racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Those of you who’ve been following my blog for some time now probably know I’m a _Smallville_ fan. I know, it probably sounds corny, but I do dig superhero stuff. And I do appreciate the producers of _Smallville_ have formatted the show such that it grows with its audience (when it first came out, the themes were about adolescent life; now it’s more mature).

Now however, I think I may have grown to be addicted with another television series: Prison Break!

The story basically revolves around how the protagonist gets himself imprisoned in order to break out his brother in death row for a crime he believes the brother is innocent of. And oh, how I love the twists. It’s not your run of the mill escape story. There are bigger things involved. This is a show that geeks would love.

Here’s why I dig _Prison Break_. (Warning: spoiler alerts!)

* The protagonist, Michael Scofield is a very intelligent and well-educated individual. He uses his expertise in structural engineering, keen observation and analytical skills to carry out his plan. He researches well into every detail of his plan, from the prison blueprints, to escape routes, and individuals’ personalities, and is usually able to things off–sometimes due to sheer luck! How’s that for geek supremacy.
* The “bigger things” involved would be the big conspiracy. The first few episodes of the show only imply a frame-up, but boy are the characters in for a surprise when the conspiracy is unraveled to have actually come from the top: the office of the US President itself! And the twists are never-ending. You never know whom to trust.
* It’s a story of *social engineering*! The execution of the prison break (and the succeeding activities like the escape and the retrieval of stashed goods) involved a lot of social engineering.
* It’s also a story of code-breaking. Some messages are sent via code. Actually, a lot. Even the way that the protagonist planned the break-out and escape (tattooed on his entire torso and arms) was in code. In fact, at one point, the characters supposedly used an online forum ( europeangoldfinch.net ) to exchange messages by code.
* There’s no black and white. This isn’t a story about good versus evil. The moral lines are often crossed–it’s difficult to determine what’s good and what’s bad. The main theme, though, is whether the _end_ can justify the _means_.
* Lots of gore (though not too much). Name it: head shots, torture, extremities being cut off. _Prison Break_ has it!
* Prison Break has a collection of interesting characters, including individuals seemingly pre-disposed to crime (like T-Bag), government agents who will kill in cold blood without question just to protect secrets (like Agent Kellerman), and clueless individuals who eventually realize what’s really happening and decide to get ahead with the game. Oh, and there are also those characters you would love to hate (like Agent Kim).
* It’s a story about having to do some nasty things because you don’t have a choice (as with Agent Mahone), or the alternative would hurt those close to you.
* It’s a story about family and families. And it’s not your usual ideal family set-up. Sometimes it’s complicated. Just like in the real world.
* The lighter side–can’t live without it.

Can’t wait to download!

I got hooked since I started watching some episodes of the current season (Season 2) at my in-laws’ place. Now I usually just download episodes off BitTorrent. I know, that’s not actually legal, but the local television airings here are really late (still in the first season, I believe). I’ve actually finished watching the entire second season up to the latest episode so far (season 2, episode 14: John Doe), but I’m still backtracking through the first season.

If you’re interested about episode recaps, Wikipedia has them here. If you’d like to know how (and where) to download episodes, do give me a buzz and I’ll be glad to help out. I’ll probably also be writing episode reviews and recaps here once in a while.

This week, we take a trip down memory lane, and we visit Lex Luthor’s past, and here we see the reason behind the enmity between Lex and Oliver Queen.

I just finished watching Episode 4 of Smallville Season 6. Arrow is, IMHO, one of the more exciting Smallville episodes because it doesn’t deal with a meteor FOTW (freak of the week), and because it tries to explore the beginnings of what would be the future Justice League (sneak peeks were also shown when Aquaman and the Flash guested in earlier seasons).

This time, the guest hero is Oliver Queen, a.k.a. the Green Arrow. Oliver Queen’s character will be around for quite some time in this season as I’m looking forward to more action. Guys will love Ollie’s gadgets and vehicles, while girls will, well, probably love Justin Hartley.

In this episode, we get to see Clark’s first encounter with a Phantom Zone escapee (aside from Zod, that is). Yes, all 5 milliseconds of it. If you’re dying to see Chloe and Jimmy make out (finally, no more wishy-washy-over-Clark moments), the tension between Clark, Chloe and Jimmy (love triangle?) or Justin Hartley’s abs, then do watch this episode.

I was able to find YouTube uploads of Smallville’s Season 6 Premiere, Zod. Episode 2, Sneeze, wasn’t available on YouTube yet, though since it just came out last Thursday on the CW network. I hear Studio 23 probably won’t be showing it here in the Philippines until a few months after.

The solution: BitTorrent.

In this episode, Clark catches a cold, probably from his vulnerability in the Phantom Zone (where Zod sent him in the Season 5 Finalé) and exposure to Kryptonian viruses (Yes, Superman is vulnerable to Kryptonian sickness and Kryptonian weapons). While trying to help out with reconstruction efforts in Metropolis, he kind of runs out of super-speed and super-powers. And, of course there’s the super sneeze, from which he learns (with the help of Chloe) that he can use his super breath to blow the hell out of things.

Some Screencaps

Lex is abducted by people wanting to learn his secret of super-strength. “An alien from another dimension possessed me!”

Clark uses his super breath to blow a hole in the wall. “Gezundheit.”

Where To Get It

You can download the episode’s torrent here, and load it up on your Torrent client, which will download bits and pieces of the 370+ Megabyte DivX AVI file from various seeders around the world. If you don’t have a BitTorrent client, download Azureus here. Windoze, OS X and Linux versions are available.