Best and Worst Television Show 2015

Television in 2015 was filled with brilliant and not-so-great moments. I'm truly surprised by how many fandoms I was apart of since I didn't consider myself that much of a tv hog. Categories & winners for the absolute worst, personal favorites, and best from the series I watched have been compiled below. There are plenty of spoilers ahead for the following shows: Doctor Who, Once Upon A Time, The X-Files, Scandal, The Strain, The Walking Dead - to say the least. Please proceed with caution, and I hope you enjoy!

X-Files Xtras: Thoughts On Season 7

Coming off the heels of my favorite season for The X-Files, where would the show would go next? Judging by fans' disapproval and critics' judgement of the series' inability to answer so many questions, the future as I knew it was crashing pretty hard and fast. Though everyone at the time of season sevens' airing called this the weakest one, I disagree. Season seven is not entirely unsatisfying, but it doesn't hide cracks and faults we previously overlooked either.

For one, the writers' plot themselves into a black hole. This was a given because a lot of episodes surrounding the agent's mysteries were 'solved' but not necessarily answered - we were always presented an idea of the supernatural or paranormal, and like Mulder and Scully left to believe what we felt was the truth. But as shared in past X-Files Xtras, a lot of the material for individual stand-alone episodes are recycled phenomena. Taking opportunities to expand Mulder and Scully's arcs, the writers opened more cans of worms than they had the time to close them.

Out of This World Adorable Star Wars Posters and Artwork

Jozef Kyselica / Ricardo Polo

More than any other movie in our galaxy the Star Wars series has inspired artwork from its legions of fans. Search anywhere on the world wide web and you'll discover hundreds of thousands original posters, sketches, illustrations. In celebration of the highly-anticipated release for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I've collected some adorable and out of this world artwork. I hope you enjoy!

Kindred Spirit Guide: Bridget Jones

Are you looking to find your spirit animal? To help you define your pop culture spirit animal, I've matched traits of personality, humor, and even sex to famous and favorite movie and tv characters. Here is my latest guide with iconic British literature and film character: Bridget Jones.

Your Special Totem: A diary, in which you write what you mean when your write..but then you don't mean what your wrote. Eh, we all know diaries are full of crap anyways.

In Your Circle You're Famous For: Verbal diarrhea.

Your Life Motto: It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.

Personality: There are elements about the ridiculous with you like not being well-gifted at public speaking. Despite what self-consciousness makes you feel like, you're not an idiot. Every year you start out wholly and beautifully optimistic to make changes and empower yourself...then somewhere along the way you let the world be harsh to you.

The Martian (2015) brings humanity out of lifelessness

Photo Credit: The Martian / 20th Century Fox

When I saw The Martian's trailer I was reminded of how wildly popular Andrew Weir's book was. Its cover of an astronaut whirling in red smog was ingrained in my mind because it consistently popped up on GoodReads account. The other thought I had was if I would be able to sit through 2 hours of Matt Damon. He's not a particularly unlikable celeb for me, but my family can't stand his movies or off-screen personality. Their intense dread made me apprehensive and question if I should gamble on seeing it. Despite my ideas about what the movie would be like, I still took a chance.

With The Martian, director Ridley Scott did what he failed to do with his most recent film Prometheus to deliver an engaging, entertaining story. A NASA crew are forced to evacuate their mission on Mars even after one of their own is presumed dead. Having instead survived and waking up to a barren hostile planet, their fellow man Mark Watney must forge ahead with knowledge, optimism, and limited supplies to send a signal to Earth. The story splits between Watney and his numerous attempts to make potatoes out of manure among other things, and NASA sending aid to rescue him.

Watney is one of those roles that could've been severely miscast. He's thoroughly sarcastic which makes his survival humorous despite how grave his situation seems. If the script had called for more of his wit, it could have made him annoyingly arrogant and removed our sense to rooting. This was the kind of thing I worried about: would Damon be self-indulgent with the comedy? Those worries were quickly squashed as his humor is generous without being excessive; it keeps Watney grounded from becoming a too-larger-than-life personality. He's trying to make the best of what he has, but his best weapon is optimism and hope. Watney is intelligent, hardworking, and determined; he needed to be likable too. And, Damon pulls off a good-natured performance.

"I don't want to come off as arrogant here, but I'm the greatest botanist on this planet."

My only qualm with the other half of the story is a slight one. On the one hand, Watney is doing everything he can to persevere. On the other, it takes more screentime than what feels necessary to establish how much NASA wants to ensure his rescue. Right after Watney is declared dead, the NASA Director (Jeff Daniels) and Mars Mission Director (Chiwetel Ejiofor) immediately focus on operating their new mission while making themselves look politically correct. His apparent death is a tragedy, but frankly, nothing NASA hasn't handled before and nothing NASA needed right now after dealing with government and public scrutiny. At first, a lot of NASA's efforts are based on politics, maneuvering what they can feed the press, and so on. Story-wise, it's refreshing and realistic.

However, the downside of this realism is the contrast between Watney's every effort to stay alive versus NASA's employees coming across as unsympathetic. NASA is a business and program just like any other, but I felt that the lack of personal attachment towards Watney didn't sit right. Since we don't get a look at Watney's personal life, how his family is dealing with his apparent death and then resurrection, his only contact is this program and the powers-that-be. Eventually, NASA launches into full swing and works tirelessly in maneuvering every plan for Watney's recovery. But for me, it just takes a little too long, and it made me question whether or not they were genuinely invested in his well-being.

It's interesting how Scott and his production team took what we know or assume of Mars's surface, and gave the film the visual vitality. Watney travels outside of his bright white dome into a sandy blanket of reds and oranges. When he's finally able to make contact with Earth and NASA's control room, a lot of the tones for Earth are stark blues and whites; it feels colder and more distraught than Mars, which comes across as warmer, even hot. Watney is making a home-away-from-home. He's able to explore and admire the landscape with his rover just because he can; he grows crops on a planet that doesn't grow food out of his own ingenuity; there is nobody to answer to or take commands from, which gives him a lot of freedom. But there is still that desperation to get to Earth. The way the film is framed casts focus on a singular entity across a vast, empty horizon, similar to the book cover. It's layered with peace and solitude but also pictures how high the stakes are. He has to make it there, even if it's temporary.

What really makes The Martian work is knowing its limitations. In the wake of trending space movies, it doesn't try to stuff our faces with one man's exploration of time, space, and love through the universes via heavy symbolism and 'science'. I still appreciate you Interstellar. Nor, does it throw us to the brink of space vying for one person's nearly impossible survival. I absolutely love you Gravity. Scott's film stands by itself by bringing back a quality to cinema that I think has been missing for a while - nothing, not even space is going to stop humanity from uniting together for a cause, from supporting and rescuing one of our own. Sometimes in a sea of space movies where people are thrown to the unpredictability and hostility of a frontier we love to dangerously explore, it's just nice to see no one got left behind.

Rating: ★★★

Have you seen The Martian? What are your thoughts?

X-Files Xtras: Thoughts on Season 6

Season five was not my favorite of The X-Files so far. The latest set of episodes gave me a mix-bag of reactions. Chris Carter's format of recycling ideas of the supernatural and paranormal became too obvious. The only real exciting revelations centered on Mulder and Scully's individual quests, and their when-will-they chemistry. Everything else was a lot less interesting or entertaining.

Color me surprised when everything seemed to turn around for the sixth season. The direction and writing really hit its stride as nearly every episode was fun and exciting. Both Mulder and Scully's journeys go much further and deeper, opening up one can of worms after another.

The Walking Dead - S6x08 Start to Finish

Photo Credit: The Walking Dead / Gene Page

Last week our heads turned towards the blue sky as green balloons signaled Glenn's safety and the Alexandria watchtower collapsed. This eighth episode marked the highly-anticipated mid-season finale for the sixth season. Start To Finish kicks off with a hoard of walkers barreling towards our precious civilians fighting for safety. Below includes spoilers of the series so far. You've been warned but hope you enjoy!