Steven Helmer Publications

Here are some random thoughts I had after re-watching Star Wars for what was probably the thousandth time: What was the point of lying to Luke? I get keeping secrets when Luke ( Mark Hamill ) was a child but a warning about who his father was would have had him much better prepared and at very least, would have helped him understand why his Uncle Owen (Phil Brown) was so reluctant to let him leave. Are runaway droids a problem on Tatooine? The Jawa's main source of income comes from re-selling unclaimed droids which is only a good business model if there are a lot of them just wandering the desert. Not to mention the decision to put restraining bolts on them to keep them under control. Are they sentient enough to realize they are being used as slaves and seek freedom at every opportunity? Overall, Princess Leia takes the destruction of her home planet and the loss of her family surprisingly well. Did Leia ( Carrie Fisher ) even take the time to mourn them after the Death Star was ...

  I walked out behind my office building to take some trash to the dumpster in between storms and there was a pair of sandhill cranes walking over by the train tracks. It's not the first time I've seen them behind the office, but it also isn't a common thing. It's been at least a couple years. I just wish it wasn't so dark out because it was very hard to get a good photo with my camera while staying far enough away to avoid scaring them.

Synopsis : Stuart ( Kevin Sussman ) and his friends arrive in a universe where everyone can read each other's minds.  After learning the device is missing a piece in the previous universe, they attempt to retrieve it from Cal Tech and make an unexpected discovery. My Thoughts: The whole mind reading thing has been done before but this might have been one of the most realistic takes on that. I loved how the characters "heard" both thoughts that were relevant to the plot along with various other thoughts that popped into their minds because that is the kind of thing I would expect had I had the ability the read thoughts. I also liked how it didn't cause unnecessary drama. That would be the usual expectation with something like this, someone hearing a thought, taking an offense to it and things spiraling out of control. The episodes on this series are already trying to cram a lot into a very short amount of time and something like that would have bogged things down too m...

Synopsis: After witnessing the effects of nuclear weapons while in the military, Captain John Ramsey has spent years preparing for nuclear war and those preparations help him and his daughter, Joanna survive when it breaks out and destroys the rest of the world. When others arrive at his door, John wants to turn them away, but Joanna insists on giving them shelter despite a limited food supply. It doesn't take long for them to face challenges, both from within and from the meat-eating mutated survivors that are running out of fresh game and will soon hunt them. Who's in it? The movie stars Neil Fletcher, Paul Petersen, Quinn O'Hara , Charla Doherty and Hugh Feagin. Review: I had wanted to watch a murder mystery this morning but, unable to find one that looked interesting and running out of time, I instead chose In the Year 2889 , which had been on my watch list for several weeks. I wasn't completely sure what to expect from it, but it turned out to be an OK choice. T...

Synopsis: No longer obsessed with James Lacey and determined to end another obsession, Agatha Raisin goes on vacation to avoid Christmas. The vacation is a disaster and when she returns early, she learns Health and Safety Board member John Saturday has done the job for her by banning Christmas decorations, among other things, for safety concerns.  When Saturday is murdered outside a church meeting in nearby Odley Cruesis, there are many suspects. However, the police make the wealthy widow Miriam Courtney their primary person of interest and she, in turn, hires Agatha's detective agency to clear her name. Things become even more complicated when Agatha's employer is also murdered and one of her closest friends is attacked and hospitalized. Review: I was unimpressed with the last Agatha Raisin mystery I read but have reached a point where I'm too far into the series to just give up on it because I didn't enjoy one book. So, I ended up checking out Busy Body from my lib...

My wife and daughter recently finished watching season 4 of America's Next Top Model with me in the room (mostly reading a book but still paying some attention). Here are some of my thoughts: I'm not a big fan of the mass elimination to start the show. The biggest problem with it is there's no real opportunity to get invested in any of the contestants enough to care. Plus, are the judges really getting that much more information about the young women than they already have from try-out videos and previous off-camera interviews? The show's travel budget seemed to be less this season. The contestants still travel internationally (more on that in a minute) but stayed in Los Angeles rather than flying to New York and, unlike season 3, weren't flown to Jamaica for one photoshoot. The makeover episode was early. In fact, having the makeovers in the second episode might have been too early. We weren't even given a chance to get to know them with their old looks. Speaki...