All previous indicators of a character like Dexter would place him as a prime villain, in the tradition of Hannibal Lecter, or the real life Ted Bundy. The only thing is, Dexter kills Bad Guys, so, in a twist of expectations, he is more like Batman. A very creepy, cold and calculating Batman, that is. How is an audience supposed to react to someone like Dexter? Are they supposed to root for him? cheer him on as he kills, again and again, episode after episode? OR, is the show meant to showcase how fine a line the perception of good and evil truly is. From a political standpoint, Dexter is almost right-wing in his Draconian thirst for justice (I am sure there are some law-and-order types who silently wish for a Dexter-type to clean society of its “filth”). Dexter also appeals to outcasts as well, people who don’t quite fit in with “the system”. Dexter has to live by a rigid code of operation, first for practical reasons (to not get caught) and secondly, because this is the way he morally rationalizes his bloody way of life.

Like any good television show or film, the content asks more questions than it does answer them, so in this sense, Dexter works. It penetrates deep into your subconscious, makes you evaluate your ethics, makes you wonder why you cheer him on, or turn your head in disgust. The show is not without its problems, though. Jimmy Smits joins the show in season three as a vengeful DA who joins Dexter’s bloody crusade (at first unwillingly by Dexter, then later with his acceptance) who is kind of portrayed as a Latino caricature more than as a person of Latino origin (he is hot-tempered, listens to salsa music all the time, wears a thin mustache and it appears that Smits is wearing dark makeup, on top of it all. NOTE TO PRODUCERS: Jimmy Smits is Latino, YOU DON’T NEED TO ADD MAKEUP TO HIS FACE TO MAKE HIM LOOK “LATINO”, HE ALREADY IS: this kind of problem has been going on for awhile now, but that’s beside the point). The problem is, Smits’ character is really cool and he plays the part well, but the stereotypical “augmentations” are a bit distracting. Also, Dexter’s machinations are a little farfetched. He is constantly out late at night (doing his dark deeds), and his girlfriend never seems to mind. He gets SERIOUSLY close to getting caught in season two, yet nobody raises any suspisions about him except for the unlucky Seargent Doakes from seasons one and two. At least the show has a sense of humor.

That being said, Dexter is a fascinating viewing. Its the kind of show that gets you hooked..Hooked to the next kill.

In its place, video stores have been replaced with the “more convenient” alternatives of online video rentals and video-on demand. Customers can click and choose on just about any title that is in print and have it shipped to their door. I have been a Netflix user on-and-off for quite some time now, and I must admit, it is convenient. At 8-14 bucks a month, it is a real value.

As a Comcast subscriber in the past, I too have enjoyed video-on demand. You cant really get more convenient than that. But then again, episodes of Silver Spoons and the 1983 movie Krull may not be your preferred form of entertainment. Most free video-on-demand titles tended to not be your summer blockbusters of the year. Still, entertaining nonetheless.

The new gadgets of late have been the streaming devices like Apple TV. A friend of mine is a serious, bleeding-edge gadget techie- He has a streaming media server in his home: pretty hardcore. He basically sold me on the Apple TV, and it first, it was really cool. Downloadable movies, TV shows, podcasts, etc. Basically an iPod for your TV. The downside is, I don’t have the steroidy internet connection he has, so, I had to wait for long periods of time to see content..And even then, movie dialogue streamed from the Apple TV tended to have a “Shatner…like…….delivery”, due to hiccups in my more meager Wi-Fi connection.

The newest convenient gotta-have solution is the Netflix streaming app for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3. Now, I must admit, this is pretty cool. Like the Apple TV, this requires a broadband connection to work, but it works much smoother than Apple TV ever did. Sure the picture quality isn’t quite as good, but it hiccups far less, and is totally watchable. Ill take heavily compressed and watchable any day over pretty but stutter-ey. The problem here is selection-As the service is practically brand new, selection is miniscule. I found myself passing over titles that just didn’t seem that appealing only to find the selections starting to repeat from the beginning. And of course, they had Krull.

So what did I end up doing last night to get a movie that I wanted to watch? Did I have it in my Netflix cue? Sure, but it wasnt in my hand. Was it available on-demand? not on my setup. Did Netflix streaming have it? No. So, I did what I suspect most people still do after all these choices fail to deliver- I went the the neighborhood Blockbuster. Do I really want Blockbuster to not be around? Not really. They are far from perfect, on the expensive side for sure, but I find myself going there more than Id like to admit. Im sure more of you out there do the same. Even those dollar-a-day dvd kiosks are consistently out of stock of recent titles. So unless you happen to NOT want to rent “The Proposal”, you may find your selections to be of scarce supply.

So if it came down to it, I would have to say that Im not quit ready to do away with the video store completely just yet. Even the evil Blockbuster still proves to be convenient, and so Im wondering if all these stories of their imminent demise might be a tad premature. I suspect so.

Last night on ABC we got a chance to see the sleek, new 21st century remake of the classic 1980’s science fiction tale of rebellion against fascists from space, “V”. Gone were the creepy, modulated voices of the original Visitors. Gone were the blood-red, Nazi-esque uniforms. Gone were those eighties-Hipster/2009 Diddy sunglasses. Gone were those formidable shock troopers with shiny black helmets, spiffy vinyl tunics and Stormtooper-grade aiming skills. Gone were those funky laser rifles that took about a minute for the beam to reach its target. Gone is the Beastmaster himself, Marc Singer. In their places, we got a stripped down, leaner version of the space opera, complete with contemporary references galore.

TV always reflects pop-culture and political trends, that is what makes it so appealing to a mass audience, which is what the medium does best. In the early eighties, sci-fi was riding high off the success of that little movie known as Star Wars, so naturally TV shows had sinister, Imperial types with minion troopers (Cylons, before they were blonde, wore red dresses and only appeared in hallucinations). The Cold War was the Big Threat back then, so a fascist/communist enemy complete with a swastika looking logo made sense. Fast forward to present day, and the Cold War has been replaced with terrorism, sleeper cells, and thus in the new series, a new take on the reptillian invaders has been implemented: they have been here all along, and are walking among us.

The nineties brought to science fiction a real sense of paranoia, conspiracy theories and the like. X Files’ Mulder and Sculley constantly turned multiple rocks over to find out the government knew about IT all along (substitute IT with aliens, ghosts, what have you). The new V definitely reflects that 90’s brewed paranoia, albeit updated to present-day with ham-fisted references to HOPE and CHANGE that the visitors claim to bring (who does that sound like? hmmm..)

The pacing of the new show is much faster, of course reflecting 20 years of MTV-fueled short attention spans. The new show felt like a one hour trailer, it went by so fast. While this is good from a pacing point of view, it does come at a cost. There is no real sense of foreboding (at least not yet) that the original did so well. When Donovan, the main hero of the original, ripped the face mask off a visitor the for the first time, it was really scary. The eerie horror-themed music, the reptilian eyes, and the forked tongue made my 9-year old stomach turn, and wanting more in the process. The new “first reveal” happened so fast, if you got up to grab some popcorn, youd miss it for sure. No scary music, no forked tongue, just wham-bam-thank-you mam.

That is not to say I didn’t like the new show, I did get into the characters, the effects were modern and impressive enough, and Anna, the new leader, was great. I am definitely tuning in next week for sure. I guess I just miss that classic look and feel of the old series, I wanted a little more of it here. The new uniforms, which like like a cross between the new Galactica and classic blue Disneyland monorail workers, just didnt get my heart racing this time. But the jury is still out, until the next episode..

ABC’s “V” can be seen Tuesday nights at 8:00 PM.

For appetizers, we had shrimp marinated in a pineapple glaze. Now, Im not a big pineapple fan, but these shrimps were very tasty, regardless. I must give props to any restaurant that can make something I normally don’t care for taste good, and this place did just that. Still, I don’t think I’ll be eating pineapple pizza anytime soon.

Our dining party happened to know the manager, Kim, so we got a tour of the place and found out some interesting facts about it along the way. The restaurant’s bar is actually a converted 19th century British pub, with stained glass, seats and countertop all disassembled back in England, shipped over, then reassembled here. You see, the restaurant opened back in 1979 and was and still is owned by a Mr. Nolan Bushnell. Although his is not exactly a household name, you might have heard of these thingamajigs called video games, or perhaps you have heard of a place called Chuck E. Cheese, or both. If it turns out you do know what these important staples of pop culture are, or happened to be a eight-year-old in the early eighties who attended a birthday party or two, then you owe a tip of the hat to Bushnell. Back in 1972, his company helped develop and market the one and only Pong, one of the first arcade video games ever. By 1975, his company had then made a home video version of Pong, and by 1977 they released a video game system that would change the face of home entertainment forever (and be the cause a lot of sore thumbs), the Atari 2600 VCS..this company, of course, is none other than Atari. Thirty years and a few Nintendos, Wiis, and Playstations later, Atari holds the honor of being the one that started it all.

Back in the day, there used to be coin-op Atari games lining the back wall at the Lion and the Compass, and Bushnell was a regular sight, walking around tables and greeting guests. The manager, Kim, told us that Bushnell still does so, however he was not there last night. Being a vintage video game enthusiast (nerd) myself, having the chance to meet Nolan Bushnell would have been an honor  to say the least (I had the curious fortune  earlier  this year of meeting KISS’s Ace Frehley and classic Battlestar Galactica’s Richard Hatch, go figure). I was also told by Kim that Bushnell is a popcorn enthusiast and pops up a mean batch, complete with exotic flavors. I can definitely relate to that.

Overall, it was a very fun, tasty and educational dining experience, complete with engaging company. If you are looking for a nice place to have a fine dining party, want to hob nob with Silicon Valley executives, or learn a little about video game history, I recommend. Who says you can’t combine food and learning?

The Lion and the Compass is located at 1023 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Sunnyvale California CA 9408.