sweet. After reading a headline 

Hand gets suspicious about why SHIELD is using so many resources on Coulson. “Why is he so important?” she wonders…

And Ward is mad about Skye and says to May: “Why didn’t you stick up for her?”

May: “Excuse me?”

But it turns out that May snubs her so Skye could work how she works best. Not under anyone’s thumb, without attention from other agents. May scolds Ward for thinking the worst of her.

Skye is doing well on her own. She takes her new role as badass agent seriously. She orders Rafman to type his corporate ID into a secure swiss bank account. Security shows up and they get easily disarmed.

Meanwhile: Coulson’s original handler gets his face electrocuted by Raina’s employer. The Clairvoyant. Coulson tries to ask her what the point is. Why she’s doing this. She reminds him that the government, SHIELD, et al., have been creating super soldiers for years. She’s just trying to level the playing field. She wants to know what happened to him… and he does, too, right?

Skye gets the transaction records that she needs and takes off in Millionaire Dude’s Lamborghini. $BLSYALL

Raina plays more headgames with Coulson and he blurts out “It’s a magical plane,” then, “I keep saying that.” Raina: “Don’t you want to know why?” and then he gets back in the machine.

Skye calls Simmons. Simmons is the worst liar ever so May kicks out any interlopers to check on what she has found. Then they confront Hand, tell her about Skye’s tip. Hand says there is activity at the lab. May says they can split up. The team is following Skye’s tip. Hand is caught off guard that May is going against direction to team up with Skye, Hand reminds May that she backed the decision to kick Skye off the plane.

May: “Seems like it worked out.”

Hand: “Seems like you played me.”

 Skye finds the houses in the desert and starts looking around. She’s spotted, but the Calvary and company show up in time.Skye hears Coulson scream and rushes to find him. Raina tries to stop her saying that “it’s for his own good.” His flash back is of two doctors and a robot with many fingers electrocuting his brain. He kept screaming “Let me die! Just let me die!” one doctor says, “Listen to him! Who ordered this?!” Nick Fury himself. The damage was catastrophic. What he’s remembering turns out to be the 7th operation. He gets to confront the doctor at the end of the episode (and removes Skye’s tracker).

Too bad “The Clairvoyant” isn’t really Public Domain Superhero Claire Voyant. Would be interesting, just a thought. 

J. August Richards is ALIVE. But badly burned, missing a leg and has one of those killswitch cameras in his eye. Oh man. Mike Peterson, that’s a tight spot. Are they setting him up to be rescued, take out the SHIELD team, become a villain?! That was probably the most suspenseful ending yet. Can’t wait til next week! Welcome back Agents of SHIELD!!

Agents of SHIELD episode 10

The first ever 2 parter gets the series back to it’s beginnings as the team goes after Centipede!

A prisoner is busted out of a locked cell by soldiers sporting centipedes on their arms, the likes of which were seen in the first episode.

Skye’s looking for her mom, investigating SHIELD files, agent identities and the like. Coulson tells her it’ll be a long road, not to get her hopes up. Skye says it would be easier if she didn’t have a tracking bracelet. Coulson refuses to remove it, says he has Agent May looking into it.

Mike Peterson, played by J August Richards, returns! He was the single dad from the first episode who put himself through the centipede program to provide for his son. He’s trained to be an agent and is stabilized.

Ward makes snarky comments about what an out of control maniac he is and goes on about how Mike can’t be trusted …ummm… two episodes ago, when Ward came into contact with the Berserker staff, HE was an out of control unstable maniac… so stop it, Ward.

Ruth Negga comes back (she was The Girl in the Flower Dress) and it turns out she was the one who recruited Mike for the centipede experiment. Raina also visited the man who was broken out of prison.

FitzSimmons makes a suit for Peterson that monitors his vitals and what not, as they head out on their mission to track down the escaped convict. Ward makes a cheap comment that Peterson having superpowers is cheating… Ward’s need to be THE Alphamale is boring. Anyway, they go, they fight. Coulson does nothing in some convoluted attempt to test Peterson (again, even though he asked Peterson for help, but he continuously make Peterson prove how much he wants to be there. Ooookay). Peterson gets stabbed, but jumps up to defend Coulson from a soldier. Peterson takes the man down and then Coulson screams at the soldier “Who runs centipede?!” And the man’s eyeball explodes. Just like Akela’s eye would have in that long ago episode.

Kill switch.

We find out that Raina is under the escaped prisoners thumb, too.

May makes Skye cry. Now THAT wasn’t nice.

Coulson convinces Mike to call his son, that his son won’t see him as a monster. Mike’s son has been living with his sister since Mike was contained/relocated by SHIELD. He calls, but Raina has shown up there. She offers to trade Mike’s son, Ace, for Mike. They gear up, no comms, no artillery except Ward ready to shoot from a rooftop.

Coulson goes to make the exchange, but the deal wasn’t for Mike it was for Coulson. Centipede does not want Mike. Mike tries to take Raina as a hostage, but Raina’s boss wouldn’t care so Mike’s son would die. Coulson goes willingly but they tranquilize him anyway.

The team is dumbfounded.

Agent May calls for copters as Mike tries to run back after them after getting his son to safety.

The bridge erupts in explosions, Mike is dead (presumably). Coulson, Raina and henchmen get away in a jet and Ward gets shot down from his sniping position on a nearby rooftop.

What?!

But in the previews for the next episode -January 7th!!!- we see Ward and Coulson alive… but not Mike. So they brought him back, which the fans wanted… insulted him, made him beg for forgiveness and then… they killed him? They better not have. That’s so bullshit. Bring him back just to make his son an orphan… yuck.

And Skye’s big boo hoo, like we should feel bad for her after all the insults that she’s been hurling around about May? What goes around, comes around. At least she said it to your face. May knows more about Skye than she is letting on, she doesn’t want Skye hurt and she doesn’t like Coulson’s approach. I like her with Ward, even though I think Ward is boring as unsalted butter on wonderbread.

The helicopter shooting Ward was a genuine shock, but then they gave away that he would be alright in the previews. Seriously… what? Media manager, promotion specialist… you are fired.

And J. August Richards had BETTER come back.

Agents of SHIELD Episode 8

The post-Thor episode.

Asgardian stuff. Simmons is ducking her fam. She hasn’t talked to them since before she almost died (After coming into contact with the Chitauri helmet). Her parents will want answers, and being a member of a covert organization… she can’t give them.

Heavily accented 20 somethings cut down a Norway spruce and remove a metal staff with Norse carvings. The female touches it with her barehands and starts to scream as the symbols transfer onto her body. Then she lets go. Approached by park rangers, she pushes one and he goes flying.

Agents of SHIELD arrive. They investigate while the streets of Oslo erupt into violence. The streets burn with the words “We Are Gods” they are leaders of a Norse Panganist hate-group. Interesting. Especially as the image of Thor’s Hammer has been adopted as a symbol by neo-nazi groups for some time because  Hitler glorified the Aryan/Norse look. Which leads me to be suspicious of anyone decorated by that particular symbol. Do they just like viking metal? believer in the Old Traditions ignorant of the symbol’s incarnation as a racist amulet? Or Nazi fuckhead?

Coulson says that Thor has been “off the grid” again. No cell phone. Probably would be some epic roaming charges if he did.

-But have you seen textsfromsuperheros.com ??

epic.

Anyway. Spectacular Spider-Man alum Peter Mac Nicol (who played Dr. Octopus in the totally unrelated Marvel TV world) guests as the Norse expert. He unveils that its part of the Berserker staff. Belonged to a Berserker Warrior. Uncontrollable rage, etc. A warrior brought it to Earth, but he fell in love. He didn’t go back to Asgard with his army, he broke the staff in three and hid the pieces.

So it’s a race to find the rest.

They search an abandoned church. Ward and Skye go in. Ward finds the professor has beaten them there and stolen the artifact. Ward grabs for it. Bare handed. But he drops. Skye rushes to find him. The professor runs for it but is stopped by the hate-group.

Coulson finds the professor but the staff is gone.

Ward is being examined by FitzSimmons while Skye looks on. Skye tries to get him to open up about what happened when he touched the staff (a memory of his brother is triggering a hyper adrenal response). But he becomes a super jerk instead. He insults Fitz, Simmons and Skye. The only person suited to deal with him is Agent May who dodges a punch as he tries to work it out.

Meanwhile, the Norse Paganist hate-group is making more super skinheads.

Ward confesses to Coulson that he’s compromised. He’s reliving the first moment that he felt hate. Coulson says that he’s admitting it means that he can be trusted. He sends Ward to get info from the professor. Ward tries to stab him, the Professor bends the knife in his hand. He’s Asgardian. Go figure. (So… how did some suped up street thugs get the drop on him?)

The Prof. is the Asgardian Warrior who stayed behind. He met a French girl in 1646 which is where he confessed and the myth began. He broke rocks in Asgard. When called to join the army, he was thrilled. But he didn’t get the thrill from the rage the way the others did.

The professor tells Ward that the effects will wear off in a couple decades. Greeeatt. 

The group is close behind as they reach the monastery for the third piece. Ward smacks down the whole room holding two pieces, his brother begging for his life in the back of his head. They’re all bloodied and not moving. Ward is beaten and collapses in the heap. As another enters, he goes to grab for the staff. But May gets there first. She says he needs to let her help. And she smacks down blondie with no issue, she reassembles that staff and sets it down.

Later, Ward asks May how she could stand it. But she “sees it every day.” Unlike Ward who locked his traumatic past away.

At the bar, Skye tries to tell Ward that she’s there for him, she knows he’s not one for talking… blah blah. But it’s not talking he wants. He retreats to his room, he sees May returning and she leaves her door open behind her. 

Great episode. It was just really great. Except we still have no inkling about May’s past after having yet another entry into Ward’s sad sad childhood. (and his brother was drowning in a well? who has a well? Did little Whedon just google “generic sad thing” or what?)

But it was interesting.

Peter MacNicol’s guest appearance and reveal as an Asgardian was rad. 

What will Ward and May’s hook up mean for team morale?

 

Agents of SHIELD- episode 7

Coulson is kidnapped by Russian military, Coulson has a man on the inside, Agent Shaw. “The Calvary” Agent May arrives and starts kicking in faces and they escape to the tundra above. Simmons shoves a probe up Agent Shaw’s nose and recovers the intel. The intel is classified. Level 8 (they’re level 7, remember?) Skye offers to help decrypt it, but they decline and they head to “the Hub” Skye is eager to look for info on her parents. Coulson tries to keep her in line. Of course, that won’t work so they leaves her behind. 

Turns out the intel was on a Russian separatist group, looking to secede who have a device that can send vibrations and trigger any weapon. Expecting Ward and May to be dispatched, Agent Hand (played by Saffron Burrows) requests Fitz. Simmons dotes over him and makes him his favorite sandwich, he tells her not to do anything rash like jump out of an airplane. He even gets sassy with Agent Ward. 

On the drive out, Fitz tells nerdy stories about himself and Simmons to Ward, who is bored (but frankly, these stories are more interesting than Agent Ward). Ward, pretending to be looking for Uri is told that Uri is dead and that he has no friends there by a big man brandishing a gun. 

Coulson is talking with Agent Hand about how his recovery is almost over and that he’s one of Fury’s favorites. 

Ward and Fitz are confronted with a big woman who says Uri knew separatists and that she has no reason to trust the two of them. The power goes out just before a trigger gets pulled.

Skye goes to confront Coulson at the Hub and get more info about the boys’ mission. Coulson keeps it hush hush, she quips: “He’s acting like a robot version of himself right now.” har har more LMD jokes.

Skye tries to convince Simmons that they need to know what’s going on, maybe they can help! “I can’t be part of your bad girl shenanigans!” good girl Simmons exclaims, but she comes around when Skye points out that SHIELD sending in operatives in full gear means that their boys are in trouble, what it Fitz is tortured?!

But he’s not. He’s fixing the power, then he’s served a shot, which he downs with great enthusiasm, earning the trust of the Ruskies. 

Coulson watches Agent May do Tai Chi. She doesn’t let herself be interrupted, but Coulson spills his guts, he doesn’t like keeping the level 8 intel to himself. “Trust the system” he works out on his own.

Skye has Simmons on a secret mission, she’s jazzed about it. But an upper level agent recognizes her.

Meanwhile, Ward and Fitz are on the run hiding in a drain pipe. 

Simmons, unable to talk her way out of anything shoots Agent Sitwell with the stun gun. Skye scolds her and they go get Agent May to bail them out. 

Ward throws away Fitz’s sandwich!!! A buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto sandwich with just a hint of pesto aioli.” He says it is because dogs are tracking them, Fitz scolds back that Ward always has to be the hero and no he’s saved them from the world’s most dangerous sandwich. 

Skye is in a race to search for the boys or info on her biological parents. At the last second she chooses Ward and Fitz. There’s a note, their location. No extraction.

Coulson catches her. “You told me to trust the system. And the system sent Ward and Fitz in there to die.”

Finally! The government is not infallible!

Skye is furious that Coulson has kept this a secret from them. He says that “Someday I might need to trust you with a secret, and I need to know that you can keep it.” She hacked a level 8 server, does she really want to be a SHIELD agent?

Ward and Fitz get to their destination. They find the weapon that makes the vibrations. 

Coulson and Hand have a big blow out about who should have known what and when, who was entitled to it and how many times Coulson designed ops with no extraction. 

Fitz is dismantling the machine, time is running out. Ward tells Fitz to go, that he’ll take care of it. Fitz argues that he is every bit the agent that Ward is. As soon as the machine is disconnected the separatists will know that their security has been breached, but Fitz pulls the plug.

Skye has told Simmons and Agent May about Ward and Fitz and they head out. Coulson decides he is down as well. 

Ward AND Fitz kick some ass and get out.

And find… no one… But then the jet flies overhead:

“Extraction team?”

“Better. The Calvary.” 

Skye was dropped off at the orphanage by a SHIELD agent. Still shrouded in secrecy is why. May vows to help Coulson find out the whole truth for Skye, and for himself. He calls SHIELD and requests a file. About an agent. His recovery took place in Tahiti. He’s declined. Suspicious? oh yeah. But I don’t know why we are still dragging this out when anyone who’s ever seen a comicbook knows Coulson is an LMD. Surprise me, TV. Make it good.

Agent Hand appeared in Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Dark Avengers (I’m a big fan of his, he’s been doing rad stuff with the X-Men), I wonder if she’ll be back! 

Good development for Fitz, I liked him being ore than a quirky nerd and great development for May and Coulson’s friendship as well.