Audrey Parker is an FBI agent who is sent after a wanted man and she tracks him down to the town of Haven. When part of the road gives way on the coast, she is rescued from her car by Nathan Wuornos, a detective in the police department and someone who is “troubled” (has a special ability) where he can’t feel pain, which as some upsides and downsides. Audrey quickly figures out that there’s a lot of “troubled” people in the town and she figures out that she can help them. Not only that, with being adopted, the two journalists in the small town show her a picture of someone who looks like her mother. She decides to use some of the vacation time that she’s saved up and spend some time in Haven, helping out the police department and see what she can find out about her mother, and that might be what Agent Howard, her superior, really wanted to happen.

That, by the way, is basically the synopsis of the first episode of a five season show and it doesn’t change massively as time goes on. The first couple of seasons are a bit more episodic, but eventually you start to get bigger story arcs as Audrey, Nathan, and Duke (who is introduced in episode one as well), keep having to solve the problems and deal with the troubles. And the troubles can get out there, there’s someone who basically put their soul into the work on their house and keeping their family safe that they took control over their own house and use the mirrors to see, which is pretty horrifying. Or there’s someone with whatever they touch in with their hands, it causes it to explode. Or time travel or mermen. There are so many, and it’s almost one per episode, though we do get to go back and visit. And while we get that, they spend more time building up Audrey Parker’s past and delve into the mystery surrounding her mother and an unexplained Colorado Kid mystery. In the end, I think that they tie it up quite well, though, it ends differently than I would have expected, but it ends smartly. They are given time to wrap up the mystery and complete the full story which is really nice.

Now for a downside of the show, I think that some of the special affects haven’t aged the best, and that’s kind of to be expected. While this show had a solid budget in terms of what they were able to pull of it was still early 2010’s and that’s going to look dated now. I just kind of expect that because some of the other shows I really like from the SyFy channel has the same issue, Eureka and Warehouse 13. Another thing is the early season storytelling, I think that they have a few arcs that are being set-up that would have had great long term potential, and then they rush through them in a couple of episodes. Some of that was the product of the time, and some of that was just poorer storytelling. The issue with the storytelling like that is that you feel like you lose the payoff, but in the early 2010’s, the larger story arcs were generally secondary.

Finally, as a downside and an upside, I want to talk about the acting in this show. I would say that the acting is okay for the show. I don’t think that it’s bad and I don’t think that it’s great. With Audrey, Nathan, and Duke, though, it ends up being good on screen chemistry, it just takes a bit to get there. The early episodes, in fact I’d say through a good chunk of season 1, the acting is quite rough. Now there are some characters, Vince and Dave, the journalist brothers, played by Richard Donat and John Dunsworth who are great from the start. Eventually the acting does get better and I think that’s mainly as the chemistry on screen gets better. Plus, it’s a show where Edge and Christian from the WWE are both in it, and Edge (Aaron Copeland) playing Dwight Hendrickson actually has a big role in the show and does really well with his acting. There are other professional wrestlers who have acted, but he’s one of the best that I’ve seen besides the ones who have gone to Hollywood, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena.

So, who is this show for? I think that’s a good question, I think that the supernatural element is going to keep some people a way as it dabbles in dimensions, time travel, ghosts, and so much more that would give away a lot of the plot if I continue down that route. I would say that it probably would make sense for fans of Supernatural but maybe aligns itself closer with Locke & Key in terms of feel. Also fans of Eureka and Warehouse 13, while it’s kind of in a different genre, it definitely has some similar feel to those shows.

Overall, I really like this show. I think it suffers a tiny bit from Stephen King syndrome where the ending is a little bit out there, but they build towards that well. There are also some story elements that are just dropped in an odd way, but overall, it’s good. And I think some shows like this, Supernatural, suffer from having the world ending event at the end of every season that needs to be stopped, Haven does a good job of building up the stakes for the seasons as time goes on.

Is this a show that you watched when it came out or one that interests you now? If you’ve seen it, did you enjoy it?

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GenCon 2020 – I don’t know for sure that I can go yet, because it’s not that cheap, but it’s one of those things, that after being there once, I want to make it a priority for myself. I had so much fun in 2019, and it’s something where I can stay on the pulse of board games. There are other conventions like Essen Spiel that would be awesome to go as well, but that would be even trickier to make it, so GenCon, I hope to come back next year.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – It’s Panem, and I’m interested in going back there to see what it’s like 64 years before. Now, it’s not high on my reading list, that’ll be the next book that shows up, but I’m curious. I enjoyed the book series, and I saw one of the movies, but I enjoyed it and thought it was quite interesting, so how has it gone to hell again?

Peace Talks – Here’s by far my most anticipated book, probably ever. There was one of the Stormlight Arhives books was up there, but a new Dresden Files book, I am ready. I’m so ready for this story, the epic story that Jim Butcher has crafted thus far has been great and I really want more of it. It’s just so interesting and well crafted at this point.

Psyonics – This one is D&D related, I don’t know what form it will take, but I think that we’ll get some sort of book that gives us some more class options and one of those things will be psionics. What I don’t know, since there have been two different ways of handling it in the D&D playtest material, will it be its own class or will it be options for other classes? Either way, since I’ve only played fifth edition, I haven’t played with psionics before, so I’m curious.

The Royal Rumble – Yes, I am a wrestling fan. It’s soap opera and I don’t care. And the premiere pay-per-view, for me is the Royal Rumble and it’s not even close. I think the WWE might see Wrestlemania as the biggest thing, but the rumble is the most entertaining. There are generally surprise entrants or returns for the rumble and there are a few I could see happening this year. So I can put this on my general list for every year, but I’m always excited for it.

Xbox/Playstation New Consoles – So, I just got a Playstation 4. And soon that’ll be an old system, but I can play two games that I’ve really wanted to play now, so that’s all good by me. With that, there are new consoles coming out and they don’t go under the video game category. I’m excited for them, because I want to know how much better they are, and then with that, I’ll get them in 2022 most likely.

The NFL Draft – Another not so normal thing, but I geek out over the NFL draft, I’ve been on a forum for 12-13 years now about the NFL draft. I moderate the section about mock drafts. It’s something that I like every year, because it’s something where every team gets better, so people feel pretty good coming out of it, but it’s also interesting to see who might make an impact. Not the normal thing that I write about, but it’s 100% something that I nerd out about every year.

I’m sure I’m missing something from this list. I don’t know enough about the animes that are coming out to make an informed comment on them, especially with my self imposed rule of it having to be new. But there are a lot of second seasons that I want to check out.

Are there some things, cons, books, anime or otherwise that you are already looking forward to?

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Synopsis: The Dresden Files are a series that follow around Harry Dresden as he deals with many crazy supernatural things in Chicago. There is a big overarching story that I won’t go too much into because that would be spoilers. But he works with the police to solve these crimes and mysteries. It also helps to know that Harry is a Wizard.

Let’s meet the main characters:

Harry Dresden – The aforementioned wizard, Harry is a tall man who diffuses his own stress with his own special brand of humor, which normally just gets him into more trouble. He’s not a built person, but is lanky and has good functional strength.

Karrin Murphy – Small spitfire of a police officer. She’s had to be patient as she has worked her way up in the Chicago PD, but she has made her way up. She’s athletic and doesn’t put up his Harry’s crap or anyone’s crap, but is still a very caring person.

Susan Rodriguez – A reporter who is pretty and also investigates the paranormal or supernatural. She’s onto the fact that Harry might actually be what he says and hounds him for information.

Bob – A talking skull that is a wealth of knowledge that is in Harry’s possession. Also a quite pervy spirit who inhabits the skull.

Michael Carpenter – A large strong man with a large family. He is a man of faith who is very even keeled but not afraid to step into a situation, help Harry out and make a difference when evil is threatening Chicago or anywhere in the world.

Waldo Butters – A small coroner who knows some about the supernatural. He also really loves polka and can’t stand injury, though has no problem working on a corpse.

“Gentleman” Johnny Marconne – A mobster who runs basically all the organized crime in Chicago. He helps out Harry at times and gets in Harry’s way at other times, depending on what is most useful for him.

Ebenezar McCoy – Harry’s mentor, teacher, and friend. Took Harry in when his first teacher went evil. He’s an old wizard with a ton of power and very respected. Also part of the White Council which oversees the wizarding community.

There are really a plethora more characters who could make sense to talk about and cast, but this is limited spoilers as well and does focus on a lot of reoccurring characters throughout the series.

So who would I want to play them?

Harry Dresden – Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis, who plays Lucifer in Lucifer, is sufficiently tall. He also has that long frame, that comes with height, but isn’t too built. He’s very polished looking as Lucifer, but if his hair was a bit longer and messier and, like Harry, had a beat up look about him most of the time, I think that he’d make a good Harry Dresden.

Karen Murphy – Maggie Lawson
I really only know Maggie Lawson from watching Psych. But in that show she’s very much a character who has to put up with Shawn’s crap as a fake psychic detective. The only thing I wonder about is if she can be as grouchy as Murphy is sometimes. But Lawson can definitely play a character who is caring.

Susan Rodriguez – Melissa Fumero
We’ve seen her in a comedy in Brooklyn 99, and while Susan isn’t the most comedic role, I think that Fumero would have the acting chops to pull it off. What I think works really well with her is that she’s an intense character in Brooklyn 99 who is always needing to do the best, I think that Susan possesses a lot of those similar qualities.

Bob – Paul Bettany
He’s the first person I thought off. He does a good job as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision in the Marvel movies, but I think it’s more his Knight’s Tale Chaucer that he could channel into Bob, this spirit who has been around for so long but also has this surprisingly pervy human side.

Michael Carpenter – Adam Copeland
You’re more apt to know him as Edge from WWE. So clearly you have someone who is going to have a larger build. Edge, though, just has a very friendly looking face and with a few beard hairs turning grey, he would make a really believable family man who is also strong and tough.

Waldo Butters – Elijah Woods
Frodo as an eccentric coroner? That doesn’t make a ton of sense, but the actor who was in Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency, that makes perfect sense. Woods has shown that he’s up for those odd roles and has done a very good job with them. I think he’d make a lot of sense continue in those odd roles as the worried and polka loving Waldo Butters.

“Gentleman” Johnny Marconne – Ben Mendelsohn
You might know him as Sorrento in Ready Player One or Orson Krennic in Star Wars: Rogue One. He’s done a good job of playing those skeezy bad guys before who are slick. Marconne definitely has that feel and while I would think of Marconne being a bit younger personally, I think that Mendelsohn’s acting shows that he could deal with the role very well.

Ebenezar McCoy – Brendan Gleeson
Older, bigger, and still tough as nails. Gleeson fits that quite well I’d think. I’m not extremely familiar with Gleeson’s work, but if you’re not making McCoy quite as crazy white haired as he has been in my brain, just older and tough as nails, Gleeson fits that to a tee.

There are so many more characters to cast, and I really want to go through and figure out all of them, but that would be semi-spoiler heavy to describe who the characters are. So instead, I’ll hold off on those and maybe do another post to talk about them, just be warned there would be spoilers.

So what do you think of my casting, who would you cast in their place if you disagree?

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Why would you watch wrestling, it’s fake?

That’s probably the most common question about why people would watch wrestling. Yes, it is fake, but it’s the absurd silly story telling and action that make it fun. I enjoy it because of it’s absurdity and because with the action they can actually weave a story that kind of makes sense. It is intense, pulse pumping, action with sections of cringe inducing chunks of dialog and sometimes really awesome dialog.

Why is it Nerdy (or is it even)?

It’s so much like kind of watching someone play a game of Fiasco. It’s insane storytelling, it’s something that you can speculate about. And most nerdy things are stuff that people get very invested into, try and figure out what is going on and what is going to happen. It’s like watching a low level play or movie that unfolds with a whole lot more action, and both of those things can be nerdy things that people can invest themselves in. For those reasons, it’s definitely something that is nerdy or geeky or however you want to put it.

So how do you get started watching it?

That’s a great question. For me, it was seeing some pro wrestling in high school that was on the TV and then watching some in college. But it wasn’t until recently (about August) that I really got back into it again. But how would I recommend starting to watch it? Watch it with someone who is already watching it. There are always story lines that are going on, so there isn’t a great spot to just jump in and get all new stories. Maybe you don’t have someone you can watch it with as everyone else thinks it is dumb (don’t let those people dissuade you if you want to watch it), then you just kind of have to jump into it. I would probably start with watching Smackdown on Tuesdays. It’s a shorter show than RAW the Monday show, and that means it moves faster, has less filler, and has less stories to learn about. The announcers and the production does a good job of touching on the stories that have been told and are being told so that it gets a mini-recap each week.

Who are some of the wrestlers that you need to know or cheer for?

There is no correct answer for that. But here are some of the big names: Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho, Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks, New Day, Enzo and Big Cass are all on RAW. For Smackdown there is AJ Styles, John Cena, Dean Ambrose, The Miz (and he is awwwwwwwesome), Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, The Wyatt Family, Randy Orton. There are legends like The Undertaker, Goldberg, and Brock Lesnar as well. But everyone really picks who they like to watch and who they really enjoy. There is no right or wrong answer and even the people who most people don’t like Roman Reigns there are still people who like him. So spend some time and find who you like and who you don’t.

How do you talk about it?

There’s a reason for this, there is a little vocabulary that you might want to know:

Face/Heel: A face is someone who the crowd is supposed to like, they are the good guy who doesn’t cheat when the wrestle. A heel is someone you aren’t supposed to like. They are a jerk to people, they cheat to win, if they have a title belt, they keep it by questionable means.

Work/Shoot: So, this deals with the promos that the wrestlers do. A work is a semi-scripted to fully scripted series of lines that they deliver. A shoot is not scripted, that’s when two or more wrestlers are giving a promo without a script. The shoots tend to be more interesting, but what the WWE really wants to do is have a work feel like a shoot.

Kayfabe: This is a term that isn’t used all that much anymore, but back when the internet was barely a thing, they really wanted people to believe that it was real, so they would spend all the time and effort trying to get people to think that fake injuries were real, that the wrestlers really did hate each other all the time. It’s not really a thing anymore, people like John Cena does a lot of charity work, he’s in movies, and on television talking about wrestling and promoting it even when he isn’t supposed to be around. Now the story line elements just stay with that.

Then there are all sorts of moves that you’ll learn about eventually.

So why write it now, because it’s the Royal Rumble. It’s the second biggest pay per view event of the year, so it was the right time to talk about it. The Royal Rumble is one of the most fun events of the year if not the most. So if you are wondering about pro wrestling, it’s a great time to start.

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