Son of Spam

Welshbloke nailed it on the head.

Vista gaming is on a collision course with XBox Live, Microsoft has already come out and announced this.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/community/gaming.mspx

So all the crybabies out there that think they are isolated from keyboard and mouse gamers, enjoy it while you can. They are coming.

I suspect Microsoft will be offering one of their own branded Keyboard/Mouse control mechanisms (as per GhostDoggy's suggestion) for the 360 (for gaming, not just texting) when the time comes. I don't think they'd turn down an opportunity to make money on a peripheral, whether it makes the playing field uneven or not.

If they made their own, they would be able to flag PC or 360 Kybd users and build that into matchmaking, as warpped655 alluded to above. (ie. "console controller users only" or "include PC & 360 keyboard users")

Reading HBO's summary, I see now that Michael did not kill Bodie, it was another trainee.

As for Michael's (first) kill, they were very coy about Marlo saying who he wanted done. This, along with this show's track record of interacting storylines, I just assumed it was someone we had seen before rather than just a random.

jbou, you are right, people like us shouldn't be watching the show if we can't get everything down the first time. Pleae forgive me. I am can cancelling my order of DVDs from Amazon right now.

Absolutely fantastic. I'm left satisfied, yet I yearn for season 5. This is the way to end a season.

One question, though, Who was Michael's second kill, the one that Chris told him afterwards that he finally "looked him in the eyes"? I'm guessing it had something to do with the storyline, but I couldn't recognize the guy.

I'm going to get the previous seasons' DVDs and slowly spread them out over the next year. Hopefuly that will keep me from withdrawal. :)

Was the "Junior Bunk" reference in the stables a nod to the charatcer on Homicide: Life of the Street? If so, was that the first "story" reference to H:LotS we've seen in the 4 seasons?

They obviously share the same city, creator and several directors & actors, but I never before heard something that would give a clue that both stories shared the same "universe".

Oh, as if there were any doubt left, Omar is officially the biggest bada$$ on TV today.

When does season 5 start? Not soon enough. :)

Late to the game here, but I finally got a chance to watch it a second time and catch anything I missed the first time around.

I thought it was extraordinarily well written and acted (no surprises there), and my only problem would be that I found myself being distracted when watching Bradley Whitford...his tone, his glances... it all screamed "Josh Lyman" to me.

Case in point, the scene where he meets Amanda Peete's character for the first time...take him out of that hotel room and put him in his West Wing office and replace AP with Janel Moloney, I wouldn't have been able to tell what show I was watching. His one double take at one point there was spot-on Josh.

I'm not sure if I am just "over-Joshed" from last year, or if Sorkin actually wanted him to mirror the Josh character, or BW just doesn't have the range in this medium. I hope it's just me and I'll eventually get used to it.

It's not going to stop me from watching it, however, I just hope we eventually see an actual new character here, not just BW playing Josh playing Danny.

Man, I think I just over-Joshed myself by writing this post.

"- Next week's preview: It looks like Ari enlists Terence's help to get Aquaman II back on-track"

I actually interpreted that scene in the preview as..."Terence comes looking for Ari about why he won't be getting paid for Aquaman II & III"

Either way, an intriguing storyline, knowing how they hate each other.

I'll add to the suggestions that Tony's 'wife' sounded much more like Gloria's voice than anyone else's. I looked for Annabella Sciorra's name in the credits but did not see them...I dunno if they credit someone for such a short voice clip in an episode, though.

I really think the "AJ following in Tony's footsteps" thing is way too obvious. I see him trying, but ultimately failing to become a mobster, as he just doesn't have the smarts (see Tony's "IQ" comment at the end of last season.)

I would love to see, upon Tony's death or incarceration at the end of the series, Meadow Soprano take over the family business...they're almost going out of their way to build her up as this smart, strong, independent woman (who doesn't take s**t from anyone, her Dad's doctors, her finace). Hey, why not? Now THAT would be a fun ending. :)

Sad news, but think of it this way: this opens the door for Josh Molina to appear in Sorkin's "Studio 7" next fall. :)

But seriously, there has to be some Toby closure. I'm still going with the 'He took the fall for the president' theory.

Tim Long: "Could it be that perhaps Toby is taking a bullet? Maybe for CJ?" I think so, but not for CJ...look a bit higher. Bartlet's scolding of Toby in the Oval was just an act for Babisch, who insisted that he stay in the room. I base this theory on several points: A) last week's solemn "CJ is in trouble" scene in the Oval between potus & Toby. Since Toby confessed immediately after this, I read it to mean "We're not going to get away with this, it is time to put plan B into effect." B) The repeated focus of the "were you persueded by anyone else in the West Wing to leak this information" line of questioning of Toby by Babisch. How many times did he ask that type of question with Toby saying "No" "No" "No". C) The scene right before Toby was escorted from the building. Babisch: "It was pretty rough in there". This is the writers telling us that either Babisch bought what potus & Toby were selling them...or (maybe) that Babisch did not buy it and was trying to get more information (in that typical Babisch weasel-like way). As you can see, I enjoyed this episode very much, and have been enjoying this entire season. Is the writing as good as seasons 2 or 3? No, of course not...we were spoiled becasue Sorkin was a genius with what he did. That being said, I'm not going to let that kill my enjoyment of the characters and storyline I've invested so much into. It's still 10x better than most other dramas on broadcast TV. Now, I wonder how will they get Donna's charatcer into Garafalo's spot? :)

I agree that the cinematography is fantastic, and I wish I had a hi-def setup to see it, but for me, David Caruso's overly dramatic acting has rendered this show unwatchable to the point of being humorous. He's taken the (CSI-staple) dramatic one-liner and shatner-tized it to the Nth degree. And I'm a big Caruso fan...Season 1 of NYPD blue is probably one of my favorite series seasons of all time because of him, and the first season or two of CSI:M are certainly tolerable. It's just now when I watch scenes with him in it, it's like I'm watching a bad SNL skit...He's become a parody of himself.