This week I am back to "anything goes," but I'm glad my Halloween picks garnered such discussion. What fun!
Television: Reaper
This is my favorite of the new tv shows. (I have a couple more good ones I'll be discussing in coming weeks.) This show makes me laugh out loud every episode and that rarely happens. In case you haven't watched, Sam's (Bret Harrison) parents sold his sold to the Devil (Ray Wise). On his 21st birthday, the Devil comes to collect and makes Sam his own personal soul bounty hunter. Aided by his friends, Sock (Tyler Labine) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez), Sam goes after a baddie a week. The repetition of this plot is inconsequential as it is the witty repartee between Sam and his friends that makes the show worth watching. Kevin Smith - genius of all things pop culturey - is a consultant on this show, which is what makes the show so watchable. Tune in Tuesday nights at 9 (on the CW) if you haven't already. Don't worry, you haven't missed any major plot points, just some very funny stuff. (Sock and the dog in the first ep was priceless. I am smiling just thinking about it.)
Film: Apocalypto
This film has kept me thinking for weeks now, so I figured I should put it on the list. If nothing else, it will, I'm sure, garner plenty of discussion. Truth be told, the story is weak and predictable. Why is it here? As usual, Mel Gibson proves that behind the camera he has an eye for framing. There are shots here that still boggle my mind. The most impressive one has Mayan slaves digging in sand/dust. One slave in particular is covered in the dust and then proceeds to vomit blood. The imagery of dark skin, white dust, and blood is really amazing. And it's scenes like this one that kept me watching even after the story began boring me. (Which was about 10 minutes into the film.) I'm no longer such a big fan of Gibson - as a human being he's rather low on my totem pole - but, like Leni Reifenstahl - who is surely spending eternity in the 10th circle of Hell - he knows his craft. What can I do?
Book: My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student
Published in 2005, Rebekah Nathan's undercover look at college life certainly opened a few eyes. Only being a decade from my own undergrad years, nothing she said was overly surprising. However, as a professor I am a bit appaled by what she found in terms of college life. Like Pledged, this book is a realistic view of today's college students. I think all professors and future professors in the audience should read this, as should anyone with children planning on college. Very interesting!
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Reaper? Really? See, Reaper is a show that has been disappointing me. The plot for each episode has been very predictable. Sam gets a vessel, Sam doesn't want to do the job. The Devil convinces him to do it, one way or another. Then Sam tries to advance his relationship with the girl (I forget her name), which inevitably won't work out. Sam and his buddies try to find the soul and screw it up at least once. Then they try again and succeed. Sam has nice scene with girl at end of episode. The end. And I don't think the repartee overcomes all of this (although it's definitely above-average).
I'm not saying I don't like it, because I have watched it every week--and I did like the Halloween episode a lot. But I think the show would improved by: some sort of continuing storyline; more continuing characters from hell that Sam has to deal with regularly (the Devil and the DMV clerk are the best!); and I'm not crazy about the other guy who is Sam's friend--he's just sort of blah. (I compare to the Scoobies, who all had well-developed personalities.)
By comparison, I have to plug Moonlight, which even though started off as an Angel ripoff, has gotten better and better every week. It has become more about the central love story, which is different from Angel. It's total escapism!
On Apocalypto: it really stuck with me too. It is of course beautifully shot and the costumes (and actors to fill them) are incredible, visually speaking.
Mel loves him some gory violence and tortured heroes - literally tortured, that is.
I've been trying to decide what his message was. If I didn't know anything about Mel's personal beliefs or past movies, I would think he was making some grand statement about the excesses of religious society in general. Those people were wasting so much energy and resources trying to appease their non-existent god.
But knowing what I know about Mel, I wonder if it was actually only a condemnation of THAT religion, not all religion. Does he think that these people were bound to be eradicated by the superior Christian God's followers? The whole movie does have a very "survival of the fittest" vibe, certainly for the individuals, and maybe for societies as well.
Jennica, I totally understand your Reaper criticism. I, too, have issues with the repetitious storylines. I just think Sock makes the show for me. I laugh every Tuesday night at something he does. The paint-can rodeo was really quite funny. And Delores and the Devil are great. I have read that the show's plots are going to get more complex so hopefully that helps. I haven't watched Moonlight but maybe I'll catch it in repeats.
Krista, I'm with you on everything. The ending to Apocalypto is quite smart. (Having been teaching early American lit for the last two months, the idea of white hostility and genocide to native cultures has certainly been foremost on my mind recently.) I also don't know what he's trying to say. Is society's destruction by a more heinous society inevitable? The Mayans destroyed Jaguar Paw's peaceful society and now the Spanish will destroy the so-called destroyers. What kind of hopeful message is that? Is it enough that Jaguar Paw's wife had his baby despite her near drowning? I just don't know. But the movie keeps me thinking.
Indeed, we watched the first episode of Reaper, and we liked its Kevin Smith-oscity but ultimately we determined that like ever other American non-animated sitcom aired after 1994 we could take it or leave it (the only non-animated sitcom we have cared about since them is the BBC/Simon Pegg show Spaced and that was only 16 episodes). So far we have mostly left it, though if we watched shows it would be a show we would watch. Nell particularly enjoyed the "tape hand" bit in the pilot. We are, however, more excited that Smith will be filming in P-burgh starting in January.
I will have to read frosh year, right after I read the new Douglas Coupland and Aaron Copland's guide to listening to classical music. Anyhow, I want to talk about kitties. Getting a new pet is a lot like being colonized. Indeed, kitties and plants do not mix. Kitties are cute but utterly unincouragable, there is nothing you can do to dicipline them. I remember how I felt the moment our cat had digestion problems and was leaving butt streaks all over our carpet. I remember watching her do it and realize that I am completely helpless and alone in the universe. That was the moment I was okay with my status as decaying organic matter... Your kitty is indeed cute. A much better choice than either The Hunger or even 13 Ghosts.
Oh yeah--Sock is the saving grace of Reaper. He was good on Invasion too. (Much the same character!)
Don't get me wrong: Moonlight is not a great show. But it's sucked me in in a way that many other "critical-fave" new shows this year have not (Reaper, Pushing Daisies). And it's improving, which is a good sign. (I believe David Greenwalt of Buffy/Angel was involved with some of the eps.)
Plus, the lead vampire guy is HOT.
If you want to try it, the episodes are fairly standalone: every week there is a new mystery, but the relationships between the main characters and the vampire mythology develop from week to week.
No comment on Apocalypto. Don't like Mel Gibson much and hate gory realistic torture and suffering in flicks.
Yeah, let's talk kitties because there are a few experts out there. Porthos is doing well. We went on a 15-minute ride tonight and he only mewed about half the time. I keep telling him he's got a 7.5-hour ride in two weeks and has to get used to it. Other than that, I have no control. He knows he's doing bad things when I tell him "no" but goes right back to doing them. Yet, he is so cute that I can't be mad at him! What is this strange power that kitties have? How can they be such spazzes - I totally should have named Porthos "Spaz-Cat" - and then curl up with you on the couch and purr for an hour? Lucky for me, I have already learned the sad truth of the next 15 or so years: I am nothing more than a litter box cleaner and food provider.
PS - What is Kevin Smith filming in P'Burgh?????? Are you going to track down the sets and watch? I would totally do that if I still lived in Western PA. I saw "Catch and Release" a few months ago. It wasn't great but Kevin Smith was pretty funny. Also, Timothy Oliphant was in it and I have come to realize that I like him a lot. I'm working my way through Season 3 of Deadwood and he's great. I also liked him as the villain in the summer Die Hard movie. (Go ahead and make fun but I love those stupid action flixs!)
According to the Post-Gazette the film is called Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Filming will begin mid-January and will last for 40 days. Most of Dogma was filmed here too. I sure would like to check out some locations. The Spike series The Kill Point was filmed around the corner from work, and I was half tempted to try to get some extra work during summer break, but standing in the sun for 12 hours at mimimum wage seemed like less and less fun the more I thought about it.
Oh and here is another thing that happened. They filmed in the subway for a week. I went to use the train one day and there were signs everywhere saying that there would be filming with simulated gunfire. And by everywhere I mean there were at least 20 huge signs on the way from the street entrance to the platform. I was waiting for the train and there were cameras and a catering table on one of the other platforms, and people with radios were announcing that they were about to call action and shoot some fake guns. Don't you know that when the fake gunfire broke out the suburban family next to me hit the deck and started screaming, "Oh my god they're shooting!!! Somebody call 911!!!" The whole thing was so pathetic that all of the other calmly waiting people and I on the platform couldn't even laugh at them.
Which brings me to my armchair blogger moment...you should do a Pittsburgh special. The best things that were filmed in or are at least set in P-town.
My kitty gets vocal when confined but usually she gets quiet if ignored, so you should just crank up the stereo, maybe .
Hmmm... A totally P'Burgh blog? I'll have to start researching. I seem to remember reading a book somewhat recently set in the Burgh. I didn't realize Dogma was filmed in the Burgh.
Yeah that's the beauty of it. Pittsburgh is the rich filmmaker's Vancouver so there would be lots of things that would probably be omitted and argued about.
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