Heroes Season 3

After last year's writer's strike we find ourselves with a new chapter of Heroes, and hope that we'll get to see a full season this time around. The Premier last week threw out some major plot twists, but is it all just hype to renew interest in a show that left many fans disappointed? That's a very interesting question.

For those of you who missed out on the episodes, feel free to head over to NBC.com to watch any shows you may have missed. This review may contain spoilers.

Changes, changes. The world is full of twists and turns, but apparently not as many as Heroes. I realize they need to reinvigorate and renew interest in the series after the shambles that was last season, but some of these plot twists are a bit much.

Dr. Suresh is showing all the signs of turning into a real super-villain. Will his experiment to give himself superpowers backfire him and leave him tainted and angry at the world? From the preview of next week's episode, it looks as if Future Peter is going to be quick to notice that almost EVERYONE has a power. I find this twist very interesting, but the execution doesn't seem quite right. How did going back in time change things so that this happened when it wouldn't have in the first place? So far there has been no interaction with Suresh, or lack thereof, that would seem to indicate that there was a clear crossroads in time.

Niki Sanders is dead, or is she? Yep, she's dead. But have no fear... Ali Larter is here! Wait, what? It would be one thing to resurrect Niki, we never actually saw her die. But to have the actress who played her now playing another character, who might be a genetically engineered twin... well, it's a bit much, isn't it? We'll have to see how this plays out. So far, everything seems to be pointing to people getting powers who never had them, and people with them playing with others or taking on traits of other heroes.

Examples:

Hiro is now acting completely foolish and Ando is being sensible. Is this a surprise? Not really, I guess. Apparently Hiro can stop time but he can't take the time to have a simple conversation. You would have thought he'd have learned his lesson from last season when he tried to kill Adam and instead of explaining the situation to Peter while the rest of the world was frozen, he didn't explain and got his butt kicked. Seriously, Hiro used to be my favorite character.

Claire has lost the ability to feel pain. Now she's out for revenge. We've seen clips of her in the future, still trying to be a bad mamma-jamma and failing. So much for "Save the cheerleader, save the world..." Stop trying so hard, eh?

Mrs. Petrelli says, "Sylar" *breathe in* *breathe out* "I am your mother."
Uh, are you kidding me? Seriously, it's about time to 'throw momma from the train' - it's not that I don't like the woman playing the character, or even the character herself. It's just that Mrs. Petrelli is the biggest writer's crutch for this show. If ever there is a super cheesy plot twist, she's generally afoot. Stop it or kill her off, I say.

Speaking of Sylar, he's working for the company now. With HRG himself, no less. Oh don't worry, Claire's adoptive dad doesn't intend to let him get away with what he's done to his little angel... What does that mean? Nothing for a long time to come. People love Sylar, but they also love HRG. "Sylar gone good" is just another gimmick to keep him in the game.

Parkman is in Africa. He's met another Hero who can paint the future, wait... scratch that, can paint HIS future. Uhh, okay. Not only that though, at the end of the last episode, guess who took up the finger paints? I'm not sure why I don't like Parkman as a character, maybe it's because he's always so... I don't know.

Nathan Petrelli isn't dead. And the man who shot him wasn't working with his mother as last season would have us believe. Nope, it was none other than Future Peter. Because apparently showing up a few minutes before the news conference to say, "Hey bro, don't tell the world you've got powers because bad stuff happens" was out of the question? But that's not all. Nathan is seeing Linderman. Did I mention that he's the only one seeing him? What's with the apparition? Is Nathan losing his mind or are we dealing with something else entirely? Only time will tell.

I really do like this show. There are a few things that bother me from time to time. I hate unnatural character progression for the sake of hype, but I'll deal with it for now. At least the show didn't go off the air after last year's early end. Unless it starts getting that sloppy, my family and I will tune in every Monday.

Posting from Colorado

Oh yes, how good it feels to be back. How have the rest of you been doing? It’s been so long since I’ve gotten a good post in. I haven’t just been hibernating, though. I’ve been out having minor adventures with the wife and kids here and there and I’ve been taking some pictures to prove it. I’m looking forward to sharing these experiences with you as well. It’s been nice to get out of the house and rest a bit to recharge the batteries after such a turbulent summer.

This week finds me in the quiet town of Fleming, Colorado where I’ve been sent to personally update the software on a server. Normally this process is all done remotely and this is actually the first time I’ve ever had to travel outside of training for this position. It’s been interesting though. The flight to Denver was a short one aboard a prop job (jet with propellers) next to a scruffy guy with motorcycle helmet with a personality to match the scruffy whiskers that composed his 5 o’ clock shadow. From there it wasn’t exactly a hop, skip, and a jump to the rental car lot. Instead, it was an escalator, a train, and a bus ride, but I eventually made it.

Determined to avoid paying the 6 bucks to drive on the toll road, I set up my laptop and GPS receiver and pulled out of the lot. I then drove a few circles around the exits I needed to take as I bounced from one freeway to the next on my loopty-loop journey that eventually headed eastward. With Denver soon in my rear-view mirror I breathed a sigh of relief, at last it felt as if the real journey had begun. Two hours and several bug casualties on the windshield later I left Interstate 76 at the Sterling exit, relieved that the Comfort Inn was so close.

The locals are very friendly and easy to work with and I’m happy to report that the trip has been uneventful thus far. I will, of course, be post-dating this entry to my blog, as I don’t really want to let the world know that I’m not home right now. I hope to present some videos and pictures I’ve taken once I get back into the swing of things.

Brady Frost is not dead yet!

Hey folks! I'm still around! Many of you who have been following this blog over the past little while know that this summer was a rough one for me as far as work goes and my sleep tank has been running on fumes for quite some time. Don't worry! I've got some posts coming up this week, you haven't heard the last from me!

For those of you who read "The Boy in the Window", I found out last week that it did not win any awards in the Writers of the Future short story contest. I still think it is a short story that I can be proud of, I'm just not sure it fit into the Science Fiction / Fantasy classification as well as the judges may have wanted. That said, I will be looking to find it a home in print.

Writing Short Stories

Sometimes I find myself questioning why I bother writing short stories when I see myself as more of an aspiring novel writer. The answer to that question is a simple one: I'm afraid.

I'm not scared of the time required to write a novel. I'm not scared of the words or even of my sustainable commitment level. Mostly I'm afraid that I just don't have the experience to pull it all together at the quality level I've come to expect from my writing. To gain that experience I've set upon the task of writing short stories that are more than just tales of going from one place to another and dealing with difficulties along the way. I have tried to write stories that say something without preaching, that show the subtle lessons of life that are there for the taking.

I've always been a fan of, and infatuated with, the idea of symbolism. Even as a child, upon first learning the word, I thought it was interesting that you might say one thing but reveal much more somehow. Of course, my first attempts at symbolism were quite unsophisticated. I am actually quite pleased with my ability to write stories that mean something more than what they are at face value. In that, I would suppose I've gotten better at symbolism over the years. But there are many other lessons to learn.

I used to have a very large fear of dialogue. How much was too little? When did you have too much? How much of the story could be told through conversations and how much must remain in the realm of narration? How many different ways did "he said" have to be used to provide the necessary variety? I'm proud to say that these questions no longer stop me from writing where I once was mortified. By writing shorter stories I can experiment and hone in on what works and what doesn't.

I've also learned a great deal about pacing and story conclusion through writing short stories. I know there is still much more to learn, and I also realize that this is all just a precursor to the even greater lessons associated with novel writing, but I am happy with my progress so far. For now I have decided to enter a few writing contests and I will likely start pressing for publication in literary markets in the coming months. I can only hope that with these efforts will come additional credentials to add to my resume and that these credentials may help me sell my first novel.

I suppose the only unfortunate side effect of how much I think about writing is how much I analyze the writing of the books I read. This habit of critical reading, however, has increased my ability to find a lot of the problems I may otherwise miss within my own writing. How is that bad on any level? Well, for one it can be difficult to appreciate a story for what it is rather than for the writing itself, but I suppose if it makes me a better writer I'll just have to take it. And as long as there are people who enjoy my short stories, I'll continue to try to share them.

Creative Writing Prompt: