New year, old cliché

Published January 2nd, 2009 in teevee and retrospecticus. 1 Comment

Wow, this place is dusty.  Here’s hoping 2009 brings 2009 blog posts (or at least more than the handful 2008 brought).

But, with new beginnings brings a look back at what has passed.  Without my usual preamble, and just cuz I feel like it, the top 10 new scripted pieces I saw in 2008 (will feature mostly hour-long and half-hour TV, with a sprinkling of movies, since I didn’t see many, and possibly a video game, since they totally count).

10: House - 4×16 - “Wilson’s Heart”

HOUSE
Because it doesn’t hurt here.

Normally House is great because Beth and I can shout derisively at the screen - “House is always right!” - whenever a character decides to second-guess the amazing Hugh Laurie’s ascerbic diagnostitian, as they try to ratchet out conflict by having others doubt his crazy theories could be right.  They always are, and the mystery is always solved with nearly universally positive results. Last season’s finale got solved relatively quickly and easily, but it was the aftermath (the death of Wilson’s girlfriend due to House’s needing a lift from the bar) that revealed some of the most genuine and touching moments yet for the good doctor.

9. Mad Men - 2×11 - “The Jet Set”

KURT
I make love with the men, not the women.

An out there moment, to be sure, but one that kind of sums up perfectly what this show does best: take the morays of the 60s and throw them into question, oftentimes leaving its characters behind in what is going to be a huge social and cultural upheaval. And that doesn’t even touch on the fact that this was the episode where Don just took off from his conference in LA to join the crazy beach house and ended the week by calling someone as Dick Whitman, his long-buried secret identity. I almost lost these moments between the Decemberists intro and the Marti Noxon mandated rape plotline, but this show is still amazing.

8. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - 1×09 - “What He Beheld”

CAMERON
He said very little, and then he was quiet.

This show snuck up on me. I’m not big on the Terminator movies, but it is a damn fine hour of weekly sci-fi. It even made Brian Austen Green compelling! I know! And the image in the first season finale of bodies of armored FBI agents raining into an apartment complex pool to the tune of Johnny Cash made for a long summer of waiting.

7. 30 Rock - 2×12 - “Subway Hero”

BUCKY BRIGHT
I wandered around the building all night. I didn’t run into another living soul… except one gigantic lesbian. Who is Conan O’Brien, and why is she so sad?

This could just as easily have gone to “The One With The Cast of Night Court” for including, well, the cast of Night Court, or “Cooter” for the line “No it’s not. We’ve looked into it, and it’s not.”, but Tim Conway and the triumphant return of Liz Lemon’s delightfully sleazy ex-boyfriend Dennis (Dean Winters, also great as a polar opposite character on Terminator) took it.

6. Wall-E

WALL·E
Eeeee … vah?.

Amazing that they can do so much with so little.  A touching, whimsical, hopeful story.

5. Bioshock

ANDREW RYAN
A man chooses, a slave obeys.

Yes, it first came out in 2007, but I didn’t have my 360 until 2008.  Plus, the PS3 version was new in 2008, so I still technically didn’t break my rules. A gripping piece of work, I dare anyone playing through this not to be completely compelled and not just a little horrified. It’s very few movies even nowadays that can do such interesting work with ideas of free will, destiny and power, let alone go for 40 hours and let you shoot stuff the whole time.

4. Supernatural (Tie) - 4×01/4×08 - “Lazarus Rising”/”Wishful Thinking” (Honourable Mention to 3×13, “Ghostfacers”)

SAM
I’m really sorry to have to break this to you, but your bear is sick…

I knew there had to be a Supernatural on this list, I just didn’t realize how high it would be, or how many I had to weed through to pick just one. And even then I chickened out and took three. Could have been its own category. I like this show too much for my own good. But when it can wage an all-out war between heaven and hell one week, then have the boys hunt down a wishing-well animated, man-sized, stuffed (and clinically depressed) teddy bear the next, I simply must watch.

3. Pushing Daisies - 2×06 - “Oh Oh Oh, It’s Magic”

NED
It’s a magic show.

Not quite yet gone but already greatly missed. Ned finally started to get some movement on tracking down and coming to terms with his father, and Lonely Tourist Charlotte Charles’ murder/undeadening kerfuffle started to really complicate. Plus Fred Willard showed up. Possibly the best Daisies of all.

2. Lost - 4×05 - “The Constant”

DESMOND
I love you Penny. I’ve always loved you.

It seems trite and simple, but seeing what is easily the most affecting personal story on Lost actually reach (at least at this point) a satisfying conclusion, one that is earned and rooted for, in what was also one of the most satisfying myth episodes of the series so far, with enough time bending and island-hopping to get any purist riled up, was nothing short of magnificent.  I tried to find another, less obvious Lost for the list, but “The Constant” was just too good.

1. Battlestar Galactica - 4×07 - “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner”

HERA
Bye bye.

I’m not even really sure this is fully number one, as a whole, but for the biggest sheer oh-my-God moment I can remember from the last 12 months, it deserves pause. That little girl at the edge of her mom’s bed, saying goodbye, ready to go to Rebel Six (for reasons we’ve yet to really find out) before Athena goes ahead and kills said Six, not to mention the basestar jumping away and Gaeta’s creepy-ass singing before getting his leg amputated … man, that was a great hour.

It’s that time of year again

Published September 17th, 2008 in teevee and retrospecticus. 0 Comments

It’s crazy time. Fall premiere time. The time when my PVR gets way too much of a workout, trying out new shows, catching up on old ones, and maybe discarding a few that are past their prime.

Let’s do this in a simple +/- (with maybe a neutral thrown in) to see what I’m looking forward to, or what may have disappeared.

(+) House — Hugh Laurie drew us in over the summer, and we spent evenings catching up with his previously-ignored-by-us medical procedural. The show is a bit of a formula (bit?), but Mr. Laurie is one of the most compelling personalities on the tube.
(o) Heroes — the ads for the once-promising comic-booky skein (yay Variety-speak!) are overwhelmingly meh, as was the entirety of the second season. I’ll probably give it a shot, but if things start to look like they’re getting more stupider, it’s gone.
(+) Gossip Girl — I was not a big fan early last year, but I think it largely found the tone it needed to take (sufficiently ridiculous), plus, Chuck Bass is one of my favourite TV creations in a long time. That dude can pull off colours no other exceedingly heterosexual man can even dream of. I now covet a pistachio-green suit with pink shirt and pocket square.
(o) Bones — this one has been up and down for years now. Since Fox had them “retool” after the first season, the mysteries had gotten stupider and the characters less compelling. The first couple back have felt more apropos, character-wise, so there is some hope.
(-) Eli Stone — the strike made us watch some things we weren’t proud of. This preachy, saccharine, overly melodramatic hour had two words going for it: Victor Garber. And with our actual shows back, not just strike filler, so long Mr. Brain Tumour Thingy.
(+)(for now) Fringe — J.J. Abrams does X Files. Hopefully there’s more to it than that, but the first two hours don’t necessarily seem to indicate that will be the case. Characters are moderately appealing, but whether or not there will be a story to care about is yet to be seen.
(+) Supernatural — Dean went to Hell. But of course the show won’t keep him there.
(+) Pushing Daisies — Yay! The Pie Maker is bank! Look for my Ain’t It Cool reviews again this year, all two of my readers.
(-) My Name is Earl — I stopped caring about a third of the way through the jail arc. The initially cute premise has become very tired, though interestingly not in the usual way. Ironically, getting away from Earl’s ‘list’ was the least interesting part of the show.

There are more. Maybe later. I wanted to get to this…

(+++) 30 Rock — I forgot how hard this show made me laugh, until this morning. I can’t believe something this smart and funny has actually succeeded, and not been shuffled off for another laugh-tracky rom com years ago. Enjoy one of the finest segments of comedy I’ve seen in years, courtesy of the probably-more-than-slightly-crazy Alec Baldwin (you may have to sit through an ad first).

There is just so much going on over the course of 90 seconds, you hardly get a chance to breathe. If the man doesn’t win an Emmy for this, I don’t even know what cliche of disbelief I’ll resort to.

On two advertisements

Published September 9th, 2008 in brain and madvertising. 1 Comment

Two pieces of advertising have struck me in the last 24 hours:

1. That Stephen Harper TV spot that has him sitting in front of a fire, extolling the virtues of his very cordial (thank you very much) working relationship he has with the two young fellows who happen to be his and his wife’s children.

2. On the back of a black Volkswagen Jetta on the DVP this morning: “Septicdesign.ca — Where all your fecal dreams come true”

One of these ads is an effective, catchy, memorable piece of marketing, and the other is full of … well, y’know.

Zing!

Stephen Harper is a Family Man™, and wants everyone to know it. Evidently, the fact that he enjoys playing cards with his kids means he is more than capable of running a government. And because they’ve shot him in some vaguely soft focus and put him in a sweater vest with that creepy, vacant, farthest-from-warm-you’ve-ever-seen smile, the Canadian people can Trust™ him. Honest and for serious.

I’d embed it, or link to it on Youtube or something, but a) I don’t care to see it again and/or have it posted on my site, and b) I’m sure you’ll come across it sooner or later, or can hunt it down yourselves if you’re really desperate.

The most disheartening thing about it is that people do fall for it. It’s one thing if you genuinely believe in conservative principles, and use them to guide yourself into a life of good, in some way, which many people I know have. I don’t happen to share these principles, but I can respect those who believe in something and put it to good use in their life.

What scares the absolute living hell out of me is the swaths of people who believe in nothing in particular, have no pressing thoughts on a direction or path for their country, and who make their voting decisions based on which candidate makes them ‘feel better’. I’m sick of hearing the polling question: “Which candidate would you want to have at a barbeque?”, and I’m terrified that people make their vote based on it. I want a Prime Minister who is too busy RUNNING THE COUNTRY to come to my damn barbeque.

Essentially, I’m astonished that the Conservatives are trying to run this campaign on Stephen Harper’s personality. Yeah, people don’t think a hell of a lot of Stephane Dion, but < Bluth>come on< /Bluth>. This is either brilliant or the second-most firetruckin’ crazy piece of personality-based campaigning I’ve seen in the past two weeks.

Cyclicism vs. cynicism — the battle of the soft c’s

Published September 4th, 2008 in brain and megaspection. 0 Comments

I think I know why I’ve felt kind of on edge lately.

I’ve been obsessing (to put it mildly) with politics and such accompanying folderol. And not even politics that concerns me – the American kind. Well, ok, American politics affects everybody whose legs touch the ground when they walk, but still, it’s been a tad all-consuming.

Not that I don’t have valid and passionate points of view on all of these things, even to the point that I’m wondering if there isn’t a little Sam Seaborn in me somewhere, just waiting to bust out and put words in somebody’s mouth who is trying to do a little bit of a greater good. There’s a whole hell of a lot of greater good out there to be done, and these (soon to be anyway) duelling election cycles on both sides of the border are definitely whipping up some long-dormant activist/progressivist (to invent a word) part of me, combined with relapsing into our West Wing phase from last summer.

I’ve really had a thing for soaring oratory lately, to say the least.

But I don’t think the intensity of my concern has stemmed from anything Stephen Harper, or Stephane Dion, or Barack Obama, or Sarah Palin, has been doing or saying.

It has to do with about seven pounds of fuzz buried in a backyard in Richmond Hill one year ago today.

We put Kaylee down almost one year to the minute as of right now, and it was essentially my first real, adult encounter with a decision of that much pain and weight.

And my brain tends to work in cycles.

In about grade 8, say second week of May, I had a really, really bad day. I got pissed off, for possibly the first time as an individual of any kind of real self-awareness, at 13, and to that 13-year-old, it felt pretty epic. Dudn’t matter what it was about, but it was something that mattered to me, and it felt terrible. Things worked out alright in the end, but for about a day and a half, it was markedly unpleasant. For a kid whose primary creative outlet and inspiration since about the fourth grade was Star Trek/Spockian/Data-ian stoicism, that much emotion was tough to process. Then, about a year later, second week of May, grade 9, I start getting really edgy, this time for no real good reason, until I remember what went down the last year. Same thing happened, each May, for about 3 or 4 years, in diminishing amounts.

Seems I’m doing it again, but without a dying cat to obsess and agonize over, I’ve surrogated my weird annualized anxiety onto something, anything, else. I imagine I will still care about both countries’ elections in a couple days’ time, but probably not as obsessively as I do now. No matter who wins either election, I will still be able to go to work every day, come home and hug my lady and my cats, and listen to the music and enjoy the stories that make my life what it is.

Thankfully, I’ve got a bit more (a bit) self awareness at this point, 15 years later, and a pretty stellar lady to go home and hizzang with. But who knows, maybe some of this awakened passion can lead to something constructive. At the very least, there will be a day to relax this weekend when we host folks to enjoy our garden’s harvest.

Short is good (but we all knew that…)

Published July 10th, 2008 in coolness and mooviez. 0 Comments

Presto

Beth has already pimped Wall-E over on her cozy corner of internets, though as much as I loved it, I think I loved Presto more.

Everyone who has seen Pixar’s movies knows about their commitment to keeping the art of short films alive, prefacing each of their major releases with a whimsical short in the Merrie Melodies tradition. I grew up on a steady diet of Warner Bros. stuff, so I am more than thrilled that such a reputable and brilliant creative house is on my side.

A simple story (a bunny wants his carrot, and is miffed when his owner/magician starts the show without providing it, violence and hilarity ensues in his quest to obtain said carrot) done impeccably well. Just like the best of Bugs, Daffy, Foghorn Leghorn, the Goofy Gophers (indubitably!), and their kin.

I know I’m not linking the whole thing here, as that would be illegal and improper (though enterprising types may well be able to find it on the series of tubes…), you should all go and see Wall-E to experience Alec (the above-pictured bunny) for yourself, on the big screen. It doesn’t hurt that Wall-E is possibly Pixar’s best picture to date, but I would almost dare say that Presto outstrips it, if only out of pure joy.

I mean, just lookit his little face! He’s so happy!

The best thing you’re probably not watching

Published July 4th, 2008 in teevee. 0 Comments

I may be assuming too much here, but I don’t imagine a whole lot of you, my imaginary readers, are watching AMC’s amazing Mad Men.

You should be.

Set in the misogynist and booze-soaked world of advertising in New York, 1960, it started last summer and ran its first season, and came pretty much out of nowhere. It was one of those shows that you’re not even sure you want to watch in the five minutes before it starts, because you’re worried it might be a little heavy for summer viewing, but not more than 10 minutes in, you’re hooked all over again.

Created by one of the guys responsible for a decent chunk of the Sopranos, I have to say I much prefer this to the Jersey mobsters. Blasphemer, I know, but it’s the truth. Could be something to do with the fact that I work in advertising, and have picked up a love of the era of the show (late 50s-early 60s) by osmosis through Beth, but the show itself shares a great deal of the credit. It’s rich, textured, funny, powerful, and so, so smart. Hell, it opened the era for me to the point that How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is now one of my favourite movies.

The first season built up so well, so gradually, that while the finale was playing, you finally realized how many balls were up in the air, and how masterfully they were being juggled. The clip below, I sent to my boss one time when I was arguing a point about how we needed to focus on a new viewpoint for one of our, shall we say more staid, clients. It may not make much sense to you out of context, except to know that Don, the dude making the speech, is in the midst of a family crisis (to put it mildly without spoiling), and that it is some of the finest writing you’ll see on TV in the past few years.

Season 2 starts at the end of the month, on AMC, while reruns have been on CTV for the past few weeks, and the CTV site has episodes streaming for everyone else to catch up. Or just go buy the DVD. It’s in a wicked cool Zippo case.

Either way, the only person I know besides us who is watching it is Dart, and everyone needs to be. So g’wan son, check it.

As if I needed more proof…

Published July 3rd, 2008 in muzak, coolness and poindextrose. 0 Comments

I’ve written before about how I have been karmically deducing that the Old 97s are meant to be my favourite band. It’s out of my hands. I can no longer be held responsible for my actions where they are concerned.

Never, in a million years, would I presume to see my two favourite things combined in such a way.

Is it kind of a crappy music video? Yeah. Is my inner geek mentally correcting the rather egregious typo that is throughout? Let’s just say that the phrase “There’s no ‘C’!” is repeated in my head frequently.

I mean, there’s something to be said for a random video that doesn’t relate to the song, and then there’s this. There’s the band having a minimal role in a video, and then there’s the weird tangential pass-bys that go on here (the band appears, or is even suggested, for about 16 seconds).

Do I still LOVE IT? Of course. If only just for what it represents if not for its execution.

(Very) Exciting to very few

Published May 28th, 2008 in l337 gamez. 1 Comment

Though I’m sure I could disseminate this particular piece of information to the entirety of the people in my life who I know would care by turning my head and opening my mouth, I feel the need to spread it electronically, because it’s pretty cool.

Beyond Good And Evil has a sequel!

This particular piece of gaming delight was a game that absolutely no one but Beth and I (and a few game journalists who all bestowed it with ‘best game no one played’ awards) played. Vaguely Zelda/Metroid/adventurish (Ed. note: Beth is right, Half-Life 2-lite is a much more apt comparison — see comments), but starring a green-haired, sexy photojournalist dame on an alien world where animals could talk and evil alien robot hybrids were out to enslave everyone. You kicked ass with a bowstaff and took pictures of exotic animals for extra credit. The end credits featured a killer cliffhang moment that screamed sequel, but with sales figures that I could probably count on one hand, that sequel looked unlikely.

Guess I have to give Ubisoft more credit than I thought. They knew they had a great franchise, by a pretty good designer, and with the laudits the original got, plus the shifting of franchises such as this over from the Nintendos and Sonys, Xbox could be a great home to get adventure games played by a wider audience. I look very much forward to searching the game for the last animal to photograph for precious Xbox achievements.

Damn, who’da thought a couple years ago that I’d be pimping a Microsoft console over my beloved Nintendo for great adventure games. I guess after seeing shovelware take over the Wii for more than 18 months, I’m just happy to have more games I’m actually looking forward to playing.

Now all I need is a sequel to Psychonauts, or Grim Fandango or Monkey Island, and I’ll be a forever happy boy — Tim Schafer and Double Fine, I’m looking in your direction. Though I suppose this will do in the meantime. Barely.

Lately

Published May 22nd, 2008 in brain, internetz and l337 gamez. 0 Comments

A few quick things:

Work’s been pretty ok. I totally won this group brainstorming, creative idea thingy, earning me $50 cool Scarborough Town Centre dollars. I came up with the best idea to try and pitch to one of our clients for a new, big, public push. We can’t possibly actually take it to them, it’s too crazy, too out there, has to be toned way down, but the point of the exercise was to get ideas flowing, and I like to think I did that.

That $50 bought me Grand Theft Auto 4. I really was not a fanboy of the franchise before this. The only experience I had with the series was watching Lauchie using cheat codes and shooting grenade launchers off of parking garages into traffic jams during a Kangas Sauna party in Thunder Bay. I was pretty bored by the whole experience, but seeing perfect 10 scores popping up everywhere and hearing about how it revolutionized the cinematic experience of games, I figured that a free $50 could go to worse use, so I bit the bullet. It’s definitely an immersive experience, and with some really compelling aspects. I’m not a crazy, best-game-ever convert or anything, but even at about 5 hours in, I’m really curious to see where things go from here.

And looking up further GTA analysis/reading my daily nerd news brought me to Penny Arcade, which connected to the new Penny Arcade episodic game that just came out. I’ve never been a big Penny Arcade person either. It’s pretty funny sometimes, but I don’t see the call for the crazy nerd worship it gets sometimes. But this is really good. Seems they took trolling comments from the Wired blog that constantly and vehemently trash everything Penny Arcade, from a complete moron. It’s very much in the Frog Hammer school of advertising. If you don’t know what Frog Hammer is, it is my future employer, I don’t care how fictional it is (watch Slings and Arrows, the Canadian behind-the-curtain of a fictional Stratford festival series with Paul Gross and Mark McKinney — truly amazing).

Finally, it seems I’ve forgotten how to write in cursive. Can’t do it. Just thought I’d share. Seems my weird hybrid style of handwriting has completely pushed cursive/script out of the picture, and I can’t even do it if I try. I tried. There are extra humps and loops everywhere, missed letters, and general illegibility.

Weird.

Reasons I could feel sick

Published April 10th, 2008 in retrospecticus and nom nom nom. 0 Comments

1. The flu that Beth recently fought off/possibly passed to me

2. Whatever a couple people at work have been fighting off for the past couple of weeks

3. Having eaten deep-fried seafood and fries TWICE yesterday

I regret nothing.

I am, however, thinking of taking a mulligan on work tomorrow, as there will be a baby-shower lunch for Angela, currently on maternity leave, and I figure it would be best — if this heavy, vaguely sinking feeling taking over most of my body isn’t fried-food related — not to be around a new person with a half-developed immune system and risk infecting them with this particular brand of martian fever.

I relate this not as an opportunity to whine (much as I enjoy those) as much as to realize that yesterday acted as an unintentional celebration: I have been working at Black Cat for precisely one year, now plus a day. It is now the job I have held longest in my life. That is both crazy and a little sad, given that I’m 26. I mean, technically I worked at The Press for four years, but never for longer than a year at anything consistent, that I’m counting for this particular exercise. Yeah, fine, I was arts editor for two years in a row, but there were huge breaks between weeks/years, and that was hardly a daily thing, nor was it the ’same’ job for that whole time, what with the reapplying for it and a regime change and all.

So my body clearly knew that and caused me to seek out fried fish and/or create the circumstance that allowed fried fish to be eaten to a somewhat exaggerated degree. Because what better way to commemorate an occasion, really, than dipping various sea creatures in batter and dunking them in hot oil?

I can think of none. The homemade scallops were a particular treat, and were what I imagine the popplers from Futurama would taste like. If only they turned out to also be sentient and cute too, instead of just nature’s bite-sized morsel. (Seriously, what other evolutionary purpose could scallops serve? They’re naturally a tiny nugget of delicious meat.)

Anyone who points out that it may cause my first actual sick day taken for illness clearly misses the point. Apologies to Michelle and whichever other of my veggie friends may be reading this. I abdicate responsibility however, as this was clearly a matter of body chemistry, not rational thought.

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I watch the box with the moving pictures. And sometimes I sleep and eat. Like you’re any different!

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So, even if there are forests that start on fire in the future, there has to be a better way of fighting them than calling on Dr. Wily’s evil army. What exactly do we do if this thing starts to run amok? Where is the Quick Boomerang to slow him down?

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This is AMAZING. I wish I had the station in the world to dump all over every single group of people, EVER, and look adorably crotchety doing it. Or this is the finest example of dry British wit I have ever seen. Either way, kudos to Prince Philip.

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It might take my music snob cred down a notch or two, but is it wrong that this is one of my favourite things to come out of the existance of Joy Division?

Enjoy. via

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Jack McBrayer and Michael Cera should get together and have babies. They could share carrying them like Arnold and DeVito in whatever the hell movie that was, or something. I just like picturing them as a domestic couple, but deciding which one would be the lady is proving exceedingly difficult.
McBrayer does have some hilarious new stuff up on Funny or Die though. Go. Watch.

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I really, really, really wish all elections, and all disputes with multiple choices as a whole, were settled this way. Funny thing is how close a prognostigator they may turn out to have been.

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Watch out Katie, you’ve got some stiff professional competition.

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