Shmee.Me

May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

Join Shmee for the Tron Uprising!

Tron: Uprising was a show on Disney XD for the Summer of 2012, and it has since landed on Netflix. Since I love all things Tron I had to try it out and watch it, and I am glad I did since it may be the best entry into the Tron franchise.

The show is about a young program named Beck (Elijah Wood) trying to lead a revolution by taking Tron’s name against the local occupation while being instructed by Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) himself. He has good friends to help him along the way Mara (Mandy Moore) and Zed (Nathan Corddry), and some other old Tron characters may show up along the way. This series serves as a way to bridge the gap between Tron and Tron: Legacy.

Elijah Wood’s performance nails the young program trying to be more then he is, and anything with the real Tron Bruce Boxleitner in it is awesome. The rest of the cast do their jobs well, but the show really hinges on Tron and Beck, so it is good that they cast them so well.

The look they created for the show is great. They took the aesthetic from Tron: Legacy and then stylized it even more, so the show is full of deep blacks with cool neon accents. There is a ton of action in this show with Disc fights, and light cycle/jet/ATV chases, and it seems like they have a new way to frame it every time so it doesn’t get old.

I really like this show, so it stands to reason that its future is uncertain. It did not get the viewership ratings to justify a second season, but Disney knows it has a good thing going so they haven’t officially canceled it, and they are looking for somewhere else to put it, but even if it does get canceled at least we got these nineteen episodes.

May 27, 2013

The Return of Arrested Development!

After a long hiatus the Bluths are back on TV, well the internet anyway since their show is now on Netflix. Did the show manage to recapture the humor and wit of the show’s original run? I think it did.

The Bluth’s have all gone their separate ways after the events of the third season, and they are all now trying to put their own lives back together. Each character has their own episode or two explaining what they have been up too, and all the shows take place during roughly the same time period, and explains how they end up on a pier for a party known as Quattro de Cinco, and as the different stories intertwine it shows how different seemingly random things that happen each character are caused by a different character.

It is good to see all the characters back and being the losers we have all come to know and love. They are all still funny, and now that they are pretty much fending for themselves they are having a hard time navigating life. The actors have their roles down pat, so there is no need to worry that they changed anyone.

The writers did not seem to skip a beat. They throw so much funny stuff at you it is impossible not to laugh at the family. They also managed to work in almost every side character from the show in to this new series somehow.

So if you have not watched it yet, I would recommend that you do. It is a lot of fun, and I hope the Netflix picks up the fifth season.

May 26, 2013September 9, 2013

Happy Arrested Development Day!

Happy Arrested Development Day! Just in case you aren’t aware this is the day that the new season of Arrested Development comes out! If you don’t know what Arrested Development is than lucky for you it is free and streaming on Netflix! I recommend it. It is a very funny show. It is about man (Jason Bateman) who must try and save his formerly rich and very corrupt family from living on the streets, and he is mostly successful.

May 18, 2013

What Type of TV Should You Buy?

There are a lot of TV choices to choose from, and people have asked me what type of TV they should buy so here is my handy guide.

LCD

People seem to think there is a difference between LCD and LED, but the only difference is that LED adds a backlight to give you a better contrast ratio, and make it easier to view in light rooms, but as far as picture quality goes there isn’t a difference for the most part, so if you have a dark room and there is a good deal on a LCD it is not a bad choice. These make great monitors because you are up close to them and you do not need the back light, but the sharp pixels mean you get great font display.

Edge Lit LED

Edge lit LED is just as it sounds. It shoots the light from the sides of the TV to brighten it. What is nice about edge lit is that it makes the TV much thinner, but what you have to look out for is the ‘halo’ effect. If you are watching dark films or TV it can sometimes look like there is ring around your TV, but that is just the back light beaming in and not being uniform. Gamers like LEDs because they have sharp pixels, but since they are further back from them they like the brighter screen.

Back/Grid Lit LED

Back Lit and Grid Lit are the same thing, and they shoot the light from the back of the TV to give you a more uniform light and color, so that is better, but your TV will be thicker to provide the space for the lights.

Plasma

Plasma has made a comeback in the last couple of years, and that is because you get the best true picture out of a plasma, and they also don’t have the ‘soap opera effect’ where it makes you movies look a little too real. That is because of the way that they make their pixels, but they usually have glass screens so they have refection issues, and they are not as bright as an LED so the room needs to be a little darker. For the same reason they do not have the ‘soap opera effect’ is also the same reason they do not make good monitors, since the pixels are not as sharp.

3D/4K/UHD

For now, I would say that 3D is a gimmick and only get it if your TV comes with it. Do not seek it out. The same goes for 4K/UHD. The extra resolution is great but there is nothing made for the 4K spec to watch.

So What to Buy

It depends on what you want. Are you going to hook your computer up to it and use it as a monitor? Probably an LCD. You going to play a lot of video games? Probably an LED, but I would get a back lit one. You want the best picture for your movies and sports? Probably a Plasma, but all TVs have gotten much better so usually you will get one and be happy with it.

May 2, 2013

Should You Subscribe to Funimation?

I was finding the anime selection on Netflix and Amazon lacking, so I decided to try the one month free trial to Funimation a large anime distributor, and after a month I can tell you that this is one of the worst streaming services out there.

When I went on the site it did look like they had a lot content with some shows I had never seen before, and your supposed to be able to watch it in its native language with subtitles or dubbed in English even as it comes out in Japan, but the problem is that the site is so slow you can’t really watch any of it. It is all stuttery, and the site is super slow to even search the site for shows to watch in the first place.

I love the idea of a good anime streaming service, but Funimation is not it. I hope they can figure it out, and maybe I will try it out again later after they have worked on their service a bit, but for now no one should use their service.